I trust fast poison The stars to wink out
And you, my love - and you. Lyric from "The Void" By Minstrel d'Becvex CY 9905
HA! Gotcha! Reverse hold, how many points is that? It nets out at zero.
Ouch! Tell me again why this is good for me.
A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.
Who you calling a 'link' Anasazi?
Now this warship, her capabilities, it makes us complacent.
We may have to engage the enemy using nothing but our teeth and nails.
See. Me. I like to shoot my enemies, preferably while hiding behind a nice big rock.
Beka, I need ...
Whoa! Excuse me I, I uh I didn't know that you two were uh..
What were you? Nothing.
Shut up! Just uh a little hand to uh, hand.
What's up?
oh uh, this. Andromeda just received a datafile from Coscota. the mining colony?
That old hunk of rock, what do they want with us? Well it's not us, it's you. It's about one of your old crewmates, a Robert Jensen
Bobby Jensen. Damn I haven't heard that name in a long time.
He was a mate... on the crew of the Maru back in the day before Harper signed on.
So uh what's he gotten himself into this time and what's it gonna cost me?
He's dead Beka.
He's named you as his next of kin and they want to you to identify the body. I'm sorry.
Sorry you can't spare me, you need me for uh ... for what?
the planet, Hazen-Brown. I thought you said there was a disaster; we're all rushing off to...
Beka just take the Maru and go.
Next of kin?
Not quite. Just uh
the love of my life
He is the last guardian of a falling civilization, A hero from another time,
faced with the universe and chaos. Dylan Hunt recrutes an unlikely crew and sets out to re-unite the galaxies.
On the starship Andromeda, hope lives again
Rommie, situation report please on planet Hazen-Brown.
Tectonic plates crashing into each other, lava,
ash and panicky Chichian climbing over each other in an effort to save themselves.
Well we promised them evacuation passage and that is what we'll do
There you are, well I prepped the Maru for your trip to Coscota,
anyways I just thought it'd be a good time for you to have friends around.
I appreciate the offer but umm I'm gonna be okay
I'm a good listener you know I know you are.
Look, Bobby and I, we broke up a long time ago and I'm over him.
Go.
Oh Trance, good, Take a slip fighter to Hazen-Brown,
try to organize evacuees as best you can in advance of the Andromeda. Go. Going
I'm coming with you. Dylan I'm not gonna faint at the sight of a dead body, I've seen plenty of them
So have I Beka. I've buried more crew than I can count and no one should do it alone.
Besides you can't launch the Maru until I order Andromeda to open the hanger
You would lock me in? Oh absolutely
In that case, welcome aboard. Thank you. Thank you
I was not talking to you Harper Come on, I don't take up that much oxygen.
Look, I really appreciate everyone being so concerned about my emotional well being...
Whoa, whoa, whoa! You think I'm coming just to give you a shoulder to cry on? That's sweet, but no.
I wanna make sure that freakin psycho is good and dead.
How to dump a loser boyfriend in five easy lessons by Seamus Harper.One, two, three, four, five
I take it you and this Bobby Jensen didn't get along.
Bobby Jensen was a self-righteous control freak with a nasty ass temper
Does Harper always stay mad at dead people? Bobby inspired strong emotion. Apparently
Eureka Maru ready for departure Maru you are good to go
Good luck on Hazen-Brown. Tyr, you've got command.
I know you'll display the appropriate sensitivity and diplomacy in dealing with the Chichians
And Tyr, don't break my ship
Hey! Oh! Harper. Sorry. Yeah Boss no officers quarters around here, you can take old Vexpag's bunk. Vexpag?
Yeah, another former crewmate. He's dead too. Dead? Don't worry, it wasn't catching
he had a problem with his EVA suit. Pleasant. Well.
Ow! I've had worse. So Mr. Harper, about Bobby Jensen.
Hero, not a hero, I mean what was he? He was an idiot.
Beka, she's.... she's too loyal for her own good.
Hey, you wanna meet him? Yeah, you wanna meet Bobby Jensen? Sure.Hang on
I guess All right.
Dylan Hunt meet Bobby Jensen
Hey kid, welcome to the Eureka Maru.
What are you doing, recording this?
Sure why the hell not. Here's the speech. We are shipmates we are not friends.
The tugboat belongs to Beka Valentine, Beka Valentine belongs to me.
You mess with either one of them I'll kill you dead.
Yeah, yeah, whatever. What is that? Hang on a second.
What is that? Is that a cerebral port? I've always wanted one of those.
You see that huh? He hit me.
Well, you know you don't like people touching your dataport either. Yeah but when I hit them it's with love.
Besides it doesn't take a genius to see understandably he uh, he felt threatened.
By you. Harper no offense but that guy masses 95 kilos easy.
I mean jealous He saw how awesome looking I was and he thought I was gonna take Beka...
Dylan, do not let him show you what he keeps under his pillow!
I'm afraid to ask We're approaching Coscota system
What do you keep under the pillow? Nothing!
What the hell? Proximity mine, the whole system is salted with them. Beka! Get us the hell outta here! Now!
Beka shut down the engines A minefield, you flew us into a minefield?
Well it wasn't supposed to be there now was it, so mea very culpa. Shutting down
Contact the nearest freighter ship, get an SOS to Andromeda. Cut all power
Contacting, SOSing, cutting all power. Cut all power?
Unless you'd like to find out first hand whether these mines home in on our EM emission, yes, all power
Now what?
One thing I know about minefields is when you walk into one you hold still
There. Like a camping trip, not that I ever went on one
Well that is exactly what we're gonna do, camp in our bunks and wait for Andromeda to arrive with proper mine detection and disarmament.
Anyone know any good campfire stories? You do
The story of Bobby Jensen
Oh come on, I'd like to hear it
Bobby was Bobby
I think you would have liked him Dylan
Beka! Six o'clock, I got your back!
What a surprise, normally when the going gets tough my partners in crime get going
Yeah they say there's no honor among thieves
but you are cuter than normal. So anything to share?
You mean about those industrial diamonds we're supposed to deliver?I was thinking maybe they're not that industrial
It's my haul fair and square. Am I supposed to turn down paying customers just because of bad background checks?
You know what your problem is Captain Valentine? You need to fight for something bigger than diamonds and gold. You need a cause
Maybe. What cause are you fighting for Bobby Jensen?
You. We have so much in common Yeah, come on
It was a sweet little operation. Hello Coscota, goodbye Coscota.
And then Bobby found out they were digging Thorium 232 in those mines
Thorium 232? That stuffs incredibly radioactive
Well somebody obviously forgot to tell the Coscotians because they got about a million of Muganis digging the stuff for them
The Muganis, that's Coscota's aboriginal population? Harper!
Oh you mean those amphibian swamp dwellers with the bad teeth.
Bobby always said they were slaves on their own world. Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. He was such a sucker for a hard luck story
Anyway, Bobby started organizing a Mugani miner's union.
The company was remarkably unreceptive to the idea.
You're right Beka, I think I would have liked him
Yeah. There was a lot to like
You know what I love?
Your arms, your legs
Really?
Uhhuh. Call me crazy but I think there's something sexy about bodily perfection
Hmmm. And me, do you lo...
Quit while you're ahead.
Let's talk about something else. Like what's this new haul of yours and how much is it worth to us?
Computers. And a lot, we pick them up on Earth and deliver them back to Coscota.
And uh, who's this Earth kid that's helping us?
Seamus something or other Harper. A street kid, he wants off Earth
Yeah, well you saw what a dump that place was, who can blame him?
Well he'll do his bit and then...
So you lied to him Just trying to travel light
You are really something
Something? Just not... enough?
Just.... Don't ever lie to me.
Never
You see why I hated him? I stuck up for you, I didn't even know you
Beka, you and Bobby weren't in this bed were you?
And why do you hate Bobby anyway? He saved your life.
What!? When?
Way to sneak in smendrick. It's Harper. And trust me I know what I'm doing, I'm an expert.
I wanted to get my cargo, not give every Nietchean within earshot a 21-gun salute.
Hey you're uh pretty hot, you look smart too.
What are you doing looked up on that junk ship with a steroid case like Bobby?
You could have any number of candidates. Sterling candidates He has his good points, believe me
Screw you!
One of his good points. He's very protective.
Harper you're going to have a to do a better job trying to convince me Bobby was out to get you because so far it sounds like he was playing on your side.
Oh come on! I saved the day in the end.
Oh please! You were such a newbie. I was just glad he didn't get spacesick all over my ship.
Wow! I never been in space before. Are you serious?
Yeah. I never been more than three clicks from the human ghetto. In Boston.
But I can sure get used to this.
I like it! The air don't stink here. Filtered fresh daily
Uh is that normal? A missile to the aft cargo pod by the feel of it.
What's the matter? No one ever shoot at you before?
Yeah. But I've never been shot in the aft. Besides on Earth you can always run away
Same here, except in space you can run to Saturn.
There's plenty of debris and non-specific radiation that should keep us safe from Nietchean sensors until we figure out our next move
Nietcheans. All right all that stuff I said about loving space I officially take it all back.
No way. We are not gonna jettison the cargo
So you would rather face a Nietchean hit squad than dump cargo? Bobby they torture their allies
I would kill anyone who tried to hurt you. You know that
Yes, but you didn't answer my question The Muganis need those computers Beka, okay?
Uh can I say something? No!
Look why don't you go outside and play while Mommy and Daddy talk. Okay?
Fine! Fine, if you think you can steal a hundred Nietchean surface to air missiles and not get stopped, don't let me interrupt.
surface to air missiles!?
Yeah. What? What did you think was in those crates?
Computers. I was told we were carrying computers.
Okeydokie I guess I'd better be goin now.
Missiles? They have computers in them
Get your grubby paws off my cargo!
Keep him away from me! I was just brought it down to check it out I was only trying to help!
He's not going to shoot you That depends on what he did with the wiring
I'm good with mechanical things I can re-rig your missiles so...
They're not my missiles, they belong to the Muganis. Their only hope for freedom
Risking our necks selling weapons to the Muganis?
You've sheen how the Muganis have been exploited in the thorium mines Beka, it breaks your heart
You're breaking mine. I asked you not to lie to me.
They found us. Cover everything back up, now!
You, Hooper, go with me It's Harper
Hey. Did you do it? Is it going to work? Is my name Seamus Zelazny Harper?
God I hope not.
Prepare to jettison cargo. Authorization Beka Valentine
Authorization not recognized what do you mean not recognized?
It's Bobby, he's making a run for Coscota
Oh man, I gotta get me one of those.
You. Go back and stop him
What!? Me? No, no, no, he's big and scary; I'm just small and cute
You want a place to stay or not? You crew on my ship, do as I say
A place to stay? all right, all right, now we're talking. I can do this
Bobby, stop! Bobby I mean it, put him down
Harper dump the cargo, switch behind you
Jettisoning cargo
Beka, if I had told you, you would have said no Damn straight!
If we made the big score and retired we'd be complacent
Living happily and rich ever after was supposed to be the plan
You'd become restless, you know you would.
This is the perfect cause. We can help with what we know
I don't do causes Bobby No Beka, everybody does causes.
Only question is will you pick yours or will it pick you?
In that case, I pick mine, you're looking at her.
Go.
Just go.
Sometimes I think I should have gone with him. I just wasn't that evolved yet
No way Beka, you made the right choice. Besides he's dead now
Harper, he was right you know. The cause did pick me, you guys
Then I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Me too.
Limpet mine Or worse.
With all the sensors down it could be a...
Bobby!? Beka are you happy to see me?
Your force lance, give it up now. I wish I could But I don't want to
Tsk, tsk tsk, don't be like that
What in the hell is gong on? What's going on? You pick your crew over me again?
Come on Hunt, your lance, drop it. I know who you are; I know what you can do.
So, nice and slow.
Margo get their weapons
You're a little different from what Beka described Bobby Didn't you get the message? I died.
Not enough. Close, I stepped on a land mine. Nice to see you Seamus.
It's Harper. I'm sorry to hear that. Sorry it didn't finish you off but you know you're looking great Bobby.
Smoking. Just like my gun arm after a high rate of fire
Still don't know what's going on here the Mugani have finally risen up against their oppressors
That explains the minefield but since you faked your death to get us here I'm guessing the war isn't going well.
Not too bad. Considering that aborigines with rocks and bottles are up against colonists with nuclear arsenals.
We need help.
Well we are always willing to help those who have a worthy cause.
Good because helping them is the only way you get out of here alive.
You two, keep an eye on them while I refamiliarize myself with the cockpit.
So, you're the ex, funny he never took out blonds
Funny he never took out the trash either; I see you've changed him
Beka, cockpit now
I'll be okay
You came, now I know you care
I thought you were dead Sorry about the little fib
but if I had told you what I wanted to do you wouldn't have come
Damn straight.
funny isn't it. People won't show up to help you but they'll show up at your funeral
You want us to help the aborigines I want you to help me. I want you to join the cause
At gunpoint? He doesn't want you, he wants the Andromeda
What are you doing here? What are you doing here?
Look, you want Dylan to negotiate a treaty between the Abos and the colonists, consider it done
Bobby's not looking for peace Beka
Margo take Beka for a walk.
I'll tell you what I'm looking for.
24 hours I want Andromeda here in the Coscota system
with a full load of her kinetic missiles, AP guns and attack drones
You know your high guard weaponry I trained from the best manuals, Argosy Special Forces.
You black ops guys have some great moves Yeah, we have some great moves.
Andromeda doesn't negotiate with hostage takers. Ever.
Dylan, Dylan. Is that what you think you are? Hostages?
We're all good guys here I'm listening
There are 8 hundred million Muganis on Coscota, 50 thousand colonist.
The natives dredge the swamps, mine the ore and the colonist keep the money.
Why? Because they have nukes, the Muganis have slingshots. You're just here to level out the playing field.
I'd rather get all the facts first.
Three missile strikes, three major cities, that's all I need. The Mugani Liberation Army will triumph.
With you at the head
You have seen Lem. The Muganis are not exactly ready for self-government
Assuming there are any left to govern.
You are talking about starting a planetary civil war; millions of the Mugani will die.
So here's my idea. Power share with the colonists There's no power sharing with the people who did this
This is what to tell the Andromeda No ad-libs
Andromeda proceed immediately to Coscota.
Best Speed. Dylan out.
His heart is racing, his breathing is shallow and his eyelids are fluctuating.There's something he's not telling us.
No he's definitely telling us something
One.
Four.
Oh.
Five.
AC Fourteen-five.
Argosy code fourteen-five, it means Dylan has been taken hostage in a war zone.
I am to approach with caution and be prepared to fire on his position.
He's telling us to kill him? If necessary, yes. That is exactly what he is telling us to do.
Lem. That is your name right? No talk
How long have you been traveling with Bobby? long enough, no talk. Stop!
Down.
Up.
After you Down! Move.
It doesn't look very comfortable Lem No talk! Down! Now!
Lem, tell me about the Muganis. If I remember my comparative linguistics
Mugani meads 'reed', right? The reed people?
My grandfather, he could hide in the wet mud for hours
breathe through hollow reed. Wait for frogs,
we were great hunters.
They drained the swamps
Bringing down weapons of mass destruction on the colonist won't bring back the swamps Lem
Maybe not, but maybe it will make them go away
Maybe, But at a cost Lem. Many of your people will die
They're already dying. Lem there's a better way.
You be quiet now
Bobby, let them go. Dylan never did anything to you
Never did anything for me either. If you're not with me you're against me.
He's not against you; he's against your methods
I can't remember you being so squeamish when we flew contraband under the FTA sensors
I don't remember you being so brutal. I remember a Bobby that touched me
With arms and legs that you loved. You don't think that I remember?
What did they do to you Bobby? What I told them to do. To make me invulnerable
Listen to me,
you leave them be and I'll stay.
Just you and me together just like before
Just like before?
No. I didn't think so.
It's why I have to win.
It's all I got
Where'd Lem go? He's taking a nap.
Mugwumps are nocturnal
You surprise me Margo. Why? Because I can say 'nocturnal'?
No because you say 'Mugwumps'. Debasing them with slurs, I thought you were here to fight for the dignity for the Mugani people.
Bobby's here to fight for the dignity of the Mugani's, I'm here for Bobby Oh. That could get you killed
I'm not afraid of dying. Besides, we could actually win
And then you can help Bobby remake Coscota in his image
Well it's good to be queen And I'm sure that you have a role set up for all the Muganis.
They're already trained and ready to serve
Well if you'll excuse me I have to go check on my Mugwump
You do that.
You heard her Lem, ready to serve in the royal court of Margo?
She's not like Bobby!
I'm glad you know what you're doing Lem. Glad you know what you're doing.
What is taking Andromeda so long?
You know for the life of me I'm trying to remember why I was ever jealous of you
Cause I was with Beka. Uh, No. I always knew she'd get smart and dump you.
I think it was because of that dataport in your neck. Mine's bigger.
No it's not
What the hell was that?
What's he doing? Just rattling your cage Bobby
And what was that?
One of Andromeda's grappling harpoons. It sounds like she's opening hostage negotiations
Wow! What a ship. She's beautiful.
Bucky cables, she's trying to pull us in. Hailing Andromeda Ascendant. Hailing Andromeda Ascendant!
Talk to me damn it!
Why is your ship not responding?
Rommie won't listen to ransom demands. The only person she'll talk to is me.
Well maybe this will attract her attention.
AP overload in twenty minutes
Andromeda! I know you can hear me now! I've set the AP tanks on the Maru to breach.
Either you surrender control to me now or I turn your captain into space dust.
Be my guest
Hey Lem! What? Sit. Talk to me. We're all gonna be vaporized, we might as well get to know each other
No! Bobby will win. Bobby always wins
No offense but I think you picked the wrong team. Bobby's not even playing on your side
Bobby fights the colonists Yes and the colonist s are wrong I know that.
They have victimized you and all the Muganis but remember
the colonists made you slaves don't let someone else do it all over again.
I don't take orders from you! That's good. That's good, Lem. You shouldn't
Well that's the spirit
Estimated time to proton anti-proton event eighteen minutes thirty-two seconds
Apparently we are to try our hand at a game of Brinkmanship. Provide me with options!
I'm analyzing available data and exploring all possible courses of action
Being the most powerful warship in three galaxies please provide me with something more impressive than do nothing
We can't run. So should I just hand over my armory? No.
I would evacuate the planet but I can't airlift 72 million Muganis per minute
or perhaps you would prefer I dematerialize Dylan's body form the Maru and magically rematerialize it her on Command?
You choices are to let the Eureka Maru self destruct which would destroy both vessels
or launch a pre-emptive strike destroying the Maru only.
They're your choices acting Captain Tyr Anasazi
Then by all means, let's risk our lives for Dylan.
Hey gorgeous, I know you're charming and all
but do you mind stop putting ideas in my Mugwump's tiny little brain? It confuses him
Lem is a lot smarter than you give him credit for gorgeous.
In fact I suspect most people are smarter than you give them credit for
Hey it's good to see you Hiya! I'm gonna blow the lock,
No!No!No! It's rigged to explode Oh. You need the key. I'll be right back
AP overload in fifteen minutes
Stop, Back to the cockpit. It's over Bobby. No it's not
Beka! I told you I'm a lot less vulnerable than I used to be.
Don't you see? If they cared about you as much as I do they wouldn't let it go on this long
No Bobby, they just care about a cause bigger than themselves Causes, causes
AP overload in ten minutes
There was a time when you loved me Bobby but I wasn't ready You're still not
You wanted me to share your cause, now I do. All of us do. Freedom for the Muganis
And now you're with Hunt not me
Well Dylan never lied to me Really?
Overload in five minutes
Lem, get Harper. Seal that fissure now! GO!
Time to combustion...wait
the AP count has leveled off. The engine is NOT going critical
Dylan did that.
We are in geosyncronis orbit. Rommie can handle it
I know. Keeping busy helps.
So umm how are the peace talks going?
Difficult. There's a lot of years of hurt. A lot of years of mistrust.
No one wants to risk feeling vulnerable.
Beka... about Bobby... I I know,
I uh I think when they made his new body they took his humanity
No. No one can ever take that away from you.