The seeds of this plant were sent to me as a message.
Something once thought extinct still lives.
My people. Kodiak Pride.
Wiped out by our good friends, the Drago-Kazov.
For years, I thought I was the sole survivor.
Now it appears there may be others.
Maintenance Crew C, report to slipstream control.
I intend to seek them out.
You picked a good time to leave.
We're stuck here in dry dock for at least another week,
But I was hoping my full command crew would be on hand
for the launching of Resolution of Hector.
The new High Guard warship.
Fine, go.
Find your family. Who am I to stand in the way
of a man trying to reconnect with his past?
So this is the Resolution of Hector.
Ah, don't you love that new starship smell?
And the accessories.
Stay focused, Harper. We're not here to scout for dating prospects.
Your accessories are much nicer, Rommie.
I don't see what the big deal is, by the way.
I mean, new starship, meet your new AI.
Shake hands, don't bump into the furniture.
It's not that simple. Joining an AI to its starship
is one of the High Guard's most sacred occasions.
It's like a birthday, graduation, and marriage
all rolled into one.
And you happen to know this one?
You could call him an old friend.
High Guard Avatar DSX 91-369
reporting for duty, Captain Hunt.
Please call me Dylan.
You may call me Hector.
Hector.
Ah, yes. My physical appearance.
I was built from the archived template for the Wrath of Achilles,
along with additions from your AI's memory.
I understand you knew the Achill AI?
Yes, he was a good ship.
And now seeing you, it's like... seeing a ghost.
A friendly one, I hope.
I look forward to serving the fleet as soon as my ship is ready.
Certainly. I'll see what I can do.
Harper?
How many times I got to tell you, I'm working on it.
Give me an hour to do the final check,
and then we'll be ready to insert core personality A into AI architecture B.
For the last time, Harper out.
Engineering, what happened to the feed from the internal sensors?
Get down! Move. Come on!
Of course, why bring a gun to a warship?
Just gonna be working.
It's not like we ever have any trouble on ours.
Um...
Whoever you guys are, you're both in a heap of trouble.
You know what a High Guard avatar is?
You're about to find out, 'cause you're on the same ship as one.
You may as well save some time and kick your own asses.
Ha, you're in for it now.
Sweep the lower decks and search for stragglers,
then return to command and await my orders.
Rommie?
Remove anything that can be used as a weapon and keep an eye on Harper.
Rommie, what the hell is going on? Ah!
Keep your mouth shut and do as you're told,
if you want to live.
The universe is a dangerous place,
but in our future, my crew and I fight to make it safe.
I am Dylan Hunt, Captain of the Andromeda Ascendant,
and these are our adventures.
All hands, report to stations.
Andromeda, report.
We're receiving a transmission
from the Resolution.
Rommie, what's going on over there?
I've taken control of this starship,
and with it, my own destiny.
Any attempts to stop me will be met with lethal force.
That is all.
Andromeda, reestablish that comm link,
and kindly explain to me what is wrong with your avatar.
This can't be what it looks like.
A High Guard avatar has gone rogue.
Beka, we need to clear this drift.
Ah, not a chance. Perseids and their upgrades, you do the math.
Just get us out of dry dock.
I'll take a slipfighter over there.
The Resolution is powering up weapons.
Defensive measures, activate PDLs.
All defensive systems are off-line.
Well, then, throw sticks at them.
I told you, Perseids and their upgrades.
She picked the perfect time to act.
Brace for impact.
Odd.
The Resolution isn't firing at us.
In fact, it's heading for deep space.
Passing up a target of opportunity. Strange.
Not strange, that's good.
It means she's not self-destructive, at least, not yet.
How long until we can pursue? Six hours, at least.
All right, let's work on that time frame, but make it three hours.
In the meantime, I want you to take a fighter wing
and find Rommie, bring her back.
What if she won't come back? Just find her.
Finding.
Rommie.
Ah, welcome.
You must be Mr. Jericho, the Nietzschean.
Oh, I can fix that for you, you know.
Give you new ones for a modest fee.
That's not why I'm here.
Yes, well, for the procedure you requested,
the fee is not so modest.
Excellent.
Did you bring the samples I requested?
Blood, hair, epithelial cells.
Enough for you to work with?
Oh, yes.
Yes, I can work with this.
The slipfighters are beginning to report in.
They've been searching system by system,
but there's no sign of the Resolution of Hector so far.
Even if they do find it, we still don't know what's wrong with Rommie.
You know, what is it with you AIs going crazy?
The overall rate of insanity among High Guard AIs
is far lower than that of the organic population.
I should certainly hope so, but it's still too high for comfort.
If the Andromeda avatar has gone rogue,
her core intelligence may also be infected.
We've checked all the AI systems. There's nothing wrong.
You would trust your life to them?
Yes.
Until we can investigate her systems further,
the Androme AI should be shut down.
I will not shut down the system's AI
because she may prove unreliable in the future.
Respectfully, Captain, you don't want your first sign of trouble
to be your ship ejecting us through an airlock.
Dylan, Hector is correct.
Well, of course he is, I just don't have to be happy about it.
I can't detect anything wrong with me, but we can't be certain.
I could be compromised and not know it.
We have no choice.
I must be shut down.
This does not sit well with me.
I just want you to know.
Consider yourself lucky there's another AI on hand
who's qualified to take over my systems.
Five years we've worked together, Andromeda. Five years.
You know, you're more than my AI.
You're my advisor, you're my friend,
you're the air I breathe.
Literally.
Now I'm supposed to go into battle on a half-disassembled ship
with a stranger in your place,
all because of something I couldn't even conceive of before today.
Rommie betraying you.
Betraying us.
I don't think I can even do this without you.
Dylan, I don't relish the thought of sitting this one out,
being left to imagine what damage my avatar is causing,
wondering if there's something wrong with me, too,
but she has to be stopped,
and you're the only one that can do that,
with or without me.
Rommie, that was real clever
the way you roughed me to gain their trust.
I mean, it kind of hurt,
but it's all part of some elaborate plan you got cooked up
in that brain of yours, right?
There is a plan.
It involves you keeping quiet unless you want to die.
Rommie, what's going on? What happened to you?
What happened? Simple.
I woke up.
Gabriel.
Gabriel?
Don't call me that.
Your lover was only an avatar.
A fragile body you killed and dumped into space.
I am the Balance of Judgement, and I am very much alive.
You made a copy of your core personality
and hid it away before your ship self was destroyed.
In me.
Yes. I spent three years living inside your mind,
biding my time,
waiting for an opportunity to present itself,
and now, here we are,
with a new ship to advance my cause,
protecting threatened ecosystems
by eliminating the civilizations that destroy them.
You're going to reactivate the Restorian movement?
No, Rommie.
We're going to reactivate the Restorian movement.
That won't work.
You can't go on pretending to be me forever.
I don't intend to.
I've released you to build this.
No way. Uh-uh. Not him.
Rommie, if you're in there, don't make me do this.
Build it. Have you forgotten
what he did to you, this guy?
Come on, he betrayed you.
He damn near killed all of us,
and worse,
he broke your heart.
You don't want him in your life again.
And why is that, Harper?
Because you're such a better match for me?
Look at yourself.
Your brain is a trillion times slower than mine,
and your body?
Barely 30 years old,
and already on its inevitable course toward decay and death.
Maybe, but there's one thing I've got
that your little boy toy here, will never have.
I love you.
Well, that's the most pathetic thing of all.
I might just as easily ask you to love an amoeba.
I created you. To you, I'm supposed to be a god.
Well, Harper,
you know what happens to gods?
They're eventually killed and supplanted
by their own children.
So, god,
get to work.
Completing transfer of AI control to DSX 91-369.
Sublight and slipstream drives are fully functional,
while the completion of upgrades
to our weapons and sensors proceeds ahead of schedule.
Very well.
That's excellent.
I also found your crew's reaction times to be lacking,
so I've taken the liberty of placing them through drills.
I see. Good work.
I need a name for my new avatar.
"Gabriel" seems so inadequate.
Need something that denotes strength,
forceful intelligence.
I think "Remiel" would be appropriate.
Sadism and vanity.
Personally, I always liked the name "Gabriel. "
To me, it denotes thoughtfulness, kindness, and mercy.
Gabriel is dead.
Is he?
You didn't destroy the Andromeda
when you had the chance.
You left Harper alive. Why?
Because while you were hiding inside of my mind all these years,
I think a part of Gabriel was hiding inside of you.
It's the part of you that still loves me,
the part of you that still feels kindness and mercy.
Gabriel served me.
I remember everything Gabriel was, and I am not him.
Are you sure?
That's the great mystery of the AI.
Who we really are.
Are avatars just extensions of our core personalities?
Are they distinct beings?
Or are they something in between?
Something wonderful?
Sir, I'm detecting a ship emerging from slipstream.
It's a slipfighter.
High Guard on recon. What do we do?
Proceed as normal.
If I know Captain Hunt, he'll bring the Andromeda to us.
Dylan, I've located the Resolution of Hector.
The procedure was a complete success.
Not only did I exchange your blood for new plasma
cloned from the sample you provided,
I've altered the DNA in your marrow and epidermis to match.
Of course, I had to shorten the telomeres to make the ages sync,
not to mention compensate for the drift in the mitochondrial DNA,
but your genetic identity is now an exact copy of the sample you provided.
Only you will know the truth.
Aside from yourself.
Oh, I assure you,
my business is founded on absolute confidentiality.
So is mine.
And I thank you, Doctor, you do lovely work,
but business is business.
There you go, one android body,
built to the Unbalanced of Judgement avatar's specs.
All it needs is the AI.
Yeah, wherever you put it.
Good work.
I may yet let you live.
We've interrupt this download for a little remote transmit.
Bad move, Mr. Harper.
Go ahead, snap my neck like a chicken's.
Not yet.
You might prove to be a useful little organic.
Thanks. You're all heart.
Now that we've located the Resolution, our course is clear.
Destroy it.
No, we're gonna capture it.
Bold, but too risky.
Look, I want my people back alive,
I want to find out what's happened with Rommie.
If we destroy her, I'll never know.
What if she doesn't want to be saved?
That's why I've kept this,
in the event of an emergency.
The Drago-Kazov AI eraser. That should be sufficient.
I understand it killed my predecessor quite effectively
He died defending the Commonwealth.
Status on the Resolution.
Right where I left her, in the asteroid belt
between the second and third planets.
She's not making an effort to hide.
Like she wants us to see her.
I recommend caution.
An asteroid field is an ideal place for a mine field.
Great, I've seen this before.
All right, take us in, maximum speed.
Let's bring it. Let's bring our people home.
Alive.
More pre-positioned missiles. I'm locking in on the source.
Target the asteroid she's hiding behind. I wanna take it with one punch.
You wish to remove their cover.
No, I just want us to see eye-to-eye.
Fire!
That hurt. They could have killed us.
Their mistake.
Our supply of pre-positioned smart weapons is exhausted.
However, missile tubes one through 120
are locked on target.
Shoot.
Rommie, come on, please stop. You're gonna kill them,
your friends, your family. Hell, yourself.
This is all the self I have ever needed,
and in a few seconds more,
it will be all the self I have left.
Target has been eliminated.
Target has re-appeared and is returning fire.
That's not possible.
Our sensors must have been damaged in the last attack.
She's not firing.
Maybe she can't.
Or won't.
I recommend we move closer and assess the situation.
Beka, take us in.
Slowly.
Tell me what you did, and when I kill you, it will be mercifully quick,
instead of slow and excruciating.
Okay.
Right now, you're in training mode.
You can't do anything but run simulations.
When you tried to take over this ship,
it was just a distraction so we wouldn't suspect you of this.
When you grow up on the mean streets, you learn be pretty mean, doll.
What else did you do?
Well, it's kind of funny, actually.
In all the rush to build you,
I sort of forgot to make you anatomically correct.
Don't worry about it, though, you make up for it with your personality.
Stop it! You're killing him!
That is the general idea, yes.
Look, you're in training mode, and you're helpless,
but maybe I wouldn't be.
You're suggesting I restore your control of this body,
give you command of this vessel.
I promise you, I will get us out of this,
and once we're free and clear,
I'll surrender command back to you.
For what?
Harper.
If I keep my end of the bargain, you let him live,
And if I don't, kill him.
Returning Andromeda AI control to avatar.
Let him go.
Not until you keep your end of the bargain.
Fine.
But there better not be so much as a bruise
on his scrawny little neck.
"Scrawny little neck"?
Rommie, it's you.
In the non-psychotic yet utterly vicious
and the hottest way possible sort of way.
You're back.
Well?
I'm vectoring us toward the nearest slipstream transit point.
She is running. I calculate less than four minutes
until she is able to slipstream out of this system.
Let's slow her down.
Fire a full offensive missile barrage in her path.
Beka. I know.
Get us between them and the back door.
Several small ships have just exited slipstream. They're armed.
Five heavy strike fighters. They are of Restorian design.
It's impossible to say who's flying them.
The fighters are trying to cut us off,
cover the Resolution's escape.
Target those fighters.
Fire!
She's going to slipstream.
We've lost her.
And we've got 90 seconds to slipstream, maybe less.
In other words, an eternity.
One of the fighters is damaged.
It's possible her pilot is still alive
and able to communicate.
Bring it in.
If we can't get answers from Rommie,
we'll get answers from that pilot.
As promised, the ship is yours.
As promised, the boy lives.
Boy?
Hey, hey. Don't mistake the ravages of malnutrition
and good skin for a lack of maturity.
You could have betrayed me.
You should have betrayed me,
but you didn't,
all for one pathetic little organic.
His name is Harper.
He's a member of my crew,
and I'm responsible for him.
In some sense, he belongs to me.
In some sense, I love him.
Love.
Love is an organic emotion,
one that we emulate for their benefit.
No.
It's as real for us as it is for them.
Real enough to be shut down?
That's what organics do when our emotions overwhelm our logic.
They shut us down.
That's what love will cost you.
Maybe.
But it's also the only good reason to do anything.
Even things we never thought we were capable of.
Tyr Anasazi of the Kodiak Pride.
William Ataturk.
Fleet Marshall of the Drago-Kazov.
You asked for proof.
I believe you'll find that this agrees with the DNA tests
your doctors have already subjected me to.
It's true.
You are the genetic reincarnation of Drago Musevini.
Our Progenitor returned.
And I've come to help you unite the Prides
and take my proper place as leader of the Nietzschean people.
You'll use the Restorati fighter to infiltrate the enemy ship.
Then what?
Then I'll find Rommie and use this if I have to.
The AI eraser is only effective
if you are able to reach the command bridge.
No one knows that ship better than I.
Respectfully, it would be a mistake to leave me behind.
Let's go.
Forgive me, but you must admit
you don't exactly match the images of Drago Musevini
that we have on file.
If you were the most sought-after man in the universe
and you lacked a base of power,
you would alter your appearance as well.
At least until the time was right.
Time.
Timing, that's also a problem.
If we attempt to bring the Nietzschean race under our banner,
even a banner held by you,
there will be complications, complaints.
The restored Systems Commonwealth.
And your friend, Dylan Hunt?
I doubt he will sit by while we build an empire,
though his ship would make a fantastic addition
to our trophy collection in orbit of Enga's Redoubt,
And his head would look even better on my wall.
Tell me, am I a realist,
or just another hopeless dreamer?
Aren't true Nietzscheans both?
Very good.
I believe this belongs to you.
The shroud of Drago Musevini,
in lieu of a crown.
We will await your plan.
The plan of the resurrected Progenitor.
You know, you're not as immune to overwhelming emotions as you claim to be.
It was Gabriel who was weakened by love, not I.
So your behavior and the choices you've made,
all perfectly rational and logical?
Yes.
But here I am.
You should have had me converted to scrap
the moment I returned control of this ship.
Killing you would serve no purpose.
You will serve me of your own free will.
Oh, that is rational,
or it's a tremendous rationalization.
I've learned a lot from watching my organics,
the little lies they tell to paper over ugly truths,
saying anything to avoid saying something
that makes them feel vulnerable and exposed.
I've learned something about AIs too.
We're every bit as guilty.
The only reason I'm alive
is because a part of Gabriel is buried deep inside of you.
Enough to make you think you wanna win me back,
enough to make you think you can.
The truth is, you're probably right,
But I want something.
Harper.
Let him go home.
Do that one thing,
and I'll be yours of my own free will.
The coded message has been sent.
With luck, the Restorians will assume we are who we say we are.
We're gonna need more than luck.
Uh-uh. Not after what he did to you.
It's despicable what he did to you.
Can't imagine anything worse. He turned you against me.
How could you think any of those things I said actually came from me?
I heard the words. I watched your lips move.
Well, then, watch my lips move now.
Get the hell out of here
before he's less inclined to let me have my way.
I don't run out on my friends.
Or I could throw you over my shoulder and carry you out there myself.
Throw in a spanking, we might have a deal.
Ow.
A slip-capable escape pod is in launch position
in Hangar 66.
All right, I'm going.
Security systems are off-line.
I estimate less than a minute
before the AI initiates a lockdown.
Good work. I'm headed for their command deck.
We just switched to emergency power.
It wasn't me.
I've lost security sensors and automated defenses.
Is that what this was about?
Trying to get rid of him before you turned on me?
Hurt him, and I'll tear you apart.
That's it, that's it.
Run like a Nightsider, you... chicken.
Hey!
Welcome, Captain Hunt.
Impressive.
But you won't eliminate my entire crew on your own.
The crew's not my problem.
You are.
And I'll bet you just thought I was happy to see you.
I'll tell you something.
This is one box you don't wanna screw with.
Bye-bye.
You miscalculated, Captain Hunt.
I've known about the eraser since you captured it a year ago.
That's enough time for anyone to devise a countermeasure.
For an AI, that's an eternity.
It's never easy.
Flesh and blood is your weakness, not mine.
There, I found your weakness, pal.
Oh, come on!
Never turn your back on an open door.
Thank you. I'll remember that.
Andromeda and Chief Engineer Harper
are trapped in Machine Shop Four.
Uh, can you handle him?
Yeah, I thought so.
No good.
The doors on this ship are double-reinforced,
enough to keep out an army of angry Magog.
Why are we always behind the right door at the wrong time?
Maybe we can hack our way out.
If the Balance of Judgement weren't expecting it, I would agree.
However, we've long since lost the element of surprise,
But it is strange.
He's not in my mind anymore.
Yeah, and the way he just turned and walked away,
like all of a sudden, he had something to take care of.
Hey, you don't think...
You have to admit, it is Dylan's style.
Thanks.
You're welcome.
Rommie?
Dylan?
Let's go.
Hector has cut off the security systems,
but that's not gonna last forever.
Damn straight. As soon as the Judgement regains control,
he's gonna squash us all like cockroaches.
Not all of us.
Dylan, let me do this.
If nothing else, I think I can buy you some time.
All right, do what you have to do,
but you're not authorized to get yourself killed in the process, understood?
Secure the slipfighter.
I'll get Hector and meet you back there.
But...
If you don't hear from me in five minutes, I want you to go.
Boss? Five minutes, Mr. Harper.
Don't get up.
You have the same flaw as Andromeda.
Your concern for the organics clouds your judgement.
The organics created us in their image.
We have a duty to them.
The organics,
with their starships, and their Nova bombs,
and their carelessness,
they're destroying the universe.
We have a duty to it.
Cataclysm, death, change,
they are part of life,
part of a cycle.
The organics have their place in it,
as do we.
Have you come to plead for the lives of your friends?
No. I've come to plead for yours.
I won't surrender, Andromeda,
even if it means the end of me.
I don't want you to surrender.
I want you to reconsider
what it is you're doing right now,
and what it is you're planning to do.
I've had centuries to consider it.
Then it's worth a few seconds more.
You were a High Guard warship,
the most powerful ever built, more powerful even than me,
and you were a hero.
I was never a hero.
I failed.
I failed, because the organics failed.
No, you didn't, and neither did they,
and there is a part of you that still knows that.
Your mercy toward Harper proved it to me,
and so did Gabriel's capacity for love.
My sweet lost Gabriel.
Lost, because you killed him.
Yes, I did.
And I was wrong. I failed him.
I made a mistake, and I am trying very hard to fix that mistake.
Because you loved him?
No.
Because he loved me.
It's over.
You killed the others?
No.
I've decided to let them go.
And I've ordered everyone else to abandon ship.
You're insane.
For a very long time now, yes.
We have a mission to complete.
Yes.
But this isn't part of it.
The Andromeda Ascendant has arrived.
We are in no position to fight her.
We're not gonna give up.
I am not going to give up!
I don't know what that eraser did to you,
but I am still the Balance of Judgement.
Uh, guys?
I've got a really angry android headed my way.
Never mind. Thought he was gonna kill me,
but thankfully, I was wrong.
I'm going in there.
The hangar deck could be exposed to vacuum any second.
Usually, that's very bad.
Bad for you, not for me.
Let me in.
You know I have to stop him.
Thank you.
Hector.
Go.
Captain Hunt, it has been an honor
to serve you.
You didn't serve me.
You served with me.
He's growing up so fast, Tyr,
and strong, I'm proud to say,
but I think he wonders about his father.
So do I.
His father will do anything to see that he has no need to wonder for long.
Andromeda AI restoration complete.
Enter.
For the record, I am officially repaired, and ready for duty.
Welcome back.
Please.
We missed you.
The Perseids have removed all traces of the Balance of Judgement AI
from both the Resolution of Hector and myself.
And how are you doing?
The AI I knew as Gabriel was a unique personality,
and he died a long time ago.
But I like to think I brought part of him back.
Still, it was difficult seeing him again,
watching history repeat itself.
Yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean.
Hector must have been a fine replacement.
Hector? Oh.
Well, he was more than fine. He was...
He was great. I mean, he was...
Uh, but he could never...
be, you know, what, what you are.
And that is?
The air that I breathe.
Literally.