Here is the price of freedom:
Your every drop of courage,
ounce of pain, pint of blood.
Paid in advance.

Sebastian Lee
"The Rising Tide" AFC 271

[Command]

(The Andromeda is fighting three small attacking craft. One goes KaBoom.)
TYR: Target one eliminated. Switching fire control to target two.
HUNT: Can you identify the source of the distress call?
TYR: It is an Enduring Victory class armoured transport. Nietzschean design, Sabra-Jaguar Pride markings.
ROMMIE: One of the Nietzschean ships has turned to fire on us.
(Andromeda shakes.)
HUNT: Big mistake. Tyr, fire.
TYR: Firing.
(KaBOOM. KaBOOM.)
TYR: Targets two and three eliminated. Fire control locked onto transport.
HUNT: Tyr, we are allied with the Sabra-Jaguar Pride.
TYR: Theoretically.
HUNT: Well, theoretically, hold your fire.
TYR: Sir.
HUNT: For now.
ROMMIE: The transport is hailing us.
HUNT: On screen.
ELSSBETT [on viewscreen]: Hello, Dylan. Thrilling entrance, as always.
HUNT: Elssbett. What are you doing here?
ELSSBETT: Just extending an invitation.
HUNT: I'm sure you could have found an easier way. So, so what is this? Another wedding?
ELSSBETT: A different kind of party. Pride Sabra-Jaguar is going to war with the Drago-Kasov, and you're the guest of honour.

[Corridor]

ELSSBETT: According to our agents on Enga's Redoubt, the Dragans are refitting hundreds of their old decommissioned warships, and when they're through, they will have doubled the size of their fleet. Their first target will be the Jaguar homeworld.
HUNT: You know, that's funny. I have agents too, and according to them, you're building a major new war fleet of your own.
ELSSBETT: Unfortunately, ours won't be ready for months. Theirs launches in a week.
HUNT: Well, if that's the case, shouldn't you be at home taking care of your new son?
ELSSBETT: I forgot how tall you are. Charlemagne is a wonderful lover, but his stature does leave something to be desired. Much like the current size of our fleet. Luckily, we have you to make up for our unfortunate deficiencies.
HUNT: Is that so?
ELSSBETT: This is a copy of the Mutual Defence Pact between the signatories of your Commonwealth Charter. Signatories which include the Sabra-Jaguar Pride.
HUNT: You want me to fight the Dragans for you?
ELSSBETT: Actually, by the terms of this pact, I demand it.

[Another corridor]

ROMMIE: I cannot believe we are going to war to help Elssbett and the Jaguars.
BEKA: Well, you know that old expression. Politics make strange bedfellows.
ROMMIE: Well, it wouldn't be the first time.
BEKA: First time for what?
ROMMIE: Our problem is with our other allies. Castalia, Moebius, Sintii. They're not exactly superpowers. I'm Dylan's only real military asset.
BEKA: One he can't afford to lose.
ROMMIE: Mmm hmm.
BEKA: Unfortunately, Dylan gave Charlemagne and the Jaguars his word, and that's the one thing he's got that's even less expendable than you.

[Command]

(Andromeda comes out of slipstream and joins a fleet.)
BEKA: We're approaching the rendezvous point.
ROMMIE: Dylan, according to the messages I'm processing from the Sabra-Jaguar fleet, there have been a series of battles on the Jaguar frontier. The war has already started.
HUNT: Once again, your timing is impeccable.
ELSSBETT: I do my best.
ROMMIE: Updating the tactical situation. The Dragans have taken Hruska and Barbour systems.
ELSSBETT: Hruska? Already? That's the key to the entire Diogenes Cluster. Signal my fleet. Let them know Hruska will be our first military objective.
HUNT: Belay that, Rommie. I am the Supreme Commander of our combined forces. If you want my help, you do as I say.
ELSSBETT: Where have I heard that before?
HUNT: Well, unless you want to continue the fight on your own?
ELSSBETT: So controlling. I'll return to my fleet and inform them of the new chain of command. With the Supreme Commander's permission, of course.
HUNT: Permission granted, of course.
(Elssbett leaves.)
BEKA: Oh! She didn't salute. Shouldn't she salute?
HUNT: Well, I'm thinking that maybe she went to the Beka Valentine School of Military Discipline.
ROMMIE: Dylan, I've just picked up a coded message in the comm. traffic, directed through us and relayed through Moebius intelligence.
HUNT: I'll take it in my quarters.
ROMMIE: Actually, it's addressed to Harper.

[Machine shop]

(A hologram pops in.)
HARPER: Brendan!
BRENDAN: Seamus. It's been a long time, cuz-o. Too long.
HARPER: Right back at you.
BRENDAN: Too long. Look, I heard about you and your friends. This new Commonwealth thing sounds like a choice scam. Wish I'd thought of it myself. The thing is, er, we've been hearing rumours back home that there's a war coming between your Dylan and the Dragans. The übers are stocking up on workers, Seamus. The slave raids are getting worse every day. We need your help, and more. When this war comes, we want in. It's time, Seamus. It's time to rise up and drive the Dragans off of Earth forever.

[Corridor]

HARPER: For crying out loud! I'm not just talking about some mudball here. We're talking about Earth. Terra! The mother world of all humanity. It's only the most important planet in the whole freaking universe!
ROMMIE: Hardly. There are ten million, four hundred and thirty three thousand Tarn-Vedra class planets in the known universe. In the Dragan Empire alone, there are eight hundred and thirty seven slave planets just like Earth.
HARPER: Slave planets?
ROMMIE: Mmm-hmm.
BEKA: I think what Rommie's trying to say in her usual diplomatic fashion is that Earth isn't what she used to be.
HARPER: No, she's not. Not since the Drago-Kasov pride conquered her, destroyed our economy and enslaved our entire population. Yeah, that would pretty much make things suck, but we have a chance to fix that now, and we have to take it.
ROMMIE: Harper, I don't want you to get your hopes up. We're fighting a war, and we don't have the time or the resources to liberate every slave planet in the Dragan Empire.
HARPER: All right, all right. What exactly are you trying to tell me here, huh? That Earth doesn't matter?
HUNT: Unfortunately, Earth doesn't matter. Unless we make it matter.

[Command]

HARPER: You want me to go by myself?
HUNT: No, you can take Rommie.
HARPER: I got a better idea. How about you round up all those warships out there, head to Earth, and blast the Dragan garrison to pieces?
HUNT: I intend to, after I've drawn the Dragan fleet out of position, and as soon as you and Rommie make sure that all their armoured units are out in the streets where they're vulnerable.
HARPER: Great. Start the revolution without me. Anything else I can do for you? Transmute the elements? Reverse entropy? Make you a sandwich?
HUNT: I won't make you go. Your cousin doesn't even know we got his message. Besides, I could use you here. But if you want freedom for Earth, Harper, you're going to have to fight for it.

[Eureka Maru]

ROMMIE: So, what's Earth like?
HARPER: What do you care? It has no strategic value, remember?
ROMMIE: Harper, I'm a warship. I always consider the military situation first. It's my nature. But I do care.
HARPER: Well, it's a place you love. It's a, you know, it's a good feeling. Until you have to see it all torn down around you.
ROMMIE: And there's nothing you can do to stop it.
HARPER: We tried. Me and Brendan and our buddy, Isaac. Yeah, we thought we could beat the Nietzscheans all by ourselves. We'd steal their weapons, we'd mess with their floater engines, we'd blow shrillers outside their barracks at night.
ROMMIE: Shrillers?
HARPER: These little whistles I invented. They, they'd extend into the ultrasonic and irritate the hell out of Nietzschean ear canals. We'd blow them and they would run like hell.
ROMMIE: Sounds like fun.
HARPER: Yeah, it was. It was. Until, er, until they ambushed us. An entire Nietzschean platoon outside the barracks waiting for us to show up with our stupid little toys. Brendan spotted it right away. He's good like that. He warned me, but Isaac was on the other side of the compound and we could hear his shrilling, and then it was cut off by gunshots. Yeah, you're going to love Earth.

[Officer's mess]

ELSSBETT: A direct assault on the Dragan capital? That's suicide.
TYR: I would agree, were it not for our Captain Hunt. His survival instincts are, well, formidable.
ELSSBETT: And if they weren't, you'd be commanding this starship instead of the human?
TYR: The current state of affairs serves my purpose.
ELSSBETT: A purpose which might be better served by gaining entry into my family.
TYR: Oh, please. I don't need to marry one of your spare sisters in order to achieve my goals.
ELSSBETT: Who said anything about a sister? Now, tell me the captain's true intentions.
TYR: It will take a great deal more than a whispered promise to extract from me any further information than I've provided already. However, you are oh so very welcome to try.

[Eureka Maru]

(They round the Moon.)
HARPER: There she is, Rommie. The blue jewel of the galaxy. Earth.
ROMMIE: Huh. Craters, high levels of carbon dioxide, soot, ash, nuclear fallout. Lovely.
HARPER: Hey! At least all that crap in the atmosphere makes us harder to detect. The question is, how do we get around that Nietzschean orbital defence network?

[Tunnels]

(Below a ruined city.)
HARPER: I got to hand it to you, Rommie. I got to hand it to you. An artificial meteor swarm? It's brilliant! And that is why I love me for making you. er, and I mean I do love you too. And by making, I do mean in a, ahem, professional sort of way.
ROMMIE: About that. When we meet your friends, don't mention I'm an android. I've found on missions like this it's always best to hold a few surprises back from everyone concerned.
HARPER: What's the matter, Rommie? You don't want to listen to me brag the whole time we're here?
ROMMIE: No.
HARPER: Deal. Ah, the smells of home. This way.
(A girl steps out of a doorway. Rommie draws her forcelance and she steps back in.)
HARPER: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
ROMMIE: She's so frightened.
HARPER: She's got a lot to be frightened about. It's okay, you can come out. It's okay.
(The girl steps out with a little girl behind her.)
HARPER: Oh, is this your sister or your cousin? Well, either way, you're both very beautiful, very brave young ladies. Can you do me a favour? Can you please try and find Brendan Lahey and tell him his cousin, Seamus, is here. Can you do that?
(The girls run off. Harper and Rommie start to follow, then a man with a gun steps out behind them.)
OZZIE: What do you want with Brendan?
HARPER: Like I said, I'm his cousin, Seamus.
OZZIE: Funny. Brendan never mentioned a cousin. Especially not a collaborator in nice, shiny new clothes.
HARPER: I'm not a collaborator. We're not with the Dragans. In fact, we're actually here to try and help save you from the Dragans.
OZZIE: Yeah, and I'm the second coming of Haile Selassie. Why don't you tell your girlfriend to drop the lance and maybe we'll talk.
ROMMIE: There are at least seven more just like him in the side passages.
HARPER: Oh, man. Bostonians. Why do we always have to do this the hard way? All right, on three. One, two
BRENDAN [OC]: Seamus?
HARPER: Brendan!
(The girls have found Seamus as requested.)
BRENDAN: Seamus? Seamus.
HARPER: Brendan! Hey!
BRENDAN: Ah, it's good to see you, cuz-o.
HARPER: Likewise, likewise.
BRENDAN: Hey, Ozzie, come here. Everybody! Come here! Come here! I want you all to meet my cousin, Seamus Harper. He's come down from the stars to set us all free.
HARPER: Heh. No pressure.

[Meeting area]

BRENDAN: The Nietzscheans keep a pretty tight seal on the main living areas here. We don't get out much, the Dragans don't come in much, except when they send in floaters to pick up more slaves. Since the war started, they've been taking pretty much everybody they can get their hands on. Little ones, old folks. Last week they took Jake's mother over there right off her death bed.
HARPER: Why would they take people who can't work?
BRENDAN: Well, there are rumours about resettlement centres.
ROMMIE: Death camps.
BRENDAN: But, we're going to put a stop to all that, aren't we?
HARPER: Yeah. Yeah, of course.
ROMMIE: Look, we'll do what we can, but we're just the advance team. The key is to force the Dragans to commit their armoured units. Once they're exposed, the Andromeda will arrive and pick them off from orbit.
HARPER: Yeah, a lot of this is going to have to depend on your resistance fighters, Brendan. How many can you mobilise in Boston?
BRENDAN: Er, well, you know, you got to realise I expected you to show up with a lot more company than just one admittedly very attractive woman.
HARPER: How many fighters, Brendan?
BRENDAN: Well, you're looking at them, Seamus.
(Later.)
HARPER: You have five fighters?
BRENDAN: That I can count on, yeah. Look, they got friends, and their friends have friends, and a lot of them claim to be in the Resistance, but how many people can I get in the street especially before your Dylan arrives? Like I said, five that I know of.
HARPER: That you know of. Brendan, why did you call us? What'd you expect?
BRENDAN: Well, what I expected was hope.
HARPER: How am I supposed to give them hope? I know how hard their lives are. That's why I ran away in the first place, remember?
ROMMIE: Harper, if we can't get the local resistance organised in time for Dylan's attack, our surgical strike will turn into a bloody war.
HARPER: I don't even know where to start. What do I say?
BRENDAN: Say whatever it takes.
(Night.)
HARPER: All around the world, people are ready. Ready to rise up. In, er, in Paris, Tokyo, Singapore, er, Johannesburg. In, er, thousands. In hundreds of thousands! And they're all waiting. Waiting for you. Waiting for Boston, because this was where it all began. The most important revolution in the history of Earth started in Boston. The very idea that all people, whether born or engineered, are equal, started in Boston. So now, it is Boston's turn again. Time to show your courage. Time to storm the barricades. Time to fire a shot that will be heard around the world for freedom!
MAN: He's right, let's get the übers!
MAN 2: Now's the time!
MAN 3: Freedom for Earth!
HARPER: For freedom!
ALL: Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!

[Tunnels]

BRENDAN: Freedom! I got to hand it to you, cousin. You really got them believing in themselves for the first time.
ROMMIE: It was a very good speech.
HARPER: Yeah. Tokyo, Paris, Johannesburg, Singapore, sure. There's only one problem. It's all a lie. Come on, Dylan.

[Command]

(The Andromeda destroys a cruiser that has just destroyed another large ship. The tactical display is full of moving dots.)
BEKA: Correct me if I'm wrong, but are we actually winning?
HUNT: The Jaguars are holding our centre. The Castalians have routed the Dragans' left flank. The enemy is in full retreat.
BEKA: Go, fish men, go.
TYR: If this continues, there'll soon be nothing between us and the Dragan homeworld but open slip routes.
HUNT: Yes, how convenient.
BEKA: Too easy?
HUNT: Much. Andromeda, hail all Allied commanders. I'm standing down the assault.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Aye, aye.

[Meeting area]

(Harper is watching Rommie on a portable monitor.)
BRENDAN: How's your friend doing?
HARPER: Well, she's already hidden recon eyes all over the ghetto. Now all she has to do is plant plasma mines outside the armoury.
BRENDAN: The armoury?
HARPER: Yeah.
BRENDAN: No, no, no, no, no. She shouldn't go anywhere near the armoury. They're going to see her.
HARPER: Rommie? Not freaking likely.
BRENDAN: How do you know?
HARPER: Let's just say I made her what she is today.
BRENDAN: So, are you guys serious?
HARPER: I wish. You know how it is. We're too busy flying around saving the universe.
BRENDAN: Yeah. Well, just remember what you're saving it for. Her. Her and all that's good in the world. I've got something for you. I've been saving it. Here. It's your old tin whistle.
HARPER: No, no, no. I, er, I threw this
BRENDAN: Into your parent's grave. Yeah, you did. I pulled it out for you. I've been saving it. You know, for when you're ready to play it again.
(Later, Rommie is back and giving shooting lessons.)
ROMMIE: Simply point the lance, press the trigger. The computer targeting system will do the rest. Now, if you find yourself up in close and you want to do a lot of damage, you can switch to plasma blasts, here. Now, when you return to your cell members, authorise them to use your lance, so if you go down, someone else can use it. Questions?
HARPER: Bracers, for communication. ECM generators. Wear them both.
BRENDAN: And remember, a Molotov cocktail will still burn a floater. So wait until they hit the barricades, and then throw as many as you can. Oh, yeah, one more thing. Shrillers.
MAN: Cool.
BRENDAN: Enough for everybody.
MAN: Take one.
OZZIE: You know, these toys are great, but what if you give the signal and no one rises up but us?
MAN: Yeah, what happens then? The Nietzscheans will be all over us.
BRENDAN: Why are you here, Ozzie?
OZZIE: You know why.
BRENDAN: Kathy. We all got a Kathy. At least one. My sister, Seamus' parents, Colin's kids. You all lost someone. Now you remind people of that, and you'll have no problem getting them to fight by your side.
OZZIE: For Kathy.
(Later -)
ROMMIE: The Dragan slave caravan is on its way into the ghetto.
HARPER: Man, there are a lot more of them than we expected. They must be reinforcing their positions because of the war.
ROMMIE: No plan of battle ever survives the first engagement with the enemy.
HARPER: What if Ozzie was right, Rommie? What if the people in the streets won't rise up and join us?
ROMMIE: Then we lose. But if we do nothing, we still lose, and we may never have an opportunity like this again.
BRENDAN [on monitor]: Yo, cousin. The transports are in position. What's the word?
HARPER: Er, the word is er, attack.

[Ghetto]

(On the surface, the Dragan guards cringe from the ultrasonics, then the shooting starts.)
BRENDAN: Attack! Attack! Attack! Go! Go! Go! You in the back! Come on! Move! Move!

[Meeting area]

BRENDAN [on monitor]: Go! Over the wall! Over the wall! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Ozzie, floater! Throw the Molotovs! Throw them! Throw them! Throw them!
(More Nietzscheans arrive.)
BRENDAN [on monitor]: Seamus, we're being overrun. Seamus, what do I do?
ROMMIE: Fall back. Fall back to rally points three and seven.
BRENDAN [on monitor]: Fall back! Fall back! Fall back!
HARPER: More Dragans are moving to intercept. They're outnumbered. If Dylan doesn't get here soon, we're all dead.
BRENDAN [on monitor]: Fall back!

[Command]

BEKA: So, every bit of evidence we've got suggests that these ships we've been defeating aren't really real. They're just empty hulls equipped with slipstream drives.
ELSSBETT: I don't care if they're Dragan schoolchildren on a summer picnic. A victory is a victory.
HUNT: It's a victory the Dragans want us to have.
BEKA: They could be using these ships to mask the size of their real fleet.
HUNT: Or distract us while they move somewhere else.
ELSSBETT: What they're doing doesn't matter. So long as we attack, we drive the action. In love, in war, in politics, the day, and the night, always belongs to the aggressor.
HUNT: I will not lead this fleet into a trap. We pull back. Make them follow us so that we can pick the next battle.
ELSSBETT: A nice idea, but it won't be possible.
BEKA: And why exactly is that?
HOLO-ROMMIE: Captain, the Sabra-Jaguar fleet is attacking the Dragans.

[Meeting area]

(Static on the monitor.)
HARPER: Brendan, come in. Brendan, report.
ROMMIE: His signal's been cut off.
HARPER: All right, that's it. Rommie, monitor things here. I'll be back.
ROMMIE: What are you doing?
HARPER: Brendan's family, Rommie. I abandoned him here once. I'm not going to do it again.

[Corridor]

BEKA: You know that by attacking the Dragans now you're forcing Dylan's hand.
ELSSBETT: He's forced my hand before. I'm simply returning the favour.
BEKA: You have no right to come aboard
ELSSBETT: No. You have no right. We may have shared the same position in Dylan's bed, human, but don't presume that makes us equals.
BEKA: You slept with Dylan?
ELSSBETT: He didn't tell you? You really should keep better track of your lovers and not let them stray so far.
BEKA: Dylan and I aren't lovers.
ELSSBETT: Really? Too bad for you.
(The Andromeda rocks.)
BEKA: Rommie, what was that?

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Some kind of gravitational distortion. Dylan, the Dragan ships are firing their slipstream cores.
HUNT: Andromeda, tell the fleet to scatter. And get us to slipstream.
ELSSBETT: My ships
TYR: Are in trouble. So are we.
BEKA: They're exploding!
HUNT: Brace for impact.
(Ships are sucked into the slipstream events.)
BEKA: It's like a whirlpool.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: We're going in.

[Tunnel]

(Brendan has been caught by two Nietzscheans.)
BRENDAN: Wait. Are either of you related to any of the übers I waxed today? Because it was a lot of fun.
(He gets kicked the bejesus kicked out of him, then they get forcelanced.)
HARPER: Brendan, you okay?
BRENDAN: There's too many of them, Seamus. Their armour's mobilising. I've got to get back outside.
HARPER: Whoa, no. You're coming with me. You need medical attention.
BRENDAN: Your Commonwealth friends better get here soon, Seamus.

[Command]

(The Andromeda falls out of slipstream.)
HUNT: Andromeda, where are we?
ANDROMEDA: Kraylux. Somewhere in the outer system.
HUNT: Status on the rest of the fleet?
TYR: Scattered halfway across the Orion arm, I would assume. We appear to be the only ship in this system.
BEKA: Correction. The only Ally ship. The Dragans just joined us.
HUNT: Battle stations.
(They try to run.)
BEKA: It's no good. I can't shake them.
ANDROMEDA: Dylan, we're being hailed by someone called Fleet Admiral Cuatemoc.
ELSSBETT: So Temmy finally got his promotion.
HUNT: Tell me about him.
ELSSBETT: Cuatemoc's a high-ranking Dragan. He's married to Charlemagne's sister, Beatricia. The Jaguars had hoped that the marriage would bring peace between the prides.
HUNT: This doesn't look like peace.
TYR: If Beatricia is anything like her brother, I can guess at the problem.
ELSSBETT: No one profited from their union. Especially not the Jaguars. A gilded pea-hen can't tame a bear.
HUNT: A bear? Good. Put him through.
CUATEMOC [on viewscreen]: Ah, the famous Captain Hunt.
HUNT: Fleet Admiral Cuatemoc. What happened to your predecessor, Cuchulain?
CUATEMOC [on viewscreen]: He lost one too many battles to you. I don't plan on making the same mistake.
HUNT: You know, a plan of battle rarely survives the first engagement with the enemy.
CUATEMOC [on viewscreen]: Mine do. Hello, Elssbett. Charlie off getting his pedicure? Tell him Bea sends her regards. Here's mine.
(Bang! Sparks.)
ELSSBETT: In-laws.
HUNT: Beka. Slipstream now.

[Meeting area]

(Brendan is lying on a cot.)
ROMMIE: Multiple fractures, internal bleeding, and er, yeah, a concussion.
HARPER: Just do something about it, will you?
BRENDAN: You can tell all that just by looking at me?
HARPER: Yeah, Rommie's, er, fool of surprises.
ROMMIE: Lucky for you. While you were off on your little adventure, I hacked into the Dragan communications grid and broadcast news of the revolt. The people of Earth are rising up.
HARPER: Paris? Tokyo?
ROMMIE: Even Johannesburg.
BRENDAN: And here I thought you were lying about Johannesburg.
HARPER: I started lying the minute I opened my mouth. What about the armoured divisions?
ROMMIE: Mobilising worldwide. They should be fully exposed when Dylan arrives in five hours and twenty one minutes.
BRENDAN: Thanks, cousin.

[Command]

(Andromeda comes out of slipstream.)
BEKA: They're still right behind us.
ELSSBETT: Now what?
HUNT: Now we round up the fleet and fight our way free.
TYR: There are over thirty systems in this cluster and the Alliance fleet is scattered all over it.
BEKA: Searching will take time. What about Harper and Rommie? What about Earth?
HUNT: If the Dragans destroy our fleet, the war is over. We have to regroup, regardless of the cost.

[Meeting area]

HARPER: Where is Dylan? The Dragan armour units are killing us.
ROMMIE: He should be here soon.
BRENDAN: That's what you said an hour ago. He's ninety minutes late.
ROMMIE: Slipstream isn't always that precise. He could have been delayed.
HARPER: Delayed where? If he were in the system, he would've contacted us by now.
ROMMIE: Not if he's maintaining communications. Hang on a second, I'm getting a signal.
HARPER: A signal?
ROMMIE: From a slipfighter.
HARPER: A slipfighter?
ROMMIE: It's Tyr.

[Tunnel]

HARPER: What do you mean, he's not coming?
TYR: He had to choose. Save his fleet and his entire Alliance, or sacrifice them both to liberate a single slave world.
HARPER: But Dylan always keeps his promises.
TYR: Dylan has made a great many promises, and he only has one ship. Now, try and get the people out of the streets. There'll be another time.
HARPER: Another time? I'm just supposed to stop a revolution? There are people bleeding and dying in the streets because they actually think they may have a chance to win for a change. How am I supposed to tell them they're wrong?
TYR: Don't. Tell them the truth. Tell them that life is inherently unfair, and that the wise only fight battles they know they can win.
HARPER: Great. And when I'm telling them all of this, where will you be?
TYR: As far away from here as I can get.
HARPER: Thanks.

[Another tunnel]

BRENDAN: I'm not going to stand down the attack just because your Nietzschean said so.
HARPER: He's not the one saying it. I am.
BRENDAN: Oh? Oh, yeah? Like that's any better. Stand down! Retreat! So speaks Seamus Harper, as usual.
HARPER: As, as usual? Whoa! Hold it! Are you calling me a coward?
BRENDAN: Well, you walked away once, Seamus. You abandoned your home, you abandoned your family, for what? Why? Did it get too hard for you? I don't know what that makes you, but you're sure no hero.
HARPER: My family died here, in case you forgot, because my father didn't know how to walk away from a fight he couldn't win.
BRENDAN: He was protecting your mother.
HARPER: Whatever! And now they're both dead. And you'll be dead too, if you don't listen to me.
BRENDAN: No, no, Seamus, you see you don't understand. You can't just choose when you want to fight and when you don't. You may think your father had a choice that day, but he didn't. And neither do I. So we fight.
HARPER: All right, let me put this another way. Tell them to withdraw, or I swear I'll kill you.
BRENDAN: You're going kill me?
HARPER: If you don't listen to me. It'll stop millions of people from dying unnecessarily in a war they can't win.
BRENDAN: Will it?
HARPER: They don't have a chance, Brendan.
BRENDAN: I know they don't. They know that, too. They knew it when this all started.
HARPER: When I started this, things were different. The circumstances have changed.
BRENDAN: Did you think you were the first person to stand on a rooftop and shout that the Nietzscheans had to go? These people have heard it all before, Seamus. Hell, our fathers heard it, and their fathers before them.
HARPER: If that's true, then why did they listen? Why are they all out there fighting now?
BRENDAN: Why did your father fight when the slavers came for your mother?
HARPER: Because he was a fool. Would you shut up about my father!
BRENDAN: He fought because he was sick of lying down for them. Because he was sick of being spat at, laughed at, stolen from, and beaten. Sick and tired of living in fear and desperation. So tired that he was willing to give up his life so long as he hurt them.
HARPER: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they laughed at him right up until they slit his throat. And after.
BRENDAN: That's true. But in the end, he laughed back. We both heard it, Seamus. He fought. He finally fought! And after that, nothing else mattered.
HARPER: Yeah, especially not to him.
BRENDAN: Seamus, you got to let it go.
HARPER: I don't have to let squat go! You don't know what you're talking about. You don't even know what happened. You want to know what really happened? They didn't come for my mother. They came for me, okay? They both died because of me.
BRENDAN: I'm sorry, Seamus. Don't you see? This just proves what I'm talking about. Your mother and your father did not die for nothing. They sacrificed themselves to save you, their only son. And it worked. They won.
HARPER: If you really want what happened to my parents to be worth it, Brendan, then stop the revolt.
BRENDAN: I would, Seamus. For you, I would. I can't. A revolution's not like a switch. You can't turn it on or off. It's like a fire, and once it's lit you can't put it out no matter how much you might want to. And even if we could, if I did, it might never light again.
HARPER: All right. Well, what about you, then? Just let me get you out of here.
BRENDAN: That's the thing, cousin. I'm part of the fire. I need to be.
HARPER: You kick some butt out there.

[Command]

ELSSBETT: According to my captains, we've rounded up almost ninety percent of our original fleet.
HUNT: Unfortunately, only half of them can still fight.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The Dragan fleet is closing.
BEKA: Er, Dylan? Now would be the time for one of those crazy, desperate, this just might work ideas.
HUNT: Well, I've got one. I was just hoping I wouldn't have to use it.
ELSSBETT: How about sharing your thoughts with your loyal allies?
HUNT: I've got a better idea. We'll do a demonstration, from the finest slipstream pilot in the known worlds.
BEKA: Oh. Oh, that'd be me.
HUNT: Set a course for Coolidge system.
ELSSBETT: The system where we were ambushed?
HOLO-ROMMIE: Dylan, that system is completely unnavigable. When the Dragans fired their slipstream cores, they collapsed slipstream into normal space. Flying through there would be like diving into a hurricane. We'd be torn to shreds unless we did it perfectly.
HUNT: Well, that is where Beka comes in.
BEKA: You know, I think I changed my mind about this whole crazy desperate thing.
ELSSBETT: This is idiotic. For your plan to work, every ship in the fleet would have to navigate the vortices on their own. They're not all blessed with a Beka Valentine.
HUNT: Luckily, we only need one. We'll fly in fleet formation. Keep within a few thousand kilometres of each other to minimize lag-time. We'll slave the other ships' navigational systems to Andromeda's and let Beka pilot them all.
ELSSBETT: Which means if she makes a mistake, every ship in the fleet will crash.
HUNT: Yeah.
BEKA: Note to self. Don't screw up.

[Eureka Maru]

(Earth is getting smaller on the screen.)
HARPER: Goodbye again.

[Command]

(Andromeda is weaving through the system.)
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Cuatemoc is hailing us.
HUNT: Put him through.
CUATEMOC [on viewscreen]: Argosy fleet formation. Interesting historical reenactment, for all the good it'll do. We can still follow you.
ELSSBETT: Anything to escape your wife?
HUNT: You are welcome to follow us, Admiral. In fact, I encourage it. Or at least I encourage you to try. Beka, course laid in for Coolidge?
BEKA: You bet you.
CUATEMOC [on viewscreen]: Coolidge? Impossible. You'll be torn to shreds. Trying to run through there is suicide.
HUNT: You didn't talk to Cuchulain about me before you had him executed, did you? No? Well that's too bad. I wonder who's next in line. Go.
(They go into slipstream.)
BEKA: Come on, Valentine, you can do it. You can do it.
(And out again, with the fleet still behind them.)
HUNT: You did it.
BEKA: Yes!
HOLO-ROMMIE: Dylan, we're clear of the vortex. The entire allied fleet made it through intact, and there's no sign of the Dragans.
ELSSBETT: I'm very impressed.
BEKA: Aw. Forced to reevaluate your opinion of a human?
ELSSBETT: Before you begin your little celebration, may I remind you that we lost?
HUNT: Now you see, there is where you're wrong. We came together, we tested our new Allied fleet in battle against the most powerful military in the known universe, and we got away in one piece. See, I would call that victory. Beka, set a course for Earth.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Dylan, I've just intercepted a message from Dilegos Drift. Earth has already risen up and the Dragans crushed the rebellion. We're too late.

[Observation deck]

(The Eureka Maru returns to the Andromeda. Harper is staring into space and twirling his tin whistle.)
HUNT: Mister Harper.
HARPER: I could use a little privacy right now, if you don't mind.
HUNT: I understand. But I thought you'd want to see this. It's a transmission from Earth. Copies of it are popping up all over Dragan space.
BRENDAN [on flexi]: The Dragans call us kludges. They call us mutts and mules, as if we're the genetic mistakes because we're only human. Well, now we've shown them what we humans can do. We kludges, we mutts, we mules. And we're going to keep showing them. Today, tomorrow, and every day until Earth is free. Today is like no other day. Today, we are cousins all. Today, we reclaim Earth for humanity. This is Bunker Hill, signing off.
HUNT: They're rising up, Harper. Slave worlds all over the Dragan empire are getting this recording, and they're rising in revolt, all because of Brendan.
HARPER: So you're telling me it was worth it, even if my cousin's dead?
HUNT: Either way, he won. And so did you.