I trust fast poison
The stars to wink out
And you, my love - and you.

Lyric from "The Void"
by Minstrel d'Becevex CY 9905

[Gym]

(Tyr is giving Beka some unarmed combat training, that mostly consists of her lying on the floor struggling whilst he is on top of her. Finally she manages to roll him and straddle him.)
BEKA: Ha! Gotcha! Reverse hold. How many points is that?
TYR: It nets out at zero.
(He throws her off.)
BEKA: Ouch! Tell me again why this is good for me.
TYR: A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.
BEKA: Who are you calling a link, Anasazi?
TYR: Now this warship, her capabilities, it makes us complacent. We may have to engage the enemy using nothing but our teeth and nails.
(Beka bites Tyr's hand.)
TYR: Ow!
(She turns and throws him over her shoulder, then straddles him again. They laugh.)
BEKA: See, me? I like to shoot my enemies. Preferably while hiding behind a nice big rock.
(Tyr pulls her head down as if for a kiss. Hunt enters.)
HUNT: Beka, I need. Whoa! Er, excuse me, I, I, er I didn't know what you two were. Er, what were you?
BEKA: Nothing. Shut up. Just a little hand to hand. What's up?
HUNT: Oh, er, this. Andromeda just received a datafile from Cascada.
(Hunt holds a flexi.)
TYR: The mining colony?
HUNT: Yes.
BEKA: That old hunk of rock. What do they want with us?
HUNT: Well, it's not us, it's you. It's about one of your old crewmates, a Robert Jensen?
BEKA: 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, what's he gotten himself into this time and what's it going to cost me?
HUNT: 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.
BEKA: Sorry, you can't spare me. You need me for
HUNT: For what?
BEKA: The planet, Hazen-Brown? I thought you said there was a disaster. We're all rushing off to
HUNT: Beka, just take the Maru and go.
(Hunt leaves.)
TYR: Next of kin?
BEKA: Not quite. Just er, the love of my life.

[Command]

HUNT: Rommie, situation report, please, on planet Hazen-Brown.
ROMMIE: Tectonic plates crashing into each other. Lava, ash and panicky Chichian climbing over each other in an effort to save themselves.
HUNT: Well, we promised them evacuation and passage, and that is what we'll do.

[Eureka Maru]

TRANCE: There you are. Well, I've prepped the Maru for your trip to Cascada. Anyways, I just thought it'd be a good time for you to have friends around.
BEKA: I appreciate the offer, but I'm going to be okay.
TRANCE: I'm a good listener, you know.
BEKA: I know you are. Look, Bobby and I, we broke up a long time ago, and I'm over him. Go.
TRANCE: (silent) Okay.
(Trance leaves as Hunt enters.)
HUNT; Oh, Trance. Good. Take a slip fighter to Hazen-Brown. Try to organise evacuees as best you can in advance of the Andromeda. Go.
TRANCE: Going.
HUNT: I'm coming with you.
BEKA: Dylan, I'm not going to faint at the sight of a dead body. I've seen plenty of them.
HUNT: 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.
BEKA: You would lock me in?
HUNT: Oh, absolutely.
BEKA: In that case, welcome aboard.
HUNT: Thank you.
HARPER: Thank you.
BEKA: I was not talking to you, Harper.
HARPER: Come on, I don't take up that much oxygen.
BEKA: Look, I really appreciate everyone being so concerned about my emotional well being.
HARPER: Whoa, whoa, whoa. You think I'm coming just to give you a shoulder to cry on? That's sweet, but no. I want to make sure that freakin psycho's good and dead. How to dump a loser boyfriend in five easy lessons by Seamus Harper. One, two, three, four, five.
(He uses his gun to illustrate where the shots would go.)
HUNT: I take it you and this Bobby Jensen didn't get along.
HARPER: Bobby Jensen was a self-righteous control freak with a nasty ass temper.
(Harper leaves.)
HUNT: Does Harper always stay mad at dead people?
BEKA: Bobby inspired strong emotion.
HUNT: Apparently.

[Command]

HUNT [on viewscreen]: Eureka Maru ready for departure.
ROMMIE: Maru, you are good to go.
HUNT: 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.
(Tyr cuts the transmission. Hunt reconnects it.)
HUNT: And Tyr, don't break my ship.
(Tyr cuts transmission again.)

[Maru crew area]

(Harper calls down from an upper bunk, making Hunt jump.)
HARPER: Hey!
HUNT: Oh! Harper.
HARPER: Sorry. Yeah, boss. No officers quarters around here. You can take old Vexpag's bunk.
(Located just underneath a very big pipe.)
HUNT: Vexpag?
HARPER: Yeah, another former crewmate. He's dead too.
HUNT: Dead?
HARPER: Don't worry, it wasn't catching. (Sucks air in.) He had a problem with his EVA suit.
HUNT: Pleasant. Well. Ow! I've had worse. So, Mister Harper, about Bobby Jensen. Hero, not a hero. I mean, what was he?
HARPER: He was an idiot. Beka, she's, she's too loyal for her own good. Hey, you want to meet him? Yeah, you want to meet Bobby Jensen?
HUNT: Sure.
HARPER: Yes.
(Harper starts throwing stuff around.)
HUNT: I guess.
HARPER: All right. Dylan Hunt meet Bobby Jensen.
(Harper activates a holo-recording.)
HOLO-BOBBY: 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.
HOLO-HARPER [OC]: Yeah, yeah, whatever. What is that? Hang on a second.
(Harper fixes the camera in place and appears in the recording.)
HOLO-HARPER: What is that? Is that a cerebral port? I've always wanted one of those.
(Bobbie slaps Harper and the recording ends.)
HARPER: You see that, huh? He hit me.
HUNT: Well, you know, you don't like people touching your dataport either.
HARPER: Yeah, but when I hit them it's with love. And besides, it doesn't take a genius to see, understandably, he er, he felt threatened.
HUNT: By you? Harper, no offence, but that guy masses ninety five kilos easy.
HARPER: I mean jealous.
HUNT: Oh.
HARPER: He saw how awesome looking I was and he thought I was going to take Beka
BEKA [OC]: Dylan, do not let him show you what he keeps under his pillow.
HUNT: I'm afraid to ask.
BEKA [OC]: We're approaching Cascada system.
HUNT: We're on our way. What do you keep under the pillow?
HARPER: Nothing.

[Eureka Maru]

(They exit slipstream, and alarms start going off.)
HUNT: What the hell?
(Bang! Bang! Bang!)
HUNT: Proximity mine. The whole system is salted with them. Beka, get us the hell out of here, now!
(Beka tries to open a slipstream portal and alarms wail.)
HUNT: Beka, shut down the engines.
HARPER: A minefield. You flew us into a minefield.
BEKA: Well it wasn't supposed to be there, now was it, so mea very culpa. Shutting down.
HUNT: Contact the nearest freighter ship. Get an SOS to Andromeda. Cut all power.
BEKA: Contacting, SOSing, cutting all power.
HARPER: Cut all power?
HUNT: Unless you'd like to find out first hand whether these mines home in on our EM emissions, yes, all power.
(Harper throws the main breaker.)
BEKA: Now what?
HUNT: One thing I know about minefields. When you walk into one, you hold still.

[Maru crew area]

(Harper gets portable lamps.)
HARPER: There. Like a camping trip. Not that I ever went on one.
HUNT: Well, that is exactly what we're going to do. Camp in our bunks and wait for Andromeda to arrive with proper mine detection and disarmament.
BEKA: Anyone know any good campfire stories?
HUNT: You do.
BEKA: Hmm?
HUNT: The story of Bobby Jensen.
BEKA: Nah.
HUNT: Oh, come on. I'd like to hear it.
BEKA: Bobby was Bobby.
HARPER: Humph!
BEKA: I think you would have liked him, Dylan.

[Cavern - memory]

(Red head Beka shoots a bad guy.)
BEKA: Six o'clock. I got your back!
(Bobby runs over.)
BEKA: What a surprise. Normally when the going gets tough, my partners in crime get going.
BOBBY: Yeah, they say there's no honour among thieves.
(Another kill.)
BOBBY: But you are cuter than normal. So, anything to share?
BEKA: You mean about those industrial diamonds we're supposed to deliver?
BOBBY: I was thinking maybe they're not that industrial.
(Two more bodies.)
BEKA: It's my haul, fair and square. Am I supposed to turn down paying customers just because of bad background checks?
BOBBY: You know what your problem is, Captain Valentine? You need to fight for something bigger than diamonds and gold. You need a cause.
BEKA: Maybe. What cause are you fighting for, Bobby Jensen?
(Bobby kisses Beka.)
BOBBY: You.
BEKA: We've got so much in common.
BOBBY: Yeah. Come on.

[Maru crew area]

BEKA: It was a sweet little operation. Hello Cascada, goodbye Cascada. And then Bobby found out they were digging Thorium 232 in those mines.
HUNT: Thorium 232? That stuff's incredibly radioactive.
BEKA: Well somebody obviously forgot to tell the Cascadans because they got about a million Muganis digging the stuff for them.
HUNT: The Muganis? That's Cascada's aboriginal population.
HARPER: Oh, you mean those amphibian swamp dwellers with the bad teeth.
BEKA: Harper. Bobby always said they were slaves on their own world.
HARPER: Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. He was such a sucker for a hard luck story.
BEKA: Anyway, Bobby started organising a Mugani miner's union. The company was remarkably unreceptive to the idea.
HUNT: You're right, Beka. I think I would have liked him.
BEKA: Yeah. There was a lot to like.

[Maru crew area - memory]

(Beka and Bobby are in bed together.)
BEKA: You know what I love? Your arms, your legs.
BOBBY: Really?
BEKA: Mmm hmm. Call me crazy, but I think there's something sexy about bodily perfection.
BOBBY: Hmmm. And me, do you lo
BEKA: Quit while you're ahead. Let's talk about something else. Like er, what's this new haul of yours and how much is it worth to us?
BOBBY: Computers. And a lot. We pick them up on Earth and deliver them back on Cascada.
BEKA: And who's this Earth kid that's helping us?
BOBBY: Seamus something or other Harper. A street kid. He wants off Earth.
BEKA: Yeah, well, you saw what a dump that place is. Who can blame him?
BOBBY: Well, he'll do his bit and then
BEKA: And then what, tough guy?
BOBBY: Well, we can't give every stray in the galaxy a ride.
BEKA: I took you in, didn't I?
BOBBY: When I was a kid on Osua, there was this Nightsider fur trader. He left iron traps all along the shoreline. Every night I'd sneak down there to free some poor day hound or tree faun. Every time the damned thing would bite me. That's what wounded animals do, Beka. They bite the people that try to help them.
BEKA: So, you lied to him?
BOBBY: Just trying to travel light.
BEKA: You know, you are really something.
BOBBY: Something? Just not enough.
BEKA: Just don't ever lie to me.
BOBBY: Never.

[Maru crew area]

HARPER: Oh, so I'm like the erizonian day hound or a tree faun now, huh? You see why I hated him?
BEKA: Hey, I stuck up for you. I didn't even know you.
HUNT: Beka, you and Bobby weren't in this bed, were you?
BEKA: And why do you hate Bobby anyway? He saved your life.
HARPER: What! When?

[Warehouse - memory]

(Harper blasts down a big steel door.)
BEKA: Way to sneak in, smendrick.
HARPER: It's Harper. And trust me I know what I'm doing. I'm an expert.
BEKA: I wanted to get my cargo, not give every Nietzschean within earshot a twenty one gun salute.
HARPER: Hey, you're er, pretty hot. You look smart too. What are you doing locked up on that junk ship with a steroid case like Bobby? You could have any number of candidates. Sterling candidates.
BEKA: He has his good points, believe me.
(Gunfire.)
MAN [OC]: There they are!
(Gunfight.)
HARPER: Screw you!
(Bobby takes out their attackers with a machinegun from on top of a stack of shelving, then comes down for his reward kiss from Beka.)
BEKA: One of his good points? He's very protective.

[Maru crew area]

HUNT: Harper, you're going to have a to do a better job of convincing me that Bobby was out to get you, because so far it sounds like he was playing on your side.
HARPER: Oh, come on. I saved the day in the end.
BEKA: Oh, please. You were such a newbie. I was just glad he didn't get spacesick all over my ship.

[Eureka Maru - memory]

HARPER: Wow! I've never been in space before.
BEKA: Are you serious?
HARPER: Yeah. I've 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.
BEKA: Filtered fresh daily.
(Boom!)
HARPER: Is that normal?
BEKA: A missile to the aft cargo pod, by the feel of it. What's the matter, no one ever shoot at you before?
HARPER: Yeah. But I've never been shot in the aft. Besides, on Earth you can always run away.
BEKA: 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 Nietzschean sensors until we figure out our next move.
HARPER: Nietzscheans. All right, all that stuff I said about loving space? I officially take it all back.
(Bang! Beka parks the Maru in Saturn's rings.)
BOBBY: No way. We are not going to jettison the cargo.
BEKA: So you would rather face a Nietzschean hit squad than dump cargo? Bobby, they torture their allies.
BOBBY: I would kill anyone who tried to hurt you. You know that.
BEKA: Yes, but that wasn't the question.
BOBBY: The Muganis need those computers, Beka. Okay?
HARPER: Er, can I say something?
BEKA + BOBBY: No!
BEKA: Look, why don't you go outside and play while Mommy and Daddy talk, okay?
HARPER: Fine! Fine! If you think you can steal a hundred Nietzschean surface to air missiles and not get stopped, don't let me interrupt.
BEKA: surface to air missiles?
HARPER: Yeah. What? What did you think was in those crates?
BEKA: Computers. I was told we were carrying computers.
HARPER: Okey dokie. I guess I'd better be going now.
(Harper leaves)
BEKA: Missiles.
BOBBY: They have computers in them.

[Maru crew area - memory]

BOBBY: Get your grubby paws off my cargo!
(Bobby puts his gun to Harper's head.)
HARPER: Keep him away from me. I just brought it down to check it out. I was only trying to help.
BEKA: He's not going to shoot you.
BOBBY: That depends on what he did with the wiring.
HARPER: I'm good with mechanical things. I can re-rig your missiles so
BOBBY: They're not my missiles. They belong to the Muganis. It's their only hope for freedom.
BEKA: We're risking our necks selling weapons to the Muganis.
BOBBY: You've seen how the Muganis have been exploited in the thorium mines, Beka. It breaks your heart.
BEKA: And you're breaking mine. I asked you not to lie to me.
(Bang! Alarms.)
BEKA: They've found us. Cover everything back up, now! You, Hooper. You're with me.
HARPER: It's Harper.

[Eureka Maru - memory]

(Beka is trying to out-fly their attacker.)
BEKA: Hey, did you do it? Is it going to work?
HARPER: Is my name Seamus Zelazny Harper?
BEKA: God, I hope not.
(Boom.)
BEKA: Prepare to jettison cargo. Authorisation Beka Valentine.
COMPUTER: Authorization not recognised.
BEKA: What do you mean, not recognised?
(The flight controls stop responding. She lets them go, then the ship banks sharply. Beka activates a monitor that shows Bobby using his dataport.)
BEKA: It's Bobby. He's making a run for Cascada.
HARPER: Oh man, I got to get me one of those.
BEKA: You. Go back and stop him
HARPER: What? Me? No, no, no. He's big and scary. I'm just small and cute.
BEKA: Do you want a place to stay or not? You crew on my ship, do as I say.
HARPER: A place to stay? All right, all right. Now we're talking. I can do this.

[Maru engine room - memory]

(Bobby fires at three pursuit ships, destroying one. Harper jumps on him from the ladder and pulls the jack plug out of his neck, then starts tapping a keyboard. Bobby grams him around the neck. Beka runs in, weapon drawn.)
BEKA: Bobby, stop! Bobby, I mean it. Put him down.
(Bobby obeys.)
BEKA: Harper, dump the cargo. There's a switch behind you.
HARPER: Jettisoning cargo.
(Crates fly out of the pod. The pursuit ships turn off towards them and go KaBOOM when they collide with two of the crates.)
BOBBY: Beka, if I had told you, you would have said no.
BEKA: Damn straight.
BOBBY: If we made the big score and retired, we'd be complacent.
BEKA: Living happily and rich ever after was supposed to be the plan.
BOBBY: You'd become restless. You know you would. This is the perfect cause. We can help with what we know.
BEKA: I don't do causes, Bobby.
BOBBY: No, Beka. Everybody does causes. Only question is, will you pick yours or will it pick you?
BEKA: In that case, I pick mine. You're looking at her. Go. Just go.

[Maru crew area]

BEKA: Sometimes I think I should have gone with him. I just wasn't that evolved yet.
HARPER: No way, Beka. You made the right choice. Besides, he's dead now.
BEKA: Harper, he was right, you know. The cause did pick me. You guys.
HUNT: Then I'm glad it worked out the way it did.
HARPER: Me too.
(Something latches on to the hull.)
BEKA + HARPER: Limpet mine.
HUNT: Or worse. With all the sensors down it could be a
(A Cyborg enters and aims its gun arm at them.)
BEKA: Bobby!
BOBBY: Beka. Are you happy to see me? Your forcelance. Give it up now.
HUNT: I wish I could, but I don't want to.
BOBBY: Tut, tut tut. Don't be like that.
(A woman with a taste for heavy chains hanging from her leather bustier, and a Mugani with a honking big gun enter.)
BEKA: What the hell is going on?
BOBBY: What's going on? Are you going to 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.
(Hunt powers down his forcelance and puts it on the floor.)
BOBBY: Margot, get their weapons.
HUNT: You're a little different from what Beka described, Bobby.
BOBBY: Didn't you get the message? I died.
HARPER: Not enough.
BOBBY: Close. I stepped on a land mine. Nice to see you, Seamus.
HARPER: It's Harper. And I'm sorry to hear that. Sorry it didn't finish you off but, you know you're looking great, Bobby.
BOBBY: Smoking. Just like my gun arm after a high rate of fire.
HUNT: We still don't know what's going on here.
BOBBY: The Muganis have finally risen up against their oppressors.
HUNT: That explains the minefield. But since you faked your death to get us here, I'm guessing the war isn't going well.
MARGOT: No, not too bad, considering that aborigines with rocks and bottles are up against colonists with nuclear arsenals.
LEM: We need help.
HUNT: Well, we are always willing to help those who have a worthy cause.
BOBBY: Good, because helping them is the only way you get out of here alive. You two, keep an eye on them while I refamiliarise myself with the cockpit.
(Bobby leaves with a hiss of hydraulics.)
MARGOT: So, you're the ex. Funny. He never took out blondes.
BEKA: Funny, he never took out the trash either. I see you've changed him.
BOBBY [OC]: Beka. Cockpit, now.
BEKA: I'll be okay.

[Eureka Maru]

BOBBY: You came. Now I know you care.
BEKA: I thought you were dead.
BOBBY: Sorry about the little fib, but if I had told you what I wanted to do, you wouldn't have come.
BEKA: Damn straight.
BOBBY: Funny, isn't it? People won't show up to help you but they'll show up to your funeral.
BEKA: You want us to help the aborigines.
BOBBY: I want you to help me. I want you to join the cause.
BEKA: At gunpoint.
HUNT: He doesn't want you. He wants the Andromeda.
BOBBY: What are you doing here?
MARGOT: What are you doing here?
BEKA: Look, you want Dylan to negotiate a treaty between the Abos and the colonists? Consider it done.
HUNT: Bobby's not looking for peace, Beka.
BOBBY: Margot, take Beka for a walk. I'll tell you what I'm looking for. In twenty four hours I want Andromeda Ascendant here in the Cascada system with a full load of her kinetic missiles, AP guns and attack drones.
HUNT: You know your High Guard weaponry.
BOBBY: I trained from the best manuals, Argosy Special Forces. You Black Ops guys have some great moves.
HUNT: Yeah, we have some great moves. Andromeda doesn't negotiate with hostage takers. Ever.
BOBBY: Dylan, Dylan. Is that what you think you are? Hostages? We're all good guys here.
HUNT: I'm listening.
BOBBY: There are eight hundred million Muganis on Cascada. Fifty thousand colonists. The natives dredge the swamps, mine the ore and the colonists keep the money. Why? Because they have nukes. The Muganis have slingshots. You're just here to level out the playing field.
HUNT: I'd rather get all the facts first.
BOBBY: Three missile strikes, three major cities, that's all I need. Then the Mugani Liberation Army will triumph.
HUNT: With you at the head.
BOBBY: You have seen Lem. The Muganis are not exactly ready for self-government.
HUNT: Assuming there are any left to govern. You are talking about starting a planetary civil war. Millions of the Muganis will die. So here's my idea. Power share with the colonists.
BOBBY: There's no power sharing with the people who did this. This is what to tell the Andromeda. No ad-libs.
(Hunt takes the card from Bobby.)

[Command]

(Hunt delivers the message with erratic blinking.)
HUNT [on viewscreen]: Andromeda, proceed immediately to Cascada. Best speed. Dylan out.
(Transmission ends.)
TYR: His heart is racing, his breathing is shallow and his eyelids are fluctuating. There's something he's not telling us.
ROMMIE: No, he's definitely telling us something.
(Rommie zooms in on the blinking as she replays the message.)
ROMMIE: 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.
TYR: He's telling us to kill him?
ROMMIE: If necessary, yes. That is exactly what he is telling us to do.

[Maru catwalk]

(The little Mugani, Lem, is marching Hunt back along a central catwalk at gunpoint. There is a railing on one side with a drop to the lower level below it.)
HUNT: Lem. That is your name, right?
LEM: No talk.
HUNT: How long have you been traveling with Bobby?
LEM: Long enough. No talk. Stop. Down. Up.
(Hunt lifts up a grille in the deck plating.)
HUNT: After you.
LEM: Down. Move.
HUNT: It doesn't look very comfortable, Lem.
LEM: No talk. Down. Now.
(Hunt sits in the small area below the deck and Lem puts a locking device on the grille.)
HUNT: Lem, tell me about the Muganis. If I remember my comparative linguistics, Mugani means reed, right? The reed people?
LEM: 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.
HUNT: Bringing down weapons of mass destruction on the colonists won't bring back the swamps, Lem.
LEM: Maybe not, but maybe it will make them go away.
HUNT: Maybe. But at a cost, Lem. Many of your people will die.
LEM: They're already dying.
HUNT: Lem, there's a better way.
LEM: You be quiet now.

[Maru crew area]

(Bobby strokes Beka's hair with his prosthetic gun hand.)
BEKA: Bobby, let them go. Dylan never did anything to you.
BOBBY: Never did anything for me, either. If you're not with me you're against me.
BEKA: He's not against you. He's against your methods.
BOBBY: I can't remember you being so squeamish when we flew contraband under the FTA sensors.
BEKA: And I don't remember you being so brutal. I remember a Bobby who touched me.
BOBBY: With arms and legs that you loved. You don't think that I remember?
BEKA: What did they do to you, Bobby?
BOBBY: What I told them to do. To make me invulnerable.
BEKA: Listen to me. You leave them be and I'll stay. Just you and me, together, just like before.
BOBBY: Just like before? No, I didn't think so. It's why I have to win. It's all I got.

[Maru catwalk]

(Margot takes up guard duty.)
HUNT: Where'd Lem go?
MARGOT: He's taking a nap. Mugwumps are nocturnal.
HUNT: You surprise me, Margot.
MARGOT: Why? Because I can say nocturnal?
HUNT: No, because you say Mugwump. Debasing them with slurs. I thought you were here to fight for the dignity of the Mugani people.
MARGOT: Bobby's here for the dignity of the Mugani's. I'm here for Bobby.
HUNT: That could get you killed.
MARGOT: I'm not afraid of dying. Besides, we could actually win.
HUNT: And then you can help Bobby remake Cascada in his image.
MARGOT: Well, it is good to be Queen.
HUNT: And I'm sure that you have a role set up for all the Muganis.
MARGOT: Well, they're already trained and ready to serve. Well, if you'll excuse me I have to go check on my Mugwump.
HUNT: You do that.
(Margot leaves.)
HUNT: You heard her, Lem. Ready to serve in the royal court of Margot?
(Lem steps out from behind a stanchion.)
LEM: She's not like Bobby.
HUNT: I'm glad you know what you're doing, Lem. I'm glad you know what you're doing.

[Eureka Maru]

(Harper has been tied with his arms spread between two uprights.)
BOBBY: What is taking Andromeda so long?
HARPER: You know, for the life of me I'm trying to remember why I was ever jealous of you.
BOBBY: Because I was with Beka.
HARPER: Er, 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.
BOBBY: No it's not.

[Maru catwalk]

(Thump, rattle.)
MARGOT: What the hell was that?
BOBBY: What's he doing?
HUNT: Just rattling your cage, Bobby.
(Bang.)
BOBBY: And what was that?
HUNT: One of Andromeda's grappling harpoons. It sounds like she's opening hostage negotiations.

[Eureka Maru]

(The Andromeda Ascendant fills the forward viewport.)
BOBBY: Oh, 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!

[Maru catwalk]

BOBBY: Why is your ship not responding?
HUNT: Rommie won't listen to ransom demands. The only person she'll talk to is me.
BOBBY: Well, maybe this will attract her attention.
(He puts commands into a nearby console.)
COMPUTER: AP overload in twenty minutes.
BOBBY: 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.
HUNT: Be my guest.
(Later, Hunt is trying to pick the electronic lock with a piece of copper wire.)
HUNT: Come on.
(Footsteps approach, and he hides the wire.)
HUNT: Hey, Lem.
LEM: What?
HUNT: Sit. Talk to me. We're all going to be vaporised. We might as well get to know each other.
LEM: No. Bobby will win. Bobby always wins.
HUNT: No offence, but I think you picked the wrong team. Bobby's not even playing on your side.
LEM: Bobby fights the colonists.
HUNT: Yes, and the colonists are wrong. I know that. They have victimised you and all the Muganis. But remember, the colonists made you slaves. Don't let someone else do it all over again.
LEM: I don't take orders from you.
HUNT: That's good. That's good, Lem. You shouldn't.
(Lem leaves.)
HUNT: Well, that's the spirit.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Estimated time to proton anti-proton event eighteen minutes thirty two seconds.
TYR: Apparently we are to try our hand at a game of brinksmanship. Provide me with options.
HOLO-ROMMIE: I'm analysing available data and exploring all possible courses of action.
TYR: Being the most powerful warship in three galaxies, please provide me with something more impressive than do nothing.
ROMMIE: We can't run. So, should I just hand over my armoury? No. I would evacuate the planet but I can't airlift seventy two million Muganis per minute. Or, perhaps you would prefer that I dematerialise Dylan's body form the Maru and magically rematerialise it here, on Command.
TYR: Your choices are to let the Eureka Maru self-destruct, which would destroy both vessels, or to launch a pre-emptive strike, destroying the Maru only.
ROMMIE: They're your choices, acting Captain Tyr Anasazi.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Estimated time to proton anti-proton event, one minute forty seconds.
ROMMIE: If you're going to order me to destroy the Maru, you'd better do it now.
TYR: What are you feeling at the thought of Dylan dying?
ROMMIE: And Beka dying, and Harper dying. I'm feeling a great deal.
TYR: Were I to order their deaths, would you always wonder if my motivations were opportunistic?
ROMMIE: Yes, I would.
TYR: Then you, this ship, would be useless to me.
ROMMIE: Technically, that's not true.
TYR: Andromeda, can you give me one good reason why I shouldn't push this button?
ROMMIE: Yes. Because I'm asking you not to.
TYR: Then by all means, let's risk our lives for Dylan.

[Maru catwalk]

(Margot brings Beka at gunpoint.)
MARGOT: 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.
HUNT: 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.
(Beka quickly disarms Margot then they wrestle as Hunt tries to get at the gun, which has dropped onto the grille. The women trade a few blows then Beka tosses Margot over the railing. The landing on the lower level kills her. After a moment, Beka picks up the gun.)
HUNT: Hey, it's good to see you.
BEKA: Heya. I'm going to blow the lock.
HUNT: No, no, no! It's rigged to explode.
BEKA: Oh.
HUNT: You need the key.
BEKA: I'll be right back.
HUNT: Okay.
COMPUTER: AP overload in fifteen minutes.
(Beka runs off. Lem approaches, looks around, then drops the digital key through the grille and runs off again. Beka finds Bobby at a junction nearby.)
BEKA: Stop. Back to the cockpit. It's over, Bobby.
BOBBY: No, it's not.
(Beka shoots him in his cyber-shoulder.)
BOBBY: 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.
BEKA: No, Bobby. They just care about a cause bigger than themselves.
BOBBY: Causes, causes.
(Beka backs over Hunt's prison.)
COMPUTER: AP overload in ten minutes.
BEKA: There was a time when you loved me, Bobby, but I wasn't ready.
BOBBY: You're still not.
BEKA: You wanted me to share your cause? Now I do. All of us do. Freedom for the Muganis.
BOBBY: And now you're with Hunt, not me.
BEKA: Dylan never lied to me.
BOBBY: Really.
(Beka fires at Bobby, the energy pellets ricocheting all over the place. A power feed gets severed and dangles from the ceiling, sparks flying. Hunt is working on his lock. Bobby knocks the gun out of Beka's hand, then knocks her down and out. He returns to the console and types. Hunt is now free. He leaps up, grabs an overhead pipe and kicks at Bobby. Bobby grabs his neck with his prosthetic arm and lifts him off the floor. Hunt punches free, and kicks Bobby below the waist. They trade punches. Lem comes to watch. Beka wakes up as Hunt gets thrown around. She sees the dangling power feed, reaches and touches it to Bobby's back. Energy surges through his metal bits, frying the organic ones.)
BOBBY: Beka! Oh, Beka!
(Bobby dies.)
COMPUTER: AP Overload in five minutes.
HUNT: Lem, get Harper. Seal that fissure now! Go!
(Lem obeys.)

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Time to combustion. Wait. The AP count has leveled off. The engine is not going critical.
ROMMIE: Dylan did that.
(Later, Beka is piloting the Andromeda.)
HUNT: We are in geosynchronous orbit. Rommie can handle it
BEKA: I know. Keeping busy helps. So, er, how are the peace talks going?
HUNT: 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
BEKA: I know. I er, I think when they made his new body, they took his humanity.
HUNT: No. No one can ever take that away from you.