You're never more alive
than the first time
someone puts a gun
to your favourite head
and asks you to dance.

Major Korgo Korgar
"Last of the Lancers," AFC 32

[Command]

HUNT: Status on the courier ship.
TYR: Dead in space. The privateer is moving into grappling position. Check that. Dozens of privateers moving in.
(On the viewscreen, the courier ship is taking weapons hits.)
BEKA: Damned pirates. Where'd they come from, anyway? This is the eleventh courier-jacking in three weeks. You know, I think somebody should tell these guys it is rude to ransom other people's mail for cash, and I think it should be us.
HUNT: Good idea. Fire.
TYR: All right.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Enemy vessels destroyed.
HUNT: It's always good to send a message.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Captain, the courier has relayed an official communiqué addressed to you. It's from C I N C High Guard, and it's marked priority.
HUNT: It's always priority.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The courier ship is transporting to Sinti a candidate for election to the Second Triumvir. The High Guard is requesting we assist with safe passage.
HUNT: We just gave them that.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: There is more information on the passenger. Overhead screen.
(A picture of John De Lancie comes up.)
BEKA: No. No!
HUNT: You have got to be kidding. I mean, half the universe wants this guy dead, and we're supposed to keep him safe?
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Dylan, this is an official request from the Commonwealth.
HUNT: Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Beka. Move us closer to the courier ship and bring her on board.

[Corridor]

HUNT: I want to get this all out of the way while the situation is under control.
BEKA: I can't believe you're making me do this.
HUNT: I expect business as usual.

[Observation deck]

BEKA: Sid.
SID: Rocket! It's great to see you. And Captain Hunt. What a joy it is that you're going to be working under me. This is a beautiful ship.
(Beka leaves.)
HUNT: Yep. Business as usual.

[Corridor]

BEKA: So, let me get this straight. The man we're taking to assume control of the Commonwealth is my beloved Uncle Sid. Sid the murderer. Sid the drug dealer. Sid who dosed me with Flash and tried to kill me.
HUNT: I am not any happier than you are, but our mission is simple. We take Sid back home to Golden Harvest, he picks up a few things, then we transit to Sinti for the election.
BEKA: And the election becomes a joke.
HUNT: Beka.
BEKA: Okay, okay, we can handle this. We pretend like we never got the orders. Or, or Sid has an accident. Or Sid just never makes it to Sinti.
HUNT: Or we follow orders.
BEKA: Maybe you weren't clear on the whole Sid tried to kill me part.
HUNT: I heard you fine.
BEKA: So, just like that you're going to hand over our brand new baby Commonwealth to, I can't stress this enough, a drug-dealing murderer. HUNT: I'm not going to hand the Commonwealth over to anyone. Sid still needs to win the election.
BEKA: And you think he's just going to sit back and submit to the will of the people?
HUNT: I don't trust him any more than you, Beka, but this isn't a debate. We have to follow orders.

[Gymnasium]

(Beka takes out her frustration on a punch bag.)
BEKA: I can't believe it. Like playing taxi service to my worst enemy is somehow my problem.
TYR: Your Uncle Sid is no saint, but he's also no worse than some of the other characters we've struck alliances with.
BEKA: That's easy for you to say. How would you feel if Dylan proposed an alliance with the Drago-Kazov, the people who murdered your family? Ow. TYR: Sometimes the situation requires that we hold the hand of our enemy. The difficult part is not letting them see you while you use the other hand to draw the knife, hmm?

[Observation deck]

(The Andromeda comes out of slipstream.)
SID: You know, I have to admit I've been following your career with great interest. The known worlds owe you a debt of gratitude not even I could afford.
HUNT: I'm flattered.
SID: Rocket.
BEKA: Don't call me that.
SID: Oh, sorry. Old habits. You know, I'm a little surprised to see you here, what with you storming out on me.
BEKA: Yeah. Me too.
(The woman with Sid introduces herself.)
GRETCHEN: Gretchen Rania, Mister Profit's Chief of Staff. Your uncle talks about you nonstop.
BEKA: Yeah, well, I brought him something else he can wax nostalgic about. Remember this little walk down memory lane? I like to call it Sid the drug dealer admits to murder.
SID: Catchy. A little inelegant, but I can handle that. I'm a politician these days.
BEKA: I'm sending a copy to every media outlet on Sinti and Golden Harvest. If I were you, I'd prepare to withdraw my candidacy, spend the rest of your life in the private sector. Maybe even a private cell.
SID: You know, you had me going there for a moment. I thought you actually had something that could damage me. That bit of information was leaked to the public months ago.
BEKA: Once again, Mister Profit makes a wonderful noise.
SID: No, I'm serious. By the time my spin doctors were done, your evidence was just another highlight in my colourful career. You know, I sort of think it gives me a common touch. People sort of like that. Colourful rogue now on the side of good. Yeah. Oh, by the way, concerning my travel arrangements. Does the Andromeda auto-chef dispense vegetarian meals, or am I going to have to bring along my own restaurant staff?

[Corridor]

HUNT: I trusted you to behave professionally, and you betrayed that trust.
BEKA: Understood.
HUNT: Beka, I've never expected military discipline from you, but I do expect you to refrain from cowboy behaviour.
BEKA: Understood.
HUNT: Don't understand it. Just fix it.
BEKA: And how do I do that?
HUNT: Apologise to him.
BEKA: What? You can't be serious. And even if I did, which I won't, what makes you think he'd accept?
HUNT: Because he already said that he wants to see you, and if you're wondering, the answer is yes, that's an order.
BEKA: Where is he now?
HUNT: He's on Golden Harvest. They went back to the planet about an hour ago. I told Gretchen that you'd bring them both back to the Andromeda when they are ready.
(Hunt walks away.)
BEKA: (sotto) I don't suppose we could make that dead or alive.
HUNT: I heard that!

[Hunt's quarters]

(Playing cards.)
HUNT: So I stood there and I told her to apologise, and all I could think was she's not wrong. Hit me.
ROMMIE: Meaning?
HUNT: No matter how many lepers he bathes or orphans he clothes, he's still every bit as vicious as Beka says. I'm good.
(Rommie deals herself two cards.)
HUNT: You're sure you're not cheating?
ROMMIE: I don't need to. Dylan, we're going from chaos to culture. It's inevitable that some of the new leaders are going to have chequered pasts.
HUNT: I've played the moral compromise for the greater good game before, but Sid seems like one compromise too many.
ROMMIE: Because it's personal.
HUNT: You're damn right it's personal. I'll have another one. Oh.
ROMMIE: Bust.
HUNT: Can we play a different game?

[Sid's office]

(Beka flies the Maru to the planet.)
BEKA: Sid, I'm sorry. Sorry you're such a miserable piece of. Sid? Sid, are you in there?
(She enters the inner office. Sid is lying back in his chair.)
BEKA: All right, Sid, you win. Again. You want to see me grovel? Here I am. Sid. Come on, wake up.
(Beka walks round the desk and sees the small wound in Sid's head.)
BEKA: Sid.

[Med deck]

TRANCE: Skull fractures, torn arteries, brain damage. It's a mess in there.
GRETCHEN: Thank you for responding so quickly.
HUNT: Until we find out who did this, he'll be safe here. Gretchen, why don't you go back to your quarters? We'll keep you updated on his condition. It's okay. If anyone can save him, it's Trance.
(Gretchen leaves.)
HUNT: Trance, can you save him?
TRANCE: Well, he's stabilised for now, but it's still too early to tell. A millimetre to either side, and that bullet would've killed him.
HUNT: Do what you can. If he dies on our watch, that's one more blow against the Commonwealth's credibility. Not to mention my own.

[Corridor]

BEKA: You want me to lead the investigation into Sid's shooting?
HUNT: Mmm hmm. I can't imagine a better candidate.
BEKA: Well, imagine harder, because I'm sure as hell not sorry that Sid caught a bullet to the head. Hell, I'm probably the prime suspect.
HUNT: Well, you know Sid better than anybody else.
BEKA: Hey, I notice you let the whole I'm probably the prime suspect thing slide by.
HUNT: Notice harder.

[Command]

HUNT: I don't suppose I could convince one of you to arrange some good news for a change.
HARPER: Well, there is one little nugget of happiness. Sid got shot on the planet. Usually foreign dignitaries wait until they're on board to meet their suspicious violent deaths.
HUNT: He's not dead, just comatose while the medical nanos repair the damage.
ROMMIE: Which makes communicating with him out of the question.
HUNT: Well, that's not quite true, is it?
ROMMIE: Sid's dataport. We could hook him up to the VR matrix and communicate with him in cyberspace. That is of course providing that the interface works and the relevant parts of Sid's brain are still functioning.
HUNT: We're going to find out. Harper, let's go talk to the guy.
HARPER: I don't know, boss. People aren't exactly plug and play, you know? This usually requires voluntary thought. One slip during the flight, he won't be asking for vegetarian meals. He'll be a vegetarian meal.
HUNT: We need to find out who did this. The only eyewitness is lying in a coma on my Med deck.

[Observation deck]

(Tyr is doing a painting on glass.)
GRETCHEN: Tyr Anasazi. I'm
TYR: I know who you are. And since we've never met, I'll assume you haven't come to share your innermost thoughts and feelings in this difficult time.
GRETCHEN: Correct. Tyr, your reputation precedes you. Your cunning, toughness, fierce brutality, and, I'm hoping, your avarice are all things that could serve you in good stead. Mister Profit's company maintains a discretionary account for occasions such as this.
TYR: You mean a revenge fund. A way for Mister Profit to exterminate his rivals from beyond the grave, yes? Significant, I assume?
GRETCHEN: Significant to the tune Of fifteen million guilders.
TYR: Oh my.
GRETCHEN: Bring me the head of the guilty party and collect the reward. It's that simple. Does that interest you?
TYR: There's a problem. Profit's not dead.
GRETCHEN: He may as well be, which is lucky for Mister Profit. Not so lucky for those who tried to kill him.

[Eureka Maru]

(Flying through the skyscrapers.)
BEKA: A revenge fund?
TYR: You'd be surprised at the number of powerful figures who keep them as a deterrent to assassination.
HUNT: Yes, but by no means bulletproof.
TYR: No. In any event, it's in our best interest to act quickly. I'm quite certain I'm not the only fixer Gretchen has contacted, and we all know where that leads.
HUNT: Yes, and it's our job to make sure it doesn't get there.
(Tyr brings up a file on a monitor.)
TYR: Meet Antonin Zwartik. CEO of Quantum Technologies, and Sid's new partner. A little computer hacking revealed several recent large cash payments to a front company for a well-known mercenary fund.
HUNT: Motive, means, opportunity.
BEKA: Funny how those things add up.
(A bright light comes from outside and the Maru rocks.)
HUNT: Tyr, what was that?
TYR: Quantum Technologies' headquarters was just destroyed in a plasma eruption. Initial scans indicate no survivors.
BEKA: Looks like our prime suspect's just been assassinated.
HUNT: Sid's revenge fund is fully operational. Beka, get us back to the Andromeda, fast.

[Command]

ROMMIE: The situation is more complicated than we thought. Comm traffic from the planet indicates escalating violence, approaching complete chaos. There's a whole wave of reprisals against Sid's enemies, and they're not taking it quietly.
HUNT: It's a city on fire down there.
TYR: The mercenaries are killing anyone who looks like a payday.
HARPER: Well, have no fear, wonder Harper is here with news guaranteed to turn your frowns upside down. Except maybe yours, Tyr. Uncle Skid is jacked in and happily ensconced in his own personal corner of the VR matrix.
HUNT: So the link is working?
HARPER: Please. I've already played four hands of Vedran whist with the guy, and you know what? He cheats.
BEKA: Unfortunately, you're a little late, Harper. Our entire most wanted list is in the process of wiping itself out.
HUNT: I think I need a talk with Sid. Maybe he can put a stop to this.
BEKA: Dylan, wait. Let me talk to him. I know him, and more importantly, I know when he's lying.
HARPER: Yeah, like when his lips are moving?
BEKA: Please.
HUNT: Okay. But whatever's past between you and Sid is just that, it's the past. In the present, people are dying on Golden Harvest. Go. We don't have a lot of time.

[Computer access]

(Beka puts on a headset.)
BEKA: All right, Sid. Let's dance.

[Virtual Reality]

SID: Oh, I wasn't expecting you. I was prepared for something more along the lines of eternal reckoning. Chains and hellfire, that sort of thing.
BEKA: Let's stick to business. An army of freelance hit men is killing anything that moves on Golden Harvest because you are offering fifteen million guilders for the head of your assassin.
SID: I cannot believe that that's what you really came here to discuss.
BEKA: What do you recall about the night you were shot?
SID: Honestly? Nothing. One moment I was sitting at my desk, and the next moment, I'm playing whist with Mister Harper. Who cheats, I might add.
BEKA: That's it?
SID: Well, memory is tricky, even without a head wound. I mean, you, of all people, should know that. What one wants to believe easily clouds the truth.
BEKA: You're changing the topic.
SID: Am I? Why don't you play a little experiment with me. Tell me about your tenth birthday.
BEKA: I'm not getting into my tenth
SID: No, no, no, no, no, no. Your father had just come back from Kalderash with?
BEKA: Candied eggs.
SID: Yes. Good. Go on.
BEKA: He hid them all over the Maru for me and my brother, Rafe, to find. They tasted a little funny, but we didn't care, because we hadn't seen him in
SID: Whoa, who, wait, wait. Let's stick with the eggs for a minute. They tasted funny because I had injected them with a vitamin solution before I hid them. Your father wasn't feeding you and your brother properly.
BEKA: That's not true. My father fed us
SID: It is true. And your father spent that day in bed sleeping off a Flash binge.
BEKA: Go to hell, Sid.
SID: If there is one, that's probably where I'll be heading. Barring negotiations, of course. Look, I don't say these things to hurt you. You have to believe that. But if they do hurt, I know that too.

[Hunt's quarters]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Dylan, I'm receiving a transmission from High Guard Command.
HUNT: Message playback.
FREMONT [on viewscreen]: Captain Hunt. Jack Fremont, acting Minister of War. I'm looking at a message from you indicating your reluctance to transport Sid Profit to Sinti. Now, we all understand your concerns, and on behalf of your superiors, tough. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your stock at HQ ain't what it was. You see, the Nietzschean Jaguars are making trouble, and the Persiads, well, they're still mad about that Hohne thing. And don't even get me started on the fish people. The point is, there's even talk of transferring Fleet Command to the Achilles or the Twelve Centuries.
HUNT: What?
FREMONT [on viewscreen]: Now, I don't want to see that happen, and it's a real simple equation. Follow your orders. Period. Fremont out.
HOLO-ROMMIE: So what do you think?
HUNT: If this is rekindling the light of civilisation, I miss the Dark Ages.

[Gymnasium]

(Using dumb bells.)
BEKA: What does Sid want? It's not like I'm a threat to him, Not anymore, anyway, but it's like he still wants sympathy or something, from me, the one person in the world who knows exactly what kind of man he really is.
TYR: For men like him, it's never simply about the power. I imagine it's about, well, being loved as well as feared. That's what makes him a good politician, I suppose.
BEKA: An entire galaxy who thinks he's the greatest since artificial gravity. Why does he need me?
TYR: Perhaps because you're the one person who knows what kind of man he is. And, perhaps, in his own mind, he believes what he says and he needs you to believe it as well.

[Hunt's quarters]

(Doorbell.)
HUNT: Yes.
GRETCHEN: You wanted to see me?
HUNT: How's Sid doing?
GRETCHEN: Getting better all the time, I'm told. It really is a miracle.
HUNT: It certainly is. I want you to call off your dogs.
GRETCHEN: I'm sure I don't know what you mean.
HUNT: Gretchen. I may have spent three centuries frozen in time, but I didn't wake up stupid. End this now.
GRETCHEN: Easy to say, harder to do. Things like this have a way of taking on lives of their own.
HUNT: Well, in the meantime, we let an entire city become a smoking ruin. Here's your choice. Cancel the revenge fund or spend quality time in my brig.
GRETCHEN: It's too late.
HUNT: You see, that's the trouble with people like you. Always thinking you're above the mess you made and the people that you left in that mess.
GRETCHEN: Golden Harvest is no longer my concern. Once the election is
HUNT: No, no, no. I don't think you heard me. You aren't going to make it to the election.

[Virtual Reality]

HUNT: Hello, Sid.
SID: Oh, hello, Captain Hunt. I was expecting Beka. But no, it's you. Well, I guess I must be moving up the ladder.
HUNT: You know, the attempt on your life seems to be working out pretty well for you, all things considered.
SID: Well, I wouldn't know. I haven't been keeping up on current events.
HUNT: Well then, here's a summary. While you make a speedy recovery, your rivals are going down one by one, thanks to your little revenge fund. Soon, you won't have any rivals left. You'll end up Second Triumvir by default. That's not a bad day's work for a guy in a coma.
SID: I guess I should have been shot in the head years ago.
HUNT: That's funny, because that's what Beka says.
SID: Oh, well, Beka says a lot of things.
HUNT: Sid, you tried to kill her.
SID: I thought she was trying to blackmail me. I was wrong. Mind you, I was surprised I was wrong, but nonetheless, I was wrong. It happens in business.
HUNT: And the Commonwealth, I suppose that's just business too.
SID: In the new Commonwealth, they're going to need men like me as much as they need you. Now, I'm no saint, but it'll be easy to be a saint in paradise.
HUNT: You lost me at the Commonwealth needs men like you.
SID: I have double-crossed, blackmailed, back-stabbed and lied gloriously to create this paradise. However, I have also created a mess in the process, and that's where you come in. I'm going to need you on clean-up.
HUNT: I don't come in anywhere. And the mess that you've made? Well, I'm sorry, Sid, but you're the one who's going to have to clean it up.

[Med deck]

GRETCHEN: You were good to me, Sid.
(She puts a small device on Sid's dataport. He starts to jerk.)

[Virtual Reality]

(Sid's image flickers.)
SID: Something's not right.
ANDROMEDA: Sid's vital signs just flatlined. Gretchen is with him.
HUNT: Seal the deck. Get Trance and Tyr down there and get me out of here.

[Med deck]

(Hunt enters. Sid is still convulsing.)
GRETCHEN: Oh, thank god you're here. One minute he was fine, the next
HUNT: I don't want to hear it. Trance?
TRANCE: Stabilised for now.
HUNT: Put her in the brig.
GRETCHEN: You have no authority over me, Captain.
HUNT: As a matter of fact, I do.
GRETCHEN: I know what you're thinking. I kill the boss, then use his revenge fund to start an assassination campaign against his rivals, and in the end, the last one standing is me. That's not how it is at all.
HUNT: Tyr.
(Tyr takes Gretchen away.)
TRANCE: What did Sid do to her to justify mass murder?
HUNT: My guess is he treated her like the daughter he never had. She was just doing what he taught her to do. She saw an opening and took it. None of this was personal.
TRANCE: So the assassination attempt on Sid, she didn't plan it?
HUNT: Didn't have a thing to do with it. She just tried to close the deal. If she didn't, someone else would.
TRANCE: So someone else is the killer?
HUNT: And whoever it is is still out there.

[Hunt's quarters]

HUNT: I am completely out of patience and time. I'm convinced taking him to Sinti for a coronation is a big mistake.
ROMMIE: Coronation? The man hasn't even been elected yet.
HUNT: The universe has a sick sense of humour, Rommie. I mean, is this what I've invested my blood in? Rebuilding the Commonwealth so I can hand the reins over to someone like Sid? I'd rather just throw him to the Magog.
ROMMIE: You could probably get away with that.
HUNT: If only that were true.
ROMMIE: Well, Dylan, it seems the solution to your problem is pretty simple.
HUNT: Really?
ROMMIE: Do your job.
HUNT: Thank you.
ROMMIE: You're welcome. By the way, Trance has reported that Sid's condition is improving.
HUNT: Hmm. I want a complete information blackout on his status. We'll be safer from the real assassin that way.
ROMMIE: Okay. And you may also wish to know that Sid has reasserted his consciousness in my VR matrix. He is awake.
HUNT: Good. I want to talk to him.
ROMMIE: He's already asked to speak to someone else.
HUNT: Oh.

[Virtual Reality]

SID: Rocket.
BEKA: I told you not to call me that.
SID: Yes, well, hopefully there'll be other opportunities or you to tell me that.
BEKA: You sound scared, Sid.
SID: Really? Well, so do you. Look, can we dispense with these pleasantries? I have said hello, you have invited me to go to hell, and can we just get down to business?
BEKA: So this is about business?
SID: I have had a breakthrough. A memory.
BEKA: You saw who did it?
SID: Close. Andromeda, play file Alpha Profit, full resolution.
VR-GRETCHEN: I'm telling you, your niece is a liability waiting to happen. All the spin doctors in the universe are no match for one determined spoiler.
VR-SID: Beka's not a spoiler. She's an angry kid who needs to blame somebody for her father's troubles and I'm elected. Besides, I'm family.
BEKA: Does the phrase unreliable narrator mean anything to you?
SID: Does the phrase incurable cynic mean anything to you?
VR-GRETCHEN: Listen, if she blows this
VR-SID: She's not going to blow it. Now go and get yourself packed. We're leaving in an hour.
VR-GRETCHEN: Very good.
(VR-Gretchen leaves.)
COMPUTER: Good evening, Mister Profit. You have one communication waiting. Shall I play it for you?
VR-SID: Caller information, please.
(The caller's face comes up on the screen.) 
VR-SID: Caylor Ragatz.
(Then something whizzes through the reconstruction and hits Sid in the head.)
BEKA: Ragatz, your main rival. Way too easy. And besides, we ran a check of your communication system. Your inbox was empty.
SID: It was autodeleted. I delete all his messages. He never has anything nice to say to me.
BEKA: Why are you telling me all of this? Why not tell Dylan?
SID: Rocket, I am trying to show concern for you. And, please don't take this wrong, affection.
BEKA: You don't want me to go.
SID: Caylor Ragatz is a dangerous man. Do you understand that? He will kill you just because you're important to me.
BEKA: Your concern just breaks my heart.
SID: Better mine than yours.
BEKA: Sid, save the crocodile tears for someone who gives a damn.

[Eureka Maru]

(Tyr is piloting.)
HUNT: Sid wasn't exaggerating. Ragatz isn't exactly the president of the Golden Harvest Glee Club. We may be walking into an ambush.
TYR: That's why I always assume I'm walking into an ambush. It prevents unpleasant surprises.
BEKA: Either way, Golden Harvest is an armed camp these days. Getting into Ragatz's headquarters will not be easy.
HUNT: Look on the bright side.
BEKA: There's a bright side?
HUNT: Oh yeah. Getting in's going to be a lot easier than getting out.

[Ragatz's office]

(A knock on the door.)
RAGATZ: I told you people I wanted
(Beka and Hunt enter, guns raised.)
RAGATZ: Quiet.
HUNT: I would think very carefully about where to put my hands if I were you. Now place your gun on the desk.
RAGATZ: My security
HUNT: Oh, your security's having a very bad night.
BEKA: You're on your own and you're coming with us.
RAGATZ: With you? You mean you're not here to kill me for the revenge fund?
BEKA: Nope.
RAGATZ: But this is about Profit?
BEKA: Got it in one.
RAGATZ: Get out of my office.
HUNT: You know what? I think I could use that money after all, because I could do a hell of a lot with fifteen million guilders.
BEKA: Dylan, no. Head wounds are so messy. Shoot him in the chest.
HUNT: Okay.
RAGATZ: Okay, okay, okay. If you want to arrest somebody, start with Profit. The hit was a fake. Profit ordered it on himself.
HUNT: Oh, so Sid shot himself in the head just to start a war.
RAGATZ: Wouldn't hurt his election chances, either.
BEKA: I want evidence. Documentation.
RAGATZ: What, you don't believe me?
HUNT + BEKA: No.
BEKA: I want to nail Sid to the wall.
(The power goes out.)
HUNT: You're coming with us. Tyr, get ready for a hot evac.
TYR [OC]: Beka, Dylan, what's happening?
(A gunfight in the dark. Ragatz gets away from Hunt and Beka, and gets shot in the back.)
HUNT: Beka, only one way out. Come on.
(They jump through a window out onto a balcony below.)
GUNMAN: Get them!

[Balcony]

HUNT: Back off, we let you live.
(The Maru arrives.)
HUNT: Should have backed off.
(Tyr fires a missile into the office and the gunmen are sent flying out and down to the balcony.)

[Eureka Maru]

TYR: Amateurs.

[Balcony]

BEKA: It's never easy.
HUNT: No.

[Corridor]

(Back on board the Andromeda.)
BEKA: He's guilty as sin. We have all the reason we need to shoot Sid out an air lock and do the universe a favour.
HUNT: Based on no hard evidence, just the claim of a dead man who gave us a confession under extreme duress.
BEKA: You know I'm right. You can feel it in your gut.
HUNT: If the Commonwealth we've built is worth anything, we have to trust it to do what's right. We have to have faith in somebody other than us.
BEKA: And if that faith is misplaced?
HUNT: Well, then, we have bigger problems than your Uncle Sid.

[Eureka Maru]

BEKA: What should I do, Dad? What should I do? It's funny. You and Sid built this ship together, and looking around, I can see little touches of both of you everywhere. You designed the bar, Sid installed the weapons locker. And now being here, it's like having a little angel and a little devil sitting on each shoulder. Give me a sign, Dad. What would you do?

[Med deck]

(Beka walks in holding her gun.)
BEKA: Where's Sid?
HUNT: He woke up. He needed to stretch his legs so he went for a walk. He'll be back.
BEKA: Dylan, you have to know that I'm trying to do the right thing here. I need to finish things with Sid.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Dylan, the Maru is leaving hangar sixteen.
BEKA: Damn it.
HUNT: Beka, wait. He can't steal your ship.
BEKA: He knows the codes.
HUNT: Then he can steal your ship.

[Eureka Maru]

(Sid is piloting, of course, when Beka walks in. The Maru is in flight.)
BEKA: I want the truth, and if I don't like what I hear, you're going to know it fast.
SID: You didn't take my advice about Ragatz, now, did you? You went to see him and you nearly got yourself killed.
BEKA: I'm fine, but before he was killed
SID: He said that the assassination was a fake and you believed him.
BEKA: Of course.
SID: Well, that's smart. Because it's true.
BEKA: You started a war to win an election.
SID: Look, I know what you think of me. I know you think of me as being a monster. But in my world, I'm the good guy. I'm the white knight.
BEKA: The white knight? You strapped me down. You poured Flash in my eyes. You tried to kill me, Sid.
SID: Look, I'm not going to insult you by offering an excuse. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, my personal history is positively banal.
BEKA: Banal? Tell that to my father. Tell my father that making him a criminal and an addict was banal. I'd love for you to tell him that, but you can't, because he's dead.
SID: I didn't make your father a criminal, he did it. I didn't make him an addict, he did it. I didn't take away everything he owned. He gave it away. And none of that is banal, it's sad. It's deeply sad, because I know one little girl who deserved better.
BEKA: You cut him off, Sid. You cut him off when he needed you the most.
SID: But I didn't cut you off, Rocket. You have this ship because I kept the debtors off your back. It was your home. You needed it. It was my gift to you because you're family.
BEKA: In that case, you can keep it.
(Alarm. Two blips on tactical. Beka pulls Sid out of the pilots chair and takes over.)
BEKA: Andromeda Ascendant, this is the Eureka Maru. Mayday, mayday. We've got incoming bogeys and I don't think they're after Sid's autograph.
(The other ships open fire.)
BEKA: It'll be at least twenty minutes. We're on our own.
SID: You know, Rocket, I'm not worried. You're the best pilot there is, and those troglodytes, they don't have a chance.
(Clunk thump.)
BEKA: Except the one thing. They don't want to blow up the Maru, they want to board her.
(Beka gets a gauss pistol from the weapons locker.)
BEKA: Know how to use this?
SID: Sure. It's like riding a bicycle.
(A short time later, Beka sneaks up behind the boarders.)
BEKA: Looking for me?
(She shoots one, Sid kills another from the other side.)
SID: You idiots. Don't you know you can't collect the revenge fund unless I'm dead?
(One of the boarders drops a smoke grenade and retreats.)

[Command]

ROMMIE: The Maru is dead in space and under siege.
HUNT: Calculate time to intercept.
ROMMIE: We'll be within weapons range in just under three minutes.
HUNT: That's a lot of time to die.
TYR: Or to win.

[Maru engine room]

(Beka kicks out two boarders and throws a wrench into the head of a third.)
BEKA: Nice shot, Beks.
(Meanwhile, Sid punches another man in the stomach.)
SID: Oh, man, that hurt. I'm too old for this.
(He throws his attacker to the floor and shoots him, then walks off whistling.)

[Command]

ROMMIE: We are within weapons range.
HUNT: What have we got?
ROMMIE: One Fighter Transport clamped to the Maru's hull, another flying cap.
HUNT: Target the escort ship and destroy it. Tyr, get a lancer pod ready. We're going over there.

[Maru engine room]

(Beka gets thrown about.)
SID: Rocket, stay down.
(Sid shoots her attacker. She takes out the last one but not before Sid gets shot.)
SID: You know, it's funny, you may be the one who gets the revenge fund.
BEKA: You saved my life.
SID: Yeah? Well, I owed you one.
(Hunt and Tyr enter.)
BEKA: Oh gee, look. It's the cavalry.
HUNT: Is he all right?
BEKA: He's going to be fine.

[Corridor]

BEKA: I can't believe it. Sid lost.
HUNT: Well, I made sure that the electors knew everything that they needed to know.
BEKA: Huh?
HUNT: I put surveillance equipment on the Maru, recorded Sid's every word.
BEKA: You what?
HUNT: We'll talk about it later. It's funny how a little truth can change your mind about someone.
SID: You know, all in all, I'm not that disappointed. I have survived two attempts on my life, my enemies are dead, and I'm not enslaved to a political office. I am in a better position than when we started. We both are. I think a man needs to follow his destiny. Yours is this ship, and mine is business. And business is good. Rocket?
BEKA: Don't. Make it quick.
SID: I hope you're going to give me a chance to show that I'm not the man you think I am.
BEKA: What you said on the Maru about my dad, is that true?
SID: I wish it weren't, more than anything.
BEKA: Yeah. I guess I feel the same way.
SID: Your father wasn't a perfect man, but he loved you. And so do I.
(Sid leaves.)
HUNT: Well, how's that for the truth?
BEKA: Truth's a bitch.

[Eureka Maru]

BEKA: I used to think I could feel him here, my father. I used to think that maybe his ghost lived in these walls. He was watching over me, protecting me. But it's not true. My father is gone, and no amount of wishing from a little girl with a broken heart can make that untrue.
HUNT: Maybe you're right. Maybe there is no ghost living in the walls of this ship. Your father isn't gone. His ghost is still very much with you. That ghost lives here. (in her heart) And he always will, as long as you accept him for the man he was, and forgive him for being as flawed as the rest of us. Your father isn't gone. He's still here.