"I've always found a fully deployed
battle group to be the most
effective negotiator."

Admiral Constanza Stark,
High Guard Chief-of-Staff,
CY 9758

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Battle stations. All hands on deck. This is not a drill.
HUNT: Andromeda, report.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The Pyrians have placed twenty four fusion powered atmosphere generators across the planet. They're spewing CI2, methane, and sulphur dioxide, and nothing the colonists have done have been able to stop them. In a month, Samsarra will no longer be able to support oxygen breathing life.
BEKA: Perfect, for Pyrians. Bad for colonists, all fifty six thousand three hundred and twelve of them.
ROMMIE: The colonists claim the Pyrian ships just dropped the generators and left without saying a word. All attempts to communicate have been rebuffed.
BEKA: Yeah, well, Pyrians aren't great conversationalists, unless deep frying your ship is their version of hey, how are you? Let's do lunch.
HUNT: Target those generators with a full barrage of ground attack missiles. We'll show them lunch. Fire.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The Pyrian atmosphere generators have been destroyed. The climatic effects will begin to reverse themselves in a matter of days.
ROMMIE: Well, if that doesn't get them to talk, nothing will.
HUNT: Send a courier to High Guard HQ on Mobius. Tell them I need a fleet to blockade Samsarra. And when the Pyrians show up, we'll tell them just what we've done to their generators.

[Hunt's quarters]

HOLO-ROMMIE: Dylan? I thought you should know. I'm detecting multiple slipstream events across the outer solar system.
HUNT: Our fleet is here, and they're early.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Well, it's definitely a fleet, but it's not ours. As near as I can tell, it's a full Pyrian task force.
HUNT: They're really early.
HOLO-ROMMIE: And they're headed this way.
HUNT: So much for the blockade. It looks like we'll be dealing with the Pyrians on our own.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The Pyrian fleet has not yet responded to our hails. Their position is thirty three light minutes, closing at twenty five PSL.
HUNT: That gives us two hours to convince them to come to the table.
TYR: We attacked their installation at Samsarra.
ROMMIE: It was an unmanned installation. An illegal unmanned installation.
TRANCE: Attacking a populated world, refusing to speak with anyone? They're trying to provoke us, see what we'll do.
HUNT: It's like a test.
TRANCE: Exactly.
ROMMIE: Maybe the Pyrians want more from Samsarra than just pyraforming it. There are plenty of unpopulated planets that meet their needs.
TYR: May we just review for my benefit? The Pyrians completely outmatch us. They have no incentive for discussion, and they're possibly protecting a secret agenda, yet we are to believe we can still convince them to talk. That's interesting.
TRANCE: The Pyrian fleet is protecting two dropships, which appear to be carrying fresh atmosphere generators.
HUNT: The Pyrians couldn't have known to come with replacement generators.
ROMMIE: It's unlikely that they'd already be aware that we've destroyed their equipment on the planet.
TRANCE: Very unlikely.
HUNT: Replacements or not, they're going back to where they came from. And if we are very lucky, we can convince the Pyrians of that without firing a single shot.
ROMMIE: And if we're not very lucky?
HUNT: Well then, we'll sharpen our olive branch into the point of a spear.

[Crew muster]

(Beka is giving a pep talk to a pair of eager beavers.)
BEKA: The Andromeda is the last line of defence for this entire system. And when it comes right down to it, the slipfighters are the last line of defence for the Andromeda. Am I making myself clear?
BOWLUS + FRYMIRE: Crystal clear, Captain Valentine.
BEKA: Do you always speak in stereo like that?
BOTH: Yes. No.
FRYMIRE: Sometimes.
BEKA: Look, guys, we may be heading into battle with the Pyrians. We can't afford screw ups. Screw ups equal death, so I need you to get your butts down to the hangar deck, do your jobs, and don't be late.
(They salute her.)
BEKA: And for god's sake, don't salute me.
HARPER: Never salute.

[Corridor]

HARPER: Boss, don't you think you're being kind of hard on the eager beavers? Hey.
(A female crewmember walks past.)
BEKA: No.
HARPER: Maybe you should take it easy on the spit and polish a little bit. I mean, come on. When we first got here, it's not exactly like we were standard military issue. I mean, let's get serious. We still aren't.
BEKA: Spit and polish? Even back in the old day, what do you think I would have done to your scrawny butt if it wasn't where I needed it when I needed it?
HARPER: You would have kicked it all over the local cluster.
BEKA: Exactly, because my crew is my family. I'll be damned if I lose even one of them to screw ups.
(Boom.)
BEKA: Especially when people keep trying to kill us.
HARPER: I get tired of that.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: The Pyrians are pelting us with AG mass packets.
HUNT: They're slowing us down.
ROMMIE: All the better for their torchships to come in close and roast us with plasma. You know, this is getting very annoying. What happened to the good old days when ships just sat around and fired broadsides at each other?
BEKA: The steam engine was invented?
HUNT: ECM to maximum. Offensive missiles, tubes one through forty. One shot per tube. Let's show the Pyrians we're taking this personally.
BEKA: Evasive manoeuvres?
HUNT: Oh Beka, you know me so well. Plot a course back to Samsarra's largest moon. We'll use it for cover while we harass the Pyrian fleet.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Captain, we are receiving a message from the Pyrians.
HUNT: On screen. Now, that is not a Pyrian.
BEKA: Whatever happened to those bulbous, tentacled things floating in hot gas we were so fond of?
ANDROMEDA: She may be a projection of some sort to make us more responsive.
HUNT: Maybe, but we've dealt with Pyrians before, so why start now?
(The female on the viewscreen is rather Trance-like in her colour and hairstyle.)
AZAZEL [on viewscreen]: Attention, Andromeda ascendant. The hostilities you have initiated against this fleet can lead to nothing but your destruction. We urge you to withdraw from Samsarra before that event becomes unavoidable. We will not be deterred.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: I'm trying to keep the channel open, but the Pyrians are not responding.
BEKA: Did you hear that? We will not be deterred.
HARPER [on viewscreen]: Did you hear that voice? Oh, did you see those lips? I'm thinking we offer up the Harper as her hostage and I'll make this whole ugly situation go away single handedly. Make that double handedly.
BEKA: Don't you have something to fix?
(Boom!)

[Machine shop]

HARPER: I do now.

[Command]

ROMMIE: More AG packets. We're losing speed.
HUNT: Divert power to compensate. Engineering, initialise backup reactors.
TRANCE: Dylan? I feel wrong. I feel sick.
HUNT: Dismissed.
(Trance leaves, and a crewman takes her post. Hunt nods to Tyr to follow her.)

[Corridor]

TYR: Shouldn't you be headed to Med deck?
TRANCE: Everything I need is on the Maru.
TYR: Would you tell me your symptoms?
TRANCE: Dizziness. Confusion. Nausea.
TYR: Nausea? Trance, you don't have a stomach. In fact, I don't believe I've ever seen you consume more than an alcoholic beverage.
TRANCE: I'm jittery. I feel cold and prickly all over. I can't think straight.
TYR: Is there anything else?
TRANCE: You can't force me to tell you anything. I don't think it would be wise for you to try now.
TYR: I'm quite sure you're right. However, I will try, should it ever come to that. Are we understood?
TRANCE: I'd like to go to my room now, be with my plants.

[Command]

TYR: Are the Pyrians ignoring us?
ROMMIE: It appears they don't consider us a threat.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The Pyrian fleet will be in range of Samsarra in less than twenty minutes.
ROMMIE: Once they establish position around the planet, they won't leave it undefended. They'll be dug in.
BEKA: Then we can kiss Samsarra goodbye.
HUNT: Yeah, well, that's not going to happen. Scramble the slipfighters to blockade the planet. Let's see if we can slow things down a little.

[Slipfighters]

(After launch. Beka is leading the flight.)
BEKA: Okay, people, Standard distribution, weapons free. This is just like the drill, only with real explosions. And guys, anyone who lets a Pyrian within one light second of Samsarra buys the first round when this is all over. You can make mine a Sparky-cola.
FRYMIRE: Roger that, Captain.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The fighters have taken position and the Pyrians are redeploying to compensate.
HUNT: Launch combat drones. Disperse them around the fleet perimeter.
ROMMIE: There was a time when people were impressed that I had enough firepower to decimate a planet in under ten minutes. I miss that.
HUNT: Me too.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: A detachment of torchships is closing to engagement range with the fighters.

[Slipfighters]

HUNT [OC]: Beka, you've got company.
BEKA: Okay, everybody stay in formation.
BOWLUS: We're on it, Captain.
BEKA: So the Pyrians like to play chicken. Too bad. I don't. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Wing Commander speaking. The Pyrians don't seem to get the message. Let's explain it to them. Here we go, folks.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Fighters have engaged the torchships, and our combat drones have encircled the rest of the enemy armada.
HUNT: Target their flank, randomised firing solutions. Missile tubes one through forty. Clear the magazines. Fire!
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Sensor drones report minimal combat effectiveness.
ROMMIE: The Pyrians aren't slowing down.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Dylan, the Pyrians have just launched a barrage of neutron ground attack missiles at Samsarra.
ROMMIE: Neutron warheads only attack living things.
TYR: Like an infestation of colonists.
HUNT: Shoot those warheads down. Raise the colonial government on comms.
ROMMIE: What do you want me to tell them?
HUNT: To pack their things and get the hell off the planet. We can't protect them and fight the Pyrians at the same time. We have to evacuate Samsarra.
(Later, lots of little ships are streaming from Samsarra.)
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The colonial government reports evacuation is thirty seven percent complete. Of that, four percent of the transports have reached slipstream range.
HUNT: Estimated time to mission completion?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Three hours.
TYR: We can't maintain this engagement for three more hours.
HUNT: We don't have a choice.
ROMMIE: More AG mass packets. Dylan, I don't have enough power to compensate.
TYR: We are returning fire.

[Slipfighters]

FRYMIRE: I need some help. Watch your six.
BOWLUS: Bogies six o'clock, nine
BEKA: These guys are everywhere.
FRYMIRE: Receiving heavy fire, all directions.
BOWLUS: I've got your back, Gold Two. I need a little help here.
FRYMIRE: Bowlus, break. Two o'clock. Two o'clock! Bowlus, are you there? Bowlus, do you read? Wing commander, this is Gold Two. My wingman is hit bad. His comms are out. Our position is overrun. Requesting permission to fall back to the Andromeda, ma'am.
BEKA: Keep it together, Gold Two. You need to stick with your wingman. Watch his six. Keep trying to get him on the horn. And listen, that goes for all of you. We fight together, we win together. When we go home, it'll be together, or not at all. Let's move in on the target. Get in and get out.
FRYMIRE: Roger that, Captain.

[Command]

HARPER [on viewscreen]: Good news, boss. My band of merry monkeys have scrubbed the hull clean. No more AG mass packets. Plus, we shampooed the decks, buffed the mirrors, and threw in some air freshener at no extra charge.
ROMMIE: A pair of torchships have moved away from the main fleet and are moving to engage us.
TYR: Well, even crippled, I would much prefer to assume the offensive than instruct the crew to make peace with their various and sundry deities.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: We are in no position to mount an attack. If we try, the probability of our destruction is ninety three percent.
HUNT: Damn it! Recall those fighters. I need them back here.
TYR: And the Pyrians?
HUNT: Let those bastards come.

[Slipfighters]

(The slipfighters are buzzing a Pyrian ship.)
BEKA: Gold Two, we're falling back. Do you copy?
BOWLUS: Gold Two, four o'clock. look out!
BEKA: Gold Two, Gold Two, do you hear me?
BOWLUS: Bogey on your tail, Gold Two. Incoming! Incoming! I repeat.
BEKA: Gold Two. Gold Two, come in. Talk to me.
FRYMIRE: Wingman didn't get the message. I'm trying to. Can't hold it!
(He goes into a spiral then blows up.)
BOWLUS: They got Gold Two.
MAN [OC]: Frymire, no!
HUNT [OC]: We need to fall back.
BEKA: Focus, people. Maintain comms discipline. We're going home. Gold Two, I'm sorry.

[Command]

ROMMIE: The evacuation of Samsarra is eighty three percent complete.
TYR: Torchships are closing.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: All surviving fighters have returned to base.
HUNT: All right, let's do this. Prep every single missile tube we've got. Full salvo. Prepare to fire on my mark. Three, two
ROMMIE: Dylan.
HUNT: What?
ROMMIE: I'm detecting multiple slipstream events.
HUNT: Oh, don't tell me more Pyrians.
ROMMIE: No, the cavalry. A High Guard battle group, along with warships from the Commonwealth member worlds.
HUNT: Ah, what do you know. Some good news for a change. All right, people. Let's finish this evacuation.
ROMMIE: I hate to spoil the moment, but I've got news from the colonial governor.
HUNT: Now what?
BEKA: What'd I miss?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: One of the transports has experienced a series of mechanical disasters on the launch pad. It can't leave, and the passengers can't be transferred.
ROMMIE: It's a medical ship. The passengers are patients.
BEKA: I'll go. Andromeda, tell the flight deck to prep the Maru for launch.
HUNT: Beka, not a good idea.
BEKA: That transport can't leave on its own, and the Maru's a salvage ship. The math's pretty simple.
TYR: No, no, no. Here's the math. You've been flying under battle conditions for the past four hours. You're tired, and unless I miss my guess, we need you rested for the next fighter sortie, yes? So, what. I'll take the Maru to Samsarra.

[Trance's quarters]

(Trance is with her plants on the Maru.)
TYR: I'll be needing you in the cockpit right now.
(The Eureka Maru launches.)

[Command]

HUNT: Order the fleet to engage the Pyrians.

[Eureka Maru]

TYR: Distance to the transport ship? Distance. Hey! Wake up and focus! Do your job, or leave.
TRANCE: Sorry. We're in bucky cable range.
TYR: Deploy bucky cables.
TRANCE: Bucky cables deployed. We've got them. The transport is secure.
TYR: All right, tell that pilot to make sure his patients are strapped in because we're leaving very, very fast.
TRANCE: AG mass packets slowing us down.
(The Pyrians fire on them.)
TYR: Cook the engines to one hundred and twenty five percent to compensate.
TRANCE: If this keeps up, we'll never make it back to the Andromeda.
TYR: Is that transport slip-capable?
TRANCE: Yes.
TYR: All right. they don't need us to slow them down. I'm going to point us in the direction of the nearest obvious slip point. As soon as we're up to speed, I want you to cut the bucky cables. The inertia will carry them on.
TRANCE: Inertia, right. Good plan.
TYR: Give me one fifty percent on those engines.
TRANCE: One fifty, aye. But we can't burn any hotter than that. We'll fly apart.
TYR: Cut the cables.
TRANCE: The transport is safely on its way.
TYR: Good. Trance? Whatever your problem is, you've already succeeded in making it mine as well, and I don't appreciate it at all. Get a grip.

[Command]

BEKA: We have them on the run.
HUNT: Better than that. We've corralled them. They can't get out of here unless they come through us. Andromeda, send a message to the fleet. Tell them we've got one more job to do. We are going to drive the Pyrians from Samsarra forever.

[Cargo bay]

(The Maru returns to the Andromeda. A case with three flashing lights is waiting.)
HOLO-ROMMIE: Welcome back, Tyr.
TYR: What merits your sudden interest in my return?
HOLO-ROMMIE: Our courier returned with a package for you.
TYR: I assume you scanned that?
HOLO-ROMMIE: It's not a bomb, if that's what you're asking.
(Tyr opens the case.)
HOLO-ROMMIE: They're seeds, specifically from the Dragonia vine.
TYR: The Dragonia vine. Drago Musevini's first feat of genetic engineering.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Yes. Lush, colourful flowers with an intoxicating scent. And anything that came close enough to appreciate that was strangled to death by the vine. Charming.
TYR: Yes. But, you see, the Dragonia vine wasn't just a plant. It was the physical representation of a philosophy. That the universe is a beautiful place, full of wonders, and it wants to kill you.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Ironic, considering the Dragonia vine is supposed to be extinct, wiped out when Fountainhead was destroyed.
TYR: Ironic. yes.
HOLO-ROMMIE: What I want to know, Tyr, is who is sending you Dragonia vines and why.

[Trance's quarters]

BEKA: Hey, Trance. Just thought I'd check on you. Trance?
TRANCE: Hi. I'm sorry. I'm fine.
BEKA: You don't seem fine.
TRANCE: Neither do you.
BEKA: You're right. I'm not fine.
TRANCE: It's that new crew? The new situation?
BEKA: Yeah, that. Suddenly, I find myself out there playing fighter jock while Tyr flies my ship on a death defying rescue mission. I mean, this is not how it's supposed to be, is it? This is not who I am.
TRANCE: It is now.
BEKA: Maybe.
TRANCE: I understand that you don't really know who you are anymore, or that you're even cut out to be the person you've become, but Beka, believe me, you're not alone, and before you know it, the universe is going to start to make sense again. I can promise you that much.
BEKA: Thanks, Trance.
TRANCE: For what?

[Command]

HUNT: This is Captain Dylan Hunt, Commodore of the High Guard fleet. You have twenty minutes to completely withdraw from Samsarra or I will remove you myself. Hunt out.
BEKA: Am I the only one who feels it's weird that the Pyrians left themselves with no way out?
HUNT: Right now, the Pyrians are up against the wall. If we give them any more time, we lose our advantage.
BEKA: True, but they were playing their hand awfully well up until the end there.
HUNT: Yes, they were, but the ultimatum has been offered. It's their move.
TYR: And your plan if and when they don't respond?
HUNT: This is our objective. Two Pyrian dropships carrying atmosphere generators. We destroy them, the Pyrians go home. Phase one, the fighter wing will engage the torchships, drawing them off, and keep them at least one light minute away from the main action. The torchships are effectively knocked out of the battle.
BEKA: Sounds like fun.
HUNT: Phase two, warships from the member worlds will engage the cruiser escorts, forcing them to reduce their coverage on the dropships.
TYR: Leaving the dropships exposed.
HUNT: Correct, which brings us to phase three. Andromeda, play back the simulation, please. The main element of our fleet will launch a massive attack on the dropships. Dropships gone. We switch fire to the remaining cruiser escorts. Our fighter wing falls back, leaving the torchships, which are now vulnerable to a long range missile attack.
ROMMIE: At which point, we should be able to force a surrender.
HUNT: Oh, at that point, we win. Captain Valentine, scramble your fighters.

[Slipfighters]

BEKA: Okay, folks, here we go. One more time. Stay steady and ready for fun. It's about to get very hot and busy. Stay alert and hold formation.

[Command]

ROMMIE: Fighters have drawn the torchships to one light minute. They're out.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The Commander of the Commonwealth detachment reports he has engaged the cruisers. The dropships are undefended.
HUNT: Signal the battle group to initiate phase three.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: All ships report ready.
HUNT: Set an intercept course for those dropships. All ahead, full.
TYR: Are you both listening for it?
ROMMIE: Listening for what?
TYR: The other shoe to drop.
HUNT: Offensive missiles, all tubes. Simultaneous time on target. Fire.
ROMMIE: Five seconds to intercept. Three seconds.
HUNT: Ready salvo two.
(KaBOOM.)
ROMMIE: Targets destroyed.
HUNT: Prepare to shift fire to cruisers.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Several Pyrian torchships have engaged the Commonwealth detachment.
HUNT: I thought the fighters drew them off.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: They did. These are new torchships.
HUNT: Ping the fleet. I want a status report.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The detachment's Command ship has been destroyed. Other ships report that they are taking heavy fire.
HUNT: Damn it. Keep firing. Tell the detachment to pull back and consolidate on us.
ROMMIE: I don't understand. There were no slipstream events and the sensor sweeps were all clear.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Yes, but I've traced the Pyrian reinforcements trajectory back to their point of origin. They came from the far side of the star.
HUNT: Damn. I walked right into that one.
(When everything has gone quiet again.)
ROMMIE: It doesn't make any sense. This can't be an ambush. The Pyrians would have had to know that we were going to come to Samsarra, destroy their atmosphere generators, evacuate the colony, and then go after their dropships. No one is that good.
TYR: Then that makes two large coincidences in one day.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: We're receiving another message from the Pyrians. I can't get a fix on the source.
HUNT: On screen.
AZAZEL [on viewscreen]: Captain Hunt, while we admire your audacity, tactical half measures will not deny us our objective. We strongly encourage you to rethink your approach to the current crisis. Failure to do so will be catastrophic.
ROMMIE: Well, that's the friendliest hostile communiqué I've ever received.
TYR: But no less clear for its tone.
HUNT: It is what it is. We'll withdraw to the outer solar system and assess our situation. But for now, the Pyrians have taken Samsarra.

[Observation deck]

HUNT: We got our asses handed to us out there.
ROMMIE: The Pyrian reinforcements must have arrived after we swept the system, before we could do anything.
HUNT: I've got a ship, a fleet, a planet counting on me to be ready for curveballs like this.
ROMMIE: Right. So you think you're expected to be omniscient and above the laws of space and time?
HUNT: Are you implying that I am not?
ROMMIE: You know what bothers me?
HUNT: What?
ROMMIE: How did the Pyrians react so quickly? It's like they're three moves ahead of us at every turn.
HUNT: Hmm. It's like someone handed them our playbook before the game even got started.

[Comms central]

HOLO-ROMMIE: There. Do you hear it?
TYR: I hear a great many things. Be specific.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Listen again, in the ultrasonic range, above all the comm chatter.
TYR: I don't recognise that comm protocol.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Neither do I, which is strange enough, but what is stranger still is that that signal is being sent from inside the Andromeda.
TYR: Where inside the Andromeda?
HOLO-ROMMIE: I don't know. Whoever sent it covered their tracks well, and it's being broadcast omnidirectionally, so it's impossible to determine who it's being sent to, or why.
TYR: An unauthorised transmission under battle conditions? The why is immaterial. I have a few thoughts concerning the who.

[Corridor]

HOLO-ROMMIE: Dylan, I'm detecting a High Guard courier vessel entering the system. It's hailing us.
HUNT: I'll take it here.
(An alcove with two crewmen manning a desk.)
HOLO-ROMMIE: It's Admiral Hamsa from the Perseid fleet.
HAMSA [on screen]: Our long range scouts have detected Pyrian battle fleets assembling across the three galaxies, so it appears Samsarra is merely the opening salvo with a full-fledged Pyrian campaign against thousands of oxygen breathing worlds. Most of the threatened planets are non-aligned or hostile to us, but several are Commonwealth members and allies. We deployed the Wrath of Achilles and the Twelve Centuries with task forces to defend Enkindu and the Jaguar homeworld Venceremos. We've also sent ambassadors to try to negotiate with the Than, the Kalderans, even the Drago-Kazov, but it doesn't look good. It looks like war.
HOLO-ROMMIE: A war we can't win.
HUNT: They picked Samsarra for a reason. If we stop them here, maybe we stop them everywhere. Andromeda, get in touch with your AI counterparts in the fleet. We need to come up with a plan to hold off the Pyrians.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Aye, Captain.

[Trance's quarters]

(Back on the Eureka Maru, with her bonsai, and a vine up a trellis.)
TYR: Feeling better?
TRANCE: Actually, no. I'm feeling much worse.
TYR: Is your ill health somehow connected to the signals you've been sending to the Pyrians?
TRANCE: I wasn't talking to the Pyrians.
TYR: Who have you been talking to?
TRANCE: The signals you intercepted were messages home. I was trying to reach my family.
TYR: And you failed?
TRANCE: No. Worse. I succeeded. What they told me was not good. It's not good at all.

[Corridor]

HUNT: Rommie.
ROMMIE: Dylan. I've just been in contact with Vice-Admiral Kosugi, the Commander of the Sabra-Jaguar detachment.
HUNT: Yeah?
ROMMIE: He got the same report we did about the Pyrian movements throughout the known worlds, but he's withdrawing his ships to defend Venceremos.
HUNT: And what exactly is he defending against? Oh, Nietzscheans. You know, surprise, surprise. Running away. All right, get this Admiral Kosugi on a comm line for me.
ROMMIE: I already told him that you wouldn't approve. Then he quoted me some obscure paragraph of the mutual defence pact.
HUNT: All right, you know, just get him anyway, and I'll tell him where he can put his mutual defence pact.

[Command]

(The bombardment recommences.)
HUNT: Report.
BEKA: The Pyrians are firing low-velocity standoff weapons at us and the fleet. Not enough to really hurt us.
HUNT: They're probing our defences, looking for weak spots.
ROMMIE: The AIs have been running simulations nonstop, and none of them are good. All scenarios in which we defeat the Pyrians cost us the entire battle group, including the Andromeda, and even still that's no guarantee that Samsarra will stay out of Pyrian control.
BEKA: Dylan, if we roll over here, the Pyrians will see the Commonwealth as an easy mark.
HUNT: Yeah, I hear you, Beka, but you heard Rommie. If we stay, we kiss this ship and this fleet goodbye.
ROMMIE: Without these ships, we'll be unable to turn back the larger Pyrian offensive.
HUNT: Rommie, signal the fleet. Tell them to proceed to the nearest slip-point. We'll regroup in Sinti orbit and plan from there.
TYR: You might want to reconsider that order.
HUNT: There's something you want to tell me, Tyr?
TYR: No. She does.

[Outside Command]

HUNT: All right, Trance, What is it this time?
TRANCE: You have to stop the Pyrians here. I do not know how you're going to do it, but you do not have a choice.
HUNT: Even if it means the death of every crew member in this battle fleet?
TRANCE: They want Samsarra. Dylan, you cannot let them have it.
HUNT: That's not good enough, Trance. You know who's backing the Pyrians. You've been talking to them.
TRANCE: No. One of my people is in this system, watching us, helping them.
HUNT: That woman. She's been keeping the Pyrians ahead of the game.
TRANCE: Yes. Dylan, there is a war coming, one that is going to make this battle look like child's play.
HUNT: The Magog Worldship.
TRANCE: My people have come to the conclusion that the Commonwealth cannot stop the Magog, but they feel that the Pyrians can.
HUNT: You've got to be kidding me. Damn it, Trance, We aren't just pieces in your private game of Go. Now, you level with me or quit wasting my time.
TRANCE: Dylan, my people live in a universe where there are no easy roads to the perfect possible future. A future that is getting harder to see all the time.
HUNT: We all live in the same universe, Trance. It's just that your people are cold, calculating sons of bitches.

[Command]

HUNT: Okay, people, listen up. New plan. We will not abandon this system to the Pyrians. Tell them to hold their position, await my instructions.
TYR: So, we fight the Pyrians to the death and add another glorious defeat to the High Guard honour roll?
HUNT: Tyr, sometimes, winning just means preventing the other guy from achieving his objective. Beka, prep your fighter wing for launch. If we're going to have any kind of shot at this, I need you to punch a gap in the Pyrian line.
BEKA: You're assigning me a hopeless action against overwhelming odds?
HUNT: Yes, I am.
BEKA: I'm all over it.

[Slipfighters]

BEKA: All right, people, I need you to be sharp out there. Last time around, we lost a good pilot and a good friend. Now, it's time to make the bastards pay. This one's for Frymire.

[Command]

ROMMIE: The fighters have created a gap in the Pyrian lines. If we get underway now, we should be able to reach our objective before the Pyrians can move back into position and stop us.
HUNT: Signal the fleet. Let's bring it.
ROMMIE: We're through. The fleet has taken minimal damage. Position to Samsarra, one light minute and closing.
TYR: All ships report full weapons load outs. Missile tubes and AP guns ready. We are locked on target.
HUNT: Outstanding. Open a channel. Attention, Pyrian fleet. This is your last chance to resolve this matter peacefully. You started this conflict, but rest assured, we will end it. We expect an immediate response.
TRANCE: They're not going to answer. They still don't believe you.
HUNT: Yeah, I know. All right, Let's give them something to believe in. They want this planet? They can have it. Tyr, send a message to the fleet. Fire.
(The fleet fires on the planet, turning it into a new asteroid cluster.)
TYR: They make a desert, and they call it peace.
HUNT: Status on the Pyrians?
ROMMIE: Holding their position. It's as if they're waiting for something or someone.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: We're receiving a coded message from the Pyrians.
HUNT: On screen.
AZAZEL [on viewscreen]: Captain Hunt, as per the terms of the treaty with the first Systems Commonwealth, we wish to open negotiations over the status of all disputed worlds. We await your reply.
TYR: Who'd have thought that blowing up one planet would bring the big, bad Pyrians to the bargaining table?
HUNT: We sent them a message. We'd rather die on our feet than live on our knees. Now the Pyrians know that we are not going to back down from anybody. And I do mean anybody.

[Muster area]

(The Andromeda Ascendant is docked at a space station that looks very like the Star Trek Earth Spacedock.)
BEKA: Ah. There you are. I wanted to talk to you. New guy. Oh, er, at ease. This isn't a parade. You, er, you did an outstanding job today. I just wanted to let you know that I put the entire wing in for the Order of the Commonwealth.
BOWLUS: Thank you, ma'am.
BEKA: Please. It's Beka. Beka's fine.
BOWLUS: Thank you, Captain Valentine.
BEKA: Good enough.
BOWLUS: Is there anything else the First Officer needs to know?
BEKA: Yeah. What's your name?
BOWLUS: Bowlus. Lieutenant, junior grade.
BEKA: Well. Carry on, then, Lieutenant Bowlus. Keep up the good work.
BOWLUS: Ma'am?
BEKA: Mmm?
BOWLUS: Does it ever get any easier? Losing people, I mean. Friends.
BEKA: God, Bowlus. I hope not.
(Tyr plants his vine seed in his quarters.)

[Trance's quarters]

(Hunt is waiting for Trance on the Maru.)
HUNT: I don't recognise that one.
TRANCE: That's a climbing fern from Samsarra. Possibly the last one left.
HUNT: Samsarra. We sacrificed an entire world today, but we saved thousands in the process.
TRANCE: You're going to be doing a lot of that in the future.
HUNT: You know, you're really not as cryptic as you think you are.
TRANCE: I'll take that as a compliment.
HUNT: What we're doing here, it's bigger than rebuilding the Commonwealth. It's bigger than the Pyrians, it's bigger than the Magog. It's about us against the Abyss.
TRANCE: Yes. Dylan, I believe in you. I believe that you can help us win, against the Pyrians and in the war to come.
HUNT: Tell me that in that fight, you won't run away, hiding behind your riddles and evasions. If you're with me, you fight with me.
TRANCE: Dylan, we're on the same team. We always have been. I need you more than you need me. I trust you.
HUNT: It's the other way around, Trance. I need to know I can trust you.
TRANCE: If you don't trust me, then you can send me away.
HUNT: Send you away. It's all about the fight. The light against the dark, good against evil. Some people hide from it. Some run away.
TRANCE: Some live with it in fear. Some find solace in knowing they've done everything they can.
HUNT: Some stay and fight. I fight to win.