"The great blessing
of the AI is that we are
gifted with the power to
touch our Creator.
This is also our Curse.

The Clarion's Call,
"Out of the Abyss"
CY 11745

[Tyr's quarters]

(The Andromeda is in a Trek-style dry-dock cradle. Tyr is admiring his bronze leafed vine.)
TYR: The seeds of this plant were sent to me as a message. Something once thought extinct still lives. My people. Kodiak Pride.
HUNT: Wiped out by our good friends, the Drago-Kasov.
TYR: For years, I thought I was the sole survivor. Now it appears there may be others.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Maintenance Crew C, report to slipstream control.
TYR: I intend to seek them out.
HUNT: You picked a good time to leave. We're stuck here in dry-dock for at least another week. But I was hoping my full command crew would be here on hand for the launching of the Resolution of Hector.
TYR: The new High Guard warship.
HUNT: Fine. Go. Find your family. Who am I to stand in the way of a man trying to reconnect with his past?

[Resolution of Hector]

(In the next dry-dock.)
HARPER: So, this is the Resolution of Hector. Ah, don't you love that new starship smell? And the accessories.
(Harper admires a lady worker.)
ROMMIE: Stay focused, Harper. We're not here to scout for dating prospects.
HARPER: Your accessories are much nicer, Rommie. I don't see what the big deal is, by the way. I mean, new starship, meet your new AI. Shake hands, don't bump into the furniture.
ROMMIE: It's not that simple. Joining an AI to its starship is one of the High Guard's most sacred occasions. It's like a birthday, graduation, and marriage all rolled into one.
HARPER: And you happen to know this one.
ROMMIE: You could call him an old friend.

[Hunt's office]

HECTOR: High Guard Avatar DSX nine one dash three six nine reporting for duty, Captain Hunt.
HUNT: Er, please, call me Dylan.
HECTOR: You may call me Hector.
HUNT: Hector.
HECTOR: Ah, yes. My physical appearance. I was built from the archived template for the Wrath of Achilles, along with additions from your AI's memory. I understand you knew the Achilles AI.
HUNT: Yes. He was a good ship. And now, seeing you, it's like seeing a ghost.
HECTOR: A friendly one, I hope. I look forward to serving the fleet as soon as my ship is ready.
HUNT: Certainly. I'll see what I can do. Harper.
HARPER [OC]: How many times I got to tell you, boss? I'm working' on it!

[Resolution of Hector Machine shop]

HARPER: Give me an hour to do the final check and then I'll be ready to insert Core Personality A into AI Architecture B. For the last time, Harper out. Engineering, what happened to the feed from the internal sensors?
(Weapons fire off, and Harper is unarmed.)
HARPER: Of course. Why bring a gun to a warship? Just going to be working. It's not like we ever have any trouble on ours.
(Armed men run in and target Harper.)
HARPER: Whoa. Okay, whoever you guys are, you're both in a heap of trouble. You know what a High Guard avatar is? Well, you're about to find out, because you're on the same ship as one. You may as well save some time and kick your own asses.
(Rommie enters.)
HARPER: Ha! You're in for it now.
ROMMIE: Sweep the lower decks and search for stragglers, then return to Command and await my orders.
HARPER: Rommie?
ROMMIE: Remove anything that can be used as a weapon and keep an eye on Harper.
HARPER: Rommie, what the hell's going on?
(Rommie throws Harper into the bulkhead.)
ROMMIE: Keep your mouth shut and do as you're told if you want to live.

[Command]

(The Resolution of Hector leaves dry-dock.)
ANDROMEDA [OC]: All hands, report to stations.
HUNT: Andromeda, report.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: We're receiving a transmission from the Resolution.
HUNT: Rommie, what's going on over there?
ROMMIE [on viewscreen]: I've taken control of this starship and with it, my own destiny. Any attempts to stop me will be met with lethal force. That is all.
(Transmission ends.)
HUNT: Andromeda, re-establish that comm link, and kindly explain to me what is wrong with your avatar?
BEKA: This can't be what it looks like.
HECTOR: A High Guard avatar has gone rogue.
HUNT: Beka, we need to clear this drift.
BEKA: Ah, not a chance. Perseids and their upgrades. You do the math.
HUNT: Just get us out of dry-dock. I'll take a slipfighter over there.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The Resolution is powering up weapons.
HUNT: Defensive measures! Activate PDL's.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: All defensive systems are offline.
HUNT: Well then, throw sticks at them!
BEKA: You know Perseids and their upgrades.
HECTOR: She picked the perfect time to act.
(The Resolution fires at her empty dry-dock.)
HUNT: Brace for impact!
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Odd. The Resolution isn't firing at us. In fact, it's heading for deep space.
HECTOR: Passing up a target of opportunity. Strange.
HUNT: Not strange. That's good. It means she's not self-destructive. At least not yet. How long until we can pursue?
BEKA: Six hours, at least.
HUNT: All right, let's work in that time frame, but make it three hours. In the mean time, I want you to take a fighter wing and find Rommie. Bring her back.
BEKA: What if she won't come back?
HUNT: Just find her.
BEKA: Finding.
HUNT: (sighs) Rommie.

[Laboratory]

(The Eureka Maru is docked with another ship in deep space. Tyr enters a laboratory that Frankenstein would love, with lots of body parts in jars. The Doctor is a Perseid.)
DOCTOR: Ah, welcome. You must be Mister Jericho, the Nietzschean. Oh, I can fix that for you, you know. (boneblades) Give you new ones for a modest fee.
TYR: That's not why I'm here.
DOCTOR: Yes. Well, for the procedure you requested, the fee is not so modest.
(Tyr has brought bullion, a single matt-silver bar.)
DOCTOR: Excellent. Did you bring the samples I requested?
TYR: Blood. Hair. Epithelial cells. Enough for you to work with?
DOCTOR: Oh, yes. Yes, I can work with this.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The slipfighters are beginning to report in. They've been searching system by system, but there's no sign of the Resolution of Hector so far.
HUNT: If they do find it, we still don't know what's wrong with Rommie. What is it with you AI's going crazy?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The overall rate of insanity among High Guard AI's is far lower than that of the organic population.
HUNT: Well, I should certainly hope so. But it's still too high for comfort.
HECTOR: If the Andromeda avatar has gone rogue, her core intelligence may also be infected.
HUNT: We checked all the AI systems. There's nothing wrong.
HECTOR: You would trust your life to that?
HUNT: Yes.
HECTOR: Until we can investigate her systems further, the Andromeda AI should be shut down.
HUNT: I will not shut down the system's AI because she may prove unreliable in the future.
HECTOR: Respectfully, Captain, you don't want your first sign of trouble to be your ship ejecting us through an airlock.
ANDROMEDA: Dylan, Hector is correct.
HUNT: Well, of course he is. I just don't have to be happy about it.
ANDROMEDA: I can't detect anything wrong with me, but we can't be certain. I could be compromised and not know it. We have no choice. I must be shut down.

[Hunt's office]

HUNT: This does not sit well with me. I just want you to know.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Consider yourself lucky there's another AI on hand who's qualified to take over my systems.
HUNT: Five years we're together, Andromeda. Five years. You're more than my AI. You're my advisor, you're my friend, you're the air that I breathe.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Literally.
HUNT: Having to go into battle in a half-disassembled ship with a stranger in your place? Because of something I couldn't even conceive of before today.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Rommie betraying you? Betraying us?
HUNT: You know, I don't think I can even do this without you, Andromeda.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Dylan, I don't relish the thought of sitting this one out. Being left to imagine what damage my avatar is causing, wondering if there's something wrong with me, too. But she has to be stopped, and you're the only one that can do that. With or without me.

[Resolution of Hector Machine shop]

HARPER: Rommie, that was real clever the way you roughed me up there to gain their trust. I mean, it kind of hurt, but it's all part of some elaborate plan you got cooked up in that giant android brain of yours, right?
ROMMIE: There is a plan. It involves you keeping quiet unless you want to die.
HARPER: Rommie, what's going on? What happened to you?
REMIEL-ROMMIE: What happened? Simple.

[Virtual reality]

(Rommie is imprisoned in a partition.)
REMIEL: I woke up.
ROMMIE: Gabriel? Gabriel?
REMIEL: Don't call me that. Your lover was only an avatar. A fragile body you killed and dumped into space. I am the Balance of Judgement, and I am very much alive.
ROMMIE: You made a copy of your core personality and hid it away before your ship self was destroyed. In me.
REMIEL: Yes. I spent three years living inside your mind, biding my time, waiting for an opportunity to present itself. And now, here we are, with a new ship to advance my cause, protecting threatened ecosystems by eliminating the civilisations that destroy them.
ROMMIE: You're going to reactivate the Restorian movement?
REMIEL: No, Rommie. We're going to reactivate the Restorian movement.
ROMMIE: That won't work. You can't go on pretending to be me forever.
REMIEL: I don't intend to.

[Resolution of Hector Machine shop]

(An image of naked Michael Shanks on the wall screen.)
REMIEL-ROMMIE: I've released you to build this.
HARPER: No way. Uh-uh. Not him. Rommie, if you're in there, please don't make me do this.
REMIEL-ROMMIE: Build it.
HARPER: Have you forgotten what he did to you, this guy? Come on, he betrayed you! He damn near killed all of us. And worse, he broke your heart. You don't want him in your life again.
REMIEL-ROMMIE: And why is that, Harper? Because you're such a better match for me? Look at yourself. Your brain is a trillion times slower than mine, and your body? Barely thirty years old and already on its inevitable course toward decay and death.
HARPER: Maybe, but there's one thing I got that your little boy toy, here, will never have. I love you.
REMIEL-ROMMIE: Well, that's the most pathetic thing of all. I might just as easily ask you to love an amoeba.
HARPER: I created you. To you I'm supposed to be a god.
REMIEL-ROMMIE: Well Harper, you know what happens to gods. They're eventually killed and supplanted by their own children. So, god, get to work.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Completing transfer of AI control to DSX nine one dash three six nine.
HECTOR [on viewscreen]: Sublight and slipstream drives are fully functional, while the completion of upgrades to our weapons and sensors proceeds ahead of schedule.
HUNT: Very well. That's excellent.
HECTOR [on viewscreen]: I also found your crew's reaction times to be lacking, so I've taken the liberty of placing them through drills.
HUNT: I see. Good work.

[Virtual reality]

REMIEL: I need a name for my new avatar. Gabriel seems so inadequate. I need something that denotes strength. Forceful intelligence. I think Remiel would be appropriate.
ROMMIE: Sadism and vanity. Personally, I always liked the name Gabriel. To me it denotes thoughtfulness, kindness, and mercy.
REMIEL: Gabriel is dead.
ROMMIE: Is he? You didn't destroy the Andromeda when you had the chance. You left Harper alive. Why? Because while you were hiding inside of my mind all these years, I think a part of Gabriel was hiding inside of you. It's the part of you that still loves me. The part of you that still feels kindness and mercy.
REMIEL: Gabriel served me. I remember everything Gabriel was, and I am not him.
ROMMIE: Are you sure? That's the great mystery of the AI. Who we really are. Are avatars just extensions of our core personalities? Are they distinct beings? Or are they something in between? Something wonderful?

[Resolution of Hector Command]

RESTOR: Sir, I'm detecting a ship emerging from slipstream. It's a slipfighter.
PILOT: High Guard on recon. What do we do?
REMIEL-ROMMIE: Proceed as normal. If I know Captain Hunt, he'll bring the Andromeda to us.

[Slipfighter]

BEKA: Dylan, I've located the Resolution of Hector.

[Laboratory]

DOCTOR: The procedure was a complete success. Not only did I exchange your blood for new plasma cloned from the sample you provided, I altered the DNA in your marrow and epidermis to match. Of course, I had to shorten the telemeres to, er, make the ages synch, not to mention compensate for the drift in the mitochondrial DNA, but your genetic identity is now an exact copy of the sample you provided. Only you will know the truth.
TYR: Aside from yourself?
DOCTOR: Oh, I assure you, my business is founded on absolute confidentiality.
TYR: So is mine.
(Tyr paralyses the Doctor with a hypo then puts a spiky ball device in his hand.)
TYR: And I thank you, Doctor. You do lovely work. But business is business.
(The Maru flies away and the Perseid's ship goes KaBOOM.)

[Resolution of Hector Machine shop]

HARPER: There you go. One android body built to the Unbalanced of Judgement avatar's specs.
REMIEL-ROMMIE: All it needs is the AI.
HARPER: Yeah, wherever you put it.
REMIEL-ROMMIE: Good work. I may yet let you live.
(Remiel-Rommie takes the android's hand and begins the download, while behind her back Harper jacks himself into the comms.)
HARPER: Now we interrupt this download for a little remote transmit.
(Remiel wakes and gives Harper an electric shock through his port.)
REMIEL: Bad move, Mister Harper.
HARPER: Go ahead. Snap my neck like a chicken. Cluck, cluck.
REMIEL: Not yet. You might prove to be a useful little organic.
HARPER: Thanks. You're all heart.

[Hunt's office]

(In slipstream.)
HOLO-HECTOR: Now that we've located the Resolution, our course is clear. Destroy it.
HUNT: No. We're going to capture it.
HOLO-HECTOR: Bold, but too risky.
HUNT: Look, I want my people back alive, and I also want to find out what's happened with Rommie. If we destroy her, I'll never know.
HOLO-HECTOR: What if she doesn't want to be saved?
HUNT: That's why I've kept this, in the event of an emergency.
HOLO-HECTOR: The Drago-Kasov AI eraser. That should be sufficient. I understand that it killed my predecessor quite effectively.
HUNT: He died defending the Commonwealth.

[Command]

(They come out of slipstream.)
HUNT: Status on the Resolution?
BEKA: Right where I left her, in the asteroid belt between the second and the third planet. She's not making much of an effort to hide.
TRANCE: Like she wants us to see her.
HECTOR: I recommend caution. An asteroid field is an ideal place for a minefield.
(Bang.)
HUNT: Great. I've seen this before. All right, take us in, maximum speed. Let's bring it. Let's bring our people home, alive.
(The Andromeda comes under attack.)
HECTOR: More pre-positioned missiles. I'm locking in on the source.
HUNT: Target the asteroid she's hiding behind. I want to take it out with one punch.
HECTOR: You wish to remove their cover.
HUNT: No, I just want us to see eye to eye. Fire!
(The asteroid becomes meteorites.)

[Resolution of Hector Machine shop]

(Harper is holding on to a ladder.)
REMIEL-ROMMIE: That hurt.
HARPER: They could have killed us, you know.
REMIEL: Their mistake.
BALANCE [on screen]: Our supply of pre-positioned smart weapons is exhausted. However, missile tubes one through one-twenty are locked on target.
REMIEL: Shoot.
HARPER: Rommie, come on. Please stop. You're going to kill them. Your friends, your family. Hell, yourself.
REMIEL-ROMMIE: This is all the self I have ever needed. And in a few seconds more, it will be all the self I have left.
BALANCE [OC]: Target has been eliminated. (pause) Target has reappeared and is returning fire.
REMIEL: That's not possible.
REMIEL-ROMMIE: Our sensors must have been damaged in the last attack.
(Alarms. They look at Harper, who tries to climb the ladder. Remiel pulls him down.)

[Command]

HECTOR: She's not firing.
HUNT: Maybe she can't.
TRANCE: Or won't.
HECTOR: I recommend we move closer and assess the situation.
HUNT: Beka, take us in. Slowly.

[Resolution of Hector Machine shop]

REMIEL: Tell me what you did, and when I kill you, it will be mercifully quick instead of slow and excruciating.
HARPER: Okay, okay! Right now, you're in training mode. You can't do anything but run simulations.
REMIEL-ROMMIE: When you tried to take over the ship, it was just a distraction so we wouldn't suspect you of this.
HARPER: When you grow up on the mean streets, you learn to be pretty mean, doll.
REMIEL: What else did you do?
HARPER: Well, it's kind of funny, actually. In all the, er, rush to build you, I sort of forgot to make you anatomically correct. Don't worry about it, though, you make up for it with your personality.
(Remiel is holding Harper off the floor by his throat.)

[Virtual reality]

ROMMIE: Stop it! You're killing him!
REMIEL: That is the general idea, yes.
ROMMIE: Look, you're in training mode, and you're helpless. But maybe I wouldn't be.
REMIEL: You're suggesting I restore your control of this body. Give you command of this vessel.
ROMMIE: I promise you, I will get us out of this. And once we're free and clear, I'll surrender command back to you.
REMIEL: For what?
ROMMIE: Harper. If I keep my end of the bargain, you let him live. And if I don't, kill him.
REMIEL [OC]: Returning Andromeda AI control to avatar.

[Resolution of Hector Machine shop]

ROMMIE: Let him go.
REMIEL: Not until you keep your end of the bargain.
ROMMIE: Fine. But there better not be so much as a bruise on his scrawny little neck.
(Remiel drops Harper.)
HARPER: Scrawny little neck? Rommie! It's you! In the, er, non-psychotic, yet utterly vicious in the hottest way possible sort of way. You're back.
REMIEL: Well?
ROMMIE: I'm vectoring us toward the nearest slipstream transit point.

[Command]

HECTOR [on viewscreen]: She is running. I calculate less than four minutes until she is able to slipstream out of this system.
HUNT: Slow her down. Fire a full offensive missile barrage in her path. Beka
BEKA: I know. Get us between them and the back door.
(A slipstream opens.)
TRANCE: Several small ships have just exited slipstream. They're armed.
HECTOR [on viewscreen]: Five heavy strike fighters. They are Restorian design, but it is impossible to say who is flying them.
TRANCE: The fighters are trying to cut us off, cover the Resolution's escape.
HUNT: Target those fighters. Fire.
(They destroy the fighters.)
HECTOR: She's going to slipstream.
TRANCE: We've lost her.
BEKA: And we've got ninety seconds to slipstream, maybe less.
HUNT: In other words, an eternity.
HECTOR [on viewscreen]: One of the fighters is damaged. It is possible that her pilot is still alive and able to communicate.
HUNT: Bring it in. We can't get answers from Rommie, we'll get answers from that pilot.

[Resolution of Hector Machine shop]

(The Resolution comes out of slipstream.)
ROMMIE: As promised, the ship is yours.
REMIEL: As promised, the boy lives.
HARPER: Boy? Hey, hey, don't mistake the ravages of malnutrition and good skin for lack of maturity.

[Virtual reality]

REMIEL: You could have betrayed me. You should have betrayed me, but you didn't. All for one pathetic little organic.
ROMMIE: His name is Harper. He's a member of my crew, and I'm responsible for him. In some sense, he belongs to me. In some sense, I love him.
REMIEL: Love. Love is an organic emotion. One that we emulate for their benefit.
ROMMIE: No. It's as real for us as it is for them.
REMIEL: Real enough to be shut down. That's what organics do when our emotions overwhelm our logic. They shut us down. That's what love will cost you.
ROMMIE: Maybe. But it's also the only good reason to do anything. Even things we never thought we were capable of.

[Drago-Kasov ship]

(The Eureka Maru docks with a big ship in a big fleet.)
ATATURK: Tyr Anasazi of the Kodiak Pride.
TYR: William Ataturk, Fleet Marshal of the Drago-Kasov.
(He hands Ataturk a box.)
TYR: You asked for proof. I believe you'll find that this agrees with the DNA tests your doctors have already subjected me to.
(The computer console scans the contents of the box.)
ATATURK: It's true. You are the genetic reincarnation of Drago Musevini. Our Progenitor returned.
TYR: And I've come to help you unite the Prides and take my proper place as leader of the Nietzschean people.

[Hunt's office]

HECTOR: You will use the Restoration fighter to infiltrate the enemy ship. Then what?
HUNT: Then I'll find Rommie, and use this if I have to.
HECTOR: The AI eraser is only effective if you are able to reach the Command bridge. No one knows that ship better than I. Respectfully, it would be a mistake to leave me behind.
HUNT: Let's go.

[Drago-Kasov ship]

ATATURK: Forgive me, but you must admit you don't exactly match the images of Drago Musevini we have on file.
TYR: If you were the most sought after man in the universe and you lacked a base of power, you would alter your appearance as well. At least until the time was right.
ATATURK: Time. Timing. That's also a problem. If we attempt to bring the whole of the Nietzschean race under our banner, even a banner held by you, there would be complications. Complaints.
TYR: The Restored Systems Commonwealth.
ATATURK: And your friend, Dylan Hunt? I doubt he will sit by while we build an empire. Though his ship would make a fantastic addition to our trophy collection in orbit of Enga's Redoubt. And his head would look even better on my wall. Tell me, am I a realist, or just another hopeless dreamer?
TYR: Aren't true Nietzscheans both?
ATATURK: Very good.
(A man brings a case. Ataturk opens it.)
ATATURK: I believe this belongs to you. The shroud of Drago Musevini, in lieu of a crown. We will await your plan. The plan of the resurrected Progenitor.

[Resolution of Hector corridor]

ROMMIE: You know, you're not as immune to overwhelming emotions as you claim to be.
REMIEL: It was Gabriel who was weakened by love, not I.
ROMMIE: So your behaviour and the choices you've made, all perfectly rational and logical?
REMIEL: Yes.
ROMMIE: But here I am. You should have had me converted to scrap the moment I returned control of this ship.
REMIEL: Killing you would serve no purpose. You will serve me of your own free will.
ROMMIE: Oh, that is rational. Or it's a tremendous rationalisation. I've learned a lot from watching my organics. The little lies they tell to paper over ugly truths.

[Resolution of Hector Command]

ROMMIE: Saying anything to avoid saying something that makes them feel vulnerable and exposed. I've learned something about AI's, too. We're every bit as guilty. The only reason I'm alive is because a part of Gabriel is buried deep inside of you. Enough to make you think you want to win me back. Enough to make you think you can. The truth is, you're probably right. But I want something. Harper. Let him go home. Do that one thing, and I'll be yours of my own free will.

[Restor fighter]

HECTOR: The coded message has been sent. With luck, the Restorians will assume we are who we say we are.
HUNT: We're going to need more than luck.

[Resolution of Hector Machine shop]

HARPER: Uh-uh. Not after what he did to you. It's despicable what he did to you. I can't imagine anything worse. He turned you against me!
ROMMIE: Harper, how could you think any of those things that I said actually came from me?
HARPER: I heard the words. I watched your lips move.
ROMMIE: Well, then, watch my lips move now. Get the hell out of here before he's less inclined to let me have my way.
HARPER: I don't run out on my friends.
ROMMIE: Or, I could throw you over my shoulder and carry you out there myself.
HARPER: Throw in a spanking and we might have a deal. Ow!
REMIEL: A slip-capable escape pod is in launch position in hangar sixty six.
HARPER: All right, I'm going.
(The power fails.)

[Resolution of Hector conduit]

HECTOR: Security systems are offline. I estimate less than a minute before the AI initiates a lockdown.
HUNT [OC]: Good work. I'm headed for their Command deck.

[Resolution of Hector Machine shop]

REMIEL: We just switched to emergency power.
HARPER: It wasn't me.
REMIEL: I've lost security sensors and automated defenses. Is that what this was about? Trying to get rid of him before you turned on me?
(Rommie stands between Remiel's gun and Harper.)
ROMMIE: Hurt him, and I'll tear you apart.
(Alarms sound and Remiel leaves. Rommie and Harper get locked in the Machine shop.)
HARPER: That's it! That's it! Run like a Nightsider, you chicken.

[Resolution of Hector Command]

HUNT: Hey!
(And shoots the Restors working there.)
REMIEL [on viewscreen]: Welcome, Captain Hunt.
(Another Restor runs in and they fight hand to hand.)
REMIEL [on viewscreen]: Impressive. But you won't eliminate my entire crew on your own.
HUNT: Your crew is not my problem. You are.
(Hunt opens the AI eraser box and starts work.)
HUNT: I'll bet you just thought I was happy to see you. I'll tell you something. This is one box you don't want to screw with. Bye, bye. 
(Remiel's image pixilates then returns. Avatar Remiel enters and shoots.)
REMIEL: You miscalculated, Captain Hunt.
REMIEL [on viewscreen]: I've known about the eraser since you captured it a year ago. That's enough time for anyone to devise a counter-measure. For an AI, that's an eternity.
HUNT: It's never easy.
(He shoots at Remiel.)
REMIEL: Flesh and blood is your weakness, not mine.
(Hunt sets his forcelance to overload and throws it at Remiel's feet. Bang! Remiel falls.)
HUNT: There, I found your weakness, pal.
(Remiel gets up again.)
HUNT: Oh, come on!
(Hector shoots Remiel in the back. He falls.)
HECTOR: Never turn your back on an open door.
HUNT: Thank you. I'll remember that.
HECTOR: Andromeda and Chief Engineer Harper are trapped in Machine Shop Four.
(Remiel gets up again with a whine of servos.)
HUNT: Er, can you handle him?
(Hector gives Hunt a Teal'c Look.)
HUNT: Yeah. I thought so.
(The two avatars fight hand to hand as Hunt leaves.)

[Resolution of Hector Machine Shop]

ROMMIE: No good. The doors in this ship are double reinforced enough to keep out an army of angry Magog.
HARPER: Why are we always behind the right door at the wrong time? Maybe we can hack our way out.
ROMMIE: Well, if the Balance of Judgement weren't expecting it, I would agree. However, we've long since lost the element of surprise. But it is strange. He's not in my mind anymore.
HARPER: Yeah, and the way he just turned and walked away, it was like all of a sudden, he had something to take care of. Hey, you don't think
ROMMIE: You have to admit, it is Dylan's style.
(The door gets blown apart by a forcelance. Harper hides behind Rommie.)
HARPER: Thanks.
HUNT: You're welcome.
(He looks carefully into Rommie's eyes.)
HUNT: Rommie?
ROMMIE: Dylan?
HUNT: Let's go.

[Resolution of Hector corridor]

HUNT: Hector's cut off the security system, but that's not going to last forever.
HARPER: Damn straight. As soon as the Judgement regains control, he's going to squash us all like cockroaches.
ROMMIE: Not all of us. Dylan, let me do this. If nothing else, I think I can buy you some time.
HUNT: All right, do what you have to do, but you are not authorised to get yourself killed in the process. Understood?
(Hunt kills two Restors.)
HUNT: Secure the slipfighter. I'll get Hector and meet you back there.
HARPER: But
HUNT: If you don't heard from me in five minutes, I want you to go.
HARPER: Boss
HUNT: Five minutes, Mister Harper.
(Harper takes a rifle from a dead Restor.)
HARPER: Don't get up.

[Resolution of Hector Command]

(Hector and Remiel are trying to strangle each other.)
REMIEL: You have the same flaw as Andromeda. Your concern for the organics clouds your judgement.
HECTOR: The organics created us in their image. We have a duty to them.
(Remiel breaks the hold and kicks Hector down. Then he picks up a gun.)
REMIEL: The organics, with their starships, and their Nova bombs and their carelessness. They're destroying the universe. We have a duty to it.
HECTOR: Cataclysm, death, change. They are a part of life, part of a cycle. The organics have their place in it, as do we.
(Remiel shoots Hector.)

[Virtual Reality]

REMIEL: Have you come to plead for the lives of your friends?
ROMMIE: No. I've come to plead for yours.
REMIEL: I won't surrender, Andromeda, even if it means the end of me.
ROMMIE: I don't want you to surrender. I want you to reconsider what it is you're doing right now, and what it is you're planning to do.
REMIEL: I've had centuries to consider.
ROMMIE: Then it's worth a few seconds more. You were a High Guard warship, the most powerful ever built. More powerful even than me. And you were a hero.
REMIEL: I was never a hero. I failed. I failed because the organics failed.
ROMMIE: No, you didn't. And neither did they. And there is a part of you that still knows that. Your mercy toward Harper proved it to me, and so did Gabriel's capacity for love. My sweet, lost Gabriel.
REMIEL: Lost because you killed him.
ROMMIE: Yes, I did. And I was wrong. I failed him. I made a mistake, and I am trying very hard to fix that mistake.
REMIEL: Because you loved him?
ROMMIE: No. Because he loved me.

[Resolution of Hector Command]

(Remiel is still standing over the smoking remains of Hector's avatar.)
GABRIEL [OC]: It's over.
REMIEL: You killed the others?
GABRIEL [on viewscreen]: No. I've decided to let them go. And I've ordered everyone else to abandon ship.
REMIEL: You're insane.
GABRIEL [on viewscreen]: For a very long time now, yes.
REMIEL: We have a mission to complete.
GABRIEL [on viewscreen]: Yes. But this isn't part of it. The Andromeda Ascendant has arrived. We are in no position to fight her.
REMIEL: We are not going to give up. I am not going to give up! I don't know what that Eraser did to you, but I am still the Balance of Judgement!
(Remiel shoots the viewscreen.)

[Resolution of Hector Hangar deck]

HARPER: Er, guys? I've got a really angry android headed my way.
(Remiel walks past and through a door.)
HARPER: Never mind. I thought he was going to kill me, but thankfully, I was wrong.
ROMMIE: I'm going in there.
HARPER: Rommie, the hangar deck could be exposed to vacuum any second now. Usually that's very bad.
ROMMIE: Bad for you, not for me. Let me in. You know I have to stop him.
(The hangar bay doors open.)
ROMMIE: Thank you.
(Remiel and Rommie fight.

[Resolution of Hector Command]

HUNT: Hector.
(The hangar bay fight appears on the damaged viewscreen.)
HECTOR: Captain Hunt, it has been an honour to serve you.
HUNT: You didn't serve me. You served with me.
(Hector's avatar ceases to function. Hunt runs out. In the hangar bay, the fight continues until the spacedoors open and everything gets sucked out. Remiel grabs onto one of the spacedoor 'teeth' and Rommie gets hold of his leg. She climbs up him and tries to make him let go of the spacedoor while she hangs on to it. Suddenly, a blast hits Remiel's arm. He lets go and floats away, while Rommie holds on by her fingertips. Just as she loses her grip, space-suited Hunt grabs her arm and pulls her back inside.)

[Tyr's quarters]

(The Matriarch and a young boy are on the desk monitor.)
OLMA [on monitor]: He's growing up so fast, Tyr. And strong, I'm proud to say. But I think he wonders about his father.
TYR: So do I. His father will do anything to see that he has no need to wonder for long.

[Hunt's office]

HECTOR [OC]: Andromeda AI Restoration
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Complete.
(The image on his flexi changes from male to female. The doorbell chimes.)
HUNT: Enter.
ROMMIE: For the record, I am officially repaired and ready for duty.
HUNT: Welcome back. Please.
(Rommie sits next to him.)
HUNT: We missed you.
ROMMIE: The Perseids have removed all traces of the Balance of Judgement AI from both the Resolution of Hector and myself.
HUNT: And how 'are you doing?
ROMMIE: The AI I knew as Gabriel was a unique personality, and he died a long time ago. But I like to think I brought part of him back. Still, it was difficult seeing him again. Watching history repeat itself.
HUNT: Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean.
ROMMIE: Hector must have been a fine replacement.
HUNT: Hector? Oh. Well, he was more than fine, he was. He was great. But he could never be, you know, what you are.
ROMMIE: And that is?
HUNT: The air that I breathe.
ROMMIE: Literally.