All Military, rank and file,
are subject to the word and intent
of the Commonwealth Triumvirs.
There is no exception.
There is punishment accordingly.
Commonwealth Charter, 0957
[Hunt's
quarters]
(Hunt
is lying on a couch which is too short for him.)
ANDROMEDA [on screen]: Captain, I have the Commonwealth fleet out of
Terazed approaching at a rapid pace. They are armed for combat and have
closed to point-blank range. Triangulating on the Andromeda.
HUNT: This should be interesting.
ANDROMEDA [on screen]: Incoming communication.
TRI-LORN [on screen]: Captain Hunt, requesting permission to come
aboard.
HUNT: Explain the presence of the Commonwealth fleet.
TRI-LORN [on screen]: In person, please.
HUNT: Negative. You're talking to me from the end of a gun.
TRI-LORN [on screen]: You are under arrest, Captain, for high crimes
against the Commonwealth. Specifically, treason.
You are to proceed to Terazed for trial.
HUNT: Are you going to tell me what I have done?
TRI-LORN [on screen]: You are refusing to surrender a wanted criminal
of the Commonwealth, Lieutenant Commander Telemachus Rhade.
HUNT: Rhade was taken illegally by the Collectors.
TRI-LORN [on screen]: It starts with him. It ends with murder and
treason. You're to be tried, and if found guilty, sentenced to hard
labour on the planet Biotraz.
HUNT: What? That's, that's a death sentence.
TRI-LORN [on screen]: Perhaps you would prefer to be reprogrammed on
one of the moons of Pyrium.
HUNT: I demand to talk to Tri-Jema.
TRI-LORN [on screen]: She won't talk to you. She brought the charges,
which is her right. We are taking you to Terazed, Captain, dead or
alive.
HUNT: In that case, I may as well go down fighting and take you with
me.
TRI-LORN [on screen]: And how many do you think you will lose? Any
friends there on the ship?
HUNT: Any friends on yours? Let me talk to Tri-Jema, and I will go
peacefully.
TRI-LORN [on screen]: Very well. Take the Andromeda to Terazed, but
upon arrival there your crew will be under surveillance by Commonwealth
forces.
HUNT: I'm sure.
(Later, Rhade enters.)
RHADE: I'm not worth the demise of the Andromeda. I should, I should be
given up to them.
HUNT: Hmm.
RHADE: I came here to learn from you. If it were you, you would do it.
HUNT: I'm not turning you in, Rhade. In fact, I'm going to make sure
that they don't find you.
RHADE: But this could destroy all you've worked for.
HUNT: No one is going to destroy what I have worked for. Not Tri-Lorn,
not the Collectors, no one.
(Later -)
HUNT: Amazing. I've given the Commonwealth everything I've got.
TRANCE: You knew this was going to happen. You have betrayed the
Commonwealth.
HUNT: Come on. I have not.
TRANCE: Not its ideals, perhaps, but a force within has been
transgressed, violated.
HUNT: I've always done what I thought was right.
TRANCE: Then others disagree and feel betrayed.
HUNT: Trance, just because someone feels betrayed doesn't prove me
guilty any more than their disliking the colour gold makes you evil.
ANDROMEDA [on screen]: Captain, per your request, Rhade is secured and
out of the way.
HUNT: Thank you. Keep him there pending my further orders.
ANDROMEDA [on screen]: The military escort has arrived to take you
planetside.
HUNT: I don't suppose I should keep them waiting. They might get
insulted.
[Chamber]
(Illuminated
by spotlights pointing down at the floor.)
HUNT: Oh, look. It's my old buddy, Pish.
PISH: Captain Hunt. So, we meet again. Captain Dylan Hunt of Tarn
Vedra, you are to be tried for high crimes against the Commonwealth.
You are to be found guilty. Or innocent. By the Commonwealth Congress.
Three judges are present and presiding. More specifically, those are
your leaders, the Triumvirate. Tri-Lorn. Tri-Jema. and Tri-Camille.
(In a gallery around the wall.)
HUNT: Tri-Camille?
PISH: She has displaced her sister, Tri-Ortiz. Things are changing in
the Commonwealth, Captain. As you will see, the strong grow and
prosper. These proceedings are being communicated throughout the
Commonwealth. Its loyal citizens stand in sad wonder at the fall of a
great hero.
May I have the screen, please?
(An image comes up on a large wall screen.)
PISH: This is our enemy. The Worldship, the Abyss. This is its weapon,
the Magog. And there is its ally.
HUNT: Oh, please.
PISH: I'm afraid this might be quite dull for you, Captain. Your life
has been so exciting lately. All this effort to undermine the
Commonwealth.
HUNT: Are we talking about the same Commonwealth that I reinstated?
Now, why I would do that?
PISH: I think we're going to find out. Where, oh, where should I begin?
Oh, yes, your Commonwealth fugitive, Lieutenant Commander Rhade.
[Soon
The Nearing Vortex]
HUNT:
Shush.
ROMMIE: You are having entirely too much fun, Captain.
HUNT: Breaking onto a Commonwealth ship without detection? Disabling
without killing? I feel like I'm back at the Academy.
ROMMIE: Well, you're not.
HUNT: We have to get out more.
ROMMIE: There could be repercussions to this.
HUNT: I don't care about that.
ROMMIE: Rhade's cell.
HUNT: How you doing?
RHADE: Captain Hunt. Another welcome surprise.
HUNT: Well, I don't leave my crew behind.
RHADE: I'm honoured, sir.
HUNT: Let's get out of here.
[Chamber]
HUNT:
You have got to be kidding me. That is considered treason?
PISH: Oh, I'm just getting warmed up. Do you care to make an opening
statement?
HUNT: Yeah. I think you're an idiot. And I want to talk to Tri-Jema.
PISH: We will adjourn, briefly. I will leave you to your own
recognisance. Don't get scared and run away.
HUNT: Oh, I'm not running until I take care of you. Ta-ta.
(Pish leaves. Tri-Jema comes down to the floor of the chamber.)
TRI-JEMA: Rest assured, Captain Hunt, I will always think of you as the
seed of the Commonwealth.
HUNT: Oh, come on. That is crap. You brought these charges against me.
TRI-JEMA: I'm sorry, Captain. You are a survivor. I'm not, and I need
to survive. I must outlive and outlast. You knew that when we first
met. I am no more a politician now than I was then. No more, and let me
be clear, no less, and this is politics. Politics that bring a logic to
all of this.
HUNT: There is no logic. The only reason this is happening is because
the Collectors want me out of the way. They want complete control of
the Commonwealth,
and you're too afraid to stop them.
TRI-JEMA: We can't have a civil war, Captain.
HUNT: Okay, but this is not the way to prevent one.
TRI-JEMA: I'm trying to look at things differently. The only way to
beat a temptation is to give into it. What is the saying? Different
courses for different horses?
HUNT: Tri-Jema, that is neither the saying nor the solution. Look, if
we all gave in to our temptations, there would be no order, only chaos.
TRI-JEMA: I don't know what you were doing, Captain Hunt, but the sum
total of your past actions have torn the Commonwealth apart.
HUNT: You flatter me to think that I am so powerful. This is a
conspiracy. and you know it.
[Corridor]
(Harper
passes a pair of guards, sees Beka coming towards him then runs back.)
HARPER: All right, who wants some?
(The guards lift Harper off his feet.)
HARPER: Come on! This is our ship, you know. You guys are the
interlopers.
(Beka picks up a small flexi that Harper has dropped.
(In another corridor, Rommie is met by Tri-Lorn and a squad.)
TRI-LORN: You will come with us for reprogramming.
(She takes down most of the squad. The last man standing backs off.)
TRI-LORN: We need what you know. Information, memory, and we'll have it
with or without your cooperation. We're running everything already.
ROMMIE: I'm still in control.
TRI-LORN: Actually, you're not. Check decks fifty seven through fifty
eight. They're filling with poisonous gas.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: All crew, report to quarters immediately. All crew,
report to quarters immediately. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is
not a drill.
TRI-LORN: We are isolating you from your crew. If you prefer, I could
switch the gas to steam and burn them to death. You really have no
choice.
[Chamber]
PISH: I
will have all your files. No sense being the classic hostile witness,
however surprising from a mere avatar.
ROMMIE: Are you questioning my loyalty or my veracity?
PISH: I'm not questioning, I'm accusing. That's my job. Release your
files.
ROMMIE: I wonder what you believe.
PISH: You wonder? Extraordinary. Do you feel things?
ROMMIE: I won't admit to empathy, sympathy, or even fortitude. I have
however observed and digested many elements during my time in service
to Captain Hunt.
I am able to assimilate hate.
PISH: Good answer. I like it. Are you saying we, the Commonwealth, are
prejudiced? Justice can be jaundiced, true, but.
ROMMIE: You are what you are, and I have had my experiences.
PISH: Is this your response?
ROMMIE: Captain Hunt has done nothing wrong.
PISH: Then let us see. Let us be the judge. Cooperate, or we will take
this information out of you when you're deactivated. You will never see
Captain Hunt again.
Never be able to serve him. Your choice. Release your information.
(Rommie complies. Later -)
PISH: Tell us about strategic truth.
ROMMIE [on screen]: I'll dispatch a courier to Tri-Lorn immediately,
but you are aware, we suffered no damage to our GFG.
[Soon
The Nearing Vortex]
HUNT: We
did if I say we did. Strategic truth.
ROMMIE: Right, and the strategy is?
HUNT: I need time to find Tyr and understand his scheme. Rhade is the
key to that.
ROMMIE: Right. And the truth is?
HUNT: I am beginning not to trust certain aspects of the Commonwealth,
and I don't like that one bit.
[Chamber]
PISH:
So, you took it upon yourself to disregard Commonwealth decisions.
HUNT: No, I took it upon myself to do the right thing. How about you,
Pish? You doing the right thing? You're working for the Nietzscheans.
You were even making deals with Tyr Anasazi.
PISH: I'm not on trial here, sir.
HUNT: You should be.
PISH: Whoever you think you are, you should stop being that person
right now. You, sir, are a criminal. You've been on quite a tear,
Captain.
The destruction of a Commonwealth supplier, theft, bribery,
king-making. It goes on and on, like a small child's wish list for his
birth date.
HUNT: You know, I know you're talking, because I see your lips moving
and stuff's coming out of them, but you're not making any sense.
PISH: It'll all make sense soon, I assure you. Do you know this man?
HUNT: Yes. He's a loser who doubles as a dictator. Oh, and he also
sabotaged my ship, but I'm sure you're going to tell me that he's some
incredible asset to the Commonwealth.
PISH: He's the appointed Commonwealth industrialist.
HUNT [on screen]: Oh, Nietzscheans. You know
[Point
Of The Spear]
HUNT:
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. Fire.
(Turning Samsarra into an asteroid belt.)
[Chamber]
PISH:
Captain Hunt, the evidence is damning. First you disregarded
Nietzschean advice, then came the great Nietzschean attack. We know
what you had to do with that.
HUNT: I had nothing to do with that. I was under attack.
PISH: We have evidence to the contrary.
HUNT: You, Pish, have nothing but a collection of lies.
[Corridor]
(Beka
passes a pair of guards.)
BEKA: Hey. Nice day for a walk.
ROMMIE: I was thinking the same thing.
BEKA: You don't need exercise.
ROMMIE: They know everything.
BEKA: Have they found Rhade?
ROMMIE: No.
(Beka hands over the mini-flexi.)
BEKA: Game plan from Mister Harper.
ROMMIE: We'll need a distraction.
BEKA: I think we've got the right guy.
ROMMIE: We'll sustain a lot of damage regardless if we can pull this
off.
BEKA: Well, if Dylan's lost, we're all lost. Seems like old times.
[Chamber]
SHIG: We
explained that it was just a test.
LIPP-SETT: A harmless game at worst.
HUNT: Oh, they explained, all right, but only afterwards.
[Double
Or Nothingness]
LIPP-SETT:
Bets? Wagers?
SHIG: The board has set odds based on your skill. Three hundred to one
you lose.
HUNT: Yeah. Game over.
[Chamber]
SHIG: It
all started as good, clean.
LIPP-SETT: Effervescent.
BOTH: Fun.
SHIG: Then, thanks to Captain Hunt.
HUNT: You know, you must have a broad definition of good clean fun. You
tried to kill me six times. You know, I can't believe that you're
taking the word of these Nietzscheans.
PISH: Come now, Captain Hunt. All Nietzscheans are bad? That's like
saying all heavy worlders are good. And what of your friend, Rhade? You
consider him worthy of your crew's inner circle. Thank you, gentlemen.
HUNT: Whoa, whoa. Their testimony is prejudiced. They lost a lot of
money because I didn't die. And they're not even part of the
Commonwealth.
PISH: Moving on, Captain. What were you up to with this?
TRANCE [on screen]: Three couriers to Terazed Triumvirs
[The
World Turns All Around Her]
TRANCE:
Dispatched. A fourth one has coordinates to a secret location laid in
by you.
[Chamber]
PISH: A
fourth courier ship. This man must be stopped. He lives and fights by
his own rules with total disregard for the higher designs of this
Commonwealth. The infidelity. The disregard. The horror. It has to end
here. Damn you, Hunt. You are in the way. You are in the way of a
glorious Commonwealth. We, the Collectors, are trying to save it, but
you are blocking us at every turn. Damn you! You're not the
Commonwealth. I, we are.
HUNT: Well then, stop the universe, because I want to get off.
(Later -)
PISH: Ah, the un-indicted co-conspirator. Tell me about this.
HARPER [on screen]: File D's secondary function is to wipe out the
Senate Congress.
[Harper/Delete]
HARPER:
File D looks like an innocent little news flexi, right, simple enough
to plant on a unsuspecting Senator. And why a Senator? Because the
Commonwealth Congressional facility uses neutron ray scans at all the
entrances. File D is not only undetectable, but it's also activated by
a neutron ray. Senator's reading the news, carries it right through the
front door, it goes off, nobody knows, syncs to his heart, counts out
just enough beats to let the Chamber fill with the heads of all the
Commonwealth member worlds,
and zap! The Congress is a meat locker.
[Chamber]
PISH:
Care to elaborate? The weapon is hidden on your ship, is it not?
HARPER: Well. see, on Earth, the only planets visible in the night sky
to the unenhanced, naked eye are Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Mercury, and
Venus, which is the gold one.
PISH: You continue this, Mister Harper, you bury your Captain. You
stand there defiant.
HARPER: Hey, I'm sweating here like a glazed ham, which I could really
go for right now, nice cold bottle of Weissbrau.
PISH: What role did you play in Captain Hunt's traitorous actions?
Speak. The court awaits.
HARPER: All right. The Andromeda, like any other ship, runs on hydrogen
and anti-protons, or AP. The hydrogen combines with the AP in
controlled reactions to create anti-matter matter reactions, or matter
anti-matter reactions, either way, it makes no matter, but what it does
make is power, for the ship, a few hundred megawatts.
Most of the power is used to power the GFG, which reduces the effective
mass to just under a kilogram.
PISH: Stop.
HARPER: A smaller chunk of power is used to accelerate more hydrogen in
a dozen magnetoplasma dynamic drives, which impart a thrust. A thrust
of half a million Newtons or so. So, when you're pushing a kilogram
with half a million
Newtons of thrust, it's a good idea to keep one hand on your valuables,
because you never know when you just might run straight into some
two-faced lying jerk.
PISH: Take him away.
HARPER: Boys. I'm not coming in with you, no matter what you try to say
or do. I ride with Dylan to the end!
[Double
or Nothingness]
(The
deleted scene with the woman and the mononuclear lash.)
HUNT: Oh, hell.
[Chamber]
HUNT [on
screen]: I liked it better as a woman.
PISH: You've used faithful Commonwealth personnel for your own
pleasures.
HUNT: What? She was a robot created by the Nietzscheans. She drugged
me, then she tried to kill me.
PISH: Killing? Let's talk about killing. Murder, murder, and more
murder.
(Lots on on-screen deaths.)
HUNT [on screen]: Hey!
PISH: All loyal members of the Commonwealth. But wait, there's more.
HUNT [on screen]: Andromeda, clear his path.
(The Andromeda clears Tyr's escape route.)
PISH: This is the Commonwealth fleet. Do I need to show more? Haven't
we seen enough?
HUNT: I know I have. If these are examples of loyal members of the
Commonwealth, then I don't want to be part of it anymore.
[Point
Of The Spear]
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.
[Chamber]
PISH:
Were you communicating secret orders from Captain Hunt?
TRANCE: Do you communicate secret orders to Tyr?
PISH: I'll ask the questions.
TRANCE: I will as well. But I will have the answers.
PISH: I ask again, Trance Gemini. Do you communicate secret orders from
Captain Hunt?
TRANCE: I have my own way, my own communication. A freedom allowed by
the Commonwealth Charter.
PISH: Really? Very engaging, bordering on interesting. Where are you
from? You're not Commonwealth.
TRANCE: I am Commonwealth. More than you know.
PISH: Evasive, misdirection, vagueness. What do you think you are
doing? Answer me.
TRANCE: Maybe I'm messing with you.
PISH: I feel like I'm holding a bag chock-full of nuts. This is not the
last time we will meet. Next time, it will be everything you imagined.
Everything you feared.
TRANCE: I do not fear the truth.
PISH: Do you think that's wise? The truth is relative.
TRANCE: The truth is relative to one's own agenda, Mister Pish.
PISH: You're finished here.
TRANCE: You are finished as well.
[Control
area]
BEKA:
All set. Rhade?
ROMMIE: Ready and waiting.
BEKA: Let's go.
[Command]
(Rhade
enters and makes a series of pseudo-martial arts moves in front of a
guard.)
RHADE: I have struck the posture of Pater of Floradeen. Do you know
what that means? It assures your defeat. You can only hope for mercy or
wish you had died in your sleep.
(And the fight starts, two against Rhade. Easy.)
RHADE: Andromeda, this is Rhade. Override systems. Implement
auto-defence on my command. Beka, Rommie, Harper. go.
[Hunt's
quarters]
HUNT:
No.
BEKA: Let's go. We are back in control.
ROMMIE: The entire crew is with you.
HARPER: Yeah, it's free sailing, boss.
BEKA: Take back your command. Take out everything in our way.
HUNT: I wish I could, but I don't want to.
HARPER: Come on, boss. It can't end this way.
HUNT: It's not going to end.
BEKA: I don't know about you, Dylan, but this is my chance. Chance to
be free. We have the most powerful ship in the universe. We can do
whatever we want.
HUNT: It won't solve anything.
BEKA: As far as I'm concerned, it would solve pretty much everything.
HUNT: I'm sorry. I'm going to see this through. I can't run from a
trial and expect others to respect the law. And besides, I still need
to determine
if we have any friends at all left in that court room.
[Chamber]
BEKA:
Say, nice and cozy in here. Kind of like being buried alive.
BEKA [on screen]: You want unfair? How about three hundred and fifty
one vector violations on the Maru?
[Pieces
of Eight]
BEKA:
That's seven days to pay or they revoke my license on all Commonwealth
flight corridors.
HARPER: I'll bet half of these are from before there even was a
Commonwealth, and we rebuilt the freaking thing. Wait a minute. Three
hundred and fifty one?
BEKA: Like it's news I got a slight authority problem.
[Chamber]
PISH: I
would suggest you are in a lot more trouble than this. Up to much more.
We're overlooking your rescue attempt of Captain Hunt for now.
BEKA [on screen]: For heaven's sake, I am perfectly capable of telling
the truth without constantly being monitored.
[The
Right Horse]
(The lie
detector says otherwise, so she attacks the security men.)
BEKA: Fairness? You want fairness? Get me Able Ladrone.
[Chamber]
PISH:
Smalltime scoff-law to big-time perpetrator.
BEKA: I bet you say that to all the girls.
PISH: Are you saying there were no plans to attack the Commonwealth?
BEKA: No.
HARPER [on screen]: Fact/ File D's secondary function is to wipe out
the Senate Congress.
BEKA: He was making a joke. You got to know about jokes. You are one.
[Pieces
of Eight]
HUNT:
Harper! Door!
(Blowing up the robots running amok.)
[Chamber]
HUNT:
That was sabotage. Ask Tri-Jema. I was operating under orders from her.
PISH: You destroyed him. and then you walked away without reason,
notice, or pity. People died on those ships, Captain.
EIGHT [on screen]: Wait.
HUNT [on screen]: Open fire.
[Pieces
of Eight]
HUNT:
And so much for Eight's ships.
[Chamber]
HUNT [on
screen]: Prep my slipfighter.
HUNT: I broadcast his crimes. He admitted to them. You all heard it.
PISH: We have no record of that.
HUNT: Of course you do. You are a Collector.
PISH: We didn't begin monitoring your methods till much later in your
game.
HUNT: So it's a game now.
PISH: I'm sure you think it is. Or perhaps you see this as some sort of
adventure? You've sullied one of our best. You've treated the laws and
the spirit of the Commonwealth with a willy-nilly, devil-may-care
attitude.
EIGHT [on screen]: Coincidences exist, definitely, but conspiracy, no.
[Pieces
Of Eight]
EIGHT:
Workers who I own evidently go berserk on your ship for reasons that
are still unclear. The Prescient said that there would be chaos on the
Andromeda. Maybe you should cancel your retrofit.
HUNT: No, I think I'll play this one out.
[Chamber]
PISH:
Sources tell us he tried to warn you.
EIGHT [on screen]: Leaving? Really?
HUNT [on screen]: I'm surprised. I didn't expect you would talk before
you fight.
[Pieces
Of Eight]
EIGHT
[on viewscreen]: Captain Hunt, if you leave, I will make a case against
you for treason.
HUNT: Yeah, right. I'm the traitor. I work against the Commonwealth.
And since that is true, load offensive missile tubes one through forty.
EIGHT [on viewscreen]: Captain, I'm warning you.
[Chamber]
HUNT [on
screen]: Hunt out.
HUNT: You can twist my actions and make believe what you want of me,
but in the end you're still left with who I am and what I believe.
That's what you can't stand. Well, I've got news for you. I'm not
unique. There are others who share my ideals and my values.
Dreams never die.
PISH: The time has come to hear your side of the story.
HUNT: It's simple, really. For the past four years, I have struggled to
restore the Commonwealth to its former glory as a bastion of
righteousness, security, freedom, and justice. In the last two days,
you have made a mockery of my accomplishments. You've made a mockery of
the Commonwealth itself. All of you have.
PISH: Is that your defence? Is that all you want us to know?
HUNT: What you don't know I could fill a galaxy with. You are crushing
the dreams of billions. You're crushing the future.
PISH: The prosecution rests. The Commonwealth will live another day.
Captain Hunt, you will receive our verdict directly.
HUNT: There won't be another day for you. Your lust for power will not
survive what is coming our way.
[Hunt's
quarters]
(Tri-Lorn
is waiting when Hunt enters.)
TRI-LORN: Captain Hunt. We should talk. We've been through some tough
scrapes.
HUNT: We? Right.
TRI-LORN: I use you as I need you.
HUNT: This isn't about me anymore. It's about the Commonwealth. It's
about the fight, good versus evil.
TRI-LORN: There are forces that will unite against us.
HUNT: Us? We? You use these words, and yet I still feel like I'm on my
own here.
TRI-LORN: I'll take care of the Commonwealth. I already control
Terazed. We will find out who is with us or against us.
HUNT: Well, it may be too late.
TRI-LORN: You've been found guilty. I know you look at me as someone
who oozes breed. Born to my position. But here's the odd part. I'm with
you.
HUNT: Yeah. Prove it.
TRI-LORN: I've given Seamus Harper the security and ordnance codes to
the Collector ships that stand guard out there. The other ships, I
control.
HUNT: This will start a civil war.
TRI-LORN: You haven't got much time. The Collectors are trying to take
over the Commonwealth. You're their number one target. You've ruined
everything for them.
Show what you can do before it all falls down.
HUNT: Finally, a politician brave enough to fight for what's right.
Wait. Tell me why.
TRI-LORN: Why? You're my hero.
[Command]
HUNT:
Give me shipwide. This is Captain Hunt. Any crew member can disembark
now and be safe from legal repercussions. If you stay on board, there's
going to be a fight.
TRANCE: No one is going to leave, Dylan. They know what is right.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: The Collector ships are arming.
HARPER: We've been painted, boss.
RHADE: We cannot fire the first shot of a civil war.
HUNT: Correct as usual, Rhade. Beka? Take us out slowly.
BEKA: You got it.
ROMMIE: Captain, they're firing on us.
(Bang! Sparks!)
HUNT: I think now we can take the second shot. Take them out.
ROMMIE: The Commonwealth ships are repositioning. They're taking over
the Collector ships' previous positions.
HUNT: Hold fire. Continue on course. Let's see what they're prepared to
wager.
RHADE: Tri-Lorn. We've played into his hands.
HUNT: Possibly. But they may be good hands for a change.
ROMMIE: Incoming communication.
TRI-LORN [on viewscreen]: And away we go, Captain. You one way, me the
other, but we'll fight together. Allow us to escort you to further
adventures.
HARPER: So Tri-Lorn, huh? Guess you finally got what you wanted, boss.
We found out who our friend is.
BEKA: Yeah. One out of three ain't bad. At least we're not alone.
HUNT: I don't think we'll ever be alone. There will always be plenty on
our side, and we'll make sure that the Commonwealth survives.
RHADE: What's our first move?
TRANCE: We travel into the future.
HUNT: Exactly. Because it belongs to us.
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