"Verify distant secrets
Be Careful not to perish
A question as your guide.
What becomes the face of truth."

Enigma 03 of the Murti,
CY 8567

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Emissary ship now docking.

[Command]

SECRETARY: The universe is unequivocally a safer place with you in it, Captain Hunt.
HUNT: Moldar doesn't make that easier.
SECRETARY: Viceroy Moldar is dedicated to mending this vicious misconception of him as provocateur. This is why he wishes to see you.
HUNT: Well, then he should let me enter his star system first. See, that would be a good step to build trust.
SECRETARY: It is to be arranged as per the Viceroy's wishes, but, Captain Hunt, you understand. These wars we're subjected to make detente markedly difficult.
HARPER: Especially if you're a sweet-talking gun runner.
HUNT: Mister Harper's right. Selling war and destruction does have a way of coming back and biting you.
SECRETARY: I disagree. We are a peaceful, loving race, drawn into conflict by
ROMMIE: Captain, I'm picking up a cargo vessel with no signature departing Phrynia system.
HUNT: This must be an example of how you're drawn into wars you don't want. Let's haul them in, Beka.
BEKA: Following into slipstream.
HUNT: We won't find arms smuggled on a ship out of your system, would we? I mean, that would be destabilising, and you're from a peaceful, loving planet.
(They briefly whizz through slipstream.)
ROMMIE: Incoming transmission.
HUNT: Transmit and begin scanning.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Shipwide scan initiated.
SECRETARY: Captain, that's intrusive and highly inappropriate.
HARPER: Two things you don't know anything about, huh?
BEKA: Unless there's a profit in it.
HARPER: Hello. Finally, something new to look at around here.
(A woman on the viewscreen.)
ROMMIE: Identification. Known smuggler Captain Rox Nava.
SECRETARY: I assure you, this person in no way represents the Viceroy.
HUNT: Well, then you have nothing to be worried about, do you? This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Andromeda Ascendant. You have been identified as a smuggler ship. Prepare to be boarded.
ROX [on viewscreen]: Captain, is the Commonwealth always so forward? This is starting to get exciting. My ship is not subject to your laws. Besides, none of the specious charges against me have ever been proven.
HARPER: Specious? Did she just say specious? I think I'm in love.
SECRETARY: Perhaps they've never been proven because no one's been able to catch you.
BEKA: Until now.
ROX [on viewscreen]: Regardless, you know you have to catch me with my pants down, Captain. And unfortunately for both of us, I appear to be totally dressed.
ROMMIE: Dylan, preliminary scans pick up no contraband of any kind, and the lifeforms of the crew.
SECRETARY: I told you. Nothing untoward being smuggled out of our system.
HUNT: If you have nothing to hide, why are you running?
ROX [on viewscreen]: Maybe I like the chase. How about you?
HUNT: Prepare to be boarded.
ROX [on viewscreen]: Search my hold, as long as you're here.
ROMMIE: Dylan, deeper scans reveal further lifeforms aboard the vessel in a protective radiation hold.
HARPER: Wait a minute. Is it just me, or does that look like
BEKA: One hundred. One hundred life forms.
HUNT: She's not smuggling weapons. She's smuggling people.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Captain, Rox Nava's ship has just brought weapons online.
BEKA: After inviting us on board? That's rude.
HARPER: What kind of arsenal could they possibly have that could harm us?
ROMMIE: Well, whatever they've got, they seem ready to use every last bit of it.
HUNT: Beka.
BEKA: Missiles locked on.
SECRETARY: Perhaps we should save their cargo? If it's people, and all?
HUNT: Rommie, hail Captain Nava again.
ROMMIE: Aye.
ROX [on viewscreen]: Oh. I'm disappointed, Captain. Thought you'd already be on your way.
HUNT: Yeah, well, change of plans. Since you've engaged your weapons, you'll be coming over here to my brig.
ROX [on viewscreen]: I'm afraid that's no place for a woman like me.
HUNT: And neither is oblivion. You have to know this is a fight you can't win.
ROX [on viewscreen]: Perhaps, but I got famous by being reckless, you know. All those weapons? They're for us. Try and apprehend us, and we will blow ourselves up.
HUNT: Rommie, cut audio.
ROMMIE: Aye.
BEKA: She's bluffing.
HUNT: Probably.
BEKA: Definitely. A woman like that is used to getting what she wants and getting away with it.
HARPER: So?
BEKA: So if this ploy doesn't work, she's just going to move on to the next one. I mean, look at her. The woman has never met a man she couldn't play.
HARPER: Play here, boss. I'd let her play me.
HUNT: Rommie, audio.
ROMMIE: Aye.
HUNT: Goodbye, Captain Nava. I have my orders. Target GFG lens on the cargo ship.
BEKA: Thank you. Targets locked.
SECRETARY: Captain, the cargo.
HUNT: You have five seconds to surrender yourself. Andromeda, initiate missile tubes one through twenty five in five, four, three, two, one.
ROX [on viewscreen]: All right, Captain. I'm all yours. Got to warn you, though. Usually I'm not such a sucker for a man with all that muscle.
HUNT: Well, actually, I'm not as big as I used to be.

[Corridor]

SECRETARY: Viceroy Moldar has one request after he grants you passage into his star system.
HUNT: That I hand over Rox Nava. Yeah, not going to happen. And whatever her cargo really is, it stays on Andromeda until I say otherwise.
SECRETARY: But, but, but Viceroy Moldar will not approve.
HUNT: Well, then, when he gets here, I'll just have to change his mind, now won't I?
(The Secretary and his two aides leave.)
HUNT: They're really starting to bug me.

[Brig]

ROX: Captain Hunt, I do believe you owe me an apology.
HUNT: For?
ROX: I told you I wasn't smuggling people, you accused me of lying, and now you discover it was true.
HUNT: You know, you are a thief and a liar, and you're going spend the rest of your life in a Commonwealth prison.
ROX: Apology accepted.
ROMMIE: The life forms we scanned in the containers from your cargo appear to be body armour. Is that correct?
ROX: Mmm hmm.
ROMMIE: Analysis of the armour indicates it's made from some kind of bio-thread. Commonwealth files show no known material quite like it.
HUNT: All right, I want to know where it came from and where it was headed. Great, you know what? You're free to go. But I keep your cargo. You can explain everything to Moldar when he gets here.
ROX: That's a death sentence.
HUNT: You know what? It's not my problem.
(Rox attacks Hunt, but he dodges every swing and ends up grabbing her right ankle when she tries a high kick.)
HUNT: That's very good. Oh, come on. Is he really worth protecting?
ROX: Viceroy Moldar gets his armour from, I don't know.
HUNT: Well, gee, that's very clear. I feel so much better now.
ROX: The encrypted maps on my ship will give you the coordinates to where we were headed, the Atol Pi system.
ROMMIE: As if they haven't already had enough killings there with the civil wars.
ROX: I didn't start the fight.
ROMMIE: Since the armour is living, is there anything we need to know for stowing it?
ROX: I pick it up, I deliver it. That's what I know. Be careful. Be lucky.
HUNT: Thanks, Rommie.
ROMMIE: Mmm hmm.
(Rommie leaves.)
ROX: You can't do this without me. You know that. Look, I have done things for Moldar that I hated. I did them to survive, but I've got a score to settle.
HUNT: I'm sure you do. But for now you're going to sit here, quietly. I'll check in on you later.

[Command]

ROMMIE: Entering the Phrynia star system.
HUNT: Keep scans on high alert.
HARPER: From every bit of info I can gather, this whole system's total anarchy.
SECRETARY: Many cultures have tried to have us destroyed. This is the debris of their attempts.
BEKA: Couldn't have anything to do with the bio-armour, could it?
HUNT: Hmm. Let's find out.
(Meanwhile, in the secure cargo, a set of bio-armour comes to life with a growl.)

[Outside Command]

MOLDAR: Is this delay intentional?
SECRETARY: I'm sure not, Viceroy.
MOLDAR: I could have this ship, or one just like it.
SECRETARY: It would become you, Viceroy, to perfection.
HUNT: Well, I hope we didn't keep you waiting.
SECRETARY: May I introduce to you, Captain, the bountiful leader of Phrynia system, Herald to the New Coming, Viceroy Moldar. Viceroy, Captain Dylan Hunt.
MOLDAR: I warn you, Captain. If you think cooling my heels is something I will tolerate, well, you will be sadly and abruptly mistaken.
HUNT: Look, don't try the tough guy talk. It doesn't work with me.
(Moldar picks up one of his escort by his throat.)
MOLDAR: Shall I show you what I can do?
HUNT: It's a neat trick, but I'd rather have you show me what you're up to.
MOLDAR: I'm not up to anything.
HUNT: Rommie. A quick review?

[Command]

HUNT: You are king of this. You smuggle out goods to the highest bidder.
MOLDAR: I don't need to. In this system, I am all powerful.
HUNT: In reality, you're afraid. Afraid you'll lose power. You barely have a hold of what you already have. You see, I can make it so that you're free to do as you please and not hide anything.
MOLDAR: I have nothing to hide.
(Then nods to his entourage to leave him alone.)
HUNT: Rommie.
ROMMIE: The Andromeda Ascendant controls the corridors of space in and between three galaxies military and inter-political planetary nexus. Conversely, any and all who oppose my preeminence face one end. Ruin.
HUNT: I've sent two of my crew to deliver the armour. See, my mission here is to prevent you from shipping weapons, and clearly, all armour is defensive.
MOLDAR: Your point?
HUNT: You know what I'm offering.
MOLDAR: Protection. You let me do as I like for a price, correct?
HUNT: Moldar, a guy like you doesn't pick sides. You benefit from wars. You stoke them for profit. And there is enough to go around for everybody. So, look at the ship, think about it, cool your heels. You can give me your answer at dinner tonight as my guest.

[Corridor]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Manoeuvring the Phrynia system.
BEKA: I'm supposed to be this Rox's delivery girl? Rocks in Dylan's head is what.
RHADE: My concern is what the buyer will say when we show up instead of Rox.
BEKA: We promise we'll make it up to them big time. No bait like greed. I can handle that.
RHADE: I admire your instinctive insight into smuggling, Beka.
BEKA: That'd be experience, Rhade. Not all of us are goody-goody Academy pinheads. Oh. Er, I wasn't talking about you, Rhade. Lighten up.
RHADE: Irony.

[Brig]

(Rox smells her plate of food.)
ROX: Something's a little funny with this.
(And squishes it over the CCTV watching her.)
ROX: That's better.

[Eureka Maru]

BEKA: That thieving wench better not be sending us into a trap.
RHADE: Dylan trusts Captain Nava's coordinates, and I think Captain Nava as well. Our only concern is to make the rendezvous on time.
BEKA: Well, all clichés of human females aside, I've never once been late for a date. Even a bad one. Which, come to think of it, is practically all of them.
RHADE: I've heard. The way Harper often teases you. Yet I never seem to hear details. Maybe now that there's this time together, we could change that.
BEKA: You want to be friends?
RHADE: If we share stories from our past, it would be possible. Even interesting.
BEKA: Yeah. Yeah, that'd be nice. If you live that long.
RHADE: I will live that long. I assure you.

[Corridor]

ROMMIE: Captain? My system has detected a problem with the armour in the secure cargo hold. Either someone has moved it, or, defying logic, it's moved itself.
HUNT: You've got to be kidding me. Tell me what the cargo supervisor said.
ROMMIE: She saw nothing unusual. Her exact words were, I believe I'd know if there was anything out of the ordinary.
HUNT: That sounds like a bit of attitude.
ROMMIE: It was unusual. She also attempted to access my monitoring systems. Review shows some material lost due to possible accident. She contends she was concerned so many organic lifeforms in a confined space would trigger attack alarms.
HUNT: So she went online.
ROMMIE: And accidentally erased some data. It could account for false readings.
HUNT: Yeah. This was no accident. Confine the supervisor to her quarters, and I want a recount on that body armour.

[Brig]

HUNT: Come on.
ROX: You're going to let me deliver my cargo?
HUNT: Sort of.
ROX: Oh. Well, this truth thing isn't so bad after all, is it?
HUNT: Yeah, but don't get too comfortable with it just yet, because now I'm going to need you to lie.
ROX: To whom?
HUNT: Moldar.
ROX: Forget it.
HUNT: Don't worry, you won't have to lie to him by yourself.
ROX: Really.
HUNT: Yeah.
ROX: And who would be psychotic enough to accompany me on such a doomed mission?
HUNT: Your new smuggling partner.

[Eureka Maru]

RHADE: So on the eve of my graduation from the Academy, recruited top cadet for the ESO, asked to address the entire Assembly, and suddenly, I'm forced to realise how little I know about the real world. I go blank. Couldn't speak. Could you imagine that?
BEKA: You know, it's so amazing, I can't.
RHADE: I have been doing all the talking.
BEKA: Hadn't noticed.
RHADE: Why don't you tell me something about your past?
BEKA: Why don't we zoom ahead into the present and stick to you?
RHADE: What would you like to know?
BEKA: What do you really want from us? From the Andromeda? From Dylan?
RHADE: Same as you. I want to be on the right side.
BEKA: And by right, you mean winning.
RHADE: Occasionally, the two happily coincide.
BEKA: I know Nietzscheans, Rhade. Don't pretend you're on a mercy mission.
RHADE: You cannot generalise about all of us based solely on your experience with Tyr.
BEKA: I'm not, unfortunately.
RHADE: Well, perhaps if you'd told me about your past as I've requested more than once, I would know this.
BEKA: You know why they call it the past, Rhade? Because it's passed. It's over. I see no need to relive what I've already lived through once, especially if that once was more than enough.
RHADE: I see. The Nietzscheans have an old saying. The past is gone, the future yet to be, the present just that. A gift, wrapped for us to enjoy.
BEKA: Well, that is lovely, but I think what stays with you in the present is knowledge. And if I know one thing, it's that a Nietzschean will always put himself first.

[Conference room]

MOLDAR: Who does he think he is to keep me waiting for dinner and not allowing me to leave?
SECRETARY: Perhaps we should have them send out for something?
(Hunt and Rox enter.)
HUNT: Well, excellent. Everyone's getting along.
MOLDAR: I will tear you to pieces! Pull you seam from seam! Once is too much, Captain. Twice is an invitation to die.
HUNT: He seems a bit flustered.
ROX: Or confused.
HUNT: Maybe we should come back later.
ROX: Hmm, maybe for dessert. Perhaps something light and frothy?
HUNT: You are very wise.
SECRETARY: Hey, excuse me. Excuse me, Captain. If I may, by your virtue, intercede. What the Viceroy means is, is dinner ready?
MOLDAR: You. It is just like you to do something like this.
ROX: Oh, I see. Okay, fine. Play it that way. Let's get out of here. Blow the hell out of this planet.
HUNT: If that's what he wants.
SECRETARY: Viceroy, Viceroy.
MOLDAR: Dylan Hunt. I dislike surprises, so I will overlook this as
SECRETARY: As an indication of the magnitude of abstract parturition involved in being the preeminent Commonwealth starship Captain.
MOLDAR: Yes.
HUNT: Apology accepted.
MOLDAR: Apology?
HUNT: And just to show that there are no hard feelings. You tell him, Rox.
ROX: Meet our new partner.
HUNT: Ta dah!
MOLDAR: Partner? You no longer want a percentage of my business. You're trying to take it over. Is that correct?
HUNT: I have taken it, Moldar, because frankly, what are you going to do about it? Now look. I know all about the armour.
ROX: He forced me.
HUNT: But what I want to know only you know. Now, tell me where the armour comes from.
MOLDAR: Not on your life.
HUNT: On yours, then.
(In the Eureka Maru's cargo hold, Rhade is apparently sleeping when Beka opens a drawer and takes out one of the suits of bio-armour. Suddenly it leaps onto her, blends into her clothing and makes her eyes glow red.)

[Command]

ROMMIE: I've analyzed the area Moldar comes from. Sodium, toxic to his species, is in the soil.
ROX: It's a good thing we brought him along.
ROMMIE: I've isolated a small area where the gravity is denser than the rest of the planet.
ROX: Now, what would cause that?
HUNT: Forces that don't like things light.
ROMMIE: You're a heavy worlder, Dylan. You could move around down there no problem.
HUNT: You're a heavy worlder too. I had Rommie weigh you in the shower.
ROX: Really.
HUNT: Mmm hmm.
ROX: Well, next time, join us.

[Corridor]

MOLDAR: Send a squad. Suicide. Make sure that Rox and Hunt never get off the planet.
SECRETARY: As you order, Viceroy, it is done.

[Eureka Maru]

BEKA: Rox is right. This place is a war zone.
COMPUTER: Incoming hail.
RHADE: This is it.
MAN [OC]: You are in violation of the Atol Pi. State purpose and destination.
BEKA: This is the Eureka Maru. I have a multi-signal broadcast code.
MAN [OC]: Key sequence for silent authorisation.
RHADE: If Rox was lying to us, we'll be dead inside of a minute.
MAN [OC]: Authorised for entry. Corridor passage transmit begin. Drift off-load Zaarth Fourteen.
BEKA: Nice meeting you too.

[Dock]

BEKA: Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. perfect. So, you can take the rest of that back to your boss and tell him not only will Moldar sell him twice the amount of armour next time for half the price, but in fact, that'll double the value to him at less than twice the rate, so in fact, this is a really good thing. So, forty four suits, seventeen packs, we're in biz.

[Planet surface]

ROX: Oh, thanks for bringing me here. Nice place for a murder.
HUNT: Actually, it reminds me of a fairy tale.
ROX: Really?
HUNT: Yeah. It even has mention of a magical armour in it, though, I've got to say, I do prefer the fairy tale to this.
ROX: Captain Hunt, when I imagined getting sweaty with you, this is not what I had in mind.
HUNT: Really? What did you have in mind?
ROX: Kicking your ass.
HUNT: Oh, wait a minute. You came with me because you knew it was the right thing to do. Now, I don't need you kicking my ass to impress me. I am grateful for your help.
ROX: Good, because unless I have some latent flying skills I'm totally unaware of, I have no idea how I'm going to help you with this one.
(It's is a very tall tower by a beach, with a room at the top. Rapunzel, anyone?)
HUNT: I think I'd rather have you kicking my ass.

[Tower base]

ROX: Any thoughts?
HUNT: Well, several, none of which should be said aloud in the presence of a lady.
ROX: So what's stopping you?
HUNT: Just my inner female, of course. Someone's up there.
ROX: Contrary to what most men think, there are certain situations in which even the most majestic of forcelances is useless.
HUNT: There is nothing useless about my forcelance.
(Which has produced a grappling hook from one end. He fires it up to the room's overhang.)
ROX: My turn to be impressed.
HUNT: I'll show you its other uses later.
ROX: Promises, promises.
HUNT: Just watch my back or in this case, my bottom.
(He is pulled up by the grappling hook's wire.)

[Eureka Maru]

BEKA: Let's get out of this hellhole.
RHADE: They have their armour. I see no reason to stay longer. We're being hailed. A courier from Andromeda.
KENT [on monitor]: This is Andromeda courier Lieutenant Kent. I have an encrypted message from Captain Hunt.
RHADE: Transmit.
HUNT [on monitor]: Beka, Rhade. The bio-thread you're transporting may act in unpredictable ways. You have to make sure that
(Beka stops the message.)
RHADE: What the hell are you doing?
BEKA: It's a little late for that message, don't you think? We've already delivered the armour.
RHADE: Delivered, yes, but one suit of armour is missing.
BEKA: What are you talking about?
RHADE: One is missing.
BEKA: Miscount.
RHADE: Of what kind?
BEKA: I don't know. You counted wrong. You don't believe me. Search the ship.
RHADE: I already have.
Then you already know there isn't another suit of armour on board, which means we loaded as many as we gave them. Now if you're finished obsessing over a simple math error, let's get out of here.

[Tower room]

(Hunt opens a handy hatch right next to his grappling hook and climbs inside. There is a woman sitting at a spinning wheel, twisting thread from her fingers. Not Rapunzel, the Lady of Shallot.)
HUNT: Don't worry. I won't hurt you.
CAVAVA: Everybody hurts, unless I obey.
HUNT: No, I'm here to help you.
CAVAVA: No. You've come here for the armour. That's all anybody wants.
HUNT: I'm not just anybody.
CAVAVA: Why wouldn't you want the armour? It gives power.
HUNT: The power to kill.
CAVAVA: Ultimate power.
HUNT: Ultimate power rests in life.
CAVAVA: If the old woman appears.
HUNT: The old woman?
CAVAVA: Who keeps me here. She controls everything.
HUNT: There's a myth from Tarn Vedra. It's a place like this, someone like you, and the old woman. It's very, very strong. It's strange to me. All right, she's coming. We have to leave. I'll get you back to my ship where you'll be safe.
CAVAVA: Yes. I.
HUNT: Right. That is. Is that? You know, I'm going to cut that unless you say otherwise.
CAVAVA: I don't know anymore, but I'm willing to take the risk.
(Hunt uses his forcelance to cut the threads running from Cavava's fingers to the spinning wheel.)
HUNT: Come on.
(On the way down.)
HUNT: So, I never did get your name.
CAVAVA: Cavava.
HUNT: Nice to meet you, Cavava. I'm Captain Dylan Hunt.

[Tower base]

ROX: Damn. Party crashers.
(Rox goes to meet them on the beach.)
ROX: Oh, so, guys. Tell me about those slick suits, huh? But, you know, first I've got to warn you that you really you don't have a chance. So which one of you wants to take the licking first? I could take all of you at the same time if you'd like, because it really makes no difference to me.
(One rushes her and another pins her arms from behind.)

[Tower]

(Still on their way down.)
CAVAVA: I don't want to die.
HUNT: Well, that makes two of us, Cavava.

[Tower base]

ROX: Hey! Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait. I've got to warn you, guys. In about ten seconds, you're going to be in a lot of trouble. One, two, three, Dylan!

[Tower]

HUNT: You'd better hold on tight. I'm going to make this go a little bit quicker.
(They drop like a stone.)

[Tower base]

ROX: Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
(And gets free of the man holding her.)
ROX: That's for you. That's for you and that's for the god you rode in on.
(Hunt and Cavava finally reach the ground.)
HUNT: Stay here. I'll be right back.
(Rox takes a short sword from one of her attackers and uses it. Hunt wades in firing his forcelance. They don't stay down.)
ROX: They're wearing the armour.
HUNT: Yeah, I noticed.
ROX: Hey!
(A bit of fancy acrobatics then back to the forcelance.)
HUNT: The eyes. Shoot for the eyes.
ROX: Thanks for telling me.
HUNT: I just figured it out.
(Just one man is left to run away.)
HUNT: That's good work for a little girl.
ROX: Don't get me started.
HUNT: We should get back to the ship, but first I've got a fairy tale to pick up.

[Secure cargo hold]

CAVAVA: Does it have to be so cold in here?
HUNT: I'm afraid so. It's the only way to keep the armour in check. It slows its metabolism and any other change it may go through.
CAVAVA: You want them to never know what they could be?
HUNT: Some potential's better left untapped.
CAVAVA: Do you realise the fate you've consigned my children to?
HUNT: Yes, I do. The same as yours. Never to leave this room.
(Cavava transforms into the Salt Monster of M-113.)
CAVAVA: Never is a long time.

[Maru crew area]

(Beka attacks Rhade, but he is ready for her.)
BEKA: You were wrong about one thing. Expecting something and being prepared for it. Two very different things.

[Secure cargo hold]

CAVAVA: Are you saying I'm a prisoner on your ship?
HUNT: I'm remembering a lesson from my childhood. Who the old woman really was and what she really wanted.
CAVAVA: That was what?
HUNT: Chaos. And you would be that woman.
CAVAVA: A child's tale. A dream.
HUNT: No, a nightmare. And this is where it ends.
(Cavava fires web from her fingers, and Hunt dodges.)

[Maru crew area]

RHADE: Don't make me kill you.
(He stabs Beka in the abdomen.)
BEKA: You mean like this?
(She lifts him up by the throat.)
BEKA: Why make a threat if you can't follow it through?
(And throws him around a bit.)

[Secure cargo hold]

(Hunt loses his forcelance.)
HUNT: Well, age sure hasn't mellowed you.
(He gets a blast of web in the back.)

[Maru engine room]

(Beka pushes her super-strong hand down on Rhade's chest.)
BEKA: You were saying you didn't want to kill me. Like, if you were to push on my chest like this, here, until you reached into my chest cavity and ripped out my heart. Is that what you mean?

[Secure cargo hold]

HUNT: Andromeda, freeze cargo hold in five seconds.
ANDROMEDA: Five, four, three, two, one.
(Hunt dives into a handy pod and seals it in time. Cavava becomes an ice statue. On the Maru, Beka releases Rhade and the bio-armour reveals itself.)

[Corridor]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: The Eureka Maru has returned.
ROMMIE: The armour's strength comes not from the bio-thread, but from the intricate weave.
HUNT: There's magic in the web of it. It's a line from a childhood story.
ROMMIE: The magic here is pure science. The interlacing living cells are able to absorb and distribute whatever energy comes in contact with them in a very simple manner.
ROX: Worth a fortune. Moldar's wealth and power.
ROMMIE: Being hit, the armour acts like a muscle. Contracts all its mass at the point of impact, making it impregnable.
ROX: So, what about the other armour? Beka's.
ROMMIE: Yes, very odd. Though she was several slipstream jumps away, her armour ceased any biological function when I froze its creator.
HUNT: A psycho-physiological connection.
ROMMIE: Hmm. One which knows no such boundaries as space or time, instead travelling like consciousness beyond forms we can measure. But the armour. Its ability to shape-shift comes from bio-chromes in its exoskeleton, not unlike animals that can change their appearance in relation to their environment.
HUNT: The ultimate camouflage for the deadliest of hunters.
They meet Beka.)
HUNT: Tell me. Who's the hunter and who's the prey?
BEKA: You wanted to see me?
HUNT: Excuse me.

[Hunt's quarters]

BEKA: I know I defied orders, Dylan, and I wish I could tell you why, but I can't. Not won't, can't. I really just have no idea what made me put on the armour. I did.
HUNT: All right. Let's move past that for a moment. Is there anything else bothering you?
BEKA: Like what?
HUNT: I don't know, Beka. You tell me. Perhaps something personal, a problem with someone on the crew?
BEKA: Well, right now, the only person on this crew I seem to have a problem with is you, Dylan. I have been loyal to you beyond the call of duty, beyond the call of friendship. I've saved you, Dylan, more times than I can count. Me. You owe your life to me, and if you can't figure that out, everything I've gone through on this ship was a mistake.
(Beka leaves, Rox enters.)
ROX: Whoo hoo. Trouble?
HUNT: I don't know yet.
ROX: You look bothered. And since you were so kind, making sure I wasn't arrested for my past indiscretions, I could repay you.
HUNT: You know, just oversee the disarming of Atol Pi system, and that's how you'll make up for your past.
ROX: Yes, I did agreed to do that, didn't I? But there's still your troubled mind. Captain Hunt, in my experience, which isn't small, I've always been able to tell when a man wasn't thinking just of me.
HUNT: Well, I'm a complicated guy.
ROX: Hmm.
HUNT: But I guess I could give you an hour to figure me out.
ROX: I'll take that.
HUNT: No, let's er, let's make that two.
ROX: Okay.
HUNT: Er, you know, it's going to be over six hours before we reach the next slipstream portal.
ROX: Oh.
HUNT: Oh.