"I trust fast poison The stars to wink out" "And you, my love - and you." "Lyric from "The Void" By Minstrel d'Becvex CY 9905" "HA!" "Gotcha!" "Reverse hold, how many points is that?" "It nets out at zero." "Ouch!" "Tell me again why this is good for me." "A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link." "Who you calling a 'link' Anasazi?" "Now this warship, her capabilities, it makes us complacent." "We may have to engage the enemy using nothing but our teeth and nails." "See." "Me." "I like to shoot my enemies, preferably while hiding behind a nice big rock." "Beka, I need ..." "Whoa!" "Excuse me I, I uh I didn't know that you two were uh.." "What were you?" "Nothing." "Shut up!" "Just uh a little hand to uh, hand." "What's up?" "oh uh, this." "Andromeda just received a datafile from Coscota." "the mining colony?" "That old hunk of rock, what do they want with us?" "Well it's not us, it's you." "It's about one of your old crewmates, a Robert Jensen" "Bobby Jensen." "Damn I haven't heard that name in a long time." "He was a mate... on the crew of the Maru back in the day before Harper signed on." "So uh what's he gotten himself into this time and what's it gonna cost me?" "He's dead Beka." "He's named you as his next of kin and they want to you to identify the body." "I'm sorry." "Sorry you can't spare me, you need me for uh ..." "for what?" "the planet, Hazen-Brown." "I thought you said there was a disaster;" "we're all rushing off to..." "Beka just take the Maru and go." "Next of kin?" "Not quite." "Just uh the love of my life" "He is the last guardian of a falling civilization, A hero from another time, faced with the universe and chaos." "Dylan Hunt recrutes an unlikely crew and sets out to re-unite the galaxies." "On the starship Andromeda, hope lives again" "Rommie, situation report please on planet Hazen-Brown." "Tectonic plates crashing into each other, lava, ash and panicky Chichian climbing over each other in an effort to save themselves." "Well we promised them evacuation passage and that is what we'll do" "There you are, well I prepped the Maru for your trip to Coscota, anyways I just thought it'd be a good time for you to have friends around." "I appreciate the offer but umm I'm gonna be okay" "I'm a good listener you know I know you are." "Look, Bobby and I, we broke up a long time ago and I'm over him." "Go." "Oh Trance, good, Take a slip fighter to Hazen-Brown, try to organize evacuees as best you can in advance of the Andromeda." "Go." "Going" "I'm coming with you." "Dylan I'm not gonna faint at the sight of a dead body, I've seen plenty of them" "So have I Beka." "I've buried more crew than I can count and no one should do it alone." "Besides you can't launch the Maru until I order Andromeda to open the hanger" "You would lock me in?" "Oh absolutely" "In that case, welcome aboard." "Thank you." "Thank you" "I was not talking to you Harper Come on, I don't take up that much oxygen." "Look, I really appreciate everyone being so concerned about my emotional well being..." "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" "You think I'm coming just to give you a shoulder to cry on?" "That's sweet, but no." "I wanna make sure that freakin psycho is good and dead." "How to dump a loser boyfriend in five easy lessons by Seamus Harper.One, two, three, four, five" "I take it you and this Bobby Jensen didn't get along." "Bobby Jensen was a self-righteous control freak with a nasty ass temper" "Does Harper always stay mad at dead people?" "Bobby inspired strong emotion." "Apparently" "Eureka Maru ready for departure Maru you are good to go" "Good luck on Hazen-Brown." "Tyr, you've got command." "I know you'll display the appropriate sensitivity and diplomacy in dealing with the Chichians" "And Tyr, don't break my ship" "Hey!" "Oh!" "Harper." "Sorry." "Yeah Boss no officers quarters around here, you can take old Vexpag's bunk." "Vexpag?" "Yeah, another former crewmate." "He's dead too." "Dead?" "Don't worry, it wasn't catching he had a problem with his EVA suit." "Pleasant." "Well." "Ow!" "I've had worse." "So Mr. Harper, about Bobby Jensen." "Hero, not a hero, I mean what was he?" "He was an idiot." "Beka, she's.... she's too loyal for her own good." "Hey, you wanna meet him?" "Yeah, you wanna meet Bobby Jensen?" "Sure.Hang on" "I guess All right." "Dylan Hunt meet Bobby Jensen" "Hey kid, welcome to the Eureka Maru." "What are you doing, recording this?" "Sure why the hell not." "Here's the speech." "We are shipmates we are not friends." "The tugboat belongs to Beka Valentine, Beka Valentine belongs to me." "You mess with either one of them I'll kill you dead." "Yeah, yeah, whatever." "What is that?" "Hang on a second." "What is that?" "Is that a cerebral port?" "I've always wanted one of those." "You see that huh?" "He hit me." "Well, you know you don't like people touching your dataport either." "Yeah but when I hit them it's with love." "Besides it doesn't take a genius to see understandably he uh, he felt threatened." "By you." "Harper no offense but that guy masses 95 kilos easy." "I mean jealous He saw how awesome looking I was and he thought I was gonna take Beka..." "Dylan, do not let him show you what he keeps under his pillow!" "I'm afraid to ask We're approaching Coscota system" "What do you keep under the pillow?" "Nothing!" "What the hell?" "Proximity mine, the whole system is salted with them." "Beka!" "Get us the hell outta here!" "Now!" "Beka shut down the engines A minefield, you flew us into a minefield?" "Well it wasn't supposed to be there now was it, so mea very culpa." "Shutting down" "Contact the nearest freighter ship, get an SOS to Andromeda." "Cut all power" "Contacting, SOSing, cutting all power." "Cut all power?" "Unless you'd like to find out first hand whether these mines home in on our EM emission, yes, all power" "Now what?" "One thing I know about minefields is when you walk into one you hold still" "There." "Like a camping trip, not that I ever went on one" "Well that is exactly what we're gonna do, camp in our bunks and wait for Andromeda to arrive with proper mine detection and disarmament." "Anyone know any good campfire stories?" "You do" "The story of Bobby Jensen" "Oh come on, I'd like to hear it" "Bobby was Bobby" "I think you would have liked him Dylan" "Beka!" "Six o'clock, I got your back!" "What a surprise, normally when the going gets tough my partners in crime get going" "Yeah they say there's no honor among thieves but you are cuter than normal." "So anything to share?" "You mean about those industrial diamonds we're supposed to deliver?" "I was thinking maybe they're not that industrial" "It's my haul fair and square." "Am I supposed to turn down paying customers just because of bad background checks?" "You know what your problem is Captain Valentine?" "You need to fight for something bigger than diamonds and gold." "You need a cause" "Maybe." "What cause are you fighting for Bobby Jensen?" "You." "We have so much in common Yeah, come on" "It was a sweet little operation." "Hello Coscota, goodbye Coscota." "And then Bobby found out they were digging Thorium 232 in those mines" "Thorium 232?" "That stuffs incredibly radioactive" "Well somebody obviously forgot to tell the Coscotians because they got about a million of Muganis digging the stuff for them" "The Muganis, that's Coscota's aboriginal population?" "Harper!" "Oh you mean those amphibian swamp dwellers with the bad teeth." "Bobby always said they were slaves on their own world." "Bobby, Bobby, Bobby." "He was such a sucker for a hard luck story" "Anyway, Bobby started organizing a Mugani miner's union." "The company was remarkably unreceptive to the idea." "You're right Beka, I think I would have liked him" "Yeah." "There was a lot to like" "You know what I love?" "Your arms, your legs" "Really?" "Uhhuh." "Call me crazy but I think there's something sexy about bodily perfection" "Hmmm." "And me, do you lo..." "Quit while you're ahead." "Let's talk about something else." "Like what's this new haul of yours and how much is it worth to us?" "Computers." "And a lot, we pick them up on Earth and deliver them back to Coscota." "And uh, who's this Earth kid that's helping us?" "Seamus something or other Harper." "A street kid, he wants off Earth" "Yeah, well you saw what a dump that place was, who can blame him?" "Well he'll do his bit and then..." "So you lied to him Just trying to travel light" "You are really something" "Something?" "Just not... enough?" "Just...." "Don't ever lie to me." "Never" "You see why I hated him?" "I stuck up for you, I didn't even know you" "Beka, you and Bobby weren't in this bed were you?" "And why do you hate Bobby anyway?" "He saved your life." "What!" "?" "When?" "Way to sneak in smendrick." "It's Harper." "And trust me I know what I'm doing, I'm an expert." "I wanted to get my cargo, not give every Nietchean within earshot a 21-gun salute." "Hey you're uh pretty hot, you look smart too." "What are you doing looked up on that junk ship with a steroid case like Bobby?" "You could have any number of candidates." "Sterling candidates He has his good points, believe me" "Screw you!" "One of his good points." "He's very protective." "Harper you're going to have a to do a better job trying to convince me Bobby was out to get you because so far it sounds like he was playing on your side." "Oh come on!" "I saved the day in the end." "Oh please!" "You were such a newbie." "I was just glad he didn't get spacesick all over my ship." "Wow!" "I never been in space before." "Are you serious?" "Yeah." "I never been more than three clicks from the human ghetto." "In Boston." "But I can sure get used to this." "I like it!" "The air don't stink here." "Filtered fresh daily" "Uh is that normal?" "A missile to the aft cargo pod by the feel of it." "What's the matter?" "No one ever shoot at you before?" "Yeah." "But I've never been shot in the aft." "Besides on Earth you can always run away" "Same here, except in space you can run to Saturn." "There's plenty of debris and non-specific radiation that should keep us safe from Nietchean sensors until we figure out our next move" "Nietcheans." "All right all that stuff I said about loving space I officially take it all back." "No way." "We are not gonna jettison the cargo" "So you would rather face a Nietchean hit squad than dump cargo?" "Bobby they torture their allies" "I would kill anyone who tried to hurt you." "You know that" "Yes, but you didn't answer my question The Muganis need those computers Beka, okay?" "Uh can I say something?" "No!" "Look why don't you go outside and play while Mommy and Daddy talk." "Okay?" "Fine!" "Fine, if you think you can steal a hundred Nietchean surface to air missiles and not get stopped, don't let me interrupt." "surface to air missiles!" "?" "Yeah." "What?" "What did you think was in those crates?" "Computers." "I was told we were carrying computers." "Okeydokie I guess I'd better be goin now." "Missiles?" "They have computers in them" "Get your grubby paws off my cargo!" "Keep him away from me!" "I was just brought it down to check it out I was only trying to help!" "He's not going to shoot you That depends on what he did with the wiring" "I'm good with mechanical things I can re-rig your missiles so..." "They're not my missiles, they belong to the Muganis." "Their only hope for freedom" "Risking our necks selling weapons to the Muganis?" "You've sheen how the Muganis have been exploited in the thorium mines Beka, it breaks your heart" "You're breaking mine." "I asked you not to lie to me." "They found us." "Cover everything back up, now!" "You, Hooper, go with me It's Harper" "Hey." "Did you do it?" "Is it going to work?" "Is my name Seamus Zelazny Harper?" "God I hope not." "Prepare to jettison cargo." "Authorization Beka Valentine" "Authorization not recognized what do you mean not recognized?" "It's Bobby, he's making a run for Coscota" "Oh man, I gotta get me one of those." "You." "Go back and stop him" "What!" "?" "Me?" "No, no, no, he's big and scary;" "I'm just small and cute" "You want a place to stay or not?" "You crew on my ship, do as I say" "A place to stay?" "all right, all right, now we're talking." "I can do this" "Bobby, stop!" "Bobby I mean it, put him down" "Harper dump the cargo, switch behind you" "Jettisoning cargo" "Beka, if I had told you, you would have said no Damn straight!" "If we made the big score and retired we'd be complacent" "Living happily and rich ever after was supposed to be the plan" "You'd become restless, you know you would." "This is the perfect cause." "We can help with what we know" "I don't do causes Bobby No Beka, everybody does causes." "Only question is will you pick yours or will it pick you?" "In that case, I pick mine, you're looking at her." "Go." "Just go." "Sometimes I think I should have gone with him." "I just wasn't that evolved yet" "No way Beka, you made the right choice." "Besides he's dead now" "Harper, he was right you know." "The cause did pick me, you guys" "Then I'm glad it worked out the way it did." "Me too." "Limpet mine Or worse." "With all the sensors down it could be a..." "Bobby!" "?" "Beka are you happy to see me?" "Your force lance, give it up now." "I wish I could But I don't want to" "Tsk, tsk tsk, don't be like that" "What in the hell is gong on?" "What's going on?" "You pick your crew over me again?" "Come on Hunt, your lance, drop it." "I know who you are;" "I know what you can do." "So, nice and slow." "Margo get their weapons" "You're a little different from what Beka described Bobby Didn't you get the message?" "I died." "Not enough." "Close, I stepped on a land mine." "Nice to see you Seamus." "It's Harper." "I'm sorry to hear that." "Sorry it didn't finish you off but you know you're looking great Bobby." "Smoking." "Just like my gun arm after a high rate of fire" "Still don't know what's going on here the Mugani have finally risen up against their oppressors" "That explains the minefield but since you faked your death to get us here I'm guessing the war isn't going well." "Not too bad." "Considering that aborigines with rocks and bottles are up against colonists with nuclear arsenals." "We need help." "Well we are always willing to help those who have a worthy cause." "Good because helping them is the only way you get out of here alive." "You two, keep an eye on them while I refamiliarize myself with the cockpit." "So, you're the ex, funny he never took out blonds" "Funny he never took out the trash either;" "I see you've changed him" "Beka, cockpit now" "I'll be okay" "You came, now I know you care" "I thought you were dead Sorry about the little fib but if I had told you what I wanted to do you wouldn't have come" "Damn straight." "funny isn't it." "People won't show up to help you but they'll show up at your funeral" "You want us to help the aborigines I want you to help me." "I want you to join the cause" "At gunpoint?" "He doesn't want you, he wants the Andromeda" "What are you doing here?" "What are you doing here?" "Look, you want Dylan to negotiate a treaty between the Abos and the colonists, consider it done" "Bobby's not looking for peace Beka" "Margo take Beka for a walk." "I'll tell you what I'm looking for." "24 hours I want Andromeda here in the Coscota system with a full load of her kinetic missiles, AP guns and attack drones" "You know your high guard weaponry I trained from the best manuals, Argosy Special Forces." "You black ops guys have some great moves Yeah, we have some great moves." "Andromeda doesn't negotiate with hostage takers." "Ever." "Dylan, Dylan." "Is that what you think you are?" "Hostages?" "We're all good guys here I'm listening" "There are 8 hundred million Muganis on Coscota, 50 thousand colonist." "The natives dredge the swamps, mine the ore and the colonist keep the money." "Why?" "Because they have nukes, the Muganis have slingshots." "You're just here to level out the playing field." "I'd rather get all the facts first." "Three missile strikes, three major cities, that's all I need." "The Mugani Liberation Army will triumph." "With you at the head" "You have seen Lem." "The Muganis are not exactly ready for self-government" "Assuming there are any left to govern." "You are talking about starting a planetary civil war; millions of the Mugani will die." "So here's my idea." "Power share with the colonists There's no power sharing with the people who did this" "This is what to tell the Andromeda No ad-libs" "Andromeda proceed immediately to Coscota." "Best Speed." "Dylan out." "His heart is racing, his breathing is shallow and his eyelids are fluctuating.There's something he's not telling us." "No he's definitely telling us something" "One." "Four." "Oh." "Five." "AC Fourteen-five." "Argosy code fourteen-five, it means Dylan has been taken hostage in a war zone." "I am to approach with caution and be prepared to fire on his position." "He's telling us to kill him?" "If necessary, yes." "That is exactly what he is telling us to do." "Lem." "That is your name right?" "No talk" "How long have you been traveling with Bobby?" "long enough, no talk." "Stop!" "Down." "Up." "After you Down!" "Move." "It doesn't look very comfortable Lem No talk!" "Down!" "Now!" "Lem, tell me about the Muganis." "If I remember my comparative linguistics" "Mugani meads 'reed', right?" "The reed people?" "My grandfather, he could hide in the wet mud for hours breathe through hollow reed." "Wait for frogs, we were great hunters." "They drained the swamps" "Bringing down weapons of mass destruction on the colonist won't bring back the swamps Lem" "Maybe not, but maybe it will make them go away" "Maybe, But at a cost Lem." "Many of your people will die" "They're already dying." "Lem there's a better way." "You be quiet now" "Bobby, let them go." "Dylan never did anything to you" "Never did anything for me either." "If you're not with me you're against me." "He's not against you; he's against your methods" "I can't remember you being so squeamish when we flew contraband under the FTA sensors" "I don't remember you being so brutal." "I remember a Bobby that touched me" "With arms and legs that you loved." "You don't think that I remember?" "What did they do to you Bobby?" "What I told them to do." "To make me invulnerable" "Listen to me, you leave them be and I'll stay." "Just you and me together just like before" "Just like before?" "No." "I didn't think so." "It's why I have to win." "It's all I got" "Where'd Lem go?" "He's taking a nap." "Mugwumps are nocturnal" "You surprise me Margo." "Why?" "Because I can say 'nocturnal'?" "No because you say 'Mugwumps'." "Debasing them with slurs, I thought you were here to fight for the dignity for the Mugani people." "Bobby's here to fight for the dignity of the Mugani's, I'm here for Bobby Oh." "That could get you killed" "I'm not afraid of dying." "Besides, we could actually win" "And then you can help Bobby remake Coscota in his image" "Well it's good to be queen And I'm sure that you have a role set up for all the Muganis." "They're already trained and ready to serve" "Well if you'll excuse me I have to go check on my Mugwump" "You do that." "You heard her Lem, ready to serve in the royal court of Margo?" "She's not like Bobby!" "I'm glad you know what you're doing Lem." "Glad you know what you're doing." "What is taking Andromeda so long?" "You know for the life of me I'm trying to remember why I was ever jealous of you" "Cause I was with Beka." "Uh, No." "I always knew she'd get smart and dump you." "I think it was because of that dataport in your neck." "Mine's bigger." "No it's not" "What the hell was that?" "What's he doing?" "Just rattling your cage Bobby" "And what was that?" "One of Andromeda's grappling harpoons." "It sounds like she's opening hostage negotiations" "Wow!" "What a ship." "She's beautiful." "Bucky cables, she's trying to pull us in." "Hailing Andromeda Ascendant." "Hailing Andromeda Ascendant!" "Talk to me damn it!" "Why is your ship not responding?" "Rommie won't listen to ransom demands." "The only person she'll talk to is me." "Well maybe this will attract her attention." "AP overload in twenty minutes" "Andromeda!" "I know you can hear me now!" "I've set the AP tanks on the Maru to breach." "Either you surrender control to me now or I turn your captain into space dust." "Be my guest" "Hey Lem!" "What?" "Sit." "Talk to me." "We're all gonna be vaporized, we might as well get to know each other" "No!" "Bobby will win." "Bobby always wins" "No offense but I think you picked the wrong team." "Bobby's not even playing on your side" "Bobby fights the colonists Yes and the colonist s are wrong I know that." "They have victimized you and all the Muganis but remember the colonists made you slaves don't let someone else do it all over again." "I don't take orders from you!" "That's good." "That's good, Lem." "You shouldn't" "Well that's the spirit" "Estimated time to proton anti-proton event eighteen minutes thirty-two seconds" "Apparently we are to try our hand at a game of Brinkmanship." "Provide me with options!" "I'm analyzing available data and exploring all possible courses of action" "Being the most powerful warship in three galaxies please provide me with something more impressive than do nothing" "We can't run." "So should I just hand over my armory?" "No." "I would evacuate the planet but I can't airlift 72 million Muganis per minute or perhaps you would prefer I dematerialize Dylan's body form the Maru and magically rematerialize it her on Command?" "You choices are to let the Eureka Maru self destruct which would destroy both vessels or launch a pre-emptive strike destroying the Maru only." "They're your choices acting Captain Tyr Anasazi" "Then by all means, let's risk our lives for Dylan." "Hey gorgeous, I know you're charming and all but do you mind stop putting ideas in my Mugwump's tiny little brain?" "It confuses him" "Lem is a lot smarter than you give him credit for gorgeous." "In fact I suspect most people are smarter than you give them credit for" "Hey it's good to see you Hiya!" "I'm gonna blow the lock," "No!" "No!" "No!" "It's rigged to explode Oh." "You need the key." "I'll be right back" "AP overload in fifteen minutes" "Stop, Back to the cockpit." "It's over Bobby." "No it's not" "Beka!" "I told you I'm a lot less vulnerable than I used to be." "Don't you see?" "If they cared about you as much as I do they wouldn't let it go on this long" "No Bobby, they just care about a cause bigger than themselves Causes, causes" "AP overload in ten minutes" "There was a time when you loved me Bobby but I wasn't ready You're still not" "You wanted me to share your cause, now I do." "All of us do." "Freedom for the Muganis" "And now you're with Hunt not me" "Well Dylan never lied to me Really?" "Overload in five minutes" "Lem, get Harper." "Seal that fissure now!" "GO!" "Time to combustion...wait the AP count has leveled off." "The engine is NOT going critical" "Dylan did that." "We are in geosyncronis orbit." "Rommie can handle it" "I know." "Keeping busy helps." "So umm how are the peace talks going?" "Difficult." "There's a lot of years of hurt." "A lot of years of mistrust." "No one wants to risk feeling vulnerable." "Beka... about Bobby..." "I I know," "I uh I think when they made his new body they took his humanity" "No." "No one can ever take that away from you."