"With any luck, we'll be back with Ortiz before you get this, but in case you're looking for us, we're headed for Benisara to look for her there." "Mainly because it's the only system left we haven't searched." "I found the rattle." "If someone can pass me a hammer, I think I can fix it." "NO!" "Uh, thank you." "Just note it and we'll take care of it when we set down." "Noting it." "Ok, I have a question." "I'm all for keeping busy while the Andromeda's in the shop, but do you really think we have a shot here?" "I, uh, believe what the first officer is trying to say is that this might all be a colossal waste of time." "Look, Isabella Ortiz was a great leader." "She put together the only decent government in this region of space since the Fall, and she would make a powerful advocate for a new Commonwealth." "Provided she's still alive." "Are you forgetting the Kalderans wiped her little Alliance off the map?" "What he said." "The Kalderans may have been Commonwealth members, but since the Fall, they've been attacking anything that resembles interstellar government." "They were always reluctant members." "The Vedrans forced them into the old empire at gunpoint." "So now they're killing anyone who threatens to restore civilization." "How enlightened." "Enlightened." "Practical for them, I suppose." "Ow!" "Oh, my tail!" "Trance, be careful." "And we brought her along why?" "You know, Dylan, I've been thinking about Ortiz." "I mean, it takes someone really amazing to put together an alliance of twenty systems and then hold them together all by herself." "And then, once the Kalderans attacked, she still managed to make sure that enisara came out all right." "Which makes it the perfect place for her to hide." "Sure, if she were a Nietzschean, but to do something like that, she must really care about people, especially people who are hurting." "And since the place that was hardest hit by the Kalderans was Sporog's Anvil..." "THAT is why we bring her along." "Beka?" "I'm already on it." "Sporog's Anvil, it is." "Oh, yeah, this place is much nicer than Benisara." "What happened here?" "The Kalderans happened, apparently." "Cartego Delenda Est." "It's Old Earth." "It means "total destruction. "" "Ok." "Well, according to the automated ATC Center, this is the only real settlement left, and it's really just an ore-processing center for the mining outpost." "Which should make Ortiz a lot easier to find." "Assuming she's here." "And provided the locals will talk." "You may like to look a little less conspicuous." "After you." "This woman, Ortiz" " You realize that even if we do find her, the things we've heard might be more myth than fact." "She did put together an alliance." "We know that much." "Yeah, and if this is where she ended up for her troubles, she might not want any part of another one." "And another five-star establishment." "I can't believe it's not in the guidebook." "Hey, congratulations." "Your first?" "What do you care?" "Hi, I wonder if you could help me." "Only if you want to get drunk." "Fine." "Uh, we'll have what she was having." "Ok, four glasses of fermented mare's milk coming up." " That'll be, uh..." " Fifty guilders?" "And another one hundred if you'll answer some questions." "Her name's Cory, not Ortiz." "She usually comes in after the dog shift." "She's a miner?" "A doctor." "But she goes where the patients are: the mines." "She's got an office set up in the back." "All right, who parked that rust-bucket in the south field?" "It's my SHIP, if that's what you mean." "What business you got there?" "They're looking for a woman named Ortiz." "Is that so?" "You didn't even pay your landing fee." "Ok." "What's the fee?" "For you?" "Too much." "Isabella Ortiz." "Cory, get back!" "So much for making a good first impression." "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" "ÏÎÑËÅÄÍÈÉ ÇÀÊÀÇ Â ÁÀÐÅ "ÑËÎÌÀÍÍÛÉ ÌÎËÎ"" "He drew first, he went down." "That's the way it goes." "If you want him to get help, I suggest we all ease off." "But in case you'd rather not... these are High Guard force lances, and that's a Nietzschean." "Any questions?" "Your bar, your call." "We didn't come here looking for any trouble." "Is he ok?" "It's not bad." "That's easy for you to say." "All right, everybody, show's over." "Put 'em away." "The next round is on them." "You!" "Hsigo!" "Pick him up and bring him along." "President Ortiz, my name is Dylan Hunt." "I'd like to talk to you." "Damn it, Hsigo, now!" "Madame President, please, I..." "Go to hell." "Look, I just want to talk to " "Hey, hey." "You haven't paid for your drinks yet." "When are you gonna learn?" "Well, I thought that..." "You didn't think." "A closed room, one of you, four of them - all packing High Guard firepower?" " Better?" " Yeah." " Hey, can we talk?" " It's your bar." "I have nothing to say to you." "I'm betting you change your tune after you hear me out, Madame Ortiz." "My name isn't Ortiz." "I think we can trust him." "If you want trust, hand over the force lance." " Must be important." " It is." "Gorejon, keep an eye on the Hammer?" "What about her?" "I'm her doctor, she's my bartender." "We don't have secrets." "Easy there, Tiger." "Alcohol doesn't affect me the same way it does you." "Oh, yeah, like that time on Difta Five?" "Next you'll tell me you've got a hollow leg." "No, but I know where to get one." "You work for the company?" "Come to find out what we're up to?" "You tell the company we don't break easy, Nietzschean." "If you need me to tell them that, it's probably not true." "You think I'm some dumb rock-eater who rolls over for an über with a big gun?" "I've fought Kalderans." "How lovely for you." "What makes you think I'm Ortiz?" "Well, gee, I don't know." "Do you have a twin?" "Identity can be a tricky thing." "I mean, take you." "You don't exactly look like a High Guard captain." "I was, uh, trying to be inconspicuous." "Too bad it didn't work with your bodyguard." "He's not my bodyguard." "He's a friend - an overprotective friend." "Ah." "And what did you do to need overprotection?" "Cory and the mining company don't get along too well, that's all." "I don't like the way they treat people." "Neither would Ortiz." "For the last time, I'm not Ortiz." "Then why did, uh, Gorejon think we were after you?" "You've been waving my picture all over town." "Huh." "It's funny, he never looked at it." "You'd better tell him." "Ortiz is dead." "I was a doctor, and after the war" "I was put in the mines for selling medicine on the black market." "That's when I met her." "She showed up after the Kalderans left, blaming herself for everything that happened." "I didn't even know who she was, but she helped me set up this clinic - actually talked the company into it." "She supplied the gear and used her offworld contacts to get medicine." "Then, about two years go, a bounty hunter showed up." "The Kalderans' bounty was "Dead or Alive"." "He went for dead." "If he killed her, then, why is the contract still open?" "Because we shot that bastard down right where you're standing." "Cory took Ortiz's identity to keep supplies coming in and to maintain her endorsement with the company to practice medicine." "Then I hired Gorejon to keep Cory safe." "It was about three years later when I realized whose face I was actually wearing." "I guess by then I got used to it." "You got used to looking like the most wanted person in the Greater Magellanic Cloud." "You know, th-that's a bit of a reach." "Let's just say I have my reasons." "Tell you what." "We've got a digital sample of Ortiz's DNA on our ship." "We can check it against yours." "I'll do you one better." "Give me a brain-scan." "It won't match." "Your friends seem to think it would." "They told me you might be on Benisara." "And these friends, did they have names she would know?" "Ferina Neroti and Michael Okimata." "Assuming that means anything, why would Ortiz's friends want to help you?" "They wanted us to find you before the Kalderans did." "We're a few steps ahead of them, but it's only a matter of time before..." "I think that's them now." "Beka?" "Dylan, incoming ship." "Maru's sensors say it's a Kalderan patrol craft." "Kalderans." "We're getting off this planet." "Get down!" "A bomb!" "That was no bomb." "It was a mortar." "Kalderans." "One of their big eighty-eights." "They're range finding." "And they're getting closer." "My baby." "I have to get out of here!" "Wait." "Wait." "Wait!" "You go out there right now while they're shelling, you're as good as dead." "She's right." "This place used to be a bunker." "Right now, it's about the safest place you can be." "All right, moment of truth." "We leave and let you explain to the Kalderans why you aren't Ortiz, or you admit that you are, and we stay." "Which is it?" "What does it matter?" "The important thing now is to protect these people." "President Isabella Ortiz, it's an honor to finally meet you." "That was close." "Beka, force lance." "What do you expect to do with those?" "I'm setting effectors to artillery-intercept mode." "It'll buy us some time." "Tyr, plant it just off the north wall." "Beka, you cover him and make sure these people stay put." "You!" "Cover me over on the window over here." "They cut the power." "Now!" "Your High Guard toys had better work." "No kidding." "Is she ok?" "Poor thing." "She lost her family to the Kalderans, and then her husband to the mines." "She just came here to see Cory for a prenatal, and now she's stuck here like the rest of us." "Here, take this." "Thank you." "We'll keep you safe." "I promise." "They've done it." "They're intercepting the mortars." "'Till they run out of ammo, anyway." "And then what?" "If we're still here, we won't need my ship to get into orbit." "A stop-gap solution, at best." "I know." "That's why I'm gonna take out the Kalderan position before they can set anything else up." "You'll do nothing of the sort." "What?" "You're wounded." "I've had a lot worse." "I'm sure." "More to the point, then." "If we've got any chance of survival, someone's got to motivate that bar rabble and turn them into a credible fighting force." "You're not much of a people person, are you, Tyr?" "You do what you do best." "If it's all the same to you," "I'll take my chances with the Kalderans." "Fine." "But come back alive." "Seal the entrance!" "Where's Tyr?" "He's paying the Kalderans a little visit." "Lucky Kalderans." " You're hurt." " I'm fine." "Come on, let's take a look." " Trance?" " Huh?" "Are you ok?" "Yeah." "I'm just...thinking." "We've intercepted their mortars." "They should be coming at us with all guns blazing." "Not right away." "Kalderans evolved from pack-hunters." "They tend to make their decisions collectively." "That'll take a little time." "Except when the Kalderans do come to a plan, they follow it through to the bitter end." "Don't underestimate them - not for a second." "Is that what happened to you?" "Thanks." "Do you have any portable heat lamps?" "Uh, a few." "Why?" "Eventually they'll come at us with small arms, and when they do, the lamps will confuse their infrared sensors." "I'll give you a hand." "I got an idea." "If the Kalderans want Ortiz so bad, why don't we just give her to them?" "Poetic justice if you ask me." "Isabella Ortiz was a great leader." "Yeah." "Great at bringing the Kalderans down on our heads." "She did it before, and now it's all happening again." "I say give 'em what they want and be done with it!" "You just try it!" "You think you could stop me, you overgrown grape?" "I know this might be a stretch for you, but THINK!" "You're twice as big as me, and you look pretty scary, but I am still standing up to you." "So either I'm crazy, or I'm really, really dangerous." "Would you like to guess which?" "Didn't think so." "All right." "No one is going out that door until this is over." "We're in it together." "I'll go get the heat lamps." "President Ortiz, this is my medical officer, Trance Gemini." "I'd like the two of you to take all of the noncombatants into the back room and set up..." "No!" "I'm not going back there!" "I don't care, I just want out!" " Jadis!" "Jadis!" "Listen." "Listen!" " Let go!" "Get your hands off me!" "Listen to me!" "Everything is gonna be all right." "We're here to protect you." "Gorejon!" "No!" "Trance!" "Trance!" "Oh!" "Ow!" "My tail!" "Oh!" "Oh!" "My tail is hurt!" "My tail!" "Trance, try to relax." "Try to relax." "Trance, it's gonna be ok." "Shhhh, shhhh." " He's..." "...dead." "He's dead." "Gorejon, you stupid piece of crap, what did you do?" "He died protecting you." "He died a hero." "No, he died." "He died, it's gonna break Cory's heart, and that's it." "There's no heroes here, Captain, just corpses that haven't fallen over yet." " Saphia, you can't..." " I know, I know." "I'm just " "I'm tired of pulling tarps over people's heads." "Here." "Have a shot of this." "It'll help with the pain." "Why couldn't they just have killed me?" "It would've hurt way less." "Well, that depends on your point of view." "I tell you what." "I know this is hard for you, so I'll make you a deal." "I'll be brave if you will." "Deal." "The Kalderans have fallen back, so let's make the most of it." "I, uh, take it you got a plan?" "Always." "I want you and Hsigo to stay on watch, but choose your shots." "Tyr's still out there and we don't have the ammo for target practice." "Got it." "You." "I want you to cut crosshatches into the tabletops." "Bolt the pieces to the windows." "That'll give us a little more cover and block the Kalderans' view of the place." "All right, I need a clear path from the door to the bar." "I want you to wall it off with anything and everything that you can find." "What for?" "It's a kill zone." "We'll be able to move around the perimeter, but the Kalderans will get bottled up when they assault through the front door." "Ok, so what about me?" "What can I do?" "I noticed some tanks of ammonia and crates of chlorine powder in the back." "Yeah, it's the Makra." "They can't get enough of the stuff." "Ok, one container of ammonia and one of chlorine." "You wanna make grenades?" "What?" "They didn't teach you how to mix those things in bartender's school?" "I can't believe that it's gone." "My tail is gone." "I didn't even get to say goodbye to it." "It was so pretty." "My poor tail." "Make sure you secure that." " So, how are we looking?" " Like targets." "You know, I've gotten used to people shooting at me whenever you're around, but couldn't you have picked a more scenic location?" "I mean, a ramshackle bar on a backwater world whose main export seems to be miserable people?" "I told you this was gonna be an adventure." "An adventure." "Sure." "Excuse me while I try to contain myself." "You know, these people - it's not their fault they're miserable." "That's why you and I are gonna survive this thing." "So we can work on making their lives better - even if it is just a little at a time." "If I didn't think that were true, I wouldn't be here." "But in case we don't make it through the night, thanks for the adventure." "We aim to please." "Hey." "Our little patient's doing very well." "Hi!" "How you holding up there, soldier?" "I'm pretty good." "I'm actually really good, except my tail is gone." "My butt kinda hurts." "You wanna look?" "Uh." "No." "You rest." "All right." "It's pain-killer." "Very effective." "I can see that." "Thanks for taking care of her." "I didn't do much." "I just patched her up." "That's what I want to talk to you about - patching things up." "Restoring the Commonwealth isn't patching things up, it's major surgery." "It'll probably do more harm than good to the patient." "Look around you, Cory." "Do you really think things can get much worse?" "That's the problem." "Every time I imagine things can't possibly get any worse - well, I've learned that the universe if full of surprises." "There are bad surprises, but there's also the occasional good one." "There's a perfect possibility out there." "You just have to want it badly enough." "It's a beautiful dream, Captain Hunt." "But it's not up to you." "Or me." "Get down!" "We've got an incoming Nietzschean." "The Kalderans are following him home." "Cover him until he's inside." "He's inside." "I took out their mortars before they got a fix on my position." "But Dylan, another scout ship is landing, and they're bringing in more artillery." "They're not going away." "I don't belong here." "I don't belong here!" "Here." "Here, take this." "Now anyone scaly comes through that door, you point that at them and you squeeze that trigger." "Do whatever you have to to protect that baby, ok?" "So will I." "Dylan!" "That'll teach you people to bust up my bar!" "Saphia, what are you doing?" "Get down!" "Ortiz, get the hell out of here!" "Have you both lost your minds?" "We're all clear." "Another probe?" "They're moving off to regroup." "How could I let this happen?" "Cory, we'll be fine." "You know that's not true." "There's only one way out of this." "I know what I have to do." "I should have done it when the shooting started." "I'm not gonna let that happen." "Out of the question." "All right." "Both of you, back room." "We're gonna talk." "Right now." "That sounds like..." "Maybe now they'll go away." "You!" "Give them the body." "Then we can leave." "I'm sorry, but that's not gonna happen." "Then you!" "You do it!" "It's not gonna make a bit of difference." "Of course it will make a difference!" "They'll see she's dead." "They'll stop shooting at us." "Please!" "Then I could go home." "Is it over yet?" "Stay back!" "My head hurts." "Cory?" "Dylan, what ha...?" "How you feeling, Trance?" "The painkiller's kinda worn off and my tail hurts." "I promised Cory I'd be brave." "You're always brave." "Yeah." "Take her into the back room and comfort her, ok?" "Just calm her down." "Yeah." "The pregnant woman is right." "We hand the body over to the Kalderans, and we walk right out of here." "Do we?" "I just wanted to go home." "It's not my fault." "I just wanted to go home." "So you made sure Cory never will?" "What's going to happen to me?" "To my baby?" "Your future" " Your baby's" " It's all in your hands." "It always has been." "I've done a terrible thing." "Yes, you have." "But what matters now is that you're going to have a daughter - a healthy baby girl." "And if you do everything you can to make sure her life is a good one, she could become a healer - someone who will help millions." "Like Ortiz?" "Yes." "You can't undo what you've done, but if you would like to make things better, you're going to have to be the kind of person she needs you to be." "Nice work, guys." "Now, stay sharp." "Keep those windows covered." "They're shelling us again." "Looks like the honeymoon's over." "It's not your fault, you know." "Isn't it?" "I gave Jadis that gun." "I told her..." "You told her to protect herself." "And Cory is dead because she listened." "Jadis listened to ME." "Jadis made her own choice." "You know, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but the truth is, this is my responsibility." "All of it." "Jadis?" "Oh, you poor thing." "Listen to me." "You were scared." "You were confused." "And I didn't help you like I should have." "So don't blame yourself, all right?" "I know Cory would forgive you." "We need to talk." "Trance, give us a minute." "Dylan, what about...?" "Take her with you." "It's ok." "You'll be all right." "Tyr and Beka are out there." "No one will give you any trouble." "Is there something on your mind, Captain Hunt?" "Ten years the Kalderans been hunting Ortiz." "And who finally gets her?" "A scared little pregnant girl." "Good for her." "You're all heart, Hsigo." "What'd Ortiz ever do to you?" "The worst thing someone can do." "She gave me hope." "Seven years of my life I gave her, in the Alliance Self-Defense forces." "We fought the Kalderans to the very end." "But what'd it get me?" "Dead friends, a busted face, and a nothing job on a dead planet." "You know the worst part?" "I didn't even know what she looked like." "Our great leader, and I didn't even recognize her when I was right next to her." "I understand you better than you think." "No one made you fight for Ortiz or the Alliance." "That was your call." "Yeah, she might have given you hope, but if you didn't want it so bad, you wouldn't have fought so hard." "You shouldn't blame Ortiz for what happened to you." "You should thank her." "You know, for someone who wanted to talk, you're being awfully quiet." "I was just wondering, if we gave Ortiz's body to the Kalderans and they tested her DNA, what would happen?" "These days, it's almost as easy for someone to change their looks as it is their clothes." "So, given a choice, why would the most hunted woman in twenty systems keep the face she was born with?" "Ortiz" " CORY - never made a decision without looking to you." "And Gorejon didn't sacrifice himself for Cory." "He died for you." "Well, that doesn't prove anything." "No, maybe." "But I recognize the look in your eyes, when Gorejon died, and Cory." "It was the look of a person who's seen more death than she should." "Saphia, what do you say we just drop all the lies you've built up over the years and get to the truth." "It's difficult to know where to start." "Why don't you start with Cory." "Cory was her nickname." "She was a Corps Woman in the Benisari Dragoons." "I was just a district governor when they assigned her to my bodyguards." "It was her idea to switch identities as a last line of defense." "Gorejon came later, but it didn't take him long to figure out the truth." "He was a lot smarter than he looked." "Then why did he stay?" "Because he thought - they both thought - that we'd rejoin the fight, just pick up the pieces and try again." "But nobody wants a Commonwealth, Captain." "There's just too many people invested in the status quo." "Too many people with money and weapons and power." "You're no better than me, Dylan Hunt." "Hell, given enough time, you will be me." "Listen." "The force lance on the north side has run out of effectors." "If we set up a diversion, do you think you could take out the new mortar battery?" "What for?" "Ortiz is dead." "Your mission is finished." "It's not finished, and Ortiz is very much alive." " Her?" " Her." "So now what?" "Now we give the Kalderans what they want." "Look, you can't just hand her body over to them." "The Kalderans are gonna figure out it's not really me, and even if we manage to fool them, they're still gonna come in when they run out of mortars, just to be sure." "Giving up the body will delay them, so the attack will happen on my timetable, not theirs." "And when they come in and kill us, it'll be on our own terms, at least." "That's great." "Listen to me." "I came here looking for someone I could believe in." "Instead I found you, well, so be it." "But now I'm stuck here, and when the Kalderans come walking through that door," "I'm gonna do everything I can to beat them." "'Cause my fight's not over until I say it is." "So, you either help, or you stay the hell out of my way." "Hsigo, give me a hand." "She's Ortiz?" "The real Ortiz?" "All this time you've been right under my nose." "In the flesh." "So who was she?" "Just another deluded sap who took a bullet for you?" "Well, I've had enough." "Time for you to do your own bleeding!" "Damn." "You got that right." "No." "I wanted to use him." "Well, as he is, he would make an interesting conversation piece." "The Kalderans knew where to find Ortiz." "When did Hsigo show up here?" "About a week before you did." "That's right about when we heard the Kalderans were getting close." "The Kalderans' inside man." "Yeah." "He'd be perfect for a little operational deception." "But now he's dead." "Well, whatever happened to him, he brought it on himself." "But the problem is, Hsigo was right." "If I were the saint everyone thinks I am, this would've been over hours ago." "But I'm not." "Even in the old days as Ortiz, I was frightened all the time." "When the Kalderans attacked my Alliance, I panicked." "I fell apart." "And without my leadership, the Alliance crumbled." "All because I couldn't face my own enemies." "But I am tired of being afraid." "I'm gonna end this." "Now." "Saphia, wait!" "You are not walking out that door." "So you made mistakes, you let people down." "Who hasn't?" "You can still make up for the past." "When we walk out of here, we do it together - all of us, alive." "Give 'em hell, Tyr." "They've taken Cory's body." "Tracking." "They've stopped." "About three hundred meters out." "Figure ten, maybe fifteen minutes to test her DNA." "That isn't much time." "Then we'd better not waste any." "It's all right." "It's all right." "They're coming, aren't they?" "I will protect you, ok?" "I promise." "There's not gonna be much of a bar left after this is over." "Well, it never really was much of a bar." "It was always kinda standing in for something." "And now?" "I'm done standing in." "Let's bring it!" "No!" "Jadis!" "Trance!" "Pack hunters." "I don't remember calling the cavalry." "Forget the cavalry." "Someone needs to call the cleaning service." "Are you all right?" "My tail itches." "Then it isn't really gone, is it?" "All of this, for me." "I'm not worth it." "Your friends seem to think you are." "Maybe it's time you proved them right." "Dylan, we're just about ready to go." "Well, it's been real, it's been fun, but I can't say I " "Beka?" "Right." "I'll prep the Maru." "Captain, what about me?" "There's no way to make up for what you did, but do right by that child and maybe it'll be a start." "Why don't you come with me?" "I'd like to check on that baby before we leave." "So, what now?" "Oh, we'll go to the Sintii board of directors, tell them Ortiz is dead." "You should be safe after that." "They'll just have to find someone else to negotiate the new Commonwealth Constitution." "Well, if it were that simple, why'd you even come for me?" "I thought you were worth the risk." "Dylan!" "I may not be worth the risk, but you are." "Saphia?" "You coming with us?" "The name's Isabella." "Isabella Ortiz." "That's the Andromeda?" "Baddest ship in the known worlds." "Oh, she's beautiful." "You didn't really believe us until just now, did you?" "Well, I wasn't too sure about the ship, but, uh, I am impressed by her crew." "And, Dylan, thank you." "It's good to be back in the fight." "I know exactly what you mean."