"I may be on the verge of discovering the true nature of Destiny's mission." "You've had control of this ship the whole time!" "Why wouldn't you tell anyone?" "The Lucian Alliance is planning an attack on Earth." "I killed Riley." "I suffocated him with my own hands." "You are a good commander." "There is no mission other than getting these people home." "It was never about going home, it's about getting us to where we're going." "That is the mission." "That is one hell of a battlefield." "Was a battlefield." "Now it's a graveyard." "It's spreading faster now." "I've tried to fight it, but it's stronger than me." "Sooner or later, I'm going to stop being me and become something else." "There's nothing you can do to stop it." "You're telling me you're not the least bit weirded out flying through this?" "Anything that could hurt us is long dead and gone, brother." "I think I just saw something." " What is it?" " I'm not sure." "Colonel, this is Camile." "We're not alone out here." "A ship just dropped out of FTL." "It's a seed ship." "Destiny, this is Telford." "I got a hell of a story to tell you, and not much time to tell it." "They call themselves the Ursini." "Wait a minute, these aliens helped you out of the goodness of their hearts?" "They need our help." "They engage their FTL drives while we're docked, and we jump with them." " That's possible?" " Theoretically, yes." " We've been tricked." " So much for our deal with the Ursini." " We just got a message from the seed ship." " What does it say?" ""Target the command vessel."" "Shields are weakening, and several weapons platforms are down!" " We might want to consider falling back." " There's nowhere to fall back to." "Step away from that console." " It's too late." " What did you do?" "Chloe, what did you do?" "There's hundreds of these things!" "There's no way we're gonna be able to shoot them all down." "What about the main weapon?" "No, that's useless against the drones." "The Command ship's out of range." "It'd just be a waste of power." "Chloe, tell me what you did." " I sent a signal." " To who?" "No!" "No, no, no, no, easy, easy!" "Stand down!" "Don't move." "Wait, wait, wait!" "Just wait, wait!" "Chloe..." "Look, the aliens who took me, they followed us to this galaxy." "They've been looking for us ever since." "Now they know where we are." "Three hyperspace windows just opened." " More drones?" " No, they're ships." "It's the aliens from the other galaxy." "They're headed straight for us." "She sold us out." "Just hang on." "I told you this might come down to you and me." "I know, but not now, not yet." "I'm still in control." "I did it to help us." "It's our only chance." "What are you talking about?" "Half the drones just veered off." "They're attacking the alien ships." "They don't discriminate." "Anything that's not part of the cluster is a target." "We might just be able to hold them off now." "Sorry, sorry!" "Some of them are still getting through!" "Colonel, this is Scott." "We found Chloe." "It looks like she may have given away our position to the aliens who took her." "Roger that, Lieutenant." "We got them on our screens." "Sir, she says she did it as a diversion, to give us a chance to get to the Command ship." "I was gonna say it's our chance to get the hell out of here." "No, we'll never get out of this system, not without FTL." "Put her in a holding cell and this time make sure she doesn't get out." "Yes, sir." "Everett, I hate to say it but I think Rush is right." "This could be our only chance." "There's a lot of drones protecting that Command ship." "If we do this, we're gonna take pretty heavy fire." "Maybe not." "I've been thinking." "They all take their orders from the Command ship, right?" "Probably through some sort of subspace communication." "Well, what if we could jam that signal even for just a few seconds?" "That might give us the time that we need." " Can that work?" " It just might." "Let's plot a course for the Command ship." "Eli, go." "I'll help with the weapons." "Give me all the speed you can muster." "Believe whatever you want, Matt, but I did this for all of us." "Three-man detail here at all times." "Yes, sir." "We're on course for the Command ship." "We'll be there in two minutes." " How's it coming, Rush?" " Almost there." "We just lost another shield generator." "We've got multiple hull breaches." "Seal off all affected areas." "Prep the main weapon." "Shields are failing." "If we keep up this acceleration" " we're going to lose hull integrity." " Now would be a good time, Rush!" "I should have just kept my mouth shut." "Patience, Eli." "All right, I've got it." "The drones have stopped firing." "It's working!" " Are we in range?" " Just a few more seconds." " They're gonna re-establish the signal!" " Just hold on." " That's it, we're in range." " Fire!" " Got them." " Nice shooting." "There's no sign of activity from the drones." "It looks like they've all gone dormant." "See what you can do when you apply yourself?" "How's it going with those aliens, Chloe's friends?" "Two of the ships were destroyed in the battle." "The other one's just sitting there." "That's giving off a lot of radiation." "Probably just as damaged as we are." "Well, let's hope so." "That's good." "Okay, thank you." " How's it going?" " Could be worse I suppose." "A lot of minor injuries, couple of serious burns, but no fatalities." "What about Baras?" "Chloe broke his arm in two places." "Did you know she could do something like that?" "No." "All right, the good news is FTL didn't take any more damage." "In fact, we should have it back online pretty soon." " And the bad news?" " Um, you're looking at it." "It's a shield emitter relay." "There are four more just like it, completely burned out." "We have to bypass them before we can restore full coverage, which we need in order to jump." " How long?" " Couple hours at least." "Keep me posted." "Where's Rush?" "Last I heard he was heading to the Control Interface Room." "Okay, want to grab a flashlight?" "Just going over Chloe's handiwork." "You know, she bypassed the communications panel on the bridge, and that took some doing." "Well, she claims she did it to help us." "And so it did." "This time." "Wait a minute, I thought you liked the new Chloe." "Well, did I ever give the impression I didn't like the old one?" "Just because I took a pragmatic approach to her situation doesn't mean to say I don't care for her." "If I could have done something to stop it, I would have." "She took out a guard twice her size." "Yeah, and walked through a lock-down protocol like it wasn't there." "Neither of us may want to admit this, she's beyond our control." " Everett, this is David." " Go ahead." "I've been in contact with the Ursini on the seed ship." "We've got a problem." "What the hell were they thinking?" "They didn't trust us." "They thought the second we were clear of the system, we'd be on our merry way and leave them holding the bag." "Well, that would have been the logical thing to do." "It's not our fight." "Well, it is now." "With the drones deactivated, the Ursini thought it was safe to finally contact their colony." "The signal that they got back was in machine language." "It was another Command ship." "The only possible conclusion is that the colony had been found by a second cluster and destroyed." "So they really are the last of their kind." "More than likely, but that's not the only problem." "When they sent the signal, they gave away our position." "Exactly." "More drones are coming." "Could you hold it up, please?" "Progress, gentlemen?" "Flashlight?" "Yeah, we've run a bypass through this section." " We're about to test it." " Okay, we're good to go." "Park, you reading me?" "Go ahead." " Let's power up, say 10%." " Copy. 10%." "Okay, here it comes." "So far so good." "Let's go to 50." "Roger. 50." "Cut it, cut it, cut it!" "Okay, so it might take longer than we thought." "Flashlight?" "Wait." "I thought the FTL was fixed." "It is, but without full shield coverage, we risk tearing the ship apart the second we jump." "How long till the second cluster gets here?" "There's no way to know for sure." "It could be anytime." "I don't suppose there's any chance of negotiating with these things?" "It's an automated weapons system." "The Ursini believe that the civilization that created them died out a long time ago." "They're machines." "One simple directive," ""Find alien technology and destroy it."" "Reasoning with them is not an option." "What about the Ursini?" "We did a tandem jump with them before." "Why can't we do it again?" "Well, that doesn't solve our basic problem, unless they can extend their shields all the way around the Destiny, which I doubt." "Even if we trusted them enough to try it, which I'm guessing we don't, they blew their FTL by dropping out so quickly." "That was a one-shot deal for them." "We managed to jam the command signal temporarily, right?" "Maybe there's a way of making it permanent." "Not without a greater understanding of the technology involved." "Maybe we should get one." "One of the drones, I mean." "Right now those things are totally harmless, at least theoretically, and I'm pretty sure we could fit one of the smaller ones in the back of the shuttle." "Now, wait a minute, wait a minute." "You want us to bring one of those things on the ship?" "What I want is to be as far away from here as possible." "You know, he's right." "It could be very useful." "And very dangerous." "Well, every second we stay here is dangerous." "This new cluster's going to have its own Command ship, right?" "Yeah, most likely." "All right, so when it shows up, what happens to the drones that are already here?" "Well, that's just one of those things we're going to have to try and find out, isn't it?" "Suit up." "So, you really think this is a good idea?" "I think we don't get paid to think." "We get paid?" "Hey!" " What are you doing here?" " I guess it's my turn to go for a ride." "Congratulations." "All right, sir, we are all cross-checked and good to go." " Lieutenant, be careful." " Copy that." "Launching shuttle." "Any activity from the drones?" "Nothing yet." "We got a big one coming up here, 2:00 high." "No reaction." "It looks like Eli was right." "Well, that doesn't mean I want you spending any more time out there than necessary." "Let's get this done, get you back inside." "I've got a candidate." "Two kilometers dead ahead." "Let's go get it." "Open the door." "I'm sorry about this." "After what I did to Corporal Baras, I can hardly blame them, can I?" "Just breathe normally." "You all right." "I'm good." "I'm switching off artificial gravity." "Going to mag boots." "Roger that." "Venting atmosphere." "Keep your eye on those screens, Sergeant." "I see it." "Open the door." "Okay, we need to move left about a meter." "Okay, now down a little." "Now straight back." "That's it, we got it." "Re-pressurizing." "Now, slowly reinstate artificial gravity." " I said slowly." " Sorry." "Is it doing anything?" "I don't think so." "I think we're good." "I need your status, Lieutenant." "Sir, we got it onboard." "It doesn't seem to be doing anything, so I guess we're gonna head back." "Nice work." "Hang on." "We've got movement out there." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "Proximity alert." " Is it a drone?" " I don't think so." "Too big." "Way too big." "Oh, boy." "Sir, we got a little problem here." "That alien ship, the one that survived the battle, it just parked itself right in front of us." "Well, what's it doing?" "Right now, it's just sitting there." "I'm gonna try something here." "I'm gonna try backing away real slow." "Are you sure that's a good idea?" "Well, we got to get this thing back to the ship." "Can't stay out here forever." " Wait, we're getting a message." " What's it say?" ""No escape."" "So they're saying that if the shuttle tries to return to Destiny, or if we make any hostile moves, they will open fire." " What do they want?" " Our help." "They've intercepted the Ursini's signal." "They know another wave is coming." "It's a ploy to keep us here, force us to help fend off the drones while they get their hyperdrive back online." "But we need the shuttle." "We need to study the drone." "I say we call their bluff." "Let them know what's happening." "Agree to help them only on the condition that they let the shuttle come back." "They'll assume we're lying." "They don't know that we can't jump." "I don't think we give them a choice." "If they're half as badly damaged as we are, they're not going to want to fight." "They're going to have to trust us." "We're going to have to trust each other." "They've got something we need." " What are you talking about?" " Chloe." "What about her?" "If anyone can undo what's happening to her, it's them." "They're the ones who did it to her in the first place." "You want us to send her over there, with all that's happened?" "With everything that she knows about this ship?" "We've exhausted all medical avenues." "We cannot keep her onboard the ship." "This could be our last chance." "The Colonel's not going to force you to go, but if you don't, chances are he'll put you off the ship at the first opportunity." "Doesn't seem like you have much to lose." "You've never been on one of those ships." "I'm sorry." "I wish I could have done more to help you." "With all due respect, sir, it sounds crazy." "How do we know they'll do what they say, how do we even know they'll give her back?" "Look, I know this is difficult, Lieutenant, but we've run out of options." "Yes, sir, if you say so." "They're sending a message." "They've agreed to our proposal." "You do realize there's a good chance this is what they wanted all along." "Everett, listen to me." "I've been trying to contact the Ursini." "They're not responding anymore." "The seed ship's gone dark." "So?" "So maybe that's something we should consider." "Power down completely, everything but minimum life support." "If we have no energy signature, then we're just another hunk of metal in the graveyard." "But even if we're not giving off EM, we're still going to stand out like a sore thumb." "I'm just saying maybe they know something that we don't." "They have fought these things before." "Yeah, and they..." "They got wiped out, didn't they?" "You sure you want to bring this thing inside?" "We need to hook it up to the ship's diagnostic equipment." " It's the only way." " Is it heavy?" "One way to find out." "Why don't you go grab that Kino sled?" "All right, thanks." "On three..." "One, two, three!" "Yeah, it's heavy." "It's heavy." "Okay, ease it down." "You better be sure about this." "All right, let's move." "Let's get out of here." "I have to say I'm a little surprised that you of all people would be the one to suggest this plan." "Why's that, then?" "For all we know, they're going to download every scrap of information she has about Destiny the second they get her onboard." "Well, with Chloe back to normal, the odds of them ever tracking us again are virtually nil." "Doesn't matter what they discover about the ship." "Yeah, assuming they honor the deal." "Well, there's no point in keeping her." "If she begins to change again, we'll soon know, won't we?" "Well, still, if I didn't know any better, it almost looks like you're willing to put the ship and the mission at risk for the sake of one individual." "Well, that's the problem, isn't it?" "You don't know any better." "I'll take her over there, sir." "Colonel..." "Good luck." "Okay." "Now what?" "Looks like there's a catch here." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "You think that's a good idea?" "Well, if we can't open it, we can't study it." "Okay." "Now what?" "Looks like they're inviting us in." "If you would've asked me a couple of years ago where I'd be today," "this would not have been one of my guesses." "Chloe, you were right." "I let it get to me." "I let it change the way I look at you." "No, it's not your fault." "The time that I have spent on that ship, I'm not gonna lie, it's been hard." "But some of it has also been amazing and that is because of you." "If you hadn't been there, I don't think I would have made it this far." "That's not true." "You're much stronger than that." "You just don't know it." "This is my moment, okay?" "Don't contradict me." "I love you." "I love you, too." "Progress?" "Well, we've managed to crack the basic machine code, but the programming is incredibly complex." "We're trying to isolate the subroutine that regulates communication with the Command ship, but so far no luck." "No, this is excellent work." "Well done." "Thank you." "Eli and I will take over from here." "I need you two back on shield duty." " Kemp and his team..." " Oh, they're very competent I'm sure, but we're against the clock, and I need to know my best people are on it." " Okay." " A full report in an hour, understood?" "You got it." "Wow, that was almost nice." "No, they were just going to get in the way." "Let's get down to some real work." "Ah." "Destiny, this is Scott, come in." "Shoot, I don't know, maybe you're reading this." "I'm in some kind of hangar bay, they could be blocking the signal." "The aliens took Chloe." "Jeez, it was only a few minutes ago, feels like it was hours." "I don't know, I guess there's no way of knowing how long this is gonna take." "I'm not leaving without her." "I just..." "I don't know, I..." "I just hope she's gonna be okay." "Second Command ship just dropped out of hyperspace." "Drones are en route." " ETA?" " Twelve minutes." "Rush, come in." "Second wave just dropped out." "They're on their way." "Have any activity on the drone?" "Negative." "Are any of the others from the first group powering up?" " So far, nothing." " Still dormant." "Well, that answers one question." "They're not taking orders from the new Command ship." "That gives me an idea." "Hang on." "Rush, what about the plan?" "Can we permanently disrupt their communications or not?" "Well, unfortunately, it seems like there's no way to jam the signal for any longer than a few seconds before they adapt." "Not long enough in a battle situation." " We're pursuing alternatives." " Such as?" "Well, you'll be the first to know." "Rush out." "Lieutenant, how much training have you had with these systems?" "As much as anyone else on the ship, sir." " Which is?" " About an hour, simulated." "All right, you're going to do fine." "I want you to handle power distribution." "Do not let any of the active emitters drop below critical, and stay on top of any sections that lose atmospheric pressure." "Yes, sir." "Oh, crap." "David, focus your fire on any drones approaching areas where the shields are still down." "Copy, but they're gonna clue in eventually." "I know." "Hey, Chloe?" "You all right?" "You're gonna be okay." "I'm going to get you home." " There's a lot of targets!" " You've got this, David." "Whoa!" "Destiny, this is Scott." " Lieutenant, what's your status?" " I've got Chloe." "We're on our way back but it seems that we've got a little problem here." "Yeah, you noticed that, did you?" "I'll take out as many as I can." "Negative, Lieutenant, we're not here to destroy them, just hang on long enough till we jump." "Just keep clear ofDestiny for now." "They'll focus on the larger target." "No, I've got full shields, you don't." "Don't worry, sir, we'll be okay." "They're starting to realize where we're vulnerable." "I'm taking more and more fire concentrated on exposed areas." "Rush, whatever you're gonna do, you got to do it now!" "I got it." "I got it!" "Look at this." "Recognition software, friend or foe." "Right now the drones that were here first are ignoring the second wave, because they don't have a Command ship telling them which side they're on." "What if we tell them that they're the enemy?" "We use the same ID tag that they used for us." " Yeah, that could work." " The only problem is if we want to upload the new program to the other drones..." "We'd have to power this one up first." " You want to what?" " Look, there's no other way." "If that thing starts shooting, we're not going to be able to stop it." "It will tear us apart from the inside." "I don't think that's gonna happen." "Sergeant Greer, I need a security team in the lab where they're working on the drone, now." "Roger that." "We've got a new problem." "The alien ship just jumped to hyperspace." "Good for them." "No, but the drones they were attacking, they're heading our way." "That's too many." "We can't hold them all off at once." "Rush, how long till that program is ready?" "Give us five minutes." "You don't have five minutes." "Destiny, I'm not sure if you're seeing this but you've got a whole bunch more of those drones coming your way." "We're tracking them." "I want you out of there." " Sir..." " I just gave you a direct order, Lieutenant." "Break off now." "Yes, sir." " What are you doing here?" " Colonel's orders." "So, what, if we manage to power up this drone, and it starts opening fire, do you think there's anything you can do to stop it?" "I'm sure as hell gonna try." "I'm getting damage reports from all over the ship, multiple secondary explosions." "Rush, you're out of time." "Rush!" "Something's happening, drones are veering off!" "Sir, it's the seed ship!" "The Ursini are making a run for the Command ship." "They don't have the firepower or shields to get through." "I thought they were going to wait it out." "Sir, we're getting a message." "Patch it through to me." "It says they're sorry for getting us into this." "It's a suicide run." "They're gone." "Rush, we've just been given a window that's gonna close fast." "Activate the damn program." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." "Hold your fire, hold your fire." "Eli, upload the program." "Destiny, this is Scott." "Whatever you guys did, it worked." "These drones are firing on each other." "We should be able to dock now." "Make it quick, Lieutenant." "Okay, I'm good." "You good?" "Are we good?" " Yeah, we're good." " Bridge, this is Brody." "We're ready with our last bypass." "You can power it up." "Let's do it." "Looks like it's holding." "Status?" "Shields are now covering the whole ship, but they're only at 5% power." "We've just taken too many hits." "What's minimum safe?" "We've never jumped at less than 10%." "Rush, this is Young." "We're ready here, but we have a small problem." "Shields are holding at 5%." "That's not enough." "We're talking about FTL here." "One small weak spot and the entire ship gets ripped apart." "We don't have a choice." "Even if the program holds, and there's no guarantee that it will, the first wave is seriously outnumbered." "They'll be massacred in a matter of minutes, and we're right back where we started." "We have to take the risk." "This is Scott." "The shuttle is docked." "Let's go for it." "FTL in three two one." "Shields seem to be holding." "I think we're going to be okay." "You might want to shut this thing down now." "Oh, right, yeah." "Good idea." "How's the patient?" "So far, blood work is normal, lesions are gone and no more blackouts." "As far as I can tell, she's cured." "I'm glad to hear it, but just in case..." "I know." "You want to keep me under observation for a while." "It's okay, I understand." "Well, it's good to have you back." "Hey, I'll come see you as soon as I can, okay?" "Okay." "Hey, how's that damage report coming?" "I'll arrange a briefing when we're ready, but it's not going to be pretty." "Hey." "You wanted to see me?" "Yeah." "Matt told me it was your idea to send me over there." "Yeah." "I'm sorry you had to go through that." "There was no other way." "No, I wanted to thank you." "You saved my life." "Again." "Well, you saved all of us." "It was the least I could do." "They're never going to give up." "You know that, right?" "Whatever information they got from me, it's just going to make them want the ship even more." "Yeah, I know." "Before Matt came in," "I was working on some equations, just to see if I could still do it." "They're perfect." "But I'm supposed to be back to normal." "Obviously they haven't wiped your memory." "You managed to retain some of the knowledge you gained." "I should think that's a good thing." "Because I can still be useful?" "Everyone on this ship is useful, not just those that are capable of FTL calculations." " We all belong here." " You really believe that?" "More and more every day." "If Colonel Young hadn't left me on that planet, to be found by those aliens, and if they hadn't taken you, and you hadn't been put through that transformation, well, it's more than likely we wouldn't have survived this attack." "So everything happens for a reason." "Yeah, well, if you'd said that to me a couple of years ago," "I'd have dismissed it as superstition, a classic weak-minded response to the overwhelming complexity of the universe." "And now?" "Well, let's just say you're not the only one that's gone through some changes." "You should get some rest." "Yeah."