"Previously on Dark Matter..." "Where ever he's going, what ever he's doing, it can't be good for us." "You manipulated me, made me complicit in mass murder." "What the hell man." "Who are you and where is he." "What are you talking about." "Oh crap." "Heir to the throne of Ishida, until I murdered my own father." "No, no you didn't, you didn't kill him." "Okay, let's go over the new supplies." "Did you find the parts you were looking for?" "They didn't have a compatible regenerator assembly, so I thought we might go with these lithium oxide canisters instead." "Is that a yes?" "Yes." "Also I got these welding goggles that are both practical and cool." "If you say so." "What've you got?" "Real meat, finally." "And protein packs." "Hmm." "I'm gonna go put these on ice." "Sterile gauze, sutures, antibiotics, and these blue pills that..." "Those are mine." "What is that?" "Whiskey." "Wasn't on the list, but I remembered for you." "You know what was on the list?" "What?" "Juice." "Got you covered." "What are you looking at?" "Someone was supposed to pick up seeds for hydroponics." "That was Four." "Four, this is Two, please come in." "Four, where are you?" "He's not here." "He's not in his room either." "And his blade's gone too." "Where's my brother?" "I'm sorry, Denka." "He could not make it." "I'm here in his place." "I don't like surprises." "Then my apologies, because you're not gonna like this one." "Drop your weapons and stand back." "Agh!" "Most of the time, he just blends into the background." "You don't notice him until he speaks up or takes the last of the carrots." "Maybe next time we should implement some sort of buddy system." "It wasn't an oversight." "I remember him coming back from the station." "So do I." "He was here." "Well he's not anymore unless he's hiding somewhere." "Why would he be hiding?" "Well sometimes I hide out in the vents when I need to be alone to think." "I'm tracking the location of his comm." "It's here." "On board the ship?" "On the bridge." "Found it!" "He left his comm, he packed up his gear." "Guys, I think it's pretty obvious, he wanted us to leave without him." "But why, he seemed happy here?" "He seemed nothing." "That guy was harder to read than that book he gave me." "That book is a classic." "Whatever." "The pig is a wimp and that spider's a know-it-all." "We should go back for him." "So that what, we can confirm what we already know?" "He owes us an explanation." "He owes us nothing." "Nobody on this ship owes anybody anything." "He's gone." "Just let him go." "What?" "There's something you should know." "Ahhh!" "Agh!" "He's royalty?" "A prince, next in line to the throne until he was accused of murdering his father, the Emperor." "But he didn't do it." "They're blaming him, but it wasn't him." "How long have you known about this?" "A while." "Didn't we just have a conversation about honesty and trust and not keeping things from one an other?" "But it was personal information." "It was up to Four to share it." "Then why did you tell her?" "Oh, well she knows everything." "Oh that's just great." "Four's a prince." "He's a terrorist we still haven't figured out your deal." "What is with all the secrets?" "Is there anything that anyone here wants to come clean about right now?" "Hmm?" "Because we're gonna find out sooner or later." "Anyone?" "Okay, back to the issue at hand." "What do we do?" "Are you kidding me?" "This changes everything." "We go back." "Oh, now you want to go back." "Yeah, if he's innocent, we should be there, to support him." "That's what friends do." "Oh and by support him, you mean be there when he regains the throne so you can take advantage of him?" "We could all benefit from having a friend like that watching our backs." "If this is all true, it's not going to be as simple as just going back and taking the throne." "He's been on the run for a reason." "His step-brother will help him." "His step-brother is probably Emperor now." "Why the hell would he help him?" "Four always used to look out for him growing up." "They were close." "Well I'm guessing things are a little different now." "He could be walking into a mess of trouble." "And so could we if we follow him." "Which is probably why he didn't tell us." "I contacted the space station authority." "According to their security section, someone matching Four's description boarded a merchant freighter early this morning." "The ship is currently in FTL but once it drops out," "I'll attempt communication." "Wouldn't want me to bleed out before my execution?" "Imagine how disappointed everyone would be." "Nowhere near as disappointed as I was to see you actually show up." "I thought you were smarter then that." "And I thought my brother was more honorable." "I suppose that makes us even then." "No Denka, I'm afraid you got the worst end of the staff." "You almost sound disappointed Akita-san." "You had so much potential." "Again." "Ryo!" "Why did you hesitate?" "I had already won the point." "There was no need to strike father." "Really?" "What is it you think you're learning here?" "Swordsmanship father." "No, you're learning discipline." "Ahh!" "You're learning to respect our ways and traditions." "Ahh!" "Ugh." "When you are emperor and your enemies find you weak vulnerable do you think they will hesitate?" "Ahh!" "Ugh." "Ahh!" "I hate him." "This is normal." "I often despised my own father growing up." "Your father was a great man who served this house with honor." "But mine is a tyrant." "He's petty and cruel." "Your father loves you." "He's preparing you to take the throne someday." "You need to be strong and not allow your emotions to get the best of you." "Hmm?" "Time to go." "Running a quality check on the whiskey I see." "So?" "What's the verdict?" "Haven't quite decided yet." "This is going to require very thorough analysis." "People on this ship have an annoying habit of wandering off." "So, you going after The General again?" "You went to a lot of trouble to find him." "And you almost had him." "So I'm wondering if something like that makes you reconsider." "Or does it just make you more determined?" "He made me complicit in the deaths of thousands and I wanted to kill him for it." "Nothing else mattered." "So I tracked him down and I got him." "At least, I thought I got him." "But you know what?" "It didn't make me feel any better." "The anger was still there." "Just shifted." "What do you mean?" "Alive, he was the target, the focus of my anger." "But when I thought he was gone, well, there was only one person left to blame for all those deaths." "He tricked you." "I let myself get played." "You still haven't answered my question." "Are you gonna go after him again?" "Eventually." "But I'll take my time, partly because I wanna make sure" "I get it right this time, but mostly because, for now, I need someone to hate beside myself." "Sorry to interrupt, but I was finally able to make contact with the captain of that merchant freighter." "Is Four on board?" "Not anymore." "They dropped him off at a former mining colony, apparently on an isolated and rather lawless planet." "Why would he go there?" "According to the captain, his passenger offered very little in the way of conversation." "Sounds like our boy." "Alright." "Chart a course." "You couldn't have picked a more remote location." "Independent territory, no government for you to buy off, and an area so densely forested you couldn't land a shuttle within miles of here." "I chose well." "Which is why we need to quicken the pace." "We don't want to be caught out here after dark." "Afraid of some wild animals Akita-san?" "Loosen my bonds and give me back my blade." "I'll protect you." "From what I hear, on this world, wild animals would be the least of our problems." "So what happens when we get to the planet?" "Provided he's still alive, we find him and bring him back." "That's a brilliant plan." "Did you brainstorm that one or was it a solo effort?" "Finding him may be tricky, especially if he doesn't want to be found." "Let's say, for the sake of arguments, say we do manage to catch up with him, it's unlikely he's coming back with us." "So what are you saying?" "We just forget about him?" "He left." "Like it or not, that was his decision." "Ah, people change their minds all the time." "Look at me." "At one point, I was all set to leave." "At least that's what you wanted us to think, until you realized no one gave a damn." "Actually, the reason I stuck around to see how long it would take for all them to figure out you're a total fraud." "Not that long it turns out." "Agh!" "Hey!" "Knock it off!" "Come on pretty boy." "Oh!" "Ah!" "I said knock it off!" "Ow!" "What the hell are you two thinking?" "Ask your boyfriend, he's the one who threw the first punch." "I got nothing to say." "He's been in space too long." "He's going a little loopy." "What's so fascinating?" "I'm running a full diagnostic." "Why are you reading the results?" "Isn't your robot brain connected to the ship?" "It is, but I find that visual observation stimulates unique thought processes." "In retrospect, it could be a symptom of my condition." "What condition?" "A possible flaw in my programming." "It's been brought to my attention that my behavior is sometimes unreasoned, atypical of android standard." "Weird." "Yeah." "Given your observations, how would you typify my behavior?" "Weird about sums it up." "In the event I'm unable to identify the issue, a full reboot may be the only recourse." "Sure, do what you gotta do." "Hang on a sec." "What does that mean full reboot?" "You would delete my memory stores and current personality matrix." "No-no-no-no-no way." "Then you're satisfied with my performance, despite my aberrant behavior?" "Hell, no." "But I'll be damned if I gotta start over with a whole other robot." "That's kind of him to say!" "Come in." "He started it." "Try again." "He deserved it." "Irrelevant." "How is that irrelevant?" "He's an obnoxious loudmouth, everyone knows it." "So what?" "Maybe I just got fed up." "No." "I don't buy that macho crap," "I expect it from him; not you." "You're smarter than that." "What, I'm smarter, so I should know better." "He's stupid and he gets a pass." "I want us to be honest with each other." "We can do that, right?" "Sure." "Right?" "I know why I assumed Jace Corso's identity and snuck aboard this ship." "I came here to kill Three." "I ran a data search using my genetic info from the transfer pods at the last stopover." "This is what it came back with." "I had a wife." "And he killed her." "It says he was a suspect, the charges were never proven." "Because they never caught him to stand trial." "Obviously, I decided to take matters into my own hands." "Do you remember her?" "Even a little?" "No." "Should that make a difference?" "You tell me." "How do you mourn someone you don't remember?" "I don't know." "All I know for sure is that this is my life now." "Trapped in this flying metal box, constantly looking over my shoulder on the run." "And he put me here." "Like it or not he and everyone else on this ship are all that you've got." "And how long before we turn on each other?" "Before someone sells us out?" "You said it yourself, according to Five, whoever wiped our memories did it because they thought we were dangerous." "What does that mean?" "It means they wanted us nice and docile so they could take the ship, collect the bounty on our heads, or both." "That was a lifetime ago." "We've already proven nobody remembers." "So what're you saying?" "We're all new people now?" "Fresh start?" "Everyone gets a do-over?" "There was a time not too long ago when you would've agreed that we could change, make up for past deeds." "That was before..." "Before what?" "Before you found out you weren't one of us." "Some people turn bad, circumstances push then in that direction, I get it." "But some people are born that way." "And they lie, murder, cheat, and steal." "And they'll turn on you, sooner or later, because it's in their nature." "Three is rotten to the core." "You know I'm right." "We all might sleep better if we cut our losses." "Aren't you gonna ask me?" "Ask you what?" "About the night in question." "If I murdered my father?" "You're not curious?" "The truth will come out eventually." "Why wait?" "I'm delivering you as ordered." "No matter what you say, it won't make a difference." "Even if I'm innocent?" "Even if you tell me you're innocent." "I spoke to you that night, in the corridor." "You were drunk, Denka." "And very angry." "I should have escorted you back to your room but instead," "I let you go, and that decision will haunt me to my dying day." "I'd just learned about my brother being sent away." "You may not have liked it but sending your brother away was the right thing to do." "He'd become a distraction to you." "And how ironic that he now sits on the throne while I'm a thorn in everyone's side." "Your father always feared your impetuousness would be your downfall." "No." "It was my predictability." "When I went to confront him that night, my father was already dead." "My step-mother had cut his throat and simply waited for me." "You don't seem surprised." "Is it because you think I'm a liar or is it because I'm finally confirming something you had already suspected, which one is it?" "As I said, I should have stopped you." "Hiya!" "I think you're lifting way too heavy." "Y'know, you've been kind of grumpy lately." "I've had a lot on my mind." "Look, if you're looking for someone to play games with, try the Android." "I'm not here to play games, I'm here to learn." "I want you to teach me how to fight." "No." "Why not?" "You were teaching One." "And I'm as much a member of this crew as he is." "No, you're not like us, and you shouldn't want to be like us." "You've got our memories in your head." "You know we've crossed a line and we can't ever go back." "We can't undo all the hurt we've caused." "And no matter how far or fast we fly this ship, sooner or later that past is gonna catch up with us." "And when it does, there's gonna be hell to pay." "So teach me how to protect myself." "You want to know how to protect yourself?" "Walk away." "Take your share of what's owed you, get off at the next space station, and buy yourself a ticket to anywhere you want to go." "But I don't want to go." "You guys are my friends." "No, we're not." "We're just a bunch of strangers thrown together by circumstance." "You know how many of us would jump at the chance to abandon ship if it meant we could get away free and clear?" "Every last one of us." "Look, I'm sorry." "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." "I just don't want to see you pay for our mistakes." "Well, it's too late." "I almost died for you guys, trying to dig your secrets from inside my head." "And when that crazy android tried to destroy the ship, she was trying to kill all of us, including me." "So, I don't care what you say, I am a member of this crew." "And if you don't think so well then, maybe you should go." "It's quite the tidy little plot if you ask me." "Murder the Emperor, blame it on me, take me out of the picture so that her own son can take over the throne." "Tell me, Akita-san, has your sense of duty managed to smother what remains of your conscience?" "You speak of honor and allegiance to the throne, but all you really are is a co-conspirator, a traitor to my father and everything that he stood for." "I was like a father to you in ways he never was." "I trained you, protected you, refused to give up on you even when your own flesh and blood were ready to do so." "Then you know me and trust me when I say," "I will retake my throne and the usurpers will pay." "I need your help, Akita-san." "Ah, I hate to interrupt you two lovebirds but you fellas look lost." "This is a bad place to get lost in." "My name is Akita Masahiti" "I'm here fulfilling my duties as a world officer to the Court of Ishida." "This man is a wanted criminal and I'm returning him to face justice." "I request safe passage through your territory in the name of the Principality of Zairon." "Well as the self-appointed governor of this territory," "I'm gonna have to respectfully deny your request for safe passage and ask that you hand over your valuables, for inspection." "You will be compensated for your help." "Oh, yeah?" "How much you got?" "Nothing with me, but once I've delivered the prisoner..." "Ahh, you will come back right?" "You have my word." "You know what, I'd rather them fancy boots you got on." "Toss aside your weapons." "Ahh!" "Please, I have a wife, children!" "They can do better." "Your sword, Denka." "Hey." "Hey." "One day I'm scraping by on powdered porridge and the next," "I'm eating all the dehydrated veg chips I can stand." "Success is sweet." "And salty." "You know that when I taste the green ones, there's this little tickle in the back of my mind, like I'm trying to remember something, but I just..." "I just can't." "It's only the green ones." "Here." "I keep wondering maybe if I just think hard enough, or eat hard enough, maybe I might remember." "What?" "Oh I don't know, it's like Four with his weapons or Six with the Marauder or Five fixing things." "It's something I just have it's like instinct." "Muscle memory." "Mhmm." "It's an action you repeat so many times it creates a long-term memory in your brain, one so powerful that flying or fixing or that, becomes automatic." "Right." "So tell me, when you found out One was really Jace Corso, why'd you keep it a secret?" "I told you." "I saw an opportunity, I took it, that's it." "And you weren't worried about the potential consequences?" "Consequences?" "Guys about as dangerous as white bread." "I'm talking about you." "You didn't even consider that if the rest of us found out, it would hurt your standing with this crew?" "I didn't think I had a standing." "Okay, yeah." "I considered it but I decided to play the odds." "It was the wrong decision, what do you want me to say?" "That I learned a valuable lesson, sure." "No more secrets." "We need to trust each other." "Do we?" "Because we are who we are." "We're not gonna change." "And more than likely, we're just gonna fall back into our old habits." "Killing, thieving..." "Betraying?" "Somebody gutted our memories, probably because they thought it would make it easier to handle us." "Make it easier to turn us in." "One of us is a traitor." "You wanna play process-of-elimination?" "After you." "Okay." "Five." "Computers and gadgets are her thing." "Double-dealing and conspiracy not so much." "Six is a suspect in a mass murder." "Innocent or not, that type of rap sheet doesn't offer much in the way of deal opportunities." "Four, he's got that weird nobility thing going on." "He'd rather lop off his own arm off than dishonor himself by betraying us." "Which leaves us with three possibilities." "You, me, or one." "We should stop." "The only way we're getting back to the ship is if I carry you and I'd rather not." "Let me dress your wounds." "You have my word I won't attempt an escape." "Unlike my brother, my word actually means something." "I've long-served the Emperor with honor, sacrificed and risked my own life for the Court of Ishida." "But this is by far the most difficult thing ever asked of me." "I wish they had sent someone else instead." "Anyone else would be lying dead in the snow back there." "True." "A part of me looked forward to seeing you again, honestly facing you in actual combat after so many years of training." "And was I a worthy adversary?" "You always were." "More so today." "But I honestly wish you had reconsidered your agreement with Hiro and not shown up." "On that we can agree." "You claim your innocence, and you appeal to my conscience, but you do not press your most persuasive argument," "I owe you my life." "Three fleet destroyers, forty-eight fighters, over twenty-six thousand lives lost." "The greatest military defeat in the history of Zairon." "What do you have to say for yourself, Commander?" "I saw the opportunity to press the advantage and took it." "You blundered into a trap." "I was reckless." "I take full responsibility for my actions." "Is it possible one of your generals forced your hand by striking preemptively?" "No, Kotei-sama." "I ask you again, Akita-san." "Isn't it possible that one of your generals responded rashly to the enemy provocation thus forcing your hand?" "No, Kotei-sama." "Do you know what this means?" "For failing in my duties as an officer of this court, death." "Very well." "You leave me no choice but to order your execution." "No!" "Do that and you'll be killing an innocent man." "What are you doing here, Ryo?" "Accepting responsibility for the failed attack on the Pyrian armada." "Your son had nothing to do with..." "While I appreciate the Royal Commander's desire to shield me from your wrath," "I respectfully remind him that I am no longer a boy in need of his protection." "I alone bear responsibility for this disastrous campaign." "I gave the order to attack." "Kotei-sama." "You?" "Ordered a full-scale assault on the enemy forces?" "You are always bemoaning my lack of killer instinct." "I assumed you'd be pleased." "Akita-san, you are dismissed." "We've never spoken of that day." "I never thanked you." "Done." "I owe you a debt." "And that debt will be paid." "Commander!" "Where's the rest of your squad?" "Dead." "Your orders, sir?" "I'm sorry, Denka." "Arrest the prisoner." "Thanks, boys." "We'll take it from here." "Who's "we"?" "Me and my armed friends surrounding you." "This man is wanted for the murder of Emperor Ishida Nihei of the Principality of Zairon." "He's being returned to his home world for trial." "That man is wanted back on our ship." "I believe we have a stalemate." "Lieutenant!" "We spotted the group when we landed followed them after they left their ship." "Six is waiting for us at the marauder, back that way about thirty minutes." "The decision is no longer mine to make." "I wish you luck, Denka, but know this, should our paths cross again, I will fulfill my duty as an officer of the Royal Court and bring you in." "Of that, I have no doubt." "Akita-san, I want you to deliver a message to my brother." "Of course." "Listen, I know you're in there." "I just wanted to say I'm sorry." "Of course you're a part of this crew." "You've earned your place here with us." "And you've earned the right to make your own decisions." "Doesn't mean I've changed my mind." "I still think you're better off as far away from us as possible." "But the truth is, when the time comes that you do decide to leave, I'm gonna miss you, kid." "I'm gonna miss you a lot." "And I'm sorry I said, you should go." "And for calling you a big dumb jerk." "You called me a big dumb jerk?" "Later, when I was alone in my room." "Well, I guess I deserved it." "Now, come on out of there." "The Android says we're about forty minutes out from a planet with waterfalls, pristine beaches, and tree fruit so sweet it'll burst your eyeballs." "The way I see it, you're up one." "One, what?" "On that freighter, you saved me from getting blasted out into space, plus one." "But then I saved you a little bit later from those infected crazies so that makes us even." "On the space station we both sorta saved each other, so we'll call that a draw." "And then when that robot tried to fly us into the sun, well, I saved us all so, plus one for me." "But then later you saved me so plus one for you, we're even." "And then there was today." "I wasn't keeping score." "But me being up one sounds about right." "We stood by and watched him kill an unarmed man." "Didn't exactly give us a lot of time to react did he?" "Plus, it was a personal matter." "Can't help but wonder what kind of person we brought back on board with us." "Come in." "Am I interrupting?" "No." "I'm just going over ship systems." "I wanted to thank you." "It was wrong of me to leave without explanation." "Why did you?" "Truthfully?" "I didn't want to involve any of you, have you risking your lives on my behalf." "While I appreciate that, you've got to understand, we didn't go back just for you." "We went back for us." "We're not just acquaintances that come and go." "Now we have to fight for each other, no one else will." "Then some day with your help," "I'll take my rightful place on the throne." "And on that day, I'll remember my true family, after I've dealt with the old one." "Mother?" "!" "Mother?" "!" "You tricked me!" "You sent Akita-san in my place and now he's dead." "Better him than you." "I gave Ryo my word that I would meet him." "He promised to tell me the truth about what happened to Father." "We already know." "Ryo murdered him." "No." "He claims it was a conspiracy from within the court." "With who's backing?" "He didn't say." "He would only reveal the details of the plot once we were face to face." "And you believed him?" "Ryo has never lied to me." "I gave him my word." "You made me a liar." "No, my son." "I've made you an Emperor." "What was that?" "What happened?" "Three Ferrous Corp destroyers just dropped out of FTL." "Get us out of here." "Their opening salvo took out our FTL drives." "We're not going anywhere."