"Gentlebeings, I bid you welcome.
Welcome to the blood, to the sweat,
to the tears.
Welcome to your places on the wall."

Admiral Constanza Stark,
"Address to War College Graduates,"
CY 9764

[Planet surface]

(A dry, rocky place.)
HUNT: There has to be somebody here.
TYR: Our intelligence was clear. Were the Quachic Pride overwhelmed by the Genites, this is where they would have come. Genite against Nietzschean, but there's no sign of them at all.
HUNT: Croatoan.
TYR: What?
HUNT: A colony that completely disappeared, leaving only a sign that read Croatoan. No one ever figured out what happened to them.
TYR: At least they left a sign.
(White armoured Stormtroopers shoot at them. They return fire.)
HUNT: That's a sign too. Ambush. I hate ambushes.
TYR: Assault through?
HUNT: No, we'll be trapped in the caves.
TYR: Who'd have thought the Genites and common sense would attack you simultaneously.
HUNT: Fall back. I'll cover you.
GENITE: Cover right flank.
(Tyr is forced to rejoin Hunt.)
HUNT: Now we assault through.
(An explosion from behind the Genites takes several of them out. Brown armoured soldiers join in.)
SOLDIER: Cover both flanks! Come on! Lay covering fire. I'll cover you. Go!
(Tyr and Hunt are left with nothing to do.)
PATRIARCH: All right, pursue. No prisoners.
TYR: Quachic Pride?
HUNT: I don't think so.
PATRIARCH: Take armour, equipment, anything you can get.
SOLDIER: They're on the run. Let's go!
(The Patriarch, an elder man, disposes of a Genite.)
TYR: So if they aren't Quachic Pride, that's one mystery left unsolved.
HUNT: Tyr, kindly remove your head from the gift horse's mouth.
PATRIARCH: Gentlemen.
HUNT: Thanks for the assist.
PATRIARCH: We saw the same intelligence you did. Knew where you were.
HUNT: Really.
PATRIARCH: When we realised the Genites were on the move, we came here in force.
HUNT: On whose authority?
PATRIARCH: Mine.
HUNT: I'm Captain Dylan Hunt.
PATRIARCH: Of course you are, Captain Dylan Hunt. And I'm your new best friend.

[Corridor]

PATRIARCH: Med deck?
HUNT: That's correct.
PATRIARCH: Chang, I want you to make sure that Abrams and Garcia stay in Medical until they've been thoroughly checked out.
CHANG: Yes, sir.
PATRIARCH: And I do not want to see you again until that knee's been looked at. Is that understood?
CHANG: Yes, sir.
PATRIARCH: All right, go now.
(His troops enter Med deck.)
PATRIARCH: Thank you for your hospitality, Captain.
HUNT: It's my pleasure.
PATRIARCH: Our ships took quite a beating at the hands of the Genites.
HUNT: Hmm.
PATRIARCH: You look like a man with a question.
HUNT: You'll have to forgive me. I'm still trying to assimilate all of this. You're telling me your name is Constantine Stark.
PATRIARCH: My troops refer to me as the Patriarch.
HUNT: Ah yes, your troops. The Templars. A guerrilla army founded after the fall of the Commonwealth.
PATRIARCH: Founded by an ancestor of mine, Admiral Constanza Stark. You knew her, didn't you?
HUNT: Yes, I did.
PATRIARCH: For three hundred years, Captain, we've wandered the known worlds, battling Nietzscheans, Genites, and anybody else with a problem that gets in our crosshairs. In short, Captain, fighting the battles that others can't.
HUNT: That's funny. That's usually my line.
PATRIARCH: Yes. Great minds, Captain Hunt, great minds.
HUNT: Great minds. Right. The question is, how much do they really think alike? Because I know where I've been the last three years. Because I've been out there, fighting the battles others can't. Where have you been? Watching from the sidelines, and now that all the hard work is done, you decide to announce yourselves?
PATRIARCH: We did a lot more than just watch.
HUNT: Really.
PATRIARCH: We learned from hard experience that our powers are best used behind the scenes. While you were jaunting from system to system, signing up worlds and righting wrongs, we were there too, making sure in our own way that things proceeded just the way you expected them to.
HUNT: You still haven't answered my question.
PATRIARCH: The Genites are doing some disturbing research. Working on ways to rid the human race of what they refer to as abominations of genetic engineering.
HUNT: Define research.
PATRIARCH: Can we go somewhere private?
HUNT: Certainly.

[Hunt's quarters]

HOLO-ROMMIE: Captain, we have received a message from the Commonwealth Ministry of War.
HUNT: Play it.
ROLLINS [on screen]: Dylan, we've been reviewing this intel report you sent us, and our people in analysis say it looks legit, so I don't need to tell you how bad that could be for our side. As for the Patriarch, this guy has connections on high to at least twenty signatory worlds. On the record, none of them will admit he even exists, but off the record? Let's just say that any action you may wish to take against the Genites with the Templars will have the full blessing and support of the Restored Systems Commonwealth. Rollins out.
HUNT: Well, how about that? We have their full blessing and support.
HOLO-ROMMIE: From the Commonwealth, no less. Worried yet?
HUNT: I'm working on it.

[Hangar deck]

HUNT: The repairs should be completed in less than sixteen hours.
PATRIARCH: Captain, I'm looking forward to working with you. I saw the communication from Rollins.
HUNT: Of course you did.
PATRIARCH: Time is short. I thought we should be ready.
HUNT: I'm still determining whether your intelligence is strong enough to warrant preemptive action. If it is, then I will decide what our next move is.
PATRIARCH: Understood. Chang, will you download that for me, please?
CHANG: Right away, sir.
(The Templars leave them alone.)
PATRIARCH: Captain, you asked me a question earlier. Why you? Why here and now? The truth? Over the years, the Genites have become familiar with me, my tactics, my equipment, and my troops. Now with a threat this grave, I need an edge, and you, sir, you are my edge. You are fresh blood, you are a fresh mind. Now, we will attack. The only question is whether we do it now, or we do it too late. The choice is yours.

[Corridor]

HUNT: The choice is yours.
ROMMIE: So is it the man's presumption that bothers you, or the fact that he sounds like you?
HUNT: I'll let you in on a little secret. Those aphorisms I like to use, the choice is yours, for example, I learned them all from Admiral Stark.
ROMMIE: Even the one about the Perseid, the Umbrite, and the one legged Vedran?
HUNT: I got that one from Harper.
ROMMIE: Ah. So you're sceptical of his story.
HUNT: His story, his intel. I mean, the man just handed us a field guide to the Genites. Leadership, organisation, locations. It's all too convenient. I just don't trust things that are too convenient.
ROMMIE: Hmm?
HUNT: That one is mine.
ROMMIE: Ah. You know, whether he's telling the truth or not, he's right about one thing.
HUNT: What's that?
ROMMIE: We can't afford to do nothing about the Genites.
HUNT: Even then, the real question remains.
ROMMIE: The trust question?
HUNT: Trust. Admiral Stark always said, if your mother says she loves you, verify it. Maybe we should take her advice.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Our objective is an alleged Genite research facility on an asteroid in the Fenris system. The asteroid is heavily defended by Genite shock troops.
HUNT: They'd see a massive assault force and bug out, so Rommie and I will execute a covert insertion. We'll penetrate to their lab, where we can confirm the Templar intel and act accordingly.
PATRIARCH: And you expect us to stand on the sidelines with our, with our forcelances in our hands.
HUNT: No, I expect you to provide an extraction team to get us off that rock if things go south. It's fitting, since you got us into this.
PATRIARCH: Ah. Well, Captain, I see your extraction team, and I raise you one diversion. I hit them with a feint here, I should be able to draw off their main security element, allowing you to get to the target and gather evidence proving what they've been up to.
HUNT: That's very good. If we time it right, the target will be almost totally unprotected.
PATRIARCH: We'll need an insertion ship, a good pilot, somebody who can stay out of sight and work with a very tight schedule.
HUNT: I've got both.
PATRIARCH: Outstanding.
BEKA: Thanks for the vote of confidence. There is just one thing. This target we keep talking about? How about you tell me what it is.
HUNT: Clear the deck.
(Everyone else leaves.)
PATRIARCH: What I'm about to tell you can never leave this deck. If it was to get out, it could cause a generalised panic. The asteroid? It's a highly advanced bioweapons research facility. Now, our intelligence indicates that the Genites are working on a virus. A very lethal virus, which has been developed to target genetically engineered human beings.
BEKA: That's insane. Nearly the entire human race has been genetically engineered in some way.
PATRIARCH: Just over ninety two percent, to be exact. It's highly contagious, airborne, and, if contracted, one hundred percent lethal. Now, if it was to get out, it could accomplish in weeks what the Magog's been trying to do for three centuries.
HUNT: Destroy the human race.
PATRIARCH: Exactly.

[Corridor]

TYR: This mission is a bad idea.
HUNT: You read the report, Tyr.
TYR: I did. And no one hates the Genites more than I, or with better reason. But these Templars, this Patriarch. I'm not at all sure they're not cut from the same cloth.
(Footsteps approach.)
TYR: As I said, the Templar intel indicates a far more important Genite target on Heimdall. A major installation, perhaps the major installation. We should strike them there.
(The Patriarch and his officers approach.)
HUNT: I'm afraid that Heimdall will have to wait. You see, this mission is our first priority.
PATRIARCH: Tyr Anasazi, Kodiak Pride. Out of Victoria by Barbarossa. Orphaned by the Drago-Kazov attack of 10065, sold into slavery, escaped 10077. Apprenticed to the famous assassin Tuco Sentenza. Briefly married to Freya Rajput of the Orca Pride, and father to young Tamerlane, whose whereabouts at the moment, nobody's quite sure of. Did I miss anything?
TYR: I don't know. did you?
PATRIARCH: I hear you're a competent soldier. Will he be coming with us?
HUNT: No. Taking Tyr on a raid against the Genite bioweapons facility creates an unnecessary risk. God knows what the Genites have keyed to the Nietzschean DNA. I'd prefer to keep Tyr in one piece.
PATRIARCH; Pity. another time, then.
TYR: I'll try to contain my disappointment.
(Tyr leaves.)
PATRIARCH: It never changes.
HUNT: And what's that?
PATRIARCH: No matter how many times I prepare for battle, the emotions are always the same. You know, that tightness in the chest, a mixture of anticipation and fear. And the questions. Will my courage stand? Will my troops be true? Will you and I even be alive tomorrow? Ha, look at me. I'm talking to you like you're a cadet, # about things you already know about.
HUNT: You know a lot about Tyr.
PATRIARCH: Sun Tzu. Know thine enemy as completely as you know yourself, and you will always be victorious.
HUNT: Tyr's not the enemy.
PATRIARCH: He's a Nietzschean.
HUNT: What's your point?
PATRIARCH: Captain Hunt, this little dance you're doing with Tyr Anasazi can only end on a bad note.

[Eureka Maru]

(The Maru and Templar slipfighters come out of slipstream.)
BEKA: Well, what do you think? They see us yet, or am I even better than I thought?
HUNT: You're better than you thought. When their patrol passes, do a quick burn on the engines. Keep us in their wash. We should be able to follow them in.
ROMMIE: You'll have your window in five, four, three, two, one.
HUNT: Not bad for a cargo runner, eh?
PATRIARCH: Not bad at all. If I didn't know better, I'd swear we were back on the Crimson Eclipse, running insertion teams in from the quarantine zone.
HUNT: I see you keep files on everybody.
ROMMIE: The Templar fighters have transited to the diversion point.
BEKA: We're at the drop point.
HUNT: Looks like your stop.
PATRIARCH: I'd wish you luck, but
HUNT: Yes, I know, you don't believe in it. Neither do I.

[Genite facility]

(Rommie taps on a door control.)
ROMMIE: I'm in.
HUNT: Oh, that's my girl.
ROMMIE: I prefer warship.
HUNT: I prefer girl.
(Rommie shoots a Genite before Hunt can even take aim.)
HUNT: Okay. Warship.
GENITE: Hold up. Beta team, that way.
(An explosion takes out his team then the Templars dispose of the rest.)
PATRIARCH: Excellent. Now, take a fire team. Move on the computer core. Go.

[Genite lab]

ROMMIE: According to the intel, this is it.
(A transparent box with six large vials.)
HUNT: All right let's hack into their computers, and then we. Rommie? Why don't you wait for my order before you start doing what I tell you to do.
ROMMIE: Okay.
HUNT: Don't be smart.
ROMMIE: Okay.
(The door to the laboratory slams down. A Genite is inside.)
ROMMIE: Dylan, we've got company!
(They take cover under a table.)
HUNT: It's never easy.
(More Genites shooting at them.)
ROMMIE: They have all the exits covered, which means we can't get past them. Not if we take the time to take that box.
HUNT: I didn't come all this way to leave empty handed. Patriarch.

[Genite facility]

HUNT [OC]: We're pinned down. Requesting immediate evac. Hunt out.
PATRIARCH: You heard the man.
CHANG: Sir?
PATRIARCH: A High Guard officer just asked for assistance. Let's move out.

[Genite lab]

HUNT: Go!
(They try to advance their position, and end up retreating.)
ROMMIE: Well, That could have gone better.
HUNT: Hey, well, Look on the bright side. At least they won't risk using heavy weapons in their own lab.
(Boom! as a wall gets blown in, then silence.)
ROMMIE: What was that?
HUNT: A really heavy weapon.
CHANG: Go, go! We're through! We're clear. move forward. All right, disperse. Checkpoints.
SOLDIER: We're clear.
CHANG: All right, all clear.
HUNT: Thanks again.
PATRIARCH: Simple, but effective.
HUNT: We need to go. Beka's window is tight, and if we miss it, it'll be hours before we get out of here.
(Somebody shoots the Patriarch in the back. Hunt kills the Genite responsible.)
CHANG: The Patriarch is down.
HUNT: How bad?
ROMMIE: Bad enough. His armour absorbed most of it, but we can't move him. Not unless you want him to die.
HUNT: Get ready. Hostile territory just became home sweet home.

[Genite facility]

(Rommie and the Templars defend the lab.)
HUNT [OC]: Rommie, give me an update.
ROMMIE: I think we're winning

[Genite lab]

ROMMIE [OC]: But it's getting ugly.
HUNT: All right. Keep the pressure up. Hunt out. We're clearing out what's left of the Genites, but it's been one hell of a fight.
PATRIARCH: Well, it won't last long. Genites have a tendency to abandon the nest when they've been overwhelmed.
HUNT: You really should take it easy. You're not ready to move yet.
PATRIACH: AFC 263, I stepped on a Dragan anti-personnel mine. Blew my left leg completely off. It took a swarm of medical nanos six months to grow me a new one.
HUNT: AFC 263.
PATRIARCH: Yeah. Forty two years ago. Ha! Forty two very long years.
HUNT: Yeah, it's hard to believe you've been at this for that long.
PATRIARCH: Yeah, the worst of the damage isn't always physical.

[Command]

HARPER [OC]: Tyr?
TYR: I assume you have a question.
HARPER [on viewscreen]: Just one little one. What's up with the more power to the engines schick? I thought Dylan told us to sit tight?
TYR: Professor, intelligent little irritant that you are, still yet it would behoove you to listen more and think less.
(Tyr takes the Andromeda into slipstream.)
(The Andromeda Ascendant comes out of slipstream.)
HARPER [OC]: Tyr?
TYR: I assume you have a question.
HARPER [on viewscreen]: Just one little one. What the hell are we doing in the Heimdell system? I thought Dylan told us to sit tight.
TYR: Professor, listen more and think less.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Sensor drones verify the presence of a large Genite installation on the fourth planet. Defences include four orbital missile batteries, and a Seraphim carrier in low orbit. Our fighters have engaged the missile batteries. Genite Seraphim are moving to intercept. Commencing terrestrial bombardment.
(Harper runs in.)
HARPER: Whoa, whoa, did I miss a memo or something? When did we declare war on the Genites?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Preliminary BDA indicates substantial attrition of the Genite base, including secondary explosions from the deep bunkers. Wait. Three more Seraphim carriers have appeared from behind the planet's third moon. Four LS and closing.
HARPER: Oh, this is bad. This is really bad. So the cat's away and the mouse goes on a revenge trip, huh?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Harper, you may not like Tyr's orders, but in the absence of Dylan and Beka, he is in command.
HARPER: Oh, that's comforting.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The Genite ships are closing.
TYR: Fire another salvo at the planet.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: We've closed to real time comms range.
HARPER: All right, colour me confused. First we shoot them and now we talk to them?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Not exactly, although they are hailing us.
GENITE [on viewscreen]: Attention, hostile vessel. Surrender now and prepare to be boarded. You have fifteen seconds to comply.
TYR: Ship, how many missiles can we fire in fifteen seconds?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Approximately thirty six hundred.
TYR: Communicate our desire to comply.

[Genite lab]

HUNT: Beka should be here in a few minutes.
ROMMIE: There's something you should hear first. I've analysed the data from the Genite computers and it's true, they were working on a virus, but it's not exactly as the Templars described.
HUNT: The data was faked.
ROMMIE: Yeah. I don't think the Genites did the faking. I think the Templars want us to think this mission was a zero.
HUNT: I have a feeling it's something worse than that.

[Command]

HARPER: Oh, great, we took another one in the aft. Bye bye, PDL battery. That's going to leave a mark.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Harper is correct. Our defences are being severely compromised. We can't hold this position much longer.
TYR: Do we have what we came for?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: We do now.
HARPER: What? What did we come for? What are we doing here?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Fighters and cargo are secured in hangar bay fifteen.
TYR: We're leaving.
(In slipstream.)
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: We've crossed five major nexii, and the Genites are still maintaining pursuit.
HARPER: We're leaking pions. They could track us from here to the Virgo cluster.
TYR: Launch two slipfighters. They're to vent pions and fly randomly through slipstream. Rendezvous at Sinti.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Slipfighters away. And the Genite vessels are following the second fighter. Your ploy worked.
TYR: They usually do.

[Genite lab]

BEKA [on bracer]: The system's crawling with Genites. I'll make another swing later when things die down, but until then, you're on your own. Valentine out.
PATRIARCH: That's unfortunate.
HUNT: I'm sure you have something else in mind.
PATRIARCH: Yes. You can call it a Plan B. We pre-positioned a drop ship on the far side of the asteroid.
HUNT: Hacking the Genite data core? I suppose that was just another Plan B.
PATRIARCH: Yes. The Genite virus is a blunt instrument of death. What we need, Captain, is a scalpel.
ROMMIE: So you stole the data to modify it and make it more selective.
HUNT: The Nietzscheans. You plan on wiping out the entire Nietzschean race. You unleash the virus, everyone blames the Genites. But by then it won't really matter who gets the blame, will it? Because every Nietzschean in the known worlds will still be dead.
PATRIARCH: Real power in the virus is in not using it. It's a deterrent. Without ever firing a shot, we can liberate all the slave worlds, dislodge the Nietzscheans from all the planets they occupy.
HUNT: I see. It's just a deterrent.
PATRIARCH: Ah.
HUNT: What happens when the Nietzscheans call your bluff? That's what I thought. Admiral Stark founded the Templars to preserve the ideals of the High Guard. I can't believe she added a willingness to commit genocide.
PATRIARCH: Three hundred years ago, no, but after centuries of watching Nietzscheans rampage across the known worlds leaving death and devastation in their wake, that was enough to change even Admiral Stark's mind.
HUNT: After centuries. You're telling me Admiral Stark is still alive?
PATRIARCH: No, Captain. I'm telling you that I am Admiral Stark.
HUNT: You're Admiral Stark. The Admiral Stark who led the High Guard against the Nietzscheans over three hundred years ago. It's not possible.
PATRIARCH: It's not only possible, it's true. You're an android, right? Tell me if I'm lying. I am Admiral Constanza Stark.
ROMMIE: Well, you're either telling the truth, or you're a sociopath.
HUNT: Thank you, Rommie.
PATRIARCH: Over the years, I've lost lives. Four of them to be exact. Every time I died, the Templars found a way of transferring my intellect, my personality, to the host brain of another body.
HUNT: So people died to keep you alive.
PATRIARCH: Volunteers. All of them believing that I was the best chance for peace and security in the known worlds. I didn't ask for this role, Captain. We don't choose our duties. Our duties choose us.
HUNT: Look, whoever or whatever you are, my duty is to make sure that you leave here empty handed, no matter what.
PATRIARCH: Three hundred years hasn't dulled your edge, Captain, I'll give you that. With no troops, fire support, or an escape route, you're in no position to demand anything! I know how you think, because I taught you. You're expecting me to underestimate you, huh? Because you have a Plan B, and in this case, B stands for Beka.
HUNT: Go on.
PATRIARCH: The truth is, the Eureka Maru never went anywhere. It's sitting exactly where we left it, waiting to rescue you.
HUNT: That's an interesting theory.
PATRIARCH: Ah ha. This transceiver? It's connected to a surveillance chip planted on the Maru. Now, that ship contains anti-protons. One push of the button, and I release them. The explosion will destroy the Eureka Maru, and Captain Valentine with it. Prep for departure. If you have a weakness, Captain, it's your inability to make sacrifices. I'm quite sure you're willing to die on this hill, but I don't think you're ready to take Captain Valentine with you. Captain. Dylan. Think about what I've said. If you change your mind, my door is always open. Until next time, Captain Hunt.
(The Templars leave.)

[Genite facility]

CHANG: With all due respect, sir, I can't believe you just left him back there.
PATRIARCH: Really?
(The Patriarch knocks Chang down.)
PATRIARCH: Would you have me kill him? That man's worth any ten of you. He's an asset. I'm not in the business of destroying assets. Get him up.

[Maru engine room]

HUNT: So what's your take on the Patriarch's surveillance chip?
ROMMIE: It's pretty ingenious, actually. It's tapped into the Maru's internal sensors and emits through the power core to obscure its signal. And I don't think I can remove it. Not here, anyway. Not until we get back home.
HUNT: Damn. that is pretty ingenious.
ROMMIE: I don't think we're in any immediate danger. If the Patriarch wanted us dead, we already would be.
HUNT: The Patriarch may or may not be Admiral Stark, but he sure as hell read her book.

[Maru crew area]

ROMMIE: He knows his job, so do you.
HUNT: Yeah. Well, that's what doesn't make sense. Stark was my mentor, and sure, she could be ruthless and cold, but you know what? She was a decent and good person. Containing the Nietzscheans is one thing, but wiping them out? Even making the threat. I mean, that's a bridge too far.
ROMMIE: I'm not saying the Patriarch is right, but think of it this way. Even if he has the memories and personality of Admiral Stark, he's not the person you remember. Dylan, you woke up one day and civilisation was gone. Admiral Stark watched it fall. She stood in the ashes blaming herself. Hating the Nietzscheans. Just hating. Tragedy changes people, even the good ones.
HUNT: Herein lies our problem.
ROMMIE: What's that?
HUNT: By having this conversation, we're playing into the Patriarch's hand. We're playing his game. As long as that's true, we'll never win.
ROMMIE: Then you've already decided. The Patriarch is not Admiral Stark.
HUNT: Not now, and never will be.

[Corridor]

TYR: Your instincts were very good. The attack against the Genite outpost on Heimdall produced more intel on their plans and operations in a single hour than we've gathered in over a year.
HUNT: So the Templars did provide us with something useful.
TYR: Not the way they planned it, I'm sure, but yes.
HUNT: You sound like a man who's holding back a punch line.
TYR: The Genites are a splinter group of the Templars. They broke away two hundred years ago to pursue a radical agenda of total genetic purity.
HUNT: You have some bad news for me, don't you, Tyr?
TYR: The person credited with excising the Genites has a name you'll recognise. Admiral Constanza Stark. It's all there. See for yourself.

[Command]

ROLLINS [on viewscreen]: I wish I knew how to advise you, Captain, but like I said, the Templars have friends. Invite them to the dance, and we could wind up in a major Charlie Foxtrot. You do what you have to do, and I'll cover your butt back home. Won't make any promises, though. We could both be out of a job when this is all over. Or worse. Rollins out.
BEKA: And that's the good news.
HARPER: All right, let me guess. We're going to open a can of cosmic whoop ass, huh?
HUNT: No.
HARPER: Oh. Ooo, you're going to force some trumped up ultimatum straight down his throat and hope he doesn't call your bluff.
HUNT: No.
HARPER: Okay. We're going to tell him to stop, or we'll tell him to stop again? Okay, I give up.
HUNT: Exactly. Captain Valentine, you have the conn.
BEKA: Er, Dylan?

[Corridor]

BEKA: So I am this close to getting Trance to verify medically that you are, in fact, Captain Dylan Hunt.
HUNT: I was the last time I checked.
BEKA: You're giving up. Just like that.
HUNT: It's not a surrender, Beka. It's a strategic withdrawal. The Patriarch and the Templars are gone. We have no way of finding them. All we can do is wait. Wait and pray that the next time they pop up, We'll be ready for them.
BEKA: That's it, I'm getting Trance. You couldn't be the Dylan Hunt who runs around yelling Una Salus Victus. You couldn't possibly be the Dylan Hunt who once called down fire on his own position. That Dylan Hunt wouldn't wait for anything. Least of all, for someone to come out of hiding and kick him in the teeth.
HUNT: If I can't find the Patriarch, I can't beat him. It's that simple.
BEKA: Look, we both know what he said. I think part of you believes him. I think part of you is scared that if he is who he says he is, you can't beat him at all. Well, get over it. If there's one thing I've learned in the last three years, it's don't bet against Dylan Hunt. Dylan? Say something. Come on, give me a sign.
HUNT: Croatoan.
BEKA: What?
HUNT: The sign. See, one theory still holds that the colonists never really left at all.
BEKA: Right. How long do I pretend that I know what you're talking about?
HUNT: Beka? Thanks.
BEKA: For what?
HUNT: For being one hell of an XO. All hands, this is the Captain. Code black. Battle stations.
BEKA: Oh, so all of a sudden we know where they went?
HUNT: Or where they didn't go.
BEKA: Right. Cool. So, can I say it?
HUNT: Sure.
BEKA: Let's bring it.
HUNT: No, a little louder. More intense.
BEKA: Let's bring it!
HUNT: That's what I'm talking about.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: We have arrived in Heimdall. I'm detecting several Genite scouts within our combat radius.
TYR: Still licking their wounds, no doubt.
BEKA: No doubt. And I'm more than happy to dump a little salt on them. Andromeda, offensive missiles, all tubes. Full load out.
Prepare to fire on my command.
HARPER: Can I tell you how much I do not love this plan? There was a saying we had back in Boston, a little aphorism I try to live by. Never poke a bear with a sore butt.
BEKA: Since when has that ever been an aphorism you tried to live by?
HARPER: Since about thirty seconds ago when I saw the bear with the sore butt.
BEKA: Right. Fire.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Offensive missiles are approaching the Genite formation.
BEKA: Have they seen us yet?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: That is uncertain.
TYR: The suspense is killing me.
BEKA: It's not the suspense that's going to kill us.
HARPER: Yeah, well, the suspense already owes me a fresh pair of shorts.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The Genites have detected us. They're firing.
BEKA: Defensive missiles. PDLs on standby.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Incoming hail from the Genites.
GENITE [on viewscreen]: You clearly didn't get the message the last time. I'm afraid you've left us no choice but to explain it to you in excruciating detail.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The Genites are still with us, and more of them are inbound.
BEKA: You know, you just can't have too many Genites inbound. Time to slipstream.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Awaiting your order.
BEKA: Consider yourself ordered. Let's get the hell out of here. Dylan better be right.

[Eureka Maru]

ROMMIE: There, you see it?
HUNT: Mmm hmm. A Templar fighter.
ROMMIE: You were right. The Patriarch doubled back to the Genite research facility.
HUNT: Why build a new facility when he can just take one from the Genites?
ROMMIE: That fighter's not alone. He has friends, and they're all between us and the Patriarch.
HUNT: Cut power. Let inertia carry us in.
(A big beautiful ship comes out of slipstream nearby.)
ROMMIE: The Andromeda. Beka came in close.
HUNT: Right on time.
ROMMIE: Yeah, the Templars see her too. They probably want to know what she's after.
(The Andromeda shoots down the Templar slipfighters.)
HUNT: And now they know. Okay, Rommie. Let's bring it.

[Genite lab]

PATRIARCH: Contain the Andromeda. Disable her if you can, destroy her if you must. But god forgive you if you're wrong, because I won't.
HUNT: It's a little late for sentimentality, don't you think?
PATRIARCH: Captain Hunt. I imagine you have left me no troops to call?
HUNT: I had excellent training.
PATRIARCH: Your ship is outmatched. If your people refuse to stand down, you have ordered them to their deaths.
HUNT: Maybe. But sooner or later, a swarm of very angry Genites are going to come out of slipstream, and they're going to kill whichever one of us is left.
PATRIARCH: Yeah, but I can't believe that you would allow this facility to fall back into the hands of the Genites.
HUNT: I wouldn't. My dying act would be to blow it to hell. And so, I think, would be yours.
PATRIARCH: You've played me to a stalemate.
HUNT: You said my greatest weakness was the reluctance to make sacrifices, but your great weakness is assuming that I wouldn't make them at all.
(An alarm signals new slipstream events.)
HUNT: That would be the Genites now.
PATRIARCH: Congratulations. You've killed us both.
HUNT: Only if this is a three way fight, and the Genites are the greater threat to either one of us. Particularly you. Which makes me your new best friend.
PATRIARCH: Divert fire away from the Andromeda. Concentrate on the Genites. Computer, initiate self-destruct protocol. Ten minutes.
COMPUTER: Self-destruct program initiated.
PATRIARCH: I'm very proud of you, Dylan, for this little victory over me, but the threat the Nietzscheans pose is real. There will come a day when you'll regret not letting me develop this weapon.
HUNT: I won't let you leave this place.
PATRIARCH: If you could capture me alive, somebody above your pay grade would just set me free. I'm very well connected within the Commonwealth. On the other hand, if you were to play judge, jury, and executioner, you would render everything you've built meaningless. Now, if I kill you, the universe would mourn the loss of a great man. You kill me, and the great man gets to mourn the loss of his soul, and you don't want to do that. I swear to god, you don't want to do that.
HUNT: That's what happened to you. One compromise too many. You lost your soul. I'm not ready to sacrifice my soul. Not for you.
(Hunt walks away.)
PATRIARCH: So this is how it ends?
HUNT: No. This is how it begins.
CHANG [OC]: Patriarch, the evac team is here. You've got eight minutes until the asteroid self-destructs.
(The Maru leaves as the asteroid goes KaBOOM.)

[Hunt's quarters]

BEKA: Hey. I heard what happened down there. You took one hell of a chance.
HUNT: I should have killed him, but I couldn't. And he should have killed me, but he couldn't. I knew he couldn't. Looking in his eyes, I knew.
BEKA: Maybe you have something he wants.
HUNT: Or maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he really is Admiral Stark.
BEKA: I don't think so. I think the Patriarch is a wraith. An echo of Stark's anger.
HUNT: I have a feeling that we'll hear that echo again. This time, we fought to a draw.
BEKA: This time.
HUNT: Next time, I will find a way to win. I'll do what Admiral Stark trained me to do. Fight the battles others can't.