They say the enemy of your enemy is your friend, assume its true, until you can prove otherwise.
Captain Yasgar of the Renewed Valor
Dylan: “Lower your weapons, repeat, stand down your attack.”
Aeneas: “You are in no position to be giving orders Captain, (beat) but if you allow a small group of us to come on board, maybe we can negotiate.”
Dylan: “All right, then, but I warn you, you will be scanned before the airlocks are opened, and if there are any surprises, you will be destroyed, am I making myself clear?”
Aeneas: (laughs) “For a man in command of such a powerful vessel, you are very cautious. Don’t worry, we’ll comply with your request.”
Dylan: “Good, in 0500 hours, maybe we’ll have a negotiation to think about.”
Harper: “You remember what happened last time we tried to negotiate with Nietzscheans, right?”
Dylan: “We won.”
Tyr: “I’m afraid you will have a somewhat more difficult time winning this time.”
Dylan: “Oh, how’s that?”
Tyr: “Well, for starters, you are deliberately inviting them aboard our ship, we’ve never seen theirs, and of course there is the fact that Drago Katzov is approximately 5x as large as Orca pride.”
Dylan: “I’m counting on your loyalty this time, Tyr.”
Harper: “Drago Katzov?”
AIR LOCK OPENS
Harper: “Ok, uh, well, I’ll go now.” (Nervous smile and turns to leave)
Aeneas: “Not so fast (points gun at Harper), we don’t let terrorists go so easily. (Crew looks at Harper) Bring him here.”
TWO ARMED NIETZSCHEANS GRAB HARPER, DRAG HIM OVER TO GROUP OF NIETZSCHEAS LEAD BY AENEAS.
Dylan: “Aeneas, I don’t recall this being part of the agreement.”
Aeneas: “I don’t recall it being against anything you said, besides, it’s the law.”
Tyr: “What law?”
Aeneas: “The one which states that terrorists will be executed.”
Dylan: “Terrorist?”
FLASHBACK
Harper: “Come on, Torin, They killed Liam! They’ve slaughtered us for decades, tortured us, now it’s their turn.”
Torin: “Seamus, no, I can’t, they’re Nietzscheans, they’ll kill us!”
Harper: “Not if they’re dead, we can get rid of them, for good! I can plant a bomb when I see Odin, they won’t know until it’s too late.”
Torin: “And how long do you think they’ll stay away, huh? They’re Nietzscheans-” (Harper interrupts)
Harper: “That’s the point, they’re Nietzscheans, they killed Liam, doesn’t that mean anything to you?!?”
Torin: “Not enough to give my life up.”
Harper: “But it would be to get rid of the Nietzscheans.”
Torin: “Sorry, Seamus, I’m not gonna.”
Harper: “You can do this with me, or I’ll do it alone, I’m gonna do it anyways.”
Torin: “You can do it alone.”(Torin walks off, we jump to the future, see Harper rig the bomb)
Harper (to himself): “Took me weeks, but here, this is for all you’ve done to us.”
(Harper walks off, we jump foreword in time again, see explosion, jump foreword in time.)
Nietzschean investigator: “What happened, who did this?!” Looks at Torin who has just appeared. “Was it you!?! It was you! Take him for execution. Now.”
Torin: “No, no, uh, but I can tell you who it was.”
Nietzschean: “Talk fast.”
Torin: “His name’s Seamus Harper, you can do a DNA scan and confirm it.”
Nietzschean: “You’d better be telling the truth.” (Harper watches from bushes, runs off) “The human’s right, find him.”
Harper has fled; he is hiding in a well-known hiding spot, where he goes for Nietzschean attacks, Magog attacks, when he just wants to be alone. He sits there, terrified, anticipating the result of his actions.
END OF FLASHBACK
Aeneas: “Yes, terrorist, he destroyed a colony of us eleven years ago.”
Dylan: “I think you have the wrong person.”
Aeneas: “We have proof, Captain, genetic samples gathered from all over the crime scene, it was him, Seamus Harper, we did a DNA scan aboard your ship, the identity was confirmed.”
FLASHBACK
We see a huge explosion, a cloud of smoke, and a pile of rubble. END OF FLASHBACK
Dylan: “Harper, did you do this?”
Harper: “That’s not the whole story!”
Aeneas: “Oh, isn’t it?”(Pushes gun into Harper’s head) “I wouldn’t be talking like that if I were you.”
Harper: “They enslaved me, they killed my friends, my family, they-”
Aeneas: “ENOUGH!”(Threatens to shoot, pushes weapon harder into Harper’s temple; Harper winces in pain.)
Dylan: “You wouldn’t be so eager to keep him quiet if you weren’t holding something back.”
Aeneas: “Very well, but this is an open place for meeting, why don’t we discuss this in closed quarters? 08 hours.”
Dylan: “All right, then.”
Harper is standing in his room, looking out the window, he looks at his arm, we clearly see an ID code tattoo.
FLASHBACK
We see Harper being taken away by the Nietzscheans.
Lead Nietzschean: “Now, I want you to go gather everyone you know, understood? Have them meet here, soon as you get it done, you be sure to come and tell me, right? Right.”
Throws Harper to the ground.
END FLASHBACK, SEE TATOO SWITCH TO HARPER’S FACE, LOOK OF PAIN
NEW FLASHBACK
Same location, no Nietzscheans, suddenly they come attack him.
Lead Nietzschean: “Well? Where are they? I told you to tell everyone you knew to meet here, you told me you had. What happened?!?!?!?!?!”
Harper (looking away): “I dunno, maybe I don’t know many people.”
Lead Nietzschean: “Very funny! Now you do it, and if I don’t get even one person, you will be punished for your incompetence!”
Harper looks defeated, he knows what this means.
We jump foreword in time, to see Harper at the same place, the Nietzschean leader there, hiding, and one of Harper’s friends.
Harper: “Liam?! You’re not supposed to be here, I told you to stay away!”
Liam: “I know, but I heard Odin talking to you, now you get to live.” Smile crosses face.
Harper: “Liam, get out of here, NOW, he’ll kill me anyway, just get out!”
Liam: “Sorry, Seamus, I’m gonna do this.”
The Nietzscheans spring out of the bush, Harper and
Liam are surrounded.
Lead Nietzschean: “What a touching speech, now, take them both.”
Harper attacks the Nietzschean holding him, and gets away, but the Nietzschean leader shoots at him, the bullet is headed straight for Harper; Liam jumps in the way and is incinerated.
Harper: “LIAM!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!”
Harper is injured and mistaken for dead, he wakes up in a hospital, as it is known to him, more of a house with a couple of beds and some scraps of cloth for bandages.
Harper (in a daze): “Liam, Odin, Liam, no, stop, move, now, stop, get out, noo, no, what, no, stop, now, move, now, Liam, Liam, go, now, stop, nooooo.”
Harper wakes up. “wh, where am I? Hospital? What happened? Liam.”
Someone stands beside him. “You’ll be fine (doesn’t sound certain). You were injured by one of the Nietzscheans, he shot you, you were taken for dead.”
Harper: “Liam?”
She doesn’t want to tell him this: “He was killed.”
Harper cries a little, then falls asleep. When he wakes up, he feels stronger, and in a couple of days, he starts walking around, at which time, he leaves.
END OF FLASHBACK
Tyr: “Am I interrupting something?”
Harper: “hmm? No.”
Tyr: “So, rumor has it you killed over a thousand Nietzscheans.”
Harper (looks down, smiles a little): “Good for me.”
Tyr: “It’s true?”
Harper: “Among other things that were selectively forgotten.”
Tyr: “Like?”
Harper: “Oh, how they killed my friend, how we were only 13, how they wanted to enslave my whole family, how they wanted me to set the trap, oh, how about how they found me after it was done, slaughtered most of my friends, I was lucky to get out alive.”
FLASHBACK
We see a group of kids playing, suddenly, out of nowhere, Nietzscheans appear. The kids scatter, screaming, trying to find cover, the Nietzscheans start shooting. Harper finds a place and ducks, taking cover, he watches, trying to help, as the rest of the people are killed.
Harper (screaming): “No, no, get over here, now, dammit, get over here, NOW!!! Come on, ok, If you all want to live, come!!!” A Nietzschean sneaks up behind Harper, he fights back, picks up the weapon, shoots the Nietzschean, and starts hiding, starts shooting at the Nietzscheans.”
Tyr: “You ok?”
Harper: “Oh, (beat) yeah, I couldn’t begin to count how many people I saw the Nietzscheans slaughter, torture, murder, and they want to kill me because I killed 1000 of them.”
Tyr: “They are Drago-Katzov.”
Harper: “Yeah, whatever, oh, look, we get to go negotiate again.”
Tyr (as they’re walking to the meeting room): “Tell me more about what they did to your family.”
Harper: “Nothing much, compared to what I’ve seen, I became a slave, when I was 7, torture was nothing special, seeing people die was normal, then when I was 13, they told me to set a trap, so they could enslave the rest of my family and friends, I decided not to, but one of my friends, Liam, he decided to keep me from being killed, he gave his life for me.”
Tyr: “So it was then that you rigged the bomb.”
Harper: “well, basically, yeah.”
They reach the Obs deck, and Aeneas and Dylan are waiting for them there.
Dylan: “Mr. Harper, won’t you please sit down. Tyr, I don’t recall you being invited.”
Tyr: “I was thinking that maybe it would help if you had another Nietzschean here.”
Aeneas: “Don’t worry, captain, I don’t see what harm it would do to have a Kodiak in the room.”
Tyr: “How thoughtful.”
Aeneas: “well, now that that is over with, shall we begin?”
Dylan: “Harper, is this true?”
Harper: “That’s one side of the story.”
Dylan: “One side?”
Harper: “How about what the Nietzscheans did?”
Aeneas: “That is beside the point! We are here to get rid of a terrorist, not discuss (beat) philosophy.”
Dylan: “Never the less, we need to know both sides of the story.”
Harper: “Thank you! I was a Nietzschean slave-”
Aeneas: “AND a runaway slave, I ought to kill you right here!”
Dylan: “Let him talk.”
Harper: “Right, so, I saw what the Nietzscheans did to their slaves, experienced it first hand, and then they ordered me to set a trap so they could enslave everyone I knew. I didn’t, but one of my friends found out, and decided to save me by getting captured. Then I (tears come to his eyes), I decided to escape, they tried to kill me, but Liam saved my life, he jumped into the bullet.”
Aeneas: “So, you admit that if you hadn’t tried to escape, your friend may still be alive?”
Harper: “Yes, no, yes, no, they kill slaves on a daily basis, they-”
Aeneas: “But there is a chance that you would both be alive if you hadn’t decided to fight the Nietzscheans.”
Harper: (chokes up, tears come to his eyes, forces out answer) “Yes.”
Dylan: “So it was after this incident that you decided to destroy the Nietzschean base?”
Harper: “Yes, after I regained consciousness, I decided to avenge his death, I guess, and free Earth from the Nietzscheans, for a while at least.”
Aeneas: “I think we have enough evidence.”
Dylan: “Harper, is that all you have to say about that incident?”
Harper: “About that particular incident.”
WE SEE DYLAN AND TYR LEAVING THE OBS DECK.
Dylan: “You didn’t seem to surprised to see Harper proven guilty.”
Tyr: “They’re Drago-Katzov. They destroyed my pride, I have seen what they are capable of.”
Dylan: “So Harper’s future doesn’t seem too bright.”
Tyr: “On a whim, they waged war against my pride, slaughtered us by the hundreds, tortured as many as they could capture, I watched my mother being tortured, she died, I watched my entire family being killed in the same manner. I was next, but then the news came on of an explosion on earth, it had killed all of the Nietzscheans at the base where they captured their slaves. I listened; I was glad that whoever did that had done it. A few lucky Nietzscheans were able to use the opportunity to escape.”
Dylan: “You don’t sound as if you approve of slavery, Tyr, as a Nietzschean, you understand the concept.”
Tyr: “The Kodiaks held no slaves, our allies (beat) guaranteed our survival, we had no need for slaves, but I saw members of my pride enslaved throughout the war.”
As Tyr walks off, Becka walks up to Dylan.
Beka: “So, rumor has it you plan to hand Harper over to the Nietzscheans.”
Dylan: “Rumor has it right.”
Beka: “So that’s it, a five minute meeting and you turn him over? I seem to remember you giving a much stronger fight when Tyr was accused of murder.”
Dylan: “Harper admitted to it.”
Beka: “He confessed when Castellia demanded revenge.”
Dylan: “But this time it was believable, and he tried to keep himself from being persecuted.”
Beka: “DYLAN!!!!”
Dylan: “I realize the value of law and structure in a civilization, even the commonwealth had the death penalty for certain crimes. Besides, if I obey Nietzschean law here, our chances of getting the Nietzscheans on our side will improve more than you can possibly imagine.”
Beka: “So that’s what it’s all about, huh, the Nietzscheans in the commonwealth, that’s all that’s important to you.”
Dylan: “It’s our mission.”
Beka: “Missions aren’t everything, Dylan, if this is what you have to do to build your commonwealth, I’m not going to be a part of it.”
Beka walks off.
Dylan enters Harper’s quarters; Harper is holding a picture of two teenage kids, looking at it with a certain look of sadness around him.
Harper: “Hey, you know what? I took that picture with one of those old digital cameras when we were 13, yep, I fixed it up, about a week before.” (Looks down, he can’t get the picture out of his head, RESHOW
FLASHBACK OF INCINERATION. Liam getting shot, it repeats, he wishes he could just forget everything that ever happened to him.”)
Dylan: “Ah (smiles a little), I need to talk to you.”
Harper: “Talk away.” (Harper turns toward the window)
Dylan: “You committed Genocide.”
Harper: “They killed my family, my friends, they were committing genocide!!!!!” (He looks back at Dylan over his shoulder)
Dylan: “They didn’t-” (Harper turns all the way around, annoyed)
Harper: “They didn’t, they didn’t, they didn’t commit genocide, They didn’t GET THE CHANCE to commit genocide!!”
Dylan: “You’ve got 2 hours to prepare, but they’ll search you on the way out, so just do what you want here.”
Dylan leaves, and Tyr walks up to him in the hall.
Tyr: “So, you actually are going to turn the little professor over for prosecution.”
Dylan: “Yes, I have to, let me guess, like everybody, you disagree.”
Tyr: “I was just thinking of how the Drago-Katzov pride tortured and killed my family, I would tend to, (beat) disagree, with your decision, but you made it, and it isn’t my problem any more.”
Dylan: “That’s all you have to say in defense of your shipmate?”
Tyr: “I’m not the one killing him, so yes, that’s all I have to say.”
They take Harper away; he has a slightly betrayed look on his face, he’s trying to look dignified. Becka watches as if it’s a knife through her heart.
Harper (to himself): “Second time, eh. Hey, Liam, thought it’d be a while before I saw you again.”
We see him being tortured, he is sitting in a chair, with a device over his head, a flash of light appears, and remains, Harper screams in pain
FLASHBACK
We see Declan and Siobhan, paralyzed by the Magog, Harper runs up to the Magog, and shoots, killing it, he runs over to his cousins, who, he knows, won’t make it. He cries for help.
Harper: “Oh no, Declan, Siobhan, no, no, you’ll be ok, it’s ok, WE NEED HELP OVER HERE! Declan, Siobhan, come on (fights back tears) come on, we’re going home, yeah, home, (manages a small smile) home, come on, yeah, that’s it.”
And eventually people come to help him; they carry his cousins into the shelter where they live. Jump foreword in time. We see a hand cutting the main arteries (under the left ear) of Declan and Siobhan; they die almost instantaneously. Harper looks away, crying silently.
Liam: “Seamus?? You ok? (beat) oh, oh my gosh, Seamus, come on, yeah, it’s better if you don’t look, come on, yeah.” He takes Harper in his arms, gives him a comforting hug, and just keeps him there, with tears still streaming from Harper’s eyes.
Jump foreword in time, Liam getting shot.
END FLASHBACK
The light turns off; they throw him into his quarters, temporarily blinded. Tyr walks in, disguised as a guard.
Tyr: “Shhhhhhhh” he puts his hand over Harper’s mouth. Harper panics, tries to fight back, but Tyr restrains him with ease.
Tyr: “Shhh, be still (slightly annoyed), it’s me.”
Harper calms down; Tyr lets him go.
Harper: “Tyr? What’re you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be on the Andromeda?”
Tyr: “Yes.”
Harper: “Why are you here?”
Tyr: “My pride was destroyed by the Drago-Katzov, the only way even (beat) twenty members of the Kodiak pride could escape was because of the news of the explosion. Here, you are my ‘prisoner, do as I say, and we might be able to get out of here.”
Harper agrees, and obeys.
Guard: “Hey, where are you two going?!”
Tyr: “Taking him for further punishment, sir.”
Guard: “We were under orders to bring him at 0200 hours, you’re early.”
Tyr raises his force lance and shoots the guard.
They race down the corridor, and reach the air lock.
Tyr throws Harper a small device.
Tyr: “This is a bomb, right?”
Harper: “Very good.”
Tyr: “And it requires a code which only you know in order to detonate, correct?”
Harper: “Right.”
Tyr: “Well then punch in the code!”
Harper: “I can’t, I can’t even see the numbers.”
Tyr: “Just DO it, we’ll die anyway.” A group of Nietzscheans runs towards them, Tyr starts shooting.
Harper: “fine.” He punches in the code with some difficulty; we hear a beep.
Harper: “There we go” Tyr is still fighting the Nietzscheans, and has just won when Aeneas runs up to him from the back. He shoots at Tyr, Harper shoots him. “You ok?”
Tyr: “I’m a Nietzschean remember?”
Harper (Sarcastically): “That’s what I love about Nietzscheans.”
Harper helps him to the airlock. They leave.
They come back aboard the Andromeda; Dylan looks on in astonishment as Harper and Tyr return.
Dylan: “Tyr!! What have you done?!?”
Tyr: “Only what you were too weak to do yourself, captain.”
We see Harper on the Obs deck, thinking. He looks out into the vastness of space, remembering his childhood, he has the picture of him and Liam in his hand. Tyr walks up behind him.
Tyr: “Lost in thought?”
Harper: “huh? Oh, yeah. I was just wondering, what exactly did the Drago-Katzov do to your pride?”
Tyr: “We were entrusted with the remains of the protogenetor, Drago-Museveni. Our allies guaranteed our survival, but when the Drago-Katzov pride decided it was rightfully theirs, we were alone. We fought, but they captured us, slaughtered us, made sure we didn’t get away. I watched my family die, one by one, watching that seemed more painful than dying.”
Harper: “Yeah, I know.”
Tyr: “And that’s a picture of?”
Harper: “Oh, Liam, I took it a couple of weeks before the…” TYR INTERUPTS
Tyr: “He’s the one who gave his life to save you?”
Harper merely nods, and we fade out seeing the two looking out at the vastness of space.