[Dylan put his hand on his chin.]

I'll do what I can to protect her.

If there was some way we could reconcile people...

...but in some ways getting whole species to put aside differences is easier than this. Both sides have things they want, things that can be negotiated. I don't think Tosh has anything that the people she wronged might want. There's nothing to negotiate with and no incentive for them to forgive her.

All they want is for her to hurt as much as they did, to prove their will matters again. [There's a touch of frustration there, because he's angry too. He hates much of what she said.] Her opinions were one-sided, bitter, and ill-informed. She's never been an inmate here, and captivity here is completely different from captivity anywhere else because you're regularly stripped of yourself. [But she is... was... is his friend, he supposes. She is much like what Harper used to be to him.]

But she didn't mean to put those opinions inside of the ship. She didn't mean for them to hurt people. However, she's standing by those opinions and holding herself to them after the fact.

There were two individuals in the engine room that could confirm the story.

Maybe being an inmate is the best punishment for her, then. Make her learn empathy for the other side.

It sounds like she's not generally violent, but she reached a point where she saw only the worst in everything and everybody, including herself. And no one likes to think that someone's looking at you and seeing only the terrible. Even if she doesn't hurt anyone again, everyone knows that some part of her thinks we all deserve it.

Who were in the engine room at the time?

[He leans back and stretches his arm along the back of the couch.] Megamind and Ronald Sandoval. [They both should remember Megamind from that horrible breach- but Megamind's defenses have been excessively adamant.]

I think her punishment is currently appropriate. But I also think that people deserve to know what actually happened before there is another murder played over the network.

Murder played over the network.

I hope you're joking, but I'm pretty sure you're not.

It happened to Rex. He attempted to take over the Barge. I was one of the people he used as a mindless soldier. Another of us didn't recover well from the experience. Even his recent death at Arthas's hand stems from that event.

[Dylan rubs his forehead.]

It's times like this when it's really hard to have faith in the goodness of sentient species.

She's a small woman. When I last spoke with her in person, she looked as though she would break in the wind. And right now, she would certainly be unarmed.

I can't imagine that Rex was able to put up much of a fight, either.

I know they hurt a lot of people, but two wrongs don't make a right. And posting a murder on the network...that's just an extra level of sadistic right there.

[He drums his fingers.] I'll bring up what I know. Do you think you could possibly find harder physical evidence?

I can look through my hard copy files and see if I find anything useful. It might take a while. They aren't very organized. I always relied on Rommie for that. But I might have a log of some of Harper's escapades.

I miss the Andromeda.

[The admission is grim. He knows she would hate him if she ever saw him again; he robbed her of her crew, her family, the people that took care of her and she in turn nurtured.]

But she always did like you better. Ships have never been very fond of me.

I don't think she disliked you. Well, maybe after... [He twirls his hands around each other as if to indicate that they both know where that sentence is going so no need to finish it.] I bet she was pissed then.

But if the rebellion hadn't happened and if you'd taken command after I retired, I bet she would have bonded with you.

And if you ever came back and I explained things to her, I think she'd forgive you. [Maybe. She'd at least try for Dylan's sake.]

I don't think she would. Even when she understood me most, she didn't like my company as much. You were humorous with her. I was just a Nietzschean on a warship.

[He quirks a slight frown.]

You were a Nietzschean on a warship. That doesn't mean she disliked you for it. I was just a human on a warship.

Although...she might have...liked me more than is usual for a ship to like a captain. [Dylan's a bit awkward saying it, because a romantic relationship between a ship and a captain is all kinds of problematic, and he's seen first hand with the Pax Magellanic what terrible problems it can cause. And he and Rommie never were anything but professional, but sometimes there was an undercurrent...]

But you'd have been a good captain and she'd have been loyal to you.

She did. [He says that with certainty; even when he was a Commander, he could see that.]

I never gave myself the chance to be in command of her at the time of the Rebellion. I was due to take command in a few months. If I had waited, I could have simply led her into battle of my own accord.

I don't suppose I wanted command.

Are you happier being a Collector? Is it better than being a High Guard officer?

[Dylan had chosen a soldier's career, and he was good at it and he didn't regret it, but he was ready and eager to leave it all behind and retire four years ago. He thinks he might be a bit envious of Rhade's change of career.]

I can't complain.

It's not as slow as you might think. As we're in the middle of the Fall and working on a schedule, we have to appropriate what we can while we can. We also have to cut off various slipstream routes before they can expose us to invading Prides.

Also I have to keep everyone from knowing that I'm alive.

[In a word? Yes, he enjoys it.] Also, with no Admiral dispatching orders, I can spend as much time with my family as I want and go on another mission when I'm prepared to.

Sounds like a good time.

You know, I didn't expect that I'd love not taking orders as much as I did, but...I did. It's a shame that it took the fall of civilization for me to realize that. Once the New Commonwealth was in place, I ended up mutinying because, well, mostly because they were being jackasses, but it was easier to do because I'd gotten so used to not taking orders from far away higher ups.

It's a surprisingly nice feeling, isn't it. [He gives Dylan a fond look.] And it's different when Braxiatel gives me an order because I'm-

[Then there's awkwardness. He doesn't want to finish that sentence. Mr. Love is Magic here, having to be reminded that out there there is someone else that Rhade loves. Someone that he can't be physical with, but there is an emotional connection there. Because I'm doing it for someone I love, is a much nicer sentiment, though.

[He smiles impishly and finishes the sentence for him.]

It's easier because you know that he cares for your offspring and is genetically tied to you and helps to ensure that your genes will be carried down and so prove evolutionarily superior?

[He has a pretty good guess that Rhade loves Braxiatel. And it's MAGIC. But as it turns out, there's a lot of magic to go around.]

[He gives Dylan a chiding look.]

Isn't that the same thing as love? [Dryly.]

I also have confidence in Braxiatel's intelligence independently of rank. I couldn't do that for any Admiral. I'm sorry that I didn't do the same for you until it was too late for us.

[And not blaming the universe, or Trance. He's acknowledging again that it was his blind faith in his people over someone that he knew personally- something that Nietzsche specifically advised against, that made them both suffer.]

[He looks down at his knees at Rhade's apology. He's forgiven Rhade completely, but he can't stop regretting what happened.]

I can admit I was pretty naive back then. [Believing (hoping) that maybe the Magog would make a treaty in good faith.]

But even if the rebellion hadn't worked and the Commonwealth hadn't fallen, civilization would have been destroyed. The Spirit of the Abyss would have seen to that.

I saw it in an alternate reality.

So if you hadn't...done what you did, maybe we could've died happy, but the universe would have been screwed.

Dylan, I died about as happily as any Nietzschean could manage. [Because Dylan was alive.] And then I even got the chance to try again.

[This time he puts a hand on his shoulder, coaxing Dylan to look at him.]

[Dylan looks up at Rhade's urging.]

Nice as dying happy is, I'm glad you're alive.