GIDEON (V.O.): Let me get this straight...

GIDEON: You want us to pay a bribe so we can come down to the planet?

GOVERNOR (ON SCREEN): It's only way you're going to get down to the moon. Be reasonable, Captain. This is a commercial colony. There has to be something in it for us. Why is this so troubling for you?

GIDEON: it's the principle of the thing. You let IPX and their crew down on the moon for free.

GOVERNOR (ON SCREEN): That's different. IPX made special arrangements with us when the relic was discovered by our team of ice miners working on the local moon. EarthGov did not. Our economy functions on bribes, bets and...

GIDEON: And extortion.

GOVERNOR (ON SCREEN): An unpleasant word. Let's just say we're unconventional.

GIDEON: All right then.

I'll make a bet with you. Over a game of poker. If I win, our officers can accompany IPX on the dig for free. That way we can provide proper supervision, get our medical team down to examine anything that might be a cure to the Drakh plague.

GOVERNOR (ON SCREEN): And if you lose?

GIDEON: Then we pay the fee.

GOVERNOR (ON SCREEN): I accept. I've never gambled with an officer before. It should be most... amusing.

MATHESON: You'd better win.

GIDEON: It's Friday. I never lose on Fridays.

EILERSON: Yes?

GIDEON (ON LINK): Gideon here. What's your status?

EILERSON: We analyzed the mineral surrounding the vault, and we can't risk blasting our way in. We'd bring the whole place down. We have to find a non-destructive way to open it.

We've also made a loose translation of the language surrounding the lock. It makes repeated promises to "enrich anyone's life" beyond the door.

GIDEON (ON LINK): Meaning, what?

EILERSON: Well, I'm basing their language on something I've seen that's similar, though I really can't make a definitive analysis of the word "enrich". It could be figurative or literal.

It it literally means to make us rich, we'd better get more than one IPX shuttle down here to carry away the loot. How are the negotiations going?

GIDEON: Lousy. These people definitely have issues with authority figures. They don't like uniforms, officers or EarthGov, in that order. Keep trying to find out what's on the other side of that door, we'll be there as soon as we can.

Excalibur out.

EILERSON (running to them): Miller! Thompson!

EILERSON (CONT'D): Oh, hell.

We've had a major accident. Alert Dr. Chambers. Bringing two wounded to Medbay.

EILERSON: This is my primary team. It's like losing both my hands during a dig. I've got to have them with me. How long will they be out of commission?

CHAMBERS (point blank): They've both suffered from a major stroke. Major. Meaning life support. You've lucky they're even alive.

CHAMBERS (CONT'D): Now that we're past the histronics. Tell me exactly what happened.

EILERSON: They were conducting preliminary scans on the door to the inner vault. They weren't reading anything unusual from it when they got hurt.

CHAMBERS: I'm asking because they've been hit by something like a telepathic mind blast. Ever seen what a high level telepath can do to a normal person's brain?

EILERSON: I've heard a few stories... horror stories from the Telepath Crisis, mostly.

CHAMBERS: Here. Take a look at this.

A high-level telepath can twist up a normal's brain like a wet washcloth. With one telepathic burst, they can send someone into a stroke by twisting neural pathways and synapses. It's a nasty way to screw someone up for life. Paralysis and nerve damage can occur. Miller and Thompson may not recover completely from this.

EILERSON: What are you saying? A telepath mind-fragged my assistants?

MATHESON (to Chambers): You wanted to see me?

CHAMBERS: Take a look at this for a minute. I've reconstructed a model of the accident based on the condition of each patient's brain.

What do you make of it?

MATHESON: It looks like a telepathic attack.

EILERSON: Can you do something like that?

MATHESON: Not at that magnitude. And honestly, I wouldn't want to. That kind of thing can leave irreparable damage.

MATHESON (CONT'D): What did this?

EILERSON: I guess that's what we're wondering. It would appear that someone behind the door attacked my team mates.

MATHESON: Are you sure about that?

CHAMBERS: Since you're a telepath, we were hoping you could tell us more about what happened.

MATHESON (investigates the screen): If this is accurate, it didn't leave a psychic imprint. Which means a "person" didn't do it. Which leads me to think it's a defense system of this vault.

EILERSON: Can something like that be possible?

MATHESON: I've heard stories about older races who mastered telepathic activity. They used the energy to set booby traps or lock doors.

This may be a telepathic lock. But it's incredibly powerful.

EILERSON: Could you disarm it?

MATHESON: I don't know. I'd have to take a closer look at it.

CHAMBERS: Thanks, Lieutenant. At least now we have an idea of what we're dealing with.

MATHESON: Of course. I'll get ready to head down.

Are they going to be all right?

CHAMBERS: We'll do the best we can.

Lieutenant. I thought no one can go planetside until the Captain works out a fair bargain.

MATHESON: That's right. But it's Friday, so I expect to hear we can come down at any time.

GOVERNOR: I underestimated you, Captain. Most EarthForce officials are too uptight to play for any odds let alone such high stakes.

GIDEON: Well, this assumption on your part cost you quite a bit of money.

GOVERNOR: You are one lucky son of a bitch. Almost too lucky.

Telepath lucky.

GIDEON: You can check my records if you like.

GOVERNOR: I'll take your word for it.

We don't like telepaths here. There's only one teep in the whole colony. Name's Al. And we keep well away from him. He lives just outside of town. He's dangerous.

GIDEON (rising): Coming from you, I'd consider "dangerous" a form of high praise.

GOVERNOR (following): You're a very interesting man, Captain. I thought with a name like Gideon... you'd be a religious sort. Weren't the Gideons responsible for distributing Bibles back in Earth Territories?...

GIDEON (opening door): If I lived up to my name, well, I'd be in every hotel room in Earth Space.

GOVERNOR: Not that the women would mind, certainly.

GOVERNOR (CONT'D): You're free to come and go with your team. We'll stand down. But, I'd be careful if I were you. You won a card game against me, but not against the entire colony. If something happens I'm in no way responsible for it.

GIDEON: Now wait a min...

GOVERNOR: Just a warning, Captain.

GIDEON: Yes?

MATHESON (ON LINK): There was an accident at the site. Two of Eilerson's crew were attacked by a telepathic device. We think it was part of the vault.

I want permission to come down and investigate it.

GIDEON: I don't know. Even though we just got permission to come down, this place is pretty hostile.

MATHESON (ON LINK): Then I'll come down in plain clothes.

GIDEON: Hell, in plain clothes, we'd need a five o'clock shadow and a few broken teeth before we'd blend in down here. And they really don't like telepaths.

Besides, I want a look at this thing myself, before anyone else gets hurt.

MATHESON (ON LINK): But, sir...

GIDEON: No, not yet. And I mean that. I'll talk to you later.

EILERSON: I understand you wanted the rest of the crew to stay on the Excalibur.

GIDEON: Until I've had a chance to take a look at how dangerous this thing is, yes.

So what's she doing here??

EILERSON: How did you...?

DUREENA: I'm not gonna miss an opportunity to come down to a Thieves Den like this. Besides, you need a real expert to look at this lock.

EILERSON: But how did you get down here? You weren't on the shuttle when I left.

DUREENA: Yes I was.

Just because you didn't see me doesn't mean I wasn't there.

GIDEON: I see you're taking after Galen again.

DUREENA: Actually, he's been taking after me.

Look, it's easy for technomage to walk around unseen. He's got half a mile of raw circuitry plugged into his back. He can do a lot of fancy tricks.

But I can do a hell of lot better being invisible than our technomage. And I don't need anything but my wits for that.

DUREENA (CONT'D): Besides, I came down to help pick your lock. Not to talk shop.

So, are you coming or what?

MATHESON: I know it shouldn't bother me, but if whatever's down there really is telepathic, I shouldn't be here on the ship when I know I could be helping.

CHAMBERS: You know Gideon. He doesn't like anyone wounded on his watch. Those two IPX technicians suffered severe damage. He wants to know what we're getting into.

MATHESON (he's heard this a lot): A hands-on Captain.

CHAMBERS: The best kind. Wouldn't you want to see what you were dealing with before sending off someone you care about to do same thing?

MATHESON: Yes, I would. That's exactly my point. Why doesn't he let me go down and risk it. He's the captain. He isn't expendable.

Of course, putting himself in the line of fire is commendable. I just think he's got a death wish some days.

DUREENA: It's pretty much what I thought.

These are all feints. Dead ends. The locking mechanisms lead nowhere. It's set up to keep someone preoccupied.

GIDEON: So the person would be a perfect target for an attack. They'd be distracked by tracing the lock back until they hit an advanced, telepathic... land mine.

DUREENA: Basically. You've got yourself an auto-defence system here. And it's a killer. I know you don't like the idea but, you'd better get Matheson down here to have a look.

THUG #1: I just overhead an interesting conversation. There are EarthForce pigs at the dig outside of town.

THUG #2: EarthForce? Must really be something special to draw their attention.

THUG #1: If it's special it belongs to us, not a bunch of Earthers. Besides, it could be valuable.

THUG #2: So how doe we get to it?

THUG #1: I got a way. Meanwhile, we wait.

GIDEON: You got down here fast.

MATHESON: I've been ready to go for hours. As we were on approach, I could feel this thing down here. From two miles off.

EILERSON: Interesting.

GIDEON: Not the adjective I would have chosen.

I want to know how dangerous it is, without taking any chances that would give my first officer to stroke.

Are we clear on that?

MATHESON (to Chambers): I need you to stick close, in case something goes wrong.

CHAMBERS (monitoring with a device in hand): I'm ready.

MATHESON: Let's see what's inside this thing...

CHAMBERS: He's okay. His EEG reading are high, but no damage.

MATHESON (steadying): What a ride.

GIDEON: What happened?

MATHESON: The attack is... massive. From my own experiences in the Psi Corps, I'd say it's comparable to a telepath rated P10 or higher.

GIDEON: And you're a P6.

MATHESON: Right. No way I can stand up to that thing. As you... probably noticed. We're going to have to find a P10 or higher to get in there.

GIDEON: The Governor said there's a telepath back on the station. Everyone avoids him. All I've got is a first name. "Al." With any luck, we might be able to find him.

EILERSON: Well-liked or not, money talks. We can pay him to come here and help us out.

MATHESON: No last name?

GIDEON: Not that he mentioned.

MATHESON: Sir. Can I speak freely for a moment?

GIDEON: Of course.

MATHESON: It would be better, if you'd let me come planetside more often. I could have helped Eilerson with this vault... could have prevented the accident with the technicians.

GIDEON: You can't be everywhere at once to protect everyone.

MATHESON: That's an odd statement, coming from you.

Look, it's just...

GIDEON (with feeling): John, the Excalibur means more to me than my own life. I am expandable. This mission is not. And Excalibur is very symbol of this mission. When I leave her in your hands, I can focus on the task at hand. If I have one hundred things to worry about, I know that one of them is safe with you.

I know I don't say it enough, but you're my right hand. Excalibur is the one constant in my life right now and when I'm away from her, I can rest assured that she's going to be all right, no matter how long I'm away, or what might happen, as long as she's under your charge. I don't want to jinx that. You understand?

MATHESON (a bit proud): Yes, sir. I do. Thank you.

VOICE (V.O.): You have been stripped of all rank and commission. You are no longer a member of the Psi Corps. You have undeniably misused your power. The following charges have been brought against you.

You are charged with the innocent slaughter of normal human citizens during your previous employment as a member of the Meta Pol.

VOICE (V.O., CONT'D)(beat): How do you plead?

BESTER (V.O.): Not guilty.

VOICE (V.O.): We have witnesses sworn under oath, interns who served under your command who testified to the acts you committed. They confirmed your guilt...

BESTER (V.O.): Under torture... anyone will admit anything about anybody. These are false accusations.

VOICE (V.O., above the noise): YOU have been ACCUSED of crimes of war. Committing acts of murder and inhumanity against normal citizens during and before the war.

Committing blackmail, extortion, use of bodily harm, and the systematic murder of your own people. The Corps does not kill its own telepaths. And yet this court has evidence that you killed anyone who opposed your views.

VOICE (V.O.): HOW... Do... You... PLEAD?

BESTER (quiet, resolutely): Not guilty.

GIDEON (V.O.): We'd better hope he's strong enough to get us into the vault.

EILERSON: Maybe we can combine forces, Lieutenant Matheson and he could...

MATHESON (V.O.): It doesn't work that way, Eilerson.

DUREENA (V.O.): Well, if he's not strong enough to help us, we'll just have to look elsewhere.

CHAMBERS (V.O.): But we have to think about the time involved...

GIDEON: That's the problem. We're always on a clock. But the faster we get into this vault, the sooner we learn if it holds a cure for the plague.

BESTER: Hello, Captain Gideon. Dr. Chambers. Dureena Nafeel. Mr. Eilerson and of course, a cordial greeting to you, Lieutenant Matheson.

It's been very long time since we last saw one another.

MATHESON: AL... (beat - horrified) ALFRED BESTER!

MATHESON: Captain, we have to take this man into custody. He's... it's Alfred Bester. A war criminal, indicted after the Telepath Crisis.

BESTER: Crisis.

It was a WAR, not a crisis. I don't know why everyone feels the need to minimize it.

Won't you come in? I was just having some tea. I can make some for us all.

GIDEON: Just a minute.

GIDEON: That's all you're going to say? It was a War, not a Crisis... won't you have some tea?

BESTER: Yes.

And the tea is getting cold.

MATHESON: You can't ask that man for help. He's guilty of the slaughter of hundreds of innocent mundanes. He's a notorious criminal. The Goverment's been trying to catch him for years. Each time, he's managed to escape before they could get to him.

EILERSON: I happen to like tea.

GIDEON: We should at least consider all the possibilities, Lieutenant, before we make any judgments.

EILERSON: So as you can see, IPX has a vested interest in this site.

BESTER: Yes... I know all about IPX and its vested interests, Mr. Eilerson. But, you haven't named a price.

GIDEON (stepping in): The price is negotiable. What isn't is turning yourself in if you are indeed a fugitive.

BESTER: I never fancied myself a martyr.

GIDEON: It's not martyrdom. It's due process.

BESTER: I'm sure there are a lot of women from the Salem Witch Trials who would ardue that point with you, Captain. They could make you understand that to pacify an angry crowd, scapegoats must be found... Now that out telepath crisis is over, the right people punished and history must be rewritten from the point of view of those who won.

My interrogators would not find my arguments or evidence sufficient. They've set my trial for failure. I would be killed.

GIDEON: Even though it's disbanded, I didn't think the Corps was allowed to kill its own members. Wasn't that against Psi Corps regulations?

MATHESON (entering behind Gideon): Yes, it was. Disbanded or not: murder, dissection, torture... was all against Psi Corps regulations. Right, Mr. Bester?

BESTER (to Gideon): Teeps don't fight other teeps. When you are taught that the Corps is your Mother and Father... each telepath becomes your brother and sister.

It is never right to divide a family. Or to kill them. For any reason.

MATHESON (taking the challenge): And what about killing normal humans? Why don't you tell them how many normals you killed while you were a Psi Cop?

BESTER: You see, Captain. These are the kinds of insults I would be forced to hear if I were to turn myself in, as you suggest. My track record is clean. But apparently someone somewhere is making sure that it isn't clean anymore. And as long as they aren't playing fair, well then, neither am I.

EILERSON: I don't mean to butt in...

But we still need your help to unlock the door at the archaeological expedition.

None of this has anything to do with why we're here.

EILERSON (CONT'D, to Bester): So, will you help us?

BESTER: Of course. In exchange for help from you.

GIDEON: What help?

BESTER: It's time for me to leave this planet for greener pastures. They tire of me here, and there is very little to keep me among such... endearing people.

There are bloodhounds out there, looking for me lately. I'v had reason to believe they're closing in. I need a way out.

I want the Excalibur to take me to my next destination. No one is going to look for a war criminal there. I want off-planet with no questions, no conditions, and no snooping. Or we have no deal.

GIDEON: Give us a chance to talk it over. Because... what you're asking isn't right.

BESTER: I guess it depends on which side of the right you're on. How much do you value what's in that vault? How much do you need my help to get it? How little time do you have left to find acure before the body count starts?

PILOT #2 (V.O.): We've just received confirmation. Mr. Bester is on Tarriffi's Colony. Preparing strike mission to recover him.

PILOT #1: Good. I'll send word to Top Dog. Make your best speed and run silent on all channels.

PILOT #2 (V.O.): Aye, sir.

DUREENA: Look, we need to make a decision. Personally, I don't care.

I don't! I don't mean to offend you, but I'm putting the mission before everything else.

What's in the vault might be the cure. Don't you think that's worth it?

CHAMBERS: The Rangers said this way a very good possibility, if not for a cure, then for the medical knowledge available within the site. It's not a sure deal but it's too good an opportunity to pass up.

MATHESON: We can send for another telepath. It will only delays us a few days. We can't help thisman.

DUREENA: How do you know he's guilty?

MATHESON: I read the charges against him.

DUREENA: Charges are one thing, guilt is another. How do you know?

MATHESON: I just do.

DUREENA: Were you ever around when he committed any crimes against normals?

MATHESON: No! Of course not!

That would make me an accessory.

DUREENA: Then how do you know the records aren't lying about him? What makes you sure he's a bad person?

MATHESON: For a telepath it's a gut instinct... only stronger. You won't get a clearer signal about someone unless you read their minds.

MATHESON (V.O.): I met him along time ago. I sighted up for the internship exam for Psi Cops once. I didn't pass the exam, but I met him and I knew then and there that he wasn't quite... whole. There was something cold and empty about the man.

MATHESON: There were always rumors about how he'd bend the rules or do things to hurt mundanes. Because of what I'd heard, I stayed away from him.

DUREENA: So, based on a few rumors, you want us to forget his help...

MATHESON (standing): I don't expect you to understand. I'm just asking you to trust me on this.

GIDEON: All right. I told you I trust you, John. So, we'll wait and get help. However you want to handle this... it's... your people so it's your call.

BESTER: I've decided. I'd like to help you out. If not for your people, then for the thousands of telepaths that will die on Earth, if we don't find a cure to the Drakh plague. More importantly... your incessant arguing is giving me a migraine... so I've come up with a proposition that will make the decision easy for you.

GIDEON: But we've already made our decision.

BESTER: Then, you've made the wrong one.

You will take me with you.

Did you think that I'd let you argue all this time, so that you could simply decide "No, let's turn him in and go about our business quietly, that's the right thing to do"...?

Don't worry. I won't re-wire your minds to a different decision.(beat)As I said, I am running out of time. My enemies are on move to find me again. If you don't take me with you, and I am captured, I have no qualms about naming Lieutenant Matheson as one of my conspirators during the Telepath Crisis.

I assure you that anything I am found guilty of... torture, conspiracy or murder... I will make absolutely certain that he is implicated as well.

BESTER: It will take me a moment to prepare. Be aware that anything meant to distract me will only result in all of us suffering from massive brain trauma.

Because when that lock and I come in contact with one another... the radius of affected beings will be much, much larger than it was before.

GIDEON: I think I'm beginning to understand what you mean by a bad gut feeling. Remind me never to doubt your instincts, Lieutenant.

MATHESON: Yes, sir.

EILERSON: This is it?

DUREENA (behind them): You guys are always missing the point.

I keep forgetting that your culture has come to rely on everything but nature.

CHAMBERS: What do you mean?

DUREENA: There are other healing alternatives. My people, for example, stayed away from doctors. No offense.

It wasn't customary to seek that kind of medical help. We preferred natural remedies instead. We had what you would consider Herbalists. They knew the secrets of nature. The healing properties of the earth, fire, wind and...

...water.

CHAMBERS (pulling out a container from her pack): Right. We can analyze this.

CHAMBERS (CONT'D): Do you think they're valuable?

DUREENA: I think they're probably a part of this place. A potential cure.

We can't afford to overlook anything.

CHAMBERS: Finished.

GIDEON: EILERSON! Get out of there!

EILERSON (O.S.): I found something.

GIDEON (to Bester): Can't you keep the door open?

BESTER: No. It's closing because you got what you came for.

GIDEON: What's that?

EILERSON: I don't know. I'm hoping it's instructions.

SHUTTLE PILOT: We're getting a signal from the station - governor wants to talk to you before you cant take this stuff on board the Excalibur.

GIDEON: Everywhere you go there's always a bureaucracy. All right. This shouldn't take long.

GIDEON (during the fight): What the hell do you want?

THUG #1: We want the loot you came here for. We're not letting EarthForce scum take anything valuable off our planet.

GIDEON (ducking it): We don't have anything! There was nothing in there.

THUG #1: Yeah, right! A lying, EarthForce scum and his telepathic pals. I'm not buying it.

MATHESON: Matt!

CHAMBERS: We'll know more in 48 hours.

This thing cost my peolpe back home a fortune, but we put every penny into it, because when it scans, it leaves no stone unturned.

DUREENA: Great.

EILERSON (stops before them): I've been working on the translation.

DUREENA: What's it say?

EILERSON: It's quite interesting.

"We left because we no longer needed this sacred place. We had evolved in such a manner that our own bodies were timeless, formless, and perfect. We left our shells behind, we left this spring behind.

We have gone to great lengths to protect it. For in protecting what is sacred, we know we preserve it. We do not know where it comes from, or why it is so potent. Only that it helps to prolong life, and soothe the sick.

If you have found it, you are worthy of its blessings. We leave it, wholly, unto you."

CHAMBERS: 48 hours till we know what it does.

DUREENA: I think we already know what it's capable of.

CHAMBERS: I won't get my hopes up. I've been disappointed too many times so far.

48 hours.

MATHESON: Your shuttle is ready.

BESTER: Tell me. What is it like in EarthForce?

MATHESON: It's everything I dreamed it would be. I know now, that I was not very happy in Psi Corps. I am happy here.

BESTER: You're happy, despite the discrimination? The distrust?

MATHESON: Actually, I am more trusted here than I ever was in the Corps. My commanding officer, my team... they never wonder if I'm going to betray them.

On the Excalibur, I don't have to prove my loyality. With the Corps, my loyality was always tested. Always questioned. The Corps was so paranoid.

BESTER: We had to protect outselves from people on the outside who didn't understand us, and people on the inside who refused to be a part of us.

MATHESON: I can't live like that.

BESTER: What is the alternative? Living among mundanes who will never understand us? I have stared intolerance in the face for more years than you have been alive.

MATHESON: Things change.

Why did you save my life back there?

BESTER: Because you are a telepath. I became a Psi Cop to protect the lives of all telepaths. Even the ones who don't want protection.

MATHESON: But you're not a Psi Cop anymore, and the Corps is disbanded.

BESTER: I will always be a Psi Cop. It's who I am. What I was... conditioned... to do. Because it's the right thing to protect the family.

MATHESON: Is that why you murdered during the Telepath Crisis?

BESTER: I did what was necessary. There were casualties on both sides of the war. The difference is, when you win the war, you're a hero. When you lose, you're a war criminal.

I did things the current administration disapproves of, because the are the heroes, and I am the war criminal. But if the tables were turned, I could easily accuse them of the same crimes.

So, I will not turn myself in. I did what was right. They'll never prove I did anything else.

In the end, everything I did was for my people.

MATHESON: I'd like to believe that. But if you're running, you must be guilty of something.

BESTER (laughing): I remember being your age. Things seemed more fair then.

I once had a mentor named Sandoval Bey. You may have heard of him. He never learned when to run and when to stand his ground. He was innocent, so he didn't run from the mundanes who killed him.

He was so vulnerable and he never even realized it.

No, John. I'm running from the mundanes - the wrong people with the wrong intentions towards telepaths.

We can no longer understand each other. Because we are no longer the same beast.

GIDEON: Good news or bad news?

CHAMBERS: It's always either one or the other isn't it? Sometimes I think I dole out more bad news than good. But, in the end, our mission was fairly successful.

This is the most potent pain-reliever we've ever had. Doctors always struggle to make the suffering tolerable when they can't find a cure for it.

Throughout history, patients who used to suffer from AIDS, cancer, and other diseases were in so much pain, and we could do very little to ease it. This will help people back home when the plague begins to break out. And, it may even prolong life spans up to six months, by staving off some of the symptoms.

GIDEON: All in all then, we did the right thing.

CHAMBERS: We did the right thing, But I'm not so sure what we're doing now is right.

GIDEON: We will follow through on our word, and drop Mr. Bester off at his rendezvous point. Even if keeping a promise is the only honorable thing we've done all day.

GIDEON: Bester's just going to sit there. With 24 hours of life support.

MATHESON: That's what he said.

GIDEON: And if no one comes for him in 24 hours?

MATHESON: Then I guess he runs out of oxygen and dies.

GIDEON: Maybe it might be better to spare him the agony. Just put him out of his misery now with one of our forward guns.

BESTER (V.O.): He was innocent, so he didn't run from the mundanes who killed him.

He was so vulnerable and he never even realized it.

BESTER (V.O.): I'm running from the mundanes - the wrong people with the wrong intentions toward telepaths.

BESTER (V.O.): We can no longer understand each other. Because we are no longer the same beast.

MATHESON: No sir. I...

We'd just be sinking to his level. One day someone will catch him, and put him on trail for his crimes. And he'll get what he's due.

GIDEON: You're probably right.

Take us away.

MATHESON: Aye, sir.

ROGUE: Mr. Bester. It's been three years since we last hooked up. We were starting to think you'd fallen off the rim.

BESTER: Not yet.

It is a little unnerving when a Psi Corps mothership comes looming down at ones' tiny craft. But it helps to know that the remaining few death wagons are in good hands.

ROGUE: Thanks to you, Mr. Bester.

BESTER: Nonsense. It was simple enough. EarthGov would never admit having built offensive ships for the Psi Corps in the first place. It would look very bad.

ROGUE: And we have a weapon to strike back with.

BESTER: When the time is right. Meanwhile, if EarthGov can't declare these ships exist, then they can't send out forces to find us.

And that fact... is the beginning of a beautiful thing.

PILOT #2 (INTO LINK): I checked out the station, his quarters, everything. He seems to be gone.

I don't understand it. There are no records of any ships leaving here with him on it. Though, the Excalibur was here. That's odd.

PILOT #1 (INTO LINK): Yeah, I heard that. They were investigating something down on the moon.

Top Dog just wired in. He wants a full report.

PILOT #2 (INTO LINK): You go right ahead. I hate telling him bad news. He gets really crancy.

PILOT #1 (ON LINK): Thanks.

Computer begin recording transmission to MarsDome.

PILOT #1: This is Under Dog to Top Dog. When we arrived at the colony, Al Bester was not here. There are no records of him leaving the planet.

PILOT #1: I'm sorry, Mr. Garibaldi. He got away again.