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[majorum_pride]

[He's going to give this a try. He's in his black uniform but without any rank insignia on it at the moment. And he's going to be really careful what he puts out there.]

We're currently experiencing an anomaly in our communications system. If there are any Commonwealth vessels receiving this transmission I would like a response.

[Not the best

Comments

[hunt4comnwlth]

This is Captain Hunt of the Commonwealth starship Andromeda. What seems to be the problem?

[Pause, he knows that voice, and that face. He presses down the surge of conflicting emotions--the joy, the anger, the regret--at the sight of that face. This isn't Gaheris, he reminds himself.]

Telemachus? Telemachus Rhade?

[hunt4comnwlth]

Thanks, but in your time I haven't done anything to deserve accolades yet.

[Loooooong pause. Then Dylan shakes his head slightly with a "huh" that is part self-mocking laugh.]

You know, I just had the strangest notion.

[Another pause. He can't speak openly. If this *is* Telemachus--as logic dictates it must be--he can't say what's on his mind. He doesn't know how much Telemachus guessed about Gaheris and he can't destroy whatever illusions Telemachus has about his ancestor. But, if by some crazy one-in-a-trillion change, Dylan's insane hunch is right, he can't let this opportunity slide.]

I was furious at Gaheris Rhade for a long time, because he forced me to make a terrible choice that I never wanted to make. But I'm not angry at him anymore. I don't hate him anymore. I just miss my friend.

[majorum_pride]

That's up for argument. [Especially if Dylan went through the same events that Dylan did.

Oh no, don't have notions. Notions are weird and hard to explain. And impossible. Because logic dictates it Dylan. Don't argue with it.] I will... take it that even though you've been forced to make those choices, you've managed to make the correct ones.

[He doesn't ask what choices it was that he had to make.]

Besides the people of Tarazed think well of you. [He remembers that.]

[hunt4comnwlth]

But the job's not done yet. I'll call myself accomplished only after the Magog are defeated once and for all. We'll get there in the end, but it's not going to be easy.

I don't know if my choices were the correct ones or not. Only time will tell. I have good intentions, but I think Gaheris did, too. Good intentions are a good start, but sometimes they're not enough. And some choices, even if they're the correct choices, are still damn hard to live with sometimes. [Like killing his friend before he could kill him.]

[majorum_pride]

[Dylan, you're such an insufferable optimist. He's glad that much stayed.] I don't think they should be. Easy, that is. A lot of lives are at stake. To make a good future, they can't just be thrown away. His friendship with you was one of the things thrown away that was far too valuable to sacrifice, and I believe he would have lived to regret it if he had lived.

In any case, live well, Captain Hunt. And if I don't recall this later, I suppose the issue has been fixed.

[hunt4comnwlth]

[Dylan listens with a solemn, thoughtful expression. He'd never told Telemachus what exactly had happened on the Andromeda bridge between himself and Gaheris. Maybe Telemachus guessed. Maybe he found out from one of the crew--Harper, or Beka perhaps. All those explanations make more sense than a dead man talking to him from beyond the grave. But...there was the matter of the peculiar time distortions. If a dead man *were* to talk to him, through a temporal or dimensional rift is the way it would happen.]

I suppose it has been fixed. [It might not be the anomaly he's talking about being mended.]

Good luck, Rhade, wherever your path takes you.

[majorum_pride]

Thank you, Captain. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll have to see to something. [Like badgering pesky Time Lord bastards. And he reaches to cut the feed on Dylan.

Yes. That was probably a scar or a conspicuous shadow on his hand. He might want to double check and make sure that dead body is still where it's supposed to be.]

[hunt4comnwlth]

[There's a look of surprise on Dylan's face.]

That's...interesting. I've only met Telemachus twice. I didn't know I'd made such an impression. [He is starting to have impossible suspicions about what's going on. But he'll put on his diplomat face for now and wait for an introduction.]

I'm afraid you have the advantage, sir.

[hunt4comnwlth]

[He laughs self-consciously at the compliment.]

Rhade's got a pretty powerful personality himself. I wouldn't peg him as the type of guy who's easily impressed.

I take it you're a friend of his?