There is no perfect answer.

I knew he was trouble the moment I learned you were attracted to him. You have yet to choose someone who isn't trouble. In fact, you've had more bad luck in your love life than all the Shakespearian tragedies combined. When that smarmy, smart-aleck face appeared on the screen, I had a sudden urge to punch him out, cold. I did not want to give credence to my suspicions as he spoke about survival skills and centuries and the Route of Ages, but I couldn't ignore them. The results of the DNA comparisons confirmed my fears.

Although, I'm not all that surprised that creator of the Nietzchean race would be lying, manipulative bastard. Just look at the Nietzcheans themselves. Hard to believe that they were made from you. Sure you have your rough spots, but I'd still trust upi at my back in a fight any day. I can't say that about most Nietzcheans I've known. You may still try to come off as selfish and greedy, but I can still see the old Beka there, hiding inside your eyes.

I wanted to tear him apart. I wanted to break him in half. You and I will never be more than friends, but you are a part of the closest thing I have to a family any longer. It would have been nice had killing Museveni been a neat, clean solution to all our problems. Without him, the Commonwealth would still be alive and well, the Vedrans would not have had a reason to close themselves off and I wouldn't have been trapped in the even horizon of a black hole for three hundred years.

But it wasn't a clean solution.

I'm sorry, Beka. As much as I wanted to kill him for you, I couldn't let him stay dead. Not after I saw Rhade fade out like that. Everyone else probably would have been okay, but Rhade and the other Nietzcheans would have been gone forever. None of us have the right to make that decision. I had to bring him back and I had to let him go. And I had to let him keep the DNA that he took from you to start his master race.

I know that troubles you, Beka, but you can't blame yourself for all the ills that have befallen the galaxies at the hands of the Nietzcheans. That is Museveni's doing; it's how he made them. And you know they don't all turn out like that. If you would just let him get closer, you'd see that Telemachus has inherited some of your better traits. But I suppose, given your history with the Nietzchean race, it's understandable that you keep a wall about your heart like you do.

So I'll tease you and I'll joke with you. I'll try to keep things as lighthearted as possible, because I know that when you've had enough, you'll tell me where I can stick my force lance. Subtlety has never been your strongest point.

Don't worry, Beka. You've faced harder trials than this. You've been possessed by the Abyss and faced down hungry Magog.

After that, being mother to a race of genetically engineered supermen should be easy.