MONDO EXTRAS

It starts on the deck and spreads around the ship: So say we all, so say we all. Gina stands with her clipboard, off to the side, in the center of the scariest place in the universe, and against her will she raises a fist, and says it too. On CIC, finally, as they hear it coming on the wireless from all over the ship, they repeat: So say we all, so say we all. Kendra loudest, then Fisk. This would be the first time I started crying. "So say we all" is one of those phrases that accretes meaning, and only gets pulled out with the big guns. "So say we all" means "Amen," means "Aum," means family and your imperative, means we wipe away the salt and embrace, that we are united in purpose. We start every week with a prayer, for wisdom and for the radiance of heaven, and every week you could say, "So say we all," and that is fitting in war. But she says war, death, murder, sacrilege, destruction, inhumanity, desecration, horror; you say abomination, and they say, "Amen." This is the invocation of darkness, sealed with holy words. I hope it turned to ashes in their mouths. I don't believe in damnation, I don't believe any of us are beyond salvation, or repair. But: if I did, this is when it happens.

Is she crazy yet? They don't seem to think so. I don't think she ever goes crazy, but just to make sure, she needs to gather her people together -- the ones she can rely on, if not trust -- and explain she didn't really mean it. That she knows it's a lie. That she would never ask of them anything she wouldn't do to herself. Fisk, Belzen, and Shaw join Helena in her quarters, discussing plans before dinner, noting the comms relay that we know will end in Belzen's death. Guarded by a half-thousand Raiders. "They don't expect anyone to attack it," Helena says brightly. "Gentlemen, you're looking at our first target." She congratulates Shaw on spotting it, and she admits she had help, and Gina enters, dressed for dinner. "Speak of the devil! Hello, Gina, welcome." They embrace. A light bulb goes off over Kendra's head: Helena Cain is capable of love, because this is love. This is love: "Gentlemen, I'd like you to meet Miss Gina Inviere. Miss Inviere and Lieutenant Shaw are working very closely upgrading our systems, and before that she was supervising our retrofit. And I must say, she's proven herself invaluable in both capacities." Gina's bashful, skittish, happy, in love. They sit down together, this family of scraps and orphans, and Helena speaks.