[ He breathes forcefully, nostrils flaring, because what she says rings too familiar. He has lived a life of sweeping across the stars. And years ago — universes ago — he had been on that sole, tempting target. There is a logic to her that he has not been forced to consider until now, and so for too long of a moment, he is silent. An acquiescence, except, ]

So we pool our resources together. Being in one place means we can cooperate. Shore our defences. Guard them.

[ He hovers in place, crossing his arms. He's still pissed at her, but this is a much more practical area of conversation. It's easier to be able to use his expertise for once to shoot down her ideas. ]

Have you ever been swept across the stars before? You're making yourself an easy target. I've lived on a gunship, both operational and not. When it didn't work, we were at everybody's mercy. It's dumb fucking luck I'm here at all. When it worked, we could be the killers. It's incredibly easy to pick the weak off one by one. You think we make a couple of sacrifices here and there and the herd's gonna survive? It's not. You're making the entire herd weak.

[ He raises his gaze, looking skyward. The technology on this world is a lot closer to what he's used to, but he doesn't know if they've made it off the planet yet. More important than that, though, since it's on his mind again — where he came from. What he'd been doing before the entire place had been consumed. Whom he'd been with; what she'd said.

And looks back down at Akua. ]

We pull everyone through one gate, we grow the tribe, we increase everyone's chances of survival. Because there's no going back — [ spoken through gritted teeth, because even if Akua could have any point to begin with, it begins and ends with the very premise of her faction being fatally flawed — ] so we give them a place they can actually live, and we defend it.

[ A jutted chin, a challenge. ]

Have you thought about it?