No, it is not a competition, and she feels as keenly for his loss as she does her own. "I'm sorry," she says, knowing how inadequate those two words can be in the face of such tragedy. "Who are the Shontine? Are they your allies?"

That does make his enemy's offense sound rather impenetrable. "It only destroys biological matter? Or does it destroy your ships, too?" She frowns over the devastation such a weapon must bring. "Our enemies, they are robots, but biological in nature. They can resurrect -- download their consciousness into a new body after they die. But their weapons aren't any more advanced than ours... its their sheer advantage in numbers that's the problem."