: possibility that Durandal nabbed the SO on his second pass by Tau Ceti
: (remember, he dropped by Sol Core to give them warp-capable missiles/FTL
: tech and later witnessed the destruction of Tau Ceti IV, per "What
: About Bob?", Terminal 1).
This has always been my assumption. Durandal folds out of Tau Ceti, explores the galaxy, finds Lh'owon and thinks, say, that cyborg could be useful here, folds back to Tau Ceti, and nabs you.
Conveniently, it's never explained just *how* much faster than light Pfhor starships go, only that they operate in a similar way to teleporters. In my headcanon, they can travel nigh-instantaneously (or perhaps at the speed of quantum entaglement) between any two points provided there is a clear line of sight.
As for the M2 - M∞ jump, I've always understood "Robert Blake and his men... were the only human survivors of the original Tau Ceti colony" to imply that you do not survive the Trih Xeem event. Whether it's because Durandal leaves you to work on your tan, or because the Wrkncacnter escapes doesn't matter: you die, and so you keep looping in pattern buffer timelines until you wind up on Ne Cede Malis.
