Beka is walking down a corridor of the Andromeda Ascendant only 5 hours after waking from her comatose state from being rid of the Abyss's influence when Harper finds her.

"Hey boss. Where ya headed?"

"I was just going to thank Rommie for helping me. She left the medbay so fast I didn't get a chance."

"What a coincidence. I was just on my way to see her too. She seemed a little off earlier and I wanted to make sure there was no residual damage to any of her systems."

"Off how?"

"I don't know really. She just seemed kinda shaken."

They both stop and look up when Andromeda's Holgraph forms in front of them. "You're right Harper. I tried to talk to her when she was heading towards her quarters and she was extremely upset. She refused to re-establish our link and demanded privacy mode as soon as she entered. I haven't heard from her since."

"Upset how?" Beka asks worriedly. Rommie is usually very good at controlling her emotions. That her AI counterpart even noticed something was concerning.

Hologram looks down for a minute and when she looks back at them there is almost a guilty expression on her face. "When we were being attacked by the Abyss she cut off as much of our link as possible trying to keep it from me. She took it on by herself trying to shield me. I don't know what she went through to do that but when she left the medlab she was shaking violently and crying. I tried to talk to her, to thank her, but she simply shook her head and began running towards her quarters. I haven't felt her at all since she engaged privacy mode."

"I don't like the sound of that," Beka admits, having gone through her own hell at the Abyss's hands. How would Rommie, who is still learning to deal with emotions, handle such a thing? Exchanging a look with a silent Harper, Beka takes off at a run with the nearly frantic engineer right behind her. "Andromeda override privacy mode Authorization Beka Valentine on Rommie's quarters."

They arrive at the avatar's door less than a minute later. Holo-Andromeda once again materializes in front of them but this time there is no mistaking the emotion on her face. She opens her mouth but seems to be in shock and unable to speak. Not waiting for an explanation Beka and Harper rush in the doors as soon as they open only to come to a complete halt at the sight in front of them.

Up on command deck Captain Dylan Hunt has been watching an increasingly agitated Trance without comment when the silence is broken by the main AI the same moment as Trance suddenly gasps out loud and goes stiff.

"Dylan," Andromeda begins, addressing him by name rather than her usual 'Captain'. She, like her hologram self, seems in shock and unable to say anything else. A very bad feeling begins to sink into him only to bloom into full-blown fear at Trance's sorrowful whisper.

"Oh no! Rommie."