Summery: Sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a faithful
crew. They started aboard a salvage
ship, the old Eureka Maru. They boarded
on a salvage job, a salvage job. But
space, it started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. Were it not for the work of its faithful
crew the Andromeda would been lost.
Ship set sail on this unlikely of all missions. With . . .
A/N: That
was supposed to be the Gillian's Island theme, horribly messed up I know. Where is that 3- hour tour part? Why did the Howells have so much stuff
anyway? Also if I were on a desert
island I wouldn't have wasted time building so many houses. The professor would have been forced to live
with the rest of the men. Anyway as it
says in the other summery, this was written because of the great response I got
to the last paragraph of "Stranded". I
hope you like this one too.
Disclaimer: I own nothing and am getting no money, but
you probably knew that.
Dylan sighed as he thought about
his situation. They certainly were a
motley crew. Here he was, a man from 300 years in the past who had betrayed by
a Neitzchien under his command now had another Nietzchien in his crew, as well
as an engineer who had been tortured by Neitzchiens and seen his family killed
by the Maggog. Who now worked with a Maggog and had a tolerance and even a
friendship with him based on all the time they had spent serving on a ship with
a purple girl who's past was fuzzier than a lifesaver you find at the bottom of
your purse and a woman who treated her ship like it was her child. Now that woman had given up her command,
probably one of the most important things in her life, to serve on a ship whose
computer walked among them.
Dylan
thought about his crew, the whole wacky bunch had just stopped the destruction
of an entire planet. It had taken the
help of every member of the crew. Dylan
had to admit, this wasn't the crew he would have chosen. They all had quirks that probably wouldn't
have fit in with a typical High Guard crew.
Of course, he had to admit it was a different time. He'd grown up with his parents, on the
paradise planet of Tarn Vera. He'd gone
to school, attended the High Guard Academy, become an officer, and was engaged
to be married when it had all ended. He
couldn't imagine being buried in bills and debts like Beka. Growing up
wondering things like, "Who's going to die today? Am I?" like Harper. This
different time bred different people.
Still, this crew had become his family, very fast. Now, he really, really knew every single
member of his crew. 300 years ago, when
a crewman had a cold the idea of calling Captain Hunt was laughable. He was the captain over thousands. Last week Harper had a nosebleed and Dylan
had gone down to check on him. Not that he would trade any of them for
anything, not even Tyr.
Trance was a mystery; but a sweet,
kind mystery at least. They didn't know
her species, powers, or past. All they
knew was how she was, innocent and in love with life. He supposed that's all they needed to know about her. But he doubted what they saw was all they
got. She was vague, but it was clear
she still had some cards hidden up her sleeve.
She seemed almost clairvoyant, not that she would really admit
much. But, at least her motives were
clear. After himself, Dylan thought
Trance had the most faith in a revived Commonwealth. She wanted a world free of many of the problems in this new
time. She wanted a happy place and
believed in a perfect universe. As soon as she heard the distress call she
insisted they help. She was sure they
could save those people. It had been
her simple idea to simply not let the sun go nova. Amazingly, that's what they wound up doing.
Rev was a puzzle. He was a Maggog; he's a Wayist. He was suffering, denying his natural
impulses, because he had what many Maggog don't, a conscience. He was so at peace with the universe, Dylan
envied him. That's why he went to the
monk for guidance so often. Rev had a
selfless, charitable nature Dylan had been sorely missing in this new time. He
was only selfish enough to work towards atonement. Atonement for what his nature had made him do, and atonement for
his unrepentant brethren. Rev had a serene, believable nature that had calmed
the panicking populous better than Dylan ever could have.
Harper. How the hell did he do it?
How? He had lived a nightmare
surrounded by death and misery for 20 years.
He had seen his family horribly killed, been right there and seen
it. He had watched Nietzchiens loot
and ravage his home. Watched them take his neighbors for slaves. They had tortured him. In his short life he had already been
tortured. Tortured by the best
tormenters in the galaxy. Dylan didn't
know the specifics of Nietzchien torture, but he knew Nietzchiens and knew they
had to be the best. He couldn't even imagine living through what Harper
had. What was Harper doing now? Well, this morning he built a device that
stopped a sun from going nova, a concept that yesterday was completely unheard
of even trying. He would never add to Harper's swollen ego, but he thought
Harper was a genius. Now, he was down in the machine shop, laughing and
flirting with Trance while he took a break from fixing some gizmo. Harper's
reasons for staying were probably based on the 3 hots and a cot. Of course, he also went where Beka went,
she'd saved him from some dirty backwater planet, possibly Earth itself,
perhaps some other dingy spaceport, and he was loyal to her for life. Maybe he
didn't believe in the Commonwealth yet, but who would blame him? But, Dylan
could see him softening to the idea. How did he do it? How did he live with the nightmares and
memories but just keep going on? How
did he keep from curling up and falling apart?
He was strong. A lot stronger
than anyone gave him credit for. A
survivor, he just kept going forward.
Beka had grown up with her father;
living hand to mouth, waiting for the big pay off that never came. She had her own business, but given it up to
follow his dream. It seemed to him that
Beka liked the idea of the Commonwealth, but wasn't too sure it would
work. She was a great captain
herself. She cared about her ship and
her crew, and got 100% loyalty in return.
She was with him now partially because of her love for the Maru,
partially because of her loyalty to the promise she had made, and hopefully
because a part of her believed they might be able to make the universe better.
It was her superb piloting today that had allowed them to get close enough to
the sun without being destroyed themselves.
He could see the concentration on her face as they just barely avoided
skimming the sun's molten surface. She
may not have attended High Guard flight school, the best there was, but she was
one of the best he'd seen.
Tyr was almost as much of a mystery
as Trance. Why was he here? What were his motives, his true
intentions? Dylan knew they were
whatever was good for him, but why did he stay? He was without a pride, something devastating to a
Neitzchein. The Neitzcheins were a
people who valued family above absolutely everything. Tyr doesn't have a family.
He was a mercenary, a high price mercenary at that. But he had left that venture, with the money
it provided and the chance to impress a Neitzchein female, to stay on
Andromeda. Where he had pretty much no
chance of finding a Neitzchien wife.
Unless Beka secretly had some Neitzchien friends to introduce him to,
Tyr seemed cut off from that option.
But he stayed. He seemed blunt enough, but he was hiding some plan. Hunt was glad he did stay; his weapons skills
were better than those of the Andromeda's original weapons officer. It probably came from all the practice he
got. Today, in an expert display, he
shot the retrofitted torpedo into the very core of the sun, keeping it from
going nova and saving an entire population from destruction.
They were an odd bunch. They would
never salute, stand and announce his arrival.
He couldn't even see them calling him Captain Hunt. They went AWOL and made demands to be picked
up. They all had flaws and problems his
old crew never had. But, they did save
an entire world, so he'd have to cut them some slack.