Simple Shadows

by Rae the Hyper Purple Person

The Maru goes on a field trip that turns sour... Guest starring Q and introducing a new character! Sequal to "The Toughest Choices"

Disclaimers: Yes, I own Andromeda… What? I don't? ::sighs:: Oh yeah. …That's right. Tribune does. …I guess that means I don't own Star Trek either, huh? ::big sigh:: Okay, I don't own anyone from Star Trek either. Paramount does.

Spoilers: ummm… none ::grins::

Archive: Yes, please… but ask first : )

Author's Notes: "Andromeda – the Purple Version"

Episode 1: A Certain Degree of Uncertainty

Episode 2: Her Lavender Way

Episode 3: The Toughest Choices

Episode 4: THIS FIC! ::giggles::

1 Andromeda – the Purple Version

1.1 "Simple Shadows"

By Rae the Hyper Purple Girl

"Sometimes, change can take a millennia to come to pass… But when the Andromeda was forced to her knees, it only took 3.5 seconds."

-- The Many Ends of Time, a look into the Continuum by the Gemini Twins C.Y. 10205

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"Dylan? You wanted to see me?" Rommie asked as she stepped up behind Dylan on the Observation Deck.

"Yes," he agreed, "Your daily report?"

The android nodded and came to stand in front of him. "The Andromeda is still in route to Nasacino Drift and we are running low on power. Harper thinks there's an energy drain in one of the relays, but with everything going on and Beka still out of commission, he's got his hands full."

Dylan Hunt sighed. "Time until we reach the Drift?"

"Approximately three hours… IF Tyr gets the slip-jumps right this time."

"You know, I am starting to understand why so many humans resented the Slip Stream way back when… It's too darn frustrating," he muttered with a teasing playful twinkle in his eye that made Rommie want to smile.

But then it was back to business again. "What is Beka's status?"

"She is recovering… but she shouldn't be up on her feet and working yet. Beka's still very weak…"

"You make it sound like she's trying to immediately jump back into her old routine…" Dylan looked down at Rommie and the expression on her face made him wonder. He shook his head and frowned, looking away from the android. "This is…this is just great!" he exclaimed sarcastically. Leave it to Beka to try to act like nothing happened and go against orders instead of resting… Didn't she realize that this was only going to hurt her more?

"Dylan, this IS Beka we're talking about," Rommie gently reminded him. "Did you really expect her to be any different?"

"No… I guess not," Hunt admitted, turning back to face Rommie again. "Have you tried to reason with her?"

"Can a beach reason with a hurricane?"

"I'll take that as a 'Yes, I tried… but I got nowhere…'" Dylan muttered, gazing out at the stars for a moment.

"And Dylan?" Rommie began.

"I know… the Than," he said, frowning again. "Have they answered our message?"

"Yes, and they insist that the situation is desperate. The Overdiamond is requesting that we assist the colony immediately."

"Did you explain our current situation to the Than leader?"

"I did, but he was still insistent. Sir, I think this may be a bigger problem than they are letting on… They might think it is too risky to explain further over subspace channels…"

"It's not like the Than to ask for our help…" Dylan mused. If they had done that, it MUST be pretty bad… "Alright, inform them that we'll be on our way. Tell Tyr to exit the Steam."

Rommie closed her eyes, and a split second later, it was done. "What about the supplies?"

"Got it covered," Dylan told her as he started out of the room. "But first, I think I'll have a chat with Beka…"

The android watched her Captain and friend leave the room, before returning to her duties… She really hoped that Dylan could get Beka to see reason, if that was where he was going… She was relatively certain that he was planning to do so by the way he had looked when he left, but she could never be sure… Humans, she had discovered, were …difficult to impossible to fully understand.

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Trance poked her head into the Machine Shop and listened to the semi- distant hammering of someone, who could only be Harper, working inside. With a very mischievous, yet innocently purple smile, she tiptoed up behind him… "Hi, Harper!" she said sweetly, and then giggled when he jumped and whirled around.

Harper looked ready to bolt away, but as he took in whom he saw before him, he told himself to relax and calm down… but his heart was still racing… "Trance!" he complained. "Why do you—How do you—Oh never mind!" He crossed his arms and mumbled something about people who dare to sneak up on freakin' super geniuses.

"So… whatcha doing?" she wondered, still wearing that playful grin, struggling to hold back amused giggles.

"Working."

"How come?" There was a ping of hurt curiousness thrown into her voice, and Harper rolled his eyes.

"Why do you think?" he asked sarcastically, grinning at her to show he was teasing.

"Well…actually…I was asking because you aren't supposed to be in here." A pleasant violet smile harmlessly drifted onto her face as she spoke.

When he turned back to face her again, she smiled even more innocently. "What?"

"What are you talking about? …And please make it quick. The resident super genius is very busy right now…"

"Well," Trance explained hesitantly, "Ummm… You're…supposed to be…somewhere else."

Oh yeah. That explained a lot! Humph! "And where am I supposed to be exactly?" Harper demanded, annoyed. He, unlike Trance, did not enjoy these little guessing games… particularly when he had a lot of repair work to do…

"On the Maru," she said quietly in a breathy voice, like it was obvious… or at least, SHOULD have been clear to him.

"Trance, I am really very busy right now, so run along. Harper's working."

"But, Harper, YOU have to go too."

"What?"

"I can't go without you! Who would pilot through the Slip Stream?" she asked with a grin. Trance knew he had no idea what she was talking about and the confused look on his face was priceless!

"Alright, where are we going?" Harper asked with an annoyed sigh. Fine. If she wasn't going to leave, then he'd humor her at least…

She laughed at his question. "Oh, like you don't know! …You are so silly."

Harper's eyebrows shot up. What was she talking about? "Just pretend that I don't know and tell me," he tried, ready to get the information out of her.

"Nasacino Drift?" the Purple Girl asked, shaking her head to make it seem like this information should have been apparent to him. "We have to get supplies, remember?"

Harper groaned and put down his tools. "Trance-babe, I think you misunderstood. The Andromeda is going to Nasacino Drift. Not the Maru. And not us. For one thing, I have loads of work to do and for another—"

"You …don't want to go?" Trance asked in a pouting voice, looking extra pathetic and naïve just for effect.

Harper looked down at her pretty sad face and shook his head, "That's not it at all, Trance! …I would go, but—"

The gloomy expression disappeared in a flash from her purple face and she grabbed his hand and began to pull him toward the exit. "Yay! Then let's go… Dylan said that they needed to get back into Slip Stream soon, so we have to hurry!"

"What? What about the Andromeda?" he asked as they reached the hall.

"She has to go somewhere else too and we get to take the Maru!"

"Oh great… The Boss isn't going to be happy about this…" Harper muttered, hurrying along with Trance toward the docking bay.

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As the doors to the exercising room withdrew into the surrounding walls, Dylan heard shouting erupting from a strained, tired Beka who was not about to admit she needed rest. He paused and waited outside for a moment, letting the doors slowly close again without being noticed by the angry blonde within.

Andromeda's Hologram A.I. flickered into being opposite him and sent a look in the direction of the door. "I thought I'd try reasoning with her again… It's not turning out too well… She has been using several …colorful…metaphors…"

"At least you tried," Dylan said, sighing. He wasn't looking forward to this. "I guess it's my turn to face the storm…"

He walked toward the doors again and they opened, revealing Beka yelling at a display screen with her back to the door. "And if you THINK you can tell me what to do, then think again! I'm the First Officer! YOU are just a piece of twisted metal TRYING to look like a half-decent replica of a ship!" she thundered, throwing her hands about in various enraged gestures. "ENGAGE PRIVACY MODE!"

The Andromeda sent her a disgusted look, but said anyway, "Privacy Mode engaged," and the screen went blank.

Beka stood very still for a moment, sensing that she wasn't alone. Menacingly, she turned on her heals and gaped when she saw Dylan standing there… He…didn't look pleased… "Ugh…hi…" she mumbled, blushing a bit. She knew she probably shouldn't have been so angry with the Andromeda and yelled at her, but… she was just… being so…so aggravating! All that A.I. was saying was telling her to get some rest, get some rest, get some rest… She was beginning to remind Beka of an annoying parrot.

"Hello," Dylan replied curtly, not bothering to hide the disappointment on his face.

Okay, now he was being annoying too! "Did you know that you ship tried to threaten me?" she demanded, no longer keeping her anger on a short leash around Dylan.

"Threatened you?" Dylan asked, unimpressed.

"That's right!" Beka exclaimed, glaring at the screen where the A.I. had been shortly before. "She said that if I didn't go get some rest," Beka said in a mocking tone, "that she would confine me to Med. Deck and sedate me! Can you BELIEVE that?"

Dylan looked at her in amazement. He couldn't believe that Andromeda hadn't done that already with the way Beka was acting. For a moment, he didn't say anything… but when he did, his words cut Beka down. "I'm ashamed of you, Rebecca Valentine."

Beka just stared at him for a minute. "You're ashamed of ME?" she repeated in amazed mockery. "I'm not the one who threatened your fist officer! I'm not the one who repeated herself a million times – over and over and o…ver… Ugh." She trailed off and her anger partially subsided as she realized that she, in all actuality, was doing several of the same things that she was complaining about Andromeda doing…

He just smiled wryly at her… a smile that appeared in his eyes more so than it did in an actual smile.

"Okay, okay… I may be repeating myself…and I may me over reacting… But that doesn't change the fact that she threatened me!" Beka insisted, not ready to admit that she was to blame for her outburst.

"Beka, you are proving her point, you know," Dylan told her considerately. "You are irrational and overly emotional… Two signs that you are not getting enough rest. And you look like—" Beka's eyes lit up with fire, and he reconsidered his words… "—You look …tired…"

"Tired," she repeated dryly. She made a very unattractive face and lowered her eyes to the ground for a second. "Yeah, well… I can't argue with you there," she admitted. "But that doesn't mean that I have to be locked away in Medical forever!" Beka finished tensely, glancing back at Dylan with determination, ready to do or say what it took to make her point.

"No one said anything about forever… Andromeda is just worried about you, Beka," Dylan said, walking closer to her. "AND… If you will promise to get your rest… And if you will follow Andromeda's medical advice, I might be willing to let you return to duty." Beka looked shocked and very caught off guard, so he finished with, "For very short periods of time, of course… But at least it would give you something to do while you're awake."

Desperate for something to occupy her time, Beka was just about ready to agree to anything at that point… But she rolled her eyes and acted annoyed just for his benefit. …Couldn't have him thinking that she could get that desperate, now could she? "FINE! …But make sure she won't sedate me!"

Hunt nodded and made a note to mention that to Rommie… No sedating. He'd promised… And he wasn't worried in the least about Beka trying to avoid getting her rest anymore… She had made a promise, and he had never known her to break a promise before, and she didn't seem like she would now…

Beka growled and started out of the room. Ugh! …She'd just remembered that Rommie had told her to go get some rest and take a painkiller before she'd started yelling… and she had just agreed to follow her advice, so that meant it was back to Medical for Beka Valentine.

As she stomped past him, Dylan said in a much calmer, more normal tone, "There was something else."

She stopped and didn't even turn back around to face him. This was getting to be down right maddening! "What?"

"I sent Trance and Harper out on the Maru to get the supplies we need… I hope you don't mind."

"YOU DID WHAT?" Beka asked, whirling back around. "How could you do that? Yeah, sure, you're the Captain, but that is MY ship – NOT yours! And I thought the Andromeda was going shopping! Nowhere in that statement do I hear anything about the MARU going on a field trip!"

"The Than," he explained, contrasting her heated temper with a cool calm, "sent out a distress call. The Overdiamond as asked that we go to the aid of one of their newest colonies on Jemen-Llar."

She instantly changed moods. "The Than? Asking for our help? …That sounds serious."

"My thoughts exactly."

"But… My…ship…" she mumbled helplessly, too tired to argue anymore. Wow… The lack of energy had crept up on her without warning…Maybe Andromeda was right about needing more sleep and less activity…

"It'll be okay, Beka. It's in good hands… Trance and Harper will take good care of the Maru," Dylan said, putting an arm around her shoulders and leading her back toward Medical.

"That's what I'm afraid of…"

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"All set, Trance-Babe?"

"Ready!" she called up to him from her post on the Maru's bridge. "Rommie is opening the bay doors… Remember what she told you: there's no race to see who can get off the ship fastest—"

"I know, I know! Its not a race, so take it slow and don't run into the docking bay door this time," he finished, sarcasm lacing his voice. "Don't worry, mon chere, Seamus Harper will take goooood care of things."

"And just for the record," he added, grinning, "that little accident was not my fault, if I remember correctly…"

Trance frowned at him as he turned back around in the Slip-Chair… "Well, just be careful," she said in a beautifully innocent purple tone.

And Harper gripped the controls, then started flying the Maru out into the void of space… He took it nice and slow, for Trance's sake, of course, but even so, the right edge of the ship inched closer and closer to the rim of the docking bay door… Harper grinned and Trance watched the main viewer in silent terror.

At the last possible moment, he put the peddle to the metal and screeched out of the bay, swerving to the left JUST in time to narrowly miss ramming into the door…

Trance let out a sigh of frustrated relief, then glared at Harper. "I thought you said you'd be careful!" she said with a hint of fearful annoyance.

"I said I'd be careful, I didn't say I'd drive like an old lady," he replied, tossing a grin back at her and chuckling as they pulled away from the Andromeda.

Once they were a safe distance away, the Maru entered Slip Stream and they were on their way to the Drift.

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After insisting that she get to take her duty shift SOONER instead of later, Beka stood idly by while Tyr tried to pilot through the Slip Stream. She felt so useless there with nothing to do but watch… She cursed the Nietzcheans who had dared to attack her ship! …And the fact that the unidentified Ubers were still alive, well, and freely traveling through space didn't make the feeling any better. How could they have escaped so easily? …It… didn't seem fair… And to say it didn't make sense would have been an understatement.

The Andromeda bucked and rotated from side to side as Tyr navigated. …The Stream was unusually rough and difficult to navigate today, it seemed. Beka was holding onto the console in front of her just to keep from toppling over…

Tyr was getting very agitated and scoffed at the Slip Stream when it suddenly changed and he had to compensate… He was concentrating twice as hard as normal and was determined to get it right this time. The numerous flight navigation errors he had done from earlier that day were bringing themselves to the surface in his memory, and for Tyr, that served to keep him determined not to fail this time… To do so would have put a bad light on his genes and his honor… Not to mention his pride. "Exiting Slip Stream…Now!"

After emerging into normal space, the Andromeda scanned the region to get its bearings… "Welcome to the Jemen System. Good work, Tyr."

Tyr stepped out of the Slip-Chair and marched over to his station, masking his annoyed anger with a blank expression. Andromeda loved to rub his mistakes in his face! Grrr…

"Andromeda, send the standard greeting to the Than colony and inform Dylan that we've arrived," Beka ordered, rushing through the dull part of this mission as quickly as she could.

There was a pause, and then Andromeda's hologram frowned and double-checked her sensor readings… "Beka, something is very wrong…"

That got Beka's attention immediately. "What is it?"

"The Than colony… its just… not there."

"How is that possible? " the First Officer asked.

"I …don't know…" Andromeda answered slowly, trying to digest this information in her main computer banks.

"Are you…sure we're in the right system?" Beka tried.

"Positive," the on-screen image answered. "The star charts and astronomical data match perfectly with the Jemen System… But…the colony is just …gone…"

"Perhaps we arrived too late," Tyr mused emotionlessly.

"I don't think so," Andromeda's Hologram answered. "There are no signs that a battle was fought here… No debris, no scarring on the planet surface… Just…nothing."

"In fact," the screen image continued, much to the hologram's annoyance, "I see no evidence that a colony of any sort ever existed in this system…"

"Notify Dylan." The implications of that hadn't even begun to bring themselves to Beka's attention, but she knew that whatever was going on, it wasn't going to be just another joy ride; this was serious…

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Trance skipped through the crowded corridors of Nasacino Drift, holding Harper's hand so that they wouldn't get separated. "Ooo! This is so NEAT!" she exclaimed happily, although with all the noise, it was difficult to hear.

Harper smiled at Trance. One of the things he loved most about her was her ability to see beauty in its many forms… She thought this Drift was neat… but all he could see were pickpockets, thieves, and cutthroats just looking for an unexpecting or unaware victim. Well, all that plus crowds of aliens, merchants, and supplies for sale, but still… "Head down that way, Trance," he directed her, steering around some pretty menacing looking people who had been watching the purple girl. He sent them a dirty look as they changed directions to avoid them.

The purple girl was not as oblivious to these things as she seemed to be, but she was willing to over look them to see the pretty part of things… She liked that part better. And, unawareness would never have been in the same sentence with her name. She knew exactly what was going on… but since she had the power to get out of a situation in a snap if things got bad enough, she didn't see the need to worry about it. "So, what's first on the list?"

They came to a stop inside a little shop and took a look at the flexi in Harper's hand. He read a few things off to her, and the two of them set out to find the things they needed.

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Dylan jogged onto Command, wondering what was going on. "Beka?"

"The Than colony …its… not here."

"I see no evidence that it ever existed… and no traces of a battle in the system," Andromeda added through the holographic projection.

He shook his head. "But we received a message from them not two days ago, Rommie!" Hunt said, chuckling disbelievingly. "You must be mistaken. Try reinitializing your sensors."

The hologram didn't seem impressed by his suggestion, but she followed orders, closing her eyes. "Still nothing on the planet surface or the surrounding space…but… Wait… A ship just …appeared."

"Appeared?" Tyr asked in his silky tone, raising an eyebrow.

"One minute, there was nothing, and the next, it was there…" the hologram said, her eyes squinting shut as she tried to understand this. "I don't recognize the design… Its not any type of ship I've encountered before…"

"You must be misreading the data," the screen image told the hologram.

"I am NOT!" the hologram insisted. "See?"

The on-screen image made a face and blipped away… She DID see it… How…odd…

"Open a channel," Dylan ordered, shrugging. "And check the sensor net… If there's a malfunction, I want to know about it."

"Channel open," Tyr reported, bored.

"Alien vessel, this is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Systems Commonwealth. Please respond."

A soft silence was the only reply… and after a few moments, the quiet static took on a chilling, forbidding under tone.

"Rommie, you sent the message, didn't you?" Dylan asked, crossing his arms and watching the ship on the main viewer.

"Yes, Dylan, but there has yet to be a response," the android explained, although she wasn't sure why she was defending her counterparts…

"Try sending it on different channels… Vary the language used. Since we don't recognize them, they probably don't speak Common…"

Andromeda did as he asked, but still their only answer was lingering silence. Beka and the Captain exchanged glances and went back to staring at the forward screen, which now held the image of the strangest vessel Valentine had ever laid eyes on. It was of a green sludge hue and oddly shaped…

In a way, it reminded Dylan of a bud from a plant of Trance's in the Hydroponics Garden…

Why were they being so quiet? …Couldn't they see that they were talking to them? He wanted to discuss the colony with them… Perhaps they knew what had happened to it, or… where it really was… Or…something…

But as he pondered this, Andromeda broke the silence by saying, "Sir, I'm reading a massive power buildup in the forward part of the …pod—"

A vibrant energy weapon of green flame took the form of a beam and zoomed toward the Andromeda. The pod ship's fury was unleashed! The little thing was only a fraction of the mighty Andromeda's size, but she sure packed a punch!

Beka was in the pilot's chair in an instant and pushed hard against the controls, trying desperately to escape the brunt of the weapon's impact.

"Evasive—"

Hunt's order was cut short when the ship shuddered violently, knocking them all to the floor. In the following instants, the hologram's expression turned to one of concern and nearly panic as she flickered out of existence against her will. All around the bridge, displays and screens blinked out… Only the emergency lights stayed lit, dimly illuminating the Command Center of the Andromeda Ascendant.

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"Ugh!" Trance moaned as she hoisted a box up into a storage compartment on the Maru. That box was heavy!

Harper followed with an even bigger crate in hand and slid it into place, dusting himself off afterwards. He sighed and looked over at Trance. She was obviously tired… and they both needed a break from all the shopping. "Hey, Trance?"

The purple girl lifted her gaze from the floor to look at him when he spoke. "Hmmm?"

"Why don't we take a little break and go get some lunch? …How's that sound?"

"Okay. Where do you want to eat?"

Five minutes and a long stroll later, Trance Gemini and Seamus Harper seated themselves at a table in a nicely furnished restaurant. Trance smiled as she looked over the little flexi with the menu on it. "What can I get for you, Miss?" the waiter asked without looking at her.

"Ummm… I'll have that," Trance said sweetly, pointing to what she wanted on the menu.

"And for you…s-sir?" The waiter had done a double-take when he'd looked down at the lady's menu and seen a …purple hand… He'd seen some pretty strange things on this Drift… and this wouldn't have amazed him so much if he hadn't looked down and seen a long purple tail as well…

Harper sneered at the man disgustedly. For a moment, he couldn't understand why this guy was acting that way toward Trance… But then he realized that other people weren't as used to seeing purple as he was… But still! Purple and sparkly was the best! Why couldn't people see that?

"I'll have the same," he finally told the waiter, who cowered in fear under Harper's glare and quickly disappeared.

Before Harper or Trance could say another word, he delivered their drinks and briskly withdrew again. Trance gratefully smiled at her glass of sweet nectar and lifted it to her lips to take a sip… As she looked up, a briefly visible flash of light caught her attention and she stared into the shadows past Harper, trying to see…what…it was… OH NO!

Harper sent Trance a curious look and started to turn to look over his shoulder, but Trance wrapper her tail around his arm and gently turned him back toward her as she stood up and walked toward him. "Ummm… Maybe eating isn't such a good idea after all… Why don't we just finish up here and then we can get back to the Andromeda?"

The purple girl tossed one last glance into the shadows and pulled a confused Harper out of the restaurant…

As they left, a shadowy hooded figure peered after them with twinkling eyes… eyes that held the galaxy in their depths…

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Beka struggled to climb back up into the Slip-Chair and glanced around Command as Dylan and Tyr hurried to their feet. Everyone seemed okay so far…

"Where's Rommie?" Dylan asked, hiding the unexpected panic he felt.

Tyr and Beka looked around through the darkness, but it was Dylan who found her… The android was lying in an unmoving heap on the floor, her face hidden from view… "Rommie. Rommie, are you okay?" he asked, kneeling beside her and carefully shaking her shoulder, as if he was trying to wake her up.

Beka decided to get to work and start looking for the nasty little pod ship that had attacked them. She punched buttons on the control panel before her, but nothing happened… Only the forward viewer was still functioning. "Andromeda? What's going on?"

When Rommie didn't answer him, Dylan turned her to face him and held her arms to support her. "Rommie!" he exclaimed in a hoarse whisper, shaking her little.

Her eyes slowly opened and she blinked… What was going on? Why were—"Dylan? What…what happened to me?"

The First Officer made a face and kicked the foot of the console, hoping to somehow wake Andromeda up… She still hadn't responded yet!

"We were attacked—"

"Yes… That's right," Rommie mumbled as Dylan helped her to her feet. She brought a hand to her forehead and squinted her eyes shut… That felt so weird… "The …weapon was energy based, Dylan."

Dylan let go of Rommie and moved to try accessing the computer through the station nearest him, remembering the ship for the first time, but the android immediately started to collapse again, so he rushed back to her side and caught her arm to hold her up. "What happened?"

"I… My main computer network was either disrupted or destroyed by the energy blast… I'm operating on emergency power only…"

"How is this possible?" Tyr growled under his breath. They were on the most powerful ship in the known galaxies! How could a tiny little thing like that hurt them?

"Are you alright?" Beka asked, never taking her eyes off of the main viewer, which still displayed a staticy image of the unidentified pod ship. "You shouldn't have been affected by that… Should you?"

Rommie, the one whose counterparts boasted having a brain the size of a planet, didn't have a clue… She blinked again in confusion as Dylan helped her stand. Her power supply shouldn't have been affected… It shouldn't have! It had no connection to the rest of the ship.

And as for the Andromeda, Rommie was boggled by the nature of the new ship's weapons. Energy weapons… It had…felt so…strange…to be attacked by the very thing that gave you life. It would have been like attacking humans with their own blood…

Like a virus…

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The two Andromeda crewmembers stepped into yet another shopping center and Harper saw Trance take a quick, tense look around and then relax… like she was expecting to see something – or someone – and then hadn't… He knew that she probably wouldn't be willing to explain her actions to him, but that didn't keep him from wondering…

And he would have kept his questions in the back of his mind if, after a few minutes of shopping in a bazaar or store, Trance hadn't freaked out and insisted that they find another place to buy the supplies.

But she had…

And it all happened so quickly… in the blink of an eye or the snap of a finger…

No, this time he was going to be ready… He was going to see what was up with Trance …and make sure that whatever was bothering her got dealt with. Immediately.

As they stepped inside, the purple one began her slow, cautious scan of the people and things within the store. Harper followed her gaze and smiled to himself when Trance found nothing wrong and continued inside. It was almost amusing; he was supposed to be the paranoid one around here!

Her fingers were intertwined with his and as she walked on ahead, this pulled him gently after her, but he quickly caught up and walked beside her. He was careful to avoid stepping on her bouncy purple tail… Sure, he used to tease her a lot about that tail of hers… but he secretly liked it; it was kinda cute and added to her pretty purple charm…

But as they spent more time in the little market of smaller shops interconnected by walkways and wide halls, Trance suddenly tightened her grip on his hand, frightened. But he was in the middle of bartering, so he couldn't exactly pause to see what was wrong. "I'll give you four hundred thrones for it – no more. It's not even worth that!"

"But my dear sir, this is a rare and delicate instrument—"

"Yeah, and just barely functioning! It's going to take me at least a good three days to fix that piece of junk up!"

"Harper…" Trance murmured in his ear, trying to pull him away.

"Not now, Trance."

"Is there some problem?" the slimy looking merchant asked, indicating the purple girl with a wave of his hand.

"That is none of your concern," Harper replied, glaring at him.

"Perhaps… I would be more wiling to make a trade. You're little purple monkey pet for this. You are obviously having discipline problems with it… I'm sure I could…arrange to have it tamed and sold for a fair price…"

Harper's eyes flared; he was really starting to hate the people on this Drift... "Listen pal, and listen good – cuz I'm only going to say this once," he growled, grabbing the smaller man's collar and pulling him forward. The merchant swallowed loudly and tried to look away, but Harper wouldn't allow it. "That 'purple monkey' over there is worth far more to me than anything you could offer! And she's NOT a pet. Understand, you little creep? …And if you don't I may have to—"

"No, no! I see perfectly," the worm said quickly. "Not for sale… Why didn't you just say so?"

Harper really wanted to hurt him right then, but Trance pulled on his arm again. "Harper, I really think we should go… Maybe the supplies we need are…um…that way?" She hadn't been paying attention to the conversation, so she had no idea what they were talking about… She'd been watching the crowd with a careful, fearful gaze…

He roughly released the man and sent him one last glare before turning back to Trance… "C'mon. We can get the supplies somewhere else where people—" Harper's eyes went wide with amazement as he stared past her…

"Harper?" she asked slowly, concerned. Then she realized what he must have been staring at with a wince and spun around to see…

A cloak was drawn up around a petite woman's shoulders, nearly making her seem invisible in the shadows she insisted upon residing in… She was staring intensely at Trance and Harper… and that seemed to draw them toward her, much to Trance's dismay.

As they approached, the woman removed her hood, allowing them to see her face for the first time. Long blonde hair that appeared to glow white in the dim light of the bazaar cascaded down her back and glittered. Deep dark eyes stared out at them with a veil of wisdom that no creature should possess. Her stare was hard and cold… distant… but these things were not any sorts of special features that would have a stunning effect on anyone… What really caught Harper off guard was the bluish purple skin that sparkled like Trance's… His gaze shifted downward and he noticed a slender tail coiled about her at the base of the cloak to hide it.

He looked back at Trance with an expression of pure surprise and curiousness, asking his unspoken question in that brief instant when their eyes met.

"Yes, Harper… She's… one of my kind…"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beka looked out at the little ship that had attacked them through the main viewer. It had been quite a while since the initial attack, and the pod showed no signs of re-powering its weapons at all…

Dylan managed to manually access the Andromeda's most recent data and calculations and inserted the chip into Rommie's hand for her to scan and read. She closed her fingers around in and shut her eyes, tiredly sitting on the floor with her back against the base of a console. After what seemed like forever, she opened her eyes and returned the chip to Dylan. "My sensors recorded a sudden drop in power directly after…they fired that weapon…"

"Perhaps they hurt themselves at the same time?" Beka mused.

Tyr scoffed arrogantly at her thought, "If they wished to survive, they would not think of damaging their own vessel to stop us! Where is the logic in THAT?"

"What if it was unintentional?" she replied angrily, annoyed that the Nietzchean had challenged her logic.

Dylan stayed silent as the argument continued, only concerned with the android before him. If her power was totally used up…and the connection with Andromeda not returned, she would essentially cease to function… She would die…

When Harper had created her, he'd never imagined that he could or would ever care if a simple android were destroyed… But… this was different, now…

Rommie let her eyes close again. That was one more way to conserve energy, after all… "I see no evidence of that," she finally interrupted in an unusually soft, quiet voice. "In fact, it looked like the ship was already damaged when it encountered us… Most …likely, the weapon used up its remaining power…"

"So they're helpless," Tyr said, immediately seeing the situation in a different light.

"And so are WE," Beka reminded him, crossing her arms and looking down at Rommie with an uncharacteristically helpless expression on her face. This was quite a puzzle, now wasn't it?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trance fidgeted beside Harper and looked away… She was not ready for this… "Harper, this is Mirage…my…sister."

"Your sister?" Harper repeated in shock…

Mirage smiled for the first time, and then Harper could see the resemblance. Her smile was an ironic one, however, and she looked and acted older than Trance… It was…strange. The new purple girl ignored him completely and spoke to only Trance, "We need to talk. Its an emergency."

"No, we don't! Harper and I have supplies to buy. We don't have time!" Trance insisted sweetly, tugging at Harper's sleeve.

When Trance mentioned buying supplies, Mirage's first impulse was to laugh at her… But the reality of the situation urged her not too, so she stared silently at Trance with a look of pity. Poor, misguided Trance… It was her own fault, though, in a way…

"Why don't we just bring her with us?"

"Harper, I don't think that would be a good idea," she told him quickly, then said to her sister, "Ummm… It was…nice…of you to visit, but we really have to be going…"

"Are you sure that is wise?" Mirage asked, stopping Trance in her tracks as she turned to go.

Harper glanced at his Purple Princess and noticed she was trembling. "Shhh… It's okay, Babe. She's not gonna hurt you…" he said, putting an arm around her shoulders and sending a little glare to Mirage. Why was Trance so afraid? He couldn't ever remember her openly showing fear about…anything…

Mirage ignored Harper and the other mortals, focusing instead on Trance. "Well?"

Trance hesitated for a moment before muttering, "Yeah?"

"Do you honestly think I would bother to come here unless it was important?"

She frowned and considered that for a few moments, nervously looking around the room. "I…"

Mirage took Trance's chin firmly in her hand and turned her face toward her own, staring boldly right into Trance's eyes.

As Harper watched, too amazed to do anything, their eyes came alive with flashes of dazzling galaxies and brilliant stars… It almost looked like the images were reflecting onto their glossy wet eyes…

The whole process was startlingly quick and Mirage released Trance, taking a step backwards. "Do you STILL wish to leave me here, Trance?" she asked pointedly.

Harper watched Trance with growing fear. She had a strangely blank expression on her face that nearly made him shudder with the coldness of her stare. His Purple Princess shook her head in response to Mirage's question and motioned silently for her to follow them back to the Maru. To Harper, she looked like she was in some sort of… trance…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dylan and Beka busied themselves with trying to find a way to restore Andromeda's power while Tyr stayed and watched over Rommie. She was being entirely too quiet for her own good, in Tyr's opinion. How was he supposed to know if she was still "alive" or not if she didn't speak? She had no heartbeat, and therefore, no pulse… She didn't breathe… and since her power was so low, she wasn't moving at all. "Android. Say something to let me know you're still among the living," Tyr said calmly.

"Something," Rommie muttered so quietly that even with his higher grade of hearing, Tyr had to concentrate to hear it.

Interesting… So the Andromeda had learned sarcasm…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What are you doing?" Mirage demanded as Trance walked away.

"Walking," she answered simply.

"Why?"

"Because I can? …And because we should go back to the Maru now…"

Harper shook his head at the weird questions. "How else do you expect to get there?" he asked mockingly. "Unless you're Dorothy and this isn't Kansas, I think it'll take a little more than clicking your heals together…"

Mirage regarded him for the first time, but with a clearly condescending feeling. This was …interesting… Did he know something? …Mirage knew that Trance hadn't told him anything… Or at least, she was pretty sure she hadn't… But it was obvious that this mortal was not a mere sheep ready for a wolf to come along… No, this sheep had out smarted the wolf and its fangs many times, it seemed. "Perhaps," was her only verbal reply.

Back on the Maru, Mirage stood rigidly in the doorway of the bridge, her hands at her sides and the cloak thrown back over her shoulders to trail behind her. There was a look of stern seriousness about her that chilled even the brightest smile… She was really quite intimidating… if a purple girl with pointed ears and a cute tail could ever be called that.

"Leave us," she commanded.

Harper looked back at Trance, walking to where she was huddling in a corner. She looked so afraid..."No way," he finally said, determined. "I care about her and I'm not just going to excuse myself so you can frighten her into oblivion."

"Very well… Maybe it would be best if you learned the truth about the woman you claim to love… Are you sure you want the truth?" Mirage said dangerously.

"No," Trance whispered. "Please…" She had wanted to be the one to tell him… SO badly… But she hadn't ever found the right moment… And now, that moment was forcing itself into existence. "What…what did you come here to do? Hurt me?"

"No, Little One," Mirage assured her, going along with the quick subject change and crossing her arms. "I came to warn you."

"Warn me? …About what?"

Harper stood at an equal distance between the two, but out of the way. He was wondering what Mirage had meant by "the truth"… Trance was Trance and they loved each other. That was all the truth he felt that he needed… Or was it, really?

"About the Shadows… There is trouble rising into your future, Trance… You have been, are being, and will be tested…" Mirage said, her soft, strong voice echoing through the Maru unnaturally. "You MUST prevail…"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So…" Beka muttered awkwardly as she and Dylan worked in a maintenance tube. "Any bright ideas about how to fix this thing?"

"No idea."

She stopped working for a moment and stared at him in mild shock, amazed that he had admitted that. "You know," Beka continued as she started working again, "if I'm right, aren't we supposed to meet Trance and Harper in an hour?"

"Yes, but unless we work fast, we're going to be extremely late…"

"And we all know how worried Trance and Harper will be when we don't show up!" she added teasingly, and then shut herself up. She had thought of at least one or two ways to make fun of the two of them, but since they weren't there and would most likely never hear about the joke if she said it, she kept it to herself for once.

Dylan chuckled, knowing that she had been going to continue and shook his head, wondering if she had been going to say what he thought she had been…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You know what? …You're being very scary today," Trance said quietly without looking at her sister.

"Good," she replied loudly and with unleashed disgust. "You should be scared. Do you have any idea what is at stake here?"

The little purple one shook her head… She knew it had something to do with her people… But the specifics had been withheld during their telepathic exchange earlier that day…

"Why don't you tell your little mortal friend about your past…? Since he is so concerned, maybe it would be best if you had his help in this…what little a mortal can give, of course…"

Trance looked up at him with tearing eyes with fear melted into them… Her gaze seemed to ask an unspoken question of him and he looked questioningly back at her. He didn't understand.

"I…know you umm… learned something about …me from that library, Harper," she began doubtfully as her sister watched. "And… I umm… know that you probably didn't quite understand it all… But…if you want me to, I'll… help you to understand…"

He didn't want to make her do anything she didn't want to do… but she was scared… and he wanted to help, as Mirage had suggested he could, so… "How?" he asked simply.

Trance rose to her feet and timidly approached him. "Look into my eyes, Harper," she told him softly as she took his hands in hers and stared up at him with big, innocent brown eyes.

Seamus Harper curiously gazed into the depths of those beautiful eyes and was caught of guard when information floated into his mind… Memories… Voices… Feelings… They were all coming from Trance! …But she wasn't saying a word! This new form of communication intrigued him and he leaned closer, peering farther into her soul…

//"And these, Q, are mortals," the older Q told the first babies born to the Continuum since… forever…

"Mortals? They will die?" the first child asked while watching the organic creatures, who were unaware of her presence.

"Yes, they will cease to exist."

"Will we?" the two children asked together.

"No. You are Qs, and Qs live for all eternity…"

A sadness fell upon the smallest child as she watched the creatures, until finally, she looked away. "Why do they do that? …Don't they want to live?"

"They do, most of the time. But mortals are …vulnerable. They are easily injured and destroyed," the Q explained simply.

"So they do not want to die?"

"No, they do not, but they can't help it… It is not possible for them to cheat death for very long…"

"Oh…" And even at that young age, the immortal being felt a need to help… To… reach out and guide them to a better life… She was a compassionate child, for a Q…//

Harper squeezed Trance's hands and stared farther into her eyes, eager to see more…

//A dozen Qs formed a circle around the youngest one as she exclaimed, "It's WRONG!"

"Child, calm yourself. This is nothing to get upset about," one of them said.

"Stop calling me a child! I deserve to be called something other than that!"

"Q, you are over reacting."

"I AM NOT! And don't call me 'Q' either! I want no part of the horrors you committed!" the girl exclaimed.

"Then what should we call you?" one Q asked, annoyed. Her sister had been enough trouble! Now they had this child to deal with as well! Youths and their radical ideals! Not being called a Q? He could barely believe she'd said that!

"Trance. Trance Gemini."

Countless whispers of surprise and astonishment flew about the room almost instantaneously.

"What kind of a name is that?"

"This is a disgrace!"

"…It sounds mortal to me…"

"Is she out of her mind?"

"This goes against all traditions of the Q!"

"We shouldn't allow this…"

"What is so wrong about wanting to help people?" Trance asked softly.

Q grinned after thinking that over for a few millennia… But time passed quickly for the Q, and this was no more than a split second to them… Perhaps he could have some fun with this… make things interesting this time around the timeline! "I say we let her try…"

"I really don't care if you are going to allow it or not! I'm leaving!" she exclaimed and snapped her fingers, vanishing in a flash of light.//

On the Maru, Harper let go of Trance's hands and immediately the visions stopped. He was unable to speak for several minutes as he stared down at the pretty pixie standing, ashamed, before him.

Trance didn't say a word… He knew, now… And she wasn't sure if she was happy about it or not. In a way, though, she felt relieved. Now she would have someone to talk to who sort of understood without really understanding… Oh gosh, she was confusing herself now!

Mirage was the first to speak, breaking the silence after a moment. "After she left, chaos imbedded itself into Q life. The thought of a Q living among humans frightened many of us… Rumors started that she had forgotten us and misplaced her powers… and that was something our pride was not able to withstand. A Civil War nearly occurred, but I managed to cool everyone down by assuring them all that Trance would use her powers if push came to shove…but so far, that hasn't proven true… They are angry, Trance."

Harper was silent, trying to make sense of it all…

"Why should they care if I use them or not?"

"The way they see things right now, is if you are a Q, you should BE a Q… That means USE your powers! Think of all the good you could bring about! What about that perfect future of yours?"

Trance looked at her, taking in her sister's every movement. "You lied."

"What?" she asked, forcing innocence.

"They sent you here to tempt me," Trance said, putting her hands on her hips and glaring fiercely at Mirage. "DIDN'T they."

Mirage gasped and tried to lie again, "No! Of course not, sweetie!"

Trance wasn't convinced. "What's going on?"

"Nothing…"

She closed her eyes and thought about things… But nothing was obvious… If they were up to something, then she wanted to know what it was… and when they were going to try it… "Mirage, please! We're sisters! A bond that should be closer and stronger than that between Q and Q… Tell me what they plan to do…"

"You don't understand what you are asking!" Mirage complained. "I could be…banished! …Or worse!"

"Worse?" Harper asked, finally participating in the conversation again.

She swallowed loudly. "They could… make me into a mortal!"

"Hey, it's not so bad once you get used to it!" Harper said jokingly, although he could see why something like that wouldn't be appealing to her.

"This has something to do with my friends, doesn't it," Trance said as more of a statement than a question.

"Don't do it, Mirage," Q's voice said as he appeared in a quick flash of light.

Harper had a weapon ready in no time, but Q just laughed. "Who are you?" Harper demanded, only angered more by the man's laughter.

"Do you want to risk everything to help your dear sweet sister?" Q taunted in her ear, ignoring Harper.

"Q, leave her alone!" Trance insisted, glaring at him.

Mirage waved her back, and she obediently backed off away from everyone else.

"I have no reason to discuss this with you," Trance's older sister told Q firmly.

Q grinned to himself, then walked around behind her, coming to stand to her right. He rested his arm on her shoulder and asked, "How would you like to live among humans, Mirage? …Always stuck in the same time line… Always unable to use you powers, constantly fighting to survive… Its not very appealing, now, is it?" He was well aware of her hatred of being in the mortal world, and decided to use this to the Continuum's advantage…

Trance glared at Q and shook her head. "Don't talk to her like that! It's one thing to pester and bother me, but its different when you do that to her!"

"Hey! Who IS this guy?" Harper demanded, getting more and more frustrated as time wore on.

"His name is Q and he's not very nice," Trance told him quickly, using her pouting honey voice as she stared ahead at the other immortal beings.

Q smirked and turned his attention to her, and with a snap of his fingers, he appeared in a chair with Trance placed in his lap. It was such fun to toy with the 'Gemini' twins! Oh, such fun!

The instant she realized where she was, she hopped away and glared at him, hurrying behind Harper, who nearly snarled at Q. "Now is that any way to treat the one responsible for your little… Oh, what is it you mortals call it?" Q asked in mockery, forcing hurt into his tone. "Oh yes – your little relationship? …And Trance! Hiding behind a mere mortal? As if HE could protect you!" Q shook his head and chuckled. This was too much!

Harper's eyes flared. "Will someone PLEASE tell me what the hell is going on?!"

"You know, Trance," Q began, frowning at the little man's outburst, "I wouldn't have thought this fellow would be your type…" He was enjoying this immensely.

"Type?" Trance asked, but she was ignored.

"Still trying to decide who to betray, Mirage?" Q taunted, then snickered. "Just remember who your friends are…" And then, in a flash, he was gone again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tyr pulled a power cell out of a functioning console and brought it to the android, looking at the cell in his hands. "Android, can you use this for power?"

Her eyes slowly opened, revealing her dark irises for the first time in a while. She scanned the cell and closed her eyes again. "Not without a converter."

"And where would I find that?" the Nietzchean asked. The android was a valuable resource, and he was not ready to let her die just yet. She was an accomplished fighter and thinker… as well as other things.

"Maintenance Locker 53 on Deck six, but the power is completely down in that area… AG fields, I believe, have failed completely…"

Tyr snorted and walked away toward the exit. He liked a challenge… And nearly anything would have been better than sitting around waiting for the android to cease to function. "I'll be back."

Rommie just remained where she was and tried not to think… not to move… She HAD to conserve power, after all… And doing ANYTHING at all would have drained her valuable life's blood… But when she was back to normal again – and she told herself she WOULD get back to normal again – she was going to find out what they did to her and stop it from ever happening again…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mirage tried desperately to decide what choice to make… There were so many factors to consider, though, and they all repeated themselves countless times in her thoughts… What if Trance failed the test? What would happen to her baby sister? …What would happen to her? Would she be punished as well for the crimes of her twin? …If she helped her, Mirage was sure she would be severely punished…but if she did not aid Trance, could she live with herself afterward?

It was true that most Qs do not have a conscience, but the two of them had always been different… She and Trance had felt compelled to help mortals ever since that day…when they were 'introduced' to them for the first time…

But just because she felt sorry for them, it didn't mean that she liked them… or wanted to BE one of them…

They WERE Trance's friends, however, so if she allowed them to be hurt, wouldn't that be the same as letting the Continuum hurt HER too? …And therefore, she would be hurting herself as well? …In a roundabout way, it made sense… And Mirage was in no mood to allow herself OR her sister to become hurt…

She had made her decision.

"Trance?"

She looked up at Mirage and smiled faintly. "Yes?"

"Do you remember when we played that riddle game for half a millennia? …After the fight with the Continuum?"

Trance grinned and exchanged an amused look with her sister. "How could I forget that?" The Little Purple Girl could sense that Mirage had made her decision…

"Would you like to play again?" That way, she wouldn't exactly be telling her …exactly. …Trance would be guessing… Right? …Right.

Harper sat down in a chair beside Trance and looked over at the time… "We really don't have time for that, ladies… We have to meet the Andromeda in less than an hour."

"Oh, don't worry about that. They won't be there anyway," Mirage told him, speaking directly to him for once.

"Where are they going to be?" Trance asked, moving closer to her sister.

"That's what the riddle is about…"

"Okay, let's get this over with! …But before I start getting gray hairs, please?" Harper insisted sarcastically.

"I am the same, yet different. Things that never came to be are history in me. What am I?" Mirage asked, obviously enjoying the game.

Minutes passed as both Harper and Trance thought about the riddle. They stared into each other's eyes, hoping to see something –anything—that might help them figure this one out…

Mirage was getting bored by that time, however, and stared intently at them both. They had BETTER get this soon, or …well, she was going to be forced to tell them… And she REALLY didn't want to do that!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, if this works, it should restore 56% of Andromeda's energy…" Beka told Dylan as she made some final adjustments. "Not enough to enter Slip Stream, but enough to get sensors and weapons back online again…"

"And if it doesn't?"

"We'll be worse off than before," she said, and then made a face. "Yeah, I know… It's a long shot, but it's the only chance we've got. And that pod out there is probably trying to do the same, and this is one time I just don't want to be the one to finish last."

In the past three hours, everything, with the exception of Rommie, had gone off line, so Dylan was ready to try just about anything. "Do it."

"Operation: Rommified is now underway!" Beka mumbled as she put her plan into action.

For several minutes, nothing happened…

One by one, the emergency systems and lights flickered out, leaving the Andromeda Ascendant in complete darkness…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alternate Universe…" Trance murmured without realizing she'd spoken.

Harper looked up. "What?"

"Think about it… Whenever a choice is made, each choice leads to different effects on the universe as a whole… What if, when faced with a choice, another reality is created where you made another choice instead?"

"And the two timelines would be identical up until that point," Mirage continued. "And, if that's the case, there must be millions of alternate universes!"

"This is all nice and interesting, ladies, but what does it have to do with the Andromeda?" Harper asked, growing more worked up every minute.

"That's where they are… In an alternate universe somewhere…" Trance mumbled.

"Ugh, Trance? Why would your grand Continuum go to all the trouble of sending them there in the first place?"

"Maybe…they were bored?" Trance said with a shrug.

"That's quite possible," Mirage agreed.

"Oh GREAT! So, how do we bring them back? …And how'd they get there in the first place?"

"Slip Stream," the cloaked woman answered in a barely audible mumble.

Trance suddenly understood and went to the bridge of the Maru in a quick, purple dash. Harper followed just as quickly, leaving Mirage to herself. "Trance! What are you doing? …And DON'T tell me what I think you're gonna tell me…"

Mirage lowered her head and sank to the floor, drawing her cloak about her. She tried to make herself as small as possible by curling up in a little ball, as if THAT would hide her from the Q… If she had ever felt fear before, she would have recognized the twisting and knotting of her stomach to be such a feeling… For the first time in her life, she was afraid…

"I'm going to…go say hi to Mr. Slip Stream?"

"Oh no you're not," Harper exclaimed, stepping in front of her, barring her path. "You DO remember what happened LAST time you tried that, don't you?"

Trance snapped her fingers and appeared in the Slip Chair in a burst of light. "You can't stop me… And you shouldn't want to. Its not nice."

"Woah! That was freakin' cool!" he stated, and then rushed to her side. "But Trance… Do you really know what you're doing?"

Trance giggled in a playful sort of mocking way. "Harper, I am a Q, you know… I think I can manage to fly through Slip Stream…"

"Look out universe, here comes Trance Gemini…" Harper mumbled, sending her a nervous glance as he waited for her to jump into the Stream.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Complete silence settled over the ship along with the impenetrable black curtain. Dylan and Beka already feared the worst, but Rommie still had hope… She believed in herself…

It was as if the android's hope triggered something in the ship, because after the despairing feeling had crept into the two officers' hearts, the lights that lit the control panels and consoles on the Command Deck began to waver and finally beam brightly…

As the systems came back online, Beka congratulated herself and stumbled out of the crawl tube to find Rommie. "Chaching! Score one for the good guys!"

"Andromeda," Dylan called, hoping the A.I. had survived this little brush with death…

The hologram appeared in a hazy image at first, but it cleared up as the A.I. found and corrected the glitch. "Yes, Captain?"

He nearly laughed, he was so glad to see the ship again. "What's your report?"

"Scanning…" It would take longer with only a smidgen more than half of her normal power supply available, though…

While the Andromeda sorted through the data and made the calculations, Hunt stood over Rommie. "How are you holding up?"

She kept her eyes closed and didn't move. "I need power… Whatever that beam was, it took nearly all of it out of my system…"

"Tyr went to get a power converter on Deck six around 0700, according to my avatar," the on-screen image said. "He has not returned yet… and my internal sensors in that area of the ship are down… I can not contact the bots on decks four through nine…"

Dylan knelt beside Rommie and reassuringly patted her shoulder. "You'll be okay, Rommie. I promise."

As he stood up again, the on-screen image thought she saw a tear drip down from the android's closed eyes, but she dismissed that as another malfunction and tried to encourage the hologram to speed up her scan. The Captain was still waiting, after all…

"The pod appears to be suffering from the same problems we are… Lack of power. There is a fair amount of scarring along the far side of its hull, probably the result of a crippling battle with another ship… The rest of the outlying space is clear of activity at the moment," the hologram finally reported.

"Thank you, Andromeda."

"There's something else, Sir… I have analyzed the scan we took of this system the last time we visited… and cross analyzed it against my most recent data… You might want to take a look at this."

"Bring it up on the main viewer," Dylan ordered, standing in the center of Command.

A string of data and numbers appeared on the far left part of the screen… Toward the center, it was displayed as a line graph of three dimensions, each dimension representing a different aspect of the system… On the far right, the more recent data was displayed, and a second graph was overlapped over the first one to make it easier to compare the two.

"They both look the same to me," Beka said skeptically, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.

The image zoomed in to a particular piece of the graphs and the hologram pointed to a slight dip in the second graph that did not appear on the first one. "This is the only difference."

"But what does it mean?" Dylan asked.

"I am not completely certain, but it quite probable that this represents a change in the fabric of space/time… The readings are identical in every other way, save one. The Than colony."

"An alternate reality," Dylan guessed, shaking his head in awe.

"Dylan?" Beka prompted.

"Something I read about in Temporal Mechanics back in my High Guard training days… The idea that each choice creates another reality…"

"Yippie," the First Officer said unenthusiastically. "Okay, so how did we get here?"

"Don't look at me; I have NO clue," the Andromeda said, then blipped off the screen.

Tyr powerfully stepped through the doors to the Command Deck with a small power converter in hand. "Is this what you wanted, android?"

The eyes of the android opened and she tilted her head to look directly at Tyr. A weak smile appeared on her face as she lightly closed her eyes again. "Yes, it is…"

The Nietzchean handed the converter to Dylan when he showed that he wanted it and the Captain walked directly to Rommie. Tyr accompanied him and helped the android get to her feet.

With a thought, a panel in her back opened, revealing a failing power cell already inside… Dylan attached the converter to her power cell, and then to the functioning one. He watched the indicators slowly show the energy being drained from the cell and Rommie's cell strengthening.

As more power was transferred, she stood straighter and finally didn't need assistance any longer. The transfer was complete and Rommie rolled her shoulders back with satisfaction. She felt so much more alive now…

She turned to face Dylan and a rare smile graced her features. The fact that Dylan was the one returning her life was not lost on the emotional android and Rommie's eyes were brightly shining.

Dylan smiled back at her and for a moment, the two were lost in a world all their own…

But the incessant beeping and squawking of the tactical station made the Captain's head turn, although Rommie's gaze lingered on his face for a moment more. "Andromeda?"

"Sir, three dozen bio ships like our friend out there are entering the system! Their weapons are powering up!"

"Evasive maneuvers!" Dylan ordered, after one last glance at Rommie.

The ships swarmed about the Andromeda like mosquitoes near a swimming pool… They fired short bursts of energy that flung the ship from side to side. Unable to maneuver without engines, all the mighty ship could do was try to survive…

Rommie looked a bit sick as she experienced the battle through her counterparts… Tyr manned the weapons, and Beka operated the attack drones, but nothing was effective against those little terrors!

"Captain, that are aiming for Command—" the Andromeda exclaimed, but over the roar of explosions, fireworks, and screams, nothing further was heard…

The Command Deck was littered with the unmoving bodies of her crew, and the Andromeda Hologram flickered into life. "Captain. Dylan. Beka. Tyr. …Android? …Please respond…"

Her heart fell…and with it, all the fight that remained within her died… as no one stirred….

"Messy, messy! Why, Andromeda, I'm surprised at you!" Q said as he flashed into being on the Command Deck, hovering over the bodies of the dead. "You really should speak to the maid…" he mumbled, then made a face at the dirt and debris that littered the floor.

Andromeda didn't even bother to respond… She didn't care who he was or why he was there anymore… Everyone she cared about was …gone…

"Death isn't pretty, is it, Andromeda?" Q asked in a mocking tone, stepping over Beka and kneeling beside Dylan and the android. "This could have been prevented, you know…"

"Too many…" was all the ship could force out of her vocal processors.

"No, it wasn't the number of ships that killed them… It was Trance… By refusing to act, she has become an instrument of Death!" and he was gone, once again. Appearing there had been more of a matter of making his point to the dying ship, and he didn't enjoy rubbing her failure in the face of the Andromeda…

Well…maybe just a little…

Death. It was something the Andromeda knew all too well. She had seen people die before. Hundreds, even thousands of them. She had even killed… Andromeda was a warship, after all. Death came with the job… And, at any other time, she would have been fully able to cope with the deaths of four sentient beings… But… they had become… like a …family to her… They were…her responsibility…

And now, they had ceased to function. To exist as they once had. Their vitals had dropped to zero… and the android was no longer registering on her main computer network. Their link had been severed… And the AI had experienced her death with her… She had been there up until the very end… The avatar's last thought was what pushed the AI to the brink and over the line… She had thought something so emotional and strong that the Andromeda couldn't help but share in the experience…

She had finally felt love…and peace… Two things a warship should never be expected to understand… But when she encountered those emotions, something was so inviting and honest about them that she had no choice but participate in them.…

But then the hand of death snatched them away from her… and since she had learned to experience love, she also could feel loss…and pain. With them gone, there was nothing else for her to live for. No cause to fight for… It all died in those precious 3.5 seconds…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Maru cut a path through Slip Stream into a pretty system filled with lovely planets and a strongly beaming sun… Trance pulled back on the controls and brought them back into normal space, slowing the small cargo vessel to a stand-still. "Scanning the system," she said softly as Harper leaned over her shoulder.

A display screen revealed the hopeless scene… The debris of a formerly large vessel littered the outer part of the system, but that was the only evidence that a battle had taken place… Well, that and some VERY high energy traces that just didn't make sense…

Trance and Harper were silent as the data sank in… Before their eyes, the main viewer came to life to display the debris field. The wreckage slowly drifted by, twirling in the void of space… Their vision was clouded by their own tears as they stared helplessly ahead… They were too late.

Mirage tiptoed up behind them, made curious by the sudden silence that had come over them without warning… She took a good look at the burns and scarring on the pieces of the outer hull and frowned, muttering something about an early Species 8472 being just as deadly, and followed that up with, "Trance, I don't understand why you would put yourself at risk like that… Or live around others who do. How careless of them; they should have been more careful…"

That was pushing it too far and Harper whirled around, ready to strike her. "How can you say that while they lie there dead? You heartless beast! We could have SAVED them if it weren't for you and your pathetic problems!"

"That is very unlikely," she told him, unfazed. "When they attack, they strike in numbers and unexpectedly. You would be lifeless as well if you had been here."

Harper wiped away his tears with one swift motion, subconsciously relieved that he had someone else to blame this on other than himself, and stepped menacingly forward. "Like it would have mattered! All you care about is your precious Continuum, well, you know what? I don't give squat for your excuses and your lies! My friends are out there dead because of you!" He started to lunge toward her, but a purple blur rushed in front of him and he screeched to a halt to glare at Trance. "Are you out of you're freakin' mind? She KILLED them, Trance!"

"No, Harper, she didn't… The little buggie alien things did. Not Mirage. She would never do that…" Trance insisted, defending her sister calmly as the tears continued to flow from her eyes.

"You can still fix this, Trance," Mirage whispered from behind the Twin who had been born last.

"I know," she whispered back after swallowing nervously. The Little Purple One lifted her hand and snapped her fingers…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

A strange feeling came over Harper… He just…didn't feel right. Something was different… He opened his eyes, only then realizing that they had been closed, and looked around. A bright, pure whiteness surrounded him… It seemed to stretch forever in all directions…

But then he looked down and saw a paved black road swerving and trailing into the distance below his booted feet. The ground was hard and solid beneath him as he stepped from the road and onto the white void. It was so strange… The closest thing he could relate it to was being in the virtual reality of Andromeda's AI program… But even that could only compare on a basic level.

Quite suddenly, he was no longer alone. Trance was standing a little to the side and farther forward than he… In an almost ancient earth court room fashion, the whiteness took on the form of a judge's podium, jury bench, and a stage underneath Trance's feet.

That Q from before was seated on the jury's bench, his feet propped up on the rail that bordered the stand. "Well, well, well… If it isn't the infamous Trance Gemini!" With a sap of his fingers, he appeared ALSO in the judge's podium, grinning. "You look as lovely as always, my dear," he said with bitterness.

"Q, why have you brought me here?"

"Gemini, I thought you were smarter than that." Q shook his finger at her, warningly. "You should know already."

Harper growled and moved up beside Trance, standing tall and firm beside her. "Well, explain it for me, then," he said, frowning and taking Trance's hand to comfort her.

"Harper!" Trance exclaimed, shocked to see him. "Q! I am the one on trial here, not him! Let him return to our world, …please!"

Harper tightened his grip on her hand. "Not gonna happen, Trance-Babe… I'm never leaving you," he whispered in her ear.

Q laughed condescendingly, amused by how wrong she was. "You? On trial? …I am truly amazed, Gemini, dear! No, it is Mirage who is on trial here…"

"Mirage? Why?"

"For disruptive and contrary behavior, of course," Q stated matter-of- factly. "Don't be alarmed, Trance… She will be arriving shortly."

And, sure enough, Mirage appeared beside Trance… But she was trembling, afraid. "Trance!" she cried, hugging her sister close.

"What is it?" Trance asked, confused and concerned by her sister's behavior.

"They…they plan to…to…"

"What's this all about?" Harper demanded, glaring at Judge and Jury Q each in turn.

"She is being punished for crimes against the state… And her sentence is far worse than death," Jury Q answered in a dangerously low tone.

"She is to be stripped of her powers… and banished for all eternity," Judge Q finished, a startling sneer working its way onto his face.

Mirage sobbed and Trance held her twin close. "It's okay, I'll take care of this," she whispered to her. "There must be something I can do… Anything to help her…"

"Like what?" Q asked, still wearing that sneer.

Trance bit her lip, thinking about what would appease the Court, then took a deep breath and shivered. Harper watched silently, hoping this would work out in the end…

"What about…a compromise?" Trance choked out, shaking a little.

"I'm listening," Q said, leaning forward exaggeratedly. This was working out exactly according to the Continuum's plan, he thought with a wide grin.

"What if… you banished…both of us…and…we retained our powers?"

"Not enough. Too many atrocities have been committed against the Continuum. Now, unless you have a better idea, this court is adjourned—" He raised a white mallet to strike against the desk…

Trance rushed forward. "No! Please! …She'll be unhappy that way… Please? There MUST be some other way…"

He laughed at her. "That's the whole point! She has to suffer for her crimes!"

"What if…´ And Trance looked around cautiously, then approached the judge's stand. Whispering in his ear, she suggested a solution to him, and much to the dismay and relief of Mirage, Q liked that one… Harper stood by Trance to support her in her decision. And in a brilliant flash, the meeting ended as it had begun…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rommie walked the exact 437 steps it took to reach the Observation Deck from the Machine Shop and made her way inside. She smiled faintly as she saw Dylan waiting for her, looking out at the stars as he leaned on the railing that bordered the window. "You wanted to see me, Dylan?"

Her Captain and friend nodded, glancing at her. "Yes… Your daily report?"

"The Andromeda is on its way to Nasacino Drift to pick up supplies and we are running a little low on power. Harper thinks there's a minor power drain in one of the relays, and he promised to check on it after 0800 hours. With Beka still out of commission, he's got his hands full."

"Time until we reach the Drift?"

"Approximately three hours – if Tyr gets those slip-jumps right this time."

Dylan always managed to find something fun to say at odd moments like that… "You know, I am starting to understand why so many humans resented the Slip Stream way back when… It's too darn frustrating," he muttered with a teasing playful twinkle in his eye that made Rommie want to smile, and so she did.

"What is Beka's status?" he asked, smiling back down at her before returning his gaze to the star field.

"She was troublesome at first, but I managed to convince her to get her rest," the android answered with an astounding grin.

"You never cease to amaze me, Rommie," Dylan told her, grinning back. "You really convinced a stubborn Valentine to get her rest?"

Rommie proudly smiled up at him. "Yes, I think I did, actually."

"There's really no end to the wonders you can do, is there?" he asked, shaking his head.

"If there is, I haven't found it yet," the android muttered with a faint smile.

"Any word from the Than?"

"Actually, the last I heard, the Overdiamond was arranging a trip to the new colony… I think that qualifies as a good sign."

"So do I," Dylan agreed and put an arm around Rommie's shoulders. "You up for a little one-on-one?"

"Basketball? Well, I don't know…"

"Oh, come on, Rommie! Don't tell me you can conquer Beka Valentine's stubborn powers of doom, but when it comes to a little game, you get scared!" Dylan teased and started walking toward the Hydroponics Bay and the Basketball court.

"Of course not!" she insisted and walked faster.

"Well, let's go, then!"

"So it's a race you want, huh?" Rommie asked, grinning, as Dylan sped up his pace to get ahead of her.

And they raced away toward the Hydroponics Bay…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Romm-Doll, never fear; Dr. Harper will make it all better!" Harper smiled to himself as he worked on the power glitch. It was a simple connection problem… a few wires got short-circuited or something. That was all…

"Hiya, Harper!"

Woah! He nearly jumped out of his skin! How'd she always manage to do that? …He was the most paranoid person he knew –Okay, okay! Maybe TYR was, but still– so Trance shouldn't have been able to do that! "Trance!" he complained, although he was grinning as he turned around. "Why do you insist on sneaking up on me all the time?"

"Ummm… Because its fun?" Trance said, smiling sweetly at him. "So, whatcha doing?"

"Working."

"How come?" She sounded so cute and pathetic that he couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"Why do you think?" he asked, blending his sarcasm with a hint of amusement.

"Well, ummm… I was just… You ummm… aren't supposed to be here."

That got his attention, although he wasn't sure why. "What do you mean, Trance-Babe?"

She fidgeted, as if this very conversation was making her nervous. "Umm… You should be somewhere…else…?"

"Where somewhere else?"

"I wanted you to come with me to someplace…" Trance said innocently.

"Someplace? And where would that be?" Harper asked, trying not to get annoyed with her little game, but clearly interested in what she was hinting at.

"I …want you to meet someone. She's going to be here soon…"

"Oh? And who's that?"

"Mmmm… you'll see!" she said with a big smile.

"Trance, her ship has docked," the Andromeda hologram announced.

"Thanks, Andromeda!" she chimed, playfully running ahead of Harper and into the hall. "C'mon, Harper! Ooo! I can't wait for you to meet her!"

They reached the Docking Bay and the doors opened to reveal a slender purply blue girl with long, wispy white hair. She was dressed in a spacer's piloting outfit specially adapted to allow her long tail to move about. "Trance!" she exclaimed, running up and hugging the purple girl.

"Mirage, I'm so glad you came!" Trance told her twin as she hugged her back.

Harper's eyes went wide… She looked… She was… purple! Like Trance! "Ugh, Trance?"

"Oh, Right! I forgot you two haven't met… Silly me… Harper, this is Mirage Gemini… my twin."

"Nice to…meet you…" Harper mumbled, a little shocked. Two purple girls? …Now that was weird!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The universe loved to laugh at its own little jokes… Maybe the judgment and punishment of the Gemini Twins was an example of one of those hilarious moments…for the rest of the universe, anyway. No, it was far from amusing to Trance and Mirage Gemini…

After Mirage had been introduced to the rest of the crew and Dylan had welcomed her to his ship, the two sisters sat alone together in the Hydroponics Garden and thought about their new lives…

"So…what do you think of this so far?" Trance asked quietly, and then shyly glanced at her sister.

"I…I think… Well, its certainly different," Mirage stammered, unsure of her own feelings. "You know what I miss the most?"

"No…what?"

"This," she said, then snapped her fingers, frowning when nothing happened.

"Yeah… I …miss that too," Trance admitted, absently petting a fluffy plant.

"How can you stand to stay in the same place…all the time? …The same time, even! Doesn't it drive you mad?"

"Well…I like it here. And…and the mortals have always existed this way: never leaving their own time or universe…" Trance shrugged and stared down at the floor. "If they can do it without going crazy, shouldn't we be able to too?"

Mirage was quiet for a little while, considering her younger sister's wise words… "Simple shadows," she murmured in a hoarse whisper.

"What?" Trance asked without looking up.

"A…well…something I read while I was in the Continuum… It was from a personal log of the Captain of a lost ship called Voyager… She was referring to Quinn when she said, 'A Q without his powers is merely a simple shadow of himself …an empty shell of what he once was…' …She…went on to talk about him and his suicide… But…that part always stuck in my mind… Now I know why…"

"Hey," Trance said sweetly. "It could be worse… They could have made us mortals! …And at least we still have some of our powers… Banishment isn't all that bad, you know…"

"Sure, you'd think so! …You got exactly what you wanted – the chance to stay here forever with your little friends!"

"Well, I… I'm sorry…" Trance sighed and her shoulders slumped. "You could be alone and banished, you know… You should be happy that I convinced them to split the punishment two ways… And getting Q to agree to repair space/time wasn't easy either," she said in a pouting voice, her feelings hurt by her sister's ungratefulness.

Mirage regarded her sister with a kinder, softer gaze and put an arm around her. "At least we've still got each other…"

"Yeah," she agreed happily, a small smile appearing again. "The Gemini Twins together forever… That's all that counts."

"Powers come and powers go… but we'll always be family…"

THE END



Next on Andromeda – the Purple Version:

1.1.1 "Mariposas and Sacrifices"

By Rae the Hyper Purple Girl

Teaser: When an ally's government is threatened, Rommie and Mirage go on an undercover mission to save it… But when they start to sympathize with the enemy, will Rommie carry out the mission or take a stand against Dylan?

COMING SOON TO A SLIP STREAM PORTAL NEAR YOU!