Disclaimer: The characters (except for certain aliens) do not belong to me. They belong to whoever owns the rights to Andromeda.

The Big Bad Nietzchean

Chapter 1

Somewhere in the depths of space, there was a little purple girl named Trance. She wouldn't tell where she came from, but anyone who laid eyes on her couldn't help but love her. She lived on a ship called the Andromeda Ascendant, and the captain and crew were her friends.

One day, when the Andromeda was near a planet, Trance's friend Harper asked her to go down to the surface of the planet and get him some more of his favorite Sparky Cola. He was the ship's engineer; he had too many repairs to do and wasn't able to leave his work. Before Trance left the ship, Captain Dylan Hunt, who was like a father to her, called Trance to his office. His vivid blue eyes were filled with concern. He gave her a big hug, and said, "Trance, I know you're a capable young woman... but I worry about you. You're so sweet that I'm afraid that someone will take advantage of your kindness. Won't you take someone with you? I know that Tyr loves you as if you were his sister... He'd go with you."

Trance sighed. "Oh Dylan... Thank you for your concern, but I will be okay by myself. I've told you that I can see possible futures. The thing most likely to happen is that I will make a new friend."

"Okay Trance, but be..."

"Careful... I know, Dylan... I will... Bye."

"Bye, Trance."

Trance piloted a shuttle to the planet's surface, and went to the shop where the Sparky Cola was sold. She asked for the Sparky to be delivered to her shuttle, but before she left, the shopkeeper said, "Wait! Watch out for the Big Bad Nietzchean."

"Who's that?" asked Trance.

"He's big and scary," replied the little man, looking nervously back and forth.

"What does he do?" asked Trance, looking puzzled.

"I don't know," said the man. "I just know that he's scary."

"Okay," said Trance politely.

Trance continued on her way back to the shuttle, but it took some time because everyone she met warned her about the Big Bad Nietzchean. 'Boy,' she thought, 'the people on this planet are awfully nervous.'

Suddenly, Trance was confronted with a gang of very nasty looking aliens. They looked rather like lobsters with legs, and they were attempting to beat up a tall dark-haired man who was dressed entirely in black. He was obviously Nietzchean, and was using his bone blades and various martial arts techniques to fight them off, but they were slowly overpowering him. Trance pulled out her force lance and hollered, "Yee Hah!" She was able to knock one of them unconscious and throw the others off balance, allowing the Nietzchean to regain control of his situation. He knocked out two of the lobster-men, and the other two ran away to secure help. "We'd better get moving," said the man, "before they bring their friends."

"Okay," said Trance with a smile. As they moved away from the scene of the fight, she introduced herself. The man stopped, and made a sweeping bow. "My lady Trance... My name is Gaheris Rhade. I thank you for your assistance in my ... disagreement."

Trance giggled. "Please call me Trance... And it looked like more than a disagreement, Mr. Rhade."

Rhade grinned, and said, "Just Rhade. They wanted to rob me... I disagreed... I call that a disagreement."

Trance looked at him curiously, and asked, "Do you know why everyone is warning me about the Big Bad Nietzchean?"

Rhade's dark eyes sparkled with merriment. "The people of this planet are a very nervous race. I was in a bad mood when I got here, and growled at a shopkeeper. They've called me the Big Bad Nietzchean ever since."

"Does that make me 'Little Purple Hood'," she asked, pointing to her purple cape. Rhade burst out laughing, and tweaked Trance's cheek. "I like you, little one. I wouldn't mind following you to 'Grandmother's house'."

"You can't follow me to 'Grandmother's' but you can go back to the Andromeda with me."

"The Andromeda?" Rhade paled, and looked like he had seen a ghost.

"That's where I live. Are you okay?" Trance asked, touching his arm in concern.

"Yes, I'm alright. I just... I thought that the Andromeda was destroyed 300 years ago."

"It was caught in an event horizon... Dylan, the captain, was frozen in time. My friend Beka's ship, the Eureka Maru, pulled the Andromeda away from the event horizon, and Dylan woke up. We're all one crew now. Dylan wants to put the Commonwealth back together, so that's what we're trying to do."

"I would like to meet him. Is that possible?"

"Of course, Rhade. You can come to the ship with me... but there's something else isn't there?"

Rhade looked down at the small purple girl whose pointed ears and tail made her look like such a sweet, innocent creature. However, the look in her deep brown eyes told him that she had the discernment of one much older. "There is more, but I promise that I mean no harm to Dylan, or anyone else on the Andromeda. I'll explain when we get there... when I see Dylan."

"You know Dylan, don't you?" asked Trance, with a look that said she wasn't surprised at this piece of information.

"It's hard to explain right now... but yes, I do know him."

"Well, let's go, then," said Trance, leading the way to the shuttle. Loading the Sparky Cola, they took off for the Andromeda.

Dylan was waiting for Trance in the docking bay when she returned. Rommie, the Andromeda's human relations avatar, had read Nietzchean life signs in the shuttle, and Dylan was extremely worried about Trance. 'Maybe she's a hostage,' he thought, while he paced up and down.

When the door of the shuttle slid open, Trance jumped out and waved at Dylan. Then she turned to the person following her. "Dylan," she said, "This is Gaheris Rhade." Instead of the standard greeting expected from the captain of the Andromeda, Dylan's hard fist met Rhade's jaw, knocking the Nietzchean to the floor.

-TBC-