Under the Night
Season 1, Episode 1
If the Commonwealth's High Guard had a weakness, it was this:
Its officers were too competent, too caring, and too brave.
[Yin Man-Wei "The Rise and Fall of the Systems Commonwealth" CY 11942]
Chapter 1
The sparkling corridor on the Andromeda Ascendant was empty, but only for a few seconds, only a few seconds.
"Battle stations. Battle stations. All crew man your battle stations."
Suddenly the corridors were filled with running, men, woman and beings of all shapes and sizes.
A young human moved behind the rest and got to his station. Seconds later the drill was halted.
The young man then heard his captain and XO outside his station, he swallowed. His captain didn't scare him…well more then the fact the man was captain…but the XO did.
First the man was Nietzschean and could stick his bone blades in someone's neck, but second, the man was a real hard ass…military to the core. He was more High Guard then Nietzschean.
"Andromeda time." The XO asked.
"Three minutes, 36 seconds Commander."
The XO sighed, "To slow!" He yelled.
The captain made a face and rubbed his ear, "ow."
The XO smiled a bit at that and got a look back from the captain.
They spent a few talking to the crew, the XO doing his part to be mean, then called it a day.
They started walking away from the human's station and he hear them talking.
"Come on Rhade, you have a bachelor party to plan." The crewmember smiled, their captain was going to be married soon.
"Yes I know." He heard the XO say, but he was never sure of the last part…
"Naked dancing girls."
Commander Gaheris Rhade headed back towards his quarter; he had a party to set up.
As soon as he entered, Andromeda's face appeared on the view screen, "Commander. There is a call for you, from your Alpha."
Rhade took off his red military jacket and sat down at this desk, "Initiate privacy mode."
The A.I. bowed her head a bit, "privacy mode initiated." Then she disappeared.
Rhade sighed and waited another second before hitting the button to talk; he didn't want to have this conversation again.
"Rhade." The face of an elderly gentleman appeared.
Rhade bowed his head a bit to show respect, "Lasto."
Lasto Conference out of Larista by Toran looked at his friend, "you know why I am calling." It wasn't a question.
Rhade sighed, "I do. But I have not changed my mind."
Lasto's face changed to anger, "You would be a traitor to your people?"
Rhade's jaw tightened, it was the only way to keep control, "I will not betray anyone. Not my people nor the Commonwealth."
"You have spent too much time with humans. You act just like them."
Rhade got up from his seat, went to his window and looked out at the stars. He put his hand behind his back, keeping that position; he didn't turn to Lasto, "do not do this." That was said with very tight control.
Lasto didn't seem to care, "The Commonwealth has betrayed us!" Rhade didn't move and Lasto went on, "The Commonwealth is weak. It bargains with its enemies, it compromises. Our people are engineered to be perfect! And the
Commonwealth is no place for the strong."
Rhade turned to look at him, "They are still strong."
"The Treaty of Antares changed all that."
Rhade stood there a second; he didn't totally disagree with Lasto on that point. The Magog. Ugly, sick, disgusting creatures, who reproduced by rape. Millions died, and the Commonwealth made peace with them. Rhade had almost quit over that.
"Over a million being were killed…and they made peace!" Lasto looked disgusted at that. "I have faith when the time comes you will make the right choice. You will not betray the Nietzschean race."
The screen went black, leaving Rhade to make his choice.
~~A week later~~
Rhade entered the bridge for his shift, "well thank you for joining us commander." Captain Dylan Hunt turned to look at him. He looked like he'd barely slept all week.
Rhade stopped a second and looked at his captain, "sorry sir." In actually, he'd not slept all week. He'd been contacted a few times about his decision. He still said no, but he had yet to tell Dylan either. Rhade went to his duty station and Dylan started to walk over.
Rhade tensed, he didn't want to talk to him. But Dylan was halted in his tracks at the ship reporting a hail from a system's courier ship, reporting a stellar level emergency.
Dylan turned back to his station, "status."
"The courier just transmitted to normal space, we're moving to intercept." Refractions of Dawn, first lieutenant and pilot reported.
"We close enough for real time?"
"Range is one light second." Andromeda's holographic A.I. reported from her place next to Captain Hunt.
"Establish communications."
Seconds later a static image of a Nietzschean female came on screen. Rhade clenched his jaw, he knew it was time and he hadn't talked himself into telling Dylan. That was when he realized he was honestly thinking of doing what his people wanted. The courier's voice broke him out of his trance.
"This is the system's courier ship Alactative Missive, do you copy?"
"Go had Missive." Rhade found himself saying.
"It's a rouge black hole!" Hephaestus system. They're trying to evacuate, but there aren't enough ships."
"Hephaestus has a population of nearly half a billion sentients." The A.I. stated.
"You're the first ship I've contracted."
Dylan nodded to her, "plot a course to Hephaestus."
"Plotting course." Dawn stated.
Rhade looked at the courier, "keep moving, notify everyone you can." Hell he could be wrong. He turned to a crewmember as the screen went black, "dispatch our own couriers. Tell them to spread the word."
"Ship wide." Dylan ordered, and knew it was made so, "this is the captain. All hands prepared to receive refuges. Rig the ship for maximum capacity."
The holographic Andromeda moved her eyes a second, "ejecting cargo from bays one through five."
"Approaching transit point." Dawn informed the crew.
Dylan hit a few buttons on his counsel. "Brace for slipstream. Dawn transit to slipstream on my mark. Three, two…"
Rhade gripped the sides of his counsel, "one."
The ship moved and rocked as it traveled into slipstream.
"Transiting back to normal space." Dawn's voice carried. "In three, two and…"
The ship reappeared in normal space, to a view of a black hole sucking up everything in its path. And over a thousand ships trying to escape the madness.
"We're receiving over a thousand distress signals." Dawn stated and the sounds of people asking for help filled the ship.
"Reading a powerful singularity in the outer solar system. Mass: three times ten to the thirty-first kilos. Range: one-point-two light minutes." The hologram informed them.
"Hephaestus's population is over 70% Nietzscheans. If my people are running, the situation must be desperate."
Dylan looked at Rhade a second, then back to his counsel, "We'll take on as many people as we can. Deploy outrunners. If there are any orbital habitats near the singularity, we've got to evacuate them immediately."
"A contingent of ships is closing on us, aft and port." Dawn looked at the screen to see it.
"Tell them we'll get to them as soon as we..."
"They're firing on us!" Dawn interrupted her captain.
"It's a trap." Andromeda's hologram stated.
"Battle stations!"
Once again the crew started to run threw the ship, getting to their stations and doing what needed to be done.
"All battle stations manned and ready." Dawn educated them.
"Two minutes, forty-one seconds." Rhade said more to himself, happy they'd gotten it under three minutes.
"Deploy combat drones. How many ships are we up against?" The captain looked at the A.I.
"I'm detecting over ten thousand enemy vessels."
"What?"
"Five hundred are already within combat radius. All of them appear to be of
Nietzschean design."
"Ten thousand ships? It must have taken years to gather a force this big." Dawn was amazed.
"Sir, I recommend we deploy Nova bombs." Rhade tried to get this over with.
"This system is inhabited! I will not use strategic weapons, no matter how many ships we're up against." Dylan gave him a look that said he couldn't believe Rhade suggested that.
"As you wish." Though he wasn't happy about it.
"More ships are closing." The pilot stated again.
"We have to warn the rest of the High Guard." Dylan stated to everyone onboard.
Rhade gave him a look that was hard to read, "You think this is some kind of Nietzschean conspiracy against the Commonwealth?"
"They're Nietzscheans. They're shooting at us."
"Given the circumstances, I should be confined to the brig, along with the other Nietzscheans in the crew." Rhade was still fighting with himself.
"Are you telling me I can't trust you?" Dylan found that hard to believe.
"I'm saying you can't afford to take any chances." He made it sound as if it was that simple.
Dylan sighed visibly, "Sergeant, take Commander Rhade to the brig. See to it that the other Nietzschean crewmembers are relived of duty." He didn't look at anyone as he said it.
The sergeant moved forward towards Rhade, "Aye, Captain."
"This is the captain. All hands abandon ship. Repeat. All hands abandon ship. Use every available escape pod and drone. Get away from the Andromeda as fast as possible, then scatter. Make your way to any Commonwealth Starport and warn the High Guard what's happened here." He ran from counsel to counsel.
Dawn looked at him, "What about you?"
"I have an idea."
"You always do. You're gonna need a good pilot."
"I ordered you to abandon ship."
Dawn sat up straighter in its chair, "Let the record show that First Lieutenant Refractions of Dawn respectfully refuses to comply. If we live through this, you can court martial me."
Dylan smiled and went to another counsel, "You are one stubborn bug."
"What's the human expression? Guilty as charged."
Rhade was walking towards the cells with his guards, not knowing the drama that was going on the bridge. He got an indication, when the warning, "all hands abandon ship." Came through. He ignored the scents of the other Nietzscheans who were close, figuring they were leaving.
Both Rhade and his guards stopped a second. He turned to say something to them, when they both suddenly fell. Standing behind them, were two other Nietzschean crewmembers. Rhade put his hands behind his back and looked at them.
"Commander. Are you with us?" One asked and Rhade nodded his head, his decision made now.
He moved in front of the two Nietzscheans and started to walk. A second later, his bone blades flared, the one caught it, the other…well he hit the floor, dead.
Rhade removed his blades and turned in time to the other crewmen taking a swing at him. Rhade blocked it and looked at him, "this is a fool's errand."
"You are the fool." They both moved apart and went on the offensive. Fists and feet flew as they fought for control. Rhade had to knock the crewman's force lance out of his hand and the fight soon ended.
The other Nietzschean put his bone blades into Rhade's stomach. He looked at Rhade who looked at him, "Mistake." Rhade said with all the calm in the world.
A second later he brought his left arm up, impaling his blades in the crewman's throat. The man fell and Rhade fell back against the wall, his hands to his stomach.
"Rhade, you're injured." Andromeda's hologram stated with a lot of emotion for a computer.
Rhade looked at her, "I'm fine. Do not tell Dylan." He gave her a look that said it was an order.
Her face showed she didn't like it, but she disappeared.
Rhade moved then to change jackets with the dead crewmember. Dylan didn't need to know.
The holographic A.I. looked at her captain, "Dylan, are you sure about this? My connections to the rest of the ship are shot. We're leaking anti-protons from the port reserve tanks. I can't guarantee I'll have enough power left to pull us away from the singularity."
"We're not strong enough to fight our way free. We've gotta use the black hole's gravity to slingshot us away from the Nietzscheans. It's our only chance."
"Course laid in." Dawn looked at her captain.
"All forward, lieutenant."
"All forward. Aye."
Rhade walked towards Command, the ship was slowly starting to depressurize. He pulled a breather from the jacket and put it in his mouth as he went. His intent was clear; his place was on the bridge next to his captain.
"We're heading straight at it. When should I vector away?"
"Not just yet. Let's build up some speed first."
"We're at 25 PSL. 26. 28. Thirty!"
"The main energy grid......I'm losing power..." The hologram disappeared.
"We've lost all power."
Dylan hit some buttons, "going to reserves."
Dawn looked around, "Andromeda! Ship! Are you there?"
"The AI network's been disrupted."
"How could that happen?"
"Stay focused, lieutenant."
"Aye-Aye."
"We can still make it. One thing's for sure. There's no turning back now."
Dawn nodded, "Ten light seconds away."
"Divert all power to starboard engine and plot a hyperbolic fly-by. But keep us at least a half light-second away from the event horizon. Got it?"
The holographic A.I. reappeared for a second, "Dylan! Sabotage!" She tried to tell him about Rhade and the Nietzscheans, but disappeared just as quickly.
"Sabotage." Dylan looked at the empty space.
"Captain! The starboard engines are off-plane." Dawn stressed to him.
"Rotate ship to compens...."
Rhade rounded the corner. He stopped one second, watching the two other Nietzscheans enter command. He growled about that, "Nietzscheans." He threw down the breathed and took off running after them.
At the sound of the command doors opening, Dawn turned in her chair, "crewman…" The man fired his force lance, right into Dawn's chest. Green blood and body parts went flying, the Than was dead.
Dylan moved and duck, the shot from the other Nietzschean just missing his head. "Parhar…Tucket! What are you doing?" He pulled his own force lance to prepare to fire back.
Parhar answered first, "Ensuring the survival of our people. The Commonwealth is weak. It bargains with its enemies, it compromises. Our people are engineered to be perfect! And the Commonwealth is no place for the strong." He repeated Laslo's words.
Parhar went one way, Tucket the other, "So the Nietzscheans decided to destroy it?"
"We spent years preparing, waiting, arguing. For a long time, I opposed the destruction of the Systems Commonwealth. So did many others. The Treaty of Antares changed all that."
"The Magog."
"Yes! The Magog. Savages. Predators. They eat sentient beings. They reproduce by rape. They killed over a billion people on Brandenburg Tor. They destroyed the Nietzschean colony on Hawking. And what did the Commonwealth do?" Not knowing he was repeating Rhade's thinking on that as well.
"We made peace with them!" Dylan kept his hiding space, glad the Nietzscheans were more talk then action right now. He kept hitting buttons on his lance as he waited for them to get close enough.
"You compromised with monsters! The blood of over a billion people cried out for vengeance, and you made peace. You have sown the wind. You shall reap the whirlwind."
"You know what your problem is, Parhar? You talk too much." With that Dylan threw his force lance at him and ran for cover. Knowing he just gave up one chance against Tucket.
Rhade had been stopped from the command deck by more Nietzscheans, "abandon ship? Don't get it?" He asked and he hauled off and kicked another man in the face. He'd already taken down two more, now there was just one left to him and Dylan. He heard the explosion on the deck, but just as he moved to jam his blades into his opponent, time slowed significantly.
"What was that?" Dylan slid to his new hiding space, he experienced the same time slow as Rhade.
The Hologram reappeared for a second, "a temporal distortion. Our artificial gravity must be amplifying the time dilation effects of the black hole." She fizzled out again.
Tucket had hidden at the explosion, but now moved towards Dylan, "you cannot win." He aimed his lance at the captain.
"Tucket!" He turned to the yell, fired his lance at the same time, he went down.
"Rhade!" Dylan moved to get to his feet, time slowed again.
Rhade saw the shot and moved. But not enough, a part of it caught him in the side. Dylan saw that and ran for his best friend.
Time stood still.
The Eureka Maru approached the black hole. Gerentex entered the bridge where Beka and Harper are working. Harper scratches at a rash on his neck.
A Nightsider entered the bridge and looked at the human pilot, "Anything yet? Or are you people still poking around like blind men?"
A young blond human looked at him, "you'll be the first to know."
The Nightsider, Gerentex, ignored him and looked at the captain, "This is growing so tedious, Captain Valentine. I paid you for results."
The female looked at him a bit, "And you'll get them. But in case you haven't noticed, there's about ten trillion cubic meters of vortex out there, and only twenty million cubic meters of ship."
The young human, Harper, suddenly spoke a bit too loudly, "Which just goes to prove how AMAZING I am."
Gerentex looked at him in amazement, "You found it?"
Harper smiled, "For my next trick, a needle in a haystack."
Beka, Captain Rebecca Valentine, smiled, "Patch the sensor scan through to the main viewer. Let's get some magnification."
The crew of the Maru spent a few minutes getting the ship out of the blackhole. Soon, time on the Andromeda Ascendant came back.
Rhade hit the floor with a thud and Dylan ran to him, "I'm ok." Rhade informed him.
"Dylan, Rhade! Are you alright?" The hologram came back to being.
Dylan looked at her, "Think we'll live." He looked at Rhade who gave him a look that said, hell yes. Dylan smiled and helped his friend to his feet. He ignored the groan he heard from him, he'd deal with that in a few minutes.
The hologram looked at her crew, "Captain Hunt, something's wrong. We're moving away from the singularity, but the Nietzschean fleet, our escape pods, they're all gone."
Dylan looked at her, "That's impossible." That got Rhade's attention too.
She looked at them, "We may have experienced more severe time dilations as we approached the event horizon of the black hole."
Dylan looked at Rhade and back at her, "How severe?"
She just stared at her captain and commander.
Rhade moved towards her, stopping when he hit Dylan's arm. Dylan looked at her still "Spit it out!" He ordered.
"According to my calculations, we have been frozen in time for over 300 years."
Dylan was beyond shocked, "Three hundred years? Oh my god. Sarah? My folks? The rest of the crew?"
The hologram looked sympathetic at her two surviving crew members. "I'm sorry. Everyone we know…our entire world…is gone.
Rhade just stared as it all hit him; he moved finally and sat down on one of the ledges. His head hanging as he took it in.
The crew of the Maru started to prepare to board Andromeda.
"OK, so according to the stories, the crew of the Andromeda abandoned ship. But they did so during the middle of a battle, so God only knows what we can expect when we get over there." Beka informed her crew.
Rev stood by, his hands clasped in front of him, "I wouldn't presume to speak for the Divine, but do watch out for unexploded munitions, anti-personnel nanobots, automated attack drones...
"Not to mention radiation leaks, blown pressure seals, shrapnel..."
Harper scoffed, "Ok, Ok...mom and dad, we get the picture." He waved his hand at them.
Trance smiled, "We'll be careful. We promise."
"I don't want you to be careful. Trance, I want you to be paranoid."
"Oh! Oh! Miss Valentine?"
"Yes, Harper."
"This isn't our first field trip. Purple company excluded, of course." He smiled a bit at Trance.
"That is my point. I want you to treat every boarding just like your first one. I want you to double-check everything. Hell, triple check it. I'd hate for any of you to end up like Vexpag."
Trance looked perplexed, "Vexpag?"
"Your predecessor." Rev stated kindly.
Trance brightened up, "Oh! He's the guy who retired. Didn't you say he bought a farm?"
Harper looked at her like she was crazy, "THE farm. He bought – the – farm."
"Well, what's the difference?"
"Torn pressure suit and a bad emergency seal." Beka stated as if it was no big deal.
Trance's face fell a bit, "Oh, that is different."
Rev smiled at her and put a hand on her shoulder, "You'll be fine. Keep your eyes open. Use your head."
"Or whatever it is you think with." Harper added and walked away.
Back on command Dylan is still trying to come to terms with the situation.
"Three hundred years. I wonder if anyone even remembers what we were fighting for."
"They died for what they believed in." The Hologram stated.
"That's the same speech I always give. Except there's no one to give the speech to now, is there? Their children, Dawn's mating group, Rhade's wives? They've all been dead for at least two hundred years, now." He looked at his friend, who hadn't moved.
"We'll find someone. Their descendants. The Commonwealth will know where to find them." The Andromeda tried to help.
"The Commonwealth. We need to make contact, let them know we're still alive."
"I'm not picking up any local signals. We'll have to...Dylan? We have intruders on board! They're trying to rewire me!"
Harper is trying to patch into one of Andromeda's control panels, as Beka looks on. "This I.S. net is insane. I've never seen so much interconnectivity in a single system. It's gonna take weeks to figure it all out.
Gerentex looked at him, "Weeks? We have a delivery date to keep."
Beka waved her hand a bit to silence him, "And we will, even if we have to drag this thing in. But I'm betting your client will be a lot happier if we deliver a ship he can actually use."
He nodded a bit, "Captain, I will..."
Harper interrupted them, "Look, this little…uh…struggle for authority thing is all very cute, but, uh, if you're not too busy, I could really use a ship's schematic."
Trance once more looked confused, "A what?"
"Something that'll explain what all this crap does."
"Hmmm. Do you want us to go poke our noses around?"
Beka nodded, "Yeah. See what you can find. Maybe we can get ourselves a little divine providence.
Rev smiled a bit, "Hmmm. Never hurts to ask."
Dylan stood there looking at the footage of the crew of the Maru.
Andromeda looked at him, "That makes five."
"Humans working with the Magog. Are they crazy?"
"Apparently. Although their leader appears to be a Nightsider." The image changed to show a purple girl, "And I haven't a clue what she is. Another thing I don't understand." The image changed again to show an itching Harper, "I'm pretty sure that's Triangulum Measles."
"So he's sick." Dylan could use that.
"With a disease that was nearly extinct three hundred years ago. Something any decent doctor could cure over night. I'm not sure I like the implications of this."
"Me either."
The image was still on Harper, "Hey guys? I'm waiting."
Dylan smiled a bit, "Maybe it's time we introduced ourselves to our guests."
"Rhade." He apparently didn't hear Dylan call him.
Dylan had learned of the intruders and Rhade hadn't moved yet. That wasn't like him.
Andromeda's hologram raised an eyebrow as she looked at him, he was acting very un-Nietzschean.
Dylan walked over to him, "Gaheris." He put his hand on his friend's shoulder. When he finally looked up at him, Dylan saw a loss in his friend's eyes that chilled him to the core.
Before Dylan could comment, that famous Nietzschean control snapped back into place, and he stood up, "Intruders, I know." He put his hands behind his back, military back in place, "two humans, one sick. A Magog…who might be a Wayist, and Nightsider and a purple girl."
Dylan expelled a breath, there was his first officer, he knew and trusted. "Come on, let's go say hello." With that Rhade smiled.
Harper wandered a bit more in the machine shop and seemed to find the flexi he was looking for. He turned it on and smiled. "You want something done right..."
"…you have to do it yourself."
Harper spun to the voice and came face to face with a man and a forcelance.
"You finding everything you need?" Dylan asked with obvious sarcasm.
Harper held up his hands, "Whoa!" He moved to go backwards but stopped when he ran into something hard. He landed on is butt this time and looked up to see another man and a force lance.
He looked from the Nietzschean to the human, "Who the hell are you?"
Dylan aimed his forcelance at him, "No. It's who the hell are YOU, and what are you doing on my ship?"
"Your ship? No, no, no. This baby's ours. We salvaged it fair and square. Finder's keepers." The little man practically whined.
"This is a Commonwealth starship. You can't just come aboard and lay claim to it."
"Commonwealth? Wait a minute." Harper ever the genius, it didn't take him long to get it, "You two got stuck in that time thing. Let me guess, you're part of the original crew, right?"
"I'm Captain Dylan Hunt of the High Guard, Commander of this vessel. That's Commander Gaheris Rhade, First Officer."
Harper looked from man to man, turning back to the human. He was the one talking and not a Nietzschean, "I got news for you, Captain Dylan Hunt. You're not the commander of anything. There is no High Guard. Not anymore. There was a war. A big one, against the Nietzscheans.
"I was there."
"Well, I guess you kinda just missed the end, then. I hate to break it to you, but
you guys lost. The Commonwealth has been gone for over three hundred years."
Dylan and Rhade looked at each other, "What of the Nietzscheans?" Rhade finally asked.
Harper turned his head to look at him, "They about wiped each other out. There's not Nietzschean command, no Commonwealth…no nothing."
Dylan stood in the room, after talking to Harper, they let him go. Both Rhade and he needed to think. For once, Rhade didn't listen to his captain and didn't follow him. This time he let it go.
He stared out the window, only the Holographic A.I. by his side. "It's my fault. If we had made it to Slipstream, got a warning to the High Guard..."
"It still might not have made a difference. The Nietzscheans had a vast fleet. They'd been preparing for years and they had surprise on their side. By the time word had spread, it may have already been too late."
"How could the High Guard let it happen? We had ten times as many ships, a hundred times as many men." He stressed, unable to believe this whole thing.
"And we haven't fought a war – a real war – in over a thousand years. Whereas for the Nietzscheans, every day is a battle."
He stood there a few, not saying anything, "It can't be all gone. The Commonwealth spanned three galaxies!" He looked at the A.I. "We had over a million member worlds, orbital habitats, asteroid colonies. Part of it must still exist somewhere."
The computer made a decision, "Then we have to find it."
Dylan nodded, "We will. But first things first." He walked out to find Rhade and put an end to the intruders.
Rhade went to the obs deck to look out, thinking of this as well. A few seconds later the A.I. appeared next to him, "I didn't tell him."
"I know." She stated.
He didn't bother looking at her, even though she'd not monitored his calls, she easily figured it out, he knew she would.
"Why didn't you?" She stood there, her arms across her chest.
"I don't know." He didn't know, but yet he did. But he finally looked at her, "it was my pride. My family…that is supposed to mean more then the Highguard, Commonwealth, or Captain Dylan Hunt."
"I understand." Well as much as an A.I. could, "you made your choice, for that I'm grateful." Her face then hardened a bit, "you are my commander. I will respect that, but it will take time before I learn to trust you again." With that she left.
Rhade looked at the empty space, "I feel the same."
The little group of the Maru was congregated together, Harper having a heart attack apparently.
"I'm telling ya. Those guys are huge. The captain, he's like...some kind of Greek god or something. And the commander…" Harper kept pacing and whining, "He's one of the biggest, baddest Nietzscheans I've ever seen."
Beka looked at him, seeming to not be affected, "Still, there's only two of them."
Harper kept whining, "Yeah, but nobody said anything about TAKING this ship away from anybody...especially somebody so big…and a Nietzschean." Harper had a problem…a fear problem, when it came to Nietzscheans. "It's supposed to be abandoned."
"Yeah, but if it wasn't for us, they'd still be stuck in that black hole. I think they owe us."
Trance watched all, "Well, maybe if we just asked them nicely, they will give it to us."
Rev thought that was a good idea, "Hmmmm. Mercy is its own reward."
Beka scoffed, "Yeah, says you."
Harper couldn't believe them, "Look, I say screw this talkin' and we start walkin'. Get..."
"This is Captain Dylan Hunt, commander of the Systems Commonwealth Starship Andromeda Ascendant along with First Officer Gaheris Rhade. I've been told the Commonwealth has fallen. Maybe that's true. But there's still one place where the Commonwealth endures, and that's on this ship. MY ship. I understand you intend to loot the Andromeda and sell what's left over. I promise you, that is not gonna happen. You have fifteen minutes to restore the Andromeda's control capabilities and withdraw to your own vessel, or we will retake the ship by force. Hunt out."
Dylan and Rhade watched from the bridge how the crew reacted. Obviously they weren't going to comply.
Beka pulled her weapon, "I don't like threats."
Gerentex moved a bit, "Neither do I. Which is why I brought him along." He waved his hand and a big Nietzschean and a few other men appeared.
The big man looked at them, "I'll take it from here."
End of Chapter 1
