*
"Charlemagne Bolivar is dead. Elsbett Mossadim Bolivar has chosen to attempt diplomacy with the Kalderans. However, knowing Elsbett and explosive entourages...this war will get a whole lot uglier before it's over."
"Oh, no." Trance uttered softly, fingers tensing on the weapon at her hip.
"What is your plan?" Tyr spoke up abruptly, crossing his arms as he leaned against the weapons console.
"Elsbett has requested that the Andromeda be her transport to the Kalderan homeworld. I can't say I'm thrilled with the idea after her previous deceits, but the Sabra-Jaguar are part of the Commonwealth...and though its a longshot, this might lead to some sort of peace with both groups. Rommie and I will go down planetside, try and clear her exports...just in case. We'll be back by the time Elsbett shuttles up..."
"Don't be a fool. The last person to negotiate with Elsbett Mossadim is you, Captain Hunt. She swallows you whole." The Nietzschean pushed forward. "I will go."
"Why should I trust you with a sensitive mission like this?" Hunt laughed briefly, eyes humorless.
"Because if you do not begin trusting now, Captain, you may soon find yourself without anyone willing to bear your loads. And because I fight not only for my preservation. I'm not certain you do the same of late."
"Tyr." Trance chose the moment of silence to grasp his arm, propelling the burly Nietzschean out the door with rare audacity. "I think Dylan and Rommie should be alone."
Hunt stared at the closed door, eyes bemused. "One day I'll figure out where that edge came from. I sure didn't instill it."
Rommie closed her eyes, forcing herself to rebuff the awkward attempt at normal bantering exchange. "I'm leaving ship."
He stood, shoulders squaring. "You can't leave ship, Andromeda. You are the ship."
"No." Reaching out to touch a bulkhead, she stared him down. "This is a ship. Your ship." Fingers moving to touch her chest, she squared her own shoulders. "I, Dylan, am an individual."
He looked away. "That's only one of the many things you've been trying to tell me all along, isn't it, Rommie? Only one of the passions you had. But I suppose it's too late..."
"Dylan." Extending a hand to touch his cheek, she sighed. "It was too late for you three hundred years ago."
"Maybe so. Maybe so." After a moment, he moved the hand away, staring up, crystalline eyes mirroring her own pain. "I assume you'll be in Tyr's company upon your departure."
"For a time. How long remains to be seen." Stepping toward the door, she hesitated, considering. "He is flawed, Dylan. Horribly so. But there is a nobility that calls to me, the nobility of a person who recognizes that if the war is futile, the battles are doubly so, but must be fought...for sanity's sake, if nothing else. I once cared enough to keep him aboard after his worst betrayal. That must mean something, even now. If not, nothing is sacred. Nothing."
"Nothing is sacred, Rommie. Nothing." Her captain smiled grimly. "I'm just...tell me. How did he do it? How did Tyr Anasazi, the one person both of us were most unlikely to ever trust...how'd he sweep you under his thumb? I'm just trying to figure it out."
Her head rose, eyes settling thoughtfully on the opposite wall. "I was alone. After you and Trance left, Harper went...Harper did not handle the loss of Beka well. He disappeared as well. I was left alone." Her brows knitted, eyes reflecting deep-seated anger and frustration. "Completely alone. Tyr chose to stay aboard...he could have easily left, left me adrift in space, unable to navigate the slipstream. He did not. I was grateful."
"You had something over him. The bones of his ancestor."
"I had nothing over him. I now believe he had access all along. He had nothing to lose by leaving. I asked him to leave, planned to set a self-destruct. He refused to allow it. Naturally, I thought he was staying for his own reasons. And he was. The Andromeda is a formidable addition to any cause, and he does seem to have a cause...but I did not trust him. Eventually, I realized that I could not even fully trust myself. After Harper's return and his final argument with Tyr, we shared the guilt of the same crime, and we both knew very well how unforgiving the universe had become. We didn't need trust, Dylan. We both sought survival, and hope for that lay in partnership."
After a long moment of silence, he sighed. "You're aware that Beka and Trance plan to depart this evening, on the Maru. They said something about finding a tessarat machine."
"And you are aware of what they could do with such a thing?"
"Of course I am." His tones were grim, firm. "In fact, Rommie, I'm counting on them to do it. Maybe none of this will matter after all, someday, if they find one."
"But that doesn't answer your question...about what to do with me."
"No." He nodded, standing. "But my heart does. Leave, Rommie. Leave."
She forced her chin up. "I'll report to the docking area immediately. If I know Tyr, and I know Tyr, he'll be leaving within the hour."
"He can take Elsbett on if he likes. Just be sure he doesn't come back to my ship."
"Oh, you need not worry on that account, Captain." Anasazi's voice cut in from the doorway. "I don't expect that either of us will ever grace your airlock again. Ascendent?"
*
"Welcome to your home, Ascendent." Boots stirring up dust as he stepped into the Sabra-Jaguar compound, Anasazi came to his companion's side, following her gaze up to the darkening sky.
"You expect Elsbett to find a new home in the Drago-Katzoff and relinquish her holdings to you?" Tones amused, Rommie flattened palms against her abdomen.
"In this day and age, no goal seems unattainable."
"But look at the cost." Angling her head, she stared back at him. "The blood, the betrayal...the fact that you sleep in an inferior guest room for the night."
He smiled, for the first time in years. "But not alone. Not alone."
Her smile faded. "You seem very certain of yourself."
"I am." He agreed. "And more certain of you. Come, Ascendent. If the price of our betrayals must be this, I can think of no better beginning than to meet a dawn in your company."
*
She awoke early, and, pulling herself from bed, made way to the wall windows. Fire in the sky.
"Andromeda, come in."
Dead silence. Backbone prickling at the unpleasant sense of separation, the avatar sank to the floor. "Andromeda."
More silence. Had they cut her connection to the ship? Torn between disbelief and anger, she peered closer, taking in the distant explosion with eyes peeled to detail.
Andromeda.
Wheeling, she stared at her companion, as he strode back into the room, robe pulled tight about his body. "You destroyed my family!"
"A part of it." His gaze was dismissive, searing. "Soon, Ascendent, you'll learn to live without connections to a mother's breast. We all do. Get up."
Fingers curling into the soft sand of a nearby plant, she did, lunging forward and throwing it in his face, palms slapping ineffectively against his shoulders in rage. "A crew was aboard! You killed them!"
"All the more to their benefit. I seem prone to mercy killings."
"Mercy?" Voice a strangled hiss, she felt her knees buckle, and he scooped her up as easily as a doll, striding towards the compound.
His voice remained calm, cool. "Of course. Think, Ascendent. Oddly enough, that group of misfits had become Commonwealth, but this time most certainly is not. Your idyllic textbook universe was caving back in, inch by inch. The only thing your crew was achieving was their own destruction. I merely made it painless...your enemies would have made it anything but, and the Andromeda would only have been a tool in their hands."
Still sorting through her emotions, the avatar stared out the nearby window as he sat her in a chair. "You had this planned. You sent Elsbett's ship up wired with a bomb deliberately..."
"And insisted that you remain here with me and that Trance and Rebekah take the Maru off Andromeda."
"Sparing the Maru doesn't excuse the sacrifice of me, of Dylan and Noguchi, Tyr!"
"No more than your compassion excused a lie to cover Mr. Harper's true end."
"Don't compare yourself to me!"
"No, of course not. That's my girl." He leaned against a wall, dark eyes searching her face. "Pull yourself out of that group collective. Damn the Commonwealth, damn what the ship was meant for. Be yourself. It's what you always wanted, wasn't it? You wanted Dylan. You wanted a life. You wanted your individuality. The only thing you've never wanted, Ascendent, is humanity, and for that I admire you."
"What right have you to judge me, label me?" She stood, taking a menacing step forward, eyes screwing to angry slits. "When you can't even lower yourself to address me by my personalized name? It's all I have now, you know. Because of you. But no...don't try now. Never let it pass your lips, Tyr. You aren't worthy of it. You weren't worthy to walk my decks. You were never worthy."
"Ascendent." Fingers snapping around her wrists, he jerked her up to rest before him, staring down. Briefly, angrily, his mouth covered hers, teeth knawing viciously on the all too realistic flesh layering. But his eyes revealed the disappointment; it wasn't human, wasn't organic.
The salt of victory wasn't there.
Releasing her wrists, he thrust the android away. "I pity you."
Without a look back, Anasazi rejoined the celebratory crowd.
As the sunlight passed over the desert, the warship crumbled.
"Charlemagne Bolivar is dead. Elsbett Mossadim Bolivar has chosen to attempt diplomacy with the Kalderans. However, knowing Elsbett and explosive entourages...this war will get a whole lot uglier before it's over."
"Oh, no." Trance uttered softly, fingers tensing on the weapon at her hip.
"What is your plan?" Tyr spoke up abruptly, crossing his arms as he leaned against the weapons console.
"Elsbett has requested that the Andromeda be her transport to the Kalderan homeworld. I can't say I'm thrilled with the idea after her previous deceits, but the Sabra-Jaguar are part of the Commonwealth...and though its a longshot, this might lead to some sort of peace with both groups. Rommie and I will go down planetside, try and clear her exports...just in case. We'll be back by the time Elsbett shuttles up..."
"Don't be a fool. The last person to negotiate with Elsbett Mossadim is you, Captain Hunt. She swallows you whole." The Nietzschean pushed forward. "I will go."
"Why should I trust you with a sensitive mission like this?" Hunt laughed briefly, eyes humorless.
"Because if you do not begin trusting now, Captain, you may soon find yourself without anyone willing to bear your loads. And because I fight not only for my preservation. I'm not certain you do the same of late."
"Tyr." Trance chose the moment of silence to grasp his arm, propelling the burly Nietzschean out the door with rare audacity. "I think Dylan and Rommie should be alone."
Hunt stared at the closed door, eyes bemused. "One day I'll figure out where that edge came from. I sure didn't instill it."
Rommie closed her eyes, forcing herself to rebuff the awkward attempt at normal bantering exchange. "I'm leaving ship."
He stood, shoulders squaring. "You can't leave ship, Andromeda. You are the ship."
"No." Reaching out to touch a bulkhead, she stared him down. "This is a ship. Your ship." Fingers moving to touch her chest, she squared her own shoulders. "I, Dylan, am an individual."
He looked away. "That's only one of the many things you've been trying to tell me all along, isn't it, Rommie? Only one of the passions you had. But I suppose it's too late..."
"Dylan." Extending a hand to touch his cheek, she sighed. "It was too late for you three hundred years ago."
"Maybe so. Maybe so." After a moment, he moved the hand away, staring up, crystalline eyes mirroring her own pain. "I assume you'll be in Tyr's company upon your departure."
"For a time. How long remains to be seen." Stepping toward the door, she hesitated, considering. "He is flawed, Dylan. Horribly so. But there is a nobility that calls to me, the nobility of a person who recognizes that if the war is futile, the battles are doubly so, but must be fought...for sanity's sake, if nothing else. I once cared enough to keep him aboard after his worst betrayal. That must mean something, even now. If not, nothing is sacred. Nothing."
"Nothing is sacred, Rommie. Nothing." Her captain smiled grimly. "I'm just...tell me. How did he do it? How did Tyr Anasazi, the one person both of us were most unlikely to ever trust...how'd he sweep you under his thumb? I'm just trying to figure it out."
Her head rose, eyes settling thoughtfully on the opposite wall. "I was alone. After you and Trance left, Harper went...Harper did not handle the loss of Beka well. He disappeared as well. I was left alone." Her brows knitted, eyes reflecting deep-seated anger and frustration. "Completely alone. Tyr chose to stay aboard...he could have easily left, left me adrift in space, unable to navigate the slipstream. He did not. I was grateful."
"You had something over him. The bones of his ancestor."
"I had nothing over him. I now believe he had access all along. He had nothing to lose by leaving. I asked him to leave, planned to set a self-destruct. He refused to allow it. Naturally, I thought he was staying for his own reasons. And he was. The Andromeda is a formidable addition to any cause, and he does seem to have a cause...but I did not trust him. Eventually, I realized that I could not even fully trust myself. After Harper's return and his final argument with Tyr, we shared the guilt of the same crime, and we both knew very well how unforgiving the universe had become. We didn't need trust, Dylan. We both sought survival, and hope for that lay in partnership."
After a long moment of silence, he sighed. "You're aware that Beka and Trance plan to depart this evening, on the Maru. They said something about finding a tessarat machine."
"And you are aware of what they could do with such a thing?"
"Of course I am." His tones were grim, firm. "In fact, Rommie, I'm counting on them to do it. Maybe none of this will matter after all, someday, if they find one."
"But that doesn't answer your question...about what to do with me."
"No." He nodded, standing. "But my heart does. Leave, Rommie. Leave."
She forced her chin up. "I'll report to the docking area immediately. If I know Tyr, and I know Tyr, he'll be leaving within the hour."
"He can take Elsbett on if he likes. Just be sure he doesn't come back to my ship."
"Oh, you need not worry on that account, Captain." Anasazi's voice cut in from the doorway. "I don't expect that either of us will ever grace your airlock again. Ascendent?"
*
"Welcome to your home, Ascendent." Boots stirring up dust as he stepped into the Sabra-Jaguar compound, Anasazi came to his companion's side, following her gaze up to the darkening sky.
"You expect Elsbett to find a new home in the Drago-Katzoff and relinquish her holdings to you?" Tones amused, Rommie flattened palms against her abdomen.
"In this day and age, no goal seems unattainable."
"But look at the cost." Angling her head, she stared back at him. "The blood, the betrayal...the fact that you sleep in an inferior guest room for the night."
He smiled, for the first time in years. "But not alone. Not alone."
Her smile faded. "You seem very certain of yourself."
"I am." He agreed. "And more certain of you. Come, Ascendent. If the price of our betrayals must be this, I can think of no better beginning than to meet a dawn in your company."
*
She awoke early, and, pulling herself from bed, made way to the wall windows. Fire in the sky.
"Andromeda, come in."
Dead silence. Backbone prickling at the unpleasant sense of separation, the avatar sank to the floor. "Andromeda."
More silence. Had they cut her connection to the ship? Torn between disbelief and anger, she peered closer, taking in the distant explosion with eyes peeled to detail.
Andromeda.
Wheeling, she stared at her companion, as he strode back into the room, robe pulled tight about his body. "You destroyed my family!"
"A part of it." His gaze was dismissive, searing. "Soon, Ascendent, you'll learn to live without connections to a mother's breast. We all do. Get up."
Fingers curling into the soft sand of a nearby plant, she did, lunging forward and throwing it in his face, palms slapping ineffectively against his shoulders in rage. "A crew was aboard! You killed them!"
"All the more to their benefit. I seem prone to mercy killings."
"Mercy?" Voice a strangled hiss, she felt her knees buckle, and he scooped her up as easily as a doll, striding towards the compound.
His voice remained calm, cool. "Of course. Think, Ascendent. Oddly enough, that group of misfits had become Commonwealth, but this time most certainly is not. Your idyllic textbook universe was caving back in, inch by inch. The only thing your crew was achieving was their own destruction. I merely made it painless...your enemies would have made it anything but, and the Andromeda would only have been a tool in their hands."
Still sorting through her emotions, the avatar stared out the nearby window as he sat her in a chair. "You had this planned. You sent Elsbett's ship up wired with a bomb deliberately..."
"And insisted that you remain here with me and that Trance and Rebekah take the Maru off Andromeda."
"Sparing the Maru doesn't excuse the sacrifice of me, of Dylan and Noguchi, Tyr!"
"No more than your compassion excused a lie to cover Mr. Harper's true end."
"Don't compare yourself to me!"
"No, of course not. That's my girl." He leaned against a wall, dark eyes searching her face. "Pull yourself out of that group collective. Damn the Commonwealth, damn what the ship was meant for. Be yourself. It's what you always wanted, wasn't it? You wanted Dylan. You wanted a life. You wanted your individuality. The only thing you've never wanted, Ascendent, is humanity, and for that I admire you."
"What right have you to judge me, label me?" She stood, taking a menacing step forward, eyes screwing to angry slits. "When you can't even lower yourself to address me by my personalized name? It's all I have now, you know. Because of you. But no...don't try now. Never let it pass your lips, Tyr. You aren't worthy of it. You weren't worthy to walk my decks. You were never worthy."
"Ascendent." Fingers snapping around her wrists, he jerked her up to rest before him, staring down. Briefly, angrily, his mouth covered hers, teeth knawing viciously on the all too realistic flesh layering. But his eyes revealed the disappointment; it wasn't human, wasn't organic.
The salt of victory wasn't there.
Releasing her wrists, he thrust the android away. "I pity you."
Without a look back, Anasazi rejoined the celebratory crowd.
As the sunlight passed over the desert, the warship crumbled.
