Chapter 4 -- Truths and Consequence

"Harper, what are you doing?" Beka asked, frowning. He was sitting in one of the Maru's cargo-holds, just staring into space with a funny look on his face. "Are you okay?" She walked over to him and gave him a concerned look.

He looked up at her with an unreadable expression. "What do you think of Zelazny?" he asked quietly.

Beka frowned at the question. "I don't know. She's a good kid, I guess. Why? Are you two having some kind of problem?" She sat down next to him.

Harper looked at her. "Beka, she's... mine."

"Huh?" Beka asked, frowning in confusion.

"Mine!" Harper repeated, shaking his head. "Mine and Trance's, Beka!"

Beka stared at him with wide eyes. "You mean..."

Harper nodded. "She's my daughter, Beka..." he muttered, burying his face in his hands.

Beka stared at him, too shocked for a moment to speak. Finally, she said, "I didn't realize that you and Trance were..."

"We're not..." Harper muttered. "We never have been."

"Oh." Beka nodded. No wonder Harper was hiding away on the Maru. "How're you holding up?"

"I've been better." Harper sighed. "You know, I don't think they planned on telling me."

Beka stared. "How did you..."

He shrugged. "I just kind of figured it out. I made some comments that freaked Zelazny out and then I went and asked Trance. And she said..." He sighed and looked up at her hopelessly. "What am I going to do, Beka?"

"I... I'm not sure, Harper. Talk to them, I guess."

"And say what? I have never been this confused and freaked out in my life, Beka! This is freakin' insane."

Beka rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be okay, Harper."

"Is it? Really?"

"Sure." Beka nodded. "It's just... one more thing about the new Trance that we'll learn to deal with."

Harper shook his head. "This isn't a new skin-tone or better fighting abilities, Beka. I..." He trailed off, shaking his head.

"What?" Beka asked quietly. "Harper?"

"I... I guess I'm a little hurt, Beka."

"Hurt?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, that she kept it from me. We had this whole... thing together that she was never going to tell me about."

"I'm sure she had her reasons, Harper. Have you asked her about them?"

Harper shook his head. "I'm still trying to deal."

"It might be easier if you could understand a little better..." Beka suggested gently.

Harper nodded and rose.

"Are you going to go talk to her?"

"Not... yet." Harper shook his head. "I think I need a little more time to absorb all this."

"Okay." Beka nodded. "Let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

Harper nodded weakly. "Thanks, Beka."

"Hang in there, Harper." Beka smiled reassuringly as she climbed to her feet.

He nodded again and left. Beka stared after him with a sigh. Just when life had been starting to get a little less confusing... Trance and Harper? Shaking her head, she left the Maru.

***

Zelazny stood on the Obs deck, watching the stars go by. She recognized Tyr by the sound that his feet made on the deck. "How was your fight with Beka?" she asked quietly.

Tyr smiled. "I won."

"Good for you..." Zelazny muttered without conviction.

Tyr frowned and joined her. "You're troubled."

"Yes." She nodded.

"Why? What has happened?"

"Harper found out something that he wasn't supposed to."

"That you are his daughter?"

Zelazny stared at him in surprise.

"The resemblance is rather striking."

"How long have you know?"

"First time I saw you." Tyr rested a hand on her shoulder. "He reacted poorly?"

Zelazny nodded. "Mom's locked herself in her room and won't come out."

"Lovely..." Tyr muttered, frowning.

"I'm just going to leave soon, I think. Hell, this is a big part of the reason why I haven't shown up before now."

"Harper is a human, Zelazny. They are prone to over-reaction, but he will recover quickly enough."

"I know that. I know him. It's just that... I didn't want mom to have to suffer through this nonsense."

"Your mother is resilient. She will not suffer for long."

Zelazny nodded. "I know, I know... I'm just... really ticked off at both of them right now."

Tyr eyed her curiously. "How is that?"

"I'm mad at Harper for making mom suffer. I'm mad at mom for not telling Harper sooner. I'm mad at both of them for doing something as stupid as having me..."

"As far as I can tell, little lady, having you was one of their finest achievements."

"No child should have to grow up knowing the things I was born knowing."

"So, you would rather you did not exist?"

"My father died within an hour of my conception. In me are all of his memories and all of my mother's. I remember being attacked by the Magog and being used as a host for their offspring. I remember loosing my tail helping to rescue a woman who, perhaps, did not deserve rescue. I remember watching Nietzscheans kill my parents. I remember being tortured for information about my species." She looked up at Tyr. "I could go on for hours. Those are memories no child should have to face."

Tyr nodded, his face expressionless. "But there are good memories as well?"

She nodded. "Yeah, there are those, too."

"Why don't you tell me some of those..." Tyr suggested gently, hoping it would cheer her up.

Zelazny nodded and smiled. "I remember the first time I flew in space. I remember when the most beautiful woman in the universe joined my Captain's crew. I remember comforting a boy who's dreams were troubled. I remember making friends and comforting them and being comforted by them. I remember what it was like to have Purpose. I remember holding someone I cared about in my arms and how, in that moment, all the evils we had seen stopped mattering in the least..." Zelazny trailed off, smiling faintly.

Tyr smiled at her. "I must say that, all in all, it seems a fair trade, the good memories for the bad."

"Perhaps." Zelazny nodded. "They're both remarkably stubborn people, though, and they're making each other suffer. It's wrong."

"Perhaps it is, but it is there decision."

Zelazny nodded. "I know it is. I won't interfere, but that doesn't mean I have to approve."

"You don't interfere in the love-lives of your parents, yet you see fit to try to push me in Beka Valentine's direction?"

Zelazny shrugged. "What can I say? You make a cute couple."

"Have we before?" Tyr asked.

"No freebies, Anasazi..." Zelazny said with a grin. "I am not going to tell you the future."

"Why not?" Tyr asked.

"Because, there's no such thing."

"Isn't there?"

She shook her head. "There is only the present. Looking too much to the future tends to distract attention from that fact."

Tyr smiled faintly. "I see."

Zelazny smiled at him. "No, you don't, but you will some day."

"Do you know that from experience?"

"No freebies."

Tyr smiled faintly. "Come fight with me."

"Eager to get your butt kicked again?"

"Perhaps it will take my mind off of the future and yours off of the present."

Zelazny shrugged and followed him from the Obs deck. On the mat, Zelazny bowed slightly to her opponent, never taking her eyes off of his face.

"Courtesy?" Tyr asked, smiling.

"Worthy opponents deserve a courteous reception."

"I see." Tyr bowed to her as well. "Shall we?"

"Whenever you're ready." Grinning slightly, Zelazny bent her knees fractionally and raised her hands. The deck lurched beneath her feet, knocking her to the ground. "What was that?" she asked, pulling herself to her feet.

"It certainly felt like weapons fire..." Tyr muttered.

"Battle Stations!" Rommie's voice came over the ship's comm-system. "Hull breach on deck eight!"

"I guess we'll have to finish this later..." Zelazny muttered as they ran towards the bridge.

"Who'd we piss off this week?" Harper asked, arriving on the bridge moments after Tyr and Zelazny.

"We're not sure..." Dylan muttered in disgust as they manned their stations. "Where's Trance?" he asked Zelazny as she moved to Trance's place.

"Still under the weather."

Dylan stared at her. "Can you do this?"

"Yes, sir, I can."

"Okay, then."

"Dylan, their weapons are powering up again..." Rommie announced.

"Beka, evasive maneuvers! Tyr, return fire!"

The ship rocked again.

"Hull breaches on decks five, seven, and fifteen!" Rommie announced.

"Does anyone know who they are?" Dylan demanded.

Zelazny stared at the ship on the view-screen. "I do. Run away now..."

Dylan stared at her.

"Dylan," Rommie said "they are powering up their weapons again."

"Beka, get us out of here!"

"Going to slipstream..."

"Are they following?" Dylan demanded.

Rommie paused. "No."

"They will..." Zelazny promised.

Dylan stared at her. "Who are they?"

"Ubbers."

"Nietzscheans?" Dylan asked, frowning.

She nodded. "Dragons."

"I've never seen the Drago-Kazov pride in a ship like that."

"It's new. Still in the prototype phase." Zelazny sighed. "And as long as the crew is standing, your weapons aren't going to put a dent in it."

Dylan stared at her. "As long as the crew is standing?"

"Is there somewhere in this system that we can hide the ship?" Zelazny asked. "I need a few hours."

"For what?" Dylan demanded.

"For some quick repairs and to hack into the Nietzschean comm system." 

Dylan stared at Zelazny. "You have a plan?"

Zelazny nodded.

"Share."

"As soon as we're safely hidden, sir, I will be more than glad to. They will follow us, and they will destroy us if they can find us."

Dylan sighed. "Rommie, is there somewhere that we can hide the ship?"

"There's a large nebula..." An image of the giant cloud appeared on the screen. "The radiation from the cloud will hide our energy signature."

"Beka, take us in." Dylan looked at Zelazny. "You're plan?"

Zelazny rose and approached Dylan. She explained her plan in a voice so quiet that even Tyr could not hear her.

"And that will debilitate them?"

She nodded. "We'd been doing it for years by the time I came back. Drove them crazy."

Dylan sighed and nodded. "Do what you have to."

***

"The Nietzscheans are approaching..." Rommie announced.

"Zelazny?" Dylan asked urgently.

"One more minute..." Zelazny muttered.

Dylan nodded and handed Tyr a pair of headphones. "Tyr, put these on."

"Why?" Tyr frowned.

"Trust me."

Tyr took the headphones and slipped them over his ears, staring suspiciously from Dylan to Zelazny. Harper and Beka watched the young woman work curiously.

"Done..." Zelazny announced triumphantly. She reached under her shirt and pulled a long, hollow tube from her waistband.

"Is that a shriller?" Harper laughed.

"Well, I've made a few modifications." Zelazny shrugged. "I suggest you plug your ears." She looked at Dylan. "Ready."

He nodded. "Rommie."

"Opening a channel... now."

Zelazny typed a few commands on the board in front of her and then raised the shriller to her lips. The sound that came from it when she blew knocked Dylan to his knees. He belatedly plugged his ears as Rommie helped him up. Zelazny stared at the timepiece on her wrist as she blew, holding a steady note for ninety seconds before dropping the shriller and closing the channel.

"And what does that do to them, exactly?" Beka asked, walking over to help Tyr, who, despite his protective headphones was kneeling at his station with his head between his hands.

"Well, to Tyr it was just painful. But he had headphones and I magnified the signal that I sent to the Ubbers about a hundred times. Their ears should stop bleeding in a week or two."

Dylan stared at her. "That's... um, an ingenious use of technology."

"Not mine. It's Harper's."

"Hey, my shriller never did that..." Harper muttered, checking his ears for blood.

"Well, I extended the range of sound it's capable of producing." Zelazny shrugged.

Harper slowly smiled at her. "That's my girl."

"How long will they be disabled for?" Tyr asked, recovering.

"Two or three hours. Personally, I don't plan on letting them live that long." Zelazny rose and started for the weapon's station.

"Zelazny!" Dylan snapped. "You can't kill them. They're helpless!"

"You think they would have let that stop them from killing us, sir?" She stared at him. "There can be no mercy for the merciless, Captain. When they recover, they will be very angry with us. They will hunt us down and destroy us unless we destroy them first."

Dylan rubbed his forehead thoughtfully.

"There is one weakness on that entire ship..." Zelazny muttered.

"Where?" Tyr asked.

"Right above the rear exhaust-port. You hit that, and you'll trigger an explosion which will cause the entire super-structure of the ship to disintegrate. End of problem."

"How can you speak of it so casually?" Dylan demanded.

Zelazny stared at him sadly. "Years of practice, sir, and the knowledge that it's your lives or theirs. Seems like an easy call to me."

"Is there any way to just disable the ship without destroying it?"

She shook her head. "No, sir. They didn't want there to be even a chance that these things would fall into enemy hands."

"Dylan, I'm going to have to agree with her on this..." Beka muttered.

Tyr nodded. "They will not hesitate to destroy us, and the same trick is unlikely to work twice on them."

"Fine, do it..." Dylan sighed as Tyr fired a barrage at the rear exhaust-port. As promised, the ship more or less disintegrated. "Harper, Zelazny, get on repairs."

"Aye, sir." Zelazny nodded and followed Harper from the bridge.