TITLE: The Long and Winding Road (Note: work in progress)
RATING: PG-13
CHAPTER: EIGHT
AUTHOR: L. C. Brotherton
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any portion of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. I just like to bring some of these characters out to visit my playground and promise to put them back when we've finished our game. No money has been made as a result of this fan's creation.
REVIEWS/FEEDBACK: Yes, please!
ARCHIVING? Fine by me. Just email me and let me know where my work will be stored.
SPOILERS: At this point, anything from Season Two on is fair game as a spoiler.
The Long and Winding Road: Chapter Eight
"We're not strangers, Stasia, just friends you haven't met yet," Trance said cheerfully as if that suddenly made everything in the entire universe completely better.
"I know she read that on a greeting mini-flexi in a gift shop on some drift," Harper hissed at Beka, sidling a little closer for security from his some-time captain and friend.
Beka elbowed him really hard in the side to shush him.
"Oh, I've already announced you," Rhade replied to the quick and questioning glance cast his way by the woman in his arms.
"Yeah, you missed that part—it happened just moments before you tried to rip out my throat with your bare hand," Harper offered congenially, making sure he was out of arm's reach of either Nietzschean.
"I'm sure it was purely a reflex action brought on by your annoying presence, Harper," Rhade countered sourly. "I know I fight the urge on a daily basis."
"Be nice!" Stasia chastised him in a whisper that human ears could barely register as audible sound. "Please, do finish your introductions," she implored him in more companionable tones, patting his hand.
"Do you remember Captain Dylan Hunt?" he asked her.
She nodded. "Captain Hunt, you earned my deepest gratitude on the day you refused to give Telemachus over to the Council on Terazed," she said. "Of course, you also promptly took him away to parts unknown, for which you earned some of the choicest curses I could conjure."
"Uh, sorry about that," Dylan offered uncertainly.
"Moving on, the lovely golden lady is Trance Gemini, our Medical Officer, who has today earned my deepest gratitude for her physician's skills."
"I owe you much, Officer Gemini, and shall endeavor in some way to repay you for your services," the Nietzschean woman vowed solemnly.
Trance beamed at the accolades bestowed upon her. "We help people; it's our mission."
Rhade glanced at Harper and shook his head, turning his gaze instead to Beka who looked back at him with some expression he couldn't decipher. "Beka Valentine, captain of the salvage ship Eureka Maru—and sometimes Dylan's Executive Officer."
The two women appraised one another momentarily. Beka stepped forward and stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet ya," she said.
"Likewise," Stasia replied, shaking the offered hand. "A salvager? Amazing."
"That's Harper," Rhade concluded, clearing his throat, jerking his thumb in Harper's general direction.
Stasia regarded the small human male for a long moment, remorse clouding her weary features. "I do hope you can come to forgive me for my earlier indiscretion," she said. "It truly was a survival instinct over which I had no control," she explained.
"Seamus Zelazny Harper, resident genius, engineer extraordinaire, accepts your gracious apology," Harper declared with a dazzling smile, gently taking her hand to kiss it.
Rhade growled in annoyance and Stasia laughed. "I'm completely charmed," she said.
Holo-Rommie phased into view near Dylan, surreptitiously clearing her holographic throat with a loud burst of static.
"Last, and certainly not least—"Dylan began, not missing the indignant tone with which the hologram "cleared her throat."
"I am the Andromeda Ascendant," the hologram announced in curt tones, hands clasped behind her back.
"Indeed, so you are," she agreed, not aware that she was slowly digging her fingernails into his arm until Rhade quickly grabbed her hand away to lace her fingers with his.
"There! Now everybody knows everybody!" Trance piped in cheerfully. "But, you're making my patient very tired—and you all have to leave. Now," she added, her demeanor suddenly serious and commanding.
Dylan and Harper left without preamble as Holo-Rommie faded.
Beka turned to leave, but Trance grabbed her arm. "Beka, wait. I still need you," she said quickly. "A patient always feels better when they are clean and in comfortable clothes, and Anastasia will need us to help her bathe and dress."
Beka looked down at the small bundle of clothes that she had brought for Stasia from the Maru, and started to reply, only to be cut off by Rhade. "I will help with the bathing and dressing," he announced calmly in non-negotiable tones. "You can go, Beka," he said, taking the clothes she carried.
"No!" Trance exclaimed. "Rhade, that's completely inappropriate! Beka, please, stay!" She grabbed the clothes out of Rhade's hands, trying without success to pull him to his feet. "Rhade, go!"
Beka tapped her foot and crossed her arms. "Rhade, go! Beka, stay! Beka, go! OK, people, which is it?"
"I'm staying right here," Rhade announced stubbornly. "You can do what you like, Beka, but I'm going to take care of Stasia."
Trance stamped a small foot impatiently. "This is my Medical Deck, and you do not have my permission to stay, Telemachus Rhade!"
With a smile, Stasia leaned her face against Rhade's, whispering something that neither Beka nor Trance could hear. Sudden revelation spread across his face like a bright dawn after a stormy night. He carefully pulled himself away from her, but not without another kiss. The kissing lasted longer than Trance deemed necessary and she began energetically clearing her throat, before repeating to him that it was time for him to leave.
"I'll be back," he announced as Trance nearly shoved him out of Medical into the corridor.
"And she'll be waiting," Trance replied, sealing the entryway before he could change his mind. She waved at him through the plexi-steel portal. "Bye-bye," she said with a sweet smile, then turned on her heel and walked away, her strides full of great purpose.
