Author's Note: I am sooo sorry I haven't updated in ages. Worse, I left you guys with that awful cliff hanger. Sorry! End of the year is always hard. Everything is in a rush at school. But on the bright side I did very well on the SATs so thanks for whishing me good luck. Here's chapter 11.

Chapter 11

"Damn," Beka cursed under her breath as she reached for her lost wrench. She felt around the cold floor of the hanger bay where she rested on her bay as she struggled to repair the badly damaged belly of the Maru.
"Harper's spoiled you," she muttered to herself as she found the missing wrench and returned to work. "Having him around to fix everything all the time made you soft, Valentine."
If she where honest with herself, Beka would have admitted that the fact that the engineer was too busy with weapon designs to repair the old beat-up cargo transport was only a convenient excuse for her to cram herself into the tight space under the Maru. Part of the truth was that she needed a place where she could escape the monotonous duties as first officer. The other part, the one that she desperately tried to deny, was that she needed something to occupy herself with in order to keep her thoughts from straying to a certain lieutenant commander. But no mater how hard she tried, Beka couldn't will herself to stop thinking about him.
When Telemachus first came on boarded, all Beka could see was just another Nietzscheans, just another Uber, just another man to betray them. After realizing that he was not leaving anytime soon, she'd reluctantly accepted him as a member of the crew, someone she had to get along with only as far as it served whatever insane cause Dylan got them into at the moment. She had been extremely reluctant to trust him. Then the two of them rescued Tristan from the doomed slave ship, and the little boy entered their lives. Beka watched Telemachus with the Tristan, watched him patiently teach the boy and help him be a child for the first time in his short life. It had forced her to reevaluate her opinion of Telemachus himself. Ever so gradually she came to see him as a warm, caring individual rather then a typical hard-hearted Nietzschean she'd expected in the beginning. So now the only question was when had those feelings of respect and friendship turned to something more?
Before she had a chance to follow that thought, Beka heard the door to the hanger bay slide open. She crawled out of the cramped space just in time to see the object of her disconnected thought enter the hanger bay. Despite herself, Beka felt a slight blush creeping into her cheeks. She must have looked a mess.
Telemachus spotted her and jogged in the direction of the Maru. "Rebecca, I was hoping to have a word with..."
Before he could finish, the entire hanger bay shook and several loud thuds could be heard overhead. Rhade frowned in confusion, but Beka's ice- blue eyes widened in shear terror. Her heartbeat quickened, and the scent of her sweat hit him a second later.
"What is it?" his attention was focused on the ceiling.
"I hope I'm wrong," Beka whispered. "I've never believed in the Devine, but I pray I'm wrong," she quickly turned to him. "Don't just stand there! Run!"
Before he could argue, she grabbed him by the wrist and dragged them both through the hanger bay doors. As the massive metal plates slid closed, Rhade caught a glimpse of what he thought was the nose of another ship punch through the hall.
"We have to get to command," Beka yelled over her shoulder, "but first we're stopping at the weapon lockers."
* * * * * * * * * *
Tristan was frozen in fear. His every survival instinct screamed at him to move, but he couldn't. The next thing he knew, Tristan was scooped up and held tightly to someone who was also firing at the approaching swarm of Magog. He felt that the person holding him was also running, and he chanced a look up. Tristan recognized his rescuer as the woman who arrived on the Andromeda earlier in the weak. Beka had said that she was somehow related to Rhade, and the boy could remember that her name was Kali.
"I got you, kid," she said. Tristan couldn't argue. They rounded another corner, and he heard more rapidly approaching footsteps. Tristan was almost afraid to look, but when he did, his heart soared to see Beka and Rhade, both heavily armed and heading in their direction.
"Take him," Kali said, handing Tristan over to Beka.
"What the hell is going on?" Rhade demanded.
"What do you think?" Kali shouted. "We've got Magog swarm ships punching through the hall and guess who's on the menu? We just had an encounter with them that was a little to close for comfort."
Beka looked at the terrified child in her arms. Tristan was clutching to her and crying, simply out of fear. "I know, baby," she whispered and held him just a little tighter. "So much excitement around here, yes? Bad Magog have no respect for little boys who need their sleep."
"If it is the Magog, then Beka is right and we must make our way to command," Telemachus declared. "Damn! Why didn't Andromeda's sensors pick them up earlier?"
"You can worry about it later," Kali told him. "Right now the two of you have to get moving, and I need to get to get to the upper decks and find my men." She was referring to the four soldiers who arrived with her.
"The upper decks are the first to go," Beka objected. "They are directly in the Magog's paths."
"So is the rest of the ship!" Kali shot back. "I'm not leaving my men behind, and that's final. See you later, kid," She ruffled Tristan's dark curls. "Good luck to both of you," she turned on her heal was gone.
Once Kali was out of sight, Beka faced Rhade, the child still in her arms. "Medical is on the way," she said quickly, "and it's the most fortified area on the ship, so that at time of attack, those who can't defend themselves would be safer. Tristan should be okay there. I hope that it'll hold back the Magog."
"Please don't leave me!" the boy cried, now more afraid of being abandoned yet again than of the Magog.
"No one is leaving you, child," Telemachus assured him as they ran to the med bay. "We just want you to be safe, and we will return."
Tristan whimpered, but his sobs died down slightly. A moment later, they arrived at their destination. Rhade remained at the door, his ever- watchful Nietzschean eyes scanning for the enemy, gun at the ready. Beka carried Tristan over to the table, placing him down carefully. His eyes were wide with fear, cheeks streaked with drying tears. Beka gave him a small reassuring smile, soothed back his dark curls, and placed a warm kiss on the child's forehead.
"Stay here," she said softly, hoping that her voice would calm him if only a little. She pulled out her gun and got ready to leave med bay. "If someone tries to break in, you need to hide and stay very quiet."
"Beka," the boy called after her.
Beka sighed and turned back to him. "What is it, baby?"
"When you come back," Tristan spoke quickly, staring at the ground, "would you mind... I mean, could I... could I call you 'mom?'" He looked up at her, eyes filled with fresh tears, his voice so very desperate.
Beka gave a slight gasped, then smiled and brushed the tears from his cheeks. This was her chance, she realized, to prove to herself once and for all tat she was nothing like Thalia. Tristan need her, needed to believe that he was safe and loved, and Beka was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that nothing would harm him. And after all wasn't that what real mothers did for their children?
"Sure, baby," she promised. "You be brave for me, okay?" Tristan nodded vigorously. "Good boy."
"Hey," Rhade called from the doorway, and Tristan looked up at the adult Nietzschean. "I'll bring your mother back to you. Nothing is going to happen to her."
"Hear that?" she told the boy. "Everything's going to be okay. Now I have to go."