Off to the distance he could see the search light on the approaching aircraft heading this way. In typical Commonwealth fashion, the patrols kept to a rigid pattern and schedule, varying only by a few minutes. After watching and figuring the schedule, Genghis had set about sneaking past the patrols on the border of Argosy and set out toward his ship.
It had been slow going. Traveling during the day was too risky. Not only were there more people about, but it was easier to be seen. Traveling under the cover of dark was the better option. Of course the same dark that concealed him also hindered his movements. Nor could he chance using a light himself, as in the otherwise dark woods he was traveling through the light could give away his position. Not to mention, he had to be sure to be under cover when the night patrols went by.
Speaking of which, it was time to be finding that cover. Though he still had about ten minutes before the search aircraft would be over his current position, he didn't want to take too many risks. He had gotten this far undetected and he didn't intend to be caught now.
Genghis hadn't gone much further when he noticed the trunk of a large fallen tree. Having fallen onto something, there would be enough room between the trunk and the ground for him to lie under. The trunk had enough girth that it would hide him from the air search. The only question was whether or not the trunk was stable enough to risk hiding under.
Making his way to the fallen tree, Genghis placed two hands on the log. He tried to move the fallen tree and found that it was fairly stable. Deciding that it was stable enough to risk laying under, Genghis took another look up into the sky. Finding the search vessel, he watched it for a moment. It didn't take him long to realize that the search light was circling over one particular area. Apparently they thought they had noticed something out of the ordinary.
Genghis continued to watch the light cutting through the night sky. Now that he had found his hiding place, he felt comfortable watching the search vessel. He would have more than enough time to duck under the fallen tree once the search vessel continued on its normal patrol route. If it didn't resume its routine search pattern than Genghis would know that something out of the ordinary had been discovered.
Genghis knew he needed to know about anything out of the ordinary. If there was a break in the search pattern, then he would need to consider finding a more permanent hiding place as he wouldn't be sure of when the normal search pattern would be resumed.
In the distance, the search light circled one particular area for about ten minutes. When the aircraft moved, Genghis noticed that it was headed in his direction, apparently resuming the normal search pattern.
Contemplating what might have caused the delay, Genghis moved to slide underneath the trunk of the fallen tree. As he settled in for the wait, the Sabra-Jaguar knew that he would have time to go through quite a few scenarios as he waited for the search vessel to move far enough out of his current area until it was safe to begin his trek to the ship. As long as nothing went wrong, he should reach his vessel before daylight. After that, figuring out how to get off of Tarazed without being detected would prove to be the next problem he would need to solve.
Reaching the door to the quarters that the Rhade children were currently using, Dylan opened the door and stepped inside. Bekka sat on the floor with all three of the children looking in her direction as she told them a story. None of them looked in his direction as they were so engrossed in the story.
Dylan stood there for a few minutes, watching and listening. Satisfied that the children were in good hands, Dylan finally slipped from the room and continued to Med Deck. As soon as he walked into the area Trance was standing in front of him.
"How is he?" Dylan asked her, seeing the concern in Trance's expression.
"He's stable for now," Trance told him. "His trouble breathing turned out to be a panic attack and not the poison affecting the lungs. At least not yet," she added. "I gave him a mild sedative to help him relax. However, the poison has spread to through most of the body. It appears not to affect involuntary muscles as fast as the voluntary muscles but we're running out of time."
"Any word from Dr. Neff and her team?"
Trance shook her head.
"You look tired, Trance. Why don't you go lay down for a bit? We'll call you if we need you," Dylan told her.
"I could use a little rest," Trance conceded. "I'm going to use one of the beds here though," she added. "Call me for anything."
Dylan reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I will," he assured her.
Trance gave him a small, sad smile, before turning and heading away. Dylan watched her for only a moment before heading to where Telemachus was. Reaching the doorway, he knocked on the wall to announce his presence. Jillian, who was sitting at the head of the bed, her husband's head resting in her lap, looked up at the sound.
"Come in, Admiral Hunt," Jillian replied, though she made no attempt to move from her perch. She grasped one on Telemachus' hands in both of hers.
Telemachus remained still, not bothering any kind of greeting as Dylan stepped into the room. Though he didn't look in Dylan's direction, Andromeda's captain noted that his friend's eyes were open.
"How are you holding up?" Dylan asked, addressing Jillian as he walked to the bedside.
Jillian gave a small smile. "I'm doing okay, Admiral. Thank-you for asking."
"Call me Dylan please," he reminded her, gently. He hoped with enough assurance his friend's wife would feel comfortable using his first name.
Having reached the bedside, Dylan reached down for Telemachus' other hand which rested at his side. As he grasped it, Dylan could tell that the poison had spread enough to affect even Telemachus' hand. However, as his friend finally glanced in his direction Dylan got the feeling that he still had some feeling in his hands even if he couldn't move it.
"Heard you've been having a rough time, my friend," Dylan said addressing Telemachus.
"Not being able to move is unsettling," Telemachus admitted.
"I'm sure," Dylan said, wishing he knew what to say to reassure his friend. However, he wasn't even anything reassuring he could say in this situation except for the news that a cure had been found. Unfortunately that was something that he couldn't truthfully say at this point.
"Perhaps I should go check on the children," Jillian commented.
"I checked in on them on my way here," Dylan told her. "Bekka was reading them a story."
"Then perhaps I should go say goodnight and tuck them in," Jillian amended. She leaned down to kiss her husband's forehead. "I'll be back soon, my love," she promised him.
Telemachus simply nodded in response.
Letting go of Telemachus' hand, Dylan reached out to lift Telemachus' upper body so that Jillian could slip down from the bed. Once Jillian was out of the way, Dylan eased Telemachus down to the pillow, noticing that Jillian hesitated in leaving the bedside as he did so. Leaving one hand on Telemachus' shoulder, Dylan caught Jillian's gaze and gave her a reassuring nod. Dylan could tell she was torn between being with her husband and being with her children.
"Go, "Dylan mouthed silently to her as he nodded toward the doorway.
Jillian nodded before finally heading toward the doorway. As she left, Dylan reached out with a foot and hooked the nearby chair with his foot. Pulling it toward him, Dylan placed it beside the bed and sat down facing Rhade. He grabbed Rhade's left hand with his right and then placed his other hand over top of Rhade's, holding their hands up in Rhade's line of sight.
"You're not going through this alone, my friend," Dylan assured him. Right now, being supportive was the only way that Andromeda's commanding officer knew he could help right now.
"I appreciate that," Rhade replied. "I appreciate everything you and the others are doing for the children and Jillian. However, I need to ask something of you, Dylan."
Dylan shook his head. "Asking is not necessary," he replied, knowing what Telemachus was about to ask. "If Harper doesn't pull off another one of his impossible feats, then I will look out for your family as if they were part of my own family," Dylan assured him.
"Jillian's pregnant, "Rhade added, knowing it wasn't the best way to share the news but knowing that Dylan deserved to know.
"That's not going to change my answer. You know that. Why didn't you mention it before though?"
"She just told me" Rhade replied. "She said she got confirmation from the doctor shortly after I declared my candidacy, and then when the trouble started related to that she kept it to herself. She felt I had enough to worry about and was afraid it would convince me to pull out of the race."
"And would it have?"
"Probably," Telemachus admitted. "I regret that the child will not know its father."
"There's that Rhade pessimism again," Dylan countered. "I'm not about to let you accept defeat yet. Besides, no matter what happens, this child will know their father. Jillian will make sure of that. Their older siblings will let them know what their father was like. I will tell them that they had a father that they could be proud of."
"I'd like you to be this child's godfather?"
Dylan smiled. "I'd be proud to accept that honor," he told Telemachus.
"Thank-you," Rhade replied, his former captain's words soothing his regrets. "As long as I know my family will be looked after, death does not scare me."
"Of course it doesn't," Dylan said, seeing Gaheris in Telemachus in this moment. Gaheris too had cared deeply for his family and perhaps that was his biggest flaw. Still, it was a flaw that Dylan was probably guilty of him himself. "However, now there is something that I want to ask of you."
"I'm not doing it Dylan. I refuse to be kept alive indefinitely by machines. That's no kind of life," Telemachus said before Dylan could state what he wanted to ask of Rhade.
"I get it, Telemachus," Dylan replied. He had known this was going to take some convincing and he wasn't about to accept the initial refusal. "However, I think that you owe it to your family to continue to fight as long as there is any chance of beating this. Harper, Dr. Neff and her team have been working on this with little sleep. They haven't given up. Don't give up on them. Give them the time to exhaust all the possibilities."
"And when they exhaust those possibilities with no cure, do you expect me to ask Jillian to make the decision to either pull the plug or watch as I lie in a bed indefinitely? I won't do that to her Dylan."
Dylan could understand and respect how Telemachus felt. "If they can't find a cure, then trust me to make that hard choice," Dylan insisted, knowing that it wouldn't be an easy choice for even him. He had watched Gaheris take his last breath, and though he had come to know Telemachus on his own merit, there was still no denying that he was the identical reincarnation of Gaheris Rhade. If it came down to having to make the decision to end life support, Dylan knew he would be reliving the death of his best friend as well. However, that was a risk he was willing to take to buy some more time because he believed Harper would help the doctors to find a cure eventually. "But I don't think it will come to that because I'm counting on Harper. He hasn't failed to come through yet, even when I didn't want him to with the Time Bridge."
Telemachus laughed at that despite the situation. "You and your eternal hope."
"Every pessimistic Nietszchean should have someone like me at their side. We balance each other out."
"Perhaps," Telemachus replied, knowing that there some truth to Dylan's words. "If I agree to this, you need to promise me that you won't let this go on indefinitely. If they can't figure this out in a couple of weeks, then I need your promise that you'll end it. I need to know that my family won't be living with this stress indefinitely."
"I can't put a time limit on it," Dylan told him honestly. As much as he wanted Rhade to keep fighting, he refused to use subterfuge to achieve his goal. "I can only promise that I won't drag this out indefinitely. I will weigh the progress of the research going on along with the emotional stress of your family and make the decision based on that. It's the best I can promise you."
"It's good enough," Rhade said, knowing that even if this drug on longer than he would personally hope, that Dylan would be true to his word. "You make a good point that I should fight as long as I can for my family. Especially knowing about the baby now," Telemachus said as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it slowly before saying, "I don't want to leave my family, Dylan"
Reaching out with his left hand, Dylan applied reassuring pressure to Rhade's shoulder. He knew it was a hard confession for his friend to make, and he was honored that Rhade trusted him enough to make it now.
"I know you don't, my friend, and Jillian and the kids know that as well," Dylan told him. He wanted to assure him that everything was going to be okay, but this time, Dylan didn't feel so sure of that himself. He just knew that they needed more time to achieve the outcome that all of them wanted. "You're making the best choice to not let that happen. We're all here for you. You just need to keep fighting."
Telemachus didn't try to answer, simply nodding instead, his eyes still closed.
Dylan allowed Telemachus a little time to gather himself before asking, "Do you want to tell Jillian the decision, or should I?"
"I will. I owe her that."
"Harper is going to come through. I have faith in that."
"I'll let you have faith for both of us," Rhade replied.
"Nothing new then," Dylan replied, getting a chuckle from Rhade.
The two fell silent. Dylan thought that Telemachus had fallen asleep when he spoke again quietly.
"I don't want to be alone."
"You won't be," Dylan assured him. "I promise you that," he told Telemachus. There wasn't much he could actually do right now, but this was something he could make sure happened.
