PART 2
Seamus Harper, the Andromeda's technical engineer hunched over the control pannel of the Saratoga. He smiled. "Well, Mr. Engineer guy, it looks like we've gotten the ship up to just about the way you wanted it, new modifications and all." Curtis looked up from his work.
"Godd, and the name's Curtis." Harper looked his way.
"Oh, right. Anyway, you wanna turn it on?" he said. Curtis nodded. Harper turned back to the contol pannel. "Okay, and away we go!" He heard Curtis turn on the ship and heard the engines roar. "Call me the God of Tech!" Harper announced. Suddenly, the engines crackled and shut down. Harper looked around the Command Center frantically.
"What the hell happened?" Curtis yelled.
"I don't know," Harper said. "I guess we blew a circut."
"Where did we come into this, oh God of Tech?" Curtis snapped angrily. "I didn't attempt to fix it." Harper gave him a side glance.
"Okay, sure. Sorry." Curtis turned back to his work station. Harper pressed buttons on a control pannel and turned to leave. "Looks like a problem with the engergy core. I'll go check it out." He walked out of the Command Center and Curtis kept working.
As soon as Harper was out of the room, Curtis went to Harper's control station, recalibrated the communications and hailed his captain. In a few seconds, Sandoz was on the view screen. She was in her quarters.
"What is it, Curtis?" she asked pleasantly.
"The repairs are almost complete," he reported. "We should be ready to go tomorrow, or so the God of Tech tells me."
"Good," Sandoz said with a smile.
"How are we going to get him?" Curtis asked.
"I'll take care of him," Sandoz said. "Don't worry about that. I've gotten some of his trust. Now all I have to do is break it." Curtis smiled at the very thought. "And how about your partner?" Sandoz continued. "Does he suspect anything?"
Curtis shook his head. "He has no clue."
***
Dylan was walking down the hall, hours after the attempt with the Saratoga had gone wrong. Harper came running up to him. "Hi ya Dylan," he said. "Can I talk to you?"
"How are the repairs going?" Dylan asked.
"Oh, my technical skills are basically the one's running the ship." Harper caught a glance of Dylan giving him a stern look telling him to keep going. "We're almost done."
"How is your partner holding up?"
"He's okay. He's somewhat helping me, but..." He paused, then he shrugged. "Oh who 'm I kidding, Dylan, this guy is driving me crazy. He's so arrogant and self-centered. I wonder why anyone would hire him as an engineer." Dylan stopped in the hallway.
"Is he a bad engineer?" he asked.
"No, he's just got some personality problems, shall we say."
"Hm," Dylan said. "But you're almost done?"
"Of course," Harper said. "Trust in Harper. Harper is good." Suddenly a voice came from behind him.
"If Haper is so good, then how long are we going to be here?" Harper whirled around and there stood Captain Sandoz. Harper composed himself from the shock and met her gaze fully.
"Your ship will be ready by the end of today," he said. Sandoz nodded.
"Thank you, and sorry if I startled you."
"Startled, me, no way!" Sandoz smiled and walked past the two men. Dylan and Harper stood in silence for a few minutes. "And her..."Harper began.
"What about her?" Dylan asked quickly.
"I don't know, I just don't trust her." Dylan faced him.
"Why not?" he asked sternly.
"I don't know. I mean she comes on board and she wants to help us but..." Harper sighed. "The situation doesn't seem, I don't know..."
"Right?" Dylan said. Harper nodded.
"I just don't feel comfortable around these guys." Dylan nodded.
"Fair enough." He began to walk down the hall, then stopped. "Oh, and Harper, are you really going to have the Saratoga up and running by the end of today?"
Harper shifted his weight. "Trust me, baby. That ship will be working before then."
Dylan smiled and continued to walk down the hall.
***
Tyr sat in the Command Center of the Andromeda reading a book. Dylan had given it to him to "keep him busy." It was called The Hunt for Red October. Tyr had no idea really what it was about. All Dylan had been willing to tell him was that it took place during Earth's twentieth century inside a Russian submarine. Tyr had no idea what a submarine was and all he could pull together from the text was that the Russians and the...Americans didn't like each other. But still, it was full of adventure, death, heroism and danger. He liked it.
The repairs to the Saratoga were finished and the stuck up captain and her skeleton crew were ready leave. He was glad they were leaving. He didn't trust them. They were always looking at him strangely and hinting towards a fight whenever they came close to him. All except the crew-member named...oh what was it...Jackson or something like that. He wasn't as bad as his captain and engineer. The captain was trying to be nice, but Tyr wasn't buying it. He knew that beneath all the kindness and generocity she was showing was the hate towards him and all Nietzscheans. The only thing Tyr could find bad about the Saratoga leaving was that Harper, the "Little Professor" as he like to call him, was going to be back in his face all the time. He wasn't really so bad, Tyr figured, but he could get really annoying when he wanted to.
Tyr flipped the page and continued reading. Suddenly, he heard the door open behind him. He turned and looked quickly and saw Trance enter the room. She simply stood in the doorway, not moving a muscle. Her eyes were wide with fear as she stared at him.
"You still afraid of me?" Tyr asked with a small smile. Then, Curtis and Sandoz came out from behind her and Tyr's smile faded. Tyr cocked his eye-brow.
"No, my Nietzschean friend," Curtis said. "She's afraid of me." Then Tyr noticed the gun which was pointing at him in Sandoz's hand and the one in Curtis's pointing at Trance. Sandoz looked at her.
"Thank you, Trance Gemini. You've been most helpful." Sandoz said.
"I'm sorry, Tyr," Trance said, her eyes glistening with unshead tears of fear and regret. Tyr's gaze rested on her.
"For what?" He began to walk towards the trio, but Sandoz fired her gun, catching him completely off guard. Tyr was shocked by the blast and for a second stood unsteadily on his feat. He heard Trance scream and he saw her running to him. Then, his world went black as he fell to the floor.
***
"It's good to have some new recruits to help us with restoring the Commonwealth," Dylan said as he shook Sandoz's hand. She and her crew were going to depart from the Andromeda as soon as possible. They were ready to get underway. Thanks to Harper's technical skills, the Saratoga was working just as promised, better than before.
"Thank you for allowing us to join you in your quest, Captain Dylan Hunt," Sandoz said. She pulled her hand away and turned to Beka. "Commander Valentine," she said, nodding her head in acknowledgment.
"Captain," Beka said back, nodding as well. "I'm only sorry Trance isn't here," she said.
"I saw her in the hallway not long ago," Sandoz said. "She and I said good-bye then."
"Oh, well then, that's good," Beka said. Sandoz then turned uneasily toward Rev. She stared at him for a second, reminding herself that this Magog was not the blood thirsty savage as all of them were.
"Thank you, Rev Bem," she said finally after collecting herself. She held out her hand and Rev took it. "You've been most hospitable."
"You're too kind," Rev said, staring evenly back at her. Sandoz pulled her hand away quickly. Meanwhile, Dylan was looking among his crew that was gathered in front of the docking bay.
"I wonder where Tyr is," he said. Beka looked at him.
"Yeah, and Harper," she continued. Sandoz looked back at them.
"Under the surcumstances, I didn't expect Tyr to show up," she said. Dylan nodded.
"And I think that Harper locked himself in that other ship." Curtis said.
"The Maru?" Beka asked. Curtis nodded. Beka looked at Dylan and gave him a wink. "Please tell me he's not working on another android."
"Probably not," Dylan said, turning back to Sandoz. "Anyway, thank you for joining us, Captain. We are grateful."
"You're welcome, Captain, but we really should get started," Sandoz said.
"Of course, Captain." Dylan soluted her and she returned the gesture. "Be sure to tell us when another planet has agreed to sign the Commonwealth charter."
"We will," Sandoz said. She smiled at Dylan and walked towards the docking ramp that led to the Saratoga. Beka went searching for Trance.
***
"Trance?" Beka said, trying to shake her friend awake. So far it wasn't working. Beka shooke her harder. "Trance!" Suddenly, Trance's eyes opened and she started talking deleriously.
"Tyr...what happened?" Then she saw Beka and her eyes widened. "Beka, they took him."
"Wait Trance, slow down." Beka sat down next to her. "Now, who took who?"
"The Saratoga crew. They took Tyr." Beka cocked an eye-brow at her.
"Why would they want to do that?" she asked.
"I don't know exactly," Trance began. She sat up a little more and then discovered that she was in medical. "The captain said something about avenging her crew."
Beka's breath caught. If what Trance was saying was true, Tyr could be in serious danger. She knew there was something about that crew she didn't like.
"We have to tell Dylan," she said. Trance nodded in agreement. "Andromeda!" The hologram materialized in front of Trance's medical bed.
"Yes, Beka?" she said.
"Tell Dylan to meet Trance and I in the briefing room immediatly."
"Of course," Andromeda said. She dematerialized. Beka helped Trance off the bed and they walked out of the medical bay.
***
Tyr's eyes fluttered open. His vision was blurred and the room he was in was pitch black. He tried to move his head, but he realized he couldn't. He felt a cold, metal strip holding his head onto what felt like a seat back. He then tried to move his hands and feet, but shackles held his wrists and ankles. He looked around the room and tried to take inventory on where he was.
Suddenly, high powered beams of white light shone directly on the chair where he was. He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the glare. As soon as his eyes had somewhat become used to it, he opened them fully. He could see the faint outline of a doorway in front of him. He could also see the black outlines of two humanoids, he could not see who they were through the glare. One approached him.
"Well," Curtis said. "How does it feel to be bound and helpless?" He came right up to Tyr and stared into his face. "Try to kill me now, Nietzschean."
Tyr growled at him. "Why have you done this?" he asked.
Curtis smiled and began to circle around Tyr. "You don't know?" Tyr shook his head. "Before we got trapped in time, your species obliterated our convoy, destoyed over 1,000 lives. Are you telling me your people don't speak triumphantly of this massacre?"
"No," Tyr fired back. "I've never heard of your ship." Curtis returned to his original spot in front of Tyr. "But why?"
"To show you that we humans are superior to you Nietzscheans. To show you that we are the ones who know how to kill. To punish you for destroying 1,000 human lives!" Curtis was now staring straight into Tyr's eyes. The Nietzschean spat at Curtis' feet.
"If you're not afraid of me and if your any bit of a man, release me. Do what you want with me and we'll see who's superior to whom." Curtis smacked Tyr on the cheek. Tyr growled again and struggled against his restraints. Curtis held up an information pad so Tyr could see it.
"Do you know what this is?" Tyr shook his head as best he could. "With this device, I could kill you in a second." Tyr simply stared at him. Curtis raised both his eye brows. "Do you want a demonstration?" Without waiting for his answer, Curtis pressed a button on the pad and an electric stock ran through the chair. Tyr's eyes widened and his breath caught. He clamped his teeth together, refusing to scream in pain. He would not let Curtis get that kind of pleasure from him.
Finally, after a few seconds, Curtis let go of the button and the pain streaming through Tyr's body stopped. He let out his breath and unclamped his teeth. Curtis smiled as Captain Sandoz came up to his side. "And that's only the beginning, Nietzschean," she said.
"I'll get you to scream out for mercy sometime," Curtis continued.
"Don't count on it," Tyr spat. Curtis smiled and he and his captain walked out of the chamber. They turned off the lights and left Tyr in the silent black.
***
"Are you sure you think that's why they took him?" Dylan asked Beka in the briefing room of the Andromeda. He, Beka and Trance had met in the room right after Trance had told Beka about Tyr's kidnapping. Beka shrugged at her captain's question.
"I don't know, Dylan, but from what Trance has told me, it sure sounds that way." Dylan began to pace in front of the head of the opal shapped table.
"It's my fault," he said. Beka cocked and eye brow at him and Trance sat back in her seat. "If I hadn't trusted her as much..."
"Don't blame yourself," Trance said.
"Yeah, Dylan," Beka said. "They put on a good show for us, made us give them our trust. Anyone would have been fooled."
Dylan stood in front of his chair and finally looked at Beka.
"Beka, find out what course the Saratoga took." Beka looked at him and cocked her head. "We're going after them."
Beka nodded and she and Trance left the room. Dylan stood in front of the table for a while. "How could I let it happen?" he asked himself.
Seamus Harper, the Andromeda's technical engineer hunched over the control pannel of the Saratoga. He smiled. "Well, Mr. Engineer guy, it looks like we've gotten the ship up to just about the way you wanted it, new modifications and all." Curtis looked up from his work.
"Godd, and the name's Curtis." Harper looked his way.
"Oh, right. Anyway, you wanna turn it on?" he said. Curtis nodded. Harper turned back to the contol pannel. "Okay, and away we go!" He heard Curtis turn on the ship and heard the engines roar. "Call me the God of Tech!" Harper announced. Suddenly, the engines crackled and shut down. Harper looked around the Command Center frantically.
"What the hell happened?" Curtis yelled.
"I don't know," Harper said. "I guess we blew a circut."
"Where did we come into this, oh God of Tech?" Curtis snapped angrily. "I didn't attempt to fix it." Harper gave him a side glance.
"Okay, sure. Sorry." Curtis turned back to his work station. Harper pressed buttons on a control pannel and turned to leave. "Looks like a problem with the engergy core. I'll go check it out." He walked out of the Command Center and Curtis kept working.
As soon as Harper was out of the room, Curtis went to Harper's control station, recalibrated the communications and hailed his captain. In a few seconds, Sandoz was on the view screen. She was in her quarters.
"What is it, Curtis?" she asked pleasantly.
"The repairs are almost complete," he reported. "We should be ready to go tomorrow, or so the God of Tech tells me."
"Good," Sandoz said with a smile.
"How are we going to get him?" Curtis asked.
"I'll take care of him," Sandoz said. "Don't worry about that. I've gotten some of his trust. Now all I have to do is break it." Curtis smiled at the very thought. "And how about your partner?" Sandoz continued. "Does he suspect anything?"
Curtis shook his head. "He has no clue."
***
Dylan was walking down the hall, hours after the attempt with the Saratoga had gone wrong. Harper came running up to him. "Hi ya Dylan," he said. "Can I talk to you?"
"How are the repairs going?" Dylan asked.
"Oh, my technical skills are basically the one's running the ship." Harper caught a glance of Dylan giving him a stern look telling him to keep going. "We're almost done."
"How is your partner holding up?"
"He's okay. He's somewhat helping me, but..." He paused, then he shrugged. "Oh who 'm I kidding, Dylan, this guy is driving me crazy. He's so arrogant and self-centered. I wonder why anyone would hire him as an engineer." Dylan stopped in the hallway.
"Is he a bad engineer?" he asked.
"No, he's just got some personality problems, shall we say."
"Hm," Dylan said. "But you're almost done?"
"Of course," Harper said. "Trust in Harper. Harper is good." Suddenly a voice came from behind him.
"If Haper is so good, then how long are we going to be here?" Harper whirled around and there stood Captain Sandoz. Harper composed himself from the shock and met her gaze fully.
"Your ship will be ready by the end of today," he said. Sandoz nodded.
"Thank you, and sorry if I startled you."
"Startled, me, no way!" Sandoz smiled and walked past the two men. Dylan and Harper stood in silence for a few minutes. "And her..."Harper began.
"What about her?" Dylan asked quickly.
"I don't know, I just don't trust her." Dylan faced him.
"Why not?" he asked sternly.
"I don't know. I mean she comes on board and she wants to help us but..." Harper sighed. "The situation doesn't seem, I don't know..."
"Right?" Dylan said. Harper nodded.
"I just don't feel comfortable around these guys." Dylan nodded.
"Fair enough." He began to walk down the hall, then stopped. "Oh, and Harper, are you really going to have the Saratoga up and running by the end of today?"
Harper shifted his weight. "Trust me, baby. That ship will be working before then."
Dylan smiled and continued to walk down the hall.
***
Tyr sat in the Command Center of the Andromeda reading a book. Dylan had given it to him to "keep him busy." It was called The Hunt for Red October. Tyr had no idea really what it was about. All Dylan had been willing to tell him was that it took place during Earth's twentieth century inside a Russian submarine. Tyr had no idea what a submarine was and all he could pull together from the text was that the Russians and the...Americans didn't like each other. But still, it was full of adventure, death, heroism and danger. He liked it.
The repairs to the Saratoga were finished and the stuck up captain and her skeleton crew were ready leave. He was glad they were leaving. He didn't trust them. They were always looking at him strangely and hinting towards a fight whenever they came close to him. All except the crew-member named...oh what was it...Jackson or something like that. He wasn't as bad as his captain and engineer. The captain was trying to be nice, but Tyr wasn't buying it. He knew that beneath all the kindness and generocity she was showing was the hate towards him and all Nietzscheans. The only thing Tyr could find bad about the Saratoga leaving was that Harper, the "Little Professor" as he like to call him, was going to be back in his face all the time. He wasn't really so bad, Tyr figured, but he could get really annoying when he wanted to.
Tyr flipped the page and continued reading. Suddenly, he heard the door open behind him. He turned and looked quickly and saw Trance enter the room. She simply stood in the doorway, not moving a muscle. Her eyes were wide with fear as she stared at him.
"You still afraid of me?" Tyr asked with a small smile. Then, Curtis and Sandoz came out from behind her and Tyr's smile faded. Tyr cocked his eye-brow.
"No, my Nietzschean friend," Curtis said. "She's afraid of me." Then Tyr noticed the gun which was pointing at him in Sandoz's hand and the one in Curtis's pointing at Trance. Sandoz looked at her.
"Thank you, Trance Gemini. You've been most helpful." Sandoz said.
"I'm sorry, Tyr," Trance said, her eyes glistening with unshead tears of fear and regret. Tyr's gaze rested on her.
"For what?" He began to walk towards the trio, but Sandoz fired her gun, catching him completely off guard. Tyr was shocked by the blast and for a second stood unsteadily on his feat. He heard Trance scream and he saw her running to him. Then, his world went black as he fell to the floor.
***
"It's good to have some new recruits to help us with restoring the Commonwealth," Dylan said as he shook Sandoz's hand. She and her crew were going to depart from the Andromeda as soon as possible. They were ready to get underway. Thanks to Harper's technical skills, the Saratoga was working just as promised, better than before.
"Thank you for allowing us to join you in your quest, Captain Dylan Hunt," Sandoz said. She pulled her hand away and turned to Beka. "Commander Valentine," she said, nodding her head in acknowledgment.
"Captain," Beka said back, nodding as well. "I'm only sorry Trance isn't here," she said.
"I saw her in the hallway not long ago," Sandoz said. "She and I said good-bye then."
"Oh, well then, that's good," Beka said. Sandoz then turned uneasily toward Rev. She stared at him for a second, reminding herself that this Magog was not the blood thirsty savage as all of them were.
"Thank you, Rev Bem," she said finally after collecting herself. She held out her hand and Rev took it. "You've been most hospitable."
"You're too kind," Rev said, staring evenly back at her. Sandoz pulled her hand away quickly. Meanwhile, Dylan was looking among his crew that was gathered in front of the docking bay.
"I wonder where Tyr is," he said. Beka looked at him.
"Yeah, and Harper," she continued. Sandoz looked back at them.
"Under the surcumstances, I didn't expect Tyr to show up," she said. Dylan nodded.
"And I think that Harper locked himself in that other ship." Curtis said.
"The Maru?" Beka asked. Curtis nodded. Beka looked at Dylan and gave him a wink. "Please tell me he's not working on another android."
"Probably not," Dylan said, turning back to Sandoz. "Anyway, thank you for joining us, Captain. We are grateful."
"You're welcome, Captain, but we really should get started," Sandoz said.
"Of course, Captain." Dylan soluted her and she returned the gesture. "Be sure to tell us when another planet has agreed to sign the Commonwealth charter."
"We will," Sandoz said. She smiled at Dylan and walked towards the docking ramp that led to the Saratoga. Beka went searching for Trance.
***
"Trance?" Beka said, trying to shake her friend awake. So far it wasn't working. Beka shooke her harder. "Trance!" Suddenly, Trance's eyes opened and she started talking deleriously.
"Tyr...what happened?" Then she saw Beka and her eyes widened. "Beka, they took him."
"Wait Trance, slow down." Beka sat down next to her. "Now, who took who?"
"The Saratoga crew. They took Tyr." Beka cocked an eye-brow at her.
"Why would they want to do that?" she asked.
"I don't know exactly," Trance began. She sat up a little more and then discovered that she was in medical. "The captain said something about avenging her crew."
Beka's breath caught. If what Trance was saying was true, Tyr could be in serious danger. She knew there was something about that crew she didn't like.
"We have to tell Dylan," she said. Trance nodded in agreement. "Andromeda!" The hologram materialized in front of Trance's medical bed.
"Yes, Beka?" she said.
"Tell Dylan to meet Trance and I in the briefing room immediatly."
"Of course," Andromeda said. She dematerialized. Beka helped Trance off the bed and they walked out of the medical bay.
***
Tyr's eyes fluttered open. His vision was blurred and the room he was in was pitch black. He tried to move his head, but he realized he couldn't. He felt a cold, metal strip holding his head onto what felt like a seat back. He then tried to move his hands and feet, but shackles held his wrists and ankles. He looked around the room and tried to take inventory on where he was.
Suddenly, high powered beams of white light shone directly on the chair where he was. He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the glare. As soon as his eyes had somewhat become used to it, he opened them fully. He could see the faint outline of a doorway in front of him. He could also see the black outlines of two humanoids, he could not see who they were through the glare. One approached him.
"Well," Curtis said. "How does it feel to be bound and helpless?" He came right up to Tyr and stared into his face. "Try to kill me now, Nietzschean."
Tyr growled at him. "Why have you done this?" he asked.
Curtis smiled and began to circle around Tyr. "You don't know?" Tyr shook his head. "Before we got trapped in time, your species obliterated our convoy, destoyed over 1,000 lives. Are you telling me your people don't speak triumphantly of this massacre?"
"No," Tyr fired back. "I've never heard of your ship." Curtis returned to his original spot in front of Tyr. "But why?"
"To show you that we humans are superior to you Nietzscheans. To show you that we are the ones who know how to kill. To punish you for destroying 1,000 human lives!" Curtis was now staring straight into Tyr's eyes. The Nietzschean spat at Curtis' feet.
"If you're not afraid of me and if your any bit of a man, release me. Do what you want with me and we'll see who's superior to whom." Curtis smacked Tyr on the cheek. Tyr growled again and struggled against his restraints. Curtis held up an information pad so Tyr could see it.
"Do you know what this is?" Tyr shook his head as best he could. "With this device, I could kill you in a second." Tyr simply stared at him. Curtis raised both his eye brows. "Do you want a demonstration?" Without waiting for his answer, Curtis pressed a button on the pad and an electric stock ran through the chair. Tyr's eyes widened and his breath caught. He clamped his teeth together, refusing to scream in pain. He would not let Curtis get that kind of pleasure from him.
Finally, after a few seconds, Curtis let go of the button and the pain streaming through Tyr's body stopped. He let out his breath and unclamped his teeth. Curtis smiled as Captain Sandoz came up to his side. "And that's only the beginning, Nietzschean," she said.
"I'll get you to scream out for mercy sometime," Curtis continued.
"Don't count on it," Tyr spat. Curtis smiled and he and his captain walked out of the chamber. They turned off the lights and left Tyr in the silent black.
***
"Are you sure you think that's why they took him?" Dylan asked Beka in the briefing room of the Andromeda. He, Beka and Trance had met in the room right after Trance had told Beka about Tyr's kidnapping. Beka shrugged at her captain's question.
"I don't know, Dylan, but from what Trance has told me, it sure sounds that way." Dylan began to pace in front of the head of the opal shapped table.
"It's my fault," he said. Beka cocked and eye brow at him and Trance sat back in her seat. "If I hadn't trusted her as much..."
"Don't blame yourself," Trance said.
"Yeah, Dylan," Beka said. "They put on a good show for us, made us give them our trust. Anyone would have been fooled."
Dylan stood in front of his chair and finally looked at Beka.
"Beka, find out what course the Saratoga took." Beka looked at him and cocked her head. "We're going after them."
Beka nodded and she and Trance left the room. Dylan stood in front of the table for a while. "How could I let it happen?" he asked himself.