Title: Not Just A Game
Rating: PG-13
Challenge: The Nietzschean revolt. What happened, how did it get started, how did Rhade and Dylan fit in. You can also write a 'war story' set during the Fall itself.
Spoilers: Double Helix, in fact an entire scene from it in text version
Author's Note: I wrote this after consulting allsystems, and I got the whole Nietzchean Civil War and the Nietzchean revolt confused, actually they're still pretty confused in my mind, which makes this story inaccurate and also disqualified for the challenge. (And I still don't understand half of Andromeda's history.) However, I did spend a great deal of time on it, and I hate to waste time.
A cool fog engulfed the entire mountainside until he could barely see his own hand in front of him, even with his superior vision. It had grown strangely quiet. He concentrated on the uneven ground beneath his feet. Rocks, roots, and other potential hazards were scattered everywhere. The loud crack of a stick breaking suddenly broke the silence. He spun around towards the origin of the sound in a defensive position with his Nietzchean instincts driving his fluid movements, his mind silently contemplating the possibility of encountering an enemy.
A powerful arm grasped him from behind, its forearm blades mere millimeters from the vulnerable arteries in his neck. Even the slightest movement could cause an immediate and unpleasant death.
"Who are you?" a deep masculine voice inquired. The Nietzchean's forearm blades lightly brushed against his neck, warning him not to attempt an escape.
"What is it to you?" His voice was level and calm, despite the hormones of fear he realized he was releasing, that his opponent could most likely smell.
"Gaheris. I didn't realize it was you. You don't usually take this path." The other Nietzchean released him.
"Tremayne, we can't be too careful, considering our circumstances," Gaheris said, this being the nearest to forgiveness that he came.
"The others are waiting for us in the cavern," Tremayne said. He was large and very powerful, even by Nietzchean standards. The contours of his well-sculpted body could be easily seen through his tight black leather attire.
"Have you revealed the plan to them yet?"
"No, I thought I would leave that up to its creator."
Gaheris smiled as they hiked through the mountain terrain, nearing their destination.
***
"Captain Hunt, sir, here are the mission briefings you requested," a young ensign said with a salute.
"At ease. Thank you, ensign." Dylan skimmed over the mission briefings.
Even though he received little shore leave, the majority of that time was spent preparing for the subsequent missions. The time remaining was either spent with his fiancée, Sara, or his best friend and first officer, Rhade. Sara was halfway across the galaxy on Tarn-Vedra, and Rhade had wandered down to the surface of Praehila. This left him alone yet again in his equivalent of an office to review the mission briefings.
"Captain Hunt," Rommie said as her hologram form winked into appearance before him.
"Yes, Rommie?" He glanced up from the briefings.
"This time is your shore leave. I know that you're well-aware of our upcoming missions. It's unhealthy for you to spend every free minute immersed in work." Her worry for him was blatant.
"Thank you for your concern, and I'll relax tomorrow. Rhade promised me a few games of one-on-one down in Hydroponics." Dylan laid the flexi he had been holding on his desk. "Has the engineering crew finished your diagnostics?"
"They have been completed, and I am in tip top condition. We can embark whenever you are prepared to."
"Thank you, Andromeda."
The hologram nodded before winking out.
Dylan sighed. "Rommie is right about me knowing exactly what our upcoming missions are. Maybe I should go planetside and see what Rhade is up to."
***
The deepest depths of the cavern held stinging cold and air that was barely breathable. A small fire cast a dim glow on the circle of about fifteen Nietzcheans that were gathered. None of them showed the slightest discomfort, even though they were among their fellow pride members.
"What is this plan Tremayne spoke of?" Elgryn, the oldest Nietzchean of the group, impatiently asked.
"The plan will come soon enough. First, I must explain our objective," Gaheris insisted.
This was responded to by several protesting grumbles, but no one else chose to speak.
"We are Nietzcheans. We possess a strength, power and most of all unity that surpasses that of all others! We are the survivors when others falter and cause their own extinction," Gaheris began with pride. "But the weak ubers have always held power above our own, power that we rightfully deserve."
The protesting grumbles turned to ones of approval and agreement.
"Why should we allow these inadequate ubers to continue their reign over Nietzchean kind?!?" His patriotism was genuine and his words like those of the most eloquent orator in the Nietzcheans' ears.
"Why are we letting the ubers walk all over us? Something must be done!" one of the Nietzcheans exclaimed.
"This is where your plan ties in, Gaheris?" Elgryn asked, still wary.
"The Commonwealth is barely sufficient at best. I have served in it for years and can even see a slight decline myself. Most of the officers elude themselves, thinking the Commonwealth is infallible, even the good Captain Hunt." Gaheris paused momentarily. "The Commonwealth must be converted."
"Are you suggesting a coup d'état?" another Nietzchean asked.
"Not a coup d'état. A Nietzchean empire."
***
Dylan gingerly scaled the steep peak of the mountain. He was following the evidence of recent activity--small but deep cracks in the rock face from a grappling hook, missing pieces of the rock formations caused by a slipping foot, and frayed fragments of the crimson rope he knew Gaheris always scaled mountains with. His pursuit of Gaheris had already led him to ascend several precipices.
As he neared the crest of the mountain face, he heard a distant conversation in progress. He ceased all movement, even breathing for a moment, while he attempted to discern words and identify the voices.
"We shall meet again tomorrow," a voice that sounded much like Gaheris said.
"Do you really think we will be able to pull this off?" an unfamiliar voice asked.
"Let that be my concern. You know what you should be concerning yourself with."
"Until we meet again." The sound of footsteps nearing the cliff edge followed.
Dylan fought the panic and remained still.
"Yes, until we meet again." One pair of footsteps hurried in the other direction.
A painful silence ensued. Dylan felt the muscles in his arms burning and growing slightly numb. He had no choice but to continue climbing.
"Captain!" Gaheris peered over the edge of the cliff. "I did not expect to see you here."
"And I did not expect to find you here. Following you isn't easy." Dylan neared the edge of the cliff.
Gaheris took his arm and pulled him onto level ground. "Moutain climbing in steep ranges like these is not a simple task. What brings you here? I know you aren't exactly fond of moutain climbing."
Dylan was uncertain of whether to ask about Gaheris' companion or not. The fact that he hadn't already offered the information was an implication that it was private. It had occurred to Dylan that it could be a matter he didn't want to know about. His curiousity had caused him to delve into Gaheris' personal life before, and it would not be a place he would soon be returning to. He eventually responded, "It's better than reading the same mission briefings for the hundredth time."
"Has it been decided when we're embarking?" Gaheris began preparing his equipment for their descent.
"The day after tomorrow." Dylan followed suit and connected the safety cable to his belt.
"Good." Gaheris' tone revealed he was extremely relieved by that fact.
'That's strange,' Dylan thought as they began to descend the mountain.
***
Andromeda was a relatively simple place to disappear, even for the first officer. Gaheris had managed to slip into an access tube completely unnoticed. He had never bothered to tell anyone on Andromeda's crew that he had a prowess in engineering, especially reprogramming without detection. Being a reconnaissance agent in his teen years had behooved him many times since joining the High Guard.
He programmed a communications and acess console in a young engineer's quarters to no longer be monitered by Andromeda and placed an almost undetectable virus in the memory systems. He had a scapegoat once the virus and reprogramming were discovered. Of course, that would most likely be long after the Commonwealth ceased to exist.
He slid out of the access tube and made his way to the engineer's quarters. It was the engineer's duty shift, and Gaheris had his force lance programmed to alert him of the engineer's presence on the deck his quarters were on. The door controls were easily by-passed. The console was near the door. Gaheris put the small disc in the console's receiver and sent the encoded message to Tremayne for delivery to the rest of his movement.
***
Dylan couldn't seem to shake the feeling that Rhade was up to something. He possessed a good sense of intuition, and it rarely proved him wrong. He had absolutely no evidence to back up his feeling, though, only the fact that Rhade had been mountain climbing with someone else. Dylan himself spent time with other friends and didn't tell Rhade about it.
The doors to his quarters opened to reveal the object of his thoughts--Rhade.
"Captain, I'm going planetside again," Rhade said.
"Why?" Dylan asked. He never questioned his first officer's motives before, but he felt he had reason to now.
"I didn't have a chance to climb Yerin's Peak. It's the most challenging in this part of the galaxy."
Dylan knew that it was a plausible and likely reason. Rhade had always taken a challenge if he could find one. "Be careful. Andromeda needs its first officer back in one piece."
Rhade nodded and walked out of Dylan's quarters.
"Rommie, keep an eye on Rhade with your sensors." Dylan realized he could justify it with Rhade's survival being at stake and would use that fully to his advantage.
"Aye, sir. Commander Rhade is now being monitered by my sensors," Rommie's voice said. "He has exited Andromeda in a shuttle and is headed towards the mountain continent."
'Well, he was honest about heading towards Yerin's Peak,' Dylan thought. 'But we'll see about whether he actually ends up there or not.'
***
The fog had cleared on the mountains, only to be replaced by a moderate downfall of cold rain mixed with sleet. Gaheris was taking much more time than he had expected to return to the caverns for a final meeting to confirm the plans. As he was scaling the last smaller cliff, his cable snapped.
Quick Nietzchean reflexes saved his life. He grasped a rock that jutted out in front of him with all of his strength. He tried to plant his foot in a crevice, but only succeeded in losing his right shoe down the mountain. He realized what he had lost with his shoe--a disc of the utmost of importance. He started mumbling the main information from the disc to himself over and over again. Sharp rock after rock, one hand at a time, he diligently scaled the cliff.
When he reached level ground again, he noticed the blood covering his hands. The pain had been dulled by the cold, the frostbite he was developing as the temperature dropped. It was early evening and would only get colder. But he was a Nietzchean. A survivor and firm believer in Darwin's theories that the superior, such as himself, would always pull through somehow. He managed to push himself up onto his feet again and trudged towards the caverns. It was miles away, though.
"Tremayne," he grumbled. "I have to find him and tell him the coordinate changes..."
The determination he had doubled as he concentrated on his objective. The cold seemed to disappear momentarily as he pushed on. His only concern was the caverns and what lay there, waiting for him. His legs became heavier before as he proceeded towards the caverns, eventually turning into lead. The cold was overwhelming even the Nietzchean. His last lucid thought was, 'Tremayne.'
***
"Captain Hunt, Commander Rhade's life signs are weakening," Rommie's voice interrupted Dylan's dinner.
"Send medical personnel planetside right now!" Dylan jumped up out of his chair.
"Yes, sir. Should I ask them to equip themselves with the necessary supplies to treat severe trauma due to a fall?" Rommie's hologram form appeared.
"And hypothermia equipment, too," Dylan said. "Tell them to hurry. Even a Nietzchean can't handle the kind of cold on Yerin's Peak after dusk."
Rommie nodded. "His life signs are not deteriorating at a rapid rate."
"I'm going down to Hangar Deck to wait." He was obviously very concerned. Even if Rhade was very Nietzchean and secretive sometimes, he was Dylan's first officer and friend.
"It will be at least half an hour before they return. You have the time to finish your dinner." She gestured at the barely touched plate of food on the table.
"I don't feel much like eating right now."
Dylan walked down to Hangar Deck. He waited, feeling the seconds tick by, for the shuttle's return. He took that time and prepared himself for the worst. Nietzcheans, Rhade in particular, were overly obsessed with winning and showing their dominance to others. It led to him taking unnecessary risks occasionally. It made little sense to Dylan, since it went against the Nietzchean need for survival. He decided that no amount of thought and contemplation could conclude with him understanding Nietzcheans and Rhade.
What seemed to be an eternity later, the vessel entered Hangar Deck. The doors opened to reveal Rhade on a gurney. He was unconscious, but if his heaving chest and slight movements were any indication, still alive. A wave of relief rushed over Dylan.
"Is he going to be all right?" Dylan asked the head medical officer.
"Hypothermia, slight frostbite on his right foot, and some superficial abrasions on his hands, but he should be himself again by tomorrow morning. We need to keep him on Med Deck for tonight under observation, though. Hypothermia can be tricky sometimes."
"Would you inform me when he wakes up?" Dylan wanted to be the first to talk to Rhade, from a friend's standpoint and a captain's.
"Aye, sir." The officer returned to Rhade's side as he was pushed out of Hangar Deck and towards Medical Deck.
Dylan followed the officers to the point of his quarters. He found his dinner on the dining table, cold and no longer very appetizing. He still wasn't in the mood to eat, so it didn't bother him. He placed the plate in the proper receptacle. He yawned. 'I need to get some rest,' he thought as he laid down on his bed. 'I haven't gotten any during this shore leave so far.' He drifted off with that thought.
***
Gaheris opened his eyes and felt the distinct hardness of a Medical Deck bed under his back. He had no recollection of how he arrived there. His last vivid memory was of preparing to scale the last peak en route to the caverns. In his opinion, the pain he was experiencing compared nothing to the importance of the task he was supposed to have completed. He glanced down at the floor and saw his boots.
He grabbed the right boot and thoroughly examined its interior. He was satisfied that he had delivered the information and must have fallen on his return trip to his vessel. He returned to the bed and waited for a medical officer to notice he was conscious.
"Commander Rhade, you're awake," a lieutenant in the medical department said.
"What happened to me?" Rhade propped himself up on his elbow to face the ensign.
"You had a pretty nasty case of hypothermia from the cold on Yerin's Peak and passed out. We got you back in time, though. You should be back to your good old Nietzchean self in no time at all." She smiled.
"What time did you discover me, and how much time had elapsed since my unconsciousness began?" Rhade needed to be certain that he had arrived at the caverns.
"Let's see. We found you at about 16:00 hours. And you hadn't been unconscious more than 15 or 20 minutes max." She ran a medical scanner over him. "You're doing much better. We should be able to release you after Dr. Greir does a final check."
"Good." Rhade knew it only required an hour to scale Yerin's Peak, and he had touched down on the planet's surface at 13:30 hours. That gave him plenty of time to scale the peak, deliver the information, and begin his return to Andromeda.
***
"Captain Hunt, Commander Rhade has regained consciouness," a voice said in his communications piece.
"Thank you. I'll be there shortly," Dylan said.
He yawned and dressed himself quickly. He wasn't sure how to start his conversation with Rhade. He was more than glad his first officer and friend had lived, but he was also angry that Rhade took a very unncessary risk that could have cost the Nietzchean his own life. The walk to Medical Deck was a short one.
"Captain," Rhade said when he saw Dylan walk through the door.
"Rhade. How are you feeling?" Dylan asked.
"I'm very much alive," Rhade replied with half of a smile.
"You know that what you did wasn't the smartest thing in the world. A fall down Yerin's Peak could have easily killed you."
"But I didn't fall, and I'm not dead. Sometimes the ends justify the means."
"The ends being you 'beating' the mountain and proclaiming you have won yet again." Dylan found himself almost rolling his eyes at how Nietzchean Rhade could be.
"Which reminds me, I'm still up for that game of Go if you are."
Dylan found it peculiar how Rhade had suddenly changed the subject. It wasn't like him. "I'm up for it."
"I'll be released soon. After our duty shifts end, we can play."
"Sounds good to me." Dylan paused for a moment. "And I am glad that you survived, Rhade. Just don't do something like that again." With that, he exited Medical Deck.
***
"Your move, Captain," Rhade said after he moved his piece.
The day had passed by uneventfully for both of them, and the first hour of their game of Go had just passed by.
Dylan began to move his piece when Rhade smugly interrupted, "Careful. Ten moves until I win."
Dylan was finding playing Go with Rhade increasingly irksome. "Do you have to do that? It's incredibly annoying."
"I just thought you deserved fair warning," Rhade replied. It was obvious he was confident in the fact that he would soon be the victor in the match.
"Uh-huh. 'Ten moves until I win,'" Dylan imitated Rhade. "I've been playing Go with you for three years now. Why do you still treat winning like it's a matter of life and death?"
"Because it is."
Dylan gave Rhade a look that expressed his own opinion on the matter--that what Rhade had said was ridiculous.
"You don't really understand Nietzcehans, do you?" Rhade asked.
"Enlighten me," Dylan said as he searched the board for a winning move.
"To lose is to be proven inferior," Rhade began. "If I'm inferior, my genes are suspect and no Nietzchean female will choose me. If no Nietzchean females will choose me, I can't reproduce. Then, when I die, my genes die. But if I win, that indicates my genes must be good. I get chosen by more females, and the more I get chosen, the more I pass on my genes. The more my genes get passed on, the more of me lives eternally. To a Nietzchean, a game is never just a game."
"That's a pretty cold way to look at life," Dylan said, thinking that he might never want to understand Nietzcheans, lest he might procure that point of view in the process.
"Truth is cold."
"Maybe, but if you ask me, you're missing out on a lot." Dylan finally moved his piece.
"Like what?" Rhade asked as he eyed the board.
"Like love."
"Oh. We have love," Rhade said.
Dylan shook his head. "I'm not talking about being nice to others. I'm talking about what I feel for Sara. Love, Rhade, it's...it's like magic."
Rhade looked at Dylan like he was completely ignorant. "There is no magic. Just science you don't understand. You may feel intensely attracted to your fiancée. You may feel pleasure when you breed. But his isn't magic. Your DNA has evolved this way so you'll reproduce. Nietzcheans know this explicitly. That is why the most important thing a Nietzchean female can give her chosen male is the double helix. It represents the male and female's DNA, now bound together by metal. It confers the most honored titles a Nietzchean male can hold...husband and father. You see, it's not that we don't love. It's better. Because everything we do furthers our reproduction. Everything in our lives is an intense, sexually charged negociation."
"All right," Dylan said as he leaned back to stretch and rub his eyes, "I think we've just reached the 'too much information' stage."
"Your move."
Dylan could feel Rhade staring at him as he searched the board for a good move. He noticed one of his pieces had disappeared. "What happened to my five-d-four?"
"You had no piece there."
"Yes, I did..." Dylan glanced down at Rhade's closed hand. "Unless you cheated."
"What do you mean?" Rhade asked.
Dylan grabbed Rhade's hand. It opened to reveal the missing piece.
"It's only cheating if you get caught," Rhade said, catching the cue that he was no longer wanted in Dylan's presence. He exited his captain's quarters.
When he entered the corridor, Rhade smiled. It would only be a matter of two short days before he had absolute power, even if it was through 'cheating.' He would have hundreds of wives and become the progenitor of a new race of Nietzcheans. He would 'win' at a level beyond most Nietzchean males' wildest dreams.
***
Dylan couldn't believe that for all three years that they had been playing Go, Rhade had been cheating. What was even harder to believe for Dylan was that he hadn't caught Rhade once before this. If he hadn't been very suspicious about Rhade's odd behavior before, he was now. He wanted to know exactly what Rhade was up to.
"Andromeda, track everything Rhade does, on ship and off ship. And only allow this order to be revoked by me with my command codes," Dylan said.
"Sir?" Andromeda's hologram appeared, looking very confused.
"Just do it. Let the reasons why be my concern." Dylan stared at the Go board and the white piece that Rhade had cheated with. He would catch Rhade this time.
"My sensors will not detect the general vicinity surrounding the quarters of engineer Lee Kagel," Andromeda said.
"What do you think is to blame for that malfunction?" Dylan asked.
"It appears to be a virus, and an access tube's wiring has been altered."
Dylan knew exactly what he needed to do.
***
Rhade reported to Medical Deck, as he was ordered to do, for a final scan. The chief medical officer was waiting there for him.
"Have a seat," the doctor patted the bed, "And we'll do a quick scan."
Rhade seated himself on the edge of the bed as the scan was completed.
"Let me take a look at your hands and foot, too." The doctor began examining Rhade's hands.
"Why do you need to look at my foot?" Rhade asked.
"You lost your boot and had some pretty bad frostbite." The doctor pulled off Rhade's right boot.
'My right boot,' Rhade thought. "What happened to the boot? Did you find it?"
"No, we just found another of the same boot in the same size in the store room. You're lucky we picked up that shipment a couple of weeks ago."
'Yes, I'm very lucky, aren't I?' he thought, controlling the panic that was spreading through him like wild fire.
"Well, I need to give you a hypo to make sure we prevent any gangrene, but other than that, you're back to normal." The doctor injected Rhade. "You're free to go now, but come back if you start experiencing any pain."
Rhade hurried out of Medical Deck and headed towards the engineer's quarters. He knew his fellow conspirators would be under radio silence, but there was still a chance they would accept an urgent message. Time was of the essence in this case. He glanced around for anyone to notice him and entered the engineer's quarters.
He entered the same message over and over again in the console, in an encoded language that only the other conspirators knew about, hoping it would be received.
"What are you doing, Commander?" he heard Dylan's voice ask from behind him.
He was silent for a moment before turning around. "I can't smell you."
"Some hypos have strange side effects for Nietzcheans. I guess the doctor forgot to tell you about that."
"How convenient." Rhade stared at Dylan.
"You never answered my question. Explain to me why you infected Andromeda with a virus and cut some of her wiring."
"I have some family matters that I must tend to that Andromeda doesn't need to be aware of."
"Was that who was down on the mountain with you yesterday? A family member?"
Rhade was silent.
"I know much more than you think I do. In fact, I know everything, and I'm putting it all to a stop right now."
"You're bluffing." Rhade narrowed his eyes at Dylan. "And you can confine me to v-deck. I won't say a word."
"I won't confine you to v-deck if you put a halt to this yourself."
"You know nothing. And my family matters are of no concern to you. I have never pried into your private life."
"Maybe not, but I am putting you under constant guard for the time being."
Rhade felt the panic turn into dread. He had no chance now, unless the message had been received by the others...
***
Tremayne noticed they were being hailed by Rhade's secret code. "He thinks we're going to violate our radio silence and accept his message. He'll have our hides if we do that! Ignore him!"
"But what if the mess-" another of the Nietzcheans began.
"It's a test! I know Rhade better than any of you! And never question your commanding officer again!"
"We are twelve light minutes from the coordinates," Elgryn said from the navigations station.
"Prepare the armaments," Tremayne ordered.
"These coordinates look vaguely familiar," Elgryn said.
"They should. It's a main Commonwealth planet and secret store house for their munitions," the Nietzchean in the slipstream piloting chair said.
"That's not what comes to mind. Eight light minutes."
"Prepare to launch the bombs and warheads," Tremayne said.
"We are within firing distance."
"Fire all weapons and slipstream out of here."
Bright flashes of light emanated from the front of the ship, locked on their target.
"I know why the coordinates are familiar! These are Fountainhead's coordinates!" Elgryn exclaimed gravely.
***
Dylan was glancing around Command Deck, especially at Rhade.
"Captain, we have an incoming transmission from Tarn-Vedra," the communications officer said.
"Open the frequency," Dylan said.
"We have some unfortunate news," a Vedran said. "It is believed that dissident members of the Nietzchean Jaguar Pride have rendered Fountainhead inhabitable. Civil war has erupted."
Dylan saw Rhade's eyes widen in shock.
"What are our orders?" Dylan asked.
"You are to avoid the Nietzchean planets completely. We do not want to get pulled into this conflict."
"Yes, ma'am."
The Vedran's image winked off of the screen.
"You're a member of Jaguar Pride," Dylan said to Rhade.
"Yes, I am," Rhade said.
"Are you going to go fight with your people?" Dylan asked.
"No, my loyalties are to the Commonwealth."
'When it suits you,' Dylan thought. He wasn't certain, but he had a feeling that Rhade had somehow contributed to the civil war. The surprise in his eyes suggested it wasn't intentionally. Dylan wasn't sure how it had all happened, but he knew that it would alter their friendship--and maybe their lives--forever.
"It's not just a game this time, is it?" Dylan asked Rhade.
Rating: PG-13
Challenge: The Nietzschean revolt. What happened, how did it get started, how did Rhade and Dylan fit in. You can also write a 'war story' set during the Fall itself.
Spoilers: Double Helix, in fact an entire scene from it in text version
Author's Note: I wrote this after consulting allsystems, and I got the whole Nietzchean Civil War and the Nietzchean revolt confused, actually they're still pretty confused in my mind, which makes this story inaccurate and also disqualified for the challenge. (And I still don't understand half of Andromeda's history.) However, I did spend a great deal of time on it, and I hate to waste time.
A cool fog engulfed the entire mountainside until he could barely see his own hand in front of him, even with his superior vision. It had grown strangely quiet. He concentrated on the uneven ground beneath his feet. Rocks, roots, and other potential hazards were scattered everywhere. The loud crack of a stick breaking suddenly broke the silence. He spun around towards the origin of the sound in a defensive position with his Nietzchean instincts driving his fluid movements, his mind silently contemplating the possibility of encountering an enemy.
A powerful arm grasped him from behind, its forearm blades mere millimeters from the vulnerable arteries in his neck. Even the slightest movement could cause an immediate and unpleasant death.
"Who are you?" a deep masculine voice inquired. The Nietzchean's forearm blades lightly brushed against his neck, warning him not to attempt an escape.
"What is it to you?" His voice was level and calm, despite the hormones of fear he realized he was releasing, that his opponent could most likely smell.
"Gaheris. I didn't realize it was you. You don't usually take this path." The other Nietzchean released him.
"Tremayne, we can't be too careful, considering our circumstances," Gaheris said, this being the nearest to forgiveness that he came.
"The others are waiting for us in the cavern," Tremayne said. He was large and very powerful, even by Nietzchean standards. The contours of his well-sculpted body could be easily seen through his tight black leather attire.
"Have you revealed the plan to them yet?"
"No, I thought I would leave that up to its creator."
Gaheris smiled as they hiked through the mountain terrain, nearing their destination.
***
"Captain Hunt, sir, here are the mission briefings you requested," a young ensign said with a salute.
"At ease. Thank you, ensign." Dylan skimmed over the mission briefings.
Even though he received little shore leave, the majority of that time was spent preparing for the subsequent missions. The time remaining was either spent with his fiancée, Sara, or his best friend and first officer, Rhade. Sara was halfway across the galaxy on Tarn-Vedra, and Rhade had wandered down to the surface of Praehila. This left him alone yet again in his equivalent of an office to review the mission briefings.
"Captain Hunt," Rommie said as her hologram form winked into appearance before him.
"Yes, Rommie?" He glanced up from the briefings.
"This time is your shore leave. I know that you're well-aware of our upcoming missions. It's unhealthy for you to spend every free minute immersed in work." Her worry for him was blatant.
"Thank you for your concern, and I'll relax tomorrow. Rhade promised me a few games of one-on-one down in Hydroponics." Dylan laid the flexi he had been holding on his desk. "Has the engineering crew finished your diagnostics?"
"They have been completed, and I am in tip top condition. We can embark whenever you are prepared to."
"Thank you, Andromeda."
The hologram nodded before winking out.
Dylan sighed. "Rommie is right about me knowing exactly what our upcoming missions are. Maybe I should go planetside and see what Rhade is up to."
***
The deepest depths of the cavern held stinging cold and air that was barely breathable. A small fire cast a dim glow on the circle of about fifteen Nietzcheans that were gathered. None of them showed the slightest discomfort, even though they were among their fellow pride members.
"What is this plan Tremayne spoke of?" Elgryn, the oldest Nietzchean of the group, impatiently asked.
"The plan will come soon enough. First, I must explain our objective," Gaheris insisted.
This was responded to by several protesting grumbles, but no one else chose to speak.
"We are Nietzcheans. We possess a strength, power and most of all unity that surpasses that of all others! We are the survivors when others falter and cause their own extinction," Gaheris began with pride. "But the weak ubers have always held power above our own, power that we rightfully deserve."
The protesting grumbles turned to ones of approval and agreement.
"Why should we allow these inadequate ubers to continue their reign over Nietzchean kind?!?" His patriotism was genuine and his words like those of the most eloquent orator in the Nietzcheans' ears.
"Why are we letting the ubers walk all over us? Something must be done!" one of the Nietzcheans exclaimed.
"This is where your plan ties in, Gaheris?" Elgryn asked, still wary.
"The Commonwealth is barely sufficient at best. I have served in it for years and can even see a slight decline myself. Most of the officers elude themselves, thinking the Commonwealth is infallible, even the good Captain Hunt." Gaheris paused momentarily. "The Commonwealth must be converted."
"Are you suggesting a coup d'état?" another Nietzchean asked.
"Not a coup d'état. A Nietzchean empire."
***
Dylan gingerly scaled the steep peak of the mountain. He was following the evidence of recent activity--small but deep cracks in the rock face from a grappling hook, missing pieces of the rock formations caused by a slipping foot, and frayed fragments of the crimson rope he knew Gaheris always scaled mountains with. His pursuit of Gaheris had already led him to ascend several precipices.
As he neared the crest of the mountain face, he heard a distant conversation in progress. He ceased all movement, even breathing for a moment, while he attempted to discern words and identify the voices.
"We shall meet again tomorrow," a voice that sounded much like Gaheris said.
"Do you really think we will be able to pull this off?" an unfamiliar voice asked.
"Let that be my concern. You know what you should be concerning yourself with."
"Until we meet again." The sound of footsteps nearing the cliff edge followed.
Dylan fought the panic and remained still.
"Yes, until we meet again." One pair of footsteps hurried in the other direction.
A painful silence ensued. Dylan felt the muscles in his arms burning and growing slightly numb. He had no choice but to continue climbing.
"Captain!" Gaheris peered over the edge of the cliff. "I did not expect to see you here."
"And I did not expect to find you here. Following you isn't easy." Dylan neared the edge of the cliff.
Gaheris took his arm and pulled him onto level ground. "Moutain climbing in steep ranges like these is not a simple task. What brings you here? I know you aren't exactly fond of moutain climbing."
Dylan was uncertain of whether to ask about Gaheris' companion or not. The fact that he hadn't already offered the information was an implication that it was private. It had occurred to Dylan that it could be a matter he didn't want to know about. His curiousity had caused him to delve into Gaheris' personal life before, and it would not be a place he would soon be returning to. He eventually responded, "It's better than reading the same mission briefings for the hundredth time."
"Has it been decided when we're embarking?" Gaheris began preparing his equipment for their descent.
"The day after tomorrow." Dylan followed suit and connected the safety cable to his belt.
"Good." Gaheris' tone revealed he was extremely relieved by that fact.
'That's strange,' Dylan thought as they began to descend the mountain.
***
Andromeda was a relatively simple place to disappear, even for the first officer. Gaheris had managed to slip into an access tube completely unnoticed. He had never bothered to tell anyone on Andromeda's crew that he had a prowess in engineering, especially reprogramming without detection. Being a reconnaissance agent in his teen years had behooved him many times since joining the High Guard.
He programmed a communications and acess console in a young engineer's quarters to no longer be monitered by Andromeda and placed an almost undetectable virus in the memory systems. He had a scapegoat once the virus and reprogramming were discovered. Of course, that would most likely be long after the Commonwealth ceased to exist.
He slid out of the access tube and made his way to the engineer's quarters. It was the engineer's duty shift, and Gaheris had his force lance programmed to alert him of the engineer's presence on the deck his quarters were on. The door controls were easily by-passed. The console was near the door. Gaheris put the small disc in the console's receiver and sent the encoded message to Tremayne for delivery to the rest of his movement.
***
Dylan couldn't seem to shake the feeling that Rhade was up to something. He possessed a good sense of intuition, and it rarely proved him wrong. He had absolutely no evidence to back up his feeling, though, only the fact that Rhade had been mountain climbing with someone else. Dylan himself spent time with other friends and didn't tell Rhade about it.
The doors to his quarters opened to reveal the object of his thoughts--Rhade.
"Captain, I'm going planetside again," Rhade said.
"Why?" Dylan asked. He never questioned his first officer's motives before, but he felt he had reason to now.
"I didn't have a chance to climb Yerin's Peak. It's the most challenging in this part of the galaxy."
Dylan knew that it was a plausible and likely reason. Rhade had always taken a challenge if he could find one. "Be careful. Andromeda needs its first officer back in one piece."
Rhade nodded and walked out of Dylan's quarters.
"Rommie, keep an eye on Rhade with your sensors." Dylan realized he could justify it with Rhade's survival being at stake and would use that fully to his advantage.
"Aye, sir. Commander Rhade is now being monitered by my sensors," Rommie's voice said. "He has exited Andromeda in a shuttle and is headed towards the mountain continent."
'Well, he was honest about heading towards Yerin's Peak,' Dylan thought. 'But we'll see about whether he actually ends up there or not.'
***
The fog had cleared on the mountains, only to be replaced by a moderate downfall of cold rain mixed with sleet. Gaheris was taking much more time than he had expected to return to the caverns for a final meeting to confirm the plans. As he was scaling the last smaller cliff, his cable snapped.
Quick Nietzchean reflexes saved his life. He grasped a rock that jutted out in front of him with all of his strength. He tried to plant his foot in a crevice, but only succeeded in losing his right shoe down the mountain. He realized what he had lost with his shoe--a disc of the utmost of importance. He started mumbling the main information from the disc to himself over and over again. Sharp rock after rock, one hand at a time, he diligently scaled the cliff.
When he reached level ground again, he noticed the blood covering his hands. The pain had been dulled by the cold, the frostbite he was developing as the temperature dropped. It was early evening and would only get colder. But he was a Nietzchean. A survivor and firm believer in Darwin's theories that the superior, such as himself, would always pull through somehow. He managed to push himself up onto his feet again and trudged towards the caverns. It was miles away, though.
"Tremayne," he grumbled. "I have to find him and tell him the coordinate changes..."
The determination he had doubled as he concentrated on his objective. The cold seemed to disappear momentarily as he pushed on. His only concern was the caverns and what lay there, waiting for him. His legs became heavier before as he proceeded towards the caverns, eventually turning into lead. The cold was overwhelming even the Nietzchean. His last lucid thought was, 'Tremayne.'
***
"Captain Hunt, Commander Rhade's life signs are weakening," Rommie's voice interrupted Dylan's dinner.
"Send medical personnel planetside right now!" Dylan jumped up out of his chair.
"Yes, sir. Should I ask them to equip themselves with the necessary supplies to treat severe trauma due to a fall?" Rommie's hologram form appeared.
"And hypothermia equipment, too," Dylan said. "Tell them to hurry. Even a Nietzchean can't handle the kind of cold on Yerin's Peak after dusk."
Rommie nodded. "His life signs are not deteriorating at a rapid rate."
"I'm going down to Hangar Deck to wait." He was obviously very concerned. Even if Rhade was very Nietzchean and secretive sometimes, he was Dylan's first officer and friend.
"It will be at least half an hour before they return. You have the time to finish your dinner." She gestured at the barely touched plate of food on the table.
"I don't feel much like eating right now."
Dylan walked down to Hangar Deck. He waited, feeling the seconds tick by, for the shuttle's return. He took that time and prepared himself for the worst. Nietzcheans, Rhade in particular, were overly obsessed with winning and showing their dominance to others. It led to him taking unnecessary risks occasionally. It made little sense to Dylan, since it went against the Nietzchean need for survival. He decided that no amount of thought and contemplation could conclude with him understanding Nietzcheans and Rhade.
What seemed to be an eternity later, the vessel entered Hangar Deck. The doors opened to reveal Rhade on a gurney. He was unconscious, but if his heaving chest and slight movements were any indication, still alive. A wave of relief rushed over Dylan.
"Is he going to be all right?" Dylan asked the head medical officer.
"Hypothermia, slight frostbite on his right foot, and some superficial abrasions on his hands, but he should be himself again by tomorrow morning. We need to keep him on Med Deck for tonight under observation, though. Hypothermia can be tricky sometimes."
"Would you inform me when he wakes up?" Dylan wanted to be the first to talk to Rhade, from a friend's standpoint and a captain's.
"Aye, sir." The officer returned to Rhade's side as he was pushed out of Hangar Deck and towards Medical Deck.
Dylan followed the officers to the point of his quarters. He found his dinner on the dining table, cold and no longer very appetizing. He still wasn't in the mood to eat, so it didn't bother him. He placed the plate in the proper receptacle. He yawned. 'I need to get some rest,' he thought as he laid down on his bed. 'I haven't gotten any during this shore leave so far.' He drifted off with that thought.
***
Gaheris opened his eyes and felt the distinct hardness of a Medical Deck bed under his back. He had no recollection of how he arrived there. His last vivid memory was of preparing to scale the last peak en route to the caverns. In his opinion, the pain he was experiencing compared nothing to the importance of the task he was supposed to have completed. He glanced down at the floor and saw his boots.
He grabbed the right boot and thoroughly examined its interior. He was satisfied that he had delivered the information and must have fallen on his return trip to his vessel. He returned to the bed and waited for a medical officer to notice he was conscious.
"Commander Rhade, you're awake," a lieutenant in the medical department said.
"What happened to me?" Rhade propped himself up on his elbow to face the ensign.
"You had a pretty nasty case of hypothermia from the cold on Yerin's Peak and passed out. We got you back in time, though. You should be back to your good old Nietzchean self in no time at all." She smiled.
"What time did you discover me, and how much time had elapsed since my unconsciousness began?" Rhade needed to be certain that he had arrived at the caverns.
"Let's see. We found you at about 16:00 hours. And you hadn't been unconscious more than 15 or 20 minutes max." She ran a medical scanner over him. "You're doing much better. We should be able to release you after Dr. Greir does a final check."
"Good." Rhade knew it only required an hour to scale Yerin's Peak, and he had touched down on the planet's surface at 13:30 hours. That gave him plenty of time to scale the peak, deliver the information, and begin his return to Andromeda.
***
"Captain Hunt, Commander Rhade has regained consciouness," a voice said in his communications piece.
"Thank you. I'll be there shortly," Dylan said.
He yawned and dressed himself quickly. He wasn't sure how to start his conversation with Rhade. He was more than glad his first officer and friend had lived, but he was also angry that Rhade took a very unncessary risk that could have cost the Nietzchean his own life. The walk to Medical Deck was a short one.
"Captain," Rhade said when he saw Dylan walk through the door.
"Rhade. How are you feeling?" Dylan asked.
"I'm very much alive," Rhade replied with half of a smile.
"You know that what you did wasn't the smartest thing in the world. A fall down Yerin's Peak could have easily killed you."
"But I didn't fall, and I'm not dead. Sometimes the ends justify the means."
"The ends being you 'beating' the mountain and proclaiming you have won yet again." Dylan found himself almost rolling his eyes at how Nietzchean Rhade could be.
"Which reminds me, I'm still up for that game of Go if you are."
Dylan found it peculiar how Rhade had suddenly changed the subject. It wasn't like him. "I'm up for it."
"I'll be released soon. After our duty shifts end, we can play."
"Sounds good to me." Dylan paused for a moment. "And I am glad that you survived, Rhade. Just don't do something like that again." With that, he exited Medical Deck.
***
"Your move, Captain," Rhade said after he moved his piece.
The day had passed by uneventfully for both of them, and the first hour of their game of Go had just passed by.
Dylan began to move his piece when Rhade smugly interrupted, "Careful. Ten moves until I win."
Dylan was finding playing Go with Rhade increasingly irksome. "Do you have to do that? It's incredibly annoying."
"I just thought you deserved fair warning," Rhade replied. It was obvious he was confident in the fact that he would soon be the victor in the match.
"Uh-huh. 'Ten moves until I win,'" Dylan imitated Rhade. "I've been playing Go with you for three years now. Why do you still treat winning like it's a matter of life and death?"
"Because it is."
Dylan gave Rhade a look that expressed his own opinion on the matter--that what Rhade had said was ridiculous.
"You don't really understand Nietzcehans, do you?" Rhade asked.
"Enlighten me," Dylan said as he searched the board for a winning move.
"To lose is to be proven inferior," Rhade began. "If I'm inferior, my genes are suspect and no Nietzchean female will choose me. If no Nietzchean females will choose me, I can't reproduce. Then, when I die, my genes die. But if I win, that indicates my genes must be good. I get chosen by more females, and the more I get chosen, the more I pass on my genes. The more my genes get passed on, the more of me lives eternally. To a Nietzchean, a game is never just a game."
"That's a pretty cold way to look at life," Dylan said, thinking that he might never want to understand Nietzcheans, lest he might procure that point of view in the process.
"Truth is cold."
"Maybe, but if you ask me, you're missing out on a lot." Dylan finally moved his piece.
"Like what?" Rhade asked as he eyed the board.
"Like love."
"Oh. We have love," Rhade said.
Dylan shook his head. "I'm not talking about being nice to others. I'm talking about what I feel for Sara. Love, Rhade, it's...it's like magic."
Rhade looked at Dylan like he was completely ignorant. "There is no magic. Just science you don't understand. You may feel intensely attracted to your fiancée. You may feel pleasure when you breed. But his isn't magic. Your DNA has evolved this way so you'll reproduce. Nietzcheans know this explicitly. That is why the most important thing a Nietzchean female can give her chosen male is the double helix. It represents the male and female's DNA, now bound together by metal. It confers the most honored titles a Nietzchean male can hold...husband and father. You see, it's not that we don't love. It's better. Because everything we do furthers our reproduction. Everything in our lives is an intense, sexually charged negociation."
"All right," Dylan said as he leaned back to stretch and rub his eyes, "I think we've just reached the 'too much information' stage."
"Your move."
Dylan could feel Rhade staring at him as he searched the board for a good move. He noticed one of his pieces had disappeared. "What happened to my five-d-four?"
"You had no piece there."
"Yes, I did..." Dylan glanced down at Rhade's closed hand. "Unless you cheated."
"What do you mean?" Rhade asked.
Dylan grabbed Rhade's hand. It opened to reveal the missing piece.
"It's only cheating if you get caught," Rhade said, catching the cue that he was no longer wanted in Dylan's presence. He exited his captain's quarters.
When he entered the corridor, Rhade smiled. It would only be a matter of two short days before he had absolute power, even if it was through 'cheating.' He would have hundreds of wives and become the progenitor of a new race of Nietzcheans. He would 'win' at a level beyond most Nietzchean males' wildest dreams.
***
Dylan couldn't believe that for all three years that they had been playing Go, Rhade had been cheating. What was even harder to believe for Dylan was that he hadn't caught Rhade once before this. If he hadn't been very suspicious about Rhade's odd behavior before, he was now. He wanted to know exactly what Rhade was up to.
"Andromeda, track everything Rhade does, on ship and off ship. And only allow this order to be revoked by me with my command codes," Dylan said.
"Sir?" Andromeda's hologram appeared, looking very confused.
"Just do it. Let the reasons why be my concern." Dylan stared at the Go board and the white piece that Rhade had cheated with. He would catch Rhade this time.
"My sensors will not detect the general vicinity surrounding the quarters of engineer Lee Kagel," Andromeda said.
"What do you think is to blame for that malfunction?" Dylan asked.
"It appears to be a virus, and an access tube's wiring has been altered."
Dylan knew exactly what he needed to do.
***
Rhade reported to Medical Deck, as he was ordered to do, for a final scan. The chief medical officer was waiting there for him.
"Have a seat," the doctor patted the bed, "And we'll do a quick scan."
Rhade seated himself on the edge of the bed as the scan was completed.
"Let me take a look at your hands and foot, too." The doctor began examining Rhade's hands.
"Why do you need to look at my foot?" Rhade asked.
"You lost your boot and had some pretty bad frostbite." The doctor pulled off Rhade's right boot.
'My right boot,' Rhade thought. "What happened to the boot? Did you find it?"
"No, we just found another of the same boot in the same size in the store room. You're lucky we picked up that shipment a couple of weeks ago."
'Yes, I'm very lucky, aren't I?' he thought, controlling the panic that was spreading through him like wild fire.
"Well, I need to give you a hypo to make sure we prevent any gangrene, but other than that, you're back to normal." The doctor injected Rhade. "You're free to go now, but come back if you start experiencing any pain."
Rhade hurried out of Medical Deck and headed towards the engineer's quarters. He knew his fellow conspirators would be under radio silence, but there was still a chance they would accept an urgent message. Time was of the essence in this case. He glanced around for anyone to notice him and entered the engineer's quarters.
He entered the same message over and over again in the console, in an encoded language that only the other conspirators knew about, hoping it would be received.
"What are you doing, Commander?" he heard Dylan's voice ask from behind him.
He was silent for a moment before turning around. "I can't smell you."
"Some hypos have strange side effects for Nietzcheans. I guess the doctor forgot to tell you about that."
"How convenient." Rhade stared at Dylan.
"You never answered my question. Explain to me why you infected Andromeda with a virus and cut some of her wiring."
"I have some family matters that I must tend to that Andromeda doesn't need to be aware of."
"Was that who was down on the mountain with you yesterday? A family member?"
Rhade was silent.
"I know much more than you think I do. In fact, I know everything, and I'm putting it all to a stop right now."
"You're bluffing." Rhade narrowed his eyes at Dylan. "And you can confine me to v-deck. I won't say a word."
"I won't confine you to v-deck if you put a halt to this yourself."
"You know nothing. And my family matters are of no concern to you. I have never pried into your private life."
"Maybe not, but I am putting you under constant guard for the time being."
Rhade felt the panic turn into dread. He had no chance now, unless the message had been received by the others...
***
Tremayne noticed they were being hailed by Rhade's secret code. "He thinks we're going to violate our radio silence and accept his message. He'll have our hides if we do that! Ignore him!"
"But what if the mess-" another of the Nietzcheans began.
"It's a test! I know Rhade better than any of you! And never question your commanding officer again!"
"We are twelve light minutes from the coordinates," Elgryn said from the navigations station.
"Prepare the armaments," Tremayne ordered.
"These coordinates look vaguely familiar," Elgryn said.
"They should. It's a main Commonwealth planet and secret store house for their munitions," the Nietzchean in the slipstream piloting chair said.
"That's not what comes to mind. Eight light minutes."
"Prepare to launch the bombs and warheads," Tremayne said.
"We are within firing distance."
"Fire all weapons and slipstream out of here."
Bright flashes of light emanated from the front of the ship, locked on their target.
"I know why the coordinates are familiar! These are Fountainhead's coordinates!" Elgryn exclaimed gravely.
***
Dylan was glancing around Command Deck, especially at Rhade.
"Captain, we have an incoming transmission from Tarn-Vedra," the communications officer said.
"Open the frequency," Dylan said.
"We have some unfortunate news," a Vedran said. "It is believed that dissident members of the Nietzchean Jaguar Pride have rendered Fountainhead inhabitable. Civil war has erupted."
Dylan saw Rhade's eyes widen in shock.
"What are our orders?" Dylan asked.
"You are to avoid the Nietzchean planets completely. We do not want to get pulled into this conflict."
"Yes, ma'am."
The Vedran's image winked off of the screen.
"You're a member of Jaguar Pride," Dylan said to Rhade.
"Yes, I am," Rhade said.
"Are you going to go fight with your people?" Dylan asked.
"No, my loyalties are to the Commonwealth."
'When it suits you,' Dylan thought. He wasn't certain, but he had a feeling that Rhade had somehow contributed to the civil war. The surprise in his eyes suggested it wasn't intentionally. Dylan wasn't sure how it had all happened, but he knew that it would alter their friendship--and maybe their lives--forever.
"It's not just a game this time, is it?" Dylan asked Rhade.