Disclaimer: Andromeda and its characters don't belong to me. I'm not making any money from this so please don't sue me. Any songs I may use don't belong to me either. Again, I'm not making any money from this so please don't sue me.
Summery: The battle rages. Andromeda vs. seven Nietzschean ships. Or is in eight?
Rating: This story is rated R for violence, language, bloody sense, and a mention of rape.
Author's Note: Okay people this is my first R rated fanfic. I know I'm only 13, but it's not as bad as it sounds. There's no sex, but there is a mention of rape that happened in the past. Please review. All and any comments are welcomed.
End of the Nightmare
Part I. Into the Upcoming Battle Forth…
By: Kayla Anasazi (a.k.a. Silver Spider)
"When you're in the battlefield, survival is all there is.
Death is the only great emotion."
--Sam Fuller
"Beka took the Maru to get some supplies," he said. "That was a day ago so she should be coming back soon."
"So?" Harper shrugged.
"She won't know about the battle," Tyr realized in alarm. "We have to end this before she returns."
"I hate to be the barer of bad news," came Rev's voice from the navigation panel, "but I'm detecting the Maru nearing our location."
"Can we warn her?" Tyr asked.
"No," Rev shook his head, "but we can take care of the last five Nietzschean ships before her arrival."
"In that case," Dylan took command, "Tyr, you've got the point defense lasers. Harper, Trance, you two have two of Andromeda's war pods."
Tyr took his place at the weapons consul, his fingers tense on the controls. He wouldn't let a single ship out of his sight until Beka was safe and well back inside the Andromeda. By this time there were only five fighters left: Trance and Harper managed to take down two more. Tyr narrowed his eyes and fired three shots all of which hit their intended targets.
"Hey watch out!" Harper shouted. "Last two are ours. Come on, Trance, we can take em without his help, right?"
"As long as you do it before Rebecca returns," Tyr muttered. "I don't care."
"Hey, what's this I hear," Harper put a hand behind his ear. "Tyr Anasazi concerned about someone other then himself?!"
"She's a valuable teammate," Tyr replied, without revealing any emotion. "Her help increases our chances of survival. Why would I not whish her a safe return?" Tyr reasoned with his Nietzschean logic.
Harper seemed partially satisfied with the answer and returned his attention to his job. Trance watched the Nietzschean for another moment, wondering if there was something else that Tyr hadn't mentioned. She shook it of and returned her attention to the last two fighters. It took her and Harper's combined efforts to finish the fighters in the next fifteen minutes.
"Well, that looks like everyone," Dylan sat back in the captain's chair and relaxed. The light on the bridge of the Andromeda returned from battle-ready to her normal lighting. The screens showed an image of the approaching Maru. "And not a moment too soon," the captain added. "This is the Andromeda Ascendant, Eureka Maru you are clear to land. Welcome back, Beka."
"Good to be back," she replied through the screen. "Get the Hanger Bay ready, I'm coming in. See you later."
Everyone headed from the bridge to the hanger bay. Tyr was the last to head for the exit, before a beeping sound at one of the counsels caught his attention. He walked back to it to see what was wrong.
"Ship, what's going on?" he addressed the Andromeda.
The A.I. paused, a little irritated at the way Tyr had addressed her. "There's an unidentified vessel right behind the Maru. I'm identifying signature," there was another longer pause as Andromeda scanned the new ship. "Signature identified. That ship is…Nietzschean!"
Tyr thought for a moment. "It must be from the same group of fighters," he concluded. "Dylan must have miscalculated the number of the ships. There were eight of them, not seven!"
Now the eighth ship came into full view on the central screen. It seemed larger then the first seven and it was right behind the Maru. Tyr ran for the weapons counsel, but it was locked down. "Ship!" he shouted. "Engage weapons counsel!"
"Engaging!" The system buzzed and hummed.
"Can't it go any faster?" the Nietzschean demanded.
He watched as the enemy ship raised it self so that it was right on top of the Maru. Beka apparently didn't know how much danger she was in, because the Maru made no move to escape. Then the Nietzschean ship opened fire. It ripped through the rear halls of the small salvage ship, destroying everything in its path.
"No!" Tyr shouted. "Where the hell are those weapons!?"
"Weapons counsel engaged."
Tyr gripped the control, forcing all his anger and other emotions aside as he locked on to the last ship. "Open fire!"
"Tyr, I really don't think that…" the A.I. started.
"Open fire," Tyr repeated, "before he has a chance to recharge and target the Maru again."
When he put it that way, it did make sense. The Andromeda targeted the other ship and opened fire. Meanwhile the enemy ship had already recharged, and it targeted the Maru a second time. The sky filled with a brilliant display of bright fireworks as both ships fired their weapons. When everything died down, Tyr saw what had happened; The Nietzschean ship was crippled, but they would probably be able to bring it in so that they could interrogate the pilot. The Maru was a different story.
The salvage ship was not as severally damaged as Tyr had feared, but it was damaged enough. The almost all of the cargo bay area was crushed. The piloting area didn't look good either. The chances that Beka was alive were very slim. Tyr tried to control his anger as he wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Tyr Anasazi calling Captain Hunt," he breathed. "We have an officer down! I repeat, officer down!"