Title: Sapphire Fire

Author's Note: Well, this chapter is way longer than i indended it to be, so it may be a while before i get the next chapter out. I'm not even close to done this story... much more will happen between the crew of the Andromeda and Aiden (and yes, i will be explaining who she is... soon) as a matter of fact, if you can't figure out (at least a little) about who she is after this chapter... well, i pity you...

So, anyway, please review. I live to hear what you think of my writing. This is the first fanfic i've ever written, and without your reviews, i may lose confidence in myself and stop writing (my best friend says i have a real problem with getting her all excited about my stories, then never finishing them, and she yells at me constantly for this little habit.) So, anyway... just review (good, bad, ugly... whatever)

Well, enjoy Chapter 7....

Title: Sapphire Fire

Author: Kia Lee, (trance_harper@yahoo.com)

Rating: PG-13 (a little bit of swearing and violence, but not too much )

Summary: Gerentex returns to reap his revenge on the crew of the Andromeda, but things don't go exactly as planned.

Disclaimer: I don't own Andromeda, those characters belong to Gene Roddenberry. But Aiden, Talen, Gerentex's new crew (though they are nameless), and others who are not on the show (and never will be) are my own creation, so if you wanna use them, just ask!

Feedback: Oh please... oh please, oh please, please, please...

Part VII

The entire crew stood on the Medical deck, waiting for the girl's condition to change.

Aiden had been out for almost four days, longer than Gerentex had even been in control of the ship, and was slowly getting worse. Once they had retaken control of the ship, they had put Rommie's humanoid body into one of the cryostasis chambers, refusing to give up hope that they would be able to revive her. But the girl was a different story all together.

When Beka and Tyr had brought her to the Med deck, she had been unconscious and she'd had a large burn mark on the left side of her body from the cyborg's gunshot.

Since then she had taken a turn for the worse. She had progressed into a full coma during the first day, most likely due to the blow she sustained to the head when she collapsed to the floor, and her heartbeat and brain activity since then had been very faint and irregular. Her condition was so unstable that it made cryostasis impossible to be used for her recovery, and without the ship's persona to help them; all they could was watch and wait…

Then, on the second day of the girl's coma, they had made a shocking discovery.

Rev had been standing by Aiden, praying for her safety, when she had whimpered softly, in pain. He'd reached out, brushing her long hair away from her face when he'd noticed it.

Just under her left ear, there was a silver-coloured neuro-port imbedded in her neck, but it wasn't that fact that shocked him. It was the ear above it.

Instead of curving at the top, it swept upwards, tapering to a soft point…

"Trance!" he yelled.

The purple girl looked up from her charts. "Yes Rev?" she asked, putting them down and stepping closer to him.

He reached out one clawed hand and pointed to the girl's head.

"Look at that… she—she's not human, at least not entirely…" he trailed off, no longer sure what to say.

Trance nodded, reaching out to stroke the girl's hair.

"Maybe you should go now, Rev. She needs her rest." Trance said. It wasn't a request, and the Wayist knew it. He bowed his head slightly and left the room, letting the door slide shut behind him.

Trance turned her gaze back to the girl lying on the examination table. She continued to stroke the girl's hair back almost affectionately.

Trance sighed, for once in her life not knowing the outcome of these events, and whispered to the unmoving form before her; "Who are you?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harper walked into the infirmary on the girl's fourth day and approached Trance from behind. The purple girl stood over Aiden, checking her vitals for the umpteenth time that day, with no consolation.

Harper walked up behind her and placed a hand on her bare shoulder. "How's she doing?" he asked softly, though, after taking one look at the girl on the bed, he already knew the answer.

Trance turned to him, tears glistening in her big brown eyes.

"She's dying… and I can't do anything to save her… not with Rommie offline…" her lower lip quivered as she spoke, and Harper's heart ached to see her like this.

He sighed and wrapped his arms around her middle, lending her his strength.

"She saved us and I can't even help her…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gerentex sat in a cell, locked away from the crew. Talen was locked in the cell to his right, the two women were in a cell on the other side of Talen, and the other two Nightsiders were in the cell to Gerentex's left.

Tyr stood guard, barely paying attention to the people in the cells; completely absorbed in the novel he had started reading before the attack, which he was now attempting to complete.

"You know that she is going to double-cross all of you, don't you?" Gerentex hissed at his captor.

Tyr didn't even look up from his book. "Why do you say that?" he asked, turning the page.

Gerentex grinned, glad that he had finally gotten Tyr's attention.

"Do you really think that a girl with that much power just decided to save your life out of the good of her heart? Come now Anasazi, I had thought you were smarter than that…"

Tyr set down his book, leaning forward in his chair.

"I think you've got it all wrong," he told Gerentex.

"I think that she just realized that she had a better chance of survival if she worked against you rather than with you."

Gerentex just gave an evil grin.

"And just look where thinking like that has gotten her…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dylan was more worried now than he had ever been in his entire life.

The girl lay dying in the med deck, and they were unable to help her without Rommie… and they would never be able to get Rommie back without the girl's help.

He sighed. He didn't even know if the girl would help them fix Rommie when…if she woke up, or if she was even capable of it.

Without Rommie, the ship wouldn't work properly, especially when they were over a thousand people short of qualifying for a true High Guard crew. And without the ship, all hopes of restoring the Commonwealth would die… never to be remembered again…

And Rommie… if the girl didn't fix her personality information… well, he would permanently lose another loved one…

He stood up, and began to make his way to the Med. deck.

He wasn't going to give up his dreams without a fight…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Dylan entered the Med. deck, he found Trance and Harper already there, wrapped up in each other's arms, Harper seemingly soothing the young purple girl.

At least they're finally admitting their feelings to each other, even if they aren't really saying it… he thought.

"How's our patient?" he asked, stepping closer to the girl who rested on the observation table.

Trance looked up from her place in Harper's arms, not at all embarrassed to be caught like this, though the young engineer seemed a little uneasy, but held her close anyway.

"Not good… unless a miracle happens, I'm afraid we're going to lose her…"

"That would be a shame," said a voice from the doorway. The trio turned and saw Tyr standing there.

"She was genetically superior, it would be a shame not to have her contribution in the gene pool."

Harper looked up from Trance and glared at the Nietzchean. "Is that all you think about?" he asked, disgusted.

"Harper," Trance whispered. "Don't… it's just his way of saying he feels the same way we do…"

Tyr gave a curt nod, and approached the unconscious girl, stroking her hair away from her ears, checking their appearance for himself.

"Did you ever find out what she is?" he asked

Trance shook her head. "All the tests I ran on her said that her DNA was mostly human, but that there was something else…" she trailed off.

Harper looked at the girl in his arms, concerned. "What is it Trance?" he whispered, ducking his head closer to hers.

"I don't know," she whispered, confused. " I just don't know…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rev had just relieved Beka from guard duty, and she was making her way to the Med. deck.

She was so worried about the girl that she was barely watching where she was going, and slammed right into Tyr as she turned a corner.

Her heart caught in her throat, and began to beat faster. Beka stood there, praying he didn't notice her obvious reaction to him, and mumbled, "Sorry Tyr, I wasn't watching where I was going."

Tyr nodded, looking more understanding than she'd ever seen him. "That's understandable," he said. "Everyone is worried about the girl."

Beka looked up at the large man quizzically. "Even you?" she asked, and then almost wished she hadn't.

But he surprised her again, and nodded his head. "Even me. She risked her life to ensure our survival. For that, I'm eternally grateful."

Beka raised her eyebrows at him. "I thought you said that it was stupid to willingly risk your life just to save someone else's."

Tyr stared down at her, his dark eyes burning with an emotion that she couldn't identify.

"I don't think it was willingly," he said. "She's an amazing fighter with a great survival instinct. I think that she was just caught off guard…"

Beka smiled. "Are we still talking about the girl, or are we talking about you now?"

Tyr let out a short guffaw at that. "I take it the little professor told you about my run-in with the girl."

Beka continued to grin. "I think his exact phrase was 'wiped the floor with him,'" she said.

Tyr let out a deep laugh, a sound that Beka hadn't really ever heard before. And she liked it…

"Big bad Tyr, beaten by a little human girl…" she shook her head in mock disgrace. "Tsk, tsk, tsk."

His laughter slowly died down, and his eyes focused on her face again. She took a deep breath, knowing that no one had ever affected her emotions like this by just looking at her…

"As it turns out, the girl's not completely human." He said. "As far as Trance can tell with the tests she's been able to perform on the girl, she seems to be some sort of half-breed. A cross between human and God-knows-what."

Beka met his gaze again, a single thought suddenly traveling through her mind.

"Does this change your views on inter-species breeding?" she asked softly, her voice straining with barely-suppressed emotion.

He tilted his head, staring deeper into her eyes. "Perhaps."

He reached out one large hand, tucking a lock of Beka's hair behind her ear, gazing at her. He leaned closer to her and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, before leaning his against hers.

"Perhaps there is hope for us after all…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dylan and Rev stood in the Med. deck, watching the girl as Trance continued Aiden's vitals, which had gotten marginally better over the last two days.

The girl had been in a coma for the past six days now, with little sign of improvement.

"I still don't understand how she managed to get a hold of a High Guard force lance," Dylan said, rubbing his temples with his fingers, trying futilely to relieve some of his tension. "The Commonwealth has been dead for over three-hundred years. The chance of a girl like her being able to find one of our weapons is almost none…"

Rev shrugged. "Perhaps Gerentex stole one when he was first on the ship, and gave it to her to use."

Dylan shook his head. "Did you see the look on his face when she shot him. I don't think he even knew she had one, let alone knew how to use one. Hell, I don't think he even knew how to use one…"

Rev searched for an answer to give the Captain. "Well perhaps he did steal one, and perhaps she stole it from him. That could be why he was so surprised that she'd had it." He said, putting one clawed hand on Dylan's shoulder.

"In any case, no matter how she got a hold of one, no matter how she knew how to use it, I just think we should be grateful. If she hadn't had the weapon, or known how to use it properly, we'd all be dead and the ship would be in Gerentex's possession."

A soft whimper caught the attention of the two men, and they looked up at Trance.

The young purple alien stood over the observation table, stroking the young girl's hair softly.

The whimper sounded through the room again, and the two men were instantly at their feet, standing on either side of Trance.

The girl's head moved to the side, turning towards them, and they were able to see her eyes move beneath her eyelids.

The girl made a soft, high-pitched noise, then calmed, as if settling down to sleep after a nightmare.

The men looked at the girl, then at Trance, who had ceased moving all together. Rev stared at Trance, concerned.

"Did that sound mean anything to you, Trance?" the Wayist asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She stood completely still for a moment, then managed to force herself no nod her head.

"What did she say?"

Trance looked shocked, staring down at the girl before her, unmoving. Her big brown eyes were wider than either man had ever seen them before, and her mouth was hanging slightly open.

"Trance," Rev tried again. "Did you understand what the girl said?"

Trance nodded again, uneasily, as if she didn't quite believe it herself. It took everything in her to translate the simple word for her friends, as she stood there in astonishment.

"Mother…"

End Part VII