Caption Annie Hunt of The Kef La Ra

"Get a life Siro," said Capt. Annie Hunt to herself as she exited slipstream, entering the Kuiji system.

The hologram of her ship, The Kef La Ra, appeared. "We lost him Annie."

Annie shook her head "Okay Kef." He disappeared and Kee and Piper walked into where Annie was. "How is Geselle?" Annie asked.

"Sleeping" replied Kee in his mad Neiztcheian tone.

"Kell and Daniel?" she asked.

"Uninjured," answered Kee again.

"And you two?" asked Annie.

"Were fine," replied Piper. Kell, 9, and Kee, 14, were both Neiztcheian and Piper, 14, Daniel, 10, and Geselle, 2, were all human. They had all lived with Annie for different amounts of years. All of the kids were orphans. Although no one was
really sure about Geselle.

Annie thought about the kids. Where they had all come from and how Annie had met them.
Kee was always trying to prove his value. He was always looking out for the others. Kee was the first Annie had met. Kee had been 3 years old. He was from a neizcheian pride called The Yeti pride. A mystical pride, no one even knew from what planet this pride was based. Annie had taken care of him ever since. Kee's parents had been killed in some kind of
explosion.

Piper, she wanted to be a doctor. Always helping the others, she was like a peacemaker between the other kids when they rarely did argue. Annie had met Piper when she was 10. Abounded and beaten on a space station. She was the second kid Annie had ended up taking in. Pirates on the station had killed Piper's parents.

Kell wanted to be a pilot. She was fascinated with Kef; she was the main mechanic for The Kef La Ra. She fixed almost every problem that had happened to the Kef. Kell was from the pride of the Puma, a very small pride. Her parents were killed in a war with another pride. Annie had known her since she was six.

Daniel, he was quiet and shy. He was the one who most took care of Geselle. He had a way with younger children. While he was only ten, littler children took to him. Daniel's had never know his parents. Annie had found him begging for food. After getting one look at his thin frame and sad face Annie took him in.

Last but certainly not least Geselle. Annie had often worried about her. She was two and she never spoke, ever. She never made a sound, never cried, and never laughed, nothing. Annie had finally managed to get her to sign with her hands, but only a few words. She would sign food, pain and where it hurt and peoples names mainly. Annie and the other kids had found
Geselle right in front of their ship when they stopped for supplies one time.

In a flash Kef's hologram appeared. "Annie he's coming back out of
Slipstream, he found us". Kee cursed under his breath and Piper gave
him a look. Annie strapped in as Kee and Piper moved too. The ship shook, Kee had buckled in, Piper had not. She was thrown across the ship.

"Piper!" Kee yelled as he unbuckled and ran over to her.

The ship shook again as the other ship continued firing on them. Annie heard Kee saying something; she couldn't make it out, as she entered Slipstream. "They're following us," Kef informed Annie. Annie nodded and suddenly exited Slipstream in another solar system.

"Broadcast distress call, all frequencies," Annie called to Kef "This is Caption Annie Hunt of The Kef La Ra, to any ship in range. We are under attack by an unknown
force. We have several children on board please help." Annie unbuckled herself and ran towards Kee and Piper. The Kef La Ra was fired upon again
and Annie hit the wall and fell.

"Dylan," Andromeda called. "There's a distress signal coming in from the other side of this solar system." Andromeda displayed the call for help and Capt. Annie Hunt's voice could be heard.

"This is Caption Annie Hunt of The Kef La Ra, to any ship in range. We are under attack by an unknown force. We have several children on board please help us."

"We're going to help them right?" asked Trance. "Yes we are" Dylan
responded "Beka, Tyr, Harper command now!" he called. Andromeda flew
towards the Kef Ra La.

The Andromeda opened fire on the ship attacking the Kef La Ra it only took a few shot's for it to chicken out and run, entering Slipstream. "Coward."
Tyr had muttered.

Kee checked both Annie and Piper for a pulse; they both had strong pulses but were injured. Daniel and Kell sat behind Kee, Kell was holding Geselle. They had come down to where Kee, Piper and Annie were as soon as they could after The Kef was fired upon, just has Kee had instructed them. Kee could hear some people had entered The Kef La Ra; unfortunately Kee was
on his own to protect everyone, too bad Kef's hologram system had been
damaged during the attack.

Kee reached over and grabbed Annie's gun. The intruder was getting
closer. One thing Kee was sure of was that he would protect the others to his
death. When he motioned, Kell and Daniel, along with Geselle, hid
under a console.

He saw a blonde human female enter 'command and control', as all the kids teasingly called it. He stepped out and pointed his gun at her. By the look on her face she clearly hadn't been expecting him or anyone here to pull a gun. She put her hands in the air after placing her weapon on the ground, Kee recognized it as a High Guard Force Lance, Annie had talked
about those.

Kee heard Piper moan a warning as a Neizcheian male dropped behind him. After a tussle, Kee was disarmed. Kee, in a quick movement stood over Annie's unconscious form and
Piper's barley conscious one. Thankfully the other kids were silent and
neither the human nor neizcheian had spotted them.

"KELL DON'T" Kee hollered as Kell leapt from her hiding place and jumped on the other man. Surprisingly he landed on the floor and Kell grabbed his gun. However he snatched it back from her as the human female started attempting to conceal her laughter.

Thankfully Daniel hadn't appeared, he was probably hesitant to leave Geselle all alone. "Hey kid, we aren't going to hurt you," said the human.

"I don't believe you," snapped Kee in his iciest tone. "Tyr!" the human exclaimed, "He's injured" pointing at the bleeding on Kee's side. Kee was feeling light headed. He heard Piper screaming something as he fell to his knees. The last thing he thought was, 'that old wound must have opened up again, darn'.

Piper woke up to some kind of purple creature hovering over her. She
started screaming "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH".

The purple creature jumped back "Hello, I'm Trance, I wont hurt you I promise" Piper nodded slowly, Trance didn't seem threatening.

"Oh No Where's Kee??" Piper asked worried about him.

"If you mean the neizcheian boy, he's fine" Trance pointed across the room and Piper could see Kee asleep on the bed Piper nodded. She looked at the bed next to hers and saw Annie, who seemed to be waking up.

"Piper" Annie called the instant she saw her, she hadn't noticed Trance yet "Where are the others??"

"Kee's fine" she pointed at him and Annie nodded.

"Kell, Daniel and Geselle?" questioned Annie. "The younger children are with Harper"
Trance volunteered. "And you would be?" asked Annie.

"I'm Trance," she said with a wide smile. "I'm caption Annie Hunt of the Kef La Ra," she moaned.

"Oh no, my ship how bad is it?"

"Surprisingly not to bad," said a man as he walked in the room.

Annie looked him over "Your High guard?" she asked.

"Caption Dylan Hunt of The Andromeda Ascendant" Annie frowned while Trance was looking back and forth between Dylan and Annie considering. 'They have the same last name, they even look a little alike, same hair and eye color although she is shorter than him. Could she be one of his descendents?'

Trance was about so mention this when Piper suddenly said in her most informatory tone "The commonwealth was destroyed around 300 years ago"

Annie nodded, agreeing with Piper, suddenly a weird thought crossed her mind.
"What did you say your name was? And the Ships?"

"I'm Dylan Hunt and this is The Andromeda Ascendant" he repeated "Is something wrong?" he asked.

Annie shook her head "It sounds really familiar, I think my grandfather may have mentioned it, something about it but I can't remember."

Annie and Piper both sat up in bed. "Caption Hunt," Annie said "Could you help me with something on the Kef for a second?" she asked.

"Sure," he responded. "I'll show you where your ship is." While Annie was going through a bin full of something, Dylan was wondering what she needed help with.

"Got it," Annie said triumphantly. She had a very big and old photo album. She opened it to the back, where a family tree was recorded. She placed her finger on her name, Annie Hunt, and traced up through the until she found the Name, Dylan Hunt, and some info underneath his
name, Caption of The Commonwealth starship Andromeda Ascendant. "Lets say for a moment your really Dylan Hunt," Annie said in a very skeptical tone to a very shocked Dylan. For this to be true Sarah, Dylan's fiancé, must have been pregnant when he left. "How is it you aren't dead?" asked Annie and Dylan told her about how he hadn't died, and then about The others, Trance, Harper, Beka, Tyr and Rev, and what they had set out to do.From the look on his face Annie could tell Dylan was still skeptical.

She opened the album to the front and flipped through the pages finally stopping at one. It had several pictures of Dylan on it. There was one of him with Sarah and another of him in his uniform. There was even as picture of him as a baby. "My grandfather made this book," said Annie with a smile.

Piper opened her eyes to see a Magog watching her from across the room, her first instincts were to scream or run, Piper however forced herself to remain calm. "I am sorry if I frightened you" said the Magog. Piper sat up slowly, this magog seemed different from others she had encountered.

"You're a wayist?" asked Piper.

The Magog nodded "I am Rev Bem."

"I'm Piper," informed Piper. She glanced over at Trance who was running a test on Kee; if Rev were dangerous Trance would have said something by now.

Piper motioned for Rev to come sit beside her on the bed Annie had occupied.
"Will you tell me about Wayism?" she asked.

Eventually Kee woke up and met Trance. Trance and Rev took Piper and Kee and reunited them with the other kids. They met Harper, although he was a bit weird, Rev, who looked scary but was really very gentle. Tyr, who was neizcheian and he clearly wanted to know why two neizcheian children were traveling with human children and a human adult. Trance, who was the most interesting looking creature the kids had ever seen. Geselle, who rarely took to strangers, even smiled up at her. There was Beka, who seemed to really get along with Kell; Andromeda, the ship's
Avatar, was really nice and she promised the kids she would help them get Kef's hologram up and running again, and Dylan, who had the same last name as Annie.

Piper and Kell noticed at the same time what Annie had, her photo album.
Then Annie and Dylan announced something that didn't really surprise Trance, Piper or Kee. However it really surprised all the others.


Several weeks Later-



Annie and the kids had decided to stay on the Andromeda for a while and see what they could do to help restart the commonwealth. Annie and Harper were talking, Andromeda and Kef were doing something to the Kef's communication system, Piper and Kee were both reading while Geselle napped. Tyr was trying to get Kell and Kee alone so he could talk to them, he seemed to think
they didn't act very neizcheian sometimes, Kell and Daniel were with Trance, helping her prune some flowers, and Rev was praying, Beka was on her ship listening to loud music and Dylan was asleep as he was just getting over some very weird flu.

After reading for a while, Piper and Kee fell asleep. About forty-five minutes later Piper woke up. Something was bugging her. She glanced over to where Geselle had been sleeping.
"KEE, UP!" Piper yelled as she shook him. Geselle was gone. "Andromeda!" called Piper "Can you please locate Geselle?"

Andromeda's hologram appeared. "She's in Hydroponics'."

Kee and Piper crept up to Geselle; she was sitting in the dirt, lifting it up and then letting it fall through her fingers, as if she was reconnecting with it. Piper and Kee let her go on doing this for a while, Geselle, who hadn't noticed them, curled up under a tree and fell asleep.

Kef's hologram smiled over at Andromeda "Thank you for your help in
updating my systems, Annie hasn't gotten around to doing it for awhile."

She nodded her head. "I'm happy to help." she replied with a wide smile.

Harper was staring into Annie's bright blue eyes. He leaned foreword and their lips brushed. He pulled back, turning bright red "I'm sorry Annie, I shouldn't hav-" he was interrupted by Annie leaning foreword and kissing him back. At this point Dylan walked in, he was quiet surprised to see his however many greats granddaughter kissing Harper.

"HARPER!" Dylan yelled. Annie and Harper jumped apart both turning red.

Avatar Andromeda suddenly frowned.

"What's wrong?" asked Kef.

She smiled. "I just realized, we have been talking for seven hours."

Kef smiled "I like talking to you," he said frankly.

"A unknown ship is exiting slipstream and opening fire" began
Andromeda.

The ship shook. "Tyr, Beka Report to command," Dylan motioned to Harper
and Annie to follow him also. Beka strapped into the pilot's chair. Tyr stood ready to fire on the attacking ship. Annie got one look at the attacking ship and visibly palled. Harper was the only one to notice this however. Before he could mention it, he was thrown off his feet by another attack.

"Tyr return fire!" Dylan snapped. Harper turned to Annie to ask her what was wrong
but she was gone.

"Caption Hunt, my name is Siro," the face of a very creepy man appeared. "You have some people on board I would like to get a hold of." He smiled. "Four humans, Annie Hunt, Piper, Daniel and Geselle. Two neizcheians known as Kee and Kell." Everyone turned to where Annie had last been standing, but she was gone.

"Dylan, The Kef La Ra has launched."

"WHAT!" hollered Dylan.

"Incoming communication, its actually directed to Siro but in a open channel."

"Show it," requested Dylan. "Hello Hello Hello Siro, don't you have anything
better to do then chase me around?" called Annie.

Siro smiled. "Ready to surrender?" There was a slight pause. "Give me what I want and maybe I will spare some of the children." Another pause. Siro tried again. "Annie dear come on now be reasonable, I would hate to blow you up"

qDaniel was holding Geselle, who was shaking. "Its Siro," said Piper.
Kell nodded. "Knowing Annie, she took the Kef to distract him away from The
Andromeda," said Kee. Daniel shook his head clearly worried.

"Annie, are you listening to me?" asked Siro. Annie fired, hitting
Siro's ship but not doing a ton of damage. "I'm wounded!" Siro said. Suddenly
Annie started screaming and Kef began yelling something about intruders. Strange voices could be heard and then weapons going off. "Got you!" Siro said triumphantly.

"The Kef La Ra is dead in space, a small shuttle was launched from it and went to Siro's ship. No communication from Kef or Annie," said Andromeda.

Geselle shed a single tear; it landed on Pipers finger and fell to the floor. "He got her, DAMN HIM" Kee yelled.

"Well we are just going to have to get her back," replied Kell coolly. The other kids nodded smiling.

"However we can't take Geselle," pointed out Daniel.

"Leave her with Trance?" asked Piper.

"She might try to stop us," pointed out Kell.

"Let's put her in hydroponics," said Daniel. The other kids nodded.

"Dylan!" said Avatar Andromeda as she ran onto command. "Piper, Kee, Daniel and Kell are up to something! On The Maru."

"What?? What are they doing to my ship!!" exclaimed Beka. "They have launched and whoever is flying that ship must be out the their minds. The Maru is jerking all over the
place."

"KELL GET THE SHIP UNDER CONTROL!" Kee yelled.

"Yelling isn't going to help her concentration Kee," said Piper.

"Incoming transmission for Siro, its from the Maru," began Andromeda.

"Show us," commanded Dylan


"Hello Siro!!!" came Piper's voice "Remember me??"

"Ah yes you would be Piper correct?"

"Yep! Now all of us are on board Me, Kee, Daniel, Kell and Geselle. So are you going to let Annie go?"

"Are you surrendering yourselves to me?" asked Siro

"Okay Dylan, non of them can hear us but Geselle, she isn't with them.
She's still here. She's in hydroponics. I sent Trance to get her." Said Andromeda.

"SIRO YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Annie screamed at him as she struggled
against the guys holding her arms. "IF YOU HURT ANY OF MY KIDS I'M GOING TO KICK
YOUR-" Annie stopped talking as a blow to her stomach knocked the wind out of her.
Harper ran all the way towards hydroponics and met Trance as she exited it carrying Geselle. Harper took Geselle and jogged with her to command.

"Hey Geselle," said Harper on the way, "I know you never talk but suppose you
could make an exception? Annie and the other kids are in a lot of trouble."
Geselle signed something with her hand.

Andromeda's hologram, which had appeared a second ago said, "A N N I E, she signed Annie."Everyone stared at Harper holding Geselle. No one was sure what to do next.

"Incoming transmission from the from The Kef La Ra," said Rommie.

"Show it," said Dylan perplexed.

"Hey Siro!! Two ships against you now."

"How the Hell did you manage that??" questioned Siro. Daniel grinned.
Daniel and Kee were on The Kef La Ra and Piper and Kell were on The Maru.

"What is going on??" questioned Tyr. No one had any answers for him.

"Alright, I can tell the two girls are on the Maru and the boys are on The
Kef, but where is Geselle?" asked Siro. "On The Kef La Ra?? I am betting Daniel wouldn't want to be separated from her."

"What are they planning?" wondered Beka out loud.

"They can't attack Siro's ship because Annie is there," pointed out Rev who had just recently joined they others on the bridge.


Annie quickly calculated how many people were on the ship. It was a small ship so Annie was sure she had seen everyone on the ship already. Including
Siro, there was six people on the ship. 'I can take them' Annie thought. Siro had underestimated Annie Hunt once again. This would be the third time. Annie smiled looking at the unconscious forms of the three who had been guarding her. Now she was very glad she had been working out with Tyr and Dylan. Annie had a feeling it might come in handy, but she hadn't guessed how soon that would be.

"I underestimated you once again Annie Hunt, it won't happen again,"Siro said while Annie had a weapon pointed at this head. Annie looked around the watery planet Siro had dropped her off on. In the distance she could see The Kef La Ra and The Maru landing. She hoped, in their eagerness to find her, the kids hadn't gotten hurt or pissed off too many people. From the looks of it, they had 'borrowed' Beka's ship. Something was bothering her. She felt like it was too easy. Annie knew Siro hadn't put a locator on her and if he had on The Kef, Kef would have found it already. His last words flashed through her head yet again

"We will meet again Annie Hunt, and this time I wont underestimate you
again. You can count on it." Annie watched the sun set over the water as she waited for someone to come get her.When Annie got back on the ship she offered as best of an explanation as she could. "We have something he wants. I don't know what it is or where it is, non of us know."


Several days later-


Dylan and Annie were bonding while the kids were talking with Harper. The day before they had caught him and Annie kissing.

"So you like Annie?" Kee commented as he circled the chair Harper was sitting in. Harper tried to stand up but Kell pushed him back into his chair.

"If you hurt Annie in anyway shape or form," Piper started.

"We will
make you miserable for the rest of you life," Kell finished brightly.

"Got it?"asked Daniel, Harper nodded. He stood up and when Kell didn't push him
back down he walked rather quickly out of the room. The kid's barley managed to contain their laughter.

Harper, Annie, Tyr and Beka were on a planet buying supplies. Annie and Harper were walking around a very busy marketplace. Annie felt about seven hands on her and they were pulling her away. "HARPER!" she screamed. He turned around and tired to get to her put the flow of the crowd would not let him. "FIND ME!" she called to him and then disappeared.



"Siro," Annie said coldly.

"Annie dear give it up and I wont hurt you,"said Siro.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS YOU WANT!" yelled Annie.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," said Siro. Annie didn't respond and Siro getting annoyed stormed out.


Harper meanwhile was frantic with worry. "BEKA!" he hollered as he ran
onto the Maru. "TYR?" He called "ANYONE."

"Harper! Chill" called Beka as she walked up to him.

"In the market these guys just grabbed Annie and then they were gone!" Beka swore several times very loudly.

"Alright, Harper you find Tyr and I'll try to get a signal through to the Andromeda It
should go through because they are in orbit."

Kef paced around worried. Annie missing, Siro wasn't giving up. "Kee, Piper, Daniel, Kell come here, Daniel get Geselle please." They sat around him.

"This has to stop!" Kell practically shouted. Daniel nodded in
agreement.

"We have to figure out what it is Siro wants," Piper said.
Kee nodded, agreeing.

Beka had never seen Harper so nervous. He was pacing, almost wearing out the floor. His face was pale and upset. He didn't seem to know what to do with himself.


Daniel was holding Geselle when he saw it, a small-implanted device behind
her left ear. "Oh great" he said, "I think I just found what Siro
wants."

"What is it?" asked Kell.

"Who has it?" asked Piper.

"Geselle," he whispered.

"Geselle, always know I never wanted this to happen. I loved you more than anything. Both your father and I did. He died two weeks after you were born. His brother Siro had him killed." The woman wiped a tear from her cheek. "I don't know why, but now he's after me. Your grandparents, may the divine rest their souls, ease their passing and having mercy on them, were rich and left half their money to Siro and half to you father, who willed all his money to you. A first I thought it was all about money then while going through you father's things I found something. Siro owned a successful mining company; he had been sabotaging the competitor's
equipment. He killed so many people. Its too late for me I can hear him. May the divine guide you on the right path. Fear not, my pain belongs to the divine." The screen went blank. "Oh god."

"DYLAN!" Piper ran through the halls hollering. "REV?? ANYBODY??"

Dylan stepped out into the hall. "What's going on?"

"We know what Siro wants, rather who, Geselle" Piper said.

"Oh man."

Piper filled Dylan in on what had been going on as they ran towards command. Kef and Rommie's hologram appeared and they jogged with Dylan and Piper.

Everyone was on the bride. Kee, Piper, Kell, Daniel, Geselle, Kef, Rommies
hologram and avatar, Dylan, Trance, Rev, Tyr, Harper and Beka, they had come
back from the planet. No one seemed to know what to do.

"I'm receiving a transmission, its from Siro," said Andromeda.

"Show it," Dylan said.

"Caption Hunt, shall we trade, Geselle for Annie?" he said

"Your finally saying what you want, well" Dylan said thinking fast

"We discovered what you did, should anything happen to Annie" Beka jumped in, doing the same thing she did with Uncle Sid. "On Annie's death the evidence will be beamed to law enforcements agency's." 'Big time Uncle Sid flashbacks' thought Beka.

"It seems you have won Caption, but Annie Hunt will be the death of you all I'm not the only one... well I will just leave it at that," Siro disappeared.
Kee swore at him and Piper elbowed him while giving him 'the look'.