Authors Note: Thanks again to Nevermore for Beta Reading and adding in some phrases that made it come together better. Look for actual whole chapters of this written by Nevermore. It should speed things up and add to the story, so that should please ya'll.

Chapter 4

Dylan paced back and forth in Trance's quarters, his face etched with concern as he spoke aloud all of the questions that were racing through his mind. "What did she say? Did she tell you where she was going? Why she was going? Anything? Did she mention-"

"Dylan!" Rommie finally cut in loudly. He stopped abruptly, staring expectantly at the hologram that had interrupted him. His gaze softened at the upset look on her face. She cared.

"I mean, Captain Hunt. I- I don't know. I tried to get something, ANYTHING, out of her, but she wouldn't... You know how secretive she is."

Dylan sighed, nodding. "Yeah, I know, Rommie. I'm sorry." He paused. "Let's get the others together, and see what they think. Tell them to meet me on Obs deck in five minutes."

"Yes, sir."

"And Rommie... You've called me Dylan before, you know it's okay." A soft smile spread across the captain's features, momentarily erasing his preoccupied expression.

She looked a little uncomfortable, but then she smiled. "I know, Captain, but I shouldn't have shouted."

"Rommie, I know I was babbling. I wouldn't have listened to you any other way."

Rommie returned Dylan's smile before he headed off to the Observation Deck, and Rommie's image disappeared.

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"Where's Harper?" Dylan barked.

The others shrugged, still unsure of what was going on. Beka reclined on the nearest bench, rubbing her eyes to chase away sleep and the remnants of a very odd dream about Trance vanishing in thin air.

"Rommie?" Dylan asked, knowing that his ship was aware of the location of every crewmember at all times.

"He's coming."

"I assume this is important, Dylan," the Nietzchean muttered. "So why don't we just get right down to business?"

Dylan just glanced at him before turning his attention to Harper as he entered Obs.

"It's okay Harper, we're in no hurry here. You know, I only ever call EMERGENCY meetings for fun."

Harper looked at him, as if just noticing he was there. Dylan rolled his eyes, then turned his attention to everyone.

"Now that we're all here, I can get right to the point..."

"Wait, Trance isn't here yet," Beka put in tiredly.

"I know, that's the point."

They all looked at him like he had lost his mind, except for Harper. No one noticed, however.

"What do you mean?" Beka asked slowly, watching Dylan carefully, almost suspiciously. She could not help the incredible protectiveness she felt for her crew.

"I mean she's gone. She left a few minutes ago. Apparently she-"

"-disappeared into thin air." Beka finished for him.

Rev and Tyr looked thoughtful of this, recalling the feeling of her fleeting presence in their dreams.

"How did you know?" Dylan asked, partially feeling like he already knew.

"I vaguely remember hearing her in my head, like she was saying goodbye, or something. Then... She just kind of vanished, but in my dreams... I don't know how else to explain it..."

"I had a similar...experience, if you will," Tyr put in.

"As did I," Rev added.

"Yeah, me too," Dylan said distractedly, rubbing his chin.

"That's great. We know she's gone, she said goodbye. Now can we please stop all this chit chat, and find her, dammit," Beka exclaimed, exasperated.

By this time, Harper was watching them all quietly, but none of them seemed to notice that the normally verbose engineer had seemed to lose his tongue.

"Well, getting to work finding Trance is the general idea of waking everyone up," Dylan stated, explaining the obvious, "but does anyone have any idea where she went?"

They were all silent, looking at each other hopefully. Finally, the silence beckoned Harper to step forward.

"I do."

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Trance followed her mother, whose fuchsia hair glittered in the afternoon sun. Trance's gaze wandered about the quiet village, settling on several of the common fairies who stopped what they were doing and whispered amongst themselves. It had been rumored that the princess was back, and many were now obviously running off to tell of the truth of it. She sighed with frustration. Had they nothing better to do?

Trance felt her stomach flip as they reached a large, white house. It was beautiful in a powerful, overwhelming way. Not in the simple, quaint way that Trance preferred... like flowers. Speaking of which, she curled her nose in disgust. There was no garden at this place. How could they not have a garden? She disliked this arrangement more and more. She knew Randex was a jerk, but she had hoped that even a jerk's family would have a garden.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a blue flier swung the door open. From his attire, she guessed he was the butler. He bowed to them, and Trance suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.

"Your Majesty, welcome. The Mister and Missus have been looking forward to your visit. They are with young Master Randex in the living area. If you will follow me, Your Highness." He spoke quickly.

"Of course, lead the way," the queen said pleasantly, though Trance noticed her mother seemed to consciously avoid making eye contact with the hired help.

Trance had to keep herself from dragging her feet as they made their way deeper into the house, right to the very back where there was a sunroom. She really didn't want to be there.

"Your Highness, welcome to our humble abode." Randex's plump mother bowed her yellow head, and her red husband followed suit. Randex was last, and he made a gallant sweep of his orange arm. Trance had to turn her head to keep them from seeing her rolling her eyes. What a... a... She sighed. She wanted to go home.

She turned back, looking Randex up and down. He was good looking, as male fairies go... but he was not Harper. She preferred Harper's pale skin. She also far preferred his bright blue eyes to Randex's pitch black ones. She couldn't see anything in them. Sometimes it felt as if he was not even looking at her, or even worse, that he was looking through her. She loved how she could always read Harper's thoughts and feelings; every one of his moods was displayed through his expressive eyes. She shook her head. This was not the time to daydream about him. Randex's mother was talking.

"...and my how very beautiful you are. Even more so than the last time I saw you."

Trance had the grace to blush. "Thank you."

"Come, come. Have a seat. Jaydrey, bring us some tea." She called out to the blue butler that stood by the door. He nodded, then disappeared around a corner.

"Good man," she said to the Queen. "Not too bright, but who needs brains when you're a simple servant?"

Her mother and the woman chuckled discreetly while the men laughed more heartily. Trance bristled. The butler had seemed perfectly intelligent when he had met them at the door, and Trance could not imagine how she could possibly look down on someone because of his social status, or lack thereof. What really made him any lower in life than her? She literally bit her tongue to keep from snapping out. She knew her parents would not tolerate it, and Trance refused to stoop to that woman's level. She groaned inwardly when the thought occurred to her that this elitist snob was to be her mother in law. Ugh.

She felt eyes on her and looked up to see Randex running his gaze over her. She shivered, and not in the good, excited way she did when Harper looked at her like that. She crossed her arms, then glared at him. He smiled, but she could see the slyness behind it. She was not too worried at the moment. He may be a creep, but he was certainly not a stupid creep. If he pulled anything with her, the Princess, there would be hell to pay for him and his family. She was only worried should they get married. No one could protect her from him then.

She mentally shook herself. /Don't think like that, Harper will find you. I know he will./

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"WHERE?" They all asked in unison.

Harper smiled. Well, they were concerned anyway... but would it be enough to abandon their current mission, or at least delay it?

"Where exactly, as in can I show you on a navigation grid?" Harper asked worriedly. "I don't know that. I do know she's gone home, wherever that is, which is apparently for me to find out."

They all looked at him like he had lost his mind. He sighed, and sat down on the nearest bench. He motioned for them to do the same. All except Tyr complied.

"Look Tyr, this is a long story, so you may want to rest your rather large feet. Please, take a load off."

"We don't have time for stories, the girl could be in danger."

Harper raised his eyebrows. "You care? I'm touched."

Tyr glowered at him before answering. "The girl has proven herself to be a vital element of this crew. She has performed exceptionally in pressure situations, and has certain... instincts... that have been valuable. I think it would be tactically sound to retrieve her."

"Figures.... well, fine then, stand."

With that Harper began telling the crew all he knew so far. From Trance's strange behavior the day they broke up, to the realistic dream he'd had a few hours before.

"And you stayed in your room afterwards doing what? Knitting?" Tyr asked incredulously.

Harper rolled his eyes, "Actually I prefer to crochet. No, I was thinking things through, trying to piece everything together. And trying to find a way to convince Dylan..." He took a moment to look the Captain in the eyes. "...to delay our current mission of restoring the Commonwealth, to help a friend. I really need you on this one, Boss. I can do it alone, I guess, but it could take forever... especially without a ship, without Andromeda. By that time, it might be to late and I-" He was cut off.

"You don't need to convince me, Harper," Dylan said with a warm smile. "Trance is a friend and a part of this crew. She belongs here, as a part of the rebuilding of the Commonwealth. So, we can't go on without her. Besides, this is a Commonwealth vessel. That means something, even if the Commonwealth doesn't really exist right now. We don't leave our people out to dry, no matter what."

A few moments of silence followed as everyone absorbed the information that Harper had given, and also the words that Dylan had spoken..

"Alright, so where do we start?" Beka asked, finally breaking the silence.

Harper sighed. "Well, you guys can do the regular searches, but I really think this one is up to me... at least finding where she is, anyway."

"The rest of us will check through the nearby planets for any recent dockings," Dylan said evenly, as usual taking command of the situation. "We can check through for new messages, as well, and maybe search the med lab to see if she left anything there that could help us."

Harper nodded, "Alright, I guess I'll go through the computer, hack into her files, see if anything is in there."

They nodded, then Beka spoke. "I'll take a look in her quarters, see if I can scrounge up anything."

"I'll take over maintenance duties in engineering," Tyr added, drawing a surprised look from everyone but Rev. "That will allow Harper more time to do the more boring research. I don't like sifting through data. I would prefer to deal with something more real."

"Alright then, let's get to work people," Dylan said. They stood and began to file out of the room. Dylan caught Harper's arm. "We'll find her, Harper. We'll find her and we'll bring her home. I promise."

Harper nodded with a slight smile. "Thanks boss." Harper watched them all leave, and noticed that Tyr had remained behind.

"Now you're sure you can find her?" the Nietzchean asked.

"I think she wants me to, so there have to be clues somewhere. What, you afraid of wasting your time on a wild goose chase?"

"Not at all," Tyr said with a gaze that sent chills down Harper's spine. "When Dylan had the chance to be reunited with his wife, I supported his actions. Now your mate has been stolen from you."

"I don't know that I'd call her my mate," Harper muttered nervously.

"She is meant to be, and wants to be," Tyr replied. "Even you have to realize that. Protecting one's mate is one of the most important things in life, Harper. So no, I'm not concerned about being led astray for awhile. I'm only concerned that you find her in time, before anything undesirable happens to her."

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Chapter 5 coming...as soon as it gets written.

Jaimi Copyright@2001