Disclaimer: Andromeda and all the characters from the show belong to
Tribune and Gene Rodenberry et al. You can just assume that all the
characters you don't recognize from the show belong to me.
Author's Note: Okay, so I got good reviews and no flames so I present to you the second chapter of my masterpiece…
*******************************************************************
Tyr was walking down an empty corridor near the old crew storage areas when he heard music wafting throughout the sector. He stopped to listen and went in search for the source of the sound. He masked his surprise when he walked into storage area 47 and found Izobella sitting cross-legged on a large satin cushion, playing an old guitar. Tyr plodded silently into the room and leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes, listening to the pleasant sounds resonating from the few-hundred year old instrument. The music stopped and Tyr knew he had been noticed.
"It wasn't a public performance," Izzy mumbled in a glum voice.
"It was quite exquisite," Tyr ignored her statement, "So is music the way you express your feelings?"
"Huh?" Izobella asked.
"You said that Dante expressed his feeling with in his mischievous ways, but is this the way you express yours?" Tyr explained his question.
"Not really," Izobella shrugged, "Actually, I usually express my feelings by beating up on the bad guys, but since I got on this ship they don't seem to want to ride up on my ass as much, and I'd spar with someone, but I don't really feel like pulling punches so I won't hurt anyone. Hell, I can't even guarantee that I've got enough self restraint to keep an opponent alive."
"I doubt you could take me," Tyr admitted, "but if you need to vent a little, I'm usually in the gym if I'm not busy."
"Maybe I'll take you up on that offer," Izobella said, "but if I were you, I'd never underestimate my opponents, no matter how weak or frail they may look. You've been warned." The depressed redhead picked up the guitar and stalked silently out of the room. Even Tyr was surprised by her grace and stealth. He had to be honest with himself, at least: if not for the fact that Izobella had been in plain view and smelled strongly (at least to the Neitzscheans enhanced senses) of metal, blood, and tears, not even he, with his amazing hearing, would have noticed her presence.
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Sweat gushed down Izzy's face and stung mercilessly at the corners of her eyes. She had changed into a pair of tight black shorts and a white tank top that dripped with sweat and had become completely see-through hours ago. The feisty young woman was in the gym beating the living hell out of a heavy bag and practicing her evil you're-going-down-and-you-know- it look.
"I'm sure that whatever that bag did, it's really sorry," a deeply amused male voice chuckled from the hallway as the door slid open.
"Took you long enough," Izobella observed dryly, "I've been itching to completely tire myself out so I can sleep for one whole night without dreaming about Jak and waking up crying. You ready?"
"Quite," Tyr snapped, obviously slightly annoyed that she had suggested he might need a few moments to prepare himself to fight a mere female kludge.
"Yeah, that's what Ranae said when we were attacked by Magog and Phil made me promise I'd kill him if he got infested," Izobella said, "Poor bastard pulled a hamstring, twisted his ankle, and broke his wrist. I'd recommend at least stretching."
"Fine," Tyr growled, and began stretching his arms and legs, and then followed Izzy to the center of the room and crouched in a fighting stance. They circled each other for a long time, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Finally Izobella got bored and faked a punch to his face and as he blocked, she went for his gut, put was blocked yet again.
"You're fast," Izzy observed as she ducked under Tyr's leg when it swung at her head.
"You aren't bad, yourself," Tyr admitted as he blocked a kick to his knee.
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"Hey, guys! Dylan! Harper! Come here, you've gotta see this," Beka shouted across command to her Captain and her engineer without turning her head away from the vid. Screen, "Tyr and Izobella are sparring and Tyr looks like he's about to pass out."
"Nah, it's a trick," Harper shrugged, "I'm confident that the Big Guy could kick anyone's ass into next millennium."
"Well, according to Rommie, they've been going at it for over an hour," Beka said, "but if you're really that confident in Tyr, I'll bet you $40 that Izzy will win and you'll be that much richer." Dylan hid an amused smile behind his hand as they shook on it and Beka stalked off saying under her breath "easy money."
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It's all over, Tyr though as he pinned Izobella and smiled victoriously down at her, but then he was being flipped end over and quite suddenly was frowning not-so-victoriously up at her. She had her hands pinning his wrists and her left foot was pinning his right ankle and her right foot was resting on his left knee cap with her knee bent and hovering uncomfortably close to his groin, so if he moved his left leg her foot would slip, causing her knee to fall and crush his "little self".
Tyr knew he should be more worried about his ability to breed, but he had made the mistake of looking up into her eyes and was practically drowning in the bright green sea of mystery and emotion he found. Suddenly those unnerving green orbs of knowledge became guarded and Izzy stood and offered him a hand.
"You're quite strong," Tyr observed. He had been slightly surprised when she hadn't collapsed screaming and holding her knee when he wrenched it to the side and up at a sharp angle with his foot. That move had even brought down more than a few well-disciplined and well-muscled Neitzschean alphas. He would have been more surprised, but none of his other moves had even seemed to pain her before that.
"I know how to use your size and weight against you and my size and weight for me," Izzy shrugged, as if Tyr hadn't just been staring into her soul, "I do Yoga, also. It keeps your body flexible and helps me concentrate on things other than the pain. You should try it. You look like you're about to black out from the pain."
"Did you realize that we've been sparring for almost 2 hours?" Tyr snapped.
"Yeah," Izzy sighed, "but I'm still only tired, not exhausted. There are still nightmares in store for me. It's almost like my namesakes are doing this just to spite me."
"You're namesakes?" Tyr asked, "Who are they?"
"Okay, my middle namesakes, but whatever," Izobella shrugged, "Athena is the Ancient Greek Goddess of Wisdom and war and Diana is the Ancient Greek Goddess of Wild Things, the Hunt, and the Moon."
"Oh, I see. If you'd like, I could come to your quarters and give you a massage," Tyr suggested, "it would help you sleep."
Izobella just laughed and said, "Mr. Anasazi, you continually amaze me. So many times in the last hour you have dished out moves that almost broke through my wall of self-restraint and I still won, but now you're offering me a massage. Many people would be grumbling and glaring and stomping away right now, but you...you're a good loser."
"I have been called many things in my life," Tyr replied, "but never a 'good loser.'"
"Well, there's a first time for everything," Izzy smiled, "but that massage sounds great. Thanks."
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"Cough it up," a certain blonde Captain said to her engineer as she stuck out her hand and smiled when Harper dropped a credit chip into her hand.
"I can't believe I just saw that," Harper whined, "Tyr lost and then he promised Izzy a massage. The Big Guy's going soft…and I'm losing money because of it! This can't believe this is happening!"
"Well, it did," Beka teased as she pocketed the credit chip, "and I think it's good that at least someone is managing to tame Tyr's giant ego." She chuckled for a while and then went of to her quarters to take nap since her shift was over.
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Tyr stood over Izzy as she slept. She had taken a shower and put on pajamas and he had come in and given her his promised massage. It had only taken 10 minutes for her to get completely relaxed and only another 5 before she had fallen asleep. He had stayed to make sure she would be okay and not wake up crying like she had said had happened ever since Jak's death. Tyr stood there for another 20 minutes before deciding she would be okay and going to his own quarters.
Izobella pulled back her covers and put on her bathrobe before walking out of her quarters and toward the mess hall. I'm so happy that I learn at a young age how to slow the tempo of my breathing to that of a sleeping person at a young age, she thought as she stalked silently down a dark corridor, I feel sort of bad that I tricked Tyr into thinking he was helping. All right, I have to give him some credit: That was a great massage, but I guess it just wasn't enough.
"Coffee?" Izobella nearly jumped out of her skin as she walked into the mess hall and realized someone else was there, and they had said something to her.
"Huh?" she asked.
"Would you like some coffee?" Beka asked, as she set her own mug down on a table, "you look like you're on a middle-of-the-night coffee run."
"Thanks," Izzy nodded and was immediately handed a steaming mug and she sat down across from Beka.
"Are you okay?" Beka asked, "I saw you beating up on Tyr earlier. It must take a lot of energy out of you."
"That's what I was hoping for, but no such luck," Izobella sighed, "even after that massage I was still only slightly tired. You know, enough to sleep, but not enough to keep recently deceased relatives out of your nightmares." She took a long dip from her coffee mug and looked down at it. Dark…even…reflective. She saw her reflection on the still surface of the brown liquid and it almost seemed to be laughing at her. Laughing hysterically, like her life was to pathetic to deserve respectful silence. Then, quite suddenly it was Jak's face and the young brunette was crying. Not regular tears, but blood. Jak was crying blood and whispering something. What is she saying? Izobella thought, it's just like in my nightmare and I still don't know what she's saying. Fuck! I'm seeing my bad dreams in my coffee!
"Izobella?" someone's voice said and she was being shaken.
"Wasn't me!" Izzy mumbled as her head shot up from the table.
"Are you okay?" Beka asked, "You were looking at your coffee mug like it was a ghost and then you started mumbling incoherently and passed out."
"I'm fine," Izzy assured the blonde, "I just haven't really been the same since…you know…"
"Since Jak died?" Beka finished, and Izobella nodded sullenly.
"I was sparring with Tyr for so long because I was hoping to just get completely exhausted so I wouldn't be bothered by dreams at all so I could finally get a good night's sleep," Izzy admitted, "and I've even got a knife tucked into the back of my pajama pants and a few under my pillow and a gauss gun under the edge of my bed because all my enemies haunt me in my dreams, too. It's like I'm afraid their real selves with pop out of my dreams and murder me in my sleep, even though I know it's absurd."
"Well, you're safe here," Beka assured Izzy and laid a reassuring hand on her arm, "or at least as safe as you can get on a Commonwealth Warship. We've got our share of enemies, too, but we're all still alive, despite all the anti-Commonwealth activists, Drago Katzov, and bounty hunters after us." She was taken aback when Izobella cracked up.
"Beka, I've got a bigger bounty on my head than you, Dylan, Harper, Trance, and Tyr combined," Izzy explained her sudden outburst, "bounty hunters don't scare me. Magog don't scare me. Calderans don't scare me. Than don't scare me. Neitzscheans don't scare me. Nightsiders don't scare me. No physical being I have ever met has scared me."
"So you're telling me you're completely fearless?" Beka asked, "How is that possible?"
"On the contrary," Izzy countered, "I said I wasn't scared of any physical being I've ever met. What I was trying to say is that what scares me is all in my head. It's pretty pathetic, eh? I, of all people, am known across the universe for defending the helpless and punishing the evil, but I don't even feel safe in my own mind." She chuckled dejectedly for a moment as she looked down into her coffee again and saw herself staring up at her. She took a sip and her reflection disappeared in a ripple of dark liquid.
"Maybe the company will help," Beka suggested, "I was kind of nuts before I found Harper and Trance and joined Dylan on his crazy quest to reunite the universe."
"Yeah, maybe," Izobella sighed, "Well, I think I'll go get the few hours of sleep I can get before I wake up screaming and crying for Jak."
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That's it for Chapter 2. If you want more, it's the same system. 10 reviews = 1 more Chapter or a few REALLY GOOD reviews = 1 more Chapter, but Flames = NO MORE!! Hell if you flame, I might even take away what I've already given you! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Author's Note: Okay, so I got good reviews and no flames so I present to you the second chapter of my masterpiece…
*******************************************************************
Tyr was walking down an empty corridor near the old crew storage areas when he heard music wafting throughout the sector. He stopped to listen and went in search for the source of the sound. He masked his surprise when he walked into storage area 47 and found Izobella sitting cross-legged on a large satin cushion, playing an old guitar. Tyr plodded silently into the room and leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes, listening to the pleasant sounds resonating from the few-hundred year old instrument. The music stopped and Tyr knew he had been noticed.
"It wasn't a public performance," Izzy mumbled in a glum voice.
"It was quite exquisite," Tyr ignored her statement, "So is music the way you express your feelings?"
"Huh?" Izobella asked.
"You said that Dante expressed his feeling with in his mischievous ways, but is this the way you express yours?" Tyr explained his question.
"Not really," Izobella shrugged, "Actually, I usually express my feelings by beating up on the bad guys, but since I got on this ship they don't seem to want to ride up on my ass as much, and I'd spar with someone, but I don't really feel like pulling punches so I won't hurt anyone. Hell, I can't even guarantee that I've got enough self restraint to keep an opponent alive."
"I doubt you could take me," Tyr admitted, "but if you need to vent a little, I'm usually in the gym if I'm not busy."
"Maybe I'll take you up on that offer," Izobella said, "but if I were you, I'd never underestimate my opponents, no matter how weak or frail they may look. You've been warned." The depressed redhead picked up the guitar and stalked silently out of the room. Even Tyr was surprised by her grace and stealth. He had to be honest with himself, at least: if not for the fact that Izobella had been in plain view and smelled strongly (at least to the Neitzscheans enhanced senses) of metal, blood, and tears, not even he, with his amazing hearing, would have noticed her presence.
*******************************************************************
Sweat gushed down Izzy's face and stung mercilessly at the corners of her eyes. She had changed into a pair of tight black shorts and a white tank top that dripped with sweat and had become completely see-through hours ago. The feisty young woman was in the gym beating the living hell out of a heavy bag and practicing her evil you're-going-down-and-you-know- it look.
"I'm sure that whatever that bag did, it's really sorry," a deeply amused male voice chuckled from the hallway as the door slid open.
"Took you long enough," Izobella observed dryly, "I've been itching to completely tire myself out so I can sleep for one whole night without dreaming about Jak and waking up crying. You ready?"
"Quite," Tyr snapped, obviously slightly annoyed that she had suggested he might need a few moments to prepare himself to fight a mere female kludge.
"Yeah, that's what Ranae said when we were attacked by Magog and Phil made me promise I'd kill him if he got infested," Izobella said, "Poor bastard pulled a hamstring, twisted his ankle, and broke his wrist. I'd recommend at least stretching."
"Fine," Tyr growled, and began stretching his arms and legs, and then followed Izzy to the center of the room and crouched in a fighting stance. They circled each other for a long time, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Finally Izobella got bored and faked a punch to his face and as he blocked, she went for his gut, put was blocked yet again.
"You're fast," Izzy observed as she ducked under Tyr's leg when it swung at her head.
"You aren't bad, yourself," Tyr admitted as he blocked a kick to his knee.
*******************************************************************
"Hey, guys! Dylan! Harper! Come here, you've gotta see this," Beka shouted across command to her Captain and her engineer without turning her head away from the vid. Screen, "Tyr and Izobella are sparring and Tyr looks like he's about to pass out."
"Nah, it's a trick," Harper shrugged, "I'm confident that the Big Guy could kick anyone's ass into next millennium."
"Well, according to Rommie, they've been going at it for over an hour," Beka said, "but if you're really that confident in Tyr, I'll bet you $40 that Izzy will win and you'll be that much richer." Dylan hid an amused smile behind his hand as they shook on it and Beka stalked off saying under her breath "easy money."
*******************************************************************
It's all over, Tyr though as he pinned Izobella and smiled victoriously down at her, but then he was being flipped end over and quite suddenly was frowning not-so-victoriously up at her. She had her hands pinning his wrists and her left foot was pinning his right ankle and her right foot was resting on his left knee cap with her knee bent and hovering uncomfortably close to his groin, so if he moved his left leg her foot would slip, causing her knee to fall and crush his "little self".
Tyr knew he should be more worried about his ability to breed, but he had made the mistake of looking up into her eyes and was practically drowning in the bright green sea of mystery and emotion he found. Suddenly those unnerving green orbs of knowledge became guarded and Izzy stood and offered him a hand.
"You're quite strong," Tyr observed. He had been slightly surprised when she hadn't collapsed screaming and holding her knee when he wrenched it to the side and up at a sharp angle with his foot. That move had even brought down more than a few well-disciplined and well-muscled Neitzschean alphas. He would have been more surprised, but none of his other moves had even seemed to pain her before that.
"I know how to use your size and weight against you and my size and weight for me," Izzy shrugged, as if Tyr hadn't just been staring into her soul, "I do Yoga, also. It keeps your body flexible and helps me concentrate on things other than the pain. You should try it. You look like you're about to black out from the pain."
"Did you realize that we've been sparring for almost 2 hours?" Tyr snapped.
"Yeah," Izzy sighed, "but I'm still only tired, not exhausted. There are still nightmares in store for me. It's almost like my namesakes are doing this just to spite me."
"You're namesakes?" Tyr asked, "Who are they?"
"Okay, my middle namesakes, but whatever," Izobella shrugged, "Athena is the Ancient Greek Goddess of Wisdom and war and Diana is the Ancient Greek Goddess of Wild Things, the Hunt, and the Moon."
"Oh, I see. If you'd like, I could come to your quarters and give you a massage," Tyr suggested, "it would help you sleep."
Izobella just laughed and said, "Mr. Anasazi, you continually amaze me. So many times in the last hour you have dished out moves that almost broke through my wall of self-restraint and I still won, but now you're offering me a massage. Many people would be grumbling and glaring and stomping away right now, but you...you're a good loser."
"I have been called many things in my life," Tyr replied, "but never a 'good loser.'"
"Well, there's a first time for everything," Izzy smiled, "but that massage sounds great. Thanks."
*******************************************************************
"Cough it up," a certain blonde Captain said to her engineer as she stuck out her hand and smiled when Harper dropped a credit chip into her hand.
"I can't believe I just saw that," Harper whined, "Tyr lost and then he promised Izzy a massage. The Big Guy's going soft…and I'm losing money because of it! This can't believe this is happening!"
"Well, it did," Beka teased as she pocketed the credit chip, "and I think it's good that at least someone is managing to tame Tyr's giant ego." She chuckled for a while and then went of to her quarters to take nap since her shift was over.
*******************************************************************
Tyr stood over Izzy as she slept. She had taken a shower and put on pajamas and he had come in and given her his promised massage. It had only taken 10 minutes for her to get completely relaxed and only another 5 before she had fallen asleep. He had stayed to make sure she would be okay and not wake up crying like she had said had happened ever since Jak's death. Tyr stood there for another 20 minutes before deciding she would be okay and going to his own quarters.
Izobella pulled back her covers and put on her bathrobe before walking out of her quarters and toward the mess hall. I'm so happy that I learn at a young age how to slow the tempo of my breathing to that of a sleeping person at a young age, she thought as she stalked silently down a dark corridor, I feel sort of bad that I tricked Tyr into thinking he was helping. All right, I have to give him some credit: That was a great massage, but I guess it just wasn't enough.
"Coffee?" Izobella nearly jumped out of her skin as she walked into the mess hall and realized someone else was there, and they had said something to her.
"Huh?" she asked.
"Would you like some coffee?" Beka asked, as she set her own mug down on a table, "you look like you're on a middle-of-the-night coffee run."
"Thanks," Izzy nodded and was immediately handed a steaming mug and she sat down across from Beka.
"Are you okay?" Beka asked, "I saw you beating up on Tyr earlier. It must take a lot of energy out of you."
"That's what I was hoping for, but no such luck," Izobella sighed, "even after that massage I was still only slightly tired. You know, enough to sleep, but not enough to keep recently deceased relatives out of your nightmares." She took a long dip from her coffee mug and looked down at it. Dark…even…reflective. She saw her reflection on the still surface of the brown liquid and it almost seemed to be laughing at her. Laughing hysterically, like her life was to pathetic to deserve respectful silence. Then, quite suddenly it was Jak's face and the young brunette was crying. Not regular tears, but blood. Jak was crying blood and whispering something. What is she saying? Izobella thought, it's just like in my nightmare and I still don't know what she's saying. Fuck! I'm seeing my bad dreams in my coffee!
"Izobella?" someone's voice said and she was being shaken.
"Wasn't me!" Izzy mumbled as her head shot up from the table.
"Are you okay?" Beka asked, "You were looking at your coffee mug like it was a ghost and then you started mumbling incoherently and passed out."
"I'm fine," Izzy assured the blonde, "I just haven't really been the same since…you know…"
"Since Jak died?" Beka finished, and Izobella nodded sullenly.
"I was sparring with Tyr for so long because I was hoping to just get completely exhausted so I wouldn't be bothered by dreams at all so I could finally get a good night's sleep," Izzy admitted, "and I've even got a knife tucked into the back of my pajama pants and a few under my pillow and a gauss gun under the edge of my bed because all my enemies haunt me in my dreams, too. It's like I'm afraid their real selves with pop out of my dreams and murder me in my sleep, even though I know it's absurd."
"Well, you're safe here," Beka assured Izzy and laid a reassuring hand on her arm, "or at least as safe as you can get on a Commonwealth Warship. We've got our share of enemies, too, but we're all still alive, despite all the anti-Commonwealth activists, Drago Katzov, and bounty hunters after us." She was taken aback when Izobella cracked up.
"Beka, I've got a bigger bounty on my head than you, Dylan, Harper, Trance, and Tyr combined," Izzy explained her sudden outburst, "bounty hunters don't scare me. Magog don't scare me. Calderans don't scare me. Than don't scare me. Neitzscheans don't scare me. Nightsiders don't scare me. No physical being I have ever met has scared me."
"So you're telling me you're completely fearless?" Beka asked, "How is that possible?"
"On the contrary," Izzy countered, "I said I wasn't scared of any physical being I've ever met. What I was trying to say is that what scares me is all in my head. It's pretty pathetic, eh? I, of all people, am known across the universe for defending the helpless and punishing the evil, but I don't even feel safe in my own mind." She chuckled dejectedly for a moment as she looked down into her coffee again and saw herself staring up at her. She took a sip and her reflection disappeared in a ripple of dark liquid.
"Maybe the company will help," Beka suggested, "I was kind of nuts before I found Harper and Trance and joined Dylan on his crazy quest to reunite the universe."
"Yeah, maybe," Izobella sighed, "Well, I think I'll go get the few hours of sleep I can get before I wake up screaming and crying for Jak."
*******************************************************************
That's it for Chapter 2. If you want more, it's the same system. 10 reviews = 1 more Chapter or a few REALLY GOOD reviews = 1 more Chapter, but Flames = NO MORE!! Hell if you flame, I might even take away what I've already given you! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!