Harper tiptoed quietly along the freezing cold deck of Andromeda. By now he'd almost completely lost all sense of feeling in his body. The throbbing in his head and the burning in his lungs hadn't subsided but it wasn't as sharp. In fact, none of his senses seemed very sharp. The sounds around him seemed to reverberate inside his head and everything he saw was slightly fuzzy at the edges.

"M-m-must b-be the c-c-c," He started saying to himself but stopped abruptly when he realized that Nietzcheans could be anywhere. The last thing he wanted was for them to know he was coming and be ready to attack. The thought of another brute assault caused an involuntary shiver to run down his spine, whether it was from the cold that penetrated his very being or just the imagery of his blood being spilled all over Andromeda's clean corridors, he didn't know.

I gotta get to Machine Shop 5 before my legs stop listening to me, Harper thought to himself. I need to jettison that bomb…



"What the hell is going on here?" Beka yelled.

The only reply she got was from Tyr, who was less than happy with her outburst, "I think everyone should shut-up. In case you've all forgotten, we're trapped on a ship that's dead in space and there are probably Dragans searching for us at this very moment… angry Dragans. Now I suggest we all be very quiet or at least get to a place that would give us a tactical advantage should we be searched out.

"Tyr's right," Dylan said before anyone could argue. "It's not safe here."

"I'll go scope it out," Rommie said as she slipped quietly out the door. This was the last straw for Beka. Everyone seemed to have their own agenda and she didn't like not knowing each individual one.

Beka ran up to the captain, grabbed his shirt collar, and slammed him against the wall. "Hold on just one second! We're going to leave now? How's Harper going to know where to find us when he comes back? Where did he go Dylan? Where'd you send him? I want to know!"

"Yes, where did you send the kludge? I hope for our sake it wasn't anywhere far because he may be the only one on this ship that knows how to fix the mess we're all in." Tyr's patience were wearing thin and he planned on surviving the encounter, with or without the rest of the crew.

"He went to fix a mistake I made." Dylan gasped as Beka pressed the clenched hand that was holding part of his uniform into his windpipe.

"What mistake?" She asked.

Instead of answering, Dylan's face turned red and he made desperate choking sounds.

"Stop!" Trance yelled "Stop it all of you!"

Surprisingly, everyone froze. Beka even released Dylan, who fell on his hands and knees clutching his throat and forcing air into his lungs.

"We'll never get out of this unless we work together. The only thing fighting's going to do is aid in our recapture. Now, I think we should all put our head together and make a plan."

Tyr nodded in agreement, more to himself than anything. Beka even helped Dylan off the floor as an apology.

"We can't figure anything out until we know what's already happening," Tyr hinted.

Beka's angry façade slipped away and a worried expression replaced it. "Dylan, where's Harper?"

It was then that Rommie chose to return from her short scouting trip. She was somewhat startled by Dylan's appearance. "It's clear for now. Did I miss something?" She reported and at the same time wondered what could have occurred during her absence. Ah, the pleasures of multi-tasking.

"Captain Hunt was just about to tell us where he sent the little professor… Wasn't he?"

Still regaining his composure, Dylan answered slightly winded. "He's disposing of something."

"What?" Beka demanded.

Dylan locked eyes with Beka as he said softly, "He left to go get rid of the nova bombs I have on board."