"So to put it simply, what we have here is-" Dylan paced around the meeting room, one hand making gestures.
"A detonation device triggered by the removal of the net." Harper finished.
"So we can't take the net-" Dylan started again.
"Without setting off a chain reaction." Kait finished.
"We're sitting ducks." Beka concluded. "And there is absolutely no way we can take out the detonator?"
Harper shook his head. "I'd love to say there was, but we can't do it without setting off some kind of chain reaction. I mean, this is a big ship. We've only been looking around for about an hour, but as far as I can tell there's tons of this. It's connected through the whole ship."
"So let's cut our losses and go." Beka said. "It's a grand prize, but I don't feel like getting killed for it."
"It's a part of Nietzchean history. And no one knew of it. I think that the remaining prides would be better off knowing what a madman their "hero" Soma was." He scoffed at the mention of Soma and "hero" in the same sentence.
"I agree." Dylan said, looking at Tyr. "But we can't do it at the cost of our lives. Is there any way we could disconnect the device at some point in it's wiring?"
"It's possible, but we don't know how far it spreads." Kait said. "So far we've seen the wiring in weapons and life support.."
"Soma was one tricky bastard, he didn't want anyone getting the net." Beka said, shaking her head.
"Harper are all the net schematics and data downloaded aboard Andromeda?" Dylan asked. His engineer nodded.
"Every last drop, Boss. Yeah, uh, there's some technical difficulties but I should be able to fill in the blanks." He said, smiling at Kait.
Beka rolled her eyes. "So what do you have in mind?"
Dylan sat down. "Can we replicate the net?" Dylan asked.
"We'd need some very Nietzchean technology." Harper said. "This ship has it all. What, you want to make another one?"
"I've come to the realization that we can't leave the ship here. And we can't leave it with the net activated. And we shouldn't let something like this sit here, or else someone else is going to come along and they're going to want to take it."
The crew nodded, agreeing.
"So that leaves us no choice. Do we want the net?"
The question hung in the air, a burden for all of them. Kait sat patiently, feeling slightly out of place. She didn't know where she was, where she belonged.
"I don't like the idea of it going to someone else." Beka said. "But it would help us greatly."
"Soma used it to defeat his enemies." Tyr said. "We've made many enemies."
"But we've always been able to hold our own." Harper said. "We didn't need a net to do any of that."
"He's right." Dylan said, nodding toward his engineer, who smiled proudly. "But we can't win it all."
Harper's grin waned.
He turned to Kait. "Can you try to find out if we can disconnect the detonator at any point in the wiring?"
Kait nodded. She stood up and cast a look to the rest of the crew before leaving the room.
Once the door slid shut, Dylan turned to his crew.
"We need to talk about after." Dylan said.
"After what?" Beka asked.
"The retrieval team is at our back door and they're going to strike any second. Beka, if you can get back to the Andromeda, you could provide some defense for the Pixanthi while we work." She nodded and Dylan looked to his security. "Tyr, I know you're not on the best of terms with other Nietzcheans." Tyr shrugged. "But I need you to stall them. Not a lot, just enough so that we can either work out a deal, which I doubt, or for us to repair the damage. And if we can't, we get out of here."
Tyr nodded. He didn't fully agree with his plan, but what else was there to do? They were in a bad position, their choices were few.
"Harper." Dylan said. "You and Kait need to find a route to disconnect us. But more importantly, you need to put self destruct on standby."
"Self destruct?" Harper asked slowly.
"Yes. If we can't get this thing moving, we can't risk it falling into other hands." He said. "And we have all the data, we can try to rebuild it, if we need to."
Harper saluted quietly.
"And that leaves one more issue." Dylan said. "Kait. Where's she going to go after this is all over?"
"If we're lucky, we'll all die in a blaze of glory." Tyr grumbled.
"I vote she stays." Harper said gleefully, ignoring Tyr.
"You would." Beka said, rolling her eyes.
"I need honest opinions here." Dylan said. "Can we trust her?"
"I think we can." Beka said. 'And I don't trust anyone."
"Neither do I. And I am still very cautious." Tyr said.
"She saved our lives." Harper said.
"Well, we know Harper's vote." Beka said.
Dylan considered the opinions that were voiced. "I think she's a valuable member, in light of our present situation. She's asked no questions as to who we are, or what we have done."
"We're the good guys." Harper said.
"And that's why she trusted us." Dylan said. "Let's get to work and we'll figure out the ending."
They all stood up and left the room, each separating to accomplish their own impossible goal.
***
"How's it going?" Harper asked, entering engineering.
"Not bad. Not well either." She said. "It's a big untidy heap of cables. It'd take days to find my way through this."
"Well now you have help." Harper said. "Let's seeā¦life support is over there, so propulsion's over here."
"No, propulsion is over there." Kait said, pointing to another spot on Harper diagram.
"But it says on here that propulsion is lined up with the-"
"Then why is it stretched all the way through to here?" She asked.
"What the hell is going on?" He asked, confused.
"Where did that manual come from?" She asked.
"Rommie got it off the ship system." Harper said absently. He stopped fiddling with a wire. "the ship's system."
"It would make sense, with everything being turned around."
"Is it opposite day?" Harper asked. "Cause this is very, very, turned around."
***
"Boss!" Harper shouted running into the command deck.
Dylan and Beka both turned around.
"We found something." Kait said.
"Okay, you know how everything on this ship's been turned inside out and upside down?"
Beka nodded.
"It's happened again. The connections to the detonator aren't for the net." Harper said.
"It's for the propulsion system." Kait said. "That's why we haven't been able to move."
"Whoa, wait. Slow down. What?" Beka asked.
"Soma switched it all around. The box is a detonator for propulsion. We can't move, and if we do, the chain reaction starts."
"So what about the net, can we disable that?" Dylan asked.
"That's where we have another problem." Kait said. "When the Andromeda entered Pixanthi space, the net activated, whereas before it was dormant. When it activated, it also reconnected itself back to the box. The only way we can get the net off the ship is if we turn it off. If we turn it off, we turn the box off. If the box turns off, we're little bits of space debris."
Dylan shook his head. "Doesn't change anything. We still can't get propulsion and we can't get the net." He sighed. "We're going back to the Andromeda. Start auto-self destruct."
No one spoke as Tyr entered the code for the self destruct sequence. Harper was at another console, doing something. No one questioned about what he was doing. The silence was suffocating as the console beeped quietly.
"Self destruct sequence confirmed." Tyr said finally.
"I blocked the signal, so any approaching ship won't know its about to go off." He said. "And there's no way to shut it off, as long as you have the code."
Dylan nodded. "Good work. Okay, let's go home." Dylan turned to Kait. "If you want to, you're more than welcome to become a part of the crew."
"Seeming that you sort of already are." Harper piped in. Beka wanted to kick him in the shins, but she was too far away.
Kait seemingly couldn't comprehend why the captain would suggest a welcome to her. She hadn't had contact with anyone for decades and suddenly she was being welcomed to be apart of another crew.
"Thank you." She said, after a long drawn out stillness. "Thank you a lot."
"So you will come with us?" Beka asked.
Kait slowly nodded, to Harper's delight. "Yeah, it looks like you'll need an extra hand."
"Good." Tyr said, to everyone's surprise. "Have you had Nietzchean training?"
"Not extensively." She replied. "But I'd like to learn."
Tyr nodded.
"It's settled then. Welcome to the Andromeda." Dylan said, smiling. As they departed the command deck to enter the docking bay, Beka turned to Kait.
"You don't drink coffee, do you?" She asked.
"Hey." Harper said, frowning.
