EASE MY MIND
Chapter Seven: Brave and Crazy



Dylan returned to the deck, trailed by Beka, to find the rest of his small crew waiting for them. Waiting to
see how badly their argument had gone, he figured. Harper had set himself down in the middle of the
floor and Tyr was milling around the controls trying to look like he was doing something important.
Rommie stood at casual attention, regarding them with a raised eyebrow and a trace of a smirk as they
entered.

"Beka!" Even Trance was waiting for them. She bounded across the deck with a youthfulness he had not
seen from her since she was still purple. Her arms thrown open wide in delight, she practically engulfed
Beka in a welcoming hug. Despite being caught off guard by the strength of the embrace, Beka smiled as
she was reunited with her friend. The smile turned to shrill, startled laughter as Trance lifted her from the
floor and spun her half-way around.

"It's so good to have you back," Trance said once Beka was safely on the floor. "We were worried we
weren't going to see you again."

"I keep getting that," Beka responded. "Hey, you know me, I can get out of anything, right? I'm fine."

"Be careful," Harper warned, looking at Trance and throwing a nod in Beka's direction. "That's what she
told Dylan right before she jumped down his throat for trying to help."

Beka turned her attention to the engineer, her expression shocked. Harper had always been one not to
think about what he was saying, but he usually wasn't so directly insulting. "We didn't make that big of a
scene, did we?"

"No," Harper answered, fidgeting with his normal pent-up energy. "Mostly it was just you making a scene
and Dylan trying not to get you to make one. But no, it wasn't *that* big." He spoke the final words in
the sense that the universe wasn't *that* big, either.

"Sorry," Beka responded immediately. "Really sorry about that, everybody. I was, you know, kind of
freaked." She turned to Dylan, nodding anxiously in his direction. She was on edge, primed and ready for
battle. One hand rested on the force lance she had retrieved from the weapons locker. Both she and Dylan
had armed themselves with an array of personal weapons.

"Charging into the fabled apocalypse?" Tyr asked cynically, unable to mask his appreciation for whatever
gutsy and equally suicidal plan they had come up with.

"Not without back-up." Dylan paused a moment to pretend to ignore the skeptical expression. "Beka and
I are taking the Dragon slipfighter and going after the Maru."

Complete astonishment overcame Rommie's face as Dylan spoke. "Dylan, are you sure that's--"

"Perfectly feasible," he interjected, keeping his tone soft to assure her. "According to Beka, the Dragons
aren't aware that the fighter was hijacked."

"But they had to have seen it follow us into slipstream."

"They saw their pilot give chase," Beka agreed. "She radioed in to say she was pursuing in hope that she
could figure out what we were up to. What her Dragon commanders didn't see was me standing right off
screen with a high-powered blaster pointed at her head." She shrugged. "They ordered her to turn back
but I made certain she refused, so they'll be waiting for her to come back if for no other reason than to bust
her out of the ranks, if not out of existence. We won't have any problem getting on the cruiser."

Tyr scoffed. "You think the two of you can sneak undetected onto a Drago-Kazov cruiser?"

"Stranger things have happened," Dylan responded with an equal amount of severity in his voice.

"You're mad, Captain Hunt."

Rommie pursed her lips in a moment of silent debate. "Dylan, I'm inclined to agree. I understand Beka's
desire to get the Maru back safely but--"

"The Maru is the least of his worries," Beka interjected. "To be completely honest, it's not at the top of my
list, either." She drew a blaster and armed it. "Tell them what to do and let's get out of here."

"You mean like orders?" Harper asked, practically gulping the last word. He straightened himself,
pretended to regain his reserve. "We're helping you do whatever this crazy thing is you're doing?"

"Why am I not surprised?" From Tyr. Of course.

"You're in command until I return," Dylan told him, beginning to grow as annoyed as Beka had already
become with the questions that kept coming before either of them could get a word in. "As I've already
said, Beka and I are taking the slipfighter and using it to gain access the carrier, where we're going to find
the Maru."

"I thought you said the Maru was the least of your worries," Trance interrupted, her eyes shifting
suspiciously between Dylan and Beka.

"It is," Beka agreed, almost too quickly. "But what *does* matter in on the Maru and it's a really long
story so everybody let Dylan explain the plan and we'll explain everything else when we get back."

"*If* you return," Tyr corrected. "What you're proposing is suicide, and I strongly recommend you
reconsider."

"Recommendation acknowledged and rejected," Beka snapped back, her anxiety beginning to seep
through again. She was one more comment away from some serious, frustrated pacing. "Dylan, can you
hurry up and explain things so we get outta here?"

*I'm trying,* he almost said, but that would do them no good, either. Everyone was far too close to
plummeting over the emotional edge. He'd been going crazy since Beka's disappearing act, but was only
not beginning to realize what he had already suspected--that he wasn't the only one who had suffered.
Everyone, including the great, uncaring Tyr Anasazi, was grateful to have her back aboard and relatively
unharmed. They did not want to see her dive head-first into another set of impossible odds, this time
dragging their captain with her.

"Tyr," Dylan said, his voice full of the kind of High Guard authority that demanded no further
interruption, "you are to give Beka and I a half an hour to reach Sarentia and make contact with you. If
even one second past that half an hour elapses without contact from either myself of Beka, you are to
return to Sarentia and open fire without mercy. Is that understood?"

"Captain, we're critically low on ammunition of all forms," Rommie interrupted before Tyr could offer a
response.

"Then you'll just have to make a little go a long way." The comment was directed at Tyr, whose jaw had
hardened into that stubborn, defiant look Dylan had come to associate with the desire for an argument. He
was in no mood for one. He was the captain on this ship, for crying out loud, and he was sick and tired of
having Tyr second-guessing his every move. "If you receive confirmation that Beka and I are dead, or if
the Andromeda is in a position to be seriously compromised or destroyed, retreat. Don't even think about
playing the hero. Don't forget, we have a mission more important than any of us."

"The reunification of a fallen Commonwealth?" Tyr responded in an almost mocking tone.

"Precisely." And deadly serious.

"You really think you can take on the Drago-Kazov and win?" There was genuine fear behind Harper's
typically near-manic voice.

"We already have," Beka answered, "back when we were stranded on that ice planet with those killer
worms. We outsmarted them then, we can do it again."

"Una salus victus," Dylan added, his icy tone directed at Tyr. Again, the Nietzschean looked as though he
wanted to say something equally cold or mocking in response. Much to Dylan's surprise, he merely
nodded understanding.

"Please be careful," Rommie said, because someone had to say it.

"You should listen to her," Trance agreed. "I don't know what you're really going after, if it isn't the Maru,
but I don't have a good feeling about this."

Beka shrugged, trying to look unconcerned. "Yeah, well, you've been wrong before."

"I've also been right before." Her tone was far too ominous.

"Let's go!" Beka grabbed Dylan by the shoulder and propelled him towards the corridor before any of
them could dwell for too long on Trance's last words. The girl was downright unsettling sometimes when
it came to her ability to predict outcomes and she had been too right about too many things in the past.
Beka hoped this wasn't one of those times. She stole a look at Dylan as they picked up their pace. He was
hoping this wasn't one of those times as well.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Dylan asked once they were safely out of earshot of everyone else.

"Could you live with yourself if part of the Engine of Creation fell into the hands of the Drago-Kazov?"
Beka countered, shooting him a knowing look.

"Good point."

"Damn good point," she agreed. "So let's go get our fragment back and stop with the worst-case scenarios.
Everybody back there already covered most of them. Don't you go second-guessing yourself, too."

He wasn't second-guessing himself, not exactly. He was having some serious doubts about what they were
preparing to do, but he was still optimistic that they would succeed. Their plan was foolhardy at best and
relied entirely too much on chance, but they were necessary risks, and risks he was willing to take. The
Drago-Kazov were a formidable opponent, but one he had faced many times in the past. He was certainly
more familiar with the Dragon methods of dealing with problems than he'd been with the Shinta duels to
the death he and Beka had faced to recover the first fragment. But he was not arrogant enough to think
that just because they'd faced the Dragons several times before that they would be victorious in their quest.
On the contrary, he hoped they were taking every available precaution, because sooner or later fate would
have to kick in and allow the Nietzscheans a victory.

He could only hope that fate would be kind to them this one more time. He could not bear to think about
what a race as hell-bent on galactic domination as the Drago-Kazov would do with the ultimate weapon of
destruction should they fail.

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I feel a pressing need to apologize for this chapter being so short, even though it's one of the longest of the
story. I hate writing action sequences (my main works are spy thrillers, so go figure), and always feel like
I'm short-changing the reader when I write them. So, if anything's lacking, sorry.

And just so you know, the epilogue has been **COMPLETED**. The end is definitely on its way.
There's still two more chapters to go before we get there, though. Stay tuned.