Disclaimer: Some lyrics thrown in here- Dire Straits and some other stuff.
Thanks again for the reviews! Sorry for any delay, most of it was not my fault. That's all, and onwards to the story!



"Harper, what's going on, who is she?" Trance was looking anxiously at Harper as some medics tended to Tara.

"Uh, she, she's an old friend, girlfriend I had on Earth. Her name is Tara, she....."
Harper trailed off, just staring into space.

"Who was she talking about, she kept saying 'find her'. Find who?" Trance seemed all innocent and unknowing but Harper knew better.

"You know better than I do Trance"

"Okay so, she's what, your daughter who has been taken by Dragan slavers. What are you going to do about it?"

That was a good question, what was he going to do, what could he do?

Well, the way he saw it, there were two choices- he could take the Maru and go off in search of her by himself, to be eventually rescued by the Andromeda and then they'd help him find her, or he could go back to the Andromeda, tell Beka and Dylan everything and then they can help him find her.

He turned his attention to Tara and asked one of the medics, "Is she gonna be okay?"

"She is stable for the moment but only time will tell"

Harper decided that if they were going to leave, he had better leave a message for Tara. "If, when she wakes up, tell her we have gone to find Aurora and that we'll be back"

"C'mon Trance. We'd better get back" Harper grabbed Trances arm, and started in the direction of the Maru.

The Andromeda was still an hour away but the station seemed to have gotten things under control. They were still counting the number of those missing.

. . .

Back on the Andromeda, again. A few hours later.

"So let me get this straight, you have a daughter, who is around four years old and has been kidnapped by the Drago-Katsof. Her mother, an ex-girlfriend of yours, is critically ill on the station and you want us to go after the Dragans and find your daughter."

Dylan was looking at Harper incredulously not really believing the tale Harper had just told them.

"That's about it yeah. So what do you say?" Harper's face was anxious and worried. Dylan was surprised, Harper really wasn't certain what Dylans reply would be.

"We'll find her Harper, and hopefully the rest of the missing stationers as well."

"Alright people let's get to work, Rommie can you find which way the Dragan ships went, Beka you pilot. Harper I need you to do any critical repairs if we're going to have a run-in with the Dragans. Tyr on weapons and Trance, help Harper"

They all set off to do their jobs, each thinking about what they had just heard. Not one person on the ship, not even Tyr, disagreed with Dylans decision. They'd find Harper's daughter, whatever it took.

"Somewhere out there, someone's saying a prayer, that we'll find one another and meet somewhere out there."


. . .

Rommie had been tracking the Nietzchean ship through slipstream for nearly two hours when they reached a highly populated system.

"They might be somewhere in this system, it's a trade system on the Drago-Katsof border. Lot's of ships passing through."

"It's also," supplied Harper, "A well known slave trade area that supplies the Drago-Katsof through a kind of demand-supply system. Every new slave would be enter the territory through one of these. "

Dylan wondered briefly how Harper knew so much about slave trade, but decided not to pursue it.

"Okay, so we go down and do a little exploration. See if we can find out where they sent the stationers, if they're not still there."

Dylan had the feeling that they were looking for a particle of dust in a nebula.

. . .

The station was like any other, busy. They had hidden Andromeda behind an unpopulated moon and had taken the Maru. Trying to be inconspicuous wasn't their strong point.

After much searching, asking of discreet questions and bribing of merchants, they were directed to a man named Sidius Wrench, who was said to be a dealer in "workers" for the Dragans.

Dylan decided that maybe it would be best if he and Rommie went in alone. Tyr and Beka had gone to check on some other sources they had found.

Harper was left by himself, wandering around waiting for the others.

Unfortunately, they had forgotten that this was a slave trade system, and people were most vulnerable in ones. And Harper was the most vulnerable of all.

He remembered reaching for his force lance, and shouting a surprised "Hey!", then darkness.

. . .

"The fireworks over liberty exploded in a heap........."

He woke up to the floor shaking beneath him. He touched his head where he'd been hit. His hair was matted and sticky with blood.

He looked around him. In the dim light he could just make out a lot of people, standing, sitting, lying on the ground. Well, this wasn't a hospital anyway. And he was on a ship, a moving ship.

He turned to see a young man sitting near him with his back to the wall. The first question out of his mouth, though he couldn't have told you why, was, "Where are you from?"

"Lesonta station, we're all from there"

Harper registered the fact with some shock.

"Where are we and where are we going?" He was sure he already knew the answer but it was always good to be sure.

"We're on a slave ship and we're heading to a Drago-Katsof slave planet."

"......And it's your face I'm looking for, on every street."