Title: Effervescent Essence
Author: Harper's aka Weird_Peace
Rating: PG-13
Synopsis: Sequel to And You Thought Larvae Were Bad. I highly suggest you read
the first fiction.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, but I love 'em anyways.
Spoilers: Season Two spoilers.
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As Trance predicted, Harper cheered up in just a few hours. The four crewmembers and the children were walking down the corridors towards the gym. They found the litter slept better if they wore themselves out with exercise. All of a sudden Harper let out a snort, his shoulders shaking from holding in laughter.
"Um, are you ok?" Trance placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I really should've picked a different pair of boxers," he said, still chuckling in-between words. "But at least it was better than wearing just a towel."
Trance's eyes went wide, her jaw dropping, and she hit him hard on the arm. Harper ran away from her painful slaps, a few of the kids chasing him as he made his escape. Beka rolled her eyes as Trance went after them, Tyr looking on with puzzlement all over his face.
The Perseids were satisfied with most games, but they really preferred the one that Harper had told them about. The children split into three different groups, each group getting into a circle. The one child walked around clockwise, tapping each of the others on the head and calling them duck. They would pick a random one and yelled out goose, then run as fast as they could around the circle. The "goose" had to try and catch the "runner" before the runner made it back to the goose's spot. If the goose caught the runner, the runner was stuck in the middle of the circle as the "egg" until another egg replaced him. To make the game more fun for the children, Harper also allowed the egg to get out if they could correctly answer a trivia question. Either way, the goose became the next runner and the game restarted.
There was some dispute at first as to why there were ducks, gooses, and eggs, but Harper had just stated that's how the game worked.
Beka was an egg at the moment while Harper sat in on his game. Tyr left to work out at these times, and Trance's group had left because Trance said she had a special surprise for all the children and would be switching the groups in-between the games so everyone had a chance to play and see the surprise.
"So what's Trance showing you guys?" Harper whispered as his group switched with Trance's. The four-year old next to him giggled, but shook her head no. Harper pretended to pout, but then felt the top of his head patted and heard Hulen yell out goose. He jumped up and raced around the circle, but Hulen beat him. Harper walked around the circle, tapping little bald heads until he was near Jineta.
"Now who shall my next victim be..." he thought out loud teasingly. "Goose!" She jumped up, running as fast as her little legs could go. Harper purposely slowed his pace halfway around the circle. Jineta pounced on him.
"You're an egg!" she cried delightfully.
"Again..." Harper hung his head, walking into the circle. He winked at Beka who was looking on, receiving a smile.
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The crew minus Rommie and the Lupus representatives stood outside the hangar, waiting for the Perseid ship to dock. The thirty-four little terrors ran between legs, grabbed onto clothing, and asked non-stop questions. Harper was sitting cross-legged in the middle of a batch, continuing to answer them. After three days he assumed they would've been questioned out. He assumed wrong.
"The ship is docking" Andromeda's voice chirped. Dylan looked gratefully towards the doors.
"Children," Trance spoke up. Everyone turned to face her. "I think it's time."
"Time for what?" Harper looked around nervously as sixty-eight eyes fell upon him. Frenas stepped forward, his hands behind his back.
"We made this for you yesterday." He held out a flexi. Harper eyed it warily, gently taking it as if it might bite him, then pressed the button to activate it. He looked at the information, and stood up quickly.
"Oh my god!" He looked at the children. "Where did you find this?"
"We went to your machine shop and took readings and measurements, and then compared them with modern ships," Hulen piped up. "We would've done the whole ship, but there wasn't enough time."
"What is it?" Dylan asked curiously.
"They drew out schematics for parts of my X-1. This will save me at least four or five days of work!" Harper just stared at the flexi in disbelief.
"They're just rough outlines for you to build off of," Frenas added.
"But still..." Harper was at a loss for words until Trance cleared her throat. "Oh, thank you."
"There's more," she said, smiling.
"More?" Tyr asked.
"Only everyone has to stand together for this one." She directed them into a circle facing outwards, herself included. "Alright," Trance smiled at the children. "1...2...3!"
On three every single perseid ran forward and hugged the group. Trance immediately returned the favor, while the rest of the group stood, stunned. Then Harper bent down, followed by Beka and Dylan. Trance gave Tyr the fish-eye until he sighed and followed suit.
That's when the caretakers walked in.
"Rekain!" Hulen broke away from Beka and ran towards his caretaker. This was the cue for the rest of the children to let go and run over to the five adult Perseids.
"They weren't much trouble were they?" Rekain asked after counting heads. Harper still could not figure out how they told one blue orb for the next, but they apparently could.
"Naw, we handled them pretty well," Dylan said for the group.
"Speak for yourself," Beka said softly. Dylan had spent most of his time with Alexander and Aegis during the debacle.
"Can we visit sometime?" Frenas asked his caretaker.
"Maybe in awhile, Captain Hunt is very busy," he replied. "Thank you again for getting the children here safe and sound."
"It was our pleasure," Trance said. The caretakers nodded and herded the litter back towards the ship. The children waved and said their good-byes. The entire crew stayed at the doors until the ship took off.
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"So..." Trance turned to Harper.
"So?"
"So admit it." She poked him. "They're not exactly the most annoying children ever."
"I wouldn't say that." Trance let out an exasperated sigh. "I also wouldn't say they weren't some of the sweetest..."
"I knew it!" She laughed.
"So whose idea was all that?" he asked her.
"Well they had the X-1 thing all planned out. But I added in that a group hug wouldn't be such a bad thing," she admitted. "After all, you're not the only one who had to put up with them."
"Yeah yeah yeah. Although we still couldn't figure out just how they got here." Harper said, annoyed by the fact that there was yet another thing in the universe he didn't understand. "I mean, it was almost like..."
"Magic?" Loki grinned, leaning against the wall. Trance stomped over to him, grabbing her brother by the collar and pushing him roughly back.
"You involved children?!" Trance was furious.
"I'm just following orders," he said, holding his hands up defensively.
"One of them almost got killed!" Harper yelled, barely stopping himself from going over and laying in on the purple male.
"And I helped you, remember?" Harper did remember the purple hand. "It was just to see how you would react with them; if any of the children became involved in serious danger, I was there to assist."
"But children, Loki. If Andromeda had suddenly gotten in the middle of a battle, how would you have interfered? And never mind if Dylan would've been called to assist in one, he would have had to refuse!" Trance's eyes pleaded with her brother. "Never again."
"I can't promise that. There are higher..." He was cut off when Trance slammed him back into the wall.
"Make them see differently," she growled, then let him go and watched him drop to the floor. "Because they're going too far." She walked away without another word.
Harper glared down at the injured alien.
"Wanna help me up Blondie?" Loki asked. Harper continued glaring, his jaw clenched, before shaking his head and just turning away.
"You passed by the way!" Loki shouted behind them, rubbing his neck. "You're welcome."
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"So the children have gone. Good, now we can get back to some real business," Alexander said as Aegis looked on.
"Yes, I am very tired of playing around actually," Dylan replied, sitting down behind his desk and leaning back. "So Mr. Felican, are we going to do some serious talking?"
"I just said we would," Alexander leaned across the desk.
"I was talking to the Mr. Felican behind you," Dylan smiled, pointing to Aegis. Alexander opened his mouth to protest, but Aegis stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Alexander, go for a walk." Alexander looked somewhat startled, but complied with his superior. Aegis sat down across from Dylan.
"So how did you know?" he finally asked.
"Observation and a really powerful warship," Dylan answered honestly. "You talked and watched my crew and myself to see if we could really do this. You asked the right questions, even acted according to their expectations so they might accept you and confide in you. And you thought that if we didn't know you were the final decision, we would act normally around you."
"And did you? Or was it an act apparently better than mine?" the Nietzschean asked softly.
"My crew," Dylan began, looking offended, "is my crew. They are what they are, and even I can't control or change them. I don't want to."
"I can see why," Aegis agreed. "They have their faults, but you've come far. The question is, Captain Hunt, how much farther can you go?"
"I can't answer that," Dylan shifted. "But I can tell you this. We would go a lot farther with some help."
"We still have much to discuss."
"By all means, let's start talking," he said. "One last thing. Why the change in names? You could have easily kept Felican and said that Mr. Relathir was coming to sign the charter."
"Because I'm the one with the authority to sign it. Telling you someone else was would be outright lying." Aegis allowed a small smile. "Lying wouldn't be a good way to start a partnership."
"But deceit is?" Dylan asked amused.
"There's a fine line between many things Captain Hunt. I'd try not to overlook them."
"I'll keep it in mind."
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"Trance, that's the third time tonight," Harper complained as she came back from the restroom.
"Well excuse me if I just happen to be carrying your child," she snapped back, making Harper cringe.
"It's not like I'm the one who's responsible for it," he mumbled, but she heard anyway.
"Oh so now it's my fault?!"
"What's going on?" Andromeda interrupted the two.
"Nothing, we're just tired, Rommie." Trance rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. It had been two weeks and 3 days since the litter had gone home, and both parents-to-be were on edge waiting for the next test to start. Not only that, but Trance was in her fifth week and starting to show the signs. The only thing that had helped Harper through the ordeal was the knowledge those Nietzscheans were off his ship. Oh, and there was always the fact they had signed the charter, but either way they were gone.
"Could you get me some mint ice-cream?" she asked the hologram. "Three scoops?"
"That sounds good," Harper said.
"Two ice-creams coming up," Andromeda said, sending some of her bots.
"I'm sorry Trance," Harper said getting up to sit next to her. "I can't blame you for your bladder."
"Damn straight," she joked, leaning against him. Harper wrapped his blanket around the both of them. "Thanks," she said, looking up as two Marias came with their food.
"Want me to put in a holo?" he asked, handing her a bowl.
"I want to watch that funny one of yours. You know, the one with the green guy that has a heart two-sizes too small," she smiled up at him.
"The Grinch that Stole Christmas it is." Harper got up to put the disc in, then went back to his blanket, his ice cream, and his Trance.