'I can't believe she betrayed me like that' I thought as I piloted the slip-fighter through yet another uninhabited system. I had no idea where I was going or what I would do when I got there I just knew I had to be away from the Andromeda for a while so I could process what had just happened to me it felt like my life was being turned upside down yet again.


Six hours ago on Vegas Drift


I was walking through the drift on my way to meet up with Rommie for our first official date. I smiled at how happy she was when I finally admitted to her what I truly felt for her, still smiling I passed a flower shop and decided to stop and get a bunch of flowers for her. I went inside and picked the most beautiful and exotic flowers I could find, paid for them then left and continued on my way towards the bar. As I rounded the corner leading to the bar I stopped, heart in my mouth at what I saw in front of me. It was Rommie walking out of the bar her arm around another man, but the worst part came after that when he lent down to kiss her and she responded to his kiss. I was absolutely devastated and angry I threw the flowers down and walked quickly away and head back to the Andromeda.

When I got to the Andromeda I walked straight into my room sat down a just looked at the wall for a good twenty minutes before Andromeda appeared before me.
"What's wrong Dylan shouldn't you be at a bar with me... My Avatar?" She asked puzzled as to why I was here I smiled at that how they sometimes don't seem to get the right pronoun out first time around
"Well I would have been except for the fact that your Avatar..." I spat that last word out through clenched teeth "Seemed to be having enough fun with her tongue down another mans throat" I finished off
"WHAT?" She asked looking stunned
"That's right you heard me your Avatar was involved in a game of tonsil hockey with another man, and she was enjoying it."
"That's not possible, you must be mistaken" she said trying to make excuses for her avatar
"Nope no mistake I saw what I saw and nothing is going to change that." I said looking at her with such hurt and betrayal in my eyes that she visibly flinched
"So what are you going to do about it?" Said Screen Andromeda who had just appeared
"I don't know but I'm going to be leaving the Andromeda for a while and I need you to promise not to follow me" I said
"What... Leave but I need your crew needs you here" she said the whispered " I need you here"
I walked up to the VDU and stroked it where her cheek was she looked at me and tried to lean into it showing that she registered the gesture
"I know I'm sorry for doing this but I must, please can you apologize to the rest of the crew for me leaving so abruptly I think they'll understand when they find out what's going on" I said as I picked up some clothes and started to head for the door "Oh Andromeda?"
"Yes captain?" She replied both Hologram and VDU looking at me with sadness in their eyes
"I still love you... All of you" I said and walked out of my room
"We love you too" replied both of them and then blinked out leaving my room dark and empty


Back to the Present


Proximity alert brought me back to the present and out of the past.
"What the hell" I said to myself as I looked up to see an entire fleet of ships coming towards my position 'I wonder what they are doing out here in the middle of nowhere' I thought. I opened a com-channel to what looked to be the lead vessel.
"Hailing unknown vessel this is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Commonwealth star-ship Andromeda Ascendant"
"Hello Captain Hunt we've been expecting you" a voice over the com replied as they opened fire on my fighter. Now I'm a good pilot but I also know that I am no match for an entire fleet and the only way I was going to survive this was if I could make it to slipstream and back to the Andromeda. So I piloted with all my skill avoiding missiles and laser bursts it things were starting to look good and I thought that I would make it to a slip portal until all of a sudden my navigation console exploded and knocked me back. I crawled back up over the exploded console thanking the Divine that the blast had not ruptured the cockpit canopy I reached up to touch a soft spot on the back of my hand, it was sticky and I pulled my hand away looked down at it and saw blood. The last thing I remember was looking up as the lead ship moved in towards me with weapons charged and locked on my position and my last coherent thought being 'Goodbye Rommie...' then darkness over took me.