Beka sat in the Maru's slipstream chair sipping her coffee and taking the sights. She could still be awed by how beautiful space was.
"It never gets old," Dylan said softly as he entered the serene setting. "I've been from one end of the known universe to the other, but I have yet to get over the vast infinity of it all."
Beka smiled and was surprised to find that she was enjoying her time with Dylan. It was actually kind of nice. The stars twinkled before her and she closed her eyes and tried to imagine the end of forever. It was nearly impossible and the thought made her dizzy. She glanced at Dylan as she pried her eyes open and asked, "How is he?"
"Fine," was his reply. "Sleeping peacefully."
"That's good," Beka nodded, satisfied.
There was a bout of silence as the two captains stared out at the dotted carpet of space. Dylan sat down beside Beka and sighed.
"I bet it wasn't always this quiet around here," he said.
Beka couldn't help but laugh, "No, I don't remember a time with the old gang
when it was ever this quiet."
"Old gang?" Dylan pushed. "I've never really heard about the daring crew of the Eureka Maru and their zealous adventures."
"You don't want to hear about my crew and their crazy escapades."
"Actually yes, I think I do."
"I wouldn't even know where to begin…"
"Why not start with Harper and the story about how he got his port? I know he didn't have it before he joined you."
Beka leaned back in the chair and pushed a stray lock back in place. She swirled her finger around the rim of her cup as she tried to think of how to start.
"Well," she began, "Harper was the most paranoid human being I've ever had the 'pleasure' of knowing. The first couple of months with him were very long. You can imagine what a trip with a kid in space is like, right?"
Seeing Dylan's nod, Beka continued, "Well imagine an exceedingly long trip with a kid, or in this case mudfoot, who's never been in space, or eaten fast food, or been more than a couple miles away from home. I think you get the idea.
Harper was wound as tight as a spring back then. Being such a newbie made him ignorant and vulnerable. I tried my best to take care of him but sometimes it wasn't enough…
One day, about a month after I'd met him, he disappeared on a drift we were docked at. I'd known him to go to bars and stuff but he'd always come back at night, always. So I got worried and went out looking for him. I was pretty surprised when I found him in a dirty hospital with a hack job of a cerebral port cemented into his neck."
Beka paused and rolled her eyes in an attempt to emphasize her displeasure at the sight.
"What happened?" Dylan asked.
"I had to take him to a well known doctor on a classy planet and pay to get the whole procedure re-done. Lets just say I had to take an early vacation, all of which I spent sitting at the bedside of my very sick, drugged, and pain-filled engineer. We got out of there two weeks later and Harper hasn't been to a planet side doctor since. I don't think he left with pleasant memories but at least he hasn't done anything that dumb since.
Rev joined the crew about two years later. Harper had a few, shall we say, problems that we had to work out. Everything went much smoother once he figured out Rev wasn't interested in a Harper sandwich."
Dylan's laugh interrupted her but once it was under control he motioned with his hand for her to continue.
"Vex Pag was one of my other crewmates. He was with us for a year or so. That was before he uh, died from a tear in his EVA suit."
"Harper told me about that," Dylan said. "It must have been terrible."
"It was," Beka went on. "Trance came aboard as his replacement. She filled the spot well and Harper liked her so she's stayed with us ever since. I still have yet to learn anything of true importance about her. She's completely surreptitious.
At any rate, you can see why Harper's always been my favorite. Don't ever tell him that or anyone else though. God only knows he's got a big enough head as it is. You see, Harper's been with me the longest and we know and understand each other. I'd trust him with my life and he trusts me with his."
"You're lucky to have such a special relationship with him," Dylan said as he squeezed her shoulder.
"Yah," Beka replied somewhat dazed, "I guess I am."
"I guess that also means that you can't share any of the funny stories I'm sure you have. It's such a shame…"
"Hey, I said we trust each other with our lives, that doesn't mean I can't bruise his ego a little. Like this one time when we were on a salvage run a little over a year ago, Harper got stuck in the oddest place and he had such a story as to how he got there. It was so unbelievable! Anyway, this is what happened…"