Chapter 3
The next morning, Dylan, Rev, Tyr and Rommie returned from the surface. Dylan explained to a rather irate Beka that the Tellarians had insisted that they stay the night. After hearing this, Beka filled Rev, Tyr and Dylan in on what had happened to the to them during their' 'rescue mission'. Rommie, of course, had been informed by her ship-self upon arrival. They were all expressing their' concern, except Tyr who simply grunted and left. Beka had spent almost twenty minutes looking for the Neatzchean the previous evening, before she remembered that Tyr wasn't even on board. She had been understandably reluctant to admit to Andromeda that she had forgotten his whereabouts, so she had decided that she was just taking a walk before retiring to bed. Ah, the power of Human denial.
Beka knew Tyr well enough to know that what had happened to Harper made him cringe. To have your DNA re-written, to have all that you are torn apart would be one of the worst fate's that Tyr could imagine.
Rev had wanted to be alone, to pray for Harper's wellbeing, which left Dylan and Rommie with the unenviable task of confronting his best and only engineer over something this huge. After querying Andromeda about Harper's location, the two set off towards the ObsDeck.
When they arrived, they found Trance and Harper sound asleep and very comfortably wrapped around each other. Harper was lying against the wall, Trance was essentially curled up on his lap. Dylan made a mental note to talk to Harper about his relationship with Trance after they had resolved the current crisis. It would not be right for Harper to get closely involved with her; she was too young and naïve and he was, well, he was Harper.
Dylan was reluctant to wake up the obviously exhausted pair, and was about to lead Rommie out in silence when the aforementioned engineer's eyes snapped open and he looked toward the two. Looking down at the purple beauty that was soundly asleep on his chest, he gently shook her and said quietly.
"Trance. Trance, time to wake up. Come on sleepyhead, rise and shine."
"Wh..Wha..What? Is it time to get up already?" Trance woke up slowly, stretching cat-like to get the kinks out of her back before yawning, extricating her tail from around Harper's waist and standing up. Releasing her reluctantly, Harper stood up quietly with her, looking at Dylan and Rommie just inside the entrance.
"Hey boss, what's up?" Harper's voice was cheery, but there was an underlying tone that Rommie couldn't quite identify.
"We just got back from Tellaris, how do you feel?" Rommie spoke.
"I feel okay, well rested." Harper shot Trance a warm smile causing her to blush slightly.
"I want you to come to MedDeck with me now." Trance's voice was firm, she knew how stubborn Harper could be when it came to his health, to her surprise he just nodded and with an overly elaborate gesture he said.
"Lead the way, milady." Harper's accent incited a giggle from the purple girl, he always could make her laugh. Dylan and Rommie just stood in shocked silence, Harper was actually willing to go to MedDeck without any kicking/screaming/whining?
In truth, Harper had no desire to go to Medical again, but although he had tried to prepare Trance for it, she would have to understand the futility of the situation. He sighed mentally, she was a very smart girl, she would figure it out, and he would be there to support her when she realised what he instinctively knew. Trance took her work seriously and this was going to hit her hard. So, with his trademark grin plastered over his face, Harper wrapped his arm around Trance's shoulders and they to walked right passed a stunned Dylan and a suddenly overworked Rommie.
The two walked close, both had come to enjoy the warmth of each other's bodies, even if they weren't ready to admit it verbally yet. So they walked, Trance's tail possessively wrapped around Harper's waist, they moved with total familiarity.
When they arrived in MedDeck, Trance had Harper lie on one of the beds so she could scan him. He complied and was just lying down when Dylan and Rommie caught up with them. An amused look toward them later, Trance activated the scanner and passed it slowly over Harper's body.
Andromeda's hologram appeared next to her avatar, forcing Dylan to once again appreciate the differences between Rommie and Andromeda, and to be thankful for them.
"Trance, the scanner is picking up something very unusual."
"What?" Trance demanded.
"The energetic interference that Harper was generating last night has increased, by a factor of ten. I can't read anything at all, in fact the only way I know he is still there is the fact that thermal imaging can detect his body heat. Aside from that, the medical sensors are telling me he doesn't exist." Andromeda obviously didn't like this, she was used to being the all-seeing AI on board.
"Andromeda, is there any way we can get around the interference?" Dylan queried.
"No, I.Dylan, I'm detecting a forming slipstream opening 20 light-seconds away to starboard. I would suggest you get to command." Andromeda reported, before blinking out of existence.
"Trance, is Harper well enough to come to command?" Dylan needed to know if his engineer was able.
"I don't know, the sensors don't tell me anything, Dylan I don't think that we should."
"Trance! I need to know now, is he or is he not able." Dylan was impatient.
"As far as I know, yes." Trance replied with reluctance.
"Then let's go."
The group walked quickly to command, where Tyr, Beka and Rev Bem were stationed.
"What have we got?" Dylan looked at Beka.
"A ship exited slipstream and is on an intercept course, they'll be here in less than two minutes." Beka reported
"Tyr, what kind of weapons and are they gunning for us?"
"I can't tell, the ship is of unknown configuration. However there are no detectable weapon locks, or any active sensors at all. Our weapons are ready though."
"Andromeda, scan the ship. What have we got?"
"The ship is approximately three times the size of one of my Slip Fighters. The ship appears to be organically based, but it is generating an interference pattern that I cannot scan through." The ships was silent for a moment, then she continued.
"Dylan, the interference is almost identical to the kind that Harper's body is putting off. There are minute differences in frequency, but otherwise the only difference is magnitude." Harper's head jerked up at that statement.
"Open a channel." Dylan said.
"Open."
"This is Captain Hunt of the Commonwealth starship 'Andromeda Ascendant', please respond." A second passed, then two.
"We are receiving a response. Audio transmission only." Andromeda said.
"Greetings. This is the 'Deva's Tear' to 'Andromeda Ascendant', we come in peace, our weapons are offline and we request a face to face meeting."
"'Deva's Tear', we are willing to meet in person, you may dock at any time, but we request that you come unarmed." Dylan replied.
"Understood 'Ascendant', we will gladly accept any conditions that you impose. We will dock momentarily. 'Deva's Tear' out." The comm line was cut.
"Open the hanger doors but maintain a weapons lock unless they try anything funny. Harper, Trance, Beka and Tyr come with me. They left the bridge and went to greet the visitor.
Once the 'Deva's Tear' had landed, the group waited for the visitor with mixed feelings.
Harper stood close and slightly in front of Trance, he was curious and more than a little scared, but her proximity calmed him somewhat. Trance, for her part, felt almost exactly the same as Harper, but for different reasons.
They all looked at the ship that had landed silently in front of them, it was a sleek, organic design that was deep blue and black and seemed to shimmer. The patterns of light that fell on its' surface were never still, it was eerie, yet beautiful in itself.
The group watched as a single figure disembarked the ship via a doorway they were sure was not there moments previously. The being that emerged was humanoid, and seemed to be dressed in a flowing black cloak. Nimbly it jumped the thirty feet to the floor, landing silently and gracefully. It spun and walked to them quickly, when it reached a distance of about ten feet it stopped.
"Welcome to the Andromeda, I am Dylan Hunt This is my first officer Beka Valentine, our weapon's officer Tyr Anasazi, Trance Gemini our medical officer and Harper, our engineer." Dylan introduced the crew, gesturing to each in turn.
The hooded figure looked slowly over the group, unseen eyes passed over them each in turn, before coming to rest upon Harper. The figure seemed to be looking him over. After a few seconds, it reached up to and lowered its' hood to reveal a striking Human. He had black hair and startling green eyes.
"Greetings." He bowed his head slightly.
"I am." And from his mouth came a stream of totally unrecognisable sylables that seemed to flow unnaturally.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that." Dylan had be diplomatic here, many sentient species were very sensitive about the pronunciation of their' names.
"You are Human, are you not? It is understandable that you might find my name hard to pronounce. You may call me Alex'Rai" He smiled.
"May I ask why you are here?" Dylan was slightly uneasy around this man, he seemed strange, there was something about him that made him wary.
"Certainly. I am here to take your engineer with me."
The next morning, Dylan, Rev, Tyr and Rommie returned from the surface. Dylan explained to a rather irate Beka that the Tellarians had insisted that they stay the night. After hearing this, Beka filled Rev, Tyr and Dylan in on what had happened to the to them during their' 'rescue mission'. Rommie, of course, had been informed by her ship-self upon arrival. They were all expressing their' concern, except Tyr who simply grunted and left. Beka had spent almost twenty minutes looking for the Neatzchean the previous evening, before she remembered that Tyr wasn't even on board. She had been understandably reluctant to admit to Andromeda that she had forgotten his whereabouts, so she had decided that she was just taking a walk before retiring to bed. Ah, the power of Human denial.
Beka knew Tyr well enough to know that what had happened to Harper made him cringe. To have your DNA re-written, to have all that you are torn apart would be one of the worst fate's that Tyr could imagine.
Rev had wanted to be alone, to pray for Harper's wellbeing, which left Dylan and Rommie with the unenviable task of confronting his best and only engineer over something this huge. After querying Andromeda about Harper's location, the two set off towards the ObsDeck.
When they arrived, they found Trance and Harper sound asleep and very comfortably wrapped around each other. Harper was lying against the wall, Trance was essentially curled up on his lap. Dylan made a mental note to talk to Harper about his relationship with Trance after they had resolved the current crisis. It would not be right for Harper to get closely involved with her; she was too young and naïve and he was, well, he was Harper.
Dylan was reluctant to wake up the obviously exhausted pair, and was about to lead Rommie out in silence when the aforementioned engineer's eyes snapped open and he looked toward the two. Looking down at the purple beauty that was soundly asleep on his chest, he gently shook her and said quietly.
"Trance. Trance, time to wake up. Come on sleepyhead, rise and shine."
"Wh..Wha..What? Is it time to get up already?" Trance woke up slowly, stretching cat-like to get the kinks out of her back before yawning, extricating her tail from around Harper's waist and standing up. Releasing her reluctantly, Harper stood up quietly with her, looking at Dylan and Rommie just inside the entrance.
"Hey boss, what's up?" Harper's voice was cheery, but there was an underlying tone that Rommie couldn't quite identify.
"We just got back from Tellaris, how do you feel?" Rommie spoke.
"I feel okay, well rested." Harper shot Trance a warm smile causing her to blush slightly.
"I want you to come to MedDeck with me now." Trance's voice was firm, she knew how stubborn Harper could be when it came to his health, to her surprise he just nodded and with an overly elaborate gesture he said.
"Lead the way, milady." Harper's accent incited a giggle from the purple girl, he always could make her laugh. Dylan and Rommie just stood in shocked silence, Harper was actually willing to go to MedDeck without any kicking/screaming/whining?
In truth, Harper had no desire to go to Medical again, but although he had tried to prepare Trance for it, she would have to understand the futility of the situation. He sighed mentally, she was a very smart girl, she would figure it out, and he would be there to support her when she realised what he instinctively knew. Trance took her work seriously and this was going to hit her hard. So, with his trademark grin plastered over his face, Harper wrapped his arm around Trance's shoulders and they to walked right passed a stunned Dylan and a suddenly overworked Rommie.
The two walked close, both had come to enjoy the warmth of each other's bodies, even if they weren't ready to admit it verbally yet. So they walked, Trance's tail possessively wrapped around Harper's waist, they moved with total familiarity.
When they arrived in MedDeck, Trance had Harper lie on one of the beds so she could scan him. He complied and was just lying down when Dylan and Rommie caught up with them. An amused look toward them later, Trance activated the scanner and passed it slowly over Harper's body.
Andromeda's hologram appeared next to her avatar, forcing Dylan to once again appreciate the differences between Rommie and Andromeda, and to be thankful for them.
"Trance, the scanner is picking up something very unusual."
"What?" Trance demanded.
"The energetic interference that Harper was generating last night has increased, by a factor of ten. I can't read anything at all, in fact the only way I know he is still there is the fact that thermal imaging can detect his body heat. Aside from that, the medical sensors are telling me he doesn't exist." Andromeda obviously didn't like this, she was used to being the all-seeing AI on board.
"Andromeda, is there any way we can get around the interference?" Dylan queried.
"No, I.Dylan, I'm detecting a forming slipstream opening 20 light-seconds away to starboard. I would suggest you get to command." Andromeda reported, before blinking out of existence.
"Trance, is Harper well enough to come to command?" Dylan needed to know if his engineer was able.
"I don't know, the sensors don't tell me anything, Dylan I don't think that we should."
"Trance! I need to know now, is he or is he not able." Dylan was impatient.
"As far as I know, yes." Trance replied with reluctance.
"Then let's go."
The group walked quickly to command, where Tyr, Beka and Rev Bem were stationed.
"What have we got?" Dylan looked at Beka.
"A ship exited slipstream and is on an intercept course, they'll be here in less than two minutes." Beka reported
"Tyr, what kind of weapons and are they gunning for us?"
"I can't tell, the ship is of unknown configuration. However there are no detectable weapon locks, or any active sensors at all. Our weapons are ready though."
"Andromeda, scan the ship. What have we got?"
"The ship is approximately three times the size of one of my Slip Fighters. The ship appears to be organically based, but it is generating an interference pattern that I cannot scan through." The ships was silent for a moment, then she continued.
"Dylan, the interference is almost identical to the kind that Harper's body is putting off. There are minute differences in frequency, but otherwise the only difference is magnitude." Harper's head jerked up at that statement.
"Open a channel." Dylan said.
"Open."
"This is Captain Hunt of the Commonwealth starship 'Andromeda Ascendant', please respond." A second passed, then two.
"We are receiving a response. Audio transmission only." Andromeda said.
"Greetings. This is the 'Deva's Tear' to 'Andromeda Ascendant', we come in peace, our weapons are offline and we request a face to face meeting."
"'Deva's Tear', we are willing to meet in person, you may dock at any time, but we request that you come unarmed." Dylan replied.
"Understood 'Ascendant', we will gladly accept any conditions that you impose. We will dock momentarily. 'Deva's Tear' out." The comm line was cut.
"Open the hanger doors but maintain a weapons lock unless they try anything funny. Harper, Trance, Beka and Tyr come with me. They left the bridge and went to greet the visitor.
Once the 'Deva's Tear' had landed, the group waited for the visitor with mixed feelings.
Harper stood close and slightly in front of Trance, he was curious and more than a little scared, but her proximity calmed him somewhat. Trance, for her part, felt almost exactly the same as Harper, but for different reasons.
They all looked at the ship that had landed silently in front of them, it was a sleek, organic design that was deep blue and black and seemed to shimmer. The patterns of light that fell on its' surface were never still, it was eerie, yet beautiful in itself.
The group watched as a single figure disembarked the ship via a doorway they were sure was not there moments previously. The being that emerged was humanoid, and seemed to be dressed in a flowing black cloak. Nimbly it jumped the thirty feet to the floor, landing silently and gracefully. It spun and walked to them quickly, when it reached a distance of about ten feet it stopped.
"Welcome to the Andromeda, I am Dylan Hunt This is my first officer Beka Valentine, our weapon's officer Tyr Anasazi, Trance Gemini our medical officer and Harper, our engineer." Dylan introduced the crew, gesturing to each in turn.
The hooded figure looked slowly over the group, unseen eyes passed over them each in turn, before coming to rest upon Harper. The figure seemed to be looking him over. After a few seconds, it reached up to and lowered its' hood to reveal a striking Human. He had black hair and startling green eyes.
"Greetings." He bowed his head slightly.
"I am." And from his mouth came a stream of totally unrecognisable sylables that seemed to flow unnaturally.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that." Dylan had be diplomatic here, many sentient species were very sensitive about the pronunciation of their' names.
"You are Human, are you not? It is understandable that you might find my name hard to pronounce. You may call me Alex'Rai" He smiled.
"May I ask why you are here?" Dylan was slightly uneasy around this man, he seemed strange, there was something about him that made him wary.
"Certainly. I am here to take your engineer with me."