{{{hugs}}} to all who reviewed! Thank you so much, you guys are GREAT!!! Ok, here we go, back to the present! (kinda) eg
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C.Y. 1088
"He died in my arms." Trance whispered. Turning her tear-streaked face to Dylan she held out her hands as if to prove how empty they were. "I had no choice but to bury him there in that ruined wasteland." Trance continued, her voice a dead monotone. "I sat by his grave for a long time, trying to figure out what to do next. His dying words running back and forth through my mind. I decided that the only way to ensure *any* kind of future was to find the incomplete Engine and use it to follow Casondra, to stop her.
I set out to search for the four pieces but I never even made it past the city limits. I had no food or water and was barely stumbling along when a ship landed. Hope swelled within me, help at last! I couldn't have been more wrong. It was the Kalderans. As near as I can figure, they were acting on prior orders from Casondra because they knew right where to find me. I was too weak to offer any resistance. To be honest, I was beyond caring. They transported me to a prison planet where I sat numb and nearly catatonic. I had given up all hope. That is when I felt the Change begin."
"The Change?" Dylan interrupted, "What exactly *is* the Change?" He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped in front of him.
Trance sighed, there was no use in holding anything back now, if they couldn't find a way out of this, it wouldn't matter who knew her secrets because the universe would be in ashes. "When a member of my species is faced with a situation beyond their control, when they give up all hope of a perfect possible future, they begin a physical and mental transformation. We become the opposite of our nature, which has always been to help create a better universe. We become agents of destruction, ruthless and practically unstoppable. It's hard to explain, it's not like we all of a sudden become evil, just self-serving. After all, when you've lost all hope, there isn't anyone else to care about *but* yourself. The physical changes that arise are a means of self-preservation. We become faster, stronger and even more powerful. The Spirit of the Abyss was able to induce these changes in Kyla while she was his prisoner by grinding down her will and erasing all hope from her mind. That is why she looks so different now." Trance looked at her pale purple hands as she continued.
"When I felt these changes taking place in my body, I became even more despondent. I believed there truly was no hope, no perfect possible future. Part of me fought it; struggled to see the one thread of hope that remained. However, an even larger part of me embraced the Change, embraced the hate and despair. I began to loose myself; I became more animal than anything, fighting other prisoners for scraps of food and sips of water. For three months I scrambled for survival, hating everyone and everything until one night, I had this strange dream. I dreamed of Harper. He wasn't hurt, he was young and healthy and, glowing. He didn't speak to me; he just motioned for me to follow him. I did and before I knew it, I was outside the prison walls. Harper led me to a small Kalderan spacecraft. I followed him inside. He still didn't say a word but pointed at different buttons which I pressed. I felt the dream fading, I called out to Harper, begging him to stay. He smiled sadly and disappeared. I woke up inside the ship from my dream, floating at the edge of Commonwealth space. I searched everywhere for any sign of Harper but found nothing. I don't even know if he was there in the first place or just a figment of my fevered mind. Either way, I owe him my life." Trance looked back up at Dylan, her eyes shining, a wistful smile on her face. She shook herself out of the memory and continued.
"I immediately sought out the Andromeda, the one place that had any meaning left for me and my only hope of traveling safely though the war zone back to Terazed, for I finally knew what I had to do. I was met by the new crew with shock and suspicion. Even you and Rommie weren't entirely sure what to make of me. Once on board I was taken directly to the brig," Trance glanced around and smiled wryly, "This exact room as a matter of fact. You were about to begin interrogating me when Beka stormed in. She looked so different, she had a robotic arm and a cybernetic eye patch and I could tell she was trying hard to hide a pronounced limp. She marched right up to the cell I was in and stared at me. I wasn't sure what she was thinking, it kinda looked like she was gonna blow my head off. She lowered the force field and stepped into my cell. I backed up into the corner as she advanced on me. She stopped, looked me over once more, 'Trance?' she said. I nodded and was rewarded with a crushing embrace. I was so relieved, I let everything come pouring out, everything I'd been through. We cried together as I told her what had become of Harper.
Eventually she pulled back and smoothed my hair with her good hand, she kissed my dirty forehead, looked deep into my eyes and said, 'Can you fix this?' She gestured vaguely and I knew exactly what she meant.
My body trembled, and my lip quivered. I wanted so badly to say yes, to take away her pain but I couldn't. I shook my head and whispered, 'I don't know, but I know how to try.'
I then proceeded to explain to that Dylan about the engine and how I if I could find the four pieces on Terazed that I might be able to follow Casondra and stop her before she found the fifth piece.
The future Dylan shook his head and informed me that it would be nearly impossible to reach Terazed. Aside from the fact that it had fallen into enemy hands, the Commonwealth fleet was nearly decimated. The Andromeda and the Wrath of Achilles were the only ships left to defend this sector of space. There was no way anyone would be able to leave. I felt the tiny spark of hope that had ignited in my breast flicker and die.
Having nowhere else to go, I was given a position in the crew. I was assigned my own quarters and a uniform. Everything was so different, even Andromeda herself was much more detached and formal. Things aboard the ship were much more military-like which I guess it had to be, every day in that future was a struggle to survive, a constant battle in space and on land.
I learned fast and soon found myself actually making a difference. I was further trained as a team medic and accompanied Lancer units on extremely dangerous missions. I nearly forgot about Terazed and Casondra until one night, Beka came to my room. She gently shook me awake and said two words; 'It's time.' She must have known something I didn't because before I knew it, I found myself in the Maru, Andromeda becoming nothing but a speck on the rear-view monitor.
'Beka, where are we going? It isn't exactly safe out here, you know.' I said.
'When you came back onboard the Andromeda, you said you might be able to change all this, make it better. Well, now's your chance. The Kalderans have mostly abandoned Terazed space in favor of more juicy targets.' She turned around in the pilot's seat and stared at me, a tear forming in her one good eye. 'I can't do this anymore, Trance. I'm tired, I just want it to be over with. You can do that, I know you can. You don't belong here, none of us do.' I nodded, not trusting my voice to speak, I put my hand on her shoulder as she lay in a course for Terazed.
When we arrived, the planet appeared abandoned. It looked exactly the same as it did when I first arrived after traveling 20 years into the future. I immediately took Beka to Harper's grave, she knelt down and rubbed the fingers of her good hand over the rough letters I had carved into the brick wall. There was no time for tears, we immediately started searching the ruins for the incomplete Engine.
After about a week of combing the remains of the city, we turned our attention to the mountains that ringed it. Supplies began to run low and we found ourselves rationing the last bits of food and water. We continued our search just as diligently, never once relenting. Every once and a while, I'd get the feeling that we weren't alone, that we were being watched. I shrugged it off as paranoia since scans of the area still didn't show anything out of the ordinary. If only I'd paid more attention to my intuition. If only...
We were exploring a maze of caves in the Northwest section of the mountain range when Beka spotted something with her cybernetic eye. 'Trance! Come here! I think I found it.' She got down on her knees and started digging, I joined her and soon we had unearthed the four pieces of the Engine of Creation. We were elated, we laughed and cried and danced all around the cave.
Suddenly a shot rang out. I watched, horrified, as Beka fell to her knees, a flower of blood blossoming from her abdomen. She looked at me, her face a mask of confusion as she fell face first to the floor of the cave. I dove for her as more shots range out, I could now hear the hissing of Kalderans. They *had* been following us, waiting for us to find the Engine for them.
I grabbed Beka's shoulder and turned her over. She was gasping for breath, a pool of blood spreading beside her.
'Beka! Beka! Stay with me! We've got the Engine now, come on, we've gotta go!' I was out of my mind with panic.
Beka's good eye focused on me as she struggled to speak, 'Go..' she rasped.
'Beka, no! I can't leave you like this, I *won't*' I cried.
She pushed me away with amazing strength, 'I'm counting on you, Trance! Go NOW and don't look back!' She drew her forcelance, a familiar sparkle dawning in her good eye. She low-crawled toward the front of the cave, firing wildly at our attackers.
I knew what I had to do, I scurried over to the Engine, whispered goodbye to Beka and activated it." Trance slapped her thighs with her hands, "The rest you know."
Dylan sat back in his chair and exhaled loudly. "Wow, Trance, I don't know what to say. I still have so many questions. If Harper lived through the Magog infestation in that future, why would Trance, I mean, Casondra come back here to supposedly save him? There doesn't seem much point, I'm sure she could have come up with another excuse."
Trance stood and started pacing inside her cell, "To put in fairly simple terms, the Engine of Creation was incomplete, and being so, it's powers were limited. The first expedition to find the remaining piece of the Engine failed miserably and ended in the piece being inaccessible to even Casondra in the future. In order to find it, she had to come back to the past and assume my identity, join the expedition herself and recover the piece. To ensure that I would be banished forever, unable to reveal her secrets, she had to activate the tesseract device and create a time/space paradox. If she hadn't, she would have been bounced back to the future, I would have returned and none of us would have remembered a thing. The timeline would have continued to it's inevitable conclusion."
Dylan processed Trance's words, "If I'm to believe what you've said is true, then the next question would be; What do we do now?"
Trance looked thoughtful for a moment, "Killing Harper was supposed to be a last resort, but at least now Casondra knows how far I'm willing to go to stop her." She stopped pacing and approached the force field that separated her from Dylan. "I have a plan. It will probably get us all killed but it's the only way."
Dylan stood and also approached her cell. He looked deep into Trance's troubled eyes and saw fear and sadness. Beneath that, deeper, he discovered strength and great resolve. He reached out a steady hand and disengaged the force field. "Let's bring it."
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A/N: I don't necessarily believe the above reasons as an explanation as to why Trance looks and acts different from her purple self on the show, it just seemed best for the story. Oh, yeah, sorry about the cheesy Dylan line but it's just so...Dylan I had to put it in :D
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C.Y. 1088
"He died in my arms." Trance whispered. Turning her tear-streaked face to Dylan she held out her hands as if to prove how empty they were. "I had no choice but to bury him there in that ruined wasteland." Trance continued, her voice a dead monotone. "I sat by his grave for a long time, trying to figure out what to do next. His dying words running back and forth through my mind. I decided that the only way to ensure *any* kind of future was to find the incomplete Engine and use it to follow Casondra, to stop her.
I set out to search for the four pieces but I never even made it past the city limits. I had no food or water and was barely stumbling along when a ship landed. Hope swelled within me, help at last! I couldn't have been more wrong. It was the Kalderans. As near as I can figure, they were acting on prior orders from Casondra because they knew right where to find me. I was too weak to offer any resistance. To be honest, I was beyond caring. They transported me to a prison planet where I sat numb and nearly catatonic. I had given up all hope. That is when I felt the Change begin."
"The Change?" Dylan interrupted, "What exactly *is* the Change?" He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped in front of him.
Trance sighed, there was no use in holding anything back now, if they couldn't find a way out of this, it wouldn't matter who knew her secrets because the universe would be in ashes. "When a member of my species is faced with a situation beyond their control, when they give up all hope of a perfect possible future, they begin a physical and mental transformation. We become the opposite of our nature, which has always been to help create a better universe. We become agents of destruction, ruthless and practically unstoppable. It's hard to explain, it's not like we all of a sudden become evil, just self-serving. After all, when you've lost all hope, there isn't anyone else to care about *but* yourself. The physical changes that arise are a means of self-preservation. We become faster, stronger and even more powerful. The Spirit of the Abyss was able to induce these changes in Kyla while she was his prisoner by grinding down her will and erasing all hope from her mind. That is why she looks so different now." Trance looked at her pale purple hands as she continued.
"When I felt these changes taking place in my body, I became even more despondent. I believed there truly was no hope, no perfect possible future. Part of me fought it; struggled to see the one thread of hope that remained. However, an even larger part of me embraced the Change, embraced the hate and despair. I began to loose myself; I became more animal than anything, fighting other prisoners for scraps of food and sips of water. For three months I scrambled for survival, hating everyone and everything until one night, I had this strange dream. I dreamed of Harper. He wasn't hurt, he was young and healthy and, glowing. He didn't speak to me; he just motioned for me to follow him. I did and before I knew it, I was outside the prison walls. Harper led me to a small Kalderan spacecraft. I followed him inside. He still didn't say a word but pointed at different buttons which I pressed. I felt the dream fading, I called out to Harper, begging him to stay. He smiled sadly and disappeared. I woke up inside the ship from my dream, floating at the edge of Commonwealth space. I searched everywhere for any sign of Harper but found nothing. I don't even know if he was there in the first place or just a figment of my fevered mind. Either way, I owe him my life." Trance looked back up at Dylan, her eyes shining, a wistful smile on her face. She shook herself out of the memory and continued.
"I immediately sought out the Andromeda, the one place that had any meaning left for me and my only hope of traveling safely though the war zone back to Terazed, for I finally knew what I had to do. I was met by the new crew with shock and suspicion. Even you and Rommie weren't entirely sure what to make of me. Once on board I was taken directly to the brig," Trance glanced around and smiled wryly, "This exact room as a matter of fact. You were about to begin interrogating me when Beka stormed in. She looked so different, she had a robotic arm and a cybernetic eye patch and I could tell she was trying hard to hide a pronounced limp. She marched right up to the cell I was in and stared at me. I wasn't sure what she was thinking, it kinda looked like she was gonna blow my head off. She lowered the force field and stepped into my cell. I backed up into the corner as she advanced on me. She stopped, looked me over once more, 'Trance?' she said. I nodded and was rewarded with a crushing embrace. I was so relieved, I let everything come pouring out, everything I'd been through. We cried together as I told her what had become of Harper.
Eventually she pulled back and smoothed my hair with her good hand, she kissed my dirty forehead, looked deep into my eyes and said, 'Can you fix this?' She gestured vaguely and I knew exactly what she meant.
My body trembled, and my lip quivered. I wanted so badly to say yes, to take away her pain but I couldn't. I shook my head and whispered, 'I don't know, but I know how to try.'
I then proceeded to explain to that Dylan about the engine and how I if I could find the four pieces on Terazed that I might be able to follow Casondra and stop her before she found the fifth piece.
The future Dylan shook his head and informed me that it would be nearly impossible to reach Terazed. Aside from the fact that it had fallen into enemy hands, the Commonwealth fleet was nearly decimated. The Andromeda and the Wrath of Achilles were the only ships left to defend this sector of space. There was no way anyone would be able to leave. I felt the tiny spark of hope that had ignited in my breast flicker and die.
Having nowhere else to go, I was given a position in the crew. I was assigned my own quarters and a uniform. Everything was so different, even Andromeda herself was much more detached and formal. Things aboard the ship were much more military-like which I guess it had to be, every day in that future was a struggle to survive, a constant battle in space and on land.
I learned fast and soon found myself actually making a difference. I was further trained as a team medic and accompanied Lancer units on extremely dangerous missions. I nearly forgot about Terazed and Casondra until one night, Beka came to my room. She gently shook me awake and said two words; 'It's time.' She must have known something I didn't because before I knew it, I found myself in the Maru, Andromeda becoming nothing but a speck on the rear-view monitor.
'Beka, where are we going? It isn't exactly safe out here, you know.' I said.
'When you came back onboard the Andromeda, you said you might be able to change all this, make it better. Well, now's your chance. The Kalderans have mostly abandoned Terazed space in favor of more juicy targets.' She turned around in the pilot's seat and stared at me, a tear forming in her one good eye. 'I can't do this anymore, Trance. I'm tired, I just want it to be over with. You can do that, I know you can. You don't belong here, none of us do.' I nodded, not trusting my voice to speak, I put my hand on her shoulder as she lay in a course for Terazed.
When we arrived, the planet appeared abandoned. It looked exactly the same as it did when I first arrived after traveling 20 years into the future. I immediately took Beka to Harper's grave, she knelt down and rubbed the fingers of her good hand over the rough letters I had carved into the brick wall. There was no time for tears, we immediately started searching the ruins for the incomplete Engine.
After about a week of combing the remains of the city, we turned our attention to the mountains that ringed it. Supplies began to run low and we found ourselves rationing the last bits of food and water. We continued our search just as diligently, never once relenting. Every once and a while, I'd get the feeling that we weren't alone, that we were being watched. I shrugged it off as paranoia since scans of the area still didn't show anything out of the ordinary. If only I'd paid more attention to my intuition. If only...
We were exploring a maze of caves in the Northwest section of the mountain range when Beka spotted something with her cybernetic eye. 'Trance! Come here! I think I found it.' She got down on her knees and started digging, I joined her and soon we had unearthed the four pieces of the Engine of Creation. We were elated, we laughed and cried and danced all around the cave.
Suddenly a shot rang out. I watched, horrified, as Beka fell to her knees, a flower of blood blossoming from her abdomen. She looked at me, her face a mask of confusion as she fell face first to the floor of the cave. I dove for her as more shots range out, I could now hear the hissing of Kalderans. They *had* been following us, waiting for us to find the Engine for them.
I grabbed Beka's shoulder and turned her over. She was gasping for breath, a pool of blood spreading beside her.
'Beka! Beka! Stay with me! We've got the Engine now, come on, we've gotta go!' I was out of my mind with panic.
Beka's good eye focused on me as she struggled to speak, 'Go..' she rasped.
'Beka, no! I can't leave you like this, I *won't*' I cried.
She pushed me away with amazing strength, 'I'm counting on you, Trance! Go NOW and don't look back!' She drew her forcelance, a familiar sparkle dawning in her good eye. She low-crawled toward the front of the cave, firing wildly at our attackers.
I knew what I had to do, I scurried over to the Engine, whispered goodbye to Beka and activated it." Trance slapped her thighs with her hands, "The rest you know."
Dylan sat back in his chair and exhaled loudly. "Wow, Trance, I don't know what to say. I still have so many questions. If Harper lived through the Magog infestation in that future, why would Trance, I mean, Casondra come back here to supposedly save him? There doesn't seem much point, I'm sure she could have come up with another excuse."
Trance stood and started pacing inside her cell, "To put in fairly simple terms, the Engine of Creation was incomplete, and being so, it's powers were limited. The first expedition to find the remaining piece of the Engine failed miserably and ended in the piece being inaccessible to even Casondra in the future. In order to find it, she had to come back to the past and assume my identity, join the expedition herself and recover the piece. To ensure that I would be banished forever, unable to reveal her secrets, she had to activate the tesseract device and create a time/space paradox. If she hadn't, she would have been bounced back to the future, I would have returned and none of us would have remembered a thing. The timeline would have continued to it's inevitable conclusion."
Dylan processed Trance's words, "If I'm to believe what you've said is true, then the next question would be; What do we do now?"
Trance looked thoughtful for a moment, "Killing Harper was supposed to be a last resort, but at least now Casondra knows how far I'm willing to go to stop her." She stopped pacing and approached the force field that separated her from Dylan. "I have a plan. It will probably get us all killed but it's the only way."
Dylan stood and also approached her cell. He looked deep into Trance's troubled eyes and saw fear and sadness. Beneath that, deeper, he discovered strength and great resolve. He reached out a steady hand and disengaged the force field. "Let's bring it."
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A/N: I don't necessarily believe the above reasons as an explanation as to why Trance looks and acts different from her purple self on the show, it just seemed best for the story. Oh, yeah, sorry about the cheesy Dylan line but it's just so...Dylan I had to put it in :D