Disclaimer and stuff: Still in the first chapter where I left it!

To make up for the lateness of this update it's extra-long or at least longer than the last chapter! The next chapter will be up before Saturday, if things go as planned. Again thank you for the really great reviews!!Danke schon! Go raibh mile maith agat! Anyway, here is chapter 9, enjoy!

"There is a difference between an idle wish and a true wish. An idle wish is when you're young and naive and you want a pony or a koala bear as a pet. A true wish is you want something to happen because you need it to. Like you need someone to live and not die or you need to find someone who is lost because they are alone and scared and you wish they were safe in your arms. "

***

Harper woke to the sound of Trance's sobs. They were the kind of sobs that tore at your heart, desolate, hopeless. Harper didn't know what to do. Trance was sitting by his bedside, her head in her hands. He tentatively reached over and touched her shoulder.

Trance's crying paused slightly and continued. Harper held her shoulder and tried to think about what to do next.

"Whatever it is, it can't be that bad, I'm sure you can fix it. I can help if you like."

Trance looked up at him for a second. Her sobs died down slightly. She was still crying, it no longer tore at his heart but left it bruised and aching.

***

One week later..

Dylan walked into the mess, contemplating the most interesting question of the day; what to have for dinner. He was surprised to find Harper there, Dylan usually tried to eat when no-one else was in the mess, that was so he didn't have to try and force conversation.

Well there was no getting out of it now and he was hungry anyway. Harper had noticed him walk in because he was sitting on the side of the table facing the door. He watched Dylan as he went and chose his meal. It was a type of stew that his mother used to make when he was younger.

He sat down next to Harper and noticed the young man tense beside him. Dylan hadn't seen much of him in the last week. Trance had kept him in the medbay for a few days and then he'd been making repairs for the rest of the week.

They had seen and heard nothing of the Eureka Maru and her crew. He presumed that Captain Valentine had returned to her salvaging business along with Rev. Bem and possibly Anasazi had gone with them. They didn't matter anymore, they had chosen to leave.

He began eating his dinner and noticed that Harper hadn't touched his since Dylan sat down, maybe since he came into the room. Harper reminded him of the new cadets. They were always so nervous around their Captain. But the one big difference was that they were nervous because they respected him as a high-ranking officer and Harper was scared because he was afraid that Dylan would hurt him.

Beka would probably have a better idea of what to do, she'd seen this kind of thing before but she wasn't here now. Dylan decided he'd have to at least try to do something.

"How are the repairs going Harper?"

The young man froze when Dylan spoke, he obviously hadn't been expecting a conversation. Or maybe he was scared he'd done something wrong, even though Dylan had tried to keep his tone friendly. Maybe Harper translated friendly as angry.

"The repairs are going fine sir, I'll have them finished in an hour."

With that Harper stood up with his almost full plate. Dylan grabbed his arm. "Wait, Harper.." And Harper tried to jerk away from him knocking his plate over and onto the floor.

He turned back to Dylan his expression one of terror. Then jumped to the floor and started cleaning up apologising as he did. "Sorry sir, I didn't mean to drop it, I'll clean it up, I'm really sorry...."

Dylan moved Harper's chair back and put his hand on Harper shoulder. This time Harper froze and didn't pull away.

"Sit down Mr. Harper." Dylan used his commanding tone of voice. The one that said 'do what I tell you, now'

Harper obediently stood up and moved to the chair Dylan pointed out on the other side of the table and sat down. He was shaking with fear and he watched Dylan with frightened eyes.

Dylan picked up the plate and food and placed it in the recycler. He went to the dispenser and got another plate of what Harper had been eating and bringing it and clean cutlery, set it in front of him. He then returned to his place and sat down to eat his meal.

Harper stared at Dylan, confused. Wasn't he mad? About the repairs and the food? Didn't he want Harper to get back to work?

Dylan looked up from his meal at the still unmoving Harper and sighed.

"You can't digest the food until you put it in your mouth. The repairs can wait until tomorrow. You and I have something else to do, eat up."

Harper hesitantly picked up his fork and seeing Dylan's encouraging nod, began to eat his meal. Dylan smiled, one battle down, one more to go.

***

An hour after dinner, Dylan had asked Harper to meet him in hydroponics. Harper was there early and was admiring the plants when Dylan arrived.

Harper jumped back as Dylan tossed the basketball to him. He watched it bounce in front of him like it was a bomb waiting to blow. Dylan asked him to throw it back. Harper gingerly caught it, held it in his hands for about two seconds and tossed it vaguely in Dylan's direction.

For the next half-hour Dylan proceeded to explain the rules of the game to Harper and they did a little practice throwing and catching. Dylan left Harper practising his bouncing and went to talk to Trance who had come in to look after the plants.

"He seems to be having fun." It was true, Dylan realised, Harper did have a smile on his face as he tried to bounce the ball. He'd been very nervous at the beginning, afraid to touch the ball and he almost lost it when Dylan touched his arm to try and show him how to hold it when he was passing and shooting. But he seemed to be having fun with the ball.

Then he did something silly. He bounced the ball and took his attention off it to watch Dylan and Trance. It hit him full force in the face and knocked him off balance.

"Damn.." Harper put his hands to his face as it throbbed with pain. Trance was about to go over but Dylan stopped her and went himself.

"Harper, let me see your face." He hesitated but took his hands away as Dylan tilted his chin up. Dylan ignored the way Harper flinched when Dylan touched him and carefully looked for injuries. There was nothing serious but he'd probably have a bruise on the left side of his face, it must have taken the impact.

"Nothing serious." Harper was watching Dylan with that nervous hawk look again but Dylan smiled at him and continued. "First rule of Basketball: Never take your eyes off the ball."

Dylan and Trance were pleased to see Harper give them a small grin, then he left to fetch the basketball and undeterred, kept practising, being careful to keep his eyes on the ball.

Trance felt that something was going right after all. Maybe if she could just fix the little things, the big things would somehow sort themselves out. It was wishful thinking but sometimes all you had to rely on were wishes and hopes.

***

It had been a week since Beka, Rev and Tyr had parted from the Andromeda. Beka was beginning to think she had made a mistake in letting Trance stay. She had lost her good luck charm.

They had arrived on Etoile, a backwater drift, about eight hours ago. She was looking for a salvage run or cargo run, or anything. She was fairly desperate. Tyr had left them as soon as they'd docked and Rev was staying on the Maru. He never really got a good welcome in places like these.

She had just been refused for the fourth time for carrying cargo on account of the fact that she wasn't well known in the area. She had also had quite a few offers for sex, so her hand was now permanently on her weapon. You can't be too careful in places like these.

She was heading dejectedly back to the Maru when she got the feeling someone was following her. She didn't change her pace or look around but kept walking as if nothing was wrong and she was sure of where she was going. Only she wasn't. Was it left or right at this junction?

She didn't know but she chose left without a pause hoping it would deter whoever it was. No such look. She had just turned into a now closed shopping area. She turned to face her stalker and found there were now two of them. Three if you counted the one coming up behind them. And they were Nietzchean. This was not good.

Her weapon was already in her hand but would be little use to her against three of them. The first one seemed to be more interested in hand to hand though and moved closer. Before she had a chance to fire he hit her with something and it shocked her unconscious.

***

She woke up slowly, trying to gather her wits. What the hell?! She was sitting in a chair with her hands tied uncomfortably behind her. She tried pulling at her bonds but they were tight, there was little chance she'd be able to break out of them.

"Ms. Valentine, how lovely to see you again." The voice came from behind her. It was unmistakable. The person moved to stand in front of her and Beka found herself once again looking at Gerentex's ugly face.

"You bastard! You gave Dale to the Nietzcheans!."

He smiled condescendingly at her. "I'd expect better language from you Ms. Valentine, and in truth it was you who betrayed me and not the other way around. If you want your freedom I'd suggest you co-operate and answer my friends questions. If not, things could get a little..unpleasant."

From behind her another figure appeared. A male, Nietzchean, one of the three who'd been following her. The one who'd shocked her unconscious, in fact. It was then she realised that she was in deep trouble.

"Where are they?"

Beka blinked, what kind of a question was that?

"Who?" The Nietzcheans fist smashed into her face.

"I'll ask you again, where are they, where is the Andromeda?"

The whole of the left side of Beka's face had exploded in pain. 'Ah, that 'they''.

"I don't know."

"Wrong answer." The Nietzchean grinned and it made Beka feel ill. They weren't known for their nice treatment of prisoners or their soft interrogations. His fist smashed into her ribs, she cried out and bent over as far as her bonds would allow, trying to squeeze out the pain.

She didn't know what to do now. She knew what they wanted and that they would not stop until they had gotten it, but the problem was that she really, truthfully and truly did not know the answer.

She wondered how long until they gave up or she fell unconscious. She understood now why Harper disliked the Nietzcheans so much. They knew exactly how powerful they were over you and their confidence in their superiority never wavered.

***

Tyr stepped back on board the Maru. He had been busy trying to find a way off this drift when he'd overheard about a blond woman getting kidnapped by some Nietzcheans. It didn't take much to figure out who it was.

It wasn't his responsibility, he owed the woman nothing and it was nothing to do with him yet he still felt he had to help her. If only because she had offered to let him leave the Andromeda with her.

So he'd located the Nietzchean ship where he supposed she'd been taken but luck was apparently not on their side as it was in the process of undocking and leaving when he found it. That was why he was back here.

"Beka, is that you?" The Magog's voice came from the other side of the ship.

"No, it is Tyr Anasazi."

A minute later Rev. appeared in the airlock where Tyr was waiting.

"For what do we have the honour of your return Mr. Anasazi?"

Tyr tried to suppress the urge to growl at the Magog.

"I believe your Captain has been taken captive by the same Nietzcheans who tried to steal Captain Hunts ship. They have just left the station but if we leave now we may be able to follow them."

Rev looked anxious and confused. "Why would they have taken Beka?"

"Presumably because they believe that she knows the location of the Andromeda and they still want to acquire the ship. I wouldn't be surprised if Gerentex is still working with them."

Rev hesitated for a minute as he worked out in his head whether to trust Tyr. True Beka was late and not answering her comms but that could be because of Tyr for all he knew. And why would Tyr be helping him anyway? He was Nietzchean and owed them no debt he could think of.

However he pushed his doubts away and put his trust in the Way. His instinct told him to trust Tyr and he did just that.

As Rev guided them out of the station Tyr began trying to locate the Nietzchean ship. It wasn't hard to pick up the trail. He hesitated however, this was not likely to be a very successful mission, it would be safer and wiser to cut his losses, kill the Magog and take this ship for himself. But he had a better idea.

"If we are really going to take on these Nietzcheans we are going to need some help, however I believe that that would be playing right into their hands so we must tread carefully or we will end up fulfilling their wishes and not ours."

Rev nodded. "May the divine guide us, help us and protect us and the ones we care about."

***

As few days later..

Harper hesitated before walking on to command. He'd never been there before. But he needed to talk to Dylan and Dylan was there. He was studying a console when Harper walked in.

Harper politely waited for Dylan to notice his presence. He nervously glanced at the flexi in his hands. Dylan looked up and saw Harper standing there. He smiled. So Harper had finally gotten up the courage to come to command.

"What can I do for you Harper?"

The young man handed him the flexi and on reflex took a step back from Dylan as he read it. Dylan's expression turned from puzzled to amused to something that Harper couldn't read.

Harper nervously shifted beside him. Dylan handed it back to him with a smile and a nod. Harper broke into a small smile too and headed out the door. Dylan shook his head, 'where did he find that?'

***

Beka was so tired. And scared. And hurt. They wouldn't accept her answers no matter how many times she told them that she didn't know. She hoped Rev was okay. She wished they leave her alone. She didn't know where the Andromeda was and no amount of pain was going to help her discover the answer.

She had lied to them, told them the first place that came to her and now they were heading there. What would happen when they realised she'd been lying. She was just a captain of a courier ship, how had she gotten into this mess? She knew no-one was coming to save her, she was all on her own and it truth it was a very cold universe to be alone in.

***

A/N: So, a couple of surprises coming up next chapter. Which I aim to write soon. Reviews are very appreciated!