Author's Note: Many thanks to Rainbowscape and EyeCandy. You guys are great!
EyeCandy, yes, the full name has significance. No, you didn't miss that episode. Trust me, I'll explain eventually.
I have a mass appeal going here; I need to know if anyone has recorded the episode "A Heart For Falsehood Framed." If you do, please email me at . I need it for reference for a piece I'm planning, and I've had no luck.
The Child
Chapter Seven: Shock
By B.L.A. the Mouse
Dylan did a double take when Rommie walked onto Command deck. He expected her to be there for her shift, of course; he just didn't expect her to bring along bag and baggage. "Uh, Rommie," he asked, laughing uncomfortably and briefly, "may I ask why you brought Asher on-shift? I thought Trance was supposed to take him today."
"She was." Rommie stepped up to a console and set down the bag she was carrying. It was perhaps the least startling thing she had along, as she always took it whenever she left her quarters with Asher. "Harper wasn't feeling well, so she's down on Med deck with him. Everyone else can't, for whatever reasons."
He nodded, not sure what to say. "Ah. What's that thing you're carrying him in?"
"What, Dylan, you've never seen a baby carrier? I found a design and had one of my bots make it up. It's very effective." She glanced down at the backpack-like creation strapped to her chest. The baby was snuggled inside, napping. "He should be fine for a while."
Dylan looked at her, measuring, before silently going back to work. Of all the things that had changed since Carmen had left, almost two months now, Rommie hadn't strolled onto Command deck carrying Asher. Not until today, anyway. It didn't help that what he didn't want on a warship was crew having to concern themselves with a child when they were supposed to be on duty. "Since you're here, I'm going off-shift. Let me know if anything comes up."
It was his usual speech, and Rommie barely acknowledged it. As soon as he had left, she smiled to herself. No matter what happened, Dylan could be depended on to be Dylan, and that included being discomfited or fazed by anything non-military or unusual.
He was meandering along the way, but Dylan's ultimate destination was his basketball hoop. Practicing rebounds had always been a good way for him think about things, and he needed that result right now.
Tyr walked behind him for several moments before being noticed. Dylan actually jumped when he said, "I'm assuming that you have a moment to spare?"
"Tyr!" he exclaimed, a bit embarrassed by his reaction. "What is it?"
"Andromeda." The two men fell into step beside each other.
"Andromeda?"
"And Asher."
"What about them?" Dylan asked, expecting Tyr to launch into a diatribe about the way the baby was endangering the survival to the ship, and maybe supported by a speech about how as an android, Rommie shouldn't be given the responsibility of a parent or guardian. Quite frankly, he would have been ready to have someone to commiserate with.
Tyr weighed his words before he spoke. Not unusual at any point, but this time it was because he was still in mild doubt as to the wisdom of his opinion. "I believe that you should consider letting the child stay onboard."
The captain stopped short. It took him a few tries to get his next sentences out. "You- uh- I- Let me get this straight. When Carmen left, you thought we should return Asher to her, or find someone else, not on board this ship, to take care of him. Correct?" No reaction. "Now you're saying that we should keep him onboard." He got a single taciturn nod. "Would you mind explaining how you made the jump?"
Again Tyr chose his words carefully. "If you have spent any time observing Andromeda with the child, her manner is indicative of how she thinks of him. When-"
Dylan cut him off, starting to walk again. "So I'm not the only one seeing it then. She's becoming too attached to him. She volunteered to take care of him, she named him..." He trailed off as he quickly became aware of Tyr standing several steps behind him, looking impatient. "What?"
"I believe that we may be able to accommodate a child onboard for a longer period." His anticipation of the captain's reaction wasnt far off as Dylan stared and began to rant.
"Has this crew gone insane? This is a warship, not a nursery! We aren't equipped to handle childcare! What happens the first time we go on a dangerous mission? Or when we get shot at? All the attitude and ability in the world won't help if we need all hands on deck for a battle, we can't just leave the baby somewhere while we fight! The Cetus, Acheron, the Magog battles- we couldn't have handled any of them with a baby onboard!"
Tyr took advantage of the break for breath. "We are due the first group of graduates from the Mobius military academy, yes? We will also be receiving more non-military crew, including medical staff. Put in a request for a specialist or caretaker of some kind who could take the child when Andromeda is unable. That should solve most of the obstacles immediately apparent."
Dylan proceeded to do something very undignified- he sputtered. "But- but-"
"Captain, adaptability is a very important survival trait," the Nietzschean advised, even as he grinned at the reaction.
The grin got him a dirty look and an imminent scathing remark when alarms when off all over the ship. "Everyone report to Command," Rommies voice echoed, "weve got a distress call from Pavlov Drift."
Two hours later Dylan stared at the image of the wreck of the drift. Explosions could be seen, still, all along the hulking shell that remained.
Some terroristic madman had flown into it like the Restors had with the Yeketrina. Everything at the point of impact had been immediately incinerated, exploded, or otherwise destroyed. The rest had experienced a spreading chain reaction. The only survivors were those that had managed to get to their ships and get away within a couple of minutes, and of them, many were injured and their ships damaged.
For all their speed in arrival, the Andromeda crew was unable to offer more than token assistance and medical treatment. Smoking ships landed in the hanger bays and docked, while the crews from them supported their limping fellows, carried the stretchers, and made the dying comfortable.
When a last blast sent pieces of wreckage spinning off in every direction, Dylan stepped down from the console he was standing at. "Tyr, you've got command. I'm going down to Med deck." The Nietzschean didn't even look up, too busy coordinating the ships still capable of flight.
There was a long line in the corridor outside. Beka was going through, evaluating the cases and sending the critical in to Trance and Rommie, who treated as many as they could in an air of controlled chaos. Harper had long since been dispatched to his quarters with Asher, over his protests.
Currently the android and the alien were working together on a heavily bleeding man, taking no notice of Dylan except to ascertain that he wasn't another wounded person. He passed them, not even speaking, to one of the numerous pallets on the floor. Another man lay there, with numerous cuts and heavy burns. Holo-Andromeda appeared next to him. "Burns, lacerations, and inhalation of deadly gasses. We can't do anything."
The captain kneeled down next to him as he convulsed in an agonized cough. A few feet away, a 'droid began zipping a woman's body into a bag. He waited until the spasms subsided before speaking. "I'm Captain Hunt." The hologram looked on in silence.
"Joel." The voice was little more than a raspy whisper laced with pain, but he spoke anyway.
"What ship are you from? Who's your captain? We'll need to inform them that you're here."
"You mean that I'm dying." His glassy eyes rested on the captain. "The Starlight. Carmen Lark."
Dylans breath caught. If it was the same person... It was a massive coincidence, but if they found her, their search was over. "Do you know where she is?"
"Won't do a damned bit of good." Joel's words provoked another fit, coughing up something solid and bloody. After a minute, he wheezed, and managed, "Dead." He lifted a shaking hand and brushed ineffectually at the thin line of blood trickling from his nose. Dylan noticed the drops of red at the corner of his mouth with alarm as he began to speak again. "She was on the drift when... I was... a bar..." He coughed again. "Made it to a ship. Barely. She was in... damage heaviest there. Gotta be-" The man stopped talking- too much effort- as the blood increased from a few drops to a flow. His breathing got worse, and he took Dylan's hand in a frantically tight grip before it ceased altogether.
The captain eased the now-limp fingers out of his. "Andromeda," he said quietly to the hologram, still hovering next to him, "record death and bring another bag." He stood up and walked to the next person, assimilating what he'd just been told.
"Carmen's dead?" Rommie asked incredulously, coming around to Dylan's side of the desk. "When? How do you know?"
"I'm surprised your mainframe hasn't told you yet."
"I haven't had a chance," the indignant hologram said, flickering in.
Dylan silenced that particular version with a stern look, ignoring the miffed expression as she blinked back out. "One of the men who died. Apparently she'd just hired him as crew."
"You're sure?"
"I checked with every authority possible, now that I have a full name. Carmen Lark, aged twenty-two, registered owner and operator of the Starlight. Her ship was found partly destroyed in the wreckage of the drift. She answers the description. She wasn't among the survivors reported. The only thing I can come up with is that she died in the attack."
She sank down onto the edge of the edge, staring disbelievingly at him. "She's really gone?"
Dylan stood and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, despite the fact that it wasn't doing much good. "It's ironic, isn't it? We finally find her and she dies at the same time."
Rommie straightened, taking a deep breath. She was almost scared to ask the next question, but she had to. "So what happens to Asher now?"
He considered very carefully. The question had been plaguing him since they'd taken the child onboard. "Keep in mind that this isn't permanent, but I think for the time being he can stay with you."
"Dylan?" She couldn't believe that those words had just come out of her captain's mouth.
"I said that this is only for the foreseeable future," he cautioned. "If we run into any major problems, we'll have to find somewhere else for him. But we really have no other immediate option, and you seem to be coping fairly well. Besides, you have the crew behind you."
She looked straight at him, knowing that it was only most of the crew. "Except for you and my main AI."
"Well, yes. We have our misgivings."
Rommie nodded absently, mulling it over. "So Asher will stay with me?"
"Yes."
Dylan watched as a slow, uncertain smile spread across her face, unsteady as anything and almost preparing to have something said that would demolish it. Finally, she said, "I'm going... back to my quarters." She paused as she reached the door and turned back to him. "Thank you."
He stared at the door that she had left through for several minutes, hoping to the Divine that he had made the right decision.
"Take a break," Tyr advised quietly as Beka took yet another punch at the bag. He walked over and started unwrapping her hands. "Your heart is racing."
"Yeah, well..." She blew her hair out of her face. When that didn't work, she pushed it back with the hand he wasn't holding. "Did you hear? Dylan officially announced that we can keep Asher onboard. I guess he's Asher Darrell Ascendant now. Or maybe Hunt. Which do you think?"
"I hadn't heard conclusively." He continued unwrapping, switching to the other hand. "Then I am to assume that we will be regularly drafted for childcare services?"
She scowled. "Spoilsport." It was for show, though; only a second later she smiled. "Someone told me that a certain Nietzschean's opinion tipped the balance."
Tyr glanced at her face, keeping his own totally impassive. "It's fascinating what you hear sometimes through rumor."
"Like the one about someone stealing Drago Museveni's remains from the Drago-Katsov?" It was his turn to scowl, but she laughed, making him seriously reconsider how dangerous he actually looked. First Asher, now Beka... Her attention had moved on, though. "Are you trying to tell me that you just don't want anyone to know that you have a soft spot for the kid?"
He growled, this time actually joking. "I can arrange a much harder training session if you have this much breath left to talk." He finished unwrapping.
"No thanks. And I'm not talking, just informing you of pertinent ship's events and things that might concern you. So what did you tell Dylan?"
"The truth. I believe we have the capability to care for the child," he admitted.
"See, that didnt hurt at all." She grinned and crossed her arms. "So what last name d'you think hell get?"
"Ascendant. And don't relax too much, you still have to do weights."