The next two chapters have a lot of exposition, but it's needed to make sense of… well… everything. At least I hope it makes sense. :D There's action coming, I promise.
Chapter 3
~*~
"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
-Lord Acton
~*~
Caption Valentine instinctively stepped in front of the blond man next to her, shielding the Trance from the sight. The damage, however, was already done.
"Trance," Beka replied calmly, noticing the young alien's eyes searching the vicinity of her back. "We ah, have a visitor."
Feeling something shift from behind her, Beka silently cursed as the young man stepped aside, coming into clear view.
"Hey," Harper greeted, slightly moving his hand up in a short wave.
The purple alien frowned, staring hard at him for a tense moment, then asked, "Am I dreaming?"
No one seemed to have the right words so Seamus took center stage. "One, you're not dreaming. Two, I'm not a ghost. Hell… I don't even think I'm from this dimension."
"You died," Trance stated softly, her eyes glued to the face she hadn't seen in years. Not only that, but the face of a friend she'd watched die in her own arms.
"Well, that's a long story," Harper explained, hoping Cecily could elaborate on the alternate reality theory again.
Cez opened her mouth to speak but was be stopped by Trance's soft interjection.
"No."
As her melodious voice echoed around the room, Trance took a step back from the door and into the corridors behind her, disappearing within seconds.
Raising his eyebrows, Harper let out a loud breath. "That sucked."
Sighing heavily to herself, Beka headed towards the entrance. "Damnit, I'll be back," she called. Before turning the corner she slide to a halt, facing her crew and Harper.
"You know anything about how this ship works?" Beka asked quickly, aiming the question towards Seamus.
"I know it like the back of my own hand, Boss," Harper replied and then smiled, knowing automatically what the captain was getting at.
"Well then, Cez, take him down to engineering and see if there's anything he can do to get this ship running. Rommie, just in case, watch him like a hawk," she said, eyebrows raised. "Rev, stay here and keep an eye on the sensors. Inform me the minute anything gets into this system that isn't friendly."
Leaving the deck, Beka went in search of her friend while Cecily lead Harper towards the lower levels of the ship.
"Come on, Seamus, let me introduce you to the slipstream drive."
~*~
"Holy crap," Harper had muttered aloud as he stepped into one of his regular haunts on his Andromeda. "What a mess."
That had been forty minutes ago and now the blond engineer was hard at work trying to get the ancient ship to work again. From what he could tell so far, things were not looking good. Even with Cez's explanation, Harper could tell that the regular drives, forgetting about slipstream altogether, would require parts from all over the galaxy. They couldn't just pull up into the next Highguard machine shop and ask for a tune up either. If there were any parts left, they'd been sent to a museum by now.
Sliding out from a rather large piece of equipment, Harper rubbed his dirty hands onto his pants. Cez had given up watching him some time ago and now sat against a large bulkhead waiting for him to finish. Her eyes were closed but Harper didn't think for a minute she was actually sleeping.
"Mind if I join you?"
Opening her eyes, Cez made a swiping motion with her hand towards the ground next to her. "Sure. Can't guarantee it's comfortable though."
Taking off the tool belt he's strapped on earlier, Harper let it sink to the metal floor. Leaning against the wall near Cecily, he slide down, easing himself onto the ship's hard flooring.
"Your Andromeda's seen a lot of action, huh?" he asked.
"Good guess," Cez muttered, closing her eyes again. "You really must be a genius."
"I am," Seamus said with a grin, leaving no opening for her to respond. "But I was also going to say that I thought you've done a pretty good job of keeping it working all by yourself."
Harper smiled as Cez stared a him a moment. "Wow, and all this time I figured you were going to complain about what a crappy engineer I make."
Grinning again, he shrugged. "Hey, I know what it's like, Lieutenant Mikita, believe me," he said. "I do it everyday, but I have the luxury of having a slightly less damaged ship on my hands."
Looking up at him again, Cecily smiled for the first time towards the stranger. "Call me Cez, Seamus. Or Cecily. Whichever suits your fancy."
"Well, if we're exchanging names here, you can call me Harper," the blond man said, smiling at the woman's expression.
Frowning, Cecily asked, "I thought your name was Seamus?"
"It is."
"But you want to be called by your last name?" she questioned.
"Yep."
Shaking her head, Cez looked away a moment but then laughed to herself.
"What's so funny?" Harper asked.
"Lieutenant… oh please," she murmured, turning back. "When I got on this ship, I wasn't even out of the academy. I only got promoted because Dylan wanted another Highguard officer. I was kinda stuck with the job."
Blinking several times before the information processed fully, Harper realized how young the woman next to him must have been when she'd somehow gotten trapped 300 years ago. She had to be even younger then he was now, minus those three centuries or so.
"What happened?" he asked.
"A black hole happened," Cez said stonily. "I was training to be an engineer at the Highguard tech facility on Veros. Some of the instructors thought it would be a, quote "experience", if we could take a trip with one of the Commonwealth's top-of-the-line ships. I was picked, along with ten other classmates, to observe the Andromeda Ascendant for an entire month."
"Big field trip," Harper murmured. Next to him Cez laughed.
"Something like that; one great big training exercise for us all. I was able to watch how a crew of thousands manned a ship of this size. It was pretty overwhelming," she replied, drifting back into the memories she'd tried to forget about.
"When the Nietzscheans attacked, we were sent back to our quarters. There was a large explosion near where we were housed and I was knocked unconscious in my room. I didn't get the chance to escape with the rest of the crew and was frozen with Dylan," Cez said sadly. "After we were pulled from the blackhole the ship's sensors picked up my life signs. Captain Hunt found me and treated my concussion. Later we met Beka and her employers. After that…. well that, as they say, is history."
"Well," Harper added, "for someone who doesn't officially have a rank, I'm still saying you did a pretty good job here with that you had. But now…"
"There's nothing we can do. I know. Believe me, I know and I hate it. I can't even guess how we're going to get out of this one. The Restors are relentless; they just keep coming and I'm afraid that we aren't going to be able to get away the next time," the redhead said crossly.
"Whoa, hold up there… Restors? That sounds oddly familiar." It didn't take long for him to recognize the name from his own reality. The group had been a particular menace as of late, trying to repair his universe by getting rid of all the filth in the galaxies. It's founder, an ex-Highguard ship turned psycho, The Balance of Judgment, had even targeted the Andromeda herself
'Who are you kidding,' Harper thought to himself suddenly. 'It wasn't the fact that the ship was crazy, or it tried to kill you, it's the fact that Rommie could be in love with its pretty-boy avatar!'
'But,' another voice in his mind seemed to counter, 'he did love her, and even though you hate it, and are enormously jealous, Seamus, it wasn't his fault he was forced into carrying out the ships actions.'
Muttering for his conscience—which sounded extremely like Rev Bem—to shut up, Harper asked, "This story doesn't have anything to do with a batty ship does it?"
When Cecily gave him a questioning look, Seamus smiled. "It's a long story that I'll tell you 'bout later. Back to yours…."
"Rrrright then," Cez said, shaking her head slowly. "To make my long story short, the Restors are a group set upon ridding the galaxy of us. They believe our mission to be a waste of time. They think we're trying to change the universe in order for us to rule it. It started out with a few people and groups but it's grown. You can't spend a year making alliances without some enemies along the way. It really wasn't that bad at first… their vessels couldn't withstand one of the most advanced ships in the universe, so it was easy pickings for us. But after…"
Silently, Cez paused, running a hand over her eyes. Seamus sat quietly, knowing from her body language this was not going to be a good story.
"After what?" he asked gently, prodding her on.
"There was a planet name Gyndan," Cez continued. "They'd told us they were interested in signing the Commonwealth charter. Dylan agreed to go meet with the their representatives. He and Trance went down to the planet while the rest of us waited on the ship. After a few hours we tried contacting them, but there was no answer. After another two, we got an answer, but it wasn't Dylan or Trance. It was the planet's leader. He gave us an ultimatum: either surrender ourselves and the ship or they would kill Dylan. Beka was prepared to either attempt a rescue mission or fire on the planet, but they had defenses we hadn't detected. Huge shield generators located in five strategically placed mountains along the whole planet. The created a planet-wide forcefield, allowing them to send ships to attack us, but keeping us away. We couldn't lay a finger on them and we couldn't risk letting the Andromeda fall into their hands."
She paused, trying to bring back the memories she'd tried so hard to forget. "We tried, we really did, but there was no breaking through. That's when we got their message and the images. What they did to him…" Cecily ran a hand over her eyes, wiping away the forming tears like she'd done so many times before.
"They killed him… publicly. They hung him while the people of the planet watched. There was nothing we could do. Somehow Trance got away on the Maru and back to us, but she was never the same after that. Don't ask me how she did it. To this day she hasn't told a soul. Something happened to her though. She was different. It was like the thing that had made her so "Trance" like before had died, and we were only left with a shell of what she'd once been."
Harper lowered his head as he listened to the story, feeling for a crew he'd never even meet before. Now Trance's strange reaction earlier had made perfect sense. At least his Trance wouldn't have run off without an explanation. Looking back up, Seamus noticed that Cez had stopped talking. With a short nod from him, she continued.
"We found out later that the original Commonwealth had angered the planet. We couldn't find any records of why they hated us so much, but Dylan believed whatever happened to them took place while we were trapped in the blackhole. The Gyndan's current leader, Veila, still wanted revenge. He'd joined up with the Restors to end the New Commonwealth. They've succeeded too. After Dylan's death the other worlds who'd signed on dropped out. The believed that with him dead, there was nothing left to join," Cez finished.
Harper was shocked by the story and for a moment, felt like thanking any deity, god, or Divine Power that might be looking out for his own reality.
Cez smiled bitterly. "I remember Veila's message to us. He sounded so excited about his planet being part of history. I guess we had different ideas on what kind of history. He just wanted to go down as a murderer. "
Harper was about to respond but froze mid thought. Those words were… familiar. Those words… "Oh God," he choked out. He knew those words. He'd heard those words. As Harper remembered, it all fell into place.
~~~
(…interested in joining your Commonwealth. We would be very pleased indeed…)
There was something behind that smile…
"I don't know, Dylan, the guy kinda creeps me out… it's like he's on some kind of major power trip."
"We can't just base our members by their looks and nobility status, Mr. Harper. What kind of example would that be?"
(…the pleasure is all ours Captain Hunt…Thank you.)
"After we get back from Tynna Prime, we'll head over to their system. At the rate we're going, there's no telling how many charter members we could have in a few years. Gyndan is just the beginning."
"Hey, if you wanna break out the good champagne, Boss, go right ahead. I won't stop ya."
(…our world could become a part of history…)
A laughing crew… smiles…
That voice again echoing… something behind that smile…
"The planet of Gyndan is interested in joining your Commonwealth. We would be very pleased indeed if our world could become a part of history."
Dylan smiling…
"Thank you Mr. Bin Veila, it has been a pleasure. We hope to arrive there within the next few days."
"No, the pleasure is all ours Captain Hunt…Thank you."
~~~
"Harper?" Cecily asked for the second time, realizing the engineer next to her was staring off, a horrified look plastered across his pale face. "What's wrong?"
When he didn't respond again, Cez almost called for Andromeda to bring a medbot. Fortunately he finally snapped out of the trance he'd been in. "What's wrong?" she gently asked again, laying a hand on his arm.
"I need Trance," he said suddenly, getting to his feet and taking off down the corridor. She had no choice but to follow him.
"Harper wait!" Cez called franticly to the young man in front of. He still refused to slow down his pace. "Why do you need her?"
"Look, if you won't tell me where I can find Trance's quarters, I'll hack into the ship and find it myself," Harper protested quickly, walking backwards to face her and then turning back just as quickly.
"Please…. just tell me why!" Cecily called out, managing to catch his arm and finally pull him to a halt.
"Because," he said hastily, "I wanna know what happened down there. Maybe none of you guys pressed her for information on the Gyndan issue, but I have to know what could happen to my friends if they go there! In my reality, Cez. The leader... he's the same guy..."
For a silent moment the two just stared at each other until Cecily finally nodded.
"All right, I'll show you."
