Echoes of future past, part 36

Beka dashed along the corridors, yelling for crewmembers to get out of the way as she ploughed through groups of them in her haste to reach the landing bay. She skidded, almost slipping, as she went to grab a ladder that offered her a short cut down several decks. Grabbing the ladder with both hands, and slid down it, using her in-steppes to arrest her descent to a less than suicidal velocity. Andromeda adjusted the gravity field at the bottom of the ladder to soften the landing even more.

Harper was likewise in the middle of a headlong dash, having stopped off in one of the machine shops on his way from engineering. His toolbox was sitting on top of one of the anti-grave gurneys from the medical bay. He reached the last downhill stretch before the airlock, and jumped up onto the stretcher, costing down the corridor, almost knocking Beka over as she rounded the corner from the other direction.

Andromeda's holographic form blinked in to existence between the two of them, an anxious look on her face, "The bay is almost re-pressurised, but my sensors still can't penetrate the Maru's hull: it's coated in some form of reflective metallic dust." The light above the airlock changed from red to green, and with a hiss, the hatch opened. Beka was the first to push her way through as the door opened, followed closely by Harper. Andromeda simply walked through the thick metal like it wasn't there.

The hatch on the side of the Maru opened, Trance and Tyr walking out, supporting an unconscious Dylan between the two of them. Beka looked at them, "What happened?" Trance looked up, her voice low, "We had to sedate him: he, he wouldn't leave Rommie. She's... She was shot, there was nothing we could do." Harper lifted his toolbox from the gurney so Tyr could lay Dylan down, "There has to be something I can do!" The Nietzschean gently lay his hand on the engineers shoulder, "Her power cell was hit, she lost power to her memory bank: she's gone."

Andromeda blinked, and Beka thought she was going to say something, but instead the hologram blinked out. Harper went to call out for her, but Beka stopped him, "Don't: she needs some time to herself." She turned to Trance and Tyr, "What happened to Ryan?" Tyr's face fell, "The bomb was damaged in a fire-fight, the timer was destroyed: he stayed to set it of manually." Beka started to cry, and Tyr put his arms around her, guiding her from the landing bay. Harper pushed the AG gurney out to where a group of med-tech's where waiting.

Trance looked around: she had one last chance to work things out, one chance to created the 'perfect possible future' her younger self had always dreamed of creating. She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to picture herself in the storage bay. She opened her eyes again, to find herself standing in the middle of a pile of boxes. She started looking around for one box in particular.

Andromeda's holographic form blinked into existence, "Trance! How did you? Tesseracts?" Trance span round in surprise, "Andromeda! Listen to me: I may be able to bring Rommie back, but you will have to do exactly what I say, no matter what anyone else says, even Dylan. Can you do that?" Andromeda nodded, "Anything, without question: I trust you." Trance lifted a box from the floor, "I need you to have one of your bots take a gurney to the Maru, then seal the launch bay and clear me to leave. I have to get something from my quarters." Andromeda nodded "Is that what I think it is?" Trance looked down at the case in her arms, "Yes, it is. After I'm gone, you can tell the others, but not before." Trance closed her eyes again and she disappeared from the cargo bay.

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Beka stood in medical while the doctors gave Dylan and Tyr a thorough examination. The sedative Trance had given Dylan had worn off, and the High Guard Captain now sat comatose on a bed as the doctors ran their scanners over him. It broke Beka's heart to see him like this: the once proud officer who had helped restore the commonwealth reduced to an emotional wreck. She walked out into the corridor and stopped by one of the many accesses terminal spaced along the walls, "Andromeda."

The main AI's image appeared on the screen, her normal smile was nowhere to be seen, "Beka. How is Dylan?" Beka shook her head, "Not good: the doctors say he's in deep shock, and they don't know when he'll come round, if ever. How are the repairs coming?" Andromeda's face became it's normal professional self, "Most of the major damages has been repaired, but there are still power fluctuations where a PSB graved my outer hull on the port side: several relays have been blown out." Beka nodded, "Get Harper on it: we need to rejoin the rest of the fleet as soon as we can."

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Trance reappeared in the docking bay, dressed in a dark gray uniform, several rows of ribbons decorated its left chest, a starburst embalm on the right shoulder glittered in the bright halogen lights. She gave the bay one last look, then walked up into the Maru, placing the box taken from the storage bay onto the gurney that Andromeda had sent down. She pushed it into the galley, then slowly walked into the crew quarters: Rommie's lifeless body lay on the bunk where it had been left as they had focused on getting Dylan and Tyr to medical. She gently ran a hand down her friends face, "You'll never now how much this will cost me, but it's worth it: without you, things would not be the same."

Turning, Trance headed to the cockpit and strapped herself into the pilots seat. She gripped the controls tightly and concentrated: she reach out with her mind and felt the damaged down to the Maru's engines and Slip-drive, and used her powers to repair them. The ship came alive with a hum as the drive-system powered up. Trance lifted the radio headset and out it on, "Andromeda, time to open the doors." The AI's soft voice came over the link, "Cycling launch bay doors. Doors opening. Good luck." The wall before Trance split along the middle, and the two halves started recessing into the floor and ceiling. Trance Powered up the Maru's thrusters, and the batters cargo ship may its way into the darkness of space.

Trance pulled the ship round, and opened a slipstream.

TBC