Disclaimer alert! I do not nor have I ever owned Andromeda or its characters. Don't' sue. It would be worth it anyway.

Thank you to all of you who have posted reviews. Hey Ellysa, where's your review. Have you been reading this thing lately? Ha ha.

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Chapter 5

On the Andromeda Dylan looked up Trance in Hydroponics and found the golden skinned woman in pruning a plant with deep purple flowers. Dylan remembered Trance mentioning that purple was her favorite color.

Trance knew something was on the captain's mind if he would make it a point of visiting hydroponics as it wasn't his favorite place. "Hi Dylan, did you here from Beka or Harper?"

"No, I don't expect hear from either one of them until they get a safe distance from Earth," Dylan answered as he smelled one of the purple flowers.

Trance studied the tall high guard captain as she waited for Dylan to explain his reason for visiting hydroponics. "Then why the visit to hydroponics? I'm not complaining, but I have a feeling you aren't just here to smell the flowers."

Dylan sighed and sat on the edge of a table. "I wonder if I did the right thing. I should know Beka well enough to have known that she would try to deal with her guilt in a Beka Valentine way. I should never have fallen for her line about wanting to go to San-Ska-Re."

Trance stopped pruning the plant and frowned. "You're not psychic Dylan. Yes there were signs, but nobody, not even you, can be expected to notice every indication of something going wrong."

"I would have suspected what Beka was up to if I hadn't been so preoccupied with Vantuan diplomacy. Sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees," Dylan admitted, angry at his lapse in judgment.

The golden skinned alien walked over to the captain and stood inches in front of him. Dylan, I won't tell you how to do your job. I'll just remind you that you that even though you are a High Guard captain, you can't make every decision for your crew. They will make some choices themselves, and those choices may not always be the best ones."

Dylan smiled and grabbed Trance's hands in his. "Thanks Trance. That doesn't mean I still won't worry about Harper and Beka though. It's part of my job."

"You're welcome. Now I have plants I need to tend to,' Trance reminded.

Dylan left Trance alone in Hydroponics and returned to his quarters. The High Guard captain began playing a game of Go in an effort to get his mind off of his two missing crew members.

****

Beka awoke sitting in a chair with her arms bound behind her. The blonde was feeling like she had just had been hit by a space freighter. Both of her sides were sore and her jaw was throbbing. As Beka tried opened her eyes she realized her right eye was swollen shut. Out of her good left eye Beka could see the Uber who had arrested her. He was sitting in a chair across the interrogation room, waiting for the blonde woman to regain consciousness.

"Welcome back Ms. Murvin, or shall I say Valentine?" the head Uber greeted with a smirk on his face.

No big surprise there. Beka had assumed the Ubers knew who she was when they took her into custody. "So what is it you want?"

The Head Uber grinned devilishly as walked approached Beka and stood over her. "I want to know what you are doing her on Earth. If you were merely looking for a cargo run you wouldn't have used a false name."

"I would if I was also trying to get the money that a certain former employer was supposed to pay me and didn't," Beka retorted through the pain shooting from her jaw.

Head Uber slapped Beka's jaw with the back of his hand, opening a cut with a boneblade. "That is a clever ruse, but a ruse nonetheless. Now tell me why you are really here,"

Beka had a few choice words for the Uber, but decided to keep them to herself. Instead she settled for not saying anything. That angered Head Uber just as much as if Beka had made a smart aleck remark. Head Uber punched Beka in the stomach, smiling. A few more punches to her face and stomach and Beka was out cold again.

****

Harper woke up and blinked his eyes, trying to get them to focus. As his eyes regained their focus, Harper realized that the object in front of him was a human mail. To Harper's relief, the dark haired man was a fellow mudfoot and not a Nitetzschean. Harper studied the mudfoot for a few moments and realized that the man looked familiar. A second later the engineer realized why. "Alfie?"

"Welcome back Shay," Alfie greeted.

Harper sat up and pushed back the pain throbbing in his head. "Of course I know you Alfie, it's me, Seamus. Now you can take your hand away from your knife."

Alfie hadn't even realized his hand was wrapped around the knife's handle and quickly released his grip on the knife. "Seamus Harper you old dog."

Harper gently nodded his head. "Yeah Alfie, it really me, Seamus Harper in the flesh. If it's not too much trouble would you mind filling me in on what happened to me?"

"Yeah sure. Me and my gang ambushed you here in the sewer. I'm sorry Shay, but I didn't know it was you until Tony had already walloped you with a stick."

Harper rubbed the bump that had formed on the back of his head and winced slightly. "Well, no harm no foul guess."

"I thought I never expected to see you again Shay. What brings you back her to Earth?" Alfie questioned.

Harper tried standing up but fell back onto the floor. Alfie quickly grabbed the Harper and leaned the engineer against the cold concrete wall behind them.

"Guess I got up to fast," Harper remarked casually. "I came here looking for a spacer. She's blonde, about a couple inches taller than me. Have you seen her?"

Alfie ginned broadly. "A female spacer huh? She must be special if you'd come all the way back to this godforsaken rock looking for her."

Harper returned his friend's smile. "Yeah she's special, but not in the way you're thinking. Beka's the spacer who plucked me off of this rock and gave me a job as her engineer."

Alfie sat down next to Harper on the hard, damp concrete floor. "I see. So, the guardian angel you've been telling Brendan about is named Beka huh?"

Harper stretched his legs straight out in front of him saying, "Have you heard anything about where she is? I tracked her as far as Boston but I lost her after that."

Alfie rested his head against the concrete wall behind him. The young man tried remembering any rumors he had heard within the past few days. "Ya know I did hear a rumor that the Ubers took some female spacer in for questioning. It could be your guardian angel."

Harper was becoming more concerned for Beka, if that was possible. The Ubers were famous in the refugee camps for their rough form of questioning. Most of those who were taken in for questioning didn't come out of the Uber detention facilities alive. "Do you know where they took the spacer?"

Alfie shook his head. "No. I just heard that some people saw a group of Ubers shove a spacer into an official vehicle. I'm sorry Shay. I wish I could be of more help."

"That's okay Alfie. Where did the Ubers grab the spacer?"

"On the main drag where they got all the tourist traps," Alfie informed.

Harper tried to think through the drums pounding in his head. "That means they took her to Uber Station 3."

Alfie grabbed Harper's arm as the engineer tried standing up. Harper wobbled a bit but soon steadied himself.

"You're gonna go try an' break your spacer out of an Uber jail, aren't ya?"

Harper nodded at his friend. The engineer was going to rescue Beka and a few Nietzschean Ubers weren't going to stand in his way.

Alfie shook his head in disbelief. "You won't make it Shay. You'll just end up get caught like your spacer girlfriend."

"First off, Beka's not my girlfriend," Harper protested. "Second, I'm willing to take a chance on getting caught."

"You're crazy, you know that?" Alfie remarked as he rubbed his fingers through his greasy hair.

Harper chuckled at his friend. "You won't get any argument there bud."

"You want some help?" the mudfoot offered.

"Now who's crazy?" Harper joked. "Seriously though, thanks but I better do this alone. I don't want anybody else dying at the hand of the Ubers cuz of me."

"Then you go get your spacer friend and head for the stars Shay. And don't come back till ya can bring a whole armada ships with ya and kick some Uber but. Ya hear?" Alfie warned.

Alfie patted Harper on the back and the two hugged briefly before Harper picked up his backpack. Harper had stashed some shrillers and assorted other goodies in it and was glad Alfie didn't leave it behind when he took the engineer back to Alfie's hideout.

Alfie watched as Harper disappeared down the sewer tunnel. Alfie worried that this would be the last time he would ever see his friend.