Sorry Troll, but you're as bad at cliffhangers as me.

Chrysalis, part 13

Leaning against the wall to keep steady, and clad only in her hospital gown, Rommie stood, Dylan's forcelance held tightly in her outstretched hand, "Me."

For Dylan, everything seemed to go into slow motion.

Masters span round, his Gauss gun tracking round to point at Rommie.

She reacted quicker, the forcelance shifting to the side, the effectors intercepting the incoming rounds, stopping them mid-flight. She returned fire with a pair of smart-rounds that struck the Genite agent in the hand, effectively severing it from his arm. The gun fell to the floor, and he released Trance, his free hand moving to cover the bloody stump.

Spencer brought her own gun round, but Rommie released her grip on the wall. Her legs gave out, and she dropped to the floor, outside of the other woman's line of fire.

Trance took the opportunity to maker her move: cradling Paul in her arms, she leapt for the nearest ladder, and slid down two decks.

Rommie hit the floor with a bone-jarring thump, and fired again, hitting Spencer in the chest twice. The former Ambassador fell against the wall, her gun flying from her hand in shock.

Dylan's training took over as time resumed its normal pace: he leapt forward, grabbing the Genites gun as he slid to a halt between Rommie and the two enemy agents. Harper dived for the gun Master had dropped, and turned it on its owner.

The entire fight took less than 10-seconds.

Dylan quickly made his way to Rommie's side, drawing her into a tight embrace, "I was getting worried about you." He joked, tires in his eyes. Rommie returned the embrace, "Your not getting rid of me that easily Hunt."

Spencer moaned as she tried to sit up: her sneak-suit's ablative armour had stopped the bullets, but there had still been enough force behind them to drive the air from her lungs and bruise her ribs. Rommie brought her forcelance back up, "Go right ahead bitch, make my day!"

Eyes glairing straight at Rommie, Spencer slowly raised her hands, "You realise that this changes nothing: Commodore Hardcastle has orders to destroy this ship if we are killed or captured, and as powerful as this ship may be, it is still no match for us."

Andrew rounded the corner, followed be a squad of very angry looking Nietzscheans. Dylan nodded at the Avatar as he helped Rommie to her feet, "Take them to medical first, but I want them in their cells ASAP." Andrew nodded, and then turned to Rommie with a smile, "I was beginning to get worried about you."

Beka cut in over the link, "Hate to brake up the party, but will still have more than a dozen Genite warship's to deal with. I think they're catching on to their friends not coming home." Dylan rubbed his forehead with his free hand, "Distance to slipstream?" Beka checked the figures, "Unless you want to get out and push, we're in deep trouble. Hold on. Slipstream portal opening. Dylan, it's the Wrath of Achilles."

Dylan's head went back in relief, "Tell Captain Ryan he's more than welcome to join the party."

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The battle didn't last long: the advanced CMX attack-cruiser tipped the scales in Andromeda's favour, and the remaining Genite ship's fled to slipstream.

Dylan helped Rommie back to medical, where the doctors ran more tests on her. The results where confusing: the nano-bots had transformed more of her in to organic material, vastly altering her systems. They needed to run more test, but it looked like a lot had changed.

"Here's what we know for sure." The explained, "The nano's went back to their old job, but at a greatly-increased rate. It took two years for them to generate Rommie's, reproductive system, but in the past 96-hours they have replaced her entire digestive system, and part of her brain."

Rommie blinked, "I though things seemed different." Trance nodded, "I know your android brain was advanced, but it was still nowhere near as complex as an organic one. We don't know what the lasting effects may be, but your mind will work slightly faster, and les logically." She took another deep breath, "There is something else."

Dylan looked at her, his arms round Rommie protectively, "What aren't you telling us?" Trance sighed, "The increase in Rommie's organic make-up means she may no live as long as we first fault, in fact she may have a normal human life span. You're not as tuff as you used to be. You'll need to be careful: it is possible that you could be killed by injuries that wouldn't have stopped you before."

Rommie was confused, "What are you saying?"

Trance smiled slightly, "You're almost human."

To Be Continued…