A/N: Sorry for the wait, but RL has been getting in the way. Thanks again for all the reviews :^D Reviews make me happy! Well here's the next installment. Let's see how our favorite crew is doing.....

Chapter 22

Six days ago, Rommie left Harper's side to begin the clean up of the ship-turned-morgue. Half of the job was easy as she was able to open half of herself up to the vacuum of space, but the other half she had to clean by hand. That was unless the she wanted to be murdered by the crew for venting all of their supplies and belongs out into space. So for seven days now, Rommie and her merry band of Meri-Bots have been up to their eyeballs in blood, guts, gore, and ironically, eyeballs. Shoveling, washing down whole decks, polishing, sterilizing and scrubbing ceilings.

She had only been able to get three-fourths of the ship done when she was forced to stop by Tyr's awakening on the fifth day. She stayed by his side as he fought to regain consensus for hours, holding his hand and whispering encouraging words the whole time, until finally she saw his deep brown eyes staring up at her with recognition. A huge weight dropped off of Rommie's shoulders. A few hours later, another weight fell as Trance showed movement of life. After a couple hours of struggling to wake fully, the golden warrior greeted Rommie with a warm smile. As the avatar watched over the two fidgety organics for one more day of bed rest, she couldn't keep her eyes off the remaining members of her crew, all still deep asleep and healing. How she yearned to bask in Dylan's glowing smile or to secretly laugh at one of Beka's jokes or to feel her eyes rolling deep into the back of her head as Harper hit on her. But right now, she had to be content with having just Tyr and Trance awake and active.

*****

A day later, the omnipotent AI was silently watching the large tight muscles expand and contract under his dark rich mocha glistening skin. She watches as his face tightens as he battles against gravity and the strain of his own body weight. His muscles were still weak from laying dormant in a bed for six days. She watched as he heaved his body up again, rising his strong chin above the bar. She watched and was amazed to understand how much this rag-tag crew meant to her and how happy she was to at least have two of her organics once again walking around inside of her. If only the others would wake up and join them.

Still captivated by the electrical music Tyr's muscles were giving off as he once more lifted his huge frame off the floor, Andromeda still had not relayed the message she was meant to give him. 'Get a hold of yourself girl,' she ordered as she shook herself out of the trance from the music.

As her hologram to appear in front of Tyr, the electrical music suddenly jumped up in speed and beat. She liked it even more.

A small playful smile was created on the hologram's lips. "Sorry I scared you Tyr."

Tyr released his grip on the bar as his body fell gingerly to the ground. "You did not scare me ship," he replied full of dignity. Beads of sweat were rolling down his muscles like cars on a roller coaster.

"Mmm..." Holo-Rommie nodded, playing along with Tyr's lie. "Anyways, I wanted to inform you that Dylan is starting to show signs of movement."

Tyr had picked up a towel and was now wiping the lustrous sweat from his hard body. "I'm to assume the golden girl is already at his side?" he asked in his normal emotionless voice. Andromeda and Rommie were having a difficult time ascertaining what psychological damage Tyr had received during the hellish encounter. Outwardly he seemed normal, but what was going on inside his head was, as always, a mystery.

"She's on her way as we speak." Andromeda tried to read Tyr's reaction to the news, but he was just blank. Did he even care about the rest of the crew? Did he care if they ever woke up?

Tyr threw the towel onto a nearby bench, grabbed his shirt and began to walk towards the door. "I guess I better go and check on our fearless captain too." He pulled on his shirt and strolled out the door.

The hologram flickered around to watch him leave. "Mm, maybe he does care."

********

Currently, Trance was racing down one of the newly cleaned corridors they were allowed to access. Andromeda had shut off access to any decks or areas that she hadn't cleaned yet, which Trance thought was a very wise idea. She really didn't want to slip on a liver as she sprinted towards medical.

She really wanted to be by Dylan's side as he woke up, she wanted him to hear her voice encouraging him to pull himself out of the void of unconscious. But most of all, she wanted to see where he was mentally. How had he taken the knowledge of the insane amount of violence that Harper was capable of? How did he cope with the torture? And what damage did being controlled by an alien inflict on his human mind.

The last question intrigued her the most for selfish reasons. She had been feeling so very empty since Nixic had left. Her mind was so quite...too quite. In fact, she had spent most of her single day free from medical in Harper's workshop, blasting his rock music, just trying to end the numbing silence of her lonely mind.

She was also keeping a close watch on Tyr to see if he had been affected by the mental invasion. But like to Andromeda, the man was a complete enigma. He was acting like nothing had happen, like his body was not covered in tiny fading scars. She hoped desperately that is was not an act and that the strong Kodiak was truly fine.

The running golden form slowed to a walk as she saw the doors to medical come into view. Ambling into the smaller secondary medical room, she was greeted with Rommie attentively watching over Dylan like a hawk. In the other two occupied beds laid Beka and Harper. Both still looked horrible and near death. Harper was barely more than a pale, sickly skeleton and Beka was covered in swollen bruises from the thousands of hairline fractures. She was also deathly pale from the blood lose from the impalement. Trance couldn't even bring herself to image the damage that was done to their minds and to their friendship.

She walked up to the two moving beings in the room. "How is he?" she asked Rommie while she stared down at Dylan with pain in her eyes.

"Still trying to wake up," the avatar answers as she gently rubbed his hand.

Trance reached down and took hold of Dylan's other hand. "Come on Dylan, join the land of the living. Wake up please, we need you."

His eyelids fluttered to revile the smallest slit of white.

"Fight Dylan, we know you can do it," Rommie prodded as she caressed his face. "Wake up now!" She ordered in a stronger, louder voice.

Still only slight movement and fluttering eyes.

"CAPTAIN DYLAN HUNT! REPORT FOR DUTY...NOW!!" A deep powerful voice filled the entire room, making the girls jump in surprise and fear.

Not only did the women jump, but the man on the bed flew up to a sitting position and began to sputter out words. "Yes Sir, sorry Sir, Captain Hunt, reporting for duty, Sir."

Slowly his eyes started to focus and bewilderment filled his face. "Huh? What?" He mumbled out.

"Lie back down Dylan," Rommie said with a giggle as she pushed the nervous man back down.

Tyr strolled up to the group and looked down at Rommie with a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Sorry I scared you Rommie." He then looked down at the still flustered Dylan. "Good morrow, sir."

Trance glanced up at the towering Tyr. "Nice work, General Anasazi."

The stoic man glanced back down at her and for a short moment they shared a small smirk together. Even though it only lasted a second, both Rommie and the AI caught the playful exchange. Joy buzzed through their circuits as they basked in the friendly interactions of their crew and family.

On the bed below, Dylan was slowly calming down and letting his memories flood back into his mind. "Crap," he whispered as everything finally hit him. His confused expression fell into a depressed gaze.

Rommie noticed and reached out to her captain. She took his face in her hand. "It's okay, everything is okay. We are all fine. The ship is not damaged, all of the alien invaders are dead thanks to Harper, and...." Rommie stopped as Dylan's expression changed dramatically when she mentioned Harper. Before she could ask why, Dylan jumped back up and began yelling.

"HARPER!!!" He growled out in furious anger. Anger none of the others had ever seen the captain display before. "I want that maniac off my ship NOW!! I don't care if he's not conscious, I don't care if he's on death's doorstep!! I want his murderous ass off my ship and out of my life forever!"

Silence greeted his outburst as the shocked faces of all around him, even Tyr, were locked onto the raving stranger.

Trance was the first to find her voice. "Dylan! You don't mean that. He saved us! He saved all of us and he saved the ship and countless others from the horrors of the Pythos and Calastors. He only did what he had to...you have to understand that."

Dylan just growled and grew angrier. "NO! He did more! He took the opportunity to take vengeance on Nietzscheans! He didn't have to make bombs that could melt people or that could burn them to a crisp. And he definitely didn't have to torture us like that! Don't you remember that!? Or did he only torture me!? Is it only me he hates!? He's a monster and is not fit to be on, or even near, a High Guard ship! I want him off!" His eyes were bugging out of his head and were filled with hate and disgust.

Trance glanced over to Rommie and whispered, "Are you sure that the alien is truly gone? Could there be brain damage?"

Rommie's face was full of worry and confusion. "No, this is him. That's Dylan. There are no signs of any of the alien energy and the brain scans I ran on everyone came up normal."

"I can hear you, you know," an annoyed Dylan rumbled. "It is me, all me. I've just finally been shown the light, seen past Harper's lies and I refuse to have someone like that," he glanced over at Harper's sleeping form with disgust, "on my ship, in my Commonwealth or even in my life. I never want to see his lying, betraying, murderous face again!!"

Tyr had kept quite this whole time, just listing and watching, but now he was stepping in. He pushed Trance aside and looked Dylan dead in his raging eyes. He began to speak in a harsh, but even and calculating tone. "Captain Hunt. That...someone...risked his life and sanity to save us all. He deserves your utmost respect and gratitude, not your blind, close-minded hatred. Yes, he did resort to his violent past ways to save us, but if he had not, then you sir, would be enjoying the destruction of some peaceful and innocent planet right now. So, sir, I suggest you get over your high ideals and come to terms with having your savior in your commonwealth, on your ship and in your life. Good day sir." With that Tyr turned on his heals and strolled out of medical leaving three speechless crewmates behind.

"He has no clue of what he's talking about," Dylan pouted as he crossed his arms over his puffed out chest and laid back down.

******

A day of bed rest later, Dylan was out walking the corridors of his ship. He wanted to be jogging like normal, but thanks to that psycho, he was still too weak to run. He was, though, very content to just be out of medical. The entire day of forced bed rest was agony. All Dylan wanted to do was to feel the control he had over his own body once more. To feel the movement of the leg he ordered to move, to whistle whatever tune he felt like. Ah, he was so enjoying his walk and freedom and especially being away from Harper. What was worst about the day in medical was that he had to spend it lying next to that monster, that sleeping beast of a human. If "it" could even be called a human.

Dylan wanted so badly to pick up that skeleton of a boy, carry him to the closest airlock and throw him out like one would to any piece of garbage. Earlier today he had actually tried to take out the trash, but Rommie was constantly hovering over the boy like HE was her captain! 'She's suppose to obey me, not some murdering mudfoot!' Dylan thought angrily as the rage was building up inside. His pace quickened.

Flashes of the massacre raced through his mind, flashes of Harper's twisted smile growing larger as the pile of melting Pythos grew larger. Dylan broke into a jog. Flashes of that mudfoot standing over him with a knife increased the rage. Flashes of the acid falling into his deep cuts and the pain it caused forced Dylan's nice jog to morph into a full out sprint.

He couldn't stand to see that backstabbing betraying engineer again! To think, he trusted him with his ship! With his avatar! With his life! How naive could one be?!

Dylan's lungs were on fire as he finally collapsed against one of the nice clean walls. He hung his sweat pouring head between his legs as he gasped for air. Rage was still burning in his heart. Then flashes of his own fists pummeling Harper's face flew into his mind. A small smile appeared on the exhausted man's face.

******

Beka's head tossed and turned. Her hair flipped around on top of the soft pillow. For hours she had been trying to claw her way out of the deep void of unconscious that surrounded her. And for hours, Trance, Rommie, Dylan and Tyr had been standing over her, cheering her on.

They had tried bribing her with new Holo-disks, threatening her with damaging the Maru, and even pleading with her through tear choked voices. Still nothing worked as she was still climbing up the infinite wall of darkness.

"Move aside, I have an idea," Tyr spoke up as he moved up next to Beka's tossing face.

Dylan stepped back and covered his ears. "Oh great, here we go again." Small smiles appeared on Rommie's and Trance's faces.

But Tyr did not yell this time, he only lowered his head towards the comatose woman. He gently stroked her face with his handsome hands as his lips neared her ear. "Wake up sleeping beauty," he whispered before he brushed his lips on hers. The soft touch magically turned into a passionate and gentle kiss.

Stifled giggles and gasps could be heard from the peanut gallery.

Tyr released his lips from hers, rose up, stepped back and looked into the wide open shining blue eyes of Beka. A small smile of bliss was tugging on her lips.

"He has a gift," Trance laughed over to Rommie. Tyr gave the giggling girls the look of death.

Confusion quickly filled Beka's face as the excitement of the awakening wore off. "Wha--What happened?" she sputtered out.

The group re-surrounded Beka so they were all in her line of site. Trance was once more the first to speak, "Beka, you're here, on the Andromeda...safe. How do you feel?"

"Like I've been hit by a Magog world ship....twice. What....." Horror filled her face. The memories were coming back with a furry. The deaths, the loss of control, Harper's betrayal, her betrayal. She turned her face away from her adopted family. Unfortunately, she turned her head towards her adopted little brother who was lying in the bed next to her. Her eyes widened as she saw his hollow face with his eyes lifelessly closed. He looked very much dead.

The other's could hear her heart breaking as the pieces fell to the floor in a shower of shards. Rommie reached out to her suffering first officer. She took her face in her hands and forced the unblinking eyes off of the sleeping engineer. "He's ok, he's alive." Hope didn't fill the glazed over eyes, only more sorrow appeared.

"Say something," Dylan ordered in concern, fearful of the silence that was coming from his normally sassy first officer.

"Can I be alone?" she asked in a quite broken voice.

"Of course." "Yah." "Sure." "Whatever you need, my lady." Echoed from the others.

The group started to head for the door but were stopped in their tracks as Beka spoke up once more.

"No....I mean, can you move...him..?" Her head indicated who she meant with a weak nod towards Harper's bed. "Or me...I really don't care." Her voice sounded defeated.

The others exchanged worried glances, but it was Dylan's smug, sick look that made Tyr's fist curl up.

"Um, sure, Beka. Whatever you need," Rommie replied unsure how to handle the crumbling undoing of her crew. She had wanted them awake and together, but now she truly realized how much work was still ahead of them all to achieve that dream.

Seeing that Harper was still hooked up to too many machines, they decided to move Beka to her quarters. They figured she would be happier there as well and easier to keep her resting and in bed. Trance had offered up the Maru, but Rommie wanted to keep an eye on Beka. She was concerned of what Beka might try in this depressed state.

Tyr and Dylan gently carried the exhausted Beka down the corridors. All that could be heard in the hallways were the sounds of four pairs of boots hitting the deck plates. Behind the men walked Trance and Rommie carrying the medical equipment Beka still needed. They were constantly exchanging worried glances as the silence extended onward.

Once comfortably in her own bed and away from Harper, Beka quickly settled in. All had left but Trance who at the side of the bed finishing hooking up Beka's IV.

"Beka, do you want to talk about it?" Trance asked as innocently as her golden self could.

Beka just looked away with that distant gaze glued on her face. "No...not right now. I just can't bear to see...him...right now...maybe not ever again." The last part was said in a low whisper as a tear snuck out of her tired eyes. Beka turned away from Trance even more.

The science officer looked down at her friend's arm that laid below her. Bruised, swollen, and cut. No one but Rommie had seen the bigger wounds, the ones caused by the stakes. Trance could only imaging the preverbal stake that was now wedged between Beka and Harper. It hurt so much to see such a strong friendship crumble when it was needed the most.

Trance broke off from her depressed thought to speak quietly to her boss. "Do you want me to leave?"

There was a long pause before the soft "No" escaped from Beka's cracked lips.

Trance took her cue and crawled next to Beka on the bed. She embraced her suffering friend as she curled up next to her. There they laid for hours, both awake and in silence, simply savoring in each other's comforting presence.

TBC.....