Author's Note: Wow, a new chapter in under a week! Aren't you guy's impressed? Well as always read and review please. And tell me what you think.
Chapter 13
"Ah… one problem, boss," Harper admitted sheepishly. "For all her beauty and power, Andromeda can't launch it. She's just too big to manuver to the correct angel from which this baby has to fly. Someone's gonna have to take her out on th Maru."
Back on the bridge Dylan rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration, but he knew what was coming next. Beka released the pilot controls and set Andromed on auto pilot.
"I'm on my way," she announced. "Load the bomb, Harper." She was about to exit the bridge but Rhade caught up to her in the door way.
"I'll fly the Maru," he told her. "It's much safer here on the Andromeda and I promised Tristan I would bring his mother back."
Beka studied his face, but saw nothing but brute honesty and genuine concern. Biting her lower lip, she sighed. "Telemachus, we both know that if we have any chance of getting out of this alive, I have to pilot the Maru." He was about to object, but she put a finger over his lips. "No, don't argue with me. You can only do two things for me."
"Anything."
"If my amazing luck doesn't hold, take care of Tristan."
"As if he were my own," Telemachus swore. "What's the second?"
"Give me damn good cover fire." She brushed her lips across his and was gone.
---
Beka sat alone in the Maru's cock pit as she waited for Harper to finish securing the bomb. No one said good-bye, mostly because everyone was afraid that if they said it, it really would be good-bye. With a few precious minutes to herself, Beka finally had a chance to think. Most of her thoughts revolved around the past, but a few precious hopes slipped through. Things to look forward to. Reasons to live.
Her past experiences with men have been less than enjoyable. Sure, the sex was great, but in the end all of them ended up betraying her in one way or another just when she was beginning to come to trust them. She was afraid of taking any steps towards another relationship. And yet when she looked Telemachus in the eyes, Beka could see something, some kind of clarity and honesty that others lacked. There was a sence of warm familiarity that she felt she could rely on. Beka didn't know why, but within the past month Telemachu's presence had felt different, more familiar. It was as if they had known each other before. The thought passed across her mind, but Beka quickly dismissed it. If she lived, it would be interesting to explore a possible relationship with him. But for now Telemachus had promised to take care of her son, and that was the only thing she needed to know.
Tristan was her main reason. She wished with all her heart that she came back to her son. Only after she made the enormous commitment did Beka realize that she truly wanted to be a mother. She also came to realize that she wasn't doing this to prove that she was in anyway better than Thalia. She didn't need proof of that. Beka agreed simple because she knew that she began to care for Tristan as her own child from the first night he suffered from nightmares and she came to his aid. Beka would spend the rest of her life making sure that those terrors never haunted him again. She would wipe away his tears and laugh at his smiles. She would watch him grow to manhood. If only she lived through this.
"Maru, get me a visual of Andomeda's med bay," she ordered. A second later, the image appeared on the screen. Tristan was exactly where she left him, sitting rigidly on the med table, his young face marred by lines of concentration. There were dry tear streak on his pale cheeks, but Beka could tell he hadn't cried since she and Rhade brought him to medical. He was too concentrated on staying alive to spend his lacking energy on tears. Tristan was quiet, not making a single sound or moving a muscle. It was a little comforting to Beka; the strong survival instincts from his Nietzschean half may help keep him quite and off the Magog's radar.
Beka kissed two of her fingeres and pressed the kiss to the image on the screen. "Be brave, baby," she whispered. "I'll be back soon."
At that moment, she received a clearence from Harper that the bomb was secure. "Show time."
---
"The Eureka Maru has been launched," Andromeda told her remaining crew, "and is on her way to the world ship."
Telemachus took Beka's place as the pilot. "Our weapons are all but useless," he said, "all I can do for Beka is to draw the swarm ship's fire on us. It may give her the time she needs to slip through their lines and to the world ship."
"Do it," Dylan ordered, but Rhade maneuvered the Andromeda even before Dylan gave the word.
Telemachus had never been more concentrated on any single task in his life. Under his precise guidance, the Andromeda lead most of the swarm ships away from their origin. Shells exploded on Andromeda's hull, but most of it was minor damage. Telemachus even managed to shake off some of the swarm ships that had punched through earlier. But in the end, everyone knew that it was up to Beka. If she couldn't launch the bomb correctly, they wouldn't be able to run from the swarm ships for much longer.
"How close does she have to be to the World Ship's sun for the bomb to be effective?" Dylan addressed Harper who had just arrived on command.
"Ah… a few hundred kilometers," Harper replied rather hesitantly.
"A few hundred kilometers!" Telemachus barked from his post. "She'll never clear the point singularity effects in time!"
"She might," Harper objected. "The Marue is way smaller than the Andromeda. The only thing is that she won't be able to enter slipstream because of the enormous gravitational effects. But if anyone can clear that mess in time, it's Beka."
"If what Harper says is true," Trance reasoned, "than we need to move as far away from the impact zone as we can, maybe even enter slipstream and move to a different system. The Andromeda really is much too large and will feel the gravitational effects greatly."
"We can't just leave Beka out here alone!" Rhade argued.
"We won't," the captain assured him, "but she knows what she's doing. Rhade, head for the edge of the system. As soon as we get a confirmation of the bomb's detonation, we'll head to the nearest safe zone. After the point singularity effects of the bomb have expired, we'll return to make sure Beka made it out okay. We're no good to her dead, Telemachus," he added.
Rhade muttered something else under his breath, but did as he was instructed and focused his remaining energy on piloting. Just then Andromeda's avatar appeared on the screen adjacent to the image of the World Ship.
"Captain," she spoke. "The Maru has reached it's optimal possition. Bomb launched. Impact in four…"
---
From her place in the Maru's pilot seat, Beka watched the bomb fly towards the scarlet sun of the world ship.
"Job well done," she told herself. "Now let's get the hell out of here." Maneuvering the Maru, she raced away from what was about to become a blazing inferno.
---
"Three…"
---
Tristan's white knuckled grip on the edge of the med table loosened a bit as the horrible sounds from outside began to die down. The child could only hope that it meant that the monsters were defeated and not the other way around.
---
"Two…"
---
The remaining crew of the Andromeda Ascendant stared at the screen for any and all signs. For better or worse, this was an end to part of the journey. They prayed there was something after it.
"One," then all hell broke loose in a white flash.