Child of the Sun Chapter 3, an andromeda fanfic

Author's Note: Italics signify thought or emphasis.

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Trance watched her daughter as the three of them walked down the hall away from the hangar and toward the main part of the Andromeda. The younger woman was taller than Trance by a few inches, almost matching Dylan in height. Alura had a way of moving that reminded Trance of Dylan. Confident and measured. It wasn't the serenity of an Avatar who knew her chosen path. Rather, Dylan and Alura were a study in economy of movement, strides long and strong without either one of them using enough energy to tire themselves.

It had taken Trance awhile to train herself to keep up with Dylan as they walked the halls together. She still had to jog to keep up if he were in any sort of a hurry, even when he was just walking quickly. Had Alura gone through some form of military training? That could explain why they had the same bearing, but what about the similarity in the airs? It wasn't quite arrogance, but it came close. Could it be the air of command?

Alura had built her own ship, which meant she had to have a significant amount of money, especially to build a ship as nice as the Dance and be able to afford the programming of an AI. Had she earned her money as the Captain of a transport or warship? What system's military paid that well? The current member-planets of the Commonwealth certainly didn't.

Knowing it was useless to wish she could see into Alura's reality, Trance turned her full attention back to the present.

"Down this hall is the obs deck to the right and the mess to the left. If you go straight through the mess, you'll reach the kitchen. Most of the meals we eat come from the organic replicators, but we do occasionally have fresh food onboard that everyone is allowed to share."

When Dylan stopped for a breath, Trance butted in, "Many of my plants used to be in obs, you can put yours there if they don't fit in your room."

"Used to be?" Alura echoed.

"They have found homes all around the ship and with various crew members. And some of them are on the Maru."

Alura nodded her understanding.

They had reached the guest room corridor, and Dylan gestured along the length of the hallway.

"You can have any one of these rooms, they're all empty."

Alura took a step toward the closest one.

"That's one of the smaller ones," Dylan informed her. "Why don't you use one of the suites? I don't think we'll be needing them for dignitaries anytime soon."

"Small is fine. I'd like to be at this end of the hall so I'm close to the obs deck. I'd like to do my morning exercises there, if that's all right?"

"It's fine," Dylan assured. "Trance and I are the only ones who really use it unless we have an official gathering in celebration of something. Andromeda, please key guestroom 318 to Alura. Grant her complete access to the room for the foreseeable future."

A beep in the general vicinity of the room's door signaled Andromeda's fulfillment of the order. Dylan led the way into the room. It was a small one. It was actually two rooms, the bedroom and the bathroom. The bedroom was furnished with a single-size bed, a small table, one chair, and a closet. Alura set her bag on the table and turned back toward them.

"This is perfect, thank you. Shall we finish the tour before I start unpacking?"

Dylan gestured with one arm for the two women to proceed him back out of the room. Alura went first and Trance gave him a dazzling grateful smile before following. Trance turned back at the doorway when she didn't hear Dylan following them. He was still standing where he had been, staring at the place she had been when she smiled at him. A small smile was on his face and he appeared to be lost in thought.

"Are you sure that room will be big enough for you, Alura?" she asked, loud enough to snap Dylan out of his reverie.

"It's fine," Alura answered, adding under her breath but loud enough for Trance to hear her, "and it's only temporary."

Trance frowned at the thought. Where would Alura go once she fixed the Dance and left the Andromeda? There was nothing in this reality for her to go back to that Trance knew about, and even if there was something she didn't know about, how could it exist when Alura was from not only a different reality but a different time as well?

It seemed Dylan's thoughts were along the same track, for he asked, "Where will you go when your ship is fixed?"

Alura looked surprised at the question. It took her a minute to answer, and Trance realized she probably hadn't thought much beyond saving them from the Magog threat.

"I don't really know yet." Alura shrugged. "I suppose I'll try to find more ways to fight the Magog and the Abyss, anything to make Light the victor in the coming war."

Dylan corrected, "Don't you mean the continuing war?"

Alura laughed briefly, "I guess I do, where I came from the war was pretty much over, there was no one left who was powerful enough to fight the Abyss. I was trying to acclimate myself to the current point in time, I guess I overcompensated."

"I can see how it might be difficult," Dylan remarked dryly.

The three of them continued walking, going down two levels in the process. Trance was only slightly surprised when Alura went down the ladders the same way as Dylan, sliding down the outside edges instead of using the rungs.

"This is engineering, I apologize in advance for Mr. Harper," Dylan said when they reached their next destination. "But once he gets passed flirting, he'll be able to help you more than anyone else on this ship when it comes to anything mechanical."

"Thanks for the warning," Alura said softly.

It wasn't immediately obvious where Harper was, but a soft thud under what looked like the shell of an ancient Earth rocket alerted them to his location. He slid out from under the object, rubbing his forehead.

"Oh, hey boss," Harper said, his gaze falling first on Dylan. "You know, I think that EM pulse idea could be used to our advantage. I could rig the rocket to... " Harper trailed off momentarily, spotting Alura next. "Oh, come on, isn't changing colors once enough for you, Trance, I was just getting used to the red and gold you." Harper's eyes flicked to Trance. "Wait a minute." His gaze swung back to Alura. "You're not Trance, and what are those?" He gestured to her bone blades and made a face. "You're an uber?"

Instead of being mad at the hostile question, Alura looked amused.

"Mr. Harper, if any Nietzschean heard you call a half-breed like me an uber they'd be very insulted. In fact, I would be very careful how you refer to me around Lieutenant Rhade or any other Nietzscheans onboard."

"There are no other Nietzscheans on the Andromeda," Dylan supplied.

Alura sighed, Trance was sure it was with relief, and nodded.

"So, you're half-Nietzschean?" Harper asked for clarification. "Was that you in the ship that intercepted the EM Wave?"

"Yes and yes. My name is Alura. I'm Trance's daughter."

Harper's mouth fell open and stayed that way.

"Harper," Trance said gently, "she traveled across time and into another reality to save us from the Magog. She needs your help to replace her ship's core."

"The power core," Alura clarified. "I turned off what I could, but the core was zapped by the EM wave. I may have to replace slipstream as well, I'm not sure it powered down completely before the wave hit. I wouldn't suggest playing around with an EM weapon idea. It took a whole team to safely assemble the one I used, and it still wouldn't have worked separate from the ship. It draws a lot of power and I've never heard of one that didn't require someone to physically trigger it."

Harper smiled sheepishly. "I guess it would be really bad if I wiped the power on the Andromeda while I was trying to build one."

Dylan shot Harper a stern look, "Mr. Harper, you are not to try. That's an order."

"Sure, boss," Harper said half-absently, already moving on to the next thing. "I assume since your ship is so unique your core is not the standard?"

"No," Alura answered. "It isn't standard at all. But seeing what you have in here, you may have all the parts we'd need to build a new one."

Alura and Harper started talking in technical terms, and Trance tuned them out. She walked several steps away, Dylan following. She turned for a moment to watch one of her dearest friends and her daughter bond over something she had absolutely no head for.

"She must have gotten that from her father," Trance murmured, not realizing she had said it aloud until Dylan responded.

"Yes, but she obviously got her heart and her beauty from her mother."

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Preview: The next chapter will wrap up the tour and we'll learn a little more about Alura (only a little though - evil laugh).