Child of the Sun Chapter 7, an andromeda fanfic

Author's Note: Italics signify thought or emphasis.

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"Harper, please stop pacing, you're going to wear holes in my floor," Rommie said dryly.

"Sorry, Rom Doll," Harper answered. He hoisted himself up onto one of his workbenches, studying the schematics on the flexie in his hand. "I just feel so bad about not fixing Alura's ship. The stuff she gave me is worth way more than a measly power core."

"Why aren't you fixing the Dance?" Rommie asked.

Harper looked at the android. Despite the fact that the AIs of ships were not supposed to become connected to their crews, Rommie regarded he, Dylan, Trance and Beka as family more than crew. Alura had not been on board long enough yet to earn Rommie's loyalty, but Trance certainly had. Whose side would Rommie take in his dilemma?

"Trance doesn't want the ship fixed yet because she thinks Alura will leave when it's done, and she still wants to get to know Alura better."

"Why doesn't she just ask Alura to stay?"

"I don't know, Rommie. It might have something to do with the fact that Alura told Rhade and me more about her past than she told Trance."

Rommie tilted her head. "What did you tell Alura about the repairs?"

"That I had more repairs to do on you that I'd forgotten about. Of course, if she offers to help, which I know she will, I'll have to find something for her to do that's more important than her core."

"And the information she gave you is really worth a lot?"

Harper jumped down from the workbench and picked up the two other flexies Alura had given him, waving all three in the air to gesture emphatically.

"Oh, yeah, this stuff is fantastic. Even with the basic ideas to get me started, it would have taken me awhile to work out all the bugs. I tried to get her to take the flexies and the emitter back until I could help her, but she just insisted I keep them, and to tell the truth I wanted to keep them."

"Alright, Harper, I've got a solution to ease your guilt. You work on the core. Don't tell Trance or Alura. If something happens and Alura needs the Dance it will be done, but she doesn't have to know about it until Trance feels more secure about her place in Alura's life."

"And I thought I was a genius," Harper crowed. "Rom Doll, you're the best."

The android rolled her eyes and pushed Harper away when the overzealous engineer kissed her cheek. Harper started tinkering about almost immediately, and after watching him for a few seconds, Rommie read the core schematics flexie and joined him. If something did happen to her, she wanted Harper's full attention back where it belonged as soon as possible.

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"Dylan..."

Trance's voice had taken on it's 'something bad is about to happen' tone and Dylan tensed. Sure enough, the holographic Rommie appeared a second later.

"Multiple slipstream events detected. Collector and Nietzschean crafts. Dozens of them. They're firing."

"Trance."

"Loading and firing all missile tubes, Dylan." Trance watched as half of her shots found non-lethal targets, disabling ships.

"Andromeda," Dylan ordered, "please tell Rhade and Beka to come to the bridge. As soon as there is any damage, get Harper on it. Oh, and get Alura to help him."

"Aye, Captain," the holograph responded.

"Dylan," Trance's voice was worried again, "there are two ships that somehow managed to get into hangar one. They may do more damage to the Dance."

"Damn Collectors, we are changing every access code on this ship when this is over!" Dylan half-yelled. "Andromeda, alert Alura that her ship is in danger and send a squad down there to take care of the problem."

"Aye, Captain," the holograph again replied.

Dylan moved quickly to the second weapons control panel and fired at one of the larger Collector ships.

"Why can't they leave us alone?" he muttered. "We're trying to save the universe here."

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Alura had just been on her way to engineering after Andromeda's first message from Dylan when she got the second. She immediately about-faced and ran back into her room, moving to the trunk in the corner that had been aboard the Dance what seemed like ages ago. Throwing the lid open, she unceremoniously dumped her clothes on the floor and took out a weapon belt. She quickly strapped the holders around her thighs and hips, sliding two force lances and two hand guns into their holsters.

Rommie was waiting outside her door when she re-emerged. The android handed her a force lance.

"I thought you might need one of these."

"Thank you, Rommie," Alura replied. "I'd rather not have to use up the charge on mine. I don't know if I could recharge them without the Dance."

Rommie's eyebrows scrunched together and she watched as Alura ran down the hall toward the hangar corridor. Alura worried for a moment that she might have to explain to Rommie how she had force lances and why hers were more powerful than the ones the crew of Andromeda used, but she let go of the concern for the time being. She couldn't let anything happen to the Dance.

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Beka and Rhade were leaving hangar three, just having finished a systems check on the Maru, when a group of Nietzscheans burst into the corridor from hangar one.

"Friends of yours?" Beka asked Rhade.

Rhade drew his force lance and ignored Beka's friendly jibe.

"That's him," one of the intruders shouted, pointing at Rhade. "Take him alive if you can, dead if you have to."

"Nice friends," Beka laughed, firing her pistol at the group.

The intruders suddenly hugged the walls and Rhade wasn't sure why until another figure came out of the hangar. A human, a Collector by the look of his uniform, walked out with a grenade launcher on his shoulder.

"Beka, get out of here," Rhade shouted, firing at the newest arrival. "Tell everyone to stay clear of the area until Andromeda tells you this guy is gone."

"Rhade..." Beka hesitated.

He turned and glared at her for a moment. "Beka, go. They want me, not you."

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Seeing the determined look in his eyes, Beka ran as fast as she could, hoping to find someone to help her close by. She turned a corner and spotted Alura running toward her, in the direction of the hangar bay.

"Rhade," she gasped, out of breath, "in trouble... grenade launcher."

Alura nodded and continued running.

Half a minute later, a squad of High Guard soldiers appeared in the hallway.

"Captain Valentine?" the leader questioned.

"Go," she ordered. "Help Lieutenant Rhade and Alura. I have to get to the bridge."

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Alura arrived just in time to watch Telemachus being dragged into the hangar where the Dance was located. Immediately taking note of the heavy preponderence of stun weapons and the lack of energy burns or blood on his body, she concluded that he was still alive. She shot two of the Nietzschean invaders with the lance Rommie had given her before one of the others made a comment she didn't completely understand.

"Fuck, they never told us she was a half-breed. Tell the Captain we have located our primary objective."

How could I possibly be their primary objective? No one outside this ship knows who I am.

Alura ducked and rolled toward the group when they fired their stun weapons at her. One of the blasts hit her shoulder and her nerve endings screamed at the sudden burning sensation – their weapons must be on full blast – but she pushed forward. There were simply too many of them against just her. She succeeded in slamming her bone blades into the chest of one of the men right before darkness consumed her.

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Ensign Kenyon entered hangar three with her weapon at the ready. But she and her squad, led by Lieutenant Walsh, were too late. Rhade and Alura were being loaded onto a Nietzschean fighter, both unconscious. The Nietzscheans guarding the retreat of the intruders fired on the squad and Alicia snarled when the Lieutenant was hit.

Walsh, a friend from their High Guard Academy days, fell to the ground. She grabbed his uniform by the shoulders and dragged him behind a barrel, out of the way of more weapons fire.

The squad fought back against the intruders, but they were greatly outnumbered and the invaders had been on their way out already. Three fallen Nietzscheans were left behind, but the rest got away.

"Captain Hunt," Alicia said into her communicator, "this is Ensign Kenyon. Lieutenant Rhade and Alura have been taken captive and the intruders have withdrawn. And Lieutenant Walsh requires medical attention."

"Thank you, Ensign," Dylan responded. "A medical team is on its way. As soon as you are able, please report to me in my ready room."

"Aye, Captain," Alicia responded.

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Five minutes later, Dylan and Trance walked into the med bay. Spotting Alicia Kenyon next to the cot of an injured but alive Walsh, Dylan approached the woman, a pale Trance by his side.

The attacking ships had all broken off once the invaders had left, leaving through multiple slipstream events. It was impossible to tell which path would lead them to Rhade and Alura. Or even if they had both been taken the same way. Trance was beside herself with worry over her missing daughter, and Dylan was beyond mad that the Collectors had again taken Rhade hostage. And why did they take Alura?

Dylan was getting really tired of people taking members of his crew. He had chosen to release those who had families or lives they wanted to get back to when he and the Andromeda had become outlaws. A surprising number of them had chosen to stay. Of course, he felt responsible for them now. He didn't want to lose any more crew members, even though he knew it was inevitable in a fight this big.

Although it had only been a short time, it had been his decision to seek out Kenyon. The sooner they discussed what had happened, the sooner they could plan a course of action. If it was possible.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Dylan asked.

"She's not... dead, is she?" Trance whispered.

"No, ma'am," Kenyon responded immediately. "They both appeared to be unharmed but knocked out from what I could see."

Dylan glanced at the bodies of the intruders that had been brought to med bay in preparation for storage.

"Andromeda, what do we know so far?"

The holograph appeared near the bodies. "I have no way of knowing why they would take Alura, but when they did, one of them mentioned her being their primary objective. Rhade they took for the price on his head. None of our people are dead; Walsh is the only serious injury and he will recover. Seven of their people were left behind, one is still alive but refuses to talk. The Nietzscheans we could identify were from the Drago-Katzoff Pride."

Dylan studied the body of one of the intruders. Two sets of three puncture marks in his chest were the obvious cause of death.

"Did Rhade do this?"

"No," Andromeda responded. "Alura did. Rhade was only able to get a few shots off before he was subdued. The ones he injured escaped, except for the one in the brig."

Dylan sighed, looking tired. "Let's go talk to our new friend."

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Preview: Our Heroes get some unexpected help.