Aboard the Eureka Maru

Beka looked down at her long-time friend as he came in through the hatch, followed by a young girl. She raised an eyebrow at him. She watched as he spoke in the girl's ear, pointing in the direction they had taken Rhade. The girl left and Harper made his way p to her side. "Who's that?" She couldn't help the slight twinge of annoyance that crept into her tone. "Sharla. She's Louisa's daughter. Figured I couldn't leave her there when she found us in Marlowe's office." Beka nodded slowly, her thoughts mostly elsewhere. "You think Dylan made it?" she asked Harper. It took a moment for him to answer. "I know he did." He said, his voice full of confidence that amazingly enough, he actually felt. There was actually no doubt in his mind that Dylan, while not being with them, was just fine. Just like he knew that Trance and the Andromeda were fine. He just knew it. All that they needed to do was wait for them. They'd be there sometime soon. Beka nodded once at his answer. She wouldn't admit it out loud but, she had felt the same thing, the same certainty. So, at that moment, she would worry instead, about what was right in front of them. Namely, their injured crew mate. "Right. Let's go see about Rhade." With a determined look on her face, Beka went to the larger quarters where Rhade and Sharla were. Looking at the girl who was at the moment wiping away the blood on Rhade's face, Beka couldn't help but be reminded of the last time she had been standing over him. That time, though, his unconscious state had been her fault and it had been her who was wiping away the blood on his brow and treating the injuries that she had caused.

9 weeks ago

In some corner of her mind, Beka Valentine realized that she was not in the pilot seat. She had felt it take over her as she had watched Rhade sleep peacefully, and she had let it put on the bio-armor, giving it full control. From that moment on, rage had dominated her thoughts. Rage against Tyr, for betraying them, then dying. Rage against Rhade, for not only replacing Tyr but for being a Nietszchean as well as the genetic reincarnation of a man who had betrayed her captain. Rage against herself even, for letting all the rage control her.

Now, she once again, felt that rage envelop her as she watched Rhade sleep, this time with his back to her. That, for some reason, made her hate him even more. She did not stop to question the unreasonable anger, she only let it feed her rage, building it into a blazing inferno in her mind. As it rose within her, she brought down the ax that she suddenly realised she had grabbed at some point from the cockpit to the sleeping quarters. The fact that Rhade woke up (or was, perhaps never really asleep) to block the weapon with one of his own did not help matters any. And his kick to her jaw only served to make her angrier. Looking at him, as he got into a fighting stance, she felt like she was on top of her world. She could handle him. He was nothing, in her eyes.

"You were wrong about one thing. Expecting something and being prepared for it; two very different things." She swung the ax three times, missing him with each. She did however slam the body of her makeshift weapon right into his face, causing him to roll backwards into the hallway. In the time it took for her to get to him, he quickly got up on one knee, grabbed his dagger and spoke to her.

"Don't make me kill you." To her, that seemed like a completely un- Nietszchean thing to say. And to her, that was yet another thing that made him different from Tyr, only serving to remind her of all the reasons she hated Rhade. She brought down the ax only to be blocked once more by his dagger. For a second, when he had stabbed her, or at least tried to, she had forgotten about the bio-armor. She had expected to be killed by the Nietszchean and amazingly enough, had felt nothing but even more rage at the thought. Which was why, when the dagger didn't kill her, in fact, didn't even pierce her clothing, she smirked at Rhade's surprised expression. She felt smug.

"You mean like this?" And she knocked away the hand that held the dagger. Grabbing hold of his neck, she lifted him easily, slamming him into the wall.

"Why make a threat if you can't follow through?" He tried to keep her ax away but failed, ending up with a slash on his thigh and spark in his face. The voice in her head was cackling as she slammed Rhade into the doors of a closet, holding him there by one foot in the middle of his chest. Looking into his eyes as he strained to use his strength to get out from under her, she felt glorious. For all their posing, she had finally proven at least this Nietszchean inferior. And with that smug thought, she kicked him back into the wire mesh and as he bounced back, she grabbed him and without a thought, through him over and behind the table.

It took him more than a moment to get up and before he had even made it to her height, she delivered a fierce backhand. She smirked as he spun and fell to the ground again, flipping backwards to face her. This time she didn't even wait for him to make it to his knees. Putting the toe of her boot under his chin, she forced him to rise then pushed him back.

Had she been in her right mind she would have winced when he slammed his spine into the steel rails that lined the catwalk. However, she wasn't. So her current state of mind only laughed at seeing the health of the "disgraced Admiral" subject to her whim.

This time he didn't get up. And she decided that enough was enough. This Nietszchean would pay for what the other one had done to her.

One heart for another sounded perfectly reasonable to her.

The red of her rage creeped around her vision, blocking out all sound except for the wonderful one of his ribs cracking under the pressure of her hand. This was it. Sweet revenge.

Then suddenly, the red was gone.

And she was left looking at a much different Rhade than when she last remembered. She felt his hand parting the folds of her coat, revealing the bio-armor, and she felt it fall away as he collapsed back into unconsciousness.

What have I done?

Present Day

Beka couldn't help but feel that same helplessness as she once more looked down at the unconscious form of her shipmate. However this time, there was no guilt. Except maybe for her treatment of him concerning Louisa.

However little the Nietszchean woman had changed things, she had not deserved to die. Rhade had not deserved to lose her, that was for certain. Her thoughts were interrupted by Harper who was currently standing over Rhade with some medical intruments in hand.

"Hey boss, I don't know if I'm reading this right, after all I haven't had much experience with the Nietszchean physiology, but according to this, Rhade is halfway between serious and critical." Suddenly, all her senses were thrained on what was happening in front of her.

"What do you mean?!"

TBC...

You guys had better be thankful. Writing this is eating out of my precious sleep time that I desperately need before facing an irritating boss. But do not worry, I've got too much inspiration to keep you guys waiting for long. Of course that DOES NOT mean that you can suddenly stop reviewing. Those bright little e-mails lighten up my day.