The unexpected arrival of the Andromeda Ascendant had been a welcome surprise to those on the Eureka Maru. The fact that Trance had survived to bring it to them had been even better.
They would finally be able to do something.
Even better, they would finally have access to things they had on the Andromeda but not on the Maru.
A med deck for one.
Something other than emergency rations for another.
The second was no problem but Beka felt her stomach churn when Trance's face crumbled at seeing Rhade's condition.
"We need to get him to the med deck as soon as possible." Harper notified Trance, despite the redundancy. That's when Beka knew that Trance's expression was not only in reaction to Rhade's condition.
She also had bad news.
"I'm sorry Beka. But the med deck got damaged quite a bit in the attack. I don't think I have all the necessary equipment to help him."
Harper continued pushing the floating stretcher as Beka stopped suddenly in her place, Trance staying behind with her. He put a hand on the Nietzschean's blanket covered shoulder.
"You just never get a break, do you?" His voice so low that only he and, had he been awake, Telemachus would have heard him.
There was, of course, no answer from the comatose man.
Harper sighed. They eventually made it to the med deck.
-----------"What do you mean you might not be able to help him?" Beka's eyes flashed. She had hoped that a lot of their problems would be solved with the arrival of the Andromeda. But so far, none of their serious problems had been solved. Although, if she were to think about it rationally, her expectation in itself had been irrational.
Of course, she never claimed to work well under seemingly impossible situations.
Trance just looked at her serenely. And was it just her or did Trance look a little green?
"Beka, I will try to get things working as much as I can but I cannot promise any miracles." She smiled a little at her own words. "At least, any other miracles."
She was happy to see Beka crack a little, reluctant, smile of her own.
-----------
Harper had set Rhade up on the least dirty bed he could find in the med deck and had covered him up to his shoulders in two blankets. He would have to take a look at the systems later. The place was cooler than usual.
He had then started doing an inventory of what medical systems were still operational and what wasn't. To his dismay not a lot was available.
"System mal-ma..malfunc-function." Harper jumped at the interruption by the sudden appearance of the unstable hologram of Andromeda. "Restart."
The lights blinked, as did the hologram for a second and when the hologram of the ship's AI appeared once again, it was without any instabilities in the hologram.
"Oh man, Andromeda, am I glad to see you." There was a pause before she answered in which she looked off into space while she went through her memory. Finally, she looked at him.
"Harper? What happened to me?" She looked around at the devastation, at the unconscious man and then back at the still shocked to his place engineer. "There is a lapse in my memory banks."
"Yeah, we don't know what happened. It was more than likely Trance, though. She did something that completely got rid of the Magog and the World Ship. I wouldn't be surprised if it affected you too."
Beka and Trance chose that moment to arrive in the med deck. Trance immediately went to Rhade's bed and Andromeda joined her.
"I'll be in the shop. Call me if anything changes." Harper said and left the room.
Somehow, it felt more like he was fleeing it.
TBC...
AN: Sorry it took so long. Now I know what others mean when they say RL intruded. Hopefully there'll be another chapter out soon - just watched "Abridging the Devil's Divide" for the first time. Can we say loads of inspiration as well as yum factors?