----DreamScape----

The situation was getting desperate. He could feel it even though he didn't know the reason for it. Once again, he was in a body he knew was not his own.

This time though, he had a pretty good idea as to whose body this was.

Gaheris Rhade.

His great-great grandfather. He was entering the machine shop, his forcelance drawn for some reason unknown to him. The knlazons were blaring in the background and as an observer, he tried to figure out what was going on.

"Andromeda, I've found the tesseract machine." His hands activated the forcelance. "I'm about to destroy it." Blue light flashed before his eyes, taking both of him by surprise. They were even more surprised when Beka and Trance -familiar to one but not the other- appeared out of thin air.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Trance stepped forward, not caring that the same forcelance he had just activated was now pointed at her.

"Beka, who the hell is this?"

/Beka still looks the same./ the thought came to mind even as Trance spoke, annoyed.

"I'm Trance and I have come to tell you that if you destroy that machine, your mission and everything you have done to further it, will have been for nothing." He could feel a myriad of emotions going though Gaheris. Some he understood, others he didn't.

"Your mission is failing, captain." Denial flooded their minds a she shook his head.

"I've had set backs it's true but I don't believe in failure."

"That's why we thought you were the one to restore the Commonwealth, forge civilization where anarchy once ruled. Lead our armies into the battle to come." This was more surprising to Telemachus than it was to Gaheris. He had realized that the events he was witnessing couldn't possible be true but the presence of Trance and Beka as well as the whole thing with the tesseract machine, which he knew of from Andromeda's records, were starting to paint a different picture to him.

"But you don't believe in that anymore." Trance shook her head as she answered Gaheris.

"no, I have seen the future, Captain. I've lived it. I know what happens. Your life can still mean something. You still have contributions to make but you are not the one."

"Then who is?" he asked, but, filled with dread, he realized he already knew.

"I think you already know who."

"Dylan." With mounting horror, Telemachus felt, for a moment, that he knew what Trance's life was like. Because at that moment, he could see, clear as day, what was going to happen. A few minutes had already gone by before he started to pay attention to the conversation once more.

"Trust me captain, please. Let me help you create the world you wished for when you killed your best friend. Let me help you save him." For the first time, Gaheris turned to Beka.

"I don't suppose you have any witty but only marginally helpful bon mots to offer?" His tone was resigned. He had already made his decision.

"No, I wish I did." he smiled gently at that.

"Me too."

"Look Gaheris, I have to tell you. Too wierd not to be true." She walked up to him, standing close enough that they could feel one another's body heat. "Our situation is to desperate for you not to try. YOu said you wanted to fix what you helped destroy. I guess what you have to ask yourself is how badly do you want that. Badly enough to kill for it? Badly enough-"

"Badly enough." With a deep breath, he holstered the forgotted forcelance. Without looking up, "History will judge me a traitor for what I am about to do. But if he fails, if Dylan fails, imagine how they'll judge him."

"With silence." Trance answered gently.

Gaheris nodded to himself, his decision finalizing itself in his mind.

All he had to do now was say goodbye.

Looking up at Beka, he leaned in and gently kissed her, trying to savor it, knowing that it would never be repeated.

Knowing that if he was successful, it would have never have happened.

----End DreamScape----

This time the emergence from unconsciousness was not gradual. Instead, it was only form one second to the next that Telemachus woke up. For the first time since he had first woken up from his injuries, he felt like he actually knew himself.

But that wasn't all. He also knew a Gaheris Rhade that happened yet at the same time never came to be, just as he knew many other Telemachus and Gaheris Rhade's, variations from one universe to the other.

Looking around the room, he saw the one person that he knew was responsible for some of what had happened or at least a witness to them.

"Trance." The golden avatar turned and came to his bedside, a large smile on her face.

"You're awake! You scared a lot of people you know." he knew she actually meant a select few.

"How did I get here?"

"Harper found you unconscious in one of the hallways. You lucky he found you there. Andromeda didn't see you because of some rewiring that's going on. You've been unconscious for two days now." That explained his grumbling stomach. He had barely had anything to eat before he had gone to see Louisa.

"Trance."

"Yes?"

"Why can I remember the life of Gaheris Rhade?"

"Well I'm sure you're well versed on your ancestors-"

"No, not Commander Gaheris Rhade... I'm talking about Captain Gaheris Rhade of the Andromeda Ascendant." Trance froze in her spot, her wide eyes staring at Telemachus.

AN: Sorry this took so long. School ended last week so I've been lazing away at home. Ahh, the good life of a college student. Fortunately for you guys, the actual fall quarter starts next week so you'll probably be getting more chapters, faster, though don't hold me to that. It also means more schoolwork.