Chapter 4
Beka held onto the ship's controls, trying to keep the disruptions from the tunnel's wake from pushing them off course. The Maru had to deliver Harper's bomb exactly where it needed to be for this mission to be a success - for the universe to be saved.
"Coming in low and slow. Preparing to launch Roseanne," Beka announced, her eyes focused on the viewscreen ahead, not chancing to look back at Tyr. So far so good. The dimension-shifting aliens hadn't tried to attack the Maru - yet - and they were mere seconds away from victory. "Ten, nine, eight," she began the countdown.
At "six," she heard the alien growl, heard the crunch of bone and flesh as Tyr fought with the creature. She cried out his name, hoping he'd say something to let her know he was okay, but he didn't. Only the sounds of his continuing struggle let her know he was even alive.
Then, she was in position, ready to drop the bomb. As she pressed the button, she breathed a sigh of relief, thanking the Divine. No matter what happened from here on out, even if they didn't survive, their mission had been accomplished. Harper, Dylan, Trance, Rommie...the whole Commonwealth would be safe.
As the bomb exploded in the tunnel, shockwaves raced through space. The force of the blast and the resulting gravity wake rocked the cargo ship, setting off explosions that nearly tore the vessel apart. The smell of burning metal permeated the air as a wall of fire flew through the ship.
Beka screamed as force and energy ran through her body. She was being ripped in pieces; she was going to die. She saw a blinding blue light envelop the ship before everything went black.
****
It was done. Trance gave a sad smile as she felt Beka and Tyr disappear from this time. No one else could know that she knew they were gone, so she had to act normally - well, as normal as Trance Gemini got. "Beka did it!" she shouted, showing her enthusiasm. Despite her sadness at her friends' disappearance, she was excited. No matter what happened now -- or what would happen then -- the tunnel was destroyed. Beka and Tyr had accomplished something great.
"Rommie, find the Maru," Dylan commanded.
"Scanning," the AI replied, her fingers moving quickly over her computer station.
Trance wished she could tell them what had happened, that it had to happen for history to be right, for all people to be safe. Gandalf was right - Beka and Tyr had had to go back in time. That was what they were meant to do.
Harper's voice came over the intercom, telling how the bomb had destroyed the enemy's dimension-shifting capabilities, leaving the Andromeda and the Commonwealth safe in their own dimension.
Harper would miss them. He'd loved Beka like a big sister for years, and lately he and Tyr had become almost as close as brothers. He'd worry, and grieve when he assumed they were dead. Trance looked over at Dylan and Rommie. They'd all mourn Beka and Tyr's "deaths."
"Rommie, the Maru," Dylan urged again, worry apparent in his voice.
"I've found it. It's on its way back to the ship...on autopilot."
Trance saw the horror in Dylan's eyes before he raced off of the bridge to the docking bay. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Rommie, with her hyper-acute android hearing, looked at her strangely before turning back to the viewscreen.
"Stay safe," Trance wished silently, hoping her friends would find their way back home one day.
****
Meanwhile, the crew from Angel Investigations were racing through the streets of twenty-first century Los Angeles.
"Cordelia." Angel tried to concentrate on driving, but Cordy's lack of communication was maddening. She hadn't told anyone where they were going, though she gave clear directions to the unknown location.
"Are you going to tell us where we're goin' anytime soon?" Gunn asked. "'Cause this 'mysterious silence' thing isn't workin' for me anymore."
"We're almost there," Cordy assured him. "There!" she pointed to the right. "That's where we're going."
As the Angelmobile pulled up against the curb, the crew jumped out, weapons ready. Cordelia looked up, scanning the sky.
Fred, noticing the direction of Cordy's gaze began to worry more than ever. "Are we going to be abducted by aliens? Because I've read that it's very unpleasant."
"Almost time," Cordelia strode down a nearby street, leaving the others to catch up.
Angel sprinted to catch up with her and grabbed her arm, spinning her around. "We're not going any further until you explain exactly what you're up to and where we're going."
"We have to help these people," Cordy began. She took a deep breath, looking around at all of her friends before continuing. "The people who are going to fall out of the sky."
"That's ridiculous," Angel insisted. "People don't just fall out of the sky."
The group looked up as a flash of blue light shone in the sky, with what appeared to be two people falling from the blue light.
"Except for those people," Gunn commented.
"Let's go," Cordelia commanded, heading in the direction of the falling people.
****
Beka opened her eyes as she felt herself falling. What the hell was going on? The Maru was missing, she was in the sky over a planet, and she was falling fast, without any anti-grav equipment to break her fall.
"I hate planets," she murmured, falling into something soft and incredibly pungent.
She sat up and looked around. She was in a big metal bin, filled with... yep, garbage. Well, that would explain the stench -- she was in some kind of garbage bin. Ew. Beka shrugged. At least it had cushioned her landing. She climbed to her feet and clambered over the bin's edge. She landed on her feet on the hard ground.
Beka pulled out her Gauss gun before surveying her surroundings. She was in an alley, that much was instantly obvious. Buildings towered around her, lights of nearby buildings stretching up to the sky. Seemed to be a pretty big city, likely a fairly advanced place. Still, she didn't see any ships above her, and there were strange noises coming from the front of the alleyway, sort of like ships whizzing by close to the ground.
A society that still used ground transportation? Maybe not as advanced as she'd first thought. "Only one way to find out," she said under her breath.
No sign of Tyr. Wherever he was, she hoped he was okay. Damn it, why couldn't they have stayed together? If she was going to be confronting potentially hostile aliens on an unknown planet, she couldn't think of anyone she'd rather have at her back than Tyr. There might be other reasons why she wished he were here, but those were things she didn't want to think about right now.
Beka kept her gun at the ready as she surveyed the alley. She needed to find something to tell her exactly where she was.
She stilled as another figure moved into the alley. Two people, she amended, as the two men stepped closer. One was blond, the other dark-haired, but they were both tall and muscular, and both dressed all in leather. Tough guys with attitude.
"Well, look what we have here," said the blond. As he stepped under the streetlight, Beka realized he wasn't human. He had ridges on his forehead, and very sharp-looking teeth...almost like fangs.
Damn. This really, didn't look good, she thought to herself, tightening her grip on her gun. She didn't want to shoot anyone before she knew something about this planet and its people - but she was reassured that it was an option if these... things... really did attack her.
The two men cautiously approached Beka, one from the left, the other from the right. "Looks like we found someone to have a little fun with," the dark-haired vampire sneered.
Beka leveled her gun at him, keeping one eye on the other man. "I think you'll find that I'm not really one for 'fun.'"
He laughed, as if being held at gunpoint was something funny. "Look, Ray," he said, smirking at Beka. "The chick's got a gun."
"Yeah, Doug. She's armed," he snickered.
Beka involuntarily took a step backwards. They were laughing at her gun. Not a good sign. Maybe she was in more trouble than she originally thought.
The dark-haired man - Doug - opened his arms wide, making himself a perfect target. "Go ahead, babe. Shoot me."
She hesitated, and he lunged at Beka, almost too quickly for her to see. She landed flat on her back, with Doug on top of her, her gun pointed directly at his heart. "Go ahead," he said. "Make my day."
Beka pulled the trigger, scorch marks from her gun spreading over her attacker's chest. She pushed him off of her, jumping to her feet and leaving the dead body behind her.
"So, Ray." She carefully aimed her gun in his direction. "You want to be next?"
She stared, puzzled, as he smiled. "No, actually. I think he does."
The blond pointed behind her, but Beka wasn't going to fall for it. The only one behind her was dead Doug. No one could survive a point-blank Gauss Gun blast through the heart. Unless...
A look of horror crossed her face as she felt a hand on her neck. Had she landed on a planet of people invulnerable to gunfire? She gasped in pain as she was gripped harder, her body pulled back until she was flush against her attacker's body. "That wasn't very nice," he growled in her ear, his sharp teeth scraping along the tender flesh of her neck.
Beka struggled against him, but he was too strong - super-humanly strong. He was an immovable object, and now, he was pissed. At her. He grabbed her gun with his other hand, forcing her arms down as Ray moved in closer with fangs bared.
Beka began to hyperventilate. She'd landed on a planet of evil, flesh-eating, gun-proof monsters. She was going to die.
"I think it's dinner time," the blond snarled, and each man leaned in closer, one on either side of Beka's neck.
Rebecca Valentine closed her eyes and prepared to die.
Beka held onto the ship's controls, trying to keep the disruptions from the tunnel's wake from pushing them off course. The Maru had to deliver Harper's bomb exactly where it needed to be for this mission to be a success - for the universe to be saved.
"Coming in low and slow. Preparing to launch Roseanne," Beka announced, her eyes focused on the viewscreen ahead, not chancing to look back at Tyr. So far so good. The dimension-shifting aliens hadn't tried to attack the Maru - yet - and they were mere seconds away from victory. "Ten, nine, eight," she began the countdown.
At "six," she heard the alien growl, heard the crunch of bone and flesh as Tyr fought with the creature. She cried out his name, hoping he'd say something to let her know he was okay, but he didn't. Only the sounds of his continuing struggle let her know he was even alive.
Then, she was in position, ready to drop the bomb. As she pressed the button, she breathed a sigh of relief, thanking the Divine. No matter what happened from here on out, even if they didn't survive, their mission had been accomplished. Harper, Dylan, Trance, Rommie...the whole Commonwealth would be safe.
As the bomb exploded in the tunnel, shockwaves raced through space. The force of the blast and the resulting gravity wake rocked the cargo ship, setting off explosions that nearly tore the vessel apart. The smell of burning metal permeated the air as a wall of fire flew through the ship.
Beka screamed as force and energy ran through her body. She was being ripped in pieces; she was going to die. She saw a blinding blue light envelop the ship before everything went black.
****
It was done. Trance gave a sad smile as she felt Beka and Tyr disappear from this time. No one else could know that she knew they were gone, so she had to act normally - well, as normal as Trance Gemini got. "Beka did it!" she shouted, showing her enthusiasm. Despite her sadness at her friends' disappearance, she was excited. No matter what happened now -- or what would happen then -- the tunnel was destroyed. Beka and Tyr had accomplished something great.
"Rommie, find the Maru," Dylan commanded.
"Scanning," the AI replied, her fingers moving quickly over her computer station.
Trance wished she could tell them what had happened, that it had to happen for history to be right, for all people to be safe. Gandalf was right - Beka and Tyr had had to go back in time. That was what they were meant to do.
Harper's voice came over the intercom, telling how the bomb had destroyed the enemy's dimension-shifting capabilities, leaving the Andromeda and the Commonwealth safe in their own dimension.
Harper would miss them. He'd loved Beka like a big sister for years, and lately he and Tyr had become almost as close as brothers. He'd worry, and grieve when he assumed they were dead. Trance looked over at Dylan and Rommie. They'd all mourn Beka and Tyr's "deaths."
"Rommie, the Maru," Dylan urged again, worry apparent in his voice.
"I've found it. It's on its way back to the ship...on autopilot."
Trance saw the horror in Dylan's eyes before he raced off of the bridge to the docking bay. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Rommie, with her hyper-acute android hearing, looked at her strangely before turning back to the viewscreen.
"Stay safe," Trance wished silently, hoping her friends would find their way back home one day.
****
Meanwhile, the crew from Angel Investigations were racing through the streets of twenty-first century Los Angeles.
"Cordelia." Angel tried to concentrate on driving, but Cordy's lack of communication was maddening. She hadn't told anyone where they were going, though she gave clear directions to the unknown location.
"Are you going to tell us where we're goin' anytime soon?" Gunn asked. "'Cause this 'mysterious silence' thing isn't workin' for me anymore."
"We're almost there," Cordy assured him. "There!" she pointed to the right. "That's where we're going."
As the Angelmobile pulled up against the curb, the crew jumped out, weapons ready. Cordelia looked up, scanning the sky.
Fred, noticing the direction of Cordy's gaze began to worry more than ever. "Are we going to be abducted by aliens? Because I've read that it's very unpleasant."
"Almost time," Cordelia strode down a nearby street, leaving the others to catch up.
Angel sprinted to catch up with her and grabbed her arm, spinning her around. "We're not going any further until you explain exactly what you're up to and where we're going."
"We have to help these people," Cordy began. She took a deep breath, looking around at all of her friends before continuing. "The people who are going to fall out of the sky."
"That's ridiculous," Angel insisted. "People don't just fall out of the sky."
The group looked up as a flash of blue light shone in the sky, with what appeared to be two people falling from the blue light.
"Except for those people," Gunn commented.
"Let's go," Cordelia commanded, heading in the direction of the falling people.
****
Beka opened her eyes as she felt herself falling. What the hell was going on? The Maru was missing, she was in the sky over a planet, and she was falling fast, without any anti-grav equipment to break her fall.
"I hate planets," she murmured, falling into something soft and incredibly pungent.
She sat up and looked around. She was in a big metal bin, filled with... yep, garbage. Well, that would explain the stench -- she was in some kind of garbage bin. Ew. Beka shrugged. At least it had cushioned her landing. She climbed to her feet and clambered over the bin's edge. She landed on her feet on the hard ground.
Beka pulled out her Gauss gun before surveying her surroundings. She was in an alley, that much was instantly obvious. Buildings towered around her, lights of nearby buildings stretching up to the sky. Seemed to be a pretty big city, likely a fairly advanced place. Still, she didn't see any ships above her, and there were strange noises coming from the front of the alleyway, sort of like ships whizzing by close to the ground.
A society that still used ground transportation? Maybe not as advanced as she'd first thought. "Only one way to find out," she said under her breath.
No sign of Tyr. Wherever he was, she hoped he was okay. Damn it, why couldn't they have stayed together? If she was going to be confronting potentially hostile aliens on an unknown planet, she couldn't think of anyone she'd rather have at her back than Tyr. There might be other reasons why she wished he were here, but those were things she didn't want to think about right now.
Beka kept her gun at the ready as she surveyed the alley. She needed to find something to tell her exactly where she was.
She stilled as another figure moved into the alley. Two people, she amended, as the two men stepped closer. One was blond, the other dark-haired, but they were both tall and muscular, and both dressed all in leather. Tough guys with attitude.
"Well, look what we have here," said the blond. As he stepped under the streetlight, Beka realized he wasn't human. He had ridges on his forehead, and very sharp-looking teeth...almost like fangs.
Damn. This really, didn't look good, she thought to herself, tightening her grip on her gun. She didn't want to shoot anyone before she knew something about this planet and its people - but she was reassured that it was an option if these... things... really did attack her.
The two men cautiously approached Beka, one from the left, the other from the right. "Looks like we found someone to have a little fun with," the dark-haired vampire sneered.
Beka leveled her gun at him, keeping one eye on the other man. "I think you'll find that I'm not really one for 'fun.'"
He laughed, as if being held at gunpoint was something funny. "Look, Ray," he said, smirking at Beka. "The chick's got a gun."
"Yeah, Doug. She's armed," he snickered.
Beka involuntarily took a step backwards. They were laughing at her gun. Not a good sign. Maybe she was in more trouble than she originally thought.
The dark-haired man - Doug - opened his arms wide, making himself a perfect target. "Go ahead, babe. Shoot me."
She hesitated, and he lunged at Beka, almost too quickly for her to see. She landed flat on her back, with Doug on top of her, her gun pointed directly at his heart. "Go ahead," he said. "Make my day."
Beka pulled the trigger, scorch marks from her gun spreading over her attacker's chest. She pushed him off of her, jumping to her feet and leaving the dead body behind her.
"So, Ray." She carefully aimed her gun in his direction. "You want to be next?"
She stared, puzzled, as he smiled. "No, actually. I think he does."
The blond pointed behind her, but Beka wasn't going to fall for it. The only one behind her was dead Doug. No one could survive a point-blank Gauss Gun blast through the heart. Unless...
A look of horror crossed her face as she felt a hand on her neck. Had she landed on a planet of people invulnerable to gunfire? She gasped in pain as she was gripped harder, her body pulled back until she was flush against her attacker's body. "That wasn't very nice," he growled in her ear, his sharp teeth scraping along the tender flesh of her neck.
Beka struggled against him, but he was too strong - super-humanly strong. He was an immovable object, and now, he was pissed. At her. He grabbed her gun with his other hand, forcing her arms down as Ray moved in closer with fangs bared.
Beka began to hyperventilate. She'd landed on a planet of evil, flesh-eating, gun-proof monsters. She was going to die.
"I think it's dinner time," the blond snarled, and each man leaned in closer, one on either side of Beka's neck.
Rebecca Valentine closed her eyes and prepared to die.