Tyr's POV

He waited, taut. His heart ached with joy for her. He looked deep into her eyes and what he saw twisted in his gut. She was being manipulated. The choice wasn't hers. The Abyss held her. But how?

How had the Abyss gained control? Why was she suddenly vulnerable? He was missing most of the pieces; but if he didn't solve this puzzle, they would lose her to the Abyss forever. He would do whatever he had to do to see that that didn't happen. He knew from experience how seductive the darkness was, how hard to fight. But her light was stronger than the darkness before; and it could be again, if he could just figure out how the Abyss was affecting her and help her overcome it. The look of anguish on the purple Trance nearest him tugged at his heart and he reached out a finger to wipe a tear from her cheek.

The colored Trances around him began to undulate as she made her decision. As he saw that motion reflected in the teardrop on his finger, Tyr remembered his ancient science professor reading Annie Cannon aloud, "Sunlight and starlight are composed of waves of various lengths, which the eye, even aided by a telescope, is unable to separate. We must use more than a telescope. In order to sort out the component colors, the light must be dispersed by a prism, or split up by some other means" (272). In that moment he knew that something was dispersing Trance's light; the Abyss must have gone to the source. It must have sabotaged Trance's sun.

An evil grin split her lovely face as the ripples resolved and the brig appeared around them. She needed him to play a specific role right now; and for the moment, he would fulfill her expectations, the violation would come later. "Drago's bones woman, why? These people love you. Are you enacting some sort of juvenile tit for tat?"

Helping her was going to be tricky. This room wouldn't hold her; but apparently she wanted to pretend to be a prisoner. His eyebrow raised almost imperceptibly at the idea that she thought him stupid enough to believe that. It was time to raise the ante.

I leaned into her where she sat on the Brig bench. I placed a hand on each of her thighs and squeezed tightly. Ignoring her discomfort, I captured her lips with mine, pressing her head back against the Brig wall, hard. Enraged, she twisted in an effort to avoid me; but I ravished her mouth, bent her completely to my desire. And all the while, I breathed her.

I released her abruptly and stepped back. "Sure you don't want to rethink that choice?" I taunted before I exited the Brig. That should tick her off plenty. Focusing her rage on me just might make the rest of the crew a little bit safer.

I took every conduit short cut and, at top speed, beat my previous best time from the brig to engineering.

"Harper, report!" I barked.

"I've cleared the virus from Rommie's systems and repaired as much of the fight damage as I could quickly. She's running a self-diagnostic followed by a programmed reboot. She'll be up and running again in about thirty minutes. Our Gorgonyte buddy here has constructed a counter virus. Andromeda's systems will be fully restored in about twenty minutes. We think Rha'kan programmed it into nanytes and they are causing Dylan's infection. He's programming some with the counter virus. Hopefully the nanyte flu shot will fix the Captain's sniffles" the beleaguered engineer responded.

"Good work," I grinned, clamping a hand on his shoulder, "and now I have another job for you. I left Trance locked in the Brig. I'd like you to go keep an eye on her."

As Harper exited engineering, my mind worked furiously. I needed him to keep Trance occupied while I put my plan into action. I addressed the Gorgonyte, "Thank you for your help with the virus."

"Tara' Han," it replied, "My name is Tara' Han." It blinked its eyes slowly. "I never expected fair treatment and trust from a Nietzschean; but you have shown me both."

"Call me Tyr," I responded, "and I hope my trust in you made an impression because I'm about to ask you to trust me in return. Tell me about the sun that your ancestral homeworld orbits. What color is it?"

"An odd question. It used to be blue; but a couple of years ago it shifted to yellow. Why?"

Tara' Han gave me an odd look as I exclaimed, "I knew it!" striking the console with my fist as I spoke.

The violence of my reaction caused the Gorgonyte to jump a little and roll its eyes at me in fear. "Relax!" I growled. "I'm pleased, not angry. Now, tell me the coordinates of your homeworld."

Tara' Han recoiled, "You expect me to betray my people."

"No," I said flatly, "Despite everything they have done, I plan to help you save them."

"Andromeda, display a picture of Trance for Tara' Han, a purple picture" I ordered.
The ship provided a darling picture that included both Trance's tail and tattoo.

The Gorgonyte's eyes widened and it made some strange movements with its arms before it said. "What kind of beings are you to possess images of the Goddess? She will smite you."

"Yes," I chuckled, "I'm sure that she would very much like to smite me right now. The being that I know as Trance is the same being that your people have worshipped for centuries. And that, Tara' Han, is why I need you to enter the coordinates of your homeworld into Andromeda's computer system before Trance breaks out of the Brig and comes to collect you."

The Gorgonyte looked skeptical. "We don't have much time," I told him, "I suspect that she intends to return home and take you with her. If the Andromeda doesn't know where she is headed, we won't be able to help you or your people."

One of the lights on the console flashed. "The nanyte reprogramming is complete," Tara' Han said as he handed me the container. "You should take them to your Captain." I could see that he remained unconvinced.

"Tyr," Andromeda demanded my attention. "Harper has entered the Brig."

"Tell Beka to meet me in medical, now!" I moved toward the door. "Tara' Han, the decision is yours. I'll do what I can to help you and protect you and your people from Trance's plans. I'll come back after I have delivered the nanytes to learn your decision."

I dashed to medical; I didn't have much time now. Beka arrived only a second after I did. I loaded a hypo with Tara' Han's reprogrammed nanytes and handed it to Beka with instructions to administer it to Dylan.

"Explanation? You planning one?" she asked. I could tell that she wanted to trust me but wasn't sure she should.

"Yeah, but you won't like it," I frowned. "That hypo is loaded with nanytes reprogrammed by the Gorgonyte with a counter-virus. I trusted him to help you and Andromeda. Now I'm trusting him to help Dylan."

Before she could object, I cut her off. "I don't have time to argue. Trance is being influenced by the Abyss. She is in the Brig with Harper right now; but she won't stay there long."

"With Harper, are you insane? She'll kill him. He isn't strong enough to stop her." She paused as the realization hit her. "Oh my God, you're using him as bait."

"Yes, and I plan to keep my word to a Gorgonyte. I'll probably make Trance pay for that someday, but not today. Today, her decisions are being manipulated by the Abyss. Just look at the results of her actions. She can't help it; she is raging out of control. If we can't find a way to fix her, then we'll have to adapt to her until we can. Tell me Beka, who on this ship is better equipped to control raging emotion than me? Who feels as deeply as a Nietzschean? You can't be jealous of her; you have no reason. We both know where your heart lies."

"You could use a little doctoring before your next round with her." She took some supplies from the drawers and cabinets, preparing to tend his wounds. "Go on. I'm listening."

"You know she's going to steal a ship, probably yours. She knows that I won't let her take this one while Dylan is too incapacitated to fight for himself. She'll take the Gorgonyte and the little professor. That's why I think she'll take the Maru; three's a crowd for a slipfighter. But I'll be on board the Maru too, though she won't know it. She and I haven't danced our last dance yet. The rest is up to you, Dylan and Rommie. "

"What rest?" Beka asked as she began to attempt to doctor my wounds.

"The Gorgonyte is going to provide Andromeda with the coordinates of its homeworld. I think that's where Trance will head once she leaves the Andromeda. In return for the coordinates, I've promised to keep Tara' Han safe from the being that it believes to be the avenging God of its home. I've a hunch that the Abyss has done something to the sun of the Gorgonyte homeworld, Trance's sun, that has caused a red shift. I think the Abyss intends to cause Trance's sun to go supernova and Trance with it. I don't know for sure what has been done to it; it could be a lot of things, a super heavy element, an influx of tremendous amounts of matter or other fuel. And I don't know if it can be fixed. But I figure that Dylan would say that we owe it to Trance to at least try. I'm sorry I can't leave you Harper to help figure it out. But I need him to help me keep her ladyship interested right up until the time that she thinks that I'm out of the way. Once we are gone, you, Dylan and Rommie have to take the Andromeda to the Gorgonyte homeworld and find a way to stop the chain reaction in her sun."

I brushed Beka's attempts to treat my wounds aside. "Save your medical help for later. She's coming. Her smell is getting stronger and we've all got our parts to play in this little drama." I raised my voice. "So leave me alone and take your healing talents to Dylan's side. I've got work to do;" and I stormed from medical.

Her smell was headed for Tara' Han. I wanted to reassure him that he had my help. She was in the conduit. Her musk was so strong to me now that I could trace her every move; and she had no idea that I was tracking her. She thought me a fool; but she had swallowed my Harper bait whole. Of course, the fact that he didn't realize he was bait helped.

As I entered engineering, I strode across the room and deliberately turned my back on Trance, hiding in her conduit. I grasped the console with both hands. My torso blocked Red's view of my hands. I watched Tara' Han's fingers closely as I tapped a communication to him in the Gorgonyte's silent language. I'd tortured it out of a dozen or so of his race years earlier. I'd had enough words and phrases verified to be sure of what I was saying despite any attempts by those prisoners to prevaricate. "She is in the conduit," I tapped. "I suspect that she is just checking on you now. Once she thinks I am out of her way, she will probably take you to another ship. Don't worry. I will follow and keep you safe. Did you enter the coordinates?"

Aloud I barked at him to anger her and distract her from my drumming fingers, "Alien, report." The performance was for Trance's benefit. I winked at Tara' Han to reassure him, a gesture she couldn't see from her position.

He was frightened. He didn't answer my question. "I don't believe you can protect me from her," he tapped instead, "I don't want to see anyone else harmed." Out loud he repeated the gist of his earlier report on the virus.

I winked at him one more time. "Better decide about those coordinates soon," I tapped before storming out and dashing back to medical.

Adrenaline had prevented my injuries from hampering me until now; but thankfully Beka had understood my oblique message and left me a hypo filled with healing nanytes. My many wounds began to heal even as I prepared a second injection and slipped it into my pocket.

Any physical aches and pains had diminished when her scent assailed me as Trance entered the medical bay.

"Hello," she says to me with blades in hand. She completely underestimated me. I dropped my guard with a nonchalant deliberateness that I knew would translate to her as over-confidence. Her blade failed to penetrate my ribs. It was a bloody surface wound. I pretended it was worse than it was. I let her gloat as, like a true knight in shining armor I accepted the reward of her lips against my cheek.

When she left, I took the second injection, halting the bleeding and rapidly increasing the pace of healing.

"Tyr," Andromeda reported, "Trance has taken Harper and the Gorgonyte. She is attempting to leave with them in a slipfighter. I have locked down the docking bay."

I loaded extra medical supplies and a full kit of weapons and hastened to the pilot seat of the Maru. Three in a slipfighter, Trance really was out of her mind. At least it would make the ship heavy and slow. That combined with his tracking device meant that I could follow them just fine in the Maru. I just hoped that Harper wouldn't do anything stupid.

That hope was crushed when I heard a crackle on the communications system and then heard Trance tell Harper she was taking him home to meet her folks. When the voices were suddenly cut off, I knew his attempt had been discovered. The tiny tracking device that had helped me find Trance on the Gorgonyte ship showed me that this slipfighter had reduced velocity and then begun to coast, not a good sign.

I changed direction and matched velocity until the Maru could dock with the slipfighter. I hailed them. "Hello Princess. Problems with your transportation? Need a lift?" I wasn't sure just what was going on inside that tiny ship; but I wanted Harper and Tara' Han to know that they were not alone. I would save Trance and I would keep my word to that Gorgonyte.