And hello again! Thank you to the reviewers, I really appreciate hearing from you, it encourages me to keep going. I have to admit, I was worried about writing in a new fandom, but I feel better about it now. Once again, if you see any problems, please let me know. And if any of the main characters seem too out of character to you, let me know. Things pick up a bit here. Please leave me some feedback!

The Impercipient

Chapter 2: An outcast I should be

When the doors to the docking bay that held the AM9D opened, Beka and Rhade were half expecting to see a resistence set up along the outside of the ship. What they did see was a damaged Ung Tae with sparks erupting from various points. It had obviously had a crash landing and now seemed to be completely inoperable.

"At least they won't be going anywhere soon," commented Beka as they cautiously approached the ship.

Rhade nodded. "This ship has been damaged far before this fight. I believe that it was already on its last legs." The two stationed themselves on either side of the ship before Rhade opened the back hatch of the ship.

Initial inspection showed that there was nobody breathing in the back. The AM9D Ung Tae Drop ship was generally used as a troop transport. It had its own supply of force lances and could be used as a shelter on inhospitable planets during campaigns.

This model however, had seen far better days. The interior smelled rank, as if it had been used as a shelter recently. It was easy to see why when Beka and Rhade got their first clear look of the inside. Dried blood was everywhere. What was worse was that two lifeless bodies lay on the floor.

Beka crouched next to one of them. "Dead. These wounds don't look that fresh. They were dead before this ship took off."

Rhade nodded in agreement. "This doesn't seem right to me. Those men couldn't have been hostages. They are wearing the same uniform as Colus, therefore they are probably soldiers that serve him. They would have died in combat and these are combat wounds."

Beka rose. "Well, then. Let's see who was piloting."

They approached the door, Rhade leveling his force lance at the closed metal. Beka hit the release and the door slid open. There was no one waiting for them on the other side.

Rhade frowned and cautiously stepped inside. No one sat in the pilot's chair. Sparks flew from the counsel, heavily damaged in both the firefight and the crash. Turning to the side, he saw what they were looking for.

A human woman lay in a crumpled heap on the ground against the wall, possibly thrown from the chair. Blood ran down her face from a cut on her forehead. Her hair was caked with dirt and blood, making it hard to tell the original color. Her skin was pale, discolored with multiple bruises. She wore a torn and dirty dress, also covered with blood.

"She is alive," said Rhade, crouching next to the figure. He lifted one of her hands and silently swore. He could feel bones shifting under his fingers. "She is badly injured though."

Beka shook her head. "Colus is lying. There is no way this girl could have hurt those men." She paused and leaned closer to the unconscious figure. "Is that... frostbite on her other hand?" The fingers of the woman's left hand were clearly discolored due to the effects of the malady. "How did she get that?" Beka paused again to lift the hand and take a closer look. "Son of a bitch."

Rhade looked up, raising an eyebrow at her curse. "What?"

"She's a slave."

Rhade glanced back down at the unconscious woman. "A slave? How do you know?"

"These marks on her wrists." Beka gently ran a finger over the chafed skin. "I've seen it before. The cheapest and cruelest slavers don't buy the regular binders to keep their slaves in check. They use simple, coarse rope and tie it tightly around their wrists. Any movement by the slave chafes the skin and eventually causes bleeding. They only use it on slaves because criminals need to be securely restrained, they feel that the will of a slave can be broken into submission."

Rhade shook his head. He hated the injustice of slavery. He knew what it felt like to be mistreated and he swelled with anger at the thought of helpless beings being subjected to it. "So she saw a chance to escape and took it."

"Looks like it. We need to get her to Trance now, there's no telling how badly she's injured. Dylan will definitely not be happy."

Rhade moved back into the rear cabin to extract a stretcher from a compartment. "He most certainly will not," the Nietzschean agreed. Beka unfolded the stretcher and Rhade carefully lifted the woman onto it. He could feel the multitudes of broken bones in her body. If Dylan didn't have a few choice words with this Colus, he just might. "Let's go."

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"I thank you captain for your assistance in this matter." Colus and another guard stood before Dylan, having only exited their ships. "It was very unfortunate, the events that occurred. Security was unfortunately lax, allowing the AM9D to be stolen. We will not make the same mistake again, I can assure you."

"Of course," answered Dylan, his face unreadable.

"May we see the ship as well as the prisoner?"

"Not yet. I currently have people securing the craft. Do you know anything about the person who might have stolen the ship?"

Colus shrugged. "We assume that it is a local woman, an outlaw and a thief. She can be ruthless and I would not want any of your crew to be harmed by her. We will take our leave of your ship and return to Taher with her."

Dylan gave a half smile. "What's the rush? You are perfectly welcome aboard my ship. In fact, I will have you shown to some available quarters while I check on the status of Beka and Rhade. I will alert you Colus, as soon as there is information to be had."

The Taherian looked uncertain, but nodded and followed a security detail out of the room, his other guard following him. Dylan turned to Rommie. "There is something more going on here. I definitely don't buy the fact that he would chase down a ship captured by an outlaw. He is lying about something."

Rommie nodded. "I agree. Guards will be posted at their doors so we remain informed of their whereabouts."

Andromeda appeared before them. "Dylan, Beka and Rhade have brought someone to the Med Deck from the ship and wish to speak to you."

Dylan sighed. "Let's go find out who our guest is."

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Dylan and Rommie entered the Med Deck to meet Beka and Rhade, both silently watching Trance as she worked over an unconscious woman. It was obvious neither Beka nor Rhade were happy about what they had found.

"Is this the one that stole the ship?" asked Dylan. "Colus claims she is a ruthless outlaw."

Rhade clenched his jaw as Beka snorted. "Yeah, well I'm sure Colus claims a lot of things that aren't true. Dylan, she's a slave."

Dylan's eyes narrowed. "What?"

Beka sighed. "There were two dead guards on the ship in the back, I would say they were dead before the ship even took off. She must have been trying to escape. The marks on her wrists are from rope, used on slave worlds. I thought Taher used to belong to the Commonwealth?"

"It did," responded Dylan, anger creeping into his voice.

"My records show that no true inquiry into the planet and its social climate has been conducted in decades," said Rommie. "It is possible that slavery became common on the planet after their civil war erupted and any traces of it were hidden from outside visitors."

"That would explain Colus wishing to leave so fast," Dylan muttered. "He wants to hide their skeletons, literally and figuratively."

Rhade turned to Dylan. "We cannot let this continue."

Trance interrupted their conversation, coming to where their small group stood. She sighed and glanced back at the table where the woman lay. "She is in very bad shape. I am surprised that she is even still with us."

"Will she live?" asked Dylan in concern.

Trance nodded. "Yes, though I am unsure as to her mental state. Her injuries are many, and quite a few of them are old. She was hardly wounded in the craft, most everything occurred before she left the planet."

Much to the chagrin of the crew, Trance began to tick off injuries. "The oldest wound is to her left leg, which appears to have been shattered at one point. It is mostly healed, though I suspect there might be a limp, even after I attend to it. Her right ankle is sprained and she has a fractured right kneecap, so she would have a hard time walking anywhere, let alone running with both legs injured. There are several broken ribs, none of which punctured her lungs thankfully. Her right shoulder is dislocated and she has a severe concussion, which most likely came from the crash landing."

Here the golden woman paused to shake her head. "There are more troubling things though. Besides multiple cuts and bruises as well as a fever, there are two injuries that appear strange to me. She has frostbite on her left hand, but she also has burns across her stomach. I do not know how they could have gotten there, the two extremes. My only guess would be that she was tortured."

They were silent as they looked at the unconscious woman. Trance had already healed some of her minor wounds, but she was far from well. The idea of slavery was detested by all the crew, and they came to an agreement as to what to do without speaking.

Harper came running into the room, coming to an abrupt halt at seeing everyone grouped at the door. Recovering he moved to a panel at the side. "Boss, you won't believe what I just found in the communication logs on the Garuda." He pushed several buttons and a screen activated, Colus being in the forefront.

"We are tracking her now," Colus said, his words penetrating the stillness of the Med Bay. "The stupid slave thought she could escape. She and every other slave on that planet will pay for her attempted escape. If she even lives through this. She is infinitely valuable to us alive, but we'll shoot her down if we have to. I will not let her go to the enemy and work against us." He paused. "There is a Commonwealth ship ahead. If they find out what is happening on Taher we will all be done for. Especially if they realize who she is. Damn slave. We will work through deception now. Let me speak, or they might stumble on the truth."

Harper turned off the transmission. "After that, he opened up a line to the Andromeda. That guy's all slime and I'm sure most of his planet is too." He looked over at the woman on the table. "So Taher is a slave planet now? I say we blow Colus and his people to hell."

"Harper," admonished Trance.

"What?" he asked, shrugging. "Then there wouldn't be any more slaves on Taher would there? Just making a suggestion."

Andromeda appeared on a screen before them. "Dylan, Colus is requesting an audience with you immediately."

Dylan sighed. "Great. Let's pretend we don't know about his little secret for now. Beka, come with me. I have a feeling that they might want to come and see her. Harper, go with Rommie and pick up any more information on our guest or on the situation on Taher. Trance, do your best. If she wakes up, let me know. Rhade, stay here. In case I bring Colus with me, just make sure he doesn't do any more damage."

Rhade nodded. He almost wished Colus would make a move, so he could remedy the situation with his bone blades. He outwardly remained impassive though, as the others left the room. Trance moved back to the bed, Rhade following her.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked.

Trance glanced up and smiled. "I think I could use the help. I do not understand this, how she could be so injured and still live. It is a sad reality in which we see cruelty to the innocent." She watched Rhade tend to the woman's chafed wrists, the most obvious sign of her enslavement. "Let us hope she awakes and tells us what has happened. Then maybe we can do more for her and her people."

Rhade nodded. He and Trance worked silently over their patient.

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TBC

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So, there we are. A slight note on the poem I am using as a title and as the chapter titles. I have found two different versions of The Impercipient by Thomas Hardy, one in a book I own and another on the Internet. The title of this chapter, An outcase I should be comes from the Internet version. I simply liked that line better than I have no claim to be, I felt that it fit better.

One more thing that has little bearing on this story. I was watching a rerun of Home Improvement the other day (because I didn't want to do anything better with my time) and Wilson actually quoted Nietzsche. I thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

Anyway, please leave a review as it really does encourage me and lets me know that people enjoy what I'm doing. Thanks!