Chapter 5

Beka continued towards her destination, Otrarius Drift. It was in the middle of a system of drifts, the perfect place for her.

"Can we save them?" Dylan asked.

"There are some still alive, Trance and I can get them to the Andromeda."

"Good. And Rommie, hurry!"

Later

"Dylan, we couldn't save any of them. The last one just died."

"Ummm... are you sure about that?"

Rommie turned around to see one of the corpses advancing on her. She shot it with her force lance, to no avail. Behind her, Dylan simply said "It's never easy."

Beka was sitting in a bar, drinking a Hawaiian Punch. When the group of men approached her, she gave them a glare that would've stopped any normal criminal in his tracks.

"Hey pretty lady." The man who was apparently the leader said.

She tried not to get pissed. "Bite me." She muttered.

"Just tell us where." He gave her a toothy grin. She wished he hadn't.

"You're going to be sorry you even suggested that." She pulled out her force lance, and wondered why the leader ws still smiling. That was her last thought before everything went black.

The bodies were attacking the crew, and nothing could stop them. Trance pulled Dylan aside.

"My... future self told me what I had to do here. She said that they are called the Bokor, and the only way to stop them is to shock them with high levels of electricity. She also said that me becoming infested is unavoidable."

He stared at her for a second. "Go to your quarters. I don't want you coming out until this is over." He started to walk away.

"Dylan."

He turned around. "I know Beka asked for time off, but we have to go get her. Today. The future Beka... you didn't see her. She was so... empty. The only reason she kept fighting is because of what happened to her, she felt like she had to make sure it didn't happen to anyone else. But she stopped believing she could ever be happy, that anyone could ever love her. We can't let that happen again."

"You can't tell me what happened, can you?"

"Nope."

"Where is she?"

She gave him coordinates. "On one of these drifts. Once we get in the area, Rommie will be able to find the Maru. Harper installed a system between the Andromeda and the Maru in case we ever got separated.

"When did he do that?"

Trance bowed her head and said quietly, "The day before I killed him."

Dylan went white. "Trance, I don't ever want to hear you say that again. Now get to your quarters, we'll talk about this later." They went their separate ways.

One of them was waiting to infect her outside her quarters. She didn't know why, but this had to happen. When he advanced, she offered no resistance.

Beka woke up tied to a bed, the leader of the gang standing over her, all his minions behind him. "Hello, gorgeous." He smirked. She looked down at the bed, then at the men standing over her, and a look of horror came over her face. The leader smiled and pressed a button, moving the bed into an upright position. Her feet were at least 6 inches off of the floor.

"No, we're not going to do that. Yet." He stepped up on the platform beside her. "But you're going to wish that's what we did. You see, we have to extract our revenge. We have to make it extra special for you, Captain Valentine." It wasn't until then until she realized who it was. The son of that flash dealer... the one she had killed in front of his little boy all those years ago. He saw her look of regret, heard the anguish in her voice as she whispered his name. "Darion..."

"Oh, don't feel guilty. We'll make you pay." He said, then he tore off her shirt and held up the blade. "This will hurt."