Oenone: PIRATE RHADE! I HAD to find an excuse to make him look like that, and that was the best I could come up with! :P Grr, you updated again and I don't have time to read it! GRR!

Prin69: Thanks! Ha-ha, conversations in people's heads... its too bad they can't do that in the episodes. :(

vampiregirl081: oh, THANKS! :Jade gives vampiregirl081 a hug: keep reviewing every chapter!

Jamieson Z: LOL! :P Beka slave... now that was FUN for me to write!

eris: oh, yeah! I mostly based Beka's evil voice off, well... me. :P See, me and Samantha (DaNcInG PrInCeSs) worked on it at school together, with me being the evil voice and sammy being the Beka voice. DON'T SHOOT ME WHEN YOU READ THIS, SAMANTHA! ('cause samantha still firmly deies that she likes Rhade, but I know differently...)

Mo Cat: Thanks for waiting! review again!

Iara: I sent you an e-mail, and I'm sorry if I was asking a lot of questions but I'm a very curious person! you don't have to answer all of them! Oh, and about your character... could you give me a Pride for her? Or a planet. you don't need to do both, but I would REALLY like a Pride to go off of. Thanks!

Chritieanne-Anna: did I spell your name right? I'm too lazy to go back and check. Thanks!

Miikka: Oh, yeah! VOICES IN HEAD! :P

randomidiot: HI, CASEY!! (sorry, I know her from school!)

A/N: I'VE NEVER SEEN 'THE UNCONQUERABLE MAN' SO IF SOMEONE COULD E-MAIL ME A COMPLETE SUMMARY THAT'S BETTER THAN THE ONE ON THE OFFICIAL WEBBY I WILL BE A VERY HAPPY PERSON! Thanks! Oh, and I couldn't think of a prize to give all y'all who guessed right, so I kinda lied when I said you'd get something special! :winces: SORRY! But everyone who has guessed has guessed right, so shows you just how obvious I am! :( LAST CHANCE FOR AN ORIGINAL CHARACTER! I decided to mesh Slipfighter Chronicles w/ Echoes of the Past, and I'm going to be writing that chapter soon (in my notebook), so if you guys don't give me original characters... well, lets just say I'll have to come up with the WHOLE SQUADRON on my own! :( Sorry 'bout the short chapter.

Chapter 5

Harper was upside-down in a service conduct, rewiring something with a flexi in his hand.

"What are you doing?" asked a voice.

Harper, startled, picked up his head too fast and banged it off the top. "Ow!" he exclaimed. "Gaheris, you scared me."

Gaheris shrugged. "You said you wanted to talk to me earlier. I assume now wouldn't be a good time?"

"No, now is fine," Harper said, sitting up and putting down the flexi. "So, what's the verdict? Are you becoming huma- ah, Nietzschean again?"

"Trance says she doesn't know," Gaheris said. "But I think she knows more than she's telling."

"That's our Trance, alright," Harper said, smiling. "Was she less mysterious when you knew her?"

Gaheris thought back. "No," he finally decided. "Just as mysterious as she is now."

"So, what was my alternate-universe self like?" Harper asked curiously.

"Loud, obnoxious, annoying," Gaheris smiled. "Exactly like you are now."

Harper smirked and was about to make a smart remark when Rommie poked her head into the conduct. "Harper, Dylan wants to see you."

"Why?" Harper asked.

Rommie shrugged. "It probably has something to do with the fact that a Point Singularity Bomb followed us through Slipstream." She looked at Gaheris, who straightened and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Did Dylan say if he wants me to do anything?" Gaheris asked.

"No, he didn't," Rommie said sharply, leaving.

Gaheris sighed, shoulders slumping. He should have expected the avatar's disdain of him, but it still hurt.

"Yeah, guess I better, uh, go see Dylan," Harper said, leaving quickly after Rommie.

"Hey, Rom-doll, what did Gaheris do to you?" Harper demanded, catching up with her.

"He tried to kill Dylan," Rommie replied. "It's because of him the Commonwealth fell, and I'm supposed to like him?"

"Lot's of people try to kill Dylan," Harper pointed out. "And if what Trance said is true, Gaheris let-himself-be-killed, Rommie. And he saved my life," Harper added, almost as an afterthought. "Not to mention Rhade's."

Rommie stopped and looked at the viewscreen to her right. "He has to prove his worth," Andromeda said, image appearing on the small viewscreen.

"And that we can trust him," the hologram added, appearing with her arms crossed in front of Harper.

Harper wasn't surprised that the three extensions of the Andromeda core AI were basically the same. What surprised him was the amount of negativity. "C'mon, Andromeda, Rommie," he addressed all three. "Give him a chance. He saved my life."

"That's what I-we- are doing," Andromeda's viewscreen said. "Giving him a chance." The viewscreen shut off.

"He had better not waste it," the hologram added, disappearing.

Rommie looked at Harper. "You had better go see Dylan."

-------

Dylan was reading something on a flexi when Harper walked in, visibly exited to have a new project to work on.

Dylan cut to the chase. "How did the PSB follow us through Slipstream, Mr. Harper? And how did it only target our Slip drive?"

Harper literally bounced from foot to foot. "You know the heat-seeking missiles we used to use on Earth?"

"Of course."

"Well, the Collectors could probably find a way for the PSB to home in on our AP emissions, guiding it straight to our Slip drive," Harper said triumphantly.

"But that doesn't explain how it went through Slipstream," Dylan interjected.

"Tracking device!" Harper exclaimed. "Or maybe a slave system..." he trailed off, thinking.

"Mr. Harper?" Dylan prompted after a few minutes had gone by.

The engineer snapped back to himself. "Yeah, a slave system, so however we piloted it would follow us and make the same course adjustments."

"How did they attach all that to a PSB in the first place?" Dylan asked.

Harper shrugged. "No idea!" he said happily. "But I could probably replicate the system the Collectors used and, I dunno, maybe do the same thing with a kinetic missile?" He squirmed hopefully. "Please, boss? I can't fix the Slip drive until we get a new one, so I'm basically at a standstill."

"Alright," Dylan gave in.

"Thanks boss!" Harper shouted over his shoulder as he started running for the Machine Shop.

A/N: Yeah, I know, short chapter. SORRY! I already have chapter 6 all written out, and I'm gonna try to upload it tomorrow. Chap6 will be LONG! See y'all tomorrow! BUBS!