"What is that thing?" Beka demanded as the Andromeda Ascendant pitched back and forth.
"Sensors show that it is a white hole," Andromeda stated with that unnerving calm of her's.
"Great!" Beka sighed, "So instead of eating us it'll just bash us to pieces."
"External Sensors are now off line."
"How about some good news for once, Rommie? When we get Harper back I'm going to kill him."
"Not if I get to him first," Dylan commented as he rushed into Command.
Beka took a moment to glance up at him, "Where on Earth have you been?"
The ex-High Guard only gave her a tired glare, "Abryn."
"Of course." There was no need for further explanation at the mention of that name. Abryn O'Mally had come aboard looking to hack down Tyr, and, upon finding the former crew member absent, had done nothing but lead them from one form of disaster to the next. The ship shuddered again as it was hit with another spewing blast. "Dylan, the next time you decide to reform another mercenary, remind me to shoot you."
"Thank you for your undying support," he answered dryly.
"She's not just a mercenary," Trance nearly whispered from her station.
Beka could feel her jaw start to tighten, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I forget drug runner and Flash addict? What about con artist and, oh yeah, all-around Nietzschean?"
"Don't be so hard on her, she's a mother too."
"Trance, she probably stole the kids!"
"No, I did a DNA test, they're her's."
"My scans indicated the same thing," Holo-Rommie offered as she shimmered into existence.
"I think Beka was being sarcastic, you two," Hunt sighed.
"Dylan, I can't take much more of this battering before I lose all propulsion systems, Slipstream is already off line." Suddenly the unstable entity before them put forth a shock wave that knocked every crewmember from seat and station.
"All main power is off line," Rommie stated flatly as she helped Dylan to his feet.
For a moment he gave the android a blank stare, "Seeing as the other parts of yourself are not around, I find your statement painfully obvious."
(XXXXX)
Harper stared at the woman before him, "Give me a break, Aby! I know where you're going."
"Then why did you follow me?"
"To stop you, why else? You can't go running back to that guy!"
Abryn sighed, already she had failed a mission and been punished for it, she couldn't afford for this one to go completely South on her. "Seamus, you just don't understand, do you?"
"Oh I understand alright. Your addicted, not just to Flash, but to the killing too. You've let this guy control your entire life and now, when you have a chance at freedom, you go darting back! It doesn't take a genius, even if I am one, to figure out that that's just stupid." As those last words left Harper's mouth he realized his mistake. Half Nietzschean or no, Abryn was still Nietzschean. In one quick, clean move she had him pinned to the wall, bone blades poised at his throat.
"Don't push it, Seamus."
For once he refused to back down. He knew who she really was, "You won't kill me, Aby."
"How can you be so sure?"
" 'Cause you're more Kludge than Uber and you know it. You were on Earth as a kid, you know what people like your 'employer' do to people like us."
"I am not people like you!"
He smiled, her grip was loosening, "Yeah you are, or else you wouldn't be so afraid of him."
"I'm not afraid of Bareen," she insisted, tightening her hold once more and moving her elbow into his Adam's apple. He gagged and she instantly dropped him.
For a moment he just looked at her and rubbed his throat; he had scared her when he choked, she wouldn't kill him. Then he stood, "So he has a name now? Bareen."
Slowly she turned from him to check the instruments, "You shouldn't have come, I'll have to kill you for it eventually."
"Or we could turn around and head back to the Andromeda. The twins are there and they're going to need a mother."
"Seamus!" Abryn shouted, banging her fist against the worn consol. "I'm not the kind of woman those kids need. They're better off without me."
"And you're worse off without them! I can't…" he stopped as the ship jerked.
Abryn ran and flung herself back into the pilot's seat. "Trouble, it's a ship."
"Trouble? You told me your ship could take out almost anything!"
"Yeah, almost being the operative word. That's not just a ship…it's Bareen's."
Harper sighed, "Just great! Uh, out of curiosity, what pride is this wonderful boss of yours from?"
"You don't want to know."
"Lemme' guess, Drago-Kazov?"
For a moment she was silent before whispering a quiet yes. Her small ship shook again, this time more violently.
"I'm not reading any weapons fire, so why is this tin can shaking?"
Quickly Abryn looked over the reading again, "It's a white hole! Hold on, this could get bumpy!" A few moments of uncontrollable bucking followed before everything settled again.
"Okay, the sudden stop makes me nervous."
She smiled and unclenched her sore jaw, "Roger that. Bareen's right next to us, his ship was still three hours away five seconds ago! How is that possible?"
"Abryn, that sounded almost Human!"
"Seamus, be serious for just a minute will you? If Bareen finds you here he'll kill you!"
"It's too late for that, Abryn," A new voice interjected.
In horror she turned to face the screen just right of the pilot's chair, "You can't hide the Kludge from me. Why would you try, you already sent me your message stating he was on board."
Harper went white, "You did what?"
"I didn't I was going to but I hadn't sent it yet, I wasn't even honestly thinking about it," she whispered.
"Sure, Abryn, I get it. You've got a duty to this guy, same as I do to Beka, and even Dylan. But, oh yeah, the slight difference being their not Drago-Jerk-offs!"
"You have a big mouth, Mudfoot," Bareen drawled. "Prepare for boarding, Abryn."
The screen went blank and Abryn looked at Harper. "Shay, I promise I didn't send that message. I wrote it out, encrypted it, but never sent it. I don't know how he got it."
"Shay? Oh no, you can call me Harper, just like everyone else. Those happy-go-lucky times that you took advantage of just went down the toilet, alright?"
The door to Command slid open and in stepped a rather handsome man with black hair and, Harper's fear confirmed, bone blades. More Nietchzsiens followed his entrance, one of which grabbed Harper and landed a hard punch to his rib cage.
Abryn felt her body tense, "Bareen, he hasn't done anything!"
"Offending me is enough. But tell me," he looked somewhat like a cat about to enjoy a juicy rat, "Why are you standing up for him?"
Reluctantly she cast her gaze to the floor, "I'm not, I was just…" this time the Uber holding the Kludge hit him dead in the face and Abryn understood: No argument or else they would beat Harper to death on the spot. Bareen nodded at her and she followed him out of her small Command and onto his own ship. She could hear Bareen's stooges dragging Harper along and realized that she had never been so completely helpless. She forced herself to walk forward without looking back. Bareen glanced sideways at her, his Herald of Death had come home and he was set to make sure she would never escape.
(XXXXX)
Trance watched helplessly from Ops as Abryn's ship was buffeted about by the same white hole that was still causing the Andromeda to tremor. She hated being so out of reach, but even she couldn't do anything about the situation. A cry rang out behind her and she turned, smiling at the little noisemaker in the hack-job stroller Harper had made. "It's okay," she cooed, "It'll be okay. But for now you need to quiet down or you'll wake your brother." Gently she picked the whining child up, "And you know how Zal is when he gets woken up early," as she lifted the child he ceased his lament. "Aunt Brynn will be here soon when she gets done taking a nap too. See, mommy's ship is right outside." Pointing to the dot that drifted outside the windows Trance gasped at what met her eyes: The white hole surged, sending a series of intense shock waves around and through the Andromeda. Abryn's much smaller ship bucked wildly and then it was gone. Trance held her breath, her gold-toned face creased with lines of worry as realization dawned on her. The baby she held renewed its screams, waking it's sleeping twin. Quickly she secured both the children in their seats and went as fast as she could down the corridors while pushing the stroller in front of her. "This is bad," she whispered, "This is very bad."
(XXXXX)
"Who is he?" Bareen asked as Abryn sat in the overly comfy chair across from him.
She shrugged, "A Kludge, a very annoying one at that."
"Aren't they all?" he stated with only the slightest hint of humor. "However, you have failed to explain why he was aboard your ship."
Abryn wanted to scream at him for that first comment; she wanted to put her gun to his head and demand if he had thought that of her mother. "No," she guarded herself. She could not do that if they were going to get out alive. Forcing herself to go on with his interrogation she lifted her chin and met his eyes, "I had to dock for some minor repairs, he somehow managed to thwart the security codes." Abryn told herself not to smile. In truth she had been forcibly taken aboard the Andromeda after Dylan and his idealism had nearly blown her back to Tarn Vedra. The repairs had not been anywhere close to minor either with almost every circuit and system completely fried. But Harper and Rommie had fixed all that, through hacking her security codes. "And how do I pay them back? Lock Hunt in the Maru, stab Brynn, and shoot at Seamus. Great first impression!"
"Abryn?" Bareen asked with a raised eyebrow.
She pulled herself from her thoughts and realized that she should have been listening. For a moment Abryn said nothing, instead she concentrated on what she had just heard him say, filtering out all her thoughts. She found his mumbled words and tried not to boil over at the accusation of incompetence. "I was watching the system readings. The kid's a genius, he knows ships like I know guns."
"What is his name?"
There was a sudden interest there that Abryn didn't like, "He's Magog chow, why do you care?"
Bareen rose, towering over her, "You're getting cocky, Abryn, do not think yourself indispensable."
She stood also, refusing to be looked down at more than she had to, "His name's Harper, Seamus Harper."
Without another word Bareen dismissed her with a nod and left the room; she stood there alone in the midst of the great expanse. The outside of the man's ship was almost impregnable. However, a portion of the vehicle imitated the ancient architecture he loved so much. Some sections of the walls were made of actual stone, giving the place a more planet side feel. Certainly not the most practical space fairing interior, but even a Nietzschean could let grandeur and love of power outweigh the practical need for survival.
She heard the door behind her slide open and felt her hands ball into fists. Before moving onto the subject of "the Kludge" she had been forced to tell Bareen that the intended target, Tyr Anasazi, was no longer a member of Dylan's crew and that she had no clue as to his whereabouts. No doubt his anger about the situation would be brought down on her head, her's and…No, she could not afford to think about that now. Bareen had wanted something when he asked Seamus' name, which meant he wouldn't kill the boy until he found what he needed, that would buy them some preciously needed time. Slowly she turned around to see two of her employer's lackeys, "Hello boys, enjoying it here in Hell?" She got no response from either of them other than that each took hold of an arm. She knew what was coming next and didn't bother to hold her breath. The plain and simple truth was that working for an Uber didn't come with benefits, only a death certificate and a pen to sign it with.
(XXXXX)
Dylan blanched, "Trance, you want to try that again?"
"I know it sounds crazy but it's the only explanation I can think of." Trance sighed; the universe was becoming more chaotic all the time.
"Wait a minute, you're trying to tell me that Abryn and Harper got pushed forward in time?" Twenty-five year old Brynn O'Mally spoke from her place by the door. "How is that possible? Even Dylan didn't suffer something that weird." Slowly a small look of annoyance crossed her face and she looked toward the floor. Zal, Abryn's oldest by two minutes, was tugging on her pant leg. "This is wonderful, my sister takes off and leaves me her kids without so much as a diaper bag!"
"I think she was trying to protect them, Brynn," Dylan said a little too calmly for anybody's taste.
"Back to the subject," Rhade mumbled, as if trying to get a hold of the straying side bar.
"I've heard of stories about this," Beka interjected. "The theory is if you get pulled into the eye of a black hole you'll end up going back in time."
Dylan chuckled, "Or you could opt for the event horizon travel package, like I did,"
"We were fortunate enough not to have had tested Beka's theory." Andromeda's on-screen personage said with great emphases on the "we". Dylan got the message and smiled; glad they had the ship up and running again. "However," she continued, "I think I see where Beka is going with this."
"Yes," Rommie cut in from her place at the table they were gathered around, "The idea is that, if a black hole can throw you backwards in time, than a…"
"White hole can push you forward," Dylan finished for her.
Brynn only rolled her eyes and looked at Beka, "Does it bug anyone else when they do that?"
"You have no idea," the Valentine said with a grin. "But yeah, that's the idea. Isn't that what you were saying, Trance?"
"Mmmm hmmm," the gold creature seemed suddenly distracted.
"What's wrong?" Brynn asked, her worry for her sister and their friend forcing aside her sarcasm.
Trance looked out a small window at where Abryn's ship had been, "There's no way of telling how far they've gone. It could be a few hours, or maybe days, even months."
"What about years?" Beka asked quietly.
"It's certainly a possibility," Rommie said as she rose. "I guess we'll just have to wait here to find out." The others silently stood and made to leave the officer's mess where they had gathered.
Rhade stopped on his way out and looked at Brynn who seemed more lost than usual, "Something wrong…besides the obvious?"
For the first time in weeks she looked at him, "What if they never come home?"
He had no answer and she saw it in his eyes. Turning from him she gathered up Zal and his younger twin, Jared, who were playing rather nosily in a corner and left the room. Rhade stood for a moment and stared after her. When would she realize that he couldn't always have all the answers?
(XXXXX)
Harper screamed as white fire ran through his body. He had been tortured by the Jerk-offs before but it had never been anything like this. He wasn't even sure what they had discovered that could cause this much pain. Then it stopped and everything stood still, the electric current of agony ceased to run its course. The Nietzscheans that had been busy thrashing him left the small room and the lights went out, plunging him into complete darkness. Slowly he counted to ten, waiting for what he knew was going to happen next. As he whispered the word "ten" another set of lights came on. Only this time they were in the cell next to his. However, the walls between the cubicles were transparent so the prisoners were able to see other tortures being inflicted upon their peers. It was how Bareen fed their fear. "Too bad it works," he mumbled. Harper watched for a few more minutes and was not disappointed to see a woman enter the cell next to his. She was followed by the same two goons that had beaten the crud out of him. It was Abryn, he knew. Only now her long black hair had been cut to chin length and she looked weaker than he'd ever seen her. For three days now Bareen had beaten and starved both of them. He wanted information about the Abyss that Harper no longer had and his anger at not getting it was insatiable.
Harper watched as they injected something into Abryn's neck just as they had done with him two hours earlier. She smiled at him and, for once since their first meeting, failed to look at all confident. The Ubers stood for a few minutes without moving a muscle, they were waiting for something. During that short time of silence Abryn's eyes never left his, she was trying to get them out and she was pleading with him not to give up. It was that look of her's that made him forget she was Nietzschean at all. Every time something went wrong she gave him that look, even as she shot at him outside her own ship, the Jur, in her first attempt at escape. Even now she asked him to forgive her for her addiction to death and he could not help but try and smile. He would forgive her today and tomorrow he would have to forgive her again. It was a never-ending cycle that grew emotionally exhausting as time moved on but he was willing to let the wheel turn because right now it was the only thing holding Abryn O'Mally together.
The minutes trickled by like hours until the men behind her moved without warning, bringing a metal rod down on her back. She screamed and Harper jumped. In the seven months he had known her she had never even cried. Now she was on her knees behind a wall he could not break through screaming as if they had ripped out her very heart. Pressing his back to the opposite wall he closed his eyes and was surprised to feel his own warm blood trickling down his arm. He felt the familiar shift of broken bones as he winced at another scream. He couldn't stand it any longer. He knew she had watched his own beating from somewhere in the confines of Bareen's on board prison, she had been with him the best she could. For now he would forget about her warning Bareen about him, she had done something or other to upset the drug lord and that was the binding tie between half-breed and Human. Slowly he moved toward the transparent barricade and laid his blood-covered hand against the cool surface, she looked up at him and, still trying not to cry, set her own against his as best she could with the obstruction there. For a small second he was amazed at thinking that her hands were actually smaller than his. He had always thought that impossible, but then it made sense in some odd way. She had been a malnourished child in Earth's slums too. If she would have been fully Nietzschean it would not have affected her. But she was only half, which had given her only a slight advantage when she was on the planet. He wanted to hold that little hand so badly right now, she was the only ally he had. The thought was broken as the rod came down again and she fell. Slowly her hand slid down the glass, leaving a bloody trail in its wake.
(XXXXX)
Brynn sat with a heavy sigh and watched the twins rest. It was two in the morning and she could not get to bed for the life of her. Jared rolled over and cooed something in his sleep, causing her to smile. Normally Abryn would be sitting here with her asking what was wrong. Unfortunately it was never just a what, it was always a who. Sometimes it was their mother, or her memory rather, and more often than not it was Rhade. But tonight it was Abryn and Harper. Rommie had told them that she had detected another ship in the vicinity right before the sensors died. Trance had also firmly stated that she did not believe the Pseudo Jur had been alone. She smiled, the ship's name fit Abryn's personality much too well. Rising she gave the twins one last look before moving toward the room's computer console. Without hesitation she pulled up the heart-wrenching message Abryn had left her. Her sister had gone back to Bareen, her addictions to the killings themselves were too strong, not to mention her Flash kick. Abryn had quit the drug while she was pregnant but still struggled with cravings for it. Brynn frowned at shut off the screen, she remembered those days but, even so, it was hard to remember Aby as being with child. Wearily she closed her eyes and let her mind wonder.
Brynn felt her heart stop at Trance and Rommie's news, "Abryn's what!"
"Pregnant," Rommie confirmed.
Dylan looked at the rest of the crew; every one of them was shocked beyond belief. "Okay then, I didn't see that coming. How far along is she?"
"Five months," Trance said before hesitantly added, "I think we should release her from the brig."
"What? Bad idea, babe," Harper countered. "I mean, come on, she tried to kill me."
"Don't flatter yourself Harper. The only reason she tried to blow a hole in your gut is because you were in her way." Beka said as her eyes traced the lines of Andromeda's weapons console. She knew what Dylan would eventual do, but this time she might be able to bring herself to agree.
"Alright Trance," Hunt agreed though his voice was a little more than unsure. "But she will be confined to Med Deck. Rommie, you'll be with her at all times to make sure she doesn't do any damage."
Rommie nodded, "Aye."
Dylan continued without missing a beat, "The rest of you will help me keep an eye on her through surveillance using Andromeda's systems." He stopped and looked at Brynn, "And you…I want to know why she's trying to kill you."
Brynn looked away from him before whispering a "Fine." Dylan left Command and she followed.
"Brynn, you came aboard three months ago with nothing but a name and a temper, suddenly you've got a price on your head. Would you mind telling me why?"
She gave him a hard look, her willingness to say anything gone with the coming of his overly sarcastic questioning. "You know, Dylan, why don't you go ask Abryn?"
"I think I will," he fell silent for a moment and gave her a hard look, "And you're coming with me."
"Dylan I..."
"She's still in the brig, Miss O'Mally."
She tried to protest again but Dylan set a firm hand on her shoulder, propelling her forward. "There are days I really hate you."
Suddenly Brynn sat upright at the sound of both twins screaming. The memory was gone and her forehead creased with worry at remembering what Abryn had been when they first met. Had she really changed or was it just another mask that she had formulated? No, the older of the girls refused to believe that. They had shared a room for months now and never once had Abryn acted out of place or personality. Brynn shook her head and told herself she was just being paranoid. She looked at the blank screen again, "But she went back to Bareen. Maybe there was no change after all."
(XXXXX)
Abryn stood, bleeding, exhausted, and defiant as Bareen stared at her. For a moment he seemed shocked but then he smiled and she cringed. From his place on the floor one of the Nietzschean's bodyguard's tried to sit upright. Abryn only snarled and shot his other shoulder, finishing off his only good arm.
"I should have known better than to leave you with a single sentry," Bareen sighed, "But tell me, why did you come back if all you planned to do was wreak worthless havoc on my ship?"
She glared at him and stood her ground, gun still aimed at the mindless idiot on the floor. Behind her stood Harper's transparent cell where his broken body was sitting limp against the wall. She had no answer to the Nietzschean's question. She had come back because of her addictions, the need of an excuse for homicide. However, Seamus' sudden appearance had ripped a hole in the cloud of her obsession. His bruised face and bloodshot eyes hurt her so much that getting what she wanted or thought she needed didn't matter anymore.
Her distraction proved to be what Bareen was waiting for and he lunged at her, knocking the gun to the floor. She cursed herself for becoming so engrossed in what had been as she felt herself being pinned under his weight. After so many months on the Andromeda she had become slower and her stealth had suffered. However, Abryn wasn't completely off her game and she was relieved when instinct overtook panic. As he pushed her against the floor her hand shot out and grabbed the knife Bareen always kept at his waist. The weapon had been more than well hidden but careful observation had never been a problem for her. She stabbed into his side and smiled as the blade slid between his ribs and he winced. Swerving her head quickly to the side she narrowly missed having her face run through by the man's bone blades. The struggle continued in that manner for over five minutes, he was bigger and stronger but Abryn's small mass provided her with speed and agility even when pinned down. Suddenly the brawl ceased as quickly as it begun as she felt the cold barrel of a gauss pistol being pressed against her head. Bareen jumped to his feet and leered down at her, "You lose."
"Why don't you just kill me?" she asked as the owner of the gun hauled her to her feet.
"Because, you can still be useful. But tell me again, why do you defend that pitiful worm in there?"
Abryn struggled against her captor's grip but the pistol's barrel pressed against her temple with more force and convinced her to stay put. She looked at Bareen and felt her stomach turn as she realized what she had thrown away to return to what he offered. For a moment she forgot the gun and, without a second thought, spat into his face.
He growled and wiped the offense away with his hand as he pulled the knife out of his side. "Abryn, I give you the opportunity to make something of yourself and this is how you repay me?"
"The only payment you deserve is to be shot and your carcass left to rot in space."
He snarled again and shoved the knife into her own side, much as she had done to him, "You ungrateful little cur!"
This time Abryn didn't scream, instead she let out a whispered cry and groped at her wounded side. Behind her she heard Seamus hit the prison wall with his fist, he had seen. As the pistol wielding Uber half dragged her away from the hall she twisted to look at the young man behind the wall. Trying her best not to show her pain she mouthed the words, "I'm okay," and saw him nod at her. She turned back to face forward and saw they were taking her to a place from her hardened childhood. It was a cold room with one chair in the center and she remembered it much too well for her liking. She was silent as her escort strapped her to the seat and, none to gently, removed the blade from her body. This time she did scream, though not that blood-curtailing shriek they had evoked when beating her. Ignoring her outburst the silent man sloppily dressed her wound then stood. Abryn gasped as she got a good look at his face for the first time, "Fen!" Bareen's oldest child stared down at her. He looked bitterly tired she thought, not the Fen she knew. When they were children Bareen had trained them both for his mercenary work and drug-running schemes, often they learned the same lessons together. They had been enemies from the start and Bareen had purposefully pitted them against each other in their younger years. To this day Fen hated her for constantly outdoing him in his father's eyes. What he never understood was that it was Abryn's desperate need for survival after living on Earth that had fueled her to push so much harder than he did. All he knew was that she was supposedly inferior and yet had made a better killer and smuggler than he did. Not that the hate hadn't been mutual up until this point. Now there was something in her she had never possessed for anyone: pity. She pitied Fen for what Bareen had forced upon him; she closed her eyes and tried to think as her mouth worked through what it wanted to say. Finally something came out, un-slurred and perfectly coherent despite the loss of blood, "Fen, you don't want this. You don't want what I am."
"Shut up," he ordered as he brought a hand across her face, leaving a red mark on her cheek. "You are nothing but an inferior half-breed, why would I ever want to be what you are?"
"Because you know I'm better than you," it was a stupid thing to say, but her newfound sympathy was quickly draining.
He hit her again, this time hard enough to make her head turn, "Not from where I'm standing, Kludge." Turning away he walked over to the only other piece of furniture in the room. Opening the cabinet he removed a small vial before looking over his shoulder, "I'm sure you remember this."
Abryn felt herself go stiff, anyone else might have struggled against the bonds or beg but she already knew such approaches were futile. Fen reached her side again and forced her head back with one hand, two of his fingers holding her eye open. In his free hand he held a dropper, which he poised right above her open optic. She told herself not to fight, it would only make this worse but as the small bead of liquid fell toward her she felt herself jerk against the heave straps. It was to no avail she realized as her eye began to sting when the droplet made contact. Fen smiled a little at her fearful reaction and then repeated the process with the other eye.
"You know you've missed it, Abryn," he said as he returned the vial to its place. "And don't forget," he said whispering in her ear on his way toward the door, "I know exactly who you are."
(XXXXX)
Beka sighed as she watched Brynn stomp off the Maru. What was it with people using her ship as a hiding place? Wasn't the Andromeda big enough? The Maru was her refuge and everybody else could go find their own foxhole. Besides that, panic was slowly creeping into the older O'Mally's system and Beka didn't need that right now, she had her own worries to deal with. Harper was stuck somewhere in time with a complete sociopath who had no qualms about killing him no matter how she felt. Beka wouldn't allow anyone else to see it but she was starting to freak internally. Harper was more her brother than an engineer and more family than any Valentine, except her father, had ever been. On top of that she found herself blaming Dylan more often than not for the entire situation, "It's not his fault," she mumbled to herself.
"He's the one who let Abryn out in the first place," her mind shot back.
"He didn't know what was going to happen!" she insisted, "Besides, Abryn was pregnant, even I couldn't have kept her in the brig under those conditions."
"Dylan's romanticism is starting to rub off on you."
"No, it's not. If I didn't show a little mercy now and then I'd be no better than the Ubers." Her thoughts didn't respond and she nodded in approval. Doubt could be fatal, not only to yourself, but to those around you. Suddenly Dylan's voice resounded throughout both the larger and smaller ships. Apparently they were receiving a distress signal. Beka ran, as if for her life, and entered Command in a matter of minutes.
"I'm impressed," Rommie said looking up from her station.
"By what?"
"You're speed, that's the fastest you've ever gotten up here."
The blond woman only rolled her eyes and turned to Dylan, "Any chance it's the Jur?"
"No," Rhade answered for him.
"Sorry, Beka," Trance said looking at her with solemn eyes, "We all want Harper and Abryn back."
"Really? I just want Harper."
Dylan allowed himself a small chuckle, "What's a matter? Don't like the competition?"
"Ewww, Dylan! When we're through this I'm…"
Andromeda cut her off, "The refugee ship is in the docking bay, captain."
Beka glanced over at the other members of the crew, "Refugee ship?"
"Yes, from a place called Archology, you missed the last correspondence we had with them by mere seconds," Rommie told her.
"Why didn't you tell me that you knew who had sent the signal?"
"Honestly, Beka," Rhade began, "You didn't give us the chance."
(XXXXX)
Six long days had passed since Abryn and Harper had first been trapped in Bareen's game of gut and wit. The last three days had been a Flash filled nightmare for her. Fen had taken pleasure in getting her addicted to the drug again and that had nearly led to an overdose. Though now she was getting used to feeling high as a kite half the time and found the enhanced speed of her reflexes was invigorating. They kept her under guard though; Bareen knew what she could do when on Flash, having seen the results numerous times. However, even she wasn't as blind as to not notice that she had been put back on a leash. She craved the drug and with that addiction her first obsession took a more prominent place. She could have killed without Flash, but it made the task so much easier when you had some stimulated help. Not to mention the room upgrade she'd received when she had once again become compliant. Slowly she stretched out on her large bed and tried to sleep, wanting nothing more than for the pain in her back to ebb. What had they done again? For a moment Abryn saw Harper looking at her as a sharp pain ran through her body. He was behind a wall watching whatever was happening to make her scream. She rolled over and the vision faded, over those last three days she had not seen Harper and it was leaving a hole that even the Flash couldn't fill. She found the best way to deal with the problem was to ignore it. Sighing she sat up, despite the knowledge that sleep was all she really needed to heal completely she could not remain still. Part of it was the drug in her system but there was something else. For all the pleasure the addictions brought her she still wanted out, her arms ached for her children and she missed Brynn. Even Rhade's company would have been preferable to the oversized room she now occupied. Slowly Abryn stood and made her way toward the bathroom to take a shower. As she looked in the mirror she was shocked at the sight before her. A woman stared back at her that was a stranger. Her eyes where white because of the Flash and her once tailbone length black hair had been chopped off at her chin. However, those seemed to be only subtle changes compared to how tired and restless she looked. Another scene moved through her mind. Fen was dragging her into that little room as Seamus banged against the wall. She hadn't wanted any of this to happen the way it had. It was her fault that Brynn would carry her burden, that Harper would eventually die, that she had lost herself all over again to death and drugs. Everything was her fault…it always had been. Stiffly she turned from the mirror and walked back toward the bedroom. A quick glance around reminded her that there was a little of everything in this place and she began to search the shelves for anything to use for her purpose. It didn't take long for her to find what she wanted and, as she broke the bottle of liquor on the table edge, she smiled. She and Bareen were at a stalemate and there was no way the Abryn O'Mally was going to lose to a Dragan. After all, they were all better off without her since the battle with the drug lord seemed decidedly lost. Picking up one of the glass shards she pressed it against her wrist and closed her eyes. Seamus was there, he always was, but this time he begged her not to go. It wasn't the first time he had made such a request and it wouldn't be the first time she had refused him. She shook her head to blur the vision of his face but nothing worked, all she could see was him standing there trying to stop her…just like always.
"Going somewhere?"
Abryn turned around to face the voice behind her, "Back off Kludge or I'll shoot you."
"You know, Abryn, I don't get you. We help you kick your Flash addiction, fix your ship, save you and your kid's lives, and you're still trying diss us."
"Better than trying to kill you, isn't it?"
"If you run now what future do those little guys have?" he said motioning toward her oversized belly.
"I'll find a place for them, don't worry."
"Why not here? You could stick around just until they're born."
Frustrated she raised her gauss gun and looked at him, "Seamus, I'm leaving. Try and stop me and I'll blow a hole through your gut."
"Something you and the Magog have in common."
"Don't you dare compare me to the Magog!" the sentence echoed through the hanger as she took aim at his stomach.
"Whoa, alright, sorry."
She smiled as his fear surfaced…Seamus Harper was afraid to die. "Perfect," she thought. Suddenly a sharp pain shot through her neck and she looked up to see Trance's golden features distorted by a worried frown.
"He tried to ask nicely," she told Abryn before the young woman slipped into darkness.
"What'd you do Trance?" Harper asked as Abryn went limp.
"I just sedated her, that's all."
"How'd you know we were here?"
Trance smiled at him, "I may be a different me, but I'm still me and that means I'm still good at finding things."
Abryn heard Harper laugh just as her mind shut down completely, from that time on she knew it was a sound she would never forget.
Abryn's hand jerked away from her arm as her thoughts returned to the present. The entire crew of the Andromeda had done everything possible to take both her and Brynn into their fold. Brynn had proved to be the wisest, Abryn had only betrayed them and there was no way to pay the debt she owed. Seamus had been right about them saving her, repairing the Jur, taking care of the O'Mally sisters in general despite the fact that Brynn was a runaway slave and Abryn a bloodthirsty mercenary. They had changed her into a person instead of allowing her to remain a monster. And yet, that monster had never completely left her. She had only covered it up with laughter, love, and even her motherhood. She could see both her baby boys sitting in her arms only hours after they had been born. Trance had laughed at the wonder on her face.
"They need you," the gold creature had told her. Then she had looked at Harper who had been sleeping in the chair after being up all night waiting outside the door, "He needs you."
Abryn swore, she really hated this whole conscious thing sometimes. However, when she thought about it, Trance had been wrong about the twins, she needed them much more than they needed her; Harper had told her that once. "Great, if I tell him he was right he'll never let me live it down," she mumbled. Of course, that was contingent on his being alive. Taking a firm hold on the glass in her hand she quickly made for the door, ignoring the small trickle of blood as the shard dug into her skin, she had never liked using her bone blades if she could help it. Taking a deep breath she opened the door, her personal guard turned and she executed him with a quick stroke to his neck. She winced as the body fell, if she could help it this rampage would be her last. She stooped and picked up his gun as the glass piece fell to the deck. If they were going to live she would have to be everything she hated, one last time.
(XXXXX)
"It seems to be reversing itself," Andromeda told them as they gathered on Command.
"Isn't the opposite of a white hole a black hole?" Beka asked with a chillingly calm sarcasm.
Trance looked at her, "What else would it be?"
Dylan sighed, "A bit of hope would be nice."
"Yes it would," Rommie stated, "But something logical would be nice too. Though my sensors indicate that more than actually reversing, the hole's force is weakening."
"It's going to collapse on itself then?" Rhade raised a skeptical brow."
Andromeda's on-screen avatar shrugged, "It's hard to say. It seems to be an extremely temperamental anomaly."
The captain seethed, "Wonderful! You know, people are unpredictable enough, we don't need space anomalies to emulate them!"
"Why don't we leave Trance here to keep an eye on it? We have a conference with our guests ten minutes."
"Rhade, if I didn't know any better I would say that you just wanted to get to know Louisa." Beka chuckled referring to the female Nietzschean who had been pilot of the doomed ship they had brought aboard only hours before.
Dylan laughed, "Don't either one of you start!"
"Have you thought about how Brynn may feel about her?" Rommie asked innocently.
Rhade stiffened and glared at the android, "I don't believe she feels at all." With that he turned to leave but paused to look at Dylan, "I'll be waiting to meet with the rest of you."
"Well, he's certainly touchy," Rommie commented only to realize that everyone on Command was looking at her. "What?"
"Rommie, I think you need to learn something we like to call tact," Beka told her.
"In political situations my avatar and I have no difficulty grasping that term." The holo-version of the ship told them.
Dylan sighed, "Politics and romance are two different worlds."
"You'll have to explain the differences to me later," Rommie said turning toward the door, "Right now, we have a conference."
"Blood," Trance whispered, interrupting their exit.
Dylan turned and gave the golden girl a hard stare, "Excuse me?"
"Dylan, something's wrong, there's blood!"
"Where?"
Trance looked at him wide eyed, "I don't know, but…"
Beka cut her off, "Where's Brynn?"
(XXXXX)
"Good one, Aby," Harper mumbled before another coughing fit it him.
Abryn glared at him though he had meant it as an honest compliment, "Remind me to shoot you later, Seamus."
Bareen smiled at her, "You know, Abryn, if I were of an inferior type I would say that the bantering is cute. However, I am not such a person. So tell me, why don't you shoot him now?" He got no answer so he decided another stab was needed, "If you don't I just might."
"I could kill you instead," she told the Nietzschean.
"Highly unlikely. You see, this sudden behavior change is merely a symptom, what you really need is this."
The moment Bareen said it Abryn told herself to ignore him, but she couldn't help looking at the vial in his hand, couldn't help but hunger for it. For a moment Seamus faded from view, and that moment proved fatal. Bareen was on her within half a second, her head locked into his arm. She had taken down many men stronger than he was, but most of those had been stupid or pulled close by a few flirtations words. Bareen was different because he had the advantage of knowing her inside and out. All it took for Abryn was a few drops and a short wait before the drug had control of her again.
"Do you want more?"
"What do you think," she told him. Completely Human or no Flash still affected her like it did everyone else. She became more belligerent when spoken to and yet almost completely submissive to the supplier.
Bareen nodded and returned the stolen gun, "Then shoot him." Before she could respond the man left the room, leaving her to face his order on her own. For a moment she stood there, staring at the weapon in her hand. Then everything around her blurred and she could feel only one thing: Desire, the lust of the drug. The want for more was so strong it ate at her, Bareen hadn't given her enough of it to completely quell her craving. The answer to her longing was in her hands and she knew it. Without a second thought she looked at Harper and raised the gauss gun.
"Abryn, you gotta' be joking right? Putting on a show for the big man upstairs."
"Shut up," she seethed.
Harper went stiff, Abryn, his Aby, was going to kill him for Flash. Alright, so she had never admitted to being his per say but…"I love you," he looked up in shock, wondering why in the name of the Vedran Empress he had said that out loud. Did he really love her or had he just said it hoping it would save him. "You meant it," a voice in his head told him. "Like it matters?" he thought back at the voice. The argument stopped as Abryn whispered something incomprehensible. "What?" He didn't get an answer, instead her grip on the gun tightened and a distant look filled her eyes. "Aby?"
Abryn heard the name as a foreign word, and yet somehow she knew it belonged to her. Everything around her was painfully exact, sharp, so clear it hurt. Yet her mind only focused on one thing, Flash. How could she feel so lost when everything was so tangible? Words echoed through her mind, they were Seamus'. She could here what he had just told her, clear as a bell, but it refused to register. The craving and her grip on what emotional reality was were at odds with each other now. She wanted to be free of this blasted dependence but her body, her joints and muscles, craved the drug. It was like being in a state of suspended thought. The minutes ticked by at the speed of years as so many torturous thoughts moved through her head. Finally a movement behind her caught her attention, Bareen was back and his voice cut through so perfectly it was almost painful.
"You're showing your weakness, Abryn. This is the only way out for you. Now, please, lets be done with it."
Slowly Abryn turned to look at him. His words had been more of a threat than anything he had yet said. She knew how to read between the lines well enough. In three sentences he had told her so much. "Kill him, Abryn, or I'll kill both of you," her mind had begun to decipher his meaning. "Show me you're the Angel of Death I created you to be or I'll ruin you and then I'll have your life too." That's what he had told her in not so many words. For a moment she continued to stare, fear welling up inside her. No! She felt her mind shout. The fear was not her's, it was a reaction to the drug running rampant in her system. Suddenly she knew, the solution became was so obvious. It no longer mattered that she knew Bareen's greatest secret, nor that there were men behind the walls of the stone hallway outside the cells. All the mattered was her anger, her fear, her pain, and her children. Everything else was lost as she realized where all those feelings had been kept since she was taken from Earth. Despite the Flash, the clarity, and the confusion such lucidity caused she looked at Bareen the way a cat might see a mouse. "My weakness?"
He was growing impatient, "What did you think I said, girl?"
Abryn didn't answer, instead she met his demeaning glare, "You are my weakness, father!" Behind her she heard Harper gasp as Bareen's body fell to the floor, still sucking in the shallow breaths of a man who was dying. "You were always too confident."
"You knew all along, you're not as stupid as I thought."
"No, stupidity was something you forgot to pass on when you impregnated my mother."
"She was a Human slave, property."
At this Abryn boiled and raised her gun again but another shot rang out before she could pull the trigger. Looking behind her she noticed Harper had grabbed the fallen man's gun when it skidded across the room as he hit the floor. "Seamus…"
Slowly he tucked the weapon into his own empty holster, "Don't Abryn, just don't."
Abryn nodded and looked at her father's lifeless body, "You should have left me on Earth." Turning away she glanced over her shoulder as a second thought came to mind: the Flash. As she bent over to search the corpse a scream emanated from the hall. The thought of the drug vanished as quickly as it had occurred as the sight in the corridor consumed her. Harper lay on the floor, his own blood pooling around him. She ran over the short distance and knelt beside him. "What were you thinking!" She demanded while searching for the wound.
"It looked clear," he mumbled.
"It always does, don't you know that by now? Now I'm going to have to explain to Dylan why I'm bringing back a wounded engineer." She trailed on for a moment more while he simply looked at her and smiled.
Finally she noticed his grin, "What?"
"You're crying."
"Huh?" she asked dumbly. Then she noticed the wet drops on her cheeks and his bloodied shirt.
"Whatta' you know, she cares."
"Of course I care! Why do you think Bareen's dead you idiot," After that she couldn't bare to talk any longer. Her tears flowed freely for him as she found the wound and knew there was no way to help him in time.
"I don't want to die, Aby," he whispered as she leaned over him and listened to his breathing.
"I know, Shay." Was all she could manage as she laid her head against his chest, "I know." It seemed an eternity but she could feel the life leaving him minute by minute despite the slow movement of his thumb back and forth on her hand. It was in that moment she realized the most important thing to occur to her. "Shay?"
"Mmm?"
"I love you too." The words were followed by the sound of shots being fired and Abryn felt white fire blaze through her as Harper's breathing ceased completely and she felt herself being pulled into an inescapable darkness. Even the angel was not immortal.
(XXXXX)
Dylan sighed, Trance had been right about the blood after all, not that it was a surprise. He was now convinced that insanity ran in the O'Mally family. Both sisters had seemingly snapped, all semblance of good sense suddenly gone.
There was a chime at the door and the tired captain rubbed his temples before granting his visitor entrance. As he watched the door open he wasn't sure whether to be pleased or not at the gold figure before him. He wanted to ask, "How did you know?" but it would have been fruitless. Instead he rose and offered her a seat, which she declined with a shake of her head. Finally, he gave in to a little curiosity, "How's Brynn?"
"Still unstable."
Dylan nodded; it made sense really, "What is with those girls?"
"They've had hard lives, Dylan."
For some reason he suddenly missed the younger purple version of the woman, he had wanted an answer more along the lines of, "I don't know, why don't we ask when Brynn gets better…'cause she will you know." The idea of this Trance sitting on the couch nearly bouncing as she said that hopeful line made Dylan chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Trance asked, more than a little perplexed.
"Nothing really," he told her as he became solemn once more. "Having a hard life is not an excuse for what they've done, we've all had hard lives."
"True, and we all make mistakes in dealing with the past."
"No one on my ship has ever acted so irresponsibly."
Slowly she sank onto the couch, "Don't lie to yourself, Dylan. Everyone of us has done something that held long term, if not eternal, negative consequences."
Dylan had no answer because he knew she was right. When Tyr had first been aboard he had been constantly looking for windows to take the Andromeda for himself, Harper had helped build a doomsday machine, Beka had gotten herself addicted to Flash, and the list went on. "Alright," he finally whispered, "You're right."
"There is another problem."
"Great! Just what we need."
"The blood, it doesn't belong to Brynn alone."
The captain felt his mouth fall agape, "Are you trying to tell me that someone else on my ship followed her wonderful example of an exit strategy?"
Trance sighed and looked out the window, "Not on the ship."
"You mean out there?"
Suddenly the ship shuddered and Andromeda's holographic avatar shimmered into being. "My sensors are detecting two ships, one of which I have confirmed to be the Pseudo Jur."
"Harper," Trance whispered.
"As well as Abryn," Rommie stated.
"Alright people, let's go," Dylan said after requesting a ship-wide communication, "I want to know what's happening!"
(XXXXX)
Harper felt as if he had the worst hangover in all of eternity and the deck jolting beneath him didn't help.
"Wake up, Seamus."
At first he didn't recognize the voice. It was gentle and forceful all at once and he lacked an understanding of how those two could mix so easily. Of course, it didn't help that a million tiny shadows and whispers were dancing around his head either. Slowly he sat up and looked around, only then realizing who had spoken to him. "Abryn?"
"Yeah, now if you don't mind I could use someone at the weapons consol."
"Right," the ship rolled beneath him and he fell before reaching the appointed station. He heard Abryn mumble sorry but didn't bother responding as he laid his hands on the control panel. "What are we throwing at them?"
Abryn cast a glace over her shoulder, "Everything."
Harper nodded as he felt the Jur swing itself into another wild maneuver. "Have you been taking lessons from Beka?" The only reply he got was a laugh and an order to fire. He was disappointed to see that only some of the shots hit their target. "So who are they?"
"Not they, him. It's Bareen."
At that name the ghosts in Harper's mind became complete scenes, he knew this man. He could see himself being beat at the hands of Nietzscheans, not for the first time in his life. Then the memory changed to Abryn being hit after some kind if nerve reaction enhancer had been injected into her neck. From there he saw her about to shoot him as he knelt on a cell floor, bloody and broken. His first reaction was to be angry with her and then she had turned and shot Bareen instead. After that everything came to him in order until he heard her last words as he had died. She loved him.
"Harper!" Abryn's voice broke his reverie.
"What?"
"I tell you to fire and you stand there like you're asleep!"
"Sorry, it's just…I don't know." He had never felt so utterly confused.
She looked at him and her face softened, "The memories are hard, I know. We'll talk about it later."
Slowly he nodded and began another assault on the other ship as Abryn turned them toward the Andromeda at full speed. "I really hope Dylan still loves us! Andromeda, this is the Jur, permission to dock requested."
She smiled as Beka's voice crackled over the comm., "No need for formalities Abryn, just get your back ends aboard now!"
"Remind me to pay you back for that warm greeting, Beka."
"Yeah boss," Harper threw in, "Give us a break, it's been a long week." As the docking bay doors slid open Abryn and Harper saw Bareen's prize ship explode in a ball of beautiful fire, Andromeda had done her job.
(XXXXX)
"Dylan, we died!" Abryn insisted again.
Dylan continued down the corridor, "You two look pretty alive to me,"
"Boss, she's telling the truth, for once she's telling the truth."
"Like you so often do, Mr. Harper?"
Harper broke into a sheepish grin, "Point taken, but I swear, something weird happened!"
"We all know something weird happened," Rommie told the young engineer with a pointed look. "The problem is we don't know what."
Abryn glared at Dylan, "You never do."
"That is quite enough, Miss O'Mally," Rhade's gruff voice spoke for the first time since she and Harper had arrived.
"Beka has a theory," Rommie continued, "And based on what she's told us the white hole threw you forward in time, when the hole's force begin to weaken and collapse in on itself, the pull from the reversing polarities dragged you back. Whatever happened to you in the future is null and void, as of right now, it never occurred."
"But I remember it," Harper protested.
"That seems to be the only evidence that anything ever happened to you over the entire week," Rhade mumbled.
Beka sighed, "Trance may have a better explanation."
"Fine, but before I talk to anyone else I'd like to see my children, and Brynn." Abryn stated flatly while pulling against Rhade's firm grasp on her arm.
"You run back to a Dragan drug-lord and a Flash addiction and you want to see your kids? You are a truly disgusting creature," the Nietzschean's hold tightened.
For a moment Harper looked around at the faces of his friends. They all agreed with Rhade's statement, they all saw Abryn as a mercenary and addict and nothing more. He caught himself agreeing but then reversed his decision. There were many sides to any one person, true, but he had seen so many faces on Abryn. "She saved you," he told himself. "She also tried to kill me," his mind argued back. "She loves you, she loves the twins," he countered. "She loves the twins," the other voice in his head confirmed. He was too confused to think about the other part of that thought. "Dylan, let her see the twins, she's not going to hurt them, you know that."
Dylan stared at Harper. The boy was right, Abryn was a different person when with her children, she loved them more than life itself. It was all so very Nietzschean when he thought about it. "Fine," he conceded, "But Trance will go with you."
"Why not Brynn?" Abryn asked, more than a little ticked off.
"Because I trust Trance," he told her before turning on his heel and walking away.
"Okay, that went well," Harper told her only to receive a slap across the head from Beka.
"Come on, Harper, the Slip drive needs some love," the blond pilot told him.
Abryn watched them leave with Rommie trailing behind, then she looked up at her escort, "What's going on, Rhade? Where's Brynn?"
"You'll find out soon enough, until then I'll take you to find Trance."
"I know my way around the ship, thanks."
"That's obvious, you're overly familiar with the Maru too. You proved that when you locked Dylan in it."
"It was the only way to get to the Jur."
"About that, we all have one question, why?"
"To survive."
Rhade glared at her as the made their way toward hydroponics, "Do not mock me."
"I wasn't, I was being honest. What's worse, Rhade, having your children see you rave like a madwoman when you wake up and crave Flash, or leaving them with good people so they aren't subjected to that."
"You always said it wasn't the drug, it was the death. Which one is your true addiction?"
"Does it matter now? My solution to both is gone."
Finally he let go of her arm, his face giving away how exhausted he was, "Your solution is your children."
Abryn only stared as Trance's voice echoed through her head, she had once told her as much.
"When were you planning on telling us?"
"I wasn't, Captain Hunt." Abryn stood in Med Deck, glaring at the man before her. "I figured you get it eventually."
"Do you realize that your actions go against everything your people believe?"
Abryn laughed, "My people? Please, show me whom you speak of."
"You know what he means," Beka Valentine interjected, motioning to her own forearm.
Abryn understood, the other woman was referring to the mercenary's bone blades "Don't assume things, they are not always what they seem."
"Apparently not," Andromeda interjected, "I've seen female mercenaries before, but never carrying children."
"Things are more complicated than you think. Honestly, I had no intent of coming here until the baby was delivered, but plans change." How was she supposed to tell them that the child had been implanted as an embryo? That all this was punishment for failing to meet with Tyr Anasazi's group and her foiled assassination attempt on a Persied librarian; Even Jaeger couldn't do the second job right and since then Bareen couldn't afford any connection with the Andromeda, even one Tyr Anasazi. "That's what you get for hiring outside the pool," Abryn had told her employer once, it had resulted in a good beating delivered by the Nietzschean drug-lord himself.
Andromeda chose the silence to deal another blow to Abryn's already overworked mind, "Don't you mean children?"
"What?" Dylan got to the question before Abryn,
"She's carrying twins."
Abryn seethed, "I'm going to kill that Uber! He…"
She was cut off by Beka, "One Nietzschean calling another 'Uber', that's unusual."
Trance had been quiet the entire time, but now it felt as if she would explode if she didn't say something, "Abryn, these children could be the key to your escape."
"My escape?"
"You know what I mean," was all Trance told her.
And she had been right; Abryn knew exactly what the gold creature was implying. Her pregnancy would give her right to go into hiding and who knew if she would ever come out.
"Are you alright?" Rhade's voice wrenched her back to reality.
"I'm fine, just a little tired."
"Trance is inside," he said, motioning toward the entrance to hydroponics.
Abryn opened the door and the sweet smell of so many different flowers encased her. "Thanks," she muttered before she stepped inside and the door closed behind her. For a moment she thought the room was empty but then she heard footsteps and the cry of a small child. She ran through the rows of plants for a minute or so before she found Trance sitting on a bench, both boys in her arms.
"I thought you might come here."
Abryn only nodded her thanks and reached out for the twins before offering a whispered, "Please,"
However, Trance only shook her head, "Not until you promise to stop this."
"Stop what?"
"Giving into all those things that are destroying your life, their lives."
"I have no desire to harm my children."
"I didn't mean just Zal and Jared, I meant Harper, Brynn, and the rest of the crew."
"I fail to see how I affect the entire crew."
"Are you that blind, Abryn?"
"I guess I am, but please, Trance, let me hold them," Abryn felt the tears fill her eyes as she watched the one thing she cherished being held back from her. She hadn't cried in years, not until Harper's death. Luckily that all had reversed itself and both she and Seamus were safe. So she cried now, over her children. But there was more behind it than that; there was also guilt over what she had done to these people who had cared for her, unlike Bareen. For the first time she realized what she truly was: A broken woman with a million and one choices and only one correct option. Trance stood and handed Zal to her. Abryn took the seat as the other woman offered Jared was well.
"You finally know who you are," she whispered. Before sitting again, this time on the arm of the bench.
"A mother."
"A sister too."
For a moment, in light of her beautiful children, she had forgotten. "Where's Brynn, no one will tell me anything about her."
"Brynn is in her quarters," Trance told her, a hard frown crossing her face.
"I have to see her!"
"Abryn, I must warn you, she's not the same woman you left behind."
(XXXXX)
Harper ambled into Ops with a sigh, all he wanted was a little alone time. Looking out the huge windows that surrounded him he smiled, "Sometimes the universe is one messed up place," he mumbled to no one.
"Yes it is," No One answered.
He jumped but didn't bother looking for the source of the voice, "Sorry, Aby, didn't know you were here."
"Nobody did," she replied, coming up beside him while pushing the twins' stroller in front of her.
"What's that?" the engineer asked nodding at the flexi she was trying to hide in her pocket.
Abryn shrugged, "Nothing, just a good read."
"Riiiggghhht."
"You don't believe me?"
"Do I ever?" At this Abryn only laughed and leaned over to check on Jared who was squealing rather loudly. Harper watched her and wondered how her two sides could be so completely different. She was so cold with him and the crew, but with Brynn and the twins she was a mother and a sister. "So, which one's the real Abryn?"
"Excuse me?"
"Which one's the real you? Little Miss Killing Spree or Perfect Mother?"
"Maybe it's both."
"If you were completely Nietzschean I might believe that."
She sighed, "I have the feeling that there's a 'but' coming after that."
He laughed, "Actually…you're right, but since you spoiled it…'
"You might as well tell me, Seamus," she told him flatly as she picked up Zal and handed him to Harper.
"Well, I was going to say that the real you is somewhere in between, ya' know? Good old Earth kid instinct: Fight for what you have to, love who you can, trust nobody even if they trust you."
"Are you saying I can't trust the people on this ship?
"We're the exception," he told her. "You know you're safe here, Aby."
"Maybe, but Dylan has a long list of enemies."
He shrugged, "He's got a good amount of friends too…even if they're not of the most 'respectable' sort."
Abryn sighed and made her way toward a window, "I see, well this may be the safest place for the twins then, who knows really."
Silence fell for a moment as a million thoughts filled Harper's head; who was she, why was she really here, and the question that prevailed… "Aby, what does Zal stand for? You never told any of us, except Brynn."
The half-breed mercenary cringed at the mention of her sister's name, "Yeah, well, why didn't you ask her?"
"We did, she wouldn't tell us. She'd just laugh and walk off. So, is it just Zal or is it short for something?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because it sounds pretty close to another name I'm kind of familiar with."
Smiling Abryn whispered in his ear before taking Zal and putting him in the stroller, "See you later, Shay." Turning she left the room and smiled as she heard him yell something about being right through the door.
"What did you tell him?" Holo-Rommie asked appearing in the hall next to her.
"The truth."
"Which is?"
"You're an extremely annoying warship, you know that!"
Rommie sighed, "You must have told him something important or else he wouldn't be so happy."
"While I'm sure you already know, I told him what Zal's real name is."
"Don't make me ask."
"I don't believe ships should have attitudes," Abryn said sardonically, "But his full name is Zalzaney Dylan O'Mally."
"Ahh, I see, not as hardened as you'd like us all to think."
"Whatever," she said with a shrug as the holographic persona dissipated. Making her way down the hall she entered the room that she and Brynn had once shared. Stiffly she sat next to the bed where her unconscious sister was lying and sighed. Refusing to let another tear fall for her rash older sibling she grabbed Brynn's cold hand, "Why? Why did you do this?" Against her will the tears came. The door behind her opened but she didn't turn, no one here would harm her children or herself. A hand grabbed her shoulder and she tensed but the voice that accompanied the touch calmed her instantly.
"I thought you might come here,"
"I blame Louisa," she said sharply recalling what Trance had recounted to her about the past week."
"For what?"
"For being born!"
"It's not her fault Rhade's a jerk, or that Brynn did this, you know that."
Abryn only nodded and continued her silent lament, holding Harper's hand so tight that it cut off the circulation.
There was something more she wanted to say, he could see it, "What are you hiding, Aby?"
"Nothing…everything."
Slowly he let out a long sigh and pulled away from her to pick up Jared, he knew there was no other answer the young mother would willingly give.
She watched him for a moment before she felt the tears on her cheeks and one all painful thought filled her mind, "Everything you can't know."
Finis