Thanks for the reviews kind readers. Thanks to parisindy for being my beta.
Janeta thanks for bringing the errors in a previous chapter to my attention. I'll try to correct the problems which I thought I had done before posting the chapter. Sorry for the errors people. And don't blame my beta since any errors are my fault.
Chapter 6
Beka was sitting with Harper when Dr. Mung entered the room looking anxious. The blonde pilot immediately worried that there was bad news about Harper. "What the matter Doctor? Beka whispered the question.
Dr. Mung spoke in quick hushed tones. "We received a message via courier from the Andromeda."
The executive officer shrugged her shoulders. "It's probably just Dylan saying that they managed to get rid of the Sabra Jaguars and are heading this way."
"I hope you are right Miss Valentine," The Sabra Jaguar is a dangerous pride," the Perseid remarked.
"I suppose I should read the message. I'll be in the waiting lounge. If Harper's condition changes I want to know," Beka stated as she took a last look at Harper before leaving.
Beka pulled up the message on the flexi and read it. The Andromeda had managed to evade Siegfried and his fleet after getting some assistance from one of the new planets that joined the Commonwealth. Siegfried's fleet wasn't destroyed but it was crippled enough that the Nietzschean gave up the fight and headed into a slipstream portal.
In the last bit of the message Dylan said he was headed to Sinti.
Beka turned off the flexi and shoved it into the pocket of her leather jacket. "Looks like you owe some planet a big favor there Dylan."
Siegfried stood on the hanger deck of the ship he commanded. He paced like a cat up and down the deck in front of his two men who had narrowly escaped from their raid on the Andromeda Ascendant.
Siegfried came to a halt in front of the two Nietzscheans and glared at each of them in turn. "You came running back here like a couple of dogs with your tails between your legs. You failed to bring back the bones of our progenitor," he chastised.
Both of the Sabra Jaguars were stoic in their acceptance of the wrath of their leader. Neither one flinched. Siegfried allowed several moments of awkward silence to pass before continuing chewing out his men.
"At least you aren't attempting to offer excuses for your failure. Which means I won't just dispose of your miserable lives," Siegfried announced with controlled anger.
"Thank you sir," one of the men replied curtly.
Siegfried came closer to the Sabra Jaguar until only a few inches separated the two. "However that doesn't mean there will not be repercussions for your failure. The two of you are hereby exiled from the Sabra Jaguar pride. Get me the remains of Drago Musevi and I might consider reinstating you two into the pride."
The second blonde haired Sabra Jaguar peered into Siegfried's intense brown eyes. "Yes sir, we will not fail this time."
"I'm not expecting much from you two. I merely stated that I would reconsider your banishment if you were to somehow return the progenitor's remains to the Sara Jaguar pride," Siegfried stressed. He then paced in front of the two Nietzscheans before waving an arm in the air. "What are you two waiting for? Go now. Get out of my sight!"
The two Sabra Jaguars silently turned on their heels and left Siegfried alone in the hangar bay. Siegfried clasped his hands behind his back and looked around at the hanger bay. The lack of the Drago Musevi bones made the large room appear vacant, despite the numerous ships lined up on the deck.
Over the next few days Harper gradually grew stronger and finally regained consciousness. Dr. Mung called Trance to medical as soon as he saw Harper open his eyes. Trance was in one of the labs checking the results a blood workup on Harper when she called to Harper's room.
Trance found Harper semi conscious when she arrived. The purple girl rushed to Harper's bedside and stared at the engineer. She wanted so badly to give her friend a hug but didn't want to risk injuring the Earther. "Hi Harper. I'm so glad you're awake. You really had us all worried."
Harper swallowed, realizing he was thirsty. He then saw tears well up in Trance's eyes. "Hey no crying. I'm okay. I remember the Nietzscheans attacking but not much else before waking up here. I guess they must have gotten me pretty good. But I'm alive so no crying. You're my Purple Princess," he stated in a raspy voice.
Trance sniffled as she wiped her nose with her shirt sleeve. "Yeah, I'm your Purple Princess. I'm sorry for what happened to you Harper."
"Hey it's not your fault. I just zigged when I shoulda zagged is all," Harper replied.
"But I put your life in danger by being near you. I'm sorry for that. I should have been more careful," Trance protested.
Harper grabbed the purple girl's hand and weakly squeezed it. "Trance it's all good so quit blaming yourself."
Trance could see the discussion had weakened the Earther and dropped the subject. "You look tired. Why don't you rest and I'll tell you a story."
The engineer closed his eyes and relaxed. Trance began telling Harper a Vedran story. Even though the Earther had heard the story many times already, it was still one of his favorites. Trance had barely begun the story when she could see Harper's breathing relax as the Earther drifted off to sleep.
Trance waited for a nurse to come in and relieve her. The alien stood up and stretched the kinks out of her back. Trance walked around Harper's bed and checked the machines that monitored the Earther's condition. Trance was able to relax now that Harper's condition had improved.
Not long afterwards the nurse arrived so Trance left the room and ran into Beka who had come to check in on Harper. The purple girl updated Beka on Harper's status.
Beka hugged Trance when she heard Harper had regained consciousness. "I was worried that we might have made the wrong decision bringing Harper here. I guess Dr. Mung knows what he's doing."
"Have you heard any news from the Andromeda?" Trance asked as they walked down the corridor back towards Harper's room.
"No news yet. I'll check back with the courier service later," Beka informed as they arrived outside of Harper's room. Beka stopped and turned to the alien. "Are you coming in?"
Trance paused and shook her head. "No, I'll let you have some time alone with Harper. I need to check on my plants in Hydroponics."
"Okay, I'll meet you back at the Maru," Beka announced before disappearing into Harper's hospital room.
Trance went back to the Maru. While there Trance gathered up a change of clothes and a force lance. The alien found a blank flexi and wrote a message for Beka. Now that Harper was well enough it was time for her to put her plan into place. Trance doubled checked to make sure she had the flexi with the information she had downloaded while borrowing one of the computers in the medical clinic on Sinti.
Trance found a ship that she could hire at the spaceport where the Maru was docked. Trance had saved a little money and used it to pay the rental. Trance pulled the thrones from her pocket, counted the thrones out as she placed them in the hand of the rental agent. The agent handed her a flexi with a receipt to complete the transaction.
Trance stopped outside of the older model ship she had rented and looked up at it. The ship looked old and rusted on the outside but the purple alien decided to walk up the hatch and check out the interior.
The interior reminded the pixie of the Maru. Trance smiled thinking that this ship might prove to be lucky. It was clean and functional, but bare bones. There was nothing fancy about this ship, but that suited Trance just fine. She wasn't going for a joy ride. The purple pixie was going after the men who had hurt Harper.
Trance started up the engines before glancing at the flexi one last time. The Sabra Jaguars that had escaped from the Andromeda were last seen in a sector no known to be popular with the Sabra Jaguar pride. There were plenty of Ogami and Kalderans in the sector, which caused a nuisance to Nietzscheans they encountered.
Trance had credible information that the two Sabra Jaguars were on a drift called Fargo. The purple alien learned that the two Sabra Jaguars were abandoned by Siegfried after their escape from the Andromeda. The word was that Siegfried was not happy with his two men and exiled them from his fleet.
Trance smiled to herself. Siegfried had played into her hands by forcing his two men into exile. Trance would be able to pick them off quite easily. Then, it would be Siegfried's turn. The Nietzschean leader would be more difficult, but Trance had time to work out the details on catching him.
The purple girl was brought out of her thoughts by a knock on the ship's hatch. Trance checked security monitor and saw a security officer standing outside. The purple alien let the officer inside the ship.
The security officer's eyes scanned the ship. "I've here because you neglected to fill out an itinerary when you leased this ship. The attendant who rented the ship should have caught the error."
Trance put on her best innocent look on her face. "Oh did I forget that? I apologize officer. I'll fill it out immediately."
The officer handed Trance a flexi and the alien put in Infinity Atoll as her destination. It was a place that the security officer must have been accustomed to seeing on itineraries as he smirked when he read the name.
"Enjoy your trip to Infinity Atoll Miss," The officer said before tipping his cap and exiting the ship.
A satisfied grin crossed Trance's lips at having managed to convince the Sinti security. The purple admonished herself for not completely filling out the information which alerted security.
As Trance lifted off of Sinti she hoped Beka, Dylan and the others would understand why she had to leave like this. The purple girl had made up her mind and nothing and nobody was going to change it