I'm back with another chapter. Thank you for all of the reviews.
Chapter 9
Thanks to the tracking program the redheaded guard had given her, Beka was now had an idea where Trance had gone. Sitting in the pilot seat on the Maru Beka Valentine started up the ship's engine. The old engine sputtered to life and then died. It had been quite some time since Harper had done any work on the old girl. Beka was so worried about Harper that she hadn't bothered to do much tinkering on the Maru.
Beka hoped the old ship had enough left in her to catch up to Trance. "Come on Maru, give me all you got. This is for Trance," Beka coaxed as she started up the engine again.
To Beka's great relief the Maru's engine came to life and stayed on. Beka smiled as she looked at the console in front of her. "Thanks Maru.
The blonde pilot buckled her seatbelt and began lifting the Maru off the ground. She was glad to be leaving Sinti. Beka never cared for planets; space was where she felt most at home.
Beka followed the tracking beacon from the rental ship as she kept an eye on the slipstream map on the console in front of her. Due to the distance of Trance's ship had traveled, the tracking beacon from her ship was relayed from one receiving station to the next. Beka merely had to follow the beacon to each receiving station until she was close enough to Trance's ship to get a direct signal.
Beka homed in on the nearest receiving station checked for a slipstream route and found one a short distance away. The blonde pilot referred to her slipstream map and opened up the nearest slipstream route.
Beka was grateful that navigating the slipstream forced her to focus on something other than her concern for Trance's welfare. An hour later Beka exited the slipstream and checked the location of Trance's rental ship again. The blonde pilot was surprised that the ship appeared to be on the move again.
Trance had made good time to the Daedelus System considering she only made one slipstream jump. The purple pixie dared not risk many slipstream jumps knowing had pressed her luck by flying through the slipstream the first time. Trance only flew through the slipstream again because that one route she used was well traveled.
Trance was careful to focus only on the slipstream and not alternate timelines as she had when she ended up in the battle of Witch Head. The purple alien still didn't get her hopes up too high. She could be in a different time.
The purple pixie landed the rental ship on London Drift, the most populated drift in the Daedelus System. Trance crossed her fingers as opened the hatch. Then the purple alien pulled the hood of her cloak over her head as she walked off of the ship.
Inside spaceport security office Trance provided the necessary paperwork on a flexi. She suddenly had the thought that Dylan would be upset if he knew that Beka and Harper had taught her how to make official looking documents while she served on the Maru.
Trance nervously waited for the older female security officer with salt and pepper hair to examine the documents on the purple girl's flexi. Despite her fear of being caught, Trance kept a calm demeanor.
The female officer handed the flexi back to Trance saying, "Everything appears to be in order. You may proceed."
"Thank you ma'm. I'm here on a vacation but I'm rather terrified of Nietzscheans. I've had rather bad experiences with them in the past," she informed truthfully. "Would you be able to tell me if there are many Nietzscheans on this drift?"
"There are Nietzscheans just about everywhere in the Daedelus system young lady," the guard answered. "We mostly have members of the Sabra Jaguar pride though and they don't seem to cause as much trouble here as the Drago Katzovs"
Trance nodded her understanding. "Yes I've heard such terrible things about the Drago Katzovs. The Nietzscheans I ran into were bad enough."
The guard flashed the purple alien a sympathetic smile. "A pretty young girl like you shouldn't be traveling alone to places like this."
"Oh I'm not traveling alone. I have a friend with me, Trance lied. "He's ill and I was trying to find a medical clinic."
The female guard looked around Trance to the people standing in line behind the purple alien. "Well we have a few clinics so you should have no problem finding one. Good luck ma'm. If you don't mind I have to take care of the next person in line."
Trance turned and looked over her shoulder to look at the young family of four behind her. "Oh excuse me. I didn't mean to take up so much of your time. I'll be leaving now. Thank you for your help." Trance smiled at the two girls as she picked up her duffle bag and walked away.
On Sinti Harper paced in front of the admitting desk. It had been a good ten minutes since the nurse had left him to go check on some paperwork. Harper was ecstatic to be getting out of the hospital and was now waiting to be released. He could now go and help Beka look for Trance.
"Pacing the floor will not make the nurse return any sooner," Tyr commented from the chair where he was seated.
Harper stopped and looked over at the dark skinned Nietzschean. "I can't help it Tyr. I've been cooped up in this hospital for so long I just need to get out."
"It can't have been all that bad Harper," Dylan reasoned.
"Not that bad? They didn't even let me have any flexis with schematics or any interesting stuff to read. All I had to keep me occupied the last couple days is a bunch of boring flexis with titles like "Birds are our Friends," Harper ranted as he returned to pacing the floor.
Dylan stood up and took a position directly in the engineer's path. "Harper, try to relax. You'll be out of here soon."
Harper stopped inches front of the High Guard captain and sighed. "Yeah I know. I really want to go after Trance. Have you heard anything from Beka?"
"No I haven't but then I didn't expect Beka to send any messages until she caught up with Trance," Dylan explained. "And you're needed here to help with repairs on the Andromeda."
Harper's expression darkened briefly before returning back to normal. "Now that I'm going to be out of here, if the nurse ever returns, how much of Andromeda am I going to have to repair?"
"Oh only a couple of torpedo tubes, some the environmental systems and the Andromeda's hologram," Dylan said nonchalantly.
"Oh fine, I just get to fix half of Andromeda when I get back," Harper groused before concern set in. "Andromeda is okay though right?"
Dylan chuckled as he put a hand on the engineer's small shoulder. "Relax Harper, I was joking. Well, I wasn't joking about the environmental systems, but I made up everything else."
Harper's shoulders slumped as relief washed over him. "Okay very funny. Scare me half to death just when I'm getting out of the hospital will ya," the engineer retorted in his Boston twang.
The young Perseid nurse returned to the nurses' station sat down behind the desk. "Mr. Harper" she called out to the waiting crowd.
Harper whipped his head around to see the nurse, regretting the action immediately. "Um yes ma'm I'm Harper. Can I leave the hospital now" he questioned anxiously.
The nurse handed the engineer a flexi with a writing utensil. "You need to sign these forms and then you are free to leave Mr. Harper."
As he signed his name numerous times, Harper became frustrated at the volume of
paperwork he was required to fill out to get out of the hospital. It made him feel like a prisoner getting out on parole. Dylan and Tyr watched on in mild amusement at the engineer's predicament. The two while sympathetic, were glad to see signs of the old Harper returning
Harper finished signing his name for the last time and began shaking his hand. "I think I've gotten writer's cramp just from signing my name so many times."
Tyr stood up, nearly as anxious as Harper to leave the hospital. The Nietzschean carefully watched Harper as they exited the hospital. Tyr wouldn't let the engineer see how relieved the Nietzschean was that Harper was well again.
"Come on. We'll get Rev and be on our way back to Andromeda," Dylan suggested.
Rev was in the hospital chapel trying to comfort the grieving families of the hospital patients. The magog was in prayer with a woman when he heard his crew mates enter the chapel. Rev waited until he finished his prayer before looking up to see who had arrived.
The magog excused himself and walked over to his crew mates. "I see you have been discharged from the hospital Master Harper. I am glad to see you looking much healthier than you had been."
"Thanks Rev. I feel a lot better than I had when I was shot. It's good to be up and around, even if the Chinheads will only allow me back on light duty," Harper remarked with enthusiasm.
Tyr had become bored by the small talk and decided to intercede. "I trust you are ready to leave now magog?"
Rev looked up at the tall Nietzschean and bowed his head. "Yes I am quite ready to get back on the Andromeda. I have given as much comfort as I could to these people. I just wish that I were able to do more."
The group left the chapel and walked down the hall towards the exit.
Dylan cast the magog a sympathetic look. He did have a task for Rev that would help the magog feel more useful. "I'm sure you were a help to those who needed it Rev. Since is Trance away I'll need you to be in charge of Harper's recovery."
Rev's dark eyes brightened at the thought of being able to assist the young Earther. "Yes I will see to it that Mr. Harper takes his necessary medications and doesn't over exert himself."
Harper scowled at the thought of having somebody babysitting him. "What's the matter Dylan? Don't you trust me to following the doctor's instructions?" he protested as they walked down the hall of the hospital.
"No," Dylan replied succinctly as they all exited the hospital.