Lost Souls & Changing Fate Part One: Lost Souls

Chapter Four: The Awakening

It was two days later before Anna woke up completely. She had been lucid for only a few moments the day she was brought onboard. The whole crew had come in to get a look at their newest "mega hot babe" as Harper referred to her. Surprisingly, Rhade was the one who spent the most time with her. There was something about her that he just couldn't get out of his head. It was on one of his visits that she finally woke up.

"Mmm"

'Rhade snapped out of the daydream he had been having when he realized she was indeed waking up.

"Trance to med deck" he called over the com

"On my way"

"Trance?" Anna murmured

"She's on her way right now"

"Mmm"

Trance came through the doors with Dylan at her heels,

"Ah, you've finally decided to join the living have you?" Trance questioned with a smile

"Trance?"

"Hello Anna, it's been a long time."

"Where am I?"

"You're onboard the Commonwealth starship Andromeda Ascendant. I am Captain Dylan Hunt."

"Dylan Hunt? That's not possible."

"I quite assure you it is possible."

"No sir. Dylan Hunt was the captain of Andromeda more then 300 years ago. He's long dead by now."

"You speak as though you knew him" said Rhade in a confused tone

"I didn't. My mother used to speak so highly of him. She said he would have made a fine Nietzschean."

"There is no higher praise" Dylan said with a smile, "But who was your mother?"

"Raina, Queen of the Nietzschean peoples."

Dylan and Rhade both looked at Anna with shock plain on their faces. This woman was claiming to be a decedent of the last Nietzschean Royal Family.

"The Royal Family has been dead since the fall of the Commonwealth." Dylan said at last

"I am quite aware of that Captain. I am not delusional you know. Have your rather impressive ship check the records. I am who I claim to be."

"And who exactly is that?" Dylan asked, growing more confused by the second.

"I am Arianna Corsair, out of Raina by Torin."

"The heir of the Nietzschean empire?"

"I suppose so, yes."

Dylan turned to Rommie, who was working with her AI core to establish the credibility of this woman's story.

"Sir, it appears our guest is telling the truth. Her body shows signs of prolonged stasis, and she matches the last known picture of Arianna Corsair."

"Captain, you can't tell me you believe all this? It is easy enough to change your face. What real proof do we have that she is telling the truth?"

"Gaharis?"

"My name is Telemachus Rhade. Gaharis has been dead for a very long time." Rhade spit angrily

"My apologies Telemachus, it is an easy mistake. Genetic reincarnation?"

"Yes."

"Captain, surely you were aware of Gaharis's engagement?"

"I am aware that there was some negotiating for a wife, yes"

"I was to be that wife."

"That is impossible. His wife is one of the people who settled on Tarazad."

"I said I was to be that wife. I never said I was his wife."

"Why didn't you marry him then? It would have been a good match." Rhade sneered, still disbelieving.

"I didn't want to be one of his many wives, Gaharis refused to have only one wife." Arianna paused,

"And for the record Telemachus, it would have been a near perfect match."

Dylan looked back and forth as the two angry Nietzscheans spit their words at each other. If he didn't know better he might believe they did know each other.

"Rhade that is enough. You need to get to Command, your shift starts in ten minutes."

"Of course sir, on my way."

With that Rhade left without a backwards glance. Trance busied herself with the monitors and pretended not to hear Dylan trying to make sense of everything he just learned.

"Captain, let's not pretend you believe me. You don't. There is nothing I can say that will make you believe me, so why don't you ask your medical officer. She was there."

Dylan turned to Trance is disbelief. He had always thought she was older than she claimed, but to have it stated so matter of fact by a stranger...it was almost too much.

"Trance?" he questioned in a whisper

"Everything she has said is the truth Dylan. I was there."

"How...what...um" Dylan was at a loss for words. The implications of today hung heavy.

"You should go Dylan, Arianna needs her rest."

Nodding blindly Dylan turned and left the room, his head full of everything he had learned and what it all meant.