TITLE: The Unintended

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Andromeda series, I'm just borrowing.

NOTES: Naughty me, taken a bit long posting so here's two chapters as a sorry :) Oh and emorasyou are right about the error, in the original draft Luthor's character was female so I must have skipped a he/she change! All better now.

CHAPTER TEN -Takeover

"When they tell you that power corrupts, they forget

to mention how much fun corruption can be."

Unknown

Dylan wanted to say something witty or clever, anything to conceal his confusion but he couldn't quite manage it. "What do you mean he isn't an admiral?"

Luthor was getting bored of the game already. "Captain, I am not here to cure your ignorance. I'm after Taylor and I intend to find him and make him pay his debt. Good day."

Before anyone could get another word in, the screen was blank and Luthor was gone. "Andromeda, find out if there's any truth to what he says."

"It would make sense. I mean, for an Admiral he didn't pay much attention to protocol," Rommie suggested.

Tyr agreed. "Regardless of whether Taylor is an Admiral or not, Luthor seems to want to find him. He could lead us straight to The Barbell and Harper."

"Sir, there are no lifesigns onboard The Outset and her engines are offline," Luthor's second in command, Rylisa, told him.

"What!" Luthor bellowed. He doubled checked the readings for himself and quickly came to a conclusion. "Taylor must have already been here, taken the research and the scientists." He slammed his fist down on the control panel in anger. Eventually he regained his only-slightly-on-edge disposition. "Find him. He was here."

Rylisa checked the sensors. "A slip portal was opened recently. I should be able to trace The Barbell through to its destination," she confirmed. "What about the Andromeda? Hunt said he was looking for Taylor too. He'll most likely follow us."

"I don't want any interference when we catch up with Taylor," Luthor said, making himself very clear. "Lose them and make sure they can't find us, or The Barbell."

Rylisa nodded, accepting her orders. She wanted to find Taylor as much as anyone. She was going to enjoy getting what they were owed, but mostly she was looking forward to making Taylor suffer for the crimes he had committed against the pride. Making people suffer was her speciality.

Harper was asleep again, dreaming. It wasn't the same as the dream he experienced before though, it was clearer. It felt real. The only way he could tell it wasn't actually happening was by the fact that he wasn't a part of it. Harper was an observer in whatever play his mind was performing. Even though he had never seen the corridors, he worked out that they were The Barbell's. Rayne and the older man from the previous dream were talking. Rather than the images flashing past like last time, they was more steady. Harper caught brief flickers of conversation.

'Andromeda...our guest...Beta team...doctor...'

Then the whole scene shook. The voices were loud and panicked.

'They found us!' was the only sentence Harper could pick out before he woke up. Funny, he couldn't even remember falling asleep.

Behind the mirror Gaou and Lambreck were ever-present, watching their patient closely. 'Watching' was all they had been ordered to do. At first, they had been assigned to train the subject, but when it became apparent that the virus wasn't quite what they expected, they were ordered to simply sit back and monitor, until they reached the Beta team.

"He's having another waking dream, look at these readings," Gaou said excitedly. Harper was just standing by the mirror with his eyes closed, seemingly going through REM.

"I don't understand. If this is an effect of the virus, why doesn't the inhibitor stop it?" Lambreck wondered out loud.

"The inhibitor was designed to restrict telekinetic activity," Gaou ventured. "Whatever this...'precognitive' state is, it's not happening in the same area of the brain. The inhibitor is useless to stop it." Gaou was lost in her own thoughts. "It's incredible."

Harper opened his eyes again and seemed disorientated. Gaou watched in fascination.

"What about The Outset? What happened over there, why did we leave it behind with the Andromeda?" Lambreck questioned.

Gaou turned her concentration back to her assistant. "I don't know, and you shouldn't be asking. We weren't hired to ask questions."

Lambreck fell back into place, respecting Gaou's opinion. He looked over the recent readouts. "The notes Lieutenant Rayne gave us didn't mention the possibility of precognition."

"The notes 'Lieutenant' Rayne gave us were sketchy at best," Gaou replied with disdain. They had been instructed to call the crew by their titles, to maintain the illusion that they were still a part of the Commonwealth. "I don't know how he expects us to - "

"Expects you to what?"

Rayne was standing in the doorway with Taylor.

"Oh, I didn't see you there, Lieutenant. Admiral," Gaou said, buying herself some time to think up an explanation. She and Rayne hadn't had many problems in the past, but living on a ship for so long, word got round about people. He was not to be messed with.

Rayne smiled his creepy smile. "Please, continue," he urged as Taylor looked on, amused.

"I was simply saying that...I think the Beta team will have just as difficult a job as I am making headway," Gaou said carefully. "It seems the strain of the virus our patient has was a result of complete guesswork, which makes finding out its construct exceedingly difficult, let alone duplicating it without the unwanted side-effects."

Rayne stepped closer to her, making her feel uneasy. He spoke in a slow, clear voice, but he had never sounded more threatening. "That's why you are just a courier, keeping the package safe until it is delivered. So why don't you get on with your job and we shouldn't have any more problems."

"That's enough," Taylor declared. Rayne backed off as per his orders. "Doctor, I hear there have been some developments."

Gaou was relieved Taylor had saved her, and collected her thoughts. "The patient is exhibiting what appears to be mild precognitive...dream states."

"Precognitive? He can see into the future?" Taylor asked, his lust for power inflamed by the mere notion.

"Well, so far we only have initial readings but...yes, it would appear that way."

"Phenomenal..." Taylor breathed, looking through the mirror to the patient in question. "Continue to monitor him and keep me informed of any more developments," he ordered when he'd snapped out of his trance. He didn't wait for any acknowledgement as he left the doctor and Lambreck to it. Rayne followed him down the corridor.

"Sir, the Andromeda will be looking for us to retrieve our guest. What if they reach us before we get to the Beta team?" Rayne asked.

"They won't," Taylor replied simply. Be it arrogance or optimism, he was abundant in it. "Do you know what power we could have if the virus is perfected? If what the doctor said is true..."

The ship was suddenly moved from under their feet. "Command, report!" Taylor demanded.

A panicked voice came over the com. "Sir! It's the Nietzscheans! They found us!"

End of Chapter Ten