TITLE: The Unintended

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

CHAPTER ELEVEN Come What May

"Your life's turned to crap and you think you got it bad. Then the universe turns around, grins and says 'you ain't seen nothin' yet'."

Alrmax Aquarius, master thief

CY 4598

"Dylan, you're not going to wanna hear this..."

"Beka, please don't start your sentences like that. It makes me very nervous," Dylan told her pleasantly.

"Uh, okay...Dylan, I have some wonderful news," Beka said with fake enthusiasm. "I lost the ship."

Dylan closed his eyes. He really didn't want to hear that. After Luthor destroyed The Outset, they knew he would go after Taylor and decided to follow. Things were never easy. "Where did they go?" he said, agitated.

"I don't know," Beka replied. "That was what I meant when I said I lost them."

Dylan had no time for sarcasm. "Beka!"

"I don't know!" Beka repeated, holding her hands up defensively. "They just...disappeared! I don't know how they did it but I can't read any trails, no energy signatures, nothing."

"She's right Dylan. There are no readings from The Barbell of the Nietzscheans."

"What now?" Trance asked.

Dylan wished he had an answer.

Taylor and Rayne ran to Command as fast as they could. They were greeted by a full view of Luthor's ship on the viewscreen. He was moving in to dock.

"Everyone, we're about to be boarded, arm yourselves!"

In the white room, Harper heard the announcement and couldn't help but smile. After he felt the jolt he knew something was going on. He'd been through enough battles to know what an attack from another ship felt like. He prayed to god that It was Andromeda. They had come to rescue him. "All hail Dylan Hunt and his lack of regard for authority!" he said out loud, turning to the mirror. "You'd better arm yourselves with rocket launchers 'cause that's the only thing that's gonna stop my friends, ya hear me?" he sneered. Then he remembered about the inhibitor. He couldn't get angry again. Not until Trance figured out a way to remove the damn thing. And cure the virus of course, but one problem at a time.

Luthor and Rylisa rampaged through the ship with the rest of their team, killing anyone who dared fire a weapon in their direction. Rylisa was in her element. Rather than killing the next imbecile that pulled a gun on her, she grabbed the scrawny human by the neck and thrust him against the wall. "Where is Taylor?"

The crewman said nothing. It wasn't so much a brave stand against the Nietzschean intruder as a fear-induced silence. Rylisa dropped him after rolling her eyes. He wasn't even worth the kill.

"Split up," he ordered. "Find Taylor."

Rylisa was in the bowels of the ships, in what looked like some kind of revamped medical deck. She heard voices, a man and a woman's up ahead and approached quietly.

"Let the others deal with the intruders, whoever they are. They're the mercenaries, not us. I don't intend to get myself killed."

"Maybe we could surrender to the Andromeda

"If it's the Andromeda. It could be anyone."

"How very perceptive of you," Rylisa said, making her presence known.

Gaou and Lambreck jumped five feet in the air. "Wh...who are you?"

"I am Rylisa from the Dovien-Genghis pride," she said, madness smouldering in her eyes. "You remember us, don't you? Your 'Admiral' slaughtered five of our pride, and stole from us. That sort of thing doesn't go by unnoticed."

"We had nothing to do with that. We're just here because we're paid to be here," Gaou tried. She could honestly say she had no idea what the angry Nietzschean was talking about.

Rylisa pretended to confused. "Really? That's odd...I don't seem to care." She moved with the grace of a dancer and the force of a warrior, slashing Lambreck's throat with her bone blades, then spinning to face Gaou.

"No...no, please! Oh god, please don't kill me!" the doctor begged.

Rylisa was disgusted. She had never seen such a display of vile cowardice. She decided the humane thing to do would be to put it out of its misery, and used one of her patented spinning moves, stabbing Gaou in the stomach. She fell to the floor next to Lambreck, both of them bleeding and choking. Rylisa relished in the moment, the blood still dripping from her arms. Then she noticed the man pacing in the room being monitored and was immediately intrigued. She turned on the lights, allowing the mirror to become two-way.

Harper noticed the mirror change to a window into the monitoring room. Expecting to see Beka, Rommie or Dylan smiling back at him, he was mildly dismayed to see a woman he didn't recognise.

"And who might you be?" she asked curiously, switching on the intercom.

"You're not Dylan..." Harper surmised when he saw the bone blades dripping with blood.

"So you're from the Andromeda," Rylisa figured. She knew Hunt was the Captain of that ridiculously overrated ship. "And what does Taylor want you for?"

"Could be number of things. My skill, my looks, my ability to make sarcastic and biting comments in the most dire of situations?" Harper replied tensely.

"Or it could be...because you're infected with a strand of the 246 virus," Rylisa said, grinning from ear to ear. She was looking at the readouts and recordings left lying around.

"No, I don't think it's that," Harper said, shaking his head.

"Oh, I think it is. You just sit tight. I'll be right back for you," Rylisa said, placing her finger on the glass.

Luthor found Command shortly after the team had separated. Taylor was trying to orchestrate some kind of retaliation. It was pathetic.

"Taylor!" Luthor shouted, demanding his attention. "You thought you could run after what you did?" he asked rhetorically. "If you believe me to be that forgiving, you are sadly mistaken. It's time to pay your debt, Taylor."

Rylisa showed up moments later, beaming. "Luthor, they have someone infected with the virus. A kludge from the Andromeda."

"Is that so?" Luthor responded, intrigued by the news. "That does make things a little more interesting. Tell me, how far have you got in your little endeavour? The endeavour that we funded?"

He got no response.

"No matter. I'm sure Rylisa will be delighted to ask you again once she takes you back to her ship."

Rylisa looked over at Luthor. "Her ship?"

"You've just been promoted my dear, you can take my ship," Luthor told her. "Besides, I rather like The Barbell. It will make a fine addition to our fleet, don't you think?"

Rylisa was having the best day in a long while. "A fine addition."

End of Chapter Eleven