"Walls cannot offer as much protection as we would like to think. They were built; they can be destroyed. Even the best laid defences can be undermined, so keep your weapons close."

General Allexander

AFC 27

When they reached the Andromeda, Harper situated the child in his machine shop with the instructions that she was not to leave and the assurance that he would be back soon. Then Beka and Harper headed for the Command Deck so that when the others did return it would look inconspicuous, like nothing had happened.

Beka sprawled out over her pilot's chair and Harper situated himself on the railing in front of the panel he had been working on no more than an hour ago. Neither looked at each other nor spoke. The tension was thick between them.

Rommie entered the command deck and looked from Beka to Harper. Neither acknowledged her. "Ooookay, this is different." The avatar broke the silence. "So how did the salvaging go?"

"We didn't salvage anything," said Beka stiffly, "we couldn't get in."

Rommie nodded. "I will inform Dy..."

Beka cut her off. "Not necessary. There's nothing to tell."

Rommie eyed Beka suspiciously. "Oookay."

"Rommie," said Harper still staring at the panel, "I need you to run a scan for any unusual radiation or any sort of cosmic interference in this vicinity."

Rommie closed her eyes for a brief moment while conducting the scan. "No, I am detecting no unusual radiation or interference."

Harper grimaced.

"Is everything alright?" Harper's expression wasn't reassuring and she was a bit concerned.

"You may have a virus."

"I am detecting nothing wrong with any of my systems."

"You may have a virus," he repeated. His voice was too rigid for her liking.

"Harper, what is this information founded on?"

Harper wasn't in a mood for it. "Rommie, you are a machine. You are programmed with certain functions, and even with you being artificial intelligence, and that brain the size of a planet that you are so fond of mentioning, you are not capable of discerning or diagnosing internal problems with the exception of those you are programmed to fix. Now, I am your engineer and your creator and if I tell you that you may have a virus than you may have a virus. Where I got the information is irrelevant."

Rommie furrowed her brow. She had never thought Harper could be so nasty. Of all people, he had always been the one who viewed her as a human and now he was calling her a machine, stating she was nothing more.

"Lay off her." Beka's voice was cold. "She didn't do anything."

Harper glared at Beka.

"I think I'll go now." Rommie quickly exited the room.

"You know, thanks for taking the first chance you got to betray me," Harper said sarcastically.

"How is that betrayal? You snapped at Rommie."

"You asked me to keep things quiet."

"From Dylan."

"Rommie is a lead connection to..."

"Dylan!" Beka looked up in surprise to see the ships captain.

"Beka, Harper." Not quite as enthusiastically. He smirked. "Right where I left you. Did you two have fun while we were away? I saw the wire by Med-Deck still hasn't been fixed."

Harper shook his head and stalked out of the room without another word.

A confused Dylan looked to Beka for an explanation but she just shrugged.

Trance walked in just as confused as Dylan. "What's the matter with Harper? I just ran into him in the hallway. He looked upset."

"I don't know." Dylan shook his head and looked at Beka. "Maybe you should talk to him."

Beka shook her head and stood up. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

Dylan eyed her suspiciously. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Beka shook her head. "Nope." She walked away down the hallway the opposite way that Harper had gone.

Dylan looked at Trance. She gave an innocent shrug. "I'll go talk to him."

"Home sweet home."

"Harper!" Trance called down the corridor. "Harper!" She heard faint sounds of sparks and a soldering wand coming from Med-Bay and where there were sparks there was usually Harper. It was dark when she entered the room and she almost didn't see him but she finally caught a glimpse of that stalwart mechanic in a ceiling conduit, or rather, the flashlight he held in his teeth. She felt around in the dark for a chair and used it to boost herself up into the conduit. Harper ignored her and kept stripping a wire. It was one half of the broken wire he was attempting to fix.

The wire had snapped and had been sticking out the conduit opening. Electricity had still been running to it and it kept showering Med-Bay with sparks. It was a waste of electricity but it was not a priority.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Trance? I'm kinda busy right now Trance." He continued to focus on his wire and didn't even bother to look at her, not that he could see her in the dark anyway.

"Well, I could help you." Trance offered, sweetly placing a hand on his shoulder. He nodded absentmindedly and handed her a second pair of wire cutters and a flashlight. She began stripping one side of the broken wire and after she finished lay the wire cutters down.

"Harper." She looked at him compassionately, "are you okay?"

Harper, who had his back facing her, closed his eyes and shook his head. "Fine, Trance."

Trance frowned. "You know, it's not good to keep things bottled up."

"Thank you, Trance." His attempt to brush her off didn't work.

"It's just that..."

"Look Trance, I have a lot of work to do. Sadly, this ship doesn't run itself." His annoyance was brimming.

"But, Harper..."

He turned to her. "Trance, who sent you here? Dylan? Beka? Who, Trance? Look, I don't need counseling. What I need right now is for people to leave me alone. I will be just fine."

"Harper, why did Beka dodge the request to talk to you?"

Harper turned from her and twisted the wire ends together. Then he flipped an overhead switch and the power turned back on. He reflexively closed his eyes at the brightness.

"Why?" Trance asked again.

"I don't know, Trance. Perhaps she has things to do."

"Harper, I do care about you. You are my friend. Why won't you talk to me?"

"Frankly, because I don't trust you Trance," he snapped. "Happy?"

Trance frowned. She opened her mouth to speak but stopped. In the distance she could hear a soft female voice. "Mr. Harper" it called.

Harper jerked at the sound and received a shock that sent him flying out of the conduit and onto the floor. He groaned as he sat up.

The child heard the thud and quickly found him. She stared at the figure on the ground. "You forgot to come back."

Trance frowned at him from the conduit. "Harper, do you have any idea what you've done?" Harper looked at her. He was confused. Why was she looking at him like that?

Dylan traced the corridors to his quarters for some much-needed relaxation. Even after an hour of debate the Ambassador had remained firm, no fleet, no signature.

As he was walking, he found Rommie standing against the wall with what seemed like a pensive expression on her face.

"You okay, Rommie?"

Her face was creased by annoyance. "How should I know?"

Dylan frowned. "Excuse me?"

Rommie smiled sarcastically. "I am a machine. I can only define problems that I am programmed to."

Dylan sighed and shook his head. "Rommie, you are not just some machine. You know that."

"Apparently not all of your crew seems to agree."

"And who disagrees?"

"Harper?"

Dylan's eyes widened in disbelief. "Harper? Our Harper?" That had to be a mistake.

Rommie nodded bitterly.

Dylan shook his head. His mind began to flood with unanswered questions. "Let's review, shall we? Harper stormed out of command without a word and called you, one of his greatest creations, and his friend, a machine. And Beka, Beka declined the offer to talk to him. Now, when I left they were both fine." He grimaced. "This means something happened while I was gone, and they're not telling me. Rommie, do you have any information about this?"

The avatar shook her head. "No...Wait, Beka and Harper did have a brief encounter with an abandoned ship. But, supposedly, they failed to accomplish anything."

"Well that's a start. So, where are Harper and Beka at the moment."

"Beka is in Tyr's makeshift Rec. room and Harper and Trance are in Med Bay."

"Okay. Let's find out what's going on around here shall we? I say we start in Med Bay."

Trance let herself down from the conduit and walked over to her friend. Her expression was pained and she made no attempts to help Harper up. The child looked at Trance awed by her appearance. She had never seen anything like her before.

Harper knew by her expression that he had been caught and attempted to negotiate with the figure standing in front of him. "Trance, no, uh, if you ever wanted to prove that you're still uh... the same old Trance...uh, my friend, then you won't tell Dylan about this."

"Harper!" She didn't bite.

"Come on, Trance. It's not like we, I, don't intend to tell him... just... not yet."

Trance shook her head in disappointment.

"It's not like this is a matter of life and death, Trance." He stood up to meet her at eye level.

"It's more serious than you know," she said sadly.

"What are you talking about?"

Trance put a hand to her forehead. "Look, if you put her back where you found her than, than I won't tell Dylan."

"So you're a part of this too?" Dylan's accusing voice echoed as he entered the room. "Well you just sit tight and you can be a part of this lecture too."

Trance winced.

Dylan then caught sight of the little girl who was standing by Harper, clutching the edge of his shirt though he didn't seem to notice. He shook his head and smiled sarcastically. "So there is a child on my ship? And you planned on telling me... when? Or were you playing a great game of hide and seek with me? Well guess what? I found you."

"Bu..." Harper began.

Dylan put a hand up. "Save it Mr. Harper. There will be plenty of time for explanations later. " He looked from Harper to Trance to the little girl. "We still appear to be missing one. Rommie, go retrieve Beka Valentine. I'd hate for her to miss this."

Thud! Whack!

"So you are the one who decided to use my training room without permission, might I add." Tyr smirked.

"Figured it wouldn't hurt." Beka said nonchalantly, giving the bag a nearly perfectly executed kick.

When she went to attempt it again Tyr caught her ankle in midair. "Is something wrong?"

She jerked her foot away and gave the bag a firm right hook. "What makes you say that?"

"Just an observation." Tyr leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. He watched her execute a few more moves. "You're really pummeling that thing. Anyone in particular?"

Beka stopped in mid-punch and shook her head. "Nope. Unlike you, I don't enjoy the thought of pummeling someone."

"Stress?"

She paused for a moment in contemplation. "You could say that." She executed another near perfect kick.

"About?"

She smiled and shook her head. "None of your damn business, and I mean that with love."

"I'm sure."

Just then Rommie entered the room. "Beka Valentine, the captain has requested your presence in Med-Bay."

"Concerning?" She nonchalantly executed a left hook.

"Concerning your actions this afternoon."

"I didn't do anything this afternoon. The one thing I tried to do fell through."

"I have reason to suspect otherwise."

She turned to the avatar. "What are you talking about, Rommie?"

"Beka, don't make this difficult?"

"Excuse me?"

"The captain has requested your presence."

Beka shook her head, turned back to the bag, and gave it another left hook. "Well, tell him I have to decline."

Rommie rolled her eyes. "Beka, this is nonnegotiable."

"I'm not going anywhere 'till you tell me what's going on."

Rommie scowled her words were tinged with bitterness. She was annoyed that Beka had lied to her. "I am not required to tell you anything."

"And I am not required to go."

"As it stands you are already in trouble. Do you really wish to push it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, if that is true, than you should have nothing to worry about."

Beka shook her head and begrudgingly left the room.

The avatar let out an annoyed sigh and headed after Beka.

Tyr shook his head.

Rommie, who was slightly behind Beka, heard Dylan's voice echo through the hall. Despite his claim of wanting to wait for Beka it appeared he had already gotten much of the story out of Harper. "So, you decided to, without permission, board and unknown ship, in order to plunder everything you could get your hands on? Is that what I'm hearing? And then, again without permission, and with no intent to tell me, you brought a child on board! And you, Mr. Harper, you fitted her with cuffs" Dylan held the cuffs up in the air "to hide her from Rommie's sensors! Do you see a pattern here?"

Rommie stopped just outside the door. So it was true- Beka and Harper had lied to her. They didn't trust her not to tell Dylan. She frowned, realizing that this was exactly why they didn't trust her. She forced them back and walked into Med-Bay.

Beka looked at Dylan. "Dylan, taking the girl on was a command decision. What was I supposed to do? Let her suffocate or starve?"

"It's not the decision to take her in that upsets me. It is the fact that the two of you lied to me!"

"We didn't lie," Beka said defensively, "we just... covered up the truth."

"Look," Harper piped in. "Believe me, I didn't want any part of this. I knew this would cause problems." The child clutching his shirt lowered her eyes to the ground and her lip began to quiver again.

Beka looked at the poor child and glared at him. "You were just fine with the idea of looting. How could you opt for letting her die?"

"You should have." Trance interjected. They all spun around to face her and the little girls eyes widened in fear.

"Excuse me?" said Dylan.

"He was right. This child is trouble. She is responsible for the near destruction of the Andromeda... I thought by going to Sintu-Anaris with Dylan, that perhaps I could help him succeed in getting the Ambassador's signature and without me Harper and Beka wouldn't find 'The Shadow Amongst the Stars' You know, kill two birds with one stone?"

Beka looked at Trance in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Before... It was Harper, Beka and me... we, we went to loot the ship... you know, like old times? Anyway, we found her there. We found Emily there." She pointed at the child who instinctively moved behind Harper. She lifted his arm and peered at Trance. "Harper didn't want to take her in... but me and Beka sweet talked him into it." She gave a light laugh... "We told him it would be like having two wives and then we both kissed him on the cheek...We told him we'd work together to take care of it... but we didn't want to tell Dylan...we didn't want to tell him we had taken on a child indefinitely... we wanted a plan first... he found us out before we had one but agreed it was the right thing to do... well, not the lying by taking on the child..."

"Trance," Dylan prodded impatiently, "what happened?"

Trance seemed to go into a robotic like stance -in memory. "I- I don't know... there was no warning...but there was firing... I didn't know who or what... the shields went down first... I ran to command deck- they hit the slip drive...Dylan sent Harper to fix it... and somehow, he managed too... Beka slipped out of there...into the Radula system...we thought we were safe... but they found us... there was more firing... more flashing lights... blaring sirens...we somehow managed to slip again but again they found us... Harper and I rushed down the corridor... to save her... to save the little girl...the ship continued to get pounded... when we reached the Machine Shop we found her dead lying in a pile of wires... some of Harper's machinery had fallen on top of her... Beka slipped again... Harper and I were thrown into a wall... he was knocked out. I took him to Med-Bay... then, then I rushed back to command deck. I found Beka... she was slumped over her captains chair... Dylan was lying motionless on the ground... I- I looked to Tyr, he only had a broken arm... I went to Beka, she was still breathing to my relief... and Dylan I could hear him... he was making some kind of noise to let us know he was alive... he had broken his back during the slip jump. Tyr helped me carry Dylan... and then Beka... to Med-Bay... Rommie was fried. Her circuits, they were hanging out of her and there were chunks of jagged metal, debris, in her skin. She kept saying 'may I help you' over and over again... Tyr left for his quarters. I sat there in Med-Bay... after treating Dylan all I could do was wait. Beka and Harper still hadn't come too and Dylan was in so much pain he passed out... I had time to think... lots of time... endless time... to ponder what went wrong... then I realized the child... she was the only thing new to the ship... and after she died the bad ships weren't able to find us... she was signalling them...somehow..."

Dylan looked over at the child. She was near in tears still peering out from Harper's elbow. "Rommie, you, uh, have permission to take the child back to the Machine Shop." Rommie nodded and attempted to take the child from Harper but the child still clutched at his shirt. "Um, Harper, you'd better go with them." Harper gave an exasperated sigh and headed out of the room with Rommie and the little girl.

"You see, Dylan. She has to go."

Beka folded her arms. "Look, just because it happened like that before doesn't necessarily mean it will happen like that now. She is on the Andromeda now and I am not just going to 'put her back'. The decision has already been made that she will stay on the Andromeda until other arrangements are made."

"Beka, believe me, I understand where you are coming from, but it must be done. I came back to fix past mistakes. I only have you best interest in mind."

"And what gives you the right to decide out best interest, Trance?"

Dylan put up a silencing hand. "I'm sorry Trance, but I have to agree with Beka on this one. You may have our interests in mind but this is more complicated than 'just avoid that system' or 'don't go on that planet'. I can not just sentence a child to death because it might end in disaster."

"Dylan, this event does not just effect the ship or the crew. It has violent repercussions on the New Commonwealth itself. The Andromeda's humiliating defeat at the hands of an unknown foe caused systems that had already signed the charter to pull out and those who could have been prospects to loose faith. If this comes to pass, your dream will fall."

"Trance, I will do everything in my power to prevent the destruction of my ship and preserve the well being of my crew, but I will not be responsible for the death of a child."

"But Dylan..." she pleaded.

Dylan shook his head. "I'm sorry, but that is final."

Trance frowned and exited the room.