"How does one determine innocence? By naivety? By optimism? By age? By sex? There is no consistency or measure. Innocence is merely speculation. So who then reserves the right to decide who lives and who dies? In a perfect world, only the Divine- but we are far from a perfect world."

Anarian Monk

CY 7899

Dylan, nearly refreshed from a nice long nap, entered the command deck where a flustered Beka stared fixedly at the large computer screen. The paused transmission was still split screened on the left but the right side was black. She was once again slumped in her chair. Holo-Rommie, with an almost sympathetic expression on her face stood beside her.

Dylan walked over to the pilot's chair and rested a hand on the back. "Any luck?"

Beka gave a confused expression but it was a moment before she turned to him.

Her eyes were red and glazed similar to a person who was flash-fried but without the distinct white irises that came with it. She had just pushed herself too hard and had the symptoms of lack of sleep.

"She doesn't exist" Beka said throwing a hand in the air in frustration. "I can't find relatives, records of her parents, her home planet... I can't even find her race, Dylan. She, she's not Mudfoot, Vedran, Nietzschean, Alterian, Sisquien, Tersion or Platurion. She just, she just doesn't exist."

Dylan nodded sympathetically. "You did your best. Don't worry we'll find her a home soon. It is not pertinent just now. I think you should go get some sleep."

Beka frowned at the comment. Did Dylan think her best was failure? "I told you I'd find her a home and I intend to do so."

Holo-Rommie turned to face Beka. "I agree with Dylan on this one."

Beka glared at her "You would! You don't think I can do it."

"Beka," the hologram crossed her arms, "you're being irrational- one of the first signs of sleep deprivation."

Beka closed her eyes and calmed herself. "I'm fine."

"You look fried, Beka." Dylan informed.

Beka scowled. "Fine. You win. I'll go take a nap." She attempted to suppress a yawn.

Dylan smiled. "That'll be all," he said to Holo-Rommie and the Hologram vanished.

Beka was already heading out but before she reached the hall she ran into Harper.

"There you are!" he said in his usual jumpy manner. "Woah, you look tired."

Beka gave a small smile and gave a brief wave of her hand visually instructing him to get to the point.

"Mr. Harper." said Dylan also acknowledging the engineer.

"Oh. Dylan. Um, okay. You can hear this too."

Beka took a deep breath. "So what is it?"

"Emily is an AI." he near blurted.

Beka and Dylan eyed him curiously.

"Excuse me?" Dylan asked.

"And that's not even the freakiest part," Harper continued, "She thinks she's bleeding."

Beka wrinkled her brow even more. "So the child, she's an AI?"

Harper nodded. "Like Rommie... only smaller." he said with a playful grin.

"That would explain why I couldn't find her race or her home planet," said Beka. She then grimaced. "I wasted all that time for nothing. I do need a nap."

Dylan put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder but she brushed it away.

"What was the second thing you said?" asked Dylan.

Harper wrinkled his own brow. "Like Rommie only smaller?"

Dylan shook his head. "No, before that."

Harper nodded in comprehension. "And the weirdest part is she thinks she's bleeding."

"Bleeding." Dylan attempted to soak the information in.

Harper nodded. "She, uh, she seared her flesh off with a soldering wand..."

Beka looked at Harper. "A soldering wand? You let a child play with a soldering wand? Weren't you watching her?" She felt inwardly guilty fearing Dylan was right and she hadn't really taken care of anything.

Harper glared at her. "It was an accident! One that could've been avoided if someone were helping me."

Beka stared at the floor stung by the statement. Not only was she aware of it but so was he. He was right. He had specifically asked not to be a part of this.

Harper frowned.

Dylan interjected in attempt to cut the tension, "Continue Harper."

Harper turned from Beka to the Captain. "She uh, she cut her hand but instead of, instead of blood there was, uh, superconducting fluid. But she thought, she actually thought, she was bleeding. She doesn't know she's an AI and apparently her creator, whoever that may be, never wanted her to."

"Who would build an AI that doesn't know what they are?" Dylan questioned.

"Who would build an AI that looks like a child?" Harper shot back.

"They had to have a purpose. All AI's are built for a purpose." Dylan said almost more to himself than to the other two.

Beka turned to Harper. "But why didn't Rommie ID her as an AI right away? Isn't she fully capable of discerning what is alive from what is clearly not? I mean she said there were no lifeforms on the ship- that's one thing. But the fact that once the child did set foot on the Andromeda that she didn't pick it up is quite another, well after the cuffs were removed anyway."

Harper shrugged. "She must have some special modification that keeps her from being IDed as an AI. Most of the AI's we've encountered were ancient as Andromeda. Rommie herself has newer modifications but even she is just a composite of what I had to work with at the time, which were essentially ancient parts. On the bright side though there is no virus... though you'd think if she was advanced enough to evade being tagged an AI that she'd be able to be 'viewed' at the very least as a lifeform."

"Is there any way to view her programming?" Dylan asked.

Harper gave a laugh which Dylan hardly appreciated since it seemed to directly point out some ignorance of his. "She doesn't know she's an AI which means her programming is gonna be harder to get in to than the gondon chest of Vicarion Warlord."

Dylan eyed him uncomprehendingly at the obscure reference.

"It's uh, like Rommie's old backup. It's there but Emily doesn't know it's there."

The Captain nodded. There was a pause. "Well, is there anything unusual about her that would give us some kind of clue?"

Beka thought back. The game of Vedran Whist came to mind. "She has an amazing ability to win at games." Beka shrugged. "But that's not really much of a help."

Harper nodded. "Other than that she's just like an ordinary child."

"Maybe she was created to be just that." Beka mused.

Both guys eyed her questioningly.

"Maybe the people from the transmission, the people we thought were her parents, wanted a child but couldn't have one." She still didn't appear to be making the argument with them. She shrugged. "It's possible."

Harper shook his head. "Technically anything's possible."

Beka leaned against the wall and twisted her gold chain. She turned her gaze to the floor pondering over the information. After a moment she wrinkled her brow. "Nietzschean." she said aloud to herself.

Both guys eyed her uncomprehendingly again.

Beka looked up at them. "Let's look at the facts, shall we? Right after we arrived in this system we find an abandoned ship harmlessly orbiting Sintu-Anaris. It is still fully operational except for faulty wiring in the slip drive. There are a bunch of generic medicines in the Med Bay and the only jewelry in the jewelry box was silver and gold- earth metals. Also, with the help of Harper's computer and Andromeda's help I found the ship to be composed of cheap Teturian steel- which is cheap but normal. However all the technological components making up the computer systems and whatnot were composed mainly of Angel's silver."

Harper's eyes widened in comprehension. "It was all staged so that we'd take her in."

Beka nodded grimly. "Trance's future- she was right. This is how the Dragons find us. She's an outright tracker." Beka winced. "She didn't fall in a pile wires."

Harper frowned at the realization of where she was going. "She was the pile of wires..."

"We have to get her off the ship." Beka said finally.

Dylan frowned at the news. "And how should we go about that?"

Beka thought for a moment. "Send her off in an escape pod. That also has the added bonus of creating a decoy."

"Excuse me?" said Harper. He was amazed how fast the conversation had turned on him. "She is still an innocent little girl!" he reminded them.

Beka put a hand to her forehead. "Harper, she's an AI. She only looks innocent."

"And how does one judge innocence?" Harper countered. "She's not purposely trying to hurt us. She, she doesn't know what she's doing."

Beka frowned. "Harper, ignorance and innocence are not the same thing."

"Aren't they?"

"Harper,"

Harper turned to Dylan. "Back me up here, Dylan. You are always going out on a limb to protect the innocent. Isn't she innocent?"

Dylan looked into Harper's eyes and frowned.

"Be practical, leave her on the ship and we all die. Send her away and there's a chance we'll all live."

"That's only if what Trance says is true." countered Harper.

"Harper, I'll admit her timeline seemed farfetched from the beginning, but the pieces are falling into place. Why else would that ship just happen to be there waiting for us? Why else would it be so cheaply made and stocked?"

Harper glared at her. "I am amazed by you. You were the one so gung ho to take her in, to protect her, to find her a home..."

Beka sighed, "It's nothing against her, Harper. If there were another way, I would, but I care about this crew and it's well being too and, at the moment, her well-being and ours seems to be conflicting."

"I knew it. I'm the only one who cares about her enough to die for her! I asked you from the beginning and you couldn't answer me then and I knew what that meant. You don't know. You don't understand. You have to protect children at all costs, Beka."

"Harper, she's an..."

"She feels Beka. She felt the pain of the soldering wand."

"Harper, I'm not talking about killing her. I just think we should get her off the ship and slip out of here."

"So, you intend to just send her away without a reason as to why- you intend to let her just float through space until perchance she gets rescued or...or hits a planet?"

"Look, we'll all have a better chance of..."

Andromeda's omniscient voice cut her off. "Detecting slipstream event."

Dylan walked over to the main control panel. "Onscreen." The screen changed from blank space to radar but seconds after the ship appeared on the radar the Andromeda lurched hard. Dylan was sent flying backwards onto the floor. Beka and Harper were not as lucky and flew hard into the wall behind them.

Andromeda's lights dimmed to a red glow and her voice came over the ships speakers. "Red Alert, all hands to Command."

Dylan used the control panel to help himself get up. "Show the actual ship." Andromeda's screen faded back into space and the angle shifted right so the enemy ship could be seen.

The ship took another hit. "Shield damage critical." Dylan had luckily braced himself on the control panel that saved him another fall. He turned his head back to his comrades.

Beka was already back on her feet where Harper was sitting against the wall he had once again been thrown against still in a state of shock from the abruptness of the attack.

Action needed to be taken. "Beka, eject the girl in an escape pod and then slip us out of here." He turned his gaze back to Harper. "I'm sorry."

"Shield down." Andromeda's voice rang throughout the decks echoing almost in slow motion in Harper's mind.

Beka was already halfway down the hall and Harper scrambled to his feet and ran after her but another hit sent him flying forward. He struggled to his feet again in desperate attempts to catch Beka.

Adrenaline pumped through his own body and it carried him so quickly that he soon caught up with her.

Andromeda's voice came loud over the speakers again an omen of bad news. "Detecting several slipstream events."

The ship began to get pelted with missiles, the shots coming faster but they weren't as strong as the first. Even so, the sheer numbers of them shook the ship so badly that it felt like the floor was made of jelly.

"You can't!" Harper called still a step or two behind his long time friend.

The ship lurched again and his shoulder slammed into the wall but he remained on his feet.

Beka frowned even though Harper couldn't see her face. "I'm sorry, Haper, but..."

The ship was hit again. Beka slipped and skidded across the floor. The impact was so hard she had begun to bleed above her right eye.

She hurried to her feet. The machine shop was close.

"She's just a little girl!" Harper reached out and grasped Beka's shirt but with another hit the two went sprawling across the floor.

"Harper" Beka panted, "we need to slip and we can't do that while there is a tracker onboard."

"She didn't choose to be a tracker" Harper pleaded clutching his bruised shoulder.

"I know Harper but she is and I... Dylan and I, have to protect this crew." She attempted to stand up already sick of all the bruising she was getting.

Harper stood up and blocked her way. "It's my job to protect her!"

Beka looked him sternly in the eyes. "And it's my job to protect you." She pushed him aside and broke into a run.

Harper stood there dumbfounded for a moment but only for a moment. The ship was getting pelted. Maybe Beka and Dylan were right. Maybe it would not only spare them but spare her as well. If the Andromeda was what they wanted and she escaped then she might survive. Maybe the only way to save her was to leave her.

By the time he reached the machine shop Beka and the child were exiting it. The child was clutching her hand tightly.

"W-what's going on!" she cried above the roar of Andromeda's siren.

The ship lurched again and Harper slammed into the wall. The child was spared the blow, her head hitting the soft flesh of Harper's stomach.

"Are you o..." Beka was cut short as another hit caused a metal ceiling panel to come crashing down. Beka and Harper instinctively jumped to protect the child the metal panel landing on their heads.

The panel hit Beka at the base of the neck slicing right through the skin and it hit Harper, slicing into his back but the child was unscathed- only shaken.

"We have to get you off our ship." Harper said as he and Beka regained their footing. The group continued toward the nearest escape pod.

"W-why?" The child was now panicked.

Harper winced. "I know this is going to sound crazy, but we think you'll have a better chance of surviving."

The child's eyes widened. "Am I going... to die?" The question was so timid and soft that she almost wasn't heard.

Harper closed his eyes tightly for a moment. "Not if I can help it." He grasped her hand tenderly but being her hurt hand she yelped in pain.

"We can help it." Beka corrected him.

They rounded the corner and reached an escape pod. Beka opened the door and put the child in it.

Harper looked pained.

"Do you think I have time to teach her how to fly it?" She asked in attempts to appease Harper.

He frowned but it faded into a grin as he remembered she was an AI and likely endowed with a photographic memory.

Beka gave a quick run down of the controls. "Now," she warned, "don't use the controls unless absolutely necessary. An escape pod only has a small amount of fuel. If you see a ship you hit the purple button and it will alert the ship to your presence. Let them pick you up if they will. Sintu-Anaris is your closest planet though it's still a ways off. Since I can't give you planetary coordinates if need be use your fuel to get you into the atmosphere so you 'glide' into it. Got it."

The child nodded slowly. Beka forced a smile and released the escape pod.

BrakeBREAK

Soon after Harper and Beka had left, Tyr quickly entered Command, a flushed Trance following behind him, and an avatar already ready for battle behind her.

"Where are the others?" Tyr asked slipping his chain mail shirt over his head and manning his station.

Trance grabbed hold of the back railing. She closed her eyes and took a deep cleansing breath even as the ship took another hit which sent Dylan slamming against the main control panel "It has begun." she whispered to herself.

The avatar who had been in close proximity shook her head. Rommie closed her eyes to review the damage.

Dylan, still staring at the main screen briefed them all. "If you haven't already heard the news, the child was a tracker."

"Anything else you'd like to tell me before I start shooting?" Tyr asked with a note of sarcasm. The ship took another hit and had he not been holding the weapons panel he would've flown backwards.

Trance had moved back from the railing and braced herself closer to the wall almost in the fashion one would for an earthquake.

Rommie's eyes jerked eerily open. Andromeda's voice echoed from overhead "Several slipstream events detected."

Rommie gave a human-like wince as the ship began to get pelted by lower impact missiles.

Her eyes then widened.

"Our missiles aren't working!" Tyr called.

Dylan ran over to the pilot's chair. "I'm going to slip!"

Tyr turned to face him his fingers still on the weapons control panel. "I thought you said there was a tracker on this ship!"

"But if we..."

There was another hard impact.

"Slipstream Core damage critical. Slipstream Core... is out of commission," Rommie said defeatedly.

Dylan winced. "Are any missiles working?"

"No." Tyr called still attempting to access the controls. "They seem to be refracted by some...wide field."

"Widespan fields don't work unless they have our missile frequencies. Damn it! That means the child was more than just a tracker."

Rommie's eyes widened again. This was her fault. She had given the seemingly harmless child information on her weapons systems. She bit her lower lip in human fashion.

Dylan frowned. "If you have any ideas, now would be the time." he said defeatedly.

Trance's eyes widened. "I was right. It is her." She took a sharp inhalation and closed her eyes. "No one dies here." she tried to remind herself.

Just then the ship took another hit and besides sending the crew flying again one of the back control panels began to spark.

After they all regained their footing, Rommie gave a half smile. "Escape Pod 43 successfully launched."

Dylan then attempted to contact Beka on her subdermal comm. "Beka" he called.

"Dylan?... Dylan, get us out of here. The child is off the ship."

Dylan closed his eyes. "You're not gonna want to hear this."

Beka gave a labored sigh. "What is it?"

"Slip drive is critically damaged, shields are down, and our missiles are being reflected by a widespan forcefield."

"Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine." Beka said tritely. "So what do you suggest we do."

Harper, who had leaned close to listen in on the conversation, interjected. "The Maru."

Beka turned to him but before she spoke Dylan came over her comm again. "The Maru won't help us. Emily was not just a tracker- she had eyes and ears."

Beka gave a sarcastic smile. "So essentially, what your saying is- we're sitting ducks. Wonderful."

"I'm trying to establish contact as we speak but..."

"Ears!" Harper concluded cutting Dylan off.

Beka turned to her companion again.

"If what she heard was transmitted to the Dragons, we might have a chance!"

Beka furrowed her brow. "What are you talking about?"

"The game. We told her of the Maru but all the information we gave her was old, outdated. There have been new weapons systems installed since then. Systems she couldn't have possibly seen being restricted to the crews quarters."

Beka nodded. "Dylan, how many ships are out there?"

"Life support out on decks 13- 26." Rommie called.

Dylan winced. "How many ships are there?" he asked the avatar.

Rommie closed her eyes for a moment. "48 by my count."

Dylan wrinkled his brow. They're not a large fleet... not for the Dragons. Are any more slipping in?"

Rommie shook her head. "There's 47 Drago-slipfighters and one large ship."

"Large ship?"

Rommie nodded. "It's not a warship nor a battle cruiser. It's weapons systems were all independently added as well."

"That means this isn't being enacted by the full Drago-Kazov Empire."

Rommie nodded. "It would appear that it is only a remote faction there of."

"Have we established contact yet.

The avatar shook her head. "They are still denying our transmissions."

"Beka did you get all that?" Dylan asked into his own comm.

"Yes Dylan."

"Rommie, where is the shield being generated from?"

"The 'Head' ship is generating it and it appears wide enough to protect all the other fighters."

"Okay so we need to take it out. Once that shield is down we can pick off the fighters with our own missiles."

Beka shook her head. "One problem. I don't have a refined enough weapons system to take out a ship that big."

"I might." Harper piped in again. "It's essentially gunpowder with a timer but it should generate a blast big enough to destroy a large ship."

"And how big is this 'bomb'."

"Uh..." Harper thought for a moment, "about the size of a melon."

"And you're telling me it can do more damage then a miss..."

The ship lurched again sending the two of them sprawling into a wall.

Harper put a hand on the back of his head . "Yes."

"Even so, how am I gonna get through that horde to place a bomb?"

"I have a ship cover. It should hide the Maru for approximately fifteen minutes- long enough to get in and get out."

"Dylan, did you catch all that?"

"Yes, Beka."

"Let's go" Beka said to Harper.

Dylan came over her comm once again. "We need Harper here. A control panel on command just blew."

Beka frowned and Harper followed suit. They were already back at the machine shop. Harper handed her the items and with a hug they went their separate ways.

BrakeBREAK

"Trance, what are you doing?" called Dylan.

Trance turned her head to face him her gaze solid and stern. "I'm going with Beka. There is still hope of changing the future but I can't help if I just sit here and wait." She then left command without a second glance back.

Harper passed Trance in the hall but he didn't stop to question her flight. He entered command deck and quickly headed over to the fried controls.

Rommie turned to Dylan. "We've established contact."

Dylan turned to face the screen. "Finally, some good news. On-screen."

The screen faded to reveal a man sitting in a large padded chair, with a tall, green-eyed blonde standing behind him. Her hand rested on the back of his chair.

The moment the picture became clear the shooting stoped. The man smiled smugly. "Captain Hunt, how nice to hear from you. How are you fairing?"

"Oh we're just peachy," came the captain's sardonic reply. "Now, would you mind telling me why someone, who does not even appear to be a part of the Drago-Kazov fleet, is shooting at us?"

The blonde smiled an eerie smile as she took over the conversation from her husband. "Recognition, dear Captain Hunt. That must've been obvious." She eyed him in a patronizing manner pointing out tacitously that he was beneath her.

Dylan wrinkled his brow in contemplation.

The blonde continued unabated. "I'm sure you are well aware that the Drago-Kazov do not like you nor do they like Anasazi." She smiled in mock seduction at Tyr. "We take care of you and we gain near instant recognition."

"If that is true," Tyr voiced eyeing the woman cruely, "then why did you accept our transmission? And why, when we did contact you, did you cease fire?"

The man shot his wife an irritated glance. "Believe me, I was wondering that myself."

"Bargaining" she replied simply. "You're wanted dead or alive and we figured, well, I figured, we could get the ship out of this deal. Before it's reduced to a pile of scrap, that is."

Tyr wrinkled his nose. "Why would you want this ship? It's an antique."

The woman shook her head. "The ship itself, you are right, is of no use, but the individual componets can be recycled and... modified."

Dylan crossed his arms defiantly. "And what makes you think I would let you take me and my ship?"

The woman retained her smile. "Because, in exchange for you Anasazi and the Andromeda, I'll let the rest of your crew go."

Dylan eyed her over skeptically. "And how do we know we can trust you?"

The woman gave a small laugh. "You don't."

"I have another question. Why wuld a faction like you go to such extravagant means to destroy us?"

Harper finished up with the panel and moved to stand between Dylan and Tyr. He eyed the screen and the two people. His eyes widened. They were the people from the transmission. His gaze traveled from there forms to a blurred object just behind them on the screen.

"I mean, to stage it all so we would take in an avatar who would then only maybe extract information seems like a whole lot of trouble for little old us."

The woman's smile faded a bit and her countenance changed to one of more seriousness. "There was no maybe about it. I knew we'd get such vital information sooner or later. Luckily your own avatar is a little loose lipped when thrown a compliment."

Rommie frowned but Dylan remained with his gaze fixed on the couple.

She continued. "We are just using you to prove how versatile and powerful our avatar truly is."

The man took over the conversation. "You see, we are head of the Drago-Kazov Center for the Application of Technological and Biological Sciences. The Dragons, as I'm sure you are well aware, are known for their military force. We provide them with the weapons they use."

Dylan's eyes widened in comprehension. "That's how you knew we'd be here. You're the sole recipients of the Angel's Silver. You had several contacts here."

The man gave a condescending smile. "You're not as dumb as you look."

Dylan smiled back. "Neither are you."

The Nietzschean's smile faded.

"What is that blurr," Harper finally voiced almost absentmindedly.

Dylan eyed Harper curiously for a moment and then returned his gaze to the screen waiting for an answer.

The woman made a gesture and the object came forward coming slowly into focus.

Dylan's eyes widened. Harper had to grab onto the control panel to keep from falling."

The woman smiled. "This is AI unit 4182A"

Harper stared at the screen dumbstruck. It was Emily but her eyes were hollow. She looked like a walking corpse as she stared blankly at the group.

"It was so nice of you not to shoot her. She was such an expensive project."

There was silence.

The woman eyed their expressions with amusement."Don't expect her to say hi. She's already been wiped."

Harpers face went white. Rommie looked utterly disgusted.

Dylan furrowed his brow. "So quickly?"

"Yes. After all, she was made to be erased. We saved the relevant files and discarded the rest. No fuss, no muss."

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Harper said grasping the control panel. He couldn't stand to look at them anymore.

"And is there a reason you kept the truth from her? Why did you hide the fact that she was an AI from her." Dylan asked.

The woman's smile turned serious again. "Ignorance provides our greatest control. She can't reveal her secret if she doesn't know what she is. She can't betray us if she doesn't know who we are. And, most importantly, she can't turn on us if she doesn't know her own strength."

Dylan nodded grimly. "Fair enough, but why give her a child's exterior? That just adds insult to injury."

"We did it to feign innocence. It is a known fact that people tell children things and speak in front of them because they feel they don't understand. But the Dragons are the ones who don't understand. They say AI's can't be controlled, can't be trusted- but I believe they are more trustworthy than any Nietzschean soldier or spy!"

"So that was her programming. To spy on the Andromeda."

The woman gave a snort but her focus was no longer directed at them. "Hardly," Her eyes narrowed in condescension. "That would've been too obvious. Her programming is simply to explore- to learn. We merely gave her a thirst for ..."

Her husband cut her off. "But it should've been so simple! With all the useless information, anecdotes, we had to sift through!" He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

The woman glared at him. "Those anecdotes provided valuable characterization! How do you think I devised the parameters for my ultimatum."

He rolled his eyes. "What ultimatum? The whole surrender and die thing? Because we never would've come up with that otherwise."

She grasped his shoulder harshly but turned to Dylan. "I've obliged you with more than enough answers. Now, do you accept my proposal or do I have to destroy you?"

Dylan eyed her solidly.

Tyr turned to Dylan "She has given us no reason to trust her." It was unclear whether he said that merely for self preservation or if he really did care about the rest of the crew.

The woman pouted but she was not yet out of options. She turned her gaze to the mechanic, whom she had been previously ignoring. Her smile returned to her. "I think the decision should be yours. After all, it's your life he's playing with here and he seems prepared to let you die. Look, not even a second thought." She gave a vicious laugh. "He's too afraid, I suppose- too cowardly to spare you."

Dylan turned to Harper. "You know that's not true. If I surrender Tyr, Rommie, and I die. If we stand our ground we might all have a chance."

"Or," the woman quipped, "you might all die."

Harper felt sick to his stomach. He didn't like all the uncertainty. He eyed Dylan almost coldly. "Did you honestly think I would sentence you Rommie, and Tyr to death.?" He turned to the woman though he was still speaking to Dylan. "It's up to all of us to protect each other."

Dylan gave a smile of superiority. "You see, you can't break up our crew like that."

She glared at him. "Fine! Then you will all die together!"

The screen went black and as soon as quick as they had stopped the missiles began pelting the ship again.

BrakeBREAK

"You do understand the risks involved?" Beka asked.

Trance nodded. "Yes."

"Congratulations, Trance. You predicted the future."

Trance frowned. "Actually, I predicted the past."

"Okay... So how does it feel to come back and do this all over again- to know what will happen?"

Trance shook her head. "I don't know what will happen- only what has and what might. Every decision you or Dylan or Harper or anyone makes, no matter how small, can change what will happen. I just... have a bit broader perspective than most."

The Maru approached the main ship which was slightly in front of the others. The ship slipped easily through the field it held.

Trance had to grip the railing to keep from falling as Beka skillfully maneuvered her way through the mass of ships.

"This is good," said Trance, "They're all so close to that main ship that the explosion should take out many of them."

"Ya, but that also means it'll be harder for us to make our exit before the ship blows."

The Maru moved to position below the head ship. Beka skillfully worked the ship's mechanical arm to place the bomb. Harper hadn't given himself enough credit. The bomb wasn't just specialized dynamite- the frame holding the explosive was designed like a magog ship. It punctured the hull and held fast. The moment the prongs sunk in a tiny red light began to blink signaling it's activation.

"Hope this works," Beka muttered to herself. She tried to quickly but carefully weave her way out of the swarm but halfway through the ship jerked. The force slammed Beka into the back of her chair and it sent Trance flying backwards into a control panel.

"Trance," Beka called after regaining her bearing, "you alright?"

Trance did not respond. The impact and the surge of electricity from the controls left the figure lying motionless on the ground.

"Trance!" Beka called again. Her gaze was still focussed forward trying to get them out of the path of destruction.

The Maru lurched forward sending Beka slamming once again into the back chair. Her fingers went almost instinctively to her neck. The gash she had received from the falling metal panel on the Andromeda had begun to bleed again.

The Maru jerked again and comprehension dawned on Beka. The ship cover hadn't worked as long as Harper had said it would. She was fully visible in a mesh of armed slipfighters.

"Dammit, Harper." she muttered . She returned her hand to the controls and pushed forward on the thrusters now more concerned with speed then safety. She had about two minutes until the bomb went off.

She heard murmurs from behind her. She turned her head briefly to see Trance sitting up but her loss of focus sent her flying into another ship. The speed and the force of the impact sent the Maru rolling like a tin can and only an impact with another ship finally stopped it.

Trance ended up sprawled over on the floor, and an unconscious Beka was slumped over in her chair.