It was with reluctance that Andromeda allowed Rhade to go aboard the Maru and her logic was warped. On the one hand, she didn't trust that Rhade wouldn't do something with the Maru to incapacitate her, and on the other hand, Rhade was the only properly functioning being on board, and she didn't want to lose that. However, she flatly refused to attempt scooping the Maru into a hold, so Rhade was forced to board her in space. In turn, he flatly refused to use one of the AV suits she suggested he wear. Life support on the Maru was still fully functional, and a suit would not prevent the gas that was already in the air from getting to him. Not that it had so far, so he said.

Guns at the ready, he entered through the airlock and almost immediately felt the presence of something in the Maru that should not be. There was a hint of shadowy movement in his peripheral vision, an overpowering stench that assaulted his sinuses and worse, the walls of the Maru seemed to speak of fear. Beka should be here as Andromeda could detect one life sign, and there were apparently no other monsters. However, he'd seen and heard of enough things in his life that initially defied explanation that he took no chances, an attitude that should preserve his life expectancy.

His entry being close to the living quarters, he found Beka first, holed up in the sleeping area. Her shadowed eyes were closed and a gun was held limply in her hand. He called her name, but she cringed away in her sleep. Moving quietly, he gently took the gun from her, her now empty hand groping automatically to find it, and then put his fingers to her throat to feel for her pulse. It was strong and regular; she was simply deeply asleep. He could certainly do without her help for the moment – she was as likely to try and stop him simply because of her dislike of him. She could be extracted later.

As he passed through the doorway, a gasp from Beka was all the warning he got. Spinning, he dodged the blast as she screamed in angry fear, another gun she had apparently had as backup pointed right at him. With a growl of his own, he slammed the door shut behind him and locked it from the outside. He could hear the shots uselessly hitting the metal.

"I'm trying to save her crazy ass," he grumpily told the Maru, and it seemed as if the Maru answered with whispers of hope.

In the cargo area, he found the tangled and broken cargo crates, which no one had seen fit to remove, and identified the canisters. His stomach churned at the smell now and he had to fight not to be ill. He picked the canisters up and put them in the bag he had slung over his back, heading back to the airlock.

He'd almost made it when gunfire sent him diving for cover. He returned fire automatically, looking for the monster that had to be there somewhere because Beka was locked up and Andromeda had been wrong before, and it wasn't like any of them either liked or trusted him anyway, not to mention he just felt so ill from the stench, it was disgusting, and his stomach was going to give up on him.

He peeked around the corner and there was Beka, pale eyes staring at something that wasn't him as she shot again and again. He should have known that a locked door would never stop her, not on the Maru.

He wanted to shoot her dead so much that he had to remind himself of her Matriarch status and the fact that he really would be reviled by the Andromeda and her crew if he did, neither of which would bode well for his survival if he killed her.

Throwing himself towards the airlock, Rhade slid through on his stomach surrounded by gunfire and thankfully Andromeda sealed the hatch. Pushing himself to his knees, he suddenly knew he was about to lose his battle with the putrid odour that seemed to suffocate him and had no choice but to let his stomach retch.

XXXXX

Dylan finally stood on the Command Deck. Andromeda had been cleaned of all foreign molecules and was being fully repaired while the Maru lay in the cargo bay, awaiting repairs, her cargo contained and isolated. Andromeda could not catch the gas back from organic life forms fortunately, so they were on their way to Parazio to pick up the crew.

Harper and Rhade had been working around the clock to get Andromeda purged and according to Andromeda it had not been easy. Harper was convinced that Rhade was going to space him which in turn did nothing for Rhade's temper, and since Rhade had left tact and diplomacy behind somewhere in the early days of Seefra, he did nothing to disillusion Harper, in fact seemed to go out of his way to confirm the engineer's fears. However, they got there in the end, using the majority of the antidote to do so and once Dylan had come on board, he'd separated them to start getting things back in order.

Rommie and Doyle were both still out of action and would be for a while, but according to Harper both were fixable, as was Andromeda's hologram.

He had managed to talk Trance back into her avatar form. She was secured on Med deck even now with Beka, working on a way to replicate enough antidote from the remainder of the canister's contents to cover the crew.

When Trance eventually called him down to the med deck, he found Harper lurking nervously outside.

Dylan remained calm as he convinced the engineer that Trance's request came for them all to meet on med deck and had nothing to do with any personal grudge she had against Harper, but he would not be convinced, conceding only to step into the doorway. Dylan noted how exhausted he looked and wondered when the last time he slept was.

Trance showed them all the antidote she'd replicated and indicated Beka to whom she'd already administered it.

Beka shook her head in disbelief. "I don't believe I said – I did – it all seemed so logical, you know?"

"I know," Dylan replied, and he did. He too would have sworn up and down the universe that there was something monstrous out to destroy them lurking in Andromeda's corridors. Now that it was over, it all seemed so childishly insane.

"Oh no, oh no!" Harper exclaimed as Trance approached him. "There's no way you're sticking me with your happy juice! I don't know what it'll do to me!" Harper tried to back out of the doorway, but Dylan was close enough to grab him before he could disappear. He spent a few minutes finding out exactly how vicious Harper could be when cornered, but it was sufficient for Trance to get the injection into the engineer's neck and Dylan could let him go.

Harper sank to his knees, curled in on himself and crying out as the eradication process took its toll. Eventually, he collapsed to the floor with heavy gulping breaths as Trance knelt by him checking his vitals.

While Harper recovered, Trance informed Dylan that the injuries that the engineer had just inflicted would have to heal on their own, scratches and heavy bruising were things that should be allowed to heal naturally, although she recommended that a frozen piece of meat might help with some of the swelling.

Dylan started to turn away with a snort, only to feel the injector against his neck. "You're not clear," she told him as liquid fire streamed through his nervous system. "It's just dormant while you're not being re-infected." He didn't remember hitting the floor.

"Yeah, it hurts," said Beka, emerging from med deck to stand somewhere approximately above him.

Abruptly, the pain subsided and he was left weak and trembling on the floor with Trance hovering next to him and both Harper and Beka looking down curiously. When his heart had slowed down, and his muscles felt like obeying him again, Dylan climbed to his feet. "Andromeda, where's Rhade?" he asked.

"I called for him too," said Trance and Dylan raised an eyebrow.

"Did you really expect him to respond?" he asked.

"Well, no," she replied. "But I just thought I'd mention it."

"And anyway, how do we know you're not still infected?" Harper asked Trance. "And this is natural suspicion talking here, not paranoia, and just because you're not paranoid, doesn't mean there isn't some flesh eating hairy monster out to get you by the way."

"Oh, I'm not," said Trance brightly. "Trust me on this."

"Commander Rhade is in the recreational area," Andromeda said, and Dylan thanked her.

He and Beka made their way to the recreational deck to find Rhade practising some form of Neitzchean fighting style, but his guns appeared in his hands even before the door had finished opening properly.

Dylan and Beka both entered with their hands slightly up, and Rhade lowered the guns to his side, putting one in it's holster. "What can I do for you?" he asked, walking over to the side, ostensibly to pick up his jacket, although the other gun never left his hand.

"Trance has made an antidote; I thought you should get your share." Dylan walked towards him, smiling. "You could use the sleep I'm sure." Like Harper, Rhade was clearly exhausted, even swaying very slightly on his feet.

"The gas didn't affect me," the Neitzchean snorted. "What does it matter if I have a few extra molecules floating around?"

"We don't know and that's the point," Dylan replied. "And besides which, how do you know it hasn't effected you? None of us knew at the time."

"The big guy's right, boss," came Harper's voice from outside the door and he appeared keeping safely behind Beka and Dylan. "I don't think he was affected."

"Superior genes and nanobots," Rhade smirked. "Now, I'd like to go get a shower if you'll excuse me?"

"I'm with Dylan," Beka said. "Neitzcheans are born paranoid, how would anyone notice the difference?"

"Ha ha, Beka," Rhade snapped, "I see your biting wit didn't run away with the rest of you."

"Dylan," said Beka softly without taking her eyes off Rhade who returned the stare stonily. "Would you please give us some privacy?"

"Sure," Dylan backed out of the room ensuring Harper went with him and shut the door. Andromeda would let him know if anything got out of control.

When the door had closed behind her, Beka continued in a soft voice. "If the gas didn't affect you, why are you still holding your gun?"

Rhade blinked in surprise, his eyes flicking briefly towards his gun hand. "It pays to cover your own back, Beka, you know that."

"Cover your back against what?" Beka asked. "There aren't any monsters here anymore."

Rhade tilted his head slightly. "Aren't there? We all have monsters, Beka. Up here," he waved his gun at his own head, "in here," he tapped the gun against his own chest, "out there," he waved the gun at her. "Monsters, demons, whatever. You most of all know that."

Beka stepped towards him. "Rhade, when this all began," she said, taking another step, "you threw yourself on top of me to save my life." The words came out hard for her, but she didn't know how else to deal with the Neitzchean. If gossip were true and he kept his blades poisoned, then jumping him would as likely kill at least one of them without Rommie or Doyle to help. "Now, as your matriarch, I order you to stay where you are," she said, her final step taking her nose to chin with him. "Because I intend to return the favour." Her left hand ran down his right arm softly, feeling the muscles bunched and trembling. "Whether you want me to or not." He didn't move away which surprised her and she could almost hear the tight control he had over his breathing.

Reaching the gun, she felt him grip it tighter. "I order you to drop your gun," she said.

His answer was harsh and forced. "No. I cannot."

"I didn't think so," Beka replied, her voice barely a whisper now.

"I don't understand you," his voice was harsh in her ear and she stroked back up his arm.

"Sure you do," Beka replied, "you just have to pay attention." He never saw her right arm creep up to the narrow band of bare flesh between his vest and his pants and push the injector home.

She jumped back as he clutched his gut, the gun slipping out of nerveless fingers and crashing to the floor.

He didn't fall and she was impressed at the will power it took for him to remain upright. It took a moment for her to realise that he was talking to her, the words ground out through the pain. "I almost thought you might have some concern…"

"No," she shook her head with a smile. "Just repaying the debt, that's all." She didn't wait to see him through the process; he was doing better than the rest of them had and she exited the area, letting the others in.

XXXXX

Harper and Rhade had both been consigned to quarters for rest, neither being allowed out until each had achieved a solid and consecutive eight hours of sleep.

When Beka turned in for the night, she felt as exhausted as those two had both looked and without switching the light on, dumped her clothes on the floor and slid into bed.

And froze.

There was something in her bed and it was just above her ankle. She wasn't sure it was moving, but it was cold and clammy. She tried to call Andromeda but found she had no voice. Clearing her throat to try again she mentally kicked herself. There had to be a simple explanation.

Calming herself with some breaths, she mentally located her gun on the floor along with the nearest light switch.

In a manoeuvre worthy of Rommie herself, Beka leapt out of bed, throwing the top sheet aside, rolling to floor to grab her gun, hitting the light switch and focussing on the bed where the thing was.

Sitting there and smiling innocently at her was the yellow rubber duck.

FIN