See Prologue for Disclaimer and Ratings.

Alrighty, so here it is, the final guaranteed chapter for the next few weeks. I hop on a plane tomorrow (yay for 3am wake-up calls), but hopefully I'll get a chance to update next weekend, provided all goes well. (I'm only sad that I'm going to have to wait until sometime after June to catch the series finale.)

I really appreciate all who have reviewed so far, you guys make this all worth-while. Any and all mistakes are mine alone.

PART FIVE - Thank Drago for Nietzschean Programming

After delivering Rhade to Trance, the golden alien had shooed Beka out so she could get to work. She took the opportunity to get out the foul EV suit and had a nice, long shower, however she couldn't help but feel her skin continue to crawl as she thought of what they'd seen aboard the freighter.

She attempted to find something to do, but since Dylan was taking care of readying the team that was to go check out the other ship, and they weren't planning on leaving anytime soon, Beka found herself back at Medical. Compared to when she'd been chased away several hours earlier, the flurry of activity around the injured Nietzschean had died down quite a bit. Trance found a few minutes to fill her in on a few details, but Beka suspected she wanted to confer with Hunt before dishing out too much.

What she did find out, however, was a testament to Rhade's survivalist nature. The list of injuries ran long: numerous fractured and broken ribs, a partially-healed break on one leg with several additional fractures lining both lower limbs, a dislocated shoulder, and a healing clavicle. There were indications of more fractures in various stages of healing lining both arms, and even his bone blades hadn't been spared. Evidence of a severe injury to his left eye orbit was found, but luckily the bone hadn't shattered. In addition, his body was covered with innumerable bruises and small skin lacerations. He had lost a lot of blood, both internally and externally, and he had been extremely dehydrated.

At the moment he wasn't pretty, but, thanks to Trance's care and Nietzschean nanobots, he was stable. When asked why he had been acting so strangely when they found him, exploding with rage and then dropping to the point where he was only semi-conscious, Trance could only venture a guess.

"Most likely he was experiencing shock and fluctuations in adrenaline, as well as other hormones, for several days," she emphasized the word. "He was able to keep going because he had to."

Beka nodded. "Survival - it's everything and the only thing to a Nietzschean."

"Yes. But when we showed up and he saw you, he must have realized he was no longer alone. That's when his body allowed the shock to set in."

"Right…." Beka glanced to the far end of Medical, where Rhade was lying unconscious thanks to some powerful sedatives. She had glossed over the details about what happened before Trance and Dylan had arrived, only mentioning that he tried to attack her before realizing who she was, not how close he'd come to puncturing her throat.

"I'm sorry, Beka," Trance said, drawing the pilot from her thoughts, "But I have to analyze some results before Dylan gets here."

Beka nodded. "Yeah, right." As an afterthought, she added, "Can I do anything?"

"Actually, you can." Trance led her friend over to Rhade's bed. "We cleaned the injuries as we went, but as you can see, there's still a lot to do."

Beka just nodded silently. They'd changed him out of his torn and dirty clothes, and he currently wore a sheet pulled up to his navel. Large patches of skin on his upper torso, limbs, and head remained a dark red, while others had been cleaned out of necessity, affording Beka a good view of his astonishing injuries.

Trance directed her to an antiseptic solution and a pile of sterile cloths. "If you could help clean him up…?"

"Sure," Beka answered without thinking. Trance left and the pilot got to work, starting on his head.

The more she uncovered, the harder it was to imagine what he must have gone through - she was certain he had been severely beaten by the crew of the freighter, the chains had been enough evidence to come to that conclusion. She tried to focus on something else, but all she could think about was how, had it not been for her, none of this would have happened.

-o-0-o-

Shouting could be heard coming from the Eureka Maru

"You refuse to understand the basics, of course the philosophy seems ridiculous!" the male Nietzschean exclaimed.

The Maru's captain answered back with equal intensity. "I don't give a damn about the basics, the idea doesn't work!"

She promptly turned on her heel and marched toward the ship's command area. Rhade followed. They'd been at this for over an hour, debating the concepts of Nietzschean culture. For the most part it had been pleasant: Beka had received a greater understanding of her crewmate's background, and Rhade had gained an outsider's perspective on his own beliefs.

That was, until ten minutes ago.

"It does!" he shouted to her back as they moved through the ship. "The concept is of such an infantile nature, a Nietzschean child could master it!"

They reached the command center, and Beka whirled on him. "Then why don't you go find one?" He was about to reply, but she didn't give him the chance. "I'm sorry if your ideals are too complex for a kludge to handle!"

"I never said --"

"But at least my species and culture evolved, they weren't manufactured in a lab. They weren't handed their so-called superiority on a platter!"

Rhade looked like he'd been slapped. When he spoke, his voice was deadly calm. "What did you say?"

Beka held her ground, refusing to back down. "Everything about you Nietzscheans is a lie, fake. No wonder no other species can figure you out." She shoved the flexi she'd been holding throughout their discussion-turned-sparring match back to his chest - he instinctively brought a hand up to grab it. "You need to be genetically engineered just to figure yourselves out! Those of us not terrified of you, we pity you!"

At those last words, Rhade tensed. His eyes narrowed and flashed with anger, a low growl emanating from his throat. He tossed the forgotten flexi to the deck and turned sharply, heavy footfalls carrying him away from the command center, away from her. He needed to get out.

Beka let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, shaking slightly. She made her way to the pilot chair and slumped down, trying to reign in her independent temper. She heard the footsteps slowly fade, then glanced at a computer screen and noted that he'd left the ship.

"Damn," she muttered. She hadn't meant to blow up at him, and she certainly hadn't meant to insult his entire species, she'd only been trying to cover up her own ignorance of a culture she was reluctant to admit was a lot more complex than she ever imagined, than she ever gave it credit for. A culture she was surprised to find had appealed to her, in some ways if not others.

She sighed. I'll wait for both of us to cool down, she mused. And then I'll apologize

Famous last words.

-o-0-o-

Dylan's arrival to Med deck was enough to shake Beka from her thoughts.

"So, how's our patient?" He tried to sound casual, light, but he couldn't keep the grim tone from his voice.

Beka turned to respond, but saw that Trance had moved over, away from the patient in question, to fill him in. She turned back to Rhade, noting that she'd managed to clean the majority of the blood and grime off his upper body and head. She'd also dabbed at the matted hair surrounding his face, but it would have to wait until he could get up and take a shower.

She looked him over once more - on the one hand, he looked better, cleaner…less like the person who had attacked her in a dazed rage. However, his alarming injuries were a lot easier to see. It was one thing to know what was wrong, it was another thing to view it in vivid detail.

Letting out a breath, she dropped the cloth she'd been using into a disposal container to join the rest and headed over to the Captain and their acting Medical officer.

"That extensive?" Dylan asked, the disbelief - and awe - clearly present in his voice.

Trance nodded. "I'm afraid so. I've discovered evidence of some healing and repeated breaks…I think whoever did this to him wanted to make sure he suffered, and would be around to suffer for a long time."

Beka looked up - this was new information. She wasn't sure what was worse: the idea that Rhade had been intentionally left alive to continuously endure their beatings, or the look on Dylan's face - a mixture of anger, guilt, andpain for his officer.

It was a few moments before he digested the information and finally spoke. "Are you sure that wasn't the result of his Nietzschean nanobots?" It was obvious Dylan was clinging to threads, not wanting to believe a fellow human could be so sick.

The look on Trance's face, however, caught both of their attention. "That wouldn't have been possible," she replied, glancing at her unconscious patient with sympathy.

Beka's expression was one of confusion. "Why?"

Trance looked back at them. "I'm not sure exactly how they did it, likely through some type of interference, but his captors were able to neutralize all of the nanobots in Rhade's body."

There was silence. And then….

"What!" Dylan exploded, much more loudly than he'd intended. "You just told me the nanobots were helping him this very second."

She nodded. "And they are. But those nanobots were replicated from a sample we had here in Medical. I injected them into him about an hour ago." She took in a breath. "It would have been a long-shot for him to have survived with them, but as far as I can tell, Rhade hasn't had the aid of his nanobots in at least three weeks, possibly longer."

Dylan closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face. He couldn't believe the man was still alive, let alone that he'd managed to make the walk over here from the freighter, even with Beka's help. They shouldn't have let him, not that they had had much of a choice in the matter. They'd found an AG board in the cargo runner's small medical area, but the stubborn, deranged Nietzschean didn't even try to get on it. There was no way Beka could have got him on it herself, and any time he or Trance had attempted to get close, they faced being on the receiving end of Rhade's very confused and explosive rage.

Suddenly the three of them were pulled from their musings by the sound of gasping, followed by rapid, heavy breathing. Telemachus Rhade was awake.

To Be Continued...