Chapter Two: Love Letter

Sealed away in his quarters, Dylan sat on his bed, a framed photo of he and Sara in one hand, a glass of scotch in the other. He stared at the picture and felt a pit of nothingness begin to grow in his stomach, though he could not quite put his finger on why.

Well of course there was Sara. He missed her, very, very much. But in the five years since he'd first been awoken from being frozen in time, he'd felt his need for his long-lost lover begin to fade. And at first he'd been upset about it, but with every girl he kissed---and there were many---he felt that need for Sara's diminish little by little. Until now, when he was unsure of what or who he wanted in his life. Still, at the same time, he felt a little like it was betraying the memory of his fiancée thinking of being with someone else.

Dylan had spoken to Rhade about it a few times, the Nietzschean always seemed to have a much more calmer grasp on situations.

Except when it comes to Beka, Dylan smirked a little remember when a week ago, his First Officer had stepped into Command wearing a rather showy top and Rhade had suddenly not been able to move for fear of tripping over his own feet.

However, Rhade had given Dylan many relevant points to ponder upon. First of all, Sara had continued on with her own life three hundred years ago after Dylan disappeared. There was also the fact that Dylan could turn nearly every girl's head when he passed by. He figured that it was all the life-endangering action that came in being associated with a man who was trying to rebuild the Commonwealth. Other people might have said differently.

"Dylan?"

He looked up to see Rommie's hologram form in front of him.

"Yes Andromeda?"

"You have been in here for the past two hours, just checking in on you," she said.

"I'm fine."

She glanced at the picture of Sara in Dylan's hands and drew her own conclusions.

"All right," and she disappeared, leaving Dylan to wonder why his ship had been wearing such a strange expression on her holographic face...

Later that evening, Rommie and Beka sat in the mess hall observing Harper, who was scribbling something onto little pieces of paper, then re-reading them, shaking his head, crumbling them up and tossing them away.

"What do you think the cunning engineer is up to now?" asked Rommie.

"Probably something that Dylan will hurt him for later," Beka replied, shaking her head.

"Oh...so then, you don't think we should interfere?"

"Nah...if it has anything to with us, we can kill him after Dylan severs him."

"Got it."

Dear Beka...

Harper chewed on the end of his pencil thoughtfully.

I've been hiding this for awhile from you but I really like you and...

He looked up and his eyes flashed as he saw Rhade casually walk across the Mess Hall whilst taking side wards glances at Beka. Harper nearly broke his pencil.

...and I haven't told you this because I am one Hell of an idiot and I refuse to give anyone, especially that brilliant little engineer Harper, any peace!

Harper dropped his pencil and ripped the paper to shreds. This whole innocent, school boy crush thing That Damn Nietzschean was doing was driving him insane.

"Are you sure, we shouldn't say anything?" Rommie asked Beka again, the two of them watching from afar as Harper continued his wild attack on a piece of paper.

"Uh..." Beka's eyes were wide with surprise, "That display of...anger, does seem pretty Harper like. Maybe he's trying to draw you and just can't get your battle blades right..." Beka giggled a little at her own joke.

"That's not—"

"Hello!"

The two women saw Trance sitting in front of them.

"When did you get here?" asked Rommie.

"Oh just...um, what is Harper doing?" Trance's own eyes fixed themselves on to frustrated little engineer.

"Well you see, Harper is trying to draw the Andromeda and he can't"

"We don't know," Rommie cut Beka off and glared at her.

"Why don't you find out?" Beka suggested, "You certainly seem to be one of Harper's favourite people Trancie," she emphasized Harper's fond nickname for Trance.

Even Rommie laughed a little, and she stood up and followed Beka out of the Mess Hall. Trance pouted a bit, but went and sat near Harper anyways, who was practically hyperventilating.

"Is this about Telemachus and Beka?" she asked softly.

"WOULD YOU STOP CALLING HIM THAT!" Harper screamed, simply because he felt like screaming, not because he really cared what Trance called That Damn Nietzshean.

"Why?" Trance looked more curious that shocked at his screaming, "Telemachus is his name isn't it..."

Harper simply glared at her for a few minutes. Then, he slowly sat back down into his chair and took a few deep breaths. Trance watched him closely, perhaps she was awaiting an apology from him for yelling at her.

Instead he grabbed another piece of paper and began writing again.

"What are you writing?" asked Trance, peeking over Harper's shoulder.

Her eyes skimmed over the letter and then widened in surprise.

"A love letter?" her mouth hung open.

"Yeah..." Harper sighed, "But it's not coming along so great..."

"Dear Beka, please try to understand, I wish I had the courage to tell you all of this in person..." Trance read aloud and then smiled as she read the rest in her head, "Oh Harper! That is so romantic! But...I never knew that you felt that way about Beka..."

"I don't," was his flat reply.

Trance looked somewhat relieved, and Harper knew that he would never quite understand why.

"It's supposed to be from That Damn Nietzschean..." Harper admitted glumly.

"Telemachus?" Trance frowned a bit, "Somehow, a love letter doesn't seem like something he would do..."

"Which is why it is so difficult for me to write one from him."

Suddenly, a little light bulb went off in Trance's head.

"Why don't you write the letter from Beka to Telemachus instead?" she suggested.

"Hmmm...never really thought of it that way?" Harper said.

He began to chew on his pencil again, Trance smiled and sat down again across from him. It wasn't long before Harper began to write again.

"Hey..." Harper stared at the letter once he'd finished it, "This isn't that bad...I still kinda doubt that the Boss would write a love letter other...but I suppose she'd be more likely to do it rather than That Damn Nietzschean."

He passed it to Trance who read at it quickly.

"Yeah but..." she grabbed his eraser and erased the first line which contained only the words Dear Rhade.

Then she gave it back to him.

"I think it makes it sound more Beka-like," Trance shrugged.

"Well...I guess you're right, you are after all female, you probably know best."

Trance pulled out a few chocolates from her pocket and popped one into her mouth, "Want one?"

"No thanks," Harper replied.

"Here..." said Trance, taking the note and putting it inside an envelope, "Now how are we going to get this to Telemachus..."

Suddenly, the ship jerked and Harper fell out of his chair. Trance, who had better balanced, lurched forwards.

"What was that?" asked Trance, pulling himself to his feet.

"All crew report to Command," they heard Andromeda's voice.

"How much do you wanna bet that it's some corrupt Nietzscheans feel like raining on our parade?" grumbled Harper.

"They're not so bad," Trance smiled, but she had a feeling that he couldn't hear her as he stormed out towards Command.

Trance followed him and halfway there, she met Dylan.

"Want a chocolate Dylan?" asked Trance.

The Andromeda was hit again, throwing both of them into a wall.

"Somehow I don't think that this is the time for chocolates Trance," said Dylan, getting up.

"Somehow, I do," Trance replied, shoving one into his mouth and then she ran off.

Dylan noticed that she dropped something. It was an envelope. He picked it up, shrugged and shoved it into his pocket for later. Beka ran past him, acknowledging him only with a simple nod of the head. Suddenly, Dylan felt a little strange, light-headed almost, but he returned Beka's nod anyways and ran on after her.

Suddenly, Dylan realized how beautiful his second-in-command was.