A/N: I hope this is better than the last chapter.

Thank you very, very much to everyone who has reviewed so far!

Chapter Six: Catastrophe!

When Trance and Harper finally reached command, they found Rommie standing at the controls, maneuvering the Andromeda so that it dodged all of the Nietzschean fire.

"It's about time," snapped Rommie.

"We're sorry Rommie," Trance apologized genuinely and she and Harper both took their places at two different consoles.

"Where's Dylan?" asked Rommie, momentarily losing her concentration.

One moment was all it took. Trance and Harper ducked as sparks erupted from every corner as the entire ship shook with the impact of another Nietzschean missile.

"Extend battle blades Andromeda!" Trance ordered.

"Why didn't you think of..." Harper started to interrogate Rommie when the android shot him an icy glare which cut him off instantly, "N-never mind..."

"Fire defense missiles!" yelled Trance, trying to maintain her balance.

"Firing defense missiles," Rommie responded.

The petty Nietzschean ships were no match in the end for Andromeda's fire power (something that Harper would easily vouch for any day).

"Allright!" Harper cheered, "Take that you damn Nietzscheans..."

"Wow...we did it..." said Trance, smiling.

"Yeah! Way to go Trancie! Who needs Beka or Rhade or Dylan! You totally kicked ass out there...in here...whatever!"

Rommie rolled her eyes, "We were lucky."

"What?" Harper and Trance said simultaneously.

"They starting powering up that weapon again when I launched the battle blades," stated Rommie flatly, "One less second and you'd both be brain dead...again."

"We should talk to Dylan about this..." said Trance worriedly.

"Where is he anyways?" asked Rommie again.

"For someone with a brain the size of a planet, you can have more of a one-track mind than me sometimes Rommie..." Harper said, slightly coldly.

"He's with Beka," Trance stated quickly and then wondered if by saying that she made things better or worse.

Probably both.

"Figures," Rommie growled and left Command in a huff.

And no later than thirty minutes after she left, Rhade walked in. Harper looked up from where he was repairing some wiring and scowled at the Nietzschean.

"You're about half an hour late," said Harper.

"Appreciate the warm welcome," Rhade shot back.

"No problem. Would you like me to roll out the red carpet for you too?"

Rhade didn't reply, instead he walked over to wear Trance was monitoring Andromeda's systems status.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nietzscheans attacked. It would have been nice for you to have been up here when they did too," Trance answered in a harsher tone than she had intended.

"I didn't..." Rhade began and then stopped himself for reasons unknown to anyone, "Where's Beka?"

Trance looked at Harper, who gave her one of his trademark 'whatever' looks and said:

"With Dylan, down on Med Deck, trading saliva."

The look that came upon Rhade's face was a mix of anger, jealousy and an extreme need to kick someone's ass. Particularly Dylan. Nonetheless, Rhade did not reply, instead he got to work helping Harper and Trance with the repairs to the Andromeda. Both Harper and Trance lost themselves in what they were doing until the rest of the situation just seemed to fade away. No one spoke a word for hours

"Dylan we should—" Beka was cut off again by the Captain's lips being pressed to hers once again, "Dylan the crew...they might be...we can't—"

Dylan continued to kiss her, one hand around her waist, the other tangled in her hair. He couldn't remember ever feeling so relaxed in his life! Not even when he was with Sara. Every moment he spent with Beka, he could feel his body ease into a completely mellowed state. Beka however, was struggling to breathe and was less than pleased with her current state. Somehow, she had ended up lying flat on her back with Dylan on top of her. Despite her efforts to break free, and there had been many, Dylan was heavier than she was and therefore, he'd been quite successful in pinning her down for God knows how long. She'd promised herself that she wouldn't knock Dylan out again, so no matter how she squirmed, the only thing she achieved were teasing giggles from Dylan.

Dylan. Giggling. Beka's ears had nearly bled.

Dylan trailed his hands up her arms, his fingers gently brushing over Beka's skin, making her shudder for reasons she did not want to think about. She had begged and pleaded and had even whined about how the Andromeda was probably under attack and how Harper, Trance, Rhade and Rommie were probably very angry at them right now for making out with each other while they should have been blasting Nietzscheans into space. And every time Dylan's mumbled reply against her skin was something like "They can handle it" or "I'm sure they'll managed" and occasionally, "You smell nice".

Damn, Beka had to keep herself from sighing when Dylan's tongue brushed against her lips for the twenty-sixth time before she finally gave him access to her mouth, He's a good kisser.

He reluctantly broke the kiss so they could both take a few quick breaths and then his lips descended upon hers again. Suddenly, another thought crossed Beka's mind, one which frightened her beyond belief.

Somebody better hurry up and get this guy off me, Beka thought, Or I might start too...

Beka closed her eyes.

"This is really getting out of hand," Andromeda's holographic form appeared and said to Trance and Harper.

"Ya think so?" Harper said haughtily as he tinkered with a small mechanical device.

"Harper. Trance. We cannot have half the crew all distracted by personal issues. If the Nietzscheans should choose to attack again with their weapon, the results could be disastrous," said Andromeda.

"We hadn't noticed," Harper grumbled, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"I agree," Trance said firmly, ignoring Harper, "Though part of me still can't believe that all of this is happening."

"Well it is, and my Captain is currently locked in an infirmary with Beka Valentine doing something that A.I.s aren't even programmed to speak of!" Andromeda said, raising her voice a little.

"Oh my God!" Trance cried, "We forgot about Beka!"

Harper dropped what he was doing an proclaimed, "To Med Deck and beyond!"

"Excuse me?" Andromeda raised her eyebrows.

"Never mind! Let's go!" Trance replied, dragging Harper out with her.

"Thanks for that..." said Beka, panting.

"No problem...wait, that's not true...big problem..." Harper replied, running a hand through his messy hair.

"That's right. Very big problem," Trance chimed in.

Harper had blown the door off the infirmary with a small explosive and it had taken them twenty minutes to dislodge Dylan's grip off of Beka's body. Then they'd hauled Beka out of the room and since there was no door anymore, Trance had needed to resort to desperate measures to keep Dylan from suffocating Beka again.

And so now the poor Captain lay unconscious on the floor. Again.

"How long were you in there for?" asked Harper, eyeing Beka's disheveled hair, flushed skin and slightly torn clothing.

"I don't know! It's all a vague blur! It could have been minutes...or hours...or days...or centuries! What year is it?" Beka cried frantically.

Trance took the shaken blonde by her shoulders, "Beka, calm down."

"C-calm down...calming...calming down..." Beka stammered.

"This really isn't like her," Harper observed, "It's like she's been high on flash again, either that or...Dylan must be one hell of a kisser to get the Boss all jumpy like this..."

"That isn't the point!" Trance snapped at him while still trying to soothe Beka, "This whole thing is a giant catastrophe!"

"Tell me about it. You and I—both of us being the innocent crew members—can't protect Beka from being snogged to death, have Dylan Hunt under lock and key in an unconscious state, keep Rhade from murdering Dylan or Rommie from slitting Beka's throat and fight the God damn Nietzscheans and their unfair weapons all at the same time!" yelled Harper, once again managing to sum up the obvious into one big statement.

"I'll get Beka up to her quarters..." said Trance.

Harper pouted. Trance hadn't even commented on his super-long statement!

"And I'll go see what Rhade's up to," he grumbled.

"Right," Trance replied, "Oh and Harper?"

"Yes?"

"Try not to speak Dylan's name to Rhade. We really do need an engineer on this ship, and you won't be much help if your dead."

Harper gulped.

A/N: Updates are going to be a bit slower 'kay? I have school now...so I might end up uploading one chapter per weekend. Sorry. Lots of Rhade-ness (because I've been excluding him so much) in the next chapter! Promise!