Author's Note: So the last year of High School officialy started for me. You can tell because this chapter was late. The school year just started and it's like they crashed everything on us at once. First, I'm a senior, so as an upper classman, we should have all gotten the best lockers and homerooms, right? WRONG! My locker is the farthest one away from all my classes. And on the second day of school I missed the bus because of a blackout from a storm and on the way to school, twisted my ankle. A really nice teacher gave me a ride, but I still can't walk. If my bad day had ended there, it would have been okay, except I then went to my first period class and got 7 books. 7 books in one class! Interestingly enough, this class is called H.E.L.L. (History English Literature and Linguistics) Grrr... I'm not happy On the bright side, I do like all my new teachers and the classes are all good, even Hell. Sorry for the ramble, but I had to get it out of my system. On with the story.
Chapter 8
She obviously hadn't heard him come in, because Beka jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. "Preventing myself from doing something stupid," she replied harshly, "again."
The first officer took the small box of vials and handed it to him. Telemachus looked down at it. "Acetylcholine, neurostimulants," he read the labels on the vials. "Beka, these are ingredients for..."
"Flash," she nodded. "Yeah, I know. Do me a favor and shove that crap out of the air lock, will you?"
Relieved, he smiled and put the box down on the floor. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gently guided her to the crew bunks, and they both sat down. Beka sighed, shaking her head in disbelief.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, leaning against his shoulder. "I know I've been... off lately. I'm not usually this over emotional, but right now I feel like my mood's swinging so far it's a wonder it doesn't double back and hit me in the ass."
"Under the circumstances, I think it can be forgiven," Telemachus gave her a bitter sweet smile.
"I mean, was it really too much to ask of her to let me keep my privacy?" Beka went on. "But, no! She had to publicly announcement for the entire Commonwealth to hear, just had to use me to boost her popularity. You do realize that's the only reason she did this?"
"Yes," Rhade nodded. "I'm sorry that Talia is such a sad situation." He tilted his head to glance at her from a different angle. "You look tiered."
Beka couldn't hide the small yawn. "I am," she admitted with a smile, "and while usually I'd happily blame it on you, this chronic exhaustion's been hounding me for a couple weeks now. Not sleeping last night probably didn't help much."
She looked like she was about to doze off, so Telemachus stood up to make room on the bunk. Beka settled right over the covers and released a sigh of relief. "Get some sleep. Dylan's meeting can wait."
"Meeting?" her eyes shot open, and she quickly sat back up. "Oh no, I'm not letting Dylan drag me on a wild goose chase before I know all the details. I'll sleep later. Let's go."
---
Beka was well aware that the crew seemed especially careful around her. It was slightly reminiscent of the time right after she was possessed by the Abyss. They had been weary of her then too only it was out of fear. Now as she walked by, all the first officer saw were looks of pity. This only served to make her angry. As far as Beka was concerned, they could all take their pity and shove it.
When she and Telemachus arrived in the conference room, Dylan, Trance, Harper, and Rommie were already there standing over a holographic projects of their route. Everyone looked up when she came in and all the chatter in the room suddenly died down. Just like the rest of the crew, none of the senior officers knew quite how to act around her. The silence only served to make Beka angry. Finally Harper broke the silence.
"Boss," he asked tentatively. "You...uh...you okay?"
"I'm fine," she replied a little defensively.
"That's cool," he bit his lip. "'Cause, you now, the kid...he was really worried about you."
Beka had to smile at this, feeling some of the weight lift. "Thanks for looking out for him, Harper."
"Definitely, so where are we with our latest field trip?" the engineer steered the conversation into safer grounds.
"Andromeda and I checked over the senator's course," Dylan replied, also glad to be getting back to buisnes.
"Twenty eight of the jumps are through relatively well known space," Rommie pointed out. "Right now, we're still in orbit over Tarazed so the first nine jumps take us out of the Triangulum galaxy and into the Milky-Way. Twelve more jumps take us across the Milky-Way and into the Andromeda galaxy where the Vedran system is located."
The map changed to show an image of the sister galaxy of the Milky-Way, then zoomed in on the massive twin black holes in its center. Beka shuddered slightly. It was the route between those black holes that drove her to take Flash last time. As good as her piloting skills were, Beka wasn't sure if she could make it through under her own power. Hopefully the new course didn't include that route. To her relief, that was exactly what the AI focused on next.
"Now the first seven jumps through the Andromeda galaxy shouldn't be a problem. We don't even have to pass through her center," said Rommie, "but the twenty-ninth jump takes us through a solar nursery which is a very unstable environment. In particular, we have to pas through the Gehenna system." The image shifted again, this time displaying a newly formed system with the infant sun safely hidden behind a giant cloud of gas. "It's only approximately seven million years old. No planets have formed yet and the gas that still surrounds the sun makes for a very volatile and dangerous flight route."
"Hey maybe we should rename you Icarus," Harper cocked his head to the side to look at the avatar. "The ship that flew too close to the sun."
"Mr. Harper," the captain pointedly glared at the engineer.
"Random remarks aside, he's right though," Andromeda said. "A slight wrong turn in the slipstream, and we'll emerge to close to that star to escape its gravitational pull. If that happens, any protective barriers I erect will only last so long. You'll all be dead under forty-eight hours. On the other hand, if all goes smoothly, it shouldn't even leave a scratch on my hull."
Dylan turned to Beka, who had been quiet through out the discussion. "What do you think? Is it doable?"
Beka slowly got up, fighting off the returning dizziness, and glanced at the holographic map. After a moment of analyzing the rout, she looked up. "It's tricky," then a smile brushed across her lips, "but I think I can handle it."
---
Talia was reasonably satisfied with her quarters on the ship. They were much smaller than her suite at the Oedekirk palace, but it was presentable enough to serve for the rest of the trip. She was just about to leave when the doors to her quarters slid open with a his, and Talia turned her head just in time to see Beka step in. The first officer had a cool unreadable expression on her face.
"I thought you should know that I'm not doing this for you," Beka informed the senator. "I'm doing this because the Triumvirs asked Dylan, and he'll need a good pilot. I'm doing this because my friends need me, but this has absolutely nothing to do with you. I don't care about Oedekirk or your popularity status there. The only people that matter to me are Telemachus, our son, and this crew. You, on the other hand, can go straight to Hell for all I care." Not bothering to wait for a response, Beka quickly walked back out, immediately feeling immensely better.