By the time I sat back up again, Rommie had already attached the little grey – and noticeably unlit – disc, and Beka was in a full-fledged argument with Trance.

"I am not going to be a pawn!"

"Beka, please! You need to!" Trance pleaded, holding out the little yellow disk. "The position needs to go to someone who can handle the on/off drawbacks of being a pawn. It has the most limitations, but if you play it wisely, you can be the most valuable player in the game!"

"So why not give it Harper?" Beka demanded. "He's bright enough to use the position to his advantages."

I blinked and shook my head and grinned at Beka. "Hey, Boss, that almost sounds like a compliment!" I unleashed my Harper Patented Smile # 8 (Hah!-I-knew-you-couldn't-resist-the-charms-of-Harper!) "Admit it: you can't get enough of me!"

Beka rolled her eyes. "Don't get too far up on that high horse. Little people have farther to fall. I was just saying that because I don't want the position. Besides, you were the one vouching for the cushy, target-free job."

"No," Trance said quietly, and Beka and I both looked at her.

"Uh oh," Beka said. "I'm sensing another opportunity for us to exercise our freedom of choice flying out the airlock."

"Beka, you need to be the pawn because Harper needs to be this," She tossed one of the last two discs – the blue one – to me. "He needs to play the position of Ithaliyn."

Ok, that is actually spelt right. I got Trance to check it for me. She asked me not to ever say it out loud again, though. Something to do with my pronunciation sounding like something a Nightsider regurgitated.

"Uh, Trance?" I waved my hand around to try and get her attention. "How can I play a position when I can't even pronounce it? And by the way you say that I need to do it doesn't really imply that me doing it will keep me safe. More like I might as well just sit myself down in front of their nice, pretty, whatever-it-is-they-use-for-weapons and do the countdown myself!"

"What is that position, anyway?" Rhade asked. "And more importantly, why, exactly, does Harper need to play it?"

" Ithaliyn is the Wild Card," Trance said. "The rules are a bit more…flexible for them than the rest of the players. They can barely get any points for the overall game… but they're less affected by outside play. The level of risk runs about the same as it would for a pawn, but the impact from the moves can be greater. Harper's counterpart is going to take that position on the other side, and he needs to take it for…" she trailed off and bit her lip.

"For…?" Dylan prompted.

"Uhm… for balance?" Trance suggested with a small smile.

"Why?" Rommie shook her head. "From what I could tell, they don't appear to be similar in anything other than appearance."

"Thank you, Rommie," I nodded at her in acknowledgement. "Good to know someone can appreciate my more matured personality."

Beka made an odd choking noise, then quickly started coughing. I refused to acknowledge any of it.

Dylan nodded at me. "All right, Harper, take it. Trance wouldn't ask you to if she didn't know you at least had a chance of handling it. Besides, you've overcome bad odds before – I have every confidence you will again."

I blinked at the comment, then allowed a small Harper Patented Smile # 86 (Wow-that-was-actually-really-nice-of-you) to emerge. It wasn't one that emerged very often, and for once I couldn't actually think of anything to say with it.

"Fine, then," Beka said. "But if I'm a pawn I refuse to be thrown out early in the game just so you guys could pick up a couple of points!" She attached the yellow disc to herself with a look to Dylan that spoke volumes.

"We would never do that to you Beka!" Trance said in a tone of voice and a tilt of the head that was so undeniably…. Trance. Or at least the old Trance. Shaking my head, I picked up the little green disc and held it just above my wrist. It beeped, it shlucked, it became one with me. What surprised me was that once it did… there was a tiny electrical discharge, then tiny little vibrations on my wrist, like a warm little tingle. Amazingly enough, it was a very familiar feeling.

"This is a data-link!" I exclaimed. "Like the kind I put in my data port – " I touched the port in my neck "—but porous!"

"He's right," Rommie agreed. "It's been sending me the data with the rules since I've attached it to myself."

"So how come I haven't noticed it?" Rhade asked and Dylan and Beka nodded in agreement.

Trance was giving me a quizzical look. "Because organics aren't supposed to." She then nodded sharply, as if she made a good decision, then smiled slightly.

" Are we done here?" Flux asked. "Can I finally pass along the results of your decision making, or would you like another week or so?" He turned to leave.

"You're not going to tell us who's playing against us?" Beka demanded, outraged.

Flux paused and did an almost-squirm that immediately made me think of Trance. "You wouldn't know who they are anyway."

"I would," Trance said, quietly, but with finality.

Flux sighed. "Fine," he whined. "Zelazny is Ithaliyan, obviously."

"Who's the leader?" Dylan asked, and Flux paused.

"It's Zelazny, isn't it?" Trance asked. And the filthy (more-words-that-I-shouldn't-put-in-this-log) that was Flux remained silent.

"Hey now!" Beka interrupted. "I may not have played this game before, but I'm pretty sure you can't have one player do two parts. That's cheating and we all know it."

"It is not," Flux whined. "Since Zelazny has offered to take up the difficult task of two roles, we were given special grant to have three pawns in play."

" Three pawns?" I said. "Yeah, 'cuz that has 'fair play' written all over it, doesn't it? Give one person the two most powerful roles, and get two extra pawns to 'compensate,' right?" I stood up and pointed a finger right in his blue face. "Well then, you just tell Zelazny that I know exactly how he ticks. And that no matter how many extra people he pulls into this, he's playing against the crew of the Andromeda Ascendant, and he better really watch out."

Flux rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, I'll pass along your threats of machismo to your counterpart. Are we done?"

"Name them, Flux," Trance said, her purple face giving a cold stare that I've only ever seen in her bronze form. "Name who we are playing against."

"Ah, if you insist," Flux sighed. "Zelazny is Ithaliyn, and the leader, I will be doing Logistics –" he pointed to the grey disc on his wrist. "— and Rigel Cepheus is Vanguard. Pawns will be played by Lyra Aphelion, Altair Procyon, and… Quinn Capella." There was a slight flicker in his eyes and he looked at Trance uncertainly as he said the last name, but I wasn't sure why.

Trance just frowned very softly. Beka looked over at her. "Know 'em?"

"Yes," Trance said. "And some of them aren't very nice at all."

Flux rolled his eyes. "I will pass that onto Quinn for you."

Trance stood and placed her hands on her hips. "Then also tell him that I'll be the Guide for our side."

Flux's eyes widened. "Really? And under what special circumstances do you have the right to claim that position?"

"The circumstances caused when you stopped bothering to play by the rules," Rhade growled, as he stood too.

Flux folded his arms and frowned. "I'll pass that on, but obviously you'll have to clear that with your father."

"I will," Trance replied.

Rommie was already standing, eying her counterpart in the game, and Dylan stood up beside her.

"You see, Mr. Flux, there is a reason we are going to win, and it's one I would stake my life on. You'll be competing on a team, playing for some grand and wonderful prize at the end. But this is my crew, and together we have overcome things you may have never dreamed of. We aren't competing for a prize at the end, we are all in this for each other. And even with all your technicalities and smudged rules and double standards, we will still win. We know it, you know it, and your good friend Sigma Orion himself knows it. So let's see what you've got."

Flux frowned, but remained silent. He nodded his head back in the direction of the big crazy castle-of-ridiculous-mortgage, and turned to start walking back towards it silently.

Dylan turned to the rest of us with the smile he always has on right before he does something heroic. "Now, let's have us a game, shall we?"