Beka was tired. She was taking another break from the repairs. She'd just eaten something but not nearly enough to satisfy her hunger. However, her supplies were limited and she had no idea how much longer she was going to be stranded here. Except it was probably going to be a lot longer. Repairs weren't coming along as fast as she would like them to.
"Harper must have spoiled you. Got too dependent on him keeping this ship in good running order. Now you're out of luck." She sighed and thought again about sending a distress signal. Not yet. The Maru was still too damaged and she would be at the mercy of any enemy around. That would not be good.
Beka sighed again and went to bed for the night. If she was sleeping she could forget about how hungry she was. Plus the rest would be good for her. It would help her tackle more of the tedious repairs.
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The search was agonizing. System after system and there was no sign of Beka. No clue as to where she might be. "What if she's hurt, huh?" Harper was not in the best of moods. "What if we don't find her in time and she dies? What if we never find her?"
Rhade, as much as he liked Harper, felt like killing him at the moment. "We will find her. She will be fine when we do. She was not hurt or killed. She's a great pilot and very resourceful. No matter how long it takes we will find her. We're just not finding her as fast as you'd like. No matter. It won't take us as long as you think, though. Look at all the systems we've covered in just the short time we've been looking. Now, we're spiraling out farther from the combat zone. Sooner or later, we will find her. I'd stake my life on it. And I say to you again—we will find her. Anything else?"
"No, sir," Harper whispered softly. He wanted to believe the other man, but it was hard after he'd lost so many of the people that mattered to him.
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Beka got up to face yet another day of tedious repair work. How many had there been now? She'd lost track. They all blurred together.
On the plus side she was alive and in pretty good shape, even if her ship was not. So she got up, ate a little food; again, not nearly enough but the rationing must be kept up. Should she turn on the distress beacon today? Well, the ship was still far from being in ideal condition. On the other hand, she could navigate it. Beka was a pragmatist. She knew if she didn't get help soon her supplies would run out before she could complete repairs. She wasn't Harper, after all. So on it went. "I suppose I might as well turn it on. With any good luck it should bring help to me and not an enemy." So she crossed her fingers and turned it on.
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The search for her, in the meanwhile, was continuing. It was tedious and depressing because there was no sign of Beka anywhere. Everyone was trying not to be discouraged. Rev was praying a lot. Trance concentrated on her plants. And Harper and Rhade manned Command in sullen silence. Andromeda constantly kept a frequency open in the hopes of catching any kind of signal Beka might be sending off.
They were now in a really remote area of space. There wasn't much out here but they had to search because this might be where Beka was stranded. So the Andromeda searched and the two men paced as they had been doing for what seemed like forever, ever since this had started.
Then Andromeda's hologram popped up. "Sir, we're getting a distress signal. It's very weak and I can't identify the ship or pinpoint where exactly it's coming from. I can only get a general direction."
Harper was ecstatic. "It's Beka, isn't it? It has to be." He was quivering with excitement, and grinning for the first time since the search began.
Rhade nodded. "I would tend to agree. Andromeda, head in the general direction of the signal. We'll keep a look out. We will find her. I knew we would and I was right. We've found her." His voice held steady, but there was an air of satisfaction and relief that he didn't bother to try and hide.
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Beka felt like banging her head against the wall. It was taking too damn long. At this rate, she'd starve to death before this ship was even halfway to good flying shape. "Harper, where are you when I need you?" she growled to the empty space where her engineer should be.
As if in answer the COM link started beeping like crazy. Beka had just done a patch job on it because there were other things that had priority. She went over and tried to see if she could make out whom it was that was trying to communicate with her. "Is that you, Beka?" it squawked. Then there was a burst of static and the voice broke up. But she knew that voice. It was Harper. The Andromeda was near.
"Guys, it's me. I'm here. I'm just kind of stuck at the moment. Can you pick me up?" Beka had no idea how much, if any of that they'd heard. It didn't matter. The important thing was that they were coming. She checked out the view from the cockpit window, wondering if she'd see them soon. Sure enough, coming up on her port side was the big, beautiful ship itself, the Andromeda. It was the ship she had, until very recently called home. And it was coming for her. This meant she'd be on it soon and back with everyone. And back with all that that meant.