I had to get this chapter out. Its not much, but at least its a chapter. Next chapter will be longer, and much MUCH better. PROMISE!
Like I have been saying for the last seven or so chapters, I don't own Andromeda. Lets not rub it in.
.Chapter Eight.
"Why are we here." Ron said, more then asked, has he sat down at a long, dark table. Rommie gave him a pointed look at his sharp tone. "Miss Andromeda." he nodded his acknowledgment, pretending to misjudge her glare.
"We are here because I have found something important." she said, although her tone wasn't as sharp as her expression. A solider, commander of the group assigned to patrol the South Sector, put up his hand.
"My I give Alnar a quick briefing while we wait for Commander Rhade and Captain Hunt?"
"Of course."
"Sir," he said, "Miss Andromeda has done an experiment, and found some useful information about our enemies. She wishes to tell us, as well as some scenario options and plans." he smiled. "Its amazing how she can figure these things out sir."
"I'm sure it is." Ron said, looking susspiously at her. How was it that they got onto the planet and survived? How was their ship so advanced? How could she do these experiments and be absolutely positive they were right?
"Hello." Dylan said as he walked in with Rhade, both men taking their seats.
"Well, now that everyone's here, we can begin." Rommie said. She stood up and pointed to a window on the other side of the table. There was a room behind it, with all of its lights off. "That is the problem." With that sentence, the lights flicked on in the room, showing the captured hybrid attached by metal binds to a steel table.
"Beka," Trance said as she walked onto command with Alexander behind her, his eyes wide in awe. "Andromeda's found a way to get around the lazars."
"Good." she said. "This guy wouldn't tell me anything." Beka sent a quick glare over to the man before stepping up to her post. "Let's see what you have."
Andromeda brought up to the visual of the planet before them on the main screen. "As we know, the planet has point defense lazars that concentrate on blinding the ships navigation and piloting controls." Everyone on the deck nodded. "Well, the planet is the drifts main supply for fossil fuels, which they use in almost everything they make. This means, there must be a simple way of getting on and off the planet without the possibility of crash landing."
She quickly brought up a shot of a small cargo ship, no larger then the Maru.
"This is what the drift uses. It's simple and efficient. Its mass is no larger the Maru's, with the same layout to its cargo bay. It's common in these systems to have a larger cargo bay then anything else in the ship aside from the engines, and this is no different. But this is what I find surprising." The ship disappeared off the screen, and re-appeared smaller, shooting out from the drift towards the planet. Though as it got closer, and entered the atmosphere, it did not seem to be dragged into the planet, nor did it seem to lose all power. "I saw this an hour ago." Andromeda said. "The ship resurfaced and went back to the drift without a scratch or any turbulence. The wall had no effect on it."
"Do you know anything about this Alexander?" Trace asked gently. He had stood there the entire time watching and listing to Andromeda's explanation and hadn't said a word. From what she had heard from the AI earlier, the man had a tendency to yell and she didn't want him to yell for being asked a simple question which she knew Beka was going to ask sooner or later.
"Why would you ask me?" he said, looking her in the eye. "I'm just the scum of this system, along with the rest of my crew." he turned towards Beka. "I want off of your little ship. Now."
"Little?" Andromeda said, sounding slightly insulted at the word.
"Yes, little." he said again. "Now let me and my crew go."
"Sorry." Beka said, though she sounded far from any form of sympathy. "We still need to talk."
"What you are looking at now is not human," Rommie said, getting snorts from some of the more arrogant people at the table, "nor is it an animal. It's a cross-breed between to races of ruthless, cunning, and very nasty aliens. This is what's been killing off your planet." she stood up from her seat and began to walk to the window.
"Its half Magog, half Kalderan. Both are something you would never want to see coming at you. Especially you since your planet, your city, seem to be at lack of standard weapons, let alone armor. They know this. They're using you for practice."
"And you would know this, how?" Ron asked. He seemed to be more and more tense around them more often then not.
"Because I've crossed paths with them more times then I'm pleased to count. And countless times I've wished I could forget. Unfortunately, I cant. Its a good thing for you, because I possibly know what they'll do in certain situations." she stopped, for him to ask another question, but he didn't. "They're trained and seriously advanced. They could smell you from sixty kilometers away, and hear you from fifty. They weigh almost three hundred pounds, but move without any noise. On foot or in trees."
"That's not possible." Raki said. He had been quiet the whole time, listening and calculating all the information he was begin told, but still couldn't come to believe it.
Rommie smiled gently. "Sorry, but it is. Its what I was doing last night. I jumped on the tree branch lightly and the end swayed slightly, even more so as I moved more towards the end. When you jump from tree to tree you gain much more momentum then a little controlled hop."
"Point being?" asked a man who had had his eyes closed throughout the whole meeting.
"They can control their weight at will. As well as their appearance." This time, a challenging comment came from Dylan.
"Define that last sentence."
She quickly put her hands behind her back on impulse. "In order to stay out of enemy sights, they're able to go from visible, to invisible, making them completely undetectable." Everyone looked up at her. Some, like Raki, Dylan and Rhade believed her. Around thirty percent of the people in the room. The others seemed to look her up and down, trying to believe her, but not completely buying it.
"Prove it."
"Yea, prove it."
"She wont be able to."
"She's only a scrawny little girl!"
"Enough." Ron said, silencing the string of comments that had come out of the soldiers around him that didn't believe her. "Well Miss Andromeda." he drawled. "Prove it."
"This is the second time I've had to come and sit here with you Alexander." Beka said as she sat down at the other side of the table from where Alexander had sat himself a few moments prior. "I trust you know what I want."
Alexander snorted and looked away, crossing his arms. "Yea, I do. And guess what," He growled, "I don't give a fuck."
Beka smiled. "Of course you don't. They never do." she laughed a little bit. "But you see, as acting captain of this ship, Andromeda will do anything I tell her, no questions asked."
"Your point?"
"Andromeda, introduce yourself."
Alexander quickly jumped up from his chair involuntarily. Andromeda had altered the gravity where he sat, making him float in mid air.
"Let me down!" he cried. Beka watched as he tried to grab onto the table, only to have him float higher until he was against the ceiling of the room. "Let me down now!"
"I need that information." Beka said grimly, making a pouting face up at him, though she wanted to laugh until she couldn't breathe. "And I'm going to need that information sooner. My friends are down there on that planet and I want to get them back as soon as possible. So, are you prepared to compromise?"
"Let me down now!"
"Information."
"Now!"
"Information."
"No! Now!"
"Information."
"No! Now!"
Beka sighed. If this went on for any longer, she'd get a headache. "Andromeda, let him down." she said, and before she knew it was looking at Alexander as he twitched slightly on the floor. As he slowly picked himself up, she took a deep breath.
"Listen, all I want you to do is answer some questions, and then you'll be right on your way. We haven't hurt you, and I haven't thrown you in a cell and tortured you which I'm quickly starting to regret."
"Kiss my ass."
"I'll let you go if you tell me how to get down there!"
"We have a code the system works by. I will not betray it!"
"You wont be! Just tell me and I'll get my friends, and you'll never see this ship in this system for the rest of your life."
Alexander looked at her for a moment. He looked as if he was about to tell her, but she was proven wrong by his next word.
"No."
.End Chapter Eight.
Reviews
Oenone -
Yeah, Rhade is starting to sulk a little more. I noticed it. And I had to ad in the banter, though wouldn't put in any other punctuation outside of periods... it was weird. And thanks for your comments. I love long reviews. Feel free to take that as a hint! Thanks for the review!
prin69 -
Whoa, chill dude. You did review. I think yours was the first one I replied to. Look it over, and please don't feel guilty! And yes, I made Rhade a badass motorcycle hottie. You cant help but love those guys. lol. Thanks for the review!
Jade Rhade -
command deck: rommie: 'there's a car in my corridors.'
I am now waiting for that story! I would love to read it! Get your ass in gear and write it for me! Then Ill be giving you reviews! Oh, and thanks for sticking with my story. I love your reviews! (You'll review this time too, right?)
Awohali -
Really? Its awesome? AWESOME! lol. Thanks for the review!
I would like to thank all my reviewers. You people make me write... When I don't have homework... Even when I do... Thanks!
