Chapter 4

They uneasily waited for Harper to arrive, Dylan shut up in an exhausted silence, while Beka's face just reflected quite some confusion about the things she'd heard. Both breathed out in relief when the doors finally opened. Dylan however couldn't help suppressing a troubled little groan, when presented with the hard evidence of the truth Beka had told him about Harper's emotional state.

A hesitant and very nervous young man suspiciously watched him from the corridor outside the office, the look in the engineer's eyes more insecure and shy than Dylan could recall to ever have noticed. And there had been plenty of times, when Harper had appeared both shy and insecure to him.

„Mr Harper, please do come in," Dylan offered, standing up and invitingly waving the young man over to one of the seats in front of his desk.

The unexpected friendliness in the captain's both tone and manner seemed to do nothing to put Harper's fears to rest. He slowly marched into the room, throwing glances all over the place, as if expecting crowds of Magog to come closing in on him. But he seemed to relax a little after recognizing Beka in the slender figure leaning against the wall left to the doors. He carefully sat himself down on the edge of the chair Dylan had been indicating and eyed the captain with an inquisitive look.

„Mr Harper, as Captain Valentine explained to me, some misunderstanding seems to have occured between us during the talk we had prior to this one," Dylan awkwardly began. Great, he thought, now I start sounding like Tyr. Harper's reaction to this opening proved his impression to be accurate: the engineer's eyes widened and he threw Beka a quizzical look. To which the pilot responded only by a roll of her eyes and an annoyed shrug. Oh boy, she thought exasperated, what is wrong with this guy? I thought, I told him to just speak to Seamus in a normal, human, friendly, understandable way. For someone who thinks he can save the universe singlehandedly, surely this shouldn't be too difficult a task.

„Now, boss, look..." the young man hurriedly began to answer, but found himself brusquely interrupted by Dylan.

„No, Harper, don't. You seem to have gotten the impression... that someday, displeased by your action, I might feel compelled to dump you in some godforsaken place of the universe." And on we go, thought Beka with a frown. A quick glance at her showed Dylan a highly displeased XO, staring angrily at him with confused, icy eyes.He went on hurriedly. "Well, you are wrong. No matter, what you might or might not do in the future, the Andromeda is your home, and she will remain so until you say otherwise. You can stay, you can go, you can come back, then leave again, you may do exactly as you want. As your friend, I will oblige to it, whatever your decision might be." He sighed deeply, with Harper sighing along with him, as Beka – in spite of the tensed atmosphere in the room – observed with some amusement.

„Why, thank you, Dylan..." Harper tried again, with Dylan once more interrupting him after his first stammered words.

„However, Mr Harper, you are not only my friend, but also the Andromeda Ascendant's chief engineer, and it was this status of yours I was referring to earlier on. We're all just human, and so we all are bound to make mistakes. This is one of the mightiest ships ever built, and the mistakes made by this ship's staff in general – and her senior officers in particular tend to have serious repercussions. Like people getting hurt, getting killed. Lots and lots of people, Mr Harper. One error of judgement can be sufficient to put not only ours but thousands of lives in jeopardy, probably more."

„Dylan, I know..."

„No, Harper, you don't know. I do." Dylan Hunt's voice suddently went flat, his eyes bleak. „The greatest civilization ever built once fell because the captain of the Andromeda Ascendant allowed himself just one mistake. It proved to be one mistake too many. At Hephaistos, it was my decision to not deploy the novas against the Nietzschean fleet, and the outcome of the matter proved me wrong. I will have to live with it for the rest of my days. It might seem like a small enough price to pay for the guy who made three galaxies live – and die – by his... errors, but I can assure you that sometimes it turns out to be a rather heavy cross to bear. Heavy enough in fact, to not wish on the shoulders of my worst enemy, let alone on those of a friend." Dylan Hunt wearily stood up and walked around his desk. Looking down on Harper, he lightly patted the young man on the back. „I firmly intend to do everything in my power to see to it that neither one of you," his eyes turned to Beka, who had not moved, hardly breathed throughout his speech, „will ever have to face living with a similar burden. So please, Harper, do your best to not make this endeavour of mine any more difficult than it already is," he concluded. A small smile lurked in a corner of his mouth, as Dylan came to realise that, in spite of his efforts, he had ended his say the same way he had started it: sounding like Tyr Anasazi. His hand gave Harper's shoulder a last squeeze, before he straightened himself up again.

„A good day to you, Mr Harper. Beka, I'll be in my quarters, if needed. You have command." With that, Dylan Hunt walked out of the captain's office and took a right turn heading for his private quarters.

Tbc