Rommie and Beka had just finished their daily session, and Rommie turned to leave when Beka suddenly called her back.

"Rommie?" she said in a small voice. The avatar turned around to face her.

"Yes Beka?" Beka swallowed, looking embarrassed.

"I was just wondering...um...has Dylan restricted my visitation rights? I only get to see you and Trance now and I don't think that's fair, I've been behaving perfectly and I'd really like to get to see Harper and..." Tears were forming in her eyes. Rommie rushed up to her.

"Shush, shush. Dylan hasn't restricted anything." She could see this wasn't the right thing to say. Beka looked even more distressed.

"But," she said, her lip trembling, "why hasn't he come to see me then?" Rommie bit her lip.

"I don't know Beka," she said. "Harper went away a couple of days ago. We're meeting him tomorrow though, so he'll probably come and see you then."

"A couple of days ago?" Beka cried, "But Rommie, I've been here for nearly a month and he hasn't come to see me!" Rommie didn't know what to do.

"I think he's a bit distressed," she soothed her. "He cares so much about you, you know. He just doesn't know what to do, and that's why he went away. To clear his mind, so he can help you." Beka seemed a bit calmer. "I'll see you tomorrow," Rommie said softly.

Inside a small, dark cell a form was huddling on the floor.

"I should have told them I was coming back today," Harper thought angrily. "Now they won't start looking for me until tomorrow. "Well," he tried to think optimistically, "at least they should be able to find me." The nietzcheans had left the slipfighter, only taking Harper. He guessed they knew he was involved with Dylan.

"Hopefully they'll find the slipfighter and manage to track me down," he thought. "Or maybe they'll contact Dylan anyway, demanding some form of ransom." He looked around him. He'd been there for a few hours now, but nobody had done anything to him. In fact, they'd provided him with food and water so they obviously didn't want to torture him or anything. Harper was very grateful for that. Still, he hated not knowing what was going on.

"They'll save me," he tried to convince himself, "they will."

"Strange," Dylan said, "why isn't he here?" Rommie popped up.

"Dylan!" Rommie called out. "I detect the slipfighter not far from here, but...Harper's not on it!" Dylan's head snapped around.

"What do you mean, he's not on it?!?" Rommie gave him an annoyed gaze.

"Exactly what I said," she stated calmly, "Harper isn't aboard the slipfighter." Dylan shook his head.

"Bring it aboard!"

Dylan and Rommie went into the hangar deck and found the slipfighter quite bashed up.

"It seems he was under attack," Rommie stated. Dylan went aboard and found quite a mess in there.

"Whoever did this, they took Harper with him," he mumbled. "But where?"

"Dylan, there's a recording here." She played it, and Harper showed up on the screen.

"Uh, I really hope you see this," he said, looking over his shoulder. "It's nietzcheans, they're coming for me and I'm not sure what they want. I'm giving you the codes for my dataport, please try to track me. Harper out."

"So, he's been kidnapped?" Rommie nodded.

"It would appear so. What are we going to do?" Dylan sighed.

"We can't risk a fight with the nietzcheans, they are crucial to the commonwealth." Rommie's eyes widened.

"What do you mean, are we just going to do nothing? Dylan, I'm a warship, I'll take them out and we'll save Harper!" Dylan raised his hand.

"The nietzcheans have taken him for a reason. We'll find them, and we'll try diplomacy to get him back. No fighting unless absolutely necessary, all right?" Rommie rolled her eyes.

"What do I tell Beka?" she said sharply. Dylan turned around with a surprised gaze. "She's been asking for him." Dylan sighed.

"Just tell her the truth. Harper's missing, but he will be back. Ok? He will."