"Harper's been kidnapped?" Beka said with a look of disbelief on her face. Rommie sat down.

"Yes, but don't worry. We'll find him. After all, they didn't take anything apart from him, they're obviously holding him hostage to get something out of Dylan." Beka looked up at her.

"So, are we going after them, attacking them." Rommie hesitated.

"Dylan wants to negotiate."

"Negotiate?!?" Beka spat out, "you don't negotiate with kidnappers!" Rommie tried to look calm.

"Beka, it'll be ok. We'll get him back. Now, we need to get on with the counselling session." Beka was standing up now, agitatedly pacing the room.

"Like hell we are," she cried, "I can't think of myself now Harper's missing." She looked at Rommie desperately. "You have to let me come out and help," she pleaded. Rommie sighed.

"Beka, I can't do that," she said, "but I'm sure we can sort this out." She shook her head.

"No," she said, "you don't understand. He could be tortured, he could be killed! I have to come and help!" Rommie sat her back down.

"No Beka," she said in a calm voice, "you have to stay here. Harper will be fine, we're more than capable of saving him. Dylan will talk to them." Beka jumped back up.

"How can you expect me to just sit here when Harper's in danger? I'm not going to do anything now, am I? I have to help Harper!" Rommie nodded.

"I know Beka," she said. "I know. We're all worried."

"This is ridiculous," Dylan said, "what do you mean you won't negotiate?" The nietzchean leader grinned at him.

"I don't want anything from you," he said. "I want this to serve as an example. We're not going to give him back to you. It'll teach you not to underestimate the Nietzcheans. The viewscreen went blank and Dylan sank back in his chair.

"What do we do?" Rommie asked. Dylan shrugged.

"They must want something, they just want to keep us in suspense. We can't start shooting at them, Harper is probably aboard the ship." Rommie sighed.

"So you suggest we just wait?"

"I think that's the only thing we can do."

Beka was pacing the room again. Trance had been keeping her updated, and apparently the Nietzcheans had no intention of returning Harper. Of course Dylan wasn't going to do anything about it. She sat down, nervously biting her knuckle rings. Harper was like the brother Rafe never was, and even though he hadn't come to visit her, he meant a lot to her. She couldn't possibly just sit there while he was trapped on that Nietzchean ship. She looked over at Trance. The purple girl was deeply involved in one of her plants, oblivious to the world around her. Beka looked around her. Perfect! There was a table not far from her with medical instruments, one of them a sedative. At first Trance had been very careful with medical equipment around Beka, but she'd been on good behaviour lately.

"Not anymore though I'm afraid," she whispered as she sneaked up behind Trance, injecting the sedative in her neck. Trance immediately fell to the floor. "I'm sorry Trance," she said, going up to the door, attempting to override it, "but if you want something done, you have to do it yourself."

"Dylan," Rommie's AI popped up on the viewscreen, "there's an unauthorised launch of the Maru." Dylan stood up.

"Who?" Rommie hesitated.

"It's Beka."