Set after The Spider's Stratagem.

They all belong to Tribune. They can have them back, when I'm finished playing...

Friendly Fire

He sighed deeply.

Well, he had tried. Whatever was the matter with her, it wasn't his fault she had withdrawn from them, not his fault she didn't seem to find her place onboard the Andromeda anymore, not his fault she no longer fitted in. He had tried speaking to her, but she walked out on him. She refused to talk, gave no explanations and he... didn't press the issue, because... oh well, because.

On the long way from hangardeck 14, where he had said his good-byes to Rox, and back to his office, Dylan Hunt found his thoughts unpleasantly wandering off from the amusing pilot he had just spent a couple of most enjoyable hours with to some other, as of lately far less amusing pilot.

Maybe it was Rhade, maybe she had had a fight with Harper, maybe she had taken Trance's growing attachment to him as an insult, maybe...

Hell, what did he know? He wasn't a damned shrink. They all had their problems and they dealt with it. High time Captain Rebekkah Valentine started to do the same. Who the hell did she think she was, accusing him of not being grateful, saying that he made her feel no longer trusted. Of course she was trusted. He trusted her with his life, there was no one in the whole universe he trusted more. Especially after the way she had dealt with Tyr only weeks ago. Tyr... Was it Tyr? Damn'!

He shook his head.

So what if it was Tyr? Tyr was dead, gone, to hell presumably and for all he cared, the lying, treacherous, deceiving, arrogant, selfish Nietzschean bastard. If it was Tyr, he couldn't help her. Where Tyr was concerned, he couldn't even help himself.

„Yo, Boss!"

He sighed again, briefly closing his eyes, but did not slowing down his pace, pretending to not have heard.

„Hey, Dylan, wait!"

It was no use. He stopped and turned around, a fake docile smile adorning his lips in greeting.

„What's up, Mr. Harper?"

The engineer came as close as possible, but seemed a bit reluctant, now that he had his captain's undivided attention, to speak up his mind.

„Mr. Harper," Dylan's head came down very near to the young man's, „something you want to share with me?"

„Dylan, have you... Did you...? I mean... Beka... Dylan..." He didn't know what to say. The older man crossed his arms on his chest and looked at him with sympathy.

„Yes, I know, Mr. Harper. She's a bit difficult lately."

„No, that's not what I mean. She's in... Well, she's on Obs Deck. And she's been crying, Boss."

Dylan rolled his eyes.

„And I am supposed to do what exactly about it?" He wheezed a bit annoyed. „Look, Harper," he went on, „I tried. I really tried. I wanted to talk to her, ask her what happened with Rhade. She acted as if I had been issueing a sub-poena, blew off some steam about me not trusting her and took off in a rush."

„Well, did you follow her?" the engineer demanded to know, his tone so determined that it didn't even the occur the other man to refuse an answer.

„I was... hmm," Dylan forcefully cleared his throat, „I had some business to attend..."

„And now, that your 'business' has left, are you going to go look for her?" Harper interrupted.

„And have my head bitten off again? If you think I have an irrepressible death-wish, well - you couldn't be more wrong."

„Dylan, she's changed a lot ever since Tyr left. And now that he's dead..." the Earther stopped his explanations upon seeing his captain's grinding jaws.

„I know. She's changed. We all have," the Vedran pressed out, „but we manage. There is no reason for her to demand special treatment." There was a sharp intake of breath on Harper's side; surprised, Dylan found himself looking into a pair of eyes throwing daggers at him.

„Really, Captain?" came the quick reply, the engineer's tone cold and angry at the same time. „No reason? None at all?"

A pensive expression creeping into his gaze, the High Guard officer sharply mustered the small man's face.

„Okay, Mr. Harper," he finally gave in, „spit it out! Anything you know and I don't?"

„Just something I thought of. What if Beka really loved Tyr? Or told herself she loved him? Or even worse: told him and he demanded proof? And what if she delivered?"

There was a cautious look in Dylan's eyes by now.

„Let's go to my office," he then ordered curtly.

„But, Boss..."

„Harper, wait! Let's go." Without waiting for the other man to comply, Dylan sat himself in motion.

„Andromeda, engage privacy mode," he demanded as soon as they had entered his office. And no longer waiting to hear a confirmation: „Harper, are you seriously implying what I think you're implying?"

„What if I was?"

Dylan brushed his fingers through his hair in an exasperated gesture. He shook his head, sitting down heavily on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees, his eyes blindly fixing some imaginary point on the small table in front of him.

„Why?" he asked, finally lifting his gaze. „Why should she do this?"

Harper shrugged helplessly.

„I don't know. Maybe she really loved him. Or wanted to be loved?"

„By Tyr Anasazi out of Victoria by Barbarossa, of all people?" Dylan couldn't help from sputtering out the question, painfully aware of his ironic tone, yet unable to suppress it.

„By Tyr Anasazi, out of Victoria by Barbarossa," Harper nodded. „By Bobby Jenkins, valiant knight of all the Universe's futile causes and bad attitudes. By a fossile captain of a lost world. In short: by whomever, Dylan." The young man sounded bitter, accusing and a little sad.

Said fossile captain sat there, mouth agape, but then seemed to shake himself out of his stupor.

„Oh no, no, no, no,no!" he exclaimed, waving his hands in front of him in denial. „You're not going to lay this one too at my feet. You're not!" Jumping up to his feet, he started pacing the room with long, space consuming strides. „I told her not to go to him. I told her she won't find what she was looking for."

Harper's eyes narrowed briefly.

„You really told her straight?"

„Sort of..." the Vedran shrugged dismissively.

„Sort of? Dylan, 'sort of' doesn't work with Beka. You either tell her straight or she just won't listen and come up with her own conclusions. You must have noticed this by now."

„I am sick and tired of all the things I am supposed to notice about you people, Harper!" Dylan suddenly burst out, the grimace twisting his face almost immediately afterwards showing that regret followed impulse on the spot. „I... I'm sorry..." He rubbed a hand across his face. „I really had a talk with her, Harper. I did everything I could to not make her want to stay with him, short of ordering her to not sleep with him, of course, since..." His voice trailed off and ended in a sigh. „Since it, frankly, never occured to me that she might do something as stupid as that, regardless of how bad we needed to know about Tyr's plans," he then concluded.

Harper frowned, looking as disappointed as before.

„She did it for you, Dylan," he said, the reproach in his voice evident.

His hands placed against his back, the other man stretched uncomfortably.

„And how did you figure that out?" There was a sarcastic, yet also uneasy undertone in his question.

„I was there, remember?" the engineer asked in return. „I've seen her trying to get through to him, I've seen him not trusting her. She was running out of options if she wanted to see your plans come true."

Dylan stood still, regarding his engineer thoughtfully, a hand firmly placed over his mouth, the other trapped in his armpit, the very image of a man struggling hard to keep whatever biting remark was crossing his mind to himself.

„Why? Would he really have tried to keep her from returning?"

Harper shrugged.

„At the very least he wouldn't have given her the information needed. When you asked her to deliver Tyr to you... Didn't you know, didn't you expect that there would be a price to pay?" he inquired.

The captain's eyes closed wearily.

„Harper, do you seriously believe that - had I known - I would have asked of her to pay that price? Do you seriously believe that she thought I might ask for such a price?" His voice was raising with each word.

„I seriously believe that she'd go to any lengths to please you," the young man answered gravely.

„Please me?" An unpleasant laugh accompanied Dylan's words. „By turning herself into a hooker and me into a pimp?"

Harper's face reddened with anger.

„No," he answered, hissing furiously through his teeth. „By delivering whatever you ask for. The Commonwealth, the Andromeda, you - even Trance and me... We are like her children, Dylan, there's nothing she won't do, nothing she won't sacrifice for us. And Trance, me, even Rommie, we know that at least!"

The captain rolled his eyes, his gaze averted from Harper's face.

„Fine," he finally sighed in defeat. „Fine, I'll talk to her!"

-

He was standing in the middle of the Observation Deck. She couldn't see his face, but the wide-spread legs, the hands clasped on his back, the stiffness in his spine and squareness of his shoulders didn't bode well. She cleared her throat. When he didn't react, she knew that there was trouble ahead.

„Andromeda said you wanted to see me," Beka told him, coming to a halt by his side. Dylan continued to stare out to the stars in silence.

„Dylan?" There was no response other than some faint sounds, obviously connected with his grinding jaws. She laughed up, no humour in her voice. „If this is supposed to intimidate me..."

„Intimidate? You?" He slightly turned his head towards her, his eyes cold and sparkling with rage - which was a strange combination, when she thought about it. „Who am I to intimidate you?"

She sighed. Loudly.

„Look, Dylan, if this is still about what happened with Rhade..."

„Leave Rhade out of it!" he ordered in a thundering voice. Beka's eyes narrowed a little, contemplating him oddly.

„O-kay," she scanded. „Is it about our previous conversation? About what I told you?"

His hands on his hips, he slightly bowed down to her, invading her space.

„You, lady," he sharply hissed, „haven't told me anything!"

Their eyes locked and stayed locked, until finally Beka averted her gaze from his piercing, blazing gaze.

„What are you talking about?" she asked, walking away from him and finally turning around to face him, her back leaning against the rail in front of the window.

„Tyr!" Dylan spat out. „What did you do with Tyr?"

„I lured him into trusting me," she answered casually.

„How?"

„What does it matter how? What do you care anyway?"

It took him just a second to close in on her, towering over her. The light shining from outside the ship behind her penciled a golden line along her frame, making her appear like a sunny, a bit fragile negative of herself, as Dylan couldn't help noticing. The sight of her made him reconsider and withdraw a few steps.

„Beka," he issued in a strained voice, „is it true? Did you sleep..." He shook his head, swallowing down his anger. „Did you have to sleep with him in order to get his plans out of him?"

Crossing her arms on her chest, almost hugging herself, she looked at him defiantly, no longer avoiding his eyes. She didn't answer, but after a short while she threw her head back a little, her eyes not losing contact with his for a single instant.

„No big deal," she finally told him in an even voice. „It was quite pleasant. Nothing really, compared to the way Pish grilled me on your behalf.

Dylan's eyes widened. He almost staggered back a few steps, until his legs met with the broad bench and he sat down on it. He was still gazing at her, unbelieving, silently inquiring, asking for an explanation.

She complied, sighing.

„All this time I spent searching in vain... Running back and forth from one maddening story to another, between fake and missed dates with fate. Finally realizing that fate doesn't give a damn about me obviously not knowing how to play the game." Still not letting him out of her sight, she seemed to search for words. „I wanted to see just once how far I could take it, if I could play this through, to the very end..."

Dragging her feet, Beka approached the bench and sat down, too.

„All those travels, those adventures, all those routes we've taken... To just end up in yet another wrong place at the wrong time. I'm sure you can relate!" There was a cutting edge in her tone all of a sudden. „And yet I couldn't leave. I tried, but I couldn't... Maybe I'm too protective, maybe I'm too afraid," she said vaguely, gazing at his profile.

He turned his head towards her, taking in her face, one of his hands brushing away a strand of her hair that wasn't out of place to begin with, then dropping down again.

„Maybe you just looked too far away instead of letting yourself... be..." he hesitated, but then finished, „be loved?!"

„Loved? By whom?"

„By us." He sounded serious. And flinched almost at the contemptous smile she showed him in return.

„By you? You've grown long accustomed to be Harper's big bad brother, that he can call whenever the kids around the block don't want to play with him. You're Rhade's captain and he is your loyal officer. You're Trance's friend and she is now your good luck-charm. And you're Rommie's heart and she is your home. I don't really have a place with any of you anymore."

He opened his mouth to answer her, but no words came out. He didn't dare to ask the question on his mind: And you? What am I to you? Her eyes were dry, her face seemed almost frozen. She asked in his place.

„Am I anything for you?"

Again he tried to speak, again to no avail. She nodded slowly, understanding.

„I am tired, Dylan... Every time I try to come closer to you, you keep walking faster. Every time I try to make you listen to me, you start talking louder."

„I... I didn't notice you tried..." he stated helplessly. „I only noticed you were avoiding me."

Beka shook her head.

„I was. I am. I'd rather avoid you than see you avoiding me, you know. Are you not?"

Not you. Never you. I'm merely trying to avoid whatever other heavy blow there is ahead of us, he wanted to tell her, but he didn't.

„Beka," he tried instead, „I always found strength in you..."

„Yes," she admitted to him, „you found in me the strength you lacked. Funny that you always used it to get yourself to places where I couldn't follow, where I wasn't waiting, while you were yourself refusing to wait for me to catch up. You took too much, Dylan... To just push harder, to live another day, to win just one more battle. You took too much... From Rev, from Tyr, from me..."

„Tyr didn't leave because..."

„Tyr left because he felt that he was not receiving enough from you. Rev left because he believed to be of more use elsewhere. It didn't bother you. You never asked why, never wept a tear. And I..."

Dylan jumped to his feet and started pacing around, no longer listening to her. He couldn't let this go on. In a matter of moments she would start telling him why she now would leave them, leave him. This can't be happening, he thought. Leaning heavily on the rail in front of the window, he turned his back to her.

„I know," he heard her say, „your life since the Fall must seem to you sometimes like an enormous library filled with nothing but gothic novels. There is however one pretty picture-book among those horrors: us, the crew you have - me, Dylan! You just have to notice. I... had hoped I could bring Tyr back to you. I was wrong. I'm sorry."

She looked at him. She waited, asking herself again what she was waiting for. There really wasn't much left she could expect from him.

Leaning on his arms spread wide, his head bowed between his shoulders, he didn't turn around, didn't say anything first. And when he finally did after a long, long time, the deep voice sounded hollow, faint, almost a whisper.

„I walked faster, I talked louder, I tried to avoid you avoiding me, because I tried to drown all the regrets I have. I did weep, just not close by. I tried to hide my eyes from seeing what you saw, and I am sorry if I used your hands instead of mine to hide behind. I took, but I was also... I am giving back, Beka, at least I'm trying to, it's just that you don't seem to understand anymore what it is that I have to offer. And I too am tired of dreading you leaving me. Each time you played this game, I tried to learn from it, but it's a stupid game, and I really don't want to play it anymore. It's not worth it, Beka, nothing is worth that much. I might have won most battles, but if I really did all I could to drive you away..." He lifted his head, gazing out to the stars. „I'd hate to know that I have torn the last page from the only pretty picture-book I have. Maybe you're right and Harper is something like my kid brother, Trance my good luck-charm and Rommie my home. But you're my lifeline, Beka," Dylan concluded softly, slowly turning around, his eyes searching for hers.

In the silence behind him the vast room was almost dark - and empty.