The Captain of the Eureka Maru pulled herself into the Captain's seat with a sigh and began tapping away at the control panels. It was late and Beka had returned sometime ago to find Trance already aboard. Tyr, of course, said he would find a place to stay on his own and Harper had said he would save himself a few Throes and come back to the ship for the night.
It was getting really late and he had yet to return and he hadn't checked in either. Beka didn't want to stay up for much longer but she could never sleep when her engineer was out getting himself into who knows what kind of trouble.
"Any word on Harper?"
Beka glanced at Trance over her shoulder. "No. It's impressive how long he can pester women for."
Trance smiled loosely and moved to stand by Beka's side. "He'll be fine. If you want I'll wait up for him."
Beka returned the smile to her friend. "No it's alright. I want to be awake in case we need to break him out of prison."
Trance laughed. "Like that time on the Eupholian drift."
"Exactly." A beep sounded and Beka frowned. "Hang on," she tapped at the controls and a moment later Harper's cheery, grinning face appeared. "Speaking of the trouble maker." She said to Trance as she took a closer look at the screen. She could see there was a kind of glazed look to Harper's eyes and Beka knew that he'd had his fair share of drinks. "Harper, nice of you to check in."
"Hey Boss," he said. "Listen, don't wait up for me. The Harper, has scored."
Beka and Trance shared a look with that conveyed the dubious feelings they both had. "With a machine? An android? Or are you just making this up?" Beka finally asked.
"No! A woman. A full fleshed, human, hot woman. Smart woman too."
She raised her brows. She was not hearing this was she? Harper did not find a woman and more importantly; said woman did not reciprocate. Right? "Harper how much have you had to drink?"
Harper gave a dismissive laugh and scrunched his face up into feigned hurt. "You have no faith in the Harper. Do you?" Beka arched one brow and watched as her old friend raised his eyes looking over the communicator to something or someone off screen. She waited and watched as his eyes appeared to follow this mystery something, not having to wait long to find out what Harper was looking at. To her surprise a female, definitely human, face appeared on the screen as she whispered something in Harper's ears. Whatever it was, Beka did not want to know. Harper turned his eyes to this woman with a look that the Eureka Maru Captain knew all too well as the man wanting to trail after a woman with urgency. "What kind of tricks?"
Beka turned a half disgusted and half surprised look up at Trance who seemed to be staring back at the communications screen with a determined look of thought.
"Harper," Beka said, her tone suggested a warning.
The engineer snapped his head back to his communicator. "Err, Boss?" He flicked his eyes back up in the direction of the woman.
"Stay out of trouble Harper." She said in a stern voice that left no room for argument. "We'll see you in the morning."
"Sure thing," he said before he disappeared from the screen.
Silence descended on the small cargo ship and Beka let her eyes linger on the screen for a little longer wondering who in their right mind would want to willingly spend a night with Harper. She wondered how her friend had managed it and immediately began to wonder what kind of trouble this woman was going to bring with her. It was a commonality that seemed to follow Harper around, as every girl that he picked up always ended in some kind of trouble for him and sometimes the crew.
"Do you think we should be worried?" Trance asked.
Beka glanced up at her golden friend, still getting used to seeing a gold Trance instead of the purple girl she was used to, but Beka felt that in a lot of ways she was the same Trance she'd always known. "We'll be worried in the morning. Right now I'm going to get some sleep." She stood, starting to make her way to her bunk when she spotted Trance still staring at the black screen with her brows furrowed. "Should I be worried Trance?"
The golden girl lifted her eyes then and smiled. "No. We can be worried in the morning, like you said Beka. You should get some rest."
"Right," Beka said. "See you in the morning. If Harper calls and he's in trouble…"
"I'll let you know," the golden woman said with a smile before she slid into the pilot's seat.