Chapter 4: And it all Goes South
Act II:
We then clip to an exterior shot of the Maru as it exits slipstream into the lifeless Rasant System. Inside Beka puts the Maru on autopilot and walks over to Rommie, who is standing next to Rev at the back of the cockpit. Beka has Rommie go and wait in the crew quarters, she then locks the door. Harper is unhappy about Beka's attitude towards Rommie and a fight breaks out. Harper thinks that Rommie is trustworthy but Beka disagrees, she reminds Harper that he says that about every pretty girl he meets, at-least until they try to kill him. Beka then chastises Harper for all the times she had to save him.
Harper points out the fact that because of his engineering skills, the Maru is still functional. Beka retaliates by blaming Harper for their engine trouble, even though the police caused the critical reaction, Beka claims that Harper's 'mucking about' with the engines made it worse. She tells him that it would have been easier to shut the engines off and land, instead of trying to save them. "You screwed up and it cost us, Big Time!" scolds Beka.
"Come on Boss, it's only happened this one time," wines Harper.
"You mean the engine going critical, yeah that's only happened once," says Beka sarcastically," but you have gotten me in trouble on many occasions. In fact, I'm willing to bet that I'm not the only one to pay for your mistakes. Come on, who else's lives have you ruined? Your friends? Your cousins? Your –"
"Parents," says Harper coldly, cutting Beka off. He then turns and walks off to the engine room, leaving Beka standing in the hallway feeling guilty about mentioning his dead family.
Inside the crew quarters, Rommie is sitting on one of the beds. Rev opens the door and walks in. He knows she heard the argument and they discuss how unusual it was. Rommie has known Harper and Beka longer then Rev (at this point in his life) and although they sometimes fight, she has never heard them fight like that. Rev thinks it is because of Rommie, he says that Beka is under a lot of stress because of the news Rommie brought from the future.
As he leaves, Rev asks Rommie about Harper's parents. He tells her about how Harper never talks about them. Rommie informs Rev about how the Nietzscheans wanted to take Harper to their slave camps when he was young. She tells Rev about how Harper's parents refused to surrender their only child, and were killed for their disobedience. Rev thinks for a moment and decides that Harper isn't really to blame for his parents' deaths, and that he would know this, unless there was something else to the story, that neither Rev, nor Rommie know about.
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We then clip to the outside of the Maru, it is floating peacefully in the middle of nowhere, as Harper works on its engines. Inside Harper is busy welding something when Trance walks into the engine room. She asks Harper if he will be done soon and when he tells her no, she runs out. Trance is very worried as she enters the cockpit. She asks Beka to make Harper stop making repairs so they could get out of the Rasant System. Beka asks Trance why and she says that trouble's coming.
Suddenly the Maru's sensors pick up a fleet of Magog Swarm Ships exiting slipstream. Beka orders Harper to restore power to the engines and they fly off to the nearest slipstream point. Harper has managed to get the starboard engine to work but the funnel is still shot and the engine can only spew out the fiery, raw plasma (instead of invisible plasma being shot out of the engines at light-speed). The Magog quickly overcomes the crippled ship; their Swarm Ships fly around as Beka swerves the Maru every which way to try and prevent them from latching onto the hull.
On board the crew hold on tightly as the Maru's Artificial-Gravity fields give way to the G-forces created by Beka's flying. Rommie calls the cockpit demanding to know what's going on. Beka tells her about the Magog but insists that she can handle them on her own. Rommie tries to call the Andromeda anyway but Beka stubbornly blocks the signal.
We then clip to an external view of the Maru as the starboard engine spits out a particularly large fireball. The Magog notice the malfunctioning engine and one of the Swarm Ships manages to clamp onto the side of the engine. It pulls back and then jams its nose into the engine, which promptly explodes. The Maru is sent spiraling out of control as the cargo pod vents oxygen from a hole blasted open from the explosion.
In the engine room fires burn as Harper assesses the damage. He informs Beka that the starboard engine is totally gone and the other two engines are both damaged beyond repair. Harper then shuts off main power to prevent the remaining reactors from blowing. He is then forced to run out of the engine room as one of the fires eats its way through the wall, exposing the room to the vacuum of space. With main power out, Beka can't jam Rommie's tesseract-radio and she is able to call Andromeda for help.
The Andromeda arrives quickly and is bombarded with a frantic SOS from the Maru. On the center screen of Andromeda's bridge they see Maru slowly spinning helplessly in space, it is missing engines, leaking air and has multiple Magog Swarm Ships latched to its hull like giant mosquitoes. "My poor ship," gasps Future Beka. The Andromeda hails the Maru and Past Beka and Rev are shocked by the fact that Harper is the Andromeda's Captain. They don't have much time to chat as Purple Trance runs into the Maru's cockpit, pursued by two Magog.
Past Beka shoots the Magog and Past Harper calls in from outside the engine room where he is cornered by Magog. Beka closes the cockpit door to keep the Magog out and tells Past Harper that she, Rev nor Trance can leave the cockpit without being eaten alive by Magog. Captain Harper suggests that Beka let Rommie help. Beka calls Rommie with the com. but she has already wrenched open the door to the crew-quarters and starts fighting the swarming Magog in hand-to-hand combat.
As Andromeda crosses the system to get to the Maru, a Nietzschean Ship flies out from behind Rassant's sun. On board the Nietzschean ship Dr. Mastiff's Nietzschean Captain is in command. Captain Harper threatens to destroy the Nietzscheans if they didn't leave the system, but the Captain ignores him saying the Andromeda can't stop him from doing as the Abyss commands. The Captain then flies his ship between the Andromeda and the Maru.
Future Beka decides to pick up the (past) Maru Crew with her Future Maru. Since she is the Matriarch of the Nietzscheans (to be explained later) she has been getting almost anything she wants from 'her people', including the latest and greatest technology for the Maru. As a result the Maru is faster then Andromeda but the warship is still more powerful.
Meanwhile on the Past Maru, Rommie retrieves her two Force-Lances from the bar (where the Maru Crew had been keeping them) and shoots the Magog surrounding Past Harper. The two then run up to the cockpit, shooting Magog as they go.
As Future Beka on her Maru dart past the Nietzscheans, Andromeda open-fires. But to everyone's shock, the kinetic missiles explode harmlessly on the shields. Gold Trance tells Captain Harper that the Abyss has given these particular Nietzscheans many new and powerful pieces of technology including shields and weapons. Harper acknowledges this but continues to attack, he knows that Nietzscheans love to dominate others and never pass up the opportunity to feel big and strong. So his futile attempts to penetrate their shields will hold their attention, if only so they can laugh at Andromeda's shortcomings.
Captain Harper's plan worked; the Nietzscheans pay no attention to the two little salvage ships as Future Beka approaches the Past Maru on her considerably less-scruffy, newly-painted (black and silver) Future Maru. She blasts away the Magog ships attached to the Past Maru's hull using her Point Defense Lasers (PDLs) and uses the bucky-cables to grab the ship. She then starts hauling it away from the Nietzscheans. The Nietzschean Captain eventually notices the Marus' retreat but they are to far away to catch. In the meantime, Andromeda passes the Neitzscheans and follows the Marus towards a far-off slipstream point. The Nietzschean Captain is furious that he will not be able to bring the Abyss the Maru Crew, but he refuses to let the weapon fall into the future crew's hands.
The Nietzschean Captain brings his ship to a stop and cuts his engines; he then starts charging a massive radiation-firing cannon (the Prototype Magog Weapon). He plans to shoot both Marus and reclaim the weapon once their crews are dead. Andromeda senses the power build-up and Gold Trance tells Captain Harper that it is the deadly prototype of the Magog weapon. Harper knows that if the Nietzscheans hit the two Marus then his past self, Rev and both Bekas will die, and their absence from the universe will lead to more deaths and the Abyss's eventual takeover of the Known Worlds.
Captain Harper turns the Andromeda around and flies towards the Nietzscheans as fast as the ship could fly. Future Beka demands to know what he is doing and Harper explains that he is the only entity on Andromeda that will be affected by the Magog weapon and that the Maru Crew has essential roles to play in the near future. Captain Harper tells Beka that he has already done his part and is therefore expendable, he then closes the com. link.
Gold Trance knows that Captain Harper is doing the right thing by sacrificing himself, but she is not happy about it. Andromeda has nearly reached the Nietzscheans and prepares to brake, but Captain Harper tells her to continue flying at ramming speed. Although the shields can stand up against Andromeda's weapons, they probably can't stop a giant warship flying at break-neck speeds.
On the Past Maru, Rommie, Harper and Beka have finished off the last of the Magog and everyone stands around the cockpit watching the Andromeda with their rear-view camera (Future Beka is still flying the two Marus to the nearest slip point).
Suddenly the Prototype Weapon fires and Andromeda is hit with a shimmering blue beam. Blue light floods the bridge and generates blue sparks that penetrate everything except Gold Trance, who is glowing golden-yellow. Captain Harper is surprised that he is not dead nor in any pain, but he doesn't have a lot of time to think about it as Andromeda smashes into the Nietzschean ship. The shields crumble and the Nietzschean ship explodes as Andromeda collides with its hull. When Andromeda emerges from the burning gasses her skin is charred and scraped. Her bow sports huge holes and pieces of shrapnel lie implanted in her hull as her own skin peels off in large, jagged hunks.
After witnessing this on her monitors, Future Beka turns her Maru around and flies towards Andromeda (with the Past Maru in tow) asking about the damage. Andromeda responds to Beka and tells her that her shields and many of her weapons have been damaged by the collision. Future Beka demands to talk to Captain Harper and Andromeda informs her that there was an explosion on the bridge, Harper was injured, and is unconscious on Med. Deck. Andromeda also tells Future Beka that the effects of the Magog Weapon on Captain Harper are still unknown.
Andromeda terminates the link and Past Beka hails her future self. The Maru Crew (and Rommie) were listening to the conversation and are concerned about Harper and the Magog Weapon. Future Beka says that Harper has managed to survive everything the universe has thrown at him so far, she acts confident that Harper will live through this too. Future Beka closes the com. link and her expression becomes grim as she steers the two Marus into one of the hangar bays, worrying that Captain Harper won't be able to pull through this time.