The *Andromeda's* astrogation room was about the size of the Command Center, with its own wall-screens at one end, and a holoprojection table in the middle that the ship's complement had gathered around. Bill Beckett tabbed some controls and a hologram appeared above the table depicting a potatoe-shaped asteroid with a cluster of domes at one end.
"The Wayist Monastery on asteroid Tau Theta 3 in the Alpha Centauri A solar system," Bill said, "the oldest Monastery in the Known Worlds."
"No!" Rev said. "The retreat on Sutter's World is older by 75 years -"
"Sutter's retreat wasn't founded by a bunch of cloak-and-dagger type Vedrans who'd been converted by the Anointed himself," Bill said. "And you know what the Anointed was doing there? Answering an invite by Da'an himself."
"But it's only four light years from Earth -" Harper protested.
"'Zactly," Bill said. "No one would think the Vedrans would be dumb enough to stash their greatest prize at the next star over from where they'd found it, so they hid it there, where no one would look. And it worked."
"So the asteroid is where the Shadow Cavalry hid the Mother Ship," Dylan said, a bit skeptical.
"Well, look for your yourself." Beckett tabbed more controls, and a schematic of the Taelon Mother Ship appeared next to the asteroid. Although about the same size as the *Andromeda,* the Mother Ship looked like it could have fit inside the rock with room to spare. "And before you say it, no, there's no hatch, but with Taelon Interdimensional Drive, you don't need one."
"This is foolishness!" Tyr thundered. "Why do we not have that technology?"
"Notoriously difficult to reverse engineer," Bill said. "In fact, almost impossible, especially with a live Taelon around to look innocent. Lucky us."
"But if the Vedrans are all dead," Trance said, "who kept the secret?"
"The Monastery inner circle," Bill answered. "Unless you're the abbot, his successor, or one or two others, you're not told - period." He smiled. "Nothing to stop a bored novice from sneaking around the wrong caves, though. AND nothing like having a cranky Taelon swear you to secrecy. Might have had an accident otherwise."
"So," Dylan said, "we take you to the Monastery and... what?"
"I can get us aboard," Bill said. "Don't worry. And we will find their medical database and transfer it to this ship. And then we have to destroy the Mother Ship."
"Excuse me?" Dylan asked.
"The Red Lady's workin' for the Nissari!" Bill said. "That means two things. One - Ronald Sandoval is finally dying... "
"Sandoval!?" Tyr said. "The human who betrayed his people to their conquerors? Alive after three thousand years?"
"Aye, courtesy of the Taelon biotech you guys want. When the Vedrans guarding him on Nissar Alpha died off, he wheedled his way into the human colony's power structure. Never you mind which little Hitler-wanna-be is in charge this week; Sandoval is the *real* power there. And if he's started aging, you can bet he wants the Mother Ship."
"And that would be 'two'?" Dylan said.
"No, Cap'n," Bill said. "'Two' would be that he's worked out what the Taelon Mother Ships is really for. Call it one of those cross-cultural misunderstandings. We heard 'mother ship' and thought it was primarily designed to be like the *Andromeda,* a big ship that acts as 'mother' to a flotilla of little ships. But the Taelons meant 'mother' as in their birth mother. They'd lost the ability to reproduce on their own, so that ship became a flying test-tube-Taelon factory."
"But how did they handle the genetic degradation?" Rev asked.
"My point exactly," Tyr said.
"They didn't," Bill said. "Da'an and the other companions, their seed was too thin to bring about another generation. That's why they were the last of their kind. But they left a lovely legacy - the Taelon Bioreactor, which can work with *anything* alive. Now, imagine if the Atavus had found that?"
"Uuuuuuhhhhhhrrrrrr," Harper shuddered.
"My point exactly," Bill said, "and Sandoval's not as thick as the Atavi were. And he probably also knows that after three thousand years, his body and the biotech have integrated at a molecular and genetic level - now one being with one genetic code. He steps in the bioreactor, you don't get a recharged Sandoval. You get a recharged Sandoval AND a whole new species just like him. Good news is, you'll have a very powerful ally against the Magog; bad news is, you'll trade the dinner table for chains.
"So the Mother Ship has to go, Captain. No question about it. Alternative is, Sandoval gets it, and if he gets it, we get a new long night for as long as he and his 'kiddies' are around - maybe forever. Not appealing, is it?"
"No," Dylan said. "So we have no choice. We recover the Mother Ship's data and destroy the ship. All right, let's - "
"Dylan," Beka said. "Can I have a word with you and Rommie?"
Dylan nodded; the others filed out.
"What is it?" Dylan said.
"I know we don't always see eye-to-eye," Beka said, "but in this case, you have to play things *my* way."
"Why?"
"Because I know this gig as well as you know strategy and 'Crazy Igor' maneuvers. Don't know what interstellar salvage was like in the Commonwealth, but these days, it's a cutthroat business - literally. And Lizzie isn't called 'The Red Lady' because she likes the color. You really gotta listen to me this time, Dylan."
"All right. Shall we... ?"
"Actually," Rommie said, "I'd like to have a word with Beka in private. It's personal."
Dylan looked between his first officer and his ship's avatar, smiled, and left.
"What is it, Rommie?"
"Actually, um... Well, Beka, I was monitoring Harper when we met Captain Loveless, and he seemed to have two conflicting emotional responses. Obviously, he doesn't like her any more than you do, but I felt something... else, and without betraying an confidences, I was wondering if you could - "
"Yes."
"'Yes' what?"
"Yes, Harper and Lizzie slept together. That 'yes.'"
"Oh. I see."
"Not quite. It was more of a one night - actually a one WEEK - stand, and she was hoping to get some info out of him on some jobs I had lined up, so she could swipe them. It worked, and obviously, their relationship didn't last much beyond Harper and me figuring that out."
"Um, yes, good. It's just that - "
"Let me guess," Beka said. "As annoying as Harper's infatuation with you can be some times, you're... bothered?... by the idea that it's because you look like somebody else?"
"Something like that."
"Don't worry about it, Rommie. Harper's known you long enough to know you're not Lizzie. In fact, I think you're better. She didn't care about him, but you do, and I can't think of anyone else besides Trance I would trust to look after him if something happened to me."
"Thanks, Beka. That means a lot to me."
Beka smiled and clapped the android on the shoulder. "C'Mon, we have a lot to do. Like the big man likes to say, 'Let's bring it.'"
/
/
When the *Andromeda* arrived within communications range of the Tau Theta 3 Monastery, Bill insisted on being the one to talk to ground control. "It'll be all right," he said.
After getting clearance for the mighty cruiser to dock, Bill added, "... and one more thing. Please convey the following message to the abbot: 'Prodigal William has returned.' It's very important you do it now."
"I will." The monk they'd been speaking to vanished from the screen.
Bill found himself the center of attention on the *Andrormeda's* bridge.
"A code phrase?" Beka asked.
"I was under the impression you left the Monastery under a cloud," Tyr said.
"Let's just say I sewed a silver lining into the cloud in case I needed it," Bill said. "Don't worry; I'm on your side. I *will* help you."
The ground control monk returned to the big screen; he looked a bit pale. "Sir, I have relayed your message to the abbot. He welcomes you home and will see you and your party at your convenience."
"Thank you, Ground Control," Bill said. "*Andromeda Ascendant* out." The poor monk vanished for good this time. "Halfway there, friends."
"Yeah," Beka said, programming docking vectors into the flight controls. Dylan looked at Bill for a moment, then turned back to his own control panels... but his thoughts were elsewhere.
/
/
"How do you think we should play this, Beka?" Dylan asked after the *Andromeda* had docked with the Monastery.
"Bill's going, obviously," Beka said. "I'll take Rev, Rommie, and Tyr with us."
The crew's heavy hitters. "You're expecting trouble?" Dylan asked.
"When Lizzie's around, always, and I really want to have The Man with Twelve Plans watching my back."
/
/
Except for the fact that it had been built on an asteroid (and when they were inside, Rommie remarked that yes, parts of the place were laid out like an old Vedran garrison, so that leant some credence to Bill's story) and protected from the vacuum of space by high domes, the Monastery was indistinguishable from the others Beka had visited, and even had an "outdoorsy" feel to its main areas. Bill lead them across the main courtyard - nothing between their heads and the dome, surrounded by a cloister and low buildings - then stopped before a simple wooden door with a sign, "Father Abbot" on it.
"You will all have to wait here," Bill said.
"Excuse me?" Beka said. "I don't remember that being in the plan. And if you keep this up, you'll make Tyr look transparent."
"Please, just trust - "
"I *don't* trust you! Now what is going on?"
"Beka... Seamus is my friend. I want to save him as much as you. But there are some things that must be kept secret. Don't worry - I'll just have a little chat with his nibs and we'll be conducted to the you-know-what. Won't take a moment."
"Well..."
"Maybe if I went along - " Rev offered.
"No, Brother!" Bill interrupted. "I have to do this alone. But on my honor as a member of the Sacred Order, you have nothing to fear from this."
"I believe him, Beka," Rev said.
"You would, Wayist," Tyr sneered.
"Don't see as we have much of a choice," Beka said.
Bill knocked on the abbot's door; it was opened for him and closed behind him with a solid thump. Beka, Tyr, Rev, and Rommie had nothing to do but stand there and wait, and they did not look at ease doing it. The little group of misfits attracted some looks from passing monks and nuns, but oddly enough, an exchange of head-bows with Rev seemed to put them at ease; Wayist regalia seemed to do everything, even for a Magog.
"Ok," Beka said, "Rommie, bring Dylan up to date on what's going on, and if you'd like to include any bad feelings you have about this, go right ahead, because I got a jillion of 'em and no radio in my head... "
/
/
"...so there's nothing more that my humanoid body and the others can do but wait at this point," Andromeda's hologram said, "although Beka's - and... my - suspicions about Mr. Beckett are growing."
"You think he's workin' for Lizzie?" Harper asked.
"Wait, I'll ask Beka... she says no, but he his hiding something. I concur."
"And I liked him," Trance said.
"All right," Dylan said. "Tell her to carry on as she sees fit but not to take unnecessary risks. We'll watch it from here."
The hologram nodded.
Dylan realized he had Harper's attention. "What, Mr. Harper?"
"NOW will you stop fidgeting, Boss? You've been driving me nuts for half an hour."
"I am not fidgeting," Dylan said.
"Yes, you are," Trance said. "You've been awful."
"I'd expect you two to agree, so let me go over your heads. Andromeda?"
"Yes, Dylan?" The main A. I. appeared on one of the big screens.
"Have I been fidgeting?"
"Yes, Dylan."
"Let me rephrase the question."
"It won't matter, Dylan."
"Best give up gracefully," Trance teased.
"It's not fidgeting," Dylan said; "it's maintaining readiness."
"Ok - " Harper said. "You owe me a lie. Not a big, ship-destroying one, but you have to let me off the hook at least once."
"It's not lying, Mr. Harper. I'm very concerned about what's happening. Or, I should say, NOT happening."
"Whaddya mean, Boss? Lizzie and her posse are nowhere to be seen."
"Exactly my problem," Dylan said. "That means either they haven't caught up to us yet, or -"
"Dylan!" Andromeda's image snapped from one of the screens. "I've detected several ships - multiple vectors all around us. It looks like they're - " A klaxon sounded. "Intrud - "
Suddenly, the hologram vanished; the black, faceless robot bodies fell to the deck; and every screen in the room displayed the High Guard's seal. The klaxons and Andromeda's voice fell silent.
"They're already here," Dylan, Trance, and Harper said as one.
/
/
"Rommie?" Beka said, as the android, apparently dazed, supported herself on one of the cloister's columns.
"Stand by," Rommie said. "Reconfiguring to standalone mode. Wait..." Rommie stood up, shaking her head to clear it. "Beka - my main A.I. - something's - "
Just then, Bill Beckett burst out of the abbot's office. "We have to get out of here, NOW!"
/
/
"Andromeda!" Dylan called out, his force lance drawn; still, no answer. "Harper - what's going on?"
"It looks like she's been put in safe mode, Dylan," Harper said from a control panel he'd coaxed into responding. "Rom Doll's A-OK, just -"
The entrances to the bridge opened and a mixture of Nissari troopers and Loveless' red-coated mercenaries surged in, training their weapons on Dylan, Harper, and Trance, surrounding them, even as the threesome drew their own weapons, ready for what might have been the last fight of their lives.
"You need not fear for your lady love, Boy," Rutger said mockingly as he swaggered in. "I have merely put her to sleep."
But it was the man who followed Rutger in, a small Eurasian man in a conservative, dark suit; with salt-and-pepper hair and an odd, all-white right eye, who got Dylan's attention.
"Ronald Sandoval, I presume," Dylan said.
"You presume correctly, sir," Sandoval answered. "I gather, then, that you are Dylan Hunt?"
"I am."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Captain; too bad we could not meet under different circumstances. Well, we are both busy men, so I will keep this simple: you and your crew will lower your weapons and come quietly, or you will all die." Sandoval pulled an ancient pocket watch from a jacket pocket. "I will give you some time to think about that. You have fifteen seconds."
Dylan didn't need fifteen seconds. "Lower your weapons."
"But Boss - !" Harper protested.
"Do it!" Dylan barked; he, Trance, and Harper allowed Sandoval's goons to take their guns.
"This isn't over," Dylan said, as much to Sandoval as to Harper.
"Oh, for you and your friends, it most certainly is." Sandoval turned to Rutger. "Bring them."
/
/
"We have company," Rommie said when she and the others were halfway back across the courtyard. She drew her force lance and deployed it to tonfa mode as Beka and Tyr drew their guns and Rev brought his walking staff up to a fighting position. An instant later, they heard the footsteps as Nissari troopers and Elizabeth's mercs surged from all around them, surrounding them.
"Hello again, Beka," Elizabeth Loveless said, stepping forward with her own pistol drawn. "In your place, I'd be tempted to see if I could take me with you, too, but going out in a blaze of glory would leave poor little Seamus all alone in the world, wouldn't it? You really ought to lower your weapons, though I wouldn't mind the target practice."
Beka didn't have to think about it very long.
"Do it," she said, lowering her own gun. The others followed suit.
Rommie found herself thinking of the way Tyr and Harper had fallen to the Magog, and realized it was because their situation now was about as hopeless.
/
/
Harper didn't struggle (too much) as two of Captain Elizabeth Loveless' guards dragged him through the narrow corridors of *The Red Lady,* into her cabin, and stopped him in front of the desk she was seated at.
"Have a seat," Elizabeth said.
"No thanks," Harper sneered. "I prefer to stand."
Elizabeth nodded; her men roughly forced Harper into a chair.
"Like I said, I prefer to sit," Harper said. "So, I guess this is where I get tempted by the Dark Side again? Twice in one week! This keeps up, I'll have to have my last name changed to Skywalker."
Something resembling a smile tugged at Elizabeth's lips. "Is that another one of your 'Earth things'? I missed that about you, I really did." The smile vanished. "But this isn't about temptation, Seamus, or, if I'm right about your meaning, betraying your friends. They've already lost, so there's nothing to betray. But you don't have to be on the losing side." She pushed a flexie and a stylus across the desk to him. "Sign it."
"What is it?"
"Your new contract for a position as an engineer's mate aboard the *The Red Lady,* and yes, there is a provision entitling you to any recovered Taelon technology that can aid the removal of your Magog larvae."
"How - "
"I keep tabs on my competitors, Seamus. You know that."
"I already got a contract with Beka."
"Oh? And your share of the *Andromeda* recovery was... what? I'd really like to know."
"I see you replaced the old silk wall hangings. Sorry, but these suck."
"Nothing. I thought so. Breach of contract; you could sue if she lived long enough - don't look at me like that; what did you expect? - but the point is you can sign on with anyone you want."
"And you're doing this... why? Out of the goodness of your heart? There's an oxymoron. Because you're secretly in love with me? I tend to doubt that."
"And you're right to. But I know good material when I see it, and you are good material, and you know I'm not wasteful.
"Look, I appreciate what Beka means to you. She got you off that hell hole and made a passable spacer out of you. You feel loyalty to her and you care for her, and those are good things, Seamus. I never said they weren't.
"But what you fail to understand - or won't admit to yourself - is that you've gone as far as you can with her. She *is* as good at this game as I am, but why does she still have that old rust bucket of a ship, or at least, why doesn't she have it fixed up real nice at one of the drifts? Why are her father's debts hanging over her like a sword of Damocles while I attained all the wealth and influence - if not more - you yourself told me you desired years ago? Because the woman handicaps herself. She crews her ship with hard-luck cases she feels sorry for, and turns her nose up at potentially profitable jobs just because she doesn't like whom she'd be working with or for. Hell, to this day, I'm surprised Gerentex didn't come back and tell me she turned him down; she must have been desperate."
"What - you - " Harper stammered. "YOU sent Gerentex to US?"
"He came to me with his quest to find a High Guard Ship of the Line," Elizabeth said, "but he found my fees too high. I knew Beka had fallen on hard times and sent him her way, on the condition he never said so, of course. Why so surprised, Seamus? I'm not totally heartless. I truly respect Beka as a member of our profession. I simply will do whatever it takes to make sure no other member of our profession makes it to the same prize I desire."
"Yeah, well, we seem to have done well since then, or haven't you heard? We're restoring the Commonwealth. That's pretty good compensation, I'd say."
"Maybe so. Or maybe Dylan Hunt is just another stray Beka took in. So's the *Andromeda,* come to think of it. Why do you think she joined his quest - or better, why didn't she just kill Hunt and take the ship? That's what I would have done."
"You're the fount of knowledge; you tell me."
"She felt sorry for them. But no one should feel sorry for you, Seamus. You're your own man now, even if you don't know it; you're ready to make your own decisions and make your own scores. And this is The. Big. Score, Seamus! It's not just about one ship; when Sandoval fires up the bioreactor, it will be about a new order in the Universe. Those who stand with him will be on the ground floor. Those who oppose him... You are a bright, nice, kid - and, to be honest, not bad in the sack - and I would hate for you to do anything against your best interests. I urge you, sign on with me. You won't regret it."
Harper picked up the flexie and appeared to consider it. Then he wadded it up and threw it back in Elizabeth's face.
She sighed. "Don't say I never gave you a chance, Seamus." She turned to the guards flanking him. "Take him to Rutger."
/
/
Sandoval stood at the end of the gangplank extending from the catwalk that ringed the cavernous space inside the asteroid that enclosed the Taelon Mother Ship. He ignored the activity behind him, as Captain Loveless and her first officer, Rutger, busied themselves over the chair young Master Harper was strapped in, gagged so he didn't bite his own tongue, equipment on his chest, and a cable running to the data port in his neck. No, Sandoval contemplated the locked hatch of the Taelons' gossamer starship. It was as powerful, if not more so, than the *Andromeda* (which it faintly resembled - Shadow Cavalry influence on the Glorious Heritage class' designers?) yet still reminded him of a bioluminescent undersea creature on steroids.
"Soon," he said, running his fingers along the hatch. Three thousand years a "guest" of generations of Shadow Cavaliers had made him something of a stick-in-the-mud; even when, after the last Vedrans had died off, he had begun to build his empire on Nissar Alpha, he had not concerned himself with the fate of the Taelon Mother Ship. If one were virtually immortal, then there was time for such matters later, yes? But the "virtually" part had become painfully obvious when Sandoval had looked in the mirror one day and, after three thousand years, seen his first gray hair. Now, he blessed that day, for in researching the Taelon Mother Ship, he had learned its true purpose... and his true destiny: not just to be the power behind the throne on a backwater planet or even in a galaxy-spanning empire, but the progenitor and leader of the dominant force in Creation. Everything in his life had lead to this moment. True, he was jaded enough not to let excitement get the better of him, but he held all the cards; Hunt and his band of misfits held none. Sandoval was sure that now, nothing stood between him and his destiny.
"Mr. Sandoval?" Captain Loveless said, coming up behind him.
He turned to face her. "Yes, Captain?"
"Rutger says Master Harper is prepared, Sir, and the chair can be activated by your personal computer; and our guests are arriving." As Elizabeth Loveless spoke, a squad of guards marched the remainder of the *Andromeda's* pathetic little crew off the catwalk and down the gangplank, stopping them a few meters short of Harper's chair.
Beka almost jumped out of her skin at the sight of her friend and engineer. "LIZZIE! What have you done to him!? I swear, if you've hurt him - "
"Your crewman is well for the moment... " Sandoval said, coming over to the prisoners.
In his chair, Harper nodded and managed something that sounded like 'I'm good, Boss' through his gag.
"...but I remind you and Captain Hunt that neither of you are in a position to make threats," Sandoval went on, "and neither of you is any good to your crew dead. If you need further reason to be silent during the proceedings, I would think that is a good one. Captain Loveless, if you please?"
A gesture from Elizabeth, and Bill Beckett was separated from the *Andromeda's* crew. With two guards at his side, he immediately went to Harper's side. "How ye doin', son?"
Harper nodded quickly, though there was fear in his eyes.
"Don't worry, Lad; we'll get you out of this."
Another nod.
Bill raised his gaze to Sandoval, who had come over to face him.
"Hello, old friend," Sandoval said. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"Not long enough," Beckett answered. "I'd've thought you'd have used the time to better yourself."
"Oh, I have, I have. And you will assist me in continuing the process. You will give me access to the Taelon Mother Ship."
"No."
"Is that your final answer?"
"Yes."
"Even at the cost to these... 'innocent people' you have brought into this?"
"Looks like you're not givin' me much of a choice, doesn't it?"
"Very well." Sandoval tabbed his sleeve computer. "I'm told this will not take long."
Beckett's gaze flashed between Harper and Sandoval. "What have you done!?"
Harper still tried to project some amount of confidence, but he started sweating. Something in the empty space next to him made him jump.
On the other side of the line of guards, Rommie tugged at Dylan's sleeve. "Dylan, there's something wrong - " She broke off. "What are you doing to him!?"
"You don't know?" Elizabeth said. "If you'd bedded him, Andromeda, he would have told you himself - the little dear is such a blabbermouth when he gets all cuddly. Still, given that Rutger found your I/O protocols all over his interface - mildly slutty of you, my dear - I'm surprised you didn't figure it out for yourself."
"Well, then," Dylan said, "why don't you enlighten us?"
"All right," Elizabeth said. "Poor little Seamus Harper suffers from an acute form of paranoid schizophrenia - he hears voices, has hallucinations, and believes everyone, from the Vedran Empress down to house plants, is out to kill him. The Than doctors the Nietzscheans allow in the refugee camps on Earth installed a network of biochips in his brain to stabilize his brain chemistry, so he can function, and the data port is used to monitor the network and reprogram it. Obviously, he's learned to use it to do... other things... but it's primary purpose is to keep him sane."
"And you've just switched it off," Trance breathed.
"No, actually," Rutger said, coming to his lady's side. "I reprogrammed it to exaggerate his symptoms instead of relieve them. He is now having the worst psychotic break in history, and I can keep him alive, in that state, for as long as I want. There may be nothing left of his personality matrix in the long run, but he will still live in hell." The cybernetic sadist paused. "Oh, and Captain Hunt - did you know that the worst thing you can do to a High Guard A. I. is to make it watch one of its charges suffer?"
Just then, Harper started screaming. Rommie could bear no more and shoved through the guards, lunging towards Harper. While the guards made sure none of the others could help, Rutger caught Rommie meters short of her engineer and held her in a bear hug from behind. The android started thrashing, so hard you could hear her servos whine, and it looked like she would literally tear herself apart trying to free herself, to help her friend.
"You know how to stop this," Sandoval said to Beckett.
"You stop this, Sandoval!" Beckett pleaded. "These games will not profit you in the end - "
"You speak to me of games?" Sandoval shouted; he was losing his patience. "You first. Time to stop playing dress-up, Da'an."
Suddenly, the *Andromeda's* crew found their attention rivetted to Big Bill Beckett; even Rommie stopped thrashing for a moment.
"Very well," Beckett said. His skin and clothing vanished, revealing a form made of light and energy. It narrowed into a tall, long-limbed figure with an oval head, and then new skin and clothes appeared - dark blue, sparkling clothes on a hairless humanoid with light, almost reflective skin, deep blue eyes, and an almost placid expression.
A Taelon.
The last of the Companions.
Da'an.
"Surprised, my dear?" Rutger said in Rommie's ear. "You must have not scanned deeply enough, or questioned the false life signs. Or maybe you are not as good at this as you think you are."
An angry grimace passed over Rommie's face. "You're going to pay for this, you bastard!" She started to struggle again, but Rutger's hold didn't slacken.
On the other side of the guards, Beka noticed Dylan's reaction... which wasn't the same one she'd had. "You're not surprised? Why am I not surprised you're not surprised?"
"He knew too much," Dylan said, "more than the 'defrocked Wayist' story could account for. Add in the residual Taelon energy and the remoteness of his diner, it was obvious."
"Yeah. Right."
"Now, Sandoval," Da'an said, speaking in the measured pace, and moving with the measured grace, of a Taelon, "will you respond in kind? There is nothing in the mother ship for you. Release these people. Return to your home. Live out the last of your days as fully as you can. Please, for your sake, I beg you."
"How contrite, how... empathetic you sound," Sandoval said. "But even then, you still presume you're in the position to give me orders, don't you? Well, not anymore! I am in charge here. *I* give the orders. You WILL give me access to the mother ship; and if you don't you WILL watch these people suffer."
Da'an closed his eyes and turned his gaze from Sandoval, energy flashing under his pseudoskin.
"Harper is just the beginning," Sandoval went on. "Rutger here knows more about inflicting pain, and maintaining it, than you or I or even the Atavus forgot. Even Nietzscheans and Magog have their vulnerabilities. I can pay him to keep them that way for the rest of their lives... which would be the rest of *my* life, since I don't believe there's such a thing as a living witness, but I still have a few YEARS left. And you. Will. Watch, Da'an, you will watch every moment of their suffering. And I will enjoy watching your heart - if you have one - bleed for them."
"So, this is not only about your own aggrandizement. You seek vengeance."
"Seek it? I yearn for it. You were always in my way, Da'an; allying yourself with the resistance, disrupting Zo'or's - and my - designs. I was so glad when I thought you were gone; I should have known you wouldn't obligingly stay 'dead.'"
"But if I give you what you seek, these people will die."
"Yes... but quickly, painlessly. It's that simple. Assist me and they go to 'the next level' without any agony; resist me, and they suffer for as long as it amuses me. Decide!"
"Execution now versus execution later," Da'an said. "Not a pleasant set of choices."
"Well, I wasn't planning to kill them right away," Sandoval said. "I would have my enemies witness my apotheosis before they die. But that is essentially correct."
"And what of Mr. Harper? Will his last moments be spent witnessing the horrors your torturer has unleashed from the blackest depths of his soul? Or will you restore him to sanity so he can prepare himself for the next level?"
Sandoval smiled. "You see how simple that was in the end? You open the ship, and I will restore Mr. Harper's biochips to their normal operation."
"Harper first."
"No." Sandoval clasped his hands in front of him and rocked up onto his toes and back. "Remember the old saying we had, 'My way or the highway'? It applies here."
("Oh my God," Beka groaned, "he's full of the same crap Harper is.")
Da'an shook his head, orange light flashing under his skin, clearly torn over the stark choices Sandoval offered him. But with Harper's screams echoing through the huge chamber, and his android friend still fighting to get free, to save him, even if she tore herself to shreds in the process...
He really had no choice.
"Very well, Sandoval. You win." Da'an walked to the mother ship, pressed his fingers on a dark plate next to the hatch, and spoke in his people's whispery, musical language. The ship answered in kind and the hatch... vanished. The way was open. "Now, your end of the bargain."
"Of course." Sandoval tabbed his sleeve computer, pursing his lips as he read its response. "New software dumped; old programming reloaded and restarted." He looked over his shoulder at Harper. "It will take a few moments for him to recollect all his marbles, but he'll be all right."
"I'd like to have my medic verify that," Dylan called out.
"Of course, Captain." Sandoval gestured; Trance was allowed through the guards and she raced to Harper's chair. "And Mr. Harper's android friend can be released if she behaves herself, Rutger."
"I think she knows who's boss, don't you, my 'Rom Doll'?"
Rommie wasn't sure how Rutger knew one of Harper's pet names for her, but the way he twisted it only made her more angry than she'd been. But she nodded; Rutger let her go. She went to the chair and watched Trance fuss over Harper in precisely the way Rommie knew she was incapable of. But at least Harper's screams had subsided.
"Can we get this thing out of his mouth?" Trance said. "It looks real uncomfortable."
"I have no objection," Sandoval said.
Rutger came over and removed the gag, one of those oily smiles on his face. "But this" - he tapped the plug in Harper's data port - "stays. So I may keep an eye on my old friend."
"Don't do me any favors," Harper said.
"The children stay here," Sandoval announced, "insurance of the good behavior their crew mates." He paused. "And so does the Magog. No offense, Brother, but I prefer not to have one of your kind too close to me at times like this."
Rev nodded at the centuries-old mastermind.
"The rest, with us," Sandoval said. "Da'an, lead the way." He, Elizabeth, Rutger, and the balance of the *Andromeda's* crew and their guards followed the Taelon into the starship he had once ridden to Earth. Only two guards were left behind to keep an eye on Trance, Rev, and Harper.
Rev stood just behind Trance as she monitored his vitals on her com gauntlet, and he noticed the guards crowding in on them. "Give us some space, please. My young friend is under enough stress as it is."
"No tricks, Magog," one of the guards, a red-coated merc from Elizabeth's crew, spat. "I already have one Magog-hair rug, and I wouldn't mind another one."
Rev snarled in reply, but the guards backed off.
"Thanks, Rev," Trance said. "Harper, how you doing?"
"Well... Trance, were you and Rev sent to bring me to the Galactic Emperor so I could fight a lightsabre duel with my father?"
Trance had no idea what that meant. "Uhhh... no."
"Ok, that voice doesn't know what he's talking about and I can ignore him. Her. It. Never mind. Trance, lean forward a little; let me see down your shirt."
"Harper - !"
"Just do it!" He hissed.
Rolling her eyes, Trance leaned over enough to give Harper a better view of her cleavage. Harper stared for a second, then squeezed his eyes shut.
"Ok," he said when he opened them.
"What was that about?" Trance asked.
"I've loaded one of my sexual fantasies into my interface's main buffer; if Rutger takes a peek, he'll think I'm thinking nasty thoughts and, I hope, not look closer. We can talk. Rev, I want you to distract the guards."
"How?" Rev said.
"I dunno! Talk to them, convert them, persuade them to make their wives bake something for the monastic bake sale, but KEEP. THEM. OVER. THERE."
Rev nodded, then turned and wandered over to the guards in an affable manner; Trance and Harper heard him say, "I apologize for being so sharp earlier. Tell me, what do you know about The Way... ?"
"Ok, Trance," Harper said. "Reach inside my jacket. Feel that zippered pocket? Open it and pull out what's inside."
She did so and found a small, plastic box.
"Open it."
She did; it was full of tiny tools. "What am I supposed to do with these?"
"You're going to wire this rig to your com gauntlet, and that will let me jack into the *Andromeda's* central computer and wake her up."
"But won't Rutger know when that happens?"
"I hope so, Darlin'; I hope so..."
/
/
Da'an kept his word and lead the others to the bioreactor's central core. It was a large, circular room with what appeared to be two huge glass flowers, one on the floor and one directly above it in the ceiling. Sandoval ordered that the captives be held by the wall as he contemplated the mechanism.
"Yesss," he hissed. He turned and walked to the control panels that lined the room. At his touch, the controls responded, the flowers began to glow, and a low, distant rumbling began.
"Bear witness to this moment," he said, removing his jacket; Dylan and his crew could see that from the shoulders down, and with the exception of his hands, Sandoval's body was a mishmash of human flesh and glowing white tissue and tendrils. "I was born in a time when mankind considered interstellar travel a fantasy, when a journey to one of the planets in our own solar system was considered a controversial and expensive undertaking. I became a servant of those who arrived from beyond the stars claiming to be our 'Companions,' claiming to help us. But all were but steps on the road, steps leading to this inevitable moment, to the destiny the Universe intended for me."
He stepped onto the center of the lower flower. Tendrils shot from his chest and back, some to the flower in the ceiling, others to the platform he was standing on. The light in the Taelon constructs began to pulse in the glowing parts of his body. The huge flower petals began to move from the floor and the ceiling; it became apparent they would interlink to form a pod surrounding Sandoval.
"I am the alpha and the omega," Sandoval said, "all that was, is, and ever shall be. I, who was born in the shell of a man, shall take my rightful place among the gods... as their leader."
/
/
Harper felt it when he had the connection to the *Andromeda* through Trance's com gauntlet and shut his eyes. He plunged into the virtual world, manifesting his virtual self on one of its many streets. The virtual cityscape looked the same as every, only the sky had no activity in it, and every surface was emblazoned with the High Guard seal.
"Ok," he said. "Andromeda Ascendant, this is your chief engineer Seamus Zelazny Harper. Switch from safe mode to active and restart A.I. persona."
"Access code required," the ship's voice - Rommie's voice - answered.
"I don't have an access code... Dammit!" It looked like his plan was -
"Access code accepted." The ground shuddered under his feet as the High Guard seals vanished, replaced by numbers and symbols; data streams whizzed past and around him; and clouds of files began to race through the sky, driven by their computational winds. Light rose up through the ground in front of him, forming into a huge wireframe of a human's upper body, which molded itself into a female form. Skin, clothes, and hair mapped onto the shape. And she opened her eyes.
Andromeda was awake.
/
/
Standing next to Dylan, Rommie felt her main A. I. return to awareness, and did her best to betray no sign as she dumped her memories of recent events into her core personality.
Rutger also felt it - and was momentarily puzzled. Wasn't Harper fantasizing about his purple friend? Then he felt the data stream into the *Andromeda*... and the mainframe's reactivation. Well, so Harper was trying to show how good he was; Rutger had been hoping for something like this. He would slap Harper down and crush his spirit once and for all. No need to alert Elizabeth or the guards; he would deal with this himself.
"My lady, if I may... ?"
Elizabeth nodded absently, her eyes transfixed on the bioreactor as its petals slowly closed around Sandoval.
Rutger shut his eyes.
/
/
"Receiving download... " Andromeda's core personality went livid. "That son of a - Harper! Are you all right?"
"On the mend, Darlin'."
"Oooh, wait 'til I get my hands on that - "
Rutger materialized next to Harper. "You, my dear, will not be getting your hands on anyone - "
"I don't think so," Rommie said. A red beam came out of the sky and struck Rutger; he screamed, his virtual form flickering and vibrating.
"Rommie," Harper said, "have I ever told you you're beautiful when you're mad as hell?"
"Save the flattery for later, when I feel like sparring. I was going to send this piece of biological waste packing with a splitting headache, but if you have anything painful you would like to do to him, be my guest."
"Your wish is my command." Harper strolled over to Rutger, then reached out, and his hand vanished into Rutger's head; the cyborg screamed even more. Harper twisted and strained, seeming to be feeling for something, and then yanked his hand out, now holding a geometric shape. "He's all yours, darlin'."
The red beam intensified, and Rutger howled in agony as his virtual body seemed to catch fire, burning into a swirl of red sparks that vanished on the digital winds.
/
/
Rutger jerked as if he'd received an electrical shock; he collapsed at Elizabeth's feet, the smell of burned flesh hanging around him.
/
/
Harper opened his hand; the geometric shape floated up, unfolding and expanding, until it was a rectangle at Rommie's eye level.
"Did I do it right, Babe?" Harper asked. "*The Red Lady's* access codes?"
"And the Nissari communication protocols." She smiled. "I'm going to enjoy this. You get back."
"See ya, Darlin'!" Harper blew her a kiss and vanished.
"Yes," Rommie said. "I am going to have a LOT of fun... "
/
/
Harper opened his eyes. "Rev - NOW!"
The Magog went into action. In less than five seconds, both guards were incapacitated. Then Rev and Trance began to unstrap Harper from his torture chair.
/
/
"Rutger?" Elizabeth said, as her cybernetic second and lover struggled to get off the floor.
"My lady," he said, "the High Guard ship - "
"My lady!" one of her guards broke in. "Our coms are down." Sandoval's Nissari troopers were also poking at their communicators.
There was just enough confusion in the enemy ranks for Tyr and Dylan to see a chance and they took it. They attacked the nearest guards, disarmed them, and began firing at the others. As Elizabeth's and Sandoval's men dove for what cover there was, Rommie disabled two guards, kept a gauss rifle for herself, and tossed another one to Beka. The two groups ended up on opposite sides of the bioreactor core, firing around it. It was obvious that it was bulletproof; it not only acted as cover during the gun fight, but seemed to protect Sandoval pretty well, too.
And the petals were almost closed.
/
/
Harper picked up a gauss rifle from one of the fallen guards. "C'mon!"
"Wouldn't it be better to - ?" Rev started, but Harper was already running into the mother ship, Trance hot on his heels after scooping up a gun for herself.
"You DO have a twisted sense of humor," Rev hissed, taking off after them. Not only would he have to keep his young charges out of trouble, but they would probably need his sense of smell to retrace the others' path.
/
/
The first thing the *Andromeda* did with the access codes she and Harper had hacked from Rutger's mind was order all the Nissari and *Red Lady* guards on the Monastery (except those on the Mother Ship) back to the main docking airlock... where they were confronted by squads of Andromeda's black robot bodies, all bearing force lances. A straight fire fight could have gone either way, but thanks to Rev's Divine, the mercenaries and soldiers were not in the mood; they surrendered without a fight.
While this was going on, Andromeda seized control of *The Red Lady;* it undocked from the Monastery and began to attack the Nissari ships, whose captains, understandably, took that and their inability to communicate with their troops as a sign they had been double-crossed. The Nissari pursued the crimson pirate ship as it raced for open space... then turned and attacked. But outnumbered and outgunned, the end was never in doubt; under fire from the frigates and fighters, *The Red Lady* exploded.
Then the Nissari captains and fighter pilots noticed something coming up behind them. Something very big, very silver...
...and very, very ticked off.
"I am the Andromeda Ascendant!" said the brunette woman who appeared on all their monitors. "I have had an extremely bad day, and I am in the mood to blow some crap up. You all look like crap to me, so you've been nominated. If you don't think you can live through that, get lost!"
She opened up with her offensive missiles and sent her combat drones after the fighters. Surprised and out of position, the Nissari were no match, and Andromeda began to go through them like a hot knife through butter. The Nissari commanders did the only sane thing they could do - order the retreat. Andromeda waited just long enough to be sure the last of the enemy ships had jumped to the slipstream, then did a hard 180 and raced back to the asteroid. Her sensors told her something was very wrong with the Taelon Mother Ship.
And the data was already several minutes old.
/
/
"Go!" Dylan said. They'd taken out enough of Elizabeth's men, she and Rutger pinned down, that they saw a chance to race for the door. Tyr and Dylan charged, firing madly, the others bringing up the rear; the Nietzschean and the *Andromeda's* captain covered Beka, Rommie, and Da'an as they rushed through the door; Da'an tabbed a panel and the door closed.
Elizabeth fired at it several times, but the effectors bounced off. "DAMN!"
Then the petals closed. Sandoval sighed as the bioreactor pulsed to life around him. "Captain Loveless!"
Elizabeth turned to face her benefactor.
"In spite of your bungling, you have served me well," Sandoval said, "and there is one more service you can perform. Are you aware that this bioreactor needs some raw material to complete the activation sequence?"
Elizabeth's jaw dropped; before she could do or say anything, a beam from the ceiling mechanisms struck her in the chest. Her flesh began to whither.
"LIZ!" Rutger shouted. He got to his feet, tried to pull his captain free, and the beam enveloped him, too, devouring both of them. In the end, there was nothing left but their clothing and the cybernetic components of Rutger's body, which fell to the floor as soon as the beam switched off.
/
/
"Dylan - " Rommie said. "Loveless and Rutger - I can't feel their life signs anymore."
"Sandoval has used them to bring the bioreactor up to full power," Da'an said, consulting a wall panel.
Dylan and Tyr spun at the sound of approaching footsteps - and almost shot Rev, Harper, and Trance.
"Hey - whoa!" Dylan said, quickly aiming his gun at the ceiling.
"Whatever it is, I didn't have time to do it," Harper said. "I've been all tied up."
Rommie smiled at her engineer. "You feeling better?"
"Yeah... 'Dammit'?"
"I had to use *something* as an identifier, Harper, and to be honest, I thought the idea was kinda funny."
"Yeah? Don't quit your day job."
"This is all well and good," Tyr said, "but may I remind all assembled that we have failed to prevent Sandoval from seizing the bioreactor?"
"Duly noted," Dylan said. "We'll have to use the *Andromeda's* missiles to blow this place to smithereens and hope we can get the TMS before Sandoval gets it out of here. Rev, you will have to coordinate -"
"There is no need," Da'an said. "Everything is proceeding as it should."
"Wait - you're WORKING for him?" Harper yelped, voicing everyone else's suspicions.
"Not quite," Da'an answered. "It would be more accurate to say Sandoval has us right where I want him."
Tyr caught on first. "This place is a mouse trap!"
"I knew Sandoval would seek out this ship one day," Da'an said. "I have rigged the bioreactor so that, on command, it will create an imbalance in the interdimensional drive. This ship, and all who remain aboard, will cease to exist."
"And just who is supposed to be issuing that command?" Dylan asked.
Da'an just stared at him.
"No - wait - " Harper said. "Bill - Da'an - I can hack the system -"
"No. It must be done manually."
"The I'll stay," Harper said.
"NO!" Rommie shouted. "You are NOT throwing your life away, not after we've come this far!"
"Your android friend is correct," Da'an said. "Seamus, I am very old, and very tired. I have lived well beyond the span of my people, for this day - when the last vestiges of our occupation of your homeworld can be expunged. But I have valued your friendship, and I did not forget why we came. Speak to the abbot; I have translated and transcribed much of this ship's library, including the medical and genetic database on your people. We never encountered the Magog, but I pray it helps you find a cure."
"We could use a little more than that," Dylan said. "You may still have a lot to offer."
Da'an smiled sadly. "When my people faced a threat as dire, for us, in its way, as the Magog, we made our first mistake by fleeing to Earth, and made more mistakes when we were there. I have nothing to offer except a litany of what *not* to do. If you do not do as we did, that will be legacy enough."
Dylan smiled and nodded; there would be no swaying the old Taelon.
Da'an turned to Harper. "Goodbye, old friend." He stuck his hand out.
Harper shook it - and shuddered as if a jolt of energy passed through him. "What - what was - "
"Go now, Captain," Da'an said, releasing Harper's hand. He watched as Dylan and the others raced down the corridor; Harper was the last to go, backing away reluctantly, but then turning and running after his friends.
"The Universe is yours now," Da'an said softly. "Do not abuse it as we did." He turned and touched a door control panel, opening the door to the bioreactor core. The pod had begun to sink into the floor. Da'an stepped into the room.
Sandoval smiled from inside the pod. "I've waited a long time for this, Da'an. You will finally serve me." An absorbtion beam fired from the ceiling, enveloped the Taelon...
...and nothing happened.
The beam cut out, and another, stronger one fired, with still no effect. That one cut, too.
"Well, it doesn't matter now!" Sandoval shouted. "Let the others scamper - I've won! I've achieved my destiny!"
"Yes, you have," Da'an said, turning to a control panel. He entered the final sequence. The walls turned red, a klaxon sounding, the floor shaking, the ship's voice whispering an alert in Da'an's language.
"Interdimensional drive - " Sandoval said (the pod was more than halfway into the floor). "Da'an - what have you done!?"
"I am wiping the Universe clean of our stain," Da'an said.
"NO!" Sandoval screamed. "I am the alpha and the omega! All that was, is, and ever shall be! I can not die. I CAN NOT DIIIIIEEEEEEE...!"
/
/
The Taelon Mother Ship's deck shook and shuddered under their feet as Dylan and his crew raced down the corridors, to the airlock. They rushed out, pounding down the gangplank and along the catwalk, as lightning and storms of energy began to flash on the ship and through it.
Dylan spotted an alcove just ahead of them in the stone wall. "In here - brace yourselves!" They charged into a small, stone room filled with machinery and work tables; Tyr pulled the old, rusted door shut and they all got to cover under anything. Dylan put his head down and covered his ears as the noise in the Mother Ship's hangar began to build, a screaming roaring that sounded like the world was ending.
Perhaps it was.
/
/
At the end, as the interdimensional drive's energies began to consume him, Da'an shut Sandoval's incessant screaming from his thoughts and focused on the memories of his human friends from long ago, who had paid the ultimate price for the Taelons' cowardice and one human's megalomania...
...Renee, who, Da'an had later learned, had continued the fight, never knowing - or caring - that it had been lost the instant the Atavus arose...
...the girl, Street, who if alive today, might have filled the void in Master Harper's heart...
...Augur, another genius whose ego matched his intelligence...
...Liam and his poor mother, Siohban Beckett, whose lives had been sacrificed to destinies neither fully understood...
...but most of all, Da'an thought of William, the human protector he had known for far too briefly, whom he had begun to think of as a pupil and a friend...
...and Lily... if only...
"I am coming home, my friends," Da'an said. "See you soon."
/
/
The noise outside the little stone room got louder and louder; the walls shook and dust fell from the ceiling.
Then there was loud "BANG!" and the sound of air rushing past the door to fill an empty space.
Then all was quiet.
"Tyr," Dylan hissed.
Tyr pushed the door open a crack, peeked out, the pushed it all the way open.
The Taelon Mother Ship was gone.
"Everyone all right?" Dylan asked, slowly pulling himself to his feet.
"All present and accounted for!" Trance chirped.
"Speak for yourself," Harper said. "My shorts are casualties of war."
Slip, slip, hook-cross-hook, bob and weave, jab, jab-cross, jab-hook-cross... Beka danced around the silver punching bag in hydroponics, her padded gloves making thwapping noises as she hit it.
"Anybody I know?" Dylan asked, coming up behind her in sweats and a tank top, a basketball under his arm. "Or just the Universe in general?"
Beka stopped punching and turned to the *Andromeda's* captain. "What's the word?"
"Harper and Rommie are still sorting through the Taelon medical data," Dylan said. "They say there may be some promising leads..." He shrugged.
"So it was worth it," Beka said.
"Yes."
"Right."
"So, then, what did that bag do to you?"
"This? Oh... I was thinking, Dylan - what if Daddy had found Da'an all those years ago? How much good would have been done with their medical knowledge by now on top of saving my mother? Or what if he'd found you and Rommie when I was a kid? How much closer would your Commonwealth be to reality by now?"
Dylan just bounced his ball three times as he looked at her.
"Y'know what, Beka? I'm not going to answer that question. In fact, I'm never going to answer questions like that again. Hand-holding was not in my mission brief when I got this job, and it's time you guys stood on your own two feet." Dylan started walking towards his basketball court. "From now on, your angst, your problem. Hey, I like that! I think I'll have it translated into Latin or Vedran and added to the ship's coat of arms."
Beka folded her arms as she watched Dylan start to shoot some hoops. "'Kay, what's got into him?"
/
/
"It still tingles," Harper said.
"Taelon energy," Trance said. "It'll be with you your whole life."
Rommie stood around the corner from where Harper and Trance were sitting on stools. She'd come down to the machine shop to talk to him... and with Trance there, had justified her presence by saying she had to "take inventory." Now listening to Harper and Trance, she hoped some good came of the medical database, because now she could hear for herself how well Trance related to Harper... and he related to her. Filling her shoes if something happened to her wouldn't be difficult. It would be impossible.
"Wow. Still, Trance, you think you know somebody... "
"Da'an was your friend, Harper. That's the important thing."
"I guess. I keep thinkin' 'bout Lizzie, though."
"What? Harper, you're not - "
"No, it's not like that. But when Satrina was here and tempted me to join Ol' Red Eyes, there was an instant when I thought, 'Why not? What do I owe these guys?' But I resisted in the end. But then Lizzie shows me that contract and tells me why I should bail out on you guys... and it was a lot harder that time. Everything she told me made sense. What if three's the charm, Trance? What if the next time someone comes to turn me against you guys, I can't resist?"
"It won't happen, Harper."
"Know something I don't?"
"Yes, I know you." Rommie heard a kiss, probably on his cheek. "I gotta run."
"Later, Purple Princess!"
Trance popped around the corner. "'Bye, Rommie!" she said as she went by and out the door.
"Rommie?" Harper came 'round the corner. "You need something, Doll?"
"No, I uh - I have to - "
"You all right?" Harper came over to her, worry in his eyes. "You've been acting a little funny lately. Everything ok?"
"No, I'm ok..."
What had Dylan said? The only way to change things was to do something. *Anything.*
"I won't let anyone hurt you again," Rommie blurted.
"What?"
"No one will touch you," she rambled on, but she had to say it. "I won't let them. They'll have to go through me to get to you. And I'll put them in a universe of hurt."
"Rommie- I -" Caught off guard, Harper's mask dropped and she saw the look in his eyes that said he had seen too much in his young life. "That's a dangerous promise to make, Rommie."
"Maybe, but I can be pretty dangerous, too. And it's about time the universe found out how dangerous I can be when I'm protecting my own."
"Gee, I- " Harper smiled. "Thanks, Rommie, that's - thanks."
"You're welcome." Rommie smiled back, not sure if she was getting the hang of this friendship thing or if she had made a fool of herself. But she felt better than she had for weeks, and maybe that was enough for now.
THE END