For Just A Day: Part II
TITLE: For Just A Day (Part II)
AUTHOR: Michael J. Gallagher ( mikejoe@odyssey.net )
SYNOPSIS: Dylan finds himself back with his old crew; what price will he pay to keep them?
SPOILERS: Almost every episode featuring a "pre-Fall" character
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Andromeda and are making no money off this, so please don't sue me. Ditto for STAR TREK, owned by Paramount, and referred to in a dream sequence.
All the medics who checked Trance out in Medical could say was that she wasn't dead, and she wasn't throwing up. But she seemed to be ok, if shaken.
Dylan went over to the bed she was sitting on. "Well, Trance?"
"Well, uh... " Trance's eyes flicked to the other personnel in the room.
"Clear the deck," Dylan ordered. The High Guard medics filed out of the room. "You, too Sara."
"Like hell. I've been in on this since the beginning and I'm not being shut out now. What happened, Trance? Dylan said you can see the future?"
"Well... " Trance said. "I can get a good sense of what might happen. Y'know, what's likely. Just guessing really."
"So, what do you guess?" Dylan asked, his tone leaving little room for monkey business. "Trance -- you said the Magog win -- "
"Yes -- " Trance said. "I can't be certain. Nothing's certain. But it seems to me that when the High Guard put down the Nietzschean rebellion, that wasn't the end of it because they're still mad at the Commonwealth and still want to break away. So they'll just have more time to plan things out, and maybe in a hundred years, have a nasty politics-type fight in the Conclave, and finally formally secede. But when they do, they'll take some of the Nova Bomb thingies with them... "
****
"...and then when hostilities break out between the Commonwealth and the Nietzschean worlds, both sides deploy their strategic assets relatively early in the conflict," Dylan said in his quarters later, Admiral Stark's image filling the wall screen while Sara sat on the edge of his desk. "Assured destruction, Admiral. The central systems on both sides are destroyed. What's left is even less able to repel Magog attacks than the worlds in the timeline I remember, and even with the Magog World Ship so far out of position, they're able to wipe out the last pockets of civilization with only a few raids. By CY 10,034, by Trance's reckoning, the Known Worlds are in the same state as M86."
"I see," Stark said, nodding. "What do you make of all this, Sara?"
"Beats me," she said. "I was going to wait until I talked to Bob Crookshank. But if she and Dylan know about this world ship from their timeline, even though it's uber classified and Dylan was never told about it, maybe we should listen to her."
"I see. Your recommendation, Captain?"
"Well, if we can't figure out how to fix the timeline somehow, the best we can do is make use of this advance intelligence. We have one hundred years to address Nietzschean grievances, hopefully prevent them from seceding altogether. That's the best hope of insuring the Commonwealth is intact three hundred years from now."
"I see. Thank you both for bringing this to my attention. Stark out." Her image left the screen.
"So what now?" Sara said.
"Thinking good thoughts would be a start," Dylan said.
****
Stark leaned back into her leather office chair, her fingers steepled under her lips, thinking. Then she tabbed a control on her desk. "Stark to security... "
****
"Am I intruding?" Rhade asked, standing a pace behind Trance as she worked on a planter in hydroponics.
"No," Trance said. "I'm just changing Walter's nutrient balance."
"'Walter'?"
"Uh-huh. This is Walter, and that's Herman, and those are Genie and Gigi, and that's Harper and Rommie -- but I never told them -- "
"You've named the plants?"
"Well... I lived here. I worked here. I named them all. I'm just getting to know my old friends again."
"I see." Rhade sat on the edge of one planter.
"You don't believe Dylan and I lived in another future," Trance said.
"Frankly, no," Rhade said.
"You think I'm some kind of spy?"
"I find that more likely than an alternate timeline."
"All right." Trance turned to face Rhade, surprisingly level-headed. "Let's say you're right. Let's say I'm a spy and I've hypnotized Dylan or something. What have I done so far? Did I stop you from stopping the Nietzschean rebellion? No. Have I warned you that this timeline could go very, very badly? Yes. And where have I spent the most time apart from hydroponics? I haven't even been to Command since the battle! Right?"
Rhade consulted his com gauntlet. "That's true. I believe you don't like it being so 'crowded.'"
"Well I got used to there being only a few of us... but anyway, if I'm a spy, I'm a lousy one."
"There is such a thing as a sleeper cell, put in place for years in advance, and then activated at the appropriate time."
"Then I'm a lousy sleeper. I mean, don't you think that if my people were doing something bad against the Commonwealth and were putting in these 'sleepers' in position, wouldn't they make them harder to find?" Her tail curled through the air behind her shoulders. "Make them look more like regular people so you wouldn't find them until it was too late?"
"That would be a better tactic," Rhade conceded. "I had been wondering why an adversary would make such an obvious mistake, unless it was for misdirection."
"But then the plan gets more and more complicated," Trance said. "Does it sound like it could really work?"
"Plans of such complexity have been known to work. And they have been known to blow up in their orchestrators' faces."
"Right. But let's say I'm right and Dylan's right and we lived in a timeline where the Commonwealth fell, uh, yesterday actually, and he was frozen in time and I was on a ship that rescued him and -- "
"I'm aware of the particulars, Miss Gemini. So let us say all that is true... "
"Well, Rhade, in the future we lived in, your people, the Nietzschean people, had survived. They weren't doing well and they were fighting each other but they survived. *Your descendants* survived. But in this timeline, your people could be gone in about 250 years. No more Nietzscheans. No more Rhades. None. And I've warned you about that.
"I won't tell you what to believe, but there's nothing for me in being a spy. But there's everything for you and your people for me... uhm ... " She trailed off.
Rhade followed Trance's gaze and saw Admiral Stark approaching with a squad of MPs from the station. He stood and snapped to attention. "Admiral on deck!"
"As you were," Stark said. "Commander -- good. I won't have to look for you later." She pointed at Trance. "Arrest her."
"WHAT!?" Trance yelped; the MPs descended on the pixie. Try as she might, she couldn't squirm away, and they slapped the cuffs on.
"The charge is espionage," Stark said. "Take her away. Commander Rhade, come with me."
****
"I'm more convinced than ever that they're real, Sara," Dylan said, sitting with her on the couch in his office.
"So am I," Sara said. "Or maybe you have a communicable form of insanity. But I guess I believe in them, too."
"Really?"
"Really. But what do we do about it? You said it yourself, they had to be sacrificed for you to be here; you can't get them back without sacrificing *this* timeline."
"I don't believe that, Sara. There must be a -- "
Andromeda's hologram appeared. "Captain, forgive the intrusion, but Admiral Stark --- "
The hatch opened, and Stark and Rhade entered.
"Forgive me, Andromeda," Stark said, "but I had no time to waste. Captain Dylan Hunt. I am hereby removing you from command of the *Andromeda Ascendant.* Commander Rhade, I grant you a field promotion to captain, with all the privileges accorded that rank, and assign you command of this vessel. Captain Hunt, you are on medical leave as of right now. Sara, pack your things; you're going home."
"WHAT!?" Sara yelped. "Aunt Connie -- !"
"Admiral, I protest!" Dylan shouted. "This is highly irregular. I demand to know the reasons for this!"
"You. Demand?" Stark growled.
Dylan calmed down, with considerable effort. "My apologies, Admiral. With respect, I request to know the grounds for this."
"Very well. I believe you have been under the influence of an agent of an unknown and potentially hostile power."
"TRANCE!?" Dylan yelped.
"Connie," Sara said, "there are a lot of things I could say about Trance, but -- "
"With respect," Rhade said, "although I am the first admit to being skeptical, I believe it is premature -- "
"THIS IS NOT A DEBATE!" Stark thundered. "I admit, there is some romance in this notion of an alternate timeline, but I have a duty to the Commonwealth, and I cannot take chances. Miss Gemini has been arrested, and you, Dylan, will get your head back on straight. We will address the question of a timeline if the espionage investigation turns up nothing, but not one minute before. The matter is final." Stark turned and left the room.
"She can't get away with this, can she?" Sara said.
"I'm afraid she can," Rhade said. "Ironically enough, I was starting to believe Trance. But we have our orders."
"Orders my foot," Dylan growled, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair. "Stay here, Sara -- "
"Like hell," Sara said, following Dylan out of the cabin. "Get used to it -- we're getting married, remember?"
"Don't argue, Dylan," Rhade said.
Dylan sighed and nodded.
"Now," Sara said. "Where are *we* going?"
"To see my crew member," Dylan said.
****
Rhade went back to his cabin, and spent a quarter of an hour thinking. Then he sat at his desk. "Ship. Secure this room."
Andromeda's hologram appeared. "Aye... Captain. Secure communication mode engaged."
"Very well. Access my private workspace and open the following file... "
****
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T SEE HER!?" Dylan shouted at the desk sergeant in the station's brig.
"Orders from Admiral Stark," the man said, unflappable. "You have no access to prisoner Gemini."
"I will take full responsibility."
"Code?"
"Captain Dylan Hunt, Lexic Dark 52278."
The man looked at his desk screen. "Sorry, sir, but that code has been deactivated."
"WHAT!? Listen, Ser -- "
"SIR. With all due respect, I am going to have to ask you to leave. That, or I will have to put you under arrest."
Dylan looked like he was about to say something else, but Sara intervened. "That's all right, Sergeant; we were just going. Weren't we, Dylan?"
****
"Sorry if I embarrassed you," Sara said a few minutes later, in the corridor.
"No, you were all right."
"Is there any way around this?"
"There would be, but unfortunately, the two best hackers I've ever known won't... I wish I knew what the hell the admiral is up to? Arresting Trance, locking me out -- "
Dylan's com gauntlet beeped. They both looked at the small screen, surprised at whom they saw there.
"Rhade?" Dylan said.
"We have to talk," Rhade answered.
****
Rhade secured his quarters as soon as Dylan and Sara arrived.
"All right... Captain," Dylan said. "What's going on?"
"Perhaps you can tell me," Rhade answered, handing Dylan a flexie. Dylan started to read it; his jaw dropped and he turned pale.
"What is it?" Sara asked. Dylan didn't answer, so she turned to Rhade. "Gaheris, what is it?"
"It's the simulations Admiral Stark showed me when I was at headquarters," Rhade said. "The likely outcome of the Nietzschean Tactical Offensive. It's what convinced me to switch -- "
"This is no simulation," Dylan breathed. "This... I saw this. Sara. I read this in the *Maru's* historical -- wait a minute." He handed the flexie to Sara and turned away from her. "The Battle of Witchhead. The last 100 High Guard ships were ambushed by a force of five hundred Nietzschean capital ships and fighters. But the Nietzscheans were poorly positioned; the two forces destroyed each other. War ends in a draw."
Sara read the flexie and nodded. "Yes, that's what it says, but what does it mean?"
"It means... " Dylan said. "My God. Sara, that's not your Aunt Connie, or not the Constanza Q. Stark we know. My God. She's the one who did it, Sara. Admiral Stark came back in time and changed history."
Dylan stood there for a minute, an unreadable expression on his face... which soon hardened. "Will you all excuse me?"
Dylan surged out into the corridor; he was surprised to find Rhade right behind him.
"What are your intentions?" Rhade asked.
"You don't want to know, Gaheris."
"I think I know all too well. But will vengeance bring your other crew back?"
Dylan stopped in his tracks, and whirled to face his former first officer. "What do you -- !?" He realized he was attracting the attention of some passing crew members and reduced his voice to a whisper. "She killed them, Rhade! They don't exist because of her."
"And how will your going out with guns blazing change this? At best, you end up in the brig on a mutiny charge. *Think about this, Dylan.*"
Dylan calmed down a bit; of course, Rhade was right. He saw Sara coming up to them over Rhade's shoulder and calmed down some more.
"Yes... of course," Dylan said. "Thank you, Gaheris... Usually, I'm the one telling a Nietzschean to calm down."
Rhade smiled slightly. "We live in interesting times."
****
"But... wouldn't there be two Starks running around?" Dawn asked. She, Kylie, Rhade, Sara, and Rommie were having a secret meeting in Dylan's cabin. "I mean... even if she can change history and prevent the events that made her go back in time... uhm... "
"Short answer -- yes," Sara said. "Long answer -- lots and lots of math requiring lots and lots of aspirin. But Dylan isn't as far out in left field as you might think."
"But if we undo what Stark did," Kylie said, "then the Commonwealth falls anyway."
"Yes," Dylan said, "but the Magog don't wipe out what's left of civilization, and in three hundred years, there's a chance to build a new one."
"Assuming you can restore the lost timeline, and that's another can of worms," Sara said.
"I didn't say this was easy," Dylan said. "We are faced with a no-win scenario. If we take action and succeed, we erase this timeline, and all of you... and you are all at risk. If we fail and are captured, we face mutiny charges which carry a mandatory death penalty. Not a pleasant set of choices.
"I can not order any of you to assist me and Sara in this; your involvement must be fully voluntary, based on your evaluation of the facts." He paused and looked at Rommie. "That goes for you, too, Andromeda. I'll hotwire a slip fighter if I have to."
"Can you give us a minute?" Rhade said.
Dylan nodded; he and Sara went to a far corner of the room while the other officers huddled.
"What are you not telling them?" Sara asked quietly. "Dylan -- "
"They don't need to know the details about how they died," Dylan said.
"Well... what happened to me?"
Dylan half smiled. "You tried to rescue me from the black hole; that was where the teleportation came in. Long -- "
"'--story,' I know. Then what?"
"You found the survivors and the families of the ship's survivors and founded a Commonwealth colony called Tarazed. Even Gaheris' descendants were there. You... had a good life."
Sara smiled, putting her arms around Dylan's waste. "Well, I'm pretty sure what I would have been doing right now wouldn't be half as exciting this. And we had some time together we wouldn't have had. Not a bad trade if you ask me." They kissed. Then they noticed Gaheris and Rommie standing next to them.
"Yes... Captain?" Dylan said.
"It was unanimous, sir," Rhade said. "We've devoted our lives to the Commonwealth -- not just its institutions but its ideals. Admiral Stark has violated those ideals and put all life in the Known Worlds -- knowingly or unknowingly -- at risk. There is no other option, really. But first things first." Rhade saluted Dylan. "Sir. I resign my position as captain of the *Andromeda Ascendant.* Returning command to you, Captain Hunt. It will be an honor to serve under you."
Dylan returned the salute. "I accept, Commander."
"Two changes of command in one day," Rommie said. "That must be a record."
"Well, that will be our secret for now," Dylan said, as the rest of his officers came over to them. "Kylie. I want you to pick a squad of your best men. Tell them everything; give them the option. Then I want you and Rommie to figure out a way to get Trance out of the brig. Dawn, Rhade. Most of our crew is on liberty; find a way to rotate the rest off the ship without attracting attention. I won't have more than just us at risk over this. Sara. You've just been appointed the *Andromeda's* acting chief engineer. Rig the ship for operation with a skeleton crew."
"ME!?" Sara yelped.
"You've said you don't want to be shut out," Dylan said, "and you're the only 'freakin' genius' I have available to me. Let's bring it, people."
Sara hung back while her fiancee and his fellow High Guard officers left the room. She blew out a stream of air. "All right, Sara. Let's see if being the only girl in shop class for three years running has paid off."
****
"Prisoner transfer," Kylie said as she and Rommie came up to the desk sergeant in the station's brig; Kylie flicked a small flexie onto the desk. "Prisoner 2184-J/L7."
The man picked the flexie up. "Trance Gemini. You're Major Vance off the *Andromeda,* right? And I'm supposed to just hand The Grape over to you?"
"That's the general idea," Kylie shot back.
"I'm going to have to verify this with Admiral Stark."
"Suuurrrrrreeeee. Go right ahead. Bother the Old Lady about this; see if I care if you make my day worse than it already is."
"What? She got you jumping through hoops or somethin'?"
"No... well, it's nothing really."
"What?"
"We're trying to find Rommie a date."
"Aren't there other AIs -- ?"
"A *human* date. You know, experience life among humans. Just go to Tarn Vedra on a three day pass, hit some clubs, no big deal. I got four passes, but no one I've asked wants to go."
"Yeah?" The sergeant looked Rommie over.
Rommie rested her elbows on the desk and leaned forward, giving the man a good view down the front of her top. "Have I ever mentioned how much I admire the Lancer Corps?" she said, smiling warmly.
"Yeah?" The sergeant's eyes flicked between Kylie and Rommie. Then he looked at the flexie again. "Ah, the Old Lady's probably got enough to worry about. Hey Frank! Get The Grape out here."
Once Trance had been transferred to Kylie and Rommie's custody, they traded as few pleasantries with the sergeant as they could get away with and left.
"I'm beginning to hope this mission succeeds," Rommie hissed as they hurried through the station.
"Really?" Kylie said.
"Yes! I mean, me on a date with that barely evolved hominid? This 'Seamus Harper' may not sound like a savory character, but at least he has a neck!"
****
"As you were," Admiral Stark said to the desk sergeant. "I wish to speak with the prisoner, Gemini."
"But... Admiral... " The man snapped to attention -- he knew he was in it deep now. "Ma'am! Major Kylie Vance and the *Andromeda* avatar just took custody of her. They had orders from your office."
"WHAT!? And you didn't verify them for WHAT REASON!?"
"Uhhhhhhhhh... "
"We will deal with it another time." Stark tabbed a control on the hapless man's desk. "Stark to operations. Security alert. Lock down the *Andromeda Ascendant.* I say again, lock down the *Andromeda Ascendant.*"
****
Kylie, Rommie, and Trance had just got to the *Andromeda's* docking airlock when Stark sounded the alarm. They left the station MPs guarding the airlock unconscious on the station side, then rushed into the ship and slammed the door behind them.
"We're in," Rommie called into the com as Kylie undid Trance's cuffs, "but there's a security alert. I've been locked down."
****
"We see it," Dylan said, crossing to Sara's engineering station. "Just get up here. Sara?"
"My codes aren't working," Sara said, "not even the legit ones. I can't unlock the hold-down clamps."
"Sir, station security forces have been deployed," Rhade called from his station. "Estimate lancers will be ready to board us in three minutes."
Dylan cursed. "I'd hoped this wouldn't get messy. Andromeda! Send out the lads. Take care of the hold-down clamps."
****
"Stam!" Thompson called, running to stand beside his mate at a huge observation window with a view of the *Andromeda's* slip. "What's going on? Tell me it's another drill."
At that moment, a brilliant explosion arced on the ship's surface; the station rocked as debris floated away into space, the remains of one of the two hold-down clamps.
The umber hulk turned to Thompson. "It is no drill," he growled.
****
As Thompson had seen, Andromeda's two giant land warfare robots made short work of the portside clamp, but when they went to work on the starboard one, the station had already launched combat drones. Their first run destroyed one robot and left the other damaged, unable to fire its weapons. So it flung itself onto the clamp, overloading its own power supply as the drones came back; the explosion took out both the clamp and the drones.
Rommie winced just as she, Kylie, and Trance got to Command.
"Rommie!" Dylan said. "What is it?"
"Dylan... " she said. "I've lost both Tweedle bots and sustained some damage to my outer hull. But the clamps have been destroyed!"
"Dawn! Get us out of here!"
"Going!"
'I wonder if you know who you sound like,' Dylan thought with a half smile as Dawn pulled the *Andromeda* out of its slip, then put the pedal to the metal; the giant cruiser accelerated away from the station.
"How are you doing, Rhade?" Dylan asked, ascending to his station.
"I have the security net in knots," Rhade replied. "They shouldn't be able to get anything larger than a cutter after us, by which time we should be long gone."
"So where are we going?" Trance chirped.
"I was hoping you could tell me," Dylan said.
"Dylan... I... "
"Trance -- THINK! When this all started, you'd made us go to Candera Four because you thought something was wrong -- "
"YES! That's where we have to go."
"Dawn, lay in a course."
****
"Slipstream in two minutes -- " Dawn started.
"CRAP!" Kylie called from the weapons' station. "We have company."
"It's a High Guard ship," Rommie said. "They must have got the word out before Rhade confused their codes."
"And he's between us and the slip portals," Dawn said.
"'He' is right," Kylie said. "It's the *Balance of Judgment.*"
"Incoming message," Rommie said.
Sun Behind Clouds, the *Balance's* Than captain, appeared on one of the monitors. "Dylan, this is Sun. I've been ordered to take you in, by force if necessary. Whatever's going on, we can work it out. Do what's best for your ship and crew. Stand down and prepare to be boarded." She left the screen.
"So much for the *Andromeda* mutiny," Rhade said.
"It's not over until I say it is," Dylan said. "Dawn, stand down." Dawn vacated the pilot's chair; she took Dylan's station as he strapped himself into the pilot's chair.
"Not that I want to sound overly pessimistic," Kylie said, "but Commander Rhade's right. We're -- "
"We're undermanned, outgunned, in a bad position, and cut off from the nearest slip portal," Dylan said. "Does anyone but me find that familiar?"
Trance didn't look away from the ES station, but her tail stood straight up.
"Nice to know someone is on familiar ground," Rhade said.
"We're going through," Dylan said, beginning to program the flight controls. "All right, Beka," he muttered, "let's see how well I was paying attention... "
****
"Any reply?" Captain Sun Behind Clouds asked her ship's android avatar.
"No," Gabriel said. "It's possible -- "
"Captain," said the holographic version of Gabriel. "The *Andromeda* is accelerating at us. She's arming offensive and defensive missile batteries."
"Combat alert," Sun ordered; the klaxon sounded. Gabriel's voice could be heard ordering the crew to battle stations.
"Dylan," Sun muttered, "don't do this -- "
"She's firing!" Holo Gabriel said as a swarm of read dots appeared on the tactical display.
"Fire PDLs," Sun said. "Return fire, all tubes."
The *Andromeda's* missiles quickly vanished from the graphic as the *Balance* fired its own swarm of red dots which reached the *Andromeda.*...
...and it vanished.
"That's *it*?" said Alexander Bolivar, the *Balance's* handsome, blonde Nietzschean pilot.
"Judgment," Sun said, "confirm kill: Did we or did we not hit the *Andromeda*?"
A screen version of Gabriel appeared on the huge monitor next to the one with the tactical graphic. "Scanning, Captain... There are insufficient quantities of debris or radiation to account for a Glorious Heritage class cruiser. Hypothesis: The *Andromeda* fired a drone equipped with a -- "
"Captain!" Android Gabe broke in. "Slipstream event behind us. Glorious Heritage signature."
"I'd say your hypothesis was correct, Ship," Sun said. "Alex, lay in a pursuit course; engage when ready."
****
"Admiral on -- " Captain Warrick started.
"As you were," Admiral Stark said, coming through the *Pax Magellanic's* docking airlock. "Captain, I am assuming command of this ship. Prepare for immediate departure."
****
"Slipstream event behind us," Sara said from the sensor station. "Looks like the *Judgment* is coming after us."
"Can't say he's still not persistent," Dylan growled. (This got a frown from Rommie.)
Dylan piloted his ship on a white-knuckle ride through the slipstream and dropped out at a very familiar binary star system.
"Hello, Capella," Dylan said, configuring for another jump. "Goodbye, Capella."
Dylan took the ship through four more such jumps. But on the fifth one, he veered off at the last minute before entering the slip portal, and sent the *Andromeda* into a course around the local sun.
"We have clear sailing," Rommie said. "No obstacles in our path."
"Power down all engines," Dylan said. "Rig for silent running."
The Command Deck got noticeably quieter in seconds.
"The *Balance* has entered this system," Sara said... sounding slightly nervous.
****
"Rigging for next jump -- " Alexander started.
"Belay that," Sun said. "Ship, deploy drones; begin search pattern."
"Deploying drones," Screen Gabriel said.
"You believe Captain Hunt is here?" Android Gabriel asked.
"I know he's here," Sun said. "Call it human intuition obtained by osmosis. But Dylan's here."
****
"The *Balance* has deployed drones," Kylie said. "They're beginning a standard search pattern."
"I'm starting to tumble," Rommie said. "Should I correct?"
"No, Rommie, no thruster activity of any kind." Dylan focused on the graphic showing the *Balance.* "C'mon, Sun, there's no one here but us asteroids, give it up... "
*****
"I've identified 572 objects bright enough to be the *Andromeda,*" holo Gabriel said, "but I must point out, Captain, that in the time it takes me to check them all, the *Andromeda* could have gone another 15 slips. We would have lost her."
"Thank you, Ship. Continue your search."
****
"Crap!" Sara said. "We've got trouble."
A graphic appeared on one of the monitors, showing a rather large asteroid and tracing its orbit...
.... and highlighting a point where its orbit and the *Andromeda's* intersected.
"Why didn't you see this before, Ship?" Rhade said.
"The asteroid is unusually dark," Rommie said. "It absorbs so much light -- "
"We'll worry about that later," Dylan said. "Time to impact?"
"Three minutes," Holo Rommie said, "but given my inertia, we will have to change course in two minutes and twenty-seven seconds if we want to avoid an impact."
"As soon as we fire up our engines, the *Balance* will see us," Dawn said.
****
"With respect," Android Gabriel said, "even for Captain Hunt, this tactic is highly unorthodox. This is what one might expect from a pirate or a smuggler, not a High Guard captain."
"Which may just show you don't know Dylan all that well," Sun said. But she sighed. "You've made your point, Ship, but I'm not ready to give up yet. We'll give it four more minutes."
****
"It's now or never," Sara said.
"Andromeda, power up all engines," Dylan said. "Plotting escape vector -- "
"That course takes us close to the *Judgment,*" Holo Rommie said.
"Exactly," Dylan said. "Kylie -- ready a spread of mines, moderate yield, just enough to knock him around a bit."
****
"I have a contact!" Android Gabriel said. "He's making a break for it."
"Intercept course NOW!" Sun ordered.
****
"The *Balance* is closing," Kylie said.
"Stand by the mines," Dylan said. "And... bring it!"
****
"Stand by to -- " Sun started.
"Captain!" Holo Gabriel said. "Mines -- right in front of us!"
"What?" Sun said. "Evasive -- "
The command deck rocked under the first explosion.
****
"We got him," Screen Rommie said. "The *Balance's* propulsion and weapons are down."
"How'd you know that would work *again*?" Trance said. (The question didn't really surprise anybody.)
"I didn't," Dylan said, "but I had been wondering if the *Balance's* sensors were a bit farsight -- "
"Captain -- " Kylie started, but a huge explosion arced on the *Balance.*
"I thought you set those mines to moderate yield!" Dylan said.
"I did!"
"One of them must have hit near the AP Solenoid -- " Sara started.
Then the rear half of the *Balance* split open, giving birth to a new small star. Everyone but Rommie covered their eyes. When they could look again, the star had aged to a glowing nebula.
"Rommie," Dylan said.
"No life signs," Rommie said. "The *Balance of Judgment* has been lost with all hands."
Dylan tried to think of something to say, but he couldn't. A group of mutineers had become murderers, but he couldn't say anything.
"We have passed the point of no return," Rhade said quietly.
Dylan focused on the flight controls. "Setting course for the Candera system. Brace for Slipstream... "
****
When the *Andromeda* arrived at the Candera system without further incident, Dylan vacated the pilot's chair, allowing Dawn to resume control of the ship.
"We are ten minutes from orbit," Rommie said. "Receiving data from my sensor drones."
A translucent 3-d image of Candera Four appeared above the holo-projection pit. (Dylan hadn't realized how much he'd missed that convenience, but he supposed Harper had been right to get rid of it.) The size and mass of Earth, the planet was mostly wild forests and jungles, although there were signs it had once had sentient life.
"Ok, Trance," Dylan said. "Where do we go now?"
Trance stood at the railing, eyes riveted to the rotating graphic. Then she pointed: "THERE!"
The graphic stopped spinning and a red dot appeared on the spot she'd pointed to; a magnified image of that area appeared on one of the big screens.
Dylan recognized it at once. "Is that... ?"
"Yes, Dylan," Trance said, "that's where the... the bright nothingness came from, and that's where we have to go."
"'Bright nothingness'?" Kylie said.
"Make sense," Sara said.
"Let me guess -- more math, right, Doc?"
"You got it, Major."
"Any sign of pursuit?" Dylan asked.
"No," Holo Rommie said.
"I don't like it, but we don't have too many options," Dylan said. "Kylie, get your squad and... " One look at Sara and he decided not to start another argument. "...Trance and Dr. Riley rigged for a flying drop. Rommie, you're with us, too. Dawn, Rhade. Keep an eye on things up here. And let's hope we don't have to fight anymore of our comrades in arms."
"Amen to that," Dawn said.
****
As Kylie helped Trance and Sara suit up in AG harnesses and lancer armor, Sara contained part of her nervousness by trying to observe the proceedings scientifically, as if she was going to present a paper on it, and partly by letting herself be amused by the fact that Trance (a) seemed to be enjoying herself, and (b) Kylie didn't have to show her where anything was.
Three people could squeeze into each drop pod; Sara found herself riding with Trance and Kylie, while Dylan rode with Rommie and another of Kylie's lancers in another pod.
Sara's forced scientific fascination didn't have to be forced much when the pods launched along with a squadron of the *Andromeda's* combat drones, which accompanied the pods down through the atmosphere. She was actually starting to enjoy herself when --
"LZ coordinates in sight," Andromeda's voice said over her earpiece.
"Brace for drop on my mark," Dylan's voice picked up.
"'Drop'?" Sara said. "But I thought -- "
"MARK!"
The pod split open, and Sara found herself floating above the treetops, her AG harness the only thing keeping her from falling full speed. But she was still falling, and even at a nice, (relatively) gentle pace, she didn't get through the canopy without scraping herself on some branches. (All the more infuriating, apart from how Kylie and her squad of lancers descended gracefully even with their lances deployed, was how Trance snagged a branch with her tail and then raced down the tree like a huge purple squirrel.) The ground came up quicker than she expected and she landed on her side with a solid thump.
Kylie came over to her (while Trance looked on, upside-down on the side of a tree). "You ok?"
"Only my dignity... I think."
"You're all right," Trance said, springing to the ground.
"Yeah," Sara said, getting up, as Dylan, Rommie and the other lancers came over to join them. Sara didn't waste time getting in her fiancee's face. "You could have warned me!" she yelled.
"What, and spoil the surprise?" Dylan said; the other lancers also looked amused.
"Look on the bright side," Kylie said: "You're one of *us* now."
"Thanks," Sara said, a bit calmer, "though I think I'll pass on the secret handshake and the decoder ring for now."
"All right, people, we have work to do," Dylan said, reluctantly putting a stop to the levity.
Rommie pointed. "Trance's coordinates are roughly half a klick in that direction."
"Kylie -- move your squad out."
"You heard the captain!" Kylie shouted, giving specific orders to her lancers.
****
It wasn't long (although not soon enough for Sara, who lamented leaving her bug spray on the ship) before they came to a cluster of low, three or four story concrete buildings that the forest had long since encroached on. They all looked very modern. And not one of them had a visible door.
"I'm not detecting any sign of these from orbit," Rommie said.
"We... well, I didn't see them the first time, either," Dylan said.
"Some kind of stealth -- ?" Kylie started. "ROMMIE!?"
Everyone noticed that Rommie had fallen to her knees, apparently in pain. For a brief moment, her comrades were distracted.
That was their last mistake.
The forest rustled as dozens of lancers burst out from camouflaged positions in the surrounding brush; in mere moments, Dylan and his team were disarmed and restrained, except for Rommie, who seemed disoriented and in pain.
"Dylan," she said, "Dylan, I'm under fire from -- "
"From me," Jill Pearce, the *Pax Magellanic's* avatar, said sadly as she, Captain Warrick, and Admiral Stark came over to them. "I'm sorry, Sis."
"It's ok, Pax, I -- "
"Enough pleasantries," Stark said. "Pax Magellanic -- "
"NO!!" Dylan screamed. "Admiral -- for God's sake, DON'T DO THIS -- !!"
" -- execute your sister ship."
Pax nodded. Seconds passed, then Andromeda's body shook, as in the space above them, the *Andromeda* took some carefully targeted missile hits from the *Pax Magellanic.* Andromeda swooned and fell to the ground.
"NO!" Dylan shouted, struggling against his captors. "Rommie -- !!" A gesture from Stark, and Dylan was freed. He ran to the fallen android and cradled her in his arms. "Rommie... "
She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Systems crashing... irrevocable systems' shutdown in fifteen seconds. Is this death?"
Dylan fought back his tears. "It's... it's ok, Rommie. Ha-Harper's waiting for you. He'll fix you up, good as new, he... heee... "
"Captain?" Rommie said. "I lll -- " Rommie's body convulsed, and then she settled into Dylan's arms, an inert hunk of machinery, no longer alive.
Dylan lowered her to the ground. He thought of Beka, Harper, Rev, even Tyr...
...and stopped thinking. He let out a roar and charged at Stark, but her lancers piled onto him before he'd got two paces. Their lances rose and fell, thumping onto the *Andromeda's* captain.
"Enough," Stark said.
The beating stopped; two lancers helped Dylan, beaten and bloody, to his feet.
"Order your remaining officers to stand down," Stark said. A third lancer shoved his com gauntlet in front of Dylan's face; it showed Rhade and Dawn, lances drawn, on the now darkened Command Deck of the *Andromeda.*
"Dawn, Rhade -- " Dylan said.
"DYLAN!" Rhade called. "We've lost main power and we're being -- "
"Yes, I know," Dylan said glumly. "Stand down. You will offer no resistance of any kind and... and surrender."
A pause. "Understood," Rhade said. He and Dawn lowered their weapons. A moment later, Stark's troops charged into command and arrested them. The man in front of Dylan stole away his gauntlet.
"I'm sorry it had to end this way, old friend," Stark said.
"Yes, you won, fine," Trance said. "But can I ask you one question, Admiral?"
Stark didn't look at her. "What."
"The people who brought you here the first time," Trance said cheerfully, "could they walk through walls?"
Stark turned to Trance. "What?"
"Oh, my... " Dylan said. He had the last piece of the puzzle -- everything made sense now. He should have seen it coming. "Admiral... those people, they were the human allies of the Magog!"
"Nonsense -- " Stark started.
"And I'm in with them?" Dylan said. "Or in with someone who *wants* to see the Commonwealth fall?"
"Admiral, the people who helped you don't want what's best for the Commonwealth," Trance said. "They sent you back to create a timeline where their master would win easier than he otherwise would -- "
Stark spun and clubbed Trance with her lance. "ENOUGH OF THIS!"
"Time to stop lying, Admiral," Dylan said. "I know what you did."
"Oh?" Stark said. "Do you know what the *Nietzscheans* would have done to the Commonwealth? I *saw* it."
"Admiral?" Captain Warrick asked, confused.
"So did I," Dylan said. "I saw everything in ruins but I tried to build it up again."
"And how would you know that if only one of us had actually traveled in time?"
"I helped him," Trance said, getting up. "I made sure he and I remembered."
"How convenient for you, Miss Gemini. But as far as I'm concerned, you've just proven -- "
"ADMIRAL!" Jill said. "Multiple slipstream events... Magog swarm ships on attack vector."
"He knows," Dylan breathed.
Stark ignored him. "How many?"
"Fifteen thousand."
Shock rippled through the assemblage.
"The Magog never sent a force that big -- " Kylie started.
"Admiral!" Dylan said. "Think about it. The Magog's allies sent you back in time promising you you could save the Commonwealth before it fell, but instead you've created a future where their leader -- yes, the bastard in the world ship! -- wins before he's even in a good attack position. And now that I'm here to do something about it, there just *happens* to be a Magog attack bigger than -- ?"
Jill fell to her knees, holding her stomach in pain.
"Ship?" Stark said.
"I'm being overrun... " Jill said. Distracted. "My crew... John, our crew -- " She broke off. "Estimate they will land and overrun this position in approximately twenty minutes. Main power... " She smiled at Dylan. "I guess this 'Harper' will have to deal with two of us now." She favored her captain with another smile and sank to the ground, as inert as the avatar of her sister ship. Warrick barely hid his feelings.
"Admiral," Dylan said, "you've known me through most of my career. I would *never* betray the Commonwealth, or fail to do my duty. And it's my duty to tell you... with respect, Admiral, but you've been duped. And your course of action now is wrong."
"Connie," Sara said, "listen to him. Please."
A wave of emotions played over Stark's face. She finally turned to Warrick. "Captain Warrick."
"Ma'am."
"Release them; have a medic check Dylan's injuries."
****
"We will have time for recriminations later, if we get out of this," Stark said, once Dylan and his group had been released and a medic had injected nanobots to help him recover from the beating. "So, Dylan, what's the plan now?"
"Uhm... " Dylan started.
"Dylan?" Trance said. "Why are we still here?"
"What do you mean, Trance?" Dylan asked.
"Well, the swarm ships have those point singularity thingies on them, right? They could blow up this planet with one shot, but they haven't. Maybe -- "
"Admiral, that's it!" Dylan said. "Maybe the time portal or whatever it was doesn't just send you back through time but maintains the timeline it creates. So if we destroy the portal... "
"We might undo this," Stark said. "But Miss Gemini alluded to the one problem we have." She pointed to the tallest building in the compound. "It doesn't have a door."
"Of course it has a door," Trance said, heading for the building. "You just have to find it."
They followed Trance to the building where she ran her hand along a blank wall and pressed on one spot. Part of the seemingly solid wall slid aside.
"How -- ?" Stark started.
"Don't bother," Dylan said.
Inside it was one large space, like a cathedral to science, and in the middle room, four stone-like pillars at the corners of a 16 square meter space, supporting a crystal pyramid with what looked like a galaxy inside.
"All right!" Stark barked. "We've got ten minutes before the party starts. Captains, organize your men and begin laying charges."
****
Even with the nanobots helping him, Dylan still felt useless as his squad and some of Stark's lancers rigged explosive charges on the... "portal" he supposed was best word for it... and the surrounding machinery. The rest of Stark's forces set up defensive positions outside. With all this going on, Dylan lost track of the admiral. Not that it mattered. All he could do was dwell on the fact that if this didn't work, there was no plan "B;" his only hope was the Magog would allow them time to finish.
It was to be a false hope.
The familiar roaring of the Magog told him they'd landed sooner than expected even before one of Stark's men yelled that they were braking through the lancer lines, over the sound of gunfire.
"I'll get the last connection," Sara said, darting across the room, too close the entrance. A clutch of Magog charged in and fell on her; her screams were quickly cut off by a sound Dylan would take to his grave.
"NO!" Dylan screamed; he attacked without any plan, wildly firing his force lance. But there were too many of them, and he was wounded; they fell onto him in the end...
...and then he felt the fangs of one of them break through his armor and find his flesh.
Dylan screamed again.
He's just been infected.
The Magog dumped him by the wall, as Dylan listened to the sounds of fighting and dying, mainly by the lancers. He realized he'd not heard Kylie's voice since just before Sara had...
He didn't want to go there.
Another Magog dumped Trance next to Dylan. She looked like she had her share of gouges.
"Sorry," Trance said.
"We tried," Dylan said. "All that matters in life is that we tried."
A huge shadow passed over them; they looked to see a Magog dressed in armor and hefting a huge rifle.
"So," it said, "you are the one our god wishes us to destroy."
Dylan grinned wolfishly. "Nice to know I'm in demand. Though if he really cared, he should come and finish me off himself."
"No, that honor shall not be yours, Dylan Hunt of the Commonwealth. But know that I, Death Storm, shall be rewarded for the glory of your kill."
"And I, Admiral Stark, say not bloody likely!" A small explosion erupted on Death Storm's armor. He fell as Dylan saw Stark charge at them through the Magog.
Too little, too late, against too much. For every Magog she killed, another five took their place. Before long, Stark was dumped next to Dylan and Trance.
Death Storm drew himself up; he'd been wounded, but did not seem phased by it.
"Is this the best this 'Commonwealth' has to offer?" he taunted; the other Magog laughed. "Then being meat for our tables may be your best destiny after all."
"Oh, give a girl a *chance,*" Stark said, her last word meant for someone or something other than the Magog leader. A response came from the pyramid -- energy began to arc around it, and the ground shook.
"What -- ?" Dylan started.
"AG harnesses," Stark said. "I seem to recall my benefactors did not want them near the device; I always wondered why."
"But how -- when -- "
"Dylan. Please. You honestly didn't think I taught you everything *I* know, did you?"
Death Storm growled orders and the Magog began to scale the supporting pillars to the pyramid and -- Dylan had never seen anything like it: With a loud thunderclap, what looked like a mass of darkness grew in the heart of the pyramid, then spread out beyond it. Dylan felt Trance's tail wrap around his hand just as he fell into an all-consuming void that swallowed all thought, all light, all life...
****
"Report," Dylan said, coming down the ramp to the Command deck's main stations.
"Well, we are in orbit of Candera Four," Beka said. "Now, if someone could tell me why we are here, I'll be happy."
"I'm not detecting anything unusual on the sensors," Rommie said.
Tyr looked up from the weapons station. "This could all be a waste of time."
"Not necessarily," Harper's voice crackled over the com from engineering. "I hear they have great waves. Who's for a beach party?"
"Mmm." Dylan turned to the remaining member of his crew. "Trance?"
"Something's wrong," the gold-skinned woman with long red dreadlocks said. "We can't leave just yet."
"All right," Dylan said. "Andromeda, deploy sensor drones and disperse them in a -- "
"THERE!" Trance pointed at a monitor.
"I don't see anything," Beka said.
"No, there is something," Tyr said. He worked his controls. The image zoomed in on a barren area in an otherwise forested land mass, and a circle of blue in the middle of it.
"A lake?" Beka said. "That's what we came here for?"
"Lakes are not bad," Harper called in. "I just gotta rig me a wind surfer."
"This is no ordinary lake," Rommie said. "The basin appears to be the blast crater formed by a nuclear explosion of about 17 megatons. Judging from residual radiation and erosion patterns, I would say it occurred twenty-five thousand years a -- "
"I have something else," Tyr said; one of the other big screens lit to show a tiny silver object against the blackness of space. "Looks like some kind of marker buoy at the LaGrange point with the planet's moon."
"Running IFF... " Rommie said. "It's from a High Guard destroyer, the *Scales of Justice.*"
"Didn't I read somewhere that the *Scales* was the High Guard flagship after Witchhead?" Beka said.
"Trance?" Dylan asked. "Is this what we came here for?"
"I don't -- I -- " Suddenly Trance and Dylan seemed unsteady on their feet; they both slumped to the deck.
"DYLAN!?" Rommie raced to her captain's side while Beka looked at Trance.
"Rommie, what's wrong with them?"
"Well, I can't say about Trance, Beka, but Dylan's just suffered radical shifts in his brain chemistry and -- "
Dylan opened his eyes. "Rommie?" Then his eyes went wide. "ROMMIE!" he shouted, hugging the stunned android. "*You're alive!*"
"Yes, Dylan, I -- mmmph!" Dylan cut her off with a long kiss; she flailed a little but didn't put up too much of a fight.
Trance came to. "Dylan?"
"Trance!?" Dylan released Rommie (who flopped to a sitting position on the deck, not knowing quite where she was) and crossed to golden goddess. "You made it!?" he said, helping her up.
"Yes, Dylan... Oh, Dylan, I'm so sorry -- "
"Worry about that later. Status!"
Holo Rommie appeared (her android self was having a little trouble remembering how to stand). "Unchanged."
"What about the energy wave or whatever it was?"
"Energy... ?" Beka said.
"There's no energy, Dylan," the hologram went on, puzzled. "Just some unusual geography and a marker buoy from the -- "
"I don't feel so good," Trance said, and fled Command. Dylan, Tyr, and Beka went after her and found her down the corridor and on all fours, throwing up. Then she keeled over onto her side, completely still.
"No life signs," the ship's voice said.
"Here we go again." Dylan knelt next to Trance. She had no tail this time but... he grabbed one of her long dreadlocks and yanked. "Trance?"
"YIPE!" The gold skinned woman sat up with a start. "The *hair.*"
"Sorry," Dylan said. "Since when was this a problem of yours?"
"Um... " Beka said. "I'm sensing strangeness, and I was wondering if someone could please explain."
"That would be appreciated," Tyr said.
Dylan sat on the deck next to Trance and smiled. "Well, guys, have we got one heluva story to tell you... "
****
Dylan let Beka handle the particulars of recovering the *Scales of Justice's* buoy and retreated to his cabin and went over the ship's logs and accumulated messages; he watched Andromeda's records of his fight with Rhade at Hephaestos, his contact with Sara through time, her message from Tarazed... nothing over the past two years seemed any different. Nor was their any sign his old friends remembered the events he and Trance did.
He did not know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing...
The buoy had one message on it addressed to "Captain Dylan Hunt and the crew of the *Andromeda Ascendant.*" Dylan invited everyone to the observation deck to view it.
The hologram of Admiral Stark flickered and shook with static, but it was still recognizable.
"I am making this recording in the hope that the events I recall really happened," she said. "At least someone will know I'm not crazy, if posthumously.
"First, let me say that all my life, I have dedicated myself to serving and protecting the Commonwealth. If I have one flaw, it may be that sometimes, I get a little overzealous in that calling, and I believe... no, I *know* that is what happened in the... I suppose 'alternate timeline' is as good a term as any. I should have believed in you and Miss Gemini from the start. I do not know if that is enough of an apology, but it is the only explanation I can offer.
"I do not envy you the task you have set for yourself, Dylan, but if your Miss Gemini is anything to go by, then you have quite a team of extraordinary individuals following you. You and they are more a credit to the High Guard than any commissioned officer I have ever served with; I wish you the best of luck." She saluted. "Hold the Line." The holo vanished.
"Hold the line, Admiral," Dylan muttered.
"My best guess is that the imbalance Stark created in the portal went back in time to the moment it was first activated," Rommie explained. "Its power source overloaded just as it was being powered up for the first time."
"So it was never there for the Magog to use," Tyr said, "not in this reality, anyway."
"I'm gettin' a headache," Harper groused.
"Rommie..." Beka said. "Do we know what happened to her?"
"There are dozens of conflicting reports of the admiral's final fate," the android said, "but most accounts agree she lead a guerilla war from the *Scales of Justice* for some time after the Battle of Witchhead."
Dylan half turned to his crew. "Thank you all for coming." They started to file out. "Rommie -- stay a moment."
She stayed. "Yes, Dylan?"
"I'm curious... what would you have done? How would you have chosen?"
"You mean, between the family I had then and the one I have now? Well, you said it yourself, the Magog--"
"What if they weren't a factor? What if there weren't any external factors at all?"
Rommie's face clouded over; it was a few moments before she could speak, and her voice shook a little. "I don't know. Either choice would be heart-wrenching. But I suppose it would be hard to resist the chance to see them all again, if only for just a day."
-The End-
To Michael J. Gallagher's Fan Fiction
Home