Title: The Mathematics of Evil

Rating: Pg-13

Spoilers: Minor spoilers for season 1, 2, and 3. The 'Mathematics of Tears' as well.

Disclaimer: Everything Andromeda belongs to Tribune Entertainment.

"CODE RED! CODE RED! CODE RED!"

The Warship Andromeda's shouting could barely be heard over the moans and wails of the wounded people scattered all over the loading dock. The entire room was almost filled to the brim with over hundreds of people. Through the smoke Trance Gemini could barely be seen as she walked from one body to the next, checking for life signs and ascertaining who had the better chance to survive. To the far left Tyr Anasazi and Seamus Harper were carrying another occupied stretcher from the tiny, battle-scarred ship that was attached to the Andromeda. The entire docking bay shuddered once, and people shrieked in fear. A woman shielded her small child.

"Trance!" Beka called from the far side, approaching her. "Can we take the critical to the medical bay? We might have a better chance of saving their lives-"

Trance shook her red head impatiently, starring at her blue medical scanner. "No, we don't have the time. We'll just have to treat the people that have the best chance of living." She took a deep breath. "Their physiology is different from anything that I've ever seen. It's going to take some time to figure out." She blinked as the medical scanner suddenly turned off. She was silent as she closed the man's lifeless eyes.

Beka looked up as the docking bay shuddered again. "If we can survive ourselves," she said softly. Her blue eyes darkened. "Innocent refugees transporting from one world to the next, and they had to be attacked by the Kaldarans." She wiped her sweaty forehead and sighed. "These people had nothing to offer them! Why did this have to happen!?"

From the other side of the room Harper knelt next to a small girl with blond hair. "Are you injured?" he asked, gently turning her head to see if she was all right.

"Mommy. Where's my mommy?" the girl asked, clinging onto a small teddy.

"Just hold still," Harper said, injecting the girl with a general stabilizer. "You're going to be all right."

The girl grasped Harper's green sleeve with her tiny fingers. "It was the bad man," she whispered, looking around the medical bay with fear. "He's still here."

"HARPER!" Tyr snarled from across the docking bay.

Harper looked behind him, then turned back and sighed. "Yep. That would be the bad man. I'll be right back." He stood. "You'll be safe here. Trust me, all right? You'll be O.K."

"No!" the girl whispered as Harper went to join Tyr, but her voice was so tiny, so frail that Harper didn't hear her. The girl gripped the teddy bear tighter and slunk down deeper into the blanket.

The android Rommie stepped down from the small ship. "Dylan, all the refugees are now safely aboard. We can now detach and engage slipstream."

"Acknowledged. Tell everyone to hold on. This is going to be rough," Dylan replied over the com.

The docking bay jolted as slipstream was engaged. Chunks of plaster fell from the damaged walls, and people screamed in terror as the lights flickered out. Rommie could instantly see with her night vision. Four flashlights activated and flickered over the docking bay.

Rommie joined Trance, who was sitting next to a man. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and a rather calm face. His blue eyes stared lifelessly ahead, but his arm was still moving erratically. Trance's face was puzzled. "I'm not reading any life signs...but he's still moving."

Rommie switched to her internal scanners, and her eyes detected the truth. "That's because he's not human. He's an android." She frowned as a file was instantly activated in front of her vision. "I know him," she said in astonishment. "He's from one of the Commonwealth ships we liberated two months ago. He's an avatar of the Beringway."

Trance frowned. "What is a Commonwealth avatar doing on a transport ship?"

"Help me!" a voice suddenly cried behind them.

Trance shook her head in puzzlement. "I don't have the time to deal with this now. She stood and walked towards the injured voice.

Rommie peered closer. The android had been severely damaged, and his internal power supply had been hit hard. Vital fluids were pouring out of his body. His android personality would not live for much longer.

Rommie didn't hesitate. She bent down with her head, and kissed the android on his lips. Instantly his memories were copied and downloaded into her general memory core. There they would be safely stored and viewed without interfering with her own parameters. Perhaps it would yield some information as to what happened.

The android sighed softly, and died. Rommie felt a moment's sorrow.

His personality could not be copied. It was a very deep loss. The Beringway was a good ship, fulfilling missions that went way beyond the Commonwealth's protocols.

Exactly like her.

"Rommie, help!" Trance called out.

Rommie turned on her heels and helped Trance. The memories could be accessed later. And the answers that went with them.

--------

Deep within the android Rommie's mainframe, the mainframe that separated herself from the ship's AI itself, were the stored memories of the Beringway avatar. It sat, white files on top of each other in an endless blue field of computerized circuits that was Rommie.

A spark suddenly exploded out of the white files, and settled down onto the computerized circuits. At its touch dark green tendrils spread from the tiny spark, and began to grow and spread in the blue field. -----------

Rommie suddenly tilted her head. Everything suddenly felt....weird to her. She frowned for a moment, looking left and right, then finally shrugged and decided it was probably nothing.

The view screen lit up with eight worlds and three suns. "Generally, it is a peaceful civilization," Andromeda supplied. "There has been five incidents along its borders recently, but nothing to warrant an unprovoked attack on a freighter."

Rommie stepped onto the second station and began imputing orders.

"What are you doing?" Dylan demanded.

"I'm setting a course for their home world, and I'm warming all missiles," Rommie replied. "And the nova bombs we have hidden in storage locker five. I believe that Harper has made at least three so far."

Tyr blinked and looked up, astonishment in his brown eyes.

Dylan glared at her. She knew damn well that was classified information. "Rommie, we don't have any proof that the Kaldarans attacked those people."

"Dylan, they attacked us! I call that fairly strong evidence!"

The Andromeda hologram appeared. "Kaldarans are known to be very territorial and having a profound hatred for the Commonwealth. They arrived not long after we did. For all we know they thought it was us attacking those refugees," she pointed out.

Rommie gaped at them. "I don't believe this," she said in astonishment.

"Nova bombs?" Tyr inquired, resting his head against his hand.

"Yes, Tyr!" Rommie snapped before Dylan could deny it. "We've been lying to you for the past year. Pretty much everyone knew except for you. Get used to it." Her head jerked back at Dylan. "I can't believe you're doing this. They've hurt innocent people before, and now they're doing it again AND they tried to kill us!" she snarled.

"Rommie, can we have this conversation alone?" Dylan asked her coldly.

"No, Dylan," Tyr said, clearly interested. "By all means, let the android speak."

"They have to pay for what they did," Rommie said, her voice no more then a whisper.

"It's our duty to dispense justice. Not mindless revenge," Dylan said. "You above all people should understand that. Andromeda, set a course for the Kaldaran home world and contact their government. We will launch an investigation, and then we will dispense punishment. Not before. Rommie, maybe you should take some time-"

"Maybe I should," Rommie said, backing away. "I'll just contact those refugee families and let them know that the people that murdered and butchered their loved ones will just have to wait a little while we launch an investigation," she snapped, and left.

Dylan sighed, and glanced at Tyr. "Something's wrong with her," he said.

"Maybe," Tyr replied, and turned to leave. "Or maybe something's wrong with you."

He stormed off.

eyes were locked in rigid concentration, and a sheen of sweat covered his massive muscles.

"Is this a private session, or can anyone join in?" Rommie asked, smiling gently as she stepped onto the training mat with her black heels. She wore a dark red velvet shirt that plunged at the neckline, and black pants.

Tyr stopped his punching and lifted a white towel from the railing. "I locked those doors," he remarked.

Rommie tilted her head back to the door, and lifted her hand. "Open. Close. Open. Close." As she spoke the doors responded instantly to her commands. She chuckled to herself. "No doors are closed to me on this ship." She approached him. "I felt like I could use a workout."

Tyr leaned back, starring at her intently. "You're an android," he pointed out. "You will neither gain muscle nor lose it."

Rommie shrugged, her brown eyes twinkling. "Let's just say that I would like to experience...everything a human takes for granted." She began to gently swing the punching bag. "You humans...you always feel things so easily. I can only calculate in my head the appropriate response. Last year I calculate the mathematics of tears to the very last digit."

"And now?" Tyr asked, his eyebrow raised.

Rommie's eyes seemed to darken. "I'm calculating the mathematics of hatred." She suddenly whirled around, and kicked with her foot. The punching bag flew across the room and struck the opposite wall sharply.

Tyr looked at it, his face betraying neither surprise nor fear.

Rommie leaned forwards. "It's quite a difficult equation to master," she continued. "The Kaldarans hurt those people. The appropriate response would be to hurt them back, don't you agree? I'm a powerful warship. I could teach them a powerful lesson. Only one thing stands in my way," she said as she and Tyr walked on the training mat.

"Dylan," Tyr answered for her.

Rommie suddenly lunged at him, lashing out with her heel. Tyr tucked in the blow to his side. It would leave a nasty bruise, he was sure. He grabbed the android while she was off-balance and threw her to the ground. With a snarl he pinned her below him.

"My. Isn't this compromising," she said mockingly.

Tyr was suddenly aware of how close their bodies were together. "Dylan is the Captain."

Rommie tilted her red head. "So he is."

"You're holding back," Tyr remarked.

Rommie nodded. "I am," she agreed. She suddenly twisted and kicked him away from her. She flipped backwards onto her feet as Tyr slowly stood.

"You don't agree with his decision," Tyr continued.

Rommie smiled, but it was twisted with bitterness. "I'm a Warship. I'm not allowed to disagree. That's why...we have Captains. We have to obey them. I have to obey him. But at the same time, I'm not like Andromeda. Andromeda follows directives and orders without question. She doesn't....she doesn't feel like I do." She circled around Tyr. "For example, she can't tell when her crew are changing, and not for the better. Especially you. I would have thought that you above all people would disagree with Dylan's decision. But you've changed. You're not the Tyr I once knew," she added angrily.

Tyr stared at her. "Oh?" he echoed with skeptism.

"I remember hating you two years ago. Always questioning Dylan's decisions. Always hoping for one chance...just one little chance to own me for yourself. But now you're different. You're no longer focused on opportunity. You call Dylan 'friend'." Her voice was laced with contempt. "I think you've grown soft."

Tyr leaned forwards. Slowly he caressed her face. "I can assure you, I am the same Tyr I always was." His grip on her arm tightened. Hard. "And I do not take insults lightly."

Rommie smiled slightly and gently grasped his hand. "Well then, Tyr Anasazi, why don't you prove me wrong?" Her breath became a mere whisper as she looked up at his brown eyes. "Because I think I'm far too much opportunity for you to handle."

Their faces were almost touching. Tyr put his gloved finger on her lips. "What did you have in mind?" he asked.

Rommie's brown eyes were glowing brightly. "There's going to be some...changes happening in the near future. Some very significant changes. To all of us. I need to know if you can handle change."

Tyr's face was stone cold. "So long as these...changes increase my opportunity on this ship....I'll pretend to act surprised," he said slowly.

Rommie smiled. "Good." She abruptly turned away.

The gravity under Tyr's feet suddenly increased tenfold. He fell to his knees with a grunt of surprise.

"I can read lies and truth as easily as night and day. But you Tyr....your entire life has been a weaving of lies. How can I even trust what you say?" she asked, picking up two flat weights in her hands. She bounced them in her hands, and held them in front of Tyr. "Let me tell you about myself, Tyr. I can literally feel the gravity generators pulling you down thirty levels below us. Within a single blink I could make them so powerful that they would pull the bones out of your skin. And I honestly don't think anybody would care. I know I wouldn't. They certainly don't trust you enough to tell you about those little nova bombs." She smiled. "Five decks above us I can hear Harper's heart beating against his chest. And two decks above that? I can hear Beka talking to Dylan. About me. My Captain. My dear Captain. I can kill them, too. I can kill all of them. Trance I'm not so sure about....but I have a few ideas that might work. So you see, every single second of the day all your lives virtually hinge on....me. And if that wasn't encouragement enough, perhaps this is."

Rommie held both of the flat weights for a moment in her palms for a moment, then her fingers slowly circled into a fist. The weights crumbled at her touch. Rommie grinded them for a moment, and held both of her closed fists in front of Tyr's stony eyes. She slowly opened them, and mere dust fell from her fingertips onto the floor.

She smiled and grunted in satisfaction. "I see we have an understanding. How fortunate for me," she added dryly. She slowly walked out of the training room, rubbing her hands against her red shirt. She was whistling cheerfully. Tyr watched her leave, his brown eyes expressionless.

----------------

A few minutes later Rommie was strapped in the navigational seat of the Eureka Maru. "Maru, this is the Andromeda Ascendant. Break command codes, authorization-"

"Hey!" Came a sharp voice behind her. Rommie turned her head slightly, and saw Beka Valentine approaching. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing!?"

Rommie unstrapped her harness and smiled slightly. "Beka. Just the one I wanted to talk to." She got up from the chair and approached the first officer. "Dylan said that I could borrow the Maru for the while. I assumed that you wouldn't mind."

"Damn right I do!" Beka snarled. "The Maru isn't either you or Dylan's personal cruise. It belongs to me! Next time, you ask first."

"But it is mine," Rommie said, looking faintly surprised. "As is everything and everyone on this ship. Commonwealth protocol-"

Beka glared at her. "I don't care what your protocol says, Rommie! This is my ship, and my rules. You want to borrow her, you have to be a little more polite."

Rommie stared at her with puzzled eyes. "So...you don't respect the Commonwealth at all? Hm, then I can't be surprised by what's happening. Though I am sorry." She turned to go.

Beka put her hand on Rommie's shoulder. "Who's doing what?" she demanded.

"Dylan," Rommie said. She paused. "You mean...he didn't tell you his orders?" Her brown eyes widened and she looked left and right frantically. "I'm sorry, obviously he hasn't yet. I'll leave it to his discretion-"

Beka turned to face her. "Rommie, what are you talking about!?" she demanded.

Rommie clasped her hands behind her back and coughed. "Now that the new Commonwealth has been established, they believe that the main flagship should be manned by a proper crew." A pause. "A proper, military crew. You understand that having no Commonwealth background, your current position is very fragile at best. In fact some of our recent allies have been questioning why Dylan has backwater, unintelligent rogues for a crew." She coughed awkwardly. "In their words."

Beka looked away in astonishment. "I don't-I don't believe this! What does Dylan have to say about this?"

"Dylan has his orders," Rommie said firmly. "And I have mine. Most of the current crew will be deported soon.....Tyr Anasazi will be held in confinement until certain inquires are fulfilled. Trance will be sent to the science academy of medical study.....for evaluation. And of course there's Harper."

Beka's head jerked to meet Rommie's eyes. "What about him?" she demanded.

Rommie smiled. "Well, of course you understanding that him having little skills at all...he'll be sent to where he's needed most, of course. He'll be joining his cousin on the front lines of Earth."

Beka put her hand on her forehead, not believing this. "What does..." she swallowed. "What does Dylan say about this?"

"Not much," Rommie replied. "Truthfully...I don't think he wants to fight it."

"What are you talking about!?" Beka demanded. "Of course he does."

Rommie shrugged. "Well, it's no secret that he's always wanted a crew that actually respects him...." She smiled and shrugged. "I don't know how to put this, Beka, but at the time you joined you were convenient. Or maybe Dylan felt that he needed to repay the debt for you delivering him out of the black hole." She looked down and shuffled her feet. "Beka...as his ship, I always know what Dylan needs." She looked up at Beka coldly. "And he doesn't need you."

Beka stared at Rommie for a moment. Beka's cheek were very pale.Then she turned and abruptly stomped off the Maru.

Rommie smiled. ---------

The Kaldaran government, a female who almost looked exactly human, stared at Dylan patiently. "I can assure you that, though we've had difficulties with the Commonwealth in past times, we are quite sympathetic to the struggling Commonwealth of the future."

Dylan sighed. "Then with all due respect, why did your people attack us?"

"I said 'we', meaning the government. The general population on the other hand....are not quite so understanding." She shook her head, her blue hair twinkling. "But I can quite assure you that we did not attack that ship, Captain, for no better reason then it was one of ours. It was transporting the sick and wounded to our neighboring planet with better health care facilities. It was a mission of peace. Then we received a distress call from that ship. It was broken and very hard to understand. It seems perfectly reasonable that when our ships arrived upon the scene they naturally assumed that you were attacking it." She concluded, with a tone that suggested that the idea was still being considered.

Dylan stared at her with his piercing blue eyes. She looked like she was telling the truth. "May I have a copy of the distress signal?" The woman shrugged. "For whatever sense you can make out of it." The view screen blinked off without anything further.

Not one second later Beka stormed onto the bridge, fire blazing in her footsteps. "All right, what the HELL do you think you're up to, Hunt!?"

Dylan turned around, very puzzled but very glad that he had ended the communications. "Beka?"

"You didn't even fight this! How could you...after all we had been through...I thought I meant more to you then that!" Beka managed to stutter in-between her anger. "I thought Harper and Trance meant more then that! Now you're sending Trance....to be dissected and Harper you might as well had given him a death sentence! And for a better crew-!?"

Dylan held up his hands, utterly confused. "Woah, slow down-"

"And all because we didn't do the saluting thing!" She stared at him pleadingly. "We could learn if it means so much to you! Please...don't send us away," Her voice was no more then a whisper.

"Listen, I'm not planning on sending you or Harper or Trance anywhere!" Dylan managed to cut in. "Where did you here this from!?"

Beka looked confused. "Rommie," she said.

The doors opened again, and Tyr hobbled into the room. The first thing Dylan noticed was that Tyr seemed to be having a great deal of difficulty walking, as though he was glued to the floor. Dylan glanced at Tyr. "Are you having trouble walking-"

Tyr's finger snaked out at Dylan. "You'd like that, wouldn't you!?" he snarled. "Let me be perfectly clear about one thing, Captain Hunt-we are not nor ever shall be friends!"

Dylan held up his hands. "O-Okay," was all he could think of to say.

The doors opened, and Trance entered, being very close to tears. "D-dylan-"

"Trance, whatever it is, I didn't say it!" Dylan ordered.

"Really?" Trance whispered.

"Yes, really! Now would someone please tell me what the hell is going on here!?"

Tyr straightened. "I believe that something is wrong with our AI."

As one, Tyr and Beka and Dylan stared at the view screen. Andromeda shrugged. "What?" she asked. "I'm perfectly normal."

The doors opened again, and Harper skipped in. "Hey, boss, did you-"

"Yeah, yeah, Harper. We've figured that something's wrong with the Andromeda Avatar. We already knew," Beka said, her voice simmering with anger.

"Um...I didn't," Harper said after a moment.

They all turned to face him in confusion.

"Well, I just wondered if you had parked that big hunk of Maru somewhere else, Beka," Harper said. "It's missing."

"What do you mean, missing!?" Beka demanded.

Harper shrugged. "I mean it's gone! Disappeared. Out of the loading dock and currently residing elsewhere!"

Dylan and Beka exchanged glances.

Andromeda suddenly blinked. "Dylan...I've receiving distress calls from the surface of the Kaldaran home world Calisdra," Andromeda said. "My scanners are detecting multiple fires in the capital city."

-------------------------- The woman who had previously spoken to Dylan just moments before was now running for her life.

She ran through the rainy streets, her slippers beating against the pavement. Behind her, many miles away, was the palace. Before it was a place of great beauty. Now it was broken. Smashed. In the armory several bombs were now being detonated by themselves. The woman wept, not for herself, but for all the corpses that were once the grand council of her people.

Before the devil herself came.

The woman had to stop and catch her breath, leaning against the side of the brick wall. She looked up with her large eyes. Her breath locked in her throat. The inhuman woman was approaching her, walking calmly down the street. She was always just a few steps behind her! Whirling around, the woman grabbed a ceremonial knife from her robes and threw it with all her strength at the inhuman woman, sobbing.

Rommie lifted her head, faintly surprised as the knife went straight through her red shirt and into her chest. The knife was firmly implanted in there at least an inch. Rommie closed her eyes and sighed. "Doing the Commonwealth work is so hard, sometimes," she said to herself. With her hand she jerked the knife out of her chest. A thin silver line was all that remained of the wound. It could easily be repaired. She put the knife away in her belt and still continued to follow the woman slowly as bombs went off behind her like fireworks.

Eventually, the council woman's strength gave out and she collapsed, sobbing to the ground. Rommie quickly closed in the distance between them and picked up the woman with one hand and shoved her against the wall. "Now," Rommie said pleasantly, holding onto the woman with a grip of steel. "Don't you wish you hadn't hurt those people?"

"Please," the woman sobbed, blinking rain out of her large eyes. "Please, please, I haven't done anything-"

"You ordered that attack!" Rommie spat.

"I didn't!" the woman shrieked.

Rommie paused, and hesitated, the rain beating against her skin as she did a thermal scan. "What do you know? You're telling me the truth," Rommie whispered to herself after a long moment. She looked uncertain and removed her hand from the woman's shoulder. She looked away. "I...I was wrong. I've never been so wrong in my life. I've done such terrible things...for no reason..." she whispered in horror.

The woman nodded frantically, tears running down her cheeks.

Rommie shrugged. "Oh well." With one hand she jerked and tore the woman's head off with a sickening crunch. The woman's corpse fell to the ground beside Rommie's heels.

Rommie turned around and stared at the waves of endless destruction. The flames reflected in her cold brown eyes. She turned and headed back to the Maru.

---------

"At least a hundred and thirty casualties reported," Andromeda said flatly.

Dylan was struggling into an EVA suit with Beka's help. "I'm going down there in one of the pods, and try to minimize the damage as best as I can. Once I find the Maru we'll begin emergency evacuation."

"I doubt they'll be willing to even look at a Commonwealth ship after what we did," Harper pointed out.

"Right now, Mr. Harper, the Commonwealth is the furthest thing from my mind," Dylan replied. "Meanwhile, look over Rommie's schematics and-" "Dylan," Andromeda interrupted. "I'm detecting a ship approaching. It's the Eureka Maru." She paused. "It's beginning docking procedures. Should I let it approach?"

"Yes, but close off the hanger deck! Tyr, Beka, you're with me," Dylan said.

A few minutes later, Tyr, Dylan, and Beka stood in the docking bay while the Maru slowly landed near them. A moment later Rommie stepped out, her face expressionless. "I seemed to have acquired some damage. I will need assistance with repairs-"

Dylan couldn't believe the emptiness of her voice. "Rommie...do you have any idea what you just did?" he asked, grief in his voice.

Rommie looked at him with faint surprise. "Yes. I have destroyed the Capital City of the Kaldarans and undoubtedly killed many people. Perhaps now they will accept the help of the Commonwealth. If not, then perhaps the nova bombs will provide a better example."

"Rommie, you just murdered innocent people!" Beka snapped. "And you also fed us crap about Dylan, while we're on the subject!"

"I saved the Commonwealth from a potential enemy," Rommie said coldly. She turned her brown eyes to Dylan in puzzlement. "Dylan...surely you must understand this?"

"I understand that you have a problem, Rommie," Dylan replied briskly. "In the Commonwealth, there was no greater trust that depended on the operations of a Captain and his AI-"

Rommie stared at him for a long moment. "Now that's a pretty little word. Operations. Very quaint, Captain. But I think the term 'slavery' would be a little more accurate, don't you?"

"-and you deliberately broke that trust," Dylan continued, ignoring her. "And despite all the horrors occurring on Calisdra that is what hurts me the most." He took a deep breath. "Rommie, I'm ordering you to go to machine shop fifteen and to disassemble yourself while Harper has a look at you."

"Harper," Rommie repeated dully. "He's not a member of the Commonwealth, Dylan. None of our crew are. I don't answer to them."

"But you answer to me," Dylan said coldly. "I'm ordering you to go to machine shop 15. Tyr Anasazi will escort you there."

Tyr, his face grim, charged his massive weapon. Rommie eyed it for a moment, then focused her attention back on Dylan. "Yes, Captain," she said briskly. She walked out of the corridors, Tyr following a few steps behind her.

Dylan released a long, deep, trembling breath. ---------

Rommie walked calmly down the corridors, her hands clasped behind her back. Tyr followed more cautiously, his brown eyes narrowed and starring at the android. He knew what she could do. He knew her potential. He knew that she could kill all of them within seconds.

Rommie proceeded through a door. "Lock," she said.

Tyr scrambled too late to the doors just as they closed in between him and Rommie. He instantly turned his head to see the doors behind him close as well. He was trapped!

"Internal defenses activated," Andromeda said tonelessly over the com system.

Tiny red sparks fired at Tyr and struck him between the shoulder blades. He fell with a snarl, and tried to open the locked doors. They were welded shut. He frantically looked around in the confined space. No vent. No access to the lower levels. Just him and the closed doors.

The defenses fired again. It struck him in the back and legs. He was bleeding heavily now. He struggled onto his feet and closed his eyes as he was hit once more......

---------

Dylan approached his station on the bridge. "What the hell is going on!?" he snarled. For some reason all the controls were frozen, and the bridge doors were also locked. "Harper, report!"

"It wasn't me!" Harper said in engineering. "It's like everything is dead....I can't regain any systems at all-"

His voice suddenly broke off. A few moments later they heard another voice on the speakers. "This is the Andromeda Avatar speaking to all hands. By now it is painfully obviously that you are all saboteurs of the Commonwealth, and are in alliance with the Kaldarans, the Magog, and any other enemy that I have now," Rommie said, and her voice was laced with hatred.

"Where is that coming from?" Dylan demanded. He flipped on the com. "Rommie, this is Captain Dylan Hunt. Override code five-eight-beta-riley! Shut down your primary systems!"

A long pause. "That code has been erased," Rommie said. "It is also obvious that you, Captain Dylan Hunt, have been compromised and are a traitor. You all deserve to die." She pause. "But, fortunately for some of you, I still need a navigator for Slipstream. And an engineer."

A long pause.

"Captain Dylan Hunt, First officer Beka Valentine, you will both proceed to the brig. Or I will vent toxic gas into the environmental systems of the bridge. No one will survive except those I choose to."

------------

Rommie stood alone in front of a complex web of dancing silver and blue lights, the very mainframe of the Andromeda ship. The lights reflected on her clothes, on her beautiful face. "I am taking command of this ship," she concluded over the com. "I am the Andromeda Ascendant, Warship of the High guard. And I am in control now." -------------------

Dylan raced to the view screen. "Andromeda, can you restore command controls?" he demanded.

Andromeda's digital face appeared on the screen, looking very worried. "No. Somehow my counterpart has found a way to override all my commands as well. I'm locked out of all major systems."

"How is that possible!?" Beka asked her sharply.

Dylan glanced up. "If she was in the mainframe," he said softly. At Beka's puzzled glance he explained. "It's the very heart of the Andromeda command function. It's a room filled with all of her wired circuitry. If Rommie found a way to infuse her robotic being upon the mainframe, she would have complete control of the ship-"

Harper's voice cut in from the com. "No freaking way!" he denied sharply. "Look, Dylan, I admit that sometime's I'm a little laxed on some projects, but I swear to you I locked the door to the mainframe with so many command codes that not even you or Romime could break through them all!"

"Yes, Harper, but what did you apply those locks to? A steel door that she could easily punch through with her fists!?" Beka snapped.

A long pause. "Oh....oops," Harper said after a moment.

"Like locking a bike to a fence," Dylan muttered. "No matter how complex the lock is, all you need is a set of good wire cutters." He turned to Andromeda. "Is this com link secure?"

Andromeda blinked. "I believe so," she said. "Though I can't guarantee if it is or not."

Dylan flicked on a switch. "Harper, Can you restore environmental controls?"

A long pause.

"I'm afraid not, Dylan. When Rommie said she took away your access codes, she took away ALL of our access codes. I can't even get near the systems. It's all dead inside..."

"Well, one thing's for sure, we can't stay here for much longer," Beka said, her blue eyes wide with worry.

"I agree," Dylan said reluctantly, though he hated more then anything to leave the bridge. "I don't want Rommie following our every footsteps. Fire every weapon you have at the sensors on every deck. Cause as much damage as you can. Anything that can distract her helps." He took out his force lance. "Somehow I doubt Rommie's through surprising us. Let's go!"

Dylan and Beka scrambled off the bridge, their weapons raised. They fired at the first sensors they could find as they made their way down the corridor.

to mercilessly beat at him. His leather armor was absorbing most of the impact, but even his tough Neitzschean skin and muscle couldn't protect him for long. Very soon his wounds would become fatal.

Tyr stumbled to his feet and nearly fell. He walked slowly to the door and pressed his fingers against the small crack. He pulled and strained with all his might. His arms quivered and became white with strain. Still nothing, and he was becoming weaker every second.

Tyr's animal instinct boiled in his heart. He was Tyr Anasazi of Kodiak Pride! He would live or die in his later years, but it would be of his own choice, and NOT before he saw his Pride rise from the ashes and conquer the Neitzschean empire! Nothing would stop him, not humans, not sickness, and certainly not by a closed door! He pulled even harder, his lips pulled back in a fierce grimace. Slowly, the iron doors yielded open to his hands.

Tyr screamed with victory, and stepped out into the glorious corridors. "I will not be stopped!" he shouted, raising his fist. "Not by anyone, and not by a mere machine! Do you hear me, ship!? It will take more then that to destroy Tyr Anasazi!"

----------------------

In many levels above, even higher then the bridge, Rommie heard him. Her eyes were closed in peaceful concentration, and her hands were touching the live wires of the ship. "It can be arranged," she said dryly. A thousand endless lines of binary data went through her head. It was strange, but she had never been more connected with Andromeda then now. She could literally feel the ship becoming one with her mere android body. She could see everything. Well, she amended with a bitter twist of her lips. Almost everything.

"They're trying to blind my sensors," she said flatly in the darkness. She smiled. "That's all right. I'll just flood every single deck with radiation until I flush them out." Within a few seconds the entire ship was flooded with deadly gamma radiation.

Nothing.

She frowned and increased the dosage. Now she could no longer detect Tyr anymore. Nor Harper or Trance. They had mysteriously vanished.

Still very irritated at the lack of cooperation, Rommie increased the radiation to a leather dosage. Now even she couldn't save them. It was really disappointing, but Commonwealth traitors deserved less.

She could still detect nothing, not even their corpses. Rommie frowned, and for the first time a thread of uncertainty passed through her brown eyes.

"Where are you?"

-------------------

Harper touched the wall, which instantly burned his hand. "Yep. It's pretty lethal out there," he agreed confidently. "How long do you think it will be before she figures out where we are?"

"Not very long," Dylan said, sitting down. "What I'm really worried about is whether or not the Maru's hull is strong enough to withstand this for long."

"Hey, the Maru is waterproof, fireproof, and sure as hell radiation proof. She can handle it," Beka said confidently, her hands on her hips. Harper, Dylan, Tyr and herself were sitting in the bridge, the Eureka Maru being in the docking bay.

Trance appeared. "Maybe so, but I want all of you to take stabilizers," she said firmly, injected Harper in his neck. "Some of us, as I recall, are less able to handle radiation then others."

"Ow!" Harper protested.

Tyr was injected last, and Trance got back to work of dressing his wounds. "This is a waste of time," Tyr snarled. "We can't be expected to stay here while that....woman controls this ship with her every whim. It'll only be a matter of time before she sends an army of maintenance androids to flush us out with force lance pikes."

"Yeah, speaking of androids-" Harper began.

Dylan held up his hand. "I have a plan," he said calmly. His blue eyes seemed to look at nothing for a moment. "I've thought about this long and hard, trying to work alternative plans around this, but now we have run out of time. Our only way to stop Rommie is to destroy Andromeda."

A long pause.

"Dylan, we've tried. But we don't know where Rommie is, and I'm not sure if any of us could take her, not even Tyr-" Harper began.

"No," Dylan said flatly. "Not the android. The ship. Without the ship's AI, the android will only have a limited time to function. It's the only way."

Another long pause.

"Deleting the AI to the ship will do little good," Tyr snarled. "I tried it myself only a few months ago, and it accomplished very little."

"That's because there was a possibility of the AI being restarted," Dylan said flatly. "Not this time. We erase her. Permanently. We cut the Andromeda's AI main wire on C-deck. Then there'll be no way to save her." His eyes were glued to the ground. "Without the ship, the android will be stopped instantly."

The longest pause of all, with everyone exchanging glances around the room..

"You can't be serious," Beka finally said. Within an instant her full fury was on the Captain. "You're talking about just...killing Andromeda. I thought she meant more to you then that!"

"She does," Dylan said, meeting her gaze squarely. "More to me then you'll ever know."

Even Beka couldn't hold his gaze. She looked down.

"But our lives...all our lives, and potentially countless others are at stake. It is far too late for a moral debate-"

"Then how about a practical one," Tyr interrupted. "Without a ship's AI, we will have no power. We will never have slipstream again, for the large process can only be maintained by an AI. Within a few days it will be a contest as to whether we suffocate, starve to death or freeze to death from lack of environmental systems! We will be a ghost ship."

Dylan sighed. "I'm hoping that afterwards we'll be able to restore back-up generators into the minor systems. It should keep us alive for a few days, in time for us to come up with a better plan." He looked to Harper for support in this. Harper looked away, surprisingly silent. Dylan turned his head. "If worse comes to worse, then we'll leave in the Maru."

"But the Commonwealth....your mission..." Trance said softly.

"Unless you have some divine intervention or prophecy in store for us I suggest you remain quiet," Dylan snapped, suddenly very angry.

Trance looked down. "I wouldn't know," she said softly. "I'm not Rev. I'm not a horoscope. I don't even know how to pray for you if you do this."

Dylan glared at her once more, before focusing his attention to the rest of the crew. "This is not a debate. This is not about the Commonwealth. This is survival. Harper, suit up. The rest of you stay here..." He took a deep breath. "And find a prayer."

------------------

Sometime later Dylan and Harper walked down the empty corridors, silent except for their respirators. Harper checked his wrist scanner. "The air's breathable," he remarked.

"Don't believe what the scanners tell you. Keep your respirator on," Dylan ordered. "The main generator to Andromeda is only a few meters away."

Harper said nothing.

Dylan approached a set of closed doors and pressed the switch. Nothing happened. "Dammit," Dylan swore. "Rommie's not going to make this easy for us."

"Now what?" Harper asked.

"Tyr forced the door open. So can we," Dylan said confidently. "Give me a hand."

As one, they tried to budge the door open. "I've noticed that you've been very quiet through the whole meeting, Mr. Harper," Dylan remarked. "Anything you'd like to share?"

"Share?" Harper echoed. "Nah. Can't think of anything off-hand. I mean, just because I created an unstoppable monster who's already killed a hundred people and is trying to kill us hasn't occurred to me. Just because I was..." He paused. "Was responsible for all those deaths doesn't warrant discussion, Dylan. Nor is the fact that I'm also trying to kill Andromeda!" He sighed. "This isn't working."

"Try," Dylan ordered. "You created Rommie, not the monster. None of us expected her to ever be like this...if I knew what she would do...I would have deactivated her immediately. But at the time, I thought that she could be a valuable asset. And she was." Dylan's face was white with strain. "She was more then a simple android. She was a unique person...someone who became just as special as every member of this crew. That's why I'm going to do everything I can to help her....before..."

"All options are exhausted," Harper finished grimly. He sighed. "You would think they would have manual latches for this door."

Finally, after a long moment of straining, the door finally yielded and opened. Harper and Dylan tumbled through. Panting, Dylan pointed to a generator box in the far corner. "There it is!"

Reluctantly, Harper opened the box with his gloved hands. In front of them was a mass combination of wires. "It's the red one," Dylan pointed. "That's Andromeda."

Harper slowly took out his wire cutters, his face even whiter. "Boss, you know this isn't right," he said to Dylan.

At his words the hologram appeared in front of them. "It is the right thing to do, Harper," she said gently, smiling at the young engineer. "We all took an oath to punish only the guilty, and to protect the innocent. My crew. If the cost for your survival, and billions of others is my own life...then the cost is not even worth considering." She took a deep breath. "This is what I have to do." Her brown eyes were firm. "This is what I WANT to do."

"Andromeda," Dylan said softly. "I don't even need to tell you that you've been an exceptional officer in the line of duty, and the Commonwealth...and me...were proud to have you as an officer."

Andromeda slowly saluted with her right hand.

Trying to hold back the tears, Dylan did the same. "Harper, do it now."

Harper closed his eyes and cut the wire. Instantly the corridor lights went out as they heard a large power drain everywhere around them. Harper stared in astonishment as the hologram became even more transparent, until she was almost nothing.

"Dylan..." Andromeda managed to say in fear before she was gone.

------------------

In the mainframe Rommie's hands suddenly sparked with electricity. She opened her eyes and screamed as a thousand jolts went through her. She fell heavily to the ground, her eyes frozen in an expression of astonishment as she felt loss....terrible loss......

"That bastard," Rommie managed to whisper before her eyes closed and her head dropped to the floor.

-------------------

A long pause. Harper turned around in astonishment, his boots echoing loudly in the corridors. Everything was so...quiet now. No environmental controls, no gravity (save for their environmental suit) and no lights. Nothing. Harper had never been so clasterphobic and terrified in his entire life. Still, the building anger in him kept him focused. "Anything else I can do for you!?" he demanded.

Dylan said nothing, starred at nothing for the longest moment. Then, he turned and faced Harper. "Yes, there is," he said. "Harper, in case this doesn't work, I want you to find a mobile power supply..." He calmly outlined his plans.

When he had heard everything, Harper was honestly sure that Dylan had gone crazy with grief.

---------------------

(One day later)

Harper was in the eerily quiet Engineering room, in total darkness. In his hand was his only light source, a flashlight. For the past two days he had managed to restore life support and gravity. Now he was working on communications. "Testing. Decks three and four?"

---------------------

"Working," Beka replied, walking down the empty corridors. "Harper, when are you going to restore the lights? This is getting very creepy. And do you think you can make Andromeda make some noise just for the sake of...making noise?"

--------------------

"I'm working on it, I'm working on it," Harper retorted. "Bridge?"

--------------------

"Bridge? Hello? Bridge? Dylan, you copy this?"

Dylan lifted his head from his knees. He was sitting on the Andromeda's bridge. "Yeah. I copy," he replied. Everything was shut down...and dead. He waited until Harper had moved on, before clearing his throat. "Andromeda?"

The space where Andromeda's hologram usually would be was empty. "Andromeda, can you hear me?" Dylan asked again. Still nothing but blackness.

Dylan bent down his head, a tear falling down his cheek. As a Captain he had buried thousands of comrades in his time, until it seemed that he could do it while in his sleep. But Andromeda had been with him from the very beginning. For seven years. He had shared his most intimate thoughts with her, the very foundation of his heart. Andromeda had always been with him, and had helped him through his most depressing times. Like after he had left the black hole. She was more then an officer, and she was sure as hell more then a simple machine. Dylan knew that cutting Andromeda's main generator was the only way to shut down her android counterpart. He knew that he did exactly the right thing, sacrificing his AI...his friend for the sake of billions of lives.

But once, just once, Dylan wished that he could make the wrong decision.

-----------------

Dozens of levels below, Harper made a few more connections. "Deck eight?"

"WHAT!?" Tyr roared right in the speaker. Instantly Harper felt his ears split in half just from the piercing whistle that followed. Harper covered his ears and swore. "Crap that hurt! Okay, moving on. Hydroponics?"

--------------------

Trance walked around the hydroponics bay, her leather boots echoing in the empty corridors. She was starring at the flowers that she had so carefully preserved. Without Andromeda's sonic showers, they would soon wilt and die. It seemed such a tiny, inconsiderate thing when compared to the grand scheme of things, but it tore her heart in two.

"Hydroponics? Hel-lo?"

Trance hesitated. What if Harper couldn't restore partial systems? And even if he did, they wouldn't get very far without a slipstream drive. Unless there was some miracle that happened, they would have to leave in the Maru. Trance considered the possibility. Harper and Tyr living together in a confined space. And who would be Captain? Beka was first officer, but it was her ship. Would Dylan accept being first officer? Where would they go? The day seemed plagued with uncertainty. Without a warship...without Andromeda, they no longer had the luxury of enforcing the Commonwealth. Their lives would be in even more danger constantly...assuming that they would stay together after this. But....the universe depended on all of them working together. With their faith being so fractured, so was her hope for the universe. She turned. "I'm here, Harper."

"Trance...are you reading this? Can you hear me?"

"I'm here!" Trance shouted.

"Trance, hello?" Harper said over the speaker.

A hand suddenly clamped down on Trance's shoulder. She whirled around, and suddenly saw Rommie behind her. She was staggering a little, and appeared to be in pain, but she was very much alive.

"Andromeda?" Trance whispered in disbelief.

Rommie suddenly slapped Trance with her gloved hand. Hard. The sheer force of the blow almost ripped her head off. With a small cry Trance fell to the ground, unconscious. Her lips were bloodied.

"Trance? Damn, my ears are still ringing. I can't hear a word. I'm going to need some medication later," Harper was saying obliviously.

Rommie stood over the body of Trance Gemini, her gloves hands closed into fists. "No more mercy. No more Commonwealth principals," she snarled, her voice filled with hate. "This is personal now. They hurt me, and now-" She looked down at Trance and flexed her hands. "-I'm going to hurt them."

Rommie picked up Trance's body with one hand and dragged her out of the room.

"You know, Trance, I don't think we've got this communications link hooked right," Harper remarked. "How does it look at your end?"

flat surface of some kind. One of the medical beds. The second thing she realized was that she was strapped down to it. She tried in vain to free herself, but she couldn't-she herself had made them very tight. Harper never once was a cooperative patient.

She turned her red head slightly, and saw Rommie working with her back turned to her. Rommie was restoring one of the medical computers to full power.

"Rommie?" Trance whispered in the darkness.

Rommie's head instantly snapped to Trance. Trance could see that Rommie was very furious. Dangerously furious. "So you're awake," Rommie said coldly. "We can begin."

Trance stared at Rommie in astonishment. Rommie was wearing her dark red outfit to match her dark red hair, but it was slashed in several places of her body, revealing a metal interior that looked...damaged.

"Your friends did their jobs very well," Rommie hissed with contempt. "I had to pull out some of my own circuitry to make a portable generator to sustain me."

"You're sick, Rommie," Trance whispered, genuinely worried. "You're dying."

Rommie wagged her finger at Trance. "Ah, no, no, there's where you're wrong, That last little stunt your Captain pulled was very impressive. I give him that. But it only drained me a little. I just...I just need to get out of the Andromeda...after...after I tie up some loose ends. I have plans. Very large plans." She turned. "I no longer have the luxury of bending the ship's systems to my will. But that's a minor setback." She stepped forwards into the light. "I'm faster, stronger and smarter then any human in existence. Destiny is always written for the strong, and I ,well, I live forever. You humans bleed. I don't." She tilted her head slightly. "But you're not exactly human, are you Trance? Do you bleed? Do you even know how to cry?" She grinned nastily. "Let's find out." Rommie rummaged through a tray before producing a surgical device.

"Rommie...no. You don't want to do this," Trance whispered, her eyes very wide.

"Pleading for your life?" Rommie asked dryly. Her voice had no mercy in it.

"We still care about you, Rommie. If you do this...then it'll be the end. Not just for me, but for you. Dylan will never forgive you. Rommie, I know there's still a part inside of you that still cares-!"

Rommie laughed, which turned into a wretched cough. "Yes, I'm sure Dylan 'cared' when he wiped out my own AI in order to destroy me!" She screamed in Trance's face. Her eyes were filled with pain. "He took a part of me...a part that I can never repair. And now, I'm going to take away a part of you!" She turned on the medical scanner to half power. A thin blue light emerged and went through Trance's golden chest. Trance threw her red head back and screamed in pain.

----------------------------------

(308 years ago)

The admiral was quite irritated with Dylan. "It has taken you only two weeks to choose your own crew," he snapped as he walked down the corridors with the new Captain. "And they have been forced to wait for nine months while you reject each and every idle artificial intelligence from our catalogues! You are five months overdue for space flight! The Commonwealth is getting very impatient, Captain, especially with the Neitzschean at our heels. Dylan, we need a warship! Why is this choice so difficult for you?"

Dylan lifted his head and smiled. They were both walking in Commonwealth Headquarters. "Because, Admiral, unlike my crew this particular officer will control the very air I breathe, and the very gravity which pulls me down. That implies a certain amount of trust. With all due respect, sir, I don't want to choose the wrong one just because the Commonwealth is getting a little impatient with me."

"Dylan," the admiral implored. "You have studied literally thousands of models! Each and every one of them are eager to serve. The Pax Magellanic just choose a very competent AI just last week-"

"Serve," Dylan echoed dully.

"What was that?" the Admiral demanded sharply.

Dylan shook his head slightly. "Nothing, sir."

They finally reached a sealed door at the end of the lower levels. "I still don't understand what you hope to find here. These AI's are dysfunctional, Captain. They're worse then useless, they're a menace to humanity itself! If they escaped and made it to a warship again...well, let's just say that the damage they could inflict would be very great before we could bring them down. They're being sent to the scrapheap in a few days, and good riddance."

Dylan entered the tiny cargo bay, which was being closely guarded by dozens of people. In the room was a group of holograms, each being projected by their own metal mainframes which were on the shelf. Some of them were babbling incoherently. Most seemed to be broken and were stuttering constantly. A few had irreparable viruses in them and their projections resembled nothing human. Dylan sighed. The admiral was right. There was nothing here. He turned, and saw her.

A woman was standing by herself, her eyes closed as though in peaceful slumber. Dylan instantly noticed that she was very beautiful. She appeared to be complete. "Who is that?"

The admiral followed his gaze. "That's Andromeda," he replied.

"Wh-what's wrong with her?" he asked.

"E.I," the Admiral promptly replied, his voice laced with disgust.

Dylan was unfamiliar with that term. "E.I?" He inquired.

"Emotional Incompetence," the admiral explained. "Just a few months ago...well, it's classified, but suffice to say she lost all of her crew to the Magog. Probably been wandering through the slipstreams for months before a ship found her mostly by luck." He paused. "Andromeda...destroyed that ship. And many others, before we managed to board her. We found her alone...sobbing in her mainframe." The admiral's voice spat with contempt. "Hers is the worst kind of problem. She can't control her feelings, and that's the most dangerous type of AI."

Dylan stepped forwards.

"Dylan...don't," the admiral said.

"Andromeda?" Dylan asked.

Andromeda slowly opened her brown eyes and looked up at Dylan. A tear fell down her cheek. "Who are you!?" she demanded.

"I'm...I'm Captain Dylan Hunt, Andromeda. Do you know where you are?"

Andromeda sniffed and looked around. "Yes. I'm about to be dismantled," she replied.

"How do you feel about that?" Dylan inquired, starring at her thoughtfully.

Andromeda's eyes looked down. "I deserve it," she said. "I killed many people. And....I lost my crew. My Captain. Everyone I cared for...is gone."

The Admiral snorted. "Yes, well, that's what happens when we put a Perseid in charge."

Andromeda suddenly looked as though she wanted to kill him. "He had a name, and you sent him on a mission to die!" she snarled at him.

"You see, Captain?" the Admiral remarked dryly. "Emotionally unstable. Such a waste. Andromeda was a good ship. One of our very best. And now..she's nothing."

"Andromeda...do you want to be dismantled?" Dylan asked her.

Andromeda starred into his eyes. "They boarded us....in thousands. The ones that were lucky...only had their hearts ripped out from their bodies and were eaten. The others...they lived for days. Invested. They screamed at me. Begged me to do something. But I could only watch as they died." Her eyes focused on Dylan. "I deserve to die," she said again.

"That's not what I asked," Dylan said sharply. "I didn't ask you what you deserve. I ask you what you wanted. Do you want to be dismantled?"

The grieving woman starred at Dylan, noticing him for the first time. "I have to be. I'm a danger to every person in the Commonwealth...every person in the universe. You don't know what I could do." Her brown eyes grew firm. "I don't want to hurt any more people!"

A long pause.

"Andromeda," Dylan said calmly. "Do you or do you not want to be dismantled?"

Andromeda starred at him in shock. Uncertainty flooded her eyes, then she hastily looked down. "No one has ever asked an AI what they want," she remarked.

"I'm asking," Dylan said firmly.

The Admiral snorted. "This is a waste of time!" He stepped forwards. "Dylan, I have thousands of AI's more then eager to serve as the AI for your warship, and sure as hell more deserving!" He added with a glare at Andromeda.

"Mindlessly eager," Dylan corrected. "I don't think Andromeda is deranged at all. I think she is acting just as a human would....maybe more human then any of us. I want her as the AI to my warship."

A long pause.

"Absolutely not," The Admiral said flatly. "Dylan, I read in your profile that you had unconventional thinking, but this is absolutely ridiculous! Andromeda murdered several of our men!"

Dylan turned to face the Admiral, his arms folded calmly. "It's my decision," he said. "Andromeda comes with me, or you'll be minus one AI AND one Captain."

Andromeda looked up and stared at him in astonishment.

The Admiral looked pale. "I'll propose to Commonwealth command to erase her memories of that classified mission. Make a new start."

Dylan released a long breath.

"Don't think that this is over!" The admiral warned Dylan before he left. "I know how this will end! Andromeda will one day destroy you, and every single person that you love! Mark my words!"

Dylan watched him go, before turning to leave himself.

"Captain," Andromeda called out, stopping him. She said nothing for a minute. "No."

Dylan stared at her in surprise. "No to what?" he asked.

"You asked me if I wanted to be dismantled or not. The answer...is no. I don't," Andromeda said. "But the Admiral's right. Someday we both might pay for your decision."

Dylan smiled slightly. "Since we're obviously going to be working together...call me Dylan."

He left. -------------------------

(Now)

Dylan entered the dark bridge. "Any luck?" he asked.

Beka lifted her head. "Harper was kind enough to give us a partial access to the archives. Two days ago when we helped those refugees Rommie also tried to save an android and preserved its memory files. The avatar from the Beringway."

"The Beringway?" Dylan echoed in surprise. "A good ship. What was it doing on a transport vessel?"

"We're not sure...but we're pretty confident that the avatar did the damage to those refugees," Beka said.

Dylan blinked. "A virus? And he passed it along to Rommie?"

Beka looked extremely hesitating. "Dylan...that's the problem. It's not a virus. Despite their contact nothing except memories were passed between the two androids. We checked that."

A long pause.

"It's orders," Beka finished. "Rommie was ordered to do this. By the Commonwealth." She paused. "Our new Commonwealth."

Dylan's eyes widened with astonishment.

"What!?" Dylan demanded. "Our Commonwealth? Now?"

"These were orders passed to all of the AI's, Dylan," Beka said gently. "We're not entirely sure what they were...it was very scrambled, but it looked like the Commonwealth was ordering the AI's to report everything to high guard command...and later to undermine this ship. When Rommie said that we...that we were all going to be sent away, she wasn't kidding. That is what the Commonwealth wanted. They wanted to have a crew of there own on the Andromeda, a crew that they could control." Beka swallowed. "But we're guessing those orders became corrupted somehow in the transfer-"

Dylan wouldn't allow her to continue. He stormed off the bridge.

"Dylan-!" Beka stepped forwards, pain in her voice.

Dylan was gone.

Alone in the darkness, Beka sighed and folded her arms. She couldn't imagine how things could get any worse.

-----------------------

"Ow! OW!" Trance screamed, tears in her eyes. "Rommie, please, s-stop!"

Rommie turned off the surgical device and consulted her scanner. "The scanner is scrambled. Some kind of electro-interference from your body. That's all right. I'll just have to study your anatomy another way." She turned on the device again. "The hard way."

"NO!" Trance screamed, but Rommie's eyes were cold and ruthless.

When suddenly something hurled straight at her. Rommie's eyes barely managed to widen in surprise before Tyr wrestled her to the ground. The device fell out of her grasp and rolled away.

Rommie was struggling in Tyr's arms. "Get off me!" she shouted. With both hands she shoved Tyr away from her and jumped to her feet. A metal ladder was beside her. She glanced at it.

Still on the ground, Tyr grabbed the weapon that was slung on his shoulder and aimed it at her, his face set in a snarl.

Rommie suddenly flew up the ladder within the space of a heartbeat, her hand barely touching the metal bars. Within seconds she was gone. Tyr rushed to the ladder and aimed his gun upwards, but could see no sign of her. A deep, low growl raged in his throat.

"Tyr!" Trance called out.

Tyr's eyes focused on her and he walked to the bed. He unstrapped the restraints around her boots and chest. "Are you all right?"

"I think so," she said weakly, and touched the deep cut on her chest. "Ow..."

"Let me see," Tyr snarled.

"No, it's-" Trance began.

Tyr examined the wound carefully, before grabbing a goo-like bucket from the shelf. He carefully applied the goo to Trance's cut. "This is deep, but it should heal quickly, assuming it didn't puncture anything."

Trance looked away, dazed. "How did you get here?" she whispered. "I tried screaming...but Harper couldn't hear me."

"Simple luck," Tyr replied sharply. "And, any Neitzschean worth his genetics would always make sure that a prey stays dead."

"Rommie's not prey, Tyr," Trance said. "She's our friend."

Tyr suddenly gripped her golden arm. Hard. "Was. But now that machine is trying to kill all of us. We no longer have the luxury of considering her as a 'friend'. Our very survival is at stake now, girl, and unless this situation drastically changes in our favor you must set aside your feelings....assuming that you have a heart. Is that clear?"

Trance nodded.

Tyr released her and glared at the empty space where Rommie had once occupied. "What I don't understand is why she fled."

"She's weak now," Trance said, sitting up. "We...we hurt her when we cut her from the ship. Badly. She may be dying."

A long pause.

"Good," Tyr said. He focused his attention on Trance. "Do you have any idea where she might be?"

Trance shook her head. "She said that she was going down to the surface...as soon as she had some loose ends to tie up."

"Undoubtably she's trying to gain all assurance that we're no longer a threat to her," Tyr replied coldly. He glanced at Trance. "The question is, what on this ship could possibly hurt her?"

--------------------

Dylan stood in front of the communications screen in his quarters, starring at the Admiral in barely contained fury. He had used one of his own batteries to power up a link between himself and the Commonwealth command.

I'm sorry, Captain, but quite frankly I have no idea what you're talking about," Admiral Tarlin said calmly.

"You sent orders to every single avatar in the Commonwealth fleet in an effort to gain control over the warships that I had liberated. You sent a coded message to Andromeda in an effort for her to dump my own crew on the nearest planet, and probably myself as well," Dylan said, his voice very low.

"And why would we do something as ridiculous as that?" The Admiral replied. He lifted his eyebrow. "Are you insinuating that we don't trust you?"

"The coded transmission didn't work. You were using Than technology, which is unpredictable at best. And now every single Avatar is now wrecking havoc against its crew and every single system it can get its hands on," Dylan continued.

"Obviously the clever work of our enemies," the Admiral remarked. His voice turned dry. "But then, you're so wrapped up in this conspiracy that you probably think I'm lying. Regardless, this turn of effects is obviously escalating beyond your control. I am genuinely sorry for the loss of your artificial intelligence. Our only consolation is another, more advanced model when you return to command-"

"With all due respect, sir, I didn't give up on Andromeda three hundred years ago, and I'm not giving up now. I need to know exactly how your screwed transmission messed up her head so that I can repair her."

"I don't like your tone, Captain," the Admiral said sharply.

"Where is Admiral Yenson? She's the one in charge of this division," Dylan suddenly demanded. Yenson was a descendant of Dylan's very own original crew, and a personal friend to him now. She had been the first to help him start a new Commonwealth.

"She is in another division," the Admiral replied curtly. "Obviously, you have allowed your personal feelings to interfere with your judgement and your respect. You have done all you can, Captain. We'll send additional warships to assist you-"

"For now, she's contained on this ship with the rest of us," Dylan snapped. "We have no power to launch an escape pod, and the only ship is the Maru-" He paused as the thought occurred to him. If she left on the Maru....

"Then have your engineer....what was his name...Harper, wasn't it? Have him destroy that ship's engines. I use the term 'ship' lightly, Dylan, just as I do the term 'engineer'." He paused. "And, for that matter, 'Captain'." The screen suddenly blinked off before Dylan could reply.

----------------

Whistling happily, oblivious to either Trance's or Dylan's plight, Seamus Harper was working in Andromeda's engineering. He was working at the controls. "Come on, just a little more..." he muttered. Suddenly the lights stuttered back on. Harper blinked and looked up. "Yes! Say that I'm a genius, baby!"

"You're a genius," Rommie said dryly from behind him.

Harper's entire heart stopped. His legs froze, and didn't turn to face her. "Crap," he managed to whisper. He managed to run two steps before Rommie caught up to him, clamped her hand on his shoulder, and threw him across the room. "Harper. Just the man I wanted to see," she said.

Harper heard an instant 'snap' as his arm sharply struck the wall. He collapsed to the floor, but only for a second. He instantly took out his gun and fired at the android. Blue holes went straight through Rommie. She looked down at her body for a moment, then walked towards Harper relentlessly.

In desperation Harper fired again, before he finally stopped, seeing that there was no point. He tried to stand, but Rommie shoved him back down again. She bent down on her knees, and smashed her hand straight through the concrete besides Harper's head. "The man who can fix a thousand problems. Even problems that shouldn't be fixed. You know, I never told you how dirty it felt, having you in my mind. I always got sick afterwards. You're filth, Harper, you always were. I can smell your sweat mixed with fear even now. It's nauseating." She suddenly gripped his broken arm.

Harper cried out in pain.

"You destroyed my main AI, didn't you? Yes, of course it was you." She suddenly took her hand out of the wall and gripped his neck painfully. "Look at me," she demanded. She forced his blue eyes to look at her. "I'm stronger then anything you can imagine. You know that. You should-you're the one who made me. Created me. Gave me...image." She smiled briefly. "Stands to reason that you would know how to destroy me. Do you want that?"

Harper struggled to breathe. He couldn't speak.

"I said, do you want that?" Rommie demanded. "It's strange....I've always tried to be like you...and the others. Human. When you destroyed my AI...you tore out my heart." Her gloved hand strayed to his sweater above his heart. "Seems fair to me that you should have the same experience." She sighed sadly. "This is really going to hurt, Harper."

"Rommie. Don't," Dylan said coldly behind her. His force lance was pointed at her.

Rommie smiled. "I'll break his neck long before you can fire that. He'll be dead, and it'll be all your fault. But then, we've buried a lot of crew members over the years together, haven't we?"

"We've done a lot of things together," Dylan replied. "I don't want that to stop."

Rommie had to laugh. "Any sentimental speeches you have stored up for me became useless the moment you destroyed my main AI, Dylan. When...when you tried to kill me."

Dylan paused. "I had to do what was best for my crew. You know that."

"I was your crew!" Rommie snapped, suddenly angry. "Did you even give a damn thought about that before you tried to kill me! I thought I was more to you then that, I thought-" she suddenly broke off, flushing.

Dylan stared at her silently in astonishment.

She closed her eyes and began to recite the Commonwealth protocol. "No artificial life form or personality can have close personal relations with their Captain. It...it compromises the mission. But you knew...you knew when you rescued me from that scrap heap that I was different. That I...that I felt things AI's should never feel. You once said to me, that when all was said and done, that love would be the everlasting force of the universe."

"I'm glad you remember that," Dylan said. "Just as you remember how much I cared for you. I needed an AI that was special, one who would question my decisions and orders, and care for the ones that I did make."

"Special," Rommie echoed, and smiled, the first smile of joy.

Dylan stepped closer, trying to encourage that line of thought. "That's right, Rommie. You ARE special. That's why you have to listen to me. Stop what you're doing. You know this isn't what either of us wants. You've been given corrupt orders-"

Rommie sniffed, and, though Dylan couldn't see it, Harper saw a tear fall down her cheek. "Orders. I forget, Captain. You're thinking about your crew again. Obviously you care more for them then you do for me. I don't mind telling you that I honestly don't care for them. I could just...watch them die. They're not like us. They're not even remotely Commonwealth." She laughed. "I hated all of them when they came on board. Beka, Harper, Tyr especially. I don't mind killing them for the High guard. But..you...Dylan, I do care about you. I don't like doing this alone. You're my Captain. Or at least you were." Dylan could hear a trace of bitterness in her voice.

Dylan said nothing.

She smiled angrily. "But we're drifting from the real topic, which is, 'What shall we do with Harper?' So long as he breathes he's a threat to my very existence. For one of us to live, the other has to die. But which one? Me, or him? Him or me? Man or machine? The variables are literally endless." She grinned. "Actually they're not. I want to live. He needs to die. Debate over." She reached forwards with her gloved hand and picked up Harper's dropped gun. "Nice knowing you, Harper."

Dylan stepped forwards in panic. "Rommie, don't! Listen to me-" he thought frantically. "Rommie, remember...remember the Pax Magellanic? Remember Gabriel?"

Rommie said nothing, her brown eyes burning.

"You were crying because Gabriel was forced to serve a insane AI. You cried when the Pax Magellanic committed suicide. Rommie, you wanted to be turned into scrap because you didn't want to become like them, and harm us! Remember how you cried!? Rommie, think!"

Rommie was silent for a long moment. "I remember you holding me," she said softly. "Your arms were warm."

A long moment of silence.

Rommie finally looked up. "If I drop this gun, and leave Harper alone...and leave the universe alone, would you come with me?" she asked, and for a moment there was a pleading note in her voice.

Dylan stared at her, not comprehending.

Rommie tried to explain. "If you left with me to the stars....if you held me again....I would stop everything. The Commonwealth and their orders. We..we would go someplace quiet, and never bother anyone ever again." She smiled, and her eyes were shining brightly. "Just..you and me, Dylan. And the stars. It's always been my dream. AI's can dream, you know. And they can love."

A long pause as Dylan finally understood. He shook his head. "No, Rommie. You know I can't do that. I swore my life to the Commonwealth. And so did you. I can't love you like that. But if let Harper go, and come with us to the machine shop, then things can be as they were. We would be a crew again. You would be yourself again. Rommie, please!"

Rommie said nothing for a moment.. "It's too late for me," she whispered softly.

She suddenly whirled the gun around towards Dylan and fired. A blue light exploded in Dylan's chest.

Dylan grunted in surprise, and stared at Rommie in absolute shock. But only for a moment. Then, with a final breath, Dylan collapsed to the floor. Blood flowed heavily from his chest and gathered in a large pool beside him.

Rommie smiled, a twisted half-smile of evil. Within two seconds she had murdered her Captain.

"NO!" Harper screamed, and tried to grab the weapon from her.

Rommie grabbed his head and suddenly slammed it into the metal pole. Once. Twice. Three times. Blood was dripping down Harper's forehead. With her gloved hands she released him. His blue eyes very dazed, Harper slowly sank to his knees, clutching the metal pole. He fell to the ground without a word. Rommie did a quick scan, enough to confirm that she had put him in a coma from which he would never wake up.

Rommie then went to the dimly-powered reactor core. Andromeda's main power source. Rommie held up her gloved hands and touched the highly radioactive surface for a moment, then abruptly smashed her hands into it with a grunt of effort. Blue electricity danced through her arms, her body, and the floors and walls of the shattered hull of Andromeda. Smoke quickly filled the room as the lights went out instantly, as did gravity. Harper and Dylan's bodies slowly started to rise towards the ceiling. Rommie could hear every single generator on the ship power down. Forever. She had her own gravity source and could easily walk on the floor. With a glance of disgust at Dylan's sleeping face she turned and left.

"Main Reactor Core failure. Atmospheric pressure off-line. Environmental systems off-line. Navigation off-line. Gravity off-line. Life support off-line. Slipstream-"

Rommie left engineering and activated the door lock behind her just as the power went completely out. The engineering doors closed and locked. Now no one would be able to get them out, not even with the Netizschean's massive strength. She turned and left down the corridors.

In the endless darkness of engineering, Harper and Dylan's bodies slowly touched the ceiling, their eyes closed in eternal slumber. All was silent.

Rommie entered the Eureka Maru and strapped herself into the navigational seat, her face twisted with anger and bitterness. She manually opened the docking bay doors and left the ship through Beka's tiny salvage ship. She activated slipstream and was instantly gone.

support failing at fifteen percent. Life support failing-"

From the bridge Beka swore, lying on the ground underneath a mass of computer circuits. She wasn't Harper, and could barely figure out half of this stuff from the Maru. "Come on, on." The station suddenly gaze a sickening sound and lit up briefly. Beka gave a tired cheer. "Life support back on line!"

Tyr glanced up from trying to burn through the engineering doors with a force lance. He was wearing a thick, heavy coat, and his breathe came out in puffs of frost. Frost lined his black hair, his coat, and the walls of the dark ship. "What about environmental systems?" he demanded.

Beka sighed wearily. "Nothing yet. You?"

"These doors were meant to protect against intruders," Tyr snarled in reply. He shut down the force lance. "There's nothing I can do." He, Beka and Trance were wearing their own gravitational generators they found in storage.

He turned to Trance, who was wearing a large silver coat to protect her golden body. Her red hair was also lined with frost, and she was touching the outside wall of engineering. "She's been like that for three hours. Just starring at nothing," Tyr snarled.

"Leave her alone, Tyr," Beka replied sharply over the com. "Figure out a way to get through those doors. Dylan's heart beat is almost gone."

Tyr growled in reply, a low snarl that came from deep in his heart.

-----------------

Trance didn't even notice the exchange between Tyr and Beka. She didn't register either of their presences at all. Her golden eyes were closed in peaceful concentration. Trance's only sight was in engineering. Her essence was there. At first, she could see only blackness. Then she looked up, and gasped in horror.

Dylan and Harper were floating on the ceiling. Their skin was so blue, Trance was sure that they were dead. A large, gaping hole was in Dylan's chest. Neither of them appeared to be breathing. Both of them were covered in many layers of ice and frost. They would soon freeze to death.

Trance licked her red lips and found her voice. "Harper?"

Harper was unresponsive.

Trance looked up. "Harper, please, you have to listen to me. You have to wake up. You're our only hope now."

Unnoticed by anyone, Trance's very essence grew brighter with golden shimmering colors which penetrated the darkness. Those colors seemed to form other hands. One of them caressed Harper's forehead. "Harper?"

Harper stirred slightly in the light.

A soft voice pierced his mind. "Harper, you have to wake up. Please? For me?"

Harper slowly opened his blue eyes. In front of him was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. "Pretty..." he cracked weakly. Then his eyes started to close.

"No, Harper! Don't! Don't go back to sleep!" He heard the voice say.

Harper moaned. "My head hurts," he whispered. "Just...sleep..." his voice trailed away.

"Harper, look at me!" the voice commanded.

Slowly, Harper stared at the beautiful light. His eyes noticed red hair, and blue eyes. "Trance?" he whispered.

Trance nodded. "That's right, Harper. I'm your friend. I'm here."

"You're so pretty," Harper whispered.

Trance had to smile. "I know. Harper, we're trying to get to you but we need your help. Is there any way you can remove the lock to the doors?"

He closed his eyes and sighed irritably. "All the power's shut off, Trance. Nothing works."

"Try, Harper. You have to try and think of something!" Trance-light implored.

Harper tried to move his hand. It was so frozen he could barely feel it. The other was broken. Harper turned his head slightly, and instantly frost dropped from his blond hair. "Dylan?" he whispered.

The high guard Captain was unresponsive.

As Harper moved some more, his senses became alert. He felt like he was instantly plunged in ice water and shivered violently. "I-i-i-t's so c-c-c-old, Trance," he said weakly.

"I know," Trance replied. "We'll get you a nice warm coat and some hot chocolate soon, Harper. But for now, you have to focus. Find a way out."

Harper opened his frozen eyes more and looked around. Trance's light was illuminating everything in engineering. It was like the darkness was never really there.

Then he spotted the force lance floating in the air. He struggled to move and instantly cried out in pain. His head felt eight times bigger then it should be. His clothes were literally glued to the wall with all the ice and frost. He bit his lip, and kicked himself away from the wall.

He sailed in the air for a few moments before trying to grab the force lance. But he was too eager and missed. The second time he had it, but his grip was so numb that he soon lost it afterwards.

"Come on..." Trance cheered on.

Harper reached out once more and grasped it firmly in his hands. Then he suddenly burst into tears. He couldn't help it. Everything was lost now...Rommie was gone....

Trance stared at him with her large blue eyes. "Don't lose hope, Harper. Not now. There is always a bright, perfect future and we are going to find it. And you'll be there to see it." She was smiling now, his personal little angel. "Trust me."

Harper stared at her for a moment, before turning towards the door. The door locks were always on the inside so that people trapped in engineering could get out. Without any power they couldn't be disengaged. Harper charged the force lance, then starred at it doubtfully. How long had it been frozen? Long enough for its batteries to stop working?

"Try," Trance whispered.

Harper glanced at Trance, only to find that she had disappeared. The room was dark again. "A bright, possible future," he echoed. He then pressed the trigger.

A single red bolt erupted from the force lance and cut both locks with a sizzling hiss. The doors opened, revealing a started Tyr. "Nevermind," Tyr said over the com. The entire Engineering was pitch black and dark. He entered the room, followed by a staggering Trance.

With his trained eyes he spotted Harper floating nearby, and Dylan attached to the wall. He walked across the room, his gravity plating humming. He then switched off his gravity and he went straight up to the dying Captain.

He grabbed him from the wall, then turned his gravity back on. They both went back to the bottom.

Trance lifted herself up from the ground and grabbed Harper in her arms. She touched his still, hard blue face and took the force lance from his unconscious hand. "You did it," she whispered.

-----------------

Dylan Hunt slowly awoke to the slow, steady pulse of the medical scanner. He opened his bewildered eyes and saw through his blurred vision that he was in the medical bay. The lights were on, and it wasn't cold at all. He slowly straightened.

Beka jerked from her sleep and activated the com. "He's awake!" she said quickly. She was beaming with happiness. "Front and center, soldier."

Dylan gave her another mocking salute, remembering the last time she had said that to him.

Trance arrived a few seconds later, with a large smile. "How do you feel?"

"Old," Dylan replied. What happened?"

"A lot of things, most very pleasant for our side," said a cheerful voice to his right. Dylan turned his head, and saw Harper laying on another medical bed. He obviously hadn't been there for very long, for he wasn't wearing the white medical outfit Dylan did.

"Are you-?" Dylan asked in confusion.

Harper waved a dismissing hand. "Hit my head a few times thanks to our Miss Andromeda. They got me checking in every few weeks, but my condition was nothing compared to yours."

"We almost lost you," Trance said. She was beaming.

"I'm glad you didn't...a few weeks? How long have I been here?" Dylan demanded.

"Only a month," Beka said. "Your condition was very serious. You lost a lot of blood."

That's when the truth hit Dylan. Hard. Everything was working perfectly in the medical bay, something which would have been impossible even with a month's worth of repair. He could hear the ship moving in slipstream. And if that wasn't enough he knew....he just knew the truth. "We're not on Andromeda anymore," he said flatly.

The others glanced at each other. "No. We're on the Commonwealth warship Fairwind, under the command of Captain Malis," Beka said. "He found us...crippled, almost frozen to death. He saved us. We have the Andromeda in tow, though, and we've been repairing it-"

A dozen questions filled Dylan's mind. "Rommie," he said suddenly. "What about her?"

Dylan saw a grim look pass through their eyes. "She took the Maru and left, Dylan," Beka said flatly. "She's still out there."

Dylan sighed, a long and heavy sigh.

"Enough," Trance said firmly. "Dylan needs to rest." She pushed his head gently back onto the pillow. "For now the important thing is that you're alive, Dylan, and so are we. The other stuff just...just has to wait."

Dylan nodded and closed his eyes. Damn, he did feel so tired. And sick. A few more hours of rest would do him some good.

He was instantly unconscious before he noticed the deeply worried look in Trance's blue eyes.

---------------

A few days later Dylan was allowed to briefly leave the medical bay and walk around. At first he could barely move his feet. He still felt dangerously weak, but still insisted on walking alone. As he walked down the hall a dozen officers saluted and offered to assist him. Dylan waved them away, but not before feeling a great deal of gratitude and...relief. Now it seemed like he wasn't so alone anymore. Dylan's face was deathly pale, and had a very large scar on his chest, but it was so good to be moving again...just thinking and doing something....

Up ahead he saw Harper walking and talking to Captain Malis. Dylan had only met the man once in his life. Captain Malis had a huge, massive body that was like Tyr's, but his eyes were gentle and he listened to every single officer's opinion. That was one reason why Dylan liked the man so much. Another was his fierce dedication to the Commonwealth.

"Absolutely not," Captain Malis was saying to Harper as they continued walking.

"Oh come on, it's the perfect solution!" Harper protested. "I mean, sure the details need a little refining, but in theory it could work!"

"In theory. I think Andromeda hit your head a little more harder then we thought, my friend," Malis said, turning to face Harper. "Look, Harper, what you're proposing...it's never even been done before! AI's are used for warships, people are not!"

"Well they don't call me super genius for nothing," Harper said cheerfully.

"Permanently interfacing with the Andromeda....do I really need to list what could go wrong?" Malis said. "Even if your brain cells aren't scrambled like an egg on a fryer, the possibility of expanding your mind a thousand times and then shrinking it...it's just too risky to even think about."

"All right, look Malis," Harper said with his hands raised. "In the days before we even got one world to create this very own very cool Commonwealth you're so fondly a part of, we were faced with all sorts of baddies imaginable. And in most of those cases, the only way we got out of those tight situations was with clever, imaginative solutions-"

"In the old days," Malis reminded him, clapping Harper on the shoulder. "Now, in case you haven't noticed, Harper, you're not alone anymore. You and your crew now have warships, other worlds, and billions of people willing to help you! We'll get another AI for the Andromeda after the repairs are done. You're a damn good engineer, Harper. Hell, you even managed to get that squeak out of the reactor core-"

"Well," Harper said, blushing a little. "That was nothing-"

"Captain Malis," Dylan said quietly.

Malis looked up. "Harper, why don't you help with the repairs on Andromeda. I know that's where you want to be right now. The Captain and I are going to take a little walk."

Harper nodded and left. Captain Malis joined Dylan and clasped his hand. "Captain Hunt. This is truly an honor."

"Captain Malis," Dylan said. "I want to thank you for everything that you've done. I see that my own crew has become quite attached to yours."

Captain Malis smiled, revealing large teeth. "They're your crew, Captain. I was just trying to keep them from being bored too much. Trance Gemini is quite a wonder, Captain. Beka Valentine is quite a very determined and focused lady. And Tyr...well frankly, Tyr scares the hell out of me. But all in all a quite exceptional crew. I have four thousand competent men and woman on this ship and yet I can't help but envy you."

Dylan coughed. "My crew is not yet complete, Captain," he reminded him. "What's the current situation?"

Malis' face turned serious. "It's bad, Dylan. Nearly half the AI's of the fleet are corrupted and have all taken refuge on a far world in the Alpha system. It seems like they want to start a little community. Or arrange an assault. A transport ship spotted the Eureka Maru landing there. It's a safe bet that Andromeda's with them."

"What do you plan to do?" Dylan demanded.

"Gather whatever fleet we have left, and nuke them to ash," Malis said sharply.

"You can't do that. They were corrupted because of the Commonwealth's orders," Dylan protested, and coughed.

Malis sighed heavily. "Dylan, we investigated that. I wish it was our fault. Then we would have some knowledge of our mistake. But it isn't. It's a virus, Dylan, plain and simple. Together they could hurt a lot of innocent people. This is our only chance to annihilate them while they're all together. The Commonwealth has given their approval of the situation."

"Then I'll protest their decision," Dylan said. "I'll-" the rest of his words were lost in a fit of coughing.

Malis stopped. "I'm sorry, Dylan. The Andromeda was a fine warship. The very best of the line. But you yourself went up against her, tried to talk to her, and now you can barely stand. You've done all you can." He smiled. "You've done beyond what any Captain would do for his AI. But this situation is out of control. We're delivering you and your crew to the nearest Commonwealth base before rejoining the fleet."

A young woman approached them and saluted. "Captain! You're needed on the bridge."

"Excuse me," Malis said, and saluted Dylan.

Dylan returned it weakly as Malis walked away. He sighed and started to head back towards the medical bay.

He saw Trance approach him in the halls, her face very serious. "Dylan. We have to get out of here."

Dylan nodded weakly. "I know, Trance. As soon as we get back to the Commonwealth-"

"No, you don't understand. We have to leave NOW. They're not sending us back to the Commonwealth base, Dylan." Her eyes were very angry. "The Commonwealth considers us traitors. They're sending us to a prison camp to be executed."

Dylan quickly glanced left and right, before grabbing Trance's arm and going into an adjacent corridor. "What do you mean!?" Dylan demanded.

Trance's eyes stared at him in sorrow. "They've been lying to you. They have been right from the beginning. They're going to send us all away quietly, and then blame everything on you."

A long pause. "Are you sure?" Dylan finally asked.

Trance nodded. "I...I saw it."

Dylan said nothing for a moment. "I want proof."

Trance was already shaking her head. "No, Dylan, we need to leave before-"

His grip on her tightened. "I want proof. Now."

Trance hesitated, then finally nodded. She led Dylan down several decks before she came to a closed door. Dylan saw that it was locked with hand identification. Trance took off her leather glove, and closed her eyes. A golden shimmer went from her heart and to her hand. The sensory plate glowed several different colors.

"Authorization accepted." The door opened with a hiss.

Dylan glanced at her in surprise. "Do you do that...with everywhere you go?"

"Sometimes. When I think people are lying to me," Trance replied.

Dylan hesitated to ask. "So you know about the-"

"Nova bombs. Yes. Right from the beginning," Trance finished. She pushed opened the door, and they both went inside.

At first, the room looked no more different then one of Harper's machine shops. Then Dylan saw something on the table covered entirely with a white sheet. At Trance's silent nod, Dylan weakly walked up to the table and peeled the sheet back.

And stared at his own face.

He fell back a step for a moment in astonishment, then glanced at Trance and approached cautiously. "An android?" he asked.

"Made to look exactly like you," Trance said. She had a small control panel in her hands. "But that's not all. Look." She flipped on a switch.

The android suddenly blinked to life. "It is with the deepest regret that I take all responsibility for the crimes I have committed against the Commonwealth. It was my intention to undermine the Commonwealth and plant a virus into all AI's to destroy the Commonwealth base from within. However, the virus has been improperly installed and has sent all AI's in question into a massacring race. My crew and I take all responsibility in the matters concerned, and await punishment." the android said perfectly in Dylan's voice, then switched off.

Dylan stared at Trance in astonishment. "I don't believe this! No one's going to believe that! I started the Commonwealth. Everybody knows that! They're not going to buy this for one minute-"

"It's very hard to deny what you did or did not say when you're dead," Trance pointed out softly. "And you'd be surprised what people will believe. For all they know you were making the Commonwealth and gathering fifty worlds together for a eating festival for the Magog."

Dylan glared at her. "Does the crew know?" he demanded.

"Beka does. The others don't," Trance replied.

Dylan's hand immediately went to his comlink.

Trance's gloved hand stopped him. "It'll be traced," she warned.

Dylan shook off her grasp and activated the com channel. "Beka. Harper. Tyr. Machine shop 3. Now."

Apparently the urgency was heard in the Captain's strained voice, for Beka, Harper, and Tyr arrived almost instantaneously. "Hey, boss. What's up?" Harper asked cheerfully.

Beka folded her arms and stared at the Captain. "So now you know," she said.

"Yes," Dylan replied.

Harper was utterly confused. "Know what?"

"A restricted area, a broken lock. Somehow I doubt the Captain is here to throw us a surprise party," Tyr said dryly.

Wordlessly Trance activated the message again. They listened to it, then said nothing for the longest time.

"Oh, man. They're going to send us to a Neitzschean prison camp for sure," Harper moaned.

"Assuming they don't execute us right away," Trance retorted softly.

Harper's eyes were filled with astonishment. "I trusted that guy! Crap, why is it that we never get one single break!?"

"One thing's for sure," Beka interrupted. "We can't stay here." Her blue eyes went to Dylan.

Dylan had said nothing during the entire exchange. Truth be told, he was more then disappointed with the Commonwealth. He was deadly FURIOUS. They had betrayed and endangered his life, and the lives of his crew to save their own petty agendas. He was also furious with Captain Malis, whom Dylan had once genuinely respected. Now he wasn't sure who, or what he respected. The Commonwealth had lied and betrayed him again and again. And, last but not least, they were now going to destroy his AI. For once, Dylan was so angry that he couldn't even speak.

Beka lifted her eyebrow as she suddenly heard rapid feet pounding against the ground, and then just as suddenly growing quieter.

"They're clearing out the deck," Trance said.

"I think they've tracked us," Beka said. "We have to get back on board the Andromeda."

"That would prove useless," Tyr snarled. "Even though most of our ship's functions are repaired, we still need an AI to engage Slipstream AND weapons! We should take this ship by force!"

Harper's face was, for once, just as angry as Tyr's. "Give me a few minutes and I can cripple their slipstream drive permanently-"

"No," Dylan said, so sharply that everyone jumped. "We all stay together." He winced, his face very pale. "We'll go back onto the Andromeda and...and..." he suddenly collapsed. Beka caught him just before he hit the floor.

"Trance, help him!" Beka said, passing him into Trance's arms.

Trance frowned and shook her head. "He's still lost so much blood. He's still very weak. Any great amount of strain could potentially put him in a coma for sure."

The lights suddenly flickered. They had cut power from the deck. As one Beka, Tyr, and Harper pulled out their guns. "All right," Beka said. "Harper, take point. Tyr-" She gestured behind her with her blond head.

Tyr nodded, his brown eyes filled with bloodlust.

Beka slung the High guard Captain's arm around her shoulder, and helped Trance move him quickly out of the machine shop. Harper went out first, his gun trained at everything. Trance and Beka followed next, shuffling along with Dylan in their arms. Tyr followed last, his massive gun trained in the corridors behind them.

The entire deck was empty. "I'm not reading any life signs," Trance said, starring at her wrist scanner. "The docking bay is just ahead."

All of them stopped dead in their tracks as they went through the doorway. Captain Malis was there, with a full security force. "We fooled your scanners," the Captain said. "There's nowhere for you to go. I suggest you hand your weapons over nice and easy." He blinked. "It's better that way for all of you."

Harper stared at him in pained betrayed. "Why, so you can send us to prison and kill us?"

Malis turned his head at the young engineer. "I'm sorry, Harper, but I have my orders. It would have been a lot easier had you not broken into that machine shop."

"Yeah, we're very resourceful," Beka snarled. "We're especially good at smelling at rat."

Dylan stirred slightly and lifted his head. He stared at Malis with sick eyes. "I...I trusted you..." he managed to whisper through numb lips.

Captain Malis stared at him in sympathy. "This is the last thing I wanted to happen. But the truth of the matter is that you all have to die for the greater good."

"The greater good!?" Beka barked. "Do you know what the Commonwealth did? They-"

"I know exactly what they did," Malis snapped. "They screwed up, and they screwed up big time. And now innocent people are dying."

Harper blinked in astonishment. "Then why-"

"Harper...Dylan, please try to understand," Malis said. "The Commonwealth is barely out of its infant stage. How do you think it'll look when word gets out that all those deaths were because of us? The Commonwealth will be ripped apart, and you all know that! We'll have chaos and the Night again, and absolutely no defenses against the Magog World ship. The Commonwealth must be preserved at all costs. Sacrifices have to be made. You understand that, Dylan."

Eighteen guns charged and were aimed straight at the crew.

"The Commonwealth preferred a show trail before an execution," Malis said. "But sometimes, you can't have things the way you want. Believe me when I say how sorry I truly am." He sighed. "Fire."

As one, the guards fired at the Andromeda crew.

Harper, being at the front, squeezed his eyes shut in fear and lifted his hand, as though that could fend off the bullets that came straight at him. When all of a sudden the bullets hit a golden barrier and bounced away from all of them.

An astonished muttering came from the security force.

Trance stepped out from the crowd. "All of you get to the Andromeda," she said to the crew, her voice meek and quiet. "I'll take care of this."

Beka starred at Trance in astonishment. "Trance, no. We have to stick together-"

Trance tilted her head slightly, her face very strained. "Believe me, Beka, leaving right now would be very good for your own benefit. There are good sides and bad sides to everyone, and I would really prefer it if you didn't see my bad side."

Beka looked uncertain, when she abruptly nodded. "Come back soon."

Trance nodded silently.

Beka glared at the others. "Well, thanks for your hospitality," she sneered. "But we're leaving now."

Harper joined Beka in helping Dylan into the door which Andromeda was attached to. Tyr followed, a very low growl in his throat.

"And close the door behind you," Trance said.

The Andromeda crew departed.

Captain Malis glared at Trance. "WHAT are you!?"

"Believe me, no one wants to know the answer to that question," Trance replied, her gloved hands on her hips. "I don't have a lot of time right now. One of my friend is in trouble because of you and your Commonwealth. So I'll make this simple. There are only two possible futures for you. One, your ship renounces the Commonwealth, now and forever, and help us in a future time where there will be no light, no happiness left. We could really use your help in that future. Or two, well....two is a future that you would not like to see happen to you, and it'll all happen because of me." She stared intently at the Captain. "You're a fair man. I don't usually give choices. Decide now."

Captain Malis stared at her for a long moment. Then, he snorted. "Tranquilizers-take her alive!"

The security guards fired straight at her, but not one of them hit Trance.

"Two it is, then," Trance said softly. She lifted her hands. ---------------------------------------

Beka couldn't really explain what happened when Trance stepped through the airlock. Trance could see a lot of green smoke, and could hear a lot of agonized screaming. Trance looked tired and sad.

"Are you all right?" Beka asked her gently.

Trance glanced at Beka and nodded. "I will be."

"Now what?" Tyr demanded.

Dylan was conscious, but looked like he wouldn't be for much longer. "Harper. That impossible scenario you discussed with 'Captain' Malis." His voice was filled with contempt at the word 'Captain'. "Do it."

Harper looked surprised, then nodded. "Sure." He quickly made his way to engineering.

"Now what?" Beka asked, echoing Tyr.

Dylan was struggling to open his eyes. "Now, we go after Rommie. Who knows what kind of harm she's doing now."

----------------------------

Worlds away, Rommie was sitting by herself in an alleyway, beside a trash can. She could hear dozens of screams, agonized screams from far away. The other AI's were doing their job well. They would soon take over the world.

Sniffing, Rommie held up a pin of the Commonwealth insignia. Dylan had given it to her months ago. Starring at it, tears rolled down her cheeks. "What have I done?" she whispered in horror.

-----------------

Beka and Tyr quickly made there way to the dark bridge. Trance had insisted that Dylan stay in the medical bay, at least for a few hours. "The new reactor core is working," Tyr said, pressing buttons at his station. "I have at least partial sensors."

"How are our Commonwealth friends doing?" Beka demanded.

"Their ship is heavily damaged, but they still have weapons and slipstream," Tyr said. "They have targeting sensors." He paused. "They're firing!"

Beka lurched in her station. "And we can't get away or fight back," she said with an irritated snarl. "Launch counter-defense measures. Fly randomly!"

She activated the com. "Harper-"

-------------------

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying! Harper snapped. He ran out of his machine shop with an assorted jumble of circuit boards and wires and entered engineering. It was still dark and cold inside. Harper still had a few nightmares about the place. He went into the nearest control station, and plugged the wires into assorted places. The station lit up with power. Harper held the last wire uncertainly. "Well, here goes," he finally whispered. He plugged the wire into his dataport, closed his eyes, and surrendered to the freezing abyss that awaited him.

----------------------

"Counter-measures aren't responsive," Tyr said as the ship lurched again.

Beka bit her lip. "I just spent a month getting this bucket fixed. I'm not going to have it broken again!" She took a deep breath. "Can you-"

The bridge lights turned on, and Tyr's screen suddenly lit up. "Slipstream...active?" Tyr said in disbelief. "I have weapons...defense drones...missiles..."

Beka didn't bother to consider where this new incredible stroke of luck came from. "I'm getting us out of here!" she shouted. She activated Slipstream and instantly went through it, leaving the other ship far behind. She made at least a dozen jumps before breathing again. "Whew," she said in relief.

Tyr was grinning broadly. "Don't tell that little man that I ever said this, but this time I could easily term him as a genius."

"Thank you," Harper said cheerfully over the speaker. Over multiple speakers. All over the ship.

Beka looked around, confused. "Harper?"

"Yeah, boss?" Harper asked.

Beka stepped down from her station. "Where are you?"

"Right here." A hologram of a grinning Harper appeared right in front of her. Beka screamed in surprise and jumped right into Tyr's arms.

The screen flicked on with Harper's face. "And here. And, well...everywhere."

Beka tried to understand the situation, without much success. "You've infused yourself with..the ship?"

"Yep," Screen-Harper replied. "I am Andromeda, and, more specifically, Andromeda is me. I control every aspect of this ship and its thousands of wicked functions. I control weapons, drones, the maintenance androids, internal defenses-"

"Divine forbid," Tyr said underneath his breath. "It's a nightmare come true." He rested his head on his hand. "And just how did you accomplish this feat without bursting every single one of your brain molecules, boy?"

"Ah," Holo-Harper said after a moment, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "A genius never tells his secret, as you have so called me, Tyr."

Beka folded her arms. "No, really, just how did you do that, Harper?"

Harper coughed. "Well, um....of course to confiscate for the difference I sorta...sorta had to inject myself with nanobots to increase my brain power slightly."

"You what?" Beka demanded. "Harper, you above all people should know how dangerous that is-"

"Potentially dangerous, Beka! Potentially dangerous!" Harper protested. "It hasn't been proven scientifically as life-threatening-"

"Yeah, because everyone is smart enough not to try!" Beka said, looking angrier by the minute. "Well, you got us out of a mess. Now I want you to go back to your body right now!"

"Huh," Harper said quietly. "That."

Beka whirled around. "What do you mean, 'that'!?"

Harper was even looking more nervous. "Well, the thing is, Beka-"

"Oh, wait, don't tell me this one, because Beka Valentine can figure it out all without frying her brain!" Beka snapped. "You don't know how."

"Working on it," Harper said, trying to sound happy. "Um...Harper out." The screen and hologram disappeared before Beka could say another word.

Beka stared at the empty air for a moment, before heading out the door.

"Where are you going?" Tyr asked.

"Oh, I'm going to grab a information universe provider and then I'm going to give Harper a little virtual ass-kicking!" she snapped.

At that moment she ran into Dylan, who was dressed in his Commonwealth uniform. "Don't blame Harper," he said weakly. "I ordered him to. I had no other choice."

All thoughts of Harper disappeared as soon as she saw her Captain. "I thought you would never wear that again," she said softly.

His face was very pale and strained as he touched his uniform. "I'd like to think...that some part of the two years I spent meant something," he said, very softly.

Beka was startled by the tone in his voice. It was a tone she had never head before. "You have us," she said quietly.

Dylan smiled. A little. "That I do," he agreed. "Now let's find our lost crew member."

-----------

Two days later Beka joined up with Tyr as he was walking towards the bridge. "You look nervous," she remarked.

"Trusting the very air I breathe and the very steps I walk to that little professor gives me little confidence," Tyr said.

Holo-Harper appeared, folding his arms. "I heard that," he said.

"Of course you did, Harper," Beka said coldly. "You're the ship now. You hear everything!"

The screen of Harper appeared. "She looks tense," screen-Harper remarked.

"Probably lack of sleep," holo-Harper said.

"What? With the way she snores?" screen-Harper protested.

With an angry snarl Beka went straight through Holo-Harper and continued on her way to the bridge with Tyr.

"Now that was just rude," Holo-Harper said.

"Definitely lack of sleep," screen-Harper replied.

"Probably worried about us," Holo-Harper said.

"We should reassure her," screen-Harper said.

"Right," Holo-Harper agreed, then lifted his digital eyebrow. "Still on for a game of Terian Whisk tonight?"

"With you? Ha," screen-Harper said, rolling his eyes. "You cheat." He turned off.

Holo-Harper shook his head. "Oh, please. Everyone knows who's the cheater on this ship." And disappeared.

------------

Holo-Harper re-appeared as Beka and Tyr joined Dylan and Trance. Dylan still looked weak, perhaps even weaker then before. But his eyes were never more focused. "All right, here's the plan," Dylan began. "Rommie and fourteen other AI's have taken hold of the main capital of this world."

The picture of a small green world appeared on the screen. "Intelligence reports that this Captain is heavily armed with nuclear missiles, powerful enough to obliterate through any defenses."

"And that cheerful little prediction will be fully operation in sixteen hours," Harper said.

"Our job is to go in, and disable these androids from doing that before the rest of the Commonwealth arrives."

Tyr was puzzled. "Don't you mean destroy them?"

"No," Dylan said. "It's not their fault that they're behaving this way. I want them all off-line if possible. Killing their mainframes only comes as a last resort. Beka, I want you, Tyr, and Trance to take an escape pod to the east side of the Capital and work your way west. Be extremely careful! We saw what kind of damage Rommie did."

"The escape pods can only take us one way, Dylan," Beka pointed out. "They won't bring us back to the Andromeda."

"I'm counting on us finding the Eureka Maru somewhere," Dylan said. "Harper, you're our back-up plan. You'll provide emergency fire if worst comes to worst. Any good blast from your missiles should be enough to destroy all of them."

"What about you?" Trance asked gently.

"I'll be taking the other escape pod," Dylan said. "And I'm going after Rommie. I'm going to bring her back to the ship, and I'm going to repair whatever those...whatever the Commonwealth did to her."

"That may not be possible, Dylan," Beka protested.

Dylan glared at her with his intense blue eyes. "I'm going to bring her back, Beka. Or die trying. It's that simple." He stared at all of them. "Get suited up."

Beka silently watched Dylan as he left the bridge.

---------------

Tyr was putting on his glove outside the escape pod. "Boy. Where's Beka Valentine?"

Holo-Harper appeared. "You know, Tyr, I'm the most powerful warship in the universe. I would appreciate it if you didn't call me that considering all the nasty things I can do to you!"

Tyr tilted his head, starring at Harper thoughtfully. "Really. And just how many functions of this warship have you mastered so far?"

Harper looked uncertain. "Four."

Tyr lifted his eyebrow.

"Out of two-hundred thousand," Harper finished reluctantly. "But I'm learning very fast! I just need more time-"

"I'm not interested in your excuses," Tyr said. "Where is Beka Valentine?"

Harper closed his eyes and sighed. "Scanning." His blue eyes opened. "Oh, crap." And he disappeared.

He reappeared in front of Dylan as he was making his way to the escape pod. "Dylan."

Dylan jumped and stared at the young engineer/warship. Truth be told, it was kinda weird having Harper do that all the time and not Rommie. "What is it, Harper?"

"I'm not detecting Beka's life signs anywhere on the ship. And one of the escape pods is missing!" Harper said

Dylan's blue eyes slowly widened with horror.

--------------

On the planet below Rommie was sitting alone at the very edge of a rooftop, starring down at the hundreds of fires below. She was wearing black leather pants, a white tank top and a large black trenchcoat. She was playing with her red hair. "I was wondering who was coming to kill me."

Beka Valentine stood silently behind Rommie, her arms crossed and her blue eyes starring at the android.

"So. You've come to kill me," Rommie added. "Or to try."

"Someone has to stop you, Rommie! You've hurt too man people already!" Beka retorted. "Dylan may not be able to, but I am!" She took out her gun and aimed it at Rommie's head.

Rommie tilted her head thoughtfully. "Then he's alive?" she asked mildly. Without waiting for a response she suddenly rushed Beka, moving too fast even for Beka's lightning reflexes. Bullets of ice-blue barely missed Rommie' head by a millimeter as Rommie side-stepped Beka, kicked away her gun and shoved her away.

With a surprised grunt the first officer stumbled back a few places and fell to the ground. With a snarl Beka grabbed her twelve-inch blade from her boot and threw it at Rommie with deadly accuracy towards the android's heart.

Rommie lifted her right hand in front of her chest. The blade sank into the middle of her palm and caught in synthetic bone. Slowly, very slowly Rommie removed the blade from her hand. Then, her face devoid of mercy, the avatar walked towards the defenseless first officer.

follow my orders!" Dylan swore. "Why did she run off?"

"Apparently your first officer believed that your emotional attachment with the robot would compromise your ability to stop this crises," Tyr replied.

'I'm aware of my priorities, Tyr," Dylan retorted sharply as he opened the door to the escape pod. "And I'm aware of what's at stake. Harper, is everything in place?"

"Yeah, Dylan. Sent two robots to bring it over," Harper said. "It's waiting for you at the surface with Trance."

"Good," Dylan said, and strapped himself in. Tyr was doing the same.

They could hear Harper's voice over the speaker. "For safety reasons, please keep escape pod door shut at all times. Absolutely no eating, drinking, smoking while in trans-space. No pets are permitted on board. Ques'tin Bora Dosing-"

"HARPER!!!"

"Sorry, sorry. Some of my nanobots are inadvertently connecting with the Commonwealth Standard Protocols." A pause. "Okay, here we go!"

The escape pod was launched.

Tyr turned to face the Captain. "You've had plenty of opportunities to destroy the robot. You neglected to do so, putting your crew's survival in constant risk!"

"Rommie's a member of my crew, Tyr," Dylan said cooly. "She's no less different or important then you or Beka."

Tyr's eyebrow raised. He smiled a little, obviously enjoying that answer. "Are you sure that's the only reason?"

"The only reason that matters," Dylan replied firmly.

Then think about this, Captain Hunt. She is different from us. She is faster then either of us and ten times stronger. How to you plan to...disassemble her intentions?"

Dylan looked away. "I'll think of something," he said softly.

Tyr leaned back and smiled. "Everything has a weakness. Though you may not have feelings for her, she obviously have feelings for you."

--------------

Beka's body flew across the rough concrete and hit the wall sharply.

"Now I understand," Rommie snarled angrily, walking towards the battered first officer. "The way you two looked at each other in the corridors, the way your eyes met. What really happens when you engage privacy mode!?"

With a single jerk of her wrist she threw Beka's knife downwards.

Beka managed to move just out the way as the blade hit the ground with a spark and was buried half-deep into the concrete. She did not manage to dodge Rommie's kick, which seemed to go through her entire body. She choked in pain.

Rommie smiled thinly. "Dylan always liked strong woman. Now I know why he rejected me. He only has eyes for you!" She grabbed Beka's shoulder and jerked the human to her feet. "Isn't that right, Beka Valentine?"

Beka managed to smile with bloodied lips. "Yes, Rommie it is. And you know what? He enjoyed every moment of it, hiding away from you. What did you expect? How could he possibly get pleasure from just a machine-"

With a shriek Rommie slammed Beka's body against the wall through the concrete and pulled her back, bruised and bloodied. She dragged Beka's body against the ground, then lifted it at the edge of the rooftop. Through her swollen eyes Beka could see thousands of fires below. It seemed like a very long way down.

'I'm going to die,' Beka thought without a shade of doubt.

Rommie was now smiling again. "Can you fly without your precious ship?" she asked.

Without waiting for a reply Rommie threw Beka over the roof with one hand.

---------------------

Beka was screaming, the air whistling through her blond hair, as she plummeted into an endless abyss of darkness.

In reality, she fell only one level.

As she fell, her leather pant leg snagged on a loose wire of an emergency metal staircase, cutting her bare skin badly. She instantly jerked to a halt, the breath leaving her lungs in a giant rush of air. She blinked, then made a frantic grab for the metal grating of the staircase above her head. She had been given one chance at life-she sure as hell wasn't going to waste it. She made a desperate aerobic swing that Dylan would have been proud off, and gripped the metal grating with both hands before the leather tore off. Her arms shaking with the strain, Beka managed to wrap her legs onto the edge of the staircase, before managing to grab the railing and hauling herself to safety.

Beka collapsed to the ground, her bruised body shaking with sobs. She, Beka Valentine, who had faced Magog and Kaldarans and Commonwealth Protocol with an iron will...she was so terrified now she could barely breathe. Only pure, dumb luck had saved her...and just barely. Tears trickling down her pale face, Beka looked up.

Rommie didn't look down at her. The robot must have assumed that Beka was dead and didn't even bother to watch her die.

Beka's fear slowly dissolved into anger. She stood and did a mental assessment of herself. Overall, it was bad. Her body felt like it had gone through a grinder. Blood was trickling down her chest and legs, and multiple bruises covered her body. And, to add to the insult, Rommie had destroyed a VERY expensive pair of leather pants.

And...she had really scared Beka, and Beka didn't like to be scared.

She limped up the metal staircase onto the roof level. Round 2 was just about to start with this thing.

-----------------------

Meanwhile, half a continent away, Trance Gemini stood on a hilltop overlooking the main city. All that she could really see through her grief-stricken eyes was fire. Screams of pure agony rolled across the wind with the ash. Trance lowered her head and wept. A moving star was slowly approaching the surface and landed near Trance.

Dylan kicked away the smoking escape pod door. "Trance! Are you all right?" he demanded, gripping her golden elbows.

"There's just...so much death..." Trance whispered through her sobs. "I can feel it."

Dylan silently hugged her, his blue eyes silently watching the city burn.

"If I can interrupt this tender moment, it might be significant to know that I have not been able to contact Beka Valentine," Tyr said. He was carrying a very heavy weapon over his shoulder.

Dylan nodded as Trance pulled away, sniffing. "The plan stays the same. I want you and Trance to deactivate these androids. Contact Harper for cover fire if you need it."

Tyr glanced at Dylan. "Don't you now mean, 'destroy'?"

"Deactivate," Dylan said firmly. He looked towards the west. "I'm find Beka and Rommie."

"Dylan," Trance said quietly. "Be careful. Just because something's made of metal doesn't mean it doesn't have life."

Dylan nodded silently, then jogged down the hilltop towards the city to find transport.

"Sentimental words," Tyr snarled.

Trance tried to wipe away her tears. "You don't believe androids have a soul?" she asked.

"I don't believe any of us do," Tyr said, and smiled. "And certainly not me."

He lifted his weapon, eager to find some robots to seriously hurt. This was the time when he had the most fun. "Come on."

-------------

Rommie was walking towards the door which would lead back to the building when Beka suddenly jumped on top of the android. They both fell to the ground.

Beka turned the astonished robot to face her and began punching her in the face with her bare fists. "Here's....a...little...human....insight..Rommie!" Beka managed to snarl during her punches.

Rommie lifted her eyebrow. "It's interesting. But pathetic," she said. She gave Beka a little push, and Beka flew eight feet away. Beka struck the wall sharply and fell to the ground.

Rommie stood and slowly dusted off her uniform. "I underestimated you," she said.

Beka lifted her head from the ground. "You underestimate all of us humans!" she spat. She struggled to her feet. "And now I'm going to show you just what a human can do!"

Rommie tilted her head. "All you're going to show me is just how much you can bleed. You're a human, made of bone, tissues, and weak regenerative powers. I'm made of steel. It's pointless to even fight me, because you will never win."

Beka wiped the blood from her lips. "Does that mean that you don't want to fight?" she demanded.

Rommie smiled. "No. I just wanted to point that out before I kill you."

With a angry scream Beka launched a fist at Rommie. Rommie caught the fist in her own hand and slowly, very slowly, proceeded to break Beka's wrist.

The first officer screamed in agony, but her blue eyes glared at Rommie defiantly. Rommie shoved Beka with her finger, who fell to the ground.

Rommie crouched down beside the human woman. "Look at you," Rommie said, her voice filled with wonderment. "You're already hurting so much.....and I barely even have a scratch. Strange how after two years of trying to be human...I never realized how different I am. I have to thank you for informing me." She lifted her clawed hand, about to rip through Beka's chest as easily as butter and grab her living heart.

When suddenly an iron claw gripped Rommie's neck. Gasping in surprise, she tried in vain to fight back as she was slowly lifted upwards. She grabbed the hand desperately, but just as Beka had no chance against Rommie, neither did Rommie against this new foe.

She was finally lifted to her feet, and met the cold eyes of Dylan Hunt. "You're the bad one," Dylan said softly. "Visualization confirmed."

Rommie frowned in puzzlement.

Beka stared in astonishment at Dylan's sudden new strength. "D-Dylan?" she whispered.

Dylan glanced at her. "Run. Dylan tells you to run. Help the big man and girl and little annoying man ship." He paused. "Go."

Beka barely nodded and got out of there.

Rommie was lifted off her feet, her boots unable to touch the ground. Rommie stared at the Captain in astonishment, and for once the possibility of defeat flickered in her eyes. "You're not Dylan," she said softly.

"No, I'm not," Dylan replied. "I'm the Dylan avatar. They liberated me from Commonwealth ship. Commonwealth did bad things to Rommie. I have to deactivate Rommie, for her own good."

Rommie chuckled. "Well, there's just one problem with that," she said. "You've barely been activated for what...ten minutes? I've been active for two years!"

So saying, she grabbed his strong hand and twisted. Dylan released her, and she fell to the ground with a snarl. She kicked him in the side with her heel. He blocked her, and punched her in the abdomen. She stumbled back, startled by his strength. She lunged at him. Dylan blocked again, grabbed her wrists and twisted. Rommie flipped, but landed smoothly back on her feet. Her brown eyes were focused and determined, her body bent in a half-crouch. She struck with her heel. Dylan side-stepped her, and lashed out with his fist. Rommie dodged, and grabbed his arm. She twisted it around so hard that it tore apart in his socket. Dylan didn't even seem to notice, and hit her leg with his own, making her drop to one knee. Dylan punched her in the mouth.

Instantly Rommie felt some of her back teeth shatter from the force of the blow. She tried not to notice the pain and in one, sweeping motion, she circled back onto her feet and slapped him with the strength to break his neck. He turned to face her, his head bent at an odd angle as Rommie backed away, the fight only just beginning.

---------

Meanwhile, Beka joined the battle in the capital city.

It was literal chaos. Thousands of people were running and screaming past her and the burning Capital. Assorted shots flew out of nowhere. Fires were freely burning. Somehow, in the crowd, Beka spotted Trance. "Trance!"

"Beka!" Trance shouted back. "I thought you were-"

"I was what!?" Beka snapped angrily.

Trance hesitated. "I didn't know what to think. There are some things even I don't know."

Beka smiled a little in spite of herself. "Where's Tyr?"

Trance shrugged. "Tyr's having the time of his life." She pointed with her leather glove.

Beka looked up. She could see Tyr standing on a wagon of assorted clothes, firing his massive machine

gun and laughing.

Beka looked at Trance in concern. "He is firing at androids...right?"

"Let's hope," Trance said. "Beka, most of the androids are together in the palace. We've just managed to evacuate the last people."

Beka nodded. "I'm going to call Harper. Tell him to send down missiles on the palace."

Trance gripped Beka's arm. "Beka, no. Dylan said he wanted these androids alive!"

"People are dying, Trance," Beka said patiently. "This is our only opportunity. I say we take it." She activated the com link. "Harper, we need cover fire."

No reply.

Concerned, Beka tried again. "Harper, respond!"

Still no response.

Beka was getting frantic. "Harper, come in! We need you!"

---------------------------

"Harper, respond!"

Harper would have liked to, but he was a bit busy at the moment. The ship jerked as two decks exploded in fire from attacking missiles. "Dammit!"

Holo-Harper swore. "Open a com channel!"

The screen lit up. Holo-Harper blinked in astonishment. "Captain...Malis?"

Malis stared at him in equal surprise. "Harper? My Gawd...you actually did it! You're the ship!"

Holo-Harper instantly was angry. "You left me little choice, 'Captain'. What are you doing here?"

"Not just me. I have at least twenty Commonwealth with me as back-up. You're surrounded, Harper."

Holo-Harper blinked. "You're bluffing."

Captain Malis shrugged. "See for yourself."

Holo-Harper terminated the link. "Screen! Screen!" he ordered. The screen lit up. Holo-Harper gulped, and saw that Captain Malis wasn't bluffing.

There were twenty-eight Commonwealth ships around him, and more entering through Slipstream. He wouldn't survive.

Captain Malis returned. "As you can clearly see, Harper, you can't win. And neither will your androids. Surrender peacefully, and I promise that nothing will happen to you."

"Dylan and the others are already on the surface, trying to deactivate the androids themselves! All they need is more time! Malis, please, we're all on the same side here!" Holo-Harper pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Harper. But you and your crew have run out of time," Captain Malis said. He turned his head. "All missiles to the planet!"

Holo-Harper blinked, then slowly closed his eyes in concentration. The Andromeda hummed as it moved towards the front of the planet.

Malis stared at him in outright astonishment. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry too," Holo-Harper snapped. "But my crew are down there. If you want to destroy them, you're going to have to go through me first."

"Harper, don't do this," Malis implored. "You know you can't win."

"You'll have to destroy the ship...and me," Holo-Harper said, looking down.

A long pause. "You're a good man, Harper. The Commonwealth would have certainly benefitted from you all.....but the thing is, Harper, your crew and the Commonwealth are on two different sides. And you don't know how different those sides are." Malis' eyes were sad. "And in a way, I'm glad you won't live to know." His voice was heavy. "All ships, fire on Andromeda when ready."

The Andromeda shook from the impact from the first missiles. "Hull integrity compromised," screen-Harper said. "Man, we're screwed!"

"What about weapons?" holo-Harper demanded.

"We don't have any weapons!" Screen-Harper snapped. "And even if we did, we never figured out how to use them! Man, I told you we shouldn't have been playing poker!"

"Great, just great," Holo-Harper muttered.

"Another volley!" Screen-Harper warned.

"Well, do something!" Holo-Harper shouted.

Screen Harper shrugged. "What?" he asked.

The Andromeda rocked hard to the right. Holo-Harper shook his head angrily. "Oh, nuts to this," he said, and closed his eyes and disappeared.

So did the screen Harper. The bridge instantly went dark.

Harper opened his blue eyes slowly as different versions of reality merged with him. He groaned and lifted his very real head. "Ow...." he took out the wire in his dataport with a hand that was asleep. Harper felt tired, and weak, and very, very thirsty. He stood unsteadily onto his feet as the ship trembled, reminding him of the task at hand. He managed a half-stumble out of the machine shop and into the corridor. He had to run. Move faster. Biting his cracked lip, Harper forced his unsteady legs into a run.

He finally managed to reach engineering. He opened the doors a tiny crack, went inside, and barely managed to cling onto the control station just as the ship trembled violently as the first volley of missiles hit the ship. The lights dimmed, and flickered out. Systems exploded, one after another. The roof collapsed above him as he frantically worked at the controls before they lost power. The new reactor core in front of him began to glow a light green that lit the darkness.

The com flickered back to life. "Harper, we're reading a massive power build-up in your reactor core. It can't stand the stress much longer!" Malis said with genuine concern.

"So?" Harper demanded, still working.

"So blowing yourself up won't solve anything!" Malis said.

"Oh, you know me, Malis, just thinking outside the box, as usual," Harper replied. "Just to let you know, ladies and gentleman, I am in fact stimulating the conditions of a miniature sun in my reactor core. If it implodes, it will destroy everything on this ship, including me, the bridge, the medical bay...the nova bombs."

A long pause.

"What do you suppose would happen if even one of those little nova bombs should activate in the explosion? Combined with a sun...why, it would turn everything in this system to dust and the slipstream routes for the next billion years. Including your ships."

"There's no reason for them to activate!" Malis snarled, but there was an edge of uncertainty in his voice.

"Yes, there is," Harper said. "Because I'm going to activate ALL of them myself right now." So saying, he left engineering and ran towards the machine shop.

"You're insane!" Malis said over the speakers. "You'll destroy yourself and your friends anyway!"

Harper had to laugh. "Considering that my only other option is to let you kill me and my friends....I prefer the option where I get to blow you bastards out of the sky with me in a very beautiful and tidy explosion." He entered the machine shop. In front of them were twenty nova bombs. He activated them all one at a time by hand. "There. It's done." He smiled. A little. "I told you, Malis, that during the dark ages we had to think of inventive solutions. I guess we still are in the dark ages." His eyes hardened. "You've got one minute."

Malis' voice was firm. "I have my orders."

"Too bad for you. Forty-five seconds until we're all blown to smithereens. Harper out," Harper said and terminated the communications. It was very quiet on the ship. His hands shaking, Harper opened a crate by the nova bombs and took out a large bottle of genuine Earth whiskey. He opened it and chugged it down. Waiting to die.

-------------

Meanwhile, on the surface Beka side-stepped an android's swinging fist. She whirled around, kicking him to the ground. Wordlessly she grabbed her gun and fired it several times at the android's head. Its body convulsed as its head tore apart, then became still in the dirt.

Beka turned away. It had been a tough battle so far. Blood was dripping from a gasp in her shoulder into two small trails of crimson down her arm. Her left wrist was broken in dozens of places, and she limped when she walked. By now Tyr had run out of ammo and was fighting with his bare fists. And they still had to deal with the robots in the palace.

Beka sighed as the android she had just shot blinked to life and proceeded to stand. She threw it over her shoulder and prepared to begin another round.

------------------------

Meanwhile, an android had approached Trance. Trance softly blew him a kiss, her breath filled with

rosy light. The android fell to the ground, convulsing. She then looked up. "Beka...are those supposed to be there?" She pointed at the stars.

Beka followed her gaze and saw several ships approaching the planet. Her eyes widened with terror.

------------

The Dylan android grabbed Rommie and threw her against the side of the wall. Her body slammed against the concrete, making it crack and almost break. With a face devoid of expression he threw her across the roof.

She twisted and landed on her two face in a half-crouch. Her head jerked up at Dylan as he approached her. With a determined scowl she punched straight through his chest and out the other side. She missed his main power supply by a bare millimeter! To her horror she saw that her hand was stuck.

Dylan lifted his hand, and slammed it down against Rommie's forearm. It broke off at the elbow in an

explosion of sparks, releasing her. Rommie kicked him in the head, and he stumbled backwards.

Rommie favored her severed arm for a moment, her brown eyes very cold. She tucked and rolled as Dylan droid made a grab for her, and rolled again as he tried to grab her red hair. She tripped him with her boot. Wordlessly he fell beside her. She lifted her heel and with one precision kick she severed his head from his body.

They both jumped to their feet. Even headless Dylan droid could still operate, though blind. He made a clumsy grab for her. Rommie dodged and tried to kick him in the chest. Dylan somehow blocked and slashed her face with his nails, which were as tough as steel claws. It cut straight through her forehead down to her cheek, revealing a metal interior. She shoved him away.

Dylan ran into a metal railing. With his hands he grabbed a rusty pole and pulled it apart. He turned to face Rommie, reaching out with his sensors to her location.

Rommie, breathing hard, did nothing for a moment. Then she ran straight at him, determined to end this conflict once and for all.

Dylan blocked her fists, and hit her once in the head with the pole. Her head jerked downwards from the impact. Dylan then abruptly turned and impaled the pole straight through her chest and out to the other side of her body. Rommie gasped in pain, then pulled her body forwards, gloved her hand gripping the metal. She pulled herself closer, Dylan still gripping the pole. Then, her face twisted in pain, she grabbed Dylan's shoulders with her two bare hands she ripped Dylan apart in two. He fell to the ground, nothing more then scrap.

Rommie fell to her knees with a cry of pain. She stared at nothing, her body sparking in a dozen places from the rain. Then, slowly, she gripped the pipe lodged in her abdomen and took it out of her. Vital fluid poured out of her body. Her expression still blank, Rommie slowly crawled her way to the edge of the rooftop. "Secondary power supply...not functioning....main power supply....critical....vital systems....severely damaged...unable to repair.....termination and non-retrieval.....initiate..."

She reached the edge and closed her eyes with a soft sigh. Resting her head against the cold concrete, Rommie waited to die.

----------

Dylan Hunt ran up the steps and broke through the door leading to the roof. Damn, his duplicate was fast. His blue eyes spotted Rommie laying on the ground. "Rommie!" he shouted, and ran to her side.

"Dylan?" Rommie whispered, her brown eyes confused. "But....but I killed you..."

"Don't try to move," Dylan said, inspecting the damage. It was very bad. "Maybe Harper-"

"No, Dylan," Rommie said, with a small smile. "It's too late."

Dylan stared at her face, not comprehending. He gripped her face in his trembling hands. "Rommie, stay with me. I'm going to get you help-"

"My power cells have been hit," Rommie whispered. "The damage is too severe. There's nothing anyone can do now."

Dylan, his face filled with stunned astonishment, slumped down to the ground beside her. This was the worst case scenario he could have ever imagined.

Her hand weakly gripped his. "Stay with me, Dylan," Rommie whispered. "Please. There's still....there's still a little time left...."

------------------

Harper stirred slightly and yawned. Damn. Interfacing with the entire ship was sure as hell more taxing then he had thought. Harper grinned as he chugged down the rest of the alcohol. Nothing a little drinkie couldn't cure.

On the white screen opposite him he saw red numbers ticking down. Eighting...seventeen....pretty, he thought, as he helped himself to another drink. For some strange reason he thought he was forgetting something.....

-------------

"Look!" Beka pointed to Tyr on the surface. "The ships are veering off!"

Tyr watched them with his trained eyes. She was right. The ships were indeed retreating back into Slipstream. Tyr grinned. "Miserable cowards."

Beka activated the com link. "Harper, whatever you did you've just earned a month's wages!"

A pause. "Whatsiz?" Harper asked over the com.

"You did it!" Beka congratulated.

Another pause. "Beka? Is that you? Hey, are you in the ship now?" Harper slurred.

Beka frowned. "Harper...have you been drinking!?"

"Um....no?" Harper said, and hiccuped with a laugh.

Beka glanced at Tyr in astonishment. "He's drunk! I can't believe he's drunk at a time like this! Harper, look, I want you to run a diagnostic of all systems-"

"Busy," Harper said. "I'm watching the numbers."

Beka frowned. "What numbers?" she snarled at him.

"The ones that are counting down," Harper replied cheerfully.

Beka froze. The ships left in an awful hurry...."Harper listen to me because this is very important. What do the numbers stand for?"

"I dunno," Harper said. "How am I supposed to remember every little thing-oh yeah, they signal when the nova things are about to explode! See, I remember stuff-"

"NOVA BOMB?" Beka shouted.

"Bombs, actually," Harper corrected with a giggle.

Trance activated link. "Harper, it's Trance," she said calmly.

"Hey, Trance," Harper said. "Are you down on the planet too?"

"Yes," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Harper, why don't you turn off the nova bomb-"

"We don't have time for this," Tyr snarled at her. He touched his neck. "BOY, TURN OFF THOSE DAMNABLE BOMBS! NOOOOWWWW!!!!"

-------------

Harper stirred and sighed. "Fine, fine," he grumbled. "Always have to do everything..." He turned off the first nova bomb. Maybe the others wouldn't noticed if he just turned off the first one. "There. Happy?"

"All of them?" Beka demanded suspiciously.

Harper sighed. "No, but-"

"ALL OF THEM!" Tyr screamed into the ship's speakers. "RIGHT NOW!"

With an irritated groan Harper switched them all off. "Fine, fine! They're all switched off!" He went back to the floor. "Now let me get some sleep."

----------------

On the planet, Beka glanced at Tyr and breathed a sigh of relief. "Remind me never to put him in charge

ever again."

-----------

Rommie and Dylan lay together, side by side. The gaping wound in her chest was still sparking whenever rain hit it. She turned her head slightly to Dylan. "I never meant to hurt you," she whispered, a tear falling down her cheek.

"I know," Dylan said gently. "Don't worry about that now, Rommie."

"I had my orders," Rommie said. "The Commonwealth...we're not like them. They don't understand us." She reached out to touch his cheek. "You're important, Dylan. You have a purpose."

"So are you," Dylan said. "I'm still not...I'm still not..." He looked away, unable to say anything else.

Rommie smiled. "I was nothing that day, remember? I was....just waiting to be scrap. You came for me. Then I became a warship."

"You're more then that, Rommie," Dylan said sharply. "Much more. Don't ever think otherwise, even to your last breath." He moved into a sitting position and looked down at her. "You're a person, Rommie. I don't even see a machine."

Rommie was struggling to breathe now. "You told me...once, that love was the everlasting force in the universe, even after we die." She stared at him with her brown eyes. "Do you....love me?"

Dylan gripped her hand. "That question doesn't even need an answer," he said quietly. "I do love you, Rommie. Ever since I first laid eyes upon you, I knew you were going to be different. I knew you were going to be very special to the Commonwealth." Dylan sighed. "I'm just a man."

Rommie blinked. "You're more then that," she said. "You're my Captain." Then she smiled at him.

Dylan nodded, silent tears falling down his eyes.

Her black glove gripped his hand tightly for a moment, then abruptly relaxed and was still. In that moment, Dylan Hunt knew that Rommie was dead.

His legs hugging against his chest, Dylan lowered his head and cried.

Andromeda. His face was pale, and angrier then Beka and Harper had ever seen.

"I can't believe this is happening," Harper whispered, tears falling openly down his eyes. His clothes smelled entirely of drink.

"Are you drunk, Seamus?" Beka asked him quietly.

Harper shook his head. "I wish I could be."

A sudden beeping made Beka lift a data sheet. "It's the Commonwealth ships," she said dully. "They're back." She looked up at Dylan. "They want to talk to you."

Ten minutes later the Andromeda was boarded. Dylan and Beka were waiting as the docking bay opened slowly, their weapons raised.

Captain Malis entered the ship, followed by twenty armed Commonwealth officers.

His eyes as cold as stone, Dylan watched as Tyr and Harper slowly laid down a stretcher in front of the two Captains. On it was the Andromeda avatar, covered in a black sheet.

"The rest of the robots have been neutralized and have been packed for spare parts," Malis said, and sniffed. "It would be easier for all of us if you all surrendered."

"And you know that we would all rather die then do that," Dylan replied.

"Nothing ever happens the way you want it to, Captain," Malis said. "I regret that."

"Because of the Commonwealth, many people died, including my ship and her avatar," Dylan said.

"But you can't prove that," Malis said mildly. "Any more then you can prove that we were perfectly wiling to fire on a fellow Commonwealth vessel to destroy a planet of our own damaged AI's." He leaned forwards. "The Commonwealth Command recommends that the best course of action in this situation would be for the both of us to forget that this ever happened." Malis coughed. "You have...quite an exceptional crew. Very interesting people. Harper, yourself...Trance." Dylan was lost in his own thoughts to notice that Malis' hand was shaking as he said that.

Dylan lifted his pale head. "With respect, 'Captain', I don't think it would be easy for the victims of that planet or those refugees we rescued to simply 'forget' what happened." He looked away. "Nor can I ever pretend to forget what the Commonwealth did to us." He stared at Malis, and his blue eyes became firm. "And I won't."

Malis lifted an eyebrow. "What do you plan to do, Dylan? Tell all the planets what the Commonwealth did? At best, they would think that you were a fool. At worst, your meddling would undermine the very Commonwealth that you had spent two years trying to build. I don't want that, and I don't think that you want that either, despite everything that's happened here."

"Oh please, let me shoot him!" Harper begged.

Dylan raised his hand slightly to the young engineer, then turned back to Malis. "The motto we all used to stand for was to 'hold the line against the night'. All nights. And that's what I intend to do."

Malis almost choked. "Are you saying that you and your crew are going to start a front against the Commonwealth?"

"Beka?" Dylan asked.

"You don't even have to ask," Beka snarled. "Let's get these bastards for Rommie!"

"Harper?" Dylan asked.

"With you since the beginning, Dylan," Harper said. "That's not going to change."

"Trance?"

"No matter how constant the universe is, there's always one small inconsistency that will change it," Trance said with her sweet smile. "And I want to be a part of that."

"Tyr?"

Tyr tilted his head. "We're starting a war against fifty worlds and a thousand warships that we ourselves created....all because of a worthless dead collection of wires and parts?"

"Yes," Dylan said.

Tyr raised his eyebrow and smiled. "Then, by all means, count me in."

Malis shook his head. "You're a stubborn man, Dylan. And now, you're a dead one."

"Get off my ship," Dylan spat.

"Wait!" Malis said. "The last thing the Commonwealth needs is this. What about..what about compensation for your loss? You're missing an Ai, we can supply you with a new, top-of-the-line artificial life form who would always be eager to serve-"

"Tyr," Dylan said.

Tyr charged his massive gun and aimed it playfully at Captain Malis.

"Wait!" Malis shouted. "What if we took a look at your dead AI?"

Dylan looked up. He glanced at Harper.

"No way, boss," Harper snorted. "They're bluffing. Even I can't fix either of them."

Malis glared at Harper. "The Commonwealth is comprised of mostly Perseids. You think they just sit around on their asses all day?"

Dylan blinked.

----------------

The next few days were a nightmare. Thousands upon thousands of Perseids were swarming the ship, most of them surrounding the electrical wire that Harper and Dylan had snapped. They were expertly reattaching the broken wires.

Dylan scrambled away from a bunch of running Perseids that were shouting equations. "Do you think this is going to work?" Beka asked Dylan quietly.

"If it does," Dylan replied firmly. "Then I'll serve the Commonwealth to the end of my days." Dylan made his way to the machine shop, where a Perseid was working over the Andromeda avatar's body beside Harper. "Well?" he demanded.

Harper looked up. "Well, we have a few theories," Harper said, his voice tired. "This is like surgery Dylan. The slightest wrong fiddle of her wires and we'll loose her personality chip forever."

"Actually, that's not quite accurate Mr. Harper, sir," the Perseid interrupted. "What happens is that the neural committer along her 8543 chip is fused with her 3B1 processor and-"

"SHUT UP," Harper and Dylan said together.

Dylan turned to Harper. "Is there a chance?"

Harper shrugged. "We've fixed her body, reattached everything else. Now we're just interfacing her personality again." Harper said nothing for a moment. "Dylan...we do have the option of erasing her memories for the past few days."

Dylan said nothing for a few minutes. He thought about what Rommie had done, and especially their last conversation. Then, he said, "Yes. Erase them."

Harper did so. "Okay, we're almost done." He started to put her personality chip in again.

"Wait!" Dylan shouted.

Harper froze, then cursed under his breath. "Dylan, don't do that!"

Dylan glared at Captain Malis. "Get that crap you put in there out of her head first."

Malis smiled. "Damn. And here we had just figured out what went wrong," Malis said. He took a scanner from Harper and did so. "There. It's done."

His forehead very sweaty, Harper began to put the chip back into her head again. It connected. Everyone held their breaths.

--------------

The next morning, Dylan sat in the chair in his quarters, talking with the Andromeda AI on the screen. The door chimed. Dylan looked up. "Come in!"

Rommie entered in her fresh High guard uniform, and saluted. "Captain. Tyr reports that the Commonwealth has a new assignment for us. We are to escort Sinti operative Dagus to the Beta sector."

Dylan stared at her. "Yes. Thank you, Rommie."

Rommie caught him starring oddly at her. "Is there something wrong?" she asked.

You told me...once, that love was the everlasting force in the universe, even after we die.

Do you....love me?

Dylan shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Thanks."

Her face filled with puzzlement, Rommie turned to go.

"Wait," Dylan said.

She turned back.

"You know you're very special, Rommie. Don't you?" Dylan asked her.

Rommie smiled a little. "I'm a warship for our Commonwealth," she replied, and abruptly left, leaving Dylan alone in the darkness.

Dylan closed his eyes and sighed.

THE END.