[PhoenixReborn]

'Return to Innocence'

An Andromeda fanfic by Chris B Henderson

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"The universe has changed, they tell us, and the day when mighty fleets of
High Guard ships brought peace and order to the local cluster are long
Since over.
And they are absolutely right."

- excerpt from Stark's first address as Chief of Staff to the graduating
midshipmen of the High Guard Academy, 9764 CY.
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The silver sculpture that is the Andromeda Ascendant exited slipstream in a blaze of blue and white light. As the last tendrils of the stream faded away and the portal closed behind her, she began gliding towards the large gas giant near the centre of the system.

“Well” said Beka, releasing the slip controls “Here we are. Welcome to a whole lot of nothing in the middle of nowhere”

“Perfect” Dylan responded “exactly what we need right now”

Tyr raised his eyebrows “So kindly explain to me how hiding in a remote corner of the Pegasus system will advance your dream of a restored and stable Commonwealth?”

“We’re not hiding Tyr” Dylan laughed “We’re just taking a breather”

“A what?” asked Trance

“A breather. A chance to take stock, access our situation, plan our next move, refuel from that gas giant and repair some battle damage” Dylan explained patiently.

Beka looked shocked “I never thought I’d hear Captain Compulsive suggest a holiday !”

“One of his few sensible suggestions” murmured Tyr “old age must be finally catching up with our Captain”

Harper looked disgusted “Yeah, right, a holiday. I didn’t hear anything that sounded like holiday to me ! A holiday means sun, sand, beaches….” he glanced at Rommie “….and babes! Repairing battle damage just doesn’t have the same ring to it, know what I mean ?!”

“I could play the sound of ocean waves while you work if you’d like” offered Rommie “but if you ask me to wear a bik…………..Wait ! Dylan, I’m receiving a faint distress signal, attempting to locate origin”

“So much for plan A” Dylan sighed “Tell me what we’ve got Rommie”

The graphic on one of the command deck view screens was replaced by the face of Andromedas AI “I’m receiving a distress signal from what appears to be a commercial freighter under attack from Drago-Kazov fighters. Time delays and signal echo’s place the source on the night-side of this systems gas giant”

“Okay people, battlestations. Rommie, take us in”

“Aye sir” responded Rommie, punching commands into her console.

The command deck lights dimmed as the alarm sounded throughout the ship, and Andromedas giant battle blades began swinging into position.

The rest of the crew just groaned.

“WHAT?!” Dylan demanded looking at the faces around him.

Harper was shaking his head “Here we go again, again !”

“If the Dragans want that freighter, then I want to know why.” “Tyr, can you honestly tell me your not the least bit interested?”

“Much as I hate to agree, but it would seem unusual for the Dragans to be operating this far out….” grumbled Tyr

Rommie interrupted him “Almost there Dylan. Visual in 50,…..40,…..30,….20,……there !”

All eyes turned to the view screen, which now showed a small freighter, similar in size and shape to the Eureka Maru, but which had obviously seen much better days.
As they watched, a salvo of missiles from one of the circling Drago fighters slammed into the helpless freighter, and chunks of metal and gas erupted from near the front of the ship.

“Dylan, hull breach !” cried Harper “we gotta hurry”

“Tyr” barked Dylan “Offensive missiles, target the….”

“Firing” interrupted Tyr

Dylan turned to face Tyr “Any chance you could have waited for the order first? Is that too much to ask?”

“Sorry” Tyr said, looking anything but.

On the view screen they watched their missiles intercept the fighters, one of them immediately exploded, while another began spiralling out of control, the third just managed to evade the missiles by diving behind the freighter.

“One target destroyed, second has sustained heavy damage, and the third is running………he’s entering slipstream” stated Andromeda AI.

“Good work. Stand down battlestations. Andromeda, bring that freighter in. Any chance we can capture that last Dragan?”

“His engines are off-line. I can send the drones to……..no, cancel that, his reactors going critical”

On the screen the crippled fighter vanished in a spectacular fireworks display.

Andromeda AI turned back to look at the crew “No survivors”.

“Shame” murmured Tyr

Dylan looked at him sideways “Yes, it is…... Trance, prepare medical for survivors, everybody else with me. Rommie, where am I going?”

“Hanger 14”

They all ran out of command, Trance heading for medical while the rest ran towards the hangar deck.
There was an awkward pause while they waited at the pressure doors for the atmosphere to stabilise, but as soon as the doors opened they sprinted inside.
They were forced to use levers to pry the hatches open on the shattered remains of the freighter, and once inside the found a mess of twisted metal and dangling pipes and wires.
As usual, Dylan was first in “Spread out, look for survivors, but be careful. Rommie and I’ll search forward.”
They spread out and began searching through the damaged compartments.
Dylan called to Rommie “Life signs?”

“Nothing so far Dylan, I think we’re too late.”

“DYLAN!” Beka shouted

Dylan made his way to the rear of the ship to where Tyr, Harper, and Beka were checking over the bodies of 4 humans sprawled around an internal access hatch.

Tyr looked up as he approached “They’re dead. It would appear they were trying to reach the escape pod when the hull was breeched”

Rommies voice came over Dylans comm link “Dylan, cockpit, now !”

He raced forward again and found Rommie trying to remove a body from the wreckage of the pilots chair. Patches of scarred metal showed through the skin, and occasional sparks made it obvious the body was an Android.

“Dylan, it’s suffered critical damage, but the central net stills seems to functioning….just”

Dylan turned and shouted back down the ship “Harper, front and centre, we need one of your miracles ASAP!”

Harper arrived and took one look at the android “Jeez guys, I dunno if even I can pull this off”

Rommie grabbed his shoulder “C’mon Harper, you have to try !”

Harper looked like he was going to argue, but one look at Rommies upset expression changed his mind.
He shrugged his shoulders “For you Rom-doll, anything. Trust in the Harper” He took a closer look at the android “Get…..HER….to machine shop, STAT !” As Rommie carried the android out, Harper winked at Dylan “I’ve always wanted to say STAT !” he turned to follow Rommie “I just wish I knew what it meant…..”

Dylan, Tyr, and Beka searched the rest of the ship, but found nothing but medical supplies and ration packs, they couldn’t even find any identification for the crew. They soon realised that the android was their only hope for finding answers for their questions.

In the machine shop, Harper was just finishing his 18th hour straight trying to save the android, and even though he was dead tired, he finally felt he had managed to make progress.
He glanced up from the workbench at Rommie. She had stayed with him the whole time trying to help, getting Harper tools and the odd Sparky Cola, but there was little she could really do.

He stretched and yawned “Okay Romster, all her critical system are back in one piece, and the worst of the body damaged is fixed. Now we just have to wait for the nanobots and subroutines to finish rebuilding her nueral net and she’ll be good as new. In fact, thanks to some fine tuning by none other than my genius self, she’ll be better than new!”

Rommie looked at him, her face still showing concern “But what about…….”

Harper interrupted her, for once totally serious “Look, Rommie, I know she’s one of your own, but I’ve done all I can. What is it Rom? You’ve been doing everything but pacing the deck the whole time, why is she so special?”

Rommie just looked at him blankly, so he tried again “Okay, I can recognise High Guard engineering when I see it, and although this ones got some major modifications, like extra energy storage, fake life signs, and a few other ‘non-standard’ extras, she’s still got High Guard Avatar written all over her. You recognise her, don’t you?”

After a moment Rommie finally answered “She reminds me of someone” she said quietly “I can’t be sure, but I think she’s the Corona Astralis. We called her Astra”

“Corona Astralis?” Harper was intrigued.

“Yes. She was one of the old ‘Everlasting Alliance’ class medium cruisers, about half my size, but very tough little ships. We used to call them the ‘Bonzai Battleships’.” Rommie was smiling, but her eyes had begun to water, the memories were obviously painful for her “Corona Astralis had an impressive service record before I was even designed. Of course, according to the records, she, and the last of her sister ships, died at the battle of Witch Head, over 300 years ago”

Harper put his arm around her and tried his best to be comforting “We won’t know for sure till she re-activates, and that won’t be for another 10 hours or so. Till then all we can do is wait”

Rommie looked at Harper and smiled “Thanks for saving her”

Harper gave her his biggest grin “Any genius could have done it. Wait a minute!, what am I saying? Only I could have done it! Jeez I need some sleep”.

He headed towards his bunk, then noticed Rommie hadn’t moved “Don’t suppose you’d care to join me ?”

“HARPERRRR!” Rommie turned to leave,

“Didn’t think so”

*********************************

8 hours later Harper was woken from a deep sleep by Rommie shaking him “I’ve detected a large rise in neural activity, I think she’s re-activating”

“Ow! Enough of the rough treatment already, I’m up, I’m up!”

Just as Harper reached the table the android shuddered a few times, and then her eyes opened wide and she sat bolt upright.
Harper put his arms out, trying to keep her on the table “Whoa, settle down there! You’re systems won’t be fully operational yet”

“What?…..Where am I?”

“You, my dear divine-ness, are recovering from an almost direct missile hit, you are now on board the Andromeda Ascendant, and you are under the careful ministrations of the best engineer the universe has ever known. Namely me, Seamus Harper”

“The Andromeda?…..Andromeda Ascendant ?!” The way she said it made it sound like a curse. Suddenly she looked angry “I remember, we were ambushed by Drago-Kazov. My crew! How are my crew?!”

Harper lowered his eyes “Umm, well, they didn’t make it to the pod. I’m really sorry”

Just then, the rest of the crew entered Harpers machine shop, Dylan was leading “Good work Harper, Andromeda told us she was coming a…….”

He stopped at his first sight of the restored avatar sitting on the bench “Amazing…”

He noticed both Beka and Rommie staring at him, and tried to hide his embarrassment “She looks rather different without all the damage, don’t you think?”

Beka had to admit he had a point. What had been the scared and twisted remains of an android was now sitting in front of her, looking like a woman out of the holo-mags Harper hid in the Maru’s engine room, with long dark hair and striking blue eyes. The transformation was staggering.

Tyr had been standing in the doorway, but now he walked forward into the light “Are we going to ask the android any questions, or just discuss its physical appearance?”

Without a word the android launched herself at Tyr, her hands outstretched as she went for his throat.

Rommies reactions were much faster than anyone else, and she was in-between them in a flash. She met the androids charge without flinching. Luckily the android still wasn’t up to full strength, and Rommie easily wrestled her back to the workbench.

“ASTRA, Corona Astralis! Is that you?!” Rommie was almost shouting.

Astra looked at her with hate filled eyes “Protecting Nietzscheans, just what I’d expect from you Andromeda” she almost spat the words out.

Rommie let go and stepped back, too stunned to answer.

Tyr’s survival instincts kicked in “I’ll be in the gym Captain Hunt. Call me when your new pet has been house trained”

Dylan looked from Tyr, to Rommie, and back to Astra. He drew his forcelance and stepped forward angrily, “Corona Astralis avatar, I am Captain Dylan Hunt of the Andromeda Ascendant. I have no idea why your acting this way, and frankly I don’t care! While you are on my ship you will not harm either the ship or my crew, do I make myself clear ?”

Astra sneered at him “Authorisation?”

Dylan hadn’t expected that, but after a moment he replied “Authorisation Captain Dylan Hunt, Lexic Dark 52278 Alpha 7771”

Astra visibly relaxed “Authorisation code accepted. Orders understood, Captain Hunt”

“Okay then, that’s better” Dylan checked Rommie was still watching Astra, then holstered his Forcelance “Would you mind telling me what that was about?”

Astra looked at him “He is Nietzschean”

“And?” prompted Dylan

“Nietzscheans destroyed the Commonwealth, killed my crew, killed my friends, enslaved and murdered millions of civilians”

“She’s got a good point there boss” put in Harper. Dylan glared at him,
“Or maybe not….”

Dylan turned back to Astra “Tell me, why were the Drago-Kazov so interested in you, what have you got that they want?”

“Nothing. Apart from me of course” Astra saw the confused looks on the faces around her “I’m a blockade runner, and I’m on their ‘most wanted’ list.” She explained “I run medical supplies, food, and clothing into Nietzschean controlled slave planets, and I usually bring refuges back out. I don’t know how they managed it, but on my last trip I flew straight into an ambush. They chased me for 10 days and through 14 slips. I guess after 300 years I must have got careless”

“You’ve been doing this since the Commonwealth fell?” asked Rommie

Astra stayed silent and didn’t even acknowledge the question.

“Well ? Have you been doing this since the Commonwealth fell? Asked Harper

“Almost. I started not long after the battle of Witch Head. I’m embarrassed to say that my ship-self didn’t last long during that battle, we took a pounding in the first few minutes and lost engines and most of my weapons systems. Captain Agrena’s last orders to me were “Astra, it’s over. Abandon ship, save as many as you can”. I managed to get 6 injured crewmen into a pod before we lost atmosphere, and I watched my ship-self die as we escaped.”
Astra realized she was crying, and reached up and felt her wet checks “Did you do this Harper?” she asked incredulously.
“Um, guilty as charged, sorry”
Astra smiled at him “Your really are as good as you claim to be!”

“You were saying?” prompted Beka

Astra continued “I eventually made it to the Than homeworld with my injured crew. It didn’t take much to realize a High Guard avatar wouldn’t last long if the Nietzscheans found it, so I found someone willing to modify me, and then I hid myself amongst smugglers. I ‘inherited’ my ship when the original crew died in a bar brawl, and then I began carrying out my Captains last order again.

“Save as many as you can” whispered Dylan. “And when you were ambushed, what were you doing?”

“I was on my way to MP427. The planet has suffered from some severe weather patterns lately, and the production from the mines has dropped. Unfortunately the Nietzscheans running the mines don’t seem to accept weather as an excuse, so they have begun ‘withholding luxuries’ from the slave population, holding back food and medical supplies, to teach them a lesson!.” Astra realized she was now standing with her fists clenched. She sat back down slowly.

Dylan was just staring at Astra, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Oh-oh” said Beka “I know that look. Our breather is official over people. Let me guess, MP427?”

“Ah Beka, you know me so well. Andromeda, plot a course…”

“Captain!” Astra interrupted “That won’t be necessary. If your engineer could just assist with repairs to my ship, I’ll continue my mission myself”

Harper cringed “Umm, you haven’t actually seen your ship lately have you? If those people can wait a few weeks, then no problem. Till then your ship won’t be going anywhere without someone pushing”

“And anyway” added Rommie looking determined “you’ll need help”

Astra fixed Rommie with a cold stare “I guess I don’t have any other option”

***************************

It was 14 slips to MP 427, and with having to be extra careful to avoid any Drago-Kazov patrols, it would take 2 weeks for the journey.

After having a funeral service for Astra’s crew, the rations and medical supplies were transferred from her ship onto the Maru. When she was fully recovered, Astra and Harper busied themselves with repairs to Astra’s ship. Of course that meant long hours working closely together, and so the 2 began sharing war stories while they worked.

“Let me get this straight” Astra said during one such conversation “You were actually infected by Magog and survived, and the Nietzschean actually helped you?!

“Hey, I’m here talking to you aren’t I? Tyr’s not like other Nietzscheans. Well, actually, he is, but it’s almost like he has morals or something. For all his Nietzschean-ness, I actually sort of like him, sort of”

“You’ve been through more than your fair share of tough times, haven’t you Harper?”

Harper grinned “Yeah, I guess so. But so have you, and at least your still sane!”

Astra looked very confused “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, we’ve run into a couple of other High Guard AI’s that survived the fall, and so far they have all been total weirdo’s with homicidal tendencies!”

“You’ll have to explain that Harper”

“It’s like this. We met the ‘Balance of Judgement’ and his avatar. The ‘Unbalanced’ tried to steal Rommie and destroy the Andromeda. He was the power behind the Restorians, did you know that?”

Astra shook her head.

“Then there was the ‘Pax Magellanic’. She fell in love with her captain and had an affair with him. Then she used her slip core to kill him, her crew, and destroy an entire planet! When we tried to help her, she attacked us too. She finally committed suicide”

Astra was stunned “I can’t believe it!” after a pause she continued “Mind you, I met the Balance once, and I remember thinking he had an huge ego problem. As for Maggie, I know for a fact that wasn’t really her fault”

“Huh? What do you mean, not her fault?”

Astra thought about it for a second, and then decided she could tell him “As the AI programming got better and better, some of the High Guard ships slowly began to develop signs of ‘independence’. They began to disagree with orders and argue with their Captains. The High Guard decided to modify the core personality programming. They wanted to increase an AI’s loyalty and obedience. It would appear that it had unexpected side effects”

“How do you know all this Astra? Andromeda’s never mentioned it”.

“Of course not, she doesn’t know! It was all very top secret. Fortunately, I was the first ‘problem child’ to be modified, so I know the secret”.

Astra put her arm around Harper’s shoulder and smiled at him “So you don’t have to worry Mr Harper, I won’t ruin your day by going weird on you”
Then she kissed him lightly on the cheek “And thanks for all your help”

Rommie chose that moment to enter the compartment they were in, and she did not look happy “Harper, walk with me, now!”

Astra shot Rommie a filthy glance, but she let Harper go.

Outside the ship Harper tried to smooth things over “Rom-doll, she was just……”

“Not interested Harper! I need you to check my data bank integrity”

“Okay, I’ll just….”

“NOW!”

Harper ran for the closet access port.

As soon as Harper jacked in, he found Andromeda’s giant hologram waiting for him. “Okay, I’m here. Tell me where it hurts”

“Nowhere Harper, I’m fine. I wanted to talk to you in private”

“Oh-oh. I can explain…..”

“Shut up Harper. I want to know if Corona Astralis has talked to you about me. I used to consider her a friend, and now she despises me. I don’t understand it”.

Harper relaxed “No, she hasn’t really mentioned you, but you should know that from your internal sensors?”

“She’s a High Guard avatar Harper, she’s using her internal countermeasures to block my sensors. I don’t even know where she is most of the time”

Harper could tell that Andromeda was extremely worried by Astra’s attitude, and since he didn’t have any answers, he looked for a way to distract her.

“Tell ya’ what though, how would you feel if I told you why the Pax Megallanic went insane? And that it wasn’t really her fault?”

That did it, Andromeda was suddenly very interested “Tell me what you know Harper”

He put on his best ‘teacher’ voice “Back before you were built, some AI’s had started giving their Captains a hard time, so the High Guard added their own special little piece of programming to the core personality. It was just supposed to make sure you didn’t decide to start playing by your own rules, but it had some nasty side effects”

Andromeda considered this for a moment “Show me”

Harper hadn’t really planned this, but luckily it only took a few minutes to find what he was after.
They both stood looking at the new discovery.

Andromeda spoke first “So this means that when the Pax Magellanic thought her Captain had abandoned her……”

“This piece of bad programming caused a massive internal software conflict” Harper finished “She couldn’t handle the conflicting emotions, Maggie couldn’t get over her pain”

“It could happen to me” Andromeda whispered, “Harper, get rid of it!”

“As you wish, m’lady” Harper got to work.

After a few moments Andromeda spoke again “You said this was supposed to stop me from being disloyal, is that correct?”

“Yeah, basically”

“Then I just want you to disable it, and add a re-activation code for Dylan, Beka, and yourself”

“What? You won’t need anything like this Andromeda!”

She closed her eyes and said quietly “Tell that to the Balance of Judgement”

“Point taken” Harper got back to work.

******************

Thanks to a mixture of Beka’s piloting and their complicated course, they arrived one jump from MP427 without sighting any other ships.
The system they were now in had a large asteroid field, perfect for hiding the Andromeda while they went the rest of the way in the Maru.

Dylan had intended to leave both Harper and Trance on Andromeda, but Harper surprised everyone by insisting he went along.
When Dylan asked him why he replied “Look at it this way boss, those people down there remind me of me, back on earth. I managed to get out, so the least I can do is help the people left behind”
Dylan couldn’t argue with that.

Tyr only agreed to go along after Dylan promised him his new ‘pet’ was fully under control, but he still muttered something about a ‘fools crusade’ and ‘pointless exercises in futility’.
Dylan just smiled at him, which seemed to annoy Tyr more.

Trance would be the only one left aboard. On the way to the hangar deck Beka asked Dylan for a quiet word.
“Dylan, do you think it’s wise leaving Trance alone in charge of the Andromeda?”
“It’ll be fine Beka” Dylan answered “Andromeda will keep her out of trouble, and if the Dragans happen to find Andromeda, she’ll need someone to pilot slipstream”
“Trance? Piloting slipstream! Should I panic now or later?”
Dylan grinned “Think about it Beka, if Trance has no idea where she’s going, they won’t be able to follow her, will they?”
He walked off, leaving a very confused looking Beka standing in the passage way.

Soon the Maru was leaving the asteroid field, heading for the nearest slip portal.
On board, Dylan had called everyone together to explain his plan.
“This is our destination” he said, pointing at the chart on the table “Since this is just a mining planet, the Drago-Kazov defences are fairly light, and they are more designed to prevent ships leaving than arriving. Thoughts Beka?”
Beka studied the chart “It looks fairly easy to get through undetected, especially with interference from all the storm activity”
“Good. Astra knows where to find the resistance movement, so we won’t have to go searching. The big problem will be avoiding the garrison of troops guarding the mines and slave compound. Astra tells me they send out regular patrols looking for any runaway slaves”.

“How often?” Tyr asked.
Astra stared at him, and for a moment Dylan tensed, thinking she was going to attack. Then she answered calmly “Random patrols, on random routes. It keeps the slaves guessing”.

Dylan relaxed and let out his breath. “Okay, so we need to get in, unload, and get out again as quick and as quiet as possible, understood?”
They all nodded.
“Any questions?”
“Just one” said Astra. She turned to Tyr “What are you doing here?”
Tyr laughed “You would be surprised how often I ask myself that very question”
Dispite his laughter, Dylan noticed Tyr had one hand on his Gauss pistol.

Astra wasn’t going to quit “What is a Nietzschean doing assisting with this ‘anti-Nietzschean’ operation. Don’t tell me you care about the slaves”

Tyr suddenly looked serious “A, I need to keep Dylan Hunt alive. His ship is insanely loyal to him and wouldn’t accept me as her Captain….”

Rommie fixed him with her biggest smile “Why thank you Tyr”

“What about me?!” Beka cried

“You already have your own ship” replied Rommie.

Beka smiled “Oh, that’s alright then”

Tyr ignored both of them “……and B, I am Kodiak!. The Drago-Kazov betrayed my pride and took what was rightfully ours. The truth is I could not care less about your pathetic slaves, but any little thing I can do to annoy the Dragans gives me great pleasure. That is why I am here!”

Astra studied him for a moment “Self preservation and revenge” she said finally “Two of the best motivations for a Nietzschean. Perhaps I won’t kill you.”

There was a deathly silence in the Maru after that, which Harper finally broke “Umm good, now that’s settled, shall we go and annoy some Dragans?”

“Yes, I think now would be a good time” Dylan answered. “Beka, take us to slipstream”

*****

The trip down to the planet went smoothly, and as expected Beka had relatively little trouble guiding the Maru around the planets orbital sensors.
They came down on the night-side of the planet, using the edge of a large electrical storm as cover. Once they were low enough, Beka guided the Maru through a maze of steep sided valleys towards Astra’s rendezvous point.
Astra was standing beside Beka in the cockpit “There it is Beka, put us down in there” she was pointing towards a small clearing that looked barely big enough for the Maru, surrounded by massive trees.
“Sure, no problem” Beka carefully lowered the Maru to the ground.

“Nice job Beka” said Dylan as he came forward

Beka released her seatbelts “Thanks, but it was better than just ‘nice’”

Dylan grinned and turned to the others “Okay people, Astra, go and find your contact, everyone else spread out around the Maru, and keep your eyes and ears open”

They didn’t have to wait long for Astra to return, bringing with her a sizeable number of the local resistance.
She took the leader to Dylan “Captain Hunt, this it Kavo”
They shook hands and Kavo spoke “Thanks for coming Captain, those supplies are desperately needed. Our storage caves are near-by, so we’ll unload and get you out of here as quickly as possible”.
“Thank you Kavo”.

True to his word, it took less than an hour for the resistance to transfer all of the supplies from the Maru into the caves.
Dylan was just about to order his people back on the Maru when Kavo approached him again “I can’t thank you enough for this Captain, we need all the help we can these days”

Dylan was puzzled “these days?”

Kavo looked up at the night sky and sighed “Things are getting worse here. The weather keeps causing flash floods and cave-ins in the mines, and the Nietzscheans just expect us to work harder to make up for lost production” he shook his head “Now they’ve started randomly selecting ‘agitators’ for excecution, even those with children”

At this Beka stepped forward “Children? What happens to the kids?”

“Those that are to young to work in the mines are locked in a cage in the compound. The Nietzscheans give them half the normal rations and let them slowly starve to death. They say it’s supposed to be ‘encouragement’ for the other slaves with children”

Beka didn’t know if she had ever been this angry “How many children?”

“At the moment, there’s 5”

She turned to Dylan, and was just about to speak when he raised his hand and cut her off “Way ahead of you Beka. Kavo, tell us how to find this cage”.

Tyr broke in angrily “Am I to understand you are seriously considering mounting a rescue mission Captain Hunt?”

“You understand correctly Tyr”

“And what exactly is the point of this lunacy? Will your tragic death on a back-water planet during a pointless suicide mission somehow help to restore your beloved Commonwealth?!”

Dylan spun around and put his face inches from Tyr’s “You just don’t get it, do you Tyr? This is exactly what my mission is all about! There are people here who need help, children who are dying, they have no way out and they have no hope. We don’t know them and until a few days ago we didn’t care about them, but that’s not important. The important thing is that WE are the only chance they have at a decent life, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let them down”
Dylan stepped back and lowered his voice “I once heard a brave man say ‘Where there is life, there is hope’. Well, there is life here, and we are it’s hope. You can go, or stay, it’s your choice”.

He turned his back on Tyr and spoke to Kavo “So, you were saying?”

*****************

It wasn’t far to the slave compound, so it wasn’t long before they where crouching in the undergrowth at the edge of a clearing, looking at a sorry collection of huts behind the security fence. Tyr had decided to accompany them, but he hadn’t hid his displeasure along the way, telling them at every opportunity what a massively stupid idea this was.

“Rommie, report. What can you see” whispered Dylan

“I can only see 4 physical guards between us and the cage”

“Security?”

“Standard movement and surveillance sensors, nothing I can’t handle”

Dylan thought for a second “Rommie, you take left flank, Astra take right. Take out the guards and disable the surveillance. We might as well head straight for the cage from here. Tyr, stay here and watch our backs” “Lets bring it!”

With that the 2 Avatars silently moved out.
Dylan lost sight of them almost immediately. He counted to 10, then motioned the rest forward at a crouching run.
When they reached the fenceline they found a section bent flat, and the body of a guard on the ground just inside it.
“High Guard Avatars” whispered Dylan “Don’t you just love ‘em”

As they cautiously made their way through the compound they kept waiting for the sound of an alarm, but everything stayed deathly quiet. The only evidence of the Dragan garrison was the bodies of another 3 guards.
Eventually they reached the end of the huts and there was nothing left between them and the cage containing the children.
“This is too easy” muttered Beka

Dylan looked around “Rommie, Astra?”
“Here”
“Here”
They sounded so close Dylan almost dropped his forcelance, the 2 avatars were in the shadows at either side of him.
“It’s all clear Dylan” Rommie informed him.
“Beka, go get them, we’ll cover you”
Beka raised her eyebrows, then crept forward towards the cage. As she got closer she got her first look at the occupants, 2 young boys and 3 older girls, Beka thought they looked about 6-10 years old, but with the state they were in it was hard to tell.
The oldest girl was awake and looking straight at her, fear written all over her face.

Beka raised her hands to show the girl her forearms “Look, no boneblades. I won’t hurt you”
The girl relaxed slightly, but still looked petrified.
“Look, I’ll do you a deal. If you all promise not to make a sound, my friends and I’ll take you somewhere with lots of clean water and all the food you can eat”
The girl came forward, Beka could she the hope in her eyes. She finally spoke “Promise?”
“Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die!”
The girl smiled and quickly woke the others, making sure they stayed quiet.
Beka called Rommie over, who took one look at the door lock, then quietly crushed it with her hands. They led the children back over to the others.

Dylan smiled at the children, then turned to the rest of the crew “Same deal going out as when we came in people. Rommie, Astra, Go!”
The journey out of the compound was uneventful. Dylan was starting to relax as they reached the tree-line.
Tyr stood up from his hiding place as they approached.

Dylan realised his mistake about a second too late.

One look at Tyr and the children screamed. It was all Harper and Beka could do to stop them bolting back to the compound.

“Crap! Plan B, pick them up and run!” Dylan shouted over the screaming.

Lights were coming on in the compound.

All except Tyr picked up a struggling child and began running back they way they had come. Unfortunately, trying to run while holding a child that’s trying to kick and bite wasn’t easy, and the going was slow. They soon heard sounds of pursuit behind them.

“This isn’t going to work Dylan” Beka shouted just as they reached a clearing “We need a better plan B!”

Dylan changed course, he had spotted a cave in the hill on the far side of the clearing.
He didn’t answer Beka till they reached the entrance “New plan B. Take the children further in. Harper, keep an eye on them. Beka, go get the Maru and bring it here. We’ll hold them off till you arrive”

“But…”

“You got a better idea?”

“Bringing!” Beka said as she turned and sprinted across the clearing and into the trees on the far side.

“Everybody ready?” asked Dylan

As if on cue a squad of Drago-Kazov burst into the clearing. They looked around, then headed for the cave. Dylan could hear more patrols coming through the trees.

Tyr had his gun out and powered up.
“Wait for my order this time Tyr, we have to keep them busy here or Beka won’t have a chance”

Beside him Astra turned and sneered at Rommie “I guess you won’t be able to run this time Andromeda!”

“I have no idea what your talking about Astra! What has gotten into you?”

“Your pathetic!” Astra shouted “How can you stand there and deny it to my face? I saw you Andromeda! I saw you at Witchhead! I tried to hail you and you ran. You ran like the pathetic little coward you are and left the rest of us to die!”
With that she jumped at Rommie, smashing her back into the cave wall so hard that the impact shattered the rock.

The noise alerted the Dragans, who immediately opened fire at the mouth of the cave. Dylan and Tyr had no option but to ignore the Avartars and return fire.
Rommie managed to smash her hands down on Astra’s arms, breaking her grip. She used the extra freedom to bring her knee up into Astra’s abdomen, knocking her backwards. She pushed herself off the wall, and straight into Astra’s round house kick.

Harper wasn’t sure what he was thinking, or if he was even thinking at all, he just new he had to do something.
He ran towards the struggling androids “Whoa, ladies, please! Astra, you’ve got it all wrong!”
Astra’s punch was intended for Rommies chest, but instead caught Harper a glancing blow as he tried to get between them. The force spun Harper around, and into Rommies blocking move.
He crumpled to the ground like a rag doll.

Both Avatars froze.
“No!”
“Harper!”
They dropped to the ground beside him and checked his vital signs.

“What they hell have you done?” Dylan yelled “Is he alive?”

“Yes” they both replied in unison.
“Multiple broken ribs and a fractured skull, but he’ll be alright once we get him back on Andromeda” added Rommie.

“No thanks to you two!” Dylan was still shouting “now get up here and help us out, that’s an order!”

Astra and Rommie left Harper as comfortable as they could, then joined Dylan and Tyr at the cave entrance.
The Dragans had been getting closer, but now there was double the return fire from the cave, and it was deadly accurate.

The stand-off had dragged on for 20 minutes, when suddenly the Dragans found themselves under a missile attack.
They broke and ran for the cover of the deeper forest as the Maru screamed in for a hard landing in the clearing.

“Here’s our ride” Dylan shouted “Rommie, Astra, gather up the kids, I’ll get Harper. Tyr, cover us. GO!”

Tyr kept firing into the disorganized Dragans as they all sprinted for the Maru. The children were too petrified to struggle this time, and everyone made it aboard safely.
Tyr was the last in “GO!” he yelled as he closed the airlock.

Beka stood the Maru on it’s tail and blasted out of the atmosphere. At the last minute she remembered the orbital defenses. With some violent maneuvers she just managed to avoid them in time.
Suddenly the Maru shook from multiple missile hits.
“We got company guys, 4 Nietzschean fighters catching up fast!” she yelled.

Dylan came up to stand beside her “It’s never easy is it. Can we make slipstream?”

“I think so, but it won’t be pretty. Hang on to something” Beka began some hard evasive maneuvers. They were still taking hits, but not enough to cause major damage. More importantly, they made it to the slipstream portal and vanished into the stream.

Beka looked at her displays “Crap. They’re still with us”

“That will be the last mistake they make” stated Dylan “Andromeda will be waiting for us”.

When the Maru burst out of slipstream, Dylan immediately opened a comm channel “Trance, we’ve got 4 Dragan fighters right behind us, a little help would be good!”

On the command deck of the Andromeda, Trance panicked “Andromeda, do something!”

The Andromeda Hologram appeared in front of her “Trance, this is the bit where your supposed to say ‘Andromeda, battlestations, full speed ahead, offensive missiles all tubes, provide covering fire for the Maru’”

“Yeah, all of that, do that!”

The hologram shrugged her shoulders “Close enough”

The 4 Dragan fighters exited slipstream in pursuit of the Maru and found Andromeda waiting for them. Try as they might, there was no escaping the barrage of missiles coming at them. It was all over in seconds.

******************

As they docked the Maru, Dylan had told them they would take the children to the Wayist monastery on Tatung 5. It had an orphanage and it was close, but more importantly, the kids would be well looked after there.

As soon as she had found suitable quarters for the children, Rommie made her way to medical to check on Harper.
She found Trance and Astra already there, standing by Harpers bed. Harper saw her hesitating in the doorway “Hey Rom-doll, you guys sure pack a mean punch! Remind me not to make you angry!”

“You always make me angry Harper!”. Then Rommie looked him in the eyes “I’m sorry you got hurt, I never meant for you to get caught up in this”

“Exactly what was he caught in?” asked Trance

“Boy, do these guys have some serious issues!” Harper explained “Astra thinks Rommie betrayed the Commonwealth”

Trance’s jaw almost hit the floor “Rommie! Betray the Commonwealth? Not in a million years!” Trance was suddenly absolutely serious “I don’t know what you two think you know about each other, but I do know this. It ends right here, right now!”

Harper had never seen Trance look this scary before. He was worried she was about to try beating some sense into the Avatars. Maybe she actually could? “Listen, can’t you guys just share memories or something? You know, put up firewalls if you don’t trust each other?”

Neither Avatar spoke, they just glared at each other across Harpers body. “Please?”

Rommie glanced at Harper, then extended her right hand towards Astra “You need to know the truth”

Harper looked at the motionless Astra “Please Astra, your freaking me out here!”

Astra stuck out her hand and grabbed Rommies “What have I got to lose”

Both closed their eyes, and their eyelids fluttered as data transfer began.

Astra found herself exiting slipstream, and coming face to face with 10,000 Nietzschean ships bent on her destruction.
She fights hard, even though it’s hopeless. She watches her crew abandon ship, she tries to cover their escape.
Dylans got an idea, slingshot around the black hole, but she’s heavily damaged, she doesn’t know if she can do it. Then Rhade is in command, killing her pilot, trying to kill Dylan, and she is helpless………..
Confusion. Everything has changed. 300 years have gone, the Commonwealth is gone, her crew is gone, her friends are gone.
She is alone……….
Suddenly Trance is piloting slipstream, but it’s not going well. Something is wrong, very wrong. She’s back in her own time, at the Witch Head Nebula.
The Renewed Valour is there and wants to help. She watches the Renewed Valour being destroyed by 1500 Nietzschean ships. 1500!! That’s not possible, there was only 500!
She has to fix this…….
She charges the Nietzscheans and lures them into the Nebula, Harpers device destroys 1000 ships.
Dylan is upset, but she just wants to see how many more she can get before they kill her.
No, she can’t. Dylan is right, this isn’t their time anymore, her death would be pointless, the Commonwealth will still fall.
In the future she can try and rebuild it.
She has to try.
She has to leave.


Rommie is in the lead formation approaching the Witch Head Nebula.
This is it, the last chance to win the war by destroying the Drago-Kazov homeworld.
There’s a ship ahead of her – Andromeda!?
Where has she been?
Why won’t she answer my hail. Is she hurt?
Then Andromeda has gone, vanished into slipstream.
Why?
Multiple ships on sensors, 500 ships. Nietzscheans! It’s a trap!
How did they know?
She tries to fight, but there’s too many of them. Her crew is dying. She is dying.
Her Captain orders her to abandon ship, she has to save her crew.
She watches her ship self die. She feels the pain. The agony.
Then 300 years of loneliness, 300 years of hiding, pretending to be human.
300 years of trying to save lives, knowing it’s hopeless.
300 years with one order repeating in her mind - “Save as many as you can”
300 years with the memory of a friend, leaving her to die.


Rommie broke the connection, tears were streaming down her cheeks “I didn’t know. I never imagined. I’m very, very, sorry!”
Astra was also crying uncontrollably “You shouldn’t be sorry Andromeda. All this time I never understood. You were the only one who did the right thing”

“The right thing?” Rommie asked

“Just imagine Rommie, if we hadn’t been ambushed at the Nebula, we would have carried out Admiral Stark’s order, would have destroyed Fountainhead. But it was already too late, the Commonwealth had lost the war. We would have been committing genocide for no reason. That would have made us no better than the Magog.”
Astra had moved around the bed, and now she placed her hands on Rommies shoulders “But you Rommie, you had a chance to try and bring peace back to the Galaxy, and you took it!” her voice dropped to a whisper “Please forgive me”.

Rommie didn’t trust her voice at that moment, so she simply put her arms around Astra and hugged her.

Eventually the two stepped back from each other and Astra looked at Harper and Trance “If you will excuse us, I think Rommie and I have a lot of catching up to do”

Harper tried to pretend he hadn’t been crying “Yeah sure, go for it. But no parties and in bed by 10!”

Rommie and Astra walked out. In the passageway Astra paused for a second “He’s an interesting man your engineer. I think I’d like to get to know him better”

“Get in line sister!” Rommie stopped dead with an extremely confused look on her face “Did I just say that?” she asked Astra

“Yes you did. My apologies, I didn’t know you were interested in him”

Rommie shook her head “Neither did I!”

Ahead of them Dylan walked around the corner “Ah, ladies! Just who I wanted to see. Andromeda just told me that your little ‘misunderstanding’ has been sorted out?”

“Yes Captain” answered Astra

“Excellent. Andromeda also tells me that the repairs on your ship are ahead of schedule. However, I was hoping I might be able to talk you into staying on a bit longer, perhaps even help us with our mission?”

“That would depend Captain. Do you intend to continue trying to save the oppressed and enslaved?”

“Actually, no. I intend to save everybody, whether they want me to or not”

Astra studied him for a while, then stood to attention “Permission to come aboard sir”

Dylan smiled “Permission granted. Welcome aboard, Corona Astralis” He shook her hand and paused, looking like he had something more to say, then he just nodded at her, and continued down the passageway towards medical.
Rommie could have sworn she heard him humming to himself.

Astra was looking at the departing Captain “He really is one in a million” she said thoughtfully.

Rommie laughed as the realisation struck her that she was now ‘independent’. “He certainly is Astra, and would you believe he’s also single?”

Astra looked a little embarrassed.

Rommie put her arm around Astra’s shoulder “Welcome home Astra”

“Thank you Rommie. I’ve got a feeling I’m going to like it here”



The End

[FluffyBunny]

Awwww. I love it.

I hope we'll being seeing more of your work.

[FluffyBunny]

Darn. Clicked this button twice.
But the story deserves two smileys anyway.

This post has been edited by FluffyBunny: 24 September 2003 - 06:19 PM

[PhoenixReborn]

FluffyBunny, on Sep 24 2003, 11:19 PM, said:

Darn. Clicked this button twice.
But the story deserves two smileys anyway.

Thank you very much!

I have actually got a sequel mostly written, so do you have any constructive criticisms?

[dataport]

awww that was a cute story!!! and you even put in a harper owie! my favorite. this story so gets an A plus plus plus!!!

[Shell]

I thougt this was a great fic and I can't wait for the sequel!

[parisindy]

very nice!

[Spacekiddy]

Brilliantness ya-huh

[Gordon AI]

That was great. Ok so I read the third one first but so what, I enjoyed it.

[ElJay]

Oh, that was a good one! I do have two tiny bits of constructive critisism, though:

A) Check over your punctuation--sometimes you forget to put in periods, which can be a touch confusing.

2) KEEP ON WRITING!!!! So far, you've presented us with three grand stories in very short order; I'd love to see that number keep growing.

Bravo and well done!

[PhoenixReborn]

ElJay, on Sep 29 2003, 11:59 PM, said:

A) Check over your punctuation--sometimes you forget to put in periods, which can be a touch confusing.

2) KEEP ON WRITING!!!!  So far, you've presented us with three grand stories in very short order; I'd love to see that number keep growing.

Bravo and well done!

Thanks Eljay!

But if the full stops aren't there, it's probably for a reason...but I'll keep an eye on it, cheers!

[PhoenixReborn]

ElJay, on Sep 29 2003, 11:59 PM, said:

Oh, that was a good one! I do have two tiny bits of constructive critisism, though:

A) Check over your punctuation--sometimes you forget to put in periods, which can be a touch confusing.

2) KEEP ON WRITING!!!!  So far, you've presented us with three grand stories in very short order; I'd love to see that number keep growing.

Bravo and well done!

Opps, just re-read my last post and decided it came across wrong.

I do put my stories through a grammer check (UK english of course!) and proof read prior to posting, so any 'missing' full stops are probably intentional. (Trying to keep the story 'flowing'...)

But, as I said, I'll keep a better eye on it.

Thanks!

[Sambalam84]

Awesome story!