Disclaimer: Well, let’s see. What am I supposed to say here again? I think it has to do with Andromeda. Hmm. I don’t know... Well, I’ll remember eventually that this doesn’t belong to me!!!! *Erin whines something that sounds suspiciously like ‘What a cruel world’.* Kaylee, Zi, and Brandon, however, are mine.

Author’s Notes: This is the sequel to ‘A Time Long Gone’.

Archiving: Of course, just tell me so I know where it’s going.

Dylan watched as Khalid sunk yet another ball in the hoop.

“You know you should really try playing against Tyr. I think it would a very interesting match.”

Khalid laughed. “I hope he’s a better player than you.”

“I’m sorry. I was a bit distracted.”

“Sure. Whatever you say,” came another voice by the door. “Dylan can I talk to you?”

“Of course. I was losing anyway. Khalid, I want a rematch tomorrow same time.” Khalid nodded and turned to put the basketball away.

As Dylan exited the gym, he spotted Beka waiting a few feet away. “So what’s on your mind?” Beka looked a little agitated, which in turn made Dylan nervous. “Have we heard from the Nede prefect?”

“No, not yet. That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.” The high guard captain nodded his head, indicating for her to continue. “I was just thinking, well... You initially asked us to help you because you didn’t have a crew. And now you’ve got Sarah and her people and I just thought that you... might want us to leave.”

“No, of course not!” Dylan tried to hide his worry and continued, “I mean, I’d like you to stay but if you want to leave...” He reiterated, “I’d prefer it if you stayed.”

Beka’s responding smile melted any worry that Dylan had. “All right.”

Andromeda chose that moment to appear beside Dylan. “I’m receiving a message from Nede.”

“Did they accept?”

Andromeda’s hologram seemed to listen to something for a moment then replied, “Yes. And they’re inviting the crew down to stay for a week in a beachside resort in celebration.”

“Okay. Announce to the crew that anyone who wants to go may go.” The hologram nodded and faded out of existence.”

“May I escort you to the party?” Dylan bowed dramatically.

“What makes you think I’m even going?” She asked, standing perfectly still with her arms crossed over her chest.

“I-” Dylan started. He felt his skin start to turn red. “Uh...”

Beka swatted his arm playfully. “I’ll meet you down at the resort. I just need to get some stuff from my quarters.”

Dylan nodded, trying desperately to hide his blush. “Sure.”

Beka grinned at his discomfort and headed off to crew quarters. Dylan watched her for a second before heading in the opposite direction.

Khalid, who had come out of the gym in time to hear the conversation, just rolled his eyes.

***

“So where exactly are the other guests?” Sarah looked around her at the top floor of Nede’s most luxurious hotel.

“There are no other guests on this floor. Just you,” the Than hostess answered. “In celebration of the signing, this floor of the hotel will be yours free of charge for the duration of your stay.” The bug-like creature gestured to the rooms on the left. “Those rooms overlook the hotel’s private garden. Those,” the hostess pointed to the rooms on the left. “overlook the city.”

Dylan looked more than a little surprised. “Thank you.”

The hostess nodded and returned to her duties elsewhere.

“I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Harper murmured. “By the way, has anybody else noticed that ‘Nede’ is ‘Eden’ backwards? Does that just fit this place or what?”

“It’s beautiful,” one of the former Starry Wisdom crew, Clark Lewis, whispered in an awed tone.

“However it only includes four very large rooms,” Tyr commented.

Sarah was the first to reply. “All right. Girls take two, guys take two.”

“Can we have the rooms overlooking the gardens?” Trance asked, looking out one of the large windows.

Dylan looked to the male crewmembers, none of whom seemed to object. “Sure.” Trance jumped up and down in excitement. Dylan continued, “Let’s put our stuff down and then find a place to eat.”

“Sounds good to me,” Beka remarked, already lifting her small bag over one shoulder.

Twenty minutes later the newly enlarged Andromeda crew sat in one of Nede’s most talked about restaurants. The restaurant was so large that the waiters and waitresses had to skate to their tables.

“I heard that this place is a mile long and a mile wide.”

“Harper, that’s just an exaggeration,” Beka smiled. “It’s only half a mile wide.”

“Well, whatever its dimensions, it looks huge,” Sarah said. “We’re lucky to have gotten a table by the window. The people in the middle probably wouldn’t be able to see us if they stood up and used binoculars.”

“I don’t see the point of having a restaurant this large.” Tyr leaned back in his seat and looked around disdainfully.

Khalid, surprising most of those seated at the table, answered, “The point is to make money so that the owner and his family can lead...” Khalid paused a moment, searching for the unfamiliar term, “comfortable lives.”

“And if they make money, they can eat. If they can eat, they have a better chance of survival,” Rev added.

“Or it could prompt somebody to kill them take their food,” Tyr replied.

Dylan suddenly found himself grateful that the waiter and a train of helpers were coming with their food. “Let’s save this argument for after lunch, all right?” The two Nietzcheans didn’t reply as the waiter placed their food in front of them.

“So have you decided yet?” Sarah asked after thanking the waiter.

“About what?” Beka asked, looking from Sarah to Dylan.

“Actually I have. Those from the Starry Wisdom will have the choice of staying onboard the Andromeda and helping us to restore the Commonwealth or leaving with no hard feelings.”

“I’m staying,” Khalid said. Sarah nodded emphatically and glanced at the others.

“You do realize that Beka will have more authority than you?”

“You do realize that this means there’ll be three captains onboard?” Beka asked, smiling playfully.

Dylan nodded, answering her smile with one of his own. “Unfortunately. Of course, that means that neither you nor Khalid can get a promotion.” Dylan addressed the rest of the crew. “Anybody else?”

“I’m staying,” a couple of the others answered.

“What else have I got to do?” one woman answered.

“I don’t want anybody onboard who doesn’t want to be there.”

“Then why do you allow him onboard?” The woman, whose name was Kaylee Robinson, asked. She motioned to Tyr in an accusatory manner.

“Kaylee!” Brandon Lewis admonished.

Kaylee looked at Tyr, her face displaying the care she was taking to suppress her feelings. “Sorry.”

Tyr gave the human woman an unreadable look, almost as if he were evaluating her. After a minute of that, he returned to his meal.

Dylan watched Tyr’s reaction carefully. When the Nietzchean seemed to lose interest in the situation, Dylan breathed a sigh of relief. Directing his gaze back to Kaylee he asked, “Do you want to stay onboard?”

“Yes sir,” she replied, her tone like that of cadet on her first day at a training camp.

“Okay then.” Dylan looked at the rest of the crew. “Is there any one who wants to leave?” Each person looked around the table looking for somebody’s hand to go up. None did.

After a minute or so of silence, Beka pointed to Dylan’s food with her fork. “Are you going to eat or are you going to continue talking for another hour?”

Dylan flashed his first officer a warm smile and picked up his utensils. Still watching Beka out of the corner of his eye, he dug into his meal. The crew members watching the two of them noticed that Beka stared at him as he ate, occasionally glancing around to see if anybody had caught her.

***

An hour later the crew had split off into groups of two or three. Beka and Dylan had decided, much to the dismay of the others, to spend their time getting spare parts for both the Andromeda and the Maru.

“Did you see their faces? It was hilarious!” Beka exclaimed.

Dylan chuckled but when a cool breeze made Beka shiver, he looked up. “Looks like it’s going to rain.”

Beka held out her hand and sighed when she felt a raindrop hit it. “It already is.”

“Come on. I see some shelter over there.”

“In the park?” Beka asked incredulously.

Dylan didn’t answer but grabbed her hand as it started to rain harder. Together they ran to the shelter that had obviously been built for just such a situation.

As they sat down and took a moment to catch their breath, Dylan noticed that a strand of hair was plastered to Beka’s face. Reaching out to her, he gently brushed the errant strand back behind her ear.

“Thanks,” she murmured, blushing slightly as the contact.

To break the uncomfortable silence that followed Dylan said, “Rev told me how you hate weather.”

“Well, I don’t know...” Her voice trailed off.

“Hmm?”

“Before, whenever I’d go out in the rain, I’d be pelted by a sudden hailstorm, catch a severe cold that would leave me bedridden for two weeks or almost get struck by lightning. I can’t explain it but for some reason I feel safe right now.”

Both were a little surprised when Dylan leaned forward and brushed Beka’s lips with his own. She resisted a moment from the shock of the situation but then she recalled the times she had dreamt about this and kissed him back.

When they pulled apart Dylan looked Beka in the eye almost bashfully. “I’m glad.” He reached a hand up to touch her face and Beka caught it in her own. She planted a quick kiss on his palm, held it next to her face for another moment then brought both hands down to the bench between the.

“We’d better get shopping. Otherwise, they’ll wonder what we were doing out here all this time.”

Dylan glanced outside. “Are you sure? It looks like it’s still raining pretty hard.”

“I’ll be fine.” Beka laughed quietly. She kept her grip on his hand and stood up, pulling Dylan up with her. “Come on tough guy.”

Her companion smiled, remembering when she had last called him that, and followed her out into the rain. A few yards away a woman pulled her jacket tighter around her and jogged after them.

***

“Hey wait up, my sparkly purple babe,” Harper yelled. Trance turned, not even smiling when she saw the human engineer. “Hi.”

Harper frowned when he saw the confused look on Trance’s face. “What’s wrong Trance?”

“Something’s wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“Where are Beka and Dylan?”

“I think they went to pick up some spare parts. Why?”

“I don’t think they’re going o come back without our help.”

Harper looked around, seeing only Kaylee Robinson walking nearby. He waved her over and explained, “Trance thinks Dylan and Beka might be in trouble.”

“I don’t suppose you think that there’s enough time for us to go and get the others?” Kaylee asked, looking directly at Trance.

“I don’t think so.”

Kaylee sighed. “Okay. Do you know where they were headed?”

“On the other side of town,” Harper answered.

“Great. This is just perfect. We think that Dylan and Beka are in trouble, we have a vague idea where they went, we’re unarmed. Could this situation be any worse?”

Trance looked at Kaylee with sympathy coloring her innocent features. “The rainstorm that just surprised everybody might have washed away the tracks you were going to follow.”

Kaylee rolled her eyes then looked at Trance. “I seriously hope you’re joking.”

***

Dylan groaned and touched the back of his neck gingerly. His head hurt and whatever caused it had probably been injected into him, considering the small puncture wound at the base of his neck. Considering how he felt and that he now found himself in a dimly lit basement, he assumed it had been a tranquilizer. Laying his head back down onto the floor for a moment, he tried to recall exactly had happened. He had been with Beka and all of a sudden-

Dylan shot up to a sitting position, valiantly ignoring the shock of pain the sudden movement caused. “Beka?” he whispered, his voice hoarse from the aftereffects of the tranquilizer. Taking a thorough inventory of the room he finally spotted his first officer on the opposite side of the room, her hands and feet chained to the wall.

“Beka!” Dylan attempted to stand up, only to find his feet chained to the floor as well. “Beka!” he whispered fiercely, trying not to attract the attention of their captors. Dylan decided then and there that Rebecca Valentine either had exceptional hearing or Fate had instructed her to wake up because at that moment the blond head moved and her eyes fluttered open.

“Dylan?”

“Are you all right?” he asked, his face contorted with worry.

“Uh yeah. I think.” She moved her fingers, then her hands, then she tried to move her arms. “Except for the fact that I’m chained to wall and have no idea how I got here.”

“What do you remember?”

“We were walking in the rain. Uh, the sun came out and we went into a parts store. We didn’t find anything so we came back out.” Beka paused as she searched her memory for anything else. “You started to say something but you just suddenly stopped speaking. When I turned around, you were unconscious and this person just attacked me. I fought back but they must have had help because I felt something being injected into the skin at the base of my neck.”

“Well, that tells us how we got here but not where here is.”

Silence followed as both tried to figure out how to get out of their respective restraints. Just as they stopped, feeling defeated and tired, they heard a rattling at the door. Seconds later, a man entered the room, putting a set of keys into his pocket with one hand and holding a gun with the other. He descended the stairs carefully, aiming his weapon at them all the while, making sure that they hadn’t managed to get out of their chains. He finally came to a stop in front of Beka and touched her face with one calloused finger.

“You definitely surprised us. We didn’t expect you to react so fast.”

“Then you don’t know me too well,” Beka commented with a flirtatious smile.

“That’s not gonna work Princess,” the man replied.

Beka’s smile became a cold one. “Damn. And here I thought you would turn out to be one of those bad guys who turn good.”

The man snorted and turned to Dylan. “Boss wants to see you.” As he undid the lock on Dylan’s chains, another person opened the door. This time it was a woman in dark clothing.

“Be careful Zi,” the man said without turning around. As he pulled Dylan roughly to his feet he looked at his feminine counterpart. “The girl’s a smart one.”

“Zi” threw one unimpressed look in Beka’s direction. “I believe that I can handle her.”

“I’ll be back.” Both Dylan and Beka got paler as the man’s use of “I” registered in their minds. The woman nodded and sat down in one corner of the room.

After the two men had left Beka turned to Zi. “Why are you here? We didn’t have guards before.”

“You weren’t awake before,” the woman replied quickly.

“Why did he call you Zi?” Beka asked, wanting to keep the guard talking as long as possible so that she could try to get her hands free of the chains.

“Short for Zizi but you’re not distracting me so you can stop trying to free your hands.”

Beka’s hands stilled as she sighed and leaned her head against the wall. “Where is he taking Dylan?”

“Don’t ask.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to tell you.”

“No. I mean why are you doing this? What did we ever do to you?”

“The Commonwealth charter. My boss didn’t want Nede to sign it so he hired us. I’m just doing what I was hired to do.”

“Does your boss want to kill us?” Beka lifted her head to stare directly into Zi’s eyes.

“Only if your captain insists on accepting Nede’s Commonwealth membership.” Zi shined an imaginary dust spot off her gauss gun with a ragged cloth.

“Dylan’s not going to do that.”

Zi looked up at her prisoner with sympathy discernable in her clear blue eyes. “Then he’s going to die.”

***

Kaylee and Harper followed silently behind Trance as she led them through town. The purple being ran in front of them, her tail twitching nervously.

“How close are we Trance?” Harper asked.

“Close,” she muttered, paying close attention to her surroundings.

A noise floated on the soft night breeze. Kaylee put her arm out, forcing Harper to stop. “Trance!”

Trance whirled around. “What is it?”

“Listen.” Again, the noise pierced the silence. “Someone is screaming.”

“It gets worse. That sounds like Dylan,” Harper said.

“This way.” Kaylee ran off in the direction the screams came from. Trance and Harper shrugged at the sudden change in leadership but followed anyway.

***

“Will you revoke Nede’s membership?” Although Dylan couldn’t see the speaker‘s face, he was sure that there was a sadistic smile plastered onto it.

“Captain Dylan Hu-” A vicious slap across his face stopped Dylan from reciting any more of his information.

“I heard that he behaved like this during his interrogation for the ‘Great Compass’ of Mobius right before he disappeared, sir,” another voice said.

“They just didn’t spend enough time with him,” the first voice replied. The rustle of clothing indicated that one of the subordinates was getting something. There was a chuckle, then all Dylan could hear was the pounding of the blood in his head as they pierced his skin with one of the devices he had seen while being dragged into the room. The thing sent a jolt of electricity surging through his body, causing his body to start convulsing in response. He screamed until he ran out of breath. When he ran out of air, he gulped another breath and began again. This kept up for a few minutes but seemed as if hours had passed for the High Guard captain when the device was finally pulled back.

“Will you revoke Nede’s Commonwealth membership?” The voice seemed to be getting more annoyed with him but Dylan didn’t flinch as he answered.

“No.”

There was a sigh from the disembodied voice. “I’ll be in my office. If he doesn’t give in to my demands in twenty minutes then put him back into the cellar and tell me.”

“Yes sir.” There was the sound of expensive shoes walking away, then a door opened, letting light in briefly before it shut again. Dylan had little time to look at his captor’s face however as he caught sight of the dreaded thing once again coming towards him.

“No.” Dylan squirmed angrily, trying to break free of his bonds. As the device once again touched his skin, he screamed.

***

“Over here,” Trance whispered, gesturing to her companions. She had knelt beside a basement window that barely made it to the level of the street. “Look.”

First Harper then Kaylee looked through the window. Beka was chained to one wall, glaring at the woman opposite her. The guard, as she appeared to be, just kept one eye on Beka while she continued to wait for something. Suddenly a door opened and a man entered, dragging Dylan’s unconscious body behind him.

“Dylan!” Beka yelled, pulling against the chains in her attempt to reach him.

“Shut up,” Zi spat, smacking Beka across the face.

“Make me.”

“Boss says that we’re to kill them but we have to get this one awake first,” the male guard interrupted.

“Why?” Zi asked. “If he wants them dead why not do it now?”

“Apparently he wants them both to know they’re about to die.”

“Approximately how long do we have to wait then?”

The man finished chaining Dylan to the wall again and stood up. “I’ve given him a stimulant so he should be coming around shortly. 10 minutes max.”

“Well I’m going to go get a drink. Want anything?” Zi asked, raking a tired hand through her hair.

“Nah. Thanks.” Zi climbed the stairs quickly and locked the door behind her.

Outside, Kaylee examined the window. “We have to get in there.”

“But the window is too small,” Harper protested.

“Then that gives us less than ten minutes to find the entrance to this room, take out the guards and leave.” Kaylee turned her attention to Trance. “Any ideas?”
“Yep.” Trance leapt to her feet and took off around the corner of the building. Harper and Kaylee raced after her. They sound found themselves at the door to what appeared to be a condemned building. Trance looked around to make sure nobody was watching, then easily ripped off the tape sprawled across the doorway.

The inside looked like a bunch of boards were being held together by spiderwebs and dust but as the trio entered, it became apparent that they had not been the first ones here. Tracks in the dust covering the floor lead up to the wall and then disappeared.

“How do we get in?” Kaylee asked, feeling the smooth surface of the wall for any hidden buttons or switches.

“This way,” Trance seemed just to move her hand over the wall and a section of it peeled away, revealing a long hallway. They walked softly as they entered, trying to make as little noise as possible.

“They should be just ahead,” Trance whispered. Harper, being right behind her, relayed the message to Kaylee.

“I’m glad that I decided to bring my force lance along today,” Kaylee murmured.

“And why is that dear?” a male voice asked from behind Kaylee. Responding quickly, she spun around, ready to shoot her force lance. But the man was ready for her and knocked the force lance out of her hand. She watched for a second as it landed at Harper’s feet.

“Don’t even think about picking it up boy,” the man commanded, bringing his own weapon to rest against Kaylee’s head.

“What is it with people calling me ‘boy’?” Harper asked, trying desperately to think of a way out of this situation.

“Just kick the force lance over to me.”

Harper hesitated, looking first at Trance then at Kaylee.

“Do it Harper,” Kaylee pleaded. Harper did as he was asked and kicked over the force lance.

Kaylee watched as the weapon came to a stop a foot away. The man pushed her forward, obviously planning to pick it up. When they came within range, Kaylee caught the force lance between her feet then did a half-jump, releasing the weapon into her hands. She turned it backwards and shot behind her before her captor could react. His body slumped and fell to the floor almost immediately.

Kaylee turned and aimed her weapon at the body. “Well-dressed. Probably the man who wanted Dylan and Beka killed.”

“Great. Now the guards won’t have anybody to give the command to kill them,” Harper said.

“No. Remember what they said? This man already gave the order to kill. Those two are just waiting for Dylan to wake up.”

“Don’t you think we should get going then?” Trance asked.

“Good idea. Lead the way.” The trio hurried off, no longer caring whether they made any noise.

No more than a couple minutes after Trance stopped in front of a door. “If I were that man back there I’d hide Dylan and Beka in here.”

“Hey! What are you doing in here?” They turned around to see the female guard from earlier.

“We got lost,” Trance spoke plaintively.

“Try again.”

Kaylee aimed her weapon as Trance distracted the woman. “Yoo hoo.”

The guard turned to face her and was immediately hit by a shot from Kaylee’s force lance. However she had managed to get a shot off from her own weapon and Kaylee was forced to her knees as the bullet hit her. Both of her companions rushed over.

“Take this.” Kaylee held up her force lance in trembling hands. “I just keyed it to accept Harper as its user. Go save them.”

“But-” Trance started, gazing in horror at the blood that was already staining Kaylee’s uniform jacket.

“Do it.”

Trance lowered her eyes for a moment, then looked back up at Kaylee’s pale face. “We’ll be back.” Harper took the force lance from Kaylee’s hands gently and stood up Trance followed suit. They turned back around and opened the door.

Inside they found the male guard aiming at Dylan with his gauss gun. Without turning around he spoke, “Glad you’re here Zi. You almost missed it.”

“Ahem.” Harper almost smiled at the look on the guard’s face as he spun around and realized that Zi wasn’t there. He shot the man easily and the body fell to the floor right next to Dylan, who was just starting to come around. The moment of victory was ruined when Dylan flinched at their approach.

“Trance, Dylan needs help,” Beka spoke quickly, the urgency in her voice almost palpable. The command proved to be unnecessary as Trance was already by Dylan’s side, attending to his injuries as well as she could.

After a moment she looked at Beka. “He’s going to be fine.”

“Physically at least.”

Harper took the chance to free Beka from her restraints. “I wish we could say the same for Kaylee.”

“Kaylee?” Beka asked.

“She was shot. She’s just outside the door. I don’t know if she can hold on until we reach Andromeda and the hospitals here aren‘t all that good,” Trance answered.

“We have to try,” Beka spoke in an authoritative tone, taking command of the situation. “Harper, do you think you can carry Kaylee?”

“Not really.”

“Then help Trance get Dylan back to the Maru. I’ll get Kaylee.”

“What about the others?” Trance asked.

“We’ll have to contact them after we get back to the Andromeda.”

Trance and Harper hurriedly helped Dylan to his feet as Beka rushed outside to pick up Kaylee’s limp form. Almost as one they ran back through the hallway, over the two bodies, back through the first room and finally out of the building.

Beka said one sentence as they neared the bulk of metal that belonged to her. “Thank whatever deity is out there that the only airfield that could accommodate the Maru is on this side of town.”

***

“So much for a vacation,” Harper said, leaning back in his chair.

“Was the Nede prefect mad that we left early?” Trance asked.

“No. I explained everything to them.” Beka smiled. “They accepted my explanation that we had a potentially contagious disease floating around the ship.”

“Did I thank you for covering for me?” Dylan asked, putting an arm around Beka’s shoulder.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Thank you.” Dylan kissed her forehead, then smiled as she laid her head on his shoulder.

“Did something go on on Nede that you didn’t tell us about?” Harper asked.

“Yes,” Beka answered.

“Are you going to tell us?”

“No,” Dylan said.

“Fine, be that way.”

The door suddenly slipped open and Rommie came in, followed closely by Kaylee.

“How’re you feeling Kaylee?” Trance smiled at the entrance of her patient.

“Better. Still a little weak though.”

“Considering how much blood you lost, that’s a good thing.”

Kaylee walked stiffly over to a chair. It happened to be next to Tyr. She stopped before she could sit down. “I’m sorry about insulting you a couple of days ago.” Tyr blinked lazily but said nothing. “Before I came onboard the Starry Wisdom, my family was killed by Nietzcheans and I guess I just got a little carried away.” Tyr nodded but again said nothing as Kaylee sat down beside him.

From behind a counter one of the former Starry Wisdom crew exclaimed, “Everybody ready for a real meal?”

“Should I take that as an insult?” Rommie asked.

“No. I-I just meant-” the crewman stuttered.

Rommie smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”

The young man gulped and, after a minute, instructed the other people helping him to serve the meal.

“So what is this?” Dylan asked, looking down at the bowl that was placed in front of him.

“It’s an old family recipe.”

“It is particularly good,” Khalid commented. “He has served it for us before.”

“How about a celebratory toast before we eat?” Beka asked.

“Okay.” Dylan stood up slowly, thinking about what he would say. Finally, he raised his glass. “The toast I am about to give is rather simple but it is a concept that has been reiterated to me many times over the past year. To old friends and new friends, you can’t get by without them.”

“To friends.”