Pretty Things

by Jessie

***

Summary: Trance starts acting weird and everything goes wrong from there. Includes all of the crew, but with a focus on Harper and Trance.

Disclaimer: Andromeda is not mine. No harm is meant by this story.

Archive: I'd love it if any one wants to archive this- just email me and tell me where it is.

Authors Note: First off- I just want to apologize for this story. I didn't mean to write an Andromeda fic. Really. I'm not even a big fan of the show- I just have some friends who force me to watch it with them. I know they're gonna gloat when they find out I've written this, but, well . . . Harper's just too cute not to write him into a story . And Trance has way too many possibilities for a cool storyline- I couldn't just pass up the chance to explain her origins.

So here it is. The story that I was really not supposed to write. Hope you all enjoy. And feedback is something I live for- so if you'd all be good little readers and tell me what you think I would be eternally grateful. :)

"Trance?" Dylan looked at the purple girl with surprise and worry running through his mind. Harper mimicked his expression, but with an increased amount of shock.

"What are you doing?" The acting engineer questioned disbelieving. Trance frowned, than smirked.

Even she realized how extremely out of character she was behaving. But there was a purpose to this madness, and she had to remember that. She had to keep in mind her goal, so that she could pull off the act without any suspicious arising in the rest of the crew.

"I'm . . ." She hesitated, then silently scolded herself for it. She couldn't slip up like that and expect to continue the ruse. She needed to be believable.

She cleared her throat and started again, an edge to her voice that made every one in the room cringe a little. She had never had an edge to her voice before.

"I'm leaving. And you can't stop me, so don't try." No one quite knew what to think or do. Even Tyr just stared at her, incredulous.

Finally Harper took a step forward and scratched the back of his head while he spoke, somewhat nervously. "Look, Trance, I know this isn't exactly home sweet home, but what are you doing? Dylan makes some remark about your flightiness and all of the sudden you wanta am-scray?"

"There's more to it than that." She pursed her lips, realizing that her voice had lost the edge for a moment. She had to keep going with this. She loved all of the crew, but she had to do this.

The girl's thoughts roamed over the previous day and all the events of the morning. It was almost hard to believe that only a day had passed since her world had begun to turn itself upside down. Only a day since she had received the message from her brother amongst all the mail for the crew.

She never thought they'd be able to find her, but that message . . . now she had to leave. And she knew she couldn't tell the others the real reason. She had to keep up the act. She had to be mean so that none of them would have a reason to follow her.

It was a carefully planned act too- one she had been tossing around in her mind since the moment she stepped onto the Maru, and had continuously revised since making the Andromeda her home. Now she just needed to gather her courage up in order to implement it.

Luckily- or unluckily she supposed, depending on your point of view- certain things had set themselves in motion on their own, making her performance all the easier.

The comment from Dylan about her flightiness had been the perfect opening for her to show the others a side of nastiness that she had reserved for just this occasion.

And throughout the day, as she came to terms with the fact that she would have to leave this beautiful ship and the crew that she loved, she had not been hesitant to also take advantage of any other random remark or happening.

Beka's humbling remarks, Tyr's idle thoughts of worthiness, Harper's egotistic jokes, and Rev's incessant preaching- all these had proved the perfect opportunities to fake anger and tension, building up to the climax that she was now in.

She had to admit, though, she didn't much care for this climax, and she wished to get the episode over with as fast as possible.

"What do you mean?" Dylan spoke in his best 'in-charge' tone of voice, which she had always thought was very cute. But not right now. Right now she did her best to become angry at it.

"I mean there's more to it than that." Her voice was so sharp that even Tyr blinked as another wave of shock passed through him and the others.

"Trance . . ." Beka started, but didn't know where to begin. She was never very good at the emotions stuff, and she had a feeling that this situation called for just that. She glanced at the others for support.

Rev just stood there, silent. He felt the urge to recite an old Wayist philosophy that might apply to her situation, but after her earlier outburst at his preachings he wasn't sure if that was such a good idea. He was lost. He had no idea what to do. Trance had always been a friend, a peaceful creature that had always shared with him motives of joy and good-tidings. He wasn't even sure he could believe that the girl before him was the same Trance.

Harper glanced around nervously. He had to do something. "Is this about . . ." He seemed almost embarrassed to mention it, but he knew he had to do or say something to try and help. He couldn't just let this happen- whatever 'this' was.

Was Trance really leaving? It didn't seem possible. Though neither did the tone of voice she was taking with all of them. Everything had a vaguely surreal quality to it. He started again. "Is this about what I said the other day?"

The look on Harper's face was so pleading that Trance nearly lost all of her nerve. She wanted nothing more than to assure him that none of this was his- or anyone else's- fault, and give him a hug. Take all of them up in her arms and tell them that she didn't mean any of it.

But, instead, she sneered at his hesitant question, an action so unlike her usual self, that no one was sure how to respond.

Harper looked hurt, and she hated that. But he continued with a barely visible determination. "'Cause I was just joking about the whole tail thing. You know that right? I didn't really mean . . ." Dylan cleared his throat, interrupting and bringing all eyes to the Captain.

"Trance . . ." He seemed to have the same problem as Beka, but was saved from going any further.

"I'm leaving now." The sound of her own voice frightened her, and she suspected it frightened some of the others too. Particularly Rev and Harper, who had always been closest to her and now didn't know what to think.

"Trance," Dylan sounded full of authority. "You're a vital part of this crew. And whatever it is that you feel is forcing you to leave, you can tell us. You can tell me. And we will work it out. As a crew." Normally Trance would have found his speech inspiring, but this time she simply focused a well-rehearsed look on him- one that would have sent most running, and made Harper twitch.

Dylan sighed and gestured vaguely. "I won't force you to stay- every one here is free to go if they choose. I can't stop you."

"I can." Tyr interrupted in a threatening tone of voice, taking a step towards them. Dylan gave him a look.

"We can't stop you." He reiterated. "But I have to ask you to reconsider. We can talk about this."

Her heart melted a little as she listened to Dylan speak. If only she could take him up on his offer. Looking over each one of the crew- Tyr's stubbornness, Beka's confusion, Harper's frustration and partly hidden dejection- her well-laid plan looked more and more like a nightmare from which she wanted to wake. But she had to do this.

"No Dylan." She said, the edge lost, but a hardness taking its place that was almost more unnerving. She paused for a long moment, taking in a breath and letting her eyes roam over the other's faces once again. "I'm leaving now."

She stood there for a moment longer as every one stayed, frozen in place. Dylan nodded his head a bit, as if giving her his permission to leave the room, and she resisted the urge to nod her head back. Instead she frowned, and sneered a little, before turning and exiting.

Harper let out a held breath. Dylan shook his head sadly and looked to Beka, whose face contorted into an expression of bewilderment. She shrugged, still trying to understand what had just happened. Tyr growled a little, returning to the controls at his station and trying to convince himself that he didn't care.

Rev sighed grimly. "She has chosen her own path. We can only hope that its undertaking will lead her to more fruitful lessons."

Harper glanced around at everyone, a disbelieving look on his face. "You're just gonna let her go like that?"

"I can't force her to stay." There was an officialness to Dylan's voice.

"Of course you can." Harper retorted. "Order her to stay. She'll listen to you. Beka and Tyr don't listen to you and you still get them to stick around every time one of them wants to run off in the Maru."

Captain Hunt looked at his engineer. "I'm not gonna make her do something she doesn't want to do."

"Still- you coulda said something more." Beka joined in, finally finding her voice, and abandoning her earlier confusion for a controlled anger. "And how's she gonna get off this space station we're at? It's not like she keeps a spare ship in her pocket."

"She has the right to make these decisions for herself." Dylan defended himself, not liking the idea of being ganged up on by his own crew.

"No she doesn't." Beka retorted. "Trance is like a little kid- she doesn't know what she's doing."

"I think you're wrong about that." Dylan's voice communicated that the conversation was over, and Beka turned to her station angrily as Harper gave Dylan a steely look. Rev slowly walked out of the room, followed closely by Seamus, who blazed past him in a huff.

***

Part 2

"Trance, wait!" The young girl paused for a moment and closed her eyes. She had thought she was going to make it off the ship without any more trouble, but apparently she was wrong.

Squandering her fading courage, she continued walking towards the exit without looking back at the source of the voice.

"Trance, what are you doing?" She finally turned around to face Harper, knowing he wouldn't leave her alone until she gave him a reason to. And she really hated the thought of what that reason might be.

Harper squirmed a little under her cold stare, before gathering up some of his earlier determination. "This isn't like you- what's going on? Why are you acting like this?"

"Well maybe I like being this way." She replied, indignant.

He shook his head, wrapping himself up in the argument and not her imminent departure.

"Nah, I don't think you do. What's going on, huh? You wouldn't just abandon this ship like this unless something was up."

"Yes I would."

"Trance! What the hell? Even if it were in you to up and leave- which it's not- you wouldn't. Not when there's the whole commonwealth goal that you and 'Captain' Hunt are so gung-ho about. Hell, you were the first to sign on with Dylan. And after coming all this way you wanta jump ship now?"

"Yes" The one word was all she could manage.

"I don't believe it." He sounded like he really meant what he was saying, which was a rare thing. "One bad day and you're ready to leave?"

She couldn't think of anything to say. This 'cold and ruthless' act was not something she was familiar or comfortable with, and the words that suited the act did not come easily to her.

"You're one to talk." She finally spoke, accenting it with a sneer.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He looked frustrated and angry, but a bit of the hurt that he was trying to hide came through in his voice. She hated this. But she steeled herself for her next words anyway.

"It means good bye Harper. I hope I never see you again." At this she turned, and tried not to all-out run away from him. She didn't want to see the pain on his face, or the abandonment that he communicated through his awkward movements and sullen eyes.

"Trance." He called after her, but she wouldn't stop. She wanted to cry. She would miss all of them so much. It hurt just hearing Harper say her name like that- like he was willing to do or say anything as long as she stayed.

The door shut behind her and she swiftly moved down the corridor that attached to the space station that the Andromeda had been docked with for the past couple of days and would be leaving in only an hour.

Leaving without her.

Harper tried to shrug away the hurt at her leaving, but only managed a small sigh as his features twisted. He looked lost, but determined. He had been through everything the universe had to offer- and could withstand whatever it threw at him. He would withstand this.

In fact, he reasoned with a small smirk, he would not only withstand this- he'd fix it.

***

Part 3

Trance Gemini strapped herself in tightly to the helm of the small ship. Her piloting skills were minimal, and slipstream was especially difficult for her, but she could handle simple maneuvers and reach her destination in one piece. The others had taken it upon themselves to teach her basic piloting techniques, so she did have a vague idea of what she was doing.

She tried to comfort herself with this knowledge, but it wasn't working, and she frowned sadly as she began the sequence that would activate the engines and force the ship away from the station.

Glancing around, she noted the similarities between this vessel and the Eureka Maru. The only major difference was the size. But even that was barely noticeable from the inside, unless you started to explore the back corridors which were fewer and narrower than on the Maru.

But the main deck opened up in a style similar to Beka's ship, and that gave Trance a small sense of familiarity and comfort.

Checking the timepiece at her side, she realized that the Andromeda had most likely already left the station and was heading off to their next planet in the hopes of adding more species to the rebuilding commonwealth.

She sighed, a tear clouding the vision in her left eye. Even if the Andromeda hadn't left yet- even if they were still docked with the space station and were trying to find her and bring her back- they wouldn't succeed. None of them knew about the ship she had purchased. None of them even knew she had the means to purchase anything, and she would be long gone before any of them realized that she wasn't on the station.

She leaned her head back, the frown not leaving her face. She had always had good intentions, but right now . . . This was the only time in her life when she had felt at all uncertain about the ethics of her motives. She would have been slightly frightened by this if she weren't so depressed.

She attempted to strengthen her resolve, sitting up straighter in her seat and pressing the last few buttons that would activate the forward thrust.

The ship began moving, and she swallowed back her emotions.

*

"Dylan." Beka's voice carelessly interrupted his thoughts, but he didn't mind. They weren't very pleasant thoughts any way. "We've got a problem."

"When don't we?" he asked in all seriousness. His first officer gave him a sarcastic smile and nodded to the holo-image of Rommie as a sort of acknowledgement to the fact that the ship had ears and eyes of its own.

"We're missing a vital part of the crew." Beka spoke in her usual mocking tone of voice.

"I don't want to get into this with you again. Trance made up her own mind and I wasn't going to stop her. I know she serves a function on this ship and will be hard to replace- but we'll find some one to take care of it."

Dylan sighed. They had left the space port over an hour ago, and he had thought with their increased distance from the place that the sense of loss he felt would lessen, but it hadn't. The whole crew seemed beaten down. Especially as a result of Trance's strange behavior directly before leaving.

He briefly worried over what kind of continuing effect this would have on the crew's morale, especially that of Harper's, since the young man had seemed the most upset by Trances leaving. But he brushed the thought aside, in search of happier ones.

"And as much as I'd *love* to start that argument up again- that's not what I'm talking about." She shifted her weight and gave him a look.

"It's not?" Dylan looked from her to Rommie and back. Beka tried to restrain her 'I-told-you-so' face, but failed.

*

The young girl's tail folded in on itself sadly as she held onto the controls, but she tightened her features into a look of determination. She had always been sensitive, but it had never been a hindrance in the past. Now, however, she had to harden herself.

She focused on the small part of her that was frustrated and angry with the situation, and hoped that the tiny flame would grow into a fire that would keep her going through the time ahead.

Suddenly, there was a noise from behind her that interrupted her thoughts. She turned her head, but saw nothing, a fear taking hold of her that the noise had come from the engines. She knew she should have inspected things before the purchase, but had been in such a hurry.

Trance switched to auto-pilot and began to unstrap herself from the seat, worrying that the man she had bought the ship from was not as trustworthy as she had thought and might have sold her a broken-down ship.

Being, already, so far from the space station, it would definitely not be a good thing if she found herself floating dead in space.

*

"What?!" Dylan's face contorted into a mixture of surprise and anger. Beka smiled grimly and Rommie only nodded in agreement with the first officer.

"What now 'Oh Wise Captain?'" Beka's voice held a hint more sarcasm than usual, but Dylan ignored the question.

"You're sure?" He asked.

"Of course I'm sure." Rommie replied, her voice, as usual, holding no emotion.

"And why didn't anyone know about this until now?"

"I thought crewmembers were free to leave whenever they chose." Dylan gave Beka a withering look.

"Rommie."

"Yes?"

"Turn the ship around. We're going back."

Beka smirked and the holo-Rommie disappeared. Dylan put a hand to his head and wondered if he would be getting any sleep that night.

*

Trance lifted herself out of her seat at the helm and moved with caution to the back of the room, trying to pick out where the noise had come from.

There was another noise to her left, and she turned her head sharply, walking towards it slowly. As she approached the origin of the sound, it happened again, but this time a panel in the wall fell to the ground with a loud clank.

Trance jumped back a little in surprise.

"Hey." A voice came weakly from inside the hole in the wall where the panel had been.

Of course.

Harper.

***

Part 4

It took Trance a moment to realize what she was seeing. Her face fluctuated from surprised, to caring, to upset in the course of a few seconds, and Harper frowned a bit at the fact that that last emotion was the one that was remaining.

"Harper!" She finally spoke, her voice a mixture of shock and hostility. At least, she thought to herself, she was still able to keep up the act.

"Trance!" Harper mocked her with a smirk, but then frowned again at the cold stare she was giving him. "Uh . . . hi." He gave her a sheepish half-smile and jumped out of the hole in the wall, landing on his feet.

Trance just kept staring, her lips pursed together, not knowing what to do, but knowing it wouldn't be pleasant.

"Okay, enough with the evil eye- you're kinda supposed to be happy to see me." Harper was as cocky as ever, but an underlying hesitancy- almost a fear- was apparent in his voice and in his expression. It was definitely an emotion that she rarely saw in him, and it made something inside of her ache to see it now and to know that she was the cause of it.

"Harper . . ." Her tone was warning, but cracked at the end, and his eyebrows shot up in curiosity and hope.

She glared at him awhile longer, still unable to think of what to do. Should she continue the act? Should she explain herself to him and hope everything worked out for the best?

Her gaze softened slightly- she couldn't help it. She loved that he had come after her. Under normal circumstances she'd have had a smile so big plastered on her face that not even Tyr would have been able to remove it.

But she was conflicted over what to do next. However sweet she found his actions to be, she knew that this couldn't end well.

Keep up the act. Just keep up the act. She told herself silently. She wasn't sure what she hoped to accomplish by this, but at least she now had something to do.

It was better than standing there and wondering- worrying- about what she should say and do that would make everything turn out all right.

She only wished . . . but wishing wouldn't do any good. Just keep up the act, she told herself again, grasping at the idea of it as a sort of anchor to hold her down amidst all of the problems she now faced.

*

"Dylan, we are approaching the space station." The human form of Rommie spoke from her position at a console to Captain Hunt's right. He nodded an acknowledgement and continued to stare at the view screen in front of him.

How had he let this happen? The question had been hounding him since they first left the space port, but only when Beka had announced an added disappearance did he fully realize the extent of his own worry and self-doubt.

Surely Trance leaving must have been through some fault of his own. He was responsible for this crew and their well being, so the only one on which blame could rest was him.

Trance was gone. And now so was Harper. How had he let this happen?

He realized only now what his biggest mistake had been, and that was allowing Trance to leave. He should have forced her to stay aboard in order to work things out- should have at least given her a stern talking-to in the hopes that she would explain her odd behavior and reconsider her decision to leave.

Dylan sighed inwardly and glanced back at Beka and Tyr, who were both at their stations.

He understood why Harper had left- and he wanted to simultaneously beat the kid senseless and give him a pat on the back for doing something both so admirable and so stupid. It was obvious that the engineer had only left so that he could bring Trance back.

Trance, however, Dylan couldn't fathom a reason for leaving. And he didn't understand what had changed in her directly before she had left either. It was such a puzzle to him that he felt as though he were under attack- forced to form a battle plan when there were no options.

He would understand everything soon though- he was sure of it. With enough time, he would figure out that battle plan. He would find his two missing crewmen, bring them back to the ship if he had to drag them kicking and screaming, and he'd sort out the mess that he still blamed on himself.

Soon enough things would be right again. They were coming upon the space station that moment, and- with any luck- Trance and Harper would be right there waiting for them. Whether the two knew it or not.

***

Part 5

"Harper." She gave him a withering look. "Why did you come here?" Her voice was stern and continued to radiate with a coldness that couldn't possibly be coming from any part of the Trance that he knew.

"I, uh . . ." he stumbled over his words, caught off guard by her tone.

"You shouldn't have come." She placed an emphasis on each word, maintaining that edge that she had worked so hard to commandeer. It sent chills down his spine.

It sent chills down hers as well, but she wouldn't let him see that.

"Like hell I shouldn't have. What do you think you're doing?" He regretted his words as soon as he'd said them. No matter how strangely Trance was behaving he couldn't stand using words or a tone with her like the one he had just used.

Her face softened as she was momentarily unable to keep the hurt out of her eyes, and his features softened as well in response.

But she pulled herself together, pursed her lips again, and glared to the best of her abilities.

"Look," He started over, trying to contain his emotions. "Dylan wouldn't talk to you so I . . ." But she interrupted him, becoming increasingly better at this charade.

"You really shouldn't have come Harper. You don't know what you're doing."

"Neither do you." His indignant reply broke her heart in more ways than one, but she would not show it.

She refused to show it.

"I know exactly what I'm doing. You shouldn't be here. Damn it Harper." His eyes widened in obvious shock. He couldn't recall a time when she had even come close to swearing.

And perhaps that was the final straw. Hearing her speak to him like that, listening to words that should never be allowed to come from something so innocent and sweet- a part of him felt like dying.

"I . . ." He hesitated. He didn't know what to say.

Out of all the things in the universe that seemed to have been created purely for his displeasure- the Nietzscheans, the Magog, the vaguely human products of war and poverty- he had been certain that Trance was safe. Trance was the one thing that he could count on to remain good and without completely self serving motives.

If there had ever been a reason for him to break down, her sudden proof that everything that he believed in was wrong, was it.

Trance stiffened. She wasn't sure who she was hurting more- Harper or herself.

But this couldn't be real, Harper told himself, calling upon the determination that had been so thick in his veins before. Something had to be wrong, there had to be a reason for Trance to be acting this way. This wasn't her, and he knew it. Something had to be going on that he just didn't understand. He couldn't accept this act of hers.

Because somehow he knew. It was an act. It had to be.

*

"No sign of them." Beka put her weight on her hip as she faced Dylan with a smirk that related everything that was on her mind. Frustration, anger, and a touch of fear- no matter how hard she tried, these emotions always came through in her features.

"If you were Trance, where would you go?" Captain Hunt actually seemed curious about what her response might be, and she was slightly surprised by this, having not expected to be asked for an opinion.

"You're asking me about Trance?" Beka gave him the most incredulous sounding tone she could muster, given the situation. "You might as well be asking Tyr for tips on the best method of suicide."

He gave her a look. "Point taken."

Beka smirked half-heartedly, and glanced around where they stood on the space station.

She both loved and hated crowded space ports like these. They were familiar to her, as she had grown up flying from one to the next. But they also represented a part of her life which she hadn't become completely comfortable with yet.

"What about Harper?" Dylan looked at her hopefully, but she didn't have much of anything- especially hope- to offer.

"Harper? Knowing Seamus, he's probably nestled in some bar somewhere. Maybe chasing after girls."

"Or just one girl." Dylan almost muttered the addendum, though he had kept his voice loud enough for her to hear him clearly and react accordingly.

"You think he left to go look for Trance?"

"I think he left to drag Trance back to the Andromeda." He paused and looked at her. "Don't you?"

"Well . . . yeah, but . . ." Of course she knew that that was the reason for her engineer's departure, but . . . well- this was Seamus Harper they were talking about. There wasn't a whole lot in the way of chivalry when it came to that boy. So . . . well, it just felt weird saying aloud things like what his real motives might be.

Beka glanced around again, itching to be moving instead of standing around and waiting for Dylan to reach a decision or give an order of some kind.

"Do you think he found her?" Beka asked with little emotion other than sarcasm apparent in her voice.

Hunt seemed to think about this for a moment, staring off into space like he did whenever he was feeling 'in-charge'.

She tried not to smirk.

"I would think we'd have found him by now if he wasn't with her." He made the statement sound obvious and simplistic, but it took her a moment to catch the implied meaning behind it.

She raised a hand, along with her eyebrows, in what amounted to an expression of obvious disbelief mixed with outright curiosity- about to berate him with questions of whether or not her interpretation of his words was accurate. But she was distracted by someone walking towards them abruptly.

Tyr strode forward from out of the crowd of people and aliens, and Beka's pulse quickened slightly for no immediate or apparent reason.

She decided to attribute this to the fear of losing most of her crew. Two out of three of them were missing, and she couldn't help feeling as though it were partly- if not mostly- her fault.

Dylan cringed a little at the sight of the large Nietzschean heading in their direction, an expression on his face that clearly related his lack of amusement.

"Tyr . . ." But he didn't get a chance to finish as Tyr growled menacingly and glared at the Captain.

"Tell me you've found at least one of them." Tyr's building frustration was not lost on them.

Dylan brushed off the tone without hesitation, and would have smiled if this was any other day, and Tyr was just being Tyr. But, instead he frowned, slowly losing hope.

A new question had entered his mind, and it seemed even more depressing than the last. How would he ever rebuild his Commonwealth if he couldn't even keep a crew of six together?

"Okay, but I'd be lying." Beka's sarcastic tone was not unusual, so neither of the men said anything about it. If it seemed slightly more caustic than expected, than they attributed it to her frustration at losing her good luck charm and the young engineer that she had- though against her better judgement- taken under her wing.

Or, at the least, she had given him a somewhat steady source of income and a place to sleep at night. It was better than what he'd had before she came along.

"They couldn't have left the station without a ship." Dylan stated the obvious, but Tyr was too wrapped up in his own anger to even roll his eyes.

"Well the Maru's still tucked safely away in bed, and I would think Rommie would have alerted us if any of the other ships were missing." Captain Hunt nodded his head absently at Beka's words.

"They have to be here somewhere." Tyr glared at the other two- mainly focusing his anger on Dylan, but not letting Beka escape unscathed.

"Uh oh."

Beka's eye's widened at her own sudden admission. Both Dylan and Tyr slowly turned their heads to stare at her and she cringed a little under their gaze.

Of course.

They *would* pay attention to her when she was making a mistake. How typical of men.

***

Part 6

"'Uh oh'?" Tyr repeated, emphasizing each syllable with something resembling amusement, though the effect was lessened by his anger.

"Okay- before either of you say anything, I'd like to point out that this entire situation is, in no way, my fault."

"Beka?" Dylan gave her a quizzical, if not somewhat entertained, look. She cringed even more.

"What if they bought a ship?"

"Why would the two of them buy a ship?" Tyr questioned.

"No- I mean, what if Trance bought a ship? And Harper- I don't know- followed?"

"Where would she get the means to . . ." Dylan trailed off, not needing to elaborate.

"You know Trance about as well as I do- maybe even more so. You tell me."

"This is all just speculation- for all we know they've stowed away on the last cargo vessel." Tyr looked somewhat more calm than before, but was still characteristically upset.

"Well . . ." Beka trailed off, fighting the urge to cringe yet again.

". . . this isn't just speculation." Dylan finished for her, and she couldn't tell whether he was just stating the obvious, or asking a question.

"The merchant on level nine that I talked to- he mentioned something about . . . when I asked him if he had seen either of them, he said he wasn't at liberty to divulge anything about his customers. I assumed that he was just being paranoid- you know how ship dealers around here get when people start asking questions."

"You didn't think that perhaps Trance was one of his customers?" Tyr glared at her, but she just glared back.

"No. I didn't. And don't give me that look- you wouldn't have thought of it either."

"I . . ." Both Tyr and Beka took some comfort in the familiarity of a verbal fight, but Dylan quickly interrupted.

"You two can duke it out over the technicalities later- right now why don't you lead the way to this ship dealer."

Beka gave Tyr one last glare, before turning and disappearing into the crowd, the two men hot on her heels.

*

"What's going on Trance?" Harper's face hardened, but this time it was not with pain or fear, it was with resolve.

"Harper . . ." The edge was fading, and she focused her energies on bringing it back.

"Nuh-uh. Tell me what's going on."

"Harper." Again she was only able to get out his name.

"Trance . . ." he mimicked her. And a small smile crossed her lips.

She frowned as quickly as possible, but he had seen it. There was hope. A smile of his own slowly started to spread across his face. The real Trance was in there somewhere- he was certain of it.

"You . . ." She knew she was in trouble the moment the word had left her mouth and could think of no other words to follow it.

The act was failing. Not only that, but she was losing her determination and was starting to doubt herself, to question her own motives. Why was she continuing the ruse, anyway? Was there any more point to it? Wasn't it already too late?

"Just call me Seamus Harper- obscenely handsome boy genius and rescuer extraordinaire- here to get your ass back to the Andromeda where it belongs." His grin was back in full force now, and it would take nothing short of several consecutive natural disasters to remove it.

"No- Harper." This time the edge was completely gone, and her voice took on the tone of a pleading child.

She tried to pull herself together, but whenever she thought she had things under control, she'd see that grin on his face and a smile of her own would start to appear all over again.

"Time to fess up. Come on- what's a sparkly purple space babe like you in such a hurry to run away over?" She was about to abandon the façade all together, but for those last words. Inadvertently he had reminded her of what she was doing in the first place, and why she had originally been so upset and so terrified.

A frown like no other immediately took over her features, and Harper's grin vanished with a suddenness that was not lost to her. She hated making him feel bad- there were enough things in the universe that could do that, and she didn't want to be one of them.

"Oh this isn't good. Not good at all." Her words came out softly as she looked Harper in the eyes, than began to pace about the small command center of the ship. She couldn't hold back the dread that had been escalating in her since he had appeared on her ship.

Harper just watched her, confusion and worry written across his features to replace the casual confidence that had just been there. He had thought he was getting somewhere.

"This really isn't good." She spoke again, her words only barely above a whisper. She sounded like a child who had just done something wrong.

"Uh, hey- I didn't mean to . . ." Harper tried to keep his tone light, but it sounded forced. He took a hesitant step forward, reasoning that whatever she was upset over they could work out- though he felt bad about being one of the causes of her distress.

She shook her head absently, appearing to be holding back tears.

Now he really felt bad.

He took another cautious step forward and reached a hand out to grab her upper arm and stop her pacing. He didn't like seeing her this upset, and was doing his best to stop it. Though he wondered, briefly, if placing his hand on her was the best course of action.

He had never been a very 'touchy' person and could remember only one other time when he had touched her skin like this- the only difference between the two situations being that the first time had been in the heat of the moment, had been out of joy and excitement over seeing her alive again after having certainly been dead for an extended period of time.

At his touch she was forced to stop moving since he wasn't about to let go of her arm. Perhaps she was stronger than he was- and more agile- but the idea of pushing him away did not enter her mind as he coaxed her eyes up to meet his own.

"It's- uh . . . all right." He muddled through the sentiment, so afraid that he was doing or saying the wrong thing. He never did know what to do in situations like these.

Not that he had ever been in a situation even close to the one he was in now.

Their eyes remained locked for a moment in which they each tried to communicate to the other their own emotions, before Trance at last broke away and took a step back. She needed this physical space between them so that she could have a better understanding of the emotional and mental space she had to pretend was there.

"No. No, it's not all right." Her voice was slightly louder than her earlier whispers, but Harper didn't notice. He only watched her in confusion as the last of her defenses began to melt away and she was only left with the realization that there was nothing she could do to make the circumstances right.

"Oh this is all my fault." She again looked ready to burst into tears, but used what was left of her strength to keep them at bay. The upset was clear in her body language and expression, but Harper could only look on in concern and puzzlement- not knowing what to attempt next.

"I should have been more convincing." She went on, though neither was sure if she was now talking to him or herself. "I should have been more mean. I should have . . . been more mean. Now it's too late and . . . and I can't turn around and they're going to kill you now and . . . and . . ."

Harper's eyes widened.

"Whoa Whoa Whoa. Back up there. Why don't you just start at the beginning. Better yet- start with the me getting killed part, and explain from there."

She took a deep breath, part of her wanting to tell him what was going on, but the rest of her still insisting that it was a bad idea.

At least she could take comfort in the fact that all of her was in consensus about one thing: she really wished that there was something she could do to make everything turn out all right. She wished that that one perfect solution was as obvious to her now as it had been so often in the past.

"No. no- you're the one who has some explaining to do Mr. . . . Mr. Stowaway." She catapulted the words at him with all that was left of her ability to maintain this act, but it was a feeble attempt.

Harper smirked. He could see the real Trance shining through and he wanted to grin in triumph, but knew that he had not yet been through the worst of it.

He recoiled inwardly at the thought of what 'the worst of it' might be.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned him, her voice barely holding its own as she desperately attempted to infuse it with something close to the edge that had almost become second nature to her.

"Hey- I was coming after you." Harper's voice was slightly defensive. "I think the question is 'what are *you* doing here?'"

She sputtered a little, not expecting him to throw her question back in her face like that.

He took a step forward, knowing that by doing so he threatened to invade her personal space, but was willing to risk it in order to prove his determination.

Trance took a small step back, but more out of reflex than anything else. He couldn't help noticing that the step was barely half the size of his.

"This is my ship." She replied, trying to sound sure of herself and her assertion, but failing.

"And what a lovely ship it is. What- 'dya steal it?" Even in a tense moment like this, his joking persona never abandoned him, and he was grateful for it.

"I don't *steal*!" She replied defensively and Harper grinned. For a moment they let themselves forget what had brought them to this point and envelop themselves in the playfulness of the conversation. "I'm not a thief. I bought this ship."

Harper quirked an eyebrow at her curiously. "Bought? With what?" Her eyes widened a little as she realized that she had set herself up for this line of questioning, and would now regret it.

"Nothing." She looked away, knowing that not only did her expression betray her, but so did the fake innocence in her voice.

"No wait." He pressed, and she braced herself for his continued questioning. But then he seemed to think better of it and shook his head vigorously. "Wait- you're just trying to get me off the subject."

"I am?"

"Yeah. Now what's going on? What are you so freaked about? And- oh yeah- what's this about me getting killed?" His words came out with an undertone of humor to them, but his message was a serious one. He was really concerned about her and about what was causing her to worry. He just didn't know how to deal with that concern. Or with the thought of his own, apparently upcoming, death.

With Harper's words, Trance was transported back to the reality of the situation. She was suddenly reminded of everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours and everything that would be happening in the twenty-four hours ahead of her.

Everything that would be happening to Harper too, since he was now apart of this as well.

Oh, how stupid she had been. If only she had had more time to prepare, if only she had come up with a better act- a better lie. Something that could have changed the predicament she now faced with Harper.

"I should have been more mean." She mumbled, her feet itching to resume their frantic pacing once more.

She didn't know what to do- didn't know how to explain herself to Harper, or if she even could. Didn't explaining things to him violate everything she held sacred? But then, didn't she owe him at least that much if he was forced to go through this along side her?

Because it was too late to turn around now, she admitted to herself. It was too late, and nothing she did would be able to change that.

***

Part 7

Harper watched helplessly as emotion after emotion crossed Trance's already troubled features. He faced the same amount of indecision as she, though neither of them knew it. Did he move to comfort her? Did he joke around and try to get a smile out of her?

He too had no idea what to do or if anything he did would have any effect whatsoever. He was at a loss, and he remained that way for several seconds as he watched her and listened to her mumble about not being 'mean' enough and how it was all her fault.

Whatever 'it' was.

Should he take another step forward? Should he take hold of her again, in the hopes of proving his resolve to her? But that previous action had been to stop her from pacing, and she was still at the moment, so what excuse did he now have for touching her?

His confusion only deepened as she took a step back, then forward- as if she were working her way up to the active pacing she had been involved in earlier.

"What's wrong?" He finally asked her hesitantly, knowing that this sort of thing did not come naturally to him and, so, worrying over how soon he would be screwing it up.

Still- he had to do something.

Hadn't that been the point of this whole trip? Hadn't the entire reason for all of this- for wandering around the space station, calling in favors and bribing merchants to find the location of Trance- been to fix things?

The girl looked ready to cry, and she wanted to. She wanted to just let the tears come, but she wouldn't let Harper see that- couldn't let him see that. Somehow having him see her cry would make it all suddenly much more real.

So she turned away from him and moved to sit in the chair at the helm, just in case a few rogue tears managed to make their way down her cheeks.

"Hey." Harper started, following her determinedly.

But then he stopped just behind the chair, awkwardly debating whether or not putting a hand on her shoulder- in a gesture of comfort- would be a good idea.

After a few seconds of odd expressions and the occasional attempt to reach out for her, but then pulling back as he thought better of it, he decided to risk it.

They were friends. It was a friendly gesture. It was okay, he told himself.

Trance stiffened slightly at the action, and a frown replaced Harper's original expression as he wondered if he had made the wrong choice.

But it was only that Trance had been surprised by the appearance of his hand on her bare shoulder. After the initial shock of Seamus Harper actually expressing concern through physical contact had worn off, she relaxed a little, and so did he, relieved that he hadn't just caused an embarrassing situation.

"I should have been more mean." She choked a little on her words- the same words she had been repeating over and over again.

He couldn't see her expression from behind the chair, so he decided to take another risk, and moved in front of her, than leaned against a console so that she was eye level with him.

"You *should* have listened to Dylan and stayed put on the Andromeda."

"I should have . . ."

"Trance, you were plenty mean. Hell, you probably even scared Tyr half to death when you turned on him yesterday with that 'get a life' speech." This won a small smile from the girl, but it didn't last long.

"I . . ." She trailed off, this time without the need of him to interrupt her.

"Come on- let's turn this boat around and get your ass home before Dylan has a hernia." Harper started to get up, but she stopped him with her voice.

"No! We can't turn around." He gave her a confused look.

"Okay." He said slowly, trying to understand what she was telling him.

"We can't turn around." She reiterated, but his puzzled expression didn't change.

"I'm not getting it- we outa gas or something?"

"I . . ." She started to try to form an answer that both of them could be happy with, but didn't get very far before he interrupted her with his fast-paced speech.

"Or are you still on this 'I'm running away and not telling any one why' kick? Cause I gotta tell you- this hasn't exactly been a 'walk in the park' sort of experience. And that whole pissed off act you were going for? -not a good way to win friends."

"But . . ." Only he wouldn't let her speak.

"No 'if's, 'and's or 'but's about it. I'm not going anywhere until you figure out that you're off your rocker and decide to head on back to 'Daddy Dylan'. It's as simple as that Trance babe."

"I wish it were as simple as that." Her forlorn response caught him off guard. So much so, that he lost his train of thought and looked rather startled that she hadn't just immediately given in to his demands.

"What do you mean?" He asked- because he knew she was expecting him to ask it.

Trance took in a deep breath. Her eyes wandered down to look at her own hands, which clung together in her lap, as though they could somehow save each other.

"We're almost there." She said quietly. "It's too late." And she knew she'd have to tell him something.

*

Beka glanced back at the two other crewmen beside herself who were on the main deck. Three crewmen if you counted Rommie. It was sometimes hard to know whether to refer to her as the ship, a member of the small but close-knit crew, or both.

Sighing, she caught Dylan doing the same from his place near the artificial intelligence across the room. She wanted to yell at him- about more than one thing- but she supposed he had enough on his mind at the moment. She needed to remember that. She needed to remember that things weren't always as easy as he made them appear to be. He was probably tearing himself up inside about this latest little mishap.

'Or not.' She thought to herself with a smirk as she watched Dylan glance around the bridge with something of a cocky smile plastered over his face.

That man was infuriating

Tyr, however, was even less receptive than she of this bit of self-confidence from their Captain. He rolled his eyes and offered what very well could have been an actual 'grunt' of disapproval.

She tensed momentarily.

Ever since they had left the space port she had felt fidgety and apprehensive- glad to be gone, yet nervous none the less. But she chalked it up to a result of the events that had happened directly before their departure.

The alien ship dealer had been less than eager to talk, cursing them between lectures about a merchant's moral code and the trust between himself and his customers that he didn't dare violate.

Luckily, it was a short-lived sermon, as he suddenly became quite amiable at the sight of Tyr's cold glare and the concealed weapon in the Nietzschean's jacket.

Dylan hadn't been too fond of his weapon's officer's means of getting information, but the Captain hadn't reprimanded him either, instead directing his emotions on the alien.

It turned out that Trance wasn't as inept as she might appear to be, 'cause one way or another she had secured the money to purchase a ship with almost as much speed and maneuverability as the Andromeda.

Apparently she had taken off in it. 'To where?' was the question. However, the dealer had been quite adamant that he neither knew nor cared.

There was one piece of information, though, that Beka couldn't seem to get over. It had been turning in her head ever since the merchant had said it, and she wondered if Dylan was thinking the same thing. Why had Harper . . . how had he . . .

Even after so much time had passed since the thought was first introduced, she couldn't form the question.

The alien had said that Harper had threatened his life. That the young man had cornered him with a pulse pistol the size of his arm that was obviously black market, and had threatened to kill him for information on Trance's whereabouts. Had even come close to shooting off a leg before the dealer caved and told him where Trance's new ship was docked.

Beka shook her head at the idea. Maybe the merchant had been lying. But than- maybe not. She knew Seamus had had a rough life, but somehow she couldn't picture him in such a cold-blooded scene as that of the one the alien had drawn for her.

In the back of her mind, though, she realized exactly what was causing all of this anxiety. And it wasn't the cold-bloodedness of whatever Harper had done- though that was proving much easier to think about than this other fear. What really made her nervous, and kept her thoughts cryptic, was the idea of the lengths her engineer had gone to for this girl.

Whatever his reasoning, the ending couldn't be good.

But she pushed the unpleasant thoughts aside and concentrated on piloting, watching Rommie's facial expressions change with each movement of Beka's hands, as if the avatar could actually feel every tiny twist and turn of the ship.

Dylan glanced, again, at every one in the room with a self-assured look on his face that begged to be challenged. Beka would have been happy to oblige, but was beaten to the punch.

"This is ludicrous." Tyr commented leaning against his console. Dylan turned to face the man fully, an expression of curiosity and bemusement on his face.

The Nietzschean made a noise that sounded somewhat like another grunt- or perhaps what was supposed to be a menacing growl- before elaborating.

"If you had simply let me restrain that girl until we had left the space station, none of this would have happened." At this, Beka smirked, more at the fact that she wanted to agree with him, than at the absurdity of the idea.

Tyr went on. "It's not bad enough that our main instigator of medical treatment is now gone- which the Andromeda and the rest of us might have made up for on our own with the basic knowledge we've acquired- but now our engineer is gone as well. And none of us onboard are well versed in mechanics enough to be able to replace him."

He paused for a moment to sneer, but Dylan kept quiet. "So now we're forced to go on this wild goose chase in search of two people who obviously don't want to be found- all the while *hoping* nothing happens to this ship or that AI- since there's no one on board who knows how to repair them." Tyr sneered yet again, and Beka wondered if the expression was unique to Nietzscheans since she had never met any one who could pull it off so effectively.

Dylan waited a moment to make sure Tyr was done, than took a step forward.

Beka braced herself for a speech. And she could see Tyr do the same.

"You're right."

"He's what?" Beka jerked her head around to get a good look at the man she thought she had had all figured out. Tyr also stared at him in confusion.

Dylan shrugged a little in acquiescence. "You're right Tyr. You're both right." He glanced at Beka than back at the Nietzschean. "Not about the tying Trance up part- that's definitely not a good idea. But I shouldn't have let her leave. And not just because we need her to perform her duties on this ship. But because she's a valued member of this crew. As is Harper. I shouldn't have let her leave because that's not how this ship works.

"I was caught off guard by her, and I panicked. But that's no excuse. I can promise you that it won't happen again. And that I'm going to fix this mistake right now. We will get them back. Both of them."

"All right." Tyr spoke slowly and uncertainly, his eyebrows raised in disbelief over the idea of Dylan admitting to being wrong.

"Uh, hate to ruin the moment and everything," Beka spoke up from the helm. "But just cause you're all fired up about this, doesn't mean we're ever actually going to find them. Do I need to remind either of you that we have no clue where to even start looking?"

Dylan let a small grin take hold of his features, before pushing it back. "Don't you know I always have something up my sleeve?

"Tell me you know what you're doing." Beka tried for sarcastic, but settled for slightly apprehensive yet teasing.

"I have a plan." Dylan grinned again in that way that he has and Beka put a hand to her head.

"Oh God."

"Here we go." Tyr remarked under his breath.

TBC

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