Andromeda Round Robin Fic

by Heehee....

A/n: I don’t know the name of the crewman Beka and Harper lost, so I just named him Bob. I like that name. Um… there’s some OOC in Dylan’s part, but the next person can fix that, right? ^___^;;;


Round Robin Part One
by Heehee

Harper stared blankly at the wall in front of him. He was supposed to be working on… something. He’d stopped paying attention a long time ago. Too much was on his mind. He gripped the cool steel of his tool; feeling it warm at his touch, wishing for the life of him he’d just stayed in bed that day.

Regret and uselessness. They were feelings he hated like a bitch, but there was nothing he could do about it.

And they were accompanied by worry, which almost never came hand in hand for him. It was weird, worrying about anyone at all. It was an emotion he had lived without for a long time, and could definitely continue to.

He couldn’t believe what had happened. His whole life was in ruins around him, and it was all his fault for depending on one person too much.

"Harper, Dylan’s calling a meeting." Even though Rommie’s voice snapped him out of a sleepy trance, he still felt numb.

"Got it." He said without his normal bounce, not for lack of trying, though. He walked threw the halls of Andromeda, and it was like he was in a totally new place. He knew where he was going but it didn’t seem important.

"Um… Harper, don’t you want to know where its going to be?" She asked when she noticed his aimless wondering.

"That would help." He said without trace of his normal sense of humor.

That seemed to throw Rommie off, as it took her a little bit longer to respond with, "Dylan’s quarters. Trance and Tyr are already waiting."

He changed direction without bothering to feel embarrassed about that. It would be too confusing for him then. Probably wouldn’t even be able to focus. He walked into Dylan’s room and met Tyr and Trance, who seemed like they had been waiting for a while.

"Where’s Rev? And Dylan?" He asked, knowing his voice sounded like crap. That was the kind of stuff concern did to you.

Before either could answer the two walked in, they’re voices tapering off as they entered. They met each of their eyes, Dylan seemed to be preparing mentally for what he was about to say.

Harper sat on Dylan’s bed as Rev joined Trance and Tyr at the table. Dylan stood in front of them all, and cleared his throat, getting everyone’s attention, not that they’d been talking. It was a sad time for them all, and they seemed to each handle it privately.

"You all know that Beka’s been taken prisoner in the Quad system." Dylan stated, but it sounded more like a question. It was as if he were talking to a group, like he had been doing all his years as captain.

"Well, yeah. Considering the fact I’ve been awake for the since seven this morning." Harper said sarcastically. The number one defense to any new or over powering emotion.

"None of you would happen to know –why, - would you?"

Trance shrugged and Rev looked down at the table.

Harper sighed, knowing he was going to be the one to explain it to Dylan.

"I’ve only been with Beka about a year, so she could’ve gotten into a whole lot of shit that I don’t know about." He said in a warning tone. "But, a few months ago we were raiding an abandoned station in the Quad, which was fine, because Bob, one of our older
crew members, had full access to the area." Harper explained, watching Dylan’s expression. "But, halfway threw, Bob got a little unlucky. And without him we couldn’t leave. So, Beka pretended that he was still alive by cutting off his finger and pressing it onto the id check."

"And they found out?"

"I guess. I don’t know why they’d get so mad, though."

Dylan nodded. "Do you know how the Quad operates?"

"Not really." Trance said.

"They haven’t shown anything that I should have interest in." Tyr said dryly.

"Vaguely." Harper shrugged. "I try to avoid that whole sector of space."

"Good idea." Dylan noted, and continued. "Usually, they’ll be willing to trade prisoners for valuables, land, or slaves."

"Slaves –are- valuables, Dylan." Harper said flatly, not enjoying the direction the conversation was heading.

"Not that they have that much value." Tyr added.

Dylan bit his lip and continued. "And they’ll let slaves go for money." Harper saw brown moving up and down out of the corner of his eye, translating into Rev nodding. Which indicated that they had already talked this over, so they had a plan.

-Great. A Wayist and an insane optimist should never be allowed to come up with plans together.- He thought miserably. –They always ignore any fact that might stop their plan. Like ships, huge guys with guns— He tried to figure out what Dylan was getting at; wondering if it had anything that would include him getting injured. Harper often bragged about being a genius, and even though it got a little annoying, it wasn’t a complete lie. So, he picked up one what Dylan was saying rather quickly.

"So you want to exchange one of us for Beka, then come back in a few days when our novelty wares off, and buy us back?" He asked bluntly. "One question, though. Are we working slaves or a pleasure ones? Because Trance and aren’t really built up enough for a
worker."

The look Dylan gave him made him wonder if he had been wrong. That was a pretty far stretch, especially figuring that a Wayist came up with it.

"Is that true Dylan?" Trance asked in a disbelieving voice.

When there was no response, he knew he was right "Oh, I guess that’s for the buyer to decide." He added coolly.

"Harper—"

"What? If I’m wrong, tell me." Harper bit. "I’d love to be wrong about this."

A long silence followed, somehow managing to remain comfortable for Harper, even with such obvious tension in the captain’s body. He had always been able to do that, though. Silences were never unwanted in serious conversations. They were just breaks to think threw what you were about to say, or figure out how to word it better. Everyone at the table watched the staring contest, wondering who was going to break the gaze of the other.

Harper couldn’t believe that Dylan was letting him yell at him like this, especially with everyone else there. Rev was giving Harper a look that would’ve sent him screaming out of the room under any other circumstances.

Harper swallowed and kept on pushing the limit. How far was Dylan going to let him go? "So, who’s it gonna be? Or are we just going to let the Quad choose?"

That seemed to be the last straw for Dylan, "Walk with me." He said threw gritted teeth, and went to the hallway.

Harper followed him a bit slower, wondering if he’d been wrong. Dylan had looked pretty angry.

"Is the meeting over?" He heard Trance ask before the door closed behind him.

He closed his eyes for a second, wondering what he was doing. Why was he testing the captain like this? He hands sweat, but he kept his face straight. He wasn’t going to let anything leak—

Why was he treating Dylan like an enemy? They were on the same side. Dylan had stopped walking and was waiting for him to catch up. Once he had, Dylan started.

"Harper, I know you’re worried about Beka. We all are."

Harper tuned Dylan’s speech out. He knew what it was going to be about: everyone had to cooperate with each other. If not, they weren’t going to get anywhere, and even if he was upset, they all had to do their part to get Beka. And he –understood- that Beka was close to him. And he –understood- that it hurt, but they still had to try.

"What do you want me to do to save Beka?" Harper interrupted. Key wording there. Using ‘save’ would make Dylan think he was willing to do whatever it took. He probably was, but he wanted to know everything about the plan before he agreed, and Dylan would be more willing to—

He stopped his thoughts and almost shuddered. He hadn’t thought like that in a long time. Ever since he met Beka, he hadn’t had to…

"I want to go to Quad with you, Trance and Tyr, and trade one of you for Beka. Then have Rev come and get you out two says later." Dylan said. "They’re much more willing to get rid of slaves then prisoners."

"No." Harper said.

"What?" Dylan asked, looking fairly upset.

Harper wasn’t threatened though. Dylan wasn’t going to do anything to him. "You don’t want anyone in there to do it." He said, gesturing towards Dylan’s room. "And I know I’m not going to."

"How are you so sure I want to choose you?" Dylan asked, cocking his head to the side.

Perfect. Dylan thought he’d figured Harper out. Even if he had, Harper could always change positions now.

"You couldn’t get Tyr to agree to this. Even if you did, he stands too tall to really be a slave. Trance would just cry, and all slaves have that beaten out of them by their first master. And you won’t go. Who would play captain?" Harper said. "Besides. I have an
extensive resume in this field. I can handle it. Right?"

Dylan nodded a little hesitantly.

"Hm." Harper said, looking out the window, into space, where Beka was hidden from him… "No."

"I can’t –believe- that you won’t sacrifice your pride just for a little while to save someone you –say- you care about." The captain said in his disapproving/disbelieving tone that Harper had come to know.

Harper shook his head, barely holding back a mocking chuckle. He hadn’t done –that- in years. He wasn’t going to start now.

Another part of his mind was getting ready to punch Dylan. It wasn’t just his pride, how cruel did Dylan think he was?! And although that would suffer a major blow, it was his sanity he was worried about. He couldn’t just give up his humanity. Again. At least not willingly.

"Great." Dylan growled, sounding frustrated in a way that reminded Harper of a teenager’s mom. "What am I supposed to say to make you understand? What is going through your head right now that makes what you’re doing right?"

Harper raised an eyebrow. He really didn’t know how to answer that—no one had really ever asked him it before.

"Well, almighty captain, sir, I was thinking about how willing the rest of this crew is to do their part and how stupidly selfish I’m being." He learned early on that sarcasm was the best response to all questions one didn’t know the answer to. Besides, it made him
sound like he was sure about his choice.

Dylan sighed inwardly. In the old days, his engineer could’ve been severely punished for that stray remark. It was something Dylan had gotten so used to, even in such a sort amount of time.

"Harper, you know she’d do it for you." He made one last attempt to appeal to what appeared to be an almost non-existent conscience before leaving the young man in the hallway. He saw Harper’s jaw tense and Dylan could see his hands clench so tightly his
knuckles were pearly white.

The blond mumbled something and Dylan leaned forward in a silent request for a repeat.

"Fine." Harper said, just a tiny bit louder. "I’ll pretend to be what Beka needs me to be. I’ll bow down in front of them, and I’ll sit there quietly when the beat me just to ‘get off.’ And I’ll let myself get used, once again. But don’t think for a minute, that’s its for you. It’s for Beka. And if you think for a minute that I’ll forgive you…"

Dylan waited for more, but Harper seemed to be done, so he turned to leave.

"And I’m not going to let you sugar-coat this." He said in a bitter tone, catching Dylan just inches from the corner. "Because you know what I’m going to go threw. And your going to say to yourself, ‘It’s for the Commonwealth. It’s for Beka. It’s for the better
of humanity.’ But you know you could come up with a better plan."

The only thing that kept Harper from chucking the nearest heavy object after him was the fact that there was none. He barely regained control of himself to not yell an obscene message. He couldn’t believe he let Dylan use that on him! It’d been too long since he had control conversations; he let things slip.

And it wasn’t Dylan’s fault; he didn’t know what he was asking. He really didn’t.

In ‘Dylan thought,’ it was a perfect plan. See, Dylan was willing to do every role, every part of it, so if someone else wasn’t, then they were being selfish.

Didn’t he know that other people have different buttons? Different … weaknesses?

The rational side of Harper was yelling at him. He couldn’t let himself be mad. It was perfect.

He would’ve agreed with it full heartedly, but he it wasn’t like he was the only one who could do it. He wasn’t the only one who could give up their freedom, even if it was just for a short amount of time.

But no, they didn’t want to ruin Trance. Didn’t want to taint her perfectly bright smile. Not that he did.

But it’s every man for themselves. He’d made it this far by those rules; he couldn’t change them now. And what did it matter if his soul just got ripped, if he just got bent a little more. Harper could take it, right? Harper was tough. He was raised on the planet
that had practically been in a state of war for the past century. This should be -easy- for him.

Harper stared at the creamy color of the wall of what he thought, for the longest time, was going to be his new home. He never understood the saying, ‘The silence was deafening’ until that moment. The comforting hum of Andromeda’s engine seemed to have faded out. He felt a sharp pain in his fist and realized he was squeezing his hands so hard, it had cut flesh. Numbly, he stared at the blood that was dripping down his wrist slowly. He let his eyes unfocus and he found himself flooded with memories of a horrible past he had tried to hold back…

He leaned back on the wall and slid down, wiping the blood on his jeans.

He was going to go back and get Beka. But damn if Dylan was going to be in control of it.


END PART 1