Haunted

 

Chapter 1

"Yes, Andromeda. What is it?" Captain Dylan Hunt's voice held an edge as he walked onto the bridge of the Andromeda Ascendant. It was not totally without cause, when one is woken up at 0300 from a blissful slumber by ones AI telling one that you are needed on the bridge immediately, one can be a bit testy. Dylan noticed with surprise that Trance Gemini, the ship's botanist and local Sun Avatar was there as well.
The reply from the, quite frankly, beautiful holographic branch of the Andromeda was short and precise. "I'm not sure. We picked up a small craft and Trance insisted that you be brought to the bridge". She punctuated the name with a frown at the offending party. After all, what could there be about a simple, drifting spaceship that could be told to the Captain and not to the ship?
Dylan turned his attention to the gold alien. "Trance?"
"To get straight to the point sir, I think I know who, or at least what is piloting, or, was piloting that ship."
The Captains eyebrows jumped a bit. Not only was she referring to him in a formal manner, something she hadn't done for quite awhile, but he had rarely seen her disoriented. "Anything we should be worried about?"
She paused for a moment, another unusual event. "I'm not sure." By this time all on command where staring at her, including all three of the Andromeda's personas. "That's three in less than five minutes." Dylan thought to himself. Something was seriously wrong, and when things where wrong, well, that was Dylan's specialty.
He immediately stepped into his Captain-of-a-warship boots. "Maybe if you just explain what exactly is so special about this ship..."
The, presumably, young woman seemed to snap partially out of the stupor she had been in ever since she had seen the drifting spaceship. "From what I can tell this ship belongs to a species that is, well, difficult to describe. My people have been friends with most of them for millennia."
"Most of them?" Interrupted the android version of the Andromeda, also known as "Rommie".
"They are divided into approximately nine sub-species, or races. Each has a different field of expertise, and different motives. However, there is only one of these races that is not allies with my species. Nobody really talks about them."
"Ah" mussed Dylan. "Have we met these guys before?"
Trance's reply was unexpectedly prompt. "No. In fact, even I have never met one of them. They tend to keep to themselves in this..." She suddenly stopped herself and quickly glanced from Dylan to Rommie.
"In this...?" prompted Dylan.
"Area, they keep to themselves in this area. I shouldn't go into more details than that."
Rommie was still suspicious. "So, what is so special about this one ship? It's not even moving."
"That's it, it's not moving! It's just drifting there! First, a Sheighon wouldn't enter Commonwealth space unless there was a very important reason to. Second, they wouldn't just abandon a ship in the middle of nowhere. And third, someone has to be in there and they could very well be hurt! And..." Trance, quite agitated by now, whirled around to look at Dylan. "And I thought the Captain of this ship would like to be there at first contact!"
At this Dylan smiled "That makes it four. These people must mean a lot to Trance to have her get so animated about helping one of them". To her he said, "In that case I have to say 'Thank you, Trance'. I would be happy to help your friend all I can."
This seemed to ease her a bit. Thankfully, the spacecraft was small enough to pull into one of the Andromeda's docking bays. As they where leaving to see to the new arrival, Trance offered this last piece of advice, "Oh, we might want to have, say, Rhade along to". At Dylan's questioning glance she explained with a cryptic "Just in case."

Chapter 2

Dylan, Trance, and Rommie where joined in the shuttle bay by the Andromeda Ascendant's weapons officer, Lieutenant Commander Telemachus Rhade, and he didn't look very happy. While Dylan had to admit that he sympathized his Nietzschean friend's lack of sleep, he couldn't resist teasing him just a little.
"Thank you for joining us. I hope we didn't take you away from anything important."
The younger man looked at him with a black look that nearly screamed "Oh if you where anyone other than my captain..."
"Ouch, I'll definitely have to apologize later. But really, I'm sure I didn't look that grumpy a few... wait a minute, what is Trance doing!"
Trance, throwing caution to the wind, had run right up to the ship and was now apparently searching all over it for something. Rhade moved forward to restrain her, "No Trance! You don't know who might be in there!"
She turned around slowly and stared at him, then she slowly turned and looked at Dylan, and then she went back to her search as Dylan explained the situation to him. With this reassurance from his captain, Rhade relaxed a little, but he remained alert.
The ship itself was a beauty to behold. Its shape resembled an old Earth arboreal, with the body of an eagle, beak and all, and the wings curving around and stretching out to the front finally ending parallel to the "beak" and curving in slightly. It was finished of with a triangular tail at the back of it. The color was black with purple insignia-like marks on the sides and the top of each wing. It was larger than a Slipfighter, big enough for one or two people to make journeys in relative comfort, while still fairly small. Strangely enough, it didn't seem to have any sort of viewscreen or weapons, and held a look of something resembling delicacy.
Suddenly, Trance gave out a shout of triumph. "Found it!" And as she immerged from underneath the wing the small craft rose several feet off the ground and began to hover there. In an instant Dylan, Rhade, and Rommie all had force lances trained on it.
"Wait!" cried Trance. "It's supposed to do that! See?" And indeed, a panel in the side of the ship moved outward and then slowly lowered, creating a ramp leading inside the ship. Dylan motioned for Rhade and Rommie to follow him and Trance inside.
The inside was just as aesthetically pleasing, and confusing as the exterior. A quick look revealed no sign of any place that a slipstream generator could be placed. Despite the fact that it was to small for one, Trance had hinted on their way there that these 'Sheighon' had slightly more advanced technology, perhaps they had found a way to miniaturize whatever they used for slipstream, really miniaturize, as in, in order for this SG to fit inside this thing it would have to be about the size of the desk in his quarters which, needless to say, would be quite a feat.
The layout was fairly simple, if you where looking at it through the 'beak', the entrance was on the left side. Upon entering you would find a door to the left and right, along with a hallway leading to two other, smaller rooms straight ahead. Trance immediately moved to the right-hand room and upon walking up to the door, it opened revealing a relatively spacious, and certainly luxurious, bedroom. It contained a double bed with sheets of purple silk, a large closet built into the wall, and quite a few paintings of various landscapes. The entire motif of the room seemed to be various shades of royal purple, except for a large chest of drawers in one corner, which was made of what appeared to be rosewood. This room was empty however, so they continued to the two smaller rooms that turned out to be a kitchen/dining room and an even smaller room for storage. These, again where empty so they approached the final room located in the front of the ship that, Dylan assumed, must be the bridge.
"This one might be a bit more difficult to get into" Trance remarked as they approached it. "As I remember, Sheighon ships do have a sort of AI, even on smaller vessels."
They approached the door but, unlike the others, it remained closed. They glanced around in vain for some sort of control panel. Trance began to get exasperated.
"We have to get in there! If someone is still here they have to be in there!"
"Maybe we should just blast the door down." Remarked Rhade.
To everyone's shock and surprise, the door proceeded to open at a rather quicker rate than they had previously seen.
Dylan looked around curiously at his equally astonished crew. "I was about to say 'Open Sesame' but this will work."
It was then that they heard a small, barely audible groan from inside. All rushed in and stopped almost as quickly. If they had thought that the other rooms where strange, nothing could have prepared them for what they saw. The pilot area, as it appeared to be, despite being the largest room on the vessel, consisted mainly of several long control panels along all walls except for the front. From the inside, it was interesting to note that the face retained the beak-shape of the outside. Still, it had no screens that would provide any sort of data, no recognizable controls, and NO slipstream generator! The main fixture in the entire room was the pilot's chair in the very center. It greatly resembled the original pilots chair on the Andromeda except for the set of controls attached to the back and coming out over the pilot's lap. They, as a matter of fact, also resembled the flight controls Dylan had seen once in a picture of an old Earth airplane. In this unusual seat, sat the pilot, slumped over and not looking incredibly sprightly, aside from the fact that she was barely even conscious.
Trance instantly reverted to her Acting Medical Officer side and went to work. First, she leaned over and pulled the young woman's hands from her controllers causing them to move up over her head and settle in the ceiling. Next, she caught the pilot before she could fall out of her seat and gingerly lowered her to the ground. Now, all where able to study her, and what they saw was the final surprise that would have given weaker individuals a heart attack.
Amazingly enough, this young woman looked human, that is, she had no unusual bumps, dents, horns, etc that would have branded her as an alien. If Dylan hadn't been told by Trance herself that she was an alien, he would have never have guessed that she was anything other than one of his own. Her face itself was none other than quite attractive by most humanoid species standards. Her age was approximately twenty-five Commonwealth years. Her hair was pale blond, braided, and tied up in a low, efficient knot. Her face consisted of a delicate aquiline chin, jaw and nose, and slightly full lips. Dylan couldn't help but catch his breath, and the look Rhade had on his face wasn't his precisely his usual cool, aloof expression. Dylan couldn't blame the younger man, as this new alien was plain, simply, and undeniably beautiful.
Then Trance made the strange remark "She's just a child". All eyes turned to her. "What's she talking about? If this one is a child, then I'm middle aged! Despite the fact that technically while I spent three hundred years of my life stuck in time and that technically, my body is middle aged... never mind. "
"Ahem!" Trance and Rommie simultaneously clearing their throats brought the Y-chromosomes back from their daze. Following this, Trance requested that Rhade carry the unconscious 'girl' outside to the shuttle bay. He bent down and carefully wrapped his right arm around her shoulders and his left around her knees and stood up gently moving her so that her head rested against him instead of hanging limply over his arm. They formed a procession of Trance in the lead, followed by Rhade with the girl, then Rommie and Dylan bringing up the rear. Dylan noticed that Rommie had been unusually quite the whole time.
"Anything wrong Rommie?"
"No. It's just that, this vessel has A: No visible means of propulsion, and B: No visible weaponry. It couldn't possibly have been meant for long range assignments, it's just not powerful enough."
This last remark earned a muffled, but still audible chortle from the general direction of the Sun Avatar. Rommie frowned at her but kept silent.
They where now standing in a more open space. Trance was just about to suggest that Rhade carry her to medical when, finally, the girl stirred slightly. What happened next was one of those things that Dylan always remembered as sort of a distorted blur. She frowned slightly and reached her right arm around to touch the arm that Rhade had around her shoulders. And then it happened, in an instant her face distorted into a look that Dylan couldn't possibly describe, a mixture of anger, hate, and... fear? The next instant she was flying across the room to land in a crouch on the complete opposite side of the room, both arms in front of her now wide-open eyes. This was no small feat as she had moved from a laying position and still had enough momentum to catapult herself several yards.
"This is no child." Thought Dylan. Her quick reaction hinted at experience, her position down low gave her the advantage over someone with, oh say, bone spikes on their forearms. To top all of this off, now Dylan could see her eyes, while once her face held an expression of innocence and purity, now it flashed with something resembling calm, deep, and icy anger bordering on terror. This appearance was added to by the presence of unusually bright blue eyes that seemed to glow.
Trance carefully adopted her own calm attitude, the one Dylan had seen many times since this Trance from the future appeared. She began to murmur softly to the trembling girl. "Easy now Nimveno Eho. It's okay."
These two simple words in what must have been Her own language seemed to intrigue Her, but not enough to steady Her trembling voice. "Kie... sho few... hiosho su m... Kisv ma... thsv gemgh iosho?" The words came out harshly, but it still failed to dampen the striking attractiveness of Her voice. It was low, not low enough to be contralto, but still not quite high enough to be soprano. It seemed to imply some professional training, perhaps even a lot. It's tone also held the calm, cold, and slightly commanding manner of Her attitude. "I know that tone of command she has. It's the tone of a person that is used to being in control. I use it all the time."
Meanwhile Trance continued to try and calm her, this time speaking only in the other young woman's language. "Osaf, Nimveno Eho. Ge few abesl shf Commonwealth nesghwsjoa?"
At this, a small amused, but still cold, smile crept over one corner of Her mouth. "Yes" She began in perfect Earth. "I speak several languages that where (a glance at Dylan and Rommie), are used in the Commonwealth."
Trance smiled with relief and crept a few more feet toward her. This did not seem to frighten the now completely still girl, so Trance knelt down slowly in front of her. There was another brief flicker of amusement, this time in Her eyes, and she promptly mimicked the Avatar's posture, relaxing slightly and getting on her own knees.
Trance gave Her another smile. "Good, perhaps we should start with your name."
This seemed to puzzle and entertain Her greatly, and it was a few moments before she answered. "I am Jacinth of Anemone birthed by Vanessa of June by Remus of Antioch. My friends call me Jac."
"What and introduction."
Unlike Dylan and, understandably, Rhade, Trance was not extremely impressed by this. She looked at 'Jac' for several seconds and the said, in an unusually demanding tone "That is not the proper introduction, 'Jacinth Anemome'. Again, but this time, state your family and house."
This certainly seemed to impress Jac, as she looked with thinly veiled respect on the Sun Avatar. This was quickly replaced by a look of distain for the company in general and she jumped up and snapped, "I am of no family (a pointed look at Rhade), my pride is my own."
Trance stood up as well. "And your house?"
This seemed to sap up the last bits of courage that Jac had left in her. Instead of the haughty tone she had before, she barely whispered, "My apologies Sun Avatar, I did not mean any disrespect. I'm am rather out of sorts at the moment."
This softened Trance and she asked, this time in her kindly mother-of-all- who-walk tone, "Are you hurt?"
Jac looked up from a most interesting spot on the deck and suddenly went pale. She would have collapsed if Dylan hadn't run forward and caught her. Rommie spoke for the first time in awhile, "Perhaps we should take you to medical and see how you are."
Jacinth smiled at the android, and not her mocking half-smile either, a real one. "Ushf thsla. I presume that you are the ships AI."
"Very perceptive. I am the Andromeda Ascendant made flesh. My friends call me Rommie. Can you walk on your own?"
"I think perhaps I could use some assistance."
Dylan nodded. "Trance, would you please take our guest to medical? Rommie will go along to assist Miss... uh..."
"Just Jacinth, please. Or, better yet, Jac."
Dylan nodded again. "Well then Jac, I hope you'll forgive me, but it is rather late, and I'm barely functioning as it is."
Jac just smiled again and nodded her understanding. As Rommie and Trance led her out, she paused for a minute as they passed Rhade. Her blue eyes seemed to burn a hole right through him to his very core. Her face had become cold again, but it quickly became soft and innocent as soon as they where on their way to med. Dylan and Rhade watched them go.
Suddenly, Rhade piped up. "What in the name of the Divine, dead or alive, was that about?"
"I wish I knew Rhade. But at the moment, all I care is how many feet it is to my bed." Rhade just grunted his agreement and left for his own quarters. Dylan walked through the halls along and wondered if it was true, he was certainly thinking a lot about this Jacinth girl.

Chapter 3

As they walked down the hall Jacinth calmly, if not rather insincerely apologized for her reaction.
Rommie wasn't about to let it go so easily. "Would you mind if I asked you as to the cause of your aversion to Lieutenant Rhade?"
"Yes."
They continued in silence for several minutes.
"You know, I promised myself that I wouldn't be rude to you again, but I feel I have. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so discourteous." She still offered no explanation, and the other women did not ask for one. They spent the rest of the trip in silence.
They entered the medical bay and Trance motioned Rommie and Jac over to one of the medical beds. Rommie took this opportunity to study the young woman more closely. She was quite tall, approximately four inches taller than herself at 5'6". "Funny how Harper managed to make my android body his exact same height." It was difficult to see her build, as her loose pants and jacket covered her entire body, including long sleeves and a high collar on the jacket. However, it did appear that she was slim and well exercised. The small display earlier had proved that she was agile and fast, along with having fairly impressive reflexes. Her clothing itself was almost completely black except for thin lines of dark purple on the jacket that formed crystalline patterns all over it. The fabric was of a glossy, durable fiber that didn't appear in any of Andromeda's databases. "Most likely from her home planet." It was finished off with ankle-high, flat heeled, black boots and black leather gloves.
Trance had taken several minutes to take a small case from Jacinth's ship while she was inside, and now opened it to reveal several mysterious tools and packages. "A med kit. Apparently our implements are incompatible with her physiology." This was surprising as she appeared in every way to be a young human woman of about twenty-four or twenty-five. "Except for, of course, the fact that I have never seen a human with quite that color of eyes."
Trance was now holding one of the tools in front of Jac and looking at it oddly. Her gaze drifted to Jac and back to whatever it was that she was holding.
"Is anything wrong?" This comment would have seemed completely innocent to anyone who didn't have an android's sense of hearing. As it was, Rommie detected a faint hint of hostility in the girl's voice.
"No." Replied Trance. "Unless you consider suffering from exhaustion, low temperature, an acute case of shock, and..." She took in a sharp breath of air. "Fractures in the both knees and thighs, and a spiral fracture in the right shin bone, twenty-three in it in all, as wrong"
Jac stared at the scanner for several minutes. "Oh."
"Oh? How can she be so calm? She just did a gymnastic summersault across one of my docking bays, landed perfectly, and was still able to walk here with some assistance, all with her legs being in fragments!"
"You know, it's strange. I didn't even feel weak or in pain until you asked me."
"And now she's making jokes! Obviously a high pain threshold, very useful to know."
Trance just smiled and started rummaging around in the med kit. "So, tell us about yourself."
"What do you want to know?" Rommie noticed that her voice had a slight edge again.
"Oh, the usual. Where are you from, why are you here, what does your name mean?" Trance asked the last one with one of her incredibly kind smiles. She seemed to find what she was looking for and pulled a small cylinder out of the kit. It was black with sapphire blue stones, or something like that, on one side.
"Well, I'm from the usual place, you know, the home planet. I was actually on my way to Ayn Rand Station when I blacked out."
"You where going to Ayn Rand?" Asked Rommie with surprise.
Trance pressed a part of the cylinder and it opened in half. She proceeded to roll up the leg of Jac's pants to expose the ankle and closed the device around it. One more press and Rommie heard a strange, gelatin/morphing sound as it spread up her leg to, Rommie assumed, cover the broken parts of her leg. "Quite amazing, a biomechanical splint, highly efficient."
"Yes, I was. While the Humans and many others in the New Commonwealth may be unaware of the existence of my species, we are very much aware of you. And there are several species that know of us, especially the Nietzscheans. We have even had to beat up on your (A pause) Drago-Kazov Nietzscheans at one time. They tried to invade us from (Slight snicker) the air... they never did it again."
"I fail to see how the invading of your home could be amusing." Remarked Rommie with a quark of her eyebrow.
"The Sheighon." Trance explained, "Are exceptionally powerful when it comes to air defense and offense." Meanwhile, Trance had put another splint on Jac's less-damaged leg, this one moved upward to cover her knee, upper leg, and hip. It seemed to be able to sense which parts of the leg where damaged and which weren't.
Rommie nodded. "But I fail to see how any of this explains your going to the station that the Nietzscheans originated on."
Jac smiled and laughed softly. "Of course. The Sheighon are at the moment in the middle of some rather delicate negotiations with the Nietzscheans. I have spent some time with them many years ago, so I was sent to be a sort of... lie detector for the ambassadors already there. Although it looks like I wont be going anywhere for awhile."
This seemed to surprise Trance as well as Rommie. Why would they send a woman who obviously had some problem with Nietzscheans to help with negotiations that where apparently quite important?
"May I ask you something?" Began Rommie. At Jac's encouraging smile she continued, "Is it because of the Dragans attacking your homeworld that you have such a dislike for them?"
The smile vanished. Her eyes went cold. Her mouth twisted into a small, scornful, half-smile. "Allow me to try that one again. The Drago-Kazov attacked us, we slaughtered them, not a single Sheighon died, not a single building was even scratched. I have nothing against them!"
There was silence. Trance turned to Rommie. "Can I talk to you for a minute? Excuse us Jacinth." And she proceeded to haul the android across the room and whisper fiercely, "What do you think your doing? Where trying to gain this girl's trust!"
"Are we? What is she hiding? It must be big for her to be so sensitive about it."
"Of course she's sensitive about it! For all we know, the Nietzscheans could have slaughtered her family! Maybe, she just doesn't want to talk about it!"
A soft chuckle was heard from the bed. "Don't be hard on her Trance Gemini. She means well. After all, it's her job to protect the lives of this crew. I am not displeased with her."
The other two stared. "Good hearing too. Wait a minute how did she know Trance's name? We didn't tell her."
"We are not blind or deaf on Euokeshng (You-kesh-ing). We know of the Andromeda Ascendant, and it's mission to restore the Commonwealth. I must say that we where overjoyed to see how well you are doing, 50 worlds already, and only four years, quite impressive." She was smiling warmly at both now. They both gaped at Jac, and then broke into grins themselves. Soon all where laughing merrily. Why? They didn't know, but for some reason this young woman's startling revelation filled Trance and Rommie with one of those profound senses of success.
"They have heard about us even where she comes from!"
After several moments they quieted down. It seemed to Rommie that Jac looked happier, more at ease. "Tell us more about yourself. How old are you?" She questioned.
"Almost twenty standard years."
"So young!" Rommie exclaimed.
"How old did you think I was?"
"At least four years older than that!"
"That's an easy mistake to make. Sheighon mature very quickly. Oh, by the way..." She turned to Trance. "You asked about my name. Well, Jacinth is from 'hyacinth', it's easy to pronounce, just replace the pronouncing of 'HYA' in 'hyacinth' with 'J'. Anemone, means 'wind flower', roughly, it's pronounced Anne-em-on-ey. Does that make sense?"
"Jacinth Wind Flower. A beautiful name. I'd forgotten how big you people are on names."
Jac grinned, "Only some of us. I've always considered a name to be a symbol of someone encompassing all, personality, family, background, etcetera. I suppose yes, I am 'big' on names."
They had moved to the middle of the room and where standing together. They turned around as the doors opened and another woman came in. She was looked older than the others, maybe in here mid thirty's. Her hair was short blonde, and her eyes an abnormal shade of pale green-gray. She was tall to, maybe just a couple inches shorter than Jac, and she was clad in black pants, black jacket which was open to show a tan t-shirt underneath, and finished off with black, heavy-duty boots. This was the Andromeda's active second-in-command and the commander of the Eureka Maru, Rebecca 'Beka' Valentine. She marched into the room with her usual commander-of-all-I-see- even-if-its-technically-Dylan's swagger.
"Beka, are you alright?" Asked Trance.
"Depends, I just burnt myself trying to fix the Maru's comm. unit. Damn thing short-circuited on me." She held out her left hand to show the minor burn almost covering it.
"I'll get to work on it. Excuse me Jac." Noticing Beka's glance she quickly introduced them while getting to work preparing some nanobots for Beka, "Jac, this is our acting first officer Beka Valentine. Beka, this is the new arrival Jacinth."
Jac smiled and held out her hand. "I'm pleased to meet you Commander. Please, call me Jac."
Beka smiled slightly and shook the offered hand with her undamaged one. "Call me Beka."
They stood for several minutes in silence as Trance injected Beka with healing nanobots. Jac broke the now awkward quiet, "Is the Maru your ship?"
"Yes, my father built it and I inherited it when he died. I've had it ever since."
"I see, so then it was the vessel used to pull the Andromeda out of the black hole?"
"Yes" Jac seemed to find this considerably amusing and spent the next several minutes quizzing Beka on just how they did it.
"How could a freighter pull a 96,408,876-bloody-kilogram ship out of a black hole!"
"Uh, it's a long story, but basically, someone had tried before and only managed to move it enough to make it start slowly drifting out. Then, when we got there we used bucky cables to pull it free."
"Uh, huh, right. And what Evel Knievel thought up this idea?"
"That would be my... our chief engineer."
"Can't wait to meet him."
"Come to think of it, he could explain all of this much better."
Jac just nodded distractedly. Trance cleared her throat softly. "
Well, I think that we should all get some rest especially..." Pointed look at Beka, "... those who are injured. Beka, the Maru can wait. Jac, I'll show you to your room."
"Can I grab some stuff from Tyrone?"
"Your ship?"
"Yah" Trance and Jac returned to her ship where she tossed several things into a duffel and then continued to the guest quarters. Trance had specifically chosen the largest possible. After all the time she spent in Tyrone, it was a relief to have room to move, not to mention breath. As they walked, Jac talked about Tyrone.
"It actually has an AI. I suppose that's why I feel comfortable with Rommie. Tyrone is my only real, current friend."
As soon as they where there Trance returned to her own room. And Jac set the computer to wake her up.
I would have liked to inform you that Jac slept well, or even that her sleep was dreamless, but I cannot tell a lie. In her sleep she wandered the halls of a ship familiar to her, sometimes she was lost and couldn't find what she was looking for no matter how hard she tried, whatever it was. At other times she was running, from what she didn't know, she didn't even know what would happen if she should ever let it catch her. Finally, she awoke, with a scream. It had almost trapped her. The computer announced that it was 0800 hours, time to get up.

Chapter 4

Trance walked down the halls toward the guest quarters. Though she had trouble admitting it, the real reason that she had been so upset by the appearance of Jac is that she hadn’t seen it. Usually she could see the future stretching out like a rope, many ropes really, many possibilities. But in none of these had she seen Jac. Could the rumors be true? Or was it Jac herself? Sometimes, when people came over from other realities, Trance couldn’t see them, was that what happened with Jac? Did she actually belong in another reality?
“No, she belongs here. And that’s the strangest thing, from the moment I saw her it was like she belonged here, on this ship. It’s as if she was somehow bound to the Andromeda. I’ve hear of Sheighon that, because of an ancestor’s involvement in a certain place, where mentally bound to it. These ones would almost invariably be subconsciously drawn back to it. I suppose it is possible that a distant relative was here before, perhaps even before the fall of the Commonwealth.”
She reached the quarters that had been assigned to Jac and pushed the button that would signal her presence. The door opened and as Trance stepped in, she saw a blond head pop out of the bathroom and break into a grin.
“Hey! It’s the Trancer! Come in! I’ll be out in a second, I just have to do my hair.”
Trance smiled at the nickname. “You seem quite jovial this morning Jac.”
“Eh,” She called from the bathroom, “I haven’t had this much room for quite awhile, besides,” And she stepped out, her hair still damp but tied into a long braid that fell to her hips, “I’m feeling much better.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Those splints your people use are really a wonder.”
“Oh well, we’ve had a lot of time to work on ‘em. So!” She exclaimed clapping her hands together, “Shall we go in search of sustenance?”
“Actually, I came over to see if you would like to join be for breakfast. Then I could show you around the ship.”
Jac smiled gleefully, “Ah, you are a fairy.”
As they walked to the Officer’s Mess Trance began to study her more closely. “I like her better this way. I don’t think I’ve met a more cheery person before, except for Harper of course, but he’s the exception to every rule. If I could only figure out her race!”
Jac was now wearing a dark purple turtleneck made of a lightweight fabric, and black pants, which where made out of a cotton fabric that Harper referred to as ‘denim’. While she dispensed with the gloves she had kept the boots she had been wearing the previous night.
Jac looked over smiling. “Hmm, so, are we going to go see this Chief Engineer that Beka mentioned?”
“Yes, he spends a lot of time in the machine shop, he should be there by the time we finish eating.”
They arrived, and Jac, being not the pickiest eater, got a bowl of fruit, while Trance chose a vegetable omelet. Jac had polished off her rather large portion of melons, citrus, and berries, and begun to eye Trance’s omelet before another entered the room.
This one was another human male. He was younger than Dylan, probably in his mid to late twenties, with dirty blond, very spiky hair and gray eyes, which seemed to always be sparkling and cheerful. He was actually relatively short, only an inch taller than Trance. His clothing consisted of a blue T-Shirt with a pattern of eye-popping black... something’s and loose black pants.
Trance leaned over to Jac and whispered, “That, is Harper. Strange that he would show up here when he could be tinkering on something, he must have heard about you. As fair warning he’s very, sociable.” In a louder voice, “Seamus, over here!”
The young man turned and made his way to their table, “Trance, what’s u...” The last word died out as he saw Jac. His eyes bugged out, his jaw dropped open, and he stood there. Finally he managed to squeak out in his slightly high, nasal voice “Hi”.
Jac gave him one of her biggest, warmest grins. “Hi. You must be the Engineer I’ve heard so much about.”
“And you must be the new gal I’ve heard not nearly enough about.”
Trance glared at him, he didn’t notice. “Seamus Zelazney Harper madam, super genius, prodigy, and chick-magnet extraordinaire.”
“Cool!” Exclaimed Jac, “You know old-Earth slang?”
Harper’s smile threatened to give him a split lip. “I think he’s in love.”
“Why, yes I grew up there.”
“You grew up on old-Earth. Just how old are you?”
Now his lip was splitting. She had a wit that was for sure.
“Ha ha, very funny. I didn’t catch your name.”
“Jacinth, call me Jac.”
He slipped into the chair next to her. “Ookaay, now that we have the trivial matters out of the way, let’s get down to the important questions. Where have you been all my life?” He said with a staring fervently into her eyes.
She smirked, her eyes glittering, and rested her chin on her palm. “Mm, Euokeshng?”
Harper was flabbergasted, usually this was the part where most women either hit him or pointed a gun at him. Not only was Jac doing neither, she was joking right along with him! “I’m in love.” He thought.
“Tell me about Euokeshng (He made it sound something like U-kish-in or maybe ‘your kitchen’). Is it as beautiful as you?”
“Hey! That was pretty good! Yah, it’s pretty, uh, pretty. It’s a little like Earth actually. It’s actually a lot like Earth. Something like ‘our solar system is an exact duplicate of your solar system’ or some oddness like that. Other than that, same atmosphere, the climate is a little different of course. I don’t think we have a single desert, or rain forest for that matter.”
“Sounds like a nice place to grow up.” Harper’s voice seemed slightly wistful.
“I didn’t, grow up there I mean. I lived there for ten years until my mother died, then I went to live with one of my... uh... guardians. When I was thirteen I went to live on Vegasphere, which is basically a Dysen sphere built on the star corresponding with Earth’s Vega in the constellation Lyre.”
“A Dysen sphere? You mean, an actual structure built around a star?” Harper, in all of his engineer’s love of all things mechanically cool, had started to shout.
“Well, yah. Mind you, we didn’t build it. They think it was constructed a long time ago by one of our heroes, Psyche Blade. They say she was the one who constructed our...”
Harper had attacked himself to her every word like a starfish, “Your...?”
“Well,” She smiled softly now, looking down at her empty bowl, playing with her fork, “They say that Psyche Blade worked with the power of God. That she could, in dying use the power released from her own body to create anything she wanted. They say...” She choked up a bit. “They say that she used her last dying breath to create a home for us, an entire solar system that we could live in forever.”
There was silence. Trance took a shaky breath and wiped away a sole tear from her cheek. “That’s... touching.”
Harper stared agape. The same word repeated in his head. “Enough power to create a solar system. Enough power to create a Dysen sphere. Enough power to create a solar system. Enough power...”
Jac laughed, immediately sweeping away the silence that had engulfed them. “Trance offered me a tour of the ship. Care to come along?”
All three set out, first they went to hydroponics. There, Jac gave them a history of all 50 orchids that had belonged to her mother, some of which where on her ship this very moment.
“I have this one that smells like chocolate!”
And the way she told it, it was actually interesting, Trance enjoyed the tales of how her mother, Vanessa, had studied them, and even made extracts of some of the scents to make perfumes.
“Yah, I actually have a perfume that smells quite a bit like chocolate.”
Harper liked hearing about the machinery that Vanessa had invented to take care of them.
“Who knew that you could use nanobots to create a greenhouse effect?”
Later on, they visited the machine shop where Harper ran about like a ten- year-old showing her all of the stuff he was working on. She even fixed a couple of things that he had been having trouble with.
“I have to be able to repair my ship if it’s broken in the middle of nowhere.”
“How do you fly that thing anyway?”
Her neck stretched out so that her face is inches away from his, “It’s a secret.”
“Aw come on. I won’t tell anyone.” They began to move over to the gym.
“I couldn’t tell you. I’m not quite sure of how it works anyway.”
“Oh right, a pilot who doesn’t know how to fly their ship. Is that what happened? You didn’t know what to do so you rammed accidentally rammed into a passing freighter?”
“No! I know how to fly it! I’m just not so sure about propulsion!”
They where all laughing by the time they got to the gym, but Jac’s smile faded as she saw who was there, Telemachus Rhade. He was busy doing pull- ups on a metal bar, his back to them. She stood there, watching him. She didn’t seem afraid anymore, more like she was curious. After what seemed like hours, but was only a couple of minutes, she turned to Trance.
“Let’s go.”
Telemachus turned only soon enough to see a long braid wipe by the corner. Trance followed. Harper watched the fleeing girl.
“What was that about?”
Rhade turned to the human. “You haven’t been told?”
He shook his head, so Rhade continued, tentatively. “I was there when she first came on board. I was the one that carried her out of her ship.”
“Lucky uber.” Muttered Harper. Rhade scowled at him.
“You probably would have dropped her before you could carry her a meter. Anyway, she woke up while we where in the docking bay and she... jumped... across the room.”
“What do you mean? Her legs are broken, she couldn’t walk if Trance hadn’t put the splint on.”
Rhade just grunted. He knew what he had seen. He had a hard time believing it himself, but he believed in his sight more. They both looked up as Holo- Rommie appeared with a message.
“The Captain wants you on the bridge for a meeting.”
This message was also transmitted to Trance who was walking with Jac. The young woman didn’t seem to want to be left alone, so Trance asked her if she wanted to come along, already being sure that it wasn’t anything classified, and Jac readily agreed. However, she did request that they stop off at her quarters for a few seconds so she could ‘pick up something’. Afterward, they moved on to the bridge, where Beka, Rommie, Dylan, and now Harper and Rhade had already assembled. All greeted Jac, with the noteworthy exception of Rhade. Seeing that all where present, Dylan began.
“For once, I have good news. We will be picking up an old shipmate, and you’ll never guess, with the exception of Trance, who it is.”
But Harper did, “Rev!”
Dylan smiled at his engineer, “Good guess Harper. We will be transporting him to Krishnamurti. Now, while he could take a transport, since we are in the neighborhood, I took the liberty to offer our services. Any objections.” Judging from the cheering, I think it would be safe to say that there where no objections.
Jac began to follow Trance out but stopped beside Telemachus. He turned at looked down at her in an Oh-Divine-not-again look. So he was quite surprised when she hesitatingly spoke.
“I... uh... well I. I’m not an apologizing type person. I rarely, if ever admit that I’m wrong, one of the many shortcomings I’ve had to contend with. But I feel I owe you one... an apology. I want you to have this, to say I’m sorry.”
She held out her hand in a fist. Almost instinctively, Telemachus moved his hand over hers, and she released something into his palm. He looked at his palm. In it lay a stone, a little over an eight of an inch thick and about 1 ½ in circumference, rounded on the edges and one side, but flat on the other. It was a deep, dark red, but as he moved it about on his palm Rhade noticed that as he did so that deep inside it seemed to shine with fire.
“It’s beautiful. I assume it’s from your planet?”
“Yes, they’re very rare, and they seem to take thousands of years to form. We call them Heartstones.”
He looked up at her, “Why do they call it that?”
“There is an ancient legend about them. The people of a certain race, they always have a place here, right over their hearts that is always warm, their Fire. When these where first found, hundreds of years ago, people believed that these where what gave them that fire, their hearts, Heartstones.” She smiled sheepishly at him, “We have quite a few stories.”
Rhade looked at her, studying her. He could sense how much these stories meant to her, to all of her people. Somehow, he couldn’t fault them for it. “Thank you, I think I know how much this means to you.”
“Then know that I am sorry for the way I acted. I’ve been trying ever since to think of a way to apologize. As God said, ‘There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving’. In other words, it’s better to give a gift, than to be given a bruised shoulder.”
They smiled at each other, Rhade almost laughed. “Yes, you did kick me when you performed that little feat last night.”
She did laugh then, “Oops, sorry. Excuse me.” And with a parting glance, she went to the hall where Trance was watching.
“That went well.”
Jac looked behind her to see Rhade watching her leave. “Thank you.” She whispered.

Several hours later they had picked up the Reverend Behemial Far-Traveler. Nicknamed Rev Bem, or Rev by the ever-clever Harper. He was quite unique, being the-creature-formerly-known-as-a-Magog. Formerly because he had recently been altered by an unknown entity into being a... well... a something. Now, instead of horns, fangs, and thick leathery skin, he had tan skin, pointed ears, and an unusual snout-like nose. The remarkable thing about him was... that is, the other remarkable thing about him was that he had let being a Magog had never gotten in the way of his chosen career, a Wayist monk. He was probably the kindest, most trustworthy person who they had ever had, right alongside with Trance.
It would take a long time to describe the joy and conversations between Rev and his friends, for now, let us focus on after this. Rev, after hearing about her from everyone else, sought out Jac on the Observation Deck. After all, his work as a monk included all, especially new ones. She was sitting on a bench staring out of a large window at the stars. He softly cleared his throat, a habit he had picked up after years among humans as a Magog, not wanting to surprise her. She turned and motioned for him to sit down.
“I thought you would come. I am Jacinth of Anemone.”
“Yes, the crew has been speaking much about you.” He said, sitting next to her.
“Not all bad I hope.”
“Not at all Miss Anemone. They have little but good to say about you, except that you are mysterious, unusual, and, how did Harper put it? ‘A complete babe’, I believe was the term.”
She smiled at the mistake about her name, “Actually, Anemone is... my middle name.” She seemed to say this last part in a hurry, as if she was trying to correct herself.
She then seemed to try to cover this up with, “Excuse me, it’s just, you used to be Magog, and since we have had dealings with them, I thought you would know... how we introduce ourselves.”
“Ah, so my former people committed atrocities against yours as well.” Rev exclaimed with disgust.
Jac reached her hand out, as if to reassure him, “Oh no! We only met them once, and I suppose since we destroyed what we found of them, it’s no wonder you didn’t know.”
“You destroyed them?”
She hesitated, pondering, and cocked her head slightly to one side. “We found them to be... barbaric... ruthless... unworthy.” She blushed slightly and hastily apologized.
Rev shook his head, “No need, I know very well the things that they did. But I am curious, what do you mean by unworthy?”
She looked down, seemed to consider this then looked into his eyes, “What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”
Rev frowned, “That is not an answer, that is another question.”
“Indeed. But did you not come to talk to me about the Way? The average Magog does not deserve to even be given a chance to hear. They are too far gone along the road to death even as they first glimpse the light of day, as they eat their way out of the body of the ones who give up their lives so that they can be born.”
“Perhaps, but did I not exceed this instinct which is part of all Magog? If I can at least partially suppress these violent tendencies, even to the point of becoming a man of the Divine, who is to say that other’s could not as well?”
She listened intently, and then began to speak, slowly at first, then gradually picking up speed. “Yes, who’s to say? Except for one who knows the daily battles that one has to go through when one has ‘violent tendencies’. I shall tell you a secret Reverend, my people, nay my entire species is prone to ‘violent tendencies’. And the most despicable thing is, is that we are supposed to be advanced, above all others, intelligent, wise, merciful. Sometimes, I don’t even know why I do some things. It’s like there’s another person inside of me, that only comes out when I am angry.”
Rev considered her for several moments, “It seems to me that your problems are more personal, than your entire species’.”
“It’s not just me! There is an entire race that we don’t even talk about their so bloodthirsty! And if I had the power to destroy them, by God I would with all my heart!”
“You speak of the Divine, but do you really know what it is you swear by?”
She suddenly laughed with surprise. He had managed to change the subject on her.
“Who is this Divine? I have my own Gods. And I know who they are. Oh yes, after all, I spent the past seven years among their Priests. The Mages we call them. They are the only ones of us that are completely free from bloodguilt. They have no temper, no anger, except when it is righteous. They have power, and it is only because of them that I am as peaceful as I am now. They are like you.”
They sat in a relatively comfortable silence. They understood each other in a way. They both put God above all else, although in different ways. They where alike, one, had strived all his life and had finally won out, the other, was still fighting her inner demons, and was still waiting for her reward. They talked for many more hours, about religion, about Jac’s home, about Rev’s life, and she left feeling at peace in a way that she never had since leaving Vegasphere, home of The Mages.

Chapter 5

>So, Mon Capitan wants Trance to brief the crew on us. She’ll have to tell them everything. Not about me though. She doesn’t know, and I hope she never will. As soon as my legs are healed, I’ll go to Ayn Rand.
Why did they have to send me? I can barely stand being in the same room with friendly Nietzscheans, much less Drago-Kazov. Bloody Dragans. Bloody, bloody, monsters. I wish they would all die and rid the universe of their stupidity, Sabra too, and Jaguar, especially Jaguar.
Hey, if the Drago-Kazov Pride is nicknamed Dragans, then what are the Sabra-Jaguars? The Saguars, Jagbras, or, my personal favorite, Sabrags. “Help! I’m being attacked by a ruthless Sabrag!”
Uh, oh. Better stop snickering; Ty is giving me the “I’m about to ask you what’s so funny and I won’t give up until you tell me” look. Good old Ty, my best friend. I should introduce him and Rommie; I believe it would be highly amusing.
I know what they’re all thinking, “What does she think of us? What does she want?”
Trancer is wondering if I really came here by accident. Answer, I have no idea. She is sweet, I’ve never met a Sun Avatar before, but they seem to be nice. She is a good person, no worries from her. Except, of course, that she seems to be slightly obsessed with finding out my race. I can’t blame her. I might be her new best friend, or the deadliest of enemies. She will never know. None of them will.
Harpy wants to know if I think he’s cute. Well, he is, kind of. He’s so sweet, always so kind. But, sometimes when he smiles, or laughs, it’s almost painful, because deep beneath his cheerfulness, he’s sad. I can’t imagine the horrors he went through growing up on Earth. If he ever stops saying he’s a genius and figures out just how smart he really is, he could be powerful. Not dangerous though, it’s not in his nature to be evil.
Rommie, your always so watchful. You don’t know if you can trust me, but don’t worry, I trust Avatars far more than organics. AI’s are programmed to be loyal and good, and people are not. No, you have nothing to fear from me, and I think, that you will begin to trust me once you get to know me, if you ever have the chance.
Captain Hunt, Dylan, with the weight of the universe on your shoulders. If ever a man needed a break, you would be that one. He wants to know what is going on between us and the Nietzscheans at Ayn Rand. Who knows, maybe one day we will tell him, once we’ve figured it out though. What? Oh, sorry, once I figure it out. After all, you know everything. I don’t think I have anything to worry about from him. He has been unusually kind to me.
Jac is standing in Dylan’s office.
“How are your legs?”
“Much better, Dylan.”
“And after only a week!”
“We heal quickly. Trance says I should take it easy, and start my regular exercises slowly, but other than that you are now free to ship me off.”
“You don’t have to leave. We could transport you to Ayn Rand, then we would get the chance to meet more of your people.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea. The Nietzscheans might feel threatened by me arriving on a High Guard warship.”
“Of course.”
“However, I will contact my superiors and ask them.”
And then there’s Rev. It’s amazing how calming he can be. Perhaps it is because of The Mages, I am so used to the spiritual things being part of my daily life. Being with him is like being back there. When I am with him, I am calm again. I’m not so afraid. Nothing to fear there.
There is one that I am worried about. Beka Valentine. She wants to do what is right, for herself. Her personality strikes me as being wholly selfish. Even her relationship with this Tyr Anasazi that Harper told me about, that was not just selfish, it was criminal. She risked the lives of her friends and shipmates for her own desires. Even I wouldn’t do that. However, I will endeavor to be gracious with her. Almost everyone deserves a second chance. Yes like me! What the bloody hell do you think I’ve been doing all these years? Playing croquet? Right, of course, calm, breath in, breath out.
Telemachus Rhade, you are Majoram pride, and a Nietzschean of Tarazed. I do not fear you. I think, maybe, we could be friends, in time. I don’t think you would want to hurt me. What are you talking about? Of course I remember. But he isn’t him right? Right? I don’t think he would hurt me. I know, I know, “I don’t have enough empathy to read a small rodent”. You sure know how to make me feel better. Truthfully, I just have a feeling about him. If he were bad, why would Trance, Dylan, and Rommie all trust him? I’m not talking about Beka! I’m talking about Telemachus Rhade! Who the hell is Gaheris? I think I have no idea who you’re talking about. Oh. That was him then. But... Windy! All right! I’ll be more careful! Are you happy?
The download to the Andromeda’s computer is finished, so I have to go now. <
Jacinth slipped out of Tyrone and ran smack-dab into a tall figure. She stepped back and looked up, Rhade. “Oh joy”.
She explained hastily. “I was just downloading some data to the Andromeda for Trance. It’s a lot easier to inform people about a species when you know about them yourself.”
“I see.” There was an awkward silence. “I was just wonder if you would like to have dinner some time.” He smiled slightly.
She gazed at him. It was amazing how different he looked when he smiled. One moment he was a typical, arrogant Nietzschean, the next his whole face seemed to become warm and friendly. “No! No! No!” screamed her mind, “Don’t let this be happening to me!”
Out loud, she just managed to stammer that she had to exercise her legs later on and a quick apology before speeding off to Obs. Deck. “Dear Valar, if you truly love me protect me from myself. Don’t let me hurt him. I don’t want to.”
“Remember.”
Jac spun around. No one was there.
“Goldilocks.”
She nearly screamed as the voice began to overrun her mind.
“Betrayed.”
She covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. Her voice was a hoarse whisper. “I remember. I never forget.”
“Excuse me?”
She looked up to see Trance standing with a Bonsai in her hands. Jac blushed.
“Now she’s going to think I’m crazy. It’s bad enough that I do, but other people?”
“Uh... just a bi’ of a headache.”
Trance stared at her. “Are you talking with an accent?”
Jac blushed again. “Oh, very smooth. You might as well announce to the ship ‘I AM A FREAK’!”
“I spent a lot of time with... with... The Mages... and they tend to have accents that sound like the ones from Britain... on Earth... really.”
Trance nodded, mystified. “Did you download that information?”
Jac rapidly swept back into her usual self. “Yah, just a minute ago. And Trance” She stepped closer and looked the shorter woman in the eyes, “I want you to tell them everything.”
Trance nodded, “I understand.”

That afternoon, Dylan had assembled the senior staff on the bridge. Trance started by showing a diagram of a Sheighon on the main viewscreen.
“For the minimum confusion, I will begin with a brief history of the Sheighon, then move on to their physical traits, and then to each individual race.”
The picture changed to one of a large, metal sphere. “Revelsphere, first of two such structures controlled by the Sheighon and their. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, semi-omnipotent beings known as the Valar created the Sheighon, a race of powerful energy-based creatures, and set them in the literal world built inside of this Dysen sphere.”
“What do you mean energy-based? Jac doesn’t look energy-based to me.” Interrupted Harper.
“There will be time for questions later. Now, these creatures where divided into sub-species, or races, approximately nine... or was it twelve? Okay, so it was twelve, but the exact number is unimportant. They are distinguished by their color, which we will go into later. In 1915 B.C., that is, Before Christ”
Harper and Rev seemed to be the only two who got this one.
“The Sheighon took orphaned babies from the planet Earth and raised them in a separate section of the sphere. Then, in 1900 B.C., two young men by the names of Philip and Jason went exploring and came upon two equally adventurous Sheighon named Sentry and Revel. The Sheighon bonded with the Humans, thus creating a symbiotic relationship with each other. Philip became Philip Sentry, and Jason became Jason Revel. The first Sheighon as we know them today. Five years later, the Sheighon decided that it was time for all of the children, now all young adults, to be bonded. This was what they had planned for them all along. No one really knows why they needed to do this, they just did.”
The picture now switched back to the diagram.
“Their history goes on for quite awhile, right down to where they are now. For now, let’s discuss the species itself. When the Sheighon bonded with the Humans they altered them genetically. Now, the average female Sheighon is approximately as strong as the average male human. A male Sheighon would be stronger. Almost everything about them has been heightened. Not only that but... well... they’re telepathic.”
There was a collective gasp throughout the room.
Rhade frowned, “Perhaps they should be called Homo Sapiens Invictus. They seem to be quite the unconquerable race.”
Trance shook her head. “Not at all Lieutenant. Despite all of their superiority, they have one thing that will always give Humans an advantage; in becoming Sheighon they lost humanity, thus losing the spirit that Humans have to learn about others, to learn from their mistakes. I’m not saying that they can’t, it’s just that they usually don’t.
“Gee, who does this sound like.” Muttered Harper.
“Shut up” Rhade hissed back.
“While Humans have the capacity to learn and change over experience, the Sheighon almost always have great difficulty in admitting their shortcomings. Also, they are not all physically greater to humans. Which brings us to the races. Each race is different. Each has different strengths, weaknesses, and motives. Some are kind and considerate, while others are selfish and rude. Even though each person has an individual personality, the basic attitudes are set from birth, by their DNA. It would take quite awhile to go over each race individually, so I will give you a brief overview of them, and highlight the most important.”
The screen now showed a diagram of names and colors. Each name was connected to a different color.
“As you can see by this diagram, each race is represented by a different gem or precious metal. The first is the Dolbrun (Do-l-bruhn). They are the Leaders of all the others. They are also the descendants of Jason Revel and are represented by the metal known as Platinum.”
Beka’s jaw hit the floor.
“Next are the offspring of Philip Sentry, they are the Naidrash (Nah-ee-drash), and are the Guardians. Basically, their specialty is defense. And Rubies represent them.”
“Then there are the Nistrem (Nees-trem) who are the Diplomats. They are the physically weakest, but also the most attractive of the races. Their gem is Sapphire.
“Then we go too the Rekrow (Rhek-row), these people are the most skilled in agriculture, crafts, metalwork, in short, they are the Workers. They are very peaceful and are symbolized by Topaz.”
“Now, these four are all part of The Sheighon Empire. There is also Tho Teshjevoh (Tho Tesh-jeh-vo), and the Independents. In Tho Teshjevoh are the Warriors, known for their strength, which is even higher than the Naidrash, and they are the Soldiers. While technically they are aligned with the Empire, they originated as Tho Teshjevoh, and will always remain so. Their gem is Agate.”
“Then there are those that aren’t quite as accepted. All in Tho Teshjevoh are basically the races that are considered, unfriendly. This is not completely true; it is simply that they are a little more... relaxed... in their standards. Case in point is the Thieves, they are the stealthiest, but as their name suggests, they seem to take delight in ‘borrowing’ things from unwary Imperials. Besides that, they are friendly, and little if any real threat. They have Amethyst.”
“To go through the others more quickly, there are the Olympians, of which little is known including what they are represented by. The Independents consists of House Blade, the descendants of Psyche Blade, they are represented by gold and Light. The Phoenix, which is an amazingly powerful race represented by Fire, and finally The Mages who are the Scientists and Priests of the Valar, and they are represented by pure White.”
“Um, excuse me” Called Harper, “But didn’t you say there where twelve races?”
“Why Harper! You where paying attention! Yes, there is one that is independent that is never spoken of. Then there are the Vampyres.”
“Vampires!” Screamed all Humans in the room.
“No, Vampyres, with a ‘Y’. It is thought that they are what the Humans based their old folktales off of. They are what must be focused the most attention on. Despite popular opinion they do not, in fact, drink blood. Instead, they have the ability to suck nutrients out of a person through glands in their canines, which do extend and sharpen. If you ever see a Vampyre, run. They are the most powerful of all races. They are stronger, faster, agile, and have better senses then most living creatures. On the plus side, they are not very strong telepathically. All this coupled with a rather aggressive disposition makes them highly dangerous. The Vampyres are represented by Onyx.”
“So,” asked Dylan after a long silence, “which is Jac?”
“I have no idea. There are some ways to find out, but unless she tells us I can’t be certain.”
Harper piped up. “Did I mention I saw Jac exercising? She was wearing this cut off tank top. It was really weird. It was like, she is really slim, but she almost has better muscles than Rhade’s”
Trance looked at him in shock, “Well, I have some good new and some bad news. The good new is, is that I have narrowed her race down to three possibilities. The bad new, is that there is a two-in-three chance she is Tho Teshjevoh.”
“Which three are they?” Asked Dylan.
“The Naidrash, the Thieves, and” Trance choked slightly, “the Vampyres.”
Harper looked like he was going to cry, “I knew she was too good to be true.”
Dylan frowned “Wait. What are the chances she is a... Vampyre?”
“About the same that she is any of the others. Of course, there is always the possibility she is Abomination but that is so rare...”
“What,” growled Rhade not so patiently, “is Abomination?”
“When two people of different races have children, the children will always be either one or the other, there are no half-Naidrash half-Warriors. But, every once in awhile, a child will be born that has some DNA from the other race, they are called Abomination. This is because when they have mixed blood they can be... well... wild. They basically have two completely different personalities from two completely different races. But the probability that Jac is one is something like one in several trillion.”
“What sort of government do these guys have?” Asked Beka.
“While each individual race has it’s own monarchy, the Sheighon Empire is of course ruled by an Imperial family. The Vampyres are considered to be the main rulers of Tho Teshjevoh, and the Independents answer to no one. I think that covers just about everything. If you have any other questions, we do have them in the Andromeda’s database now.”
Harper stood up and left. As soon as the door opened he saw Jac standing outside in the hallway, leaning up against the wall, her arms crossed. Her eyes where closed and her chin rested on her chest. He stopped and looked at her.
“Jac I...”
“I know.” She snapped.
“How?”
“I felt power go out of me.” She said sarcastically as she began to walk away.
“Jac, I didn’t know it mattered. I just thought it meant you where strong!”
Jac spun around, caught him on the collar of his shirt, and lifted. “It does mean I’m strong! The strongest Sheighon have slim bodies but defined muscles. That does not mean I am a monster! I am not a Vampyre!”
She set him down gently and turned. The others stood staring at her. She looked at them sadly.
“I would never hurt any of you. Maybe you don’t believe me now, maybe you never will, but I am not a cruel person. Perhaps... perhaps I should go now, I have trespassed on your hospitality to long already. Goodbye.” She bowed her head to Trance and walked away.
Later in the day, they all stood on the bridge in confusion. Andromeda had announced that Jac had entered her ship and was apparently conversing with her superiors on Euokeshng.
Harper was still trying to sort things out. “So, she’s telepathic?”
“Not very.” Trance remarked. “While she does have some empathic abilities and a remarkably strong shield, her capacity is limited. Strange, she did mean it when she said she didn’t want to hurt us, and that she is not a cruel person. But if she will, I don’t know.”
Rommie stepped forward. “One question. Do the... organic part of the Sheighon and their symbiots have independent personalities?”
She looked at the other woman curiously, “No, they have little if any independent thought from each other.”
Beka grinned, “Either way we won’t be worrying about her anymore. I’d bet her boss is chewing her out right now for taking so long. She’ll be gone any moment now.”
“Or not.”
They all turned. Jac stood in the doorway. She had changed her clothes. Instead of her usual garments, which seemed to cover as much as possible, now she had nothing to hide. She wore what at one time was probably a jacket made out of dark blue denim. Now, it was cut off halfway down her ribs, and the sleeves had also been removed. Her denim pants of the same color where cut low at the waist. She wore a black leather belt with large dark blue gems.
All mouths dropped open, even Harper’s who had seen her already. Her body was indeed very slim, but her biceps where hard and, even when relaxed, looked like they where in a constant state of being flexed. Her stomach revealed faint lines forming three rows of two rounded squares. A six-pack, this girl was more muscular than the average Nietzschean.
Another revelation was the... body art. Covering her stomach was a tattoo of a six-winged angel, it’s wings spread out, and it’s arms and face raised up. Circling her left bicep there was a small grape-leaf pattern.
She spoke, her voice cold. “I just got off with my King and the Emperor. My mission to Ayn Rand has been canceled. I am to remain here as the official ambassador of the Sheighon to the New Commonwealth, unless Captain Hunt has any objections.”
Dylan couldn’t speak; this person who had stepped had rendered him dumb onto his bridge. It was as if a completely different person had inhabited the body, if it was her body, of sweet, kind Jac and had become cold, unfeeling... someone.
“No. No objections.” He managed to gasp out. No matter how unusual the ambassador, his mission was to come into contact with, and become friends with anyone he could, despite how he might feel.
And so Jac stayed. But it wasn’t until later that anyone remembered that in those few minutes, her eyes where black as space, except for an intricate spider-web of purple through the black.

Chapter 6

Jac looked around her new room. Everything was in perfect order, unlike her whole life, unlike her mind. Just when she thought she was going to do something constructive with her miserable existence she gets stuck on guard-duty.
“Even being on his ship wasn’t this... Oh God, I won’t think of him. Not now. What is it about this place that reminds me of him? Of course, Beka did say that he was here once. I swear I was so surprised to hear his name after so long I nearly passed out. I almost forgot about him, of course someone would have to mention him.”
“Remember”
“Shut up. It’s been two days since I was ordered to stay on the Andromeda. I’ve been here for nine days, why do I feel so uncomfortable? Maybe I’ll go talk to the Harpy. Yah, that’s what I’ll do.”
She turned to look once last time before leaving. She had re-furnished one of the guest quarters. It was divided into three rooms. The main room was half of the complete size of the quarters, and it was the bedroom. As one walked inside, straight-ahead in the right-hand corner was a Queen-sized, old-fashioned bed. Its headboard and footboard where decorated with squares of different-grained wood in a checkerboard pattern. The overall color was of dark Mahogany. The covers where dark purple, accented by black embroidered roses and black pillows, all this was silk. Hey, she loved the stuff! At the end was a large chest of the same wood, and it was locked with a large, metal padlock. She softly touched the key hanging around her neck.
“Maybe when the Wizard gives me my courage. Maybe then I’ll be able to look again.”
She turned to the desk, moved from Tyrone, in the left-hand corner, the large dark purple sofa on the left side, and the, quite literally, huge rosewood wardrobe and bookshelf to the right. She had moved many of her paintings from Tyrone to her new abode, and images of beaches, forests, mountains, and valleys, and one of a young woman with bright green eyes and long jet-black hair brightened the room.
The other half of her quarters was divided into a small kitchen, for those with a culinary flare, or picky dignitaries, and a bathroom. The kitchen was just like any other kitchen, so she moved on to the bathroom. Again, the general motif was dark purple accented with black. She looked over the bathtub, square and the largest she could get, a shower just for the sake of taking up room, and a vanity table.
Satisfied that everything was in perfect order, she checked herself in the mirror one last time and left. She walked along toward the machine shop, her mind racing. Now that people new about her somewhat unusual build, she made no effort to hide it. Now she wore a glittery purple tank top and her usual black jeans, her boots where her inseparable companions.
She moved into the machine shop, the natural habitat of the vicious Harpy. He was, duh, there and, again duh, working on one of his projects.
“Hi Harpy-r.” She said, just barely adding the ‘r’ at the end before accidentally calling him her rather interesting nickname for him.
Harper blinked a couple times at this mangling of his last name. “Right, whatever her babe-ness wishes will be granted but... did you just nearly call me a harpy?”
Jac grinned in embarrassment, “Uh, sorry about that. I always make up nicknames for people I know, whether I call them that or not. Its usually a play on their name, your Harpy, Trance is Trancer, Rommie is Romman, like that.”
Seamus Zelazney Harper, suuuuper genius, liked this idea, “And Dylan is Hunter, and Beka is well, easy, Valentine. Uh, have you thought of one for Rhade?”
Jac crossed her arms and leaned against a table, “Oh yah, TDG.”
At Harper’s confused look, Jac elaborated, “Tall, dark, and grumpy.”
They both burst out laughing. “He’s not nearly as bad as Tyr. He was never, ever happy if he could help it. Unless, of course, he was spreading his DNA to some Nietzschean woman.”
“Most guys are.” And they started laughing all over again.
She looked around the room and started tinkering with several spare parts. “I have an idea.” She began after a few minutes. “Why don’t we play a game?”
“A game?”
“Yah. It’s simple. You ask me a question about myself, and I have to answer it. Then I ask you one.”
Harper seemed to like this idea. “Okay, you start.”
Jac put the tool she was holding down and looked up at the ceiling, biting her lower lip. “Um, let’s see. What’s your favorite drink?”
“Easy. Sparky Cola.”
Jac laughed a little and went back to work. “Your turn.”
“A question about you. Uh, how about, what do you look for in a guy?”
“What?” She said, her voice raising several notes.
“Really, what do you look for in a guy? Come on Jac, it’s the rules.”
She stared at the tool in her hand. Finally she muttered, “I don’t”.
Harper frowned slightly and straightened himself a bit. “What did you say?”
“I don’t... look for things in men. I leave them alone and they leave me alone.”
“Okay.” Said Harper, drawing the sounds out. “I’m having a hard time believing this.”
“Too bad. It’s my turn anyway. And you asked two questions.”
“No I didn’t!”
“Yes you did. You asked me ‘what I look for in guys’ and ‘what did I say’. That’s two. So I get two now.”
Harper laughed sarcastically and rolled his eyes, but conceded.
“Question number one, do you consider yourself to be best friends with Trance?”
“Yah sure I do. When we where still on the Maru, and she was still purple, I kinda helped her out settling in. We’ve been friends ever since.”
“That’s nice. Question numero dos, if you could create anything you wanted what would it be?”
“Let me see. It would probably be something that could destroy all of the Magog, without anyone else getting hurt.”
Jac looked up at him, studying him. “My next question was going to be ‘what is your greatest fear’, but I think you already answered that.”
Harper glanced at her. “My turn. Just what tattoos do you have?”
“That’s a good one.” She said laughing, “Let me see, there is the one on my arm, which you have seen. The one on my stomach is of a Seraph, or a very powerful Angel. And then there’s the one on my hip...”
She trailed off. Harper wasn’t about to fall for that again, he only raised his eyebrows.
“Smart boy. It’s actually on my right hip and leg. On the hip is the head of a dragon, it continues on down the side of my leg, the tail wraps around it at the ankle.”
“That’s big.”
“Yah, it’s red too. Quite cool. My next question is, have you ever been infected by Magog larvae?”
He turned to her. His jaw was tense and eyes flickered slightly with anger. She actually stepped back.
“Why did I have to say that? What made me think of it?”
“I’m sorry, forget I mentioned it.”
“Yes.” He snapped. “I have. Now my question, are you a virgin?”
This time she turned on him. Her eyes, for a moment, seemed to be black, but they swiftly returned to their normal bright blue, but they still lashed out at him like two daggers going straight for his heart. Her whole posture seemed to change. Instead of relaxed yet alert, she was now straight, her shoulders pushed forward. She put a hand on a table; it almost seemed to steady herself.
Harper was afraid, probably more afraid than he had been since the last time they had encountered Magog. But he kept his voice steady, “Sorry, forget I mentioned it” He mocked.
She whirled around back to her work. Her hands clenched the bench till her knuckles where white. After a moment, Harper returned to his work, and was surprised when she spoke in a whisper.
“No.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not.”
He took this opportunity to lighten the mood. “Ah ha! Who was he?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“In that, you differ from Beka. But, come on! I won’t tell anyone! What’s his name?”
She squeezed her eyes shut, but she had her back to Harper, so he couldn’t see this. “Charles.”
“Ah, see? That wasn’t so hard. Now, how old where you?”
“Young. Too young.”
“And he was?”
“You’re not going to let up?”
“Not a chance.”
“Okay.” She sighed, and turned back to him, propping herself on the table. “It was years ago. He was supposed to be protecting me, and I had my hormones going crazy. We spent a lot of time together, things happened, I left, and I never saw him again. I don’t talk about it.”
“Until now.”
“Against my wishes, yes.”
Harper watched her for several minutes. When he spoke, his voice was unusually gentle. “I wish you would tell me what’s wrong.”
“What do you mean? Nothings wrong.”
“I look at you, and I see myself. I’ve been betrayed before, I’ve been tortured, and I’ve nearly died from Magog larvae. I know when someone is in pain. I wish you would tell me what happened.”
Jac looked up at him. Her eyes where no longer cold, but instead held something that was completely contrasting with Harper’s idea of Jac, vulnerability.
“You want my life-story? All right.” For the next hour, she told him everything.
Telemachus Rhade made his way through the Andromeda toward the gym. He had changed into gray sweats and a T-shirt. In his mind, he tried to figure out what now seemed to be one of the great mysteries of the universe, right along with the purpose of life and the location of Tarn-Vedra. What was with Jac?
First she was fearful of him, and then friendly, and then all-of-a-sudden she seemed to go the opposite direction every time she saw him. It was getting really annoying, to the point where he found himself avoiding her as well.
“With my luck, she’ll probably be exercising in the gym.”
She was.
For a moment he thought about leaving. Then he thought about kicking himself.
“Your on the same ship now. You have no meet up some time!”
Jac was now wearing her exercise clothes. These consisted of a dark purple sports-bra and low-riding, very loose, pants of a light, almost gauzy fabric. She didn’t wear any shoes. She was on a matt doing summersaults. Her movements where practiced and graceful, using up the least amount of energy and movement.
“She certainly does this a lot.”
Jac looked up as he entered. Sparing a few seconds to smile at him before moving to uneven parallel bars.
For some reason, this motion irritated Telemachus. He moved over to a punching bag and began pounding on it.
“All she did was smile. All she did was smile. That is not a declaration of war.” He tried to reason with himself. She just looked over at him with a look of amusement.
“The punching bag didn’t do anything. Don’t take... uh... forget it. Take your frustrations out on it all you like.” She laughed. She added, whispering, “Just as you don’t try to take them out on me.”
“What?” Telemachus snapped, coming to a halt and glaring up at her.
“Oh my goodness! Did I say that out loud? Sorry.” She laughed again. All this time she continued swinging from one bar to the other, but now she let go, flipping through the air to land next to him. She leaned her arm against his punching bag and looked at him.
“Step back.” He said.
She didn’t move.
He repeated himself, but she still stood there, gazing up at his face. She seemed to be saying, “Make me.”
Finally he gently pushed her back with one arm. Her expression clouded for a second, but she seemed to decide to be amused rather than irritated. Still, as he went back to the bag, she stood examining his movements.
“You shouldn’t always hit the same place. Try hitting lower.”
He turned and scowled at her.
“Like this.” In a flash her fist came forward in an underhand gesture staying level with her waist and smacked right into the punching bag. The sound was sharp, almost painful to Telemachus’ sensitive hearing. She put quite a bit of power into her blow, the bag even swung slightly.
He glanced at Jac. “I’m impressed.”
“No your not.” She said smiling and turning away.
“I’m not?”
“Uh uh. You’re pouting. You always pout when you’re displeased.”
Telemachus felt his face grow warm. “Damn, she figured it out.”
Out loud, “Why would I be displeased?”
“Because you just realized how strong I am. You think I’m a threat. I’m not.”
“Whatever.” He muttered, trying his best not to ‘pout’.
She laughed... again... at him. “Don’t worry about it. It’s actually kind of cute.”
“At least I am.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. “Are you saying I’m not cute?”
“I’m saying sometimes you can be a better Ice Queen than Rommie.”
She turned back to him, her teeth clenched. “What does it matter to you how I act?”
“How did this get started?”
“I thought we where becoming friends. What happened? Did I do something wrong?”
“No, it’s just that my sanity finally came back after a long vacation.”
“How did I get into this argument?”
“What is your problem? I never did anything to hurt you!”
“That’s right! I never did anything to deserve this!”
“You want me to tell you what my problem is?”
“Right!”
“My problem is, I’ve spent my entire life getting stuck with arrogant, self-worshiping jerks, and you just serve as a reminder of past jerks, if you aren’t one yourself.”
“So what your saying is, you don’t have a problem with me, but what I remind you of?”
“Yah!” Her face relaxed from its previous glare. She looked almost tearful. “Nietzscheans you see, they’re all alike, and until you can prove otherwise, I’m going to treat you exactly the way I would treat any other.”
He glowered at her, his mouth twitching. Finally, he just turned around and moved away with a last curse. “Damn you.”
He never saw it coming. One moment he was walking back to the punching bags, the next two fist shot into his peripheral vision and came down on his ears, hard.
He fell to his knees, his ears wringing with pain. He wanted to scream, but that would just add to her satisfaction. So instead he turned around as he stood up and brought his fist into her stomach.
She went flying and landed halfway across the room. He had an urge to run to her and make sure she was okay, but he restrained himself.
“Chivalry is one of the stupidest virtues one could exercise during a fight. She is not weak or defenseless.”
Instead, he waited as she slowly picked herself up, and straightened. While her blow had tortured him with pain, she didn’t even appear unsteady. They began to circle each other.
“Your resilient.” He remarked.
“I don’t feel pain very much. Though sometimes, the memories I get when I see you cause me enough anguish that it almost feels physical.” She goaded as she dodged several lunges by Rhade, before getting hit again, this time in the shoulder.
“I can fix that.” He replied as he caught her in the side with his foot as she fell to the ground. She responded by swinging herself in a circle with enough momentum to catch him in the legs and send him tumbling beside her. She quickly pushed him onto his back and pinned him there, sitting on him and pushing her knees down into his shoulders.
“You shouldn’t be so over-confident.”
“You shouldn’t be so light.” Her face twisted into a look of complete surprise as he easily spun himself over so that he was now lying on her, his arm against her throat with bone-spikes fully extended.
Her face began twitching with anger. “Get off!” She snapped. He rolled over and got up, offering her a hand, which she ignored.
“Next time,” He said with no small amount of pride, “Think twice before boxing my ears.”
“Yah, yah.” She muttered.
He began to walk out. Next thing he knew he was being body-slammed by 130 pounds of irate-girl. He lay on his stomach, softly cursing the Sheighon for creating people who couldn’t take a joke if their lives depended on it.
Jac picked herself up and, leaning down, looked at him with satisfaction. “Next time, don’t turn your back on me.” She grinned. “Again.” She laughed as she walked out.
“Why me?”
Later on Telemachus joined Beka, Dylan, Rommie, and, he was sorry to notice, Jac on the bridge. She was chatting with Rommie about her ships AI, but she looked up and smirked when he came in.
“I would suggest Epsom Salts, Lieutenant. They’re a natural reliever of sore muscles.”
Beka appeared to go into convulsions from her place in the pilot’s area. Telemachus scowled at both. Apparently, Jac had been talking about they’re little ‘practice session’.
“Thank you Jac. I’ll remember that next time. You didn’t tell us how good Sheighon memories are.”
She nodded. “Yes, I might not remember to remind you.”
“Actually, I was thinking of reminding you.” He parried, adding a slight pause before the last word.
She just turned back to her conversation with Rommie. He took his place at weapons. He couldn’t help but let his mind wander back to the week after she apologized, before this new mess started.
“Usually I would call her by her full name. I even call Beka ‘Rebecca’. But there was that one time I called her Jacinth...”
They are sitting together in the Officer’s Mess.
“So, Jacinth is a flower?”
“Yes.”
“And so is Anemone, which means ‘Wind Flower?”
“Yup.”
“It really is a beautiful name... Jacinth.”
“Uh huh. Right. By the way, call me Jacinth and I’ll hang you, by your pants, from the highest branch on the Vedran tree in Obs.”
“Okay, so maybe she was joking. But I’ve always had difficulty calling her that ever since then. Even now, when any chance for a friendship seems to have come to have... what would Harper say...bought the farm.”
“Lieutenant?”
The voice of his captain called him out of his revere. An alarm was going off on his control panel.
“Note to self: Never space off when your supposed to be paying attention. You will get embarrassed.”
He cleared his throat and looked at his controls. “A ship is approaching.”
“Let’s see them.” Said Dylan.
He pressed a button and looked up. He nearly gasped. On screen was a ship very much like Jac’s in design, only it was much bigger, about the same size as the Andromeda, and it was completely black.
“They are hailing us.”
Dylan looked over his shoulder at Jac, who was staring at the ship like it was going to kill her personally any second. “On screen.”
The face of a young man appeared on the main viewer. He had thick jet-black hair and bright gold eyes. He smiled, making his handsome face light up. He greeted Jac, his voice tinged heavily with an unusual accent. “Jacinth Anemone.”
Jac smiled back, all trace of dread gone. “Rhodas Maur Acacia. How are you?”
“I am well.”
“Is Char with you? Is he all right?” She asked, her expression becoming worried.
“He is... well... I’m not sure how to put this lightly.”
She was becoming quite pale. “What’s wrong?”
Rhodas leaned forward and hissed through his teeth, “He’s driving me crazy!”
They both burst out laughing. Jac turned to Dylan. “Captain, would it be okay with you if we have a few visitors?”
Dylan smiled. “Not at all, as long as they behave themselves.” He turned to Rhodas. “I am Dylan Hunt, Captain of the Andromeda Ascendant.”
“Rhodas bowed his head slightly. “A pleasure Captain. I am Rhodas of Maur out of Madora of Lachesis by Christopher of Thanatos of the family of Acacia, Holder of the Sword of Rosia and...” He broke into a broad grin, “the Humble Captain of this, the Royal Starship Sentry. I look forward to seeing you all in person.” And he cut the connection.
“An even longer introduction than Jac’s, but he still overlooked the part about his race.”
Jac began to move toward the door. “Rommie, please prepare a docking bay for the Captain’s arrival. Dylan, would you please come with me?”
“I’m going too.”
Jac looked at Rhade. They both knew why he wanted to come, and it wasn’t out of any outstanding desire to meet Jac’s friends. It was because he wanted to make sure they didn’t do anything while they where there. He had run out of trust for Sheighon.
“Whatever.”
He moved to join them as they left.

Chapter 7

Dylan, Rhade, Jac, and Rommie stepped into the docking bay. Next to Tyrone, there was now a ship of approximately the same design, except that it was completely black without the purple markings and its wings didn’t curve inward at the tips. Rommie noticed that it hovered several feet off the ground, the same way that Jac’s did.
The ramp slowly came down, but even before it was fully down a young man bounded out and jogged forward coming to a halt several yards away. This was Captain Rhodas Acacia.
In person, he was quite tall, maybe 6’2”, almost as tall as Dylan. He wore long pants and a tunic-like shirt that reached just past his hips. All was completely made of the same black, glossy fabric as Jac’s flight outfit, minus the purple design. The tunic was folded over to fasten from his right shoulder down to his waist with large deep-red clasps. Everything was trimmed with thin strips of dark-red velvet. The clothes generally hid his build, but it was obvious through the tight tunic that, despite having a wiry frame, he had muscles. Very much like Jac.
Rhodas bounded forward and wrapped Jac up in an enthusiastic embrace which, after several seconds of surprise, she returned just as warmly. He pulled back and looked at her.
“Jac! Look at you! Last time I saw you, you where a little girl, but now look at you!”
Jac recoiled in mock horror. “For the sake of Sonia and Nestor spare me the clichés!”
“Funny for you to invoke the names of Wisdom.” Rhodas smirked.
Jac rolled her eyes at him and turned to the others. “This is my old friend, Rhodas Maur Acacia.”
She proceeded to introduce him to each. He smiled and shook Dylan’s hand. Grinned and shook Rommie’s, complementing her on the beauty of the Andromeda. As he turned to Rhade he stopped and looked at Jac. For several minutes their gazes locked and held each other. Rommie could practically feel the energy leaping in between their eyes. Then he turned to Rhade and slowly held out his hand, which was accepted. This seemed to make them relax, and now Rhodas turned back to the pod he had arrived on.
“Charles! Eieou eh ewv!” He called.
All looked over to the ramp. Rommie noticed that Jac began to bite her lip nervously.
Out of the ship came a young boy. He shuffled out slowly, his head hung. He made his way to stand next to Rhodas.
Rommie studied him. He slightly resembled Jac, though only slightly. His hair, while being blond as well, was a rich shade of gold instead of pale. His eyes where not as round, but they did have the strange bright blue-green color. His facial structure was quite aesthetically pleasing, if not unusual. His cheekbones where unusually sharp and high, though this served only to make him more ‘handsome’. He was wearing what appeared to be a miniature version of Rhodas’ uniform. Except that his sleeves became quite loose after the elbow, a curious fashion.
Jac looked down at him. “Char?” It was said like a question.
The boy looked up at her. His lips trembled slightly. She knelt down and held her arms out to him, and he rushed over to her. They held each other for a while, and then Jac turned to them.
“And this is Charles Aristid. I have been in line to be his legal guardian upon turning twenty for most of his life. Seven years.”
This was surprising to Rommie. The boy was seven, and already he was approximately four and a half feet tall. On the other hand, Jac did say that Sheighon matured quickly.
Now the boy, Charles or ‘Char’, was being introduced around. He, of course, shook hands with Dylan. When he turned to Rommie, instead of shaking her hand, he instead turned it over and kissed the back.
“What a little gentleman!”
Rhodas smirked, rolled his eyes at Jac, and scooted the miniature dandy to Rhade. Char held out his hand, and softly studied the blades on the arm extended to him. The look he gave Telemachus seemed to shine with... admiration.
“He’ll be taller than his father.” Remarked Jac.
Rhodas looked over. “How tall was he?”
“Uh, I don’t remember. It’s been awhile since I last saw him.”
Rhodas face twisted into a look mixed with anger, pain, and disgust. “Thank Parthenia.”
Jac looked like she wanted to slap him. “Be nice. I think he’ll take after his mother. She was 5’6” by the time she was thirteen.”
Char rolled his eyes at Rommie. Rommie found herself smiling and rolling hers back.
“Parents, or Guardians. They always talk about you as if you weren’t there.” The boy whispered.
Rhodas playfully cuffed him on the back of his head. “Don’ talk bad about your superiors.”
“But if that’s true why do you always talk bad about me!” Char stuck his lower lip out and frowned.
Jac smiled at them affectionately.
Rommie couldn’t help but notice that both had unusual accents. They where very much like ones that would have been heard in the old-Earth country of England. She remembered Trance mentioning that Jac had once spoken with one for a brief moment. Perhaps it was a trait of her species, or race.
Jac grew serious and turned to Rhodas. “Tell me, how is my cousin?”
Rhodas frowned. “Willem? He... well... let’s just say I wouldn’t make any trips to his jurisdiction if I where you.”
“What has he said about me?”
“Oh, something about ‘if she ever sets foot on Euokeshng again I’ll personally tear her throat out’.”
Jac winced. “Ouch, he’s still sore eh?”
“Probably not. It’s just that he has to have an excuse to be angry with, and threaten someone at random intervals or he can’t be happy.”
He looked at her and the smirk on his face melted away.
“I’m sorry sweetie. I’m sorry I don’t have better news for you.”
Char looked up at his guardians. “You know, while I’m sure the Captain and his friends would love to stand here while you mope over the incurable stubbornness of Uncle, I would like to settle in.”
Rommie stepped forward. “I have arranged quarters for Charles. A assumed you would not be staying Captain Acacia.”
Rhodas smiled. “No, I will be staying on my ship for as long as Char needs to get settled in.”
The boy suddenly looked over to Tyrone. “I take that back. I want to see Tyrone.”
Jac and Rhodas looked at each other. Another flicker seemed to pass between them, and finally Jac nodded. “Okay, a quick visit. I think Ty would like some company. In fact...” she turned to Rommie, “I’ve been aching to introduce you two.”
Rommie, Jac, and Char entered Jac’s ship while Rhodas stayed to talk with Dylan. Rhade looked back and forth, but decided to stay with his Captain.
As they entered, Jac simply called out softly, “Tyrone.”
Immediately, a figure appeared. Rommie did a double take. He was sprawled out on the pilot’s chair, one leg over the back, the other over one armrest, and his fingers lightly drumming on their corresponding lower-limbs. He was staring at the front when he appeared but now looked over his shoulder.
He was quite a bit like Rhodas in appearance. He had very much the same general facial shape and build, along with the jet-black hair, but his eyes where a remarkable shade of glowing amber. Rommie noticed that even though he was obviously a hologram, he did not have the transparency of others. It also appeared that he was tangible, that is, it would be very difficult for something that could not touch anything of solid matter, to sit in a solid chair. He appeared to be wearing a, surprise, surprise, black leather coat that reached his knees. This was fell open to reveal a black turtleneck, pants and boots.
He looked the three up and down. When he spoke, his voice was low and leisurely. It seemed almost syrupy with its thick accent, even thicker than Rhodas’.
His tone was sarcastic as it drawled out as he turned his head back, “Tyrone ‘Young Warrior’ reportin’ for duty m’lady.”
Jac planted her hands on her hips and one corner of her mouth lifted into a little smile.
“I see you’ve been bored.”
Tyrone’s head whipped back, eyes wide. In one fluid motion he leapt out of the chair and strode up to her. He leaned down and his hands gripped her shoulders.
“For the sake of any Valar you bloody well please to call upon, give me something to do!”
Here he grinned slightly, but quickly went back to the desperate look of before and straightened up, releasing her shoulders.
“Every time I think I’m going to get to blow something up, I get stuck on watch-dog duty! What am I to do?”
Jac was giggling slightly.
“I’ll figure something out. For now, I’d like you to meet the Andromeda Ascendant. Also, I believe you’ve met Char before.”
His gaze flickered to Rommie, and he nodded by way of greeting. Then he ran over to Char and tossed him high in the air. Char cried out happily.
“Tyrone! Tyrone!”
He caught the boy and set him on the floor.
“Hey, Rhodas treating you alright? If not, I’d love to beat him up for you.”
“Rhody is great. Besides, I’ve already beaten him up enough for both of us.”
Ty laughed. “That’s my Charlie Aristid.”
His gaze drifted back to Rommie. “You are the Andromeda?”
“I am the Andromeda Ascendant’s human relations avatar. I assume you serve a similar purpose on this ship?”
“I am what is referred to as a hard-light hologram. I serve many purposes, including interaction with biological crewmembers, and I can lend an extra hand when needed.”
Rommie nodded. “The Sheighon appear to be quite proficient when it comes to technology.”
“We like to think so.” Answered Jac.
Rommie looked Ty up and down. “It’s a pity you don’t have an android avatar. Then you would be able to move about freely.”
Ty lifted his eyebrows up and grinned. “Ah ha! But I might be able to. Your computer is quite large, you could route my systems through your own Holo-Matrix, and I would be able to go anywhere you could, that is, anywhere your hologram could.”
“And you thought up all of this in what, two weeks?” Asked Char.
“Nine days. And hey, it’s not like I was actually doing anything.” Ty scowled at Jac who batted her eyelashes back.
Rommie considered this. “It might work. When would you be able to link up?”
“Right now, if it’s alright with you.”
Rommie agreed. Ty stepped toward her. “Just relax, we do this a little differently from you.”
He softly held his hands in front of him, she pressed hers against them and intertwined their fingers. Immediately, her face looked up, and her eyes rolled back. Tyrone kept his eyes fixed intently on her. In a few minutes, he pulled back, and Rommie returned to normal.
“Amazing.” She whispered, looking into his eyes. He bowed his head slightly.
“Transfer complete.” He smiled. “Shall we go?”
Char nearly fell over from a great yawn that he had been fighting for the past several minutes.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Maybe you should get settled and take a nap.”
“No!” Char immediately cried.
“Yes.” Retorted Ty. “Go with Jac now and mind her, y’ hear?”
Char nodded wordlessly as Jac picked him up effortlessly and set him on her hip.
“I have arranged quarters for him next to yours.” Rommie told Jac. She thanked the android and left, carrying Char with her.
Rommie turned back to Ty. They stood in silence.
“So.” Rommie began, “Tell me about Jac. Her mother died when she was very young, am I right?”
Ty nodded his head sadly. “Yes.”
After a pause, Rommie asked, “What was she like?”
“She was... strong. She was courageous, and kind. She never did anything she thought was wrong. She never compromised her morals. She always stood up for Jac when people where unkind to her.”
“Why where they unkind?”
Tyrone stared at the ground. “She was different. She never really belonged anywhere. She was unlike everyone else. The only real friends Jac ever had when she was little where her cousin, Willem, and Rhodas, and Cassandra Rhoswen, a friend of Willem’s. Then she... she did something that made Will very angry with her, and he hasn’t spoken to her since. It was hardly even her fault!”
He spoke the last part in a sob. Rommie listened sympathetically.
“He was the one she asked Rhodas about?”
“Yes. He’s her first cousin. Jac’s mother was his father’s sister. They only had each other, those four, they where all outcasts, people who where different for one reason or another. Rhodas was an orphan, Will was just odd, and Cassandra, she was very sweet, an unusual thing among our... her race.”
“You’ve known her a long time.” Rommie whispered.
“Yah. I’ve been her personal spacecraft ever since she was born. I suppose you could say we’re exactly the same age, because I was activated the same day she was born.”
“That’s nice. I for one am much older than any of the crew.”
Ty laughed. “Even Dylan?”
Rommie laughed as well. “Yes, even Dylan.”
“Tell me more about Jac’s mother. What did she look like? Was she like her?”
“She was. Not in coloring mind you, only in structure. She was a little taller than Jac is now, black hair, green eyes, quite a bit more pale than Jac, like me. She was old by your standards, but far to young by ours.”
“How old was she?”
“316.”
Rommie looked at him in shock. “Three hundred and sixteen actual years old? How is that possible?”
“Sheighon are exceptionally long lived. It is said that they even stop aging completely after reaching maturity. Not that they don’t die. Vanessa died of a rare disease. There are other sicknesses, and then of course there are the occasional wars, murders, assassinations, executions, which are incredibly rare, and other unnatural causes of death. It comes from being joined with beings that don’t not grow old, they’re barely even corporeal.”
Meanwhile, Jac carried her ward to his new quarters. She brought him inside and set him down on the bed. She sat next to him and looked down at him.
Char looked at her groggily. “What do I call you?”
“Whatever you want to Mon Cher.”
“Then, I think I will call you Mother. It suits you.”
Jac smiled at him, her eyes shining with love. “Thank you. You do me great honor, though I do not deserve it. Sleep well, Nimveno Eho.” She leaned down and tucked him in, and after kissing him softly on the forehead. Then she quietly left and went to her own quarters to change into her exercising clothes.
She quickly walked to the gym. Thanks to her stupid-rotten-luck, who else was there but Telemachus Rhade himself!
Jac scowled for an instant, but turned to a large mat in one corner. She stepped onto the mat and closed her eyes, letting her body relax. She began to move, slowly and then picking up speed. Her movements where an exercise, and Rommie could not quite figure out what the style would be used for. Both arms moved in quick, graceful motions.
“Rhade, would you quit staring at me?” Jac snapped as she continued her motions.
He didn’t seem inclined to. “I’m just watching.” He retorted.
“Well watch someplace else, I’m trying to concentrate.”
“Rhade.” Jac warned. He kept watching.
Finally she spun around and shouted, “Hey! Tongari! Are you deaf and dumb?”
Rhade straightened up. “Excuse me?”
Jac cocked her head to the side. “Tongari. A phrase from an old Earth language called Japanese. There is no exact translation in Basic, a close rendering would be ‘needle noggin’.”
“What exactly did I do to make you dislike me so much?” He asked angrily.
“You exist.”
“I don’t understand. You used to not be like this, I even thought we might become friends.”
She stopped and looked at him. “I don’t want a friend.” And she returned to her exercising.
Rhade placed his fists on his hips and glowered at her. “Then what do you want? A whipping boy?”
She jumped to the side and twisted through the air to land in a crouch, her arms spread, her right leg stretched behind her and her left knee bought up under her. She scowled back at him before rolling over and coming up again on her feet with her arms crossed in front of her, her hands in fists.
“You haven’t answered my question.”
She moved her arms behind her back and brought her leg up so that it touched her forehead.
“Jac!”
She set her foot back down and did a split, one leg straight in front, the other straight back so that she sat on the floor.
“Jacinth, answer me!”
She looked up at him, her eyes flashed. In an instant she had used pressure from her legs to lift herself back up, without using her arms at all, and stood before him.
“You have no right to demand anything from me!” She shouted at him.
“For a species that matures quickly, you certainly spend a lot of time behaving like a child!” He commented back.
This seemed to affect her, and she stood dumbfounded in front of him.
“I hate you.” She hissed. “I hate you, I hate Nietzscheans, I hate what they stand for, and I hate what they did to my life. That is my problem. You have a problem with that, you can go stick it up your superior, genetically-engineered nose.”
The next moment Jac found herself being pummeled to the ground. It was so unexpected that she had no time to react. All she could do was try to fend off, or at least dodge the blows that where raining down on her.
“Alert! Alert!”
They both looked over to a screen to see the face of the Andromeda.
“Jac! Rhade! You will have to finish this later! We are under attack!”
Jac took this opportunity to hit Rhade in the jaw, sending him flying back. She quickly scrambled up and ran toward the bridge. She could hear Rhade following.

Chapter 8

Dylan looked up as Jac and Rhade came racing onto the bridge. Both were still in workout clothes and, judging from the scowls they we