Chapter Eleven - Endgame

Alternity - Chapter 11

Endgame

Time:CY 10090 AD June 5167
Location: the Andromeda Ascendant

Dylan strode onto Andromeda's bridge, a smile on his face. The past few days had been brutal, but he had finally received some good news. As Andromeda had predicted, the actions of he and his crew had created an uproar on Sinti. The only reason he and Andromeda, along with his crew, hadn't been declared outlaw was that the records they had taken from Mr. Howard's computer had been very complete. They had revealed not only the innermost details of his criminal organization, but also a very large list of names of Sinti IV government officials that were accepting payoff money from him. The resultant scandal had forced the resignations of scores of elected and appointed officials, and raised questions about whether Sinti was going to remain a member of the Commonwealth. He had been in almost constant negotiations with the untarnished members of the government over the question of Sinti's continued membership. He was a soldier, not a diplomat, and the constant haggling over details that he thought had already been agreed upon was wearing him down. But at least he had some good news to give to his crew.

"I have good news," he said. "The courier we sent to Halcyon has returned. The video record we sent was enough to convince them that organized piracy in their system is no longer an issue. They're assembling a representative delegation with signature authority. It's virtually a sure thing that Halcyon will be the next member of the Commonwealth."

"Hey, that's great," said Beka, lounging in the pilot's chair. "How much is our recruitment fee?" she added, sarcastically.

"Very funny," said Dylan.

Tyr spoke up from the weapons console, where he had been running multiple combat simulations against Andromeda.

"You're a dreamer, Dylan Hunt," he said. "Big confederations like the Systems Commonwealth are nothing but big targets. People feel threatened by big governments. The first thing they want to do is cut them down to size. The Old Commonwealth grew too big for its own good. It became slow and top-heavy and it broke apart under its own weight. My people's rebellion didn't cause the collapse of the Commonwealth, it only hastened the inevitable. The Commonwealth you're trying to build is ultimately doomed to the same fate as the one you fought for three hundred years ago. Nonetheless, I wish to stay with you as you attempt to create your dream. I have worked for a great many fools in my time, perhaps it's time I worked for one who dreams of something other than personal gain."

"Thanks, I think," said Dylan, realizing that he had been complimented and insulted simultaneously.

"Well I think it's a good thing too, like Beka," said Trance, watching her husband closely. "We can't have pirates running around blowing up innocent ships and killing people."

Dylan took little notice of the girl. He was worried about Harper, and apparently so was she, or she wouldn't have made such an inane statement.

"What do you think about the situation, Mr. Harper?" asked Dylan.

When Harper didn't respond. Dylan stepped up behind him to see what he was doing. Ever since he had been released from medical after being treated for his head wound, the engineer had been acting oddly. At the moment he was using Andromeda's scanners, but using was an understatement. He was scanning every area of space in all directions around the ship, from DC to visible and up through the ultraviolet and gamma ray spectrum and beyond. Constant, sweeping scans, from short range to long range, from low energy to high energy, using passive and then active mode, he swept space from top to bottom, side to side, front to back, and then started over again. His face was covered with perspiration and his hands were shaking with what almost looked like fear. He was mumbling to himself. "It was just a hallucination. It was nothing more than a hallucination caused by the concussion."

Trance caught Dylan's eye, and he could see that she was genuinely concerned about the mental condition of her husband. Maybe her earlier statement had been more distracted than inane. She walked over to the agitated engineer and whispered into his ear. Whatever she said might as well have been a magic spell; the transformation in her husband's manner was that great.

"Uhh, Boss? We, Trance, Andromeda and I, have someone we'd like you to meet. Andromeda, would you please join us?"

Both Andromedas appeared. There was a look of anticipation on their faces that puzzled their captain.

The doors to the command deck opened and a woman walked in. She was wearing a modified High Guard uniform, cut to flatter her figure, and the expression on her face was one of supreme confidence, the expression of someone totally in command of herself and her surroundings. Other than the differences in uniform, she was identical in appearance to the holographic and viewscreen representations of the ships artificial intelligence. She entered as though she was a queen entering her throne room. In a sense the command deck was her throne room. In a very real sense the ship was hers.

"What, how, I mean …," Dylan spluttered, confusion mangling his words. "Your project in engineering lab five," he finally uttered.

"Harper, is she what I think she is?' asked Beka, awe and wonderment in her voice.

"The ship made flesh," said Harper. The usual flippancy and arrogance in his voice was gone replaced with an odd sort of pride. It was as if he was introducing his daughter to Dylan. "I remembered the old stories, Boss, about 'the soul of the ship,' of the old High Guard, and how each ship had an avatar to be the captain's advisor and confidant. I, we, decided that Andromeda and the Captain needed one."

He fell silent as Andromeda's physical incarnation stepped forward and gave her captain a militarily perfect salute. Dylan was too numb from shock to do anything but stare until Tyr hissed, "Return the salute, you moron." His return salute was not nearly so precise as his ships avatar's.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh, captain," she said.

"Welcome aboard Andromeda."

Trance and her husband were lying on the bed in their stateroom as they watched their daughter play. Harper had finally broken down and told his wife what he had seen just before he pulled the trigger and ended Mr. Howard's life. There had been something about the scene that had scarred his soul. Even now he was trembling as he told the story.

"It was just a hallucination, right, Trance? Just like the hallucination I had of you telling me to get up so I wouldn't fall asleep."

"That's the only thing it could have been, Harper. The concussion you sustained was very serious; it could easily have killed you. I think the hallucinations you were having were caused by your body refusing to give up and die."

In all the years she had spent with Harper, Trance had never lied to him. There had been times when she had evaded the truth or given half-truths, but she had never actually lied; that is until now. She knew perfectly well what her husband had seen. When Harper told her about it, she realized her dreams of a perfect future for her, her family and their children's children were just that, dreams. Harper had seen an avatar of the Enemy.

Trance's species had been old when dinosaurs roamed Earth, and for most of their existence they had been locked in combat with the Enemy, an entity that was as old and powerful as they, and utterly alien. A being that for it's own inexplicable reasons destroyed entire galaxies, leaving only dust, black holes, and death where stars and planets teaming with life had existed. Trance had heard the tales of the conflict from her parents and from the Elders. Her parents were highly placed in the Circle and from discussions with them she knew that the Circle felt that the Enemy would not be in the galaxies she called home for several more hundreds of years. They were wrong. She had feared it was near after her dream, realizing that in the back of her mind she had already began to suspect something was amiss, and her husband's story had confirmed her fears. She had lied to Harper to protect her family. The agents of the Enemy and their master would target those who had knowledge of It. So to protect them she had lied.

Shortly thereafter Harper fell asleep. As her husband dozed beside her, exhaustion finally overcoming fear, Trance attempted to calm her mind. She needed to think, to decide on the best path for herself and her family. Her visions would be of no use to her, since while they might show a glimpse of a probable future they would not assist her in determining how to reach, or avoid, that future. The possibilities were grim. She could do nothing; this might keep them out of the conflict for a short period of time but eventually the Enemy would come, and either her children or their children would have to face it. She could tell Dylan what she knew, but this was the equivalent of doing nothing. He would ignore her warnings, thinking them nothing more than the fears of a hysterical girl who foolishly believed the tales told to her as a child. She could contact her parents and let them know what she knew. They would alert the rest of the Circle and the Elders to the presence of the Enemy, but it would also reveal her location to them. They would come for her and punish her for running away; part of that punishment would be forcing her to watch as her family was slaughtered. Her options collapsed into one possibility. The only chance she had to save her family was to guide, no manipulate, Dylan into developing a Commonwealth with a military that could somehow deter the Enemy.

Trance cursed whatever Powers existed for doing this to her. She had never wanted to be more than a healer, and a wife and mother. She had fled her people because she had not wanted to be like her parents, a puppet master, manipulating the younger races, using them as cannon fodder in her people's war. But now in order to save her family she was going to have to become what she despised, what her people had been grooming her to be. She imagined she could hear her parents mocking laughter.

Chapter 10