Over the link, she could hear the beeping in the engine room. "The engines are-well, they're dead!" Harper yelled over the line. "Oh crap. We'll be lucky if I can keep them from overloading."
His voice disappeared into the high pitched whining noise that flooded the link. "Harper?" she asked, slightly concerned. Upset, she got up from her seat. "Rev, if we get any power, steer us towards the closest system," she said, as she left the bridge.
Beka made her way quickly to the engine room. Before she even went in the room, she could hear the whine of the engines and the smell of smoke. She hurried her pace. The engine room doors were sealed shut, and Beka had to manually override them. Forcing them open, she was greeted by smoke pouring out. Coughing, she tried to shield her eyes from it. "Harper!" she yelled over the cacophony. She ventured into the room, where the smoke was even thicker.
"Harper!"
She found the young man pounding hopeless on a console, trying to get it to respond. He didn't even notice her, as he tried to salvage the obviously over heated engines.
"Harper!" she yelled again, this time tugging his arm.
He turned around. "We've got to cool down the engines!" he yelled to her.
"There isn't any time!" she hollered back.
"There isn't any choice! If the engines go, we can kiss the Eureka Maru goodbye and possibly our lives!"
"We can seal off the engine room and save the ship!"
"I can stop the overload!" he insisted, swinging to another console.
"Harper!"
Busily working, he ignored her. All of a sudden, half of the wailing began to wane, while the other continued to gain in intensity.
Harper knew he had saved one engine, but it was becoming rapidly apparent that the other one was on the verge of overloading. With one engine, the Maru was salvageable and would fly again. He also had figured out that there was no time left to stop the other engine from overloading. Accepting this failure, he scrambled to his feet, beginning to sprint towards the door, shoving Beka in front of him.
"It's gonna blow!" he screamed.
The whine became a screech as it peaked. Harper thrust Beka out the door, surging behind her right as the explosion occurred. The ship shook, then became oddly silent and still as it settled in after the blast. Beka found herself on the floor, still surrounded by the smoke that continued to bellow from the engine room.
Her body ached from hitting the ground, but she pulled herself up to inspect the damage done to her ship.
Before she got very far, she saw Harper lying in front of her.
"Harper?" she called, kneeling beside him. Feeling a prick of panic when he didn't respond, she shook him gently. "Harper?"
Again, no response was elicited. She rolled him over, checking quickly for injuries. Unfortunately, it didn't look good. A gash along his hair line was seeping blood continually down his face. His shirt was partially burned away by the explosion, revealing a fairly singed layer of skin. She cursed quietly. Scooping him into her arms, she made her way as quickly as possible to their makeshift medical bay.
Along the way, she met Trance in the corridor. Her eyes widen when she saw Harper's prone figure in Beka's arm. "He caught the brunt of the explosion," Beka explained breathlessly.
"Why didn't you seal of the engine room?" Trance asked.
"Lunatic thought he could save the engines," Beka panted.
"Did he?"
"He got one of them to cool," Beka said. The door to the med bay swooshed opened. "He saved what's left of our little junk pile."
Trance followed her inside. Carefully, Beka laid Harper down on the lone bed in the room. Trace had grabbed the only functioning medical scanner left on the ship. She ran it over Harper's unconscious form. Beka waited impatiently, as Trance found the results.
"He's got a concussion -- nothing serious. The burns are mostly superficial," Trance reported.
"So he'll be okay?"
Trance swallowed and hesitated. Beka's heart leapt into her throat. "Trance," she demanded.
"He's bleeding internally," Trance said softly.
The words hit Beka like a punch to her stomach. "How bad?"
"Bad."
"We don't have the equipment to fix it, do we?" Beka concluded.
"We might be able to slow it," Trance said. "But no. Unless we get him to a colony or another ship..."
"How long do we have?"
"Hard to say. I'm not a doctor."
Glancing down at her young engineer/fix-it man, Beka had to fight to remain in control of herself. In a fit of uncontrolled emotion, she fled the room, leaving Trance to tend to Harper. Once she was well down the hall, she kicked the wall angrily. She shouldn't be here. It wasn't right, and it wasn't fair. Her father had left her a legacy of failure, not to mention a heap of debts she would have to work a lifetime to pay back. The Maru was to be her salvation, and while in many ways it was, it still had its own bitter after taste. The ship was sturdy enough, but old, and in constant need of repairs. And the life of a salvage team was hardly something that was enviable or consistent. Despite her abilities, and the abilities of her small crew, her ship's out of date technology made her services less in demand. People wrote her off as a joke -- a desperate nobody trying to make ends meet. Well that's exactly what she was.
The Eureka Maru was her home, and its crew her family. And now her home was severely crippled, limping along in space, and the only member of her family who could fix it was lying in the med bay, slowly bleeding to death. Lashing out she kicked the wall again. The thump resounded back at her, and her foot tingling. Her anger turned to frustration, and it overwhelmed her. The tears began to flow from her eyes. With nothing left to lose, she sank to the ground, sobbing.
She sat there in that state for a few minutes, and probably could have stayed there if Rev's voice over her comm unit hadn't disrupted her. Wiping her eyes, and sniffling, she composed herself.
"What is it?" she asked sounding somewhat callous.
"There's a ship out there," he said. "And they're hailing us."
Her tears forgotten, Beka stood up sharply. "I'm on my way to the bridge," she told him. Her pace was quick and determined. Maybe hope wasn't all gone yet.
Rev was tinkering with the controls when Beka came on the bridge. "We lost an engine," he informed her.
"I know," Beka said. "But we've still got one."
"How long before Harper fixes the other one?"
"Harper's hurt," she said shortly. "Trance is tending to him in the med bay. Have you opened the channel?"
"Just waiting for you," Rev said.
"Good." She opened the channel. "This is Beka Valentine, Captain of the Eureka Maru. Who are you?"
The voice cracked over the line. "I'm Gerentex, captain of this ship. I see you're having a bit of difficulty."
"You see right. Our engines over heated and then overloaded. We managed to save one, but the other one is in need of serious repair. One of our crewmen was injured in the explosion. I was wondering if you would be willing to lend us a hand. We could find some way to pay you."
"Our medical facilities are fairly advanced for the typical Nightsider ship. We would be more than happy to help you," Gerentex said. "You can enter our docking bay immediately."
"Thank you," Beka said. She turned to Rev who was already moving the ship into position. The Nightsider ship's docking bay doors opened, and after being given the go ahead, Beka flew the Maru in, setting it down gently on the floor. Turning to Rev, she said, "Get Trance and tell her to bring Harper out. I'll go meet the welcome wagon and hopefully we'll get Harper the attention he needs. Oh, and Rev?"
"Yes?"
"If you'd like to do your little praying thing, now would be a good time."
Rev nodded in understanding and went towards the med bay.
Beka secured the ship, and then went out to meet the Nightsider. She had never liked the Nightsiders - they resembled rats too much, in many ways beside physical features. Although she was suspicious of their sincerity to help, she knew it was probably the only chance Harper had, and Harper was the only chance the Eureka Maru had. Besides that, losing a crew member was something Beka was not prepared to do. They had lost Vex-Pak not too long ago, and she wasn't about to lose Harper. It was like failing, and Beka Valentine didn't like to fail.
The well-dressed rat-like creature greeted her grandiosely, trying to make her feel at ease despite the armed crew around.
"Greetings, I am Gerentex. You must be Beka Valentine."
"Yes. I would like to thank you again for your help." "It is nothing at all," Gerentex said. "The problem with this galaxy is that no one helps each other anymore."
"I suppose so," Beka agreed cautiously. She scanned the room. "You've got a large ship. I didn't think the Nightsiders made them this big."
"Generally, they don't. But this is to transport large amounts of cargo to our home world."
Trance and Rev appeared behind Beka, Harper in Rev's safe grasp. "Where can we take our crewmen?" Beka asked.
"Oh, just follow me," Gerentex said, leading them out the door.
He escorted them down the hallways, rambling on hospitably. They reached the medical bay, and Beka was relieved to find it well equipped, with a doctor and all. The doctor motioned for Rev to lay Harper on a bed. Rev did so carefully, as to not jostle the young man any further. Before he left his side, he stroked the engineer's hair with his claw like fingers in a show of concern.
The doctor scanned him, confirming Trance's diagnosis. "He's bleeding internally."
"Can you stop it?" Beka asked.
"Yes," the doctor said. "I'll start the process immediately. He should be fine a couple of days."
Beka breathed a sigh of relief. Gerentex smiled broadly.
"Well, why don't we let the doctor tend to your man. It'd be my pleasure if you'd join me for a drink," he said.
"Really, that's not necessary," Beka said.
"No. I insist," Gerentex said.
"Well, okay," Beka agreed.
"Wonderful. If you will just follow me," Gerentex said.
Beka glanced one last time at Harper, assuring herself he would be okay. "I'll stay with him," Trance said softly.
"As will I," Rev said.
If Beka had been feeling any better, she would have smiled at her small crew. They were a mismatched group, each with different backgrounds and different talents. But despite that, Beka knew they had become very close. "Okay," she said, then followed her furry host.
Soon, Beka sat in a room with Gerentex, hesitantly sipping some alien ale she had never tasted before.
"You know," Gerentex said. "It wasn't by chance that I encountered your ship."
Beka's paranoia kicked in. "Oh?"
"I've been searching for it for a few weeks now."
"Why's that?" Beka asked.
"Because I've heard a lot about it. It and its crew," Gerentex said.
"What have you heard?"
"I've heard that the ship is old and hard to manage. I've heard it's crew is small and odd. But I've also heard that looks can be deceiving," Gerentex explained carefully. "Are you as good as they say you?"
"Maybe better," Beka shrugged confidently. "What do you think?"
"Well, I've heard that you're so crazy and unconventional, that sometimes, you're the best there is. You're desperate and scrappy. That's exactly what I'm looking for."
"What exactly are you talking about," Beka wondered suspiciously.
"I'm looking to hire you."
"To do what?"
"Search and salvage operation."
"Of?"
"I'd pay you well. I wouldn't charge you for the care of your man, and help you repair your ship plus give you 5% commission on our findings."
"What would we be looking for?"
"That's the crazy part," Gerentex said. "Our goal is to find the Andromeda Ascendant of the Commonwealth."
"The Andromeda? That disappeared three hundred years ago. Legend has it that it disappeared into a black hole."
"It's no legend," Gerentex said. "I believe it's quite real. We've narrowed down the possible black holes that Andromeda disappeared into."
"Wouldn't it be crushed in the event horizon?"
"Not if it got caught."
"You think it got caught?" Beka asked in disbelief.
"Exactly."
"That's crazy."
"I know."
"I mean, we'd have to search every black hole in the vicinity of Nietzschean sector to find the exact one the Andromeda disappeared into. And then we'd have to find the Andromeda, which is like a needle in a haystack, and then, if we found it, we'd have to pull out of the black hole without getting sucked in. It's crazy."
"Which is why I came looking for you," Gerentex said. "You can't afford to pass up this opportunity."
"It's an incredible risk. Not to mention we'll be the laughing stock of the galaxy if we come up empty-handed."
"What have you got to lose?" Gerentex pointed out.
He was right. It had been three months since they'd been hired for anything substantial. Her ship was in need of desperate repairs, but they didn't have the money to fix them. Her crew was in need of supplied, but they couldn't afford to get any. It'd be crazy to say yes, but for the crew of the Eureka Maru, it'd be crazy to say no. Besides, it'd be an adventure, which might be the thing to lift the fallen spirits of her crew.
"Okay," Beka said. "You've got a deal."
Gerentex smiled. "Wonderful. I'll have the contract made up immediately."
With an unexplanable feeling of excitement beginning to fill her stomach, she smiled in return, and said, "Okay. Let's go find the pride of the Commonwealth."
The End