Through the Looking Glass

Chapter 10: Cargo

“If things appear to be going well, you have overlooked something.”
–Murphy's Law

After Emily had cried herself to sleep, Beka had set about leaving the drift as fast as the Maru's engines could power up. She didn't want to be on the drift any longer than she had to be, the strained solenoid valve could be fixed in space and Harper would do just that once she got a hold of him. But right now, she just wanted to fly.

Sitting in the pilot's seat, maneuvering her way through the stars. It always calmed her down and it was something she greatly missed while on Infinity Atoll. Back before, when everything was still messed up and Ignatius was flash fried in his room, Beka took consolation in piloting. It soothed her; it helped her clear her head. Especially in slipstream where there was nothing else to concentrate on than riding the rails. It worked then and it worked now.

Once settled on Infinity, Beka would sit with a sleeping Emily on her lap and stare at the sky wishing she were back up there. It called to her; it was where she was supposed to be. She was born in space; Emily was born in space. And that's where they were headed.

And by heading there it also led her to Bobby and two others before him. She didn't know what she saw in him. Hope maybe? That if he claimed to love her then he would accept her daughter as well? One didn't come without the other. But no one understood that.

Beka set the Maru on autopilot and pulled her seat back as she heard the cockpit door slide open.

"Uh boss?"

"Is that valve fixed Harper?"

"I should have a jury rig in another few minutes, but um, I kinda wanted to ask..."

"Yeah?"

"Well, first off is Emily okay? I heard thumping and yelling, and then I thought I should give you two your space, and then I also noticed there's no Bobby around so..."

Beka smiled. "She'll be fine, and…thanks for asking."

"Well I like the kid, she's my littlest buddy."

"That it?"

"Well, there was one more thing..." said Harper sounding a bit more nervous. "I mean...well, now that Bobby's not here, and since he was the one who got me aboard this ship. I was just, um, well wondering if..."

"Spit it out Seamus."

"Are you going to send me back to Earth?"

Beka blanched. "What?"

"Well yeah, I know…your ship and…um…"

"You're staying right here Harper. And considering your background, you're the best engineer this ship has ever had. How could I send you back to that hell hole?"

"Stay here? As in permanent? For really?"

"Yeah, for real. I'm thinking you're a bit paranoid."

"A little."

"I want you to stay. Now go get back to that valve."

"Yes ma'am!" With a mock salute, Harper headed to the door until a massive explosion rocked the Maru and sent him careening into the wall.

"What the hell?" Beka turned back in her seat and took the ship off autopilot.

"Was that what I think it was?"

"God damn Nietzscheans, how the hell did they find us?"

The attacking ship's signature matched the same one that had attacked them earlier on their cargo run. "What the hell did I do to them?"

"Maybe they want their weapons back?"

"Weapons? What weapons?"

"Bobby didn't tell you what we were carrying? I snuck a peek back..."

"That son of a..." Beka's curse was cut off by another hit. Moving the Maru into evasive maneuvers Beka started searching for a slip point. "Harper get that valve fixed!"

"I'm on it!"

As Harper scrambled to the engine room, a now wide awake Emily was racing into the cockpit.

"Momma?"

"Damn, damn, damn..."

"Mom!"

"Yes honey, mommy's very busy right now!"

"What can I do?"

"Same as last time!"

Emily raced to her station and stared at the readings in front of her.

"Prepare to jettison cargo. Authorization Beka Valentine."

The Maru's voice came over the speakers, "Cargo jettison cannot engage."

"Harper!"

"It must be some crossed wiring, I've been looking over some and it looks like our good friend Bobby may have been playing with the Maru's systems."

"Damn it! Emily, find me a slip point!"

"Um...nearest one is...ten light minutes out."

"That's too long," Beka hit the comm button, "Harper, give me something! They're hitting harder than before!"

"I'm trying boss, but I have a valve to fix and with the new damage we're taking, the problem's getting bigger. I can't give you any more speed until this is fixed. If not we are going to turn into some very pretty fireworks."

"Can't you out fly them mom?"

"I'm trying. They actually got a good pilot this time around..."

Wherever Beka tried to run to, the Nietzschean ship was on top of her every time maneuvering itself to be in optimum firing range. Beka was sharply jolted as another missile salvo hit and the ship shook as if it were coming apart. Alarms started sounding and a blinking model of the ship appeared on every screen.

"We just lost two engines."

Beka swore as the ship was jolted again and all propulsion ceased; the Nietzschean ship flew over them and into view before turning around for another fly by.

They were dead in the water.

"Um...Beka?"

"Tell me something good Harper."

"Sorry. But I can't...they'll take me back to Earth...you don't know what they do to runaways...I can't go back..."

"Not happening Harper I-"

*Klunk*

"What was that?" asked Emily looking upwards.

"They're boarding."

>>>

"No! Get off me! Get off!" Beka struggled with the Nietzschean who had her gripped around the waist and clean off the floor carrying her through the Nietzschean ship where they had all been transferred.

"Mom!"

"Let go of her uber!"

"Let go!" Emily swung out with her arm catching the Nietzschean across the chest with her boneblades. With a surprised yell, the Dragan caught both her arms and held them down as he looked down at his torn shirt and scratched skin before laughing.

"Would you look at that? We have a little Nietzschean here!"

"You got a thing for superhuman babe?" asked Beka's captor.

"Go to hell!"

The only thing that gave Beka a shred of hope was the fact that she hadn't seen Harper dragged by yet. Maybe he had the foresight to stay out of sight and wedged himself into a crevice of the ship or something. Beka hoped he'd be able to do something to help...if he wasn't too petrified.

"Hey!" Beka found herself unceremoniously deposited into a small metal cell only large enough for her to crouch in. The cells covered the entire wall and the opposite side as well.

Kennels for the slaves no doubt.

Emily let out a scream as the Nietzschean holding her hanked some of her hair out as he dropped her into a cell beside Beka's.

"Watch it asshole!" shouted Beka, kicking at the locked door before she tried to reach for her daughter. The wire of the cage was tightly coiled and only large enough to get her fingers through. Emily gripped her mother's as her own hand soothed her head.

One of the Nietzscheans laughed as he hit the other in the shoulder.

"Let's get those weapons back."

>>>

Attila and Marcus trudged triumphantly into the cockpit where the other two members of their crew were situated. Once Lamorak had stopped piloting and made way for his co-pilot, they had caught up with the old cargo ship in no time; the younger's reflexes were incredible. Not only had they caught up, they had disabled the ship, caught the 'crew' and taken back their stolen weapons. The Nietzscheans were hoping to catch the larger man that Marcus had seen with the red head but he was nowhere to be found apparently. He would have liked torturing that one.

"So what do we have?"

"A chick and a kid," said Attila sitting at a station and pulling up a DNA analyzer program. Setting the hair on the scanner he got to work.

"What's he doing?"

"The kid had boneblades. Cut me across the chest."

"You're scanning a half-breed?"

"What do you wanna bet she's some Sabra or Mandau?"

The men laughed as the other two Nietzscheans were filled in on what happened.

As the sensor beeped, Attila read the results.

"Woah, woah, the kid's Drago-Kazov!"

"One of our own boys!"

Joining in on the laughter and speculation Attila stopped laughing and sobered up as he looked at the flashing screen "Hey, guys wait. I got a match."

"A what?"

"Hey...Telemachus?"

Telemachus looked up from the pilot's seat. "Hmmm?"

"I think you might want to look at this."

>>>

A child.

He should have known.

Red. A kid with boneblades. It made sense.

Telemachus watched her from a monitor in the corridor, Attila had been ordered to drag her out of lockup and into his quarters. He watched as she alternated between banging on the door and pacing nervously around the room. Her hair was just as red as he remembered it, though shorter. And her face, the one that wouldn't stop haunting him, that filled his dreams, the woman who couldn't leave him alone and she was just twenty metres away. And he would get to her, but first...

"You know...I've been thinking." Telemachus bit back a growl as he was interrupted. "I probably have a dozen half-breed kids on every world we've conquered yet none of them have come back to bite me in the ass like this."

Telemachus glared at Marcus as he shoved the Nietzschean as he passed and headed to the Prisoner Bay. Once he arrived, the sniffling he heard automatically stopped as the child caught sight of him either by eyesight or another heightened scent. He could hardly make her out from where he was standing, the tightly wound mesh barely giving anything away.

Punching in some buttons on a console, Telemachus flipped a switch and the door to Emily's small cell flung open. Walking further into the room, he stopped as he got closer to her.

"You. Out."

Emily stared at the open door like it would slam shut on her if she left. These people shot at the Maru, dragged her and her mom here and then not five minutes ago, her mother was dragged out of her cell to the Divine knows where. All the horrible things that she ever heard about Nietzscheans had come rushing forward into her mind. Where was Harper? Where was her mother?
A loud bang jolted her out of her thoughts as the Nietzschean hit his hand against the metal.

"I said out."

Despite the scare tactic to get her out, Emily noted that he didn't sound angry or jeering, his voice was rather calm and subdued. Taking her chances, Emily crept to the newly opened door, never losing sight of the Dragan and dodged out quickly. She got up and flattened herself against the nearest wall facing him. She was tense as she looked him up and down; he wasn’t part of the boarding party. The first thing she noticed was that he was slightly taller than Bobby was and much more set. His longer hair was hap-hazardously tied back so it wouldn't hang in his eyes, yet some parts of it were making an escape.

"What are you staring at?" she asked. Her tension relaxed somewhat but her body still felt tight enough to spring into action but like she would even stand a chance if he decided to smack her one though for her 'insolence' though. She'd heard enough stories from Harper yet she didn’t like being stared at like a curiosity.

Telemachus couldn't help a grin that escaped; the kid definitely had Red's sassiness. He crouched down to her eye level and kept an eye on the child only six feet away from him. His child. Even though she wasn't pure Nietzschean, he couldn't help a strange feeling that seemed to well within him.

He motioned her with a finger. "Come here."

"No." She looked at him like he was stupid.

Telemachus pointed to a spot in front of him. "I said come here."

"Where’s my mom?”

“She’s fine. You’ll see her soon, now come here.”

Emily shook her head. She watched him incline his head before she even noticed how fast me moved towards her as he pulled her close in front of him. She closed her eyes tight and braced herself for the pain when he grabbed her chin but instead felt nothing but the light pressure from his hand. She opened her eyes a bit and watched him as he turned her head from side to side inspecting her.

Emily was a bit beyond confused now. What the hell was he doing? Surely her half-breed status wasn't that much of a marvel. Or was this just how they slave inspected kids?
He ran his hands down her arms, over blades, and pulled her arms forward.

"Flex them for me."

"What?" Emily looked at her boneblades. When had she rested them?

"Flex your blades. Like this." He dropped one of her arms and held his own up to show her.

"I know how!" She said becoming annoyed. Emily lifted her arms and did as asked.

"Does your head still hurt?"

"What?" Was he trying to confuse her? Why would he even care? "Not so much anymore," she answered cautiously.

"They took it for analysis to see what you were."

"What I am?"

"Where those blades came from,” he clarified.

"My dad's Nietzschean, duh."

"Smirk for me."

"What?"

"Just do it."

Emily pulled her hands away and crossed her arms. Telemachus laughed lightly.

"The glare will do."

Telemachus reached up and ran his fingers through a dark lock of her hair. His hair, her mother's eyes...

"What are you doing?"

"Confirming with sight what your genes already say."

"Which is...what?"

"You really do look like me."

"What do you mean I look like...you..."

Telemachus watched her entire countenance change. She seemed to deflate as she really started to look at him. Really look. Similarities, differences...what he was telling her. Trying to see the truth or lie in his words.

"If you asked me what my first daughter would be like, I didn't think she'd end up being half human."

Emily swallowed hard.

Daughter? Did he just say she was...his daughter?

But if she was his daughter than that would make him...her...father…

Emily looked at him in shock as he cupped her cheek in his hand. Moving her own up to rest on his wrist, she was too stunned to do anything else.

>>>
A/N: Another reviewer! Thank you Cai!