Flesh and Blood

As the Maru coasted through space Beka opened the comm. to the incoming hail and raised an eyebrow as Telemachus Rhade’s face appeared on the screen.
“Captain Valentine, a pleasure as always.”
“Rhade…checking whether I told Gaheris your plans?” She was a little annoyed and surprised to see him. She had only been off the Andromeda for a few days and on her way to a new job, she had hoped it would be some time, if ever, that she saw him again.
“Not happy to see me Captain? I have some very lucrative business to send your way, surely that is something you are interested in.” He smiled casually, stroking a finger across his goatee and resting it on his lips. “I have to say, I was disappointed that you had to leave so soon at our last meeting.” He grinned.
Beka narrowed her eyes but returned the grin sardonically as she went about inputting data into her console.
“Cant say the feeling is mutual… Look is there a point coming up any time soon? I am rather busy I have a job to get to on…”
“Yes the job on Britzkas IV, I’m glad that’s a priority, we do need those supplies.” His grin grew and he looked intently at her as she stopped inputting and sighed.
“It’s for you?! Can you tell me next time you employ me?”
“Well Beka, after our last conversation I wasn’t sure quite how much work you wanted to do for the Nietzscheans, besides there are others out there who we would rather didn’t know our business, so at the moment using false names and middlemen seems the way forward. I am sure you can appreciate the advantages of being covert.”
“Covert… sneaky more like. And, again, why did you hail me?”
“Ah, to business. Yes I am afraid there has been a slight change of plans. I have got a little stuck, my ride fell through and its not easy for a wanted fugitive to get anywhere these days, and the nearest allied Pride is too far away, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to make a slight alteration to the Britzkas assignment and reroute you to my coordinates. You can drop me off at ?? with the shipment.” He could see the determined look in her eyes that said she would be doing no such thing, but he was sure he knew how people like Beka Valentine operated. “You will be greatly compensated of course.”

***

Beka didn’t look up as Telemachus entered the cockpit and started to look around.
“This ship is smaller than I realised.”
“Look, have they finished stowing the shipment? I don’t want to be here longer than I have to be, you may not have heard but this isn’t exactly a friendly area to hang around in.” She still didn’t look at him. If anything she was a little surprised at how well he was managing out in the big universe after spending most of his life holed up on Terazed. But then, as he said, Nietzscheans adapted, it was necessary for survival.
“Yes, the last crates are just being stowed, then we can get underway.”
Beka grit her teeth a little, she was far from happy about this arrangement. Picking him up a few hours earlier on her way to Britzkas she had managed to keep him out of her way by leaving him to make sure the loading bay had room for the crates she had to transport. But now, she wasn’t looking forward to spending the next two days with him, but no matter how she programmed it there was no quicker route and no closer slip-points than the computer had already identified.
She had nothing against him really, he had an attitude but she could appreciate that given what he had gone through. But there was more to it than that, Gaheris’ reaction fresh in her mind and the return of the feeling that just by doing these jobs she was some how betraying the man she loved and the cause they had both worked for.
Beka was brought back from her thoughts as Rhade appeared at her side.
“The crates are on, you can secure the doors now.”
Trying to recover her composure Beka nodded and began readying the ship. Telemachus wandered onto the upper level and dropped casually into the chair that Trance had so often occupied. “I am surprised you manage to run this ship on your own.” He commented, looking over the diodes in front of him.
“It’s not that hard, the ship does most of the work, I’m just the pilot. Though it does help to have other people around, especially Harper, he’s always been able to fix anything and everything the Maru throws at him.”
“Must get lonely...” Telemachus mentioned nonchalantly as he continued to study his small area of ship. Beka raised an eyebrow but resisted shooting him a glance.
“Not really, after places like Britzkas it can be nice not to have company for a few days.” Beka spoke firmly. Telemachus let out a bellowing laugh.
“Really captain, I assure you I will keep out of your way as much as I can, though on a ship this size it might be difficult.”
“Not as difficult as you would imagine.” Beka commented as she pictured locking him up with the cargo, not sure she could handle his attitude after all.

***

Trance walked into Command. It seemed empty even with the New Commonwealth personnel around, Harper and Gaheris appeared dwarfed by the big room.
“Captain.” She greeted him with a curt smile and took up her position on command. When he nodded back her smile grew a little, very aware of Harper’s sideways glance at her. They all had to get used to each other again, let the dust settle. Of course it would be a lot easier once Beka was back with them, and that would be soon enough.

***

Beka sighed and rolled over on her bunk. She hadn’t slept well, knowing that Telemachus was on the ship, and when she did sleep she dreamt about Gaheris, running into him with Telemachus on board. She meant what she had told him about their lack of obligations to each other, but she still didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. Begrudgingly she got out of bed and headed to the shower.
As he entered the room Telemachus could hear the shower running and thought for a moment about turning back, but he had decided it was time to talk to Miss Valentine. He was getting sick of her attitude. He knew that she didn’t want him around, that much was obvious, but they wouldn’t arrive at ?? for another day and it was starting to get beyond tedious. He needed to talk this through with her, get over her problem so that he didn’t have to spend the next day trying to avoid her on the small ship. The shower stopped.
“Beka?” He called out, not wanting to startle her, though that didn’t seem to work as she walked in wrapping a towel about her and jumping when she saw him standing there. “Oh… sorry. I called out, I… maybe I should come back later.” Telemachus had seen many a naked woman but the circumstances here made things a little more awkward.
“Damn right you should!” Beka didn’t hide the anger in her voice as she shouted at him and pulled her towel tighter around her. “Haven’t you ever heard of privacy for crying out loud?” She started towards him, prepared to man handle him back out of her room if necessary.
“There’s no need to get so irate!” Telemachus all but shouted back. He really had had enough of her, and it wasn’t his fault if she had slept so late. “We need to talk about this!”
“What?”
“This! I haven’t done anything to you Beka, or to your friends, in fact if anything I have been the victim of your lover, so I don’t appreciate that I have to be stuck on this tin can for another day with you being a bitch to me!”
“Well I’m sorry that you feel that way, but tough!” Their voices had escalated, and had there been other crew on board they would probably have come running by now. Deciding that someone had to leave the room and he seemed rooted to the spot, Beka started to push past him. He knew he didn’t know her well, but he knew her type and she was someone he could use, he couldn’t let her back out of this whole thing.
“Running away again Beka?” His smile was hard and cruel. “The same way you are running from the Magog… and the Andromeda. Rhade is better off really, what Nietzschean could be with such a coward!” Beka stopped short in front of him and slapped a hand sharply across his face.
“Don’t judge me Rhade! We cant all have the same motivations.”
“And what are your motivations Beka? Run as fast and far as you can so you don’t have to deal with whatever issues it is you might have?” He caught her hand as she raised it to slap him again. “I don’t know the specifics of what you are running from but in my experience no problem is unsolvable. It strikes me that if you really loved Gaheris you would have found a way to stay. I might not see eye to eye with the man, but he’s better off without you.”
Beka pulled her hand back out of his grasp and shoved into him as she walked past him, not even rocking him on his feet.
“Truth hurts Valentine, almost as much as the real world! Its about time you started to live in it.”

***

Gaheris woke with a start, the room seeming strangely empty. But then it had felt that way for a while now. The months weren’t getting any shorter, and no matter what he did he couldn’t get used to the fact that she was never coming back. But maybe that was a good thing. Since she left he had tried, made more effort, tried to make the universe as it was supposed to be, and each time as he thought she might go about it. The reformed Commonwealth was getting stronger by the day, and he had her to thank for that.
Mustering as much effort as he could, Gaheris headed to the shower. Time to wake up and get on with the day. Another day. As the water ran over him his mind started trying to calculate the costs, but in his heart he knew that as long as he was without Beka the price was going to get greater and greater, betraying Dylan, betraying Rhade... He just hoped that the future in his head wasn’t the one he would live.

*


COMING SOON – PART THREE – “GAZING INTO THE VORTEX”