See part one for warnings and acknowledgements.

Rationalising - Part 6

The kiss didn't last long, a second or two, nothing epic. Dylan froze
as their lips touched, and Beka instantly knew she'd made yet another
mistake. If she didn't fix this quick another of her friendships
would be screwed up.

"Thanks Dylan, I needed a hug. I could do with that drink now." She
wrinkled her nose and smiled at him. There, just friends, see?

"Sure." Dylan opened his arms, and tried to stand up, giving his head
a thump on the metal above him. He sat back down again. "Ouch."

Beka slid out from beneath the couch and stood up. "Looks like you've
been at the brandy already." She helped him to his feet, another
awkward situation avoided. Phew.

Dylan rubbed the back of his head. " I thought I'd get a head start."

Was that a joke? Maybe. She smiled to be on the safe side. "Are you
sober enough to make it to the mess?"

"Funny." Dylan straightened up, towering over her. He offered her his
arm, with a smile. "Shall we?"

"Why not." She accepted his arm, and as they walked out of medical
she said. " You know Dylan, they just don't make 'em like you any
more."

*

Ten minutes later and three brandies down, Beka was telling Dylan all
about the shortcomings of the 'Maru: the permanent fault with the
plasma manifold, the bits that fell off in slipstream, and the time
Harper had to steal her back when she'd been repossessed. Fond
memories. Dylan leaned against the bar, apparently fascinated.

"So, you're gonna get me a whole new ship? With a warranty and
everything?" She waved her empty glass in the air. "Where are you
going to get that kind of money?"

"I thought I'd try platinum mining, Guinevere."

"Finally. I know your new Commonwealth has been paying our ordnance
bills, but we need more capital. Oooh, I know what I want! One of
those new Perseid haulers with the dual laser cannon and the shiny
hull plating." Harper had promised her a shiny ship, and she was damn
well going to have one.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a warship. Something small
and heavily armed, and very fast. You can trade it in after the new
Commonwealth is established."

"Sure." She'd be old by then. "As long as it's shiny." Beka pouted,
mock petulant. Then an idea hit. "We could get a great deal from the
shipyard on Sinti if we pay in platinum and don't finance. Do you
think we'd have some leftover cash for things like crew wages,
pension plans and stuff? We've been working without pay for nearly
two years. I know it's not likely that I'll live to draw a pension,
but I want to be able to say that I have one."

"We'll see what we have left over. I'm trying to restore peaceful
civilisation to the three galaxies, not run a mining business." Dylan
picked up the brandy bottle again."One more?"

Beka took a moment to consider this. If she was sober enough to
wonder if she'd drunk too much, she wasn't drunk enough. "Yep." She
looked at her glass. " You know, we really should be doing this on
the 'Maru, it's her wake."

"An excellent idea, I knew there was a reason I picked you for my
first officer." He stood up, and caught Beka as she tottered
sideways. "I'll just help you, shall I?"

"Always the gentleman, Dylan." He half supported her, the bottle in
his spare hand. Beka was starting to feel warm and fuzzy inside, the
pain and craving fading into the background at last. She giggled, Tyr
definitely wouldn't approve of this. Her drunk as a Vedran wine
merchant, with Dylan's arm round her. Yep, she felt a whole lot
better now.

It took a little while to reach the Eureka Maru's hangar, Beka had a
little trouble with the ladders, and the suspiciously sober Dylan had
to catch her when she half fell off the last one. But they got there
in the end.

"She's been a good ship, you know?" Beka was starting to feel sad
again, but it was a less bitter kind of grief. "She's had a good run,
kept going for years. I don't think there's another model of her age
still functioning. It's the end of an era."

Dylan manually cranked open the door. "The 'Maru was...unique."

Beka was silent, her mouth open. She couldn't believe what she was
seeing, an empty hangar. The 'Maru was gone. It took Dylan a few
seconds to notice, he was saying something about ship construction.
Then he stopped in mid sentence.

Beka sat heavily on the floor, it was all so unreal. Dylan was trying
to raise the others on the ship's com, then on his sub-dermal
communicator, but there was no answer. All the ship's systems were
off line, even the back ups.

"Damn it! Beka, do you know where Rommie and Tyr are?"

"Hmm? Rommie was in engineering bay two, the last time I saw her. I
have no idea where Tyr is." Oh no, please don't be on the 'Maru Tyr.
Beka stood up, suddenly a lot more sober. "Where's Harper?"

"The AI's central core, doing repairs. Find him, Beka. See if he
knows what's going on, and get Andromeda on line again. I'll be in
command trying to raise the 'Maru on the com." Dylan pulled her to
her feet. "And try not to fall off any more ladders." Then he
vanished.

Beka ran unsteadily, her head swimming from the brandy. Tyr was right
about the universe throwing things at you when you were drunk and
vulnerable. Tyr. Why would he have taken the 'Maru out in her
condition? Because he didn't know, nobody had told him. She had to
stop him before he entered slipstream, the ship would be torn apart
around him. She should have told him. Somehow Beka managed to
negotiate the ladders and doorways, and a few minutes later she was
at the door of Andromeda's main computer. Harper was in there. Harper
could help.

Harper wasn't fixing the AI. He was sitting with his eyes shut,
listening to one of his audio's on a portable player. The squeaks
coming from the earpiece didn't sound like music, and Harper had a
look of sick anger on his face. He didn't notice her.

"Harper, do you know where Tyr is?" Harper's eyes snapped open. For a
moment his face had the same expression that it'd had that time she'd
caught him naked in the pilot's chair. Then it faded into angry again.

"Why?"

Beka was surprised by the attitude. "The 'Maru's been taken, only Tyr
could have done it. He doesn't know how badly she's damaged, he won't
survive slipstream. You have to get Andromeda back on line so we can
warn him."

"Why should you care what happens to that animal?" Harper turned off
the player and just sat there, making no move to help. He seemed
geneuinely puzzled.

Beka was stunned. "Harper, how many times has he saved your life? And
you're just sitting there..." She stared at the engineer in
disbelief. "Do something!"

"I already have, I took care of everything. Why would you want me to
save him? I know what happened Beka. I heard .." Harper's anger broke
through. "I heard him rape you! The security log on the 'Maru
recorded everything."

For a moment her brain couldn't process what he'd said. There was a
security log? That was right, Dylan had said something about
installing one ages ago, after he'd been abducted off the 'Maru.
She'd forgotten all about it. So Harper must have heard them
together. How in hell did he get the idea that Tyr had raped her? And
why had he been listening in the first place?

A second later she had him round the throat."What have you done!"
They crashed onto the deck, Beka on top. It took all she had not to
kill him there and then.

Harper squeaked like a frightened mouse."I was just, well, when I was
repairing the ship I thought... I was.. making sure the recording
equipment was working properly." He winced as she thumped his head
onto the floor. Did he think she was that stupid? "It started playing
on its own? OW. Okay, okay! I saw your underwear on the floor and I
thought that the two of you had finally given in to your animal
urges. I swear, I had no idea. When I got the log to play it only had
a partial audio. I heard you screaming at him to stop. I'm so sorry
Beka, if I'd just fixed the 'Maru like I was supposed to.." He bit
his lip, genuinely grief-stricken. " It's all my fault."

Beka let go of his throat, and he lay frozen beneath her. He had
heard her shouting at Tyr to stop. Okay, but that was only the
beginning. Then the light dawned; only a partial recording. "What
exactly did you hear Harper? And be very, very specific."

"Something about the state of the ship, then you started screaming at
him to stop, and that he was hurting you." He sucked in his breath,
like he was having trouble saying the words. "Then all I could hear
was you screaming." He paused again. "Then the power to the log cut
out, when Rommie hailed you. I heard you crying in medical later,
telling him to keep his hands off you."

Oh. Beka could feel her cheeks turning crimson. She could see how if
you only heard that bit it might seem as if... "It wasn't rape,
Harper." She couldn't say anymore.

"But you were screaming."

"I was having an orgasm, you idiot. But then, I'd guess you wouldn't
know what a woman's orgasm sounds like!" She shouted the last few
words. Damn the little pervert. "What have you done Harper?"

Harper looked horrified. "I told Tyr that we needed a new plasma
manifold, and .."

"You sent him off in the 'Maru." Beka leapt to her feet. "Get Rommie
on line now, we have to stop him before he reaches the slipstream
entry point." Tyr was going to die, spaced when the 'Maru shattered
around him.

"We can't." Harper looked helplessly at her. " I sabotaged Rommie,
the com won't work. She'll be in a diagnostic loop for the next hour.
Someone's going to have to go out in a slipfighter and get him." He
thought for a moment. "We can do it. He left about twenty minutes
ago, it's forty to the nearest slipstream entrance." He rolled onto
his feet. "Come on!"

She could kill him later. The two of them sprinted through the half-
lit ship towards the aft fighter bay. Beka felt sluggish and dizzy.
She lurched as they finally made it into the bay, the brandy still in
her system. Harper grabbed two EVA suits and opened the door to the
nearest fighter. It was going to be close.

"You'll have to open the outer doors with the manual override in the
maintenance bay." He slid into the pilot's seat.

"Like hell I will! I'm going."

"Sorry boss, but we don't have time for this. You've been drinking,
it has to be me" Harper was running through the pre-flight check.

"Drunk or sober I'm a better pilot than you'll ever be." Beka tried
to grab him and pull him out, but he wriggled further into the
fighter. The door slid down into place, locking her out. She smacked
it with frustration."Damn it Harper!" She took a second to calm
down. "If you don't come back with him alive, don't come back." She
drew her force lance and pointed it at the slipfighter.

Harper couldn't hear the words, but he understood the gesture. He
nodded tersely, then pointed at the doors to the maintenance bay,
there was no time to argue. She could roast him later. Beka ran into
the bay, the door sealing behind her. A few moments later the
emergency release bolts blew out, venting the air around the fighter,
jarring it loose from its docking clamp. It was a bit wild for a
second or two, but Harper managed to get control of the little ship,
and shot out into space. He fumbled with the com. No need to panic,
there was plenty of time. The big guy was fine, they'd cut it closer
than this dozens of times. Seamus Harper to the rescue. It was all
going to be fine.

Beka slumped onto the deck in the maintenance bay and threw up, the
brandy and the stress finally winning. She curled up in a corner. If
only she hadn't drunk all that brandy. If only Harper wasn't a nosy
little pervert with a vengeful streak. If only she had told him...
Tears were starting to sneak their way out of her eyes. What if he
died? She started to feel sick again. Don't be stupid, Tyr's
indestructible. Him, Dylan, and the cockroaches. But what if Harper
was too late? He'd be gone, and she'd never be able to tell him that
it had meant something to her too. He'd be dead with nothing but
memories left behind. No little piece of immortality for Tyr Anasazi,
no children. Not even mongrel ones. This was stupid, he was going to
be fine. He always was.

And what about Harper? Well, to be fair Tyr hadn't been sure if he'd
hurt her the first time, so she could see that it might be easy to
misunderstand if you'd only heard her screaming. And he had really
only been trying to protect her. But if Harper hadn't being trying to
get some sick kick out of seeing Tyr screwing her this would never
have happened. It also made Beka wonder what the engineer had stashed
in his quarters. This time Harper had gone too far to forgive. She
was personally going to tear him a new one if, when he got back.

Time dragged on. How long had Harper been gone? Beka checked the time
on the panel above her. Twenty minutes. The message from the fighter
would take fifteen minutes to reach the 'Maru, which would put the
Tyr ten minutes from the slipstream entry point. Time to spare, thank
the divine that the 'Maru couldn't go too fast right now. Say another
thirty five minutes before anyone got back.

Thirty minutes. Any time now. Any minute.

Forty minutes. Still no real reason to worry, the engines could have
died on the 'Maru. Any number of minor problems could be holding them
up. that time when Tyr's wife had died they'd spent five days looking
before they had found him.

Fifty minutes. The lights suddenly came back on to full, and there
was power humming through all the ships systems. Rommies diagnostic
cycle must have ended.

Sixty minutes. Still nothing.

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