The android avatar of the Andromeda Ascendant stood on her bridge overseeing the ‘night watch’ while her crew took a little shipboard R&R. Less than a nanosecond after she thought of them, she knew where each of them was. Captain Dylan Hunt was asleep in his cabin, and the sensors in his room indicated that he was deep in REM sleep; Beka Valentine was in the docking bay tinkering with the Eureka Maru; Seamus Harper was below decks upgrading Rommie’s internal sensors; Rev Bem was meditating on the observation deck; Trance Gemini was tending the plants in the hydroponics bay, and Tyr Anasazi was working out in the gym.

Everyone was accounted for and all systems were normal, so Rommie turned her attention to other things.

“Rommie?” Beka’s voice came over the comm.

“Yes Beka?”

“Did we have any scheduled visitors today that I didn’t know about?”

“No, we don’t have any appointments until the opening of the new Than colony in four months. Oh, except for our visit to Aurora Drift in a couple of days. But nothing for today, why?”

“Okay then, why is there a ship parked next to the Maru?”

“What ship?” Rommie turned all of her sensors towards the docking bay and preformed a series of detailed scans, sensing nothing but the Maru. It wasn’t until she activated the docking bay video monitors that she could actually see the small oblong ship that sat dwarfed in the shadow of the Maru.

“How did it get in here without you detecting it Rommie?” Beka asked. “I mean, your sensors should have picked it up before it got within 100 million kilometers.”

“I don’t know,” Rommie was baffled. Through the video link she watched as Beka walked around the small ship.

“Rommie.”

“Yes Beka?”

“I think you’d better get everyone to the bridge.”

“Why?”

“It’s empty.”

~*~

Harper was the first one to make it to the bridge, he’d been just down the corridor working on the internal sensor array. The bridge door opened silently, and he stepped in to see Rommie’s avatar standing at his station trying to figure out why she still couldn’t see the ship with her sensors.

A soft rustle off to the left made him turn, and he discovered that they weren’t alone. Crouched on top of one of the stations was one of the strangest humanoids he had ever seen, and that was saying something.

She had long, auburn hair that might have hung down to her hips if she’d been standing, and she watched him silently out of emerald green eyes. Her clothes were made out of some kind of gauzy opaque material, that seemed to be wrapped sort of like a sari.

“Uh, Rommie,” he said as he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Yes Harper?”

“Who’s your friend?” The woman tilted her head to one side, almost as he spoke, without ever taking her eyes from him.

“What are you talking about Harper?” Rommie turned around and finally caught sight of the woman perched on the comm. station.

As the woman continued to study them Tyr, Beka, Trance and Rev arrived, and the group started to wonder what they should do about her.

“She’s obviously dangerous,” Tyr said. “She made it all the way from the docking bay without setting off the sensors. Did she bring any friends?”

“No,” Beka said. “The ship wasn’t big enough to hold more than one person.”

The intruder continued to watch them from her perch. She watched whoever was speaking, but seemed to show no understanding of the words.

“I think we should kill her,” Tyr decided.

“We do not know her intent is hostile,” Rev Bem replied. “We all come from the divine.”

“What if she’s friendly?” Trance wondered. “What if she’s lost and just wanted to ask for help?”

“What if who wanted help?” Dylan arrived on the scene and followed Harper’s pointing finger. He stepped from behind them and found himself almost face-to-face with the intruder.

As soon as she saw his face, her eyes lit up, and she hopped off of the station. Tyr moved forward to intercept her, his hand going for the force lance at his side, but Dylan held up his hand. A moment later the woman was kneeling at Dylan’s feet, head bowed. She pulled something from the small pouch at her side, and held a scroll above her head.

“Captain Dylan Hunt of the Commonwealth starship Andromeda Ascendant, you are most cordially invited to a feast in honour of Their Royal Highnesses Prince Ætolus Robyn Endymionson and Princess Mizuno Ami to celebrate the renewal of their wedding vows.”

“Dylan, I advise you to…” Tyr began.

“I accept your most gracious invitation,” he took the scroll and stood, watching the messenger. “But that was a lot of trouble you went to getting it to me.”

She stood in one fluid movement and smiled at him, holding out her hand to him. Dylan returned the gesture, although the crew was surprised to see that instead of a handshake, they clasped each other’s arm hand to elbow.

“You know it wasn’t any trouble love,” she said as she pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the cheek.

The five crew members stepped further into the room and spread out. Beka looked at Dylan incredulously.

“Love? You know this girl Dylan?”

“This is Robyn, she’s a friend of the family.”

“You were trapped in a wormhole for three hundred years and she’s still around?”

“Okay, so she’s an old friend of the family,” Dylan smiled.

“An old friend of an old family. Well Dylan, are you going to introduce me to your new friends?”

“Shouldn’t we wait for yours?” Dylan asked. “I know you didn’t come alone.”

“Never.”

“Dylan,” Rommie interrupted.

“Yes Rommie?” He turned to look at her.

“There was only room for one person in that pod. Its capacity is only about 5 meters square.”

“Why don’t we all go to the observation deck where it’s a bit more comfortable. I assume we’ll meet everyone there?” Dylan gave Robyn a questioning glance.

“Well, they might be upset that you’re not willing to go and find them…”

Tyr looked at Beka, “I thought you said she was alone.”

“It’s bigger on the inside.”

“What?” Tyr looked at Robyn as they moved down the corridor toward the observation deck.

“The ship. On the outside it’s only big enough for one. On the inside it can hold… I don’t think we’ve found an upper limit yet. No one ever complains about it being cramped anyway.”

Harper was practically drooling. “Bigger on the inside?” He rushed forward until he was running alongside her.

“Harper.”

“Yes Dylan?”

“Don’t ask.”

“But why not? If we could use that technology, even just on one of the cargo bays…”

“It won’t work,” Dylan sighed.

“Why not?”

“Just don’t.”

“It’s not my design Mr. Harper,” Robyn said. “Although if you ask nicely, you might get some of the theory later. But not from me. All I know is which buttons to press,” she turned to Dylan. “Do you mind?” She asked, and started skipping ahead of them down the corridor.

“Are you sure she’s not a killer robot clone or anything? I mean, you’ve known her since before the Nietzschean war.”

“Yes, she is the same person I knew from three hundred years ago. No, she is not going to go insane and kill all of us. Yes, I can be sure of all of that. And the killer clone comes later.”

“What?!”

“Never mind. That, is a family problem.”

“Killer clones are a family problem?” The group entered the observation lounge. “Man, no offence Dylan, but I do NOT want to meet your family.”

A shape hurtled at Dylan out of the shadows.

“Uncle Dylan!”

At first, Harper thought it was the same woman he had seen on the bridge, but then he noticed her off to one side smiling and shaking her head.

“Uncle?” Beka’s jaw dropped. “But your personnel record says you didn’t even have any surviving family when you joined the High Guard.”

“He doesn’t exactly talk about his family.” The girl who held Dylan relaxed her grip and turned to the assembled group. Harper wasn’t the only one to notice the amazing similarity between the two women. The only real differences were superficial, like the colour of their clothes and the length of their hair.

“Captain Hunt is your uncle?” Tyr looked at Robyn.

“Lady’s Tears no. He’s a dear friend, but you couldn’t get me to join that family for love or chocolate. It’s bad enough that within one week of meeting one of them, half of them wanted to kill me.”

“It wasn’t half Robyn,” her mirror image said.

“It was only the ones with no sense of humour,” the crew stared at the young man who moved out of the shadows.

“And who is this?” Tyr looked at the energetic young man warily, while Trance looked almost startled at his arrival.

Dylan turned to Robyn with a questioning glance. She smiled.

“The gang’s all here. Start with the introductions Oh Merciful One,” Dylan rolled his eyes and turned to his crew.

“This is Robyn Goodfellow,” she smiled. “Nikki Fayre,” Robyn’s Doppelganger took a bow. “And Talon of course.” He then proceeded to introduce them to the others. “This is Rommie, the ship’s AI, Beka Valentine, Tyr Anasazi, Trance Gemini, Rev. Bem, and Seamus Harper. Talon, please do not sell him anything I will regret later.”

“I didn’t do it.”

“You always did keep interesting company Dylan. A Nietzschean, a Magog, two humans and a Whatever.”

“Hey, I’m not a Whatever.”

“Yeah,” Robyn said. “Her nose isn’t long enough.”

“And she’s purple not blue. Not to mention she’s not a muppet.”

Beka tried to follow the cerebral ping pong, “Dylan, who are these people? No, I think the better question is what are these people.”

“Yes Captain Hunt,” Tyr leaned against the bulkhead, arms crossed. “Who are these people, that they can move about completely unnoticed by Andromeda’s sensors?”

“Oh look,” Robyn turned towards him with a sunny expression, as though she had just noticed his presence. “A Nietzschean,” she looked him up and down as she moved closer. She fingered the fine mail shirt he wore as though appraising its value. “I guess he’s not a total loss.”

Dylan tried to repress a smile. He knew that Nietzscheans were used to being sized up by women, but he didn’t think Tyr quite knew what to make of Robyn. She ran a finger along one of the bone spikes that grew out of his forearm, marking him as Nietzschean, and smiled when they flexed like a cat’s claws.

Tyr watched the newcomers. That Dylan trusted them was apparent, but Dylan trusted easily. He would give anyone two more chances than Tyr thought they were worth. So long as protecting his companions aboard the Andromeda was in his best interest, Tyr would pay close attention to these newcomers. Perhaps they could be useful.

He watched the one called Robyn warily as she approached and appraised him. Some human women believed Nietzschean males were a worthy pursuit. Even as he assessed how this one, and her companions, might be useful to him, he realized that she and her companions made him uncomfortable. Robyn was the only one that had acknowledged his existence at all. She was, he realized, looking at him less like a woman in search of conquest, than someone admiring a painting or a well built starship.

“He any good?” She turned to Dylan. “I assume that he’s you’re tactical officer. Unless he’s your new personal trainer?”

Dylan laughed, “you’re right. He’s at tactical. But I am teaching him to play basketball. He’s not bad.”

“But he cheats,” Talon said from his perch near the bulkhead.

“Of course he cheats,” Dylan laughed. “So do you.”

“I don’t cheat. I just play by my own rules.”

Tyr looked at Talon. “Isn’t that cheating?”

“No, cheating is circumventing the rules. I just don’t use the ones on the box.”

Tyr looked to where Robyn stood next to Dylan, “do you ‘cheat’?”

“I don’t have to,” she said. “I always win.”

“Always?”

“Always.”

“Even by his rules?” Tyr gestured at Talon.

“By everyone’s rules,” she flashed a smile.

“Even Charlemagne doesn’t boast that much.”

“I don’t boast,” she said, still smiling. Tyr looked at Dylan, who chuckled and shrugged.

“You can’t always win,” Beka said. “Even with the amazing luck he has Dylan doesn’t win all the time.”

“Oh,” Robyn looked at Dylan. “Sorry.”

Dylan shook his head, and pulled Robyn into a hug. She looked like a child in his arms.

“Hey,” she exclaimed, and punched him playfully in the shoulder as she backed away a step. “Keep your hands to yourself.”

“I didn’t,” Dylan laughed as Rommie’s avatar looked shocked.

“Your loss,” Robyn laughed and danced out of reach.

~*~

Trance watched the three newcomers with undisguised interest. In her parallel future she had heard Dylan talk about these friends of his, but he had died before any of them had a chance to meet.

She shuddered at the memory of Dylan’s lifeless body floating through the vacuum of space, and pushed it away. She would not let it happen again. She looked up again, and saw Nikki making her way towards her.

“Dylan never really goes away you know,” she said softly.

“I watched him die once. In an alternate future,” Trance said. “He’s important. Nothing turns out right if he’s not around to finish it. I can’t let him die.”

“Here’s some advice for you Trance Gemini. Never give up on him, and never leave him for dead. As long as you remember that, you’ll be just fine. Real heroes like Uncle Dylan have a way of beating the odds. Even when you and Robyn aren’t watching out for them.”

“That was her?” Trance looked genuinely surprised. “I knew something was altering the probabilities, but I thought it was some kind of natural flux.”

Talon walked over to where the two girls sat, casually taking in the sights. It wasn't often that he spent any time on a starship, let alone a High Guard ship of the line like the Andromeda Ascendant. This hereandnow didn't hold much interest him. The Nietzscheans wanted his products, but weren't willing to pay the price. Not many people could these days.

As he drew near, Trance watched him out of the corner of her eye. "Who is he?" She asked quietly, "he seems... familiar, but I know I've never met him before."

Nikki looked up into Talon's grin.

"That doesn't mean he's never met you," she said.

"Oh." Trance looked puzzled for a moment, then her face brightened. "Okay," she beamed.

Rev. stood to one side, wondering many things, not the least of which was, how had they found the Andromeda?

He watched his shipmates sizing up the newcomers. Tyr as always would be trying to decide how their presence could benefit him. Beka would be suspicious, wondering when it would all go wrong. Harper would be wracking his impressive brain trying to figure out how something could be bigger on the inside. Rommie would most certainly be running system-check upon system-check trying to understand how she'd missed their arrival. But for once, Dylan's state of mind was as unfathomable as Trance's.

"A diligent shepherd," a voice said from behind him. He turned and found the little one called Robyn standing just behind him.

"Hmm?" As he turned back to the room his response was vaguely interrogative.

"The best shepherd is the one the sheep don't notice."

"There are many paths leading to the divine," he said cryptically.

"And the greatest of all those is the path of friendship."

Rev. turned again, just as Dylan reached them.

"So where are we headed Robyn? I need to have Rommie adjust our course."

Rommie's avatar joined them, and turned to Dylan. "We have to pick up the Ambassador from Aurora Drift and escort her to the peace talks on Davidian Prime in three days."

"That's okay," Robyn said. "It's on the way. We're headed to Aurien Tor. We'll need to make a couple of stops on the way, but we have a month."

"Alright Rommie, head for Aurora Drift. We'll deliver the Ambassador and then be on our way."

"Aye."

"Aurien Tor? Isn't that the legendary paradise world? Art, treasure, nude beaches?" Harper asked.

"That's the story," Beka said, never taking her eyes off of the newcomers. "It was a colony world for some 'utopian' group. It became a bit of a destination for people looking for something a bit different."

"But it's like a paradise world right? Like Earth was before the fall? I can't believe we're going to Aurien Tor. They say the Commonwealth's Interplanetary Surfing Championships were held there, because it had the most awesome waves in the known universe.

"Their Prince and Princess would preside over the contest, and the winner got to spend a year in their best hotel, and a million thrones. I wonder if they still have that?"

"Sure do," Beka and Harper jumped and turned to find Robyn sitting behind them. "Do you surf?"

"Yeah."

"You should enter then. It's a part of the post wedding festivities."

Beka glared at her, wondering how long she'd sitting there, and how she'd snuck up on them.

"So," when are you going to tell me who your engineer is? Can I take a tour of the ship?"

"For the answers to these, and other exciting questions... go talk to Tal."

"He's your engineer?" Harper pointed to the young man playing Rock-Paper-Scissors with Trance.

"Uh, yeah."

"Cool," Harper wandered off to talk shop, leaving Beka alone with Robyn.

"You don't like us much do you?" Robyn asked Beka, stretching her legs out in front of her.

"You make friends too easily. The only other person who hasn't taken an instant dislike to you is Tyr. And he doesn't count."

Robyn laughed silently, her sides heaving. "And how long did you distrust Dylan? He makes friends more easily than I. Even I liked him the instant I met him.

"But he was blonde, and I was homesick, so there might've been something else going on there," she smiled wistfully to herself. "Lady Bright, but that was a long time ago."

Over three hundred years if we believe your story."

"Ever the skeptic eh? And it's not my story anyway. Dylan's the one who mentioned that we knew each other."

"And if he hadn't?" Beka asked, more curious than suspicious now.

Robyn shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time we've pretended not to know him."

"When he was on top secret Argosy Special Forces missions?"

"Yeah. He doesn't like it though."

"Why?"

"Well, he hates lying."

"Right."

"But he also hates it when I tease him. If he's pretending he doesn't know me, he can't make me stop."

"Make you stop?"

"Well, he can try."

"No offence, but it doesn't look like he'd have much trouble."

"None taken," Robyn chuckled, her eyes dancing mischievously.

"Robyn," Dylan called across the room. "Are you undermining my position with the crew?"

"No, should I be?" Her voice was serious, but her eyes were still laughing.

"No," Nikki exclaimed. "That's my job. And I haven't even started yet."

Dylan laughed and gave her a hug. She kissed him on the cheek, and Robyn watched as Rommie's face dimmed, like a cloud moving across the face of the sun.

Tyr watched them all silently from just inside the door, patiently waiting for things to realign in his favour. If he had learned nothing else from Dylan, he had learned patience. Eventually there would come a time when he could use their presence here to further his plans. Maybe this time he could ensure his son's future.

He began to stare out through the observation port, watching the stars slowly shift perspective as they journeyed to Aurora Drift using their sublight engines. A flash of light in the distance caught his attention.

"Andromeda, what was that?" Tyr asked quietly. A hologram appeared next to him, flickering occasionally.

"What was what Tyr?"

"There was a flash, 10* to port. It was... unpleasantly familiar."

Andromeda swept the area Tyr had indicated with her sensors, searching for anything out of the ordinary. A few nanoseconds later she discovered traces of the phenomenon Tyr had noticed. It took her a full second to match it to anything in her vast database. In the meantime, she whiled away the time contemplating Dylan's physical symmetry down to the nearest micrometer.

When a match was found, it took Andromeda a half second to realize the significance, and another to overcome the shock.

In less than three seconds, Tyr watched her face go from its usual non-committal expression to a grim mask. She announced to the room, "beginning transmission interruption cycle. Captain, I've detected a beacon transmitting two tight band signals.

Dylan's voice mirrored Rommie's. "What frequencies?"

The frequencies are synchronized with Tyr and Beka's brainwaves."

"Oh, no," Beka groaned. "Not again. Dimension hopping aliens screwing with my mind."

"I didn't do it," Beka spun around and discovered Dylan looking suspiciously at Talon, who wore a studiously innocent expression.

"This time," Nikki chuckled.

"Harper's signal interrupter is blocking those, so as long as they stay on board, they should be just fine."

"Yeah," Harper grimaced. "As long as I can keep their signal from breading through."

"Have you tried using a portable signal disrupter with a self-adjusting field modulator?" Talon asked curiously.

"If I knew what the heck one was, I might have. Do you know where I can get a couple? How do they work?"

Talon looked at Dylan, who sighed.

"If you can use it to help my crew, put it on my tab. But don't let him break the bank Talon. I don't really feel like a repeat of the Augean incident." Everyone watched as Talon and Harper headed for the machine shop, already discussing the possibilities.

"Rev Bem, would you please show Robyn and Nikki to the guest quarters? Beka, Tyr, Trance, I'd like to have a word."

~*~

Rev Bem conducted Nikki and Robyn through the corridors, keeping up a running commentary on the Andromeda and her more famous exploits in the restoration of the Commonwealth.

"I've taken the liberty of assigning you to the junior officer's quarters. They're close to Captain Hunt's suite, but there are enough suites for your other friends as well."

"We appreciate your thoughtfulness Rev Bem," Nikki said as he showed them to a pair of suites.

"Yeah, if you ever decide to ditch the hero biz, you could always open a hotel here."

"I don't think Andromeda would take well to that idea."

"No," Robyn looked around at the Spartan corridors and internal defence systems. "I don't think she would."

~*~

Dylan stood on the bridge, anxiously awaiting Rommie's report. Had their mysterious attackers managed to break through again? Would Talon's device allow Tyr and Beka to remain free of their influence? Well, there at least he could be sure of the answer.

"How do you know you can trust these people?" Beka asked as she watched Re guide the strangers around the ship on Andromeda's internal cameras.

"You can stop watching them now. They won't steal the silverware." And, he thought to himself, they could do it just as easily with while you were watching as not. " I know I can trust them because I know them. Better than I know you. I've known all three of them for a very long time."

"Are they really family?" Trance asked? Dylan was pleased to see that she was regaining some of her old exuberance.

"In a roundabout way Nikki is. And you'll meet Aetolus when we get to Aurien Tor of course."

"Your nephew?"

"Yes."

"Do you have any pictures?" Trance wondered.

Dylan picked up a flexi, thought for a moment, and then began to access his personal encrypted files.

Beka, Tyr and Rommie feigned indifference, but Trance wasn't the only curious one. The only picture of Dylan they had ever seen was the one with his fiancee he kept on his desk.

As soon as Dylan turned, Trance snatched the flexi from his hand excitedly. "Sorry," she said with no sign of remorse.

She moved next to Beka, and they regarded the picture. Rommie, still devoting 95% of her available processing power to searching for the spatial anomaly, drifted over.

The photo showed a young, dark haired man arm wrestling with a long-haired Dylan. Nikki and a young girl with blue hair, were attempting to shift the odds out of Dylan's favour, pulling against his arm. Everyone was laughing, and someone outside the frame had thrown popcorn.

"This is your nephew?" Beka pointed to the laughing young man.

"Yes, that's Aetolus. And that," he pointed to the blue-haired girl. "Is his wife, Ami."

Rommie's voice echoed unexpectedly through the ship. "Brace for impact." Her image appeared on the display screens. "The probe has launched a torpedo," she said as the explosion rocked this ship. Fast on its heels was a wave of pain that drove the bridge crew to its knees. With a thought Rommie, the only one left standing, loosed a barrage destroying the small probe along with any hope of discovering its origins.

As usual, Dylan was the first to recover his feet (except Rommie of course). He staggered to his battle station before asking Andromeda to report.

"I had just pinpointed the location of the vortex when the probe launched some sort of two stage missile. The first stage used an unknown explosive to breach the hull near machine shop 17."

"Trying to destroy Harper's machine?"

"That would be my conclusion. The second stage emitted some kind of neural energy, targeted directly at the pain centers of your brains."

"Did it affect everyone?"

"Yes. Harper's lost consciousness, and Talon's taken him to the infirmary. Rev Bem, Robyn, Nikki and Talon are all complaining of headaches, and I think you should all have med scans done. Your neural readings spiked alarmingly just before I launched."

"And you destroyed the probe?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Keep scanning for the vortex, and let me know what you find. I think I'm going to take your advice and make sure my brain isn't scrambled," Dylan said, rubbing his temple.

A chorus of groans from around the bridge let him know that he wasn't going to be alone.

They made their way to the infirmary, trying not to succumb to the pain. The sound of the door shushing open elicited another round of groans.

Trying very hard not to make a sound, Trance moved to the cupboard containing the pain killers. Leaving the unconscious Harper for last, she started with herself, the moved to Dylan, Beka and Tyr. When she approached, Talon waved her away.

"I'll be fine," he said. "Help Harper."

A moment later, Nikki and Robyn helped Rev Bem in and sat him down on the table next to Harper.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?" Trance asked, scanning his vital signs.

"He's fine. The psi blast seems to have affected his balance. He was pretty wobbly on the way here," Nikki said.

Robyn reached into a small pouch at her hip and pulled out a small square of something and held it to her forehead. When she pulled it away, there was a paisley swirl left behind.

"Oh, that feels so much better," Robyn said as she passed the square to Nikki. Soon she too was sporting a paisley, and handing the square to Talon.

"Does that help? Is there a painkiller in the ink?" Trance asked. "How does it work?"

"It works because they think it will," Talon said absentmindedly, testing the paisley maker discretely on the walls of the infirmary.

"Let's not get into this again. I mean, everything works because someone thinks it will."

"Exactly."

"Is he insane?" Beka whispered to Tyr.

"Yes," Talon said. "But what does that have to do with the nature of the universe?"

"Pretty much everything," Robyn said with a smile.

"Point. And speaking of thinking," Talon held out his hand towards Beka and Tyr. In it were a pair of discs about the size of a bottle cap. "Just put one of these behind your ear."

"And how much are these going to cost me?" Dylan asked suspiciously.

"After your preferred customer discount? About two kilos."

"Processed?"

"Of course."

"I guess that's not too bad. What would it be without the discount?"

"You don't want to know."

"Hm. Well, I want everyone outfitted with one of these now. I have a feeling we're going to need them."

~*~

The next two days passed uneventfully, with Andromeda's crew seeing their visitors only at meals. The rest of the time the strange trio spent their time closeted in Dylan's office poring over star charts trying to decide their route to Aurien Tor.

They arrived at Aurora Drift with enough time for everyone to make themselves presentable.

"We are representing the Commonwealth," Dylan said. "If the Ambassador can affect a peace between the opposing factions on the Nirabi homeworld, they've agreed to join the Commonwealth. And they'll give us exclusive access to their new instantaneous communications system.

"I don't know what they're grumbling about anyway. It's not a formal occasion. No dresses, no ties," he said to Talon later when they stood outside the airlock, awaiting the Ambassador's shuttle.

"This ship has a full compliment of remote slipfighters?" Talon asked.

"Yes," Dylan said. "RF-42 Centaurs. They can also be piloted from the cockpit as well. She's also outfitted with 40 Nova Bombs, OM-5 standard offensive kinetic kill missiles, DM-5 standard defensive kinetic kill missiles, PM-6 Star Arrow smart anti-ship missiles, and small arms for 4132. In fact, Andromeda is almost as well armed as you."

"Impressive," Talon said.

"What's impressive?" Rommie asked.

"Talon was just remarking on how well stocked your armory is."

"Yes, well," Rommie seemed a bit flustered. "I am a warship." She looked away. "The Ambassador has arrived."

Harper shuffled his feet, slipping the flexi-novel he'd been reading into one of his numerous pockets. Beka stopped pacing the corridor, Tyr continued to be Tyr, and Robyn, Nikki, and Trance packed up the deck of cards they'd been amusing themselves with.

The airlock opened with a rush of equalizing pressure, and a cloaked and hooded figure stepped through.

"Ambassador," Dylan stepped forward. "I'm Capt. Hunt, welcome aboard the Andromeda Ascendant."

The hooded Ambassador nodded gravely, and handed Dylan a flexi bearing the official Nirabi seal. As he began to peruse the document, the Ambassador moved down the line of greeters, stopping in front of Robyn." "You," a feminine voice exclaimed from within the hood. The Ambassador pointed a finger at Robyn, who looked cross-eyed at the blue tinted nail that hovered in front of her face.

"You still owe me that game of Barak Stones, my dear," the hood fell away to reveal a young woman with large blue eyes, and hair the colour of sapphires held back by a gold circlet.

"You're the Ambassador?" Robyn exclaimed as they threw their arms around each other. Nikki and Talon joined in the hug, while everyone but Dylan looked on in confusion.

"And you," she broke away from the group hug and turned to Dylan. "When they said a Captain Hunt was escorting me to Nirabi they never said it was you."

"You weren't exactly forthcoming with your name either Taeha," he gestured with the flexi. "Welcome aboard Your Highness. I trust you'll find the accomodations to your liking."

"I think I'll manage," she smiled. "After all, it's bound to be better than that deathtrap of a transport ship we took to the last Millenium party."

"The one where the Captain turned off the gravity at night? No, you won't be banging your head on the ceiling here," they both turned to glare at Robyn.

"Hey," Robyn threw up her hands defensively. "You can't blame me for that. You arranged for your own transportation that trip."

"This seems like way too much of a coincidence to me," Harper said.

"Coincidenced happen all the time around Robyn," Nikki said from the sidelines. "Sorta like fights gravitate towards Dylan. It's just the way the universe works."

"Oh," Harper's forehead crinkled up as he tried to contemplate this new bit of information.

"Just don't think about it Harper," Talon said companionably. "It hurts less that way."

"Fights do not gravitate towards me," Dylan said indignantly.

Everyone turned to him, incredulous. Robyn raised one eyebrow. "Dylan, even if you didn't go out of your way looking for them, they always end up involving you somehow. The snakes for example."

"The snakes?" Beka echoed.

"Don't ask Beka," Dylan turned to her.

"I... I don't think I will. I'm not really sure I want to know."

"I do," Trance said as Dylan began to walk down the corridor.

"I find myself strangely curious as well," Tyr said.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Robyn said, skipping ahead to hand something to the Ambassador. "I thought I was going to have to get Tal to pop over and deliver this for me. But lucky, lucky, I can do it myself," Taeha broke the wax seal and proceeded to peruse the parchment.

"Cordially invited, blah blah blah, celebration blah highnesses Aetolus, Ami blah blah RSVP. Ooh, a party! Yay cake," she said cheerfully.

"Yay cake," Robyn echoed gleefully.

"Consider me RSPVed," she said.

"But what about the treaty?" Dylan asked, stopping short. Robyn had to skid to a halt to keep from running into him.

"Oh, the treaty. Well, it's not like that'll take very long. Especially not with your help," she looked at Nikki.

"Okay," Nikki said. "That'll be fun. It's been a while since I got to influence treaty negotiations."

"Influence?" Dylan's look could have bored a hole through Rommie's hull.

"You are so not fun when you're in 'Save The Universe' mode Uncle Dylan," she stuck her tongue out at him.

"When isn't he in 'Save The Universe' mode?" Beka muttered softly to herself.

"Okay fine. We won't influence the negotiations. Only speed them up," Taeha said, as she, Nikki and Robyn raised their right hands and said formally "We will not muck around in their heads, we will try not to play mind games, and we will not throw popcorn at the poor politicians."

"Did we forget anything?" Robyn asked Taeha.

"Do we promise not to eat all the cake?" Nikki asked.

"Of course not," Taeha replied.

"He can only ask so much of us you know," Robyn said indignantly.

"Ladies," Dylan interruped. "I appreciate your honesty," he chuckled.

"We promised a long time ago that we wouldn't interfere."

"Yes, but I've seen some of the things you consider 'not interfering.'"

"Yeah, well..." Robyn shrugged and smiled.

~*~

Dylan sat in his office looking at Andromeda's holigram with a bemused smile. "If it makes you feel any better, you can seal off all restricted and sensitive areas. Give them access to the docking bay, the mess hall, the observation deck, and the other common areas."

"Thank-you Captain," Andromeda said, before her image winked out. It would make her feel better, but it wouldn't do any good.

~*~

The Andromeda Ascendant arrived at the Nirabi homeworld quickly, and the Ambassador's party was ushered immediately into the tent set up in neutral territory.

The leaders of the opposing factions were yelling insults at each other, their quill-like crests flushed red with anger.

Taeha sat down quietly at the table, as did Dylan and Beka representing the Commonwealth. Robyn and Nikki stood unobtrusively behind them, mirroring the guards behind the Nirabi war leaders.

"Robyn," Taeha said, watching the two men argue.

"Yes Highness?" She stepped forward.

"Stop this before it gets out of hand. And it's about to get out of hand."

"Of course," Robyn stepped between the Nirabi just as the taller of the two began to bristle, his quills rising around his face. "The Ambassador will speak with you now," both men turned, focusing their anger on this stranger, their crests flaring out and turning a bright, violent red as they yelled at her. Turning back, Robyn saw Taeha's nod of approval. From behind her came a bucket full of icy-cold water, which she tossed in their faces. Her eyes twinkled as she returned to her place behind the Ambassador. The Nirabi delegates sputtered and pulled their crests in close to their heads.

"Now," the Ambassador said cheerfully. "Will you gentlemen have a seat, or shall I have Robyn show you out?"

With much muttering, the Nirabi leaders took their seats, and took the next step on the long road to peace.

~*~

"How are they doing it?" Beka asked. She and Dylan had excused themselves after several hours, once they were sure the negotiations were going relatively smoothly.

"They've had some practice. I think they'll have the treaty finalized by this time tomorrow," Dylan activated the comm link with Andromeda. "Andromeda, status?"

"The treaty is proceeding quickly. I don't know how your friend is doing it."

"Water."

"Water?" Rommie and Beka were confused.

"They can have all the water they can drink, but Taeha won't let them leave until the negotiations are over for the day."

"That's... amazing," Beka said as it set in.

Angry shouting from the negotiations tent drifted their way, and the pair sprinted back the way they'd come. Beka and Dylan arrived just in time to see one of the Nirabi guards fly out through the front flap. Nikki stepped out a moment later, brushing her hands off.

"Don't worry. We've got it under control," Dylan gave her a questioning look. "It was one of those plots. 'Those who would compromise with our enemies must die, blah blah blah.' You know the ones," she said, as Dylan nodded.

"Zealots," he said.

"With none of the charm of the originals," Nikki replied, stepping back into the tent and resuming her station behind the Ambassador.