She ran as fast as she could through the dark, slippery streets. The rain was pouring down; combined with the darkness making it harder for her to see. The heavy breathing confirmed she was still being followed, the steps behind her on the wet, muddy ground alerting her that he was far too close. She tried to speed up, but it was as if she was moving in quicksand, her legs feeling slow and heavy. The street seemed as if it would never end and the walls around her were close, too close, and yet all she could think was Don’t look back. Something compelled her not to turn around, somehow knowing if she saw him he would catch her. She tried to speed up but his breathing was getting closer and closer, his steps getting faster as hers got slower. Suddenly rough hands caught her shoulders, pushing her down on the muddy ground. It was still dark and she couldn’t make out his face as he pinned her deep into the dirt…
She screamed.
Sitting up with a loud scream, Beka found she wasn’t on a dark, muddy street, she was in her quarters on Andromeda. Looking around her confirmed there was no one there; she was alone.
“Andromeda, lights,” she gasped. The dark was making her feel uncomfortable. “Play some music. Anything.” Andromeda started playing cheerful cheesy pop music. Normally Beka would have smiled at this reminder this was indeed a sentient ship, she wouldn’t just play something random but something she felt was appropriate. Under the circumstances, she just fell back onto the pillows, taking small comfort in the light and noise around her. She felt sweaty all over like she’d just run a mile and she had a strong feeling this night hadn’t quite left her as rested and clear-headed as she’d hoped.
She wasn’t sure where to go from there. Part of her didn’t want to be alone, but this was exactly what another part desperately craved. She carefully weighed her options. Being in the company of a friend would help her feel safer and distract her a bit. On the other hand, pretending everything was fine was indeed quite a difficult task to deal with. Though that was of course what she’d have to do. No way would she be putting this on anyone else. She had to be strong, she had to deal with this herself.
Making a decision, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and headed for the shower. At least she’d get all this sweat off her; maybe it would help her feel better.
****
“Do you think this is going to work?”
“Yes Mr Harper, I do. It’ll help, somewhat.” Dylan looked over at The Maru, where it was parked in the hangar bay. After finding out the contract the small company kept was fake, it hadn’t been hard to get the ship back from them. It seemed most of their business was quite shady, and had they been caught with this, perhaps it would uncover a lot more that just wasn’t worth it. To be honest, he didn’t really care. Revenge was, for now, irrelevant. All he wanted, out of other ideas, was the Maru back to make Beka happier.
“You do know it’s not going to make everything fine again, don’t you?” Rommie’s serious voice came from behind him. He sighed.
“Ever the mood-killer, aren’t you?” he said, half jokingly. Rommie ignored his statement and continued.
“She had a nightmare last night.”
“Oh? Bad?”
“Her heartrate was at a worrying level and she woke up screaming. Yes, I’d say bad.”
“But…that is to be expected, isn’t it?” Rommie nodded.
“However, I don’t think leaving her alone like we have is a good idea.”
“True,” Dylan agreed, “but what are we meant to do? It’s hard to force company on someone. Hopefully having her ship back will make her happier.”
“It will,” Harper cut in, “of course it will. We all know how much she loves the Maru. It’ll make everything better…won’t it?”
“Better, yes,” Rommie sighed, “but good? That remains to be seen.”
“Well, I’ve fixed her up as well as I could. These people don’t seem like they’ve used her much, she’s in quite good condition, and…”
“Harper,” Dylan interrupted, “I’m sure she’s fine. Good job.” Harper looked awkward for a moment.
“I just…I just want it all to be back to how it used to be.” He sighed. “I don’t want this to ever have happened. It shouldn’t have happened and I’d give anything for this whole thing to just be erased.”
“So would I,” Dylan said, patting him on the shoulder. “But we can’t. All we can do is make the best of the situation.”
****
“Beka,” Andromeda interrupted her brooding, “Dylan needs you in hangar bay two.” Beka quirked an eyebrow.
“Why?” She could’ve sworn she saw a small smile on the hologram’s lips.
“Unknown. You’ll see when you get there.” Well, she could do with a distraction anyway. She went into the bathroom first to see if she could erase any traces of crying. At the sight of herself in the mirror she cursed loudly. That clearly wasn’t going to happen. Oh well. She splashed some cold water over her face and hoped it would clear it out a bit. Or she could just look at the floor a lot.
When she got there, the rest of the crew suddenly jumped out, balloons filling the room.
“Surprise!” They were all there, they had a big sort of birthday cake and champagne glasses filling the room. But Beka only had eyes for one thing. The Maru. It was back.
