By Erin_Cale
Disclaimer: Andromeda isn't mine. I'm just having a little fun with the characters.
Life is not exactly as I expected it to be. Albeit, my expectations have changed since I was a boy, but even compared to the expectations of my later years, this reality falls far from the path I thought I would take. It is not the world bowing before my feet as I thought it would be when I was young, but it is not… whatever it was that I expected once I became part of the crew of the Andromeda.
Andromeda would think that I am becoming soft. She would tell me that life almost never turns out as expected, to deal with it and move on. If ever there was, is, or will be a ship with the soul of a Nietzchean, that would be her, the glorious and powerful Andromeda Ascendant.
Although I am not aboard at the moment, soon I will be returning to that proud ship. She is the symbol of the Systems Commonwealth and needs to be maintained. With Harper gone, that task falls to people who have not been with Dylan or the ship as long as I have and I prefer to keep an eye on the newcomers at all times. Perhaps I am paranoid, but Dylan, Andromeda, and myself have all had enough people attempting to destroy us to make us wary. And the fact that both Dylan and his ship were torn apart by the departure of the rest of the crew eight months ago makes their eyes less observant to potentially dangerous situations. Ironic, I suppose, that Andromeda would tell me to deal with the fact that life is chaos and move on while she herself grieves over things that were, over the family that she and Dylan (and myself, when I care to admit it) lost not too long ago.
A Nietzchean’s ability to survive depends on many things, not the least of which is his family. The pride is the one place where a Nietzchean can find some relative security. Of course there is risk even among the Pride itself. As I have discovered, even the strongest family can be torn apart by the simplest things. For instance, a few choice words can have two beings at each others’ throats in less time than it takes for a Human to blink.
That’s what happened to them and, on account of them, what happened to us. The two leaders of our “Pride” fought and, unlike Nietzchean battles, neither side seemed to emerge victorious. Instead, both limped off the battlefield battered and bloodied. The result was that the rest of us, having taken neither side, were left to our own devices. Harper, Trance, and Beka returned to what they were doing before the Andromeda Ascendant while I, having no reason to leave and one very strong reason to stay, did exactly the opposite of my shipmates. I stayed with Dylan and Andromeda for the simple reason that he still controls my property and I will not leave without it.
To that end, my short-lived shoreleave is almost up and unfortunately, I must return to my duties. Dylan, I imagine, is again sulking in his quarters or running himself ragged jogging around the ship. The duties that I mentioned also include making sure Dylan gets enough exercise, food, and sleep while making sure that he does not do too much of them.
They say that Nietzcheans are heartless mercenaries, having emotion only when it concerns their chance at being a husband and a father. They say that a Nietzchean would sell his soul if it would allow him to beat down all of his foes. Perhaps they would think that the loss of my shipmates doesn’t effect me, that I could care less. I think you’ll find, if you ever stop and listen to that nameless mass, that they are almost always wrong.
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