Last of a Kind, fanfiction
Title: Last of a Kind
Author: nickygabriel
Fandom: Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda
Characters/Pairing: Dylan, Rommie
Rating: R
Word Count: 1076
A/N: Thank you angelus2hot for your help! Written for smallfandomfest prompt “I’m the Captain” and angst_bingo.
Warning: spoilers for 1x06, Angel Dark, Demon Bright
“The Heavens burned, the stars cried out and under the ashes of infinity, hope, scarred and bleeding, breathed its last.”
Ulatempa Poetess "Elegy for the Commonwealth" CY 9823
Dylan was sitting on the observation deck and looking at the visible stars on the other side of the window. He was so deep in thought that he didn’t even notice when Rommie - Andromeda’s new personality - entered the room. The avatar approached him slowly and stopped next to him.
“Captain?” she asked when he still hadn’t acknowledged her.
“Can’t it wait?” he said through clenched teeth, bowing his head and resting his forehead on his palms.
Rommie frowned and tilted her head. “Mr. Harper just finished the reparations,” she informed him sternly. “We can leave this... place.” She looked at the stars on the other side of the window.
Dylan sighed. “Finished the reparations...” he whispered, massaging his temples. “If only it was possible to repair everything like that.”
Rommie realized he was still dwelling over what he'd had to do few hours ago. “But you just did it,” she said with conviction.
Dylan didn’t say anything for a moment, but then looked up at her. “Do you know what he told me?” he asked raucously.
Rommie knew whom he meant. Tyr had left an hour ago, but Dylan had stayed there all this time, as if waiting for something. Some conclusion maybe? Or possibly even absolution?
“I heard,” she admitted. There was no secret the warship couldn’t know about her crew members and their actions.
“Is guilt really a waste of time?” Dylan continued. “Did the universe change so much I don’t fit here anymore?”
Rommie shrugged. She knew these were rhetorical questions, but she answered anyway. “Emotions overload my circuits and I try to avoid them.” She looked down at him. “Captain, nobody expects you to deny your humanity when you make decisions like that. For you to stop feeling is like depriving a warship of its weapons. You can’t exist without your emotions and I can’t exist without my arms. This is how we are.”
Dylan got up and went to the force field that was serving as a window. “But is there still a place for you and me in these times?” he insisted. “Maybe to survive here we both have to change?”
“The analysis of the last three hundred years shows that getting what once was - restoring the Commonwealth to the version we remember - is impossible,” she informed him stoically. “If you change, nothing will be left from the old times. There will be nobody who would restore the old order.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Has it ever discouraged you?” She imitated the same gesture perfectly.
Dylan smiled for a brief moment, but then asked seriously again, “Maybe it won’t be that hard when I change.”
Rommie thought about it. Philosophical disputes usually used most of her CPU capacity so she didn’t let it take a lot of time.
“Maybe that’s just it?” she said finally. “Maybe as long as it’s not easy, we can... hope?”
Dylan faced her with a frown. “Hope, Rommie?”
“Isn’t that how you call it?” The avatar was disconcerted. Sometimes she couldn’t understand human beings. Or Nietzscheans. Or Perseids. Well, usually she didn’t understand any non-mechanical life forms in general.
“I just killed one hundred thousand people! How can they follow a leader like that?” Dylan waved toward the stars scattered on the scenery visible from the observation deck. Rommie’s inner scanners noticed his blood pressure, his heartbeat, even his brain activity. He wasn’t angry. He was scared. Scared people were dangerous, not just for their enemies, but mostly for themselves. She couldn’t let him hurt her captain.
“These times need a leader who could make such a decision,” she said firmly. “And I’m proud this leader is my captain.”
Dylan stared at her for a moment without any expression but then just shook his head. “Will you ever understand it?”
“Dylan.” She stepped closer. "Every warship knows that she is only as strong as her commanding officer." The Commonwealth also needs a commanding officer - someone who is not afraid to face danger for them. They need you more than you need them. You are not their past, Captain. You are their future!”
Dylan just sighed. “I would like to believe it.”
Rommie smiled briefly. “It’s enough that they do,” she noted.
Dylan laughed bitterly at her words. “No, it’s not anymore. Not here. If I don’t believe, I can’t make them follow me.”
“But they already are following you,” she stated the obvious. Her new crew joined him no more than an hour after they got them from the event horizon, if that was not incredible power to make people follow him, Rommie didn’t know what was.
“They do it so far because there is no way back for them,” he said what apparently had bothered him for a really long time now. “You are the safest place in the universe now. Who wouldn’t like to live here?”
“Every one of them could stop you anytime they wanted to,” Rommie didn’t let him change the subject. “None of them did stop you. Even Tyr didn’t do it. Doesn’t it mean that there is not much difference between what you all believe in?”
Dylan looked at her surprised. There was something in his eye, what he'd missed since Tyr told them the real history of the battle.
“Rommie,” Dylan said and put his hands on her shoulders. “I’m glad I have you here.”
She blinked taken aback. “I... I just came to tell you that... Mr. Harper finished the reparations. And... and that we can... leave now.”
“Yes, we can,” he smiled at her.
She nodded and stepped back. She wasn’t used to such gestures yet. The new body she had gotten from their new engineer was a dangerous place to live in.
“Thank you, Rommie,” Dylan went to the window again, but she sensed he found some measure of peace he'd been missing when she came here. As she was leaving the deck she could see Dylan staring at the stars once again but his shoulders were not hunched anymore. She stopped by the door and frowned. She really understood him better than he realized.
You are not a relic of the old times, Captain. There are still people in this universe, but there is no warship like me anymore. I am the last of a kind here.
And against all logic, statistics and engineering, every single one of the warship’s personalities hoped it wasn’t really so.
* * *
Author: nickygabriel
Fandom: Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda
Characters/Pairing: Dylan, Rommie
Rating: R
Word Count: 1076
A/N: Thank you angelus2hot for your help! Written for smallfandomfest prompt “I’m the Captain” and angst_bingo.
Warning: spoilers for 1x06, Angel Dark, Demon Bright
“The Heavens burned, the stars cried out and under the ashes of infinity, hope, scarred and bleeding, breathed its last.”
Ulatempa Poetess "Elegy for the Commonwealth" CY 9823
Dylan was sitting on the observation deck and looking at the visible stars on the other side of the window. He was so deep in thought that he didn’t even notice when Rommie - Andromeda’s new personality - entered the room. The avatar approached him slowly and stopped next to him.
“Captain?” she asked when he still hadn’t acknowledged her.
“Can’t it wait?” he said through clenched teeth, bowing his head and resting his forehead on his palms.
Rommie frowned and tilted her head. “Mr. Harper just finished the reparations,” she informed him sternly. “We can leave this... place.” She looked at the stars on the other side of the window.
Dylan sighed. “Finished the reparations...” he whispered, massaging his temples. “If only it was possible to repair everything like that.”
Rommie realized he was still dwelling over what he'd had to do few hours ago. “But you just did it,” she said with conviction.
Dylan didn’t say anything for a moment, but then looked up at her. “Do you know what he told me?” he asked raucously.
Rommie knew whom he meant. Tyr had left an hour ago, but Dylan had stayed there all this time, as if waiting for something. Some conclusion maybe? Or possibly even absolution?
“I heard,” she admitted. There was no secret the warship couldn’t know about her crew members and their actions.
“Is guilt really a waste of time?” Dylan continued. “Did the universe change so much I don’t fit here anymore?”
Rommie shrugged. She knew these were rhetorical questions, but she answered anyway. “Emotions overload my circuits and I try to avoid them.” She looked down at him. “Captain, nobody expects you to deny your humanity when you make decisions like that. For you to stop feeling is like depriving a warship of its weapons. You can’t exist without your emotions and I can’t exist without my arms. This is how we are.”
Dylan got up and went to the force field that was serving as a window. “But is there still a place for you and me in these times?” he insisted. “Maybe to survive here we both have to change?”
“The analysis of the last three hundred years shows that getting what once was - restoring the Commonwealth to the version we remember - is impossible,” she informed him stoically. “If you change, nothing will be left from the old times. There will be nobody who would restore the old order.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Has it ever discouraged you?” She imitated the same gesture perfectly.
Dylan smiled for a brief moment, but then asked seriously again, “Maybe it won’t be that hard when I change.”
Rommie thought about it. Philosophical disputes usually used most of her CPU capacity so she didn’t let it take a lot of time.
“Maybe that’s just it?” she said finally. “Maybe as long as it’s not easy, we can... hope?”
Dylan faced her with a frown. “Hope, Rommie?”
“Isn’t that how you call it?” The avatar was disconcerted. Sometimes she couldn’t understand human beings. Or Nietzscheans. Or Perseids. Well, usually she didn’t understand any non-mechanical life forms in general.
“I just killed one hundred thousand people! How can they follow a leader like that?” Dylan waved toward the stars scattered on the scenery visible from the observation deck. Rommie’s inner scanners noticed his blood pressure, his heartbeat, even his brain activity. He wasn’t angry. He was scared. Scared people were dangerous, not just for their enemies, but mostly for themselves. She couldn’t let him hurt her captain.
“These times need a leader who could make such a decision,” she said firmly. “And I’m proud this leader is my captain.”
Dylan stared at her for a moment without any expression but then just shook his head. “Will you ever understand it?”
“Dylan.” She stepped closer. "Every warship knows that she is only as strong as her commanding officer." The Commonwealth also needs a commanding officer - someone who is not afraid to face danger for them. They need you more than you need them. You are not their past, Captain. You are their future!”
Dylan just sighed. “I would like to believe it.”
Rommie smiled briefly. “It’s enough that they do,” she noted.
Dylan laughed bitterly at her words. “No, it’s not anymore. Not here. If I don’t believe, I can’t make them follow me.”
“But they already are following you,” she stated the obvious. Her new crew joined him no more than an hour after they got them from the event horizon, if that was not incredible power to make people follow him, Rommie didn’t know what was.
“They do it so far because there is no way back for them,” he said what apparently had bothered him for a really long time now. “You are the safest place in the universe now. Who wouldn’t like to live here?”
“Every one of them could stop you anytime they wanted to,” Rommie didn’t let him change the subject. “None of them did stop you. Even Tyr didn’t do it. Doesn’t it mean that there is not much difference between what you all believe in?”
Dylan looked at her surprised. There was something in his eye, what he'd missed since Tyr told them the real history of the battle.
“Rommie,” Dylan said and put his hands on her shoulders. “I’m glad I have you here.”
She blinked taken aback. “I... I just came to tell you that... Mr. Harper finished the reparations. And... and that we can... leave now.”
“Yes, we can,” he smiled at her.
She nodded and stepped back. She wasn’t used to such gestures yet. The new body she had gotten from their new engineer was a dangerous place to live in.
“Thank you, Rommie,” Dylan went to the window again, but she sensed he found some measure of peace he'd been missing when she came here. As she was leaving the deck she could see Dylan staring at the stars once again but his shoulders were not hunched anymore. She stopped by the door and frowned. She really understood him better than he realized.
You are not a relic of the old times, Captain. There are still people in this universe, but there is no warship like me anymore. I am the last of a kind here.
And against all logic, statistics and engineering, every single one of the warship’s personalities hoped it wasn’t really so.
* * *