Raa sat tense as the crew came onto the bridge. Rommie stood behind him, a smile twitching the corners of her face. Dylan stood beside him, if only Dylan would keep standing beside him. Ma’ctor came in slowly. Still a little gray from his seizure. Raa touched his arm and pointed him towards a spot to sit. Next Tyr and Harper entered, Tyr leaning slightly ahead and in front of Tyr. He’s protecting Harper. I guess that and the collar means they are happy. Raa turned to see Ma’ctor looking at him. Ma’ctor’s eyes flicked to the new couple and Ma’ctor smiled.

Beka strode aggressively onto the bridge followed by a chattering Trance. Rev placid as always took stood at the door. Rommie placed a small disk on the floor and a hologram of Rolf appeared.

"Well, now that we are all here, we have some decision that have to be made by all of us. Raa?"

"My name is not Gavain Raa. It is Gaheris Rhade the Second. I am a clone of the original Gaheris. During shore leave on the Howe, Gaheris and Dylan both gave several sperm samples and genetic samples. Later after the genetic data bank left the Howe. A selection of material remained behind.

"Sometime before the war started, Gaheris committed a great deed. It was such a great deed that he was able to request from his own blood sister an egg. You all know how much Nietzschean prize our genetic history, therefore for a woman to give up an egg, knowing that the genetic material in that egg will be discarded to be replaced by genetically engineered material is a great sacrifice. For her to in turn bear the altered egg, shows the sheer magnificence of the deed. For his sister did bear the child. That child was the daughter of Gaheris and Dylan. From Gaheris she got the advantages of being Nietzschean, from Dylan she was a quarter heavy worlder, those genetically manipulated to colonize the heavier gravity world. Her name was Denalie. She later became the Matriarch of the Gryphon Pride.

"The past 303 years, the descendants have been the Matriarchs of the Gryphon Pride. The present Matriarch is Onnika. I was born two years ago when Onnika woke me up. She gave me a short synopsis of what has happened. Would it shock you Tyr to find out that they consider you to be a traitor for staying with the Andromeda? I bet not. From what little I could gather from Onnika’s database was that the Vedrans aren’t really all that down. There seems to be some hint of rebuilding but I couldn’t pull together anything conclusive.

"True to form about 8 months before I was picked up by you I left Onnika. I was tired of having her run my life. I did get a job on board the Rakshava. I didn’t know about the crash. When we did crash I contacted her, I figured she might still need me, but then I ran into you. It was such a coincidence, I believed myself to have been herded.

"Since then, I have kept in contact with her, but amazingly for all the trouble she went through to get on board this ship, I have had no instructions to sabotage the Andromeda. We are heading towards Gryphon space. Everyone knows about Andromeda now. They even know that one Ancestor of Gryphon killed the other. Everyone knew that it would have to be one or the other. Doesn’t make it easier to accept. Onnika was no happy. She believes that Dylan should have laid down his life simply because he was so honored to have a child with a Nietzschean. I know Onnika will want him dead but Dylan survived and we all prize survival. So when he meets her, she’ll have to play nice. She hates him and us.

"Dylan is an Ancestor of Gryphon Pride, she dares not kill him openly nor us for we are his crew and such an insult can not be taken. Dylan has the right to move through this system, he can make treaties, anything. When he moves in, he can take over Gryphon. For 300 years we have had a female leader instead of a male. For 300 years we prospered. Now we have Dylan and they will do as he says. His presence alone strips her of her power. In a few hours we will be in Gryphon space. What shall we do?"

* * *

After two hours of discussion, no one had any coherent ideas. Raa stood up and looked out at the stars, "Less than three hours before we are in her space. My thought is we come in spouting Dylan’s peace talk as usual. Dylan, act ignorant of your place. This will lead her into false security, she will oversteps her bounds and you may get her to step down without killing her. Onnika will wonder why you are ignorant since Tyr would know most of this. That is why Tyr is going to betray you. Tyr, if the Vedrans are reestablishing the Commonwealth and that is Dylan’s goal too, you would best be on our side. Why? Cause Harper wants you to, the benefits of Vedran goodwill, plus the prestige of making a new Commonwealth where the Nietzscheans are one of the prime movers. Helping them reestablish the Commonwealth will put you in a unique and powerful position. Women will flock to you. You can reestablish your Pride. Better yet, since I think Harper is little too possessive, such a deed would mark you as a great leader, one who can unite the Nietzscheans. Who would not open their genetic vaults? What women would not carry those children? With one decision you can raise and unite the Nietzscheans. So what I want you to do is get other Nietzscheans to ally themselves with you. Explain what can be theirs. That’s all.

"Harper, you and Beka, should be considered invisible if it were not for the fact that Beka is his first officer. As the second in command of the Ancestor’s vessel you will have a right to examine any ship, any record you wish. Since if Dylan takes over Gryphon they would expect you to continue in that manner. They know Beka that you were once a Captain of your own ship, Maru. They know you submit to being the Ancestor’s second in command, you lose no respect and even though you are human they will treat you a lot better. After all the Denalie was half human and she still managed to take over Gryphon and make it prosper. Dylan is considered to be almost good enough to be a Nietzschean. It’s a compliment.

"Harper, all the labs, research, everything is yours. She will give you passwords to unlock anything. If it doesn’t, kick up a stink about it. Behave like a brat. All geniuses are temperamental and spoiled, even our own.

"As for Trance... well she seems so innocent that at first they will not believe anyone can be that naive, so everyone play up stories about how innocent she is. They will believe soon enough that anything she does that is insulting or out of protocol is simply cause she doesn’t know it and can not be taught. Simple, in other words. Let’s use it to our advantage as she has already done so.

"Ma’ctor. We will let them know that you sometimes go into fits... of your Thinker abilities. This will prompt them to listen very carefully what you say. If you feel a true Thinker fit coming. Get back to the ship or someplace else that is safe and unmonitored and someone of the crew will take care of you. Otherwise, when we want them to believe disinformation we may use a ‘fit’ to disseminate it.

"Rommie is a being of respect because she is a truly loyal individual and because she is the Ancestor’s ship, the Andromeda. She is and was home to the two who made the one who elevated Gryphon. In fact, Denalie’s ship was called the Perseus. Perseus being Andromeda’s rescuer and husband in Greek legend.

"As for Rolf, no one should see him, let’s have one person we all trust to be hidden. Rev, they already know about you but Nietzscheans do not like Magog. I suggest you limit yourself to meeting with diplomats and negotiators, they are more forgiving and won’t try to kill you. We don’t want to lose you Rev, so let’s not give them the chance."

Raa leaned back and turned to Dylan, "Good plan?"

"Yeah Rhade, you have everyone’s future planned," Beka frowned, "but what will you be doing?"

"Playing Onnika and hoping she doesn’t think I’ve betrayed her. Making myself into a target. Making myself more despised than Tyr, he has the excuse that if he helps Dylan that maybe he can rebuild his Pride. I don’t. Most of all, I am going to try and make sure I stay alive. Isn’t that what all Nietzscheans do?" Raa pushed himself up off the floor and walked off the bridge. Quickly he strode down the halls to the quarters he was sharing with Dylan and headed straight for the bedroom. Dropping onto the bed, he curled up and went to sleep.

* * *

Dylan frowned as he walked down the hall to his quarters. After Raa had left, the rest had discussed, argued, and talked loudly about the plan but it was put into effect with some minor revision. Rhade, Dylan shook his head, Raa really was somewhat a genius when he wanted to. Dylan entered his quarters and looked around for the young man. Striding straight to the bedroom he stopped, Raa asleep on his bed. The past couple of months had let Raa grow his hair long. It curled slightly behind his ears. It lay flat on his neck but curled up as it reached his throat. Dylan leaned down and brushed the long hair out of his way. Slipping out of his ship leathers, he pulled the covers from under Raa. Sliding in next to him, Dylan covered them both and pulled Raa into his arms. A few minutes later Dylan was asleep.

Raa snuggled closer into the warm arms and fell back asleep feeling warm breath caressing his neck.

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