Beka Valentine dumped the carryall that contained what amounted to her entire worldly possessions - except for her ship - and stood gazing at the quarters that were now hers. Harper had been effusive in his admiration of the crew quarters, nothing new there; Harper was born effusive.
For once, he might not actually have been exaggerating. This is amazing! Beka wandered around, hand running absently over the smooth surfaces. This was crew quarters?! By today's standards this was beyond luxury... only the most powerful, the wealthiest could come close to this. And this was standard quarters for the crew?
The Andromeda Ascendant was a gleaming miracle, a tangible reminder of all that had once been and all that had been lost. Then there was her captain. Dylan Hunt. That man was dangerous.
He was a living reminder of what civilisation had once been capable of producing. The best and the brightest of a golden age, noble, heroic and - damn it all to hell - nice! A good and just man thrust into a whole new time and experience. His throwaway question earlier about the existence of authorities to turn Gerentex over to had been resigned. He knew damn well what the answer was going to be but he asked anyway.
Why had she agreed to this insanity? Dylan Hunt was going to try and bring back the morals, justice and compassion of the Commonwealth. When they'd pulled that ship from the gravitational field of the black hole, they'd pulled out the universe's last boy scout. And you agreed to join him, Beka. What were you thinking?!
Beka went into the bathroom area, once again dazzled by the amenities that had been considered standard. She splashed some water on her face and straightened up to look in the mirror. She took a deep breath and said, "Chasing a dream. It's a better gig than salvage runs. He's completely nuts if he thinks it's going to work but it should be an interesting ride. I'll grant him that."
Beka made her way back out to 'her' quarters and then headed out on her way to the bridge.
Andromeda flickered quickly into view, saying, "You'll do" and then flickered out again just as quickly.