Dylan was in a panic as he realized he was the only thing standing between Beka Valentine and certain death.

‘If I drop her, Rhade will never let me hear the end of it,’ thought the Captain as he frantically ran to and fro, trying to judge the location in which Beka was certain to land.

It was a struggle, but Dylan succeeded in catching his leotard-clad former first officer. As she landed in his arms, Dylan realized that, while Beka was certainly not by any means overweight, nevertheless her body mass was a bit more than he expected…especially given the fact that she had just fallen from about 100 feet above him. The resultant catch knocked Dylan Hunt to the ground flat on his back, with Beka landing right on top of him – sitting, her bum firmly planted on his face.

“Dylan, are you okay?” She only heard muffled cries, as Dylan gasped for air due to the fact she was smothering the life out of him. Rhade, deciding this was the most hilarious thing he had seen since that woman Lunah had shown up in the bar with that funny bird hat on her head, let out a belly laugh so loud that it startled everyone – Q, Beka, the Magog, and the Seefran audience. Had Dylan been able to hear him, no doubt he would have been the most surprised of all. Even the lady in red watched in amusement as the usually surly Nietzschean doubled over in laughter, snorted a few times and gasped for breath, and finally fell onto the floor, grasping his side. Certainly being in love (or whatever it was for a Nietzschean) was treating him nicely, and the lady was glad for that.

‘He needs some joy in his life. He’s too handsome to be so surly and unhappy all the time,’ thought the lady. ‘Still, Beka does need to get off Dylan’s face so he can breathe.’

“Um, Beka – can you, just…” began the lady as she motioned underneath Beka. Beka, in her confusion had not realized that she was smothering her captain to death.

“Oh…sorry, Dylan!” exclaimed Beka in embarrassment as she rose to her feet, brushing herself off. Dylan lay there coughing and choking, but after a moment he regained his composure. Dylan looked up at Beka with slight annoyance.

“Um, Beka, do you mind?”

“Oh, sorry.” Beka reached out a hand and helped Dylan up on his feet. The two of them then stood there, nervously shuffling their feet in embarrassment as they realized what had just happened – and in front of a crowd of people, nonetheless! Both Dylan and Beka’s faces flushed crimson red as each of them forced an awkward smile at the other.

Maybe it was the amount of miserable time he had spent on Seefra, without anything to smile about or anything really funny happening, but the sight was just too much for Rhade to handle. It was like a floodgate of happiness and joy had been opened - at Dylan and Beka’s expense, of course - but very therapeutic for the tormented Nietzschean, nonetheless. He continued, doubled over on the floor in laughter, snorting and gasping for breath while at the same time wiping tears from his eyes.

“Um, thanks Dylan,” stated Valentine sheepishly. She then shot a cold look at Rhade, who was too busy laughing, choking, and snorting to notice.

“Welcome,” answered Dylan while he looked down at the floor, unable to look her in the eyes. Rhade, still unable to speak, reached up a hand to the lady in red to help him up – to which she gladly obliged. It was nice seeing Rhade laugh so much, but she didn’t want him to have an incurable headache later. After all, that would kill the mood of what she had planned to do with him once this whole affair with Q and the others had concluded. But before she could spend time getting to know her studly man, first she must finish the business at hand – Dylan and Beka – and they weren’t being very cooperative. This time, it was the lady that was becoming impatient.

“Oh gosh, is that all you two are gonna do?” cried the lady incredulously and rolled her eyes. “You know you two want each other…why don’t you just admit it?”

Dylan turned his back to Beka and shot an embarrassed look at the lady in red.

“What do you want me to do?” he mouthed to her, acting much like an awkward schoolboy, trying hard not to let Beka see his lips move. But the lady in red had no time for playground games. Dylan was much too old to be acting like he had never been with a woman before, and his attempts at secrecy were thwarted when she screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Well DUH…kiss her, you fool!”

Dylan turned back to Beka and, grabbing hold of her, placed a liplock on his first officer the likes of which she had never experienced before. She swooned in his arms as they continued that way for approximately slightly less time than Rhade and the lady had done. They would have gone on longer, but (unlike Rhade and his lady) Dylan and Beka had to come up for air.

“Aww, now isn’t this sweet,” replied Q sarcastically as both Dylan and Beka proceeded with their swapping of the spit. “What about me?!” As Q proceeded to throw yet another one of his tantrums, kicking up dust and straw into the air once more, the pervading cloud made it’s way over to Dylan and Beka who were still in the process of declaring their love (or whatever it was between a Paradine and a human) to one another. This time it was Beka that broke off the kiss, sneezing repeatedly as dust went up her nose.

“Bless you, Beka,” replied Dylan with a concerned air. As he watched her sneeze, it was then that Dylan noticed something he hadn’t noticed before – her nose. Every time she sneezed, it crinkled up in such a fashion that made Dylan realize that this woman, despite her svelte figure and tough exterior, was really darn cute underneath it all. It was then and there that Dylan decided that he did really love his first officer. For the first time in his life, it was as if the void in his life had been filled; the one that was left when Gaheris Rhade had betrayed him 300 years prior, thereby being the cause of him being sucked into that black hole and forever losing all that he loved – including his fiancée Sarah. For the last four years Dylan had let this anger and hatred for Gaheris simmer and brew inside of him, and since his former first officer was already dead (shot down by his forcelance) – it stood to reason that his genetic lookalike – Telemachus Rhade – should take the brunt of his revenge. As Dylan reflected on this newfound personal observation, it was then that he had an epiphany as to why he had never promoted the former Admiral to anything above a meager Lieutenant Commander. The truth was, he didn’t want any more Rhade’s serving with him as first officer. Come to think of it, perhaps on a subconscious level that was why he had never let Beka get too close. After all, it was his first officer that had betrayed him the first time; and, considering how many relationships Beka Valentine had had with Nietzscheans, it wouldn’t have been a total shock to Hunt that she might do the same. At least, that’s how he thought – on a subconscious level, anyway – back then. But Dylan had been wrong about Beka. She would never harm him – at least not as long as she stood to inherit his ship and forcelance from him, anyway.

‘Heck,’ Dylan thought, ‘I feel so good that at this point that I could almost forgive Telemachus for his ancestor’s mistake. Maybe I’ll just walk over there and give him one big bear hug.’

Dylan turned to face the Nietzschean, ready to let bygones be bygones, only to discover that Telemachus Rhade had other more important things on his mind – none of which had anything to do with Dylan Hunt. The Captain/Paradine watched with envy as the Nietzschean and the lady embraced, locked lips, giggled, tickled, and otherwise declared their love to one another in every possible way they could do in public without being considered ready to get a room. Dylan watched in disgust as the lady once again let her left hand slip down from Rhade’s back to his buttocks. It was then that he noticed Rhade's trousers, once again.

“Forget it,” muttered Dylan under his breath. “I still can’t stand that man.”