Disclaimer: I do not own Robotech; wish I did, but I don't. Harmony Gold does.

Firefly

One can only conjecture what it will actually be like when we get to Andromeda. I for one am overly excited at the prospect of discovery and learning a new galaxy presents. Let's just hope that all our scientific theories hold true when we arrive. It would truly be a shame if up was no longer up, but down.

- RDF Expedition logs of SIGINT analyst Meril Bertrand

"But mom, why can't I go with you?" Rick heard his son whine from across the living room of the Sterlings' spacious Tiresian apartment. He caught the pair out of the corner of his eye; his wife kneeling down before their son with one of her hands on Roy's right arm and the other brushing away several tears that had fallen down her cheek. Rick felt a pang of sorrow creep through him, but managed to keep his emotions in check. He knew the best thing for their son was to remain here on Tirol in the care of his godparents.

Still, he couldn't help but fixate on the fact that he might be seeing his family together for the last time. He knew the very real risks involved with inter-galactic travel, coupled with the uncertainty of what they were hunting once they reached Andromeda. He tried pushing the thoughts aside, and focused on the image of his wife and son together.

Rick turned back to look at the Sterlings. "I know it's only for a few months. Honestly, I don't know how you two lived through leaving Dana behind," he mused aloud. He thought he saw a haunted look in Max's eyes for a split second, as if his friend was reliving that fateful day over again. "Sorry, didn't mean…" he trailed off, looking from his friends back to his wife and child.

"It's ok, Rick," he heard Miriya reassure him, a hint of sadness in her voice. It wasn't very often that she used his first name; it helped to further drive home the realness of the situation. He had been so preoccupied with preparing for the mission that he hadn't had much time to think about the inevitable separation from his son. And now it was here, much faster than he would like.

He once again turned to regard his friends. Max extended his hand which Rick gladly clasped in a firm handshake. "Take care of yourself, boss."

"Will do," Rick acknowledged with a node of his head.

He had no sooner released his grip on Max's hand when Miriya hugged him tightly. When he pulled away from the embrace he noticed the sympathetic look on her face.

"Go," Miriya motioned towards Roy.

Rick grinned at her before walking over to his wife and son. He placed a reassuring hand on Lisa's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze before kneeling down in front of his son.

Lisa wiped another set of fresh tears that had formed in the corner of her eyes and hugged Roy again. He heard her whisper softly into Roy's ear that she loved him as she squeezed him tightly. Finally, she ended the embrace and stood, leaving the two of them to say their goodbyes.

"Hey buddy," he started, placing a reassuring hand on his son's right shoulder. He felt a wave of guilt as Roy looked him dead in the eye with a sullen expression; he looked defeated. The kid knew what they were about to do, and knew just how dangerous it was. It was at a time like this that Rick inwardly cursed just how much of a genius his son was.

"I want to go with you," his son implored.

Rick grinned at his son's persistence. The kid didn't know when to quit.

"Listen, I know you do. But it's dangerous," he began; searching for a way to convince his son the arrangement was for the best. He studied the child for a moment, burning every feature into his memory. "You know it is, right?" he asked.

Roy stared back at him, sniffling back a few tears. Slowly, the boy began to shake his head up in down in agreement.

"And that's the reason we can't take you with us. We're not going to be able to protect you where we're going. And we're not going to put you in that kind of situation…not again." He explained, hoping it would be enough to convince his son.

The boy looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet. "Promise me, that you and Mom will come back." It was a demand instead of question.

Rick pulled his son into a tight hug and closed his eyes, feeling a few stray tears tug at the corner of his eyes. He breathed in deeply before finally releasing his son from the embrace. He held his son's gaze and placed both arms on top of his son's narrow shoulders. They both knew it wasn't something he could do.

"We'll be back before you know it. I promise," he lied. And with that he picked his son up and walked him over to his wife and friends. Lisa looked at him through red eyes and gave him a small smile.

"Well, we best be off," Lisa announced, leaning in to give Roy one last kiss on the cheek.

Rick handed Roy over to Miriya; she gladly accepted the young child into her arms and cradled him tightly. "We really appreciate this you guys, thank you," he told the Sterlings.

"No need to thank us. You two would do the same and you know it," Miriya explained, with Max echoing her sentiments. All Rick could do was smile back at them, glad to have friends like these to back him up.

He placed his arm around his wife's slender waist and pulled her towards the door. They both allowed themselves a quick look back to see Miriya comforting her godson before closing the apartment door. Once inside the elevator across the hall he pulled Lisa in for a comforting hug.

"Tell me we're doing the right thing," he whispered to her as the metal doors closed.

Karen slid into the cushioned chair at the center of Odyssey's bridge, surveying the ballet of coordinated chaos around her. She crossed her legs and leaned back against the seat, resting her arms against the supports provided by the comfortable chair. She studied her crew as they worked on their pre-flight preparations; readying the ship for her maiden voyage.

The thought was rather humorous, given that the ship's maiden voyage would be to another galaxy. Still, she was glad the day had finally come; after months of planning, organizing and training her patience had worn thin. She was ready, her crew was ready, and the ship was ready. Now all that was left to do was to get this thing in gear.

She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath to calm her nerves. Letting the breath out she opened her eyes. Turning to her left she studied her first officer as he stared intently at the displays of information on his console. He had his hand to the left earpiece of his headset, most likely listening to reports coming in from the various stations around the small scout ship.

The vessel itself was no more than 200 meters in length, spanning five decks in all. It had been designed to support a variety of mission sets, though Karen doubted anyone quite had the current mission in mind at the time. Still, the crew had been assured by Dr. Lang on numerous occasions that the fold drive was more than capable of performing the required jump to M31-A.

She had raised her concerns at the distance required for a one-shot space fold, and had even gone as far as proposing a series of jumps instead; first to the outer edges of the Milky Way, then a handful along a trajectory that would eventually land them inside Andromeda. Much to her surprise Admiral Hunter had left the decision ultimately up to her. Lisa had said it was Karen's ship, so it was her decision. While the Hunters were in command of the expedition, they had made it clear from the start that Karen was in command of the Odyssey.

"Lieutenant Elba, are we ready for departure?" she asked her first officer, leaning towards him to hear his response over the din of conversations taking place around the bridge.

Lt. Elba looked up from his station and slid the mouthpiece of his headset up on his face. "Engineering is good to go ma'am, jump drive is powered and ready for action. All other decks reporting personnel are in place and standing by."

"Excellent," she acknowledged, glad that everything was in order. Now all that remained was for final clearance from Overwatch Station. Turning away from Lt. Elba she adjusted so that she faced the back of her communications officer, Lt. Nora Woods. "Lieutenant Woods, notify Overwatch that we're ready for departure."

The mousy comms officer turned around at her station and nodded. "Yes ma'am," Lt. Woods acknowledged, turning back to her station.

"Lt. Elba, please inform the Admirals that we'll be pushing off soon," Karen instructed her first officer. She was pretty sure the Admirals were just as anxious as she was to get this show on the road. Lt. Elba nodded and snapped his mouthpiece back into place as he began the process of informing the Hunters that they would be departing any minute.

Karen waited in silence over the next several minutes, the anticipation of their impending jump settling over her, setting her nerves on edge. She knew the anxiety was due largely in part to their disastrous jump from Tirol; nothing like making a space fold only to end up in newspace to set your nerves on edge before a jump, she thought. She shook the unsettling memories away as her comms officer turned back around to face her.

"Major, control is reporting we are approved for departure," Lt. Woods informed her, the young girl bubbling with excitement.

"Alright," she nodded, and called out to her navigator, "Lt. Wynn, take us out." Lt. Wynn nodded at the request, and Karen turned her attention to the permaglass viewport that dominated the front wall of the bridge.

She watched the Odyssey undock and begin to slowly back away from the large grey metallic hull of Overwatch Station. The ship backed away until they had safely cleared the space station's exterior. Karen watched as the scout ship turned, the space station moving out of sight, along with Tirol and Fantoma, and was replaced in the viewport by millions of stars. The scout ship quickly reached the minimum safe distance required for a hyperspace fold.

"Lt. Elba, patch me through to engineering please," Karen told her first officer, preferring to address her chief engineer directly.

"Yes ma'am," Lt. Elba responded, hitting several buttons on his console and giving her the thumbs up. Karen nodded and held down the communications button on the right arm support of her chair.

"Shaw, this is Penn," she called out, staring into the darkness of space through the viewport.

"Hello, Major," the British voice of the chief of engineering responded clearly through the speakers on the bridge. "What can I do for you, ma'am?"

"Well, I think a jump to Andromeda is in order, how about you?" she joked with the engineer. Emory Shaw had been the chief engineer aboard the Versailles, and was one of the more respected pseudojaunt drive technicians in the fleet. As far as she was concerned, his expertise with the newer drive generators on an expedition such as this was essential, and at her insistence the Hunters had pulled the necessary strings to bring him aboard.

"I think that can be arranged, ma'am," the engineer informed her.

"Good, Penn out," she told him, closing the comm channel. Karen punched a few more buttons on her chair and took a deep breath before opening the shipwide communications channel. "Attention, this is your captain speaking. All hands prepare for immediate hyperspace fold," her voice was strong and confident, betraying just how nervous she was.

Well, here goes nothing. Sure as hell hope this drive gets us there in one piece.

"Lieutenant Wynn, initiate our jump to Atlas on my mark." She took another deep breath, and then began her count. "Three...two...one...mark!"

He kept his assault rifle trained straight ahead, using the scouting light attached to the weapon to see in the pitch black. He trained the weapon from side to side in an attempt to survey his surroundings as he steadily crept forward. He struggled to avoid the tunnel-vision caused by the yellowish cone of light, his nerves on edge as the blackness surrounded him; it felt like he was walking straight into the abyss.

He kept a steady pace and soon reached the end of the corridor. The adjoining corridor was blocked by a heavy dark metallic security door; from the looks of it the door had sustained heavy fire. Scanning the edges of the door with his light he found no signs that the door could be moved, especially without any power. This wouldn't do, he needed to find an alternate route.

The sound of scrapping metal in the distance caused him to freeze. He immediately placed his back to the sealed door and flicked off his light. Dropping to one knee he strained to hear over his own labored breathing. Unable to see he closed his eyes and focused on listening for any sign that he wasn't alone. All he heard was silence, mixed with the occasional creaking from the structure around him.

Several minutes passed before he decided it was safe to continue. He flicked his scouting light back on and began searching the corridor again. Halfway back he caught sight of a service ladder heading down. It would have to do under the current circumstances. He moved to the ladder and leaned over the hole; the floor below was probably a good twenty feet down.

Slinging his weapon over his shoulder he began to carefully descend to the floor below. Nearing the bottom he thought his eyes might be playing tricks on him. There appeared to be some kind of light below, but that shouldn't be possible. Deciding to play it safe he stopped and reached back to flick his scouting light off once again.

There was definitely some kind of light source below, though it was relatively faint. He wondered if it was from some kind of natural source like a fungus, though he guessed given the dry environment it was highly unlikely. He was going to have to find out, one way or the other. Continuing his descent he readied himself for the worst. Finally reaching the floor below, he immediately dropped to one knee and readied his rifle in one fluid motion.

He felt his jaw drop open, unable to grasp what he was seeing.

"It can't be," he whispered, unaware that he had even spoken the words aloud.

The room was filled with what appeared to be fireflies. It took him a few moments to realize that they were bioluminescent spores coming from flowers growing at the center of the room.