Author's Note: Here it is, guys. The final frontier- er, chapter. Sorry, wrong fandom.

A quick line here- I'm grateful to John, who beta-read this, pointed out an awful lot of niggling details, and gave me the occasional ego-boost or chewing-out over this, whichever I needed. Everyone else: you've all been wonderful readers and reviewers. Thanks for reviewing Chapter 13 go to darkshadow-23, Makura Koneko, Yullia, and Writer2Bpoet- I enjoyed some of the comments immensely. Thank you- all of you- for a great time- and I hope to see you back for my next fanfic!

Asher was sulking as they arrived in Dylan's office; he hadn't liked being pulled away from his game. He cheered up considerably, though, when Tyr took him from Rommie and started playing with him like only he did, tossing him into the air and the like. Now the boy was perched on the Nietzschean's shoulders, using his hair to stay on, although Rommie noticed that Tyr was holding onto his legs with an iron grip.

Beka and Dylan were muttering to each other in low tones by the desk, looking up when Rommie came over to join them. Tyr had backed off somewhat, keeping Asher away from the focus of the attention, namely Carmen, who stood off to the side, conspicuously alone.

"Okay," Dylan started, straightening and facing everyone else. "I was talking to Carmen yesterday, and she gave me a name. I was a little curious, so I did a little checking regarding that name." He started to walk- slowly, staying by the desk, but intimidating.

Carmen felt cold trickling down her spine as she swallowed nervously. The only one in the room who didn't have an idea of what was approaching was Rommie, who looked at her captain. His way of delivering the news was making her curious, and a good deal agitated, especially as she noticed Beka move her hand just a little bit closer to her forcelance like she was expecting something to happen.

"Since I couldn't find anything in Andromeda's database, I asked Beka and Tyr, since I thought they might be the ones most likely to know of any particularly notorious names recently. They told me something interesting." He moved just a little bit closer to Carmen, now only a couple of feet away. She was completely on edge now, every muscle whipcord-tense, wondering precisely how much they really knew.

Tyr had taken care to be well away from the unfolding scene as soon as he picked up Asher; he had no intention of being the ship's whipping boy if the child was hurt. Now he watched the others closely, trusting that Beka would be able to react fast enough if anything should happen. He was certain that something would- he could smell the sick stench of Carmen's fear and desperation, and see her muscles twitch in her limbs and face.

Dylan closed in for the kill. "Does the name Jasper Markio mean anything to you?"

Carmen turned her head to face him. She didn't answer yes or no, as her mouth was dry and the words wouldn't come.

"I think it does," he continued mercilessly, "I think you know the exact connection between Jasper Markio and Cale Leyner. And I think that you are aiding and abetting him by not telling us." He paused, gauging the rage burning in her eyes. "Congratulations, Carmen. Your husband's a crimelord, and you are arrested for criminal conspiracy."

She lost it. She shrieked, feral, and lunged. Nails turned to claws in anger, but Dylan managed to hold her off long enough for Beka to send a pulse of energy directly into her back.

They stood in a circle over the fallen woman, her red hair spread out around her face in a perverse halo. Nobody spoke for a long moment until Asher asked softly, "Dylan?" He touched his cheek as he stared at the captain.

Dylan brushed a finger over the same spot on his own face; it came away bloody. Carmen had gotten in a lucky swipe. "It's just a cut, Asher, I'm fine."

Tyr passed the boy back over to Rommie, who took him gratefully. He proceeded to immediately wrap every limb he had around her, not mitigated by the fact that she was hugging him just as tightly. "What?" he said, muffling his voice against her shoulder and pointing to Carmen.

"Oh boy," Beka muttered. She did not envy Rommie explaining that one. Instead, she turned her attention to the prone figure still on the floor in front of them. "So what are we going to do about her? V-deck?"

Joining her, Dylan answered, "We may as well. It'll hold her until we can rendezvous with a detention ship. I already contacted Commonwealth authorities, and they'll pick up Markio before he thinks anything's wrong."

Between the two of them, Beka and Tyr supported the unconscious woman and half-dragged her out the door. Dylan supervised the operation, but kept half an ear cocked to the explanations going on in the corner.

Rommie was valiantly trying to break down what had happened, but it wasn't easy. "See, Carmen was..."

"Bad?" he suggested as she paused.

"Well, yes, that works." Since it was a fairly succinct way of terming it, she decided to roll with it. "When you do something bad, you're not allowed to do anything but sit for a minute. Carmen did something very bad, so Beka shocked her and made her go to sleep so she won't hurt anybody. When she wakes up, she'll be told what she has to do to make up for it." She stopped, looking at his eyes, large and a little confused. "Do you understand this?"

"Yes." In all honesty, she and Dylan both thought he looked bewildered, but weren't going to press the point.

At that juncture, Dylan came over and joined the two of them. "Everything all right?"

"We're fine," Rommie assured him, "right?"

Asher nodded solemnly.

"We're fine," she repeated, smiling a little.

Dylan smiled. "Good." He looked between them a moment longer as she checked the smudge already on Asher's pants and fussed over it for a second, getting a quick grin out of him. He didn't have any time anymore for being with the crew, but once- in a very great while, when he wasn't worried about procedures- he enjoyed seeing the two of them together. He still had his doubts, like in the beginning, but now he got encouragement from seeing them together. "Why don't you go... get him away from this? It can hardly be a good thing. I'll let you know if anything happens."

"All right." She noted that he was smiling at them- rare, but she liked it when he unfroze enough to do that. "Ash, you want to go back to playing?"

"Yes!" he shouted, starting to bounce in her arms.

Carmen sat brooding in the small cell on V-deck. She had a headache from when she'd hit the floor after being knocked out. One of the security officers had come in just a few moments ago and announced that Jasper was being arrested.

All her plans were going to hell in a handbasket. All she had wanted to do was pick up the kid and go back to where she and Jasper were staying, at least for the moment. She'd scoped it out on Poetry and expected it to be easy; instead, they'd unknowingly been under surveillance for weeks. For a change she'd told someone the truth, or almost all of it anyway, and been arrested for her pains. Carmen glanced up and saw the current guard staring at her like he was expecting her to do tricks and snarled at him before looking back away.

Up in his office, Dylan briefed Harper and Trance on what happened, noting that Harper wholeheartedly approved of the idea of Carmen going away for a long while, while Trance smiled, telling no one that she was only glad that a few more pieces of the future had fallen into place. At the same time, Beka sat on the Maru, putting together her part of the formal Commonwealth report as per official formula. In his quarters, Tyr was finishing unpacking, pulling a small photograph out of his bag; he looked solemnly at the child depicted there and carefully stored it where the ship couldn't find it from a casual scan. He kept the picture of his son close by, even though he did treat Asher as he would Tamerlane- while he was on the ship, at least.

In the VIP quarters, Rommie read out of one of Asher's books to him. He was drowsing in her arms, finally falling asleep on the last few pages. It was past time for his nap, and the tumultuous day hadn't helped.

She carried him back and tucked him into his bed, watching him sleep for a moment. She loved doing that, seeing his eyelids twitching as he dreamed.

Too soon, she turned to leave, stopping only to lightly kiss his forehead. As she left, she hummed a familiar tune, letting her mouth shape the words as she passed out of Ashers hearing range. "'I got you, babe...'"

It was just another overall normal day for Andromeda and her crew.

The End