That Was Then, This Is Now

by Just Kris

Crossover with the series Andromeda.

Warnings: Minor Swearing. Minor Violence.

Disclaimers: No body here is mine.

This was beta read by Helen. Thanks.

Andromeda stars Kevin Sorbo, Keith Hamliton Cobb, others.

Engineer Seamus Harper found himself on ancient earth in the year 1872. The town he was in was called Four Corners. It was hot, dry and dusty. It was only the beginning of summer. He was standing in the doorway of a small church watching a hostage situation taking place.

A young blonde-haired school-teacher was being held by a madman with a beard named Dylan Hunt. They were standing in the middle of the street. Dylan was holding his gun to Beka's head. The town's peacekeepers, who protected their town at any cost were dubbed as The Magnificent Seven. They had Dylan and Beka surrounded.

Ladies' man Buck Wilmington was standing inches away from Dylan with his gun drawn. His parner, oldest friend and leader of the seven was Chris Larabee. He was standing on the other side of them also with his gun drawn.

A younger man, a Texan named Vin Tanner, who was a sharpshooter, was on the roof of the hardware store where he once worked. He was aiming his rifle right at Dylan waiting for the perfect moment to shoot if had to.

Two other men, an older man, the town's preacher Josiah Sanchez and a black healer named Nathan Jackson, were in front of the church catiously walking towards Dylan and Beka. Their guns were still in their holsters.

A much younger man, the town's sheriff, JD Dunne was on the roof top of the jail with his gun drawn pointing down on Dylan and Beka. JD was always a little to keen on shooting anything or anyone that moved.

His friend, con man and gambler Ezra Standish, was standing behind him keeping an eye on him.

No one was saying a word. All eyes were on Dylan's waiting for him to make his next move. The sound of silence was too much for Harper to take. He thought of all the old western movies he ever saw.

He shouted, "Beka!"

Dylan pointed his gun at Harper and fired it.

The bullet from it went flying by Harper's head grazing him on the left side of his temple. Then a pair of hands grabbed him inside the church. The hands that grabbed him belonged to a friend of Josiah's, a black preacher named Tyr Anasazi.

When Harper called out Beka's name, she kicked Dylan in the shins of his left ankle. He dropped his gun and groaned.

Buck was the town's leading ladies' man. He quickly pulled Beka away and held her in his arms. Josiah came up to Dylan and carted him off to the jail. Nathan went back to the church to attend Harper's wound.

After a short embrace, the ladies' man asked Beka, "Darlin' you alright? He didn't hurt you did he?"

Buck put his gun back into its holster.

"No Buck, I'm fine. This was all my fault. I should've never gone out with him."

"Darlin' don't go blaming yourself. You didn't know what he was really about."

"But I did Buck. There was something about him I didn't trust."

Harper was standing between Tyr and Nathan on the church steps.

"Who's that with Tyr and Nathan?" Beka asked Buck.

"I don't know darlin'. I never seen him before."

"I should go over there and thank him."

"Thank him?"

"Yes. He saved my life."

"He did?"

The leader of the seven walked over to them.

"If he didn't call out my name, I wouldn't be standing here with you now."

Beka walked over to Harper and kissed him on his cheek. He was quite surprised at the sweet gesture. The Beka he knew in another lifetime would have never made such a gesture.

Buck watched Beka with Harper.

Chris asked his friend, "Saloon?"

"Saloon." agreed Buck. The two old friends walked into the saloon. JD and Ezra were already at the bar having their drinks. The younger man was gulping down is usual glass of milk and Ezra was having his shot of whiskey.

"I don't appreciate you boys keeping an eye on me everytime somthin' happens 'round here." JD said.

"Mr. Dunne," Ezra said, "It's the only way we know how to keep you in line."

"And alive." Chris said.

Buck went over to a table by himself and sat down.

Vin Tanner came swinging through the batwing doors.

JD asked Chris and Ezra, "What's with Buck? He doesn't seem to be his old chipper self."

The Texan heard JD's queston. He patted the back of his friend's shoulder grinning. He said teasingly, "You can't have 'em all pard."

"So that's it." JD said sitting down next to Buck.

"What's it?" Buck asked JD.

"Beka. You tried since the day she arrived in town to get her into your bed and look what happened."

Chris sat quietly with his friends listening to them talk.

"Nothin' happened kid." Buck said.

"Exactly. Maybe Mr. Wilmington should try another technique." Ezra said butting into the conversation.

"I don't need you're two cents Standish. My technique is just fine." Buck said proudly.

JD agreed with Ezra. "I don't think so. Beka isn't the first lady you have struck out this year. And besides, I wanna hear what his technique is."

"I wanna here that one myself." said Vin who was eating his dinner. He hadn't had a morsel of food in him all day.

"So, Ez, what the technique?" he asked with a mouthful of potatoes.

"I don't need to hear this." the ladies' man said.

"Yeah you do." Chris said.

"It's simple really." Ezra said. "Let them come to you instead of you going to them all the time."

"That works for you?" Buck asked.

"Most of the time." Ezra said lying through his teeth.

"Works for me." Chris said.

Buck let out a belly laugh just as Josiah came through the doors of the saloon. Buck looked at Chris in awe and realized he was right. In all the years he knew his oldest friend, the ladies did all the chasing. Chris never went after any one of them except his late wife Sara who he treasured.

"Who's gaurdin' Dylan?" JD asked Josiah.

"Beka."

"Beka?" asked Buck.

"She's not going to let him out of her sight."

Chris asked Josiah, "The man who got shot, will he be alright?"

"Yeah, Harper will be fine Chris. Nathan attended his wound. It wasn't as bad as it looked."

"Good." said Chris with a sigh of relief.

"Who's Harper?" JD asked.

"A young man who was at the wrong place and time." He sat down next to Vin.

Inez Recillos came over with a plate of food for the preacher. She was a young pretty hispanic woman who had been working in the saloon less than a year. Buck had a thing for her since first met her. Of course, he usually had a thing for most women when he met them.

"Thank you." Josiah said softly.

"You're welcome senor." she said back and gave Buck a dirty look before walking away.

"I really blew it with that one." Buck said.

"You sure did." JD said. "Maybe you should take Ezra's advice."

"Maybe nothin' kid. It be a cold day in hell before I take anything from him."

"You, Mr. Wilmington are going to be very sorry that you have said that."

"Ezra." said Chris.

"Yes Mr. Larabee."

"Go over to the saloon and see if Beka needs any help. She probably doesn't but I don't like the idea of her being alone there with Hunt. You go with him JD."

"Sure thing Chris." JD said who never questioned Chris's authority on anything."

"Great." Ezra said. The gambler was a tad irriatated. "Now I need lookin' after.

"Hell, you both need lookin' after. Don't make me come over there."

"Don't worry Chris, we won't." JD said.

Ezra and JD left the saloon and went to the jail. Inez came back with another plate of food for Chris. Buck was the only one who didn't have a plate of food. Inez turned her nose at him and went behind the bar, pouring drinks for the four customers that were sitting there. Buck was trying his damnedest to win her over. After awhile, he got to thinking, maybe the gambler was right, he should let the ladies come to him for once.

At the jail, Ezra was standing behind the desk looking over some old wanted posters. Beka was outside the jail talking to Harper. She looked through the window to check on Dylan.

She told Harper, "I should have never gone out with him."

"Oh?" He also looked through the window. "I don't know. He doesn't seem to be that bad to me. Maybe if he gets rid of the beard."

Mother Nature called on JD and he had to leave for a moment. He walked out of the jail passing by Beka and Harper.

Harper asked Beka, "How long have you been in town?"

"Just a few weeks. I'm came to town looking for a job. I'm a teacher."

"Really?"

"You seem surprised Harper. Women these days can do a lot of things now besides cooking and cleaning."

"Yeah I know they do. Maybe in a few years or so they can do a lot more."

"Let's hope so."

Dylan and Ezra were alone in the jail.

The bearded man was sitting on the edge of the cot. He began to cough but the gambler ignored him. Dylan began to cough louder and harder. Ezra continued to ignore him. It was the oldest trick in the book. Dylan went over to the bars of his cell and wrapped his hands around them.

"Help me." he said pleading to Ezra.

The gambler noticed that the prisoner was red in the face.

"You can't fake that." he thought to himself.

He thought wrong. He went over to the cell door. Dylan's left arm went through the bars while his right hand got a hold of the con man's gun. Hunt tried to choke Ezra. Harper and Beka burst through the jail house doors. Beka had her gun drawn right at Dylan. She cocked her gun and pointed it at his crotch.

"Let him go!" she shouted.

"Not on your life sweetheart." he said with a deep harsh voice.

"Just let him go and this will be the end of it. There's no need for any blood to be spilled."

Ezra concurred. "I agree with the lady." the gambler said and freed himself from Dylan's hold. He took back his gun.

"No one in their right mind ever takes my gun."

Dylan stated to Ezra, "My mind isn't quite right. And she ain't no lady."

A mad Beka replied back, "Now there's gonna be some blood spilled!"

Harper shouted, "No! No! You can't kill him!"

"Why not?" Beka asked. What's he to you?"

"He's nothing to me. Just don't kill him. I gotta funny feeling about this whole thing."

"What whole thing?" Ezra asked.

Harper kept pleading for Dylan's life and Beka kept pointing her gun at he bearded man's crotch. She was still angry at herself for going out with him.

"Harper! Harper! wake up!" A purple face with a tail and concerned eyes was staring down at him.

The engineer was back on the Andromeda in his own time yelling, "No! No!"

The young man finally woke up. He had been playing hoops with Tyr and Dylan earlier and Tyr "accidently" knocked him out. The engineer fell backwards hitting his head on the floor. Beka came in looking for Harper and saw him on the floor. She got Tyr to help her to take him to his quarters.

"Trance?"

"Yeah Harper, it's me. Are you alright? That must have been some dream."

"Dream? Dream... It was all a dream!" Harper threw his head down on his pillow.

"Easy Harper." Beka said.

"Beka you're alive!"

He brushed the palm of his right hand against the right side of her face. This wasn't the first time Harper dreamed of the old west. The first dreams he had of the old west, Beka had died in them. For a while, he was afraid to go to sleep. He drove everybody crazy with his dreams.

"Hey! What did I tell you about that?" Beka said backing away.

"Sorry. Just checking. You didn't kill him did you?"

Captain Dylan Hunt without the beard and Tyr the Nietszchean came into Harper's quarters.

"Him." he said pointing at Dylan.

"Me?" asked Dylan.

"Beka was ready to shoot you."

"Really?" asked Dylan. "I thought I had shot her in your dreams."

"You did. At least I thought you did. I don't know anything anymore."

"Harper." Dylan said.

"What?"

"It's quite obvious to everyone here that she didn't shoot me."

"I'm glad of that." Beka said.

"Me too." said Dylan.

Harper took a long hard look at his captain's face.

He asked him, "Have you ever had a beard?"

Dylan chuckled at Harper's question.

"No Harper I never had a beard."

"Good." said Harper. "Don't ever grow one."

"Don't worry I wasn't planning on it."

"I wish I could've been there." Tyr said picturing Dylan's face with a beard. "You with a beard." he said.

"You were, sort of." Harper said.

"I was?"

"Yeah, you were a preacher."

"A what?"

"You know." Dylan said. "A man of God."

""Yeah, right. Little man, I told you to never to bring that up again."

"That's some bump you have." Trance said. "You better lay back down and get some rest."

"Will he be alright?" Dylan asked Trance.

"He'll be fine. He just needs to get some rest. You should have never allowed him to play your game with you. What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't."

"I say you weren't thinking. You never let me play with you. I'm never gonna play with either of you ever again."

"Sorry to hear that Harper."

"I'm not." The Nietszchean said.

Tyr left then Beka.

"Trance?"

"Yes Captain."

"Why is it I get the feeling that you know what really happened to Harper?"

"I don't know anything Captain, Dylan."

Dylan half grinned. He really didn't believe her. Dylan glanced at Harper who was finally asleep.

He said, "You know Trance, I had ancestors back on ancient earth who lived in the old west."

"Really?"

"Yes really. One of them was an outlaw. Family legend said that he had very strong feelings for a school teacher. The teacher didn't return her feelings so he took her hostage."

"Oh."

The town's peackeepers caught him and he was sent off to jail. He escaped sometime later. He was never heard from again. I was named after him."

"That's an interesting story Captain."

"Isn't it? It's one of my favorites."

"And Trance."

"Yes."

"He had a beard."

Trance left Harper's quarters.

Rommie appeared in front of Dylan. She took a peek at Harper who was sleeping like a baby.

"You should have never allowed him to play your silly game with you."

"I know I know. And it isn't a silly game."

"If you say so."

"Have you got the information I've requested?"

"Yes Captain."

"The town, Four Corners was washed out by a flood a few years ago."

"That's a shame. The people in it got out OK I take it."

"Yes. Some are still living on earth."

"The Magnificent Seven, what happened to them?"

"They all lived to be old men. Most of them had children and they had children. Some of their descendants are living on earth."

Dylan yawned.

"Is there anything else Captain?"

"No, nothing else."

Dylan yawned again. Rommie knew that the Captain was tired so no further discussion was going to take place. Dylan sat down in a chair next to Harper's bed feeling a little guilty. Trance and Rommie were right he thought, he should have never allowed Harper to play with him and Tyr. His eyes started to flutter. Captain Dylan Hunt fell fast asleep dreaming of The Magnificent Seven.

The End

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