Title: Untitled
Pairing: RommieHarper
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Andromeda tries to kill Harper again
Part: 1/2
A/N: I know this is probably obvious but Andromeda refers to the Core A.I., Holo-Rommie the hologram version , and Rommie the avatar of Andromda. I know that was stupid but just in case.
"How ya feelin' Andromeda?" Harper asked as he entered the ships mainframe and was greeted with the view of data streams flowing all around him.
"Fine," A voice replied and then Andromeda materialized in front of Harper.
"So where do you want to start my beautiful warship?" Harper said casting a smile in her direction as he turned to face the massive amount of data passing by.
"Harper don't start its too early in the morning to deal with you," Andromeda said frustrated.
"What do you mean 'too early' you don't even sleep babe," Harper retorted turning back to face the image of Andromeda's main AI.
"Harper can we just get started I have other duties to attend too," Andromeda said and then walked them too the security section of her mainframe.
"Okay I guess I'll get started on these upgrades," Harper said walking into the security system.
"Will you be alright for a few hours alone while I monitor the ship and debrief Dylan on ship status?" Andromeda asked a little worried about leaving him alone in her mainframe.
"And if I return and find that you've accessed any systems other then security I'll make sure you pay dearly. I don't want a repeat of last months 'project'." Andromeda said angrily remembering when Harper's new 'program' had crashed a third of her secondary systems.
"Hey I fixed everything didn't I…trust the Harper babe I promise I won't touch anything that isn't related to upgrading the security systems." Harper said and got to work as Andromeda blinked out
"Okay I guess I'll start with internal/external sensors," Harper said sitting down and pulling out his flexi
Andromeda's Avatar Rommie, Captain Dylan Hunt and Beka Valentine were stationed on the Command Deck when Andromeda's Holographic form materialized next to Dylan informing him of ship status.
"Status?" Dylan asked his Andromeda's Hologram.
"Harper is currently in my mainframe upgrading my security systems. All of my major systems except security at the moment are fully functional. All of my weapons bays have been completely restocked." The hologram of Andromeda happily reported to her captain.
"Good…Andromeda when Harper's done upgrading your systems tell him he has the rest of the day off. He's been working nonstop to get you back in running order he deserves a break." Dylan said though he knew Harper wouldn't take the time off too sleep he'd most likely use his off time to work on one of his projects.
"Very well I'll inform him when he's completed his work," Holo-Andromeda said and then blinked out.
Two hours later Andromeda returned to check on Harper's status in her mainframe. Materializing behind her engineer she sat down next to him.
"How is the upgrade coming?" Andromeda asked.
"Oh hey babe I'm almost finished in here and then I'll be outta yer hair," Harper said not taking his eyes away from his work.
"Okay there ya go Andromeda try 'em out now," Harper said after returning to his body and unplugging himself from Andromeda's mainframe.
"Nicely done Harper much better thank you," Andromeda's hologram appeared and thanked her engineer. Harper walked over to his desk to grab a can of Sparky Cola yawning as he went.
"You look tried Harper you should go to bed," a voice from the machine shop entrance said while noting that the engineer looked tried from his time jacked in.
"Rommie what are you doing here? Come to tuck me in and give me a good night kiss?" Harper asked with his usual attempts at making a pass at Rommie.
"No I'm here to inform you that Dylan said that you could take the rest of the day off. Why would you need someone to 'tuck' you into bed?" Rommie asked with a confused expression on her face.
"Rommie baby it's just an expression unless you'd like to go tuck me into bed?" Harper challenged.
"No I think I'll pass on that offer Harper," Rommie said smiling slightly at her engineer.
"So Dylan gave me the day off you said?" Harper asked skeptically thinking that it just might be a trick by Andromeda payback for crashing some of her secondary systems.
"What are you going to do?" Rommie asked even though she was 99.999 sure that the answer would involve one of his projects and not going to rest. But it wasn't 100 and Harper could surprise her by actually going to bed.
"I think I'm going to continue working on my tesseract research," Harper said and busily whipped out all of his research on to his work desk.
Figures. Something's will never change Rommie thought to herself.
"I guess I'll leave you to your work then," Rommie said and moved for the door to leave the machine shop.
"You know you could say here and help me out you know," Harper suggested while giving her a suggestive smile.
"I don't think so Harper I don't think I could stand your attempts at flirting with me all day," Rommie said and then left the room before Harper could deliver his rebuttal.
Inside Andromeda's mainframe the ships A.I. was running her daily systems check again looking for anything out of place. Stopping at her security section she saw that something was wrong with her security subroutines it looked as though someone had tampered with the code trying to edit it. Accessing the log entries of who'd accessed this section she quickly found and located the saboteur. Locking down her mainframe from her other self and her avatar who she knew had an emotional attachment to the saboteur and would likely try to stop her from neutralizing the threat. She powered up her internal defenses in Machine shop 12 and prepared to fire.
"Dylan my core A.I. has just closed off access to our mainframe from myself and my avatar," Holo-Rommie said clearly confused as to why her 'sister' would do this. Beka, Dylan and Trance traded glances before Dylan exploded.
"Andromeda," Dylan called out at the forward screen waiting for his ship to answer.
"Andromeda respond!" Dylan yelled out clearly not pleased by what his ship was doing.
In the Machine shop Harper heard the whine of the internal defenses powering up and quickly ducked down to the floor and took cover behind his desk as shots rang out. Multiple shots passed a crossed the machine shop and then stopped as the weapons had to re-cycle before firing another salvo.
"What the hell Andromeda that could have killed me!" Harper yelled out to the machine shop knowing that the ship could hear him.
"That was the point and you would be if you hadn't moved," Andromeda said coldly as she appeared on one of the many screens in the machine shop.
The internal defenses were still cycling so Harper made a dash for the exit just as the defenses fired singeing Harpers previous hiding place. Closing the door behind him Harper heard the corridors defensive weapons powering up and started off for the command deck.
"Dylan I'm detecting weapons fire near Machine Shop 12," Holo-Rommie reported.
"Why hasn't the intruder alert sounded!" Dylan called out as he started towards the exit. The doors closed before any of the crew could escape through and then the ships A.I. appeared on the forward view screen.
"Andromeda what the hell's going on!" Dylan asked angrily.
"Why haven't you sounded the intruder alert and why'd you lock the doors?" Dylan demanded.
"My internal weapons are taking care of the problem Captain there was no need to inform you," the A.I. said.
"Everything that goes on this ship is my business and it's not your decision to decide what and what not to tell me," Dylan said clearly pissed at his ships actions.
Harper stood outside the doors to Command waiting for them to open but they didn't which meant he'd have to override the door lock but that would take time and that wasn't something he had a lot of.
"Harper get down!" Rommie yelled coming up from the end of the corridor as the internal weapons prepared to fire using her body to shelter Harper until he could open the doors to Command.
A few moments later the doors obediently opened and Rommie pushed them into Command and the doors closed after the pair crossed onto the Command Deck.
"Rommie what the hell's going on?" Dylan asked after the doors closed.
"My internal defenses are firing on Harper for some reason," Rommie said as she picked herself and Harper up from the floor.
"Why are you firing on Harper!" Beka demanded of her friend.
"I don't know my core A.I. has closed off access to our mainframe," Rommie said.
"Harper you think you get into Andromeda's mainframe and find out what's wrong," Dylan asked wanting his ship back in working order.
"Yeah sure now that she's not trying to kill me in here," Harper said sitting down at one of the consoles and jacked in.
"I should go with him," Rommie said looking to Dylan for his approval.
"Of course," Dylan said and Rommie closed her eyes following Harper into her mainframe.
Inside the matrix Harper and Rommie stood in front of the wall that blocked their entrance into her mainframe.
"Rommie? What are you doing here?" Harper asked curious as to why she was in here with him.
"I thought you could use the help I know how stubborn I can be," Rommie said.
"You do realize how odd that sounded." Harper said smiling playfully.
"Don't think about it too much lets just get into my mainframe," Rommie said trying to walk through the wall but received a small shock in return.
"Any ideas?" Rommie asked just as the wall lowered allowing them clear passage into the mainframe.
"Did you do that?" Rommie asked confused.
"No," Harper said and then Andromeda's main A.I. appeared in front of them.
"What are you doing here!" Andromeda said advancing on Harper shoving her avatar self out of the way and raising a wall in front of her. Andromeda grabbed Harper by the throat and lifted him up off the floor.
"Time to get rid of you," Andromeda said squeezing his throat.
"What the hell Rommie?" Harper gasped out.
"Stop you'll kill him!" Rommie yelled from behind the wall.
"That's the idea," Andromeda replied to her avatar.
"If you do that you'll be killing one of your crew and I know you'll regret doing it," Rommie tried to appeal to one of their common weaknesses.
"He sabotaged my systems he's no longer one of my crew," Andromeda yelled and Harpers eyes began to get heavy as he started to lose consciousness due to lack of oxygen.
"What do you mean Harper wouldn't sabotage us!" Rommie yelled at her core A.I. concentrating for a moment and the wall vanished. Andromeda released her hold on Harper and let his unconscious body fall effortlessly to the floor and turned to face her avatar.
"Your time in that form has clouded you…you're letting your emotions get in the way he's a danger to us." Andromeda said.
"No Harper isn't a danger to us…if anything he keeps us safe and in working order. Without him we would not be here having this argument." Rommie yelled at 'herself'.
"But he-" Andromeda started to say before her avatar self interrupted her.
"Tell me what you think he did," Rommie calmly asked.
"He sabotaged my security systems," Andromeda said walking over to her security section to show her avatar the truth of her words and the meaning behind her actions.
"See…my security section is a mess, the repairing this system will take days." Andromeda said to her avatar self while gesturing to the collapsed and tangled lines of code.
"Harper was upgrading our security system not sabotaging it. Probably one of his upgrades conflicted with our original code thus making you believe he was a threat to you." Rommie tried to reason with her core A.I. but it didn't look like she was making any progress.
"He is a saboteur and your attraction too him makes your previous statement bias." Andromeda said to her other self.
"That bias statement is me trying to protect a member of my crew. You remember the Pax do you want to be like her." Rommie yelled at 'herself'.
"Just let me correct this error in the code and then you'll see how wrong you are about Harper." Rommie pleaded.
"No you could be working with him!" Andromeda yelled and summoned a giant wave to throw her avatar out and allow her to finish off the saboteur.
"You know that I wouldn't do anything to harm us," Rommie said hurt that her core A.I. would think that she'd hurt them.
"You'll see that I'm right once I've taken care of this problem," Andromeda said to her avatar as a wave approached.
"You're not going to get rid of me that easily," Rommie said dissipating the wave before it hit her.
"Just listen to me…you trust me don't you?" Rommie asked pleading for her A.I. to listen to her.
"And me?" Holo-Rommie asked materializing next to her avatar self.
"You believe her as well?" Andromeda asked of her second self.
"Yes we both know you're wrong and if you'll just let us explain you'll see the truth and let us help you," Holo-Rommie said she didn't want to lose another member of her crew especially not the person who kept her in a combat ready state.
"Very well I will listen but if by the end of your explanation I do not agree I will get rid of him," Andromeda said glancing over to the unconscious engineer.
"You have a deal 'sis'," Holo-Rommie said and Rommie herself went over to check on Harper before explaining the true situation to her core A.I.
"It looks like Harper upgraded coding conflicted with the original security subroutines. This caused the system to consider him a threat and you responded to it. Though that still doesn't explain the way you handled the situation. You had plenty of spots in the corridor where you could have killed Harper but you hesitated. Why?" Holo-Rommie asked.
"I haven't been 'feeling' very off since our run in with the Pax Magellan. I don't want to end up like her," Andromeda said her voice laced with emotion.
"You won't we promise we're in this together if you go we go but we can't let you do this to Harper," Rommie said.
"Will you stop trying to kill him and let him help you?" Holo-Rommie asked.
"He may be our engineer but he's basically our psychologist to as sad as that sounds…he's very good," Rommie said grinning to her A.I.
"Very well I'll allow Harper to help me both 'physically' and 'emotionally'." Andromeda said the word 'emotionally' in distain she didn't like to admit that she had emotions just a powerful as her other self's.
TBC
A/N: R&R tell me what you think. Here's the edited and extended version sorry about all errors in the first version.