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The bravest thing you can do when you are not brave is to profess courage and act accordingly.
Corra Harris
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My mind was teeming with new memories and information. The longer I remained conscious, the more memories resurfaced. I felt fortunate that the memories chose to return to the accessible portion of my mind now. I had in my hands the key to saving the Andromeda. The only thing was putting the images and words into action. At one point in time, I knew and understood what was in my mind, but now I didn't. I hoped the knowledge I required to utilize the data would make its grand appearance soon.
"Harper, I'm trying to figure it all out. Maybe you know something that would make me remember more."
"You are the model for at least one clone. Someone was keeping you captive in the biostasis unit until they needed some more of your genes for their purposes."
"Cloning. Damn them." More memories flashed into my mind. "The Nefile. Those red eyes and evil cat claws."
"That's them all right. Do you remember anything that can help us?" Dylan asked.
"Yeah. First of all, they aren't big on diplomacy and negotiation. Violence is their way I know how to help you, though...But you're going to have to let me do this. It's all here in my mind, but I don't think I can describe it. Who's the engineer on this ship?"
"I am," Harper said.
"For this to work, you need to make some changes to a few, five should be sufficient actually, kinetic missiles. I don't know what a lot its parts are called but I can draw it. There's a pen in my jeans over there."
Harper reached into the pocket and pulled out a pen. I grabbed the pen from him and took his hand. One of the green patches was ovular and similar to kinetic missile. I began drawing what needed to be done.
"Yeah, I think I know what you want me to do. It shouldn't take more than half an hour."
"Then, go get started on it, Harper. We don't have much time," Dylan said.
I still couldn't believe he was trusting me. "Before firing the kinetic missiles, we have to fire the lasers in a specific blast pattern. I drew the pattern on my own arm. "It looks like this."
"We can only stay in slipstream ten to fifteen more minutes." A voice came out of no where in the room.
"We're working as fast as we can Tyr. Try to stay in slipstream as long as you can."
"If we have to stall, I can talk to the Nefile from your communications area. It's me they want after all."
"We'll see what happens. You may have to do that when the time comes. We need to go program the blast pattern right now, though, before we have to use it."
"Tell Trance to let me out of here, then. I'm not that hurt." I knew I was lying about not being very injured, but I would manage for the time being.
Dylan walked outside of the room, to speak to Trance I assumed, and I was left with Beka.
"How do you know this is going to work?" Beka asked.
"I've put it all into action before, and it worked like a charm. Except when I did it, it involved escaping from a high security prison cell and secretly learning everything about shuttles and modern warfare in the matter of a week."
"What if the Nefile made modulations to prevent your plan from working?"
"They didn't. No one knew what hit them, and none of the Nefile figured out what I had done. After they had me apprehended, it became unimportant how I had done everything. They just put me in biostasis again and went on with their business. It's the way they work."
"Why are they cloning you?"
"After they perfect my personality and make my clones appear genetically idential to me instead of having the residual effects that show up in scans, they plan to infiltrate several places and cause damage. I'm not sure exactly what they're going to do, but trust me on this. It won't be pretty or good."
I could hear Trance and Dylan arguing outside of the room. Trance obviously was against me leaving Medical Bay as of yet, but we both really had no choice in the matter. One does what they have to do, regardless of whether they are injured or not. The welfare of the majority was more important than mine.
"I haven't had the chance yet, but thanks for saving me back in the corridor."
"You don't have to thank me."
"You risked your life for me, a person you've barely met."
"Harper risked his life to save me, and he didn't even know my name. He knew nothing about me. That whole experience has changed my outlook on things."
"How old are you?"
"Over eight thousand years."
"No, I mean how long have you been out of biostasis?"
I didn't know whether a lie or the truth would be better. I opted for the truth. "Sixteen years."
"Wow. We all thought you were eighteen or nineteen."
"I've never been, and I never will be, the average teenager."
Trance and Dylan walked in. Trance released the equipment covering my body and gave me a hypo. She had evidently lost the argument of whether I would leave this bed or not.
"You can't get up yet. Let me get something to support your injuries." She hurried out of the room and returned with a hard blue plastic-like apparatus. She wrapped it around my back and rib cage before fastening it. "That should keep you from reopening the internal wounds."
"Thank you. Do you have my stuff? It's in a blue bag. I know it went into the biostasis unit with me."
"Yes. It's in the clinic," Trance replied.
I stood and the pain filled my chest cavity. I took a few slow steps before the pain killer set in. I walked almost normally into the clinic and found my bag. I pulled out my black leather jacket and slipped it on. I fastened it up to where the support ended. Displaying my weakness to the Neflile if I had to speak with them would be unwise.
"I'm ready," I said.
"We're going to the Command Deck now," Dylan said.
I followed behind Beka and him, trying to walk quickly enough. The pain killer only did so much. The pain was intolerable if I jarred my torso very much. I didn't want to begin internally bleeding again, either. But we didn't have the commodity of time for me to be careful.
We arrived at the Command Deck, and I was nothing short of amazed. It was beautiful. I ran my hand along a rail. "Wow, this is just awe inspiring. It's just...wow."
"Thank you." I saw a gorgeous hologramatic appear on the screen nearest to me.
"You're welcome." I had already come up with a million questions to ask, but they had to wait for a more opportune time.
"This is the weapons console," I said, looking down at a console near me.
"Yes, it is," Dylan replied.
"I don't remember ever doing this, but I think I know how." I began plugging the numbers into the console, shocked I could even read any of it at all. It was just second instinct, like breathing. But I only knew the single sequence and no others.
"You're fast. And you did it perfectly as far as I can see," Dylan said. He opened a communications line. "Harper, how long until the kinetic missiles are ready?"
"I've got one finished, and it's going to go quicker from here on out, boss. Give me five or ten more minutes."
"We can only stay in slipstream for two more minutes maximum," Beka said as she manned the controls.
Two minutes passed more quickly than I wanted them to. The ship ended its trip in slipstream, the Nefile ship in close pursuit. I was going to have to talk to the scum of the universe. For at least a few minutes. How could I stall for that long? Then, the plan formed in my mind. I knew exactly how to stall that long.
"Captain Hunt! I know how I can keep them entertained for at least five minutes!" I explained my plan to him in the least detail possible.
The bravest thing you can do when you are not brave is to profess courage and act accordingly.
Corra Harris
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My mind was teeming with new memories and information. The longer I remained conscious, the more memories resurfaced. I felt fortunate that the memories chose to return to the accessible portion of my mind now. I had in my hands the key to saving the Andromeda. The only thing was putting the images and words into action. At one point in time, I knew and understood what was in my mind, but now I didn't. I hoped the knowledge I required to utilize the data would make its grand appearance soon.
"Harper, I'm trying to figure it all out. Maybe you know something that would make me remember more."
"You are the model for at least one clone. Someone was keeping you captive in the biostasis unit until they needed some more of your genes for their purposes."
"Cloning. Damn them." More memories flashed into my mind. "The Nefile. Those red eyes and evil cat claws."
"That's them all right. Do you remember anything that can help us?" Dylan asked.
"Yeah. First of all, they aren't big on diplomacy and negotiation. Violence is their way I know how to help you, though...But you're going to have to let me do this. It's all here in my mind, but I don't think I can describe it. Who's the engineer on this ship?"
"I am," Harper said.
"For this to work, you need to make some changes to a few, five should be sufficient actually, kinetic missiles. I don't know what a lot its parts are called but I can draw it. There's a pen in my jeans over there."
Harper reached into the pocket and pulled out a pen. I grabbed the pen from him and took his hand. One of the green patches was ovular and similar to kinetic missile. I began drawing what needed to be done.
"Yeah, I think I know what you want me to do. It shouldn't take more than half an hour."
"Then, go get started on it, Harper. We don't have much time," Dylan said.
I still couldn't believe he was trusting me. "Before firing the kinetic missiles, we have to fire the lasers in a specific blast pattern. I drew the pattern on my own arm. "It looks like this."
"We can only stay in slipstream ten to fifteen more minutes." A voice came out of no where in the room.
"We're working as fast as we can Tyr. Try to stay in slipstream as long as you can."
"If we have to stall, I can talk to the Nefile from your communications area. It's me they want after all."
"We'll see what happens. You may have to do that when the time comes. We need to go program the blast pattern right now, though, before we have to use it."
"Tell Trance to let me out of here, then. I'm not that hurt." I knew I was lying about not being very injured, but I would manage for the time being.
Dylan walked outside of the room, to speak to Trance I assumed, and I was left with Beka.
"How do you know this is going to work?" Beka asked.
"I've put it all into action before, and it worked like a charm. Except when I did it, it involved escaping from a high security prison cell and secretly learning everything about shuttles and modern warfare in the matter of a week."
"What if the Nefile made modulations to prevent your plan from working?"
"They didn't. No one knew what hit them, and none of the Nefile figured out what I had done. After they had me apprehended, it became unimportant how I had done everything. They just put me in biostasis again and went on with their business. It's the way they work."
"Why are they cloning you?"
"After they perfect my personality and make my clones appear genetically idential to me instead of having the residual effects that show up in scans, they plan to infiltrate several places and cause damage. I'm not sure exactly what they're going to do, but trust me on this. It won't be pretty or good."
I could hear Trance and Dylan arguing outside of the room. Trance obviously was against me leaving Medical Bay as of yet, but we both really had no choice in the matter. One does what they have to do, regardless of whether they are injured or not. The welfare of the majority was more important than mine.
"I haven't had the chance yet, but thanks for saving me back in the corridor."
"You don't have to thank me."
"You risked your life for me, a person you've barely met."
"Harper risked his life to save me, and he didn't even know my name. He knew nothing about me. That whole experience has changed my outlook on things."
"How old are you?"
"Over eight thousand years."
"No, I mean how long have you been out of biostasis?"
I didn't know whether a lie or the truth would be better. I opted for the truth. "Sixteen years."
"Wow. We all thought you were eighteen or nineteen."
"I've never been, and I never will be, the average teenager."
Trance and Dylan walked in. Trance released the equipment covering my body and gave me a hypo. She had evidently lost the argument of whether I would leave this bed or not.
"You can't get up yet. Let me get something to support your injuries." She hurried out of the room and returned with a hard blue plastic-like apparatus. She wrapped it around my back and rib cage before fastening it. "That should keep you from reopening the internal wounds."
"Thank you. Do you have my stuff? It's in a blue bag. I know it went into the biostasis unit with me."
"Yes. It's in the clinic," Trance replied.
I stood and the pain filled my chest cavity. I took a few slow steps before the pain killer set in. I walked almost normally into the clinic and found my bag. I pulled out my black leather jacket and slipped it on. I fastened it up to where the support ended. Displaying my weakness to the Neflile if I had to speak with them would be unwise.
"I'm ready," I said.
"We're going to the Command Deck now," Dylan said.
I followed behind Beka and him, trying to walk quickly enough. The pain killer only did so much. The pain was intolerable if I jarred my torso very much. I didn't want to begin internally bleeding again, either. But we didn't have the commodity of time for me to be careful.
We arrived at the Command Deck, and I was nothing short of amazed. It was beautiful. I ran my hand along a rail. "Wow, this is just awe inspiring. It's just...wow."
"Thank you." I saw a gorgeous hologramatic appear on the screen nearest to me.
"You're welcome." I had already come up with a million questions to ask, but they had to wait for a more opportune time.
"This is the weapons console," I said, looking down at a console near me.
"Yes, it is," Dylan replied.
"I don't remember ever doing this, but I think I know how." I began plugging the numbers into the console, shocked I could even read any of it at all. It was just second instinct, like breathing. But I only knew the single sequence and no others.
"You're fast. And you did it perfectly as far as I can see," Dylan said. He opened a communications line. "Harper, how long until the kinetic missiles are ready?"
"I've got one finished, and it's going to go quicker from here on out, boss. Give me five or ten more minutes."
"We can only stay in slipstream for two more minutes maximum," Beka said as she manned the controls.
Two minutes passed more quickly than I wanted them to. The ship ended its trip in slipstream, the Nefile ship in close pursuit. I was going to have to talk to the scum of the universe. For at least a few minutes. How could I stall for that long? Then, the plan formed in my mind. I knew exactly how to stall that long.
"Captain Hunt! I know how I can keep them entertained for at least five minutes!" I explained my plan to him in the least detail possible.
