Thanks everyone for sticking with me. {{{hugs}}} to all the reviewers. Lisa, wlcome to Drom fanfic, first one you read, huh? No pressure!!! LOL I had a real hard time with this chapter, just didn't turn out quite like I planned so if it stinks, blame the muse LOL! A warning, it has not been beta read so any errors are my own.
The chapter after this one should wrap up Harper's story and get us back to the present. No guarantees though!
**********************
Still C.Y. 11008
Hours later the sky finally began to lighten as a new day broke on the decimated planet. Trance's eyes snapped open and glanced around frantically. After regaining her bearings, she mentally kicked herself for falling asleep. The fire she had built up was down to glowing embers, most of its fuel consumed. A thick damp fog had replaced the previous night's rain and without the fire, she was chilled to the bone. She crawled over to where Harper lay to check on him, worried that he'd not made it through her nap. Thankfully he was still alive. His breathing was labored and she could feel heat baking off him in waves. She resisted an impulse to warm her numb fingers on his burning skin. His fever had risen, she doubted he would become conscious again. She sat down heavily and angrily brushed away a stray tear. She found herself fighting the urge to scream. Scream at the unfairness of it all; scream her anger, her frustration and her grief. She balled her fists and abruptly stood, not knowing where to go or what to do, she began pacing near the wall. Back and forth, kicking bits of debris from her path. She knew she was close to loosing it. She had to get herself under control. She tried to concentrate on her breathing, deep calm breaths. She attempted to empty her mind and relax, she closed her eyes but all she saw were scenes of death and destruction. Snippets of things Harper had told her and other things that she had no idea where they came from. Each more horrible than the next. Her pacing reached a frenzied peak; she brought her fist back to strike the wall in front of her with all her might. She stopped mid-swing when she heard a small groan. She froze for an instant, all the energy from her outburst draining from her body. Her shoulders sagged and she let her arm fall to her side. *Here it comes* She thought, *it's the end* She made her way back over to Harper, trying to appear calm and in control.
Harper was struggling to wake up, his head tossed and his eyelids fluttered. When he finally managed to pry them open, his eyes were glassy. His gaze wandered and unfocused. "Harper." Trance said softly. Her voice cut though the fog that was enveloping his mind and helped him to concentrate a little. He licked his cracked and swollen lips and tried to speak. Trance gave him a small sip of water and sat in awe at his will to survive. Here he was, still alive after everything the universe had thrown at him. Against the most insurmountable odds he was still here. Maybe he could beat those odds again? Maybe?
"Where was I?" His voice weak but still audible.
Trance looked concerned. "Are you sure you want to do this? Someone may find us, if you use all your energy talking, you might not last."
Harper smiled faintly and continued as if Trance hadn't spoken. "Kyla was the light of my life. I loved her more than anything, she became my reason for living." Harper gave a small chuckle. "When you get onboard Andromeda again, you'll have to watch all the holo-vids I made. I swear I recorded that girl 24 hours a day."
Trance gasped and grabbed Harper's good arm. "Harper, you said Andromeda. *Is* the Andromeda still functioning? Is she still out there?"
Harper winced at Trance's painfully desperate grasp, a sheepish look crossing his face, "Sorry, darlin'. I keep forgettin' you don't know what the hell's going on. Yes, Andromeda is still alive and to answer your next question, Dylan is still her captain. He's beat his own record as oldest High Guard Captain 323 years running." Harper attempted a grin but it was lost in a shudder as his body began to fail him.
"Then there's hope, we'll be rescued!" Trance exclaimed.
Harper's eyes clouded and he frowned. "No," he whispered, "They don't even know where I am. I left shortly after the shit hit the fan. Rommie's clear on the other side of the known worlds, still fightin' the good fight."
Trance shifted uncomfortably, releasing Harper's arm she gazed into Harper's bright blue eyes, "Harper, please tell me what happened, I have to understand how everything went so wrong."
Harper nodded and continued. "Another year or so after Kyla was born, it was time for the next big event. The World Ship was at the edge of Commonwealth space and we were as ready for it as we could be. By that time, we had 250 worlds signed on to a Mutual Defense Pact and the Academy here on Terazed was turning out raw recruits day and night. The fleet was an amazing array of the new and the old, never havin' been tested in actual battle.
I was scared outa my mind but I knew there wasn't any place else I would rather be than on the Andromeda when my friends needed me. I wanted you gone, however. I wanted you to take the kids and go someplace safe. Sinti, Infinity, your home planet, (I had found out by then that you *do* have one) it didn't matter. I wanted you off the Andromeda just in case, you know, we all got turned into microwaved Magog munchies. You wouldn't budge. I tried every trick in the book, I whined, I begged, I got angry but you insisted that you *had* to be there because you still had a part to play. I don't know how but you convinced me. I think it was 'cause you played the trust card. I mean, I did...do...trust you completely so I had to ignore every instinct I had to prove it. I trusted you but I didn't trust the Magog. So I built a hiding place on board to stash you and the kids in just in case. One thing I learned from Dylan, always have a back-up plan.
The whole fleet left to intercept the World Ship. Dylan was awesome, he commanded the armada like he was born to it. Every ship moved in careful concert, following a plan that had been laid months before. Even with Dylan's leadership and the meticulously orchestrated attack, the battle was horrific. We threw everything we had at the World Ship and it kept coming. Point Singularity Bombs took out a third of the fleet; Magog swarm ships took out another third. Every attempt at breaching the World Ship's defenses failed miserably, we were loosing. It was time for plan "B". Every ship still able concentrated their fire on the PSB projectors. They weren't able to do much damage but they did create a diversion, allowing the Andromeda to slip through the outer defenses. We headed straight for the artificial sun. The plan was to launch Rosie, the mega bomb I built, directly into the sun, hopefully destroying the ship, the Magog and their "god".
That plan didn't exactly go the way we wanted it to either. When we entered the inner planets, we found thousands of swarm ships lying in wait. Beka, who was at the helm the entire time, managed miraculously to get us through the first wave but it wasn't enough, there were too many of them. We found our way blocked. There was no way the drone that carried Rosie would make it to the sun without being intercepted. Magog ships attached to the hull and we were boarded. To our surprise, we were not killed, just captured. Apparently ol' Red Eyes wanted to do the honors personally. The only consolation I had was knowing that you, Olma, and the children were safe.
Our captors brought us before the god of the Magog. He must have had some kinda telepathy or somethin' 'cause I could hear him talkin' but his lips never moved once, not that he had lips, I mean. He was all gloating about his victory and describing in horrid detail the fate that awaited us. I was scared stiff but I wasn't gonna give the psycho the satisfaction, ya know? Beka was screamin' at him, defiant to the last, she was yellin' about what *she* was gonna do to *him*! Rommie was quietly observing, looking for any weakness, any last chance to do this dude some damage. Dylan was pretty quiet; I was kinda worried, I thought he had given up. Apparently he was implementing plan "C". He freed his hands and activated his sub-vocal implant. 'Trance, NOW' He yelled. Ol' Red Eyes stopped gloating long enough to turn his glowing eyes on Dylan, he musta understood something then because he screamed, man, it was worse than when Beka launched the nova bomb at him. His eyes turned white, and fire shot outa his mouth. 'You have not won, High Guard!' He screamed, 'I shall defeat you and then the universe will be mine!' Then he looked at me, *right* at me, I mean like into my soul, it was like having a disgusting, evil snake was slithering inside my head. He spoke to me, just to me, and I'll never forget what he said, 'She'll be mine too'. Then he was gone and all hell broke loose. The Magog musta known it was time to vamoose 'cause total chaos ensued. Dylan was yellin' something but I couldn't make it out over all the screeching. Beka pushed me ahead of her and translated 'Trance launched the bomb! We have five minutes to get the hell out!' I heard that! We all ran, it all happened so fast, it's kinda a blur now. We couldn't get to the Andromeda so we grabbed the nearest swarm ship and hauled ass, Andromeda right on our tail. We barely made it to a safe distance before Rosie worked her magic. Boom! No more World Ship.
Rommie later reported an unusual rad signature leaving the World Ship moments before the explosion but we couldn't identify it. Yup, you guessed it, the Living Lava Lamp made a break for it. We didn't know that at the time, I sure wish we had. We were all high on victory, it was time to Par-ty. There were parades on nearly every planet, parties 'till dawn and where ever we went there was someone clappin' us on the back an sayin' what a good job we done.
You never really got into the party scene and whenever I regaled you with embellished tales of our victory, you would get really quiet. You'd grab Kyla and hold her tight, a frantic look in your eyes. I never told my Trance what the Spirit of the Abyss said to me. I figured he was gone for good and there was no reason to upset her more. Deep down I too was reluctant to let her or Kyla out of my sight." Harper stopped as a wave of pain broke through his body that left him gasping for breath. Sweat and tears mingled and slowly wound their way down his flushed cheeks. He clenched his teeth and waited it out. When the pain finally subsided enough for him to continue, his voice was husky and barely audible.
"Fifteen fairly peaceful years passed. Andromeda became not only the flagship for the new Commonwealth but also it's chief instrument of law and order. Two things that were severely lacking in the known worlds at that time, as you well know. So, we were never bored. Dylan was offered numerous positions of power, as was Beka. They turned down every one of 'em. It was suggested that Rommie receive her own command but she said no, she was all too happy serving along side Dylan. They tried to get me to head up the engineering department at the Academy. Cushy 9 to 5 job and all the Sparky I could drink. I'll admit, I was tempted. Flying around the universe with a child didn't seem the sanest thing in the world but Andromeda was our home and we couldn't imagine it any other way. So, Kyla and Tamerlane grew up together on Andromeda and as they grew, so did their connection. They were more than friends, they were like brother and sister.
Kyla was smarter than me and had even more spunk than you, which made raising her...um...challenging. She loved us both dearly but she absolutely idolized Dylan and wanted to be just like Beka. Sure, she loved following us around and learning the things we did, her mind was like a sponge, but she soon became bored and thirsted for more. She started taking lessons with Tamerlane, who was being groomed by Olma to become an Alpha. Kyla would challenge Tamerlane, she'd fight him with anything and everything from hand to hand to knives to force lances. She was about half Tamerlane's size but she was resourceful and stubborn and never gave up. I'll never forget the first time she beat him. He looked up at her from the flat of his back. She shrugged, helped him up and said 'What's next?' She'd accomplished her goal, now it was time to move on to something new.
Beka taught her how to fly. She doesn't think I know but the first time she let Kyla navigate slipstream was when she was six years old. Dylan took it upon himself to teach Kyla strategy. He was tickled pink to have someone so eager to play Go with him. That is, until he couldn't win anymore, then the board mysteriously disappeared from his room, I think I saw it floating outside an airlock. Kyla also spent hours in Rommie's VR matrix and she begged and begged for a 'port. That is one thing we wouldn't give in on. It wouldn't jibe with her physiology, that's what my Trance told me anyway.
It eventually became obvious that Tamerlane would soon have to leave Andromeda if he were to prove himself worthy as an Alpha. Kyla had her heart set on becoming a High Guard Captain and convinced Tamerlane that since most of the Neitzschean prides had joined the Commonwealth, becoming an officer would be a great way to prove his worth. Being very advanced for her age, Kyla was accepted at the Academy a year early. So, at age 16 and 17 my babies left the Andromeda. Every time I thought of Kyla out on her own, I got hives. Literally, I would break out in little red bumps that itched like the dickens!
Maybe we got too comfortable. Maybe we became complacent, lost our edge. In the old days, rumors of an evil spreading through the border worlds would have sent us scrambling. We should have at least investigated but we felt invincible. Our worst enemy had been gone for nearly two decades and we couldn't imagine anything we couldn't defeat. We were dead wrong."
TBC
The chapter after this one should wrap up Harper's story and get us back to the present. No guarantees though!
**********************
Still C.Y. 11008
Hours later the sky finally began to lighten as a new day broke on the decimated planet. Trance's eyes snapped open and glanced around frantically. After regaining her bearings, she mentally kicked herself for falling asleep. The fire she had built up was down to glowing embers, most of its fuel consumed. A thick damp fog had replaced the previous night's rain and without the fire, she was chilled to the bone. She crawled over to where Harper lay to check on him, worried that he'd not made it through her nap. Thankfully he was still alive. His breathing was labored and she could feel heat baking off him in waves. She resisted an impulse to warm her numb fingers on his burning skin. His fever had risen, she doubted he would become conscious again. She sat down heavily and angrily brushed away a stray tear. She found herself fighting the urge to scream. Scream at the unfairness of it all; scream her anger, her frustration and her grief. She balled her fists and abruptly stood, not knowing where to go or what to do, she began pacing near the wall. Back and forth, kicking bits of debris from her path. She knew she was close to loosing it. She had to get herself under control. She tried to concentrate on her breathing, deep calm breaths. She attempted to empty her mind and relax, she closed her eyes but all she saw were scenes of death and destruction. Snippets of things Harper had told her and other things that she had no idea where they came from. Each more horrible than the next. Her pacing reached a frenzied peak; she brought her fist back to strike the wall in front of her with all her might. She stopped mid-swing when she heard a small groan. She froze for an instant, all the energy from her outburst draining from her body. Her shoulders sagged and she let her arm fall to her side. *Here it comes* She thought, *it's the end* She made her way back over to Harper, trying to appear calm and in control.
Harper was struggling to wake up, his head tossed and his eyelids fluttered. When he finally managed to pry them open, his eyes were glassy. His gaze wandered and unfocused. "Harper." Trance said softly. Her voice cut though the fog that was enveloping his mind and helped him to concentrate a little. He licked his cracked and swollen lips and tried to speak. Trance gave him a small sip of water and sat in awe at his will to survive. Here he was, still alive after everything the universe had thrown at him. Against the most insurmountable odds he was still here. Maybe he could beat those odds again? Maybe?
"Where was I?" His voice weak but still audible.
Trance looked concerned. "Are you sure you want to do this? Someone may find us, if you use all your energy talking, you might not last."
Harper smiled faintly and continued as if Trance hadn't spoken. "Kyla was the light of my life. I loved her more than anything, she became my reason for living." Harper gave a small chuckle. "When you get onboard Andromeda again, you'll have to watch all the holo-vids I made. I swear I recorded that girl 24 hours a day."
Trance gasped and grabbed Harper's good arm. "Harper, you said Andromeda. *Is* the Andromeda still functioning? Is she still out there?"
Harper winced at Trance's painfully desperate grasp, a sheepish look crossing his face, "Sorry, darlin'. I keep forgettin' you don't know what the hell's going on. Yes, Andromeda is still alive and to answer your next question, Dylan is still her captain. He's beat his own record as oldest High Guard Captain 323 years running." Harper attempted a grin but it was lost in a shudder as his body began to fail him.
"Then there's hope, we'll be rescued!" Trance exclaimed.
Harper's eyes clouded and he frowned. "No," he whispered, "They don't even know where I am. I left shortly after the shit hit the fan. Rommie's clear on the other side of the known worlds, still fightin' the good fight."
Trance shifted uncomfortably, releasing Harper's arm she gazed into Harper's bright blue eyes, "Harper, please tell me what happened, I have to understand how everything went so wrong."
Harper nodded and continued. "Another year or so after Kyla was born, it was time for the next big event. The World Ship was at the edge of Commonwealth space and we were as ready for it as we could be. By that time, we had 250 worlds signed on to a Mutual Defense Pact and the Academy here on Terazed was turning out raw recruits day and night. The fleet was an amazing array of the new and the old, never havin' been tested in actual battle.
I was scared outa my mind but I knew there wasn't any place else I would rather be than on the Andromeda when my friends needed me. I wanted you gone, however. I wanted you to take the kids and go someplace safe. Sinti, Infinity, your home planet, (I had found out by then that you *do* have one) it didn't matter. I wanted you off the Andromeda just in case, you know, we all got turned into microwaved Magog munchies. You wouldn't budge. I tried every trick in the book, I whined, I begged, I got angry but you insisted that you *had* to be there because you still had a part to play. I don't know how but you convinced me. I think it was 'cause you played the trust card. I mean, I did...do...trust you completely so I had to ignore every instinct I had to prove it. I trusted you but I didn't trust the Magog. So I built a hiding place on board to stash you and the kids in just in case. One thing I learned from Dylan, always have a back-up plan.
The whole fleet left to intercept the World Ship. Dylan was awesome, he commanded the armada like he was born to it. Every ship moved in careful concert, following a plan that had been laid months before. Even with Dylan's leadership and the meticulously orchestrated attack, the battle was horrific. We threw everything we had at the World Ship and it kept coming. Point Singularity Bombs took out a third of the fleet; Magog swarm ships took out another third. Every attempt at breaching the World Ship's defenses failed miserably, we were loosing. It was time for plan "B". Every ship still able concentrated their fire on the PSB projectors. They weren't able to do much damage but they did create a diversion, allowing the Andromeda to slip through the outer defenses. We headed straight for the artificial sun. The plan was to launch Rosie, the mega bomb I built, directly into the sun, hopefully destroying the ship, the Magog and their "god".
That plan didn't exactly go the way we wanted it to either. When we entered the inner planets, we found thousands of swarm ships lying in wait. Beka, who was at the helm the entire time, managed miraculously to get us through the first wave but it wasn't enough, there were too many of them. We found our way blocked. There was no way the drone that carried Rosie would make it to the sun without being intercepted. Magog ships attached to the hull and we were boarded. To our surprise, we were not killed, just captured. Apparently ol' Red Eyes wanted to do the honors personally. The only consolation I had was knowing that you, Olma, and the children were safe.
Our captors brought us before the god of the Magog. He must have had some kinda telepathy or somethin' 'cause I could hear him talkin' but his lips never moved once, not that he had lips, I mean. He was all gloating about his victory and describing in horrid detail the fate that awaited us. I was scared stiff but I wasn't gonna give the psycho the satisfaction, ya know? Beka was screamin' at him, defiant to the last, she was yellin' about what *she* was gonna do to *him*! Rommie was quietly observing, looking for any weakness, any last chance to do this dude some damage. Dylan was pretty quiet; I was kinda worried, I thought he had given up. Apparently he was implementing plan "C". He freed his hands and activated his sub-vocal implant. 'Trance, NOW' He yelled. Ol' Red Eyes stopped gloating long enough to turn his glowing eyes on Dylan, he musta understood something then because he screamed, man, it was worse than when Beka launched the nova bomb at him. His eyes turned white, and fire shot outa his mouth. 'You have not won, High Guard!' He screamed, 'I shall defeat you and then the universe will be mine!' Then he looked at me, *right* at me, I mean like into my soul, it was like having a disgusting, evil snake was slithering inside my head. He spoke to me, just to me, and I'll never forget what he said, 'She'll be mine too'. Then he was gone and all hell broke loose. The Magog musta known it was time to vamoose 'cause total chaos ensued. Dylan was yellin' something but I couldn't make it out over all the screeching. Beka pushed me ahead of her and translated 'Trance launched the bomb! We have five minutes to get the hell out!' I heard that! We all ran, it all happened so fast, it's kinda a blur now. We couldn't get to the Andromeda so we grabbed the nearest swarm ship and hauled ass, Andromeda right on our tail. We barely made it to a safe distance before Rosie worked her magic. Boom! No more World Ship.
Rommie later reported an unusual rad signature leaving the World Ship moments before the explosion but we couldn't identify it. Yup, you guessed it, the Living Lava Lamp made a break for it. We didn't know that at the time, I sure wish we had. We were all high on victory, it was time to Par-ty. There were parades on nearly every planet, parties 'till dawn and where ever we went there was someone clappin' us on the back an sayin' what a good job we done.
You never really got into the party scene and whenever I regaled you with embellished tales of our victory, you would get really quiet. You'd grab Kyla and hold her tight, a frantic look in your eyes. I never told my Trance what the Spirit of the Abyss said to me. I figured he was gone for good and there was no reason to upset her more. Deep down I too was reluctant to let her or Kyla out of my sight." Harper stopped as a wave of pain broke through his body that left him gasping for breath. Sweat and tears mingled and slowly wound their way down his flushed cheeks. He clenched his teeth and waited it out. When the pain finally subsided enough for him to continue, his voice was husky and barely audible.
"Fifteen fairly peaceful years passed. Andromeda became not only the flagship for the new Commonwealth but also it's chief instrument of law and order. Two things that were severely lacking in the known worlds at that time, as you well know. So, we were never bored. Dylan was offered numerous positions of power, as was Beka. They turned down every one of 'em. It was suggested that Rommie receive her own command but she said no, she was all too happy serving along side Dylan. They tried to get me to head up the engineering department at the Academy. Cushy 9 to 5 job and all the Sparky I could drink. I'll admit, I was tempted. Flying around the universe with a child didn't seem the sanest thing in the world but Andromeda was our home and we couldn't imagine it any other way. So, Kyla and Tamerlane grew up together on Andromeda and as they grew, so did their connection. They were more than friends, they were like brother and sister.
Kyla was smarter than me and had even more spunk than you, which made raising her...um...challenging. She loved us both dearly but she absolutely idolized Dylan and wanted to be just like Beka. Sure, she loved following us around and learning the things we did, her mind was like a sponge, but she soon became bored and thirsted for more. She started taking lessons with Tamerlane, who was being groomed by Olma to become an Alpha. Kyla would challenge Tamerlane, she'd fight him with anything and everything from hand to hand to knives to force lances. She was about half Tamerlane's size but she was resourceful and stubborn and never gave up. I'll never forget the first time she beat him. He looked up at her from the flat of his back. She shrugged, helped him up and said 'What's next?' She'd accomplished her goal, now it was time to move on to something new.
Beka taught her how to fly. She doesn't think I know but the first time she let Kyla navigate slipstream was when she was six years old. Dylan took it upon himself to teach Kyla strategy. He was tickled pink to have someone so eager to play Go with him. That is, until he couldn't win anymore, then the board mysteriously disappeared from his room, I think I saw it floating outside an airlock. Kyla also spent hours in Rommie's VR matrix and she begged and begged for a 'port. That is one thing we wouldn't give in on. It wouldn't jibe with her physiology, that's what my Trance told me anyway.
It eventually became obvious that Tamerlane would soon have to leave Andromeda if he were to prove himself worthy as an Alpha. Kyla had her heart set on becoming a High Guard Captain and convinced Tamerlane that since most of the Neitzschean prides had joined the Commonwealth, becoming an officer would be a great way to prove his worth. Being very advanced for her age, Kyla was accepted at the Academy a year early. So, at age 16 and 17 my babies left the Andromeda. Every time I thought of Kyla out on her own, I got hives. Literally, I would break out in little red bumps that itched like the dickens!
Maybe we got too comfortable. Maybe we became complacent, lost our edge. In the old days, rumors of an evil spreading through the border worlds would have sent us scrambling. We should have at least investigated but we felt invincible. Our worst enemy had been gone for nearly two decades and we couldn't imagine anything we couldn't defeat. We were dead wrong."
TBC