Ello y'all! Okay, this is my first Andromeda Fic, so forgive me!! Anyway,
me not going to have my muses here for awhile, me need a break for 'em...
hope you like the Fic!! (And yes, I know that this is late!! I don't
care!!)
Disclaimer: I don't own Andromeda. If I did, I wouldn't be on my knees, begging you not to rat me out so that I don't get sued, because I'm not getting paid squat for this.
Valentine's
Harper dashed fervently around the Machine Shop, trying to figure out what was wrong before someone realized that he wasn't paying attention...
"HARPER!!" to late...
He spun around, only to see Beka, standing at the door, glaring daggers at him.
"What is happing here!" she screamed over the noise, managing to break his ear drums. "And why the hell haven't you fixed it!!"
"I can't only do so many things as once Boss!" he yelled back at her, quickly taking out his nanowelder and fixing what ever was within arms reach. In about 5 minutes, the ringing in their ears seized to exist, and he sighed in relief.
"What happened Harper?" the ever so furious Beka asked. "And why the hell didn't you fix it before it became a problem?"
"I was busy Boss," Harper defended himself.
"Busy my ass!" she seemed to grow about three sizes bigger, yelling at him, her face glowing red; he cowered. "What were you doing that was SO much more important then the ship FALLING APART!?!"
"It's February Boss," Harper squeaked, if possible, looking about 10 years younger.
"I don't care what month it is!!!" Harper just backed up, afraid of what she might do. "What I do care about is that you make sure to keep us alive!!"
"Alright boss," Harper whimpered, looking down to the ground. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again..."
"Good!" with that, she stomped out of the door.
Harper sighed, and moved to the little conduct that he was in before. Quickly, he pulled himself into it, and a minute later, he was in the small little intersection that he was working before. Sighing again, he got back to work on what ever he was working on before.
"I don't even know why I try," he murmured to himself, hoping that no other troubles would occur on the Andromeda any time soon...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Damn him," she murmured to herself, walking back to the command. "Why can't he just stay on task? Make it so that we don't almost die?"
She continued walking, knowing full well that it wasn't his fault... its just that, she didn't want HER engineer slacking off, especially since they had a High Guard officer looking over them...
"Okay, maybe I was exaggerating on the 'ship falling apart' part," she leveled with her conscious. "But that doesn't give him the right to slack off..."
"Actually, it does," the Holographic AI appeared in front of her.
"And how is that?" Beka snapped at the most powerful warship in known time.
"There is an age old saying that an original engineer on this ship made up," the Hologram offered.
"And what would that be?" Beka was REALLY getting sick of this...
"It's quite a story actually," the Hologram said. "I suggest that we go to your quarters, for it might take me awhile to tell it all to you."
"I'm due on command," she really didn't want to listen to this.
"Fine, I'll tell you now," this time is wasn't the Hologram that spoke, but the human avatar of the Andromeda.
"Quickly Rommie," Beka hissed, not slowing down a bit. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm pissed right now."
"I know," Rommie quickly fell into pace next to her. "Well, we got a full new crew when Dylan became the Captain, except that one of the engineers refused to leave. She claimed that this was her home, and that no place -even in the Commonwealth- could replace it. Her father had helped build it, and she was born upon it. Now Dylan was still new here, and didn't think that a girl working around all that technology was a good idea," at this point, Beka stopped to listen fully, "so he had it so she was removed a month after he gained command. Sooner or later, she found out, and demanded that he let her stay; Dylan refused. So she warned him that, and I quote, 'Don't piss off your engineer!' end quote. Of course, Dylan did nothing."
"And what happened?" Beka was now mildly interested in the story.
"Then everything started to go wrong," Beka and Rommie both looked up to see their ever so faithful captain, walking down the corridor toward them. "She had my shower run cold; my clothes came out of the wash dirty instead of clean; anything that you could think to go wrong on a warship and more, she did it. Not only that, but only to me."
"How did she pull that one off?" Beka asked herself.
"Quite simple actually," the Hologram reappeared. "I have done several checks and have concluded that she about half as smart as Harper." Beka and Dylan nearly choked.
"Only half?" Dylan paled, recalling past situations. "Remind me never to piss of Harper..."
"Lucky you," Beka was paler then Dylan. "I think I already have..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"...72, one thousand, 73, one thousand, 74, one thousand..."
He slowly counted how long it was until it would become suspicious to the others as to where he was.
"Hell, why am I even counting?" he stopped working on what ever he was working on. "With what Beka said, I'm betting that none of them even care about me..."
Sighing, he grabbed his nanowelder and starting working again.
"Might as well get this done first... then I'll get off the ship..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Harper?" Beka furiously searched the Machine Shop for him, but couldn't find him anywhere. "Where are you!?" no answer.
She gave up, and started to her quarters.
"I can't believe that you've just disappeared," she mumbled. "God, you of all people should know that after a 4 hour long shift, I well enough cooled down to talk to..."
Another 5 minutes before she'd be at her quarters...
"I've really got to figure out where your little hiding spot is, that way I'll be able to find you, no matter what. Hmm... then I wouldn't always have to worry where you'd gotten your cute little ass off to..."
Four Minutes...
"God, I didn't just say that... I didn't say that, I didn't say that, I didn't say that, I didn-"
"Yes, you did say that. I could replay it for you if you'd like."
"No, thank you Andromeda, I'll be fine... God, do I really think that about Harper? What about, well, what about him being the annoying little engineer that always looked way to young and yet fixed everything?"
Three minutes...
"What about me thinking him as a little brother? What about his silly little remarks and his funny jokes? What about his fears of Rev, and his nightmares? What about that annoying voice in my head that driving me crazy!!"
Two glorious minutes to go...
"GOD!! He's my engineer! I saved him from Earth! He's eternally grateful! When did drooling over non-existent abs come into the factor? Wait a second, I don't know if that's true or not, for all I know, he could have great abs..."
One minute and several more images of topless Harper to go...
"Get a hold of yourself Beka! He's what, 21? Hell, you don't even know. What do you know about him? I wish I knew more about him... Bad Beka! Bad Beka! Get those thoughts out of your head! Stop twisting your own words!!"
Finally there...
She opened her door and hurriedly entered the room, fully intent on taking a shower, but, she couldn't. Something was, off, but she didn't know what...
"This is going to be a long day," she sighed, and sat down on her bed, looking around her room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Come on," he whispered to himself. "Your almost there, one foot in front of the other, and voila, you're in the docking bay... Now alls I have to do is get into the Maru, override Rommie's systems to make her believe that your still on the ship, and head off to the El Dorado Drift. After that, you're home free..."
He repositioned the bag on his shoulder, and walked closer to the Maru; he had to do this, he had to get out of here.
"Come on Seamus, you've done harder things before. You were the only one with a weapon in that Magog attack, remember? You had to slaughter you cousins, remember? You can easily hijack a cargo ship, trick a warship, and dock at the closest Drift, now, can't you? Of course you can, you're a genius, remember?"
All he had to do was keep telling himself all this and he would get it done...
"One foot two foot, red foot blue foot," he mused, recalling a part from an Ancient Earth book that his little sister had read once... his little sister...
One foot...
Two foot...
"There, that wasn't that hard," he told himself, entering the age old ship that didn't even belong to him. "Now to get this hunk of junk into the air..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Come on Beka," the hoarse whisper sounded deafening to her ears. "What's out of place here? Let's see; Harper's not barging in, saying something is wrong... but that stopped when we got on the Andromeda. Harper's not sleeping off some wound... once again, stopped when we got on the Andromeda. Think, what was here, that isn't here..."
Beka look around her room for the thousandth time, sighed, and flopped back onto her bed.
"Okay, it's impossible, I'll never find wha-" and there, sticking out of the little conduct that Harper usually crawls around in, was 'something.' More precisely, 'something' with her name on it. "Okay, I wonder who that's from....... I swear Harper, you're so sneaky sometimes..."
She stood up, and just managed to reach what ever it was with the tips of her fingers... it didn't budge.
"Not only that," she muses, going to fetch a chair. "But you make everything damn hard too..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"...Come on, come on, come on..."
It had become his little mantra, ever since he realized that Beka hadn't forced him to fix the Maru yet, so he had to do it now.
"This goes there, that goes here... and I'm done!!"
Finally, now all he had to do was trick the Andromeda and override her codes to get out of the docking bay...
"Okay," he got up and started toward the cockpit. "One thing down, three more to go..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Got it! Whoa! OUCH!! God Seamus, did you have to make this THAT hard to get?!?!" Beka now sat on the floor, a numb pain in her back, looking over what ever Harper had put up there. "Let's see..."
It was a plain envelope with her name on it, but it was too heavy to hold just paper.
"Great Harper, wonder what you've put in here..."
She opened the envelope, and the first thing that fell out, was a necklace. It had a perfect silver chain, and the little heart on it looked to be made of a combination of silver, copper, and gold.
"God, this must have cost you a fortune..."
Still in slight awe of the necklace, she opened the envelope, pulling out the letter that was there.
Dear Rebecca,
I just wanted you to know how much I admire you; how much I love you... I hope you have a much better Valentines Day then me, Captain Valentine, for I'm leaving. I'm borrowing the Maru, and with any luck, I should already be at the El Dorado Drift. You can pick up your ship there. Well, there's nothing left for me to do now is to leave.
Forever Yours, Seamus Zelazny Harper
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"...come on, almost done, just give me a few more seconds..."
And before his eyes, the docking bay doors opened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Andromeda! Where's Harper?!" Beka was running down the hall toward Harper's quarters, hoping that he was still packing or something.
"He's in his quarter's sleeping," the ship's voice told her.
"Sleeping! Are you sure!!" okay, now she was confused...
"Perfectly; he returned to his quarters, got something, went into the air conducts, when he got out he went to the docking bay, then- wait, that can't be right."
"What can't be right?" Beka stopped and the Hologram appeared.
"According to my calculations, he went into the Maru, and then was instantly back in his room without moving at all. Also, the Maru in not in my docking bay anymore."
"Oh great," she cursed herself and her bad luck. "Tell Dylan to meet me on command; this is important!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Come on! Please?" Harper bit his lip, hoping that the 'ever so nice' man would let him dock.
"Why do you need to dock?"
"Because, my friend is coming later to pick up this ship and I promised her that I would be gone by the time that she got here!" he said quickly.
"Ah, trouble with the misses, aye?"
"Yeah, something like that," he blushed. "Could I dock now?"
"Sure thing! Just make sure you high tail it outta here right after!"
"Sure thing," he mumbled, getting ready to dock. "Um... thanks."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"But I swear that he isn't here!" Beka screamed to Dylan, trying to get out of his grasp and to the controls.
"How do you know that?" Dylan tried to calm her down. "He could very well be in his room. Rommie could have just made a mistake; we'll get Harper to fix it as soon as he wakes up."
"But I KNOW he isn't there!" Beka reached into her pocket for the letter that he wrote to her. "He left me this..."
"Alright," Dylan reached for the letter, but Beka held it out of reach.
"This is personal, and you have to right to read it," she stated. "But I can personally say that this says he is in the El Dorado Drift!"
"And do you have anything that I can use as back up to this?"
"The Maru is gone!!"
"I'll take that as good proof..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Okay, how hard can it be to sleep?" he asked himself for the umpteenth time, squirming to find a comfortable position to sleep, and ending in utter failure. "Okay, maybe I don't need sleep. I've got a nice hotel to spend the night in, and the crew will be at the Drift to get the Maru tomorrow at the latest... so, I'll just go to the nearest bar and grad a quick drink first..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Damn it! Just let us Dock!!" Beka screamed at who ever was at the other side.
"It's too late! The gates are closed! Go away!"
"But I need to look for someone!!" oh boy, this guy was in for it.
"Looking for someone, aye? Hmm... was this someone piloting a rust bucket called the Eureka Maru?"
"How did you know that?" Beka was confused...
"He came in a while ago, saying that he had to dock and get outta here. Whoa, me knows for sure that your not getting through, not even in the morning!"
"And why the hell not!" god! This was getting annoying!
"Cause you'll skin the little guy alive!"
"What?" Beka asked unbelievably. "What would give you that idea?"
"Simple! He said that he promised his girl that he wouldn't be on her ship when she got here! So that must mean that he made some sort of little mistake that you women hate! So I think I'll give the guy a chance to get off the drift before you can come and get your ship!"
"Do you have any clue what you're talking about?" Beka was seeing red, but also, her eyes were becoming blurry from tears.
"Yes I do missy!"
"No, you don't!" she snapped, she couldn't even think. "He's MY engineer! And all the sudden, I find a letter in a place that ONLY he can get to, hurt myself getting it, and read it only to JUST find out that he's in love with me! Not only have that, but just FIVE GODDAMN MINUTES before hand I've started to realize that I feel the same way about him! And you TRYING to tell ME that I'll 'skin him alive'!!!"
No words came as a reply, just a short message with the location of a dock they could go in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"...come on... one foot two foot, wet foot dry foot..."
He felt slightly better, talking to himself, as he sat at the bar. He ordered himself another drink, and rested his face in his hand.
"What's wrong laddie?" he snapped back to reality, and looked at the bartender.
"Oh, nothing," he mumbled, reaching for his drink; he could feel the tears threatening to break through. "Its just that I've confessed love to someone who would never love me back, hijacked her ship, left it in the dock, and am now hoping against hope that I don't see her again, while at the same time, I'm a living corpse without her..."
"That's a whole lotta nothing, laddie," the Bartender smirked. "My names Bill."
"I'm Seamus Zelazny Harper," he murmured, mostly to himself.
"Seamus? As is, the famous little Seamus that used to cause amuck down in the hell whole earth?" Bill asked wildly.
"Yeah, what's it to ya?" the 'Famous Little Seamus' asked. Bill laughed.
"Just that, Nietzscheans all over know of your work on the Andromeda," Bill sounded really excited. "Heck, people other the Nietzscheans know of your work too!"
"Yeah well, thanks, I guess," he was feeling too glum to gloat about himself. "But I'm not working on the Andromeda anymore..."
"What?" Bill sounded like he didn't understand a word he was saying. "You'd give up a job on the most powerful ship in the Commonwealth? Why?"
"That girl I confessed love to, she's the second in command," that was all Harper could take; slumped down onto the counter to hide the silent tears, caused from his past, present, and his 'oh so glum' future.
"Ah, that would cause a problem, wouldn't it?" if Harper was looking up, he'd run because of the little glint in Bill's eyes.
"You're telling me. Heck, if I could turn back time I wouldn't have given her that letter..." he slumped down farther into his own arms.
"Come with laddie, will ya?" Bill got up and pulled Harper behind the counter.
"Yeah sure, But what about the bar?" he was a little confused as to where they were going.
"Oh don't worry," the glint in Bill's eyes grew, but Harper couldn't see them... "Johnny will take over..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Beka?"
"Yes Tyr."
"How are we going to find your love?"
"Two things Tyr. One, my old friend Johnny owns a bar and knowing Harper, he'll end up there sooner or later. Two, stop mocking me or I'll kick your ass."
"I'm sure the little professor wouldn't mind..."
"Shut up Tyr!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Um, Bill?"
"Yes laddie?"
"It's Harper; when are we going to get to where ever we're going?"
"We'll be there shortly laddie."
"It's Harper"
"Right laddie, right..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"This is where we're supposed to be?" Tyr asked.
"Yes Tyr," Beka snapped at him. "Believe it or not, I know how to contact my friends to help me in about 5 seconds flat! Me and Johnny always meet here!"
"Quite," Tyr put up his hand to emphasize this.
"What?"
"I said quite, even you would be able to hear it if you listened," Tyr glared at her, and she listened.
"Right laddie, right..."
"Yeah, right! Could you please tell me where we're going! 'Cause if you don't mind, I would like to go back to my hotel and mope right about now."
The second voice sounded a lot like Harper's to her...
"I told ya 'Famous Seamus', we'll be there soon enough. In fact, we're here right now."
'Famous Seamus'?
"Oh swell; we're in the middle of a dark alley for what reason? No reason at all, I just know it!"
"Well, ya could tell me why ya were crying..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Well, ya could tell me why ya were crying..."
"C-crying?" he choked on the words; he didn't think he'd noticed. "Who me? I wasn't crying!"
"Yes ya were," Bill said, sitting on a crate. "And you telling me about this second in command lady seem to be the source of it; did the gal say no?"
"The 'gal' -as you do kindly put it- didn't say nothing," Harper snapped, settling for the ground. "Not that I let her..."
"You didn't let her speak?" Bill seemed to be very interested in his love life.
"Hell no, I know her to well," he rested his forehead against his knees. "She would think I was kidding... everybody thinks I'm kidding... that's why I left the ship in the first place. None of them really cared to hear what I said..." Bill chuckled. "What so funny?!"
"Your shipmates, that's what," Bill was laughing now, and it took him a minute to regain the ability to speak again. "I have Nietzscheans coming to my bar, saying how there life was ruined by a little kludge that they called Seamus. Those shipmates of yours should be afraid of ya!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Your shipmates, that's what. I have Nietzscheans coming to my bar, saying how there life was ruined by a little kludge that they called Seamus. Those shipmates of yours should be afraid of ya!"
Tyr was speechless at this comment, but Beka wasn't. She crept over to where the voices where, and made her presence known.
"Yeah, we should be," Harper's head snapped up, and she could see the surprised written on her face.
"Beka, I, um, I," he stood up but stayed near the wall, as if he was afraid of getting hurt. "I know what your go-" Beka silenced him with a swift kiss, pulling him away from the wall.
"Hmm," she said when she finally broke away. "What was I going to say?"
"Um, well, I," Beka laughed at his speechless ness; he smiled. "Happy Valentine's Day, Beka."
"Hmm... looks like you're the one getting the Valentine..."
Disclaimer: I don't own Andromeda. If I did, I wouldn't be on my knees, begging you not to rat me out so that I don't get sued, because I'm not getting paid squat for this.
Valentine's
Harper dashed fervently around the Machine Shop, trying to figure out what was wrong before someone realized that he wasn't paying attention...
"HARPER!!" to late...
He spun around, only to see Beka, standing at the door, glaring daggers at him.
"What is happing here!" she screamed over the noise, managing to break his ear drums. "And why the hell haven't you fixed it!!"
"I can't only do so many things as once Boss!" he yelled back at her, quickly taking out his nanowelder and fixing what ever was within arms reach. In about 5 minutes, the ringing in their ears seized to exist, and he sighed in relief.
"What happened Harper?" the ever so furious Beka asked. "And why the hell didn't you fix it before it became a problem?"
"I was busy Boss," Harper defended himself.
"Busy my ass!" she seemed to grow about three sizes bigger, yelling at him, her face glowing red; he cowered. "What were you doing that was SO much more important then the ship FALLING APART!?!"
"It's February Boss," Harper squeaked, if possible, looking about 10 years younger.
"I don't care what month it is!!!" Harper just backed up, afraid of what she might do. "What I do care about is that you make sure to keep us alive!!"
"Alright boss," Harper whimpered, looking down to the ground. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again..."
"Good!" with that, she stomped out of the door.
Harper sighed, and moved to the little conduct that he was in before. Quickly, he pulled himself into it, and a minute later, he was in the small little intersection that he was working before. Sighing again, he got back to work on what ever he was working on before.
"I don't even know why I try," he murmured to himself, hoping that no other troubles would occur on the Andromeda any time soon...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Damn him," she murmured to herself, walking back to the command. "Why can't he just stay on task? Make it so that we don't almost die?"
She continued walking, knowing full well that it wasn't his fault... its just that, she didn't want HER engineer slacking off, especially since they had a High Guard officer looking over them...
"Okay, maybe I was exaggerating on the 'ship falling apart' part," she leveled with her conscious. "But that doesn't give him the right to slack off..."
"Actually, it does," the Holographic AI appeared in front of her.
"And how is that?" Beka snapped at the most powerful warship in known time.
"There is an age old saying that an original engineer on this ship made up," the Hologram offered.
"And what would that be?" Beka was REALLY getting sick of this...
"It's quite a story actually," the Hologram said. "I suggest that we go to your quarters, for it might take me awhile to tell it all to you."
"I'm due on command," she really didn't want to listen to this.
"Fine, I'll tell you now," this time is wasn't the Hologram that spoke, but the human avatar of the Andromeda.
"Quickly Rommie," Beka hissed, not slowing down a bit. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm pissed right now."
"I know," Rommie quickly fell into pace next to her. "Well, we got a full new crew when Dylan became the Captain, except that one of the engineers refused to leave. She claimed that this was her home, and that no place -even in the Commonwealth- could replace it. Her father had helped build it, and she was born upon it. Now Dylan was still new here, and didn't think that a girl working around all that technology was a good idea," at this point, Beka stopped to listen fully, "so he had it so she was removed a month after he gained command. Sooner or later, she found out, and demanded that he let her stay; Dylan refused. So she warned him that, and I quote, 'Don't piss off your engineer!' end quote. Of course, Dylan did nothing."
"And what happened?" Beka was now mildly interested in the story.
"Then everything started to go wrong," Beka and Rommie both looked up to see their ever so faithful captain, walking down the corridor toward them. "She had my shower run cold; my clothes came out of the wash dirty instead of clean; anything that you could think to go wrong on a warship and more, she did it. Not only that, but only to me."
"How did she pull that one off?" Beka asked herself.
"Quite simple actually," the Hologram reappeared. "I have done several checks and have concluded that she about half as smart as Harper." Beka and Dylan nearly choked.
"Only half?" Dylan paled, recalling past situations. "Remind me never to piss of Harper..."
"Lucky you," Beka was paler then Dylan. "I think I already have..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"...72, one thousand, 73, one thousand, 74, one thousand..."
He slowly counted how long it was until it would become suspicious to the others as to where he was.
"Hell, why am I even counting?" he stopped working on what ever he was working on. "With what Beka said, I'm betting that none of them even care about me..."
Sighing, he grabbed his nanowelder and starting working again.
"Might as well get this done first... then I'll get off the ship..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Harper?" Beka furiously searched the Machine Shop for him, but couldn't find him anywhere. "Where are you!?" no answer.
She gave up, and started to her quarters.
"I can't believe that you've just disappeared," she mumbled. "God, you of all people should know that after a 4 hour long shift, I well enough cooled down to talk to..."
Another 5 minutes before she'd be at her quarters...
"I've really got to figure out where your little hiding spot is, that way I'll be able to find you, no matter what. Hmm... then I wouldn't always have to worry where you'd gotten your cute little ass off to..."
Four Minutes...
"God, I didn't just say that... I didn't say that, I didn't say that, I didn't say that, I didn-"
"Yes, you did say that. I could replay it for you if you'd like."
"No, thank you Andromeda, I'll be fine... God, do I really think that about Harper? What about, well, what about him being the annoying little engineer that always looked way to young and yet fixed everything?"
Three minutes...
"What about me thinking him as a little brother? What about his silly little remarks and his funny jokes? What about his fears of Rev, and his nightmares? What about that annoying voice in my head that driving me crazy!!"
Two glorious minutes to go...
"GOD!! He's my engineer! I saved him from Earth! He's eternally grateful! When did drooling over non-existent abs come into the factor? Wait a second, I don't know if that's true or not, for all I know, he could have great abs..."
One minute and several more images of topless Harper to go...
"Get a hold of yourself Beka! He's what, 21? Hell, you don't even know. What do you know about him? I wish I knew more about him... Bad Beka! Bad Beka! Get those thoughts out of your head! Stop twisting your own words!!"
Finally there...
She opened her door and hurriedly entered the room, fully intent on taking a shower, but, she couldn't. Something was, off, but she didn't know what...
"This is going to be a long day," she sighed, and sat down on her bed, looking around her room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Come on," he whispered to himself. "Your almost there, one foot in front of the other, and voila, you're in the docking bay... Now alls I have to do is get into the Maru, override Rommie's systems to make her believe that your still on the ship, and head off to the El Dorado Drift. After that, you're home free..."
He repositioned the bag on his shoulder, and walked closer to the Maru; he had to do this, he had to get out of here.
"Come on Seamus, you've done harder things before. You were the only one with a weapon in that Magog attack, remember? You had to slaughter you cousins, remember? You can easily hijack a cargo ship, trick a warship, and dock at the closest Drift, now, can't you? Of course you can, you're a genius, remember?"
All he had to do was keep telling himself all this and he would get it done...
"One foot two foot, red foot blue foot," he mused, recalling a part from an Ancient Earth book that his little sister had read once... his little sister...
One foot...
Two foot...
"There, that wasn't that hard," he told himself, entering the age old ship that didn't even belong to him. "Now to get this hunk of junk into the air..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Come on Beka," the hoarse whisper sounded deafening to her ears. "What's out of place here? Let's see; Harper's not barging in, saying something is wrong... but that stopped when we got on the Andromeda. Harper's not sleeping off some wound... once again, stopped when we got on the Andromeda. Think, what was here, that isn't here..."
Beka look around her room for the thousandth time, sighed, and flopped back onto her bed.
"Okay, it's impossible, I'll never find wha-" and there, sticking out of the little conduct that Harper usually crawls around in, was 'something.' More precisely, 'something' with her name on it. "Okay, I wonder who that's from....... I swear Harper, you're so sneaky sometimes..."
She stood up, and just managed to reach what ever it was with the tips of her fingers... it didn't budge.
"Not only that," she muses, going to fetch a chair. "But you make everything damn hard too..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"...Come on, come on, come on..."
It had become his little mantra, ever since he realized that Beka hadn't forced him to fix the Maru yet, so he had to do it now.
"This goes there, that goes here... and I'm done!!"
Finally, now all he had to do was trick the Andromeda and override her codes to get out of the docking bay...
"Okay," he got up and started toward the cockpit. "One thing down, three more to go..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Got it! Whoa! OUCH!! God Seamus, did you have to make this THAT hard to get?!?!" Beka now sat on the floor, a numb pain in her back, looking over what ever Harper had put up there. "Let's see..."
It was a plain envelope with her name on it, but it was too heavy to hold just paper.
"Great Harper, wonder what you've put in here..."
She opened the envelope, and the first thing that fell out, was a necklace. It had a perfect silver chain, and the little heart on it looked to be made of a combination of silver, copper, and gold.
"God, this must have cost you a fortune..."
Still in slight awe of the necklace, she opened the envelope, pulling out the letter that was there.
Dear Rebecca,
I just wanted you to know how much I admire you; how much I love you... I hope you have a much better Valentines Day then me, Captain Valentine, for I'm leaving. I'm borrowing the Maru, and with any luck, I should already be at the El Dorado Drift. You can pick up your ship there. Well, there's nothing left for me to do now is to leave.
Forever Yours, Seamus Zelazny Harper
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"...come on, almost done, just give me a few more seconds..."
And before his eyes, the docking bay doors opened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Andromeda! Where's Harper?!" Beka was running down the hall toward Harper's quarters, hoping that he was still packing or something.
"He's in his quarter's sleeping," the ship's voice told her.
"Sleeping! Are you sure!!" okay, now she was confused...
"Perfectly; he returned to his quarters, got something, went into the air conducts, when he got out he went to the docking bay, then- wait, that can't be right."
"What can't be right?" Beka stopped and the Hologram appeared.
"According to my calculations, he went into the Maru, and then was instantly back in his room without moving at all. Also, the Maru in not in my docking bay anymore."
"Oh great," she cursed herself and her bad luck. "Tell Dylan to meet me on command; this is important!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Come on! Please?" Harper bit his lip, hoping that the 'ever so nice' man would let him dock.
"Why do you need to dock?"
"Because, my friend is coming later to pick up this ship and I promised her that I would be gone by the time that she got here!" he said quickly.
"Ah, trouble with the misses, aye?"
"Yeah, something like that," he blushed. "Could I dock now?"
"Sure thing! Just make sure you high tail it outta here right after!"
"Sure thing," he mumbled, getting ready to dock. "Um... thanks."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"But I swear that he isn't here!" Beka screamed to Dylan, trying to get out of his grasp and to the controls.
"How do you know that?" Dylan tried to calm her down. "He could very well be in his room. Rommie could have just made a mistake; we'll get Harper to fix it as soon as he wakes up."
"But I KNOW he isn't there!" Beka reached into her pocket for the letter that he wrote to her. "He left me this..."
"Alright," Dylan reached for the letter, but Beka held it out of reach.
"This is personal, and you have to right to read it," she stated. "But I can personally say that this says he is in the El Dorado Drift!"
"And do you have anything that I can use as back up to this?"
"The Maru is gone!!"
"I'll take that as good proof..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Okay, how hard can it be to sleep?" he asked himself for the umpteenth time, squirming to find a comfortable position to sleep, and ending in utter failure. "Okay, maybe I don't need sleep. I've got a nice hotel to spend the night in, and the crew will be at the Drift to get the Maru tomorrow at the latest... so, I'll just go to the nearest bar and grad a quick drink first..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Damn it! Just let us Dock!!" Beka screamed at who ever was at the other side.
"It's too late! The gates are closed! Go away!"
"But I need to look for someone!!" oh boy, this guy was in for it.
"Looking for someone, aye? Hmm... was this someone piloting a rust bucket called the Eureka Maru?"
"How did you know that?" Beka was confused...
"He came in a while ago, saying that he had to dock and get outta here. Whoa, me knows for sure that your not getting through, not even in the morning!"
"And why the hell not!" god! This was getting annoying!
"Cause you'll skin the little guy alive!"
"What?" Beka asked unbelievably. "What would give you that idea?"
"Simple! He said that he promised his girl that he wouldn't be on her ship when she got here! So that must mean that he made some sort of little mistake that you women hate! So I think I'll give the guy a chance to get off the drift before you can come and get your ship!"
"Do you have any clue what you're talking about?" Beka was seeing red, but also, her eyes were becoming blurry from tears.
"Yes I do missy!"
"No, you don't!" she snapped, she couldn't even think. "He's MY engineer! And all the sudden, I find a letter in a place that ONLY he can get to, hurt myself getting it, and read it only to JUST find out that he's in love with me! Not only have that, but just FIVE GODDAMN MINUTES before hand I've started to realize that I feel the same way about him! And you TRYING to tell ME that I'll 'skin him alive'!!!"
No words came as a reply, just a short message with the location of a dock they could go in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"...come on... one foot two foot, wet foot dry foot..."
He felt slightly better, talking to himself, as he sat at the bar. He ordered himself another drink, and rested his face in his hand.
"What's wrong laddie?" he snapped back to reality, and looked at the bartender.
"Oh, nothing," he mumbled, reaching for his drink; he could feel the tears threatening to break through. "Its just that I've confessed love to someone who would never love me back, hijacked her ship, left it in the dock, and am now hoping against hope that I don't see her again, while at the same time, I'm a living corpse without her..."
"That's a whole lotta nothing, laddie," the Bartender smirked. "My names Bill."
"I'm Seamus Zelazny Harper," he murmured, mostly to himself.
"Seamus? As is, the famous little Seamus that used to cause amuck down in the hell whole earth?" Bill asked wildly.
"Yeah, what's it to ya?" the 'Famous Little Seamus' asked. Bill laughed.
"Just that, Nietzscheans all over know of your work on the Andromeda," Bill sounded really excited. "Heck, people other the Nietzscheans know of your work too!"
"Yeah well, thanks, I guess," he was feeling too glum to gloat about himself. "But I'm not working on the Andromeda anymore..."
"What?" Bill sounded like he didn't understand a word he was saying. "You'd give up a job on the most powerful ship in the Commonwealth? Why?"
"That girl I confessed love to, she's the second in command," that was all Harper could take; slumped down onto the counter to hide the silent tears, caused from his past, present, and his 'oh so glum' future.
"Ah, that would cause a problem, wouldn't it?" if Harper was looking up, he'd run because of the little glint in Bill's eyes.
"You're telling me. Heck, if I could turn back time I wouldn't have given her that letter..." he slumped down farther into his own arms.
"Come with laddie, will ya?" Bill got up and pulled Harper behind the counter.
"Yeah sure, But what about the bar?" he was a little confused as to where they were going.
"Oh don't worry," the glint in Bill's eyes grew, but Harper couldn't see them... "Johnny will take over..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Beka?"
"Yes Tyr."
"How are we going to find your love?"
"Two things Tyr. One, my old friend Johnny owns a bar and knowing Harper, he'll end up there sooner or later. Two, stop mocking me or I'll kick your ass."
"I'm sure the little professor wouldn't mind..."
"Shut up Tyr!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Um, Bill?"
"Yes laddie?"
"It's Harper; when are we going to get to where ever we're going?"
"We'll be there shortly laddie."
"It's Harper"
"Right laddie, right..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"This is where we're supposed to be?" Tyr asked.
"Yes Tyr," Beka snapped at him. "Believe it or not, I know how to contact my friends to help me in about 5 seconds flat! Me and Johnny always meet here!"
"Quite," Tyr put up his hand to emphasize this.
"What?"
"I said quite, even you would be able to hear it if you listened," Tyr glared at her, and she listened.
"Right laddie, right..."
"Yeah, right! Could you please tell me where we're going! 'Cause if you don't mind, I would like to go back to my hotel and mope right about now."
The second voice sounded a lot like Harper's to her...
"I told ya 'Famous Seamus', we'll be there soon enough. In fact, we're here right now."
'Famous Seamus'?
"Oh swell; we're in the middle of a dark alley for what reason? No reason at all, I just know it!"
"Well, ya could tell me why ya were crying..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Well, ya could tell me why ya were crying..."
"C-crying?" he choked on the words; he didn't think he'd noticed. "Who me? I wasn't crying!"
"Yes ya were," Bill said, sitting on a crate. "And you telling me about this second in command lady seem to be the source of it; did the gal say no?"
"The 'gal' -as you do kindly put it- didn't say nothing," Harper snapped, settling for the ground. "Not that I let her..."
"You didn't let her speak?" Bill seemed to be very interested in his love life.
"Hell no, I know her to well," he rested his forehead against his knees. "She would think I was kidding... everybody thinks I'm kidding... that's why I left the ship in the first place. None of them really cared to hear what I said..." Bill chuckled. "What so funny?!"
"Your shipmates, that's what," Bill was laughing now, and it took him a minute to regain the ability to speak again. "I have Nietzscheans coming to my bar, saying how there life was ruined by a little kludge that they called Seamus. Those shipmates of yours should be afraid of ya!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"Your shipmates, that's what. I have Nietzscheans coming to my bar, saying how there life was ruined by a little kludge that they called Seamus. Those shipmates of yours should be afraid of ya!"
Tyr was speechless at this comment, but Beka wasn't. She crept over to where the voices where, and made her presence known.
"Yeah, we should be," Harper's head snapped up, and she could see the surprised written on her face.
"Beka, I, um, I," he stood up but stayed near the wall, as if he was afraid of getting hurt. "I know what your go-" Beka silenced him with a swift kiss, pulling him away from the wall.
"Hmm," she said when she finally broke away. "What was I going to say?"
"Um, well, I," Beka laughed at his speechless ness; he smiled. "Happy Valentine's Day, Beka."
"Hmm... looks like you're the one getting the Valentine..."