My apologies to the crew of the andromea and maru… I am a little pissed right now and they are the only victims nearby.
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In the velvet darkness
Of the darkest night
Burning bright
There's a guiding star
No matter what
Or who you are
There's a light
There's a Light –Rocky Horror Picture Show
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Harper looked up at Tyr and swallowed, "I told you I would tell you about Krishna but first what happened to everyone on andromea?"
For the first time since he met Tyr Harper swore he had caught Tyr off guard. It was only a moment before Tyr regained his composer and sat down in a chair that was already next to the bed Harper was sitting in. Harper stared at the chair for a moment wondering how it had gotten there. Through the spider webs that filled his head he was able to remember Tyr sitting on it when he woke up. So that uber have some feels about beating the tar out of him. Probably mad Harper had passed out before he could find out about Kris. Harper tried to keep his head clear as Tyr opened his mouth, pausing for a moment he finally began telling his tale…
"We had been on the planet for about an hour when Dylan came and got me and Beka, some helpless planet told us in an emergency hail that they where under attack. Dylan decide that he needed to be the hero and risk the andromea and her crew against some unknown enemy just for some pointless planet"
Just like earth Harper thought to himself but the uber would never understand. He just fought for himself and his lost pride, more of a lost cause then any planet, even earth. Harper had to draw himself out of his head again and back to what Tyr was rambling about.
"We headed out; Dylan was convinced it wouldn't take long. But it was a trick, which he walked into with his blind righteousness. We where boarded in a matter of minutes. The ships defenses where taken out with the first shot. The enemy knew us, but we still don't know them. A dangerous position to be in," Tyr paused for a moment but quickly saw that Harper wasn't going to accept the short story. "We were boarded by one female. Those women took out Dylan and Beka in command. After she wounded both of them she had Dylan carry Beka to the brig and lock themselves in, she then overrode all the locking codes. She knew the whole ship. She caught Rev and injured him in the arm and chained him to a wall in the brig. She shot me in the arm and temporarily over powered me. I managed to escape but she is a worthy opponent and it is unlikely to happen again in another conflict. She knew every weakness of the crew and used it to her advantage, we need to regroup and reform." Harper stared into Tyr cold eyes for a moment.
"So what now Tyr?"
"We find what she wants and don't give it to her."
"But I thought…"
"Family is one of the strongest things there is Harper, but we still need to make her think we were giving in, but she should know Tyr Anasazi never gives in."
Harper didn't know whether to smile at Tyr statement or be offended at the shear ignorance. But his friends and sister where at stake, and he learned along time ago that you have to befriend your worst enemies to kill the more threatening enemy. Life is tough get a helmet, which he could have used yesterday. Or was it still today? Harper turned and saw Tyr intently staring at him. In was a strange look Harper knew Tyr wanted him to tell him about Kris but he didn't seem to know what to say. Congrats Harper you tongue tied the Niechzien. With that Harper took a deep breath, he wasn't sure where to start. How could he explain Kris? He opened his mouth and the words just started to flow out.
"Krishna, Kris, is my sister. Eight years younger but just as smart. She used to love the stars, just wanted to fly among them. That was her dream to escape to the stars, not a ship or another planet just to be out among the stars. She was such a dreamer. But two weeks after her eight birthday she was… attacked. I found her and brought her back to my parent's house but…"
Harper paused for a moment. This wasn't what Tyr needed to hear but Harper needed to tell the story. Even as he tried to stay detached the emotion were flooding back on him and it was all he could do to keep them at bay. But no words could tell of what he saw that day.
"After that she never left the house, for a long long time. She would sit on the floor and draw things in the dirt. It looked like just chicken scratch to my parents. They tried getting her outside, getting her to go look at the stars again but she said there was no point in looking at the stars. She just made letters and numbers in the floor with a stick.
About a month later I was talking to her as she sat there like always and I saw that it wasn't just gibberish on the floor. It was formulas and plans, she took the information I had for building weapons and finished them…. Not only that but she took them to the next stage. I started trying to find other things for her to figure out, and slowly she seemed to be coming back. We spent our days sitting on the floor of the hut with her drawing out anything I could find and silently explaining them to me with nods and frowns.
I don't remember for how long we lived like that, but I do remember the first smile I saw on her face. It wasn't the old one that used to light up the whole camp but it was something. She never really got the old smile back, but it was amazing to see anyone smile in the camps.
But then I decide to make some money, I mean education is rare in the camps. Most people have enough basic reading to write their names if they are lucky. I sold the equations Kris had made to a simple gun. The guy ask for some more stuff and well money is rare so I got him so more of Kris's work. Each week we would trade goods for Kris's work. Looking back I can see how stupid I was but I didn't think about it. It was money and we needed it. My parents never asked where it came from. I was sixteen and in the camps that is close enough to adulthood.
I thought I was being so smart, good Seamus providing for his poor sister and getting extra money for his parents. Until the Nietzscheans came hunting for the smart kluge who was making the plans. They killed my parents while me and Kris escaped. Brennan hid us in his hut for two weeks, for two weeks we laid in a hole in the bottom of Brennan hut with a wool blanket over us. It was the middle of the summer but we didn't dare breathe too loudly but less come out because it was hot. We stayed with Brennan for a month, we had no other choices, all we had was the few things Brennan managed to get out of my families hut before the looters hit.
I had some money from the last plans that I had sold. It was just enough to bribe a guard to look the other way while me and Kris got on board a freighter headed out. I didn't care where at the time. We hid in a half empty crate in the cargo hold. It was cramp but hiding in Brennan's hut had taken away any fat we had left on us. I don't know how long it was into the flight that Kris got sick. She was barely ten at the time and we had been on the run for a month. It got so bad that I finally stuck out one night to get some food, water, anything that might help her get better. It was stupid but I couldn't watch her died. They caught me and did what all people do with stowaways, beat me with in an inch of my life. For some odd reason they didn't throw me out an airlock, maybe they still had a bit of a heart.
One of the guys must have had a daughter, all I know is there was a girl, Bailey, on the ship she was about Kris's age. Bailey was the one who took care of me after her father and co. had their fun. I didn't know what else to do so I told her about Kris. Bailey managed to get Kris food or something, somehow though she kept both of us alive till the end of the flight. When we got to the drift they gave me one final beating and left me on the streets. Bailey managed to get Kris off the ship, the two of us started a new life on the drift, I was able to get Kris to a safe place, and she has stayed there ever since."
"How do you know?"
"Look in the records, Harper mail. The letters to and from Brianna, Krishna Brianna Harper. Got the last one from her a few weeks ago, they come in through the maru mail, so andromea has never seen them. I still need to keep her safe.
Tyr slowly got up and wandered over to the nearest consul, turning his back to Harper so he wouldn't see the emotions running across the Nietzscheans face, he could feel the tears forming but he would never let them fall.
He thought of his own child and how he never spoke of him and how the pain silently grew from that. He couldn't imagine the pain that Harper had carried with him for the past years and the fear that had made him carry the secret for so many years.
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When you set aside you childhood heroes
And you dreams are lost upon a self
You're at the age of not believing
And worst of all you doubt yourself
Age of not believing –Bed knobs and Broomsticks
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odd fact for your reading pleasure
Brianna-Irish, possibly meaning sorrow
http://www.hylit.com/info/Names/IrishGIRLSnames.html
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