TITLE: Chapter Two - Mysteries

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Andromeda series, I'm just borrowing.

NOTES: Aw thanks for the reviews! They're my drug so keep em coming. Here's another chapter for yourlovely people.



CHAPTER TWO - Mysteries



"Some time in the future we look back on this day and wonder why we were so blind."

- 'The Sun and the Dying' by Serti Mentina

^~*~^



Beka rushed over to Harper's side and checked for a pulse. She found one, thank god, it was faint but it was there. "Dylan," She called over the comm.

"Go ahead." Dylan replied over the noise of the celebration. Something about Beka's voice bothered him, and he soon found out why when she answered.

"Harper's been shot."

^~*~^

Dylan walked at a steady pace to the guest room, his calm demeanour now deathly serious. Beside him Lieutenant Druan, the Enyan security officer, was relaying what security checks were being carried out.

"Captain, I don't see how we can lock down the hall, practically everyone from the planet is here! Besides, the shooter may have already left...."

"Good point. Are there any ships in your docking port?" Dylan asked.

"A few, yes, some of our colonists run cargo." Druan replied.

"Prevent them from taking off. No-one leaves this hall, no-one leaves this planet, understood?" Dylan ordered. Since the Enyans and Setrinians had quite recently become members of the Commonwealth, he was free to do so.

Dylan reached the guest room just as Harper was being taken out on a stretcher. Beka was right beside him. "Beka, what happened?"

"I have no idea, I found him like this, there's was no-one else around."

Dylan turned to Druan again. "You monitor these corridors, right?"

"I'll get right on it." Druan answered, anticipating Dylan's question.

"Is he going to be alright?" Dylan asked a doctor.

"I'm not sure, please, I need room to work." He replied, and gently pushed Dylan out of the way. There was a medical facility built into the hall, and the doctors were taking Harper there. Beka stayed behind with Dylan. "It doesn't look good." She said, clearly distressed, but also angry. "Why would someone do this?"

"I have no idea. Harper wasn't a threat to anyone." Dylan said. "Don't worry, we'll find out who did this."

"I'm going to stay with Harper."

"There's still a threat here. As soon as he's stable we'll take him back to Andromeda." Dylan told her. He deliberately avoided the word 'if', so not to alarm Beka, and to keep from considering the possibility that Harper could die. From what he saw the wound was pretty bad, but the doctors would help him. The colonists were renowned for their medical expertise. They had to save him.

^~*~^

"Come on Harper, don't you dare do this." Beka muttered under her breath as she watched almost the entire medical staff work on Harper. It had been twenty minutes now. Twenty minutes of torture, with no-one telling her what was happening.

"Beka," Dylan's voice came over the comm. "How's he doing?"

"I don't know, it's not looking too great Dylan." Beka replied solemnly. "Have you told the others yet?"

"No, the comms are still being disrupted by the atmosphere." Dylan replied.

"Have you found out who did this yet?"

"Not yet, I'm going through the monitors footage with Druan now."

"Find them Dylan." Beka said through gritted teeth. No-one did this to a member of her crew. Her friends.

"We will. Out."

Suddenly the noise from inside the operating room became more urgent. Beka's heart jumped as she heard someone say "His heart's stopped, quickly get the shock-pads!"

There were too many people in the room for Beka to see what was going on but as one of them moved she caught a glimpse of his face. He was so pale, so still. Then he shuddered as a jolt went through his body.

"No good, again" Someone said.

Beka could not take her eyes away from the horrifying scene. "Don't even think about dying Seamus, or so help me god I will find you in the afterlife and kick your ass."

^~*~^

Onboard the Andromeda no-one had any idea of what was conspiring on Autriva. Tyr was exercising. He was invited to the negotiations, but considered them pointless as Autriva was populated by only three hundred or so 'whining cowards' as he had called them.

Trance and Rommie were in Command.

"Do you think the negotiations are going well?" Trance asked as she watched over the beautiful planet below on the viewscreen.

"There's no reason to believe otherwise." Rommie replied.

"Except for the consistently bad track record of Dylan and negotiations." Trance corrected.

"Well there is that." Rommie replied, smiling. "Then again, we're about due for - " She began, then stopped mid-sentence.

"Rommie? Are you okay?" Trance asked, concerned.

Rommie had to steady herself before she replied. "Something is taking over my neural pathways...." She said urgently.

"What? What is it?"

"It's a program...I never knew it was there, it's somehow activated...I can't stop it...."

"I knew it was a bad idea for Harper to go down to that planet." Trance said as she approached.

"No, don't come near me....whatever this program is it isn't good....you have to - " Trance continued her approach cautiously as she saw Rommie's eyes roll into the back of her head.

"Rommie?"

The avatar was now motionless, staring into nothing. "Andromeda?" Trance asked, and Holo-Rommie appeared.

"This is very odd. The connection between us seems to have been severed." She told Trance.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know." Andromeda replied, perplexed.

Then suddenly Rommie snapped into action and lunged at Trance, who couldn't help but yelp. Rommie had her hands clasped around Trance's throat. Trance struggled against the AI's grip, but she was considerably stronger. Andromeda promptly hailed Tyr, who arrived just in time. He had to pry Rommie's fingers from around Trance's throat and flung her away. She got up and ran out of Command.

"Okay. What did I miss?"

^~*~^End of chapter two

^~*~^