TITLE: Chapter Four - Far From Dreams
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Andromeda series, I'm just borrowing.
NOTES: Don't forget to review! It's only a click away...
CHAPTER FOUR - Far From Dreams
"Control; We think we have it, we struggle to keep it but the truth is we never really had it at all."
- Histian Tuk-Palyn, philosopher
CY 4592
^~*~^
The explosions seemed to happen in slow-motion. An uproar of fire and debris swept the colonies and burnt the life from the planet in one swoop, like a match being struck. Dylan was still in a state of shock. Andromeda had just murdered hundreds of colonists for nothing, but he was on automatic. Despite his emotions he had to be a Captain.
"Shipwide. All crew, use the escape pods and get as far away from the ship as you can. Contact the nearest Commonwealth vessel and inform her that Andromeda is compromised." Dylan heard himself say.
"Trance, go and lock down sickbay, make sure Harper is safe. Beka, stay here and see if you can get back my ship. Druan sent some files, check them out, there might be something there. Tyr and I will find and secure Rommie, try and figure out what's wrong."
^~*~^
Trance ducked and dodged her way back to med-deck and found that Harper was safe. Still unconscious, but safe. She sat beside his still form and wondered how things would turn out. "We need you Harper." She whispered. "Please come back to us."
Harper may have been sleeping but his mind was far from dreams. He was lost in memories.
^~*~^
~Six years ago, Carna~
Though the planet was named after a goddess, Carna was far from beautiful. In fact, it was probably the furthest from beautiful you could get. It was home to the lowest of the low, meeting place for every criminal, drug dealer and junkie in all the galaxies, and it was the home of Seamus Harper. He never intended to end up here. No-one who lived on Carna did, but somehow when your life turned to crap, it's was where you found yourself.
"You're a mess Seamus." Lane Farrow told the wreck of a man sitting before her.
"Yeah whatever, just give it." Harper snapped.
"No need to be rude." Lane replied, toying with him. "We're friends aren't we?" Harper stared at her with dilated, wild eyes and Lane knew that he was in no mood for jokes. "You got my credit?" She asked.
"Not on me, but come on Lane you know I'm good for it." Harper replied quickly.
"No credit, no deal. You've been coming to me long enough to know that." Lane dismissed him and got up from the table.
Harper screwed up his eyes and tried to stop shaking. He leapt up from his seat and grabbed Lane's arm. "Please, please, I just need a little, we're friends right?" He laughed nervously.
"Alright, alright. But you'd better have my credit for me next time we meet, you understand?" Lane stated clearly. Harper was just one of the many pathetic fools that depended on her to fuel their disgusting habits. She supposed she depended on them too, to keep her in business.
"Yeh, yeah I understand." Harper replied impatiently.
Lane reached into her pocket and handed him a small thin bottle filled with clear liquid.
Harper took it from her. "No, this isn't enough I need more."
"That's all you're getting until I get my credit. Now get out of my site before my associates force you to."
Harper exited the bar, clutching the needle so tightly his knuckles were white. But no sooner had he crept into a nearby alley, three large men pushed him to the ground.
One of them picked him up by the throat. "Hand over everything you've got."
"Screw you." Harper spat.
On Carna, no-one was your friend. No-one helped anyone else. And no-one came to Harper's aid as he was beaten to the ground.
^~*~^
After the others had gone, Beka began checking the files Druan had transmitted before the colonies were destroyed. She figured she should utilise the systems before it was too late.
It seemed the footage from the corridors had been found. Beka watched the screen intently as a dark-haired woman entered Harper's room after taking a look around. It was only a few minutes before she left again, but that was still enough time for her to have shot Harper. Beka froze the image on the woman's face. A second file appeared on the screen adjacent to the still.
Druan must have dug up her file. It seemed the woman's name was Lane Farrow, though she went by many aliases. She had a criminal record which among other things, listed that she was once resident on Carna before being arrested for murder.
Beka wondered.... She checked up on all of her acquaintances back in the day, and she knew Harper had once lived on Carna, though in all their years of friendship he had never mentioned it so much as once. What if this woman was someone Harper knew? What if Harper getting shot and Andromeda's malfunctioning weren't related at all, but just a unfavourable coincidence?
It suddenly dawned on Beka that this woman might have left before Andromeda destroyed the colonies, but as she went to scan for other ships she noticed Andromeda's weapons reactivating. She was targeting the escape pods. She was going to slaughter her own crew!
Beka sprung into action and did the only thing that she could think of to stop Andromeda. She jumped in the pilot's chair and prayed to god that Slipstream was still under manual control.
^~*~^
Dylan and Tyr had reached deck 6 and had been looking for Rommie. They figured since she and Andromeda were now on the same side, she would have been released. As they made their way around the deck they realised that Andromeda didn't have complete control of her systems, even the ones she had restricted the access to. While this program took her over, it appeared it wasn't that sophisticated.
"Damn it, we've been round twice now." Dylan exclaimed after he leaned round the corner to shoot another defence gun but found it was already disabled.
"If she's trying to access the rest of the ship, perhaps she went to the Slipstream core." Tyr suggested.
"Okay, let's head there." Dylan agreed.
"Then again," Tyr said from behind him. "She may be trying to finish personally what her internal defences have failed to do."
"You think she'll come for us?"
"I think she has gone quite insane, so it is a possibility that she has dismantled herself after setting off the auto-destruct."
"Thanks. That's a lot of help Tyr." Dylan said sarcastically, but the mood swiftly changed when Dylan stepped out of the way to reveal Rommie standing before them with a force lance.
^~*~^
End of chapter four
^~*~^