TITLE: Chapter Seven - Hidden Truths

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

NOTES: Aw thanks Shaz! Lady Lenna, your wish is my command....



CHAPTER SEVEN - Hidden Truths



"They say the truth will set you free. They know nothing of the truths I have seen."

- Trinity Yor survivor

CY - 7112

^~*~^



"Looking through Harper's files is like looking through unorganised garbage. Garbage that I can hardly understand." Beka commented as she tossed aside another flexi with some random diagrams of who-knows-what on them. She and Trance were searching for info on Rommie while Dylan guarded the door. Andromeda had restricted access to almost all of her systems now, including sensors, which meant they had no clue where Rommie was. The last thing they needed was another attack.

"I think I have something...." Trance said. The flexi in her hand showed the specs for a program installed into Rommie's systems. Beka came up beside her and read the scurried notes.

"Vengeance program 1.0. In the event that I, Seamus Harper, should be killed, Rommie will avenge my death by killing those responsible. That's all it says?"

Trance turned over the flexi, but there was nothing on the other side. "That's it." She confirmed.

"You think this is the program that is making Rommie nuts?" She asked. It seemed like such a simple, straight-forward program, and besides, Harper wasn't usually one to make mistakes (engineering-wise anyway).

"Maybe..." Trance replied, her mind spinning with possibilities.

Dylan entered to join the discussion.

"Why would that program activate? Harper's not dead."

"But he did die." Beka realised. "His heart stopped in the operating room but the doctors brought him back."

Dylan had to verify the theory. There was no use going on pure speculation, that kind of thinking usually ended up as a wild goose chase. "What time did Harper's heart stop?"

"It must have been about, 11:30?" Beka estimated from the time she left the party and how long it took to find and accompany Harper.

"That's sounds about the time Rommie turned." Trance concluded.

"Okay, this 'Vengeance' program is looking like our best bet. It still doesn't make any sense though. Surely there was only one person that shot Harper. Why wouldn't Rommie just kill the one person responsible?"

"Maybe it malfunctioned." Beka suggested.

"So what do we do now?" Trance asked.

"We have a time limit, we've got to sort this out now." Dylan replied, trying to kick his own mind into gear.

"What if we convinced Andromeda that Harper was still alive? Maybe that would stop her." Beka proposed.

Dylan considered it for a moment, then decided there weren't many other options far from deleting Andromeda's mainframe - effectively killing her - and this was something Dylan was not prepared to do. It wouldn't come to that unless there was absolutely no other choice. "It's worth a shot." He agreed.

^~*~^

~Carna~

The light was dim, but it still highlighted the golden tattoo around the stranger's dead eyes and the crimson liquid that had pooled together with the rain. Harper didn't know how long he stood there staring at the dead man lying before him but his clothes were soaked through. What had he done?

His trance was disturbed by nearby shouting. That was when the panic set in. He had taken a life. He was a murderer. A killer. The horrific notion was enough to pull Harper from his numb stupor and send him into a desperate sprint. Where he was going, he wasn't sure, he just knew he had to get away. Not just from the alley but from this place, this life. He ran and ran, until he reached the place his tragic life here had begun. His meeting place with Lane.

Then, in his guilt-ridden delirium, it dawned on him. Lane could provide what he needed to end it all. Enough Hexin was enough to induce a coma-like trance. Everything in the world would fall away.

The rain weighing down his clothes, Harper dragged himself up the steps and entered the bar. There were a few people scattered around now, none of whom took any notice of the broken man who had just stumbled in. Harper looked around for Lane. She wasn't in the main bar. He checked the back rooms, where she often did business and sure enough, found her in a room with four other people. The door was open slightly. Rather than barge in Harper decided to wait. To work out what he would say to her. He had to think of something he had that Lane would want, to make the exchange with, but the conversation going on inside the room distracted him.

"I'm looking for my son." A woman said. Harper peered though the door to see a elaborately dressed, elegant woman who couldn't have looked more out of place. She almost looked like royalty. The three others looked like guards. They were armed - a fact that did not appear to sway Lane to any degree.

"What's he look like?" Lane asked nonchalantly. Harper knew she had no intention of helping this stranger. They person Lane helped was herself.

"He is my height, has dark hair and eyes, and a tattoo like mine." The woman gestured to her face, and the gold tattoo that was designed around her eye.

Harper felt the breath leave his body. The man he had killed had people who looking for him. Had people who missed him. No-one on Carna was supposed to have people who cared about them, that was why so much death went unnoticed. The guilt Harper felt was overpowering. He could not contain the tears that silently cascaded down his already rain-drenched face.

"Haven't seen him." Lane lied.

"If I find out you are lying, I will see that you are arrested." The woman said sternly.

Lane said nothing. The woman exited the room with three others, ignoring Harper, and left the building.

"What are you doing here?" Lane said when she Harper entered. She then saw the blood that hadn't been washed out of his clothing. "Get mugged did you? That's unfortunate. But you know I can't give anything else. I've already been too generous."

Harper suddenly remembered that he had lifted the stranger's wallet before the fatal fight ensued. "Here." He said, pulling the wallet from his coat with a shivering hand.

Lane took the wallet and opened it. Her eyebrows raised and an evil smile crossed her lips. "What did you do to get this Seamus?" She said, showing him the photo ID of the dead man. She looked closely at the trembling wreck standing on front of her. "You killed him." She accused, still smiling twistedly.

Harper couldn't form any defence for his actions. "I...I didn't....it wasn't..."

"Do you know who that woman was? She's an Empress from Calliope. That man was her son, his ship had to land here to refuel. He went missing." Lane was loving every second of this mental torture. "I ought to turn you in. I bet there's even a reward."

"No...I didn't mean to, he just....he just died..." Harper begged.

Lane laughed a maniacal laugh. "This is all too perfect. After all this time stuck on this rock, you of all people might be my ticket out of here."

Harper backed away from her and ran outside, back into the rain. He needed to get away from this hell, but how was he supposed to leave Carna? He had no ship, no friends to ask for help. Harper was so lost in his despair, he didn't see the one of the guards accompanying the Empress approach.

"Have you seen a man with dark hair and a gold tattoo around his eye?"He asked. Harper staggered back a step when he saw him. Then he realised the path that had been layed in front of him. The words slipped from his tongue so calmly he surprised even himself. "A woman in there was just bragging about how she killed a man like that. She had his ID."

The guard beckoned his friends. "Her name?" He asked Harper.

"Lane. Lane Farrow."

At that moment, Lane exited the bar. "That's her." Harper shouted. The guards ambushed her in a heartbeat.

"You are under arrest for murder. You will be transported to Calliope and put on trial, after which an appropriate sentence will be delivered." The guard pulled Lane's hands behind her back and put on the electronic cuffs.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Lane screamed as she tried to struggle free.

The guard pulled something from her pocket. It was the wallet Harper had given her. The Empress looked it over. "This is my son's. Take her away." She said sadly.

In what seemed like seconds, Harper was all alone once more. The rain, whose presence he had almost forgotten, ceased and the sky was clear, unlike Harper's soul. He vowed then and there that he would leave Carna behind forever. He didn't know how but he would get off of this abyss and somehow find another path.

^~*~^

Alone in Andromeda's med-deck a shallow beep quickened as the sleeping man stirred. His eyes flickered, and he awoke.

^~*~^

End of chapter seven

^~*~^

Phew, finally! Aw, you didn't think I'd kill him did ya?