CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ~ Angel

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"Only those who do not fear the end are able to see it coming."

Empress Lela Iliia Tjani CY 112

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The core brought back some bad memories for Harper. It was the place where the Magog almost killed him and Tyr. It was the place he had to stop Beka from dying from Flash overdose. And it was the place he had revealed to a crazed Rommie that he had killed a man. Luckily the adrenaline that Trance had stabbed him with was still running strong through his system, and he was focused on one thing - bringing Andromeda back online.

"I'll make sure that guy doesn't come looking for his gun," Trance said, watching the door with her shiny new Atrican semi-automatic.

Harper hooked himself up to Andromeda's core and his eyes rolled into his head as he made the connection. Inside the usually bright and highly active central nervous system of the ship, it was eerily quiet.

*Only an EM bomb could have caused this* Harper concluded. This much damage wasn't going to be as easy to repair as Rommie had been. But something else was wrong. Something foreign was wired into the section of the mainframe that governed, among other things, Andromeda's self-destruct. Harper studied it closely. It must have been installed when Andromeda was in sleep mode - that was the only time anyone could gain access to her for long enough to load a program this complex. It took a few more minutes for Harper to find out its purpose. When he did, he came straight out of the core.

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In Command, things weren't going well. Rommie was conscious, but her body was badly damaged and she was unable to move. It made the shock Harper had given her seem like a mere pin-prick.

"That was very stupid of you," Adonai snarled.

"You can't blame her for trying. You are trying to kill her," Beka said irately.

"We're just trying to get justice for our people, don't you see that?" Syla said.

"You're colonists from Autriva?"

"Yes, Captain. Not all of us died that day. Nine Autrivans, including the four of us were stuck on a mining planet gathering supplies during the negotiations. We didn't even know of the tragedy until we finally repaired our ship and went home. Only there was no home left to go to," Adonai explained bitterly. "The others were blinded by your pathetic excuse for the murder of our entire people but we will not allow such an atrocity go unpunished."

"Destroying Andromeda's personality is not the way to honour the memory of your people," Dylan urged.

"You were the one who made my people a memory," Adonai uttered. "You have to pay."

"We just want to make sure nothing like this ever happens again," Syla tried to make the others understand. Dylan got the impression she was in over her head.

Rommie had received a message from Harper while Adonai was talking. "You're not just trying to wipe Andromeda's core, you're going to destroy the entire ship!" she said.

"What are you talking about?" Nalan asked. He wasn't the only one who wanted to know.

"Harper's found a secondary trigger installed on my self-destruct sequence," Rommie announced, still unable to move.

Syla and Nalan looked genuinely shocked to hear this. Dylan wasn't too happy either, though news that his engineer wasn't completely lost to them was good news.

Adonai chuckled slightly "Do you really think I'd walk into a situation like this without a back-up plan?"

"That wasn't part of our plan Adonai," Syla said hesitantly.

"I'm afraid Captain Hunt has left me no choice." Adonai brought a small device from his pocket. It must have been the trigger. Beka acted before he could activate it, and kicked it from his hands. It flew into the air and landed without breaking, near Syla's feet. She picked it up.

"Give it to me," Adonai demanded.

"But what about the crew?" Syla argued. "They'll die, just like our people died."

"What better justice than that?!" Adonai returned. He raised his gun towards Syla and fired a short burst of plasma into her chest. Dylan caught her before she hit the floor, but she already dead. Nalan watched in shock.

Adonai picked up the trigger and activated it, then ran from the room before anyone could stop him. The doors closed behind.

Nalan tried to follow his leader, but the doors wouldn't open. "Adonai!"

"He's not coming back," Tyr told him with no regret.

Dylan turned to Rommie. "Tell Harper he has to shut down the self-destruct sequence. Now."

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"Harper, are you there?" Rommie's voice came over the com, but Harper already knew what her message was. He was in Andromeda's core trying to purge the remote program when it had activated.

He was working frantically trying to detach each strand of the program so he could deactivate the self-destruct, but the adrenaline in his system was swiftly dissipating. The pain and tiredness that had been subdued was returning. It was punishing his body, which unavoidably affected his mind. Every time he removed a strand, two more would take its place.

Just when he thought he was making progress, Lane appeared in virtual form beside him. "You can't do it. You know you can't."

"You're not supposed to be in here," Harper said, exhausted.

"Just unplug and run, screw the others, they'd do the same."

Harper cursed himself. The fate of the ship was on his trembling hands, and he could barely keep his concentration. He should have known something like this would happen, Tyr had even tried to warn him. God, why hadn't he just listened? Harper knew Lane was right. He was fighting a losing battle. It would be easier to just tell everyone to abandon ship. He took another look at Lane and jacked out of the mainframe.

"Harper, did you deactivate the destruct sequence?" Trance asked when she saw her friend open his eyes.

"I can't, Trance, I can't do it. We have to get out of here."

"We can't abandon Andromeda, you have to fix her," Trance told the wreck of a man before her. She wasn't sure how much time they had left, but she knew in her heart Harper had the capability of stopping the self-destruct sequence.

"No, I can't do it," Harper insisted. He was so tired, why wouldn't Trance just listen to him?

Trance knelt beside him and placed her hands on either side of his face. His eyes were weary and full of hopelessness, but there was still the smallest spark of the real Harper. "Yes, yes you can. I have faith in you," she told him.

A tear escaped from Harper tired eyes. "Why Trance? All I've ever done is let you down."

"Are you kidding me? You've done nothing but be there for me whenever I needed you, helped me when I needed help, saved me when I needed saving," Trance said, the emotion of the situation getting to her aswell. "Now get back in there and save me again."

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End of chapter twenty-one