A/N: Hey! Thanks for all the great reviews on the introduction! This
chapter was really hard to write, and the reviews helped inspire me. I
think I have writers block, and since I'm only on the first chapter that's
really bad. It doesn't help that all my teachers decided to give me TONS
of hw now.*sigh* I hate work. Keep reviewing!! Thanks!
Disclaimer: Blah blah blah.I don't own Andromeda.
Rating: PG, I think.
Summary: Beka and Harper crash land on an abandoned planet. R/R! And, if you have any title suggestions, let me know!
***
Chapter One
The Maru tossed and turned in the wind like a bug stuck in a spider's web; and just like the bug, it couldn't break free.
"Harper, we need more power!" Beka shouted from the pilot's chair.
"I'm trying, boss! I'm trying!" The engineer frantically jacked into the Maru's system, looking for some sense of control. It was a hopeless search.
For the first two hours the trip had been great. Although Beka had been surprised when Harper showed up instead of Trance, she couldn't say she was disappointed. It seemed like she hadn't spent quality time with her favorite crewman in forever. Of course, they didn't talk about much; mainly Harper just babbled on about his surfing invitation and Beka laughed at him. But it was fun, and it brought back memories of the old days.
Then, thirty minutes away from Infinity Atoll, they hit a huge, extremely violent, storm. The tiny ship shook like a leaf, and if Beka and Harper didn't have enormous faith the Maru, they would have sworn it was falling apart.
"Come on, baby, I know you can do this." Harper murmured to the ship. The virtual world inside the Maru seemed to be shutting down, and Harper had used up all his resources. As he stared at the flickering data streams, inspiration suddenly hit him. Quickly connecting himself to the Maru's audio system (A/N: would that be what it's called? Lol, oh well, sounds nice), he announced his plan to Beka.
"Boss! I've got an idea!"
Beka started, jerking the Maru on its side for a moment. "HARPER!" She shouted at the disembodied voice, "How many times have I told you NOT TO DO THAT!" It freaked her out every time, and she was already under stress.
He didn't even bother to apologize. "I think I can give us a little more energy by-"
Beka didn't have time to listen to his techno babble. "Harper, I don't care how, just do it!"
"Be ready boss," he warned. Sending all the power he could find into the slipstream drive he opened a slipstream portal. Through the interface, Harper could feel Beka guiding the Maru into it. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Harper violently forced the ship out of the slipstream tunnel (A/N: just pretend it could happen). He could hear Beka cursing in the background as the momentum caused her to fly off the pilot's chair.
It was a massive safety violation to jerk a ship from slipstream like that, but there were exceptions to everything, and this was one of them. They only needed to travel a short distance out of the storm, but a slipstream tunnel that diminutive couldn't be produced. Harper couldn't let the Maru keep going mindlessly through slipstream, who knew where they would end up?
'Uh-oh,' Harper thought as he read the data-stream scrolling. It seemed that his plan to get them out of the storm had disabled the Maru's flight controls; they were free falling, and headed right towards a planet.
'Beka's gonna kill me,' was his last conscious thought as they hurtled to the surface.
**
The Maru didn't land unnoticed. From the entrance to his cave, an eccentric, scraggily looking alien watched the bright ball shoot forcefully to the ground, crashing just a few yards from him. Was it a meteor? The fizzle of electricity he heard contradicted this assumption. A ship then? Most likely. He rubbed his furry hands together and smiled. Maybe the ship wasn't damaged too badly, maybe it could still fly, maybe it would be his ride off this cursed planet! The gleeful creature trotted the short distance to what he hoped would be his salvation.
At first, he wasn't sure that it was even a ship. It looked like a big, twisted hunk of metal- then he saw the door. It was definitely the door of the ship. The alien paused for moment. Even though it had been completely wrecked, he could swear he had seen this ship before. The creature shook away the feeling of familiarity and had just taken a step towards the door when he noticed the cargo hold. His breath caught in his throat. He had seen that cargo hold! He knew this ship and its crew.almost too well. Snarling, he ripped the door open and pulled his gun. If he knew Captain Valentine, she and her annoyingly lucky crew would be waiting for him on the other side.
To his surprise, the Maru appeared dilapidated. It was dark inside, and everything had fallen onto the floor. Console's flashed and beeped, giving the room an eerie sense. Gingerly stepping over the junk, the lurker saw what he was looking for; a woman's body lying unconscious on the floorboards.
"Well, well, well, Miss Valentine. It seems this is where you're luck ends and mine begins."
**
Harper groaned. His head hurt. Why did his head hurt? Was he hurt? He had a nagging feeling of guilt. Over what, though? What had happened? For a few moments he couldn't remember anything, then all the memories flooded back. The Maru, he had crashed the Maru, and probably hurt Beka.Beka! Harper's eyes snapped open, but quickly closed. The blinking consoles attacked his retinas viciously. Trying again, slower this time, he managed to get his heavy eyes to open.
'Time for step two,' he thought. Taking a deep breath, Harper sat up. The room spinned dangerously, causing him to moan and close his eyes. His head hurt so bad. Rubbing his eyes, he forced the pain away. There was no time to think of that, though. Not until he was sure Beka was safe anyway.
"Beka?" He meant to shout, but the words came out as a whisper. "Beka!" There, that was better.
Then he realized there was no response. Could she be injured? Harper saw the pilot's chair lying in the far corner of the room. Beka should be nearby, he concluded. Crawling on his hands and knees, Harper got to the chair. Panic fluttered into his chest. She wasn't there.
"Breath Seamus," he commanded himself. "She has to be here, you just need to find her."
The next ten minutes were spent frantically digging through broken computers and screens, but it was no use. With a small heartfelt sob Harper's worst fear was confirmed: Beka was gone.
**
YAY! I *finally* finished that chapter. Ooh, who could the strange *furry* (hint hint) alien be? Ok, about the slipstream part. It sorta makes sense, for something that isn't possible. Ok, Harper wanted out of the storm, and that was only a short distance, and the only way out was to make a slipstream tunnel. So he did and they went through it, but Beka wasn't in control, no one really was(I don't know if that's possible or not.). He only wanted to go a short distance, but since he wasn't in control he couldn't make the Maru stop going through slipstream so he had to push it out. Ok. That still makes no sense. Lol, just accept it!
Thanks you to all my reviews:
Shaz: Thanks for the email! You were my first reviewer! ^_^ ^_^!!! I fixed it so you do anonymous review now.
AKAJipster: Thanks! I hope the characters stayed in character.
Harper's Pixie: I hope you like this chapter as much as the first! ^_^
Harrison- Just to set everything straight: Harrison is my little brother. lol, hes not just a really mean reader.
Fred Gilman- Fred is my friend who really helped me w/ this chapter! THANKS!!
Saffo: Thanks! I'll need all the luck I can get!!!
Mercury's Winter: Thanks!! I hope this chapter is as good as the introduction.
Natta: I hope you like this chapter!
Rommie's Voice: Thanks for the review!
Elessar King: Wow! *blush* Thanks for the awesome super duper nice review! I'm not sure I deserve it, but thanks! It really helped inspire me to write this chapter!
Disclaimer: Blah blah blah.I don't own Andromeda.
Rating: PG, I think.
Summary: Beka and Harper crash land on an abandoned planet. R/R! And, if you have any title suggestions, let me know!
***
Chapter One
The Maru tossed and turned in the wind like a bug stuck in a spider's web; and just like the bug, it couldn't break free.
"Harper, we need more power!" Beka shouted from the pilot's chair.
"I'm trying, boss! I'm trying!" The engineer frantically jacked into the Maru's system, looking for some sense of control. It was a hopeless search.
For the first two hours the trip had been great. Although Beka had been surprised when Harper showed up instead of Trance, she couldn't say she was disappointed. It seemed like she hadn't spent quality time with her favorite crewman in forever. Of course, they didn't talk about much; mainly Harper just babbled on about his surfing invitation and Beka laughed at him. But it was fun, and it brought back memories of the old days.
Then, thirty minutes away from Infinity Atoll, they hit a huge, extremely violent, storm. The tiny ship shook like a leaf, and if Beka and Harper didn't have enormous faith the Maru, they would have sworn it was falling apart.
"Come on, baby, I know you can do this." Harper murmured to the ship. The virtual world inside the Maru seemed to be shutting down, and Harper had used up all his resources. As he stared at the flickering data streams, inspiration suddenly hit him. Quickly connecting himself to the Maru's audio system (A/N: would that be what it's called? Lol, oh well, sounds nice), he announced his plan to Beka.
"Boss! I've got an idea!"
Beka started, jerking the Maru on its side for a moment. "HARPER!" She shouted at the disembodied voice, "How many times have I told you NOT TO DO THAT!" It freaked her out every time, and she was already under stress.
He didn't even bother to apologize. "I think I can give us a little more energy by-"
Beka didn't have time to listen to his techno babble. "Harper, I don't care how, just do it!"
"Be ready boss," he warned. Sending all the power he could find into the slipstream drive he opened a slipstream portal. Through the interface, Harper could feel Beka guiding the Maru into it. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Harper violently forced the ship out of the slipstream tunnel (A/N: just pretend it could happen). He could hear Beka cursing in the background as the momentum caused her to fly off the pilot's chair.
It was a massive safety violation to jerk a ship from slipstream like that, but there were exceptions to everything, and this was one of them. They only needed to travel a short distance out of the storm, but a slipstream tunnel that diminutive couldn't be produced. Harper couldn't let the Maru keep going mindlessly through slipstream, who knew where they would end up?
'Uh-oh,' Harper thought as he read the data-stream scrolling. It seemed that his plan to get them out of the storm had disabled the Maru's flight controls; they were free falling, and headed right towards a planet.
'Beka's gonna kill me,' was his last conscious thought as they hurtled to the surface.
**
The Maru didn't land unnoticed. From the entrance to his cave, an eccentric, scraggily looking alien watched the bright ball shoot forcefully to the ground, crashing just a few yards from him. Was it a meteor? The fizzle of electricity he heard contradicted this assumption. A ship then? Most likely. He rubbed his furry hands together and smiled. Maybe the ship wasn't damaged too badly, maybe it could still fly, maybe it would be his ride off this cursed planet! The gleeful creature trotted the short distance to what he hoped would be his salvation.
At first, he wasn't sure that it was even a ship. It looked like a big, twisted hunk of metal- then he saw the door. It was definitely the door of the ship. The alien paused for moment. Even though it had been completely wrecked, he could swear he had seen this ship before. The creature shook away the feeling of familiarity and had just taken a step towards the door when he noticed the cargo hold. His breath caught in his throat. He had seen that cargo hold! He knew this ship and its crew.almost too well. Snarling, he ripped the door open and pulled his gun. If he knew Captain Valentine, she and her annoyingly lucky crew would be waiting for him on the other side.
To his surprise, the Maru appeared dilapidated. It was dark inside, and everything had fallen onto the floor. Console's flashed and beeped, giving the room an eerie sense. Gingerly stepping over the junk, the lurker saw what he was looking for; a woman's body lying unconscious on the floorboards.
"Well, well, well, Miss Valentine. It seems this is where you're luck ends and mine begins."
**
Harper groaned. His head hurt. Why did his head hurt? Was he hurt? He had a nagging feeling of guilt. Over what, though? What had happened? For a few moments he couldn't remember anything, then all the memories flooded back. The Maru, he had crashed the Maru, and probably hurt Beka.Beka! Harper's eyes snapped open, but quickly closed. The blinking consoles attacked his retinas viciously. Trying again, slower this time, he managed to get his heavy eyes to open.
'Time for step two,' he thought. Taking a deep breath, Harper sat up. The room spinned dangerously, causing him to moan and close his eyes. His head hurt so bad. Rubbing his eyes, he forced the pain away. There was no time to think of that, though. Not until he was sure Beka was safe anyway.
"Beka?" He meant to shout, but the words came out as a whisper. "Beka!" There, that was better.
Then he realized there was no response. Could she be injured? Harper saw the pilot's chair lying in the far corner of the room. Beka should be nearby, he concluded. Crawling on his hands and knees, Harper got to the chair. Panic fluttered into his chest. She wasn't there.
"Breath Seamus," he commanded himself. "She has to be here, you just need to find her."
The next ten minutes were spent frantically digging through broken computers and screens, but it was no use. With a small heartfelt sob Harper's worst fear was confirmed: Beka was gone.
**
YAY! I *finally* finished that chapter. Ooh, who could the strange *furry* (hint hint) alien be? Ok, about the slipstream part. It sorta makes sense, for something that isn't possible. Ok, Harper wanted out of the storm, and that was only a short distance, and the only way out was to make a slipstream tunnel. So he did and they went through it, but Beka wasn't in control, no one really was(I don't know if that's possible or not.). He only wanted to go a short distance, but since he wasn't in control he couldn't make the Maru stop going through slipstream so he had to push it out. Ok. That still makes no sense. Lol, just accept it!
Thanks you to all my reviews:
Shaz: Thanks for the email! You were my first reviewer! ^_^ ^_^!!! I fixed it so you do anonymous review now.
AKAJipster: Thanks! I hope the characters stayed in character.
Harper's Pixie: I hope you like this chapter as much as the first! ^_^
Harrison- Just to set everything straight: Harrison is my little brother. lol, hes not just a really mean reader.
Fred Gilman- Fred is my friend who really helped me w/ this chapter! THANKS!!
Saffo: Thanks! I'll need all the luck I can get!!!
Mercury's Winter: Thanks!! I hope this chapter is as good as the introduction.
Natta: I hope you like this chapter!
Rommie's Voice: Thanks for the review!
Elessar King: Wow! *blush* Thanks for the awesome super duper nice review! I'm not sure I deserve it, but thanks! It really helped inspire me to write this chapter!