Hello, everybody. Sorry it took me so long to update, but I've been a busy person. I know it was cruel to keep you waiting so long, but I never intended for it to be this long. So please, don't hate me and enjoy this chapter.
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Harper backed away from Bobby, who was just as stunned as he was. He pulled his arm back to hit Bobby, but pulled it close to his body when pain flared from his shoulder to the tips of his fingers. Bobby had hit his right shoulder with that shot. His mind reeled for a moment as he realized what had just happened. Unfortunately, that moment gave Bobby enough time to recharge his gun and aim it at Harper's head.

"Don't even think about moving," Bobby warned him. "That was really stupid of you, you know?" He looked at Harper's blood oozing from the wound in his shoulder and shuddered, putting on a disgusted face. "You bleed fast, don't you, rat?"

Harper tried to blink the dizziness away, but it didn't work. He swayed a little on his feet, as he stood up straight and glared at Bobby. "I'm sure I can make you bleed faster," he threatened. His threat was answered with a maniacal laugh from Bobby. "Growing up on Earth teaches a person a few things about how to survive." Bobby raised an eyebrow at him. "Rule number one… Start with the groin." He ducked under Bobby's gun and kicked him as hard as he could in the groin. Bobby cried out in pain and doubled over, giving Harper a chance to knee him in the face. His first attempt only shut Bobby up, but his second attempt knocked him to the ground. "Don't you ever just get knocked unconscious, you big bastard?" Harper asked as he kicked Bobby in the face. After a few more kicks, Bobby was finally unconscious. His nose was bleeding quickly. "Told you I could make you bleed faster…"

Harper bent over and picked up the gun Bobby had dropped on the ground when Harper started beating him. When he stood back up, he got extremely light headed and nearly fell over. He really was losing a lot of blood really fast. Breathing the dizziness away, he picked up the parts he'd dropped and continued on his way to the Maru. It took him everything he had just to stay on his feet.
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Beka finished running the diagnostics on the Maru's bridge and decided to go for a little walk outside of the ship. As much as she hated planets, she felt like she needed some fresh air. Trance was in her makeshift hydroponics bay taking care of her precious plants. She'd told Beka that she was worried because Harper was taking so long to get the parts he needed, so she needed something to occupy her mind. Beka knew too well that Trance's entire mind could do five things at once and she was probably still worrying about Harper as she took care of her plants. She didn't blame her for worrying. Harper had been gone for nearly two hours and it was starting to get dark. What if something had happened to the engineer?

She entered the cool air of the planet and pulled her jacket closed. There was a cool breeze blowing from the east, where, according to her maps of this planet, there was a large lake. The wind usually blew east, so the temperature in this city was usually low and their winters were harsh and cold. Beka let out a breath of air and realized she could just barely see her breath condensing in front of her face. Before she could walk very far, she heard a faint shuffling sound behind her and spun around to see who it was. Harper was slowly walking towards her, dragging his feet on the ground. Blood dripped from the tips of the fingers on his right hand and his face was deathly pale. As she approached him, his knees gave way and he collapsed to the ground, landing on his left side. He didn't attempt to move any more and just lay in the dirt moaning in pain.

"Harper!" Beka called out, increasing her pace until she was running toward him. She reached his side and fell to her knees, assessing the wound in his shoulder. He was losing too much blood too fast. Before long, his moaning stopped and he closed his eyes. "No, Harper! Stay awake, shorty!" She shook him lightly and his eyes fluttered back open. "Look at me. Stay awake, okay? I'm gonna help you stand up and then we're gonna go inside so Trance can fix you up, okay? Ready? On the count of three… One… Two… Three." She lifted him to his feet and wrapped her arm around his waist, throwing his good arm over her shoulders. He almost fell back to the ground, but she held him up, forcing him to stay awake and try to walk to the ship. "Damn it, Harper, just walk with me!" she yelled. He finally complied with her demands and walked, with her support, to the Maru. Beka kicked the hatch release switch and the door flew open, allowing the two enough space to enter the ship. "Trance!" Beka called out. Trance's purple face popped out from around the corner, where her hydroponics bay was, and she immediately rushed toward them.

"What happened?" she asked as she helped Beka support Harper's weight. Harper moaned in pain when she touched his shoulder and mumbled "Bobby" under his breath. At first Trance couldn't understand him, but after he said it a few more times, she realized that he was telling them Bobby had done this to him. "Bobby did this to you?" She looked over at Beka, who looked extremely pissed off. "Beka, let's make sure Harper makes it before you go on a murderous rampage, okay?"

"I'm cool, Trance," Beka said as calmly as she could. "But as soon as I know that Harper is okay, I'm gonna go hunt that bastard down and make him wish his parents had never even thought of having him…"
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Beka paced outside the medical bay. After helping Trance as much as she could to help Harper, she realized she couldn't take seeing him the way he was anymore and decided to wait outside. He was too young for this kind of stuff to happen to him. She'd seen the scars, most likely made by a whip or whatever his former "employer" could find to beat him with, when they'd taken off his shirt so Trance could repair his shoulder. Suddenly, Harper wasn't just her new engineer; he was her little brother, still a little kid who needed somebody to take care of him and make sure everything was okay for him. She started to wish that she could take away all of his pain and kill anybody who ever hurt him or told him he wasn't worth anything. He sure as Hell was worth something to her and Trance, and she hoped that was all he needed. Without realizing what she was doing at first, she punched the wall, cutting her knuckles enough to draw some blood but not using enough force to make it hurt so bad.

"Beka?" Trance's small voice beckoned from the door to the medical bay. Beka looked up in surprise and hid her hand behind her back, although she knew Trance probably saw or heard her hit the wall. "He's going to be okay. He lost a lot of blood, but I've got him stabilized and the nanobots are working to repair the damaged tissue. He should be fine within a couple of weeks, so long as we can keep the infection out."

Beka released the breath she'd been holding and leaned against the wall, sliding down it until she was sitting with her head rested against the wall. "Thank you, Trance," she said quietly. "If I were a man, I'd kiss you." They stayed like this for about five minutes, with Beka sitting on the floor and Trance leaning in the doorway, until Beka sighed and stood back up, using the wall for support. "Is he conscious?" Trance nodded slowly and unsurely.

"He's awake, but he's very weak," Trance explained. "I've got him on a light sedative just to keep him calm."

"Good enough for me," Beka said as she walked past Trance into the room. Harper was resting on one of the beds, now covered with a white and blue blanket that Trance had made when she first came on board. He was still too pale, but some of the color was returning to his cheeks. His eyes stood out in his pale face and it made Beka think that he was like a chameleon, blending in with the white and blue blanket. She laughed a little, whether from the thought or from the nerves she didn't know. "Hey, shorty," she said quietly. He looked over at her and smiled a little. It was obvious he was still in pain, but it wasn't as intense because of the sedative. "I need to ask you some questions, kiddo."

He creased his brow in contemplation. "I don't like 'kiddo' either…" he slurred. Beka laughed and sat down next to him, stroking his blond hair away from his forehead.

"You said Bobby did this to you?" she asked. He nodded weakly. "Don't take this the wrong way, but… Why didn't he kill you?"

Harper smiled and replied, "'Cause I didn't give him the chance. Rule number one is you always go for the groin." Beka didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but she let him continue anyway. "My philosophy is that you don't ever give up, even if that means you might die. Fortunately for me, I found Bobby's weak spot." He laughed lightly at this, trying not to cause himself any more pain. "I think I left him in the alley about… ten blocks from here. You can probably follow my blood trail to where it all happened."

"Harper, did you kill Bobby?" Beka asked fearfully. She could care less if Bobby was dead, but if the city's police did an investigation, they would more than likely arrest Harper and throw him in jail for the rest of his life, or worse, execute him for the murder.

"He wouldn't just pass out," Harper continued. "But I persisted. I don't think I killed him, but he's gonna have one Hell of a headache when he wakes up."

Beka smiled and stood up. "You did good, shorty. You get some sleep, you hear me? This ship doesn't fix itself." She walked away from his bed and approached Trance. "I'm gonna go try to find Bobby," she whispered. "If anything goes wrong, you call me, okay?" Trance started to protest, but Beka stopped her with a raised hand. "I'll be careful, Trance. And I promise I won't kill him. I'll just… rough him up a little bit, make him think twice about playing with guns again."

"Come back soon," Trance said as Beka left her side and exited the medical deck. "We really need you here…"
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Okay, cliffhanger solved… Harper's injured, but he'll be fine, according to Trance. And Beka's out to open a can of whoop-ass on Bobby. WOOHOO!! Sorry… Couldn't contain myself… Review if you please.