Can I say opps hehehe I actually posted this a while ago at my main site Cosmic Castaways but forgot to post it here? DeMona's cough reminded me I was an idiot oops. Forgive me?

sorry for the formatting the site's acting up again

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Thanks to Eljay as always for being the Beta queen! And fir Nureek and Akajipster for lending me their ears on the part after this one.

I got inspired so I've written a lot more that I haven't posted but hopefully the updates will be coming faster now

Thanks for all the comments guys... love you all!

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Beka extended the Maru's landing gear. She carefully avoided the hole she had created during her last visit. She stared it eerily. So much had happened over the last little while and it all begun with that hole. She shook herself from her reverie.

She had done some fancy flying and she believed for now that the Maru had avoided detection but the Dragos' archaic space sensors. She guessed there weren't too many invaders willing to attempt an attack on Earth... well other than the Magog. The planet simply had nothing left to pillage anyways. It had become a mining planet and a source of slaves. With Earth having nearly no viable resources why risk the Dragos' wrath by invading? Any decent sensors the Dragans did have were focused on the ground. It was the kind of place that was easy to get in to but a lot harder to get out of.

Luckily Beka had more then one trick up her sleeve for a fast getaway, also known as The Valentine Special as her father used to say.

Tyr and her had spoken very little over the last day. What more was there to say really? She still didn't know where they stood with each other. She had gotten over her initial fury with him for taking Harper in the first place. Tyr was just being Tyr. Not that that excused anything... but chasing the kid over half the galaxy had been exhausting and she simply had no energy to expend towards hating him. Not trusting him...that took no energy at all.

The two of them walked silently across the small field to the old, run-down house. To Hear Seamus talk about it you would think it was a mansion but it was barely a shack. As they rounded the side of the building, she was suddenly hit by two things. The first was the healthy breeze from the very unhealthy ocean. The second was the strong memory of the death--of Fergus. His blood still stained the uneven steps. She paused long enough for Tyr to grow concerned. He placed a large hand on her shoulder. She smiled back weakly. "Even I have bad memories here. I was here barely a day; imagine what nightmares he has."

"Yet he has always called this home." Tyr stepped deftly over the stains on to the front porch and into the small house. He waived has hand in front of his face and wrinkled his nose. "The air is," he paused seemingly searching for the correct word. " ... stale. I don't think anyone, with the possible exception of rodents has been here for some time."

Beka sighed heavily. "Do you think we beat him here?"

"It's a possibility."

"Then we wait."

"We wait." Tyr confirmed.

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It was dark. Straw littered the bottom of the small cell that he inhabited. Well it felt like straw he couldn't actually see it that well. It smelled of dampness and offered no warmth. Actually the prickly material made him itch and he had developed even more itchy spots all over his skin. He sighed and scratched at the preexisting rash on his neck.

He had gone from mind-numbing fear to exhaustion and he had slept. Now the paranoia was creeping back, but in brought a new friend with it--boredom. It was too dark to see clearly and he couldn't tell if it was morning or night. He let his fingers wander around his confinement area but they didn't go far before finding walls and nothing else.

Why was this happening to him? He vaguely remembered Nurse Kratchet and the Uber talking about confirming his identity. Why they hell would anyone be interested in him? He was a nobody. He wasn't left wondering for long. The brief light he got seeped under the doorway. That light flickered and was blocked in part as someone approached. He crawled backwards quickly until he had a wall at his back. The door flew open with a bang that made him jump. He was temporarily blinded as light streamed in.

"On your feet Kludge!" a voice growled, low and menacing.

Blinking rapidly, Seamus could finally make out a silhouetted frame at the door. Who ever it was, they were huge. Harper scrambled to his feet. He had a feeling he didn't want to piss this guy off. His knees started to shake. He did his best to stop them but it was a loosing battle.

The man, who turned out to be an over-sized Nietzschean, stepped further into the cell. Harper tried to press himself further in to the wall but it didn't work; he had nowhere to go.

The Uber seemed to study him for a moment. "How old are you boy?"

Harper shrugged.

The Nietzschean clubbed him roughly across the face.

His knees buckled. His questioner reached forward and grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him back up. "I said stand up! I didn't give you permission to sit! And you will answer all my questions, do you understand? Now, how old are you!"

Harper ran a tongue across his now swollen lip. "I'm not really sure. Thirteen or fourteen."

The Nietzschean threw him against the wall in disgust. "You're barely a boy! I can't believe Anasazi has stooped so low."

Harper recognized the name with surprise. "You know Tyr!? Is he here?" Maybe he had said it a tad to hopefully because he received another backhand across the face. He stiffened his knees, not allowing himself to fall. He closed his eyes for a moment. It felt like his jaw had loosened itself from his face. Then the Niet grabbed him by the shirt again, lifting him up so his feet were off the ground. He kicked his feet out frantically but they found no purchase.

"Do you know who I am boy?"

Harper started to shake his head but realized he better answer vocally. "No." It came out barely a whisper.

"I am Bacchus out of Saga by Dionysus and you were an accomplice in the murder of my father!"

Seamus felt himself turn cold. "Y-You're his son!?"

Bacchus dropped him then. "So you don't even deny it then?"

Harper hit the ground hard and shaking with tension. "Deny what? That your father was a bastard!?"

He didn't see the blow coming; all he remembered was his head bouncing off the cement. He lay immobile for a few seconds. The son was very much like the father. Pain radiated from his neck and head.

Suddenly he was in the air again. Bacchus had picked him up by the scruff of his already painful neck. He let out a small whimper. He did not want to go through this again. Why did the Nietzscheans always pick on him?

Bacchus shook him like a rag doll. "Where is Anasazi?"

"I-I Don't know. He ditched me. Just like everyone does eventually."

"Where did you last see him?"

Harper wasn't sure what to do. Should he tell Bacchus? Tyr had been nice to him... well sort of; Tyr was probably long gone anyways.

Bacchus shook him harder. "You will answer me, street rat!"

Harper felt like his bones were being shaken from his skin. "Sinti," he gasped. "I last saw him on Sinti."

Bacchus set him gently on his feet but then gripped Harper throat. Slowly, Bacchus started twisting his neck. Seamus tried to break his grip but there was little he could do. Pain rippled down his spine and he screamed.

"You would lie to me, would you boy?"

"No! It's the truth!" he yelled in response. "Gahh! No, please stop!"

Bacchus squeezed and twisted for a moment more before letting go.

Seamus fell to the ground wiping tears of anger, frustration and pain from his face.

Bacchus looked at him without sympathy or remorse. "For your part in my Father's murder I sentence you to be severely punished and marked. You will live and work in the mines as a symbol of my wrath." Bacchus leaned in towards him menacingly. If I find out that you lied to me your skin will be flayed from your body and you will die. Slowly."

With out further ceremony, Bacchus turned on his heels and left Harper once more in darkness.

Seamus stared at the door for a few moments in shock. He attempted to process what just happened. Then he turned his face in to the stinking damp straw and sobbed.

TBC