Part two of my story takes place after Bunker Hill.

Ch. 6

Now

" Mr. Harper, how are those security enhancements you promised me coming along?" Dylan Hunt's voice sounded over the com, reverberating off the walls of the access ducts. Harper pulled the jack from his cerebral port, wearing his usual grin of self-satisfaction for his own ingenuity.

" Up and running, boss. A flea so much as sneezes and you'll know about it. Not that you would want to, but at least you know you can."

" About time Mr. Harper," Dylan replied.

Harper scooted back to replace the panel over the wiring. " Hey, I'm a genius, not a magician. Even genius takes time."

" And you're sure these security retrofits will work?"

Harper leaned back against the wall, the small human very at home in the confines of Andromeda's metal tunnels.

" Have I ever let you down?"

" Not yet, but there's a first time for everything," Dylan said.

" Relax, Captain. Trust in the Harper, the Harper is good…" Harper winced at a sharp pain in his side. He snatched up the inhaler around his neck and sucked on it, letting the medicine soak into his lungs. The pain quickly abated and Harper relaxed. He rubbed his side where it felt as though one of the obnoxious little Magog Larvae had been gnawing on a rib.

" What some Barbecue sauce with that you little…" He elbowed himself in the offended rib, offending it even more and wincing once again.

Usually the pain he felt when the slimes woke up was situated around his gut, but sometimes it meandered, even moving upward. It made him nervous, especially when it neared his heart and lungs.

Harper let out a sharp breath and rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

" Okay, so just what is it I did to deserve this?" he asked the Divine. He did not expect an answer, but he never stopped asking all the same.

He turned and moved in a crouch toward the command deck entrance of the duct. The door slid opened when he arrived, and he poked his head out to scan the deck. Everyone was in his or her usual spots; Beka at the pilot's station, Tyr, Rev Bem, and even Trance scattered everywhere else. Dylan stood at the very front, and Rommie the avatar off to the side.

" So when's the party?" Harper asked.

" They haven't even contacted us yet, Harper," Beka replied, turning slightly to look at the little engineer. " And I doubt it's going to be much of a party when they do."

Harper positioned himself into sitting with his legs hanging over the edge of the port door. He wanted to see these ubers for himself, and though they were only going to appear on screen, he felt safer at the rear with the access port at his back.

" So tell me again why it's so important we talk to these Nietzschean reps if we don't trust them?" Beka asked. " I mean, they are from the Drago-Kasov pride. I thought we hated those guys."

" Actually I think they hate us," Trance said in her innocent, bubbly way. The strange purple girl was rocking back and forth on her heels, her hands clasped behind her back and her tail twitching.

" Actually, I think they hate Harper," Beka said. She turned to look over he shoulder at him, smirking. " I mean you did stir up quite a little rebellion down there."

Harper smirked back. " And I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

Outside, he was all grins. Inside, old pains stirred to life. His thoughts went to Brenden, his cousin, and for a moment his throat constricted. Yes, he had received a transmission from him; a message sent throughout the Dragan occupied worlds to stir the slaves into rebellion. But it had been transmitted in the middle of a battle. There could never be any true way of knowing, but in his heart Harper knew that Brenden was gone. He hid the ache of the loss well enough, grafting it to the pain that was as much a part of him as breathing.

" They want to talk," Dylan said. " We can at least hear what it is they have to say. The slave rebellion has caused a dent in their defenses, and Magog have been taking the advantage. Personally I couldn't care less that the Magog and Drago-Kasov are at eachother's throats, but there are the slaves to consider."

Dylan turned briefly to give Harper a meaningful look of understanding. Harper flashed him a smile of gratitude.

Holo-Rommie's partly transparent form appeared before Dylan. " Harper's upgrades are up and running, captain," she said. " And I must admit that they are quite the update."

Seamus smiled broadly. " Thanks Rom doll. I aim to please."

" Perhaps," Tyr began dryly, " you should save your praises for after these diplomats have come and gone."

" Hey," Harper protested, though in truth he was in complete agreement with the Nietzschean. Both were in unanimity (for once) on not being happy about the Dragan's coming.

" He's right, Mr. Harper," Dylan said. " I trust your abilities, but I also trust a Draco-Kasov to have something up his sleeve."

Rommie's face appeared on the screen. " Ship approaching Captain. They're haling."

Dylan nodded once. " Let's see 'em."

Harper rolled his eyes. As far as he was concerned, one Nietzschean looked like another. All the men were unnaturally massive and all the women unnaturally beautiful and perfect. He pulled out his nano-welder and looked it over, already planning out a few more upgrades for Andromeda's systems, even further retrofits for the security.

" Lady Aneyla, I presume?" Captain hunt said.

" Captain Hunt," the Lady replied.

The flat, cold voice struck Harper like a slap, sending a river of cold coursing down his spine and into every nerve. He knew that voice. Something about it was so terribly familiar that it made his insides squirm and his heart pump faster.

" As Captain," Dylan said, " I would like to Welcome you to the Andromeda Ascendant. Please proceed to dock."

" Thank you captain."

Harper slowly looked up from his welder to the face that filled the screen. His breath stopped, his heart lurched, and his insides twisted. He knew that face. There were lines of age on it now, but the amber hair, and the cold blue eyes spilling impatience were all the same. That face was one of many that haunted him in his worst nightmares among Magog and ubers. He knew it as well as he knew his own face, and had never forgotten it. He had never let himself.

The shock of seeing that face caused terrible memories to pour back into existence. Startled, he jerked back into the duct, slapping the manual switch to close the door and shutting the face from his sights. He was on his hands and knees with his heart hammering and his breath coming thick and fast. He was quaking with an uncontrollable rage that made him clench his fists until his nails bit into his palms, drawing blood. He hated that face more than he hated anything else, even Magog. But that could not be her. It could not be possible.

Harper shook his head. " No no no no no no… It's not her, it's not her…" But the voice had proven otherwise. Stronger than the image of the face was the disdainful voice that echoed in his brain.

" Harper?"

Harper heard Rommie's voice, but his mind did not register it. He was lost in a see of red fury that threatened to drown him.

" Harper, are you all right? I'm detecting an elevation in heart rate and respiratory."

Harper gritted his teeth, trying to control the rage he felt.

" I'm fine. I gotta… I gotta go."

He turned and moved down the duct to be as far away from the face as he could.

AAAAAAAAAAAA

The woman must have been in her middle years, but she hardly looked it. Besides the few lines about her mouth and eyes everything else about her bespoke youth. Her eyes, however, were like steel, expressing nothing but annoyance.

" Thank you captain," she said after Dylan presented his permission for her to dock. Then her face vanished from the screen.

" That was fast," Trance said. Dylan grinned at the purple girl's way of putting a positive voice on the obvious.

" Maybe that means these talks will be short too," Beka added with her own positive note. " I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't like her."

" I try not to jump into judgement," Rev said. " Everyone deserves a chance to make a better impression."

" Well, so far, she's not doing too hot," Beka replied.

" I did not say they were always successful," Rev said.

Beka snickered. " Hey Harper, you're kind of quiet. She really leave you speechless?"

He turned her head, as did Dylan, startled that the little engineer had yet to say anything. He was even more startled to see that he had gone.

" Huh," Beka said. " She must have been too much for him. I'll never understand how a twerp beaten all his life by Nietzscheans could actually be attracted to any of them."

Dylan sighed. " Maybe he went down to meet them early. In which case, we should probably hurry ourselves so he isn't the first face they see."

The crew followed their captain to the hangar where the Nietzschean ship was docked. Harper was not there, and Dylan was becoming suspicious. It was never good sign when Harper vanished.

They stood before the hangar doors just as they opened and the Lady Aneyla emerged. She was followed by three burly males, one with brown hair shaved close to the skull, another with sandy hair slicked back from his high-forehead, and the final with spiked, platinum hair.

" Captain Hunt," The lady said by way of greeting, though her face retained apathy. " I am the Lady Anayla out of Cassandra by Vance of the Drago-Kasov."

Dylan bowed his head. " Lady. Welcome to Andromeda. Allow me to introduce my crew. Beka Valentine, Trance Gemini, Rev Bem, Tyr Anasazi, and Andromeda's Avatar."

Anayla passed her eyes over each crewmember dispassionately, though her eyes lingered for a moment on Tyr. Dylan had expected this, though whether she studied the Kodiac out of attraction or disdain he could not say. The woman was like an ice-sculpture that moved.

" Our engineer Seamus Harper, is, I'm afraid, not present at the moment." Dylan would have to have a long talk with Harper later. " But I'm sure he'll show up soon enough."

Anayla snatched her gaze away from Tyr to look at Dylan. For the first time since presenting herself, her visage registered a brief emotion; surprise.

" What did you say?"

Dylan exchanged a question look with Rommie. Rommie shrugged.

" Um, our engineer. He's not present. He's… strange that way. Kind of lives by his own rules," Dylan laughed abashedly. Yes, a very long talk.

" No, what was his name?"

Dylan and Rommie exchanged looks again. " Seamus Harper."

Anayla arched her eyebrow. " Oh."

" Um, would you care for a tour of the ship?" Dylan asked next.

Anayla did not respond, not right away. Her eyes became hazed for a moment as though she were looking inward. She blinked, breaking from her reverie, and looked back at Dylan, smiling in a way that made Dylan shudder inwardly.

" Yes, that would be nice."