Part 3
Beka quickened her pace to catch up with Harper who seemed oblivious to her approach. "Harper," Beka finally called out and was pleased to see the engineer stop and wait for her to reach him.
He immediately spoke when Beka caught up with him. "I'm not some counsellor for every Earth reject that come onboard, I don't do that, I didn't on Earth and I sure as hell won't do it here!" Harper seethed, still clearly upset, his hands on his hips as he continued to fight his emotions, as he breathed deeply. "I can't believe that it's even being suggested that I'm the best person to talk to anyone, let alone a slave, me?" he stressed with mock surprise.
Beka waited a moment before responding, seeing how worked up her friend was. "When have we ever asked you to counsel anyone, Harper?" she said calmly, and with amusement.
Harper saw no amusement in Beka's question. "You're asking me to bond with this slave, solely because you think I have some weird connection to slaves?" Harper accused bluntly. "Now why the hell would you think that?" he gestured mockingly with anger, and then turned away.
"First, calm the hell down, and get a grip," Beka warned as she looked sternly at Harper. "And second, this slave is not responding to any of the crew, so why shouldn't we give you a chance to get through to her? You're a part of this crew as much as anyone else," she stated.
"Because last time I looked I was the engineer, the resident genius, I'm not some guest liaison!" Harper snapped, still angered and his mood was no improving.
Beka looked at the state Harper was in and knew it was pointless to even try and get through to him whilst in this mood, and when she tried to put an arm around his shoulders Harper immediately shrugged her away and began to walk.
"Harper," Beka called after him and quickly caught up with him again, and they walked side by side. "Look what is this about?" she demanded loudly. "I've never seen you this worked up over something that no one has even asked you to do yet, it was only a suggestion, and one that we now know you object too, so fine!" Beka blasted.
"Good," Harper snapped, his pace was quick as he continued to walk with Beka alongside him.
Beka had had enough. "OK, we have got the damn message, Harper, so quit the spoilt brat routine, right now!" Beka yelled, her patience now used up, and she was ready to start yelling at Harper to get to the bottom of his objections.
Harper was however more than ready for the spat, and he stopped to face Beka head on. "Trance suggested it, and you supported it Beka, it's your freaking mission, and no one objected to me being asked!" Harper loudly responded encouraging the argument. "How the hell do you think that makes me feel?" he demanded. "I'll tell you, even smaller than I actually am! It's like," Harper then paused mid-sentence, needing to take some breaths, but words then failed him as he tried to regain his momentum, and retain his composure.
Beka also took some calming breaths; she hadn't expected Harper to be so up for the fight, and knew one of them had to remain focused. Harper was right, it was her mission, and so she decided to be the first to back down.
"Ok," Beka sighed to attempt recovery of her own composure. More calmly, she spoke. "So tell me what the problem is here, this isn't just about the fact it's not your job," Beka stated firmly, staring at Harper intently, looking for any signs in his expression that might help her. "We've always worked as a team before, so how come you're no longer so willing to help us, more importantly to help me? Come on, how often does Dylan give me my own mission, this is my chance, Harper, to show him that he doesn't always have to be the one to make the tough calls, or lead us," she said with passion.
Harper finally looked away, and took a moment before looking back at Beka with a calmer expression, and it appeared that her words now had seemingly got through to him, but his own words were still angered as he spoke. "So if I chose now to remind you that you're just a freighter captain, and not some high guard academy trained captain, with no qualified right to lead this mission, how would you feel?" he questioned with bitterness.
"Like crap, and ready to knock your head of its shoulders for even suggesting that I can't do this," Beka honestly responded.
"Exactly," Harper justified. "I just don't appreciate the suggestion that's all, that because I'm from Earth, that I'm 'at one' with all the low life in this universe," he seethed, and looked down at the deck for a moment. "I escaped that hell to be accepted for who I am, not what I was," he added pointedly, but more able to control his reactions now.
"For goodness sake, Harper!" Beka exclaimed, rapidly losing her patience again at Harper's argument. "Are you seriously suggesting that after all this time you have not been accepted for who you are?" she demanded sharply, with hurt in her voice. "We simply felt you might offer a different approach to helping us to get through to this girl, but if you're going to be like this then we know not to even bother asking you for help again, Beka turned and began walking back down the corridor.
Harper sighed loudly and looked upwards momentarily, and in a split second he regretted his actions and his words, realising he might have misjudged the situation badly and that he had upset his friends in the process with his attitude.
"Beka, stop, I'm sorry," Harper quickly offered before Beka had got too far away, and she stopped, before turning back to look at him, and he seemed awkward now in his actions. "I'm just not keen on speaking to the slave, ok? That's all this is about, nothing else," he stated, but he knew his words were now laughable, his voice pitiful and he expected to hear Beka mock him now.
Beka slowly walked forward, but she showed no sign of amusement only of concern and Harper felt even more regret, as she spoke. "Any reason why, or is today just a bad day?" she asked calmly.
Harper didn't respond immediately, he brushed his hand through his hair and looked awkwardly around the corridor. After a few moments he looked back to Beka. "It's hard, you know?" he offered cryptically.
"No," Beka admitted.
"You all know the crap I came from," Harper explained, his voice soft now almost vulnerable, as he showed some frustration in his movements. "No doubt you all think poor little Seamus Harper, genius he may be but still that kid from Earth, twenty years of hell, tough break," he explained now with more animated passion but his expression soon became sterner. "Well maybe I don't want any of you thinking that about me, and maybe I felt you no longer did, maybe," Harper emphasised his words now. "Maybe I thought that I had finally moved on and my past was now irrelevant, and that you now think, Seamus Harper, he fixes stuff, he's cool, he's a genius, a love god," Harper enthused with passion.
"Scrub that last one," Beka said with a brief smile.
Harper finally found a smile. "Do you know what I mean though?" he asked genuinely, needing Beka to understand.
"I think so," Beka frowned. "Harper, the suggestion that you maybe talk to this slave, it wasn't made with any disrespect to you. Hell, if I knew you felt this way about things, then I wouldn't have just sat there saying nothing when Trance suggested it, I certainly would not have supported it," Beka moved closer now. "Harper, no one on this ship pities you, and we don't look at you as anything other than who you are, and that's the best damn mechanic in this known universe."
Harper frowned, and then closed his eyes for a moment. "Maybe I was a bit hasty, I know that," he offered firmly and with control, but still showing a touch of anger. "But I just get so frustrated sometimes," he stated.
"Why?" Beka asked with interest, as she gestured to Harper to follow her into a side room to sit down, and she took the seat beside him.
Harper sat down and rested his head in his hands as he tried to sort his thoughts out. "I don't know exactly why I reacted like that to the suggestion," he admitted quietly. "But when Trance suggested it, I just exploded inside, it made me so mad," he offered lifting his head up so he could look at Beka. "I felt like I was only being asked because you all saw me in the same light as this slave, don't ask me why, I don't know but that's how I felt and I acted on that."
"Do you still feel that?" Beka asked.
"No," Harper sighed, and then smirked. "It's me," he finally admitted. "I guess no matter how hard I try, I just can't let go of my past, it's always there bugging me," he frowned and let his head drop.
"And bringing this slave from Earth on board," Beka prompted.
"Just keep me out of this one, please?" Harper requested, without looking up.
Beka didn't respond and she simply placed a hand on Harper's back, as she stood up.
"I know I owe a couple of people an apology for my actions," Harper added with a touch of regret. "And I'm not purposely trying to mess up your mission, I know its important to you to crack this one," he said and finally looked up again to look at Beka.
Beka kept her hand on Harper's back and began to soothingly rub it. "Harper, don't worry, if anything I think we owe you an apology," Beka smiled with assurance, she then took his hands into her own. "And I am fairly certain that the reasons you may think we had for asking you, are not the reasons why you were asked, would Trance really be that insensitive towards you, Seamus?" Beka offered wisely.
"I know," Harper sighed with regret. "You won't tell her I thought that, will you?" he checked with concern.
"I won't tell her, I know now that we were asking something of you that you shouldn't have been asked to deal with, and maybe we should have considered your feelings a little more before suggesting it," Beka reasoned. "On the other hand maybe the reason we didn't take any of this into consideration is exactly because we do not see you how you are saying we do," Beka offered softly, her arm still around Harper.
Harper now seemed down as he considered her words. "I can be so freaking stupid sometimes," he simply complained, now angry with himself.
"You're not stupid, anything but," Beka countered encouragingly. "And in part on some subconscious level, maybe you were right, would we ever ask you to play diplomat or counsellor in any other situation?" Beka offered, as she gently squeezed her arm around his shoulders. "It wouldn't even be a suggestion normally, so we all misjudged."
"So now you're saying I can't do it?" Harper countered defensively, then smiled with amusement, as Beka lightly hit him.
"Forget the suggestion was even made, Harper, I'm sure the others have, and I'll figure out a way to win this girl's confidence and succeed in this mission, so don't worry about it," Beka smiled confidently.
"Thanks," Harper simply returned.
Beka observed Harper for a moment, but she couldn't quite figure out what he was feeling now. He appeared in part embarrassed by his outburst, but there was still a fury about him that she couldn't quite explain, he appeared so tense.
"I'll call by later, and we can go grab something to eat, ok?" Beka suggested and Harper simply nodded his head and he got to his feet to return to work, with a frown Beka left him to it and she began to formulate alternative plans to succeed with her mission.
Harper spun the tool once more in his hand, all day he had been trying to perfect the action of spinning the tool and returning it to his belt in one fluid movement and he'd almost cracked it. He was now walking along one of Andromeda's many corridors and stopped what he was doing on hearing voices, and he soon worked out that he could hear Dylan, Rhade and Trance ahead.
"Any progress on Beka's new obsession?" Dylan was heard to ask.
"Nothing new to report on the mission," Trance answered, picking up on Dylan's meaning. "Dani is still not eating, drinking or responding to any of us, not even Rhade now," Trance finished.
Inside Harper tried not to react to her words as he approached, they hadn't spotted him yet but it was only a matter of time, as he got closer to their position. He had kept a very low profile since his outburst the previous day and he was still in no mood to try and explain himself, he wasn't entirely sure why he had reacted the way he had to the suggestion, but the fact of the matter was that he had, and he couldn't change that now.
As it was her mission, Beka had tried to broach the subject again with him during dinner, but Harper had successfully steered the conversation away each time. It wasn't that he didn't want to help Beka; he just couldn't deal with this situation and had no desire to try. The slave brought up too many issues with him from his past, that he didn't want to deal with.
With his back to Harper, Rhade began to speak. "It's almost as if she has no idea who we are now, even though it was just yesterday that we brought her onboard."
Dylan then glanced down the corridor and spotted the Harper approaching, an unspoken command was made between the three with their eyes to cease speaking about the girl, only Harper was already more than aware of what they had been discussing, and guessed Beka had spoken to them about his apparent sensitively towards the current mission.
It looked ridiculous, Harper considered, three of command crew including the captain, just stood in the corridor discussing the environmental controls now, making out everything was fine and Harper had no need to worry. With the briefest shake of his head, Harper decided to broach the forbidden subject, if only to show them he wasn't going to totally cut himself off from the mission, he was still a part of the crew after all.
"Still no luck?" Harper idly asked. "With the girl?" he added to show he had caught some of their earlier discussion, allowing them to drop the act.
Their surprise to his words was fairly obvious, but Trance wasted no time in updating Harper, she seemed encouraged by his question. "None of the usual techniques are working, we can't get close to her without causing her distress," Trance responded calmly.
Harper couldn't hide his own confusion in his reaction. "Never heard of that before," he offered with a casual shrug. "Normally slaves are at your beck and call, terrified of the consequences if they do not obey," he frowned.
"Any suggestions?" Rhade asked, knowing he could be stepping on potentially shaky ground by asking Harper the question, and both Dylan and Trance stared at Harper closely to check his reaction, almost fearing the worst.
Feeling the sudden attention on him, Harper hesitated. This had been the first time he had spoken to anyone bar Beka, since his little strop, and now he knew his every word and movement were being closely observed, as if he now had become their mission as well.
With a shrug, Harper composed himself and looked at them all in turn. "I don't know," he stated finally. "You're trying to keep her fed, and warm with a roof over her head, normally that's enough to win a slaves trust in the short term," he frowned. "Look I have little experience with slaves, so I don't know," he stated defensively and began to move away.
"There's something different about this slave, but I'm not sure what exactly," Rhade put forward, to show his own thinking and at the same time try to keep Harper in the discussion, Harper stopped and listened. "Remember that we suspect that she is also a spy, but she shows no sign that she thinks freely or acts freely, has nothing about her person that would say she was exchanging information. Our surveillance has determined that she has made no attempt to even check her surroundings, she has done nothing that would be consistent with that of a suspected spy," Rhade explained. "But she also shows an unwillingness to serve, unlike a typical slave in her situation."
Harper looked at Rhade as he digested the new information, this slave was certainly proving to be a bit of puzzle and he had always been a sucker for solving puzzles, usually in mechanics or engineering, but maybe he could stray for a while.
"Does she speak at all?" Harper asked, and the reaction from his colleagues showed him their surprise to his sudden curiosity in the subject.
Trance smiled slightly, seemingly pleased by the fact that Harper was showing more of an interest now in their dilemma. "Doesn't talk, move, eat or drink, the only action she has done since coming aboard is sleep and walk when we order her to."
"Maybe we're focusing on the wrong thing here," Harper stated, his mind now racing with possible answers to the puzzle. "What was her destination? If we assume she is a spy, what was her intended target? What information is she seeking or possibly carrying?"
"There is no way to determine that information," Rhade objected lightly. "Until we can communicate with her, we will never know."
Harper could see the logic in Rhade's answer, but felt there was still information to be gain that they had yet to find out, without the need of talking to the slave.
"Have the Dragans reacted at all to her disappearance?" Harper asked.
"There's been statutory bulletins requesting any information on her whereabouts, they have distributed shaky images of myself and Beka leading her away, but nothing clear that we'd be recognised," Rhade half smiled on that detail.
"We have studied the surveillance feeds from the market place," Dylan stated. "And Beka has investigated a Nietzschean who seemingly tried to find Dani after we had already led her away from her location," Dylan added. "Turns out he's from the same pride as Yussuf, works as a courier, so its clear he was to transport Dani to a new location but the purpose of that, and the destination is still not clear to us," Dylan updated the engineer of their progress as he understood it, after an earlier meeting with Beka.
"And because they don't have Dani there's no way to know, right?" Harper figured, and realised that they really were hitting a brick wall in progressing with this investigation. "And this Nietzschean," Harper began.
"Has disappeared," Rhade confirmed before Harper had a chance to finish his question.
"We felt that securing Dani would give us all the information we required," Trance stated.
"She's good," Rhade said, almost with admiration. "The more we are unable to make her react to us, the more she convinces me that she is a spy, and a well trained one at that."
There was an awkward silence for a moment between them all, before Harper made to move away to continue his work. "Ships don't fix themselves, thankfully or I'd be out of a job, so I better get back to work," Harper offered with fake brightness, and he walked away.
They let him leave without further word and he was thankful that they did, knowing that he still didn't want to get too involved with their new pet project.
Yussuf allowed his full frame to show his anger as he paraded around his office with fury. It had been nearly a whole day since his beloved Dani had disappeared, and the two people who had led her away had not even been identified, let alone found.
"What business do they have with my Dani?" Yussuf screamed, but his minions offered very little in explanation. "If they hurt her, I will not rest until their bones are crushed and scattered on that fire," he gestured wildly to the fire burning brightly in the open fireplace at the far end of the room. "Even if they don't hurt her, I will still crush their bones. Anyone lays one finger on my Dani, they deserve to die!"
A smaller Nietzschean cleared his throat before speaking. "Maybe they discovered her true worth, her abilities?"
"And how would they?" Yussuf demanded. "It's our best kept secret, that girl's talent was a gift to me, it was not discussed with idle tongues!"
"Maybe we're being watched by another pride, or maybe one of our past contacts has been heavily leaned on?" the smaller man continued.
Yussuf turned to his flunkies and he glared at them all in turn with fury clear in his determined eyes. "You find out who talked, you find my Dani, and you make sure whoever has caused this pays with their life!" he screamed. "Do I make myself clear? At any cost you will not fail me!"
The minions all sat back slightly, before agreeing to their master's orders, and they all quickly left the room determined to find Dani.
TBC