Part 10

Beka hurried through the damaged corridors, convinced there had to be more places to look but during the past hour she had checked every area she could on that deck. Removing her breathing apparatus for a moment she looked upwards.

"Andromeda?" Beka barked.

"I stil-" her voice sounded static as it abruptly cut out, declaring her presence on deck eight to still being limited.

"Forget it," Beka stressed. "Trance," Beka spoke into her wrist communicator.

"I have nothing yet, Beka," Trance's voice returned.

Beka showed her frustration, as she stopped. "Where are they?" she demanded. "It's been over an hour now, and this deck is highly unstable, barely breathable," she reminded her.

"I'm not sure, Beka, but they have to be here somewhere," Trance reasoned.

"I just know they are trapped behind those damn doors," Beka seethed.

"Andromeda says that's impossible, the doors are programmed to detect life signs in the event that they need to operate during an attack, and only operate if there are none present and the hull is breached," Trance returned, and her voice suddenly stopped.

"No, Trance, don't even say it," Beka stated sharply. "They are here somewhere, and we will find them, alive," she quickly added, and returned her breathing apparatus to her face with determination, to continue her search.

There was a loud crash, and wearily Harper half opened his eyes to the noise. He immediately felt drained, weak, and drowsy as consciousness attempted to return. There was smoke in the air, and his lungs felt sore as he breathed, Harper soon found that he was short of breath. Another crash of something falling made Harper snap his eyes open and try and gather his senses with more urgency, and he appeared to be lying on his back, on the floor. The sound of live electricity buzzing close by suddenly brought it all back to him in a flash, and he instinctively knew that he should have company.

"Dani?" Harper urgently spoke her name, as he attempted to sit up and saw her lying on the deck close to him, she appeared to be unconscious. "Dani, wake up," he encouraged, knowing that they had to get out of the room, remembering the damage to the deck, and now seeing it literally falling apart around them.

He then remembered what she had done to him, rendered him unconscious by sending a huge amount of the ships current through him, and he hesitated for a moment, but then he saw her stir, blinking her eyes open. "Harper?"

She remembered him at least, and he decided that he couldn't leave her here, he was annoyed with her, but he wasn't heartless, and Harper simply nodded his head before looking around. "We have to move, we're losing air staying here, this place isn't safe," he instructed, a little unsteadily as he found his feet, and Dani just nodded her head in understanding, as he helped her to her feet.

As they started to move it soon became apparent that the air pressure had dropped as they felt light on their feet, and they were starting to find the air too thin for comfort, the smoke was making it even more uncomfortable. There was debris all over the deck, and leaving the room was no easy task as they clambered over the damaged sections of the deck.

"I feel dizzy, and sick," Dani stated wearily after a few minutes, and between breaths.

"I know, just fight it," Harper simply ordered, feeling the same, but to his dismay as soon as they re-entered the corridor he saw that they were now sealed off. Andromeda's safety system must have detected more hull breaches, and no doubt close by, so had sealed more of the deck off automatically. But had failed to detect the life forms still in that area, so much for the safeties, Harper inwardly seethed.

"Crap," Harper finally stated on realising there was no escape, the access tubes were also locked down, and his voice sounded more strained, all he wanted to do was take a deep breath, but the air felt too thin.

"What now?" Dani asked with panic in her voice, struggling even more now, and she looked terrified by the situation.

Harper instinctively put a comforting hand on her arm. "It'll be ok," he assured her, suddenly needing to see her calm down a little, unsure if he could deal with all this and a panicked female as well.

"Really?" Dani didn't seem too convinced.

"Leave it to Harper," Harper tried to sound positive, and he pulled out a connector cable from his pants. "Oh and try not to get too easy with the electricity again whilst I'm doing my thing, ok?" Harper attempted humour, before he quickly connected the cable to his port.

Dani shrugged but showed little remorse for her actions, or reaction to his words, as she watched Harper closely. Jacking into the ship's system now, Harper knew he didn't have much time and he couldn't afford to be in the system for too long, away from his body, whilst the air was so low around him.

Once inside Harper acted quickly. "Rommie!" Harper virtually called out, and he saw what a mess the attack had left the main frame in for that section.

"Har-" Rommie's voice was partially heard.

"Rommie, release the doors for deck eight, section," Harper hesitated as he tried to remember the section they were in. "Section three to four, we're trapped, and hurry, we haven't got much air left," Harper could feel his energy draining like a heavy sensation in his mind, as he manually attempted to compensate for the loss of air pressure, fixing what he could whilst he was there.

"Underst-" Rommie attempted to confirm, her scrambled networks failing her voice commands.

Harper opened his eyes back to consciousness, he was still partially connected to the mainframe, but he had felt Dani slump beside him, and with concern he now found her resting against him, unconscious. Harper attempted to move her, he wanted to check she was all right, but he felt too tired, and completely drained of energy. His mind was only partly aware of his surroundings, whilst he was still interpreting Andromeda's disrupted systems. Absently Harper held Dani close, willing her to hold on, whilst he also attempted to stay focused.

"Harper!" Beka's frantic voice sounded from somewhere down the corridor, the doors sealing the containment must have been released finally.

He felt his lungs begin to burn slightly, desperate for air and his eyelids felt heavy, as his chest heaved. "Dani, wake up," he gasped, between heavy breaths.

Dani simply moaned in response, but she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "It hurts."

"Beka will help, stay calm, and try to stay awake," Harper managed to speak, concerned in part that Dani was beginning to allow panic to control her, he then closed his eyes again, and focused on returning to Andromeda's systems completely.

It was chaos in her mainframe, but whilst he waited for Beka to help them, he began to slowly figure out the problems, and how to fix them. Working like clockwork, albeit at a slower pace to what he was use to, he tuned out the need to sleep and his own concerns, to concentrate on restoring Andromeda's control over the decks that had been damaged.

Knowing that he shouldn't stay in the system for long, Harper tried to get an indication of how long he had been connected. Was it seconds, or minutes? Harper didn't know as his judgements became nothing but a blurring after thought, but knowing he had been struggling when he jacked in, so Harper guessed he shouldn't stay hooked up for much longer. Andromeda's systems gave him no clue as to how much time was passing, but he was still able to work, so he continued, figuring his body, or mind, would soon tell him if he needed to stop and return.

"System control returned to decks eight and nine, life support back online, air pressure back to acceptable levels," Andromeda voice was like a shining beacon in darkness, as Harper broke though the damage and rerouted the systems to give Andromeda control back.

"Rommie," Harper offered with joy, his work finally done, but he could say no more, suddenly aware of how sluggish and mentally tired he was now.

"Harper, don't ever do that again," Rommie's voice returned, and she materialised before him wearing a concerned expression.

"Huh?" Harper was confused, and she placed her hand against his chest.

"Please leave, we are very worried," Rommie indicated and Harper found the last remnants of his strength, along with a gentle nudge from Rommie, to enable him to return to his body.

The pain struck him first, and his whole body seemed to be inflicted with cramp as consciousness returned and he immediately tensed up, until he was aware of people around him holding him down, and he tried to relax. As he became more aware, he realised that he was lying on his back again, on the deck. There was something on his face, and he instinctively tried to bring his hand up to try and push it away, but movement was a bad idea.

"Stay still, Harper," Beka's voice sounded distorted, and he figured that they must both have oxygen apparatus covering their mouth and nose.

Disorientated now, Harper felt like he was spinning as he opened his eyes. He could barely move, and he wearily looked up into Beka's concerned features as she held breathing apparatus to his face.

"I told you not to hang around this deck too long, that second attack made this area completely unstable, and the oxygen levels nearly dropped to nothing, what were you doing down here, why did it take you so long to contact us?" Beka asked with concern, whilst continuing to provide him with vital oxygen that he had been deprived off.

Harper didn't respond, unable to speak, as his head rolled slightly. Knowing that he had misjudged time, both whilst in the system and probably whilst he had been unconscious thanks to Dani's attack on him, and it had nearly cost him his life. That realisation hit him hard, as he tried to concentrate on breathing in the precious oxygen.

"Deck systems fully restored," Andromeda announced.

Beka sighed heavily as the sound of rushing air returning to the corridor was heard, and she removed her own precautionary breathing gear. "Even though you were crazy, good job, Seamus," she conceded with a smile, as she was finally able to breath normal air again, and Harper could only nod his head in acknowledgement.

"We need to get him to med deck, I want to check that there's no damage," Trance announced with some urgency. "Is it ok for you to disconnect, Harper?" she cautiously asked, and he nodded his head before he gingerly moved his arm to take the cable out of his port, and then a medical team were at his side in preparation to take him to med deck.

Harper, now able to move a little, removed the mask from his face for a moment, despite protests. "Dani?" he asked tiredly.

"She's safe, and on med deck, she's fine, only needs to rest," Trance smiled. "She had a slight concussion but nothing too serious."

"Be careful with her," Harper indicated absently, as he continued to recover his breath.

"Why do you say that, I like to think that I am always careful with my patients?" Trance was both amused, and intrigued by Harper's apparent concern for Dani's safety.

"She has an old brain injury," he offered with a small shrug.

"I know," Trance grinned. "Don't worry, I have fixed that."

"What?" Harper suddenly attempted to sit up, but soon regretted it as pain shot around his body, and he remained lying down. "You've fixed it?" he checked, with staggered disbelief.

"It was just some blocked neural pathways, any medic could have done the procedure," Trance shrugged.

"But," Harper now felt as though he had walked straight into a brick wall with the news, on top of his other injuries, as he tried to digest the information, and in his condition Trance was quick to try and calm him down.

"Rest, Harper," Trance encouraged. "We can discuss this later."

Harper stared at Trance, but soon relaxed and closed his eyes, with the need to sleep was overwhelming him now. Unable to fight it, he gave into the darkness and drifted quickly back into unconsciousness.

Yussuf rubbed his hands together, as he evaluated the reports that had been returned to him, and a smile crept across his face.

"I want you to commend all fighters, they did a fantastic job," Yussuf declared with glee. "Now, have we had a response yet?"

"Nothing, sir, but they have till the end of the day to respond," his cohort returned.

"I hope Dani is ok," Yussuf said distantly. "If they touch her, she's special and no one but I can know that," he continued.

"Sir, there is a possibility," the cohort began but Yussuf quickly cut him off.

"No," Yussuf snapped in response. "Dani is loyal, she will not betray me, no matter what," he stated, although he sounded like he was convincing himself more than making a statement of fact.

"But, sir," the cohort pushed.

"Dani is loyal to me," Yussuf stressed angrily. "Dismissed!" he ordered and the cohort quickly headed towards the door and left the pride's leader to his thoughts.

Trance looked at Dani as she began to stir, and moved closer, carefully checking her vitals as the human slowly awoke.

"Dani?" Trance spoke softly, brushing her hair from the side of her face.

Dani squinted her eyes to the light for a moment and then looked around. "Trance?" she offered with confusion, and then looked horrified by her own words and froze.

"It's ok, Dani," Trance assured her gently. "Relax, everything is ok."

"I remember," she returned quickly, and in obvious shock, as her breathing quickened.

"Your brain injury was not permanent or irreversible, Dani," Trance revealed softly. "I have been able to quickly repair the damage."

Dani sat up and took some needed intakes of breath, as she tried to get her mind around the facts Trance presented to her. "I remember," she spoke again, her voice reflecting both her confusion and shock, but this time with more conviction. "Everything, I remember everything," she emphasised, shaking her head and her emotions began to take control.

"Dani," Trance put a comforting hand on her arm. "Try to relax, you still need to rest."

Dani allowed Trance to guide her back to lying down, and she said nothing for a few moments, contemplating her recovery, as her eyes darted about. Her head then turned back to Trance sharply.

"Seamus?" she asked frantically, and Trance was amused by her concern for a moment, considering what she had woken up to, and what she was now dealing with.

"He was never asleep, or unconscious when you left him, he was just connected to the mainframe," Trance assured her. "He eventually disconnected himself before we were forced to do anything, and before any permanent damage was done," Trance smiled fondly, knowing that as Dani was being taken to med deck, they had been trying hard to get Harper's attention to encourage him to disconnect, due to his body being desperately weak from oxygen depravation.

"Where is he?" Dani asked, looking around.

"In the next room," Trance offered. "And he's fine, I'm only a little concerned by the effects all this has had on his lungs, after rest however he should be ok."

"Should be?" Dani picked up Trance's doubts.

"In general Harper usually needs more recovery time than most people," Trance attempted to explain, without giving Dani Harper's personal medical history, as she checked Dani's readings.

"Why?" Dani idly asked.

Trance glanced over from her console, and frowned. "Harper just needs additional care and attention to most people."

"Because he's from Earth?" Dani asked. "I heard kludges have bad health as a rule because of the conditions there, I've been told I have some immune weaknesses from the short time I lived there."

"It's connected to his upbringing," Trance simply answered without saying more.

Dani digested the information and seemed satisfied with what Trance had explained. "He'll be ok though, right?" she checked again.

"I'll make sure of it," Trance smiled, and deep down she found it warming to see Dani's concern for her friend. "How are you feeling now?" she asked knowing Dani had had more time to get use to her recovery now.

A brief smile spread across Dani's face. "It's unreal," she offered, now with disbelief. "I remember yesterday, like it was yesterday," she spoke with uncertainty, then smirked. "Just like anyone else, I remember."

Trance smiled with Dani, knowing that it would take a while for Dani to get used to having the ability to remember recent things. The discovery of her injury at least solved the riddle as to why Dani never seemed to recognise them, or remember them, and Beka had taken that information away to try and unravel some more of Dani's purpose, whilst she waited for Harper to wake and tell her more, as he promised. Trance however suspected that Dani herself might be more approachable now, she already appeared more talkative and human than before.

"I've not had this ability since I was young," Dani then spoke interrupting Trance's thoughts, and her voice was quieter now. "But if it wasn't irreversible brain damage, then why didn't they fix me sooner?"

Trance couldn't offer Dani an answer but she knew that this would come up, why anyone would let another being believe they had brain damage made no sense to her, but she suspected that it must have served Yussuf well, for whatever Dani's true role in his pride was.

"Yussuf, he told me so many things," Dani now spoke with confusion, her face a mix of anger and amusement. "I believed him, I never questioned Yussuf, I just accepted what he said and," Dani paused to control her emotions, taking a deep breath, realising that her words were betraying all that she believed in.

"Dani," Trance said with care. "Please try and rest."

"I feel like such a stupid fool," Dani now snapped. "I can't rest, my brain is buzzing."

"You are not a fool, Dani," Trance insisted. "Why don't you tell me about how you got your original injury?"

Dani looked at Trance and shrugged, inwardly her confusion reigned, and it seemed that Seamus had been right to try and get her to talk to Trance before, she was proving to be a good listener, a comforting presence. Then Dani realised that she now remembered talking to Seamus, she remembered arriving on the ship now, and the countless attempts the crew made to make her feel welcome to no avail, and she felt so many emotions it was hard to determine what to feel about the situation.

Looking away from Trance, Dani decided to explain. "Since I was a kid, after the accident I couldn't recall recent events. It would take a week, sometimes more for me to recall information," Dani explained. "I was told it couldn't be fixed but Yussuf took me under his wing, he looked after me, and told me that he could still find a purpose for me, that I wouldn't be useless to him."

"Yussuf gave you your life, a means to exist and work with your disability," Trance stated.

"That's it, exactly," Dani agreed. "He told me stuff, I memorised it, slept on it, forgot it until I found myself at a new location, remembered it, and passed the information onto the right person."

Trance looked thoughtful. "Why?" she asked.

"Why what?" Dani returned.

"Why did Yussuf do this for you? Give you this job, this purpose?" Trance asked. "You were just some kid from Earth."

Dani shrugged. "I needed help and he was there at the time, so he gave me the help, I never questioned why, I guess he took pity on me, I had no one else," Dani offered awkwardly. "I know ubers are generally the bad guys, but on this occasion he saved my life, he actually helped me," she stressed. "Maybe to others he's this big bad guy, but to me, I owe him my life," she added with passion.

Trance simply looked at Dani, allowing a moment to pass before she spoke in response. "So, Yussuf was in the area, on Earth, when you had your accident?" Trance asked. "That was a stroke of luck for you, one of life's twists of fate," she hinted, but her tone implied suspicion.

"When the transport hit me, and yes, Yussuf, I guess happened to be in the area at the time, what is this?" Dani asked, now suspicious of Trance's questions, picking up on her tone.

"Is it fair to say that the reason you were hit by the transport, was because in the area that you lived on Earth, it wasn't visited often by transports, that you as only a child, were not aware enough of the world around you to avoid them, or to expect them?" Trance looked at Dani carefully to check her reactions, and she wasn't disappointed, Dani was considering her words with marked confusion.

"I don't know, I was just a stupid kid who got in the way," Dani then snapped, looking away from Trance on the defensive, as she brought her knees up to her chin still on the cot.

"Have you ever considered who was driving the transport that hit you?" Trance asked calmly, continuing to push, her aim to get Dani thinking over Yussuf's role in her life, in the hope that discovering how he kept the brain injury details from Dani, that he wasn't all she believed he was, in the hope that she will then help them with their mission.

Dani looked at Trance, but offered no response. "I'm tired," she stated and settled back down, and without saying another word she closed her eyes. Trance showed no objections to her wishes and eventually moved away satisfied that she had at least got Dani thinking.

TBC