Part 18

Dylan Hunt checked his console on the Command Deck, before looking over to Beka, who in turn was plotting a course for their next destination.

"Beka, do we have an estimated time of arrival?" Dylan casually asked. "The ambassador of Ipcres is trying to organise us a fast pass into their space port, he wants to ensure we reach the conference on time," he said with amusement.

"Neat," Beka smiled. "I'd say about eighteen hours, give or take a slip stream or two," she stated.

Dylan busied himself relaying the information before he turned to Beka again. "Beka, I don't suppose that your mission is in any way close to being tied up and resolved in the next few hours?" he asked lightly, already knowing the answer.

"Far from it," Beka said with resignation. "But we're making progress, nothing however that can't wait until after the conference now."

"Understood, hopefully I'll be able to offer more assistance once this conference is over," Dylan idly spoke up, and his tone gave away how much he wasn't looking forward to the event, he then glanced at Beka again. "Have you seen Harper at all today?"

"Yeah, I spoke to him earlier this morning on med deck," Beka spoke up.

"I assume he's recovering well, I haven't had an update from Trance lately," Dylan spoke with a casual air.

"He seems to be doing ok, as always getting him to rest is proving the sticking point," Beka answered. "I understand he spoke to you about Dani."

Dylan now partly smiled. "His new love?" he lightly teased.

"I can't believe that just a couple of days ago I was warning Rhade and you about not even hinting at something like that, and now," Beka said with disbelief as she moved closer to Dylan's console.

"He seems pretty much taken by her," Dylan remarked. "In fact, I never thought it was possible for Harper to become that serious about someone, or serious enough to be that troubled by it."

"You think it's serious?" Beka now asked with interest.

"As serious as Harper's world allows," Dylan offered, and Beka relaxed slightly.

"He says he's encouraging it for the mission, but I don't know, seeing them together," Beka sighed not wanting to say anymore in that area. "I don't like it, I know that much, and Yussuf is not a man to get involved with, certainly not via this approach."

"Dani wants her freedom," Dylan reminded Beka. "Maybe all she wants is our help, and she's obviously connected to Harper."

Beka was already shaking her head. "She's smart, I'll give her that," Beka conceded. "When I spoke to her earlier she seemed to say all the things I wanted to hear, even in relation to Harper, she went as far as to suggest that she didn't think it would work because Harper has issues with her."

"He does," Dylan pointed out.

"The slave thing, yeah, well, but we both know Harper and generally he doesn't care so long as she's a she, he'll will chase, why is the fact that she's a slave suddenly going to make him turn away?" Beka asked with confusion.

"Maybe you should ask him, because the impression I got from Harper is that it's a very big deal, and the main reason he hasn't gone full speed ahead into a relationship with Dani," Dylan stated as fact.

Beka just looked at Dylan with surprise, knowing that it was very rare; in fact it had never happened before where Dylan had seemingly known something about Harper that she didn't know. "He told you that?" Beka asked. "That her being a slave was a big deal for him?"

"I thought you understood," Dylan offered.

"I know he doesn't like slaves," Beka returned. "But I never thought to the degree that he had issues with it, I mean he has Dani offering herself practically on a plate and he's questioning her because of her supposed slave status?"

Dylan's attention was now caught. "Is she a slave or not?" Dylan had to ask, after Harper had hinted a similar thing about Dani.

"It'll be in my report," Beka dismissed. "The fact is, it shouldn't be an issue, if Dani has actually chosen freedom then that makes her a slave no more, and it's not as if it was a life choice to begin with, and it wasn't as if she was a real slave."

"Beka, seriously, you're talking to the wrong man," Dylan helpfully pointed out. "And if that report could find its way to my desk soon, I'd love to find out what Dani actually is, because I seem to be the last to know around here," he added with a frown. "Besides, maybe it's a good thing he's keeping his wits about him on this occasion, rather than just falling for her."

Beka stopped and considered what Dylan was saying. "The fact Harper is being intelligent enough to question her, that a good thing, agreed," she decided finally. "I just never thought Harper would have reason like that to turn down someone, regardless of how I feel about Dani, it's just wrong, and Harper is better than that," she offered showing her confusion, before returning to her console.

Harper observed Dani now, as he idly lay on his bunk, and she was sat on the floor of his quarters messing about with various unfinished junk that he had lying around. For the past couple of hours she had kept herself amused, as he lightly slept and then they had exchanged small talk, mostly with Dani asking what something was that she was holding, or what it was going to be once he finished it. It was nice, Harper conceded, and all thoughts of ulterior motives on Dani's part were furthest from his mind now, as she appeared genuinely content to just be in his company, and nothing more.

Harper was surprised by what he was feeling towards her, as he realised he was missing her more direct route of interacting with him, and it was starting to play on his mind that she was not close to him, that he was able to see her, but unable to smell her, touch her, even just hold her hand.

He couldn't do it, and Harper now knew that he had only told Beka he was playing Dani along because it was what Beka had wanted to hear, and he felt bad, his gut churned knowing that he had lied to his friend. Harper's mind tried to run through some explanations or excuses that he could use, but the truth was that he simply could not turn away, and he wanted to know Dani, not push her away.

Once again the little voice in his head reminded him, and it wouldn't back off or let him forget that Dani was a slave, an uber puppet. Harper took a deep breath, rolling onto his back again, tearing his gaze away from Dani to stare at the overhead fittings above him some more.

Dani moved to sit against the furthest wall from Harper's bunk, and it didn't go unnoticed by the engineer, as he glanced over and simply smiled with amusement.

"What?" Dani asked, still partly preoccupied by a number of half finished gadgets that Harper had lying around his quarters, until she noticed his expression.

"Just, if you feel you need to be further away from me, then the docking bay is the furthest point on this ship from my quarters, or maybe Sinti would be better?" he mocked.

"I thought you didn't want me close too soon, me being the mission, and all this talk of taking things slowly?" Dani returned with a teasing smile, but still distracted by the gadgets.

"How am I supposed to get to know you better if I have to yell across the room at you?" Harper countered with a smile.

Dani conceded defeat and moved the short distance to the long side edge of the bunk, remaining seated on the floor but at least a little closer. With her back resting against the bunk, Dani was now facing away from Harper, and he moved onto his side, and shuffled up closer to the edge of his bunk.

Harper paused for a moment to look at Dani, he gazed at her shoulders, her neck and the back of her head, and on seeing the side of Dani's face, Harper began to believe that deep down, he was falling for her whether he liked it or not.

"Quit staring at me," Dani remarked, seemingly engrossed in some more junk.

"How can you tell?" Harper asked, knowing that he was behind her lying on the bunk, as she rested her back against the frame.

"Are you denying it?" Dani asked, without looking up.

"No," Harper admitted.

"Good," Dani grinned now, and finally glanced around to look at him. Convinced now that Harper was looking for her attention, she put the junk down, and then turned around on her knees, and she rested her elbows on the bunk, as she looked at Harper closely. "How are you feeling?"

"Rested," Harper simply said.

"Good, job done," Dani declared with a smile. "So, what now?"

Harper considered their options. "The stores could do with a tidy," Harper remembered his talk with Trance earlier, and his hand lightly brushed Dani's arm.

"Seriously?" Dani checked with less enthusiasm.

"You saw the state they were in," Harper stated, and then grinned.

Dani hesitated. "Well yeah, but it was a good thing they were a mess, or we may have never met," she lightly argued.

Harper just grinned, and rolled onto his front, as he considered some more options, resting his head on his hand. "I could give you the tour of the Maru," he shrugged, knowing that the options they had were very thin.

"What do you usually do for fun around here?" Dani asked.

"Work?" Harper offered weakly.

Dani's hand moved to Harper's back as she gently began to stroke in circular movements. "For such a big place, it doesn't offer much for fun," she sighed.

"Hang on," Harper offered and sat up, and Dani moved aside as he swung his legs around. "Harper two four three nine," Harper spoke up. "Remove privacy, Rommie?" he spoke up quickly. "Are we scheduled to do any stops anytime soon, babe?"

Andromeda's hologram appeared before them, and she glanced at Dani before looking at Harper. "Our next scheduled stop is in the Ipcres System for the Commonwealth Conference."

"Ipcres System?" Dani questioned.

"You know it?" Harper asked. "Does it have a good night life?" he added, knowing very little about the system.

"I don't know," Dani noticeably hesitated. "I've heard of it though, so maybe," she quickly spoke.

"Excellent, when are we due to arrive?" Harper enthused.

"In roughly fourteen hours, Dylan has requested that you make yourself available for a couple of the seminars, Harper, possibly as a keynote speaker so be prepared, but the rest of the time will be all yours," Rommie informed him. "However, I should warn you that tight security measures will be in place, due to the nature of the conference, so do not plan anything too wild," she looked at Dani, before blinking out of sight.

"Least we'll have something to do soon then, away from here, take in a few bars, some nightlight," Harper beamed, and he reactivated the privacy mode before Harper then noticed how distant Dani now looked. "Hey, what's up?"

"The Commonwealth conference, this ship is going to that?" Dani asked in almost a whisper, and avoiding Harper's stare.

"Of course, did you fail to notice during the tour that this is the flagship of the Commonwealth, of course we'll be there," Harper stated softly. "Dylan Hunt is the guest of honour, seems even I will have some credentials at this thing too, so we have to be there."

Dani took a deep breath. "Of course," she simply said.

"Dani, speak to me," Harper now asked, and he moved down to the floor to sit besides her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"I don't know why I thought otherwise," Dani now partially laughed. "Why would your plans change, and why would the flagship miss the party?" Dani asked with mocking tones aimed at her, as she now rubbed her head.

Harper watched as Dani seemingly began to lose her composure before his eyes, she then looked at him and seemed ready to lose control of her emotions. "Dani, what's going on? What do you know about this conference? Is it something to do with Yussuf?" he asked with concern.

"Maybe I thought Dylan Hunt would go alone, that he wouldn't bring the entire ship, and its crew," Dani continued, making no sense to Harper and he reached out for her face with one hand, to get her attention.

"Tell me what you know, Dani, you have to tell me," Harper now insisted, fearing what he was seeing in Dani's expression now.

Dani composed herself slightly, then with some fear she looked at Harper. "My original mission, before I was taken, it involved me going to the Ipcres System," she stated, and Harper's attention was caught completely. "All I was told was to attend some conference on Ipcres as some kind of worker, serving drinks, whatever," Dani shrugged. "And my objective was to infiltrate the main members of the flagship crew that would be in attendance, at the conference."

Harper took in the information, and then looked at Dani. "As far as I know, Ipcres is not renowned for holding conferences, it's too far out of the way, and the main reason the Commonwealth chose it as a location," he confirmed. "It has to be the same conference," Harper spoke, as the pieces began to fall into place.

"I was going to be delivered to a man called Kharaz, and I assume he had sorted out the rest of the details, that would get me into the conference and give me access to my targets," Dani stated with a hesitant tone.

"Targets?" Harper questioned, not liking the choice of wording Dani had used.

Dani sighed, closing her eyes momentarily. "I retrieve information," Dani simply said. "It's amazing what you can learn in just one night," she then offered suggestively.

"Your orders were to infiltrate the crew of the flagship, so that would be us?" Harper confirmed and Dani nodded her head. "Is that why you knew so much about us already?"

"It must be," Dani agreed, and sighed heavily.

Harper considered the information. "So a one night stand with, say Dylan, Rhade or," Harper looked away. "Or me," he frowned, and he then looked at Dani again as another realisation hit him. "Then by the morning, under normal circumstances with your brain injury, you'd be totally clueless as to who you were with, or what you had been told, and so no suspicion."

"I'd come across as nothing more than dumb bit of fun in the morning, they assumed I'd had too much to drink, explaining my poor memory, but then a few days later," Dani prompted.

"Bingo, all you learn comes flooding back, by which time no doubt you'd be back with Yussuf," Harper realised, and began shaking his head slowly. "That's some scam Yussuf had set up," he credited, trying to take it all in.

"But don't you see?" Dani now panicked, as she paced Harper's quarters. "Unknowingly I have already done what Yussuf has asked of me," Dani feared as she moved away from Harper getting to her feet. "How do I know that all this, my feelings for you, and what I've done here has been my own actions, I might just be subconsciously following Yussuf's will, he could still control me!" she yelled with panic, becoming distressed now.

"Dani," Harper moved quickly to his feet, and recovered the distance between them. "You are not controlled by that man, listen to me," Harper insisted getting her to focus on him, as he put a comforting hand on her arm. "I trust you Dani, do you hear me?" Harper asked as if their lives depended on it. "You have my trust, ok?" Harper said without losing eye contact with her. "And I believe you have acted upon your own instincts this whole time, not some stupid uber, and it's just coincidence, that's all it is, you weren't to know what your orders meant."

"You trust me?" Dani said with an air of disbelief. "The kludge trusts the slave?"

Harper moved away with anger, having to put distance between him and Dani to stop his more natural reactions. "Damn it, Dani!" he snapped. "I'm trying to help here, don't throw it back in my face!" he added strongly, and then saw Dani look away, and in that moment she looked so lost.

Taking a few more calming breaths, Harper moved back to Dani's side but said nothing, as he reached out to embrace her. She returned his actions and together they simply held each other for a few moments, before Harper spoke again.

"We can get through this," Harper said quietly. "I'll stay by your side, I promise," he added, wanting Dani to believe him, to trust him.

"Yussuf, his men, everyone allied to him will be in Ipcres," Dani stressed.

Harper couldn't deny her fears. "We need to speak to Dylan, and we have to warn the Commonwealth."

"I never thought it would be so easy to betray Yussuf," Dani now spoke with some fear, as her head rested on Harper's shoulder.

"Listen to me," Harper moved back slightly, and looked into Dani's eyes, as she lifted her head. "You've betrayed no one," he insisted, his face almost touching hers now, as he continued to look deeply in her eyes.

"Telling you my orders, it goes against everything, Shay, everything," Dani said, her face beginning to crease, as emotions threatened. "What have you done to me?" she then asked and her tone sounded like that of defeat, as the first sign of tears appeared.

Harper couldn't respond with words, and his joy was apparent as he used his hand to wipe away her tears as they began to fall. Finally Harper felt that the last of his fears were being banished before his eyes, and he couldn't be happier at the sight. In just a few words Dani had revealed all that he needed to hear, that he was in full control of the situation and that she had fallen for him, had chosen him before Yussuf. Harper then brought his lips to hers, and after a few gentle touches, they confirmed what they were both now realising, finally giving into what they both wanted, as they kissed for what seemed the first time.

TBC