Part 36
The serving area was quiet as Dani stepped into the room, escaping the supposed celebration party for a moment. Seamus hadn't ventured outside for nearly thirty minutes and she knew it wouldn't be long before that caught Rico's attention. The silence concerned her, knowing that she had been kept occupied by the unwanted attentions of Rico and hadn't been able to keep an eye on what was going on elsewhere.
"Shay?" Dani asked, with her voice filled with concern as she walked, and she realised that she was also filled with fear and she slowly walked further into the room.
Harper had heard Dani's voice but was too preoccupied with his own tormented thoughts to answer, he didn't want her to see him like this but he knew he could do very little to prevent it, and he stayed curled up behind the counter on the floor and out of sight, as he brought his knees up to his chest.
"Shay?" Dani persisted and he heard her come closer, and then her gasp of horror in finally seeing him, huddled on the floor. "What the hell happened?" she demanded, but Harper didn't answer, and he knew she had seen something else to concern her, and he guessed that the uber must have left marks around his neck from the hold, as he could still faintly feel the grip, even if it was mostly in his mind.
Dani crouched down beside Harper, putting a comforting hand on his arm. "This has to end, this can't continue," Dani stressed with fear, but she still failed to garner a response from Harper, who seemed lost in his own thoughts now.
"Seamus, please talk to me," Dani now pleaded, and her hands continued to make contact with him, reassuring him, she wanted some kind of reaction. She looked at Seamus, but didn't want to accept the shell of a man now sat before her, with his eyes so distant and lifeless, and his body all hunched, and in pain.
Dani sighed, this was all her fault and she looked down at the ground until she became aware of someone else in the room, and her heart sank. "Just get out of here, Rico," she demanded, without looking up.
"Is that any way to speak to your superior?" Rico asked arrogantly.
"Go to hell, you're no better than me," Dani spat.
"I'm Nietzschean, and you're a kludge, you do the math, Dani," Rico gestured, and a small crowd was gathering behind the uber now. "I want your slave to serve me."
"Enough, this party is over, so just get the hell out of here," Dani ordered, and got to her feet.
"Your slave needs discipline, I'm not leaving until he learns," Rico said with a sinister tone.
"You've done enough already to let him know that he did wrong, and that he has a lot to learn, any more and you'll kill him, no one wants that especially not Yussuf, so just go," she persisted when Rico made no effort to move.
Rico moved his head to one side. "You know, earlier, I was mistaken," Rico gestured, playing up to his audience. "I do want to kill him, that's the new plan to teach this kludge something about life, he needs to learn that he doesn't deserve it, so step aside and let me finish what I started," Rico said with a tone that made Dani believe the uber's claim, and stand her ground protectively.
"I won't let you do this," Dani stated with strength. "Yussuf will find out and you can't kill us both, you're not that stupid, you're only stupid enough to think you should make one fatal mistake," Dani sneered and within seconds Rico had his hands on Dani, and he pushed her roughly back with force against the wall, ready to attack for her words, he struck her across the face and she cried out in pain.
"No!" Harper suddenly yelled defensively and had found a reserve of energy, and awareness to spring to his feet. Without thinking Harper lunged at Rico, on hearing Dani scream he had been jarred back to reality, and had snapped his attention back to the situation, and now he only saw rage and a need to attack and hurt those who were hurting the one he loved, regardless of the consequences.
"Shay no!" Dani yelled out, but one of Rico's friends grabbed hold of her and restrained her.
Rico was caught off balance only momentarily, and he soon recovered to get an iron grip on the already weakened Harper, simply jabbing his cracked ribs was enough to disable the human, leaving him in agony and an easy target for the uber. Harper soon found that his face was once again making friends with the cold metallic counter surface.
"You really do think you're a hero," Rico sneered with amusement, mocking Harper. "Well I'm tired of your heroics, kludge," Rico revealed the gun he was now holding and he pushed the barrel into Harper's temple. "Open your eyes kludge, make this more fun for me," he ordered abruptly, his actions so intense that it was clear he was going to take some stopping now, and he then pushed down on Harper's head until he opened his eyes.
To Harper surprise when he did open his eyes, instead of firing the uber moved the gun away.
"Keep them open, I don't want you to miss this," Rico grinned with menace. "Killing you is proving too easy, I want to see you suffer first and I want everyone to know I did this, so let me sign my work," Rico said cryptically.
"No," Dani's voice was filled with fear now. "Rico, don't, please," she added until a hand was placed over her mouth, but it was clear she knew Rico's intentions, and Harper was still completely clueless as he was forced to look down at the reflective surface.
"Dani, you think I'll go to all this effort and not let people appreciate my work?" Rico mocked.
Dani struggled enough to lose the hand over her mouth. "You said you're going to kill him anyway, so why bother doing this as well?" Dani protested, before the hand was returned to silence her.
Harper showed confusion until he heard the weapon discharge, then a flash of intense light followed by a blinding pain that seemed to engulf him. Confusion followed for a time, and it took a moment for Harper to register the pain and determine the source, and then he realised that everything had gone dark around him and that he hadn't been shot.
With a delayed cry of pain, Harper clenched his eyes tightly shut but he couldn't move in Rico's forced hold that still held him down against the counter and he now desperately wanted to try and soothe the pain he felt from his eyes. The realisation began to slowly hit him, his eyes stung, and it wasn't completely registering, but in his heart of hearts he knew that he had been blinded by a weapon discharge, or more rightly the kick back from that discharge.
Rico must have fired a shot off the metallic work surface, and his face had been too close as the discharge exploded against the surface just millimetres from his eyes that had bore the brunt of the kick back as a result.
He hadn't been shot, but Harper had suffered something just as bad when dealing with weapons, he had been too close to the shot and now his eyes were obviously damaged, most probably beyond repair. How many people regained their sight after suffering a kick back injury, Harper knew of none, and his eyes and face now felt like they had been burned, to his surprise his eyes still managed to produce enough moisture to tear up however, but the tears stung painfully as they filled his sore eyes, and began to fall.
"Aw, see the kludge cry," Rico relished the pain he saw in the humans expression, and Harper felt his body being lifted up now, and then he was backed into the wall.
Everything was dark, Harper couldn't make out anything, and he could only barely sense the people around him now. The pain was too much for him to be able to focus, until he felt a cold sharp object pressing into his neck.
"Now, kludge," Rico spoke calmly. "I'm going to do a mercy kill, after all you are blinded, wounded, crippled," Rico stated, and even though Harper had no feeling in his left hand he just knew that the uber was holding his left hand up for a moment. "It's for the best, you're beyond help, you can't be a slave in this condition, you're of no further use to anyone like this, not even yourself, so I'll be thanked for my quick thinking, putting the stupid kludge out of his misery," Rico explained with sudden care. "So kludge, as a final act, I want you to thank me for volunteering to kill you."
"Rico," Dani's voice sounded distraught. "Please, just go, stop this," she now begged, and Harper could hear the distraught tones.
"Kludge, I want to hear you ask me to kill you, plead for me to take your life and put you out of your misery," Rico declared and pressed the knife further against Harper's skin.
Right that moment Harper did want to die, Rico was right, what use would he be to anyone, even himself now? But there was no way that he was going to give Rico the satisfaction of knowing that he had broken him, Harper never thought he'd be this weak, to welcome death, to let someone do this to him but here he was, wishing for the end to come quickly, but if it was going to happen, it would be on his terms, Harper stubbornly decided.
"Go to hell," Harper managed, a last thread of defiance, and he felt the knife press even further in. He knew soon it would be over and Harper began to relish it, he couldn't be blind, a cripple, and a slave, he had lost everything.
"Shay," Dani's voice interrupted his self pity, enough for Harper to be reminded of one thing that he still had.
"Ask me to kill you," Rico then demanded.
Harper still wanted to die, and he couldn't help those feelings as they slowly consumed him once again, but to die like this, as a slave at the hands of an uber, with the injuries he had, he didn't want to die like this, and Harper kept thinking 'not like this' over and over in his mind like a mantra.
Rico was growing tired of his silence and Harper felt the knife pressing deeper, now certain he must be drawing blood now, but his senses were shot and he couldn't register anything but his own despair.
"Very well, you are only proving how stupid kludges truly are, I will just have to kill you and then you can thank me later from whatever cesspit you find yourself in, after you enter the hell that will be your afterlife," Rico arrogantly explained, and Harper felt the blade move away from his neck, imagining Rico drawing it back for the final blow, ready to so easily end the human's life.
There was suddenly a flurry of noise and activity, as Harper imagined Rico bringing the knife back down and into him, but it never happened, and Rico now seemed distracted by the noises behind him and Harper had no idea what was happening.
"Rico, no!" Kane yelled with enough force to make Rico instantly let go of Harper, and turn to his older brother.
"We all want this," Rico stressed with passion. "You know what this kludge did!" Rico then yelled in defiance.
"And I know what Yussuf will do to you, Rico, and I won't let you die at the hands of that monster, and not over a kludge," Kane returned strongly and his words seemed to have an effect on his kid brother.
"But," Rico attempted.
"No buts, Rico, not like this," Kane spoke, and Harper noted the words the uber had used, matching his own mantra that he continued to inwardly chant.
Rico put the knife down, and slowly he walked closer to his brother as Harper was left to slide down the wall behind him. "Why?" Rico then asked with a calmer air.
"I've been asked to protect the kludge, and if you killed him on my watch, you know what I would have to do, and I will," Kane explained with authority. "There will be other times, other opportunities, but right now, get the hell out of here and take your circus with you," Kane ordered.
Rico glared at his brother, but the respect was obvious and slowly the gathered people, with Rico, left the serving area and Dani's quarters, bringing the party to an end finally. There was silence now, but soon Dani was by Harper's side, and she immediately reached for his face to check the damage to his eyes.
"Shay," Dani spoke with concern, searching his expression for something but her eyes couldn't help but see the scattered burn marks that covered his face.
"It's no use," Harper was already shaking his head. "Just finish the job Rico started," he said between short despairing breaths, with his emotions high. "He was right, I can't see, and I have lost the use of my hand, what good am I?"
"Don't talk like that, Shay, this is not the end, ok?" Dani insisted. "Come on get up, we're going, I've had enough of this, all of this ends right now," Dani ordered and she had to force Harper to get his feet with her assistance.
"What are you doing?" Kane then asked.
"I'm taking him to a place where he will be safe, Kane, and don't try to stop me," Dani responded firmly.
"I can't let you take him anywhere, he stays here until I say so," Kane stood in her path.
"Kane, you know he's as good as dead here," Dani stressed. "On the Andromeda he has a chance."
"The Andromeda?" Harper spoke up wearily, clearly only catching onto a bit of what was happening around him from his darkened world.
"I'm not going to let you do this, Dani," Kane returned with authority. "Yussuf will see this, he'll help him, and then he'll ensure the boys safety from now on, but when he finds out that you've betrayed him, Dani," Kane showed some concern towards her. "It's not the wise move, he wants the kludge to stay, he's a part of our pride now, Dani, he doesn't belong to the Andromeda anymore."
"He never belonged to the Andromeda in the first place, he served the crew, his choice, his decision, he was a free man, Kane," Dani snapped angrily.
"Even so," Kane seemed unfazed by Dani's passion. "It's my job to look after him until the threat passes."
"Threat? Kane, look around you, if it's now your job to protect him then you'd help me," Dani stressed. "He's not safe here!"
"Yussuf," Kane began but Dani soon cut him off.
"I don't care what Yussuf wants," Dani snapped harshly. "And Kane, you can't stop me," Dani argued and pushed past Kane, who did little to try and stop her.
"I know the truth," Kane spoke up now.
"That me and Shay love each other?" Dani questioned. "Big deal, I know you were there when I said it!" she snapped, and kept moving to the door, assisting Harper who remained silent beside her.
"I know you, Dani, remember?" Kane now spoke. "I've watched you grow up, hell I used to baby sit you, I've seen you become the asset to this pride you are, helped that to happen," Kane called after her. "And I know you no longer have your problem."
Dani now stopped, and she gently encouraged Harper to rest on a nearby couch before she turned to Kane who had walked towards her. "What do you mean?" she asked with surprise.
"I know the truth," Kane simply said. "Took me a while to figure it out, but I've known you since you were a girl first dealing with your problem, Dani, and then I saw how confident you've been since you returned, you've been different, acting different although not enough for everyone to notice, I did however, but I couldn't work out why," Kane explained. "And then you told us about your time on the Andromeda."
Dani looked uncomfortable now, as she avoided eye contact with Kane, but he continued regardless. "By my calculations you shouldn't have remembered anything from your time on the Andromeda until tomorrow, yet, you knew they treated you well, and by that I made a logical leap, they treated you well, and they fixed your problem like the good people they supposedly are."
"That's quite a leap," Dani tried to sound indifferent.
"Do you remember, Dani?" Kane now questioned, stepping closer. "Have you regained the use of your short term memory?" Kane asked again, when Dani offered him very little. "Because you don't seem to be as forgetful as I remember, you nearly had me fooled, but only nearly."
"What does it matter?" Dani now returned.
"It matters," Kane stressed. "The only thing that was keeping you alive was your skill at being able to be discreet, to be the ultimate information carrier, but already since your return you've been anything but discreet," Kane gestured. "You took this kludge as your slave, why would the old Dani do that, take such a stupid risk?" Kane asked. "And technically you shouldn't have had any idea who the hell he was, but the impression I got was quite the opposite."
"Ok, enough already," Dani snapped.
"But I really could go on," Kane now enjoyed his moment.
"Just let me go, please, Shay has done nothing to deserve losing so much, give him a break," Dani's voice was quieter now, less confident.
Kane seemed to be considering her request. "Dani, I've never seen you act so foolish, taking so many risks, and you know I have always felt sorry for you. I knew what had happened to you, what Yussuf had done to you and I'm pretty sure you know too now, hence your attitude change towards him," Kane gestured. "I saw how you were forced to live with the injury you never really had, but now you've been fixed, I'm happy, but I now see what benefits having that brain injury was to you, and how it was keeping you alive."
"You knew about it, that it wasn't real?" Dani now said with suppressed anger. "Gee, well thanks for telling me, I thought we were friends."
"And I thought you were giving orders, given a mission and this is how you think it should be concluded, all messed up like this?" Kane returned. "You had orders, Dani, a responsibility to infiltrate that Andromeda crew for Yussuf, to make nice with one of the crew and unsettle things and you succeeded," Kane stressed.
"Don't Kane, just shut the hell up right now," Dani asked with force, unable to deal with his accusation.
"You succeeded in your mission, Dani," Kane persisted, with care. "So I suggest you walk away now and let me take over, hand the kludge to me and forget about him," Kane glanced at couch. "It seems that you brought a valuable member of that crew back to us, as ordered, in fact you've surprised us all, its not often a kludge is what we have in mind for these missions," Kane gestured to Harper on the couch, although it wasn't clear if the human was listening or sleeping. "You know that we doubted you, its why Yussuf agreed to making him a slave, we thought you'd slipped up, but when we used him for that mission, where we used his port it showed us how your magic had worked once again."
"I didn't plan for any of this," Dani said softly, her eyes focused on Harper now, who was lying down but she was unable to determine if he was listening, his eyes were closed and he was still but she couldn't be sure.
"You knew your orders, Dani, and you knew what you have to do, don't try to deny it," Kane stressed. "So, let me take the kludge, he's become too much of a distraction to you and I would suggest you think hard about getting your head fixed again, I'm sure the good doctor would obliged once more."
"No!" Dani stressed with disbelief at the suggestions. "Let me take Shay away from here, please, tell Yussuf he died from his injuries, it's not beyond belief, please, do this and then I'll follow your suggestions to the letter, I promise."
"The universe hates me," Harper spoke up from the couch, clearly distressed now and obviously awake, even though his eyes remained closed and he was still laid down. "Why me, why do I always fall for this, I thought you were different, I let you in," he continued, seemingly talking more to himself, but Dani knew he was talking to her. "Well now I have nothing, it's all gone, everything," he stated and moved his head slightly to the general area where Dani and Kane stood. "Just kill me now, please, your talking is keeping me awake anyhow, you'll be doing me a favour," he stated sadly.
"No, Shay, don't say that," Dani quickly spoke, and she moved to his side, encouraging him to sit up. "I told you my mission, and you know that I fell for you before I realised what my mission was, remember?" she stressed, tears now forming in her eyes as the situation began to fall apart around her.
"Yeah," Harper managed, his eyes were open now, unfocused, and bloodshot with the surrounding area swollen by the kickback burns he had received from the discharge of the gun. Uncertain, Harper tried to remember. "But I was still your mission, and I'm here, a slave, a stupid kludge," Harper simply said after a moment.
"Seamus, wasn't I your mission too? So what's the problem?" Dani stroked his face, wishing he could look into her eyes and see the truth. "I had no choice, and I never have had, it's why you have to leave, and why I have to stay here," she explained. "Shay, none of what we've shared has been faked, or has been for any mission, please believe me," she said sincerely. "I want to get you away from here because I love you too much to see you continue to suffer here."
"I'm not letting you take him anywhere," Kane insisted, moving forward.
Harper leaned into Dani's touch but it soon disappeared, and he was flung mentally back to the lonely darkness around him. He could hear Dani talking, and then Kane, it was heated, but then there was silence, and he tried hard to determine what was going on around him.
"Dani?" Harper spoke up after a moment, his fears rising on hearing nothing but a dull thud. "Dani?" he now spoke with a greater fear, his movements edgy now, and the dull thud he had heard, he realised that it sounded like that of a body falling to the floor.
"It's ok, Shay," Dani insisted suddenly, surprising Harper. "Now we must go."
"What did you do, what happened to Kane?" Harper asked incredulously.
"It's not important, we don't have much time, I have to get you to safety," Dani encouraged, and she helped Harper to his feet and they quickly left her quarters.
Dylan allowed himself some time to admire the sun set as he stood outside the Maru, and admired the view that the planet afforded him. They were an hour outside of the city where Yussuf reigned, and soon Rhade would begin his journey to defend his title. It had been a long day as they waited for the sun to set, knowing that somewhere ahead in the city they could just make out was Harper, and they all sensed that he was in need of their help.
With a frown, Dylan wasn't entirely sure that he wanted Rhade to return to a Yussuf stranglehold, especially if news of the camp being disbanded had reached the planet, and he suspected it must have by now. It was a risk, a big risk and so he had decided that he would accompany Rhade, support in numbers and if they were aiming to bring Harper back with them, they needed to be able to think of their feet and Rhade couldn't be expected to do that alone.
His mind wandered back to the immediate threat that the world ship was offering them, and he knew what was left of the Commonwealth were demanding his full and total attention on that, rather than his focus on this mission to rescue his engineer, but Dylan also knew that they would need Harper, and this mission was very relevant to their future
"Hey, Rhade is about ready to go, are you?" Beka asked brightly.
"Yeah," Dylan confirmed and drew his attention back to his surroundings.
"I'll stay here, so you better keep in contact," Beka stressed. "It's taking all of my will power to not run off right now and try and locate Harper myself."
"Stay focused, we need you here just in case we need a quick exit," Dylan reminded her.
Beka smirked. "Trance has already told me that she will knock me out if I try and disappear, and I have Colin to entertain me," she grinned.
"He's quite taken by you," Dylan agreed.
"Quite a lost little puppy isn't he," Beka joked, and crossed her arms.
"He's still a Nietzschean, so just watch yourself," Dylan said getting all fatherly with Beka.
"I'm a big girl, I know what I'm doing," Beka assured him. "Now get going and bring that little psychotic engineer back that we miss so much, preferably in one piece," she lightly ordered.
Dylan saw Rhade and moved towards him. "Wish us luck," Dylan simply said before the two men began their trek towards the city.
TBC