Title: Core of all Lies
Author: Shakia
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: I unfortunatley don't own Andromeda, though do own Trish and any other characters I make up along the way! :3
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Trish, a captian of a small ship named Ceteri, saves Harper from slave traders who tell him they have proof the Andromeda crew sold him to them. Harper convinces Trish to help him find Andromeda. After four long years of searching they finally find her, but it's anything but the reunion they expected when they find out what Andromeda's dealt with through out those four years.
Authors Notes: Sorry for the huge delay. I literally haven't had time to touch the story because of all the projects we're getting in school. -blasts homework with force lance- hehe :K Any ways, er at least I've finally update! -grins sheepishly- And the reviews all seriously help guys. When I started this I thought it was the most crappiest thing ever, thanks so much :D
Trish wondered exactly when things had gone wrong. She guessed it started after she punched the Captain in the face. Mind you, not that she didn't have good reason for it. At any rate she found herself being half dragged toward the brig, struggling and screaming the whole way there. After she heard the crew's whole conversation she had used her powers again to listen to Beka, Dylan, and Tyr go to Harper's quarters. She knew how much this hurt him and knew that an "interagation" as Tyr had put it, would damage him even more. Tyr and Dylan had left, heading to where she was. Though she didn't care about them. She listened to Beka engage privacy mode and though it made Andromeda deaf to the room, it hadn't made her. She listened to Beka threaten Harper and felt anger boil within her. How could she do that to him?! She had no right!
Of course Trish hadn't expected to hear the sound of a gun firing and the unmistakable sound of a body fall to the floor, but she did. She heard Harper gasp for air and heard Beka's cruel words. She immidiatly drew herself back to the room, ready to jump to her feet and ram straight through the door to get to Harper. But she found Tyr to be over her, shaking her. Whenever she used her powers to listen to something far away she couldn't know what was happening where she was. That was one of the down sides to her powers.
"What were you doing?" Dylan demanded from by the door. She hadn't time for this, she had to get to Harper. She pushed past the Neitchain and headed to the door, but was stopped by a hand gripping her shoulder.
"Let me out." She snapped furiously, wrenching away from the grip. Dylan raised his brow, his hand on his force lance and gave her a "not in this lifetime" look.
"We aren't going to do such a thing." Tyr told her. She had no time for this.
"I'm not going to stand here while you're officer kills my crewmate!" She roared at them, storming over to the door. Trish knew what she was about to try might kill every chance of Harper rejoining his crew, but she also knew it would make no differance if he was dead. She hadn't done this since she and Harper had been stuck in that lab a few months back and even then she had almost killed them. But she had to try. Harper needed her. She consintrated hard on her goal and shoved her hand toward the door, praying it would work. She felt a breif smile grace her lips as her hand slid through the door and was about to leap through when she was yanked backwards. She fell to the floor and a gun and a force lance were pointed down at her.
"You work for the abyss." Tyr growled. It wasn't a question really, more of a statement. She picked herself off the ground and stood as tall as she could, not caring about the weapons aimed toward her.
"I don't have time for this!" This time she said it out loud, making it clear she was in no mood for games.
"Looks like you just made time." Dylan said darkly. She felt the frustration boil within her and suddenly found herself throwing a punch at the Captain. Thanks to her enhanced strength Dylan was against the wall, clasping a bloody and obviously broken nose. Trish didn't have time for guilt or regret. She raced to the door, consentrating all the way and lunged toward it, hoping her luck hadn't run out. Luckily she found herself in the halls and started to bolt to the dirrection of Harper's quarters. Tyr had raced out of the room and she guessed Dylan was still recovering from the blow. Suddenly the whole ship shook, causing her to fly against the wall beside her. She let out a cry as a sickening crunch came from her shoulder. Great, it was dislocated. Her eyes watered and she surpressed another cry of pain, panting heavily. Unfortunatly Tyr had already gotten to his feet and was on top of her. He pointed his gun to her head and yelled her a harsh and deadly warning, though the words he said weren't exactly regestering. He stopped before her, seeming to be itching to pull the trigger. Dylan came up behind him, blood running down his fingers as he still held his broken nose.
"Take her to the brig." He ordered, before looking up to Andromeda. "Andromeda, what's going on?" He demanded, his voice sounding slightly muffled due to his broken nose. Tyr grabbed her hands behind her back and even with her enhanced strength couldn't brake away from him, though she tried. Andromeda's halogram flickered before them.
"I don't know Dylan, some ships fired on us but there was no damage to the ship." She explained.
"No damage? We were thrown off our feet." Dylan reminded her.
"I know, I-" She paused suddenly, her face going grim. "Dylan, there's some sort of virus in my systems. It's shutting off my AI-" She started, but suddenly flickered out. Another rattle coursed through the ship.
"Andromeda?!" Dylan yelled, but there was no responce, only the sudden flicker and dying of the lights that was replaced by a red glow. He flashed a look to Tyr before tearing down the hall. "I'll be in the bridge!" He yelled over his shoulder to him.
Trish thrashed at Tyr as he started toward the brig, struggling to get out of his grasp. He seemed to realize her arm and diliberitly tightened his grip on it. Trish bit her lower lip, trying not to cry out as the pain coursed through her arm, feeling much like knives jabbing through it. So here she was now, worried as heck about her Engineer, trying desperatly to get to him and trying hard not to burst out screaming from the pain in her arm.
"If you knew what was good for you, you'd give up." He growled suddenly, pulling out his gun. She glowered at him.
"Yea, if you knew what was good for you, you'd let me go." She snapped. His grip tightened further. The images of Harper's corpse fluttered through her mind and she suddenly swung her leg around at the Neitchain. This was not smart, for the action caused him to open fire. Cursing Neitchains she began to bolt away when another explosion rang through the ship and they jolted backward. Luckily Trish caught herself before Tyr did and she raced around the corner before he could fire again. Without pausing to catch her breath she bolted down the hallway, her only thought on Harper.
'Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive.' She thought desperatly. Harper had been the only one in her life she had ever gotten close to. She didn't know what she'd do if that woman had killed him.
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The first thing he knew as he slowly began to return to the waking world was the horrible pain. His whole body tensed as the pain grew more and more, coursing through it. He felt like he was on fire, and though tried to cry out could only let out a soft moan which caused his already dry throat to sting. He tried to force his eyes open while struggling to recall what had happened. Once he did, reality hit him like a ton of bricks causing his eyes to snap open and look wildly around him. This time he managed to supress a groan as his body stung, bombarding him with more pain at this sudden action. Though his thoughts weren't on the pain as he blearily turned his gaze around the empty corridor.
Where was Beka? Where had she gone? He felt his eyes sting with new formed tears as another realization came to him. She had left him. The tears began to brake through his grasp at this realization and he couldn't supress a small sob escape his lips. Everything had happened so fast, and yet he could still remember the exact look she gave him. Her exact words. And...and she had shot him. She had shot him...He told himself this over and over again in his mind as more tears escaped his eyes. She had broken him, confirmed all his fears. She had shot him...and she had left him to die out here in the hall. And why shouldn't she have? He was after all just a stupid kludge...He gritted his bloody teeth in an effort to control the emotions pouring from him, but with little sucsess. Warm sticky blood continued to flow down into a puddle beneath him, a constant reminder to the events that he was trying so hard to not think about.
The ship rattled again and this time Harper managed to avoid smashing into the wall beside him by using his one good hand to steady himself against the wall. Though for the moment he could care less to what was going on with the ship. He felt broken and lost. The ship lurched foreword and the red glow flickered as sparks errupted from the ceiling and walls. He was barley aware of the footsteps clattering through the hallways as he stared at the ceilling, finding himself to sink deeper and deeper into his own pain.
"Harper!" A sudden voice gasped in horror. He didn't know exactly who it was, but it sounded familar. He didn't bother to look over to see though. Someone knelt beside him. "Harper, please answer me." The voice pleaded. He found his eyes to slowly focus on the person over him. It was Trish. Tears slipped again from his eyes.
"She shot me." He whispered helplessly. A look of sorrow and remorse spread over Trish's face.
"I know." She said softly, tears leaking from her own eyes. Again the ship lurched, but Trish held onto Harper, cushoning his fall against the wall. He pulled away from her, falling back to the ground. He couldn't be touched right now. He couldn't.
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Trish couldn't hold the tears that fell from her eyes. She had only once seen Harper like that before and she had never wanted to see him like this again. She vowed she would make sure she didn't. But, now it was worse. Far worse. She was barley able to surpess a wave of tears that threaten to overcome her as she again knelt close to him. She didn't touch him, though. He needed his space more now than ever. She felt a sudden wave of furry consume her. How could she have shot him?! How could she have done that?! She bit her lip again, her tears now ones of anger. She was going to get Harper to the Ceteri and they were leaving.
-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- Dylan ran through the doors of Command Deck, still holding his bleeding nose. He began to mop the blood from it with his shirt, for his hand wasn't providing much of a damper as the blood poured through it. He suddenly saw that someone was trying to send them a transmition. He sighed and looked down at his blood covered shirt, realizing how undignified this was going to look. Of course nothing really was dignified about the whole thing. He manually responded to it, though made sure that whoever was contacting them only recieved what he said. A face appeared on the screen and Dylan automatically straightened his form, even though there was no need for it. It was obviously a Neitchian.
"Captain Hunt, thankyou for finally responding." He said lightly, grinning.
"It's rather hard when you're firing at us." Dylan said coldly.
"I'm sorry Captain, but it was necasary. We're here for what is ours." He explained.
"We haven't taken anything from you." Dylan replied, reminded of when Tyr had once carried the bones of that anceint Neitchain and wondered if he had brought anything else on board.
"Oh, I'm sure you don't realize it, but you have. You have a boy and a woman on your ship which we want returned." He told Dylan. "And before you go on in saying that the one that looks like your "former" crew mate is him, he's not." He explained casually.
"Do you have proof of this?" Dylan asked darkly, aware of how funny he sounded as he spoke. The Neitchain laughed.
"You're Engineer died four years ago! You were there to see it! What more proof do you need?" He asked.
"I asked you if you had any proof." Dylan repeated, glaring suspiciously at the screen, though aware of the fact the Neitchain couldn't see him anyways. The Neitchain sighed irritably, his patience obviously wearing thin.
"Captain we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way. I've shut down your AI and before you ask, it's temporary. We're not here to hurt you or your ship, just to take what's ours." He explained. "We will soon have full controls of the hanger bay and will be able to dock at will. I have over fifty men with me; we could easily run you over. Now, give us what we came for and no one will get hurt." He said impatiently. Dylan's eyes narrowed as he glared at the screen.
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Beka tour through the hallways, desperate to get to Med Deck and find Trance. Tears still poured from her eyes as she ran, nearly blinding her. The ship jolted again and Beka fell against the wall, still racking with sobs. How could this have happened? She threw herself away from the wall and ran foreword again. Med Deck was so close, she was almost there. How could she have shot Harper? This was her Harper. This wasn't a clone, this was the man she had promised never to hit, never to hurt. Another sob escaped her lips and she found herself collapsing against the Med Deck's doors. They slid open and she stumbled in to a shocked Trance.
"Beka, what happened?!" She exclaimed, rushing over to her.
"Trance, it's Harper!" She said desperatly, about to run again out the door. Trance grabbed her shoulder and turned Beka to face her.
"Beka, slow down, tell me what happened." She demanded. Beka was surprised she hadn't already ran out of tears as another wave hit her. She knew she shouldn't be, though. She had cried more after he had died.
"I shot him, ok?! I shot him and then the ceilling collapsed and he saved me! He's going to die any minute, we have to go!" She insited, and without waiting for a reply bolted out of the room.
"Beka, BEKA!" Trance yelled after her, though she didn't stop. She didn't turn back. She just continued foreword, desperate to return to Harper's side.
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Harper groaned as he leant heavily against Trish. Somehow she had managed to convince him to let her help him to the ship. Of course, only with the promise that she'd give him his space as long as he wanted after this was all over. She found it pretty difficult to hold all of Harper's weight with a dislocated shoulder, but her enhanced strength did give her an upper hand.
"It's alright Harper, we're almost there." She assured him, though knew that it was anything but the truth. They had at least ten more minutes of walking before they came close to it. He didn't respond, though she expected as much. There was a sudden moan and creak that echoed through the hallway, making the ship shake only slightly. "We're almost there." She whispered, more to herself this time.
"Tr's?" Harper mumbled weakly.
"It's ok Harper." She assured him once more. Somehow he managed to shake his head, if only slightly.
"The sound...someone's boarded." He said so quitley she had barley been able to catch his words. She stopped in her tracks at this and her eyes locked onto the empty hall before her. Only a low groan coming from the ship was her responce, though she could almost feel the presence of another being nearing them. She automatically reached down for her weapon and silently cursed when remembering it was taken from her. Couldn't life ever go their way even once? She looked around her, trying to find somewhere to hide, but the closest room was a while back and Harper couldn't move very fast in his condition. Again she gave a silent curse.
Suddenly footsteps could be heard, clattering against the floor and echoing through the halls. Trish took a step back, her eyes never leaving the long hallway before her. She would've tried to make the two of them slide through the walls beside them, but one didn't have a clue what would be behind them, two if the walls were to thick they would end up inside them, and three she had only once before taken someone else with her while sliding through them and she had while doing it almost lost Harper.
"Stay low Harper, I'll try and knock them out." She whispered to him in reasurance as she helped him down against the wall beside them. He let out a soft groan and Trish stood back up, taking a breath and readying herself for the battle ahead. She slowly crept foreword, using the shadows along the walls as an advantage. The clattered footsteps grew steadyily louder and by this point Trish was guessing there was around six, maybe seven of them. She confermed her assumptions when seeing a few figures heading in her dirrection.
"Where should we start?" A voice asked quitely and she stopped dead in her tracks. It was a Neitchain...but, not just any Neit. She bit her lower lip, hoping she was wrong about this. She slid foreword again, holding her breath and keeping her eyes locked on them.
"Kludges are probably in the brig or some of the guest quarters. We'll get them either way." Another started to assure the others. One paused suddenly and held up his hand to silence the others. Trish stopped in mid step, the fear in her rising. His eyes flashed.
"Someone's here." He told them gruffly. Trish didn't move, didn't even breath as their eyes scanned the hallway, trying to find whoever they might have heard. "Up ahead." He continued quitley. Her eyes widened suddenly and she cursed herself. Harper. Of course! Why was she always SUCH an idiot?! They could probably hear Harper's heavy breathing even from way over here. Of course she hadn't known they were Neits till she had gotten down here, but she still should've expected as much. They started foreword, a smug look on what appeared to be the leader's face. Now that she could actually see his face she immidiatly recognized him and found her fears to be confirmed. Great, the bounty hunters/slave traders/holders. The ones that had been hunting Harper down since he had first departed for those two weeks they were apart. Of course when finding about her they had wanted her just to get a load of money. She did have a lot of thrones on her head given out by those fricken psyco scientist freaks.
The group started foreword again, all drawing different weapons. Only one took out his gun. Obviously they thought they could handle any kludge. Welp, time for their first surprise. She pressed herself against the wall, making sure she was hidden within the ship's shadows. Just as they began to pass her she lunged out at the one holding the gun, hoping the element of surprise would be what won her this battle. There was a brief struggle, and even with her wounded shoulder she was able to get the gun out of his hands and effectivly knock him out. Unfortunatley during the struggle the others had a chance to pull out their own guns. One gave a raw laugh.
"You really thought you could defeat us, kludge?" He laughed. She didn't lower her gun as her hateful gaze locked on them. Though her eyes suddenly flashed to the lights above her.
"Oh, I don't just think it." She snarled and fired at the ceiling madly. The lights shattered, their shards raining down onto the ground. Darkness managed to swallow the rest of the small amount of light and they all found themselves surounded by it. For one of the first times Trish thanked the heavens for her powers and that she had nightvision, before taking the distraction and raming into one of the Neits. She managed to get past him and they began to fire blindly to where she had last been. Stupid ubers. She picked up her pace, ignoring her throbbing shoulder and head as she headed to where she had left Harper. Man she would hate doing this to him, but they had to get to her ship double time.
She suddenly let out a cry of pain as one of the shots grazed her shoulder, before flying off into darkness. She stumbled downward, collapsing head first onto the ground below her. Darkness was there to greet her.
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TBC. Again sorry it took so long! X.x
Author: Shakia
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: I unfortunatley don't own Andromeda, though do own Trish and any other characters I make up along the way! :3
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Trish, a captian of a small ship named Ceteri, saves Harper from slave traders who tell him they have proof the Andromeda crew sold him to them. Harper convinces Trish to help him find Andromeda. After four long years of searching they finally find her, but it's anything but the reunion they expected when they find out what Andromeda's dealt with through out those four years.
Authors Notes: Sorry for the huge delay. I literally haven't had time to touch the story because of all the projects we're getting in school. -blasts homework with force lance- hehe :K Any ways, er at least I've finally update! -grins sheepishly- And the reviews all seriously help guys. When I started this I thought it was the most crappiest thing ever, thanks so much :D
Trish wondered exactly when things had gone wrong. She guessed it started after she punched the Captain in the face. Mind you, not that she didn't have good reason for it. At any rate she found herself being half dragged toward the brig, struggling and screaming the whole way there. After she heard the crew's whole conversation she had used her powers again to listen to Beka, Dylan, and Tyr go to Harper's quarters. She knew how much this hurt him and knew that an "interagation" as Tyr had put it, would damage him even more. Tyr and Dylan had left, heading to where she was. Though she didn't care about them. She listened to Beka engage privacy mode and though it made Andromeda deaf to the room, it hadn't made her. She listened to Beka threaten Harper and felt anger boil within her. How could she do that to him?! She had no right!
Of course Trish hadn't expected to hear the sound of a gun firing and the unmistakable sound of a body fall to the floor, but she did. She heard Harper gasp for air and heard Beka's cruel words. She immidiatly drew herself back to the room, ready to jump to her feet and ram straight through the door to get to Harper. But she found Tyr to be over her, shaking her. Whenever she used her powers to listen to something far away she couldn't know what was happening where she was. That was one of the down sides to her powers.
"What were you doing?" Dylan demanded from by the door. She hadn't time for this, she had to get to Harper. She pushed past the Neitchain and headed to the door, but was stopped by a hand gripping her shoulder.
"Let me out." She snapped furiously, wrenching away from the grip. Dylan raised his brow, his hand on his force lance and gave her a "not in this lifetime" look.
"We aren't going to do such a thing." Tyr told her. She had no time for this.
"I'm not going to stand here while you're officer kills my crewmate!" She roared at them, storming over to the door. Trish knew what she was about to try might kill every chance of Harper rejoining his crew, but she also knew it would make no differance if he was dead. She hadn't done this since she and Harper had been stuck in that lab a few months back and even then she had almost killed them. But she had to try. Harper needed her. She consintrated hard on her goal and shoved her hand toward the door, praying it would work. She felt a breif smile grace her lips as her hand slid through the door and was about to leap through when she was yanked backwards. She fell to the floor and a gun and a force lance were pointed down at her.
"You work for the abyss." Tyr growled. It wasn't a question really, more of a statement. She picked herself off the ground and stood as tall as she could, not caring about the weapons aimed toward her.
"I don't have time for this!" This time she said it out loud, making it clear she was in no mood for games.
"Looks like you just made time." Dylan said darkly. She felt the frustration boil within her and suddenly found herself throwing a punch at the Captain. Thanks to her enhanced strength Dylan was against the wall, clasping a bloody and obviously broken nose. Trish didn't have time for guilt or regret. She raced to the door, consentrating all the way and lunged toward it, hoping her luck hadn't run out. Luckily she found herself in the halls and started to bolt to the dirrection of Harper's quarters. Tyr had raced out of the room and she guessed Dylan was still recovering from the blow. Suddenly the whole ship shook, causing her to fly against the wall beside her. She let out a cry as a sickening crunch came from her shoulder. Great, it was dislocated. Her eyes watered and she surpressed another cry of pain, panting heavily. Unfortunatly Tyr had already gotten to his feet and was on top of her. He pointed his gun to her head and yelled her a harsh and deadly warning, though the words he said weren't exactly regestering. He stopped before her, seeming to be itching to pull the trigger. Dylan came up behind him, blood running down his fingers as he still held his broken nose.
"Take her to the brig." He ordered, before looking up to Andromeda. "Andromeda, what's going on?" He demanded, his voice sounding slightly muffled due to his broken nose. Tyr grabbed her hands behind her back and even with her enhanced strength couldn't brake away from him, though she tried. Andromeda's halogram flickered before them.
"I don't know Dylan, some ships fired on us but there was no damage to the ship." She explained.
"No damage? We were thrown off our feet." Dylan reminded her.
"I know, I-" She paused suddenly, her face going grim. "Dylan, there's some sort of virus in my systems. It's shutting off my AI-" She started, but suddenly flickered out. Another rattle coursed through the ship.
"Andromeda?!" Dylan yelled, but there was no responce, only the sudden flicker and dying of the lights that was replaced by a red glow. He flashed a look to Tyr before tearing down the hall. "I'll be in the bridge!" He yelled over his shoulder to him.
Trish thrashed at Tyr as he started toward the brig, struggling to get out of his grasp. He seemed to realize her arm and diliberitly tightened his grip on it. Trish bit her lower lip, trying not to cry out as the pain coursed through her arm, feeling much like knives jabbing through it. So here she was now, worried as heck about her Engineer, trying desperatly to get to him and trying hard not to burst out screaming from the pain in her arm.
"If you knew what was good for you, you'd give up." He growled suddenly, pulling out his gun. She glowered at him.
"Yea, if you knew what was good for you, you'd let me go." She snapped. His grip tightened further. The images of Harper's corpse fluttered through her mind and she suddenly swung her leg around at the Neitchain. This was not smart, for the action caused him to open fire. Cursing Neitchains she began to bolt away when another explosion rang through the ship and they jolted backward. Luckily Trish caught herself before Tyr did and she raced around the corner before he could fire again. Without pausing to catch her breath she bolted down the hallway, her only thought on Harper.
'Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive.' She thought desperatly. Harper had been the only one in her life she had ever gotten close to. She didn't know what she'd do if that woman had killed him.
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The first thing he knew as he slowly began to return to the waking world was the horrible pain. His whole body tensed as the pain grew more and more, coursing through it. He felt like he was on fire, and though tried to cry out could only let out a soft moan which caused his already dry throat to sting. He tried to force his eyes open while struggling to recall what had happened. Once he did, reality hit him like a ton of bricks causing his eyes to snap open and look wildly around him. This time he managed to supress a groan as his body stung, bombarding him with more pain at this sudden action. Though his thoughts weren't on the pain as he blearily turned his gaze around the empty corridor.
Where was Beka? Where had she gone? He felt his eyes sting with new formed tears as another realization came to him. She had left him. The tears began to brake through his grasp at this realization and he couldn't supress a small sob escape his lips. Everything had happened so fast, and yet he could still remember the exact look she gave him. Her exact words. And...and she had shot him. She had shot him...He told himself this over and over again in his mind as more tears escaped his eyes. She had broken him, confirmed all his fears. She had shot him...and she had left him to die out here in the hall. And why shouldn't she have? He was after all just a stupid kludge...He gritted his bloody teeth in an effort to control the emotions pouring from him, but with little sucsess. Warm sticky blood continued to flow down into a puddle beneath him, a constant reminder to the events that he was trying so hard to not think about.
The ship rattled again and this time Harper managed to avoid smashing into the wall beside him by using his one good hand to steady himself against the wall. Though for the moment he could care less to what was going on with the ship. He felt broken and lost. The ship lurched foreword and the red glow flickered as sparks errupted from the ceiling and walls. He was barley aware of the footsteps clattering through the hallways as he stared at the ceilling, finding himself to sink deeper and deeper into his own pain.
"Harper!" A sudden voice gasped in horror. He didn't know exactly who it was, but it sounded familar. He didn't bother to look over to see though. Someone knelt beside him. "Harper, please answer me." The voice pleaded. He found his eyes to slowly focus on the person over him. It was Trish. Tears slipped again from his eyes.
"She shot me." He whispered helplessly. A look of sorrow and remorse spread over Trish's face.
"I know." She said softly, tears leaking from her own eyes. Again the ship lurched, but Trish held onto Harper, cushoning his fall against the wall. He pulled away from her, falling back to the ground. He couldn't be touched right now. He couldn't.
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Trish couldn't hold the tears that fell from her eyes. She had only once seen Harper like that before and she had never wanted to see him like this again. She vowed she would make sure she didn't. But, now it was worse. Far worse. She was barley able to surpess a wave of tears that threaten to overcome her as she again knelt close to him. She didn't touch him, though. He needed his space more now than ever. She felt a sudden wave of furry consume her. How could she have shot him?! How could she have done that?! She bit her lip again, her tears now ones of anger. She was going to get Harper to the Ceteri and they were leaving.
-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- Dylan ran through the doors of Command Deck, still holding his bleeding nose. He began to mop the blood from it with his shirt, for his hand wasn't providing much of a damper as the blood poured through it. He suddenly saw that someone was trying to send them a transmition. He sighed and looked down at his blood covered shirt, realizing how undignified this was going to look. Of course nothing really was dignified about the whole thing. He manually responded to it, though made sure that whoever was contacting them only recieved what he said. A face appeared on the screen and Dylan automatically straightened his form, even though there was no need for it. It was obviously a Neitchian.
"Captain Hunt, thankyou for finally responding." He said lightly, grinning.
"It's rather hard when you're firing at us." Dylan said coldly.
"I'm sorry Captain, but it was necasary. We're here for what is ours." He explained.
"We haven't taken anything from you." Dylan replied, reminded of when Tyr had once carried the bones of that anceint Neitchain and wondered if he had brought anything else on board.
"Oh, I'm sure you don't realize it, but you have. You have a boy and a woman on your ship which we want returned." He told Dylan. "And before you go on in saying that the one that looks like your "former" crew mate is him, he's not." He explained casually.
"Do you have proof of this?" Dylan asked darkly, aware of how funny he sounded as he spoke. The Neitchain laughed.
"You're Engineer died four years ago! You were there to see it! What more proof do you need?" He asked.
"I asked you if you had any proof." Dylan repeated, glaring suspiciously at the screen, though aware of the fact the Neitchain couldn't see him anyways. The Neitchain sighed irritably, his patience obviously wearing thin.
"Captain we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way. I've shut down your AI and before you ask, it's temporary. We're not here to hurt you or your ship, just to take what's ours." He explained. "We will soon have full controls of the hanger bay and will be able to dock at will. I have over fifty men with me; we could easily run you over. Now, give us what we came for and no one will get hurt." He said impatiently. Dylan's eyes narrowed as he glared at the screen.
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Beka tour through the hallways, desperate to get to Med Deck and find Trance. Tears still poured from her eyes as she ran, nearly blinding her. The ship jolted again and Beka fell against the wall, still racking with sobs. How could this have happened? She threw herself away from the wall and ran foreword again. Med Deck was so close, she was almost there. How could she have shot Harper? This was her Harper. This wasn't a clone, this was the man she had promised never to hit, never to hurt. Another sob escaped her lips and she found herself collapsing against the Med Deck's doors. They slid open and she stumbled in to a shocked Trance.
"Beka, what happened?!" She exclaimed, rushing over to her.
"Trance, it's Harper!" She said desperatly, about to run again out the door. Trance grabbed her shoulder and turned Beka to face her.
"Beka, slow down, tell me what happened." She demanded. Beka was surprised she hadn't already ran out of tears as another wave hit her. She knew she shouldn't be, though. She had cried more after he had died.
"I shot him, ok?! I shot him and then the ceilling collapsed and he saved me! He's going to die any minute, we have to go!" She insited, and without waiting for a reply bolted out of the room.
"Beka, BEKA!" Trance yelled after her, though she didn't stop. She didn't turn back. She just continued foreword, desperate to return to Harper's side.
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Harper groaned as he leant heavily against Trish. Somehow she had managed to convince him to let her help him to the ship. Of course, only with the promise that she'd give him his space as long as he wanted after this was all over. She found it pretty difficult to hold all of Harper's weight with a dislocated shoulder, but her enhanced strength did give her an upper hand.
"It's alright Harper, we're almost there." She assured him, though knew that it was anything but the truth. They had at least ten more minutes of walking before they came close to it. He didn't respond, though she expected as much. There was a sudden moan and creak that echoed through the hallway, making the ship shake only slightly. "We're almost there." She whispered, more to herself this time.
"Tr's?" Harper mumbled weakly.
"It's ok Harper." She assured him once more. Somehow he managed to shake his head, if only slightly.
"The sound...someone's boarded." He said so quitley she had barley been able to catch his words. She stopped in her tracks at this and her eyes locked onto the empty hall before her. Only a low groan coming from the ship was her responce, though she could almost feel the presence of another being nearing them. She automatically reached down for her weapon and silently cursed when remembering it was taken from her. Couldn't life ever go their way even once? She looked around her, trying to find somewhere to hide, but the closest room was a while back and Harper couldn't move very fast in his condition. Again she gave a silent curse.
Suddenly footsteps could be heard, clattering against the floor and echoing through the halls. Trish took a step back, her eyes never leaving the long hallway before her. She would've tried to make the two of them slide through the walls beside them, but one didn't have a clue what would be behind them, two if the walls were to thick they would end up inside them, and three she had only once before taken someone else with her while sliding through them and she had while doing it almost lost Harper.
"Stay low Harper, I'll try and knock them out." She whispered to him in reasurance as she helped him down against the wall beside them. He let out a soft groan and Trish stood back up, taking a breath and readying herself for the battle ahead. She slowly crept foreword, using the shadows along the walls as an advantage. The clattered footsteps grew steadyily louder and by this point Trish was guessing there was around six, maybe seven of them. She confermed her assumptions when seeing a few figures heading in her dirrection.
"Where should we start?" A voice asked quitely and she stopped dead in her tracks. It was a Neitchain...but, not just any Neit. She bit her lower lip, hoping she was wrong about this. She slid foreword again, holding her breath and keeping her eyes locked on them.
"Kludges are probably in the brig or some of the guest quarters. We'll get them either way." Another started to assure the others. One paused suddenly and held up his hand to silence the others. Trish stopped in mid step, the fear in her rising. His eyes flashed.
"Someone's here." He told them gruffly. Trish didn't move, didn't even breath as their eyes scanned the hallway, trying to find whoever they might have heard. "Up ahead." He continued quitley. Her eyes widened suddenly and she cursed herself. Harper. Of course! Why was she always SUCH an idiot?! They could probably hear Harper's heavy breathing even from way over here. Of course she hadn't known they were Neits till she had gotten down here, but she still should've expected as much. They started foreword, a smug look on what appeared to be the leader's face. Now that she could actually see his face she immidiatly recognized him and found her fears to be confirmed. Great, the bounty hunters/slave traders/holders. The ones that had been hunting Harper down since he had first departed for those two weeks they were apart. Of course when finding about her they had wanted her just to get a load of money. She did have a lot of thrones on her head given out by those fricken psyco scientist freaks.
The group started foreword again, all drawing different weapons. Only one took out his gun. Obviously they thought they could handle any kludge. Welp, time for their first surprise. She pressed herself against the wall, making sure she was hidden within the ship's shadows. Just as they began to pass her she lunged out at the one holding the gun, hoping the element of surprise would be what won her this battle. There was a brief struggle, and even with her wounded shoulder she was able to get the gun out of his hands and effectivly knock him out. Unfortunatley during the struggle the others had a chance to pull out their own guns. One gave a raw laugh.
"You really thought you could defeat us, kludge?" He laughed. She didn't lower her gun as her hateful gaze locked on them. Though her eyes suddenly flashed to the lights above her.
"Oh, I don't just think it." She snarled and fired at the ceiling madly. The lights shattered, their shards raining down onto the ground. Darkness managed to swallow the rest of the small amount of light and they all found themselves surounded by it. For one of the first times Trish thanked the heavens for her powers and that she had nightvision, before taking the distraction and raming into one of the Neits. She managed to get past him and they began to fire blindly to where she had last been. Stupid ubers. She picked up her pace, ignoring her throbbing shoulder and head as she headed to where she had left Harper. Man she would hate doing this to him, but they had to get to her ship double time.
She suddenly let out a cry of pain as one of the shots grazed her shoulder, before flying off into darkness. She stumbled downward, collapsing head first onto the ground below her. Darkness was there to greet her.
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TBC. Again sorry it took so long! X.x