TITLE: The Unintended

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Andromeda series, I'm just borrowing.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN The Mind Leads, The Body Follows

"Intelligence and power are a deadly combination but

there's nothing like bad memories to fuel the fire."

Cpt. Jame Areset

CY 9345

The pain wouldn't stop. Harper wanted to hurt Rayne so badly the inhibitor kept registering his attempts to do so and causing him the relentless shocks. He couldn't control the anger and so it just went on.

"You know, we never fully tested the inhibitor to its limit, so I don't know exactly at what point the body or the mind gives up dealing with the pain," Rayne said, standing over Harper as he thrashed on the floor. "I shall be interested to find out, but I'm sure you're not quite as curious."

It must have been three or four minutes before Harper finally regained control, but in those minutes he lost and gained something. Whether it was caused by the virus's natural course or a result of the pain stimulating its rapid evolution, in that short eternity Harper was changed.

Rayne, deeply immersed in his power high, failed to see the minor change of expression and demeanour. "That was impressive, but pointless. You should learn your place. Get up," Rayne ordered without compassion but Harper didn't move. Rayne was not a patient man, and his foot connected with Harper's ribs without giving him much of a chance to stand.

Harper felt the impact as only a minor sensation on his numb body, but he recoiled anyway. Perhaps it was only his mind that was numb.

"Get up!" Rayne shouted, and kicked him again.

Harper somehow gathered the strength to roll over and with the greatest effort, pushed himself from the floor and stood.

"Good. Now we're going to work our way up to the Command centre, and kill everyone in our way. Actually, it's you who will be doing all the killing," Rayne explained. He was still in some pain from his torture session with Rylisa, but he was enjoying his power fix so much he didn't really care. "I'll switch off the inhibitor as and when I see fit so you can take out the Nietzscheans. Try anything and I'll send you right back to the floor."

Harper only half listened. In his mind he was reeling from the new sensations inside him. It was as if he could feel the energy in everything - the ship, the walls, himself, Rayne, it was all the same energy. It was ready to be manipulated, and Harper knew he had the power to do so. This must have been the peak of the virus' capability and what eventually destroyed the research team on The Outset. Though he couldn't see it, Harper was consumed completely by the strength of his new sense. All he could think about was killing Rayne and freeing himself from the inhibitor. He breathed calmly, gaining focus and controlling his anger. He needed to find some kind of balance for what he was about to do.

"I said, do you understand me?" Rayne repeated threateningly..

Harper met him in the eye. He took a moment before attacking.

Rayne was taken completely by surprise as Harper lunged at him. But it wasn't just that he had attacked, it was that his face lacked any kind of emotion. It was hard and cold as he knocked the inhibitor's controller from his hand and fought. For all Rayne's High-Guard training, the surprise of the attack had caught him out, and Harper got a few good hits in before Rayne pushed him back. Both men wildly searched the floor for the controller. Harper saw it first and grabbed it, still suppressing the anger that was stockpiling inside him.

Rayne knew it was all over. Harper switched off the inhibitor and cautiously attempted to use his powers to float the device. It worked, there was no pain. Harper smiled at Rayne's fearful expression and let the device fall to the floor, where he brought his foot down on it hard. "No more power."

Rayne's refused to show his fear and his it behind a mask of warped superiority. "Kill me if you must. At least I'll know that your death will come soon. I just hope your friends are there to see you at the end."

Free of the inhibitor and with a higher power than ever before, Harper slammed him into the bulkhead hard enough to leave an dent in the wall and even pull down part of the ceiling. Rayne's limp body collapsed onto the floor.

"Rylisa, something's happening on deck 12. Structural integrity has been decreased at least seven percent in the space of twenty minutes. Two percent of that was just a moment ago."

"Incoming communication from Luthor."

"The deck has not been flooded, we must stop the kludge!"

Rylisa listened to the barrage of information and said nothing. She was not enjoying her first day of commanding her own ship.

"Get a team together to apprehend the prisoner, find out if Rayne is still alive, seal off command and tell Luthor we're a little busy at the moment." She spat her orders with renewed fury. "Things may be going to hell but I'll be damned if it's because of a single mudfoot."

Harper found himself dazed after getting rid of Rayne. The incredible change that had overtaken him was like a new sense and such an overwhelming ability wasn't easy to handle. Neither was the fact that if the virus had reached its pinnacle, all that was left was insanity. Harper couldn't see that he was already well on his way. He was so deeply rapt in his new power he couldn't see that his actions could be seen as that of a madman.

He looked at his hands as if he could see the energy streaming through them. The energy he could now feel, pulsating around and through him. He was connected to it, not only because he was a part of it but because he could control it. Harper closed his eyes and allowed his new sense to take over. In his mind he saw the room he was in, Rayne's body on the floor. He could see outside in the corridor, the galley, the cells, but it was as if he was looking at it, feeling it all at the same time. He could see the whole deck, even places he had never been before, but as he was about to go further, his attention was drawn to new energy entering. In his strange out of body state, Harper focused on the source and saw a team of Nietzschean entering a door not far from the interrogation room where he was standing. He couldn't hear their voices but they were carrying weapons. It was obvious what they were there to achieve.

They had no idea what they were dealing with. It dawned on Harper how little their lives meant to him. He felt no remorse for them, no compassion. He had already killed three of them without flinching. And he was going enjoy killing the next three, and the next.

He opened his eyes. He was ready.

End of Chapter Eighteen