Part 26

Beka stood in the meeting room on the Andromeda, and looked over to the table seeing the empty seats that Harper and Rommie used to occupy, and frowning.

"So what's the plan?" Beka asked.

Dylan gestured for Beka to take her seat. "Our best option is to offer assistance to the Yussuf pride to retake the palace from the New Resistors."

"That's a crappy plan, and can I go on record officially with that statement?" Beka asked.

"It's been noted," Rommie answered in hologram form, stood just to the side of Dylan.

"It's crappy because in one instant we'll become the enemies, you do not help Yussuf in this sector, something Harper has found out in the worst possible way," Beka stressed.

"This sector has just freed itself from the Yussuf regime," Rhade now offered. "This would be a disastrous move for Commonwealth public relations," he added with a wry smile.

"I didn't say it was a popular option," Dylan defended himself. "We want to rescue Harper, and as things stand now we don't only have to get through the New Resistors, but Yussuf's men as well, who are also trying to gain access to the palace with limited success so far."

"How could Colin let things get so bad?" Beka asked now with a sigh. "Surely he could have avoided this extreme reaction from those who were not prepared to share his viewpoint on Harper."

"The New Resistors have a well organised resistance, the siege is holding," Rommie noted. "I have been unable to detect a weakness, for a relatively new breakaway group, they are highly organised."

Dylan leaned forward. "Something I had noticed too, Rommie," he supported. "If I didn't know better I would say the siege had been planned for months, not weeks," he added.

"You think they strung Colin and his supporters along?" Beka asked. "Why?"

Dylan glanced at Rommie, and saw immediately that she was on the same wavelength. "The main reason we've been given so far for the split is Seamus Harper," Dylan offered. "Colin made no secret of his support for Harper it seems, and I would assume gave every reason he could think of as to why they shouldn't go after Harper, and by that reasoning Colin would have mentioned his time on the Andromeda," Dylan finished.

"They used Colin to get information on Harper," Beka finally caught onto what Dylan and Rommie had figured. "I don't get why though, why go to all this trouble?"

Rommie looked at Dylan before looking at Beka. "In this sector, Harper is the poster boy for Yussuf's continued tyranny of this system, his actions in saving Yussuf's life has made him a target, what better way to further your new found respect in a system ruled by fear than to not only to defeat the tyrant, but to also capture all of those who have been blamed for his continued reign."

"Only they didn't realise that Harper would be so easy to capture," Dylan now spoke up. "They never expected him to be in Yussuf's palace, so without warning they break away, take over the palace and hit the jackpot in their most wanted list."

"And they never had to trick Colin into bringing the Andromeda to this system to capture Harper," Beka now caught on, once again with a sigh. "Colin is still finding men in his midst who support the New Resistors, that guy I knocked out in the corridor."

"And now we have fifty of his men on board, training using our weapons, and we don't even know their full allegiance," Rhade pointed out.

"I have them all on strict surveillance," Rommie confirmed.

"There will be no time to find out the true supporters from the fake, so we have to stay alert, Rommie, you suspect anything even minor details that may seem like nothing, you let one of us know," Dylan ordered. "Everyone else, keep your eyes peeled."

"So, what about Harper?" Beka asked.

"We can not defeat those guys in their stronghold, if we are to get Harper to safety, it's going to have to be when they take him to claim the bounty," Dylan suggested.

"That gives us a very small window of opportunity," Rhade pointed out.

"But it's a window," Dylan argued. "And right now, that's all we have."

Rommie looked to one side suddenly. "Dylan, we're receiving a message on secure channel two," she announced, getting everyone's attention. "It's Rico, he wants to speak to you alone," she finished, and was met by momentary silence.


Harper kept his eyes closed, as he was dragged along beside the Resistor that had taken him from the cell. Finally they came to a stop and Harper found himself pushed into a new cell, and he barely managed to stay upright. Soon the Resistor was untying his hands, freeing his arms. Harper then felt another set of hands as someone assisted the Resistor in walking him forward a short way.

The sound of chains were then heard, and it sounded as though they were going through a pulley above them, Harper squinted his eyes open to see if he could see anything, but it was still too blurred. Harper was then forced to his knees, and his head pushed forward by a foot on the back of his neck, and the Resistors kept hold of his arms stretching them back, either side of him for a moment.

Harper wanted desperately to say something, to show defiance, but the words didn't come and Harper realised how tense he was. For nearly a minute they kept him in the same position, only bringing his arms further back until it became even more uncomfortable.

Finally they secured the two chains, one around each of his elbows and bring each separate chain up around his arms till they reached the shoulders. The two chains were then brought around his chest a couple of times, until the two ends could be secured with a heavy padlock that now rested on his upper back.

Immediately Harper tested the chains, and found they gave little give and as the Resistors moved away, Harper found he was tightly secured into a kneeling position. The only benefit being that both his hands were at least able to breath now, as he felt full circulation returning to them. The chains however were already starting to dig in, and Harper concentrated on remaining still to ease the pressure.

The two Resistors then left the cell, and for a long while Harper was left alone, and he cautiously opened his eyes to be met with a blurred emptiness, the cell like all the others offered nothing new, just walls. With only his thoughts and doubts for company, Harper tried to focus on what he did remember, hoping to somehow retrieve the memories he knew he had forgotten.

It seemed an eternity before the cell door opened again, and Harper heard something was being pushed in first, due to a set of annoying squeaky wheels.

"I could fix that," Harper offered brightly, his voice strained due to lack of liquid, and his eyes were able to make out the movement, as he saw the mass of two people pushing a trolley like contraption to his side.

"This isn't the only thing needing to be fixed in this room," one of the men offered in reply, but Harper couldn't determine which one had spoken of the two.

One of the men walked away, and left the room closing the heavy cell door behind him and Harper found himself alone with one guy, and he assume it was the one who had spoken. Fear began to build inside of him, as Harper knew he was in a vulnerable position, but a part of him was waiting for some answers, he needed to remember who he was and where he had come from, Harper knew it was important to him.

"You will call me, let me think, you're a kludge from Earth so something you're weak mind can handle, let's say you can call me John," The Resistor finally announced.

"I can think of better names," Harper sneered with resistance.

His hair was suddenly grabbed, his head forced back, and Harper could now make out a bit more about 'John's' features as the man moved closer, he had dark hair, a defined jaw line and really bad breath, Harper pulled a disgusted face, as the man began to speak. "It's time we find out what's going on inside your mind."

"What?" Harper questioned, with his voice shaky.

"Tell me about the Andromeda," John asked.

"The what?"

"The Andromeda," John persisted.

"It's the largest galaxy," Harper answered. "At least by those who reside in that part of space," Harper continued, without pausing for breath. "Its said that it will collide with the Milky Way Galaxy at some point in our not so distant future, but I don't think we have to worry about that just yet," Harper recounted, his scalp starting to sting from his hair still being pulled by the hold the Resister had on him.

"I meant the High Guard Warship, the Andromeda Ascendant," John seemed unimpressed.

Harper smirked now. "High Guard?" he questioned. "Man, I gotta think about this, I think that ship was lost and never seen again, stuff of legend, I don't know anything more."

"They did a good job on you, Seamus, in fact do you even know who you are?" John asked. "I was told by our captain that you barely remembered a thing about your current life, but I didn't quite believe to this extent."

"I'm not telling you anything," Harper looked away.

"Oh you will, Seamus Zelazny Harper, Chief engineer of the High Guard Warship Andromeda Ascendant, serving the legendary three hundred year old Captain Hunt," John announced, and the confusion on Harper's features were hard to ignore. "Of course, you can not remember this and you know why?"

"Why?" Harper asked, almost on instinct.

"Because Yussuf knew the threat, and he knew your worth to us," John half smiled, as he pulled Harper's head back further. "You're a kludge with a lot of useful information in that head of yours on a certain flagship of the Commonwealth, that we think should not be in Yussuf's hands, and he doesn't want it in anybody else's hands, especially as you also saved the tyrant's life, and he is forced to honour that action, stupid ubers," John explained with some joy, and Harper felt some cool liquid being rubbed on his temples, but he couldn't see enough to know what John was doing.

John soon continued. "Yussuf wiped your mind, most probably only temporarily, hoping our threat would be nullified, but sensing our strength he wasn't going to make your capture easy for us, so now we have to reverse what Yussuf has done, and we don't have much time, your worth is going down by the second."

"I don't understand," Harper stressed, feeling something cold being attached to both temples now and he tensed, feeling the wires that hung from his temples, and he didn't have to see it, to know they were probably attached to something on the trolley.

"You're a wanted man, Seamus Harper," John declared joyously. "Because you saved Yussuf's life, and in doing so you made yourself a target to anyone who wanted to get to Yussuf," John explained with care. "You see he's a very proud man but he has a weakness for honouring those who do him good, you don't know what a truly tricky situation you are in right now," John stated, as Harper heard a machine powering up beside him, and his fear grew. "His weakness is our strength, Yussuf wanted the Andromeda, it's all he's wanted all along and you were the key to him getting that, you were the weakest link by his judgement, and it's why he sent his best agent to further weaken your resolve," John sighed.

"Dani," Harper quickly guessed correctly.

"She's good, fools almost everyone who comes into contact with her," John casually explained. "Almost," he repeated.

"What do you mean?"

"Dani is a pro, Seamus, yet you defeated her, you made her somehow betray Yussuf to save your life, and that my little kludge, makes you even more of a target, and even more valuable to us," John confirmed. "Dani has been out of commission for nearly three months as a result, Yussuf has no intelligence agent as good as her, and that's given us the opportunity to grow and it's why we're here, Seamus, you weakened Yussuf's pride by taking out their best agent, you are therefore priceless to us."

"Shouldn't you be treating me with more respect then?" Harper asked, sensing bad was about to happen, feeling the chains digging in and the coldness of the nodes stuck to his temples.

"Well, our first objective was always to overthrow Yussuf," John frowned. "Done that, and he's crying like a baby in the basement cell, all alone and powerless, we're fighting on all fronts and winning," he stressed. "So now, the next plan comes into play, because by Yussuf coming to your rescue after Gerentex took you, he gave you to us on a plate, and we can still claim the bounty on your head if we make this quick," John announced with urgency.

"And what is this next plan?" Harper almost feared the answer.

"If it's good enough for Yussuf, it's good enough for us, we want the Andromeda, Harper and you, you're going to remember those lost memories fast, your sight has to return, and you will ensure we are successful," John declared. "Once we have the Andromeda, we're going to murder Yussuf and his pride's members on the Command Deck, it will be the perfect end to the years of hell that monster has put this system through," John declared triumphantly, before continuing with pride.

"For Yussuf to be killed on the very thing that will go down in history as the ship that destroyed him, and I say that because it became out of his reach solely due to your actions," John's hand finally let go of Harper's hair. "If you hadn't saved his life, kludge, he would have taken the Andromeda by force using your body, probably nearly dead for more effect, to defeat your friends, but your actions and Dani's affections for you clouded Yussuf's judgement and he gave us the opportunity we'd been waiting for, for a very long time."

"I don't know anything about this or about the Andromeda," Harper reminded him.

"But you will," John stated and Harper felt a light shock in his temple, making him jump and take an instant deep breath, to counter act the discomfort, adding to the pains that position he was secured in offered.

"And if I don't?" Harper managed to ask, his voice shaking.

"Then we'll just cash you in and let Rico get what he wants from you," John shrugged calmly. "You see we don't really need you, it would just be easier if you co-operated, and I have heard all about Rico's punishments, I know he was the one who blinded you, Rico wants you dead, Seamus, death by his hand and something tells me it won't be quick and pain free," John stated thoughtfully. "The Resistors just want you to get us on board the Andromeda, and if you can get us full control I can guarantee you'll live."

"Rico?" Harper struggled to remember or place the name, not taking much else in, as his mind was still jumpy from the shock, but the name it seemed both familiar and unknown at the same time.

"Someone else who wants you dead," John answered swiftly. "Has had a bounty on your head for quite some time, kludge," John then sighed. "Let's get this over with, relax, Seamus, don't make this hard on yourself."

Harper tensed, closing his eyes tightly in anticipation of the first shock, and he felt the first beads of sweat already forming on his brow.

TBC