Part 38
"Dylan," Rhade immediately spoke, looking up from his console on seeing the captain walk onto command.
"Andromeda, secure command," Dylan barked, as he hurried to his console.
"I've already rid command of the traitors," Rhade stated efficiently.
"We are safe, for the moment," Trance then offered.
Dylan was focused on the console he now stood in front of, checking the situation and seeing very few people were on his side aboard his own ship. Behind him Colin and Sadiki had arrived on command, and anxiously looked around the gathered people, before their gaze fell on Dylan.
"I hope you have a plan," Colin said, with his father beside him and his tone reverting back to the familiar patterns they knew, no longer hostile in his father's presence.
"Hope is a weak emotion," Sadiki remarked.
"Then you must do a lot of hoping," Colin returned sharply.
"Quiet," Dylan snapped towards the father and son. "The situation may look bleak, but we've caught it in time," Dylan confirmed. "Andromeda's systems are mostly locked off to my direct command only, these people can do very little unless they have their very own Harper amongst their ranks," and he noted the concerned glances in return. "Which they don't," he quickly added, showing a glimmer of doubt. "And we do have Yussuf and his men on side, for the moment, we're not totally helpless here."
"And they are not totally cut off from this ship's systems," Rhade figured. "And we haven't exactly had a sighting of Harper's position right now; we don't know for sure that they haven't got the genuine article."
"He is a part of this, Dylan, but I am unsure exactly how," Trance offered softly.
"Harper is not aboard the Andromeda, that's all we need to know right this minute," Dylan stated, knowing that Trance was trying to help, but he decided to move on. "There are two engineer's in the conduits, they have sneaked through the net," Dylan was already preparing his force lance, as he nodded towards Rhade. "We have to stop them," he then looked at Trance. "You have command, and maybe you can help these two work through their issues," he gestured angrily towards the two Nietzscheans. "I'm only interested in people who can work together right now," he stated before leaving with Rhade.
"Stay over there where I can see you," Harper ordered towards Darla, and then returned his attention to Beka who was still holding a gun aimed at the female Nietzschean, as Harper tended to her wound.
He could tell she was growing weaker with blood loss, as perspiration covered her face and she was struggling to remain focused.
"Beka, it's imperative that you stay awake," Harper reminded her quietly, so Darla wouldn't hear his concern.
"Don't give me any drugs," Beka stated.
"Not going to," Harper was quick to assure her, glancing at Darla to make sure she was staying where he asked her to. "Maybe I should go back into the main frame, take your life signs off of the self destruct loop."
"No," Beka sat up and seemed to shake the fog from her mind, with a new determination. "It's the only thing keeping me, us alive right now."
Harper wanted to object, but being on a ship full of Nietzscheans he knew Beka had a point. "Just stay awake then," he offered with seriousness that almost looked sad with its determination.
"I'll be fine, Harper," she now assured him, as Harper finished bandaging her arm securely.
There was suddenly a noise behind them and Harper turned to see Rico storming into the medical area alone. Harper drew his gun immediately, as Rico stopped to take in the scene.
"You let these kludges overpower you?" Rico asked towards his sister, ignoring the threat before him.
"I'm humouring them, they work fast, so far these kluges have disabled your ship," Darla smiled.
"Next you'll be telling me they killed five of my men in engineering," Rico dismissed knowingly, and walked towards his sister.
"Stop right there!" Harper demanded, holding his gun as though his life depended on it, and he realised it probably did. "Your ship is under my control."
Rico turned to face Harper, full of confidence. "Is that so, little kludge?"
Harper stared into the ubers eyes, and noticeably flinched, as memories of the last time he saw those eyes taunted him. "Don't patronise me," Harper returned sharply, his grip on his gun becoming firmer. "Right now all your ship's systems are tuned into me, all your engineers are dead, and you know what that means? You need me, uber!" Harper yelled with his voice slightly wavering as his mind was flooded with images of Rico just before the uber took his sight away so painfully.
"I control you!" Rico yelled back, with a glint of joy in his expression.
"I'm the one holding the gun," Harper challenged loudly, losing some of his composure, then heard Beka order Darla to remain where she was. "I've taken over this ship, uber!"
Rico began to slowly laugh, and Harper backed away slightly as the Nietzschean began to approach.
"Harper, shoot him," Beka hissed in a low voice, showing concern for Harper's resolve that was clearly buckling under the sheer presence of the larger intimidating Nietzschean.
"Don't come any closer!" Harper yelled with panicked tones lacing his words and his arms began to shake.
"I took your sight away once," Rico warned, enjoying the hold he realised he now had on the human, it was all too clear in Harper's actions that he was unable to stand strong to the uber who had defeated him once already.
There was a flash of light, quickly followed by the sound of weapon discharge and finally Rico stopped walking, before numbly looking over towards his sister, Darla, as she slowly fell to the deck, having advanced too far for Beka's liking.
"Darla?" Rico spoke with shock, seeing his sister collapse on the deck. The dull thud of Darla falling to the deck brought the room back to life as Rico suddenly surged forward towards Harper, who instinctively fired a shot from his gun with panic, seeing the fury in Rico's actions.
The shot skewed wide of the approaching Nietzschean, and Harper attempted to scramble away but Rico aggressively kicked his hand and the gun flew through the air. Rico then easily grabbed his hair and Harper froze, consumed by the memories of the last time Rico had held power over him. Closing his eyes he almost trembled and awaited the pain, but instead all that happened was that he heard Beka warning the uber to back off. Calming his breathing, Harper opened his eyes to find Beka now pressing her gun to the Nietzschean's temple, but neither backed off as they remained in standoff against each other.
"Let him go," Beka said with a steady voice. "I shot your sister, and I have no problem with shooting you too, fatally if need be."
"You're going to kill me anyway," Rico sneered, his grip tightening in Harper's hair, not letting go. "And apparently you have control of my ship, I guess I'm the loser here," he stated all too calmly, and then he brought his other hand to Harper's neck, and smiled as he began to squeeze. "I'll snap his neck in two, on instinct, if you fire that weapon."
Harper began to choke, and he looked at Beka not wanting her to give in to the uber's power games, regardless of the lack of oxygen he now had.
"You kill him, you kill us all, Rico; the ship is set to his life signs!" Darla spoke hurriedly, stranded on the floor, alert once more but bleeding and disabled from her injury.
The Nietzshean's hold on Harper remained, and he showed only a glimmer of surprise that his sister was still alive. Beka then hesitated seeing the colour draining from Harper's face. When his eyes appeared to bulge she finally conceded defeat and moved the weapon away from Rico's temple, offering surrender. Rico finally dropped Harper who fell like a heavy weight, before snatching her gun and putting it out of reach. When Harper didn't move Beka ignored Rico and crouched beside her friend, checking immediately for a pulse. Bringing her hand to her face, Beka sniffed loudly as her emotions crashed, and her energy seemed to drain immediately.
'Ship's auto destruct sequence initiated'
Rico looked around him, as the ship's sirens began to sound around them.
'Two minutes until detonation'
Beka hid her face as she backed away and found a wall to lean against, burying her face. Rico was unsure what to do, and could only look at the fallen human before him.
"I told you!" Darla screamed. "His life signs were connected to this ship, Rico; you've killed him, and now we all die, well done, brother!" Darla screamed with anger. "We don't even have any engineers on board now to fix this mess!"
"And whose fault is that?" Rico yelled back, before another ship wide announcement confirmed they now only had ninety-seconds. "I'm going to engineering to save our asses," Rico confirmed and ran from the room.
Beka looked up, her face surprisingly bright as she glanced at Harper and hurried to his side. "Hey, he's gone, come on, snap out of it," Beka shook the engineer lightly.
"What the…" Darla spoke up, but unable to move still confined to the spot where she had been shot.
"Seamus, come on, less that sixty seconds before we all go kaboom, not good," Beka insisted. "Quit messing about, I know you're not really dead."
Slowly, Beka's actions became more frantic as the lifeless form before her failed to respond. Behind her, Darla remained unsure as she could only watch. "He's dead," Darla finally spoke, disturbed now by Beka's actions. "And so are we thanks to his stupid plan."
'Thirty seconds to self destruct'
"No, he's not dead, he's not dead," Beka insisted, and began pressing down on Harper's chest to encourage his heart and any sign of life. "He can't be dead," she frantically repeated pressing down some more with urgency now.
"Ow, quit it," Harper suddenly complained, pushing Beka hands away. "Not a nice way to wake a guy up, you know?" he continued oblivious to the panic he had caused, as he sat up still rubbing his sore chest. "Maybe this is why you're still single," he added before being gripped in a vice like hug.
"I knew you weren't dead, I knew I felt a pulse, albeit a feint pulse, what the hell did you do to yourself?" Beka then demanded, through her relief.
Harper got to his feet, partially distracted as he retrieved his gun. "Old meditation technique Rev taught me," he simply answered, and before Beka could react Harper aimed the gun and fired on Darla.
"Harper!" Beka yelled with horror.
"She was about to let her brother know I wasn't dead," Harper explained coldly. "I can't let that happen, I don't care, Rico doesn't know the countdown's been aborted, he's dead, you got me?"
"Harper, calm the hell down!" Beka demanded.
"We don't have time for the Dylan 'peace and love' chat right now, Beka, I've got to do this, whilst he thinks his ship is about to blow!" Harper insisted, moving towards the exit.
"How do you know it's been aborted?"
"Because we're both living and breathing, after the thirty second countdown I programmed silence, Rico has no idea how long he has," Harper was suddenly very active for someone considered dead moments earlier, as he raced through the exit.
"What the hell are you doing? You can't do this, Harper, I won't let you," Beka stressed, as she pursued him through the corridors now.
"I've wanted to do for a long time," Harper yelled back angrily. "He stole my sight, he stole my dignity, he's a freaking dead man now, I have a chance to resolve this once and for all."
"Wait up, Harper, stop for a moment," Beka insisted, as she gained ground on him.
"We don't have time, he still thinks this ship is seconds away from meltdown, we have to do this now!" Harper yelled back frantically.
"No!" Beka finally grabbed hold of Harper and pushed him into the bulkhead, getting his attention. "You are not a heartless killer."
"He's a freaking uber, they don't count, I've killed hundreds, thousands of them before or are you forgetting my part in that little Angel of Death incident?" Harper sneered, his anger clear in his features and reactions, his adrenaline pumping.
"You're better than him, Harper," Beka calmly spoke.
"I know that," Harper snapped, looking away.
"Then prove it and don't sink to his level," Beka responded.
Harper took some needed deep breaths. "I owe him pain and misery."
"You just killed his sister," Beka reminded him. "And you have control of his ship; why not use that brain of yours to defeat this uber?"
Harper's emotions began to seep through. "He made me feel like scum, Beka," Harper explained, losing some of his control, as he took deep breaths whilst trying to talk. "When I was a slave, he reduced me to nothing more than dirt, you don't know what he did," he stressed, as he fought with his memories and the threat of tears. "He took away my sight for a bit of entertainment, he confirmed to me that I'm nothing more than a slave, one of those worthless kludges, that I'm nothing, Beka and you're telling me I'm not allowed to kill him for that?" Harper asked incredulously. "You just don't know do you?" he stressed, shaking his head.
Beka sighed, and simply put her hand gently on Harper's shoulder. "I'm not telling you what you should do Harper, I'm only asking you to consider the alternatives," Beka responded softly. "You beat that guy by getting your sight back, by proving you are somebody and he never took anything away from you, did he?" Beka stated.
Harper considered her words, and in an instantly appeared deflated as his knees buckled and he slid down the wall. "Thirty-seconds have obviously passed now, Rico will know his ship is about to blow up," he spoke quietly, and in defeat as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Then we need to resume command of this ship and get our asses back to the Andromeda," Beka stated strongly, but saw that Harper remained where he was, almost looking lost. "You know as well as anyone that life sucks, Harper, so why let Rico have the easy way out, living is a lot harder than dying."
Harper glanced up at Beka, and for a moment just stared at her, seeking some comfort in her expression before she offered her hand, and he got to his feet with her assistance. "Rico will know he can't kill us now, and he has no control," Harper spoke, as they began to walk.
"He still has men on board, and can outnumber us," Beka warned. "There's nothing stopping him forcing you to work for him, with the control you have."
"Yeah there is," Harper smirked, shaking off his brief depression quickly. "You," he genuinely smiled, as he guided Beka down a corridor, heading towards the command section. They both remained alert with their weapon's ready, knowing they still had a lot more work to do, if they were to stay out of anymore trouble.
TBC
