TITLE: A Past to Outdo

NOTES: I'm off in three days so I'll try to post the remaining chapters before I go - two a day starting with these little numbers!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Found and Lost

"Hope can ignite fires long since extinguished."

Mai-Rau-Sing

CY 2321

"How did you find me! Where are you! Are you close?" Harper blurted out. He had almost forgotten what happiness felt like.

"I'm using the Maru's hull to amplify our internal com-units. You'd be proud of me, Seamus," came that beautiful voice. Harper could tell Beka was smiling too. "I still don't have a fix on your position. Where are you?"

"I don't know exactly," Harper replied. "Beka...Lane Farrow's still alive."

"I know. I followed Deven's ship to Sauska and hooked up with Trell. He told me where to find Deven, and she told me where to find you," she explained, not going into all the gory details.

"Really? How'd you manage that? No, wait, I don't wanna know," Harper dismissed light-heartedly, then became more serious. "Lane wants me to confess on Calliope."

"I'm not gonna let that happen. Now, I need to know where you are so I can come get you. You have to find out, okay?"

"Okay," Harper acknowledged.

"Are you alright?" Beka asked, now that the immediate issue had been addressed.

Harper smiled and let out a breath he seemed to have been holding since he left Andromeda. "I am now. Why are you in the Maru? Where's Andromeda?"

Beka hesitated. "I...left to come look for you. Let's just say Dylan and I had a conflicting methodology."

"Is that a fancy way of saying you were too pissed off to wait for Dylan's decision?"

"Something like that. I'm sure they're on their way too."

Andromeda finally reached Sauska, her entire crew reflecting the dread that they were already too late. Dylan and Tyr headed straight for the surface in a slip fighter, since the Maru was with Beka. There, they soon arrived at The Icarus. Hopefully the person Deven had contacted was her employer, and was still here.

"Excuse me," Dylan said to the guy behind the reception desk. He didn't look like he was paying much attention. "Hey, I need some information," Dylan repeated.

"Who doesn't?" the guy answered sarcastically. Tyr stepped up to the desk and looked menacing (which was more or less normal for Tyr.) The guy seemed to take more notice now. "What do you want?"

"Some messages were sent to this hotel, and we need to find out who received them."

"Sorry, can't help ya. All communications are confidential," the guy reported. "Of course, I could be persuaded to leave my desk for a little while...for the right price," he added in the most unsubtle way possible.

Tyr sighed. "Can I hit him yet?"

"Be my guest," Dylan replied.

Harper felt a hundred times better after talking to Beka. He had told her everything that had been going on, including about the armband Lane had put on him. Beka told him simply to find a way to get it off - preferably before he had to leave the ship. Unfortunately the device was more sophisticated than he had first imagined. Lane must have paid a hefty price for it - if she had, in fact, bought it. It was more likely its previous owner was lying in a ditch somewhere.

So, Harper set that particular task aside for the moment and focused on finding out their exact flight path, so he could transmit it to Beka. It wasn't easy doing so when he was locked in a room that had no control panels whatsoever. He'd had to take off a section of the wall to try and tap into the wires running through to the main systems. His escapade was stopped when he heard Lane's footsteps approaching. He quickly replaced the wall panel and sat back on the bed.

Lane opened the door. "There's a scout ship in our way. We have to wait 'till it's gone." She saw the bottle and needle on the floor. Other than that, she suspected nothing. "You coulda just said no," she said.

"I'm not touching that stuff again," Harper returned. "Before your lackey turned up and ruined everything, I was getting my life back."

"Oh please, what life? You'll always be the same loser you were on Carna. Anything else you pretend to be is just an act."

"No, you're wrong. I changed, and then you took away everything I had," Harper said quietly. "And it still wasn't enough, so you're sending me to prison."

"You know, I don't see why you're acting all upset about this," Lane replied. Harper wasn't quite expecting that - mainly because it was the most ridiculous statement he'd ever heard. "You killed a man, you created a fatherless son, and you got away with it," she continued. "For years you've been letting your conscience eat away at your insides. I don't know why you didn't confess in the first place. Wasn't that the obvious solution to your crippling inner turmoil? Pay your debt, get your penance?" she asked. "Clear your conscience?"

Harper stopped massaging his neck. The cramp had gone. Lane shook her head at the weak pitiful man before her. She turned to leave, but looked back. "You know I'm right. So why don't you just stop fighting?"

Tyr and Dylan managed to find out the recipient of the messages sent by Deven. They were headed to room 214, but were stopped as they passed the VIP rooms.

"Captain Hunt, why am I not surprised?" a man said.

Dylan looked the man up and down. He'd never seen him before in his life. "I honestly - don't know," he replied.

The man flipped a badge at him. The name read 'Lt. Vor'. "You've come to cover your officer's discretions, I imagine," he remarked.

Dylan really didn't need another arrogant local giving him attitude. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm very interested in hearing what you have to say about my officer."

Another man approached and joined the conversation - without invitation. "Captain Beka Valentine has done quite a fair share of damage while she's been here."

Great. Tyr thought. A lawyer.

"Beka's here?" Dylan asked. He was as worried about her as he was for Harper.

The lawyer huffed. "No, she left a few hours ago, authorities were unable to apprehend her."

"Who's your client?" Tyr demanded.

"Miss Deven Redly could be dead by now if her associates hadn't found her in time. Your officer savagely beat and almost killed my client." the lawyer replied.

Tyr let out a laugh. "That's my girl."

"Where is she?" Dylan asked.

"Who?"

Dylan was getting more agitated by the second. "Deven," he said.

"In a holding cell, charged with ridiculous crimes she is innocent of," the lawyer replied pompously.

Dylan nodded. "Oh, I'm sure." He turned to Tyr. "I think it's time we pay our friend a visit."

End of chapter seventeen

Next chapter: Clarity