The final part! woo hoo, six months of posting - thank you so much everyone for reading, and to those who left reviews - very much appreciated, I have loved writing this and I can only say thanks for keeping the faith that I would complete this, and not leave you hanging -hugs

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Part 60

He had been trying to put it off for a few hours, but now Zal stood on the obs deck waiting. His hands were sweaty, and he wished he could be back on Edenia where he didn't have to face so many new things that he didn't understand. Unfortunately, however, on this occasion he completely understood what he had done. Now his head had cleared and the effects had worn off, Zal knew why Beka wanted to speak to him. He just wasn't sure he wanted to hear what she had to say.

He heard her footsteps walk onto the deck and immediately he turned to face her. "I'm sorry!" he offered quickly. "I didn't mean to hurt Harper, I promise, I just wasn't thinking straight and I got all emotional and upset, and I let the drug get the better of me, I'm sorry and I will beat it, I promise."

Beka just stared at him. She now stood a meter or so away, and she made no attempt to speak or move, unsettling him.

"I knew what I was doing, and at the time I thought it was justified but you know, that little voice can be your own worse enemy sometimes," Zal continued. "At least mine can, in fact I think mine hates me but that's no excuse because I should know not to listen, but I did," Zal was finally interrupted.

"Zal, shut up," Beka spoke evenly.

"Shutting up," Zal confirmed and abruptly shut his mouth to demonstrate.

"Look, at this moment I am full of giving Harper what he wants, the guy has had a tough few weeks and doesn't need me ignoring his requests," Beka explained calmly. "And Harper doesn't want me to beat you black and blue, and that's fine by me."

"He doesn't?" Zal checked.

"If you haven't already noticed, Harper is good to his friends," Beka offered.

"I've noticed, I guess I just forgot," Zal sheepishly answered.

Beka moved closer, and waited until Zal looked at her. "And I'm sorry if we've not been giving you the time you've needed, that we've been so preoccupied with being home that we forget we had guests."

"I wasn't attention seeking," Zal was quick to point out.

"But you got our attention," Beka smiled.

"Yeah," Zal shrugged, looking away. "I just freaked, I thought with your, and then Harper's actions that you were pushing us away because well, you no longer needed us. You have your spaceship and your life back, you didn't need us."

"So you thought encouraging Harper's addiction would give you and Junia a reason to stay?" Beka realised.

"Your ship just accepted our request to return, didn't even ask why, not really," Zal moved away, clearly upset. "I couldn't handle that, I thought we meant more, you know?"

"Zal, you're in a bad place right now and rightly so, you've lost everything and you're facing a new life away from what you know," Beka reasoned, remembering what both Junia and Harper had told her. "But I can assure you that you haven't lost us, you've gained us as friends and once Harper is back on his feet again, you'll see that."

"I know, amazing what a clear head can tell you," Zal smirked, looking more like his old self again.

"And we'll help Junia to help you beat this addiction, we won't let you fall back to where you once were," Beka assured him. "Now come here."

"Come here?" Zal questioned unsure. "You're not going to hit me are you?"

Beka smirked. "I wouldn't ask you to come here just to hit you, now would I?"

"You never did before, that's true," Zal realised with a half smile, and moved towards Beka who embraced him, as soon as he was close enough. "I haven't forgotten the support you gave me, and I remember your hugs so here's the first of my repayment to you."

"You don't owe me anything," Zal responded, hugging Beka in return.

"So next time, don't ask me if I'm going to hit you or not," Beka said with amusement before pulling away. "You've taken some getting use to, Zal, and although I can't forget your habit of hurting or betraying Harper, so long as he doesn't object and strangely he never seems to, I can look beyond that too, ok?"

"Does that mean we're friends?" Zal asked, and saw Beka smile and nod her head. "So what do I have to do to take it further?" he said with optimism.

"Don't push your luck," Beka advised with a grin, before putting her arm around Zal's shoulders. "Come on, I understand you've taken a liking to the mess deck, and I want to introduce you to cheese cake."

"Cheese cake?" Zal smiled broadly, as Beka escorted him off the obs deck and into the corridor.

Trance kept an eye on Harper as he walked slowly along the corridor. She smiled as he adjusted his balance slightly, and continued.

"Is it getting easier?" Trance asked.

"Yeah," Harper agreed, but his concentration focused on the steps he was taking. "Why is this so hard?" he then asked.

"Your natural senses are a little off centre after the surgery, you just need to get them back in line," Trance answered.

"Re-aligning my sensors, I'm not a freaking machine, Trance," Harper mocked.

"But you do need to learn your centre of gravity again, so this will help," Trance smiled, as Harper continued to walk with caution in his movement.

"My head feels like its floating," Harper complained.

Trance frowned. "The disorientation is normal, but I'm guessing your exposure to the bantra toxins have not helped."

"Is Zal avoiding me?" Harper then asked. It had been over eighteen hours since Harper had collapsed due to the tea Zal had given him.

Trance couldn't lie. "I think he is."

"Stupid idiot, I'm not going to do anything, I know he wasn't himself," Harper responded. "It's hardly as if I can lecture him, I'm in the same boat."

"I think Beka has warned him to stay away, as he deals with his own addiction issues," Trance added. "He's an addict by choice, you're not."

"Wrong, I chose to become an addict on Earth, Trance," Harper responded.

Trance put her hand on Harper's back, by way of comfort not knowing what to say in response.

"I don't regret it," Harper then offered. "It got me through that hell, in the most part."

"You still got yourself off the habit before leaving Earth, though," Trance countered.

"That was Brendan more than my own will," Harper returned. "I was in too deep to even know what day it was," he sighed heavily, and then stopped to lean against the corridor wall to catch his breath.

"Are you ok?" Trance asked with concern.

"Yeah," Harper nodded his head, and then looked at her. "You know, there's about seven years of my life that I barely remember?"

"Seven?" Trance repeated.

Harper looked troubled, as he looked around. "Seven, from the age of eleven to eighteen, I just have little idea what I did, who I did or how I did it, only that I lived from one hit of EZee to the next," he explained with some anguish."

"And you don't regret that?"

Harper tried to answer but struggled initially. "No," he then smirked, with sadness behind it. "I should," he accepted.

Trance put her hand to Harper's face with fondness, as she lightly stroked the side of his cheek. "If that's what it took for you to survive I can understand why you have no regrets."

"You can?" Harper asked with hope, as if his whole future depended on it.

Trance nodded her head, and smiled as her words seemed to bring renewed energy to Harper, and she was still touching his face when Zal and Junia turned into the corridor.

"Hey, he's spoken for!" Zal mocked loudly, causing Harper to quickly straighten up and move away from Trance's hold.

"Zal," Harper spoke with a sigh realising who was mocking him, but he showed some joy on seeing the two Edenians. "Don't listen to him," Harper remarked to Trance, who simply smiled.

"You know already, don't you?" Zal offered to Harper.

"Apology accepted, yeah, I know," Harper then grinned knowingly. "But you know, I'll only be able to accept so many 'sorry for nearly killing me' apologies before I start taking offence," Harper teased, and was captivated by Junia's smile in reaction before he looked away with haste and took a deep breath. "So, are you ok now?" he asked towards Zal.

"Slept it off, talked, had cheesecake," Zal responded.

"Beka?" Harper guessed.

"You've shared cheesecake with Beka too?" Zal questioned. "The two timing," he began before Harper cut him off.

"No, I've never got that far, very few do," Harper grinned broadly now.

"Well I for one am glad I experienced that delightful stuff before we return," Zal announced.

"Return?" Harper was caught out.

"We're returning to Edenia, surely you heard?" Zal offered.

"But I thought you'd have changed your mind, I mean, come on, there's a whole universe to explore," Harper gestured.

"And Edenia is our home," Junia returned.

"And we don't have the guarantee of a warship watching our butts as we explore, so we're better off down there, with that shield protecting us," Zal stated. "You grow up with security that good, it's hard to let go."

Harper showed his disappointment as he struggled to find the words to support their decision. "Well, if you think it's the right thing to do," he shrugged.

"It is," Junia agreed.

"When do you leave?" Harper asked.

"Tomorrow, Beka's going to fly us down, do you want to come?" Zal enthused.

"Back to Edenia?" Harper frowned. "Maybe not so soon, but I could visit, when you know, things are settled?"

"Yeah," Zal agreed, and then gestured to Junia to move. "You'll see us before we go, I'm sure, right?"

"Yeah," Harper stated with little conviction in his voice. "I start light duty shifts tomorrow, so maybe I'll have time to see you off."

Zal and Junia both smiled, and then they moved away and walked along the corridor. Trance could sense the strange tension that had developed and frowned. "Dylan told me that you were close to those two on Edenia, but I don't see it."

"Things change," Harper dismissed and began to walk again, this time with more ease and confidence.

"They do," Trance agreed, knowing Harper hadn't noticed he was walking with ease now. "All too quickly sometimes," she considered sadly, but decided not to expand on her words as she caught up with Harper and continued to evaluate his progress.

Zal sighed, as he played with his food on mess deck, and Junia looked up at him from across the table.

"This is his environment," Junia offered.

"Still sucks," Zal grumbled.

Junia frowned. "We don't belong here, just as he didn't belong on Edenia."

"But he did, he felt right there, but here, it's all wrong," Zal explained.

Junia smirked. "I doubt you'll ever get him to see that Zal, he'll never return to Edenia."

"But he said he'd visit," Zal countered.

"He won't," Junia confidently stated.

"I hate this," Zal complained, and dropped the cutlery he was holding onto the plate. "We were good friends, and now I feel like we're nothing to him."

"He wanted us to stay, and explore his world," Junia offered calmly. "And he's been through a lot, don't judge him."

"He's treating you badly," Zal stressed.

Junia took a deep breath. "You're not going to make him tea again, are you?"

Zal smirked, as Junia smiled. "No," he offered and then smiled. "Guess we'll just have each other now?"

"I guess so," Junia agreed. "Unless you can manage to charm Beka on the trip down tomorrow?"

"Do you think I have a chance?" Zal brightened.

Junia considered her response. "As much chance as I ever have of being Harper's girl again."

"Crap, this double sucks," Zal stated with a sigh. "So what are we going to do?"

"Forget and move on, find a new part of Edenia to live in and hope things improve," Junia suggested.

"Away from everyone, on the outskirts," Zal agreed, and Junia simply smiled as she finished her food. "I'll take care of you, babe, I promise, I won't let you down," he assured her.

"We'll be fine," Junia continued to smile, and reached out to hold Zal's hand.

"Freaking piece of-"

"Problem?" Rhade looked up from his console on command to where Seamus Harper was working at the back of command.

"No," Harper sharply returned, and then glanced at Rhade. "Remind me never to let Trance lose on Andromeda's systems again," he frowned, and then sighed.

"Whatever she did to it helped, it ensured we were rescued think of it that way," Rhade reasoned.

"The instructions I left behind said nothing about rerouting this particular system, in this complicated and novice way!" Harper continued to complain, and then Rommie appeared on the screen beside him.

"We needed to make that adjustment to locate the Maru during a heavy storm," Andromeda calmly revealed.

Harper considered Andromeda's reasoning. "Those storms were pretty bad in the forest, outside of the shield," he accepted. "Man I miss them."

"You miss them?" Rhade checked. "And they were pretty bad inside the shield, remember that last one you were in almost killed you?"

"It wasn't the storm that nearly killed me, it was Buz, the damn Gilads, freaking Pallu," Harper responded sharply, as he continued to work on the system in question, his hands gliding over the console. "This is useless, I have to jack in."

"Trance won't allow that, at least not for another week," Andromeda reminded him, and Harper slammed his hand down on the console with frustration. "Fine, then that system will remain messed up then," he seethed.

"Harper," Rhade left his post and walked over to where Harper was noisily replacing his tools into his belt. "Light duties mean exactly that."

"I feel fine now," Harper stressed.

"No you don't," Rhade responded.

"How the hell would you know?"

"If you were feeling ok, you'd have insulted me, my lineage and my people by now," Rhade half smiled. "And you wouldn't be taking your anger out on Andromeda."

Harper looked away, and then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Rommie," Harper offered quietly.

"Apology accepted," Rommie smiled back at him from the screen.

Harper looked at Rhade. "Maybe I don't feel like insulting you," he shrugged.

"Then you do still feel unwell," Rhade answered.

"Shut up, uber," Harper returned but it lacked its usual bite, as Dylan strode onto command.

"Mr Harper, welcome back and already insulting Rhade, you must be feeling better," Dylan announced.

Both Harper and Rhade smirked at each other, before Rhade moved away to return to his post.

"Any news on the transport to Edenia?" Dylan asked towards Rhade.

"The Maru is prepped and ready to go," Rhade announced. "Zal and Junia are making their way to the docking bay now."

Harper stared at the view screen as it showed the internal footage of Zal and Junia, with Beka, making their way to the Maru. He couldn't help but feel disappointed in the both of them for returning to Edenia, and he found it hard to accept. Since he had been told the previous day, Harper had been unable to talk to either of them, and now he was watching them leave without even saying goodbye. Harper knew Zal was upset with him, for not accepting their wishes, but he was unable to get past the fact that they were taking the easy option.

The cameras switched and this time one of them was close on Junia and Zal as they walked, and Harper felt his stomach lurch, for once it wasn't nausea but a sense of uncertainty. Unsure why things had changed, Harper felt sadness as he watched a beautiful and lovely girl leave the ship, a girl who had made every effort to make him feel comfortable and given him the chance to rekindle what they shared on Edenia.

Harper felt the real sensation of nausea now, as he watched them on screen approach the Maru and the clock counted down their time to departure. Feeling sick, Harper moved quickly from his station and left command in a hurry. Once outside, he held his stomach and fought another onslaught from his past addiction that was still battling in vain to take him over. Taking deep breaths, he closed his eyes and tried to control the pain. Beka had been right, it was getting easier but he still hated these attacks, and their timing and he felt as though he was getting a cold now.

"Harper?"

Harper opened his eyes, and realised he had at some point slumped against the corridor walls and down to the floor, to a sitting position unsure of how much time had passed.

"Dylan," Harper took some shaky breaths.

"Do you need anything?" Dylan asked with concern.

Harper shook his head. "It's ok it's passing now, that's the first attack in nearly a day. It's getting easier."

"You should still go and rest, Rommie tells me you've worked six hours, that's two above the amount Trance cleared for light duties," Dylan stated.

"I want to see Zal and Junia, before they leave," Harper suddenly made the decision to do something, and tried to move to get up but Dylan encouraged him to stay down.

"It's too late, they just left," Dylan revealed. "That's why I came out here to look for you, Rommie told me you had collapsed."

"I'm ok," Harper pushed himself up to his feet, with Dylan helping him the rest of the way.

"You'll feel a lot better in a couple of days when we finally leave this planet far behind," Dylan smiled. "Walk with me," Dylan then gestured.

Finding his strength again, Harper walked with Dylan along the corridor and felt some tension as he did so.

"Beka told me that she spoke to you, about my decision," Dylan stated.

"It's nothing, it's only Earth," Harper responded without emotion.

"Harper, she told me you understood my reasoning," Dylan responded.

Harper took a deep breath, the pain returning to acceptable levels within him. "I do, honestly I do," Harper sighed. "Sometimes I just hate that Earth sucked back in the day."

"It didn't suck, Harper," Dylan returned with an amused smile.

"Why couldn't Earth have put their energy into something like the Commonwealth, or into good things like, I don't know," Harper stumbled over his words.

"It's not because of what Earth did that I made the decision I made," Dylan stated.

"I know," Harper answered.

"How many people do you think exist with a data port, a gift of engineering and the knowledge of Earth's natural and now ancient language?" Dylan asked.

"One," Harper answered. "That's pretty heavy for a little mud foot like me, right?"

"So you do understand why I did it," Dylan smiled, feeling happier now.

"But it doesn't end there, does it?" Harper looked quizzically at Dylan now. "Because you know, that I know the secrets of that place, don't you?"

"Do you?"

"You know the answer, as well as I do," Harper stated.

"Well?" Dylan stopped.

"Just be grateful that in their haste to get me all fixed up," Harper walked ahead and turned to face Dylan, walking backwards as he spoke now and he tapped his port. "They didn't replace this little bundle of tech in my neck with a new device."

"Do I have to ask?"

"Depends what the question is," Harper half smiled now, almost challenging Dylan to verbally duel with him.

"Who's in charge here?" Dylan asked.

"You, as always," Harper answered with a gesture towards Dylan, looking a lot livelier now.

Dylan nodded his head slowly, as Harper continued to back away before soon Harper turned and walked out of sight.

"Never underestimate him," Dylan spoke under his breath.

"Captain," Andromeda appeared in holographic form beside him. "The council are requesting that we investigate some smugglers who are stealing minerals in a system two jumps from our location."

"Back to business," Dylan sighed. "Tell the council that we'll move as soon as the Maru is back on board," he rubbed his face. "The Andromeda will remain here to oversee the final preparations on Edenia before they reinstate the shield, and I'll take the Maru, with Rhade and Harper to investigate these smugglers, we can all rendezvous in a couple of days at a pre-arranged meeting point."

"Understood," Andromeda spoke, before she disappeared.

Dylan took a deep breath. "Let's hope this next mission is as easy as it sounds."

The end