Part 3
"Boss?" Harper called out as he stepped onto the Eureka Maru, and ventured into its familiar homely surroundings. "Beka?"
"Is the Maru stocked?"
Harper frowned on hearing Beka's distant question, and guessed that she was in the cockpit. "Yeah, since 'you know what' happened I've made sure the Maru is always stocked," he answered as he approached.
"Good, we're going on a trip," Beka called out.
"What, now?"
"Yeah, you're coming with me on that supply run Dylan wants me to go on," Beka appeared ahead of him, and they met in the serving area.
"But I'm still signed off sick," Harper offered. "I'm still recovering from that virus and I still have this stupid injured hand," he gestured dismissively.
"Exactly why you're coming with me," Beka confirmed. "For the entire trip I just want you in your bunk and sleeping, I'm use to doing these runs solo so I'll do everything else, you just rest without distraction."
"I don't know," Harper hesitated.
"Harper, you know you will never get any rest on the Andromeda," Beka frowned. "There will always be those little jobs that they prefer that you do, well I'm taking you out of the equation so they learn to make do, and so you can get better. This virus has been in your system for too long now."
"Beka, you're just asking for trouble by having me on this run, trust me," Harper partly smiled. "Remember the last time it was just the two of us?"
"That was unfortunate, but it will be different this time, we'll be back by this time tomorrow," Beka stated confidently, and moved along side Harper. "I just want you to get rid of this bug once and for all, ok?" she spoke with fondness as she put an arm around his shoulders.
"It is starting to wear me down," Harper admitted, giving her idea some thought. "Getting tired of feeling tired all the time," he stated, and then smiled.
"We leave in an hour," Beka instructed, moving away and back towards the front end of the ship.
"I'm ready to go now," Harper stated, and he moved towards the crew quarters. "If you want me, I'll be in my bunk waiting," he stated suggestively, before ducking out of sight.
Beka shook her head. "You're here to rest, Harper, and that includes your over active imagination!"
There was sudden activity, and Tyrone turned to see the eager young kid hurrying towards him, his face beaming.
"Sir!" the kid acknowledged, before continuing. "The Maru has finally left the ship, and our scans indicate that there are only two life signs on board, the same life signs as our scans previously showed."
"Meaning," Tyrone stepped forward. "Our two targets are within easy reach!"
"They are heading for the Trillian cluster, we assume to the drift to pick up supplies," the kid added.
"Plot a course," Tyrone generally ordered and his men snapped to attention. "Let my plan begin," he grinned manically.
Beka stopped at the door, with the hot steaming mug of coffee in her hand. Before her she observed the sleeping form of Seamus Harper, looking for once at peace and relaxed, with the blankets wrapped tightly around his body. Slowly, and quietly, Beka moved forward and crouched down to put the coffee on the side beside him should he want it, having decided against waking him.
She watched him for a few more moments, remaining crouched on the deck, her feelings inside mixed as to why she was doing this.
"You're not going to kiss me again are you?" Harper mumbled eyes still closed, and seemingly still asleep, causing Beka to jump and then stand up abruptly.
"You're awake?" Beka stammered.
"You put the smell of coffee within ten meters of me, of course I'll wake up," Harper finally blinked his eyes, and slowly woke up before reaching for the mug. "How long was I out?" he asked as he propped himself up on his elbow.
"Nearly six hours," Beka answered. "We're just an hour from the drift, you obviously needed the sleep."
"Yeah," Harper absently agreed, as he took some sips of the coffee.
"I wasn't going to kiss you," Beka then stated, taking a seat on the opposite bunk.
"What were you doing then?" Harper smirked. "Checking me out?"
"Checking you were ok," Beka answered bluntly.
"I'm fine," Harper took some more sips of the coffee. "Actually, do you have my meds, the headache is lingering again," he frowned.
Beka reached over to the bag they had brought on board and retrieved an injector that Trance had prepared. She checked it was correctly set up before moving to Harper's side and pressing it into his arm.
"Thanks," Harper offered, before returning to his coffee. "Feeling a lot better already, maybe you were right that I needed some time away from the Andromeda," he conceded.
"I can't believe you doubted me," Beka smiled.
Harper smirked, and returned the mug to the side. "I guess I still have lingering nightmares about the last time we did a supply run together, this is the first time since then that we've done this."
"That was just a one off bad experience, Harper," Beka shrugged. "We've done plenty of boring supply runs together."
"I know," Harper agreed. "Do you think about what happened much?"
"What part? It was a pretty full on experience," Beka sighed. "I admit I don't think I've ever been as concerned about you as I was when I had to leave you behind on that ship. For the first time ever I actually believed I might never see you again. Even when you were on the World Ship, it didn't feel like it felt when that psycho made me leave you behind."
"You should know by now that you can't get rid of me that easily," Harper spoke brightly. "Even though that wasn't pleasant, the one thing that sticks in my mind is you, and how you acted."
"I wasn't well," Beka was quick to remind him.
"I know," Harper nodded his head slowly, but clearly thinking. "Just totally flipped me, made me freak out and I never thought you'd be able to do that to me."
They were both avoiding each others stares now, as they found inanimate objects around the bunks suddenly interesting. Finally Beka looked up and saw that Harper wasn't going to say anymore.
"I'm glad it didn't ruin what we have, that I can still call you a friend," Beka admitted.
"Take more than that to scare me off," Harper smiled now. "Though you came close," he added with a smirk.
"Those were a strange few days," Beka remembered now. "I never want food poisoning again, and I never want to be on this ship again when the heating fails," she paused. "And if I do have the misfortune of experiencing both, I only hope you're with me again to see me through it like the first time."
Harper almost looked embarrassed at the compliment. "Next time, I won't be so slow in figuring out the problem," he stated, still clearly unhappy with himself for missing what he saw as an obvious solution.
"And if I promise not to kiss you again, you'll promise not to kiss me in retaliation again, right?" Beka teased, then checked and observed Harper's reactions closely.
Harper just smiled, giving nothing away as to how he now felt about those brief and strange encounters from before. "I won't, unless you want me too," he answered suggestively, and in his usual cocky manner.
"You'd run a mile if I said I wanted you too," Beka stated as fact, and then felt her stomach jump as she waited for his response.
Harper instead settled back down on the bunk and brought the covers back over himself, closing his eyes. "Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't," Harper then mumbled and Beka was left to just stare at her friend as he settled into sleep, not understanding exactly what he was telling her.
"Andromeda, what's the latest on those readings you were taking?" Dylan casually asked, as he continued to scan the systems.
"They have ceased," Andromeda reported, as she appeared on the large view screens.
"Did you find a pattern, or a source?" he asked.
"No, they were pretty random interferences, and could even have been coincidental to my system detecting them," Andromeda answered.
"So no threat then?" Dylan checked, as he looked at Andromeda for confirmation.
"Standard scavenger detection equipment."
Dylan turned to face Tyr, who was stood by the weapons console. "Tyr?" he encouraged his weapon's officer to continue.
"Designed to fool any ship into thinking the scans are non-threatening, when in fact they are the opposite," Tyr stated. "These readings are similar to the ones I would expect to see when a ship not wishing to be detected is scanning another."
"Tyr, I hardly think that Rommie with all her technology would be fooled by such a device, especially if being used by scavengers, what could they possibly want from us?" Dylan was amused. "No scavenger, with Andromeda in her current status, would even attempt to take us."
"Not us, no," Tyr agreed. "But these scans stopped nearly twelve hours ago."
"The Eureka Maru left twelve hours ago," Rommie then spoke up, doing the calculations.
Dylan was suddenly alert to the very possible danger. "Andromeda, get me Beka, we need to warn them, just in case."
TBC
