Part 4

Harper hurried through the walkways of the Maru, stumbling every other step as he tried to find his balance, whilst still waking up and wrapped in a blanket.

"Alright, alright! Why is leaving a message suddenly not acceptable? No, wake the Harper he's got nothing better to do," he complained with anger on hearing the incessant beeping, before reaching the cockpit and jumping into the seat, activating the communications console. "Maru here, what the hell do you want?"

"Mister Harper, nice to see you too, you're looking dishevelled," Dylan could only answer as his face appeared on the small monitor. "Where's Beka?"

"Getting supplies like you ordered," Harper answered, and rubbed his eyes. "And I was asleep, like ordered," he added bitterly.

"Explains your state of undress at least," Dylan teased now, as Harper looked down at his crumpled t-shirt and shorts being the only thing he was wearing. "Harper, we believe there may be a chance you are being followed, or tracked by scavengers, we need you and Beka to remain alert."

"What?" Harper sat up immediately, his attention fully on Dylan now as he saw flashbacks in his mind to their previous run. "Who, why?" he stammered.

"We're not sure, we only suspect," Dylan quickly assured him. "Just stay on your guard. We've picked up suspicious readings that we are now investigating, we're moving to rendezvous with you sooner than planned, just in case."

"Cool, thanks," Harper took some comfort from that. "I'll try to raise Beka, get her back on board so we can get moving."

"Good, stay in contact, Dylan out," the captain signed off and Harper considered the situation for a moment, his gut churning and unable to forget what had happened before. He needed to find Beka, and they both needed to return to the safety of the Andromeda.


Beka frowned as she walked the bustling lanes of the drift; she was becoming as paranoid as Harper she considered as she looked over her shoulder one last time. Whilst picking up supplies she had begun to feel the sensation that she was being watched, and earlier in a brief moment of horror, out of the corner of her eye she could have sworn that she had seen that psycho guy, Tyrone, but that was impossible. This drift was light years away from where that had all happened, and she could fathom no reason why Tyrone would be in this sector. It was her mind playing tricks, being alone on the Maru with Harper again was messing with her thoughts, and when she had looked again she hadn't seen the scavenger who had tried to take her ship, and hurt her friend, no one was there.

As she continued to walk, she remembered. The images of the damage Tyrone had done to Harper flashed back into her mind and she felt angered that such a thing had happened, and she had played a part in it. His back had been red raw and bloodied, the pain she couldn't even imagine, but Harper had somehow thought he had a place in the universe where it was expected that he feel that pain, and she had been alarmed by this confession. Still she promised herself that one day she would seek revenge for Harper, and for her own piece of mind. She never wanted to see Harper so weak and low about himself again, especially not by the hand of someone as pathetic as Tyrone.

She looked over her shoulder again, but all the faces were strangers, and Beka continued to walk, knowing she needed a few more things before she could return to check on Harper.


Harper wrapped his jacket around himself, feeling the chill of the air on the drift and then remembering he needed to take his next dose of meds. It was too late now, at least for the moment with his meds back on the Maru, as he scanned the open area for Beka. Pushing thoughts of feeling sick to the back of his mind, Harper was well enough to keep looking for the Maru's feisty captain, knowing she could be absolutely anywhere and probably was, seeing as she wasn't answering her com unit.

Each step was becoming a task, and on retrieving a tissue, Harper blew his nose and decided that maybe he still was not one hundred percent, and rushing around a drift looking for someone that he had no idea where to start looking, was not helping him. Slowly he turned, deciding he should head back to the warmth and comfort of the Maru and await Beka's return, but on turning he immediately found a hand around his neck and his body being pushed into a side street and up against a wall.

Unable to speak and barely able to breath, Harper gasped in the hope that his senses would kick back in soon. Confusion and uncertainty clouded his thoughts as he tried to focus on the three men that now stood in front of him, and then he recognised the man in the centre.

"No," Harper's breath was suddenly short.

"We meet again."

"Leave me alone, let go of me!" Harper stressed with fear, trying to struggle but felt the grip around his neck tighten.

"You have something I want," Tyrone stated. "And you will hand it over to me." Harper was already shaking his head. "Don't play the hero with me again, Seamus Harper, you remember what I did to you last time, how long did it take to heal?"

Harper remained silent, and just stared at the man that he'd seen in his nightmares, and absently felt the pain return to the skin on his back as he remembered.

"Use the data port decoder on him," Tyrone smiled towards the young kid stood watching, and Harper could only watch as the youngster retrieved a cylindrical device from a bag, that obviously fitted over data ports.

"No," Harper struggled, but soon found his airway cut off for doing so.

"Play nicely," Tyrone encouraged, as the kid showed that he knew what he was doing by preparing the device for use.

Harper was allowed to slowly breathe again with the grip being slightly loosened, but then Harper felt a device being put to his neck, and screamed out when he felt the rough jolt of electricity as the machine connected to the inner workings of his port.

"What are you doing?" Harper strained, as he tried to make sense of flood of information that suddenly became available to him.

"We stole this device a few scavenges ago from a Nietzschean freighter," Tyrone calmly explained, gesturing to the device. "They use it on their engineers, also known as slaves, to instantly train them into the workings of each ship they are assigned to, but it has other uses we've discovered," he then smiled. "I believe it's a crude but effective device, and I'm fortunate to have a computer genius of my own now who has ably adapted it for my own gains," he smiled again, this time at the kid, as the device was removed from Harper's data port.

Harper was almost limp in the hold that Tyrone had around his neck, already drained from illness, the device had attacked all of his remaining senses.

"Get up," Tyrone ordered and briskly set Harper up to a standing position. "Now you will sneak me and the kid here onto your ship, and you will tell the ship to only detect yours and Valentines presence."

Harper was struggling to remain awake, as he took in the orders. "And if I don't?" Harper asked defiantly.

"You don't have a choice," Tyrone calmly informed the human, and three weapons were instantly trained on him.

Harper slowly brought his head up, as he felt new signals being sent straight into his brain, and repeating them over and over.

"The only way to make it stop, is to do as your port says, your port is now under my control," Tyrone grinned with satisfaction.

"No, that's not possible!" Harper shook his head, but the thoughts sounded as if they were his own. "It's not real," he stressed now.

"You keep telling yourself that, and you'll drive yourself crazy," Tyrone almost seemed excited by that prospect. "Save yourself the trip, and do as your mind instructs."

"This isn't real, this can't happen," Harper stressed but could see no other option than to comply as the weapons were still pointing at him, and so he began to walk back towards the space port. His mind was a flurry of confusion, and the more he heard his thoughts relay the orders, the more he began to believe them. With uncertainty, Harper tried to remain focus but his sickness was wearing him down, he needed to rest feeling his shirt was soaked with perspiration, and it was as if he was becoming sick all over again.

Feeling somewhat disconnected from reality, Harper was vaguely aware of Tyrone sending the third man away with instructions. Numbly, Harper kept walking, finding it easier to ignore the inner voice as he began to believe it was just a trick, he knew deep down that no one could control him via his port but he was also in a situation where he could only play along as he felt the nuzzle of one of the guns in his back as they walked close behind him.

Finally they reached the Maru, and with haste Harper found himself gesturing to Tyrone and the kid to come on board. "Go up to the hold, lift the floor plates, and there's enough room for you both to hide in the bays under them," Harper stressed with his breaths becoming more laboured. "I'll sort out the computer to ignore your life signs," he added and quickly the two men headed towards the ladder leading them up.

Harper waited for a moment, catching his breath and hearing them both above settling down. There was no way he was going to give Tyrone the Maru, especially not after what happened before; it just wasn't going to happen. With some effort Harper began to climb the ladder, reaching the hold area he saw the two men had found the parallel bays that Beka often used back in the day for smuggling. Harper composed his breathing, still hearing the commands in his head; he knew what he had to do. With a single motion Harper used all his body weight to shift the large carton of sparky cola over the two hatches, securing the two men in the bays and rendering it so they were unable to escape.

"Don't ever try and use me to get to Beka's ship again," Harper panted, not even sure if either man knew they had been captured, but he didn't care.

Harper staggered back down the ladder, and soon found his bunk again. Exhausted, and feeling worse than before, Harper soon collapsed into a feverish sleep.

TBC