Part 7
Harper was forced to kneel in an upright position now, a hand rested on his shoulder to ensure he didn't collapse back down to the deck, and it was the only thing keeping him from doing so. Taking controlled breaths, ignoring the pain Harper was shaking slightly from the illness as he quietly observed each of Tyrone's men preparing their weapons and waiting for the signal. Tyrone had at least stopped beating his back, but it still felt as though it was on fire.
Harper tested the binds that now secured his wrists together behind his back, wishing he wasn't so helpless, and sick with it. Beside him Tyrone and the annoying kid worked at the console, they were talking in hushed whispers before Tyrone snapped his attention back to Harper.
"So, you kept our little previous meeting secret from your boss?" Tyrone spoke with amusement. "You didn't want your big and powerful captain to know you'd been beaten and humiliated by me? Your lady friend said you were mentally affected, interesting," Tyrone spoke as he stared at Harper, mocking the human.
Harper had nothing to say, and simply stared at Tyrone with contempt, as the larger man waited for a reaction but got none. Inside Harper hated Tyrone for listening in on Beka, he had no right and there was no way he'd let Tyrone come between them, he wouldn't let him.
"He knows now, your little Valentine lady just spilled the beans, she's worried I might hurt you again, opps, too late," Tyrone teased, enjoying his tormenting of Harper, but Harper remained vigilant to the teasing, trusting Beka and in no way feeling betrayed as Tyrone would like.
"Boss," The kid spoke up. "We're ready."
"Patch him through, take control away from the lady up front," Tyrone grinned. "Seamus Harper, it's time you spoke to your captain."
"Who is this?" Dylan's voice was then heard and Harper was roughly pushed up to a standing position, and then jostled in front of the monitor. "Harper?"
"Dylan," Harper returned flatly, feeling the perspiring running down his face.
"What's going on?"
"Not sure," Harper admitted, and then grimaced as Tyrone place a hand on his sore back. "I think these lunatics surrounding me want your ship," he shrugged, and then gasped as Tyrone hit his back.
"Are you ok?" Dylan checked, and the concern was evident in his voice leaving Harper to only imagine what a mess he must look.
"No," Harper was going to be honest, he felt drained and disorientated, it was only the pain keeping him conscious. "I don't know what they've done, but they've done something, don't let them near the Andromeda!"
Harper felt himself being yanked away from the console and the communication was cut. Tyrone pressed Harper's back painfully against the hand rail of the walkway in engineering. "You will request to dock, and then you'll access Andromeda's mainframe from in here and do as I say."
"No," Harper shook his head, and then grimaced as Tyrone pushed him harder against the rail.
"You have no choice," Tyrone pressed a knife now into Harper's neck. "You really don't," he grinned.
Harper was once again pushed in front of the console and moments later Dylan's face re-appeared on the screen.
"Harper," Dylan spoke calmly.
"They want to board, I mean we want to dock," Harper corrected himself.
"That is ok, permission granted," Dylan rapidly agreed.
"They want you to give us access to Andromeda's mainframe, in here," Harper stressed, and he hated every word he spoke, he felt so weak it hurt even more than his back.
"We can give you that," Dylan agreed, and Harper drew some strength from Dylan's support.
"It's a trap," Harper stated, despite the knife he felt to his back from Tyrone.
"I know," Dylan agreed to everyone's surprise. "But I have faith in you, and Beka, and all my crew, and we're ready. Dylan out."
Harper smiled, this was the reason he became a part of Dylan's crew, he remembered and then felt the knife in his back again and tensed. "Order your lady friend to dock."
Harper took some deep breaths, the hold Tyrone had on him was aggravating the wounds on his back. "Ship wide," Harper spoke and heard the beep. "Beka, we have clearance to dock on the Andromeda, proceed," Harper ordered, and his voice was unusually tense.
"Harper? Harper are you ok?" Beka frantically asked.
"No time, Beka," Harper returned flatly, without emotion.
"Ok, I understand," Beka came back. "Proceeding with docking."
Tyrone grabbed Harper's shirt and pushed him away from the console, he stumbled before falling to the deck painfully.
"You don't have a chance in hell, Tyrone! You, and your men, you're no match for the Andromeda!" Harper yelled resolutely.
Tyrone stopped and turned. "But you are," he simply said, before continuing to walk away, leaving Harper concerned and afraid of what his plan was.
"Dylan, come in!" Beka now frantically yelled but got no response. She continued to carefully steer the Maru towards the docking bay as Harper instructed, and her fear grew for her friend.
Inside she was mess of emotions, she had heard Harper's lifeless voice and she could almost hear pain in his tone. His voice was also affected by illness, and Beka knew that was a new development since she had last seen him, which didn't bode well for Harper's current state. She pulled herself together and continued to observe as the Maru came into the hanger bay.
"Beka?"
"Rommie?" Beka immediately spoke with surprise. "What's going on?"
"Dylan instructed me to infiltrate the Maru's systems," Rommie informed her via voice only. "Tyrone, through Harper has ordered that the Maru be allowed to dock, and then access be given via the Maru to my mainframe."
"What is he up to?"
"I believe he wants to take over me, this ship," Rommie answered without concern.
"Does Tyrone know you're here on the Maru?" Beka asked.
"No, I do not believe Tyrone does and I am keeping a low key, someone who is good with computers is working on the engineering console at the moment," Rommie indicated.
"Harper?"
"No, I have observed that it appears that his hands are tied, he is unable to work," Rommie noted.
"Is he ok?" Beka quickly asked.
"He is not well," Rommie simply answered.
Beka showed her frustration, as the Maru finally docked. "Tell me, Rommie, is Harper all right?"
"No," Rommie answered. "His movements are shaky and unfocused, and he appears to be in pain, his life signs are not encouraging."
Beka unclipped the harness, and reached for her gun. "Open the blast door, Rommie."
"Beka, there are over thirty men out there, all armed," Rommie warned her.
Beka took some deep breaths. "I can't just hide in here, Rommie, don't make me."
"I won't give you permission to kill yourself," Rommie's voice returned. "In your absence, we picked up the first batch of our new crew and they are now surrounding the ship, Dylan, Tyr and my avatar self are outside, Beka, we will fix this and rescue Harper."
With a hard sigh, Beka relaxed and replaced her gun into its holster. "So what do I do, sit back with some popcorn and enjoy the show?"
"No, I will open the blast door," Rommie informed her. "But you will not make your presence known unless absolutely necessary."
"What's that suppose to mean, I can now hide and watch?" Beka asked. "You told me there are over thirty men out there, what good am I against those odds?"
"Harper needs someone watching his back," Rommie answered.
Beka straightened and instantly understood. "I'll watch his back, I always do," she stated and the blast door opened. "But you better watch mine."
"You are clear in this part of the ship, the person operating the console has not detected my presence, and is not aware that I can control the Maru," Rommie spoke before Beka left. "Activate your comm unit, we'll keep in touch," Rommie ordered and Beka swiftly took the comm from her pocket, and switched the frequency.
TBC
