Disclaimer: If Andromeda belonged to me, the series would have introduced my character Pearl and I would own all the Rhades. But as you can see, I don't…
The only ones that belong to me would be Pearlana and my own ideas…
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Title My one and Only Pearl
Author Ivory Core
Chapter 17: The Attack on Orion Part 2
Gaheris motioned for Pearlana to stay back as he slowly edged forward and peaked out. Seeing that the coast was clear, Gaheris jumped out of the corridor. The top floor level was right underneath the corridor entrance that Gaheris and jumped out of.
He walked towards the railing and peered down. No one was in sight. He then turned towards Pearlana and brought his hands out towards her.
A second pause as Pearlana looked at Gaheris with her eyebrow raised. Why was he acting all chivalry? But Pearlana allowed him to help her down.
"Thanks to you and the Ivory Core, we made it here before Gerksand did." Gaheris said as he placed his hands on either side of Pearlana's waist and lifted her up and unto the ground.
When they were both on the ground; without a word, Gaheris held onto Pearlana's hand and led her down the spiral platform to the main floor of engineering.
With both of their weapons at the ready, both stealthy yet with speed, ran down the platform until they reached the main floor.
"It will only take me a minute or less to rig the com unit." Pearlana explained as she headed straight for it.
She always kept a spare tool kit close by. After finding it, she pulled out a pen looking device from the kit. There was a knob at the end, and after turning it once counter clock wise, Pearlana gripped it and placed the end of it next to the side of the com unit box.
"I'll watch your back." Gaheris stated behind her.
But Pearlana did not hear him because she was already cutting away the unit box, using her laser pen, to expose the wiring and delicate systems.
Once Pearlana created a large clean square opening on the unit box, she turned off her laser pen and with her nails pulled out the clean square she had created. Once that once gone, Pearlana could clearly see the wires and systems; all giving off a series of beeps and strips of light.
"Phew. Ok Pearlana, nice and easy." Pearlana muttered to herself as she picked up another pen sized device, this one much longer and both sides were differently used for different purposes.
Wiping a trail of sweat from her forehead, Pearlana carefully separated a few of the wires until only four were seen.
"Ok, remember the training…" she stated to herself as pulled out the device and brought it up.
The four wires were in the colors of blue, yellow, black and red. Two of them had to be cut and somehow attached to each other. After wards, the two joined wires were to be placed besides the system so that the com unit will gain power and therefore be able to spread the message all across the ship.
Cutting the wrong wire won't do anything, but placing the wrong ones together will.
"Remember training HA! The way they talked you couldn't understand a darn thing!"
"What did I use to remember on which wires to cut?" Pearlana asked herself as she looked at the wires.
She deeply believed that the wires she had to cut were the red and black ones. But it could be the yellow and red ones.
She could hear Gaheris pacing behind her, but she was thankful that he didn't say anything; even though she could feel his eyes on her back.
A good twenty seconds Pearlana stood there while looking at the wires in turn. And then, like something clicked in her mind, she began to murmur an old earth rhyme that Shamus had taught her.
"Red and yellow, kill a fellow. Red and black, venom lack." She murmured.
"That's it!" that was the very thing she used in order to remember the exact wires to cut. It was an old Earth rhyme on how to tell the difference between a coral snake and a king snake.
Finally remembering, Pearlana pushed away the yellow and red wires and began to cut the red and black ones. She was right the first time.
After the wires were cut, while using the other end of the pen laser, Pearlana sizzled the two ends of the different wires together until they were blended together to become a black, red wire.
When that was done, now that everything was easier, Pearlana placed the joined wires above the systems pad. Tapping a few key spots on the pad, a second later, and the com unit came back to life.
Pearlana turned around to face Gaheris, and with a smile of achievement on her face, she brought her hands up and like introducing a prize, she presented the fixed com unit to Gaheris.
"One com unit at your service, Captain." She pleasantly stated as dusted her hands and stood up.
"Well done Pearlana." Gaheris said as he walked towards the com unit.
He gave Pearlana a small smile before he took the small pad up to his lips. He motioned for Pearlana to turn on the ship wide speakers. She pressed the consol and the speakers cackled before silence. She then motioned for Gaheris that he was on.
"This is the Captain, Gaheris Rhade, of the Omega Orion. This is not a drill. We are under attack. Please evacuate and abandon ship." His determined and strong voice seemed to echo all around them.
It was hard for Pearlana to remember that she was still angry at Gaheris. But just listening to his voice, she began to forget why she was mad at him in the first place. If she wasn't listening to Gaheris voice echo all around them, she would have noticed that group enter engineering.
"I repeat this is the Captain of the Omega Orion. Abandon…" Gaheris jumped back when the com unit burst into a sparks and flames.
Pearlana rushed to Gaheris and noticed that his hands were slightly burned. She was no doctor, but she knew that he needn't to see to that.
But both Pearlana and Gaheris turned their heads at the sound of mock laughter.
"Well done Gaheris. That was a very informative order. But a bit useless, wouldn't you say?" Gerksand coldly stated.
It felt like Pearlana's blood had run cold. She didn't know why, but she suddenly feared for Shamus.
"What do you mean Gerksand?" Gaheris coldly questioned.
Gerksand motioned towards his men. They powered up their weapons and surrounded Gaheris and Pearlana with their guns pointed at them. Instantly Gaheris and Pearlana reached for the forcelances.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Gerksand stated as he walked towards them. A few of his men parted to make way for Gerksand to step up to the two.
Pearlana noticed that Gerksand's right arm was in a sling. While looking at it, she had the sudden image of herself snapping his arm. She knew that Ivory Core was the one who did that, and she had to smirk at the thought.
"Nice sling Gerksand." Pearlana sweetly mocked.
She wasn't prepared for the backhand slap as Gerksand slapped her across the face with his left hand. She dropped to the floor from the impact and raised her hand to the side of her face that stung.
Gaheris quickly raised his forcelance and aimed it straight at Gerksand. But before he could fire, one of Gerksand's men fired at Gaheris' right leg.
Immediately Gaheris growled in pain as he too dropped to the floor while gripping his right leg in pain. He dropped his forcelance, and one of the men had picked it up.
Gaheris looked up at Gerksand and gave him a murderous glare.
"Be thankful that it was your leg Gaheris." Gerksand pointed out.
Gaheris turned his head to Pearlana. Wordlessly he asked her if she was ok. She nodded her head and maneuvered herself to sit up. Gaheris let loose a low growl when he saw the left side of Pearlana's face already turning hot red.
"Now that you are both in the ability of listening, allow me to explain to you why Gaheris' order fell on deaf ears." Gerksand started.
Since both Gaheris and Pearlana were on the floor they had to look up at Gerksand.
"Your message fell on deaf ears because everyone on this ship is either dead or taken hostage." Gerksand calmly explained.
He then turned his gaze to Pearlana. "I personally saw to it that a specific short, young man had his destiny met before his eyes."
It was like someone plunged a dagger into Pearlana's heart. Plunged it and twisted it. She knew Gerksand was speaking of her brother and soon she felt incredibly cold.
Suddenly, Pearlana felt numb. Her surrounding was nothing but a blur. The voice of Gaheris sounded far away. All Pearlana could see was her brother.
All she could see was her sweet, loving, mischievous brother smiling at her. As Pearlana looked at the vision of her brother, she didn't feel nor knew that she had been moved to lean on the railing of the Ivory Core's center. Until that is, she was shaken roughly out of her state.
"Snap out of it!" a voice yelled into Pearlana's ear.
Pearlana furiously blinked her eyes and looked around until she met the person who was shaking her. It was one of Gerksand's men.
"Gerksand has taken Gaheris below." He quickly explained as he gripped Pearlana's shoulders and brought her up to a standing position.
"If you don't want anything to happen to your boyfriend, I suggest you do as he tells you." He firmly stated as he practically dragged Pearlana to the consol.
Pearlana barely got to register what the man had said about her Gaheris being her 'boyfriend'. If the moment wasn't so dangerous, she would have blushed at the thought.
"When Gerksand gives the word, you are to give your primary code to the computer. Gaheris will give his below." With that the man left Pearlana to stand near to the consol.
"What is Gaheris doing!" Pearlana questioned to herself.
Pearlana peered over the railing and tried to see Gaheris through the thick smoke. The good news was that the smoke was still there even with the Ivory Core no longer there.
Instantly, Pearlana gripped her chest. And then she remembered what Gerksand had said.
"Shamus…he's…dead. NO!"
She would not believe that her brother was dead.
"Captain Gaheris Rhade. Alpha code Beta 313. Strike. Strike. Strike." Pearlana heard Gaheris speak out.
That was not the code to release the Ivory Core. That was the code to initiate the self-destruct.
"He was never subtle in his choices." Pearlana thought to herself.
A sound of bell clanging echoed all around them. It was a cue for Pearlana to speak her code to the computer.
Taking a side glance towards the three men who had their guns pointed at her, Pearlana leaned over the consol and clearly spoke her code to the computer. Not once did she falter, even though she was confirming Gaheris' order for the computer to initiate a silent thirty minute core meltdown.
"Chief Engineer, Pearlana Orianna Harper. Omega code Beta 218. Initiation code…Charlie dash 4." Pearlana slightly hesitated at the last code, but it went on unnoticed as an instant rumble shook below their feet.
"What the hell!" One of the men yelled out as the rumbling increased.
Pearlana could hear yelling below and knew that Gaheris was fighting against Gerksand. She was not the only one who heard it.
The men began to power up their weapons and started to enter the pathway leading to the floor below. They never got the chance.
Pearlana quickly pulled out her forcelance and started to fire at the men. When they fired back, Pearlana ducked behind the consol and waited for the firing to slow. Luckily, the consol that she was leaning against had a secret compartment.
Pearlana quickly turned around and snapped the compartment open. She was greeted with the sight a spare forcelance.
"Just what I needed." Pearlana stated to herself as she picked up the forcelance and powered it up. Looking around, she saw a wall unit that had fallen off. It was a good point to fire from.
"Give it up Pearlana! You know you're outnumbered. Surrender now and the life of Gaheris and the rest of the crew mates will be spared." A voice stated. "Surrender!"
"You know what!" Pearlana yelled out as she made sure that her forcelance was over loaded.
"You talk too much!" with that Pearlana turned to face the men and through the over loaded forcelance with all of her might straight towards the group. She didn't wait for the aftermath.
She immediately got up and ran towards the wall unit. She heard and felt the blast as the forcelance exploded, hopefully taking a few men along with it. She could feet the heat from the blast, but was not hurt by it.
She was nearing the wall unit, but something happened that she didn't understand. Amongst the sound of the explosion, she also heard a gun shot. But she thought nothing of it at first.
And then she felt it. Like a hot searing pain starting at the center of her back. She felt herself arch forward at the force of the pain and the pressure. The floor began to come up fast and Pearlana knew that she was falling.
As she fell, she could feel that same searing pain spread right through her and straight to her heart.
"PEARLANA!" She clearly heard someone scream, but she didn't know who.
Everything around her began to fade into black. Feeling left her, sight abandoned her, senses died on her. She still didn't know what was happening to her, but she welcomed the darkness as it consumed her completely.
Before her world became completely black, she thought she saw an image of the Ivory Core close to her heart.
Gaheris Rhade, after beating the crap out of Gerksand, was running up the ramp to the floor above. He had the gun fire and knew that Pearlana was under fire.
He had just entered the floor when the explosion caught him off guard. He was thrown up by the force of the blast, but did a safe tumble away from harm.
He looked up and saw that a good many of the men who were caught in the blast were lying dead or wounded. He had to smile at Pearlana's work. He looked up to find Pearlana running towards the other end of the room.
He could tell that there was a wall unit sticking out, no doubt Pearlana was running towards it for cover.
But that's when Gaheris heard the shot. One of the surviving men had pulled out his gun.
Like a nightmare, Gaheris watched as Pearlana arched forward as the shot struck her from behind. With silent horror, he watched as she stopped running and for one moment stood still. It was like she didn't know what had just happened to her.
"PEARLANA!" Gaheris screamed as he watched her begin to fall forward.
Ignoring the pain in his leg, Gaheris swiftly ran towards Pearlana. She was lying face down on the floor.
When Gaheris reached her, he immediately kneeled down next to her. He didn't know what to do. There was a large scorched mark on the back of her white gown.
With trembling hands, Gaheris gently pulled Pearlana to her side so that she was facing him. He choked on an escaped sob when he saw that the shot had gone right through her. Her chest too held the same scorched mark like on her back.
Like she was made out of china, Gaheris gently pulled Pearlana up so that her head was comfortably leaning on his chest.
Pearlana's eyes were closed; her lips were partly open but already turning purple.
He didn't want to believe it, but Gaheris slowly placed his fingers to the side of her neck. After a moment, he gripped Pearlana tightly to his chest and deeply inhaled while not bothering to stop his body from shaking in despair.
There was no pulse.
The floor beneath them shuttered. Soon, things began to quake and fall to the floor. Sparks ran out all around. The ship was slowly self-destructing.
But Gaheris didn't care. Inside he was tearing apart. He felt that it was his fault that Pearlana was dead. He shouldn't have left her. He had failed her.
He felt Gerksand enter the room. Even giving Gerksand one hell of a beating, he was still up and about. That's Nietzcheans for you.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Gerksand bellowed
Gaheris didn't even bother to answer, nor did he care what would have to him. Death at this moment felt promising.
"She had killed the others Sir. I…I…I only…did what you would…have done." Gaheris heard a man stutter.
"What I would have done! The Abyss wanted her alive you fool!" Gaheris heard a gun fire and the sound of a body dropping.
He knew that Gerksand had killed the man who had fired on Pearlana. Soon after that, Gaheris heard Gerksand walk up to them. Gaheris reached out towards Pearlana's fallen forcelance.
"No harm was to come to her." He heard Gerksand whisper above him.
Gaheris slowly raised his head and looked up at Gerksand. His eyes had dangerously darkened. His face was a mask of mixed emotions. Despair, sorrow, anger, and hatred all played across his face.
Neither of the two seemed to notice that the ship around them was falling apart.
Gaheris slowly brought Pearlana's still form down onto the floor. Secretly he held her forcelance.
He gently placed her hands to rest on her stomach. For a moment, his hand lingered above Pearlana's before letting go and stepping up. He didn't notice the movement behind Pearlana's eye lid. Nor that her chest was slightly rising.
Thinking that Gaheris was going to surrender, Gerksand didn't think twice that Gaheris was thinking to kill him right then and there.
Gaheris quickly pulled out the forcelance, aimed and…
An explosion deep in the core of the Omega Orion ripped the ship apart like a piece of paper. The outer wall unit exploded to reveal a gaping hole into outer space. The air was sucked out like a vacuum.
Gerksand grabbed the nearest thing to stop himself from being sucked into space. Gaheris didn't even bother to hold on to anything.
He and Pearlana were immediately lifted off from the ground and started to aim straight for the hole. Gaheris was almost welcoming it.
But suddenly Gaheris found himself no longer flying straight for the hold. He watched in horror as Pearlana got sucked out into space.
He looked around and found that Gerksand was holding him as he was holding on the railing.
"Don't take this the wrong way Gaheris. But the Abyss wanted you alive as well." With that Gerksand began to shift away by tesseracting himself.
Gaheris roared in fury as he too was tesseracted right along with Gerksand.
The second they were gone, the Omega Orion began to blow up from all areas. The attack cruisers scattered when they saw the Orion loose control as it began to spin in flames.
No one noticed the form of a girl floating in space, nor the fact that a soft blue-gold light surrounded her.
With one last spin, The Omega Orion blew up in half. From the core of the ship, is sent a shockwave of orange light that split the ship in half. When the two halves were separated, they too exploded in their own shockwave of light.
Like a fire works show, the Omega Orion beds its farewell to the universe. Barely starting its journey, the Orion blew up until nothing was left buy scattered debris that could go for miles.
The attack cruisers entered slipstream, leaving behind the remains of the ones Omega Orion. Only one thing was alive in all of that debris.
Pearlana Orianna Harper, Chief Engineer of the Omega Orion slowly floated near to the debris. But she wasn't in danger. Her skin was pale, her lips purple. But inside, she was breathing her stored oxygen as her gills filtered it over and over again.
Her mortal wound was healed by the Ivory Core. Now she floats in her state between sleep and awake. Her future is now in the hands of the universe.
This brings us up to date. Now the past and the present become one to form the future…
WHOOP WHOOP! The past is gone! Now we go to Pearlana saving the day! Tell me what you think!
THANKS TO ALL WHO READ THIS FIC! Even if you don't review, though I wish you would, I hope that for a few minutes I entertained your curios minds.
HAVE A GREAT DAY!