Disclaimer: (Runs from angry mob of reviewers) Ummm, Andromeda does not belong to me. Only Pearl and the rest are mine. (Ducks behind sofa)
Authors Note: Well, well, well; lucky you. I was able to finish the chapter before I leave. This is today. Hope you enjoy it, although it isn't much but it is something.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
ATTENTION!
Who here as seen the movie Equilibrium? If you have, please say so and tell me whether you liked or disliked the movie. Thank you.
Now on with the chapter…
Title My one & Only Pearl
Author GreenLeaf7
Chapter 23: Arrivals...
Harper, Shamus and Brendan all ran down the maze of the ventilation shaft, weapons held tightly while keeping their eyes open for anything amiss. But they were faced with nothing as they made it to the Hanger.
Surprisingly, not a soul was in sight. The Hanger was completely empty except for one slick silver ship. Its docking ports on the ground, but the three men could clearly see that the ship was powered up and ready for a quick getaway.
Not a second in thinking, the three quickly made their way to the ship. They were almost upon it when rapid gun fire erupted from the side, splitting the three to hide behind some crates.
"Well, this is fun." Harper said to no one in particular as he was pinned down by gun fire. His back leaned against the crate.
"Yeah, it's so much fun that I'm beginning to wonder if I should have left the cell in the first place." Brendan heatedly answered.
Harper snapped his head at Brendan and gave him a look that clearly questioned if Brendan had lost his mind.
"I mean, this expedition was supposed to be a breeze. Enter the Dimension, find a suitable planet to live on, pass word to the others, and live a new life. But so far, it's been nothing but hell.
First was the sabotage, then mutineers, next thing we know…no more Orion. And if that's bad enough, we get captured and beaten up until we're sore." Brendan stated as quickly took a shot, anywhere in particular, around the corner of the crate he was hiding behind in.
"And to top things off, we're separated from Pearlana with the most powerful evil in the known universe trying to get her! Did I forget anything else!" Brendan screamed.
He swallowed hard and seemed to be holding something in. Harper, however, did not miss the single escaped tear that left Brendan's eye.
Harper remained silent; the only sound was of gun firing from Shamus and Brendan. He wasn't sure if Brendan was talking to him or to Shamus, but it didn't really matter.
He knew what Brendan was going through, because he was feeling the same thing. He was dead worried about his sister. Of course she more than proved to them that she can take care of herself, but that didn't mean they couldn't worry about her.
After all, she was only sixteen…
Suddenly, Shamus came sliding next to them from the other crate. "I may not be as quick as Pearlana is to count the enemy, but I can tell you this…we're dead."
Suffice it to say, this was not what Brendan or Harper were expecting. For them, they were looking forward to some good news. But for some reason, Shamus had been in a seriously glum…and cranky…mood since they left the cell.
The sudden explosion of massive weapons fire jolted all three of them. Looking at each and silently wondering what was going on, they all peered over the crates. Instantly their mouths dropped.
The silver ship had turned towards the enemy and was now fire rapidly shots at them. The shots came in a white light filled with an energy unknown, all shooting forwards in a disk shape.
When the shots landed on its 'target', after the expected explosion, a shock wave would wipe out the rest of the remaining squadron of men, still stupidly loyal to Gerksand…even though the ship around them was slowly tearing it apart.
In less then two minutes, all that was left of the enemy was nothing but smoke and sizzled remains of clothes.
Harper, Brendan, and Shamus all stared dumfounded at the sight. Silently they wondered who was in the ship that had excellent marksmanship.
All eyes were turned as the doors to the ship slowly opened and a ramp slid down. The figure that walked out and unto the ramp would forever stay in their minds.
"Trance!" Shock and disbelief played across Harper's face as he quickly got up and ran towards to the ship.
"Harper!" Trance screamed in delight as she ran down the ramp and towards Harper.
Harper couldn't do anything as the purple girl latched her arms over his neck and gave him a tight squeeze. After the initial shock, Harper returned the hug.
"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes? But what are you doing here?" Harper asked after Trance had released him.
But Trance wasn't paying attention to Harper. Her attention however was behind Harper's shoulder. Following her gaze, Harper saw Brendan and Shamus slowly making their way towards the two.
"Oh. Trance, I would like you to meet my cousin…or DD cousin…Brendan." Harper introduced the two as Brendan stepped up.
"Please to meet you." Trance shyly said as she shook Brendan's hand.
Brendan had a grin on his face as she shook Trance's hand. He never saw a purple girl before.
"Same here." Brendan replied.
"And this is my dimensional double, Shamus Harper." Harper introduced his DD to Trance.
Trance shook Shamus' hand eagerly, giving a friendly smile as they shook hands.
Shamus couldn't stop staring at Trance. He never saw a species such as her before and that's saying a lot since he was in this dimension before.
Although she did remind him something he read once when he was a boy.
Shamus's eyes however snapped wide open as he saw Trance's tail rise up behind her back and swish left and right.
"You have a tail." Shamus said in surprise as he let go of Trance's hand.
"Yep, it's my pride and joy." Trance cheerfully stated as she smiled.
But her smile immediately was wiped away when she looked over the three men.
"Where's Pearl? Where's Gaheris?" Trance immediately covered her mouth after she said too much.
"Wait a minute. How do you know about Gaheris?" Brendan questioned.
Harper got in between the two. "Trance has a knack for knowing things." He explained, although he too was wondering how Trance knew about Gaheris.
Trance, after gathering herself, turned towards Harper. "What happened?"
"Maybe we should talk inside the ship?" Shamus suggested. Not waiting for a reply, he ran up the ramp and into the ship.
Quickly following Shamus, the others made their way up the ramp as it slowly raised itself up. It just closed as they were all standing inside the Avenger.
"Not bad." Harper said as he traced a hand over the strange silver walls.
He jumped when the wall rippled when his hand came into contact with it. "Must be OZ." He stated to himself as he looked at the wall.
"Ok Harper, what happened?" Trance questioned again.
Harper turned away from the wall and looked at Trance. "We got separated. Pearl fell into a hidden shoot that leads to the garbage center. Gaheris went after her."
Trance's eyes winded at this bit of news. "What about the Ivory Core? Is it with her?"
By Harper's shifting eyes, Trance felt like her heart had dropped to her feet. Without Ivory, Pearl won't survive the fight with Gerksand. Yes, she knew about the fight. She had tried thousands of possible futures, and all led to the fight between the sixteen year old and a full grown Nietzchean.
"Hey guys! Over here!" came Brendan's voice from the cockpit.
Leaving the scrutinizing stare from Trance, Harper made his way to the cockpit. Shaking it off, Trance followed Shamus as he too followed Harper.
When they all reached the cockpit, they saw that Brendan had already strapped himself onto the seat and was flicking switches. His right hand placed over the silver disk that had risen up to meet his hand.
"How do you know how to work this ship?" Harper asked as he looked at the alien cockpit.
"It has the same functions as the Orion had." Brendan swirled around the chair to face Harper. "This is our technology." He explained with a grin.
"Trance, did Pearl use another ship to create this one." Shamus suddenly asked.
He was next to a widescreen monitor that had emerged from the wall. The screen showed the image of the Avenger while above it showed the image of another and completely different ship.
"Ummm actually, she kinda did. She used the Eureka Maru…" Trance didn't get to finish since Harper interrupted.
"Oooooh, Beka's gonna kill Pearl." Harper chuckled.
He knew perfectly well that Beka would have said no to Pearl in putting OZ in her ship, No with a capital N. So he could only guess that Pearl had taken the Eureka Maru without Beka's permission.
But, as Pearl's older brother, he will protect her from Beka's wrath once they get back…if they ever do.
"ANYWAY, as I was about to saying…" Brendan raised his voice towards the others.
When he got everyone's attention, he continued. "From here I can use what's left of the system to locate Gaheris and speak with him."
"What about Pearl, can you find her too?" Trance asked.
Brendan turned back to the controls and after some quick flipping and switching he shook his head. "The files for that sector that she fell in is destroyed by the virus, I can't find her."
"Figures." Shamus muttered to himself as he turned to look at Brendan as he searched the ships navigations for Gaheris.
"I FOUND HIM!" Brendan called out a couple of minutes later. A screen appeared in front of the group. For a moment, all that could be seen was static…that is, until Brendan reconfigured the picture.
Now they could clearly see a hallway. Sparks shot from wall units that had blown apart, pieces of debris littered the floor, smoke clogging the screen.
"I thought you said you can locate Gaheris?" Harper questioned as he turned to look at Brendan.
Rolling his eyes, Brendan ignored Harper and turned his attention back to the screen. A couple of seconds later, the group saw one man turn the corner and quickly walked down the hallway with his weapon in hand.
"I told you…" Brendan stated towards Harper, while having a smug smile.
No one but Trance noticed Gaheris stop short after Brendan had spoke.
"Brendan? Is that you?" Gaheris' voice spoke through the speakers.
After a couple of cheers from the group that they had found Gaheris, Brendan answered Gaheris.
"Yes Sir. We are all in the Avenger. Did you find Pearlana?"
"No. But I heard a scream that sounded like Pearlana, coming from this direction. But that hallway splits into three directions." Gaheris replied.
"Hang on a second." Brendan said as he flicked some switches.
The screen shifted from Gaheris to the hallway he was facing. All now could see the problem, three different paths were seen…one going left, one going right, and one going straight.
"Ok umm, one minute." Brendan stated to Gaheris as he opened another screen and started maneuvering his finger across the screen. Different windows opened at the simple touch of Brendan's finger.
Trance and Harper didn't know what Brendan was doing; but they could see images of hallways, shafts, and rooms flash across the screen.
Shamus had seated himself on another seat in the back and was too messing with a screen as images flashed by.
"Hurry up…" Harper urgently spoke up behind Brendan's seat.
"Patients is a virtue." Brendan replied, but wishing he didn't say anything, he quickly bit his tongue.
"Not right now it is!" Gaheris yelled back, making everyone jump.
Suddenly all heads turned when the unmistakable sound of glass breaking echoed through the speakers.
"What. The. Hell. Was. That!" Shamus asked the question that everyone was thinking of.
But Gaheris didn't answer as he disappeared from the view of the screen and straight down the hallway, taking the path that was in front of him.
"Where did he go?" Harper questioned as Gaheris disappeared from their screen.
Like on cue, the screen suddenly started to flicker. A minute later, the screen flashed…showing nothing but static.
"Shit! The system crashed!" Brendan screamed in frustration as he tried to get the screen back on.
"Well do something! We have to keep contact with Gaheris!" Shamus yelled his eyes glued to the static that rippled across the screen…
When Gaheris heard the crash, for him it sounded like it was right next to him. He winced as his sensitive ears picked up the sound, but he quickly knew where it had come from.
It came from the path that he was facing, so without a second thought he took off down the hallway.
A couple of moments later, he was met up with a door with the words 'Authorized Personal only' written above the doors handle.
Fully going on instincts, Gaheris didn't think twice when he kicked the door down. With a slam it fell to the floor on the other side, allowing Gaheris to step in.
He found himself in a cubicle room with control panels aligning the walls. He didn't exactly know why he looked down, but that question was soon answered by the multiple of voices in his head.
"No, not Pearl. Not her…" The Ivory Core stated in a hush in his mind.
Focusing his eyes, Gaheris took a quick intake of breath at the sight that greeted him. On the floor was Pearl lying on her side. Shards of glass were all over her, some of it in her hair.
She was completely covered in a brown and green muck that stuck to her clothes and bare arms and legs. But one could see pass the muck, cuts that still bled could be seen. It probably came from the pieces of glass that was still covering her form.
Her face was hidden in the shadow of the control panel that was above her. But her flaming hair was visible in the light that shined from the ceiling.
Immediately, Gaheris' was bashed with the unmistakable smell of blood as it hung heavy over the room. He swallowed, his heart feeling as though it was going to rip out of his chest. The logical side of him knew where the blood was coming from. But his heart wished it was not true.
But he couldn't hold back the roar of anguish that had escaped from his lips when he took notice the puddle of blood seeping from behind Pearl's head.
Immediately he rushed in and knelt by Pearl's side. His finger shook when he placed a finger to her neck in order to check her pulse. He found one…but it was so low he wondered if he had imagined a pulse.
He placed a gentle hand over Pearl's left cheek. Slowly, he began to gently turn her head so that she was facing up. Her eyes were closed, but Gaheris could see the swollen lip.
Like the past was being repeated, Gaheris slowly brought his right hand underneath Pearls neck so that he could slowly lift her up.
But he suddenly stopped when his hand came into contact with the back of Pearl's neck. He could feel something warm and sticky on his fingers. Not believing in it, he began to bring his hand higher up the back of Pearl's head.
When his fingers brushed up Pearl's skull, he suddenly stopped when he felt an indent that shouldn't have been there.
Fear gripped his heart like ice when he quickly drew his hand away from Pearl's skull. Slowly raising his hand to eye level, Gaheris found himself short on breath.
His hand was completely covered in blood.
Gaheris started to breathe harder, like a maddening bull. He lowered his hand again and placed it underneath Pearls neck.
Slowly he began to raise her up until her head was leaning on his shoulder as she was now sitting down.
Having her head leaning on Gaheris, gave him the advantage to inspect her injury. Instantly his eyes moistened as tears threatened to fall. A large indent on the back of Pearl's skull could be seen, a large tear of flesh that should not have been there.
Having Pearl so close to him now, it was then that Gaheris could smell the blood stronger. Pearl's hair was completely soaked in her own blood. Before, the blood must have poured like a river, but now it was slowly beginning to drip.
"She's dying… She won't make it back if I take her now." Gaheris spoke up to Ivory.
Seeing the serious condition Pearl was in, Gaheris didn't to question about how Pearl got this way. But as he conversed with the Ivory Core; he didn't notice a figure walk up to the frame of the once dark mirror and stare at Gaheris as he cradled Pearl in his arms.
"Quickly! Hold Pearl against your chest..." Ivory instructed.
"But wait, I thought if you healed someone completely you would lose a lot of your energy." Gaheris stated.
"Yes, that is true. But I can keep Pearl alive until we take her back to the Avenger. Trance can help Pearl…" Ivory explained.
"Who's Trance?" Gaheris questioned.
"Never mind! We're wasting time! Bring Pearl close to your heart or we'll loose her!"
Gaheris' heart took a leap at Ivory's choice of words. 'Bring Pearl close to your heart', the words rang into his mind.
But he shook it off and slowly brought Pearl's limp body up to press against his chest. With one hand he stroked Pearl's blood soaked hair, and inhaled that cinnamon smell that still fragmented her.
That scent was hers and hers alone. He had always noticed it. The scent of cinnamon had always given him a clue whenever she was near. He had always thought that her own scent had suited to her personality. Spicy and sweet, all at the same time…
His thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly felt something emerge out of his chest. His eyes were suddenly snapped open as he looked down and watched in silent wonder as Ivory left his chest…only to enter Pearls.
The blue/gold light of the Ivory Core entered Pearls body like a ghost passing through a wall.
Gaheris was more than relieved to have his mind to himself again. It's difficult to share a mind with another being. It was an experience, though he was grateful, he still hoped he would never go through again.
But his eyes widened when he took notice that Pearl had begun to glow in gold. Her face, arms, and legs…anything that was skin…was glowing in a gold light as Ivory completely entered Pearl.
"Amazing." A voice spoke up.
Gaheris snapped his head up and immediately growled. The sound came from deep within his throat, a sound that would make anyone smart enough, to run.
Being careful with Pearl, Gaheris slowly placed her back unto the floor before standing up to his full height to face Gerksand. But he gripped his weapon tightly as he stood.
"I have to admit. It was a surprise to find the Ivory Core being inside of you. All this time I thought I was fighting Pearlana and The Ivory Core." Gerksand spoke like he was having an ordinary conversation.
Gaheris stepped away from Pearl and made his way towards Gerksand, while secretly gripping his gun at its hoister.
"It's funny. Who would have thought that someone so small, someone so young, could be so important?" Gerksand kept on talking, not even looking at Gaheris but keeping his eyes on the still glowing form of Pearl.
Now standing only a few feet away from Gerksand, it was then that Gaheris took noticed of Gerksand's eyes. His eyes were completely pitch black, not one bit of pupil was seen.
"A price to pay when your on the His side." Gerksand stated as he stepped away from the broken mirror.
While keeping Gerksand in plain sight, Gaheris jumped out of the cubicle room and unto the catwalk.
He stayed silent however, his weapon tightly held. His face was blank, no indication of emotion…even though there was a storm going on within himself. There wasn't a second that went by when he didn't get a visual of Pearl slowly dying on the floor.
"No weapons." Gerksand's voice suddenly interrupted Gaheris' thoughts.
Gaheris looked at Gerksand, his teeth grinding. He watched as Gerksand removed his weapon from its hoister. Gerksand showed Gaheris his weapon before ideally tossing it to the side. The sound of metal clanged as the weapon collided with the catwalk.
"No weapons. I can tell in your eyes you want to kill me, and I don't blame you. But I say, lets' settle this man to man. Nietzchien to Nietzchien." Gerksand stated, his arms open wide in a sign of being unarmed.
When Gaheris didn't reply but merely gripped his forcelance, Gerksand changed tactics.
"Do you want to know the real reason why Pearlana was chosen for this mission?" Gerksand began.
Gaheris turned stone, his fist clentched while his teeth grinded.
"It wasn't because of her brains." Gerksand continued. "But because of what she is, or better yet, on what she will become..."
I know I know, I'm evil. But I wanted to leave you something before I leave today. I hoped you enjoyed it. I'll be leaving soon. So I wish you all a GREAT CHRISTMAS! And a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
GreenLeaf7
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 curious minds.
HAVE A GREAT DAY!