I own nothing! Please learn this so I can stop putting these stupid things up. They're annoying!
Chapter Twelve
"So Andromeda, my beautiful, beautiful warship, are you proud?"
The hologram appeared before him, a small smile lighting her face. "You did very well Harper. I'm quite impressed."
"I always told you the Harper was good, didn't I Rom-doll?" he said, smiling up at her while he took his nano welder off the table and hooked it to his belt.
"I never said I doubted you now did I?"
"Hmmm," he thought for a moment, scratching the back of his head lightly. "Never said ya did doll!" he smiled, and opened his mouth to say something else, but she disappeared. Harper looked at the spot that was occupied with her holographic image a few moments ago oddly, thinking that there might be something else that he might have to repair.
Andromeda quickly smashed that assumption, re appearing with a holographic scowl on her face, eyes furious slits.
"Harper, Beka is asking you to report to her quarters right away. Trance is already there, and they seem to be going over the flexie. I have been ordered to watch our - guests - while you brief Beka and Trance." she said, sounding completely pissed off. Harper almost smiled, almost being the main word.
"Hey, relax Andromeda." he said quickly. A warship was not anything you wanted to cross when they were feeling an emotion as such. "Just think about how much fun you could have!"
"Fun?" she said, making the idea sound like complete insanity.
"Yeah, just think." he said, his mind reeling before something finally clicked. "After all," he smiled, "you are a warship, with many, big, scary, giant, highly lethal things on board that are at your complete control." his smile grew, nodding his head, getting pictures in his own mind while he talked. "And to think, you have two of them."
"Harper!" she exclaimed eyes wide and mouth slightly agape, though it was quickly gone. Her expression went from anger, to shock, to complete joy and malice in one.
"You're a genius."
"Good morning Rommie." Rhade said from his place at a small table in his room, indicating her to sit down in front of him in the empty seat when she entered through the door.
She smiled in greeting, and took the seat silently. They both sat there for a moment, not sure who should begin the conversation. Rhade took the silence from them.
"I heard what happened to Dylan." he began, his voice soft. "It seems we weren't properly informed about our little vacation site's weather activity."
Rommie nodded. "I noticed." she said, voice even and eyes giving nothing away as to what she had already done. "We'll have to watch the clouds closer. I'll ask Raki if there's anything else we should know about later."
Rhade nodded, trying to figure out if she really meant what she said or if she was being decisive. "This also means that we have to start trying to find a way out of here and back to the Andromeda. If this little bit of information was kept from us, what else might Alnar be neglecting to tell us?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders. "All I'm saying is that we can no longer just wait it out and hope Beka will be able to send down something to pick us up. Not on this planet."
"Not on any planet." Rommie said, giving him a small smile. "But, you are right. We have long over stayed our welcome, and I want to go just as much as you want to. Which means, we'll need to get the Maru back up and running."
"That's the problem." Rhade sighed. "We can't go to the Maru, not with those half breeds out there. With our little specimen inside the cities walls, I'm more then sure they wouldn't mind sticking our heads on polls."
"Rhade, don't be so negative. I'll go."
"That's what I was afraid of." he said, getting a questioning glare from the women in front of him. 'No, warship.' he corrected himself silently, remembering who she was and what she had accomplished over the years. "Listen Rommie, they attack in packs. We know that for sure. I wouldn't send a fighter drone out there alone, let alone with an army. We don't know how they think, and I doubt we will within the next week."
"The next week?"
He sighed. "Raki told me Alnar called some friends down from other cities to supposedly help us get back off the ground. They're bringing soldiers Rommie. Armed soldiers."
Alexander walked stiffly with his crew down the Andromeda's corridors, slowing down when he came down a hall with the ships holographic image before a door at the end of the hall.
"Hello." she said as they approached, noticing how they slowed and took more cautious steps as they got closer. "I have been told to give you something to do, since you have been observed as restless within the last little while."
"I wonder why..." Alexander mumbled, crossing his big arms across his chest, trying to look menacing. No matter how hard he tried, whether he was taller then her or not, his crew knew it was hopeless, but they would never tell their captain so.
"So," she continued, as if he had never spoken, "I have brought you here to show you something that I am quite proud, and fond of myself." she smiled at them before blinking out of existence. They all stood there, mulling over her words before the metal doors opened before them.
Walking into the room, they gasped in awe, or in Alexander's case, pure fear. For before them, stood two giant robotic beings. They're arms appeared to be mighty machine guns, and their heads were small compared to the rest of them, up high on the bodies.
As the crew walked in closer, they seemed to straighten up more, their heads nearly touching the ceiling above them. They watched as the massive robots tilted their heads towards each other, seeming to ask a question, before looking straight at them again. They all nearly jumped three feet into the air as a small sound came from their left, Andromeda popping back into existence beside them.
Alexander scowled as he saw her look up to them, smiling widely with her hands behind her back before turning to face them.
"These are my two Planetary Warfare Bots, Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee."
"Harper! You're insane!"
"It'll work boss!"
"How do you know? Look at it!"
"I know it seems impossible, but it can really work! I know you can do it, I've been flying with you for -"
"Seamus Harper! I am not diving head first into a planet hoping Andromeda will be able to pull me back with some cords! Not while we still are yet to know when and where these gap holes appear."
"You looked perfectly happy with it in the hall!"
"All I looked at was the status of the ships controls and passwords. This won't work!"
"Yes it will!"
"No it won't!"
"Yes -"
"It will." Trance finished for Harper, making both of her two friends jump. She hadn't said anything after looking over the flexie herself, and her voice saying something so suddenly must have startled them. "Well, if we go down at the right time, then it shouldn't be too bad, but Andromeda can still control the ships descend from here, couldn't she? Just in case?"
Beka looked at her for a second, brows knotted over her eyes. Harper had the same expression his face, before nodding.
"Wouldn't hurt to ask, right?" he said, looking from Beka to Trance. Beka nodded and called out to the AI, but she didn't answer.
"Andromeda?" she called again, the three of them thoroughly puzzled.
"B-Beka." a voice said quietly through the unseen speakers in the room, worry settling into the three occupants of the room.
"What's wrong Andromeda?" Trance asked this time, though they weren't answered by the AI, or her hologram. Instead, the lights went out.
Alexander and his crew were shocked by the sight of these giant robots. When the lights went out in the giant room, they were so terrified, neither of them could say anything, let alone scream.
But, they were on the point of pissing their pants when they heard four different clicking noises coming from above their heads, and, on the bridge of fainting when two bright red lights seemed to glow at them from eye level, where the Planetary Warfare Bots had stood before the lights went out.
When there were four more clicks, this time louder, like someone locking something into place, a thud was heard in the room, for one of them did faint.
"Access Denied."
"Over ride. Code Andromeda alpha blue 3 -"
"Access Denied."
"Shut down, commence."
"Shut down of all systems except life support. Granted."
"Harper, what's going on?" Trance asked as they ran down a corridor, Beka in front of them with a flash light, illuminating the corridor. "Why did Andromeda shut down?"
"I don't know. I can't find out until we get to engineering." he said. He truly had no clue what was going on, for he hadn't seen the Andromeda do this before.
As soon as they got to engineering, Harper pried the door open and they ran in. He went straight to the back wall, ripping off a lower panel from the wall. Inside it he noticed that the circuits seemed to be duller in their color then usual, which he found somewhat disturbing. Quickly ripping some out and plugging them back into other places, he hit a small silver switch on the side.
Trance and Beka almost jumped back when the hologram of Andromeda appeared beside Harper, though she looked much like she did when they had first boarded, and didn't look at them all.
"Alright..." Harper said under his breath, jumping up to stand before the hologram. "Andromeda, this is chief engineer, Seamus Harper. Acknowledge."
"Acknowledged." she said, voice strict, sharp, and robotic.
"Good. Tell me what's going on."
She paused for a moment, eyes shifting from side to side quickly before looking straight ahead again. "There's an anomaly in my system. It's constructed a fire wall to keep me away. I am unable to remove it."
Harper nodded. "Can you trace it?"
"It is untraceable."
"Then what parts of the ship can you control?"
"I have full controls over my ships self life support system and its reserved generator."
"What's running on the reserve generator Andromeda?"
"Planetary Warfare Bots and life support systems sir."
"Good, keep it that way. Get the anomaly out before it can do any real harm Andromeda, while making sure there will be enough power left in the reserve to get yourself back up when it's gone. Understood?"
"Understood."
"Dismissed."
She nodded once at him before vanishing from existence before them. Beka turned to him.
"I didn't know you could be so..."
"Responsible." Trance finished, smiling at her friend.
"Oh," Harper said, putting the panel back on before he grabbed Beka's flash light and lead them out of the room. "I can do a lot of things."
"Armed soldiers?"
"Yes."
"Those are supposed to scare me?"
"Not scare you, kill you on site."
"They won't be able to keep up. Besides, you know we have to leave, and now. I'm the only one that will be able to get there and back."
"Then I'll go with you."
"No you won't."
"And why is that?"
"Because, keeping you alive and breathing is my responsibility. I will not allow you out of these walls if you so as give me half a reason to believe that you'll try to follow me."
"Then I'll just have to tell Dylan about your little plan."
"Feel free. He's under my protection, as are you."
"He's your Captain."
Rommie paused. "That is true."
"So you see, he could either tell you to forget about it and just wait it out, see what happens or -"
"He'll send me right out because sooner or later he'll see that his as well as your lives are in danger, and I'm the only one that can stand a fighting chance!"
"But he'll also see that even though you're right, your life is in danger to." Rhade said, and when Rommie didn't answer, thought that he had won. He was wrong. She stood up quickly, and walked over to the door. Once she left, he quickly sprung up out of his own chair and followed.
Rhade followed her all the way the infirmary, and stood back when she stopped in the middle of the room, and young boy running up to her and saluting.
"Miss Andromeda!" he said. "We didn't expect you back so soon!"
"Well I'm here. How is he?" she asked him softly.
"Captain Hunt is alright. Raki's in there right now putting some extra ointment on his hand. But we had to give him some pain killers and knock him out. He kept trying to tell us he'd be fine and get out of the room. He'll be awake by breakfast though." the boy reported, saying the last bit quieter then the rest. Rhade couldn't help but smile.
"It's alright. You did the right thing. Do me a favor?" she asked, getting an enthusiastic nod from the young child. "Keep him in here. Give him, breakfast in bed or something. And you tell him, no matter what, that as far as both you and Raki know, Rhade's still asleep and I'm in the city. Can you do that for me?"
"Of course!" he said, literally beaming.
"Thank you." Rommie said before turning around and heading for the door, Rhade turning to follow her once she passed him.
As they walked towards the front doors of the base, he caught up to her. Outside, everything had dried and the sun looked as though it was coming up over the horizon. Not a cloud in sight.
"Well, don't you have the little admirer?" he asked in a teasing way.
"I'd shut up before I knock you out and drag you back to your room."
"You wouldn't do that Rommie. I'm too much of an asset."
"Now how is that?" she said, stopping to turn and face him, an eyebrow arched slightly.
He smiled. "Because I'm the one that knows a better, faster way to get there. At least my way we're not walking."
End Chapter Twelve
Wow, I have a lot of chapters in this story. And I haven't even gotten to the parts that made me think up this story line yet! But it's coming soon, if I can keep writing big chapters like the last few I've put up.
Reviews:
prin69 -
Lol. I'm happy you like my chapter, and the lavender scented Harper. Thanks!
AndromedaAvatar -
Thank you for the complement. I try to keep them in character, but giving the circumstances, (they're kinda stressed in my story, and the fact that she show is now over...) I think I might have warped them a little bit. Hope that's okay! Thanks for the review.
Jade Rhade -
Its okay if you don't review right away, chill. I haven't been on a lot either, and probably wont in the next little while... Evil homework. Yo, when's your birthday? Maybe I'll hook something up. smile (Don't count on it, lol) And yes, I unfortunately have someone like Alexander Asshole in my English class. The worst thing is though; I have to sit beside him. Pity me! But not too much! Lol. Hope you like the chapter!
Damn! My reviews are getting smaller! T-T But I still love you guys who do read my story! Cookies and cake and candies for you all!
--Kasumi--
