Chapter 14

Beka wearily opened her eyes and stretched, before taking her time to sit up and find her clothes. She sighed, she desperately wanted some fresh clothes but the situation wasn't helping her. She moved to the bathroom to freshen up and then got dressed. It seemed quiet outside, it was still early morning and for a moment it was as if yesterday hadn't happened. She moved quietly to Harper's door and slowly opened it, finding him still fast asleep but she didn't fail to notice the perspiration that caked his skin.

She moved to his side and found his temperature had risen again, concerning her as she moved to the bathroom to soak a cloth in cold water. Returning to his side she placed the cloth over his forehead and tried to wake him.

'Harper? Wake up,' Beka spoke with urgency and saw him stir a little, as he appeared to hold onto unconsciousness. She saw the red marks had flared up again, as she moved the cold cloth over his chest and shoulders. 'Come on, Harper, wake up,' she encouraged gently, and slowly his eyes flickered.

'Beka?' Harper mumbled.

'Well remembered,' Beka smiled.

'I don't feel too good,' he admitted.

'Your temperature is high again, it's the virus,' Beka noted, as he opened his eyes fully and sat up, resting on his elbows. 'I wish we still had that medicine to clear this up once and for all.'

'It was like this before,' Harper remembered. 'No energy but feeling restless, and feels like I was on fire,' he added with a tired sigh.

'Lay back down,' Beka requested and he didn't argue, doing as he was told. 'I'm going to see if Junia is around, she might be able to help, I could tell her some of what I understand about medicine,' Beka offered.

'I'll be here when you return,' Harper half smiled.

'Don't say that,' Beka thought to say. 'You wouldn't believe how many times you haven't been, I have this bad habit of loosing you.'

Harper gave her a strange but amused look. 'What if I promise?'

'Never worked before, just leave me some clues if you do suddenly go missing,' Beka teased and got to her feet. 'I promise not to be long.'

Harper watched her leave and settled back down, feeling tired as he closed his eyes again, quickly letting himself fall back into a restless sleep. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep but he soon became aware that he wasn't alone, as he opened his eyes, and froze at what he saw.

'Seamus.'

'You?' Harper couldn't move; he felt paralysed as he remembered to breathe.

'We need to talk, it's time.'

'What?' he questioned unsure.

'I need your help, again.'

Harper struggled to move, but he couldn't as he felt a hand touch the side of his face, and he panicked. He felt the additional warmth from their touch, the golden glow to the side of his head and he looked at the golden alien with fear in his eyes. 'What are you doing?' he frantically asked, feeling something happening.

'Making you better, Harper, it's what I do,' Trance smiled warmly.

'But,' Harper froze as he suddenly remembered. 'You made me sick in the first place.'

'Now, now, you know that's not true but you were trying to ruin my plan,' Trance stated with a stern look. 'Just a little more,' she smiled, as if concentrating on her task, her hand still firmly in place on the side of Harper's head. 'I've got us this far, Harper, you were just a little too eager to start correcting your mistakes, I wasn't ready for you yet.'

Harper suddenly tensed, as his eyes closed and he struggled against her hold that held firm. He was no longer able to respond, as he lay prone to her touch before he lost consciousness.

'All better, to a point,' the Trance impostor announced. 'Now fix what you broke and I'll finally have what I want.' She removed her hand and gently stroked the side of Harper's face, until he stirred once again and blinked his eyes; once again he froze on seeing her and quickly scooted back on the bed and away from her.

'You!' Harper stressed not remembering her arrival.

'Harper, I have brought some of the medicine you require,' Trance smiled, and held an injector for him to see. 'It contains enough of the medicine you need to completely rid your system of the virus; Rev helped me perfect it as a one dose deal.'

Harper took some measured breaths to calm down. 'Seriously?'

'Yes.'

'How did you get here?' Harper asked, wishing Beka was there to confirm again how he should trust Trance, even when his gut feared her.

'I am able to teleport, it's a little tricky sometimes when there's a lot of activity in the area but things are relatively calm at the moment, so I was able to make the jump down here but I can't stay,' Trance offered the injector. 'Here, use it, I don't have to administer it if it makes you uncomfortable, I only want what's best for you,' Trance offered and simply stared at him, willing him to act.

Harper waited a few moments before he tentatively reached out and grabbed the injector. His gut screamed at him not to do it but he hated feeling weak and ill so without a second thought he pressed the injector to his neck and heard the hiss of something being pushed into his system.

The results were almost instantaneous as he felt some energy surge through him, and the red marks on his skin rapidly began to fade as he felt the chill of the room. Something else happened in that moment as Harper's mind cleared of the virus, he jumped up out of bed and stood with shock, knowing that suddenly he remembered what he had to do to reinstate and strengthen the shields.

'Harper?' Trance's voice interrupted his rapid thoughts. 'What is it?'

'I remember,' Harper gasped, his mind consumed with the sudden memories he could remember. It wasn't everything, he already knew that but it was more than what he had previously remembered, and more importantly what he needed to do to complete his work on the shields. 'I know how they've weakened the shields, I can easily counter act their work and make the shields stronger, I remember how!' he stressed with a manic grin and grabbed his clothes, quickly putting them on feeling cured and ready for action.

'I can get you to the control room,' Trance encouraged.

Harper glanced at her for a moment, pausing as he looked at her. 'I should wait for Beka, I promised I'd still be here when she returned,' he stated.

'We have to act quickly,' Trance pushed.

'Yeah, I get that but a few minutes won't hurt, we'll wait and then go,' Harper stated firmly.

'We should go now, while it's quiet,' Trance persisted and moved closer, Harper instinctively backed away and then narrowed his eyes.

'You did something to me, you were here before,' he closed his eyes before opening them again. 'You did something to my head, you made me sick, you were here just now, doing something to me,' he stressed. 'Stay away from me,' Harper warned and his voice was low while he continued to back away.

'I'm your friend, Seamus, don't be afraid of me, I just want to help,' Trance offered sweetly. 'I did cure you of the virus, you feel better now right?'

'Maybe,' Harper had to admit, he no longer felt ill but he still lacked his long term memories and his gut was still a good indicator for him, he didn't trust this woman and even with her efforts to help him, Harper couldn't help but not trust her motives. 'Just wait for Beka, and then maybe we'll go,' he stated again.

Harper had no where else to go as he reached the far wall, and Trance soon closed the distance between them, until she was stood in front of him and her hand came up to touch his face. Harper tried to shirk away from her hold, but she just smiled as she stared at him.

'You're, you're not who they think you are, are you?' Harper stammered nervously.

'What makes you say that?' Trance asked curiously with amusement clear on her face.

'Beka says you're my friend, that we're best friends but you're scaring the crap out of me right now, best friends wouldn't do that,' Harper stated.

'You're so adorable,' Trance half smiled. 'So paranoid, so human,' she leaned forward and kissed him gently before looking at him. 'You remember, don't you?' she then suggested.

'Get away from me,' Harper requested weakly, trying to stand up to Trance but his fear was clearly written on his face as she continued to torment him with her close proximity, and he remembered that wasn't their first kiss; that he already knew she wasn't Trance, at least not the Trance who had been his best friend.

'You can save Edenia, Seamus, just raise the shields, protect it again,' Trance softly spoke, her lips brushing his neck, her hand gently stroking the side of Harper's face.

'I will,' Harper tried to find some strength in his voice. 'Just as soon as Beka returns,' he stressed and failed to see the rapid reflex of Trance as she swung hard at his head, and sent him sprawling to the ground.

Harper recovered quickly and scooted back across the floor, trying to put some distance between him and Trance as she moved towards him. The cut above his eye had been reopened by her actions, and he felt the blood pouring down the side of his face, but he was more concerned by Trance as she easily made up the distance and hauled Harper up. Her grip on his arm caused Harper to wince and she held him tight.

'No!' Harper yelled, as he tried to push her off him. He sensed she was planning on teleporting him and he fought in vain to stop her. The distraction of his actions proved enough, as Trance struck him again but Beka calling Harper's name and running up the stairs caused Trance to curse, and disappear just as Beka arrived finding Harper sprawled on the floor.

'Harper?' Beka called out, quickly followed by Junia.

'Oh my, what happened?' Junia hurried with Beka to Harper's side.

Harper groaned and rolled onto his back, a smile on his face as he saw Beka's concerned features looking back at him. 'See, I promised I wouldn't go anywhere,' he croaked.

'I'll get a cloth to clean him up,' Junia stated, seeing blood from two facial wounds.

'What happened, Harper?' Beka asked, seeing Harper blinking his eyes.

'She tried to take me,' Harper managed, between heavy breaths.

'Who?' Beka asked, taking the damp cloth from Junia who arrived back with a medical kit. She immediately wiped the blood from Harper's face, seeing the cut above his eye reopened, and a fresh wound on his cheek.

'My friend, Trance,' Harper bitterly spoke, and pushed himself up onto his elbows. 'You know I don't think we're friends anymore,' Harper offered as he tentatively felt his cheek.

'Trance did this to you?' Beka questioned.

'She's not Trance, Trance,' Harper answered. 'Does she have a twin sister maybe?' he hinted, already knowing the answer.

Beka took a deep fearful breath. 'She has several,' she responded glumly.

'Good news though, before she beat the crap out of me she did cure me of the virus, and I remember stuff now,' Harper brightened.

'What stuff? Everything?' Beka asked with hope.

'Not everything,' Harper replied as he accepted Beka's help in getting back to his feet. 'But things are a little less hazy about my time on Edenia, basically I remember what I was trying to do to protect this city and I think I can reinstate the shield,' Harper stated with conviction.

'What use is that now?' Junia asked. 'The war is already here, we're under attack.'

'I'm not sure,' Harper offered. 'But Trance, evil-Trance really wanted me to reinstate that shield.'

'I'm thinking that would be a bad thing then,' Beka figured.

'But while the shield is down, we're vulnerable to more attacks, more bad guys turning up to lay claim,' Harper considered.

'Putting the shield back up would trap us all with we don't know how many hundred bad guys, and we have no army,' Junia stated.

'We have the Commonwealth, they have some numbers here,' Beka shrugged. 'Maybe not as many as the Dragans but they're still handy, they'd protect Edenia,' she added.

'I think we need to see Asa,' Harper suggested.

'First we clean you up, and then we'll go speak to Asa,' Beka confirmed, and moved Harper over to his bed before letting Junia patch him up.

'So you got bored up there and decided to come down here and bug me,' Rhade grinned as he walked through the hastily set up camp on Edenia, Dylan Hunt by his side.

'I gave it some consideration and felt it was better I was down here,' Dylan explained, as he checked the area and liked the set up Rhade had sorted out.

'And Rommie?' Rhade gestured to the avatar walking beside Dylan.

'It was felt I could be of more use down here to,' Rommie simply answered.

'How is Doyle?' Rhade then thought to ask.

Rommie noticeably paused before answering. 'I think we've lost her to a systems fault, or something similar,' she explained with sadness.

'I'm sorry, hey, maybe if we find Harper amongst all this, you know, he could maybe,' Rhade tried to sound positive.

'There's every likelihood he would have no idea what to do either,' Rommie frowned. 'Doyle has been taken to Sinti in a last gasp effort to try and save her.'

'So I guess Rev is the only one not mad enough to want to join in this war?' Rhade remarked.

'He's never been one for fighting,' Rommie spoke.

'Which is irony in itself,' Rhade commented.

'I'm sure he'll do his bit up there,' Dylan responded. 'He won't be far away.'

'Well I only hope our reinforcements aren't far away, last time I checked they were seven hours away, we have to hold firm till then, I think the entire Dragan army is down here,' Rhade reported.

'All their known battle cruisers are in orbit, we've disabled a few of them and they seem to be running on skeleton crews, we didn't get much by way of return so I would guess they really want this planet as their own, they are putting all their efforts into claiming it,' Dylan stated grimly.

'Can we really stop them?' Rhade asked.

'We have to, Rhade, if we don't try now then we might never get another good opportunity,' Dylan stated. 'They know how to take over planets and they know how to keep them so no one else can try, if we lose this war then Edenia will be lost forever.'

'Edenia is insignificant on its own, but its positioning is vital, it could be described as the centre of the known universes, any one able to set up a military stronghold here will have the means to observe practically everything that goes on simply because its alignment with the universe is ideal,' Rommie explained.

'Why do you think I had you all trek your asses here in the first place all those years ago, if we could have secured Edenia then to the Commonwealth we would have been able to track the World Ship before the World Ship even knew it was moving,' Dylan stressed.

'I knew it was kind of important, but,' Rhade shook his head. 'We can't let any Nietzschean pride take this place, if the Dragans secure this planet they will be inundated with requests from other prides to form allegiances,' Rhade figured.

'It could be enough to form a united Nietzschean front, and we want to avoid that at all costs,' Dylan stated. 'The Dragans are currently the strongest of the prides out there, and since the destruction of Earth they have been restless and in need of fresh blood, fresh slaves to serve their empire, they need Edenia to re-establish their stronghold, Earth was always a great supplier in their slave trade business but Edenia would be priceless.'

'If any pride could unite the Nietzscheans, it's the Drago-Kazov, and with Beka on this planet we have to ensure we reach her first, if she falls into Dragan hands we could have a much bigger problem on our hands,' Rhade suddenly feared.

'You concentrate on what you were doing, and keep doing it well,' Dylan simply said. 'Rommie and myself will worry about Beka, and Harper, that is why we've come down here, the two of them could make things a lot harder for us if they fall into Dragan hands,' Dylan warned and glanced at Rommie. 'I'm just glad Trance made me see sense when she did,' he remarked before gesturing to Rommie to follow him, leaving Rhade to continue his work on securing the city.

TBC