Chapter 15

They hurried towards the palace, in the distance the sounds of weapon fire and explosions could be heard, the Dragans were starting up again. Harper couldn't explain why he feared the troubles more today than he had previously, he guessed it was because he remembered more of his time on Edenia, the past six months were not so hazy now, it felt more real. He remembered definitely breaking up with Naomi, and the hurt he had felt, and he remembered being ill and his desperation to finish his work. More importantly he remembered why he was so desperate to finish, he had been so close to ensuring there was no weakness.

His fears became more real as they entered the palace, being ushered in by the guards, and once they had gone down a couple of corridors Harper stopped, seeing Beka and Junia look back at him with confusion.

'What is it?' Beka asked.

'That gut feeling again,' Harper admitted. 'I remember more now.'

'Harper, we should keep moving, keep focused,' Junia encouraged.

Harper narrowed his eyes. 'They kept me here, against my will.'

'What?' Beka questioned.

'For his own safety,' Junia explained and found all eyes on her. 'Many people began to suspect him; this was the only place where he could be safe and where we could attempt to cure him of his ills.'

'Suspect him of what?' Beka asked.

'Some said, among the technicians we have here, that he was purposely weakening the shield, that his work wasn't in this cities best interest, ridiculous claims,' Junia explained dismissively but both Harper and Beka exchanged concerned glances.

'I remember being questioned,' Harper spoke slowly. 'Interrogated,' he added heavily.

'Harper, there was a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest that you were not working with us,' Junia offered. 'But Zal found your last efforts and it proved beyond doubt that your work was to fix a weakness you had discovered not helped create, but after being allowed to return to that work, you fell ill.'

'Then it all becomes a little hazy again,' Harper sighed.

'You were pretty well out of it once the illness took hold,' Junia remembered. 'That's when myself and Zal got you out of here, just one night in our house before we could get you transport off this planet and you were looking a lot healthier,' she added quietly.

'What did they do to me in here?' Harper asked, looking around the palace.

'I'm not sure, but they were not making you better,' Junia offered sadly. 'Seemed as soon as we decided to get you off the planet, luck was on our side, it was amazingly easy to rescue you from here and then get you transport out, you suddenly had supporters where we didn't realise you had them,' she remembered with confusion. 'Once you were out of this place Zal laid into Asa, verbally, and I think everyone seemed to wake up and realise what they had been doing to you, it was a very strange few weeks,' Junia took a deep breath. 'But its cool now, I don't think you have anything to fear, everyone who was involved has shown incredible remorse, they are genuinely sorry for what they did to you.'

'What did they exactly do to me?' Harper asked, as Beka listened intently.

'We'll never know for sure, all evidence was destroyed but I think it's safe to say they never came close to curing your virus,' Junia sighed. 'I'm just glad we were able to get you out of here.'

'Why are these people still in power if they lost their heads over Harper's illness?' Beka questioned.

Junia looked at her strangely. 'Their leadership was never in doubt; they just became caught up in discovering more about humans.'

'It doesn't sound like they treated Harper with any respect,' Beka argued. 'Why are we even trusting them now? Why are you so happy for Harper to even be here if you are aware of what they did to him?'

Harper suddenly froze, a guard was right behind him and Harper sensed it wasn't because he was in the way.

'Asa knows you are here and wants to speak to you all, without delay,' the guard ordered.

Harper suddenly had a bad feeling about things, and wondered if he might have been better going with Trance's evil twin after all. He glanced at Beka who seemed equally concerned, as they were marched towards the middle chamber, summoned by Asa.

'This could take a while,' Dylan sheltered from another nearby blast.

'We should head towards the palace,' Rommie suggested. 'Harper is close to Asa, it would make sense that if Asa did provide a home for Harper that it would be close to the palace,' she figured.

'Or it could be anywhere,' Dylan sighed, leaning back against the wall.

'I'm betting Harper would not be anywhere near the Dragans, whether he remembers or not, he would go where it's still relatively safe so he could be of help,' Rommie considered.

Dylan slowly nodded his head. 'We're just making it easy to be captured ourselves by staying in this part of the city. It's also probably safe to assume that Harper when he first arrived wouldn't have wanted to settle in the areas where they made his life hell before,' he then realised.

'I would agree, Harper is a creature of habit and his habits usually involve staying safe, despite his abilities to rarely stay safe, his intentions are always with that aim,' Rommie half smiled.

'So tell me,' Dylan asked as they began to walk with caution along the streets. 'Have you missed this?'

'Dylan I'm a warship, and no matter how many diplomatic functions happen on board I will always be a warship,' Rommie answered.

'I'll take that as a yes,' Dylan smiled.

'Dylan,' Rommie then ventured. 'Would you ever consider coming out of retirement? It's only been a year, it's hardly any time at all, I'm sure it would be easy enough for you to return,' she paused. 'If you wanted to,' she finished checking for his reaction with interest.

'I'm here aren't I?' Dylan simply answered before moving ahead, leaving Rommie to smile broadly, as she kept pace.

Harper stepped forward and enthusiastically approached Asa. 'I can fix the shield, I remember how!' he announced.

Asa looked at him. 'You do?'

'The virus has cleared, I can think straight again and I remember, I can fix this,' he enthused.

Asa put a hand on Harper's shoulder. 'No, you won't,' Asa declared.

'What?' Harper asked with obvious surprise.

Beka watched the exchange, despite Junia's confession about what Asa and his men did to Harper, albeit without the actual details, all of that seemed to no longer matter as Harper tried to encourage Asa to trust him, they spoke as old friends.

'Shay, we can not reinstate the shield, there are close to seven hundred hostiles in this city, we'd be trapping innocent Edenian's with these monsters,' Asa explained.

'Not all of them are monsters,' Beka spoke up. 'At least two hundred of them are friendly, from the Commonwealth.'

'They wage war on this city, they are all monsters,' Asa stated.

'But by raising the shield we stop any more arriving, we cancel out their air support,' Harper continued.

'No!' Asa raised his voice and Harper abruptly stopped. 'We have decided on another plan,' Asa then calmly stated. 'I want you to destroy all of the tech.'

'What?' Harper questioned.

'If it can be of no use to us, then it won't be of any use to anyone, take away the one thing everyone wants of this city,' Asa decided.

'Asa, that's madness,' Beka spoke up. 'The Dragans only see the tech as a bonus, it's the position of this city that's the real prize, not what's here,' she explained with force. 'The Commonwealth are here because they want the strategic position in this universe, why do you think that shield was put in place in the first place?'

Asa turned to Beka. 'Are you suggesting that myself and my council are fools?'

'If you think this war is over the technology then, sorry, but yes,' Beka admitted.

Asa considered her words and then turned to Harper. 'Destroy the technology, inside and out I don't want any of it to be salvageable.'

'I can't do that,' Harper stated. 'That's not the solution here.'

Looking more agitated, Asa turned away from his visitors and looked upwards. 'Don't make me use force, Seamus.'

'Asa, this isn't about disobeying you, its about trying to save this city so your people can be at peace again,' Harper stressed.

'By trapping the aliens in with us and letting them fight it out while innocents die?' Asa snapped, turning round with fury.

Beka moved forward. 'The tunnels Asa, your people can escape to the tunnels and you can form an alliance with the Commonwealth, let them fight this war with trained military men until the Neitzscheans surrender,' Beka explained.

'We live like creatures underground, while our city gets destroyed above us?' Asa didn't seem impressed.

'It sounds like our city is going to get destroyed either way,' Junia spoke up sadly.

Harper sighed. 'Can't we form an alliance with the Commonwealth, then maybe get them to do something that would drive the Ubers out side of the Edenia walls so we can then raise the shields and maybe have more even sides?' Harper asked.

'Ubers?' Beka caught Harper's words.

'Why did I call them that?' Harper seemed just as confused, as he looked at Beka.

'An old pet name for them,' Beka half smiled and then turned to Asa. 'It's a plan, Asa, a good one, at least consider it.'

'No,' Asa dismissed. 'This isn't us, and we don't need that technology so I say destroy it now, and end this.'

'Destroying the tech will not end this,' Harper stressed.

'Asa, that technology holds great importance to a number of your people,' Junia reminded him. 'Destroying it could be very bad for a number of reasons, they believe in the power and the strength, if you take that away you take away hope.'

'The moment those monsters entered our city and began killing our people hope was destroyed, Junia, don't you see?' Asa snapped. 'The shield was our only hope and it was good enough for a number of our lifetimes but our hope is gone, and I will not give our hope to aliens.'

'It's technology, Asa, it's not a belief system,' Harper calmly spoke with care. 'It can be fixed and restored; it can still serve your people.'

'Didn't I give you an order, alien?' Asa yelled, and Harper simply frowned clearly hurt by his words and backed away.

'Don't you dare talk to Harper like that!' Beka moved closer to Asa.

'Beka, don't,' Junia warned and put an arm on Beka's to move her away.

'That's not acceptable talk, he can't just say that to Harper,' Beka seethed and looked at Harper, who remained staring at Asa.

'I'm not going to destroy anything,' Harper finally announced. 'I'm going to fix this, and make things right.'

Asa just laughed a bitter expressionless laugh, and as Harper turned to leave he found two guards blocking his way. 'You will follow my orders, Shay.'

'We're not your prisoners,' Beka moved to Harper's side. 'Let us go.'

'And what for? To take matters into your own hands?' Asa challenged.

'They are just trying to help, Asa,' Junia attempted to defuse a possible situation.

Asa sighed and moved to Harper's side, putting a hand on his shoulder. 'You swore allegiance to me, Seamus Harper, but I'm guessing you forgot that minor detail,' he stressed. 'As such, you're excused for temporary loss of obedience to the leader due to your unfortunate injuries.'

'Harper swore an oath to you?' Beka asked.

'I can bring the document to the table, if I must prove it,' Asa casually spoke, as he returned to his desk.

Beka glanced at Harper who could only shrug unsure before she looked at Junia who moved closer. 'Shay signed the documents as a show of solidarity and to stop the rising rumours that he was not working in the best interests of Edenia, it served a purpose at the time.'

Asa stood up. 'So you see, Seamus Harper, you are obliged to follow my orders or accept the severe punishment of being classed a traitor if you don't, and Shay, I consider you in the highest regard and I beg of you, please don't make me issue that order,' Asa genuinely spoke.

'That's not fair, you're asking too much of Harper,' Beka stressed. 'He can help this city if you give him the chance to.'

'Seamus?' Asa prompted him for an answer.

Harper had been quiet till that point, he remembered seeing what happened to traitors and suddenly the idea of playing hero no longer appealed. He knew it pained Asa to make the demands he was, and he knew deep down that Beka would expect him to fight but his gut was churning and he knew what he had to do. 'I remember the oath,' Harper frowned. 'I will destroy the control room, as ordered but I don't agree with it.'

'Good,' Asa gestured to the door, and to his guards. 'Go, and report back to me once you are done,' he finished without looking up.

'Harper no, don't do this,' Beka stressed but found Junia stopping her going after Harper as he was led from the room with the guards escorting him. 'This is wrong, Asa, what you've just done is low, real low, you have to earn respect, not force it,' she sneered.

'Junia I would suggest you take Beka back to your house and make sure she is treated well, I wouldn't want her stay on Edenia to be marred by any troubles,' Asa didn't look up from the texts he was reading, as he spoke.

'Asa, I beg you to just listen to me for one minute,' Beka stated. 'If you really care for Harper you wouldn't make him do what you've just ordered him to do, this could destroy him, you said yourself he needed something to believe in and now you've just forced him to destroy that,' she spoke with passion.

Asa closed his eyes before slowly getting to his feet and moving to the window, he gestured to Beka to follow him and he looked outside. 'It's already destroyed Beka Valentine,' he spoke gravely, and Beka looked at the rising smoke and the movement of people visible about a mile away from the palace. 'What choice do I really have? Reinstating the shield will not solve this,' he stressed.

'It looks bad now, but myself and Harper we've both seen these scenes before, what Harper can't remember he still feels, and we both know it can get better, and it will make your people stronger,' Beka persisted.

'Junia, there's a medical station that had been set up a few blocks from here, I want you to report for duty,' Asa spoke evenly.

Junia looked uneasy as she realised she was being excused and after a moment of hesitation and a desperate look to Beka, she left the room to report for duty.

'Asa, I'm just trying to help,' Beka spoke calmly.

'And I'm just trying to do my job,' Asa spoke with tiredness as he gestured to his guards. 'This is for the best, I can't afford to have the distractions.'

Beka felt her arms being grabbed and she immediately struggled. 'Don't do this Asa, you need me, I can help you!'

'Don't make this harder,' Asa simply said.

'I swear Asa, you will pay for this, you're out of your depth, admit it!' she yelled as she was dragged away and led to the cells.

TBC