Part 30

'How is she holding up?' Dylan asked as Rhade exited the room where Beka was still recovering.

'She's strong, but no sign of waking up yet,' Rhade simply said. 'It was close, Dylan, she needs constant medical attention, she needs to be off this damn planet and in better care.'

'Agreed,' Dylan answered. 'The Dragans have been pushing our teams back, they are almost on top of us now; we need a plan.'

'We need Harper, we need that stupid shield down and we need to get off of this planet!' Rhade seethed.

'Rhade, focus,' Dylan ordered bluntly and saw Rhade noticeably take a deep breath.

'Sorry, I just really hate this planet,' Rhade offered. 'I am never coming back, ever,' he growled and then activated his radio. 'Report on our current status.'

'Sir,' the radio responded. 'There's a development happening right now, their commander, Hertzler just showed up and he has Seamus Harper and Asa.'

Dylan frowned with annoyance as Rhade responded. 'What's the situation?'

'Unclear, I think they just wanted us to see Harper, they are holding position, but I think they are waiting for us to react,' the voice came back.

'We should get out there, this could get ugly very quickly,' Dylan stated, and they both swiftly moved towards the exit.

Hertzler stood waiting, before him stood two of his guards each holding an arm of their prisoner, Seamus Harper. He was flanked either side by more armed guards, all positioned and ready to strike with their weapons drawn. There was a natural tension in the air as the heavy doors to the building slowly opened and the various Commonwealth soldiers that acted as the building's defence prepared their own weapons for combat.

Dylan Hunt surveyed the area with a casual glance, but taking all the details in. He leaned towards Rhade who was by his side. 'You want this one?'

Rhade glared at Hertzler as he responded to Dylan. 'He's all yours, I'll concentrate on a counter strike, try and find a weakness,' Rhade whispered.

'Captain Dylan Hunt!' Hertzler then spoke up loudly, his voice echoing off the stone walls. 'We wish to proceed to the control room, and we want your full co-operation.'

'You see, I have a problem with that,' Dylan returned and before he could react Hertzler lifted a heavy baton and brought it down hard against Harper's back. There was a sharp cry of pain from the engineer as he fell forward into the dirt, only to be quickly and roughly picked up again.

'I don't,' Hertzler simply stated.

Dylan glanced at Rhade, clearly angered by the hostility shown to his friend. 'Now, can't we be a little more civilised, why resort to actions of animals to get your wishes across?' Dylan asked with agitation.

'When dealing with animals,' Hertzler began, grabbing Harper's hair in front of him. 'You deal with them the only way we know how.'

'Ok, enough,' Dylan demanded, seeing Harper's pained reactions. 'You have our attention now stop resorting to such low tactics!'

Hertzler kept a firm hold on Harper's hair, causing the engineer to squirm. 'It appears you are unfamiliar with the recognised practices of dealing with kludges, Captain Hunt, you surprise me for such a celebrated man as yourself.'

Dylan heard the low growl from Rhade, and he wasn't feeling much happier about the treatment Harper was receiving. 'You need Harper in one piece and fully functional if you're to get control of this city, I would advise treating him a little better if you want his co-operation, just speaking from my own well celebrated experience,' Dylan recommended his words laced with sarcasm.

'I don't want his co-operation, and I don't need it,' Hertzler sneered. 'I will demand it, in the same way I demand access to the control room that you foolishly protect, what good is a control room without the means of control?'

'Harper learnt a lot of what he knows from the archives of the Commonwealth, and we have our top available scientists and engineers already working in the control room, having studied those same archives,' Dylan relayed casually.

'So you're telling me Harper is surplus to requirements?' Hertzler spoke up and immediately drew a knife from his belt and pressed it close to Harper's neck, and the human froze in Hertzlers hold, terror in his eyes as he stared at Dylan.

'No!' Dylan yelled with frustration. 'But we have made more progress than you will ever make using the tactics you've employed.'

Hertzler relaxed his hold on Harper slightly, enough so the engineer could breathe again without fear of his neck being sliced open. 'The basic fact remains that we have Harper, courtesy of the very leader of this city, Asa, and you are in Dragan territory, you, Dylan Hunt, you're nothing more than a vigilante. You and your men do not belong here.'

Dylan only laughed in response. 'Where did they dig you up from? Honestly, I want to know,' he spoke now with sudden seriousness. 'We have the advantage here, not you.'

'We have Seamus Harper,' Hertzler reminded the Commonwealth captain.

'And we have his previous notes on using the system, we have all we need to lower these shields, because that's all we want to do; we don't want to take control like you do, so once we get the shields lowered we'll have enough manpower up above to force you to your knees if we have to,' Dylan paused. 'Harming my engineer, would certainly be enough to force my hand,' Dylan then stressed with conviction.

For the first time Hertzler showed a flash of uncertainty, and he roughly jostled Harper in a show of defiance, aggravating all of Harper's injuries. 'You will stand there, Captain Hunt, and allow the gruesome death of Seamus Harper?'

'Did you not listen to anything I said?' Dylan asked with mock agitation. 'Pay attention!'

Hertzler looked upwards. 'The shield appears to be very much still in place, would only take five minutes to kill the kludge, ten if we really wanted to put on a show. Are you still confident you have the advantage?'

'What would killing Harper achieve at this point, exactly?' Dylan persevered.

'Well if we are as defeated as you so arrogantly claimed, let's call it a bit of fun, so we at least get something out of this sordid business,' Hertzler ordered his guards to drag Harper up and secure him. Before Dylan could respond Hertzler raised the baton again and struck at Harper's damaged knee, and the cry of pain reverberated around the stone square, as Harper collapsed into the hold of the guards, three more successive and harsh blows came down across Harper's back as Hertzler let fly.

The forcelance shot whizzed by Hertzler's ear, barely missing him but close enough to get his attention that he stopped the senseless attack.

'I get the message,' Dylan conceded, his eyes focused on the fallen figure of his ex-engineer. 'But I still maintain that you're wrong and expect the full force, that's your only warning.'

'Enough!' A new voice bellowed and all attention turned to its source above, coming from the rooftop of the main building. 'I have ten weapons trained on the human, Seamus Harper, and I have no allegiance to either of you, my allegiance is to Edenia and I will kill the human.'

'Jashen?' both Dylan and Hertzler spoke, and as they saw Jashen they also saw the other soldiers and their weapons trained on Harper.

'What is the meaning of this? You are supposed to be working for us!' Hertzler raged, and as he spoke he glanced at his guards to protect Harper.

'Not so fast, keep Harper in sight or your men die,' Jashen yelled.

'What do you want?' Dylan asked unsure, he'd been aware Jashen was hanging around the commonwealth soldiers, since Beka had accepted him but these other men, and now this standoff, Dylan was feeling angered at the betrayal of the trust they had shown Jashen.

'I want an end to this mindless war, Captain Hunt like you, I also want Asa dead and most of all, I want control of my city,' Jashen declared. 'We had a plan, Harper,' he then directed to the human who only seemed vaguely aware of proceedings. 'But I guess you forgot, you're doing that a lot lately,' he sneered.

'How do you prepare to achieve all that? By killing the human?' Hertzler asked with amusement.

'Didn't I see you with a knife to the human's neck just moments ago? Are you saying that was a bluff? That this human is important to you?' Jashen was almost mocking. 'Turn the sights on,' Jashen then ordered to his men as they prepped the weapons.

Harper visibly paled as he was suddenly covered in ten red lights, all weapons aimed at him. 'Crap,' he muttered with panic.

'Step away from the human, now!' Jashen yelled. 'Or we will shoot.'

Hertzler only smiled. 'Really? Who's to say you're not bluffing?'

Dylan flashed an annoyed glance at Hertzler as Jashen only frowned before he yelled 'Jackson.'

The sound of a single gun shot suddenly sounded and moments later Harper was thrown back as a bullet tore into his skin, hitting him in the shoulder. Landing in a heap Harper rolled in agony, and the ubers armed their weapons.

'We will fire more if any of you so much as move!' Jashen yelled, and both the Nietzsheans and the Commonwealth soldiers held back, awaiting orders. 'Now I'll only ask once more, step away from Harper!'

Hertzler offered the slightest of nods to the men closest to Harper, and then backed away leaving the human on the floor holding his shoulder. 'Now what, Jashen?' Hertzler asked with arrogance.

'Now I have a team of men coming into the square, they will take Harper,' Jashen stated.

'No!' Dylan yelled, as a group of men moved forward from the east into the square with purpose. 'Jashen,' he yelled with concern, and then glanced at the commonwealth soldiers around him. 'Protect Jashen's men!' he ordered.

Already the Nietzscheans had used the arrival of Jashen's men to their advantage aiming all their weapons from the group on top of the roof to the new arrivals, and at the moment the marching soldiers blocked the sights of the men on the roof, the advantage Jashen held disappeared.

The first shots easily picked off the arriving men before they could take hold of Harper, and men fell around the fallen human, leaving the others to panic and try to find cover. The Commonwealth opened fire on the Dragans but those still standing of the new arrivals were causing confusion and getting in the way, giving the Dragans enough time to pull out to safer areas amidst the widespread panic and mayhem that followed.

Once the firing had ceased the square was empty, and only the fallen remained lifeless in the sudden eerily quiet location.

Dylan surveyed the area, the Dragans had made a quick exit and he suddenly moved towards the center of the square, finding seven of Jashen's men with several wounds still bleeding, and all dead.

'Is he there?' Rhade asked, having caught Dylan up.

'They've taken him, they had the chance to remove Harper in the confusion,' Dylan offered and then sighed, seeing all the blood on the stone ground and knowing some of it was Harpers.

'We'll get another chance,' Rhade stressed. 'They still need the control room.'

'I fear this will get even messier before it gets better,' Dylan sighed, seeing the dead around him. 'Get a team up to the roof, I want Jashen brought to me and the rest of his men locked up!' Dylan seethed with anger.

'Already despatched, Jashen is secured and so are his men,' Rhade confirmed.

Taking a controlled breath, Dylan looked around seeing only distant movements beyond the square, knowing the Dragans were still close by. 'Let's go talk to Jashen, and then we'll regroup, we need to make sure we're prepared for the next round.'

Harper concentrated on his breathing and tried to block out the pain that radiated from his shoulder. He was being jostled about, as three or four ubers were transporting him somewhere in a hurry, with little care. Asa's voice was close by, Harper could hear snippets of words from him, but couldn't quite focus enough to know what they were or if they were being spoken to him. The pain was increasing and he could hear his own heartbeat, he felt hot and tired, as finally he was lowered onto a flat surface and a bright light above him temporarily blinded his vision.

'This patient, again?' a tired old voice remarked, unimpressed and Harper narrowed his eyes to see Dr Uriah and his team around him. Instantly Harper froze and then panicked, trying to jump off the cot but all too quickly Uriah's team physically stopped him moving and restraints were soon holding Harper down to the cot. 'Kludge, behave, we're trying to help you,' Uriah simply spoke with no compassion.

'Like the last time,' Harper hissed, remembering the pins.

'I've been told you've beaten the addiction, so I helped,' Uriah arrogantly replied.

Harper smirked. 'That wasn't you, your idea sucked.'

Uriah just stared at Harper and then pressed down hard on the bullet wound, making out to examine it but Harper grimaced with the sudden pain, knowing Uriah was purposely hurting him.

'The wound is from a fast exploding penetrating bullet, a crude and somewhat ancient form of weapon but as you can see, quite effective at disabling an opponent causing a lot of unsightly damage,' Uriah spoke to his team. 'In this case it is not a clean delivery, the bullet case, debris, has remained inside the wound, a clean delivery would have seen the bullet travel through the shoulder causing an entry and exit wound,' Uriah explained. 'We need to therefore extract the foreign body.'

'Will you just get on with it,' Harper seethed, as the pain and weakness seemed to grow inside him.

Uriah only casually glanced at him before continuing. 'The important factor to remember is that the bullet is self sterilising, as it leaves the barrel of the weapon the sheer force and heat of its exit sanitises the surface, but on entry to the body, if it passes through cloth such as the case here,' Uriah gestured to the ripped shirt stained with Harper's blood. 'We need to be aware that the shirt particles that would have travelled into the body with the bullet could cause infection, so we first need to clean the wound.'

Harper yelled without care as a very libel dose of antiseptic was poured all over the open wound. His cries were largely ignored as Uriah's team them proceeded to sanitise the area by removing the blood soaked shirt, and cleaning the exposed flesh up.

'Please, just hurry this up,' Harper pleaded in barely a whisper; his eyelids growing heavy as he battled with exhaustion.

'Check his readings,' Uriah then remarked, and Harper felt various objects being placed on his skin and then heard his slowing heart rate on a distant monitor. 'Ok, looks like we need to get moving, we're losing him.'

Harper was already drifting, and didn't have the energy to offer a sarcastic comment that his mind offered. He heard Asa's raised voice, and suddenly it felt like there was a lot of activity around him but he was already giving into sleep and everything slowly faded to black.

'You're not helping your friend.'

Her voice was familiar but Rev Bem remained alert to the fact she was not who she pretended to be, she was a sister, an evil twin, a poor copy of a good friend.

'Please, do not speak,' Rev requested, as he checked the force field that contained the powerful alien. She looked just like Trance, he considered as he risked a glance in her direction.

'I protect him, I keep an eye on him and he needs me,' she offered. 'You are blocking my abilities to know if he's safe.'

'Do not pretend to care, please,' Rev simply replied; his eyes fixed on the monitor in front of him. The entire ship and available personnel were waiting, on standby for any signal or sign from the planet surface to offer assistance. It was hard not knowing how things were progressing below the shield, but they had to be ready for when the situation changed and with the evil trance trapped, they knew they held a small advantage, her agitation was a sign alone that things were progressing below that did not please her.

'He's been captured by the Dragans, Rev, he's being tortured, I can help him, free him,' Trance continued, almost sounding like the friend he knew and her words were affecting him, he sensed she was speaking the truth but he didn't want to believe it. 'They have him tied up by his arms, hanging from the ceiling, they are sticking pins into him, driving him crazy is that what you want?'

'Of course not,' Rev answered agitated by her.

'Let me help him,' she insisted with passion.

'No!' Rev yelled in a sudden loss of control. He stopped and caught himself before regaining his composure. 'I know above all else that young Harper wants you stopped, that the control you've had on him has led us to this point, has pretty much destroyed him, I firmly believe he would prefer to die than let me release you to save him, you're no better for him than the situation he may be in on the planet.'

The fake Trance slowly smiled, amused by Rev Bem's words. 'Ironic then that if you're precious Harper dies, I grow stronger.'

Rev stared at Trance with contempt, his inner demons fighting to be released as he glared at the alien. He looked away, returning to the console and proceeded to close his eyes and prey to the divine for a sign.

Naomi smiled as she approached Junia, the new mother was beaming as she cradled her new born. Without word Naomi sat beside her and put her arm around her friend.

'This war will be over soon, and then you'll be all together again,' Naomi offered in support. 'I'm sure Zal can't wait to meet his daughter, your so lucky she's so calm, it must help that she hasn't been affected by our stresses.'

Junia offered a smile. 'I know, it's just hard to be apart, we should be enjoying these early days together,' she spoke with sadness. 'Our world has gone crazy, nothing makes sense.'

'Shay will fix it,' Naomi stated. 'I'm sure of it.'

'I know,' Junia offered again, as she cradled her baby. 'How are you doing, are things any better? Sorry I've not been around so much,' Junia then asked.

'Don't worry about me, I'm fine, slowly getting into a routine and managing on my own,' Naomi half laughed. 'I just keep thinking of that day when all this madness will be over and maybe things will be different.'

Junia got to her feet and put the baby down in her cot, then glanced at where Zelazny was taking a nap, checking he was ok. 'I don't want to sound pessimistic but you have to keep living day by day, stop thinking of what we can't be sure of.'

'What do you mean?' Naomi asked.

'This madness might not be a few days, or a few more weeks, it could be a long time, we don't know,' Junia offered.

'But this can't go on for much longer, it's too crazy,' Naomi almost laughed.

'Did Shay ever speak to you about his upbringing?' Junia was careful as she asked the question.

'This isn't Earth, or wherever it is he came from,' Naomi objected.

'These people who have taken over our planet are the same race who controlled Shay's home planet, Naomi,' Junia reminded her.

'But he came from hell, that's what he always said, and he wouldn't let that happen, he can stop it and he will,' Naomi protested.

'I know, and I'm sure he will, but we can't ignore the possibility, we could be bringing our children up in this camp, as Shay was brought up,' Junia considered and she saw Naomi look away troubled. 'I'm sorry, but I think you should just be aware of the possibility, start preparing.'

'I have to keep believing,' Naomi finally spoke. 'For Seamus, for me, I can't give up, not now.'

'No one is asking you to give up,' Junia comforted warmly.

Naomi took a deep breath, her emotions threatening. 'I just hate this, I want the chance to tell Shay I love him, I want to tell Shay everything, tell him the truth about what he thought he saw,' she stressed, tears brimming in her eyes. 'She drove us apart and I stupidly let her, I let Zal pretend to hate me because I was too scared to tell Shay the truth and now Shay thinks I hate him, believes Zal thinks I'm bad, what was I thinking, why didn't I just fight?'

'Naomi, I don't think Shay hates you, he was hurt but I don't think he'll need much convincing that you two are good together, once he learns the truth, he'll understand I'm sure,' Junia smiled and then paused. 'Have you thought anymore about what you will say to Seamus, when you see him again?'

'The truth,' Naomi responded adamantly.

'Naomi, I don't know if Shay ever told you this but his species, where he comes from, it takes longer, he wont have any clue or idea about the truth you will hit him with, you need to understand that,' Junia spoke cautiously.

Naomi looked at her with some confusion. 'How could he not have any idea? We were in love, we shared our love, and he must know when that union happens that the possibility exists,' Naomi explained.

Junia simply smiled. 'When I told Shay I was with child he said something strange, he asked if I was looking forward to the next nine months of swollen ankles, less mobility and if I wanted him to keep reminding Zal of these facts.'

Naomi looked blankly at Junia. 'Why would he say that, what did he mean?'

'Turns out for his species, on his planet the birth cycle took nine months,' Junia answered. 'I tried to explain that things were a little different for us, but Zal took him away before I could say too much, afraid that I would bore his friend with talk of birth, you know how men feel about the subject,' she smiled.

'So he doesn't know?'

'I don't think he fully appreciates the differences between his kind and ours,' Junia warned. 'He'd be looking for different clues, he kept asking about when I would start 'showing', and I still have little idea what he meant, it was as if he expecting it to be obvious I was pregnant just by looking at me.'

'Nine months cycle, that might mean the baby does a lot of growing inside their females,' Naomi guessed. 'That doesn't even bear thinking about.'

'You may be right,' Junia agreed. 'It might also explain why your child has been so needy, so demanding of nutrients and slow to become independent of your constant care, if your child is half Shay's species, it might be his genes that are causing the problems you have experienced.'

'I wish I could have told Shay,' Naomi then spoke, tears brimming in her eyes.

'You will get the chance,' Junia comforted her.

'I'm so worried we could lose him, he's still so weak, even though a fighter but I'm not sure if he's strong enough to survive in this camp, he needs the love of both his parents, he needs better care,' Naomi broke down unable to control her rising emotions.

'I'm sure he'll keep fighting, just like his dad, who I bet is fighting right now to end this madness,' Junia assured her with a warm embrace.

--

TBC