The summer has been mad but hopefully from now on the gaps between chapters won't be quite so long - enjoy!

Part 32

'Well done!' Dylan commended, as two young scientists and an engineer reported to him on the success of bringing the shield down. He made small talk until ordering them back to work, and then with a frown he checked the latest reports on the ships landing to the East.

'You seem disappointed with our progress,' Rhade observed.

Rommie stepped forward. 'I worked with that team, Dylan, and it was no easy task to figure out the controls.'

'I know, and I'm happy, honestly, very happy,' Dylan remarked with little emotion, still focused on the reports.

'This is about Harper isn't it?' Rhade guessed.

'I try not to care like you Rhade, but dammit he's still a part of my crew as far as I'm concerned,' Dylan partly snapped.

'Hey I do give a damn, but this is a war and we needed to make the progress we did with that shield or we'd just be at stale mate with the Dragans until Harper figured a way to escape!' Rhade argued. 'Now I know he's a genius but I don't rate his chances of fixing this anytime soon thanks to his so called Edenian friends!'

'Rhade is right, tactically we had to do what we did,' Rommie agreed.

'And I'm not disputing that, but unless it's escaped both your attentions I'm retired from the front line, this isn't technically my war,' Dylan stated. 'Harper is a friend, and I promised to help him.'

'You can't just pick and chose when you want to be active,' Rhade returned abruptly. 'This is just as much your war as anyones here, Captain Hunt.'

Dylan put the reports down and sat with a heavy sigh. 'I didn't mean it to sound like that.'

There was a brief silence, before Rommie moved forward toward Dylan. 'I'm worried for Harper too, he's still my engineer to me, he never resigned or retired from service, but we could not hold back on lowering the shield for the safety of one man, not when we could save an entire population,' Rommie reasoned.

'Have the back up ships made any contact yet?' Dylan tiredly asked.

'I can feel them, but as yet the frequencies are not clear, I can feel my sister but the signal is weak, something is draining her power,' Rommie answered.

'Should we be worried?' Dylan asked, sitting up.

'I'm not sure,' Rommie returned and then paused. 'Odd,' she remarked and looked to one side.

'What is it?' Rhade asked confused by her reaction.

'Magog,' Rommie simply said.

'What? Where?' Dylan asked.

'Apparently on our side, first transmission received, Rev Bem assisting, army of Magog, show caution but on our side,' she recited in part as she received a broken transmission.

'The Magog are here?' Rhade spoke slowly. 'And fighting for the Commonwealth?' he added with disbelief.

'It appears so,' Rommie was equally puzzled.

'Rev did mention he was rounding up the strays after the fallout,' Dylan vaguely remembered.

'But can we trust Magog?' Rhade spoke with disbelief. 'I sure as hell don't want to fight anywhere near them, let alone along side them!'

'Rhade, if they are offering help, if they have been taught by Rev Bem then we can't ignore the advantage they could give us,' Dylan stated.

'They are monsters, we can't forget that, Dylan, just a few months ago they threatened the very universe we're in,' Rhade returned strongly.

'The Dragans will not know they are on our side, they will cause both panic and confusion,' Rommie agreed.

Rommie then froze and closed her eyes. 'We have a two hundred strong army in the East ready to join the forces already there, should total nearly seven hundred soldiers, Magog scared off the Dragan back up forces, they have no reinforcements,' she spoke as she received messages. 'Forty-three of our reinforcements are Magog, all of whom are here, as instructed by Rev Bem, to merely cause distraction and confusion, to break up the chaos but they come in peace, not to fight but to protect and defend.'

'Rev still refuses to fight,' Dylan half smiled.

'Roseby has transmitted that whilst Rev has every faith in his makeshift army, this is their first test and communications must remain open,' Rommie stated.

'Great testing ground,' Rhade frowned. 'I still don't trust them.'

'Are you going to argue with them?' Dylan dryly commented. 'If they are just here to act as a distraction then we should make use of that,' he stated. 'Rommie, send a message back to Roseby that we have understood the update and we require immediate assistance in breaking up the Dragan threat around our position.'

'Dylan?' Rhade causally asked. 'What happened to this technically not being your fight?' Dylan paused and looked unsettled for a moment. 'Its fine, I would have issued the same orders,' Rhade smirked.

'Bad habit, must remember you're in charge,' Dylan remarked finally, a little embarrassed.

'Dylan, I lost the charge the moment you arrived, just do what you always do and I'll just make the comments,' Rhade offered. 'Always worked in the past,' he moved towards the door but stopped when a young officer opened the door.

'Sir, Beka Valentine is awake and asking for you,' the officer quickly spoke.

Rhade glanced at Dylan and Rommie, before quickly leaving the room.

--

Trance's eyes were wide as she focused all her strength on trying to determine the situation outside the four walls of her prison cell. Her sister was strangely quiet, and Trance feared the reason for this. For days she had been imprisoned by the Dragans, treated badly and she knew there was little she could do. She was weak, the teleport had savaged her abilities and on reflection it was no surprise she didn't materialise where she needed to be, and just her luck to do so in Dragan territory. Trance could hear her sister laughing as it happened, she had been so determined to try and help that she lost her focus for a split second, now she feared that error could cost her everything she cared about.

Trance lowered her head as she heard movement outside, another session being yelled at and pushed around was not appealing, she had no answers and her hopes were fading.

'Trance?'

A friendly voice disturbed her self pity and she glanced up. 'Zal?' she spoke with surprise.

'Quick, there's chaos outside and I might have taken advantage courtesy of a heavy piece of wood,' Zal offered, as he gestured to Trance to take his hand. 'I'm sure a headache will be the least of that uber's worries when he wakes up.'

'What's going on?' Trance asked.

'Not sure, I think the shield has come down and I saw ships arriving and judging by the panic around here, and the way the ubers are getting all frantic, that they were your guys and not their guys,' Zal rapidly explained as he escorted Trance through the camp, taking cover every so often when they spotted ubers.

'You know who I am?' Trance asked.

'Of course I do, Trance,' Zal half smiled.

'I mean, you know I'm not her,' Trance pushed.

'Yeah,' Zal half smiled. 'You've not insulted me, so I figure you're what Shay describes as the real one?'

'You couldn't have known that before you rescued me,' Trance offered.

Zal shrugged. 'I got suspicious when you couldn't or didn't escape, I've been keeping an eye on your building but you're right, I didn't know for sure but I do know that in his own way he cares about both of you, so I figured I should rescue you regardless.'

'Harper cares about her?' Trance found herself asking.

'In a freaky doesn't really understand why way, yeah,' Zal smiled. 'Come on, we need to get to that building, I have a family to rescue,' he stressed and with determination he dragged Trance behind him.

--

Harper struggled in the Nietzschean's hold as he was escorted into a makeshift cell; it had the distinct smell of once being used to confine animals, a metallic cage within an old dusty wooden room. Continuing to fight the uber that was securing him, Harper grew more frustrated.

'Seamus, you're not doing yourself any favours,' Asa hissed, as he calmly walked into the cage without a fight.

Harper ignored Asa as he was roughly turned around and he saw some heavy chains being prepared. 'What good are we locked up in this place?' Harper asked.

'You're of no use to us right now, kludge,' the uber simply said. 'We have more important things to deal with.'

'Dumbass,' Harper remarked, and the uber swung a right hook sending Harper to the ground.

'Harper, what the crap are you doing?' Tark tiredly asked both he and Asa seemed resigned to their capture and had already been secured to the cage with the chains, sitting on the ground.

'Fighting, try looking it up,' Harper stated as he wiped his mouth on his shoulder, seeing the fresh blood from a split lip.

'But why?' Tark asked.

'I don't want to be freaking tied up and left to rot in this cage,' Harper stressed as the uber roughly picked him up. 'Leave me alone!' Harper snapped, ignoring the pains in his hands as he tried to push the uber away without success.

'I have had enough of you!' the uber yelled with annoyance and he picked Harper up and threw him against the cage, the two other ubers that had dealt with Asa and Tark joined him as they proceeded to shut Harper up with a series of strong punches and kicks, until the human was nothing more than a heap on the ground.

Once satisfied that they had shut the kludge up, they dragged Harper between Tark and Asa and easily secured his arms behind his back, securing him to the cage. Harper only groaned as he slumped down on the ground, unawares for the moment of anything but his new pains. The ubers locked the cage and moved away, leaving them all alone in the disused building.

'Great work, Harper, I'm so glad I've been following your plan,' Tark remarked dryly, seeing what a mess Harper was in now.

'What on Edenia were you doing, Seamus?' Asa demanded. 'They could have killed you!'

With a groan Harper remained slumped on the floor; blood covered his face from fresh wounds. 'All I wanted, all I've really wanted is to get to the damn control room,' he murmured, and then began to tug at the chains securing his arms behind his back.

'Harper, don't do that, your hands, remember?' Tark stressed. 'The casts are already damaged enough after your stupidity, don't make them worse.'

'Don't care, I just want out,' Harper stressed with little reason, his frustration obvious.

'Seamus Harper, listen to me!' Asa raised his voice loudly and was about to continue but Harper interrupted.

'I'm done listening to you, Asa!' Harper yelled. 'You should have listened to me from the start, old man, and we wouldn't have been in this ridiculous situation!'

'Both of you, just shut the hell up,' Tark ordered.

'Make me,' Harper sneered and then felt the full weight of Tark as he manoeuvred his legs to capture Harper across his body. 'What the crap,' Harper stressed but he found he could barely move, as Tark's legs trapped his upper body against the ground.

'We need a plan, little guy, not hysterics,' Tark stated firmly, and then slowly removed his hold on Harper who seemed to finally focus, and he simply struggled to sit up in silence.

'What kind of plan could we possible hatch, look at us,' Asa sighed, and to make his point he rattled the chains securing them to the metal cage.

Harper checked the chains around his wrists for flexibility. 'My hands are already broke, I might be able to get free,' Harper suggested.

'No, your hands are healing,' Tark corrected. 'Don't be stupid.'

'Well what suggestions do you have brainiac?' Harper returned sharply, and then watched as Tark began to strain, using his strength against the chains.

'Hate to burst your bubble but your own pride put you in those chains, I doubt they forgot to use the uber proof ones,' Harper frowned sadly, and after a few more moments Tark relaxed and caught his breath.

'Least my efforts were better spent, and not suicidal, what were you trying to achieve by getting beaten up?' Tark asked through heavy breaths.

'Seamus?' Asa prompted when the human didn't answer.

Harper frowned, feeling all the new pains as he let his head fall back against the cage. 'I don't know,' he admitted. 'I just lost it, ok? I'm sorry but do you blame me, this whole situation sucks and keeps getting worse,' he sighed. 'I'm never going to get to the control room, am I?' he asked wearily.

'Maybe you're not the one to be the hero this time?' Asa offered calmly.

'Maybe that's what you wanted all along; is this what you wanted?' Harper checked pointedly as he glared at Asa.

'No, Seamus, this isn't what I wanted,' Asa admitted.

'You pick a fine time to grow a brain cell,' Harper remarked and kicked out as his temper refused to calm.

'Harper, just stop it, what good is baiting the old man now?' Tark stated, not wanting any more raised voices.

'No, Tark, I'm interested in knowing what this old man wanted, why he did everything he could to stop his own city being saved,' Harper stressed.

'I wanted you safe, ok?' Asa stressed with frustration. 'Is that such a bad thing?'

'Safe?' Harper mocked. 'And you call this safe?' he mock gestured to their surroundings.

'You're alive, you're still in one piece, inside your own body,' Asa responded.

'And your city is in ruins,' Harper pointed out.

'So be it, family comes first, I thought you realised that, Seamus,' Asa snapped, tiring of Harper's anger.

For a moment Harper didn't know how to respond as he went to speak but stopped himself a few times, he finally found the words. 'Asa, if you truly cared about me you would have let me do what I could to help your city, to help your people,' Harper spoke with quieter frustration.

'Not if it meant that my great nephew or niece would grow up without a father,' Asa almost whispered, closing his eyes.

Harper narrowed his eyes and just stared at Asa for a moment, before looking away and the realisation began to dawn. 'Naomi?'

'Shortly after you broke up, she told me,' Asa sighed.

'You believed her?' Harper checked and saw the flash of anger in Asa's expression and looked away before letting out a held breath. 'Wow,' he simply said. 'I didn't even think we could, you know, make you know,' Harper struggled.

'Babies?' Tark offered to help Harper remember the key word.

'When will it be born?' Harper tried to sound casual, but his voice was hollow.

'It should be already here, nine weeks flies by at these times,' Asa remarked.

'Nine weeks?' Harper checked with evident shock, and even Tark showed some surprise. 'Human babies require nine months,' he stated.

'Maybe it'll be longer, our people have never crossed species before, but Edenian birth cycles are only nine weeks,' Asa explained.

'Congratulations,' Tark simply spoke.

'What?' Harper immediately spoke.

'Well, you might already be a father,' Tark shrugged.

Harper didn't respond for a moment, his face fixed in a frown before he relaxed and looked upwards. 'Is that really why you stopped me?'

'Yes,' Asa answered. 'I didn't ever want you to become attached to that infernal machine, but once Naomi told me the news I was determined not to let you give up your life for Edenia, not when you have bigger responsibilities,' he looked with care at Harper. 'Why do you think I let you leave Edenia for that reunion? Shay, I wanted things to calm down here, I didn't think you would return and so I was simply planning to find you once things had settled but you came back, and it was all I could do to protect and stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life.'

'Why didn't you just tell me?' Harper asked quietly.

'Naomi made me promise, she wanted to be the one to tell you, but circumstances took that away from her,' Asa frowned.

'Asa if you'd of let me get to the control room I could already be doing everything in my power to protect this city, to protect Naomi,' Harper offered, but stopped as he closed his eyes. 'This whole mess is my fault, every last bit,' he frowned and let his head drop. 'I have to fix this mess, I can't just sit here and rot, I have to do something!'

'Well first we need a plan to get out of here,' Tark reminded them.

'Yeah, a plan, right,' Harper focused and scrunched his face up suddenly.

'You ok?' Tark checked, seeing the pained expression Harper now sported.

'Just hungry,' Harper offered distractedly. 'Did anyone else notice how concerned Uriah seemed to look,' he asked, his eyes remaining closed.

'Yeah,' Tark simply answered. 'He looked pretty worried.'

'He just discharged you too soon,' Asa remarked. 'He just feared Hertzler would prove you were not fit and well enough to leave his care.'

'Do you feel ok?' Tark checked.

'Yeah,' Harper replied absently. 'Just didn't like how he was acting. Were you both with me whilst I was out cold?'

'I was,' Tark answered. 'Don't worry, he didn't do anything to you without me knowing what it was he was doing,' Tark then smirked. 'I don't think Hertzler trusts him that much either.'

'Maybe it was just what Asa said,' Harper sighed, finally opening his eyes and relaxing. 'Plan, we need a plan,' he reiterated and began to consider their limited options.

--

TBC