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Harper ground his teeth as he was yanked around yet another corner. Tyr hauling him around by the collar? Sure, whatever. Unless it was a situation like with the Squeegees Tyr rarely actually hauled him more than a step or two, and even when he did use some kind of force, he knew how hard not to grip. This asshole had already choked off Harper's air supply a couple times as he'd stumbled along, and the bruises on his neck and shoulders felt like they went down to the bone.
Tyr was getting off a little easier in some respects, mostly because they didn't have anyone big enough to try the same trick with him, but on the other hand he had three guards on him, and the one at his back was being pretty liberal with that damn shock stick. Tyr was doing a good job of tamping down his reactions, a lot better than Harper would be doing if their positions were reversed, but even he wasn't immune to that much voltage.
They made another sharp turn and Harper gagged as the collar of his shirt was pulled into his throat again, but they seemed to have reached their destination, and he went to his knees as the Uber who'd been dragging him along suddenly shoved him forward between two sets of medical bunks.
"We don't have restraints ready for the kluge," one of the three Ubers already in the room said, sneering down at Harper, "but it won't take much, and with that," a flick of a finger towards Harper's neck, "it's not like we'll need more than some cabling to see what he's got for us, either." He looked away from Harper, clearly dismissing him as he gestured at Tyr. "Get the Kodiak on the bed."
At second glance one of the six bunks had been fitted with ankle and wrist restraints...in their place Harper would probably have added a couple chest and thigh bands too, but maybe it didn't matter as Tyr was forced into place and some sort of modified VR interface was strapped onto his head.
Harper wasn't sure what to make of that as one of the Ubers found a length of pseudo leather and bound his wrists together unnecessarily tightly before tying him to the base of another of the beds. It wasn't good, obviously, since there were some ugly things you could do to a person's brain once you had them in VR, but he'd never gone in with Tyr so he had no idea what kind of defenses Tyr might have. And it was Tyr so you knew there were some.
"You four with me," the highest ranking of the medical Ubers snapped, handing their four escorts VR headsets as well before picking up what looked like a customized rig for himself, and settling into a reclining seat. "Once I'm in I'll take control, and all I need you to do is observe and back me up." He looked towards the other two medical Ubers and then gestured towards Harper. "Get him jacked in and then one of you follow, the other stays out here to keep an eye on things."
"You want them both in with you at once?" the Uber at the computer terminal asked.
A sharp nod. "You heard the commander; we're running out of time. I doubt he'll know anything of worth, but it's not like it'll be particularly difficult to strip his mind along with the Kodiak's."
The lead Uber took a seat and pulled on his headset, slumping slightly a moment later as the system took him, and Harper tried to see what the one at the terminal was doing, but the angle was bad and the distance didn't help. A few minutes later and he turned and tossed a cable to the one who'd come around to Harper, though.
"Put him in with that, it'll keep him cooperative enough until Chief Merkit gets to him."
Harper's lip curled even as he struggled against the Uber who forced his head to the side, but 'only' medical personnel or not the guy still had fifty pounds on him and a kick to the bastard's shin just earned him another backhand. And then the jack was jammed into his neck and—
Andromeda?
Despite his instinctive attempt at a surprised exclamation nothing came out, no shock there, but when he braced himself for the backlash he found that the cable hadn't contained an obedience jack at al, it had been a standard connection cable feeding into a box with some hacked-together code to keep him theoretically compliant and unable to trace it back into their system.
Good luck to them with that. He could beat real obedience jacks given enough time, this crap was amateur hour.
That didn't explain why he found himself walking Andromeda's corridors, though. This had to be one of Tyr's memories they'd infiltrated, partly because Harper would know if anyone was in his mind and partly because he was just moving wrong for it to be him. Seriously, how did Tyr walk dangerously?
Also why did Tyr walk dangerously when he was clearly alone?
Whatever. Harper turned his attention inwards, ignoring the memory happening around him. If it had just been him he'd have tunneled back into their systems and ended this idiocy first thing, but as long as the Krait had Tyr trapped in his own mind freeing himself wasn't exactly the optimal move. And he didn't really want to break everyone free while he was tied up and Tyr was strapped to a table.
Unfortunately breaking just Tyr free...now that he was paying attention he could sense the other minds experiencing the same memory, even pick out the one controlling this mess with pretty solid confidence, but that only left him a one-in-five chance of picking Tyr out among the others, and even he didn't like those odds. There was bound to be something identifying about him, but this was a case where it'd be real helpful if he'd been in VR with Tyr before. Unfortuantely while he'd gone in with Dylan a handful of times and Beka quite a few more than that, especially when he'd first been getting the hang of his port, with him and Tyr it had just never come up.
The memory was suddenly strong enough to distract him, and he found himself—well, Tyr—paused in front of a cargo bay door punching in an unnecessarily long code. But whatever Tyr had been up to two—three—five—whatever years ago wasn't exactly of interest now, and Harper considered the minds around him and then checked that back link again.
Tyr gritted his teeth. Time passed differently in VR, he was well aware of that, but thus far they'd forced him to relive the final momets of his recapture of the Progenitor's remains and then where he'd kept said remains safe on Andromeda, memories that he wasn't pleased that they'd been able to access but nothing like what he'd feared when they'd first forced him into this virtual reality. But now they were dragging him through his uses of Andromeda's security codes, and while he assumed that they were beyond outdated and Dylan had made the appropriate changes as soon as he'd left, it was Dylan so one could hardly—
He suddenly found himself staring up at a massive Magog, easily twice if not three times his size, and the spray of paralytic poison directly into his eyes sent him reeling backwards with a shout.
Or it would have if his mind had been free, anyway, but his confusion as he felt himself falling—falling far further, somehow, than the ground that should have been beneath him—was enough to let him separate himself from a memory that was in no way his, and then a sharp pinch somehow inside his mind cut everything off.
Don't fight, now that I've got you I can get you loose.
Harper, and even if the order had come through the VR system, Tyr would trust Harper's skills in VR over those of almost anyone else. He did as Harper requested.
We've only got a few seconds, and once you're out I doubt I can keep the others in here for more than two or three minutes at best given the control rig that lead guy has," Harper continued. I can probably make sure they're not good for much when they do break free, though, at least for the first minute or two, but there's still the one who stayed clear, and you're chained to a bunk. You remember that?
Tyr did, now that Harper had said it, and he could suddenly feel the bunk under him and smell the chemicals that marked this as some sort of medical bay as well. There were restraints on his wrists and ankles, and since he wasn't being forced to relive years-old memories he was able to review what he'd seen of the setup when the Krait had forced him into the room. Their preparation had appeared rushed, an appearance supported by the comments of the Krait commander, and one on one... Keep them here as long as you can, he thought as hard as he could, and whether it was enough or if the seconds that Harper had referenced were simply gone, he found himself entirely free again. Mentally, at least.
Tyr didn't move at first, keeping his eyes shut under the headset, and it only took a few moments to identify the breathing patterns of someone on the opposite side of the room who was probably not part of the VR setup.
Certainly not part of the VR setup, he confirmed a moment later as the man tapped something on a panel or screen, and since Tyr was reasonably confident that the man was facing away from the beds, he made a cautious test of the restraints holding him in place. The ones at his wrist were solid metal per a roll of his arms, and the ones at his ankles were probably the same although since they'd been strapped across his boots there was no way to know for sure without a visual inspection. But at the same time both sets moved with him at least marginally so they couldn't be welded to the beds. Chain, maybe?
Someone who wasn't their observer abruptly started screaming, and he had no more time for planning, instead throwing his body to the left with all of the force that he could muster. He ignored the pain in his right wrist as whatever had held that manacle to the bunk finally broke, and then Tyr flung one of his knives directly into their observer's throat as the man was still pushing himself to his feet.
Two more of the headsetted Krait began to thrash, and Tyr almost fumbled his lockpick as he freed his left arm and ankles properly and then grabbed the sidearm from the Krait on the nearest bunk and removed all of them as threats permanently. It took him another minute to find Harper when he was done, the little professor slumped on the floor with his bound hands tied to the strut of one of the beds, and Tyr cut the tied cloth quickly before hesitating. Harper didn't like people fiddling with his port for good reason, but if he didn't free himself soon—
Harper's eyes snapped open and he recoiled from Tyr, one hand grabbing for something from his belt even as the other yanked the jack clear.
"Stop!" Tyr ordered. "It's me!"
The wariness in Harper's eyes didn't fade, and he shook his head even as he continued to back away. "Yeah. Sure."
"Professor?" Tyr snapped his fingers sharply. "Harper! Look at me. Do you know where we are? Do you remember what happened?"
"What? Yeah, of course. I'm fine." Harper shook his head, although the fact that a shiver rocked his entire body at the same time didn't lend much credence to his words. "I'm fine," he repeated. "They wanted memories so I gave them some."
Under other circumstances Tyr might have shaken him, but it didn't take any great leap of logic to determine that Harper must have inflicted memories on the Krait that extended beyond the Magog, and it was obvious that whatever those memories were, they were still fresh in his mind. Tyr moved back, pushing himself upright. "That computer terminal is still open. I'm going to see what I can find out about this ship and its crew, but I don't know how much time we'll have before someone comes looking. Can you get into their systems and figure out where our ship is?"
Harper hesitated and then nodded, digging a new cable out of a pocket. "I can try."
