***
Chapter Six
***

Gabriel watched quietly as Harper ran a systems check of his android body with a hand scanner, and he looked over at Rommie.  "Why do you hate the restorers so much, Harper?  Aren't the HLA just like them?"

Harper gave a confused Rommie a quick, nervous smile. "The HLA are nothing like the restorers," he told Gabriel.  "They're fighting to free Earth and all the other slave worlds from über tyranny."

"But that's why Balance of Judgement founded the restorers.  To stop the slavers and the exploiters and all the others like them that were spreading like a plague throughout the known worlds.  For over three hundred years, he lead a crusade to try and bring freedom to the oppressed throughout known space," Gabriel said quietly as he looked earnestly at Harper's face.

Harper moved away from Gabriel with his hand scanner.  "You're fine."

Harper looked at Rommie and saw her still wearing a confused expression. He smiled weakly. "Rommie, you can tell Dylan that I'm ready to disable Gabriel's interlink now.  He wanted to be here when I did it."

Gabriel sat up. "Harper, what about the people the Kalderans are oppressing, or the other Nietzchean prides?  Are you so obsessed with destroying the Drago Kasov pride that you ignore the suffering of others, or is it all about you getting revenge for what they did to you?"

Harper turned back to Gabriel nervously. He was getting really worried. "I don't know why you're asking me why the HLA do what they do.  So what if I send them a few creds whenever I can?  It's not like I can tell them what to do."

Rommie sensed Dylan open the door and come into the room, and she gave him a hard stare as she held up a hand to stop him from announcing his presence.  He listened with growing anger to Gabriel and Harper.

"But you do, Harper.  Or should I start calling you Chrome?"  Gabriel moved in front of Harper so he couldn't see Dylan and Rommie standing behind him.  "That is the name you use when telling the HLA what to do, isn't it?"

Harper sucked in a breath and shook his head.  "Look, I have no idea what you're talking about.  You totally got the wrong idea.  The Balance of Judgement was completely insane.  You can't trust anything it said.  And I don't know who this Chrome guy is, but he ain't me."

Seeing the look of dismay on Rommie's face, Gabriel sighed and nodded.  "My apologies.  I'm sorry if I offended you."

"Hey, no offence taken," Harper said with a shrug, allowing himself a private sigh of relief.  "After what happened to you over the last three hundred years, I can understand things getting a little mixed up in that cybernetic brain of yours."

"I appreciate your concern.  I hope things turn out better for you than they did for me," Gabriel said.

Before Harper could reply, he heard the door open and turned to see a worried Dylan walking up to Rommie. "Are there any problems, Mr Harper?"

Harper frowned slightly.  "Other than that door suddenly having a problem with it's track, no. Gabriel's fine.  We're ready to do this when you are."

Dylan gave Harper a hard look before he said, "Then lets get started, I don't want to keep Rommie waiting any longer than I have to."

***

Dylan finally found Tyr in the Officers' Mess, of all places, quietly chopping up vegetables.  A large pot simmered nearby.

"So you're the cause of my drooling?"  Dylan joked as he walked up to the other side of the bench Tyr was standing at.

Dropping some freshly chopped ingredients into the pot, Tyr chanced a look at Dylan. "If you're hungry, I suggest you eat something.  This will take some time."

Dylan grabbed a chunk of some green vegetable from in front of Tyr and quickly chewed it up before the Nietzchean could do more than growl.  "I've been thinking..."

"Always a dangerous trait."  Tyr rumbled dismissively as he started dicing a large orange vegetable.

Dylan ignored Tyr's interruption. "...that we've never really talked about the way Nietzchean society used to be."

Tyr stopped chopping to look at him.

"It never used to be as rigid and inflexible as it is today."

"Why the sudden interest?"  Tyr asked with a raised eyebrow as he went back to dicing vegetables.

"I suspect Mr Harper has been getting love advice from a Nietzchean," Dylan said, taking a piece of the orange vegetable.  "In fact, in light of recent revelations, I'm certain of it."

Tyr looked at Dylan's face for a second before he lifted the now packed cutting board over the pot and scraped its contents into the water. "Would this talk involve mating rituals?"

Dylan twirled the orange strip of vegetable between the fingers of one hand.  "Doesn't it already?"

"Perhaps."  Tyr slowly put the chopping board down.

Carefully watching Tyr's defensive body posture, Dylan ate the strip of vegetable.  "You should read the writings of Petyr Droslowski out of Boudicca by Toshida, a philosopher who spent a great deal of time talking about Nietzchean mating rituals.  We have a copy of his complete works here on the Andromeda."

Tyr frowned at the unfamiliar Nietzchean name as he said incredulously, "Considering what the little professor's done, you're giving me reading advice?"

"Yes.  If you want to talk about it after you're finished, I'll make myself available.  As for Mr Harper, well..." Dylan sighed and shook his head before he turned for the door.  "I'll deal with him."

***

"You should have given me more warning of the merging of those two Nietzchean Prides.  I've had to run interference with and even shut down some of the more aggressive HLA cells,"  Uncle Sid said angrily from the screen.

"I didn't know until it was too late to do anything,"  Harper said to the screen as he shucked out of one of his precious coloured shirts.  "If I'd sent you a message while things were going down, it would have made the others suspicious."

Uncle Sid peered suspiciously at Harper for a moment before he sighed.  "I've managed to set up more dummy corporations to funnel supporters funds through to the HLA coffers.  Are you sure that the Drago Kasov are watching the Phoenix Corporation accounts?"

Harper nodded and sat down in front of the screen.  "Yeah.  I had Rommie assist me with a systems check while we were docked at the Tashkent Drift.  Phoenix Corp is covered in viruses and programming bugs just waiting for some poor sucker to log in with a deposit."

"How much do you think they know about us?"  Uncle Sid asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"Not much more than they did after interrogating your agent when he got caught during the raid on the Midden Space Habitat.  I reckon that's how they found out about Phoenix Corp in the first place.  Did you manage to talk the Than around, or are they going to pull the plug on our fighters?"  Harper sipped at a can of Sparky.

Uncle Sid smiled predatorily.  "The Than are going to sell to us with a ten percent discount from now on, thanks to that little raid by the Drago Kasov.  I'd forgotten how much fun all this cloak and dagger stuff was."

Harper grinned back.  "I'd hate to think you were getting bored by all the paranoia and fear."

"You're the one who's in danger of being exposed.  I heard you managed to establish another nine cells during your last shore leave,"  Uncle Sid said quietly.

"Has to be done.  We're never going to free Earth if we just rely on recruits from there.  Even if all people do is cough up some cash for the cause, every little bit gets us one step closer to liberation day."

Uncle Sid leaned closer to the screen.  "So you're the one who started that.  I had wondered.  But you're playing this too fast and lose.  If you're exposed, it places the entire HLA network at risk."

Harper took another slug of his Sparky.  "I know. That's why I want to tell Dylan and the others."

"That again.  I've told you before, I don't trust that do-gooder."

***

Beka walked into the mess and immediately spotted Tyr lounging with a cup of something hot in one hand and a flex in the other.  Making herself a cup of herbal tea that Trance had recommended, Beka felt Tyr's eyes on her back.

She took a seat at another table. "Still searching for the elusive Mr X behind the HLA?"

"Actually, it's the writings of a Nietzchean philosopher from over four hundred years ago."

"Ah."  Beka smirked around her mug of tea.

"I have already determined who Mr X is," Tyr said, setting down the flex.  "I just remain uncertain what to do with the information."

Beka sipped her tea, raised an eyebrow, and put down her mug. "Why don't you just expose them?  I'm sure they wouldn't last five minutes once everyone knows who they are, problem solved."

Tyr blinked in surprise, then shook his head.  "The growing strength of the HLA is forcing the Drago Kasov to commit more of their war fleet to home defence.  Anything that weakens the Drago Kasov is not something I wish to harm."

"Ah."

"What are you smiling about?"

Beka's smile grew.  "Who, me?  Nothing but a Nietzchean caring whether or not a kludge lives or dies."

Tyr looked away.  "I don't care."

"Mr X has managed to turn a small, pathetic bunch of disorganised suicides into an effective and well-armed guerilla organisation in just a couple of months.  It's something even I acknowledge is worthy of respect."

"Just what are you reading, anyway, Tyr?  I've never heard you admit any kludge was worthy of respect before,"  Beka asked curiously from behind her mug.

Tyr stood up, grabbing the flex from the table.  "The writings of a Nietzchean philosopher Dylan recommended.  I had never heard of him before."

With that, Tyr walked out of the room without another glance at the smirking Beka Valentine.

***

Dylan stood at his console on the Command deck and silently watched Harper change shift with Beka in the pilot's chair.  As Beka walked out, Dylan gave Avatar Rommie a nod to seal the deck, then tapped some commands into his console.

Still looking at his console, Dylan said calmly, "Care to explain to me what Gabriel meant when he called you the leader of the HLA?"

Harper slipped out of the pilot's chair when he noticed the controls were dead and stood nervously as Avatar Rommie advanced on him.

"You inserted a virus into my programming deliberately to cover up your activities," she said angrily.

Harper looked at the deck. "I'm sorry, Rommie, but I had to."

Dylan looked down at his engineer.   "I trusted you, Harper.  Rommie trusted you.  Just tell me why."

"Why what?"  Harper looked up at Dylan angrily.  "Why I didn't trust you after you told me that helping Earth was a low priority compared to restoring the Commonwealth?  People are dying, Dylan!  Every day that Earth remains under the über boot, more people die.  I couldn't just stand around anymore.  I had to do something, anything... I just had to."  Harper finished softly, looking back down at the deck.

Dylan looked at Rommie in frustration.  "Harper.  If we can restore the Commonwealth, then..."

"When, Dylan?" he spat.  "When is the Commonwealth going to help Earth?  Tomorrow, that means a thousand more dead. Next week?  Another seven thousand dead.  Next month?"

Dylan glanced down as he tapped his fingers on the console, trying to think of how to answer that, but Rommie spoke.

"So you went behind Dylan's back and used my resources, used me, to start a revolution.  You inserted a virus into my core programming to cover your tracks when you said you were improving my interface.  And lied to our faces while you did it all with a cheeky grin."

Harper blushed guiltily and rubbed the nape of his neck.  "I was going to tell you.  I'm sorry."

"Then why didn't you, Harper?" Dylan asked.

"The others don't know you.  All they see is High Guard Captain Dylan Hunt making nice with the übers while he runs around the galaxies trying to revive a dream," Harper said softly.

Dylan stood straighter, finally waving Rommie away from Harper.  He walked from his console down to where Harper was standing and held out a hand.  "Hello.  My name is Captain Dylan Hunt of the High Guard, commanding officer of the star ship Andromeda Ascendant.  What's yours?"

Harper looked confused as his eyes flicked from Dylan's outstretched hand to his face.  "Um, what are you doing, Dylan?"

"Giving us a fresh start, dealing with each other openly and honestly.  It's part of what rebuilding the Commonwealth is all about,"  Dylan said as he gave Harper a smile.

Slowly taking Dylan's hand in his, Harper shook it.  "Seamus Zelazney Harper.  Engineer, genius, and one of the leaders of the Human Liberation Army."

***

Beka gave Dylan a nervous look as Tyr, Harper, and Trance walked up the Maru's access ramp in the Andromeda's hanger bay.  "I hope you know what you're doing," she muttered.

Dylan kept smiling and looking at the Maru.  "Don't worry so much, Beka.  Harper's not going to try anything while Tyr's watching, and none of his freedom fighters are likely to come any where near him while Tyr's with them."

"You took this pretty easy," Beka said as she crossed her arms.  "I would have ripped his lying tongue out for what he did right under my nose."

"Really?  I always thought you had a soft spot for him,"  Dylan said teasingly as he glanced at Beka.

She snorted and shook her head.  "Well, all right, I wouldn't have actually ripped his tongue out, but I would have made him wish I had."

***

As they walked out of the Maru into the docking ring-cum-central marketplace on Hyval Drift, Trance said, "I'll go get the medical supplies while you two pick up the spare parts and weapons, okay?"

"Just make sure you're back before we have to leave.  Dylan was very explicit on how long we're supposed to take," Harper reminded her, smiling to himself as he watched Trance bounce away, waving happily.

"Why are you smiling?  We have to deal with a Nightsider to get the weapons Dylan wants," Tyr said curiously as he looked at Harper.

"Dunno.  Guess Trance's good mood is just infectious. "

Tyr was about to say something when he spotted a group of three Nietzcheans watching them from behind one of the stalls.  Grabbing Harper by the shoulder, Tyr ignored his yelp and pulled him away.  "We're being watched," he murmured.

Suppressing a shudder at the feeling of Tyr's breath on his neck again, Harper tried to look around the huge Nietzchean.  "Where?"

"Over by the stall selling fake Vedran antiques," Tyr replied, manhandling Harper into the nearest corridor off the docking ring.

Harper was unable to prevent himself from leaning further into Tyr.  "You think they're after you, or just anyone from the Andromeda?"

Tyr pulled Harper closer even as he tried to ignore the feelings it caused.  Suddenly letting the arm holding Harper go slack, Tyr pointed at a nearby poster with a sketch of Harper's face on it.  "I'd say they were after you."

Harper frowned and turned his head to look in the direction Tyr was pointing.  In plain lettering, the poster proclaimed a fifty million guilders reward for the capture of  'Chrome,' suspected leader of the HLA terrorists.

"That's me," Harper squeaked as Tyr grabbed him again and pulled them both into a clothing stall.

He held Harper with one arm and started pulling a heavy hooded robe off a nearby rack.  "I noticed."

***

"Dylan, Harper's in trouble,"  Screen Rommie said from the main display of the Command deck.

Beka groaned and covered her face with one hand. "Already?  They've only been gone for a couple of hours."

"The Drago Kasov are offering a fifty million guilders reward for his capture.  Dead or alive," Rommie said, showing them a copy of Chrome's wanted poster on another part of the main display.

"Shit!" Beka spat.  "We've got to get them back here."

Dylan nodded in agreement. "Chart us a course out of here, Beka. I want to be well clear as soon as they get back."

"I'm on it."

"Can you raise the Maru, Rommie?" Dylan asked.

"They've already left the Maru.  I've reached Trance, but she separated from Tyr and Harper soon after disembarking," Holographic Rommie said, flickering into appearance beside Dylan.

"Let me guess--we can't reach them," Beka said as she brought up star charts on her workstation's display.

"Just tell Trance to get back to the Maru and monitor all communications for any alerts on Harper's location," Dylan told Holographic Rommie as he checked his console.

***

Making sure that Harper was well hidden inside the heavy cloak, Tyr turned to pay for it and saw the grubby old woman looking at them with wide eyes.  Tyr was already quietly slipping one of his daggers from its hidden sheath when she gestured them over towards an alcove behind another stall selling trinkets.

"You've been spotted by the Dragons," she whispered harshly.  "There's a maintenance hatch behind Mulvaney's stall, but you need to hurry."

Harper put a hand on Tyr's knife arm as he addressed the old woman.  "You know who I am?"

"The Dragons broke one of the cell leaders on Midden, and they've been plastering your face throughout Dragon space for the last two days.  Now hurry.  Not everyone here can be trusted."

"And how do we know we can trust you?" Tyr demanded, keeping a firm grip on his dagger.

"By the light of Bunker Hill..." the old woman whispered as she looked around nervously.

"Freedom shall live again."  Harper finished the HLA code phrase with a smile. "She's a member of the HLA.  We can trust her."

Tyr let Harper pull him into the alcove and watched as the old woman banged on a partially concealed hatch.  "She could be trying to trap us.  Fifty million guilders is a lot of money to someone like her."

Opening the hatch to let them through, the old woman gave Tyr a toothless grin. "You can't put a price on liberty, über."

***

Dylan was still standing at his station as Rev and Avatar Rommie walked onto the bridge.  Giving them both a nod, Dylan turned back to the display image showing Trance's worried face.  "Whatever happens, don't let anyone except Harper and Tyr onto the Maru, Trance."

"I won't, but they've already scanned the Maru twice, and there are three Nietzcheans standing outside on the docking ring watching everyone entering any of the ships," Trance said nervously.

"Dylan, I've just intercepted a priority signal," Avatar Rommie said.  "The Drago Kasov are sending in an entire battle squadron to this system, and they've issued an alert on the drift that someone matching Chrome's description was seen running into a corridor off the docking ring."

Dylan closed his eyes briefly.  "Trance, get back here."

"You can't be planning to leave Harper and Tyr behind," Beka said from the pilot's chair, outraged.

"The Hyval Drift authority will know that there's a Nietzchean battle squadron on its way to find Chrome.  They're about to lock down every ship docked to that Drift and run them through their security database to find out which ship he came in on.  Trance has to pilot the Maru back here before they identify it as the ship Harper used to get here and link us to his alter ego Chrome."

"Dylan's right, Beka," Trance said.  "We can't help Harper and Tyr if we're caught.  I'm heading back now."

As Trance cut the comm link, Beka turned in the pilot's chair towards Dylan.  "What are we going to do?"

"We'll do what we can, and at the moment that's staying one step ahead of that battle squadron," Dylan said, typing into the console.

"Individually, Harper and Tyr are quite adept at escaping despite impossible odds.  I feel confident that, together, they shall get out of this," Rev said from his workstation.

"I hope you're right, Rev," Dylan said.

***

Moving through the badly maintained crawlspace, Harper brushed some hanging wiring aside.  "Do you think anyone knows what's happened to us?"

"The Drago Kasov have probably put out an all systems alert that you've been seen on this drift."

"We gotta go down," Harper said when they reached a ladder.  "The HLA cell here have their headquarters in the recycling plant."

With a raised eyebrow, Tyr looked back at him.  "You're remarkably well-informed.  I don't remember the old woman telling you that."

"She didn't have to.  I helped set up this cell two months ago."  Harper smiled.

At the sight of that smile, Tyr silently bit his tongue and started down the ladder.  "Anything else you want to tell me, Chrome?"

Harper darted in to kiss Tyr on the forehead.  "Nah, you already know I love you."

Tyr growled back before proceeding down the ladder, but he didn't say anything until he emerged from a cloud of steam into a large room filled with dirty equipment.  Tyr watched Harper come down and grabbed him off the ladder when he got close enough.  "Where to, now?"

With a huge smile, Harper let Tyr put him down.  "According to the schematics I used when planning this out, their headquarters should be over between the air recyclers and the sewer interchange network."

Tyr followed Harper through the poorly maintained machines, and as they got further away from the ladder he said softly, "Are you sure these people can be trusted?"

Harper stopped and turned to face Tyr.  "These people have been fighting the Dragons with nothing but their wits for the last two months, Tyr. Of course I trust them."

"I hope you're right," he said calmly as he saw three human covered in rags appear behind Harper, weapons drawn.

Harper was about to get angry when he heard someone behind him say, "Don't move, you're surrounded."

Twirling around in surprise, Harper was momentarily speechless at the sight of three drawn guns pointed at him, but then he noticed the faces.  "Nancy played cards while Barbara knitted socks."

A middle-aged man lowered his gun. "And Hilary put curlers in her hair," he replied, looking at Tyr suspiciously.  "What are you doing here, Chrome? The übers are raising merry hell looking for you."

Moving to stand between Tyr and the others, Harper smiled.  "I came to meet with a Nightsider about a weapons shipment, Marc.  Didn't know the übers had worked out what I looked like."

Marc waved one of his men off and nodded, tucking his gun under his belt.  "There are no Nightsiders on this drift.  The übers had them kicked them off two days ago, and the Drift authority haven't let any get off their ships since."

Tyr raised an eyebrow when Harper looked back at him. "It's a trap."

"Who's your obvious friend, Chrome?"

Harper turned back to Marc, but the other man pointed his gun at Tyr, yelling, "He's an über!"

Moving quickly, Harper pushed Tyr behind a large CO2 scrubber and stretched out both arms wide.  "Hold it!  He's with me."

"What are you doing with an über," Marc asked coldly, gun pointed at Harper's head.

Still holding his arms out, Harper thought quickly, settled on the truth.  "He's my lover. The Dragons want him dead just as much as me."

Marc's gun dropped slightly in shock as he stared at Harper, wide-eyed.  "Übers don't take kludges to their beds.  They get relief by doing them over a barrel."

"Tyr's different.  We've been together for almost a year now, and he's never taken any of a thousand chances to sell me out to the Dragons.  I trust him," Harper said sincerely, starting to lower his arms.

"Put your hands back up."  Marc pointed his gun back at Harper's forehead.  Glancing at his companion, who was edging around the far side of the CO2 scrubber, he said, "Tell your über boyfriend to come back out where we can see him."

"So you can shoot me?"  Tyr's sarcastic voice drifted out.

"You're not going to shoot him," Harper said angrily. He lowered his arms.  "I came here to get weapons and make contact, and then we're both outta here."

Marc snorted contemptuously, keeping his gun pointed at Harper.  "And what makes you think you're going to go anywhere?"

"Because you owe me, Marc.  When I found you and set up this cell, you were nothing but an old drunkard hiding in a broken trash compactor.  Now put down your guns."

Marc hesitated, but he slightly lowered his weapon.  "I can't just take your word for it, Chrome.  Too many people are at risk."

"How can I prove that Tyr's with me in this?"

"Kiss him.  Where we can see it," Marc said as he took a step back, lowering his gun.

"What?"

"He said you have to kiss me."  Tyr stepped around the CO2 scrubber with his hands up.

Harper looked a bit shocked as Tyr walked up to him.  "You don't have to do this, Tyr."

Stepping up and putting his arms around Harper's body lightly, Tyr looked at Marc's drawn gun. "Maybe I want to."

In a daze Harper looked up as Tyr lowered his head to capture his lips in a soft kiss.  As Harper felt Tyr's tongue lick across his lips, he opened his mouth to let Tyr in, running his hands up and down Tyr's back.  Tyr looked away from Marc's stunned face when he felt Harper start to kiss him back and lost himself as he pulled Harper close.

***

Watching the tactical display showing the Nietzchean battle squadron arrive from slipstream, Dylan asked, "How long until they get here, Rommie?"

"Three hours," Avatar Rommie told him.  "I have also intercepted a Drago Kasov communication to the Hyval Drift authority demanding they turn over Chrome.  They are ignoring the authority's claims that they can't find him and are threatening to destroy the Drift if he isn't handed over when they arrive."

"That's just great."

TBC

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