Locked Out
Title: Locked Out
Author: Diana McCallum
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Andromeda's crew must stop hostile aliens that have boarded the ship from taking control.
Author's Note: Just cause I can't get Harper outta my head, and I am currently hyped on chocolate I am writing this my first Andromeda fic. I do enjoy Harper/Trance set ups, and I think they work great together, but you won't be finding any of that here. The most you'll get from me is flirtations, if you even get that. I am strictly a Suspense/Adventure/Action writer, and I've been told I'm quite good at it. Although I've written many fanfictions for other shows, this is my first Andromeda fanfic. Hope you all enjoy.
Disclaimer: Oh yeah. I don't own 'em. But you already knew that.
"Ow! Damn it!" He swore as he shielded his eyes from the flames.
Seamus Harper, genius extraordinaire, fixer of everything, chaser of sparkly purple babes, and all around good guy, was having a bad day. The latest installation of which was the console which had just more or less blown up in his face. He coughed several times and fanned away the smoke, hoping that Rommie would ask before she turned on the fire extinguishers, unlike last time.
So far the day was not going well. He had woken up from a night of restless sleep to find he was late for work and received a threatening glare from Tyr for not being around to fix his shower. He had also come to the end of the search for his favorite shirt, he found out Rommie had somehow shrunk it down four sizes while washing it and had disposed of it, hoping he wouldn't come looking for it. He had the first symptoms of a cold, which was definitely not good, especially for him, so he had begun to take medications in a hope to stop the cold before it escalated. It didn't seem to be working.
He was also swamped with repairs since they had run through an electric storm which had blown out a good number of systems. Worst of all though was that he was getting hardly anything done since he found it so hard to concentrate. He had been mortified to find out that they had run out of Sparky Colas and couldn't get a new shipment for over a week. Without the almost pure caffeine running through his veins it was almost impossible for Harper to accomplish anything. He felt groggy and unmotivated.
"Least it can't get any worse." Harper stated, just as the fire system kicked in and the room was filled with thick choking gas used to put out ship fires. [[For a super genius you sure aren't too swift, Seamus. You *never* say something like that when you're having a bad day.]] He thought to himself as he called for Andromeda.
"Rommie! Shut down fire safeties, there's no fire!" The gas stopped seeping into the room and Harper was left trying to clear his lungs. Rommie's hologram appeared as he began coughing.
"My sensors indicated a fire hazard." She said in her matter of factly way.
"Yeah, it was just this frigging console blowing up in my face. Nothing to concern yourself with."
Rommie suddenly seemed concerned, "Harper, you don't look very well. Are you getting enough sleep, or have you been pushing yourself too hard on these repairs?"
"It's just caffeine deprivation, I don't feel like my usual charming, genius, self without it. Plus these repairs are taking forever. I'll be okay though, once again, nothing serious." He repeated as he picked up the his tools and moved to another area that needed fixing. Andromeda seemed to accept and disappeared into her systems.
The repairs never seemed to end.
"You know Rommie, you may just be too much for one guy to handle. Even for a super genius such as myself." He said aloud as he worked away at the slipstream driver coils.
"Hmmm, I'll take that as a compliment." The voice echoed through out the room.
"You better." Harper packed away a few of his tools and headed out of Engineering. He needed another dose of whatever medication Trance had been giving him. He began coughing as he entered the Medical Bay, only further proof of his losing battle against his cold.
Trance smiled when he came in and didn't need to ask him what he needed, she knew that it was time for his booster.
"Hello, Harper. How are you?" She asked making conversation.
Harper hopped up on the bed nearby, "Rotten. This could possibly be one of the worst days of my life." Of course it wasn't by a long shot since he had grown up with the atrocities of Earth but he hoped she knew it was a figure of speech.
"That bad huh?" Trance sympathized as she administered his medication.
"You don't know the half of it. In fact you don't know the third or even the fourth of it. And you know what? Just when I think things can't get any worse, they do."
Just then the ship lurched slightly. As if impacted with something.
"All hands to the bridge, we're under attack." Dylan's voice came over the comm.
Trance shot Harper an odd look before she headed out of medical with him behind her.
[[I gotta learn to stop saying that.]] He thought to himself miserably.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What'd I do now?" Harper asked immediately as he stepped onto the command deck followed by Trance. The ship suddenly lurched once more as it was hit again.
"We've encountered a ship emitting a distress call. When we moved in closer they attacked." Dylan explained, ignoring Harper's comment.
"Shields at 50%." Rommie announced.
"Return fire. And try to hail them again." Dylan ordered.
Several shots were fired before Rommie appeared again, "Three direct hits, but they are very well shielded. Still ignoring our hails."
"We must launch an all out assault." Tyr insisted from behind his console.
"Yeah, before they make my job a lot harder." Harper commented as the ship shifted once more from another attack.
Dylan hesitated slightly but knew they were right, "Andromeda, power all weapons and fire when ready."
"Firing." The enemy ship was pummeled with the brunt of Andromeda's full defenses. The species obviously weren't idiots as they made a tactical retreat.
Beka sighed, "Well, that was interesting."
"I'd like to know why they attacked us. Anyone know what species they were?" Dylan enquired.
"Not a nice one?" Harper chimed in.
"I believe they are called the Hasisians. They are very highly advanced but not by their own developments. They are known for their attacks against other worlds, they then steal the race's technology and add it to their own. Normally killing anyone in their path." Rev Bem said solemnly, the others listened closely.
"Oh, that's not nice." Trance pointed out.
"Well, I guess we got off easy then."
"I would not be so sure, Dylan. I've heard that when they fail in an attack against a culture they usually return with a larger arsenal. We should assume the same will be done for us." Rev Bem added.
"We must prepare for attack." Tyr announced strongly.
"I agree. Rev, has anyone ever been able to reason with the Hasisians? Is there anyway for us to avoid another confrontation?"
"I have not heard of anyone who has reasoned with them. There are very few who even manage to survive their assaults." Rev explained.
"Well then, it looks like we may have to fight if they come back. Tyr, I want tactical reports and strategies. Harper I need everything running at top efficiency, we don't need anything unoperational if we fall under attack." Dylan ordered.
Harper nodded, but inwardly groaned, [[There goes that sleep I was looking forward to.]] He thought to himself as he left Command Deck and headed for Engineering, wishing to get started right away.
An hour later Harper felt his eyelids droop, he struggled to force them open but it was a losing battle. He decided to rest his eyes for a few minutes and took off his outer shirt to use it as a pillow. He was asleep in seconds.
"Harper!?"
Harper bolted up and looked around frantically, "I wasn't asleep." He said automatically.
"Yes you were." Rommie replied, a smile hinting on her lips.
"Okay I was, so sue me." Harper wondered how long he'd been asleep, he didn't have a watch so had no way of knowing, but he felt better.
"Here." Rommie held out a hypo. "I brought you your medication, I didn't want to wake you to make you walk several decks to go get it."
"Oh, thanks." Harper took it graciously really wanting to get rid of his cold as soon as possible. "All this technology around us and there's still no sure-fire cure for the common cold." Harper complained as he swiftly started getting back to work. Rommie took back the hypo and left silently.
Shortly after Rommie left Rev Bem came in. "Hey, Rev. What's up?" Harper asked, not turning away from his work.
"Very little. I was curious as to your progress in the repairs."
"Ah, well I've only got a few things left to do and none of them are main systems so I'm almost finished." Harper explained, being very pleased with himself. [[I got everything done and even snuck in a nap. Unless of course Rommie told Dylan I was alseep.]]
"Harper!" Dylan bellowed.
[[Guess she told him.]]
"That's me. The one and only, Seamus Harper, genius extraordinaire. I could've sworn I told you that already." Harper smirked.
"Rommie says you were asleep." Dylan accused him, he wasn't really mad, just curious as why he was napping when things needed to be done.
"Well, I was tired. And I've got this serious Sparky deprivation thing going on." Harper explained. "Not to mention that I'm sick and working like a dog. I think I'm entitled to rest every now and then." He felt somewhat defensive.
"Harper, calm down. I don't mind that you took a break and got some sleep, in fact I encourage it. You have been working hard. But I'd prefer it if you took your breaks in your quarters. This is not the best place to take a nap." Dylan said, gesturing to the many consoles Harper had open.
Harper looked suddenly sheepish, "Good point. Won't happen again. Naps are now strictly to be taken in bed."
Dylan smiled in understanding, "Alright then." He replied and promptly left.
Harper sighed, it had been kinda stupid to fall asleep in Engineering.
"Asleep on the job were we?" Rev enquired, having heard the conversation.
"It's no big deal. Besides, the floor's not all that hard." Rev left smiling as Harper began finishing up his repairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Check it out. A *bed*!" Harper exclaimed to himself as he entered his quarters. He threw his toolbelt to the floor and collapsed, enjoying the comfort and security of the mattress and over fluffy pillows. He cuddled into the bed and sighed in relief. It wasn't that he wasn't getting enough sleep lately, he was just really exhausted with all that had happened. But the repairs were done and he didn't expect anything to break soon, the ship was in good shape. He only had to concentrate on getting over his cold and finding a new Sparky supply. Sleep overtook him easily.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dylan sat on the bridge, thinking intently about the Hasisians. Rev was nearby monitoring the sensors.
"Rev, you say these Hasisians take other race's technology and add it to their own." Dylan asked.
"Yes, they have been known to board ships, take what they wish and leave the ship dead in space." Rev explained, with obvious unapproval in his voice.
"Hmm, but if they take the technology then integrate it into their systems it would be safe to think that they wouldn't know how to repair their own systems properly." Dylan thought aloud.
"Yes, I suppose it would."
Dylan took that into consideration. Rommie suddenly appeared beside him. "I'm experiencing several power surges in my system on decks 8, 9 and 10."
"Cause?" Dylan asked.
"Unknown. Most likely random fluxuations, I haven't had my systems totally overhauled in some time. The power discharge is most likely unbalanced." Rommie explained matter of factly.
"Tell Harper. He should take a look." Rommie nodded and fizzled away into thin air. She reappeared in Harper's quarters.
"Harper, I have several power...." She began speaking as soon as she appeared but stopped when she saw Harper sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of her presence. She considered waking him but noticed the obvious signs of exhaustion and decided to let him sleep, it was nothing serious. She disappeared again, when she was gone Harper smiled to himself. [[There's one way to get out of work.]] He thought as he drifted into oblivion once more.
Rommie reappeared beside Dylan. "Is he on it?" He asked.
"He was asleep, I didn't feel I should wake him. It's hardly a problem, just a slight annoyance."
"Well, he needs to sleep." Dylan said just as the ship lunged to the side. "But he won't be getting any just now. Everyone battlestations." Dylan ordered through the comm link.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harper had the sensation of falling, at first he thought he was dreaming but then felt the accompanying sensation of hitting the ground and having the wind knocked out of him. He gasped for breath as the world spun around him. He looked up at his nice comfy bed and knew he wouldn't be returning for awhile.
"Why me? The minute I finish fixing all this stuff we run into some nasties who just wanna blow it all up again." Harper rambled as he got to feet and made his way to the Engine room. That was where stuff tended to blow up at the least opportune times. "Guy lays down to get forty winks and I'd be lucky if I got one and a half." The ship lurched again just as Harper entered Engineering. He ran over to a console and opened a link to a bridge.
"Hey, it'd make my life a lot easier if you guys would avoid getting us shot." He complained.
"We're working on it, Harper." Beka replied, "Just keep everything running down there."
"You got it boss lady." Harper felt his adrenaline rise and began to work. He didn't need to be told to find a way to get more power to the shields, every time they had a battle that was what they always wanted. He had back up generators ready and various other power sources at the ship's disposal if she needed more power. The ship lurched again and Harper turned his attention to the Slipstream Drive, it always seemed to take the brunt of these sort of attacks.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Andromeda, why didn't we detect the ships?" Dylan bellowed from behind a console.
"The ships are capable of cloaking themselves. They were forced to drop shields to fire and that was when we first detected them."
"How many ships are out there?" Tyr asked as he made his way to the Command Deck.
"I'm detecting at least half a dozen and there may be more cloaked." Rommie replied. The ship was taking a pummeling.
"Alright, we're outta here. Beka." Dylan indicated the pilot's chair which Beka quickly took, ready to go to slipstream.
"Slipstream is unoperational. The aligners have become unstable, we could be ripped apart if we enter slipstream." Rommie explained.
"Evasive maneuvers. Harper, we need slipstream." Dylan announced over the comm.
"I know, I know. I'm working on it. I've got the back up shield power ready when you need it." Harper answered then cut the link.
"Shields at 20%."
"Guess we need it now." Dylan reinforced the shields with the back up Harper had prepared, moving them up to 50%. "How long Harper?"
"Seven minutes if you wanna get precise on me. I'll move faster if you'd stop calling me." He once more severed the com link.
"He has a point." Rev spoke up, agreeing with the Engineer.
"Alright, continue returning fire and feel free to input any suggestions." Dylan's voice had breached the calm barrier, but only slightly.
"Shields at 25%." Rommie announced. "One ship is pulling back, the rest are still in pursuit."
The ship lurched once more, but this time it felt different than the previous ones, "What was that?" Beka asked, still in the Slipstream chair.
"A ship has just docked. They are attempting to enter the ship."
"Don't let them." Dylan reopened the comm link, "Harper ..."
"What did I just say? I'm done when I'm done." Harper sounded slightly annoyed.
"We're being boarded." Dylan explained.
"Well, that's different then." Harper squirmed out from underneath the pile of wires he'd been working at. Consoles and panels were now exploding left and right and the attacks weren't relenting anytime soon. [[Just when you think you've fixed everything, a Hasisian comes along and ruins your day.]]
The ship continued to be pounded by the attacking Hasisians.
"Shields failing." Rommie announced grimly. "The Hasisians have made it onboard."
"It seems we must bring the fight to them." Tyr powered up his force lance and headed off the bridge.
"Oh, this can't be good." Trance almost whimpered. Dylan and Beka both retrieved their forcelances and followed suit.
Down in Engineering, Harper knew a lost cause when he saw one. Half a dozen enemy ships, and they were being boarded. He really didn't like those odds.
"They can come onboard but there's no way I'm letting 'em get control of the strongest warship in the galaxy." Harper promised himself as he jacked into Andromeda's systems through his cerebral port. He was completely oblivious to the world around his physical body as he strolled through Andromeda's mainframe. He quickly began rearranging and locking out systems, leaving only life support and simple things such as door control untouched. Rommie appeared inside the mainframe.
"Harper, what are you doing?"
He didn't stop his work when he answered, "I'm locking out all major systems. I'm not gonna let these Hasisians take control over you if we don't win this."
"Sound reasoning. I appreciate it. Despite your lack of faith in our abilities."
"Rommie, do me a favor. Make sure the doors to Engineering are locked, I want as much time in here as possible."
It took Andromeda only a microsecond to comply.
Tyr, Dylan and Beka walked silently through Andromeda's halls. The barrage of weapons fire from the other ship had stopped when they had been boarded. Dylan motioned for them to stop as he beckoned Andromeda.
"Yes, Dylan."
"How many Hasisians are on board?" Dylan asked as he peaked around a corner cautiously.
"I'm detecting 25 individuals, moving in groups of five around the ship." She replied, although her hologram had never appeared.
"Okay, we stick together. Got it?" Beka and Tyr nodded in agreement as they followed Andromeda's instructions to the nearest group of invaders.
Rommie's image appeared onscreen, "Dylan. Harper is currently working to lock the Hasisians out of all major systems."
"Good, tell him to keep at it. But not to over-ride my access codes."
The trio came to a turn in the hallway and were told the Hasisians were on the other side, five of them. Dylan, Beka and Tyr stood ready against the wall and at Dylan's mark moved out of hiding and began firing on the Hasisians.
"Not good." Beka said as she got her first glimpse of the Hasisians. They were humanoid, but much taller. The largest of the five stood a head taller than Tyr. They were also very well built and Beka got the impression that the entire race was like that. Their eyes were deep slits with glowing red eyes and they all wore their hair long to their shoulders. They were otherwise basically human apart from the webbed fingers and elongated fingernails.
What really worried Beka though were the powerful looking weapons they held and the fact that they appeared to be ready for them and had been in wait. The three of them didn't back down though. They would protect their ship to their last breath if it came to that. They continued firing upon the Hasisians who began to fire back. They were not yet in close enough to engage in hand to hand battle. They took out one of the Hasisians but the remaining four weren't backing down.
"Pathetic humans, this is your resistance." One of the Hasisians mocked.
Tyr became enraged, "Who are you calling a human?" Tyr shot the Hasisian directly in the chest, sending him reeling to the floor unconscious. "Idiot."
Two of the remaining Hesisians continued firing but the third pulled some sort of weapon from a case he was carrying. The other two saw it and immediately backed away from it. Tyr, Dylan and Beka knew that wasn't good but before they could cover a huge flash erupted in the corridor and the trio found themselves bathed in a bright light, then only darkness. The weapon had in fact emitted a wide energy beam that had knocked out the three of them.
The remaining three Hasisians stood triumphantly over the unconscious bodies of Tyr, Dylan and Beka.
"Victory is ours!" The Hasisian with the weapon shouted with joy, just as all the lights in the corridor and throughout the entire deck suddenly went off. Leaving them in pitch black.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The Hasisians didn't know what was happening, one minute it was all systems go, the next they were shrouded in darkness. They didn't have long to think about it though before they were hit with a barrage of laser fire from the darkness.
"Take cover. There must be more of them." The lead Hasisian ordered. They all began firing into nothingness, hoping to hit their attackers. Little did they know their assailant was the ship itself. A number of Andromeda's weapons had been knocked out in the first part of the attack but the battle drones were functional and taking on the Hasisians that were onboard.
Harper continued locking out the systems, he even added a few electrical shock mechanisms so if anyone other than Andromeda's crew tried to use anything they'd be in for a 1000 watt surprise. He had been delayed though when he took time to reactivate the internal defenses and fix them up the best he could from inside the system. It also took skill and time to shut out a system to only a certain number of people and still keep the access codes functional.
"Rommie, how's it going on the front lines?" Harper asked as he worked.
"Dylan, Beka and Tyr are all unconscious, but their vital signs are strong. Trance is in Hydroponics, I believe she intends to guard her plants and Rev Bem is attempting to reach Dylan and the others." Rommie replied, "Half of the battle drones have been disabled and the internal defenses are still partially unoperational."
"Why am I not liking where this is going?" Harper asked rhetorically.
"There is also a group of Hasisians nearing your location. I suggest pulling out soon."
"Thanks for the advice babe, but I'm not done yet." Harper was very determined to do as much damage to these guys as possible.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the ship a Hasisian had managed to gain limited access through a main console. He couldn't control any systems but he was able to fulfill his objective. He downloaded a file into Andromeda's database. Namely a virus. They had stolen it from a practically defenseless race some time ago. It was used to shut down any form of Artificial Intelligience and had come in quite handy in the past. It could also override a large variety of security lockouts.
"Let's see you defend yourselves now." The large man grinned, very pleased with himself.
"Harper, they are at the door to Engineering. You must leave n ......" Rommie was cut off and then suddenly disappeared into thin air.
"Rommie!" Harper didn't know what had happened. He scanned the mainframe but it looked as though her database was simply gone. That was when he detected it, he could feel the virus in the system with him. "Oh no you don't." He located the virus, it was very complex and definitely state of the art. Harper did his best to combat it and managed to gain some ground on eliminating it when the virus detected him.
"Oh, sh*t." Harper felt himself rush back into reality as the virus kicked him out of the system. He knew he was back in Engineering and unjacked himself, without opening his eyes. He felt groggy and his head hurt. "God, this day has sucked, majorly." He looked up to see a group of Hasisians towering over him, guns pointed straight at his skull. [[And just when you think you've been through the worst of it, a group of Hasisians decide to use you as target practice.]]
"Don't suppose you guys just want a tour do you? Cause we only have those on Fridays, but if you were to come back later I'd be glad to," The Hasisians pulled roughly to his feet. "Show you around now." Harper wasn't stupid and had a great instinct for survival, he placed his hands on his heads and walked in the direction he was being led.
[[Coulda been worse, they coulda shot me.]] He thought, trying to somehow look on the bright side. As soon as the thought crossed his mind he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and the sensation of falling returned once more. This time it was followed by only darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dylan paced around the small two person cell. He didn't bother trying to test the forcefield that entrapped him, he knew it's strength and that it was still enforced. He had tried his access codes to drop the field as soon as the guard had left but they weren't responding. Nor was Rommie. Dylan had no idea what could have happened to Rommie, and why Harper hadn't kept his access codes functional.
He had woken up from the blast from the strange energy beam to find himself in the cell. At a quick glance he saw Rev and Tyr in the adjacent room and Beka and Trance next to them. There were also several more empty cells, the brig was built to hold a good number of people, although Dylan had no idea why.
Everyone assured him they were all right. Tyr had made a valiant attempt to break through the force field but to no avail. Dylan had been the last one to wake up and after looking around the room immediately realized they were one short.
"Where's Harper?" No one knew.
So they waited in silence, each trying to think of a way out of their predicament. After a few minutes the door opened and several guards came in.
"Harper!" Trance exclaimed when she saw the engineer with the Hasisians.
Two of the guards were practically carrying Harper, he seemed to be conscious but completely unaware of his surroundings. The guards aimed their weapons casually at Dylan as they let down the force field and threw Harper in, then left. Dylan caught the young engineer before he crashed into the floor.
"Harper, are you okay?" Dylan asked as he helped him stand.
"We should have just given them the tour." Harper replied, his gaze was wandering and unfocused. Dylan immediately checked for a head injury and wasn't surprised to find a large bump on his skull.
Dylan gently walked Harper over to the bed, "Why don't you just lay down for awhile." He suggested.
"Okay." Harper immediately complied and his legs fell out from underneath him. He fully intended to lay down on the floor of the cell and was now more or less unconscious.
Dylan sighed as he pulled Harper to his feet and placed him in the bed. He'd sleep it off shortly.
"Is he okay?" Trance asked worriedly from across the room.
"Yeah, I think he'll be fine. Looks like he just took a shot to the head." Dylan surmised.
"Those sons of ... When I get my hands on them." Beka was looking for some way to vent her frustration.
"Well as much as I agree with you Beka, that's not an option right now. We have to figure a way out of here first." Dylan explained.
"Locked in our own brig. There's somewhat of an irony to that. Didn't the little professor there, say he was locking out systems control? How were they able to gain access to the force grids and other areas?" Tyr pondered, shooting out questions no one knew the answer to.
"I don't know." Dylan admitted, completely in the dark on this one.
"Why don't we just ask Harper?" Trance suggested. Thinking it was logical since he was the last one brought in.
Dylan thought about it for a moment before kneeling by Harper's side and gently slapping his cheek, "Harper, wake up. Come on, open your eyes."
Harper's eyes flickered open but still appeared glazed over, "What?" He asked weakly.
"Harper, what happened to Rommie? How did the Hasisians get control?"
"Rommie's gone." Harper replied as his eyelids began to shut once more.
Everyone was caught a little offguard by that response. Dylan shook Harper a little harder than necessary to keep him awake. "Harper, what do you mean gone?" Harper gave no response as his eyelids drooped once more. Dylan walked over to the sink in the cell and filled a glass with water, then threw it in Harper's face. He sat up with a sudden gasp.
"Holy sh*t! Since when does Andromeda's roof leak?" Harper asked, surprised. He looked around in confusion as he wiped the water from his eyes. "Where am I?"
"You're in the brig with the rest of us. You said something about Rommie disappearing."
"I did? Oh yeah, I was in the mainframe and she was telling me I should boot out then she was just gone. I looked for her but it was as if her program was just wiped." Harper explained, he tried to stand up but when he did the world decided to start spinning around him, but everyone else seemed okay. He decided to sit down again and just hold his head until the little man with the sledgehammer got tired.
"Harper, you okay?" Dylan asked concerned.
"Yeah, my head just hurts like a bitch." Dylan went back over to the sink and filled another glass of water. Harper instinctively brought his arms up to shield himself.
"Hey, I'm awake. No need for another involuntary bath." Dylan rolled his eyes and handed Harper the glass.
"Drink it." Dylan ordered calmly. Harper did so.
"Rather have a Sparky." He said, barely audible.
"Harper, what else happened? AI's don't just disappear." Beka pointed out.
"There was a virus. And I mean a mega mondo super virus. This thing was state of the art, it kicked me out of the system before I could get rid of it. Then I looked up into the not so happy faces of a group of Hasisians." Harper rubbed the back of his neck where he had been struck earlier.
"So the virus gave them access to all the systems. Great, just great." Beka announced and began pacing her cell.
"Hey, what have I told you before? Trust in the Harper, the Harper is good." He smirked. "That virus may have been mega bad but it was no match for the Harper. There's no way they got full systems control. I put up some mother safeguards around those. They can't use weapons, they can't enter slipstream and they can't access any classified files." Harper announced proudly.
"Well, that's something. If they can't do anything with the ship they may just take her essential parts and leave her adrift in space." Dylan speculated.
"Rev, didn't you say they uh usually killed the people they steal technology from?" Trance asked, somewhat sheepishly.
"Yes, it is what the Hasisians are best known for." Rev replied.
"Oh, just wondering."
"Harper, if you could get back into the system do you think you could take out the virus, without Rommie's help?" Dylan asked.
Harper thought about if for a moment, "No prob, give me enough time. I may even be able to get Rommie back online. I don't think they wiped her out of the system, I think they just kinda supressed her so she couldn't do anything."
"Well, that would be wonderful. But how shall we get Master Harper back into Andromeda's systems?" Rev enquired.
"I'm thinking." Dylan announced as he began pacing once more.
Harper layed back down, his head still hurt, the others stood around pondering their next move. Several minutes passed in silence.
"Achoo!" Harper sneezed loudly, everyone just stared at him. "What? I'm sick."
Before anyone could reply the doors to the brig opened and several large gun toting Hasisians came in, they were followed by an unarmed Hasisian who looked to be very much in charge. The leader headed straight for Dylan and Harper's cell.
"I am Hylar Devet. I'm in charge of this operation. This is a very fine ship you used to have Captain."
"Dylan Hunt, of the Highguard Command. What do you want with my ship and crew?"
"Well, I've decided that the infamous Andromeda would be worth much more intact than as spare parts for our ships. I plan to command her myself. As for your crew, I haven't decided yet. You've undoubtedly made many enemies on your journey, I suspect there must be someone out there willing to pay a price for your head." Hylar grinned, well it looked like a grin it was hard to tell.
"Yes, there would be. But I think you'll find most our enemies are dead or across the galaxy." Dylan replied. His confidence never wavered.
"That's unimportant for the time being. We released a virus into your ship's system, it should have given us complete control, but it hasn't."
"Well that's a real shame." Harper said sarcastically. The Hasisian glared at him and his red eyes glowed slightly brighter. Harper backed up slightly.
Hylar returned his attention to Dylan, "You will give me the access codes for this ship or I will kill your crew." It was obvious he was completely serious.
Dylan held his ground as firm as ever, "Well your virus must be very efficient then, my access codes are unfunctional. If they weren't, don't you think I would have used them by now."
Hylar seemed to accept this and nodded. "What's wrong, can't get the motor started? Maybe you should get out and push." Harper suggested with a cocky grin. The rest of the crew inwardly sighed, knowing Harper's mouth had a tendency to get him in trouble.
Hylar backed away from the force grid and motioned for his guards to keep their guns at ready. He then lowered the barrier. "Take the smaller one." He ordered calmly.
Harper visibly paled, knowing he was the smaller one, and backed as far into the cell as possible. These guys were big and meant business. "Hey, I was just joking. Don't you guys have humor where you come from?" The two guards grabbed Harper's arms roughly and wrenched them behind his back as they led him out of the cell. Harper turned to Dylan for some kind of help but he was held at close gun point with no chance of being missed if he tried anything. The rest of the crew were clearly worried and Tyr and Beka were becoming increasingly angry.
The guards hauled Harper from the cell and replaced the force field. He was brought face to face with Hylar. Well as close as possible since Hylar towered over Harper by at least a foot and half, as did most the other Hasisians. [[That cell has never looked better.]] Harper thought to himself as he stared upwards into the eyes of the angry Hasisian.
"You are the one who sabotaged the ship." It was a statement, not a question.
"Who? Me? Now, do I look like the kinda guy who would know how to do something like that? Please, I grew up on Earth, you think I have any engineering capabilities whatsoever?" Harper tried to dissuade the large man, although he was hating not being able to gloat about his super genius.
"Yes, I do." Hylar twisted Harper's head to the side roughly, exposing his cerebral port. "I believe you know more than you're letting on." Harper opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Hylar. "Do not deny it, my men saw you interfaced with the systems. Now you will fix the damage you did to this ship." He ordered sternly.
"How about, no!? Screw you pal, I'm not doing anything for you or your ugly pals." Hylar motioned almost imperceptively and the guards released Harper's arms. Then out of nowhere Hylar backfisted Harper hard across the jaw. He stumbled back and slammed into the wall. He knew that since there weren't any windows in this room, it probably wasn't a good thing that he was seeing stars. Hylar moved closer and grabbed Harper around the collar and slammed him into the wall again.
"You will repair this ship, or everyone of them will die. Shall we start with the females?" A guard drop the force field entrapping Beka and Trance and seemed prepared to shoot them then and there.
"No! I'll fix it." Harper shouted and sighed in relief when the guard backed off and reactivated the grid. Harper stared up into Hylar, his eyes showing fury, "But if you hurt one hair on their heads I swear I'll blow this ship up and make sure I take you with it."
Hylar grinned sadistically and then punched Harper hard in the stomach. Harper had the wind knocked out of him and doubled over. "Noted." Hylar said cruelly as he tossed Harper to two waiting guards. "Take him to Engineering and watch him closely." Harper was still gasping for air as the guards dragged him from the room.
"It takes a man of great strength to use his power to force those weaker than himself to do what he wishes." Tyr said calmly, obviously mocking the Hasisian leader.
"A Nietzschean, you're one to talk. Don't make me kill you." Hylar smirked confidently as he left, followed by his guards. The crew of the Andromeda was left to think over their current situation.
Trance sat down on her bed and whimpered softly, "Poor Harper." Beka instinctively sat down beside her.
"They won't hurt him, Trance. They need him to fix the ship." Dylan tried to reassure her.
"They already hurt him." She whispered. "Do you think he's really gonna fix the ship for them?"
"Knowing Harper he will most likely attempt to fool them somehow. I would wager he is more intent on finding a way to regain control of the ship than to actually fix it. And if it's true these Hasisians know next to nothing about advanced technology it would be a safe bet he would be able to delude them of his actions." Tyr explained, trying to think as Harper would, which was more difficult than it seemed.
Trance smiled, "Yeah, Harper will get us out." Everyone else remained silent.
Onward To Part 2!
To Diana McCallum's Fan Fiction
Home