Silence and Tears
sethoz

Part One: Greetings

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Satrina was not used to being afraid. But there was no other way to describe how she felt at this moment.

 

"You failed him." The female voice was low and silky, yet Satrina shuddered. She bowed her head in submission.

 

"I will not fail him again," she said, risking a glance upwards. She was faced by an amused smile.

 

"That's true. You won't," the other female said, raising a gun. Satrina's eyes widened.

 

"No-" she pleaded, her hands wide. The gun fired. There was a scream followed by a thud. The killer stepped over Satrina's cooling body and stared down at it.

"The Spirit of the Abyss had decided that Mr. Harper will be of more use than you. Therefore your…contract is terminated." The shadowy female smiled and dropped the gun.

 

"I will not fail as you did," she assured the dead body.

 

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"Incoming transmission, Captain," Andromeda's hologram said. Dylan looked up.

 

"Well, let's hear it," he said. The screen flickered and changed to reveal a red haired woman, a smile on her face as she looked at them.

 

"Do I have the pleasure of addressing Captain Hunt?" she asked.

 

Dylan raised an eyebrow. "You do."

 

"My name is ambassador Lintar. I represent the people of Herazed. May I come aboard?" she asked.

 

Dylan turned to Rommie who nodded slightly.

 

"Of course, Ambassador, we would be glad to receive you. If you don't mind me asking why do you want to come aboard?"

 

"Why, I should have thought that obvious. My planet wishes to join your commonwealth," Lintar said. Her gaze swept over all the crew members, before fixing on Harper. "Lintar out." The screen went black.

 

"Okay, was it just me or did someone else get the hebe jebes off her?" Harper complained. Beka looked faintly surprised.

 

"Why, Harper, I'm surprised at you, I thought you liked any female," she said. Harper raised his hands in mock surrender.

 

"Hey, I didn't say she wasn't a babe. Just that I think she's a little…off," he said. "I'll be in the Machine shop." 

 

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Lintar leaned back. Everything was going as planned. The fools on the Andromeda believed her, just as she knew they would. And while the Nietzschean would be untrusting, he would not act until it was too late.

 

She would not waste time by trying to tempt Harper on board the Andromeda. No, she would simply go in and take him, then deal with him at her leisure. In the back of her mind she heard the faint music of the Spirit of the Abyss and shuddered.

 

No, she would not fail.

 

Seamus Zelazny Harper would belong to the Spirit of the Abyss, heart and soul.

 

And she, Lintar, would be right there when it happened.

 

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Lintar stood and waited. This was it, this was the moment that would tell her if she had tricked them. From what she had heared of Captain Hunt, the moment she had cut the transmission, he would have called up information on her planet so as to be able to greet her in the right way.

 

Lintar just hoped that she could remember the right way too. Her mind drifted back to the body of the real Ambassador. It was a pity really that she had been forced to kill the woman, but such losses were only to be expected for the greater good of the Spirit of the Abyss. Her mind snapped back to the here and now as the doors slid open to reveal Captain Hunt and the AI of the Andromeda…

 

Rommie, it was called.

 

This would be interesting.

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"Wow, she is truly a babe," Harper said to himself, looking at a recording of Ambassador Lintar. "Hello? What's this?" he asked, his attention drawn from her…large assets, to the side of her neck.

 

"Is that a data port? Why yes, Harper, it is, however did you notice something small like that? Are you a genius or what?" he said smiling. "Why, Harper, thank you for the lovely compliment. I just have good eyes."

 

"Harper? Who are you talking to?" Trance asked. Harper jumped and turned to face her.

 

"Woah, my purple princess! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" he complained. "If you must know, I was simply complementing myself on my amazing eye sight. Miss Ambassador has herself a data port," Harper said.

 

Trance frowned and peered at the frozen picture.

 

"I don't think I really like her," she said. "Don't talk to her and don't believe her. No matter what she says," Trance said, her face completely serious. Harper raised his eyebrows.

 

"What are you talking about?" he asked. Trance shrugged her shoulders as Harper turned away to look back at the picture.

 

"I would so do what she says…Trance? Trance?" he asked, looking over his shoulder. The female was gone. "Oh great."

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"Trance," Dylan said, a smile on his face. "What can I do for you?" The two were walking along one of Andromeda's many corridors. Trance looked around her before leaning closer to Dylan.

 

"I don't trust Lintar."

 

"Trance, you haven't even met her yet," Dylan said. "Don't worry, everything will be fine." He walked on , leaving Trance standing there, a small frown on her face.

 

"No, it won't."

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Lintar paced backwards and forwards in the quarters given to her, a frown on her face. This was not part of the plan, she had been given a tour of all the ship and had yet to see the elusive Mr. Harper. She rubbed at her right arm in anger.

 

Time was running out.

 

"Um…Ship? Miss?" she asked, putting on an innocent voice. There was a small 'fizz' and the hologram appeared.

"Yes, Ambassador?" she asked.

 

"I've met all your wonderful crew, but something puzzles me. Who fixes you? Are you so advanced you can fix yourself?" she asked.

 

"I have an engineer, called Mr. Harper," the Hologram replied primly. Lintar nodded, giving a little inward grin.

 

"One engineer? For the whole of your amazing ship? Amazing. May I meet him?" she said. The hologram hesitated. She was very protective of Harper and there was something about this woman that she didn't trust. After a split second gasp she nodded and the doors to Lintar's quarters opened. Rommie stood outside.

 

"Harper is in Machine Shop Three. Let me escort you," she said. Lintar smiled, a grateful smile.

 

"Thank you."

 

The walk was conducted in silence. Finally they reached the machine shop and the doors skimmed open. Harper looked up from the machine he was working on.

 

"Rommie babe! What can I do for you?"

 

"Ambassador Lintar, this is Mr. Harper," Rommie said. Lintar stepped forward, her right hand extended, a wolfish smirk on her face. Harper took the offered hand gently, his attention caught by the large bracelet she wore. It was silver, with red at either end. He pulled his mind back to the here and now with effort. He was still standing there, his hand in Lintar's own.

 

"Nice to have met you, Mr. Harper. Do you spend a lot of time here?" Lintar asked. Harper nodded, still slightly shaken by what just happened… What ever it was. Lintar turned to Rommie.

 

"Thank you. I don't suppose you could show me to my ship? I left some information there that I will need for the negotiations." The android nodded and Lintar looked back at Harper.

 

"Thank you as well, Mr. Harper. I'm sure you and I will get on fine…" she said before walking out after Rommie. She hurried along the corridor after her, still rubbing at her arm where her bracelet was. It was starting to be a problem but if she wore it as it really looked then someone was bound to notice it and her plan would be ruined.

Harper stared after her, a bemused expression on his face. He gave a slight, unknowing shudder then returned to his work.

 

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Lintar slipped inside her ship, after saying a polite goodbye to Rommie. She had no doubt that the ship would monitor her carefully but she was ready for that. Taking a deep, unneeded breath she picked up her plug-in wire and connected herself to her ship.

 

The inside of her ship was dark, as it had always been. She looked around.

 

"Open file Lintar 1 Harper 0," she said in a cold voice. There was a rush of air as if someone had blasted at her then three aliens appeared.

 

"The countdown begins now. In 40 minutes you will invade the ship. Your targets are everyone on this ship excluding the engineer Mr. Harper. If you encounter him, do not harm him in any way. The Spirit would be most displeased if he was harmed before he is ready. Kill if you want. After I have removed the human and left the ship, you will leave in your own vessel. Understood?" she asked bristly.

 

The others nodded. Lintar clasped her hands together.

 

"Good."

 

There was another rush of air past her face and she was out of the system. The red head picked up the papers she had come to collect and exited the ship, making her way back to her quarters.

 

Now to simply stay in there until the alarm was given. The 40 minutes passed without incident. Finally, the alarms blared out, warning of intruders. She stood up and pulled a slip of metal from her bracelet. It was something that Harper himself would have recognized.

 

A tesseract generator. Lintar smiled then simply vanished.

 

Her plan had begun. 

        TBC

 

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