Vengeance
erin chase

 

Part One: Teaser

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“You may be able to forget the past, but the past will never forget you.”

- Kelisian Proverb

 

The evening sky on Autriva rivaled all other sunsets that Harper had ever seen. Oranges and purples rioted with pinks and reds, making the entire planet glow. Sadly, Harper once again found himself staring not at the view but into nothingness. He was alone in the guest chamber of the Enyan hall, where Beka and Dylan were playing diplomats to two warring colonies. Harper had only his memories for company. They were bad memories, although recently he kept struggling to find any good ones at all. This date always punished him. It had been six years now.

 

Harper kicked the balcony door and looked around the room for anything that would keep his mind from reliving that day again. Maybe he should go to the negotiations....no, he wasn’t wanted there. Usually on this day some life or death situation would come up and Harper wouldn’t  have to remember. Last year it was that whole ordeal with the Tesseract machine and those damn magog larvae.

 

The sound of someone entering thankfully pulled him from his thoughts. “Thank god, I thought you guys would be in there for hours,” he said, turning around, but stopped when he saw a face he’d sooner forget.

 

“Hello, Seamus.”

 

______________________________________________

 

 

Beka screwed up her face and, as politely as she could, spit out the food that she had just bitten into.

 

Dylan laughed beside her. “You know, I don’t think the Enyans or the Setrinians would appreciate that, Beka,” he said, still keeping his ‘everything’s-just-great’ mask on.

 

“I took it didn’t I? I didn’t think they would try to poison me!” Beka retaliated. “Besides I don’t think a rude gesture is going to break up the Enyans and the Setrinians. Look at them, you’d think they were never at war.”

 

Dylan and Beka stood in a grand hall filled with hundreds of colonists from Autriva. An hour ago they were divided into two factions that wouldn’t stop trying to attack one another, but Dylan soon sorted that out. As it happened both the Setrinians and the Enyans were extremely persuasive and Dylan had talked them into ‘making up’ in a matter of hours. Now, as Beka said, they looked like the best of friends.

 

“Where’s Harper, I thought you said he’d come if there was free food?” Dylan asked.

 

“I’m not sure. He’s been a little...off lately,” Beka answered.

 

“I noticed,” Dylan replied. Harper had been quieter of late, spending more and more time in the machine shop. Beka had hoped some shore-leave would help.

 

“I don’t know, sometimes I just don’t get that guy,” she commented. “I’ll go find him. A party would do him good,” she said, then added “Don’t worry I’ll try not to let him make too many rude gestures. Or jokes. Or comments....in fact it might be best if we just not let him speak.” She added, then left to find Harper.

 

______________________________________________

 

The dark-haired woman closed the door behind her gently. It took a moment for Harper to realize who it was. Her hair had changed and she wore different clothes but her voice was the same. It still tore at his skin and made his heart pound. Harper tensed and stumbled backwards. He had not seen Lane Farrow in years and he had hoped he never would again. It was no secret that Harper had a terrible past, and was a victim of innumerable atrocities. But there were other times that he had never spoken of, not even to Beka or Trance. Times when he hadn’t been the victim. Lane Farrow was a symbol of everything Harper would sooner forget.

 

“What...what are you doing here?” Harper uttered, panicking.

 

“Aren’t you happy to see me, Seamus?” Lane asked. “I would have thought after six sterile years away from me you would be dying for a fix.”

 

“No. I’m not that person any more,” Harper denied cautiously.

 

“Don’t feed me that crap, you know I never had a taste for your lies,” Lane spat back. “What was it you said the last time we met? ‘I’m just going to get your money’?”

 

Harper stammered. “I....I don’t...”

 

“Oh, it’s okay. I wasn’t that bothered about the money. But you lied to me, Seamus. And then, then you left me to rot in that hell while you went off with your little friends on that laughable excuse for a ship,” the woman seethed.

 

Harper kept his eyes on her. Lane was unpredictable to say the least and she had a wild temper. Harper had learned to always keep his guard up around her. He silently tried to remember where he had placed his sidearm, but Lane’s words were cutting through him like light through dark. Lane was possibly the only other living person that knew what Harper had been trying to forget for six years.

 

“And to top it off,” Lane continued. “I had to hear about all the wild and wacky adventures of the Andromeda Ascendant and her crew. You’ve become quite the little explorer. Tell me, do your new friends know who you really are? Do they know the Seamus Harper that I had the privilege of knowing?” Harper was silent. “No, of course they don’t. Why would you want anyone to know that?”

 

“What do you want?” he asked.

 

“What do you want?” Lane replied quickly. “You can’t expect me to believe you’re happy on that ship. I know you better than that. You know I can help you.”

 

Harper shook his head. “No. I’m happy now, I left all my problems behind on Carna.”

 

Lane approached him slowly. Harper recoiled but he was backed up against a wall. Lane leaned in closely, until Harper could feel her warm breath upon his neck. She lingered for a moment and then whispered. “You didn’t leave me behind.”

 

______________________________________________

 

Beka rounded the corner and thought nothing of the dark-haired woman walking slowly at the opposite end of the corridor. She reached the guest room to find the door ajar.

 

“Harper?” she called, pushing the door open.

 

To say she was unprepared for the sight that awaited her was a horrific understatement. Harper was slumped against the wall, blood drizzling from a wound to his chest with his gun beside him. He was completely still.

 

Part Two: Mysteries

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“Some time in the future we look back on this day and wonder why we were so blind.”

- ‘The Sun and the Dying,’ Serti Mentina

 

 

Beka rushed over to Harper’s side and checked for a pulse. She found one, thank god, it was faint but it was there. “Dylan,” she called over the comm.

 

“Go ahead,” Dylan replied over the noise of the celebration. Something about Beka’s voice bothered him, and he soon found out why when she answered.

 

“Harper’s been shot.”

______________________________________________

 

Dylan walked at a steady pace to the guest room, his calm demeanour now deathly serious. Beside him Lieutenant Druan, the Enyan security officer, was relaying what security checks were being carried out.

 

“Captain, I don’t see how we can lock down the hall, practically everyone from the planet is here! Besides, the shooter may have already left....”

 

“Good point. Are there any ships in your docking port?” Dylan asked.

 

“A few, yes, some of our colonists run cargo.” Druan replied.

 

“Prevent them from taking off. No-one leaves this hall, no-one leaves this planet, understood?” Dylan ordered. Since the Enyans and Setrinians had quite recently become members of the Commonwealth, he was free to do so.

 

Dylan reached the guest room just as Harper was being taken out on a stretcher. Beka was right beside him. “Beka, what happened?”

 

“I have no idea, I found him like this, there’s was no-one else around.”

 

Dylan turned to Druan again. “You monitor these corridors, right?”

 

“I’ll get right on it.” Druan answered, anticipating Dylan’s question.

 

“Is he going to be alright?” Dylan asked a doctor.

 

“I’m not sure, please, I need room to work,” he replied, and gently pushed Dylan out of the way. There was a medical facility built into the hall, and the doctors were taking Harper there.

 

Beka stayed behind with Dylan. “It doesn’t look good,” she said, clearly distressed, but also angry. “Why would someone do this?”

 

“I have no idea. Harper wasn’t a threat to anyone,” Dylan said. “Don’t worry, we’ll find out who did this.”

 

“I’m going to stay with Harper.”

 

“There’s still a threat here. As soon as he’s stable we’ll take him back to Andromeda,” Dylan told her. He deliberately avoided the word ‘if’, so not to alarm Beka, and to keep from considering the possibility that Harper could die. From what he saw the wound was pretty bad, but the doctors would help him. The colonists were renowned for their medical expertise. They had to save him.

______________________________________________

 

“Come on Harper, don’t you dare do this,” Beka muttered under her breath as she watched almost the entire medical staff work on Harper. It had been twenty minutes now. Twenty minutes of torture, with no-one telling her what was happening.

 

“Beka,” Dylan’s voice came over the comm. “How’s he doing?”

 

“I don’t know, it’s not looking too great, Dylan,” Beka replied solemnly. “Have you told the others yet?”

 

“No, the comms are still being disrupted by the atmosphere,” Dylan replied.

 

“Have you found out who did this yet?”

 

“Not yet, I’m going through the monitors footage with Druan now.”

 

“Find them, Dylan,” Beka said through gritted teeth. No-one did this to a member of her crew. Her friend.

 

“We will. Out.”

 

Suddenly the noise from inside the operating room became more urgent. Beka’s heart jumped as she heard someone say “His heart’s stopped, quickly get the shock-pads!”

 

There were too many people in the room for Beka to see what was going on but as one of them moved she caught a glimpse of his face. He was so pale, so still. Then he shuddered as a jolt went through his body.

 

“No good, again” Someone said.

 

Beka could not take her eyes away from the horrifying scene. “Don’t even think about dying, Seamus, or so help me god I will find you in the afterlife and kick your ass.”

 

______________________________________________

 

Onboard the Andromeda no-one had any idea of what was conspiring on Autriva. Tyr was exercising. He was invited to the negotiations, but considered them pointless as Autriva was populated by only three hundred or so ‘whining cowards’ as he had called them.

 

Trance and Rommie were in Command.

 

“Do you think the negotiations are going well?” Trance asked as she watched over the beautiful planet below on the viewscreen.

 

“There’s no reason to believe otherwise,” Rommie replied.

 

“Except for the consistently bad track record of Dylan and negotiations,” Trance corrected.

 

“Well there is that,” Rommie replied, smiling. “Then again, we’re about due for - ” she began, then stopped mid-sentence.

 

“Rommie? Are you okay?” Trance asked, concerned.

 

Rommie had to steady herself before she replied. “Something is taking over my neural pathways....” she said urgently.

 

“What? What is it?”

 

“It’s a program...I never knew it was there, it’s somehow activated...I can’t stop it....”

 

“I knew it was a bad idea for Harper to go down to that planet,” Trance said as she approached.

 

“No, don’t come near me....whatever this program is it isn’t good....you have to - ” Trance continued her approach cautiously as she saw Rommie’s eyes roll into the back of her head.

 

“Rommie?”

 

The avatar was now motionless, staring into nothing. “Andromeda?” Trance asked, and Holo-Rommie appeared.

 

“This is very odd. The connection between us seems to have been severed,” she told Trance.

 

“What’s wrong with her?”

 

“I don’t know,” Andromeda replied, perplexed.

 

Then suddenly Rommie snapped into action and lunged at Trance, who couldn’t help but yell. Rommie had her hands clasped around Trance’s throat. Trance struggled against the AI’s grip, but she was considerably stronger. Andromeda promptly hailed Tyr, who arrived just in time. He had to pry Rommie’s fingers from around Trance’s throat and flung her away. She got up and ran out of Command.

 

“Okay. What did I miss?”

 

Part Three: Control

______________________________________________

 

“It is the most awesome and terrifying thing that so much can change in a solitary moment.”

- First line of the Belesen Accounts

CY 907

 

 

Beka was so engrossed in what was happening in the operating room that she barely noticed the doctor exit and approach her.

 

“Miss Valentine?”

 

Beka was startled. “Oh, yes, what’s going on?”

 

“We managed to restart his heart, but the wound was severe. I’m afraid your friend is in a coma.”

 

Beka was shocked. A coma wasn’t death, but it was hardly good news. “A coma? Wh...Will he wake up from it?” she asked, on the verge of panic.

 

“There really isn’t any way to tell. I’m very sorry,” the doctor said.

 

Beka said nothing for a while. “Is he stable enough to go back to Andromeda?”

 

“Well I wouldn’t recommend it but....”

 

“He needs to be home,” Beka interjected.

 

“Of course.” The doctor smiled compassionately and left Beka alone.

 

Dylan joined her soon after. After inquiring about Harper’s condition he told Beka about how he had been getting on.

 

“The tapes from the corridors have been messed up by some idiot in the monitoring room. They’re sorting them out now. Druan is insisting the Enyan and Setrinians will pull together to help find the shooter. They consider this a great ‘opportunity’ to work in unison.”

 

“What?” Beka said, appalled. Her friend was lying there near death and the idiotic colonists were still having a ball? Unbelievable. “Let’s get off this damn rock and go home.”

 

______________________________________________

 

“I’ve trapped my avatar in a section of corridor on deck 6,” Holo-Rommie told Tyr and Trance.

 

“This program she was talking about. Could it be some kind of virus?” Tyr suggested.

 

“Sabotage?” Trance said, still rubbing her throat. “No-one has been onboard in weeks.”

 

“It could easily have been on a time delay,” Andromeda said. “If so, it could have been planted at any time.”

 

“Wonderful,” Tyr said sarcastically. “If your avatar has been compromised it’s safe to assume that you could have been as well.”

 

“It is possible,” Andromeda admitted.

 

“When Harper gets back he can check you out,” Trance reassured.

 

“Good timing. The Maru has just left Autriva.”

 

______________________________________________

 

Trance appeared on the viewscreen of the Maru where Dylan was piloting the ship. “Trance, we have a situation,” he told her.

 

“What a coincidence,” Trance grimly replied.

 

______________________________________________

 

The Maru docked and Dylan and Tyr met Tyr and Trance in med-deck to exchange stories. The atmosphere was tense as Dylan relayed all the information he had. “Druan will contact us as soon as he gets any information, but I’ll go down to the planet to co-ordinate the investigation after we’ve sorted out the problem with Rommie. What exactly is the problem with Rommie?”

 

“She said a program was taking over her neural pathways and she couldn’t shut it off. Then she suddenly tried to strangle me. Andromeda has her secured on deck 6,” Trance replied, though her mind was on Harper. She had made him as comfortable as she could, but medically there was little that could be done. Harper was in a coma and he might never wake up.

 

“Let’s go and talk to her, see if she’s regained control,” Dylan suggested, but before they could leave Holo-Rommie appeared in the room.

 

“Dylan, my avatar is accessing my systems from a control panel, she’s trying to introduce whatever that program was into my systems.”

 

The others broke into a run.

 

______________________________________________

 

“Rommie goes nuts and the only person skilled enough to fix her is in a coma. You thinking what I’m thinking?” Beka shouted as she ran beside Dylan to deck 6.

 

“I’m thinking we need to get to Rommie before she turns the entire ship against us,” Dylan replied.

 

“That’s what I was thinking,” Tyr said from behind them.

 

Andromeda’s voice came over the comm. “Dylan, it’s too late I can’t...can’t stop....”

 

Suddenly the lights flickered. Dylan and the others stopped. “Andromeda? Can you hear me?”

 

The silence that followed served as their answer and the whir of the internal defenses coming online evicted any doubt that was left behind. “GET DOWN!” Dylan yelled as the firing began.

 

Trance and Beka dived behind one wall and Tyr and Dylan behind another. “Okay, this isn’t good.” Beka shouted.

 

“What do we do?!” Trance asked.

 

Before anyone could answer Andromeda’s voice once again came over the comm, but no-one was prepared for what she was about to  say. “Preparing to fire on Autriva colonies.”

 

“What?!” Dylan exclaimed.

 

“We have to get to Command and try manual override!” Dylan shouted.

 

Getting to Command was not exactly a walk in the park, since Andromeda’s internal defenses wouldn’t stop firing upon the four crewmembers, but they made it relatively unharmed. Just as Dylan approached the main console, Druan’s face appeared on the screen.

 

“Captain, I’m transmitting the data we have to you now, I - ” Druan began, failing to notice that Dylan was a little busy.

 

“Druan, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to get back to you,” Dylan said, working furiously to try and regain control of Andromeda. He cut Druan off and tried entering his code.

 

“Andromeda, stand down your weapons, authorization Hunt 45 Beta 9,” Dylan tried.

 

Andromeda’s image appeared on the screen next to the main viewer. “Authorization denied. Firing.”

 

Part Four: Far From Dreams

______________________________________________

“Control; We think we have it, we struggle to keep it but the truth is we never really had it at all.”

- Histian Tuk-Palyn, philosopher

CY 4592

 

 

The explosions seemed to happen in slow-motion. An uproar of fire and debris swept the colonies and burnt the life from the planet in one swoop, like a match being struck. Dylan was still in a state of shock. Andromeda had just murdered hundreds of colonists for nothing, but he was on automatic. Despite his emotions he had to be a Captain.

 

“Shipwide. All crew, use the escape pods and get as far away from the ship as you can. Contact the nearest Commonwealth vessel and inform her that Andromeda is compromised,” Dylan heard himself say.

 

“Trance, go and lock down sickbay, make sure Harper is safe. Beka, stay here and see if you can get back my ship. Druan sent some files,  check them out, there might be something there. Tyr and I will find and secure Rommie, try and figure out what’s wrong.”

 

______________________________________________

 

Trance ducked and dodged her way back to med-deck and found that Harper was safe. Still unconscious, but safe. She sat beside his still form and wondered how things would turn out. “We need you Harper,” she whispered. “Please come back to us.”

 

Harper may have been sleeping but his mind was far from dreams. He was lost in memories.

 

Six years ago, Carna

______________________________________________

 

Though the planet was named after a goddess, Carna was far from beautiful. In fact, it was probably the furthest from beautiful you could get. It was home to the lowest of the low, meeting place for every criminal, drug dealer and junkie in all the galaxies, and it was the home of Seamus Harper. He never intended to end up here. No-one who lived on Carna did, but somehow when your life turned to crap, it’s was where you found yourself.

 

“You’re a mess, Seamus,” Lane Farrow told the wreck of a man sitting before her.

 

“Yeah whatever, just give it,” Harper snapped.

 

“No need to be rude,” Lane replied, toying with him. “We’re friends aren’t we?” Harper stared at her with dilated, wild eyes and Lane knew that he was in no mood for jokes. “You got my credit?” she asked.

 

“Not on me, but come on, Lane, you know I’m good for it,” Harper replied quickly.

 

“No credit, no deal. You’ve been coming to me long enough to know that.” Lane dismissed him and got up from the table.

 

Harper screwed up his eyes and tried to stop shaking. He leapt up from his seat and grabbed Lane’s arm. “Please, please, I just need a little, we’re friends right?” He laughed nervously.

 

“Alright, alright. But you’d better have my credit for me next time we meet, you understand?” Lane stated clearly. Harper was just one of the many pathetic fools that depended on her to fuel their disgusting habits. She supposed she depended on them too, to keep her in business.

 

“Yeh, yeah I understand,” Harper replied impatiently.                              

 

Lane reached into her pocket and handed him a small thin bottle filled with clear liquid.

 

Harper took it from her. “No, this isn’t enough I need more.”

 

“That’s all you’re getting until I get my credit. Now get out of my sight before my associates force you to.”

 

Harper exited the bar, clutching the needle so tightly his knuckles were white. But no sooner had he crept into a nearby alley, three large men pushed him to the ground.

 

One of them picked him up by the throat. “Hand over everything you’ve got.”

 

“Screw you,” Harper spat.

 

On Carna, no-one was your friend. No-one helped anyone else. And no-one came to Harper’s aid as he was beaten to the ground.

 

______________________________________________

 

After the others had gone, Beka began checking the files Druan had transmitted before the colonies were destroyed. She figured she should utilize the systems before it was too late.

 

It seemed the footage from the corridors had been found. Beka watched the screen intently as a dark-haired woman entered Harper’s room after taking a look around. It was only a few minutes before she left again, but that was still enough time for her to have shot Harper. Beka froze the image on the woman’s face. A second file appeared on the screen adjacent to the still.

 

Druan must have dug up her file. It seemed the woman’s name was Lane Farrow, though she went by many aliases. She had a criminal record which among other things, listed that she was once resident on Carna before being arrested for murder.

 

Beka wondered.... She checked up on all of her acquaintances back in the day, and she knew Harper had once lived on Carna, though in all their years of friendship he had never mentioned it so much as once. What if this woman was someone Harper knew? What if Harper getting shot and Andromeda’s malfunctioning weren’t related at all, but just an unfavourable coincidence?

 

It suddenly dawned on Beka that this woman might have left before Andromeda destroyed the colonies, but as she went to scan for other ships she noticed Andromeda’s weapons reactivating. She was targeting the escape pods. She was going to slaughter her own crew!

 

Beka sprung into action and did the only thing that she could think of to stop Andromeda. She jumped in the pilot’s chair and prayed to god that Slipstream was still under manual control.

 

______________________________________________

 

Dylan and Tyr had reached deck 6 and had been looking for Rommie. They figured since she and Andromeda were now on the same side, she would have been released. As they made their way around the deck they realized that Andromeda didn’t have complete control of her systems, even the ones she had restricted the access to. While this program took her over, it appeared it wasn’t that sophisticated.

 

“Damn it, we’ve been round twice now,” Dylan exclaimed after he leaned round the corner to shoot another defense gun but found it was already disabled.

 

“If she’s trying to access the rest of the ship, perhaps she went to the Slipstream core,” Tyr suggested.

 

“Okay, let’s head there,” Dylan agreed.

 

“Then again,” Tyr said from behind him. “She may be trying to finish personally what her internal defenses have failed to do.”

 

“You think she’ll come for us?”

 

“I think she has gone quite insane, so it is a possibility that she has dismantled herself after setting off the auto-destruct.”

 

“Thanks. That’s a lot of help Tyr,” Dylan said sarcastically, but the mood swiftly changed when Dylan stepped out of the way to reveal Rommie standing before them with a force lance.

 

Part Five: Time Will Tell

______________________________________________

 

“90% of the time, the most likely answer is the right one. The other 10%? Good luck.”

- Captain Tersjii Dinjin of the Credus Imperial Fleet

CY 8776

 

“Behind you!” Tyr shouted as he went for his weapon. Dylan ducked out the way and did the same.

Rommie’s force lance was aimed perfectly at Tyr’s heart. Suddenly the ship shuddered and Rommie was caught off guard. Tyr, never missing an opportunity, immediately attacked. Dylan didn’t know what frightened him more, Rommie’s sudden appearance or Tyr’s deafening battle cry. He did know that whoever transited into Slipstream did them a favour. Tyr wasn’t putting up a bad fight, but Dylan decided he should probably help out anyway.

 

Rommie fired off a few shots but missed thanks to a sharp kick to her arm which loosened her grip on the weapon. Rommie turned her attention to Dylan after throwing Tyr across the room. Dylan ducked several swings from the avatar but a right hook connected with his jaw and sent him flying. Rommie picked up the force lance again and aimed it at him. She fired - and missed. For some reason the weapon backfired. Rommie was hit in the chest, she fell to her knees and deactivated.

 

Confused, Dylan got to his feet. “What the hell happened?”

 

“While you were keeping her entertained I set the force lance to backfire,” Tyr told him, also getting to his feet.

 

“How did you know I wasn’t going to use it myself?” Dylan asked.

 

Tyr shrugged. “Didn’t,” he replied.

 

“You could have got me killed!”

 

“She’s disabled isn’t she?”

 

Dylan sighed. “You know what, forget it. Let’s just get her to machine shop.”

 

______________________________________________

 

Beka took the Andromeda out of Slipstream just as Trance entered. “Harper is secure. Why did you enter Slipstream?” she asked.

 

“Andromeda was going to destroy the escape pods,” Beka told her.

 

“What?” Trance said, shocked.

 

“Tell me about it. If Rommie could attack her own crew, she could attack anyone.”

 

Trance stood at the weapons console and tried to deactivate them. She failed. Andromeda had already restricted access to them. The communications, however, were still online. “There’s an incoming communication. It’s from a Commonwealth ship.”

 

“Put it on screen,” Beka ordered.

 

A blonde woman appeared on the monitor. “This is Captain Elissa Dumont of the Ethereal Light. You are ordered to stand down and prepare to be - ”

 

“Andromeda’s firing on them!” Trance suddenly exclaimed.

 

The Ethereal managed to evade the weapons fire, and returned some of it’s own, taking out Andromeda’s main weapons ports. This was most definitely for the best.

 

“Dylan?” Beka called over the com.

 

“I’m here, what’s going on?” He returned.

 

“There’s someone here you should talk to,” Beka said, and nodded to Trance, who patched the line through to Dylan.

 

In machine shop Tyr had just lay Rommie on a table when the room shook from the attack. A few seconds later Captain Dumont appeared on the screen.

 

“Captain Hunt you have destroyed two colonies and launched an unprovoked attack on Commonwealth vessels. Stand down immediately,” she ordered sternly.

 

“Captain, the Andromeda has been compromised by unknown forces. We are no longer in control of the ship. You must fall back to a safe distance.”

 

“Acknowledged,” Dumont said. On the screen another crewman leaned in and whispered something to her. “Captain, you have forty-eight hours to fix your ship, or we will have no choice but to destroy her, whether you are onboard or not. If the Andromeda attacks anyone else, I’m afraid that time will have to be cut short.”

 

Although Dylan didn’t like having a time limit, he understood why it was for the best. Andromeda was capable of killing more innocent people, and that must not be allowed to happen.

 

“Acknowledged,” he conceded.

 

The Ethereal and the two ships accompanying her fell back until they were out of weapons range.                                                                                

 

“Dylan, the Ethereal took out Andromeda’s main weapons but she still has secondary weapons,” Beka said over the comm.

 

“Understood,” Dylan replied. “Get down to machine shop 4, we’ve disabled Rommie. Trance, stay in Command, inform us of Andromeda’s movements.”

 

“I will,” Trance replied. Soon she was left in Command, with only a web of possibilities to search keeping her company.

 

______________________________________________

 

Beka slid down the ladder so quickly none of the internal defenses had time to register her presence. She stopped at deck 6 and was pleased to discover Dylan and Tyr had taken out all the guns.

 

“Beka. We’re just about to scan Rommie’s systems,” Dylan said when she entered the machine shop.

 

“Don’t let me stop you,” she responded.

 

Dylan hit the switch and the scanning light went over Rommie’s body. Moments later images appeared on the monitors. It was plainly obvious, even to the untrained eye, that something was wrong.

 

“That damn program has taken over almost every part of her systems,” Beka said, astonished.                                                                        

 

“What exactly is it’s purpose?” Tyr asked.

 

“From what we’ve seen so far, I’d say, kill everyone in sight and bring to the Commonwealth crashing down?” Dylan tried.

 

“I’ll go with that,” Tyr agreed.

 

“There’s a sub-file. There,” Beka noticed, and opened it up. All it read was the date the program was installed. That should at least tell them who the suspects were.

 

“Wait a minute....that’s the date Rommie was first built,” Beka said, getting more and more confused by the second.

 

“No-one had contact with Harper when he was building Rommie. No-one even knew what he was doing.”

 

“Harper wouldn’t have done this. Maybe it was an accident....”           

 

“Maybe the date is false, to throw us off.”

 

The possibilities were mind-boggling. As each of the three people tried to work things out in their own heads, their concentration of the world around them fell.

 

On the table, Rommie’s systems began to reactivate. She silently awoke and opened her eyes.

 

Part Six: The Enemy

______________________________________________

“Should you cross me, friend or enemy, I will stop you just as swiftly, I will hate you just as vengefully, I shall defeat you just as cruelly and it is only my remorse that will set you apart.”

- High Priestess Erin Sildric

CY 3145

 

 

Beka didn’t know what hit her, but she had a pretty good idea. All of a sudden she found herself flying across the room and hitting the wall. Dylan was in the same predicament, as Beka noticed when she saw him sliding along the floor. Rommie was clearly up and about. She halted Tyr’s left hook and used his own momentum to hurl him to the ground. Then she made a dash out the door.

 

Various groans meshed together after she was gone. Dylan got himself up then helped Beka. “Next time,” Dylan began “Remind me to switch her power off.”

 

“What do we do now?” Beka asked, brushing her clothes down.

 

“Tyr, go to Command and try to figure out where Andromeda is headed. See how much time we have. As for us, Harper must have kept notes while he was building Rommie. There may be something there that can tell us what’s wrong.” Dylan said. “Damn it, this would be a lot easier if he were here.”

 

But Harper was not ready to wake up just yet. His body was still healing and his mind was still trapped in the past.

 

Carna                                                                                     ______________________________________________

 

Harper awoke with the drips of rain upon his skin and the taste of blood in his mouth. As he grew more and more aware, he remembered what happened. His first thought, before even registering the pain he was in, was of the needle that Lane had given him. It was gone. The thugs had taken it. Those bastards, didn’t they know how much he needed it?

 

Harper slowly turned over, only to realize that his ribs were cracked. It hurt like hell, but not as much as the need for a fix. A little Hexin, that was all he needed. Even some Flash, whatever he could get hold of, just something to ease the pain, to stop the burning. But he had no credit. Nothing of worth. The only way to get some would be to steal it.

 

The blonde-haired, skinny man placed his hands on the concrete and pushed himself up. He spat out some blood and winced as he felt his swollen lip. His hands shook, not from the beating but from withdrawal. At this point there wasn’t anything Harper wouldn’t do for a fix. And this scared him more than anything. His mind was pulling him in two different directions. One insisted that he was a hopelessly dependent junkie, the other said that he could be so much more. He could waste away on this godforsaken planet and no-one would even miss him.

 

At this particular moment it was the hopelessly dependent junkie that had control of Harper. He caught a glimpse of a man leaving the same bar he had just come from, probably another customer of Lane’s. Harper decided to follow him and take whatever he had on him. He wouldn’t hurt the guy, unless it was necessary.

 

The dark-haired man walked for a while in the rain, then turned into a small side-street. The tall buildings either side of it gave ample cover. Harper decided to make his move there. He quickened his pace to catch up with his target, running on pure adrenaline. Surprise was Harper’s best weapon. He came up behind his prey and violently kicked the back of his leg, instantly bringing him to the ground. Before he knew what was going on Harper kneed his chin and a spatter of blood fell with the rain. He cried out, but as Harper already knew too well, on Carna, a cry for help was just one drowning in a sea of thousands.

 

Harper had not expected the stranger to fight like he did. The rain made the struggle slow and heavy, but the hits were still hard. Harper was still in pain from the beating he had received earlier, and it was doubled when the stranger punched him in the ribs. Harper stumbled back and saw a broken bottle lying on the ground. He grabbed it and smashed it over the stranger’s head, just as he was about to throw another punch. The man went over with a yelp. It looked as if he were about to get up again, but then he began to convulse, as if he were having a fit. He rolled over, still shaking violently.

His eyes....his eyes were staring into Harper’s, so afraid, and then....then they glazed over and he stopped struggling. He was dead.

 

______________________________________________

 

Tyr reached Command without running into Rommie, which he was eternally thankful for. Out of all the crew she alone had the strength to fight him and win, though he would hesitantly admit it.

So far he had been taking the situation as it came, following orders and suggestions, and he could see that the others’ priorities were to stop Rommie but leave her unharmed. It seemed only Tyr could accept the cold truth of the matter. Deleting Andromeda’s memory would destroy her personality, as he well knew, but it would stop the situation from escalating any further, and protect the ‘innocent lives’ Dylan was so eager to preserve. Having thought this, Tyr found himself faltering when it came to making the suggestion. The absurd thought of the android being part of the crew entered his mind. She was a valuable asset, especially when it came to fighting - a skill that came in handy when half thee universe decided it wanted to kill you.

 

Sooner or later a decision would have to be made. As Tyr looked over the map on the console he realized it would probably be sooner rather than later. Andromeda was on a course for Tierte Drift, a densely populated station, and she would reach it in just over two hours.

 

Part Seven: Hidden Truths

______________________________________________

“They say the truth will set you free. They know nothing of the truths I have seen.”

- Trinity Yor survivor

CY - 7112

 

“Looking through Harper’s files is like looking through unorganized garbage. Garbage that I can hardly understand,” Beka commented as she tossed aside another flexi with some random diagrams of who-knows-what on them. She and Trance were searching for info on Rommie while Dylan guarded the door. Andromeda had restricted access to almost all of her systems now, including sensors, which meant they had no clue where Rommie was. The last thing they needed was another attack.

 

“I think I have something....” Trance said. The flexi in her hand showed the specs for a program installed into Rommie’s systems. Beka came up beside her and read the scurried notes.

 

“Vengeance program 1.0. In the event that I, Seamus Harper, should be killed, Rommie will avenge my death by killing those responsible. That’s all it says?”

 

Trance turned over the flexi, but there was nothing on the other side. “That’s it,” she confirmed.

 

“You think this is the program that is making Rommie nuts?” she asked. It seemed like such a simple, straight-forward program, and besides, Harper wasn’t usually one to make mistakes (engineering-wise anyway).

 

“Maybe...” Trance replied, her mind spinning with possibilities.

 

Dylan entered to join the discussion.

 

“Why would that program activate? Harper’s not dead.”

 

“But he did die,” Beka realized. “His heart stopped in the operating room but the doctors brought him back.”

 

Dylan had to verify the theory. There was no use going on pure speculation, that kind of thinking usually ended up as a wild goose chase. “What time did Harper’s heart stop?”

 

“It must have been about, 11:30?” Beka estimated from the time she left the party and how long it took to find and accompany Harper.

 

“That’s sounds about the time Rommie turned,” Trance concluded.

 

“Okay, this ‘Vengeance’ program is looking like our best bet. It still doesn’t make any sense though. Surely there was only one person that shot Harper. Why wouldn’t Rommie just kill the one person responsible?”

 

“Maybe it malfunctioned,” Beka suggested.

 

“So what do we do now?” Trance asked.

 

“We have a time limit, we’ve got to sort this out now,” Dylan replied, trying to kick his own mind into gear.

 

“What if we convinced Andromeda that Harper was still alive? Maybe that would stop her,” Beka proposed.

 

Dylan considered it for a moment, then decided there weren’t many other options far from deleting Andromeda’s mainframe - effectively killing her - and this was ssomething Dylan was not prepared to do. It wouldn’t come to that unless there was absolutely no other choice. “It’s worth a shot,” he agreed.

 

Carna

______________________________________________

 

The light was dim, but it still highlighted the golden tattoo around the stranger’s dead eyes and the crimson liquid that had pooled together with the rain. Harper didn’t know how long he stood there staring at the dead man lying before him but his clothes were soaked through. What had he done?

His trance was disturbed by nearby shouting. That was when the panic set in. He had taken a life. He was a murderer. A killer. The horrific notion was enough to pull Harper from his numb stupor and send him into a desperate sprint. Where he was going, he wasn’t sure, he just knew he had to get away. Not just from the alley but from this place, this life. He ran and ran, until he reached the place his tragic life here had begun. His meeting place with Lane.

 

Then, in his guilt-ridden delirium, it dawned on him. Lane could provide what he needed to end it all. Enough Hexin was enough to induce a coma-like trance. Everything in the world would fall away.

The rain weighing down his clothes, Harper dragged himself up the steps and entered the bar. There were a few people scattered around now, none of whom took any notice of the broken man who had just stumbled in. Harper looked around for Lane. She wasn’t in the main bar. He checked the back rooms, where she often did business and sure enough, found her in a room with four other people. The door was open slightly. Rather than barge in Harper decided to wait. To work out what he would say to her. He had to think of something he had that Lane would want, to make the exchange with, but the conversation going on inside the room distracted him.

 

“I’m looking for my son,” a woman said. Harper peered though the door to see a elaborately dressed, elegant woman who couldn’t have looked more out of place. She almost looked like royalty. The three others looked like guards. They were armed - a fact that did not appear to sway Lane to any degree.

 

“What’s he look like?” Lane asked nonchalantly. Harper knew she had no intention of helping this stranger. The person Lane helped was herself.

 

“He is my height, has dark hair and eyes, and a tattoo like mine.” The woman gestured to her face, and the gold tattoo that was designed around her eye.

 

Harper felt the breath leave his body. The man he had killed had people who looking for him. Had people who missed him. No-one on Carna was supposed to have people who cared about them, that was why so much death went unnoticed. The guilt Harper felt was overpowering. He could not contain the tears that silently cascaded down his already rain-drenched face.

 

“Haven’t seen him,” Lane lied.

 

“If I find out you are lying, I will see that you are arrested,” the woman said sternly.

 

Lane said nothing. The woman exited the room with three others, ignoring Harper, and left the building.

 

“What are you doing here?” Lane said when she Harper entered. She then saw the blood that hadn’t been washed out of his clothing. “Get mugged did you? That’s unfortunate. But you know I can’t give anything else. I’ve already been too generous.”

 

Harper suddenly remembered that he had lifted the stranger’s wallet before the fatal fight ensued. “Here,” he said, pulling the wallet from his coat with a shivering hand.

 

Lane took the wallet and opened it. Her eyebrows raised and an evil smile crossed her lips. “What did you do to get this, Seamus?” she said, showing him the photo ID of the dead man. She looked closely at the trembling wreck standing on front of her. “You killed him,” she accused, still smiling twistedly.

 

Harper couldn’t form any defense for his actions. “I...I didn’t....it wasn’t...”

 

“Do you know who that woman was? She’s an Empress from Calliope. That man was her son, his ship had to land here to refuel. He went missing.” Lane was loving every second of this mental torture. “I ought to turn you in. I bet there’s even a reward.”

 

“No...I didn’t mean to, he just....he just died...” Harper begged.

 

Lane laughed a maniacal laugh. “This is all too perfect. After all this time stuck on this rock, you of all people might be my ticket out of here.”

 

Harper backed away from her and ran outside, back into the rain. He needed to get away from this hell, but how was he supposed to leave Carna? He had no ship, no friends to ask for help. Harper was so lost in his despair, he didn’t see the one of the guards accompanying the Empress approach.

 

“Have you seen a man with dark hair and a gold tattoo around his eye?” he asked. Harper staggered back a step when he saw him. Then he realized the path that had been laid in front of him. The words slipped from his tongue so calmly he surprised even himself. “A woman in there was just bragging about how she killed a man like that. She had his ID.”

 

The guard beckoned his friends. “Her name?” he asked Harper.

 

“Lane. Lane Farrow.”

 

At that moment, Lane exited the bar. “That’s her,” Harper shouted. The guards ambushed her in a heartbeat.

 

“You are under arrest for murder. You will be transported to Calliope and put on trial, after which an appropriate sentence will be delivered.” The guard pulled Lane’s hands behind her back and put on the electronic cuffs.

 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Lane screamed as she tried to struggle free.

 

The guard pulled something from her pocket. It was the wallet Harper had given her. The Empress looked it over. “This is my son’s. Take her away,” she said sadly.

 

In what seemed like seconds, Harper was all alone once more. The rain, whose presence he had almost forgotten, ceased and the sky was clear, unlike Harper’s soul. He vowed then and there that he would leave Carna behind forever. He didn’t know how but he would get off of this abyss and somehow find another path.

______________________________________________

 

Alone in Andromeda’s med-deck a shallow beep quickened as the sleeping man stirred. His eyes flickered, and he awoke.

 

Part Eight: Waiting for My Sky to Fall

______________________________________________

“Those who mistake knowledge for understanding are usually lacking in both.”

- Kaxan proverb

 

 

Harper recognized the med-deck not from the sight but from the smell. He hated that smell, it was so sterile. It reminded him that he was weaker than everyone else. Since he was on med-deck Harper knew he couldn’t be dead. Besides, why would hell turn out to be onboard the Andromeda? Maybe hell was actually living with his guilt. Living a lie. This arose several questions in Harper’s mind and a sickening feeling that the others knew of his actions.

 

He sat up, immediately holding his side as the pain rushed through him from the gunshot wound. Where was everybody? “Rommie?” he called hoarsely. There was no reply. Maybe the others were busy saving the galaxy or something. How long had he been asleep? He called the others on the comm but it wasn’t working. Typical. He’s gone and everything stops working. Suppose I’ll have to find them myself,  he thought, though he had no idea what he would say to them. It depended on how much they knew.

 

Harper headed for the doors but they didn’t open. What the hell was going on? Was he a prisoner? There was no way he was just going sit in this room and wait while no-one talked to him. He checked around and found a few wires he could use to connect to the door systems.

 

The armoured doors opened easily and Harper stepped out - only to be fired upon my Rommie’s internal defenses. Harper quickly fell back into the room and closed the doors. This was getting ridiculous. He went over to an access panel and tried to hook into Andromeda’s main system, to turn off the defenses, but before he could get the chance an electric shock bolted through his body, causing him to shout out.

 

Mental note; don’t try that again.

 

Harper sat there for twenty minutes, trying and failing to connect to Andromeda’s systems, before he decided to just make a run for it. Opening the doors, he ducked under the weapons fire and managed to get round the corner. Then he set off for someone to give him some answers.

 

______________________________________________

 

Dylan went to Command to try and talk to Andromeda while Beka and Trance split up and went to find Rommie to talk to her. They figured this way their chances of successfully convincing Andromeda to stop were doubled.

 

On her search, Trance decided to check on Harper once again. She took out the defense weapons that Andromeda had brought online and entered med-deck, but she found the room empty. Astonished, she tried to use the comm to contact Harper. There was no answer. Andromeda must have cut communications. Poor Harper. He was probably wandering around trying to figure out what the hell was going on. First he gets shot and then Andromeda tries to kill him.

 

Trance was about to leave when she noticed a bag leaning against the bio-bed. Something told her to look inside, and her gut instincts were never to be ignored. She emptied it to find a few gadgets Harper took with him to Autriva but also a holo-imager. Perplexed, Trance activated the device.

A miniature hologram of a dark-haired boy with a golden tattoo appeared and began to speak. “I am Prince Elri of Calliope, son of Prince Eltan. My father was killed on Carna in the Veddri system by one of the residents of Carna before I was born. It is in his memory that we as a people must address the many problems on this wasteland of a planet.” The boy went on about Carna being a cesspit of drugs and murder that should not be left to get on with it’s existence.

 

Trance wondered what Harper was doing with the imager. It made no sense to her at

all. Harper was the only person that could clear up her many questions, and he was somewhere on the ship, alone and in danger.

 

______________________________________________

 

Harper had two more decks to go before he reached Command and he was making slow progress thanks to his wound. It had torn again and the bandage was stained with bright red blood.

So far he had seen no crew whatsoever, which confused and alarmed him somewhat. Maybe they had all abandoned ship and forgotten about him. It was what he deserved. Then he heard the internal defenses go off, not where he was standing but a little distance off, round the corner. There was someone else onboard after all.

 

Having felt a wave of relief, Harper suddenly realized it could be anyone. Intruders, aliens, hell, even Lane Farrow. He had no idea who could come round that corner, and he was completely unarmed.

The fear was enough to make Harper at least duck round a corner so he could see who was approaching. The suspense was like a thick, tangible substance as he waited. And then, Beka Valentine came around the corner. Harper has never been so pleased to see someone, yet at the same time an immense dread swept over him. How much did she know? Harper sheepishly stepped out from behind the corner.

 

“Harper!” Beka exclaimed happily, if a little shocked. She threw her arms around him in an unexpected hug. “We didn’t know if you were going to wake up!”

 

She pulled away embarrassed when Harper cringed at the pain in his chest. “Glad to see I was missed.” Harper smiled lop-sidedly. “Looks like you coulda done with my help, what’s goin on around here?” he asked, as if nothing were wrong.

 

“I’ll explain everything later. First, what the hell happened on Autriva? Why did that woman shoot you?”

 

Harper thought fast. It seemed Beka didn’t know his secret. Whatever was going on with Andromeda must have distracted them from investigating too deep. The best thing he could do was play dumb. “I don’t know. One moment some stranger waltzes into my room and the next she’s pulling a gun on me.”

 

“We thought you were a goner,” Beka said meaningfully.

 

“How long was I out?” Harper asked, ignoring the out-of-character sentiment.

 

“About a day. Things have gone to hell without you, I don’t even know where to start.”

 

“The beginning?” Harper suggested.

 

Beka explained the whole situation, from Autriva’s destruction to the Ethereal’s deadline, to Harper’s program. “It was called ‘Vengeance’,” she explained, after telling him about their suspicions.

 

Harper was visibly swayed. “What?”

 

“We think it malfunctioned somehow after you died in the operating room.”

 

“Woah, woah, woah, I was dead?” Harper said in disbelief.

 

“You really had us scared, Harper,” Beka said sincerely.

 

Harper didn’t understand. Why would the Vengeance program have even activated?

 

“Are you okay?” Beka asked when Harper went silent…

 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine.”

 

Beka didn’t quite know what it was, but something bothered her about Harper’s demeanor. He was acting cautious, almost guilty. There wasn’t much time to find out though. Beka knew Harper was the only one who could end to all this chaos. And Harper knew he was the one who caused it in the first place.

 

Part Nine: Unspoken

______________________________________________

“Ask no questions, hear no lies.”

- Unknown

 

 

“Dylan, we will be in weapons range of Tierte Drift in a little under 45 minutes. What’s your plan?” Tyr asked when Dylan entered Command.

 

“Turns out Rommie went nuts because Harper died,” Dylan said bluntly.

 

Tyr replied by raising his eyebrows.

 

“Don’t ask. Basically I’m going to try and tell Andromeda that he is still alive and lying in med-deck,” Dylan explained.

 

“That’s you plan?” Tyr asked, bemused.

 

“Have you got a better idea? No, let me guess, abandon ship and let the Ethereal destroy Andromeda. Sorry Tyr, it’s not gonna happen,” Dylan said, putting Tyr in his place. “Andromeda. Respond.”

 

Andromeda did not appear on the viewscreen but Dylan knew she was listening, so he started anyway. “I know what the program controlling you is. It’s a Vengeance program. You are being told to kill those responsible for Harper’s death, but Harper is still alive.” There was still no response. “Do you hear me? Harper is still alive, in med-deck, see for yourself!”

 

Andromeda did not materialize, but an image appeared of med-deck on one of the monitors. It was empty. Tyr and Dylan exchanged looks. Dylan immediately went for the comms to contact Harper but they weren’t registering. Great. That was all they needed.

 

Trance arrived before Dylan had the chance to leave. “Trance,” he greeted. “Harper is - ”

 

“Awake, I know,” Trance finished for him. “I went to check on him but he was gone.”

 

“He’s bound to head here, he knows this is where we’d be,” Dylan concluded. “Any luck finding Rommie?”

 

Trance shook her head.

 

______________________________________________

 

Rommie watched two of her targets silently and out of sight. They were going to Command where the others were located. With all the targets in the same place she could take them out with one swift command.

 

There was just one problem. An anomaly. A target who was giving off Seamus Harper’s sensor signature. This was not possible. It was probably a trick by the others to stop her mission. She would have to deal with this man alone.

 

Rommie waited for her targets to arrive and prepared to strike.

 

______________________________________________

 

“We figured that if we can show Andromeda you’re not dead, she might stop what she’s doing,” Beka told Harper as they neared Command.

 

“It could work, but I have no idea how this happened in the first place.”

 

“Yeah, who’d have thought Seamus Harper would make a mistake,” Beka teased. Harper said nothing.

 

They finally reached Command, but what happened next was so fast it was over in an instant. Beka and Harper were walking through the doors, Beka first and Harper behind. Then Rommie came out of nowhere, grabbed Harper, shoved Beka into Command and the doors shut before anyone even knew what was going on.

 

“Harper!” Beka called out, but it was too late. The others in the room barely saw what happened. Beka clawed at the doors but they wouldn’t open.

 

“Beka? What the hell just happened?” Dylan said.

 

“Rommie’s got Harper.”

 

In the brief silence that ensued, all that could be heard was the hissing sound from the air in the room being vacuumed.

 

______________________________________________

 

The last thing Harper remembered was being pulled backwards violently, and then a sharp pain to the back of his head. He realized he was now in the Slipstream core. He recognized the loud echoing hum in the room, not to mention the uncomfortable metal grating beneath him. As he opened his eyes he realized Rommie was standing over him.

 

“Who are you?” she demanded.

 

“Rommie, it’s me,” Harper replied groggily.

 

“Identify yourself,” Rommie repeated.

 

“Rommie, it’s Harper.”

 

“That isn’t possible. The only reason I kept you alive is because you are somehow tricking my sensors, now explain how you did it.”

 

“It’s me, Rommie, don’t you recognize me?” Harper asked, then realized Rommie said she only kept him alive. Did that mean the others were.... “What have you done to the others?” he demanded.

 

Rommie did not reply for a moment. She wasn’t sure why she should answer any of this man’s questions, but she did anyway. She was compelled to by something inside her. “Command is being depressurized,” she told him.

 

“What?! No you can’t! They’re your crew!” Harper begged.

 

“That is irrelevant.”

 

“Look, I can tell you everything you need to know, just please, please don’t kill the others.”

 

______________________________________________

 

“This is very, very bad,” Beka commented as the air became thinner.

 

“Isn’t there some kind of override for situations just like this one?” Trance asked Dylan, who was trying to get the door back open with Tyr’s help.

 

“Yes, but Rommie’s cut power to all the consoles and won’t respond to vocal commands. I can’t do anything,” Dylan replied through gritted teeth as he strained to open the door. In truth he knew it was useless. The Command doors were designed to keep people in or out, and nothing could open them. But he tried anyway. He had to try, there were lives at stake, not just the people of Tierte Drift but Harper’s life too, and he would be damned if he let anything happen because he couldn’t get a stupid door open.

 

“Wait...I don’t hear the hissing anymore...I think it stopped,” Trance said.

 

“Maybe Harper got through to Rommie,” Beka hoped. Surely Rommie would stop her rampage if she was faced with the undeniable evidence of Harper standing right in front of her.

 

“It’s not over till it’s over,” Dylan replied, though he too desperately wanted the entire ordeal to end. “Maybe we can get the monitors to show us how Harper’s doing.”

 

______________________________________________

 

Rommie didn’t know why she was compelled to obey the target before her, but she stopped depressurizing Command. It was vital she establish how this control was held, or her entire mission could be compromised.

 

“Tell me why you can influence me,” she ordered.

 

“Because I created you,” Harper returned. He got up slowly, to not seem threatening. “I’m Harper,” he stated clearly.

 

“Every sensor tells me that you are. But it isn’t possible....Seamus Harper is dead. You are alive, therefore you are not him,” Rommie stated.

 

“Look, regardless of whether I am or not, you have to stop what you’re doing, Rommie. I know the Vengeance program is telling you to kill people, but it’s malfunctioning. Can’t you see that?”

 

“I can detect faulty programs. The Vengeance program works perfectly. We are nearing Tierte drift. I have to bring primary weapons online.”

 

Part Ten: Watch My Sky Come Undone

______________________________________________

 

“We can lie, we can run and we can be silent, but nothing will stop the truth when it is ready to surface.”

- Jida Ilyana, poet and philosopher

CY 8056

 

 

“No, don’t!” Harper said desperately. He couldn’t allow Rommie to destroy Tierte Drift. Besides the thousands of lives that would end, if Andromeda fired upon the drift, the Ethereal would destroy the ship, and everyone onboard. “None of those people had anything to do with my death!” Harper said, contemplating for a moment how bizarre the statement sounded.

 

“Untrue,” Rommie replied, and continued to rapidly type on the console.

 

Harper realized that he would have to voice his secret. Rommie must have already known anyway. The Vengeance program was designed to activate the moment Harper died, and relay the last moments of life.

 

Harper screwed his eyes tight shut in a last vain effort to convince himself it was all a horrible nightmare. Then he uttered the words he had been keeping to himself since he awoke. “It was nobody’s fault but my own.”

 

Rommie stopped what she was doing. “Harper shot himself. No-one around him prevented it. That is why they are all responsible.”

 

Harper now understood everything. The Vengeance program hadn’t malfunctioned, it had evolved to deal with a situation it wasn’t designed to cope with. When Harper created it he never expected he would ever try and commit suicide.

 

______________________________________________

 

In Command silence painfully filled the room. They had heard everything that was said in the core room via the monitors.

 

Beka’s mind reeled. Why hadn’t she seen it? Harper had grown quieter and quieter up to the Autriva mission. She should have seen that something was wrong. Lane Farrow must have triggered something inside Harper that was so terrible he went and shot himself, and everything that happened with Rommie was the result.

 

______________________________________________

 

“Nobody is responsible, Rommie. I just....I wanted my life to end,” Harper said, his voice cracking under the overwhelming pressure.

 

“Why?” Rommie asked.

 

“If I show you, will you stop what you’re doing?” Harper asked. He couldn’t stand to have any more death on his conscience. Rommie nodded and Harper felt the ship stop moving.

 

Harper approached the console and connected to Andromeda.

 

In a heartbeat he and Rommie were standing side by side on Carna, just as Harper recalled it. They were in the alley where he killed the stranger. Harper showed her everything he remembered about the murder in it’s horrifying detail. When it was over, the body was still on the floor, suspended in time.

 

“He had people who cared about him,” Harper said quietly, staring into the rain, which looked like stars in the night sky, glistening from the moons glow.

 

“All this time, you told no-one?” Rommie asked.

 

“Not a soul. Only Lane Farrow knew. She went to prison for it. She was an evil person, I thought she deserved it. But I deserved it more. I made a vow to change my life and try to forget, but I remembered it every day.”

 

“It was an accident. You didn’t mean to kill him,” Rommie told him. She was slowly regaining control of herself, and the Vengeance program was retreating.

 

“It doesn’t matter. I still killed him,” Harper said. It was the same things he had been telling himself for six long years. “He had a son you know. Lane came to see me on Autriva, she had this recording of him. That boy grew up without a father because of me. I saw him and I just couldn’t handle it anymore.” Harper remembered seeing the young boy on the imager, so full of hurt and anger when he spoke of his father.

 

“Harper, I’m so sorry,” Rommie comforted. In truth she didn’t know what else to say.

 

“I thought, if I could just end it, then I could make things even, you know?” Harper reflected.

 

“It wouldn’t have solved anything. You said you made a vow to change your life, and you did that. You are not the same person you were on Carna. Not everyone would have grieved at all for that man or his son. You are a good person who made a mistake. And I think you’ve punished yourself enough.”

 

______________________________________________

 

In Command all the systems came back online. Andromeda had stopped only a light year out of weapons range. The panels lit up again and the doors to Command slid open.

 

Dylan, Beka and Trance headed down to the core room while Tyr informed Tierte Drift and the Ethereal what was happening.

 

______________________________________________

 

“I’m sorry, Rommie,” Harper said after he disconnected from Andromeda. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

 

“Think what would have happened if you had died. Either I would have kept on killing innocent people or the Ethereal would have destroyed me and everyone onboard,” Rommie scolded, but she couldn’t stay angry. Harper had suffered enough. “But you survived, and made everything right again. That’s the important thing,” she added. “The others are on their way. I’m afraid they heard everything that was said in here.”

 

“Please, Rom, I don’t want them to know what I did on Carna,” Harper begged. He wasn’t ready for the others to know of his terrible crime.

 

“I understand. But they’re your friends, they’ll want to know why you did what you did.”

 

“I know. I just need some time.”

 

“Rommie?” Dylan said from behind them.

 

“I’ve returned control of the ship to you Dylan,” she replied. “You’ll need to remove the Vengeance program from my systems before we reboot my mainframe.”

 

“Understood.” Dylan replied.

 

“Are you alight?” Trance asked Harper.

 

“Yeah. I think I will be.”

 

Part Eleven: Trust

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“A wounded spirit is the heaviest load to bear.”

 - ‘A Withering Rose’ Alus Ottenai

CY 7565

 

 

A few hours after Andromeda’s systems were restored, her crew were back onboard. The Ethereal decided to stay around while repairs were underway, in case of any further problems. Harper had purged the Vengeance program from Andromeda, and now he was working on Rommie.

 

Beka entered. She hadn’t said much to Harper after the revelations in the core room, but she planned to remedy that now.

 

“Who was Lane Farrow?” she asked without any greeting.

 

Harper stopped what he was doing. He knew Beka would want every detail of what happened. She was like family, so protective of everyone. “She was a dealer on Carna. My dealer,” he told her.

 

Beka had always suspected Harper of using. Practically everyone on Carna was either a dealer or a user. When she met Harper he was showing classic signs of an ex-junkie. He was thin as a stick, wired most of the time and hyper-active. But she had made her peace with that and there was more she needed to know now. So Lane was Harper’s dealer. They must have had bad blood between them.

 

“She brought back bad memories, right? Something that you couldn’t possibly tell me about, even though we’ve been friends for god knows how long?” Beka was angry, probably more at herself than at Harper, for failing to protect him. The bond between the two was a strong, if often unexpressed one.

 

“I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to disappoint you,” Harper told her. “I didn’t want you to look at me like....like you didn’t know me anymore.”

 

“What could you possibly have done that would make me think that?” Beka questioned, not entirely sure there was any answer that would please her.

 

“I killed someone, Beka.” The words almost choked him when he uttered them. Beka was the last person in the world Harper wanted to hurt. But he didn’t deserve her friendship anymore.

 

It took a moment for Beka to hear Harper’s words. After the revelation had filtered in, her mind tried to make sense of it. The Harper she knew would never kill a person in cold blood. There must be something more to the story. “Why?” she found herself asking.

 

“I was robbing him, and things got out of hand,” Harper explained.

 

Beka said nothing for a long while. Did this news change anything? Did it have to? Beka couldn’t see the Harper she knew committing murder, but she knew first hand that survival was a powerful motivator, especially on hellish planet like Carna.

 

Harper watched her try to understand. The fact that she was trying gave him some hope, but whether or not Beka would accept what he had done remained to be seen.

 

“I can’t believe it....this has been eating you up inside all this time?” Beka asked.

 

Harper nodded.

 

Beka lost herself in thought, but eventually made her peace with what Harper had told her. Everyone had a past and everyone had parts of it that they regretted. One mistake, even a serious one such as this could not make Beka turn her back on years of solid friendship. “You’re not that person anymore,” she said.

 

“So I’m told,” Harper replied.

 

“I still don’t understand. Why shoot yourself on Autriva? Carna was years ago.”                                                                                                               

 

“I found out that the man I killed had a son. He grew up without a father because if me. I couldn’t handle it,” Harper explained.

 

“And Lane Farrow was the one who told you,” Beka deducted.

 

“She showed me. I guess she wanted revenge and knew it would break me,” Harper told her. Now Beka knew everything it felt like a huge weight lifted from his chest, and he was free to breath again. No matter what Beka thought of him, Harper did not regret telling her. She deserved no less than the truth.

 

“You didn’t have to keep this from me. I would have stood behind you, no matter what.”

 

“And now?”

 

“I’m still here aren’t I? You don’t think you can get rid of me that easy do you?” Beka jested. This mere fact told Harper that Beka forgave him. “You better get Rommie back up and running, I think Dylan wants to install a few new security protocols,” she finished.

 

“I figured he would. How are the others?” Harper asked, expecting them to hate him for all he put them through.

 

“Alright. I think Trance is hurt you didn’t trust her, Dylan hates himself for not noticing anything wrong sooner and Tyr? Well, Tyr is being Tyr,” Beka told him.

 

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

 

“Well I’ll leave you to it. But first, you have to promise me something,” Beka began.

 

“Anything, boss,” Harper replied.

 

“Promise you will never do something so stupid again.”

 

“Or you’ll find me in the afterlife and kick my ass?” Harper replied, smiling. “I promise.”

 

“How did you....?” Beka started, but didn’t follow through. She left feeling much better than when she had entered. She would watch Harper like a hawk, possibly for the rest of time, and ensure she never let anything like this happen again. (Well, something like the past few days would be pretty hard to duplicate....) As she left, holo-Rommie appeared.

 

“Hey, Rommie. Feelin better?” Harper greeted.

 

“Much, thank-you. How are you doing?”

 

“Well, I’ve just got a few more strands of the program to remove, then Rommie will be just fine,” he replied.

 

“Good, but that’s not what I meant,” Holo-Rommie said seriously.

 

“I know. I just can’t find a single word to describe how I’m feeling right now. I guess sorry will have to do. I’m sorry for putting you through all this. If I hadn’t tried to - ”

 

“Don’t punish yourself,” Rommie interrupted. “What happened was terrible, but it was an accident. Don’t forget that.”

 

“I’ll try,” Harper replied quietly.

 

“And I’ll help you,” Rommie told him. “I’m always here for you, Harper. And I wanted to tell you, I won’t be relaying any of what happened on Carna to anyone. As far as I’m concerned you punished yourself enough for what you did.”

 

“I don’t deserve that, Rommie,” Harper argued.

 

“Don’t sell yourself short. You changed who you are and achieved so much since Carna. Besides, Lane Farrow was an evil woman. You probably did the universe a favour,” Rommie finished, and

disappeared without waiting for Harper to argue further.

 

Harper continued to work on Rommie while he thought things through. Andromeda was going to stand by him, even though he caused so much pain. Beka believed in him again. He may have lost her trust, but that could be regained in time. Even though some leave scars, all wounds are healed in time.

Beka and Rommie had told Harper that he wasn’t the same person as he was on Carna, and he knew they were right. On Carna there was no-one to care about him. Here he had friends. Here was where he belonged.

 

 

        The End.

 

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