Harper sat in hydroponics, staring at the plants.

"You don’t seem happy to be alive." Tyr sat down beside him.

"I am. I just wish…"

"Your Perseid friend hadn’t had to die? That Trance hadn’t changed?"

"Yes."

"You don’t react well to change do you?"

"Are you surprised? Apart from Beka taking me off Earth and finding the Andromeda pretty much every change in my life has been bad. You think when you live in Hell things can only get better. Wrong: things can always get worse."

"And you think your survival makes things worse." Tyr shifted closer, into Harper’s personal space.

"Not for me, obviously. For everyone else."

"In what way does the universe become a darker place because you’re still in it?"

Harper turned and smiled sadly. "Hohne was a great mind."

"So are you."

"Only in my dreams could I ever hope to be a Hohne. The Perseids are not pleased about what happened here. They could pull out of the Commonwealth, that’s not good. The new Commonwealth doesn’t look so stable at the moment. You know the Castallians aren’t happy about the Sabra-Jaguar Pride joining up. If we lost the Perseids the fish people would probably leave too. I’d hate to be the cause of the second fall of the Commonwealth."

"I’m sure Beka could get them to see sense."

Harper laughed a little at that. "What about Trance? Our Trance I mean. What happened to our Trance when she walked through that portal? Did she die? Did she cease to exist?"

"She volunteered for that. There has to be a very important reason for her to have done that. She must have known that the Universe needs you."

"She…went so I could survive. Too much sacrifice has been made to ensure that I live. I’m not sure that I can ever make enough difference to balance the scales."

Tyr reached out and slid his arm around Harper’s shoulders. "And I’m sure you will." Harper relaxed and let Tyr draw him into a tight embrace. They sat for a long time, not saying anything, just holding each other shadow of an apple tree. Finally Tyr tilted Harper’s face up and said, "I’m sorry."

"For what?"

"For backing away from you after the Dragan attack. It wasn’t because you lost your temper: it was because I realised how much you meant to me. I knew it was going to hurt when you died and I didn’t want it to hurt worse. I should have had more faith in your ingenuity."

Harper grinned. "Yes, you should."

Slowly Harper reached up and pulled Tyr’s face down. The first kiss was light and testing. Harper drew back and licked his lips. "You mean a lot to me too. You have for a while, don’t ask how long: I don’t know. It sorta snuck up on me."

The second kiss was slow and sensual; they explored each other’s mouths and used their hands to explore everywhere else.

Eventually though, reality had to pierce their little island of peace. They heard Trance enter the room; Harper tensed up and pulled away from Tyr. "I don’t want her to know."

"She probably already does."

"How? I died in her reality, remember."

"And I’m sure she noticed what effect your death had on me."

"Oh." Harper grinned happily. "Want to show me your quarters? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them."

"There’s no hurry you know," Tyr smiled, "you have a whole lifetime now."

"A lifetime. I have a lot of things I want to do and only forty to fifty years to do them all in. I don’t want to waste a second. C’mon." Harper stood up and tugged Tyr to his feet. "I hope your bed is bigger than mine."

Tyr laughed. "I’m sure it is. The standard issue was too small so I ordered another. We could fit the rest of the crew in and still have room to play."

Harper smirked. "Well there’s an interesting mental image. Could you picture Dylan’s face? Beka would be cheering us on and Rommie would be trying to get us to provide scientific commentary."

Tyr laughed and noticed Harper hadn’t mentioned Trance. Deciding that this was the wrong time to talk about their new/old crewmember Tyr allowed Harper to drag him down the corridor to the crew quarters.

"Oooooh, nice!" Harper said, climbing onto Tyr’s bed. It wasn’t quite big enough for the whole crew, but not far from it. Harper piled the pillows up behind him and kicked his boots onto the floor. "Comfy too."

Tyr grinned. "I’m glad you approve. What were you expecting to do on there?"

"Hmmm." Harper ticked off on his fingers: "One, watch you strip. Two, watch you strip me. Three, bite you a lot. Four, get fucked into this nice soft mattress. Five, nap a bit. Six, more of numbers three and four. Why, what were you expecting to do?"

Tyr’s gaze had turned dark and smouldering. "Something very similar." Tyr hesitated. "You know I’ve never done this with a man before?"

"Oh, I forgot about that." Harper smiled and held his hand out.

Tyr held Harper’s hand and sat down on the bed. He unfastened his boots and slid down, beside Harper. "I’m concerned I might hurt you."

"Nah, we’ll be fine. You just have to remember that this is an ‘unnatural act’ and although our bodies can do this, they aren’t exactly designed to do it without help. Speaking of which, do you have…um"

Tyr opened up a drawer and pulled out a tube. "I did some…research."

Harper burst out laughing and threw himself on top of Tyr. "Oh good." Harper bit down lightly on Tyr’s earlobe. "So, do I get to watch you strip or am I going to have to do it myself?"

Tyr growled and rolled over so he was straddling Harper; he sat back and rubbed his ass over Harper’s crotch before slowly pulling his shirt over his head. "Better."

"Uh huh." Harper’s breathing had quickened and his hands stroked up and down Tyr’s leather-clad thighs. "Still too many clothes though. These need to come off." Harper reached out and unfastened the catch at the waistband of Tyr’s pants. Tyr’s cock throbbed as Harper let his fingers slowly trail across it.

It was all too much for Tyr: he leapt up, tugged off his pants and almost ripped Harper’s clothes pulling them off. Once they were both finally naked Tyr pushed Harper down and began to kiss him hungrily, one hand roaming over Harper’s chest while the other gripped Harper’s right hip.

Harper wriggled. "Mmmm, nice, but a bit heavy."

Tyr gasped at the hot sensations caused by Harper’s body squirming under him but slid to one side so he and Harper were lying facing each other. He put his hand back on Harper’s hip and stroked the line of his pelvic bone with his thumb. "You’ve got very soft skin there."

"Makes up for the scar tissue and calluses elsewhere I guess," Harper said, reaching out and winding his hands into Tyr’s hair. Harper tugged a little, Tyr moved closer and they kissed again. Harper moaned as Tyr’s arm tightened pulling them together, cock to cock. "Okay, I don’t think either of us is going to last long. Roll over onto your back."

Tyr did as he was told; Harper quickly uncapped the lube and stroked it over Tyr’s cock. Tyr groaned and bucked his hips up. Harper reached around and prepared himself before throwing one leg over Tyr and lining up.

"Now!" Tyr said, grabbing at Harper’s hips and pushing up. Harper pulled away a little. "Don’t tease me!"

"I’m not teasing: you’re wriggling too much. Hold still for a moment and don’t move until I say so."

Tyr threw his head back against the pillows and sighed. "Are you always this bossy in bed?"

"No, not usually. Are you always this difficult?" Harper gripped Tyr’s shaft and slid slowly down onto it, wincing slightly. He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, blowing it out hard before sinking further down.

Tyr wasn’t sure if he’d be able to hold back until Harper was all the way down: he never imagined that this could feel so good. The urge to thrust up hard and let go was almost irresistible. He bit down hard on his lower lip as Harper slid the final few inches down.

Tyr looked up at Harper’s sweat-soaked body. "Please," he whispered, "Please move." Tyr reached out and wrapped a large hand around Harper’s cock. Pumping it hard he gasped as Harper raised himself up and plunged back down. Tyr sped up the movement of his hand, knowing he was about to come.

Tyr managed to hold out until he heard Harper whimper and came hard; screaming, stars in front of his eyes and the feeling of shooting months of worry and frustration out of his cock, he almost passed out.

"Uhh, Tyr. Tyr!"

"Mmmm?"

"You can let go now."

Tyr looked up, Harper was sprawled over him and he realised that his fist was still wrapped around Harper’s cock. It was obvious that Harper had come too, and Tyr was rather annoyed that he’d missed it. "Can we do that again, or are you too sore?"

Harper laughed weakly. "Can you wait a few minutes until my central nervous system grows back?"

Tyr chuckled. "You have ten minutes."

"Fine. I’m just going to nap for a few minutes, wake me up when you want me to do something." Harper slid off onto the bed and curled up, looking very much like he was going to sleep.

Tyr lay and watched him. Harper’s skin was a little flushed and Tyr could see the fading bruises on his stomach where the larvae had done subcutaneous damage. Tyr reached out and stroked the soft skin just above Harper’s hipbone. On impulse Tyr slid down the bed and gently pressed his lips to Harper’s stomach.

"I thought I got ten minutes," Harper said, opening one eye.

"Ten minutes until you have to do something. Go back to sleep, I’m just learning you."

"Learning me huh? Carry on." Harper shut his eye again and lay back with a soft sigh. Tyr kissed the fading marks on Harper’s stomach before moving up and running his tongue around Harper’s left nipple. Tyr grinned as he heard Harper’s breath catch and did it again, this time brushing his lips over the tip. Tyr continued to work his mouth over the hardened nub until he felt Harper’s cock thickening and pressing into his stomach.

Tyr reached over and pinched Harper’s right nipple firmly and laughed quietly at Harper’s yelp. Soothing the hurt with his tongue, Tyr then kissed back down Harper’s body to rub his face over that patch of soft skin again. Harper’s cock brushed Tyr’s chin and Tyr licked the head.

"Ooooh-kay, I think that’s ten minutes," Harper breathed.

<><><><><>

Tyr was always wide awake as soon as he woke. There were none of those fuzzy, wondering-what-was-going-on, half-awake problems that unaltered humans suffered from. Which was why, when he was woken up by Harper climbing over him and sprinting to the bathroom, he jumped up and followed him instead of going ‘what the fuck?’ like anyone else would.

Harper was throwing up. A lot.

"I could choose to find this rather unflattering," Tyr said casually. "I’m sure you weren’t drinking last night. Well, not alcohol anyway."

"Uhhh Tyr, it’s way too early to deal with your idea of a sense of humour, even if I wasn’t sick to my stomach."

"Do you normally vomit after sex?"

"I don’t normally vomit at all. Twenty years of nearly starving to death tends to make your body want to hang onto anything even remotely like food," Harper said, resting his head against the bowl as he triggered the refresh cycle.

"Will I call Trance here or do you want to go to med-deck?"

Harper groaned. "I’ll be fine once I eat something."

"No," Tyr said looking more closely at Harper, "you won’t. You have an elevated temperature and you’re shaking."

"Crap! Perfect time to get ill. Did you notice I didn’t get ill when I was infested? The larvae gave me some sort of immunity. That was the longest I’ve ever gone without getting sick y’know. Every silver lining has a cloud: now I get to be ill all the time again."

<><><><><>

"You haven’t caught anything," Trance said.

"Then why am I sick?" Harper scowled at Trance. "I don’t throw up without a good reason."

"You’re in withdrawal."

Harper went white. "Are you telling me that my body misses the larvae?"

"No, it’s the serum that’s causing the problems. It was pretty toxic stuff so your body had to adapt to it. Now your body is adapting back. It’s going to be rough but you don’t have to stay in sick-bay."

"Good, what else can I look forward to?"

"Apart from the nausea…hot and cold flashes, shakes, mood swings and irrational behaviour."

"How long is this going to last?" Tyr asked, rubbing the back of Harper’s neck.

"I don’t know."

Tyr frowned. "I thought you knew everything?"

"Too many variables. Harper will get better faster if he eats well: lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, drinks a lot of water and does some light exercise. Trance tilted her head to one side. "Although I think you two have the ‘exercise’ part down already."

Harper scowled and hopped off the bed. "Great, can I go now?"

Trance smiled slightly. "Yes, just…"

"…take it easy and behave myself," Harper interrupted, "I know."

Harper wobbled on his way out of the door and Tyr caught his elbow. Harper snatched it back and scowled. "I’m fine, don’t fuss." Noticing Tyr’s blank expression Harper sighed. "Sorry. It’s just…I thought it was all over. Goodbye Magog, hello fun and junk food. I forgot that life before the Magog wasn’t perfect either."

"I could make some soup?"

Harper swallowed and then went white again. "Please don’t talk about food."

"You still feel nauseous?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe we should go back and get more anti-emetic?"

Harper shook his head, realised his mistake and rushed for the nearest men’s room. Tyr sighed and followed him.

<><><><><>

Harper sipped watered-down apple juice and chewed on dry toast as Tyr did something fancy to the pile of vegetables Trance had left in the kitchen. Harper didn’t even recognise most of them, but Tyr apparently knew exactly what to do with them all. Some had been put away in various storage cupboards and refrigerators but most were being turned into Harper’s lunch. Harper’s stomach lurched again and he sipped more juice to calm it, noticing as he put the glass down that his hands were shaking.

Beka breezed into the room and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Tyr preparing food. Seeing Harper sitting watching him she grinned and went over to tease Harper.

"What the Hell?" Beka almost shouted as she saw Harper’s white face and shaking body. Whirling around to face Tyr she yelled, "What did you do to him? If this is your fault I’m going to kill you!"

"Beka, it’s not Tyr," Harper said, noticing that his voice was rasping. "I’m withdrawing from the meds."

"Withdrawal?" Beka looked shocked and Harper remembered that she’d had her own experience of coming off drugs.

Harper nodded. "You think this is bad you should have seen me before Trance dosed me up."

Tyr came over and refilled Harper’s glass. "He vomited three times on the way to med-deck. And that was after emptying his stomach in my bathroom when he woke up."

Beka looked concerned and amused at the same time. "Why was Harper waking up in your quarters?"

Tyr grinned and looked embarrassed. "He took a nap."

"After." Harper added with a grin, suddenly feeling a little better.

"Well it’s about time!" Beka said, grinning and punching Tyr lightly on the arm.

"What’s about time?" Dylan asked as he walked in.

"Um, Tyr’s sharing his culinary skills," Harper said quickly, giving Beka a ‘shut up’ look.

"Food prepared by an assassin? Sounds like a dangerous way to get a good meal."

"He’s not an assassin any more," Harper said, and cringed as his voice cracked and wheezed on the last word.

Dylan looked at Harper. "What’s wrong with you?"

Harper rolled his eyes and thankfully Beka answered for him. Dylan frowned at the news that his engineer would be out of action for a while. "And Trance didn’t say how long this would last?"

"She didn’t know," Tyr said, placing a bowl of clear vegetable soup in front of Harper.

Harper took a careful mouthful and smiled. "Nice. I think this might stay down. Thanks Tyr."

<><><><><>

There wasn’t much that stayed down over the next few days. Harper spent most of the week either throwing up or being served bland but nutritious food by Tyr. They were both getting a little frustrated by Harper’s illness. Harper because he didn’t want to be ill, he wanted to be having fun, and Tyr because Harper kept sneaking off to drink beer and trying to get Tyr back into bed.

The mood swings didn’t help either.

"No!" Tyr said pushing Harper away.

"Why not?"

"You’re ill."

"You can’t catch anything you know." Harper pouted.

Tyr tried not to look at Harper’s lower lip. "That’s not what I’m worried about and you know it."

"I’ve never puked while performing a blow job. Well, once…but that doesn’t count: I was drunk and in zero-g."

"You’re drunk now," Tyr said, smelling the alcohol on Harper’s breath.

"One beer! I had one beer! I’m not drunk; I’m not even buzzed. And guess what? It settled my stomach. I thought you’d be happy that I was ready for some action again."

"I will be when you’re really better."

"Maybe I’m better now?"

"Hold your hand out."

"I don’t need to prove anything."

"Hold your hand out."

Harper held his hand out and pulled it back quickly as it shook. "Big deal, I have a few tiny shakes. You might enjoy the vibrations."

"No."

"Fine, me and my shaky hand will go have fun together." Harper stormed out of Tyr’s quarters and Tyr sat down with a sigh. He hoped this would be over soon.

<><><><><>

Harper woke up and stretched. For the first time in a week he’d woken up without feeling sick. Holding his hands out he smiled: no shakes. Harper decided that as soon as he’d had breakfast he was going to march up to Tyr, plant a big kiss on him and hold out his hands. Harper was fairly sure that as soon as Tyr saw the shakes were gone there was going to be a lot of fun.

Harper was whistling as he made his way up to command, when he heard a gun power up behind him. Turning suddenly he saw Rommie pointing a Gauss rifle at his head.

Rommie smiled icily. "You’ll do."

<><><><><>

Tyr checked his readout again. "Dylan, did you authorise Harper to take the Maru out?"

"No. He’s taken the Maru? What’s going on?"

"I have no idea."

Dylan turned to the main screen and blinked as the lights began to fade.

"The Maru is going into slipstream." Tyr said as the last of the readouts failed. "And we’re dead in space."

<><><><><>

"What the fuck is going on Rommie? What’s wrong with you?" Harper asked as he saw her activate a link to shut down the Andromeda.

Rommie brought up some co-ordinates on the screens. "Take us to slipstream."

"Not a chance."

Rommie poked Harper in the stomach with her gun. "Now."

"You can’t shoot me, I’m the only one of us who can pilot slipstream."

"And I’m sure you can still do it with only one foot."

Harper took the Maru into slipstream.

The slipstream transfer was shaky and Harper realised he wasn’t entirely over his withdrawal. "I have to throw up." Harper tried to get out of the chair.

"Stay." Rommie barked and pulled a med-spray out of her pocket.

"No way." Harper pulled away but Rommie pressed the spray to his neck.

"Anti-nausea meds."

"Uh, right." Harper felt the nausea recede a little.

"Do you want to tell me what’s going on?"

"New co-ordinates."

Harper looked down at the screen. "That takes us into Drago-Kasov territory."

"I know."

"Oh shit! Why are we going into Dragan space?"

"You remember that Dragan virus I was infected with about a month ago?"

"Yes, how could I forget? The Dragans attacked and I got one Hell of an electrical discharge from you."

"The virus and the attack were a decoy. This is the real plan."

"Huh?"

"You were supposed to find that virus and neutralise it. The Dragans have extensive files on you, you know. They were aware that the chances of hiding a virus from you were very small and you were likely to find anything they left in the Jay’s World files so they made a big showy obvious mess for you to find. And you fell for it. Although, if they’d known you were going to be so sloppy, I’m sure they’d have had a bigger strike force ready."

"Oh crap. There’s no way I’m going into Dragan space. Forget it." Harper suddenly felt queasy again.

"You want to lose a foot?" Rommie powered up her rifle and aimed it at Harper’s left foot.

This time he did throw up when they exited slipstream. Rommie let him clean it up and then tied him to the pilot’s chair.

"Rommie, c’mon…it’s me here. Do you really want to do this? Think about it. Nietzscheans are bad news. And Dragans are the worst of the lot. They’re going to kill me and disassemble you. You’re an AI: you have intelligence. Is this intelligent behaviour?"

"I am acting on my orders. I am now a Drago-Kasov covert operative. Having an AI who so closely resembles a human is an asset they won’t waste. Particularly when they know that I was a trusted member of the inner circle during the uprising on Earth."

"Oh crap. You can’t tell them about that. They’ll send you in to kill everyone. You aren’t an assassin."

"I can be if that’s what’s needed."

"Rommie, this is wrong…can’t you see that? Your other self is hanging dead in space and the Dragans are going to kill all your friends. You can beat the programming. You have to try. Please Rommie, get us out of here before the Dragans arrive."

"I don’t have friends: I have functions and protocols and orders. The Drago-Kasov are on their way here now and you are going to shut up."

Harper glared. "Make me."

"If you insist." Rommie lifted her rifle and brought it down on Harper’s head. Rommie checked to make sure there wasn’t any permanent damage and sat in silence waiting for a signal from the Dragans.

They didn’t have to wait long. Two hours later, and half an hour after Harper had woken up and decided to stay silent, they were hailed. Rommie punched the screen up and smiled at Cuatemoc. "Authorisation code ‘rom/833/4/beta’."

Cuatemoc smiled. "Do you have the item?"

"I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t."

"The Andromeda is out of action?"

"Yes. You can find her at these co-ordinates." Rommie sent a file over.

"Excellent. And I see you brought me a little gift too." Cuatemoc leered at Harper who froze suddenly and tried to shrink further back in his chair.

Rommie paused before answering. "I needed him to pilot slipstream. We don’t need him or the ship any more."

"I’d like to keep them around anyway…for entertainment value, if nothing else. The kludge belongs to the Drago-Kasov anyway and…"

"I don’t belong to anyone," Harper growled.

"Not even Tyr?" Rommie asked.

"Tyr?" Cuatemoc asked.

"He’s Tyr’s lover."

Cuatemoc beamed. "A wonderful bonus! For that I think I’ll keep you assembled. You really are a marvel of modern engineering."

"Thanks." Harper said sarcastically.

<><><><><>

"Well?" Dylan said impatiently.

Beka pulled herself out of auxiliary power converters and scowled at Dylan. "I’m not Harper, I can’t fix this in minutes. I can give you minimal power now, so go read the sensor log and quit bugging me."

"Harper and the avatar are both missing." Tyr said, looking worried.

Dylan looked up from the records he was examining. "The shut down codes are all classified. I can’t cancel them."

"You are the highest ranking High Guard officer alive. How can they be classified?"

"Rommie has codes dating back to when I was just another captain in a fleet of millions. They were all sitting there in her memory waiting to be accessed, or hacked."

"You think Harper had something to do with this?" Tyr asked.

"Who else?"

"The avatar has been behaving strangely recently."

"I’d point out that Harper hasn’t been very rational over the last week or so either." Dylan scowled.

Tyr growled and started towards Dylan.

"Uh guys?" Trance asked. "Have you seen this?"

<><><><><>

Harper felt the bump as Cuatemoc’s ship attached itself to the Maru and gave in to a moment of despair before gritting his teeth and making a few dozen escape plans. Rommie untied him and pulled him over to the docking port. It opened and Cuatemoc walked in.

"Welcome to the Maru sir," Rommie said, saluting.

Cuatemoc gestured to his men to enter the Maru and they headed back to the cargo area. "It’s nice to meet you Andromeda." Cuatemoc walked over to Harper and grinned. "Very nice, I understand what Tyr sees in you."

"Go to Hell, Drago-Jerkoff."

Cuatemoc’s grin widened and he punched Harper in the stomach. "I don’t think much of the Kodiak’s training. Still, breaking you should be fun."

Harper choked and wheezed on the floor and decided that, if there was any possible chance of killing Cuatemoc before he escaped, he was going to take it.

"Bring him." Cuatemoc said to Rommie who hauled Harper to his feet and dragged him back to the cargo area where four Dragans were using sophisticated equipment on…

"Hello," Harper rasped, "that’s Tyr’s box."

<><><><><>

Dylan and Tyr looked down at the empty space where the progenitor’s coffin had been left.

"Tyr, I’m really sorry," Dylan said.

Tyr turned. "At least now we know it wasn’t Harper who shut us down."

"We do? How?"

"Harper wouldn’t have taken this box," Tyr said with a feral grin.

<><><><><>

"Tyr’s box? He told you about it did he?" Rommie asked. "Pillow talk?"

"More like ‘holding my head as I puked’ talk but yeah," Harper said.

The last of the lights on the equipment turned green and the Dragans stood back. Cuatemoc marched forward and opened the lid.

To reveal a blow up sex doll, complete with faux bone blades and a crude double helix made from electrical wire.

Harper stifled a laugh. "Everyone…I’d like you to meet Miranda."

<><><><><>

"Let me get this straight. You got Harper to break in here and then the two of you sto..."

"Reacquired the Progenitor’s remains. Yes," Tyr interrupted Dylan.

"I am not happy about this, but under the circumstances I suppose it was a good idea." Dylan ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Where is the body now?"

"Do you really expect me to tell you?"

Dylan shrugged and tried to get through to Beka. "Beka? How are you doing?"

There was the sound of muffled swearing and mechanical noises from the com channel before Beka replied, "I’ve screwed around with this as much as I can. We have life support and minimal internal power. No weapons, no slipstream drive and unless we turn off life support no sensors or engines. The good news is that Harper installed a back door to fix this very problem."

Dylan looked a little aggravated but relieved. "And the reason we haven’t used it yet?"

"It’s protected and he didn’t tell me the passwords. Or rather he did, and then changed them after I…freaked out on flash."

"Ah, Tyr?"

"Harper has enough loyalty to you that he would never reveal such a gap in your defences to me, irrespective of our relationship."

"Relationship? Did you say that the way I thought you did?"

"Harper might have told Trance or the Magog about it."

"He did," Trance said, from the doorway. "He told me that he was the only person who knew the passwords but if we really needed to know then we could find them written on the base of a statue in the Chichin Museum of Art."

"How very Harper," Beka drawled through the com system. "I bet I know which statue too."

"The pink one," Trance and Beka said together.

"Great, whatever. Beka, take a slipfighter and go find that password," Dylan said.

"There may be a bigger problem," Tyr said.

"The Dragans," Dylan replied. "They’re on they’re way here."

"The Andromeda is too great a prize for them to pass up, and once they find out what’s in the coffin they’ll be here in force."

"Beka, if we take down life support in all areas except command and engineering do we have enough power to go anywhere we can hide?"

"Uh, yeah. There’s an iron and transuranic-rich asteroid belt on the edge of this system. If we hid in there they’d never find us. Of course, we wouldn’t be able to see out either. Or move fast enough to avoid impacts. It’ll be nasty."

"We don’t have a lot of choice. Beka, you’ll be needed here to pilot and make sure there’s a minimum of damage. Tyr…"

"I’m going after Harper."

"I don’t know that that’s a very good idea at the moment Tyr. Once the Andromeda is…"

"I’m going after Harper," Tyr said again. "A slipfighter can penetrate Drago-Kasov space far more discreetly than the Andromeda can and I have contacts there I can use."

Dylan thought for a moment and nodded. "Go." Tyr left for the hangar bay. Dylan’s gaze fell on Trance.

"Don’t look at me," Trance said. "You’re the best person for the job. Trust me." Trance smiled and Dylan saw the ‘I can see the future, so do as you’re told’ look in her eyes.

"Great. Please don’t wreck my ship while I’m gone," Dylan sighed.

<><><><><>

"Concussion, a broken arm and five broken ribs."

Harper heard the words somewhere off in the distance. His reality was focused on the huge pain he was in. Cuatemoc hadn’t appreciated Harper’s little joke and had kicked him around the cargo hold until he’d started throwing up again.

"Nanos?" the voice said.

"Nah, let the little shit suffer." A deeper voice, further away.

Oh I hope you die a horrible death, Harper thought at the second voice.

"Cuatemoc said he wanted him able to answer questions and um…"

"Cuatemoc won’t be back for days. You can heal him then. I don’t think he minds a few bruises on his toys."

Toys? Oh shit. Still, if Cuatemoc isn’t here that gives me time to escape…I hope.

Harper heard footsteps fading and a door slamming shut and tried to move. He gasped at the pain in his head, side and left arm. Escape was going to have to wait. He tried to open his eyes and realised that they were gummed shut with his own dried blood. Once he’d rubbed his eyes clear he looked around his cell: a small, plain, featureless room. Harper was lying on a narrow bunk and there was a sink and toilet against the opposite wall. Harper was very thirsty so he tried to get up again with little success.

There wasn’t anything in the room for Harper to use as a splint, so he improvised by tearing up his outer shirt into strips and binding them as tightly as he could around his arm. Harper was pale and sweating and thanking the Divine that the break hadn’t been displaced by the time he was finished. There was no way he would have been able to endure the pain of setting it.

There wasn’t much he could do for the ribs, but Harper knew from experience that ribs healed fast and all he’d have to do was be careful moving around for a while. The pain in his head would hopefully fade once he got a drink. Harper hoped it was partly due to dehydration and not just the concussion. Slowly and painfully he shuffled the two steps over to the sink and took a few mouthfuls of stale, coppery water. It tasted great.

<><><><><>

Tyr was loading up the slip fighter when Beka appeared beside him. "I know Harper is your priority now but bring back the Maru and Rommie too."

"I can understand you wanting to retrieve the Maru, but why a faulty piece of equipment like the avatar?"

"Because it’s Rommie."

Tyr sighed. "I’ll try. But if it comes to a choice between risking my life and leaving a homicidal AI behind, I’ll choose the safer path."

"Just as long as you try. And Tyr?"

"Yes?"

"If you come back without the Maru I’ll flay your hide right off and use it as a bathmat."

Tyr laughed. "Yes Captain Valentine."

"Good luck." Beka looked like she wanted to hug Tyr so he swung up into the cockpit and mock saluted.

"You too, the Dragans are going to be hunting this area and you’re going to be flying blind in an asteroid belt."

"Aw, piece of cake." Beka grinned and backed away.

<><><><><>

Harper wasn’t sure how long he’d been in the cell. The light stayed on all the time and food arrived at irregular hours in the form of basic battle rations. Harper estimated that it had been three or four days since he’d been shut in here: the headache had faded and his ribs no longer grated against each other so much when he moved. His arm was swollen and hot though and caused him a lot of pain.

It was almost a relief when a couple of guards came in to get him.

"I don’t know why we’re bothering to take him to medical first; the mood Cuatemoc’s in he’ll probably be dead by tomorrow," One guard said, hauling Harper to his feet and pushing him towards the door. Harper tried not to scream as his bad arm was jostled but a whimper escaped anyway.

"What’s up with Cuatemoc?"

"He went to pick up that High Guard ship and it wasn’t there."

Harper gave a mental cheer and concentrated on not bumping his arm into anything. As they lead him through the corridors and Harper realised they were on a space station or drift. All the people he saw were either Nietzscheans or battered looking slaves. He opened his mouth to ask a question but decided against it when one of the guards shot him a venomous look. Finally, just as Harper thought he was going to pass out from the pain of his infected arm, they arrived at a medical facility. Harper was handed over to a nervous looking young orderly with a slave tattoo.

"This way," the orderly said, leading Harper to a small room. "Med tech Halsey will be here soon."

"Thanks," Harper said, sitting down on the metal bed that was the room’s only furniture. "You can go now."

"I should…"

"Scram!" Harper growled and the orderly fled. As soon as the door shut, Harper leapt up onto the bed and pulled a grill away from the ceiling. Climbing up into the space above was tough with only one arm but Harper had the advantage of not weighing much and a huge adrenaline surge.

Harper had gone about 100 metres when he found a maintenance box. Rummaging around he found an interface jack and hurried further along, checking the rooms below for computer access. Finally, tired, sweating and faint he found one. Harper spent ten minutes on the floor sobbing in pain after he dropped to the floor, his arm was a huge mass of hot needles and the jolt from hitting the floor had sprung his ribs again.

Eventually he managed to drag himself over to the console and jacked in. The pain faded and Harper slid into his element.

<><><><><>

Rommie’s eyes opened and she looked down at herself in the dark. Her memory core was intact and plugged into the central computer, but parts of her body were spread out over the table she was lying on. Her jerky movements became smoother as she began to reassemble her body.

<><><><><>

Despite the worry over Harper and Rommie, Dylan couldn’t help but chuckle over Harper’s choice of passwords and their novel location. He’d almost got himself arrested lifting up that hideous pink marble statue, but a few fast words and some name-dropping had got him off with a warning. Dylan was on his way back to the spaceport when he saw a familiar face sitting slumped over a drink in an open-air cafe.

Alvarez.

Dylan sat down in opposite the man and asked, "You’re the captain of the Nocturne aren’t you?"

"Uh yeah, do I know you?"

"No, but you warned us about the Magog raid on Jay’s Mining Colony."

"Oh, right. Nasty that."

"Did you see anyone else there?"

"Yeah, my sensors were shit so I didn’t see anything wrong when I came out of slipstream. I just carried on and wondered why I wasn’t being hailed by the defence system. By the time I noticed it wasn’t there anymore there were two Niet fighters damn near sitting on me. I thought I was a goner, but they just showed me some footage from the attack and told me to warn everyone on the Reol, Shantii, Wyrin trade route." Alvarez shuddered and took another sip of his drink.

"They told you to go to Shantii’s Drift?" Dylan asked.

"Uh, yeah, I usually do the Sheal, Gael-Ket run but they said that was covered. Why?"

"No reason, thanks anyway." Dylan got up and left. We were set up, he thought.

<><><><><>

Harper pulled himself out of the Dragan mainframe and back into pain filled reality. He knew exactly where he was now: a space station orbiting one of the Dragan slave worlds. If he could get to the Maru, three levels down he had a good chance of getting away from here.

Unfortunately his luck didn’t hold out: he managed to get back into the ductwork, but when he dropped back out everything went black. When he came around he was strapped to a table and was being injected with nanobots.

The med tech was human and gave him a pitying look. "You punctured a lung with that stunt, kid. You’re lucky it was one of us and not an Uber that found you." Harper pulled against the bonds and winced at the tenderness in his arm. "Ease up on that arm: it’s not completely bonded yet. The nanos got rid of the infection and all your broken bones are fused, it’ll take a few days for the damaged muscle to heal but I’ve given you pain block for that."

"Let me loose. Please, I just need a chance."

"Sorry I can’t do that."

"I don’t have a few days. Cuatemoc is going to kill me."

The tech winced. "No, I don’t think he is."

"What do you mean?"

"I got word to send you to the whoremaster as soon as you were fit."

"Oh crap."

"Better than death."

Harper scowled up at the man. "Oh, I’m sure I’ll get the death too, I just get the ‘fate worse than death’ first."

<><><><><>

A battered slave transport docked with the Dragan space station. It got a berth at the darker, shabbier end of the docking ring. No one noticed a member of the crew slipping away into the main thoroughfare.

<><><><><>

Harper sat on the bed, washed, waxed, dressed in just a pair of thin cotton shorts and fastened to the headboard with a thin, but unbreakable cord. Harper tugged at the collar around his neck and hoped his body hair would grow back.

The way he saw it, right now he had three options. Number one: fight until he was beaten up and raped. Number two: go passive and pretend it wasn’t happening. Number three: Put up a token resistance and then play slut. None of the options were very appealing but two and three offered the chance to lull Cuatemoc into a false sense of security.

Harper fiddled with the locking mechanism on his collar; he was fairly sure he could pick it if he had something thin and metallic to slide into the casing. There wasn’t anything like that around here. Yet.

The door opened and Cuatemoc strode in. Harper flinched back and tried to look scared and helpless, which wasn’t much of a stretch, because he was scared and helpless.

"Tell me…was Miranda your special friend?" Cuatemoc asked.

"Trust me, it could have been worse: Tyr wanted to put in sixty pounds of explosive. That joke saved your life. Hey, that’s good…I saved your life. That’s got to be worth something?" Harper let himself whine.

"Hurmph, maybe a slightly less painful death." Cuatemoc slipped his coat off and walked over to the bed.

Harper cringed back. "Please don’t kill me, I can be useful. The port means I can do a lot of stuff in the computers and…" Harper gave a hesitant smile and stretched out on the bed with a sensual wriggle, "I have other talents too."

Cuatemoc licked his lips and grabbed Harper’s cord. Pulling it towards him caused Harper to slide over until his face was inches from Cuatemoc’s. "We’ll see," Cuatemoc said and crushed his lips down on Harper’s.

Harper tried to return the kiss, wrapping his arms lightly around Cuatemoc and stroking his back as Cuatemoc’s tongue demanded entrance into his mouth. The kiss was hard, brutal and Harper whimpered in fear, not all of it pretend.

Sirens started blaring. Very loud sirens.

Cuatemoc threw Harper back down on the bed, cursed and ran for the door, slamming it behind him.

Harper bounced back on the bed, grinned and pulled out the knife he’d lifted from Cuatemoc’s belt. "Dragans, dumber than shit."

<><><><><>

Rommie dropped down into the hangar bay where the Maru was berthed, quickly and efficiently snapped the necks of the two guards on duty and entered the ship. Quickly powering up the systems she scanned the area, waiting for Harper.

<><><><><>

Tyr wasn’t sure why certain areas of the station were venting out into vacuum, but he was sure Harper had something to do with it. Making his way to where his source said the Maru was being kept he didn’t notice a ceiling panel was missing until two very hard knees landed on the pressure points in his shoulders. Landing face-first on the floor, he flipped around, gun in hand.

Harper and Tyr stared at each other and grinned. "I gotcha, didn’t I?" Harper asked.

"I’d have shot you before you had time to use that knife."

"Really? How do your arms feel?" Harper’s grin widened.

Tyr flexed his arm muscles and winced.

"Sorry about that. I didn’t realise it was you. Old Earther trick, get a Niet in the muscle bundle on the shoulders and they can’t raise their arms up properly. It’ll wear off in a few minutes. What are you doing here anyway?" Harper asked getting up and holding out a hand to pull Tyr up.

"I came to rescue you, but I’m beginning to think that was a waste of time: you seem to have everything in hand."

Harper shrugged. "Another gun can’t hurt. C’mon, Rommie should have the Maru fired up and ready to go by now." Harper started to run lightly down the corridor.

"Rommie?" Tyr asked as he caught up.

"Yeah, this is my second escape attempt. During the last one I hacked the station mainframe and set up this scenario just in case plan A didn’t work. I also hacked Rommie and sort of fixed her."

"Sort of?"

"I’ll still need to do some work on her when we get back. She’s pretty basic at the moment, but she won’t try to kill us or turn us over to the Dragans."

"You’re sure about that?"

"Hey, I don’t question you about your big guns, please don’t question me about programming."

Tyr could hear a patrol coming up behind them and pulled Harper forwards, "Take this," Tyr said, thrusting a gun into Harper’s hands as the alarm rose. They managed to get to the hangar doors before the Dragans found them and started shooting. Tyr fired back as Harper jacked into the door controls and jammed the locking mechanism so that once they got the doors shut they’d stay that way.

The doors slid shut and Harper turned to run to the Maru. Tyr grabbed him and placed a hard kiss on his lips then jerked back. "Why do you smell and taste like Drago-Kasov?" Tyr growled.

"Uh, can we talk about that after we escape, please?" Harper asked, wriggling out of Tyr’s embrace. Tyr growled again and they headed for the Maru. As they approached the air-lock cycled open and a battered Rommie waved then in.

"Rom-doll, am I glad to see you!"

Rommie looked a little confused. "I’m not sure that question is within my capabilities to answer."

Harper’s smile faded. "Don’t worry Rommie, we’ll get you home and fixed up soon."

Tyr was strapped into the pilot’s chair and starting up the engines. "Harper!" he yelled, "I assume you have some way to get the doors open?"

"Yeah, sure." Harper grinned and transmitted a code to the hangar doors. "Hang on, I didn’t have time to hack the whole thing so this is just going to vent through the space-doors."

"What!" Tyr shouted as the doors opened and all the air, loose objects and the Maru were sucked out into space. The Maru tumbled for a moment before Tyr regained control and shot away from the station.

"Tyr, there are Dragan fighters powering up on the docking ring. Can you go a little faster?"

"I can do better than that," Tyr said, "You aren’t the only one with contingency plans." Tyr pulled a control out of his pocket and pressed a button. Half the docking ring was disintegrated as a shabby little slave transport exploded. "The ship I came in on. I just wish I’d been able to get a more powerful bomb." They watched debris shoot out, blocking the space behind them and destroying more than a few of the ships behind them.

"Fuck Tyr, there are slaves on that station!"

"I doubt if there were many in that area: the ship was empty, and from what I saw it was a rather deserted area of the station. And weren’t you venting parts of the station?"

"Not parts where there might be slaves."

Tyr shrugged. "Would you rather have been blown out of the sky by those fighters?"

Harper scowled. "No…but…"

"No ‘buts’, we got away. I suggest you get cleaned up and dressed while I get us out of here." Tyr glared at Harper’s skimpy clothing.

Harper glared back and stomped off to the crew quarters.

<><><><><>

Dylan exited slipstream and had to make a sharp turn as something pinged on his proximity sensors. Suddenly the slipfigher shuddered as an explosion rocked the ship. Dylan killed the engines.

"Oh shit, the Dragans mined the asteriod belt." Dylan scanned the area, it seemed clear around him: the slipstream portal had detonated all the mines behind him but Dylan knew mines were easily hidden from sensors. The only way he was going to be able to avoid them was to use his eyes. Dylan sighed, looked out of the window and slowly manouvered the asteroid belt to the rendevous site.

<><><><><>

They had transited slipstream five times to lose the Dragans and Harper was working on Rommie when Tyr came back to the crew quarters. "We’ve shaken off any pursuit."

"Okay," Harper muttered, clearing another connection.

"We can wait here to rendezvous with the Andromeda or we can go back and meet them; we weren’t anticipating your rescue to be so speedy. They’re probably still hiding in the asteroid field, waiting for Dylan to get back with your passwords."

"Whatever."

"There really weren’t that many people in that part of the station Harper."

Harper sighed. "Yeah, okay. It meant we got away; I just wish there had been a way for us to escape that meant only Dragans had to die."

They sat silently for a moment before Tyr asked, "Rommie, would you take watch please?" He turned to Harper. "She is capable of that?"

"Yes I am, thank you Tyr," Rommie snapped, standing up and making her way forwards.

Harper smirked. "She’s in better shape now, not back to normal but pretty good."

Tyr sat down next to Harper and ran a finger around the collar of the green shirt Harper had pulled on. "Who did I smell on you?"

"Cuatemoc, but nothing happened. The timing was perfect. I’d like to claim that as my genius but that’s just the way it turned out."

"If nothing happened why could I taste him in your mouth?"

"Dammit Tyr! I was trying to escape. If I had to, I’d have done whatever it took, up to and including spreading my legs for Cuatemoc. Fortunately all I had to endure was a kiss and a little groping."

Tyr’s hand was resting on the back of Harper’s neck now and felt very warm. "I’m going to kill him."

"Good, can I come too? I’m not very kindly disposed to him after the treatment I got when he met Miranda."

"I still say explosives were a better idea. Cuatemoc would be dead now if we’d followed my plan."

"Hey, I’d be dead too if we’d put a bomb in there; I was eight feet away when they opened that up."

Tyr slid his arm further around Harper and pulled him close. "I wish I could have seen his face when he opened up the coffin."

Harper snickered. "Oh it was classic. I thought his head was going to explode. He went purple, and not the good kind of purple either."

"He took it out on you?" Tyr leaned down and kissed the curve of Harper’s neck.

"A few broken bones…nothing serious." Harper’s breath caught as Tyr found a sensitive spot. "They filled me full of nanos…eventually."

"Where were you hurt?" Tyr asked, scowling at the thought of Harper injured.

"I had a concussion, but I’m fine now." Harper replied.

"A concussion?" Tyr cupped Harper’s face in one hand and gently kissed along Harper’s hairline.

"Uh, my left arm was broken," Harper said. Tyr slid his sleeve up and ran his thumb up the skin of Harper’s arm. Harper shivered and watched as the hairs stood up. Tyr lifted Harper’s arm up and kissed the inside of his elbow. "Ohhhh…" Harper sighed, his cock filling at the gentle caresses. "A couple of broken ribs."

Tyr grinned, pulled Harper’s shirt off and pushed him back on the bed. Harper wound his fingers in Tyr’s hair as Tyr licked and kissed his chest. Tyr’s mouth travelled all over Harper’s chest until finally he started to concentrate on Harper’s nipples, licking and sucking at them as Harper lay whimpering underneath him.

"I’m pretty sure I got kicked in the happy sacks too," Harper gasped out.

Tyr chuckled and slid one finger into the waistband of Harper’s pants. Harper groaned as Tyr slowly teased his way along the soft skin of his stomach to the button. Flicking it open, Tyr fended off Harper’s attempts to help him with one hand and snaked the other in to cup Harper’s balls.

"Oh fuck Tyr, stop teasing me. Please."

Tyr pulled Harper’s pants and underwear away from his cock and kissed Harper’s balls. "Interesting," Tyr said. "I think I preferred you the way you were before."

"Me too. They just waxed it off instead of lasering me so it should grow back."

"That’s going to itch." Tyr licked Harper’s cock, making Harper jump and gasp.

"Mm hmm. Tyr, please…"

Tyr wrapped his lips over the head of Harper’s cock and swirled his tongue around it. Harper bucked up, trying to bury himself in Tyr’s mouth but Tyr pulled back and continued his slow torment. Harper reached down and Tyr caught his hands, twining their fingers together as he reduced Harper to an incoherent mess on the bed.

Harper yelped as, without warning, Tyr sucked hard and slid down Harper’s shaft. It went fast after that: Tyr’s head bobbed up and down as Harper thrust up and all the adrenaline that had been coursing through Harper’s body for the last few days fizzed in his blood and finally caused a massive orgasm. Harper screamed and came, shooting into Tyr’s mouth before collapsing on the bed in a daze.

Harper was vaguely aware of Tyr climbing off the bunk to strip and he felt Tyr remove the rest of his clothes. He didn’t really register what was happening until he felt Tyr slide his legs apart and bite down softly on the skin of his inner thighs.

"Mmmm, Tyr. What are you doing?" Harper asked.

"I want to be inside you."

"Mmmmm, yes please." Harper sighed and lay back, spreading his legs further and pulling his knees up. Tyr made a sound that, to Harper’s ears, was something between a growl and a whimper and slid a spit-soaked finger down the crease of Harper’s ass. "There’s lube in the drawer," Harper said.

Tyr yanked the drawer right out of its tracks and spilled the contents all over the floor. He managed to snatch the lube out of the air and slicked up his fingers, quickly returning them to teasing Harper’s anus.

Harper wriggled and pushed at Tyr’s hand, his cock was showing signs of interest again and Tyr slid two fingers inside him. Harper hissed and winced, then relaxed and pushed down again as Tyr paused. "Don’t stop Tyr, c’mon…"

Tyr pushed another finger and plenty of lube in and stroked deep. Tyr smiled as Harper gasped and his cock swelled. Tyr reached down and thickly coated his own rock-hard erection before pushing it carefully against Harper’s entrance. Tyr sank in slowly, sweat running down his back as he fought for control. Slowly he pumped in and out, moving slightly deeper with each thrust. Once he was fully embedded Tyr rocked quickly, trying to be gentle so as not to hurt Harper, but ended up pounding him back into the mattress as Harper pulled his knees up further, allowing Tyr deeper access.

Tyr came quickly and, before collapsing on the bunk, wrapped his slick hand around Harper and pumped hard until Harper came again.

Tyr pulled a blanket down off the top bunk and covered them both before falling asleep.

<><><><><>

Dylan swore as he avoided another mine. The Dragans must have filled this area of space with everything they’d had. He swung the slipfighter past another asteriod and gave a sigh of relief as he saw the shape of the Andromeda in the distance. Gliding up close enough for communications to work he transmitted the passwords directly to Andromeda’s core memory and watched in joy as he saw his ship light up.

Beka’s face appeared on the screen in front of him. "Welcome back Dylan. Just in time too: it was getting damn cold in here."

"Damage report?"

Beka grinned. "Almost none. Trance had a few ‘suggestions’ on how to avoid impacts. Strangely most of them worked."

Dylan smiled. "Good work ladies. I hope Trance has a few suggestions on how to avoid the Dragan space-mines that are littering this asteroid belt too."

"Mines? Crap." Beka scowled. "How did you get through them?"

"The slipfighter is small enough that I could avoid them. They don’t show up on sensors so I had to spot them visually."

"Fun," Beka grimaced. "We can’t do that in the Andromeda."

"No, we’re going to need a plan; probably we’ll have to detonate a path in front of us until we can slipstream, but that’s going to be time-consuming, a waste of weapons and it’s going to alert the Dragans to our position."

"Well that sucks."

"Yes, any ideas you may have or some of Trance’s ‘suggestions’ would be appreciated," Dylan said, as he manoeuvred the slipfigher back into the hangar. I’ll see you both in command in ten minutes. If Tyr, Rommie and Harper try to get back here they’ll be blown to pieces by those mines."

Beka nodded. "I hate to wish for Harper and Rommie to stay prisoners any longer but it’ll be safer for them to met us at the secondary rendezvous point."

<><><><><>

Tyr woke feeling relaxed and refreshed. Harper was curled up, asleep in his arms and the Maru’s systems hummed comfortingly around them. Tyr lay revelling in the feeling of contentment for a few minutes before carefully unwrapping Harper and climbing out of bed. Harper made a few grumpy noises and went back to sleep. Tyr grinned as Harper unconsciously wound the blanket around himself until all that was visible was a tuft of blonde hair and an eyebrow.

Tyr was shocked to realise he’d slept for over seven hours: he never slept that long. Tyr went forward to check on Rommie and found her sitting in the slip-chair. "Did anything happen while I was asleep?"

"No."

"Any messages from the Andromeda?"

"No."

Tyr frowned. "Dylan has had plenty of time to get the passwords. They should be here by now."

"They might have been here and left before we arrived."

"If they’d done that they would have left a message buoy. They must still be in that asteroid field. Perhaps they encountered difficulties."

"It’s possible. Although Harper told me that the Dragans found no sign of Andromeda…me when Cuatemoc went to capture her." Rommie looked a little confused.

"You’re completely severed from your main AI aren’t you?" Tyr asked.

Rommie nodded. "I’m still me, I just don’t have…this is impossible to explain to someone who only lives in one body." Rommie shook her head, "What do you want to do?"

"If we slipstreamed into that area of space couldn’t we get Harper to transmit the codes directly to the Andromeda?"

"Yes, but I’m sure the Drago-Kasov left some ships in that area, we’d be walking into a very dangerous situation."

"Once the Andromeda was active again I doubt we’d have too many problems with Dragan ships. We could transmit the codes as soon as we exited, I’m confident that Beka and Trance could scare off the Dragans. I’ll go and wake Harper."

<><><><><>

Beka carefully manoeuvred the Andromeda to the edge of the asteroid belt. "That’s as far as we can go without becoming visible on Dragan sensors. As soon as we leave we’ll be visible and in danger from the mines."

Dylan studied the chart on the viewscreen. "How soon can we slipstream after leaving this position?"

"Not soon," Beka sighed. "There are odd gravity wells all over this area because of all the heavy metal."

"We will have to get completely clear of this system before I’m able to slipstream." Rommie replied, shimmering into view. Even if we could fly straight it would take us two hours to get there. Blasting a route through the minefield will, no doubt, take much longer."

"And while we’re blasting that route we’re visible to the people who have a map of the minefield and God knows how much weaponry. They’ll be able to come at us from all angles and we won’t be able to take evasive action."

"We don’t have a lot of choice though do we?" Trance asked. "If we stay here the Dragans will destroy the Maru."

"The Maru might not be coming back," Dylan said.

"Yes, it will." Beka glared at Dylan. "Do you really think the Dragans are a match for Harper and Tyr? Individually they’ve got the better of the Dragans before, together nothing will stop them."

Dylan sighed, "Yes, you’re probably right. Rommie: I’ll need high-resolution sensor sweeps and calculations on blast patterns, Trance: bring weapons on-line, Beka: take us out of the asteroid belt.

<><><><><>

Tyr woke Harper by playing with his hair. It was soft and freshly washed and Tyr tugged lightly on one of the spikes, it was soft and smelt like whatever made it stand up.

"Uhm…what?" Harper murmured from under the blanket. One eye appeared and focused blearily on Tyr.

"Wake up, you’ve been asleep for almost eight hours."

"Wow." Harper sat up and grinned. "I never sleep for that long, you must have really tired me out." Harper stretched and the blanket slid down and puddled on his lap. Tyr gazed for a moment at Harper’s naked torso and then climbed onto the bed, pushed Harper down and kissed him hard.

Drawing back slightly Tyr said, "We’re going back to find the Andromeda. There will probably be Dragan ships patrolling the area so we need you to transmit your codes directly to the ship as soon as we exit slipstream."

"Okay." Harper rolled them over so he was lying on top of Tyr. "Are we going now, or do I get breakfast first?" Harper slid slowly down Tyr’s body until his head was level with the catch on Tyr’s pants.

"I was planning on going now," Tyr said, aware that it wasn’t going to take much for him to change his mind.

"But I’m hungry," Harper said, then lightly grazed his teeth across the leather covering Tyr’s rapidly growing erection.

Tyr caved. "Breakfast?" he asked, gasping as Harper tugged open his pants.

"Yep," Harper licked Tyr’s balls, "Two eggs," his tongue moved up onto Tyr’s cock, "sausage, and to finish up…a protein shake."

Tyr didn’t know if he was going to laugh or groan. He ended up gasping out a strained growl as Harper went to work on his ‘breakfast’.

<><><><><>

"There are three Dragan ships on an intercept course," Trance said. "And more coming out of slipstream."

"Andromeda, log all Dragan flight paths: if we make them hop about enough, they might show us a way out of here."

"Launching missiles," Trance said.

They watched as all the missiles they fired at the approaching ships exploded short of their destination.

"Crap, how many mines do they have out there?" Beka said.

"Too damned many. Trance, keep trying to hit the Dragan ships, Rommie…blast us a tunnel out of here."

The Andromeda inched out of the asteroid belt, firing continuously.

<><><><><>

Rommie raised one eyebrow as Harper appeared, grinning, from the crew quarters. "Tyr went to wake you over half an hour ago."

"What can I say? I’m a heavy sleeper." Harper sat down in the pilot chair and shivered.

"What?" Rommie asked.

"Uh, nothing. It’s just the last time I sat here about to go into slipstream you were holding a gun on me."

"I…don’t remember."

"I know. I wish I didn’t."

"I don’t like having my memory wiped, Harper."

"This isn’t like the worldship thing. You can have the memories back once I fully purge the Dragan virus out of your system."

"Is that wise?" Tyr asked, emerging from the crew quarters and standing behind Harper.

"It’ll be fine. Rommie’ll be as good as new once we get her back and hook her up to her main AI. Speaking of which…"

Harper engaged the slipstream drive and they leapt forwards. They barely had time to catch their breaths as they transited to normal space before the Maru was rocked by an explosion; the lights and gravity went off and they felt the unmistakable tug of air that signed a hull breach.

"Hull integrity is compromised in all compartments," Rommie said as Harper frantically tried to get the computers back up. "The automatic seals have taken care of the rest of the ship but we’ve still got a hole in here.

Tyr pushed himself off and followed a floating flexi until he found a small hole, the size of his fist in the bulkhead... Covering it with a piece of deck plate he caught the welder Rommie threw and set about sealing the breach.

"Got it!" Harper exclaimed as the computer system flickered into life. Low lights and half gravity returned. "Oh crap."

"What?" Tyr asked.

"That was a Dragan mine. The bastards have mined this whole area."

"Now we know why the Andromeda was late. Can you see it on sensors?"

"Uh…yes! She’s out of the asteroid field. Dylan must have got back with the codes."

"Hailing," Rommie said.

"She’s under attack from a Dragan fleet," Harper said, scowling. "Oh fuck…there are two ships breaking off and heading this way."

"Can we go to slipstream?" Tyr asked.

"Not a chance in Hell. The rest of the ship is still venting out into vacuum, there’s a hole the size of a slipfighter in the rear compartment and I’m pretty sure half the slipstream drive got sucked out." Harper slumped back in the chair. "We’re screwed."

"Weapons?" Tyr asked.

Harper checked. "Yeah, we still have weapons. Not that they’ll do us any good: as soon as those ships are in range they’re going to blow us out of the sky. Those are Dragan fighters, they out gun us by over 80%."

"They aren’t going to fire on us," Tyr said.

"I think they will; Cuatemoc may want a more personal revenge but those guys are the ‘blow stuff up, ask questions later’ type."

"Trust me." Tyr grinned.

"Oh I really don’t like the sound of that. Care to let me in on your little scheme?"

<><><><><>

The Andromeda cleared a few thousand more kilometres and left the asteroid field far behind when a slipstream portal opened up. "Captain, the Maru just arrived."

"Shit! Can you warn them about the mines?" Dylan asked.

"Too late: their exit from slipstream detonated a mine. It wasn’t very close but they’re damaged."

"What?" Beka punched the sensors up on the main screen. "What’s happening?"

"The main structure is intact, but they’re venting atmosphere and they’ve lost power. We’re too far away to sense lifeforms," Rommie said.

"Shit Dylan, we have to get over there."

"Two Dragan fighters are closing on their position," Rommie said.

"Time to intercept?"

"The fighters will be there in seventeen minutes."

"How long until we can get there?"

"If we take the most direct route and fire continuously as we travel at the highest safe speed, it will take us twenty eight minutes."

"What if we go faster?" Beka asked.

"We might miss a mine and blow ourselves up."

"It’s worth the risk," Trance said, looking up from the tactical display.

"We’ll still get there five minutes too late," Rommie said.

"We have to try," Beka argued.

"I’m receiving a transmission from the Maru," Rommie said.

Dylan blew out a sigh of relief. "They’re okay?" Avatar Rommie appeared on the screen and they all blinked in surprise at her partially exposed wiring. "Rommie, what happened?"

"We’ve been damaged but no one is hurt, we’re venting atmosphere and the engines are off-line. We still have minimal life-support and weapons."

"You’ll have two Dragan fighters breathing down your neck in fifteen minutes," Dylan said.

"I know. Tyr says he has a plan that should prevent them from blowing us up."

"I hope it works; we’ll be there as soon as we can."

"Did you get Harper?" Beka asked, a worried frown creasing her face.

Rommie smiled. "Yes, of course. Do you think Tyr would have got me out on his own?"

"He’s all right? The Dragans had him for days."

"They mended all his broken bones and apart from some minor weight loss he seems to be fine. I have to go now: Tyr needs the com." Rommie flickered out.

"Broken bones?" Beka looked bleak. "How many ships have you shot down, Trance?"

"Three, so far," Trance said, looking up with a frown.

"Shoot more,"

<><><><><>

Tyr gave Harper’s shoulder a squeeze as they switched places. Settling down in the pilot chair Tyr opened communications with the advancing Dragan fighters.

"This is Tyr Anasazi of the Kodiak Pride. You will not fire on us."

A Dragan appeared on the screen. "I am Cassius Lemarch of the Drago-Kasov Pride and I will blow you into you component molecules once I’m in range. You have three minutes to reflect on your inferiority before you die."

Tyr sat back, the picture of relaxation. "I suggest you do a detailed scan of the infrastructure of the forward port bulkhead of this ship."

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Because you will find a stasis pod. It contains the Progenitor’s remains."

"WHAT!" The Dragan choked.

Tyr smiled. "Ironic, isn’t it? Cuatemoc had the bones all the time, he was just to inferior to find them."

"You’re lying."

"Scan me and find out."

"Those scans can be faked, and even if you do have a stasis pod there, there’s no way to know what’s in it."

"True, but do you want to risk it?"

"We can take you anyway. Return the bones to their rightful place."

"Their ‘rightful place’ is with Kodiak Pride." Tyr scowled.

"The bones belong to anyone strong enough to hold them. It won’t take much to capture that pitiful little cargo ship. More or less intact." Lemarch flicked off his com.

"His weapons are powering up." Rommie said.

"They won’t risk damaging the bones. Harper, I trust there are two working suits on board?"

Harper grinned and pulled open the storage area. "Always. Well, always from now on anyway." Harper tossed a suit to Tyr as the Maru rocked with another impact.

"We’ve lost weapons on the starboard side," Rommie said. "Returning fire with the port batteries."

The next hit blew another hole in the command section. Tyr grabbed Harper and slammed him down in the pilot chair, strapping him securely in. He sealed his helmet, checked Harper’s and pulled up another deck plate to block the hole. Another blast rocked the ship and Tyr was thrown across the room, impacting heavily on the bulkhead as the gravity cut out again. Tyr didn’t move.

"Tyr!" Harper shouted, trying to unfasten the chair’s harness. Rommie put out her hand and stopped him, pushing herself over to Tyr. She nodded reassuringly at Harper, indicating that Tyr’s suit seals were intact. Harper sighed in relief and ceased struggling.

Rommie frowned: the seals were intact but Tyr wasn’t getting any oxygen. She saw the mess the back of the suit was in and quickly secured Tyr to the deck. Returning to the controls she was about to fire on the Dragan ships when first one, then the other exploded spectacularly.

"Ah, Andromeda," Rommie sighed. "Perfect timing as always."

<><><><><>

“They’re in.  Beka, take us to slipstream,” Dylan said as soon as the grapples had pulled in the battered Maru.  “We’re going to need to shake the Dragans off, any suggestions?” he asked as another Dragan missile got through to hit the hull.

Beka grinned.  “Four jumps and we’re into FTA space.  The Dragans probably won’t follow us: they’ve been negotiating with the FTA for control of a large piece of disputed territory.  If they do follow us the FTA will probably drop out of negotiations.  Plus, the FTA are kinda on our side, they might help…for a price.”

“Do it,” Dylan said and they entered slipstream.

<><><><><>

“You should have told me,” Harper scowled, tugging off Tyr’s helmet.

“There was nothing you could have done,” Rommie replied.  “The controls are damaged beyond repair.  It would have just upset you.”

“Dammit Rommie!  I should have known.  He was lying there suffocating and I didn’t know!”  Harper was shouting, red in the face and his hands were shaking as Tyr’s helmet finally came off.  Tyr wasn’t breathing; his skin looked grey and his eyes were half-open.  Harper swallowed a sob and bent forward to blow into Tyr’s mouth.

“Harper, Nietzscheans can survive for a long time without oxygen and his heart is still beating.  He’ll be fine,” Rommie said gently.

Harper ignored her and continued his attempts at resuscitation.  “Do something useful.”  Harper snapped, yanking the oxygen tube out of his suit, “Blow pure oxygen over his face.  It might help when he starts to breathe again.”

Harper could feel the life returning to Tyr’s body even through the thick material.  Suddenly Tyr was breathing and colour was returning to his skin.  “Tyr.”  Harper whispered.

Tyr reached out suddenly and grabbed the back of Harper’s head, pulling him into a hard kiss.  “Harper, do you have any idea what breathing pure oxygen does to a Nietzschean?”  Tyr’s voice sounded rusty.

Harper jerked back and pulled the oxygen tube away from Tyr’s face.  “No.  Is it bad, are you okay?  Did I hurt you?”

Tyr raised himself up on one elbow.  “I’m fine, I’m just very…stimulated right now.”

Harper blinked.  “You get turned on by oxygen?  You weren’t even breathing five minutes ago!  I guess you really are a superior being.”

Tyr gave a low chuckle and lay back down.  “I’m assuming we stalled the Drago-Kasov long enough for the Andromeda to ride to the rescue?  What exactly happened to me anyway?  I remember the gravity going off-line and that’s it.”

“You were knocked unconscious and your controls were smashed to Hell.  You only had the oxygen that was left in your suit until the Andromeda pulled us aboard and we repressurised.”

“That explains the headache.  The Drago-Kasov?”

“I don’t know,” Harper said, “Getting you revived was my main priority.  We’ve slipstreamed twice since we came aboard.”

“The Dragans are pursuing us,” Rommie said.  “Beka has a plan to lose them in FTA territory.”

“Rommie!”  Harper said sharply.  “You shouldn’t link to your main AI until I check you out.”

“Sorry, it’s just…I’m glad to be home.”

Harper grabbed onto Tyr as the transited to slipstream again.  Tyr’s arms slid around him and they sat holding each other until they returned to normal space.  “I need to get you to sick bay,” Harper said, squeezing Tyr.

“I’m fine.”

“Humour me.”

“We probably still have Drago-Kasov to fight.  Trance may have gained warrior skills in the future but I’m still the fire control officer on this ship.”

“They’ve managed fine this far,” Harper growled.

“Was I this annoying when you were ill?”

Harper’s face lit up.  “Much, much worse.  For instance: I’m unlikely to pick you up and carry you kicking and screaming to medical.”

Tyr grinned at the memory and pulled Harper down into another kiss.  “Are you going to take advantage of me in my ‘weakened condition’?”

Harper recalled Tyr pushing him away when he was in shock after the incident on Jay’s World and again when he was suffering from withdrawal.  “It would serve you right if I said ‘no, you’re ill’.  I don’t think I have that much self-control though.”

They kissed again as the ship shuddered through another slipstream.  Holo-Rommie was beside them when the finally broke apart.  “We’ve lost the Dragan ships.  Dylan wants to see both of you in medical right away.”  Holo-Rommie flicked a glance at avatar Rommie and shimmered away.

“You heard the Captain.”  Harper grinned, jumping to his feet.

“Fine,” Tyr grumbled, following him.

<><><><><>

“You seem to have returned a slipfighter short Mr Anasazi,” Dylan said as Tyr pulled his shirt back on after Trance had given him the all clear.

Tyr raised an eyebrow.  “We can collect it whenever you want.  I didn’t lose it.”

“There are bits of the Maru scattered for kilometres in every direction.”

“I’m sure you’re glad that Mr Harper is here to repair it.”  Tyr shrugged, waving at the bed where Trance was checking Harper’s healing injuries.

“I’d be happier if we were on our way to meet you at the rendezvous point like we agreed.”

“You were late, we thought you might have had difficulty retrieving the passwords.”

“How did you stop the Nietzscheans from destroying the Maru?  They had all their weapons set to cripple.  Do the Drago-Kasov want you alive?”

“I bluffed them into believing that the Progenitor’s remains were on board the Maru.”

“And are they?”

“What do you think?”

“I think it’s impossible to tell when you’re lying.”

“Thank you.”

Trance finished her scans.  “Well the tissue damage is nearly all healed and the bones are fused very nicely.  There are a few residual traces of serum withdrawal, but not enough to show symptoms.  You just need a good meal and some sleep Harper and you’ll be fine.”

“Great, so we can get out of here?”

“Yes, just remember: food and rest.  No repairs, Rommie can wait until tomorrow.”

“I slept for eight hours on the Maru.”

“And your body needed it.  You’ve taken a lot of damage over the last few weeks.  Give your body a chance to adjust.”

Tyr moved over and gripped Harper’s shoulder.  “I’ll make sure he does as he’s told.”

Trance smiled.  “Good.”

Tyr wrapped one arm around Harper and pulled him out of medical.  “It’s over, Harper: the Magog, the withdrawal, the Drago-Kasov, for the moment.  Now it’s just you and me.”
 

Part 3

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