Farscape 1. A Loving Betrayal

**Title**:Fading Existence  
**Author**:Insanity  
**Summary**:John leaves Moya, Aeryn follows along. Bitta Talyn adventurism cos he didn't get enough screen time. This is basically me writing a story for myself to make myself feel good. All the things I want to happen happen. Though there will be some stuff I won't like but will write.  
**Spoilers**:This starts right after Different Destinations, and AU after that, but there will be bits and pieces thrown in from the rest of S3 and 4 and possibly PKW. So you'll want to have watched everything.  
**Beta**:Some might say my imaginary friends don't count, but.. Well.. They don't. No beta, each and every mistake is mine. Or your eyes, depending. ;)  
**Disclaimer**:If I owned Farscape this wouldn't be just floating around the internet, it would be on TV, so I think that answers that. The words are mine though. Well.. Oxford dictionary's, but I reckon it's safe to borrow a few.  
**Note**:This was supposed to be my first fic. It's now my second, but it might not be the 2nd completed piece because it is going to be looooong. (I should probably forewarn and readers about that, it's long.) And I've been using the title 'Fly Me to the Moon', so it's rather odd having a different name now.  
**Note2**:I will be writing a parallel story either during this or after. I was originally going to post it as the same story, but I've decided they deserve their own. I'm referring of course to what's happening with Moya whilst the rest of the story is happening, I just haven't been able to mesh them they way I would like. (and also Moya didn't like the title of this story, so she's getting her own.)  
**Note3:**So far I've written up the first 5chapters, and I have 8more that are summary written, I just need to add some words. I hope to post these one a week/fortnight, to give me time to write more so I'll always have a chapter ready. Though obviously if nobody likes my wandering I'll stop posting and keep them to myself.

2 Márta 2010

CHAPTER ONE:A Loving Betrayal.

"And so I'm leaving Moya guys, too many people have died because of me, and I don't want any of you to be next. I'm sorry I didn't wait for y'all to wake up, but I figured this was the best way." He smiled down ruefully, "You guys would have tried to stop me. Don't try to follow me, please. Pilot has deleted my journey from his databanks so there's nothing to follow.

I'm sorry to end it like this guys, you're the best friends and crewmates a lost country boy could have. I've left individual goodbyes in each of your quarters-you guys sure do sleep deeper these days, I woulda thought at least Ms PK tough chick woulda heard me.

Umm... Yeh. So I love you guys and I'm sorry for everything that my being here has done to hurt you all. Hope everything works out for you now. Anyways, Gotta fly!" John's tortured eyes got a bit brighter, and D'Argo watched as he donned a roguish smile and lifted his hand up into the view screen, separating out his two central fingers "Live long and prosper." With that, the view screen went blank.

There was a long silence in the den as the sole occupant other than Pilot stared in shock at the now empty viewscreen. Pilot watched his crewmate carefully waiting for a response. What he got was of no surprise to him, having lived with these beings for more than two cycles. There was a growl and then,

"Frelling dren"

"My sentiments exactly, Ka D'argo."He bowed his head slightly at the fuming Luxan. "I asked for your presence first because I was unsure how to deal with this, given the unpredictable nature of our other friends. You are someone I trust not to act rashly" Inside his mind he felt Moya frown slightly at this twist of truth. They both knew that D'argo was perhaps the most rash of the group, but they took the risk anyway as he was the most authoritive and also the most easy to placate with compliments with regards his emotional control. And it seemed to be working, as D'argo was visibly relaxing under Pilot's amber gaze. Pilot assured Moya that the threat of hyper rage was now over.

D'argo stood at the edge of Pilot's console and repeated over and over in his mind the video he had just witnessed. At first he was mildly hurt that the human had not come to him, they had shared many things in the past and he was confused that John hadn't confided in him. Frell, he talked to John occasionally about the heartache surrounding his son and Chiana. They shared stories of their barely functioning love lives. However, they had not had one of those conversations in a couple of weekens.

As he thought about it more, and reminisced on John's behaviour from the past few days, he slowly began to realise that John had not spoke more than a few words to him in days, and most certainly only because he was prodded into doing so. D'argo began to feel a deep sorrow well up in his hearts, and was ashamed for not having seen sooner how miserable the human was.

Being the strongest warrior on the ship, it was up to him to protect the weaker crewmembers. However, he was a Luxan, weakness of the mind was something he had only learned recently. Before the human, he had only ever known a person to suffer from physical ailments, war wounds, disease, cuts and bruises, so he was always slower to realise when someone was emotionally hurting.

Since the memorial planet and the atrocities that had occurred there, (in no small part thanks to his, Aeryn and John's actions) John had become quiet and reclusive. He had already been struggling to come to terms with Zhaan's death (something D'argo realised that the rest of the crew had unknowingly been blaming him for) and now since leaving the planet and all that happened there he must have been so consumed with shame and guilt at what his actions had done. D'argo himself found it hard to think about that day, the memory of the little girl, Cyntrina, too fresh in his mind. In his sorrow he had unwittingly blamed John, yet again, for deaths he could not have stopped. No wonder the human had not spoken of his troubles to D'argo.

"We have been treating him unfairly since Zhaan's death," D'argo confessed, "and now since the memorial planet he must have been so consumed with guilt. I wish I had known what we were doing to him."

"Moya and I too had noticed a change in the commander's behaviour; he has been spending much of his time alone on the terrace. I am ashamed that I did not help him, as my duty to all who reside within Moya I should have aided him in whatever way I could, but recently Moya and I have been missing Zhaan so greatly we simply weren't able to comfort him as we should." Pilots head drooped lower as he confessed his failure, and Moya tried to comfort him but was so saddened herself that it only mildly alleviated his morose mood.

"Do not blame yourself Pilot. We all ignored our friend as he suffered." D'Argo's gently rumbling voice calmed Pilot, and D'argo himself seemed more emotionally controlled as the both conversed.

"Thank you Ka D'argo. Moya wishes you to know that you too are also not to blame."

"Thank you Pilot, and thank Moya for me." He looked up into the large symbiotes eyes and saw only compassion. "My only worry now is what we tell the rest of the crew. What do we tell Aeryn?"

"Moya suggests you gather them together after the sleep cycle and show them this video in command. We too are anxious as to Aeryn's response. They both are prone to acting very irrationally when one of them is missing or hurt"

"Thank you for the advice. I will go to command now to start my shift. Please tell the others when they awaken to come up there also" With that said D'argo nodded once to Pilot and began the long walk up to command.

* * *

Aeryn awoke swiftly from sleep, as she always did. She spent a moment lying in the warmth of her bed, stretching her muscles softly. It was a new thing for her, to lie relaxing in bed in the mornings. When she first arrived on Moya whenever she awoke she was quick to leap out of bed and dress, ready to perform her duties, but as time went by and she found herself with more and more free time on her hands she began spending a little bit more time in bed. After all there are only so many times one can clean a pulse pistol, and she didn't know of many other ways to distract herself. At first, it felt wrong to be doing this, she felt like she was betraying some code by not using the time to train, feeling as though by lying here she was not ready for whatever problem happened to strike Moya that day, but as John so kindly pointed out, she was always ready for action. She smiled as she thought of that conversation with John.

He had been late for first meal, again, and she had gone to his quarters and ordered him out of bed. Not after spending a silent few moments watching his sleeping form of course. When he did not awaken at her call she went over and sat on his bed, looking at his sleeping face. Slowly, much slower than the newest cadet, he became aware of her presence and groaned as he blearily blinked his eyes.

"You know if I had been an enemy you would have dead long before now. Your instincts are dismal, Crichton" She frowned at him. For all her condescending tones, she really did care for him, and belittling his abilities was the only way she new to try to get him to change his slow minded ways. She didn't want him dying because he slept too soundly.

Crichton groaned loudly and shut his barely open eyes again. He mumbled into the pillow.

"What? Crichton if you're going to talk the least you could do is try and talk properly. I can barely understand you as it is" Frell he was useless, she thought.

"Said I knew 'twas you" He muttered, slightly louder than the first time.

"Oh really, and how was that exactly? Your amazing human senses?"She snorted.

"Smelled like you"

'Frell him!' "I do not smell!

"Do. Don't worry Aer, it's a good thing. You smell nice." With that, he opened his eyes properly and grinned at her boyishly. When he saw her fighting down a small smile of her own his grin widened. Rubbing his eyes one last time he sat up in bed. "Anyways, it's nice to lie in bed in the morning. I mean when I was a kid I didn't appreciate it, but my college years taught me better. Why run around doing nothing when you can lie in bed? I was awake about an arn ago, just thought I'd get to know my bed a bit better."

She snorted again. "Yes and that's really going to help us in a battle John. What if I decided to just 'lie around all day' as you say? The ship would be overrun in a microt."

He disagreed, "Nuh-uh babe. You're like G.I. Jane, even when you're asleep you're always ready for action." He winked at her and very slowly started getting himself out of bed, but stopped to listen to Aeryn again.

"So you just lie here, doing nothing? What purpose does that serve? I was taught never to do the unnecessary. If I have extra time then I should use it to train. Though I find myself with a bit too much time here. I'll be needing new gloves at the next commerce planet." Silently she added 'you too' but knew not to voice it as John was always so reluctant to train and fight.

"Holy mother Teresa, you've never just slouched around being a potato? Man am I glad for Miss United States. Doing absolutely nothing is a very important part of being human." He stated matter of factly. Aeryn stared at him for a few seconds before answering. 'Frelling fahrbot, I hope he doesn't actually think we believe his little stories about human traits'.

"No I've never 'sloshed around' being a 'tuber' whatever the frell any of that's supposed to mean, and anyways Crichton I really don't think—

What the frell are you doing?" Mid sentence Crichton, he was sitting beside her at this point, had very professionally thrown back his sheet, lay back down on his bed and started pulling her down by the arm.

"Gotta try it once. C'mon, you'll love it" He was using his most pleading voice and staring at her, begging her with his eyes. Aeryn just glared at him, but knew it was a lost cause. 'Frell it' she thought, 'either this or clean my pulse pistol, again'. And so she removed his arm from hers, slid gracefully into the bed beside him, whereupon John immediately threw the covers over them, and turned to her.

Aeryn had realised immediately the mistake behind her actions, but she was already falling into his eyes and really couldn't summon the energy to care how close they were. Without seemingly even realising it, they both moved closer together. Her heart was beating rapidly at this stage. Somewhere in the back of her mind the soldier in her was screaming 'Officer Sun! What the frell are you doing!' but another side of her mind, the louder part, was telling her she knew this was going to happen the moment she entered his quarters. She'd been frelling bored and had missed him at first meal; he was usually always capable of being mildly entertaining.

John leaned forward carefully, watching her reactions ever dench of the way, and just when she was readying to either bolt or give in to his kiss, he changed direction and planted a kiss on her forehead. She knew he had seen her uncertainty, but now she couldn't remember why she had been. A missed opportunity.

She sighed loudly and John immediately put his arm around her form and pulled her in against his chest. Once she got over her initial surprise she slowly relaxed against him, head under his chin. She slipped an arm around him in turn. She felt his head tilt and felt him breathing in the scent of her hair. Her mouth twisted into a secret smile, hidden from his view, and she slowly closed her eyes.

Just remembering that warm moment brought a smile to her face. It was one of the few moments they had truly let themselves go and just relaxed with each other. Usually he was trying so hard not to scare her off, and when he failed at that she was always so busy worrying about the consequences of getting close to him that they never got further than furtive glances. She couldn't recall a time before John where she was able to just be close to a man and not feel the demands of their hormones. Of course, she knew he would love to go further than just 'cuddling' as he called it, and frell she thought she might like to as well, but it was nice just to lie close to him and feel his body warming hers, and his breath ruffing her hair.

They had stayed that way for an entire arn. She thinks they might have both dozed at some point. When they both started to get impatient for the day they didn't run and become awkward with each other as they so often did, he had kissed her once more on the forehead and they had both gotten up and gone together to the central chamber for John to have his first meal, and Aeryn had sat opposite him and watched him as he ate, pretending she needed his advice on repairing the navigation display on her prowler. (Which she then ran to quickly afterwards and pulled some wires)

Aeryn got out of her own bed then and quickly got dressed, hoping her time spent reminiscing hadn't run into first meal. She didn't need John to know that she had been practising his habit.

Strapping on her pulse pistol she swept out of her quarters, only to collide with a very suspicious looking Rygel.

She glared at him for a microt while she collected herself, and he backed away slightly, looking at her warily as if expecting an outburst.

"Rygel." She stated.

"Peacekeeper." He replied, following his old insult.

"Do I want to know why you were outside my quarters?"

"Oh no reason," he said officiously, "I just thought it would be interesting whether I have won the bet, but I assume you don't know yet so I suppose I shall have to wait. How does it feel peacekeeper, to know you are the last to find out?" He grinned at her and drifted his thronesled away, leaving a confused and irritated Aeryn to stand in the hall looking after him.

"Nobody can ever just frelling make sense anymore." She muttered as she made her way to command.

* * *

Once he knew he was out of sight of Aeryn, Rygel stopped his thronesled, turned around, and followed behind her, always keeping a corridor of distance between them. He didn't want to be the first thing she saw when she found out, but he still wanted to be there.

She had suprised him when she came out of her quarters, at the speed she had come out at he had automatically assumed she knew, so had prepared himself for her reaction. He had at least expected agitation or concern. Worst scenario, he had feared she would display an uncharacteristic amount of emotion. Instead, once she had collected herself, she had appeared as she had every day, albeit a small part surprised to see him down her corridor.

After D'Argo had called them all to command after first meal and shown them the video John had left behind, the first thing he had told them was that nobody except him or Pilot, under any circumstances, was to mention John's disappearance to Aeryn. D'Argo had said he was unsure as of yet what to tell her, but told them until that point it was safer for all on board if they kept mouths shut as D'Argo was the only one capable of holding back an angry peacekeeper.

Chiana had simply left the chamber quietly and, he suspected, went back to her quarters to absorb the knowledge that her newfound brother was gone, and to find the data chip John had left her. Jool simply mentioned that 'she didn't give a frell what people did on this ship' as they had 'killed her cousins like barbarians' and she only stayed because they had kidnapped her. After D'Argo's growl of anger she had turned on her heel in a huff and stormed out of command, and Rygel couldn't give a yotz where she went.

Stark hadn't bothered showing up, claiming he already knew having not felt his spirit on the ship any more. D'Argo had then explained to him that Crichton had left, that he wasn't dead. They had all looked mildly surprised when he replied, "Obviously, Ka D'Argo, Zhaan would have told me. Zhaan loves John, like she loves me. Loves you. Loves the grey one, the loud one and even the smelly one. Very smelly. Loves us all. Zhaan's love..." Pilot picked that moment to cut his comms.

D'Argo had looked at Rygel dismissively and turned away to look at the control, trying to pretend that he was in control of himself, but Rygel saw his hand shaking as he moved them over the console.

After thinking for a while, Rygel had realised that it was up to him, once again, to look after everybody on board, as he was the only one, it seemed, that didn't collapse at the first sign of disaster.

And secretly, though he would never tell it to anybody, he was fond of his newly adopted subjects and really didn't want anything negative happening to them if he could help it. If by helping he wasn't endangering his life. John had been something of an entertainer on board and always seemed to forgive him readily for the little and few mistakes he had made, whereas the others seemed to draw out their loathing of him over weekens. He honestly would miss Crichton, he thought to himself. But he realised if he could do anything for his first true friend, it would be look after his family, and look after Aeryn even if she was a cruel and barbaric tralk.

After much deliberation he had swung his chair around and floated out of command in the direction of Aeryn's quarters, ready to begin his duty of watching over her. He had planned to hide in an adjacent cell (where he had some hidden rations, handily enough) and wait for her to leave so he could follow her to command. What he had not expected was for her to burst out into his path. With the pace at which she had come out, he thought immediately that she knew, that Jool or Pilot or somebody had told her. Caught off guard he couldn't make up an excuse quickly enough and he knew he had raised her suspicions. 'Yotz' he thought, 'the Luxan's going to kill me.'.

Now speeding after her as he was he was sincerely starting to regret his actions. The few times he has truly tried to do something for the crew have always ended with them despising him more than before. And now it was happening again. Everybody was sure to think he had told her or antagonised her on purpose. His earbrows lowered slightly, knowing how little everybody but John and perhaps Zhaan, thought of him. And now his two champions were gone.

Aeryn was already in command and approaching it slowly, Rygel could already hear D'Argo's voice softly rumbling through the corridor. He could hear Aeryn as she raised her voice in question and then command went silent.

At this point he drew around the last corridor and went behind the door to peer through the gap. D'Argo was fiddling with a console nervously as he put the video chip back in the viewer. Rygel's earbrows drooped even lower again as John's face appeared on the screen. Aeryn was standing stoically still staring at the video. Her stance giving away the tension in her mind.

Throughout the video Rygel alternated between watching John and watching Aeryn's reaction. Out of the corner of his eye he could see D'Argo doing the same, and he thanked the Hynerian Gods that he wasn't in the room with them.

Aeryn had begun shaking slightly. It would be barely noticeable on a regular person, but on Aeryn it was as if Moya was having a fit of hiccups, it was so extreme. When John began saying goodbye and finally raised his hand using that strange gesture she slowly lowered herself to the floor on her knees staring at something unseeable in the distance. Rygel stared at her nervously, not knowing what her next reaction to be. He figured she would either kill D'Argo or rush for her prowler. Therefore, when he heard a great racking sob he looked around the room quickly in confusion, expecting to find some other hidden observer, but when D'Argo quietly went to her side and put a hand on her shoulder he realised the noise had come from her, and her barely shaking movements had now become full on tremors.

For once in his life, Rygel felt like an intruder. He slowly backed away, feeling strangely empty, and made his way to the central chamber hoping to replace his woes with food.

* * *

Aeryn stayed kneeling on the floor until she got her emotions better under control. She was embarrassed at her slip in her discipline, but she knew D'Argo wouldn't call her on it. His heavy hand stayed comfortingly on her shoulder throughout, and it was the contact that slowly brought her back to reality.

While she was watching the video she told herself it was one of Crichton's jokes that he was constantly playing on people, but when he had started to say goodbye, when he done that idiotic earth hand symbol he had once shown her she slowly began to shake, her body cooled until everything inside felt like it had turned to ice. John had left her. After all his promises not to leave her. After he had told her he loved her. After she had come back from the dead because Zhaan saw their love for each other. He was gone. Once she realised that fact her mind had gone blank. She had fallen to the floor simply because all of a sudden she couldn't feel her legs beneath her. Repeatedly in her mind, the only sentence that was making its way through the layer of twisting emotions was the mantra 'He's gone. He's gone. John's gone. He's left me.'

Now she was under control again. She had logic and rationale back on her side. Now she had enough strength to form new thoughts, form a plan. The mantra was still running in her head, but she finally was able to multitask again, only giving a portion of her concentration to that, while the rest of her mind was devoted to 'the plan'.

D'Argo was looking at her carefully, as if worried at any moment she might erupt emotionally again. Instead she seemed to be bringing in her training again, schooling her emotions until her face was almost void of emotion, apart from a look that was strangely similar to the one Crichton wore when he was formulating one of his death defying plans.

"Aeryn?" He asked softly.

"Quiet a microt D'Argo, I'm thinking." With that, she went quiet again for a moment. "I've got it."

"Got what?"She'd only spoken two sentences and already he was becoming confused, and increasingly worried.

"Pilot, Crichton's module, it leaks excess gases?"

Pilot's face appeared quickly, having known his presence would be asked for. "Yes Officer Sun. However, it has been some arns since the commander left and any traces of his module are close to none existent. Moya would be unable to follow him using that. We are sorry, Aeryn." His use of her first name conveyed all the sadness his face could not.

"It's fine Pilot, we will find him."

"It's not that we are sorry about. Before he left John explicitly asked me not to give you any details regarding his journey, and as you know asked me to delete any and all data regarding his direction." He inclined his head slightly as he spoke, noticing the colour draining from Aeryn's face as all apparent hope was lost.

"Aeryn I think it would be best now to look where we are heading. John will find us again if he needs to. He asked us not to follow him. He was my greatest friend, and I honour him by honouring his wishes." D'Argo said as he came to stand at her shoulder. She had moved to stand in front of the wide window that looked out upon the stars.

She turned to him, her face showing a flash of anger.

"No, D'Argo. I do not accept that. I do not accept that John wants us to abandon him out here alone. I refuse to abandon him."

"Aeryn he doesn't want you following him. We have to think of the crew now."

"Alright, let's ask the crew then D'Argo. You're not their captain, let them decide!" Her eyes were livid with anger now, though D'Argo knew it was only because she was trying to cover up the so-called 'weaker emotions'. He knew she was fighting an internal battle against herself. Thinking of nothing that could comfort her he nodded, hoping that if nothing else she could accept that he was right.

Seeing his nod, Aeryn stood taller once more. "Pilot could you request an answer from each of the crew please."

Pilot had been watching their conversation silently. Watching the emotions that flew around the room. It was so rare to see Aeryn show anything but her peacekeeper mask. Usually he liked these times when they had the chance to see the emotional spirit beneath it, but watching her now, he felt pain.

"Yes Officer Sun, comms open now. They will reply when ready. They have been listening to your conversation."

Before Aeryn could reply with a thank you Starks voice came on.

"Destiny, destiny. His destiny, my destiny, your destiny. Our destiny? No, no, no, no, no, no. My side, your side. His side. Not our destiny. His destiny. Your destiny. Mine. We should leave. Yes, we should leave straight away. Our destiny. My destiny, your destiny. We need to leave. Not his destiny. Or your destiny. He must stay. You must. But we cannot. Not us." His garbling came to end on a sigh. Aeryn and D'Argo looked at each other, not sure what his reply was supposed to mean.

"I suspect his answer was a no, Officer Sun, Ka D'Argo. Myself and Moya have taken to untangling his sentences in our spare time since he came aboard. If the Commander were here he would say we were 'playing a game'."

"Thank you Pilot." Replied D'Argo when he realised Aeryn wouldn't.

Next Chiana's voice wafted through their comms. "Crichton was my brother. I mean he was like a brother to me. Like Nerri. He was totally tinked, but he was always there for me. And I want to be there for him, you know? I wanna return the favour. So I'm going to say no. I'm sorry Aeryn. He asked me. He asked all of us. I hate that he's asked us to stay away, but I love him, so I will. So that's my answer." Her voice sounded hoarse over the comms, D'Argo suspected she had spent the time since the news crying. He cast a quick glance at Aeryn, but it was pointless. He could see no trace of her thoughts.

"Jool?" He inquired gruffly.

"Oh I wasn't sure if you cared" She replied. "As I said I don't care what we do. I barely know you people. I barely know him. However, I do know, other than killing my cousins, he was always kind to me. Like he gave a frell, more than you people anyway. But if he wants to leave I don't see your problem. I want to leave too; I haven't heard anyone voting on that." She finished haughtily.

"That's because we don't like you, princess! But we like John!" Chiana's screech over the comms proved she was paying close attention to the deliberations.

A small smile appeared to flicker across Aeryn's face. D'Argo didn't hide his and grinned at Chiana's comment. As much as he didn't like how Chiana had hurt him and betrayed him, he had to admire her fierce loyalty to John. Maybe if he had been more like a brother to her she wouldn't have torn him down so quickly, he mused. Then stopped musing, as there were more important things to be discussed. Like how the frell they were going to keep Aeryn from taking over the ship herself to search for John. He sighed deeply. It pained him to leave his friend behind, but if that was his wish, he would abide by it. He had the crew to think of now. He had to think of Moya and Pilot. If Moya were a ship like Talyn he wouldn't be questioning his moves, but Moya had been through far too much in their short time aboard her, and he for one thought she deserved peace and time to recuperate. He didn't really think John was gone forever anyway.

"Aeryn, the crew have decided, I think we must accept that John is---"

"The yotz they have! You forget your Dominar, Luxan."Seethed Rygel as he spoke over the comms.

"Your vote does not matter, your eminence. And even if it did, the majority have voted no, your vote either way is worthless!" Came the snarling reply.

"That's not necessarily true D'Argo. We still have Moya and Pilot to consider." Aeryn said quietly, looking out at the stars.

"Luxan malak" Rygel muttered. "As Dominar and the only official royalty on this vessel, it is my duty to look after each and every one of my subjects, no matter how they mistreat me. I am their sovereign. Without me you would all be tearing each other apart like the primitives you are. John has been a most loyal subject; he has saved you all, and even me, on numerous occasions. Even when you all wronged him, he never once gave up on you. So I say I will not give up on him. I vote that we follow his course as best that we can." With his speech done, everyone listening distinctly heard the sound of him crunching on food cubes.

"Thank you Rygel" Aeryn had turned away from the window briefly to look in the direction of the central chamber. After she got over the shock of his answer she realised she was immensely grateful to the small ruler, though she now felt she owed him something and that thought did not please her. She turned to face the clamshell. "Pilot, have you and Moya made a decision?"

"Moya says that as your home, and having been bred to serve others she feels she has no right to vote, and so will follow whatever you all decide. I should say the same, however I have decided that I will vote, and I will vote no. My first duty is to Moya, and then those who reside within her. Moya is my priority, and I would rather we were somewhere safe where the commander could seek us later, than to get into another battle." Pilot spoke confidently, but he avoided gazing into Aeryn's eyes.

Aeryn was staring at the clamshell, a feeling of utter betrayal surging through her. Of all aboard, she had the closest bond to Pilot (second to Moya of course) and she was followed closely by John. She had thought that Pilot would follow her wish to reclaim their lost crewmember.

"Well that's that then. You would all abandon Crichton." Her voice was flat, her eyes hollow. She slowly left command feeling faint. She had not wanted to go alone, she knew her prowler wouldn't last up for a lengthy journey as she had been taking it apart to clean, fix and modify it with Crichton. As it was it would have to have a hasty put together and she would just have to hope it made it to the next planet where she could fix it. When she left, as she had decided she must, she knew it would be a while before she saw Moya again. She wouldn't be able to make the return journey until she had her prowler completely fixed and that would take some time. She comforted herself thinking she would at least be with John, keeping him safe.

She reached her quarters swiftly and started organising what she would require for the journey. She threw extra leathers onto her bed, grabbed two t-shirts, her day and her night one. Next for the pile she started organising her weapons. First she threw down chakan oil cartridges, then she added an extra holster and pistol to her thigh and retrieved her rifle and a bag full of grenades. These were the essentials to breathing for more than a day if she was going to be hanging around with John.

Thinking of that curse, she slipped a knife into her boot and another into her belt. She added a pulse canon to the pile, thinking that if she couldn't carry it she could at least have it in the prowler and know it was there. She added more cartridges to her bed, spares for John. With her hastily made pile assembled, she started to pack it all neatly into a duffel bag. That done she grabbed her leather duster. It was then she noticed the data chip on the table, and remembered John mentioning that he had left them all their own. She decided to watch it in the prowler and put it into the pocket of her duster.

Rifle slung over her shoulder, bag over the other, she started walking down the hall that would eventually lead to the hangers where her prowler lay.

* * *

Pilot sat morosely in his den, gazing at the panels in front of him, occasionally giving one a prod to keep Moya's systems running, but most of his attention was focussed on Moya and on the crew and their predicament. Aeryn in particular. Moya had, in concern for her, sent DRD's to watch her. Together they saw her packing her bags and knew that too soon another of their family would depart, and they could not follow. Pilot sighed to himself.

A slight whirring distracted him from his thoughts and he looked up to find Rygel crossing the bridge over to his console.

"Dominar." He greeted wearily, lacking the energy to feign politeness as Rygel regaled him some story of the injustices imposed on him.

"Pilot." He hesitated, not knowing how to begin. Pilot looked at him more carefully, curiosity rising.

"Is there a problem, Dominar, something you require?"

"Ahem, no, Pilot. I could just come here to talk couldn't I?" At Pilots dubious look, he acceded. "Alright I've never come here for that reason. Pilot, I want to talk to you about something, but I need your word that this will be confidential."

'There are too many secrets' Moya whispered in his mind. Pilot silently agreed. First Crichton, then D'Argo, then the crew had to keep a secret from Aeryn, and now Rygel. He sighed again. "Of course Dominar. Moya and I agree that nothing said here shall leave this room."

"Thank you Pilot. Pilot, I want you to give Aeryn the coordinates."

Pilot did a double take. "But your eminence, John told you in his video, he asked me to delete all records."

"Yes Pilot, but you and I both know that there is the asking of a thing, and then the doing. I know you all think I don't know anything about things that don't concern me, and in most cases this is true, but if you will recall when we were boarded by the Zenetan pirates..." He paused, looking at Pilot while Pilot conjured the memory.

"Yes, I remember. You saved Stanz and D'Argo by sending the pirates on the wrong lead." Pilot was starting to realise that Rygel knew more than he let on, that he knew about Pilot's lie. He was glad now of the secrecy of their conversation.

"Yes and saved Moya and everybody else in the process," his chest inflated as he spoke and his tone was proud, "after that incident I made a point of asking you if you captured my honourable moment in your data banks, do you remember?" At Pilot's uneasy nod he continued, "Yes, and what was it you told me when I asked that?"

Sullenly like a guilty child, Pilot replied, "I informed you that once something was inferred into Moya's databanks only sabotage could erase it, that I had no power to delete memories, or indeed anything, though I could hide it so deep within her that none but myself could find it again"

"Exactly. So Pilot I know that you didn't erase anything when Crichton asked. Don't worry, I'm not accusing you of lying. You never mentioned erasing anything, only that Crichton had asked you. Very smart. I think you and I would do incredibly well in business together."

"Yes Rygel you are correct. However, the commander asked me not to tell his whereabouts and I shall not, much like I shall not tell the crew you came here because you asked me not to."

Becoming irritated with Pilot Rygel exclaimed "Yotz you will Pilot, it's your head they'd be after! I'm just asking you to tell Aeryn where he's gone so she won't get herself blown up and killed flying in circles!"

Unknown to Rygel, Pilot and Moya had been discussing this very thing since they realised Aeryn was likely leaving. There was an internal conflict raging in Pilot, his need to serve and carry out the wills of his crew, and his need to help Aeryn. Really, the problems were all one and the same, but the demands were all conflicting. He growled in frustration.

'Commander is forgiving' sung Moya after Pilot had been silent for a while. Pilot thought about this and agreed. John by nature was very forgiving, never staying angry long and always apologising if he somehow wronged somebody else. Against his person, he saw past the wrongs and betrayals and somehow always mended his bonds with the person that destroyed them. Thinking on that Pilot made his choice.

"Coordinates being sent now. Will you be informing Officer Sun?" Pilot watched inquisitively as the Hynerian's face erupted into a smile. It was very odd behaviour from the deposed leader.

"No, I would prefer she not know it was me. Maybe D'Argo or you could...?" He trailed off as he spoke. Pilot realised he was witnessing one of Rygel's extremely rare moments of compassion. He would have to watch the dominar more carefully in future, he was not always as pompous and arrogant as he seemed.

"Of course Rygel, I'll let D'Argo know." When Pilot stopped talking Rygel was already halfway across the bridge, heading to the central chamber no doubt. Moya chuckled at the thought and Pilot allowed himself a small smile, before opening comms.

"Ka D'Argo, I wish to inform you that Aeryn Sun is heading towards the hanger bay. I would like you to inform her that I have uploaded some new data into her prowler, and that Moya and I truly are sorry that she is leaving. We hope she finds Crichton and comes home safely." He closed the comms before D'Argo could reply, wanting instead to drift on his thoughts and Moya's, trying to console each other that the wait for their two favourite family members return wouldn't be that long.

* * *

"Aeryn!"

Aeryn turned from where she was perched on the edge of the opening to her prowler. She frowned slightly at this minor delay to her departure and played with the idea of just leaving before D'Argo tried to dissuade her. She climbed back down her prowler and leant against it, waiting while he walked up to her.

"You shouldn't go Aeryn." He said.

"I should and I am. Crichton needs me. Knowing him he's probably started a small war wherever he is." She allowed herself a small smile and saw its reflection on D'Argo.

"I realise it's pointless to ask you to stay. I just wanted a chance to say goodbye, we won't be seeing each other for a while. I'll try to leave a trail that you can follow, John built in some sort of homing device?"

"Yes," She said proudly, "it follows all transmissions and signals from Moya. It gets weaker with age, but we should be able to find you easily enough if we start our return within four monens, and I doubt it will take that long at all."

He nodded. "I've brought you credits; you may need them if John is in jail." He allowed a small laugh, "I presume you've packed your own rations. I have a message from Pilot also."

"Why didn't he comm me?"

"He probably is upset at your leaving. I think he feels badly about the way this has all happened. He wanted me to tell you that he has uploaded new data into your prowler. He says also that he and Moya look forward to your return." It wasn't the exact wording, but it was close enough he was sure Pilot would forgive him.

"Well, thank him and Moya for me. I'm sure the data will be useful. Let him know I shall miss him." She looked slightly unsure about using D'Argo as a messenger, but it quickly became unneeded as Pilot decided to reply himself.

"We shall miss you too, Aeryn Sun." He said quietly.

She figured the rest of the crew weren't aware of her departure, and she preferred it that way, already too much time was being lost. With that thought she nodded once at D'Argo, turned, and climbed back into her prowler. Pulling down the hatch, she started the systems; sparing a glance to be sure D'Argo was vacating the area. When her prowler was ready she flew out of the landing bay, whispering a goodbye to Moya.

Once in open space she flew quickly in the opposite direction from where they were going. Moya was quickly becoming smaller as they moved away from each other.

Her navigation console was flashing a light at her. Answering the silent command, she pressed a few switches and the new data Pilot had left her appeared on a screen. Immediately she smiled, the first true smile since she had left her quarters that morning. The coordinates of Crichton's vector were there, her prowler was already creating the quickest path, and as she stared, she noticed the coordinates were changing.

"Pilot!" She whispered to herself excitedly. Pilot had apparently installed a tracing beacon into John's module that was automatically correcting his changing position as he flew. She made a note to herself that she would need to thank Pilot when she got back.

Hope fully restored, Aeryn's prowler flew quickly after Crichton's module.

* * *

From command, Rygel stared out the window at the diminishing prowler. A warm feeling was emanating inside him at the thought that soon, maybe, John would return, and he was happy that it was Aeryn flying to get him.

"Come back soon, you fahrbot yotzes" He muttered fondly, before gliding his thronesled away.


	2. But in the Sunshine Strikes the Blow

**Note:**  
Disclaimer and that in first post. Also next chapter might not get posted next week, I had a 'mid-life crisis' over the way the story was going and deleted a few chapters and moved things around a lot. Should be sorted out soon enough. Anywho, read on! :) (And leave a reply or two if you like.. Not that you have to.) Also, chapter name is a quote from 'A Fable' by William Cowper.

10 Márta 2010  
Chapter 2: But in the Sunshine Strikes the Blow

The Farscape module glides smoothly through the atmosphere, its trajectory perfectly planned. Landing with barely a noise or a bump. John Crichton, wayward astronaut, climbs out and pats his module fondly in the process. Inside he wishes Aeryn could have seen it, she was always harping on about the fact he seemed obsessed with destroying his landing gear every time he thumped earthwards. She would tut every time he refused Moya's help to bring him in with the docking web and would pester him about his lack of professionalism. It had started because of her superiority complex, but had slowly evolved into a traditional joke, no longer with any harsh intent behind it. He sometimes purposely botched his landing just to see her tut and frown, her eyes shining with her hidden smile even as she harassed him good-naturedly.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he grabbed his duffel, sifting through it and taking out anything unnecessary. He had stopped on this bustling commerce world to pick up supplies, namely fuel, food and maps. There was no benefit in lamenting his much-felt loss.

Tapping both thighs he made sure he had both Winona and her sister in close range. He didn't usually carry two pulse pistols, but he figured that now he's struck out on his own he'd need the extra protection.

It hadn't really taken that long for him to decide to leave Moya, and then actually do it. He'd been wallowing in self-pity for weekens, after the whole Zhaan thing and then what happened with the nurses. He couldn't help thinking that things always seem to go wrong whenever he was around. He owed his friends better than that. Sure they'd be pissed, hell they'd better be pissed, but he reckoned it would work out in the end. The peacekeepers wanted him, not them. Maybe now they could find their homes or stay with Moya and live peacefully.

He sighed and slung his bag over his shoulder. He hoped he had enough credits, but if not, he decided he could offer to do some work. He had no place to go right now anyway, hence the need for maps. Eventually he wanted to find some obscure planet that the peacekeepers didn't bother with, somewhere like Aquara, but in the meantime he needed to have money so he could keep the Farscape running.

Walking out of the landing area he breathed the city air, and then wished he hadn't. They may have more environmentally friendly fuels out here, but damn they smelt bad. Add to that the fact that the landing zone seemed to be surrounded by random herb stalls, and that the planetside transports were massive elephant like creatures that were as pleasant to share air with as Rygel, and you had some pretty nasty smells.

He stopped at an intersection of roads, there were signs everywhere written in Sebacean, Hynerian, Luxan, Nebari and a host of other languages he didn't recognise, but not one of them made any sense to him. He thought he could read the odd word of Sebacean, as Aeryn had taken it upon herself to try to teach him a few phrases whenever they were planet side. It was in case he got lost she said, but he liked to tell himself she just liked to talk to him. Though he knew her assertion was probably right, but what's a man without dreams?

He found a word that he thought looked vaguely like the Sebacean word for travel, which was the closest to 'maps' he would be able to translate. Before he headed in that direction he went to a fuel kiosk at the edge of the landing area to buy fuel so he could leave the planet as soon as he was ready. He inquired the price of fuelling off a bulbous quadruped creature and handed over his credits, not after staring at the creature for a few moments, comparing it to an extremely fat iguana.

Turning back to the street he wanted he began to walk down it, keeping his right hand close by Winona, but trying to look as friendly as possible, nodding to the odd being whose species he recognised and peering curiously into the shop windows, wishing he had more money so he could buy some of the trinkets inside.

He decided he might have enough credits later to go buy a drink to stave off the loneliness that he was sure would hit him as the day wore on as he began to miss his friends at every step. If he went for a drink that meant sleeping in the module instead of finding a place to stay, but he quickly determined it to be a fine trade-off.

* * *

Jantorn Javali sat impatiently at the bar of the refreshment house. His contact was late and he didn't like hanging around outside at this hour. Especially not in a crowded bar, where someone was sure to start a brawl. He tapped his fingers against his glass and glanced at the doorway every few microts. It was not usual for his contact to arrive late; she had always been on time in the past. There was great honour to be had for a Kalish who was always on time. They liked things to be organised. It was probably one of the reasons they didn't interact well with other species, as most other species lacked the ability to live by rule and order, preferring instead to change things and swagger in late. Kalish despised the unprepared. It was a sign of inferiority.

The door opened again and Jantorn looked over swiftly, but it was only a Sebacean man. Probably peacekeeper. He eyed him pensively, not being entirely fond of Peacekeepers. The man sat at the other end of the bar and ordered a raslak. Jantorn decided he was of little consequence and returned once more to his vigil.

Finally, the door opened and a Kalish entered, her hair wild and her eyes darting around the room anxiously. Jantorn frowned, something must have happened for her to appear as dishevelled as she was. Females took great pride in their appearance. Her eyes found his and her shoulders relaxed slightly in relief. She strode over.

"Cousin Jantorn." She greeted swiftly.

"Cousin Miltoka" He replied as was customary. They weren't really related, it was manners and a cover for any listening. "What makes you late?"

She sat beside him, ordering a drink for them both. "My contact was late arriving, there were two Charrid vessels in orbit of this planet and he had to hold until they moved on. He said he would prefer to risk my departure than to risk the discovery of the package. I ran here as swiftly as I was able without standing out" She whispered.

"I see. I grew worried you were caught. Have you the package now?"

"Yes. But Jantorn you must know, I no longer think it is safe for us to move the package ourselves, as my contact left he was contacted by the two Charrid vessels. They mentioned they had some soldiers stationed planet side, they say they are looking for a spy that was said to have fled here." She patted her lap subconsciously. The package was resting there, wrapped in firesilk to disguise it's form.

"This is bad news cousin. The package needs to leave this planet tonight. Already we are late. Have you heard rumour of any mercenaries who may be willing?" The package was perhaps the most important item the Kalish resistance owned. If it did not arrive at the headquarters then all would surely be lost, the scientist who created it had been killed arns after its construction, there was no other.

"Perhaps we shall find someone cousin. Surely there is someone who will take it. We may have to use force, but we will get this off the planet." Looking around the room she tried to pinpoint any person in the bar that looked as though they would willingly or otherwise take the package. "What of that Peacekeeper? Peacekeepers do not travel alone, perhaps he is a deserter?"

Jantorn looked over at the Peacekeeper, the same one he had noted entering the bar. He was now making his way through his fifth raslak and was apparently muttering into his chest as his head lolled downwards to rest there. "He is a drunk."

"All the better Jantorn. We can threaten to call the Peacekeepers. We tell him we can pay him well and offer him our protection on the other side."

"You know we cannot cousin, we don't know who is on the other side." Each member of the resistance knew only two others, their two contacts. It saved them from the risk of infiltration. They did not even know their numbers, but they did know they were many.

"But he is not to know that!" She hissed. "Cousin we have no choice, time runs out. If this is not delivered then we may as well shoot ourselves now to save it happening later."

Sighing heavily he nodded. Miltoka grinned happily. They spent a few moments conferring then rose as one to walk over to the Peacekeeper.

"Greetings, Peacekeeper." Miltoka said, bowing slightly to show deference.

"S'up ginger." The Peacekeeper slurred, looking up at the two forms in front of him with reddened eyes. There were tear streaks running down either side of his face. Jantorn tried to swallow his disgust at this weak creature but only managed to tone it down to a grimace.

"We know what you are," Miltoka whispered menacingly, and seeing the Peacekeeper's eyes widen and his spine straighten they knew they had a transporter. "Come with us and you will be safe."

The Sebacean stared suspiciously between them, but drunk as he was he couldn't seem to form any coherent thoughts. He nodded to them and began to rise laboriously.

"Man am I glad Aeryn and the D Man can't see me now. Four arns and I'm already in dren." He muttered. Jantorn ignored him and roughly grabbed his arm. Together they left the bar.

* * *

After John had found a store that had supplied him with what he thought were maps of the surrounding space, he had decided that he would have the money after all to buy a drink. He headed back to the Farscape to drop off the maps and pick up some food cubes.

His module was ready and fuelled when he arrived and he threw his things in. As he was leaving he saw a small weapons stall just on the edge of the landing area. He wandered over, not really needing anything but thinking he could do with a few spare cartridges.

The owner of the shop was a short squat Delvian looking creature, albeit with slightly purple skin and eyes as opposed to blue.

"Helping you master?" It inquired.

"Uh, no man. I'm just doing some window shopping."

John wandered around the different shelves, looking into each one and pretending to study inconsequential pieces of equipment so they creature wouldn't ask him more questions. When he had spoken a cloud of acrid smelling gas had billowed from his mouth, and John didn't want to experience that again. Evolution had a twisted sense of humour.

His eyes caught on a short handled blade. It reminded him of the one Aeryn wore on her hip, he hadn't even noticed she had one there until she whipped it out one day when some critter had tried to munch on Johns arm. She had used it to pry off the suckers that the beast used.

Thinking of Aeryn, he decided to buy the blade. As she said, there is no such thing as too little weaponry. And anything that reminded him of her was fine in his book. He wished he had brought something of hers. Anything. A sock even. It was too late now though. He carried the knife up to the paying desk and threw down some credits hoping the creature would take them without talking. No such luck.

"Thanking you master. Killing well." Another cloud of gas blew up into Johns face and he tried not to gag as he turned and all but ran from the store.

He slid his new purchase onto his belt and went searching for a refreshment house.

There was a bustling bar just off the main street. He hoped the crowds meant it was relatively cheap. He was going to hope it was safe, but stopped that line of thought as he had yet to enter a bar this side of the galaxy and not have it end up as a fight or planet-wide conspiracy. Ducking his head slightly he walked through the door.

The smell was the first thing to hit him, and then the heat. It smelled like old yoghurt and the heat in the room was uncomfortably hot, even by his standards. He was thankful Aeryn wasn't here because he had a feeling it was high enough to have her at the irritable stage of heat delirium, when everything and everyone pisses her off just by breathing.

When he reached the bar he sat on a vacant stool and ordered a strong raslak. The mere mention of Aeryn, even by himself in the safety of his mind, set him off on a rollercoaster of emotion, usually leaving him feeling lost without her.

He turned around when he heard snickering, ready to swing at whomever was laughing at him, but stopped when he saw Harvey's grinning face. He was wearing a leather jacket with the 'Hell's Angels' emblem on it, and a navy bandana was wrapped around his head.

"Harvey go away."

"Now John, I really don't think that is quite the way to speak to me. It's going to be just you and me for a while, chum!" He punched his shoulder slightly, still smiling.

"Don't remind me Harv. And I'm not in the mood for you, so get!"

"Oh but John don't you realise the significance of today?"

"No but I reckon I'm about to find out." John resigned himself to the fact that he didn't have the energy to get rid of the neural clone. A small part of him wasn't sure he really wanted to anyway. As twisted as Harvey was, he made him feel a little less alone. Even if he was annoying as hell.

"Well John, today you said goodbye to your crewmates, you left them behind. But you didn't leave me!" His voice rose as he gloated. "I always knew we were meant to be together. What was it you called Officer Sun? Ah yes, Sundance. Well now, I can be your Sundance, Butch. And we both know I'm far more reliable!" He batted his eyes at John, as John looked at him in disgust and dismay.

"Don't you talk about Aeryn, Harv. That's a no go. You killed her, so you don't get a say on her."

"John, John, you really have to see past that. It was in the past. As your mother always said, 'let bygones be bygones'. I'm a different man now John."

John sighed deeply, reaching for his raslak. It was empty. He hadn't even realised he had been drinking it. He ordered another off the bartender.

He couldn't get his mind off leaving Moya. He figured he'd most likely never see her again. Space was a big place. Moya was the equivalent of the needle in a haystack, only this haystack was the equivalent of all the hay ever made anywhere in the universe.

He almost wished he had been able to say goodbye to everybody properly. At least he got to say his farewells to Moya and Pilot, the two beings that deserved the peace his departure would give them the most. Over the past few cycles he had come to love Pilot and Moya fiercely. He had loved watching them change and develop before his eyes. It was harder watching Moya change being the massive creature she was, but he remembered when Talyn had been born how she had suddenly become extremely defensive of him to anyone who questioned. She had shown that some devotion to all of them many times.

Pilot had started off as a blustering, impatient and anxious creature. John had once thought him too officious and proper, but then he had seen the sensitive side of him, especially when Aeryn was around. She seemed to bring something out of him. He learnt sarcasm and would readily deploy it when the crew made idiotic suggestions, as they tended to do quite often. He always did right by them in the end, and he was someone John trusted implicitly to always do what was proper and good.

He never got to say goodbye to any of the others. Chi, his little sister, he had come so close to telling her the night before. He had been relieving her of command for the night, and she had hung around for a while afterwards to talk to him and tease him about Aeryn. They had discussed D'Argo and Jothee and spent some time reminiscing over Zhaan. When she had turned to leave, he had wrapped her in his arms, fighting the tears. Letting her go to bed, he had stood watching after her, missing her fiercely already.

He hoped D'Argo would look after her, after all of them. He was a good man. He still felt betrayed by Chiana, and John didn't blame him, but he would never let that affect his duty of protecting her. John almost wished D'Argo was here with him, in the space of two cycles he had rapidly begun to take the place of DK. Whilst John felt slightly sad that DK was losing his station in his mind, he was still extremely glad that he had found a brother in D'Argo.

His mind moved onto Stark and Jool. Whilst he didn't really know Stark, he was forever grateful to him for helping him in the Gammak base. Without him, he was sure he would have fallen to insanity. And it was Stark who had helped them find Jothee, who had crossed over Gilina and given energy to Zhaan to save Aeryn, albeit unwillingly. It was he whom in Zhaan's final days had relaxed her and given her his love. Yes, he had a lot to thank the Banik for. He only wished he had had this epiphany when he still could have done something about it.

As for Jool, well, John wasn't really sure he'd miss her all that much. He had only known her a few short weekens, and he knew she still blamed him for the death of her two cousins, and he thought she was right to. But he supposed that on some level he would miss her presence. Since she had been on board she had made her presence known to everybody with her whining and screaming and her vicious sessions with Chiana. Still, he would have liked to have gotten to know her better, to see what she could have become, because he did believe she was going to grow and become a better person.

Rygel appeared in his mind then, the little gasbag that he was. John knew he wasn't as much of a selfish toad as he tried to let on. Sure he was selfish, but behind it all little Sparky cared for all of them as much as it was possible for him to do. He had changed since the first few monens on Moya, more willing to share with the others and he wasn't as uncaring in his words. He even lent a levelheaded opinion to arguments occasionally, though it was rare. John was glad Rygel was still on Moya, he trusted him to look after the others in the background way he does. They will never know it, but he will be there watching them like a kind uncle.

Inevitably, John's thoughts turned to Aeryn as he ran through the crew. Just thinking her name caused his mind to pause. Images flashed through his memory of everything that made her Aeryn. Her smile, her frown, the way her face set as she slept. How she held a weapon, her concentration as she flew her prowler. Every kiss and every touch was at the forefront of John's mind and he was finding it difficult to breathe as tears trickled down his face.

She had been the hardest to leave, no doubt about it. He had loved her more than he had ever loved anyone. It had scared him in its intensity. Scared her too. He had finally told her his feelings and had her say it back to him. No moment in his life was happier. His heart had stopped beating at her words and his brain had melted. His soul had been ripped from his body to forever hold hers in an embrace. As she had said, they wouldn't act on it, though lord knows he tried to persuade her, and occasionally the opposite happened. But since the time they had confessed it, they had done no more than kiss sweetly in secret and hold one another. He remembered one morning when she had come to waken him and she had ended up lying in his bed dozing. He had just rested his head on top of hers and breathed her in. He could smell her now if he tried.

And now he would never see her again. He had to force down a sob as he ordered yet another raslak. He realised he hadn't even been paying attention to his surroundings, but he couldn't bring himself to care as he sipped on his new drink.

"Now John you have to stop thinking about them. Think about the future now! Me and you, the dynamic duo, riding off into the sunset!" Harvey beseeched him from atop his horse, cowboy hat resting on his back from a tie around his neck, sheriff's badge glinting brightly in the sunlight.

"Oh God Harvey no. No westerns. You're no Clint Eastwood. I guess you're right though. I gotta stop thinking about them. That part of my life is over, time to move on." He sighed deeply. "I just wish I knew what I had when I had it. I'll never have friends like them. I don't want friends like them. I just wanna be on my own, saving the world from my presence. I'm like butterfly wings Harv, a singly beat and I've caused a tornado."

Harvey rolled his eyes at this display of utmost self-pity, and was about to reply when his eyes caught on the two Kalish heading John's way.

"John, time to look smart. There are two Kalish heading your way."

"Two what?" He asked, but Harvey was already gone, retreating into his mind.

"Greetings, Peacekeeper" Said the closer of the two redheads. At first John thought he was seeing double, but then he realised the one speaking was a woman and the one that looked like he was about to be sick was a man.

"S'up Ginger." He slurred, realising the drink was affecting him a lot more than he thought. He looked around him and saw five empty glasses. He felt a moment of impressed pride.

"We know what you are." John froze. Looking up at the red tinged face, he felt a moment of fear. Were these bounty hunters? Scorpy's spies? "Come with us and you will be safe."

John's mind was in a conundrum. The drink was making his thought process sluggish and he couldn't think of the pros or cons of his situation. Giving up, he rose, chuckling to himself at the predicament. "Man am I glad Aeryn and the D Man can't see me now. Four arns and I'm already in dren." He could see them in his mind, Aeryn rolling her eyes at him and D'Argo making some remark about the problems with humans as they calmly shot the bar to hell and picked him up to take him back to Moya.

The red haired man grabbed his arm painfully and shoved him in the direction of the door. All John could think was 'This is not good.'

* * *

By her calculations, Aeryn thought at best she was about three arns behind John. That was her optimistic estimate. However, even if he did have a three-hour head start when she started her journey, she should have quickly made up the time using her prowler's superior engines. One arn into her journey one of her thrusters had come loose and she had had to shut it down or risk it exploding, so she was now flying at less than optimum speeds. Her hasty departure was beginning to show, her prowler had been unprepared for flight and now she kept discovering different systems that were slowly failing.

Her flight planner had stopped adding new coordinates about an arn and a half after leaving Moya, which meant John had stopped for some reason. She knew he was most likely planet side somewhere but she couldn't help but worry about him. Underneath all her worry however was a snarling beast ready to come forth as soon as she had him safe and secure.

On the journey in her prowler she had a lot of time to think and ponder the recent events, and after she had got past the shock at realising John was gone she slowly began to build up a wall of hurt and anger, encasing the desolation and loneliness that was trying to fight its way through. She was quite shocked at her anger. She knew she should be irritated and annoyed that he wandered off to get himself killed on his own, but it was a surprise when that slowly evolved into barely contained rage. He had left her, left her without a word or a smile. He had broken his promise to stay with her. Logically she knew she shouldn't hold him to that promise, it had been made as an offhanded comment, but she had taken it seriously and stored away the moment in her heart.

She realised the past few weekens had been hard on him. They had been hard on everyone but as usual, he attempted to bear the brunt of the sorrows, and she had believed with good reason, up until a weeken or so ago. She had initially blamed him for what happened to Sub-Officer Dacon, mainly because she was angry at the Peacekeeper doctrine that had lied to her, but having nowhere to aim that anger she had turned on John, as usual. She knew also that the others blamed him for recent events also, Stark blamed him over Zhaan as did Pilot though she didn't think Pilot realised that he had become a bit snider towards John. D'Argo too was frustrated about the occurrence on the memorial planet. Jool of course openly announced her distaste over what had happened with her cousins, and though it was through no fault of his own she had opted for despising him when she could.

About the only people left aboard that had kept any semblance of normality with regards their interactions with John were Rygel and Chiana, and she was ashamed that out of them all it would be the two most selfish and morally flawed of them that would forgive him and move on so swiftly.

When she found John they would need to have a long talk, she decided with a sigh. As much as she hated talking she realised John would only heal through conversation. After that, she supposed she could offer to train with him, just so she could have a decent excuse for beating the dren out of him. She knew the only way to dissipate her anger was through action, so if she had to land a pantak jab on Crichton, that's what she'd do. She liked to do it on calm days anyway. She smirked to herself; she liked him better when he was entirely defenceless.

She switched her prowler into autopilot, thinking she needed to rest for a few microns. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back into her chair. She had slung her duster haphazardly over it when the cockpit had become too warm and now she tried to meld her head into it for comfort, but there was some hard object protruding from it. Most likely a buckle, she surmised. Too tired to move it, she just sat there hoping her body would eventually ignore the minor discomfort.

Moments later, she let out a disgruntled growl and resigned herself to the fact she would have to move or eventually suffer a headache. Twisting around awkwardly she grabbed her coat and moved it about. As she was doing so, she happened to upturn a pocket and the video chip she had shoved in their earlier fell out onto the ground. She had completely forgotten about it and looked at it apprehensively.

Reaching down she picked it up off the floor. After staring at it for a few moments, she carefully placed it in her viewer.

John's face appeared fully and healthy in her prowler. Holding in a gasp at the sight of his boyish grin, she sat back slightly to get a better view. John's eyes were flickering between the screen and something invisible in the distance. He was rubbing his lip with his thumb subconsciously. Just watching him Aeryn knew he was extremely unsure about something. His eyes when they focussed on her seemed to be immensely sad and regretful. He apparently decided on his thoughts as he stopped moving around and stared uncannily into her eyes.

"Hey Aer," He said, smiling briefly at her, before returning to a look of concentration, "I guess if you're seeing this now that means I went and did it, I'm off Moya. Man I wasn't sure I could do it. Leave Moya, I mean. Leave you." He trailed off staring down briefly. His eyes were glistening slightly, and Aeryn felt her eyes do the same.

"Frell, you're gone a few arns and already I miss you." She whispered at his holographic face.

"So yeh, I wanted to make you a video, you know, to say goodbye. Cos if you're getting this then it's goodbye. I know we always said we wouldn't say it, but I don't see me finding you guys again. It's a frelling big galaxy." He chuckled softly to himself. "Look, Aeryn, I just wanted you to remember something, okay? Just remember that wherever you are I will always love you. And I know, I know, you're still a bit weirded out by all these emotions and things, but I needed you to know."

His tone became pained. "God Aeryn, there's never been anyone like you. And now I'm leaving and I know you won't understand. I know you'll be angry. But I love you and I need you to be safe, so I had to go. Anyway, I'm human, you're sebacean. It never would have worked. I'm sure you'll find some awesome sebacean guy who'll make you smile, you deserve to be happy. You never woulda been happy with me. Too much baggage." Tears were trickling freely down his face now, and he made no attempt to wipe them.

The screen went blank for a few moments as John went off-screen for some reason. Aeryn just sat in her seat looking at the screen, her expression one of confusion, pain and elation at his words. John reappeared, his face clearer and more composed.

"Sorry about that. Rygel was hanging around outside my door. I swear the little frog is waiting for me to sleep so he can raid my room. He must be in paradise now." He gave her a wide grin and she suprised herself by answering it with one of her own.

He turned serious once more, "Look, Aeryn, I don't want you following me, alright? I already told Pilot to delete my vectors so there's nothing to follow, but if I know you, you'll try something stupid anyway. I've been rubbing off on you. Stay on Moya, you'll be safe. Scorpy and his gang should leave you guys alone. I'll be fine so don't worry about me. Might make a wormhole home, you never know.

It's about time I put this in your room. I'm sorry you won't see me before I go, I'll say goodbye when I'm in your room. Hopefully you won't hear me though.

Sunshine, I love you. You made me better, and I can't think what to do without you. But I'll manage. You became more. Human superior enlightenment came through for me, I reckon. See ya 'round Sundance. Love you."

Gazing blankly at the now empty screen Aeryn felt a turmoil of emotion. On the one hand, she was still insanely angry with him for leaving her, but on the other she now had proof that it wasn't done willingly, and if anything, he was in more pain than she was over his departure. Of course, that only made her desperation to find him all the greater.

"Frell John, why didn't you just talk? It's all you usually ever do." She muttered at the air.

She decided she needed to hasten her journey as much as she could, believing more fully now that John needed her presence to stay safe. If only her prowler was willing to cooperate. She sighed. John's coordinates showed him to be on a commerce planet, a shabby grim planet called Huntra, renowned for criminal activity and both its scarran and peacekeeper presence. He couldn't have picked a worse planet. Looking at her flight plans, she calculated she would arrive within the arn, but that left a lot of time for John to find trouble, if he hadn't already.

* * *

John was pushed into an empty alleyway close to the pub. Jantorn came to stand behind him once more, keeping a steady hand on his shoulder to stop him from running. Miltoka walked to stand in front of John.

"So, peacekeeper, what will we do with you?" She asked menacingly. When he didn't reply, Jantorn prodded him in the back.

"Sorry, my mom always said 'Don't you go talking to strangers, Johnny!'."

"But we're not strangers, we're your saviours." Replied the female.

"Right. That's actually a new one, saviours. You sure you haven't been talking to some bell ringer?" He laughed aloud at his own private joke before continuing, encouraged by Jantorn's slightly tighter grip of his shoulder. "Spose I'll just have to call you Ginger 1 and Ginger 2, how's that sound? You, lovely lady, can be number one, whereas Mr Strong Arm here can be two. He's like you're sidekick. You've got the brains, he's got the brawn. Pinky and the Brain in the Uncharteds!"

The two Kalish looked at each other warily. They weren't quite prepared for an insane sebacean. As one, they were beginning to think he was thrown out of the peacekeepers for his deficiencies, rather than him having deserted.

"I am Miltoka; this is my partner, Jantorn. We require a service of you."

He eyed them warily. "I don't do the whole 'exotic' thing. Sorry if that's your fetish, but I'm more of a raven haired beauty kinda guy myself, so if you don't mind..?" As he spoke he started to release Jantorn's grip and began sidling away nervously, unsure as to what these beings wanted of him.

"Actually we do mind. Jantorn?" At her request, Jantorn stepped forward to reclaim the man, but when he was only a dench away the peacekeeper swung around brandishing a knife in his hand.

"I wouldn't, buddy. It would be a shame to have to carve up your face. You know who you remind me of? Prince Harry. He's this kid prince back home. Really, you are like a grown up version. Of course, he doesn't have that sparkly thing going on with his face, but I think that adds to your look. So please don't make me hurt you." John rambled, his brain still buzzing from the alcohol in his system, though he was beginning to focus more and he knew that he did not like this situation.

Jantorn leapt forward, using John's unsteadiness on his feet to knock him over before he could think to wield the knife. Once on the ground the male kalish grabbed the hand with the knife and crushed his wrist, causing him to release it.

"Damn you're like Sonic the Hedgehog, anyone ever tell you that?" Wheezed John from the ground, Jantorn's knee was placed uncomfortable on his chest, cutting off full lung capacity.

"You know Jantorn, as much as I abhor physical violence, I think this may work in our favour..." Miltoka said, glancing at the knife in Jantorn's hand and the prone figure of John on the ground.

"Peacekeeper, we would like to offer you a job."

"Peacekeeper? You think I'm a peacekeeper!" He snorted. "Damn lady I thought you knew! Don't you know who I am? I'm John Danger Crichton, bane of the Peacekeeper forces, killer of the innocent and the pure, desecrator of peace and unity!"

"The John Crichton?" Jantorn asked with disbelief lacing his voice.

"Grade A prime Crichton. Last time I checked anyway." He replied, smiling insanely.

"It is of no consequence to us who you are, John Crichton. The offer still stands; will you take the job or take the outcome of refusal?"

"Well I don't know that I've got much of a choice there. What's this job and what do I get out of it? A Hershey's? Glass of milk?"

"All we ask is that you take this package to Relka 2, we'll provide the coordinates, and hand it over to the kalish that will meet you in the 'Fellip Kingdom' refreshment house immediately after your arrival." She said, not giving full details as she was under the impression they'd be forgotten as soon as she spoke them anyway. "In return we shall pay you for the fuel and supplies used on the journey and also extra, and also you shall have the privilege of being protected by the Resistance."

"Resistance... What, you mean you guys are Nebari?"

Jantorn snorted with disgust, "How dare you compare us to those blank minded farlux! We are Kalish."

"Sorry there Fido. All right, I'll do your little job. I need the money anyway. When do I leave?"

"I'm afraid there is one more condition, the kalish on the other side may not accept you are not a spy, we shall have to show him you are not."

A ripple of cold ran down his spine. "Uhuh, and how do you propose you do that? Give me a passport?"

Ignoring his question Miltoka merely nodded to Jantorn, he gave her a slight smile in return as he returned focus to John. Gripping John's knife in his hand he straddled him, holding him down with his weight. Miltoka strode over to hold down his arms, using more strength than one would expect from her slight form. John started to panic and squirm around in an attempt to loosen them, but they only gripped him harder.

Jantorn used the knife to cut through John's t-shirt, have first moved his vest aside. Once his chest was bared, he lowered the knife again and slowly began to slice into the skin there. John's cries of pain were muffled when Jantorn paused to rip a chunk of his t-shirt and stuff it in his mouth. Whilst he was cutting, he spoke to Miltoka.

"Should we stamp him as well? I have heard of John Crichton, he is feared by the peacekeepers and loved by the common people, even the scarrans grow wary of his actions. If we claimed him as ours they would surely fear us!"

Miltoka looked between them for a moment, weighing up the different results, deciding which one benefitted their people. "Yes, stamp him under the house of Leran; all who see him shall know him."

Ignoring John's whimpers Jantorn grinned wickedly as he brought the knife up to John's neck, as the blade punctured the sensitive skin there the pain became too excruciating and John fainted.

The two kalish took their time completing their artwork, delicately transcribing symbols from the old language, before hoisting John up and carrying him to the landing area.

The streets were quiet now and those that were still outside paid no heed to the two kalish carrying an apparently unconscious drunk sebacean. They reached the landing area swiftly, and showed John's face to the creature working there. The lizard type creature pointed them in the direction of John's module and they trudged over to it, speaking not a word between them as they came so close to their victory.

Jantorn, being the strongest, pulled John up and bundled him into the cockpit of his module. Miltoka handed him the package whilst staring disgustedly at the Farscape.

"Primitive vessel" Miltoka remarked.

"That could be good for us, who pays attention to a weaponless ancient craft when there are prowlers and strikers to contend with? Now let's upload our data into his systems, it appears he has at least added some proper technologies into his ship."

After loading in the coordinates, Jantorn climbed down from the module, starting the systems and closing the hatch on the way. Upon reaching the ground, he turned around. Miltoka was already gone, hidden by shadows. He sighed. It had been nice to be with another kalish after so long.

"Until next time, cousin", he said to the night as he walked away from the landing port.

Watching from the shadows Miltoka saw as the mysterious sebacean man awoke and engaged his ships thrusters and took off. She had anticipated that he would do just that, escape from the planet as quickly as he could. She smiled to herself and left, thinking it odd that this enemy of the powers would be the one to save her people.

* * *

As soon as Aeryn's prowler hit the orbit around the planet she saw John's module rising from the port into the night sky. Thanking the many gods she didn't believe in for her luck she quickly began to pursue him.

Quickly her luck left her as one of her engines failed and her display went dead, though not before informing her that he had plotted a course for Relka 2, a scarran outpost. He really wasn't choosing his destinations well, she thought grimly. She attempted to open communications with him but he evidently had his turned off, as usual. She growled in frustration and willed her prowler faster, as futile as it was.

An arn later John's module had become but a speck in the distance, and apparently he hadn't noticed her prowler, which she found odd. He would soon be out of her sight. She comforted herself that at least she knew where he was going, but then thought that even so her prowler wouldn't make it in its current state. Growling to herself, she decided to turn back to Huntra to repair her prowler, and then make up the time.

She never even made a full turn. As she began to turn she saw out the window the form of a huge ship, and she was underneath its blackened belly. Cursing all the gods she had earlier thanked she swiftly shut off all the non-essential systems, though she realised she must have been spotted for the ship to be flying above her so closely. She was too close to make out anything other than it was black.

Her comms chirped, one of the few systems she had left running. She spent time debating whether to reply. The comms chirped again, meaning that whoever was above her was trying to communicate again. She saw it as a positive sign that they were trying to talk and not kill, so she opened her comms.

"This is Aeryn Sun, of the leviathan Moya. Who are you and why have you entered my prowler's space?"

The reply that came back was nothing she was prepared for, it was a garbled series of musical like noises, fluting tones and bubbling chirps. Aeryn sat their baffled as her translator microbes refused to interpret the odd language. In the back of her mind, she thought she knew the noise from somewhere, but she couldn't seem to place it.

The noise erupted again over the comms, more urgent this time. It was then that Aeryn realised what it sounded like. With a shaking hand she hit her comms again and replied,

"Talyn?"


	3. The Birth of Salvation

Chapter 3:  
The Birth of Salvation and the Demise of Freedom  
12 Márta 2010

Aeryn was pulled into Talyn's hangar bay by the docking web. As her prowler was slowly being sucked in she got a better view of Talyn, being no longer hanging underneath his belly. It hadn't been too long since she had seen him last, perhaps a couple of monens, not since before the ice planet. He seemed to have hit a growth spurt since that time, being perhaps an entire half of his previous length longer. The red tones on his body shone slightly, and the black seemed to have become deeper, almost invisible when compared with the surrounding area. Aeryn smiled briefly, proud of the young Leviathan. She had always had a special connection with Talyn, having been the first aboard and the one to name him. After Moya and Pilot, she was perhaps the most protective of him, seeing past the artificial peacekeeper features bred into him and instead seeing the innocent child underneath.

She had been hurt when he had chosen Crais over her, but at the same time relieved. She had been an officer, not a captain. She wasn't sure if she could have lived up to the responsibility of guiding him, knowing well that if he wasn't taught properly he could grow to be a destructive force like none before him. She only hoped that Crais had managed to tone down his peacekeeper ways and teach him to be a good ship, and allowed him happiness.

She was paying no attention to how slowly the docking web seemed to be, she put it down to his youth. Moya pulled them in swiftly because she was older and had been doing it her entire life. Talyn on the other hand had hardly had any need to catch ships in it. It was his lack of experience that was causing the delay, or so she thought. She didn't notice that there was a sparse amount of lighting emanating from his body, unlike Moya who glowed slightly during the day cycle when all her lights were on.

Finally in the tunnel that led to the landing bay she began to notice small discrepancies between Moya and him. Whereas Moya's landing bay was bright and airy, Talyn seemed to not have lights in his bay, the only lights she could see were from the DRD's running about on the ground, and the light from her prowler. She frowned slightly. As different from Moya as Talyn was, she still would have expected him to light up his landing bay. It made little sense to leave it in darkness.

It only occurred to her then that there must be something wrong. Even if Talyn wasn't prone to lighting the bay, she would still have expected Bialar Crais to meet her there when she landed, but her prowler had just landed softly and there was no sign of anything else in the bay besides the DRD's.

Shutting down her prowlers systems she quietly and stealthily slipped out of her prowler onto the ground. Crouching slightly she peered into the darkness, but even with her heightened vision she felt blind, which was not a feeling she enjoyed and one that seemed to happen too often these days. Reminding herself of past occurrences of darkness, she climbed back up on her prowler and retrieved her night vision lens.

Everything was suddenly illuminated in an eerie green light. She blinked to clear her eyes, and then looked around the bay for intruders, pistol ready in her hand.

Talyn's hangar was immense. Even in his young age, it was nearly the same size as one of Moya's smaller hangars. There were about four levels as far as she could see, and there seemed to be several different sized alcoves. Presumably, some were for prowlers, others for marauders and so on. The floor space was wide and tactically it was amazing, the size of it meant that all the ships in the alcoves and on the floor could be swiftly deployed, the height of the room allowing more than two levels of ships to leave simultaneously. In addition, each alcove had its own workstation, though Talyn's appeared to still be growing. It was much better that the system on a command carrier where damaged ships had to be specially relocated or the techs and machinery brought to it. If he continued to grow his hangar the way it appeared to be growing it would soon become the envy of the peacekeeper fleet, she mused. All this and he was little more than a cycle old. He would be something to contend with.

Stopping her musing and searching, she concluded there was no threat here as of yet. She lowered her gun arm slightly. It was then that a small DRD rolled over to her and prodded her foot. In surprise, she swung about and raised her gun, but let out a breath of laughter at the sight of the nervous DRD. She lowered her gun again and crouched down to look at the DRD.

"Talyn?" She asked. The DRD merely looked at her, lights trained at her face as he presumably recorded their conversation. Aeryn wondered how she could talk with the DRD, or Talyn, whichever it was. She thought of anytime that she had seen someone talking with a DRD. She could only see John doing so, as he would. That memory sparked an idea, a Crichtonesque idea.

"DRD; one blink for yes, two blinks for no." It blinked at her, and she presumed it was confirmation. "Are there intruders on board?" It blinked twice. She sighed with relief, holstering her pistol. "Am I speaking to Talyn?" The DRD blinked once, then paused and blinked twice. "Frell what does that mean." She muttered, thinking hard as to why Talyn would give her an obscure answer. "Is Talyn injured?" One blink. "So he isn't fully conscious?" Blink. "You need me to do something?" It blinked once more then spun; seemingly pleased it had gotten its message across. Deciding she would follow, it started to trundle off towards the door to the maintenance bay and the rest of Talyn.

Aeryn blinked in surprise that she had been able to communicate with a piece of technology, she would have to make sure Crichton didn't find out. She shook her head lightly then started to walk after the small DRD. Unlike Moya's yellow beetle DRD's, Talyn's were dark and streamlined, and decidedly dangerous looking. Everything about him seemed purpose built for defensive and offensive tactics. That was the peacekeeper way after all. Though usually it was more along the lines of 'shoot first'.

In the corridor, Aeryn could clearly see where circuitry seemed to have blown, there were loose wires hanging out of the walls and a slight smell of burnt plastic. The lights were on in the corridor, though they were very dim. She took of her oculars and pocketed them. It looked like Talyn had been in a fight, with panels and debris scattered on his floor. The red walls of his corridor didn't seem to shine as they should, instead looking dull and sickly. Each step she took made her more and more nervous. What if Talyn was dying? What could she, a soldier, do? She needed a tech, she didn't understand many of the things she was told to do on Moya, she did them as instructed, but there would be nobody here to instruct her, unless she found Crais. She was beginning to think something may have happened to the peacekeeper captain, either he was injured or something else was keeping him from meeting her. It wouldn't be like him to leave Talyn floating injured in space, barely holding himself together. It was a miracle he had been able to communicate with her.

The little DRD was leading her to command. It was a lot further than she remembered, another reminder of how he had grown, but eventually she made it, standing just outside it. Swiping her hand over the opening mechanism had no effect, the door remained closed. The little DRD beside her pointed a beam of light at a miniscule gap between the door and the wall, showing that it was already slightly open. The DRD chirped at her and blinked its lights at the door.

"You have got to be frelling joking." She growled, placing her fingers just on the edge of the door and attempting to pry it open. Her fingers wouldn't fit. She got one of her knives and placed it in the gap and started using it to lever the door open, it worked better than her fingers. Slowly the gap became a bit wider and she used her hands again, pulling with all her strength. The door moved stubbornly and soon she started to sweat, but by that point she had opened a gap wide enough that she could fit through, and she did so.

Talyn's command, if anything was worse than his corridors. Wires hung from the ceiling, from the panels, the walls, there were even some lying haphazardly on the floor. There were a few lights blinking on his consoles, and small pathetic alarm sounds were emanating from them. Command was as dark as the corridor had been. Aeryn had to try very hard to tame her emotions at the state of her friend's child. She felt a fury rise up in her, aimed at Crais for getting Talyn into such a dangerous predicament as would result in his injuries. Calming herself, she walked into the centre of command, standing on the circle where Talyn's chirps and light flashes usually came from.

"Talyn?" She whispered. She stroked the circumference of the odd red circle on his low ceiling waiting for a reply. At her touch, a few lights glowed dimly for a moment and then turned off. Talyn chirped quietly, a sad mournful tune, filled with pain.

"What happened, Talyn?"It was a rhetorical question, knowing that even if Talyn had the energy to reply she wouldn't understand anyway.

* * *

The pain on John's chest was nothing compared to the searing heat that was flooding his senses from the wound on his neck. He could barely feel his left arm because of it. He had no mirrors in his module so he couldn't see the injury, but judging by the pain and the heat, he suspected a bad infection. His chest was infected too, but not as badly. He had washed it with his small supply of water and wrapped it as best he could with the remains of his t-shirt. It had stopped bleeding sometime after leaving the planet, he reflected that it was probably a bad idea to have wrapped his t-shirt around himself as it was now stuck to his skin, but he preferred it as it meant he could no longer stare mournfully at his once smooth chest.

He had been in pain before, obviously. He had been tortured and attacked, neither of which were walks in the park, but this new injury was possibly the worst. He had been branded like a cow, right across his chest and again on his neck, below his ear, and he didn't even know why.

The pattern on his chest was unrecognisable to John, not being familiar with the red people's words, but it still humiliated him. He was owned now. He was little better than a slave. Even if he managed to get out of this whole mess alive he would be no better than a runaway slave, everybody would know of his shame. He growled low in his throat, part from pain, part from anger and shame.

He was nearly at the planet, Relka 2, with only about a half arn until he landed. Instead of being wary, he was slightly excited about the chance that he might be able to get his wounds seen to. The infection raging from his cuts was beginning to mess with his head, and it didn't help that Harvey felt it was his duty to periodically announce himself to John, trying to cheer him up with memories from his youth. It didn't work, as the image of Harvey in all manner of outfits tended to ruin the occasion. John knew he was going crazy with fever as the last time Harvey showed up, wearing a Dorothy Gale outfit, John had actually felt a tiny bit grateful to the spectre.

Harvey hadn't appeared for a while now though, and John was beginning to get tired. His head was thumping with pain and his eyes were finding it hard to stay open. At these weary thoughts of sleep Harvey appeared again, this time simply wearing dungarees and a straw hat.

"Say there friend," he began cheerily, but at John's tired look he reverted to speaking normally, "John you must stay awake. I can only help you so long as you are conscious. We're nearly at the planet; we can find help there once we get rid of the package. I know this planet; it was under Peacekeeper protection the last time I passed through. We will find help, stay awake John. Look, you're being hailed." He sat behind John in the module, pointing at his comm system. It was blinking.

John glared blearily at it before hitting it clumsily. "This is John Crichton of the SS Buttcrack, requesting permission to dock, Houston." He sat back rubbing his eyes furiously.

"John Crichton?" There was a pause, then "Permission granted." The comms shut off. John didn't notice the inflection at the end of his name, but Harvey did and was getting slightly agitated, not knowing if it served any purpose telling the sick human he was most likely entering a trap. It was a peacekeeper planet, so if caught it would be by peacekeepers and Harvey still felt a trace of loyalty to them. Though the transmissions voice wasn't a language he immediately recognised as sebacean, but it seemed familiar, and many planetary sebaceans developed their own languages after a while.

John started his descent to the planet tiredly, his manoeuvres slow and heavy-handed. They sped towards the surface and John pulled up quickly to achieve a less than graceful landing.

While John was trying not to crash, Harvey was sitting back mulling over the transmission. Slowly he began to get a wary feeling. If he had hair, he imagined it would be standing up on his neck now, like in John's childhood ghost stories. He ran over the conversation repetitively until he stopped with a sudden realisation. He knew why he didn't recognise the voice's language as a sebacean dialect, but had seemed vaguely familiar to his tongue. He thumped John on the shoulder, who then exclaimed in shock.

"Harvey, what the hell you playing at? Don't ever hit me ag-"

"Scarrans John! Scarrans are in control of this planet!" He whispered urgently, before hiding himself from John so he could concentrate on a plan if John was captured.

John sat in silence for a moment then sighed.

"This just isn't my day."

* * *

His whole body shook as he let out a pained rumble that echoed through his empty halls. For her benefit, he let out a series of small beeps. He felt himself drifting into unconsciousness again. Panicking he directed some of his DRDs to show her the problem and ask her to fix it.

He knew that most of his injuries were unimportant, and would not ask her to fix them until they were safe. However, for him to restore his energy and be able to return to full consciousness he would need her to reverse some of the commands programmed in by the peacekeepers. Crais' knowledge of Talyn's systems hadn't been great enough for him to reverse the shut down properly, and if it wasn't fixed soon it would begin to override the commands Crais had reversed and Talyn as he knew himself now would die. Even though he was a peacekeeper vessel and he had been bred to accept his fate, there was a side of him that was terrified and truly, he didn't want to die. He wanted to live and be free, free to find his mother or to chart space and explore. To live as Crais had asked him. He did not want to die as a failed experiment.

The DRD's understood his commands and quickly set about doing their particular duties, with the one that had shown Aeryn command returning to her once more to show her what needed fixing. Talyn groaned once more in pain, the loose material on the floor bouncing around as the vibrations reverberated through him. Slowly his mind dimmed and once more he was unconscious.

* * *

John clambered out of his module, nearly falling to his knees as the blood rushed from his head. He hissed slightly as his stumble made him twist his neck awkwardly, reminding him of the throbbing pain there. He grabbed Winona out of her holster and wiped droplets of sweat from off his forehead.

Harvey's last sentence was running through his fevered mind and he was starting to panic. He had been in scarran hands before and he did not intend to do it again. Seeing nobody in the small clearing that served as the landing area he quickly headed out into the street, his index finger softly holding the trigger on Winona. He looked up and down the street trying to find the bar he had been told about. He had placed the relatively small package in the pocket of his duster in one of his sober moments in space, and was now glad, as he would have otherwise forgotten it.

Finding a bar that looked promising, he stumbled in, moving immediately to the nearest air cooler and sitting down. He was sure that even if he didn't have a fever he would find this planet humid. He hoped so anyway. He stared around the small room and hailed the barmaid when he saw her. Ordering a fellip nectar, they were famous for it after all, he leaned back slightly in his seat. He was trying to ignore the gazes heading his way, but he was becoming more conscious of them. He raised the collar on his coat and closed it more, trying to hide his new scars, but from their continued glances, he knew it wasn't working. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on ignoring his throbbing injuries.

His fellip nectar arrived. He was about to thank the barmaid when he noticed it wasn't her serving him. A slightly short male kalish was standing with his drink in one hand and a pistol in the other.

"Sebacean, why is it you have a the House of Leran on your neck?" He said, putting down the beer. John grabbed it and took a long drink before answering.

"I got jumped by Elmo and his girl; they thought I'd look ever so pretty with some new accessories." If you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer. That's what DK had always told him when John had thrown out impossible seeming questions about space and the 'next frontier'. Look who's laughing now, DK, he thought sadly.

The kalish man grunted and moved to sit opposite John, placing his pistol on the table, still pointed at John.

"You know, it's not nice to point guns at people. And here I was about to give you your birthday present."

The kalish looked at him for a microt then dismissed his comment. "Am I to suppose that you are my contact? How do I know you are not the enemy?"

"I could hardly have cut my own neck, or my chest while we're on the topic. Your sadistic little friends did that, right after I agreed to help them. I only came because I was promised safety, and even though they did try to make a kebab outta me, I figured there might be some truth in it. If not, I could always just shoot you." He replied, staring coolly into the kalishes strange serpentine eyes.

"I see. Well do you have the package then? Hand it to me now and I will bring you to my medical facility to tend your wounds, there also I can see the validity of your statement." The kalish looked back at John curiously, wondering how such a man could have ended up tangled in their affairs, and why his proper contact had saw fit to claim him for the resistance and send him in his steed. He slit his eyes suspiciously when John began reaching into his pocket. Seeing this John raised his hands in a placating gesture, with the package held in his left.

"Easy there tiger, just getting what you asked for."

The kalish reached eagerly and John dropped it into his hand. The man then peered underneath the firesilk covering and slowly a smile began to spread across his face.

"Whoever you are, sebacean, you have done the resistance a great service this day. Come, follow me, I will take us to where it is safe to talk." He whispered eagerly, his eyes practically glowing with delight.

"Hell if I knew you wanted it this bad I would've asked for more money."

* * *

The DRD from the landing bay was poking her heel once more, Talyn had stopped making noise and his lights had all eventually dimmed leading her to believe he was unconscious. She put her lens back on and watched the DRD as it tried to direct her to Talyn's main control console.

His main console was perhaps the most badly damaged of all the consoles, but rather than looking as though the circuits had fried and parts had come loose, this one looked like someone had attempted to take it apart. Aeryn frowned slightly at the disarray of wires and pieces of metal who's purpose she could only guess at. She didn't know what Talyn wanted of her and she was growing more anxious by the microt that she wouldn't have the skills to help.

She looked down at the DRD as it sat by her feet. She pondered the panel in front of her for a moment then bent down and picked up the DRD. It was surprisingly light in her hands, but she suspected that as Talyn grew so too would his DRD's. She placed the DRD on the edge of the console and looked at it intently.

"Right, DRD, I don't know what I'm doing here; I'm a soldier not a tech, so you're going to have to show me, alright?" It blinked at her once then went silent. She felt slightly silly to be talking to an inanimate object, but conceded that if that's what it took to get Talyn well again, that's what she would do. She looked at it again for a moment. "Just point out the wires that need fixing and shine your light where things go as I hold them, OK?" It blinked again, and Aeryn began picking up wires at random, memorising where the DRD said they needed to go. Whilst she did that, a trio of DRD's zoomed into command carrying the tools she would need to splice the wires and weld everything back together.

"Right, I think I have it now," Aeryn said aloud to herself. She had noticed one or two pieces of the console that seemed to have been previously mended. She presumed it was Crais' work but didn't have the liberty of time right then so she put it to the back of her mind to ask later.

Picking up the tools the DRD's had dropped on the ground, she started the long process of reconnecting Talyn's control to the vast majority of his systems. It appeared the only fixed parts were the comms and limited manoeuvring ability. Talyn's control of lighting was controlled by him alone it appeared, and the environmentals seemed not to have been touched at all.

Soon Aeryn entered a zoned out state as she worked, not needing to use her mind for the repetitive task. She reconnected one wire after another and placed small complicated metal pieces wherever the DRD directed. Soon she felt more systems come online and Talyn began to slowly regain his senses.

* * *

John was sitting on the medical table in the kalish's lab, having just finished reciting his tale to the sympathetic kalish. Apparently, the man was a medic of some sort and had a small knowledge of sebaceans. John didn't bother telling him his true species, being content for the time to be at peace. The kalish had informed him his name was Sirontu Shanu, of the house of Svala, but had said little else other than that he abhorred violence and deemed John's wounds to have been an unnecessary display of barbarianism. Though he had added he knew they had only done it for his safety, and he was lucky really, because if he hadn't seen their claim on him he might simply have shot him, as were his orders. Even though it went against his peaceful nature.

"Hey Shamu," John said, after sitting silently for more than ten microts.

"Yes, sebacean?" He replied. John had thought it better if the kalish not know his name just in case he felt the need to inform somebody. Still, being called 'sebacean' all the time was really getting old.

"Call me Butch. Anyway, what's with these tattoos?" John's chest was bare now, as Sirontu had quickly seen the infected skin surrounding it and had peeled off the t-shirt to clean and dress the wound properly. He had also staved off the infection on his throat, but it was harder to dress so John had told him not to bother, and to just give him something to wash it with.

"And you may call me Sirontu, or Shanu. But please refrain from calling me 'Shamu' as it is disrespectful to my family name"

"Right, got it, but my chest, translate please?"

"You're chest simply bears the traditional words of a kalish slave. It is ironic that we are now the slaves. I shall read it to the best of my ability, though there are not many who recall ancient kalish since the scarrans imposed their barbaric speech on us."

John was beginning to realise that everything took a long time with this kalish. Every comment he had made during John's retelling of his past solar day was filled with unnecessarily long comments about the barbarianism of someone or other.

"You're chest engraving says 'Protector of the secret, slave to those who know it', it was what was written on all our elite slaves before the scarran domination, though usually they also had their tongues cut out to stop them spreading the secrets of our race. In the old language, a single image could convey an entire sentence, such was the beauty of it. There are as you can see only five symbols on your chest, that alone reflects the intricacy of our language, which is now all but dead. Though our days of slave ownership weren't fair, on reflection." He lamented. "Your neck, as I said earlier, claims you to our cause and states you are of the House of Leran, one of the great ruling houses. Though I admit I am curious as to why my cousins chose that particular house. Your chest wounds should fade over time, I believe they were only there to assure me you were an ally."

"Right." Replied John sullenly, not gaining much relief from the last statement.

John sat silently on the table as the kalish continued rambling on about their great history, his voice disappearing into the background as John thought. If had felt miserable before, he felt worse now. There it was, proof on his chest, written over his heart, that he was now considered a slave. Sure, nobody spoke the language so hardly anybody would know, and apparently the scars would fade, but now he knew and would always be reminded. And the fact that he was now sporting some emblem of a ruling house only meant that somewhere down the line he was going to get his ass kicked over it. He chuckled mirthlessly as he compared the symbols to ancient Arabic writings, if he went back to Earth now he could just say he decided to embrace Arabic culture or something.

"Cheer up John," Harvey implored at his side, "At least you're free, and this Shanu doesn't seem to want to keep you around. Why don't we leave this rock and find somewhere nice with some sunshine and endless white beaches?"

"Sounds good, Harv. I guess I'm my own man again. For a while." With that, he hopped off the table.

"Hey Shanu, my man, I think it's time I skedaddled. Don't wanna overstay my welcome."

"Oh yes, of course. Though let me just get some serum for your neck." He bumbled off into the back of the room, sifting through jars looking for the right concoction. John stretched and walked over to grab his vest and duster. He stopped suddenly when he caught sight of himself in a mirror.

His chest was looking relatively normal, apart from the large swath of bandage that was wrapped tightly around him. The skin just above it was still an angry red colour but it seemed to be dying down. His eyes travelled up to his neck and he just stared at the ugly wound there. It appeared that Jantorn had put some sort of dye into the wound, as there was a tint of black beneath the swelling. Why it needed dye when the scarring would be perfectly visible anyway, he didn't know. The tattoo ran from just under his left ear down to his collarbone, and previously unnoticed by him there was a plain line running to his shoulder. He was a bit put out, having not felt the wound on his shoulder, but he put it down to the horrendous pain his neck had been in. The vertical part had six symbols, with an odd swirl on his collarbone that dictated the end before the line began, and stopped by a t-bar cross on his shoulder.

He growled at his body for having such blatantly obvious reminders of his stupidity. If he hadn't gone and had so many raslaks he would probably be off somewhere heading to a nice, remote, safe planet. Now he was like a walking mural to his kalish attackers.

He pulled on his vest angrily and then his duster. He patted Winona at his side, then feeling guilty for always leaving her out he patted the other one. He really had to come up with a name for her soon.

"What about Naomi? You always like her. Or maybe she could be Alex, in memory of your doomed relationship?" Harvey sneered, his compassion gone now that John was well. The presence of scarrans made him snarky.

"Shut up Harv."

"What about Ryder? That has some symmetry don't you think? You do like things to match up."

"I'll think about it Harvey, now shoo, I need to have some big boy talk with our friend over there." With that, John blocked Harvey from his thoughts, and smiled when he found he was able. That meant his strength was returning. He turned around to talk to Shanu, but found him nowhere to be seen. He frowned as he stepped forward. He hadn't heard him leave. He left the small medical room and walked out into the corridor, thinking Shanu must have stepped out for a moment. He suddenly felt like he was being watched, so he grabbed Winona from her holster. He walked down the corridor silently, but he heard nothing that would answer his paranoia. When he reached the door he shrugged, Shanu must have had something more important to do.

Walking out into the street he decided the best thing to do would be to get in his module. He had enough fuel now to keep him going until the next inhabited planet and he'd rather spend as little time on a scarran outpost as he could. From the little Shanu told him it had been under peacekeeper protection a cycle or two ago, but when the scarrans came the peacekeepers hadn't stopped them.

As he walked, John started to think he was being watched again. He was growing more nervous and picked up the pace of his walking. As soon as he was in sight of his module, he sighed with relief, until he heard a crash behind him. Looking back, he saw a massive scarran that had just burst through the door of a house.

"Halt human," The scarran roared. Every person on the street stopped, except for John, who began sprinting to his module. The scarran leapt after him, yelling into his comms.

"He's making his way to his ship, get in your fighters, if he exits atmosphere you have permission to immobilise him and bring him back. Do not kill him, he is wanted alive." He continued running after the human but he had too much of a head start. When he saw John clamber into his ship, he veered off to find his own.

Inside the Farscape, John was cursing every deity he'd ever heard of, and some he hadn't. He started up his module in a panic and began to initiate a hasty take off.

"Relax John, many's the man that's been killed by haste" Harvey whispered in his ear, once more sitting in the back seat.

"Yeah Harv, but many's the man that's been killed for hanging about too." John replied testily.

Harvey thought about this for a moment then replied "Point taken."

John finally got the Farscape in the air, and he shot upwards into the sky. He could not fail but to notice the five ships that took off only microns after him, swiftly following in pursuit.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" He muttered anxiously, a moment before the first shot clipped his wing.

* * *

Talyn felt himself awaken, and instantly knew that Aeryn was successful. He was able to stretch his reach and feel most of his systems now. Of course, there was still a lot of fried circuitry to deal with, but for now all his important systems were back up and running. He felt a surge of relief and hummed loudly, proclaiming his happiness to all who could listen.

Before he had spotted Aeryn's prowler flying alone in space he had thought he was about to die. It was in those lucid moments that he realised he didn't want to, but he had seen it as inevitable at the time. Now that he was once again whole, he couldn't help but roar with exuberant joy. His roars shook everything not melded down, his lights flickered in brightness and in command he sang a fluting song for Aeryn, though he was sure she was aware of his happiness through his rumbling.

He focussed on her and saw a wide grin spread across her face. She was standing shakily, probably due to his quivering deck, one hand held against his ceiling. He chirruped at her happily and she laughed in reply. He hadn't felt this secure since Crais left; he was filled with a euphoric sense of relief.

After a few moments he started to calm himself down, it was fine to be happy but he needed to communicate with Aeryn and make sure she was okay.

Talyn liked Aeryn. He liked her because Moya like her and Moya knew best. He also liked her because she was the first voice he ever heard and he thought she sounded beautiful. She reminded him of home. She must like him too, he thought, because she had given him his name. He liked his name; it was good and strong like he was.

Aeryn was talking to him now, so he tried to pay attention, but he kept getting lost in the sound of her, it relaxed him and reminded him of the brief few arns when he had been safe, right after he was born and hiding in the asteroid field. She sounded like she was saying something important though, so he trained his senses on interpreting her words. He found it strange to be listening once more, after spending so long with Crais and simply sensing his thoughts.

"Talyn, are you better now?" Aeryn queried again, after not getting an answer the first two times. Talyn made a show of flicking on and off the lights above her head and issuing a number of happy beeps and chirps.

Aeryn smiled more widely, "I'm glad." She paused to look around at the messy command. "Talyn, where's Crais?"

Immediately Talyn turned down his lights and stopped making the odd random beep as he had been doing since waking. He didn't want to think about Crais. He didn't want Aeryn to know about Crais. Of his betrayal and all that happened after. Not now, not yet while he was still getting used to feeling safe. Aeryn must have sensed it, for she changed the conversation, much to Talyn's relief.

"Talyn, I need you to do something for me, if you feel able?" She asked. Talyn wanted her to know how strong and brave he was now, so he immediately beeped a response hoping she could hear the boasting under the mechanical tones. She must have, as she laughed as soon as he finished. "Alright Talyn, I believe you. I'm looking for my friend John; you know the other sebacean looking man from Moya?" Talyn chirped an affirmative. Moya and Pilot like John, and they told him that Aeryn likes him very much too. They told him to trust John, as he was a friend. However, his captain didn't like John. Crais never openly mentioned it, but Talyn could hear his thoughts and new that Crais resented him for many reasons, one of which has Aeryn's affection for him and that he had killed his brother and caused his downfall within the peacekeepers. Talyn's mind was conflicted, his mother whom he barely knew told him to trust him, and his father who had reared him disliked him.

He stopped thinking to pay attention to Aeryn, deciding to think about it more when he had time.

"I need to find him, Talyn and take him home to Moya; I wanted to ask if you would help me do so? He is good at tech jobs so he would be able to repair you as we searched for your mother, if that's what you would like."

Talyn mused this for a while. It would be good to have a tech aboard, though he knew they weren't particularly intelligent and Crais had thought of them with disdain. This made him a bit happier. Aeryn was like Crais, a soldier, so she would not expect Talyn to be kind to John as he was a soldier too and that's how they treated the inferior techs. He decided Aeryn probably only liked him as a novelty, much as Crais had once professed to liking bearded kerjkas, something that Talyn didn't really understand but accepted.

Thus decided he replied to Aeryn, chirping back a positive answer. She thanked him and patted the wall.

"My prowler has been tracking him, could you link into it and follow his module?" Talyn chirped enthusiastically, almost immediately he brought up a sophisticated chart that was now plotting the movements of the module. He realised he really shouldn't be expending so much energy, he was still weak, but he so wanted to impress Aeryn. Maybe if he impressed her enough she wouldn't leave and she would become his captain. It was so lonely to have nobody to speak to.

Aeryn was standing looking at the chart intensely. Talyn watched her as she did, trying to learn what knowledge it was a person was supposed to get from the charts. Talyn hadn't really understood them and Crais had never taught him. He knew how to follow a coordinate, as he was now, but he couldn't comprehend what all the blinking lights and moving colours were supposed to mean. Aeryn straightened up suddenly.

"Frell!" She yelled, "There's five scarrans following him! Frelling human! He can't stay out of trouble!"

Talyn shivered with anticipation. 'Scarrans!' he thought. Crais had always said they were a very strong enemy, slayers of thousands of peacekeepers. Talyn was excited to see his first one, and decided instantly that he could defeat them. He was the most powerful weapon the peacekeepers had created to date, after all. That was why the peacekeepers wanted him back so much.

Increasing his speed, he flew off into the direction of his new adventure, looking forward to blasting the enemy out of the sky.

* * *

John swerved to avoid another blast from his pursuers and spun his module to try to shake them off. A futile attempt, as they were in superior ships. He was extremely glad he had so recently refitted his module, adding extra thrusters and stabilisers and taking some weight off. The Farscape was now able to travel at hetch 12, and was more agile than even Aeryn's prowler, something she didn't admit publically but had mentioned once when she brought him out to teach him battle formations.

He ducked low under the scarrans view and then flew upwards, hoping to disorientate them. He wasn't thinking tactically now, he was just trying to escape them as they fired shot upon shot at his module. He suspected they were trying to disable him as all their shots seemed aimed at his wings, but that didn't comfort him at all. If anything, it made him act more rashly.

His sensors told him there was a large deserted planet just to his left, and he nearly laughed with joy. He decided that the only thing he could do to escape them would be to attempt his slingshot manoeuvre. As he got closer, he started to change his trajectory slightly to bring him in at the right angle. His sensors started beeping at him then, showing this planet had come not a moment too soon as there was a large ship approaching behind the scanners. He couldn't see it yet but he presumed it was a larger scarran vessel ready to transport him to a dreadnought.

Flying down to the planets orbit, he started to move the module into the right zone. Twisting to see his pursuers, he felt something pop and liquid trickled down his neck. He realised his wound was open again, but paid no attention to it as he concentrated on getting out off this system.

His module hit the correct angle straight on, and he felt it begin to speed up using the planets gravitational pull. When he was nearly at optimum speed, one of the scarrans got lucky and struck his wing. John yelled as his module smashed out of its orbit and fell through the desert planet's atmosphere.

Fighting with his dying ship, he tried to slow it from its immense speeds. He succeeded in slowing it to normal landing speeds, but he couldn't get the landing gear to work, and with one wing barely functioning it would be useless to try and land properly anyway.

The ground was quickly coming up to meet him, the mountains of sand looming larger and larger. John gave up trying to stop the rebelling module and simply braced himself.

The module impacted the soft ground nose first with a metallic smash. The main frame of it stayed relatively unscathed, that is until it flipped over from the impact, the nose that was buried in the sand the only thing that kept it from flipping more than once. It slammed to the ground upside down and an unnatural silence followed its abrupt arrival.

* * *

Aeryn watched out Talyn's command window as the scarrans chased John. She had spent the majority of the journey here convincing Talyn to take it slowly. He was obeying her, but only just, and she wasn't sure if he had listened to her at all when she told him not to fire on the scarrans if they were still there when they got there.

John was using moves that she recalled teaching him a while back, but he was using no strategy to follow up on them. She knew what that meant, it meant he was panicking and simply trying to stay alive until he could try something stupid. She was right. She watched him as he flew straight for the desert planet's orbit. She realised he was about to do his 'swingshlot' manoeuvre. She sighed with relief as he managed to get his trajectory right, and she was about to tell Talyn the follow the path his module was sure to take when one of the scarrans got a lucky shot.

"No!" She breathed as she watched aghast as John's beloved module began plummeting through the planet's atmosphere. She couldn't tear her eyes away, even after she stopped being able to see his module as it grew closer to the ground. She could not believe her eyes. She had followed him so far, left Moya for him, and now her hopes at retrieving him were being destroyed with his module.

* * *

Talyn watched Aeryn where she stood in command staring silently out his view port. He didn't really understand why she told him not to kill the scarrans, and he was going to ignore her and do it anyway, but now he couldn't focus his attention on anything but her as she stood there, completely still. He wondered why her emotions seemed so uncontrolled at this moment. The tech had died, where was the sorrow in that? He knew she liked him, but he could always find her a new tech. Maybe a sebacean one. Or maybe another soldier for her, she must be lonely. Yes, he would find her a crew to make her happy and make her forget about her pet tech.

He made what he thought was a consoling noise, having heard something similar from his mother. It seemed to break Aeryn's concentration on whatever it was she was looking at. She turned and walked back to his platform and smiled weakly.

"He was a good man Talyn, I know you didn't know him, but I want you to know that. He was a good man, and I loved him." She patted him once then slowly walked off command, leaving Talyn to think over her words and try to understand them.


	4. This Town Ain't Big Enough

If you like it, review, if you don't.... review! :D

Chapter 4:  
This Town Ain't Big Enough  
14 Márta 2010

Two arns had passed since the not-a-sebacean man had plummeted to his death. The scarrans had left soon after, flying to the other side of the planet's gaseous moon, seemingly unaware of the young gunship. Their prey stolen from them by fate, there was no reason for them to stay. Talyn glided in orbit around the planet, unsure of what to do and preferring to wait for Aeryn to tell him.

Talyn had watched curiously as Aeryn had picked a room to stow her belongings during their voyage to this planet. He hadn't grown too many rooms, and the one she picked wasn't fully grown yet. He was suprised she had not claimed the captains quarters, but maybe she didn't realise she was the superior on the ship yet.

She hadn't spoken since she left command. She had barely reacted to anything at all. Talyn was confused over her behaviour, comrades died all the time, it was something to be expected in life. This friend of hers must have done something to contaminate her mind. Crais had told him that it was John who had had her removed from the peacekeepers, he had irreversibly contaminated her. Truly Talyn should be disgusted by her very presence, but he supposed he wasn't a peacekeeper himself anymore, and after what they had done he wasn't sure he wanted to be.

She was sitting on the bed now, staring at the ground. He had a DRD posted in her room and using its camera he looked at her face, hoping to see that she was perhaps concentrating on a plan or gathering her strength. As he watched a drop of liquid leaked from the corner of one of her eyes. Talyn looked in alarm at her, trying to find some injury or illness that would cause such a response. Certainly Crais' eyes had never leaked any type of liquid, and having not seen it before he decided there must be something wrong with her.

He moaned inside his mind, he was going to lose another captain and there was nothing he could do. It wasn't fair, he should have had a dedicated crew by now, teaching him everything he needed to know about the galaxy. He should have been flying bravely on the frontlines, obliterating all enemy vessels. Instead he was floating on the edge of some dead planet with a sick sebacean and a team of immature DRDs.

Aeryn had moved from her place on the bed and was standing in the miniature refresher gazing at her reflection in the mirror. She wiped at her eyes, drying the droplets and Talyn was glad, at least now he could pretend she was alright.

She quickly dispelled his relief by raising her fist and smashing it into the mirror, breaking it. She collapsed to the floor and started to emit a series of racking coughs. Talyn was really starting to panic now. This wasn't normal. He wished he knew what was wrong with her so he could save her. Sorrowfully he realised he would probably have to search the galaxy by himself for his mother. She was bound to be disappointed when she learned that two of his captains had left.

He tried searching through space with his sensors, trying to locate any non-hostile vessel that could help him, but his search came up with nothing. He let out a mournful sigh, at which Aeryn looked up slightly as if realising for the first time that Talyn could see her. Maybe she was only realising that now, he mused.

She proceeded to stand up and wash her face, wrapping a strip of material around her bloodied hand. She pulled herself together and Talyn watched her as she walked towards command.

Entering she smiled faintly. "Hello Talyn."

He sang back to her, happy to see her in control of whatever the disorder was that currently ailed her. He brought up a view of the system they were in, highlighting the planets he saw had some sort of medical facilities. She walked over to look at what he was showing her and frowned slightly.

"Why are you showing me medical facilities Talyn? Are you unwell?"

Talyn beeped in confusion, then frustration that they couldn't simply speak normally. He sent one of his DRDs to command and had it blink it's lights for Aeryn. She immediately understood and put her question to it, at which it blinked twice.

"So why do we need a medical facility?" The DRD started bashing into her foot, and she stopped it carefully. "You need one for me?" One blink. "Talyn don't worry, I'll be fine. I was upset about John, I lost control for a microt." She explained simply.

Talyn was confused, she was still upset over that? To prove his point he started to pull up views of the planet, and zoomed them in to show her the destroyed module on the surface. Aeryn gasped quietly and Talyn saw more liquid pooling in her eyes. He thought she was misunderstanding him somehow so he tried to show her that her tech was dead, he had died honourably in battle, not many techs could claim that, she should be happy for him. He brought up another screen to show life signs, he showed first her, then himself, then directed his scan over the planet and showed her.

At her exclamation Talyn looked at his findings. He exclaimed also with a surprised beep. There was one weak life signature coming from the area around the tech's module.

"Talyn, I'm taking my prowler to retrieve John, please have the docking bay ready." Said Aeryn, all of a sudden in control of herself once more and emitting the same confidence that had come off her when she had first arrived. She appeared to be doing much better so Talyn chirped agreeably. If this tech coming on board would make her happy, he would do anything to make that happen. He'd just have to find a way to get rid of him later to pick up a real crew. Perhaps he could stay on as tech, but he was sure that once he got a proper crew Aeryn would stop this strange obsession with this inferior being.

Aeryn was already in the hangar, climbing into her prowler. Talyn grabbed her with his docking web when she was ready and gently lifted her out and into open space. He watched intently as she flew swiftly to the planet, hoping to learn some moves from her. Crais had told him she was a highly gifted pilot.

He tried not to let the fear of abandonment rise as it had before, but since Crais he'd been so afraid of being alone. He hoped Aeryn would come back soon, with or without her alien.

* * *

Intense pain rushed through his senses as his body slowly awoke. He was confused about where he was and how he had gotten here. He must have crashed his car, but for some reason he couldn't remember having driven it recently. Slowly he turned his head, but when he moved his neck a white hot pain ran straight up to his brain. He started panting with the pain. He was hot, insanely hot, and there was sweat pouring from all over his body, though he wasn't sure that that wasn't blood. He surmised that his shoulder was dislocated, and he seemed to have extensive cuts on his neck and shoulder. He then noticed the bandage wrapped around his chest. Slowly things began to make sense as the pieces began to slot together.

"Damn." He exhaled, then wished he hadn't as even that simple movement intensified the pain on his left hand side. His control stick had somehow lodged against his chest, typically, and judging by the wet stain on his bandages it appeared to have reopened some of his chest wounds. Hopefully not all. He already knew his neck was bleeding again and he cursed the kalish for using his modern 'paste your wounds' technique. He'd choose stitches any day.

He didn't know how long he'd been lying there, but he knew it must have been a while as he was already feeling dehydrated. It was just typical that of all the planets to crash land on he had to crash on the one that was a searing hot desert, and then land upside down and become trapped in his once faithful ship.

"Well Harv," He conjured the clone, "doesn't look like we'll be getting out of this one. We had a good run."

Harvey nodded morosely. "Indeed we did John Crichton. It was been an honour to serve as your alter ego, your mind companion, and now I believe I can say it has been an honour to be your friend."

"Aww Harv, that's the most beautiful thing I ever heard. If my tear ducts weren't all dried up I'd be crying like Alice now."

"Thank you John. I believe the time has come for us to finally get some well earned rest. Goodnight John-boy." With that said, Harvey saluted him seriously and faded away.

"'Night Harv." John muttered, before closing his eyes.

Before he could decide if he was dead or not there was something pressed against his face, something warm. The touch caused his neck to move and he hissed in pain. Opening his eyes he turned slowly to his right, grimacing all the way as his wound stretched. When he turned he saw the one thing in all the universe that he had dreamed to see as his dying image. In front of his eyes was the beautiful face of the radiant Aeryn Sun. Seeing her struck a thought in his mind and he moaned.

"You died too? Aw babe I'm sorry." He felt great sadness over fates cruelty. Even after he left Moya she had still found her death prematurely. She was looking at him oddly, with a humoured smile.

"I'm not dead John, and neither are you, but we both will be if we don't get you out of there and back to Talyn."

"Tal'n?" He slurred questioningly. He felt his eyes becoming heavier and his brain was slowly beginning to rest, making his thoughts sluggish.

"Yes, Talyn. Come on John, you'll have to help me a bit here, it's extremely hot." She pleaded. John suddenly became more alert, an image of Aeryn succumbing to heat delirium appearing in his mind.

"Aer, you gotta go. 'S too hot. Heat delirium." He panted.

"Yes Crichton, I am aware of that. Now you're wasting time, I'm not leaving without you so please try to climb out, your front window is entirely broken in. You'll have too crawl but I can pull you, so come on Crichton." She said. There were droplets of sweat running down her face and already her hair was soaked through. Her cheeks were red and her eyes were finding it hard to focus on him. Realising the urgency of the situation, he put Aeryn's well-being over his pain and tried to coax his unresponsive limbs into moving.

He reached for his buckles with his right hand and undid them, leaving him to slump slightly, upside down, resting on the roof of the Farscape. He grunted in pain as his shoulder impacted the roof. Using his right hand again, as his left was almost entirely numb, he reached forward and grasped the edge of the window frame, hissing slightly as the broken glass edge cut into his hand. He pulled himself forward weakly, trying to get to where Aeryn could help him. The pain was almost unbearable and he was worried in case he passed out on her.

He tried again with his left arm and finally managed to get it to move in front of him, though it made his eyes go blind momentarily. Unfortunately it was while he was trying to regain his senses that Aeryn decided to step in, grasping both his arms in a strong grip.

He had a moment to think that she was uncannily strong, even on the brink of the living death, and then she pulled.

* * *

Aeryn saw him trying his best to pull himself out of the module, but his attempt was nearly worthless as he was making hardly any progress and seemed to be causing more pain to himself than necessary. When his arms finally flailed within her reach she grabbed onto them. She was unprepared for John's scream of pure agony as she pulled him. That stalled her for a bit, she realised he must have injuries she couldn't see. The heat was getting worse, however, and she had to get him out of here quickly or she would be unable to, so she pulled him again, using all her weight. He screamed again, but she managed to get him free that time. She watched as he fell to the ground with a thump.

Crawling wearily to him, she looked into his agonised face. It was then she noticed the lacerations running down his neck. She sucked in a breath of air in shock and disgust at what somebody had done to the human. Looking over his body further, she saw a wet looking bandage wrapped around his chest.

"Frell John, what happened?" She whispered, mostly to herself as she suspected John was unconscious.

"K'lish" He muttered. "Red heads have terrible tempers."

She put a hand against his cheek, and he responded to her cool hand. She saw him try to ignore the pain as he turned into her palm. She stroked his cheek absently as she looked for any other injuries. His left arm looked slightly off, she suspected it was dislocated, but other than that, he actually appeared to be in relatively decent shape, discounting the scrapes and bruises that were no doubt lurking underneath his clothes. Considering the state his module was in it was nothing short of a miracle that he had survived. She was extremely worried about his neck and chest though, his neck looked like it might be infected.

"John, I'm going to try to lift you, can you walk to my prowler if I do?"

He looked over slightly to see where her prowler was, then considered it carefully. "Think so."

"Alright. I'm sorry, but this is probably going to hurt."

"S'Okay." He closed his eyes wearily as if to fight of the impeding pain. She stood shakily and went to stand in front of him. Leaning down she reached for his right hand and pulled with as much of her energy as she could. He gasped but managed to hold in his screams this time and slowly he got his feet under him and stood up, more unsteady on his feet than she was.

"Lean on me John and we'll walk to my prowler, alright?"

He grunted and clasped his hand around her waist. She did the same to him and slowly they made their way to her prowler.

Aeryn was starting to get a bit anxious about how warm she was getting, she had already been on the planet about half an arn and her head was dizzy. She was stumbling almost as much as John was. He seemed to notice as he tightened his grip on her and tried to propel himself faster.

Reaching the prowler, he fell against it, using it to take the weight of his legs. He indicated for her to get in first and ignored her refusal. Aeryn climbed in and sat in her seat, watching as John tried to pull himself up. He got himself half in, and together they managed to get his battered body the rest of the way in, though he was now lying awkwardly behind her seat, curled up sideways.

She started up her prowler swiftly, feeling her body beginning to faint under the strain of the heat. She knew that once she got off the ground they would be safe as she could put her prowler to automatic and Talyn would pull her in. She somehow managed to do that, and then turn to ask John if he was alright only to discover he was unconscious. She turned back into her seat and succumbed to the darkness, her body shaking as it tried to drive out the heat.

* * *

For the second time, John woke up completely confused about his surroundings. There was a red glow of light shining in the window and he appeared to be curled in a foetal position on the floor of something hard.

His eyes gazed upwards and he saw the black hair of the woman in front. Immediately he recalled the situation.

"Aeryn." He breathed. She had come for him, had saved him. She had risked heat delirium for him. Heat delirium. His mind panicked, why hadn't she gotten out of the prowler yet? Had the heat been to bad? Had she not cooled down quickly enough?

"No, no, no. Oh God Aeryn, please be alright!" Finding energy he didn't realise he had he hauled himself upright, ignoring the bites of pain from all over his body. He opened the canopy and breathed in as the cool air of Talyn flowed into the prowler. Aeryn stirred slightly when she was hit with the cooler air, and he breathed in relief. Any response to stimulus was a good sign, and the fact she was sleeping was probably just her body's way of coping, he decided.

Awkwardly he got himself over the edge of the prowler and leaned back in, positioning Aeryn so that her body was hanging over his right shoulder. With a grunt of effort he lifted her out of her seat and almost fell to the deck as his energy rapidly began to escape him. He stepped forward doggedly, not even sparing a glance for the wonder that was Talyn. Reaching the wall of the landing bay he sat Aeryn down against it, hoping the cool temperatures of the landing bay would quicken her recovery. Thoroughly exhausted he collapsed down beside her, ignoring the frantic DRD's spinning at his feet. His last act was to pull her against his chest.

Closing his eyes once more, he fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

While Aeryn was on the planet Talyn drifted anxiously as near to the planet as he could comfortably get before the atmosphere and gravity started to affect him. He trained all his senses onto the planet, watching Aeryn's actions frantically with every type of sensor he had available to him. He was terrified something would happen to her and he wouldn't be able to help, he would be left alone once more to drift through space. He moaned morosely and concentrated on her heat signature. It appeared to be warmer than was healthy, but so far within safety limits. As a Leviathan he didn't suffer the effects of a varying temperature, but as a Peacekeeper bred ship he understood too well their fear, and he knew first hand it's effects. No. He would not think of that. 'Crais..' he moaned silently to the stars.

So intent on making sure she was safe and perusing his own thoughts, he did not notice the small Scarran vessel that had come from behind the planet's moon and flown towards him. It was only when something clamped down on to the surface of his smallest hangar bay door that he was brought out of his thoughts and realised something was amiss.

The machine that had attached itself to him was slowly pulling the massive airtight door open from the outside. Talyn could do nothing but watch and aimlessly attempt to keep the door closed. He tried aiming his main canon at it but he was more likely to hit and injure himself than the object, it was too small and close to his body.

He lost the battle, the door opened and the Scarran flew in and landed.

He watched in dismay as the huge and imposing Scarran rose out from his ship and stalked the landing bay, rifle in hand. Once deciding the bay was clear it spoke into it's comms, speaking in a harsh guttural language that Talyn couldn't decipher. It began making it's way out into Talyn's maze of corridors and halls.

Apart from the small security guns in command and the captain's quarters, the rest of Talyn's security firepower was still in the growing stage and was near useless against a sebacean, never mind a tough skinned Scarran. There was nothing Talyn could do except send a platoon of his most mature DRD's in pursuit of the beast and hope that he would be able to tell Aeryn it was onboard in time for her to kill it. A feeling of utter uselessness welled up inside him. It was times like this that he wished he had never agreed to leave his mother when he was young.

Sometimes he was suprised to find a feeling of helplessness coursing through his mind, at those times he wished his mother were with him to comfort him. He usually brushed off those feelings, they weren't befitting a peacekeeper vessel. However, without Crais to prove himself to and unable to defend himself as he was he found himself on the brink of emitting a distress call to any and all leviathans nearby. He held back from doing so as the soldierly side of his mind battled him and told him it was a weak thought for prey, not for a strong and mighty gunship.

Against a Scarran, with no adequate weaponry and with newly formed DRD's, he was helpless.

Suddenly soaring into a battle with an army of Scarrans didn't seem so exciting after all.

Memories of his last invasion flashed through his mind and he moved deeper into his own mind to avoid them. There would be no betrayal this time. As he pushed the memory further he became more confident in his abilities. The mere flicker of that day created an overwhelming desire within him to redeem himself. He would find a way to defeat this Scarran and he would do it.

It was then that Aeryn's prowler returned from the planet, flying silently towards Talyn. He watched her come closer worriedly, she had yet to open communications with him. He would have thought she would as she returned, unless something was wrong. Panicked, he quickly grabbed her with the docking web and pulled her into the bay, purposefully choosing the large one to delay her finding out about the Scarran until he was able to. He sent a couple of DRD's down to protect her from straying into his path and plotted a course for them to take through him that would avoid the Scarrans route. Keeping his attention on the her, with notifications from his sensors on the Scarran, he waited for Aeryn to make her victorious return and present to him his tech.

He watched in dismay as the prowler stayed silent, the canopy didn't move and nobody inside seemed to be making any attempts to get out. Flitting his attention from the prowler to the Scarran he watched in fear as the Scarran looked in the direction of the landing bay, having probably heard the prowler land. Growling triumphantly it began marching towards it.

After some time the canopy finally opened and Talyn sighed in relief, as much as a leviathan can sigh. His heart was pumping furiously as he watched the Scarran move in their direction and he wished he could yell at them to hurry. But he couldn't, he could only sit and wait and hope they stayed safe.

A body moved and pulled itself out of the prowler, it was the man-called-John. Talyn watched the man curiously, this was Aeryn's tech. He tried to see what was so interesting about him but couldn't see anything. When he pulled Aeryn out of the prowler and onto his shoulder Talyn forgot about the Scarran for a moment as red hot rage surged through him.

He walked with her and sat her down against a wall. Talyn knew what was wrong, it was heat delirium, something he knew all too well. Talyn's gratitude for the man for helping her was overpowered by his anger and fear.

It was his fault she was sick. This man had made Aeryn expose herself to too high temperatures, and now she might be dying. For now he would be civil, he needed the man's assistance to kill the invader, but if he survived the encounter Talyn would have to take action. This man needed to be shown his place. No officer should ever have to risk her life for a tech.

The DRD's arrived and sailed over to the two beings swiftly. Talyn watched in frustration as the tech ignored them to sit down beside Aeryn. The lazy tech pulled Aeryn into his arms and fell asleep.

For now, he was on his own. The alien was all but useless, and Aeryn was ill. It was up to Talyn now to protect Aeryn. If only he knew how. He locked and sealed the doors to the prowlers landing area, hoping to slow the Scarran as he conjured the plan he had felt forming within his mind.

However, instead of walking in their direction as it had been doing earlier, the Scarran had apparently changed it's mind and was now heading back up the hall that lead to command. Talyn knew from experience that it was most likely looking to reroute his controls and assert his power over Talyn to kill his two crewmembers.

Memories of screaming sebaceans appeared in his mind. They cried as they lost their minds to the heat. Even with no memory they knew enough to scream and beg for their lives. They called out to him, pleading with him. Sad brown eyes closed their lids and the owner bowed his head in pain and sorrow for what he had to do, even as his own body dripped with sweat and shook feverishly.

In his mind Talyn still could hear Crais calling to him, telling him to be calm, reminding him of his bravery, his duty. He shuddered throughout his body to dispel the images. That was then, this was now. He had learned from his mistakes. No enemy would ever try and force him to kill a comrade again. He would not allow it.

Mind resolute he waited patiently for the Scarran to appear in command, his plan now fully formed and waiting for the different pieces to come together.

* * *

Aeryn awoke groggily, her head pounding softly in the aftermath of heat delirium. She realised she was seated in one of Talyn's landing bays, resting against something soft and warm. When that something warm breathed against her neck she realised it was John. His arms were wrapped loosely around her in an embrace, and he sounded like he was sleeping deeply. For a moment Aeryn contented herself with the fact that they were both safe and together, finally. She smiled to herself. John shifted against her, moaning slightly. It was then she remembered the injuries she had seen on his body.

Slowly she attempted to slip out of his embrace without waking him, wanting to get a better look at the odd cuts she had seen on his neck, and the evidence of more on his chest. John's arms tightened against her just as she was almost free. She sighed in frustration, and was suprised when he released her straight after.

Turning around to look at him she saw him looking back, bloodshot eyes staring into hers.

"Hey there Sunshine, how you feeling?" He croaked.

"Better now. You carried me?" He had somehow managed to cover his chest over with his vest, it was now buckled closed whereas before it had lain open, showing his t-shirtless upper body.

"Yeh. You ain't as light as you look. We're going to have to ration your food." He tried to joke, probably hoping to cover up his pain.

"Our food is already rationed John." She replied, smiling slightly at his attempt to humour her. When he saw her smile his face broke out into a grin, but almost immediately became a grimace when he stretched his skin. Aeryn looked closely at the strange wound. She saw that it was all puckered up with infection, but she thought it looked oddly as though there were symbols etched into his skin, right the way from jaw to shoulder. She frowned and automatically reached out to touch his skin. He shied away from her slightly.

"Didn't nobody ever tell you it's rude to stare?" He asked lamely. Aeryn noticed the fevered look in his eyes. His hair was wet and beads of sweat were forming on his skin.

"Your injuries are severe John, we need to find the med bay and then hope Talyn has supplies there." As she spoke a stationed DRD came over and bumped her foot solidly. She looked at her guide curiously, but instead of speaking it blinked at her three times then sped off through the landing bay, stopping to wait for them.

"Alrighty, I see our little beetle-bot there is ready to go. If you could just give me a hand up?" he asked, proffering his healthy right arm. She took it and hauled him to his feet. She wrapped her arm around his and he started to lean on her heavily. They walked together, following the DRD.

* * *

John couldn't remember having ever felt this bad. Not even the first time he had had the fever over his wounds. It was just typical that as soon as he's healed something had to happen to totally erase his body's memory of ever having been almost healthy. He glowered at the floor as he shuffled along beside Aeryn.

Aeryn. There was a strange twist of events. He thought he would never see her again, then next thing he knows, he's knocking on heaven's door and she's the one that answers. She has some talent for timing. He wanted to ask her how she found him, how she met up with Talyn and how she had managed not to kill him when she saw him practically dying anyway, but he figured there'd be time later. Right now he was having a hard enough time keeping his feet underneath him.

The DRD guide finally turned into a room, they had been taking the longest and furthest away from command route Talyn could think of, though John and Aeryn were not aware of this. John sighed with relief at the smell of cleanliness. Any room that smells that clean must be medical, he thought.

Aeryn guided him in and brought him over to one of the beds there. She helped him up onto it and he lay down, finally letting his body relax. Aeryn looked him over a few times sceptically, then started to remove his vest. He grabbed her hand.

"Don't, it's fine." He said, looking at her pleadingly with his eyes.

"No John, I have to look at it. Whatever that bandage is protecting started bleeding again in your crash. I need to seal up all your wounds. I'm not letting you die of infection after I just saved your eema." She replied harshly. She shook off his hand and undid the buckles of his vest and peeled it off slowly, taking it off his right arm first then sliding it gently of his left, but still managing to cause him some discomfort. She looked at the vest for a moment then threw it in the waste receptacle.

"Hey, I liked that vest. What am I supposed to wear now?" He complained.

"Well you could always just go around topless," she suggested, but when she saw the fear in his eyes she added, "I'm sure I have a spare t-shirt that will fit you, and Crais must have clothes somewhere."

"Crais? Yeh, where is my boy Crais? I thought he would have been gloating all over my inferior ass for getting myself enslaved and nearly killed." He remarked darkly. Aeryn glanced at him sharply when he said enslaved, but he didn't seem to realise his words, so she decided to ignore them for the moment. She was wetting the bandages around his chest to loosen them up so she could remove them and she didn't need John to go all closed up on her. Instead she replied,

"I don't know where Crais is. I asked Talyn when he woke up but he didn't want to talk about it then I don't think. I haven't brought it up since. I assume there was a fight though, Talyn was in a bad way when we found each other. "

John nodded at her words, hearing her silent command to not talk about Crais at the moment. He figured the kid must be feeling pretty messed up without his captain around to talk to. Probably best if they didn't upset him, he could do a lot of damage.

"OK, I'll leave it for now. How'd you find me?" He enquired, just as Aeryn started peeling off his bandages. He whimpered as they were removed as his cuts had indeed reopened and stuck to the material.

Aeryn didn't answer him as she looked at his chest in dismay. The cuts were nowhere near as severe as the swollen cuts on his neck, but it was still a shock to see them. These were clearer and less swollen and she could distinctly make out symbols in some language she didn't know. To see John's once strong and handsome chest hewed into the way it was made her feel slightly ill, but she held it back knowing John would be scrutinizing her carefully to watch for her reaction.

"Who did this to you John?" She asked when she got her control back.

John looked away slightly, a red tinge spreading across his face. It looked like embarrassment or shame, but Aeryn was sure she must be reading his emotions wrong.

"A couple of kalish jumped me at the first planet I was on." He said quietly, not meeting her eyes.

"Kalish did this?" She asked, suprised. Kalish were known for their dislike of violence. It is what made them so easily subjugated by the scarrans.

He nodded miserably. "They weren't the regular peace-loving kind. They were part of some resistance against the scarrans."

She'd never heard of such a resistance but she accepted it as John said it. "Why would they do this to you though?"

"They wanted me to do some job for them, which I did, but before they sent me off they carved their symbols into me. They knew who I was and thought it'd be awesome to claim the infamous John Crichton as one of theirs. Only I'm not. In their eyes I'm little more than a slave. In the worlds eyes. I ain't no free man no more." His eyes darkened as he spoke and he looked away from her, tears forming in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

He pointed to his chest with his right hand, "that, Aeryn. It marks me as a slave in their language. And it's there for life, though the doc said they would fade. Every time I look at myself that's all I'll see. That's all anyone'll see if they look." He sighed forlornly. "I used to think I was quite the stud. Damn I was an idiot. Appreciate what you got while you got it."

His depressed tone was alarming her, being entirely the opposite of his usually optimistic attitude. She clasped his right hand in hers and looked at him seriously. "John Crichton, you will stop feeling sorry for yourself and you will get better. Only you know what those tattoos mean, and me now I suppose, though it doesn't change my opinion of you. None of your friends give a frell what you look like, but for what it's worth I still think you're quite the slut, if by that you mean acceptable looking."

There was silence after Aeryn spoke and she was worried she had somehow offended him, but then a smile cautiously appeared on his face and he laughed quietly.

"Thanks. Can't promise I won't feel sorry for myself again-"

"When do you not." She interrupted.

"Ahem, I can't promise that. But I'll try, for you if nobody else." He looked at her slyly, then added, "I think you're quite the slut too."

At his outburst of laughter Aeryn smiled, proud that she had got him out of his rut, even if she was a bit confused as to why he found her physical attributes so amusing.

She released his hand to get the materials she needed to close up the wounds and ease the infection. It was then she remembered his shoulder.

"Dren... John, I think your left shoulder is dislocated, I'm going to have to set it before I work on your cuts."

He looked at her, resigned. "Alright, go for it."

She went round his other side and held his arm tight, counting down in her head she suddenly jerked his arm and slammed it back into place with an audible crack. She was suprised John hadn't made some sort of noise as she did it, but when she looked over to his face she saw he was passed out yet again. She sighed and decided it would be a good time to tend to his wounds.

* * *

John awoke, shrouded in a red blanket, lying on a bed. He vaguely recalled Aeryn leading him here after she fixed him up, but everything was a bit hazy. He opened his eyes slowly, expecting to see more red. What he saw instead were Aeryn's eyes staring at him. She didn't look embarrassed, so he figured she must have been waiting for him to wake up.

"You're awake, good. I was worried I damaged you when I dropped you onto the bed." She said."Do you feel any better? I'm no med tech so my dressing is crude at best."

John consciously reached through his body to test out his cuts, and feeling no excruciating discomfort he nodded his head slightly, feeling only a slight twinge. "You did good Sunshine, barely feel a thing."

She beamed at him, and suddenly he truly couldn't feel a thing.

"I know you're lying, but lying is good. For you it means the pain is less than it was." John questioned her logic but then agreed, he never really lied about the really painful injuries, it was only the marginally less painful that he felt the need to lie about.

"You're probably right. So what you doing here lying in my bed?"

For the first time she looked mildly put out, "actually it's my bed, but I couldn't seem to find another on Talyn apart from Crais'. And I just wanted to make sure you're alright. I was pretty tired anyway, I wanted to get some rest." She explained quickly.

"Oh, ok. Well I'll go on the floor now, I'm feeling much better so I think I can make the journey."

"John don't be ridiculous, we've shared a bed before. And this blanket is the only one I could find so you'd have nothing to cover you. And Talyn doesn't seem to have any pillows either." She finished, with a mild complaint on her lips.

John laughed at her apparent want for comfort. "Well I would offer my chest as a pillow, but that's a bit of a no-go right now I think. But look, I think I'm falling asleep again, we can sort this out in a while."

His voice was getting quieter and more laborious sounding, and his body was demanding more sleep so it could recover from the trauma the past day had wrought. Only one solar day, he thought, and already I'm falling apart. He looked over at Aeryn again who was still watching over him, and feeling protected he drifted off to sleep, he was asleep so quickly that he didn't notice Aeryn leaning in to his healthy shoulder and kissing it lightly before slipping off the bed.

* * *

Aeryn waited for John to ease into a deep sleep before she spoke quietly towards a DRD that was waiting at the door into her room.

"Alright Talyn, what's going on? You led us on a farhbot route to get to the med bay, it took a lot longer than the regular route. Also I thought I saw a ship in that small hangar bay beside your main one?" She questioned. While they had walked through the corridors Aeryn had glanced through the half open door of the bay and saw a small mean looking ship stationed there. She hadn't said anything to Crichton as he was too sick for any information like that, and Aeryn had figured Talyn would have told her if something needed to be done immediately.

There was a silence for a few moments after Aeryn's question, then the little DRD moved forwards and a holographic video appeared, flickering over it's back. It hazily showed her the Scarran soldier flying into Talyn, it then switched to a video that was tracking it's process as it walked towards Talyn's command. As soon as she saw the vessel on it's approach, Aeryn had sprung into action, grabbing a rifle and her pulse canon from there place in her small room. Swiftly she strode towards the door and running to command once she was safely out of John's earshot, silently cursing Talyn for not having told her as soon as she was conscious.

* * *

Talyn watched as Aeryn sprinted up the hall, happy the first part of his plan was going accordingly, but the main body of his attention was on the Scarran that was now entering his command. He knew he would have to act quickly to kill it, but he also knew the Scarran would be cautious, so he would have to wait until it thought it had some semblance of control. He was basing his actions on the peacekeeper data that was installed in his databanks. He hoped that it was all correct and up to date, as he really had no idea as to what to expect of this enemy. Crais had spared little thought on them as they had never been a threat to Talyn before and it hadn't occurred to Crais to teach him about them before, except as a passing warning that was similar to what was in the regs.

The Scarran marched over to his main control, the controls for temperature and atmosphere. With brutish strength it swiped a hand at the console and smashed in the surface. Talyn hissed in irritation at the blatant vandalism, he realised the Scarran mustn't know the intricacies of his consoles, they generally remained operational throughout any assault unless purposefully disconnected. This beasts lumbering approach had done nothing but dent the surface. Perhaps Scarrans were given more credit than they were due.

Aeryn was coming up to command now, so Talyn locked the door. He needed her out of the way of the Scarrans wrath, she had already served her part in his plan. He knew his plan would work and he couldn't wait to show Aeryn how powerful and smart he was for coming up with something so quickly. The killing of one's first Scarran was a landmark achievement. He grinned to himself in glee as he imagined Aeryn's heightened impression of him when she saw the dead Scarran. She would know for sure then that he was the most powerful vessel in the sky, she was sure to want to stay after this. Who wouldn't want to captain such a ship as he was?

Slowly he began lowering the temperature in command, not so much that the Scarran would immediately notice, but fast enough that it would begin making him slower and clumsier soon. Heat was a Scarrans strength, according to his data they weren't fond of cool temperatures. He hoped they might have their own version of heat delirium, but he knew not to trust in hope. He had his back-up plan.

* * *

A loud beeping noise awoke John. He groaned loudly, blinking his eyes open stiffly. Aeryn was no longer beside him, and that put him off for an instant before he reasoned she was probably off talking to Talyn. He looked around the room to find the source of the beeping and found a small vicious looking DRD watching him from it's place on the roof. 'Where have I seen that before?' he mused, before remembering the day they had discovered Talyn within Moya, and the DRD's had gone all maternally protective of their sort-of son. How did that work anyway? He would have to remember to ask Pilot that next time he saw him. He turned his attention back to his alarm clock and frowned at it, trying to find an off button.

Once it saw John was aware of it, it began beeping louder. The noise screeched through his ears and he moaned softly with the pain.

"I'm up, I'm up. Can it, can!" It stopped beeping and the silence engulfed John's senses. "Alright, what you want R2? Timmy stuck down a well or is this just your regular 'Welcome aboard' greeting?"

The DRD began its video projector for the second time that day, and John watched in horror as he watched the Scarran land, watched it approach command. Aeryn was running down the corridor, rifle at the ready, canon slung over her shoulder. John gasped as the next clip showed Aeryn in command, the Scarran walking towards her. It raised it arm to swipe at her, when it began to swing towards her the video flickered and died.

John stared at the small DRD for a second in shock. "The Scarrans got Aeryn?" The little DRD blinked furiously. "Is she hurt?" Please let her not be hurt he thought. The little DRD proved his fears correct by blinking at him, and waving it's small stunted little gun at him.

Forgetting his injuries and his weakness, John leapt off the bed and grabbed Winona and a rifle before galloping his way to command, DRD's were placed periodically to show him the way.

* * *

When Aeryn got to command she realised the door was closed and locked. She knew that Talyn must have locked the Scarran inside, but she couldn't understand why he wouldn't open the doors.

Unless he wasn't able to.

With that thought she moved away from the door to find another way in. Moya had thousands of hatches and side corridors designed for DRD's and other operations, logically Talyn would have his own. She only hoped she could find one before Talyn was seriously injured, and one that would allow her to crawl into command.

Finding a small hatch near the floor of the corridor, she crouched down and motioned the small door to open, and crawled in slowly, removing her weapons and pushing them through in front of her.

* * *

John arrived outside of command, panting and sweating profusely. He swayed slightly on his feet, his short rest not having given him back all the energy he had lost. The door was closed and locked, John could hear the Scarran walking around inside, it's weight pounding on the metal surface of the room. Wiping his forehead and garnering all his remaining strength John took a breath and swiped his hand over the door. 'The things I do for love.' He thought wearily as the door split open smoothly.

Upon hearing the noise the Scarran turned with a growl and raised it's arm towards John. Once he recognised him the Scarran did a double take.

"Most resilient Human. My captain will be glad you live." It growled, lip curling in a fiendish grin.

"Glad to be of service oh Lord Rataxes." John said sarcastically, eyes searching the room for Aeryn. His body went cold with fear when he could not see her anywhere. Standing tall he glared at the Scarran, hoping his feverish dizzy body would intimidate the Scarran, somehow. "Where's Aeryn?"

Stepping forward slightly the Scarran watched John warily. "What were you doing on our planet?" It growled.

"No, I asked you first. Where's. Aeryn. Ain't telling you no life story 'til you tell me what you've done with her."

The Scarran looked confused, as confused as a Scarran could look anyway, John mused. They must have the best Botox in the galaxy. Instead of answering it stepped closer to John again and a blast of heat was emitted from it's outstretched hand. John gasped and fell to his knees, the heat having sucked the last of his strength.

"Why were you on our planet, Human." It repeated. John's brain felt like it was melting inside his skull and he was struggling to find a single thought to cling onto in his own mind. The only thing he could focus on was the Scarran's question. Drunkenly his mind formed an answer, he was unable to even try and change the facts, his head was in so much pain and confusion that he wasn't even sure if what he was thinking was a dream or reality.

"Moya, running away from Moya." He gasped.

"Lies. Why were you on our planet? Who sent you?" The heat grew stronger and tears began to trickle down John's face as he lost more control over his mind and body.

"Telling you the truth!" He shouted out. "Left Moya, safer. Run away, they can't die."

Roaring in anger over the supposed lies of his prisoner the scarran blasted intense heat at John's face, then pulled back his hand to punch it at John's face. John saw it coming and closed his eyes, his mind a blur of pain and confusion. Where was Aeryn? Why was he on that planet? He saw creatures in his mind's eye that looked crazily like business class leprechauns, but before he could make any sense of his vision it was gone, replaced with a memory of watching Aeryn getting attacked by the Scarran.

John resigned himself to the fact that he was evidently on his own, and he had finally run out of luck. He wished Harvey were around to see him off again, but the clone had been quiet since he crashed and it didn't look like he would resurface to say goodbye to John again. He made a lame attempt to stand, but he was completely sapped of energy. Eyes still closed he stayed kneeling and tried thinking of all the good times in his life.

It took him some moments to realise he wasn't dead, and it's took him some time longer to open his eyes and see why the Scarran was taking his time, he didn't remember them being all up on sadism.

When he did open his eyes he saw the huge form of the Scarran standing over him, but instead of reaching to punch John it had a strange expression on it's scaled face as if realisation had just dawned on it and it found it suprising. It's eyes were glazed over, and slowly the beast tipped forward and fell towards John, who fell to the side just in time to avoid being crushed. With the Scarran down John could see Aeryn standing in all her glory, behind where the Scarran had previously been standing. Her face had a cold calculated look and her eyes were filled with a hungry rage.

John grinned stupidly at her, his beleaguered mind screaming with joy at his saviour.

"This is getting to be a weird fetish Aeryn, saving my ass. If I didn't know any better I'd say you cared." He wheezed out.

Aeryn slowly drew her gaze from the steam rising out of the Scarran's form where she impaled him with the thermo cooling rod. She stared at John for a second, as if just realising his presence and slowly her eyes cleared and she stepped forward to help him stand.

"Well I wouldn't have to keep saving you if you would only stop getting yourself into situations that require your saving." She replied smoothly.

"How'd you get away? He had you pretty good." John asked, wanting to know how she had escaped the Scarran's grasp with no obvious wounds.

"Get away where Crichton?" She asked in confusion.

"Here, the Scarran, he bopped you over the head with a pretty good left hook, or was it right? I mean, I didn't see the end but it looked like it would hurt. Unless you got a twin sister you're not telling me about?" At that he grinned wickedly and winked at her. She stared back at him in consternation, checking his head over for any bumps or scrapes.

"Make sense Crichton, did you hit your head in here?"

"What? No. You were sitting there," He gestured vaguely, "and the big mean old lizard went stomping over and knocked you one."

"I don't know what you're talking about John, I couldn't get into command, I had to crawl through the hatches. How did you get in?"

"I uh.. Well the door just opened. Talyn let me in. He also showed me that video of you getting attacked by lizard-boy over there."

Aeryn blinked in shock, looking around her at the dead Scarran and the mess that command was in. It was then she noticed Talyn's guns were primed and ready, pointing towards Crichton and the Scarran. "Talyn..." She breathed.

* * *

Watching with delight, Talyn saw his tech confront the Scarran in command. He only had to wait for his bait to get out of the way by moving or dying and he would have a perfect aim of the Scarrans eyes. According to his data a Scarrans hide was nearly impenetrable, but their eyes were their weakness, a shot through an eye would lead straight to it's brain and kill it straight out. He had need of a distraction to get the Scarran to turn around and face his guns, so he had called on the least important of his two-person crew.

As he had correctly guessed the Human (he had heard Aeryn use the word, he supposed it was derogatory) was quick to get to command once he was convinced Aeryn was in trouble. Talyn ignored the thought that nudged him and said it was an admirable quality, that the Human would want to defend Aeryn. He didn't care about this creature that had nearly had Aeryn killed.

They had talked for so long, the Scarran blasting his heat ray at the frail man. Talyn had waited patiently for the human to succumb to the pain. Just when he was about ready to begin firing, having targeted and locked on to the Scarran's eyes, he sensed Aeryn slipping into command behind the Scarran. He halted his weapons that had been in the process of readying to shoot and watched her.

He saw her look around his command for a moment before she opened a small hatch in his wall that housed a small cooling systems, to stop his computers from overheating. Each small rod was encased in a sharp and strong titanium shell.

Quickly his multi-tasking mind realised what she was planning on doing and his mind spun with intrigue. It had not occurred to him there were more ways to kill a Scarran than simply blasting it. A peacekeeper soldier would never have come up with that sort of plan themselves. He realised she must have changed in her time away from them. He frowned slightly but then forgave her, if it killed the Scarran then perhaps it was worth breaking standard rules.

Aeryn had quickly crept up to the reptile, without it's knowing, and with a deft downward strike rammed the small weapon into the softer cavity between it's neck and shoulder. Immediately the cold entered the hot-blooded Scarrans bloodstream, and it's heart, which was unable to cope with lower temperatures, stopped pumping as the ice cold blood reached it.

Talyn began storing the new information into his vast memory, and he altered his peacekeeper data slightly to fill it with his new first hand information. He ignored the two beings in his command as they talked and was only drawn back into their conversation when he heard his name whispered.

* * *

"Talyn? What you mean Talyn?" Asked John groggily. A moment later Aeryn saw realisation enter his eyes. "Talyn?"

"Yes. I was never in here John, he wouldn't let me. He must have showed you that video to get you to come up here and then he let you in to serve as bait. His guns are primed, he must have been using you to distract the Scarran." She said, her mind was sprinting through different thoughts and patterns, she was thinking on any and all conversations she had had since boarding Talyn that would give reason for his obvious dismissal of the validity of Crichton's life over hers.

"So I'm a worm now? Just dangle me on a rod see if the shark bites?" John muttered miserably. "Why's he all gung-ho about sending me off to die? I'm no soldier, he should have known I'm not up for this crap. I mean, I've learnt a lot since getting here, but killing a Scarran with my bare hands, I've still got to master that one without blowing up a room to do it."

Aeryn's brain was still cycling through information, when John mentioned he wasn't a soldier a memory sparked into the forefront of her mind. "It's my fault." She said, shocked. "I told him you were a tech when we came after you. In Peacekeeper society techs are considered below regular soldiers, he must have been confused about your status after I went to save you, no Peacekeeper officer would risk their lives unnecessarily for a tech."

"So I'm handy with a screwdriver, now our boy wants to send me to the frontline to make up for you saving me? And better to have a soldier than a guy with a welding torch?"

Aeryn frowned, thinking. "Yes, something like that."

"Great. I'll just go wrap myself up in bubble wrap for the next time he tries to throw me at intruders." John said, then made an attempt at walking out of command angrily. Aeryn gripped his elbow when he stumbled.

"No, hold on Crichton, let me talk to him, I might be able to get him to understand." She ignored him as he continued to mutter under his breath. "Talyn?" She called.

Low lights blinked across command, evidence that he had been listening to them talk and sensed Aeryn's anger over his actions.

"Talyn, when I said John was a tech I meant he was able to fix things, fix you. But he is not just a tech. He is a soldier, like me. He wasn't always but I'm sure Crais must have told you some things about him, blowing up that Gammak base, infiltrating the shadow depository? Frell he killed a Scarran last cycle, after being tortured. I am just a soldier, that is all I know, but John is all that and more. He is far more valuable than I am Talyn."

Talyn bleeped indignantly and John stared at Aeryn. "You know, I agree with him Aeryn, you're so much more than a soldier. Stop trying to convince him you're our personal Rambo now, working it alone to protect little old me. It's not gonna happen." She glared down at him.

"I'm only trying to tell him not to kill you."

"I know, and it was beautiful, honest. A+ material. But maybe I could talk to him?"

She snorted at him. "Go ahead"

"Yo Talyn, how you doin'?" John said, aiming his voice in the direction of the raised circular platform. He smiled slightly when Talyn finally replied with a single beep. "Yeh I'm feeling the love Talyn. Look, you didn't need to trick me today, I'd lay down my life for Aeryn any day but you don't need to trick me into doing it. We could have come up with a plan, you know? Work together and all that Brady Bunch stuff. I guess Crais has told you some bad stuff about me, and I won't lie and tell you he's wrong. A lot of what he's probably said is true, but I never intended to be the bane of the universe, I just got shot through a wormhole from my primitive world and I've been fighting to survive ever since. I'm the only one of my kind, you're the only one of your kind. We got more in common than you think. You let me live another few days and I'll try and prove to you I'm not a bad guy. I'll fix you up and get you whatever you need. Your own personal butler, how about it?"

John and Aeryn waited anxiously for a reply, hoping that Talyn would see reason. John knew that if Talyn answered in the negative he would have to leave, and try and convince Aeryn it would be best for her to stay.

* * *

He listened to the Human while he spoke. He tried to maintain his anger and disgust over having such a primitive species on board, but he was finding it hard as Aeryn obviously wanted him to trust the man and keep him safe. He wished there was some way he could undo whatever it was the Human had done to her mind.

He didn't agree that Aeryn was less valuable than her Human, Aeryn was a peacekeeper officer, born and bred to fight. Her tech was an alien that apparently only survived through chance. He was about to let her know his disagreement when the man suddenly interrupted and mirrored his thoughts.

The human Crichton began speaking, and Talyn listened curiously, waiting to hear how he would redeem himself. He was suprised when he didn't, and told him Crais was probably right about him.

"I'm the only one of my kind, you're the only one of your kind."

Since birth Talyn had known he was alone. He had sensed his mother's alarm over his modifications and Crais had often told him that there was no ship like him anywhere in the universe. It was a lonely existence, a hybrid between two vastly different cultures. The Peacekeepers enjoyed violence and vied for domination, Leviathans lived on peace and helping any who required it. He could not slip easily into either group and because he was a renegade, neither would welcome him.

And the Human was the only one of his kind, his people being too far away for him to find. He looked like a sebacean but wasn't. Talyn was interested to know how he dealt with his life. He realised he was beginning to lose his hostility towards him. Not completely, but he thought he might accept him for a while until he could get better crew members, and in the mean time he could learn how this Human fit into their world. Perhaps he wasn't as alone as he thought.

Talyn saw they were waiting for his reply, he thought through his options again. If he said no Aeryn would leave, if he said yes she would stay and Crichton would fix some of his broken systems, and he could learn what he could from a foreign species.

He emitted two beeps in the affirmative and was rewarded with a smile from Aeryn.

"Thank you Talyn." She said quietly. Her happiness alone was enough to make him feel he had made the right decision.

"Yeh thanks T-Dawg." Drawled Crichton, grinning slightly.

Talyn humphed inside of his mind and drew away his awareness of his crew as they slowly moved away from command towards their quarters. He focussed on his own thoughts as he prepared for a small starburst jump. Once done he sailed through aura clouds lazily, thinking to himself.

He supposed if they were staying they would need to know about Crais. As much as he feared telling them his shame he knew they would continue to ask and would grow suspicious if he refused. He sighed. He wished he had more time. It was still too fresh in his mind. He was still reeling from his loss and he missed Crais' voice inside his mind. It was so hard communicating with people when they couldn't hear his replies. Crais had annoyed him, and always constrained his actions, but in his way Talyn knew Crais was fond of him and Talyn had felt the same back. It was nice not to be alone all the time. He had regretted his actions almost as soon as he had done them, but he didn't know. He cried quietly, his body rumbling. He had tried to make everything right, but it had been too late. He had been afraid. He didn't know, he wailed forlornly.

Hoping to distract himself from his heavy thoughts he start to practise some acrobatics in space, spinning and diving, erasing all his previous thoughts. He swung around a floating asteroid and shook his dark thoughts from his mind. Losing himself in the moment he sang with joy at his free flight, swooping and soaring as he pleased. He kept his insides at a constant so his passengers wouldn't know he was secretly tossing them about. He rumbled mischievously and increased his speed.

* * *

A loud beeping awoke both Aeryn and John instantly. During their sleep John had somehow manoeuvred himself so that he was laying on his side facing her, and she had her arm wrapped around his stomach.

John looked over her head at the DRD trying to get their attention from the ground. It didn't look urgent, and he wanted to savour these last moments of Aeryn-closeness before they had to run off to do something.

Aeryn appeared to be waking more slowly than John, which suprised him a bit, so he gently drew her hair back from her face and whispered at her.

"Aeryn, there's a DRD messenger at the door, I think he wants our attention."

Aeryn's eyes slowly opened, then widened when she saw their closeness. John watched as a blush overtook her face. Aeryn Sun, blushing. He allowed himself a smirk before sitting up slowly. She arose more swiftly and slipped out of the bed, searching out her clothes. John only realised when the covers were gone that she was wearing only the essential underwear. He noticed his own leathers on the floor.

"You undressed me." He stated indignantly.

"What? Yes, of course I did, I wasn't going to allow your day clothes into my bed. If you hadn't fainted when we got here you could have done it yourself. Now get dressed." Aeryn's brusqueness was back, and John was quickly trying to save his memory of Aeryn lying warm and sleeping beside him.

He threw on his leathers and then looked at her expectantly, upper body bare bar the new bandage wrapped around him. Aeryn spared him a glance then rooted through her spare clothes, she pulled out a couple of t-shirts and sized them off together, throwing the larger to John and donning the smaller one herself.

"Ew I can't wear girls clothes!" John griped.

Aeryn glared at him until he felt guilty for speaking. "They're not 'girl clothes' they're peacekeeper standard issue. And anyway, that t-shirt's yours."

"It is?"

"Yes, I took it as a mistake, now come on!" Aeryn lied swiftly. She had 'procured' one of his t-shirts monens ago, it had accidentally ended up in her pile after the washing and she had never bothered to give it back. It was her preferred piece of clothing for when she slept. She had forgotten she'd packed it until just then.

John walked slowly towards her and she turned and lead the way to command.

Aeryn and John arrived together in command. The DRD ushered them over to a view screen he had opened up. He waited until they were both paying attention to it and started the recording he had worked on most of their sleep cycle.

Crais' voice boomed out in command, and Talyn chuckled as the human jumped slightly, and rumbled even more when Aeryn glared at him.

"This is Captain Bialar Crais." It began.


	5. Part 1: Planting Seeds

Free hugs for all who review. :)  
Sorry for making people wait, life took over. This is the first part of chapter 5, I was meant to post it all today but just realised about an hour ago I made a massive mistake in the second bit so I'm fixing that, but until then there's this. I hope you enjoy. :)

Part 1 of chapter 5:  
Planting Seeds

"This is Captain Bialar Crais." The holographic image stated. "If you are watching this then you are to be trusted with full details of whatever events have lead to my absence. Talyn will only show this to those he trusts. He will shortly begin to show you surveillance of events in his past; hopefully this will help to explain what happens later." The flickering image blinked out and another image came up, it was a clear camera view of Talyn's command.

"You're mother is gone now Talyn, Aeryn Sun is gone. This our path. Peacekeepers do not have relationships of the sort you are beginning to have. They are dangerous Talyn, they distract you. If you wish to become the most brave and strongest gunship amongst the stars you will rid yourself of your weaker emotions. Love has no place in battle. "Crais stood in command as Talyn recovered from his first starburst, his mind reeling with the loss of his mother and his friend Aeryn Sun.

It had seemed right at the time, his captain had told him that the only way he could protect his mother was by leaving. He had agreed hesitantly, and then the notion of adventure entered his mind. Crais had said he would train him and teach him to fight. The mere thought of soaring through open space, guns blazing, excited him. His choice had been made and he had clumsily leapt into his first starburst.

Emerging from it, he had felt drunk from the adrenalin rushing through his massive veins. He felt a moment of weakness and he worried he would faint, but it passed as his body began to resume its normal pace. When the danger was over and he had calmed the consequences of his actions had hit him like an asteroid.

He was alone now with his captain. He had willingly left his mother again, after she had abandoned him the first time. That thought still managed to fill his mind with thoughts of desolation and immense sadness. His mother had abandoned him when he was just newly born so that she could save herself and her crew. Sure, he had been the one to run from her first, but he hadn't really expected her to leave him. Afterwards when they were reunited he was less sure of their bond, and wanted to selfishly hold onto whatever he could, that eventually turned out to be Crais, the only being that had been with him nearly from the start and had never had any second thoughts about staying with him. A fellow outcast. His mother had been saddened when he had chosen his captain and his life away from her, and in his mind, he was sorry for that, but another part of him equally thought it served her right forever leaving him. So in a fit of emotion he had listened to the words Crais had spoken, hearing calm and command in his fatherly tones. Not once did he pause to think that once he starbursted away he would not be able to go back. Only when he had finally paused to think after his mad dash did he realise what he had done.

Perhaps his captain was right, he was partly a peacekeeper vessel, and there was no room for affection and compassion within him. If he wished to protect those he held close in his mind, he would have to forget those affections and train and become the ultimate warrior.

The notion pleased him somewhat, though there still strummed the thought that he wanted his mother back, he wanted to be at her side in safety as his still developing databanks told him was the way of normal baby leviathans. But then there was that, normal. Talyn knew he would never be able to apply that word to himself; he still remembered sensing his mother's shock and near fear when he had first flown free of her body. He had only Crais now, the only one amongst the creatures he had met so far that had accepted him in his entirety. Remembering his sole crewmember he tuned back into Crais as he continued talking, probably trying to ease Talyn's mind. He spoke aloud, neither yet used to sharing thoughts through the neural transponder.

"I had a mother and a father once, but I was taken from them. I missed them, but I had my brother, I had my life. Foolishly, I held onto Tauvo and he to I. It worked in our favour for cycles, I was able to protect him from the deadly routine of common soldiers and he held me together and kept me sane in times when I would otherwise have been irrational. I never thought he could die, he was my brother and I would not let that happen. However, it was not in my control whether he lived or died. Family ties will lead you to your downfall Talyn; I was unable to handle my brother's death and it lead to my fall from the peacekeepers. I realise now how foolish I was in holding onto him, better we were separated upon conscription than allowed to continue together. I learnt from that and now I pass that knowledge to you so you may never know such emotional pain. The peacekeepers may be wrong on some counts, but on that they are infallibly correct, emotions weaken the mind and cause nothing but harm." Crais was absentmindedly stroking one of Talyn's walls as he lamented his misfortunes. His eyes had taken on a wistful look and Talyn was doubtful as to whether Crais even remembered he was speaking allowed.

Hoping to remind him of his presence Talyn beeped an acknowledgement, though truly his attention was straying as he widened out his senses, testing every new object he came across. Everything he was seeing was new to him, and he wanted to fly out and examine everything. He felt a bundle of energy within him and wished nothing more than to test his speed and gambol around through space. Glancing at Crais, he wondered if he would notice if he slightly raised his speed.

After a few moments of silence, Crais had run out of conversation, he tilted his head to one side, as if contemplating an unknown feeling within himself. Eyebrows furrowing he straightened and focussed his thoughts on Talyn, testing the neural device. 'Cease this frivolity Talyn; you must learn to control you're baser instincts. The best peacekeeper is the one who is in control at all times. You are to do nothing without my bidding.' He chided.

Talyn recoiled slightly at the order that was sent over his brainwaves. He immediately ceased his acceleration and returned to normal speeds, his mind refusing to consider ignoring his captain's command, only thinking sadly of the missed oppurtunity. Yet another failing of not being a pure leviathan. Surely if he were, he would be free of control and let flit around as he pleased. Sighing he concentrated on maintaining his speed and systems.

"Good, Talyn." Crais remarked aloud. "Perhaps we can make a peacekeeper of you yet."

Some monens later (Before OOTM)

'Yes Talyn, that's right. Now on my command fire upon the asteroid to your hammond and behind you.' Crais direct over their link. Talyn swiftly began preparing for the manoeuvre, as he had numerous times before. He had long since perfected it but Crais was persistent that he continue it, as if that would change his current efficiency at employing the motions.

Since leaving Moya, they had sailed through space together, Crais imparting whatever knowledge he felt it was essential for Talyn to know. He learned PK commands, battle formations, the different types of ship in their command and all the statistics that went with them. Gradually he was building up more and more essential information in his databanks.

Slowly over time as Talyn got over his need to please Crais constantly and Crais got over his desire to command and control Talyn as if he were a soldier, they began to form a companionable relationship. Talyn still occasional lost control over his instincts and Crais still urged him to ignore them and became angered when he didn't, but in calm moments they were able to sail through space in amiable silence, both of them enjoying the freedom given by the great expanse of empty space in which they found themselves. Crais would occasionally impart stories of his childhood, or reflect on his brother's life, and Talyn would pretend that he was interested, though in truth he hardly ever was able to understand what it was Crais was talking about, the concepts of planet bound and family being too foreign for his lone space faring existence.

Recently Crais had begun teaching Talyn tactical movements and allowed him to use his canon for the first time. That first command to fire had nearly sent Talyn into a frenzy; he had waited so long and patiently for the command to arrive. He had blasted full strength to test his guns and after blasting asteroids until near exhaustion, he decided that he loved the feeling of power and destruction he was capable of. He knew then that he was to be a mighty vessel worthy of recognition.

Crais recognised Talyn's frenzied battle lust however and he had spent much time in between practise talking to Talyn and lecturing him on obedience and the proper use of guns, something which Talyn listened to only half attentively. Crais decided the best course of action was to train him to grow accustomed to firing, but it was showing no signs of working, Talyn still jumped at every chance to become a predator and Crais was finding it increasingly difficult to assert his control and to let his voice be heard over the pounding exhilaration rushing through Talyn as he proved his capabilities.

To try to stop Talyn from simply blasting everything in sight, Crais set up obstacle courses of sorts, commanding Talyn to run through a variety of manoeuvres before allowing him to fire. It was like a delicate ballet of eloquence and brutality.

With regards their training, Crais was pleased with their progress so far, and in rare moments of affection let Talyn know it. In return, he would feel a warmth surge through him as Talyn literally glowed with delight over Crais' acknowledgment of his abilities.

"Alright, now Talyn, swing back and use the Surlka 5 pattern as I instructed you, then fire."

Talyn swung around smoothly, dipping his hull down swiftly he darted downwards until he was flying underneath the asteroid. Spinning in a graceful corkscrew, he fired three precise shots effortlessly each time his canon sighted the asteroid. Continuing until he was past it, he turned around to witness his own work. Crais noted with a quiet appraisal that Talyn had struck the asteroid in its weaker spots and now it was crumbling to dust in front of his eyes.

It took the large asteroid a number of seconds to stop billowing small clouds of dust and begin to drift apart, once the space out Talyn's view portal was clear again, Talyn and Crais both peered through the debris field at a ship that was now hanging menacingly within their sights. Talyn felt a brief moment of shock before his adrenalin kicked in, nearly overpowering Crais.

'Weapons!' Talyn thought at Crais, with alarm and hunger for action battling for supremacy.

'Calm yourself Talyn, open communications with the ship.'

Talyn obliged, grudgingly, but continued to focus on the strange new ship sensing its weapons range and armourment. He focused suspiciously on its guns, paying only half attention to Crais at his attempts to appease them.

"I am Captain Crais. We travel in peace and we wish you safe passage." Crais stated, standing tall and proud gazing steadily into the viewscreen.

In the background, Talyn roared in shock and anger as he sensed the enemy charging their weapons to fire. He automatically blared an alarm into command and Crais looked over at a console quickly.

"Halos-1! My ships' defence mechanisms have been activated. We sense your weapons have charged! Stand down! I repeat, we travel in peace!"

The ship fired a blast of pulse energy towards Talyn and struck him side on. Talyn grunted in pain at this first blow and Crais winced as he felt it through their bond. Before Crais could speak again Talyn primed his weapons. Just as he was about to fire, Crais yelled "Talyn! Prime guns for retaliation! Fire now! "

Gleefully Talyn obliged. In that moment Crais felt a twinge of apprehension, Talyn had primed his weapons before he had spoken. Not for the first time did he realise that Talyn was beginning to become slightly unpredictable in his actions. He presumed the cause to be in his beginnings; he had been exposed to emotions too early and refused to leave them behind. Occasionally they would override his mind and drive him into action, even if Crais stated otherwise.

The Halosian ship was crippled by Talyn's retaliation, and Crais would allow no time for them to recuperate. Conjuring all his strength, he managed to break through Talyn's mind and command him to starburst. By some miracle, Talyn listened to his command and they were able to run to safety once more.

Frowning he began thinking of all the ways he knew that might be able to save Talyn from himself. He knew that Talyn's raging emotions would have a negative impact, if not now then later. He was too paranoid and defiant. He distrusted every foreign ship and person, and Crais knew it was partly to do with his breeding and the fact that Crais had removed him from his mother's side. He also knew that he was not free from Talyn's paranoia, occasionally he could sense a moment of unease run through Talyn when he disagreed with him in some way or other. He was beginning to regret trying to force Talyn into being a cold being as he had from the beginning, telling him to deny all emotions that did not equal strength in peacekeeper minds. Trying to change the way he thought was having adverse effects, he seemed unable to decide which way was the way he wanted to be. Occasionally there would be days where he was ruled by cool peacekeeper logic, but then all of a sudden he would transform in a sulking child, and just as swiftly a raging beast.

Confusing the ship from such a young age had possibly tainted him for life. Crais knew, from their intimate contact, that Talyn struggled with his fear of the unknown and his paranoia by entering into every new situation with aggression. He also knew that Talyn refused to trust anything lest it leave him or hurt him in some way. Crais had told him in the beginning that it was his mother who opted to leave him behind in the first place, and that abandonment had stuck to his mind like adhesive.

Crais could only hope he could save Talyn from his mind in time, and hope that Talyn would forgive him for leading him astray as he had. He had served Talyn well in a lot of aspects, teaching him as he had been taught, but he knew now that Talyn was too vastly different from anything he knew to comprehend such methods, and frustratingly seemed to purposefully ignore his instruction when he tried to be the authoritive peacekeeper. He had never had to deal with children, and now he was stranded on an oversized and dangerous leviathan youth.

Sighing he walked to his newly built quarters. In a bid to please, Talyn had hastily constructed a captain's room, ignoring other rooms and functions that needed attending to until he had made his captain comfortable. Wearily Crais lay on his bed and closed his eyes, dreaming peacefully of stars and flying as his young ship soared onwards, pleased over the outcome over his first battle, unaware of the turmoil of thoughts in his captain's mind.

Weekens later (before tUT)

Aggressively pushing into Crais' mind Talyn screamed with fury as he was forced to hide behind a gas planet as a number of Scorvian vessels flew by, heading into Luxan territory. Crais gasped out in pain and held his head as Talyn's fury raged through him. Panting for breath, he shouted through the barrage.

"Talyn, please! You don't know what it is you are doing! You are not strong enough to fight them!"

Talyn relented slightly, releasing Crais from his painful hold, but continued to rumble aggressively through his walls.

They had been flying to a nearby planet in order for Crais to buy supplies and data when they had spotted the Scorvians. Talyn had immediately gone on the defensive, but Crais had managed to convince him to hide behind a gas planet for his own protection. Talyn had thought he meant that these creatures might report him to high command and have him captured, but when he queried Crais as to who and what they were, Crais had informed him they were enemies of the peacekeepers and their allies, and were allies with Scarrans. Talyn had immediately bellowed in anger, he was no coward!

He tried to rush forward to face them, but Crais had held him back with all his strength, commanding him and telling him he would die if he allowed himself to be seen. Angrily Talyn had powered down his engines and lurked like prey behind the gas giant.

When they finally flew by and had all but disappeared, Crais allowed him to emerge. Immediately his bottled up rage unleashed itself, Talyn knew not from where it came, all he knew was that it had to be sated. He sensed around quickly. Spotting a scout vessel belonging to the long gone Scorvians he raced after it, ignoring Crais. Priming his weapons it took him mere microts to totally obliterate it, leaving nothing but splinters of metal flying around in vacuum.

Crais stood in command in shock at this adolescent brutality. He had known that in recent weekens Talyn was becoming more prone to violence. He had his suspicions as to why but couldn't be sure. He thought it had to do with his age, at this time in a leviathans development it was safe and being nurtured by its mother. Add to that the fact that Talyn could read Crais' every thought and emotion, the young ship was suffering from severe mental problems. Crais deduced that he would have to contact someone who had the ability to remove Talyn's guns. He realised they would need some method of defence but decided they would be better with something non-lethal. At least until Talyn matured. Pondering this he checked Talyn's stored maps for anywhere or anything that would be able to assist him. Striking upon a Plokavian vessel he quickly opened communications and asked for their assistance.

He made an agreement with the creatures quickly, and then searched out Moya, knowing that he would need all the help he could get to convince Talyn to give up his weapons.

Monens later (after DMD)

Crais walked into the room, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously, and eyes looking over the different consoles. His free hand absently adjusted some readings and speeds, but it was obvious he wasn't paying attention to his actions. His brow was furrowed in a frown and his eyes shone with a deep sorrow.

"No Talyn, we cannot turn back. There is nothing for us there. Officer Sun is dead; we must leave them to their lives and move on with ours, to avenge her, to avenge my brother and to earn your freedom."

Talyn began chirping angrily, Crais' hands went to the navigation console and sweat began to appear on his face as he concentrated on fighting Talyn and maintaining their course.

"No Talyn! It was not John Crichton's fault, he was controlled by Scorpius, and it is he who we must now consider. Come now Talyn, you know that we put your mother in great danger if we fly by her side. You must learn patience, we will see her again."

Talyn let out a few more sullen beeps and stopped resisting Crais.

"Thank you Talyn, now let us fly further into this system, Scorpius' carrier passed through here not long ago. Stay off their sensors, learn what you can. I shall be in my quarters looking over the data we have."

Crais walked off command quietly, comforting Talyn with his mind instead of words, which were so easily misinterpreted by the young leviathan. For the moment, Talyn was content to seek out Scorpius, aiming his blame over Aeryn Sun's death at the reptilian abomination.

Crais wearily concentrated on looking at all the data he had on Scorpius and his carrier, blocking out for the moment the constant stream that was Talyn's thoughts and systems. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he tried to come up with some sort of plan of vengeance.

Talyn flew sure and steady along Scorpius' trajectory. Not long after he had destroyed what they believed to be Scorpius marauder they had seen another emerging from the planet in the direction of the carrier, as they had been drawing it away from the defenceless Moya.

Talyn was a lot calmer than he had been in previous monens. The death of his friend Aeryn Sun was still in his mind but he understood loss and understood that the peacekeeper views of such eventualities was correct. He still wish to avenge her however, and finally having a mission after so long of simply soaring through space avoiding conflict was filling him with a strong sense of purpose.

The thought entered his mind that it was wrong what he was doing, chasing his own creators in a bid to destroy them, but he reasoned that he was only trying to destroy a parasite in their midst's, that parasite being Scorpius. Talyn wondered how such a creation had ever been allowed into their ranks. He had no fault with hybrids, he was one himself, but he at least had been created with the purpose of being a peacekeeper. Scorpius was a Scarran that was unwanted by his own kind. He had chosen the peacekeepers.

Musing these thoughts, he continued on through space after his enemy, all the while keeping a wary eye on Crais. Ever since Crais had tried to have his weapons removed Talyn had become a little more untrusting of him. A peacekeeper was never to be without their weapon; Crais constantly spoke of peacekeeper regulations and explained how each had a true purpose. How then could he ignore one of the most important rules and try to take Talyn's weapon from him? The thought worried him. Perhaps Crais had been contaminated somehow, had lost sight of what was true and important. Talyn knew that they were rogues, not really peacekeepers, but he had been brought up with their influence and clung tightly to peacekeeper doctrine, and was encouraged to do so by Crais who claimed it to be superior.

Moreover, he knew that Crais lied to him, but was probably unaware of it. He seemed to forget that they were both connected to each other's minds. Crais spoke of forgiveness for this man, John Crichton, but in his mind, Crais was condemning him to numerous tortures and deaths. Even now after over a cycle away from the peacekeepers, and after proclaiming time and time again they were not peacekeepers he still in his mind, when he had a quiet moment, dreamt of his days in command, dreamt of the day when he would be reinstated and have thousands of soldiers to command once more. Talyn had stopped sharing all of his thoughts with Crais; he had begun to store away all negative thoughts for his own private perusal, and becoming more reserved around Crais.

Turning his mind away from his thoughts for a moment, he adjusted their course slightly, entering into the fading slipstream of the command carrier. It was only when they were flying this new course that a transmission started to come through on a highly secure channel. Instead of bothering Crais with what could possibly be nothing Talyn decided to listen for himself and decide then whether it was worth time. He felt pleased with this small amount of control he had over his captain. Quickly he decoded the channel and discreetly brought up the transmission on an internal view screen.

An image of a middle-aged woman appeared on the screen, the left side of her face was heavily scarred and she wore authority and intimidation like the skin on her bones. She stared coldly into the lens and seemed to stare into Talyn's very soul, something he hadn't thought he had until this woman pierced through it. Realising she was aware of his view he stalled, unsure of what to do Talyn kept watching the video, waiting for some sort of communication. When, after a few microns, the woman didn't say anything Talyn cautiously sent a small transmission back, though without speech it just sounded like a distortion on the speakers and camera. When the screen flickered on the peacekeeper's side, she looked suprised for a moment, looking behind her to perhaps confirm something with her team. Looking back into the camera her mouth twisted into a small smile, Talyn was instantly hit with a memory of another such smile, but he couldn't remember exactly where from as he was too mesmerised by the dead eyes that told the truth of the smile. Talyn shivered involuntarily, sending another wave of static over the signal. The woman's smile got wider before she cut the transmission and Talyn was left flying alone through the darkness, a sense of apprehension running through his body.


	6. Part 2: Crop Failure

Here's the 2nd part of the chapter5. Hope you like.

Chapter5Part2:  
Crop Failure.

"Ma'am that was definitely a communication from the ship." Reported second lieutenant Hoxx.

Senior Officer Sun glanced behind her briefly to look at Hoxx, momentary surprise written on her face before her usual mask fell back into place. Looking back towards the camera lens, she allowed herself a small but victorious smile. They hadn't been sure when their transmission had been picked up that it had been picked up by any form of intelligent life, but now that they knew the static was caused by the ship itself Xhalax could taste a successful mission already. She quickly shut the transmission and turned back to her crew.

"Lt. Larell, I understand you worked with the renegade Crais on this hybrid ship?" She asked, staring intently at the woman before her. She was pleased to see her blanche slightly under her gaze.

"Yes sir, though it was some time ago. I know enough of the ships systems to shut him down if we can get on board."

"Good. Go with Hoxx and gather whatever you require from the stores," She paused as both soldiers saluted and moved rapidly to do her bidding, before turning on the young officer piloting the ship, "Officer Lunak, with your understanding of the mission what would you have us do?" She queried.

Staring at her in a frightened manner, he tried to come up with an answer to please her, "I would send over our attack squad and subdue the ship, then force our way on board to capture the traitor Crais and ready the ship for transport, sir." His eyes clearly showed his desire to be right, and Xhalax allowed herself a silent moment of amusement at how much this crew feared her, even when they barely knew her except from rumour.

"That would be correct under ordinary circumstance officer," the young officers face relaxed and his chest puffed slightly with pride, "but, " she continued, "this is no ordinary circumstance."

The young officer's face sank and he waited for some form of punishment for his incorrect assumption, but instead Xhalax continued talking.

"This ship in leviathan cycles is a mere pup, and as all know from the Dromsian species, the young are always open to subversion. We will win his loyalty and take him over with his own assent."

Turning nervously to look back out the view portal the young officer swallowed at the calm austerity of his commanding officer. This was only his first mission as a pilot, and he was now wondering how he landed such a remarkably high and important mission. His only hope was to not make any mistakes and to perhaps stand out and earn recognition from those around him. After all, he didn't want to be a retrieval transport pilot for life. Gripping the controls tightly he concentrated on the mission, following each new order as it came in.

Xhalax walked around the command deck in front of the officer, ignoring him for the most part as she ran over her faultless plan in her mind. When she decided she was sufficiently ready she walked back over to the communications array to initiate contact with the leviathan again.

"Rogue peacekeeper vessel, my name is senior officer Xhalax Sun; I have been ordered to capture you be any means possible and return you to peacekeeper space where you will be reinstated into the ranks."

Almost immediately, static ran furiously over the transmission. Xhalax smiled to herself again before continuing.

"I know that you believe we will harm you, but know we only wish to have you back where you belong. You were born a peacekeeper and always will be one. Your captain has simply tried to mislead you into thinking we are the enemy, yet he is the very man who brought about your creation. We do not wish to hurt you, ship. We only wish to remind you who you are. You are not an outcast; you are the most advanced and important soldier and weapon the peacekeepers have to date in their arsenal." She paused again for affect, the static reply of the ship was more subdued this time, and she suspected she was holding the interest of the young ship. Just then, a small holo-vid appeared before her, and she knew it as a peace offering when an image of Crais appeared, looking up at the carapace above him and uttered 'Talyn'. Xhalax was mildly suprised at the swiftness at which she seemed to be winning the friendship of this beast, having believed it to take much longer than it did.

"Talyn? Well, Talyn, I give you my word as a peacekeeper that you will not be harmed." She said. Talyn sent back a series of beeps back to her, but then resent an image of Crais standing in command. "If it is your wish, Talyn, Crais will not be harmed also, but we will need to take him into our custody until such time as he can be reinstated with full honours to his rank. I'm sure that he must dream of such a thing?" Talyn chirped back softly again and took down Crais' image. Xhalax realised then that the bond between captain and ship was quite deep, though not deep enough that the young leviathan thought to inform his captain of their conversation. Grinning slyly to herself, she spoke the last of her speech.

"Talyn, I believe you knew my daughter, Aeryn Sun. I have heard of her death and I am aggrieved over this. She was a good peacekeeper; she never strayed from her duty even when Crais had her removed from her peacekeeper heritage. In her memory, I would like to show you all that she was shown as a young cadet. Please, Talyn, let us onboard, let us take you home."

Just ahead of her ship, she saw the outer doors on Talyn's body open to allow her ships to fly through. Turning she nodded at the awestricken officer, and he began to manoeuvre their craft towards the opening.

Sitting in his room Crais sat with his head in his hands. He couldn't remember a time when he had been more bone weary than he was now. He was supposed to be helping Talyn gather as much information as he could on Scorpius and his carrier but he kept finding himself thinking back to all the important events in his life, and the tragedy of his friends death mere arns ago.

His downfall had started from the very moment his father had bade him look after his young brother. For cycles, his prerogative was to get high enough into command to where he could keep his brother safe and close by his side. In the beginning it was a comfort to have Tauvo there with him, he was one of the best of his soldiers and was always someone to whom he could confide. As the cycles wore on however, Crais ambition slowly started to take over his mind, he thought less and less about rising to protect and more about rising to dominate. It was only when his brother was killed that his carefully constructed world had started to fall apart. Suddenly power and perfection didn't seem important anymore. Suddenly he wished he had kept to his original intentions and kept his brother with him, but as Crichton infuriatingly said once 'you never have what you want until it's gone' or some other such nonsense that he took to mean not realising what was important until it wasn't there any longer.

That was the first crack in his shielding, the arrival of the human. However, that was only the beginning. For nearly a cycle, he strove manically for vengeance, but when he finally had it within his grasp it no longer seemed like the most important thing in the world. He could have had his revenge, no doubt about that. He could have killed Crichton and joined his brother when the Moyans killed him in return. Yet he hadn't. Instead, he had found Talyn. Young and bewildered, terrified of the vicious new universe around him. Crais had seen something to protect, something to atone for losing sight of his promises. And in him, Talyn had found a teacher and guide. He still harboured raging emotions over his brother's death, and too he sometimes wished death on the human for his part in that, but from the moment he had stepped on board Talyn he had felt the possibilities, he had seen the future with a single step.

He had noticed Talyn's withdrawal from him over recent events, namely the encounter with the Plokavians, and that hurt some part of his mind he hadn't known he had. He knew it would take a long time before Talyn completely opened to him again, but he believed the day would come. At the moment however, Talyn was still in confusion over Aeryn's recent death. Crais could feel through there link that the peacekeeper part of Talyn was reminding him that death was normal, but the more emotive side, the side Crais had foolishly tried to repress, was screaming like a lost child in Talyn's mind.

The death of Aeryn Sun had affected them both. To Talyn she was a friend, possibly the first and only person he ever learnt to completely trust. She held a sort of maternal power over him and without her, though her presence in his life was fleeting, Talyn felt confused and lost. Crais had learnt to respect the soldier over their few but significant encounters. Though he was the one to have her ousted, and she was the one to have him tortured, they had somehow managed to come to a neutral ground. She had never fully learnt to trust him, but he believed there had been a mutual respect between them, and perhaps something more. It was painfully obvious that Aeryn had eyes only for Crichton, and from the way he stared at her she was the only one he saw also, but a man can dream, and sometimes when Crais dreamed his faceless fantasies bore her smile.

When she had plummeted to her death and he had heard her calling over the comms a part of him had held its breath for some miracle that had not come. That part of him was still holding its breath and he was beginning to think he would never have that breath again. Her death shouldn't have affected him so, but it had. The doubling of emotions he received from Talyn possibly caused it. Combined they both felt her loss and wished nothing more than to act on her killer, not the human who physically if not mentally did the act, but the monster who had put that demon of his likeness into Crichton's mind.

So now, he was sitting here trying to speed up their vengeance through planning, but instead sat reminiscing. Sighing, Crais stood up and poured himself a raslak. His bones and muscles were tired and his brain was barely functioning, but he knew he couldn't sleep. There was an incessant buzzing in his mind that he knew to be Talyn as he went about his normal functions. It had become louder over the past few microts, and Crais took that to mean Talyn was becoming tired also.

Thinking it would perhaps be best to rest for an arn or two Crais collapsed onto his bed, arm placed over his eyes to block the blaring lights.

'Talyn I shall be taking a rest for an arn, please keep us on course and inform me the moment you find anything' he thought, before closing his eyes and losing himself to the buzz between his ears.

Almost as soon as his mind shut down, Talyn shifted slightly. Too small a move for Crais to notice, but large enough that he should have sensed it through their link, had Talyn not been blocking it. When the soldiers came for him he was still sleeping soundly, and woke with shock to the face of someone he long thought dead.

Talyn was pleased with his decision-making. He knew that Crais would never agree to return to peacekeeper territory on his own, thinking they were traitors and enemies to their own people. He trusted this Xhalax Sun, she was Aeryn Sun's mother, and Aeryn Sun was his most trusted friend. This woman said she would teach him about her. She said he would finally be where he belonged; doing what he was bred to do. Talyn had not felt the feeling of acceptance before, it was new to him. It pleased him. He did not think to think further than his own happiness as he opened his hangar doors. He and Crais would be reinstated. Crais would be angry for a time but he would remember that this was what he had dreamt about for so long.

It took Talyn a few moments to remember that they were out to kill Scorpius, another peacekeeper. For a moment, Talyn was unsure of his actions, but then he decided that Xhalax Sun would understand their plight. Perhaps she would help them.

Much cheered after the gloom of the past few days he sent some of his small DRD's to escort the peacekeepers wherever they would wish to go. They had landed in his larger bay, two prowlers and Pantak-class vigilante.

First to step out was a small nervous looking soldier, who cleared the area and was quickly followed by Xhalax herself, whilst the prowler pilots clambered out to join her.

Xhalax looked down at the DRD's circling them all and turned to issue orders.

"Hoxx, Larell, follow these DRD's to command. Kradden, Rallik," She looked towards the two prowler pilots," you're with me. We are to secure captain Crais. Lunak you're on point."

Hoxx and Larell quickly marched out of the room following a pair of eager DRD's whilst the rest checked their weapons and organised themselves. Lunak walked out in front and Talyn looked at him from his DRD perspective, noticing how his eyes were swinging from side to side as he took in the room. Talyn had to wonder why he was being put out front, when the two soldiers in the rear looked more battle hardened and competent, but he supposed they were only after one man. Talyn felt guilty at what he was about to let these peacekeepers do to his captain, but if this was the only chance they had of being welcomed back into peacekeeper society then he would do it willingly. If not for himself then for Crais who more than deserved returning home and Talyn new he dreamed of it constantly and would have returned had it not been for Scorpius. So instead of warning him as he should have done, he allowed Crais to sleep on, unaware of the peacekeepers stalking towards him. He would forgive him, eventually.

Crais sensed movement in his room, even in his slumbering state. He was instantly on edge and sat swiftly up to reach for his gun. When his hand found nothing but an empty surface, he stared out into his room. Three peacekeepers were standing at the bottom of his bed, weapons raised primed and pointed at his head. To his side stood the phantom of a woman he used to know, she was staring at him maliciously and holding his gone lazily in her hand, point vaguely at his head in reflection of her squad's stances.

Confusion raced through Crais' mind. "You're dead!" He stuttered out.

"You thought." She replied coolly. "Merely transferred, it turns out."

"How did you get on board my ship? What have you done to Talyn?"

"Yes I thought that was his name," She continued to stare at him with her deadened eyes, her words barely having an impact on her face as they passed her mouth, "I wasn't sure of course. What a strange coincidence, your ship bearing the name of my long dead lover. And your ship is perfectly fine, captain, I assure you. I'm having lieutenant Larell look at him now."

"Larell? Larell is on board?" Crais' mind continued to spin in this new situation. How had they gotten on board? Why hadn't Talyn warned him? Had they hurt him?

"It's of little consequence to you, but yes. And as for how we came on board, your ship kindly opened the doors so it was quite simple. He's quite an obedient little vessel, you've reared him well. We are here to escort you to a cell that Talyn has prepared near command, so if you would follow officer Rallik here," She gestured towards the female officer standing closest to the door, "we can be on our way. Don't try to resist, we do not wish to kill you."

Before he could utter a reply, one of the male soldiers came over and hoisted him off the bed by hooking his burly arms underneath Crais' shoulders. The smaller of the male officers tracked his movements with his rifle, and Crais was unceremoniously marched out of his room and down the corridor to a small cell. He was thrown in and the door cycled locked instantly, a small camera blinking red hung in the corner. Job done the soldiers all moved off, Xhalax giving him a small snide smile as she moved with them.

In shock over how quickly this occupation had occurred, Crais sat down on a small bench and began thinking up plans of escape. Though without Crichton, he thought wryly, he would need a miracle of sorts.

"Lieutenant, your report." Xhalax walked briskly into command, followed by her soldiers. Larell was lying on her back in command, head and arms inside an opened console. On hearing Xhalax, she slid out and stood to attention.

"Sir, I believe the only way to shut the leviathan down without a negative effect upon waking is to initiate a full shutdown. We will have to fully reboot his systems before we awaken him, wipe his memory and install a new mindset. From what information I have gathered on his life thus far he is quite unpredictable and prone to rash decision making." Eyes pointed to the roof of command and hands straightened by her sides, there was no telling that Larell was being affected in anyway by the presence of her former lover and by the deliberate destruction of a creature she helped to create. A few solar days in the Aurora chair had that effect, Xhalax mused.

"Excellent, you will begin shutting him down immediately. I presume he was not privy to our conversation?"

"No sir, I initiated privacy settings when I stepped in. I did not think he would take well to this news." Put in Hoxx, stepping forward from behind a console where he had been standing guarding over Larell as she did her tech work.

"Good. Well carry on, I want to go talk to our prisoner, see if there's any reason to keep him alive."

"Yes sir!" They replied in unison, and once more they were left in command as Xhalax moved out. At the door she told her to prowler pilots to search the ship for anything worth keeping, before continuing on with Lunak who at this point was completely bewildered as to how he had ended up being the mission leaders apparent second.

Once gone Hoxx stopped his act of idle boredom and started peering around Talyn's command once more.

"So you actually helped create this?" He inquired.

Larell looked up briefly with a questioning look; it was odd for a soldier to take any interest in tech affairs.

"Yes, though Crais was the main person behind it. He was leader of the project, I was his second. Together with the best minds his carrier had to offer we came up with this ship. Truly we weren't sure it would work, our previous attempts had failed and we thought this one had too, but here we are."

"Yes, here we are indeed. You knew Crais well then?"

Larell stared at him suspiciously.

"Well enough yes, well enough to learn everything I could about this beast."

"I see. Well, carry on, don't let me distract you."

Lunak marched swiftly in Xhalax' shadow. His mind was nearly collapsing under the barrage of thoughts that were now assailing it. He was personally guarding the mission leader. In training, he had been told that pilots such as he would normally stay with the ships, secure them and keep them ready for a quick exit. Yet here he was, guarding their most important crewmember. He had obviously made an impression. The fact that he couldn't remember having done anything particularly astonishing didn't bother him. You didn't have to do something spectacular to be great. Just look at sub-officer Dacon, he just did his duty and that made him a hero.

Puffing out his chest more and straightening his back until he almost felt pain at the stiffness of his body he marched proudly behind senior officer Sun. She was an interesting one. Not many people had ever seen her, but they all knew her supposed exploits. She had all but disappeared from normal peacekeeper life cycles ago, long before he first heard the stories, and most believed she had been killed for some act of insubordination. But since her supposed demise, stories had occasionally surfaced. A captain or a commandant would go missing, and it was said that Xhalax Sun had paid them a visit. Rulers on far off worlds would be found dead mysteriously, and servants would mention a dark haired phantom in the shape of a woman they had seen ghosting the halls. When Lunak had been called for his mission he hadn't even been told her name until he was sitting in the pilot's seat. Now that he knew her, he knew why high command wanted her kept secret. It was just her horrific scars, but her haunted eyes and her unnerving efficiency. It had only taken Lunak a couple of days to realise that she was more secret than a PK ghost, more deadly than a disruptor. She was an assassin, and one without a soul.

Shivering slightly he watched her as she strode fluidly through the corridors of the great leviathan beast. She never made a sound, and never spoke unless it was required. Every conversation she entered had a meaning, even if the parties involved didn't know it.

They arrived at the prisoner's cell. Lunak sneered to himself to see his former captain so disgraced. What had possessed him to go rogue? It was perverse; it went against the very laws and nature of what made a person sebacean, let alone a peacekeeper.

"Captain Crais." Stated Xhalax in a bored tone.

Crais looked up from the bench where he was sitting with irritated eyes. "Xhalax."

"Senior officer, if you don't mind."

"Got yourself a promotion Xhalax? I didn't know the dead cared for such things."

The only sign Xhalax gave of hearing him was a slight intake of breath, hardly noticeable. If Lunak had not been staring at her back, he would not have noticed her shoulders rising a dench higher than normal.

"I just came to inform you, Crais, that we are shutting down your ship. I've been trying to think of ways you can serve our interests so I don't have to kill you, I made a promise to this ship after all, but I find myself seeing no reason to not just shoot you know."

As she spoke, Crais stood and rushed to the bars. Staring through with wild eyes Lunak was shocked to see his old captains face so clearly. He looked tired. Tired and worried. Well he should be, thought Lunak.

"You're shutting down Talyn? You can't, you will kill him!" he growled indignantly through the bars.

"Yes, well I saw no reason to keep him as he was. He serves no purpose if he were to stay this way; he's too emotional and bonded too well with you. Also, I would like you to remove the neural transponder."

"You will not harm my ship! And I will give you nothing!" Crais roared.

"Wrong and wrong. Lunak, please subdue the good captain and remove the device on his neck."

Lunak stood forward quickly, eager to prove that he was second material. In one move, he opened the cell door, stepped in, and knocked Crais unconscious with the butt of his rifle. Kneeling down he ripped the transponder from Crais' neck, ignoring the spatter of blood as he did so.

Turning to Xhalax he grinned triumphantly, she stared back at him icily as always and his grin faded. Stepping out and relocking the door he stood behind her once more as she moved away.

Crais awoke slowly and groggily. When he opened his eyes he nearly gasped in shock, he could barely see anything. The sounds around him seemed duller somehow and the ground underneath his body had less texture. Lifting his head slowly he sat up and leaned back against the wall. He didn't need to feel the back of his neck to know the link to Talyn was gone. HE knew by his slower thoughts, by the emptiness in his mind, by the loss of his heightened senses. There were a million little things he had not realised his connection had enhanced, but now he felt naked without feeling them all, even if he had no notion what they were. He felt empty.

It took a moment for the complete memory of the last few arns to come back, and when they did, he sat up quickly. Talyn! He thought, before remembering his ship could not hear him. Standing he stumbled to the small camera in his room.

"Talyn, I know you can hear me on this. You are making a mistake, you cannot trust these peacekeepers. They want to shut you down! You must know this! They have taken our connection so we cannot speak, but I know you can hear me. You must let me out of here Talyn; I'm the only one that can save you."

A small DRD rolled outside the door of the cell and looked in. It beeped a couple of times then went silent and simply sat. Crais sighed at what he thought was a failed attempt, and gathered himself to plead once more.

Talyn listened to his captain curiously. It was a shame Crais wouldn't trust these people, but then he wouldn't expect anything less of him. He didn't know what Talyn knew. He would come around.

From what he could sense of command, the peacekeepers were tinkering around on his consoles, possibly repairing faulty wires and the likes. They apparently had some leviathan expert with them, so he was in safe hands now.

He was feeling a bit numb; he couldn't seem to reach into his databanks properly to find information. He supposed this Larell needed to take certain systems offline to fix whatever it was she was fixing. Uncomfortably Talyn shifted his body a bit to try and ease the odd feeling of numbness that was spreading through him. Perhaps she didn't realise what she was doing, she seemed to be shutting down some vital systems.

In a blank confusion, Talyn reached out and tried to reverse her actions. The wires were cut; there was no reversal beyond manually fixing. More and more systems shut down; he felt his mind becoming more tired, his body weaker. In fear, he roared out into command, hoping they would understand they are not helping him. In despair, he saw lieutenant Larell stand and smile, uttering the words 'It's working' to her companions. Crais! Talyn screams, forgetting he's not there to listen. Darkness is closing in on his mind, and he is succumbing to his panic and fear. With the last of his diminished strength, he reached out and unlocked Crais' door, hoping to earn forgiveness in that one last act.

Sighing in his mind, he fell prey to the darkness invading his mind.

"Alright, the ship is shutting down. Each you take a corridor to patrol, ensure that everything is shutting down as it should be. Larell, go to the starburst chamber and start working to disable it. Lunak, with me. I am sending a transmission to Scorpius, I will be sure to commend you all for your parts in this mission." Xhalax stood triumphant in command, gazing at her perfectly trained soldiers. The mention of commendation had created a gleam in each of their eyes. Officer Lunak beside her was comparable to a bloated hynerian, his chest was puffed out so much. He seemed to think he was doing especially well, just because Xhalax asked him to accompany her. In truth, she was mildly disgusted by his nervous demeanour. From the moment he was assigned to her, he had been wide-eyed and anxious. She understood high commands reasons, but truly she wished she had someone more competent that she didn't feel she needed to keep with her at all times lest he trip over his own rifle and shoot himself in the head.

Sighing internally, she gestured for him to walk ahead of her towards their ships. He glanced smugly at his fellows and marched out of command, rifle at the ready for any unseen foe.

The others in command smirked to themselves, they had worked long enough with Xhalax to know how she viewed them, and they found it amusing that a soldier that was barely out of his childhood should think he was so important. Slowly they began to move out of command, each picking a tier and striding purposefully down it, checking lights and control panels and door movements to make sure the you ship was indeed shutting down.

Crais crept quietly through the dimming ship. He was happy that Talyn finally saw the truth and had released him from his cell; he just wished he had done it earlier before he had succumbed to their meddling with his systems.

Crais was angry with himself for letting this happen; he should have spoken to Talyn of such an event. He should have tried to make him open up again after trust had been lost, perhaps then Talyn wouldn't have found comfort in an enemy presence. He knew that Talyn as a youngling was slightly more gullible than a fully mature ship would be, but he was suprised that it had taken less than an arn for Talyn to forsake his captain and all these soldiers onboard.

He was almost at command and he had yet to meet any soldiers. Perhaps a piece of luck had finally found its way to him. He shook his mind of such thoughts; luck was for those who were used to being the downtrodden.

All was quiet in command. The odd spark flashed from newly cut wires, but for the most part silence reined eerily. Stepping quietly inside with no weapon bar his fists Crais made his way over to one of the still performing consoles. Environment and temperature could be altered here, though no amount of wire pulling would destroy it as it was mainly controlled by Talyn himself. Wondering what to do Crais looked sadly around the small command at all the destroyed consoles. It would take a lot of time and some careful splicing to fix all of them.

He needed to get the peacekeepers off his ship, but had no weapon or army to assist. In that moment, he remembered questioning a young and confident lieutenant after an aborted mission to recapture Moya back when he himself was a captain. The lieutenant had claimed, after babbling for arns nonsensically about thousands of Crichton's, yet only one, that the Moyans had managed to beat them by simply raising the temperature. Once it had reached a certain level they had become unable to move, collapsing to pant in a weak attempt to stave off the living death. One of his team had fallen prey to it on their journey back it was only with much fortune that the rest had made it back as they had.

Straightening himself Crais moved his hand purposefully over the temperature control. With a decisive movement, offering no time for second thoughts, he pushed it all the way up. Searing heat poured in through vents in the walls. Crais gasped in pain as the first wave of dry heat hit the back of his throat as he breathed. Knowing his time was limited, he walked over to one of Talyn's vandalised consoles and peered inside. Gathering tools from a workbench to the side he began to slowly put back together some of the more important systems, hopefully reversing the shut down and allowing Talyn to live. Crais knew that he might not have the time available to do all that and then turn the temperature back down before heat delirium set in, but he hoped that before that happened Talyn would be conscious enough to help him.

"Sir... Ship temperature is increasing..." Panted officer Rallik over the comms.

Xhalax halted her transmission; she had sent all that needed to be sent anyway. Inside the vigilante they were running on their own system, so if something were happening aboard Talyn she would not know.

"Officer Rallik, report again."

"The ship sir, the temperature is rising. I'm reading optimum plus eight sir, I checked on Kradden, his level was optimum plus ten, he's already unconscious sir." Came the weak sounding reply.

A temperature rise was not good, Xhalax new. She could think of no reason why the temperature would rise on its own unless it was an effect of the shut down.

"Lieutenant Larell," she called out over her comms, "the two officers have reported an increase in the ships temperature. Explain."

"Yes sir, it's already optimum plus six where I am. It could have been caused by the shut down, though I did not see this happening when I checked for problems."

Xhalax growled quietly to herself, officer Lunak looked up fearfully at her as if expecting her to take her frustration out on him.

"Fine. We shall all evacuate the ship until the temperature returns to normal. How long do you estimate that will take?"

She heard Larell sigh a breath of relief before answering breathily, having evidently already started her retreat, "when the ship is fully shutdown there will be nothing to keep the atmosphere or temperature running, the ship will be a husk. At that point we will have to suit up if we are to return inside."

Officer Lunak was still staring up at his superior, a multitude of thoughts running through his mind. "Sir, what about the prisoner?" He inquired.

Xhalax looked at him for a moment, weighing decisions in her mind. "We can't leave him here, officer I would like you to go retrieve him."

"Me sir?" He asked in shock, earning him and irritated glare from Xhalax, whereupon he stood up smartly and saluted, walking out of the ship and into the cavernous room that was the hangar bay.

Xhalax snorted in amusement, either he would come back with Crais in tow or they would both die. Either one was equally as important to her. High command had no interest in Crais beyond what he could tell them about Crighton and his crew, and she already knew he would have nothing more to say so he was probably better off dead. A traitor, no matter how he ended up one, was a traitor. It was a shame really. She had known the Crais brothers when they were young men, both were eager and attentive soldiers. Their bond for each other sometimes reminded her of her bond with Talyn, you would not see it if you were not looking. They behaved like the perfect soldiers that they were, but if you were to look closely, you would see how Crais always seemed to stand slightly in front of Tauvo, and how Tauvo would look at Crais with such admiration in his eyes that it made others see it in Bialar too. He had been a good captain. But that was all the past, he was a disgrace now and deserved nothing more than a painful death.

Lunak made his way quickly to Crais' cell, beginning to stumble only on the last few steps. He was eager to get Crais and leave for the safety of the cool vigilante. He could only imagine the faces and thoughts of the others as he walked confidently back, dangerous prisoner subservient in front of him. Grinning to himself, he opened the cell.

"Come along Crais, we have to get off this oven." He said into the darkness. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the gloom, and when they did he gasped, then coughed as the heat dried his throat. The cell was empty, Crais was not in it.

Swinging around Lunak started to walk back up the hall. He figured if Crais were on the loose, there would be only one place he would go. His affection for this lumbering beast was pathetic, Lunak knew Crais would be in command trying to patch his dying ship back together.

Lumbering along he tapped his comms, "Sir, the prisoner had escaped, I'm heading to command now." After a few moments there was still no reply, he repeated his sentence and waited again. "Frell." He breathed. The comms weren't working. Probably something to do with the ships shutdown. Damned Larell, she hadn't foreseen any of these problems.

Turning a corner, he came to command. He sighed with relief as another trickle of sweat burned into his eye. Peering carefully in he saw Crais' body lying on the floor, his chest was heaving as his lungs begged for a cool breath of air. Smiling Lunak entered and walked over to him.

"Crais, we're leaving your ship until it dies properly, get up." He kicked him none too gently.

Crais groaned pitifully from the ground, fists clenched with the pain of the heat he had been enduring. Grumbling to him Lunak bent down and grabbed Crais by the arms, heaving until he had him swaying up unsteadily on his feet.

"Come on Crais, we're going to the vigilante."

Crais looked at him in confusion, before a pained expression took over his face. He moaned slightly as he stepped forward clumsily. Together they slowly made their way back to the hangar where the others were waiting. The two prowlers had already escaped the heat, and now only the vigilante remained, sitting menacingly in the bay, engines rumbling slightly as they waited for takeoff.

Grinning proudly Lunak pushed Crais up the steps of the vigilante, Hoxx was just inside and grabbed onto the prisoners arms to hoist him inside. Lunak stumbled the last few steps before collapsing just inside, a stupidly proud grin still etched across his sweat-ridden face.

His mind shut down so quickly that he didn't notice the commotion going on around him, didn't feel the ship enter into space, didn't see Crais slowly unclench his fist and raise a small communications to his face. He didn't hear as Crais spoke into the comm, whispering urgently, "Talyn, you must leave, starburst and don't return. That's an order. Goodbye Talyn." And he certainly didn't feel the dismay of his fellow crewmates as they saw the ominous flicker of red slowly running over Talyn's body as his tail widened to enter starburst.

In the space of time it took for the soldiers to wrestle the already weak Crais to the ground and remove the comm the great leviathan gunship was gone, leaving behind a glittering shimmering red energy in his wake.

Days later Talyn hung in space, miserable and depressed and wishing his death would hurry upon him. As he moaned in pain and cried in sorrow a small malfunctioning prowler appeared on his sensors. Through his confusion and exhaustion, he recognised the prowler. With a small burst of energy, he chirped out a signal to it.

"This is Aeryn Sun, of the leviathan Moya. Who are you and why have you entered my prowler's space?"

Aeryn Sun. Perhaps he had died, and pain was a part of death. Shaking himself out of his depression, he garbled back a reply and waited for her to answer. When she did he felt a new lease of life enter him, energy started to rebuild itself and flow through him, his heart began to pump strongly again.

"Talyn?" She queried. Talyn, he roared back. He was Talyn, alive, she was Aeryn Sun, friend and alive. He was not alone anymore; he wouldn't have to live out his captain's last commands in solitude. Still weak he opened his hangar doors and grabbed her with his docking web, all the while his beleaguered mind sang, Aeryn Sun was alive and he was not alone!

John and Aeryn stood staring at the holo vid long after it finished, neither one of them knowing what to say. Eventually John let out a long low whistle.

"Holy crap. The peacekeepers have Crais. And Aer, that woman, was she your..?"

"Yes Crichton, that woman is my mother. Frell, what are we going to do."

"Nothing?" Crichton asked hopefully.

"You know we can't John, we have to get Crais back." She replied, her eyes not really meeting his as she spoke quietly.

"Do we have to?" Before Aeryn replied, Talyn chirped angrily his thoughts into command. John laughed quietly to himself. "Alright Beluga, we'll get your dad back."

At that, Talyn chirped happily. Crais had commanded him to not return to him, and in truth, he had planned to stick by that command, but now here with Aeryn Sun and the human he felt differently. Besides, Aeryn was the senior officer onboard now, and she wished to go back in and save him. With two conflicting commands, it was up to him to decide which to follow, and he chose Aeryn. He did not want to live out the rest of his life atoning for a crime he could have prevented. They would fly into peacekeeper space and they would get his captain back.


	7. Traitors, Spies and Long Lost Prisoners

Sorry for the delay, for anyone who was waiting. Hope you enjoy this next chapter. :)

Chapter 6:  
Traitors, Spies, and Long Lost Prisoners

John and Aeryn stood silently in command, still in shock over what they had seen on the tape. 'My man Crais,' John thought to himself, 'a hero.' After their initial short conversation, Aeryn had gone back to staring at the now empty space in front of them where the video had been playing. Talyn had gone silent and simply focused on flying whilst leaving his two-man crew to think. John kept glancing up at Aeryn every few microts, trying to build up the courage to speak, but he didn't know how to start. For one they had barely talked since they had been reunited, and for another how does somebody go about bringing up somebody's peacekeeper mom who is now apparently there most dangerous enemy?

Sighing softly to himself, John returned to looking at the floor, hoping for inspiration. He wasn't too sure he wanted to get into a conversation now, he was still extremely tired and he wanted to be sure that he could focus completely on Aeryn. He didn't think she'd be too much of a happy camper if he fell asleep mid conversation.

It had taken him a while to figure out who the hollow eyed peacekeeper woman was, he had had a suspicion that he recognised her from somewhere, and when Aeryn had let out a small startled gasp, he figured she knew her too. It wasn't until he heard her introduce herself as Xhalax that he realised who she was. His eyes had widened and he had looked quickly at Aeryn, who was trying her best to appear nonchalant. He knew though that inside she was probably freaking out. It was her mom for the love of god. He remembered her talking about her, just the once, before they were running off to get themselves killed. For all her calmness, he knew this woman meant a lot to her, and had from the moment she had walked in on her all those years ago when she was a kid. And now this seemingly caring woman who had spoke of love all that time ago was the reason that Crais was missing and Talyn was in such a state. What makes a woman go from love to absolute unemotional coldness? He'd known something bad was bound to happen the moment he heard Crais' voice, but this? This was just typical. There were some Gods watching their life now having the time of their lives throwing everything and anything at them.

If it had been up to John, callous as it may be, he probably would have forgotten Crais, forgotten the peacekeepers and Xhalax and hightailed it out of the space they were in to find some inconsequential part of the galaxy where they could sleep long hours and brew wine until sundown. But of course, it wasn't up to him, they were going to have to fly their crazy suicidal asses into peacekeeper space and concoct some insanely flawed plan to get themselves on the inside and out with minimal damage and an extra passenger. Realistically John knew that no matter who was here, he wouldn't really have run away to make that bottle of Bordeaux, he was too damned compassionate for that. He wasn't a fan of Crais but he couldn't just leave him like this to be eaten by the peacekeeper wolves. Sighing again, he rubbed his eyes and stretched, still searching for that elusive sentence that could start this conversation he and Aeryn needed to have.

Sensing that John was readying himself to say something, Aeryn looked over at him at last, taking in his battle weary and slightly feverish body. The short rest he had had still hadn't been enough to get him recharged.

Sucking in a breath John opened his mouth and allowed his vocal chords free reign to choose whatever sounds they wanted to make.

"You're mom, huh?" Internally he cursed. Damnit brain, all those years in MIT studying with the best and that's what you could come up with? Worriedly he watched Aeryn for her reaction. She seemed a small bit suprised he had started the conversation there, 'hey, so am I' he thought. She shrugged her shoulders imperceptibly and looked down again for an instant.

"Yes John, my mother."

"So that's pretty neat, we could have a family reunion." She looked up at him instantly glaring at him, then her face rid itself of emotions and her mask came down. John stood cursing himself, berating his brain for evidently trying to kill him.

"She's part of a retrieval squad John, I hardly think we'll be pleased when we see her." Aeryn's voice was controlled and unemotional, speaking in the same manner as she would speak of regular maintenance duties on Moya, but with less excitement.

John took a breath this time before talking, hoping to solve his word vomit issues. "Right, you're right. Sorry. You're OK though? I mean, it is your mother, you're not the least bit upset?"

"I'm fine John. Peacekeepers are taught not to have any family bonds. It weakens us."

"Weakens them Aeryn, them. Come on, sure they taught you not to but you cared enough to remember that night."

"We're not talking about it John." Her words had a hint of finality and John sighed.

"Fine, fine, we can talk later. But I do think we need to talk about Crais, what are we gonna do? I mean we can't just go blazing in as we are; I'm no James Bond at the moment. Besides we don't know where they are, where they're headed, we've barely any food and this mustang here is running on dreams at the moment."

"We can plan when you and Talyn are both healthier, but for now Talyn can fly us back to the last coordinates he remembers being with Crais. There are sure to be planets on the way where we can restock and you and I are capable enough of repairing Talyn ourselves." She replied curtly, looking at some point beyond him.

John looked at her worriedly for a moment, a bit put off by her cool demeanour but he shrugged it off, it probably would be best if they all had a rest to calm down and think things through.

"Cool. Just so we're on the same page. I guess we'll talk plan A-Z in the morning, or whatever time it is. For now I'm pretty beat, I think I'll go catch some shut eye." John flashed a small smile at Aeryn, letting her know she was off the hook for talking about important things, for the moment. Her lips twitched slightly in response and they both started walking slowly out of command, Aeryn's hand supporting John as he walked at a slower pace than was normal for him.

* * *

Elsewhere a tired and disgruntled retrieval team flew swiftly towards the looming command carrier. At its helm was Xhalax, who stared out at the immense mechanical structure before her with a mild sense of distaste. She quickly cleared that thought and stared at it emotionlessly, calculating how long it would take for them to be there.

Since being robbed of one of their prizes, their main prize, her crew had taken to working quietly and swiftly, fearing her wrath which was yet to come. Officer Lunak had taken it upon himself to keep a vigilant watch over their prisoner, still walking around the ship with a small smug smile. The others in the crew watched his childish efforts with amusement, and Rallik had even gone so far as to remind him that if he had searched his captive properly they would still have the leviathan, to which he replied with a moody glare and refused to speak with Rallik for the rest of the journey, much to Rallik's relief.

Larell had spent much of her time avoiding the disgraced captain, she was sure he wasn't aware of her presence and she wasn't going to be the one to make him aware of it. She still had fond memories of their time together, and still found it hard to hate him as she should. The events after his defection only went a small way towards making her feel disgust.

Even if she were to want to speak with Crais, she knew now it would be impossible. Not just because he was kept sedated and was weakened by the beatings he received after the ship escaped, but also because Lieutenant Hoxx had started to appear everywhere she went in the ship. She felt uneasy under his predatory stare, and was unsure as to why he seemed intent on ghosting her. At first she thought that perhaps he wished to recreate with her, but as the days wore on he made no advance, just simply being present for whatever duty she had.

Xhalax was aware of all the small things that were affecting her crew, she didn't intervene in them because they were insignificant when compared to the grand scheme of things, but she was aware because she was the epitome of a diligent peacekeeper. So she knew of the crews' amusement over the barely competent Lunak, she knew that he had taken to guarding Crais, probably with the aim of garnering some favours off her, and she was aware of her lieutenant's ghosting of the leviathan expert. She didn't understand why he was doing it, and she knew it was making Larell uneasy, but it was not affecting their homeward journey so she allowed it to continue. He was perhaps on a special guard duty, knowing that Larell had previous relations with Crais.

The command carrier was looming larger in the view screen, and a small alert sounded to tell the retrieval squad that they were now within peacekeeper boundaries and would be shot without the proper clearance.

Sighing quietly at the unnecessary sign of force, Xhalax strode over to the communications array to speak with the carrier.

"Senior officer Sun reporting from Vigilante code XF6 Decca 7 Ukan. Reporting back from retrieval mission, high security." She ran off swiftly.

"Acknowledged vigilante, putting you through to the captain now."

There was a small pause as Xhalax was patched through to the captain. Her team were standing behind her gazing wistfully out at their home.

"Senior Officer Sun? It is good to have you back, I trust you mission went as planned?" Came the sinisterly smooth voice of her captain. With a baleful glare at Lunak, the crew stood completely still waiting for Xhalax to mention her officers failing.

"Captain," she replied, "mission was not fully completed. Captured the renegade Bialar Crais, the leviathan escaped our grasp."

There was a hiss over the line as the captain heard the news. "Proceed to bay 6, vigilante, I wish to hear a full report of this failing when you arrive."

"Yes sir." With a steady hand, Xhalax closed communications and turned to look at her crew. "Ready the prisoner; have him detained on level 8. You are on your own time once that is done. Report tomorrow to the duties officer. Dismissed."

With a chorus of 'yes sirs', the crew moved to their work.

* * *

John again found himself resting comfortably beside the reassuring presence of Aeryn. With no small fuss, they had climbed tiredly into the bed, giving Talyn commands to wake them at the smallest disturbance. Aeryn had immediately turned on her side facing away from John and went to sleep, leaving John to stare at her shadowed form. He had moved slightly closer to her, thinking of lending some body heat as they still only had the single blanket, but with a sigh she had moved away from him again. Spurned he had rolled away from her to look out the long window that served as the wall.

After a couple of arns shifting uncomfortably in the bed he gave up and stealthily climbed over Aeryn and left the room to go padding through the corridors. His body still ached unpleasantly from his injuries, and his eyes and mind were tired from lack of sleep but for some reason when given the chance they refused to relax and shut down. When he had been unable to sleep on Moya he had always gone for a walk, or talked to Pilot, or failing that, he would wander into command or the maintenance bay to tinker about with technology he still was learning.

Aboard Talyn, he still couldn't orientate himself well and so far, he only knew the way to command. Not wanting to make a fool of himself and get lost among the many tiers of Talyn, he decided to go to command once again, hoping to maybe get a start on repairing some of his battered consoles.

The door to command opened smoothly, and surprise of all surprises, Talyn lit up the room so that John could see further than his own hand.

"Hey Talyn." John greeted, moving swiftly over to some lit up consoles checking the measurements and information displayed there. In the background, he heard Talyn give a slightly offhand gurble in reply. John allowed himself a small smile. It was nothing like the welcome that Aeryn got when she came in, but it was a start and it was sure as hell better than the old welcome of pointed guns.

A small DRD was making a futile attempt to fix a panel on the wall. It's tools were too clumsy and John saw it would need a more dextrous being to fix it, so humming quietly to himself he strolled over and sat down beside the DRD which ignored him and continued poking around in the mess of burnt out wires.

Placing his hand on the back of it, John whispered to it quietly to stop. It did so and turned to look at him. John wasn't sure he'd ever get used to the sinister appearance of Talyn's DRDs as opposed to Moya's.

"Hey there little guy. You're making more of a kebab of that than it already was. Go get me some tools and I'll fix it up for you, then you can start showing me some other things to do, deal?"

The DRD beeped a response and rolled out of the room to go fetch tools. John was so intent on staring in at the small cluster of wires that he didn't notice the small camera on the wall that was concentrated on him. Talyn was intrigued by this man who was talking to his DRDs as though they had minds, and was willing to spend his rest period in command fixing the many small itches he could feel all over his body.

As he got to work John began his humming again, which quickly became a full out song, which to a person who recognised it was just a repeat of the same chorus, John having long since forgotten the rest except for patches here and there.

Talyn listened intently, trying to understand what the human was saying. He was worried it was something important and the human was simply too dull to communicate it in a proper language, but after about half an arn of the endless warbling he started to realise it was some form of recreational activity. Talyn stopped trying to make sense of the garbled sentences and let the noise wash over him. He had to admit it had a soothing quality to it, and the human's voice had an interesting tone. Never having heard music before though, Talyn was still clueless as to its purpose. The human seemed to like it, and as it wasn't disrupting him or anyone else, he allowed him to continue, and allowed a portion of his mind to stay focussed on the sound as he turned his mind to other things. He was only listening so as to better understand his crew of course; it had nothing to do with the feeling of relaxation the melody gave him.

* * *

The black leather clad figure stood patiently in the hangar, before him stood the sleek form of the long gone vigilante, and behind him stood his team of soldiers and personal attendants. To his side stood a straight-backed forward sighting lieutenant, who was trying his best to seem equally as imposing as the threatening creature beside him.

"Braca, how long has it been?" Inquired the soft-spoken hybrid.

"Nearly seven monens since deployment sir. Two since the last transmission." He replied briskly.

"Very good. I'm sure they will have much to talk about, see that you provide them with companions to regal their woes to."

Braca looked at Scorpius briefly, his initial disgust over having this creature as his captain had long since disappeared under the weight of Braca's respect for his mind. Never had he served under someone who so closely controlled and understood everything around him, without blatantly doing it.

"Yes sir. Will that be all?"

"No. See that our lieutenant makes his way to my rooms this evening, after I have dealt with Xhalax."

Clicking his heals together smartly Braca saluted before turning and moving off, signalling for some of Scorpius' soldiers to follow him.

The door to the vigilante hissed open slowly; all the soldiers waiting outside it straightened their backs further and held their weapons to point towards the ship. They had all been soldiers of Crais at one point, and they knew well that he was smart enough to overpower anyone around him. They were expecting a fight, and many of them had volunteered for that reason.

What they did not expect, however, was for their once great captain, now traitor, to come stumbling down the steps of the vigilante, hands bound behind his back, black hair that once had been so neat billowing around his head, some plastered to his skin with sweat and grime. Behind him came a young looking officer with his rifle pressed threateningly against Crais' back, a pleased gleam shining in his eyes. Once they reached the ground the rest of the retrieval squad were swift to follow, Xhalax came first followed by the rest in order of rank.

Seeing the soldiers surrounding her ship Xhalax nodded slightly in recognition before striding forward towards Scorpius.

"The prisoner Crais." She stated, standing before her captain with no hint of fear. Scorpius regarded her critically, noting her further darkened eyes. Even her energy signature gave no hints as to her mind; she truly was the perfect unemotional weapon.

"Thank you senior officer, have your crew bring the traitor to his cell." With a nod she turned and nodded to them, they understood her silent command and immediately moved out with Crais. Impressed, Scorpius followed her eyes as she turned back to face him. "Follow me." He said, and she did.

They made their way through the endless corridors of the command carrier, soldiers marching with perfected ease before and behind them, off duty officers disappearing into the background, guards saluting them as they passed their individual stations. Xhalax' eyes never once strayed from their position on Scorpius guard detail's back, her mind systematically running over the report she was about to give. She would have to mention the incompetence she witnessed from Lunak, though a small part of her wished she could skip over that to save him from the punishment that was sure to result from it, but being the soldier she was she whipped that rebelling part of her mind back into place.

Swinging around yet another corner the guards in front of her split of to line the corridor to either side, she and Scorpius continued on until they reached the door to Scorpius' quarters, that doubly served as his meeting place with officers and officials.

Scorpius walked straight up to his throne-like chair and with a pleased sigh sat into it. Xhalax stood below the steps leading up to his level, back poker straight and eyes still refusing to stray from the unspecified point in front and above her.

Watching her closely Scorpius grinned to himself. She would be an interesting subject indeed. He could already tell she was not as mentally deficient as many of the other soldiers he had to deal with. It would be fun breaking her.

"Report, officer."

Breathing calmly, eyes and body still in their proper posture, Xhalax began to recite the mission details, from the solar day she was appointed the leader of it, to disembarking a mere quarter arn ago. She neither paused nor tripped over her words at any stage, speaking efficiently and with good pace.

Scorpius sat listening to her retelling, a flicker of respect flashing through his mind. She really seemed to have no personal feeling about anything at all. Not even when she spoke of discovering her daughter's death and then her act of using that against the young leviathan gunship. Gradually her report drew to a close and she was silent once more, still refusing to look at him, an act, which if she had done it was punishable.

"Thank you officer. That was most... Enlightening." Scorpius chose his words carefully, as always. Controlling all the strings on those around him in a delicate balancing act. "For your failure in carrying out your mission you are to be placed on guard detail within this carrier until further notice." He saw her jaw tense slightly, the only sign that what he was saying was affecting her in any way. It was a shame to have her on the carrier constantly, she was truly an exceptional soldier in the field, but he would need her nearby in the monens to come, if all went as he expected it to.

Breaking into his thoughts, and surprising him in doing so, Xhalax spoke up, "And what of my team, sir?"

Ah so this creature before him did have a heart after all, if she were worrying about the future of her team. "They will be staying aboard also, for they played a part in your failure also. As for Lunak, however, I believe I shall have to have him reprimanded by my soldiers for his incompetence." He smiled wickedly as he thought what this 'punishment' would be, and what Xhalax and her team would think if they knew. "If that is all, officer?" She nodded once in the affirmative, "Then you may leave. You start your duties in two arns."

He watched her speculatively as she turned smoothly and strode out the door, boots hitting the ground in a perfect pattern, their polished exterior gleaming. There were easier ways to accomplish what he was doing, but Scorpius was nothing if not an avid strategist, wanting only the most interesting outcome where all the pieces of the puzzle were forced into place. His greatest pleasure lay in the exploration of the people around him, their minds and mentalities.

Turning his head, he looked to a peacekeeper emblem that was attached to the wall, with a distracted smile he closed his eyes and ran over the possibilities.

* * *

Some arns later two soldiers marched smoothly down the hall from Scorpius' quarters. Braca walked briskly on the left, eyes occasionally turning to the spy beside him. What Scorpius needed with this man was beyond him, but then many things Scorpius did were.

At the door, Braca waved his hand over the lock and stood aside to let the lieutenant through.

Scorpius was sitting upon a throne like chair, the same one he had acquired from Crais after he had taken control of the ship. He looked over at the two lieutenants standing just inside the room and nodded to Hoxx.

"That will be all Braca; I'll comm you if required." He said, dismissing his young protégé. Braca looked mildly upset at being sent out, but acquiesced, slipping out of the door quietly, shutting it behind him.

"Lieutenant Hoxx." Scorpius greeted.

"Scorpius." he replied, playing along with this old custom.

"I trust your journey went well?" The question was asked in the same way as a person would ask about somebody's weekend, not at all hinting that there was anything out of the ordinary. Hoxx of course was used to being cryptic.

"Well as could be expected. I believe Larell will be able to aid us in our plans. She seemed to want to go to Crais on numerous occasions."

"Yes, I heard of your mission from Xhalax. Very unfortunate ending." There was a mischievous glint in Scorpius' eyes, and Hoxx reflected that in turn.

"Yes I'm sure the senior Sun was very disappointed with the outcome. I'm sure the young officer at fault will be adequately reprimanded?"

"Indeed." Scorpius' eyes flicked sideways. "You may come out, officer." Scorpius directed his voice towards a door to the side of the room. It opened swiftly and a young and confident soldier stepped through.

Hoxx greeted him with a small smile and he returned it.

"I've had my men talking with your crew, apparently none of them suspected anything, they all were apparently too fixated on the possible spy amongst them," Scorpius nodded towards Hoxx, "and laughing at the incompetent officer Lunak."

The new soldier present laughed once to himself, and Scorpius smiled down at him proudly.

"Congratulations, lieutenant Lunak." Lunak looked up at Scorpius in surprise at this promotion then saluted smartly.

"Sir, if I may..." Interrupted Hoxx.

"Of course, by all means."

"The crew believe the ship escaped by accident, what then will they think when they see that Lunak has been promoted instead of punished?"

Lunak nodded slightly in agreement. Scorpius widened his mouth, sharp teeth showing in his grin.

"I doubt they will have time to notice. Crichton and his friends will be sure to show up soon enough to 'rescue' the good captain. Also I'm reassigning both of you; I've heard a rumour from one of my spies in the resistance that there has been a success." The two lieutenants gasped in shock, losing their uncaring peacekeeper mentality for a moment in the face of this new hope. "I need you both to meet with a man by the name of Sirontu Shanu, get what information you can. Tell him the peacekeepers know of his efforts and wish to aid him. You leave in an arn."

Both men saluted Scorpius, their smiles barely concealed. Turning, they both left the room in the same stride. Once outside they grinned at each other.

"This is it, brother."

"Indeed it is, and now I no longer have to call you sir!"

Inside his room, Scorpius was mapping out yet more plans within his own mind. He was proud of the two efficient spies he had created himself. The most loyal soldier is the one who feels he can get his heart's desire by allying with you. In this case, Scorpius allowed these brothers to work together in return for their efforts.

* * *

Talyn was flying steadily towards the nearest commerce planet; the tune John had been singing was still playing through his mind. It was slightly disconcerting however. He had been trying for quite a while to stop the song from repeating over and over in his mind but didn't seem able to. In frustration, he tried focussing on other things, turning his mind in vain towards the flowing of fluid in his amnexus chamber, then following a DRD through an access tunnel as it rolled past the turning wheels of his propulsion chamber. Nothing seemed to work.

The human had long since finished up with fixing all the broken parts of command, and had now moved on to wandering through Talyn's tiers, fixing the odd panel here and there when a DRD directed him to do so.

He was on one of the quarters levels, a tier devoted fully to housing soldiers, serving no other function but that. Most of the rooms were still small and unusable, but there were a few near the end of the corridor that were of the same standards that the room his two crewmembers were currently using. The room they used was on another tier, and was closer to his immature pilot's den (which he had yet to show Aeryn) and it still confused Talyn that Aeryn had lied to Crichton about the state of the rooms on board.

Crichton had reached the end of a corridor and was opening some of the rooms to peer in. A confused expression passed his features as he came to the first well formed room, and then when he entered a couple of more that confused look became a gleeful grin. He paused in his movements, tilting his head and gazing into a room, passing a wrench from one hand to the other. Obviously deciding something, Talyn watched as he began jogging back the way he had come, retracing his steps.

This human definitely required more study, Talyn thought. He never seemed to act in the predictable way that people usually did. Even Aeryn, different as she was from a regular peacekeeper, still moved about in such a way that Talyn could usually guess what she was thinking and what she was about to do. This human was a mystery.

* * *

Stretching out muscles and joints Aeryn slowly became aware of her surroundings once more as she woke. Smiling slightly to herself, she thought about the sleeping man behind her. She felt bad for avoiding him the night before and for being so short with him, but she was finding it quite hard to control her emotions. After her initial worry and fear for him had abated, she had begun remembering the emotions she had had before that, the dominant one being anger at him for abandoning her. Add onto that the fact that she had finally seen her mother's face after all these cycles, and that it wasn't a good thing, Aeryn was feeling decidedly frustrated and confused. And when that happened she knew the best thing to do was shut down her mind and wait until such a time as everything made sense once more.

Blinking her eyes tiredly, she decided it was about time the both of them woke up to go about their duties for the day. According to Talyn, they would be at the commerce planet she had chosen by the end of the day, if nothing came up.

Rolling over to face John she reached out with her hand to nudge him awake. When her hand met air and her eyes saw only an empty space, she sat up in confusion. Looking about the room, she saw that his leathers were still on the ground where he had pulled them off, which meant he was running about the ship somewhere in his nightclothes.

Rubbing his empty spot absently she decided to go find him. Offhandedly, as she went to turn and get out of the bed, she looked out the window that ran horizontally along the bed. She froze as she saw a transport pod floating outside, much like one of Moya's.

Behind her, she heard John jogging back into the room, but she ignored him and concentrated on the ship, trying to learn its origins.

"Hey Aeryn, I was down on tier 4, Talyn's got loads of rooms down there, why'd you tell me--" He gasped as he saw what was stealing Aeryn's attention. "Whoa, is that one of Moya's pods?"

Turning to face him, she took in his dirty skin and the wrench still in his hand. He looked healthier than he had; his eyes no longer had the mad look of fever about them. He was just dirty now, from the looks of it he had been working instead of resting.

"No, it's not Moya's. It is similar though. Come on, we'll go to command, they might be trying to contact us."

"Right." He swung around and jogged back the way he had come, Aeryn through on her leathers and followed on after him.

* * *

Inside the pod, an indignant female screech is reverberating off the walls. The other occupants look at her in disdain, save for the young boy tied up in the corner. He sits staring sullenly at the wall in front of him, ignoring his captors.

"Oh this just isn't fair! I should be treated with more respect! If my poor father only knew what these monsters were putting me through. Look at me!" Squealed the female in anger and disgust.

"Yeh, well just think how _he_ feels." A young nebari gestures with her head at the remnants of one of their crewmates, his body now smeared across the pod, bits and pieces hanging off the walls in large glistening blobs.

"Yes well he could have warned us." Huffed the woman.

A huge scarran, who had been operating the broken controls turned and growled at her. "Silence hynerian or I will help you remove those remains."

The hynerian hushed immediately, looking mournfully at her ruined clothing.

The nebari hopped up from where she had been sitting to step lightly over to the control that the scarran had been looking at woefully for many arns since the pods energy stores had failed, leaving them floating dead in space.

"Anything?" She inquired softly.

With a frustrated snort, the scarran replied "No. Unless we suddenly become budongs we are soon to drown in the airless vacuum once our oxygen runs out."

"Well it's good to know we haven't given up hope." She replied sarcastically.

Behind them Orrhn, the hynerian, was looking at the young peacekeeper tech with a calculated gleam in her eyes. He caught her looking and the two of them shared a silent moment of communication, hidden from their other shipmates. Silently, and with far more stealth than one would think her body possessed, she padded over to the young man, sliding him bits and pieces of machinery that she had collected from around the pod. He held her eyes and nodded once, before returning to staring at the wall.

"Hynerian!" The scarran roared. "Stay away from that animal!"

Eyes flicking one last time at the tech, she turned and with a grumble moaned, "There must be some food on this ship! You're hiding it aren't you, savage? Keeping it for yourself and your mutated tralk there!"

With an angry screech, Hubero leapt forward, only to be stopped by Naj Gil. "Look," he said, "can you see that?"

Turning, Hubero followed his gesturing arm. Out the wide viewport of their ship, she could see in the distance, and getting closer, the form of another ship. Another very large ship. It gleamed menacingly in red and black. "Peacekeepers." She whispered, knowing no other vessel would dare carry the peacekeeper colours so brazenly.

Orrhn walked up beside them and looked for herself. "We're saved!" She yelled joyously. Open up communications, savage; let us beg them for mercy!"

"Scarrans do not beg, weak one." He replied. "We shall receive no mercy from them save a swifter death."

Nodding Hubero turned to look at the made up hynerian. "He's right. And even if we did, our communications array is broken remember?"

Whining softly to herself Orrhn went back in the back of the ship and sat forlornly on one of the benches, moaning a litany of 'we're deads'.

Suddenly the pod jerked and she fell with a piteous yelp. The others clung to the wall and any protuberances they could in order to stay upright.

"We have been caught by their docking web." Naj Gil stated mournfully. Not for him was the destiny of a warrior's death. Instead, he was seemingly fated to be the plaything of those peacekeeper animals as they conducted their experiments.

* * *

John and Aeryn stood nervously outside the doors leading to the newly parked ship. They were waiting as Talyn adjusted the atmosphere once more. John had Winona and her as yet unnamed sister in his hands, points steadily at the closed doors. Aeryn carried the comforting weight of her pulse canon.

"I don't like this Aeryn."

"I know John, but Talyn says there are only four aboard, and their pod is dead. They would die if we left them here."

John looked at her in sudden realisation. It seemed their rolls had been reversed; apparently, she was now the compassionate one where as he was more than ready to save his own neck first.

"You're right, you're right. This is the right thing to do. Still, I don't like not knowing who we're dealing with."

"Neither do I, but we know Talyn, they don't. We have his DRD's and his security guns. And according to the scan I did they have no weapons either."

He nodded slightly. That made sense. They were the ones in charge here. His heart slowly began to regulate its pumping again as his over anxious mind calmed slightly under the barrage of facts.

The door finally opened and they both stepped forward. The ramp on the transport was nearly fully descended. Once down the people on the inside could be heard moving about. Both Aeryn and John refocused their aim as a small plump form emerged first, carefully stepping out from the pod.

On seeing the two sebaceans, Orrhn waddled forward, a teary smile lighting her face. "Peacekeepers, thank the Gods. My ship and tech were attacked by two savages; they were going to kill us!" She moaned, stopping some feet from them. John looked at Aeryn in consternation. Defend themselves against the people who were allies of peacekeepers, or defend themselves from whoever had attacked them?

The decision seemed almost made as the huge form of a scarran stepped forward, peacekeeper tech stumbling in front of him. Immediately all guns were aimed at his massive body.

"Don't move!" Ordered John. "Please." he added belatedly, upon remembering the ferocity of the creature before him. His mind was running over time. It was really too unfair, they had only just escaped the grips of one scarran and now they were presented with another.

"I doubt that we could." Came the soft reply. John had to blink for a micron to realise that it wasn't the scarran speaking, but a smaller form behind him. The nebari stepped out further into the light to stand beside the scarran.

"Identify yourselves." Called Aeryn.

"Our calling card, a peacekeeper tralk." Stated the scarran, pushing the tech in front of him so that he stumbled forward onto the ground, face first.

The small hynerian before them looked back at her shipmates then at the peacekeepers again. "Please save me from those monsters!" She pleaded. "You're peacekeepers, it's your duty!"

John looked down at the little being before him. He shivered as he saw an image of Rygel in a tutu.

"We aren't peacekeepers. We don't kill on command. Not today anyway."

"Oh," the hynerian looked devastated for a second before collecting herself, "well then, we've just escaped from imprisonment, can you help us?" Her tone changed from desperate pleading to a gentle and pretty request.

Aeryn snorted in amusement at John's side. "You would sell out your fellow captives for your freedom? Hynerians really are all the same."

"If I may," interrupted the nebari, "we were part of a new weapons test the peacekeepers were conducting. They wanted to see what would happen to us."

"How we would die." interjected the scarran. "This tech was onboard to complete a task, I overpowered him and we escaped."

"Ok. So you're good guys then?" John said, lowering his pistols and ignoring Aeryn's incredulous stare.

"Good guys?" Naj Gil asked in confusion. Shaking it off he continued, "if you mean are we a threat, I myself have had my heat gland removed. It weakens us. Peacekeepers take great pleasure in taunting us once it is removed. Weaklings."

"Cool, well I guess for now we'd like you all to stay in a cell, until we can decide what to do. Don't worry; there'll be no killing, unless we have to." Aeryn was still staring at John with her 'you are insane' look, and when the group of escapees walked past following John's lead she shook her head in confusion and watched as he lead them out of the hangar and down a corridor towards a group of cells. Fahrbot human, she thought, he could tame a brindz hound.

Following quickly she walked behind the group, canon still at the ready. The scarran carried the tech, until John indicated he could put him in an open cell, whereupon Naj Gil dumped him unceremoniously to the ground, ignoring his angry cry. The rest walked quietly to their designated cells, none complaining as they were simply still too pleased to not be dead and not be in the clutches of the peacekeepers.

Once they were all locked in, John clapped his hands together cheerfully. "Alright folks, you just hang tight. I'll have a DRD bring you some food. Me and my, uh, lieutenant here will be up top deciding where we'll drop you. We were supposed to be in orbit around a planet this evening, we might skipped it though, could be peacekeepers in the area looking for their lab rats."

They all nodded in acceptance and, to Aeryn's annoyance, none of them questioned John's insinuation that he was the captain. With an angry glare in his direction, which she made sure he noticed, she began walking quickly up the corridor towards command.

With an exasperated sigh, John followed at a jog, knowing he was going to have to apologise for putting himself in charge again.

* * *

Arns later, after the new shipmates had been fed and given water, John and Aeryn sat in Talyn's small central chamber, a glass of water in their hands. They had still to decide what to do with the freed prisoners. They were still unsure whether or not they could trust them. John had said he trusted the scarran, but wasn't sure about the rest. Aeryn had snapped that he was too gullible and for a couple of arns they had bickered at one another relentlessly, neither one reaching a conclusion. Finally, they had decided to leave it for a while whilst they got some food, and so they had ended up in the central chamber sitting peacefully.

"Hey Aeryn." John began after they had been quiet for some time.

"Yes?"

"Umm... Before all this happened I was walking around Talyn, you know, fixing stuff and whatnot. Anyways, I was on tier four, or maybe it was five, I'm not too good at the detail. You know we should get Talyn to number them properly."

"You're rambling John, what did you want to say?"

He looked at her warily, trying to guess her reaction or at least her explanation, before ploughing ahead.

"There are rooms down there, quite a few, and some of them are even larger and more grown than our room. Why'd you say you're room was the only one? And don't say you haven't been down there, I know you've explored everywhere on board."

Aeryn looked up quickly, eyes meeting his for an instant before returning to looking at her cup. John could have sworn her cheeks were redder than they had been.

"I wanted you close by." She muttered quietly.

"What? Why? You could have comm'd me if you needed me or something."

"I thought you'd died. I was worried if I woke up and you weren't there I'd realise it was all a dream and you were." She threw out quickly, before sneaking another quick glance at him.

"Oh." Was his shocked reply.

"You're better now though, and I know you're alive, so I suppose there's no reason for you to stay..." She trailed off in silence.

"Unless you wanted me to?" A small flicker of hope had ignited in John's chest. Aeryn never talked thoughts and feelings with him. This was a major step.

"I..."She began, but halted once more, eyebrows furrowed. Inside her heart was beating like a continuous pulse blast. She wasn't ready, not for what John would think she was offering. She didn't know if she could do it. She loved John, she knew that, he knew that, but she wasn't ready. She didn't want to go that far. Not yet. Maybe not ever, it was dangerous to form these attachments, as Zhaan's death had already proven.

John watched her silent thought process, smiling slightly as he thought how once long ago she wouldn't have even thought about it, but would have just shoved him out an airlock.

"We wouldn't have to do anything Aeryn, I'd just be there, you know, if you needed me to be."

She looked up in relief at that and the beginnings of a smile flickered across her face.

"I'd like that."

John grinned widely, his heart near bursting. He took her hand gently and together they walked back to her room to sleep. She probably thought he was hoping for it to go further than just being nearby, but for now he was perfectly content to just sleep beside her and know she was there. He was offering comfort to her, he knew, but it was equally as much for him as her that he had offered it.

* * *

Talyn's lights dulled down in intensity once his two crewmembers were in bed, the rest of the passengers on board having long since closed their eyes.

And so it was that when one small being opened her eyes to the darkened room in which she residing, and crept quietly over to an access panel and began to open it carefully, nobody was conscious to see or hear her. She was able to steal out into the corridor and over to the techs cell, unnoticed by any who surrounded her.

Any save Talyn, that is.


	8. Secretly Significant Successes

Wow 2chaps in one week.. Enjoy. I think this chap is better than the last one. Hopefully whoever is still reading hasn't lost all hope in me at this stage. It will get more fun, promise. :)

Chapter 7:  
Secretly Significant Successes

In the days before Scorpius, before defection became a fairly common occurrence and those in command became twisted with power, two brothers were torn from their families and handed weapons. With a gun to the younger's head the elder was ordered to shoot his father in the head or let his brother die. In such a situation, what does one choose?

In the days before Scorpius a young, distraught, newly recruited cadet was torn from his brother's side and thrown in the back of a marauder with other young children, all staring wide eyed with fear at the men surrounding them, some deigning to sniff and shed a tear for their stolen lives.

In the days before Scorpius, a young boy was trained to be a monster, trained to sneak and hide with a knife in the darkness, slipping behind people unawares to caress them across the throat with his lovingly sharpened blade. With a heart that pumped not for life, but continuity, and a mind that had long since erased the eyes of its father from their depths, Hoxx was an assassin, a disruptor, the finest of his class. Fighting for his superiors because he was told, never questioning or doubting, doing well enough to get by and become distinguished, but never pushing himself that further step, always held back by the memory of his brothers whimpering cry. A machine, a deadly biological weapon unleashed upon those who angered the powerful.

And then, along came Scorpius and the world changed.

Scorpius employed Hoxx to search the universe for whatever it was that he needed at the time, he asked him to deal with the people who stood in his way, always giving a reason and explanation. After two cycles working for his fair master Hoxx was offered an oppurtunity. A choice, Scorpius called it. He could continue, continue to breathe for no reason, except that his lungs demanded it, work with no cause but to earn shelter for his body, and live for no reason other than to mindlessly kill who he was ordered. That was his first option. His second option; to fight for a cause and live only by Scorpius' word, to enter into the politics of his trade and to slip amongst his own people unnoticed, tricking them and persuading them to his will. To actually have choices and decisions to make and to become invested in his own work.

Hoxx would have chosen the former, the easier life. The life of sleeping, eating and killing. Scorpius had known, and from the darkness, a boy had stepped forward. An adolescent, barely out of cadet training, smaller than average, weaker too. Barely worth letting live, and indeed high command were about to send him on a mission that was sure to result in his death. Hoxx was confused and unconvinced, why should he give up his simple life for this pathetic soldier before him?

"Because," Scorpius had whispered, "he is your brother."

* * *

Lunak yawned widely from the controls of the marauder. He and Hoxx had been flying for over two days and still had not come upon the planet they had been directed to. It had been two days of bonding once more with his brother, remembering past missions and their good fortune under Scorpius command. If it had not been for Scorpius' fair ruling they would never have seen each other again after they were separated and Lunak knew he would most likely would have died on his first mission.

Instead, under his brother's guidance and Scorpius protection, he had thrived. He was still not a very imposing figure, probably never would be, but he played his role well, exceptionally at times. None beyond Scorpius new of the bond between the brothers, and if any had been told they would have acted with surprise. The handsome and confident young lieutenant with the weak and untried officer? Little did they know that it was all a carefully kept facade, and Lunak was in fact a disruptor of incredible quality. Expert in sleight of hand and a technological and strategic mastermind, he along with his brother made one of the best teams there were.

Steps from the doorway took his attention from his thoughts and Lunak smiled as his brother entered into command.

"Good morning brother. Nothing yet, I suspect the planet is still some arns away yet. You have studied this creature we are to meet?" Lunak asked in greeting.

Slipping into the co-pilot seat, Hoxx looked over the screens before him before answering. "Yes, he is some kalish resistance tech, specialising in biomechanics. There has been rumour for some time of a weapon that could destroy the scarrans, none know what it is, but Scorpius informant said it had been delivered to this man some weekens ago."

"What do you think then? Some new disease or weapon? Odd that it would be a biomechanical specialist who brings freedom for his people."

"Well we won't know until we get there. If it kills scarrans I will care little who made it." Hoxx grinned at his younger brother, tanned face crinkling with his happiness over this new hope.

"True enough." A light blinked from the console in front. "We shall be there in two arns, not too long to wait for answers."

* * *

Night went on within Talyn's walls. His crew were asleep in their room, lying close under the blanket but still staying out of contact. Further from them the scarran and the nebari slept on, breathe light and bodies relaxed.

Down the corridor, the hynerian was talking quietly with the tech, who was still locked in his cell. Talyn always became bored in the night cycle, it had always been the time when Crais' mind had quietened within his own, and now it was the time when the people within him ceased rushing about living their lives. So bored was he that when the hynerian (a species Talyn knew only through his mother and Crais thoughts, and the majority of it not good) escaped her cell he had decided to watch her for a time before acting. It amused him that the small creature thought she went unnoticed, she obviously had yet to realise the depth of the ships control and insight.

A DRD hung above her head, listening in on her conversation. Orrhn leaned against the bars of Markir Tal's cell. He peered out from within, licking his lips nervously and tapping his fingers subconsciously against his legs.

"So peacekeeper, do we have a deal?" Orrhn whispered.

"I do not make deals with inferior life forms, let alone _hynerians"_ He replied in disgust, taking care to look out into the corridor to make sure his voice didn't carry.

"Fine, stay here and rot!" She snarled back.

"I've been rethinking my position, toad. Why should I help you escape when I could stay here and claim this ship for my people? Besides, you would not get far before they blow you up."

"We can achieve your aims and mine! We transmit a message to the peacekeepers; they come to pick up your ship. Its crew will be so worried about the incoming peacekeepers that they won't notice two little prisoners slipping into one of their transports and leaving. You're a tech, surely you can stop them from targeting us?"

Licking his lips once more, Markir tilted his head to the side in thought. "It could work, I suppose. Though I think it would be safer for us to stay on board, they won't know who is to blame for a while and perhaps it will be long enough for the command carrier to get here and rescue us. They won't let you escape, you know, but if you appear to be assisting me in capturing this prize then they will be sure to give you some sort of compensation."

With bulging eyes, Orrhn smiled greedily. "Alright then. You will make a device to transmit our message, I will take it and hide it, and within a few arns we will be rescued and these fools will be dead." Orrhn and Markir looked at each other and grinned.

As Orrhn moved quickly down the corridor, retracing her steps to where her transport pod lay, Talyn sent the spy DRD to follow after her.

When she climbed into the transport to retrieve the items she had gotten for the tech earlier, Talyn lazily took control of it and closed the door on the side, sealing her in. With a sigh, he allowed a DRD to open up a couple of vents on the outside, so her atmosphere wouldn't deplete. With an internal yawn, he posted a DRD on the door and moved his mind to other things.

Really, had the hynerian no concept of what Talyn was and what he could do? With that smug thought, he turned back to watching his other passengers. The peacekeeper was pacing his cell, looking through the bars impatiently at every pass. The scarran was growling lightly and the nebari moaned softly once before shifting and relaxing again. Up in his crews quarters the human was sleepily trying to regain the blanket which was now mostly on Aeryn's side. His searching arm collided with her and she sighed angrily. When he tried pulling the entire blanket off her, she moved over to his side and they leant into one another, smiling in their sleep.

Talyn was amused by their interaction. Letting them sleep in private he turned his attention to his own thoughts and pulled up some of his favourite memories and musings to go over once more, it was the closest to sleep he could get.

* * *

Orrhn squealed in fury as the door closed slowly behind her. Someone must have followed me in, she thought angrily. She banged the door a couple of times for good measure before walking up to the controls at the front and trying to open it from there, to no avail. Giving up she waddled to the back of the pod and sat down sulkily beside the wiring and metal scraps she had collected over the course of her journey in the pod. It was probably the ship, she reasoned. She had forgotten it was a leviathan, its interior being so vastly different from any leviathans she had seen before. She cursed herself for her oversight.

Fiddling with the bits of wire absentmindedly, her mind started to formulate a new plan. The peacekeeper had always been hesitant with her ideas, there was no need to try including him in this one, she decided.

Gathering more bits and pieces to her, she carried her small load to the front of the pod where some lights were blinking wearily. The leviathan, it seemed, had begun replenishing the pods energy stores. It might be enough to... Yes, it was enough. Smiling wickedly to herself Orrhn slipped underneath the console that held the communications array, pulling off the panel that hid the wiring beneath it. She was no master of leviathan technology, or indeed any technology, but her days within the hynerian education system were not wasted, nor were her working years as a soldier after that. She knew enough about technology to know where the different coloured wires needed to be placed.

Smiling in satisfaction, she began slowly replacing older broken wires with the new fragments she had found, connecting loose bits back into their homes.

* * *

John was doing the passenger rounds while Aeryn went to say her good mornings to the ship. Whistling quietly John walked down the maze of corridors, fairly certain he was on the right path.

From behind him Harvey appeared, skipping in circles around John in some bizarre ballet dancing, in time with John's whistled tune.

"Harvey!" John cried in surprise. The dancing stopped and Harvey looked at John with what he thought was a doe eyed expression, but really was just a creepy stare.

"Is that surprise I hear John? Are you pleased to see me? You aren't going to dismiss me with your first words?" He asked, taking on a wounded tone near the end.

John ignored his last comment, "yeh Harv, surprise is right, I haven't seen you since I nearly died."

"WE, John, we nearly died."

"My mind, me. Don't get confused by your own fake imagination bud, that never leads anywhere good."

"Of course. I thought it would be best to leave you to your recuperation, and really, who could ever interrupt your mind when officer Sun is around?"

"That is a valid point my man. Now, what you want? I'm sure you didn't just drop by to chew the fat with me this fine Sunday morning, don't you have mass to get to?"

"You should know by now John, I'm atheist. The only thing I worship is your mind."

Raising his eyebrow John stepped back from the hybrid, who was now staring at John adoringly.

"I only came to remind you of your last encounter with scarrans. Your last few actually. I don't think I need remind you of how dangerous they can be. And nebari's too. Never did like them, they could do with a care bear stare I think."

Containing his laughter John replied, "Yeh no worries, I don't trust who I don't have to or want to these days, you know that Harv. At the moment though it's the tech I'm most worried about, but they're all behind bars either way, so I think we're safe for now. We'll probably be dropping them off at the planet today anyway, but thanks mom."

Nodding his satisfaction Harvey slipped back into the background once more, searching for any and all knowledge stored in John's mind on the 'care bears', he always hated when he referenced something in John's mind but didn't understand what it was.

John continued on his walk, reaching the first cell, the one containing the scarran. Naj Gil looked up with his reptilian face.

"We wondered when you would arrive." Called the nebari from the cell beside his.

"The hynerian is gone." Naj Gil stated.

"You can let me out, you know. I won't do anything." Put in Markir.

They all spoke at the same time and it took John a microt too separate their sentences.

"Wait what? The hynerian? When? How?"

"Some time in the night," the scarran looked down shamefully, "I did not wake up, she must be very quiet."

"Aw man, why does this stuff always happen? This is not good. Me and Rygel need to have a talk about what he's teaching his subjects. Why can't they be nice for a change? Never see Kermit trying to kill anyone!" Hitting his head lightly with his hand John groaned in frustration. Of course, the securely locked up hynerian would escape. He should have seen that one coming, when has anyone just done what he's asked?

Naj Gil looked at the human cautiously. He didn't understand most of what the human was talking about but he got the drift. He and the nebari had been naive to think that they were saved, just because these people were apparently not peacekeepers. What's the use in being saved if your saviours are in as much, if not more, dren than you are?

"Aeryn!" John called out.

"What Crichton? I'm busy."

"We've got a jail break."

John winced as he heard Aeryn take a deep breath, he knew that noise, that was the noise she made when she didn't understand him and was trying to control herself and not hit him over the head.

"I mean the hynerians broken out of her cell." He amended quickly.

"Frell. I'll have Talyn scan for her."

Pacing the corridor John tried to formulate some kind of search plan. Of course, at this point the hynerian could be anywhere, and he still didn't know Talyn well enough to go running off to search. An idea struck and he walked over to the peacekeepers cell.

"You, peacekeeper, did Ms Jabba come see you before she went AWOL?"

Markir Tal looked up at John with a look of indifference on his face. "Why would that creature talk to me?"

"Well, because yesterday when we scooped up your ship she seemed pretty intent on saving you, she tried killing her friends over there, but not you. Now why would she do that?"

"She's hynerian, why do they do anything that they do?"

John was silent while he contemplated that. "That's actually a pretty good answer. But no, if she's anything like the hynerian I know she probably saw you as her best chance for freedom, so she probably offered to help you and you help her. So where is she?"

"I don't know. And if I did, I wouldn't help you. I know what you are, John Crichton."

"That's great kid; I know what I am too. So you tell me where she is and I won't, I dunno, eat your eyeballs. That's what I do these days right?"

A flicker of fear past the techs eyes and John wanted to laugh aloud at his reaction. Evidently, the rumours he had heard a few monens ago were circulating pretty widely.

"Allow me to question the peacekeeper; I will get your answers." Growled Naj Gil from his cell.

John looked down the corridor towards the scarran and then back at the peacekeeper. "Huh, that's not a bad idea. What say you tell me what I need to know and I won't let old lizard boy there melt your face."

"Alright! Alright. She said she was going to try contacting my people, get a carrier here to pick her, us, up. She went to get some things from the pod and she never came back." He blurted out, his voice taking on a higher pitch. Techs weren't trained to withstand interrogation, and the idea of the scarran coming close to him had Markir terrified.

With a grin, John stood up and walked back down the hall. He paused at the scarrans cell, contemplating, and then hit the door release. "Ok, here's the deal, you help me get little miss piggy back to her cell, and I'll let you free. With your little operation there you're not the toughest guy on the block anyways, right?"

"You would release me?"

"Yeh, sure, why the hell not? I mean, I've got a gun, I've got Aeryn, and I've got this big honkin' armed warship. I think I'm pretty safe."

"What about me?" Cried the nebari from her cell.

"You're not scary enough, sorry." John replied, before looking back to the scarran. "Ready?"

Naj Gil nodded and together they both made their way to the transport pods hangar.

* * *

Standing silently in command, Aeryn surveyed the space before her. They were further into the uncharted territories than they had ever been, even while on Moya. The peacekeepers were obviously extending their reach, if they were testing weapons and sending parties out to capture Talyn. It was a wonder they hadn't met with opposing forces.

Talyn chirped, lighting up a small viewscreen on a console. It showed the transport pod and a single DRD posted outside it, guarding its door. Another image came up and the recording Talyn had taken of Orrhn during the night played out. At the end, Aeryn laughed quietly.

"Well done Talyn, though you should have informed us of your actions."

Lights flickered brightly as Talyn felt Aeryn's pride for him wash over him. It was quickly disrupted though as a warning alarm sounded in command.

"What is...? Frell." Aeryn exclaimed. "Talyn, there is a signal coming from the pod, it's weak but it may be enough. Can you block it?" Talyn beeped readily, Aeryn took it to mean he would try. She hit her comms.

"John, the hynerian appears to be transmitting a message, Talyn's trying to block it but you're going to have to get in there and block it permanently."

"Damnit." John replied, his breath sounding over the comms as he began to run. "Come on Gilligan, we got a toad to roast!"

Aeryn shook her head in confusion. "Gilligan?" She whispered to herself. Crichton had such strange expressions.

* * *

The marauder clunked heavily to the ground in the middle of the landing area. The supervisor and his workers ran around it angrily, trying to tell the drivers to park in one of the clearly designated bays, but they desisted and returned to their duties when the saw the silhouetted forms of two heavily armed peacekeepers descend the steps.

Hoxx sniffed the air distastefully. "Of course this man would live on a wastehole of a planet." He muttered to himself. To his side Lunak grinned at his comment, he always enjoyed going planet side and even if this planet wasn't the most scenic, he was still glad to have dirt beneath his feet.

"Cheer up Dreegan, we're only here to find our man and get back out."

Hoxx looked over at his younger brother sourly, he grunted and moved towards the busy street leaving Lunak to march steadily behind him.

From dust covered windows and ragged tents the planets inhabitants watched the two sebaceans wearily. Since the scarrans had overrun the planet and they had not been saved by their protectors, the people of Relka 2 had no friendly feelings towards any sebacean who arrived looking like a peacekeeper.

The two men walked cautiously through the town, aware of the suspicious stares they were receiving from the locals. Lunak's hand rested nervously on his pistol, Hoxx was always the outwardly confident one. Lunak preferred darkness and cover.

It didn't take them long to reach the medic building that Scorpius had given them directions to; it was only a short walk from the landing area, a short run if necessary. The outside of the building looked identical to every other building on their route, at one time it may have been a blinding white but now it had a thick layer of the red dust that seemed to coat the entire planet and its people.

Standing either side of the door Lunak gestured to Hoxx that he should enter first and secure the building if necessary. With a nod, Hoxx swivelled and quickly entered the building, pulse rifle primed and ready, aimed in front of him. Upon hearing a muffled 'clear' Lunak followed his brother in.

They were standing in the centre of what must have been the medical buildings reception at one time. Now it was deserted and there were papers scattered across the floor and chairs overturned in the waiting area as if everybody had left in a great hurry. It didn't look good.

They walked together through the corridor, kicking in doors and checking rooms as they went. Every room was the same, the contents spilled and shattered across the floor and furniture standing beaten and broken against walls or in several parts on the floor.

It appeared that the building was empty, and it seemed to have been that way for some time, perhaps a couple of weekens. Maybe more, maybe less. Lunak was about to signal to Hoxx that it was probably a lost cause when Hoxx suddenly straightened and placed his finger on his mouth, indicating silence. Lunak strained his ears in the eerie quiet. Then he heard it, the pad of slow and quiet steps creeping along behind the wall. Somebody was there, and knew they were not alone and were doing their very best to escape silently.

With an excited grin, Hoxx pointed at a place on the wall and the both turned their weapons on it and fired. A scream erupted from inside, and they fired again, and again until the wall weakened and cracked, whereupon Hoxx stepped forward and kicked it strongly, smiling in satisfaction as it fell.

"I would have thought the purpose would be to capture me, not kill me." Said the voice of a clearly displeased female of some kind from the darkness behind the wall. The two sebaceans looked at each other in surprise, they had not expected their prey to speak up, and they had also not expected a woman's voice.

"On the ground now!" Ordered Hoxx, rifle pointed through the hole as he stepped forward to climb through.

"I don't think so. You're clearly going to capture me anyway; I will not lower myself further by lying on the ground." The woman replied indignantly.

"You are not Sirontu Shanu." Lunak stated.

A snort was heard from within.

"Close. But I'm obviously not the Shanu you were searching for."

They heard movement from within and Hoxx stepped back, narrowing his eyes as the movement came closer. In a matters of microns their stood just inside the hole, but clearly visible, a young kalish.

She stepped through the hole and looked scathingly at both peacekeepers.

"I would have expected at least a full marauder team." she said dismissively.

"We are far better than any ten peacekeepers." Replied Hoxx hotly. Lunak stood to the side and watched the whole process intently.

"Well, I'm sure you were hoping to come here and find my father, perhaps beat him and torture him before asking him to join your people and their cause."

"We were sent to ask for his aid."

"Well, he is not here. Somehow, he was found out, the scarrans came and took him. He is probably dead now, I should hope." She said. Lunak noticed that not even a flicker of emotion passed her eyes as she spoke of the apparent demise of her father. If she hadn't given him that title, Lunak would never have guessed he was her father.

"I-I'm sorry about your father."Lunak stuttered, trying to ignore the glare Hoxx sent him. Something didn't feel right about this girl.

"Yes well, what will you do now?" She asked.

Hoxx looked at her for a moment, calculating. "You were his offspring, you must know something about what he was doing here. You will come with us."

She stared at him coldly at his assumption that she would go easily, before shrugging her shoulders. "My father's labs are destroyed, there is nothing for me here. Perhaps you're people will be able to help me."

Lunak wondered at her impudence. The peacekeepers, help her? She clearly had the situation backwards.

"Well, come on then. Let's go." Hoxx said, before starting to walk back out the building. The kalish watched him go with something akin to amusement in her eyes, before she began to follow. Lunak ran up behind her quickly.

"So what is your name, kalish?" He inquired curiously.

"Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu" She replied after a small pause, before quickening her step to catch up with Hoxx's retreating back.

* * *

Orrhn settled herself more comfortably into the pods seat. She was extremely proud of herself after managing to send a signal out of the ship and directed, hopefully, towards the nearest carrier. Now all she had to do was wait. And hope the frellnik of a ship didn't remember she was locked up inside the pod before she was rescued.

As if on cue, she heard the muffled sound of somebody banging on the door of the ship from outside. Jumping in fright she nearly screamed. Whoever it was was probably going to be able to get inside the pod soon. If the ship was indeed able to assert its control over the doors, it would be able to open them once more. Staring around her, the small hynerian tried to find some place to hide or escape. She could always try to fly the pod, but its energy levels were still too low to do more than fly out the hangar and float dead in space once more. Growling in frustration over the situation she found herself in, she hopped down from her seat and walked over to the door. She leapt back from it when she heard the distinct growl of the scarran from the other side.

"Stop what you are doing, hynerian, or I will stop you from ever doing anything again." He roared.

Muffled in the background was the quiet voice of the human. "Aeryn, get the kid to open the pod, we need to stop our little spy in there."

"I've asked him to do it already John but he's not listening, I don't know why." Replied a female, probably that black haired woman, Orrhn surmised. So, their ship wasn't listening to their commands? That was interesting. Hoping to use this to her advantage Orrhn hurried back over the pods controls. Hitting the comms, she spoke to the ship.

"Ship, aid me and I will be sure to aid you. I can tell the peacekeepers that you helped me, and maybe they won't kill you." Orrhn whispered prettily. "Subdue these fools and I will see to it that you are rewarded."

Even from within the pod Orrhn felled the vibrations that rocked through the ship as he replied. Outside the pod John and Naj Gil were standing unsteadily on their feet, keeping their balance as Talyn bucked and roared.

Orrhn thought it was a good sign; the ship was replying with a lot of emotion, it must really wish to aid her. The rocking went on for some time, and then it stopped suddenly. Orrhn sighed in relief as she was finally able to sit back down comfortably. Almost in the instant she got comfortable, she was flung from her seat.

"Ship!" She exclaimed, "What are you doing?"

Outside the pod, John and Naj Gil watched in awe as Talyn grabbed the pod in his docking web. A DRD scurried over to them and shepherded them out of the hangar before closing the doors. Within the hangar, Talyn expertly shook the pod before pulling it through the tunnel of his landing bay and depositing the ship forcefully in space.

Within, Orrhn looked about herself in confusion, why had the ship thrown her out into space?

A series of quiet alarms broke into her confusion, and she made her way over to the controls. The pod's energy stores were completely gone, there was no fuel. She was floating dead in space. However, that wasn't what was worrying her the most. No, what was worrying her was the screen that was telling her she had only a quarter arn left before the atmosphere within the pod would be nonexistent.

"Ship, what are you doing? I will die here!" She exclaimed desperately into the comms, watching the gleaming leviathan as it floated in front of the pod. In horror, she watched as first its tail, then the rest of its body was encased in a red electric energy surge. There was a flash, and when she opened her eyes once more the leviathan hybrid was nowhere in sight. She was alone, floating in a dead pod, counting down the microts to her own death.

* * *

Naj Gil offered a hand to the human, who had fallen during the unexpected starburst. Nodding gratefully, John took it and stood, surveying the maintenance bay in which he stood. The hangar doors were slowly reopening, allowing them both to see that the transport pod was now gone.

They both turned as they heard boots hitting the floor from beyond the door. Soon enough Aeryn appeared in the doorway. She looked around the room first then looked to John.

"You alright?" She asked with a lilt of concern to her voice.

"Yeah, you?" John replied. Naj Gil watched the interplay between the two creatures curiously.

Aeryn nodded, once. "I tried to warn you about the starburst but Talyn wouldn't let me. I think he thought you would somehow stop him."

"What's up with the kid anyway? He ignored you, then he sent our spy off to her freedom."

"Freedom?" Aeryn laughed quietly. "Talyn showed me the pods environmentals, within an arn that hynerian will be dead, and whatever carrier picked up her message will be directed to a dead transport pod with no links to us."

John's eyes widened, and he looked around him and the roof and walls. "Thanks Tal, you did good. Though it would have been neat to know all this before you tried to break my legs with that starburst."

A small rumble answered him and John laughed. Aeryn looked at him carefully.

"You know, I think he's starting to like you." She said. Then her face changed as she apparently seemed to realise that they were not alone. "John," she started carefully, eyes trained on him closely, "what the frell is the scarran doing out of his cell?"

John looked over at their spectator who was staring at the pair of them in bemusement. "What, Naj? He's cool. He helped me out. I think he's one of the good guys. And if he's not, we just shoot him." John grinned wildly at this and Aeryn looked at the scarran speculatively before responding with her own smile. "Besides, I don't like keeping people in cages."

Sighing, Aeryn rolled her eyes. "I suppose this means you'll be letting that nebari roam free as well?"

"We can keep a DRD with her, but yeh. Anyways, we'll be dropping them off at the next planet we find. They probably won't be here long enough to cause trouble." he paused, reflecting on his words. "I probably shouldn't have said that."

Aeryn nodded in agreement. "And the peacekeeper?"

John scratched his head, deep in thought. "Umm, I guess we should keep him locked up for now. Damn I hate being hypocritical." He looked about ready to start rambling, but Naj Gil chose that moment to step forward.

Clearing his throat, Naj Gil interrupted impatiently. "Shouldn't somebody be watching the command of this ship?"

"You offering bud? Actually, that's a great idea, you go to command. Me and Aeryn need to talk operation Barbarossa." With a meaningful look at Aeryn, she swiftly agreed. They'd have Talyn watch Naj Gil carefully, but for now, they decided he could be trusted. They really needed to work on a rescue plan for Crais, hopefully they would have time enough to do it before the next pile of dren hit the atmospheric scrubbers, Aeryn thought. That expression didn't sound quite right, but Aeryn just shrugged slightly and followed John as they left the maintenance bay.

* * *

Opening her eyes weakly, Orrhn looked around the blurry room she found herself in. This looked nothing like what the hallowed realm was supposed to look like. The walls were a dull grey and she was lying on a grey metal table, a black blanket covering her body and tubes attached to her body.

A shadowed figure loomed over her.

"Who told you how to call a command carrier?" The voice hissed. "And why are you here?"

"Peacekeepers, escape. Markir Tal." She muttered quietly, the room blackening before her eyes. "Leviathan, guns, red leviathan. Betrayal."

"What? What did you say? What leviathan? Was it Talyn?" The menacing voice sounded excited. Orrhn knew she would not be able to stay awake much longer.

"Leviathan, two sebaceans. Not peacekeeper. Blue eyes." She managed, before she became unconscious once more.

Scorpius straightened and looked towards the med tech that had retreated to the corner.

"See that she lives." He ordered, beginning to walk out the room. Just in the doorway, Scorpius turned and looked back at the frail form of the hynerian they had just rescued. "Crichton." He whispered quietly, a small smile gracing his lips.

Arns later, the ship was deep in its night cycle. The night med tech was sitting at his desk when a peacekeeper guard walked through.

"I'm here to see the hynerian." Stated a muffled voice from beneath the helmet. The med tech waved the guard on. The night cycle was always the most wearying time to be on duty, he was finding it hard to stay awake, so his mind was running on all canisters.

The guard walked into the hynerians rooms and strode over. Taking off the helmet, the guard lent down.

"Hynerian." Whispered the guard.

Orrhn's eyes blinked open owlishly. She jumped when she saw the guards face, but then remembered where she was.

"Peacekeeper? Have you come to kill me?"

"No." Replied the shadowed peacekeeper. "I've come to ask you a question."

"Can't it wait?" Orrhn grumbled irritably. It was the middle of the sleep cycle for frells sake.

"On the leviathan, was there a woman, a woman with black hair?"

"What the frell would you care?"

The shadowed form straightened slightly. "Answer the question and I'll see that you live to see the morning."

Gulping Orrhn tried to focus on the darkened peacekeeper. "Yes, there was a woman. Sebacean, black hair. Looked like a soldier."

The guard stood swiftly, staring distantly. "My daughter..." whispered the figure quietly.

Orrhn heard her whisper what sounded like 'daughter', but she knew she must be mistaken; peacekeepers didn't have sons or daughters.

"What did you say?" Orrhn whispered.

The dark figure looked down at her one last time before turning and walking silently away.

In the morning, Orrhn wasn't sure if her late night visit had been real or a dream. Deeming it unimportant, she dismissed it.


	9. Grima and Freedom

**So less than a week after I promised to write a new chapter here it is! A new chapter! So if you readers are enjoying this-REVIEW, and if you're hating it-Definitely review! Seriously, I'd love for some reviews, just so I know that my story isn't completely off kilter. Anyways, enjoy. (Oh and if anything seems to contradict anything I've said in previous chapters please please let me know, I'm not sure if I've managed to catch everything and because of the gap between the last chap and this I might have forgotten some stuff I said before...)**

The chair began another round of spinning, the screen attached to it showing distorted images, flickering chaotically from one memory to another. First a black haired officer standing to attention with a smile on his face, then a prowler crashing into an asteroid, an image of the human John Crichton as he runs forward with a pole in his hand and a resigned angry expression on his face. Quickly it jumped to a warm red glow, a sparkling, glittering effect as the young ship Talyn makes his first venture into starburst. The images went on, recounting jumpily the events of the past few cycles.

Scorpius watched intently as the chair continued spinning and Crais fell further and further into a well of primitive emotion. He no longer cried out with words, condemning Scorpius' actions. Instead he wailed pathetically, his voice hoarse and cracking from the strain of constant use.

"It's really quite simple, captain. Tell me all that you know of your ship, tell me where he is, what he will do now you are gone, how he will act. It is very easy, I do not wish to hurt you, but you must not resist me. Tell me everything." Whispered Scorpius, in a tone that tried to convey sympathy and a sense that he really didn't want to torture Crais but there was no other choice.

Truly Scorpius didn't need to have Crais in the chair, he already had an idea of how coming events would pan out. He always knew the young gunship would eventually decide to return for its captain, and now that he knew Crichton was aboard the ship also he knew that that time was fast approaching.

"Come now Crais, where would Talyn go?" he repeated again.

"I don't know anything!" Cried Crais with the last of his vocal energy, before retreating back into his mental safe haven. Tears coursed down his face and his entire body was drenched in sweat. He would not be able to hold out for much longer.

Snarling in disgust, Scorpius turned to the two guards posted at the door. "Take him back to his cell. We will continue this later." He walked out of the room smoothly, not waiting for the guards to jump to their duty.

Xhalax reached Crais first. Despite her strong internal walls she couldn't help but allow a stray feeling of disgust leave her eyes. Luckily she was wearing her helmet once more so nobody would be able to see it. She and her partner lifted the weak sebacean out of the chair and dragged him painfully across the floor of the chamber. Walking through the halls numerous other peacekeepers paused to smirk down at the disgraced captain as he was hauled through his old carrier.

They reached his cell and he was dumped unceremoniously to the ground. Xhalax turned to her partner.

"You may leave now, I will take first shift." She stated smoothly. The other guard looked at her for a split micron before nodding and retreating back out the door. Xhalax turned back towards the frail form on the ground as soon as she was alone.

"Bialar Crais?" She whispered softly, too softly for the audios to pick up.

He groaned weakly in reply, trying to turn his body so that he was laying in a more natural position.

Xhalax reached over and straightened out his limbs and pushed him onto his back gently. "Crais, I need to speak with you."

"Go away." He whispered faintly.

"I can help you, Bialar Crais."

That got his attention, he slowly opened his red rimmed eyes and looked up at her.

"What help could I possibly need with you, officer Sun?"

"You know of my daughter, of Aeryn Sun? You know she lives?" she asked hurriedly, there was no knowing how long she had.

"She is dead. Killed by the half breed nearly a half cycle ago. I came to avenge her death." He whispered back.

"She is alive. I will need your help, answer my call when the time comes." Xhalax stood and straightened herself, she turned and walked out of the cell, locking it behind her. She stood to attention just outside, acting for all the world like the dedicated peacekeeper guard she was supposed to be. Inside, her emotions were in turmoil. Since killing Talyn all those cycles ago she had thought herself immune to emotion, she had felt nothing but cold bitterness towards the daughter she had once professed to love. Delving back into her peacekeeper persona she had numbed her will and mind to emotion. Then she had heard that he daughter had defected, that was the first crack to her armour. Not two cycles later she heard through Scorpius that her child, the last remnant of the man she had loved, was dead. She had been shocked to feel a stab of pain course through her heart. Not long after there had been rumours that the traitor Aeryn Sun had somehow survived her death, but Xhalax did not listen to these rumours, she was too involved in her retrieval mission to allow for any distractions. It was only when the hynerian had been taken aboard and spoken of two odd sebaceans on the gunship that she had allowed herself to wonder.

She didn't know what she wanted any longer. Her brain told her to ignore all these things once more and continue performing as the peacekeeper she was, even if that meant to kill her daughter like she had her lover. But her heart, the heart that so long had been ignored and shunned by her mind, was growing in strength and urging her to do something, to somehow save her daughter from falling into the clutches of Scorpius, as that would surely mean her death.

Sighing, Xhalax tried to sort through her muddled feelings and thoughts, trying to retreat to that numb and unfeeling cold centre that had been her sanctuary for so long.

* * *

"Johnny, oh Johnny! Come out come out wherever you are!" Called the singsong voice of Harvey as he hopped from tree to tree, hiding himself behind each narrow specimen much like figures in cartoons did.

John stood in the centre of a clearing, shotgun in hand. "Come out, you pesky wabbit!" he called towards the skipping wraith.

"Not if you plan to use that thing." Harvey replied warily, eyeing the formidable lookin weapon. John became aware of the shotgun in his hands and willed it to disappear, along with the woods they were standing in. Slowly the landscape dissolved and John was back standing in one of Talyn's corridors. Aeryn stood before him, looking at him anxiously, waving her hand in front of his face.

"John?" She asked.

"Damnit Harv, how many times do I have to say it? You can't keep interrupting me when there's people around, they're going to start thing I'm crazy!" He shouted in his subconscious. "Crazier." He amended.

Harvey stepped forward guiltily, standing beside Aeryn in the corridor. "I just thought that you might require my assistance in this little mission of yours. I don't want to see you killed. " He said with some concern.

"Yeh, only 'cause it would be the end of you."

Harvey looked taken aback. "How can you say such things John? You and I have become closer than anyone either of us has ever known. I would feel sad if you were gone, whether that meant my own demise or not."

It was times like these that John was always a bit more cautious of the clone than usual, he really couldn't understand the benefit it would be to the wraith for him to make up speeches like he did. It made him think briefly that Harvey meant his words. That realisation always made him uneasy.

"Ok. Well we'll talk later ok, I don't want Aeryn shooting me thinking you've taken me over."

"Alright John." He replied, feeling content to silently stand beside Aeryn, acting as nothing more than a spectator.

"John?" Aeryn inquired again, her voice notching up into a higher pitch as she watched for John's vacant eyes to gain focus once more. He blinked his eyes and turned to look directly at her.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"The clone?"

"Yeah, he wanted to offer his services."

Aeryn sniffed in annoyance. She would never get used to the clone, and she would never like the affect it had over John, but she had to believe he was stronger than it.

"We need to figure out how we're going to help Crais. Shooting our way onto the command carrier will be no easy feat."

"Yeah I know. We're going to need Talyn to work with us on it, we can't have him doing the whole boy scout thing again and working solo. I think the easiest way to save Crais would be for me to-"

"No." stated Aeryn coldly, her eyes piercing his own. "You are not going to surrender yourself. It didn't work too well last time, if you recall."

He scratched the back of his head. "I know. I was just throwing it out there. That's the easiest way to get onboard, but as you said, I don't want to do that again. Don't want to give Scorpy another chance to stick a chip in my head."

"Good." She replied smugly.

"Still, that only makes this harder. We can't sneak onboard, everyone knows our faces too well by now and we don't have any fake moustaches lying around."

Aeryn tilted her head over his words. "We could always have Talyn create a diversion, then sneak on board."

John looked at her appraisingly. "That could work, and if we got some guard suits nobody would know we were there. Still, I don't like the idea of leaving Talyn alone."

"No, neither do I. And I'm sure that won't please him either."

"If I may?" Inquired a hesitant voice from behind them. Both of them immediately swung around and aimed their pistols at the speakers head.

Stepping back in shock Hubero looked at the sebaceans cautiously.

"I didn't mean to interrupt. My cell door was opened, Naj Gil says you are allowing us to walk freely. I was walking down this corridor when I heard you speaking. I didn't want to listen in but I didn't want to move and draw attention to myself."

John snorted and Aeryn looked at him with a sceptically amused look. "You're nebari, it seems your species has a knack for accidentally listening in to private conversations."

Hubero looked at the two beings in confusion. She shrugged and continued, "I don't know what it is you are doing, though if that tech was telling the truth and you really are John Crichton, making you Aeryn Sun, then I can only guess you are doing something important."

Aeryn looked at her sharply. "You know who we are, what will you do with such information?"

"That's what I'm getting to. I don't want to go back to my people, they didn't want me because of my... differences. But I also don't want to be stranded on some backwater planet. Besides, I would be worried I might let something slip about your location."

John watched her trying to explain herself with amusement. "You saying you want to stay aboard the Titanic?"

"I'm saying I would rather wait a while before leaving for any old planet. I could keep your ship company while you do whatever it is you are planning to do."

"I don't know." Said Aeryn quietly, looking at the nebari curiously. "John?"

"I don't see why not. I mean, I doubt Talyn would abandon us, well, you anyway. So I think it would be safe for him to be left with her. And it would be company for him, if not the company he wanted."

"Hey!" Hubero cried indignantly.

"Don't take it to heart kid, I'm not that company either, he'd much rather be on a solo cruise around the galaxy with Ms Sun here than anyone else alive." John said, calming her.

Aeryn smiled briefly. "Alright, she can stay, for now."

"Thank you both, you won't regret it." Said Hubero, a shy smile lighting up her face.

"See that we don't." Aeryn muttered ominously.

They both watched as Hubero walked lightly back down the corridor, probably intent on exploring her temporary new home.

"Right, so, we should probably figure out what Godzilla wants to do as well."

"If by that you mean the scarran, then I suppose so. He seems trustworthy enough, for a scarran. It would make life easier if he were to stay, he would be good in battle."

They both began the short trek up to command where Naj Gil was still watching over everything patiently.

* * *

Naj Gil and his team of soldiers set up a perimeter outside the house they had cornered there prey into. They had been sent by emperor Staleek himself to deal with this traitor to their kind. The man inside had been aiding sebaceans and other allies of the peacekeepers, helping them remain hidden whilst they crept around scarran space learning what secrets they could. Perhaps the man did not realise that most of those he aided were spies, but even in ignorance he was now a traitor and had earned a traitors punishment.

It had been six years since Naj Gil had joined the scarran army, all scarrans were to serve at least ten years in the army during their lifetime and Naj Gil had chosen to join them as soon as his sisters and brothers were grown and capable of living their own lives. Joining the forces meant leaving all family ties behind, you were not to speak with anyone from the outside until the day you were saluted off the ranks.

It was a good life, the endless training and the camaraderie suited most scarrans and Naj Gil in particular took pleasure in showing his strength and earning respect through it. He looked forward to the day he was allowed to leave, for he would again be able to seek out his mate once more, but for now it was a good and honourable life, if not always pleasant.

Fate always had a way of intervening when life became too comfortable for it's subjects. Naj Gil was no different.

On that fateful day, with the pale sun rising weakly over the planet and a stale wind blowing through, upsetting small piles of dust on the ground, a proud and tall scarran officer stepped before his troops, weapon at the ready, and called in a booming and authoritive voice, "Traitor, you are surrounded, come out unarmed and you will be treated with mercy."

At first the winds was the only sound to be heard beyond the hot breathing of the soldiers, and then from within the house came a shuffle and movement. The door at the front slowly slid open and as the soldiers raised their weapons in readiness, an aged but still strong, scarran male stepped forward into the brightening daylight.

He looked defiantly outwards, to the sky, ignoring his soon to be captors. Naj Gil blinked his eyes and looked at him properly, ready to judge him with his eyes. The moment he looked to his face his blood became cool and his jaw clenched tightly. Forgetting the soldiers behind him he took a small step forward.

"Father?" He whispered quietly on the air, though all behind him heard anyway.

His second came forward uneasily, "Naj, our orders are to shoot him." he reminded.

Naj Gil was torn. He raised his weapon to the face of his father and stood their in silence for a time. In anguish he released the safety and his gun hummed with the familiar sound of charging up. Images of childhood flashed through his mind and Naj Gil felt his resolve weakening. How could he kill the man he admired most in this universe and the next?

With a cry he spun and caught his second by surprise, blasting him through the chest. Before the others could retaliate he aimed and fired, one after the other. He had not been assigned the most intelligent of troops and it had taken them too long to realise what was happening. There were only two out of the six left when they finally picked up on the situation. One raised his weapon to cover whilst the other ran to their ship to comm for back up.

Naj Gil finally stopped firing and looked disgustedly at what he had done. Turning to his father he quietly said, "you should go now. Long life to you father" before turning from him and walking back to his ship where his last soldier stood. He held out his arms and the soldier quickly restrained them with cuffs. Walking into the ship peacefully he sat, ready for his fate and glad to have protected his family.

One weeken later, as the ship still flew towards the dreadnought that was it's home, they were intercepted by a small fleet of peacekeepers who could not believe their luck at finding only one free scarran aboard the ship. Both of them had been taken prisoner immediately and the peacekeepers had returned to their command carrier. Naj Gil never saw his soldier again after they were taken to different cells, but he had certainly heard his roars of pain.

Footsteps snapped him out of his reverie. He was free now, he reminded himself. He looked around him at the red hued ship he was in. He didn't really know what his future held, but for the moment this was a fine ship and he was enjoying his time in command, no matter how brief it was sure to be.

The steps became louder as their owners entered command.

"Hey it's the mighty megalosauros! How you doin' man?"

Naj Gil turned to look at the two odd sebaceans. "I am doing well. You're ship is very efficient. We are currently orbiting the planet you wanted."

Aeryn and John shared a brief look, deciding who should speak. It was decided when Aeryn discreetly poked John in the back. Wincing he stepped forward, and with a pleased smile Aeryn walked over to check on Talyn.

"Oh good. That's good. We needed to stock up on supplies. I guess you'll be coming down with us then?" John asked questioningly.

Naj Gil looked with some confusion down at the man, "as has been arranged, yes. The nebari and I will travel down. Will the tech be coming with us?"

"Naw I think we're going to keep the tech for a while. I always wanted one as a pet. So I guess it'll be just you then." In the background John heard Talyn make a noise that sounded distinctly like laughter. He decided to ignore it until later.

"And Hubero."

"She's decided to join our motley crew. For a while at least. She wants to find a better planet so she's going to help us out here in return for us finding it for her."

"I stay with the nebari." Naj Gil stated.

"You don't have to, I mean we won't hurt her. Intentionally anyway."

"I told her I would protect her when we were prisoners, I shall continue to do so. I have no wish to be left alone on some planet I do not know." he said stubbornly. He wasn't sure what he'd do if John said no, but he was not leaving Hubero alone here and he also did not wish for his freedom to be cut short so soon after he got it.

He need not have worried. As soon as he had finished speaking a wide grin had appeared on John's face. "Great!" he exclaimed, "we were hoping you'd stay. Me and Aeryn have to go out of town for a while, we'd feel a whole lot better having someone like you babysitting the Porsche."

"You would leave me here with the nebari and the tech?" He had wondered before if these sebaceans were crazy, they acted in such odd ways, this only proved it.

"Well yeh, as I've said before, Talyn, gunship."

"And where will you and your mate be?"

John reddened at his use of 'mate' and quickly glanced at Aeryn who was seemingly ignoring the conversation. "We've got some business with an old friend. Talyn's going to be our distraction and we're going to get on board the command carrier and rescue the good captain. What do you say, you still willing to stay? It could be dangerous. And your first priority will have to be Talyn."

"I will stay."

John smiled again, though this time briefly. His face took on a vacant look as he seemed to disappear inside himself.

"Are you alright?" he asked, after the human had been quiet for a few microns. He noticed that the female looked over at his words and stared worriedly at her shipmate.

John shook his head slightly then focussed his eyes back on the scarran. "Yeah, I'm good. And that's good, that you'll be staying. Why don't you go explore Talyn for a while, pick some quarters. I think Hubero said she was moving to the third tier." He replied, his voice quiet and distracted.

Naj Gil nodded and decided to ignore this strange behaviour for now. He left command to find Hubero.

As soon as he was gone Aeryn walked over to John. Taking his face in her hands she forced his eyes to look at hers.

"John? What is it?" She asked, moving her eyes all over his face as if searching for injury.

"Sorry. Just something Harvey was saying."

Suppressing a growl Aeryn took a calming breath. "What does that creature want?"

"Want? A hot dog. He reckons he can figure out what it's made of."

"John." The cold tone to her voice was seemingly enough to bring John back from wherever it was he was. He looked at her properly now and saw the concern on her face.

"He was just reminding me of a few things, bad timing. We're heading for Scorpius' command carrier after we resupply, right?"

"That is the most likely place for Crais to be, yes."

"Yeh. Well Harv was reminding me of why that's probably a bad idea, I mean if Scorpius catches me I'm frelled."

"Are you saying you won't help Crais?"

"No, no. I ignored him when he said that. But then he reminded me, what Scorpius wants, the equations in my head, he already has them, right? He took the chip out of my head, and if it worked that must mean he has them? Sooner or later he's going to figure out how to use them and I'm not sure I can live with that on my conscience." Looking down, John attempted to hide the pain in his eyes as he thought of a universe where wormhole weaponry was a reality.

"So we go in, find Crais, destroy the wormhole equations, and leave." Aeryn stated methodically. A small smile twitched at the corner of John's mouth.

"I thought I was gonna have to beg you to even consider it." He said quietly.

"I do not want Scorpius to control wormholes just as much as you do, Crichton. If we can destroy a part of his research when we are already there then we will do it. It means staying longer and increasing our chances of detection, but if it's possible we will do it. If not we'll simply wait for a better chance."

Raising his head once more John allowed a smile to blossom on his face. He grabbed Aeryn, much to her surprise, and crushed her to him. Her hands when from his face to carefully encircle his back.

"Thank you." He breathed into her hair.

"You should know I will always have your back by now. Now come on, we need to get down to that planet." She replied as she pulled herself out of his grasp.

* * *

"What are you doing Hubero?" Asked Naj as he strode down the corridor in her direction. He had scented her faint odour whilst on another tier and had decided to search her out.

"Well I figured everyone was busy so I thought I would feed the peacekeeper. I'd rather not have to deal with a dead sebacean if I can help it." She was settled cross legged outside the peacekeepers cell, watching as he ate from his small tray of food cubes.

"Has he spoken?"

"Naw, I think he's pretty kritzha'd over the whole change of power. He was probably getting some frelling kinkoid pleasure out of dying for his people, and now he's feeling frustrated 'cause he has to live a while longer." She replied, still looking through the bars curiously as if expecting him to suddenly jump into action.

Naj Gil barked a short burst of laughter behind her. "Yes, there is no greater punishment for a peacekeeper than not getting to die without reason."

"Have they told you I'm staying?" She turned her head slightly to watch the large reptile before her. Before she had met him she had had an irrational fear of scarrans, frell, everyone in the galaxy was terrified of them, but now after getting to know him the little she had she felt she could lower her walls a little. They had become friends, through a shared fate and purpose.

"Yes. I have decided to stay also." He noticed her smile and tried to reflect it through his eyes, a scarrans face wasn't the most emotive thing. He too was glad to have a comrade with him, the two crewmembers of this ship were still new to him and it would be nice to have some form of familiarity.

"We're going to have to look after this ship for a while, they said. They're John Crichton and Aeryn Sun, did you know?"

"I had suspected. I wasn't sure until a few arns ago. The human Crichton has a kalish house tattoo on his neck, I thought he might be an escaped slave. Have you heard anything said about it?" Naj Gil asked. He had noticed the odd tattoos when he had first seen the man but had put his thoughts aside as they dealt with their new freedom. He didn't recognise the words, but he knew it was from a long thought dead kalish language. This ship and it's miniscule crew were a mystery to him, and unless given reason he was not about to devote himself to unravelling it.

"I wondered about that, he doesn't look like the tribal type, maybe it's some custom from his planet? I've heard he is a primitive."

"Perhaps." he mused, not speaking his thoughts aloud.

"Hey guys," came Johns voice over the comms, "me and Aeryn are flying down to the planet below, let us know if you need anything. Look after the kid and keep an eye on the tech."

Hubero's face took on a disgusted look. "He wants us to take out our eyes?"

Naj Gil was equally as confused but suppressed it. "I was getting to know the ship, it may be important one day, would you like to join me?"

Looking between him and the still silent tech a few times she nodded and stood up in one fluid motion. "Let's go. Maybe there'll be something worth snurching on board."

Raising a scaly brow as much as he could he followed the excited nebari in bemusement.

* * *

The planet they had found seemed to be fitting John's pattern of planet's in the uncharteds. He was coming up with a pretty good system of classifying them and on the rare quiet day when his mind was given time to think, he started wondering if there was a galaxy-wide conspiracy that made all the planets follow a certain rule book religiously. So far he had come up with 'dusty and hot', 'barren and cold', 'dirty and wet' and of course the freakishly perfect (a category he had had to make quickly after the adventures on the Royal Planet.)

This planet fitted comfortably into the 'dirty and wet' category, the roads were slick with what he hoped was a recent rainfall and small rivers of putrid waste flowed haphazardly downhill from where they were, to seep quickly into what he could only imagine was some sort of archaic sewerage system. He wrinkled his nose in disgust and stepped as daintily as he could over piles of unknown substances. To his side he noticed with surprise that Aeryn was doing much the same. He had thought she would berate him for his careful steps.

"Yep, what I wouldn't give for us to be on a date right now." John said, breaking into the concentrated silence that had blossomed between them as they had tried not to dirty themselves. "Romeo and Juliet thought they had it good, what with their canals and clean streets. Me, I'm a fan of rivers of sludge. What you reckon Sunshine, will we ditch the mustang and captain crunch and set up house?"

She didn't need to answer, her glance towards him saying more than words ever could, but she did anyway. "Shut up Crichton."

Smirking John continued his careful march. He didn't want to stay on this planet longer than he had to. Not only because he was worried about what sort of diseases he could pick up, but recently he hadn't been having to much luck with planets.

"So food and guns, that's what we're after right?" He watched her nod and then hiss as she accidentally stepped in a puddle. "You sure it'd be safe to buy food here? They don't seem to big on hygiene."

"We're buying food cubes John," she said slowly as if speaking to a dim child, "nothing can spoil or contaminate food cubes."

"Of course. Even the bacteria think they taste like crap."

She cast him another withering look and he decided to stop talking for a while and concentrate on walking up the hill. There was a decided lack of people walking about outside, probably because of the earlier rain and the stench of the place. The market was over the top of the hill they were walking, according to the sick looking woman in charge of the landing area.

A flash of red caught John's eye and he swivelled his head to look down an alley. Nothing. You're losing it man, he thought to himself.

A few microts later, just as they reached the top of the hill and were able to see the pathetic gathering that apparently was being passed off as a market, John saw the red again.

"Hey Aeryn, you see something a micron ago?"

"There's been a kalish following us since we landed." She stated calmly, looking out on the market for the stalls they would require. Pointing towards one she turned to John, "you go get the food, I'll get the weapons."

"Whoa, hang on a sec Lassie, you just said we're being followed, didn't feel like sharing that earlier? We are not separating!" A small twinge of panic entered his mind as his recent meetings with kalish entered his mind. Aeryn looked at him in dawning realisation, so intent on reaching the market without stepping in the unknown she had forgotten for a moment the recent events. Immediately she felt shame, which John picked up on.

"I'm sorry John, I didn't see it as a threat. I forgot. But we do need to get this done quickly, I'll be able to see you from the weapons stall so you will be safe."

Slightly reassured John nodded, peering around himself anxiously. "Alright, but keep your comms on."

"Of course." She replied, walking away swiftly. Turning in the other direction he made his way over to where she had pointed him, still casting a wary eye out for the kalish.

Reaching his designated stall he quickly relayed his requirements to the owner, organising transportation for the goods to the prowler and handing over the small amount of money he had. He glanced over to Aeryn to see how she was doing, she caught his eye and smiled, nodding her head. She was evidently pleased with her own progress.

Not wanting to impede her efforts, he meandered slowly around the other stalls, looking in at their displays and all the while keeping up his guard against possible threats to himself or Aeryn, who he kept in his eye line.

"Peacekeeper." A hushed voice whispered from a stall, halting John in his wanderings. Hand on Winona he looked into the stall from where the voice came. Hidden in the shadows sat a young kalish boy.

"Who are you?" John replied suspiciously.

"Nasir." He replied just as guardedly. "Are you to save my people?" He asked quietly.

"What? No, I'm just buying food then I'll be gone."

"You have the sign of the ruling house on you, I do not speak our dead language but I recognise the symbols." He looked at John intensely, before breaking out in a grin, "you will save us."

"Look kid, I don't know what you're talking about, yeh I got some tattoo's but they mean nothing. Why were you following us?" This kid is weird, John thought to himself, he can't be more than ten cycles yet he acts and talks like someone triple that. His eyes were too intense, it was making him nervous.

"I had to know, I had to be sure. I saw you when you landed, I've never seen one of the claimed before." He whispered excitedly, as if he was passing on some secret knowledge.

"The claimed?"

"Yes. My people do not lightly accept outsiders to our cause, you must be special indeed that they would openly mark you as one of us."

"Look, kid.. I.."

"Anything you need, anything at all, I can get it for you." He said, nodding his head enthusiastically.

Maybe there were some perks to this branding, he thought. "What you mean kid?"

His eyes widened perceptibly, his face paling drastically as he glanced around John. "I must go, hero. There is a ship at the docks, here is the ident, take it. It is the least I can do for my people." He pressed a small ident tag into John's hand, still looking past him with a frightened look on his face. A hand grabbed John's shoulder and he jumped, turning quickly on his face he pressed Winona up into Aeryn's face.

Taking in a gulp of air he lowered his weapon. "Jesus, Aeryn, don't sneak up on me like that! I could have hurt you!"

She had the grace to look apologetic for a micron. "You, hurt me? I think not human." Grinning she looked into his face for any signs of stress. Finding none she looked past him at the empty herb stall. "What are you doing here? I finished up a while ago but couldn't find you."

"I was talking to that kalish that was following us." John turned back to the stall to introduce Aeryn, but the boy was gone. "Now that is definitely weird." He muttered.

Aeryn watched him worriedly for any sign that he was mentally unstable. "I'm not crazy Aeryn, the kid was definitely here. Kept calling me a saviour and a hero."

"Now I definitely know you're crazy"

"Haha. Funny. But look, he gave me the keys to some ship in the landing area." He passed the ident chip over to her and she inspected it carefully.

"Probably a hoax. Come on, we need to get off this planet before our clothes start to rot." She grabbed his arm gently and steered him in the direction of her prowler, ignoring his grumbling.

When they got to the landing dock Aeryn was ready to go straight to her prowler, but John veered off and went up the lady that worked there. Holding up the ident chip he spoke to her, "I got some ship off a kid in the market, thing is I don't know where it's parked, could you help me out?" He had on his most innocent smile, and Aeryn snorted in disgust as the waxen skinned woman batted her eyes at John and smiled sweetly, nodding. John turned to Aeryn smugly with an 'I told you so' look on his face.

Together they went with the woman to one of the large garages where long-term vessels were kept. Typing in a code the door slowly rose up.

Aeryn gasped in shock at the ship inside. John turned to her curiously, waiting for her to tell him what it was. "That's the new class scarran stryker. Faster than my prowler, with more weaponry and better cloaking. It's only downfall is it's weight, my prowler could circle it a dozen times before it could make one full turn. I have only heard of them, peacekeeper high command have regiments dedicated to the retrieval of scarran ships but they are very rarely successful, most of them self destruct once the pilot dies or realises imminent capture.

"Cool. Told you I wasn't crazy. How we going to get it up to Talyn?"

"It's too heavy for my prowler, but I think it could carry my prowler. I think I remember how to fly these things."

"You think?"

Ignoring his remark she started organising herself and the two ships for flying back to Talyn.

* * *

"That's about all of it, Aeryn just flew it back up here, we figured the sooner the better, no point waiting for the owner to come back and arrest us for accidentally stealing his ship." John concluded, watching Naj Gil as he reverently circled the new ship, trailing one hand along its surface. He had been silent since they had flown it into the hangar and called him down. Hubero was fidgeting impatiently near the door.

"And you knew how to fly this?" He finally said, looking at Aeryn with intense interest.

"Yes. All pilots are given a basic knowledge of scarran vessels, should we acquire one, I simply applied that knowledge to this."

The scarran snorted at 'acquire' but other than that he remained quiet, contemplative. John and Aeryn watched him for a while, but thinking he was done speaking they went round the other side of the ship and spoke quietly. They were interrupted by the scarrans quietly posed question.

"You wish to board a command carrier unseen, yes?"

"Unseen, unheard, unknown. Any combination of those." John replied.

Coming around to where they were standing Naj stood taller and announced, "then I shall get you there."

They both looked at him curiously, as if they didn't think he had really said that. Hubero came forward from the door with an angered expression.

"You can't! What about staying here, protecting me, protecting this ship?"

The great reptile turned to face her slowly. "They will kill themselves trying to get on board without my help, this peacekeeper knows how to fly it, yes, but she is not scarran so she does not fly it well."

Aeryn opened her mouth indignantly, but kept herself from speaking when John grabbed her arm and shook his head at her.

"Look, Naj, we only need to get on board, Aeryn can do that for us, we don't need you risking yourself. You're better off minding the ship, we don't need anybody else getting involved." John said.

"And the cloaking device, does your peacekeeper understand that?" At Aeryn's shake of the head he continued, "I can get you on board without risking your ship, they will not see us or know we are there. I can then retreat to a safe distance while you do your duty and return when you signal, it is more logical to have your escape planned before you need to use it."

John could see the wisdom of his words, better to have a man trained to this particular ship than someone only trained in the basics. At least that way he would definitely have an escape route and there was little chance the ship would be detected so Talyn could stay safely hidden. The pros were starting to outweigh the cons.

Ignoring Hubero's angered and hurt face John stepped closer to Naj Gil to slap him lightly on the back. Grinning he said "Welcome to the team. After second meal what say you and me take this baby for a ride, get yourself used to her, do some scouting, that kinda thing, then tomorrow we'll get up close and personal with the command carrier. If we get this right we could all be in bed and sleeping in forty eight arns." The more he thought about this new development, the more overly optimistic he became. 'This is gonna work' he thought to himself.

"I'll go with you on this practise run." Put in Aeryn calmly, not letting herself be excited by John's words. Better he be the optimistic one and she be the practical.

Smile faltering slightly John looked at her warily as though she was aiming a gun to his head. "We don't need you to come, I've got me my pilot. This way you can stay here with Talyn while I go get Crais."

Naj Gil and Hubero looked at one another, then back at the pair, watching as rage slowly took over Aeryn's expression. John instinctively took a step backwards.

"I am coming with you Crichton." She said quietly, her eyes doing all the shouting for her.

"I think we probably need to check on the tech." Hubero put in, grabbing at Naj Gil's arm. He looked at her in confusion before catching on.

"Yes, I think you're right." He replied, both of them beginning to back off towards the door, sensing an imminent storm.

"That's fine," Aeryn said pleasantly, "John and I need to discuss something."

John gulped and looked pleadingly to Naj Gil, but he merely shook his head and walked the rest of the way out to the corridor and as far away from the two as he could.

* * *

Sitting down wearily at the table a few arns later for second meal, John looked down at his plate of food cubes sullenly.

"Aeryn and I decided it would be best if she accompanied us." He muttered down to his plate.

Smirking, Aeryn nodded her affirmation of this to Hubero and Naj Gil. Hubero's mouth twitched a little at the situation and Naj Gil let out an odd cough that was presumably a laugh.

"Then we shall go out after this meal and get acquainted with the ships systems." Said Naj Gil.

John and Aeryn both nodded. Hubero waited for quiet again before she spoke.

"The tech wants to go with you."

John nearly choked on a laugh. "What?"

"Tech. You. Go with."

"You're kidding me right? Wormtongue wants us to take him back to Mordor? Why in the hell would he think we'd agree to that?"

Hubero shrugged, "Ask him yourself."

"Did he say anything else?" Aeryn inquired before John got enough air to begin an intelligible tirade again.

"No not really. He doesn't tend to say much. Mostly he just stares and doesn't thank me for the foodcubes."

"Right." She looked to the human beside her. "John?"

"Yeah."

With no more than that they both got up from the table and left.

Quickly checking to make sure the two were really gone, Naj Gil looked at Hubero. "Why didn't you tell them?"

Guiltily she met his eyes. "Didn't see as how it would change anything."

* * *

Markir Tal had been sitting quietly in his cell for arns now. He had given up thinking of ways to somehow override the systems powering the door. He chose now to wait for the people in charge to come down and tell him he couldn't go with them. But of course he knew he could, and he would.

He had always felt that his relegation to the 'techs' was not something that suited him. He had always fancied himself as a disruptor, or commando, or anything that wasn't a bottom dwelling refresher fixer. Everyone around him had always seemed so content with their jobs, content with their meaningless and unremarkable lives. They disgusted him, and in return they had no fond feelings for him either as he would often let them know just what he thought of them, and himself. It was some sort of fluke that had him assigned to tech duties, a mistake at birth that had seen him grow too short and too scrawny to even be considered for anything besides his technological work.

Times were changing, and with them so would he. He would be remembered in peacekeeper history for millenia. No more would people be in everlasting awe of sub officer Dacon. It was Markir Tal's time to rise up to the pedestal that awaited him.

And so he sat, smirking to himself in the dark corner of his sparse cell, imagining his welcome back to the peacekeepers and his future glories.

Steps from further down the corridor caught his attention and he stepped forward, pressing his face to the space between the bars.

"Have you come to let me out now?" He said into the gloom.

The man known as John Crichton stepped forward. "Boy, you've got some pretty crazy aspirations if you even think I am letting you outta this cell before the next planet."

Ignoring him he set his eyes on Aeryn, who was standing just to the left of the human. "Officer Sun, join me in taking this man to the peacekeepers and your very image will be revered. You were a peacekeeper once, you can be again."

"I find being a traitor suits me far better."

"But didn't you ever want to return? Help me officer Sun, take me with you, return me to my home and I'll say nothing of you or your human recreation partner."

John snorted beside her. "I wish."

Aeryn cast him a withering glance. "Shut up John. Now tech, why did you think we would even consider taking you with us?"

He had been waiting for this, preparing for this in the confines of his cell. "Because I can help you." He answered smugly.

"Help us get caught." Said John.

"You bring me back, I'll find a way to get you what you need. You seek the captain of this ship do you not? I know the codes for the prisoner level, for the doors. I know where you can land your ship so that it won't be detected. If you're not interested, fine. Drop me at the nearest planet and I'll get home myself."

John watched him sceptically. "How do we know you won't betray us?"

"You don't. But I'm sure you won't leave me out of your sight."

Aeryn scrutinised him as he spoke. "This is a mistake John."

John looked at her, trying to decipher any hidden messages in her eyes. Shrugging, he replied with a half-hearted "Yeah."

Markir looked eagerly between the pair, knowing this was too much of a good oppurtunity for them to turn down.

"I think maybe we need him." John stated, looking cautiously at Aeryn.

Sighing, she looked at Markir with disgust. "I agree."

**Right, so there it is. Hopefully the next chapter won't take an entire year to upload. Slán.  
Edited 10/5/11.. I started calling Markir Macton for some reason. Fixed that.**


End file.
