Scarran Decimator, near Arnessk
They managed to escape. Somehow.
Had Stark been thinking clearly he might have admitted that the Kalish woman was useful after all once she had ignited the gas and provided a means of escape from the cell. But he wasn't thinking clearly. His head still hurt. Everything hurt. And he was angry and confused and feeling betrayed.
Crichton offered him a gun, asking if he wanted to kill someone, as they made their way into the corridor. Stark simply snarled at him. He didn't want a gun. He didn't want to fight anyone, he didn't want any more death, he just wanted to be left alone. And, as Crichton was probably rightly assuming, giving him a rifle when he was this angry at his friends couldn't end well for anyone.
He was dimly aware of Crichton speaking with D'Argo, who evidently really wasn't dead, on comms and of Aeryn becoming more and more insistent that they needed to transfer the baby from Rygel as soon as possible. At some point it became clear this was a matter of life and death which was at least enough to capture Stark's attention. The actual transfer held his rather horrified attention as well and he was privately pleased when Aeryn confirmed that it had indeed worked. That didn't last long.
"What is this? Whatever you put in my head is gonna explode!" he said, the first time he'd spoken since the cell door had been blown off.
Crichton was more concerned with the weapons fire all around them than with the possibility of Stark's head exploding. "You're not gonna be the only thing around here exploding if D'Argo doesn't show up."
"Stop acting like a bunch of losers and look down!" D'Argo retorted from his position beneath a grate on the next deck down. The Luxan fired at said grate, hoping to gain access to the deck above, but that plan failed. Apparently it was resistant to pulse fire. Scorpius proved himself useful once more, which would have annoyed Stark if he cared at this point, by improvising an explosive from the cooling rod in his head.
Aeryn leapt through the resulting hole in the floor first. Crichton tried to help Stark down, but Stark was still unwilling to be touched by anyone and smacked Crichton's hands away. Unfortunately this resulted in his falling backwards through the grate. That hurt, but less than the already existing hurts. Rygel was thrown down next, followed by Crichton and Scorpius and Sikozu.
The reunion with D'Argo, and with his son Jothee and the Luxan commandos he brought with him, had to be postponed aside from a few quick pleasantries. They were, after all, trying to escape. Which they did, to the safety of the Luxan ship that had previously rescued Chiana and D'Argo after his ship had been destroyed by the Scarrans.
Chiana, unaware of what occured on the Decimator had tried to talk with Stark once the Luxan ship was safely away. He put up a hand to ward her off, mumbling something unintelligible. That, combined with the expression on his tear dampened face, was enough for her to back away and let him be.
They made it back to Moya, eventually. And Stark quickly retreated from the others, huddling in a corner of what had once been Zhaan's quarters.
[Two days in a row. What is the world coming to? Assistance provided from a transcript and my DVD player, as per usual.]
Had Stark been thinking clearly he might have admitted that the Kalish woman was useful after all once she had ignited the gas and provided a means of escape from the cell. But he wasn't thinking clearly. His head still hurt. Everything hurt. And he was angry and confused and feeling betrayed.
Crichton offered him a gun, asking if he wanted to kill someone, as they made their way into the corridor. Stark simply snarled at him. He didn't want a gun. He didn't want to fight anyone, he didn't want any more death, he just wanted to be left alone. And, as Crichton was probably rightly assuming, giving him a rifle when he was this angry at his friends couldn't end well for anyone.
He was dimly aware of Crichton speaking with D'Argo, who evidently really wasn't dead, on comms and of Aeryn becoming more and more insistent that they needed to transfer the baby from Rygel as soon as possible. At some point it became clear this was a matter of life and death which was at least enough to capture Stark's attention. The actual transfer held his rather horrified attention as well and he was privately pleased when Aeryn confirmed that it had indeed worked. That didn't last long.
"What is this? Whatever you put in my head is gonna explode!" he said, the first time he'd spoken since the cell door had been blown off.
Crichton was more concerned with the weapons fire all around them than with the possibility of Stark's head exploding. "You're not gonna be the only thing around here exploding if D'Argo doesn't show up."
"Stop acting like a bunch of losers and look down!" D'Argo retorted from his position beneath a grate on the next deck down. The Luxan fired at said grate, hoping to gain access to the deck above, but that plan failed. Apparently it was resistant to pulse fire. Scorpius proved himself useful once more, which would have annoyed Stark if he cared at this point, by improvising an explosive from the cooling rod in his head.
Aeryn leapt through the resulting hole in the floor first. Crichton tried to help Stark down, but Stark was still unwilling to be touched by anyone and smacked Crichton's hands away. Unfortunately this resulted in his falling backwards through the grate. That hurt, but less than the already existing hurts. Rygel was thrown down next, followed by Crichton and Scorpius and Sikozu.
The reunion with D'Argo, and with his son Jothee and the Luxan commandos he brought with him, had to be postponed aside from a few quick pleasantries. They were, after all, trying to escape. Which they did, to the safety of the Luxan ship that had previously rescued Chiana and D'Argo after his ship had been destroyed by the Scarrans.
Chiana, unaware of what occured on the Decimator had tried to talk with Stark once the Luxan ship was safely away. He put up a hand to ward her off, mumbling something unintelligible. That, combined with the expression on his tear dampened face, was enough for her to back away and let him be.
They made it back to Moya, eventually. And Stark quickly retreated from the others, huddling in a corner of what had once been Zhaan's quarters.
[Two days in a row. What is the world coming to? Assistance provided from a transcript and my DVD player, as per usual.]