Farscape: Dice (R), John/Aeryn, Chiana/D'Argo.

[laytoncolt]

Some knowledge ran too deep to be removed; some had bled into his soul.



previous part

II.

Chiana let Aeryn talk and plan, she let her explain how she would stay here with D’Argo, while Aeryn posed as the prowler pilot she used to be on Scorpius’s ship, and she didn’t say anything. She let Aeryn talk, but that was all she was going to let her do. She wasn’t staying behind this time, because if she got herself killed she wasn’t leaving a child behind, she wasn’t leaving anything behind.

Aeryn was the one with something to lose, and Chiana wasn’t going to let her.

When Aeryn looked around to confirm the plans she hadn’t really been listening to anyway and met her eyes, she said, “Nope.”

Aeryn raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Chiana shrugged. “In the words of Crichton, it ain’t gonna happen.”

Aeryn crossed her arms. “This is the best chance we have. I will infiltrate the command carrier…”

“How?” Chiana snapped. “Aside from the fact you’ll be recognized, Aeryn, you don’t have an ident chip. That’s why I’m going.”

“Because a Nebari on a Peacekeeper vessel is entirely inconspicuous, is that it?” Aeryn snapped. “You’ll do no such thing.”

Chiana pulled a small pouch from her side and emptied it on the table. A handful of ident chips rolled out on the surface, and Rygel’s eyes widened in obvious approval. “I collected a few during the battle,” Chiana said softly. “Not one of my finest moments, but I figured they might be needed and it seems I was right.” Chiana looked through them and picked one up. “I’m going to be Officer Marne Raen, and Noranti is going to create me.”

“No,” Aeryn said. “You make a terrible Peacekeeper, Chiana.”

“That was years ago,” Chiana said, determined. “I’d be better at it now. And with all of Noranti’s potions and paints…” Chiana turned to Noranti. “Can you make me look Sebacean?”

Noranti nodded eagerly. “Yes, yes of course…you would make a fine Sebacean!”

Chiana turned to Aeryn, pleased with herself. “And though they’d recognize a Nebari, they wouldn’t look twice at a lost prowler pilot, trying to find her people after getting lost in the madness of a war.”

“I will not let you do this,” Aeryn said firmly. “This is my responsibility.”

“D’Argo is your responsibility,” Chiana said gently. “You can’t be in two places at once, Aeryn, let me help.”

“Chiana is right,” Rygel said. “She should go, and we will stay here to protect D’Argo aboard Moya.”

Aeryn turned to him in disbelief. “How noble, Rygel. Your selflessness continues to amaze.”

“Well he’s still right,” Chiana said, taking a step towards Aeryn. “I have a better chance, Aeryn, too many people know you. Scorpius will be watching for you. And D’Argo needs you here.”

Stark sat calmly, watching them. He was quiet now more often than not, no longer speaking in riddles or rants, and when he spoke at all these days he sounded almost sane. “Chiana is very capable, Aeryn,” he said. “She has infiltrated a Peacekeeper base, this is no different.”

“This is different,” Aeryn said, glancing at him briefly before turning back to Chiana. “This isn’t going to retrieve some tissue; this is trying to rescue someone Scorpius isn’t going to let out of his sight!”

“Then I’ll kill him,” Chiana snapped. “Crichton can’t seem to, so I’ll do it for him. I’ll end this, and I’ll bring him back. Aeryn, you have to trust me. I need to do this.”

Aeryn met her eyes angrily. “If you’re just going out of some need for revenge, Chiana, you’ll get yourself and John killed.”

“This isn’t about revenge,” Chiana disagreed. “This is about hanging onto the little I have left. I lost D’Argo, Aeryn, I can’t lose Crichton too. I know you can’t either.”

Aeryn watched Chiana, who met her gaze unflinchingly, and she could feel D’Argo pulling on her hair, trying to get her attention back on him. She knew Chiana had become more than capable, she was as good a fighter as her, if not better, and her aim wasn’t bad. And Chiana had bluffing down pat before they’d ever met. “If you do this,” she started. “You can’t fail.”

“I’m not going to,” Chiana said tightly. “Whatever hold Scorpius has on Crichton, it doesn’t extend to me. It’s time for this to be over, Aeryn, and we both know it.”

Aeryn looked down at D’Argo, wrapped the blanket tighter around him, heard John’s voice in her head asking if they had a black leather jacket in the baby’s size, and yes, she knew it was time for it to be over.

She just wasn’t sure how it was going to end.

- - - - -

“You know what he’s asking, John,” Harvey said, as he sat perched atop the cryopod, his legs crossed and swinging. “You know what he wants. Give it to him, not for D’Argo, but for us!”

Behind him, the nightmare mirror image was breathing down his neck. “I do not trust you, Crichton,” Scorpius whispered. “You have proved time and again you will betray me.”

“Took ya long enough to learn,” John whispered, his eyes still on Harvey, his voice lacking any real bite.

“There is a Scarran dreadnought that patrols near here,” Scorpius continued. “Hundreds of Kalish slaves labor there.”

“Things are worse for them now, Crichton,” Sikozu said, sounding almost pleading. “Since the war, the Scarrans have gone from oppressive to cruel.”

“What do you want me to do about it?” John asked absently, thinking all the time, get off D’Argo’s cryopod you son of a bitch. Harvey grinned at him, but didn’t move. “You know what he wants, John,” Harvey said again, and John had to admit, he had a good guess.

“Tell me, John, is there a wormhole forming nearby?”

The better to gobble up unsuspecting Scarran dreadnoughts, maybe? John’s eyes strayed back to D’Argo. “Why are you doing this?” he asked. He turned to look at Scorpius. “Really, what do you expect to gain? If you do this, it’s a breach of the treaty; it could start all and out war, think it through!” Scorpius remained silent and John shook his head. “Do you really think the Peacekeepers can hold out through another one?”

“Perhaps a war is needed,” Sikozu said, answering before Scorpius could.

John shook his head. “We could renegotiate,” he said, “we could try and get the Scarrans to free the Kalish-”

“For someone capable of such violence,” Sikozu hissed, “you can be startlingly naïve. We have already negotiated the Kalish free, they’re just not holding up their end of the bargain, and the Peacekeepers are so happy to have self-rule they do not care.”

John gave a startled laugh. “Oh, Scorpy, don’t tell me you’ve gone rogue again. The Peacekeeper head honchos don’t want this?”

Scorpius glanced over at him. “This is not sanctioned, no, and if we go through with this action and are caught High Command would immediately order my execution…and possibly yours, if they did not simply hand you over to Grayza.” Scorpius smiled. “However, if you do what I ask, Crichton, we will not be caught.”

John watched him. “What, you want me to make your problem go away, make it disappear through a little wormhole?”

“Yes, John,” Scorpius said, slyly. “And if you do, I will keep Ka D’Argo alive.” His expression darkened and he stepped forward. “If you do not, I will shut off that cryopod and force you to watch him die.”

Harvey jumped off the cryopod behind him, and threw his arm over his shoulders. “Well, that sounds like fun, too, doesn’t it? Whatever you choose, John, I’m behind you. Just like always.”

Harvey’s fingers were seeping cold down to his skin, which John thought was strange, because he knew from too much experience Scorpius was hot to the touch. He closed his eyes and spun around again, opening his eyes only to look back at D’Argo.

“This is a win-win situation, Crichton,” Sikozu said, in that forced way she had of speaking, “you enjoy being a hero, don’t you? You can save my people, you can save your friend, and all you have to do is give us the coordinates to a forming wormhole.”

And it seemed to him that was the only way to save people anymore-by killing just as many. Maybe it was selfish of him, but he wasn’t sure he cared about the Kalish, he sure as hell didn’t care about Sikozu, though at the beginning he had tried. What he did care about was D’Argo, and he didn’t think he could watch another friend die.

He was living permanently between a rock and a hard place, stuck between Harvey and Scorpius, stuck between the greater good and the less of evils and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do anymore. “You give into it,” Harvey whispered. “That’s what you do, John, you hand yourself over to it. Stop fighting.”

Scorpius walked over to the cryopod, opened the console, stared down at the keys contemplatively. “The touch of a button, Crichton, and all hope for him is lost; you have changed, but I do not think you have changed so much you would allow me to press it.”

Scorpius knew little about him, but it seemed that after four years, he had finally learned that much, because he was right. John wouldn’t, because he couldn’t. Not with D’Argo’s life on one side and Scarrans on the other, Scarrans that had created Scorpius, hunted him, damn near killed him. He wouldn’t let D’Argo die for them, and he didn’t care what that made him. “Fine,” he said, quietly, ignoring the responding twin smirks from two identical faces. “You win.”

It was an old game between them, battles and rounds, winners and losers. It seemed to him, the score was in Scorpius’s favor by now. He’d always had a lead. “Of course I do, John,” Scorpius said.

Sikozu threw him a genuine smile, but he ignored her, wouldn’t meet her eyes, because he knew the truth about her and it stood out clear as Harvey in his mind. She would betray him in an instant, and he could probably trust Scorpius more than her. He knew better than to trust either of them-knew better than to even trust himself with Harvey running around the back of his mind, showing up in the middle of the room.

“Crichton,” Scorpius started, moving back over to his side. “Are any wormholes soon to form?”

Veinte, diez, tres…he could sense them all, going off like fireworks in his head, waiting to be triggered, but he shook his head no. Scorpius knew he was lying, and John barely bothered to wonder how. Maybe he was chatting with Harvey, maybe he just knew him better than he thought, whatever it was Scorpius didn’t call him on it and he didn’t take it back.

“Take him to the quarters I have prepared, Sikozu,” Scorpius said, and she nodded. “Oh, and, John, do tell me when you find a wormhole that might be suitable to our purposes?”

John didn’t look back, and as he walked with Sikozu, the Peacekeepers slid out of their way like water over rocks. He tried not to notice the way they looked at him like he was something horrible, but the look was easily recognized, because he’d looked at them the same way his first day this side of the universe.

Sikozu opened the door for him, and he wasn’t surprised when after it had shut behind him, it wouldn’t open again.

- - - - -

He contacted Scorpius early the next morning. He had woken up to a wormhole in his mind, at the edge of his awareness, and he could already hear the countdown in his head. They didn’t have much time, but it would have to be enough. Scorpius had him escorted to command, and he didn’t miss the way no one reached out to touch him. No rough hands pushed him along.

He could see the dreadnought out the front window when he stepped in the room, Sikozu and Scorpius framing either side. “Did you sleep well, John?” Scorpius asked, turning to glance at him.

“Go to hell,” he said simply. Scorpius merely smiled in response. He’d never really been one to anger at insults alone, and if John hadn’t hated him so much, he might have admired that.

“Enter the coordinates,” Sikozu said, leading John to a console. “Do not delay.”

John glanced at her, then shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t have them.”

Scorpius hissed. “What do you mean you do not have them?”

“I’ll tell you what you need to know, when you need to know it,” John said slowly. “I don’t have coordinates, not exactly, not the way you think, I’m not a computer. I just know where it is.”

Scorpius made another inhuman sound and grabbed his arm, pulling him to the front window. “You will talk with them,” he snapped. “Get them to release the Kalish.”

John glanced at him incredulously. “How am I supposed to do that?”

“Do what you do best, John,” Scorpius said, giving a brief menacing smile, “bluff.”

Without a pause, a Scarran appeared in place of the stars. He looked angry, but John thought they all did, so he wasn’t sure he was a good judge. He adjusted his jacket and took a breath, before slipping into an old persona that had always served him well. “Good mornin’,” he said, grinning.

The Scarran’s expression remained for the most part unchanged. “What do you want, Peacekeepers?”

“Nothin’ much,” John said, “just every Kalish onboard your ship. As in all of them. Preferably now, but I’ll give you five minutes.”

The Scarran growled a bit, which John also found to be common among them, as well as unimpressive. “Do you have a death wish?”

“Me?” John asked, looking surprised. “No, no I don’t have a death wish. Do you? Or maybe…” he laughed. “Oh, that must be it. You don’t know who I am, do you?”

The Scarran shifted slightly, and John could almost hear his patience ticking away. He grinned brightly. “Well, I’m John Crichton, and I’m not going to ask nicely again. Send the Kalish out here now, and don’t forget any, because we’ll be counting heads.”

The first spark of something appeared in the Scarran’s eyes, though he showed no outward signs of fear. At least not yet. “You are John Crichton?” he said scathingly. “I had expected more.”

“Appearances can be deceiving,” John said dispassionately. “For instance, to look at you, I’d never guess your species had developed the ability to speak.”

That got him a reaction. The Scarran jumped from his seat, but John never flinched as he loomed closer to the screen. “You dare-”

John shook his head, cutting him off. “Look, we’ve obviously got some kind of misunderstanding here. If you don’t do what I want you to do, I’m going to summon up a big black hole, and you’re going to get pulled apart. Is any of this getting through your thick skull?” The connection was cut, leaving blue static in its place. “I guess it’s not getting through,” John said after a pause.

“On the contrary,” Sikozu said, looking up with a grin. “Their shields have been lowered; I believe they are preparing to follow your commands.”

“Magnificent, John,” Scorpius said, but John only winced. Praise from Scorpius always meant he was definitely doing something he shouldn’t be. Scorpius walked up next to him. “But I want to destroy them, if we do not, there will be trouble with the treaty. Your treasured peace will be threatened.”

“Technically the Kalish are free already by terms of the contract,” John said, “so this isn’t a breach.”

“Threatening them with wormhole weapons is,” Scorpius hissed. “And you know we must not allow them to live. You either lead us to one of your wormholes, or we’re all dead.”

John licked his lips briefly, his eyes locked on the static still playing across the screen. Scorpius had set him up for this, all he had to do was stand back while John painted himself into a corner. “Fire on them once all of the Kalish are onboard, then start straight past them, they’ll follow, threats from the great John Crichton or not. Scarrans have tempers like that." John paused, and then added, "I’ll tell you when to stop.”

Scorpius grinned then turned to look at Sikozu. “Transports are exiting the ship,” she said, pleased. “Only Kalish are aboard. They are complying.”

The minutes ticked by like seconds in John’s mind, and he could see the whole thing play through the back of his mind, perfectly orchestrated. Harvey was counting down in Spanish from where he sat on the floor, keeping track of the wormhole for him, but he needn’t have bothered, because John had the strangest feeling it would wait for him if they were late.

“All of the Kalish are aboard, Scorpius,” Sikozu said, grinning slyly.

Scorpius nodded. “Open fire on the Scarran vessel, and then pull past them. Suspend all communication.”

The crew was quick to comply, and John thought Scorpius had probably hand picked them all. Braca was standing in the background somewhere, John had caught a glimpse of him when he had come in, though he hadn’t been in the mood to say ‘hey, how ya doin’’ at the time. The pulse cannons launched and hit their targets, shaking the dreadnought, causing the shields to lift back up in the aftermath and catch the fire and smoke inside, before the vacuum could snuff it out.

The command carrier took off past them, heading into the dark space, and after a moment, the dreadnought started after them. John glanced at the Peacekeeper equivalent of radar, and watched its progress unconcerned.

“How much time?” Scorpius hissed in his ear.

John looked up, out the front window. He said, “Enough.”

Harvey’s countdown was getting close, and when he reached four John said stop. The command carrier lurched to a halt, the dreadnought continued coming at them, but the space between them was still far enough that, John knew, they would never reach them in time. Not before Harvey said ‘uno.’

“John,” Scorpius hissed, because nothing was happening yet and he didn’t understand, didn’t know like John did, that the empty space was just a breath away from coming to life.

The wormhole burst through the black, shifting and blue and huge, and behind him he heard Sikozu catch her breath. The dreadnought was caught in its pull, just as John had somehow known it would be, and it started swirling towards the center, like water in an open drain.

"John, tell me," Scorpius asked conversationally, "is that wormhole stable?"

John kept his eyes forward. "No," he said, and as he watched the dreadnought get caught in the center and disappear, he tried not to think how many lives he had just traded for a chance at saving D'Argo's.

- - - - -

Scorpius's smile was sickening. John closed his eyes as the wormhole evaporated completely. "I want to go back to the room," he said, quietly, trying to keep the desperation from his voice. He refused to call them his quarters and the omission did not go unnoticed, but John didn't care what they saw in his words. He was just trying to keep his feet as something tugged on him, and tugged, pulling him inevitably down.

Scorpius glanced at him, the smile remaining in place. "Of course, John. Sikozu?"

Sikozu walked over to him, watching him oddly. He started from Command and she immediately kept pace beside him, but when he went to go right she caught his arm and pulled him in the opposite direction. "Where are we going?" he asked, not particularly concerned.

"I need to show you something," she hissed. He followed her without another word, his feet following hers, one step at a time, as he tried to banish screaming faces from his mind.

What was another couple of hundred dead Scarrans, really, in the big scheme of things?

He stopped in the middle of the hall, and Sikozu turned to look at him. He felt sick, but she grabbed his arm and kept walking, mercilessly further into the lion's den, and he let her because he didn't see a point in pulling away. She stopped when they reached the second story of a vast room, and led him to the glass wall looking down on the floor below. Countless Kalish wandered confusedly across the ground.

They looked pitiful, and he winced when he saw there were children, too, but he knew what Sikozu was doing, and it still didn't make it right. He couldn't even convince himself that they were better off. "Do you see now, why this was necessary?" Sikozu hissed. "They are free now."

Freedom was a funny thing. He had thought he was finally free. It hadn't taken much for it to disappear. "I'm supposed to be done with killing," he whispered. Harvey walked up to the glass, placing both of his hands on the surface and looking down with wide eyes. "This is all of them? Not so many then, huh, John? But at least all of the Scarrans are dead. Thanks to you, of course."

"Nothing is ever really done," Sikozu snapped, and his gaze moved from Harvey back to her. "And they are not worth your regret. They are monsters, Crichton, and you have as much reason to know it as I."

"Monsters," he repeated. "You struck a deal with them. Tell me, what does that make you?"

Sikozu bristled. "I did what I had to in order to help my people, and it backfired, badly. I am trying to make up for that now. You are willing to ally with your enemy for your purposes, so do not judge me."

He glanced at her, his eyes holding the same kind of bleak madness she had seen on their first encounter. "Oh, but I know what I am."

Sikozu held her ground. "You have no reason to act this way, you have saved hundreds!" she snapped.

"By killing hundreds," he said slowly. Over her left shoulder, Harvey shot him a malicious grin. "How can that be right?"

"Because the Kalish are more important than they are!" Sikozu reached forward, grabbing his arm, honestly not understanding why he did not see things the same as her.

He ripped away from her, his eyes blazing. "Don't you touch me!"

Sikozu backed away, her eyes wide and focused on him. "The Scarrans are degenerates," she snapped. "Do not waste your pity on their lives when you have helped free my people from slavery."

John wouldn't look at her. Sikozu had always had a strange kind of innocence, a complete and utter inability to see grey between the white and black. He turned his eyes back down to watch the Kalish. There were Peacekeeper Commandos at each of the doors, corralling them to the center of the room with the weapons resting in their hands. He wondered how they had lived while on that Scarran ship. Whether or not they were even happy to leave it behind.

"I am…grateful, Crichton," Sikozu said softly, and her voice was as kind as he had ever heard it-kind enough, he thought, that he almost believed she really was. "Isn't this what you are fighting for?"

He watched them, the Kalish, until their faces began to blur, and he could no longer tell them apart. "No, this is what you're fighting for. I did it for D'Argo."

Sikozu glared at him. "You are not this heartless, Crichton."

"If I were heartless, Sputnik," he said, bumping her shoulder as he pushed past her, "there'd be no problem here."

John pulled to a stop when Scorpius's voice sounded over the comm., his eyes tiredly rolling to the ceiling. "Sikozu, I need you to return to Command."

Sikozu glanced over at Crichton. "Shall I return with Crichton?"

There was a pause. "No, take him to his quarters. This does not concern him."

If he hadn't been fighting off so many warring emotions, trying so hard not to think, he might have cared enough to question when Harvey whispered in his ear that Scorpius was lying about that.

- - - - -

"Ow!" Chiana pulled away from Noranti, but the old woman just made a slight clucking sound and pulled her back.

"Do not move," she said intensely. "Delicate, yes…must be careful…"

Chiana winced, as Noranti raised the needle again and then caught her wrist. "Are you sure about this?" she snapped. "I don't want you making me blind, I know what it's like and I do not want to go through it again."

Noranti nodded. "Yes, yes, very safe. You cannot be Sebacean with feline eyes, dear!"

Chiana winced, knowing she was right. Aeryn had already retrieved a Peacekeeper uniform for her, no more frelling tech disguises, either, this time she was carrying a gun. Her skin was painted over with a thick cream white, and though it wasn't coming off at the moment, Noranti had warned her it would eventually-which was good, as she didn't want to be stuck this color all her life, and she would have asked someone else to help her if she'd known Noranti had been looking for something permanent.

Noranti had then fashioned a wig of long black hair, though Chiana didn't want to know where it had come from, and it was held tightly on her head, with the strands tied back at the base of her neck the way Aeryn sometimes wore hers.

Just like a Sebacean, except, as Noranti had pointed out, for the eyes.

She held still, and watched the needle grow closer to her eye. She almost pulled away but she hesitated a second and then it was too late, and it was already pulling out again. She blinked, tears pooling up involuntarily. "Frell, grandma!" she hissed. Noranti ignored her, grabbing her chin and placing the needle in the next eye.

Chiana pulled away from her once it was over, blinking back the moisture, the room spinning for a moment before things became clear again. She almost laughed when she caught her balance, because she could still see. She heard someone gasp and turned to the door. Aeryn was standing there with D'Argo in her arms, looking shocked.

Chiana had been right; she made a better Peacekeeper this time around. If not for the unmistakable little grin the Nebari threw her way, Aeryn might not have believed it was Chiana herself. "Your eyes," she said. "They're blue."

Chiana turned to the mirror, and her smile grew wider. "Frell me! I look like a Peacekeeper. Noranti, you are good for something." Chiana spun back to Aeryn. "Where's my pulse pistol?"

Aeryn pulled off her holster, and tossed it to Chiana, the weapon held safely inside. "Are you sure about this?" she asked again, sounding concerned.

Chiana looked over at her, strange blue eyes were hidden by black bangs and she looked more alien than she would have if she had still been grey. "Yeah." She watched her reflection for a moment, puzzling over the fact she could hardly recognize herself, before she turned back to Aeryn. "I'm sure." She walked up to Aeryn, her eyes lowering to meet the baby in her arms. She smiled slightly. "What have I got to lose?"

"More than you think," Aeryn whispered. "Be careful, Chiana, John and I need you."

"Yeah, I know," she said, exasperation and fondness coloring the words. "I'm the best babysitter around." She glanced behind her at Noranti, who disturbingly, was experimentally licking the needle she had pressed into her eye microts earlier. "Not that that's saying much," she added.

Aeryn laughed slightly, but it was tense. "I've entered the coordinates where we left the command carrier into my prowler and programmed in a course. I know, however, that you will have no trouble overwriting it if the need arrives."

She grinned slyly. "No, I wouldn't." Chiana ran a hand down D'Argo's face, another smile, a softer one, playing across her lips before she moved past them, not daring to look back. "Make sure Pilot opens the doors," she said. "I have a command carrier to catch."

"I will," Aeryn said as she watched her go, and if not for the subtle idiosyncrasies in Chiana's gait she would not have recognized her from the back. She looked almost completely Sebacean, and she sounded different, too, more like John than herself. Aeryn sighed and leaned against the wall, her eyes dropping to her son. She would bring him back, Aeryn decided. If anyone could.

- - - - -

Aeryn stood anxiously in command, D'Argo asleep in a make-shift bassinet by her feet. Chiana had flown out of sight an arn earlier in her prowler, saying 'wish me luck' and reinforcing her belief that once she got both Chiana and John back, they were going to have to spend less time together because they were sounding far too much alike.

She turned back to the window. She didn't like this one bit. She should be out there, in the prowler, heading into danger. Not Chiana. Not because Chiana couldn't handle it, just because it should have been her. It was what she did. John got in trouble and she fought to get him back, that was how it always was.

D'Argo started crying and she knelt down to pick him up, carrying him along in her pacing, bouncing enough to entertain and calm him. She glanced at him, and couldn't help the small smile that appeared. So maybe she wasn't doing nothing, but she still felt anxious. She took things head on, and it was getting harder and harder to accept the realization that she couldn't do that with a baby in her arms. She grinned at her son, not that the trade-off wasn't worth it, and she wouldn't mind a quiet life, really, not as long as John was with her-and she got to keep her pulse pistol, just in case.

"Officer Sun," Pilot's voice reached her and she stilled.

She raised her eyes, the anxiousness she had felt since Chiana had gone rushing back two-fold. "Yes, Pilot?"

"Moya and I are detecting a small vessel on approach…"

Aeryn moved to a console, D'Argo grabbing at her hair all the while, and tried to see if they were receiving a visual yet. "Are we receiving a message?" she asked. "Is Chiana coming back?"

"I do not think so, Aeryn, the ship is traveling at speeds that a prowler would not be able to achieve." Pilot sounded worried, and Aeryn couldn't blame him. When bad things happened, it was for the most part her, John, D'Argo and Chiana that took care of it. Chiana was off trying to get John from where he was being held prisoner, and…D'Argo was dead. That only left her, Stark, Noranti, and even less encouraging, Rygel.

She winced. "What can you tell me about it, Pilot? Do they seem hostile?" She shifted D'Argo to her other side, and he leaned curiously forward, trying to reach the buttons on the console.

Aeryn looked up when there was no response and frowned. "Pilot? What's wrong?"

"Moya and I can think of only one ship that can reach these speeds, Officer Sun," he said, quietly.

Aeryn moved to another console, searching the stars for any sign of a ship. "Which is what?"

There was a pause, and the weight of it fell heavily in Command. "A Stryker."

Aeryn paled, her eyes falling to her son's face. "Scarrans," she whispered.

- - - - -

"What is the problem?" Sikozu asked briskly, when she stepped onto command.

Scorpius glanced at her, a cruel smile hiding behind his eyes even as he held his expression impassive. "The Dreadnought was able to send out a distress call before they were destroyed."

Sikozu frowned, moving over to a console. "I did not think any other Scarran vessels were within contact range."

"There was a Stryker," Scorpius said calmly. "Hidden quite efficiently from our sensors until a few microts ago. They received orders from the Dreadnought before it was destroyed."

Sikozu paused, realization sinking slowly, and when it hit she glanced up.

"The capture of John Crichton's family," Scorpius continued mildly.

Sikozu paled. "We must go after them! Crichton will not-"

"Crichton will not be told," Scorpius hissed. "The Stryker by now would have informed Staleek of the situation, going after them now serves no purpose. We will continue on course for the Orican's world."

Sikozu's eyes lit up, and she stalked over to him. "If the Scarrans capture Aeryn and her child, Crichton will not help us!" She angrily shook her head. "And if he knows the Scarrans are going after his family, he will be more willing to help us destroy them. He must be told."

"If he learns about this," Scorpius hissed stepping forward so they were barely an inch apart. "There is a great possibility he will destroy us. You will not tell him." Scorpius hand came to rest on her neck, and though the touch was caressing, the threat was not lost on her. He leaned forward. "Will you?"

Sikozu met his eyes and backed down reluctantly. "I will not."

Scorpius nodded, and his hand dropped away. "After the Orican does what she can for Ka D'Argo, we will inform Crichton that the Scarrans have learned of our attack. He will not be happy, but perhaps he will finally see the need for war."

"It's possible he will not," Sikozu said stiffly. "The brief war we have already experienced seems to have damaged him irreparably."

Scorpius's eyes were sparkling when he turned them to gaze out at the stars. "Oh, I do not believe that." He smiled slowly. "You are underestimating him again, Sikozu."

Sikozu tilted her head back slightly, watching him watching the empty space. "Are you sure that you are not doing so, as well?" She had never expected an answer, and she turned and left command to see after the Kalish without waiting for one.

- - - - -

Starburst. She should tell Pilot to Starburst.

She didn't, she couldn't bring herself to say the word, not knowing the consequences if she did. Aeryn looked down at the console with blurring eyes, holding D'Argo tightly with her right arm. If they went to Starburst, they might not be able to get back here, and this was the only meeting place Chiana had for when she returned. And Aeryn was certain she would return, with John, and she wasn't going to let anything stop her from being there to meet them.

She started out of command, the bassinet dangling in one hand while she held onto D'Argo with the other. She opened her comm. to the entire ship. "There is a Scarran Stryker on the way," she announced, without preamble. "We take a stand now. If we run they will find us again, and if we're constantly hiding Chiana and John will not be able to find us either."

She heard Stark muttering, but no one provided any real input. She had expected no less. "Stark," she snapped, trying to get his attention. Chiana was best with the Banik, and Aeryn had never been able to reach him like she could. "I want you to find Noranti, arm yourselves."

"Yes, yes…" he said, and a moment later, Noranti added, "Yes! Weapons. We must fight!"

"Rygel," Aeryn continued, "meet me in my quarters."

"Me?" Rygel said, sounding distant. "I'm a little preoccupied, Aeryn, if you-"

"Now," she snapped. "If you make me search for you, you will regret it."

When she reached her and John's quarters, Rygel was hovering in the doorway, looking grim. "We should starburst immediately," he said.

Aeryn barely looked at him as she pushed her way past, and laid D'Argo gently on the bed, before turning to scan the shelves. "They would find us again," she said simply.

"Then we would starburst again!" Rygel yelled. "Crichton and Chiana have made their choices."

Aeryn grabbed their Tarkan shield belt from the bottom shelf and headed back to D'Argo. She gently placed him inside of it and set him into the bassinet. "Pilot?" Aeryn said, unconcerned by Rygel's reservations, but worried Pilot and Moya might have some too. "Are you and Moya both okay with all of this?"

"Yes, Aeryn," Pilot said after a pause. "We cannot abandon Chiana and Crichton, and the Scarrans would not give up, in any case."

"No, they wouldn't." Aeryn nodded, and they were all tired of running, anyway. She picked up the bassinet and pointed at Rygel as she headed back out the doors. "Come with me."

He followed her, grumbling. She led the way to a small access port in Moya's corridor, and got to her knees in front of it. "You," she said, addressing Rygel as she pulled off the covering, "are going to hide here with D'Argo. You will not leave him for anything."

Rygel glanced at her suspiciously. "You want me to hide?"

Aeryn met his eyes fiercely. "I want you to protect my son. I am trusting you, Rygel. You carried him, and I know you will not allow harm to come to him."

Rygel's head tilted back fractionally, as the compliments went straight to his head, and he grinned. "Of course not-he's practically family! Not as handsome as my own progeny, of course, but with Crichton for a father he is hardly to blame for that."

Aeryn was not really listening, but Rygel, in his posturing, did not notice his lack of audience. "Inside," Aeryn commanded.

Rygel got off his throne sled and pushed it inside the small opening, before following it in to the small area on the other side of the wall. Aeryn leaned down to kiss her son's forehead, and then slide him inside next to Rygel. She leaned down so she could meet Rygel's eyes. "If when I come back I find that shield on you, I will strangle you with it. If I come back and find you have left him alone, I will do much worse. Do you understand?"

Rygel nodded, not doubting it for a microt. "I will stay with him, Aeryn. Go kill the bastards."

Aeryn sat back, forcing herself to take a deep breath. D'Argo had started crying, and she could hear Rygel whispering to him. She wanted to hold him herself, but she did not have the time, so she slide the barrier back into place, and when it clicked into the wall she couldn't hear them anymore.

- - - - -

The planet was nearly black, almost blending into the space surrounding it. It would have, if not for the swirling mass of white and grey clouds that hovered in the atmosphere, giving it shape, and reminding John of the marbles he used to play around with as a kid.

He hadn't thought they would arrive to the Orican's planet so soon, and he wasn't sure how prepared he was to go through with it-but remembering D'Argo in the cryopod, remembering Chiana's face as he pulled her away, well, that would just have to be enough to push him through it. If nothing else, he had to see D'Argo out of this situation. He owed him that much at least.

"I have sent for her already," Scorpius told him. "She should return with Braca shortly."

"Are you sure she's going to help you?" John asked vaguely. "Don't they have rules about this kind of thing?"

Scorpius smiled slyly. "Look where she lives, Crichton. She is not a conventional Orican."

Figured, John thought. Of course he should only end up associating with the crazy Oricans. He didn't really care, though, not so long as she brought D'Argo back. He'd already sold his soul to the devil to save him-he might as well go all the way.

Sikozu stepped through the doors behind them. "Braca has returned with the Luxan," she said dismissively. "She is not very impressive; I don't see how she can help."

The distain in her voice was obvious, and it grated on John's nerves. "I once saw an Orican throw D'Argo across the room like he was Raggedy Andy, without ever getting close enough to touch him. She could probably fry your circuits with a blink of her eyes, so maybe you oughta show some respect," he told her, but he didn't sound angry. His voice remained level, and Sikozu was all the more disturbed because of it.

She didn't let it show as she turned her attention to Scorpius instead. "She is awaiting our arrival in the cryostasis room."

John didn't know what he had been expecting, but he guessed it was probably something closer to the aged Orican he had seen before she had used Moya and the Ritual of Renewal to make herself young, and not someone that looked closer to the after picture than the before.

She smiled when she saw Scorpius, but it was a wary kind of powerful smile, as though she knew exactly what Scorpius was capable of and it didn't scare her. "Scorpius," she said, sweetly, long red hair only slightly graying at the temples of her head, and falling behind her shoulders as she tilted it back, the ornaments on her tentacles clicking slightly before going silent. "I wondered when you would call upon me, but even for you, this is a strange favor."

Scorpius smiled at her, but as with the female Luxan's smile, it was more wary than warm. "Can you heal him, Ilien?"

"Perhaps," she said vaguely, glancing over at D'Argo's frozen form. "But why should I?"

John pushed past Scorpius, ignoring the warning hiss. "You should because D'Argo is an honorable Luxan, and he deserves a second chance."

The woman turned depthless eyes on him, but John was unmoved. D'Argo's fear of the Oricans had not touched him the first time he had met one, and he wouldn't let it now, not with so much at stake. "Honorable? A Luxan who fights beside rebels and outlaws and not his own? He does not deserve my gift."

"He assisted an Orican in the Ritual of Death," John said smoothly. "She thought him worthy. He helped to stop a war that would have killed millions. Still not worthy enough for you?"

"John," Scorpius started, false appeasement coloring his voice.

Ilien held up a hand to forestall his comment, and kept her eyes on John. "What was the name of this Orican?" she asked.

"Nilaam," John said without hesitation. He thought better of sharing the whole ordeal with her-better to keep things as simple as he could in this situation that was already more than complicated enough.

"Nilaam was a good Orican," Ilien said thoughtfully, moving to look down at D'Argo. She reached out behind her, and grabbed John's wrist to pull him closer. "You would not lie to me?" she asked.

John met her eyes, the pressure of her fingers against his wrist strangely trying to occupy all of his attention, and he knew that if he did lie right then, something very bad would happen. "No," he said, and she smiled and let him go, turning to run her palm along the clear section of the cryopod.

"If he was worthy of Nilaam's absolute trust then he is worthy of life," she said. "I will attempt to heal him." She turned to John. "You are close to him, yes? Your bond is strong?"

John nodded. "Yes."

"You will help me," she said. "It will take both of our strengths if we are to save him." One of her hands distractedly fell to her side, caressing the handle of an ornately decorated dagger. "Leave us at once, Scorpius," she said. "You can not be here. Take your sentry with you." Ilien did not take notice when Sikozu bristled at the title.

Scorpius's eyes flickered towards John, obviously wary of leaving him alone with her. "Crichton should-"

"He stays," Ilien interrupted smoothly. "I may owe you small favors, Scorpius, but do not believe you hold any real power over me." She looked up and met his eyes fiercely. "Surely you did not think you could coerce me into helping you did I not see the need?"

Scorpius titled his head, a mock submissive gesture that fooled none of them. "Of course not, Ilien, but Crichton must not come to harm."

"I would not harm him," Ilien said. "You must go now."

Scorpius gave John a warning glance before ushering Sikozu out the doors and closing them behind him. John watched with faint amusement, too tense and weary to take any real pleasure at seeing Scorpius as close to flustered as he got. Ilien walked to the doors, running her palm slowly down the slit that ran down the middle of them. "They will not be able to enter here until we are done," she said, turning to face Crichton.

John nodded, and glanced at D'Argo. "Can you really help him?"

Ilien watched him, ignoring or dismissing the question, and stepped closer. "There is evil in you," she whispered.

Harvey appeared at her side, one of his elbows resting on her shoulder, wearing a large grin. "I hope she's not talking about me!" he said in mock horror. "The nerve of some people, huh, John? They'll say anything."

John licked his lips distractedly. "Yeah. You could say that. More than one kind, most like."

Ilien's eyes narrowed. "You see something that I cannot. What do you see?"

"A neural clone," he said, dismissing any thought of lying.

Ilien nodded, needing no other explanation. She placed one of her hands at the base of his neck. "Scorpius?" John nodded. "This will not do at all. I must destroy it, or you will be no use to me."

John's eyes widened. "You can do that?"

"I can do many things," Ilien said dismissively.

"You can't let her, John! You mustn't!" Harvey appeared behind her again, eyes frantic. "You need me! You cannot face Scorpius alone."

There was a time John would have hesitated-would have thought Harvey deserved at least his indecision. He couldn't afford indecision now.

"Do it," he whispered, and with an enigmatic smile Ilien drew her dagger.

She reached out and grabbed his hand, slicing through the palm, leaving a trail of thin red in the blade's wake. Then she did the same to her own hand and placed them together. John was reminded of the time he and DK decided to become blood brothers at afternoon recess, but the memory slipped away again beneath the weight of someone else that had died because of him.

"You have much guilt," Ilien whispered. "You cannot allow it to destroy you. Focus on me." Ilien's hand clenched tighter around his. "Even good people can do terrible things for love," she whispered, and in that moment, her voice drowned out everything else.

He closed his eyes, felt something seep into the cut, push its way in and crawl up beneath the skin. Guilt wasn't something he was ever going to be able to let go of, he knew, but he tried to focus on her all the same-as much as he could with Harvey screaming in the back of his mind, pleading with him, and sounding so strangely human.

Harvey's screams got quieter as he focused on Ilien's strong presence, and soon they had disappeared completely. His eyes opened in disbelief when he realized he couldn't hear Harvey anymore, and echoes played strangely in the depths of his mind. "It is gone," she whispered, not releasing his hand. "We must hurry." She forced her dagger into his other hand, and then hit the release on the cryopod.

D'Argo let out a gasping breath, but didn't open his eyes.

"We must work quickly," Ilien said, urgently, but John didn't know what he was supposed to do, and she was moving far too fast for him to keep up. She held her palm out to him. "Cut me," she said.

He glanced at her, but she showed no hesitation, so he ran the blade along her palm just as she had done to him. She took the dagger back then, and blood dripped down the handle from her hand. She turned one of D'Argo's hands up, and did the same to him. When she grasped D'Argo's hand tightly, John felt a strange jolt, as though Ilien was a creating a current between them all.

When she started chanting the feeling grew stronger, and he could feel D'Argo's presence then as he could feel hers, pulling him in two directions and then pulling him back. He could still hear Ilien's chanting, constant and steady, and underneath, he swore he could hear D'Argo's voice too, whispering the same things.

He was caught up again in something he didn't understand, lost again, and Harvey's absence added more to the chaos than would have been there had he been dancing around in his peripheral vision in a tutu, because at least that would have been something familiar.

"It is working," he heard Ilien say, sounding pleased and triumphant, and nowhere near as weak as him.

He was sure he was hearing D'Argo's voice now, though not chanting-instead whispering Chiana's name. He would have smiled but he didn't think he had the strength, and as D'Argo opened his eyes, John fell to his knees, clear and red blood mixing and sliding grotesquely down his wrist from where Ilien still tightly held his hand.

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