Blue Eyes - Chapter 16
Aug. 18th, 2003 10:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
itsallovernowI know it's been a while, but obviously vacation and internet difficulties interfered. I'll have more chapters up either later today or tomorrow.
For those who need a refresher, Chapter 15 is here. This chapter is long, and it's a memory, outside of the current timeline. Remember it's a rough draft!
dreadnought
Chapter 16
Her arms were braced in front of her, the pistol loose but controlled in her hand. She refused to betray her shock at seeing the alien who had lured John Crichton to a false home standing in front of her, hands raised in a gesture of surrender. D’Argo flanked her, qualta blade and menacing scowl in place, while Zhaan stood on her other side, blue eyes wide and uncertain. Chiana was with Anix, hiding protectively with the child. Aeryn was certain the Nebari would make a great game of it, protecting her daughter from her mother’s fear as well as the incipient danger. As soon as the wormhole had appeared, the two had vanished. Aeryn didn’t know where they were hiding, refused to know in order to protect their safety.
The alien was again wearing the visage of John’s father and Aeryn found it disconcerting to say the least. “Put that down, Aeryn Sun,” he said, the tone and modulations of his voice similar to John’s human language.
She gripped the pistol more tightly and D’Argo growled for effect.
“What do you want?” she asked roughly. “John isn’t here.”
He nodded his head, still offering gestures of placation. “I know that now.”
She raised an eyebrow, indicating with the gun that he continue to speak. She could feel Talyn’s senses pulsing through her. He was scared and agitated, crying out for her, unable to follow Moya down the constructed wormhole. Talyn was capable of forcing her into panic and she breathed through it, trying to still him and maintain her control. Underneath, on the very edge of this dual consciousness, she could feel Crais trying to ease the young ship while harnessing his personal worry. Her own feelings were blocked from Crais through an elaborate system of filters that Talyn had designed to keep his parents separate from each other after Aeryn had threatened to remove the transponder following one too many intimate betrayals from the two males.
“How did you find us, then?” she barked.
“DNA,” he answered.
She glanced at D’Argo who shrugged and at Zhaan turned her palms over in uncertainty. Aeryn shook her head in impatience.
The alien wearing Jack Crichton’s face raised his hand over her head, saying, “We need your help.”
Aeryn felt her consciousness snap hastily back as another alien presence slid into her brain. Swirling visions of wormholes and stars and vicious looking beings traversing them in something that largely resembled the decaying white ship still housed in the maintenance bay rushed through her mind, only to run smack dab into the hybrid ship’s clutching panic. The two entities knock against each other and everything went heavy and black.
D’Argo’s roar of anger brought her back to the surface of reality and she found herself slumped against Zhaan, pistol still in hand. Shaking herself, trying to get rid of the disorientation and the fear that now burned in her stomach, she pushed away from the Delvian, lunging for the Ancient, catching him across the throat with her forearm, pulse pistol pressed into the hollow of his neck.
“Don’t ever pull something like that on me again, or I will kill you where you stand,” she growled at him.
The alien seemed to dissolve, it’s human façade disappearing as it’s real form emerged, and Aeryn stepped back, startled.
“We need your help, Aeryn Sun. I’m sorry I scared you. I thought it would be easier to show you than ask, but I was wrong.” He looked her in the eye, his own eye sockets glowing and iridescent.
“Who are you,” Zhaan finally asked.
“I am an Ancient,” he said simply, and she nodded, apparently more in the know than the rest of them.
He turned back to Aeryn and D’Argo, transforming again into Jack Crichton. “Please, can we talk?”
Aeryn sighed and rubbed her forehead, lowering her weapon. “Get rid of this construct and take us back to Talyn,” she said wearily, moving her hand to the back of her neck, trying to sooth the gunship. “Then we’ll talk.”
***
They sat around a table in the central chamber, Chiana dangling Anix on her knee, the toddler fascinated by everything around her. Jack looked at the child and then looked at Aeryn. She felt his gaze, shrewd and comprehending, but merely set her jaw and stared back. Only the original crew of Moya had been asked to hear what Jack had to say, with Crais coming over from Talyn to join the discussion. He sat opposite Aeryn, next to Chiana, and Anix turned to him frequently, the sheen of his leather coat and his long queue an undeniable draw for her chubby fingers. Aeryn concentrated on her daughter as Jack spoke of the Ancients finally finding a suitable home, of spying the Charrids navigating wormholes in something that looked like Crichton’s module, of feeling it absolutely necessary that they find out what was going on and stop it. When he paused, she asked, “ You can create a construct like that false wormhole, that false earth. Why can’t you simply find them and stop them.”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way, and besides, the wormhole took the bulk of the power I have left. I’ve been searching for John Crichton. We gave him the wormhole knowledge, and clearly he betrayed us somehow.”
Aeryn whipped her head around at that, her angriest glare piercing him and D’Argo leaned forward in fury. “He didn’t betray anyone,” she hissed. “He didn’t even realize what you’d done to him until he was captured and tortured.”
“Then how does this species have this knowledge?” he shot back.
Aeryn looked at D’Argo, at Chiana and Zhaan, all of whom shrugged their ignorance. Then she looked at Crais, military tall even sitting on that backless bench and a memory of sand and anger and blindness and an offer too good to be true rose to the surface and she knew.
“Furlow,” she said, certain she was right.
***
“You are not going by yourself,” D’Argo insisted as she packed.
“You’re right, I’m going with Crais and Talyn and with that frelling Ancient,” she countered.
He snarled. “There are skirmishes going on all over the Uncharted Territories. You could be caught in a random battle, captured by the Peacekeepers again, tortured by Scarrans or Nebari.”
She sighed. “D’Argo, those are risks we run every day just by existing. This is different.”
He nodded sharply, “ And that is why I am going with you. You are too stubborn to back out of this ridiculous mission, and I made a promise to protect your daughter to my death. And the best way I know how to do that is to make sure that you are alive to take care of her.”
She hefted the pulse cannon onto her shoulder. It was a comfort-this heavy, bulky instrument of death. “I’m not going to argue about this anymore D’Argo. I need to do this. No one is going to get that wormhole tech, and if we figured out Furlow has deciphered it then Scorpius might also and I will not allow him that information!” She was startled by the vehemence of her words, but they were true. Scorpius had stolen enough from her in his quest for wormholes, she would not allow him to become a threat to anyone else if she could help it.
“That is why I’m going with you.” She placed the cannon on the bed next to her bag and turned to her friend. “If something happens to me, Anix must have a family, someone to protect her and keep her out of Peacekeeper hands. Do you really think Chiana or Zhaan or Moya can do that on their own?”
“Then you stay, and I’ll go.”
She sighed with impatience. “You do not share a link with Talyn. You can not control his rages or his fire power. And this is my battle.” She slumped down, sitting onto the bed. “Actually, it is John’s battle, but he isn’t here to fight it.”
They didn’t talk much about Crichton, the memories still fresh enough to burn a little, and really, what was there to say. That he was missed? That he had chosen his fate and they’d all suffered the consequences? That any one of them would have gone back and tried to change the past? No. Better to say nothing.
“I want to say goodbye to my daughter,” she said, looking at her hands. “We will be fine.”
***
She hugged Anix fiercely, winding the child’s black curls around her fingers. Her daughter looked up at her, eyes bright and blue and open and Aeryn swallowed back the urge to stay, to giggle and cuddle into the child’s warmth. The part of her that was still Peacekeeper chided her for the delay her emotions were causing, suggesting that a separation now could be good preparation for the future. If she were killed, the child would at least know the feeling of being parentless. Aeryn fought against that part of herself, but also knew that it was legitimate. This life was not easy, would not grow easier, and she was determined that Anix would survive it. She would do anything she could to guarantee that outcome.
Chiana took the baby back and kissed Aeryn on the cheek. “We’ll take care of her,” she promised.
Aeryn turned toward Jack, blinking against his appearance yet again. “Do you have to look like that,” she asked.
“No,” he said. “This was meant to make things easier with John Crichton.”
As he spoke, his body transformed, taking on the visage of an older Sebacean woman, battle scarred, dark haired, and Aeryn’s eyes narrowed.
“No.” she said flatly. The body transformed again, a younger woman with light hair, taller than Aeryn, Peacekeeper proud and smiling. She shook her head and then caught her breath as the form settled into a man, tall and brown haired, eyes blue as the pools on Erani Major. She swallowed and looked the form in the eye, taking the challenge. “Fine,” she said. “Maybe that’s the most appropriate anyway. Furlow certainly won’t be happy to see me.”
Crais, uncomfortable on Moya even after all these cycles, gave Jack an odd look and then proceeded to the pod. Aeryn indicated that Jack should follow him, and then turned to the rest of the crew. D’Argo attempted a final plea to see reason. “Aeryn, you, what are you doing?” he asked.
“I know I’m right on this D’Argo. It’s John’s fight, and now at least, someone will know he’s fighting it.”
“You have gone completely fahrbot, Aeryn,” he growled, but Zhaan looked at her, cerulean eyes wise and understanding. She touched Aeryn’s cheek, and said softly, “Be safe, child.”
***
It felt good to be back on Talyn, back in partnership with the Leviathan so close to her heart and breeding, Crais had merely nodded his acceptance when she had proposed that they take Talyn on this expedition. He knew as well as she did that she could exert enough influence to sway Talyn to her perspective if Crais protested, but it would take a toll on all of them, and she knew equally well that despite Crais’ discomfort with having her on board now, so close yet untouchable, he was happy to be flying free and unfettered again. They had stumbled upon rumors of a retrieval squad searching for Talyn with the escalation of the conflicts, but nothing had so far come to fruition. This could prove an opportunity to investigate those rumors.
Jack stood on command, smiling John Crichton’s smile, and Aeryn felt something shift and pierce, and reminded herself that John was a statue on the Royal Planet, safe from harm, safe from Scorpius, safe from her. Maybe this hadn’t been a good idea. “You really think this mechanic Furlow managed to create a wormhole,” he asked incredulously.
Aeryn shrugged. “John traded her the data he’d collected on solar flares for the repairs to the module. I don’t know if it was enough, don’t know if she had other information but she’s the only one who had any sort of detailed intel.”
Jack pursed his mouth, John’s mouth she thought, and then dug her nails into her hand. This was ridiculous. She’d taken on a neural link with Talyn, been captured by Scorpius, given birth, she could look at someone masquerading as John Crichton and not get lost in the waves of feelings and memories that came flooding out of nowhere, bypassing the lockdown she’d placed them under.
“Then why couldn’t John do the same thing,” he asked. She narrowed her eyes. “Are you joking? Or do you simply not know?”
Jack looked at her steadily.
“We spent a cycle running from Crais, only to end up as the prey of a monster called Scorpius. John didn’t have a lot of time to spend working on equations and theories. We spent most of our time fleeing for our lives and cleaning up the aftermath of whatever disaster had befallen us that weeken.” She almost wanted to laugh at the memories, at the way the universe had turned John’s hope and wonder into defeat and terror, but she choked back the bitterness and the memories and continued.
“Scorpius found the wormhole knowledge that you’d given John when he tortured him, but couldn’t access it. Neither could John,” she said, low and steady. “So when we escaped, he was willing to do almost anything to get John back. After we destroyed his research base, well…” she paused, struggling for what came next. “We found the Sebacean Breakaway Colonies and Scorpius found us. The Empress offered John a deal – marry her daughter and become a statue for 80 cycles or be turned over to Scorpius.” She paused again, looking into his eyes, knowing they were a construct, not really John, but they were so blue, and despite Jack’s uncertainty, they looked out at her with compassion.
“He chose to stay,” she said softly. “He was so scared of what Scorpius would do, and the Empress promised that she’d protect us, and so he married the princess.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, just as softly.
She jerked her head down. “You should be,” she replied. “You didn’t even tell him that you’d given him that knowledge. You left him without options.” She could feel her voice rising. “You allowed for him to reach a point where he would rather stay on a planet without friends, without family, knowing he’d likely never see either again, than fight back and flee from Scorpius.”
Tears stung at her eyes, hot and burning, surprising her after all these cycles. Her disdain and dismissal of John’s fear had long since burned away, helped steadily by her own agony in the Aurora Chair, and now all she was left with was the sorrow that she’d left him behind with only the remnants of her anger and disappointment and a silent goodbye to his frozen form. But now her anger had a new channel, one she knew deserved at least some of it.
“I honestly thought I was helping,” Jack said. “It could have been a way home for him.”
“Or a weapon,” Aeryn countered. “You knew that, John knew that, and obviously now the Peacekeepers know that.”
“That’s why we are going to stop Furlow and these creatures,” said Jack. “ We cannot allow wormhole knowledge to be used like that.”
Aeryn shook her head dismissively, still angry, but was prevented from replying further by Crais’ entrance into command, his face grim. He threw the flimsies in his hand onto the blinking panel. “Intelligence that we’ve managed to gather suggests an alliance between the Charrids and the Scarrans,” he said in his best PK Captain’s voice.
“Of course,” she said sarcastically. “Of course it does.”
“This is very bad,” Crais continued. “The Charrids are mindless and brutal. They attempted to take over the Hynerian Empire 100’s of cycles ago, ravaging their colonies and eating their young.” Aeryn felt her stomach clench. “It took waves of suicide fighters to finally repel them. This is a very, very bad alliance.”
****
Crais caught her in the hallway on the way to the transport. Dambada had been irradiated. Few life forms remained on the planet. Things were getting steadily worse. Aeryn rested the pulse cannon against her thigh and looked at Crais, his hand wrapped around her upper arm. He rarely made physical contact with her anymore.
“Aeryn, this could be very dangerous. Perhaps we should leave the Ancient here, return to Moya.”
She cocked her head, puzzled. “What are you talking about Crais? Now, more than ever, we need to find out what’s going on. This is another sign that war is inevitable.”
“Yes,” he said in agreement, “ and a sign that we should be nowhere near this kind of activity. If the Scarrans are involved, Scorpius will be close behind, with or without Peacekeeper support. I don’t want to see you hurt, or Talyn captured because of the whim of a capricious species who was responsible for some of our troubles in the first place.”
She could see in this request Crais’ constant struggle with himself. His desire for self-preservation warred with his honest concern for Talyn and for her, despite her unwillingness to recreate with him. After the stasis had been released, she’d found that she was no longer willing to solidify her alliance with her former Captain through sex. His desire for her was all consuming, and not a little tied to the fact that he’d won out over Crichton. That his rival was immobile and married, while he himself finally had her and Talyn simultaneously fueled his ardor and she was not willing to continue a physical relationship with him. She’d also needed time to heal, mentally and physically and Moya was a far more soothing place, but almost three cycles past and Crais still looked at her with his own odd longing.
“I have to do this Crais,” she said. “If it is Furlow, I was here at the beginning. I’m partly responsible. I made the bargain, you see and I left him behind.”
She eased her arm out of his grip and handed Crais a pair of the goggles that they’d need on planet.
***
The scene on Dambada was as grim on the surface as it had been from space. The formerly bustling planet was still and windy, solar flares guiding them to the surface. Furlow’s industrial workshop was still standing, heavily guarded by Charrids. The wind whipped the sand around, making it difficult to take a deep breath without getting a lung full of dust. The chill of the air counteracted the claims of the planet’s bright sun. Aeryn and Crais left Jack in the pod, the Prowler resting next to it, until they were able to secure the entrance more effectively, and as sand and pulse fire rained around them, Aeryn could feel the cold certainty of battle in her blood. Talyn begged to help, dancing closer and closer to the planet, and while Aeryn and Crais shouted him back, he stubbornly lingered.
They fired at the Charrid’s, clearing a path and just as it looked like they could dash for the entrance, a flare burst, bright and clear, catching Talyn at the edge of his senses. Aeryn could feel his screams, mirrored by Crais’ own cries. She couldn’t yell, tried to contain the pain in her mind and in her senses, and closed her eyes against it. When there was quiet again, she opened her eyes and found the world around her pricked with spots and haze.
“Frell,” she growled, turning to Crais who was digging the heels of his hands into his own eyes, trying to eradicate the pain and the fog. “Crais, are you all right?” Talyn was whimpering, fear and pain distracting him and making Crais’ own struggle for awareness all the more difficult.
“I can barely see, Aeryn, and Talyn is partially blind as well.”
She nodded. The diffusion of power between her and Crais was probably the only thing that had kept them both from being completely blinded. “Frell” she repeated.
***
The small frag grenades made an effective blockade against the Charrid attacks, effective enough to allow her and Jack to enter the workshop. She’d gotten Crais back to the pod, programmed a trajectory to Talyn as effectively as she could, thrust a large pulse rifle into Jack’s hand and motioned for him to follow.
“ Do not overload that chamber,” she said, “or you’ll blow us both up.” She’d gestured to the pulse pistol that she’d insisted he strap to his thigh, completing his disguise. “Point that, press the trigger, ignore the recoil and keep firing until whatever you are aiming at is dead.” He’d nodded, a hint of that grin at the edge of his lips, and despite the dire circumstances, she smiled back at him. This wasn’t real, she wasn’t getting John back, but it was nice to have something of his presence here.
Furlow was expectedly delighted to see John Crichton. Especially as her bulk dangled off of her wrists, chained above her head. “Hired the Charrids for protection, they betrayed me,” she said, ignoring Aeryn and smiling for Jack. “Now get me the frell down!”
She’d rebuilt Crichton’s module from a scan taken during the repairs. “Flew a wormhole, too,” she boasted and Aeryn bared her teeth at the woman. Jack rested his palm on the white module, stroking it like John would have, but didn’t respond to Furlow, until they head a series of beeps and whirs from the computer in the corner and Crais’ frantic voice.
“There is a Scarran dreadnought approaching,” he yelled, “It is on the very periphery of our senses, but it is definitely heading this way,”
“They’re stealing my data,” Furlow screamed, watching the computer light up and burble, “Those frelling treznots are stealing my data.”
Jack turned, aiming the pulse rifle and blasted a hole in the computer as Furlow screamed in fury, whether at them or the Scarrans, Aeryn didn’t know or particularly care. She felt a new kind of dread in her belly, the very real and very legitimate fear of Scarrans, of taking them on half blind with little backup, and more importantly, what this new development was going to mean.
Jack’s voice was soft, with the warm sibilant variations that she remembered from quiet moments with John. “We have to stop them.” Aeryn nodded reluctantly, waiting for the inevitable. “And I know how.”
***
With his coat off, tools in hand, it was getting harder and harder to stem the memories of John. Jack slowly built the device that he swore would repel the Scarrans, while Aeryn looked on suspiciously. She’d tied Furlow up after the large mechanic finally pushed one too many buttons, attempting to convince them that they should just flee, or worse, take the tech and sell it.
“Come on Johnny,” she’d wheedled. “This is the universes greatest entrepreneurial opportunity. We’ll sell it to everyone, put ‘em on equal footing and make enough to hide forever.”
Aeryn hit her with the butt of the rifle, sending her to her knees. “These are Scarrans,” she said. “Do you want them to have the power to destroy everyone in their path.”
Furlow just glared and rubbed her temple. “Seems to me they pretty much have that anyway,” she said.
Aeryn turned away in disgust, and roped the mechanic to a chair, and went off to resecure the perimeter. When she returned, Jack was untying Furlow.
“I need Partanium,” he said, as if that explained everything.
Furlow smiled victoriously, and Aeryn snarled at her again. “Go,” she said, “before I decide to shoot you and find it myself.”
Her head was throbbing, and while the vision was growing less spotty, it was still impaired. She was hardly at her best and the knowledge that a dreadnought was bearing down on them and that her plan was to trust an alien who was largely responsible for this situation, just made things worse. She hated this planet, hated this whole situation, and was sorely tempted to rip out the transponder in order to give herself some peace from Talyn’s mix of anger, fear and aggression.
“Are you all right,” he asked, as she rubbed her eyes.
She nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
“Why are you here, Aeryn Sun?” he asked, laying down the tool he’d been using, and moving to rest against the table beside her, surprising her yet again.
“What do you mean? You asked for our help, demanded it in fact.”
He shook his head. “ You could have killed me, ignored my request.”
She thought about it for a moment, and came up against the reasons that she kept close to her heart.
“It’s what John would have done,” she finally said. “Doing the right thing, I guess. Taking back what was stolen. And we are so close to war. I just can’t see allowing any of these forces to wield a weapon this powerful.”
“Yes, that is our concern as well.”
“My child,” she said, vying for what she meant. “I want Anix to be free to make her own choices, not be trapped under someone else’s control. I want her to be more than I am, and that won’t happen if the Peacekeepers, or the Scarrans or the Nebari, or frell some other power that I’ve never even heard of takes control of this universe and subjugates us all.”
She was embarrassed by this line of conversation, but Jack seemed to understand what she meant.
“Choice can be very difficult for some,” he said. “There are many who want the guidance of a strong power, who would rather be protected and subjugated than risk the dangers of freedom.”
Aeryn thought about that. “ I never planned to have a child,” she said. “When I found out I was pregnant, worse, when the stasis was released, I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to protect her. I should probably have terminated the fetus, but I wanted this chance, this one thing that had happened in my life that was my choice.”
Jack smiled at her then, pushing away from the table and turning to her. “You’ll get back to her,” he said, “I promise.”
Furlow returned then with the partanium, and Jack ushered them out. “
Don’t you need a suit?” Furlow asked.
“No,” he said, leaving her flapping her mouth open in protest. Aeryn grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and hauled her out of the room.
She’d continued to set charges around the building, setting them off at random intervals, and Crais and Talyn were monitoring movements as best they could, but it was still strangely quiet. Something felt wrong, but Aeryn shook it off, and reentered the workshop when Jack called to them to find him strapping the device to the roof of the replicated Farscape module.
Aeryn had secured Furlow’s wrists again in the interval, and the mechanic asked again what Jack was building. “It’s a displacement engine,” he said. “It will eliminate the Scarran threat.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Ya building a bomb Johnny?”
“No, it’s not a bomb. But it will be effective.” He looked shrewdly at Furlow, “ And it’s set to self-destruct after one use. This will not be a commodity for you to sell, Furlow.”
“Aeryn,” Crais voice cackled through the comms. “Crais, how are you?”
“Better. My vision is returning and Talyn is regaining use of his senses, but we fear that he missed something.”
She paused, waiting for the situation to escalate further
“The Dreadnought is moving more rapidly now, and we are afraid that there may have been a scout ship sent ahead that we missed.”
“Frell, frell, frell,” she muttered. She looked at Jack. “Is this almost ready?” she asked.
“Yeah, just a few more things.” He nodded at Furlow. “An extra set of hands would speed things up considerably.”
She placed more charges, enough so that she could blow up the entire building if necessary, and looked out at the vast landscape of sand. The Charrids were making half-hearted forays at the building. They were playing, taunting her, but not moving in significantly. The explosions and the auto-sighted canons shouldn’t have been enough to deter them this thoroughly, and suddenly she knew. Yelling for Jack and cursing herself for being distracted by a false front and her own disdain for the mechanic, she ran back to the workshop, hearing the repeat of pulse fire as she slammed the door open, firing on the Charrids in front of her flanking Furlow, aiming an ugly, but very deadly looking pistol at Jack, who was clutching his side in pain.
Her face turned to Aeryn in smiling surprise, and then she cried out as Jack shot her in the arm, causing her to drop the weapon. Aeryn spied movement in the back of the workshop as a Charrid dashed out from the shadows towards the back exit. She fired at it, hitting it in the back, but it didn’t stop running. Her eyes darted frantically around the room, searching for further enemies, checking to see if Jack was all right, and watching Furlow.
She strode forward, grabbed the weapon before the woman could recover and turned to Jack, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he croaked out, but his face was growing pale, blood running down his side.
She whipped furiously on Furlow, “ You conniving bitch, you betrayed us.”
Furlow shrugged, wincing in pain. “It’s business, “ she said, and closed her eyes as Aeryn leveled the weapon at her and shot her in the face.
“Aeryn,” Crais bellowed over the comms. “Whatever Jack is planning on doing, you need to do it now. The dreadnought is bearing down on us, and Talyn just destroyed two scout ships. We don’t have enough fire power to take on a dreadnought though, and I’m sure other ships are nearing the planet.”
“I’m on it Crais.” She looked at Jack, but her hand on his arm, feeling the warm human skin light up her palm.
“Can you do this?” she asked.
“Yeah. Just get me to the ship, and stay clear of the dreadnought.”
“Jack,” she paused.
“Just get me to the ship Aeryn Sun.”
She opened the hangar doors for him, and some how made it to the Prowler on autopilot. Her head was screaming at her for some sort of painkiller, but her vision was clear. As she flew back up to Talyn, she picked up what could only be Scarrans moving towards the workshop. Without a second thought, she detonated the building, hoping she’d eradicated at least a few of them.
“Crais, can you turn the Dreadnought towards you?” she heard Jack ask in John’s voice, and she listened as Crais taunted the Scarrans.
She skidded the prowler into the docking bay, scrambling down the steps and running for command where she almost careened into Crais who stood opened mouthed as the small Farscape module circled into the solar flare, rounding and rounding as the spiral increased and as the spiral reached out to touch a nearby star, the module darted out sluggishly, and Aeryn called out, “John,” her voice keening, and then almost instantly as the spiral touched the dreadnought, the massive shipped was pulled into the vortex.
The Farscape module wasn’t moving quickly enough and the gravity and vacuum created sucked it towards them. Aeryn screamed again, not knowing if she was yelling for Jack or for John, and then it was over, leaving only stillness and space, and Crais pulled her roughly to him, his own body trembling in horror and wonder.
For those who need a refresher, Chapter 15 is here. This chapter is long, and it's a memory, outside of the current timeline. Remember it's a rough draft!
dreadnought
Chapter 16
Her arms were braced in front of her, the pistol loose but controlled in her hand. She refused to betray her shock at seeing the alien who had lured John Crichton to a false home standing in front of her, hands raised in a gesture of surrender. D’Argo flanked her, qualta blade and menacing scowl in place, while Zhaan stood on her other side, blue eyes wide and uncertain. Chiana was with Anix, hiding protectively with the child. Aeryn was certain the Nebari would make a great game of it, protecting her daughter from her mother’s fear as well as the incipient danger. As soon as the wormhole had appeared, the two had vanished. Aeryn didn’t know where they were hiding, refused to know in order to protect their safety.
The alien was again wearing the visage of John’s father and Aeryn found it disconcerting to say the least. “Put that down, Aeryn Sun,” he said, the tone and modulations of his voice similar to John’s human language.
She gripped the pistol more tightly and D’Argo growled for effect.
“What do you want?” she asked roughly. “John isn’t here.”
He nodded his head, still offering gestures of placation. “I know that now.”
She raised an eyebrow, indicating with the gun that he continue to speak. She could feel Talyn’s senses pulsing through her. He was scared and agitated, crying out for her, unable to follow Moya down the constructed wormhole. Talyn was capable of forcing her into panic and she breathed through it, trying to still him and maintain her control. Underneath, on the very edge of this dual consciousness, she could feel Crais trying to ease the young ship while harnessing his personal worry. Her own feelings were blocked from Crais through an elaborate system of filters that Talyn had designed to keep his parents separate from each other after Aeryn had threatened to remove the transponder following one too many intimate betrayals from the two males.
“How did you find us, then?” she barked.
“DNA,” he answered.
She glanced at D’Argo who shrugged and at Zhaan turned her palms over in uncertainty. Aeryn shook her head in impatience.
The alien wearing Jack Crichton’s face raised his hand over her head, saying, “We need your help.”
Aeryn felt her consciousness snap hastily back as another alien presence slid into her brain. Swirling visions of wormholes and stars and vicious looking beings traversing them in something that largely resembled the decaying white ship still housed in the maintenance bay rushed through her mind, only to run smack dab into the hybrid ship’s clutching panic. The two entities knock against each other and everything went heavy and black.
D’Argo’s roar of anger brought her back to the surface of reality and she found herself slumped against Zhaan, pistol still in hand. Shaking herself, trying to get rid of the disorientation and the fear that now burned in her stomach, she pushed away from the Delvian, lunging for the Ancient, catching him across the throat with her forearm, pulse pistol pressed into the hollow of his neck.
“Don’t ever pull something like that on me again, or I will kill you where you stand,” she growled at him.
The alien seemed to dissolve, it’s human façade disappearing as it’s real form emerged, and Aeryn stepped back, startled.
“We need your help, Aeryn Sun. I’m sorry I scared you. I thought it would be easier to show you than ask, but I was wrong.” He looked her in the eye, his own eye sockets glowing and iridescent.
“Who are you,” Zhaan finally asked.
“I am an Ancient,” he said simply, and she nodded, apparently more in the know than the rest of them.
He turned back to Aeryn and D’Argo, transforming again into Jack Crichton. “Please, can we talk?”
Aeryn sighed and rubbed her forehead, lowering her weapon. “Get rid of this construct and take us back to Talyn,” she said wearily, moving her hand to the back of her neck, trying to sooth the gunship. “Then we’ll talk.”
***
They sat around a table in the central chamber, Chiana dangling Anix on her knee, the toddler fascinated by everything around her. Jack looked at the child and then looked at Aeryn. She felt his gaze, shrewd and comprehending, but merely set her jaw and stared back. Only the original crew of Moya had been asked to hear what Jack had to say, with Crais coming over from Talyn to join the discussion. He sat opposite Aeryn, next to Chiana, and Anix turned to him frequently, the sheen of his leather coat and his long queue an undeniable draw for her chubby fingers. Aeryn concentrated on her daughter as Jack spoke of the Ancients finally finding a suitable home, of spying the Charrids navigating wormholes in something that looked like Crichton’s module, of feeling it absolutely necessary that they find out what was going on and stop it. When he paused, she asked, “ You can create a construct like that false wormhole, that false earth. Why can’t you simply find them and stop them.”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way, and besides, the wormhole took the bulk of the power I have left. I’ve been searching for John Crichton. We gave him the wormhole knowledge, and clearly he betrayed us somehow.”
Aeryn whipped her head around at that, her angriest glare piercing him and D’Argo leaned forward in fury. “He didn’t betray anyone,” she hissed. “He didn’t even realize what you’d done to him until he was captured and tortured.”
“Then how does this species have this knowledge?” he shot back.
Aeryn looked at D’Argo, at Chiana and Zhaan, all of whom shrugged their ignorance. Then she looked at Crais, military tall even sitting on that backless bench and a memory of sand and anger and blindness and an offer too good to be true rose to the surface and she knew.
“Furlow,” she said, certain she was right.
***
“You are not going by yourself,” D’Argo insisted as she packed.
“You’re right, I’m going with Crais and Talyn and with that frelling Ancient,” she countered.
He snarled. “There are skirmishes going on all over the Uncharted Territories. You could be caught in a random battle, captured by the Peacekeepers again, tortured by Scarrans or Nebari.”
She sighed. “D’Argo, those are risks we run every day just by existing. This is different.”
He nodded sharply, “ And that is why I am going with you. You are too stubborn to back out of this ridiculous mission, and I made a promise to protect your daughter to my death. And the best way I know how to do that is to make sure that you are alive to take care of her.”
She hefted the pulse cannon onto her shoulder. It was a comfort-this heavy, bulky instrument of death. “I’m not going to argue about this anymore D’Argo. I need to do this. No one is going to get that wormhole tech, and if we figured out Furlow has deciphered it then Scorpius might also and I will not allow him that information!” She was startled by the vehemence of her words, but they were true. Scorpius had stolen enough from her in his quest for wormholes, she would not allow him to become a threat to anyone else if she could help it.
“That is why I’m going with you.” She placed the cannon on the bed next to her bag and turned to her friend. “If something happens to me, Anix must have a family, someone to protect her and keep her out of Peacekeeper hands. Do you really think Chiana or Zhaan or Moya can do that on their own?”
“Then you stay, and I’ll go.”
She sighed with impatience. “You do not share a link with Talyn. You can not control his rages or his fire power. And this is my battle.” She slumped down, sitting onto the bed. “Actually, it is John’s battle, but he isn’t here to fight it.”
They didn’t talk much about Crichton, the memories still fresh enough to burn a little, and really, what was there to say. That he was missed? That he had chosen his fate and they’d all suffered the consequences? That any one of them would have gone back and tried to change the past? No. Better to say nothing.
“I want to say goodbye to my daughter,” she said, looking at her hands. “We will be fine.”
***
She hugged Anix fiercely, winding the child’s black curls around her fingers. Her daughter looked up at her, eyes bright and blue and open and Aeryn swallowed back the urge to stay, to giggle and cuddle into the child’s warmth. The part of her that was still Peacekeeper chided her for the delay her emotions were causing, suggesting that a separation now could be good preparation for the future. If she were killed, the child would at least know the feeling of being parentless. Aeryn fought against that part of herself, but also knew that it was legitimate. This life was not easy, would not grow easier, and she was determined that Anix would survive it. She would do anything she could to guarantee that outcome.
Chiana took the baby back and kissed Aeryn on the cheek. “We’ll take care of her,” she promised.
Aeryn turned toward Jack, blinking against his appearance yet again. “Do you have to look like that,” she asked.
“No,” he said. “This was meant to make things easier with John Crichton.”
As he spoke, his body transformed, taking on the visage of an older Sebacean woman, battle scarred, dark haired, and Aeryn’s eyes narrowed.
“No.” she said flatly. The body transformed again, a younger woman with light hair, taller than Aeryn, Peacekeeper proud and smiling. She shook her head and then caught her breath as the form settled into a man, tall and brown haired, eyes blue as the pools on Erani Major. She swallowed and looked the form in the eye, taking the challenge. “Fine,” she said. “Maybe that’s the most appropriate anyway. Furlow certainly won’t be happy to see me.”
Crais, uncomfortable on Moya even after all these cycles, gave Jack an odd look and then proceeded to the pod. Aeryn indicated that Jack should follow him, and then turned to the rest of the crew. D’Argo attempted a final plea to see reason. “Aeryn, you, what are you doing?” he asked.
“I know I’m right on this D’Argo. It’s John’s fight, and now at least, someone will know he’s fighting it.”
“You have gone completely fahrbot, Aeryn,” he growled, but Zhaan looked at her, cerulean eyes wise and understanding. She touched Aeryn’s cheek, and said softly, “Be safe, child.”
***
It felt good to be back on Talyn, back in partnership with the Leviathan so close to her heart and breeding, Crais had merely nodded his acceptance when she had proposed that they take Talyn on this expedition. He knew as well as she did that she could exert enough influence to sway Talyn to her perspective if Crais protested, but it would take a toll on all of them, and she knew equally well that despite Crais’ discomfort with having her on board now, so close yet untouchable, he was happy to be flying free and unfettered again. They had stumbled upon rumors of a retrieval squad searching for Talyn with the escalation of the conflicts, but nothing had so far come to fruition. This could prove an opportunity to investigate those rumors.
Jack stood on command, smiling John Crichton’s smile, and Aeryn felt something shift and pierce, and reminded herself that John was a statue on the Royal Planet, safe from harm, safe from Scorpius, safe from her. Maybe this hadn’t been a good idea. “You really think this mechanic Furlow managed to create a wormhole,” he asked incredulously.
Aeryn shrugged. “John traded her the data he’d collected on solar flares for the repairs to the module. I don’t know if it was enough, don’t know if she had other information but she’s the only one who had any sort of detailed intel.”
Jack pursed his mouth, John’s mouth she thought, and then dug her nails into her hand. This was ridiculous. She’d taken on a neural link with Talyn, been captured by Scorpius, given birth, she could look at someone masquerading as John Crichton and not get lost in the waves of feelings and memories that came flooding out of nowhere, bypassing the lockdown she’d placed them under.
“Then why couldn’t John do the same thing,” he asked. She narrowed her eyes. “Are you joking? Or do you simply not know?”
Jack looked at her steadily.
“We spent a cycle running from Crais, only to end up as the prey of a monster called Scorpius. John didn’t have a lot of time to spend working on equations and theories. We spent most of our time fleeing for our lives and cleaning up the aftermath of whatever disaster had befallen us that weeken.” She almost wanted to laugh at the memories, at the way the universe had turned John’s hope and wonder into defeat and terror, but she choked back the bitterness and the memories and continued.
“Scorpius found the wormhole knowledge that you’d given John when he tortured him, but couldn’t access it. Neither could John,” she said, low and steady. “So when we escaped, he was willing to do almost anything to get John back. After we destroyed his research base, well…” she paused, struggling for what came next. “We found the Sebacean Breakaway Colonies and Scorpius found us. The Empress offered John a deal – marry her daughter and become a statue for 80 cycles or be turned over to Scorpius.” She paused again, looking into his eyes, knowing they were a construct, not really John, but they were so blue, and despite Jack’s uncertainty, they looked out at her with compassion.
“He chose to stay,” she said softly. “He was so scared of what Scorpius would do, and the Empress promised that she’d protect us, and so he married the princess.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, just as softly.
She jerked her head down. “You should be,” she replied. “You didn’t even tell him that you’d given him that knowledge. You left him without options.” She could feel her voice rising. “You allowed for him to reach a point where he would rather stay on a planet without friends, without family, knowing he’d likely never see either again, than fight back and flee from Scorpius.”
Tears stung at her eyes, hot and burning, surprising her after all these cycles. Her disdain and dismissal of John’s fear had long since burned away, helped steadily by her own agony in the Aurora Chair, and now all she was left with was the sorrow that she’d left him behind with only the remnants of her anger and disappointment and a silent goodbye to his frozen form. But now her anger had a new channel, one she knew deserved at least some of it.
“I honestly thought I was helping,” Jack said. “It could have been a way home for him.”
“Or a weapon,” Aeryn countered. “You knew that, John knew that, and obviously now the Peacekeepers know that.”
“That’s why we are going to stop Furlow and these creatures,” said Jack. “ We cannot allow wormhole knowledge to be used like that.”
Aeryn shook her head dismissively, still angry, but was prevented from replying further by Crais’ entrance into command, his face grim. He threw the flimsies in his hand onto the blinking panel. “Intelligence that we’ve managed to gather suggests an alliance between the Charrids and the Scarrans,” he said in his best PK Captain’s voice.
“Of course,” she said sarcastically. “Of course it does.”
“This is very bad,” Crais continued. “The Charrids are mindless and brutal. They attempted to take over the Hynerian Empire 100’s of cycles ago, ravaging their colonies and eating their young.” Aeryn felt her stomach clench. “It took waves of suicide fighters to finally repel them. This is a very, very bad alliance.”
****
Crais caught her in the hallway on the way to the transport. Dambada had been irradiated. Few life forms remained on the planet. Things were getting steadily worse. Aeryn rested the pulse cannon against her thigh and looked at Crais, his hand wrapped around her upper arm. He rarely made physical contact with her anymore.
“Aeryn, this could be very dangerous. Perhaps we should leave the Ancient here, return to Moya.”
She cocked her head, puzzled. “What are you talking about Crais? Now, more than ever, we need to find out what’s going on. This is another sign that war is inevitable.”
“Yes,” he said in agreement, “ and a sign that we should be nowhere near this kind of activity. If the Scarrans are involved, Scorpius will be close behind, with or without Peacekeeper support. I don’t want to see you hurt, or Talyn captured because of the whim of a capricious species who was responsible for some of our troubles in the first place.”
She could see in this request Crais’ constant struggle with himself. His desire for self-preservation warred with his honest concern for Talyn and for her, despite her unwillingness to recreate with him. After the stasis had been released, she’d found that she was no longer willing to solidify her alliance with her former Captain through sex. His desire for her was all consuming, and not a little tied to the fact that he’d won out over Crichton. That his rival was immobile and married, while he himself finally had her and Talyn simultaneously fueled his ardor and she was not willing to continue a physical relationship with him. She’d also needed time to heal, mentally and physically and Moya was a far more soothing place, but almost three cycles past and Crais still looked at her with his own odd longing.
“I have to do this Crais,” she said. “If it is Furlow, I was here at the beginning. I’m partly responsible. I made the bargain, you see and I left him behind.”
She eased her arm out of his grip and handed Crais a pair of the goggles that they’d need on planet.
***
The scene on Dambada was as grim on the surface as it had been from space. The formerly bustling planet was still and windy, solar flares guiding them to the surface. Furlow’s industrial workshop was still standing, heavily guarded by Charrids. The wind whipped the sand around, making it difficult to take a deep breath without getting a lung full of dust. The chill of the air counteracted the claims of the planet’s bright sun. Aeryn and Crais left Jack in the pod, the Prowler resting next to it, until they were able to secure the entrance more effectively, and as sand and pulse fire rained around them, Aeryn could feel the cold certainty of battle in her blood. Talyn begged to help, dancing closer and closer to the planet, and while Aeryn and Crais shouted him back, he stubbornly lingered.
They fired at the Charrid’s, clearing a path and just as it looked like they could dash for the entrance, a flare burst, bright and clear, catching Talyn at the edge of his senses. Aeryn could feel his screams, mirrored by Crais’ own cries. She couldn’t yell, tried to contain the pain in her mind and in her senses, and closed her eyes against it. When there was quiet again, she opened her eyes and found the world around her pricked with spots and haze.
“Frell,” she growled, turning to Crais who was digging the heels of his hands into his own eyes, trying to eradicate the pain and the fog. “Crais, are you all right?” Talyn was whimpering, fear and pain distracting him and making Crais’ own struggle for awareness all the more difficult.
“I can barely see, Aeryn, and Talyn is partially blind as well.”
She nodded. The diffusion of power between her and Crais was probably the only thing that had kept them both from being completely blinded. “Frell” she repeated.
***
The small frag grenades made an effective blockade against the Charrid attacks, effective enough to allow her and Jack to enter the workshop. She’d gotten Crais back to the pod, programmed a trajectory to Talyn as effectively as she could, thrust a large pulse rifle into Jack’s hand and motioned for him to follow.
“ Do not overload that chamber,” she said, “or you’ll blow us both up.” She’d gestured to the pulse pistol that she’d insisted he strap to his thigh, completing his disguise. “Point that, press the trigger, ignore the recoil and keep firing until whatever you are aiming at is dead.” He’d nodded, a hint of that grin at the edge of his lips, and despite the dire circumstances, she smiled back at him. This wasn’t real, she wasn’t getting John back, but it was nice to have something of his presence here.
Furlow was expectedly delighted to see John Crichton. Especially as her bulk dangled off of her wrists, chained above her head. “Hired the Charrids for protection, they betrayed me,” she said, ignoring Aeryn and smiling for Jack. “Now get me the frell down!”
She’d rebuilt Crichton’s module from a scan taken during the repairs. “Flew a wormhole, too,” she boasted and Aeryn bared her teeth at the woman. Jack rested his palm on the white module, stroking it like John would have, but didn’t respond to Furlow, until they head a series of beeps and whirs from the computer in the corner and Crais’ frantic voice.
“There is a Scarran dreadnought approaching,” he yelled, “It is on the very periphery of our senses, but it is definitely heading this way,”
“They’re stealing my data,” Furlow screamed, watching the computer light up and burble, “Those frelling treznots are stealing my data.”
Jack turned, aiming the pulse rifle and blasted a hole in the computer as Furlow screamed in fury, whether at them or the Scarrans, Aeryn didn’t know or particularly care. She felt a new kind of dread in her belly, the very real and very legitimate fear of Scarrans, of taking them on half blind with little backup, and more importantly, what this new development was going to mean.
Jack’s voice was soft, with the warm sibilant variations that she remembered from quiet moments with John. “We have to stop them.” Aeryn nodded reluctantly, waiting for the inevitable. “And I know how.”
***
With his coat off, tools in hand, it was getting harder and harder to stem the memories of John. Jack slowly built the device that he swore would repel the Scarrans, while Aeryn looked on suspiciously. She’d tied Furlow up after the large mechanic finally pushed one too many buttons, attempting to convince them that they should just flee, or worse, take the tech and sell it.
“Come on Johnny,” she’d wheedled. “This is the universes greatest entrepreneurial opportunity. We’ll sell it to everyone, put ‘em on equal footing and make enough to hide forever.”
Aeryn hit her with the butt of the rifle, sending her to her knees. “These are Scarrans,” she said. “Do you want them to have the power to destroy everyone in their path.”
Furlow just glared and rubbed her temple. “Seems to me they pretty much have that anyway,” she said.
Aeryn turned away in disgust, and roped the mechanic to a chair, and went off to resecure the perimeter. When she returned, Jack was untying Furlow.
“I need Partanium,” he said, as if that explained everything.
Furlow smiled victoriously, and Aeryn snarled at her again. “Go,” she said, “before I decide to shoot you and find it myself.”
Her head was throbbing, and while the vision was growing less spotty, it was still impaired. She was hardly at her best and the knowledge that a dreadnought was bearing down on them and that her plan was to trust an alien who was largely responsible for this situation, just made things worse. She hated this planet, hated this whole situation, and was sorely tempted to rip out the transponder in order to give herself some peace from Talyn’s mix of anger, fear and aggression.
“Are you all right,” he asked, as she rubbed her eyes.
She nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
“Why are you here, Aeryn Sun?” he asked, laying down the tool he’d been using, and moving to rest against the table beside her, surprising her yet again.
“What do you mean? You asked for our help, demanded it in fact.”
He shook his head. “ You could have killed me, ignored my request.”
She thought about it for a moment, and came up against the reasons that she kept close to her heart.
“It’s what John would have done,” she finally said. “Doing the right thing, I guess. Taking back what was stolen. And we are so close to war. I just can’t see allowing any of these forces to wield a weapon this powerful.”
“Yes, that is our concern as well.”
“My child,” she said, vying for what she meant. “I want Anix to be free to make her own choices, not be trapped under someone else’s control. I want her to be more than I am, and that won’t happen if the Peacekeepers, or the Scarrans or the Nebari, or frell some other power that I’ve never even heard of takes control of this universe and subjugates us all.”
She was embarrassed by this line of conversation, but Jack seemed to understand what she meant.
“Choice can be very difficult for some,” he said. “There are many who want the guidance of a strong power, who would rather be protected and subjugated than risk the dangers of freedom.”
Aeryn thought about that. “ I never planned to have a child,” she said. “When I found out I was pregnant, worse, when the stasis was released, I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to protect her. I should probably have terminated the fetus, but I wanted this chance, this one thing that had happened in my life that was my choice.”
Jack smiled at her then, pushing away from the table and turning to her. “You’ll get back to her,” he said, “I promise.”
Furlow returned then with the partanium, and Jack ushered them out. “
Don’t you need a suit?” Furlow asked.
“No,” he said, leaving her flapping her mouth open in protest. Aeryn grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and hauled her out of the room.
She’d continued to set charges around the building, setting them off at random intervals, and Crais and Talyn were monitoring movements as best they could, but it was still strangely quiet. Something felt wrong, but Aeryn shook it off, and reentered the workshop when Jack called to them to find him strapping the device to the roof of the replicated Farscape module.
Aeryn had secured Furlow’s wrists again in the interval, and the mechanic asked again what Jack was building. “It’s a displacement engine,” he said. “It will eliminate the Scarran threat.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Ya building a bomb Johnny?”
“No, it’s not a bomb. But it will be effective.” He looked shrewdly at Furlow, “ And it’s set to self-destruct after one use. This will not be a commodity for you to sell, Furlow.”
“Aeryn,” Crais voice cackled through the comms. “Crais, how are you?”
“Better. My vision is returning and Talyn is regaining use of his senses, but we fear that he missed something.”
She paused, waiting for the situation to escalate further
“The Dreadnought is moving more rapidly now, and we are afraid that there may have been a scout ship sent ahead that we missed.”
“Frell, frell, frell,” she muttered. She looked at Jack. “Is this almost ready?” she asked.
“Yeah, just a few more things.” He nodded at Furlow. “An extra set of hands would speed things up considerably.”
She placed more charges, enough so that she could blow up the entire building if necessary, and looked out at the vast landscape of sand. The Charrids were making half-hearted forays at the building. They were playing, taunting her, but not moving in significantly. The explosions and the auto-sighted canons shouldn’t have been enough to deter them this thoroughly, and suddenly she knew. Yelling for Jack and cursing herself for being distracted by a false front and her own disdain for the mechanic, she ran back to the workshop, hearing the repeat of pulse fire as she slammed the door open, firing on the Charrids in front of her flanking Furlow, aiming an ugly, but very deadly looking pistol at Jack, who was clutching his side in pain.
Her face turned to Aeryn in smiling surprise, and then she cried out as Jack shot her in the arm, causing her to drop the weapon. Aeryn spied movement in the back of the workshop as a Charrid dashed out from the shadows towards the back exit. She fired at it, hitting it in the back, but it didn’t stop running. Her eyes darted frantically around the room, searching for further enemies, checking to see if Jack was all right, and watching Furlow.
She strode forward, grabbed the weapon before the woman could recover and turned to Jack, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he croaked out, but his face was growing pale, blood running down his side.
She whipped furiously on Furlow, “ You conniving bitch, you betrayed us.”
Furlow shrugged, wincing in pain. “It’s business, “ she said, and closed her eyes as Aeryn leveled the weapon at her and shot her in the face.
“Aeryn,” Crais bellowed over the comms. “Whatever Jack is planning on doing, you need to do it now. The dreadnought is bearing down on us, and Talyn just destroyed two scout ships. We don’t have enough fire power to take on a dreadnought though, and I’m sure other ships are nearing the planet.”
“I’m on it Crais.” She looked at Jack, but her hand on his arm, feeling the warm human skin light up her palm.
“Can you do this?” she asked.
“Yeah. Just get me to the ship, and stay clear of the dreadnought.”
“Jack,” she paused.
“Just get me to the ship Aeryn Sun.”
She opened the hangar doors for him, and some how made it to the Prowler on autopilot. Her head was screaming at her for some sort of painkiller, but her vision was clear. As she flew back up to Talyn, she picked up what could only be Scarrans moving towards the workshop. Without a second thought, she detonated the building, hoping she’d eradicated at least a few of them.
“Crais, can you turn the Dreadnought towards you?” she heard Jack ask in John’s voice, and she listened as Crais taunted the Scarrans.
She skidded the prowler into the docking bay, scrambling down the steps and running for command where she almost careened into Crais who stood opened mouthed as the small Farscape module circled into the solar flare, rounding and rounding as the spiral increased and as the spiral reached out to touch a nearby star, the module darted out sluggishly, and Aeryn called out, “John,” her voice keening, and then almost instantly as the spiral touched the dreadnought, the massive shipped was pulled into the vortex.
The Farscape module wasn’t moving quickly enough and the gravity and vacuum created sucked it towards them. Aeryn screamed again, not knowing if she was yelling for Jack or for John, and then it was over, leaving only stillness and space, and Crais pulled her roughly to him, his own body trembling in horror and wonder.
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Date: 2003-08-18 03:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-18 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-18 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-18 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-18 04:28 pm (UTC)You have managed to give Aeryn a depth that most writers only hope for. She grew up fast and the woman John sees is the result, a combination of PK and human emotions. It's a lovely mix. That Jack chose John to appear as was wonderful, as was her reaction to him. Her crying out his name was beautifully telling of her emotional state. It makes me wonder how much of the actual story she tells them. *g*
More, I want more! Yes I am a greedy bitch I know. *g*
no subject
Date: 2003-08-18 06:29 pm (UTC)And thanks so much for the praise and support. It really keeps me going.
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Date: 2003-08-18 04:57 pm (UTC)awesome chapter!
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Date: 2003-08-18 06:26 pm (UTC)Wonderful
Date: 2003-08-20 08:58 pm (UTC)I alternate between wanting to hug and thump Aeryn. You've got her personality, with all its inherent contradictions and frustrations, down pat.
Exemplary work, Thea.
Re: Wonderful
Date: 2003-08-21 10:00 am (UTC)The nice thing for me now is that I now it's over the halfway mark, I know what's coming up and what the resolution will be. But I still have to commit all that to paper! But I'm too far into it too back off now:)