The Return of the dark Captain
(A FarScape FanFic by Beth A. Carpenter)
FARSCAPE and all related characters and elements are trademarks of the Jim Henson Company.
All other characters and story ideas are the creation of the author.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either product's of the author's or are used fictitiously.
TIMELINE: This story chronicles what happened to Captain Crais and Talyn beginning shortly after the episode "Crichton Kicks" and ending with the episode "What Was Lost, Part 2: Resurrection".
Part One - Renewed AllianceS
An odiferous mist permeated the air, sharp and stale all at the same time. It was dark, not even the phosphorescent flora that grew within the corridors shedding a scrap of light. Everything seemed out of sync, out of focus, wrong. Almost every circuit was blown, every wire melted, even the DRD's motionless. And the Leviathan was injured, barely alive, a huge section of his long and elegant right tail missing, crippling his ability to starburst, even if he had had enough power to perform that single defensive maneuver.
A solitary light bobbed through the Leviathan's dark corridors, a Peacekeeper-issued pulse pistol gripped in a calm and sure hand, the intruder's footsteps soft on the steelskin deck. She had been surprised to find the Leviathan's landing doors opened, her disbelief growing into apprehension as she began to move through the pitch-black corridors of what almost seemed to be a ghost ship. She stepped over a broken support, shining her light up onto the ceiling from where the beam fell. It looked to have been shaken loose and she tilted her head. A nervous gnawing began deep in the pit of her stomach. Her mind returned yet again to the conversation so many monens ago and as she made her way to the bridge, she began to understand why the ship and his Captain had not rendezvoused with her as planned three monens ago.
"Tennis 9. That is the safest place to meet." Crais whispered, leaning close to Aeryn. "There are no bases…or outposts close to it."
Aeryn gazed around the recovery room in the carrier's medical bay. Even though she knew Scorpius could not eavesdrop on them here, she still didn't trust the Peacekeepers that seemed to be milling about. "Are you sure this will work?" she asked, never looking at her former superior.
"Which part?" Crais raised one eyebrow quizzically. Neither one of them had to voice the thought running through their heads. His dark eyes bored into her. He finally shook his head, his jaw set in determination. "Talyn and I will provide you with…ample time to escape before the carrier implodes. If I have not arrived at Tennis 9 in three monens, you must assume that…Talyn and I did not survive and give up the search."
"Crais…" Aeryn started.
"That is an order, Officer Sun," he hissed. Crais stood up and walked away, his eyes locking with Aeryn's one last time before he left the room.
She didn't listen to him. Aeryn Sun stopped listening to Captain Crais when he deemed her irreversibly contaminated three cycles earlier. And now what was she doing? Still looking for him. "Assuming he's even alive," she whispered to herself.
Truth be known, Aeryn was really looking for Talyn, not sure if she even cared whether Crais was dead or not. She had found the gunship drifting in space unusually close to the area Scorpius' carrier had imploded, his bio-signature so weak that at times, Aeryn questioned whether it was even there in the first place. He was lucky he hadn't been captured. There had been reports of Peacekeeper patrol ships in the area searching for something, although what they were looking for was anyone's guess. She holstered her pulse pistol and laid the handheld emergency light on the deck, easing her fingers into the seam of the bridge doors, exerting all of her strength and pushing the barrier apart. She felt them give slightly and Aeryn stepped back as the doors sluggishly parted of their own volition. A small, worried smile crossed her lips as she stepped onto the bridge.
"Well, done, Talyn," she softly praised, running her hand along the circular ceiling in the center of his bridge. The air in this compartment was fresh, clean, and Aeryn tilted her head, her grey-blue eyes narrowed as she shined the light around the room. The gunship responded weakly, a single white light to Aeryn's right pulsing dimly. He chirped softly, sounding almost panicked. She moved over to where the light blinked, her foot colliding with a mass lying before the console. Aeryn shined her light down, her breath freezing in her throat as her eyes widened. Lying before her on the steelskin deck of his own ship was ex-Peacekeeper Captain Bialar Crais, bruised, injured and unconscious. Aeryn knelt next to him, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder as she frantically jerked open the collar of his uniform, her fingers moving immediately to his throat. She breathed a sigh of relief at the weak pulse she felt as she studied his unconscious form. His face was freshly cut, and Aeryn touched the scratch, her fingers coming away blood stained. She contemplated the red fluid on her hand as it started to slowly congeal over the cut on his cheek. What happened here? she wondered silently as she began to check the Sebacean Captain for other injuries. Crais' right ankle was bent at an odd angle and she was afraid to move him, not knowing if anything else was wrong. Aeryn gazed around Talyn's dark bridge, the nervous feeling in her stomach growing more persistent. Something just was not right. She returned her eyes to Crais' face only to find a pair of dark, pain-filled eyes staring back at her.
"Aeryn," Crais croaked, attempting to sit up.
"Lie still Crais," she commanded. "You've been injured."
"Talyn…"
"Talyn will be fine." She saw his eyes drift shut as he slipped back into unconsciousness and Aeryn tapped the comm badge on her vest. "Venna, do you copy me?"
A man's voice answered, filtering through the badge at her chest. "Go ahead."
Aeryn looked down at Crais. She hesitantly reached out to stroke his uninjured cheek, a small smile on her face. "I've found them. And they are alive. I will need a med-team stat as soon as we return to the base."
"What about the Leviathan?" Venna asked, his Prowler closing in on the injured gunship.
"We will have to tow him in." Aeryn ran her fingers through her hair. "Venna, hurry," she finished, her voice filled with sudden urgent concern.
The light was bright, even through his closed eyelids and Crais raised a shaky hand to lay over them, trying desperately to block out the light. He was still groggy, unsure of where he was, his whole body aching. Crais could only compare the soreness that spread from head to toe to the last time Ka D'Argo took his annoyance out on him, only this time, it was ten times worse. There was an antiseptic smell to the room and he reached back, letting the hand that had been over his eyes slide down his neck to the transponder that linked him to his ship. "Talyn. Status," Crais croaked, his throat raw. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, how much time had passed since starburst, the gunship using all his resources to keep them alive. He swallowed past the dryness in his mouth.
"He can't hear you. He's sedated."
Crais finally opened his eyes, shutting them just as quickly at the glare before opening them more slowly, letting them focus naturally. He knew that voice, had heard it for cycles, but for some reason couldn't place it. She came into focus, his eyes heavy as he fought the black well that was trying to suck him in. "Aeryn," he finally whispered.
Aeryn leaned over him, resting her hands on the medical bed railing. "Welcome back. Can you remember anything that happened?" she asked, brushing an errant lock of curly black hair from his forehead.
Crais closed his eyes, swallowing, trying to push past the pain in his own body. He realized he was receiving residual sensations from Talyn and reached back once again for the transponder, his hand sliding down as he decided against severing his link to the gunship. "Starburst…from the carrier. It…was violent…almost tore Talyn in two. I was…knocked across the bridge and…hit the console." He paused. "Then, nothing."
Aeryn stared in him in confusion. "What do you mean nothing? Crais, you've been missing for six monens."
Crais opened his eyes, staring at Aeryn. "That's not…possible. We…only starburst from the carrier…at the most…a few arns ago."
Aeryn's eyes narrowed and she shrugged. "Well, you're safe for now. Get some rest. I'm going to check on Talyn."
Crais reached out, grabbing her wrist. Even in his weakened condition, he was still able to hold on to her tightly. He turned his head on the pillow, fighting the sleep that was creeping up on him. "Where…" Crais licked dry and cracked lips. "…where are we?" he whispered.
Aeryn bit the inside of her cheek, wondering how much to reveal to him. "With friends," she answered. "Rest." When she tried to pull away, she couldn't, his hand still firmly grasping her wrist. Her eyes met his. "What?" she finally asked.
"Thank you," he replied. Crais' hand slipped from her wrist as he slipped into a deep and healing sleep.
Aeryn stared at him for a few more moments before turning on her heel and walking to the door. She paused, gazing back at Crais one last time before exiting, finding Venna standing in the corridor outside, one foot propped against the wall as he cleaned his nails with the knife that never left his side. "He's conscious."
Venna ran a hand over his bald head, casting a concerned glance to the closed door as he replaced his knife in its case. "What did he say? Does he know anything?"
Aeryn shook her head, her dark ponytail swishing over the leather of her vest. "Nothing really." She stopped, gazing up at him. She had gone through her final Peacekeeper training with Venna, both of them excelling beyond the expectations of their superiors. And he was the closest thing to a friend Aeryn ever had. He hadn't changed since the last time she had seen him, his broad shoulders and muscular body filling his uniform as if the leather was a second skin, the sleeves of the tunic he wore cut out to accommodate his thick arms. "Venna, we've known each other a long time, right?" she softly asked.
Venna rolled his eyes upwards with a sigh. "Oh here it comes." He looked at her. "Yes, Aeryn."
"Then, I can trust you, right?"
Venna sighed, crossing his arms and his ankles as he leaned against the stone wall. "Aeryn, if I didn't trust you and you didn't trust me, I wouldn't have brought you here. Or help you haul Crais and his ship in." Venna scratched his cheek, a soft red shadow covering it from where he hadn't shaved. "The resistance is still in its infancy and those members of Peacekeeper High Command that are involved are still suspicious of anyone coming into it. So, considering the fact that I am on this useless, backwater abandoned Gammak base drumming up support for the resistance, what do you think?" He raised his pale red eyebrows, pursing his lips as he waited for her to continue. "Yes, Aeryn, you can trust me," Venna added.
Aeryn leaned back against the opposite wall, her hands behind her back. "Crais claims that he and Talyn only came out of starburst a few arns ago at the most."
Venna stared at her before chuckling. "Maybe I better have the doctor check his head for a concussion," he stated.
Aeryn looked down at her boots for a moment, contemplating everything that had happened over the last cycle. She hated to admit it, but Crais' words did sound crazy. But maybe not that crazy. Scorpius had modified the command carrier. What if it had acted as a catapult, the combination of Talyn's starburst and the modifications sending the gunship forward in time? She canted her head as she looked up at Venna. "What if they did only come out of starburst a few arns ago?"
A group of ex-Peacekeeper soldiers came up the corridor, laughing as they passed between Venna and Aeryn, the older man nervously rubbing his hand over his head. "Maybe I better have the doctor check you." He crossed the hallway, leaning one hand on the wall above Aeryn's head, staring down at her. "Are you telling me that you think Crais and Talyn went through some sort of…" Venna scrunched his face up as he looked for the word. "…time rift?"
Aeryn shrugged, looking up at her longtime friend. "It would explain the fresh cuts on Crais' face and the lack of any healed tissue on his internal injuries." She paused. "And the fact that the score marks on Talyn's hull are still hot, some of them only now blistering."
Venna inhaled, his eyes locking with Aeryn's. "They could've been recently attacked," he pointed out less than convincingly. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Venna had served on a cutter that came across a time anomaly and he remembered how the rift had aged and killed a few of his shipmates.
Aeryn nodded. "There is only one way to find out."
"How?"
She started walking down the hall. "I need to access Talyn's records."
Venna grabbed Aeryn's arm, gently turning her around. "Aeryn, let it go until tomorrow. The gunship is hurting and he is running on what little power he has left. Let him rest." He smiled at her, rubbing his hand up and down her arm comfortingly. "You are all safe here. Another day won't matter." He raised his eyebrows. "How about some dinner? I understand our cook is preparing some wonderful concoction that I am sure is inedible."
Aeryn reluctantly agreed, chuckling at Venna's words. It wouldn't hurt to let Talyn rest, and, unbeknownst to Venna, Aeryn knew she could get on Talyn no matter how hurt he was. For some nagging reason she couldn't quite place, Aeryn was sure Talyn and Crais hadn't been recently attacked.
The day dawned bright and warm, not that anyone on the underground and abandoned Gammak base noticed. Aeryn slipped through the hangar towards Talyn unnoticed, the members of this newly formed resistance going about their daily tasks in uneasy silence. Aeryn knew something was coming, unsure whether or not to become part of it and she pushed the thought from her mind, returning her concentration to the task of finding out what had happened. She moved around the makeshift barrier the resistance member's had erected and caught her first good look at the hybrid Leviathan she had named, her heart tightening in her chest at the score marks along his hull. The missing tail section marred his sleek and elegant form, more beautiful to her than anything else in the Uncharted Territories. Venna's people assured her that they could fix the damage, giving the gunship the ability to starburst again. Aeryn hoped they could.
She ran her hand along his red hued hull as she walked towards the lowered ramp, quietly moving up it and through his silent corridors to the bridge. This time, the doors slid open without the slightest hesitation, causing her face to light up with a smile. Aeryn reached up and ran her hand along the ceiling. "Hello Talyn," she softly greeted, her voice hitching slightly. The gunship chirped back at her, quiet, but filled with excitement. She turned around in a circle, never moving her hand, letting it slid tenderly across his living bulkhead. "Talyn, can you show me what happened?" she asked.
The viewport in front of her faded to black as the gunship complied. Aeryn watched in silent fascination.
"Talyn, starburst."
The gunship engaged his starburst, holding his position within Scorpius' carrier until he was engulfed with red light and energy, his body warm as it closed around him, the twisting lanes of faster-than-light travel beckoning to him. He knew where Crais wanted to go, but starburst was not an exact science.
"Now, Talyn!" Crais called over the thunderous roar of energy that surrounded him.
Talyn let himself loose as the first support beam from the carrier came down, piercing his shields, scraping his back as he shot forward into starburst. He felt Crais' slight twinge of panic as he was thrown backwards, but Talyn couldn't do anything but move forward, his body, already within the opened time-space window, barely feeling the jagged and searing metal of the carrier's bulkhead as he punctured through it. He saw the ships around him through a red-haze, distorted as if he were looking at them through a pool of water. The starburst closed around him and they disappeared.
When the gunship came through the space-time warp of starburst, he found himself floating in the exact same place he had just left. There was no sign of Scorpius' entourage except for the floating debris of the destroyed command carrier that he eased himself through. He found a relatively clean area of space less than a metra from where he arrived and stopped, exhausted and drained, the starburst pulling all the energy he had. He turned his attention inwards to his injured and unconscious Captain and sent out the prearranged call, hoping Officer Sun was close by. Talyn had barely started to check Crais when he heard the response, recognized the rough, feminine voice of Aeryn Sun and opened the landing bay door with the last ounce of strength he possessed.
"Then Crais was right. You had only just exited starburst when I found you," she whispered in shock. Talyn chirped softly in the affirmative. A light began to blink on the system console and Aeryn moved to it, gazing down at the information Talyn displayed for her. "This is…incredible," she said, gazing around the ship's bridge. "You truly are extraordinary."
Talyn chirped in panic, displaying Crais' image on the view port.
"He's alive Talyn, but he's hurt as well." Aeryn moved towards the bridge doors, stopping one last time and crouching in the center of the room, laying both of her hands on the lighted deck. "Rest, my friend," she soothed. "You'll both be fine. I promise."
"Talyn, starburst," he said quietly, knowing more than likely it would be the last command he ever issued. There was so much he still wanted out of life, but his secret hopes and dreams were never to be realized, always out of reach, just beyond his fingertips. But to save the rest of the universe from Scorpius ever obtaining that wormhole formula…it was worth the sacrifice he and Talyn were about to make. He closed his eyes as the gunship burst forward, the heat intense, the brightness blinding…
Crais sat up in the medical bed with a sharp inhalation of breath, a light sheen of sweat on his forehead. His ribs ached and he looked down, noticing the tight binding tape around them. He stared at his own hands in fascination, reaching back to find the transponder in its cradle at the base of his neck. "Talyn?" he called softly, his dark eyes closed as he concentrated.
The soft whisper in his mind made him exhale the breath he had been holding and Crais fell backwards on the bed, his energy as depleted as the gunship he was connected to. A small smile twitched at the corners of his mouth and grew until it became a laugh, a deep, rumbling belly laugh of the likes the Captain had not enjoyed since he had been a small child. Tears rolled down bandaged cheeks as Crais gave into the joy he was feeling, the pain in his chest all but forgotten.
~ Are you all right? ~ Talyn asked in tired confusion. ~ What is so funny? ~
"I am happy we are alive, Talyn," Crais said out loud. He sat up slower this time, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. His ankle was also bandaged and he stared at the bindings around it, wondering how he had hurt it.
~ But we are injured, Crais. And…I'm tired. ~
"Yes, but we are alive, Talyn. We are alive." He rested his hands on the metal bar of the bed, and pulled himself upwards, standing with extremely shaky legs. Crais turned slowly, taking one awkward step, his ankle collapsing under his weight.
Two strong arms caught him before he hit the floor in an undignified heap. "What are you doing out of bed?"
Crais looked at the doctor that had caught him, allowing the big man to help him to his feet. "I need to return to my ship," he stammered in shock. The doctor easily stood head and shoulders over D'Argo, with a shock of pale blonde hair over a thin face that had seen better days. He easily picked the Captain up and put him back in the medical bed. Crais decided that he was not about to argue with this behemoth of a man.
"No, Captain Crais, you need to be in bed resting," the doctor stated, fixing the bed so that Crais sat up.
Crais canted his head at the man, his eyes narrowed as he stared at him. "How do you know who I am?"
The doctor smiled. "Officer Sun told me." He pulled a medical scanner from the pocket of his lab jacket, checking Crais. "I needed to make sure you were still in perfect health before I repaired the internal injuries you sustained." He pocketed the scanner, smiling at his patient. "I didn't want to kill the man responsible for royally frelling up Scorpius' plans."
"Where are we?"
"I already told you Crais, you're with friends," Aeryn remarked as she walked in the room. "Although I don't think you remember. That was four days ago." The doctor left at her nod. "How are you feeling?"
"Sore. Where is Talyn?"
Aeryn propped her hands on her hips, smiling at him. "He is safe and not too far from you." She canted her head, gazing down at Crais as he leaned back on the pillows, wincing as he took a breath. "You didn't expect to live, did you?" she queried softly, her light colored eyes narrowing slightly.
Crais closed his eyes. "No," he answered with finality. "I…we did not know what would happen. With Talyn's modified systems and the…changes Scorpius had made to the carrier…" he shrugged slightly, resting his right hand across his bandaged ribcage.
Aeryn crossed her arms, wondering if he was telling the truth. This is Crais, she thought to herself, Crais who always looks after number one. "You commented to me that you and Talyn had only just starburst."
He nodded, never opening his eyes. "I remember Talyn going into starburst, the light blinding…the heat, staggering. The force…threw me backwards and I slammed into the console. I recall a sharp pain slicing through my chest and head and then nothing until you found me."
Aeryn ran her fingers through her hair, unsure how she was going to tell Crais that Talyn's starburst had thrust them six monens into the future. She and the Leviathan were having a hard enough time dealing with that realization. She turned away, staring at the bland dark wall before her, pacing. "Crais, when you and Talyn starburst, you were thrown six monens into the future."
Crais' eyes snapped open in disbelief and he struggled to sit upright. "What?" he exclaimed softly in skepticism.
Aeryn whirled at the sound of his voice. "I have no idea how or why, but Talyn showed me his logs, and what you told me is correct."
"I must get to Talyn," Crais stated emphatically, realizing that the strange feeling he had been experiencing was Talyn's confusion and fear. "He is still not quite recovered from the madness and I…" He tried to stand, leaning back against the bed as his ankle threatened to give out again. Brown eyes looked up at Aeryn, who moved to stand before him. He saw the dark look she flashed him.
"No." She forced Crais back into the bed. "Trust me on this Crais. You need to rest," she insisted, her voice strained.
"Why do I suddenly need so much rest?" Crais snarled angrily through clenched teeth, grasping Aeryn's arm. He studied her face, noticing the nervous twitch just below her left eye, a twitch he never noticed before. "Aeryn, where is Crichton and the others?" he finally asked softly. "Did Talyn and I…succeed?"
Aeryn stared at the wall above Crais' head. "Yes you succeeded. Scorpius' carrier was destroyed." She swallowed, a single tear glinting in her eye. "And…I do not know where Crichton or anyone else is."
Crais canted his head. "What happened? You were supposed to tell Crichton our plan, the two of you coming after Talyn and I together." He pushed himself up higher in the bed, never letting Aeryn go. "I will ask again. What happened, Officer Sun?"
Aeryn looked at Crais, tears streaming freely down her face, trying very hard not to let her former superior see her distress and failing miserably. She shook her head. "Don't ask me to tell you, Crais. I can't." She swallowed hard, licking her lips. "Just be thankful I came after you." Without another word of explanation, Aeryn turned on her heel and left the room.
Crais watched her go, crossing his arms over his chest. Wherever she had brought him, the medical facilities were primitive compared to most, making him rule out the possibility that they were on a commerce or pleasure planet. Or even a Peacekeeper base. The tape around his ribs was indicative of that. Crais reached up and stroked his goatee, his eyes narrowing. Aeryn was hiding something. Where was Crichton and the crew of Moya? Did they escape as planned, or were they killed in the carrier's implosion, unable to free themselves? More importantly, what happened to Scorpius and why was Aeryn being so secretive? Crais was determined to find out what was going on.
And whether or not he and Talyn were truly among friends as Aeryn claimed.