Notes: Yet another Duped 'verse fic. John is getting sick of constantly being hunted down, even though they're now roaming around Tormented Space. Aeryn and John decide they want the stasis pregnancy released. A new crew member is brought on board. And they all get in trouble.

"D? Can I talk to you for a bit?"

D'Argo, recently elected Captain of Moya, halted his progress towards the Center Chamber and turned to his friend. "Of course."

John caught up with him and together they walked on. "We chose to enter this Tormented Space area to get some safety, right? Now, it could be me, but I haven't noticed any change at all. We still seem to run into all kinds of problems and danger on an almost daily basis."

D'Argo sighed and nodded. "Yes, and I have to agree with Chiana on this; we seem to be cursed."

John rubbed with his hand across his face and sighed. "I'm tired of it, D. I don't wanna live my life like this anymore." More importantly, he didn't want his future kid to grow up like this, but since Aeryn and he hadn't decided on when to release the stasis, he didn't tell his friend.

D'Argo nodded. "I agree, but there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it."

"We can't, but I can."

This made D'Argo stop dead in his tracks. "John, we're not going to let you leave, just because you think we'll be safer that way."

John stopped and looked back in confusion at his friend. "Leaving? I'm not leaving. I was thinking about creating some chaos of our own, making sure people know that messing with us is likely to get you killed."

"Oh." D'Argo looked down momentarily and looked back up. "But isn't that something we could do?"

John shrugged. "To some extent, yes. But as you may have noticed in the past cycles, we haven't been making much of an impression. Otherwise we wouldn't have had to run from the Uncharteds."

John turned and resumed his walk as soon as D'Argo had caught up with him. "This time I could use my knowledge of wormholes to..."

D'Argo grabbed John forcefully by the shoulder and stopped him. "No! These past monens you've been lecturing us on the dangers of wormholes. Using wormholes is simply too dangerous for the entire universe."

"Well, it's either that or get crapped on every which way we turn for the rest of our lives," John snapped back, more forcefully than he intended. He calmed himself a bit. "I can't do this anymore, D. I want some peace and quiet for a change. There's just no frelling way we get that here or in the Uncharteds."

"So, your most logical response is using wormhole tech to win the fight? Didn't you tell us a weeken ago that wormhole weapons don't make peace? That people make peace?"

John sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, but we're too few to get the Peacekeepers and Scarrans to see that."

D'Argo remained silent as he watched his friend. He saw John's weariness and an idea arose. "Why don't we take a vacation?"

John snorted. "Yeah, we'll just ask everyone to leave us alone so we can relax for a while."

D'Argo looked him in the eyes. "It doesn't have to be here. We could go to an area which neither Peacekeepers nor Scarrans have explored."

John looked at his friend. "And how long would it take Moya to get there? We're still pretty close to the border with the Uncharteds. No matter which way we go, we'll have to travel through quite a big territory first. And we wouldn't even be sure it'd be a quiet, peaceful area."

"It wouldn't take that long if you guide us through a wormhole."

"I don't know, D. Traveling through a wormhole is kinda dangerous..."

"Oh, come on, John. A microt ago you were willing to use wormhole tech to fight off Peacekeepers and Scarrans, but you're afraid to use wormhole tech in the safest way possible?"

John gave a small smile. "Well, put like that..."

"All I'm saying is that everyone here aboard Moya will be looking forward to a period of relaxation."

The more John thought about, the more he liked that idea. "I guess I could get us to another spiral arm, or at least to an area that has less stars. We'd have to stock up on food and supplies, though."

"We could leave Rygel on the next commerce planet."

John gave a short bark of laughter as both men resumed their course to the Center Chamber. "That would certainly help in the food department."

"I was talking in general."

"I'm fine." Aeryn attempted to get Jool to forego the medical scan of her wounded side. The scanner was bound to pick up the stasis pregnancy and John and she hadn't decided yet when to tell the others and release the stasis.

"No, Aeryn, you're not fine." Jool had already moved the scanner over the gap on Aeryn's left side. "It's a pretty deep wound. It nearly penetrated the wall of your womb. If it had, you'd... be..." Jool looked closer at the readings.

Aeryn, knowing perfectly well what Jool was distracted by, decided that she might as well get some of the answers she was desperate to get. "Can you tell how long it's been in stasis?"

Jool slowly turned to look at Aeryn. "With some additional testing I probably could determine that. But I do know it has Crichton's DNA."

Aeryn started to smile. "I thought it would." She paused. "When I had my medical check up on Scorpius' Command Carrier, the Med Tech was somewhat appalled when he found out about the pregnancy. I assumed then it would be because it was John's."

"That gives you a rough estimate of when you conceived, doesn't it? It must have happened on Talyn."

Aeryn turned back to Jool. "Not necessarily."

Jool nearly dropped the scanner. "What? When?"

Aeryn shrugged. "When we were on the fake Earth. We both thought we were going to die."

Jool shook her head. "I don't think that's the case. I performed a medical scan on you a weeken before you went on Talyn. There was no stasis pregnancy then."

"Oh."

The two women fell silent, as Jool started her treatment of the wound.

"I don't think Crichton will care it's from the other Crichton."

"Perhaps." Aeryn fell silent again. "If John and I decided to, could you release the stasis?"

Jool halted her progress to look Aeryn in the eyes. "I... I don't think I can. I know how to recognize a stasis pregnancy, run some tests on it, but I never found any text explaining the procedure for releasing one."

"I'm sure we'll find you a Peacekeeper med tech. Or maybe there's a Diagnosian who knows the right procedure."

Startled, both women looked in the direction of the entrance to the medical bay, surprised by John's previously undetected arrival.

"She found out when she performed a scan," Aeryn said, not sure why she felt she needed to convince him it was not of her own volition that Jool knew about the pregnancy.

John quickly walked towards her. "It's alright, Aer. I figured she might find out about the bun." He held up the items in his hand. "Brought you somethin' else to wear."

Jool had finished up her treatment. "There, all done." She turned to John as he handed over the clothing to Aeryn. "Make sure she takes it easy the first solar day."

John nodded. "Anything on her?" He jerked with his head in the direction of the woman they'd found on the commerce planet.

After John and D'Argo talked about getting to a more peaceful location, they had discussed it with the rest of the crew. They all agreed it would be a welcome change and had started to stock up on food. Unfortunately, in Tormented Space, supplies were much harder to locate, so they had frequently ventured back into the Uncharted Territories in order to obtain the needed supplies, food and water.

On their latest trip, they stumbled on the Sebacean woman now lying on the med table. When they saw she was clearly outmatched by her attackers, they hadn't hesitated for a moment to come to her aid, not even bothering to find out what the situation was.

That was how Aeryn got wounded: attempting to get the by-then-unconscious woman to a safer location. After they had scared the attackers off, they had decided to take the unknown woman with them.

Jool shook her head in response to John's inquiry. "No, not much anyway. She is Sebacean, and a number of her injuries seem to have been inflicted weekens ago."

John followed her as she moved towards the Jane Doe. "Weekens? You're telling me she's been abused for weekens?"

Jool shook her head again. "No, I'm saying some of the injuries were inflicted weekens ago. There are two types of injuries: the new ones from today and the ones she incurred approximately three weekens ago."

John arched his eyebrows. "And none in the time in between?"

"No, not as far as I can tell." Jool systematically moved the scanning device over the still unconscious woman. "Hmm. She seems to be a Peacekeeper."

Aeryn had gone over to them, after putting on the shirt and pants John had brought her. "Are you sure?"

Jool nodded. "Yes. She has the same genetic alterations common to carrier-born Peacekeepers. She's not, however, part of a battle unit, as she is lacking those alterations."

"A tech?"

Again, Jool nodded. "Yes, that is most likely. I also believe the older injuries are Peacekeeper-inflicted. They're not so much brute force as they are methodically inflicted for increased suffering. I think she's been interrogated or severely punished for something."

John turned to Aeryn. "Think she got kicked out?"

Aeryn shook her head. "Unlikely, it's not often someone is banished from Peacekeeper ranks after being tortured."

John arched an eyebrow. "So, she escaped? How likely is it a tech can escape a carrier or base with highly trained guards around?"

"Not very, but more likely than being expelled with your life spared. She either got lucky or she's a better soldier than they thought."

John turned back to the still-unconscious woman. "Well, guess we won't know which until she wakes up." He looked at Jool. "Any idea on when that might be?"

"She'd probably be awake right now, but I sedated her. I need to take care of some of the injuries."

John nodded. "'Kay. Let us know when she wakes up." He turned around, wrapping his arm around Aeryn's shoulder. "Let's go, Sunshine, dinner's waiting."

"Aer, can I ask you something?"

John and Aeryn were on their way to the Center Chamber, after having stopped at their quarters so Aeryn could take a quick shower. Aeryn turned her head towards him, simply arching an eyebrow to indicate she was waiting for his question.

"Should we look into releasing the stasis before we go? In case something goes ape and we can't get back to the civilized universe."

Aeryn faced forward again, thinking about his question. On the one hand, she had full confidence in John's ability to get them safely to any location through a wormhole. On the other hand, they did seem to attract a lot of trouble and they may not be able to return here. "Perhaps that would be the better choice." She turned to face him. "I trust you, John, but we do seem to get into trouble, despite the abilities we have."

John nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking. However, if we do end up in an area with no food, as bad as it would be for us, it would be worse for a baby."

"As long as there's a planet, with some kind of life, I'm sure we can find food and water."

"Yeah, you're probably right. So, we're going to make a trip to a Command Carrier first? You comfortable with telling the others?"

"We have no other choice. Besides, Jool already knows."

John looked at Aeryn near the end of dinner, silently asking her if she was sure. In response to her slight nod, he cleared his throat once. "Alright, boys and girls. Before we go jump into a wormhole, Aer and I will be making a small trip of our own."

Silence followed. Chiana was the first to recover from her shock. "Where to, old man?"

"The nearest Command Carrier."

An even longer period of silence followed. Aeryn looked at John, slightly shaking her head at seeing the obvious enjoyment in his eyes at the result of his announcement. She turned to her friends. "What John means, is that we need to locate a Peacekeeper med tech."

Chiana got up from her seat next to D'Argo and made her way to the other end of the table. "Why? Is something wrong with you? Can't Princess help ya?"

"No, nothing's wrong with me. I'm just pregnant. Jool already said she couldn't release the stasis."

Chiana looked from Aeryn to John and back again, not sure on how to respond.

D'Argo had no such problem and in a few large strides made his way to the both of them. He clasped John's shoulder. "Congratulations, my friend." He turned to Aeryn. "And to you, too, of course."

John had a big grin. "Thanks, man."

"You- you're having a narl?"

"Well, not right now, Pip. It's gonna be... uhm..." He turned to face Aeryn. "I was gonna say nine monens, but I'm not sure how long it takes for Sebaceans."

"To be honest, neither do I. But this is a geometric pregnancy."

A doubtful look made its way to John's face. "That being...?"

"It takes about two weekens for this baby to be born."

"T-two weekens?" John swallowed. "That's, uhm, wow. That's short."

"Chiana?" D'Argo had noticed her slipping out of the Center Chamber just as Aeryn explained about geometric pregnancies. Chiana didn't stop at the sound of his voice and he could see by the way she moved that she was clearly nervous. As she reached their quarters, D'Argo realized she might be attempting to keep him outside. In large strides he ran to slip inside as the door was closing.

Inside, Chiana looked at him before turning and walking to their bed. Because of that look, though, D'Argo realized she wasn't so much nervous as she was unhappy, though he didn't understand why. "Chiana, what's wrong?" He followed her to the bed and sat beside her.

She snapped her head in his direction. "A narl!" She turned her head and looked at the floor. "I don't like narls. I'm still a narl myself!"

"Chiana, our friends will have a child, yes. But why does this upset you?"

"Haven't you listened to what I just said?! I hate narls."

"I hear the words, but I don't believe them."

"Yeah, well, they're true anyway. Narls are useless. They cry all sleep cycle, they need constant protection." She paused before she nearly whispered. "And we'll never have one."

D'Argo sighed, at a loss for words. He was well aware of their genetic incompatibility. Even though he already had a mature son, he'd loved to have more children. But he did have a child. Chiana didn't. Perhaps they shouldn't be together, to give her a chance to find someone with whom she could conceive.

Chiana gave a short laugh without mirth. "I'm jealous because it wouldn't be mine! Who'd've thought that?"

D'Argo turned to her. "Maybe we should...uhm...well, if you want a child it might be better to...uhm...give you a chance to find..."

Chiana whipped her head around to look at him. "No, D'Argo! That's not what I want! Yes, I'd want a child, but I want your child." She caressed the side of his face with her hand. "I don't want some guy's I don't love."

"Whatcha doin', old man?"

John looked up from his workbench, halting his attempt at creating a more advanced phase stabilizer to install in Moya's system. "Hey, Pip." He looked at her with concern on his face. He hadn't missed her reaction yesterday when he and Aeryn announced the pregnancy. "You okay?"

Chiana looked away from the stuff on the bench and at him. "Yeah, sure."

"Really? You seemed upset yesterday."

Chiana looked away momentarily but then turned back. "Yeah, I'm okay now."

John looked for any signs of her attempting to hide her true feelings, but found none. "Okay. Wanna tell me why you got so upset?"

Chiana remained quiet for quite a while before finally responding. "Yeah. Your news reminded me I won't have any narls with D'Argo."

"You want to have kids? Huh, never figured you as the type."

Chiana laughed. "Yeah, well, neither did I until yesterday. At first I didn't even know why I got upset. Then I thought it was because I just hate narls, but even D'Argo didn't believe me."

Chiana sighed and looked away. "Do you hate me for gettin' jealous of you and Aeryn?"

"Oh, Chiana." John moved towards her and hugged her close. "Of course I don't hate you." He paused. "But, as always, there's a silver lining."

"Silver lining?" Chiana's muffled response came.

"Yeah, a positive thing. As the kid's aunt, you get to do all the fun things, without having to worry about feedin' and cryin'."

Chiana laughed as she stepped out of the embrace. "That's right. You two get all the burdens, and I get all the fun!" She moved towards the exit, but before leaving she turned back to him. "I wouldn't mind sharing in those burdens, though."

"I'll keep that in mind when Aer and I want a night of uninterrupted sleep," John yelled after her.

"Don'cha mean something else you don't want interrupted?" he heard her yell back.

"Hey, babe," John joined Aeryn on their way to the medical chamber. Jool had commed them to tell them the Sebacean woman they rescued was awakening. "Enjoyed your ride earlier?"

Aeryn smiled at him, not understanding why John kept referring to her Prowler, or the flights she took in it, as her 'ride', but finding it amusing nonetheless. She nodded. "Yes, I did. Pilot warned me which areas were safe from wormholes, and I could test out the new modifications. It's really a big improvement compared to the one I had before." As she looked up, she saw John starting to smile. "What?"

He pulled her in a short sideways hug. "Nothin'. It's just that you completely light up whenever you talk about or get to fly in the new hotrod."

She turned to him fully and halted their walk to embrace him completely. "Is that the only time I seem to 'light up'?"

John kissed her. "No, you do seem to light up on other occasions as well."

She kissed him back, longer and deeper than his previous one. "And which occasions might that be?"

John's eyes started to look like they always did when he was enjoying himself. "Whenever you kick my ass during exercise or when I make a complete fool of myself."

She arched her eyebrow. "Do you mean to tell me I light up all the time?"

"We don't exercise that often. But there are only two reasons for you to really light up, the aforementioned hotrod being one."

"And the other?" she inquired when John didn't continue.

"You know damn well, woman. But to play along, I'll give you a hint. You lit up last night."

"I did, huh?"

"Babe, believe me, you lit up the room."

She gave a light shrug. "Must have been thinking about my Prowler, then." She let go of him and walked the last few steps toward the medical chamber.

"Why, you..."

She ignored his protest with a smile and stepped inside the medical chamber, where D'Argo and Chiana had already arrived. Rygel was busy being himself and neither Sikozu, nor Scorpius had even responded to Jool's message.

"Where the frell am I?"

"Tormented Space," Aeryn replied before Chiana got a chance. As long as they didn't know what was going on, she wasn't going to give this Peacekeeper any information she didn't need to know. "Name, rank and regiment."

"Karinta Clysa, Peacekeeper med provost." She paused. "Or I was up to a monen ago, when the Commandant found out I not only prolonged her life, but had also made sure a new Heppel Gland would be instantly rejected."

"That frelling tralk is still alive?!" Chiana all but yelled.

Karinta nodded. "Yes, she survived the attack by the Grizans. When she told me the Heppel Gland had been removed, I made it my priority to make sure she'd survive and not be able to implant a new one. She should be able to live for a few dozen cycles before her body will give out."

"You extended her life by cycles? How?"

Karinta turned to Jool. "It was quite simple. You had already done most of the work, but without proper medical supplies, you could not prevent the Heppel withdrawal symptoms that would eventually kill her. I had already created a synthetic substitute that would keep the symptoms at bay, but had no way to get the Heppel gland out without causing suspicion."

"Why did you want to do that to your superior officer?"

Karinta whipped her head in Aeryn's direction. "That frelling tralk… used my brother's services repeatedly until he killed himself. I thought you wanted the same because of what she did to your mate."

"I did, but I was no longer a Peacekeeper and had nothing to lose." Aeryn didn't correct her on the reference to John being her mate. In her mind they already were mates, despite John's insistence they weren't until there had been a ceremony. And she knew that would happen, too, preferably before this baby would be born.

"Neither did I. I already lost my family."

"But that doesn't make sense. You are carrier born, correct? That means you would never be allowed to bond with family, if you even get to meet them."

Karinta smiled. "Kyran and I always helped each other, despite Peacekeeper teachings and the many attempts our respective superiors made to separate us. We both learned long ago how bonds and emotions could only help you in certain situations."

"How did Commandant Cleavage find out about your interference?"

"I'm not sure. She did leave the Command Carrier for a while, so maybe she went to see someone to implant a new gland, but that doesn't explain why she suspected me."

"I only explained to her I removed the gland, and that it was for revenge," Jool explained. "She might have figured out that you prolonged her life."

"Perhaps. I never told her I had done anything, only that I had ascertained she wouldn't die in the near future."

Jool nodded. "Yeah, that wouldn't imply you did anything."

"Could someone have seen you do something?"

Karinta looked at John. "Maybe, but I worked on her alone. No one was in that surgery room during the entire procedure."

"I am curious to know how a med tech managed to escape Peacekeeper custody."

Karinta turned to Aeryn. "As I said, my brother and I were close. He was a soldier, one of the best. He taught me quite a few combat maneuvers. With my intelligence I was able to outsmart most of the guards, and my brother's training helped me get out."

"Captain D'Argo, we are being followed."

D'Argo looked up. "Followed?"

"Yes, Moya and I detected the Command Carrier before they could detect us and we changed course. They followed our new course."

"So they have detected us?"

"No, they are following the exact same path as we did."

Karinta turned to Jool. "Did you test me for tracking devices?"

"I did, you had none on you."

Karinta shook her head. "Not on me, in me. I'm certain they implanted a tracking device in me. Here, let me show you what to scan for."

After they removed the tracking implant and spaced it, the Carrier only traveled up to that location and remained there.

"Why are they staying there?" John asked out loud when both the Carrier and Moya had stayed at the same location for nearly an arn.

Aeryn shrugged. "Perhaps they are scanning the area for any traces of Clysa."

"For an arn?"

"I admit it is odd they remain for so long, not moving a dench."

Rygel moved his thronesled forward, in front of the crew. "And why, may I ask, are we still waiting? Can't we just go the other way and be done with it?"

"Because, your royal pain in the butt, Peacekeepers never venture in to Tormented Space, for any reason. We wanna know why they did this time."

"Obviously for that Peacekeeper tralk we were foolish enough to rescue."

Karinta had moved behind him and grabbed his ear. "Watch your language, your Eminence." She released his ear and moved past him to address the others. "It does seem unlikely they'd venture here just for me."

"Watch it, Sparky," John warned when he saw Rygel was about to strike back, but Karinta had already ducked out of the way and grabbed hold of him. John chuckled at Rygel's attempts to free himself. "I warned ya."

Karinta suddenly let go of his thronesled when Rygel had it on full backward throttle and, as a result, he and his sled parted ways. Karinta caught him before he fell on the floor and held him in front of her. "Will you behave now?" She paused for his reply and was just able to prevent his mucus from landing on her face. "Ugh, filthy little creature."

John had stepped up and grabbed Rygel and put him back in his thronesled. "Okay, kids, the meet 'n' greet is over. Rygel, play nice, or I'll personally shove you out of the nearest airlock." He turned to Karinta. "Commandant Cleavage is probably pretty pissed off at you, especially now you've managed to get away."

"True, but even she would not send anyone into Tormented Space just to retrieve me."

"But Scorpius would, to catch you." Scorpius pointed at John.

Karinta looked surprised, and then confused at him.

"He's a bioloid clone," John clarified for her while he watched Scorpius contemplatively. "You think Grasshopper is behind this?"

"It is possible. If he found out we rescued Clysa, he may have taken advantage of the opportunity."

"But why wait for an arn in our last known location? Why not send out a search party?"

Sikozu came to a realization. "Pilot, am I right when I say that Moya is not able to scan her full surroundings while she tracks an object at her extreme scanning range?"

"Indeed."

"Whoa, Pilot, have Moya…"

"Everyone, three Peacekeeper Marauders are closing in on our current locations!"

"A Leviathan can Starburst, can't it?" Karinta asked.

"Yeah, but not in this particular area." John turned to the clamshell. "Pilot, can Moya outrun the Marauders?" When he saw Karinta's questioning look at his earlier comment he clarified, "Too many dormant wormholes around."

"Not for long."

"Long enough to get to a place where we can use Startburst?"

"Unlikely. The Command Carrier is now also moving in our direction."

"D, how much supplies do we have?"

"Enough to last us at least a monen, even with Clysa present."

John looked apologetically to Aeryn. "Sorry, babe, but I think we have to postpone your doctor's appointment." He turned to the others. "I vote for going to our vacation destination right now. There's a wormhole close by that'll open in a few microts."

D'Argo looked at the others in turn, and though Karinta had obviously no idea what was going to happen, everyone seemed to agree. "We all agree. Pilot, John will be directing our flight for now. I advise you give Aeryn manual control."

"Moya and I agree."

The steering column rose up and Aeryn took her place, John standing closely behind her. She turned to him, arching an eyebrow.

John pointed on the chart. "You wanna go there, but you have to arrive there between a hundred and a hundred and five microts. No sooner and no later." John looked at the clamshell. "Pilot, I'm gonna travel to some random wormhole exits. Have Moya scan each exit as quickly as possible to determine if it's in a quiet area. She can do that, right?"

"It should be possible, Commander."

"You'd have to make it quick each time, so we can still make the exit or skip it."

"Moya and I understand."

John watched as Aeryn steered around the area, never traveling directly to their waiting wormhole, making it look as if the trajectory was random in an attempt to avoid being caught by their pursuers. "Wormhole'll open in ten microts," he murmured. "It'll close about six microts later."

"We'll be in that wormhole with three microts to spare."

"That'd be good, as it'll take that wormhole a cycle before opening up again. The Peacekeepers'll have to stay behind." He looked up. "Be prepared, people. The beginning might get a little rough."

Once they entered the wormhole, John kept giving Aeryn directions to avoid traveling in time and still getting as much distance between Uncharteds and Tormented Space as he dared try.

After a few rejections, Pilot finally gave his okay on one of the wormhole exits. "No traces of any space flight nor are any common communication frequencies active."

"This is the one, Aer. No shift in time or reality, and Pilot gave it a clean bill of health." He addressed the others as Aeryn exited into normal space. "We're now at a few dozen cycles travel away from our previous location."

Chiana walked towards the forward portal and pointed. "What's that?"

Pilot projected the item Chiana had pointed out.

"Tell me I didn't do this," John muttered, unheard by the others.

"Pilot, could you extrapolate the trajectory and determine its origin?" D'Argo asked.

"The probe seemed to have originated from the solar system directly behind us."

As the projection screen showed the solar system and Pilot began rattling out information about its structure and size, John could only shake his head and mutter once again, "I did not do this."