Title: Unexpected confrontations (3)
Author: Sabine.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Even though I've seen everything up to "Die me Dichotomy", this part does not contain spoilers for the final 4 episodes of season 2.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Farscape characters. All Farscape characters, names and situations are trademarks of Jim Henson Company, Hallmark Entertainment, Nine Network Australia, And the Scifi channel © 1999 & 2000.
***
The Medical Facility:
" There's nowhere left to run, Officer Sun," Commander Holm Tulor laughed, pressing the muzzle of his pulse rifle to his lips. " You have no idea how long I have waited for this. How does it feel to know that I am going to kill you for the crimes you committed?"
" Am I supposed to know you…Commander?" Aeryn spoke as she looked at his insignia. Zhaan had just finished the examination when four Peacekeepers came bursting into the room with him trailing behind them. She had decided to do nothing, even though she probably could have taken them on, because she didn't want to endanger Zhaan. The latter turned out to be a good decision since that commander wasn't the most stable person around. She noticed that the other Peacekeepers seemed afraid and she assumed that he was a person who liked it that way.
The commander seemed taken aback by her question. " My name is Commander Holm Tulor, Lieutenant Sun," he said as if that name should ring a bell or impress her. She shrugged and shook her head. " Sorry, but I have never heard of you. Should I?"
" We were on the same mission eleven cycles ago. A covert mission into the outskirts of Scarran territory to retrieve soldiers, who had been taken prisoner by the Scarrans. We recreated once during the duration of the mission," Tulor told her matter-of-factly.
" Well…obviously you didn't leave much of an impression or else I would have remembered recreating with you," Aeryn noted dryly as she jumped off the bed. Four muzzles immediately pointed her way.
" Aeryn…please do not make him any more angrier than he is right now," Zhaan begged as Aeryn joined her.
" Don't you worry, Delvian. Officer Sun will get what she deserves and I'll make sure that it's a painful and slow death." Tulor turned to Aeryn; a big grin was plastered all over his face. " I'll let your friends watch you die, Aeryn Sun. You will be sorry for breaking the oaths you made and defying all that is Peacekeeper." Tulor signed all four Peacekeepers to come over to him. " Bring the traitor and the Delvian to their cells. Be careful…there still might be some filth walking around the Leviathan. If you come across something…shoot and kill it."
" Yes Sir," the Peacekeepers saluted in unison. They swiftly moved towards Aeryn and Zhaan to escort them out of the room. The two of the four pushed Aeryn and Zhaan forward in the direction of the exit and the other two followed them. As they disappeared from Tulor's sight, he walked over to the console where Zhaan had been conducting the examination. " Hmmm…this is interesting. Very interesting indeed," he mumbled smugly as he realized what the results of the tests indicated.
***
The Cargo Bay:
" Where do you think madman Tulor is keeping the prisoners?" one of the Peacekeepers asked the other.
" Shut up, Lomayr. You cannot say those things. What if he heard you?"
Lomayr shrugged. " So what? It's the damn truth. That yotz is going to get us killed one day. Even you can't deny that he's mad. It may be insubordinate, but it's true. Who the frell cares about that traitor? He seems to believe that High Command has no objections to him going after someone who defected 8 years ago and abort our current mission. At this moment High Command cares more about getting their hands on that Scarran, but if we try to tell Tulor that, he'll have our heads on jinka poles…" Lomayr paused a moment. " You didn't answer my question, Pritas. Where do you think that the prisoners are being held?"
"He'll probably put them back in their cells and if there's still somebody walking around freely he will have ordered them to be shot and killed."
" Do you think that there are more around here than the five we caught, Pritas?" Lomayr wondered as he looked at his friend. Pritas nodded.
" Yes…about four more. I forgot that Tulor didn't take you down with him to the planet. A local merchant pointed the traitor out to us and when we saw here on the market square there was Sebacean male and a child with her."
" A child?"
" Yes, he seemed about 4 cycles old and was undoubtedly the traitor's and that male's offspring. Later on a Nebari joined the three of them, before they all returned to the Leviathan."
" You said four, Pritas. I've only counted three unknown persons in your little story up to this point. Where's the fourth?"
Pritas smiled. " I have not seen the fourth, but I have however heard the others talk about him when they were following the other group."
" So it's a he…that really helps a lot, Pritas," Lomayr remarked with a sarcastic tone. "Is there anything useful you can tell be, so that I'll know what I'm shooting at when I find it on the other side of my rifle?"
" It's a Luxan-Sebacean hybrid."
" Oh great. Just what the galaxy needs...another hybrid," Lomayr sighed. " Come one Pritas, let's go and get some target practice. I'm feeling a bit rusty today."
***
John watched the two Peacekeepers leave the cargo bay. Luckily for Ben and him, they hadn't been motivated to do a thorough search of the bay. Eavesdropping on their conversations had given him a lot of helpful information. He knew that the guy in charge was a nutcase and feared by the people under his command. At least now he knew what had happened to his wife and the others. Jothee and Chiana had obviously not been taken prisoner by the Peacekeepers and were hiding somewhere aboard Moya. If they wanted to get rid of the Peacekeepers he would need their help and without Pilot locating them, it would be really difficult to find the two of them.
" Daddy?"
" Yes Ben?"
" Are we going to get mommy and the others?" Ben whispered. He was worried about what was going to happen to them. Peacekeepers were evil and always seemed to hurt people. He didn't want the others to get hurt, especially his mother. Ben was terrified of losing her at the hands of the Peacekeepers. Having listened to what those two Peacekeepers had said made him even more worried. His mother was at the mercy of a madman and he had the feeling this was not going to end in a good way.
" Not we…I will, sport. You heard what those Peacekeepers said about their commander, didn't you?"
" Yes daddy…he has ordered them to shoot anyone they find and then kill them," Ben spoke softly, the words spoken by the Peacekeepers echoing in his mind. It's not something he'd easily forget.
" That's right, Ben and it's why you should stay right here. If those maniacs would find you they'd kill you," John replied, gently grabbing his son by the shoulders.
" I want to help. They are going to hurt mommy." The look in his son's eyes told John that Ben was determined to help him out, not matter what the risks were and the consequences could be.
The way his son looked now reminded him of Aeryn and the way she could be when she was determined to do something. John sighed and shook his head. He really hated doing this to his son.
" No Ben. Not this time. I don't want to lose you. Do you remember what you promised me a little while back?"
" That I would stay in here and be quiet no matter what happened," Ben recited.
" Exactly, champ. I want you to stay in here and stay out of harms way. This is the safest place for you to be right now. Don't worry…I'll get your mother and the others and I'll bring 'em to safety. I'll return for you when it's safe again. Okay?"
Ben nodded sadly. If anyone was able to save his mother, it would be his dad. He just didn't like being left behind and all alone. Ben had already expected his father to say no to him. Although he understood the reasons behind it, he still would have wanted to help him. If his father wanted him to stay here and be safe…he'd stay here. He knew his father would return for him as quickly as he possibly could, because he had promised it. " Okay daddy. I'll stay here until you come again."
" That's my boy," John smiled, giving Ben one last hug before opening the hatch and crawling out of the access shaft. " Wish me luck, sport."
" Good luck, daddy," Ben spoke softly as John closed the hatch again and quickly left the bay, in search of Jothee and Chiana. Ben remembered a Delvian chant Zhaan had taught him once when she was baby-sitting him. It was a good luck chant and luck was something his father was going to need badly. He started to recite the chant softly, hoping it would help his father to succeed.
***
" Joth?"
"What is it, Chiana?"
" Are they gone yet?" Chiana asked as Jothee popped his head around the corner of the corridor. She had no idea how those Peacekeepers had managed to come aboard unnoticed, especially by pilot and the DRD's. Jothee and she had just snurched the things they needed from one of Rygel's hiding places for the party, when they had heard the unfamiliar voices and footsteps getting louder and heading into their direction. The two of them had quickly hid in a closed-off room, hoping that the Peacekeepers wouldn't discover them. They had stayed in that room for a while, until they were absolutely sure that the Peacekeepers weren't nearby anymore. Only then did they finally leave the room and decided to find out if some of the others had managed to escape from the clutches of the Peacekeepers. Moya seemed to be crawling with Pk's or at least the part of Moya where they were was.
" Yeah…it looks like it. Guess it's safe now…" Jothee concluded, dragging Chiana along with him. They had seen four of the Peacekeepers escort Aeryn and Zhaan to their personal quarters and had overheard several conversations by the Peacekeepers. Things didn't look good for Aeryn. The guy who commanded this little mission wanted to kill her and had ordered that anyone found sneaking around Moya to be shot and killed.
They continued to walk down the corridor and turned right entering an adjacent corridor. Up until that point they hadn't seen or heard the Peacekeepers, which was a good thing in their book. As it happened the corridor they were walking in was in the vicinity of the bay. It was in that corridor that they noticed a familiar figure, which was about to be discovered by a Peacekeeper and used for target practice.
***
John had left his son in that access shaft 15 minutes ago and it certainly had been a hard decision to make. He could only hope that he would be able to keep the promise he had made to Ben. John had no idea how many Peacekeepers were aboard or how many were guarding Aeryn. He could only guess where Jothee and Chiana would be. Moya was after all a big ship and if you really wanted to hide from someone, you could stay hidden for as long as you wanted to.
" Freeze!" a voice commanded out of the blue. John spun around and faced the muzzle of a pulse rifle. He immediately recognized the Peacekeeper standing in front of him. It was one of the two he had seen in the bay, whilst he had been hiding in the access shaft. It was the Peacekeeper named Pritas. John raised his hands in the air.
" I was hoping to get the chance to improve my aim and here you come along," Pritas spoke amused. " I recognize you from the commerce planet. Aren't you the traitor's mate? I feel really sorry for her. Tulor is yer regular madman. She must have done something to piss him off big time. I can't really tell what he's going to do to her, but I however can tell you that it will be a painful process. He's even sick enough to make people watch her die. Maybe I should help you out and prevent you from ever having to see it happen. Maybe I should end it for you right now and kill you where you stand." Pritas paused and briefly shook his head. " Shooting you here right on the spot is a little boring…you know what? I'll give you a 180 microts head start. Hunting you down might be just the exorcise I need. Yes…that's exactly what will do. I…" Before Pritas could finish his sentence he fell down onto the floor unconscious.
"Hiya old man! We figured that you might need some help," Chiana chirped with a grin on her face. Jothee and she had sneaked up on the Peacekeeper as they had seen John being discovered by him. The Peacekeeper had been to busy talking to John that he hadn't been paying enough attention to his surroundings. When the time was right Jothee had lashed out with his tongue at the unsuspecting soldier, who had fallen down on the floor with a satisfying thud.
" Your timing is perfect, guys. We should probably hide him somewhere and tie him up really good, so that if he wakes up he can't free himself and warn all of his friends," John gestured at the unconscious body on the floor. Chiana and Jothee nodded. The three of them quickly grabbed hold of Officer Pritas and dragged him into one of the nearby chambers.
" This guy is heavy. What the frell has he been eating?" Chiana spoke disgusted.
" Knowing Peacekeepers it will probably only be a diet of food cubes," Jothee replied with a chuckle as they dropped Pritas down onto the floor of the room and tied him up with whatever was at hand.
" Where's DRD glue when you need it?" John remarked somewhat amused as he gagged Pritas's mouth. After they decided that they had tied up the Peacekeeper well enough, they placed him into a closet and sealed it.
" Jothee, Chiana. I need your help. I…"
" You need our help to save Aeryn from that madman," Jothee and Chiana both finished for him. " We'd love too, John. We'd like to get back at them for capturing the others and messing up our party."
" Party?" John asked, giving them a confused look. Why was he always the last to know things on Moya?
" It's a long story, old man. I'll tell ya all about it later. First thing we need to do is to beat the gris out of those Peacekeepers," Chiana giggled exited as she left the room, leaving the guys to catch up.
***
John & Aeryn's Quarters:
Aeryn sat down on the bed and stared at the wall. She had given up on starting a conversation with the guard who stood in front of the door. He was obviously too scared for Tulor to talk to her. She could only hope that John and Ben were save. Aeryn knew that Rygel, Stark and D'Argo had also been taken prisoner, so that meant that Jothee, Chiana, John and Ben were still out there. She also knew that the key to finding out why Tulor was so obsessed with bringing her to justice had to do something with that covert mission from 11 cycles ago.
Suddenly the door opened and Commander Tulor strode into her quarters. " Hello again, Lieutenant." She made no effort to give a reply and stared blankly at him. " So this is where you live with that mate of yours. Very cosy… so unlike a Peacekeeper."
" Well, that's probably because I am no longer one, Tulor. I have not been or felt like a Peacekeeper in eight cycles and I am very proud of it."
" Really? Well…you seemed to have been a very busy girl during those eight cycles. Doing just about everything that is forbidden by Peacekeeper law," he stated as he slowly walked through her quarters. Tulor sat down on the couch opposite of her and picked up a small toy, which was laying next to him. He held it in front of his eyes and looked at it from all angles. " A very busy girl indeed. Tell me Aeryn…" Tulor stopped and threw the toy to her. " How old is your son exactly? Four? Almost five cycles old? He seems old enough to be trained as a Peacekeeper. Maybe I should let you live and take your son away from you and your mate. It would put a dramatic touch on all of this. Your son being raised to be what you despise and there being no way to get him back. Then you could tell your youngest child that he or she had a brother and that it was his mother's fault that he had been taken away," Tulor laughed evilly as he saw the angry and confused expression on Aeryn's face.
" My youngest child? What the frell are you talking about ?!" Aeryn shouted getting up from the bed, ready to strangle Tulor.
Tulor shook his head and laughed even harder. " You mean that you don't know?"
" Know what, Tulor?"
" You are pregnant, my dear," he spoke, still laughing as he got up from the couch and made his way towards the door. Just before he exited he looked at her once more. "They were right…revenge is a dish best served cold" Tulor chuckled as he left her alone in her quarters.
No. This can't be happening Aeryn thought as she dropped down on her knees, pressing Ben's toy to her chest. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. It was stupid that she hadn't thought about that option before. She had immediately thought that the symptoms had something with those injuries and never even came up with the obvious reason for her having those symptoms. She had to be pregnant. Tulor was right.
Tulor had to be stopped. She wouldn't let him get his hands on her son, not as long as she had something to say about it. All she ever wanted for Ben was to grow up freely. To grow up knowing whom his father and mother were…to know his family. She did not want him to grow up like she had.
If only she could get the hezmana out of here.
***
John, Chiana and Jothee watched as a tall Peacekeeper left John and Aeryn's quarters. It was obvious to them that this had to be Tulor, the man whom his soldiers feared and the one in charge of their mission. He had left laughing and had left the three of them wondering about what had exactly happened in there. John was starting to get really worried for Aeryn's well being. The things Pritas had told him at gunpoint were troubling and disturbing. If that Tulor guy even dares to touch her he would hunt him down and make him suffer.
They had just succeeded in freeing Zhaan, who was now trying to free D'Argo, Rygel and Stark herself using her Delvian spells to work her mojo. Zhaan had been afraid for Aeryn's life, had insisted that she could save the others and that they should quickly save Aeryn.
It looked easy enough, but it probably wouldn't be that way. There was only one guard standing in front of the door and Tulor had to far enough away for them to attack the guard safely. John nodded to Chiana and Jothee.
" Hey there…could you perhaps help me? I seem to be a little lost," Chiana purred seductively leaning against the corner of the hallway, batting her eyelids at the guard. He looked apreciatingly at the Nebari, who was using all of her charms to get his attention. The guard looked around a couple of times before he made his way over to her.
" I…I was ordered to shoot anyone on sight. I…"
Chiana grabbed hold of his arm and let her hand trail down his chest. " That would be a real shame. Wouldn't you rather have some fun? How long has it been since you were with someone?"
" T…too long."
" Well…that's what I thought. C'mon…Let's have some fun then," she whispered in his ear as she pulled him around the corner where Jothee and John were waiting. Caught off guard the Peacekeeper was easily knocked out cold by the two men.
" Eeww…I feel like taking a shower," Chiana exclaimed as she and Jothee dragged the Peacekeeper away and John ran over to his quarters to see if his wife was still in one piece.
He opened the door and was immediately knocked down to the floor by something. "Ouch!"
John looked up at the person who had caused him to drop and the floor. A pair of blue eyes looked down at him, looking apologetic.
" John…I'm so sorry. I thought it was Tulor. Are you okay?" Aeryn asked concerned as she gave him a hand and pulled him up.
" I'm just dandy, honey. What about you? Did that Tulor guy do anything to you?"
Aeryn shook her head. " No, he didn't get the chance to do anything yet."
" I'm so glad you're alright, honey. I was so worried about you," John spoke as he gently kissed her and pulled her closer to him. Even though she had said that nothing had happened she did seem a little pale. He tugged a strand of black hair behind her ear.
" We need to get out of here, John. What if Tulor returns and discovers us here. He will have you killed right away."
" You are right, sunshine. You are always right. Besides there is someone I promised to pick up after having saved you and the others," John smiled as they kissed again.
" Is Ben safe?"
John noticed something in her tone that worried him. Something was wrong and he guessed it had something to do with Tulor. " Yeah, he's in a safe place. I've made sure of that. I had a hard time convincing him that he should stay there instead of helping me to save you and the others, but I finally managed," he spoke reassuringly.
"I want to see him, John."
" Sure, we'll go and get him right now."
***
Several Microts later:
" What do you mean with she's not there, Lieutenant Kygil?!" Commander Holm Tulor shouted over the comm. This could not be happening. Just as everything was going according to his plan, something like this happened and he could not tolerate it.
" The defector is not in her cell, Sir. She and the others have vanished into thin air and that's not all Sir…"
" Would you care to elaborate that, Kygil?" Tulor sneered. He had always liked to control things and now he seemed unable to control even the simplest things. Tulor had lived for this moment for eleven years and the moment of glory was slowly slipping away from him.
" We haven't been able to contact a large part of our forces. We believe them to have been taken prisoners by the crew of this ship, Sir. The pilot is of no help to us since we have sedated him and thus cannot track down the crew of the Leviathan. Without the help of the Leviathan's Pilot it could take us a while to find the others."
" Lieutenant Kygil, I want whomever is left to patrol the areas carefully. I want our people back and I want those prisoners brought before me alive, but I don't care which state they are in when they are brought before me. They are going to pay dearly for this. I can promise that much."
***
The Cargo Bay:
Ben had fallen asleep and woke up to the sound of nearing footsteps. They were heading towards the hatch and Ben concluded that it had to be his father. His dad had managed to save his mother and the others and had returned as he had promised to him. The hatch opened and by then it had already been too late…
" Well…well. Will you look at this! I think the commander will be very happy with you, child. You are just the thing he was looking for," a voice laughed out loud.
TBC…