Purity

"D'Argo Sun Crichton. But you can call be Deke."

"Ayla-ah Grayza. But you can call me Captain."

Ice queen, Deke reflected. Glad to know that kind of monarchy isn't confined to Earth.

Actually, scratch that he reflected, having ice queens not confined to Earth would have been a far better predicament. Because right now, Earth didn't matter. Earth was an insignificant planet located in an insignificant corner of the galaxy, featuring an insignificant species. Right now, he was on a command carrier, in the presence of the captain of said command carrier, which held Moya at the mercy of its frag cannons, and could have reduced Earth to slag if the Peacekeepers wanted to spend the travel time getting there. And while he wasn't counting on that to happen, the fate of Moya, not to mention his own, was another story.

And it wasn't helping that Ayla was damn good looking either.

"You two," she said, nodding towards the pair of commandos that were seated on opposite sides of her chair, "leave us."

Deke glanced at the thugs, wondering what was going on behind their visors, whether they were itching to use the pulse rifles they carried. He knew something of the Peacekeepers, little of it good. True, they were the same group that his mother had hailed from, but every story his parents had left him, backed up by Pilot, was that Aeryn Sun-Crichton was the exception that proved the rule.

"Thank you," Ayla said. She slid back into her chair. "Formality. Don't you hate it?"

"Yes," he blurted out, noticing how luscious those hips were and-

"Good," she said. "I do too."

She got to her feet and Deke tried to meet her gaze. It wasn't easy, given that she was not only taller than him, but had certain assets beneath her head.

Come on, stay focused.

He wanted to. He really did. But his search for his parents had been frelled the moment he entered the Sol system's recreated wormhole. It was a miracle that unlike his father, his arrival hadn't killed anyone, and Captain Grayza wasn't out for his blood.

"Funny, isn't it?" she said. "You've managed to make a far more…subtle approach than your father." She looked at him. "Your father killed Tauvo Crais when he first arrived here, did you know that?"

"He didn't actually kill…how do you know that?" Deke asked. And how do I know you? I could swear I heard the name 'Grayza' before.

"I know a lot of things," she said. She gestured to the busts of heads mounted above the entrance to her quarters. Scarren, charrid, kkore, aliens he couldn't recognise… "And I'm not talking just about killing."

"I know," he murmured. Damn you've got a good arse.

"No," Ayla continued. "I know that you're Deke Crichton, and I didn't need your name to know that. I know your father was John Crichton, and your mother was Aeryn Sun."

Deke clenched his fist, though kept it at his side. 'Was.' He preferred the notion of 'is.' That John Crichton and Aeryn Sun weren't his parents in the past tense.

"I know that by virtue of this coupling, you're half-human, half-sebacean." She turned to look at him. "Not something the Peacekeepers would like, I'm afraid. Purity regulations and all that."

Yeah? Deke wondered. That didn't stop you from employing Scorpius.

He suppressed a shudder – of all the tales his parents had left him, their greatest adversary had, perhaps not surprisingly, been the most terrifying.

"But then again, that would be hypocritical, wouldn't it?" Ayla asked. "After all, I'm your half-sister."

Deke's mouth dropped open. He met her gaze. And every other asset of Ayla-ah Grayza vanished from his mind.

"Oh yes," she said, smiling, "my mother was Mele-on Grayza. My father was John Crichton."

"Bullshit," Deke blurted out. "My father was…he…"

"Your father was seduced for information," Ayla said. "That involved certain…interactions on Arnessk." She let out a laugh. "Don't look so shocked brother. You're not even the only sibling we both share. Even if she isn't born yet."

Deke clenched his fist again. He knew of his father's other child, the one who was now in stasis. But to share blood with Mele-on Grayza. The person who he now remembered. Not as terrifying as Scorpius, not as fanatical as Crais, but just as dangerous in his own way.

"So yes," Ayla said. "Purity regulations…well, I'm here, aren't I? After all, a human/sebacean hybrid is a far cry away from, say, a luxan and sebacean. Or, frell, a sebacean and scarren." She patted him on the shoulder. "Be at ease brother. If there's one thing my mother taught me, it's that regulations are meant to be broken. How else are you meant to get anywhere in this life?"

"I dunno, you tell me," Deke said. He ignored her assets again, feeling a lot like Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi. The point where he realized he could no longer bone Leia.

"I will," Ayla said. "But first…refreshments." She sat down in her command chair and gestured to one at the side. "Please brother, take a seat."

Slowly, Deke did so.

Half-sisters. Peacekeepers. Purity regulations.

Least he'd made a better impression than his father had, he supposed.

A/N

I've read theories that the child Grayza has by Peacekeeper Wars is actually John's, as per their...interactions on Arnessk. Truth be told, while the out of universe explanation is that Rebecca Riggs was pregnant at the time, I'm actually partial to this idea for various reasons. Course there's not much of an avenue for that right now, but, well, go figure.