FARSCAPE

UNREALIZED REALITIES:

THE FREEBOOTER ERA

Previously, on Farscape:

The crew of the Vengeance is in dire straits: Crichton is trapped in a pain induction device that makes the Aurora Chair a picnic by comparison, John has begun working on a viable wormhole weapon, which has driven a rift between him and Aeryn, Miriya has been separated from Iriya whom Stark has now implanted in a dead woman's body, Haxer is slowly going mad and Chak'sa is trying to recover from an attempt at a live dissection! In the meantime, General Williams has launched a counterattack against occupying Peacekeeper forces, and Scorpius prepares to bombard the planet in retaliation! The Monitor, watching from afar, has decided enough is enough and has launched a weapon to stop the Carrier...

AND NOW, ON FARSCAPE:

SLEDGEHAMMER:

ASHES TO ASHES

"'How many coincidences,' a man once asked his companion, 'do you need to happen to understand nothing is by chance?'

'At least one more,' his companion answered."

- The Road Remembers, by Utha Neema, 12th Level Pau of The Roj Ganoj School.

PROLOGUE

THE CARRIER FIRED TWO SHOTS.

When they struck, the Forward Hammonside cannon gave the city of Colorado Springs, Fort Carson, it's military bases, soldiers and civilians all had the dubious distinction of being the first major casualties of an "alien attack". It was nothing Hollywoodian – a survivor, one of only seventeen of the approximate half-a million dead – reported a sound like rolling thunder, then something "as if God clapped his hands hard – once", and the thirty metre deep Colorado Memorial Crater was born. The monument at its centre – an elaborate white marble headstone some fifteen metres in height with many, many names, would cost three million dollars to erect and be designed by a famous Asian sculptor. The kneeling, weeping angel that crowned it would cause some controversy, as these things always did – it was black, skeletal, gothic and grim - clutching a single white marble rose.

The dust cloud from the explosion lingered over Colorado for three weeks before settling. Later analysis found it as far north as Rapid City, as far south as Roswell and while good taste would have forbade any mention of "alien-made dust" in Roswell, the media is not known for its tact nor some locals trying to profit from it. So it always goes.

Cheyenne Mountain, forewarned because of the PK contingent holding it, had locked down. Even so much of the base had been damaged by the shot, though it had hit only a few metres south of the US Airforce Academy Airfield.

The Treblinside shot had hit Salt Lake City dead-centre. Casualties were total. Tragically, Utah Lake and the Great Salt Lake became one.

Forests were flattened in every direction. Fires would burn for almost a month before being completely extinguished. Like New York, people would complain of lung ailments. Several groups would attempt to sue the government for compensation.

The media howled and went into complete psychosis. There would be television retrospectives for years, and the UFO conspiracists would enter their golden age of being considered almost credible. Reluctantly, the American President declared war on the invaders, openly acknowledging that aliens had attacked and were in force on Earth.

US forces mobilized. Early sorties into Colorado spotted a Marauder on the outskirts of La Junta, and US forces managed to destroy half of La Junta and kill 300 more humans and five Peacekeeper scouts - three troopers and two techs - before actual PK forces were found and engaged.

The 300 'collateral damages" were blamed on the five Peacekeepers and their "murderous alien technology".

Eventually real targets were found and engaged, and the battle for Earth truly began.

Sebacean survivors of what would one day be called the "Crichton Solution", would not be looked upon with any magnanimity for quite some time. They would be quietly trained and acclimated by the government and eventually folded – carefully – into the public, although they would always be watched. Their contribution to human advances would never really be acknowledged in any meaningful way for several generations but eventually, like anything, regardless of media persecution, controversy and advocates from every side, time would shorten memories.

But it would take a very long time.