Farscape FanFic
"Put her down,
you're attracting attention!"
Note: This happens after "The Locket" and when I wrote it, I hadn't seen "The Ugly Truth."
Rating: U, I guess, it's pretty universal!
Disclaimer: As much as I would love John to be mine, he's not, (grrr! :D), and nobody else is either, except Kate (who is obviously me!! :D) and Luca, who are totally my own creation.
Feedback: Yes, please!! Email me at kate-silver@intergalactic.com
Archiving: Yes, but ask first please. J
* * * * * * *
After the encounter with the centre-halo, and Stark had shown D'Argo the picture of Jothie, Moya and her crew headed towards the slavers' planet.
D'Argo fidgeted throughout the whole trip, and, when John said, "I don't think you should come down the planet with us, Big Guy," the Luxon exploded, "That's my son we're talking about! I am going down there to rescue him!"
"Calm yourself, D'Argo," Zhaan said, gently putting a hand on his arm. The Luxon visibly relaxed. "I believe John is right, you would create a disturbance down there, and perhaps make things harder."
"They're right, D'Argo," Aeryn agreed. "It is probably best if you stay. We will bring back Jothie, don't worry."
D'Argo grunted, "Fine! Take care," as Crichton, Aeryn, and Zhaan headed out to the transport pod.
Zhaan communicated with Pilot on the comm, "What can you tell us about the planet, Pilot?"
"Not much," Pilot answered regretfully. "It is a sandy planet, with not much vegetation. From the information Stark has gathered, I perceive that the slavers will not be too much of a problem. They will settle for a quick sale in order to leave the barren planet as soon as possible."
"Well, that makes things easier," John said, relieved.
"Possibly," Aeryn said dubiously.
They turned to watch the approach, and Aeryn landed them safely near to what appeared to be a town.
Climbing out of the pod, they were struck by the warmth of the planet. Aeryn gasped. Crichton looked at her, "Will you be all right in this heat?" he asked, worried.
Taking a breath, she nodded, "Yes, I'll be fine, it was just the shock."
"You'll say if you begin to feel funny, won't you?" John insisted.
"Why should I feel funny?" Aeryn asked, puzzled.
Crichton sighed, "Strange, ill! I wish sometimes I didn't have to explain everything I say!"
Aeryn set off towards the dark brown buildings rising above the sand dunes, "Well, that would mean finding another human, and that's not very likely out here! And, yes, I will," she added, smiling slightly at John as she said it.
As they topped the sand dune, they saw the town laid out, up against low-lying hills of the same rock that the buildings were made of.
"Right, let's get going," and Crichton set to scrambling down the dune, followed by Aeryn and Zhaan.
When they made it to the bottom, they found they were on the beginning of a dusty road that led through the town. Halfway down it, they could see a line of people lined up in the sunshine, being inspected by people wearing long brown coats.
"Those are the slaves, c'mon!" John started to stride off, but Zhaan stopped him.
"Wait. I do no believe we should storm in. Perhaps we should examine the slaves to see if Jothie is there first."
"And if he is not, then we find him, and rescue him," Aeryn added.
Crichton nodded, "Right! Follow me, then!" The three walked slowly up to the line of slaves, and began talking to the slaver.
* * * * * * *
"Will you shut the frell up, I'm trying to think?!" the young woman whispered fiercely to the Luxon standing next to her. "We have to get out of here before the auction!"
"Well, think faster, Kate, because they're getting closer," the young male Sebaccean behind her told her quietly.
Kate's brow furrowed deeply. She fidgeted absentmindedly at the ropes tying her wrists together. Suddenly, she felt one of them loosen, and she very stealthily eased her small hand through the loop. Soon, she was free, and she turned to free her Sebaccean friend.
"What about me?" the creature beside her hissed indignantly, "Untie me!"
"Alright, keep your hair on, Jothie!" Kate muttered.
"I'll never understand these human expressions," Jothie mumbled. "How am I meant to take my hair off?"
Kate rolled her eyes, "Never mind!"
"Well done, Kate!" the Sebaccean congratulated when Kate had undone Jothie.
"Hold your horses, Luca, 'cos I have no idea what to do next!" Kate whispered.
Luca looked around, confused, "I don't have any horses, whatever they are!"
But Kate didn't hear him. She was watching three people approaching the slaves. One of them looked familiar. The newcomers talked with the slaver, and then were pointed in the direction of Kate and her friends.
She stiffened. "Something's up. And don't say the sky!" she warned. "Pretend you're still tied up."
Her male companions obeyed, hearing the concern in her voice. They lowered their heads submissively, and Kate followed suite, but eyed the strangers through her long eyelashes. The tall male Sebaccean looked very familiar, but Kate hadn't met any male Sebacceans that good-looking! There was something else, nagging at the back of her mind.
* * * * * * *
"So where is this Luxon boy?" Crichton asked the slaver, who looked particularly dubious.
"Here," he drooled, pointing at a tall young Luxon who clearly had Sebaccean blood in him, and who was cowering at the back of the line, next to a small Sebaccean woman and a Sebaccean man.
John's eye drifted casually over Jothie, he knew it was D'Argo's son straight away, and then to the young Sebacceans beside him. His eye rested on the woman. She looked vaguely familiar, with her long brown hair and her tanned skin, and John noticed she was eying him through her thick black lashes.
Crichton turned quickly to the slaver, as he was motioning Jothie forward. "No, that's OK. I believe you have some other customers," he nodded to some other aliens who were examining slaves further down the line. "Don't worry, we won't run off!" he added as the slaver hesitated.
Finally, he went off towards the other potential buyers. "Phew, got rid of him," John said, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. He looked around at the "scenery." "This place is just like Tatooine!"
Aeryn shot him a look. "Where?"
"It's where Luke…never mind," John said, waving his hand, and turning his attention back to Jothie and his fellow slaves.
Zhaan was checking Jothie over, and quietly telling him who they were. The young, Sebaccean woman beside him, John noticed, had lifted her head, and was staring at him, her brown eyes wide and shocked.
* God, she looked familiar * John decided to ask her a few questions. "Where are you from?"
The girl looked at him strangely, and then answered softly, "Earth."
John took a step back in shock. He could see that Aeryn had heard the girl as well.
"Are you sure?" Aeryn asked her.
The girl's eyes flashed. "Of course I'm sure! Don't you think I would know where I come from?"
"What is going on, Aeryn?" Zhaan came over, Jothie following her.
"This girl says she's from Earth," Aeryn explained.
"John?" Zhaan turned to the still silent human.
"Crichton, are you all right?" Aeryn asked, worried.
* * * * * * *
Kate knew, as soon as she heard the human mention "Tatooine," where she had seen him. He worked for IASA when she was working there for her PhD in Astrophysics.
When his two friends said his name, Kate realized who he was. "John Crichton?! Astronaut? The one who was involved in wormhole theory?" she whispered loudly, not wanting to attract too much attention.
Her friends, Jothie and Luca, looked at her strangely, but she waved aside their anxiety. "I'm Kate Silver. I worked for IASA for a while. We had a "debate" about the possibility of wormholes!"
All of a sudden, Crichton's face lit up in recognition. "Katie! Of course!" Then he wrapped his strong arms around her in a bear hug, yelling, "Woo hoo!"
"Crichton, put her down, you're attracting attention!" Aeryn growled.
"Aeryn, I don't care!" he replied, "You have no idea how good it is to see another human being," he told Kate, putting her down anyway.
Kate's face lit up with a grin, "I think I do!"
"Come, we must halt this reunion until later. Now, we must convince the slaver that we take Jothie, and Kate without the need for an auction, and return to Moya," the blue woman said quietly to John.
"Wait, what about Luca?" Kate pointed to the silent Sebaccean beside her, "Can you not buy him too?"
"We have only a limited supply of money, I am sorry, my dear," the blue woman told her gently.
"Then I'm staying," Kate declared firmly.
Luca turned to her," You can't stay! You must go, leave me! I'll be fine!"
"The frell you will!! I'm not leaving you on your own!" Kate returned hotly.
Aeryn grinned, and said to the blue woman, "You can tell they're the same species, can't you, Zhaan?"
"Hey!" John said, mocking a hurt look. Then he turned to Kate. "Here," he handed her what looked like a small explosive device, "Do you know what it is?"
Kate just looked at him. "OK, you know. Here, take this comm as well. We'll take Jothie back to Moya, and then Aeryn and I'll come back to wait for you. We should be back in about an arn. Good luck!" Then he winked at her, and walked off towards the slaver, with Zhaan, Aeryn, and Jothie trailing behind, bemused.
"That's it!" Aeryn turned to John. "You gave her a small explosive that wouldn't stun Rygel, let alone kill anyone, and then you walk off?! She's one of your kind, Crichton!"
"Shh! I know what I'm doing, Aeryn," he replied, and then went to negotiate a selling price for Jothie, studiously ignoring the annoyed face of Aeryn, and the puzzled one of Zhaan.
"I still don't understand," Aeryn said as they were travelling back to Moya in the Prowler.
"'Bout what, sunshine?" John replied absentmindedly, guiding the transport pod into Moya's docking bay.
Aeryn sent John an unreadable look, and said, "Kate Silver, and that device."
"It's something that I was working on Earth, and managed to perfect on Moya, with the DRDs help. It is meant to send out a magnetic field which disrupts electronics," Crichton explained.
"Will she know what to do with it?" Zhaan inquired from where she was sat with Jothie.
"I believe she will, she is always talking about trying to create wormholes and other such stuff, most of which I can't understand! She is very intelligent, for an inferior species," Jothie intervened.
"She knows," John smiled, not noticing Aeryn's eyes narrowing. "Here we are, Jothie! Thanks for the compliment, by the way!" The pod docked silently.
Jothie's eyes brightened, ignoring Crichton's remark, and he got up to stand next to Zhaan by the door. As it opened, Ka D'Argo stood there, waiting, alongside Chiana. He looked up at Jothie's face. They stood there, staring at each other for a while, then D'Argo's face split into a grin, and both Luxons charged together, grabbing each other in a fierce hug.
Zhaan followed them out of the pod, while John and Aeryn prepared to return to the planet.
They saw D'Argo led Jothie away, his arm around his son. Zhaan followed a respectful distance behind with Chiana, who was eying Jothie curiously.
Crichton grinned, and said to Aeryn, "It's great to see a reunion like that, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is," Aeryn's voice was distant.
"C'mon, let's go fetch Katie," and John guided them out of Moya, disregarding Aeryn's darkened look.
* * * * * * *
D'Argo took Jothie straight to his quarters. "Oh, how I've missed you!" the Luxon warrior told his son.
"Me, too, father," Jothie replied. "How did you escape?"
"Now that is a long story," and D'Argo proceeded to relate the tale of his escape from the Peacekeepers. When he had finished, he asked his son how he had fared.
"Not good, father. I got frelling captured by the Hgyeck, and was near death, until a human girl rescued me, and my Sebaccean friend, Luca. She has great courage, which more than makes up for her lack of experience as a warrior," Jothie replied. "Then, we stowed away on a slavers' ship, and were frelling discovered. We thought we were going to die a dishonourable death when your friends came and bought me."
D'Argo looked startled, "Another human? John will be pleased."
"He did seem pleased on the planet when he saw her," Jothie said. "They're a strange species, are they not?"
D'Argo nodded, and smiled, "Yes, they are, Jothie. But they must not be underestimated, they can surprise you!"
Jothie grinned, "Kate has done that on several occasions, but it still surprises me that I owe her my life more than once!"
"Ah, Jothie, how you have grown into a son I can be proud of," D'Argo sighed wistfully. "How I wish Lo'Lann could be here to see you now."
Jothie's eyes misted over, and he slumped in the chair, "So do I, father, so do I."
And for a long time neither spoke, but just sat there, next to each other, drawing strength from the other.
* * * * * * *
"Is that all he's given you?! You humans aren't very generous!" Luca said in dismay, looking at the device in Kate's hand.
Kate smiled slyly, "Oh, no, Luca, that's where you are wrong! Very wrong indeed!"
Luca shook his head in disgust, and turned to watch the strangers conclude their business, and walk up the sand dune with Jothie.
Suddenly, he noticed the slaver marching purposefully towards them, and he hissed a warning to Kate.
She swiftly shoved the comm into her trouser pocket, and her hands behind her back, still clutching the device.
The slaver continued walking past them, not even sparing them a glance. He went to the end of the line, and soon was shoving everybody unceremoniously into a metal cage, still in the blaring sun. "Well, frell me, cold in here, isn't it?" Kate said sarcastically, as she cringed away from the bars of the cage. They were emitting a lot of heat.
"We have to be by the door!" she hissed.
"Why? It's locked, and if you set that puny thing off, it will only alert the slaver," Luca said.
"Luca, just trust me, OK dude?" Kate said exasperatedly.
Luca sighed, and shrugged, and helped the small young woman to force a way through the rest of the slaves to the door. Kate surreptitiously examined the lock. It was electronic, but was quite primitive.
"Tell me when three-quarters of an arn has passed, and then be ready to bop the slaver on the head," she told Luca quietly, eying the slaver, who was sat nearby in the shade, dribbling over something that smelt disgusting.
The wait was horrible. The sun beat down through the bars that comprised the roof, and the metal floor was blistering. Kate was glad they had not taken her boots. She was quite surprised that Luca had not passed out from the Living Death, but evidently Sebacceans were hardier than she thought.
After half an arn, Kate nudged her way back into the crowd, telling Luca to stay by the door, and took out the comm.
"John? John?" she whispered hoarsely, her throat parched from lack of water.
"Yo, what's up, Katie?" his voice through quietly.
"I intend to start the ball rolling in about fifteen minots, will you be here in half an arn?"
"Should be, take care. See you soon!"
Kate shoved the comm back into her pocket, and tried to shake off some of the sweat from her body. Not all of it was from the heat.
Time passed slowly. Then she saw Luca nod, and she sidled up beside him, noticing as she did so that Luca looked very weak. "Are you ok?"
He nodded weakly, but Kate knew that there was no use arguing with him. Instead, she turned to face the slaver, braced herself, and began to yell her head off, screaming loudly, "Come on over here, you great piece of paramecium, you amoeba, you! Yes, I'm talking to you, you great lump of lard!"
"What are you doing?!" Luca whispered fiercely to her, as the slaver leapt up from his chair, and charged over to the cage.
"I'm getting us out of here!" Kate shot back. "Just be ready!"
Luca shook his head weakly, but stood firm by the door.
"Shut up!!! If you do not shut up, you will regret that you did not die a long time ago!" the slaver came up, shouting at Kate, showering her in saliva, and rammed her gut with a scaly fist, and brought her to her knees.
Luca looked on, aghast, but there was nothing he could do. "I will not shut up, you maggot!" Kate spat back at the slaver.
The slaver came closer to the cage to deal another immobilising blow, evidently thinking that Kate was a threat, and he did not notice Luca standing there.
Luca brought his hand out, through the bars, and quickly hit the slaver on the back of the neck. He hit the ground with a shudder.
"Good work!" Kate groaned, as she stood up. "Now let me at the door!"
Luca moved aside, and Kate brought the small device she still held up to the door lock. The other slaves, too hot and tired and browbeaten to have initiated anything, now squashed Kate against the door. She gathered her strength, and shoved back against them to give her some space. They fell back. They wanted to get out, but not that much. They warily kept an eye on the small woman and Luca, who towered over her, and was glaring at them.
Kate depressed a switch on top of the device, and turned a dial. She pointed it at the lock. Suddenly, it clicked, and she gently pushed the door open.
Luca stared at her in amazement, but Kate just grinned at him and turned to the slaves, saying, "Quick, there are some vehicles around the corner. Luca will untie you, and then you must steal them."
"Where are you going?" Luca grabbed her arm.
"I've got something to do," Kate replied, and walked out of the cage, stopping to aim the device at the slaver's weapon. Then she headed to the huts that housed the other people of the town. As she was midway between the first one, and the cage, someone came out. He saw her, and yelled, grabbing his gun.
Luca seeing this, shouted to Kate to warn her, and ran out of the cage to follow her, but Kate had her head down, fiddling frantically with the dial in the device. The alien shot at her when he saw that she wasn't going to stop, or least, he tried. The gun didn't do anything at all.
With a wild yell, Kate slammed into him, and hit him over the head with the bottle from the table. Luca came panting up. "Thanks for the warning!" she told him.
"Don't do that, ever again!" he told her in a very level tone, with a look that Kate did not notice. "You could have got yourself killed!"
Kate shrugged, "But I didn't! Come on, we don't have much time before everyone else discovers what's happened!"
"What's next then?" Luca growled, following her closely into the hut.
"We grab some food for the slaves. I think they might need it!" she answered. She began to raid cupboards, and handed Luca a basket of bread, and some flasks of water. "There's not much else here, and I don't think the slaves would want that," she added, pointing to a concoction like that which the slaver had been eating earlier.
Luca grimaced, and smiled slightly. "Come on, let's get these to the slaves."
The Sebaccean and the human walked back to the cage, where the rest of the slaves were untying each other, and waiting for three of their number to return with the vehicles. They thanked the two friends profusely, but Kate and Luca would have none of it. "We had to escape as well," Kate pointed out matter-of-factly.
Kate and Luca watched them leave the town, and then Kate heard her comm crackle. "Katie, where are you? We're parked just over the dune again."
"Coming," Kate said into it, and then Luca promptly collapsed beside her. "Oh dren!" she muttered as she leaned down to heave him up onto his feet. "C'mon buddy, I'm not fully fit myself here, I could use some help!"
Luca seemed to hear her, and recovered slightly, enough to walk as long as she supported him, and they staggered towards the dune, and scrambled up it as best the could. Standing on top of the dune, the breeze refreshing Luca enough for him to stand alone, they saw the transport pod sitting there.
"I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life!" Kate cried, and they stumbled down the dune, Luca obviously now suffering from the excessive heat of the cage, to where John and Aeryn were waiting for them.
"We were getting worried about you," Aeryn told them, "obviously with cause to," she added, looking at Luca. "Come here, I can help you," and she led him into the shade to cool him off.
"It worked, then?" John asked Kate.
"Perfectly. It immobilized the lock and the gun. It had quite a good range, as well." She told him.
Aeryn and Luca exchanged a blank look. Suddenly noise came from over the dune. "I'll explain later. Come on, let's haul some ass!" John grabbed Kate's arm and dragged her into the pod, followed closely by Aeryn and Luca.
* * * * * * *
Back on Moya, Kate and Luca were being introduced to everyone on the terrace, except D'Argo, as he was in his quarters with Jothie.
John noticed Kate looking at Rygel oddly. He grinned. "I know what you're thinking!"
Kate looked up, and grinned also. "He does, doesn't he?"
"What? What?" Rygel demanded.
"You look like someone we know, sort of! He lived on a planet called Dagobah…it's too long a story to tell!" Kate explained.
"Hmph!" Rygel sulked for a moment, and then looked up expectantly, "Was he handsome?"
"Oh yes, and very wise, and powerful, and respected," Kate said with a straight face. That is until she saw John's face, and then she collapsed into gales of laughter. "I'm sorry, Rygel, it's just too freaky!" she gasped.
"I'm not a freak!" Rygel's chest puffed out indignantly.
"No, no, she means that the idea of you looking like someone they know is strange, Rygel," Zhaan hastily interjected.
"Oh, I suppose that ok," and the Hynerian smiled in what he thought was a seductive way at Kate.
She didn't notice, but Crichton did. "Stop it, Sparky, it ain't gonna happen!"
Rygel tried to look innocent, and failed miserably.
"So, how did you get here?" Crichton asked Kate.
"Well, after working for IASA, I went back to university, got my PhD, and starting working on Black Hole Theory. I was deep into that when you disappeared, and I immediately thought that you had found a wormhole. My research had found some definite links between Black Holes and wormholes, so I contacted your colleagues, and managed to get hold of your work. I had trained as an astronaut, as I thought it would be useful, and I was up, in orbit, measuring radiation levels around where you were meant to have vanished.
"Then, I got hit by a Moreton Wave, which produced a wormhole practically on top of me, I couldn't avoid it. I'm not sure whether it was the same one as yours, but I ended up not too far from here. Since then, I've been stowing away on lots of vessels, travelling from one planet to the next. I found Jothie and Luca, and rescued them from a goddamn ugly race called the Higyuck, a race you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley," Kate shuddered involuntarily, and Luca's eyes went hard.
Kate continued a moment later, "My ship got damaged irreparably, unfortunately, although it wasn't built for long distance space travel, anyway!"
All through this, Moya's crew had been listening avidly, although, undoubtedly, only John understood all of what she said.
Then Luca yawned, and Chiana volunteered to show him to bed. He looked at Kate as he walked out, and grimaced when she smiled and winked.
"Come on, John, you've had a hard day too," Zhaan said as she and Aeryn started to leave.
"Yeah, I know, hang on a sec," he said absentmindedly.
Kate smiled at the human expression, and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes.
Aeryn turned as she reached the door, and noticed Rygel engrossed in a perusal of Kate's body. "Rygel!" The Hynerian Dominar jumped. "Come on!"
"Yeah, go to bed, Sparky!" Crichton told him, but, as the Hynerian floated past, he grabbed Rygel's ear, and said forcefully into it, "Leave her alone!"
"Who, Kate, or Aeryn?" Rygel looked at John innocently.
"Both, if you want to live," John growled back.
Kate chuckled as he left the room. "He's not really much like Yoda, is he?"
John laughed. "No, not really! It's good to hear someone else say that name and know who it is!"
Kate opened her eyes and looked at him seriously, "I know." She swung up, and gave him a fierce hug. "I'm glad we ran into each other."
"Me, too, Katydid, me too!" John said softly, returning the hug.
Kate hit him playfully. "I told you not to call me that!"
"I know," Kate could hear the grin in his voice. "As far as I can remember, it was just after that you threw my thesis at me!"
Kate flinched away, "Don't remind me! I'm sorry about that! I didn't cause any permanent damage, did I?" she said teasingly.
John grinned at her, "Nope, as far as I know, everything is in working order down there!"
Kate blushed. "Good! I'm afraid my aim wasn't very good!"
"Why, where were you aiming for?"
"Your head! Although, I guess I did hit you where your brains are!" Kate smiled at him.
John feinted a blow, and then grabbed her, and pulled her into a hug.
"Actually, I think I majorly misjudged you back then, I'm sorry," Kate apologized, "I thought you were far too fond of yourself to have any brains!"
John laughed quietly into her hair, "And I thought you were too scatter-brained to ever get anywhere! How space travel has changed us!"
"Umm," Kate agreed.
Nothing more was said between them. For a long time, they just sat loosely in each other's arms, watching that stars go by as Moya travelled through space.