Episode 3 – Very Important Cargo
Timeline: Starts between Liars, Guns and Money part I and Liars, Guns and Money part 2, ends at the start of Die Me, Dichotomy.


The Zirna was on its way to retrieve its next cargo. They were merely given a set of coordinates of where to pick up the cargo and another set indicating where to transport it. In addition, the buyer had requested to be notified when they had made the pick-up, using an encoded tight-beam communication.

Shamur had been more than a little reluctant to perform this job. Whenever you were only given coordinates to a destination and no information regarding the cargo, you basically put yourself and your crew at risk. In the end, he had decided to accept it because they needed the currency. He had the crew on alert because they still had no idea where they were going and what their cargo was.


Ennixx and Meric had vastly improved in hand-to-hand combat during the weeken of training. Though they were the oldest Sebaceans on the vessel by far, they had more stamina than any of the other crew and their reflexes were among the best on the entire ship.

Besides the combat training, Meric had chosen tech as his field of expertise. This was close to what he used to do back home, when he designed, built and repaired agricultural tools and machines. He had received lessons from, according to the man himself, the best tech in known and unknown space. He was indeed a very good tech and very patient in teaching his pupil.

Ennixx had been chosen for pilot training. During combat training, one of the pilots had observed her and had been impressed with her fluid movements and fast reflexes. She had approached Ennixx after the training and asked her to take part in pilot training as well. Ennixx had proven to be a very good pilot. A former Peacekeeper Prowler Pilot claimed that she might be the best Prowler pilot he had ever seen.

Today both would take the final test in basic hand-to-hand combat. Ennixx was matched up with a Sebacean male not even a fourth her age. The Sebacean male was far stronger than her and quite a bit larger as well, but Ennixx had been training hard and knew she could beat him, especially after learning a few tricks on her own. The sparring match lasted for almost a quarter arn before Ennixx managed to knock the Sebacean unconscious.

Meric had to fight a Luxan named T'Irna who had quickly become his best friend during the last weeken. Meric had learned about Luxans and was aware T'Irna could use his tongue to knock him out. Still, Meric got lucky right at the beginning, managing to knock the Luxan out after a mere ten microts. T'Irna had decided to charge Meric right away but had not anticipated Meric would step out of the way at the last possible moment to spin around and kick the Luxan hard in the back, sending him sprawling into the wall hard.


Shamur found out where they would be picking up their cargo and felt even less compelled to complete the job. He wasn't worried about making the pick-up, but the delivery was giving him doubts. Additional steps were to be taken to make sure everything would go well. Perhaps the crew should be informed as well, but before he would do that, he would need to discuss the situation with his highly ranked crew first. Still, one piece of information was missing, and it might prove to be the key to this puzzle.
Ennixx was finally flying the highly modified Prowler. Ever since she started pilot training, she felt like her life was finally complete. She loved to fly and, according to her instructor, she had a natural talent for it. Ennixx assumed she had inherited that trait from her grandmother, who had been one of the best Prowler pilots as well.

The modified Prowler had a more powerful engine and a pulse canon attached to the nose. Some technology had been installed that made it possible to fly tighter corners than would have been possible in a normal Prowler, at least without the pilot blacking out or being killed.

Ennixx pushed the engine output to its maximum and sped toward the asteroid field she as directed in order to navigate through as fast as she could. As she got closer, she decreased the power output to three quarters; about the same as the maximum output on a normal Prowler. She dove into the asteroid field at that speed, continuously searching for openings she could use to continue her path to the other side of the field. She flew through a few very tight openings but never decreased the power output any further. Without so much as making a scratch on the paint coat, she exited the field exactly opposite the location she had entered it.

Her comms crackled to life. "Well done, Ennixx! That was definitely the fastest anyone has ever flown through any asteroid field and this one was particularly dense. Very impressive!"

Ennixx smiled at the praise coming from her instructor. "Thank you, Daren. Would you care to try this field as well?"

"That I would, but I doubt I would try to fly that fast."

Then the voice on the comms changed to that of her husband, causing Ennixx's smile to grow even bigger. "Ennixx, dearest, did you have to fly that fast?"

"Yes, my love. The faster I flew, the quicker I could return to you."


Shamur's tension was increasing by the microt. He had learned who was waiting for the cargo and that was making things worse than they already were. He was puzzled. The items seemed to have no purpose for the buyer at all. What the hezmana was going on?

With half an ear he listened to the banter on the comms after Ennixx's training flight while digging for more information regarding the cargo and buyer. He smiled at the exchange between husband and wife. During the last weeken they had on occasion interrupted the couple at a very unwelcome time but they weren't ashamed of being caught and openly flirted with each other frequently, apparently not even noticing other people were around.


Meric returned to his maintenance duty after Ennixx had returned to the ship. He had to monitor her flight because he knew her. She was a very good pilot but she also took risks if she knew she was being evaluated. He had just felt the need to be there and monitor her progress, even though he wouldn't be able to do anything should she make a mistake.

Meric had seen the instructor's eyebrows shoot up when he saw her dive into the asteroid field at the maximum speed a normal Prowler would have. Tense as Meric had been, he actually relaxed a little when he saw that, the pride he felt for his wife growing a little more again. Her answer to his question had made him wish his duty shift would be over already.


Shamur had gathered more information about his cargo and things were starting to make sense now. "Frell!" He really needed to give voice to his frustration. Things were getting bad real fast. It was time to discuss this with a select group of people.

Shamur activated his comms. "Lieutenant Zyr, could you ask Rahl, Ennixx, Meric and Starem to join us in my private chambers?"

"Yes sir."

Shamur deactivated his comms again and waited for his visitors to arrive.


Ennixx and Meric met up with each other on their way to the captain's private chamber. Ennixx gave Meric a quick kiss before resuming their course.

"I wonder what the captain needs us for," she said. "We are not high ranked and still fairly new."

Meric shook his head. "I don't understand it either. I suppose we will find out when we arrive."


Shamur looked up when his door chime rang. "Come."

The door opened to allow the five people he had requested into his room. Shamur motioned to the large table in the center that doubled as both a dining and a strategy table. "Please, sit. We have some things to discuss."

Ennixx remembered the last time she and Meric sat at this table, the first day they had arrived and the captain had invited them to join him for third meal. The meal was pleasant and Meric and Ennixx had listened to the captain's tales until Starem entered the room.

"Sir, we detected a Plokavian vessel heading our way."

"Frell! Has it detected us?"

"Possibly sir. It was on a direct intercept course but after we moved they did not change their course to follow us."

"Are we still able to see them on our sensors? Do we know what they want?"

"Yes sir. We did not realize it in time, but it appears they are not coming for us. They are heading for the two Leviathans; we were just between the Plokavians and the Leviathans."

Ennixx and Meric had then learned what Plokavians were and how it was prudent to avoid contact with them. Then something terrible happened, the bad news coming through Starem's comms.

"Sir, the Leviathan gunship has destroyed the Plokavian vessel but another one is heading straight for them."

Shamur stood up and motioned the couple to follow him and Starem back to command.

The woman who had informed Starem through the comms continued her report. "A transport pod has left the gunship and is trying to reach the other Leviathan. The gunship has starbursted away. The transport pod has been overtaken by the Plokavian ship."

"Are any of the trace element carriers aboard the transport pod?"

"Yes sir. All three are aboard. The transport pod has been pulled in to the Plokavian ship."

It had taken many arns before anything happened. Ennixx had been worried that one of her grandparents might be considered guilty. She knew that Plokavians killed the guilty party of a crime. The woman who had informed them had asked Ennixx to join her at her station. Ennixx had accepted and only then noticed she wore a metal mask that covered one side of her face.

She had introduced herself as Rahl and explained about her species and why she wore the mask. In essence she had diverted Ennixx's thoughts of the situation, something Ennixx had been grateful for. When Moya's transport pod was finally released and all three infected persons were on it, Ennixx was very relieved, until she learned that the Banik had been killed instead. Having just learned about Rahl she felt sorry for her. But Rahl explained to her that the Banik aboard Moya was, like her, a Stykera, consisting of pure energy. So even if his corporeal form had been dispersed, he had lived on and would regenerate his flesh later.

Since that time, Rahl and Ennixx had become best friends, often exercising together and discussing their histories. Ennixx shook herself from her reverie and sat in between her husband and best friend.

Shamur waited until all were seated. "I have found out what our cargo is and who it is for. Neither fact is positive. This is our cargo manifest." He tapped a few buttons to bring up the information on the holo projector.

Starem was the first to respond. "Slaves? We are going to transport slaves?"

Rahl noticed why her presence had been requested. "Banik slaves. These are ten thousand Banik slaves!"

Shamur nodded. "Minus one. There is one non Banik in the shipment." He tapped another button and the displays updated to the slave in question.

Meric was the first to respond. "A Luxan boy?"

Ennixx read the name. "Jothee, son of Ka D'Argo. Isn't D'Argo the Luxan aboard Moya?"

Shamur once again nodded. "Yes. According to intelligence reports, Ka D'Argo sent his son away after he was accused of killing his Sebacean wife. He has been looking for his son a long time."

Zyr understood what his captain was planning to do. "So we can reunite them and set the other slaves free."

"That's indeed my plan. As a result we will not be paid but I refuse to transport slaves to another life of slavery. I hope the crew of Moya will accept some of the slaves and deliver them to a safe planet."

Starem had an idea. "Couldn't we let Moya pick up these slaves instead? If we inform them of the sale and the location they could pretend they have bought the slaves and take them aboard."

Shamur shook his head. "It takes them too long to get here. It appears we are not the only ones asked to retrieve them, but we are the ones to reach the mines first. No, we will retrieve the slaves and rendezvous with Moya. Even contacting them now would be foolish. The Peacekeepers might intercept our communication."

That drew the attention of Zyr. "What do Peacekeepers need slaves for?"

"I suspect they are going to offer a trade; the Luxan's son against someone aboard Moya, possibly the Stykera."

Another thought occurred to Ennixx. "Who ordered the buying of the slaves?"

Shamur tapped a few keys again. "Scorpius. The buy is paid for by someone named Natira."

Ennixx remembered the name Scorpius very well. Both her grandparents had mentioned him frequently. "He's going to trade... Jothee for John Crichton. But why buy all the other slaves?"

Shamur shrugged. "I think the mine officials do not sell slaves separately. It is possible Scorpius was forced to buy all of them. They will probably resell the Banik slaves to minimize their losses. Alright, do we all agree on picking up the slaves and doing our best to set them free?" All of them nodded their agreement. "Good. I'll be announcing our cargo and the change in plans ship-wide. Zyr, I put you in charge of security."


Ennixx was lying comfortably in her husband's arms, her back against his chest, his right arm draped casually over her right side, allowing his hand to rest against her abdomen. His left arm was wedged between her neck and the bed. She put her left hand in his, stroking his right arm with her right hand and sighed out of contentment. Meric pulled her even tighter against him in response.

They hadn't spoken much since their discussion in the captain's private chamber, and Meric had some questions. "Dearest, how can you be certain they are going to trade the Luxan boy for your grandfather?"

"Nana has told me about Scorpius and his quest for dangerous tech. It's the same tech that was implanted into my grandfather's brain. If Scorpius found out somehow that Ka D'Argo's son was being sold as a slave, he might have seen it as a great opportunity to get my grandfather and, thus, the technology."

Meric let the answer roll around his brain. It sounded very plausible. Another thought occurred to him. "Didn't you say your visions might have something to do with the knowledge that was given to your grandfather?"

Ennixx sighed. She knew were this was going; he was going to worry too much about her. "Yeah, it might be."

Meric did not disappoint her. "So you could be in danger as well? This Scorpius person could come after you?"

"Only if he ever finds out."

"Ennixx, what if he does find out?"

"Then we try to keep out of his hands. Besides, it strengthens my bond with my grandparents. As my grandfather once said 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' But I doubt Scorpius will find out. Nobody knows about me and certainly not that I have obtained that knowledge."

"Shamur knows who you are."

"He won't tell. I'm certain I'll be safe for a long time." Ennixx paused and waited for Meric to ask something else, but he didn't. "Are you tired my love?"

"A little."

"Hmm, too bad. I had plans. Fun plans." Meric didn't have to answer her with words; his body did enough talking.


Shamur was glad the slaves were finally loaded on his ship. As stated by the agreement, Shamur sent a coded message on a tight band to the specified coordinates. An acknowledgement was received in return. Unfortunately Moya was still close to the location where the slaves had to be delivered. This might become a problem, especially considering the Peacekeepers would continuously monitor their progress.

Shamur had to think about how to get Moya here without the Peacekeepers finding out. A coded message was impossible to use, since nobody aboard Moya would know the encryption key. A tight band message might work, if they would deviate their course a little, allowing them to direct the transmission beam in a direction away from the Peacekeepers.

As opposed to his earlier feelings and fears, the entire loading had gone smoothly and without incident. "This is going to work out just fine."


"I've got a bad feeling about this situation." Meric was working with T'Irna on the maintenance of the secondary power grid. "I can't lose the feeling that we overlooked something."

T'Irna grunted as he tightened a connection. "The captain usually knows how to ensure things go according to plan. We have set many slaves free before and it never resulted in a direct confrontation with anyone."

Meric held out another piece of cable that would link the two power elements. "But this time it's Peacekeepers. They have very specific plans for the slaves and it would not surprise me if they are following us."

T'Irna accepted the piece of cable. "You worry too much, my friend."


"I do not worry too much. This Scorpius person is desperate to get these slaves, especially the Luxan boy, and he will make sure he gets him." Ennixx couldn't understand why Rahl was making light of this. She knew all the details about this shipment, what it was meant for.

Rahl looked at her with her good eye, halting her exercise on the punching bag to do so. "Ennixx, you know I consider you my friend, but I have been on this vessel for nearly ten cycles. I've known the captain that long and I know I can trust him. He told me he was certain nothing would go wrong and I believe him."

Ennixx sighed and also halted her exercise. "I think he underestimates Scorpius and the Peacekeepers. But I hope he is right. You ready for a sparring match?"


Shamur stepped into command. "How close are they?"

"They will reach our location in two hundred microts, sir."

"And you're sure it's a Marauder?"

"Yes sir. They contacted us a few microts ago. They are here to retrieve one of the slaves. We are to search for a Luxan-Sebacean boy."

"How far away is the Leviathan?"

"Sir, the Leviathan used Starburst and is now approaching the mines."

"What? How long ago did this happen?"

"About half an arn ago."

Shamur cursed himself. He should have told the command crew the complete plan. It was his fault they did not inform him about the change in Moya's location. "Can we direct a tight beam comms link to them?"

"No sir, we can only direct a tight beam comms link to the front of the vessel."

"Frell! Open ship-wide comms." Shamur waited until the comms officer indicated they were open. "Attention all. A Peacekeeper Marauder is coming our way to retrieve one of the slaves. They will be here in approximately hundred and seventy microts."


Ennixx and Rahl broke of their sparring match as the captain's announcement was made. Rahl looked back to Ennixx at the end of the announcement. "I have to get back to my post."

Ennixx nodded. "Yeah, me too."

They both bolted out of the exercise room, Rahl heading for command, Ennixx to guard the cargo bay.


T'Irna and Meric halted their task as the captain's announcement was made. T'Irna looked back to Meric at the end of the announcement. "Well, my friend, it's time for some action."

Meric nodded. "Yes, aren't we lucky?"

They both ran towards the docking bay to make the first stand.


Rahl entered command and Shamur halted her. "Rahl, I must advice you to stay out of sight. Scorpius would want a Stykera and if the Peacekeepers spot you here, you might be taken as well."

"Sir, but I must be able to help in some way. I do not want to hide and do nothing."

Shamur thought about it briefly. "Very well. I suggest you take up guard at the cargo bay. The team leader of the Peacekeepers will come to command and I doubt any of the grunts will realize you are a Stykera."

"Thank you sir."

Shamur watched her running out of command. He had known her for a long time, managing to release her from the madness by simply not exposing her to dying people with a bad background. She had grown into a fighter, willing to risk her life for her fellow crew members and those who were treated unjustly. But right now he was afraid the Peacekeepers might take her away again.

"Sir, the Peacekeepers have requested permission to come aboard."


T'Irna and Meric were standing next to each other amongst a large group of guards, waiting for the Peacekeepers to exit their Marauder. They were ordered to escort the Peacekeeper team leader to command and keep the rest of the Peacekeepers contained inside the docking bay.

This was the first time Meric saw a real Marauder and he found the ship imposing. He could understand why Marauders were inducing fear in some people but Meric didn't fear the hulky ships. The occupants were a different story. Peacekeepers could be dangerous, although they would be more dangerous to his non-Sebacean friend than to him.


Ennixx stood confidently waiting outside the cargo bay. She knew her husband would be the first to see them and possibly have to fight them but she had faith in him. Too bad she had forgotten to put on her comms when she left the exercise room, otherwise she might have said something to him, tell him again she loved him.

Suddenly it registered in her brain that someone was running towards them. The group of three took a stance and readied their pulse pistols. The running stopped momentarily.

"Hold your fire, it's me, Rahl. The captain instructed me to join you here."

Rahl tentatively walked into sight to see the group lowering their weapons. She quickly joined them and took a place next to Ennixx.


Meric felt uneasy. The team leader was being escorted to command while the rest of his team remained in the docking bay. Meric was almost certain the Peacekeepers had no intention of remaining here. Either they were waiting until he and the rest of the group would let down their guard, or they were awaiting a signal from their team leader.

At least three hundred microts passed before the Peacekeepers made their move. The first strike took only twenty or thirty microts and incapacitated most of the group. Another twenty or thirty microts later and the whole team had been taken out. T'Irna had grabbed Meric and pulled him with him to the ground, whispering to stay down until they left the docking bay.

Meric understood T'Irna's intentions. By letting the Peacekeepers think the whole team was incapacitated, they might not leave any Peacekeepers in the bay, allowing them to either sabotage the Marauder or attack the Peacekeepers from behind as they made their way to the cargo bay.


Ennixx, Rahl and the two Tavleks heard the Peacekeepers approaching them. Ennixx realized there was no shooting and that bothered her. They couldn't have taken out the entire team, could they? Where was Meric? Realizing these thoughts would not be helpful in the coming fight, she shook her head mentally to clear it and, together with the rest of the small group, readied herself.

The fight itself was very short. Four guards against a Peacekeeper Commando unit were highly unbalanced odds. The two Tavleks were the first to fall. Both Rahl and Ennixx managed to take down two Peacekeepers each before Rahl got hit twice in the chest but she still breathed.

Ennixx watched in horror when she saw two Peacekeepers take aim at Rahl again. "No! Rahl!" Ennixx ran toward her fallen friend, hoping to save her, but she hadn't seen another Peacekeeper standing in wait to take her down. Ennixx felt the butt of the pulse pistol slam into her neck, almost knocking her unconscious, but leaving her unable to move a muscle.

"Find our target," the leader of the unit shouted. "The four of you, stay here."

One of the grunts took a better look at Rahl and Ennixx and turned to his buddies. "Two females. It's going to take a long time to find one in ten thousand slaves. How about we have some fun of our own?"

One of his buddies also took a closer look. "This one isn't Sebacean and I wouldn't want to risk Irreversible Contamination. The other one seems Sebacean."

Another one took a closer look. "She looks a bit old."

The first grunt didn't see the problem. "Still, I haven't been able to reduce fluid levels in a while." He walked towards Ennixx who had slowly regained mobility. She allowed him to pick her up from the floor, then kicked him in his mivonks. That would most likely prevent him from trying to reduce fluid levels for a while. As the grunt bent down in pain she grabbed his pulse pistol, shoved the owner out of the way and took out one of the other grunts.

The original owner of the pulse pistol in her hand kicked her legs from under her, causing her to stumble. Her head came into contact with the wall hard and she fell unconscious to the floor.

The grunt who had intended to reduce fluid levels decided it wasn't worth the trouble or pain. "That frelling old tralk. I'll make her pay!" He grabbed his pulse pistol again, turned it to its maximum setting and aimed at her.

One of his buddies interrupted him. "Wait. I have a better idea."


T'Irna and Meric were furiously trying to get into the Marauder or at least open its outer hull plating. They had come to the realization that following the Peacekeepers to the cargo bay would make no sense at all. If a team consisting of two dozen people was taken out so quickly, the two of them joining the three standing guard near the cargo bay wouldn't make a difference at all.

Meric had quickly scanned his fallen crew members and noticed that most of them had only been stunned or wounded and not killed. That gave him good hopes of his wife surviving the shoot out at the cargo bay.

The Marauder was thoroughly secured and they had no luck getting in. The outer hull plating was just being stubborn and refused to be pried loose. Meric noticed his friend used his considerable strength, pounding on the hull plating in the hopes of one of them bending enough so they could tear it off.

One of their crew members returned and signaled them to indicate the Peacekeepers were returning. T'Irna and Meric quickly made their way back to the region where they'd been "shot down" and resumed pretending to be unconscious, disappointed they hadn't been able to prevent them from leaving.

Meric kept one eye half open, allowing him to see if they had taken anyone. He observed how the Peacekeepers pushed the Luxan boy roughly inside the Marauder and the return of the team leader that had been escorted to command earlier, without the escort. This made him wonder what had happened on command. Had the captain been shot? Was there any damage to the ship?

Finally the Marauder took off and a mere five microts later the captain's voice came over the ship wide comms. "The Peacekeepers have left. Propulsion, navigation and external communication have been destroyed. We are not going anywhere and we may not be able to repair the damages to propulsion." There was a short pause. "We... I have failed. The Peacekeepers have taken the one slave they were interested in and vented the others out into space."


When Rahl slowly regained consciousness, she noticed the two Tavlek guards were already back on their feet and had opened the cargo bay. From her position she could already see it was empty. "They are vented out in space, aren't they?"

One of the Tavlek guards turned around to her and nodded sadly.

Rahl knew that it was a good thing she had been unconscious at that time. Being so close to the nearly ten thousand deaths might have killed her as well. Now she was still alive and able to extract revenge on those frelling Peacekeepers later.

She looked around again. "Where is Ennixx?" Both Tavlek guards indicated they hadn't seen her. "Ennixx?!" No response. She decided to use her comms but then remembered she left it in the exercise room. "Can I use one of your comms?"

One Tavlek nodded and handed her his comms. Rahl accepted it and activated it. "Ennixx, where are you?" Again there was no response. Maybe Ennixx had left her comms in the exercise room as well? "Meric? Have you seen Ennixx?"

"No, and I saw the Peacekeepers only taking the Luxan boy with them. But she had guard duty at the cargo bay so I think she is there. Have you tried to comm her?"

Rahl closed her eye before giving an answer. "I am at the cargo bay. I can't find her. I think she might have left her comms in the exercise room. I will find her, I promise." She deactivated the comms and gave it back to the Tavlek guard.

Where the frell could Ennixx be? She wouldn't have left her position without making sure her team mates were going to be alright. She clearly wasn't taken or Meric would have seen her. Rahl remembered Ennixx calling out for her when she got shot but could not remember anything else. She turned to the Tavleks. "I'll be looking for Ennixx."


Meric was helping out the med team who had been called to take care of the wounded. Rahl's communication had caused him to lose his concentration as he kept finding himself thinking about his wife. Ennixx knew better than to leave her team behind so if she wasn't there she hadn't left willingly. But Meric knew the Peacekeepers hadn't taken her with them on the Marauder so that didn't make sense either.

Finally Meric couldn't take it any longer and activated his comms. "Ennixx! Where are you?"

He immediately got a response but it was Rahl. "Meric, I have found her comms in the exercise room. I am following the route from the cargo bay to the docking bay, just in case the Peacekeepers took her or she followed them and was taken out. I'll let you know when I find her."

"Thanks Rahl." Meric accepted that he couldn't change a thing about Ennixx's situation and forced himself to focus on helping the med team taking care of his fellow crew members.

After nearly three hundred microts Rahl appeared in the docking bay, looking decidedly worried. She spotted Meric and made her way to him. "I'm sorry Meric, I haven't found her yet."

T'Irna happened to sit right next to Meric. "Perhaps I can help find her. If she is somewhere aboard, I should be able to smell her."

"Thanks." Meric stood up and led the way to Ennixx's last known location, Rahl and T'Irna following him closely.


"This is where I regained consciousness. The last thing I remember is Ennixx shouting my name and seeing her running towards me."

T'Irna sniffed the air. "She definitely was here. I can smell adrenalin so she was either afraid or in a tough fight. Knowing her, the latter would be most probable. There's another smell: male lust but also anger."

"Any idea where she is now?" Meric got increasingly worried. The fact they were so close to the cargo bay that had just a quarter arn ago been opened to space had given him fear they might have vented her into space as well. The fact that T'Irna smelled male lust and anger told him two things: one male had intended to rape her but his wife had denied him that pleasure. Perhaps the male was so angry he pushed her into the cargo bay as well, before venting it?

"Yes, I can smell her, a fresh smell. She's quite close too." T'Irna sniffed the air in various directions before walking confidently through the corridor, constantly sniffing the air. "This is where the smell is the strongest".

"No, they wouldn't."

"They wouldn't do what, Rahl?" Meric didn't understand what Rahl was getting so upset about.

"T'Irna is standing right in front of the heating chamber. It's too hot for Sebaceans in there. I'm sorry Meric, but I am afraid she has succumbed to the Living Death."

"Perhaps not." Meric said. He looked to T'Irna. "You will have to open it, my friend. I can not go in there."

T'Irna tried to open the door, which gave him great difficulty. The Peacekeepers had smashed the control panel, but T'Irna's tech knowledge allowed him to by-pass it. Finally the door could be opened.

Rahl had taken up position next to Meric, providing him support should Ennixx indeed have succumbed to the Living Death as she feared. She was quite surprised to see Ennixx walking out of the heating chamber all by herself.

Ennixx looked at the three. "What took you so long?"


Ennixx and Meric had asked Rahl and T'Irna to join them in their quarters. The couple felt they should inform their two friends about the unique situation, especially why Ennixx had been so interested in the situation aboard Moya after Jothee had been taken by the Peacekeepers.

"You came from a Center Halo?" Rahl had heard of Center Halos but to hear her friends had actually come from one was the most exciting thing. She was told Center Halos were theoretical but none had ever been found. She made a mental note to go find the Delvian Pa'us that had observed it.

T'Irna wasn't as interested in weird stellar mists. "But that doesn't explain why you weren't affected by the heat."

"I am not completely Sebacean."

That confused Rahl. "You look Sebacean to me."

Meric grinned. "I can confirm she is fully Sebacean in appearance."

Ennixx slapped his arm and smiled at him. "Meric, behave yourself." She turned her gaze back to their friends. "What do you know about John Crichton?"

Rahl considered this briefly. "I know he's a crew member of Moya, but other than that not much."

"He looks Sebacean but he isn't. He is a Human and his species can tolerate heat much better than Sebaceans. He and Officer Aeryn Sun were trapped in the Center Halo. Aeryn was... is my grandmother and, from what I have learned a couple of monens ago, John Crichton is my grandfather."

T'Irna understood it then. "That's why you were so concerned about the situation with John Crichton when he was in the clutches of that Peacekeeper."

Ennixx sighed. "Yeah, Scorpius. I'm glad they all escaped him, but I still have a bad feeling about it."

Rahl gave her friend a sideways hug. "You worry too much."

Ennixx looked at her. "Remember what happened the last time you said that?"

Rahl smiled. "That was just a coincidence. But there is something I don't understand. From what I remember about Aeryn Sun she is quite young."

Ennixx nodded. "Yeah. That's because when Moya reversed course out of the Center Halo they pulled time back with them."

Rahl was surprised by that explanation. "They went back in time?"

"Yes, to a point before they entered the Center Halo. The Delvian Pa'u and the Stykera aboard Moya might have extracted themselves from the space time continuum and remember what happened, thus preventing Moya from entering again."

Rahl nodded. "I understand. Every opening in the Center Halo splits our world into an infinite number of universes which allowed you to live on. You must have switched from one world to another."

Ennixx realized they were heading for dangerous territories. "I don't know. We just flew the transport pod through the opening and ended up here." Close enough to the truth. The less other people knew about her knowledge the better and, more importantly, the safer. She had already deducted that had happened and also knew the danger involved when you switched to an alternate universe. It probably also explained the annoying sound she had heard when she arrived on this side of the Center Halo, some kind of warning signal.

Ennixx comms chose that moment to interrupt. "Ennixx, could you and Meric come to my private chambers? Your grandfather might be in trouble."

"Yes sir, we will be right there." Ennixx deactivated the comms.

Rahl looked at her friend. "I will never again say that you worry too much."