"Earth!" shouted Chulee incredulity. "You told us you hated that dren-hole the first time you were there with Uncle John."
"Chulee, watch your language, please," said Berret.
"Uh-ah, that's never worked with Mom and it's not gonna work with me, Dad. Stop trying to change the subject," replied his daughter mulishly.
"I am not changing the subject, I'm simply asking you not to curse," said the Shrike.
"You can't seriously be thinking of leaving us, of leaving Moya," Chulee said.
"Dad, think about it for awhile. You're probably just feeling depressed because it's close to the time when Mom passed away. We're all feeling down now," put in Jalen urgently.
Berret looked at his offspring, wishing he could make them understand exactly how he was feeling.
"I miss your mother very much but that's not the only reason I feel I have to go. The two of you are grown up now and its time I explored where I come from... to meet my true past face to face so to speak."
"There is nothing we can say or do to make you change your mind?" asked Jalen.
"I need to do this, 'Len. It's been a long time in coming," his father replied.
"Well, if that's the case... I'm going with you," Chulee announced obstinately.
"I'm afraid that you can't, 'Lee. There is no room for a Nebari on Earth and being alien you know what will happen if they get a hold of you there," Berret said caressing the grayish skin of his daughter's cheek.
"I don't care," said the girl beginning to get misty eyed but still trying to hold her ground. "I'm half human too!" she insisted.
"But I do," replied her father, "...and the other humans aren't going to see that part of you."
After the conversation with his children and spending nearly two arns in debate, Berret returned to his apartment to continue going through his possessions trying to decide what to take and what to leave with his children. He was suddenly aware when a large shadow darkened the doorway to his bedroom.
"So you're really going to do this?" rumbled D'argo gruff voice.
Berret had stopped his sorting and packing as the Luxan barged the rest of his unannounced way into the room.
"Yes, D'argo. I'm leaving Moya to explore my past on Earth."
"Everyone you might have known there is probably dead by now. There is no rational reason to return there," reasoned the big warrior.
"I'm not going for the purpose of trying to find relatives. I'm going to learn more about where I come from," Berret replied. "All those cycles John tried to teach me about Earth and I refused to listen. The time we were there, I wouldn't allow myself the chance to get to know the place. All those times I denied being human on any level... I was just fooling myself. Time has shown me that I can't escape what I once was."
"There is nothing there for you, you belong here... with your family," said D'argo.
Berret knew he wasn't only referring to Chulee and Jalen's family; the Luxan was counting everyone including Rygel, Pilot, and Moya.
"D'argo, you all have been the only family I have even known and more to me. You all have been my friends, brothers, sisters, and my greatest teachers... but Chiana was my heart and soul. Without her, I never would have survived and had been able to learn what you all have taught me. Now that's she gone I have to survive on my own for a while. If I stay here that spirit she worked so hard to give me will whither and die, and my children will place their lives on hold for my account. Chiana never would have stood for that, she was always one to live life to the fullest and she would want... no, demand, the same for her offspring."
D'argo paused and considered his words, then uttered a low curse as he turned his gaze down to the floor.
"First Sean... and now you. That damned planet has claimed another of my brothers." The Luxan turned his dark eyes back on his friend. "But I understand," he said with nod of his head a moment later. "I don't like it... but I understand." He turned and left Berret to his packing.
The Den's access point opened and Berret walked in and up the gangway to Pilot's station. He glanced for what would be the last time down into the depths of Moya a half Earth kilometer below him, marveling one final time at Moya's immense size. Pilot regarded him as he approached.
"We will be arriving in the Leviticus system within two arns, Jared," he told the Shrike. "We will be rendezvousing with the RHN Battleship "Dominar's Light" which is already on station in the system. Her captain commed us and reports that they have all the necessary up-grades for the Wraith and that installation will only take two arns at most once the Wraith is transferred to the Light's maintenance bay."
"Thank you, Pilot," Berret answered, then went on hesitatingly, "I've come to say good-bye to you and Moya."
"I had thought that might also be the reason for your visit to the Den," said Pilot solemnly.
"You know I couldn't leave without seeing you," Berret told him.
"Moya and I hoped you wouldn't forget."
"Never," said Berret. "You both have been my home and my family. My children were born here and I learned to laugh and cry here. I will never forget either of you." Berret caught one of Pilot's large clawed hands and held it as he detected the sadness in Pilot's large expressive eyes.
"Moya and I do not want you to leave us."
Berret gave him a small smile. "The journey has to end sometime, my friends. Nothing can last forever."
Pilot nodded his huge hooded head. "One can only wish it," he said. "Moya and I will pray to her creators for your happiness and the hope you find peace."
"And I will pray for the same for both of you, Brother. My love to Moya and to you." Berret released Pilot's claw and turned to leave.
"Is there any final requests that Moya or I can fulfill for you before you leave?" Pilot asked.
Berret turned back to face him again. "Watch over my babies and take care of the rest of our family... just as you both always have."
"Always," said Pilot as the door closed behind Berret.
Pilot used Moya's docking web to transfer the Wraith to one of the immense Hynerian Battleship's maintenance bays while Berret continued to make his rounds bidding his friends and crewmates good-bye.
Some conversations went better than others, but regardless, a heavy weight of sadness settled over the group. Finally the call came from the Dominar's Light that the upgrades to Berret's craft had been completed. The Leviathan's inhabitants met before a Transport Pod in the landing bay one last time.
Outside the living ship and the warship, the wormhole waited in whirring blue splendor.
Chulee rushed tearfully into her father's arms as they gathered and Berret embraced his daughter for what would probably be the final time he thought to himself.
"Take me with you," she pleaded one last time.
"I can't, love," Berret said becoming cloudy eyed himself, "Your life is here and now you have to live it for yourself."
Chulee looked up at him with tear blurred dark eyes, "I don't want you to go."
Berret's resolve almost weakened at that moment, but he knew if he stayed Chulee would spend the rest of her life looking after him. He gently gripped the sides of his daughter's tear streaked face with the palms of both hands holding her gaze steady with his.
"The last thing I want is to leave you and your brother but I have to do this... I need to do this. If I stay here I will waste away and my spirit will die. Your mother would understand and I think it's her soul that's pushing me in this direction. She wouldn't do that if the two of you weren't strong enough to stand on your own," he said.
Chulee did her best to dry her eyes on the back of her tunic sleeve and stand straight again. Sniffing back further tears, she reached back and produced a package from a nearby worktable.
"... I...umm, I brought you something in case I couldn't talk you out of leaving this last time."
She handed her father the hastily wrapped object with shaky hands. Berret accepted the gift and unwrapped the paper around it to find the package contained Chulee's Nebari doll... the one that she'd had since the day of her birth... the one made in her mother's, Chiana's, image.
Berret at first didn't understand what the gift meant until his daughter said,
"Someone to watch over you."
Berret 's hands began to shake themselves as the full implication of the gift hit him. He reached out and drew his daughter to him in one last hug. He kissed her still wet cheek and told her, "I love you."
"I know you do Dad, I know you do...I love you too."
Berret stepped off the Transport Pod's gangway carrying his last bag of possessions onto the Battleship's hanger deck. Zhaan and Crichton, having accompanied him on this final leg of his departure, stepped down behind him. John looked around the huge ship with a feeling of deja vu. It was on this same battleship stationed in front of this same wormhole in the Leviticus system that he and the others had said goodbye to Sean so many cycles ago. The only difference in that instead of the Wraith sitting on the hanger deck, the Wander had been in its place. The module fitted with the Temporal Wave Guide device that Andar and his group of techs on Hynerian had constructed to hurl the human and his ship thirty cycles into the future as it slingshot out of the wormhole at the other end. With John's relative rode the only hope that the human race might be ready in time for what awaited them out here, and possibly the only means of protecting themselves from the allusive race of slavers that had taken Berret from their home in the first place. Sean had carried back to Earth advanced technology, which he would slowly introduce according to Rygel's plan. Sometime in the future the Hynerian would send an ambassador to Earth with an offer to join the alliance.
Rygel floated up to met the trio as they walked across the massive bay, dodging techs as they went about their jobs. Berret was slightly surprised to see the Hynerian ruler, but figured that Rygel had probably arrived unannounced aboard the Light by way of his private cruiser sometime before Moya made it in system.
"The Wraith has been overhauled and refitted for your trip. The stealth system also now has the newest up-grades," Rygel said without having to be asked. "Nothing will be able to touch it."
"Thank you, Rygel, "Berret said, giving him a genuine warm smile. He was going to miss the Hynerian.
The Dominar paused and fidgeted for a microt. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked.
Berret nodded. "I'm sure, Rygel," the Shrike told him. Rygel's straightened in his Thronesled.
"You know," he started, "over the cycles... you've been spiteful, ungrateful, threatening, certainly disrespectful of my position as Dominar, bullying, uncooperative, pigheaded, a major pain in the eema, and nothing but trouble."
"I know, Ryg," said Berret gently. "I'm going to miss you too."
The Hynerian harrumphed and moved his sled forward. Grabbing one of Berret's hands he forced a pouch into it.
"These are common coal diamonds. The primitives of that dren-hole you insist upon going too find them valuable. This should keep you living comfortably for as long as this foolish notion stays in your thick skull," Rygel told him. Berret stood speechless as Rygel attempted to keep a disinterest face. The Dominar's earbrows drooped a microt later and the edges of his mouth sunk into a sad frown right behind them. "Don't forget your way home," he said in a subdued voice and then spun around on his thronesled and sped away before his feelings could betray him further.
Berret watched Rygel go, already feeling lonely at the Hynerians departure. He pocketed the bag of gems and turned to face his other friends. Zhaan smiled tightly and stepped forward to embrace him. The Delvian hugged him hard and then held him out at arm's length.
"I have to go do this, Zhaan," he told her for what seemed like the hundredth time.
The Priestess nodded her baldhead. "I know, Jared. And I do understand the need to find your way."
Zhaan raised one hand and made several gestures while murmuring a blessing. When she was done, she smiled again at him and said, "May the Goddess see you safely on your journey and guide your way should ever it be time for you to return home."
The Delvian hugged Berret once again while the Shrike hugged her back just as hard. Zhaan brush at her eyes as she stepped aside and allowed John to say his good-byes to their comrade.
Crichton stepped forward to his old friend.
"Oh no, it wasn't important when I wanted him to go twenty-five cycles ago," he was saying to himself loud enough for both Berret and Zhaan to hear, "And suddenly he gets a bug up his eema and low and behold... it's a great idea." John finished the conversation with himself and gave Berret his full attention.
"So... it looks like this is it," Crichton said.
"This is it," Berret repeated in agreement.
John gave him a tight grin. "Its been a hellva' ride."
"Yes... it has," the ex-assassin replied.
Crichton looked uncertain of what to do next. "It ain't gonna be the same without you... but you got to do what you got to do." He stepped forward and hugged the other man. "Take care... maybe this isn't good-bye for good? You never know."
Berret hugged John back, "No, you never know," he replied, but underneath he had the feeling that the parting was for good despite what his friends hoped.
The two friends parted and without another word, Berret bent to pick up his last bag and turned toward his ship. With a slight leap, the Shrike bounded up the Wraith's gangway. A few microts later the stairway retracted into the crafts hull and the hatchway cycled close. Also immediately warning lights came to life and a loudspeaker called for all personal to evacuate the landing bay so that it could de-pressurize.
John turned for one last look as he stepped into the bay's airlock compartment, the Wraith's engines had just fired up and the exhaust ports were beginning to glow with heat.
"Good bye, bro," Crichton murmured to himself as the lock hatchway began to close, cutting off the view of Berret's ship. "I hope you find what you're looking for."
The Wraith left the landing bay of the Dominar's Light. Its thrusters kicked it away from the hovering monolithic Hynerian war vessel and the smaller Leviathan ship, positioning the stealth craft just above the spinning whirlpool of the wormhole. The Wraith hung just over the rim as system checks came over the Battleship's comm. Crichton watched out a observation port along with Zhaan, he turned to glance at the Delvian woman and found that Rygel had joined them at some point unnoticed by the human. John could feel the vortex sitting several metra away from them as surely as if he were aboard the Wraith himself - he could always feel wormholes whether he wanted too or not. It was one of the gifts left to him by the Ancients... and what Scorpius had chased him so long for.
The mission operator had just announced that the Wraith's phase shielding was active and operating within optimum standards. Berret acknowledged him over the comm just as Crichton closed his eyes and let his senses reach outward. He could feel the energies of the wormhole boiling out there in front of the assembled ships, the Wraith's shielding setting up a counter tempo to the wormhole. He smiled as the physics of what was happening came to him and the familiar sense of excitement filled him as it always did. Why shouldn't it? It was his theories and visions that had allowed Andar to construct the shielding that protected other craft during wormhole transit. The shielding gave each ship it sheltered the same properties that the Farscape and Wanderer modules had that allowed them to travel through wormholes intact.
One ship that he designed, and the other based heavily on his designs. Somehow, even before the Ancients' "gifts", he had been some way in tune with wormholes.
John was brought back to the moment as the mission control gave Berret the go-ahead to proceed. Zhaan reached over and grasped his hand, squeezing onto it for comfort as they watched. The human squeezed back and he knew that the rest of their shipmates and children were listening and watching the same view at that exact moment aboard Moya, also probably seeking comfort with each other in much the same way.
Berret acknowledge command's clearance and without waiting further, fired the Wraith's engines. The Stealth ship soared upward like a bird of prey and then dived into the gapping mouth of the vortex. A shiver went down Crichton's spine as he felt the two different energies that represented the ship and the wormhole merge, his mind supplied him with the mental image of a cue ball finding it's way into the corner pocket of a pool table. In a microt he felt the tiny ball that was Berret's craft fade, lost in the larger presence of the space anomaly.
"He's gone," the human murmured out loud.
"Chulee, watch your language, please," said Berret.
"Uh-ah, that's never worked with Mom and it's not gonna work with me, Dad. Stop trying to change the subject," replied his daughter mulishly.
"I am not changing the subject, I'm simply asking you not to curse," said the Shrike.
"You can't seriously be thinking of leaving us, of leaving Moya," Chulee said.
"Dad, think about it for awhile. You're probably just feeling depressed because it's close to the time when Mom passed away. We're all feeling down now," put in Jalen urgently.
Berret looked at his offspring, wishing he could make them understand exactly how he was feeling.
"I miss your mother very much but that's not the only reason I feel I have to go. The two of you are grown up now and its time I explored where I come from... to meet my true past face to face so to speak."
"There is nothing we can say or do to make you change your mind?" asked Jalen.
"I need to do this, 'Len. It's been a long time in coming," his father replied.
"Well, if that's the case... I'm going with you," Chulee announced obstinately.
"I'm afraid that you can't, 'Lee. There is no room for a Nebari on Earth and being alien you know what will happen if they get a hold of you there," Berret said caressing the grayish skin of his daughter's cheek.
"I don't care," said the girl beginning to get misty eyed but still trying to hold her ground. "I'm half human too!" she insisted.
"But I do," replied her father, "...and the other humans aren't going to see that part of you."
After the conversation with his children and spending nearly two arns in debate, Berret returned to his apartment to continue going through his possessions trying to decide what to take and what to leave with his children. He was suddenly aware when a large shadow darkened the doorway to his bedroom.
"So you're really going to do this?" rumbled D'argo gruff voice.
Berret had stopped his sorting and packing as the Luxan barged the rest of his unannounced way into the room.
"Yes, D'argo. I'm leaving Moya to explore my past on Earth."
"Everyone you might have known there is probably dead by now. There is no rational reason to return there," reasoned the big warrior.
"I'm not going for the purpose of trying to find relatives. I'm going to learn more about where I come from," Berret replied. "All those cycles John tried to teach me about Earth and I refused to listen. The time we were there, I wouldn't allow myself the chance to get to know the place. All those times I denied being human on any level... I was just fooling myself. Time has shown me that I can't escape what I once was."
"There is nothing there for you, you belong here... with your family," said D'argo.
Berret knew he wasn't only referring to Chulee and Jalen's family; the Luxan was counting everyone including Rygel, Pilot, and Moya.
"D'argo, you all have been the only family I have even known and more to me. You all have been my friends, brothers, sisters, and my greatest teachers... but Chiana was my heart and soul. Without her, I never would have survived and had been able to learn what you all have taught me. Now that's she gone I have to survive on my own for a while. If I stay here that spirit she worked so hard to give me will whither and die, and my children will place their lives on hold for my account. Chiana never would have stood for that, she was always one to live life to the fullest and she would want... no, demand, the same for her offspring."
D'argo paused and considered his words, then uttered a low curse as he turned his gaze down to the floor.
"First Sean... and now you. That damned planet has claimed another of my brothers." The Luxan turned his dark eyes back on his friend. "But I understand," he said with nod of his head a moment later. "I don't like it... but I understand." He turned and left Berret to his packing.
The Den's access point opened and Berret walked in and up the gangway to Pilot's station. He glanced for what would be the last time down into the depths of Moya a half Earth kilometer below him, marveling one final time at Moya's immense size. Pilot regarded him as he approached.
"We will be arriving in the Leviticus system within two arns, Jared," he told the Shrike. "We will be rendezvousing with the RHN Battleship "Dominar's Light" which is already on station in the system. Her captain commed us and reports that they have all the necessary up-grades for the Wraith and that installation will only take two arns at most once the Wraith is transferred to the Light's maintenance bay."
"Thank you, Pilot," Berret answered, then went on hesitatingly, "I've come to say good-bye to you and Moya."
"I had thought that might also be the reason for your visit to the Den," said Pilot solemnly.
"You know I couldn't leave without seeing you," Berret told him.
"Moya and I hoped you wouldn't forget."
"Never," said Berret. "You both have been my home and my family. My children were born here and I learned to laugh and cry here. I will never forget either of you." Berret caught one of Pilot's large clawed hands and held it as he detected the sadness in Pilot's large expressive eyes.
"Moya and I do not want you to leave us."
Berret gave him a small smile. "The journey has to end sometime, my friends. Nothing can last forever."
Pilot nodded his huge hooded head. "One can only wish it," he said. "Moya and I will pray to her creators for your happiness and the hope you find peace."
"And I will pray for the same for both of you, Brother. My love to Moya and to you." Berret released Pilot's claw and turned to leave.
"Is there any final requests that Moya or I can fulfill for you before you leave?" Pilot asked.
Berret turned back to face him again. "Watch over my babies and take care of the rest of our family... just as you both always have."
"Always," said Pilot as the door closed behind Berret.
Pilot used Moya's docking web to transfer the Wraith to one of the immense Hynerian Battleship's maintenance bays while Berret continued to make his rounds bidding his friends and crewmates good-bye.
Some conversations went better than others, but regardless, a heavy weight of sadness settled over the group. Finally the call came from the Dominar's Light that the upgrades to Berret's craft had been completed. The Leviathan's inhabitants met before a Transport Pod in the landing bay one last time.
Outside the living ship and the warship, the wormhole waited in whirring blue splendor.
Chulee rushed tearfully into her father's arms as they gathered and Berret embraced his daughter for what would probably be the final time he thought to himself.
"Take me with you," she pleaded one last time.
"I can't, love," Berret said becoming cloudy eyed himself, "Your life is here and now you have to live it for yourself."
Chulee looked up at him with tear blurred dark eyes, "I don't want you to go."
Berret's resolve almost weakened at that moment, but he knew if he stayed Chulee would spend the rest of her life looking after him. He gently gripped the sides of his daughter's tear streaked face with the palms of both hands holding her gaze steady with his.
"The last thing I want is to leave you and your brother but I have to do this... I need to do this. If I stay here I will waste away and my spirit will die. Your mother would understand and I think it's her soul that's pushing me in this direction. She wouldn't do that if the two of you weren't strong enough to stand on your own," he said.
Chulee did her best to dry her eyes on the back of her tunic sleeve and stand straight again. Sniffing back further tears, she reached back and produced a package from a nearby worktable.
"... I...umm, I brought you something in case I couldn't talk you out of leaving this last time."
She handed her father the hastily wrapped object with shaky hands. Berret accepted the gift and unwrapped the paper around it to find the package contained Chulee's Nebari doll... the one that she'd had since the day of her birth... the one made in her mother's, Chiana's, image.
Berret at first didn't understand what the gift meant until his daughter said,
"Someone to watch over you."
Berret 's hands began to shake themselves as the full implication of the gift hit him. He reached out and drew his daughter to him in one last hug. He kissed her still wet cheek and told her, "I love you."
"I know you do Dad, I know you do...I love you too."
Berret stepped off the Transport Pod's gangway carrying his last bag of possessions onto the Battleship's hanger deck. Zhaan and Crichton, having accompanied him on this final leg of his departure, stepped down behind him. John looked around the huge ship with a feeling of deja vu. It was on this same battleship stationed in front of this same wormhole in the Leviticus system that he and the others had said goodbye to Sean so many cycles ago. The only difference in that instead of the Wraith sitting on the hanger deck, the Wander had been in its place. The module fitted with the Temporal Wave Guide device that Andar and his group of techs on Hynerian had constructed to hurl the human and his ship thirty cycles into the future as it slingshot out of the wormhole at the other end. With John's relative rode the only hope that the human race might be ready in time for what awaited them out here, and possibly the only means of protecting themselves from the allusive race of slavers that had taken Berret from their home in the first place. Sean had carried back to Earth advanced technology, which he would slowly introduce according to Rygel's plan. Sometime in the future the Hynerian would send an ambassador to Earth with an offer to join the alliance.
Rygel floated up to met the trio as they walked across the massive bay, dodging techs as they went about their jobs. Berret was slightly surprised to see the Hynerian ruler, but figured that Rygel had probably arrived unannounced aboard the Light by way of his private cruiser sometime before Moya made it in system.
"The Wraith has been overhauled and refitted for your trip. The stealth system also now has the newest up-grades," Rygel said without having to be asked. "Nothing will be able to touch it."
"Thank you, Rygel, "Berret said, giving him a genuine warm smile. He was going to miss the Hynerian.
The Dominar paused and fidgeted for a microt. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked.
Berret nodded. "I'm sure, Rygel," the Shrike told him. Rygel's straightened in his Thronesled.
"You know," he started, "over the cycles... you've been spiteful, ungrateful, threatening, certainly disrespectful of my position as Dominar, bullying, uncooperative, pigheaded, a major pain in the eema, and nothing but trouble."
"I know, Ryg," said Berret gently. "I'm going to miss you too."
The Hynerian harrumphed and moved his sled forward. Grabbing one of Berret's hands he forced a pouch into it.
"These are common coal diamonds. The primitives of that dren-hole you insist upon going too find them valuable. This should keep you living comfortably for as long as this foolish notion stays in your thick skull," Rygel told him. Berret stood speechless as Rygel attempted to keep a disinterest face. The Dominar's earbrows drooped a microt later and the edges of his mouth sunk into a sad frown right behind them. "Don't forget your way home," he said in a subdued voice and then spun around on his thronesled and sped away before his feelings could betray him further.
Berret watched Rygel go, already feeling lonely at the Hynerians departure. He pocketed the bag of gems and turned to face his other friends. Zhaan smiled tightly and stepped forward to embrace him. The Delvian hugged him hard and then held him out at arm's length.
"I have to go do this, Zhaan," he told her for what seemed like the hundredth time.
The Priestess nodded her baldhead. "I know, Jared. And I do understand the need to find your way."
Zhaan raised one hand and made several gestures while murmuring a blessing. When she was done, she smiled again at him and said, "May the Goddess see you safely on your journey and guide your way should ever it be time for you to return home."
The Delvian hugged Berret once again while the Shrike hugged her back just as hard. Zhaan brush at her eyes as she stepped aside and allowed John to say his good-byes to their comrade.
Crichton stepped forward to his old friend.
"Oh no, it wasn't important when I wanted him to go twenty-five cycles ago," he was saying to himself loud enough for both Berret and Zhaan to hear, "And suddenly he gets a bug up his eema and low and behold... it's a great idea." John finished the conversation with himself and gave Berret his full attention.
"So... it looks like this is it," Crichton said.
"This is it," Berret repeated in agreement.
John gave him a tight grin. "Its been a hellva' ride."
"Yes... it has," the ex-assassin replied.
Crichton looked uncertain of what to do next. "It ain't gonna be the same without you... but you got to do what you got to do." He stepped forward and hugged the other man. "Take care... maybe this isn't good-bye for good? You never know."
Berret hugged John back, "No, you never know," he replied, but underneath he had the feeling that the parting was for good despite what his friends hoped.
The two friends parted and without another word, Berret bent to pick up his last bag and turned toward his ship. With a slight leap, the Shrike bounded up the Wraith's gangway. A few microts later the stairway retracted into the crafts hull and the hatchway cycled close. Also immediately warning lights came to life and a loudspeaker called for all personal to evacuate the landing bay so that it could de-pressurize.
John turned for one last look as he stepped into the bay's airlock compartment, the Wraith's engines had just fired up and the exhaust ports were beginning to glow with heat.
"Good bye, bro," Crichton murmured to himself as the lock hatchway began to close, cutting off the view of Berret's ship. "I hope you find what you're looking for."
The Wraith left the landing bay of the Dominar's Light. Its thrusters kicked it away from the hovering monolithic Hynerian war vessel and the smaller Leviathan ship, positioning the stealth craft just above the spinning whirlpool of the wormhole. The Wraith hung just over the rim as system checks came over the Battleship's comm. Crichton watched out a observation port along with Zhaan, he turned to glance at the Delvian woman and found that Rygel had joined them at some point unnoticed by the human. John could feel the vortex sitting several metra away from them as surely as if he were aboard the Wraith himself - he could always feel wormholes whether he wanted too or not. It was one of the gifts left to him by the Ancients... and what Scorpius had chased him so long for.
The mission operator had just announced that the Wraith's phase shielding was active and operating within optimum standards. Berret acknowledged him over the comm just as Crichton closed his eyes and let his senses reach outward. He could feel the energies of the wormhole boiling out there in front of the assembled ships, the Wraith's shielding setting up a counter tempo to the wormhole. He smiled as the physics of what was happening came to him and the familiar sense of excitement filled him as it always did. Why shouldn't it? It was his theories and visions that had allowed Andar to construct the shielding that protected other craft during wormhole transit. The shielding gave each ship it sheltered the same properties that the Farscape and Wanderer modules had that allowed them to travel through wormholes intact.
One ship that he designed, and the other based heavily on his designs. Somehow, even before the Ancients' "gifts", he had been some way in tune with wormholes.
John was brought back to the moment as the mission control gave Berret the go-ahead to proceed. Zhaan reached over and grasped his hand, squeezing onto it for comfort as they watched. The human squeezed back and he knew that the rest of their shipmates and children were listening and watching the same view at that exact moment aboard Moya, also probably seeking comfort with each other in much the same way.
Berret acknowledge command's clearance and without waiting further, fired the Wraith's engines. The Stealth ship soared upward like a bird of prey and then dived into the gapping mouth of the vortex. A shiver went down Crichton's spine as he felt the two different energies that represented the ship and the wormhole merge, his mind supplied him with the mental image of a cue ball finding it's way into the corner pocket of a pool table. In a microt he felt the tiny ball that was Berret's craft fade, lost in the larger presence of the space anomaly.
"He's gone," the human murmured out loud.
