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Chapter 4:
This Town Ain't Big Enough
14 Márta 2010

Two arns had passed since the not-a-sebacean man had plummeted to his death. The scarrans had left soon after, flying to the other side of the planet's gaseous moon, seemingly unaware of the young gunship. Their prey stolen from them by fate, there was no reason for them to stay. Talyn glided in orbit around the planet, unsure of what to do and preferring to wait for Aeryn to tell him.

Talyn had watched curiously as Aeryn had picked a room to stow her belongings during their voyage to this planet. He hadn't grown too many rooms, and the one she picked wasn't fully grown yet. He was suprised she had not claimed the captains quarters, but maybe she didn't realise she was the superior on the ship yet.

She hadn't spoken since she left command. She had barely reacted to anything at all. Talyn was confused over her behaviour, comrades died all the time, it was something to be expected in life. This friend of hers must have done something to contaminate her mind. Crais had told him that it was John who had had her removed from the peacekeepers, he had irreversibly contaminated her. Truly Talyn should be disgusted by her very presence, but he supposed he wasn't a peacekeeper himself anymore, and after what they had done he wasn't sure he wanted to be.

She was sitting on the bed now, staring at the ground. He had a DRD posted in her room and using its camera he looked at her face, hoping to see that she was perhaps concentrating on a plan or gathering her strength. As he watched a drop of liquid leaked from the corner of one of her eyes. Talyn looked in alarm at her, trying to find some injury or illness that would cause such a response. Certainly Crais' eyes had never leaked any type of liquid, and having not seen it before he decided there must be something wrong with her.

He moaned inside his mind, he was going to lose another captain and there was nothing he could do. It wasn't fair, he should have had a dedicated crew by now, teaching him everything he needed to know about the galaxy. He should have been flying bravely on the frontlines, obliterating all enemy vessels. Instead he was floating on the edge of some dead planet with a sick sebacean and a team of immature DRDs.

Aeryn had moved from her place on the bed and was standing in the miniature refresher gazing at her reflection in the mirror. She wiped at her eyes, drying the droplets and Talyn was glad, at least now he could pretend she was alright.

She quickly dispelled his relief by raising her fist and smashing it into the mirror, breaking it. She collapsed to the floor and started to emit a series of racking coughs. Talyn was really starting to panic now. This wasn't normal. He wished he knew what was wrong with her so he could save her. Sorrowfully he realised he would probably have to search the galaxy by himself for his mother. She was bound to be disappointed when she learned that two of his captains had left.

He tried searching through space with his sensors, trying to locate any non-hostile vessel that could help him, but his search came up with nothing. He let out a mournful sigh, at which Aeryn looked up slightly as if realising for the first time that Talyn could see her. Maybe she was only realising that now, he mused.

She proceeded to stand up and wash her face, wrapping a strip of material around her bloodied hand. She pulled herself together and Talyn watched her as she walked towards command.

Entering she smiled faintly. "Hello Talyn."

He sang back to her, happy to see her in control of whatever the disorder was that currently ailed her. He brought up a view of the system they were in, highlighting the planets he saw had some sort of medical facilities. She walked over to look at what he was showing her and frowned slightly.

"Why are you showing me medical facilities Talyn? Are you unwell?"

Talyn beeped in confusion, then frustration that they couldn't simply speak normally. He sent one of his DRDs to command and had it blink it's lights for Aeryn. She immediately understood and put her question to it, at which it blinked twice.

"So why do we need a medical facility?" The DRD started bashing into her foot, and she stopped it carefully. "You need one for me?" One blink. "Talyn don't worry, I'll be fine. I was upset about John, I lost control for a microt." She explained simply.

Talyn was confused, she was still upset over that? To prove his point he started to pull up views of the planet, and zoomed them in to show her the destroyed module on the surface. Aeryn gasped quietly and Talyn saw more liquid pooling in her eyes. He thought she was misunderstanding him somehow so he tried to show her that her tech was dead, he had died honourably in battle, not many techs could claim that, she should be happy for him. He brought up another screen to show life signs, he showed first her, then himself, then directed his scan over the planet and showed her.

At her exclamation Talyn looked at his findings. He exclaimed also with a surprised beep. There was one weak life signature coming from the area around the tech's module.

"Talyn, I'm taking my prowler to retrieve John, please have the docking bay ready." Said Aeryn, all of a sudden in control of herself once more and emitting the same confidence that had come off her when she had first arrived. She appeared to be doing much better so Talyn chirped agreeably. If this tech coming on board would make her happy, he would do anything to make that happen. He'd just have to find a way to get rid of him later to pick up a real crew. Perhaps he could stay on as tech, but he was sure that once he got a proper crew Aeryn would stop this strange obsession with this inferior being.

Aeryn was already in the hangar, climbing into her prowler. Talyn grabbed her with his docking web when she was ready and gently lifted her out and into open space. He watched intently as she flew swiftly to the planet, hoping to learn some moves from her. Crais had told him she was a highly gifted pilot.

He tried not to let the fear of abandonment rise as it had before, but since Crais he'd been so afraid of being alone. He hoped Aeryn would come back soon, with or without her alien.


Intense pain rushed through his senses as his body slowly awoke. He was confused about where he was and how he had gotten here. He must have crashed his car, but for some reason he couldn't remember having driven it recently. Slowly he turned his head, but when he moved his neck a white hot pain ran straight up to his brain. He started panting with the pain. He was hot, insanely hot, and there was sweat pouring from all over his body, though he wasn't sure that that wasn't blood. He surmised that his shoulder was dislocated, and he seemed to have extensive cuts on his neck and shoulder. He then noticed the bandage wrapped around his chest. Slowly things began to make sense as the pieces began to slot together.

"Damn." He exhaled, then wished he hadn't as even that simple movement intensified the pain on his left hand side. His control stick had somehow lodged against his chest, typically, and judging by the wet stain on his bandages it appeared to have reopened some of his chest wounds. Hopefully not all. He already knew his neck was bleeding again and he cursed the kalish for using his modern 'paste your wounds' technique. He'd choose stitches any day.

He didn't know how long he'd been lying there, but he knew it must have been a while as he was already feeling dehydrated. It was just typical that of all the planets to crash land on he had to crash on the one that was a searing hot desert, and then land upside down and become trapped in his once faithful ship.

"Well Harv," He conjured the clone, "doesn't look like we'll be getting out of this one. We had a good run."

Harvey nodded morosely. "Indeed we did John Crichton. It was been an honour to serve as your alter ego, your mind companion, and now I believe I can say it has been an honour to be your friend."

"Aww Harv, that's the most beautiful thing I ever heard. If my tear ducts weren't all dried up I'd be crying like Alice now."

"Thank you John. I believe the time has come for us to finally get some well earned rest. Goodnight John-boy." With that said, Harvey saluted him seriously and faded away.

"'Night Harv." John muttered, before closing his eyes.

Before he could decide if he was dead or not there was something pressed against his face, something warm. The touch caused his neck to move and he hissed in pain. Opening his eyes he turned slowly to his right, grimacing all the way as his wound stretched. When he turned he saw the one thing in all the universe that he had dreamed to see as his dying image. In front of his eyes was the beautiful face of the radiant Aeryn Sun. Seeing her struck a thought in his mind and he moaned.

"You died too? Aw babe I'm sorry." He felt great sadness over fates cruelty. Even after he left Moya she had still found her death prematurely. She was looking at him oddly, with a humoured smile.

"I'm not dead John, and neither are you, but we both will be if we don't get you out of there and back to Talyn."

"Tal'n?" He slurred questioningly. He felt his eyes becoming heavier and his brain was slowly beginning to rest, making his thoughts sluggish.

"Yes, Talyn. Come on John, you'll have to help me a bit here, it's extremely hot." She pleaded. John suddenly became more alert, an image of Aeryn succumbing to heat delirium appearing in his mind.

"Aer, you gotta go. 'S too hot. Heat delirium." He panted.

"Yes Crichton, I am aware of that. Now you're wasting time, I'm not leaving without you so please try to climb out, your front window is entirely broken in. You'll have too crawl but I can pull you, so come on Crichton." She said. There were droplets of sweat running down her face and already her hair was soaked through. Her cheeks were red and her eyes were finding it hard to focus on him. Realising the urgency of the situation, he put Aeryn's well-being over his pain and tried to coax his unresponsive limbs into moving.

He reached for his buckles with his right hand and undid them, leaving him to slump slightly, upside down, resting on the roof of the Farscape. He grunted in pain as his shoulder impacted the roof. Using his right hand again, as his left was almost entirely numb, he reached forward and grasped the edge of the window frame, hissing slightly as the broken glass edge cut into his hand. He pulled himself forward weakly, trying to get to where Aeryn could help him. The pain was almost unbearable and he was worried in case he passed out on her.

He tried again with his left arm and finally managed to get it to move in front of him, though it made his eyes go blind momentarily. Unfortunately it was while he was trying to regain his senses that Aeryn decided to step in, grasping both his arms in a strong grip.

He had a moment to think that she was uncannily strong, even on the brink of the living death, and then she pulled.


Aeryn saw him trying his best to pull himself out of the module, but his attempt was nearly worthless as he was making hardly any progress and seemed to be causing more pain to himself than necessary. When his arms finally flailed within her reach she grabbed onto them. She was unprepared for John's scream of pure agony as she pulled him. That stalled her for a bit, she realised he must have injuries she couldn't see. The heat was getting worse, however, and she had to get him out of here quickly or she would be unable to, so she pulled him again, using all her weight. He screamed again, but she managed to get him free that time. She watched as he fell to the ground with a thump.

Crawling wearily to him, she looked into his agonised face. It was then she noticed the lacerations running down his neck. She sucked in a breath of air in shock and disgust at what somebody had done to the human. Looking over his body further, she saw a wet looking bandage wrapped around his chest.

"Frell John, what happened?" She whispered, mostly to herself as she suspected John was unconscious.

"K'lish" He muttered. "Red heads have terrible tempers."

She put a hand against his cheek, and he responded to her cool hand. She saw him try to ignore the pain as he turned into her palm. She stroked his cheek absently as she looked for any other injuries. His left arm looked slightly off, she suspected it was dislocated, but other than that, he actually appeared to be in relatively decent shape, discounting the scrapes and bruises that were no doubt lurking underneath his clothes. Considering the state his module was in it was nothing short of a miracle that he had survived. She was extremely worried about his neck and chest though, his neck looked like it might be infected.

"John, I'm going to try to lift you, can you walk to my prowler if I do?"

He looked over slightly to see where her prowler was, then considered it carefully. "Think so."

"Alright. I'm sorry, but this is probably going to hurt."

"S'Okay." He closed his eyes wearily as if to fight of the impeding pain. She stood shakily and went to stand in front of him. Leaning down she reached for his right hand and pulled with as much of her energy as she could. He gasped but managed to hold in his screams this time and slowly he got his feet under him and stood up, more unsteady on his feet than she was.

"Lean on me John and we'll walk to my prowler, alright?"

He grunted and clasped his hand around her waist. She did the same to him and slowly they made their way to her prowler.

Aeryn was starting to get a bit anxious about how warm she was getting, she had already been on the planet about half an arn and her head was dizzy. She was stumbling almost as much as John was. He seemed to notice as he tightened his grip on her and tried to propel himself faster.

Reaching the prowler, he fell against it, using it to take the weight of his legs. He indicated for her to get in first and ignored her refusal. Aeryn climbed in and sat in her seat, watching as John tried to pull himself up. He got himself half in, and together they managed to get his battered body the rest of the way in, though he was now lying awkwardly behind her seat, curled up sideways.

She started up her prowler swiftly, feeling her body beginning to faint under the strain of the heat. She knew that once she got off the ground they would be safe as she could put her prowler to automatic and Talyn would pull her in. She somehow managed to do that, and then turn to ask John if he was alright only to discover he was unconscious. She turned back into her seat and succumbed to the darkness, her body shaking as it tried to drive out the heat.


For the second time, John woke up completely confused about his surroundings. There was a red glow of light shining in the window and he appeared to be curled in a foetal position on the floor of something hard.

His eyes gazed upwards and he saw the black hair of the woman in front. Immediately he recalled the situation.

"Aeryn." He breathed. She had come for him, had saved him. She had risked heat delirium for him. Heat delirium. His mind panicked, why hadn't she gotten out of the prowler yet? Had the heat been to bad? Had she not cooled down quickly enough?

"No, no, no. Oh God Aeryn, please be alright!" Finding energy he didn't realise he had he hauled himself upright, ignoring the bites of pain from all over his body. He opened the canopy and breathed in as the cool air of Talyn flowed into the prowler. Aeryn stirred slightly when she was hit with the cooler air, and he breathed in relief. Any response to stimulus was a good sign, and the fact she was sleeping was probably just her body's way of coping, he decided.

Awkwardly he got himself over the edge of the prowler and leaned back in, positioning Aeryn so that her body was hanging over his right shoulder. With a grunt of effort he lifted her out of her seat and almost fell to the deck as his energy rapidly began to escape him. He stepped forward doggedly, not even sparing a glance for the wonder that was Talyn. Reaching the wall of the landing bay he sat Aeryn down against it, hoping the cool temperatures of the landing bay would quicken her recovery. Thoroughly exhausted he collapsed down beside her, ignoring the frantic DRD's spinning at his feet. His last act was to pull her against his chest.

Closing his eyes once more, he fell into unconsciousness.


While Aeryn was on the planet Talyn drifted anxiously as near to the planet as he could comfortably get before the atmosphere and gravity started to affect him. He trained all his senses onto the planet, watching Aeryn's actions frantically with every type of sensor he had available to him. He was terrified something would happen to her and he wouldn't be able to help, he would be left alone once more to drift through space. He moaned morosely and concentrated on her heat signature. It appeared to be warmer than was healthy, but so far within safety limits. As a Leviathan he didn't suffer the effects of a varying temperature, but as a Peacekeeper bred ship he understood too well their fear, and he knew first hand it's effects. No. He would not think of that. 'Crais..' he moaned silently to the stars.

So intent on making sure she was safe and perusing his own thoughts, he did not notice the small Scarran vessel that had come from behind the planet's moon and flown towards him. It was only when something clamped down on to the surface of his smallest hangar bay door that he was brought out of his thoughts and realised something was amiss.

The machine that had attached itself to him was slowly pulling the massive airtight door open from the outside. Talyn could do nothing but watch and aimlessly attempt to keep the door closed. He tried aiming his main canon at it but he was more likely to hit and injure himself than the object, it was too small and close to his body.

He lost the battle, the door opened and the Scarran flew in and landed.

He watched in dismay as the huge and imposing Scarran rose out from his ship and stalked the landing bay, rifle in hand. Once deciding the bay was clear it spoke into it's comms, speaking in a harsh guttural language that Talyn couldn't decipher. It began making it's way out into Talyn's maze of corridors and halls.

Apart from the small security guns in command and the captain's quarters, the rest of Talyn's security firepower was still in the growing stage and was near useless against a sebacean, never mind a tough skinned Scarran. There was nothing Talyn could do except send a platoon of his most mature DRD's in pursuit of the beast and hope that he would be able to tell Aeryn it was onboard in time for her to kill it. A feeling of utter uselessness welled up inside him. It was times like this that he wished he had never agreed to leave his mother when he was young.

Sometimes he was suprised to find a feeling of helplessness coursing through his mind, at those times he wished his mother were with him to comfort him. He usually brushed off those feelings, they weren't befitting a peacekeeper vessel. However, without Crais to prove himself to and unable to defend himself as he was he found himself on the brink of emitting a distress call to any and all leviathans nearby. He held back from doing so as the soldierly side of his mind battled him and told him it was a weak thought for prey, not for a strong and mighty gunship.

Against a Scarran, with no adequate weaponry and with newly formed DRD's, he was helpless.

Suddenly soaring into a battle with an army of Scarrans didn't seem so exciting after all.

Memories of his last invasion flashed through his mind and he moved deeper into his own mind to avoid them. There would be no betrayal this time. As he pushed the memory further he became more confident in his abilities. The mere flicker of that day created an overwhelming desire within him to redeem himself. He would find a way to defeat this Scarran and he would do it.

It was then that Aeryn's prowler returned from the planet, flying silently towards Talyn. He watched her come closer worriedly, she had yet to open communications with him. He would have thought she would as she returned, unless something was wrong. Panicked, he quickly grabbed her with the docking web and pulled her into the bay, purposefully choosing the large one to delay her finding out about the Scarran until he was able to. He sent a couple of DRD's down to protect her from straying into his path and plotted a course for them to take through him that would avoid the Scarrans route. Keeping his attention on the her, with notifications from his sensors on the Scarran, he waited for Aeryn to make her victorious return and present to him his tech.

He watched in dismay as the prowler stayed silent, the canopy didn't move and nobody inside seemed to be making any attempts to get out. Flitting his attention from the prowler to the Scarran he watched in fear as the Scarran looked in the direction of the landing bay, having probably heard the prowler land. Growling triumphantly it began marching towards it.

After some time the canopy finally opened and Talyn sighed in relief, as much as a leviathan can sigh. His heart was pumping furiously as he watched the Scarran move in their direction and he wished he could yell at them to hurry. But he couldn't, he could only sit and wait and hope they stayed safe.

A body moved and pulled itself out of the prowler, it was the man-called-John. Talyn watched the man curiously, this was Aeryn's tech. He tried to see what was so interesting about him but couldn't see anything. When he pulled Aeryn out of the prowler and onto his shoulder Talyn forgot about the Scarran for a moment as red hot rage surged through him.

He walked with her and sat her down against a wall. Talyn knew what was wrong, it was heat delirium, something he knew all too well. Talyn's gratitude for the man for helping her was overpowered by his anger and fear.

It was his fault she was sick. This man had made Aeryn expose herself to too high temperatures, and now she might be dying. For now he would be civil, he needed the man's assistance to kill the invader, but if he survived the encounter Talyn would have to take action. This man needed to be shown his place. No officer should ever have to risk her life for a tech.

The DRD's arrived and sailed over to the two beings swiftly. Talyn watched in frustration as the tech ignored them to sit down beside Aeryn. The lazy tech pulled Aeryn into his arms and fell asleep.

For now, he was on his own. The alien was all but useless, and Aeryn was ill. It was up to Talyn now to protect Aeryn. If only he knew how. He locked and sealed the doors to the prowlers landing area, hoping to slow the Scarran as he conjured the plan he had felt forming within his mind.

However, instead of walking in their direction as it had been doing earlier, the Scarran had apparently changed it's mind and was now heading back up the hall that lead to command. Talyn knew from experience that it was most likely looking to reroute his controls and assert his power over Talyn to kill his two crewmembers.

Memories of screaming sebaceans appeared in his mind. They cried as they lost their minds to the heat. Even with no memory they knew enough to scream and beg for their lives. They called out to him, pleading with him. Sad brown eyes closed their lids and the owner bowed his head in pain and sorrow for what he had to do, even as his own body dripped with sweat and shook feverishly.

In his mind Talyn still could hear Crais calling to him, telling him to be calm, reminding him of his bravery, his duty. He shuddered throughout his body to dispel the images. That was then, this was now. He had learned from his mistakes. No enemy would ever try and force him to kill a comrade again. He would not allow it.

Mind resolute he waited patiently for the Scarran to appear in command, his plan now fully formed and waiting for the different pieces to come together.


Aeryn awoke groggily, her head pounding softly in the aftermath of heat delirium. She realised she was seated in one of Talyn's landing bays, resting against something soft and warm. When that something warm breathed against her neck she realised it was John. His arms were wrapped loosely around her in an embrace, and he sounded like he was sleeping deeply. For a moment Aeryn contented herself with the fact that they were both safe and together, finally. She smiled to herself. John shifted against her, moaning slightly. It was then she remembered the injuries she had seen on his body.

Slowly she attempted to slip out of his embrace without waking him, wanting to get a better look at the odd cuts she had seen on his neck, and the evidence of more on his chest. John's arms tightened against her just as she was almost free. She sighed in frustration, and was suprised when he released her straight after.

Turning around to look at him she saw him looking back, bloodshot eyes staring into hers.

"Hey there Sunshine, how you feeling?" He croaked.

"Better now. You carried me?" He had somehow managed to cover his chest over with his vest, it was now buckled closed whereas before it had lain open, showing his t-shirtless upper body.

"Yeh. You ain't as light as you look. We're going to have to ration your food." He tried to joke, probably hoping to cover up his pain.

"Our food is already rationed John." She replied, smiling slightly at his attempt to humour her. When he saw her smile his face broke out into a grin, but almost immediately became a grimace when he stretched his skin. Aeryn looked closely at the strange wound. She saw that it was all puckered up with infection, but she thought it looked oddly as though there were symbols etched into his skin, right the way from jaw to shoulder. She frowned and automatically reached out to touch his skin. He shied away from her slightly.

"Didn't nobody ever tell you it's rude to stare?" He asked lamely. Aeryn noticed the fevered look in his eyes. His hair was wet and beads of sweat were forming on his skin.

"Your injuries are severe John, we need to find the med bay and then hope Talyn has supplies there." As she spoke a stationed DRD came over and bumped her foot solidly. She looked at her guide curiously, but instead of speaking it blinked at her three times then sped off through the landing bay, stopping to wait for them.

"Alrighty, I see our little beetle-bot there is ready to go. If you could just give me a hand up?" he asked, proffering his healthy right arm. She took it and hauled him to his feet. She wrapped her arm around his and he started to lean on her heavily. They walked together, following the DRD.


John couldn't remember having ever felt this bad. Not even the first time he had had the fever over his wounds. It was just typical that as soon as he's healed something had to happen to totally erase his body's memory of ever having been almost healthy. He glowered at the floor as he shuffled along beside Aeryn.

Aeryn. There was a strange twist of events. He thought he would never see her again, then next thing he knows, he's knocking on heaven's door and she's the one that answers. She has some talent for timing. He wanted to ask her how she found him, how she met up with Talyn and how she had managed not to kill him when she saw him practically dying anyway, but he figured there'd be time later. Right now he was having a hard enough time keeping his feet underneath him.

The DRD guide finally turned into a room, they had been taking the longest and furthest away from command route Talyn could think of, though John and Aeryn were not aware of this. John sighed with relief at the smell of cleanliness. Any room that smells that clean must be medical, he thought.

Aeryn guided him in and brought him over to one of the beds there. She helped him up onto it and he lay down, finally letting his body relax. Aeryn looked him over a few times sceptically, then started to remove his vest. He grabbed her hand.

"Don't, it's fine." He said, looking at her pleadingly with his eyes.

"No John, I have to look at it. Whatever that bandage is protecting started bleeding again in your crash. I need to seal up all your wounds. I'm not letting you die of infection after I just saved your eema." She replied harshly. She shook off his hand and undid the buckles of his vest and peeled it off slowly, taking it off his right arm first then sliding it gently of his left, but still managing to cause him some discomfort. She looked at the vest for a moment then threw it in the waste receptacle.

"Hey, I liked that vest. What am I supposed to wear now?" He complained.

"Well you could always just go around topless," she suggested, but when she saw the fear in his eyes she added, "I'm sure I have a spare t-shirt that will fit you, and Crais must have clothes somewhere."

"Crais? Yeh, where is my boy Crais? I thought he would have been gloating all over my inferior ass for getting myself enslaved and nearly killed." He remarked darkly. Aeryn glanced at him sharply when he said enslaved, but he didn't seem to realise his words, so she decided to ignore them for the moment. She was wetting the bandages around his chest to loosen them up so she could remove them and she didn't need John to go all closed up on her. Instead she replied,

"I don't know where Crais is. I asked Talyn when he woke up but he didn't want to talk about it then I don't think. I haven't brought it up since. I assume there was a fight though, Talyn was in a bad way when we found each other. "

John nodded at her words, hearing her silent command to not talk about Crais at the moment. He figured the kid must be feeling pretty messed up without his captain around to talk to. Probably best if they didn't upset him, he could do a lot of damage.

"OK, I'll leave it for now. How'd you find me?" He enquired, just as Aeryn started peeling off his bandages. He whimpered as they were removed as his cuts had indeed reopened and stuck to the material.

Aeryn didn't answer him as she looked at his chest in dismay. The cuts were nowhere near as severe as the swollen cuts on his neck, but it was still a shock to see them. These were clearer and less swollen and she could distinctly make out symbols in some language she didn't know. To see John's once strong and handsome chest hewed into the way it was made her feel slightly ill, but she held it back knowing John would be scrutinizing her carefully to watch for her reaction.

"Who did this to you John?" She asked when she got her control back.

John looked away slightly, a red tinge spreading across his face. It looked like embarrassment or shame, but Aeryn was sure she must be reading his emotions wrong.

"A couple of kalish jumped me at the first planet I was on." He said quietly, not meeting her eyes.

"Kalish did this?" She asked, suprised. Kalish were known for their dislike of violence. It is what made them so easily subjugated by the scarrans.

He nodded miserably. "They weren't the regular peace-loving kind. They were part of some resistance against the scarrans."

She'd never heard of such a resistance but she accepted it as John said it. "Why would they do this to you though?"

"They wanted me to do some job for them, which I did, but before they sent me off they carved their symbols into me. They knew who I was and thought it'd be awesome to claim the infamous John Crichton as one of theirs. Only I'm not. In their eyes I'm little more than a slave. In the worlds eyes. I ain't no free man no more." His eyes darkened as he spoke and he looked away from her, tears forming in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

He pointed to his chest with his right hand, "that, Aeryn. It marks me as a slave in their language. And it's there for life, though the doc said they would fade. Every time I look at myself that's all I'll see. That's all anyone'll see if they look." He sighed forlornly. "I used to think I was quite the stud. Damn I was an idiot. Appreciate what you got while you got it."

His depressed tone was alarming her, being entirely the opposite of his usually optimistic attitude. She clasped his right hand in hers and looked at him seriously. "John Crichton, you will stop feeling sorry for yourself and you will get better. Only you know what those tattoos mean, and me now I suppose, though it doesn't change my opinion of you. None of your friends give a frell what you look like, but for what it's worth I still think you're quite the slut, if by that you mean acceptable looking."

There was silence after Aeryn spoke and she was worried she had somehow offended him, but then a smile cautiously appeared on his face and he laughed quietly.

"Thanks. Can't promise I won't feel sorry for myself again-"

"When do you not." She interrupted.

"Ahem, I can't promise that. But I'll try, for you if nobody else." He looked at her slyly, then added, "I think you're quite the slut too."

At his outburst of laughter Aeryn smiled, proud that she had got him out of his rut, even if she was a bit confused as to why he found her physical attributes so amusing.

She released his hand to get the materials she needed to close up the wounds and ease the infection. It was then she remembered his shoulder.

"Dren... John, I think your left shoulder is dislocated, I'm going to have to set it before I work on your cuts."

He looked at her, resigned. "Alright, go for it."

She went round his other side and held his arm tight, counting down in her head she suddenly jerked his arm and slammed it back into place with an audible crack. She was suprised John hadn't made some sort of noise as she did it, but when she looked over to his face she saw he was passed out yet again. She sighed and decided it would be a good time to tend to his wounds.


John awoke, shrouded in a red blanket, lying on a bed. He vaguely recalled Aeryn leading him here after she fixed him up, but everything was a bit hazy. He opened his eyes slowly, expecting to see more red. What he saw instead were Aeryn's eyes staring at him. She didn't look embarrassed, so he figured she must have been waiting for him to wake up.

"You're awake, good. I was worried I damaged you when I dropped you onto the bed." She said."Do you feel any better? I'm no med tech so my dressing is crude at best."

John consciously reached through his body to test out his cuts, and feeling no excruciating discomfort he nodded his head slightly, feeling only a slight twinge. "You did good Sunshine, barely feel a thing."

She beamed at him, and suddenly he truly couldn't feel a thing.

"I know you're lying, but lying is good. For you it means the pain is less than it was." John questioned her logic but then agreed, he never really lied about the really painful injuries, it was only the marginally less painful that he felt the need to lie about.

"You're probably right. So what you doing here lying in my bed?"

For the first time she looked mildly put out, "actually it's my bed, but I couldn't seem to find another on Talyn apart from Crais'. And I just wanted to make sure you're alright. I was pretty tired anyway, I wanted to get some rest." She explained quickly.

"Oh, ok. Well I'll go on the floor now, I'm feeling much better so I think I can make the journey."

"John don't be ridiculous, we've shared a bed before. And this blanket is the only one I could find so you'd have nothing to cover you. And Talyn doesn't seem to have any pillows either." She finished, with a mild complaint on her lips.

John laughed at her apparent want for comfort. "Well I would offer my chest as a pillow, but that's a bit of a no-go right now I think. But look, I think I'm falling asleep again, we can sort this out in a while."

His voice was getting quieter and more laborious sounding, and his body was demanding more sleep so it could recover from the trauma the past day had wrought. Only one solar day, he thought, and already I'm falling apart. He looked over at Aeryn again who was still watching over him, and feeling protected he drifted off to sleep, he was asleep so quickly that he didn't notice Aeryn leaning in to his healthy shoulder and kissing it lightly before slipping off the bed.


Aeryn waited for John to ease into a deep sleep before she spoke quietly towards a DRD that was waiting at the door into her room.

"Alright Talyn, what's going on? You led us on a farhbot route to get to the med bay, it took a lot longer than the regular route. Also I thought I saw a ship in that small hangar bay beside your main one?" She questioned. While they had walked through the corridors Aeryn had glanced through the half open door of the bay and saw a small mean looking ship stationed there. She hadn't said anything to Crichton as he was too sick for any information like that, and Aeryn had figured Talyn would have told her if something needed to be done immediately.

There was a silence for a few moments after Aeryn's question, then the little DRD moved forwards and a holographic video appeared, flickering over it's back. It hazily showed her the Scarran soldier flying into Talyn, it then switched to a video that was tracking it's process as it walked towards Talyn's command. As soon as she saw the vessel on it's approach, Aeryn had sprung into action, grabbing a rifle and her pulse canon from there place in her small room. Swiftly she strode towards the door and running to command once she was safely out of John's earshot, silently cursing Talyn for not having told her as soon as she was conscious.


Talyn watched as Aeryn sprinted up the hall, happy the first part of his plan was going accordingly, but the main body of his attention was on the Scarran that was now entering his command. He knew he would have to act quickly to kill it, but he also knew the Scarran would be cautious, so he would have to wait until it thought it had some semblance of control. He was basing his actions on the peacekeeper data that was installed in his databanks. He hoped that it was all correct and up to date, as he really had no idea as to what to expect of this enemy. Crais had spared little thought on them as they had never been a threat to Talyn before and it hadn't occurred to Crais to teach him about them before, except as a passing warning that was similar to what was in the regs.

The Scarran marched over to his main control, the controls for temperature and atmosphere. With brutish strength it swiped a hand at the console and smashed in the surface. Talyn hissed in irritation at the blatant vandalism, he realised the Scarran mustn't know the intricacies of his consoles, they generally remained operational throughout any assault unless purposefully disconnected. This beasts lumbering approach had done nothing but dent the surface. Perhaps Scarrans were given more credit than they were due.

Aeryn was coming up to command now, so Talyn locked the door. He needed her out of the way of the Scarrans wrath, she had already served her part in his plan. He knew his plan would work and he couldn't wait to show Aeryn how powerful and smart he was for coming up with something so quickly. The killing of one's first Scarran was a landmark achievement. He grinned to himself in glee as he imagined Aeryn's heightened impression of him when she saw the dead Scarran. She would know for sure then that he was the most powerful vessel in the sky, she was sure to want to stay after this. Who wouldn't want to captain such a ship as he was?

Slowly he began lowering the temperature in command, not so much that the Scarran would immediately notice, but fast enough that it would begin making him slower and clumsier soon. Heat was a Scarrans strength, according to his data they weren't fond of cool temperatures. He hoped they might have their own version of heat delirium, but he knew not to trust in hope. He had his back-up plan.


A loud beeping noise awoke John. He groaned loudly, blinking his eyes open stiffly. Aeryn was no longer beside him, and that put him off for an instant before he reasoned she was probably off talking to Talyn. He looked around the room to find the source of the beeping and found a small vicious looking DRD watching him from it's place on the roof. 'Where have I seen that before?' he mused, before remembering the day they had discovered Talyn within Moya, and the DRD's had gone all maternally protective of their sort-of son. How did that work anyway? He would have to remember to ask Pilot that next time he saw him. He turned his attention back to his alarm clock and frowned at it, trying to find an off button.

Once it saw John was aware of it, it began beeping louder. The noise screeched through his ears and he moaned softly with the pain.

"I'm up, I'm up. Can it, can!" It stopped beeping and the silence engulfed John's senses. "Alright, what you want R2? Timmy stuck down a well or is this just your regular 'Welcome aboard' greeting?"

The DRD began its video projector for the second time that day, and John watched in horror as he watched the Scarran land, watched it approach command. Aeryn was running down the corridor, rifle at the ready, canon slung over her shoulder. John gasped as the next clip showed Aeryn in command, the Scarran walking towards her. It raised it arm to swipe at her, when it began to swing towards her the video flickered and died.

John stared at the small DRD for a second in shock. "The Scarrans got Aeryn?" The little DRD blinked furiously. "Is she hurt?" Please let her not be hurt he thought. The little DRD proved his fears correct by blinking at him, and waving it's small stunted little gun at him.

Forgetting his injuries and his weakness, John leapt off the bed and grabbed Winona and a rifle before galloping his way to command, DRD's were placed periodically to show him the way.


When Aeryn got to command she realised the door was closed and locked. She knew that Talyn must have locked the Scarran inside, but she couldn't understand why he wouldn't open the doors.

Unless he wasn't able to.

With that thought she moved away from the door to find another way in. Moya had thousands of hatches and side corridors designed for DRD's and other operations, logically Talyn would have his own. She only hoped she could find one before Talyn was seriously injured, and one that would allow her to crawl into command.

Finding a small hatch near the floor of the corridor, she crouched down and motioned the small door to open, and crawled in slowly, removing her weapons and pushing them through in front of her.


John arrived outside of command, panting and sweating profusely. He swayed slightly on his feet, his short rest not having given him back all the energy he had lost. The door was closed and locked, John could hear the Scarran walking around inside, it's weight pounding on the metal surface of the room. Wiping his forehead and garnering all his remaining strength John took a breath and swiped his hand over the door. 'The things I do for love.' He thought wearily as the door split open smoothly.

Upon hearing the noise the Scarran turned with a growl and raised it's arm towards John. Once he recognised him the Scarran did a double take.

"Most resilient Human. My captain will be glad you live." It growled, lip curling in a fiendish grin.

"Glad to be of service oh Lord Rataxes." John said sarcastically, eyes searching the room for Aeryn. His body went cold with fear when he could not see her anywhere. Standing tall he glared at the Scarran, hoping his feverish dizzy body would intimidate the Scarran, somehow. "Where's Aeryn?"

Stepping forward slightly the Scarran watched John warily. "What were you doing on our planet?" It growled.

"No, I asked you first. Where's. Aeryn. Ain't telling you no life story 'til you tell me what you've done with her."

The Scarran looked confused, as confused as a Scarran could look anyway, John mused. They must have the best Botox in the galaxy. Instead of answering it stepped closer to John again and a blast of heat was emitted from it's outstretched hand. John gasped and fell to his knees, the heat having sucked the last of his strength.

"Why were you on our planet, Human." It repeated. John's brain felt like it was melting inside his skull and he was struggling to find a single thought to cling onto in his own mind. The only thing he could focus on was the Scarran's question. Drunkenly his mind formed an answer, he was unable to even try and change the facts, his head was in so much pain and confusion that he wasn't even sure if what he was thinking was a dream or reality.

"Moya, running away from Moya." He gasped.

"Lies. Why were you on our planet? Who sent you?" The heat grew stronger and tears began to trickle down John's face as he lost more control over his mind and body.

"Telling you the truth!" He shouted out. "Left Moya, safer. Run away, they can't die."

Roaring in anger over the supposed lies of his prisoner the scarran blasted intense heat at John's face, then pulled back his hand to punch it at John's face. John saw it coming and closed his eyes, his mind a blur of pain and confusion. Where was Aeryn? Why was he on that planet? He saw creatures in his mind's eye that looked crazily like business class leprechauns, but before he could make any sense of his vision it was gone, replaced with a memory of watching Aeryn getting attacked by the Scarran.

John resigned himself to the fact that he was evidently on his own, and he had finally run out of luck. He wished Harvey were around to see him off again, but the clone had been quiet since he crashed and it didn't look like he would resurface to say goodbye to John again. He made a lame attempt to stand, but he was completely sapped of energy. Eyes still closed he stayed kneeling and tried thinking of all the good times in his life.

It took him some moments to realise he wasn't dead, and it's took him some time longer to open his eyes and see why the Scarran was taking his time, he didn't remember them being all up on sadism.

When he did open his eyes he saw the huge form of the Scarran standing over him, but instead of reaching to punch John it had a strange expression on it's scaled face as if realisation had just dawned on it and it found it suprising. It's eyes were glazed over, and slowly the beast tipped forward and fell towards John, who fell to the side just in time to avoid being crushed. With the Scarran down John could see Aeryn standing in all her glory, behind where the Scarran had previously been standing. Her face had a cold calculated look and her eyes were filled with a hungry rage.

John grinned stupidly at her, his beleaguered mind screaming with joy at his saviour.

"This is getting to be a weird fetish Aeryn, saving my ass. If I didn't know any better I'd say you cared." He wheezed out.

Aeryn slowly drew her gaze from the steam rising out of the Scarran's form where she impaled him with the thermo cooling rod. She stared at John for a second, as if just realising his presence and slowly her eyes cleared and she stepped forward to help him stand.

"Well I wouldn't have to keep saving you if you would only stop getting yourself into situations that require your saving." She replied smoothly.

"How'd you get away? He had you pretty good." John asked, wanting to know how she had escaped the Scarran's grasp with no obvious wounds.

"Get away where Crichton?" She asked in confusion.

"Here, the Scarran, he bopped you over the head with a pretty good left hook, or was it right? I mean, I didn't see the end but it looked like it would hurt. Unless you got a twin sister you're not telling me about?" At that he grinned wickedly and winked at her. She stared back at him in consternation, checking his head over for any bumps or scrapes.

"Make sense Crichton, did you hit your head in here?"

"What? No. You were sitting there," He gestured vaguely, "and the big mean old lizard went stomping over and knocked you one."

"I don't know what you're talking about John, I couldn't get into command, I had to crawl through the hatches. How did you get in?"

"I uh.. Well the door just opened. Talyn let me in. He also showed me that video of you getting attacked by lizard-boy over there."

Aeryn blinked in shock, looking around her at the dead Scarran and the mess that command was in. It was then she noticed Talyn's guns were primed and ready, pointing towards Crichton and the Scarran. "Talyn..." She breathed.


Watching with delight, Talyn saw his tech confront the Scarran in command. He only had to wait for his bait to get out of the way by moving or dying and he would have a perfect aim of the Scarrans eyes. According to his data a Scarrans hide was nearly impenetrable, but their eyes were their weakness, a shot through an eye would lead straight to it's brain and kill it straight out. He had need of a distraction to get the Scarran to turn around and face his guns, so he had called on the least important of his two-person crew.

As he had correctly guessed the Human (he had heard Aeryn use the word, he supposed it was derogatory) was quick to get to command once he was convinced Aeryn was in trouble. Talyn ignored the thought that nudged him and said it was an admirable quality, that the Human would want to defend Aeryn. He didn't care about this creature that had nearly had Aeryn killed.

They had talked for so long, the Scarran blasting his heat ray at the frail man. Talyn had waited patiently for the human to succumb to the pain. Just when he was about ready to begin firing, having targeted and locked on to the Scarran's eyes, he sensed Aeryn slipping into command behind the Scarran. He halted his weapons that had been in the process of readying to shoot and watched her.

He saw her look around his command for a moment before she opened a small hatch in his wall that housed a small cooling systems, to stop his computers from overheating. Each small rod was encased in a sharp and strong titanium shell.

Quickly his multi-tasking mind realised what she was planning on doing and his mind spun with intrigue. It had not occurred to him there were more ways to kill a Scarran than simply blasting it. A peacekeeper soldier would never have come up with that sort of plan themselves. He realised she must have changed in her time away from them. He frowned slightly but then forgave her, if it killed the Scarran then perhaps it was worth breaking standard rules.

Aeryn had quickly crept up to the reptile, without it's knowing, and with a deft downward strike rammed the small weapon into the softer cavity between it's neck and shoulder. Immediately the cold entered the hot-blooded Scarrans bloodstream, and it's heart, which was unable to cope with lower temperatures, stopped pumping as the ice cold blood reached it.

Talyn began storing the new information into his vast memory, and he altered his peacekeeper data slightly to fill it with his new first hand information. He ignored the two beings in his command as they talked and was only drawn back into their conversation when he heard his name whispered.


"Talyn? What you mean Talyn?" Asked John groggily. A moment later Aeryn saw realisation enter his eyes. "Talyn?"

"Yes. I was never in here John, he wouldn't let me. He must have showed you that video to get you to come up here and then he let you in to serve as bait. His guns are primed, he must have been using you to distract the Scarran." She said, her mind was sprinting through different thoughts and patterns, she was thinking on any and all conversations she had had since boarding Talyn that would give reason for his obvious dismissal of the validity of Crichton's life over hers.

"So I'm a worm now? Just dangle me on a rod see if the shark bites?" John muttered miserably. "Why's he all gung-ho about sending me off to die? I'm no soldier, he should have known I'm not up for this crap. I mean, I've learnt a lot since getting here, but killing a Scarran with my bare hands, I've still got to master that one without blowing up a room to do it."

Aeryn's brain was still cycling through information, when John mentioned he wasn't a soldier a memory sparked into the forefront of her mind. "It's my fault." She said, shocked. "I told him you were a tech when we came after you. In Peacekeeper society techs are considered below regular soldiers, he must have been confused about your status after I went to save you, no Peacekeeper officer would risk their lives unnecessarily for a tech."

"So I'm handy with a screwdriver, now our boy wants to send me to the frontline to make up for you saving me? And better to have a soldier than a guy with a welding torch?"

Aeryn frowned, thinking. "Yes, something like that."

"Great. I'll just go wrap myself up in bubble wrap for the next time he tries to throw me at intruders." John said, then made an attempt at walking out of command angrily. Aeryn gripped his elbow when he stumbled.

"No, hold on Crichton, let me talk to him, I might be able to get him to understand." She ignored him as he continued to mutter under his breath. "Talyn?" She called.

Low lights blinked across command, evidence that he had been listening to them talk and sensed Aeryn's anger over his actions.

"Talyn, when I said John was a tech I meant he was able to fix things, fix you. But he is not just a tech. He is a soldier, like me. He wasn't always but I'm sure Crais must have told you some things about him, blowing up that Gammak base, infiltrating the shadow depository? Frell he killed a Scarran last cycle, after being tortured. I am just a soldier, that is all I know, but John is all that and more. He is far more valuable than I am Talyn."

Talyn bleeped indignantly and John stared at Aeryn. "You know, I agree with him Aeryn, you're so much more than a soldier. Stop trying to convince him you're our personal Rambo now, working it alone to protect little old me. It's not gonna happen." She glared down at him.

"I'm only trying to tell him not to kill you."

"I know, and it was beautiful, honest. A+ material. But maybe I could talk to him?"

She snorted at him. "Go ahead"

"Yo Talyn, how you doin'?" John said, aiming his voice in the direction of the raised circular platform. He smiled slightly when Talyn finally replied with a single beep. "Yeh I'm feeling the love Talyn. Look, you didn't need to trick me today, I'd lay down my life for Aeryn any day but you don't need to trick me into doing it. We could have come up with a plan, you know? Work together and all that Brady Bunch stuff. I guess Crais has told you some bad stuff about me, and I won't lie and tell you he's wrong. A lot of what he's probably said is true, but I never intended to be the bane of the universe, I just got shot through a wormhole from my primitive world and I've been fighting to survive ever since. I'm the only one of my kind, you're the only one of your kind. We got more in common than you think. You let me live another few days and I'll try and prove to you I'm not a bad guy. I'll fix you up and get you whatever you need. Your own personal butler, how about it?"

John and Aeryn waited anxiously for a reply, hoping that Talyn would see reason. John knew that if Talyn answered in the negative he would have to leave, and try and convince Aeryn it would be best for her to stay.


He listened to the Human while he spoke. He tried to maintain his anger and disgust over having such a primitive species on board, but he was finding it hard as Aeryn obviously wanted him to trust the man and keep him safe. He wished there was some way he could undo whatever it was the Human had done to her mind.

He didn't agree that Aeryn was less valuable than her Human, Aeryn was a peacekeeper officer, born and bred to fight. Her tech was an alien that apparently only survived through chance. He was about to let her know his disagreement when the man suddenly interrupted and mirrored his thoughts.

The human Crichton began speaking, and Talyn listened curiously, waiting to hear how he would redeem himself. He was suprised when he didn't, and told him Crais was probably right about him.

"I'm the only one of my kind, you're the only one of your kind."

Since birth Talyn had known he was alone. He had sensed his mother's alarm over his modifications and Crais had often told him that there was no ship like him anywhere in the universe. It was a lonely existence, a hybrid between two vastly different cultures. The Peacekeepers enjoyed violence and vied for domination, Leviathans lived on peace and helping any who required it. He could not slip easily into either group and because he was a renegade, neither would welcome him.

And the Human was the only one of his kind, his people being too far away for him to find. He looked like a sebacean but wasn't. Talyn was interested to know how he dealt with his life. He realised he was beginning to lose his hostility towards him. Not completely, but he thought he might accept him for a while until he could get better crew members, and in the mean time he could learn how this Human fit into their world. Perhaps he wasn't as alone as he thought.

Talyn saw they were waiting for his reply, he thought through his options again. If he said no Aeryn would leave, if he said yes she would stay and Crichton would fix some of his broken systems, and he could learn what he could from a foreign species.

He emitted two beeps in the affirmative and was rewarded with a smile from Aeryn.

"Thank you Talyn." She said quietly. Her happiness alone was enough to make him feel he had made the right decision.

"Yeh thanks T-Dawg." Drawled Crichton, grinning slightly.

Talyn humphed inside of his mind and drew away his awareness of his crew as they slowly moved away from command towards their quarters. He focussed on his own thoughts as he prepared for a small starburst jump. Once done he sailed through aura clouds lazily, thinking to himself.

He supposed if they were staying they would need to know about Crais. As much as he feared telling them his shame he knew they would continue to ask and would grow suspicious if he refused. He sighed. He wished he had more time. It was still too fresh in his mind. He was still reeling from his loss and he missed Crais' voice inside his mind. It was so hard communicating with people when they couldn't hear his replies. Crais had annoyed him, and always constrained his actions, but in his way Talyn knew Crais was fond of him and Talyn had felt the same back. It was nice not to be alone all the time. He had regretted his actions almost as soon as he had done them, but he didn't know. He cried quietly, his body rumbling. He had tried to make everything right, but it had been too late. He had been afraid. He didn't know, he wailed forlornly.

Hoping to distract himself from his heavy thoughts he start to practise some acrobatics in space, spinning and diving, erasing all his previous thoughts. He swung around a floating asteroid and shook his dark thoughts from his mind. Losing himself in the moment he sang with joy at his free flight, swooping and soaring as he pleased. He kept his insides at a constant so his passengers wouldn't know he was secretly tossing them about. He rumbled mischievously and increased his speed.


A loud beeping awoke both Aeryn and John instantly. During their sleep John had somehow manoeuvred himself so that he was laying on his side facing her, and she had her arm wrapped around his stomach.

John looked over her head at the DRD trying to get their attention from the ground. It didn't look urgent, and he wanted to savour these last moments of Aeryn-closeness before they had to run off to do something.

Aeryn appeared to be waking more slowly than John, which suprised him a bit, so he gently drew her hair back from her face and whispered at her.

"Aeryn, there's a DRD messenger at the door, I think he wants our attention."

Aeryn's eyes slowly opened, then widened when she saw their closeness. John watched as a blush overtook her face. Aeryn Sun, blushing. He allowed himself a smirk before sitting up slowly. She arose more swiftly and slipped out of the bed, searching out her clothes. John only realised when the covers were gone that she was wearing only the essential underwear. He noticed his own leathers on the floor.

"You undressed me." He stated indignantly.

"What? Yes, of course I did, I wasn't going to allow your day clothes into my bed. If you hadn't fainted when we got here you could have done it yourself. Now get dressed." Aeryn's brusqueness was back, and John was quickly trying to save his memory of Aeryn lying warm and sleeping beside him.

He threw on his leathers and then looked at her expectantly, upper body bare bar the new bandage wrapped around him. Aeryn spared him a glance then rooted through her spare clothes, she pulled out a couple of t-shirts and sized them off together, throwing the larger to John and donning the smaller one herself.

"Ew I can't wear girls clothes!" John griped.

Aeryn glared at him until he felt guilty for speaking. "They're not 'girl clothes' they're peacekeeper standard issue. And anyway, that t-shirt's yours."

"It is?"

"Yes, I took it as a mistake, now come on!" Aeryn lied swiftly. She had 'procured' one of his t-shirts monens ago, it had accidentally ended up in her pile after the washing and she had never bothered to give it back. It was her preferred piece of clothing for when she slept. She had forgotten she'd packed it until just then.

John walked slowly towards her and she turned and lead the way to command.

Aeryn and John arrived together in command. The DRD ushered them over to a view screen he had opened up. He waited until they were both paying attention to it and started the recording he had worked on most of their sleep cycle.

Crais' voice boomed out in command, and Talyn chuckled as the human jumped slightly, and rumbled even more when Aeryn glared at him.

"This is Captain Bialar Crais." It began.