I love my ever-faithful Review Crew. You guys are the reason I'm writing this, and I will be very upset with you if you bail… (Ask marcel…he almost had to face my wrath.) And when I get upset, I do it the Peacekeeper way, so watch yourselves. I have assigned you numbers based on how long you've been involved in my Jezze-verse. I don't play favorites. There is always room for more on the Review Crew, so go for it.

At this point, I think that I owe some people some thank-yous. I am speaking, of course, to my Review Crew.

Marcelb- Review Crew Member 1, since you've been here the longest and you're the one who begged for a Jezze story. I look forward every day to your reviews and PMs and (Yay when it happens) story alerts. You make my Scaperhood that much more worthwhile. This fic is especially for you…keep reviewing!

J.Stone- Review Crew Member 2, since you've been involved almost as long as marcelb, I was sad when you didn't review for a few chappies, and I'm assuming it was because you were feeling fussy at me for not letting Jezze talk. Don't think I didn't notice that as soon as I allowed her to talk you started reviewing again. –Grin- Naw, you're good. And my Charmer side feels your contempt…but my Scaper side is reveling in the love.

Amon-100- Review Crew Member 3- You've always got something interesting to say…I loved your first review. "I like it…more please." So polite! I love your reviews. It's never a problem mentioning you.

Psylocke2216- Review Crew Member 4- You may be the newest, but your enthusiasm for my humble little project makes me feel as if you've been around since Day 1. Your reviews make me laugh and they were my motivation for getting this chapter out tonight, rather than making you all wait a few more days. –Grin-

Now that I've run up about a page's worth of favorites, I think it's time to give you Chapter 7. –Grin- And don't worry…this is gonna be a long chapter, because marcel and Psy won't hush about it. And I'll give you one guess as to what I'm listening to as I type…yep…the Farscape theme. I'm looping it…I feel deprived of my show.

Also, there shall be bonus points and an extra-special dedication to the first one who can guess the significance of Aeryn's Prowler number.

Chapter 7

Aeryn held her breath, trying not to flinch as Jezze maneuvered her precious Prowler ever-closer to the tadpole shaped ship in front of them. The foreign Leviathan was even more massive than Moya, Aeryn noted, not failing to admire the ship even through her fear of Jezze's piloting. Good as she was with Moya, her abilities had not carried over to smaller ships. D'Argo, on the other hand, could pilot anything.

It came as a complete shock when Jezze, as if sensing her mother's thoughts, let go of the stick and turned to face D'Argo. "I can't get it into the bay…you have to do it."

D'Argo's face, which had been the picture of jealousy and sullenness, lit up. Even at eight cycles, piloting was the only thing he loved to do. He was never so focused as he was when he had the controls in his hands.

"Take it easy, son," John warned. D'Argo ignored him, focusing on the protocols his mother had taught him for docking and landing on an unknown vessel.

"Pilot of the Leviathan Kaluah, this is Prowler number 12291988, requesting permission to land inside your hanger on the Hammond side. Awaiting your response, maintaining holding pattern," he rattled off as easily as if he had been born saying the words. Aeryn smiled.

John grinned. "He gets it from you," he said, referring to D'Argo's easy grasp and love of protocol. "I'm the loose cannon."

Aeryn shushed her husband and slapped the control on her console that would allow the entire cockpit to hear the transmission they were awaiting.

It came, crackling and faint, but it was enough. "Permission granted, Prowler 12291988. Hanger 3, Hammond side, is at your disposal." There was a moment of silence, and then… "Do you bring the Pilot child with you?"

Jezze jerked, having never heard someone refer to her this way before. She stared at the speaker for a moment, as if reconsidering her offer to help. Then she shook her head and opened her mouth, speaking to Kaluah's Pilot in his native language. He responded, and Jezze nodded, placated.

"He said he's sorry. He didn't know what to call me," she stated, brushing her soft curls out of her face. She turned to D'Argo and gave him the go-ahead to land. D'Argo nodded and scrunched up his face in concentration, determined not to let his parents down.

As they drew closer to the ship, John's face took on a very strange look…as if he was trying to remember something from a dream he had had years ago. He fell completely silent as he stared at Kaluah. Then, as D'Argo was maneuvering inbetween the tendrils of the ship's tail and his main body, John slapped his hand to his forehead. "He looks like Elack!"

Aeryn stared. "Who?"

"The Leviathan I was aboard when…well…" John glanced uneasily at his children. D'Argo's one-track mind was focused on piloting, but Jez was watching him intently, trying to decipher what her father meant.

Aeryn looked at Jezze, then back of John, still confused. "When you were…?"

"You know…when I was…and you were…" John rambled, trying to make her understand the "when" he was referring to…the "when" she was gone and the "when" he had left Moya for a stint on the old, dying Leviathan Elack.

Suddenly Aeryn's face lit up with understanding. "OH! You mean when…" and she nodded vaguely out of the hatch.

"Yes. Absolutely. That when."

Aeryn nodded. "And this is important how?"

"Dunno…I just thought that…"

THUMP.

Aeryn and John looked around, startled. D'Argo had maneuvered and landed the Prowler inside of the Leviathan's hanger without them even noticing. Letting out a breath of relief, he let go of the controls and looked at his parents, searching for approval.

"D'Argo that was an exemplary bit of flying you just did. I'm proud of you," Aeryn said, glowing with pride at her oldest. D'Argo beamed at her, and then turned to his father, who merely planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek. D'Argo squirmed and laughed, proud of himself for both landing the Prowler and managing to get the attention away from Jez, if only for an instant. He knew that when it came to Leviathans, his parents trusted his sister, and they didn't trust him. He reveled in the moments where he had his parents to himself.

Jezze herself ended the moment by standing up in her mother's lap and hauling open the hatch. She climbed out of the Prowler, took a deep breath, and choked.

Her mother was at her side in an instant. "Jezzebel, what's wrong?"

"Can't you smell it, Momma? He's burning."

Aeryn took a deep breath and gagged, nodding in agreement. The Leviathan smelled of burnt cables and there was a lingering odor of rancid, injured hull leaking through the ship.

"We should start with the Pilot," John said, joining his wife and daughter outside of the cockpit and lifting D'Argo out of the Prowler.

Jezze shook her head, negating her father's suggestions. "No, Daddy…we need to start right here." With that, she walked over to the wall and touched it, making a strange humming noise deep in her throat that Aeryn was sure she should not be capable of making. Then, to Jezze's family's surprise, the ship hummed back. Jezze listened, and then moved to the left about three feet. She hummed at Kaluah again. This time, Kaluah didn't respond. Jezze nodded in satisfaction and pulled a panel out of the inner hull and peered in.

"D'Argo, come look."

D'Argo obliged, holding his breath as he peered into the ships system of cables and "veins." He nodded at his sister and stepped away from the wall, trying not to breathe in the rancid smell.

His father took his place. "I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking at, but this can't be good."

Jezze shook her head, murmuring in Pilot. She stepped away, the panel of inner hull still in her hands. She set it down and walked away, still murmuring to herself in Pilot.

John and Aeryn hesitated, not knowing if they should follow her, but a quick "I'll be fine and I'll holler if I need you" from Jezze stopped them.

Aeryn turned to John, her expression uneasy. "I don't like this, John. It doesn't feel right."

"Oh, I know…but Jezze thinks that it's fine, and I trust her more than anyone when it comes to Leviathans. She'll be okay, and if she's not, our own Pilot will be having words with this one."

Aeryn nodded. "I know…I still don't like it." She cast glances all around, looking for a subject change. "What do you think happened here?"

John shrugged. "I have no idea, Aer. We'll find out soon enough, I expect. I have a sneaking suspicion that Jez went to see Hunak. She should be back in a few microts."

Jezze wandered the corridors of the ship, staring all around her. This poor ship was in so much pain. He was sick and injured and had no one but his old, decrepit Pilot to aid him. His Pilot was near death, but the ship was young. He needed a new Pilot, and soon.

Jezze murmured softly to the Leviathan in Pilot, keeping him calm and updated on her whereabouts and her activities. She was a stranger, after all, and after the mess she had seen in the hanger, she was sure that he wasn't alert enough to realize that she was here to help. The Pilot's instinct in her told her that much.

She knocked softly on the torn metal of the swiveling door to the Pilot's den. It seemed to be stuck half-way open. The rancid odor got worse the closer she came to Hunak's console. She approached slowly. Hunak's massive head swiveled in her direction, his eyes growing milky with blindness.

I'm here to help you. She said softly in Pilot.

Hunak nodded slowly. "I know."

Why don't you speak with me in Pilot, like you did before?

"Because you can speak Sebacean…I was unaware that you could do this. All Leviathans think that Jezzebel Sun-Crichton, the Leviathan's Friend, is unable to speak Sebacean. That is what we have been told."

"So you want me to speak Sebacean for you?" Jezze asked, confused.

"Yes. For so long we were home to a traveling Sebacean colony…I miss the language." Then Hunak frowned. "But how is it that you can speak it?"

Jezze sighed, then reached into her mouth and pulled out a flat bar that wrapped around her two back teeth and stretched across the roof of her mouth. On the bar were three small cylinders with sharp points on the tip of each one. The two outer bars had a blue translucent liquid in them. The one in the middle held a yellow liquid.

This was a gift from my Pilot. This is my translator. She said, her ability to speak Sebacean vanishing the moment she pulled the bar from her mouth. The yellow liquid is for the roof of my mouth so that I can't feel the points. The blue liquids are translator microbes, but they can't colonize at the base of my brain. They're stuck in the cylinders. Microbes do their jobs inside the cylinders, and the points go into the roof of my mouth and submit the translations to my brain via the nerve receptors that travel back and forth from there. She explained, trying to remember the exact wording of the explanation Pilot had given her.

Hunak nodded. This is new technology.

Yes, it is, and it took my Leviathan and her Pilot the better part of 5 years to perfect it. My Moya is amazing.

Hunak nodded tiredly, waving one cracked claw at Jezze, who put the device back into her mouth and winced slightly as the three points penetrated her skin. It hurt, but only for a moment. Once the yellow liquid did it's job, she wouldn't feel a thing.

"So what happened to Kaluah?"

Hunak motioned her closer, and Jezze, ignoring the ever-present stench, climbed up to crouch on the console, ready to listen as Hunak began his tale.

So…that was chapter 7. Now you know how Jezze talks. Damnit, I love writer's powers! I can invent technology!

Let me know what you think. I'm sure some of you didn't like this chapter, but I'm happy with it. I still love feedback!! Press that review button, oh ever-loyal Review Crew. I live for your opinions.