Scorpius felt a familiar thrill of excitement and a dark sense of pleasure as the Hynerian died.
The pitiful, diminutive creature thrashed wildly for a few moments after he slid his knife across its throat. He held the creature down easily despite its death throes, one hand clamped over its mouth as its life gradually subsided.
He dragged the corpse a short distance into concealment. He looked down at the small body dispassionately. Part of his, a tiny part that to his astonishment continued to exist deep within him felt revulsion at the sight.
A much greater part wanted to bellow and roar, to loose himself in the blood-lust, to bater and smash the body beyond recognition then tear this whole miserable city to pieces with his bare hands.
It was a side of him he despised with good reason. Long ago, he had utterly rejected the Scarran side of himself. Long ago he had learned to counter the instinctive rage with cold, calm logic, to counter brutish ferocity with unbending self control.
And yet ironically, Scorpius knew that he own his continued survival in large part to his hated lineage. A lifetime of fighting his own unspeakable impulses had made any external conflicts seem paltry by comparison. He had survived again and again where no other could, not in spite of his heritage, but because of it. Conquering his own nature had made him strong beyond measure, and he had little time to question the price.
He wiped his blade on the dead Hynerians tunic, then rose to a crouch. He was willing to admit that he was not above a little plagiarism, where appropriate. Crichton and his companions strategy had been to sabotage one of the cities power plants. It was a strategy Scorpius approved of and intended to repeat.
Of course, they had simply desired to shut down the power for a short duration. He intended do do quite the opposite.
He slipped soundlessly past the remaining guards.
Scorpius gripped the metal grill and heaved. After a second of resistance, the rusted metal gave and with a squeal of protest the grate opened. He took an involuntary step back.
Something emerged from the darkness. The creature was unrecognisable, covered with unnameable slime. The stench that permeated it was an almost physical force. Rotting corpses would get up and cross the road to avoid that smell.
The creature focused on him. It growled wordlessly. Scorpius tried not to smile.
"Hello Crichton." he said.
Crichton opened his mouth to speak, but unfortunately speaking involved breathing. He doubled over, gagging and retching.
Scorpius waited as the rest of the group emerged, dripping slime.
Chiana, or at least he assumed the smallest slime monster to be Chiana, scraped some sludge out of her hair.
"What kind of plan means we have to crawl through the frelling Hynerian sewers?" she complained.
Scorpius tried to appear sympathetic. For her, raw sewage was up. "My apologies. It was the only way I could get you here undetected.
"Undetected! Anyone with a nose in five miles will know we're here! I smell worse than Noranti!"
"I'll have you know its a natural musk and many males find it extremely attractive!"
"Where is here, Scorpius?"
Scorpius marvelled. Even trailing the worst effluence from possibly the most unpleasant species in the galaxy, Aeryn Sun had a calm and dignified aura. An expert at masking his own emotions, he recognised the presence of a true master.
"We are in a warehouse." he said.
"That's great, Grasshopper." Crichton gasped, finally able to speak, "We're being chased by pretty much everyone on the planet. Lets add a little breaking and entering to our portfolio! Maybe we can smash some windows and mug some old ladies too."
Scorpius regarded Crichton levelly. He knew from personal experience what a formidable adversary the human could be. He had seen his tenacity, his quick thinking and creativity, his stubborn will to survive countless times. He knew not to underestimate him.
But at times, it was so very easy to forget.
"We could shoot Scorpius?" Chiana said hopefully.
Crichton obviously took his pause to mean he had taken offence. "What's wrong Scorp, you want a hug?"
"I am here in order to save your lives." Scorpius snarled, stepping back warily. "I am not the one being hunted down by the Hynerians, accused of assassinating their Dominar. I have devised a method to conceal your presence and allow you to leave this planet. I apologise for your discomfort, but I deemed it a small price for your survival."
"We're accused of what now?"
"You do not know? Dominar Bishaan has been found dead, evidently murdered. I would guess that he outlived his use to the Scarrans and your clumpy attempt at a coup provided the perfect cover."
"You seem to know a little to much about what's happening here." A tall, lanky swamp creature, complete with tentacles, observed.
Scorpius shifted his attention to Jothee. Of all the crew of Moya, he knew least of him. He knew he was a half Luxan, son of the late D'Argo. He he had endured much of his childhood as a slave, and had spent his late adolescence serving in the Luxan military. He had resigned his commission without explanation immediately after the war had ended, and now chose to spend his time with a group of fugitives. From what he had gathered, the half-Luxan had inherited his fathers bravery, and his intelligence he must have acquired from his mothers side. With his fathers death, Scorpius wondered what he was still doing with this gang of misfits. wondered
"I know enough to know you require assistance. As to the rest, well, I have been investigating suspected links between the Scarrans and the Hynerians for some time now. Your arrival at this time was was merely a fortuitous coincidence."
"Yeah, for who? This stuff is congealing you know."
"Shut up Chiana. Where are we Scorpius? What are we doing here – and where is here?"" said Aeryn.
"We are in a warehouse. This facility houses goods which are shipped both into and out of this city. With care, you may find yourselves as a part of the latter."
"So, you're planning the old switcheroo?"
Scorpius paused again for just a moment. He wondered if Crichton realised quite how much his outlandish speech irritated him. He caught Crichton s eye for just a moment. Almost certainly, he concluded.
"Precisely so. I have purchased a large quantify of Hynerian fungal deposits," - deposited by a less evolved – if that was conceivable – cousin of the dominant species, nonetheless prized when dried and smoked as a intoxicant and an aphrodisiac. Only intelligent life could be so creatively stupid. "When it comes to be picked up, I intend for you to be the true shipment."
"That's your master plan Scorpius? You're slipping..."
"Perhaps. But speed is if the essence if you wish to rescue the Dominar."
"Where is Rygel?" said Chiana intently.
"As I said, he is being held by the Scarrans in a facility orbiting this planet. As the Scarran presence here is still strictly informal, it has been disguised as a large oil freighter. Their greatest defence is that they believe that their presence is It is only minimally guarded. I believe an assault may be plausible. If of course, you are willing?"
"We're willing. The question is, why are you, Scorpius? What do you get from helping us?" Crichton said.
Scorpius sighed. "After all we've been through John, you still don't trust me?"
"Let me think about that one... no."
"Very well." Scoripus smiled. "As I said, I have been observing the Scarrans for some time. After the war ended, I knew that the Scarrans would never be satisfied with the truce they had been forced into. High command however did not share my concerns. In fact they were more than willing to turn a blind eye to the Scarrans, to convince themselves that the threat was no more. My actions during the war however, were not forgotten. At the very least my presence was a constant reminder of their own failures during that period, my insistence that they were mistaken in their belief that the threat had passed was taken as an insult. Some even believed that we could have won the war, that my support of your use of the wormhole weapon constituted a betrayal of the Peacekeepers. Shortly after the war was ender I was relegated to overseeing an antiquated research facility, close to the Hynerian border.
"It was by chance that I intercepted Scarran transmissions into Hynerian territories. I reported this activity, and was ordered to cease my investigation immediately. It is at this point I resigned my commission and continued my investigations privately.
"What I discovered in the past quarter of a cycle has far surpassed my greatest fears. The Scarrans have altered their focus from a military to a covert war. They have infiltrated the Peacekeepers, the Luxans, and of course the Hynerians. I believe they are replacing key figures with biloid replicas. Once they are in place, I would surmise that they intend to attack, to complete what they began."
"To take over the galaxy." Jothee surmised.
"Can't they get a new hobby?" Chiana said.
"Unfortunately I require proof of this conspiracy. I need to capture one of of these biliod agents - alive."
"Why alive?" said Aeryn.
"Because upon its own termination, biloids release a toxin which quickly breaks down the body, effectively removing the evidence. I have not been able to get close enough to any of them to attempt to capture them. That is why I came to Hyneria."
"Why Hyneria?"
"Because unique amongst the major powers, Hyneria is a monarchy. In all other forms of government, power is shared. The Scarrans do not need to replace everyone in the government, they need only to replace a few key figures. But here, power is not shared. All authority comes straight from the Dominar himself. If the Scarrans wish to effectively control Hyneria, they must replace the Dominar. The Scarrans could coerce him to help them, even to place a contingent of soldiers in the palace itself. But until recently, he was too well protected and too visible to be replaced."
"Until we showed up."
"Yes. I would expect that your friend Rygel will return to reclaim his throne soon without your help. But he will be curiously amenable to Scarran suggestion."
"So you help us rescue him -" Crichton prompted.
"And I get the biloid."
"Something for everyone."
"Precisely."