Were Chiana's eyes deceiving her?

She was blind, but she kept on seeing things.

Things which scared her.

Things which didn't make any sense...

"We need to find the hangar bay…" Rygel said. "We need a fast ship if we want to escape this Dreadnought."

"Stark, do you know where the hangar is?" D'Argo asked.

Stark muttered some words before he answered them.

"Yes." he said. "I do."

"What the frell are you doing?" Grunschl said to the old woman as she talked to herself.

"Who are you talking to...ghosts?"

"As a matter of fact, I am.," Noranti replied. "and they're telling me you are going to join them shortly..."

"You frelling..." Grunschk said before D'Argo split them up.

"Stop it." D'Argo said. "We can't make too much noise., or else they'll discover us."

"I find it strange that they haven't discovered us already!" Jothee replied. "This is a Scarran Dreadnought! One of the toughest warships in the galaxy! There should be dozens of people wandering these corridors, but we haven't even seen one!"

"Sometimes we get lucky." Chiana said.

"No." Jothee went on. "This is going way too easy. Something must be wrong."

"BE QUIET!" D'Argo suddenly said.

"There's a Charrid patrol coming down the corridor! If we keep down and keep quiet, we might have a chance of staying undetected."

Rygel's anger grew.

He hated Charrids.

Those creatures invaded Hynerian space centuries ago, but remained their enemies to this day.

Jothee looked around this crazy gang of escapees.

An entire group of people, trying to escape a Scarran warship.

That was impossible.

But things weren't so impossible anymore, since he came to Moya.

He got tied up and threatened by a possessed Crichton.

He has been attacked by an invisible Scarran.

He saw a Leviathan being sucked into a wormhole.

He saw a Scarran being decapitated by a low-flying Transport Pod.

He got captured by the Scarrans.

And now he was here, about to escape a Dreadnought.

Or about to be caught.

"Are they gone yet?" Chiana asked.

D'Argo looked around the corner.

"Almost." He answered. "They're about to leave."

The blind Chiana pressed herself against the wall beside Jothee.

Jothee looked at her.

He felt very sad for her, but a part of him still could not forgive her, or himself, for what they both had done.

But still, she looked so helpless.

Jothee was about to lend her a hand as Stark suddenly jumped in.

"Your eyes..." he said. "What happened to them?"

"Those frelling Scarrans did something to me..." Chiana said.

Jothee listened to their conversation.

"Did they torture you?" Stark asked softly.

"Yes." Chiana answered. "They-they hurt me, Stark. And now I can't see."

"I will help you." Stark said kind.

"Stark, I don't need..."

"Please..." Stark said.

But before Chiana could say something, D'Argo said that it was time to move on, and she found herself clinging on to Stark as she walked through the blind corridor.

"They've spotted us!"" D'Argo suddenly hollered.

Pulse-fire was heard in the background, and D'Argo fired back.

"Go back! Go back!" D'Argo hollered.

"Three of them!" D'Argo said as he kept on firing into the other corridor.

But something else was heard in the background.

Sounds of a larger battle, not far from their position...


Engineering was invaded by Charrids, who attacked the Scarrans loyal to Staleek.

Explosions and sounds of blaster-fire blinded and deafened them all.

"The Charrids are putting up a fierce battle." One of the Scarran officer said to Artokh.

They were standing in one of the other rooms as they planned their next move.

"Not for long." Artokh said as he revealed what he held in his hands.

An object the size of a small melon, but much more deadly.

"Isn't that..." the Scarran said, but Artokh interrupted him.

"Yes." he said.

"This could blow a hole in the ship if we're not careful!" the officer said.

"Then we'll have to be very careful...Now move it!"

Consoles were ripped to pieces as grenades exploded beside them.

"Kill them all!" the Charrid leader, Deadros, hollered to his men. "Leave none alive!"

But except for Artokh of course.

Deadros would personally see to it that this traitor would face Ahkna alive, before meeting his untimely end.

And a painful end it shall be.

The Charrids stormed in, firing at everything that moved in engineering.

Their fire was returned by the Scarran loyalists, who eagerly awaited to kill the Charrids.

Many of them hated them and desired to see all Charrids dead.

Artokh threw the object with great accuracy and finesse right into the battle-zone.

"The only one who could have thrown that better, would be my brother Girshna." Artokh thought to himself.

The Scarrans jumped for cover as the object exploded.

Dozens of Charrids were thrown aside and killed.

The walls were scorched.

Radiation lingered over the place where the object exploded, but the purple glow which covered the floor slowly faded away as the smoke went away and revealed many corpses across the floor.

"Withdraw!" Deadros shouted to his men.

The Charrids immediately obeyed the orders of their scarred leader.

"We withdraw now, but mark my words: this isn't over yet." Deadros said to his sub-officers.

"Barricade those doors!" Artokh shouted. "And all other entrances! We are in a state of war! Ahkna has defied Staleek's rule, and therefore she must pay the price: her life!"

The Scarrans roared.

"This Dreadnought is now a war-zone." Artokh went on.

"And this chamber is now our fortress. If we lose our fortress, we will all be slaughtered. Ahkna will spare nobody."

They all understood the consequences of their actions.

"So my plan is...let's go on the offensive...Attack the Command Deck..."

"That's impossible." one of the officers said.

"The Command Deck is heavily guarded," Artokh replied. "But not impossible to overtake. If we do things right."

Artokh felt like he could face all those Charrids by himself and still be the one who would emerge victorious.

But still he felt something was missing.

He still did not know where his brother disappeared to.

Was he still on the Ice Planet?

Did Ahkna kill him?

Artokh shook his head as he shared his plans with his comrades.


"We've lost all power to the engines, sir." one of the Kalish said.

"Fix it." Ahkna said crudely.

"But, sir..."

"I will not repeat myself." Ahkna said as she entered her personal quarters.

As the doors shut behind her, she froze a second, before resuming her walk towards the Scarran who was sitting in her chair.

"Perhaps every Scarran on this Dreadnought has betrayed me." Ahkna said. "Are you going to betray me too?"

She spoke with a cold and brutal flair, as if she did not care about his opinion.

But she did.

"I have no intention of betraying you, my lover." Pennoch said.

"Good." Ahkna said as she approached him, moved closer to him.

Real close.

"I you would, I'm afraid I would've had to have your head cut off." Ahkna said without ever regretting to say those words against her lover.

The Scarran looked her in the eyes.

"You knew Artokh, didn't you?" Ahkna said.

"Tell me about him."

She was right.

"I knew him once." Pennoch said. "Years ago, when we were both in training. I've never seen him since."

"Training?"

"Covert Ops." Pennoch replied.

Pennoch, Artokh and his brother Gyrshna were three of many trainees, training to become the best spies and assassins in the Scarran military.

Artokh and Gyrshna were the best of the best, however Pennoch wasn't.

As they promoted higher and higher in rank, he faded away.

Pennoch envied them once, but now he had moved beyond that point.

Pennoch's luck changed when he found himself working for the new Emperor Staleek, and her War Minister, Ahkna.

Who his now his lover.

"Tell me..." Ahkna said.

"Can he destroy me?"

Pennoch smiled.

"Artokh is too traditional." he said. "Too predictable. And his methods are flawed. He is dangerous, but when handled properly...when you use his own game against him...then he does not stand a chance..."

Ahkna kissed her lover.

"His own game?" Ahkna asked. "And how will he play, my dear?"

"Force him to play by our rules, and he will lose." Pennoch said.

Ahkna smiled.


"Here it is...here it is...here it is!" Stark cried.

They managed to elude their pursuers and shoot their attackers, and now the gang of escapees stood in front of the door to the hangar bay.

"There's a lot of ships..." D'Argo said as he looked through the window.

"Most are just plain fighters, and not suitable for...how many persons?"

"6." Rygel said.

"8." Grunchlk said.

"8 persons." D'Argo said after counting. "We need something a bit bigger."

But most large craft where guarded by at least six Charrid guards.

They were not going to get in those craft without the proper show of force.

But they only had one weapon, a crazed Banik, a blind Nebari, a old woman, two cowards, and a humanitarian.

At least they had two Luxans.

"There!" Jothee cried. "That ship over there!"

He pointed at a strange looking, purple craft in the centre of the hangar-bay.

"That has got to be at least a hundred years old!" Grunschk said. "It has to be Ancient that ship.

"I don't care if it's Ancient." Chiana said. "I only care if it's fly-able."

"Exactly." D'Argo said.

"I'm tired." Noranti said. "Let's go back to our cells."

"No!" they all cried (except for Stark who was still helping Chiana), and Jothee pulled the old woman back to the group.

No-one would back out now.

Not now they were so close to their freedom.

"We have to wait until it's the coast is clear." D'Argo said. "We don't want to risk getting caught in the act."

What they didn't know, that that ship was of Ancient Luxan design, stolen from a Peacekeeper base by the Scarrans to research it's potential.

This was the prototype of the vessel: one duplicate was made, but it was destroyed by a certain Leviathan gunship in a mission to capture a man called John Crichton.

The Kalish had managed to create a working duplicate with similar capacities, but they never managed to get the prototype working.

They missed a certain element to override the ship's security-systems...

"Let's go." D'Argo said as he clutched his Qualta Blade with his hands and walked through the doors, into the hangar bay.

The rest followed.


Ahkna sat patiently in her chair on the Command Deck.

"Sir," one of the Kalish officers suddenly said. "The warden of the containment quarters report a massive break-out! The prisoners have escaped and are heading..."

The sudden deafening sound of a tremendous explosion cut off the rest of his sentence.

Many Scarrans entered the Command Deck, carrying guns and explosives.

The guards were struck down and Ahkna was left defenceless.

Or so it seemed.

Artokh entered proudly and strong, walking towards Ahkna.

He violently turned her chair around and pointed his weapon at the Scarran War Minister's head.

"You are dead." Ahkna said.

"No..." Artokh said. "YOU ARE!"

Artokh fired, but the beam went right through her.

Ahkna kept on smiling as he shot again.

But for the second time, the blast did not hit her, only the chair.

"A hologram!" Artokh growled.

The Command Deck was sealed off by unbreakable Scarran steel.

There was no way out, and all of Artokh's men were trapped inside, with only a hologram of the War Minister to keep them company.

"Clever isn't it?" Ahkna said. "My image is being transmitted from my personal quarters."

Artokh could not believe what he was hearing.

He stepped into a trap. With his eyes wide open.

"Poisonous gas is being transferred into the Command Deck as we speak." Ahkna said.

"You will all die horrible deaths. Serves you right for betraying the future Empress."

Artokh roared in anger.

He felt a burning pain in his lungs increase slowly, until it became really hard for Artokh to breathe.

Everyone around him was either dead or dying.

Everything was for nothing.

All these deaths. All that effort.

And for what? So that another man can sit on his comfortable throne?

Artokh waved those thoughts away.

He shouldn't be thinking that...

Artokh coughed up blood.

Ahkna's hologram got up from her seat and started to walk around him.

"You can feel it, can't you...the toxin which is starting to fill your lungs, suffocating your brain..."

Artokh tried to slash Ahkna with his claws, but she only laughed as it went right through the hologram.

"Soon you will join your brother in the afterlife." Ahkna said.

Artokh looked at her.

"What did you say??" he growled.

"Oh, yes." Ahkna said. "Your brother is dead. At least, that's what the Nebari told me as I interrogated her. She told me she decapitated him."

Artokh growled as his lip curled.

His lungs burned, but that did not matter anymore.

His brother, his own blood, had been murdered by the hands of that Nebari tralk.

Artokh swore to avenge his brother's death in the face of his own demise.

But Artokh was not dead yet.

His special skills and training had already given him ideas to escape.

As his fingertips heated up and his lip curled, he created a fireball by gathering all remaining energy in his body and he aimed it at the door.

The gas ignited and everything was scorched in the explosion.

The hologram's emitter was destroyed as well, and Ahkna's hologram faded away instantly.

The door was blown aside, and because of his strong Scarran physiology, Artokh remained unharmed and left through the door.

First he thought of new ways to either kill Ahkna or sabotage her ship and desires.

But images of his dying brother kept on popping up in his mind, right in front of his eyes.

"My own blood..." Artokh muttered to himself.

The first thing Scarrans teach their children is: your family always comes first.

Your family always comes first.

"He must be avenged." he said to himself.

He left.

In search for revenge.


"Kill him!" Ahkna said to the Charrid leader, Deadros, but Pennoch convinced her otherwise.

"Leave him be." he said to her. "Artokh is no longer a threat to you, my lover."

Pennoch touched her shoulders gently.

"Let him leave this Dreadnought. As a favour to me, my dear Ahkna. As a favour to him. My old friend."

Pennoch always despised Artokh. He was befriended to Gyrshna, his brother, but not to Artokh.

They actually were rivals.

But still...

Pennoch had always respected him.

And enough Scarran lives were lost today...

"All right." Ahkna said. "I will not kill him."

Pennoch growled lovingly.

"Today." she quickly added. "As long as he leaves this ship at once."

"Oh, he will." Pennoch said. "He has other things to attend to..."


D'Argo and the others ran towards the vessel, shooting several Charrids and Kalish who stood in their way.

"Quickly!" D'Argo shouted.

He forced the craft's door to open and pushed his son inside first.

Jothee was surprised that after all that had went on between the two, D'Argo still cared enough for his son to carry him out of safety first.

But he did not look him in the eyes once.

"Do you know how to drive this thing?" Rygel asked cynical.

Everyone was pushed together in the craft: the space was small, but enough.

"Honestly?" D'Argo said. "No idea."

Several Kalish sounded the alarm.

They had to be fast to escape while they still could: the hangar bay doors were still open.

"Come on!" D'Argo said as he tried to decipher the controls.

"Should I go out and push?" Grunschk said.

"Shut up!" Chiana said.

D'Argo suddenly pushed a button which activated some kind of weird voice, who spoke in a strange language.

"I recognise that..." D'Argo said. "I know what he says..."

"Hurry!" Jothee said. "Four Charrids are coming this way!"

Some of them had already started firing upon the craft.

"D'Argo..." Chiana said.

"Stop pressuring me!" D'Argo said, as he tried to listen to the voice. "I'm doing everything I can!"

But Jothee realised that this wasn't going to end well.

Charrids were closing in on them, and a fierce looking Scarran just walked through the main doors and walked straight at them.

"I must avenge my brother!" Artokh shouted.

"D'Argo!" Chiana said.

"This is Ancient Luxan..." D'Argo muttered.

"Get on with it, you Luxan fool!" Rygel shouted. "We're going to be killed if we don't lift off soon!"

Suddenly D'Argo's eyes saw a crevice in front of him, in the middle of the cockpit.

And suddenly D'Argo knew just what he had to do.

He stabbed the Blade into the crevice; immediately the ship started to light up and functions were available.

As the voice started to ask about it's new Pilot, D'Argo told his name.

Everything was now at his disposal.

Artokh approached the craft.

Closer. Closer.

He was barely a couple of metras away.

The Charrids fired as D'Argo managed to get the ship into the air.

The Kalish immediately started to initiate the process to close the hangar bay doors.

"Hurry!" D'Argo said.

"Please do!" Noranti said.

"Close the door!" D'Argo shouted.

"Close the door!" Stark repeated insanely.

Grunchlk and the Diagnosian immediately started to close the doors of the vessel, but just as they were about to close it entirely, a pair of hands blocked their way and swung open the doors.

Artokh stood beneath them, pulling the ship down.

Artokh lungs were burning. His head was hurting him.

Everything was still painful by the explosion.

But none of this mattered.

The only thing that mattered was his revenge.

The hangar bay doors were closing.

Someone had to act fast.

And someone did.

"Jothee!"

D'Argo hollered as he saw his son jump the Scarran.

Jothee did not know why he did it.

It was a spur of the act kind of thing.

Perhaps he did it to make up for his past mistakes.

For everything he did wrong to his father.

For everything he should have done, but didn't.

The Scarran let go of the ship as Jothee landed on top of him.

Artokh immediately dumped Jothee on to the floor, but as he tried to grab the ship again, he couldn't because the ship was now too high for him to grab.

"Son!" D'Argo shouted.

"Jothee!" Chiana said, not knowing what he just had done.

Only guessing what stupid thing he must have done.

Sacrificing his life for the rest.

"Go on without me!" Jothee said. "I'll be fine! I have experience of being a prisoner, remember? Go! Save yourselves!"

"I love you, son!" D'Argo said as he turned the ship into the right direction.

"I love you too, dad." Jothee replied as he sat on the ground watching his father slowly fly away from him.

The Charrids fired, but did not hit anything because of a strong defence shield around the vessel.

"I'll find you!" D'Argo shouted. "I will! I promise!"

The Charrids grabbed Jothee and took him back to his cell.

D'Argo flew the ship into outer space, just before the doors of the hangar bay closed.

They were free.

But it came at a terrible cost.


Artokh stole himself a Stryker and flew into outer space as the doors opened again.


"The prisoners have escaped, sir." a Kalish officer said to Ahkna.

"Shouldn't we pursue them?"

Although power was weak, and many repairs were needed, the Dreadnought still had enough power to pursue the escaped vessel.

"No." Ahkna said. "We will not pursue them. Not yet anyway. Let them escape. Let them run."

The Kalish looked surprised and confused at his commander.

"Our spy on board their ship will tell us exactly where the escapees are going." Ahkna said.

"And they will lead us straight to Crichton."