"How in hell are we gonna get through that?" asked John as the immense Scarran Inspection Station filled the forward view screen of the freighter. The trader ship followed an exact course given to them by traffic control. The group had departed and left Moya concealed in an iron bearing asteroid field several arns behind them, safe from Peacekeeper and Scarran detection. The older Crichton knew there would be a check point upon entering Scarran space, but he had no idea the base would be so huge - or so well surrounded by Scarran warships and defense satellites.
Aeryn adjusted a control for the craft's engines as the station's docking web seized the vessel and hauled it into an inspection bay.
"A better question is: How are we going to get through a twelve solar day inspection by the Scarrans without our true nature being discovered?" the ex-Peacekeeper asked out loud.
"That's what I'd like to know," added Sean.
"I'm not looking forward to being a Scarran prisoner," Chiana nervously piped up.
"I'd rather die," D'argo muttered stoically.
Malika fidgeted with excess energy while Andar rubbed at his chin in thought.
"Berret probably used the Wraith's Stealth System to pass through the boarder undetected," the male Sebacean commented to the group.
"A lot of good that does us," murmured the young Delvian as she laid one hand unconsciously over the hilt of her fighting knife. Andar smiled as he glanced back at the girl beside him, remembering the interesting turn their relationship had taken in the last few days. The ex-teacher was dressed in clothing in shades of dark gray and coal black, staying away from PK leather for the most part; the material his current attire was made of was almost just as tough and was designed for hard use and long life. He now looked the part of a freighter merchant. Andar did however wear a well-worn leather vest that he had altered with Malika's help, adding in secret pockets and compartments for his tools and other devices. The one exception he made for his own personal comfort was that he retained his own boots, rejecting the ones that Nireese had flirting offered him as part of his disguise - much to the Delvian girl's continued annoyance. His own footwear seemed more practical at any rate; seeing that the tops that were normally folded over could be rolled upward over his knees to cover the bottom part of his thighs and belted on to give his legs more protection. A useful design for someone who grew up on a rural planet where you might find yourself having to travel cross untamed wilderness to get from town to village to city.
The disguise also gave him a chance to try out another item of apparel from his world that he'd managed to find the material to construct. Wrapped around the Sebacean man's waist was a silk sash dyed a dark blood red in color, nothing unusual at first glance unless you inspected the ornamental band to discover the slightly weighted ends of the silk wrap. The sash was called a Lore-rope on his homeworld and was used by ranchers to herd and manage their stocks of Rozzeler, large flightless bird-like creatures about the size of a full-grown man with hard hoof-like clawed feet that could shatter a unlucky man's bones if they decided to kick or disembowel a careless one if he was close enough to a Rozzeler in a foul mood.
The weighted ends of the sash were hollow metallic tubes filled with a liquid metal with a kinetic-mass property. When the ends of the sash were spun the weight of the liquid metal increase in proportion to speed, thus the faster you whipped the sash around the heavier the weights became. The Lore-rope depending on how fast you wielded it could be used the snare the legs of a Rozzeler to bring them down or shot out of a spin with a snapping motion to have the weight shatter the creature's thick skull if needed.
The silk was also an import component, as it had to have tensile strength. Andar managed to find some that was on the grade of the Acquarian silk that made up Berret's Shrike cloak. The ex-teacher had spent many summers in his youth on his uncle's Rozzeler ranch and had learned how to master the Lore-rope. After a demonstration of the device to his crewmates aboard Moya, Sean had been very impressed with the way the seeming innocent sash had smashed a hole through one of the heavy plastic-like cargo containers in the storage bay. After an insistent inquiry to teach him the weapon, Andar showed Sean the basics of Lore-rope use. On his first attempt to spin the sash, the younger Crichton nearly knocked himself unconscious. Sean afterwards handed the weapon back to Andar with an untrusting glare and vowed to stick to his own weaponry from then on.

John glanced over at Nireese who was manning the communication system. The half-Nebari woman had been the one who contacted the Inspection Station and asked for permission to enter Scarran space. As they approached the large structure, none of the crew gave the First Shrike much attention.
"So Mata Hari, how are we suppose to get around twelve days of having the Scarran Inmigra' crawling up our butts?" the astronaut asked.
"That has already been taken care of, John Crichton," Nireese answered offhandedly.
The ship had come to rest in it's berth and before anyone else could ask another question of the First Shrike, the lighting in the Inspection bay flickered and went dark.
"What's happening?" D'argo barked.
Zhaan glanced at a sensor screen. "All power to the bay's systems is offline," she reported.
The crew saw Nireese smile in the glow of freighter's helm lights.
"Any microt now," the half-Nebari said lightly with a glance out of the forward view screen.
The Inspection bay's overhead lighting flickered to life once more, and to the crewmate's shock,
The exit doors in front of their craft began to open with a heavy rumble.
"What the hell's going on?" asked Sean in bewilderment.
As the depths of Scarran space was slowly revealed to them through the opening space-doors, the freighter was pushed forward toward freedom by the station's docking web.
"Did we miss something?" John inquired as the ship lurched forward. "Didn't they forget about the inspection?"
"Why should they inspect us, Crichton?" tossed in Nireese with a sly grin, "According to their computer records, we've already been here the allotted twelve solar days and have been cleared by inspection to proceed."
"You have people inside," said Aeryn from the helm post as she put it all together. "They frelled the station logs to show we've already gone through inspection."
Nireese nodded. "As far as they know, this bay has been occupied by this ship for the last twelve days."
"How did you manage it?" asked Andar with interest.
The female Shrike turned her attention to the Sebacean man and gave him a warm smile. Malika felt the support-fibers that made up her spine stiffen in ire and she narrowed her green eyes at the woman. She knew the Nebari was doing it on purpose but it still grised her off. Chiana saw the look in the Delvian's eyes and wondered if Nireese knew how close she was coming to getting on Malika's last nerve.
"Yeah, how did you pull that off?" the gray girl asked the Shrike, attempting to discreetly defuse the situation.
Nireese glanced back at the other Nebari woman.
"There are literally thousands of inspection bays at this station," she explained. "As you suspected, the Clan has operatives inside. They simply fed this trader ship's specs into the mainframe computers and during the twelve days logged phantom inspection reports for the craft. Several Clan agents playing the part of its crew rented quarters, spent credits, and made public appearances occasionally throughout the station.
Even if someone came across the empty bay they wouldn't give it a second thought - as there are so many of them it's impossible for anyone to know exactly which are being used and which are waiting for arrivals at any given time. Station control only as that information and other then departures and arrivals, they rarely bother with checking them as that duty belongs to the inspection teams."
"So the shear size of this base worked in our favor," put in the Luxan.
"Yes," affirmed Nireese.
"Well, once again the bureaucratic dren covers our eemas and lets us slip through the cracks," tossed in John. "It's a good thing Sparky stayed on Moya. Imagine the bitching we'd be having to listen to now once he realized he might have missed a chance to gamble on the Inspection Station."
"I'd rather not," Sean agreed with a dramatic roll of his eyes.
"Rygel may have been a bit unbearable if he were here," confirmed Zhaan with a serene smile.
The trader vessel sailed away from the Scarran station. When it was safe, Aeryn brought the engine slowly up to power again.
"Course for Sa'van-nah laid in," she announced to the group around her helm position.
John struck a strange pose just then. "Then engage warp-drive, Mr. Sulu," he said.
Sean snickered while Aeryn turned to him with an odd look creasing her pretty brow.
"I understand the inaccurate reference to 'warp-drive', but what is a 'Mistter Zulu'?" she asked. "Is that some Erp military term?"
The rest of the shipmates stood dumfounded as Sean burst out in laughter and John faltered around trying to come up with an understandable explanation.
"Never mind," he finally told her, "I'll explain later... just get us to Scarran Disneyland."
"I can hardly wait," Aeryn replied half-sarcastically, and then engaged the hetch-drive.

Lark shivered as she lay on the room's sole sleeping platform. The Nebari girl reached down and yanked the blanket up to cover herself better against the night chill. She rolled over to face the middle of the room again attempting to find a more comfortable position. She did her best to try and sleep but the recent knowledge that her body contained a sickness, given to her by her own people, repeatedly ate away at her thoughts. It didn't help matters that her capture sat cross-legged on the other side of the room, his back leaning up against the doorway. The man who called himself Sinn sat with his eyes closed, breathing shallowly - but she knew that somehow that man was aware of everything that took place inside the room.
Sinn scared her like no other being had done before. She'd been beaten and far worse by clients and her purveyors countless times in the span she'd been away from Nebari Prime. But this man somehow didn't seem right...even far beyond his strange eyes that changed their color and the unnatural speed and way he moved. She had absolutely no doubt that he would kill her as he'd threatened and at the same moment she believed he would also keep his word about setting her free with the information for a cure after she had helped him as he demanded.
He was a creature of contradictions... and that is what made him so dangerous in her estimate.
She hadn't realized she'd been staring at Sinn until his head moved slightly, his closed eyes turning in her direction to meet hers but not opening. She shuttered once again and wondered if he were even a humanoid as he appeared or an alien in disguise. Lark distracted herself for the moment by kicking the blanket down further to cover her bare feet. Looking back over, she saw that Sinn still had his unopened eyes facing her direction. Even closed, she had the feeling he was looking at her.
On the floor next to the platform, the bound creature there let out a moan and his fur covered feet tried to kick in their restraints as if he were trying to run away from something inside a bad dream.
Sinn's eyes finally opened a crack at the tiny disturbance, the cold blue orbs regarding the two beings across from him impassively.
"You're going to kill him if you keep drugging him," Lark was surprised to find herself saying out loud.
Sinn had injected the rodent-like creature with something before she lay down to try and sleep.
The man across the room gave her no indication that he'd heard her comment, or that he even cared. Instead his eyes leisurely opened all the way and settled on her in their full soulless intensity.
The Nebari clutched the blanket tighter around her body and had an impulsive flash of dread that the man was thinking about harming her in some way - the thought of rape speared through her mind sharper than Mekklah's knife had been. The thought of rape shouldn't be that much of a threat to someone in her profession; it was one of the accepted hazards of the trade. She also reminded herself that she was in the position she was in now because she had intended to frell the man for money to begin with. Originally, Lark thought the business arrangement might be one of her more enjoyable encounters, as she'd actually found him quite attractive for a Sebacean when she first saw him at the Inn. But now she found she couldn't bear the thought of Sinn touching her. She relaxed an instant later as she remembered about the Contagion. Surely Sinn wouldn't be insane enough to infect himself by having sex with her?

Sinn simply sat there and regarded her without saying a word. It finally dawned on her that the man was lost somewhere inside himself deep in thought... or past memories.
Her curiosity peaked, she openly watched the man, making her attention obvious. Sinn's eyes became glassy and unseeing the longer he seemed to wander in thought. She found herself wondering for the millionth time why he was doing what he was doing to them all.
Why try and risk everything to kill a Syndicate leader?
After few moments of watching she thought she saw his lips move in a whisper to himself.
"Chiana," she thought she heard him say though she couldn't be exactly positive. Whatever it was, it turned his cold eyes sad for an unguarded instant.
"What happened to you to make you hate so much?" she said without thinking.
Sinn's eyes iced over again in a heartbeat. Suddenly he was aware of her again.
"They took everything," he hissed, his normal toneless voice filling with heat and razor sharpness.
His eyes burned for a microt with fury. "Everything..." he added again, just as quickly the calm facade fell over his features. He held her gaze for a few microts more and then closed his eyes once again, seemingly like he was dismissing her from further thought.
Lark knew she had witness something Sinn hadn't wanted her to see. A weakness she could perhaps exploit somehow? She rolled over onto her back to gaze at the room's ceiling and pondered her new observation.
There might be a way to use this to get the cure information she needed and get away. She was sure of one thing now. Sinn was even more insane than she had first suspected.
Sa'van-nah was only a few arns travel from the Scarran boarder and the Inspection Station. The Simterrian trader vessel made orbit without encountering any Scarran patrol ships and was soon parked on a landing pad at the capital's largest commerce port. The huge craft was fine traveling in the vacuum of space but handled roughly in the thicker environment of a planet's atmosphere. Luckily, Aeryn was a skilled pilot but she still needed John's assistance as co-pilot to guide the bulky vessel through the air turbulence that John and Sean called "chop".
As soon as they touched down, they were met by a Boolite who Nireese had briefed them was playing the part of the trader ship's owner. The half-Nebari went on to explain that the Boolite was another Clan agent sent on ahead to prepare their cover story and to handle all contact with the port's authorities.
With the Clan agent was also several official looking natives who appeared to be an distant cousins of the Kalish race that served the Scarrans.
"Another frelling Shrike," Malika murmured lowly as the Boolite and the officials made their way up the lowered loading ramp into the Trader's cargo hold. Nireese in her well-worn looking merchantman garb bowed respectfully to the Boolite, greeting him as if he was her employer. The Boolite nonchalantly dismissed the Nebari with a casual wave of his hand and totally ignored the rest of the crew as the port officials spread throughout the cargo bay and began to inspect the freight.
The humanoid male in charge looked over a few crates while the Boolite keep up a running conversation with him that the man answered mostly with non-committal grunts. The Port Master eventually made it over to the wall of the cargo bay and began tapping each bulkhead panel until he reached one that rang hollow. The Boolite gave him a sheepish smile when the man glanced at him. Expertly, he popped the hidden panel and peeked inside to see the bootleg cases of wine. Turning back to the Boolite, the being discreetly slid a folded envelope into the Port Master's hands. The enveloped disappeared just as discreetly as it had been passed.
John looked around the bay and saw that the other inspectors were pointedly ignoring the activity going on near the hidden compartments, and he gave a slight shake of his head. Some things never change no matter where you are, he thought to himself. There was always someone crooked in the game... lucky for them.

As soon as the exchange was made, the Port Master called his men together from their tasks and exited the Trader craft along with the Boolite, who was still making small talk with the headman.
"Well, that was easy," commented Nireese when they were alone again.
The group wandered down the loading ramp to get their first look at the port and the planet around them.
"What a dump!" Sean declared as he shielded his eyes from the sun's glare and surveyed the area.
"I've seen worse, kid," replied the older Crichton.
"Where?" challenged his relative.
Aeryn squinted and looked around. "If you think this is bad... you should see the Sheyang homeworld," she said.
"I think I'll pass," rumbled D'argo from behind them.
Nireese pushed through them closely followed by Chiana.
"I told you that no one wants this planet," the First Shrike reiterated. "And you can see why it's only a jump off point. However, this is only the spaceport and the main commerce section. The rest of the city and outlaying areas are not this bad."
"I should hope not," added Andar.
Zhaan turned her face toward the sky and smiled. "Oh, I don't know. The sunlight here on this world is pleasant." The priestess looked over at Malika with a meaningful smile but the younger Delvian only frowned in return. Andar looked at her with sudden interest, but Malika froze him with a warning glare before he could ask an embarrassing question.
Full of nervous energy, Chiana took a step away from the group.
"Com' on," she urged over one shoulder. "Let's stop wasting time and go find Berret."
"Wait!" Nireese stopped her before she could take another step.
"For what?" Chiana responded with an impatient look.
"We cannot just go rushing off in search of Berret," the half Nebari Shrike continued. "You're forgetting that this city is now full of Syndicate Houses. Berret himself is undoubtedly keeping a very low profile until he intends to strike - we must do the same and be just as discreet in our activities."
Sean snorted. "Right! Berret's about as low profile as Rygel at a free lunch," he quipped.
Chiana's eyes narrowed in thought, and she held up one hand before Sean could get too involved with his antics.
"No! No, 'Reese is right," the gray girl announced with conviction. "That's exactly what Berret will do. He'll find somewhere where he can watch Arckatius and his people if he's found them. He'll watch and look for a weakness in their defenses. Look for a way in - that's what I would do."
Aeryn agreed, "He'll be planning his attack in a military way."
Chiana nodded vigorously. "Yeah... only he won't care about planning a way out."
"A Kamikaze attack? Are you sure, Pip?" asked John. "You know him best."
Chiana had heard both Crichtons use the Earth term before and knew its meaning.
"I'm sure of it, Crichton," she affirmed. "Berret will die to get that Scarran."
"I agree," added Zhaan. "That will be all he cares about."
Andar clicked his tongue in thought. "It appears our objective has gotten somewhat a little more complicated then we originally thought," he concluded.
"Isn't it always?" grumbled the Luxan. "Now we must make sure the fool has a way out opened to him besides cleaning up any evidence he leaves behind."
"And make sure the 'right' evidence IS left behind if we want the Syndicate to blame each other," John finished for D'argo.
Nireese looked from one crewmate to the other.
"Nothing has change, we can still do this and succeed," she told them with a positive lit in her voice.
"So what do we do now?" asked Chiana.
Nireese settled down to sit on the loading ramp. "We wait," she answered.
"For what?" inquired Aeryn, wishing for the hundredth time that the female Shrike would simply explain her statements instead of always making them ask for details.
"Another Clan agent is here already looking for Berret," she filled in, "If he has been found, we should be getting a report and the information shortly."
"Okay... we wait," said John with a shrug.
Malika looked disgusted. "Frell!" she muttered as she spun away from the rest of the group and marched back up the loading ramp into the Cargo vessel. "Another Goddess-damned Shrike..."

Nireese closed her eyes and tilted her face up to the sky. The Pa'u had been right, the sun felt very good on her skin after so long aboard one space vessel or another. The others had returned to the ship for a quick meal while they waited, leaving the First Shrike alone with her thoughts as she sat waiting on the loading ramp for her contact to show. She was reminiscing about her homeworld and the summer days she spent there in her youth with her younger brother, trying to ignore the occasion twang of pain when she recalled that her world and her sibling no longer existed - thanks to the Scarrans.
A light footstep on the ramp saved her from falling further into a funk of depressing memories.
"Hello, Sean Crichton," she called without opening her eyes, "Did you have enough to eat?"
A light chuckle answered her question and a weight settled down next to her. She opened her eyes to find the younger Crichton besides her, carefully shredding a food cube wrapper idly in his hands.
"Wasn't very hungry," the human replied. "Besides, Malika's in another of her moods."
"Yes, she does seem to have them."
Sean stole a glance at the half-Nebari out of the corner of his eye. "You don't seem to go to far out of your way to help matters much in that department," Sean observed.
Nireese smiled slightly and gave him a very human shrug in response.
Sean nodded his own silent reply. They sat quietly for a moment more before the human picked up the conversation once again.
"A few microns ago, you struck me as somebody who was feeling a little homesick," he announced.
The half-Nebari allowed a small grin to grace her face. "You're very perceptive," she told him.
Sean snorted once in amusement. "Not really," he confessed. "I've had that same look once or twice myself. So have John and the others... except for Berret. You kind of get use to seeing it around on Moya sometimes."
"It must be hard to be so far away from your home," Nireese said.
"It has to be worse knowing your home doesn't exist anymore. I don't know which is worse."
The female Shrike glanced over at the man. "You have a point... I can't decide which is worse either."
Sean met the woman's gaze.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Why not?" Nireese answered with a casual nod.
Crichton turned his gaze back to the balled-up and shredded food wrapper in his hand and began to pull it apart again.
"Will you really blow yourself up to get the Syndicate if you have too?" he wanted to know.
"Yes," answered Nireese without a microts hesitation.
"Is it because you've lost your home and maybe sometimes think you can't go on because of it?"
Nireese paused a moment giving the unexpected question some thought.
"No," she finally said a few microts later.
Sean leaned his back up against a ramp strut. "Good," was all he said in reply. He pitched the abused food cube wrapper off to one side of the loading ramp onto the ground and placed both hands in his lap. To his surprise, a few microts later Nireese snaked a hand over to clasp one of his. Sean looked up to find Nireese looking at him with a kind knowing smile.
"There is always hope for a new home," she told him.
"I guess you're right."
They sat silently for several more microns holding hands, each lost in their own thoughts and somehow knowing they were the same to each. A horn sounded in the shipyard and the half-Nebari checked her chron.
"Noon arn," she announced. "Our contact will be busy now with another task at this time and won't be able to get to the port for another arn now if he's found Berret."
"Looks like we wait some more," answered the human. "Can I ask you another question?"
"Go right ahead."
Sean scooted around to better face her.
"I have to know... how did you know it was me when I came down the ramp without opening your eyes?" he asked. "You always seem to know who's behind you without looking." He chuckled shortly and then continued, "Its creeping John out and to tell you the truth, it's a little un-nerving for me too."
Nireese threw her head back and let loose with a delighted laugh. She tugged lightly on the man's hand to let him know she wasn't being cruel with her mirth.
"Its really very simple, Sean Crichton," she answered, "But you'll probably be offended if I told you."
"No... really. Tell me."
"Well..." she began, "I'm not saying anything bad... but it's that scent you're wearing."
"Scent?" asked Sean, "You mean... my aftershave?"
Nireese smiled. "I do not know what it's called."
"Zhaan makes it for John and me," Sean explained. "Men on my world use it after shaving to sooth razor burn... and to smell good."
"I see," said Nireese with another smile.
"I knew you guys had sensitive noses, but I didn't know you found it bad smelling. I can barely smell it myself and Zhaan assured me that it was a pleasant smell."
"Scent does play an important part for Nebari but you misunderstand my explanation," the female Shrike went on, "I like the scent very much."
"Oh?" said a stunned Sean. "Well, Zhaan mixed this up and got it close to a small sample of aftershave I had with me from Earth. You can imagine that you'd need it after being cramped up in the cockpit of a module for a while on a mission. I sometimes wear it when I get homesick myself," he confessed.
"I understand," replied Nireese. The half-Nebari suddenly stood up and offered him her hand. "Come on," she said.
"Where are we going?" Sean asked as he automatically took her hand and started to rise to his feet.
"To my quarters," she answered. The human's eyes opened wide in surprise. Nireese smiled fondly at him. "For awhile we can keep each other company... and for awhile, neither one of us might feel homesick."
Together they walked up the ramp and into the ship.