What the Frell did you do this time Erpman?!
Disclaimer: See chapter one
Author's Notes: Thanks for all the reviews. Sorry for the delay RL is overwhelming Now on to the next fun crossover:)
Rating: PG13, this chapter contains strong language and violence.
Chapter 34 Blowing off steam
The Farscape 3 came out of the transdimensional wormhole and Farrie quickly scanned the surrounding area as was the normal procedure for them.
She quickly reported to Crichton, "We're in deep space, I don't have anything nearby, not reading any subspace traffic at all in fact," she added matter of factly.
John slumped into his chair, feeling old beyond imagining, that last encounter had drained him more than he was willing to admit, "Cloak us and keep an eye out for the locals, ok Farrie?"
"Whatever you say Bossman," she rejoined quickly.
John nodded, his mind already moving on from his order. He sat there slumped in his chair, the events of the his last dimension encounter weighing heavily upon him.
Gnawing away upon his soul was the uncertainty of the situation-had he done the right thing to warn them? He had spent years in the Uncharted Territories with uncertainty of his situation wondering whether he would ever find his way home, all that time (when not running for his life), he had spent wondering what was Dad and DK doing back on Earth? Were they broken by loss? Did they think that he'd died up there in the coldness of space all alone?
Of course they had, he'd disappeared without a trace. Did they spend their days wondering if there was anything they could have done to save? Did they blame themselves?
John snorted, he knew them both too well, they'd have spent many a sleepless night beating themselves up over what they would consider a fubar mission.
So engrossed in his brooding was he, he didn't notice Aeryn as she walked onto the bridge.
She carefully walked onto the bridge, wondering why they'd jumped so quickly from one dimension to another, usually John liked to get a look at the native dimension before continuing their search for home.
Her eyes quickly found John sitting despondently in the pilots chair, slowly she approached him, wondering what was going on. She reached his chair and slowly reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder, "John, what's wrong? Why did we jump between dimensions so quickly?" she asked gently.
John reached up and took her hand in his and turned to face her. He raised mournful eyes at her and said, "Nothing sunshine, I...I just got to get rid of some baggage that been with me for a long time," he explained simply.
She frowned down at him, "I don't understand, what baggage?"
He smiled ruefully at her confusion, "We jumped back to the beginning...I got to see myself accidently launched through a wormhole-the wormhole with the Farscape 1. We went back in time, Earth orbit, I watched the end of my life and the start of my new one begin," he explained much to Aeryn's shock, "I even got to talk to DK and Dad, gave them a few warnings..." he paused thoughtfully, his eyes filling with hope, "Maybe in that dimension, the Skreeth won't kill DK and Laura."
Aeryn's mind reeled with all that had happened in such a short time. It was an emotional roller-coaster of epic proportions, for a short while she found herself at a loss for words. She squeezed her husband's hand trying to reassure him.
He squeezed back, and gave his beloved a small smile, "It's okay sunshine...I'm be okay in a little while," he assured her half heartedly.
"Come on John, let's go see what Zhaan's doing, it'll make you feel better," Aeryn suggested finally finding her voice.
John took a deep breath and let it out, expelling with the negative emotions that had gathered in his soul, he focussed on the positive and the future that lay ahead of them.
Hand in hand Aeryn and John walked out of bridge in search of their daughter.
xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Farrie busied herself scanning the area around them. She spent all of 15.6 minutes fully cataloguing the nearest star systems within a five light year radius. She spent the next 15 minutes systematically going through all know communication methods searching for any signs of intelligent life in this dimension.
She found it in the form of ancient and highly inferior short range radio waves being used to send out sub-FTL communications.
She snorted at the sheer inefficiency of such a system, it would takes months if not years to get a signal between nearby worlds. She took it as a sign that this dimension was still rather young and not advanced at all, and the races here rather primitive.
She moved on to the content of the message and froze when understood it.
"This is Bunda Survey station, we are under attack-oh god we're under attack by...something! They're invisible! Oh god, somebody help-AAAAHHH!" the panicked voice was cut off by a blood curdling scream that gradually tapered off and was followed by a meaty thump of a body hitting the floor, leaving nothing to the imagination of the speakers painful fate.
The voice was speaking English with an accent just like the Bossman.
Farrie hastened to notify the Bossman as she began pinpointing the source of the transmission.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxooxoxoxoxox
John and Aeryn were in the ship's garden just sitting and enjoying a impromptu picnic with their daughter. Their faithful Nana standing watch over them despite the fact that they were on board the Farscape 3.
John mused it was just what he need after his mentally trying encounter with Earth.
He watched as Aeryn played with Zhaany pretending to be monster that was running after her.
"Daddy, daddy! Save me!" his little girl called out to him playfully as she ran at him and jumped at him.
Zhaany knocked the breath out of him as he caught her, "You're getting heavy baby girl," he said with a smile on his face when his breath had returned.
His girl just giggled and laughed at that, "I'm not getting heavier, you're getting older daddy!"
Aeryn who had settled down next them heard this and laughed out loud, "We know honey, he just doesn't want to admit it." She explained to her daughter.
"A fine thing when a man can't even get any respect from his own family," John huffed grumpily.
Aeryn laughed again and leaned over to gave him a small kiss on his cheek, "Just trying to remind you of your limitations, you're not getting younger you know," she teased him with a quick wink, her eyes dancing with laughter.
John just mumbled huffily under his breath in annoyance.
Aeryn just continued to smile and said, "And you love us still."
John frowned and snorted, "I'm starting to reconsider that."
Aeryn playfully hit him in the arm, but didn't say anything in response.
John keep the frown on his face for long, these small family moments were what he lived for these days, being her with Aeryn and Zhaan meant that he achieved something worthwhile in his life. He wasn't just the poster boy for being screwed by Fate. Despite all the pitfalls and strange impossible turns his life kept taking he had found and held a small sliver of paradise that he could call his.
This was of course the moment that Farrie decided to intrude on his family time.
"Yo Bossman, I've got a human distress signal you're going to want to listen to!" the ship's AI called over the comm system.
John's head dropped and he mumbled to himself, "I can't get a moment's peace can I?"
Aeryn heard him and said, "You wouldn't be the man I love if you did."
John smiled ruefully and said, "Fine, Farrie let's hear it."
Farrie hesitated for a second, "Uh, you may not want Zhaany to hear it...it isn't a very pretty message..."
John and Aeryn exchanged an alarmed glance before saying, "We'll be the bridge shortly."
xoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxxoxox
John replayed the short brutal message again and listened to what were mostly likely somebody's final terror filled moments of life. He shared a dark look with Aeryn before speaking.
"Farrie, did you trace the signal?" he asked tensely.
"Yeah, its a small planet in this system we're in, didn't pay much attention to it cause it was so small...I uh, actually missed it on my initial scans cause it was so low tech," she admitted guiltily.
John huffed, "How soon can we be there?"
"2 seconds? 5 depending on how close and which of my FTL drives we use," Farrie said flippantly.
"Fine then I'll assemble the troops, you continue scanning the planet for life sign and prep the assault shuttle for transport," John ordered.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
A half hour later, down on the planet the remains of the Weyland-Yutani Xenomorph Hunter Killer MAX team, ex-Colonial Marine Lieutenant Katherine Lara and the former prisoner Martin Jess, along with the strange woman that had appeared to 'save' them, called Machiko Noguchi stood in a stand off.
Several minutes earlier they had nearly evaded becoming road pizza when the alien ship had crashed on their heads, Noguchi had armed them and lead in the direction of what he supposed was an escape and everything had been going pretty well encountering only a few drones and a couple of Hunters who had run to relay their location to their superiors until they'd entered an empty clearing, that rapidly filled up with Trouble.
On one side dozens of Xenomorph drones and a pissed off looking Xenomorph Queen stood there. On the other side those unknown invisible Hunters that had assaulted and slaughtered so many people on the survey station, stood there weapons at the ready.
As far as Jess could see the only reason they weren't dead yet was that both groups hadn't decided who to attack first.
Either way, Jess felt that he could with a sense of sureness, that the rest of his life could be counted in minutes baring any miracle.
"Fuck...we're screwed," he muttered to the others as he hefted the burner that Machiko had provided him with.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
It's amazing how a few seconds delay can change the course of events, one single variable changed can change a great deal of things...this wasn't the case here. The reality of life was about to be tipped on its head and things were going to fast become exceedingly altered as one Brian Ellis was about to find out.
A short time earlier and elsewhere on the planet, Brian Ellis the technician who had been responsible for maintaining the MAX for the HK team was running through the jungle, his mind racing with the need to protect his friends the only way he knew how-by using the MAX suit himself, the inherent dangers in its use never even crossed his mind he just needed to get back to the shuttle and then he could save them all just like on D.S. 949.
A loud roaring sound reached his ears and he looked around trying to find the source, the sound continued to get louder, almost deafening and his bones started shaking. The sound peaked and an unfamiliar shuttle roared by overhead, it accelerated and then rapidly disappeared from his sight.
Ellis frowned and squinted his eyes as stared after the stocky shuttle he had seen, "What the hell?"
He stood there for a few seconds as his mind pondered the strange shuttle he had just seen, he didn't recognize the type and it didn't look like the alien ship that had crashed and nearly squished them all.
A rustling in the bushes drew him from his revere and he shook himself, cursing his idleness while his friends faced certain death and torment.
He took off in a run to where the shuttle once was. He ran as fast as his feet could move, the pulse rifle in jingling on the strap that he had over his shoulder.
The sound of branches breaking caused him to look behind him and then he wished he hadn't.
A Xenomorph drone was silently running after him, adrenaline spiked and he pumped his legs faster as terror suddenly filed his being, no he wouldn't allow this alien to stop him from rescuing his friends again!
He grabbed at the bouncing pulse rifle and then tripped on a tree root he hadn't noticed in his haste to garb the weapon. He sprawled on the ground and the pulse rifle went sailing from his grasp to land several lengths in front of him.
Ellis landed on his face and chest, the wind knocked out of him, he turned onto his back to catch his breath and look at the pursuing drone and wished he hadn't.
The drone gained and with an energetic surge pounced towards him, black claws stretched out in a welcoming embrace of death.
I'm dead, he closed his eyes against the inevitable and waited for the pain to come, waited for the feel of its claws piercing his skin.
The Xenomorph stopped suddenly in mid pounce in mid air in a tangle of limbs as if it hit a brick wall. It fell with a thump on the ground, slowly it got up off the ground shaking it elongated head and staring around as if in confusion.
When the pain didn't come and the seconds that remained of his life started to stretch out, Ellis cautiously opened his eyes, he blinked in surprise as he saw the drone just standing there looking about itself in confusion. He wasted precious seconds just staring mimicking the drone's confusion, before his self preservation instincts kicked in and he rolled over and started crawling for all that he he was worth towards the dropped pulse rifle. He stopped suddenly when he found himself staring at a pair of muscular limbs.
Ellis followed the limbs upwards over the muscular body and strange outfit that this newcomer was wearing. Dark eyes in a tattooed face stared back at Ellis. The stranger gave Ellis a reassuring smile and said with a strange accent, "Stay down kid," and then raised a hand to gesture at the drone.
Ellis looked back at the still confused looking drone. The drone suddenly went flying back to impact heavily with the truck of a nearby tree. The drone leapt to its feet and stared looking about itself hissing and lashing it's tail about itself menacingly looking for its invisible attacker, it raised itself to its hind legs and roared menacingly in challenge after a few moments when it wasn't attacked again.
As Ellis watched the man stepped towards the drone as if challenging it.
The drone stared at the mysterious stranger for second before striking with a animalistic snarl and startling speed.
Ellis missed what happened next as the stranger dodged with superhuman speed. Ellis saw a flash of blue light and the drone slumped to ground. He stared at uncomprehendingly at the two parts of the bisected drone that lay at the stranger's feet.
He gaped at the stranger who was standing calmly with what looked a blue energy blade over the still smoking corpse of the drone.
"Come on kid, get up, there are more of these coming we have to join up with the others!" the man ordered Ellis.
Ellis stared dumbly up at the man, "What others?"
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
We're fucking screwed, was the mantra that repeated itself in Martin Jess's mind as the seconds ticked by and Jess continued to feel as if there was a stopwatch floating in front of his eyes counting down the seconds remaining before his mortal existence came to an end. An idle part of his mind wondered what was in store for him on the other side, he hoped maybe a reunion with his dead brother...thought the way my lucks been running lately, probably fire and brimstone.
The massed drones surged forward and suddenly the stand-off was over and hell unleashed. They surged towards both the hunters and the human. The Queen's terrible voice screaming righteous retribution, goading her children forward in battle.
The Hunters roared in response before targeting the drones.
"Well fuck!" Jess screamed as he aimed his burner and pulled the trigger and the slaughter began. Drones began exploding as the massed fire of the Hunters and Humans.
"Move to the tree line!" shouted Noguchi over the din of battle.
They moved as fast as they could while firing their burners without letting the drones get too close, for now the drones seemed more interested in attacking the Hunters than them, though it was doubtful that that was going to continue.
Thankfully fate would intervene before that became a problem.
Twins explosions sounded in the clearing momentarily blinding and deafening Jess and the others. When his eyes cleared he could see that the number of drones had significantly been reduced and several of the Hunters were also gone, many of the remaining ones, spattered with phosphoric green blood also looked injured.
An inhuman howl heralded the emergence of a gargantuan metallic giant into the clearing, twin assault rifles in his hands pointed towards the Hunters and Xenomorphs.
A harsh metallic voice sang out in the clearing, the ringing in his ears prevented Jess from making sense of the sounds.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
His bolters screaming righteous fury, Russ charged headlong into the mass of black bodies that came at him, screaming obscenities at the xeno scum in front of him.
Black bodies exploded showering him with white blood and his armour started smouldering as he realised that the blood was acidic. His armour integrity held as he continued firing.
An audacious xeno, leapt over its others and landed heavily in front of him, jaws open wide it snarled at him. In response he dropped the bolter in his right hand, the bolter hitting his armour with a loud clang as it swung on the chain that attached it to the front of his armour. He grabbed the xeno's face with his open hand and crushed its skull acid blood and what passed for brain matter gushing and staining his gauntlet. The xeno collapsed in pile at his feet, twitching momentarily before going still.
This action took seconds during which he still continued to fire with his bolter.
He smiled under his helmet, it had been too long since he had engaged in such righteous slaughter, these animals had dared to attack a human outpost and he was teaching them an important lesson.
His eyes fixated momentarily upon the giant monstrosity that stood behind the smaller xenos deciding that its head would look good mounted upon the walls of his quarters on the Farscape 3.
He reached over his head and grabbed the handle of his Eviscerator, unsheathing the holy blade he brought it down in an over head strike that spit apart a xeno in mid jump.
He slashed with the blade, slicing through the skulls of another two xenos, while his bolter continued to sing joyously battle, the xenos exploding into showers of acid.
Yes, today was a very good day, Russ thought smiling wolfishly under his helmet.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Noguchi continued firing while retreating to the tree line all the while sparing admiring glances at stared the charging armoured god of destruction that rained down death upon the drones.
She had joined the Hunters out of respect for their great abilities allowing them among other things to deal so easily with the Xenomorphs and yet...this new creature was cutting a swathe of destruction through the xeno ranks as a child stepped on ants.
Movement amongst the Hunters caught her eye and she saw one aiming his shoulder canon at the armoured giant, she quickly reoriented her burner at the Hunter but before she could pull the trigger, the Hunter's torso seemed to explode.
It took her a second to realise what had happened and her respect for the giant went up a notch. He'd dealt with the Hunter before it could fire at him.
The ranks of their enemies started to thin out, and Noguchi and her two companions were almost to the tree line when a roaring announced the coming of a ship.
The blocky ship slowed and hovered over the clearing before, unleashing a torrent of red energy bolts at the Hunters still gathered in the clearing and the drones nearest the humans.
It made short work of them before descending to ground level in front of the three humans, obscuring Noguchi's view of the giant's battle with the Xenomorphs.
An opening appeared at one end and a ramp descended. A man quickly appeared.
"You guys coming or are you just going to stand there gawking like a bunch of frelniks?" shouted the man gruffly standing at the base of the unknown ship's ramp.
"Shit man! You ain't got to invite us twice!" Jess crowed before racing forward and jumping aboard the still floating ship.
Noguchi shared a glance with Lara before they quickly joined Jess and the new stranger.
Once aboard, the ship started to gain altitude, the battle between the giant and drones once more coming into view, as the ship rotated.
"What about your that creature?" Noguchi asked pointing at the giant still battling the drones with gusto. "Aren't you going to pick it up as well?"
Their rescuer shrugged helplessly, "Meh, later, he's having too much fun-plus he said something wanting cleanse the planet first of the xeno taint-" the man shrugged again, "What can I do wolf boy's got issues."
Noguchi blinked, "Oh..."
Author's Notes: Please read and Review even if it's just to say good chapter. I have to say I quite enjoyed writing Vos messing with an alien drone:) Plus its always fun to see Russ smacking down impetuous xeno scum;):O
Next Time: The Last Daughter