Chapter Two:

Chiana had spent the last arn swearing, throwing things and basically acting very upset, she was voicing what everyone felt. They had the money, far more than they ever could spend even after freeing the slaves. Yet Crichton was not there, he had given himself up to Scorpius and now was on a command carrier that they had no hope of getting him off of. D'Argo was trying to remain calm and it was Jothee that actually felt very guilty for what happened. Aeryn had played the recording again and again and the end, Crichton had spoke directly to Jothee, stating none of this was his fault at all. Rygel liked the wealth but he too was mourning in his own way the loss of a friend.

"So what do we do now?" Jothee asked, "he allowed himself to be taken prisoner for me, I am not worth that!"

"He thought you were." D'Argo said, "he tends to be that way, annoying human though he is, he is loyal and selfless in some things."

"He was controlled as well." Aeryn said, "and we have to try to get him back."

"How?" Chiana said, "walk right into the command carrier, say hello we want our friend back?"

"If that is what we must do" Zhaan said.

"I don't think that we are going to have to worry about going to the command carrier." Pilot said, "it has come to us."

"That is frelling great!" Chiana said.

There was nothing they could do, and all watched from the observation deck as not one, not two but three command carriers were in view. They were done for and it was Aeryn who gave the command to stand down. They watched as a transport ship came to Moya and in less than an arn they were boarded. Yet those that came on board were not peacekeepers as any knew them. They were clad in blue and brown uniforms and were mostly Sebacean. Unlike the peacekeepers there was something about them that Aeryn was attracted to, something she felt in Crichton too. Many were darker than any peacekeeper she had ever seen, it meant they were probably raised planet-side instead of in space.

"Lt. Aeryn Sun." A tall female with long white hair that contrasted well against her dark skin well, "I am admiral Eva Darus of the republic peacekeepers."

"I am sorry what?" Aeryn asked.

"I am from the republic, you helped take down a shadow depository."

"Yes, we did." Aeryn replied.

"I have one question for you, for all of you." Darus said, "how would you like to end slavery, bring true peace to the galaxy and have your children grow up to choose what they want to be in life?"

"What is in it for us?" Rygel asked.

"Well I can't promise your planet back." Darus said, "but what we can promise is freedom."

"Say we join you, say we decide to work with you, can you help us get Crichton back?" Aeryn asked.

"We can do our best, the republic is only five hundred systems strong as of now, the peacekeepers have ten times that number." Darus replied.

"But you have more joining, what does this republic do?" Aeryn said, "what is freedom?"

"Doing what you want to do, living how you want to live, no more forced breeding of peacekeepers. Those that want to join can do so of their free will, love is allowed, friendship and marriage." Darus said, "you have proved you have power, and we need strong people."

"We just bought ten thousand people, but we have no way to feed them." D'Argo said.

"We can give them homes, what say you?" Darus asked.

"I say yes." Chiana replied, "what do we have to loose? The peacekeepers only make things worse."

"I would agree with you, but we are peacekeepers of the republic, not peacekeepers of slaves." Darus said.

"I say yes." Jothee said, then echoing Chiana "what do we have to loose?"

Everyone agreed and Darus brought food over to Moya to feed everyone. While she was doing this she went over her life story, how she had been kidnapped from her family at a young age and managed to move up in rank. She had heard of the Republic and wanted to leave the peacekeepers, so she along with three others stole the command carriers and headed to Republic space. They had contacted Moya as she and her crew were no longer compromised as sadly, Crichton had been compromised due to no fault of his own. Over the meal, Jothee was paid the most attention and it was agreed that he would be given an opportunity that he could not refuse.

"You want to allow me to go to the Luxan? They do not want me." Jothee said.

"Oh they will, you were a slave, but what were you trained to do?" Darus asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Jothee replied.

"They will take you, you are a trained warrior no matter how or for what reason that was done." Darus replied.

"What of the rest of us?" Rygel asked.

"For now Moya is as good a home as it can be, now that you have the funds, you can fix her up as you like." Darus replied.

"We need to get Crichton back, I will not abandon my friend." D'Argo said, "annoying human he is, he is my friend."

"It will be hard but I think that can be done." Darus said, "I do not think that Scorpius will get what he wants from Crichton no matter how hard he tries."

Aeryn was finding these peacekeepers strange but not threatening. They seemed happy, something she thought before as weakness, peacekeepers were things to be used to keep the peace of the uncharted territories. Yet the more she saw things the more she saw they were not any better than the Scarran and other races that enslaved and hurt others. She was coming to the conclusion she had been a slave all along and that love, hope, happiness were not weakness at all. They were needed to truly live. There were still questions, such as what about Crichton? It was Brias who would help with the rescue but for now.

"Crichton cannot know you are working with us, not because he is not trustworthy." Darus said, "but because he is compromised due to no fault of his own."

"I don't really want to lie to him." Chiana said. "And that is saying something coming from me."

"So anyone tells him, I shoot him, sounds good." Aeryn said.

"Yea I can keep it from him." D'Argo said turning to Rygel, "and so does Rygel or I will see him dead, only reason he is still alive is because he did help us escape."

"Of course, the human will not know anything from me.

"Aeryn as you are the trained peacekeeper here, you will have rank in the Republic military of captian, D'Argo you as well as lieutenant and Chiana and Zhaan you will be specialists." Darus said.

"Frelling great." Chiana said, "just so you know, I don't do well with orders."

"Don't' worry, I know." Aeryn replied, "now I think we have a rescue to plan, John better come with us this time or I will shoot him myself."

Darus left with her fleet and Aeryn was in charge of her first ship ever, she had hoped to gain a command carrier of her own, but Moya was a good command. Her crew, well prisoners turned what were they exactly? The word freedom fighter came to mind but she was not fully sure what freedom was, to her it was barbaric, a form of savagery to do what one wanted when they wanted to do it. Order, rules, doing exactly what one was told, that she understood, freedom not so much. But then she saw the hope and something else in Crichton and now Darus, she wanted that. If that was freedom it was scary but seemed nice too, something worth fighting for not stomping out.

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So yes, I brought in another element and this is to help flesh out Aeryn really into the leader I always wanted to see her as. Her story is as important as Crichton's she goes from a slave bred for war and nothing else to something better. Here I wanted to elevate that to a new level and yes, she is in command of Moya now. It works with canon too because we really see much of the show from Crichton's point of view and this could work. 80% of canon will be canon up to the Peacekeeper wars, after that things will be vastly different.

Anyway do review please!