Title: Home and the Second Wave Part 2
Author: Meridian
Disclaimer: As much as I'd like to say I own these characters (hell, as much as I'd like to just own Ben Browder and Sebastian Spence), I don't. They belong, I suppose, to the Sci-Fi Channel or whoever sells them the episodes. Whatever, they sure as hell don't belong to me, nor do I have express written or oral permission to use them. Um, not suing me would be greatly appreciated, as I am not making any money from this story, nor do I have much to begin with…thanks so much.
Spoilers: Oh boy, spoilers! Well, none really for the First Wave portion of this story, just you have to know the basic characters there…Farscape Spoilers? Let's see…Nerve, The Hidden Memory, and Bone to Be Wild…that should cover most of it, save for vague and infrequent references to past eps…Oh and one more thing? These events occurred in a reality separate from the Farscape world that ended with Family Ties (I began before the episode altered reality a bit, so please, just through Bone to Be Wild, thanks)
Note: This is a crossover, so knowing both shows would greatly aid in your understanding of events. It's not necessary, but it helps. Thanks to my story consultant Michelle (what would I do without her?) who proved that you don't have to watch either show to follow and yes, even like the story.
Formatting Notes:
[[…..]] Indicate memory
Italics…thoughts
********* Indicate change of scene
------------- Same setting, only separate from the action taking place previously
HOME AND THE SECOND WAVE
Part 4
Salem, Massachusetts
Whenever he woke from a deep sleep, Cade Foster quickly sat up and checked his side, looking for Hannah, praying reality had only been a dream, one that died with waking up. Every time, however, he would discover the dream had ended, and the nightmare was still his world.
Currently, his confusion was so massive, Cade wanted to pinch himself and to wake up. Maybe he would still be a wanted man, maybe Hannah would still be dead, maybe the Gua would still be infesting the Earth, maybe, maybe, maybe. But anything would be better than this, anything would be less confusing. In this stupor, he watched Aeryn retrieve his gun and secret it away in her boot as she bent down next to Crichton. For his part, Crichton seemed to respond when she drew near.
"Aeryn?" Cade watched, fascinated and slightly horrified, as Crichton leaned against Aeryn for support. It made no sense that he would trust this woman, this alien, especially since it was clear that he had to know that she was an alien. Cade stood in silence even as Sylvia and Lita shot out questions. Lita, impatient with his lack of response, pushed past him, and Sylvia soon followed. Aeryn smiled at them, a tired smile that was a grateful gesture.
"So, you can talk." Lita challenged Aeryn, but John answered.
"Course…course she can talk. She has a mouth, doesn't she?" Startled, Lita reexamined Crichton while her mother flitted about diagnosing his every response to her cursory tests. John Crichton smiled weakly, gripping Aeryn's hand tighter for support as he reached to shake Lita's hand. Lita took it, gently shook it, and dropped his hand in his lap as the muscles in his arm went lax.
"Do you understand her?" Crichton was too sore to nod, but he murmured an answer to the affirmative. "How?" Chiana coughed, drawing attention to herself as she kicked the DRD in Lita's direction. The little robotic, mouse-like creature whirred over to Lita.
"Gand-yha, fahr brufgot." Chiana waited for Lita to approach the DRD. Thankfully, Lita did so, unafraid and extremely curious. The action of implanting the translator microbes was repeated. Cade snapped out of his funk at that moment to cry 'NO!' but was too late. Lita winced and shivered once, but fear was never an issue with her. Hesitant at first, Lita managed to speak.
"What did you say?"
"I said 'here, this will show you,' human." Chiana twisted her head to the side much like a curious feline investigating a new location. Lita's eyes were wild with amazement and even amusement.
"Mom! Mom, you've got to try this!" Distracted by checking Crichton's pulse, Sylvia barely scratched at her heel when the DRD worked on it. She had not heard anyone speaking because her attention had been directed solely at keeping track of the number of beats she heard and how strong they were.
"Is she the doctor, Aeryn?" Sylvia nodded for Aeryn, then shushed the crowd. Aeryn tilted John back against the log, gave his hand a squeeze, stood and walked over to Cade. Very informally, she retrieved his gun from her boot and handed it to him. A nod at Chiana, who still had the pulse rifle hanging at her side, told him why Aeryn had trusted him with his weapon.
"I'm going to tell Zhaan it's all right. Chiana, keep an eye out."
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"Aeryn? How is John?" Zhaan retrieved her robe to cover herself as she stood from where she had been meditating. Zhaan's azure and gold skin had a thin sheen of sweat all over it from the exercise. Aeryn inquired as to her success in contacting and breaking through to John's subconscious, but the P'au shook her head.
"I had thought our sharing of Unity would have left his mind more open to me. It is not so. The needs of his body, the wounds it has received must be cared for ahead of his mind. My only fear is that he will not be stable enough to save after his body is treated." This was not news Aeryn wanted to hear.
"We'll see that he does, Zhaan. For now, come help the human doctor, tell her what you know. She seems professional enough to respond well to your appearance." Zhaan gave a slight bow of the head, the same graceful gesture she often used to signal agreement.
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Sylvia fussed over John, who passed in and out of consciousness as she did so. Lita helped her mother wherever she could but spent most of her time listening to what Zhaan was saying about his condition and what had caused it. Lita noticed every single time that the words "Aurora chair" were used, Aeryn's hand tighten on John's. Aeryn had not left him for a second, save for when she went to retrieve Zhaan.
This left Cade solely to Chiana, a challenging duty that she was determined to do well. After his initial threatening reaction, Chiana had freed the rifle and had had it out on her lap. The weapon made Cade nervous without ever even seeing it in action.
"Would you mind putting that away? I'm not going to do anything, I promise." Chiana bit her lip, unsure, but eventually complied with his request. A silence enveloped them as they watched four women fretting about the one half-conscious man in their midst. After a short time, Cade realized Chiana was staring at him, and he felt obligated to make some kind of conversation.
"What happened to him?" He turned to absorb her complete reaction to this question. The variety of emotions that streaked across her face was impressive. Cade saw compassion, fear, anger, love, concern, and guilt. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were so close to him."
"He saved my life. I owe him my life for as long as it endures." Cade nodded silently. I felt the same way about Hannah once…she was my reason for living. She's my reason for fighting now. Chiana appeared eager to talk, eager to share her pain, dividing it upon two minds to make its weight more bearable for her own.
"Would you mind telling me? I'd like to help, if I could." Chiana smiled.
[[[ What the hezmona did he mean he wasn't coming!?! Chiana did not dare say it aloud, not in her present state as a stowaway on a Peacekeeper base. Makeup or no, giving her position away would certainly be the end of her career as a fugitive. If she failed, Aeryn would die, and so would John, though there did not seem to be any way to stop that now.
Why was he doing this? Gilinia was just as confused. She had wanted to know if John loved Aeryn that much. Despite her hopes to the contrary, Chiana knew the answer was yes. Everyone on Moya knew, or so she thought, everyone except possibly Aeryn, and maybe even John was unaware of how much he cared. It broke her heart to tell Gilinia that Crichton loved her, just as it would have broken her heart to say he loved Aeryn. Either way, Chiana trusted that Gilinia was too smart not to see the obvious.
There was a job to do, though. She had to escape, to save Aeryn. Maybe Aeryn could save John, or help him to an easier death than the one he was walking towards. Not even Gilinia had known she had stolen her way into the security system by pilfering whatever codes she needed. With the cameras as her eyes, she watched John in the…the chair.
Never did she want to see it again. No one, not even that devil Scorpius deserved that kind of torture. Earlier, when she had pretended to be John's server, Chiana had only been vaguely worried that one of the Peacekeepers would not take no for an answer. She had been lucky, in a way, in being discovered as a spy because she did not have to put herself in that position.
Instead, John was the one being raped. It was the most accurate description for what she witnessed by watching through those cameras. Rape. Pain, invasive pain inflicted upon his body to steal his will and his mind…that was rape. Chiana shuddered, unable to erase the pictures, the slow moving images of John, Crais, and Scorpius in that horrid room. John's face was slick with perspiration and tears. She had never seen him cry before…grieve, yes, but never cry. Scorpius would ask a question about the image that the chair displayed, John would mumble something, something defiant no doubt, and Crais would hit him. Chiana's whole body cried out against that torture. Pain to steal Crichton's mind, and pain for not letting them steal it. He was hopelessly subdued. Then that scary female assistant would move around the controls, and John would scream, his eyes pinching shut as he clung desperately to protect the shreds of his mind they had not yet torn from him.
Aeryn doesn't deserve him. This bitter jealousy ate through her gut. That John was willing to die for her was admirable, honorable, and definitely flattering. But to endure this kind of death…a living of nothing but pain and violation that would end in a dishonorable death…that was impossible to understand. Chiana wanted to cry, but it was not for her that he suffered. Aeryn should bear this guilt, not she, but this logic gained no ground in her mind.
He will die in as much pain as he lives now. They will torture him for fun afterwards, maybe use him for experiment or maybe purely for entertainment. He'll die a brave man, but they'll see him as a coward, a spy, and a villain. They'll desecrate his body in some way, use it as a trophy perhaps, and tear it apart for even more testing, spit on his cold carcass out of spite. He won't ever be the hero he is to me to them.
Why? ]]]
Cade listened to her descriptions, hearing her jealousy when she admitted it and when she tried to disguise it. His heart cried out for her, against his more judgmental side, which wished to dismiss her as just another alien, one more to fight.
"These Peacekeepers…are they anything like the Gua?" Chiana tilted her head curiously even as she wiped away the excess moisture from her eyes.
"Aeryn says they are worse. Peacekeepers want to be dominant, but they at least leave most species alone, provided those species obey. She says the Gua want to be the only species, not just the dominant species. When we saw their ship, she was rather…oh!" Chiana clapped her hand over her mouth before she could finish the sentence, her eyes darting over to Aeryn. The Sebacean did not appear to have heard.
"You saw a Gua ship?" His attention was now freely given over to his logical mind, making connections at a feverous pace. "Where? Near Earth?" Chiana shook her head and spoke in lower whispers than she had before.
"They had opened a wormhole to your planet. We stole it. Our ship fired on them when they weren't expecting it. I hope we got them. Wait, how do you know about the Gua?" Her eyes held suspicion. Cade took a deep breath and began his own story.
[[[ Why me? What have I done to deserve this? I never asked for this job, this life. Cade rubbed his eyes with his index finger and thumb, pinching the skin of his nose together. How many times had he tried to quit? Plenty. Had he? No. Eddie could never keep this together on his own. The Earth would be easy prey to the Gua otherwise.
But at what cost? The truth was still elusive, Hannah had been taken from him, and no one could be trusted. Why did he have to suffer? If given the choice, he would have readily accepted his old life and ignorance and allowed the world to crumbled under the Gua invasion, provided he met his end with Hannah.
But that was not true either. Cade grudgingly admitted that he had a duty, not to be safe, not to be happy, but to risk his life for mankind. This argument was stale in his mind, all the debate was exhausting. It had to stop.
It will, once I stop them. He drifted into sleep, planning next day's mission. ]]]
Chiana listened, fascinated as the human released his own torrent of emotion upon her.
"I can understand why you were upset with Aeryn. You had no way to know she was a Sebacean and not a Gua."
"What being are you, Chiana?" She smiled.
"Nebari." Cade smiled right back. Talking had helped them both, and it had given him the opportunity to study her a little more. Human, alien, whatever, Chiana was a real beauty, ethereal in all the ways models and movie stars were hollow, shallow, and false. Perhaps it was the difference, the stark difference of her coloring, but Cade had never let a pretty look or face sway his judgment before. Chiana was beautiful for her flaws as much as her actual physical beauty.
The quatrain came back to him, and he looked over at Aeryn and the blue woman, Zhaan, he thought. Aeryn was all metal, though the tender and affectionate way she guarded Crichton belied this image. Yes, she was beautiful too. The snippets of conversation he had listened to had informed him that Zhaan was a priestess. This was not surprising; Zhaan could easily have passed for a goddess herself. Her composure and flowing robes spoke of a peaceful being, and she was obviously intelligent, caring, and protective of her friends.
"Angels." Chiana lightly touched his arm. He turned back to face her.
"What?"
"And the missing hero will be delivered by the wings of angels to a town of witches for salvation. And the lone wolf will witness his rebirth." Chiana's puzzlement did not vanish. "It's a quote from a…prophet. I believed it, so I came to Salem looking for the answer. It's obvious Nostradamus was right."
"Who is that?"
"The prophet. Those lines tell the story of what has happened here, Chiana. You, Aeryn, and Zhaan are Crichton's angels…his saviors. By bringing him here, you may have easily saved his life."
"What is a 'lone wolf'?"
"A wolf is a creature that lives on Earth. It usually lives in a pack, but certain wolves are too independent, too hardened by life to be anything but solitary creatures. If I had to guess, I'd say I'm it."
"You're a wolf? I thought you were a human?"
"No, it's not literal. It's an image that evokes certain ideas about who the prophet really speaks about. The lone wolf indicates someone who works on his own, is toughened by adversity, and has survived. You are not an actual angel, but you, Aeryn, and Zhaan are being so good, kind, and selfless to help your friend, traits people associate with angels." Chiana thought about that for a moment.
"I like being John's angel. He has been mine before." She grew silent but suddenly perked up again, new hope in her eyes. "Your prophet said he will be reborn? Does that mean he will live?" Cade smiled, an almost patronizing gesture.
"I can't say. I would like to think it does. For your sake especially." Chiana bowed her head to hide her minute flush. This human was as adept as John in the art of flattery. If their entire male populace were this capable, certainly all the females had to be helpless slaves to love.
"Chiana?" Aeryn's call brought the Nebari's head up with an alert look. Both Cade and Chiana stood up from their seat across the fire and walked over to the cluster of women. Sylvia had risen to her feet as well, but Lita had all out bolted, fishing for her keys and running as fast as she was able.
"Sylvia says we have to take him to a hospital." Cade and Chiana each paled, matching the pallid visages of the others. Cade did not bother mentioning the inherent danger of doing so as it seemed they had considered it. Why else would they all look so nervous? Only Crichton had any color, but his was a sickly yellow, and the color was not improving. He needed a hospital, and now.
"Will you help us carry him to Lita's vehicle?" Aeryn stared straight at Cade. This was a test, he realized. Without hesitation, he answered her.
"Absolutely." Aeryn's brow softened with relief. Zhaan removed her robe, and Aeryn, not letting anyone else do it, eased Crichton into the folds of the cloth. Zhaan had assured them that the fabric would have held D'Argo's weight. Cade made a mental note to ask about this D'Argo character later.
Quickly, quietly, in unison, Sylvia, Zhaan, Chiana, Aeryn, and Cade carried an unconscious John Crichton down toward Lita and her waiting car. Lita hopped out and helped them ease Crichton onto the floor in the back. She had taken the backseat out and left it unceremoniously on the pavement beside her jeep.
As John was gently placed inside, Chiana felt her heart sink. Cade saw her crestfallen visage, and nudged her gently at her side.
"What's wrong?"
"I can't go with them." Everyone heard her, and Cade noticed Zhaan's face held the same recognition. Cade gave Chiana a hug.
"We'll take care of him. I promise." Chiana nodded as she hung back. Aeryn entered next, curling next to John, placing his head in her lap and absent-mindedly stroking his hair while Sylvia got in and settled down, taking more readings. Before Lita got back behind the wheel, she squeezed Chiana's shoulder.
"I'll see what I can't do about fixing it so that both you and Zhaan can come see him." The look of hope in Chiana's eyes and gratitude in Zhaan's was enough to make Cade smile.
A minute later, they were pulling away, backing away from Zhaan and Chiana, then turning and heading for the road. Cade looked back one last time and waved to Chiana. To his surprise and pleasure, she waved back with an effort.
We'll be back soon, don't worry.
End of Part 4