Change of Heart (Part 3-Deception)
Author: Brenda, ScribLL@houston.rr.com
Part: 3/5
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Appearances can be deceiving. This is set about a month after 'A Bug's Life, Aeryn got better all on her own and Crais is still captain of his command carrier so obviously this has become an AH since my first draft.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Farscape. All characters, except the few I created, belong to Henson studios and the SciFi Channel.
With many, many thanks to Kat for her encouragement, invaluable advice, and for reeling me back in when I get over my head.
Deception
John was awakened by a high-pitched chirp he dimly recognized as his comm signal. He opened his eyes, abruptly recalling the night before. It didn't take much of a check to realize that he was alone. He reached over to his comm badge on the nightstand. "Yeah, Pilot?"
"John Crichton, I'm sorry to wake you, but your rendezvous with Prater Delmar is in nearly an arn."
An arn? "I'll be there right away. Thanks for the wake-up call."
"Of course."
John had slept a happy and satisfied man and he had no idea when Aeryn had left. He was disappointed, but not surprised to find her gone. Two steps forward, one step back—this delicate dance that seemed to define their relationship. He had hoped that after last night, they had moved beyond that once and for all. She had come to him and revealed the warm, passionate woman she guarded so carefully. He wondered once more what had happened to her to make her like this, one more reason to despise the Peacekeepers.
He reminded himself that he had a role to play and got up to find the Peacekeeper captain's uniform he had put away a month ago. As he put it on he tried not to think about the Peacekeeper lieutenant he had brutally killed, not that he really remembered killing her—the intel-virus had done that. Still, the guilt remained. He examined himself in the mirror. Poof—instant Peacekeeper, he thought morbidly. He stretched his neck from side to side and rolled his shoulders attempting to dispel his rising anxiety. It was time to find Aeryn.
He made a quick stop in the center chamber for a handful of food cubes and took them with him to Command. Aeryn was already there, her hair tied back, dressed in her lieutenant's uniform. With her stood D'Argo and Rygel as they conferred with Pilot. As he joined them, Aeryn's eyes locked on his, but she remained expressionless.
"It's about time you joined us," growled D'Argo.
"Sorry, I was just sleeping so soundly," John answered, his eyes remaining on Aeryn. "And how did you sleep?" he asked in mock challenge.
She answered without hesitation. "I slept very well."
D'Argo looked at them both for a moment, a fleeting question in his expression that changed to irritation. "I'm glad you both slept well," he said sarcastically. "Do you think we can get on with the business at hand?"
"Relax, D'Argo," said John, attempting to mollify him.
"I won't relax until we leave this place. Now it's been five days since we found the last wanted beacon. I'm surprised bounty hunters haven't found us."
"Just a few more arns," said Rygel.
"Will Moya be ready to starburst as soon as they return?" D'Argo asked Pilot.
"Moya is ready to starburst now, Ka D'Argo," said the 3D projection of Pilot in the shell viewer. "I've downloaded the coordinates given to your prowler, Officer Sun. They are in a city on the southern continent. You'll have to land just outside and proceed on foot about half a metra into the city. I've downloaded those vectors, too. You should have no trouble locating the rendezvous point."
"Right," Aeryn acknowledged and then turned to Rygel. "Come with us to the transport bay. You can tell us anything else we may need to know about Prater Delmar." She strode off, but paused at the door asking over her shoulder, "Coming, Captain Bond?"
John smiled at her joke, nodding his head to her in appreciation, but thought it best to forget any Mata Hari comebacks. "Right behind you, 'Lef-tenant' Sun."
******
He sat behind her in the prowler as she methodically went through the preflight systems check. As much as he wanted to talk to her, he knew better than try to interrupt her now. He wanted to know how she felt. He wanted to know if she had any regrets or reservations about what had happened between them. And most of all he wanted to assuage any doubts she might have, but so far she seemed to be studiously avoiding the subject, and so, for the time being, he was willing to follow her lead. He knew that she was probably having a hard time accepting the change in their relationship; this was all so new to her. Of course, it was new to him, too. He'd never had sex with an alien before. Sex with an Alien. It sounded like the name of a cocktail. What would it have in it? Gin? No, tequila. And something sweet like orange juice, with a touch of bitters. He began to chuckle to himself.
"What are you doing back there?" asked Aeryn, irritated. Well, that was familiar.
"Sorry," he said, suppressing his amusement. "Free associating."
She gave him a sharp glance over her shoulder. "Maybe we should go over a few Peacekeeper protocols before we get down to the planet."
"Right, back to business."
Aeryn wasted no time and they were launched moments later. They spent the short flight reviewing the most common Peacekeeper protocols, just in case their mark had some familiarity with them.
The coordinates landed them just outside a small settlement on the southern continent very soon after the local sunrise. The blue morning light threw the dark, steep-pitched roofs into stark relief against the violet sky. The buildings were mostly two- or three-stories set close to the street reminding John vaguely of some quaint European village and he wondered if there was a reason this place had been selected over the many more modern cities on the planet, although he knew appearances were often deceptive.
As they followed the directions Pilot had given them, the streets became narrower casting deepening shadows in the early morning light. Their path kept them walking mostly uphill and the many twists and turns were disorientating. Listening to their footsteps echo through the nearly empty streets, John began to get a very uneasy feeling. Aeryn, too, seemed nervous, looking around as if she were expecting something. It didn't take Aeryn's tactical training to see that they were at a disadvantage.
"Are you sure you're following the directions?" asked John.
"Yes, I've checked the vectors twice. Look," she said nodding towards the road, "the road must open up ahead. You can see direct sunlight."
"Maybe we should check with Pilot." John paused to open the lapel of his jacket to expose his comm as Aeryn continued ahead several paces.
With precision timing four armed Peacekeepers erupted from the opening ahead and at the same time more troops emerged from the buildings around them. They were surrounded in seconds. "It's a trap—Peacekeepers!" John yelled into his comm before the nearest Peacekeeper knocked him to the ground with the butt of his rifle. He shook his head to clear it and found himself staring into the business end of at least four pulse rifles. He looked over at Aeryn expecting her to be in full commando mode attempting to punch her way out of the unexpected attack. Instead she stood stock-still staring straight ahead at the Peacekeeper walking towards her and it dawned on John that she recognized him. He heard the officer say, "Welcome back, Aeryn," before embracing her in greeting. The officers next to John took hold of each arm and proceeded to bind his hands behind his back with some equivalent of handcuffs, but he had ceased resisting. He stared at Aeryn as she stood aside to let the officer that hugged her approach him, looking him over carefully.
"This is Crichton?" the Peacekeeper asked over his shoulder.
Aeryn's voice sounded dry as she answered, "Yes."
The Peacekeeper turned around and began walking in the opposite direction, obviously expecting everyone else to follow. As he walked away, John could hear his words clearly. "Good work, Officer Sun."
***
Aeryn fell in with the troops as they began their march. Crichton was somewhere behind her with his armed escort. She glanced back once when they started out to assure herself that he was all right. Her relief that he appeared uninjured vanished under his withering stare and she quickly turned away. She could easily imagine what was going through his mind. She did not look back at him again, afraid that her emotions would betray her.
The whole set up had been too good to be true—Peacekeeper map fibers for a few crates of distillate? But the promised bait was good, too good for them to pass up. Paulto had chosen well. And then there was that promenade through the narrow streets. The rawest grot would have seen through that set up. Frell, even Crichton knew something was wrong. They should have gone back to the prowler and left immediately.
All the clues, all the warning signs—she should have known. And that was the nagging thought that tugged at her conscience—despite all her suspicions, she led John into the trap anyway.
She had to admire the efficiency with which the Peacekeepers sprang the trap. They were completely surrounded in the space of a few microts. She had had her pulse gun ready; she probably could have gotten off a couple of rounds, but she held her fire. She had told herself that John as well as herself would have been killed in the return fire, and that she did not want John to die for her mistake, but now she wondered if that was the only reason.
The only real surprise in the attack had been Paulto. Not that he was there—it hadn't taken her two microts to put that together. No, the surprise had been when he whispered to her, "They think you helped me capture him. If you're smart, you'll play along." He spoke so softly, the suggestion so preposterous, she could scarcely trust her own ears. He could have easily pulled this off over her dead body, but Paulto was trying to save her. If the result weren't so disastrous, it would really be very touching, not very Peacekeeper-like at all. But at that moment she knew that her only hope of saving John was to go along with Paulto's scheme. She could only too easily imagine what this must look like to John. She tried not to wince.
The procession wasted no time as it made its way through the narrow streets. The few townspeople that they came upon either ran away or cowered in their doorways, but none dared interfere with the heavily armed Peacekeeper force. She searched for an opportunity to escape, knowing how much harder it would be once they were underway, but they were too closely guarded, and hopelessly outnumbered, and with John bound, any attempt would have surely ended in his death. Despite the many twists and turns, Aeryn could tell that they were generally making their way to the north. In less than half an arn they came to the edge of the city and the road led them to the top of a rise. As they approached the edge, Aeryn caught sight of their vessel for the first time. The familiar symbols marked it as Peacekeeper, but she had never seen such a ship before. It was generally elliptical in shape, but with hugely oversized plasma jets. Aeryn estimated her mass at something like 30 sakmar, about twenty times the size of a marauder. It might barely fit in Moya's transport bay, but it would never get through the door.
They entered through a starboard airlock. Paulto pulled Aeryn aside for a moment and they let the rest of the compliment pass. As John passed them, he shot Aeryn a look, and for her life, and her honor—whatever that was worth—she'd never felt so guilty in her entire life. She'd betrayed him. And he knew it.
"Where are they taking him?" she asked Paulto.
"To a holding cell on deck two. Follow me," he said as he entered a corridor to their left. Aeryn watched John's back until he disappeared and then turned to follow Paulto. After getting used to the comparative spaciousness of Moya, the low ceilings gave her a feeling of claustrophobia that only added to her growing unease.
Paulto checked two open cabins before he entered a third. He stood aside to allow Aeryn to enter the empty room and then he shut the door behind them.
She turned on him immediately. "Just what the frell do you think you're doing?"
"I'm saving you. I 'know' you want to come back, but you seem to have some misguided loyalty to this Crichton, so I thought it best to change the plan a bit. You'll come to see that this is for the best."
"Of course, it doesn't hurt you either."
"No," he admitted. "My rank has been restored—I may even finally get that promotion. You may too, if you keep your mouth shut and stick to the story."
She turned away from him fighting the urge to cram his words back down his throat. She breathed deeply to calm herself. "I owe John...a lot," she said turning back around. She shook her head. "I can't do this to him."
"Well, 'you' don't have to. I did it for you." He smiled. "What are 'mates' for?" His smiled faded at Aeryn's forbidding scowl. "You may not appreciate it now, but you will eventually. That or you'll be joining your friend. And a fat lot of good that will do either of you. I come out alright either way so you choose." He moved over to the door. "The captain wanted to see you as soon as we came on board. We better go."
Aeryn struggled to get her anger under control as she followed Paulto to the bridge. It would do no good for her to be locked up with John. As a member of the crew, she would have a certain freedom of access. She might be able to find some way for them to get out of this.
The crowded bridge was alive with sound and movement as the crew made preparations for departure. They both snapped to attention as the captain approached them. Even without his uniform, Aeryn would have recognized him as the captain. Though only of medium build his bearing made him seem much larger and he walked around the bridge as if he owned it, which of course, he did. He reminded her of Crais.
"Captain Taxus, Officer Jetaal reporting," said Paulto formally.
"At ease. I take it everything went as planned."
"Yes, the Human, Crichton, is being secured in the holding cell on deck two."
"Excellent, Jetaal. You are to be commended. And this must be Officer Sun."
"Yes, sir," she said, still at attention. She didn't like the way he walked around her, looking her over as if she were some sort of curious alien oddity, even though it was certainly his right.
"Officer Jetaal says that he would not have succeeded without your help."
"He's too generous, sir."
"That may still prove to be the case. Captain Crais may have pronounced you irreversibly contaminated a bit prematurely, but since then you've been with the escaped prisoners a long time."
"I believe she's more than proved her loyalty, sir," Paulto interjected.
"Yes, I'm quite aware of your opinion, Officer Jetaal," the captain said, not taking his eyes away from Aeryn. "You've been given an extraordinary opportunity, Officer Sun. After such a sentence, it is rare enough to have one's life spared, let alone have their career rectified. First Command has been quite generous, possibly, too generous. If I were you, I would take close care in the future to comport myself to the highest Peacekeeper standards. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes, sir." The implied threat was all too clear; she would have to be very careful.
"Officer Greffen," he said over his shoulder to his aide, "Please find Officer Sun some quarters and show her her assigned duty station for the remainder of this journey. And please, get her a proper uniform. She shouldn't get to wear a lieutenant's attire until she's earned it."
***
John was taken up several flights of narrow metal stairs, down another corridor and then into a windowless room with a barred cell. While one Peacekeeper stood guard outside, the other pushed John into the cell and released the bindings on his hands. He then backed out and keyed a code into a control panel on the wall. The barred gate closed with only a whisper and John was alone.
He unconsciously rubbed his wrists and then sat down slowly on a bench projecting from the wall. He gave no notice when the ship heaved slightly as it took off, as he tried to absorb the meaning of exactly what had happened. Aeryn had betrayed him, given him up to the enemy. And for it, she was getting back into her beloved Peacekeeper club. There was just no other way to rationalize it. No other explanation. The pain of her betrayal cut deep, beyond the fear of death. This obviously was not some spur of the moment decision; she had planned this. Even as she came to him in his bed, she had known that she would do this. How in God's name could she do this? He knew his failing was that he judged everyone by Human standards. He had made that mistake time and time again, but he knew this time the lesson would never be taught as well. He had been ready to declare his 'undying love' for her and she was planning how to use him as a pawn in her Peacekeeper games. "How do say 'sucker' in Sebacean?"
He had no way of knowing how much time had passed before Aeryn came to stand outside the door to his cell.
"Are you alright, John?" she asked.
"You really are a cold-blooded bitch, aren't you?" he said, pleased with the distressed expression on her face, pleased that he had any power at all to hurt her.
"They're not taking you to Crais."
"Does it really matter?"
"You're being taken to First Command. Crais is in serious trouble with the Council. He has been disobeying direct orders to return to Peacekeeper territory in his quest to find you. Once Crais finds out that you are at First Command, he'll return and they will deal with him. You'll be rid of Crais for once and all. He'll never be able to threaten you again. They'll let you go then."
"And you get to go home and be the proud Peacekeeper again. How very convenient for you."
"I'm truly sorry, John."
"Mata Hari had nothin' on you. Will D'Argo and Zhaan be joining me?"
"No, the Leviathan escaped."
Aeryn continued to stare, her eyes seemed to be pleading with him. What did she expect from him? Forgiveness? Thanks for getting Crais off his tail? Not in a million years, babe.
At last she lowered her eyes. She took a step backward, as if to leave, but he couldn't let her get away that easy. "You didn't have to fuck me. I would have come anyway." Sound made solid, he watched the blow connect. "Definitely above and beyond the call of duty. Do you get a promotion for that? Or at least maybe a medal?" She turned and left.
In that moment before she fled, just a second really, the horrible pained expression on her face—John regretted his words. Sorry, I'm so sorry...it'll be all right. But the moment passed.
You always were a chump, he admonished himself.
***
Aeryn stumbled half-blind out of the holding cell, fighting the wetness that welled at her eyes. A crewman walked past her in the corridor and she turned away, leaning against the wall in a vain attempt to hide her face. If he noticed, he gave no sign and passed by. She took the first turn into an empty alcove and pressed herself into the corner, wiping her face with her sleeve.
She had had to check on him, had to make sure that he was all right, and hopefully explain how this had happened. Spotting the camera in corner, she realized that his cell was being monitored. She couldn't take a chance of revealing that she was not part of the whole scheme, so she stuck with the official line, hoping that at least he might think that things were not as bad as they looked. She could hardly be surprised by John's vehemence. She'd had no doubt that he believed that she had betrayed him, and she could hardly blame his reaction, still it had hurt her more than she believed possible.
She had heard him say that human word before—once when he had dropped a half-full barrel of chakken oil on his foot and another time when she had kicked him in the chest harder than she had intended during a shared combat drill—but it had never occurred to her to ask what it meant. She had no doubt what 'fuck' meant now.
How could things have gone so wrong?
I should have talked to him this morning, she thought. He wanted to, she knew it, but she busied herself with preparing the prowler and then went on and on about Peacekeeper protocols, anything, anything to avoid talking about what was going on inside her, to avoid telling him how close to her heart he was, how much he meant to her. And now it was too late. He believed she had sex with him just to gain his confidence.
This doesn't do John any good, she scolded herself. Calling up years of Peacekeeper training, she forced her feelings into submission, but refused to dismiss them. She savored the dull ache in pit of her stomach, a fit punishment for her crime of omission, a welcome companion to her purpose. She checked her appearance in the sheen of the metallic wall. Wiping her eyes once more, she set her Peacekeeper mask in place knowing it was necessary, but for the first time, despising it all the same.