Tarone sat in his cell looking at the collection of stony faces before him. "I am sorry that I acted in the way I did, but I had no choice." He started.
"Why don't you start at the beginning and tell them what you told me." Suggested Zhaan coming to sit beside him.
"But be warned. Our patience is not infinite child." Rygel said sternly. "Do not lie to us again."
"I understand." Tarone told him. "Most of what I told you before was true. I am a slave, as is my brother, and I live in fear of us being separated as he will surely die without me."
"OK. What about the bits you left out the last time?" Crichton said impatiently.
Tarone nodded. " My master, Finsis, is a wealthy trader with many connections. Part of my duties include helping in my master's house. Two solar days ago I overheard him talking with another man about some wanted criminals that had been seen in the market. The man and my master were discussing what to do, because although there was a price on the heads of the two that were on the planet, the bounty for the others, one in particular, was much more. They were annoyed because they couldn't think of any way of capturing the whole crew."
"But I suppose you could." Crichton began to gnaw on his thumb.
"Yes. As they spoke an idea came to mind and when I saw my chance and spoke up. I said that someone could hide amongst the supplies and take over the ship before anyone even knew they were there. I offered the services of me and my brother."
"And your master agreed?" Chiana's voice was incredulous. "He agreed to let his slave boy, who had never been to space, make and carry out the plan worth a considerable sum to him?"
"Well, no. Not immediately. My master was unimpressed, but his friend seemed to like my idea and began to work it out in detail. He explained to me what I must do and exactly what to say. I think he was impressed with me." Tarone smiled faintly. "Although I have been a slave all my life, I received an education of sorts from a teacher at one of my master's schooling facilities where I worked when I was younger. I quickly memorised what they were telling me. They questioned me on it all night whilst someone watched your" he looked at Zhaan and D'Argo "lodgings to ensure you didn't leave."
He looked around the room. "Although I went along with my masters plan, my intention was as I told you. I was going to hide on board with my brother and announce ourselves when we were too far away for you to come back. However when I went to look for Tiva he was not in the crate that I had put him in. I searched other crates for him in vain until I went back to the original crate and found a message saying that my master had kept my brother to ensure that I would do as I had agreed. I then reverted to the original plan until you captured me. I was desperate so I decided to try to gain your trust and capture one of you to act as bait for the others. I could not return empty handed as they would surely kill Tiva."
"How did you manage to get to Pilot without being spotted?" Aeryn asked.
"My master's friend seemed to know a great deal about you and your ship. He showed me layouts of your Leviathan and gave me an instrument that detected movement and heat. With it I was able to avoid all of you and the DRDs. Your Pilot didn't know I was there until it was too late."
"We searched you when you were shot. We didn't find any instrument." Aeryn frowned.
"I knew that there was a good chance that I would be caught and you would probably kill me if you found any Peacekeeper technology on me, so I hid it in Pilot's chamber."
"Pilot, have the DRD's look for that, will you?"
"Yes, Commander."
"Why didn't you suggest to your master that they capture Zhaan or myself and use us as bait." D'Argo asked.
"That was an option they discussed, but there was no guarantee that everyone would come down to the surface and they wanted everybody. My only concern at that point was getting Tiva and I onto your ship and away from Tean, so I came up with a plan that would let us do that."
"But it kinda backfired." Crichton stated, nodding almost to himself. He looked at Aeryn as he asked his final question. "Who was your master's friend? The one with the Peacekeeper technology that knew so much about us?"
Tarone shrugged " He never said, but he spoke of getting in touch with a Lieutenant Bracca. He was acting as some sort of scout for the Peacekeepers. Others were on their way but they weren't going to make it in time, so they needed to either hold you up or bring you back."
"Mission accomplished, kiddo." Crichton rubbed the back of his neck.
"If Bracca's on his way here," Aeryn's expression was grim. " Scorpius won't be far behind."
D'Argo nodded. "We should not be here when he arrives."
Crichton pointed at his friend "Amen to that, brother."
Zhaan stood up "What about Tarone's brother? He is an innocent in all of this. He will be killed if Tarone doesn't return to Tean with us."
Crichton let his head fall back and groaned.
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TBC