Chapter One

Talyn orbited the planet Zorosa 3, his two occupants sound asleep and happy. Happy. Content. In love. The young Leviathan gunship now understood what Officer Sun meant when they were escaping from the Boodong and he had spaced Crichton. He understood now what it meant to need someone. Talyn found that he needed Morgan Langtree as much as Crais did. Not that the stubborn Sebacean would admit it. If the gunship could laugh, he would have. He knew Bialar Crais better than Crais knew himself. He loved Morgan, but Talyn knew Crais wasn't ready to truly admit it to himself. Oh, he told her often, when they lay spent after making love, when neither one of them were paying attention to the gunship and he listened, absorbing the new sensations both of them sent him. It was an interesting feeling this emotion called love. Talyn loved his mother, Moya, but he recognized the difference. Maybe that was why he didn't try to hurt Crais anymore. Talyn had plenty to share with his mother when they reunited. He hoped that she would find him more mature after spending the last six monens with Crais and Morgan.

Talyn was so lost in his own thoughts that he never noticed the Scarren dreadnaught as it slipped around the planet's horizon. The dreadnaught opened fire, closing the metras between them quicker than the gunship could move away. He aimed his guns at it, triggering the warning sirens inside to wake up Crais and Morgan. He opened fire, returning the salvos as he ran, flying aimlessly, his only concern being to protect the beings he considered his family.



Morgan found herself face down on Talyn's deck, jolted abruptly awake. Crais landed on top of her as Talyn jerked to one side, the stabilizers taking their own sweet time kicking in. "Crais, get the frell off me," she demanded, trying to get out from under her lover.

"Something is not right," he responded, propping himself up on his arms. Both of them accessed their links to Talyn.

"No shit Sherlock. Now get off of me…"

Talyn tilted again, sending human and Sebacean sliding across the steelskin deck. Crais grabbed a hold of a console support, catching Morgan's hand as she rolled past. "We are under attack." He pulled her back up to the console, wrapping an arm around her waist to hold her there.

"Scarrens." Morgan wrapped her hands around the support, her eyes meeting Crais'. "Any ideas on how we are going to the bridge short of sliding there on our asses?"

Crais shook his head, his hair brushing his shoulders. "No. Not until we can get Talyn calmed," he answered, using the console to pull himself to his feet. He held out one hand, pulling Morgan up to stand beside him. "You try and calm him. I will try to get to the bridge." He grabbed his gun belt from the back of the chair, quickly buckling the pulse pistol to his waist and leg as he stumbled from the room, attempting to keep his balance.

Morgan pulled herself to the front of Crais' desk, sliding into the chair and wrapping her legs around the console support, her hands going straight to the neural link at the base of her neck. "Talyn, it would help if you straighten us out," she remarked calmly. Her heart raced in her chest, the adrenalin pumping as she accessed the stabilizer controls.

Crais held on to the walls as he fought his way up to the bridge. The gunship righted itself and the Captain took off running. As soon as he entered the bridge, he waved his hand over the manual override panel. Morgan had managed to calm the Leviathan, but not enough. Talyn was flying out of control. The ship rocked as another bolt hit it and Crais turned as Morgan ran onto the bridge. "Can you fly him manually?"

Morgan nodded, replacing Crais at the controls. "They've taken out the main gun and he can't starburst. The bastards knew exactly where to hit him." She took the controls in her hands, her flight training days on Earth still fresh in her mind. She glanced at Crais, a confused look on her face. "I thought this planet was uninhabited," she yelled over the wailing alerts, guiding Talyn down into Zorosa 3's atmosphere.

Crais silenced the alerts. "It is." The gunship rocked again.

"Not according to the information Talyn is feeding me." Morgan fought with the controls as the ship shuddered from the atmosphere's friction. "There's a settlement on the main continent." She gritted her teeth, the controls shuddering in her hands. "C'mon Talyn, slow your speed of descent!" Morgan called.

"Talyn! You must slow your speed!" Crais moved to stand behind Morgan, his hands wrapping around hers as the gunship went down, flying in a panic, desperately trying to outrun the dreadnaught. Morgan shook in Crais' arms and he couldn't determine if it was from fear or the exertion of trying to control Talyn. They broke through the cloud cover, a rugged landscape of forests and mountains with vegetation in shades of red and orange fanning out before them. Talyn was headed straight for a copse of trees Morgan could only mentally compare to the redwoods of Earth. "Brace for impact!" Crais yelled as Morgan pulled back on the controls, lifting the nose of the gunship as far as she could, the Leviathan bouncing once before careening between the trees.

The impact threw Crais and Morgan across the bridge. System's all over Talyn shorted, sparks flying from panels and consoles as the ship slid through the trees, slowing and stopping, everything going black.

"Morgan!" Crais coughed as the life support systems came back on line, waving the smoke from his face as he squinted in the faint light. The smoke burned his eyes and he picked his way through the ruined bridge trying to find her. "Morgan!" he called again.

"Over…here!"

Crais moved towards her voice, finding her pinned beneath a broken support strut. He lifted the strut, tossing it aside, coughing in the smoke. The atmospheric regulators kicked in, fresh oxygen sluggishly flowing into the bridge. Crais turned back to Morgan where she leaned against the bulkhead, kneeling next to her. Her face was smudged and grimy, a large bruise on her temple, her eyes bright in the light, shining with tears. Tears Crais could only guess were from pain. He felt her leg, gently applying pressure as he searched for other breaks. Her shinbone stuck out of her leg at an odd angle, the bone shining bright white in the lights. His eyes met hers. "It is only broke in one place."

"That's…reassuring," Morgan responded through clenched teeth. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she gritted her teeth. "Talyn?"

"For the most part, he is fine. We are in agreement that remaining hidden is the wise course of action," Crais answered, moving debris from around Morgan. He helped her stand, wrapping her arm around his shoulder as she tried to hop alongside of him. It didn't help. There was too much debris littering the bridge and Crais swung her up into his arms, taking care not to hurt her any more than she already was, moving quickly through the gunship to the small medical facility.

Morgan held on to Crais, her arms clasped around his neck as he carried her, burying her face in his shoulder, hot tears of pain dampening his black shirt. "Ugh! It hurts!" she hissed.

Crais sat her on the medical bed. "It must be set. And you are losing blood."

Morgan looked around for anything to use as a tourniquet. She pulled her tank top off, wrapping it tightly around her leg just below the knee, slowing the flow of blood. She looked at Crais, noticing the raised eyebrows and slightly amused smirk on his face as he returned to the bed, a field dressing kit in his hands. She shook her head, knowing how the Sebacean Captain reacted whenever he saw her in nothing but her underwear. "Crais set the leg."

Crais tried not to smile as he laid out the supplies. "You do realize that you are at my mercy at the moment."

Morgan swallowed against the pain. "And if you ever plan on having offspring, you better set my damn leg!" Crais' hands twisted around her leg, popping the bone back in place the same time she spoke, feeling bone rub against bone. "Son of a bitch!" Morgan screamed, closing her eyes as pain shot up her leg.

"You would've made an excellent Peacekeeper," he commented, splinting her shin. He looked up at her.

Sweat slid down her face, her breathing shallow. "Yeah…well, you would've made a lousy doctor," she chuckled softly, clenching the sides of the bed. "Your bedside manner sucks." She let out a breath and promptly passed out.



Crichton paced Moya's command, chewing on the pad of his thumb. He looked up at D'Argo as the warrior walked in, his eyes questioning. The Luxan simply shook his head. "That's it. I'm going to look for them."

D'Argo grabbed his arm. "It has only been two solar days. They will arrive before long."

Crichton nodded, knowing his friend was probably right. He turned as Aeryn and Zhaan walked in, sighing. "Still no sign of them."

Zhaan walked over to Crichton. "I'm sure Morgan is fine, John."

The clamshell came to life with Pilot's image, the alien having monitored the entire exchange. "Commander Crichton, Moya has not detected any form of signal from Talyn. But as soon as she does, we will let you know."

Crichton looked at Pilot and then at Zhaan. "I'll be in my quarters." He slipped past them without another word, Aeryn behind him as he stalked down the corridor. He walked in, stopping, not sure what to do. Crichton knew something was wrong. Very, very wrong.



Crais slipped through the odd colored underbrush following Talyn's directions to the settlement. He looked around, his pulse pistol in one hand, prepared for anything. He had no idea what lay beyond the trees. He broke through the low growth and stopped, dropping to his stomach at the edge of the high rock formation, sliding the oculars over his head. The settlement below was a sprawling farming community and his heart tightened at the sight, reminding him of the childhood days he had spent working the land with his family. He pushed the memories away, scanning the settlement for any sign of movement. A lone figure walked slowly across the settlement square. Crais focused, the oculars zooming in. "Sebacean," he commented to himself. He reached back, laying his hand on the transponder. "Talyn, scan for any Peacekeeper signals." He slowly slipped back from the edge and into the underbrush, standing and moving quickly back to the gunship.

As soon as he was on board, Crais immediately went to the medical bay, only to find Morgan gone. His eyes narrowed, his lips thinning as he used the neural link to search Talyn. He found Morgan on the bridge and he opened the comm channel as stormed his way through the ship. "What are you doing? You are not supposed to be on that leg."

Morgan looked up from the console she had been recalibrating. "There's that damn Peacekeeper attitude again," she mumbled to herself.

"What?" Crais snapped.

"I'm not putting any weight on it, Bialar. Chill out," she answered, leaning on the makeshift crutches she had put together, hobbling back to the scanner console. "No sign of Peacekeepers."

"Good," Crais replied as he strode in. He stared at Morgan, annoyance tingeing his voice. "You should be resting."

Morgan shook her head, not even turning to look at him. She could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head. "Cut the attitude, Crais. I'm fine." Her hands flew over the console as she adjusted the sensors, taking her time before turning to face the Captain. "What'd you find out?"

Crais moved towards her, his jaw set. "It is a Sebacean settlement."

"Some of your own people? This far outside of Peacekeeper patrols?" Crais nodded. "Hopefully that's a good thing, then," she responded.

Crais rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I am hoping they have a medical facility where that leg can be examined." He pointed to her splinted leg, noticing that the wound had opened again.

"And if they don't?"

Crais sighed. "Morgan, it will not heal properly without attention. I can only do so much."

Morgan tucked the crutches under arms, hopping on her good leg to stand in front of him. "I'll be fine." She smiled, using the crutches to push herself up to kiss him.

Crais' eyes narrowed and he laid a cool hand on her forehead. "You are burning up."

"It's just a low grade fever, Crais."

Crais picked her up, tossing her over his shoulder as the crutches clattered to the deck, supporting her leg as he marched through the gunship. "A fever just the same."

"Bialar! Put me down!" Morgan yelled, beating his back. She gave up, sinking her elbow into the small of his back to lean her chin on it.

Crais unceremoniously dumped Morgan in bed, covering her with the blanket. "Stay there," he commanded, pointing to the bed. He started out of their shared quarters. "I will see if I can get some assistance."

"Bossy bastard," Morgan remarked, crossing her arms over her chest, knowing that even Talyn wouldn't help her.

"I heard that!" Crais called, his footsteps receding down the corridor.



Crais hid among the foliage not very far from Talyn. He heard the scouting party as soon as he had stepped out into the evening light, pulling his pulse pistol, ducking behind a small red bush, watching the group of Sebaceans approach the grounded gunship.

"It's a Leviathan," a woman said, running her hand along Talyn's steelskin hull. "A young one too, by the look of it."

A man pointed towards a gun port. "It's a hybrid." He turned to another. "This Leviathan has cannons and armaments."

The other man moved forward, staring at Talyn in disbelief. "He actually did it. That scoundrel Crais actually bred a hybrid."

Crais canted his head at his name, slipping the oculars on to get a better look at the man that spoke. He seemed familiar and Crais studied him. He was tall with white hair and an easy smile. "No Talyn. We want their help." He felt the gunship calm, felt Morgan's calming influence on Talyn and he shook his head at his question. "Wait."

"If this is Crais' hybrid, then what is it doing on our planet?" the woman asked, propping the butt of her pulse rifle on her hip.

The man looked at Talyn, running his hand across a carbon score. "I don't know Bian. We have to try and get inside, if it will let us. It's obviously been in some sort of fight."

"And crashing here was not our intent," Crais remarked, as he walked towards the group, holstering his pistol. He held his hands up as the group trained all of their weapons on him. Bian moved forward, pulling the pulse pistol from his holster and tossing it to another.

The man moved through the line of Sebaceans', a smile creasing his face as he shook his head. "Bialar Crais. The last I heard, High Command was after you."

"They still are Shantar." He approached the man. "Are you going to turn me in?"

Senior Officer Gregon Shantar shook his head, offering Crais his hand in friendship. "Not a frelling chance. There's a bigger reward on my head since I didn't bring you in when I found you orbiting Cordron Prime." He stepped back, his face darkening suspiciously. "Are you?"

"No." Crais looked up at Talyn. "But I could use your help."

Shantar handed Crais his pulse pistol. "What's the matter? Is it hurt?"

Crais looked at Shantar. "Nothing that Talyn can't heal on his own. But my…companion is injured." Crais did not want to reveal too much information to Shantar until he was sure which side the ex-Peacekeeper was on. He started towards the outer access hatch.

Shantar followed Crais. "Companion? Female?" he asked, his voice and face filled with mirth.

Crais glanced back at the older man. "Yes." He led Shantar through Talyn, heading towards the bridge. He had scanned the ship as soon as he stepped through the hatch, sighing at finding Morgan back on the bridge.

"What happened?"

"We were attacked by Scarrens. They…surprised us." He saw Morgan lying under the manual control console, muttering to herself.

Shantar laughed. "The great Bialar Crais was taken by surprise?" He pointed at Morgan, who had wiggled out at Shantar's voice. "She must be one hezmona of a woman!"

Crais glared down at her, a smug smile on her face. "You have no idea," he answered dryly, reaching a hand down to help her stand. "Gregon Shantar, this is Morgan Langtree."

"A pleasure," Shantar said, taking her hand. He turned to Crais. "We have a medical facility in the settlement where that leg can be looked at."

"Thank you." Crais shot a glance at Morgan. "I have set the leg, but I am concerned that it will not heal properly. Her…physiology is different from ours."

Shantar's eyebrows rose at Crais' remark. "How?"

"I'm human." She tucked the crutches beneath her arms, slowly moving towards the bridge entrance.

"Human? Like Crichton?" Shantar looked at Crais for confirmation.

Crais nodded, the two men following behind her.

Shantar laughed, stopping. "What have you gotten yourself into?"



"Jesus H. Christ!" Morgan bellowed from the other room.

Shantar pushed a flagon of water towards Crais as he sat across the table. "You are right. She is feisty." He leaned back in the chair. "She is Crichton's cousin?"

Crais nodded, pouring himself a drink. "He was not happy when Morgan took it upon herself to link with Talyn."

"Or to remain with you, I should suspect," Shantar commented quietly. He studied Crais' face. "I can see this human woman has made an impact on you." He sipped at his own water, and leaned forward, clasping his hands. "Do you love her?"

Crais' head snapped up, his eyes narrowing. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I truly believe that we were led astray by our illustrious Peacekeeper mandates." The door behind him opened, Bian walking out, shaking her head. His eyes followed her. "A simple emotion we have been trained to suppress." He looked back at Crais, their eyes locking. "And you didn't answer my question, Bialar."

"Yes I love her. And I fight with myself over it." He sighed. "She has been with me for six monens, accepting me for who I am, knowing what I was," he snapped.

Shantar nodded knowingly. "One day, you will stop fighting it. It will pass my friend. I know." The older man stood. "Come. Let's see if the Scarrens are still around."



Crais quietly closed the door to the quarters Shantar and his wife gave them, gazing down at Morgan's sleeping form. Her leg was reset and bandaged, the gash left by the broken bone neatly stitched closed. He knew it would still take time to heal even though the doctor had knitted the bones back together. Shantar had helped him camouflage Talyn, allowing the gunship time to power down and rest. Crais was still uneasy. The Scarren dreadnaught had disappeared. They would not have given up that easy. Crais began to pace, lost in his own thoughts.

"I hate it when you do that," Morgan remarked quietly. She sat up, leaning on her elbows. "Any news?"

Crais stopped and looked at her. Her hair was in disarray, her soft skin glowing warmly in the faint light from Zorosa 3's moons. He sat on the bed, tugging his boots off. "The Scarrens are gone," he answered softly, pulling his shirt over his head.

Morgan ran a hand down his back. "You don't believe that and neither do I." She leaned towards him, laying her hands on his upper arms as she placed a soft kiss between his shoulder blades. "How well can you trust this Shantar?"

He turned in her arms to face her. "I don't know Morgan. But until we can guarantee the Scarrens are gone, we have no choice."

Morgan nodded, lying back down in the bed, pulling Crais down next to her. "John and the others are going to be worried when we don't show up at Terantic."

"Mmm," Crais agreed, turning towards her in the bed. "That is the last thing we need."

Morgan laid her head on Crais' shoulder. She was still running a fever and shivered. "Tell me about it," she murmured, nestling closer to him as he pulled the blanket over her.



Crichton leaned his chin on his arms as he stood in Pilot's den, silently watching the purple alien. He sighed, laying his head down, running his fingers through his hair.

Pilot looked at him. "I'm sorry Crichton. Moya can detect no other Leviathans for at least five thousand metras."

Aeryn laid her hand on his shoulder. "John, you need some rest."

"No. Not until I know Morgan's all right." He turned his head sideways and looked at Aeryn. "I just know something's happened. And it's Crais' fault."

His comment caused Pilot to pause his movement. "Commander Crichton, neither Moya nor I feel that Captain Crais is at fault. Talyn would not allow anything to happen to Captain Langtree."

Crichton gazed at the alien. "It's been a week, Pilot. A week with no contact. I know Morgan." He gazed back and forth between the two of them. "She's the type of person who would be early for her own funeral."

Aeryn laughed. "There's a thought." She wrapped an arm around Crichton. "Stop worrying. Morgan won't take any dren from Crais."

Pilot snorted, blinking his big eyes. "I believe she…" he turned to Crichton. "How do you say it Crichton…'gives as good as she gets'?"



Morgan lay under the control panel, her mind following each separate wire back to the control node on tier three. She cursed colorfully as each wire she ran connected without a break. Talyn chirped at her. "Well, something's causing the damn thing to malfunction." She shook her head. "No. Let me check something else." Before she could start again, she noticed a pair of boots by her side.

Crais looked down at Morgan, her injured leg still braced and lying straight on the deck. They had been on Zorosa 3 for three days, working on Talyn and staying out of the settler's way. All of them were getting restless. "Morgan, Shantar has picked up a signal."

The tone of Crais' voice caused Morgan to scramble out from under the panel. "Peacekeepers?" The look on his face answered her question. "Aw, frell!" She took the hand Crais offered and he helped her to her feet. "Half of Talyn's systems are still fried." She waved her hand over the console, banging her fist on it when it didn't respond. "We couldn't make a run for it if we wanted to."

Crais folded his hands behind his back, looking at Morgan. "I concur. Our only options are to hide or to surrender."

Morgan looked at him, their eyes locking. She didn't like where this was going. "What's behind door number 3?" she asked softly. She turned to face him, her hands on her hips.

Crais looked away momentarily, then laid his hands on her shoulders. "If I turn myself in, you and Talyn can make a run for it, get back to Moya and the others where you'd be safe."

"Like hell!" she spat, throwing her arms up and breaking the embrace. "My ass would be coming after you!" she yelled, poking him in the chest. "Crais, if you surrender or if they capture you, you're dead. They will kill you."

Crais nodded. "But you would be safe."

Morgan looked at him in disbelief. "Well, if this is our only option, then I might as well just shoot you myself and get it over with!" Fury flared in her eyes, her face flushed with anger.

"You would enjoy that," Crais remarked, his voice hard. "I will not hide."

Morgan thought about it for a moment, their eyes locked in a standoff. She rested one hand on the console, the other on her hip. "You said you didn't know if you could trust Shantar. Do you think someone in his camp called the Peacekeepers?"

Crais' eyes followed her as she began to move, limping past him. "It is a possibility, but highly unlikely. Shantar, like myself, is wanted by High Command."

"Good." Morgan turned on the ball of her foot, sending her braced leg up and around in a roundhouse kick that Chuck Norris would've been proud of, catching Crais by surprise. The ex-Peacekeeper went down, out cold and Morgan knelt next to her lover, checking that he still had a pulse. She leaned an arm on her knee, watching the bruise on his temple slowly appear. "Yeah, Talyn. He'll be pissed. But at least he'll be alive."

Copyright 2002, Beth A. Carpenter