Part XIII
John had managed to get Jack to go to sleep but it took three and a half stories before he finally settled down. Even then it was probably from pure exhaustion. John, himself, however couldn't manage to close his eyes without seeing horrifying images of Aeryn and what could be happening to her. He was sitting on the floor beside Jack's bed with his head leaning back on the bed. His eyes were closed but he wasn't sleeping. He heard soft steps approaching him. Just as Chiana was about to touch him his eyes popped open.
Chiana: (speaking softly) "I just wanted to see how Jack was."
John lifted his head and looked back at Jack.
John: (whispering) "He misses her."
Chiana: "How are you?"
John gestured for them to go out into the passageway when Jack stirred slightly. He got off the floor and followed Chiana out. John leaned up against the wall.
Chiana: "You look tired, old man. You have to try to get some sleep."
John: "Every time I try to sleep I have these dreams of Aeryn being killed, tortured..."
His voice trailed off.
John: "I shouldn't have let her convince me to stay here. She needs me."
Chiana: "She knew and you know that Jack needs you here."
John turned sideways and stared at Jack.
John: "He looks so small in that big bed. I have been trying to image what he was like when he was a tiny newborn."
Chiana: (laying her hand on John's shoulder and looking in at Jack) "He is picking up on your fear, your anxiety. You have to keep it together for his sake."
John: "I am trying Chi but every fiber in my body tells me that Aeryn is in trouble."
Chiana: "Look I don't trust Velorek either but D'Argo and Crais will take care of her."
John: (rolling his eyes up towards the ceiling) "Crais, that cockroach."
Chiana looked at John.
Chiana: "I know you don't trust Crais but he has saved your life many times and Aeryn's. He cares for her. He wouldn't let anything happen to her."
John: "I know you are probably right. I just can't shake this feeling Chi that I am never going to see her again."
He looked at Chiana.
John: "It is too bad you can't have one of your visions and tell me how she is doing or when she is coming home."
He kissed Chiana's forehead.
John: "Go get some rest. I am going to go back encase Jack wakes up. I don't want him to be alone."
He slipped back into the chamber. He lay beside his son. John reached out and gently stroked his hair. He stared into his sleeping face. He could see so much of Aeryn in his son's beautiful face.
******
Crais and Aeryn were getting impatient waiting for Velorek to have the guard pulled from their cells. They had been locked up for several arns with no contact from him at all. Crais was beginning to question Velorek's sincerity. Aeryn wanted to believe that Velorek was trustworthy but her peacekeeper training was telling her to trust nothing. So she and Crais devised a plan to get the guard into Aeryn's cell so they could take him out. She feigned head pain due to the blow from the pulse rifle and knowing that Velorek's orders were for her to be unharmed he of course entered the cell. Aeryn had slipped the pass key to Crais before going into her act so by the time the PK soldier entered her cell, Crais was exiting his. Aeryn fought with the shoulder. They fell to the floor and he had gotten an advantage over her. Crais slammed him from behind. He held his hand down to Aeryn. She pushed the PK soldier off of her and grabbed his hand. He pulled her to her feet.
Aeryn: "I have been watching the traffic of techs. They have been heading in that direction with supplies and coming back empty handed. I would say the labs and birthing chambers are that way."
Crais bent down and picked up the pulse pistol and rifle. He offered Aeryn her choice. She grabbed the pulse pistol.
Aeryn: "We have to hurry. If D'Argo is not contacted soon, he will come for us."
Aeryn and Crais approached the entrance of her cell. They looked down both sides of the passageway. She looked at Crais.
Crais: "Advance pattern Durka. Shot to kill Aeryn."
She extended her arms with pulse pistol out. Crais ready the rifle as well. He covered their rear as they made their way down the corridor.
***********
Velorek was in the birthing center checking the readings on the newest hybrid ship. It wasn't doing well. Its systems were failing rapidly. Lt. Seneco stood beside Velorek.
Seneco: "We need to bring the hybrid ship aboard as soon as possible to examine and study it. There must be something we are missing. Why has it survived and these others died or were so uncontrollable we had to kill them?"
Velorek: "I have been aboard Talyn. His make up is the same. There is no difference other than the host mother."
Seneco: (in a confused tone) "Talyn?"
Velorek: (studying charts) "That is his name."
Lt. Seneco shook his head in disbelief. They were so deep in conversation they did not notice Aeryn slip onto the catwalk above their heads. Crais was entering the birthing center through a lower exit.
Seneco: "High command wants a report on our progress with this one."
Velorek: "He is dying. His systems are in rapid failure. There is nothing we can do."
He lowered his eyes and looked at the hybrid.
Velorek: "Right, have a docking web bring Talyn aboard and prepare a team of techs to board him. We will have to pull his systems apart and study their make up. There has to be something we are missing."
Aeryn was furious that Velorek would even consider taking Talyn apart. She saw Crais slip into the control booth from her vantage point. She stood up and pointed her pulse pistol directly at Velorek and Seneco.
Aeryn: "I would delay that order."
They both looked up in shock.
Velorek: "Aeryn?!"
Aeryn: "No one will be taking Talyn's systems apart."
Seneco: (yelling) "Intruder! Kill her!"
PK soldiers entered the bay. Pulse blasts started hitting the catwalk. Aeryn docked down and raced across to the other side. While she was drawing their attention and their fire, Crais was in the booth destroying the data. Once he determined that the data was not linked to high command, he contacted Talyn.
Voice over com: "Lt. Seneco, the hybrid is powering up his weapons system and is preparing to fire on us."
Lt. Seneco looked at Velorek.
Seneco: "I thought you said he would be neutralized."
Velorek: "He is stronger than I thought. We have to evacuate the facility."
Seneco: "What about the data? We can not lose the data."
Velorek: "We can create more data but not if we all die on this station."
Aeryn was firing wildly, but accurately, from her position on top of the catwalk. She was keeping the soldiers away from Crais in the booth. Crais set charges that he had smuggled off of Talyn in the booth. He ran out of the booth firing the rifle. Aeryn covered him as well.
Crais: "Aeryn, 40 microts. Talyn will continue firing on the station until our transport is away."
Aeryn's attention was diverted momentarily when she spotted Velorek running out of the side door.
Aeryn: "Crais, I will meet you at the transport."
Crais: "Hurry we don't have much time."
Crais was continuing to fire. He nodded and headed out the way he came. The control booth explosion was enormous. Aeryn was just getting off the catwalk when the blast knocked her down. She was lying on her stomach covering her head while the debris fell around her. She turned over and grabbed the pulse pistol off the floor. She tried to stand when she felt a sharp hot pain in her right thigh. She looked down. A piece of metal fragment had embedded in her leg. She ripped a piece of material from her shirt and tied it tightly above the metal fragment to stop the bleeding. She braced her leg between two pieces of steel and took hold of the metal. It had to be removed from her leg. She closed her eyes ands pulled as hard as she could. She let out a Jool-like scream as the metal was ripped from her flesh. There were tears in her eyes as they opened. She tore another piece of material and wrapped it tightly around the wound. She grabbed the pulse pistol and dragged her leg
quickly behind her. The pain was excruciating but her PK training served her well. She ignored it.
Aeryn knew she couldn't let Velorek get off the station with his knowledge of creating hybrids. She made her way to the transport bay. The techs and soldiers on the station were evacuating as Talyn continued his relentless assault on the facility.
******
Seneco and Velorek were about to board his marauder when Aeryn stepped out of the shadows. Her pulse pistol trained on them.
Aeryn: "You know I can't let you leave. I will not let you destroy anymore leviathans."
Velorek: "Aeryn, thank god. I thought you were killed in the lab explosion."
He saw her leg.
Velorek: "Your hurt. You need help."
He started to approach her.
Aeryn: "Stay where you are."
Velorek: "Aeryn?"
Seneco looked at him.
Lt. Seneco: "You damn traitor. I knew you couldn't be trusted."
He lifted his pulse pistol and shot at Velorek.
Aeryn in turn shot at Seneco. The pulse blasts were bouncing around the enclosed space. Aeryn ducked behind a crate. Smoke started clearing. Aeryn stuck her head out from behind the crate slowly. She saw Velorek lying on the ground. Seneco's body was lying at the entrance to the marauder. Crais stepped from beside the marauder. He walked over to Velorek. Aeryn stood up slowly. Crais was staring down at Velorek. He was alive barely.
Crais: (looking at Aeryn) "Officer Sun, we have to go."
Aeryn: "I will be there in a microt."
Crais walked away. Aeryn walked over to Velorek and kneeled down. He had a gapping wound in his stomach. She looked up at his face.
Velorek: "Well I guess this worked out the way it was suppose to after all."
Aeryn: "I never wanted you to die."
Velorek: "I have to know. How has Talyn survived?"
Aeryn: "He was born free and has been loved by us all. How can anything survive without that?"
He looked in her eyes.
Velorek: (reaching up to touch her cheek) "I wasn't going to harm you. I just wanted you to be mine, like it was meant to be."
Aeryn: "You were going to harm Talyn."
Velorek: "We could have had a good life together Aeryn."
With that Velorek's hand dropped to the floor. Aeryn touched his face.
Aeryn: "Goodbye Velorek."
She stood up and rushed to the transport. Crais lifted off the station and once they were out of ranged ordered Talyn to destroy it. Talyn took three shots and the facility was nothing but space dust.
Aeryn got into the pilot seat of the transport. Crais saw her leg.
Crais: "We should take care of that."
Aeryn: "When we get out of PK territory and pick up D'Argo, we can take care of it."
They boarded Talyn. Crais rushed to command.
D'Argo met them at their designated rendezvous point. He was relieved to see that Aeryn had made it back alive. She was exhausted, bruised and had a bad gash in her leg but she was okay.
D'Argo: "I am sorry about Velorek."
Aeryn: "He wasn't always like this. Circumstances change a person."
D'Argo: (smiling at her) "Sometimes for the better."
She lowered her eyes.
D'Argo: "How is your leg?"
Aeryn: "You did a good job wrapping it. I am sure Jool will be able to fix it."
D'Argo: "Crais has contacted Moya. She has set an intercept course."
Aeryn couldn't help smiling. D'Argo held her hand.
D'Argo: "I miss them too."
Aeryn: "By them, who would you mean exactly?"
She had a coy smile on her face. He smiled slightly.
D'Argo: "Never mind. You should get some rest. You lost a fair amount of blood."
Aeryn: "I am okay. I just need to be home."
D'Argo: "Rest. I will let you know when we have reached Moya."
D'Argo left Aeryn alone. She laid down. It didn't take long for her exhaustion to take hold. She drifted into a deep sleep with her leg propped up on a pillow.
******
John had managed to get Jack to go to sleep but it took three and a half stories before he finally settled down. Even then it was probably from pure exhaustion. John, himself, however couldn't manage to close his eyes without seeing horrifying images of Aeryn and what could be happening to her. He was sitting on the floor beside Jack's bed with his head leaning back on the bed. His eyes were closed but he wasn't sleeping. He heard soft steps approaching him. Just as Chiana was about to touch him his eyes popped open.
Chiana: (speaking softly) "I just wanted to see how Jack was."
John lifted his head and looked back at Jack.
John: (whispering) "He misses her."
Chiana: "How are you?"
John gestured for them to go out into the passageway when Jack stirred slightly. He got off the floor and followed Chiana out. John leaned up against the wall.
Chiana: "You look tired, old man. You have to try to get some sleep."
John: "Every time I try to sleep I have these dreams of Aeryn being killed, tortured..."
His voice trailed off.
John: "I shouldn't have let her convince me to stay here. She needs me."
Chiana: "She knew and you know that Jack needs you here."
John turned sideways and stared at Jack.
John: "He looks so small in that big bed. I have been trying to image what he was like when he was a tiny newborn."
Chiana: (laying her hand on John's shoulder and looking in at Jack) "He is picking up on your fear, your anxiety. You have to keep it together for his sake."
John: "I am trying Chi but every fiber in my body tells me that Aeryn is in trouble."
Chiana: "Look I don't trust Velorek either but D'Argo and Crais will take care of her."
John: (rolling his eyes up towards the ceiling) "Crais, that cockroach."
Chiana looked at John.
Chiana: "I know you don't trust Crais but he has saved your life many times and Aeryn's. He cares for her. He wouldn't let anything happen to her."
John: "I know you are probably right. I just can't shake this feeling Chi that I am never going to see her again."
He looked at Chiana.
John: "It is too bad you can't have one of your visions and tell me how she is doing or when she is coming home."
He kissed Chiana's forehead.
John: "Go get some rest. I am going to go back encase Jack wakes up. I don't want him to be alone."
He slipped back into the chamber. He lay beside his son. John reached out and gently stroked his hair. He stared into his sleeping face. He could see so much of Aeryn in his son's beautiful face.
******
Crais and Aeryn were getting impatient waiting for Velorek to have the guard pulled from their cells. They had been locked up for several arns with no contact from him at all. Crais was beginning to question Velorek's sincerity. Aeryn wanted to believe that Velorek was trustworthy but her peacekeeper training was telling her to trust nothing. So she and Crais devised a plan to get the guard into Aeryn's cell so they could take him out. She feigned head pain due to the blow from the pulse rifle and knowing that Velorek's orders were for her to be unharmed he of course entered the cell. Aeryn had slipped the pass key to Crais before going into her act so by the time the PK soldier entered her cell, Crais was exiting his. Aeryn fought with the shoulder. They fell to the floor and he had gotten an advantage over her. Crais slammed him from behind. He held his hand down to Aeryn. She pushed the PK soldier off of her and grabbed his hand. He pulled her to her feet.
Aeryn: "I have been watching the traffic of techs. They have been heading in that direction with supplies and coming back empty handed. I would say the labs and birthing chambers are that way."
Crais bent down and picked up the pulse pistol and rifle. He offered Aeryn her choice. She grabbed the pulse pistol.
Aeryn: "We have to hurry. If D'Argo is not contacted soon, he will come for us."
Aeryn and Crais approached the entrance of her cell. They looked down both sides of the passageway. She looked at Crais.
Crais: "Advance pattern Durka. Shot to kill Aeryn."
She extended her arms with pulse pistol out. Crais ready the rifle as well. He covered their rear as they made their way down the corridor.
***********
Velorek was in the birthing center checking the readings on the newest hybrid ship. It wasn't doing well. Its systems were failing rapidly. Lt. Seneco stood beside Velorek.
Seneco: "We need to bring the hybrid ship aboard as soon as possible to examine and study it. There must be something we are missing. Why has it survived and these others died or were so uncontrollable we had to kill them?"
Velorek: "I have been aboard Talyn. His make up is the same. There is no difference other than the host mother."
Seneco: (in a confused tone) "Talyn?"
Velorek: (studying charts) "That is his name."
Lt. Seneco shook his head in disbelief. They were so deep in conversation they did not notice Aeryn slip onto the catwalk above their heads. Crais was entering the birthing center through a lower exit.
Seneco: "High command wants a report on our progress with this one."
Velorek: "He is dying. His systems are in rapid failure. There is nothing we can do."
He lowered his eyes and looked at the hybrid.
Velorek: "Right, have a docking web bring Talyn aboard and prepare a team of techs to board him. We will have to pull his systems apart and study their make up. There has to be something we are missing."
Aeryn was furious that Velorek would even consider taking Talyn apart. She saw Crais slip into the control booth from her vantage point. She stood up and pointed her pulse pistol directly at Velorek and Seneco.
Aeryn: "I would delay that order."
They both looked up in shock.
Velorek: "Aeryn?!"
Aeryn: "No one will be taking Talyn's systems apart."
Seneco: (yelling) "Intruder! Kill her!"
PK soldiers entered the bay. Pulse blasts started hitting the catwalk. Aeryn docked down and raced across to the other side. While she was drawing their attention and their fire, Crais was in the booth destroying the data. Once he determined that the data was not linked to high command, he contacted Talyn.
Voice over com: "Lt. Seneco, the hybrid is powering up his weapons system and is preparing to fire on us."
Lt. Seneco looked at Velorek.
Seneco: "I thought you said he would be neutralized."
Velorek: "He is stronger than I thought. We have to evacuate the facility."
Seneco: "What about the data? We can not lose the data."
Velorek: "We can create more data but not if we all die on this station."
Aeryn was firing wildly, but accurately, from her position on top of the catwalk. She was keeping the soldiers away from Crais in the booth. Crais set charges that he had smuggled off of Talyn in the booth. He ran out of the booth firing the rifle. Aeryn covered him as well.
Crais: "Aeryn, 40 microts. Talyn will continue firing on the station until our transport is away."
Aeryn's attention was diverted momentarily when she spotted Velorek running out of the side door.
Aeryn: "Crais, I will meet you at the transport."
Crais: "Hurry we don't have much time."
Crais was continuing to fire. He nodded and headed out the way he came. The control booth explosion was enormous. Aeryn was just getting off the catwalk when the blast knocked her down. She was lying on her stomach covering her head while the debris fell around her. She turned over and grabbed the pulse pistol off the floor. She tried to stand when she felt a sharp hot pain in her right thigh. She looked down. A piece of metal fragment had embedded in her leg. She ripped a piece of material from her shirt and tied it tightly above the metal fragment to stop the bleeding. She braced her leg between two pieces of steel and took hold of the metal. It had to be removed from her leg. She closed her eyes ands pulled as hard as she could. She let out a Jool-like scream as the metal was ripped from her flesh. There were tears in her eyes as they opened. She tore another piece of material and wrapped it tightly around the wound. She grabbed the pulse pistol and dragged her leg
quickly behind her. The pain was excruciating but her PK training served her well. She ignored it.
Aeryn knew she couldn't let Velorek get off the station with his knowledge of creating hybrids. She made her way to the transport bay. The techs and soldiers on the station were evacuating as Talyn continued his relentless assault on the facility.
******
Seneco and Velorek were about to board his marauder when Aeryn stepped out of the shadows. Her pulse pistol trained on them.
Aeryn: "You know I can't let you leave. I will not let you destroy anymore leviathans."
Velorek: "Aeryn, thank god. I thought you were killed in the lab explosion."
He saw her leg.
Velorek: "Your hurt. You need help."
He started to approach her.
Aeryn: "Stay where you are."
Velorek: "Aeryn?"
Seneco looked at him.
Lt. Seneco: "You damn traitor. I knew you couldn't be trusted."
He lifted his pulse pistol and shot at Velorek.
Aeryn in turn shot at Seneco. The pulse blasts were bouncing around the enclosed space. Aeryn ducked behind a crate. Smoke started clearing. Aeryn stuck her head out from behind the crate slowly. She saw Velorek lying on the ground. Seneco's body was lying at the entrance to the marauder. Crais stepped from beside the marauder. He walked over to Velorek. Aeryn stood up slowly. Crais was staring down at Velorek. He was alive barely.
Crais: (looking at Aeryn) "Officer Sun, we have to go."
Aeryn: "I will be there in a microt."
Crais walked away. Aeryn walked over to Velorek and kneeled down. He had a gapping wound in his stomach. She looked up at his face.
Velorek: "Well I guess this worked out the way it was suppose to after all."
Aeryn: "I never wanted you to die."
Velorek: "I have to know. How has Talyn survived?"
Aeryn: "He was born free and has been loved by us all. How can anything survive without that?"
He looked in her eyes.
Velorek: (reaching up to touch her cheek) "I wasn't going to harm you. I just wanted you to be mine, like it was meant to be."
Aeryn: "You were going to harm Talyn."
Velorek: "We could have had a good life together Aeryn."
With that Velorek's hand dropped to the floor. Aeryn touched his face.
Aeryn: "Goodbye Velorek."
She stood up and rushed to the transport. Crais lifted off the station and once they were out of ranged ordered Talyn to destroy it. Talyn took three shots and the facility was nothing but space dust.
Aeryn got into the pilot seat of the transport. Crais saw her leg.
Crais: "We should take care of that."
Aeryn: "When we get out of PK territory and pick up D'Argo, we can take care of it."
They boarded Talyn. Crais rushed to command.
D'Argo met them at their designated rendezvous point. He was relieved to see that Aeryn had made it back alive. She was exhausted, bruised and had a bad gash in her leg but she was okay.
D'Argo: "I am sorry about Velorek."
Aeryn: "He wasn't always like this. Circumstances change a person."
D'Argo: (smiling at her) "Sometimes for the better."
She lowered her eyes.
D'Argo: "How is your leg?"
Aeryn: "You did a good job wrapping it. I am sure Jool will be able to fix it."
D'Argo: "Crais has contacted Moya. She has set an intercept course."
Aeryn couldn't help smiling. D'Argo held her hand.
D'Argo: "I miss them too."
Aeryn: "By them, who would you mean exactly?"
She had a coy smile on her face. He smiled slightly.
D'Argo: "Never mind. You should get some rest. You lost a fair amount of blood."
Aeryn: "I am okay. I just need to be home."
D'Argo: "Rest. I will let you know when we have reached Moya."
D'Argo left Aeryn alone. She laid down. It didn't take long for her exhaustion to take hold. She drifted into a deep sleep with her leg propped up on a pillow.
******