thanks to all who read.
Fic: Walk It Off 6
thanks to can for her help
Aeryn felt like a fire was burning in her lungs. She managed to open her eyes and saw the
peacekeeper still standing there with a wild look on his face. His rough hands were around her
neck and squeezing tighter. 'This is it.'
He opened his mouth and shouted to someone off to the side. Aeryn could only hear muffled
sounds as he spoke. Her vision began to cloud up again and a heavy feeling was settling into her
lungs. 'John!' She wondered if his face was still on the monitor. For some strange reason, she
had to know for sure.
Jezik began to grin as he saw the life drain out of Aeryn Sun's face. In that instant of rage he'd
managed to forget the one clear objective of his mission. Luckily, for both of them in fact, she
didn't go down quite so easily. The peacekeeper felt a horrendous pain between his legs and
loosened his grip.
She pulled her leg back with all her might and sent it in for another attack. Before the move could
be completed, Aeryn felt air rush into her mouth again. She suddenly dropped to the ground and
hit it hard with a loud thud.
"You bitch!" Jezik's footing slipped and he was soon down on the ground as well. He looked
over at her from his resting spot and cringed at the pain running through him. Objective or no,
she would pay for that.
Aeryn found herself staring straight up at the ceiling. She tried to move, to turn her gaze to the
giant wall screen. Maybe he was still there, watching her. Would he care? 'Don't do this! Be
strong now. Worry about him later!'
As it turned out, both those options became unavailable to her. The soldiers were suddenly all
yelling to their superior about something. Aeryn couldn't make it out. All she knew was that the
feeling was returning to her arms and that the ground was shaking beneath her.
Jezik forced himself up and ran to the nearest control station. The ship's sensors had detected an
energy surge from the leviathan in front of it. He looked up at the wall screen and saw John
Crichton's surprised expression. "Switch to outside view!"
A testament to the obedience of his men, the view changed immediately to capture Talyn's front
side. The main cannon was now moving to put them in its sights.
He gestured to the closest technician. "You told me it didn't have enough power to fire! That
we'd be safe for another half arn!"
The threatened soldier stood up defiantly. "Those were my readings, sir." He had no further time
to argue his point.
Aeryn, Jezik, and every other soldier felt the room take a violent lurch to the side. Consoles
exploded in flames and darkness set in.
"Tell me that didn't just happen!"
John stared out the window in muted horror as the Vigilante was engulfed in flames. He tried to
ask the question again but no sound left his mouth. 'What was the last thing you said to her?
What the hell was she doing there." John finally managed to blink.
"That can't be it."
Crais turned his attention away from the human and focused on the destruction that Talyn had just
caused. Immediately, his mind began to fill with questions, both his and the gun ship's. Of these,
the loudest one belonged to the ex-captain himself. 'What have you done?'
The neural center above command began to beep in increasingly loud intervals. Talyn was
suddenly very aware of what he had done.
It was the noise that tore John from his view of the peacekeeper ship. The numbness inside of
him suddenly replaced by white hot rage. He turned around to face his former adversary.
"Crais!" He ran forward and grabbed the Sebacean by the collar of his black coat. With all the
strength he could muster, John picked Crais up and slammed him against the wall.
Bialar was more than a little surprised by this sudden act. "Crichton! What the frell are you
doing?"
"You said Talyn couldn't fire!" He shoved the man again and again as he spoke. "Not enough
energy, that's what you said!"
The auto-guns came online and aimed directly for where the two men were having it out.
Actually, the argument was a bit one-sided so far.
Noticing Talyn's move, Crais snapped back into reality. "Talyn, don't!" He managed to raise his
hands and push the angry human off of him. "I order you not to fire!"
John quickly pieced together what was happening and turned around. He saw the guns pointed at
him and swallowed involuntarily. "Crais!"
Crais used all the force his mind could affect against Talyn. 'Stand down!' He breathed a sigh of
relief when the guns began sliding back into their storage compartments.
"I was not lying to you Crichton. Talyn's energy levels were not sufficiently high to fire." Bialar
pulled his collar open wide. A feeling of claustrophobia had begun to set in along with the
realization that Aeryn might actually be dead.
"Then what the hell was that?" John pointed a finger towards the burning mass outside. "Why
didn't you see that coming?"
He searched for a reason that would satisfy the human. "It's possible that Talyn used energy from
a different source. Starburst, perhaps."
John considered this a moment and finally nodded. "Maybe."
Crais felt the urge to be alone begin to take form. He wasn't sure if the idea was truly his or
inserted by Talyn. "The conduit junction on tier three is failing. Go fix it."
The human stared at his traveling companion with a look of amazement. "What? No, we have to
see if-."
"Do it!" The anger in Crais' voice was enough to get the point across. For once, Crichton
obeyed. The ex-captain watched as he walked to the door and left.
Once he was alone with Talyn again, Crais raised his eyes to the neural center above. Red light
poured down and gave his face a demonic appearance. Bialar got only silence from the gun ship.
The worry that had been growing inside him now appeared to be justified.
"Starburst is at full power, isn't it?" The sentence didn't come out like a question.
"Frell!"
The shrill cry filled the hanger and echoed off the walls in a decidedly ominous way. Of the lights
that had once bathed the room, only one emergency bulb remained. As a result, the room sat in
eerie red darkness.
More noise crept up from the center of the room. A marauder lay on its side in a heap of mangled
metal and wires. Pounding was coming from inside.
The small ship's hatch suddenly burst open and fell to the ground below. A grey figure pulled
itself up and looked around.
"What? Are you hurt?" Keller looked up from his spot at the bottom of the marauder and
watched Chiana as she scrambled to get out.
The Nebari glanced down at him with an annoyed look on her face. "No, I didn't see that one
coming."
"How could you have?" Keller didn't understand what she was talking about but he really didn't
care. Before a response came, he turned to the onboard computer and began typing as fast as his
finger could afford to.
Chiana pulled herself up on top of the marauder and looked around. "Looks like someone kicked
the draz out of this place." Except for a few other ships, most of the Vigilante's aerial support
unit had been destroyed in the explosion.
"Talyn must have destroyed the immobilizer cannon." Keller smiled as the technical readings
appeared on his monitor. "Just in time too."
That didn't sound quite as good to Chiana. "He blew it up? We're not in trouble are we?"
Keller shook his head. "Don't worry. If this ship is one of the new models, and I think it is, then
its built to withstand that. The immobilizer cannon separates from the main body as soon as it
gets hit."
"And if it isn't one of the newer models?"
He stopped typing for a moment. "Then we've got a few microts at best."
It was the darkness that finally got to her. She'd been slipping in and out of consciousness in the
moments since the attack, each time leaving and returning to some other place. The contrast
between a flashing white light and the blinding darkness of the control room.
Aeryn opened her eyes and attempted to gain some idea of where she was. The area around her
was littered with debris and uprooted cables. She could hear sparks going off in the distance.
Most too far off to see.
The wall monitor was dead and pieces of the screen now hung perilously down over the exposed
floor she lay on. Aeryn found herself able to move better than she'd anticipated. Standing up was
not the tremendous effort it had been before.
"Is anyone there?" She repeated the question again but got no answer. There didn't seem to be
any other survivors. 'No, you're not that lucky." Her eyes searched the ground for any
movement. They found her pulse rifle instead.
As far as personal items went, the peacekeeper rifle was probably one of the few things she took
care with. Understandable, since she'd been taught never to lose it in battle. It now lay a few feet
away from her. Apparently unharmed.
Aeryn walked over and picked it off the ground. She checked the cartridge and found everything
in working order. Then the voice came.
"Looks like you've won after all."
She turned towards the sound and aimed her weapon. "Who's there?" Aeryn flicked on the
attached light and a man's face appeared on the ground in front of her. Jezik's.
The retrieval squad leader sat uncomfortably against one of the few consoles that had not been
damaged in the attack. His eyes had taken on a slightly vacant appearance. Still, he was very
much alive. "I'm right here."
Aeryn lifted her pulse rifle a little higher as she moved towards him. All the anger that had been
building over the past few days stirred inside her. She just needed a reason.
"I should have been more careful." Jezik motioned over towards a body that lay near him. "Can't
trust these techs to get anything right." The maliciousness behind his voice was gone.
She kept her eyes narrow and on him. There would be no sympathy this time. "I'm going to kill
you now." Simple words, yes. But from Aeryn Sun's mouth, they were chilling.
Jezik coughed loudly and then shook his head. He looked up to meet Aeryn's cold gaze. "They'll
send someone else. Even if I don't live to see it, they'll get him."
Aeryn knelt down beside him. "You'll never get Talyn. I will never let it happen."
He nodded forcefully and a drop of blood fell from the gash on his forehead. "I think High
Command figured that out already."
She was suddenly confused. "Then who do you mean?"
Jezik grinned. "You don't know do you?"
'Don't let him play with you!' Aeryn shoved the muzzle of her rifle into Jezik's mouth. He was
no longer smiling. "I'm going to pull this out in a microt. When I do, you're going to tell me
what the frell you meant."
There was no argument from the peacekeeper.
Crais dropped to his knees and spat blood onto the floor in front of him. The pain searing
through his body was finally beginning to subside. He hardly noticed.
Above, the neural center grew quiet again and waited for him to respond.
"I apologize." The words came more forcefully than the blood did. Crais started to pick himself
up slowly. The scolding was over.
The ex-captain looked out the window and spotted what was left of the Vigilante. The once
forbidding ship now floated lopsided in space. Bits of debris hung around it like a shield. Crais
wiped his mouth clean. 'Still there.'
Before he could say anything else, a comm channel opened up with a burst of static. A familiar
voice came through the console in front of him.
"Crichton, Crais? Anybody there?"
He stumbled over to the nearest console and pressed the button. "Chiana? Where are you?"
The Nebari's tone took a turn towards the annoyed. "On the frelling ship! Listen, we're all ready
to bail here."
Crais smiled despite the pain he was feeling. "I'll have Talyn open up hangar bay 2." He was
about to cut the transmission when something occurred to him. "Is Aeryn with you?"
Chiana responded immediately. "Yeah, she just got back."
"Can I speak to her?"
There was a long pause this time. Finally, the young woman answered. "I don't think she feels
like talking." The line went dead.
Bialar considered what that might mean. Perhaps it was better to wait and see for the moment.
He located Crichton with his transponder.
"Crichton, I have news."
"So, let me get this straight." John stood in front of Crais now with a slightly perturbed look on
his face. "You realized that the Vigilante wasn't completely gone, and you decided to wait before
telling me?"
Crais looked at the human with dead eyes. He couldn't tell the truth, though this sounded almost
as bad. "There were some problems with Talyn. I couldn't get through to you."
"What kind of problems?" John wasn't going to let the matter sit. "What kind of-."
Bialar raised a hand. "Nothing that affects you, Crichton."
John was still suspicious but he couldn't quite stay angry at the moment. They were, at the
moment, waiting for Aeryn and the others to arrive. That fact was having some affect on him.
The doors to command slid open unceremoniously and Aeryn Sun walked in. Her black leather
coat was torn in several places and small cuts and scrapes adorned her stern face. Behind her,
Chiana and Keller were moving quickly to catch up.
As soon as Aeryn was past the doorway, something happened. Without saying a word, she
turned suddenly and passed her hand over the door controls. The opening to command slammed
shut in Chiana's face. Fist pounding began immediately.
Aeryn turned back to the two men in front of her and frowned. She would have preferred to be
alone with Crais at the moment but there was nothing that could be done.
"Aeryn, are you alright?" Seeing that Crichton wasn't going to speak, Crais took the initiative.
He was not prepared for what happened next.
The distance between them closed in seconds. Aeryn had her pulse pistol out and was aiming it
directly at Crais' chest. As she did this, the auto-guns dropped from the wall.
"Talyn! Don't!" The order came out of her mouth before they were even ready to aim. Talyn
obeyed and the guns retreated.
Her eyes burned into the ex-captain's with an intensity that had not been there for quite some
time. "You frelling bastard! I should kill you right now"
Watching the scene unfold, John became immediately confused. "Aeryn? What are you-."
"Shut up John! Not now!" Her focus went back to Crais. "You knew all this time and you never
said a thing!" Aeryn pushed the weapon against his chest. "You knew!"
Up until that moment, Crais was uncertain as to which secret she was referring to. Then he saw
the tears begin to fall from Aeryn's eyes and it came to him.
She didn't wait for him to respond. "No more lies. Take me to him."
Bialar finally managed a reply. "I can't just-."
"I thought he was dead! You let me believe it!" Aeryn wiped her face with one of her sleeves.
She continued to aim the pulse rifle. It never strayed from its target.
John had the sinking suspicion that he knew who they were talking about. He looked to Crais.
"Will you please tell me what the hell she's talking about?" It didn't come out like a request.
Crais looked from Aeryn to Crichton several times before answering. He'd hoped to avoid this
situation. Had even come close to telling the human. But it was too late for that now.
"Velorek. She's talking about Velorek."
Fic: Walk It Off 6
thanks to can for her help
Aeryn felt like a fire was burning in her lungs. She managed to open her eyes and saw the
peacekeeper still standing there with a wild look on his face. His rough hands were around her
neck and squeezing tighter. 'This is it.'
He opened his mouth and shouted to someone off to the side. Aeryn could only hear muffled
sounds as he spoke. Her vision began to cloud up again and a heavy feeling was settling into her
lungs. 'John!' She wondered if his face was still on the monitor. For some strange reason, she
had to know for sure.
Jezik began to grin as he saw the life drain out of Aeryn Sun's face. In that instant of rage he'd
managed to forget the one clear objective of his mission. Luckily, for both of them in fact, she
didn't go down quite so easily. The peacekeeper felt a horrendous pain between his legs and
loosened his grip.
She pulled her leg back with all her might and sent it in for another attack. Before the move could
be completed, Aeryn felt air rush into her mouth again. She suddenly dropped to the ground and
hit it hard with a loud thud.
"You bitch!" Jezik's footing slipped and he was soon down on the ground as well. He looked
over at her from his resting spot and cringed at the pain running through him. Objective or no,
she would pay for that.
Aeryn found herself staring straight up at the ceiling. She tried to move, to turn her gaze to the
giant wall screen. Maybe he was still there, watching her. Would he care? 'Don't do this! Be
strong now. Worry about him later!'
As it turned out, both those options became unavailable to her. The soldiers were suddenly all
yelling to their superior about something. Aeryn couldn't make it out. All she knew was that the
feeling was returning to her arms and that the ground was shaking beneath her.
Jezik forced himself up and ran to the nearest control station. The ship's sensors had detected an
energy surge from the leviathan in front of it. He looked up at the wall screen and saw John
Crichton's surprised expression. "Switch to outside view!"
A testament to the obedience of his men, the view changed immediately to capture Talyn's front
side. The main cannon was now moving to put them in its sights.
He gestured to the closest technician. "You told me it didn't have enough power to fire! That
we'd be safe for another half arn!"
The threatened soldier stood up defiantly. "Those were my readings, sir." He had no further time
to argue his point.
Aeryn, Jezik, and every other soldier felt the room take a violent lurch to the side. Consoles
exploded in flames and darkness set in.
"Tell me that didn't just happen!"
John stared out the window in muted horror as the Vigilante was engulfed in flames. He tried to
ask the question again but no sound left his mouth. 'What was the last thing you said to her?
What the hell was she doing there." John finally managed to blink.
"That can't be it."
Crais turned his attention away from the human and focused on the destruction that Talyn had just
caused. Immediately, his mind began to fill with questions, both his and the gun ship's. Of these,
the loudest one belonged to the ex-captain himself. 'What have you done?'
The neural center above command began to beep in increasingly loud intervals. Talyn was
suddenly very aware of what he had done.
It was the noise that tore John from his view of the peacekeeper ship. The numbness inside of
him suddenly replaced by white hot rage. He turned around to face his former adversary.
"Crais!" He ran forward and grabbed the Sebacean by the collar of his black coat. With all the
strength he could muster, John picked Crais up and slammed him against the wall.
Bialar was more than a little surprised by this sudden act. "Crichton! What the frell are you
doing?"
"You said Talyn couldn't fire!" He shoved the man again and again as he spoke. "Not enough
energy, that's what you said!"
The auto-guns came online and aimed directly for where the two men were having it out.
Actually, the argument was a bit one-sided so far.
Noticing Talyn's move, Crais snapped back into reality. "Talyn, don't!" He managed to raise his
hands and push the angry human off of him. "I order you not to fire!"
John quickly pieced together what was happening and turned around. He saw the guns pointed at
him and swallowed involuntarily. "Crais!"
Crais used all the force his mind could affect against Talyn. 'Stand down!' He breathed a sigh of
relief when the guns began sliding back into their storage compartments.
"I was not lying to you Crichton. Talyn's energy levels were not sufficiently high to fire." Bialar
pulled his collar open wide. A feeling of claustrophobia had begun to set in along with the
realization that Aeryn might actually be dead.
"Then what the hell was that?" John pointed a finger towards the burning mass outside. "Why
didn't you see that coming?"
He searched for a reason that would satisfy the human. "It's possible that Talyn used energy from
a different source. Starburst, perhaps."
John considered this a moment and finally nodded. "Maybe."
Crais felt the urge to be alone begin to take form. He wasn't sure if the idea was truly his or
inserted by Talyn. "The conduit junction on tier three is failing. Go fix it."
The human stared at his traveling companion with a look of amazement. "What? No, we have to
see if-."
"Do it!" The anger in Crais' voice was enough to get the point across. For once, Crichton
obeyed. The ex-captain watched as he walked to the door and left.
Once he was alone with Talyn again, Crais raised his eyes to the neural center above. Red light
poured down and gave his face a demonic appearance. Bialar got only silence from the gun ship.
The worry that had been growing inside him now appeared to be justified.
"Starburst is at full power, isn't it?" The sentence didn't come out like a question.
"Frell!"
The shrill cry filled the hanger and echoed off the walls in a decidedly ominous way. Of the lights
that had once bathed the room, only one emergency bulb remained. As a result, the room sat in
eerie red darkness.
More noise crept up from the center of the room. A marauder lay on its side in a heap of mangled
metal and wires. Pounding was coming from inside.
The small ship's hatch suddenly burst open and fell to the ground below. A grey figure pulled
itself up and looked around.
"What? Are you hurt?" Keller looked up from his spot at the bottom of the marauder and
watched Chiana as she scrambled to get out.
The Nebari glanced down at him with an annoyed look on her face. "No, I didn't see that one
coming."
"How could you have?" Keller didn't understand what she was talking about but he really didn't
care. Before a response came, he turned to the onboard computer and began typing as fast as his
finger could afford to.
Chiana pulled herself up on top of the marauder and looked around. "Looks like someone kicked
the draz out of this place." Except for a few other ships, most of the Vigilante's aerial support
unit had been destroyed in the explosion.
"Talyn must have destroyed the immobilizer cannon." Keller smiled as the technical readings
appeared on his monitor. "Just in time too."
That didn't sound quite as good to Chiana. "He blew it up? We're not in trouble are we?"
Keller shook his head. "Don't worry. If this ship is one of the new models, and I think it is, then
its built to withstand that. The immobilizer cannon separates from the main body as soon as it
gets hit."
"And if it isn't one of the newer models?"
He stopped typing for a moment. "Then we've got a few microts at best."
It was the darkness that finally got to her. She'd been slipping in and out of consciousness in the
moments since the attack, each time leaving and returning to some other place. The contrast
between a flashing white light and the blinding darkness of the control room.
Aeryn opened her eyes and attempted to gain some idea of where she was. The area around her
was littered with debris and uprooted cables. She could hear sparks going off in the distance.
Most too far off to see.
The wall monitor was dead and pieces of the screen now hung perilously down over the exposed
floor she lay on. Aeryn found herself able to move better than she'd anticipated. Standing up was
not the tremendous effort it had been before.
"Is anyone there?" She repeated the question again but got no answer. There didn't seem to be
any other survivors. 'No, you're not that lucky." Her eyes searched the ground for any
movement. They found her pulse rifle instead.
As far as personal items went, the peacekeeper rifle was probably one of the few things she took
care with. Understandable, since she'd been taught never to lose it in battle. It now lay a few feet
away from her. Apparently unharmed.
Aeryn walked over and picked it off the ground. She checked the cartridge and found everything
in working order. Then the voice came.
"Looks like you've won after all."
She turned towards the sound and aimed her weapon. "Who's there?" Aeryn flicked on the
attached light and a man's face appeared on the ground in front of her. Jezik's.
The retrieval squad leader sat uncomfortably against one of the few consoles that had not been
damaged in the attack. His eyes had taken on a slightly vacant appearance. Still, he was very
much alive. "I'm right here."
Aeryn lifted her pulse rifle a little higher as she moved towards him. All the anger that had been
building over the past few days stirred inside her. She just needed a reason.
"I should have been more careful." Jezik motioned over towards a body that lay near him. "Can't
trust these techs to get anything right." The maliciousness behind his voice was gone.
She kept her eyes narrow and on him. There would be no sympathy this time. "I'm going to kill
you now." Simple words, yes. But from Aeryn Sun's mouth, they were chilling.
Jezik coughed loudly and then shook his head. He looked up to meet Aeryn's cold gaze. "They'll
send someone else. Even if I don't live to see it, they'll get him."
Aeryn knelt down beside him. "You'll never get Talyn. I will never let it happen."
He nodded forcefully and a drop of blood fell from the gash on his forehead. "I think High
Command figured that out already."
She was suddenly confused. "Then who do you mean?"
Jezik grinned. "You don't know do you?"
'Don't let him play with you!' Aeryn shoved the muzzle of her rifle into Jezik's mouth. He was
no longer smiling. "I'm going to pull this out in a microt. When I do, you're going to tell me
what the frell you meant."
There was no argument from the peacekeeper.
Crais dropped to his knees and spat blood onto the floor in front of him. The pain searing
through his body was finally beginning to subside. He hardly noticed.
Above, the neural center grew quiet again and waited for him to respond.
"I apologize." The words came more forcefully than the blood did. Crais started to pick himself
up slowly. The scolding was over.
The ex-captain looked out the window and spotted what was left of the Vigilante. The once
forbidding ship now floated lopsided in space. Bits of debris hung around it like a shield. Crais
wiped his mouth clean. 'Still there.'
Before he could say anything else, a comm channel opened up with a burst of static. A familiar
voice came through the console in front of him.
"Crichton, Crais? Anybody there?"
He stumbled over to the nearest console and pressed the button. "Chiana? Where are you?"
The Nebari's tone took a turn towards the annoyed. "On the frelling ship! Listen, we're all ready
to bail here."
Crais smiled despite the pain he was feeling. "I'll have Talyn open up hangar bay 2." He was
about to cut the transmission when something occurred to him. "Is Aeryn with you?"
Chiana responded immediately. "Yeah, she just got back."
"Can I speak to her?"
There was a long pause this time. Finally, the young woman answered. "I don't think she feels
like talking." The line went dead.
Bialar considered what that might mean. Perhaps it was better to wait and see for the moment.
He located Crichton with his transponder.
"Crichton, I have news."
"So, let me get this straight." John stood in front of Crais now with a slightly perturbed look on
his face. "You realized that the Vigilante wasn't completely gone, and you decided to wait before
telling me?"
Crais looked at the human with dead eyes. He couldn't tell the truth, though this sounded almost
as bad. "There were some problems with Talyn. I couldn't get through to you."
"What kind of problems?" John wasn't going to let the matter sit. "What kind of-."
Bialar raised a hand. "Nothing that affects you, Crichton."
John was still suspicious but he couldn't quite stay angry at the moment. They were, at the
moment, waiting for Aeryn and the others to arrive. That fact was having some affect on him.
The doors to command slid open unceremoniously and Aeryn Sun walked in. Her black leather
coat was torn in several places and small cuts and scrapes adorned her stern face. Behind her,
Chiana and Keller were moving quickly to catch up.
As soon as Aeryn was past the doorway, something happened. Without saying a word, she
turned suddenly and passed her hand over the door controls. The opening to command slammed
shut in Chiana's face. Fist pounding began immediately.
Aeryn turned back to the two men in front of her and frowned. She would have preferred to be
alone with Crais at the moment but there was nothing that could be done.
"Aeryn, are you alright?" Seeing that Crichton wasn't going to speak, Crais took the initiative.
He was not prepared for what happened next.
The distance between them closed in seconds. Aeryn had her pulse pistol out and was aiming it
directly at Crais' chest. As she did this, the auto-guns dropped from the wall.
"Talyn! Don't!" The order came out of her mouth before they were even ready to aim. Talyn
obeyed and the guns retreated.
Her eyes burned into the ex-captain's with an intensity that had not been there for quite some
time. "You frelling bastard! I should kill you right now"
Watching the scene unfold, John became immediately confused. "Aeryn? What are you-."
"Shut up John! Not now!" Her focus went back to Crais. "You knew all this time and you never
said a thing!" Aeryn pushed the weapon against his chest. "You knew!"
Up until that moment, Crais was uncertain as to which secret she was referring to. Then he saw
the tears begin to fall from Aeryn's eyes and it came to him.
She didn't wait for him to respond. "No more lies. Take me to him."
Bialar finally managed a reply. "I can't just-."
"I thought he was dead! You let me believe it!" Aeryn wiped her face with one of her sleeves.
She continued to aim the pulse rifle. It never strayed from its target.
John had the sinking suspicion that he knew who they were talking about. He looked to Crais.
"Will you please tell me what the hell she's talking about?" It didn't come out like a request.
Crais looked from Aeryn to Crichton several times before answering. He'd hoped to avoid this
situation. Had even come close to telling the human. But it was too late for that now.
"Velorek. She's talking about Velorek."