Fic: Walk It Off 9
thanks to lucy for all the help
Dying is a strange sensation. That much Aeryn remembered well. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, the rest had become blurred as time passed. She lay now in as peaceful a state as she had known in all that time. Blankets covered her up to her neck, which rose and fell with each breath. Aeryn Sun was sleeping.
"How is she Pip?"
John stood watching the quiet figure from the room's narrow doorway. Parts of Talyn's structures were coming in more slowly than others. His eyes never strayed from her however. There was nowhere else for them to go.
She watched him from inside with a troubled expression. Chiana had quickly realized with this sudden development that being Aeryn's confidant held certain uncomfortable responsibilities. Dealing with Crichton for one. Not that she minded so much. It was just awkward.
"Looks like she'll be ok. I'm not Zhaan. I don't rea-."
The human raised a hand to quiet her. "Thanks." He forced himself to look away from sleeping beauty and caught Chiana's worried expression. 'Yeah, I just compared Aeryn to a Disney character. You should be worried.'
Chiana took a step towards him and then stopped abruptly. The Nebari liked to think she understood certain things about dealing with relationships. Then again, all her dealing had been in retrospect. "I'm sorry about this."
John looked at her in surprise. "There was no way you could have known. Aeryn brought him here too." He put on a reassuring smile.
"Quit it. You're about as happy as I am right now."
It was way too easy to let the smile go. "You and me, Pip. Misery loves company."
Chiana ignored the crack and hugged the one brother she still had with her. He responded in kind and they stood that way for a microt or two. Chiana leaned in close to whisper. "You should talk to her."
John sighed. "I don't think she wants to."
She pulled away slightly to look him in the eye. A new smile was forming. "Frell, she's asleep. I won't say anything."
He felt more than commanded his head to lean forward in a nod. "Chiana, you're starting to scare me." She smiled at him and moved towards the door.
John moved slowly across the room until he was standing above the ex-peacekeeper. He knelt down to face her. "Hey babe. How are you doing?"
Aeryn frowned in her sleep but did not stir. Wherever she was, it must not have been much better than reality. John reached a hand forward and traced the a line softly across her cheek. It sent shivers through him with each passing moment. More than anything though, it hurt.
"John?"
Before he could do something, Aeryn's hand was grasping his. It felt warm to the touch. She smiled in that way that frelled him up so much and opened her eyes.
"I didn't mean to wake you. Just wanted to look-."
Aeryn shook her head. She didn't need an explanation.
John watched in amazement as she pulled back the blankets and slid towards him. There was no doubt in his mind that Aeryn was going to kiss him. It was perhaps one of the most horrible moments of his life.
Just as her lips reached the vicinity of his, a hand moved in between to block them. John took a step back and lowered his hand. He registered the look of confusion on Aeryn's face.
"It's me Aeryn. It's Crichton."
She blinked several times in succession until a look of realization crossed her face. Aeryn backed up onto the bed and frowned. "......Yes." The word came out as a whisper. She stood up quickly and checked herself. "What happened?"
John rubbed his neck. "The peacekeeper guy. He knocked you out and got away."
The frown didn't leave her face. "How long have I-?"
"Not long."
Aeryn straightened her clothing out and started for the door. She stopped abruptly and turned halfway around. Without looking directly at him, she spoke.
"Thank you."
John couldn't bring himself to look up either. "Don't mention it."
He sat there quietly for a while as she disappeared down the corridor.
Against her better judgement, Chiana had decided not to eavesdrop on the two inside. She made her way slowly down the corridor. 'Hey, If I just happen to hear something...' But there was no audible noise from Aeryn and John. She couldn't decide if that was good or bad.
The corridor had turned eerily quiet as she walked. Each time her boot hit the ground a loud boom echoed off the walls. Chiana looked down at the floor and frowned.
"Talyn, have I ever told you that you give me the creeps?"
She half expected a reply from the leviathan hybrid. It was not a pleasant feeling.
A chirping sound suddenly sprang up from somewhere up ahead. Something was moving quickly towards her.
"Who's there?" Chiana closed her eyes for a microt in hope that she might catch something. No such luck.
Finally the intruder made its entrance. A lone DRD rolled into view and stopped when it spotted her. A disconcerting shade of red, it appeared to be watching the Nebari.
"What do you want?"
It chirped again and moved slightly forward.
The wave hit Chiana like a blow from Aeryn's fist. Her skin tingled with fear as the little robot thing came towards her. "Stay back!"
She reached for the pulse pistol on her belt and found it gone. "Just my frelling luck." Looking to her left, Chiana saw a door. Escape was on her mind. She made a dash for it.
The DRD watched this happen without any reaction. It continued to sit and chirp endlessly to itself.
Chiana made it to the door and pushed it open with all her strength. She tried to remind herself that DRDs didn't hold grudges but it wasn't working. 'They're blaming me.' The idea pounded sickeningly in her head. Closing the door behind her, she turned around.
The entire room was riddled with the mechanical creatures. DRDs covered the floor and hung silently from the walls and ceiling. Each watched her with non-existent eyes.
"What the frell is this? A trap?" Chiana knew that it was before asking the question. It just sounded so absurd out loud.
"Talyn! Crais?"
The lights went out.
"Sir."
Jezik ignored him and continued bandaging up his legs. Blood was already seeping through the shreds of torn cloth.
"Sir, please."
Keller looked up from his station and frowned. There was something about that tone that he didn't like. It meant trouble and he's had enough of that already.
"Sir! I've got some-."
Carr froze in mid-sentence when he saw the gun pointed at him. He raised his hands in a weak gesture of submission. "Si-."
A shot rang out and the wall beside him burst open with sparks. Carr breathed a sigh of relief once he realized it hadn't hit him.
"Your yammering is making this very difficult, soldier." Jezik turned to stare at the subordinate with lifeless eyes. Much of his strength had left him in the past few hours. Injuries were taking their tolls.
The peacekeeper tech watched the scene unfold with an eerie calmness. Keller considered that his partner might become a liability down the line. "Let him speak."
Carr nodded graciously but neither man reciprocated the gesture. He quickly remembered what had started all of this in the first place. "There's a ship approaching, sirs."
"That'll be Halleck." Keller stood up immediately. "We can get on our way."
A hand went up timidly. Carr was suddenly very nervous about his health. "It's not Captain Halleck."
Jezik stopped mending himself and joined the conversation. "Well, who is it then?"
Carr looked him dead in the eyes. "It's a command carrier sir."
Both Jezik and Keller stiffened. The tech was the first to regain composure. "Who is in command of that vessel?"
Carr lifted a receiver up to his ear and heard the message repeat itself. "Scorpius, sir."
Jezik's eyes widened as the name registered. "Impossible."
"Apparently not." Keller rushed over to the sensor console and locked onto the approaching ship. There wasn't much time left until it arrived.
The Retrieval Squad leader growled. "You know what he'll do." Images flashed through his mind as he spoke. Ugly ones.
"I know what Scorpius is capable of." The tech frowned.
"Not just capable of! He'll ruin everything. Trust me on that." Jezik was already hobbling towards the door. "We need to leave now."
Keller reached for the gun on his belt but stopped short at the last minute. His partner was right this time. "Agreed. But someone has to stay and explain why we're not here."
All eyes turned to Carr.
"What?"
Crais brought his hand up to the door control stand and froze. He turned his head from side to side and made sure no one was watching. This sort of situation took discretion. The ex-captain breathed a quiet sigh of relief and proceeded to wave his hand. The door opened.
"Talyn?"
At the sound of his name, the leviathan hybrid seemed to awaken with a start. The room's lights burst on and bathed it in an eerie glow. DRDs scampered about until they were all backed up against the walls. In the center of the room, a still figure lay.
"Chiana? What are you doing in here?" Crais looked at the woman lying on the floor and shuddered. There were small marks up and down her arms that he couldn't identify. She was breathing though. That much he could tell.
One gloved hand twitched and then the other followed it. The grey female appeared to shiver for a few moments before her eyes opened. She looked up at him and frowned. "It hurts."
Bialar rushed over to her and knelt down. He put a hand on her shoulder but that seemed only to make her tense. Looking into her glassy eyes, he saw that something wasn't quite right.
"What did you do?"
Chiana sat up and smiled at him. Whatever had been wrong seemed to disappear from her face in that moment. The Nebari purred softly and looked down at herself before meeting Crais' questioning stare. "You can have this body if you like."
As if by instinct, Crais pushed himself away from the woman until his back hit the wall. A creeping realization filled his mind then. "No Talyn. I don't think that would be right."
Chiana smiled mischievously and nodded. "Yes, that would be a bit weird wouldn't it? You being my captain and all."
She, or rather the ship that controlled her body, lifted a hand and stared at it. "You wouldn't believe this Crais." The black glove wiggled its fingers. "This body feels incredible." Chiana/Talyn leaned forward and her lips came within inches of his. "Definitely strange."
Despite himself, Crais was a bit intrigued. Yet the realization of what was behind those black eyes brought it all back to him. He suddenly felt like bathing. "How did you-?"
Before he could finish, she scampered backwards obediently. Chiana pulled her top up a short distance in a disturbingly seductive manner. A small black object protruded from the right side of her waist. "I wasn't sure if it would work."
"A transponder?" Bialar stared at it in amazement. He would never have believed it possible. Or that Talyn would attempt it for that matter. "Why Talyn?"
At the leviathan hybrid's command, Chiana grinned maliciously.
"What are you doing?" The question echoed off the walls and came back to the human's ear unanswered.
John ignored the way that Talyn's lights kept going on and off at different intervals and concentrated on the woman that was stealing his module.
"I said, what are you doing?"
Aeryn looked up from the small white pod and frowned. She'd been stuffing her bag of supplies into its rear when she heard the question. It was on a long list of ones that she did not want to answer at the moment. "I need a ship that is not leviathan based or armed with weapons."
The human returned her frown. "I thought Talyn was going all the way. Blast the door down and stuff."
She heard the words and a small gesture of amusement crossed her face. It didn't last long. "Can't risk using Talyn. An element of surprise would be best."
"So you just decided to go ahead and take my module? Didn't think I'd mind?" Truth be told, John didn't. But hey, they were talking weren't they?
The ex-peacekeeper began to turn away and then stopped herself. 'Don't.' The word repeated itself loudly in her head. Aeryn looked up again. "It maneuvers better near the ground. I thought you would understand."
Crichton licked his lips and nodded. "Yeah, I remember." Bad memories weren't what he needed right now. Or ever for that matter.
"That wasn't you!" The words were out of her mouth before Aeryn could stop herself. If that wasn't bad enough, the terse reply she was going for had somehow turned into a shout. The room grew silent after her outburst. Aeryn turned back to the ship and continued loading.
John just stood there. He discovered that his hands were sweating soon after. It wasn't a good sensation.
Feeling the eyes still on the back of her neck, Aeryn realized what she had said. Moving slowly and cautiously, she turned to face him. "I meant it was the clone. The Scorpius clone, not you."
He nodded slightly but saw the pain etched across Aeryn's face. John would have loved to go all out with this but he knew it wasn't the time. 'Say something you idiot!'
"So, you seen Chiana?"
Aeryn was a bit more than surprised that he had changed the subject. She considered that this man knew her well enough by now. It was both comforting and not. "No, I have not."
"I'll tell her you said bye before leaving." John managed a weak smile this time.
The ex-peacekeeper tried for the same. "Alright."
Scorpius surveyed the destruction around him and shook his head. 'Certainly High Command would not have charged such an important mission to fools'. He found himself losing faith in the system.
"Sir. Our scans brought up no other survivors." Braca walked up behind the hybrid and passed it the handheld unit. His hand slipped quickly away as Scorpius took hold of it.
Scorpius nodded in no particular direction. "Thank you lieutenant." He then turned to the soldier that sat quietly in front of him. The man had been watching him the entire time. A practice the hybrid had grown used to.
"Carr is it?"
The soldier nodded confidently. "That's correct sir. Please let me say it is an honor to finally meet you."
Scorpius eyed him curiously. "An honor you say? And why is that?"
Before Carr could answer, the superior of the two raised a hand. "Forget I asked. But please, would you mind explaining about these?" The hybrid pointed to the two bodies that lay at Carr's feet.
Carr looked down at the corpses of Jezik and Keller with scorn. Pulse blasts had entered into each man's skull with precision accuracy. A testament to his years of careful training. Retrieval troops were created to be second to none. Especially schemers like those two.
"They intended to subvert your command sir."
Scorpius was intrigued. "Really? How so?"
The soldier nodded several times in a manner which slightly annoyed both Scorpius and his lieutenant. "They planned to leave before you arrived and capture the quarry for themselves." Carr leaned in closer. "If I may say so sir, they did not think highly of you."
Braca glanced over at his superior. "What shall I do with him sir?"
Scorpius turned. "I admire this soldier's devotion to duty. But we can't abide the killing of two officers.
The lieutenant smiled. "Understood sir.
A single shot rang out.
John watched silently as his precious module rose off the ground and headed out into space. He felt a small pang in his heart for the ship and its passenger. 'You'll see them again. Trust me.'
"Don't try to cheer me up Harv." The voice went silent.
The sound of footsteps came up behind him as he turned to leave. John looked towards the door and saw Crais and Chiana enter the room. Both had strange expressions on their faces. The ex-captain, in particular, made him feel slightly nervous.
"Hey guys. What's up?"
thanks to lucy for all the help
Dying is a strange sensation. That much Aeryn remembered well. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, the rest had become blurred as time passed. She lay now in as peaceful a state as she had known in all that time. Blankets covered her up to her neck, which rose and fell with each breath. Aeryn Sun was sleeping.
"How is she Pip?"
John stood watching the quiet figure from the room's narrow doorway. Parts of Talyn's structures were coming in more slowly than others. His eyes never strayed from her however. There was nowhere else for them to go.
She watched him from inside with a troubled expression. Chiana had quickly realized with this sudden development that being Aeryn's confidant held certain uncomfortable responsibilities. Dealing with Crichton for one. Not that she minded so much. It was just awkward.
"Looks like she'll be ok. I'm not Zhaan. I don't rea-."
The human raised a hand to quiet her. "Thanks." He forced himself to look away from sleeping beauty and caught Chiana's worried expression. 'Yeah, I just compared Aeryn to a Disney character. You should be worried.'
Chiana took a step towards him and then stopped abruptly. The Nebari liked to think she understood certain things about dealing with relationships. Then again, all her dealing had been in retrospect. "I'm sorry about this."
John looked at her in surprise. "There was no way you could have known. Aeryn brought him here too." He put on a reassuring smile.
"Quit it. You're about as happy as I am right now."
It was way too easy to let the smile go. "You and me, Pip. Misery loves company."
Chiana ignored the crack and hugged the one brother she still had with her. He responded in kind and they stood that way for a microt or two. Chiana leaned in close to whisper. "You should talk to her."
John sighed. "I don't think she wants to."
She pulled away slightly to look him in the eye. A new smile was forming. "Frell, she's asleep. I won't say anything."
He felt more than commanded his head to lean forward in a nod. "Chiana, you're starting to scare me." She smiled at him and moved towards the door.
John moved slowly across the room until he was standing above the ex-peacekeeper. He knelt down to face her. "Hey babe. How are you doing?"
Aeryn frowned in her sleep but did not stir. Wherever she was, it must not have been much better than reality. John reached a hand forward and traced the a line softly across her cheek. It sent shivers through him with each passing moment. More than anything though, it hurt.
"John?"
Before he could do something, Aeryn's hand was grasping his. It felt warm to the touch. She smiled in that way that frelled him up so much and opened her eyes.
"I didn't mean to wake you. Just wanted to look-."
Aeryn shook her head. She didn't need an explanation.
John watched in amazement as she pulled back the blankets and slid towards him. There was no doubt in his mind that Aeryn was going to kiss him. It was perhaps one of the most horrible moments of his life.
Just as her lips reached the vicinity of his, a hand moved in between to block them. John took a step back and lowered his hand. He registered the look of confusion on Aeryn's face.
"It's me Aeryn. It's Crichton."
She blinked several times in succession until a look of realization crossed her face. Aeryn backed up onto the bed and frowned. "......Yes." The word came out as a whisper. She stood up quickly and checked herself. "What happened?"
John rubbed his neck. "The peacekeeper guy. He knocked you out and got away."
The frown didn't leave her face. "How long have I-?"
"Not long."
Aeryn straightened her clothing out and started for the door. She stopped abruptly and turned halfway around. Without looking directly at him, she spoke.
"Thank you."
John couldn't bring himself to look up either. "Don't mention it."
He sat there quietly for a while as she disappeared down the corridor.
Against her better judgement, Chiana had decided not to eavesdrop on the two inside. She made her way slowly down the corridor. 'Hey, If I just happen to hear something...' But there was no audible noise from Aeryn and John. She couldn't decide if that was good or bad.
The corridor had turned eerily quiet as she walked. Each time her boot hit the ground a loud boom echoed off the walls. Chiana looked down at the floor and frowned.
"Talyn, have I ever told you that you give me the creeps?"
She half expected a reply from the leviathan hybrid. It was not a pleasant feeling.
A chirping sound suddenly sprang up from somewhere up ahead. Something was moving quickly towards her.
"Who's there?" Chiana closed her eyes for a microt in hope that she might catch something. No such luck.
Finally the intruder made its entrance. A lone DRD rolled into view and stopped when it spotted her. A disconcerting shade of red, it appeared to be watching the Nebari.
"What do you want?"
It chirped again and moved slightly forward.
The wave hit Chiana like a blow from Aeryn's fist. Her skin tingled with fear as the little robot thing came towards her. "Stay back!"
She reached for the pulse pistol on her belt and found it gone. "Just my frelling luck." Looking to her left, Chiana saw a door. Escape was on her mind. She made a dash for it.
The DRD watched this happen without any reaction. It continued to sit and chirp endlessly to itself.
Chiana made it to the door and pushed it open with all her strength. She tried to remind herself that DRDs didn't hold grudges but it wasn't working. 'They're blaming me.' The idea pounded sickeningly in her head. Closing the door behind her, she turned around.
The entire room was riddled with the mechanical creatures. DRDs covered the floor and hung silently from the walls and ceiling. Each watched her with non-existent eyes.
"What the frell is this? A trap?" Chiana knew that it was before asking the question. It just sounded so absurd out loud.
"Talyn! Crais?"
The lights went out.
"Sir."
Jezik ignored him and continued bandaging up his legs. Blood was already seeping through the shreds of torn cloth.
"Sir, please."
Keller looked up from his station and frowned. There was something about that tone that he didn't like. It meant trouble and he's had enough of that already.
"Sir! I've got some-."
Carr froze in mid-sentence when he saw the gun pointed at him. He raised his hands in a weak gesture of submission. "Si-."
A shot rang out and the wall beside him burst open with sparks. Carr breathed a sigh of relief once he realized it hadn't hit him.
"Your yammering is making this very difficult, soldier." Jezik turned to stare at the subordinate with lifeless eyes. Much of his strength had left him in the past few hours. Injuries were taking their tolls.
The peacekeeper tech watched the scene unfold with an eerie calmness. Keller considered that his partner might become a liability down the line. "Let him speak."
Carr nodded graciously but neither man reciprocated the gesture. He quickly remembered what had started all of this in the first place. "There's a ship approaching, sirs."
"That'll be Halleck." Keller stood up immediately. "We can get on our way."
A hand went up timidly. Carr was suddenly very nervous about his health. "It's not Captain Halleck."
Jezik stopped mending himself and joined the conversation. "Well, who is it then?"
Carr looked him dead in the eyes. "It's a command carrier sir."
Both Jezik and Keller stiffened. The tech was the first to regain composure. "Who is in command of that vessel?"
Carr lifted a receiver up to his ear and heard the message repeat itself. "Scorpius, sir."
Jezik's eyes widened as the name registered. "Impossible."
"Apparently not." Keller rushed over to the sensor console and locked onto the approaching ship. There wasn't much time left until it arrived.
The Retrieval Squad leader growled. "You know what he'll do." Images flashed through his mind as he spoke. Ugly ones.
"I know what Scorpius is capable of." The tech frowned.
"Not just capable of! He'll ruin everything. Trust me on that." Jezik was already hobbling towards the door. "We need to leave now."
Keller reached for the gun on his belt but stopped short at the last minute. His partner was right this time. "Agreed. But someone has to stay and explain why we're not here."
All eyes turned to Carr.
"What?"
Crais brought his hand up to the door control stand and froze. He turned his head from side to side and made sure no one was watching. This sort of situation took discretion. The ex-captain breathed a quiet sigh of relief and proceeded to wave his hand. The door opened.
"Talyn?"
At the sound of his name, the leviathan hybrid seemed to awaken with a start. The room's lights burst on and bathed it in an eerie glow. DRDs scampered about until they were all backed up against the walls. In the center of the room, a still figure lay.
"Chiana? What are you doing in here?" Crais looked at the woman lying on the floor and shuddered. There were small marks up and down her arms that he couldn't identify. She was breathing though. That much he could tell.
One gloved hand twitched and then the other followed it. The grey female appeared to shiver for a few moments before her eyes opened. She looked up at him and frowned. "It hurts."
Bialar rushed over to her and knelt down. He put a hand on her shoulder but that seemed only to make her tense. Looking into her glassy eyes, he saw that something wasn't quite right.
"What did you do?"
Chiana sat up and smiled at him. Whatever had been wrong seemed to disappear from her face in that moment. The Nebari purred softly and looked down at herself before meeting Crais' questioning stare. "You can have this body if you like."
As if by instinct, Crais pushed himself away from the woman until his back hit the wall. A creeping realization filled his mind then. "No Talyn. I don't think that would be right."
Chiana smiled mischievously and nodded. "Yes, that would be a bit weird wouldn't it? You being my captain and all."
She, or rather the ship that controlled her body, lifted a hand and stared at it. "You wouldn't believe this Crais." The black glove wiggled its fingers. "This body feels incredible." Chiana/Talyn leaned forward and her lips came within inches of his. "Definitely strange."
Despite himself, Crais was a bit intrigued. Yet the realization of what was behind those black eyes brought it all back to him. He suddenly felt like bathing. "How did you-?"
Before he could finish, she scampered backwards obediently. Chiana pulled her top up a short distance in a disturbingly seductive manner. A small black object protruded from the right side of her waist. "I wasn't sure if it would work."
"A transponder?" Bialar stared at it in amazement. He would never have believed it possible. Or that Talyn would attempt it for that matter. "Why Talyn?"
At the leviathan hybrid's command, Chiana grinned maliciously.
"What are you doing?" The question echoed off the walls and came back to the human's ear unanswered.
John ignored the way that Talyn's lights kept going on and off at different intervals and concentrated on the woman that was stealing his module.
"I said, what are you doing?"
Aeryn looked up from the small white pod and frowned. She'd been stuffing her bag of supplies into its rear when she heard the question. It was on a long list of ones that she did not want to answer at the moment. "I need a ship that is not leviathan based or armed with weapons."
The human returned her frown. "I thought Talyn was going all the way. Blast the door down and stuff."
She heard the words and a small gesture of amusement crossed her face. It didn't last long. "Can't risk using Talyn. An element of surprise would be best."
"So you just decided to go ahead and take my module? Didn't think I'd mind?" Truth be told, John didn't. But hey, they were talking weren't they?
The ex-peacekeeper began to turn away and then stopped herself. 'Don't.' The word repeated itself loudly in her head. Aeryn looked up again. "It maneuvers better near the ground. I thought you would understand."
Crichton licked his lips and nodded. "Yeah, I remember." Bad memories weren't what he needed right now. Or ever for that matter.
"That wasn't you!" The words were out of her mouth before Aeryn could stop herself. If that wasn't bad enough, the terse reply she was going for had somehow turned into a shout. The room grew silent after her outburst. Aeryn turned back to the ship and continued loading.
John just stood there. He discovered that his hands were sweating soon after. It wasn't a good sensation.
Feeling the eyes still on the back of her neck, Aeryn realized what she had said. Moving slowly and cautiously, she turned to face him. "I meant it was the clone. The Scorpius clone, not you."
He nodded slightly but saw the pain etched across Aeryn's face. John would have loved to go all out with this but he knew it wasn't the time. 'Say something you idiot!'
"So, you seen Chiana?"
Aeryn was a bit more than surprised that he had changed the subject. She considered that this man knew her well enough by now. It was both comforting and not. "No, I have not."
"I'll tell her you said bye before leaving." John managed a weak smile this time.
The ex-peacekeeper tried for the same. "Alright."
Scorpius surveyed the destruction around him and shook his head. 'Certainly High Command would not have charged such an important mission to fools'. He found himself losing faith in the system.
"Sir. Our scans brought up no other survivors." Braca walked up behind the hybrid and passed it the handheld unit. His hand slipped quickly away as Scorpius took hold of it.
Scorpius nodded in no particular direction. "Thank you lieutenant." He then turned to the soldier that sat quietly in front of him. The man had been watching him the entire time. A practice the hybrid had grown used to.
"Carr is it?"
The soldier nodded confidently. "That's correct sir. Please let me say it is an honor to finally meet you."
Scorpius eyed him curiously. "An honor you say? And why is that?"
Before Carr could answer, the superior of the two raised a hand. "Forget I asked. But please, would you mind explaining about these?" The hybrid pointed to the two bodies that lay at Carr's feet.
Carr looked down at the corpses of Jezik and Keller with scorn. Pulse blasts had entered into each man's skull with precision accuracy. A testament to his years of careful training. Retrieval troops were created to be second to none. Especially schemers like those two.
"They intended to subvert your command sir."
Scorpius was intrigued. "Really? How so?"
The soldier nodded several times in a manner which slightly annoyed both Scorpius and his lieutenant. "They planned to leave before you arrived and capture the quarry for themselves." Carr leaned in closer. "If I may say so sir, they did not think highly of you."
Braca glanced over at his superior. "What shall I do with him sir?"
Scorpius turned. "I admire this soldier's devotion to duty. But we can't abide the killing of two officers.
The lieutenant smiled. "Understood sir.
A single shot rang out.
John watched silently as his precious module rose off the ground and headed out into space. He felt a small pang in his heart for the ship and its passenger. 'You'll see them again. Trust me.'
"Don't try to cheer me up Harv." The voice went silent.
The sound of footsteps came up behind him as he turned to leave. John looked towards the door and saw Crais and Chiana enter the room. Both had strange expressions on their faces. The ex-captain, in particular, made him feel slightly nervous.
"Hey guys. What's up?"