Fic: Walk It Off 10
thanks to lucy for her help
The prison was a large black structure that contrasted sharply with the planet's lush green
countryside. A round and sinister looking spot on the beautiful horizon. Standing at it's peak,
two men observed something small and white in the sky.
"What manner of craft is that?"
Conroy took a cautionary glance out the window of his office and saw the small white ship in its
entirety. "Looks like an escape pod to me."
The guard shook his head lazily and shrugged. "It don't match any of our data, sir. Too old, I'd
say."
He narrowed his eyes at the subordinate. "So what are you telling me? You let an unknown,
possibly hostile vessel pass right by our defense systems?" Conroy shook his head in disgust.
They were low budget but this was ridiculous.
"Sorry, sir. Our scanners are set to detect weapons or explosive devices." The guard took a step
back. These arguments had proven fatal for others in the past. "Got right past us."
Conroy reached for his gun, a heavy looking grey thing, but stopped abruptly. He nodded and
considered that this guard was competent enough to keep around for a while. Without waiting
for a reply, he swept out onto the tarmac.
"Can you at least tell me what can kind of species we're looking at?"
The guard moved hurriedly from behind. "Yes, yes. It's a Sebacean female."
Warden Conroy stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly. His face had become an eerily
accurate impersonation of a stone. "You frelling idiot."
A shot rang out from the pulse cannon at his side. The guard had just crossed that line.
"I hate Sebacean females."
The unidentified craft came to a stop a few feet behind him. So small was it that barely any wind
kicked up to clean the tarmac's rusted surface. Its fin-like wings shifted slightly in their place
before coming to a stop. Conroy motioned for his time of shooters to keep ready.
"Exit your craft. You will not have another warning."
The module's roof slid open in one fluid motion and revealed the mysterious rider. A young
woman, 'definitely Sebacean' Conroy observed, sat motionless in the seat. Her dark hair was
mussed and cascaded down around her face in a way that seemed far too feminine. That face,
however, showed no other signs of femininity. A pair of tired eyes in a completely expressionless
face. Then, without warning, the arrival came to life.
"Don't move!" Conroy shouted the words even as the female stood and jumped off the module's
side. He raised his gun and aimed carefully. "Peacekeeper! I said don't-."
"I am not a peacekeeper." The words emptied out of Aeryn Suns' mouth in such a way that no
one dared question them.
The group of guards remained trained on her at Conroy's command. He knew as well as they did
that people like her didn't come to places like this without good reason.
"A defector then. What do you want?" He took a step forward and observed that she didn't
carry any weapons. That fact alone improved her case. No peacekeeper was ever too far away
from her weapon.
Aeryn seemed to understand what he was thinking and motioned towards the module. "One pulse
rifle, one pistol. Black bag under the seat."
Conroy nodded to the nearest guards and they moved to retrieve the items. The calmness of the
situation was starting to make him uneasy.
"I come on behalf of Bialar Crais." The ex-peacekeeper noticed the signs of recognition in her
captor's eyes.
The prison warden let his lips curl slightly into what could almost be a smile. "It's been quite a
while since I've heard that name."
Aeryn nodded. "But you know it, and the reason I have come," she said.
Conroy frowned now. Despite his prejudice, something amused him about this woman. There
was more to her than could be seen here.
"The last time I spoke to Bialar, frell, that was almost two cycles ago. He was attempting to
convince me that I was still required to take orders from a deposed captain."
For the very first time, Aeryn showed a tiny crack in her steel glare. "You-."
He raised a hand to stop her reply. Conroy needed no explanation for the captain's current status.
Peacekeepers were good enough reason to hold on to what he had. They could send an armada if
they wanted to. For an intelligent man, Conroy did have his petty grudges.
"I can't do what you ask."
Aeryn narrowed her eyes at him and returned the ugly frown. She felt cold steel from within the
leather sleeve of the old coat she wore. "You will hand him over to me. I'm not asking."
Conroy motioned towards his men as he saw her go for the hidden weapon. Yes, this woman was
a mystery. And he hated killing mysteries before they were solved.
John turned the valve one last time and the torrent of water came to a slow stop. He shivered a
bit as the freezing liquid began dripping from his icy skin. 'Hell, Talyn. Learn some new tricks
would ya.' Reaching for a towel, John considered how bad they could be.
The lack of noise from the shower brought a new curiosity to his attention. A soft whirring sound
was coming from outside. John slid the curtain aside carefully to see what it was.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
The DRD looked up at him and didn't even bother to respond with beeps. It just sat there and
stared like a vacuum cleaner with the plug unhooked.
John reached for his clothes and ducked quickly back behind the curtain. Moments like these
made him wonder about what kind of education Crais was giving. "Shoo!"
Fully dressed, he hopped out of the shower and looked at himself in the mirror. John wondered
where the scratch on his left cheek had come from. He glanced down at the DRD. "How long
have you been here?"
It made no visible response.
As he made his way out of the bathroom and into the hall, John began to see a disconcerting
pattern. Another little red box sat waiting for him. This one beeped three times and then scurried
off down the corridor.
"Why do I think the word privacy means nothing to you guys?"
The human shook his head and started off down the hall again. Before John could take two steps,
a familiar purr reached his ears. "Pip, that you?"
She stood in the middle of the hallway with arms placed firmly on hips. Her lips were curled into
that trademark playful smile. Chiana walked forward until she was mere inches away from him.
She shook her head. "It's me."
John tried to respond but her hand was already under his shirt. He felt himself being pushed up
against the wall as the Nebari moved in closer. "Hey, hold on a-."
Chiana shook her head and punched him lightly in the stomach. "Don't squirm."
He found himself extremely confused but unable to get free. John tried to push himself back but
there was the wall to stop him. He felt her hands tickling against his ribs and he smiled
involuntarily. But there was something very wrong about this.
"Listen, I think I hear my mom-."
The last two words were smothered as Chiana pressed her lips hard against his. It wasn't so
much a kiss as an attempt at suffocation. John's eyes danced wildly around as his hands fought to
push her back.
"Crichton!"
His name was the last thing he heard before Chiana disappeared from his sight. In her place stood
Crais. The ex-captain held a chair from the dining room in his hand. Fresh Nebari blood stained
its surface.
"Can you please explain to me what the frell is going on!!?" John looked down at the woman on
the ground and gasped. Her face was clenched into an absolutely horrifying look of anger.
"You must trust me Crichton. Come now, before she gets up!" Crais motioned for him to follow
and ran off in the opposite direction.
John glanced down at Chiana again and shrugged. "Sorry Pip." He headed off after the man.
After a few minutes of breathless running, Bialar ducked into one of the maintenance bays. "In
here!"
Gasping for air, John nodded and threw himself through the doorway. Immediately after he did
so, the door slammed shut. A sense of despair suddenly fell over him as he took in his
surroundings.
One of the workstation tables had been cleared and placed in the middle of the room. A set of
restraints and several pairs of tools now adorned it. Each one shone brilliantly in the room's harsh
light. Standing just behind it, with a look that did not bring comfort, was Chiana. Her black eyes
sparkled with malice.
"I apologize for this Crichton." The ex-captain seemed apprehensive. "The plan was to gain your
confidence and then lead you here." Crais nodded towards the woman in front of them. "Talyn's
plan."
John looked over at Chiana and sighed. He suddenly realized that the DRD's had all disappeared
just as she arrived. Or was it he?
"So, I'm betting you didn't lure me here to tell me what a great kisser I am."
Chiana/Talyn shook her head and smiled.
Conroy caught sight of the gun as it slid slowly out of Aeryn's sleeve. It was a pulse pistol, basic
peacekeeper weapon. He shook his head. This would end badly.
"You'll hand it to me now."
She stared back at him angrily and shook her head. Aeryn knew there was no easy way out of
this. But she had to try. "No."
Four weapons, already trained on her, charged up and prepared to fire.
Aeryn let her view roam past the warden in front of her. At the center of the tarmac they stood
on a wide hole opened up. She could see nothing from where she stood. 'Why not?'
"I won't ask again." Conroy glanced over at this men. They would know what to do.
The gun flew from her hand in one swift motion and tumbled through the air. Surprised, he barely
had time to reach for it. A solid catch and it was in his hands.
"That's be-." The pulse pistol exploded in one fierce ball of light.
Conroy gasped as pieces of bloody uniform slapped against his face. He looked down at the
crater that had opened up in his chest and fell to the floor. Before the darkness overtook him, the
warden saw Aeryn Sun run past his ruined body.
The weapons fire started moments after the man's death. She ran forward and narrowly escaped
being shot down. Aeryn did not dare look back as the remained of Conroy's body was torn to
shreds. She sprinted across the tarmac's hard surface until the edge was right in front of her.
'Do it!' Her mind screamed for her to jump but nothing else worked. Aeryn looked down into
the abyss and saw tiny lights off in the distance. It wasn't going to work. A yellow blast of pulse
fire soared past her head. She could smell burning hair.
Aeryn jumped.
"We shouldn't be doing this, Talyn."
Crais sat off in the corner and watched as the new life-form in front of him went about her work.
Droplets of blood squirted across his face as a response from the other.
"This is wrong."
Chiana/Talyn laughed at that. She watched the stream of blood as it poured from the incision she
had made. True, there was some pain. But it was necessary. Before speaking, she dug the knife
in deeper into her arm.
"You don't get to decide that. It's because of you that this is all happening."
She dropped the knife and picked some of the blood off with her fingers. It slid down onto her
hand and Chiana smiled. "I learned all of this from you."
John opened his eyes slowly as the sound of angry voices entered into his murky thoughts. He
took the scene in front of him in and his mouth dropped open. "Oh God."
She continued on. "The Nebari thought she was being noble. Coming here at the risk of her own
life." She let the blood drip down onto the floor. "A mistake."
"You son of a bitch! Talyn!" John fought to get up off the table but his arms and legs were
restrained. He felt the anger swell up inside of him. It wasn't something he liked. "Let her go!"
Crais stood up but said nothing.
"I'm going to kill her Crichton. Then you." Chiana/Talyn plunged the knife into Chiana's
stomach. "Just the three of us again."
"Talyn!" Bialar moved forward but stopped when the knife came out and aimed itself at him.
That was a step he wasn't willing to take.
Talyn smiled with his host's lips and shook his head. "You taught me well." He moved a hand
down to the waist and pulled out the black transponder.
Chiana's body slumped to the ground.
Crais leapt forward and ripped at Crichton's restraints. Without a word, he unloosed them and
waited for the human to react.
John slid off the table and dropped beside the wounded Nebari. "Why didn't you stop him?"
"There was nothing I could do."
He looked up at the ex-captain through hollow eyes. "There's always something!" John ran a
hand through Chiana's tousled hair. His sight was blurred with tears.
Chiana's black eyes opened slowly and looked up at the human above her. There was no sly
smile, no amusement. Only pain. Her lips moved slightly.
John leaned in close until his ear was right up against her mouth. Blood was already staining his
shirt. "What is it? Come on Pip."
There were tears in her eyes. "I don't want to die. It's not me."
With those words, the strange calmness that had taken hold of him vanished. John wrapped his
arms around Chiana's frail body and tried to pick her up. He spoke as he did this.
"There's still a chance. We have to get to the medical supplies."
Crais looked on in detachment. "My quarters. But Talyn will have DRDs on patrol in the
hallways. We'll never make it in time."
John ignored him. He managed to get Chiana up and moved towards the door. "We're going."
Kicking the door open, the human moved out into the hall.
The sound of a pulse weapon charging reached his ears. Crais raised his gun and followed. A
strange new look in his eyes had taken over.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
"You hear that?"
The two soldiers looked up at the roof of their small guard station with eyes wide open. An
indentation had been made in the thin metal that covered them. It was indistinguishable but large
enough to be a person.
"I heard it."
Both of them jumped as a gash tore through the ceiling up above them. Through the darkness
came a thin shaft of piercing light from above. Someone was moving up there and they were
trying to get through.
Aeryn wiped blood from her forehead and continued ripping away the roofing. Doubtless there
were guards underneath. 'You'll need to kill them.'
Without notice, her footing gave way and she crashed down into the darkness again. Aeryn
landed on something soft. She looked down and saw the face of a man. He'd never even reached
his gun.
The pulse blast shot out of the darkness and landed just above Aeryn's head. Slipping out her
own weapon, the ex-peacekeeper followed the trail that had been left behind. Picking her spot,
Aeryn fired once and heard a grunt from somewhere ahead. A direct hit.
"Bitch, you frelling shot me." The young soldier looked angrily up at her as she came into the
light. His face changed quickly from anger to fear when he saw Aeryn's face. "You're not going
to kill me are you?" It wasn't the peacekeeper thing to say but that was the last thing on his mind.
He didn't want to die, not like this.
Without a hint of emotion, Aeryn fired twice into his chest. She watched him jolt back against the
floor and then lay still. His eyes glazed over and slid downward. The enemy was dead. She'd
won. "Sorry." The word came out much colder than she had expected. It had been meant as a
small gesture of remorse. Aeryn stepped over the body and continued on down the hall. Then
something caught her attention.
His eyes were blue. Not like John's and certainly without the warmth that came with him. That
distinction seemed trivial at the moment. Face hardened, Aeryn forced herself to think about the
task at hand. There would be reinforcements here soon. She couldn't allow herself to waste
time. But his eyes were still blue.
She knelt down beside the young man and stroked his cheek softly. The skin was cold. Of
course, that was to be expected but it didn't make her feel any better. Aeryn holstered her pulse
rifle. She'd murdered him. 'Why do I care?' She shut his eyelids and took away that sight which
caused this scene in the first place. It changed nothing. Despite her best attempts, Aeryn
remembered.
-
That was how she found herself in this situation. Sitting in a damp hallway with a dead
peacekeeper soldier who used to have blue eyes. A rumbling sound came from above. The
structure this place lay under was coming to life. There would be company soon and that meant
trouble. It was time to go.
Aeryn stood up and gave the dead soldier one last look. All of the sudden, he didn't seem so
significant after all. Just another faceless addition to the list she kept adding up in her head. She
turned away from him and looked down the hall. A single door was positioned directly ahead of
her. It was the only cell on this floor.
The ancient id machine beeped reassuringly as she passed her stolen keycard through it. A green
light came on and was followed by several loud snapping sounds. The door was opening. Aeryn
thought back to what had just happened. She couldn't help it really. 'Why am I here?'
The ex-peacekeeper remembered leaving John behind. Then again, that wasn't the only reason.
A lot had happened in between then and now. Things that had gotten her to this door that she'd
rather not to share with anyone. Especially not with the person inside. "Time's up."
It was pitch black and she had to strain her eyes to see him. The man sat limply against the back
wall and muttered some vaguely familiar language to himself. Aeryn suddenly remembered what
it was. The realization didn't make her feel any better. "Can you stand?"
He shielded his eyes from the intruding light and said nothing. Aeryn positioned herself to block
it out. She waited for a reply. The man finally looked up at her and his eyes went wide. "Aeryn
Sun? I wasn't expecting you."
That voice was still the one she remembered. Still the one that made the guilt rise up at night.
"Yes, it's me." She watched in silence as he rose from his spot on the ground and walked
towards her. Aeryn stood still as his hand reached out to touch her cheek. It got most of the way
there. "Don't touch me."
Something in his eyes quieted back down at her words. He must have recognized the coldness
that everyone kept telling her about. That which protected her from new pain but not the
memories. "I'm sorry. It's just that-."
Aeryn rushed forward and slammed him against the wall. His eyes were still wide. "We have to
leave now. Another guard will be here any microt." She searched for understanding in his face.
The man nodded.
"Good, now follow me." Aeryn led the way out. Somehow she knew making it back to Talyn
would be a lot easier than what happened once she got there.
thanks to lucy for her help
The prison was a large black structure that contrasted sharply with the planet's lush green
countryside. A round and sinister looking spot on the beautiful horizon. Standing at it's peak,
two men observed something small and white in the sky.
"What manner of craft is that?"
Conroy took a cautionary glance out the window of his office and saw the small white ship in its
entirety. "Looks like an escape pod to me."
The guard shook his head lazily and shrugged. "It don't match any of our data, sir. Too old, I'd
say."
He narrowed his eyes at the subordinate. "So what are you telling me? You let an unknown,
possibly hostile vessel pass right by our defense systems?" Conroy shook his head in disgust.
They were low budget but this was ridiculous.
"Sorry, sir. Our scanners are set to detect weapons or explosive devices." The guard took a step
back. These arguments had proven fatal for others in the past. "Got right past us."
Conroy reached for his gun, a heavy looking grey thing, but stopped abruptly. He nodded and
considered that this guard was competent enough to keep around for a while. Without waiting
for a reply, he swept out onto the tarmac.
"Can you at least tell me what can kind of species we're looking at?"
The guard moved hurriedly from behind. "Yes, yes. It's a Sebacean female."
Warden Conroy stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly. His face had become an eerily
accurate impersonation of a stone. "You frelling idiot."
A shot rang out from the pulse cannon at his side. The guard had just crossed that line.
"I hate Sebacean females."
The unidentified craft came to a stop a few feet behind him. So small was it that barely any wind
kicked up to clean the tarmac's rusted surface. Its fin-like wings shifted slightly in their place
before coming to a stop. Conroy motioned for his time of shooters to keep ready.
"Exit your craft. You will not have another warning."
The module's roof slid open in one fluid motion and revealed the mysterious rider. A young
woman, 'definitely Sebacean' Conroy observed, sat motionless in the seat. Her dark hair was
mussed and cascaded down around her face in a way that seemed far too feminine. That face,
however, showed no other signs of femininity. A pair of tired eyes in a completely expressionless
face. Then, without warning, the arrival came to life.
"Don't move!" Conroy shouted the words even as the female stood and jumped off the module's
side. He raised his gun and aimed carefully. "Peacekeeper! I said don't-."
"I am not a peacekeeper." The words emptied out of Aeryn Suns' mouth in such a way that no
one dared question them.
The group of guards remained trained on her at Conroy's command. He knew as well as they did
that people like her didn't come to places like this without good reason.
"A defector then. What do you want?" He took a step forward and observed that she didn't
carry any weapons. That fact alone improved her case. No peacekeeper was ever too far away
from her weapon.
Aeryn seemed to understand what he was thinking and motioned towards the module. "One pulse
rifle, one pistol. Black bag under the seat."
Conroy nodded to the nearest guards and they moved to retrieve the items. The calmness of the
situation was starting to make him uneasy.
"I come on behalf of Bialar Crais." The ex-peacekeeper noticed the signs of recognition in her
captor's eyes.
The prison warden let his lips curl slightly into what could almost be a smile. "It's been quite a
while since I've heard that name."
Aeryn nodded. "But you know it, and the reason I have come," she said.
Conroy frowned now. Despite his prejudice, something amused him about this woman. There
was more to her than could be seen here.
"The last time I spoke to Bialar, frell, that was almost two cycles ago. He was attempting to
convince me that I was still required to take orders from a deposed captain."
For the very first time, Aeryn showed a tiny crack in her steel glare. "You-."
He raised a hand to stop her reply. Conroy needed no explanation for the captain's current status.
Peacekeepers were good enough reason to hold on to what he had. They could send an armada if
they wanted to. For an intelligent man, Conroy did have his petty grudges.
"I can't do what you ask."
Aeryn narrowed her eyes at him and returned the ugly frown. She felt cold steel from within the
leather sleeve of the old coat she wore. "You will hand him over to me. I'm not asking."
Conroy motioned towards his men as he saw her go for the hidden weapon. Yes, this woman was
a mystery. And he hated killing mysteries before they were solved.
John turned the valve one last time and the torrent of water came to a slow stop. He shivered a
bit as the freezing liquid began dripping from his icy skin. 'Hell, Talyn. Learn some new tricks
would ya.' Reaching for a towel, John considered how bad they could be.
The lack of noise from the shower brought a new curiosity to his attention. A soft whirring sound
was coming from outside. John slid the curtain aside carefully to see what it was.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
The DRD looked up at him and didn't even bother to respond with beeps. It just sat there and
stared like a vacuum cleaner with the plug unhooked.
John reached for his clothes and ducked quickly back behind the curtain. Moments like these
made him wonder about what kind of education Crais was giving. "Shoo!"
Fully dressed, he hopped out of the shower and looked at himself in the mirror. John wondered
where the scratch on his left cheek had come from. He glanced down at the DRD. "How long
have you been here?"
It made no visible response.
As he made his way out of the bathroom and into the hall, John began to see a disconcerting
pattern. Another little red box sat waiting for him. This one beeped three times and then scurried
off down the corridor.
"Why do I think the word privacy means nothing to you guys?"
The human shook his head and started off down the hall again. Before John could take two steps,
a familiar purr reached his ears. "Pip, that you?"
She stood in the middle of the hallway with arms placed firmly on hips. Her lips were curled into
that trademark playful smile. Chiana walked forward until she was mere inches away from him.
She shook her head. "It's me."
John tried to respond but her hand was already under his shirt. He felt himself being pushed up
against the wall as the Nebari moved in closer. "Hey, hold on a-."
Chiana shook her head and punched him lightly in the stomach. "Don't squirm."
He found himself extremely confused but unable to get free. John tried to push himself back but
there was the wall to stop him. He felt her hands tickling against his ribs and he smiled
involuntarily. But there was something very wrong about this.
"Listen, I think I hear my mom-."
The last two words were smothered as Chiana pressed her lips hard against his. It wasn't so
much a kiss as an attempt at suffocation. John's eyes danced wildly around as his hands fought to
push her back.
"Crichton!"
His name was the last thing he heard before Chiana disappeared from his sight. In her place stood
Crais. The ex-captain held a chair from the dining room in his hand. Fresh Nebari blood stained
its surface.
"Can you please explain to me what the frell is going on!!?" John looked down at the woman on
the ground and gasped. Her face was clenched into an absolutely horrifying look of anger.
"You must trust me Crichton. Come now, before she gets up!" Crais motioned for him to follow
and ran off in the opposite direction.
John glanced down at Chiana again and shrugged. "Sorry Pip." He headed off after the man.
After a few minutes of breathless running, Bialar ducked into one of the maintenance bays. "In
here!"
Gasping for air, John nodded and threw himself through the doorway. Immediately after he did
so, the door slammed shut. A sense of despair suddenly fell over him as he took in his
surroundings.
One of the workstation tables had been cleared and placed in the middle of the room. A set of
restraints and several pairs of tools now adorned it. Each one shone brilliantly in the room's harsh
light. Standing just behind it, with a look that did not bring comfort, was Chiana. Her black eyes
sparkled with malice.
"I apologize for this Crichton." The ex-captain seemed apprehensive. "The plan was to gain your
confidence and then lead you here." Crais nodded towards the woman in front of them. "Talyn's
plan."
John looked over at Chiana and sighed. He suddenly realized that the DRD's had all disappeared
just as she arrived. Or was it he?
"So, I'm betting you didn't lure me here to tell me what a great kisser I am."
Chiana/Talyn shook her head and smiled.
Conroy caught sight of the gun as it slid slowly out of Aeryn's sleeve. It was a pulse pistol, basic
peacekeeper weapon. He shook his head. This would end badly.
"You'll hand it to me now."
She stared back at him angrily and shook her head. Aeryn knew there was no easy way out of
this. But she had to try. "No."
Four weapons, already trained on her, charged up and prepared to fire.
Aeryn let her view roam past the warden in front of her. At the center of the tarmac they stood
on a wide hole opened up. She could see nothing from where she stood. 'Why not?'
"I won't ask again." Conroy glanced over at this men. They would know what to do.
The gun flew from her hand in one swift motion and tumbled through the air. Surprised, he barely
had time to reach for it. A solid catch and it was in his hands.
"That's be-." The pulse pistol exploded in one fierce ball of light.
Conroy gasped as pieces of bloody uniform slapped against his face. He looked down at the
crater that had opened up in his chest and fell to the floor. Before the darkness overtook him, the
warden saw Aeryn Sun run past his ruined body.
The weapons fire started moments after the man's death. She ran forward and narrowly escaped
being shot down. Aeryn did not dare look back as the remained of Conroy's body was torn to
shreds. She sprinted across the tarmac's hard surface until the edge was right in front of her.
'Do it!' Her mind screamed for her to jump but nothing else worked. Aeryn looked down into
the abyss and saw tiny lights off in the distance. It wasn't going to work. A yellow blast of pulse
fire soared past her head. She could smell burning hair.
Aeryn jumped.
"We shouldn't be doing this, Talyn."
Crais sat off in the corner and watched as the new life-form in front of him went about her work.
Droplets of blood squirted across his face as a response from the other.
"This is wrong."
Chiana/Talyn laughed at that. She watched the stream of blood as it poured from the incision she
had made. True, there was some pain. But it was necessary. Before speaking, she dug the knife
in deeper into her arm.
"You don't get to decide that. It's because of you that this is all happening."
She dropped the knife and picked some of the blood off with her fingers. It slid down onto her
hand and Chiana smiled. "I learned all of this from you."
John opened his eyes slowly as the sound of angry voices entered into his murky thoughts. He
took the scene in front of him in and his mouth dropped open. "Oh God."
She continued on. "The Nebari thought she was being noble. Coming here at the risk of her own
life." She let the blood drip down onto the floor. "A mistake."
"You son of a bitch! Talyn!" John fought to get up off the table but his arms and legs were
restrained. He felt the anger swell up inside of him. It wasn't something he liked. "Let her go!"
Crais stood up but said nothing.
"I'm going to kill her Crichton. Then you." Chiana/Talyn plunged the knife into Chiana's
stomach. "Just the three of us again."
"Talyn!" Bialar moved forward but stopped when the knife came out and aimed itself at him.
That was a step he wasn't willing to take.
Talyn smiled with his host's lips and shook his head. "You taught me well." He moved a hand
down to the waist and pulled out the black transponder.
Chiana's body slumped to the ground.
Crais leapt forward and ripped at Crichton's restraints. Without a word, he unloosed them and
waited for the human to react.
John slid off the table and dropped beside the wounded Nebari. "Why didn't you stop him?"
"There was nothing I could do."
He looked up at the ex-captain through hollow eyes. "There's always something!" John ran a
hand through Chiana's tousled hair. His sight was blurred with tears.
Chiana's black eyes opened slowly and looked up at the human above her. There was no sly
smile, no amusement. Only pain. Her lips moved slightly.
John leaned in close until his ear was right up against her mouth. Blood was already staining his
shirt. "What is it? Come on Pip."
There were tears in her eyes. "I don't want to die. It's not me."
With those words, the strange calmness that had taken hold of him vanished. John wrapped his
arms around Chiana's frail body and tried to pick her up. He spoke as he did this.
"There's still a chance. We have to get to the medical supplies."
Crais looked on in detachment. "My quarters. But Talyn will have DRDs on patrol in the
hallways. We'll never make it in time."
John ignored him. He managed to get Chiana up and moved towards the door. "We're going."
Kicking the door open, the human moved out into the hall.
The sound of a pulse weapon charging reached his ears. Crais raised his gun and followed. A
strange new look in his eyes had taken over.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
"You hear that?"
The two soldiers looked up at the roof of their small guard station with eyes wide open. An
indentation had been made in the thin metal that covered them. It was indistinguishable but large
enough to be a person.
"I heard it."
Both of them jumped as a gash tore through the ceiling up above them. Through the darkness
came a thin shaft of piercing light from above. Someone was moving up there and they were
trying to get through.
Aeryn wiped blood from her forehead and continued ripping away the roofing. Doubtless there
were guards underneath. 'You'll need to kill them.'
Without notice, her footing gave way and she crashed down into the darkness again. Aeryn
landed on something soft. She looked down and saw the face of a man. He'd never even reached
his gun.
The pulse blast shot out of the darkness and landed just above Aeryn's head. Slipping out her
own weapon, the ex-peacekeeper followed the trail that had been left behind. Picking her spot,
Aeryn fired once and heard a grunt from somewhere ahead. A direct hit.
"Bitch, you frelling shot me." The young soldier looked angrily up at her as she came into the
light. His face changed quickly from anger to fear when he saw Aeryn's face. "You're not going
to kill me are you?" It wasn't the peacekeeper thing to say but that was the last thing on his mind.
He didn't want to die, not like this.
Without a hint of emotion, Aeryn fired twice into his chest. She watched him jolt back against the
floor and then lay still. His eyes glazed over and slid downward. The enemy was dead. She'd
won. "Sorry." The word came out much colder than she had expected. It had been meant as a
small gesture of remorse. Aeryn stepped over the body and continued on down the hall. Then
something caught her attention.
His eyes were blue. Not like John's and certainly without the warmth that came with him. That
distinction seemed trivial at the moment. Face hardened, Aeryn forced herself to think about the
task at hand. There would be reinforcements here soon. She couldn't allow herself to waste
time. But his eyes were still blue.
She knelt down beside the young man and stroked his cheek softly. The skin was cold. Of
course, that was to be expected but it didn't make her feel any better. Aeryn holstered her pulse
rifle. She'd murdered him. 'Why do I care?' She shut his eyelids and took away that sight which
caused this scene in the first place. It changed nothing. Despite her best attempts, Aeryn
remembered.
-
That was how she found herself in this situation. Sitting in a damp hallway with a dead
peacekeeper soldier who used to have blue eyes. A rumbling sound came from above. The
structure this place lay under was coming to life. There would be company soon and that meant
trouble. It was time to go.
Aeryn stood up and gave the dead soldier one last look. All of the sudden, he didn't seem so
significant after all. Just another faceless addition to the list she kept adding up in her head. She
turned away from him and looked down the hall. A single door was positioned directly ahead of
her. It was the only cell on this floor.
The ancient id machine beeped reassuringly as she passed her stolen keycard through it. A green
light came on and was followed by several loud snapping sounds. The door was opening. Aeryn
thought back to what had just happened. She couldn't help it really. 'Why am I here?'
The ex-peacekeeper remembered leaving John behind. Then again, that wasn't the only reason.
A lot had happened in between then and now. Things that had gotten her to this door that she'd
rather not to share with anyone. Especially not with the person inside. "Time's up."
It was pitch black and she had to strain her eyes to see him. The man sat limply against the back
wall and muttered some vaguely familiar language to himself. Aeryn suddenly remembered what
it was. The realization didn't make her feel any better. "Can you stand?"
He shielded his eyes from the intruding light and said nothing. Aeryn positioned herself to block
it out. She waited for a reply. The man finally looked up at her and his eyes went wide. "Aeryn
Sun? I wasn't expecting you."
That voice was still the one she remembered. Still the one that made the guilt rise up at night.
"Yes, it's me." She watched in silence as he rose from his spot on the ground and walked
towards her. Aeryn stood still as his hand reached out to touch her cheek. It got most of the way
there. "Don't touch me."
Something in his eyes quieted back down at her words. He must have recognized the coldness
that everyone kept telling her about. That which protected her from new pain but not the
memories. "I'm sorry. It's just that-."
Aeryn rushed forward and slammed him against the wall. His eyes were still wide. "We have to
leave now. Another guard will be here any microt." She searched for understanding in his face.
The man nodded.
"Good, now follow me." Aeryn led the way out. Somehow she knew making it back to Talyn
would be a lot easier than what happened once she got there.