1 Nothing's Quite The Same
Story by: Neuroscpr and Can
Pt 21: by Neuroscpr
Setting: After DWTB, spoilers up until that episode
Rating: R
Summary: John and the other displaced members of the crew embark on their own missions as Moya heads into unknown territory
"How the frell did you get here?"
Aeryn slammed her fist into the nearest control panel and the door slid shut, locking them in. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at the Luxan she had just saved. The expression on his face wasn't exactly the one she'd been expecting.
"I could ask you the same thing," she said.
D'Argo growled for a moment and then dropped to the ground. Despite his great strength and the anger brewing, he was exhausted after all that had happened in the last few days. His bones ached just thinking about Aeryn being there.
"I thought you'd left," he whispered.
"I did," Aeryn answered.
She followed D'Argo's example and slid down to the floor. It felt strange being there, speaking him again. Like going to something she thought had been lost.
"How the frell did you get here?" D'Argo asked again.
Before Aeryn could answer, an explosion sounded from outside. The entire room shook and control panels sparked as the destruction Jaron had wrought spread through the ship. Both of them could hear screams off in the distance. People dying.
Aeryn closed her eyes as she answered D'Argo's question. She couldn't bring herself to look at him as she said it.
"Macton, he told me where he was going. I came to save you," she said.
A fierceness rose in the Luxan's eyes that she'd seen very few times before. He stood up then and un-sheathed the Qualta blade from his back.
"Macton! How?" he roared.
D'Argo crossed the distance between them and knelt down to grab Aeryn's arms. He forced her up and pushed her against the wall.
"Tell me!"
Aeryn's face turned from confusion to anger. She narrowed her eyes and pushed the Luxan away with a strong shove.
"Calm down D'Argo!" she shouted back. "What's wrong with you?"
"Macton! Is he here?" D'Argo continued. He didn't seem to notice that the ex-peacekeeper in front of him was about ready to smack him.
Aeryn nodded curtly. "Yes, he's with Commandant Grayza," she said.
D'Argo growled. He backed up for a moment and stood there in unsettling silence while Aeryn looked on. Then he shook his head and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Aeryn shouted after him.
"To find him and kill him!"
She reached out and grabbed onto the back of his red coat. The force of her grip stopped the Luxan short.
"You can't D'Argo. We need to leave now while there's still time."
D'Argo turned to look at her with dangerous eyes.
"Not without him," he said and forced the door open.
"And what do you expect me to do? Just wait here and hope you don't get yourself killed?" Aeryn yelled.
D'Argo almost smiled. "Go rescue Crichton and Chiana," he said and headed off into the darkness.
Aeryn stood there frozen with her mouth hanging open as he disappeared from view.
"What?"
The surgical area stood quiet in the wake of Chiana's last attempt at escape. Both orderlies remained motionless on the floor. In fact, the only person fully capable of movement was Colonel Schumka. He stood over a large black box and smiled.
"You can struggle all you want in there, girl," he whispered.
Behind the glass, Chiana stared back at him in a stilted rage. Her eyes were wide and focused and her fists were struggling against the metallic walls. She was quickly realizing that there was no way out.
"What was that? I didn't hear you," Schumka said and grinned like an idiot. The specimen he now had in his possession would get him what Grayza never could. Perhaps a seat on the high council?
He leaned in close and pressed his face against the cold glass. Through it, Chiana cringed at the horrid sight he made. So much was he pleased that he didn't hear the sound of footsteps approaching.
"Yeah, um, hi."
Schumka shot up only to slammed back down from behind. His face rammed into the glass in a much less pleasing way.
"Let go of me!" he shouted. "Who the frell are you?!"
The hand holding him down belonged to one John Crichton. Despite his loss of direction, the human had managed to find this place with little trouble. Of course, he didn't actually know where he was.
"Oh no big boy, you ain't goin nowhere," John shouted and pushed down harder on the colonel's face.
"I will kill you!" Schumka yelled.
John managed a look through the glass and saw Chiana staring happily back at him. The glimmer of hope in her eyes was enough to make him feel better.
"So that's it is it?" he said and slammed the colonel one last time. Enough to knock the man unconscious. Schumka dropped to the ground.
"You ok in there Pip?" John asked.
Chiana pounded on the glass excitedly and pointed towards the clasps on the side.
"What? Where the hell's the door?"
John found the heavy bolts on the side of the box and nodded in recognition. He began to undo them, as Chiana suddenly grew agitated inside.
"Hold your horses will ya? I'm coming."
Schumka stood up and pressed the muzzle of his stun gun against Crichton's rib cage. The two men exchanged a look of mutual animosity that ended with the colonel smiling. Once again, he was in control of the situation.
"John Crichton, eh?" he said. "I thought Grayza had you locked away. Apparently she's not as capable as she assumes." He grinned.
"Crichton!"
"What?" John said.
"Move!" Chiana shouted as the box's lid shot upwards. It caught Schumka right in the center of his big chin and sent him flying backwards.
"Damn Pip," John said and sighed with relief.
Chiana lifted herself out of the box and into Crichton's arms. She pulled him in close and smiled.
Putting her mouth beside his ear, she whispered.
"Get me the frell outta here."
"What happened!" Grayza shouted.
The commandant repeated the question as Macton struggled to catch up behind her. Both of them were running down a long corridor full of panicking soldiers.
"Why are those people here?!"
Grayza stopped and turned around. With anger growing, she grabbed onto Macton's uniform and slammed him against the wall. Her fist went up above him and pounded the bulkhead.
The wall exploded outward and a vacuum opened to the open space outside. Debris from all over the area suddenly rose off the ground and made a quick exit through the new hole. Grayza was picked up off the ground and thrown.
"Commandant!" Macton shouted.
He caught his superior by the collar of her shirt and dragged her back down. Together they fell to the ground hard and managed not to be sucked into space.
Grayza looked up at Macton and shook her head.
"You always know just what to do," she said with a touch of amusement.
Macton nodded back. "Whatever you say, Commandant."
"Commandant Grayza!"
The voice broke both of them out of there moment. Standing alone amidst the chaos of the hall a few feet away, Aeryn Sun lifted her gun.
She'd managed not to convince D'Argo that he was being an idiot. The only thing left to do was try and find Crichton and Chiana, which was disturbing enough. Her search had led her to the wrong person.
Grayza threw herself past Macton as a hail of pulse blasts began firing from Aeryn's gun. The two women stared at each other angrily and neither moved. Mele-On growled and took off in the opposite direction.
"Aeryn Sun! You still going to kill me?" Macton yelled through the din.
She pointed her gun at him but did not fire.
Macton smiled and took off after the commandant.
Aeryn stayed just long enough to see that her two enemies had gone in separate directions.
Macton made it out of the hall and into a large room. It was dark inside and he could just see the silhouettes of tables and chairs. It was the eating area. He was slightly disturbed to lose track of Grayza but at least he was safe.
A bright blue flash exploded from somewhere in the darkness and lit it up grandly. The pulse blast missed him but crashed into the nearby kitchen area and set it ablaze.
"Who's there," he shouted.
No answer came from the unknown assailant. Only more pulse fire. As Macton looked on in icy trepidation, the flames spread to the door he had just entered through.
"I ask again, who's there?!"
Loud footsteps sounded from up ahead. Someone was coming towards him. Deliberately and with no apparent rush they came.
"Answer me!"
Ka D'Argo walked into view with his Qualta blade swinging at his side. The ancient Luxan weapon glistened with the reflection of the flames.
The peacekeeper took a step back and found himself growing warm from the heat. In that moment he realized what he had allowed to happen. There was no escape.
"D'Argo, this was not how I expected our reunion to be," he said shakily.
The Luxan's face betrayed no emotion. He simply continued to move closer, his blade swinging with each step.
Macton felt his knees go weak. Reaching down to steady himself, he discovered that a weapon was still sitting in his holster. His mind raced with possibilities.
"It has been far too long brother," he said.
"Only through marriage," D'Argo barely whispered.
Macton's strength broke and he fell to his knees. Kneeling on the ground, he carefully slid his pistol out and placed it against his back.
"You want to kill me for what I did?" he said. "You would have done the same in my position."
D'Argo placed his blade against the peacekeeper's neck. Then he waited.
"Really? You think so?" he asked calmly.
Macton swallowed hard.
Each man looked into the other's eyes. There was great ferocity between them. Both had carried it for so long that it seemed almost like second nature. This was no great final confrontation. It was the end of something.
D'Argo pulled his weapon back.
"You won't kill me," Macton blurted out. "You're not a murderer, D'Argo."
The blade stopped.
"Not like me," the peacekeeper continued.
Seeing his opportunity, Macton lunged forward with his pistol and fired. The blast shot out and burned into D'Argo's exposed shoulder. A wound that would heal quickly and leave no scar.
Ka D'Argo swung back with his Qualta blade and separated Macton's head from the rest of his body. It went flying into the darkness; it's eyes staring out blindly at infinity.
"You're right. I'm not."
He sheathed his blade and left, bearing no witness to the cremation of his brother-in-law's corpse.
"Aeryn! Can you hear me? Aeryn!"
Jaron practically jumped out of the way of a moving battalion of soldiers and continued down the corridor. All around him the mess he'd created continued to ravage the ship. The ground below him shook but he managed to keep on his feet.
"Aeryn! Answer me!"
He pushed every button on his radio but still there was no answer.
"Where the frell are you?" he shouted and began to slip the device back onto his belt.
In another part of the ship, Crichton was picking up the radio that Colonel Schumka no longer had use for. It had sprung to life only a microt before.
"What did you just say?" he said into it as Chiana finished behind him.
Jaron stopped in the middle of his run and took out the radio again.
"Whom am I speaking to," he said.
The voice was quick to answer.
"This is John Crichton, the universe's bitch. Who's this?"
The rebel's eyes went wide. A great many things became clear to him at that moment. Unfortunately he was not given time to work them out. The person that suddenly stepped in front of him erased all previous concerns.
"Just get to the hangar, Crichton," he said and then switched the device off.
Commandant Mele-On Grayza aimed her weapon at the young man in front of her and snarled. She'd seen all her plans dashed to pieces in the past arn. And this little thing appeared to be in on the frell job.
"You're working with Aeryn Sun!" she yelled. "Trying to take my prisoners away from me!" She grew dangerously close to firing the gun.
Jaron backed away but quickly saw that wasn't going to do the trick. "I'm, I'-
Grayza fired at the ceiling above him. "Shut up!"
He complied.
"Where is she? Where are the others?!" Grayza shouted.
"I'm right here."
The commandant turned in time to see Aeryn fire her weapon. Grayza screamed as the blast hit her square in the chest and threw her to the ground.
"Are you alright, Jaron?" Aeryn asked.
The young man nodded but could not bring himself to open his mouth. He just continued nodding as Aeryn led him down the corridor.
"Come on. We need to get to the others," she said.
"I think it's this one," John said.
"No, this one," Chiana disagreed.
They stood together in front of two large corridors. Each was marked in a peacekeeper language that John could not even begin to comprehend.
"What makes you think it's the right one?" John asked.
Chiana turned to look at him and smiled. Despite the freshly sewed cuts she now sported, the Nebari was in a vastly improving mood.
"Because it's the one marked 'Hangar'," she answered.
John shook his head. "Well, that's all you needed to say."
They took off running down the corridor and soon found themselves in a giant wind tunnel.
Peacekeeper Diplomatic ships were very large but not anywhere in comparison with a command carrier. They sported one large hangar with steel bulkheads to separate each docked ship from its neighbors. Such a system allowed for difficult parking but tighter security when it came to important meetings.
John and Chiana stepped into the room and found that most of the ships currently docked were either smashed to pieces against the protective bulkheads or not there at all. Whatever had happened, someone had done a good job of screwing things up for the Commandant.
"Ok Pip, which one now?" John asked
Chiana shot him an annoyed look but said nothing.
Both of them took hold of the wall as the air roared around them. Everything not tied down was being sucked into the infinite blackness outside. These two did not intend on dying that way.
"Who's there!?" a familiar voice asked.
Crichton turned to see D'Argo running out of the tunnel. The Luxan took one step into the room and was immediately almost taken off his feet.
"Hey big guy!" John shouted. "Grab onto something."
D'Argo growled but managed to reach his friend's side. Together, he, Crichton, and Chiana hung on for dear life.
"What do we do now?" Chiana yelled over the vacuum noise.
John began to force himself back up into to the tunnel. Once he got back into the corridor, things became considerably easier.
Then he saw what was at the other end.
"Oh my God."
Aeryn and Jaron reached the two adjacent corridors with little opposition from any of the peacekeeper soldiers aboard Grayza's ship. If one facet of the operation had gone smoothly, it was that almost no one had learned what was actually going on. Only the key players were involved.
"This way!" Aeryn shouted and headed into the right tunnel.
Jaron followed but quickly found himself facing a frozen ex-peacekeeper soldier.
"What's wrong?" he yelled. "What's up there?"
Aeryn heard his voice and also registered the fact that their ship was one of the only ones still tethered to the hangar docks. She could just make it out from where she was. It was swinging dangerously.
But the thing that held the greater part of her attention stood only a few feet away. A man was standing at the end of the tunnel with a shocked expression on his face. Aeryn wondered if she was sporting a similar one.
They stared at each other for a moment until something even worse broke it.
A loudspeaker suddenly came on all over the ship.
"I don't die that easily, Aeryn Sun."
Grayza's voice boomed through the comms and disrupted anything else of any importance whatsoever.
"You will not escape this ship alive."
At that moment, the docking controls holding Aeryn's escape ship to the larger one disengaged. The peacekeeper vessel she'd used to get aboard flew backwards with the current and crashed into the steel bulkhead that was supposed to serve as protection.
All five of the people in the hangar watched in dead silence as their hopes went up in an enormous explosion of flames.
John Crichton was the only one who wasn't staring at the ship. He was looking right at Aeryn Sun and, above all else, he felt like throwing up.
Story by: Neuroscpr and Can
Pt 21: by Neuroscpr
Setting: After DWTB, spoilers up until that episode
Rating: R
Summary: John and the other displaced members of the crew embark on their own missions as Moya heads into unknown territory
"How the frell did you get here?"
Aeryn slammed her fist into the nearest control panel and the door slid shut, locking them in. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at the Luxan she had just saved. The expression on his face wasn't exactly the one she'd been expecting.
"I could ask you the same thing," she said.
D'Argo growled for a moment and then dropped to the ground. Despite his great strength and the anger brewing, he was exhausted after all that had happened in the last few days. His bones ached just thinking about Aeryn being there.
"I thought you'd left," he whispered.
"I did," Aeryn answered.
She followed D'Argo's example and slid down to the floor. It felt strange being there, speaking him again. Like going to something she thought had been lost.
"How the frell did you get here?" D'Argo asked again.
Before Aeryn could answer, an explosion sounded from outside. The entire room shook and control panels sparked as the destruction Jaron had wrought spread through the ship. Both of them could hear screams off in the distance. People dying.
Aeryn closed her eyes as she answered D'Argo's question. She couldn't bring herself to look at him as she said it.
"Macton, he told me where he was going. I came to save you," she said.
A fierceness rose in the Luxan's eyes that she'd seen very few times before. He stood up then and un-sheathed the Qualta blade from his back.
"Macton! How?" he roared.
D'Argo crossed the distance between them and knelt down to grab Aeryn's arms. He forced her up and pushed her against the wall.
"Tell me!"
Aeryn's face turned from confusion to anger. She narrowed her eyes and pushed the Luxan away with a strong shove.
"Calm down D'Argo!" she shouted back. "What's wrong with you?"
"Macton! Is he here?" D'Argo continued. He didn't seem to notice that the ex-peacekeeper in front of him was about ready to smack him.
Aeryn nodded curtly. "Yes, he's with Commandant Grayza," she said.
D'Argo growled. He backed up for a moment and stood there in unsettling silence while Aeryn looked on. Then he shook his head and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Aeryn shouted after him.
"To find him and kill him!"
She reached out and grabbed onto the back of his red coat. The force of her grip stopped the Luxan short.
"You can't D'Argo. We need to leave now while there's still time."
D'Argo turned to look at her with dangerous eyes.
"Not without him," he said and forced the door open.
"And what do you expect me to do? Just wait here and hope you don't get yourself killed?" Aeryn yelled.
D'Argo almost smiled. "Go rescue Crichton and Chiana," he said and headed off into the darkness.
Aeryn stood there frozen with her mouth hanging open as he disappeared from view.
"What?"
The surgical area stood quiet in the wake of Chiana's last attempt at escape. Both orderlies remained motionless on the floor. In fact, the only person fully capable of movement was Colonel Schumka. He stood over a large black box and smiled.
"You can struggle all you want in there, girl," he whispered.
Behind the glass, Chiana stared back at him in a stilted rage. Her eyes were wide and focused and her fists were struggling against the metallic walls. She was quickly realizing that there was no way out.
"What was that? I didn't hear you," Schumka said and grinned like an idiot. The specimen he now had in his possession would get him what Grayza never could. Perhaps a seat on the high council?
He leaned in close and pressed his face against the cold glass. Through it, Chiana cringed at the horrid sight he made. So much was he pleased that he didn't hear the sound of footsteps approaching.
"Yeah, um, hi."
Schumka shot up only to slammed back down from behind. His face rammed into the glass in a much less pleasing way.
"Let go of me!" he shouted. "Who the frell are you?!"
The hand holding him down belonged to one John Crichton. Despite his loss of direction, the human had managed to find this place with little trouble. Of course, he didn't actually know where he was.
"Oh no big boy, you ain't goin nowhere," John shouted and pushed down harder on the colonel's face.
"I will kill you!" Schumka yelled.
John managed a look through the glass and saw Chiana staring happily back at him. The glimmer of hope in her eyes was enough to make him feel better.
"So that's it is it?" he said and slammed the colonel one last time. Enough to knock the man unconscious. Schumka dropped to the ground.
"You ok in there Pip?" John asked.
Chiana pounded on the glass excitedly and pointed towards the clasps on the side.
"What? Where the hell's the door?"
John found the heavy bolts on the side of the box and nodded in recognition. He began to undo them, as Chiana suddenly grew agitated inside.
"Hold your horses will ya? I'm coming."
Schumka stood up and pressed the muzzle of his stun gun against Crichton's rib cage. The two men exchanged a look of mutual animosity that ended with the colonel smiling. Once again, he was in control of the situation.
"John Crichton, eh?" he said. "I thought Grayza had you locked away. Apparently she's not as capable as she assumes." He grinned.
"Crichton!"
"What?" John said.
"Move!" Chiana shouted as the box's lid shot upwards. It caught Schumka right in the center of his big chin and sent him flying backwards.
"Damn Pip," John said and sighed with relief.
Chiana lifted herself out of the box and into Crichton's arms. She pulled him in close and smiled.
Putting her mouth beside his ear, she whispered.
"Get me the frell outta here."
"What happened!" Grayza shouted.
The commandant repeated the question as Macton struggled to catch up behind her. Both of them were running down a long corridor full of panicking soldiers.
"Why are those people here?!"
Grayza stopped and turned around. With anger growing, she grabbed onto Macton's uniform and slammed him against the wall. Her fist went up above him and pounded the bulkhead.
The wall exploded outward and a vacuum opened to the open space outside. Debris from all over the area suddenly rose off the ground and made a quick exit through the new hole. Grayza was picked up off the ground and thrown.
"Commandant!" Macton shouted.
He caught his superior by the collar of her shirt and dragged her back down. Together they fell to the ground hard and managed not to be sucked into space.
Grayza looked up at Macton and shook her head.
"You always know just what to do," she said with a touch of amusement.
Macton nodded back. "Whatever you say, Commandant."
"Commandant Grayza!"
The voice broke both of them out of there moment. Standing alone amidst the chaos of the hall a few feet away, Aeryn Sun lifted her gun.
She'd managed not to convince D'Argo that he was being an idiot. The only thing left to do was try and find Crichton and Chiana, which was disturbing enough. Her search had led her to the wrong person.
Grayza threw herself past Macton as a hail of pulse blasts began firing from Aeryn's gun. The two women stared at each other angrily and neither moved. Mele-On growled and took off in the opposite direction.
"Aeryn Sun! You still going to kill me?" Macton yelled through the din.
She pointed her gun at him but did not fire.
Macton smiled and took off after the commandant.
Aeryn stayed just long enough to see that her two enemies had gone in separate directions.
Macton made it out of the hall and into a large room. It was dark inside and he could just see the silhouettes of tables and chairs. It was the eating area. He was slightly disturbed to lose track of Grayza but at least he was safe.
A bright blue flash exploded from somewhere in the darkness and lit it up grandly. The pulse blast missed him but crashed into the nearby kitchen area and set it ablaze.
"Who's there," he shouted.
No answer came from the unknown assailant. Only more pulse fire. As Macton looked on in icy trepidation, the flames spread to the door he had just entered through.
"I ask again, who's there?!"
Loud footsteps sounded from up ahead. Someone was coming towards him. Deliberately and with no apparent rush they came.
"Answer me!"
Ka D'Argo walked into view with his Qualta blade swinging at his side. The ancient Luxan weapon glistened with the reflection of the flames.
The peacekeeper took a step back and found himself growing warm from the heat. In that moment he realized what he had allowed to happen. There was no escape.
"D'Argo, this was not how I expected our reunion to be," he said shakily.
The Luxan's face betrayed no emotion. He simply continued to move closer, his blade swinging with each step.
Macton felt his knees go weak. Reaching down to steady himself, he discovered that a weapon was still sitting in his holster. His mind raced with possibilities.
"It has been far too long brother," he said.
"Only through marriage," D'Argo barely whispered.
Macton's strength broke and he fell to his knees. Kneeling on the ground, he carefully slid his pistol out and placed it against his back.
"You want to kill me for what I did?" he said. "You would have done the same in my position."
D'Argo placed his blade against the peacekeeper's neck. Then he waited.
"Really? You think so?" he asked calmly.
Macton swallowed hard.
Each man looked into the other's eyes. There was great ferocity between them. Both had carried it for so long that it seemed almost like second nature. This was no great final confrontation. It was the end of something.
D'Argo pulled his weapon back.
"You won't kill me," Macton blurted out. "You're not a murderer, D'Argo."
The blade stopped.
"Not like me," the peacekeeper continued.
Seeing his opportunity, Macton lunged forward with his pistol and fired. The blast shot out and burned into D'Argo's exposed shoulder. A wound that would heal quickly and leave no scar.
Ka D'Argo swung back with his Qualta blade and separated Macton's head from the rest of his body. It went flying into the darkness; it's eyes staring out blindly at infinity.
"You're right. I'm not."
He sheathed his blade and left, bearing no witness to the cremation of his brother-in-law's corpse.
"Aeryn! Can you hear me? Aeryn!"
Jaron practically jumped out of the way of a moving battalion of soldiers and continued down the corridor. All around him the mess he'd created continued to ravage the ship. The ground below him shook but he managed to keep on his feet.
"Aeryn! Answer me!"
He pushed every button on his radio but still there was no answer.
"Where the frell are you?" he shouted and began to slip the device back onto his belt.
In another part of the ship, Crichton was picking up the radio that Colonel Schumka no longer had use for. It had sprung to life only a microt before.
"What did you just say?" he said into it as Chiana finished behind him.
Jaron stopped in the middle of his run and took out the radio again.
"Whom am I speaking to," he said.
The voice was quick to answer.
"This is John Crichton, the universe's bitch. Who's this?"
The rebel's eyes went wide. A great many things became clear to him at that moment. Unfortunately he was not given time to work them out. The person that suddenly stepped in front of him erased all previous concerns.
"Just get to the hangar, Crichton," he said and then switched the device off.
Commandant Mele-On Grayza aimed her weapon at the young man in front of her and snarled. She'd seen all her plans dashed to pieces in the past arn. And this little thing appeared to be in on the frell job.
"You're working with Aeryn Sun!" she yelled. "Trying to take my prisoners away from me!" She grew dangerously close to firing the gun.
Jaron backed away but quickly saw that wasn't going to do the trick. "I'm, I'-
Grayza fired at the ceiling above him. "Shut up!"
He complied.
"Where is she? Where are the others?!" Grayza shouted.
"I'm right here."
The commandant turned in time to see Aeryn fire her weapon. Grayza screamed as the blast hit her square in the chest and threw her to the ground.
"Are you alright, Jaron?" Aeryn asked.
The young man nodded but could not bring himself to open his mouth. He just continued nodding as Aeryn led him down the corridor.
"Come on. We need to get to the others," she said.
"I think it's this one," John said.
"No, this one," Chiana disagreed.
They stood together in front of two large corridors. Each was marked in a peacekeeper language that John could not even begin to comprehend.
"What makes you think it's the right one?" John asked.
Chiana turned to look at him and smiled. Despite the freshly sewed cuts she now sported, the Nebari was in a vastly improving mood.
"Because it's the one marked 'Hangar'," she answered.
John shook his head. "Well, that's all you needed to say."
They took off running down the corridor and soon found themselves in a giant wind tunnel.
Peacekeeper Diplomatic ships were very large but not anywhere in comparison with a command carrier. They sported one large hangar with steel bulkheads to separate each docked ship from its neighbors. Such a system allowed for difficult parking but tighter security when it came to important meetings.
John and Chiana stepped into the room and found that most of the ships currently docked were either smashed to pieces against the protective bulkheads or not there at all. Whatever had happened, someone had done a good job of screwing things up for the Commandant.
"Ok Pip, which one now?" John asked
Chiana shot him an annoyed look but said nothing.
Both of them took hold of the wall as the air roared around them. Everything not tied down was being sucked into the infinite blackness outside. These two did not intend on dying that way.
"Who's there!?" a familiar voice asked.
Crichton turned to see D'Argo running out of the tunnel. The Luxan took one step into the room and was immediately almost taken off his feet.
"Hey big guy!" John shouted. "Grab onto something."
D'Argo growled but managed to reach his friend's side. Together, he, Crichton, and Chiana hung on for dear life.
"What do we do now?" Chiana yelled over the vacuum noise.
John began to force himself back up into to the tunnel. Once he got back into the corridor, things became considerably easier.
Then he saw what was at the other end.
"Oh my God."
Aeryn and Jaron reached the two adjacent corridors with little opposition from any of the peacekeeper soldiers aboard Grayza's ship. If one facet of the operation had gone smoothly, it was that almost no one had learned what was actually going on. Only the key players were involved.
"This way!" Aeryn shouted and headed into the right tunnel.
Jaron followed but quickly found himself facing a frozen ex-peacekeeper soldier.
"What's wrong?" he yelled. "What's up there?"
Aeryn heard his voice and also registered the fact that their ship was one of the only ones still tethered to the hangar docks. She could just make it out from where she was. It was swinging dangerously.
But the thing that held the greater part of her attention stood only a few feet away. A man was standing at the end of the tunnel with a shocked expression on his face. Aeryn wondered if she was sporting a similar one.
They stared at each other for a moment until something even worse broke it.
A loudspeaker suddenly came on all over the ship.
"I don't die that easily, Aeryn Sun."
Grayza's voice boomed through the comms and disrupted anything else of any importance whatsoever.
"You will not escape this ship alive."
At that moment, the docking controls holding Aeryn's escape ship to the larger one disengaged. The peacekeeper vessel she'd used to get aboard flew backwards with the current and crashed into the steel bulkhead that was supposed to serve as protection.
All five of the people in the hangar watched in dead silence as their hopes went up in an enormous explosion of flames.
John Crichton was the only one who wasn't staring at the ship. He was looking right at Aeryn Sun and, above all else, he felt like throwing up.
