Nothing's Quite The Same
Story by: Neuroscpr and Can
Pt 26 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
The array of buttons and gauges in front of him was thankfully small. With little difficulty, he started the module's engines and felt it slide forward off the platform. Scorpius could still see the inside of the wormhole as he closed his eyes. The wondrous image calmed his doubts as he felt himself rise off the ground.
"Magnificent," he said and waved to the two figures outside.
Standing below the floating ship, Grayza and Schumka stared in momentary confusion as it began to move away from them.
"What the frell does he think he's doing?" Schumka yelled over the roar of the engines.
Grayza heard his question but refused to take her eyes off the vessel. She pulled her pulse pistol out of its holster and aimed. "We cannot let him escape," she said gravely.
The Commandant fired a blast at the module. Aboard, Scorpius felt the tiny ship lurch as it was hit. Seeing no damage, he sent the ship higher.
"Frell Mele-On!" Schumka said. "Don't shoot it."
Grayza looked at her superior and frowned at the realization. Despite all her work to discredit Scorpius and his obsession with wormholes, he still had her at a disadvantage.
"I will alert the techs to close down all exits," she said and headed for the door. Her last sight before clearing the room was of Schumka taking out his weapon.
"Hurry!" the colonel shouted.
Scorpius, completely oblivious to what was going on outside, finally found the instrument he had been searching for. With one quick decisive thrust, he felt the module pick up speed and fly out of the hangar.
The Farscape's engines roared to life and sent a blast of flames out behind it. Schumka was taken very much by surprise as it reached him and set his body ablaze.
Moving faster by the microt, the module navigated through the tunnels that led out into space. Scorpius maneuvered with precision through the labyrinth and soon found himself within sight of the stars.
"There you are," he whispered as the new wormhole came into view. The module shot out of the carrier just as its immense hangar doors slammed shut.
Scorpius grinned mischievously and settled back into the seat. Searching the compartment, he found it completely devoid of items. All most likely removed by Grayza's own scientists. Disappointed, he failed to see the small craft headed his way.
A sudden volley of pulse blasts tore through the darkness of space and lit the area around him. Scorpius struggled wildly to avoid them, just as one of the scanning displays lit up. It was primitive but he could easily see the type of craft it was.
"Scarrans!" he growled and swerved back towards the carrier.
"Who the frell are you!"
The soldier stood frozen at her words and did not say a thing. He kept his eyes on the weapon at all times.
Chiana shoved the clunky device at him and watched as he took a step back. She smiled at her temporary victory.
"Yeah, that's right," she said. "Answer me or I'll shoot ya."
The soldier continued to remain silent.
She gave him a curious look and closed the distance between them. The Nebari wasn't used to the do nothing approach. She poked him with the gun.
"Tell me your name," Chiana said. "Your rank, whatever the frell it is you guys do."
He stared back at her for a moment and suddenly seemed to understand. Lifting his arms up slowly, the soldier opened his mouth.
"I can't understand a word you're saying," he said.
Chiana was caught by surprise. She looked him over but couldn't decide whether he was telling the truth not. "Your joking right?"
He shook his head and said nothing.
"Frell, you better not be lying," she said. Chiana searched the area nearby for a DRD. "Cuz I'll shoot you."
"Pilot!" she shouted.
The soldier jumped and Chiana came very close to firing whatever it was the weapon fired into his chest. There was no answer from Pilot.
"Hold on a microt…"
Chiana spotted one of the little yellow machines sitting next to a far wall. It appeared to be working, just not in motion. As she moved to retrieve it, the soldier followed.
"Where the frell do you think you're going?" she yelled at him. That appeared to work and she walked over to the DRD without any more trouble. Chiana picked it up and showed it to the soldier.
"Try anything and I'll shoot you," she said and placed the DRD back down on the floor. The little thing moved cautiously forward and tapped lightly against the soldier's boot. Its microbe dispenser slid out from inside.
"Hey, wait!" the soldier shouted and moved away. He looked up at Chiana, who simply trained her weapon on him. The encounter was becoming a bit odd for the both of them.
The DRD reached forward with its mechanical arm and injected its prize into the highly agitated soldier. He closed his eyes as the machine did its work. After a microt or two, the DRD finished and slid away.
"Now," Chiana said, "Who are you?"
The soldier looked up with a big grin on his face. "Wow, that's neat."
The Nebari cruiser stood out quite conspicuously in the middle of the hangar. Every person aboard was at porthole, watching as more Jacks appeared.
"I don't like this," Aeryn said. She eyed the creatures outside with suspicion.
John looked up from his own vantage point. "They're Ancients, Aeryn," he said. "I ain't on their hit list."
Aeryn frowned. "John, you don't know what happ…"
She stopped as Crichton met her eyes. They looked at each other for a microt, she being the one to quickly break contact.
"Whatever the frelling reason, we have to be careful," D'Argo said and unsheathed his Qualta blade.
John looked from one warrior to the other and sighed. "Whatever," he said and headed for the door.
"Frell you Crichton!" Rygel snorted from his throne sled. The Dominar was in no hurry to disembark. "You didn't get shrapnel blown into you last time!"
John turned his back to the Hynerion and pressed the hatch controls. "You're right Sparky," he said, "I died."
D'Argo and Aeryn followed the human down the ramp, with Rygel catching up reluctantly. They reached the exit hatch and looked out at the Ancient's ship. All three remembered seeing it for the first time.
"Crichton?" Aeryn asked as she stepped outside. Making a quick perimeter sweep of the area, she noticed something missing. "Where did he go?"
The Luxan behind her pushed forward and looked around. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "John was right here."
"Well, he's obviously not now," Rygel said as he maneuvered around them to get a better look. "Probably ran off to get away from the two of you."
Another white flash of light burst out from nowhere and blinded the trio. When it faded, they found the illusion had changed.
Rygel opened his eyes and gasped. "Another frelling cell," he groaned.
Indeed, the hangar had disappeared and been replaced by a small cell. The walls were glass with large metal supports at close intervals.
"They better serve food again," the Dominar groaned.
"Shut up Rygel," Aeryn said and moved closer to the glass. Despite having her suspicions confirmed, she was not yet ready to admit defeat. Staring through the glass, she saw Crichton. He was standing with one of the Ancients.
On the other side of the glass, John looked around in confusion. "This is where you tell me what the hell's going on, right?"
Jack, his face as grave as ever, nodded slowly. He lifted his arm and the area behind him suddenly became a barren landscape.
"Our new home has been kind to us, John," he said. "Revitalizing our energy has gone faster than expected."
Crichton nodded back. "Hey man, that's great. Good for you."
Jack shook his head. "Our newfound power allowed us to return for our comrade. The same one you encountered."
"Our efforts led us to Dam-ba-da."
Grayza stood majestically at the head of her ship's control room watching the action-taking place outside. She smiled as Scorpius' tiny vessel appeared on the giant monitors in front and motioned towards the nearest tech.
"Prepare to fire," she said.
With no word from the colonel, she'd decided to take matters into her own hands. The scheming hybrid was too much of a liability. She would destroy him and the human's craft with a single blast of her frag cannons.
"Commandant!" one of the techs yelled. "We're detecting another ship out there."
As they all watched, a small but deadly looking craft came into view. It was considerably larger than the Farscape module and packed enough firepower to destroy it ten times over.
"Identify that ship!" Grayza ordered.
Her techs scrambled about in front of her and quickly came up with an answer. "A Scarran vessel, sir. Reconnaissance class."
Grayza muttered a 'frell' under her breath and sat down. With the new arrival, the situation had suddenly changed.
"Connect me to Scorpius," she said angrily.
"Already done, sir. He's hailing us."
Scorpius' lovely face appeared on the monitors. His confidence was missing at the moment for obvious reasons. "Commandant Grayza, I request your assistance," he said as a new wave of Scarran blasts rocked the module.
"Do you now?" Grayza said and smiled. "And why should I offer it?"
The look on the hybrid's face, for once, easily revealed what he was thinking. Scorpius was searching quite frantically for a reason.
"Whatever your personal opinion of me," he finally said, "I know that you would not allow the Scarrans to savor the victory of my death. I imagine you want that for yourself."
Grayza, despite herself, found that she agreed with his reasoning. "Very well Scorpius, you will not die at the hands of Scarrans."
She gave a curt nod and the techs quickly went to work. Within microts the diplomatic carrier's weapons went online and destroyed the Scarran ship.
Scorpius grinned maniacally as his enemies were blown to steaming bits. Maneuvering the module away from the destruction, he set his sights on the wormhole before him.
His comm crackled to life. "Scorpius!" Before Grayza could threaten him again, he shut the radio off.
"Goodbye Commandant Grayza," he whispered. "I promise you that we will see each other again."
Aboard the carrier, Mele-On Grayza watched furiously as the hybrid disappeared into the wormhole. The one place she could not follow.
The door slid open unceremoniously and with no opposition from the exhausted Pilot. He looked up reluctantly as it opened and prepared for the onslaught of whatever enemy had come.
"No Moya, I cannot know that," he said.
He felt very tired and the leviathan's questions were not helping. "If I knew, I would tell you," he said with a bit more spirit.
"Pilot?"
The creature looked up and was taken aback. Standing in front of him, a vision of everything he held dear was Chiana.
"Chiana? Is that really you?" he managed.
The Nebari ran forward and adeptly leaped onto his console. With all her might she wrapped her arms around the giant creature and smiled.
"You're alive!" she shouted. "I can't believe it, you're alive." Chiana closed her eyes and for once did not see danger on Moya. She felt tears coming.
"Yes, indeed we are," Pilot said. "And so are you. Moya and I are very glad to see you." There was so much more but he could barely manage to keep Moya stable with all the emotion.
Then he saw the figure standing at the door. "Who is that?"
Chiana turned and looked at the soldier. "Oh him?" she said. "That's...."
"Dunbar, uh, Captain Dunbar," the soldier said. "I, um, wow you're amazing." His hands were shaking slightly.
Pilot turned suspiciously to Chiana. "Peacekeeper?"
The Nebari shook her head. "You won't believe it Pilot. He's a…"
Suddenly the captain's radio burst to life and filled the den with sounds of gunfire. Dunbar rushed to grab it, silencing the device just as a piercing scream came through.
Pilot and Chiana looked up in horror.
"Jool!"
John followed the new Jack down a newly created flight of stairs. They walked silently into another large room. It wasn't as big as the hangar but astounding for its own reasons.
"Oh God," the human said as he stepped inside.
A large group of creatures stood around what appeared to be a metal operating table. Some looked like Jack, others appeared as they truly were. All had their eyes now firmly planted on Crichton.
Jack grabbed his wrist and navigated through the ocean of bodies until they stood right beside the table. He signaled for Crichton to look.
John glanced down and saw the body of an Ancient. The way it laid there, there was no doubt that the creature was dead. He could feel the pain that surrounded him. The Ancients were grieving.
"We found him on that planet," his Jack said. "The one that gave you the knowledge so many have died for."
"I wasn't there," John whispered. The other's pain threatened to overwhelm him. "This shouldn't have happened.
Jack remained stoic. "I believe that you are sincere, John Crichton," he said. "Nevertheless, one of is dead and more may follow."
Crichton suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
The Ancient continued, "That is why we must do this now."
Story by: Neuroscpr and Can
Pt 26 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
The array of buttons and gauges in front of him was thankfully small. With little difficulty, he started the module's engines and felt it slide forward off the platform. Scorpius could still see the inside of the wormhole as he closed his eyes. The wondrous image calmed his doubts as he felt himself rise off the ground.
"Magnificent," he said and waved to the two figures outside.
Standing below the floating ship, Grayza and Schumka stared in momentary confusion as it began to move away from them.
"What the frell does he think he's doing?" Schumka yelled over the roar of the engines.
Grayza heard his question but refused to take her eyes off the vessel. She pulled her pulse pistol out of its holster and aimed. "We cannot let him escape," she said gravely.
The Commandant fired a blast at the module. Aboard, Scorpius felt the tiny ship lurch as it was hit. Seeing no damage, he sent the ship higher.
"Frell Mele-On!" Schumka said. "Don't shoot it."
Grayza looked at her superior and frowned at the realization. Despite all her work to discredit Scorpius and his obsession with wormholes, he still had her at a disadvantage.
"I will alert the techs to close down all exits," she said and headed for the door. Her last sight before clearing the room was of Schumka taking out his weapon.
"Hurry!" the colonel shouted.
Scorpius, completely oblivious to what was going on outside, finally found the instrument he had been searching for. With one quick decisive thrust, he felt the module pick up speed and fly out of the hangar.
The Farscape's engines roared to life and sent a blast of flames out behind it. Schumka was taken very much by surprise as it reached him and set his body ablaze.
Moving faster by the microt, the module navigated through the tunnels that led out into space. Scorpius maneuvered with precision through the labyrinth and soon found himself within sight of the stars.
"There you are," he whispered as the new wormhole came into view. The module shot out of the carrier just as its immense hangar doors slammed shut.
Scorpius grinned mischievously and settled back into the seat. Searching the compartment, he found it completely devoid of items. All most likely removed by Grayza's own scientists. Disappointed, he failed to see the small craft headed his way.
A sudden volley of pulse blasts tore through the darkness of space and lit the area around him. Scorpius struggled wildly to avoid them, just as one of the scanning displays lit up. It was primitive but he could easily see the type of craft it was.
"Scarrans!" he growled and swerved back towards the carrier.
"Who the frell are you!"
The soldier stood frozen at her words and did not say a thing. He kept his eyes on the weapon at all times.
Chiana shoved the clunky device at him and watched as he took a step back. She smiled at her temporary victory.
"Yeah, that's right," she said. "Answer me or I'll shoot ya."
The soldier continued to remain silent.
She gave him a curious look and closed the distance between them. The Nebari wasn't used to the do nothing approach. She poked him with the gun.
"Tell me your name," Chiana said. "Your rank, whatever the frell it is you guys do."
He stared back at her for a moment and suddenly seemed to understand. Lifting his arms up slowly, the soldier opened his mouth.
"I can't understand a word you're saying," he said.
Chiana was caught by surprise. She looked him over but couldn't decide whether he was telling the truth not. "Your joking right?"
He shook his head and said nothing.
"Frell, you better not be lying," she said. Chiana searched the area nearby for a DRD. "Cuz I'll shoot you."
"Pilot!" she shouted.
The soldier jumped and Chiana came very close to firing whatever it was the weapon fired into his chest. There was no answer from Pilot.
"Hold on a microt…"
Chiana spotted one of the little yellow machines sitting next to a far wall. It appeared to be working, just not in motion. As she moved to retrieve it, the soldier followed.
"Where the frell do you think you're going?" she yelled at him. That appeared to work and she walked over to the DRD without any more trouble. Chiana picked it up and showed it to the soldier.
"Try anything and I'll shoot you," she said and placed the DRD back down on the floor. The little thing moved cautiously forward and tapped lightly against the soldier's boot. Its microbe dispenser slid out from inside.
"Hey, wait!" the soldier shouted and moved away. He looked up at Chiana, who simply trained her weapon on him. The encounter was becoming a bit odd for the both of them.
The DRD reached forward with its mechanical arm and injected its prize into the highly agitated soldier. He closed his eyes as the machine did its work. After a microt or two, the DRD finished and slid away.
"Now," Chiana said, "Who are you?"
The soldier looked up with a big grin on his face. "Wow, that's neat."
The Nebari cruiser stood out quite conspicuously in the middle of the hangar. Every person aboard was at porthole, watching as more Jacks appeared.
"I don't like this," Aeryn said. She eyed the creatures outside with suspicion.
John looked up from his own vantage point. "They're Ancients, Aeryn," he said. "I ain't on their hit list."
Aeryn frowned. "John, you don't know what happ…"
She stopped as Crichton met her eyes. They looked at each other for a microt, she being the one to quickly break contact.
"Whatever the frelling reason, we have to be careful," D'Argo said and unsheathed his Qualta blade.
John looked from one warrior to the other and sighed. "Whatever," he said and headed for the door.
"Frell you Crichton!" Rygel snorted from his throne sled. The Dominar was in no hurry to disembark. "You didn't get shrapnel blown into you last time!"
John turned his back to the Hynerion and pressed the hatch controls. "You're right Sparky," he said, "I died."
D'Argo and Aeryn followed the human down the ramp, with Rygel catching up reluctantly. They reached the exit hatch and looked out at the Ancient's ship. All three remembered seeing it for the first time.
"Crichton?" Aeryn asked as she stepped outside. Making a quick perimeter sweep of the area, she noticed something missing. "Where did he go?"
The Luxan behind her pushed forward and looked around. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "John was right here."
"Well, he's obviously not now," Rygel said as he maneuvered around them to get a better look. "Probably ran off to get away from the two of you."
Another white flash of light burst out from nowhere and blinded the trio. When it faded, they found the illusion had changed.
Rygel opened his eyes and gasped. "Another frelling cell," he groaned.
Indeed, the hangar had disappeared and been replaced by a small cell. The walls were glass with large metal supports at close intervals.
"They better serve food again," the Dominar groaned.
"Shut up Rygel," Aeryn said and moved closer to the glass. Despite having her suspicions confirmed, she was not yet ready to admit defeat. Staring through the glass, she saw Crichton. He was standing with one of the Ancients.
On the other side of the glass, John looked around in confusion. "This is where you tell me what the hell's going on, right?"
Jack, his face as grave as ever, nodded slowly. He lifted his arm and the area behind him suddenly became a barren landscape.
"Our new home has been kind to us, John," he said. "Revitalizing our energy has gone faster than expected."
Crichton nodded back. "Hey man, that's great. Good for you."
Jack shook his head. "Our newfound power allowed us to return for our comrade. The same one you encountered."
"Our efforts led us to Dam-ba-da."
Grayza stood majestically at the head of her ship's control room watching the action-taking place outside. She smiled as Scorpius' tiny vessel appeared on the giant monitors in front and motioned towards the nearest tech.
"Prepare to fire," she said.
With no word from the colonel, she'd decided to take matters into her own hands. The scheming hybrid was too much of a liability. She would destroy him and the human's craft with a single blast of her frag cannons.
"Commandant!" one of the techs yelled. "We're detecting another ship out there."
As they all watched, a small but deadly looking craft came into view. It was considerably larger than the Farscape module and packed enough firepower to destroy it ten times over.
"Identify that ship!" Grayza ordered.
Her techs scrambled about in front of her and quickly came up with an answer. "A Scarran vessel, sir. Reconnaissance class."
Grayza muttered a 'frell' under her breath and sat down. With the new arrival, the situation had suddenly changed.
"Connect me to Scorpius," she said angrily.
"Already done, sir. He's hailing us."
Scorpius' lovely face appeared on the monitors. His confidence was missing at the moment for obvious reasons. "Commandant Grayza, I request your assistance," he said as a new wave of Scarran blasts rocked the module.
"Do you now?" Grayza said and smiled. "And why should I offer it?"
The look on the hybrid's face, for once, easily revealed what he was thinking. Scorpius was searching quite frantically for a reason.
"Whatever your personal opinion of me," he finally said, "I know that you would not allow the Scarrans to savor the victory of my death. I imagine you want that for yourself."
Grayza, despite herself, found that she agreed with his reasoning. "Very well Scorpius, you will not die at the hands of Scarrans."
She gave a curt nod and the techs quickly went to work. Within microts the diplomatic carrier's weapons went online and destroyed the Scarran ship.
Scorpius grinned maniacally as his enemies were blown to steaming bits. Maneuvering the module away from the destruction, he set his sights on the wormhole before him.
His comm crackled to life. "Scorpius!" Before Grayza could threaten him again, he shut the radio off.
"Goodbye Commandant Grayza," he whispered. "I promise you that we will see each other again."
Aboard the carrier, Mele-On Grayza watched furiously as the hybrid disappeared into the wormhole. The one place she could not follow.
The door slid open unceremoniously and with no opposition from the exhausted Pilot. He looked up reluctantly as it opened and prepared for the onslaught of whatever enemy had come.
"No Moya, I cannot know that," he said.
He felt very tired and the leviathan's questions were not helping. "If I knew, I would tell you," he said with a bit more spirit.
"Pilot?"
The creature looked up and was taken aback. Standing in front of him, a vision of everything he held dear was Chiana.
"Chiana? Is that really you?" he managed.
The Nebari ran forward and adeptly leaped onto his console. With all her might she wrapped her arms around the giant creature and smiled.
"You're alive!" she shouted. "I can't believe it, you're alive." Chiana closed her eyes and for once did not see danger on Moya. She felt tears coming.
"Yes, indeed we are," Pilot said. "And so are you. Moya and I are very glad to see you." There was so much more but he could barely manage to keep Moya stable with all the emotion.
Then he saw the figure standing at the door. "Who is that?"
Chiana turned and looked at the soldier. "Oh him?" she said. "That's...."
"Dunbar, uh, Captain Dunbar," the soldier said. "I, um, wow you're amazing." His hands were shaking slightly.
Pilot turned suspiciously to Chiana. "Peacekeeper?"
The Nebari shook her head. "You won't believe it Pilot. He's a…"
Suddenly the captain's radio burst to life and filled the den with sounds of gunfire. Dunbar rushed to grab it, silencing the device just as a piercing scream came through.
Pilot and Chiana looked up in horror.
"Jool!"
John followed the new Jack down a newly created flight of stairs. They walked silently into another large room. It wasn't as big as the hangar but astounding for its own reasons.
"Oh God," the human said as he stepped inside.
A large group of creatures stood around what appeared to be a metal operating table. Some looked like Jack, others appeared as they truly were. All had their eyes now firmly planted on Crichton.
Jack grabbed his wrist and navigated through the ocean of bodies until they stood right beside the table. He signaled for Crichton to look.
John glanced down and saw the body of an Ancient. The way it laid there, there was no doubt that the creature was dead. He could feel the pain that surrounded him. The Ancients were grieving.
"We found him on that planet," his Jack said. "The one that gave you the knowledge so many have died for."
"I wasn't there," John whispered. The other's pain threatened to overwhelm him. "This shouldn't have happened.
Jack remained stoic. "I believe that you are sincere, John Crichton," he said. "Nevertheless, one of is dead and more may follow."
Crichton suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
The Ancient continued, "That is why we must do this now."
