Nothing's Quite The Same

Story by: Neuroscpr and Can

Pt 28 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 unsuspecting tech's control console, along with a significant amount of his face, exploded as a sudden shot burst through the black space outside. Sirens blared and agendas were reassessed as the Diplomatic ship came suddenly under attack.

From behind the nearest planet, a large Scarran vessel burst into view and began firing with terrifying precision.

"Why did no one see it coming?" Grayza shouted as she was thrown sideways by another volley of cannon fire. Her body made an unsettling thump as it hit the ground. The Commandant tasted blood and instantly jumped back onto her feet.

The techs with workable consoles returned to them and set about answering the commandant's question. Each eyed her with unease as she walked among them.

Grayza stopped beside the tech that had alerted her earlier. "You said something about a large power source?" she asked coldly.

Barely able to look up, the man nodded. "I had, have a lock on its position," he managed through chattering lips. "It does not appear to be the Scarran ship."

The Commandant leaned in close to him, letting her mouth grow dangerously close to his ear. "I want us out of here now," she whispered. "But first, tell me what the frell we just fired at!"

Shaking, the tech nearly jumped in his seat. He nodded vigorously as he went to work on collecting the data. Meanwhile, the other soldiers in the command room had begun to turn the ship around. All eyes fell to the main wall screen where the Scarran ship sat in plain view. It was thankfully not a dreadnought. Yet still enough to crush them if they stayed.

"Commandant, I have the target data," he said.

Grayza looked down at him again. "By all means, put it on the monitor."

As she spoke, the task was done. Watching now, she saw as a full load of their weapon power burst from its home and travel out into space. The commandant was however surprised to see the blasts suddenly change course and launch themselves into the nearby wormhole.

"What did we hit?" she shouted.

"Sir, there is no understandable data being emitted from that wormhole," the tech said. "Though it appears that a source of considerable power exists inside."

Grayza put a soft hand on the tech's shoulder. Suddenly forgetting his presence, she gazed at the wormhole. For a microt, no more than that, she tasted a hint of Scorpius' obsession. Then she remembered the Scarran ship.

"Get us out of here now," she ordered. "I have no time for science projects."



"Crichton! John! Are you all right? Answer me!"

The human could hear her voice far off in some distant part of his mind. With all the white noise going off, it was almost impossible to distinguish. He saw faces; all the same, telling him things he didn't want to hear. He felt hands, strong hands, grabbing at him, holding him down.

"Stop badgering him!" Rygel spat from his place in the corner. "Let the poor bastard sleep for once."

Aeryn shot a deadly look at the Hynerion. Resisting the urge to use violence, she averted her eyes and concentrated on John. "What the frell would you know about it, Rygel?" she said.

The old Dominar frowned, his integrity questioned. "A drenload more than any peacekeeper would know, I promise you that," he retorted.

Before she could respond, D'Argo interjected. "Quiet, both of you! I think he's waking up."

Crichton stirred slightly. Two of the voices had suddenly become clear in a moment of lucidity. Faces in the crowd had taken on new form. His friend, his girl.

"John, can you hear me?" Aeryn said more softly.

D'Argo knelt beside her, reaching his hand out to open one of the human's eyes. "Whatever they did to him, I think he's coming out of it."

"He better!" Rygel shouted. "I don't want those Ancients taking me next time. I had nothing to do with any frelling wormhole weapons."

D'Argo, at a loss, simply ignored the slug. "Aeryn, keep talking to him," he whispered.

The ex-peacekeeper nodded slightly. She still felt awkward about how things had ended during their last conversation. Aeryn's mind was racing up until the moment she could open her mouth and say, "Wake up!"

John opened his eyes and stared at the two people in front of him. The first thing he noticed was that neither looked like Jack, which was quite comforting.

"Are you still in there?" Rygel asked as he hovered closer.

He managed a weak grin. "Nice to see you again too, Sparky," he said.

Rygel responded with a look of forced annoyance. "Whatever you're hung up on now, Crichton, let it go," he said. "I believe one of your convenient plans is in order."

"What are you talking about, Rygel?" D'Argo asked as he stood. Then he saw what only the Hynerion had witnessed so far. "Aeryn!"

She followed his gaze out the porthole and took in the scene. Close behind them in the wormhole, an immense silver structure - she couldn't even call it a ship - was moving quickly towards them. The only describable thing was a reddish luminescence that seemed to come from deep inside.

"Yes, a plan would be good."



"So what do you think?" Chiana asked.

She and Jool stood together in the corner, watching as the four soldiers conversed mysteriously at the other end.

Jool looked at her Nebari companion with an air of surprise. "You don't trust them do you?" she said incredulously.

Chiana glanced over at the soldiers. "Of course I don't trust them," she said. "But I don't think they want to hurt us either."

The Interon sighed. "Right, because Chi can see the future," she said. Jool held up the restraints they had used on her. "Did you see them tie me up? Gag me?"

Chiana grinned. "Come on princess, who wouldn't want to tie you up and gag you?" she joked.

Shaking her head angrily, Jool threw up her arms and stormed out of the room. As far as she was concerned, Chiana could deal with the soldiers all on her own.

The Nebari shrugged and brought out her comm. "Hey Pilot, keep an eye on them would you? I'm going after her."

Her comm burst to life a microt later. "I will do so Chiana," Pilot said. "Moya and I have managed to restore certain systems. At least in part."

"Thanks," Chiana said. She took one last look at the four soldiers and frowned. There still wasn't anything she could see about them. The uncertainty troubled her. Or maybe it was the strange tingling she was feeling on her skin. She sighed and headed for the door.

On the other side of the room, Dunbar watched her go with a look of controlled euphoria on his face. He had just met three real aliens. Aliens for God's sake! His bliss was suddenly interrupted when a gun barrel poked him in the ribs.

"What the hell did you just do?" one of the other soldiers said. "You're off your rocker!"

Dunbar's face was a blank stare of confusion. Searching for the right words, all he managed was to mumble, "Sergeant, I'm in charge of…"

"The hell you are!" The soldier, whose name happened to be Havermeyer, pushed him back against the wall. "The 'captain' before your name, Dunbar, ain't no more than a formality. I'm in charge of this mission."

"What did I do wrong?" Dunbar asked. He did not like being chewed out by halfwits.

Havermeyer leaned in closer. "You don't compromise me and my men like that," he growled. "You don't let aliens inject us with whatever the hell they injected us with. Do it again and I'll feed you to that redhead with the nice rack and a sharp pair of lungs."

"Careful sir, he might like that," one of the other soldiers quipped.

"Shut up," Havermeyer yelled.

Dunbar returned the angry man's steely gaze and was not impressed. He'd seen too many amazing things in the past few hours to let this creep spoil it for him.

"I'll do my best," he said and headed for the door.

The Sergeant watched him go with equal dissatisfaction. "Be careful," he whispered.



John did his best to shrug off the cloudiness in his head and stood up. Stumbling at first, he managed to grab the wall and look out through the porthole.

"What the hell is that?" he said.

Already at the controls, D'Argo was attempting to maneuver the Nebari cruiser away. He turned when the human spoke. "The Ancients, at least we think," he answered.

Aeryn stepped beside Crichton and continued to stare at the incoming vessel. "What happened in there?" she asked. "Why would they let you go and still come after us?"

"It's obvious isn't it?" Rygel moaned. "He pissed off the lot of them and now we're all going to die!"

"Yeah, something like that Ryg," John said as he moved away from the window. Strange images were still floating around in his head. Balance, above everything else, was a problem.

Aeryn grabbed his shoulder to keep him steady. She pushed him up against the wall. "Don't move so much," she warned. "You'll fall again."

John nodded his head. "Cause that's our biggest problem right now, right?"

The cruiser began to shake slightly as the object outside grew closer. Within microts, the reddish glow was beginning to flood in through every available porthole. It cast a disturbing light over the four of them.

"I didn't come all this way to die in this frelling ship!" Rygel shouted. "Somebody do something!"

D'Argo took the Hynerion's cue and directed the ship upwards and away. The ship's engines roared in protest and it banked back down toward the wormhole's lower half.

"I can't control it," he yelled.

Aeryn's grip on Crichton was lost as her eyes locked on the object outside. "It's doing something else," she said as her view was blocked by its arrival.

A sudden flash of familiar white light came in through the windows and forced them all to the ground. D'Argo was thrown away from the controls and felt his face make contact with the cold steel floor. Then everything was still.

"Whoever isn't blind, look out the window," John said.

No one moved.

After several microts, the hum of Rygel's throne sled broke through the deafening silence. He rose with both hands rubbing furiously at his eyes. "I think I see it," he said.

"See what?" D'Argo asked.

Rygel shook his head in confusion. "Nothing, it's gone."

Aeryn, lifting herself off the ground, looked around for the unstable human. Spotting Crichton, she moved to his side and looked him over. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Crichton opened his eyes and stared up at her. "It's gone?" he asked. Taking Aeryn's nod as confirmation, he felt a shiver go through him.

"You know what Jack said," he whispered. "If they're gone, why aren't we dead?"



"Is this the one Pilot?" Chiana asked.

She stood in almost complete darkness, guided only by the flashlight she held in her hand. Around the Nebari, stalks of nerve tissue and conduits stretched for what seemed like miles both up and down.

"Yes Chiana," Pilot said from his den. "I believe the problem affecting Moya's scanners originated in that neural quadrant. Do you see anything?"

Chiana shone her light over the nearest spiral and shrugged. "If I did, how the frell would I know?" she said.

"Can I help?" a voice said from behind her.

She turned with the flashlight and found herself staring at one of the soldiers. "What are you doing here?" she barked.

Dunbar raised his hands as the alien brandished the weapon she had taken from him. He took a cautious step back. "Just exploring," he said. "Thought you might need some help."

"What are you? A scientist?" Chiana retorted.

"Actually...." Dunbar started to say but was interrupted.

Chiana's comm burst to life with Pilot's voice. "Wait, something's happened," he said. "We can see again."

The Nebari was immediately confused. Grabbing her stomach as a sudden pain hit, she said, "What? Just like that?"

Before Pilot could answer, she let out a choked scream and fell to her knees. "Pi..." Chiana tried to speak but all that came out were short gasps of air. The pain in her stomach became a pounding ache in her head. Clutching her temples, she dropped on her back.

"Hey, uh, Pilot!" Dunbar shouted. "Something's wrong!"

"I can see that, thank you," Pilot said with considerable annoyance. "Chiana!"

Chiana began to tremble violently on the ground. Her hands reached for solid purchase but found nothing. Forcing her eyes open, she looked up and saw Dunbar's face. A microt later, it wasn't his face anymore.

The area around her seemed to twist and reshape itself as she writhed in agony. Chiana, her eyes wide, watched as Crichton stepped into view. He was scared, even terrified. Surrounding him were a sea of Jacks. All like she remembered. "John!"

Crichton did not hear her scream but Dunbar did. Kneeling beside the Nebari, he tried to steady her. Instead he felt a surge of something decidedly unnatural stream up into him. His eyes felt like they were bulging out of his sockets. He saw a room full of identical faces, recognized the person. Then the seizures started.

The two of them lay in identical fits of pain with no one to help them. Chiana closed her eyes and only saw more images fly past. "Aeryn!" She screamed as she saw the ex-peacekeeper slam D'Argo up against a wall. Then Crichton's face again, close to tears as fire burned brightly in the distance.

"Jool! Someone help!" Pilot shouted. His voice echoed throughout the living ship and reached all aboard.

The Interon, abandoning her first meal in ages, ran out of the kitchen and headed for the neural cluster. Jool passed corridor after winding corridor in a blind rush until she rounded a corner and spotted the strange scene.

"Chi!" she yelled and knelt down beside the horrified Nebari. Searching for some instrument of use, Jool found the soldier's weapon and picked it up. She studied it for a microt and was about to throw it away when a voice spoke up from behind her.

"What did you do to him?" Havermeyer shouted as he entered the room. His two subordinates stood behind him. All three had their weapons trained on the redhead.

Not knowing anything else to do, Jool pointed her own weapon in return. "They're hurt, I don't know how!" she yelled. "I just got here!"

Havermeyer eyed her suspiciously and did not lower his gun. "What did you do?" he repeated.

"The Ancients! They're gone!"

All parties turned to look at Chiana's writhing figure on the ground. None understood a word of what she had just said.

Jool gripped her weapon a little tighter.



Aeryn helped John up off the ground. She offered him an awkward smile as he said, "Thank you." Moving carefully, they walked over to the Luxan's side.

"It's gone as Rygel said," D'Argo reported. He'd returned to the controls and was now doing his best to scan the area. "I could tell you more if I was on my ship," he said.

"We're not dead, we're not dead!" Rygel cried. "Oh thank the gods we're not dead!" He spun around on his throne and ignored the other three completely.

"You think you're ship could see well even in a wormhole?" Aeryn asked.

D'Argo looked up at her and grinned. "There's not much she can't do," he boasted.

"Go get her then, man," John said.

The Luxan nodded and stood up from his seat at the controls. Maneuvering around the joyous Rygel and into the corridor beyond, he disappeared from sight.

"We're not dead," John said softly.

Beside him, Aeryn nodded. "No, we're not."

"Crichton, Aeryn, I've got something," D'Argo commed from the seat of his ship. "Turn on the scanner."

Aeryn leaned forward and tapped the appropriate button. Seeing the image that came up, she mouthed the words but could not speak them. John did that for her.

"It's Moya," he said.