Another episode for you fine readers. Thanks for reading as always and I
hope you like it. I hope it doesn't disappoint
Fic: Insiders p7 by: Neuroscpr (mtrx9991@yahoo.com) rating: pg-13 spoilers up to: current P8 will be posted MONDAY OR PERHAPS TUESDAY
chapter 7
"I knew I was gonna regret this!"
The bearded old man squinted through the dense fog that had sprung up out of nowhere and searched the horizon once more. Through the haze, he just managed to make out the form of the object that had fallen from the sky. It had been blazing earlier but was now little more than a shadow.
"Hey, I see her!" he yelled to his first mate.
His mid-sized fishing boat had been anchored to shore for less than ten arns when fire had erupted in the sky. Being the curious man that he was, he had set out immediately with his crew to see what he could salvage.
"Anything left of her?" the first mate asked as he emerged from below. Like his captain, he peered into the fog and groaned. "I see."
"Get the light on," the old man called to the men below. A few microts later, one steady beam of light cut through the darkness and settled on the throbbing surface of the ocean.
"You expect to find something?"
He turned to his first mate and shook his head. "Survivors?"
"Ya think?" the first mate responded.
Just as he said this, something came within the searchlight's area of study. A small black form just barely floating on the surface.
"Bring us about!" the old man shouted. "We got one!"
The ship moved forward until it was only inches from the body. Although it did not move, both captain and first mate reached for it as if it were a person in need of rescuing.
"Get 'im up here," said the old man as he fought for purchase. With one hard pull, they finally managed to bring the body aboard. "It's a man," he gasped.
"Right," the first mate answered. "A dead one."
The man's face looked frozen in slumber, his eyes almost at the point of opening. It was not until the old man poked him lightly with his boot that the expression changed.
"Frell! He's alive!"
John Crichton brought a wobbly hand to his face and cleared away the salt water in his eyes. He could feel pain all over but nothing that seemed to serious. Looking up at the sky, he caught sight of two unfamiliar faces. "Who the hell are you?" he moaned.
"Nirae," the old man said. "And this is Sagno, my first mate."
Crichton took in the two smiling faces and managed a weary smile. "Pleased to meet you," he said. Then, as if the situation had caught up to him, he jumped to his feet.
While the stranger coughed his lungs out, Nirae moved to give him a slap on the back. Before he could though, the man raised a hand.
"I'm ok," John said. "Has anyone else come up? Anyone?"
Nirae and Sagno looked at each other knowingly. The captain nodded slightly as he turned to the stranger. "You would be the second body we've found floating in the water tonight," he said.
John rushed forward but stopped when he saw the look in his savior's eyes. "Sorry about that," he mumbled. "What kind of body? Male? Female?"
"Was a sea monster!" Sagno blurted out.
The human's eyes went wide. "Sea monster?"
Nirae shook his head. "Is true," he said. "But not to worry. We made sure he was dead and locked him in the freezer. You need to fear it."
Instead of explaining his sudden anxiety, John ran past the two men and down into the ship's lower decks. A few frightened faces greeted him on the way down but none dared approach him. After the sea monster, none of them were willing to try their look.
"Scorpius!" John yelled as he reached the door with frost around the edges. Searching frantically, he found the knob and pushed inward with all his might. John stopped short at the sight in front of him.
As a creature that feared the heat, Scorpius found unquenchable strength in the cold. Standing in the middle of the freezer, he smiled with the delight as his various wounds ceased to burn.
"Scorpius," John shouted again and grabbed at the hybrid. "What the hell happened?"
The half-Scarran stared back with no trace of worry. "We survived John," he said. "You should be pleased.
John turned and ripped the nearest icicle off the wall. Unfortunately, Scorpius anticipated this and grabbed him around the throat. "You bastard," the human managed to grunt.
"My obligation is to you John," Scorpius answered. "The others are not my concern."
The water was frelling cold. That much she could tell without the benefit of visions. Chiana opened her eyes and watched in horror as the broken hatch leaked water into the pod.
"Frell!" she shouted.
Forcing herself toward the door, she felt the icy liquid stream under her clothing and burn against her skin.
"Nebaris do not like cold," she whispered.
With every ounce of strength still available, Chiana threw herself at the hatch. It roared in protest with the weight of the ocean behind it. "Please, please, please," she whispered as it began to move away from her.
The hatch slammed shut with a loud click and the torrent of water came to an abrupt stop. Chiana looked around the pod and sighed. Her final resting place did not look the way she had imagined it. To tell the truth, she'd never actually thought about it.
"Frelling Scorpius," she said with clenched fists. "If I don't die, I'm gonna kill you."
She waded through the ice cold water toward the pod controls. Reaching them, she climbed atop and finally relaxed. Though judging by how things were going, she didn't have much time left. Chiana closed her eyes for a microt and a flash of light cut through the darkness.
"No, not now!" she yelled but could not stop it.
Suddenly she was on Arnessk. The Nebari didn't know how she knew that, but it was true nonetheless. Getting a better view, she saw that she was in a large chamber. It was a peacekeeper installation but not like any one she had ever seen. A bed sat in the middle, two figures moving under the covers.
"Crichton?" she gasped as a face appeared. Her head spun at the realization of what she was seeing. Chiana almost tried to intervene. In the end, however, she knew it wasn't actually happening.
Then something else caught her eye. She wasn't the only person watching what was going on. It was at that moment that Chiana realized what she was actually seeing. Not something that had happened back on that planet.
"Aeryn," she whispered as the black-haired woman came into view. They were on opposite sides of the viewing gallery but Chiana could see her face very clearly. It made her angry, but most of all sad. Then everything turned white.
"Oh, this is not happening," she groaned.
The transport pod was sinking further and further into the darkness and the water was finding new ways to get in. But Chiana could no longer see it.
She hadn't dared to open her eyes as the commandant's last words ran through her head. Aeryn only had the faint sensation that the world was spinning out of control. When the floor beneath had begun to tilt, she'd done everything in her power not to move from the spot she lay at. Just as Grayza had ordered to.
"What?" she managed to say as the ground below her stabilized. The smell that had invaded her nostrils was finally beginning to dissipate. She lay over on her side and looked at the wall.
The wall monitor that had previously been centered on John's pod could see only darkness now. On closer inspection, Aeryn realized that they were underwater. A fact that seemed to fit well with the pools of liquid that had formed on the right side of the room.
"Officer Sun?" a voice moaned from the darkness.
Aeryn turned quickly and caught sight of the voice's origin. One of the control panels on the opposite wall had come crashing to the ground. Grayza lay, partially covered in debris, with her eyes fixed on Aeryn.
"Still alive," Aeryn asked coldly.
"It would seem so," Grayza replied in similar fashion.
Aeryn shook her head in disgust and turned to leave. There was still some hope inside her that she and D'Argo could get out alive.
"Stop! I order you," the commandant shouted.
Aeryn did in fact stop but she kept her back to the woman. "No," she whispered.
"You are still a peacekeeper," Grayza said. "Help me out of here."
Turning around finally, Aeryn watched as Grayza struggled against the metal that was pinning her down. She spotted the commandant's sidearm laying nearby. Aeryn went to pick it up and then headed back to the door.
"Where else are you going to go?" Grayza asked, changing her tactic. "Do you really expect them to take you back?"
Aeryn froze again. "I didn't-
"You betrayed them!" Grayza shouted. "Or at least, that is what they'll believe."
"They won't...." Aeryn started to say.
"You left the leviathan," Grayza continued. "Took off without telling anyone where. Just as I knew you would. That should be enough for John Crichton at least."
Aeryn took a step toward the door. Part of her wanted to run away as fast as her legs would carry her. Another screamed for her to turn and shoot.
"Crais, Scorpius, me," Grayza spat. "How much has he endured because of us? Because of what you are? A peacekeeper!"
Aeryn's fingers clenched shut around the pistol in her hand. "It's only a word," she whispered. Using all of her strength, she pushed her feet forward and left the room.
What seemed like a thousand different roars broke out as D'Argo struggled once more to smash his way out of the peacekeeper cell. Not even all of his strength was able to bring the metal barrier down. Through the bars he could each of the other prisoners locked in their own battle. Success meant possible escape. Failure was death.
"Let us out," he yelled as the warden passed by in a hurry.
The worried peacekeeper paused momentarily in front of D'Argo's cell and peered inside. Seeing the Luxan, he managed to smile weakly.
"Open the door," D'Argo said with as much civility as possible.
"Let yourself out," the warden spat. "I don't have time for this."
D'Argo, hyper-rage now becoming a possibility, threw himself at the door anew. The bars rattled against his weight but held strong. In his mind he imagined what he would do with his Qualta blade. Then an idea came.
"Warden!" he growled.
The peacekeeper turned once again just as two separate but equally effective events took place. D'Argo's tongue shot out and connected with his neck. As he floundered toward the floor, a pulse blast rang out and killed him.
"What the frell?" the Luxan asked.
"D'Argo!" Aeryn yelled as she made it to his cell. "Are you alright?"
Looking at the Sebacean in front of him, D'Argo almost felt like smiling. There was something in her eyes that had been missing for some time now. "I'm ok," he answered.
Aeryn nodded and then knelt down beside the dead warden. Searching through his uniform, she found the cell key and hurried to the nearest wall. "What's your cell number?" she called out.
D'Argo searched his little room but found nothing. "Frell if I know," he yelled back.
Aeryn looked up and down the corridor and wondered what kind of criminals were locked up inside Grayza's ship. The thought passed quickly. She slipped the card in and every door in the detention center swung open.
Microts later, D'Argo burst out of his cell and quickly reached above it. His Qualta blade sat in the storage bin where the warden had left it. Turning toward Aeryn, he finally noticed the throng of surly looking life- forms around him.
"You let them all go?" he asked.
Aeryn met his eyes and smiled briefly. "My resignation," she said. Motioning for D'Argo to follow, she headed out the door.
"Do you remember where they put my ship?" D'Argo asked.
She nodded and the two of them raced ahead. They ran through the ruined halls of the ship, encountering no resistance as they went. Every peacekeeper onboard had only one purpose in mind. And for once it matched that of the two criminals.
"There!" D'Argo shouted as they entered the hangar. Lo'la sat untouched on the center platform with its hatch open. If anyone had been trying to examine her, they were long gone by now. Jumping in, D'Argo slammed his Qualta blade into its resting place and the ship came to life.
"I'm sorry about this D'Argo," Aeryn said as she climbed in behind him.
The Luxan turned around momentarily and nodded. "You don't have to worry about me," he said before going back to the controls.
At that moment, Aeryn's eyes fixed on the radar screen. On it she could see the large dot representing Grayza's ship. Below that sat another, much smaller dot.
"D'Argo," she said. "The pod."
"What? A transport pod?" he asked.
"John," Aeryn shouted as she leapt back out of the ship.
"Where the frell are you going?" D'Argo called out.
Aeryn looked up at him and frowned. "Can your ship function underwater?"
"I don't even know if it will make it to the surface," D'Argo answered.
"Then make sure it does," Aeryn said. "I'll meet you on the surface."
Before D'Argo could protest, she stepped off the stair platform and forced it to close. Inside, the Luxan growled angrily. Reluctantly, he started up the engines and raised his eyes toward where the sky should be.
"There goes the last of it," Nirae announced. Not far from his boat, Grayza's ship was about to slip completely below the surface. The old man grunted his concern as his two newest passengers watched in silence.
John sat, his legs dangling over the edge, with a distant expression on his face. He'd been staring at the glassy surface of the water ever since the fog had begun to lift. Part of him still wanted to dive in.
"You surprise me John," Scorpius said.
The human looked up at his companion and frowned. "Great," he muttered.
"I would have expected you to do the foolish thing," Scorpius continued. "It pleases me that you did not."
John shook his head in disgust and turned away. The decision to stay on the boat had not been one of reason or concern for his own safety. He had looked down at the water and understood exactly what would happen if he tried to go in. The part of him that didn't care roared inside him. Somewhere in the darkness his friends could be dying.
"Frell it, I'm going," he suddenly shouted.
"No John!" the hybrid yelled. He had been expecting this.
Tossing his jacket away, John prepared to jump into the freezing cold water. He peered into the darkness below and said a quick prayer to whoever was listening.
"I wouldn't do that," Nirae interrupted. "Something's coming up from below."
John's head shot up and looked directly at the old sea captain. "What do you mean, something?"
Beside the boat, a stream of bubbles began to break across the surface. The three men moved toward the edge and watched in silence as a large form began to come up from the darkness.
"Hell, that's D'Argo!" John shouted. He could feel his heart beating faster as Lo'la broke the surface.
D'Argo's face registered the same amount of relief and surprise when he caught sight of Crichton on the ship in front of him. Setting the ship to hover, he opened the hatch and jumped down onto the deck.
"Don't you ever take off like that again," John said as he took his friend's arm.
The Luxan grinned back at Crichton. "I'm the captain," he said. "I can do whatever the frell I want." He slapped John on the back and then offered a curt nod at Scorpius.
John looked his friend up and down, then glanced over at the ship. Something immediately came to his attention. "Where's Aeryn and Pip?"
"I can't believe I'm actually gonna do this," Chiana said to herself as she fumbled along the wall. Finding purchase on the pod's walls had been difficult enough without the water rising slowly around her feet.
The last quarter arn had brought an increase in the flow of water into the pod. Chiana found herself faced with two options. Stay and die or take a chance in the water. Being blind, she didn't like her chances either way. 'Hey, I like taking risks don't I?' she thought. The answer was not comforting.
Barely able to make out shapes, she stumbled across the pod's cabin. Finally, after endless microts of searching, she found the hatch and softly touched its wet surface. It had protested immediately and she had felt her heart skip a beat.
"Last words, last words," Chiana muttered as she prepared to kick the door open. Searching her mind, she found nothing even remotely eloquent to say. Instead, she said the first thing that occurred to her.
"Ahhhhhh!" the Nebari screamed as she ejected herself into the freezing cold ocean outside. Kicking wildly with her arms and legs, Chiana could not tell whether she was going up or down. It took only microts for the air in her lungs to start running out.
'This is it,' she thought. 'After all the frelling dren I've been through, It ends like this.'
Something brushed against her outstretched hand. The possibility of what it might be so overwhelmed her that no recognizable thoughts made it through.
Still flailing, Chiana imagined she felt bubbles against her face. Then something was prying her mouth open, slipping something inside. Her eyes burst open and she saw a black object floating in front of her. Gloved hands reached out and pushed at the thing in her mouth.
'Air!' her mind screamed. She could breath again. The rush of oxygen must have done something else because the cloudiness in her eyes began to clear as well. Chiana squinted hard before opening them again and seeing Aeryn Sun in front of her.
With both of them kicking in the right direction, their intertwined bodies rushed toward the surface with great speed. Chiana smiled happily as her broke through and she felt cold air attack her skin.
"Are you alright?" Aeryn asked after pulling the air cannister from her mouth. Doing her best to stay afloat, she could barely hold on to the young Nebari.
Chiana laughed as heartily as she could and nodded. "Yeah, I'm ok," she said. Seeing Aeryn's face, a memory flooded back into her mind. "I saw you!"
Aeryn didn't seem to understand. "What?" she asked, spitting water from her mouth.
"John and Grayza were on the bed - and you were there - and I was," Chiana said. Unsure if it had made any sense, she looked to Aeryn.
The Sebacean's face darkened just as a harsh beam of light skimmed across the surface of the water and found them.
John waited impatiently by the edge as Nirae's boat put itself into position beside the two females. He'd been the one to spot them, the one to shout like a madman while Scorpy and D'Argo searched.
"A little closer!" he yelled.
At the controls, Nirae could only shake his head and smile. Whoever these strangers were, they had a flair for the dramatic.
Bringing himself as close to the water as possible, John reached down and grabbed onto the first hand he found. Lifting with all his might, he quickly found Chiana struggling to get up beside him.
The Nebari looked back at him, relief spelled out all over her face. She leaned in and embraced the human, putting her mouth beside his ear.
"It's ok Pip," John whispered. "You're safe."
Chiana shivered from the cold but still forced herself to pull away from him. At the last moment, she bent down again and whispered, "she knows," into his ear.
John, still not quite in his right mind, took a microt or two to figure out what that meant. Once the realization hit, he was forced back into the situation at hand. Beside him, D'Argo was pulling Aeryn out of the water.
Aeryn, her hair soaked and stuck to her face, stared at John as he stared right back. The two of them sat there without speaking and none of the others dared interfere.
"Are you ok?" John finally asked.
Almost as if in response, Aeryn lowered her eyes. Then, as if some new force had overtaken her, she looked up again. "No," she said.
Lost in the awkwardness of the moment, John simply sat there. He was as surprised as the rest of them when Aeryn moved forward and put her arms around him. Just as Chiana had done moments ago, she leaned in close to his ear.
"I am so sorry," she whispered before burying her face in his shoulder.
TBC (NEXT WEEK)
Neuroscpr
Fic: Insiders p7 by: Neuroscpr (mtrx9991@yahoo.com) rating: pg-13 spoilers up to: current P8 will be posted MONDAY OR PERHAPS TUESDAY
chapter 7
"I knew I was gonna regret this!"
The bearded old man squinted through the dense fog that had sprung up out of nowhere and searched the horizon once more. Through the haze, he just managed to make out the form of the object that had fallen from the sky. It had been blazing earlier but was now little more than a shadow.
"Hey, I see her!" he yelled to his first mate.
His mid-sized fishing boat had been anchored to shore for less than ten arns when fire had erupted in the sky. Being the curious man that he was, he had set out immediately with his crew to see what he could salvage.
"Anything left of her?" the first mate asked as he emerged from below. Like his captain, he peered into the fog and groaned. "I see."
"Get the light on," the old man called to the men below. A few microts later, one steady beam of light cut through the darkness and settled on the throbbing surface of the ocean.
"You expect to find something?"
He turned to his first mate and shook his head. "Survivors?"
"Ya think?" the first mate responded.
Just as he said this, something came within the searchlight's area of study. A small black form just barely floating on the surface.
"Bring us about!" the old man shouted. "We got one!"
The ship moved forward until it was only inches from the body. Although it did not move, both captain and first mate reached for it as if it were a person in need of rescuing.
"Get 'im up here," said the old man as he fought for purchase. With one hard pull, they finally managed to bring the body aboard. "It's a man," he gasped.
"Right," the first mate answered. "A dead one."
The man's face looked frozen in slumber, his eyes almost at the point of opening. It was not until the old man poked him lightly with his boot that the expression changed.
"Frell! He's alive!"
John Crichton brought a wobbly hand to his face and cleared away the salt water in his eyes. He could feel pain all over but nothing that seemed to serious. Looking up at the sky, he caught sight of two unfamiliar faces. "Who the hell are you?" he moaned.
"Nirae," the old man said. "And this is Sagno, my first mate."
Crichton took in the two smiling faces and managed a weary smile. "Pleased to meet you," he said. Then, as if the situation had caught up to him, he jumped to his feet.
While the stranger coughed his lungs out, Nirae moved to give him a slap on the back. Before he could though, the man raised a hand.
"I'm ok," John said. "Has anyone else come up? Anyone?"
Nirae and Sagno looked at each other knowingly. The captain nodded slightly as he turned to the stranger. "You would be the second body we've found floating in the water tonight," he said.
John rushed forward but stopped when he saw the look in his savior's eyes. "Sorry about that," he mumbled. "What kind of body? Male? Female?"
"Was a sea monster!" Sagno blurted out.
The human's eyes went wide. "Sea monster?"
Nirae shook his head. "Is true," he said. "But not to worry. We made sure he was dead and locked him in the freezer. You need to fear it."
Instead of explaining his sudden anxiety, John ran past the two men and down into the ship's lower decks. A few frightened faces greeted him on the way down but none dared approach him. After the sea monster, none of them were willing to try their look.
"Scorpius!" John yelled as he reached the door with frost around the edges. Searching frantically, he found the knob and pushed inward with all his might. John stopped short at the sight in front of him.
As a creature that feared the heat, Scorpius found unquenchable strength in the cold. Standing in the middle of the freezer, he smiled with the delight as his various wounds ceased to burn.
"Scorpius," John shouted again and grabbed at the hybrid. "What the hell happened?"
The half-Scarran stared back with no trace of worry. "We survived John," he said. "You should be pleased.
John turned and ripped the nearest icicle off the wall. Unfortunately, Scorpius anticipated this and grabbed him around the throat. "You bastard," the human managed to grunt.
"My obligation is to you John," Scorpius answered. "The others are not my concern."
The water was frelling cold. That much she could tell without the benefit of visions. Chiana opened her eyes and watched in horror as the broken hatch leaked water into the pod.
"Frell!" she shouted.
Forcing herself toward the door, she felt the icy liquid stream under her clothing and burn against her skin.
"Nebaris do not like cold," she whispered.
With every ounce of strength still available, Chiana threw herself at the hatch. It roared in protest with the weight of the ocean behind it. "Please, please, please," she whispered as it began to move away from her.
The hatch slammed shut with a loud click and the torrent of water came to an abrupt stop. Chiana looked around the pod and sighed. Her final resting place did not look the way she had imagined it. To tell the truth, she'd never actually thought about it.
"Frelling Scorpius," she said with clenched fists. "If I don't die, I'm gonna kill you."
She waded through the ice cold water toward the pod controls. Reaching them, she climbed atop and finally relaxed. Though judging by how things were going, she didn't have much time left. Chiana closed her eyes for a microt and a flash of light cut through the darkness.
"No, not now!" she yelled but could not stop it.
Suddenly she was on Arnessk. The Nebari didn't know how she knew that, but it was true nonetheless. Getting a better view, she saw that she was in a large chamber. It was a peacekeeper installation but not like any one she had ever seen. A bed sat in the middle, two figures moving under the covers.
"Crichton?" she gasped as a face appeared. Her head spun at the realization of what she was seeing. Chiana almost tried to intervene. In the end, however, she knew it wasn't actually happening.
Then something else caught her eye. She wasn't the only person watching what was going on. It was at that moment that Chiana realized what she was actually seeing. Not something that had happened back on that planet.
"Aeryn," she whispered as the black-haired woman came into view. They were on opposite sides of the viewing gallery but Chiana could see her face very clearly. It made her angry, but most of all sad. Then everything turned white.
"Oh, this is not happening," she groaned.
The transport pod was sinking further and further into the darkness and the water was finding new ways to get in. But Chiana could no longer see it.
She hadn't dared to open her eyes as the commandant's last words ran through her head. Aeryn only had the faint sensation that the world was spinning out of control. When the floor beneath had begun to tilt, she'd done everything in her power not to move from the spot she lay at. Just as Grayza had ordered to.
"What?" she managed to say as the ground below her stabilized. The smell that had invaded her nostrils was finally beginning to dissipate. She lay over on her side and looked at the wall.
The wall monitor that had previously been centered on John's pod could see only darkness now. On closer inspection, Aeryn realized that they were underwater. A fact that seemed to fit well with the pools of liquid that had formed on the right side of the room.
"Officer Sun?" a voice moaned from the darkness.
Aeryn turned quickly and caught sight of the voice's origin. One of the control panels on the opposite wall had come crashing to the ground. Grayza lay, partially covered in debris, with her eyes fixed on Aeryn.
"Still alive," Aeryn asked coldly.
"It would seem so," Grayza replied in similar fashion.
Aeryn shook her head in disgust and turned to leave. There was still some hope inside her that she and D'Argo could get out alive.
"Stop! I order you," the commandant shouted.
Aeryn did in fact stop but she kept her back to the woman. "No," she whispered.
"You are still a peacekeeper," Grayza said. "Help me out of here."
Turning around finally, Aeryn watched as Grayza struggled against the metal that was pinning her down. She spotted the commandant's sidearm laying nearby. Aeryn went to pick it up and then headed back to the door.
"Where else are you going to go?" Grayza asked, changing her tactic. "Do you really expect them to take you back?"
Aeryn froze again. "I didn't-
"You betrayed them!" Grayza shouted. "Or at least, that is what they'll believe."
"They won't...." Aeryn started to say.
"You left the leviathan," Grayza continued. "Took off without telling anyone where. Just as I knew you would. That should be enough for John Crichton at least."
Aeryn took a step toward the door. Part of her wanted to run away as fast as her legs would carry her. Another screamed for her to turn and shoot.
"Crais, Scorpius, me," Grayza spat. "How much has he endured because of us? Because of what you are? A peacekeeper!"
Aeryn's fingers clenched shut around the pistol in her hand. "It's only a word," she whispered. Using all of her strength, she pushed her feet forward and left the room.
What seemed like a thousand different roars broke out as D'Argo struggled once more to smash his way out of the peacekeeper cell. Not even all of his strength was able to bring the metal barrier down. Through the bars he could each of the other prisoners locked in their own battle. Success meant possible escape. Failure was death.
"Let us out," he yelled as the warden passed by in a hurry.
The worried peacekeeper paused momentarily in front of D'Argo's cell and peered inside. Seeing the Luxan, he managed to smile weakly.
"Open the door," D'Argo said with as much civility as possible.
"Let yourself out," the warden spat. "I don't have time for this."
D'Argo, hyper-rage now becoming a possibility, threw himself at the door anew. The bars rattled against his weight but held strong. In his mind he imagined what he would do with his Qualta blade. Then an idea came.
"Warden!" he growled.
The peacekeeper turned once again just as two separate but equally effective events took place. D'Argo's tongue shot out and connected with his neck. As he floundered toward the floor, a pulse blast rang out and killed him.
"What the frell?" the Luxan asked.
"D'Argo!" Aeryn yelled as she made it to his cell. "Are you alright?"
Looking at the Sebacean in front of him, D'Argo almost felt like smiling. There was something in her eyes that had been missing for some time now. "I'm ok," he answered.
Aeryn nodded and then knelt down beside the dead warden. Searching through his uniform, she found the cell key and hurried to the nearest wall. "What's your cell number?" she called out.
D'Argo searched his little room but found nothing. "Frell if I know," he yelled back.
Aeryn looked up and down the corridor and wondered what kind of criminals were locked up inside Grayza's ship. The thought passed quickly. She slipped the card in and every door in the detention center swung open.
Microts later, D'Argo burst out of his cell and quickly reached above it. His Qualta blade sat in the storage bin where the warden had left it. Turning toward Aeryn, he finally noticed the throng of surly looking life- forms around him.
"You let them all go?" he asked.
Aeryn met his eyes and smiled briefly. "My resignation," she said. Motioning for D'Argo to follow, she headed out the door.
"Do you remember where they put my ship?" D'Argo asked.
She nodded and the two of them raced ahead. They ran through the ruined halls of the ship, encountering no resistance as they went. Every peacekeeper onboard had only one purpose in mind. And for once it matched that of the two criminals.
"There!" D'Argo shouted as they entered the hangar. Lo'la sat untouched on the center platform with its hatch open. If anyone had been trying to examine her, they were long gone by now. Jumping in, D'Argo slammed his Qualta blade into its resting place and the ship came to life.
"I'm sorry about this D'Argo," Aeryn said as she climbed in behind him.
The Luxan turned around momentarily and nodded. "You don't have to worry about me," he said before going back to the controls.
At that moment, Aeryn's eyes fixed on the radar screen. On it she could see the large dot representing Grayza's ship. Below that sat another, much smaller dot.
"D'Argo," she said. "The pod."
"What? A transport pod?" he asked.
"John," Aeryn shouted as she leapt back out of the ship.
"Where the frell are you going?" D'Argo called out.
Aeryn looked up at him and frowned. "Can your ship function underwater?"
"I don't even know if it will make it to the surface," D'Argo answered.
"Then make sure it does," Aeryn said. "I'll meet you on the surface."
Before D'Argo could protest, she stepped off the stair platform and forced it to close. Inside, the Luxan growled angrily. Reluctantly, he started up the engines and raised his eyes toward where the sky should be.
"There goes the last of it," Nirae announced. Not far from his boat, Grayza's ship was about to slip completely below the surface. The old man grunted his concern as his two newest passengers watched in silence.
John sat, his legs dangling over the edge, with a distant expression on his face. He'd been staring at the glassy surface of the water ever since the fog had begun to lift. Part of him still wanted to dive in.
"You surprise me John," Scorpius said.
The human looked up at his companion and frowned. "Great," he muttered.
"I would have expected you to do the foolish thing," Scorpius continued. "It pleases me that you did not."
John shook his head in disgust and turned away. The decision to stay on the boat had not been one of reason or concern for his own safety. He had looked down at the water and understood exactly what would happen if he tried to go in. The part of him that didn't care roared inside him. Somewhere in the darkness his friends could be dying.
"Frell it, I'm going," he suddenly shouted.
"No John!" the hybrid yelled. He had been expecting this.
Tossing his jacket away, John prepared to jump into the freezing cold water. He peered into the darkness below and said a quick prayer to whoever was listening.
"I wouldn't do that," Nirae interrupted. "Something's coming up from below."
John's head shot up and looked directly at the old sea captain. "What do you mean, something?"
Beside the boat, a stream of bubbles began to break across the surface. The three men moved toward the edge and watched in silence as a large form began to come up from the darkness.
"Hell, that's D'Argo!" John shouted. He could feel his heart beating faster as Lo'la broke the surface.
D'Argo's face registered the same amount of relief and surprise when he caught sight of Crichton on the ship in front of him. Setting the ship to hover, he opened the hatch and jumped down onto the deck.
"Don't you ever take off like that again," John said as he took his friend's arm.
The Luxan grinned back at Crichton. "I'm the captain," he said. "I can do whatever the frell I want." He slapped John on the back and then offered a curt nod at Scorpius.
John looked his friend up and down, then glanced over at the ship. Something immediately came to his attention. "Where's Aeryn and Pip?"
"I can't believe I'm actually gonna do this," Chiana said to herself as she fumbled along the wall. Finding purchase on the pod's walls had been difficult enough without the water rising slowly around her feet.
The last quarter arn had brought an increase in the flow of water into the pod. Chiana found herself faced with two options. Stay and die or take a chance in the water. Being blind, she didn't like her chances either way. 'Hey, I like taking risks don't I?' she thought. The answer was not comforting.
Barely able to make out shapes, she stumbled across the pod's cabin. Finally, after endless microts of searching, she found the hatch and softly touched its wet surface. It had protested immediately and she had felt her heart skip a beat.
"Last words, last words," Chiana muttered as she prepared to kick the door open. Searching her mind, she found nothing even remotely eloquent to say. Instead, she said the first thing that occurred to her.
"Ahhhhhh!" the Nebari screamed as she ejected herself into the freezing cold ocean outside. Kicking wildly with her arms and legs, Chiana could not tell whether she was going up or down. It took only microts for the air in her lungs to start running out.
'This is it,' she thought. 'After all the frelling dren I've been through, It ends like this.'
Something brushed against her outstretched hand. The possibility of what it might be so overwhelmed her that no recognizable thoughts made it through.
Still flailing, Chiana imagined she felt bubbles against her face. Then something was prying her mouth open, slipping something inside. Her eyes burst open and she saw a black object floating in front of her. Gloved hands reached out and pushed at the thing in her mouth.
'Air!' her mind screamed. She could breath again. The rush of oxygen must have done something else because the cloudiness in her eyes began to clear as well. Chiana squinted hard before opening them again and seeing Aeryn Sun in front of her.
With both of them kicking in the right direction, their intertwined bodies rushed toward the surface with great speed. Chiana smiled happily as her broke through and she felt cold air attack her skin.
"Are you alright?" Aeryn asked after pulling the air cannister from her mouth. Doing her best to stay afloat, she could barely hold on to the young Nebari.
Chiana laughed as heartily as she could and nodded. "Yeah, I'm ok," she said. Seeing Aeryn's face, a memory flooded back into her mind. "I saw you!"
Aeryn didn't seem to understand. "What?" she asked, spitting water from her mouth.
"John and Grayza were on the bed - and you were there - and I was," Chiana said. Unsure if it had made any sense, she looked to Aeryn.
The Sebacean's face darkened just as a harsh beam of light skimmed across the surface of the water and found them.
John waited impatiently by the edge as Nirae's boat put itself into position beside the two females. He'd been the one to spot them, the one to shout like a madman while Scorpy and D'Argo searched.
"A little closer!" he yelled.
At the controls, Nirae could only shake his head and smile. Whoever these strangers were, they had a flair for the dramatic.
Bringing himself as close to the water as possible, John reached down and grabbed onto the first hand he found. Lifting with all his might, he quickly found Chiana struggling to get up beside him.
The Nebari looked back at him, relief spelled out all over her face. She leaned in and embraced the human, putting her mouth beside his ear.
"It's ok Pip," John whispered. "You're safe."
Chiana shivered from the cold but still forced herself to pull away from him. At the last moment, she bent down again and whispered, "she knows," into his ear.
John, still not quite in his right mind, took a microt or two to figure out what that meant. Once the realization hit, he was forced back into the situation at hand. Beside him, D'Argo was pulling Aeryn out of the water.
Aeryn, her hair soaked and stuck to her face, stared at John as he stared right back. The two of them sat there without speaking and none of the others dared interfere.
"Are you ok?" John finally asked.
Almost as if in response, Aeryn lowered her eyes. Then, as if some new force had overtaken her, she looked up again. "No," she said.
Lost in the awkwardness of the moment, John simply sat there. He was as surprised as the rest of them when Aeryn moved forward and put her arms around him. Just as Chiana had done moments ago, she leaned in close to his ear.
"I am so sorry," she whispered before burying her face in his shoulder.
TBC (NEXT WEEK)
Neuroscpr