Title: Rystal
Author: DOKChairman
Time/Spoilers: I really have no idea when this takes place, but if I had to say, it takes place before John was twinned, but after Zhaan dies. Everything before that is fair game.
Summary: After a disastrous fight with Aeryn, John is abandoned on a strange planet. He soon discovers an ancient and mysterious prophecy that leads to open warfare with the Peacekeepers, and maybe a way home.
Disclaimer: "Farscape", its characters, and its situations don't belong to me - they are the propertyof The Jim Henson Company, Rockne S. O'Bannon, the Sci-Fi Channel, Hallmark Entertainment, and Nine Network Australia. The only thing that belongs to me is the original story and characters.
Author's Note: I'll try to make this brief. This is my first ever story, so please forgive me for it. I am only writing this story because the idea has been plaguing my mind for months, and putting it on paper was the only way to stay sane. This will be a rather long story; it's actually a trilogy. This is just the first part of what I hope will be a decently entertaining epic in the Farscape universe.
Second Author's Note: This chapter is significantly shorter than the first one. If anyone has any comments about this chapter specifically, or any chapter, please give me feedback.
"Perhaps you can. You have every incentive. The welfare of Earth hangs on your doing so and, as you have told me, your own career."
"What good is incentive? If you ordered me to fly by flapping my arms and told me further that if I failed, I would be promptly killed by slow torture and that Earth would be blown up and all its population destroyed, I would have enormous incentive to flap my wings and fly-and yet still be unable to do so."
- Isaac Asimov, The Robots of Dawn
Chapter 2: It Wasn't Me!
John instantly froze at the sound of Aeryn's loud exclamation. He felt like a dear caught in the headlights of a car. He didn't know if he should run away as fast as he could, and save his life, or stay and let the car hit him, knowing that at least it would be over with quick.
John knew that this was bad, very bad. Aeryn did not take kindly to other women even looking at him. There was no way she was going to be calm when a woman actually kissed him. John didn't know what to do. He looked up to Aeryn's beautiful face and saw many emotions, the most dominant ones being anger and betrayal.
One part of John's mind was thinking on the problem at hand. Oh frell! Quick John say something, explain to her that this is not what it looks like. While another part, a smaller part, the part of his brain that was concerned with his continued survival was telling him to get out of there as fast as he could.
John was no fool. He knew that leaving would be the worst thing he could possibly do. So he tried to plead his case. "Aeryn, I know what you're thinking but this is not what it looks like."
Aeryn meanwhile was feeling a torrent of emotions. Here she was worried out of her mind about John being all right, and he was in some bar kissing some tralk. It was just like the Royal Planet all over again. She could not believe he could be so stupid to kiss some stranger in a bar after what happened last time.
For the first time since she had first met him, she wanted to hurt him. She had never felt so much pain before in her life. This was different from Royal Planet. Back then she had no claim to John, and in fact had repeatedly pushed him away. She knew she was to blame for what happened on the planet. But this time was different. She had actually told John she loved him, and he had claimed to reciprocate her feelings, so seeing him kissing another woman hurt so much more than when it did back then. It was her worst fear come true: John was going to be taken away from her.
She had always known that John would find his home planet or eventually die, and she would be left all alone. However, she never thought that she would lose John to another woman. She could not deal with all these emotions without John; she needed John. Without him she knew she would revert back to her old Peacekeeper self, and that was something she did not want.
There was a small part of her, in the back of her mind, that was screaming at her that she was overreacting and that she should give John a chance to explain himself. The voice was telling her to trust John; he would never do anything to hurt her. Unfortunately, the overwhelming emotions coursing through her drowned out that voice, and she let her anger take control.
So when she heard John say that he could explain, she did the one thing she does best when she is feeling a lot of emotions. She got angry and attacked John. "Oh, really you can explain this can you? I'd really like to hear your explanation for why you were kissing some cheap tralk!"
John began to sputter. His mind was traveling at a million miles per second trying to come up with some plausible explanation. Logically, he tried the truth. "There were Peacekeepers, Aeryn! If Juli hadn't done what she did, they would have seen me. It was just an act it didn't mean anything. I swear to you, Aeryn. Besides you told me to stay out of trouble, I was just doing what you told me to."
Aeryn looked at John's open face and could see the pleading in his eyes. She was almost tempted to forgive him, but the anger reasserted its control before she could. She gave an obvious snort of disbelief at John's explanation.
"I told you to stay out of trouble, not kiss strange women! Besides, I saw the Peacekeepers too, John, but they left the bar long before I came in. Why were you two still acting?"
John did not know what to do. He decided to try to blame Juli, shifting the focus of Aeryn's anger to the girl. He didn't exactly care all that much what happened to the girl after what she did. "She wasn't supposed to do that Aeryn. I didn't know she was going to do that. We never actually kissed until you came in, we were just pretending. I don't know what she was thinking." John glared at Juli as he finished.
Aeryn knew exactly what the girl was thinking. She had seen the girl reflected in the mirror looking right at her, before she kissed John. That should have tipped her off right there that John was telling the truth, but her anger was still messing up her judgment.
Aeryn clenched her fists, trying to control her almost overwhelming anger. She really wanted to hit something, preferably the tralk that kissed John. It was taking all of her self-control not to attack the girl. She turned her angry glare towards to the girl. "Is he telling the truth?"
Juli could not have hoped for a better reaction from the female Sebacean. She had no idea that she would be so possessive of John. This was going a lot better than what she had expected. Juli smiled sweetly at John, and then turned her face back to the angry Sebacean. "I don't know what John is talking about. I wasn't pretending and from the way John was acting, he wasn't either." She turned to see John's reaction, and she saw exactly what she was expecting to see. Total shock and disbelief, not to mention a little despair.
Juli began to feel bad. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt John, but it had to be done if her plan was going to work and John was going to stay on the planet. She could see how much the woman meant to John, and separating John from Aeryn was the only way her plan would succeed. She knew she was being selfish but she really didn't care.
John was horrified by Juli's response. He could not understand why she was lying. Sure he thought that she might be attracted to him, but he had made it clear that he was not interested. He could not fathom why she would want to make Aeryn believe that they were an item. His mind could not process all that was going on around him. The only thing he could focus on was Aeryn, who if possible, was even angrier after Juli's response than before.
Aeryn, after staring at Juli for a moment turned back to John. "I can not believe you would do this to me John. I thought I meant something to you. I thought you loved me."
John could see so much hurt and pain in Aeryn's beautiful gray eyes, that he thought it would break his heart. He had never felt so bad before in his life, seeing her like this. He had to reassure her, do any thing to make her understand. "I do love you Aeryn, more than anything. I don't know why Juli is lying, but she is lying. You have to believe that."
Aeryn stared at John for a long time before abruptly turning around and marching out of the bar. John just sat at the table, with his jaw dropped in disbelief. He could not believe that she just left. He knew that she was angry, but to just leave was unthinkable. It made him angry that she thought so little of him and their relationship that she would just leave, without doing anything to try and solve their problems.
There was no way he was going to let her get away with running away. Not again. He was tired of having Aeryn run away every single time there was a bump in their relationship. And he was certainly tired of having to deal with Aeryn repressing her emotions. He needed to find her and they needed to have a long talk. John got up and rushed out of the bar after her.
Aeryn could not believe what she was doing. She could not believe that she had just run out of the bar, leaving John behind with that tralk. She was running away again, just like John accused her of doing every time they got close or there was some problem between them.
She slowed down from her quick pace, and tried to walk as calmly as she could back to the pod. The whole time she was constantly looking over her shoulder, expecting any microt now to see John chasing after her. Sure enough, after slowing down, she saw John in the distance, running in her direction. Part of her was very happy that John came chasing after her. Unfortunately, another part wanted nothing to do with John right now. She wanted to be left alone, and she definitely did not want to talk about what happened in the bar.
She knew it would be pointless to try and avoid John, though. They needed to get off the planet as soon as possible, which meant sharing a transport pod. So she slowed down even more and let John to catch up to her.
As soon as John got close enough he grabbed Aeryn's arm and steered her towards an empty alley. Aeryn was so surprised by John's actions that she barely reacted. Once they had moved far enough into the alley to be away from prying eyes, John let go of Aeryn's arm.
Once Aeryn got over her surprise, she got angry with John for pulling her into the alley. She stepped away from him and gave him a nasty glare. "What the frell are you doing Crichton!"
John was just as angry with Aeryn as she was with him, but for different reasons. He was not going to let her distance herself from him again. "My name is John! Not Crichton, but John. And I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm trying to save our relationship. Something you don't seem to care about."
Aeryn let out a harsh laugh at John's words. "Relationship? What relationship, Crichton? I don't know what you're talking about. As far as I'm concerned we don't have a relationship. You certainly proved that in the bar."
John was frustrated and hurt by Aeryn's negative response. "Damn it Aeryn, I told you that she was lying and that it didn't mean anything." John's voice softened and he stared into her eyes, "I love you Aeryn. Not her." Come on Aeryn you have to believe me.
Aeryn knew that she should believe John. That if he meant anything at all to her, she had to accept what he was saying. But the pain was still too raw. Seeing John kissing that other woman had been such a surprise that she still couldn't get over it. She knew that she might be ruining their relationship for good, that she would have pushed him away too many times for him to come back, but she didn't care.
"I'm sorry John." She then just turned around and started to walk out of the alley.
John was in total shock. He could not believe she didn't care. He could not believe that she would throw away everything between them for the last two cycles. He wasn't going to let her. He grabbed Aeryn's arm again to stop her.
Unfortunately for John, Aeryn was ready for him this time. Moving quicker than John could see, Aeryn broke John's hold on her arm and swept his legs out from under him.
John looked up at Aeryn from his position on the ground and could see the smoldering anger in her eyes. "Do not touch me again John."
John slowly got to his feet; he was still a little woozy from his sudden trip to the ground. He tried to reason with Aeryn one last time. "Please Aeryn, don't do this. Don't do this to me. I need you and I'm tired of you shutting yourself off from me."
Aeryn acted like she didn't hear John's plea. "We need to leave John, and get back to Moya. Let's go."
John once again got angry with Aeryn when she turned her back to him again. "No Aeryn. We are not leaving until we work this out. You may be willing to give up, but I'm not." John then made the fatal mistake of reaching out to grab Aeryn again.
Once again Aeryn was prepared. This time, however, she didn't just knock John to the ground; she grabbed his arm, pulled him closer towards her and gave him a Pantak jab to the face. Knocked unconscious, John unceremoniously fell to the ground. Aeryn was so angry with John and her self, that she just left John on the ground as she left the alley.
Back in the bar, Juli and Kwami were having a conversation.
Kwami looked at Juli disapprovingly, "What you did was very wrong Juli Fallon. It was not very honorable to lie to John's Sebacean companion. And I could see that you enjoyed making her angry way too much."
Juli was apologetic. "I'm sorry Kwami, I know it wasn't right but it was necessary. With Aeryn Sun out of the way, John may be more willing to help us. And you are right, I did enjoy it."
Kwami barked out a laugh at Juli. She was far from sorry that she had angered the Sebacean. Kwami was worried, though, that Juli might have pushed John Crichton too far. He decided to express his fears out loud, "I do not know if what you did was very wise. I am afraid that you might have angered John Crichton so much by what you did that he may not wish to help us."
Juli let out a sigh at Kwami' words. "I share your fears Kwami. But what I did was the only thing that I could think of that might make John want to stay. I was desperate. If John and Aeryn have a falling out, I might be able to exploit that and get John to join us. I know it was a gamble."
"Yes, well I hope it is a gamble that pays off. I do not relish having to try to convince Crichton to join us. If earlier was any indication of how stubborn he can be when he is sympathetic, I do not to want to know what he will be like when he wants nothing to do with us.
We should locate him. I'm afraid his friend might hurt him. I have never seen a Sebacean get so angry before. I definitely would not want to face someone like that in battle."
Juli laughed, "I suppose we should. Who knows what she could be doing to him right now." Juli and Kwami got up from their seats, put some of the local currency on the table, and left to go hunt for the one person on the planet that might be able to rid them of the Peacekeepers.
Lieutenant Jan Folor of Rastar Regiment, Bravar Company, absolutely loved his job. For him there was no better life that he could be living than the one he was living now. He had everything he wanted: he had power, he was feared, and he could do anything he wanted without being afraid of retribution.
He was the commanding officer of a special team of highly trained, heavily armed, Peacekeeper commandos. They were experts in many things, but the activities they truly excelled at were assassinations, covert operations, and fugitive retrieval. At the moment he and his team of six commandos were stationed on the commerce planet of Rotar.
Folor felt a rush of pride as he remembered the reason he was here. Peacekeeper High Command had specifically requested his team for this mission. Of the last 25 missions his team had undertaken, they had succeeded every time. His team was the best, and he had no intention of having them fail their most important mission yet. If they succeeded they would all certainly receive medals, and he might just get that transfer that he wanted to become a Disruptor.
It would be a difficult mission. He and his team were to locate, apprehend, interrogate, and then terminate every single individual believed to be a leader of the pitiful excuse of a rebellion that was currently building up across the planet.
Jan could not understand why any planet would be rebelling against the Peacekeepers, especially one as close to Scarren territory as this one was. Do they not realize that the Peacekeepers are the only reason why they have not been over run by a Scarran invasion yet, he asked himself. Jan firmly believed in the superiority of the Sebacean species. They should be praising us for protecting them, not rebelling against us. It didn't really matter though. His team would succeed just as it had in the past, and the rebellion would be destroyed.
Jan was still ruminating on his previous thoughts, when he heard a knock on his door. He barked out a somewhat annoyed response, "Enter!" The door opened and his second in command, Officer Jayn Fyy, walked into his temporary quarters in the Ryota Mountain Garrison (the largest Peacekeeper garrison on the planet). She stood rigidly at attention, waiting for her superior to acknowledge her presence.
Jan felt a prideful smile beginning to form on his lips at the sign of her discipline and respect. He squashed the smile though, before it could make it presence known. It was not good to show emotion. A good soldier never shows emotion, he reminded himself. "Yes, Fyy, what is it?"
Fyy answered in a clear and unemotional tone, once again a sign of her intense training. "Sir, I'm sorry to disturb you, but Planetary Intelligence picked up something that I thought you might find interesting. It seems that one of their agents that had infiltrated one of the larger resistance groups, was supposed to meet a very high level person in the group, but the meeting never took place because the rebel never showed up. It was supposed to be some kind of information exchange designed to gain their trust."
Jayn was about to continue, when Jan interrupted with an annoyed grunt. "That is unfortunate for them, but I don't see how a frelled up intelligence mission concerns us."
Jayn answered his question with just the hint of being annoyed that she was interrupted. "I was just getting to that sir. Apparently the agent took it upon himself to track down the rebel contact, and he did. He found her in some bar that he knew she frequented. He was going to question her about the missed meeting when he noticed whom she was talking to. She was talking to a large, black, Rotarian male-"
At the mention of the description of the Rotarian male, Jan instantly perked up. It couldn't be, could it? Maybe this mission wouldn't be so hard after all. Jayn noticed that she now had Jan' rapt attention, as she knew she would. She continued on, "who perfectly matched the description of the leader of the Rystalva, the largest resistance group on the planet." Jayn finished with an almost eager smile on her lips. She was finding it hard to contain herself from blurting out the most exciting part of her news.
"This is excellent, Fyy. On planet for only 20 arns, and we've already located our number one target. This is going even better than our last assignment."
Jayn couldn't contain herself any longer. She had to tell Jan now. "Wait, sir I didn't even tell you the best part."
Jan looked up at her with surprise, "There's more? What could be better than locating your primary objective."
Jayn was going to enjoy this. It was not every day that someone managed to surprise the lieutenant. "Yes sir, much more. You will never guess whom they were talking to, sir. I didn't believe it myself. It took a lot of convincing on the Intelligence Agent's part, but he finally persuaded me to order a routine patrol to check out the individual for themselves, and they confirmed it sir."
Jan was becoming visibly frustrated at Jayn's unnecessarily long explanation. "Enough, Officer Fyy. Tell me now who they saw."
Jayn heard the frustration in Jan's voice and decided to forgo making anymore elaborations. "The agent and the patrol confirmed that the male Sebacean our target and the agent's contact were talking to was none other than John Crichton."
Before he could stop himself, Jan's mouth opened in total shock. "You can't be serious, Fyy. John Crichton is on this planet?"
Jayn could not be happier, she had never seen the lieutenant so shocked before. "Yes sir. As I said earlier, I sent a patrol into the bar to identify him. They gave a positive verification."
Jan became instantly concerned that the patrol might have frightened the human off. He knew of Crichton's reputation for evading capture and predicting dangerous situations. "The patrol didn't alert Crichton, did they? Those incompetent grunts better not have scared him off."
"Oh no, sir. From what the commanding officer told me, they acted like just a normal patrol. They did nothing to alert Crichton that they were looking for him. As far as Crichton is concerned the patrol was oblivious to his presence. They have been tracking him ever since he left the bar."
Jan was very happy. He was a very ambitious man and if he could bring in John Crichton, he would be set for life. He would definitely get that transfer he wanted. "Excellent news, Fyy. You were right this is better news. So the patrol knows where he is?"
"Uh…not exactly sir. They sort of lost track of him briefly. Apparently, he and a female Sebacean, who was confirmed as the traitor Aeryn Sun, were walking together and then they just disappeared."
Jan was outraged, "They lost him. How could they frelling lose him. He's one man!"
Jayn tried to mollify her commanding officer, "They lost track of Crichton, sir. But they were able to track Sun to their transport pod. They have the area surrounded and are just waiting for Crichton to show up." Jayn's attempt to calm Jan seemed to work.
Jan thought carefully of his plan of action. After about 40 microts he came up with a plan. "All right, Fyy, this is what I want you to do. Wake everyone up and get them equipped and ready to go. We'll take a ground car to the spaceport, where we'll meet up with the patrol. Then both teams will move in and capture Crichton. Remember to tell everyone that Crichton is not to be killed under any circumstances.
Oh, and comm the command carrier in orbit to locate and capture Crichton's Leviathan. Just in case he manages to make it off the surface. We leave in 300 microts."
John was groggy and confused. What the Hell am I doing lying on the ground? Where am I? It was not until he slowly got to his feet, that he remembered everything that had happened.
John let out a groan, but it was not a groan of physical pain. Aeryn had given him a Pantak jab and had just left him in the alley. She just left me! I can't believe she would do that. What the hell is wrong with her? He knew that she was mad about the kiss, but what she did was inexcusable. They definitely needed to have a very long talk. First, though, he had to get off this planet.
He was still somewhat groggy from Aeryn's punch, so it took him a while to get to the end of the alley. Once he reached the street, he tried to orient himself. Which way is the transport pod? He tried to remember which way he had come down the street.
He was still studying the layout of the street, when Harvey decided to grace John with his presence. "I believe the pod is that way John. Really, I don't think Officer Sun hit you that hard."
John turned toward Harvey with an angry glare, "Shut up Harvey. I don't need this right now."
Harvey just ignored John. "Speaking of Officer Sun, are you sure that you want to find her right now? After what happened during your last confrontation it might be wise to let her cool down first. If she is still angry, she might do more than just knock you unconscious."
John sighed, "I have no choice, Harvey. I need to get off this damn planet, and that means the transport pod. So I have to find Aeryn, she's my ticket out of here."
"Well, John, don't say I didn't warn you."
John let out another sigh as he set out in the direction Harvey pointed. The transport pod shouldn't be too far away. I just hope Aeryn doesn't kill me when she sees me. John was so preoccupied with how he was going to fix his latest problem with Aeryn, not to manage staying upright, that he failed to notice that he was being followed.
Aeryn didn't know what was wrong with her. It was like someone else was controlling her body. Her anger had taken on a life of its own, controlling her actions. No matter how hard her rational mind tried to rebel against what her anger was telling her to do, she couldn't stop. It was like she had been imprisoned inside her own mind.
She was horrified at herself that she had hit John. She was even more ashamed that she had just left him in the alley. But that was nothing compared to what she was feeling as she saw what she was doing now. She was starting the transport pod. She was going to leave John on the planet.
She tried to fight herself, to stop herself from doing something she didn't even think she was capable of doing. But she couldn't stop; the anger and betrayal that had taken over her body were too strong. She felt so helpless. All she could do was watch herself as the transport pod's engines ignited and she began to pilot the pod off the landing pad.
Lieutenant Jan Folor was very surprised to see the transport pod they were currently watching begin to start up. He was even more surprised to see the pod lift off the pad. What the frell is she doing? She's leaving Crichton, he thought incredulously.
He was shocked, as were the other Peacekeepers surrounding the landing pod. Folor's team had met up with the Peacekeeper patrol that was shadowing Sun, and he had assumed command of the patrol. There were now 13 Peacekeepers scattered around the landing pad, waiting for Crichton to show up. Folor's only concern was that the grunts in the patrol wouldn't frell things up. So he had positioned them in the spots least likely to be anywhere near the action. They were only there as insurance against Crichton somehow managing to get past his team. Folor was not going to take any unnecessary chances.
It was actually good that Sun was leaving Crichton behind. As much as I would like to capture the traitor, she just made my job a lot easier. Folor was about to comm Fyy to ask her for a status report, when a Sebacean-looking male walked into the landing area.
Folor studied him and he seemed to match the description of John Crichton. Folor was excited. This was his chance. His chance to make a name for himself. He would succeed where everyone else in the Peacekeepers had failed. He would capture John Crichton.
Finally! John had finally found the landing area where he and Aeryn had landed Moya's transport pod. I can't wait to get off this frelling planet. I'm going to take a nice, hot shower, and find something to take care of this damn headache. John had been suffering from a really bad headache ever since he left the alley. Damn, Aeryn must have hit me as hard as she could. I don't remember the last Pantak jab hurting this much.
John turned a corner to come face to face with the landing pad and got the biggest shock of the day. The pod was gone. Aeryn was gone. John could not believe it. She left me. John had never felt so defeated before in his life. He needed to sit down before he collapsed.
He walked over to a packing crate on the pad and sat down. He placed his head in his hands as he fought the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. How did things get so screwed up that she would leave me? Aeryn wouldn't do that; she couldn't do that. John refused to believe that Aeryn would just leave him without a good reason. There must have been something wrong on Moya, he tried to reason to himself. That has to be the only reason why she would leave me.
He was still in the grips of despair when he heard a loud clang come from his left. He looked up stiffly and saw the only thing that could possibly make his day any worse: Peacekeepers. Frell!
John quickly sprang off the packing crate and dived to his right, pulling out Wynonna along the way. As soon as he hit the ground he crawled behind a crate and started firing in the direction of the Peacekeeper he had seen.
The Peacekeeper began firing back at John, and as soon as he did, multiple shots started to come from everywhere. John soon saw that there was more than one Peacekeeper. He could see at least two others, and he could tell from amount of fire coming towards him that there were a lot more. John was surrounded, in an enclosed area with only one exit, the way he came, and only one weapon. John knew he was screwed. He needed help.
John continued to fire, hoping to pin the soldiers down, as he tapped his comm. His voice was urgent as he spoke into his comm, "Aeryn! Peacekeepers have me pinned down. I can't get away. I need you help!" John got no answer so he tried again, "Aeryn! Can you hear me? Look I'm sorry about what happened, but now is not the time to hold a grudge. Come on baby, there gonna get me. I need you."
There was a long pause again, and John was about to try again, when Aeryn's voice came on. John let out a loud sigh of relief, but soon felt despair overcome him again as he heard Aeryn speak. "I'm sorry John. But I don't care anymore. I just don't frelling care."
John felt like someone had just kicked him in the gut, and then stabbed a knife in his back. He couldn't believe that Aeryn was doing this to him. He had never felt so betrayed before in his life. This was the worst pain he had ever felt. Worse than when he was in the Aurora Chair, even worse than when he thought he had killed Aeryn. For the first time in his life, he didn't care anymore.
Aeryn wanted nothing to do with him. What was the point of fighting? He had no way off planet, he was surrounded, and Aeryn hated him. John decided to do something he thought he would never do, he gave up.
As loud as he could, he yelled at the Peacekeepers, "Stop firing! I give up! I give up." He slowly stood up, holstered Wynonna, and sat down on his crate waiting for the Peacekeepers to come get him.