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 the chapter I have been waiting for since I started. The previous chapters were just laying the groundwork for this chapter, the real beginning of my story. Because of the action, and subsequent graphic violence, I have decided to up the rating of this story from PG-13 to R. You have been warned. As usual, any and all comments are encouraged and welcomed.
"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 3: Abandon All Hope
With grace that belied the bulky armor they were wearing, the Peacekeepers swooped in around John and quickly brought him down to his knees. With military precision they searched his body, divesting him of his comm and Wynonna. Throughout the entire process John put up no resistance.
Two soldiers roughly brought John to his feet and slipped the Peacekeeper version of handcuffs on his hands. The soldier on John's left turned towards another Peacekeeper that was heading in their direction. Must be the commanding officer, John reasoned. The soldier spoke in a crisp voice, "The prisoner is secured, sir. He only had a comm badge and a pulse pistol on him." With that said, the soldier handed John's stuff to the man.
The tall, well-built Peacekeeper looked John up and down, as if measuring him, before turning to the soldier that had spoken up. "Excellent work, Officer Braf."
The man turned his attention back to John. "I am Lieutenant Jan Folor, and you John Crichton, are under arrest." Folor waited for a reaction from the human, but all he got was a cold, dead look from Crichton, so he continued on. "You are going to make me a very happy man, John Crichton. When I turn you into High Command, my future will be secure for the rest of my life. I would thank you, but I have a feeling you wouldn't appreciate it very much."
By now both the Peacekeeper patrol and Jan's team had gathered around John. Everyone wanted to get a good look at the most wanted man in the Uncharted Territories. Under different circumstances it might have almost seem comical to see so many Peacekeepers gawking at one man like they were.
John, meanwhile, was oblivious to everything going on around him. He was only vaguely aware that he had been handcuffed and that someone was talking to him. John just no longer cared about anything. The one thing that he cared about more than anything had just abandoned him on the planet to the Peacekeepers. What else was there worth living for, or fighting for, for that matter, than Aeryn?
Aeryn was the only reason he had stayed sane when the neural chip was trying to take over his mind. John knew that he needed Aeryn to function normally. Without her he was lost. She was supposed to be the one constant in my life, damnit! What the hell is wrong with her?
John was starting to get angry; it was the only thing he had left. He held on to his anger like a drowning man hangs on to a life preserver. He was mad at himself for once again putting himself in this kind of situation, he was mad at Juli for kissing him, he was mad at the damn Peacekeepers, but most of all he was mad at Aeryn. Mad at her for not trusting him, mad at her for pushing him away, and mad at her for leaving him.
For the first time since the Peacekeepers captured him, he began to show signs of life. John was so consumed by his anger that he was oblivious to what he was doing. His fingers were digging into the palms of his hands, his face was red, and the vein in his neck was throbbing. I want to hit something, no, I need to hit something. Now!
Knowing that he was only going to make matters worse, but not caring, he suddenly turned in the grasp of the two Peacekeepers holding him, facing the one on the left (John vaguely recalled someone calling him Officer Braf). John made as if he had stumbled, suddenly leaning into the Peacekeeper on his left. Before the Peacekeeper realized what John was doing, John grabbed his pulse pistol out of its holster, pushed the Peacekeeper to the ground, and turned around as fast as he could towards the Peacekeeper on his right and shot him. Because John's hands were bound in front of him at waist level, the two shots entered the Peacekeeper in the area of his lower torso, spurting out blood and intestines over John and the surrounding area. The Peacekeeper let out a sharp intake of breath, and fell to the ground.
Making the most of his opportunity, John began to run through the hole the fallen Peacekeeper had created. Unfortunately, John didn't make it that far before a Peacekeeper moved to block his path. Without aiming, John hurriedly sprayed the area in front of him with pulse fire hoping to get lucky and hit the soldier. One shot did find its mark, hitting the soldier in his left leg, making his leg useless. His body now unable to support its own weight, it collapsed on top of the wounded leg. John once again exploited the hole in the Peacekeeper's defense.
John briefly remembered a time in high school when he had done the same thing he was doing now, except back then he was running with a football and not a pulse pistol. I also wasn't running for my life either, thought John with a laugh.
Almost there, just a little bit farther. John was only about ten feet from the only exit on the landing pad, when he felt a searing pain in his right leg. He tried to keep running, but the pain in his leg was quickly becoming unbearable. He looked down at his leg to see a smoking hole in his pants and blood slowly pouring out. Ah, frell! The bastards shot me.
He could no longer put weight on his leg and he fell down to the ground. He soon heard the sound of running feet coming towards him. The remaining Peacekeepers quickly surrounded John again, once again taking his weapon away. Except this time they were far from gentle. One soldier stomped on his fingers, making him release the pistol, while two more dragged him to his feet.
John was soon assaulted by a flurry of punches. Most of the punches were landing on his torso, but some reached his head, which already made his blinding headache only worse. The pain from the assault was barely noticeable; John was too busy focusing on the pain shooting up from his leg to notice anything else that was going on. The pain was so intense that John was in a daze; he only hoped that he wouldn't black out.
It wasn't until a loud voice from someone in the back of the crowd shouted out to stop, that the assault ended. John fought his approaching unconsciousness and focused his attention on the man advancing towards him. He was the same man that had spoken to him earlier.
The man stopped in front of John and then turned to the soldiers surrounding him and John. The man was absolutely furious. "We need him alive you frelling idiots. He's no use to us dead. If High Command finds out that we are the ones responsible for killing their prize, our lives would be over. Do you not understand?"
One of the soldiers in the crowd spoke up, "He killed Garsk, and shot Fauvo. He should be killed. We can't let him get away with that."
The man turned towards the man that had spoken up, and responded to his statement. "We can let him get away with it, and we will. You don't understand his importance do you? To High Command, this pathetic human is worth more to them than all of us put together. He may contain the knowledge to destroy the Scarrens once and for all." The man suddenly made his voice deadly serious as he addressed all the soldiers present. "No one is to touch John Crichton. He is not to be harmed. Anyone caught trying to harm him will be dealt with quickly and severely. Do I make myself perfectly clear." He saw all their affirming nods and began to calm down.
The man turned to one of the few female Peacekeepers in the group, "Officer Fyy, would you attend to Crichton's wounds." He didn't wait for her response as he turned to face Crichton.
"I must say that you certainly live up to you reputation for being difficult to capture. You are quite resourceful. You disabled two of my men with your hands still bound in front of you. You do not appear to be quite the pathetic being that others have made you out to be."
John tried to come up with a sufficiently sarcastic response, but his mind was still hazy, so it was difficult. "Yeah well, I'm rubber and your glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you."
John briefly noticed the confused look on the man's face at his remark. He was too busy relishing in the cool, soothing feelings that the female Peacekeeper, Officer Fyy, was causing in his leg. He looked down and noticed that she had put some kind of patch over the wound. God, that feels so good. Fyy stood up, surveyed his torso and face, seemed satisfied with her work, and took up her place near the man that John had been talking to earlier. John knew that he would have a pretty nasty limp for a while, but he had a feeling that the woman had done a good job, and that there wouldn't be any permanent damage. At least I hope not.
John once again focused on the man as he began to speak again. "Now that this little incident has been taken care of, I think it is time we made our way back to base. I have a feeling that if you stay out of a cell any longer you may try another stunt like that again." The man turned toward the soldier that had been the one John had stolen the gun from during his escape attempt. "Officer Braf, I trust that you will do a much better job of guarding Crichton this time, won't you?"
Officer Braf briefly cringed as he heard the disdain in the lieutenant's voice. "Yes sir! It will not happen again."
Folor gave Braf a slight smile, "See that it does not." With that said the man turned towards the rest of the soldiers. "Allright lets move out. We have a metra to cross before we get to the ground cars. Move in standard stagger formation. Four men will guard Crichton, and Officer Fyy will take point. Understood?"
The Peacekeepers moved with precision and assumed their positions. Officer Braf and three others surrounded John, forming a diamond around him, as the Peacekeeper column moved out of the landing area.
John Crichton was once again a prisoner of the Peacekeepers. Except this time there was no Aeryn to rescue him.
Aboard the Leviathan Moya, things were going a lot more smoothly than they were for John down on the planet. Of course, the crew aboard the living, bio-mechanoid ship had no idea of the things John was going through on the planet. As far as they were concerned, John and Aeryn were doing fine. They had not called for help or given any indication that they were in trouble.
Despite the lack of cries for help, D'argo was uneasy. He hated being stuck aboard the ship while his friends risked their lives trying to procure their much-needed supplies. I should be down there with them. D'argo knew that Aeryn, despite her training, would spend half her time looking out for John, and that John, despite the experience he had acquired since coming into the Uncharted Territories, was still not a warrior and would not have a warrior's senses. They would need another person to watch out for them, to make up for their divided attention.
Instead, I'm stuck aboard this ship. D'argo let out a growl at the feeling of his inability to do anything. I just wish they would get here. What the frell could be taking them so long? They were only supposed to be gone for three arns, and they were already way past their preset time limit. Half an arn more, and I'm going after them, he thought determinedly.
He looked back down at the console in command that he was monitoring and saw that the transport pod was just breaking the atmosphere of the planet and was heading towards them.
D'argo immediately felt embarrassed. He had been so preoccupied worrying that he had almost missed the very thing he was looking for. He reached for his comm. He wanted to know what had taken Aeryn and John so long. "John? Aeryn? What took you so frelling long? You were supposed to be back here three quarters of an arn ago."
After a few microts, Aeryn's voice came over the line. Her voice was calm and controlled, but D'argo thought he detected a hint of anger in her tone. D'argo let out a sigh. Frell, her and Crichton must have gotten into another fight. D'argo hated having to deal with the two of them when they were fighting. He hated having to choose sides. One of these days, those two are really going to hurt each other in one of their fights and they may never recover. Unfortunately, as D'argo was about to find out, he had no idea how right he was.
"I ran into some difficulty down on the planet, but I have all the supplies that we need. I will be aboard Moya in about 200 microts."
D'argo was about to respond when he was suddenly interrupted by Pilot. "Ka D'argo! Ka D'argo, Moya just detected a command carrier heading in our direction at top speed!"
D'argo spit out a few choice Luxan curses, before turning to Pilot's holograph image in the clamshell. "Frell! Pilot are you sure that they are heading for us? There must be thousands of ships out here. Could the carrier not be headed for one of them?"
"Moya does not think so, and I concur. The trajectory of the carrier suggests that it is heading in precisely our direction. Of course there is always the possibility that it is not after us, but Moya does not feel like chancing it."
D'argo nodded his head understandably, "I agree Pilot. We can't risk capture. How much longer until the carrier is within range to use its weapons?"
Pilot responded after a brief pause, "According to my calculations, the carrier should be in range in approximately 175 microts."
"Dren. That doesn't give us very much time. Pilot, as soon as the transport pod is aboard Moya, immediately go to starburst."
"Of course, Ka D'argo. Moya would like me to remind you that after this starburst she will be unable to starburst again until her damaged parts are replaced."
"Understood, Pilot. We can't worry about that now, though. Escaping from that command carrier is our only concern at the microt."
D'argo was about to comm Aeryn to hurry up when Chiana, Jool, and Rygel entered command. Of course Rygel, never one to beat around the bush, immediately asked the question that was on the mind of the newcomers. "What the frell is going on here?"
D'argo growled at Rygel. Rygel was always such an easy target for D'argo to vent his frustrations on. "Moya has detected a command carrier on an intercept trajectory. We are waiting for the…"
Rygel, ever the practical one, shouted, "What are we waiting around for then? Let's get the frell out of here! Pilot, starburst!"
Chiana reached out like she has done so often in the past and placed her hand over Rygel's mouth. D'argo gave a grateful look to Chiana as he continued his previous statement. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, we are waiting for John and Aeryn. They should be aboard in a matter of microts. As soon as they are we will leave at once."
Meanwhile, aboard the transport pod, Aeryn was fighting a battle within herself. She was trying desperately to reassert her rational mind over her body. She had to rescue John. There was no question in her mind. It was the only thing that she was thinking about. Let go of her unreasonable and unjustified anger and save John. Nothing else mattered to her. Not Moya, not her friends, not even herself. Saving John was her number one priority.
The more distance she put between John and herself, the more she could feel her anger lessen. It was almost gone enough that she could take back control of her body. Just a little bit more. Aeryn knew that she would be all right as soon as she got back aboard Moya. She just hoped that the Peacekeepers didn't leave with John as soon as they captured him. It might become impossible to find him then, not that she wouldn't look.
She knew that she didn't have much time. As soon as she docked with Moya the rest of the crew would want to get away from Rotar as soon as possible. Of course as soon as the crew found out what she did to John they would probably want to space her. Not that I blame them, she thought. They would be even more upset when they learned that John had been captured by the Peacekeepers. They'll probably never trust me again, Aeryn thought dejectedly.
She knew that they would help her though. D'argo would never abandon John, and neither would Chiana. How they were going to rescue John was going to be difficult. How do you rescue someone from a planet crawling with Peacekeepers? It was a question that they would have to answer.
Aeryn began to slow down the pod as she approached Moya. She felt a slight jolt as Moya's docking web grabbed onto the pod and began to pull it into her massive bay. Hold on John, I'm coming.
Aeryn was still thinking of possible rescue plans when the transport pod finally touched down inside Moya's hanger. As soon as it did Aeryn got up and moved to the exit. She did not relish having to tell the others what she did. She was halfway down the ramp leading out of the pod, when Pilot's voice came over the ship wide comms. "Prepare for immediate starburst!"
Aeryn was shocked. She immediately hit her comm, "Wait Pilot! You can't starburst. John is not aboard. Pilot don't starburst."
Aeryn heard D'argo's gruff voice come over the comm, "What do you mean John is not aboard? Where is he?" There was a brief pause, and then D'argo spoke again, this time at Pilot. "Pilot, stop the starburst!"
Pilot's voice could be heard full of distress, "I am sorry Officer Sun, but it is too late. If we do not leave now, the command carrier will capture Moya. I'm sorry." As soon as Pilot finished, Aeryn could feel Moya begin to enter starburst.
Aeryn was in total disbelief over what had just happened. She slid down to the ground and wrapped her arms around her legs. She had just abandoned the man she loved more than anything to his worst nightmare. It's my fault. I'll never forgive myself if anything happens to John. The full impact of what she did finally hit her, and for one of the few times in her life, she cried.
Back down on the planet of Rotar, John was oblivious to the fact that Moya had just entered starburst, effectively cutting off his only chance of escaping. The only thing at the moment that John was thinking about was walking. Despite the patch on his leg, his leg still hurt like hell. Add that to the headache he was suffering at the moment, and John was finding that it took all of his concentration to just put one foot in front of the other.
It also didn't help that the Peacekeeper currently behind John, Officer Braf, was constantly pushing him with his pulse rifle to speed up. John had already fallen two times, and his body was quickly becoming numb. It was just too overloaded with pain.
John didn't no how much farther he could walk. The column had only walked half way to their destination, but to John it felt like they had walked for twenty miles. He couldn't believe he still had half a metra to go.
He looked at the Peacekeepers moving in perfect formation. Keeping enough space between men, with the exception of the group guarding John, that a single grenade would not wipe out the whole column, but close enough to effectively cover each other if the situation went bad. The Peacekeepers are many things, but incompetent soldiers they are not, John thought humorlessly.
John felt the butt of a pulse rifle nudge him in the back again, and immediately got angry. Enough of this bullshit! John stopped and turned toward Officer Braf. "What the hell is your problem? If you hadn't noticed dumbass, I got a hole in my leg! I can't walk any frelling faster! So leave me the hell alone."
John's tirade seemed to have no effect on the soldier. He only looked at John with contempt in his eyes as he responded, "Shut up human and keep moving."
John let out a groan of frustration as he turned and started walking again. He began mumbling as many curses as he could think of about the Peacekeepers. John should have known better than to expect compassion from a Peacekeeper.
A quarter of an arn later and John's leg was only getting worse. It seemed that the patch that was put on his leg only had a very limited amount of painkillers. The painkillers were losing effectiveness and John's leg was becoming unbearable.
John felt another nudge from the soldier behind him, and quickly took a step forward. He wanted to avoid another confrontation; it was pointless trying to argue. Unfortunately, John wasn't paying attention and he stepped on a large pebble on the road. His foot slid on the pebble, which caused his leg to twist. Pain shot up his whole body and letting out a surprised cry, John fell to the ground for the third time.
It was a good thing John fell, because as soon as he did all hell broke loose. Almost instantly after John fell, a pulse blast struck Officer Braf in the side of his head, shattering his helmet and killing him instantly. John looked up and saw a look of total shock on Braf's face as his body fell to the ground.
Before Braf's body even hit the ground, more shots came out of nowhere, dropping two more of the soldiers guarding John. John was in total shock, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Staying down to avoid fire, he crawled towards Braf's body. He got the key to the cuffs he was wearing and unlocked himself. He then grabbed Braf's pulse pistol, leaving the rifle because it was too bulky to crawl around with. He crawled as fast as he could to a doorway cut into one of the buildings on the street. Once he had reached temporary safety he looked back onto the street to see what the hell was going on.
What he saw would stay with John for a long time to come. The Peacekeepers, the pillars of military precision and superiority, had walked right into an ambush. Pulse blasts were coming from both sides of the streets, pouring into the remaining column.
It was not looking good for the Peacekeepers. John could see at least four bodies on the ground, the three guarding him and one other further up the line. That leaves only seven more, if my calculations are correct.
John could see that the Peacekeepers were finally beginning to return fire, shooting into the buildings along the street. John strained his eyes, trying to see who the Peacekeepers were shooting at. To John it looked like they were shooting at Sebaceans, and if John's eyes were not deceiving him, there also seemed to be some beings with fur as well. Frell, those are Rotarians. I wonder if this is the resistance Kwami was talking about. Who cares who they are Johnny. They're saving your life.
A stray pulse blast hit the wall above John's head, spraying him with shrapnel that cut into his face. Frell, I can't stay here. John decided to see if he could make his way towards one of the buildings that the Peacekeepers were shooting at. My chances have got to be better with them. Anybody who is shooting at the Peacekeepers is a friend of mine.
John gingerly stood up; crawling would take to much time. John only hoped he could suppress the pain in his leg long enough to make it to the safety of the resistance fighters. He hugged the walls of the buildings as he made his way toward the firefight. The Peacekeepers finally seemed to come out of the daze that they had been in since the ambush began, and were finally behaving like the expert soldiers that they were. The man that John remembered as the commanding officer was rallying his troops.
The Peacekeepers began to lay down covering fire as three others began to move towards one of the buildings. John could see that the soldiers were trying to flank the building, hoping to come in through the side instead of the front. John couldn't let that happen, he needed the people in that building. Fortunately, the Peacekeepers had no idea he was right behind them.
John moved as quickly as he could to get into a good position to fire. As soon as he had a clear shot, he began to fire. His first shot took one soldier in the lower back, dropping him to the ground, while another shot only grazed one Peacekeeper in the arm. The two remaining soldiers quickly spun around, returning fire in John's direction, and diving behind some cart that had once been some merchant's stand. John himself dropped to the ground firing rapidly into the cart, spraying wood and cloth into the air.
John was so focused on trying to destroy the only form of cover the two soldiers had, that he almost missed the Peacekeeper that he had shot in the back begin moving. The soldier was bringing his gun around, lining up John in his sights. John rolled to his left, barely dodging the ensuing pulse blast, and shot the Peacekeeper in the forehead. The man's head shattered, spraying brain matter and blood, and then he collapsed for good.
John was celebrating his continued existence when a pulse blast struck the ground right in front of him, spraying dirt into his eyes. Frell, I can't see! He had forgotten about the two Peacekeepers in front of him and they had moved out from behind the cart. They were advancing towards him, their guns trained on his prone body. John was blindly searching the ground for the gun he had lost when his hand came into contact with someone's boot.
John finally got his eyes cleared and looked right into the face of the Peacekeeper that had wanted to kill him when they were still in the landing area. The Peacekeeper looked down at John with hatred in his eyes. He spoke to John as he charged his weapon to full power, "You do not deserve to live, human. You must pay for killing Garsk and all the other Peacekeepers you have ever killed."
John had to stall while he tried to think of some way to get out of the mess he was in. "Wait! You can't kill me. You're lieutenant wants me alive."
The Peacekeeper laughed harshly at John, "This is a battle. People die in battle. I'll just tell him that one of the resistance people shot you. He will never be able to prove that I did it." With that said he raised his weapon and aimed it at John's head.
John closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable pulse blast. After a few microts and nothing had happened, John opened his eyes and was shocked by what he saw. The Peacekeeper that had been towering over him was no longer there. He was pinned against the wall of a building by a huge mass of fur. Mass of fur? John did a double take and realized he was looking at a Rotarian. John looked at the Rotarian tearing into the Peacekeeper's body with his claws. The Rotarian slashed through the man's stomach spilling intestines and then the Rotarian slashed the man's throat.
Dropping the still alive Peacekeeper, the Rotarian turned toward the second soldier that had been guarding the alley they were in. Seemingly out of nowhere, a long metal pole appeared in the Rotarian's hand. The Rotarian took three quick steps towards the Peacekeeper. While the Peacekeeper was still trying to bring his gun up, the Rotarian swung the pole like a giant baseball bat as hard as he could. The end of the pole hit the soldier in the head, shattering the man's lower jaw and most of the bones on the left side of his face. The force of the blow was so powerful that the man's body spun 180 degrees and dropped to the ground. The man was not moving.
John slowly got to his feet as the Rotarian turned to face him and started walking in his direction. John finally got his first good look at his rescuer. It was Kwami. John hadn't been this relieved to see someone since Aeryn had rescued him from the Gammak Base. "Kwami, thank God. Man, you saved my ass."
Kwami smiled slightly at John, "No thanks are needed John Crichton. I'm sure you would have done the same for me."
John returned Kwami's smile. "Yeah, well, sure I would have. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't thank you. We humans have a tradition that when someone saves your life, you repay them by thanking them and buying them a beer. Since this isn't exactly the time or the place for getting a beer, I have to settle for the thank you."
Kwami responded somewhat confusedly, "I understand, I think. You are right though that now is not the time. We must hurry. I don't know how much longer we can hold off the Peacekeepers. We intercepted some of their communication transmissions, and they have called for reinforcements."
"You don't have to tell me twice. Let's get the hell out of here."
John and Kwami moved to the end of the alley they were in to survey the battle. The Peacekeepers were down to only three. John could see the lieutenant, the female Peacekeeper that had taken care of his leg, and another male. They had formed a sort of triangle behind some overturned carts and crates in the middle of the street. Both sides of the street were firing at them. But the Peacekeepers were giving as good as they got. John could see at least three bodies next to one of the buildings, one Rotarian and two Sebaceans.
Suddenly, John saw an object fly out of one of the buildings and land in one of the carts. Almost immediately the cart exploded, sending debris and body parts flying all over the place. The male Peacekeeper that had been near the cart had his arm and half of his leg blown off along with the cart. He was obviously dead. The two remaining Peacekeepers had survived but they didn't fair much better. The lieutenant had been blown against one of the crates, ten feet from where he had been crouching. Officer Fyy was sprayed by flying shrapnel, pieces of wood sticking through her arm, and was unconscious.
With the two Peacekeepers out of commission, Kwami and John, along with about ten others from the buildings, converged on the last bastion of the Peacekeepers. John was sickened by the destruction caused by the grenade. He had to cover his mouth and nose to block out the smell, as he got closer.
Kwami and two others, both Sebacean, began to check out the bodies. They briefly checked out the male Peacekeeper, but he was obviously dead, so they barely looked at him. One Sebacean moved towards Officer Fyy, while the other moved to check the lieutenant. One of the Sebaceans yelled out, "This one is still alive!"
The Sebacean checking out the lieutenant yelled out also, "So is this one."
The group looked at Kwami for direction. John could obviously tell that he was the leader. The Sebacean that had checked out Officer Fyy asked, "What do we do with them?"
Kwami thought briefly about what to do. He seemed to finally come to a decision. "We can't take them with us and we can't leave them here to be rescued. Kill them."
The two Sebaceans moved towards the bodies, knives in their hands. John was shocked. Sure they had captured him and were going to turn him over to Scorpius, but that didn't mean that they should be killed in cold blood. And the woman had helped him out. Before he thought too much and it was too late to do anything, he blurted out to Kwami, "Stop! Don't kill them. They could be valuable hostages."
John saw he had Kwami' attention and the attention of the assembled group. He moved to the unconscious lieutenant. "This one seemed important. He may have valuable information that you could use. And the woman has medical training; she could be invaluable to your group. There is no reason to kill them. If you kill them you are no better than…"
Without warning, the lieutenant's body suddenly sprang to life, interrupting John's speech. The lieutenant stood up, grabbed John before he could move away, pulled him in front of him and used him as a shield. "Stand back! All of you don't move or I'll kill him!" The lieutenant had taken John's pistol and was slowly backing away from the group in front of him. The lieutenant spoke into John's ear as they were backing away, "You are coming with me. I can still turn you into High Command. I'll be a hero." Then more loudly, "I will not be captured. I will not let you ruin my life. I will be the only Peacekeeper to ever manage to capture John Crichton."
A voice suddenly came from behind them, "No you won't."
The lieutenant, surprised, pushed Crichton away from him so that he could move faster and spun around. He came face to face with Juli Fallon, who had a very large knife in her hand. Before Jan could bring his gun up, Juli lunged forward, plunging her knife into Jan's chest. Jan collapsed to the ground, blood pouring out of the wound in his chest. Juli pulled the knife out of his chest, knelt down next to his body, and slit his throat.
John had never seen someone move so fast before. Not even Aeryn could move as fast as Juli had. It had only taken her less than ten microts to kill the lieutenant. It was the second time someone had saved his life in less than an arn. "Uh…thanks."
Juli smiled at John while wiping the blood off her knife on the dead lieutenants uniform. "No problem, John. It was my pleasure."
John shook his head at her as he turned to face Kwami and the others. "I still think we should save the woman. She could patch up your people."
Kwami nodded his head at John, "Agreed. We will keep her alive as long as she is useful." He motioned two men to pick up the still unconscious woman. "We must leave at once. The Peacekeeper reinforcements should be here any microt."
Kwami walked up to John, and slapped him on the shoulder. "Come John Crichton. We have much to discuss about your future."