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: Oh, in case anyone hasn't figured it out yet, this takes place in an alternate timeline than Season 3. I have no intention of dealing with any of the issues that occurred during that time.
Second Author's Note: I would like to thank those who have given me feedback; it is much appreciated. Like before, any and all feedback is encouraged, especially constructive criticism. Oh, and I have things planned for Juli that may or may not change people's opinion of her.
Third Author's Note: I am finally back on track with how I want my story to be. This chapter begins the war with the Peacekeepers (finally!). It will not be till Chapter 10 when we meet up with Moya and the others again.
"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 8: No, That's MY Boomstick!
Takes place one weeken from the events in Different Wavelengths-
"I want to thank you all for coming here today. I know it wasn't easy for you to leave all your responsibilities and come here, and I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate it." When John spoke, his words were warm and friendly.
As soon as he finished, John abruptly changed his tone to a much more serious one. He leaned forward in the chair he was sitting in and placed his elbows on the table in front of him. "OK, now that we got the pleasantries out of the way, it's time we got down to business. For many cycles now you twelve have been leading your groups in rebellion against the Peacekeepers and look at what you have accomplished. Nothing. In all this time you have yet to make any significant headway against the Peacekeepers."
John stopped talking to judge the reactions of the twelve people sitting at the table in front of him. The five Sebaceans, because of their similar human-like features, were easy to judge. The seven Rotarian males were a little bit more difficult to judge, but John could definitely see signs of anger starting to appear on their faces. Rotarians did not like being told they were failures, the same things could be said of the Sebaceans.
John began talking, hoping to assuage their anger with his next statement. "Now that is not to say that it is your fault. You have done the best that you could against a much more superior foe. The fact of the matter is, though, that you are nothing more than a thorn in the side of High Command. Something they would like to see gotten rid of, but not something that worries them or is a priority."
John paused once again to study the twelve faces in front of him. One of the reasons he had called for the conference of resistance leaders, was so that he could get a feel for who they were. He wanted to know whom he was going to be dealing with. And whether or not they could get the job done.
So far, John had not been disappointed. From his initial meeting with the twelve Primes, he could tell that they all seemed very capable people. Which comforted John to no end. He would have hated to have to replace someone.
John began up again, "Unfortunately, if we ever plan to be rid of the Peacekeepers for good, that will have to change. We can no longer afford to be an annoyance. We must be taken seriously, and we will never be able to accomplish that when we are as fractured as we are."
"As any decent resistance fighter knows, that when fighting a vastly larger enemy, one must use his advantages against him. When an enemy is large, you must be small, when an enemy is slow, you must be fast, and when an enemy depends on overwhelming firepower, you must cause as much damage as possible with as little effort as possible. These tactics would be perfectly acceptable if we had an unlimited amount of time and we were fighting against an enemy that respected the rules of war. Unfortunately, we don't have unlimited time and as soon as the Peacekeepers get pissed off enough, they will do everything possible to stop you. That includes attacking civilian targets."
John saw many of the twelve nodding their heads in agreement. Good. They're listening and they're agreeing. This could not be going any better. "Giving the Peacekeepers the opportunity to attack civilians is unacceptable under any circumstances. The only way to stop the Peacekeepers from attacking civilians is to keep them occupied. And the only way to do that is to have a much bigger target for them to shoot at. If we make the Peacekeepers focus solely on us, they will be too busy to attack civilians."
Now it was time for John to drop his bombshell, the whole reason for the conference. "So, after careful consideration and a lot of planning on the part of my Second, the Rystalva has decided to stop hiding and bring the fight to the Peacekeepers. In two solar days, the Rystalva will assault the Peacekeeper armory in Rotar."
John heard a collective gasp come out of the mouths of the twelve people sitting at the table. John understood their shock. When Toben and Juli presented their plan to attack the armory, John had initially refused. The armory was one of the largest, most heavily guarded, and most high profile Peacekeeper targets on the planet. When John had said he wanted them to come up with something to get the Peacekeepers' attention, attacking the armory was not what he had in mind. It had taken nearly a weeken to convince him that attacking the armory would actually work.
They had convinced him that the benefits from a successful attack would be astronomical. They would get the Peacekeepers attention, like he wanted, they would have a previously untapped source of state of the art weapons, and if they were successful, it would be a huge blow to the Peacekeeper war effort and a blow to their morale.
Unfortunately, as with any plan of this nature, the costs could be astronomical as well. It would take nearly every soldier the Rystalva had, all 800 of them, to just have a chance of actually winning. If they failed, the Rystalva would be destroyed. They would never be able to recover from a blow like that. It was basically an all or nothing kind of plan.
After the twelve seemed to recover from their shock, John resumed his speech. "I understand your concern. It took quite a while for my own advisors to convince me to do it, but they did convince me. A successful attack on the armory would be a huge boost to the resistance movement. Not to mention how much fun it will be embarrassing the Peacekeepers."
One of the Sebaceans spoke up, "Fun? You are talking about having fun? What you are talking about will bring the Peacekeepers into a full-scale war. We are not ready for that. You can't do this, it will destroy everything we have been working for."
John's voice lost its lighthearted tone and his voice became more rough, "Do not tell me what I can or can not do. I did not bring you all here to ask for your permission. I brought you here as a courtesy, because I thought you deserved to know what one of your fellow resistance groups was planning to do. If you twelve are too afraid to fight the Peacekeepers face to face, then that is your problem, not mine."
John knew he had said the wrong thing as soon as the words left his mouth. Almost as one, all twelve people leapt out of their seats and let out an angry outcry. John grimaced. He had forgotten how sensitive people were on this planet when it came to their honor. Calling them all cowards was probably the worst thing he could have done.
One of the larger Rotarian males started moving towards John, his claws extended and murder in his eyes. John was defenseless, since he was still sitting in his chair. Sure he had Wynonna with him, but there was no way he could get to her in time to stop the advancing Rotarian. Thankfully, John had Juli.
With a loud and clear tone Juli shouted at the Rotarian, "Stop right, there. I don't want to shoot you, but if you take another step I will not hesitate to kill you. Do you understand me?" Juli had her pulse pistol out and was pointing it at the angry Rotarian. The Rotarian sensing his imminent danger, stopped immediately.
Still keeping her eye on the angry Rotarian she shifted her gaze to the other eleven people in the room who were still very angry. "That goes for all of you as well. I will shoot anyone who tries anything. All of you sit back down, and shut up."
Juli waited until all twelve people had sat back down before holstering her pulse pistol and resuming her position standing next to John. John was very glad that he had listened to Juli when she said that he might need her during the conference.
John immediately began apologizing to the twelve Primes. "I'm sorry. I had no intention of angering you. It was a poor choice of words. Sometimes my mouth says stuff before my brain can realize what's going on."
Some of the twelve got noticeably calmer, mostly the Sebaceans, and seemed to be willing to listen to John. "I realize that after what I just said, now might not be the best time to explain why I asked you here, but I have very little time left before my duties acquire my attention. I'll make this brief. If so many of you are worried about the Peacekeepers starting a full-scale war, then perhaps it would be best if we unified our forces and attempted to fight them on equal terms."
After John's statement, the room, which had been so loud just a few moments earlier, became completely silent. John studied the faces of the twelve people sitting in front of him. Unfortunately, their faces were too impassive to judge.
John was about to ask them for an answer, when one of the Rotarian Primes began laughing. He had a deep and loud laugh that carried throughout the room. Everyone stared at the laughing Rotarian, John most of all. What he had proposed was not a laughing matter.
The laughing Rotarian stopped laughing and began speaking. "You definitely live up to your reputation, John Crichton. I had heard that you were an unpredictable, arrogant, and a very self-righteous man, but I did not believe what they said until now. After calling us failures, telling us that you were going to start a war with the Peacekeepers, and then calling us cowards, you still expect us to listen to what you are saying."
John sighed. I really frelled up with that coward comment. "I understand your viewpoints and your reluctance, but I disagree with you. Whether or not you like me should not enter into your decision to unify our forces."
The Rotarian started laughing again, but quickly trailed off. "On the contrary, John Crichton. You misunderstood me. I happen to like you very much. Your audacity is a quality I greatly admire. It would be my honor to have my group join yours."
The Rotarian stood up to his full height, and spoke to the others around him. "I am Krant, Prime of the Ryva and it is my honor to join the Rystal and the Rystalva in their fight against the Peacekeepers."
As soon as Krant was finished, three more Primes stood up and expressed their desire to join John. In less than five minutes, all twelve stood up and said they would be willing to join him.
John was speechless. The quick change in the personalities of the people in front of him would never cease to amaze him. Just a moment ago they were willing to kill him, and now they wanted to join him in fighting the Peacekeepers. All because one of them had stood up, the others soon followed like dominoes. John had to meet this Krant. Anyone who had that kind of respect, John needed.
John motioned everyone to sit down. "I have to say that this sudden change in your attitudes is a pleasant surprise. I was expecting a lot more persuasion on my part. I know this sounds insufficient for what you just did, but thank you."
Krant spoke up, "No, John Crichton, thank you. I have waited for a long time for someone to unify our groups but no one has ever been right for the job. You were the first one who I thought might have an actual chance at succeeding."
John nodded his head in Krant's direction. "Thanks for the confidence. I appreciate what all of you have done, but I want to make something absolutely clear. If you are agreeing to join the Rystalva, then you must accept me as Prime. No one else. That may be difficult for some of you to accept."
Again Krant spoke up for the group, "Not at all. When I said I would join the Rystalva I also said that I would follow the Rystal. You are the Rystal, John Crichton. We have all been informed of your identity. Some of us may not believe in the legend anymore, but we will follow you nonetheless."
John sighed in relief. He had been expecting more resistance. It was important that everyone was on the same page. "Thank you again, Krant, for your understanding. Your help, all of your help, will go a long way to making our attack on the armory a success."
John resumed his business-like tone as he continued. "We must discuss some practical matters, however. Having our forces spread all across the planet will not work for our current strategy. I would appreciate it if you would all move your forces to here, in our main complex. It's more than large enough to house all twelve of your groups' personnel and it is well defended and well hidden. And we must discuss who's in charge. I've already explained that I will be Prime, but the question of who would be Second is still unanswered. Personally, I would prefer Toben to stay my Second but I think that it is only fair that I let you twelve choose who will be next in the line of ascension."
Krant, who had become the unofficial spokesperson for the twelve, spoke his opinion. "I know Toben. He is an honorable and capable warrior. He would be satisfactory for your Second."
John looked at the other eleven just to make sure they agreed. "All of you agree with Krant?" John saw everyone voice their assent. "Alright, then. I would like to ask Krant to be the next in line. And for him to be my liaison between the Rystalva and the newly joined groups"
Krant seemed somewhat taken aback by John's request. "It would be my honor, John Crichton."
John clapped his hands together and stood up. "Excellent! I would really like to stay but I have some things to do that need my attention. Toben will brief you on the armory mission. Feel free to give him whatever ideas or views you might have, but remember that he is in charge."
John was beginning to walk out of the room, when he remembered a famous quote that he had heard his father's old army buddies say before. John turned back around to face the still sitting twelve people, "Before I go I wanted to tell you something a famous warrior on my planet named Napoleon once said. 'Fortune favors the bold' It's about time we proved him right."
The Peacekeeper armory in the capital city of Rotar was, for lack of a better word, a fortress. Consisting of only one structure, the armory was very large. Very similar to some of the large warehouses back on Earth, it was about half a metra across and a quarter of a metra long. The armory contained more than half of the Peacekeepers' arsenal on the planet.
Because of its high profile status and because of the amount of activity that it generated, the Peacekeepers had built the armory on the outskirts of the city so as to have lots of open ground. There was a large landing area for ships off to the side of the structure, and a high concrete wall surrounded the entire complex. There was at least fifty yards of open space between the walls and the structure, so that the Peacekeepers could have lots of open space.
From what they had learned, there were at least 200 Peacekeepers guarding the armory at all times. Most of the Peacekeepers were in or around the complex. Only about 30 actually patrolled along the walls. Once John learned the number of guards, he had thought that attacking the armory would be relatively easy. After all, they actually outnumbered the Peacekeepers at least three to one. But then John had seen the layout of the armory and realized that the Peacekeepers had configured the armory so that they would only need a small amount of soldiers to stop a much larger force.
It had taken Toben, Juli, Krant, and the other eleven former Primes a long time to come up with a practical and realistic strategy for attacking the armory. They had finally decided that using only subtlety and subterfuge would not work, and instead had opted for quick, brute, and overwhelming force for overtaking the armory.
It was a good thing that they were going to rob the armory as well as destroy it, because it was going to take the majority of their explosives to successfully complete their mission. They had needed a way to breach the large walls of the complex, and John had come up with an idea. They would capture one of the Peacekeeper ground cars that they used to get around the planet, fill it with a lot of explosives, park it in front of one of the walls, and then blow it up. A nice, old-fashioned car bomb.
Of course, once the wall blew, the Peacekeepers would flood that area with troops, so the explosion was actually only a diversion. While the Peacekeepers were concentrating on the first explosion, John would use his staff (John had almost forgotten about the R'yclava in planning the assault) to blow a hole in the wall on the opposite side of the complex and then the majority of the raiders would go through.
How they were going to transport their newly acquired weapons had been a problem, but then Krant had informed them that he had three captured Peacekeeper Marauders that could be used to transport the stolen weapons. The three Marauders would land in the armory a few arns before the attack, so as not to raise suspicions. Krant had assured John that his Marauders had the proper codes and identification transponders so as not to be shot down or boarded. Once the attack started, the crews of the three Marauders would enter the complex; steal as many weapons as they could, and then set an explosive that would blow the entire armory. In a way, everything was a diversion for the real goal of the attack, the stealing of the Peacekeeper weapons.
John had wanted to make sure that every facet of the plan was planned perfectly, but he knew that wasn't possible. As John had seen first hand with many of his own plans when he had still been on board Moya, very few plans actually followed their initial designs after first contact with the enemy. John just hoped everything stayed relatively close to the plan. He did not want a slaughter on his hands.
Wanting to make sure that everything followed the plan was one of the reasons why he was personally leading the mission. The other reason was because John didn't think it was right to ask the other people to do something he wasn't willing to do himself. Plus it garnered him respect amongst the other Primes, something he badly needed if he was going to maintain his authority over them. Of course, trying to convince Juli that he needed to go had caused him to draw up every ounce of patience that he had.
It had taken every waking moment spent between the conference and the actual assault trying to persuade Juli to back off. Once it had gotten close to time for the attack and Juli had still not listened, John had begun to lose it. He had finally told her off, saying that because he was the boss he could do whatever he wanted. Juli had just laughed in his face. Which had pissed John off even more. He finally told her that he would find some way, anyway, to be there and that he would do it without her. So if she was really worried about his safety then she should just let him go, but make sure that she went with him. Juli had caved and let him go, but she refused to leave his side for even one microt.
Which brought him to where he was now, standing in a forest with around 300 Rystalva fighters, waiting for the signal that would mean it was time for him to attack. Once the car bomb went off, John and his fellow fighters, would leave the forest, make there way to the armory, and then John would blow the wall. Once he did that, all the fighters would storm the complex and try to catch the Peacekeepers from behind. Hoping to buy the Marauder teams as much time as possible. Which John knew wasn't much. Once the Peacekeepers realized they were under attack, they would call for reinforcements from the Ryota Mountain Garrison, and the reinforcements would arrive in a little under a half an arn. Everyone from the Rystalva had to be gone by then.
John was starting to get antsy; he just wanted it to start soon so he could get it over with.
Grun Fraty did not consider himself to be a brave man. In fact, no one else considered him to be brave either. If you were to ask what few friends he had about him, they would say that he was quiet, intelligent, unassuming, and unadventurous. In short, he was boring and he knew it. So it would be surprising to those few friends if they learned that at the moment he was currently driving a ground car loaded with enough explosives to blow up a small mountain, towards a Peacekeeper armory.
What those few friends didn't know was that two cycles ago, Grun's mate had been captured by the Peacekeepers and then executed, all because she had happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. There had been a resistance attack that killed three Peacekeepers, and because she barely resembled one of the resistance fighters responsible for the attack, the Peacekeepers had arrested her. They had interrogated her, wanting information on the location of the group responsible, but because she didn't know anything, they had killed her.
One would think that Grun would have blamed the resistance for the death of his mate, but he was too smart for that. He knew who was responsible, and he swore that somehow he would get revenge on the Peacekeepers. That was why he had volunteered to drive the car. He had previous experience driving Peacekeeper ground cars and dealing with Peacekeepers because before he joined the Rystalva he had been a mechanic that worked for the Peacekeepers on their ground cars. He would finally get the revenge that he had been waiting two cycles to get.
He could see the armory off in the distance as he rapidly approached it. He was wearing the uniform of a Peacekeeper lieutenant, taken from the previous owner of the ground car, and he was going to have to bluff his way into the complex. That was something that he wasn't looking forward to, but if it was the only way he could succeed then he would do it.
His orders had been simple. Get inside the complex by any means necessary, park the car next to one of the walls, get as far away as possible, and then by remote detonation, blow the car. He had every intention of doing exactly that. He didn't want to die, but he had accepted that if he couldn't get away, then he would blow the car anyway. It would be his last act of defiance and revenge against the Peacekeepers.
Grun could see the entrance to the complex just ahead. It was time he got into character. He slowed his car down slowly so that it came to a complete stop in front of the guard that had come out to identify him. The guard walked up to the driver's side and spoke in an official but bored sound of voice, "Name, rank, and identification." The guard then stuck his hand out waiting for Grun to place his stolen ident chip in his hand. Grun did, and the guard placed the chip in the handheld scanning device he held.
Grun spoke as the guard checked the authenticity of the chip, "My name is Lieutenant Lan."
The guard, who was still scanning the chip, spoke up, "What is your business in the complex, Lieutenant."
Grun let some contempt enter his voice. "My business is none of your concern, Officer." Grun made sure that he emphasized the difference in their ranks. He had to accurately portray a Peacekeeper officer, after all.
The guard shook his head in an apology, "Of course sir. It's standard procedure for me to ask everyone what their business is in the complex. I meant no offense. However I must still ask that you tell me what you are doing here."
Grun got angry, "I do not have to tell you anything, Officer. Allow me to continue or I will report your insubordination to your superior."
The guard did not budge, although he sounded livelier than he had before. "I must insist sir. If you are unwilling to tell me, I will have to report you to my superior."
On the outside, Grun acted and looked like the consummate Peacekeeper officer. But on the inside, he was panicky and was beginning to realize that he was out of his element.
Grun glared at the guard angrily, but thought it might be best to acquiesce to his demand. "If you must know, Officer, I am transporting chakan oil and pulse rifles to the armory." Which was actually true. In the back of the car, there were barrels of chakan oil and a few pulse rifles. There was also three barrels of highly volatile cesium fuel, something that Grun couldn't afford the guard seeing.
The guard spoke up in his maddening calm voice, "I will have to inspect your cargo, sir. Standard procedure."
Grun was really beginning to panic now. If the guard saw what he had in the back of his car, he would be arrested and he would fail. They had loaded the car in such a way to pass only a cursory inspection, the cesium barrels were too large to do otherwise. If a detailed inspection were to take place, then the guard would see the rather large cesium barrels and know that something was not right. So Grun did the only thing that he could think of to stop the guard. Before the guard moved out of range of Grun's open window, he pulled out his pulse pistol and shot the guard twice in the chest. The look of surprise on the guard's face was almost comical. The guard collapsed to the ground, dead.
Grun then started up his car and drove as fast as he could through the entrance of the complex. He could see other Peacekeepers coming after him, and some of the guards on the walls were beginning to shoot at him.
It hit Grun about halfway to his target that he was going to die. There was no way that he would be able to get away in time. Either the Peacekeepers would kill him, or the blast would. Grun was resigned to his fate, but he was resolved to complete his mission.
It took Grun thirty microts to reach his target wall. Once he got to the wall he slowed the car down, and jumped out. He climbed behind the car, using it for cover, and began shooting at the Peacekeepers that were coming after him. By now, Grun could see that there were at least 20 Peacekeepers advancing on him. Which is exactly what he wanted. He wanted to take as many as he could with him. He was going to die, but so were they.
Grun saw one Peacekeeper get too close and he shot him in the leg. Grun shot at another Peacekeeper and hit him in the chest. There were so many Peacekeepers, and they were so close, that Grun couldn't help but to hit them.
He was about to shoot another Peacekeeper who had got too close, when a Peacekeeper suddenly appeared from behind him. The Peacekeeper had hurried to get his shot off, so his shot went wild, only hitting Grun in his leg. Grun fell to the ground in pain, but had the presence of mind to shoot the Peacekeeper in the face. The Peacekeeper screamed and fell to the ground. Grun felt another blast hit him in the chest as he turned to kill another Peacekeeper that had come from around the car.
Grun knew that the second shot had mortally wounded him. He was having difficulty breathing and he was coughing up blood. He began firing wildly at the Peacekeepers as he reached for the detonator that he held in his pocket. He pulled it out just as two Peacekeepers came around the back of the car. He smiled at the Peacekeepers and pressed the button.
The explosion was almost instantaneous. It instantly vaporized everything in its direct vicinity and caused the wall next to it to explode outward showering the ground with flying debris. The wall collapsed almost a quarter of a metra along its length. Every Peacekeeper that had been near the explosion was killed. The explosion was so huge that the closest corner of the armory structure imploded inward, killing five Peacekeepers that had been rushing out to see what was going on. The remaining Peacekeepers rushed toward the site of the explosion, expecting an attack to be coming from the newly created hole.
John Crichton and the Rystalva had just gotten the diversion of a lifetime.
John heard and saw the explosion of the car, and immediately sprung into action. Not a microt could be wasted. He moved out of the forest at a dead run, and got as close as he dared to the wall. He looked behind him to see that Juli was right next to him, as were the majority of the soldiers.
John brought the R'yclava out of his pocket, extended it, turned it so that the end that fired was facing the wall, and pressed the symbols that he remembered caused the staff to fire. The end of the staff glowed white, just like it had before, and then the pulse came out. Also like before John flew back from the recoil, but luckily there were people behind him to stop him from flying too far.
The pulse hit the wall, shattered it, and then continued on flying all the way across the complex and going through the opposite wall. There was no mountain to stop the pulse this time. John looked in awe at the staff as he saw the destruction the staff had caused. The power of the staff was truly incredible.
The pulse had caused almost as much damage to the wall as the car bomb had. Except this time the wall fell inward instead of outward. Spraying debris all over the rear of the structure.
Shaking off his shock, John started rushing toward the hole he created. Everyone was following him. As he was running, John deactivated the staff and placed it back in his pocket. It was a great weapon for hand-to-hand fighting, but John preferred to stay as far away from his opponents as possible. Plus he wasn't nearly as skilled or as strong as Kwami had been in using the staff. Besides, as much as he liked the staff, he liked Wynonna better. At least she had never let him down.
Because he was in front, John reached the hole first. He was about to rush through, but he felt a hand grab his arm and stop him. He looked back angrily, and saw Juli looking at him just as angry. Juli shouted at him, "What the frell are you doing? You don't go in first. That's a great way to get killed and you can't afford to be killed. Let other, more experienced people go first."
Juli then motioned the other soldiers to go first, and as many as could fit through the hole began moving. After about thirty or so went through, pulse fire could be heard and people began screaming. The Peacekeepers had recovered faster than expected.
Juli waved her hand in the direction of the hole and began speaking again, "See? If you had gone first that could be you dying. You can't die John."
John was still very angry and he had to shout to be heard over the noise of the battle. "Why not? I'm not any more valuable than they are. One man's life is not worth more than another."
Juli let out a sigh of frustration, "You still don't understand, do you? This is war John. People die in war. Soldiers die in war, not officers and not leaders. There is a reason why there is a difference between the two. By their definition, one is more valuable than the other. That's just the way it is; that's the way it's always been, and that's the way it will always be. You can't change that John, and you must accept that. If there wasn't a difference, then everyone would be equal and there would be no need for officers and leaders."
She pointed her finger at the Rystalva soldiers going through the hole in the wall. "You see those people. They are only responsible for one thing: themselves. But you, John, are responsible for not just yourself, but for everyone in the Rystalva, as well as the fate of the mission. If you die, who will lead them? If one of them dies, it is unfortunate, but we would survive. If you die, or if Toben dies, or if any of the other Primes die, then that would be disastrous. There is a reason why you are the leader."
Juli then softened her tone as she looked into John's eyes and saw the anger and torment there. "I know you don't want to hear this John. And I know that you don't believe it, but until you do, you will never be a good leader. You must accept that your life has more value than theirs or else you will always be distracted and preoccupied worrying about yourself and not the important things that demand your attention. It does not make you a coward and it does not make you weak. The fact that you are even here at all proves that. And I will not stop you from fighting, but I will not let you throw your life needlessly away like you were about to do."
John still did not agree with her, but he knew that it was futile to argue with her. He knew that if she was determined to stop him, there was nothing he could possibly do to change her mind.
After half of the fighters had made it through, John turned to Juli and asked sarcastically, "Can I go in now? Or is it still too dangerous?"
Juli sighed when she heard John's tone. He still didn't understand. "Yes John, now would be ok. But I will go first and you will follow me wherever I go."
Juli then drew her pulse pistol and began climbing over the fallen wall. John was right on her heels.
John looked over his shoulder as he ducked down behind a large piece of the armory's structure that had broken off when a grenade went off, and saw that Juli and her little band of followers were right behind him. There were six of them, four Sebaceans, including Juli, and two Rotarians, that made up John's, for lack of a better word, bodyguards.
John hated having bodyguards. He thought the very idea was ludicrous. But Juli had insisted that he be protected, especially if he insisted in joining in the fighting. John had never needed bodyguards before, to be fair he hadn't exactly been an expert at taking care of himself in a fight, but for the most part he had held his own. John had thought that Aeryn was overprotective, but Juli was insane in her need to surround John in bubble wrap.
John knew that it was pointless to argue with Juli. Much like Aeryn, she was almost impossible to deal with and was incredibly stubborn. John knew that he would lose any argument with her. So he just went with the flow, and tried to not let Juli get to him.
Besides, John had sort of started to like the six people that followed him around. He had started calling them the Magnificent Seven. All they needed were some cowboy hats, a few six-shooters, and a couple of horses and they could ride across the countryside ridding it from the lawless Peacekeepers. John's face suddenly broke into a wide grin at the visual image of a Rotarian in a cowboy hat.
That was probably not the best thing he could have done during the middle of a firefight. John saw Juli looking at him like he was crazy. "What are you smiling for? Do you like getting shot at?"
John quickly sobered, but not without letting out a quick laugh. "You wouldn't understand. It's not important, don't worry about it."
Juli just shook her head at John's strangeness. She was used to it by now. Juli refocused on the battle raging around them.
The battle had gone well in the beginning. They had caught the Peacekeepers completely by surprise. The car bomb explosion had taken out at least twenty Peacekeepers, and Juli knew that at least thirty more had died when the Rystalva stormed the complex. That might have been enough to defeat most normal enemies, losing a quarter of your force, but they were fighting against the Peacekeepers and they were far from normal.
About halfway through the battle the Peacekeepers had somehow managed to turn the initiative in their favor. Despite being outnumbered at least three to one, the Peacekeepers were actually starting to win. They had better weapons, more training and battle experience, and despite being caught by surprise, they knew the ground they were fighting on and had held their positions.
Which brought them to the situation they were in now. John, Juli, the six bodyguards, and about eight other fighters were crouched behind some fallen debris, trying to take cover from the withering pulse fire coming from the Peacekeeper position in front of them. There were eleven Peacekeepers guarding a doorway into the armory. The Rystalva needed that doorway so that they could get access to the armory and steal the weapons and supplies inside.
The Peacekeepers were delaying their timetable. By John's count they only had about ten more minutes before Peacekeeper reinforcements arrived. Everyone had to be gone by then.
They needed to get rid of those Peacekeepers as soon as possible. Unfortunately, they had tried everything and nothing had worked. They had tried shooting them out, using grenades to try and blow them out, and they had even tried charging the position which had proved disastrous as evidenced by the six resistance fighters' dead bodies lying on the ground in between the two sides. They needed those weapons; they were the biggest reason why they were here to begin with.
John knew that he could probably take them out with his staff, but he would have to expose himself to fire to do it. John was also hesitant that the blast might do more harm than good. He had no doubt that it would take out the Peacekeeper defenders, but he remembered what one pulse had done to the walls of the complex. He might destroy the building, or even worse, cause the munitions inside the armory to blow prematurely.
It was a risk that he was going to have to take. There just wasn't enough time to stall any longer. He would just have to make sure he shot the pulse just right.
John turned to Juli and tried to talk with as much authority as he could. "Don't argue with me. Not about this. We don't have enough time. I have a plan to take out those Peacekeepers. I will use my staff to blow their position, and I want everyone to cover me as I do it."
Juli was about to argue with John, but she saw something in his eyes that made her hesitate. She wanted, no, she needed to protect him, but she also knew that he needed to do this. She didn't want to keep him from doing something so important to him. "Fine, John. But one shot, no more. I don't want you exposing yourself anymore than necessary. I will tell everyone else of your plan."
John waited for Juli to spread the word, and he became lost in his own thoughts. He was afraid. Not of being shot, or even, of being killed. He had been shot at tons of times and he was used to exposing himself to extreme danger during one of his crazy plans. No he was afraid of something else, something he couldn't identify. He almost felt like he was on the cusp of something. Like if he succeeded at what he was about to do, his fate would be sealed for the rest of his life.
If he succeeded, he would be tied to the Rystalva indefinitely. They would get the weapons they needed to fight a war with the Peacekeepers. A war he would have to lead, all because he had made a promise. He was starting to realize how weighty a decision he had made. It was almost funny that he realized that now, of all the times he could have had an epiphany it was almost fitting that he had one during a battle. Fighting for his life had become second nature to him.
John felt a tap on his shoulder and Juli nodded her head at him. John got the silent message: everyone was ready to go. John started taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself, as he took the staff out of his pocket and extended it. As soon as he extended the R'yclava, Juli shouted to start firing and thirteen pulse weapons opened fire on the Peacekeeper position.
John leapt up, exposing the upper part of his body, and brought the staff up into firing position. He scanned the doorway, trying to ignore the pulse blasts coming increasingly closer to him. He saw the Peacekeepers in the doorway, and he realized that any shot fired at them would most likely enter the armory as well. That couldn't happen. He needed to find a better target. He scanned the doorway. Maybe I could collapse the doorway on them.
John saw that part of the doorway was weakened from multiple grenade explosions and from pulse weapon fire. That looks like a good place. John was about to fire at the weakened part of the doorway, when he heard a voice shout not to. Huh? Where the hell did that come from?
"If you fire there, you will collapse the entire front of the structure. You will never be able to get inside then," the voice said.
John thought the voice sounded familiar. It almost sounds like…Harvey. But, I thought Jack said he was gone.
John heard the voice speak again, "No, John. The alien you called Jack said that he removed most of me, but that he could not get all of me. There is still a part of me inside you."
"Why is this the first time that I've heard you since then?"
Harvey answered, "I have found that because of my weakened influence, I can only make my presence known to you during times of great stress. Since getting shot at constitutes great stress for you, I was able to come to the forefront of your mind. It was a good thing that I did. You were about to ruin any chance at ever getting inside that building."
John responded to the Harvey in his mind incredulously, "Since when do you care about the Rystalva?"
Harvey looked at John with a pained look on his face. "I do not, but you do. Because you have foolishly decided to risk your life, and because of our association, my life as well, I have decided to minimize whatever risk I can to you. And since I know that you will do whatever necessary to get inside that building, I have decided to help you to keep you from doing anything unnecessary."
Harvey stopped talking and then studied the doorway. He pointed at a part of the doorway that seemed to be structurally intact. "There, shoot there. You will collapse the doorway, but cause only superficial damage to the rest of the structure."
John did not look very confident. "Are you sure? That spot looks like the shot will go into the armory. How do you know?"
Harvey sighed, "I thought by now that we could trust each other, John. You forget that I have the memories of Scorpius in my mind, and Scorpius was well informed of many Peacekeeper secrets and procedures. Part of his memories contains knowledge of Peacekeeper structures. Trust me when I say that that spot is the best spot for you to fire."
John really had no choice. He had to trust Harvey. John found himself back in complete control of his mind and still standing up, facing the Peacekeepers. Amazingly, he had not been hit yet.
John found the spot on the doorway that Harvey had singled out, and pressed the symbols on the R'yclava to fire. The staff glowed, and then fired its pulse, sending John flying back in the process. It was a good thing too, because two pulse blasts flew through the air where he had just been standing.
John was getting back on his feet when he realized that there was no more fire coming from the armory and that there had not been any explosions. John cautiously looked over the debris he had been using for cover and saw the damage his staff had caused.
Harvey had been right. The doorway had collapsed on top of the eleven Peacekeepers, crushing them all, but the front of the building was still intact. In fact, there was actually a nice, neat hole for the Marauder crews to go through when they stole the weapons. John sent a silent thanks to Harvey, before turning to Juli who was also staring at the building. "Get those crews in there right away, we don't have any time to waste. Tell them they only have about 700 microts before they have to leave. And begin the retreat. I want everyone gone by the time the crews are done. I will take the others and make sure the area is secure."
Juli looked at him indecisively. She did not want to leave him. John understood her reluctance, but he needed her to take charge of the retrieval. "Go! Now! I need someone I trust to get the job done, and that's you. Move your ass, now!"
Without conscious thought, Juli snapped to attention and gave John a sharp salute, "Yes, sir!" Juli then turned around, and headed off in the direction of the Marauders.
John was a little surprised by Juli's response. So that's how you get her to do what you want, yell at her. I'll file that away; it could be very valuable information for dealing with her later.
John motioned for the remaining 14 fighters to follow him as he patrolled the area looking for any more Peacekeepers.
John took a deep breath of the mountain air. He let it go slowly; not wanting to lose the feeling the refreshing breath gave him. This was his favorite thing to do, take a walk in the mountains. Since he no longer had a terrace to go to, he had to make do with what he had, and the mountains were the closest he had been to the stars in monens.
When John needed to think, or relax, he would come here. Here were the mountains surrounding the Rystalva's main base. John could walk for arns in the mountains, trying to make sense of his own thoughts. Like he was doing now.
It had been only four arns since the Rystalva's successful attack on the Peacekeeper armory in Rotar, and John was already being bombarded by confusing and difficult thoughts about the whole thing. He remembered right before he had fired his staff at the Peacekeepers guarding the doorway that led to the armory, he had felt a feeling of intense fear. He hadn't been able to analyze that fear then, but he was trying to do so now. Hence his walk in the mountains, alone.
He had to be alone, it was the only way he could devote his thoughts completely to what was going on inside his mind. Juli hated it of course, but John knew that she realized that these walks meant so much to him and that he needed them, so she let him go. But not without some precautions, like being required to report in to her every arn.
John's thoughts drifted off Juli and back to why he was here. John hated fear. Most people do, he knew that. But for him, it was different. This wasn't the kind of fear he was used to dealing with. He was used to fearing for his life, he was used to fearing for the lives of his friends, and to some extent he was even used to the fear of dealing with Scorpius. The fear he was feeling now was a lot different, though.
The fear he was feeling had little to do with his life ending, in fact it had to do with the opposite. He was afraid of living, of living a life that wasn't his own. Since he had come to the planet of Rotar he had been treated like a savior, a leader promised to them by an ancient alien race. He had no control over the events his life led. And he knew that when he fired that shot into that doorway he had sealed his fate. He knew that he was linked to the people on Rotar now, that he could never leave them because he had become responsible for them. He had started a war with the Peacekeepers and he had to finish it. John had been taught by his father to never start a fight, but to always finish one.
John had to deal with his fear before it consumed him. He couldn't let it distract him. He had to accept the fact that his life was no longer his own and that he was the Rystal. If he embraced his role, it might make life a lot easier. John shook his head. Aeryn was right, he did think too much.
John reached for his comm to check in with Juli when he saw some rocks falling in front of him. That's odd, better be careful. It could be a rockslide. John looked up to see where the fallen rocks had come from and saw something he was not expecting to see.
Standing on a ledge, not more than ten feet in front of him were two Sebaceans dressed in Peacekeeper uniforms. Ah, frell! I didn't think I was that distracted that I wouldn't notice two people sneaking up on me. John immediately reached for Wynonna, but he wasn't fast enough. The two Peacekeepers were already ahead of him.
One of them spoke up, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." John's hand backed off. The PK started speaking again, "Smart move. Now slowly take the pulse pistol and throw it over here. Slowly, now."
John took Wynonna out of her holster and through it at the two Peacekeepers. He really hated having to always giver her up. He tried to talk as friendly and as calmly as he could, while his mind was going crazy trying to come up with ideas on how to get out of his current predicament. "So, fellas, how did you find me?"
The same PK spoke up again, "Quiet! Take your comm off and throw it here as well. Don't try anything stupid, Crichton."
Okay, so they know who you are. Figures. Everybody knows who you are. John took his comm off and threw it at the two Peacekeepers. "You gonna shoot me now, or later? Or maybe even better, you gonna take me to Scorpy? God I miss that bastard."
"No, Crichton, we are not going to shoot you and we are not taking you to see Scorpius. That is not our mission."
John was confused. They weren't going to kill him or turn him into Scorpius. "What the frell is your mission then?"
"We're taking you to meet someone who is very interested in meeting you. You have quite a reputation John Crichton."
John laughed humorlessly. "Yep, that's me. Mr. Popular. So who's the head honcho you taking me to see this time?"
The Peacekeeper smiled an enigmatic smile, and then nodded his head. Without warning, another Peacekeeper appeared behind John and struck him across the back of his head with a pulse pistol.
John slumped down to the ground, quickly losing consciousness. John's last thought before the darkness of his unconscious mind claimed him, was that Juli was definitely never going to let him go anywhere on his own ever again.
Side Note: The next chapter will find John discovering who his captor is. The war will reach full swing, and John may meet a new ally.