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: This chapter finds us back on Moya.

"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 10: And the Lord Said, "Let there be light…"

Takes place three weekens after Saluting the Flag-

            Aeryn couldn't sleep.  Before the incident with John on the planet of Rotar, not being able to sleep would have worried her.  Now it was a nightly event and she was used to it.  She didn't want to sleep anyways.  Sleep always brought the dreams, and she hated her dreams.

            So she did what she always did at night.  First, she would make a cursory inspection of the ship, looking for anything that needed maintenance.  Then, she would go to command and make sure nothing there needed her attention.  After that, she would visit Pilot in his den.  It had taken Pilot a while to open back up to her, but since it wasn't in Pilot's nature to hold a grudge, he and Aeryn had reached their previous level of friendship.  Pilot was the only one on board who was more than civil to her.  Finally, the last stop on her nightly patrol was John's quarters.

            She knew that she was torturing herself by going to his empty cell every night, but she had to do it.  She was afraid of forgetting John, of forgetting what he was like, so she visited his cell to make sure that she always remembered.  Every time she stepped inside his cell, she would be assaulted by memories of John and all the time that she had spent in there.  It would always bring a small smile to her face.

            She was just leaving John's quarters when she was overwhelmed by a sense of hunger.  That was another thing that she hadn't been doing lately: eating.  She knew that she had lost a lot of weight, but she just didn't have the drive to be in peak physical shape anymore.  Aeryn knew that she should eat more, especially if she ever intended to be strong enough to rescue John once they found him, so she made her way to the central chamber.

            It took her only a few microts to get to the central chamber.  She stepped into the room and saw that she wasn't alone.  There were two other people already there.  One was someone she shouldn't be surprised to see and the other was someone she didn't want to see.  She was about to turn around and walk away, when her stomach reminded her why she was there in the first place.

            Aeryn knew that she had to eat, so she gritted her teeth and walked in.  She could practically feel the glare boring into her from Chiana.  Aeryn had thought, more like hoped actually, that after three monens, Chiana would have stopped being so hostile to her.  She hadn't expected Chiana to forgive her, but she hadn't expected her anger to be as strong as it was.

            Aeryn tried to ignore Chiana as best she could as she walked to the refrigeration unit to find something to eat.  She saw some vegetables, fruits, and other assorted items, but decided to just eat some food cubes.  She piled a bunch on a tray and went to sit down next to Rygel who was currently gorging himself on a plate of Hynerian Marjoules that he had bought at the last commerce planet they had visited.

            She tried to eat as quietly and as quickly as she could so that she could get out of there before she had a confrontation with Chiana.  It seemed like every time they saw each other they ended up in an argument.

            It seemed like her plan was working and that Chiana had forgotten about her, until Rygel decided to draw attention back to her.  "So, Aeryn, how much longer until we reach the next planet on your list?"

            Aeryn sighed as she once again felt Chiana's gaze on her.  She lifted her head to look at Rygel as she answered him.  "Pilot says that it will be at least fourteen arns before we reach Yeti V.  Why?"

            Rygel stopped stuffing his face to answer her, "I would like to accompany you.  I think that you all could benefit from my negotiating skills in securing information about John's location."

            Aeryn looked at Rygel incredulously and with a little shock on her face.  "You want to help?  I thought you hated these trips that we made?  Weren't you the one that said we should stop looking?"

            Before Rygel could tell Aeryn how wrong she was and defend himself, Chiana beat him to it.  "Leave Rygel alone!  At least he cares.  That's more than could be said for you.  You just want to find John so that we will stop hating you."

            Aeryn tried to stop herself, she really did, but hearing someone say that she didn't care about John just made her so mad that she let herself be drawn into another fight with Chiana.  Aeryn wasn't exactly known for having infinite patience, especially where John was concerned.  "That's not true and you know it Chiana!  Can't you just let it go?  I know that I frelled up, but you don't need to remind me every time we see each other."

            Chiana just snorted derisively at Aeryn.  "I'll let it go when John is back on board Moya.  This isn't about you, it's about John.  All you ever do is complain about how I'm making you feel, well how do you think John is feeling right now?  That is if he's still alive!"

            Meanwhile, Rygel had been forgotten.  A fight that initially started out about him had eventually drifted to the topic that everyone already thought about every microt of every day.  Rygel just sighed.

            He hated to admit it, even to himself, but he liked Aeryn and he hated seeing her in the kind of condition she was in.  He respected her and seeing her looking so frail and a shell of her former self, made him sad.  It was one of the reasons why he wanted to find John.

            Out of everyone on board, Rygel liked John the best.  He still thought he was an ignorant and primitive human who would be much better off if he just listened to what Rygel told him to do.  But John was the only one on board that Rygel knew would never leave him behind or treated him fairly, and Rygel missed John's strange nicknames. 

            Besides, the sooner they got John back the faster the fighting between Aeryn and Chiana would stop.  He, like everyone else aboard Moya, was getting tired of the constant bickering between the two. 

            Rygel could see the war of words between the two escalating.  If it wasn't stopped, the verbal battle going on could turn into a physical one.  Rygel activated his comm and called D'argo, "D'argo?  Aeryn and Chiana are at it again.  This one looks bad.  You should get here before Aeryn kills Chiana."

            Rygel heard D'argo let out a long sigh.  "Alright, Rygel I'll be there as soon as I can.  Try to do what you can to stop them."

            Rygel cared about the two people in front of him, but he wasn't stupid and he wasn't one for suicide missions.  There was no way in hezmana he was going to get between the two of them when they were in the middle of a fight.  He would be the one who ended up getting hurt.

            So he just sat back in his thronesled and watched the two angry women warily.  Fortunately, it didn't take D'argo long to get to the central chamber.  He came rushing through the door.  Without speaking, he walked up to the two women, who were only denches away from each other, and stood between them.

            "That is enough!  Both of you stop!  How many times am I going to have to do this?"

            Aeryn and Chiana both moved away from each other and tried to calm themselves.  D'argo turned to Rygel, "Who started it this time?"

            Many weekens ago, during a rash of particularly nasty fights, D'argo had come up with a plan for discouraging the two women from fighting.  He had decided that whoever was responsible for starting the fight would have to do all the maintenance duties aboard Moya by themselves for two solar days.  His plan was partially successful.  The fights were cut in half, but they still happened quite frequently.

            Rygel answered D'argo, "It was Chiana, as usual."

            D'argo got a disappointed look on his face as he faced Chiana.  Chiana was defiant as her eyes blazed with anger.  "You know the rules Chiana.  You will begin doing whatever maintenance duties Pilot has for you immediately.  I sometimes wonder Chiana how serious you are about finding John."

            Chiana looked like she was going to begin protesting, when Pilot's voice came over the comm.  His voice was very excited, "I am receiving a transmission from Talyn!  He is nearby and Captain Crais wishes to speak with us.  Talyn says that he may have information about Commander Crichton's location."

            The mood in the room suddenly changed from one of anger to one of hope and excitement.  Aeryn immediately began running to the docking bay as she spoke to Pilot.  "Bring Crais aboard, Pilot!"

            When they had spent a monen of looking for John without success, they had ran into Talyn and Crais and had told them of their situation.  Crais had immediately promised to do all he could to help locate John, but no one aboard Moya really believed that he would find anything.

            Despite the many changes that had occurred in Crais, one thing that had stayed the same was his dislike of John Crichton.  Aeryn believed that the only reason why he had agreed to look for John was because Talyn had wanted too.  And Aeryn knew that Talyn only wanted to find John because it would make her happy and because it would make his mother happy.  Moya missed John as much as anyone else in the crew.

            So it came as some shock that Crais had not only actually looked for John but had actually found information on where he might be, while they had spent three monens looking and had found nothing.

            Now Aeryn, D'argo, Chiana, and Rygel were waiting in the docking bay waiting for Crais's transport pod to land.  Aeryn didn't know where Jool or Stark were, but she didn't really care.  All she cared about was talking to Crais.

            The pod finally landed and Crais came walking out.  He looked slightly haggard and worn out.  He stopped in front of the assembled group.

            Almost instantly he was bombarded by questions coming from all four of them.  Crais couldn't tell who was asking what, so he just looked at them with a confused look on his face as he waited for them to calm down.

            Finally, they quieted down and Aeryn spoke up, "Where is he?  What did you find?  Is he still alive?"

            "I will answer all your questions, but perhaps we should move to somewhere I can sit down.  I am quite tired.  It was not easy getting this information."

            Aeryn was so impatient for the information that she would have done anything Crais wanted if it meant he would just tell her faster.  "Fine, let's go to the central chamber."

            The motley group moved down Moya's passageways as quickly as possible.  Everyone was just as impatient as Aeryn was to hear the news.  They reached the central chamber and they all sat down at the round table.

            As soon as Crais sat down, Aeryn began questioning him right away.  "So?  Pilot said you had information on John.  What is it?"

            Crais knew that what he was about to say would be a big shock to them, and he was hesitant to tell them.  But he knew that Aeryn would probably not be able to contain herself much longer.  And he didn't think that D'argo would act to kindly to him if he didn't say anything, either.

            "I have discovered the location of John Crichton."

            Crais waited for the reactions that he expected his statement to cause to die down.  He was not disappointed.  The look of happiness on Aeryn's face was painful to see, he still held out some hope for him and her, but he knew it would never happen as long as Crichton was still alive.

            Aeryn tried to speak but her she was getting very choked up and emotional.  He found him!  That thought kept running through her head.  She managed to croak out, "Where?"

            Crais responded as quickly as he could, "Ironically enough, he is exactly where you left him."

            The look of shock on everyone's face was also expected.  Aeryn again spoke up, "How?  You mean he has been on that commerce planet all this time?  But he was captured by the Peacekeepers!"

            Aeryn was horrified by the thought that she had been wrong and that John had not in fact been captured and that they had wasted the last three monens looking for him for nothing.  Thankfully, Crais's next statement calmed her somewhat.

            "No, you are correct Aeryn.  He was captured by the Peacekeepers, but he was rescued."

            D'argo spoke up for the first time, "Rescued by who?"

            Crais frowned, "I'm not really sure, but I think he was rescued by some group that was rebelling against the Peacekeepers.  You did know that the planet of Rotar was rebelling against the Peacekeepers?"  When he saw them all nod affirmative he continued, "Well, apparently the rebellion has gotten serious.  I have heard that they destroyed a Peacekeeper armory and that High Command was so angry that they sent three command carriers to the planet to deal with the problem."

            Everyone gasped at that.  Three command carriers meant that High Command was definitely serious.  Aeryn spoke up, "How did you find all this out?"

            Crais hesitated before answering, "I may no longer be a Peacekeeper captain, but Talyn is still a Peacekeeper vessel and he can sometimes pick up Peacekeeper communication transmissions.  I intercepted a transmission that detailed the situation on Rotar."

            Chiana asked a question that had been bothering her since Crais began his explanation, "But how do you know that John is still on the planet?  Just because he was rescued doesn't mean that he is still there or that he is even still alive."

            Crais nodded his head, "I realized that, so I went farther into Peacekeeper controlled space and intercepted a transmission between the Peacekeepers on Rotar and High Command.  Apparently the reason why the rebellion has been so successful is because they recently got a new leader.  One with experience fighting Peacekeepers, someone who wasn't Sebacean or Rotarian, and someone High Command was desperate to get their hands on.  That left only one person in my mind that could warrant that kind of description.  Only John Crichton could possibly be doing the things on that planet.  He is still there."

            Aeryn smiled, "That's great, we'll go get him right away."

            Crais frowned, "I don't think that you heard me correctly Aeryn.  There were three command carriers on the way to the planet.  The transmission I intercepted is over a weeken old.  The command carriers have already reached the planet by now.  You can't go."

            Aeryn spoke with determination in her voice, "I don't care about any frelling command carriers.  I have finally found out where John is and I'm going to go get him.  And not you, not any command carriers, or anybody else is going to stop me."  Aeryn then looked at everyone else as if daring them to contradict her.

            Surprisingly, Chiana agreed with Aeryn.  "I agree with Aeryn.  We know where John is so we should go find him.  John wouldn't let any command carriers stop him from trying to save us."

            Crais tried to be the voice of reason, "How are you going to get past the command carriers?  Even if you do, how do you plan on avoiding all the Peacekeepers down on the planet?"

            Aeryn shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, but we'll figure out something.  I don't know about everyone else, but I will go to John with or without your help.  I owe him that much."

            Crais, realizing that trying to stop her would be futile, did the smart thing and tried to help her plan carefully.  "Alright, but lets make a plan before we go charging into the situation.  I don't think that Crichton would appreciate your rescue that much if you all get killed in the process."

            Aeryn just shrugged Crais's suggestion off, "Fine, whatever, I don't frelling care.  I just want to find John." 

            Aeryn then activated her comm, "Pilot, I'm assuming you've been listening in?"

            Pilot's response came quickly, "Of course Officer Sun.  I have already set course for the planet of Rotar.  It will take us at least four solar days to get there."

            Aeryn said thanks to Pilot before looking back at the others.  Crais and D'argo were already discussing strategy.  She knew that she should join in but she wanted to revel in the fact that in a weeken she would get to see John again.  She needed to come up with what she wanted to say to him when she saw him.  It had to be really good, she knew that.  She just smiled and joined Crais and D'argo.

Side Note: The crew finally reunites with John, things heat up in the war, and John and Aeryn finally have a much-needed talk.