Talyn was somewhat startled by the sudden appearance of the young woman on
his command deck. He was in no state however to be concerned with this new
life form.
Rainne had made it up to the cluster to see Crais slumped at an odd angle
at the far side of the neural cluster, just out of her reach.. She was not
ready to go in there, yet terrified of losing Crais. Talyn was a distant
presence in her mind, and he was scared by the events as well. Rainne was
sure their combined fears, magnified by the connection in the neural
cluster, would prove to be too much for her. She was screaming to Crais,
trying to rouse him. She kept telling herself over and over, that he could
not be dead, not dead, he wouldn't leave her that way.
K'Tahli took a moment to take in the surroundings. When Ranjaa's pilot realized that the shot would reach them, the pilot enhanced K'Tahli's power to teleport and sent her to the relative safety of the stunned gunship. The pilot could not interface with Talyn, so she harbored within K'Tahli, quietly waiting for a new ship.
K'Tahli, unaware of this and unsteady on her feet, followed the sound of the screams.
Rainne showed a moment of surprise to see an unknown being in her ship. Her mind quickly surmised that if she were a threat, Talyn would not let her approach Rainne.
"Help me?" Rainne asked the newcomer.
"How?" K'Tahli asked. There was no question of "if." This woman made her feel an instant kinship.
Rainne pointed to Crais' slumped form.
"I can't get to him. He may need my help, I can't get there!" The fear was rising in her voice again.
K'Tahli looked at the short few steps it seemed to the other side of the cluster.
"Why can't you go in there?"
"It is the ship's neural cluster. It is too much to explain right now, but the bond I share with Talyn is strong, new, and I do not have control. That is Talyn's primary Captain. Talyn is young, the battle has scared him. I could not go in there. I would be overwhelmed." The beseeching eyes told as much of the story as her words. She loved the man who was in danger.
With a slight nod of assent, K'Tahli called on her most protective mental shielding and walked to the unconscious man.
"He's breathing!" She called out "He seems stable, merely knocked out."
Rainne's eyes filled with tears at the intense relief.
Up close K'Tahli was disconcerted by the resemblance of the inert form to Ashan. She reached down to grab the unconscious man under his arms, to drag him to Rainne. She bent at the knees and took a deep breath, assuming the solidly muscled man before her would be heavy. Even the scent was similar, the same warm masculine spice of her Ashan. Chiding herself at her own distraction, K'Tahli drug him to Rainne.
Rainne embraced Crais, crying his name softly, entreating him to awaken. Her sense of Talyn was getting stronger.
"He's ok, Talyn. Are you all right?" Rainne got no answer, but Talyn seemed to relax a bit, the swaying and panic seemed to ease.
Crais was coming around. K'Tahli, exhausted from the teleport and the mental shielding, watched him reach up and stroke a lock of spiky red hair behind Rainne's ear.
"C'thha, what happened?" The endearment he used looking at Rainne and the rich timbre of the voice shocked K'Tahli into stillness.
Crais sat up, wincing at the injury to his shoulder from hitting the command wall.
He stood up and touched the back of his neck.
"Talyn.Talyn answer me." His voice had the strength of command but the affection and concern of a parent. He stood up a bit straighter, the only outward sign of concern was a momentary flexing of his jaw.
After a tense moment of silence, K'Tahli heard a series of beeps and sounds. The relief on Rainne's face and the small smile on the face of the Captain told her that the ship was responding.
"No Talyn, it was an accident." The Captain's tone lost its command and was all soothing concern. "That pulse knocked us hard enough to make judgment difficult."
The tones did not sound convinced.
K'Tahli went over to Rainne and whispered to her.
"Tell him that Ranjaa was maneuvering to position herself between the marauder and Talyn. She knew that move would put her in the certain path to death. She would hold him blameless."
Rainne nodded a silent thanks to K'Tahli. The motion of their whispered conversation alerted Crais to K'Tahli's presence. His reaction was not quite as benign as Rainne's reaction had been, but his concern right now was Talyn.
Rainne was having an easier time contacting Talyn now. She spoke aloud.
"Talyn, Crais is right. It was an accident. I know this for a fact." Rainne recounted K'Tahli's explanation to Talyn in her head too. Talyn was much calmer, so Crais stepped out of the cluster and approached the women.
K'Tahli was staring at Crais with an unreadable expression as he strode out to her and Rainne. K'Tahli wanted to look over at Rainne, ask her what she had said, but she could not pull her gaze away from the man coming toward her. As menacing as his stride and expression were, she was not afraid of him. He was too familiar.
"Welcome." He said to K'Tahli, both charming and suspicious at the same time. He knew Talyn disregarded her as no threat, and Rainne seemed to have instant rapport.
He wanted to ask why and how she came aboard. Beneath the suspicion, he felt the same kinship with her that the others displayed. Not knowing the reason was disturbing to him.
Training and manners won out, and he gave her a small and formal nod of the head.
"You are?" He let the question hang in the air.
"My name is K'Tahli Ferrian." She squared her shoulders. In her training, she learned to read a variety of people. Sebaceans trained as Peacekeepers were very difficult to crack. In the Captain she saw the trust, the affinity and then the veil of suspicion that came down and shrouded it. She bristled slightly from being dismissed and suspected.
"And YOU are?" she countered.
He nearly chuckled at the pluckiness of this little Raven-haired woman who mysteriously appeared. His Rainne gave him the same guff.
"Forgive my rudeness." he repeated the nod with a new and mocking tone. " This is my mate, Rainne. You are aboard the leviathan Talyn." His hand swept an arc to encompass the ship in his introduction.
"I am Bialar Crais."
The resemblance, the voice, and the dark eyes.it all slammed into her mind with a sudden force. The stories, the wondering about Ashan's true family, the memories of conversations with Marata.K'Tahli realized she was staring at her husband's brother.
The shock must have registered on her face because the mocking grin faded from his face and was replaced by a look of concern. He began to speak, but she heard nothing but the rushing in her own ears. She fainted.
On Moya
John and Aeryn walked Ashan toward what passed for spare quarters. He was still nearly catatonic with grief.
"C'mon pal. Snap out of it." Crichton chided.
Ashan raised his eyes to John. They were no longer vacant, but blazing. The fury of them reminded him of the many times Crais had vowed to kill Crichton.
"I will destroy the Captain, his ship. Then she will be avenged." His words were quiet, but his tone was deadly.
"We have friends on that ship. Associates as well." Aeryn countered. John found himself pleased that Aeryn felt the need to amend calling Crais her friend. Associate was a relationship he was much more comfortable with.
"The make your peace with them, for I will send them to their creator."
"I don't know where you come from Mister, but we don't just blast first and ask questions later." Crichton ignored the sideways glance Aeryn gave him. Ok, so maybe he had done his share of blasting first.
"You DO NOT understand!" Ashan yanked his arms from their grasp, and turned to head for command.
John forgot how blasted strong Sebaceans were.
"Well, I don't know what you plan on doing in command, Moya has no weapons." John and Aeryn hurried after the retreating form.
Ashan spun on them, halting them mid stride. John stepped forward and Ashan backhanded him, sending him crashing into the wall.
Focused on Aeryn, Ashan did not see D'Argo come up behind him. D'Argo pinned Ashan's arms to his side to restrain him.
"Pilot sent me." D'Argo explained, "Moya was concerned at his intent to kill Talyn. She is torn between the desire to go to them and verify that they are all well and keeping what she terms this "madman" away from her son."
"Her son?" Ashan stilled his struggles against D'Argo "But he is a gunship?"
"A Peacekeeper hybrid. But her son, nonetheless."
"I do not care!" Ashan resumed his struggles, becoming more like a cornered animal with each passing moment.
"He's losin it. Pilot! Get Stark up here!" John called "to be a fly on the wall when those two get to talking." he muttered to himself.
D'Argo gave his captive a shove into an abandoned cell and secured the door. Ashan flung himself against the closure.
"Release me!" He raged.
"There are people we love on that ship as well." D'Argo growled through the grate.
"What could you know of Love?" Ashan, tenuously holding to his sanity, hurled the question like an accusation at D'Argo. For a large warrior, the Luxan had a great capacity for love that Ashan could not see in his blind pain.
Stunned by the question, D'Argo could not immediately respond. He was torn. He empathized, he remembered vividly his LoLann. But this man wanted to destroy Talyn, and all of his occupants.for D'Argo, that was not an option.
K'Tahli took a moment to take in the surroundings. When Ranjaa's pilot realized that the shot would reach them, the pilot enhanced K'Tahli's power to teleport and sent her to the relative safety of the stunned gunship. The pilot could not interface with Talyn, so she harbored within K'Tahli, quietly waiting for a new ship.
K'Tahli, unaware of this and unsteady on her feet, followed the sound of the screams.
Rainne showed a moment of surprise to see an unknown being in her ship. Her mind quickly surmised that if she were a threat, Talyn would not let her approach Rainne.
"Help me?" Rainne asked the newcomer.
"How?" K'Tahli asked. There was no question of "if." This woman made her feel an instant kinship.
Rainne pointed to Crais' slumped form.
"I can't get to him. He may need my help, I can't get there!" The fear was rising in her voice again.
K'Tahli looked at the short few steps it seemed to the other side of the cluster.
"Why can't you go in there?"
"It is the ship's neural cluster. It is too much to explain right now, but the bond I share with Talyn is strong, new, and I do not have control. That is Talyn's primary Captain. Talyn is young, the battle has scared him. I could not go in there. I would be overwhelmed." The beseeching eyes told as much of the story as her words. She loved the man who was in danger.
With a slight nod of assent, K'Tahli called on her most protective mental shielding and walked to the unconscious man.
"He's breathing!" She called out "He seems stable, merely knocked out."
Rainne's eyes filled with tears at the intense relief.
Up close K'Tahli was disconcerted by the resemblance of the inert form to Ashan. She reached down to grab the unconscious man under his arms, to drag him to Rainne. She bent at the knees and took a deep breath, assuming the solidly muscled man before her would be heavy. Even the scent was similar, the same warm masculine spice of her Ashan. Chiding herself at her own distraction, K'Tahli drug him to Rainne.
Rainne embraced Crais, crying his name softly, entreating him to awaken. Her sense of Talyn was getting stronger.
"He's ok, Talyn. Are you all right?" Rainne got no answer, but Talyn seemed to relax a bit, the swaying and panic seemed to ease.
Crais was coming around. K'Tahli, exhausted from the teleport and the mental shielding, watched him reach up and stroke a lock of spiky red hair behind Rainne's ear.
"C'thha, what happened?" The endearment he used looking at Rainne and the rich timbre of the voice shocked K'Tahli into stillness.
Crais sat up, wincing at the injury to his shoulder from hitting the command wall.
He stood up and touched the back of his neck.
"Talyn.Talyn answer me." His voice had the strength of command but the affection and concern of a parent. He stood up a bit straighter, the only outward sign of concern was a momentary flexing of his jaw.
After a tense moment of silence, K'Tahli heard a series of beeps and sounds. The relief on Rainne's face and the small smile on the face of the Captain told her that the ship was responding.
"No Talyn, it was an accident." The Captain's tone lost its command and was all soothing concern. "That pulse knocked us hard enough to make judgment difficult."
The tones did not sound convinced.
K'Tahli went over to Rainne and whispered to her.
"Tell him that Ranjaa was maneuvering to position herself between the marauder and Talyn. She knew that move would put her in the certain path to death. She would hold him blameless."
Rainne nodded a silent thanks to K'Tahli. The motion of their whispered conversation alerted Crais to K'Tahli's presence. His reaction was not quite as benign as Rainne's reaction had been, but his concern right now was Talyn.
Rainne was having an easier time contacting Talyn now. She spoke aloud.
"Talyn, Crais is right. It was an accident. I know this for a fact." Rainne recounted K'Tahli's explanation to Talyn in her head too. Talyn was much calmer, so Crais stepped out of the cluster and approached the women.
K'Tahli was staring at Crais with an unreadable expression as he strode out to her and Rainne. K'Tahli wanted to look over at Rainne, ask her what she had said, but she could not pull her gaze away from the man coming toward her. As menacing as his stride and expression were, she was not afraid of him. He was too familiar.
"Welcome." He said to K'Tahli, both charming and suspicious at the same time. He knew Talyn disregarded her as no threat, and Rainne seemed to have instant rapport.
He wanted to ask why and how she came aboard. Beneath the suspicion, he felt the same kinship with her that the others displayed. Not knowing the reason was disturbing to him.
Training and manners won out, and he gave her a small and formal nod of the head.
"You are?" He let the question hang in the air.
"My name is K'Tahli Ferrian." She squared her shoulders. In her training, she learned to read a variety of people. Sebaceans trained as Peacekeepers were very difficult to crack. In the Captain she saw the trust, the affinity and then the veil of suspicion that came down and shrouded it. She bristled slightly from being dismissed and suspected.
"And YOU are?" she countered.
He nearly chuckled at the pluckiness of this little Raven-haired woman who mysteriously appeared. His Rainne gave him the same guff.
"Forgive my rudeness." he repeated the nod with a new and mocking tone. " This is my mate, Rainne. You are aboard the leviathan Talyn." His hand swept an arc to encompass the ship in his introduction.
"I am Bialar Crais."
The resemblance, the voice, and the dark eyes.it all slammed into her mind with a sudden force. The stories, the wondering about Ashan's true family, the memories of conversations with Marata.K'Tahli realized she was staring at her husband's brother.
The shock must have registered on her face because the mocking grin faded from his face and was replaced by a look of concern. He began to speak, but she heard nothing but the rushing in her own ears. She fainted.
On Moya
John and Aeryn walked Ashan toward what passed for spare quarters. He was still nearly catatonic with grief.
"C'mon pal. Snap out of it." Crichton chided.
Ashan raised his eyes to John. They were no longer vacant, but blazing. The fury of them reminded him of the many times Crais had vowed to kill Crichton.
"I will destroy the Captain, his ship. Then she will be avenged." His words were quiet, but his tone was deadly.
"We have friends on that ship. Associates as well." Aeryn countered. John found himself pleased that Aeryn felt the need to amend calling Crais her friend. Associate was a relationship he was much more comfortable with.
"The make your peace with them, for I will send them to their creator."
"I don't know where you come from Mister, but we don't just blast first and ask questions later." Crichton ignored the sideways glance Aeryn gave him. Ok, so maybe he had done his share of blasting first.
"You DO NOT understand!" Ashan yanked his arms from their grasp, and turned to head for command.
John forgot how blasted strong Sebaceans were.
"Well, I don't know what you plan on doing in command, Moya has no weapons." John and Aeryn hurried after the retreating form.
Ashan spun on them, halting them mid stride. John stepped forward and Ashan backhanded him, sending him crashing into the wall.
Focused on Aeryn, Ashan did not see D'Argo come up behind him. D'Argo pinned Ashan's arms to his side to restrain him.
"Pilot sent me." D'Argo explained, "Moya was concerned at his intent to kill Talyn. She is torn between the desire to go to them and verify that they are all well and keeping what she terms this "madman" away from her son."
"Her son?" Ashan stilled his struggles against D'Argo "But he is a gunship?"
"A Peacekeeper hybrid. But her son, nonetheless."
"I do not care!" Ashan resumed his struggles, becoming more like a cornered animal with each passing moment.
"He's losin it. Pilot! Get Stark up here!" John called "to be a fly on the wall when those two get to talking." he muttered to himself.
D'Argo gave his captive a shove into an abandoned cell and secured the door. Ashan flung himself against the closure.
"Release me!" He raged.
"There are people we love on that ship as well." D'Argo growled through the grate.
"What could you know of Love?" Ashan, tenuously holding to his sanity, hurled the question like an accusation at D'Argo. For a large warrior, the Luxan had a great capacity for love that Ashan could not see in his blind pain.
Stunned by the question, D'Argo could not immediately respond. He was torn. He empathized, he remembered vividly his LoLann. But this man wanted to destroy Talyn, and all of his occupants.for D'Argo, that was not an option.