Chapter 1 A Tale is Told

A few arns later my mate Sikzou found me wrapped up in a blanket sitting on the forward observation chamber's floor, watching the stars. It was one of the few pleasures I had left in my life.

She shivered slightly as Pilot had kindly lowered the temperature for my comfort and safety. Then her eyes widened in surprise, as she saw I no longer wore my black cooling suit.

"I no longer want to wear that suit any longer," I said answering her unspoken question. "It was part of a lie that I no longer wish to take part in."

"Tell me what happened," she asked sitting down. Now her growing belly showed. How I wished that the child were ours or at least hers.

"You heard my report, saw the disk. You already know."

"I want to hear it from you."

I sighed and played idly with her beautiful red hair. " Very well where to start.."

Quite frankly a being as brilliant as myself should have realized something was not quite right with my life. For one thing the first twelve cycles of my life are a blur, just a procession of one painful experience after another. Also from the time I wandered the galaxy, before the Peacekeepers I had acquired no allies or enemies. It was almost as if I never existed.

And then there are the blackouts I experienced, followed by the gaps in my memory. The latest being when Graza shot me the back. Every time it happened I would wake up in some hospital ship weekens later with no recollection of how I got there. My body coordination would be shot all to frell. It was the price of being reborn.

I never really questioned it. The memories I had seemed far too real but that is the way of the Peacekeepers not to question and I was too busy trying to get my revenge on the Scarrens. I suppose I was programmed not to question them.

Once when I remember seeing a psychiatrist actually recreating with one not using him appropriately when he praised me.

"Scorpius you are amazing," Trellip exclaimed. "No Sebacian child could have survived, let alone have become functional after what you went through being raised as a lab experiment Goddess knows where. By all rights you should have been a cowering idiot, but you, my magnificent one, have survived, managed to educate yourself and become a brilliant astrophysicist. It must be your Scarren half."

I was young and naïve. I merely broke his nose for what I took to be an insult. A few days later he disappeared never to be heard of again. I garnered a lot of respect from that incident but I never told anyone save you about what Trellip said to me.

Through the cycles I worked tirelessly in an effort to defeat the Scarrens. I became more of a Peacekeeper than purebred soldier could ever be. Because of that I quickly rose up the ranks gaining respect in the scientific community but not with the military. I was still a hybrid, impure in their minds.

So it was really quite an achievement for me, a scientist and a half blood, to acquire command of a Gammak base. There while I was studying to create the ultimate weapon, wormholes I met John Crichton.

It turned out Crichton was trying to create wormholes too. Thinking he was a spy for the Scarrens I captured him. After I interrogated him he managed to escape and destroy my Gammak base and along with it my home, several allies and many cycles of work. But not before I put my neural chip into his brain.

Eventually after chasing him for a couple of cycles, he came to me. I gave him everything he asked for but he still betrayed me, destroying the command carrier I commandeered. Crichton says that I hurt him terribly that there was no justification for what I did to him. But what about what he did to me? He destroyed my home, twice, ruined cycles of work and caused the death of my mistress and child.

But I am digressing, now without a home or any standing left with the Peacekeepers I managed to find his mate, Aeryn Sun and rescue her from the heat death, on one condition that I be allowed safe passage on Moya. I wanted to protect John and the knowledge he possessed and several times I have risked my own safety to do so. Despite this John still treats me with contempt.

How did I find out what I was? It all started about a couple of monenes ago after we escaped from the Command Carrier. Despite John and Aeryn's convincing deaths Bracca and his armada still hunted us. There was no reason to go after an ill hybrid and a worn out leviathan and through tormented space too.

Bracca hunted us mercilessly, sometimes even waiting for us. It was obvious that we were being monitored and Pilot scanned every speck of Moya for any transmissions to Bracca. There were none that could be detected technologically from Moya but scans of Bracca's fleet picked up something interesting.

Somewhere deep in the uncharted territories Bracca was receiving messages about our location. Since the crew aren't overly fond of us, I knew about as much as you did. That is until Crichton and cronies, drugged us and dragged me from your bed in the middle of the night watch.

I confess normally I'm not such a sound sleeper but you my love make me feel safe. When I awoke, I lay flat on the ground staring up the barrels of several unfriendly guns.

"You bastard! You set us up! Tell me why I shouldn't shoot you right frelling now," said John. He pushed me back down as a tried to stand up.

I could hear the clicks of several pulse rifles as their safeties were deactivated. Unless I said something quickly I would have been dead. You would have been proud of me I did not show one hint of fear. I learned early on that showing fear only makes things much worse.

"John, like or not this us you're talking about includes Sikzou and myself. And what are you talking about setting you up?"

Aeryn muttered something about me being a half-breed liar.

"This half-breed has saved your life three times Aeryn. This half-breed and his mate are presently treating Pilot of the injuries he suffered at your hands when you wisely tried to separate him from Moya. May I remind you John that not everything bad in your life is my fault, you do plenty of damage on your own."

Aeryn stepped forward and struck me, "You've been sending telepathic messages to Bracca. We hired a shaman and she told us that you have been sending telepathic messages to a secret base in the uncharted territories.

This time I did loose my calm. The feeling was so intense I had no choice and once I started I couldn't stop. I laughed, " Oh that's a good one. You've obviously fallen for the oldest trick in time. Shamans are frauds! The woman knew you were looking for a scapegoat, saw that I was the least popular member in the crew and told you what you wanted to hear. I am not telepathic, never have been."

"Then why did she give us the exact coordinates?" said D'Argo in a low dangerous voice.

John the good guy Crichton pointed his gun directly in my face, "Maybe she was a fraud but frankly Grasshopper we have no use for you anymore."

"And what about my mate? Are you going to shoot her too after she gives birth to you and Aeryn's child?"

There was an uncomfortable silence around the pack as they looked round and realized in their collective little minds that that was exactly what they were going to do.

"That's it, I knew you were trying to use Aeryn and the baby!" roared John.

"I am not using the baby," I said. " It is you who are using Sikzou. She took the baby because Aeryn couldn't carry it to term. Yet you treat her with disdain, she who has been a loyal crewmember.

Then it happened an opportunity, from our comms Pilot spoke, "Moya and I have been hearing everything and after what Scorpious and Sikzou have done for us we feel he should be given a chance to prove himself."

"Well what do you suggest Pilot? That we go down to that base and see for ourselves," butted in Chiana.

"That is exactly what I am suggesting," said Pilot.

"Well tell me where I'm going," I said.

"The base is called Meserat 12."

"You must be joking," I blurted out.