The Uncharted Territories

Part 4 – Ghost From The Past

I do not own Farscape, or a car…

The Command Carrier was the pride of the Sebacean Peacekeeper fleet. The home of its greatest Admirals, the home of its best soldiers.

The home of the aurora chair.

Experiencing the marvel first hand, the officer swallowed bile, his head pounding with a pain he didn't even know himself as capable of feeling. The observing superior seemed blind to his agony, blind to everything except the knowledge he desired. "I know you leaked information about the location of our Leviathan research facility. I know you gave this information to the Illuminate colony, and I know that you were responsible partly for their infiltration and escape". He summed up the last arns session perfectly. The officer could not believe he had revealed so much. "Where are they taking the data? Where is the Illuminate's staging ground". The officer said nothing, he had betrayed so much…he would not betray any more.

The chair could smell a hidden thought, and it knew how to unlock it. The pain was searing, like a fire travelling across his mind and leaving all behind in a cold darkness. The officer closed his eyes in agony, and breathed his last.

"The setting was too high". The attendant explained as she deactivated the chair. "His mind was liquefied in the extraction". Trickles of blood began to trail down the officers face from his closed eyes and nose.

"It doesn't matter". The superior smiled. "I got what I needed just before he died". He gave the dead officer one last look then turned to face his attendant directly. "Send a message to the capital ship. Tell them to set course for Kelsa Yon".

Kelsa Yon

The first thing Jonah noticed was the Leviathans, hundreds of Leviathans. The site was beautiful, and yet it for all its grandeur the view was tinged by the sense of deep sadness and regret…

…for each one of the magnificent creatures was dead.

This 'holy place' was a graveyard, where Leviathan went to die.

Nykarene leant over, entering a series of coordinates into the computer under Jonah's hands. The Sebacean Princess didn't ask the Banik how she had come to learn the inner workings of the transport, especially as she had mostly slept the entire three day journey, she just watched numbly as the location of Moya was entered, and a single ship highlighted from the others. "That's her". Nykarene verified. "That's Moya".

The Leviathan Moya was much larger than some of her fellow ships, possibly due to her advanced age signified by the exterior bio skin faded and old, with evidence of intense burning in some areas. The docking bay was open when they approached as if a ship had left the Leviathan and no one had thought to close the door behind them…the ship was abandoned…alone in the holy ground it had come to seeking release…seeking death.

"Land her over there". Nykarene directed. "We're going to need environmental suits".

Jonah…despite the emotion of the situation…felt herself become excited again as the ship landed upon the solid hull of Moya…they were here, on her Father's ship.

They were going to find him.

Once out of the docking bay the girls the Leviathan still held an environment, and the air did not seem stale to breath as they removed the heavy environmental suits. Nykarene knew what this meant, but she didn't tell her companion…who seemed upset enough just finding the ship so derelict. Nykarene was starting to get to know Jonah quite well, especially as the Princess was very open about herself and her past…one that seemed sheltered enough to suggest it not being a good idea to inform Jonah that through everything the ship was still…by all senses of the word…alive.

The corridors were dark, the internal membrane peeling in places as a result of the burning scorch marks that covered it. This Leviathan had been through quite a battle it seemed. The only sound was their footsteps and breathing.

"We should split up". Nykarene suggested. "We'll cover more ground quicker that way".

Jonah was a little apprehensive about walking alone through a ghost ship, especially as besides her book based studies she had no familiarity with the structure. Silly she thought to herself, after searching the Uncharted Territories without guidance…what was one little ship. "Ok, but keep the comms open just in case…in case we find something useful". Nice Save She silently commended herself.

The Banik offered to take the lower levels and ran off in one direction, so Jonah followed the other leading to the upper tiers and command. She held one hand against the wall while her flashlight penetrated the thick darkness and continued to follow the same wall, peering into the odd empty cell or chamber for what felt like arns until she found herself looking into a chamber far larger than those before, the darkness concealing what the far wall held. Without anything else to go on…she squeezed through the gap in the door, and entered the room.

Where were they? Surely they couldn't be any later than she was.

Perhaps they had thought her dead and abandoned the plan, or perhaps…

Either way she had a mission to complete…even if she did so alone.

Sliding through the hatch to enter a tiny access way, Nykarene placed a hand on the membrane before her. Taking a breath, she reached into her bag and pulled out a small knife with which she made a small slit in the membrane, small enough to squeeze through but not so big as to cause more discomfort to the ship than she needed to. She took another deep breath and slowly removed her mask, exposing the gill to the air that it needed and allowing her energy to flow out, through the hole before her…the physical form disintegrating to follow and reform on the other side of the membrane. She left the mask and torch behind…using her own energy to light the oviduct she now stood in…one way leading to the uterus, the other to the ovaries she required.

It was there that Nykarene found that a new follicle had not yet developed, and probably never would again, which meant that there was no egg readily available for fertilisation. She knelt down next to the ovary membrane, reaching into her bag and pulling out one of the vials she had stolen from the research base.

It was so small…and yet it held so much.

Carefully she activated it, extending a needle long enough for her to inject directly into the ovary, inserting the hormone within to stimulate follicle growth and the release of an egg. The ovary began to glow slightly, indicating that the hormone was working. She put the vial back into her bag, quickly checking the second and most important vial as she did so. Leaving the oviduct the same way she had entered and retrieving her mask she leant against the wall opposite the hatchway. The follicle development would take a few solar days, it was simply a waiting game until then.

Of course Jonah would be a problem…but possibly one that would sort itself out once the girl's search inevitably took her off the ship, leaving Nykarene behind to 'await her employers'. Replacing her mask, Nykarene decided to do a quick sweep of the lower tiers. If she helped the Princess in her search it would be finished faster.

Then Jonah would be gone…and Nykarene's mission could continue as planned.

Jonah couldn't help the involuntary shiver that had come to possess her spine, her eyes darting from corner to corner, dust molecule to air as she walked through the large chamber. Her flashlight scanned the walls…ceiling…and settled on the central unit which she recognised from her studies as the crucial Pilot's Den.

It was occupied.

She gasped, holding her breathe as she slowly approached the still being of the pilot, the disk of light from her torch growing upon him as she moved closer to the…to the…to the hollowed out husk, it's empty eyes staring into oblivion from the decaying skull.

Jonah screamed…falling backwards to land on a rusty DRD and send it skidding across the floor, falling into the bottomless cavern below. She did not hear it land, didn't hear anything except her own heart beat as she focused on the eyes of the pilot's corpse. Quickly she jumped up, running to the end of the catwalk and out into the corridor, hitting the opposite wall with a hardness that seemed to vibrate through the dead ship. The torch was clutched to her pounding chest like a life line.

FOCUS She hit the comm. Badge.

"Nyka…Nyka". Hard to breathe "I found…Pilot…he's…"

"Okay, stay where you are I'll be right there". The comm went dead and the waiting period began, and Jonah noticed for the first time just how quiet the corridor was, save for a distant rumble barely above a whispers pitch…like a moan. The air was breathable but cold, the corridor dark…alone.

"Jonah?" Nykarene arrived. Jonah didn't say anything; she simply nodded towards the door to the Pilot's chamber. Nykarene took her own torch and entered, seeing for herself the remains of the pilot…dedicated to his ship until the end. She grimaced; the Banik had seen too much death in her life.

Jonah's breathing began to calm down and she stood, her posture shaky but solid. "He must have died with the Leviathan". She found her voice again. "He couldn't leave like the rest of the crew".

Nykarene nodded and made to leave the room, but was instead tripped over the door by a sudden jolt that ran throughout the ship. A moment of silence was followed by a second jolt far more violent than the previous.

"What the frell was THAT, a solar storm?" Jonah asked, helping the Banik to her feet. Another jolt, they fell into each other and the wall. A moan filled the corridors, like a wounded animal crying from the distance, yet so loud it was deafening… jolt. "We should get back to the ship?" Jonah suggested, shouting over the noise.

Nykarene shook her head. "The hanger is open to space". She reminded the girl. "If this is a storm, it won't be safe". Another jolt, but this time they managed to hold their ground. Nykarene tried to think of where they could go. "Command…follow me".

Through all the noise and speed they never noticed what was watching them.

They never saw it follow.