Scorpius and Sikozu were greeted in the cargo bay by all that remained of Moya's crew. Scorpius had persuaded Listrac that it was best not to raise the crew's level of concern at this stage and that only he should make the initial contact, as they had requested. She had agreed with his logic and allowed him to head for Moya with just Sikozu for company
"Friends" he said that nasty smile on his face and arms spread wide in greeting "It's good to be back on Moya." D'Argo hissed and tossed his head
"Don't ever insult me by claiming to be my friend"
"Now, now D'Argo, Scorpius is only being polite" Rygel tried to mediate "Welcome back on board to both of you"
"You are being very gracious Rygel. What do you want?" replied Sikozu with a sickly sweet smile. It was Rygel's turn to get angry
"Don't try and play games with me, tralk. I would have thought you would be happy to help someone who saved your skinny eema on any number of occasions"
"That's why I'm here Rygel; to help in the search for Crichton"
"I'm not talking about Crichton." He moved slightly so that they could see Chiana sitting on one of the containers, staring unseeingly at them
"Hey, nice to see ya!" she tried to joke but her laugh had a hollow ring
"We'll provide all we know of Crichton's capture in exchange for treatment for Chiana on the command carrier"
"That seems a reasonable exchange, dominar." Scorpius whispered something in Sikozu's ear. She pouted for a moment, a petulant look coming over her face, but complied with a smile after a further private word from her lover. She moved towards Chiana and started to help her down from the container
"Well Chi, why don't you come with me back to the command carrier and we'll see if the Peacekeeper med techs are as good as they think they are"
After Chiana and Sikozu had left the others moved to command and the serious discussion on what had happened to Crichton and Aeryn began. Almost immediately things got heated and tempers rose
"I can't understand why you didn't follow this ship in Lo'la" said Scorpius disparagingly
"And exactly how was I supposed to take off with Moya partly submerged and the cargo bay flooded, Mr Smarty pants?" D'Argo borrowed from Crichton's repertoire of insults
"I hate to interrupt," Pilot appeared on the clamshell "but one of the same type of craft that took Commander Crichton and Officer Sun has appeared on Moya's sensors and is heading towards us. At its current velocity I estimate that it will intercept us in 800 microts"
"Thank you Pilot. Can you put me through to the command carrier and also give us a visual display?"
They saw a lone ship heading towards them
"Braca"
"I see it, Scorpius. Launching Prowler squadron"
On board their stolen ship Crichton was checking for pursuers whilst Aeryn was wrestling with the controls
"This thing has the strangest frelling manoeuvrability control I've ever come across, but it's certainly quick"
"I'm presuming that is Braca and the Queen Mary" she nodded in assent "Oh, great that means Scorpy's in town. I hope Dickhead and his pals don't do anything stupid." He scanned the planet's surface while muttering under his breath like a mantra "Don't be stupid, don't launch any pursuit craft, don't be stupid." Their erstwhile captors obviously weren't getting his message as he could see a number of craft emerging from the tunnel they had just exited. "Uh oh, Billy no-brains day today." At that moment Aeryn spotted the Prowlers emerging from the command carrier and immediately swung the ship to the side, a move that sent John sprawling across the floor
"What was that for?" he said hanging on to the back of her seat as she continued to swing the ship back and forth
"This is a standard recognition manoeuvre. Hopefully they are good enough Prowler pilots to recognise it"
"And if they're not?"
"Well you had better either man the guns or find the comms very quickly"
"Yeah, I know what you mean. We're between a rock and a hard place here." He looked back and forth between the Prowlers racing towards them from the front and the other ships approaching from behind, then flicked some switches that looked like they might be a communications array
"Pilot, Pilot can you hear me? Please pick up the phone Pilot"
"Commander, is that you?" It seemed they were in luck as Pilot's voice echoed around the ship
"Bingo! Sure is old friend. Can you open up a channel to the command carrier but make it one that can also be picked up by long range surveillance?"
"Done Commander"
"You're the best, Pilot. Captain of the command carrier, this is John Crichton. I am in the ship currently being approached by your Prowlers. Please call them off my ship and any others like it that may be following. I repeat, please call off your Prowler squadron, Braca." He paused briefly "Dickhead, if you're listening, we're really sorry man. You know we're nothing to do with these guys but they just keep following us around. Call back your ships and we promise you'll be left alone. Moya and the command carrier will be out of this system before you can blink." He flicked the comms switch off, watching the Prowlers pull away and fly back towards the carrier. He held his breath. He judged that it was a matter of microts before their pursuers would be able to use their weapons including the transportation device, but a few moments later the other ships also turned for home
"Well that's either a job well done or another species who hate our guts enough to start chasing us about the galaxy"
"No, I think we'll be alright John. Their paranoia about us revealing their existence to the Peacekeepers will be outweighed by the worry that by leaving the safety of their system they may expose themselves to more danger of discovery"
"I hope you're right, babe. I'm having enough trouble coping with two major enemies, not sure I could withstand a third"
They landed the ship in the cargo bay. As Crichton jumped out he was engulfed in a huge Luxan bear hug
"What the hezmana happened to you? We thought you were dead"
"We don't really know D, one minute we were in the boat, the next thing I knew I woke up naked in a cell. God, it's good to be back safe and sound on Moya" he said looking around at his friends "Hey Sparky, how ya doin'?"
"Much better for seeing you, surprisingly"
"I didn't know you cared so much Buckwheat"
"I don't, but Noranti is already in the galley preparing a celebratory welcome home feast"
"Can't wait. Yo, nitro!" Stark waved from the corner of the cargo bay, grinning inanely at Aeryn
"Scorpius is here"
"Yeah, we figured"
"We're sorry, John, we couldn't think of anything else to do. When we figured out you were still alive we had no idea how to find you. The only good thing to come out of it is that Chiana is on the carrier getting treatment for her blindness"
"It's OK guys. I'm cool, especially if Chiana gets the peepers fixed for free. The command carrier turning up actually helped quite a lot. Gave us the cover we needed to break out and what's more we've acquired this ship. I can't wait to investigate their transporter; Mr Spock to the transporter room! But that can wait until after we've had a chance to wash and brush up" he indicated the slime from their crawl through the tunnel which was still clinging to his clothes.
They all headed off in their various directions. Crichton turned to leave when he suddenly found himself flat on his back with Aeryn sat squarely on his chest, pinning him to the floor
"Hey babe, now we're engaged and all I think you should know that I'm a sure thing; you don't need to jump my bones to get my attention"
"Listen to me, Crichton and listen to me well. If you intend to behave like you did back there until this baby is born then he will definitely be fatherless before birth. I'm pregnant not an invalid and I'm not about to sit back and take it easy in a fight, however much you might want me too, and especially not when both mine and the baby's lives are in danger. I'm going to do everything in my power to protect this child and if that means doing things you don't like, well you'll just have to put up with it"
"But honey, you're going to have to make some compensations for your condition. You just can't carry on like you used to. I'm only trying to help. I now it's the woman's job to protect the baby, but it's the man's job to protect his woman" he received a resounding slap across the face for this comment
"The day you can protect me better than I can protect myself…."
"OK, OK, so I didn't put that very well." Crichton knew he was handling this all wrong, even if Aeryn was being a little irrational. "I just love you both so much I want to keep you safe from any harm. Humour me here a little Aeryn"
"Well remember what I've said and try and curb you enthusiasm for over-protectiveness" she said huffily as she got off him and strode in the direction of their quarters, brushing past D'Argo angrily
"Woo, someone's got a very bad case of PMS," he said as he gave John a hand up
"Worse than PMS; pregnancy-induced hormone surge"
"The stasis has been released?"
"Yup, Aeryn's having a baby"
"Goddess help us, we're going to have to live with a trained assassin with violent mood swings"
"Well I'm prepared to put up with just about anything, bro, 'cos it's my baby she's having" John replied, a goofy grin spreading over his face
"Definitely yours?"
"Definitely mine. I'm gonna be a dad, D'Argo" if anything the grin got wider
"Congratulations John. I'm really pleased for you my friend," his smile was tinged with sadness as he thought of his own child "I hope you make a better job of it than I did"
"Hey, don't beat yourself up D. Those were circumstances beyond your control"
"When I had to abandon my son after his mother died or when he slept with the woman I wished to marry?"
"Both"
"Hmm, thanks for the words of comfort" he quickly changed to the subject to lighten the mood "Chiana is convinced that you asked Aeryn to marry you when you were on that boat"
"I did and she said yes, though I'm not too sure that still stands after the display just now"
D'Argo smiled his broadest smile and clapped his friend on the back heartily, almost knocking him over
"Marriage to Aeryn Sun. Your braver than you look"