Entertaining Angels

by Catluckey

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Summary: John searches for Aeryn and finds her. But they must pick up from where fate had left them. Meanwhile, a doomsday machine released by Commandant Grayza threatens to destroy three planets... one which Crichton feels responsible for. This became an AU since Farscape has developed and ended.

Author's Notes: Taken directly after Dog with Two Bones, I wanted to include everything I loved about Farscape--John and Aeryn, a little D'Argo, Chiana, and Sikozu, worlds that whet our imagination; and most of all, romance, comedy, and troubles.

Beta readers: Ennix Sun, Eva, Julia, Phi Phi Trelk, and ScaperRed (thank you, ScaperRed for helping me complete this fic)

Disclaimer: Henson, Creation, the characters, belong to them. Adu, Palimous, the Regent, & other extras are mine. No money exchanged, no profit involved. It's just Fun!
Rating: PG-13 - Adult themes, some violence

Genre: Action & Adventure/Drama/Comedy/Romance

Pairing: John and Aeryn

Author: Catluckey

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Chapter 1 - Abandoned

"I am going to die," John said, muttering to himself. Commander John Crichton, IASA astronaut with a PhD in theoretical science, sat in his familiar position, squeezed in a small space--all the room his module allotted for--seats for two by a view lit with stars for candlelight and blackness for backdrop.

Only one thing, his pod hung in space by a spindle of oxygen and fuel. He leaned forward to check his oxygen and fuel gauge, hoping for more time. He had only about a half an arn, no...twenty-five minutes, left of oxygen--the fuel, two solar days worth only if his craft floated, any propulsion—zip, all gone in microts.

"Yep, it's zero hour," he said, voice deepened with a southern slur. "It's doomsday for your friendly Commander on hiatus." Moya, a biomechanoid, a living ship, him and his friends had occupied was sucked through a wormhole just arns ago, leaving him stranded.

"God!" John slammed his hand against the console. Proactive measures...should've taken proactive measures. Of all the times he ensured his module was fueled with cesium and equipped with extra oxygen tanks, he had to run out. He remembered what caused this breach of carelessness. Just arns ago the only one he loved beyond hope, Aeryn, had said before he flipped that stupid coin, flashing it before her.

"What? Like that side up, you stay?"

He had confronted her that he was either going with her, or she stay with him. She pushed him away. He flipped that coin because one time she had told him that they were in the hands of fate, they had to trust in that. "If it's fate for us to be together," she had told him, "then we'll be together." Yeah, it wasn't fate...she was running away.

"Fly safe," Aeryn told him on her departure with tears. "Goodbye, John Crichton."

How many microns had passed when he rehearsed the thought of her leaving without trusting him? John felt a grip squeeze his heart. He rubbed his hands over his face. It felt hot, no...cold. It was stale inside and his mouth was parched like sandpaper. He slammed his hand against the console again and cursed, ignoring the pain. She left without telling him her condition.

Aeryn?

And Harvey helped unlock what the old woman had said and whispered in John's subconscious. Like a knife the words lanced his heart:

Be forgiving, be kind.

Better angels,

Her life, her world, on her time,

You will know.

Aeryn is with child.

John wrestled in his position, "I was coming for you, baby. I was going to get you back. But everything's changed." Why didn't he stay on Moya and bring his emotions under control? He missed that dance to be with her.

He smashed his fist on the console again, seeing small yellow and red indicator lights blink in protest. He frelled up one last time. John relaxed in the seat. His breathing labored. He laughed, with lungs burning, tears mingling with sweat.

Humankind...Earth beware.

His eyes blurred and his heart broke. It's all gone bad. God, don't know if you hear me, but I heard you created this melting pot of the cosmos and holy terror.

They need help, he cried within.

...Aeryn is with child.

Tears welled more in John's eyes, he shook his head. "I won't be able to see my kid. Well, the other guy's kid, but he's mine. Protect him. And...and," the air was almost depleted, he felt delirious, "Aeryn...protect her. She's a soldier, strong, needs a little guidance in the heart area. You know what I mean, headstrong but gold through and through." John shook his head and released a dry laugh. "She's got...no home anymore, like me. Help her...find a place to...belong." John's voice trailed away. Hard to breathe, talk. "I'm signing off." This is...John Crichton...somewhere in the Uncharted Territories.

"Dear, dear John," Harvey said, diffidently. The neural clone of Scorpius emerged from John's subconscious once again. "Please keep with the theatrics, we have no time. I have for you a viable way to proceed with survival."

"Ohh no, get out of my head and let me die in peace," John said, shaking his head, seeing the black reptilian masked image and skeletal features. Zero Hour, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, you got nothing on this.

"Ahh," Harvey interrupted again, "but I believe your God wishes you to live. Why look in that compartment you were incessantly hitting."

John wouldn't budge. "Stick to your own bad advice."

"Tisk, tisk. You must remember stashing emergency supplies and drugs for times such as this. Come now, I saw how you stored them. You had decided upon the given fact of the incident in the flax. Remember?"

John did remember, but he took those precautions long after Aeryn and he were trapped in an invisible net that drained their pod's energy. He reminisced the kiss they passionately shared, desperate for their lives because the oxygen was almost gone. But he couldn't have stashed the supplies directly after that incident...it was long afterwards, probably depleted long ago.

"Go away, Harvey."

"I'm saving you, John...move your fingers to the compartment and open it." John arduously reached, trembling, and opened the lid. "That's it!" Harvey clapped his hands and John took the Sebacean syringe.

Harvey continued, "Before you apply, this will give you two days of low oxygen in your bloodstream. However, for the most part, you will be unconscious. And if you are revived in time, you will be in a simulated coma. I believe, lasting a few more solar days. I must say I look forward to the long nap with you."

Thanks for warning me, roomie. John couldn't speak anymore and gave Harvey the fleeting thought, then rolled his eyes. Before John poked the syringe in his forearm, Harvey continued.

"And, John, turn on your emergency beacon, so someone can rescue you in time. I do want to wake. " John hurt when he leaned forward to click on the beacon flasher and comm system voice message. "Now, select the coded frequency. You know I don't want you to fall into the enemies' hands." John wheezed while flicking the range that transmitted the distress calls in code. "Now, you can apply the shot."

John took the syringe, every movement painful, and plunged it into his flesh. The fiery liquid forced itself through his veins, sensational eruptions occurred within him. Suddenly, he convulsed and fell back into the seat while the ebony walls of unconsciousness blanketed him. It didn't matter if friend or foe found him in this violent universe. He was good as dead.

Somewhere in acute silence, John wondered, Am I in heaven? Ivory, like Rome's coliseums, enveloped him, rain cleansed his fears, and bright clouds of mercy grazed his lips. An angel?

Words drifted, echoed through his emptiness...softly...

You said fate is what brought us together. If that is so, then we'll be together again. Goodbye, John Crichton.

Then...nothing.