Part 7: You Harm Me I Destroy You
Sky'leen had always prided herself on her ability to judge correctly; who she could trust. She cursed the fact that some of the rebels were in it for the credits, as Fan Chou had done. Talking about a twist. A Breakaway Colony, headed by a peacekeeper paid Chou off.she came out of her revery when one of the those very men walked up to her. She gave him, her patent PK stare.
"You are the last person I would have thought would lower herself to align with a lesser species, " the Leader said.
"Ranic Vannok peacekeeper directive. At first I wasn't sure it was you." She informed him.
"How is it, Sky'leen you think you know so much?" He asked looking down at her.
"I wouldn't be in this situation if I did. Now why would the directive be interested in a group of misfits from the Breakaway Colonies? Why are the misfits here among the rebels? Do the they know who you really are?"
Vannok took his foot and pushed her to the ground. It came to rest on her throat. With a snarl he spat, "You are nothing but a traitor to your people. The General will be glad to have you back. I would like watch when they administer the living death, or he might get creative. I understand he can be."
Sky'leen's silent response irritated him. He applied pressure on her throat. Still she stared up at him defiantly. A noise interrupted his pleasure
" I'm sorry, but the squad is on its way back."
Taking his foot away, he turned and left. "Stay with her."
Vannok waited. He would have killed the trelk, but for High Command's orders. Since he couldn't harm her, maybe he could use the human to control her. It wasn't long before the retrieval group entered camp. He barked out his orders. "Bring Orin out."
Standing behind Vannok, Sky'leen could hear the contempt in his tone, "We've caught the Human!"
The traitor's words chilled Sky'leen's heart. She had hoped that John escaped. Growing angry she jerked her arm out of the guard's hand. Only to have Vannok catch her arm in a cruel vise like grip, pulling it behind her back and pushing her along. She was dismayed to see the number of rebels surrounding John.
The long fingers gripping Sky'leen's arm shoved her roughly against the wall. Bracing a hand against it he leaned toward her, and smirked in satisfaction as he squeezed a finely boned wrist to the point of making her gasp in pain, "Be warned, Lieutenant. If you try anything, I promise that it will go worse for the human."
Feeling anger and revulsion, Sky'leen wrenched free from Vannok's tenacious grip and thrusting both hands against his chest, shoved him. Caught by surprise, he stumbled back, and Sky'leen whirled, to catch another rebel in the face with a kick. Immediately Vannok recovered and, aimed his weapon at Crichton. "Enough, Lieutenant, or he is dead."
Sky'leen froze. The sight of John's ominously still form cauterized Sky'leen's mind with a burgeoning dread. Her face remained unemotional as she moved next to him. He lay still as death, curled on his side with his wrists and ankles securely bound. Fearing the seriousness of his injuries, Sky'leen looked for open bleeding wounds. Her hopes rallied briefly when she found no evidence of outward injury.
"He's human not Sebacean. Let me check him for injuries. I think the orders are to bring him in alive." Her cold eyes met his. "Bounty is higher alive then dead."
Vannok nodded his head toward Crichton. Kneeling beside him she ran her eyes back over him once again. She slipped her fingers through his short hair, seeking to cradle his head, and touched a swollen lump, the ridge of which was marred by a bloody gash. She lifted her hand seeing blood. This was not good.
"You think this is about the bounty? You have no idea what this is truly about, peacekeeper," Vannok stated. His cockiness was almost palpable. He knew he could control the great Lieutenant Orin.
Looking up from John. She laughed out harshly. "You and these great worriers are followers of the. Late. Prince Clavor of the Breakaway Colonies." He backhanded her across the face.
"You don't know what you are talking about!" He barked, pulling her up into a standing position. Her cold green stare met his, "I will destroy you and your sick plan.whatever game you think you are playing at." She tilted her head. "You want to bring the colonies in check with the threat of the Scarrans so close.and somehow Crichton plays a very import role in doing that."
"I will take great pleasure in destroying you, traitor." He mocked. "As I said you know nothing."
"You think. Then let the games begin." With that she brought her knee up into his crotch. Groaning with surprise and pain, he fell backward taking her with him.
Then all hell broke lose.
********************************
Aeryn moved silently through the trees stalking the rebels. Moving ahead of them, she laid in wait. As they came abreast of her hiding place she saw a body slumped forward being carried between two men. Getting a clearer view of a bloody face, her heart froze at the sight of John Crichton. She controlled her desire to attack. She needed to wait for help.
The air snapped with tension as Aeryn sat, scanning the shadowy figures that moved in a ghostly dance into the clearing a short distance in front of her. Aeryn waited as Josef and Marz arrived and circled around. They were ready. Aeryn slipped under and around the several broken walls. She attacked, taking out one person at time working her way to John, just as Sky'leen took Vannok out.
Josef would have left the human. It wasn't until he saw the Lieutenant being dragged out that he changed his mind. His objective was to liberate his commanding officers- he cursed the fact that the human would reap from that fact. He and Marz coordinated their attack with Aeryn's. As he heard a shout and then a curse. When Orin struck the apparent leader.
It didn't last long. The poorly trained soldiers lay on the ground injured or dying. Regaining his feet, Vannok grabbed a weapon, and took aim at John's inert body. Aeryn had dropped to John looking at his head wound. Seeing him, Orin fired once, twice. Vannok fell face forward - dead.
Marz came forward with an emergency kit. Josef looked on for a moment, then walked away. Sky'leen too watched for a microt before she too moved off.
*******************************
John stirred, then moaned. A dim light threw eerie specters on the backside of his eyelids. A quaking ache throbbed at the base of his skull, making his head swim. The ache then splintered and became a dull, pounding pain somewhere behind his eyes. He eased his eyes opened, and saw a dim, blurred figure of a woman seated beside what seemed to be a table with a light on it. He blinked away the fog and repented the act as he recognized the concerned face of Aeryn Sun.
"John, open your eyes. I need you to too focus on me," She fairly chortled with optimism. "Come back to me, John. I can't lose you."
Closing his eyes again he knew he was hallucinating. The pain in his heart surpassing that of his head. His soul cried out for her gentle touch. A tear ran down his face. He turned his head causing more pain to shoot through it again. Moaning he heard voices speaking all round him. He wished they would go away, and leave him in his misery.
A tender touch stroked down from his hair to the side of his face then up the other side leaving a warm feeling. A soft mummer of words near his ear dissipated the pain like a soothing balm. His head followed the hand as it pulled away not wanting to loose contact. Opening his eyes he gazed into the soft warm, loving eyes of Aeryn. If he was dreaming he wanted it to go on forever.
If Aeryn had not been leaning in close she wouldn't have heard him. "Aeryn, I love you. Please never leave me again."
Tears were streaming down her face as she lay down beside him, taking him into her arms. The world around them faded away. Eyes locked together. Lovers twined as one, their souls locked together with love. They both knew they had found their way home.
Sky'leen had always prided herself on her ability to judge correctly; who she could trust. She cursed the fact that some of the rebels were in it for the credits, as Fan Chou had done. Talking about a twist. A Breakaway Colony, headed by a peacekeeper paid Chou off.she came out of her revery when one of the those very men walked up to her. She gave him, her patent PK stare.
"You are the last person I would have thought would lower herself to align with a lesser species, " the Leader said.
"Ranic Vannok peacekeeper directive. At first I wasn't sure it was you." She informed him.
"How is it, Sky'leen you think you know so much?" He asked looking down at her.
"I wouldn't be in this situation if I did. Now why would the directive be interested in a group of misfits from the Breakaway Colonies? Why are the misfits here among the rebels? Do the they know who you really are?"
Vannok took his foot and pushed her to the ground. It came to rest on her throat. With a snarl he spat, "You are nothing but a traitor to your people. The General will be glad to have you back. I would like watch when they administer the living death, or he might get creative. I understand he can be."
Sky'leen's silent response irritated him. He applied pressure on her throat. Still she stared up at him defiantly. A noise interrupted his pleasure
" I'm sorry, but the squad is on its way back."
Taking his foot away, he turned and left. "Stay with her."
Vannok waited. He would have killed the trelk, but for High Command's orders. Since he couldn't harm her, maybe he could use the human to control her. It wasn't long before the retrieval group entered camp. He barked out his orders. "Bring Orin out."
Standing behind Vannok, Sky'leen could hear the contempt in his tone, "We've caught the Human!"
The traitor's words chilled Sky'leen's heart. She had hoped that John escaped. Growing angry she jerked her arm out of the guard's hand. Only to have Vannok catch her arm in a cruel vise like grip, pulling it behind her back and pushing her along. She was dismayed to see the number of rebels surrounding John.
The long fingers gripping Sky'leen's arm shoved her roughly against the wall. Bracing a hand against it he leaned toward her, and smirked in satisfaction as he squeezed a finely boned wrist to the point of making her gasp in pain, "Be warned, Lieutenant. If you try anything, I promise that it will go worse for the human."
Feeling anger and revulsion, Sky'leen wrenched free from Vannok's tenacious grip and thrusting both hands against his chest, shoved him. Caught by surprise, he stumbled back, and Sky'leen whirled, to catch another rebel in the face with a kick. Immediately Vannok recovered and, aimed his weapon at Crichton. "Enough, Lieutenant, or he is dead."
Sky'leen froze. The sight of John's ominously still form cauterized Sky'leen's mind with a burgeoning dread. Her face remained unemotional as she moved next to him. He lay still as death, curled on his side with his wrists and ankles securely bound. Fearing the seriousness of his injuries, Sky'leen looked for open bleeding wounds. Her hopes rallied briefly when she found no evidence of outward injury.
"He's human not Sebacean. Let me check him for injuries. I think the orders are to bring him in alive." Her cold eyes met his. "Bounty is higher alive then dead."
Vannok nodded his head toward Crichton. Kneeling beside him she ran her eyes back over him once again. She slipped her fingers through his short hair, seeking to cradle his head, and touched a swollen lump, the ridge of which was marred by a bloody gash. She lifted her hand seeing blood. This was not good.
"You think this is about the bounty? You have no idea what this is truly about, peacekeeper," Vannok stated. His cockiness was almost palpable. He knew he could control the great Lieutenant Orin.
Looking up from John. She laughed out harshly. "You and these great worriers are followers of the. Late. Prince Clavor of the Breakaway Colonies." He backhanded her across the face.
"You don't know what you are talking about!" He barked, pulling her up into a standing position. Her cold green stare met his, "I will destroy you and your sick plan.whatever game you think you are playing at." She tilted her head. "You want to bring the colonies in check with the threat of the Scarrans so close.and somehow Crichton plays a very import role in doing that."
"I will take great pleasure in destroying you, traitor." He mocked. "As I said you know nothing."
"You think. Then let the games begin." With that she brought her knee up into his crotch. Groaning with surprise and pain, he fell backward taking her with him.
Then all hell broke lose.
********************************
Aeryn moved silently through the trees stalking the rebels. Moving ahead of them, she laid in wait. As they came abreast of her hiding place she saw a body slumped forward being carried between two men. Getting a clearer view of a bloody face, her heart froze at the sight of John Crichton. She controlled her desire to attack. She needed to wait for help.
The air snapped with tension as Aeryn sat, scanning the shadowy figures that moved in a ghostly dance into the clearing a short distance in front of her. Aeryn waited as Josef and Marz arrived and circled around. They were ready. Aeryn slipped under and around the several broken walls. She attacked, taking out one person at time working her way to John, just as Sky'leen took Vannok out.
Josef would have left the human. It wasn't until he saw the Lieutenant being dragged out that he changed his mind. His objective was to liberate his commanding officers- he cursed the fact that the human would reap from that fact. He and Marz coordinated their attack with Aeryn's. As he heard a shout and then a curse. When Orin struck the apparent leader.
It didn't last long. The poorly trained soldiers lay on the ground injured or dying. Regaining his feet, Vannok grabbed a weapon, and took aim at John's inert body. Aeryn had dropped to John looking at his head wound. Seeing him, Orin fired once, twice. Vannok fell face forward - dead.
Marz came forward with an emergency kit. Josef looked on for a moment, then walked away. Sky'leen too watched for a microt before she too moved off.
*******************************
John stirred, then moaned. A dim light threw eerie specters on the backside of his eyelids. A quaking ache throbbed at the base of his skull, making his head swim. The ache then splintered and became a dull, pounding pain somewhere behind his eyes. He eased his eyes opened, and saw a dim, blurred figure of a woman seated beside what seemed to be a table with a light on it. He blinked away the fog and repented the act as he recognized the concerned face of Aeryn Sun.
"John, open your eyes. I need you to too focus on me," She fairly chortled with optimism. "Come back to me, John. I can't lose you."
Closing his eyes again he knew he was hallucinating. The pain in his heart surpassing that of his head. His soul cried out for her gentle touch. A tear ran down his face. He turned his head causing more pain to shoot through it again. Moaning he heard voices speaking all round him. He wished they would go away, and leave him in his misery.
A tender touch stroked down from his hair to the side of his face then up the other side leaving a warm feeling. A soft mummer of words near his ear dissipated the pain like a soothing balm. His head followed the hand as it pulled away not wanting to loose contact. Opening his eyes he gazed into the soft warm, loving eyes of Aeryn. If he was dreaming he wanted it to go on forever.
If Aeryn had not been leaning in close she wouldn't have heard him. "Aeryn, I love you. Please never leave me again."
Tears were streaming down her face as she lay down beside him, taking him into her arms. The world around them faded away. Eyes locked together. Lovers twined as one, their souls locked together with love. They both knew they had found their way home.