John opened his eyes to find Aeryn on the floor. "Honey?" he questioned. "Are you alright?"

She looked up from under their bed. "No... have you seen my pulse pistol? I am sure I left on the table beside me. I always do." She was already up and dressed, her hair tied back into a tight braid and none to happy.

"Baby... come here. Don't I get a cuddle any more?" he said with a lopsided grin.

Aeryn frowned. "Not until I find my pulse pistol!" she growled. "I know it was here... I leave it here for easy reach in case of attack..."

"Well you were pretty tired last night...perhaps..."

"John...just help me find it okay! I need my pulse..." she paused as she spotted it at the far end of their quarters. "My pulse pistol....what the frell is it doing over here?" she asked nobody in particular as she holstered it. "Anyway, get up John; we have important things to discuss in the centre chamber." She said pulling grey sleeping furs off him.

He groaned as his warm semi-naked body felt the cold rush of air. He would rather be snuggled up with Aeryn under the covers at this moment in time but she obviously had other ideas. "Baby... you have to take things easy..." he started to protest, but stopped when she shot him her death stare. "But this is far more important..." he said realising that if he disagreed he'd be in the firing line of a pregnant ex-peacekeeper's mood swing. He slowly slipped out of bed and pulled on a fresh t-shirt and fresh black PK issue underwear. "Okay... I'm up." He replied as he pulled on his pants and gun belt.

"Good." She pressed her comms, "Pilot?"

There was no answer.

"Pilot?" she tried again. "Damn it...the comms are frelled. Just what we need right now." She sighed. "Look, I have to give Velorek his breakfast...you assemble the others in Command and I'll meet you there okay?"

"But I thought you said..." he stopped when Aeryn once again shot him her death stare. "Command it is." He said giving her a kiss on the cheek before walking out of their quarters. He felt today was most definitely not a day to mess with the pregnant ex-peacekeeper what with the things that were going on at the moment. He found himself wondering what would happen if he actually did get on her wrong side. He figured she'd cut off his balls, or tie him up and lock him in their darkened quarters like she had done the previous week. It was six whole arns before anyone found him and he hurt in places he never knew could hurt. No; it was definitely the good idea to stay on the right side of her bad temper and just smile and say 'Sure thing honey!'

Aeryn stood alone in the galley and sloppily arranged some stale food cubes on a tray along with a tankard of water. They were short on food and she wasn't going to waste the limited supply of edible food on him. She found it strange that Chiana and Rygel weren't in the gallery like they usually were at this time of day. Noranti and Stark had already gone ahead in a transport pod to the commerce planet so maybe they had gone with them. As she made her way to the top tier she ran through a list of things to bring up at the meeting such as what to do with their unwelcome visitor, and whether they should trust him and free him. As she approached the cell door her heart began to race and her mouth dried up. She wasn't sure if it was nervousness at how he would react to seeing the one who cost him his career as a Peacekeeper or just plan nervousness of how he would react to the news she had to break to him. She paused for a microt outside the door, wishing that John was with her to give her some support, but she knew she had to do this alone. Pressing her hand to the door release, the door swooshed open and she stepped in. She looked over at Velorek to see him wearing tight and way to revealing leather pants, and no top. His looked just as she remembered him except his muscles had obviously become more toned. "Hello Velorek." She said as calmly as she could. She fell into her Peacekeeper stance, and stood as if she were being addressed by a commanding officer with her back straight and her face facing forward.

Velorek stood up and walked towards her slowly, "Officer Sun..." he paused. "Aeryn...this is a pleasant, if rather unexpected surprise." His face softened ever so slightly. "You are as beautiful as I remember."

"Your breakfast." She said unemotionally. She placed the tray on a table and looked at him briefly. "Sorry its only food cubes, we are running low on food right now."

"That does not matter Aeryn. Sit down...we have a lot to catch up on." He lied. He already knew what had been going on. Through his ship he had listened into communications of Peacekeepers, Scarrens and of course Moya, the subject of many Scarren and Peacekeeper transmissions. He knew that John Crichton was aboard Moya and that together with the rest of the crew and through the help of the Leviathan named Talyn, they had blown up a Gammak Base, leveled a Shadow Depository, destroyed a Command Carrier, and nuked Katratzi.

She moved and sat down on a seat in a corner by a porthole. "Why aren't you dead? You know I was the informant... Crais wanted you executed. How did you manage to survive?"

Velorek sat close to her so she was unable to move without seeming noticeable agitated. "High Command banished me. They said my betrayal to my captain was too great to warrant execution, and that banishment from my kind would be a fitting punishment... but as you know, it was no punishment. I was conscripted against my will and was glad of banishment above the radiation induced living death. And you... you became free too."

"It was not my choice to leave the Peacekeepers. I had become irreversibly contaminated and if it hadn't been for Crichton I would have accepted my punishment. But Crichton showed me I could become more and I did." She paused and then taking his hand in her hand looked into his eyes. "I have something I need to tell you..."

He sprang forward before she could answer and kissed her deeply, "And I feel exactly the same way too..."

"NO!" she found herself shouting, "No...I'm...I...I have a mate. John Crichton is my mate and I am pregnant with his child. We are to marry soon..." She waited to see the reaction on his face and found herself wishing John would walk in right now. To her surprise his face changed from shock to what seemed like acceptance. He actually looked pleased for her.

"Congratulations Aeryn. I knew you would become more. John Crichton is a lucky man."

Aeryn tried to arrange the thoughts in her head. He was pleased for her? "Um...thank you." She replied.

"So how long has the embryo been released from its stasis?" he asked. Deep down he wasn't pleased and wanted Crichton to drop dead, but he knew if he hurt him she would kill him and any hopes of there ever being a relationship with it. This took planning of a different kind.

"Um...about a monen and a half." She answered.

"Ah." Was the simple reply that made her feel uneasy. "Not long then?"

"No..."

"Good." He said as he injected her with a dark purple serum making her feel instantly hot and woozy. "Do not worry. This will not harm your child and I promise I won't take advantage of you when this takes effect. You won't remember a thing...well at least not from the past four cycles. That is how long you have known John Crichton is it not?"

Aeryn tried to speak but couldn't move. Her body temperature was rising rapidly, just as Velorek had hoped for. She tried to move but found herself unable, and instead ended up flat on her back. She could feel her memories slipping away as she succumbed to a rapid form of heat delirium. Even if she could speak, the comms were down, and she realised now that Velorek was the one to blame. Her last thoughts were of John and their baby as she succumbed to the blackness.

Velorek lifted the unconscious body up and escaping the cell, placed her in quarters two tiers down, in a place where she was sure to be found and administered a shot of a dark green serum. "In time my love." He whispered kissing her forehead and making his way back to his quarters, making sure to hide any evidence that lead to him.

John and D'argo had been waiting in Command for over an arn. "You know D, she should be here by now... and so should Chi and Sparky. Maybe we should go look for them?"

D'argo nodded in agreement. "You are right. I will look for Chiana and Rygel, you look for Aeryn. I will take tier 4 – 6 and you take tier 1-3. We will meet back here in an arn. I have spoken to Pilot and it seems surveillance is down as well as the comms."

"Damn... you think its got something to do with our guest?" John asked, moving his hand to rest on Winona.

"No...he cannot do much from his cell."

"Right." He replied rushing off. "If you find them before the arns up, come and find me." He shouted. It was unlike Aeryn to go missing like this. "Okay Johnny. Start from the top and work your way down." He said to himself. He didn't know why he was worrying. She was probably talking Peacekeeper politics with Velorek and discussing tactics in case of being drawn into battle. He stopped outside Velorek's cell and peered in. "Yo V! You seen Aeryn today?"

"Officer Sun was here briefly to give me these stale food cubes and water then she said she felt unwell and was heading for the tier below."

John flashed a smile; maybe the guy wasn't so bad after all. "Thanks" he quickly replied and running down to tier two he searched every cell. He finally came to the last cell on that tier and found Aeryn lying on the floor. "AERYN." He yelled and rushed over to her. He placed a hand on her cheek and it was hot to the touch. "No..." he whispered weakly. "Aeryn...Aeryn baby. Don't leave me. Please don't leave me..."

Slowly a moan escaped her body and she opened her eyes slowly. Everything was a blur and she had no idea where she was. It looked like a Leviathan but she couldn't really be sure. "Who are you?" she asked, not recognising the face above her. "Are you my Captain? Where am I and why am I out of uniform?"

"You have heat delirium Aeryn." He said brushing back the stray strands of hair that stuck to her face with sweat. "You were unconscious... I just hope the baby is okay."

Aeryn sprung to her feet. "What are you talking about? Where the frell am I? What baby? Who are you?" she took a swing for John, but she was still weak and fell to the floor.

"Crichton." D'argo said from behind him, "I found Chiana and Rygel. They were in their quarters but don't remember why they didn't get up this morning." He then glanced over at Aeryn. "Is..."

"She's got amnesia from heat delirium." Was a reply from behind them both. Velorek was standing there. "You left my cell door open and I heard you calling." He said walking over to Aeryn. "I was a med tech once. Let me take a look." He was relieved that Crichton was so worried he hadn't noticed the blatant lie. He had escaped just in time. "Aeryn...can you hear me?" he asked.

"Lieutenant?" she groaned as she opened her eyes. "Where are we? What happened? Did the Scarrens attack?"

"We are on Moya, Aeryn. You had sudden heat delirium. How are you feeling?"

She smiled up at him, "Like dren" she sat up slowly and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him softly. "You saved my life..." she whispered, "Thank you." As she noticed John approaching she moved behind Velorek. "He caused this... I remember. He took us prisoner when we left the Peacekeepers..." She said weakly. "Keep him away from me and our baby."

To Be Continued...