Part Five: Deal with the Devil

"What the hell…Aeryn?" John stood up slowly, using the tree as support, not lowering Winona, but trying to keep her aimed at Scorpius as much as he could with Aeryn standing right in the way. "What is going on?"

She held out her hands. "I will explain," she said. "But I need you to lower your weapons."

Chiana laughed. That was a no.

Aeryn sighed, but didn't ask again. "Manes showed up at my unit's headquarters, he told me he had encountered you at the Casino. He mentioned the bounty Grayza had placed on you, on all of us, and I knew I had to find you and make sure you had not been captured. When I got here, I realized I was already too late. And I needed a way to get you out of her hands."

John nodded, adjusting the grip on his pulse pistol. "That explains why you're here. But it doesn't explain him."

"Let's kill him," Chiana said with an evil little grin.

"Yes," John agreed.

"No," Aeryn interrupted calmly. "No, John, you must listen to me--"

John's eyes flickered over to hers. He didn't agree, but he didn't start shooting at the half-breed, either.

"When I came here for you," she whispered. "I found Braca walking Scorpius around on a frelling leash."

John kept his eyes locked with hers. "And what? You--you thought, hey, I'm gonna save the monster that destroyed all of our lives today?"

"No," Aeryn said patiently. "But I decided he would be a more willing source of information than Braca…if I helped release him."

"Yes, Aeryn, release him. You really think that's a good idea?"

Aeryn shook her head, desperate for him to understand. "He has agreed to help us. He was going to help me get you away from Grayza, but now, he can help us retrieve D'Argo."

"And Jool," Chiana snapped.

Aeryn looked over at her, and then nodded. "Yes, and Jool."

"So…what? You, what? You want me to play nice with Nosferatu?" John asked incredulously. He laughed. "You've got to be kidding me." John stepped beside Aeryn and aimed Winona directly at Scorpius. "I don't share the sandbox with the bad guys."

"John, no--don't." Aeryn pushed down his hand and forced him to lower his weapon. "Please, he is the only reason we even stand a chance of getting D'Argo back, the tunnels are like a maze and they could be anywhere. I have given him my word you would not harm him, promise me--"

John slowly turned to watch her, his fingers twitching around the handle of Winona. "Don't ask me this, Aeryn," he whispered.

"D'Argo will be killed if we do not get to him," Aeryn said. "We can not get to him without Scorpius. Promise me you will not hurt him."

John bit his lip, his eyes straying back to glare at Scorpius, Winona lifting ever so slightly before Aeryn pushed his hand back down.

"Promise me, John, please."

"I…promise…" He saw Chiana's eyes widen in horror. He could sympathize.

Aeryn nodded, relieved. "Now, I need you to get off this planet."

John turned to her in disbelief. "No, no I'm not leaving you alone with him. I'm going to help."

Aeryn shook her head and stepped up to him. "No, no--listen to me, John. We don't have time for this. I've lost you once--"

"No," John interrupted quietly. "No, you never lost me. You left me, Aeryn. You ran away."

She lowered her eyes, then placed her hands on the back of his neck and met his gaze again. "I know. And it was a mistake. But I came back, John, I came back for you."

"Crichton," Chiana said. "We can't trust Scorpius! You can't really--"

"Of course we can't trust him," John said, his pulse pistol still lowered as his eyes sought Scorpius.

"Chiana," Aeryn said, turning to face the Nebari. "Can you get John back to the transport? Get away from here?"

"Yeah," she said. "I think I can manage."

"Chiana," John snapped. "I'm not--"

She met his eyes, and they didn't say the same things she did. "You're still drugged, compromised, you wouldn't be a help. The best we can do is make sure you stay out of Grayza's hands."

Aeryn nodded her approval. "Please, John, we can not risk her capturing you again."

"Scorpius convince you of that?" he demanded.

"No," she said, her voice tense.

"Come on, Crichton," Chiana said. "We can't trust him but we trust Aeryn, right? She'll get D'Argo and Jool back."

John nodded reluctantly, and moved towards Scorpius. "If you hurt her, any of them," he whispered. "I'll kill you. Promise or not."

"That was never in doubt," Scorpius said softly, a small grin playing across his lips.

Chiana grabbed John's hand and started pulling him away, towards the transport. When Aeryn and Scorpius had been left behind, he turned to her. "Okay. What's the plan?"

"Well, it certainly isn't leaving Scorpius here to rescue our friends," she said with a quick little grin.

He smiled weakly. "I don't like him left alone with Aeryn." He turned to look behind him. "How can she trust him?"

Chiana sighed. "She used to trust Crais, too--they're Peacekeepers, Crichton. Half-Scarren or not, and there's a kind of…something there. Not that she's anything like him, but she probably does understand him. Better than we ever will."

John had a feeling he understood Scorpius more than any of them, so he didn't respond, and Chiana said nothing more as they turned and backtracked towards the tunnels.

xxxxx

"They are not going to leave," Scorpius said from behind her.

"No," she agreed. "But we can't worry about it now. We just have to get D'Argo and Jool out and hope they stay out of trouble. Then we'll track them down."

Scorpius nodded slightly, though he felt that John staying out of trouble would be unlikely--he had seen the man's memories, and he seemed to attract it.

"You said you know where they're being held?" Aeryn demanded.

Scorpius titled his head in acknowledgement. "Braca led me there on one of our…walks…"

"Lead the way," Aeryn demanded with a nod. The sooner they got Jool and D'Argo away, the sooner they could find John and leave. And she could try and put things right. "I'll know if they're following, but I don't think they will. And even those two are not foolish enough to try a rescue when they have no idea where D'Argo and Jool are being held."

xxxxx

"Okay," John said. "So we have no idea where they are."

"But we still have to rescue them," Chiana said, putting her arm around John's waist when he stumbled.

"Right," he agreed. "No problem."

xxxxx

Aeryn followed Scorpius through the trees, keeping a close watch despite their alliance. As long as he kept his end of the deal, she would hold to hers. But if he broke it he was dead.

They froze when they heard voices, two commandos were stomping towards them through the forest, obviously looking for their escaped prisoner. Aeryn motioned to Scorpius that she would handle it.

She snuck up behind them, throwing one into a tree as she snapped the other's neck. Then she turned around and brought her pulse rifle crashing down onto the remaining guard's skull.

"Well done, Officer Sun," Scorpius said silkily from behind her.

She put her chin up, ignoring the chill those words brought to the air. "I would not call this well done," she snapped, picking up one of the fallen men's weapons and reluctantly tossing it to him. "They were only following orders. You're the kind of man that killing would make a job well done."

Scorpius grinned as she walked away.

xxxxx

"Damn. Hey, Pip? Did I really promise not to hurt Scorpius?" John asked, as they headed back towards the archaeological site.

Chiana winced. "Yeah."

John laughed. "How frelled is that? Me promising not to hurt him. I didn't get one of those promises from him, did I?"

"Nope. But hey, it's going to be alright, Crichton. They'll get D'Argo and Jool out, and then we'll leave Scorpius here to either become Grayza's pet half-breed again, or to bake."

"Oh, frell," John whispered. "I forgot the magnetics. How long do you think we have?"

"Not long…at all."

The two froze at the voice behind them, and stumbled as they spun around together. Vella looked down at them with some distaste, two large triangular devices under one arm, and another in her hand. On her other arm, there was a carver just like the one Chiana was still wearing.

"And if you do not help me," she said. "We will all be dead. I had hoped to simply wait until the Peacekeeper's leave, but they obviously don't realize they're running out of time."

John watched her. "The Darnaz Triangle?" he asked.

Vella nodded with some admiration. "Yes." Then she held up the carver. "And you two are going to help me set it up."

"Whoa! Hold it right there, Lara Croft--now correct me if I'm wrong, but the Peacekeepers getting their hands on this sounds like a really bad idea. If you set it up, they might find it."

"The Peacekeepers are imbeciles," Vella said with a sneer. "I am not even certain they realize they are in danger, and they certainly know nothing of the history of this planet. They will believe it a miraculous recovery, and we'll let them."

Chiana glanced at John. "But I thought that Darnaz thing was a weapon?"

"It can be set to reverse its damage," Vella said. "If the probes are set 600 motras apart, and then activated. Activation is simple enough even you should be able to handle it. You simply slam them in the ground, and then hit them."

John grinned. "You hit them? Can you kick 'em? Does that work too?"

Vella sneered at him and John and Chiana laughed, more from exhaustion than any actual amusement.

xxxxx

"D'Argo," Jool whispered. "D'Argo, its happening…look at your skin…"

D'Argo looked at his hand, the color was muted and faded. He frowned. "This is the maganetics?"

Jool nodded. "Another arn, and we aren't going to have to worry about a rescue."

D'Argo growled and slammed his hands against the bars. "Don't the frelling Peacekeepers realize something is wrong? It's getting harder to breathe."

"Maybe something has postponed their leaving," Jool said hopefully. "Maybe they still haven't caught the others."

D'Argo winced. "We heard the guards talking about John."

Jool frowned and looked away. "Maybe he got away," she said, then she grinned wryly. "Maybe Scorpius rescued him after he escaped."

D'Argo snorted. "Because that is in the realm of possibilities."

xxxxx

Scorpius walked silently across the stone floor, and though she would never admit to it, Aeryn admired his stealth. There were not many Peacekeepers here. She had already taken out two herself, and she was unsure if Braca had lived. There could not be many left with only two Marauders on the planet.

"This way," Scorpius whispered.

She followed him to the left, and faintly, she could hear the voices of her friends. They reached the cell, but Scorpius fell back, not allowing himself to be seen. Aeryn thought he had the right idea, because D'Argo was probably not going to react to this well.

She slipped in front of the bars, and then fell against the wall at the other side, out of sight of any guards. Jool and D'Argo turned to look at her in shock.

"Aeryn," D'Argo whispered, breaking out in a grin which disappeared just as quickly. "John, he's--"

Aeryn brought a finger to her lips and D'Argo nodded. Turning to look down the hall behind her, Aeryn could see no guards. She would have to shoot the lock off, but first, she needed to tell them what was going on.

"John is safe," she whispered. "He and Chiana are together. They said they were going to get off the planet, but knowing them--" D'Argo nodded with exasperation, and Aeryn moved on. "In any case, I have to tell you something…" she took a deep breath. "I have made a deal with Scorpius--that is how I have found you."

The reactions were immediate, Jool's mouth dropped open and D'Argo lunged forward in agitation, wrapping his fingers around the bars and glaring out at her. "You what?"

"She made a deal with me," Scorpius whispered smugly as he stepped into view, very obviously holding a pulse rifle.

"It is the only way I could find you in time," Aeryn said softly. "I need you to cooperate, D'Argo, if you attack him we will never get out of here alive."

D'Argo hissed over at Scorpius, and Aeryn stepped into his line of vision. "We have to get out of here," she said. "This is the only way."

Reluctantly, D'Argo nodded. Jool still looked shocked.

Aeryn nodded, and then checked again for approaching guards. "I'm going to shoot the lock off," she said. "Then we run."

Jool and D'Argo both nodded again, and Aeryn took a step back, aiming the weapon. One shot at the cell door flew open. Microts later, shouts and running boots could be heard getting closer. D'Argo and Jool ran from the cell, and Scorpius watched them for a moment and then spun, leading them from tunnels.

D'Argo hissed, but at a look from Aeryn, the three took off after Scorpius, Aeryn always looking behind them, ready to fire if anyone should get too close.

xxxxx

"You're imbeciles!" Vella cried angrily, aiming the carver at them. "Do you want to live or not?"

Before John could think of a response, there was a frantic shout behind them.

"I will save you! I will save you! Down! Get down!"

For one insane moment, John thought Stark had shown up from somewhere. But the voice was female, and when he turned he saw a very old woman running up beside him. Without pausing, she ripped Winona from John's holster when she was close enough.

"Hey!" he shouted, starting after her as she kept on her course towards Vella.

Vella aimed her carver at the old woman. "You!" she hissed. "You should not have interfered."

Vella started up the carver, but the old woman shot Winona before she could do anything with it. Vella fell backwards, a silent cry screaming from her eyes as they went blank.

John skid to a stop, Chiana just behind him. "What have you done?" he asked.

"She would have killed you. She killed On-nii! She would have allowed the triangle to fall into evil hands! Oh, what was lost here, you must see--"

John grabbed her hands as she reached for something, pulling Winona from her grasp. "Thanks, but I'll pass." He knelt beside Vella. "She's dead."

The old woman fell to her knees and began chanting. "…receive the spirit…of Instructor Vella, no matter how selfish…how evil…"

"Chiana," John whispered. "Who is this woman?"

Chiana glanced at him with wide eyes. "I have no idea."

A humming sound above them caused them to look up, and they could see their transport spiraling up into the atmosphere, disappearing between the clouds--headed for space.

"The little slime ball! My module is in that transport!" John shouted.

xxxxx

They were nearing the ends of the tunnel when Scorpius stopped abruptly, holding out a hand to indicate the others should follow suit. They were irritated with the delay, until they heard Grayza's voice carry over to them from around the corner.

Agitatedly, Aeryn adjusted her grip on her pulse rifle.

"A lone transport?" she demanded. "It must be Crichton. We're going after him, prepare the Marauders! Something is wrong with this planet, leave the other prisoners here to whatever fate may come. They matter not."

"Yes, ma'am."

Aeryn recognized the voice instantly. So she had not killed Braca after all. Pity.

Grayza and the remaining Peacekeepers headed straight out of the tunnels, and cautiously, the four fugitives crept to the edge to watch them file into the Marauders.

"This is good," Aeryn said. "D'Argo, do you have your ship with you?"

"Yes," he said, still eyeing Scorpius warily. He turned back to Aeryn. "What if it was Chiana and Crichton on that transport?"

Aeryn shrugged. "It was not them. They would not have flown such an obvious course, they could have hid from sensors--it has to have been Rygel. And there is no denying he will deserve whatever fate awaits him."

Jool winced. "So we're just going to abandon him?"

"Considering the fact that it is he abandoning us, and we're caught on a dying planet with no means to do anything for anyone but ourselves--I'm afraid we have no choice."

D'Argo nodded. "We have to find Chiana and Crichton. They would have been heading this way. Hopefully they aren't far."

Jool nodded. "Follow me. I know this planet best."

D'Argo and Aeryn started after her, and Scorpius, almost forgotten, trailed behind with a slow grin.

xxxxx

They were still watching the place the transport had disappeared when two Marauders appeared, chasing it through the sky. "Peacekeepers," John whispered. "Damn it, Rygel."

Chiana fell to her knees beside John. "It's getting worse. And I can barely breathe. Jool and her frelling hobbies."

"I thought it was my hobbies that caused problems," he said with a slight grin.

Chiana shook her head. "I'd trade this in for wormholes any day."

He nodded faintly. "The Peacekeepers are gone. It should be safe to activate the probes."

"Okay," Chiana agreed. "Let's do it."

"We need three people," John said tiredly.

Chiana looked over at the old woman, who was pulling up weeds and muttering to herself. "We have three people…sort of."

John looked at her incredulously. "She'll probably wander off into the sea with it, we need someone we can trust."

"Did I hear need of someone trustworthy?" Rygel flew in on his thronesled, composed and looking insufferably smug.

"Ryge!" Chiana yelled happily, at the same time John shouted, "Guido!"

He smiled smugly at them.

"We thought you took off!" Chiana cried. "Who's in that transport?"

"No one," Rygel said. "I set it to fly itself to lead the Peacekeepers away, and took Crichton's module to get back here--"

"You FLEW my module?" John shouted, only mildly relieved it wasn't lost in the face of it having been flown by someone that wasn't him--and that the someone was Rygel.

Rygel ignored him. "--but we most likely do not have long before they return, so I suggest we hurry and get the frell out of Dodge."

John raised his eyebrow at the expression, and then grinned. "Sparky, I rarely say this to you, but I couldn't agree more."

He tossed one of the probes to Rygel, and another to Chiana. "Chiana--" he started.

"Got it," she said, already starting off in the opposite direction.

John nodded and turned to Rygel, pointing in another direction. "600 motras. Stick into the ground and kick it. Or whack it with your thronesled. Whatever."

Rygel flew off, and John headed off in another direction, the old woman trailing silently behind him. He stumbled and caught himself, forcing himself to continue on. The magnetics were zapping all his strength, but none of them could afford to stop.

xxxxx

D'Argo grabbed Jool's arm as she stumbled with a cry. And the pulse rifle in Aeryn's hands was becoming almost too much for her to carry.

"We're never going to make it," Jool said. "Even if we find them, we won't reach the ship in time."

Aeryn pointed at her angrily. "We will make it. We always do. Now keep moving."

Aeryn started walking again, and D'Argo pulled Jool along behind her. Scorpius stumbled on his own behind them, but the suit protected him from much and he had lifted spare and untainted cooling rods from the unconscious Braca--he could have walked a straight line if he had wanted too.

"Vella!" Jool screamed, pointing ahead of them.

Aeryn followed the direction and saw an older Interon woman lying dead with a pulse blast to the stomach. She started scanning the area. "Pulse blast. It was either the Peacekeepers or Crichton."

Jool turned to her in anger. "Why would John have killed her? She would have been trying to help, she…"

"I do not know," Aeryn snapped. "I was just stating the evidence. Crichton would have come this way if he was heading back towards the tunnels from where we left him."

Jool kneeled beside Vella, and D'Argo placed a hand on her shoulder. He wasn't particularly upset with Vella's death, but he felt for Jool, because they would be soon to follow.

xxxxx

"This should be far enough," John said into the com, falling to his knees. "You guys ready?"

"Whenever you are, old man."

"Just get the yotz on with it!"

John grinned slightly. "Do it," he said. He slammed the probe into the ground, and after deciding not to waste the effort of standing and kicking, he picked up a rock and hit it.

Nothing happened.

"Anything?" he asked.

"No, Crichton, you--"

"Wait!" Chiana's voice broke in. "Something's happening."

John's eyes slipped back towards the probe, and sure enough, it was lifting itself from the ground and rising towards the sky. He fell backwards, looking up to watch it until it disappeared. Three points of light and a flash before the heavy weight on his chest started to lesson again and he could breathe.

"We did it!" Chiana yelled happily. "Frell me, we did it!"

John laughed in relief, forgetting for a microt that they still had the Peacekeepers nearby to worry about. The old woman kneeled next to him with a slight smile.

"You are John Crichton. You rescued me, yes, it was you, yes?"

John glanced at her, his smile slipping. "I don't know who you are," he started.

"You must see," she breathed, pulling out a small pouch.

This time, before he could stop her, she blew white powder into his eyes and he jerked backwards with a cry.

Then she whispered a subliminal message. And Harvey did the rest.

xxxxx

They were on D'Argo's ship. All of them but Jool.

D'Argo had sent out a probe, so that when the Marauders returned they would be led away again, following a false trail in the opposite direction. Away from Arneesk. Away from them. His module was out of fuel thanks to Rygel, but safely being towed behind them.

Chiana's hand was clutching his jacket from where she sat beside him. John was looking straight ahead at what lay across from him.

When they had arrived back where they had left Vella they had found the others, and headed back towards D'Argo's ship together--stopping only when they glimpsed a temple that disappeared into the sky.

Jool had stayed behind with the ancient priests that had rematerialized upon the reversal of magnetics, and he'd had to say goodbye again--this time maybe for good. Aeryn had been staying in the peripheral, all hard eyes and weapons and he'd tried to decide if what Harvey had told him about a baby could be true. She gave nothing away.

Scorpius had slipped around behind them. John shivering without meaning to every time he felt him watching him. Just a little longer, he had told himself, and he could get away.

Chiana was tugging on his jacket now, whispering something, but he couldn't hear her. His eyes didn't break off their intense gaze. The eyes that stared back were smiling.

When it had been time to leave, he had been so relieved. Until Aeryn dropped another bombshell. She wasn't intending to leave Scorpius behind.

"We take him with us," she had said.

"No, no! You can't be serious, Aeryn--you can't honestly--"

"Would you rather leave him here with Jool and defenseless priests?"

"I'd rather he were dead."

But he wasn't dead. He was right across from him. John was beginning to think he couldn't die.

Aeryn was somewhere behind him, but he had not spoken to her after he had reluctantly agreed to honor her contract to Scorpius, and she'd stayed away. He wasn't sure whether or not to be grateful for the distance, but he could feel Chiana right beside him, and it was nice to think there was someone still on his side.

Not that Aeryn wasn't, he told himself. She just didn't understand him. She hadn't realized what she had asked of him, because for her it was nothing but dealing and alliances, the quickest and most efficient way there had been to get them all out alive. But she didn't understand.

And it didn't matter how much he wanted to turn and look at her--to reassure himself she was still there, to see if he could tell it had been the truth--his eyes never left Scorpius.

End Part Five

Next Up: Epilogue: Three's Company