General Tranguard stood on the long, practically abandoned, runway at the Kennedy Space Center. The man who claimed to be the lost astronaut had agreed to meet on planet at the Cape Canaveral location. The general had arrived with a guard of seven soldiers, the director of the space center, and Olivia Crichton, the real John Crichton's sister. The missing astronaut's sibling was present for insurance, in case this really was THEIR lost Commander Crichton. The real Crichton surely wouldn't launch any attacks if his sister was in the target crowd.

A bulky space vessel, obviously something similar to a shuttle craft, sat on the tarmac of the Canaveral runway about sixty feet away, having landed a minute ago and thus far remaining motionless.

The door opened and soldiers filed out. Like a military operation, they lined up and stood to the side of the open doorway... waiting. The Earth soldiers locked their guns up on their shoulders at the ready, though there was no doubt they could not equal the others' weapons. General Tranguard would say the 'aliens'' guns, but they were human. All of them, human.

The door grew still, and then he came.

Stepping down on to the ground, moving with slow diligence and alertness, was John Crichton. He stood looking over at his troops then at the gathering of Earth soldiers, appraising and studying the comparative advantages of both sides. He was dressed head to toe in the leather clothing that must have befit an officer in whatever force Crichton had joined, for the others in black uniforms stood at attention for him.

Crichton looked over his sentries, then turned to look back at the shuttle just as a second image emerged. This time a woman, another officer if the leather outfit was indeed a sign of rank. Her dark hair was pulled away from a sharp face, eyes just as quick to assess their surroundings.

Crichton faced her a moment, then turned and looked at the group of humans waiting to greet them. His eyes moved to Olivia in the crowd and he had a definite, if somewhat muted, reaction to her. Despite the callous and tough persona he presented, the hint of a smile cracked his lips at sight of his sister. The possibility that this was an impostor diminished.

Crichton and the woman strode toward them. The woman carried some manner of rifle with her, untrusting eyes intent upon the crowd they approached. As he got closer, the general could see that Crichton himself had a gun strapped to his outer right thigh, as did the woman with him. 'These two definitely mean business' the general thought with a stirring of unease in his gut.

Crichton stopped before the group, eyes resting on the general in all his brass, greeting flatly, "General Tranguard."

The general nodded, "Commander Crichton..."

John nodded.

Tranguard shook his head, "You understand this is a unique situation... we all thought you died eight years ago."

Crichton nodded again, eyes moving away from the general to rest on Olivia. She could not believe this was her brother... much less alive, but a military soldier. The multitude of questions she had to be asking herself about her lost brother, where he'd been and what he'd done in his absence, were evident in the look on her face. The uncertainty was just enough to keep her from rushing into her brother's arms... that and the cold exterior he now possessed that was wholly unfamiliar to her.

Crichton smirked faintly at her, "Hey, Olivia."

Olivia smiled hesitantly, "Hey yourself."

The woman officer beside Crichton, who'd been keeping a gun on the armed guards, at last spoke... but her words were not English. She spoke the same strange tongue that their attackers for months spoke.

Eyes grew wide and the general shot a quick and purposeful look at his guards.

Crichton saw it coming and in a motion whose speed more befit a reflex reached down, retrieved his gun, and jerked it up to be poised at the general's forehead.

Everyone froze.

Crichton's eyes were unreadable, and he looked at the general's guards and clipped tersely, "You hurt her, I shoot him."

They shifted uneasily but held their fire, understanding Crichton's threat perfectly. Their weapons remained locked on the woman and the woman's gun remained locked on them but no one acted to fire.

Crichton stepped closer to the general, gun still trained between his eyes, "General, there's an explanation for everything, a very long one that I don't have time for right now, but this woman and the others with me are not the enemy."

"But... she..."

Crichton nodded, "Yep... she's the same species as the people who were attacking you... but like I said, it's a long story." He stepped even closer, inches from the general as he narrowed his eyes and continued, "I came back to protect you, to protect Earth. You might not believe me, but it's the truth, and you can't afford to lose an ally right now. Now, if you're going to insist on your monkeys aiming weapons at my people, I can leave right now... withdraw my ship and my troops and disappear back through that little wormhole. But can you really afford that, General?"

The general looked over at the woman, standing ready to attack, and the others with Crichton by the shuttle who were similarly ready to start shooting if their officers were gunned down. Whoever this was, whatever had become of John Crichton, he was right. Earth was doomed without some miracle, and one had hopefully been dropped on their doorstep. He couldn't afford to let it end like this.

General Tranguard nodded, lifting a careful hand to order his guards to lower their weapons. They did so.

Crichton lowered his gun, stepping back, "Good choice, General."

The woman with Crichton did not relax her weapon, and Crichton didn't ask her to. Either they were the same rank or she outranked him. She spoke again carefully to Crichton in the tongue of the enemy.

Crichton shook his head in response, "No, I don't."

Olivia gaped, resisting the urge to back away. She'd wanted to retreat the second her brother pulled a gun on the general. Her brother wasn't a fighter, he didn't take lives or make threats. He was gentle, kind... not this person before her.

Crichton turned back to face the crowd, eyes falling again on Olivia. He gave her another faintly friendly look, then addressed the general again, "General Tranguard, this if Officer Aeryn Sun, formerly of the Peacekeepers."

General Tranguard did not react, instead asked, "You said she was the same species as our attackers. She's... not human?"

Crichton shook his head, "None of them are. They're a species of alien known as Sebaceans... look, it's all a very long story..." he trailed off, eyes growing distant, the same distance that came to the woman's eyes at the same time. After a second they looked at one another and nodded, then Crichton turned to the humans, "The wormhole's stability has collapsed and folded... it's closed for now."

Tranguard frowned, "How do you know that?"

Crichton responded, "Our ship just told me. I don't have time to explain, we have planning to do."

"Planning?" Tranguard prompted.

Crichton sighed, "The enemy you fight is not the same we're battling. The forces you're fending off are a secondary threat to a greater enemy we've been battling in space, the Scarrans. My people and I are planning to mount another attack on one of their bases."

The director of Canaveral spoke up for the first time, "A bigger threat than the guys we've been dealing with? How do you expect to fight them if they're worse than what we've seen?"

"Our ship, Talyn... he's a unique combat vessel with massive firepower. I know it's all a lot to take in at once, but you've unfortunately been drawn into the fight."

Olivia inched closer, "How?"

Crichton looked at his sister, face growing softer and voice not as hard as he answered, "Keeping it short, Earth has come under the crossfire. The Sebacean and Scarran war has expanded to include wormhole technology and the battleground as a result has exploded exponentially. I'd hoped Earth wouldn't get involved, but the war has pushed farther than anyone has expected... you've become a strategic occupation point. I'm here to stop that from happening."

The general understood military tactics and joined in readily, hungry to understand at least one thing that had been thrown at him in the last hour, "So there's two factions out there trying to take over our planet because of its position?"

Crichton nodded, "As I'm sure you can understand, General, I can't afford to be away from my ship for long; I have to get back, but I'm willing to take you back to Talyn with us... if you agree to my terms."

The general asked slowly, "What conditions?"

Officer Sun spoke again to Crichton, looking over at Olivia in the crowd. Olivia wanted to pull back from the stare, even more unsettled by the alien woman than she was by her own brother who'd come back practically a total stranger.

Crichton sighed, "No... our plan's not changed.

"General, before coming I had intended to take back my father and Daniel Knox... now that the military is involved I know damned well you're not interested in letting civilians leave without some kind of official escort. I remember your procedural B.S. like it was yesterday, and I also know you'd want a military official to assess the ship I came on; if you bring my dad and DK, I'll allow you to board our ship."

Tranguard frowned, hating to have his thoughts pinned so precisely, and challenged, "Why would I want to be on that ship so badly?"

Crichton smirked, almost disconcertingly, "You don't want to know why Earth's come under attack?"

The general frowned, trapped. "What if they don't want to go with you?"

Crichton nodded, "If I know them like I think I do... they'll come."

Retired Colonel Jack Crichton stood in the Kennedy Space Center with his lost son's best friend, DK, waiting. They had both been accosted in their respective homes and practically brought under military arrest to Canaveral. They had no idea what was going on, but when they saw each other they were a bit calmer to know they were not alone.

They were both in the flight prep room when General Tranguard came into the room.

"Gentlemen," he jumped right into his speech, no pleasantries or greetings wasted, "you've been brought here because you were both requested. I don't know if either of you has caught word of what's been going on within the last couple of hours with the orbital attacks by the black forces, but an hour and twenty-seven minutes ago, a new ship we've never seen before came through the wormhole and destroyed all of the ships attacking our defenses."

DK and Jack looked at the general in surprise, checking with each other to make sure they heard right. Ret. Colonel Crichton spoke up, "Who?"

"A friend... at least they claim to be. The captain insists he's here to protect Earth from those forces trying to take over, and he's offered to take me aboard his battleship, but he won't allow me to go unless you two consent to go aboard. This is completely voluntary, of course; you would be in contact with alien technology and alien beings and that is understandably disturbing. If you decide not to go, the captain has assured he will respect your choice and not hold it against you."

DK frowned, "Wait... why would this captain request us?"

General Tranguard stepped back, crossing his arms with a sigh and answered, "Because the captain of the warship is John Crichton."

"John..." Aeryn caught his attention from the door of the transport pod where she stood guard. Crichton rose and moved over to where she sat, looking out the door. The armed guard was back, and with the general was DK and his dad.

"I knew they'd come," Crichton whispered, moving to exit the transport pod. Aeryn grabbed his arm, purposefully letting him know that he needed to keep his head, keep on his toes. The quick grab was all he needed and nodded, pushing aside his jacket to have his pulse pistol at the ready if things went south.

Aeryn nodded, letting him go.

Crichton dropped down out of the transport pod, walking to meet the group approaching.

Jack and DK almost stopped in their tracks to actually SEE John Crichton coming toward them. He looked different, but it was him beyond a doubt. He looked like he'd been through the east side of hell, but he was alive... that was a lot more than they were certain had become of him only hours ago.

They stopped before one another, the general and guards standing to one side as the friends and family reunited. Crichton had made no pretenses about liking the military involvement, and knowing the soldiers in the ship were watching them like hawks, the general made sure he and his guards were clearly in view and away from Crichton.

Jack blinked, stammering, "John... is that... is that really you?"

John nodded, "Yeah, it's me, Dad. I'm sorry to just drop in without calling first," he smiled faintly in teasing. Even his smile was strained, forced, as though he'd not genuinely smiled in a long time.

Jack stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his son. He thought he'd lost him eight years ago; now he was alive and in his arms. Jack never wanted to let go... ever.

DK stepped up to them, patting John on the back high upon his shoulders, "John, man..." then stopped when something metal touched his fingers. He frowned, "What's that?"

John pulled away from his father to answer his friend, who'd felt the spider web contraption on the nape of his neck, "Neural transponder... links me directly with my ship."

Jack gaped, "Your ship. So it's true... you're a captain."

Crichton grimaced, "Not exactly. It's a very long story. Look, I know this has gotta be weirding you guys out, but Aeryn and I shouldn't be off of Talyn for long. If it's okay with you, we can head on up."

Jack nodded, and DK could only shrug and follow suit. General Tranguard followed after them to the transport pod, leaving the guards behind.

Aeryn stepped back from the door, coming to a state of alert attention and ready to shoot anyone who made a wrong move. Crichton looked at her, and once the three men were inside he introduced the two new ones, "Aeryn, this is my dad, Jack, and my friend, DK. Guys, this is Aeryn Sun."

Jack and DK nodded, surprised beyond returning the verbal courtesy. They had been warned about aliens, and instead came aboard a ship full of humans.

Aeryn kept her gun ready, not trusting the new guests.

Crichton spoke directly to her, "Aeryn... Dad and DK aren't going to attack us..." then he looked at the general, "but keep a guard on him if you want."

"I'd prefer to keep guards on all of them."

Crichton frowned, "Aeryn, please..."

Aeryn glowered a moment, then nodded in relent and motioned for the general to have a seat where the others in the transport could watch him.

DK sidled up to John, "Man, what language was that?"

"Sebacean... it's the tongue of her species."

"Species? You mean as in 'not human'?"

Crichton nodded, "Exactly," and shouted toward the front of the transport pod, "we're secure, Kavyn, take us back."

"Yes, sir."

Jack looked around at the soldiers seated in the transport pod, each with a weapon and a deathly gleam in their eye. "Son..." he moved a step closer to John, speaking, "maybe you should start telling us what's going on."

Crichton pulled out his gun, causing both DK and Jack to startle backward, but John only reset the power setting on the weapon from maximum to a smaller output. "Later. Aeryn."

Aeryn worked her way through the crowd over to Crichton and stood beside him, eying his guests before speaking, "We had no reports of any rogue Peacekeeper take-over squadrons near the insertion coordinates."

John nodded, "That means we have to reconsider the loyalties of our informants."

Aeryn frowned, "At this point it doesn't matter... Scarran forces are closing in on the insertion vector coordinates; whatever Peacekeeper force there IS will be gone when they get there."

Crichton pushed away from her council, dejected, "Yeah, and so will my home."

Aeryn frowned sympathetically, looking over at Jack Crichton and DK standing meekly and harmlessly as they gawked at everything around them. She disliked Crichton's insistence that he bring them up to the ship. They were noncombatants; they would be useless if something happened. Then again, technically, Crichton was a noncombatant. He'd never been indoctrinated into any military force, just adopted by the defector and peaceful Sebaceans as the leader of their resistance against the Scarran threat.

Aeryn turned away, hating to think about what it was they were doing and what was happening in her end of the universe. It was easier to live day to day and not think about it. John did the thinking, because no one else wanted to. It was an awful situation everyone was in, and in part Crichton felt responsible. If he'd not come through in a wormhole the war might never have happened like it did. It might have been worse for one species or the other, but it would never have come to such scale as it now reached.

Talyn communicated to her questioningly through her neural transponder, worried about their combined absence. She reassured him they were on their way back, and he was relieved at the news. It had been traumatic for him to lose one captain; he'd been concerned about sending both of them down into unknown dangers. It had been a dangerous situation for the humans on Earth, more than they could have ever known. If the humans had shot her or Crichton down on the planet, Talyn would have panicked or just plain got mad and retaliated. They wouldn't have had to wait for Peacekeeper or Scarran occupation to decimate their numbers.