They were met in the hangar bay by two Sebaceans bearing weapons and a seven-foot-tall tentacled alien with a sword. As soon as they saw it was indeed Crichton coming aboard, the trio of aliens lowered their weapons.

DK, Jack, and General Tranguard froze in their step at the sight of the large, orange, tentacled alien.

Crichton walked right up to him, "Hey, D'Argo... good to see you again."

"It is good to see you as well, John."

The two Sebaceans holstered their guns, approaching Crichton. "John Crichton," one of them spoke, "we have risked our lives to come join with you; we pledge our lives and allegiance to you." The Sebaceans stood before Crichton at distinct military attention.

Crichton nodded, "We'll need all the help we can get... thank you for your sacrifice. You'll come back to Talyn with me when I go, but right now I'm here to repair this Leviathan. Will you help me do that?"

The other Sebacean replied, "We've come to give our service to you in good faith. Order us and we will abide."

Crichton nodded, looking over his shoulder at the three humans, and continued to the Sebaceans, "All right, contact the Pilot and see what you can do, and one more thing... this ship is important to myself and Officer Sun... take great care when you work on her."

The two soldiers nodded, "Yes, sir," and backed off to go to their work.

D'Argo smirked, "They fall at your feet to follow your commands and they barely know you."

Crichton sighed, "They're fresh from lifelong military service, D... takes them a while to get used to not being mindless soldiers anymore."

D'Argo nodded, looking up at the humans, "Who are they?"

Crichton looked over his shoulder at them again, pointing them out, "DK, my father, and Earth General Tranguard."

"Earth? Then they have..." D'Argo began.

Crichton nodded glumly, "Yeah... they've started attacks on Earth."

D'Argo reached out and rested a strong hand on Crichton's shoulder, "I am sorry."

Crichton nodded, "Thanks, big guy. So how badly is Moya injured?"

D'Argo hissed, "Peacekeeper dren. She will be all right, Pilot says. Chiana is on tier four doing repairs and Rygel and Jool are on tier three."

Crichton nodded, "Well, I guess I'll give Chiana a hand on tier four," he turned to beckon his followers, "gentlemen."

They followed after him, giving the large orange alien a wide berth.

"Hey, Chi... could you use an extra set of hands?"

Chiana looked over her shoulder at who had whispered the question, though she would know his voice and smell anywhere. If things were in better times, she would have smiled.

"Crichton... I could use some muscle; help me pull this out."

Crichton grabbed the end of a seat wedged into a cracked portion of Moya's inner hull. With a heave, they dislodged the chair and threw it aside. Almost in obligation, or because the contact was needed, Chiana wiped her hands and with a matter-of-fact demeanor put her arms around Crichton.

John hugged her back, knowing the strain these times were having on everyone. He sighed, taking comfort in the arms of family, as he'd adopted the crew of Moya as family long ago.

He pulled back, looking at the damage to Moya, "DRDs should be able to patch it up good as new."

Chiana looked over at the three who were trailing Crichton, frowning, "Who are they?"

Crichton introduced them, "My dad, my friend DK, and General Tranguard, this is Chiana. Chiana, everyone."

She nodded, weary, and looked back at the damage. She frowned, near tears, and said in a strained voice, "Moya isn't designed to take this, Crichton... she shouldn't be doing this..."

Crichton touched her face, calming her as only Crichton ever could, "Hey, Pip, I know... it's okay. We're going to take care for her, all right? Can you be strong for Moya? She needs us all."

Chiana nodded, fending off her pending tears.

Crichton touched her chin lovingly, smiling and prompting, "Come on... let's get back to work."

Crichton and the gray woman worked in silence together while the three humans hung back, wanting to stick close to the only other one of their species but taking the warning to stay out of the way to heart. Jack was bumped in the shoulder and turned to see one of the soldiers that had pledged their lives to his son in the hangar earlier. He was burdened with coils of tubing and cords, fighting to keep hold of them all.

Hesitating a moment, unsure, Jack pulled half the load from the young man's arms and moved to follow the soldier. The man nodded appreciation, leading Jack Crichton to a place not far away where the ship's wall was opened and wires exposed.

They both dropped their loads, the young man nodding, "Thanks."

Jack nodded, "No problem."

The man dropped to his knees and began to work on the exposed wiring. He frowned, then pointed toward one of the cords, "Could you hand me a three mecron?"

Jack just grabbed the cord it looked like the kid was pointing at, handing it over. It must have been right, because the young man started working with it.

Jack looked over his shoulder, able to still see his son from where he stood, and turned back to the young man, "What's your name?"

The man frowned, "Resik," and returned to his work. John had called him a soldier in the hanger bay, but he looked barely old enough to be driving (if they drove out here)... too young to be pledging his life to anyone in military service in the middle of a war, and far too young to be pledging himself to his son. John Crichton was his boy, he should never (in Jack's mind) be making life and death decisions with other people's lives.

Jack squatted down near him, looking again over at his son, "Resik... what are you doing here?"

Resik stopped, confused, "I'm here to join the fight on the side of John Crichton."

Jack frowned, still unable to comprehend how his son had raised an army. That wasn't his John. "Why did you come to John?"

Resik laughed, "His reputation."

"It proceeds him?"

Resik snorted, tossing aside a tool and digging into the wall, "By a million metras... you haven't heard of him?"

"What did you hear about him?"

Resik sighed, "Well, I heard that he took down a Shadow Depository, a platoon of Peacekeepers, took out a Gammak Base, frell, scorched the entire moon, put off an attack by the Sheyangs, killed that guy Scorpius in hand-to-hand combat... even single-handedly destroyed a Scarran Dreadnought."

Jack was stunned speechless by the tales of his son's exploits.

Resik, obviously in something akin to hero worship, kept going, "He's the greatest warrior there's been in a long time. One of the greats; he's not even dead yet and there's stories about him. We all want to be him. Peacekeepers tell stories about him, about meeting him some day. He is a soldier... the perfect soldier."

Jack looked over his shoulder at his son, kneeling on the ground with the gray woman fixing the ship. The LIVING ship. His son, a warrior, soldier... killer? It wasn't his John, but he'd seen it himself. And could he really expect his son to be captain of a gunship like 'Talyn' without being willing to kill?

Resik stopped, "What's your name, anyway?"

"Jack... Jack Crichton."

Resik paused, eyes darting back to Jack. "Crichton?" Resik's eyes moved to John Crichton down the corridor.

Jack nodded, still trying to digest his son being a soldier. The young soldier's shock before him went without any due notice.

"Are you related to John Crichton?"

Jack sighed, wondering for the first time in his life if he should be ashamed to admit it, "I'm... his father."

Resik's eyes bulged, "You're John Crichton's father?"

Jack nodded.

Resik was shocked, "I'm sorry for any disrespect I may have shown earlier, sir, I didn't know... THE John Crichton's father. You must be a grand soldier."

Jack shook his head, muttering, "I'm no soldier," and stood to return to his son... or what once was his son, but had become some kind of military icon and leader out here in the this unknown part of the universe.

They returned to Talyn at what had seemingly been deemed ship-night, even though there was no change in lighting... no day and night.

"Commander Crichton," General Tranguard insisted as they stepped back on to Talyn. "I think it's time you explained a few things."

Crichton sighed, irritated. Talyn caught Crichton's irritation and inquired about it, but John only related to him images of pesky Vorcs running amok through ship's systems making that annoying noise they were practiced at. Talyn chirped and responded with humor; Aeryn often said it was the greatest travesty of Crichton's bond to Talyn, infusing him or introducing him to John's brand of humor.

Crichton turned to look at the humans, so wide-eyed with wonder and faces so innocent. God, had he ever been like that? These people... his best friend, his father... they were looking to walk into a pulse blast with those naive gazes in their eyes. Had he once been so innocent, so painfully weak and vulnerable?

John closed his eyes, rubbing them with his fingers. Somehow, when he imagined this conversation, he always thought it would be easier.

Crichton nodded slowly, "All right... the galley."

Aeryn was in the galley when they arrived, probably having picked up from her third party connection to Crichton through Talyn that John would be heading that direction. She suspected that, persistent as humans apparently were, their guests would have stood for no further delays in the explanations Crichton had promised.

She sat in a back corner, eyes sharp and wary on the three strangers as they filed in, each looking a moment at her in uncertainty before doing their best to ignore her presence.

Crichton followed them in, looking up at Aeryn and tense features relaxing a bit... as she always did to him. She nodded in his direction, snapping her elbow and tossing a fruit to him. He snatched it out of the air, looking down at it. He smirked to himself. It was some kind of fruit he'd discovered on a planet cycles ago that tasted almost exactly like a pear. It was a comfort food for him ever since, a taste of home when things out here started to get to him. He would have to thank Aeryn later for finding one for him now... he would need it.

Crichton set it down on the table for the time being, bringing up a hand and running his thumb over his bottom lip. It was the only John Crichton behavior that Aeryn, DK, and Jack all recognized.

Crichton moved toward the dark end of the galley, favoring proximity to Aeryn, and said, "Talyn, engage privacy mode."

Talyn chirped in reply and the doors to the galley shut and locked tight.

Crichton settled himself on a seat, quiet a moment before looking up at his family and the one strange military officer. He truly disliked the general's presence; although, his experience with military force out here had been less than positive.

He regarded those of his species a brief microt before launching into his explanation. "The war... the Scarrans and Sebaceans have been at odds with each other for generations. In the last twenty cycles, the balance of power started to shift toward the Scarrans; they're a mean frelling species and outnumbered Sebaceans nearly ten to one. Peacekeeper Command tried to find a super weapon, something to bring the balance of power back in their favor, and naturally to blow the Scarrans out of the water. The Peacekeeper half-breed named Scorpius decided that that advantage was wormholes..."

Aeryn rose from her perch by Talyn's window, moving over to Crichton and standing over his shoulder, still shrouded in shadows but now a dark figure looming over him as he spoke. It disconcerted those listening, but it brought a great strength to continue in Crichton.

He took a deep breath, "When I came through the wormhole that brought me here... long story short, Scorpius found out how I got here and captured me to extract the information. I had been..." he gestured futilely, growing agitated by the memory of what he'd endured at the hands of the half-Scarran, "given the key to wormhole formation by another species called the Ancients. They were just trying to help, but it blew up in everyone's face. Scorpius managed to rip the knowledge from me and figured out, eventually, how to create stable wormholes. It didn't take him long to start using it to launch attacks against the Scarrans. Of course, advantages like that never stay on one side. Someone sees chance for profit and... it all goes to hell. The Scarrans got hold of the wormhole technology the Peacekeepers had, and now..."

Aeryn touched his shoulder, sitting down on the stool next to him and purposefully pushing a tray of food cubes in front of him.

Crichton allowed the distraction, smirking as he picked one up and ate it slowly.

General Tranguard frowned, "So these two factions, Scarrans and Peacekeepers? They're fighting a hot war with something that allows them to instantaneously be on their enemy's doorstep?"

Crichton looked up at the general, cold eyes shadowed by the dark light in the galley.

DK and Jack were far more concerned with Crichton the person, what had happened to HIM. Jack leaned closer, "John... I heard some disturbing things on that other ship from Resik."

Crichton cocked his head at his father.

Jack caught the question, "Uh... one of the boys that pledged his life to you. He told me things about you. Are any of them true?"

Crichton tensed, face growing stony and guarded as he returned, "What did he tell you?"

Jack glanced in concern at DK, "That you killed a lot of people... destroyed some kind of depository, destroyed a moon base, killed Peacekeepers, that guy Scorpius... and took out a Scarran Dreadnought by yourself, whatever that is."

Crichton did not react, Aeryn growing still and icy.

Jack prodded, "Is it true, son... have you become..."

"A murderer?" Crichton finished pointedly.

Jack sat back, unable to cope with the implications or say the words himself in accusation.

Crichton nodded as he picked up another food cube, "Most of those things we did as a group, a team... the depository, the Gammak Base, the Peacekeeper soldiers; but I did kill Scorpius myself... and," he threw a strange look at Aeryn beside him, "I... took out the Dreadnought myself, but the price I had to pay, the cost on others was... too high..." Crichton grew quiet again, letting a tense silence settle over them.

"This ship," Tranguard broke in. Crichton looked at him.

"This incredible weapon... are you the captain?"

Crichton's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, "In a way. Aeryn and I are co-captains, we both have neural transponders connecting us to Talyn. At first, Talyn had one captain, an ex-Peacekeeper captain named Bialar Crais, but four cycles ago he was killed by a Peacekeeper rouge force. Talyn was distraught... he was still a baby and Crais's guidance, misguided though it was, was all he'd known. Aeryn already had a connection to Talyn, she took the transponder and became captain, but after what happened to Talyn when Crais died we decided that to have two would improve the odds that there would always be someone to take care of Talyn. When he gets older, he may not even need either of us anymore... but he's just a kid now."

DK thought aloud, "So this transponder thing, it lets you control this ship?"

"Not so much control... Talyn has a mind of his own. It's more to offer guidance; he does what he wants if he doesn't like what we're telling him to do. Aeryn and I... persuade him to do things if it doesn't make sense to him at first. He trusts us to know what we're doing, but he'll disobey us if he feels like doing it."

Jack looked at Aeryn, "She has one too, so you, her, and Talyn are like... a triumvirate?"

Crichton nodded, "Exactly... with Talyn usually getting the final say."

Jack sighed, "What about these boys? These kids coming to fight for you, die for you, in this war?"

Crichton's face grew hard again, "I never set out to raise an army. When the war with wormholes broke out, Sebaceans from Breakaway Colonies and Peacekeepers defecting just came to me. They'd heard about the things I'd done and... offered to follow me in the fight if I chose to enter it."

"Then why did you get in on the war?" Tranguard asked.

Crichton glowered, "I was in this war from the beginning. From the moment I came through that wormhole eight cycles ago I was involved... and responsible. If I'd died in that test flight no one would have known that passing through a wormhole and living was possible. I lived, and in doing so ensured everything happening that has."

General Tranguard frowned, "These are civilians and defectors you're leading? You're a rebel faction leader?"

Crichton laughed coldly, barking in cool disregard, "There is no rebel faction. There's nothing left to rebel from. Don't you understand? It's all fallen apart. THIS is chaos, the word incarnate right here. The Peacekeepers are fighting a losing battle, the Scarrans are killing millions, and the rest of us are just trying to stop the slaughter any way we can."

Jack supplicated to his son, "John, just... what is it you're trying to do exactly?"

Crichton took a deep breath, setting his jaw. Aeryn saw his temper flaring and reached out, touching his arm. Crichton felt her cool fingers on his hot skin and it brought him back to reality. He took another deep, calming breath this time, nodding faintly at her and returning his eyes to the three across the table as he answered, "Restore the balance of power."

"How?" General Tranguard pressed.

Crichton licked his lips in thought, "Wormhole formation requires certain... certain planetary and solar activity conditions to be catalyzed. Scarrans and Peacekeepers have each set up bases around planets that meet the conditions for wormhole creation; we're neutralizing those bases."

"For the Peacekeepers or Scarrans?"

"Both."

DK raised his hands, "Wait a minute, let me see if I understand this... you're fighting a two-front war? You're against the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans?"

Crichton nodded.

"John," Jack whispered, "that's suicide."

DK frowned, "Didn't any world history from the World Wars stick?"

Crichton blinked slowly, tilting his head faintly in the direction of Aeryn, as though to draw strength from her. She frowned at the drain this meeting was on him and spoke for the first time directly to the human visitors, "Peacekeepers and Scarrans are alike in that they are both dominating, cruel forces in this part of the universe. To favor one's victory over another would ensure the subjugation of untold numbers."

Crichton interrupted, "They're both Nazi Germany; any one winning would still be Nazi Germany winning. The only way to return any systems here to peace is to keep them at each other's throats. I know it sounds crazy, but they have to keep fighting... they just can't fight on this scale with this impunity."

General Tranguard frowned, "There must be another way. To allow both to stay in power will lead them to the inevitable return to this level of conflict."

Crichton's eyes shot over to the general, "You've been here all of seven arns and you think you can reason out this war's problems? General, no offense intended, but you are in way over your head."

The general bristled.

Crichton stood, leaning over the table. "You see this?" he ran a finger down his facial scar. "The Scarran didn't use a weapon, no tool or implement to do this, this was his bare hand. And you're lucky if it's cuts and bruises you come away with. You're more likely to come out of the meeting with your brains turned to mush. Not that the Peacekeepers are a great deal better... maybe you'd like to hear about the Aurora Chair. Can you imagine having your entire life ripped from your brain, memories stolen and displayed for all to see like some cheap peep show and you unable to do anything about it?

"This war has to end in a stalemate for both sides... the only way to keep innocent people safe is to make sure they're busy doing these things to each other. Peacekeepers and Scarrans can mind-frell each other into oblivion for all I care, but I will NOT stand to have innocent people, everyone on EARTH, subjected to the horrors either group will inflict upon the populations if one group arises victorious."

A heavy silence fell over the group, three humans gaping at John Crichton in horror at what he'd just said, Aeryn quiet in recognition of the shock this was to the peaceful, naive little humans. Crichton was just 'seeing red' as he called it... so angry at everything the Scarrans and Peacekeepers had done to him, everything that had turned him into the murderer that so appalled his family now.

Aeryn decided this was enough. She stood, stating in her most no-nonsense voice, "This is finished," and told Talyn to unlock the doors.

Crichton sat back in his seat, eyes growing distant in thought as guards came to show the guests to their quarters. As they left, Aeryn turned to Crichton, studying the scar on his face. It was so simple now, but he'd barely survived the confrontation... so many times he'd been so close to dying. In a way, once, he did die.

Crichton sighed in resignation, dropping his face into his hands. During the day he did such a good job of being the leader he was asked to be... never wanted to be, but was expected to be. He had become all the warrior that Aeryn had set out to make him cycles ago, but at night it weighed upon him, the things he'd done. It didn't help to have his father and best friend from Earth show up and call him a murderer. He already thought of himself as one. Crichton had never been able to kill without regret. He'd just come to accept that sometimes it was necessary.

She met his eyes, trying to reassure him with an understanding expression. At one time, she may have gone to him, touched him, kissed him... but that was a time long ago. After the other Crichton died, things had never quite been the same.

Crichton nodded faintly at her silent gesture. She turned to retire for the night, confident he would be all right until morning, when he became the fighter again.