"So you're telling me that just one more of these wormholes will take us beyond the
Skarrans' range?" Chiana asked brightly.
"That's right, Pip." John answered, pushing a few of the panels in front of Pilot, trying to look
busy. He'd been working for what seemed like days on getting them away from the Skarran
trackers, whilst avoiding Peacekeeper patrols at the same time. It had taken it's toll on the rather
bored crew of the Leviathan, and was beginning to show.
"Thank frell. I'm getting sick of them." D'Argo grunted from behind him, appearing somewhat
disgruntled by the whole situation of repeated wormhole jumps.
"Just relax, D," John reassured, giving the Luxon a slap on the shoulder as he slipped past him
and pushed another control in. "You'll still get your frequent flyer mileage, all adding up to that
holiday in the Keys"
"If only." D'Argo muttered. "I'll be in command when you're done fooling around." he turned on
his heel and stalked back out through the entrance, leaving John and Chiana on their own with Pilot
and a half-dozen buzzing DRDs. The Nebari cocked her head a little, staring intently at what John
was doing as though it made any sense to her. He worked around her almost lethargic interests,
pushing in a few more control columns.
"Okay, Pilot, you and Moya set?" John checked, finally dropping back down to the floor.
"Yes, Commander. Ready when you are." Pilot answered, touching several more panels with his
outreached arms. "Prepare yourselves. Entering wormhole...now"
John grasped Pilot's raised pulpit as the Leviathan shook violently for a moment, then
reduced to a shuddering. They physically relaxed, the movement now tolerable after several
previous wormhole transits. After a few seconds however, a loud wailing screech pierced the air,
causing him to cringe and clamp his hands over his ears. Chiana looked down on him curiously.
"What is that?" he shouted over the noise.
"What's what?" she replied, clearly not hearing it.
"Subsonic vibrations caused by some kind of energy vortex inside the wormhole's event
horizon." Pilot answered, loud enough for him to hear. John winced as he unsuccessfully tried to
peer over and get a better view of Pilot's controls. The pain caused by the shrieking
reverberations was excruciating.
"What? That's not possible..." he muttered.
"Crichton! Get up here now!" Aeryn's voice broke through the receiver on John's jacket. Still
trying to block-out the gnawing sound, he turned and stumbled off towards Command, Chiana
following quickly after him.
"Rommie! What just happened?" Dylan Hunt demanded, supporting himself on the edge of
one of the command deck's consoles.
"You mean besides all the really freaky slipstream energy and my splitting headache?" Harper
moaned from nearby. The image of Andromeda on the screen in front of them seemed to look
around for a moment, before responding.
"Some kind of energy vortex that nearly overloaded our Slipstream drives. I automatically
dropped us out of slipstream to avoid it exploding."
"Just the usual then..." Bekka commented.
"Damage?" Dylan inquired.
"Moderate. I've lost engines, fire control, long-range sensors and several internal subsystems"
she answered. "Dylan, I'm picking-up a ship nearby"
"Let's see it." he nodded. On the viewer, a crackling image of a brown-coloured ship floated in
space. It's front hull split off into three prongs that bent back towards themselves as they extended
backward. It looked like no design Dylan had ever seen. "I don't recognise her"
"Nor do I." Rommie's frown was one of suspicion more than anything. Being without her
armaments, she felt like a wolf without it's teeth.
"If they have a weapon that can pluck a ship out of slipstream..." Tyr started up from the
entranceway, moving down to take the station over to Dylan's left.
"Then we're in trouble." Dylan finished quietly. "Rommie, can you establish communication"
"Not on any High Guard or other known frequency." her Avatar answered from the console
behind him.
"Reading a small craft emerging. Looks like some sort of small transport." the screen-Rommie
announced
"Armed?" he queried.
"No, but I'm detecting several lifesigns on-board." she responded. Dylan's face seemed set for a
moment.
"A boarding action." Bekka commented, "Real friendly"
"Not if I can help it." Dylan muttered.
"Not much we can do. I don't have weapons or a means of escape." Rommie answered simply.
"It's never easy." he sighed. "Let's go see who our guests are." turning and making sure he had
his force-lance at his belt, Dylan started for the landing bay with most of the others in tow.
The transport craft was the same colour as the alien ship had been: brownish, and
completely alien in design. It made Dylan immediately suspicious, especially when the Andromeda
had been dragged out of slipstream and taken away his only means of escape. He nearly jumped as
the ship's ramp slowly descended and a cluster of figures emerged. It took less than a second for
both groups to have weapons raised and aimed at the opposing group.
"Sebaceans..." John said quietly, seeing Dylan, Bekka, Rommie and Harper.
"Can't be; this almost certainly isn't a Peacekeeper ship." Aeryn replied.
"Maybe it's a trick." D'Argo suggested.
"I'm not sure I follow." Dylan commented cautiously. "I don't know anything about any
'Sebaceans' or 'Peacekeepers'. We're human. Well...most of us." he shot a glance Rommie's way,
before turning back to study the people in front of him; the intruders and interlopers who had
yanked the Andromeda out of Slipstream.
"Well you're sure not from Earth, buddy." John answered, his pulse pistol facing him.
"Earth? What about it?" Dylan replied, his force-lance aimed directly back.
"You know Earth?" John hesitated for the first time. If they knew Earth, then maybe they knew
how to get him there.
"Of course." Dylan eyed him suspiciously, the look returned by Crichton, equally as perplexed.
"You're saying you're from Earth"
"Got the T-shirt." John nodded slowly, not taking his eyes from Dylan's face. He looked Human.
Sounded it, too. Maybe he smelled it.
"John..." Aeryn started, but he held up a hand for her to wait.
"What's goin' on here"
"Why did you attack my ship?" Dylan demanded quickly, glancing at the other aliens.
"What? You were the ones who pulled us out of a wormhole." D'Argo corrected.
"That wasn't us." Rommie said. "Dylan...I don't recognise this species...or those..." she indicated
the non-human-looking members of Moya's crew.
"So...we're dealing with members of some long-dead alien races. Perhaps we should send them
to join their ancestors..." Tyr commented. D'Argo gave a slight growl, though Tyr stared directly
back at him, hardly fazed.
"Easy..." Dylan muttered.
"You trust 'em, boss? Cuz like, it's not like they look like the nice and pleasant type, with these
things pointed at us." Harper commented. D'Argo gave a slight growl, but didn't stop his staring at
Tyr.
"You've got weapons on us, too." Aeryn commented.
"No offense, beautiful, but I'm not the trusting type. No matter how good-looking the babe"
Harper remarked. John's pistol shifted over to Harper.
"Take it easy, shortstop." he warned.
"Hey, the position of wise-cracking genius has been taken, thank you very much!" Harper
protested, subconsciously sidling between Trance and Bekka.
"Hold on. It seems fairly obvious that we're both equally as surprised by this situation as each
other." Dylan interrupted, sensing that things were headed towards a confrontational outcome. "We
didn't attack you. We were pulled here by some strange force as we hit slipstream"
"Slipstream...?" John queried. Dylan took a breath, relaxing into something of a mediator's role.
"Nevermind, look, the point is, neither of us did this. It just...happened." he looked directly at
John. "My name is Dylan Hunt, Captain of the Andromeda Ascendant." John considered him,
steadily beginning to trust.
"Commander John Crichton. I'm an astronaut...from Earth..." Crichton answered. Both men
extended arms, shaking hands. "And, uhh...sorry for the...you-know." he pushed Aeryn's pulse rifle
down, and stepped in front of D'Argo to prevent him shooting Tyr between the eyes with his
Qualta blade.
"Quite alright." Dylan nodded. He was still slightly cautious, but it seemed quite clear that these
people didn't have malicious intent. At least not all of them. "Welcome aboard..."