Neglectric Visitors

by Cesy

Aliens land on Moya, and John has to get rid of them... with a little help from Scorpius

"Neglectric Visitors"

Command was crowded but everyone was silent as John approached. He sensed a problem.

"Are you sure, Pilot?" asked the first voice he heard - Aeryn, sounding worried. "Are you certain that ship is powered down?"
"No, Officer Sun, I am not sure. As I told Captain D'Argo, it seems to be powered down, but Moya detects electrical surges emerging outwards in all directions from the ship," came the decidedly uncertain reply.
"What's going on?" asked John, as he walked across to join them..
"We have detected an abandoned powered-down ship…" began D'Argo.
"We? What do you mean 'we'? I saw this ship out of the viewing portal before Pilot said anything. It's mine!" spluttered Rygel, in a rage.
"Hey, Fluffy, calm it. They could be in trouble." He turned to D'Argo.
"D, have we tried comming them?"
"Of course! No reply."
"You want to take your ship over?" John asked.
"Pilot says the charges running through that ship could easily disable any of the Transport pods or Farscape 1, and maybe even Lo'La. The only way we can find out is to bring it aboard."
"You sure that's a good idea, D?" asked John.
"I think so… I mean, what could go wrong?"
"Haven't you learned yet to never say that?"
"No."

The entire crew gathered in the Hangar to investigate the new ship.

"Everyone ready?" enquired D'Argo, looking around at John, Aeryn, Chiana, Rygel, Sikozu and Noranti for any objections. He avoided eye contact with Scorpius, who spoke up anyway.
"This is foolish. Whatever happened on board has disabled the ship; to bring it on board Moya puts all of us at too great a risk."
"Well, I'm sorry, Grasshopper, but Captain 'Jean-Luc' D'Argo here feels like it's time for a relief mission to the poor, disabled alien starship."
"Captain D'Argo, Moya is experiencing a disturbing sensation, a numbness running from the transport hanger up three tiers, down two tiers, and almost as far as the neural cluster." interrupted Pilot, "She can only recall one time ever before that she felt this way, and that was…" Pilot stopped, hesitating.
"Pilot?" said John.
"The Chlorium. Soon after we first escaped… Commander, Moya is… very afraid."
The members of the party glanced at each other, their faces each reflecting their concern at this news.
"I guess we'd better go see who's home," said John, striding towards the darkened ship with purpose.
"Be careful, John!" called D'Argo, "Remember that Moya doesn't recognise this class or type of ship."

They cautiously approached a hatch at the rear, but John suddenly stopped.

"Does anyone else feel that? The floor is hot…" he began, just as D'Argo arrived at the hatch ahead of him, and reached towards it, promptly receiving a sharp electric shock which arched at least 5 inches through the air. The shock knocked D'Argo back onto the floor and John could smell burning hair as they all rushed over.

"You ok?" asked John, sounding worried, "That looked painful."
"It was," came the reply.
"Pilot, did that surge affect any of Moya's systems?" enquired Aeryn.
"No, Officer Sun, in fact I do not believe that was a surge, simply Captain D'Argo moving close enough for the electricity to jump through the air."
"Wow," said John, "There must be enough electricity running through there to run a TV set for a while."

Back in Command, the crew took the time to discuss the situation, while D'Argo recovered in his quarters.

"Ok, let me get this straight – we can't get aboard this ship, and now Moya feels like she's on morphine, she can't open the Hangar doors and jettison it, either."
"That is correct, Commander," replied Pilot.
"Is there an override? For the Hangar doors?" asked Aeryn.
Chiana quickly interrupted, "Not Lo'La again! We thought of that before!"

Aeryn looked confused.

"It's a long, and fairly old, story, Aeryn. I'll explain sometime. Later." said John.
"No. The only way to leak the air from the bay and suck out the ship would be to destroy the hangar doors entirely," said Pilot.
"Maybe that would not be the best of ideas," offered Sikozu, haltingly.
"Agreed. However, we do need to find a way to remove this ship from Moya, or at least insulate her from its influence," Scorpius asserted. "It seems obvious now that the intense electric field present in that vessel is what is causing Moya's numbness. However, it would seem unlikely that this is a defence mechanism, as we found this ship adrift as though it has experienced some difficulty during normal operations,"
"Perhaps this was caused by some kind of weapon," suggested Aeryn.
"Nothing is impossible, but I find it unlikely. A weapon firing this much electrical energy would require a tremendous amount of charge for no significant result. Even Peacekeeper frag cannons are far more efficient," replied Sikozu.
"Hang on a microt… what do you mean?" asked Chiana.
"Basically, it takes a lot of power to project electricity across space. As a weapon it takes too much power to use effectively," explained John, quickly, "I'll be happy to give you a science lesson some time, like when we're out of danger."
"Hey, Buckwheat, you still want the ship? You can have it if you take it away," said John.
"You can have it, I don't intend to get shocked like him." Rygel raised his stubby arm to point down the corridor towards D'Argo's quarters. "Besides, in that condition, what would it be worth?" he continued.
"Figures" was all he got in reply, as John wandered off to think.

John turned as he walked away from Command, after hearing a noise behind him, to find Scorpius following him.

"Go away, Scorpius. I'm trying to think."
"John, we must talk."
"Come on, Grasshopper, you finally get rid of Harv, and now you're following me around. Just leave me alone."
"John, wormholes. What if that ship has come from a theoretically possible negatively charged universe? That would explain the lack of their ship functions in our universe, the strange effect Pilot detected before we brought it on board, and the strange effect it is having on Moya. If it does not belong in this universe, you must send it back."
"And you expect me to do that using wormholes?"
"Yes, John."
"Einstein only told me how to get back to the places I had already been to. This must be a completely different route from the time of the birth of the universe, how am I supposed to know where to go for this other universe. If it even exists?"
"John the safety of the entire crew may depend on your abilities in the near future."
"Yeah thanks for the whole good luck speech Scorp – now leave me alone, I'm trying to think"
"As you wish, John"

With these words, Scorpius turned and prowled back down the passageway, from the direction he had come.

John was still walking the corridors, searching for inspiration, when he heard a familiar voice.

"John, any luck?"

John's eyes lifted as he saw Aeryn walking towards him and with a quick reflex in his wrist, John's comm was turned into his shirt. It wouldn't stop the conversation being heard, but it would muffle the volume. Meaning Scorpius wouldn't be able to hear that much.

"How's D?"
"Awake." Aeryn said as she stepped closer to him, a small smirk upon her lips. "A bit irritable, but now he just wants to blow the ship up."
"He's all right, then." John said, suppressing his laugh.

It wasn't an uncommon fact that D'Argo found a joy that could never be explained in blowing things up. He expressed it often, and if pushed correctly expressed it on the other crew's belongings. With a look over both shoulders John stepped closer to Aeryn, his fingers already finding that familiar small cluster of raven black hair, wrapping it around his fingers.

"When this is over, I have something for you." She pressed her hand to the one that was holding her hair. Her dark eyes looking straight into his as her voice was no higher than a whisper, but John didn't know if it was because of the comms or because they were standing so close. "It's in storage at the moment."

John pulled back slightly, to study her face.

"You bought me a Christmas gift?" Aeryn gave a small nod, her eyes unsure if this was the right time to be presenting this to him. John's smile confirmed that it was as he tried to hide his excitement.

"I'll tell you what, when this crazy ship is away, drifting off in space we can meet up in Pilot's den."

Before Aeryn could give a verbal reply John leaned in, brushing his nose against hers and he saw her, through half closed eyes, tip her mouth up towards him, he kissed her. There was nothing to describe her kisses, they were unsure and so sweet, two things that Officer Aeryn Sun never was. He felt her mouth open under his, and as much as he wanted to continue this, he pulled his head away slightly.

"Much as I would love to stay here, doing this," John laughed, not even believing he was going to say what he was. "I need to find Scorpy."

Aeryn raised an eyebrow and John nodded his head.

"I know, but he has a theory and I ignored it." Aeryn's hands slipped from his shoulders as they slowly parted from each other.

"I need to get to Command." She explained taking a couple of steps away from him. "I'll see you at Pilot's?"
"It's a date." John confirmed and watched as Aeryn walked away. He bent his head to the side, smiling to himself before turning and walking towards Scorpius' cell.

John stepped into Scorpius's quarters slightly hesitantly. He always had felt uneasy in all Moya's cells, even when they were unused. He hated all the unused cells, as they reminded him too much of Moya's original function. And now Scorpius was here, an even bigger reminder of Peacekeeper injustices – to all of them.

"Scorpius."
"Yes, John?"
"How can we get close enough to that ship to look inside?"
"Are you asking for my advice?"
"I am asking for a suggestion."
"Insulation. If, as I suspect, this ship does come from a negatively-charged universe, they will be as hurt by us as we are by them."
"Why didn't I think of that? It's so obvious. And, yes, they should be hurt by us… unless… unless they were ready to come here, expecting…"
"Everyone!" interrupted Pilot suddenly. "Moya feels a hull breach in a section not far outside the numb area, Tier 7, Cargo Bay"
"John, meet me outside the Cargo bay with a space suit as soon as you can. Pilot, seal the doors for as long as you can," commed D'Argo, taking command.
"On my way, D." He turned to Scorpius. "You stay here. I need to talk to you when I get back."

When he arrived, he saw D'Argo standing outside the hatch.

"Lets go, then. Pilot, open the door."

As the door opened, John half expected to see a huge meteor hole, but what he saw made his skin go cold. As he had feared deep down – Moya's skin had clearly been blasted. The hole was too circular, too perfect. Worse still it was obvious she had been blasted from the inside.

"Hey, girls, one of you go find Scorpius. This is sabotage from inside." commed John.
"John, has Scorpius not proved himself enough yet?" commed Aeryn
"Have you no capability to trust anyone?" demanded Sikozu, almost simultaneously.
"Listen, Aeryn, I just don't know. Please send Chiana to keep an eye on him."
"No problem. I'm on my way," replied Chiana.
"John, what if there is someone moving about the ship?" asked D'Argo.
"Then we have a problem, because the only possibility is that they came from that ship in the Hangar, and you don't want to know what kind of abilities these people have if they come from another universe where the laws of physics are different. They'll be so much like trouble they'll make the trouble with Talikaa look like a trip to Disneyland."
"What?"
"Just… oh never mind, D. It's bad."

Rayamana stood inside her modest vessel, regarding her crew of scavengers.

"This is not an ordinary vessel," she began, "It seems something about us… perhaps our difference in charge from passing through the Passage of Bounty affects it somehow." She glanced at Xthnia, her science officer, who nodded slowly, deep in thought.
"All the more reason to leave here and return home immediately!" interrupted Skarkmor, the youngest and surprisingly the least eager of the scavengers.

Rayamana had become annoyed at this one during her three scavenging raids in this sortie. He would be executed for cowardice on their return, but for now, she needed bodies. From beside her, Emmeryc, the oldest and most experienced of her crew, spoke.

"The bounty from this strange vessel will be enough to allow us to return victorious from this six-menosum sortie."

The rest of the scavengers jumped to attention as Presalkyr, the first officer, returned from his minor sabotage. He had destroyed a section of the hull, and placed several delayed charges in various points around the vessel, following the sacred tactics of the ancestors, who had been taking advantage of do-gooders in tormented space for centuries.

"Hail! Success!" were his only two words, for he was a man with little time for niceties.

Rayamana briefly wondered if militaries everywhere contained such men. With the arrival of the eighth and final member of the party, the noise of chattering amongst the younger members broke out.

Emmeryc spoke over the noise. "We are ready to continue. Prepare yourselves, check your equipment, we continue in a tholem."

Emmeryc was another that Rayamana would like to see executed. She often felt that he had more control over the crew than she did.

"Primary objective is elimination of the vessel's inhabitants."

Emmeryc watched Rayamana as she prepared for her sortie into the alien vessel. One of the most beautiful females he had ever seen. And he had seen a few. But so fiercely independent. And so intent on controlling everything. Emmeryc had never had any desire to be a commander, to be responsible for everyone getting home. Everyone knew who was really in charge in this crew. Only Rayamana did not seem willing to accept it. He strapped on his own insulation suit as he thought. He realised sadly that he might have to dispose of her himself - to continue the smooth running of the ship. For the good of the ship, of course.

The vessel's inhabitants were in a meeting of their own. At least, most of them were. Sikozu was still with Scorpius. John felt uneasy leaving those two together, but he accepted it because 1812 was watching them. All of the time. There were some advantages to being a DRD.

"This must be some kind of incursion from the people aboard the ship. There is no other explanation," said Aeryn, summing up all their beliefs.

Zhaan was no longer around to say… John banished the thought until later. He needed a clear head.

"We all agree, Officer Sun, but we don't know what to do about it," said Pilot.
"Pilot, send some DRD's to watch the ship." said D'Argo.
"D, they may not be able to get close enough. If the charge can disrupt Moya's impulses, if it can knock you out, just imagine what it could do to a DRD." interrupted John.
"OK, Pilot, don't."
"We could try building insulation into one of the spacesuits," suggested John.
"Good idea."
"Sikozu, Scorpius, could you please meet me in storage?" commed John. "I need your help to construct an upgrade."
"On our way," replied Sikozu.

"You spent 5 arns and this is the best you could do?" demanded D'Argo.
"Well, I'm sorry if it does not live up to your visual expectations, but it should protect me from the electricity, even if it is a little bulky," said John, his voice muffled by the suit.
"Well, the ship has not changed its status, but we have had four hull breeches, in four completely different places."
"Sweet Jesus! What are you doing about it?"
"There's not much we can do, John, that's where Rygel, Chiana and Aeryn are now, patching up holes. All we can do is react – we can't predict where they will breech next."
"In that case I had better get moving."
"This sounds like sabotage tactics to me, John," said Scorpius
"In that case, genius, I had better doubly get moving."

Rayamana checked her equipment. It was time.

"Let's go."

Presalkyr opened the concealed hatch on her order and dropped through. The first thing he did was look around, and then he signalled the others to follow him. Emmeryc dropped through next, then Rayamana. The first thing she noticed was that the ship looked oddly organic - alive. She dismissed this thought in a moment when she saw a lone figure walking awkwardly through the doorway. He had not yet seen the three raiders, as they were behind a landing strut. She took a moment to shoulder her weapon and check it was on full power, and then watched with satisfaction as the figure collapsed with a cry, electricity arcing around him.

All Crichton saw was a bolt of lightning heading straight at him and then he felt an inability to move as he collapsed to the deck. His last thought was that he had done exactly what he had promised Aeryn he would not do – he promised he wasn't going to make her watch that happen again… Then he slipped into unconsciousness.

Rayamana ordered her crew back into the ship, as undoubtedly a large amount of the crew would investigate this, and they did not want to be caught in a firefight they could not win. Before she joined them, she hurried over to the fallen creature to try to ascertain if he was dead – he didn't move when she nudged him, causing more sparks to fly. But she wasn't sure and before she could shoot her weapon again, she heard footsteps running towards her. She retreated to the safety of her ship.

Aeryn heard John's cry over the comms, and immediately panicked. She drew her pulse pistol and ran to the Hangar. D'Argo met her en route and could see enough in her eyes to say nothing. They ran together the rest of the way, and saw John collapsed on the floor. Aeryn ran over. She removed his helmet and felt his face. He was so cold. Chiana ran in, ran to John as well, as D'Argo continued to look around for intruders.

"I suppose they have declared war then. Take him to Noranti, ask her what she can do for him." said D'Argo to Aeryn and Chiana.
"The suit didn't protect him, D'Argo," said Chiana.
"I know."
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know."
As they left, he said under his breath, "Shoot faster"

John woke to see Aeryn's face above him, which was good, and with what felt like a hangover, which was bad.

"Hello you." he said, smiling.
"Thank Cholack. I was so worried," she said, looking relieved.
"My head hurts."
"I'm not surprised. Pilot says you took a charge of at least 500 times what D'Argo did."
"My suit didn't protect me enough. These people must have learned how to use their charge as a weapon."
"That's what we think."
"Why does it always happen like this? Why are the aliens always hostile? Why do they always want to kill us? Can't we have a "Close Encounters" day?"
"What?"
"Oh, friendly aliens, they arrive at Earth… never mind, remind me, I'll tell you later."
"OK. Can you move? D'Argo could use your help. He wants to destroy the ship. Building Lo'Laan to full power in Moya's Hangar was not thought a good idea by the rest of us, though. He needs some other ideas."
"How long was I out?"
"Too long. 3 arns."
"I'm sorry."

John tried to sit up.

"Ow. My head hurts."

Aeryn helped him up, and he stood, supporting himself on the wall. Slowly he took his hand away from the wall and stood by himself.

"OK. Let's go find D, convince him not to destroy the ship, beat the bad guys, and be back in time for dinner."
"Good plan."
"Well, you know my plans are always the best."

They walked to the door, and Aeryn opened it, motioning for him to leave first.

"Let me show you what we do on Earth," he said and took her hand in his. They walked out together, towards the Command.

They arrived to the sound of a loud and animated argument. John dropped Aeryn's hand as they walked near.

"…and if you carry out your plan, you will not only destroy the vessel which is your target, but Moya as well." Scorpius was saying, fairly calmly, but forcefully.
"You have no idea about it at all, you're just guessing" shouted D'Argo. "That thing is hurting Moya, and the quicker we destroy it, the better."
"Listen to him, D'Argo, if you think, you know he is right." interrupted Sikozu.
"Why are you always supporting him…" began Chiana.
"Hey guys, what's up?" said John.
"John, you're OK!" Chiana moved over to talk to him quietly. "That tralc is agreeing with Scorpius in everything. He says we can't destroy the ship, but he has no better ideas."
"I hate to say this, but for once I agree with Scorpius, building Lo'La to full power inside Moya will damage her, even if the shot doesn't."
"Do you have any other ideas?" asked D'Argo.
"Not yet. But I will think of one. For Moya. Just give me a little time."

Rayamana led Emmeryc and Skarkmor through the airflow chamber. She would have preferred any other two people in her team to be with her, as she felt that Skarkmor was cowardly and Emmeryc was a blatant threat to her command of the mission. However, as captain she felt responsible for the whole team's actions, and she did not want to be disciplined on her return through the Passage of Bounty. Their mission was to find and destroy the communications centre, to stop the crew functioning together.
They exited into the top of the room they suspected was the communications centre. When she looked down, she saw a large blue alien that seemed to be attached to the ship. The room was huge – almost as big as the Hangar on the main level, and between the four symmetrical walkways around the room were huge holes that revealed lower levels, with a similar pattern of walkways and platforms. Even Rayamana stood there for a moment, transfixed by awe at the sight. Then Skarkmor dropped a piece of equipment, making a noise. She turned to frown at him, and heard the alien comm his friends. So, this was why he was in the communications centre, he had superior audial acuity.
She was certain that a member of her species would not have heard such a small noise from such a distance. She briefly wondered how many organic versions there were of devices in this ship. She would have loved to have the opportunity to study this ship – she was, in reality, more of a scientist than a scavenger, she was only here because she needed to fund… some… projects she was working on.
Just then, a familiar figure ran in with two unfamiliar ones, and she realised the enemy she had shot had already recovered. Beside the obvious disappointments that they had unwittingly strayed onto a scientific miracle and would probably damage it seriously during the course of the mission, and that their weapons could not easily kill the enemy they had chosen, she was fascinated.
She decided she would give anything for an opportunity to study these aliens. If that meant her crew had to die, that was life. The only one she would be particularly sorry to send to their death would be Presalkyr, who was at the moment with Xthnia, the only other female crew member, and his mate, searching for the command centre. He had always been loyal to her command, without question. For now, she decided, she would have to retreat to the safety of her vessel, with her team. From there she would recall the others and send them to their deaths. Then the enemies raised their weapons, and she saw lots of little bolts of red light fly towards her.
Beside her, Skarkmor fell into the large room, hit. "Well," she thought," that saves me the trouble of having him executed for his cowardice." She turned to exit behind Emmeryc, who had fled. This was going to be easier than she had thought.

Emmeryc had run when the shooting had started. He did not consider himself a warrior. He was the stealthiest mover on the ship, but he had no intention of getting into a suicidal firefight. He did have the courage to wait for Rayamana and Skarkmor to catch up…

John, Aeryn and D'Argo kept firing at the access hatch until they were certain that all the invaders had left.

"Nice hearing Pilot. Putting those enhanced senses to good use I see," said John
"Thank you, Commander."
"We'll sort them, Pilot, I promise."
"I know, Commander, but Moya and I are beginning to get very scared. She still can't feel anything around the Hangar. And the area affected is spreading."
"We'll do what we can."
D'Argo said into the comms, "Rygel?"

There was no answer.

"Rygel! Where the hezmana are you?" he demanded.
There was a spluttering noise at the end of the comms.
"Keep your boots on, you great Luxan…" came the reply.
"Pants, Rygel, pants," John interrupted.
"What do you want? I'm in the galley."
"I want you to search the tiers below Pilot's chamber for one of the aliens we just shot. We want to know if he's dead," said D'Argo.
"Why me?"
"Because I say so, you useless little…"
"All right, all right. Though I think the captaincy has gone to your head, ordering me around like a servant."

The three of them walked out of Pilot's Den together.

"But it's specifically prohibited by the sacred tactics." complained Aerp, the next sacrificial lamb.
"The sacred Tactics are only a guide, and this is an abnormal situation. You are to storm the Command, and take control. We will simultaneously destroy two bulkheads to distract the crew." replied Rayamana, mindful of the fact she needed to eliminate the crew of this gargantuan spaceship in order to study it safely. "Now go!"

Reluctantly, Aerp popped open the hatch and dropped through.

Aerp felt nervous. He knew his weapon was powerful, but that was the only comfort he had – and that was minor. He slowly approached the Command Area, travelling through the corridors, as ordered. He couldn't, however, shake the feeling that something was wrong with Rayamana. He had a horrible feeling this was a very dangerous sortie, that could only end in… he shook away the thought to begin with, but then he wondered whether Rayamana had intended him to die here… He was only 50 metres away from the command, and thinking of this when he met one of the crew – a short girl with long, curly red hair – and forgot his thoughts of betrayal.
She looked surprised to see him as he raised his weapon and fired. She dodged by running up the wall. Confused, he followed this strange creature, firing again and again, scarring large sections of the ship's walls. He heard the blue, multi-armed alien, whom Emmeryc had spoken about, cry out to the entire crew that someone outside the Command was firing at someone called Moya.
The next thing he knew, a taller, dark-haired woman was standing in the doorway ahead of him. She raised some kind of weapon and pointed it at him. He instinctively ducked, but he saw a flash of light, felt a large pain, and then everything went black.

Aeryn walked over to the corpse. The fool had ducked and twisted at the last second, and her shot had hit his head rather than his shoulder. She kicked the body, not out of malice, but as a function from her original Peacekeeper training. He was limp. Dead. She cursed under her breath, and called Noranti.

"Noranti, one of the attackers has scarred large portions of Moya's insides. Please speak with Pilot and see what you can do for her. John, D'Argo, we have a dead enemy outside Command who wants to make your acquaintance."
"We're on our way," replied John.

"So this is what we are fighting," stated D'Argo.
"D, you look angry. Try to calm down," said John.

He bent over the body and examined the helmet. It was thick enough that he could not see the creature's face. He reached to remove it, but as soon as he did, he received a large electric shock from the creature's skin. He was thrown backwards against the wall.

"Ow. Why does that keep happening to me? I guess that proves Scorpy's theory that they come from another universe."
"Great," replied Chiana, "So they're here. What do we do about it?"
"We find a way to remove this guy's suit, and for one of us to wear it. Then they attack the ship," said D'Argo.
John walked close to D'Argo and spoke quietly, "D, I hate to say this, but only Chiana or Sikozu would fit in that suit, it's too small for any us to wear."
"Sikozu can do it."
Surprised at the bluntness of D'Argo's reply, John asked, "Can Sikozu use a weapon?"
"Who can't?"
"We should at least ask her… he trailed off, because, at that moment, Sikozu walked in.
"Scorpius told me I was wanted," she explained.
"So he does listen to our conversations," John thought, and set aside that thought for later.
"Yeah," he said, "could you fit in this suit?"
"Yes… Yes, I think so," was her hesitant reply. "Why?"
"We need you to sabotage the ship from the inside, act as recon, work out how many enemies there are, and kill as many as you can before bringing back all that information." said D'Argo
"I know," said John, seeing her face, "It's a bit of a 'Wile E. Coyote' type of plan. But this is their Alamo. We can't get in, and every time they get out, we stop them."
"You know, Crichton, half the time, I have no idea what you are on about."
"Me neither."

When they finally got her into the suit, Sikozu began to feel terribly claustrophobic, but she gave a thumbs up. Muffled through the suit, she heard D'Argo say, "Good, we can't see it's her, so they probably won't either. Until it's too late."
"Great," she thought, "Another of D'Argo's hare-brained schemes."
She knew, though, that she didn't have any choice. So she set off towards the Hangar, feeling completely unsafe, despite the powerful weapon she held in her hand.

"Well, she's gone," said Aeryn. "Now all we have to do is wait and hope she comes back in one piece."
"In the meantime," suggested Scorpius, "we could work on insulating Moya from the influence of the ship. Pilot, is it possible to lift the ship inside the hangar with the docking web?"
"That is possible, but I cannot presently activate the docking web from here, due to all the electrical interference. The sheer voltage on that ship is… staggering. You will have to operate it manually. The controls are in the hangar."
"Great," said John, "All we need to do is activate the docking web, which we don't know how to do, insulate Moya from the influence of this ship, without any insulating material, and hope we don't get shot at and killed by the aliens. Nothing wrong with that plan."
"And you," Scorpius pointed to John, "need to work out how to send them back to where they came from using wormholes."
The crew looked from Scorpius to John and back again, wondering how Crichton would react. John just scowled and turned his back, Aeryn following him as he left the room.

Sikozu approached the ship quietly. She looked around. The Hangar was empty. For the first time she noticed how alien the ship looked – it didn't even seem to have a consistent design scheme. It looked like it had been thrown together out of any usable scrap metal the constructor could lay his hands on. Parts were as smooth as the outer hull of Lo'Laan, other parts appeared to have a texture similar to the plant they had encountered shortly before D'Argo had been chosen as captain – she had seen the images in his ship.
The shape as a whole was approximately the shape of one of those letters Crichton had shown her in his native language – an H he had said it was called. Five landing struts emerged from the bottom, one from each corner and one in the middle of the shape. As she approached, and looked closely at the underside of the left-hand branch of the H for the first time, a hatch opened, and a hand reached down to help her up into the ship. Hoping she did not weigh a significantly different amount from the enemy whose suit she was wearing, she reached up, and was lifted easily.

"Hey, you seem to have lost weight, Aerp. You been dieting?"

Sikozu tensed, ready for a conflict, but it was just a friendly comment from a team mate. She shrugged and stepped into some kind of long corridor. She automatically began to memorise the layout of the ship as she walked. There were several open doors on the right, through which she could see communications centres, weapon control bays, engineering stations and one that seemed to be a Cargo Bay of some kind, stuffed with components and debris, and more doors on the left, containing crew quarters.
At the end of the corridor, about 15 metres from where she started, was a command centre. She had seen 5 other commandos, including the one who helped her into the ship. She silently walked onto the command deck. There was one other scavenger here, who was transmitting orders all over the ship, probably the leader. She turned to regard Sikozu as she stood at the back of the ship.

"Aerp, report! Why are you not in the enemy command centre?"
"I… they are destroyed, commander," she said in a strangely deep voice – fleetingly, she was glad none of Moya's crew was around to hear her reveal her hidden talents."
"Aerp, you lie! I detect life signs in their command centre!" was the reply.

Sikozu's nerve gave out. She turned and ran, back the way she came, towards the hatch. A large bolt of electricity contacted with her left leg, and she felt the damage but continued anyway. She jumped out of the hatch onto the ground and ran. As she ran, the hangar bay door seemed to get further away, not closer. Lightning scarred the inside of the hangar, as someone began firing wildly at her.

"PILOT!" she screamed, "Shut the doors!" and she continued running.

The doors slowly began to cycle closed, and another blast from her pursuer grazed her arm. She dived behind the door at the last second, scrambled up, and continued running, only just remembering to limp when she approached the command, to minimise the others' questioning.

Safely in the medical bay, Noranti bandaged the burn on Sikozu's leg, while the others questioned her.
"I already told you, D'Argo, there were 6, including the leader. They seem to be some kind of scavengers, judging by the contents of the cargo bay. And the one we killed was supposed to attack the Command. That is all I know."
"Why do I not believe you? You were in there too long. And that burn…"
"I ran into a hot component on the ship, I told you."
"D, does it really matter about the burn," interrupted John, "All we need to worry about at the moment is how to stop these 'scavengers' from scavenging Moya to death."
"Rygel," asked D'Argo, "did you find the one that fell in Pilot's chamber?"
"No," Rygel replied.
"Did you look everywhere?"
"Of course I did. There was no sign of it – dead or alive."
"John." It was Aeryn.
"Yes?"
"Sending one person to attack the Command… it's suicide. And they must know enough about us already to be aware of that, considering the time they have been on board observing us."
"That's true. Good thinking Aeryn."
Scorpius spoke up.
"We must destroy them. The suit will no longer work. We must come up with an alternative plan."
"We could always try to negotiate," suggested Noranti, finished with Sikozu.
"No, you'll get shot," said John, "We've been through this before, remember? With the Tarkans?"
"I wonder what they did when they found out what Noranti meant by 'cleansing restorative…" said Rygel, with a sneer.
"Enough, Sparky."

He turned to Scorpius.

"At the rate they're going, we may not have to destroy them, they seem to be trying to kill themselves. The leader must have a reason – but what could it be?"

Rayamana was beside herself. She had hoped Aerp would die, but she had never imagined the enemy would have thought of such an ingenious scheme as stealing his suit. This was going to be more of a challenge than she had thought. She called the crew together.

"We are all saddened by the loss of our crew member," she said, "But it is now imperative we obtain a good haul, so this time, I will send our most experienced warrior, with some support, for an attack. Emmeryc, you may choose who you wish to support your attack, we know you will be victorious."

She turned to look out of the window, and smiled to herself. He would be dead within the tholem.

"I would be honoured, commander, if you would accompany me on this venture."

She turned, surprised, but covered it well. She knew she could not refuse his request.

"Presalkyr, you must remain here, in charge. The success of this mission is paramount."
To Emmeryc, she said, "Let's suit up," and she walked off down to her quarters.

They advanced towards the command, covering each other. Rayamana had decided what to do - when they were within hearing distance, she would make a noise and then run. Run anywhere, and escape while the enemy killed Emmeryc. She would return and tell the terrible tale of how he died fighting against the odds, holding the enemy back so that she could escape.
She did not want to have to make such a concession, but the crew respected him. They could hear voices when they reached 50 motres away. She threw her gun as hard as she could against the wall, making a tremendous noise and ran. Emmeryc just stood there, looking stunned. He had not conceived of such a trick.
She smiled to herself as she sprinted away. She heard the sound of the enemies' weapons, and was sure Emmeryc was dead. She returned to the ship. Only 4 to go. She would make Emmeryc sound heroic. For his family's sake. She was not that cold.

Scorpius regarded the corpse for several microts. Then he stood up and looked at John.

"I guess there are 5 scavengers left, then. What made the noise that drew you here?"

John pointed at the weapon against the wall. Scorpius moved to inspect it.

"This weapon is dented. Either it fell from 6 or 7 motres in the air…" He looked up, and mentally judged the ceiling to be 4 motres at most… "Which seems unlikely, or it was thrown. Hard. This was a deliberate betrayal."
"The leader again?"
"Impossible to say. But they have a traitor on their hands."
"That might come in useful, Scorpy. If we have to negotiate. Perhaps next time, we should not shoot to kill."

John realised that, much against his wishes, he had come to be grateful for Scorpius's input.

"Anything else while you are at it, Genius?" asked John, sarcastically.
"I think there are two things we should do when this crisis is over. I think we need to find a way to disguise Moya from Scarran and Peacekeeper sensors, as far as possible. I also think you need to experience some mental training, in fact I have an… acquaintance not far from here, a man named Katoya. He could instruct you in resistance to Scarrans and their mind probes. He also is a native of Tormented space and may know something about the creature that attacked your homeworld and killed your friends. However, his price may be… high."
"How long have you been planning this, Grasshopper? I mean, you have been thinking of this for ages haven't you?"
"A while, yes."
"Scorp, I'll go with your idea for now. But that's it."
"And Katoya?"

John just walked off.

Rayamana made Emmeryc sound heroic. Heroic enough to make the two junior members, Tcheene and Hoeylt, want to charge out and go on a suicide attack, killing as many of the enemy as possible until they themselves are killed. Perfect. But Presalkyr was more suspicious. He insisted on going himself, with Xthnia, saying that Rayamana must remain safe, as the commander of this mission. When they had been killed, Rayamana would let Tcheene and Hoeylt out, and then pick up the pieces in the confusion.

Presalkyr moved stealthily along the corridor, hugging the wall, casting the occasional glance backward to ensure Xthnia was still with him, moving quickly from secure point to secure point. They were surprised from behind. A tall, dark-haired female, and a huge creature with a long, bladed gun and… tentacles? Coming out of his head? Two shots. Then everything went black.

When Presalkyr awoke, he looked around. He saw what could only be the inside of a cell. He tried to move his leg, but he couldn't. He looked down, and saw it had been carefully bandaged over his insulation suit. He must have been shot, he surmised. But he was alive. He looked around, but couldn't see Xthnia. He called her name, and heard her answer.

"Thank Xim you're alive."
"I can't move my leg. Why are we alive?"
"I was shot in the arm. I'm just across the corridor."
"I should take off this suit. I can't move at all."
"NO! To them, we are charged. You will hurt yourself more."
"Sorry. I must still be groggy. I know that, really. Did they spare us for a reason?"
"I think we're about to find out. Someone's coming."

Presalkyr rolled off the bed and crawled along the floor to the door. He looked out and saw two figures approaching – one of them he recognised as the figure Rayamana had shot in the Hangar. The other was the huge creature who had surprised them.

John checked that both were awake, and hoped Pilot had remembered to inject them with translator microbes.

"Hey there. Sorry we had to take you down, but D here didn't think you were in the mood to talk. Firstly, the reason you can understand me is because we have injected you with translator microbes. You can understand any language now. Umm, second, sorry we had to wing you, but we had to disable you, 'cos we need to talk."

Presalkyr dragged his body to the door and struggled to look at Xthnia. She was standing next to the door, holding her arm. She turned back to the aliens.

"What do you want? Why have you captured us? Let us out of these cells you Scruplydy-wibble!"
"Hey, easy guys. We just want to let you know a couple of things you may not be aware of. We've had people in your ship too, remember?"

A look from Presalkyr silenced Xthnia. She knew when to listen. He turned back to the aliens.

"We are listening."
"You have a traitor. Whoever accompanied the second attack on the command. they betrayed their partner – threw their weapon against the wall to attract our attention."

Presalkyr slumped. Rayamana? A traitor? The thought seemed implausible on the surface, but as he thought about it more and more, it did seem logical. Xthnia was stunned.

"Rayamana is… our commander. She… she is sworn to…to protect…"
"Xthnia, they may be right. Think of her illogical orders to Aerp, her surprise when Emmeryc chose her to accompany him… It all makes sense."
"But why would she betray us?"
"That… That is irrelevant now. She must die." He turned to John. "Release me from this cell and allow me to execute her for her crimes. Then we will leave you in peace."
"Sure thing, pal, the enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that."
D'Argo interrupted, "Wait, John." Turning to Presalkyr, he asked, "How can we trust you?"
"I will not betray you as my leader has betrayed you," he replied.
D'Argo nodded and John unlocked the door and opened it. "You need a hand up there, buddy?"
"I will help him," said Xthnia, in such a tone that John backed off and let her do what she wanted.
"She reminds me of Aeryn back on Day One," he whispered to D'Argo.

Presalkyr insisted on walking, despite his painful leg. When they reached the ship, they climbed into the hatch, and found Rayamana waiting for them. With a weapon.

"Tcheene and Hoeylt have already gone to avenge you," she said, and, raising her gun, "It would not do to have them come back and find you alive. They might loose faith in me."

And she opened fire. Xthnia didn't have a chance – she was charred to a cinder in seconds. Presalkyr did not even stop to think – he dived into the junkroom, behind a nearby storage container for cover. He would mourn his mate later. Rayamana laughed, and continued firing. Her weapon was set on maximum, and it scorched the internal hull plating as it tracked across the room. Suddenly, silence. A moment to think.

"She is insane," was all that would come to mind.

He activated his comm system, in the hope Hoeylt or Tcheene would return to rescue him.

"Why Rayamana? Why have you betrayed us all?"
"This ship – it is incredible to all our notions of space travel. It's alive. It lives in space. It has living components instead of electrical equipment. The opportunity to study it is worth far more than the lives of this scavenger crew. But you know you would have all insisted the mission was paramount. Scavenging, scrounging a few resources by stealing them off other people's ships? How long can we survive like this? Another thousand yelandores? Eventually a mission will fail, people will become aware of our existence, they will search for us and destroy us. We must…"

She opened fire mid sentence, and so her last word was obscured by the noise of her weapon. She had seen his leg emerging from behind a crate. It was incinerated in a moment. Presalkyr cried out. Ironic. After all the dangerous scavenging missions he had participated in, he was going to die by the hands of one of his own people. He heard a familiar pulse of weapons fire, and then he fainted.

Presalkyr woke again. He was still not dead. Someone wearing Aerp's insulation suit was standing over him. He was offered a hand.

"You saved me."
"Yes, I did. For the good of our agreement."
"Is Rayamana…"
"Dead? No."

Sikozu pointed at a quivering heap in the corner of the messy room, where Rayamana had dragged herself and where she now lay in a growing pool of her own blood. Presalkyr held up his weapon and, painfully raising his body just above the floor, aimed.

"For Xthnia," he rasped.

He fired. Rayamana screamed as she was slowly incinerated. He continued to burn her body until the charge register on the gun showed zero. He looked up at Sikozu for a moment, uttered a few words.

"Kill me now. I have nothing to live for."

Then he collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Seeing he was going to die, Sikozu raised the pulse rifle she had obtained from Aeryn's quarters and, without emotion, shot him through the head. She turned and walked from the room. At the door, she turned.

"Goodbye," she said, slightly sadly, and continued down the corridor.

Tcheene was running. Hoeylt was slowly loosing ground to him as he sprinted in the direction of the hangar, of their ship. He had heard the comms, and understood. He vaulted up into the ship athletically, ready to assist Presalkyr. All he saw was the person wearing Aerp's insulation suit raise their weapon and fire. When he saw who was dead by her hands, he raised his weapon and demanded his enemy to kneel and throw away hers.

Sikozu had been caught. She did as she was told, threw away her weapon, and slowly descended to a kneeling position. As she knelt, she uttered a silent prayer, to gods, to fate, to anyone.

Hoeylt entered the ship, finding an incensed Tcheene, standing over someone in Aerp's isolation suit, pointing his weapon at her, preparing to kill. He immediately ordered his subordinate to calm himself. He helped the female to her feet and requested an explanation.

Sikozu couldn't believe her luck. She related the story with her near-perfect memory, and Hoeylt was convinced enough to spare her life. She left the ship, returned to her quarters and stripped off her insulation suit. She was glad to place it in the garbage disposal. The thought flashed through her mind that she had never been so glad to flush something out into space. She shrugged it off as she left her quarters, bound for command.

"OK, Scorpius. You have a deal. We'll go find Katoya. I want to know what that thing was that attacked my family."

John's arrival and compromise of his position had not taken Scorpius by surprise at all. In fact, ever since the problem with the scavengers had been solved. It was easy to let them out with their co-operation. All they had to do was lift off and hover until the charge on Moya dissipated.

"Who should come with us?" John continued.
"I would suggest Captain D'Argo and Dominar Rygel. We should take Lo'Laan."
"That leaves the girls to work on the sensor distorter."
"I know a place they may be able to obtain one. A dead leviathan fused with an asteroid. It is a commerce centre which sells goods such as what we are looking for. They should search for a man named Rekka. And beware of traps."
"OK. I'll see what everyone else thinks."

"They've finally gone."

The relief in Sikozu's voice reflected everyone's feeling.
Everyone stood in the command, watching the small ship move into and through the open wormhole.

John said to D'Argo, "We are agreed then, we follow Scorpius's plan."

"Yes. A sensor distorter is a good idea. As for this mental training… Well, I'm hardly the expert, am I?"
Aeryn nudged John.

"Pilot's den?"
"Pilot's den."

They walked off together, through Moya's corridors.

This fic is but a taster.
Virtual season 5: The Peacekeeper Wars are over, but the story is not.

If you want to know more, visit the site at freewebs dot com slash farscapevirtualseason5 or email Sandworm on sandworm4 at hotmail dot com. He can also be found on the farscapeworld and Kansas message boards.