Chapter 11 : Frankenstein's Soldier
Crichton looked at Harrigan for several microts. "Who?" he asked finally. "Harrigan" Harrigan stated clearly "John Harrigan. Lieutenant, USAF. Last assigned to Canaveral AFB. We met while you and DK were working out the theory for the Farscape project". Crichton scratched his chin, still mystified as to who this giant in front of him was. Aeryn had picked up on Crichton's mystified surprise, and moved her hand to her pulse pistol. Dargo had unslung his qualta and moved away to one side, so if this mystery man attacked he couldn't get both of them at once.
"Hey, guys!" pleaded Harrigan "I really am John Harrigan! It's a very long story how I came to look like this, and not a nice one either; but if you really want to hear it, I'll tell you" he finished more calmly. "Well, start talking" ordered Aeryn coldly. "Yes" added Dargo "We're all eager to know just who and what you really are". By now Dargo had converted his qualta into rifle mode, and had it levelled at Harrigan's midsection. Jool and Chiana had retreated behind the nearest control console, while Sikozu just leant against the wall, watching the proceedings without any obvious expression on her face at all. Rygel floated up against the ceiling in his throne-chair, observing from a distance.
"This would be a lot easier if we had something to eat, especially for me" added Harrigan, anxious to defuse the escalting tension. Talannah had moved in closer to Harrigan and rested her hand on the butt of her Viper, preparing to defend him should the need arise. "Calm DOWN, everyone" he soothed "You too, Tal. You're far too tense." She lowered her hand from the butt of her Viper, which eased tension greatly. Then he turned back to the others "Come on! Why don't we sit down for a good meal, and I'll explain it all. How about that?" Aeryn looked at Crichton, who responded "Why not?". Then she turned to Dargo, who nodded. Jool and Chiana both nodded eagerly, obviously hungry, while Sikozu just shrugged. Noranti added "I'll go and make lunch for us!" and scuttled off to the galley.
"What I'd like to know" probed Rygel "is just why you're accompanied by a Scarran". Crichton cut him off before he got himself into any more trouble with "Me too, Sparky. But we'll all be more relaxed and inclined to answer questions after we've eaten. Jool, Pip" he asked the two younger ladies "why don't you help Noranti get dinner ready?" They protested at that, but eventually left; it was obvious Jool wasn't too comfortable around Harrigan yet. Aeryn explained Rygel's query. "We have encountered Scarrans several times before" she clarified. Turning towards Talannah, she continued "Each time, they were hostile towards us". Talannah hissed, reaching for her Viper again; Harrigan squeezed her shoulder and whispered "It's OK, love", and she calmed down again. "Sometimes these have just been minor skirmishes, sometimes more" added Crichton "Once they kidnapped and tortured Aeryn here, to get to me". The two of them looked into each other's eyes, and hugged tightly "We had to infiltrate the base and get her back. That was nasty. Really, really bad" he shuddered, then continued "We retrieved her, as you see. But this was not without cost. Aeryn was pregnant. Because of the torture, the child was lost".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Talannah looked at the John and Aeryn, as they stood there in each other's arms, remembering the nightmare of the Scarran base. Then she turned to Crichton. "I am sorry that your previous encounters with my people have been hostile ones" she replied "But you must not judge all Scarrans by the actions of a select few. Undoubtedly, your anger towards those you met was justified. But neither myself or John here have made any warlike actions against you. Nor do we intend to. Despite his unusual looks" she said, smiling up at him "he is of the same species as you." Harrigan hugged her close. She leaned into his arms thankfully, and continued "You will find out all you need to know. After we've eaten".
Harrigan and Talannah were shown to their quarters. When Harrigan's room door was opened, Talannah followed him in. Harrigan flopped down on the bed gratefully. "I need rest, and I need food" he whispered tiredly, closing his eyes. Talannah looked at him, asking "Do you want me to go?". By way of an answer, Harrigan reached up and pulled her gently back down to the bed end near him. "I want you with me" he added fervently "I need you with me. If for nothing else to calm me down and apply much-needed advice and reason to whatever situation we get into". "You've been calming ME down far more than I've been calming you down!" Talannah laughed. Harrigan turned and looked straight into her eyes. "That's just one more reason we're made for each other, my dear" he replied lovingly "We each fill the gaps in each other's personalities and lifestyles. I mean, look at me!" Harrigan considered, stroking her brow "Back home I was a wild, headstrong rogue". He remembered back to some of the things he'd done to spice up his life before, and laughed softly. "Now? Well I'm still a bit wild and headstrong, but perhaps the rogue part is slowly boiling away. Entirely due to your influence, I'm sure"
Talannah looked back at him. Oh, how hard I've fallen for him! she wondered. "As for me" she explained "I was always harsh and unbending. Even as a child. I was encouraged into a military career in the hope that it would either (1) channel this tendency usefully, or (2) break me. I took to the military life like a fish to water. When I displayed a talent for scouting and sneaking, an officer from the Deadheads recruited me. My career proceeded a little slower than I wanted, probably because I spoke my mind too often in front of the wrong people".
Harrigan interrupted with "Oh, yes! I'm good at that one too. It used to bug the hell out of General Franklin when I did that in front of other high- rank officers, especially during a briefing. He's used to that spec-ops brand of peculiar oddness; but those useless frelniks who gave intel reports" he growled "didn't like me picking holes in their carefully made plans, especially when I did so out loud for eveyone to hear. Bunch of useless drannits! Most of them have been stuck in their little cubbyholes in the Pentagon or SOC HQ in Tampa for so long that they've lost touch with the real world. Like forgetting to check simple things, like if the beach is sand or quicksand. They don't know, or choose not to know, that all those gadgets are limited; sometimes you just need someone there on the ground to gather intel in person."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "That's what I used to do" Talannah replied animatedly. "It's really great, a real challenge! Sneaking past a bunch of armed Peacekeepers without being noticed, doing what you need to do, then getting back out again". Harrigan raised his hands sheepishly. "I can move stealthily, but I'm highly impatient." he clarified "I always prefer charging in and applying heavy firepower at every possible opportunity. Sneaking really tries my temper. Usually that's why I'm the heavy weapons man. Captain Lazarus steps in when things need blowing up, though"
Then the revelations turned social. "I was always very stand-offish at the few military gatherings I went to" Talannah started "I'm sure I gave the impression that in some way I considered them potential targets." Harrigan hugged her, and replied with "Me? I was severely deficient in subtlety. I ended up putting my foot in it almost all the time and driving women away. Anyway, there's a fraternisation rule in the US military. Relationships between soldiers are watched carefully, in case they endanger operational capabilities. But now I've found you, Talannah" he added lovingly, kissiing her softly and long. When they broke off, he finished with "I don't need anyone else. Who would have thought it? Finding the love of my life is out amongst the stars, and not even the same species! But that's not important" he assured Talannah "Just as long as we're together".
Crichton and Aeryn were walking up to Harrigan's quarters when they heard the discussion going on. Holding his finger up to his lips, he motioned Aeryn forward. The couple were so engrossed in each other that they didn't notice the two eavesdroppers. When the two of them saw Harrigan holding Talannah so close, they realised that in addition to being accomplished soldiers they were very much in love. Crichton turned to Aeryn, holding her close. She wrapped her arms around him as well, drawing him to her. "His story is a bit like mine, isn't it?" Crichton asked Aeryn "Finding my one true love a long way from home". Aeryn chuckled a little, squeezed her lover tight, and kissed him long and passionately.
Talannah just heard the developing situation outside. Shushing Harrigan, she snuck to the door and looked round. The situation in the corridor now was much like the one in their room just a short while ago, she saw. Beckoning Harrigan closer, they opened the door and walked out. Crichton and Aeryn backed away, but didn't completely let go of each other. "Don't worry about it" laughed Harrigan, as Crichton started to explain why they were there. Then he added hopefully "Don't suppose dinner is served, is it?"
"It is, actually" Crichton replied "We were on our way to get you when we heard your, um, goings-on" Talannah giggled on hearing that, while Harrigan just grinned. Aeryn continued the explanation. "That set off your friend here" she added, punching him playfully on the shoulder "Then you came out to investigate, and here we are. I'll go and tell the others you're ready". Aeryn turned round and walked back to the dining area. Crichton turned to watch her go, then shook his head to bring his attention back to the here and now.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Well isn't this interesting?" Crichton pondered rhetorically as they walked towards Moya's dining area. Then he took a more careful look at Harrigan "You look a lot different than when I saw you last, Lieutenant". Harrigan replied "John, please. Just John. Yes I do look a lot different. That part of the whole story is one of the nastier parts. But I'll tell you all about it after I've got some food in me."
When Crichton, Harrigan, and Talannah reached the dining room, Noranti had a giant pot of chowder prepared for them. Harrigan immediately wolfed down his first bowlful before any of the others had got half way. He immediately gestured for another one, which was provided. After that one was finished, he wiped the remains off his mouth and leaned back in his chair. "Well, I'm sure you all want to know how I came to know Commander Crichton here" Harrigan explained, waving his arm in Crichton's direction "So I'll tell you. The short version, anyway. Here goes..."
Harrigan started the story of how the mission came to be. After a short while, he got to the launch of the Shuttle. "Once that OSI Captain was off our back, the launch went off smooth as silk. I have to say it was really amazing going up!" he said excitedly "Just me, that corporal, and Mary – in control of the shuttle, off out to who knows where. When that odd-looking bluey-coloured pipe/tunnel/thing appeared and we went in, though, that was some of the most hair-raising flying I've ever done...". Aeryn asked "Do you know what that "pipe" you came through was?" "No" replied Harrigan "Haven't given that a thought. Pre-mission training only covered Shuttle flight training for me, not weird spatial phenomena". Crichton continued where Aeryn left off "It was a wormhole" he said. "A what?" Harrigan replied, perplexed "Like a mousehole?"
"No, no" Crichton laughed "A wormhole connects certain points in spacetime together. Like a tunnel of sorts. You can travel in a few hundred microts what would take many cycles flying straight. But you have to be very careful, and concentrate on where you need to go. Otherwise, well...". Crichton left the details hanging in the air, but both him and Talannah surmised that death in some unpleasant form was the result. "Yes, well" Harrigan continued "I had my mission uppermost in my mind. All I was thinking about right then was carrying it out." Dargo stepped in with "And just what was your 'mission'? We are all anxious to know". Even Talannah turned towards Harrigan at this. She had not either heard of nor asked after what Harrigan's reason for being out here was. "That was simple in theory, but hard in practice" Harrigan continued after finishing his third bowl of chowder. When Noranti asked if he wanted more, he said "Not just now, thank you. But if you could pass that water jug...". After it was passed over, Harrigan drained the whole jug in less than four microts. After one belch, and an "Excuse me, ladies" in apology, he went on.
"Ah yes, my mission. Find Commander Crichton and bring him back" Harrigan went on. Aeryn interrupted with "You do know, don't you, that we did return to Earth for a short while? During one of our little...adventures". Harrigan sensed that there was more that happened then that Aeryn wasn't telling him about went on then, but didn't let on "No, I didn't" Harrigan replied, surprised "When was that?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Aeryn looked over at Crichton, who replied with a date. "That would have been after I left, but a while before I got here" Harrigan replied. "So what happened in between?" asked Jool. Harrigan looked around the room. Everyone had stopped what they were doing, and were waiting anxiously to hear every word he said.
"Perhaps the young ladies should leave the room" Harrigan warned "What I have to say is nasty, even horrifying. They may not be able to handle it". "You obviously haven't heard what happened to me, then.." replied Chiana hotly, and recounted the whole story about her brother Neri and the Nebari resistance movement. "You see now?" she sniffed "We are no strangers to tragedy and sadness here". Harrigan walked over and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry for your brother. Really. I would not have thought any of you except perhaps Aeryn would have any idea I've been through since my arrival". "Why me?" Aeryn queried. "Come on!" replied Harrigan "You've got military written all over you! Your posture, the ease with which you handled your weapon when I came aboard, the way you talk and ask questions. Round here, that'd mean Peacekeeper, most likely". "Ex-Peacekeeper" she replied flatly "After my first encounter with Crichton and these people, Captain Crais deemed me 'irreversibly contaminated'. That means that I'd had too much unauthorised exposure to unknown lifeforms, and could be subject to the Living Death if I returned to First Command."
"What?!" Harrigan replied, stunned "They'd kill you for something not of your own doing, just because you didn't have a permission slip to go?" "Not exactly the most forgiving souls, Peacekeeper First Command" Crichton replied ironically. "Anyway" Harrigan decided "Back to my story. When we popped out of this 'wormhole', we we in entirely unknown territory. None of the constellations matched those on our star maps. I had Mary try to sniff out any comm transmissions that would indicate some level of civilisation. My corporal reported us low on fuel as well. So we had to stock up soon. What we needed was help. What we got was a Peacekeeper test flight coming across us and taking us prisoner. They were taking us back to their base, when the big bad wolf in the form of a bunch of Scarrans grabs us to take back to their base for use as lab rats". Harrigan smiled sadly at the memory of the Scarran dreadnaught, where he'd lost his crewmates. Talannah put her arm around him and drew him close. He looked over at her, whispered "Thanks, love", and continued on.
"Only one Peacekeeper had survived up to that point" Harrigan continued "She had just finished training school, and her first exposure to the enemy was to be an infantry action on board an enemy vessel instead of on the bridge of a Command Carrier. Since she seemed very unsure of herself, she followed my lead. We engaged the Scarran crew in a running battle all over the ship. My own first encounter was trying to take on a Scarran tech while armed with nothing more than a pipe wrench. Bad move, BAD"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Talannah winced at hearing that. "You must have done fairly well" she said "After all, you're still alive". "Damn well felt like I wasn't for a few minutes afterwards though, Tal" Harrigan replied "I wasn't like I am now. Back then I was about this much", indicating a space of about three inches, "taller than Commander Crichton. The Scarran was about the same amount bigger than Talannah here. About time for a tea break, I think" he finished happily, heading for the drinks cabinet. He threw a couple of flasks over to Commander Crichton, and grabbed one for himself. He slugged back half of the contents before it hit him that it wasn't regular water. "Whoo, that had quite a kick to it! What is it?"
Dargo grabbed the flask. After reading the label, he stared at Harrigan. "You just swallowed enough oolik to drop a dozen Luxans" he said suspisciously "and not only are you still alive, you are actually able to conduct an intelligent conversation. What ARE you?" "We'll get to the good bits in a little while, Dargo" Harrigan assured him "Hold on. During the course of our little escapade we wrote off two engines, an air and water treatment plant, and two barrack rooms full of soldiers. But unfortunately our luck ran out big time" he explained, then paused, remembering the loss of his old friends and comrades. He pulled himself together and continued with "The Captain had put together an assault force and come after us himself. They had us cornered in one of the landing bays trying to commandeer a patrol ship to escape on. The whole force charged. We killed as many as we can, beating them back several times, but they just kept coming. A small group snuck around, blew a side wall, and tried to flank us. The corporal died trying to cover my flank from Scarran attack, and the Peacekeeper a little later from sharpshooter fire. I did manage to blow the Captain's right arm off at the elbow; and when we were finally caught I drew my pistol and emptied the mag into his left leg as well. Only two remained then" Harrigan remembered sadly "Mary, my comm officer, and myself. We were taken back to a Scarran gammak base for biological experimentation. I didn't find out until later that this base was the centre of what they called 'Bio-Research Project 12'. An effort to improve and enhance the effectiveness of the Scarran soldier from the ground up. But they wanted to test it on other species to make sure the principles were sound before using it on their soldiers."
Even Aeryn and Dargo gasped in shock at hearing that. "The base we were at controlled an entirely separate project" explained Crichton "A genetic transformer. But the effects are only temporary. The commanders of this project must have known of their rival's problem and tried to work around it". "Possibly" murmured Harrigan "There were two subdivisions of the projects. Both advocated different methods and procedures. I was sent to Nexus One, the experimental procedures were worked on me, and I was put in a stasis tank under full anaeshesia for a quarter-cycle. The alterations worked a little better that they expected, and they found me breaking out of the tank two weeken ahead of schedule"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Chiana sniggered nastily "Bet they weren't expecting that!" "Indeed not, Chiana" Harrigan responded "Thankfully it was very early morning and there were no guards around. That place was a tech-prison. A place where they send people whose skills are too valuable to waste by killing them or sending them to a labour camp. Even the staff there are prisoners. The head scientist got the shock of his life when he found me up and about. But Nexus One favoured a more cautious approach. He managed to calm me down, barely, and led me off to the canteen where I ate every last morsel they had. A little less than two days later, a Peacekeeper retrieval team attacked the base to get my ship back. They found two other prisoners, but couldn't get in to my ship because the Peacekeeper who was with me gave me exclusive access before we left. While the retrieval team were fighting the guards, the scientist and myself got back into my ship and left. The retrieval team followed shortly afterwards with their rescued comrades and returned to their carrier. We made for the commerce planet where I came across Talannah for the first time, though I didn't know it at the then..."
Harrigan looked over to see Talannah smiling up at him. As he reached over to her, she wrapped her own arms around him and drew him closer. Harrigan leaned over and kissed her lovingly, but Talannah didn't let it stop there. She swung one leg over his lap, sat down astride him and kissed back deeply and ardently, slipping her tongue inside his mouth. Harrigan's grasp tightened in response, which only encouraged Talannah's lust. However, just as her hands were heading groinwards, all four chair legs finally let go explosively, dumping the pair of them on the floor.
The whole room burst out laughing at that point. Harrigan and Talannah just lay in a tangled mess on the floor amongst the remains of the chair, holding each other close and laughing softly. Chiana and Jool were laughing the hardest; but even Dargo, Crichton and Aeryn were joining in to varying degrees. Finally Harrigan calmed down. "OK, guys. Sorry about that" he explained "Talannah is very single-minded when it comes to that kind of thing". She came right back with "I didn't hear you objecting!". Harrigan treated her to a slow smile and whispered "Why would I do something silly like that, my love?" in Scarran. She leaned into his shoulder, whispering loving endearments in Scarran in his ear. Before they could get going again, Aeryn cut in. "This is all very instructive, but you haven't finished your story yet. We'd like to hear the rest".
"Oh, yes" Harrigan replied. He stood up, pacing back and forth across the room as he finished off his tale. "Well, there isn't that much left to tell. I got hold of a few new bits of useful equipment, then booked passage on a Leviathan transport with my ship out to where I found you lot. It turned out that Talannah had booked herself on board the ship. During our trip, we just really opened up to each other and our love is just going on stronger from there onwards". Harrigan left out the details of Talannah's past, feeling that if they were to be revealed, Talannah should do that.
Jool finally asked a question. "I hope you don't mind me asking..." she asked "But how are you able to speak Scarran? Aeryn here knows a few words, but you seem to speak it fluently. Even down to slang." Harrigan looked at her in honest astonishment. "You know, I really haven't a clue" he replied, baffled. Then an idea came to him. "I've got the project notes in my ship. I'll bring them over and we'll see what we can find" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Harrigan beckoned Talannah over as Crichton and his crewmates began to talk amongst themselves. "You'd better be on your toes for this next bit" Harrigan cautioned her "Crichton is a friend, Aeryn also, I think. But the others I'm not yet sure about". Talannah pondered this as they walked back up to the hatch the Harbringer was docked over. "Chiana and Jool will probably follow Crichton's lead" Talannah decided "Noranti also. That Hynerian will go whichever way benefits him the most – that'll be tiresome, and may be expensive as well, but we will know which buttons to press to get the right reponse. That Sikozu, though" she continued "I don't quite trust her. Even the others watch her closely. And she really doesn't seem to like me much". She resolved to keep her Viper with her, loaded and ready, and her shortswords sharp – just in case.
A few minutes later, they saw the hatch above them. Opening it, Harrigan boosted Talannah through the hole, and pulled himself up afterwards. "Armoury" he stated, walking aft. When he opened the armoury, he walked in and grabbed a G8C off the wall rack. After checking that there was a round in the chamber and the safety was on, he handed it to Talannah. "This is a modified HK G8 light machine gun" he explained "This one's suppressed, and fires heavier, subsonic rounds in semi or full-auto modes. The safety's down by your right thumb. It's easy to read – one bullet symbol means 'semi auto' and that open ended tube of bullets means 'full auto'. The bullet with a cross over it means 'safe'.
Talannah hefted the unfamiliar weapon, testing the weight and feel. Her Scarran strength helped her hold the modified HK as if it were a rifle. "Hmm" she pondered "Not bad at all. What about this?" she asked, pointing at the scope. "Combo-scope" Harrigan replied "That Luxan gunmaker really came through there. Twist the knob to the left and a reflex sight come up – that's the one you see now. Twist to the right, and a sniper scope comes up – 4 to 12 zoom, wide front lens for low light. The assembly is rather bulky, but it's worth it. Leave the reflex sight up for now". Talannah slung the weapon's carrying strap over her shoulder, saying "Next?".
Harrigan pulled a bunch of web gear over, slotting ammo drums into various pouches. When he had two complete sets, he passed one over to Talannah and put the other one on himself. "Ammo" he explained "That drum holds 100 rounds. When you need to reload, press the lever directly behind the drum" demonstrating on his own gun "Try and keep the empty drum in an empty pouch if you can – we can re-use them. Then slap in a new one" Harrigan shoved the drum back in. Talannah heard a slight 'click' as the drum seated in the gun. "That click means the drum's in properly. Then it's back to rock- n-roll". He also grabbed a dozen CS grenades, keeping half and passing the others over to Talannah. "What are these?" she asked, turning one over and over "They don't look like tarvek grenades". "That's cause they aren't" Harrigan replied "They're CS gas bombs. Non-lethal, used for riot control and hostage rescue squads. Never can tell, may be useful. Now let's get what we came for" he finished, heading for the bridge. A few microts later, he came back with a small datapod.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Back we go" Harrigan prompted. They both went back through the hatch; Talannah first, then Harrigan. He noticed the way her G8C immediately came up to the ready position, as if she were in hostile territory. "Ease off, dear" he soothed "Keep it low, like you're on patrol – not up, like you're in a firefight. We shouldn't antagonise them any more than necessary. These are just so we're prepared for any eventuality". Harrigan saw Talannah lowered her weapon as he asked. His hand flicked through the Scarran battlesign for 'advance with caution' as he moved off for the dining area again.
Talannah recognised the sign. How does he know all this stuff? she wondered. Jool was right. How can he speak Scarran fluently, when he's never even met one before me? That battlesign code is only taught to military units, how come he knew it well enough to give the right signal first time off? I guess we'll all find out soon, she mused. That datapod must have some very interesting stuff on it... Nevertheless, she moved off behind Harrigan in the correct position. Just before she did, she activated the small antisurveillance unit she still carried.
"Where are they, Pilot?" yelled Dargo. "They should be on their way by now!" Pilot came on over the clamshell. "I can't track them precisely, Ka'Dargo" he replied peevishly "Every time I try, the cameras fill with fuzz and the microphones drop offline. I do know that the zone of interference is heading for your location, however". Then the clamshell went off. "Guns ready!" yelled Dargo, raising his qualta. "Back down, D" ordered Crichton "They're just a bit wary. They haven't met us before. That Scarran may not trust all of us yet. You know how Scarrans think".
"Yes, I suppose you're right, John" grunted Dargo "But I'll keep this close by. I suggest you do the same" he suggested to the others. Sikozu had returned to her quarters, and neither Chiana nor Jool were armed; but Aeryn had a pulse rifle and John had the pistol that accompanied him almost everywhere he went. Both checked that the shakan oil was still fresh. It was. Noranti just stayed where she was, apparently unconcerned.
Harrigan smelled the faint stink of shakan oil, and brought his fist up in the universal sign 'enemy seen or suspected'. Talannah came up beside him. "Can you smell that?" he whispered. "Smell what?" she asked. "Shakan oil" Harrigan replied "They must have tried to track us with the Pilot's internal systems. Since they've broken out the guns, something must have got them on edge. Any ideas?" Talannah looked down at the floor, noticeably upset. "I turned my antisurveillance unit on" she replied softly "I didn't want them listening in. I'm sorry, my love" she continued, looking up at him now "I should have followed your lead. Will you forgive me?" she said.
Harrigan rested a hand on her shoulder. "Of course" he replied. "That's one thing you're supposed to do when you're in love. Forgive each other. Now turn it off, and let's get going"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Talannah flicked a small switch on an egg-sized black box on her belt, deactivating the antisurveillance unit. The interference on Pilot's sensors immediately disappeared. "Trackers now register the two newcomers coming towards you" Pilot advised over the clamshell "Armed. Heavily armed".
As Talannah and Harrigan rounded the corner, Aeryn raised her rifle. "Place your weapons on the floor and you hands over your head!" she ordered "Now!". Harrigan rested his hand on Talannah's shoulder, saying "Get behind me". Once he was assured Talannah was safe, he lowered his weapon (but didn't drop it), lifted his hands in concilliation, and said "Look, guys. This gear's purely precautionary. Tal's got some bad vibes about one or two of you. She felt better with a little firepower. We aren't actually going to kill any of you. You're Commander Crichton's friends. It's very bad manners to kill the friends of friends".
Aeryn was in no mood to be pacified. She put one bolt in the floor, and stated "Drop your weapons, or the next one's higher!" Harrigan just kept on coming, which caused Aeryn to fire a short burst straight into his chest. When Harrigan just shrugged it off, Aeryn was so stunned that she didn't attempt to stop him taking her rifle away and throwing it over to Crichton, who put it on the table. "Why don't some people ever learn?" he muttered, then raised his voice and continued "If my restraint from ripping the lady here to pieces isn't evidence enough of my peaceful intent, I don't know what is. I went to get that datapod that has the project notes. Here it is" he revealed, showing it to everyone. He turned to the nearest of Moya's crew, which happened to be Chiana. "Is there a holoprojector round here?" he asked. Chiana nodded and ran off to medical and retrieved one from there.
While she was gone, Harrigan helped Aeryn up from where she'd collapsed on the floor in stunned horror. "What are you?" she asked, quite badly scared "Even a Scarran would have been hurt quite badly by that! There's not even a scratch on you!" Harrigan showed her the scorch marks where the pulse fire had burned a thin layer off his carapace. "Yes there is, actually" he clarified "But it'll heal in a half-arn or so, no worries. As for the 'What are you?' part, why don't we find out?" he said cheerily, taking the projection unit off Chiana, who'd just returned. "Pilot!" Harrigan yelled "You'll want to watch this as well. It'll really make your eyes pop out. Jool" he directed "Turn off the lights!"
Talannah activated the holoprojector. A prompt came up asking if they wanted an overview or full details. Talannah selected 'overview' and sat back with the rest of the little group. Even Sikozu had returned now and was watching avidly. A Scarran head appeared. "That's the head scientist" Harrigan whispered. Then the audio cut in. "Private log, Scout-Runner Nrakal, chief scientist of Bio-Research Project 12, Nexus One. Despite my capture by High Command" the commntary explained "Apparently for political instability, I was sent to this benighted hole of a tech-prison instead of receiving the death penalty as so many of my comrades have. The project I was assigned to happened to be the one we have so feared was being put into action by those now leading High Command. Since the warhawks seized power from the more moderate factions and installed their own puppet as Commander in Chief of the Scarran armies, their genetic enhancement programs have been fast-tracked. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- The genetic transformer developed at the Takhsis base was only partially successful – it worked as ordered, but the effects wore off after a short period of time. So other projects were instituted. Two of these were set up at the tech-prison where I am currently incarcerated. These are each seeking ways to permanently enhance and transform the Scarran soldier for greatly increased effectiveness in combat in the war against the Sebaceans. One of these, Nexus One, was placed under my charge by the base Commandant. The other in Nexus Two, was led by a scientist loyal to the warhawks. Thankfully for me the base Commandant didn't check my record – or my cover would have been blown to pieces, followed by the rest of me".
"That scientist was a spy?" asked Chiana "Who for?". "Ssh!" hissed Dargo "Maybe we'll find out".
"From then on" the voice continued "test spcimens were procured by raiding passing ships and capturing likely samples from their crews. Approximately fifteen were brought in this way before success was achieved with the subject known as John Harrigan". All heads turned to Harrigan. "Hey, that's me!" he grinned. "OK, OK" the rest of them said, shushing him "Let's hear the rest". "The original schedule called for a detailed examination under quarantine procedures before the experimental procedures started. Since the subject was at least nominally Sebacean, we bypassed this part of the procedures as that genotype is well known to us". "But I wasn't Sebacean!" grinned Harrigan again, waggling his eyebrows "Their mistake". "Enough already!" the girls responded.
Aeryn pressed the pause button to restart the log. "Over the objections of the head of Nexus Two," the scientist went on "the subject was placed in a stasis tank under full anaesthesia for the project proper. The Nexus Two project leader felt we could always obtain other specimens if this one failed, but I thought it better to get it right first time. The transformation proceeded exactly on schedule until approximately four weeken from project end. While the exact events are unclear, we can safely assume the following. Some time thereafter, several of the alterations kicked in. This caused the rest to follow ahead of schedule. Since one of the first enabled the subject's body to neutralise foreign substances, he overcame the effects of the tranquiliser used faster than we could put it in. The alarm went off approximately two weeken ahead of schedule. I arrived at the lab to find the subject fully awake, smashing the tanks to pieces. After a full bio-scan was obtained, it became clear that the physical enhancements, at least, had succeeded beyond all expectations. I decided at this stage to sequester the project logs and other vital data to prevent High Command from using my work to enslave all life. The pod you have contains all the project data necessary to replicate the changes in new subjects. The old backups currently in the possession of the High Command are not complete. They have critical flaws that were not fully solved until I compiled this log".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "The intended results of the project on the specimen should be as follows" Nrakal concluded. All present craned forward to make sure they didn't miss out "Massive skeletal bulk and density enhancement to provide the base for increased load-carrying capacity and physical strength, plus increased resistance to falling and battle damage that would normally cause loss of limbs. Similarly huge muscle bulk and density enhancements were applied – this was primarily to give the subject unmatched hand-to-hand combat prowess, but should enable the subject, if required, and in conjunction with the aforementioned skeletal enhancements, to carry an Intruder-class pulse cannon with both hands, along with a power source on the subject's back, and fire the weapon for extended periods of time – at the cost of slowing walking speed to one half normal"
Jool, Chiana, and Crichton stared open-mouthed in astonishment at the man before them, while Aeryn and Dargo just took it all in silently. The capabilities already mentioned, they realised, would enable a Scarran heavy infantry unit to annihilate ten times their number without serious casualties. And the log hadn't stopped yet, either!
"Combat capacity should be further enhanced by modification of the subject's nervous system for triple-redundancy" the scientist continued again "In the event that any poisonous substances overcome the other defences, this provides an approximate 75% increase in resistance to chemical agents. Immune system alterations provide similar increases to resistances against bioagents as well. Initial simulations show a faint possibility, less than 10%, that these systems could operate simulateously at times of stress, shortening reaction times even further"
"I've seen the truth of that myself" Talannah added "When I first met Harrigan, he took on a Deadhead squad leader in hand to hand combat. Within three hundred microts, and with minimal combat training, he'd pounded the Deadhead to a pulp. The Scarran had to be taken away in an ambulance with critical injuries". She squeezed Harrigan, who returned it happily, then unpaused the log. "Additional battle-damage resistance was applied in the form of a vastly thickened epidermis and a thick external multi-layered carapace. Backed by increased healing and regenerative capacities, this should enable the subject to recover form any damage that doesn't immediately cause death within approximately three solar months. A limb could conceivably regenerate in a weeken. The project standards call for short term resistance to light anti-armour weapons, and this has been achieved, I feel. The subject's lungs and heart have been altered to allow a fivefold increase in tolerances to hazardous atmospheres. Finally, some enhancements were made to the basic senses. The armoured skin made touch enhancement impossible, but capabilities in the areas of hearing and vision should receive the greatest enhancements; though taste sensitivity has benn increased slightly as well"
The scientist turned a page in his lab notes, then looked up "This is not without cost. The subject will initially experience fits of anger and rage until the hormone levels slow down. Even then, the subject will undoubtedly still be very short-tempered and impatient"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "My brothers in the Blood Hand persuaded me to add three highly unusual additions to the program. One was the incorporation of a large bank of genetic knowledge. Since the test subject would not be aware of Scarran history, or be able to read our language, the ability to read and write both Modern and Old Scarran was written into the genetic makeup; along with similar capacity in Modern and Old Sebacean, Charrid, Nebari, Modern and Ancient Luxan, plus several specialised military and commercial dialects of several species. Traditional Scarran combat skills were added to aid him in the assimilation into our culture; though both these and the language skills may take some time to appear. The last two capabilities are perhaps the most frightening and extensive of those given to the subject. If it works, the subject's highly energised nervous system will enable him to eventually deliver a killing electrical charge over approximately fifteen to twenty metras. The exact distance is uncertain without proper testing. The final one is the addition of a booster gland. This may be activated in order to inject synthetic combat drugs into the subject's bloodstream for emergency use. This should not be used lightly – overuse can lead to the subject being incapacitated for a maximum projected interval of two weeken while the body recovers, and possible psychological addiction as well" The sounds of heavy footsteps came over the audio track "I must go now. If any of the Blood Hand obtain this data, or find the test subject, you must at all costs prevent both from falling into the hands of Scarran High Command, or any other authorities. It is clear now that this program is too powerful for any to control. Scout-Runner Nrakal signing off".
Sikozu was probably the most shocked of all, but was more outwardly sympathetic. "My species were virtually enslaved by the Scarrans" she explained "but none have endured the pain you did while incarcerated at tha...tha...that gulag!". Harrigan sensed that this was true as far as it went, but that she had her own means in mind for revenge. She would bear watching.
Jool finally unfroze long enough to add "Well, that explains his speaking Scarran. I just wish now I didn't know the rest of it". Chiana just looked him up and down, saying "Wow!". Talannah noticed that her inspection seemed more than merely curious and growled at her menacingly, fingering her Viper. "Bear off, the pair of you" ordered Crichton stepping between them "There will be no catfights or hissy fits in this ship, whatever the reason. We've got too much else to deal with to brawl amongst ourselves".
While Crichton and Moya's crew were arguing over possible implications of this newly revealed data, Harrigan retrieved the datapod and stuffed it in one of his pockets. Talannah prodded the innards of the device with a couple of bits of bent wire and shorted it's memory and OS ROM units. The crackle and sparks caused the others to break off and turn round. "That device could have had a recorder on board" Talannah stated flatly "I cannot take the chance of this data, or my love" she continued more softly, looking over at Harrigan. He threw his arms around her and drew her close gratefully and happily, as she continued with "...falling into enemy hands"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "You sound like military, or wose, a spy, when you say that" Sikozu probed. Talannah looked over at Harrigan, who nodded. She shrugged her shoulders, and replied "I was, of sorts. I was in the intellegence directorate's special action division before I met my John". Harrigan held her sofly, just looking happily into her eyes. Aeryn, Crichton and Chiana were surprised at the strength of the love and trust expressed in her tone, but Sikozu went off the deep end.
"We've got a DEADHEAD on our ship?!" she screamed "A frelling Deadhead? Do you even know what they do?" she howled turning to Harrigan. "If they're anything like the spies and skulkers back home" he replied calmly "they do all kinds of really nasty stuff. I know my unit was seconded to intelligence agencies at least twice for various clandestine or black-bag jobs. It's nothing I haven't done myself or heard about. Besides, I love Talannah, and trust her with my life". Talannah gave him a long kiss in thanks for that public confession.
Sikozu couldn't handle her companions acceptance of the Scarran's presence on board Moya. She grabbed Aeryn's rifle before she could be stopped and raised it to fire. Harrigan swept Talannah round behind him, and raised his othe hand to push Sikozu away. Chiana noticed a blue crackling spreading quickly over Harrigan's right hand and yelled "Down!"
All except Sikozu immediately dropped to the floor. She was so far gone in rage that she didn't hear. The charge leapt off Harrigan's arm, impacted dead-centre on her chest, and threw her all the way across the room, knocking her out. Jool came in closer to examine her, but Talannah waved her off. "There may still be a residual charge in her body" she explained "It'll wear off shortly. She's still breathing, I can tell, so eventually she'll recover. But she's quite literally had a shock she won't forget in a hurry". Harrigan added "That wasn't intentional. I only wanted to push her away so she wouldn't hurt Talannah."
"What do you think, Sparky?" Crichton asked Rygel, who was floating near the ceiling. "I don't much care" he replied gruffly "As long as neither of them try to take what's mine, they can stay as long as they like as far as I'm concerned. Besides, they may prove useful if we run into trouble. Especially war on legs over there" he finished, gesturing towards Harrigan. "Thankyou, your royal frogness" Harrigan replied, bowing "It's so nice to be appreciated". The laughter that followed dispelled the tension in the air.
"If it helps at all..." asked Pilot over the clamshell "Moya does not mind either of them being here. She says that the little ship is a little uncomfortable clamped on her hull, but she doesn't mind". Harrigan tapped the wall, replying "Moya, you're quite safe with me. We came to you from another Leviathan by the name of Sheral, who actually seemed to like us. She even spoke to me a couple of times, and expressed sadness at our leaving. A fine ship by all accounts."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "We'd better get some sleep" interrupted Rygel "We should be at this next commerce planet tomorrow, and I'm tired". "Good idea" responded Harrigan "Talannah and myself will adjourn to my ship for the night". Talannah snuggled up close when she heard that. Harrigan turned to her and added "We'll both need sleep, love, if we're to be ready for that commerce planet; delightful though your plan is, my dear, it'll have to wait". Noranti dragged the still unconscious Sikozu off to the sick bay, while the rest returned to their quarters. "ETA at the commerce planet?" asked Crichton. There was a short delay, then Pilot came back with "About eight arns. This Harrigan has the right idea. You should all get some sleep".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
Crichton looked at Harrigan for several microts. "Who?" he asked finally. "Harrigan" Harrigan stated clearly "John Harrigan. Lieutenant, USAF. Last assigned to Canaveral AFB. We met while you and DK were working out the theory for the Farscape project". Crichton scratched his chin, still mystified as to who this giant in front of him was. Aeryn had picked up on Crichton's mystified surprise, and moved her hand to her pulse pistol. Dargo had unslung his qualta and moved away to one side, so if this mystery man attacked he couldn't get both of them at once.
"Hey, guys!" pleaded Harrigan "I really am John Harrigan! It's a very long story how I came to look like this, and not a nice one either; but if you really want to hear it, I'll tell you" he finished more calmly. "Well, start talking" ordered Aeryn coldly. "Yes" added Dargo "We're all eager to know just who and what you really are". By now Dargo had converted his qualta into rifle mode, and had it levelled at Harrigan's midsection. Jool and Chiana had retreated behind the nearest control console, while Sikozu just leant against the wall, watching the proceedings without any obvious expression on her face at all. Rygel floated up against the ceiling in his throne-chair, observing from a distance.
"This would be a lot easier if we had something to eat, especially for me" added Harrigan, anxious to defuse the escalting tension. Talannah had moved in closer to Harrigan and rested her hand on the butt of her Viper, preparing to defend him should the need arise. "Calm DOWN, everyone" he soothed "You too, Tal. You're far too tense." She lowered her hand from the butt of her Viper, which eased tension greatly. Then he turned back to the others "Come on! Why don't we sit down for a good meal, and I'll explain it all. How about that?" Aeryn looked at Crichton, who responded "Why not?". Then she turned to Dargo, who nodded. Jool and Chiana both nodded eagerly, obviously hungry, while Sikozu just shrugged. Noranti added "I'll go and make lunch for us!" and scuttled off to the galley.
"What I'd like to know" probed Rygel "is just why you're accompanied by a Scarran". Crichton cut him off before he got himself into any more trouble with "Me too, Sparky. But we'll all be more relaxed and inclined to answer questions after we've eaten. Jool, Pip" he asked the two younger ladies "why don't you help Noranti get dinner ready?" They protested at that, but eventually left; it was obvious Jool wasn't too comfortable around Harrigan yet. Aeryn explained Rygel's query. "We have encountered Scarrans several times before" she clarified. Turning towards Talannah, she continued "Each time, they were hostile towards us". Talannah hissed, reaching for her Viper again; Harrigan squeezed her shoulder and whispered "It's OK, love", and she calmed down again. "Sometimes these have just been minor skirmishes, sometimes more" added Crichton "Once they kidnapped and tortured Aeryn here, to get to me". The two of them looked into each other's eyes, and hugged tightly "We had to infiltrate the base and get her back. That was nasty. Really, really bad" he shuddered, then continued "We retrieved her, as you see. But this was not without cost. Aeryn was pregnant. Because of the torture, the child was lost".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Talannah looked at the John and Aeryn, as they stood there in each other's arms, remembering the nightmare of the Scarran base. Then she turned to Crichton. "I am sorry that your previous encounters with my people have been hostile ones" she replied "But you must not judge all Scarrans by the actions of a select few. Undoubtedly, your anger towards those you met was justified. But neither myself or John here have made any warlike actions against you. Nor do we intend to. Despite his unusual looks" she said, smiling up at him "he is of the same species as you." Harrigan hugged her close. She leaned into his arms thankfully, and continued "You will find out all you need to know. After we've eaten".
Harrigan and Talannah were shown to their quarters. When Harrigan's room door was opened, Talannah followed him in. Harrigan flopped down on the bed gratefully. "I need rest, and I need food" he whispered tiredly, closing his eyes. Talannah looked at him, asking "Do you want me to go?". By way of an answer, Harrigan reached up and pulled her gently back down to the bed end near him. "I want you with me" he added fervently "I need you with me. If for nothing else to calm me down and apply much-needed advice and reason to whatever situation we get into". "You've been calming ME down far more than I've been calming you down!" Talannah laughed. Harrigan turned and looked straight into her eyes. "That's just one more reason we're made for each other, my dear" he replied lovingly "We each fill the gaps in each other's personalities and lifestyles. I mean, look at me!" Harrigan considered, stroking her brow "Back home I was a wild, headstrong rogue". He remembered back to some of the things he'd done to spice up his life before, and laughed softly. "Now? Well I'm still a bit wild and headstrong, but perhaps the rogue part is slowly boiling away. Entirely due to your influence, I'm sure"
Talannah looked back at him. Oh, how hard I've fallen for him! she wondered. "As for me" she explained "I was always harsh and unbending. Even as a child. I was encouraged into a military career in the hope that it would either (1) channel this tendency usefully, or (2) break me. I took to the military life like a fish to water. When I displayed a talent for scouting and sneaking, an officer from the Deadheads recruited me. My career proceeded a little slower than I wanted, probably because I spoke my mind too often in front of the wrong people".
Harrigan interrupted with "Oh, yes! I'm good at that one too. It used to bug the hell out of General Franklin when I did that in front of other high- rank officers, especially during a briefing. He's used to that spec-ops brand of peculiar oddness; but those useless frelniks who gave intel reports" he growled "didn't like me picking holes in their carefully made plans, especially when I did so out loud for eveyone to hear. Bunch of useless drannits! Most of them have been stuck in their little cubbyholes in the Pentagon or SOC HQ in Tampa for so long that they've lost touch with the real world. Like forgetting to check simple things, like if the beach is sand or quicksand. They don't know, or choose not to know, that all those gadgets are limited; sometimes you just need someone there on the ground to gather intel in person."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "That's what I used to do" Talannah replied animatedly. "It's really great, a real challenge! Sneaking past a bunch of armed Peacekeepers without being noticed, doing what you need to do, then getting back out again". Harrigan raised his hands sheepishly. "I can move stealthily, but I'm highly impatient." he clarified "I always prefer charging in and applying heavy firepower at every possible opportunity. Sneaking really tries my temper. Usually that's why I'm the heavy weapons man. Captain Lazarus steps in when things need blowing up, though"
Then the revelations turned social. "I was always very stand-offish at the few military gatherings I went to" Talannah started "I'm sure I gave the impression that in some way I considered them potential targets." Harrigan hugged her, and replied with "Me? I was severely deficient in subtlety. I ended up putting my foot in it almost all the time and driving women away. Anyway, there's a fraternisation rule in the US military. Relationships between soldiers are watched carefully, in case they endanger operational capabilities. But now I've found you, Talannah" he added lovingly, kissiing her softly and long. When they broke off, he finished with "I don't need anyone else. Who would have thought it? Finding the love of my life is out amongst the stars, and not even the same species! But that's not important" he assured Talannah "Just as long as we're together".
Crichton and Aeryn were walking up to Harrigan's quarters when they heard the discussion going on. Holding his finger up to his lips, he motioned Aeryn forward. The couple were so engrossed in each other that they didn't notice the two eavesdroppers. When the two of them saw Harrigan holding Talannah so close, they realised that in addition to being accomplished soldiers they were very much in love. Crichton turned to Aeryn, holding her close. She wrapped her arms around him as well, drawing him to her. "His story is a bit like mine, isn't it?" Crichton asked Aeryn "Finding my one true love a long way from home". Aeryn chuckled a little, squeezed her lover tight, and kissed him long and passionately.
Talannah just heard the developing situation outside. Shushing Harrigan, she snuck to the door and looked round. The situation in the corridor now was much like the one in their room just a short while ago, she saw. Beckoning Harrigan closer, they opened the door and walked out. Crichton and Aeryn backed away, but didn't completely let go of each other. "Don't worry about it" laughed Harrigan, as Crichton started to explain why they were there. Then he added hopefully "Don't suppose dinner is served, is it?"
"It is, actually" Crichton replied "We were on our way to get you when we heard your, um, goings-on" Talannah giggled on hearing that, while Harrigan just grinned. Aeryn continued the explanation. "That set off your friend here" she added, punching him playfully on the shoulder "Then you came out to investigate, and here we are. I'll go and tell the others you're ready". Aeryn turned round and walked back to the dining area. Crichton turned to watch her go, then shook his head to bring his attention back to the here and now.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Well isn't this interesting?" Crichton pondered rhetorically as they walked towards Moya's dining area. Then he took a more careful look at Harrigan "You look a lot different than when I saw you last, Lieutenant". Harrigan replied "John, please. Just John. Yes I do look a lot different. That part of the whole story is one of the nastier parts. But I'll tell you all about it after I've got some food in me."
When Crichton, Harrigan, and Talannah reached the dining room, Noranti had a giant pot of chowder prepared for them. Harrigan immediately wolfed down his first bowlful before any of the others had got half way. He immediately gestured for another one, which was provided. After that one was finished, he wiped the remains off his mouth and leaned back in his chair. "Well, I'm sure you all want to know how I came to know Commander Crichton here" Harrigan explained, waving his arm in Crichton's direction "So I'll tell you. The short version, anyway. Here goes..."
Harrigan started the story of how the mission came to be. After a short while, he got to the launch of the Shuttle. "Once that OSI Captain was off our back, the launch went off smooth as silk. I have to say it was really amazing going up!" he said excitedly "Just me, that corporal, and Mary – in control of the shuttle, off out to who knows where. When that odd-looking bluey-coloured pipe/tunnel/thing appeared and we went in, though, that was some of the most hair-raising flying I've ever done...". Aeryn asked "Do you know what that "pipe" you came through was?" "No" replied Harrigan "Haven't given that a thought. Pre-mission training only covered Shuttle flight training for me, not weird spatial phenomena". Crichton continued where Aeryn left off "It was a wormhole" he said. "A what?" Harrigan replied, perplexed "Like a mousehole?"
"No, no" Crichton laughed "A wormhole connects certain points in spacetime together. Like a tunnel of sorts. You can travel in a few hundred microts what would take many cycles flying straight. But you have to be very careful, and concentrate on where you need to go. Otherwise, well...". Crichton left the details hanging in the air, but both him and Talannah surmised that death in some unpleasant form was the result. "Yes, well" Harrigan continued "I had my mission uppermost in my mind. All I was thinking about right then was carrying it out." Dargo stepped in with "And just what was your 'mission'? We are all anxious to know". Even Talannah turned towards Harrigan at this. She had not either heard of nor asked after what Harrigan's reason for being out here was. "That was simple in theory, but hard in practice" Harrigan continued after finishing his third bowl of chowder. When Noranti asked if he wanted more, he said "Not just now, thank you. But if you could pass that water jug...". After it was passed over, Harrigan drained the whole jug in less than four microts. After one belch, and an "Excuse me, ladies" in apology, he went on.
"Ah yes, my mission. Find Commander Crichton and bring him back" Harrigan went on. Aeryn interrupted with "You do know, don't you, that we did return to Earth for a short while? During one of our little...adventures". Harrigan sensed that there was more that happened then that Aeryn wasn't telling him about went on then, but didn't let on "No, I didn't" Harrigan replied, surprised "When was that?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Aeryn looked over at Crichton, who replied with a date. "That would have been after I left, but a while before I got here" Harrigan replied. "So what happened in between?" asked Jool. Harrigan looked around the room. Everyone had stopped what they were doing, and were waiting anxiously to hear every word he said.
"Perhaps the young ladies should leave the room" Harrigan warned "What I have to say is nasty, even horrifying. They may not be able to handle it". "You obviously haven't heard what happened to me, then.." replied Chiana hotly, and recounted the whole story about her brother Neri and the Nebari resistance movement. "You see now?" she sniffed "We are no strangers to tragedy and sadness here". Harrigan walked over and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry for your brother. Really. I would not have thought any of you except perhaps Aeryn would have any idea I've been through since my arrival". "Why me?" Aeryn queried. "Come on!" replied Harrigan "You've got military written all over you! Your posture, the ease with which you handled your weapon when I came aboard, the way you talk and ask questions. Round here, that'd mean Peacekeeper, most likely". "Ex-Peacekeeper" she replied flatly "After my first encounter with Crichton and these people, Captain Crais deemed me 'irreversibly contaminated'. That means that I'd had too much unauthorised exposure to unknown lifeforms, and could be subject to the Living Death if I returned to First Command."
"What?!" Harrigan replied, stunned "They'd kill you for something not of your own doing, just because you didn't have a permission slip to go?" "Not exactly the most forgiving souls, Peacekeeper First Command" Crichton replied ironically. "Anyway" Harrigan decided "Back to my story. When we popped out of this 'wormhole', we we in entirely unknown territory. None of the constellations matched those on our star maps. I had Mary try to sniff out any comm transmissions that would indicate some level of civilisation. My corporal reported us low on fuel as well. So we had to stock up soon. What we needed was help. What we got was a Peacekeeper test flight coming across us and taking us prisoner. They were taking us back to their base, when the big bad wolf in the form of a bunch of Scarrans grabs us to take back to their base for use as lab rats". Harrigan smiled sadly at the memory of the Scarran dreadnaught, where he'd lost his crewmates. Talannah put her arm around him and drew him close. He looked over at her, whispered "Thanks, love", and continued on.
"Only one Peacekeeper had survived up to that point" Harrigan continued "She had just finished training school, and her first exposure to the enemy was to be an infantry action on board an enemy vessel instead of on the bridge of a Command Carrier. Since she seemed very unsure of herself, she followed my lead. We engaged the Scarran crew in a running battle all over the ship. My own first encounter was trying to take on a Scarran tech while armed with nothing more than a pipe wrench. Bad move, BAD"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Talannah winced at hearing that. "You must have done fairly well" she said "After all, you're still alive". "Damn well felt like I wasn't for a few minutes afterwards though, Tal" Harrigan replied "I wasn't like I am now. Back then I was about this much", indicating a space of about three inches, "taller than Commander Crichton. The Scarran was about the same amount bigger than Talannah here. About time for a tea break, I think" he finished happily, heading for the drinks cabinet. He threw a couple of flasks over to Commander Crichton, and grabbed one for himself. He slugged back half of the contents before it hit him that it wasn't regular water. "Whoo, that had quite a kick to it! What is it?"
Dargo grabbed the flask. After reading the label, he stared at Harrigan. "You just swallowed enough oolik to drop a dozen Luxans" he said suspisciously "and not only are you still alive, you are actually able to conduct an intelligent conversation. What ARE you?" "We'll get to the good bits in a little while, Dargo" Harrigan assured him "Hold on. During the course of our little escapade we wrote off two engines, an air and water treatment plant, and two barrack rooms full of soldiers. But unfortunately our luck ran out big time" he explained, then paused, remembering the loss of his old friends and comrades. He pulled himself together and continued with "The Captain had put together an assault force and come after us himself. They had us cornered in one of the landing bays trying to commandeer a patrol ship to escape on. The whole force charged. We killed as many as we can, beating them back several times, but they just kept coming. A small group snuck around, blew a side wall, and tried to flank us. The corporal died trying to cover my flank from Scarran attack, and the Peacekeeper a little later from sharpshooter fire. I did manage to blow the Captain's right arm off at the elbow; and when we were finally caught I drew my pistol and emptied the mag into his left leg as well. Only two remained then" Harrigan remembered sadly "Mary, my comm officer, and myself. We were taken back to a Scarran gammak base for biological experimentation. I didn't find out until later that this base was the centre of what they called 'Bio-Research Project 12'. An effort to improve and enhance the effectiveness of the Scarran soldier from the ground up. But they wanted to test it on other species to make sure the principles were sound before using it on their soldiers."
Even Aeryn and Dargo gasped in shock at hearing that. "The base we were at controlled an entirely separate project" explained Crichton "A genetic transformer. But the effects are only temporary. The commanders of this project must have known of their rival's problem and tried to work around it". "Possibly" murmured Harrigan "There were two subdivisions of the projects. Both advocated different methods and procedures. I was sent to Nexus One, the experimental procedures were worked on me, and I was put in a stasis tank under full anaeshesia for a quarter-cycle. The alterations worked a little better that they expected, and they found me breaking out of the tank two weeken ahead of schedule"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Chiana sniggered nastily "Bet they weren't expecting that!" "Indeed not, Chiana" Harrigan responded "Thankfully it was very early morning and there were no guards around. That place was a tech-prison. A place where they send people whose skills are too valuable to waste by killing them or sending them to a labour camp. Even the staff there are prisoners. The head scientist got the shock of his life when he found me up and about. But Nexus One favoured a more cautious approach. He managed to calm me down, barely, and led me off to the canteen where I ate every last morsel they had. A little less than two days later, a Peacekeeper retrieval team attacked the base to get my ship back. They found two other prisoners, but couldn't get in to my ship because the Peacekeeper who was with me gave me exclusive access before we left. While the retrieval team were fighting the guards, the scientist and myself got back into my ship and left. The retrieval team followed shortly afterwards with their rescued comrades and returned to their carrier. We made for the commerce planet where I came across Talannah for the first time, though I didn't know it at the then..."
Harrigan looked over to see Talannah smiling up at him. As he reached over to her, she wrapped her own arms around him and drew him closer. Harrigan leaned over and kissed her lovingly, but Talannah didn't let it stop there. She swung one leg over his lap, sat down astride him and kissed back deeply and ardently, slipping her tongue inside his mouth. Harrigan's grasp tightened in response, which only encouraged Talannah's lust. However, just as her hands were heading groinwards, all four chair legs finally let go explosively, dumping the pair of them on the floor.
The whole room burst out laughing at that point. Harrigan and Talannah just lay in a tangled mess on the floor amongst the remains of the chair, holding each other close and laughing softly. Chiana and Jool were laughing the hardest; but even Dargo, Crichton and Aeryn were joining in to varying degrees. Finally Harrigan calmed down. "OK, guys. Sorry about that" he explained "Talannah is very single-minded when it comes to that kind of thing". She came right back with "I didn't hear you objecting!". Harrigan treated her to a slow smile and whispered "Why would I do something silly like that, my love?" in Scarran. She leaned into his shoulder, whispering loving endearments in Scarran in his ear. Before they could get going again, Aeryn cut in. "This is all very instructive, but you haven't finished your story yet. We'd like to hear the rest".
"Oh, yes" Harrigan replied. He stood up, pacing back and forth across the room as he finished off his tale. "Well, there isn't that much left to tell. I got hold of a few new bits of useful equipment, then booked passage on a Leviathan transport with my ship out to where I found you lot. It turned out that Talannah had booked herself on board the ship. During our trip, we just really opened up to each other and our love is just going on stronger from there onwards". Harrigan left out the details of Talannah's past, feeling that if they were to be revealed, Talannah should do that.
Jool finally asked a question. "I hope you don't mind me asking..." she asked "But how are you able to speak Scarran? Aeryn here knows a few words, but you seem to speak it fluently. Even down to slang." Harrigan looked at her in honest astonishment. "You know, I really haven't a clue" he replied, baffled. Then an idea came to him. "I've got the project notes in my ship. I'll bring them over and we'll see what we can find" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Harrigan beckoned Talannah over as Crichton and his crewmates began to talk amongst themselves. "You'd better be on your toes for this next bit" Harrigan cautioned her "Crichton is a friend, Aeryn also, I think. But the others I'm not yet sure about". Talannah pondered this as they walked back up to the hatch the Harbringer was docked over. "Chiana and Jool will probably follow Crichton's lead" Talannah decided "Noranti also. That Hynerian will go whichever way benefits him the most – that'll be tiresome, and may be expensive as well, but we will know which buttons to press to get the right reponse. That Sikozu, though" she continued "I don't quite trust her. Even the others watch her closely. And she really doesn't seem to like me much". She resolved to keep her Viper with her, loaded and ready, and her shortswords sharp – just in case.
A few minutes later, they saw the hatch above them. Opening it, Harrigan boosted Talannah through the hole, and pulled himself up afterwards. "Armoury" he stated, walking aft. When he opened the armoury, he walked in and grabbed a G8C off the wall rack. After checking that there was a round in the chamber and the safety was on, he handed it to Talannah. "This is a modified HK G8 light machine gun" he explained "This one's suppressed, and fires heavier, subsonic rounds in semi or full-auto modes. The safety's down by your right thumb. It's easy to read – one bullet symbol means 'semi auto' and that open ended tube of bullets means 'full auto'. The bullet with a cross over it means 'safe'.
Talannah hefted the unfamiliar weapon, testing the weight and feel. Her Scarran strength helped her hold the modified HK as if it were a rifle. "Hmm" she pondered "Not bad at all. What about this?" she asked, pointing at the scope. "Combo-scope" Harrigan replied "That Luxan gunmaker really came through there. Twist the knob to the left and a reflex sight come up – that's the one you see now. Twist to the right, and a sniper scope comes up – 4 to 12 zoom, wide front lens for low light. The assembly is rather bulky, but it's worth it. Leave the reflex sight up for now". Talannah slung the weapon's carrying strap over her shoulder, saying "Next?".
Harrigan pulled a bunch of web gear over, slotting ammo drums into various pouches. When he had two complete sets, he passed one over to Talannah and put the other one on himself. "Ammo" he explained "That drum holds 100 rounds. When you need to reload, press the lever directly behind the drum" demonstrating on his own gun "Try and keep the empty drum in an empty pouch if you can – we can re-use them. Then slap in a new one" Harrigan shoved the drum back in. Talannah heard a slight 'click' as the drum seated in the gun. "That click means the drum's in properly. Then it's back to rock- n-roll". He also grabbed a dozen CS grenades, keeping half and passing the others over to Talannah. "What are these?" she asked, turning one over and over "They don't look like tarvek grenades". "That's cause they aren't" Harrigan replied "They're CS gas bombs. Non-lethal, used for riot control and hostage rescue squads. Never can tell, may be useful. Now let's get what we came for" he finished, heading for the bridge. A few microts later, he came back with a small datapod.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Back we go" Harrigan prompted. They both went back through the hatch; Talannah first, then Harrigan. He noticed the way her G8C immediately came up to the ready position, as if she were in hostile territory. "Ease off, dear" he soothed "Keep it low, like you're on patrol – not up, like you're in a firefight. We shouldn't antagonise them any more than necessary. These are just so we're prepared for any eventuality". Harrigan saw Talannah lowered her weapon as he asked. His hand flicked through the Scarran battlesign for 'advance with caution' as he moved off for the dining area again.
Talannah recognised the sign. How does he know all this stuff? she wondered. Jool was right. How can he speak Scarran fluently, when he's never even met one before me? That battlesign code is only taught to military units, how come he knew it well enough to give the right signal first time off? I guess we'll all find out soon, she mused. That datapod must have some very interesting stuff on it... Nevertheless, she moved off behind Harrigan in the correct position. Just before she did, she activated the small antisurveillance unit she still carried.
"Where are they, Pilot?" yelled Dargo. "They should be on their way by now!" Pilot came on over the clamshell. "I can't track them precisely, Ka'Dargo" he replied peevishly "Every time I try, the cameras fill with fuzz and the microphones drop offline. I do know that the zone of interference is heading for your location, however". Then the clamshell went off. "Guns ready!" yelled Dargo, raising his qualta. "Back down, D" ordered Crichton "They're just a bit wary. They haven't met us before. That Scarran may not trust all of us yet. You know how Scarrans think".
"Yes, I suppose you're right, John" grunted Dargo "But I'll keep this close by. I suggest you do the same" he suggested to the others. Sikozu had returned to her quarters, and neither Chiana nor Jool were armed; but Aeryn had a pulse rifle and John had the pistol that accompanied him almost everywhere he went. Both checked that the shakan oil was still fresh. It was. Noranti just stayed where she was, apparently unconcerned.
Harrigan smelled the faint stink of shakan oil, and brought his fist up in the universal sign 'enemy seen or suspected'. Talannah came up beside him. "Can you smell that?" he whispered. "Smell what?" she asked. "Shakan oil" Harrigan replied "They must have tried to track us with the Pilot's internal systems. Since they've broken out the guns, something must have got them on edge. Any ideas?" Talannah looked down at the floor, noticeably upset. "I turned my antisurveillance unit on" she replied softly "I didn't want them listening in. I'm sorry, my love" she continued, looking up at him now "I should have followed your lead. Will you forgive me?" she said.
Harrigan rested a hand on her shoulder. "Of course" he replied. "That's one thing you're supposed to do when you're in love. Forgive each other. Now turn it off, and let's get going"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Talannah flicked a small switch on an egg-sized black box on her belt, deactivating the antisurveillance unit. The interference on Pilot's sensors immediately disappeared. "Trackers now register the two newcomers coming towards you" Pilot advised over the clamshell "Armed. Heavily armed".
As Talannah and Harrigan rounded the corner, Aeryn raised her rifle. "Place your weapons on the floor and you hands over your head!" she ordered "Now!". Harrigan rested his hand on Talannah's shoulder, saying "Get behind me". Once he was assured Talannah was safe, he lowered his weapon (but didn't drop it), lifted his hands in concilliation, and said "Look, guys. This gear's purely precautionary. Tal's got some bad vibes about one or two of you. She felt better with a little firepower. We aren't actually going to kill any of you. You're Commander Crichton's friends. It's very bad manners to kill the friends of friends".
Aeryn was in no mood to be pacified. She put one bolt in the floor, and stated "Drop your weapons, or the next one's higher!" Harrigan just kept on coming, which caused Aeryn to fire a short burst straight into his chest. When Harrigan just shrugged it off, Aeryn was so stunned that she didn't attempt to stop him taking her rifle away and throwing it over to Crichton, who put it on the table. "Why don't some people ever learn?" he muttered, then raised his voice and continued "If my restraint from ripping the lady here to pieces isn't evidence enough of my peaceful intent, I don't know what is. I went to get that datapod that has the project notes. Here it is" he revealed, showing it to everyone. He turned to the nearest of Moya's crew, which happened to be Chiana. "Is there a holoprojector round here?" he asked. Chiana nodded and ran off to medical and retrieved one from there.
While she was gone, Harrigan helped Aeryn up from where she'd collapsed on the floor in stunned horror. "What are you?" she asked, quite badly scared "Even a Scarran would have been hurt quite badly by that! There's not even a scratch on you!" Harrigan showed her the scorch marks where the pulse fire had burned a thin layer off his carapace. "Yes there is, actually" he clarified "But it'll heal in a half-arn or so, no worries. As for the 'What are you?' part, why don't we find out?" he said cheerily, taking the projection unit off Chiana, who'd just returned. "Pilot!" Harrigan yelled "You'll want to watch this as well. It'll really make your eyes pop out. Jool" he directed "Turn off the lights!"
Talannah activated the holoprojector. A prompt came up asking if they wanted an overview or full details. Talannah selected 'overview' and sat back with the rest of the little group. Even Sikozu had returned now and was watching avidly. A Scarran head appeared. "That's the head scientist" Harrigan whispered. Then the audio cut in. "Private log, Scout-Runner Nrakal, chief scientist of Bio-Research Project 12, Nexus One. Despite my capture by High Command" the commntary explained "Apparently for political instability, I was sent to this benighted hole of a tech-prison instead of receiving the death penalty as so many of my comrades have. The project I was assigned to happened to be the one we have so feared was being put into action by those now leading High Command. Since the warhawks seized power from the more moderate factions and installed their own puppet as Commander in Chief of the Scarran armies, their genetic enhancement programs have been fast-tracked. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- The genetic transformer developed at the Takhsis base was only partially successful – it worked as ordered, but the effects wore off after a short period of time. So other projects were instituted. Two of these were set up at the tech-prison where I am currently incarcerated. These are each seeking ways to permanently enhance and transform the Scarran soldier for greatly increased effectiveness in combat in the war against the Sebaceans. One of these, Nexus One, was placed under my charge by the base Commandant. The other in Nexus Two, was led by a scientist loyal to the warhawks. Thankfully for me the base Commandant didn't check my record – or my cover would have been blown to pieces, followed by the rest of me".
"That scientist was a spy?" asked Chiana "Who for?". "Ssh!" hissed Dargo "Maybe we'll find out".
"From then on" the voice continued "test spcimens were procured by raiding passing ships and capturing likely samples from their crews. Approximately fifteen were brought in this way before success was achieved with the subject known as John Harrigan". All heads turned to Harrigan. "Hey, that's me!" he grinned. "OK, OK" the rest of them said, shushing him "Let's hear the rest". "The original schedule called for a detailed examination under quarantine procedures before the experimental procedures started. Since the subject was at least nominally Sebacean, we bypassed this part of the procedures as that genotype is well known to us". "But I wasn't Sebacean!" grinned Harrigan again, waggling his eyebrows "Their mistake". "Enough already!" the girls responded.
Aeryn pressed the pause button to restart the log. "Over the objections of the head of Nexus Two," the scientist went on "the subject was placed in a stasis tank under full anaesthesia for the project proper. The Nexus Two project leader felt we could always obtain other specimens if this one failed, but I thought it better to get it right first time. The transformation proceeded exactly on schedule until approximately four weeken from project end. While the exact events are unclear, we can safely assume the following. Some time thereafter, several of the alterations kicked in. This caused the rest to follow ahead of schedule. Since one of the first enabled the subject's body to neutralise foreign substances, he overcame the effects of the tranquiliser used faster than we could put it in. The alarm went off approximately two weeken ahead of schedule. I arrived at the lab to find the subject fully awake, smashing the tanks to pieces. After a full bio-scan was obtained, it became clear that the physical enhancements, at least, had succeeded beyond all expectations. I decided at this stage to sequester the project logs and other vital data to prevent High Command from using my work to enslave all life. The pod you have contains all the project data necessary to replicate the changes in new subjects. The old backups currently in the possession of the High Command are not complete. They have critical flaws that were not fully solved until I compiled this log".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "The intended results of the project on the specimen should be as follows" Nrakal concluded. All present craned forward to make sure they didn't miss out "Massive skeletal bulk and density enhancement to provide the base for increased load-carrying capacity and physical strength, plus increased resistance to falling and battle damage that would normally cause loss of limbs. Similarly huge muscle bulk and density enhancements were applied – this was primarily to give the subject unmatched hand-to-hand combat prowess, but should enable the subject, if required, and in conjunction with the aforementioned skeletal enhancements, to carry an Intruder-class pulse cannon with both hands, along with a power source on the subject's back, and fire the weapon for extended periods of time – at the cost of slowing walking speed to one half normal"
Jool, Chiana, and Crichton stared open-mouthed in astonishment at the man before them, while Aeryn and Dargo just took it all in silently. The capabilities already mentioned, they realised, would enable a Scarran heavy infantry unit to annihilate ten times their number without serious casualties. And the log hadn't stopped yet, either!
"Combat capacity should be further enhanced by modification of the subject's nervous system for triple-redundancy" the scientist continued again "In the event that any poisonous substances overcome the other defences, this provides an approximate 75% increase in resistance to chemical agents. Immune system alterations provide similar increases to resistances against bioagents as well. Initial simulations show a faint possibility, less than 10%, that these systems could operate simulateously at times of stress, shortening reaction times even further"
"I've seen the truth of that myself" Talannah added "When I first met Harrigan, he took on a Deadhead squad leader in hand to hand combat. Within three hundred microts, and with minimal combat training, he'd pounded the Deadhead to a pulp. The Scarran had to be taken away in an ambulance with critical injuries". She squeezed Harrigan, who returned it happily, then unpaused the log. "Additional battle-damage resistance was applied in the form of a vastly thickened epidermis and a thick external multi-layered carapace. Backed by increased healing and regenerative capacities, this should enable the subject to recover form any damage that doesn't immediately cause death within approximately three solar months. A limb could conceivably regenerate in a weeken. The project standards call for short term resistance to light anti-armour weapons, and this has been achieved, I feel. The subject's lungs and heart have been altered to allow a fivefold increase in tolerances to hazardous atmospheres. Finally, some enhancements were made to the basic senses. The armoured skin made touch enhancement impossible, but capabilities in the areas of hearing and vision should receive the greatest enhancements; though taste sensitivity has benn increased slightly as well"
The scientist turned a page in his lab notes, then looked up "This is not without cost. The subject will initially experience fits of anger and rage until the hormone levels slow down. Even then, the subject will undoubtedly still be very short-tempered and impatient"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "My brothers in the Blood Hand persuaded me to add three highly unusual additions to the program. One was the incorporation of a large bank of genetic knowledge. Since the test subject would not be aware of Scarran history, or be able to read our language, the ability to read and write both Modern and Old Scarran was written into the genetic makeup; along with similar capacity in Modern and Old Sebacean, Charrid, Nebari, Modern and Ancient Luxan, plus several specialised military and commercial dialects of several species. Traditional Scarran combat skills were added to aid him in the assimilation into our culture; though both these and the language skills may take some time to appear. The last two capabilities are perhaps the most frightening and extensive of those given to the subject. If it works, the subject's highly energised nervous system will enable him to eventually deliver a killing electrical charge over approximately fifteen to twenty metras. The exact distance is uncertain without proper testing. The final one is the addition of a booster gland. This may be activated in order to inject synthetic combat drugs into the subject's bloodstream for emergency use. This should not be used lightly – overuse can lead to the subject being incapacitated for a maximum projected interval of two weeken while the body recovers, and possible psychological addiction as well" The sounds of heavy footsteps came over the audio track "I must go now. If any of the Blood Hand obtain this data, or find the test subject, you must at all costs prevent both from falling into the hands of Scarran High Command, or any other authorities. It is clear now that this program is too powerful for any to control. Scout-Runner Nrakal signing off".
Sikozu was probably the most shocked of all, but was more outwardly sympathetic. "My species were virtually enslaved by the Scarrans" she explained "but none have endured the pain you did while incarcerated at tha...tha...that gulag!". Harrigan sensed that this was true as far as it went, but that she had her own means in mind for revenge. She would bear watching.
Jool finally unfroze long enough to add "Well, that explains his speaking Scarran. I just wish now I didn't know the rest of it". Chiana just looked him up and down, saying "Wow!". Talannah noticed that her inspection seemed more than merely curious and growled at her menacingly, fingering her Viper. "Bear off, the pair of you" ordered Crichton stepping between them "There will be no catfights or hissy fits in this ship, whatever the reason. We've got too much else to deal with to brawl amongst ourselves".
While Crichton and Moya's crew were arguing over possible implications of this newly revealed data, Harrigan retrieved the datapod and stuffed it in one of his pockets. Talannah prodded the innards of the device with a couple of bits of bent wire and shorted it's memory and OS ROM units. The crackle and sparks caused the others to break off and turn round. "That device could have had a recorder on board" Talannah stated flatly "I cannot take the chance of this data, or my love" she continued more softly, looking over at Harrigan. He threw his arms around her and drew her close gratefully and happily, as she continued with "...falling into enemy hands"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "You sound like military, or wose, a spy, when you say that" Sikozu probed. Talannah looked over at Harrigan, who nodded. She shrugged her shoulders, and replied "I was, of sorts. I was in the intellegence directorate's special action division before I met my John". Harrigan held her sofly, just looking happily into her eyes. Aeryn, Crichton and Chiana were surprised at the strength of the love and trust expressed in her tone, but Sikozu went off the deep end.
"We've got a DEADHEAD on our ship?!" she screamed "A frelling Deadhead? Do you even know what they do?" she howled turning to Harrigan. "If they're anything like the spies and skulkers back home" he replied calmly "they do all kinds of really nasty stuff. I know my unit was seconded to intelligence agencies at least twice for various clandestine or black-bag jobs. It's nothing I haven't done myself or heard about. Besides, I love Talannah, and trust her with my life". Talannah gave him a long kiss in thanks for that public confession.
Sikozu couldn't handle her companions acceptance of the Scarran's presence on board Moya. She grabbed Aeryn's rifle before she could be stopped and raised it to fire. Harrigan swept Talannah round behind him, and raised his othe hand to push Sikozu away. Chiana noticed a blue crackling spreading quickly over Harrigan's right hand and yelled "Down!"
All except Sikozu immediately dropped to the floor. She was so far gone in rage that she didn't hear. The charge leapt off Harrigan's arm, impacted dead-centre on her chest, and threw her all the way across the room, knocking her out. Jool came in closer to examine her, but Talannah waved her off. "There may still be a residual charge in her body" she explained "It'll wear off shortly. She's still breathing, I can tell, so eventually she'll recover. But she's quite literally had a shock she won't forget in a hurry". Harrigan added "That wasn't intentional. I only wanted to push her away so she wouldn't hurt Talannah."
"What do you think, Sparky?" Crichton asked Rygel, who was floating near the ceiling. "I don't much care" he replied gruffly "As long as neither of them try to take what's mine, they can stay as long as they like as far as I'm concerned. Besides, they may prove useful if we run into trouble. Especially war on legs over there" he finished, gesturing towards Harrigan. "Thankyou, your royal frogness" Harrigan replied, bowing "It's so nice to be appreciated". The laughter that followed dispelled the tension in the air.
"If it helps at all..." asked Pilot over the clamshell "Moya does not mind either of them being here. She says that the little ship is a little uncomfortable clamped on her hull, but she doesn't mind". Harrigan tapped the wall, replying "Moya, you're quite safe with me. We came to you from another Leviathan by the name of Sheral, who actually seemed to like us. She even spoke to me a couple of times, and expressed sadness at our leaving. A fine ship by all accounts."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "We'd better get some sleep" interrupted Rygel "We should be at this next commerce planet tomorrow, and I'm tired". "Good idea" responded Harrigan "Talannah and myself will adjourn to my ship for the night". Talannah snuggled up close when she heard that. Harrigan turned to her and added "We'll both need sleep, love, if we're to be ready for that commerce planet; delightful though your plan is, my dear, it'll have to wait". Noranti dragged the still unconscious Sikozu off to the sick bay, while the rest returned to their quarters. "ETA at the commerce planet?" asked Crichton. There was a short delay, then Pilot came back with "About eight arns. This Harrigan has the right idea. You should all get some sleep".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------