The Unlikely Savior
Setting: After Family Ties
A/N: Yay! I'm finally ticking a project off my list of things to do. I should have the next chapter of Surprise Visitors up soon, I've been waiting for it to come back from beta. As Always feedback is greatly appreciated and feeds the muse for future projects.
Disclaimer: I'm still not seeing any royalty checks, so that must mean that Farscape still isn't mine. Pity.
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Aeryn flew around the Oil Moon, trying to blend in with the other Prowlers conducting the search. She knew exactly where they were, but she could not get to them, not with the others around. John had already told her that D'Argo was unconscious, and she knew that John's air would be running out. Twice, she had almost broken away from the search squadron to rescue them, not caring if the others would find her. Common sense had overruled her impulsiveness. What point would there be in rescuing them if they were captured or killed?
Finally, she heard the recall order. As the other Prowlers returned to the Command Carrier, she ducked into the asteroids, waiting for their departure. It seemed to take forever, but she knew the Carrier would soon leave and begin its search for Moya.
Moya. With the Leviathan gone, she had no idea what she would do, where she would go. There was M'Lee's asteroid, but they had no proof M'Lee was either gone or dead. She could just be ensuring them a gruesome death by going there. Moya had been unable to use her sensors, so she had no idea if there were other hospitable asteroids in the area. Given the fact the Oil Moon had been a mining outpost, it was likely some of the others had at one point been inhabited, but that did not guarantee that they were still capable of supporting life. It must have been at least fifty cycles since the moon had been used for mining. It was not likely life support equipment would be functioning after that amount of time.
But there was Crais. He had taken the gunship, who was too young to starburst, and must still be in the asteroid belt. And the gunship had the protection due to the fact that the Peacekeepers could not track him. But would Crais come back for them if she sent them a distress call? Did she have a choice?
Realizing the Command Carrier was out of range, she pulled on her helmet and moved in to retrieve her comrades. The first thing she noticed was that John, too, was unconscious. Working quickly, she managed to get the two of them into the Prowler. As expected, it was a very tight fit. Once the atmosphere was restored, she pulled off John's helmet and was relieved to see that he was still breathing. She could hear D'Argo take a gasping sputtering breath. They were all alive, for now.
Now, her biggest problem was finding a way to keep them that way.
Checking the indicator on her control panel, she saw that they had an arn worth of air, though she knew that it would last much less now that there were three of them in the cramped cockpit. Heading into the asteroid field, she decided to seek out the gunship.
Adjusting the frequency of her transmitter, she sent out her distress call. "Crais, this is Aeryn. Please respond. Moya is gone and I'm running out of air." She then placed the message on automatic repeat and flew deeper into the asteroids, hoping to find Crais and the gunship.
When her air was nearly exhausted, she heard a crackle in her radio. "Officer Sun, I received your distress call. Are you asking for assistance?"
"Yes. Where are you? Time is running out." She never thought she would feel relief at hearing her former captain's voice.
"I will be there shortly," he replied tersely.
She was about to say more, but found that communications had been cut off. Peering outside the cockpit, she scanned space for the gunship and finally saw him emerging from the asteroids. Quickly, she piloted her Prowler toward the waiting hangar.
After landing, she opened the cockpit and gulped the fresh air. She hadn't realized how stale the air in the Prowler had been getting. Seeing Crais approaching her, she called down. "Give me a hand."
"I see you managed to rescue Crichton and Ka D'Argo."
"Yes. Now help me get them down from here."
"To what purpose? Why should I let the three of you remain?"
"If you aren't going to let us remain, at least take us somewhere we won't die. We won't last long in the Prowler, even with recharged air."
Crais smirked. "No, you won't. It just so happens that in my mapping of the asteroid field, I found an asteroid that was a mining camp and does have a breathable atmosphere."
"Where is it?" Aeryn demanded.
Crais circled behind her and spoke in a low voice, "Why should help you? What do you have to offer me?"
Aeryn swallowed. She knew what Crais wanted. "You know I don't have anything."
"Ah, but you do. You have yourself. This gunship seems to trust you. He was very eager to have you back onboard. Stay here. Help me raise him."
"I can't just leave them on an asteroid. They are unconscious."
"For now. Once they are better…"
"And rescued," she interjected.
Crais amended, "And rescued, there is nothing tying you to them. Do you really want to continue to be associated with alien criminals?"
"And a Peacekeeper criminal is so much better?" she asked snidely.
"I assure you, First Command's interest in us will be minimal. Scorpius cares only about Crichton and those that destroyed his moon. That does not include you. And with the gunship, we can vanish deep into the Uncharted Territories. No one will find us, and we can make our way in the Universe."
She considered his offer. At this point, she really didn't have a choice. And had her life on Moya really been that good? She had been separated from everything she had ever known. With Crais, she could recapture some of the familiarity of her old life. "All right. But I stay with them until their rescue is imminent."
"Of course. I will set course for the asteroid. Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of supplies, but I will set aside a ration for you." He walked toward command and she followed. "You do realize it is highly unlikely that Moya will return."
She had thought of that, but did not want to face it. "We don't know that."
"And what if they don't? I cannot remain in this asteroid field indefinitely. I will need to forage for supplies, and the gunship will need to reach open space. You know they will react quite violently to my presence."
She sighed. "I know. If the time comes, I will prepare them for what we are doing." She was trying to determine how best to do that when she had an idea. "You could give them a transport pod."
Crais chuckled softly as he inputted the asteroid's coordinates. "I have but one transport pod, and it is unlikely the gunship will be able to grow one for the next quarter cycle or so. That is not an option, as simple as it may seem. We will be at the asteroid shortly."
He led her to the galley where he filled a jug with water and pulled a small package of food cubes out of a cabinet. "This is all I can spare for now. I will continue my scans of the asteroid field looking for more supplies. I will need you to check in every twenty arns."
Taking the supplies, she said, "Thank you."
"No, thank you. I will see you in twenty arns."
As Aeryn walked back to the Prowler, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Those on Moya had taken her in, come to grudgingly accept her. Was it really right of her to plan to abandon them now when they most needed her? But she was not like them. She was like Crais. Besides, Crais did not seem like the same man he had been as a Command Carrier captain. He had aided them in retaliating against Scorpius. Of course, he had also stolen the gunship, but would she have done any differently if faced with the same situation? Was she really ready to die? Crais hadn't been, and she was certain that she wasn't, either. That's why she had asked for his help. Now, she had given her word, and she would honor it.