"John, you know I love this child, but there is absolutely no way I'm doing…THAT!" For John Crichton, everyday after the PK wars had ended was like waging a new battle on a different front. What's more, he was actually enjoying fighting these skirmishes: Aeryn telling him she was physically ill-equipped to nurse their son D'argo Sunn, but then finding begrudgingly that the human pregnancy had awakened dormant mammary glands; the first time they'd left the baby with Noranti so Aeryn and he could go planet-side for some shore leave; and now this, the mother of all fights.

"Look: I've had to change Mr. 'I love Delvian rice pudding' over there every time, it's your turn!" John went to grab Aeryn's upraised arms, but she quickly unholstered her pulse pistol, pointing it squarely in the middle of his forehead. "I will kill you…" she smiled mischievously, backing away from John and the squirming, mewing child on the bed. Noranti quickly trotted into the room and tapped at the door controls, just fast enough for Aeryn to turn and run right into the bug-wing metal lattice whirring closed.

"We've got her Crichton!" the old woman whooped and crooned, bending low as if ready to pounce at any moment. The look on Aeryn's face was somewhere between disbelief and abject fear. John fell back on the bed next to D'argo, stomping on the floor with his bare feet and laughing his ass off. He turned to DS, who seemed to cheer up a little and put his tiny hand around John's pointer finger. Aeryn let out a single guffaw, and guided the pistol towards Noranti who immediately swatted at it with her bony olive hands. "You know," she said, sounding as usual like she'd just had one coffee too many, "I actually find the smell very pleasant!"

The skin bunched up between Aeryn's eyebrows. "Well then you can wear it, you wrinkled old…"

The comms system suddenly crackled to life above the tumult. "I hate to break the…uh…festivities, Commander; but Moya's sensors are picking up a distress beacon from what looks like…a Qualta blade!" As if it were an automated response, everyone snapped back to readiness immediately. Aeryn let the pistol fall to her side, craning her neck to the left quizzically. "Pilot is there any way of knowing…" Pilot finished her thought, "IT IS! It is Ka D'argo's blade!" John and Aeryn shared a knowing look; it was a look that they'd shared frequently in more turbulent times: the 'oh no, not again' look.

"I'm on my way Pilot," John sneered out, grabbing the nearest shirt and stumbling around the room as he pulled his shoes on. Aeryn started to follow him out. "Hu-uh!" John pressed one hand to her shoulder and stared down at her over his nose. "You ain't gettin' outta this one that easy. N, make sure she doesn't leave until it's done…" Aeryn sighed resignedly, as Noranti barred her teeth and growled, shaking her staff at the ex Peace Keeper. The last thing John heard as he padded down the corridor was Aeryn saying "Aw, frell; Pilot, get the incinerators on tier seven ready for 'diaper disposal'."

"Pilot," said John, sliding onto Moya's main tier in a light jog, "Is there any way of knowing whether or not Jothee is in the vicinity of the beacon?" When John didn't get an answer, the pit of his stomach fell out. "Pilot?" John could definitely feel the ship picking up speed. "PILOT!" "One way to find out Commander," Pilot brayed over his quick moving pincers. The door to the bridge was closed tightly. "C'mon man, let me in!" John, began to panic; he knew Pilot still felt the rawness of Ka D'argo's death, because he felt it to. He waited a few more tense seconds. "Pilot, I know you just wanna help, but so do I, so for the love a Christ, lemme in!" The comms were silent as the door whirred open. For the first time since he came up, John looked out of the frontal viewport to see a giant grey ship, twice Moya's size, shaped like a parallelogram. The clam-shell swished to life above his head and Pilot seemed even more vehement and animated than usual. John reeled. "WHOA! Pilot, wait, wait, wait! We don't even know what the heck this thing is, don't get too hast-"

"Moya and I are in agreement that we must aid Jothee at all costs," Pilot was curt and cold as he stared down at John, making it clear that to some extent, he blamed him for the death of Moya's previous captain. "Pilot," Aeryn had come onto the bridge silently, staring at the alien ship with a hardened expression, "we all want to help Jothee if he is in danger. But think clearly," she advanced on the navigations console. "Don't you find it convenient that we are the only ship within…five-thousand metras distance of the beacon? This is more than mere coincidence, don't you think?" Aeryn had a calming way of talking to Pilot that always seemed to take the winds from his sails. "I…I'm sorry, Officer Sunn; I…only wished to help…"

John sidled up beside Aeryn under the clam-shell. "But Pilot, it's not gonna do us any good if we go shooting our guns off before lookin' at are targets."

Pilot looked sheepish. "Standing down, Commander…" Noranti had wandered onto the bridge with D'argo in a sling, and was now staring bug-eyed and pointing wildly at the viewport. John and Aeryn glanced around to see an electric blue pulse galloping through space right at them. "Aw frell!" John grabbed a hold of a bulkhead above him, pulling Aeryn into him with his free arm just as Noranti wedged herself and DS in the niche behind one of the consoles. "Hang on people!" Pilot screamed as the ship dived downward.