A/N: For this challenge, I had Leviathan, John and Farscape Module. I decided to take a look at what might have happened during the Premiere if Aeryn had been more forceful about speaking up for John and if her words had been different. This is the first time I've done a fic where John is the main character throughout, so this is a big departure for me. ;D
I would like to thank nota for being my loyal beta reader and smacking me around for including too much from the Premiere. It really is more streamlined now that I've cut the extraneous out.
Disclaimer: Not now, nor has Farscape ever belonged to me. I'm not making any profit of my writing, only seeking to borrow the characters to entertain others for a little while.
The Long Road Home
John was ecstatic as Farscape One shot from the space shuttle. Finally, he was getting a chance to prove his and DK's theory. Checking the instruments, he saw that everything looked normal as he began to execute the Farscape maneuver. If this worked, it would change how humans viewed the solar system. Making a journey to Mars could be a reality in his lifetime, and it would be a journey that would not take months.
His radio started crackling as though IASA was trying to contact him.
He looked up from trying to figure out what was wrong with his radio and found himself face to face with some sort of energy vortex. "Whoa, hey, Canaveral, I've got something…"
As he jostled through the blue tunnel, he lost track of time, merely trying to keep his tiny spaceship centered as best he could. He had no idea what would happen if he collided with the walls of the vortex. He had no desire to find out. For a split second, he wondered if this was how Jonah had felt when he'd been swallowed by the whale.
Finally, the vortex released him and he found he had a new obstacle, asteroids. Briefly, he thought about how wonderful a success the maneuver had been. He had been transported all the way past Mars in a matter of seconds. Then he started to wonder how he would get back to Earth. He wasn't sure if any of the asteroids were large enough for him to conduct the maneuver again.
When something zoomed by him, he forgot about getting home. He was trying to make out just what it was that had moved at such speed past him when he saw another... one... approaching him at the same rapid speed, and he tried to maneuver out of the way. "Oh, I don't think I'm in Kansas in anymore," he muttered as he furiously toggled the radio in an attempt to contact Canaveral.
Unfortunately, no one was answering. More of the ships started maneuvering past him. They were coming from behind him and there was nothing he could do when one of them clipped his wing.
As he fought to maintain control of his module, he saw the ship collide with an asteroid in a ball of fire. Before he could recover from that shock, a very large, something – spaceship, he didn't know what – started pulling his ship inside a docking bay.
Whatever it was, it did not come from Earth. He briefly wondered what aliens were doing in Earth's solar system, but didn't have very much time to dwell on that question as his ship came to rest.
While he normally would not have opened his module in an alien atmosphere, the fire in his cockpit convinced him to take the chance. He was definitely going to die if he inhaled much more of the toxic smoke. At least he might stand a chance of survival outside the module.
What happened next seemed surreal. He was on an alien ship, meeting aliens, aliens who were prisoners... Aliens who were far more alien than anything he could have imagined. He still had a hard time comprehending it all. It's not that he didn't believe in aliens, it's just that he wasn't expecting to actually meet any.
Once they had realized he wasn't going to be able to help them, he had been knocked out, examined, and then almost knocked out again when he had woken up in a cell with another prisoner, this one a "Peacekeeper". She hadn't really been friendly to him when they had first met, but she was at least not an escaping prisoner. He thought she was his best chance for help getting home. All he had to do now was find a way to befriend her.
He had tried over the meal, but she seemed to be paying more attention to what the others were saying than to him. For that matter, the same could pretty much be said about the rest of them—the large reddish tentacled male, the blue-skinned bald priestess, the little green amphibious-looking one. Before they left, he noticed that they were all ignoring him, and he had slipped his fork up his jacket sleeve to use as a way to gain Aeryn's trust since she had believed it would be useful in making her escape. It seemed to have worked, since she was now going to let him join her.
"Do you think it's possible that the Peacekeepers could help me? I mean, I know it kind of looks bad that I'm here with the prisoners, but they captured me right after I got here."
"I… couldn't say. Peacekeepers are very careful about associating with aliens."
"Well, we look an awful lot alike, you know. Maybe our species are cousins or something? I really just want to get home. I don't want anything to do with these prisoners." He figured this was the best way to get on her good side.
Finally, she got the door opened and hurried down the corridor. He was surprised at how quickly she had done it, enough so that he didn't follow her immediately.
"Come on. Move faster!" she urged as she hurried down the corridor.
"What are you doing?" he asked. He thought they would head for the docking bay and make their escape.
"I'm going to sabotage this ship."
He knew they were prisoners, but still he felt badly about harming the ship. After all, she was a living thing. "Look, if you want to make one of these, wormhole things of yours how do you expect to do that from inside this cell?" He grabbed her arm and she moved defensively toward him. He backed off.
"Compassion, what is compassion?" she asked curiously.
He couldn't believe she was serious. "You're kidding right? It's a feeling that you have when you see someone else's pain and instead of taking advantage of their weakness, you help them."
Comprehension dawned. "Oh, I know this feeling."
"Well it is a fairly common human feeling," he replied simply.
"I hate it," she replied simply.
He was beginning to rethink his decision. Clearly they were not as similar as he had first thought. If she was so hostile, perhaps he had made the wrong choice. "You know what, I'm on the wrong team here, I'm just going to stay." He started walking away.
She called out to his retreating back, "Fine, do what you want. But if you stay here with these lower-lifes, you'll die with them."
He considered her words. The others were escaped prisoners and he had seen the large ship that was chasing them. It seemed very well armed. Perhaps he had been too hasty. "Well how do I know I can trust you?"
"You don't. That's just another thing you don't know."
"Damn!" At least she was honest. He wondered if she understood apologies and started to follow her.
As they made their way down to the planet, he said, "I'm sorry about that changing sides things. I'm just… really out of my element here. I wasn't kidding when I said that my species has never met an alien."
"Then why were you against sabotaging the ship?"
"I guess it's because she's alive. I didn't want you to hurt her. My species – well, some of my species – doesn't like to cause unnecessary harm to living creatures. That's what I was thinking about. I don't believe that the prisoners should be allowed to escape. Maybe we can capture them on the planet?" he offered.
There was a moment of silence before she replied. "With just me and no weapon? Not likely. No offense to you, but you said you are not a warrior. The Luxan is incredibly dangerous on his own, much less when armed. Once we are planet side, I will send a message to my command carrier and hopefully they will arrive before the aliens leave."
"Right. And when your ship gets here, you'll talk to them about helping me?"
"You have been moderately cooperative. I will mention that."
"Thanks." He watched the planet grow closer. "Um, Aeryn. I have something to confess. One of your ships hit mine right after I came through the wormhole. It hit an asteroid and was destroyed. It was an accident. I had no idea that other ships were there."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I just… don't want to keep any secrets. I don't want your military to think I'm hostile. I mean, you saw my ship. I heard you scoff at it. Do you really think that I could do anything to harm any of you?"
"No, I don't," she replied honestly.
Once they were on the planet, he walked around in amazement. Never in a million years had he thought that he would be on an alien world. Now, he was the first human to set foot on an alien planet, and the aliens were so… alien.
"Come on. I've relayed our rendezvous point and we can get off this wastehole of a planet." She looked up as she heard a ship departing. "That's the Leviathan's pod. They're getting away! Come on, we have to report in."
A part of him wanted to stop her. After all, the aliens had rescued him from the asteroid field where he might have died. But he knew that he needed her help and the help of the Peacekeepers and he said nothing.
The Luxan appeared behind them, his blade pointing at them. "You will report nothing, Peacekeeper. I want you both aboard Moya, as insurance."
"I think you are mistaken, Luxan."
"You are the one mistaken."
John urged the Luxan to just leave, to flee with his companions, but when he saw a squad of Peacekeepers, he and Aeryn straightened up.
The Luxan chuckled. "You are such fools. I would not fall for such an ancient ruse."
Unfortunately for the Luxan, several Peacekeeper guards grabbed him. Their commander said, "If the Luxan gives you any trouble, kill him."
John wasn't sure what he thought about that order, but he did recall that Aeryn had told him that Luxans were quite dangerous. He hoped it was just a precaution, an empty threat, but the guards acted as though it were a legitimate order.
Aeryn started, "Captain Crais…" but was ignored.
Crais approached John, examining him. "Name," he demanded.
John didn't like the way he was being looked at. His courage faltered a little. "It's, uh, John Crichton."
"And where are you from, John Crichton?"
Aeryn did as she had promised and tried to stick up for him. "Sir, he claims to be a human, from a planet called Erp, but he's shown himself to be…"
Crais spun around on her. "To be what, Officer Sun? A clever impostor? An accomplice to a ship full of escaping prisoners? My brother's murderer?"
John was confused. How could he have murdered anyone? Clearly Crais had him confused with someone else. "Your brother's what?"
Crais pointed angrily and closed the distance between them. "You charged my brother's Prowler in that white death pod of yours."
Realization dawned. This was really bad luck. Of all the pilots out there, he had to get in a collision with the captain's brother. Not good. "Wait a minute. You mean that near miss I had the first second I got here? That was an accident."
Crais had more emotion in his voice that John had ever heard in Aeryn's. "It was no near miss for my brother." He started circling John. "A human? It will require some study. I will personally enjoy pulling you apart to see what you are made of."
As Peacekeepers started putting handcuffs on him, he pleaded, "Hey!"
Once again, Aeryn stuck up for him. "Wait."
"Yes, Officer Sun. You know something of this… alien?" Crais asked skeptically.
"Only that I have spent some time with him sir, and I believe him when he says that what happened to your brother was an accident. I have seen his ship, and it is no match for our Prowlers. He is not match for us. He arrived from a distant part of the galaxy through a wormhole," she explained.
"A wormhole?" asked Crais curiously. He turned his attention back to John. "You arrived through a wormhole?"
"Uh, yes, sir. I was flying a close orbit on my planet when… something happened and suddenly I found myself in the asteroid field. Your ships, the Prowlers, were flying around me. I can't really see behind my ship and one of them must not have seen me and clipped my wing. I can show you my ship – it's on the Leviathan – and prove it to you."
"Release him," Crais ordered the guards. "If you truly did arrive through the wormhole, this is a momentous occasion. We will recapture the Leviathan and see if you are telling the truth." Spinning back to face Aeryn, he said, "Officer Sun, as you have been with him, you will be his—escort. Both of you will go through a complete debriefing. Retrieve your Prowler and return to the ship. Guards, take the Luxan to the transport and search for the others."
"Sir, the others appear to have returned to the Leviathan. We saw a transport pod leaving shortly after we got here."
"Search the planet while we recapture the Leviathan. Officer Sun, you will debrief with Lt. Teeg on the situation upon return to the command carrier."
"Yes, sir." She grabbed John's arm and dragged him back to the Prowler. "Come on."
"So this is good. He's released me, right?"
"For now. Though he is prone to changing his mind."
"That's just great," John muttered sarcastically.
"Be honest with him, and whatever you do, don't lose your temper around him. It won't help you. If you have something he wants, he might help you."
"Might. That's great." He looked out the window and got a really good look at the command carrier. And he had thought that Moya was large. "Whoa! That thing's huge."
"Not really. It's a standard size command carrier."
"Yeah, right. You're used to this. Our largest space ship is way smaller than Moya. Heck, Moya would be pretty large for an ocean going vessel. I guess I have a lot to get used to."
"That you do." She landed her Prowler. "Come on. I'll take you to guest quarters. You'll need to remain in your room without escort."
He could see the other Peacekeepers staring at him. "Yeah. I think that might be a good idea." Wearing his tan clothes, he felt very conspicuous amongst the black-clothed Peacekeepers. "Any chance I can get a change of clothes? You know, maybe not stand out so much?" She had already told him how Peacekeepers felt about aliens, and he felt very alien right now.
"You have very strange priorities."
"Sorry. I'm just feeling a little vulnerable."
She didn't say anything as she led him to his quarters. "Wait here. I'll return shortly."
After she had left, he paced his quarters. They were spartan, but better than what he had had in his cell on Moya. He saw something that looked like an interface panel and he started pushing buttons, trying to activate it. He succeeded, but obviously, translator microbes only worked for spoken language, not written. He hadn't thought about that before, but he would have a language problem with their scientists—if they helped him.
Realizing he was thoroughly exhausted, he lay down on the bed and soon fell asleep.
"Wake up!" Aeryn said sharply as she shook him.
"Huh? Wha…" he asked groggily.
"Wake up. Captain Crais wants to see your ship."
"They've recaptured Moya?"
"Of course. A wounded Leviathan and a group of prisoners are no match for Peacekeepers. Our pilots couldn't figure out how to operate your ship."
Memories of his arrival came back. "There was a fire when I first got here. I'm not sure that it's operational right now." He also knew that is would be low on fuel. After all, it was never meant for a long flight. "I also don't know how long it'll take to repair it."
"You will evaluate your ship and then I'll report back to Captain Crais."
&&&&&&&&&&&
It didn't take John long to realize that his module needed a lot of work. While the fire didn't seem to have destroyed anything vital, a lot of the wiring would need to be replaced or risk another fire. And he didn't have any idea what had caused it. "Not good, Aeryn. This thing isn't going to be flying any time soon. I'll start putting together a list of what I need."
"You can fix this?" she eyed him skeptically.
"Yeah. I designed it. No problems there."
She walked off, he presumed, to notify Crais, and he started making mental note of everything he would need. When she didn't return right away, he started digging through the bins looking for anything he could use to repair his module.
"Where is he, Officer Sun?" he heard Crais's gruff voice ask.
"He was right here. He couldn't have gone anywhere, sir," she replied somewhat nervously.
Moving back into view, he replied, "I'm right here. I was looking for parts, that's all."
Crais arched an eyebrow as he examined the ship. "This vessel is capable of space flight?"
"Yes, sir." John found Crais's tone insulting and he wanted to stick up for his species, but figured now was not the time.
Crais ran a hand on the damaged wing. "And this…"
"Yes, sir. That's where the impact occurred. As you can see, the impact is on the back of my wing. I was hit from behind, and I can't really see much behind me."
Crais closed his eyes as his hand rested on the scarred wing. "How did it happen?" he asked softly.
John slowly moved closer. "When I came out of the wormhole, I was in the middle of the asteroid field. The main engine of my ship had burned out, and one of the larger asteroids pulled me closer. I used my maneuvering thrusters to keep from hitting it. The Prowlers started coming from behind me. I guess your brother's Prowler was just closer to the asteroid than the others. He probably didn't see me as he came around it, or at least not soon enough to avoid me. I was knocked away from the asteroid and his Prowler spun away, and before he could regain control, it struck another asteroid."
Crais sighed and opened his eyes. "Tauvo did like to skim the asteroids. Have you any recorded proof of this?"
"I, uh, don't know. I have a flight recorder that looks out the main window. I don't know if it was still working, though. That wormhole trip was pretty turbulent."
"When will your ship be operational?"
"I don't know that either. And if I do get it operational, I don't have a lot of fuel left. It uses a mix of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen."
"Primitive fuels," Crais said somewhat disdainfully.
"Yeah, well, we're a pretty primitive species. As I said, I'm the first one to leave planetary orbit."
"Repair your ship and we will discuss wormholes after that. Officer Sun, he is your responsibility."
"Yes, sir," she replied sharply.
John could hear the disappointment in her voice. "Sorry to be such a burden. I thought we were getting along."
"We are. It's just that I'm a pilot, not a guard. I would much rather be flying Prowlers."
"And I would much rather be at home, so that makes us even. At least we can make the best of a bad situation." He picked up a bundle of cable. "I'd appreciate it if you could help me find any other cable like this, and any tools."
Deciding she had nothing else to do, she lent him a hand.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
It took them four days, but they finally got the module operational. The Peacekeepers had brought him fuel, and he had found a way to modify Moya's electrical system to recharge the batteries. While he was waiting for the batteries to recharge, he asked, "So what's going to happen to Moya?"
It took her a few seconds to realize John was talking about the Leviathan. "He control collar has been reinstalled and she will resume duties as a prisoner transport."
"And the prisoners?"
"They are being held in maximum security, for now."
"For now?"
"The circumstances of their escape are being investigated. It is likely they will be put to death."
"For what? Escaping? That's what you tried to do."
"I did not murder anyone in my escape," she replied defensively.
"Murder?"
"Well what do you think happened to the Peacekeeper crew that had been manning the Leviathan? Prisoners are not transported unescorted. The eight-man guard detail was murdered to facilitate their escape."
"I… guess I really hadn't thought about it."
"You don't feel so much compassion for them now, do you?" she replied slyly.
He shook his head. It was definitely within reason that the Luxan could have killed someone, but he wasn't sure that the blue alien could have done that. And he definitely wouldn't put it past Rygel to kill someone. After all, he had hinted that he would kill his cousin. "I guess not," he replied quietly. As he sat in silence, he reflected on how close he had come to joining up with the prisoners. On the planet he had almost told the Luxan to run. Would he have been captured with them and waiting for death himself now? Or undergoing gruesome experiments as Crais carried out his threat to find out what a human was?
Checking the battery display, he said, "Okay, that's it. Full charge." Climbing into the module, he activated the systems. No warning lights came on. "Everything looks good. I think I'm ready to move it."
Aeryn eyed him skeptically. "I'll follow behind. Don't stray from your flight path since we can't communicate on your primitive system."
"Yeah, no problem." He finished his pre-flight checks and secured the hatch. Using thrusters, he moved the module into the main docking area. Aeryn's transport hovered overhead. The internal doors closed and he could see the external ones opening. Her transport flew out the open door. Before he could do anything, the same docking web that had brought his module into the Leviathan, took hold if it and pulled him out the docking bay.
Feathering the engine, he applied minimum power to propulsion and headed toward the main docking area on the command carrier, following Aeryn. He also noticed he had a Prowler escort. Clearly, they didn't trust him, but it was okay, he didn't trust them, either.
As they entered the hangar complex, a docking web took hold of his ship and he powered down the engines. It guided him to a side area of the hangar. He noticed that Aeryn had gone somewhere else.
When he landed, people swarmed around his module. Opening the module hatch, he said, "Hey! Be careful. This is delicate machinery."
They didn't really seem to pay much attention to him, but he occasionally overheard words like "primitive" and "remarkable".
Aeryn appeared at his shoulder. "This is the tech group that you will be working with. You will answer their questions about your ship. They will want to know how you were able to create a wormhole."
He laughed softly. "I wish I knew that. I wouldn't be here if I did. And what about you?"
"I hope to return to my Prowler squadron."
"So, that's it? Will I see you again?"
"What?"
"You're the first friend I've had here, the only friend I have. I'd like to… just hang out with you." From her expression, he realized that she didn't really understand what he was saying.
"You are welcome to come to the Officer's Lounge. Depending on my schedule, I spend evenings there."
He began to get the idea they did not share the same social background and expectations. "Yeah. I guess I'll see you there." Perhaps he could learn something about Peacekeeper customs from some of the techs that he would be working with. He wanted to make the best of his situation until he could return home. Imagine what everyone back home would say about him encountering extraterrestrial life.