The Scarran Artokh finally found what
he was looking for.
He could not find a door to enter the
facility, and so he was forced to create one himself.
He melted
away one of the walls of ice with his bare hands.
The hot Scarran
blood that ran through his veins made sure the wall disappeared
quickly into the ground as it turned into a liquid substance.
After
he successfully infiltrated the building he scanned for high
concentrations of energy fields, generated by devices that would need
a lot of energy.
Devices like a long range communicator.
And
Artokh found it, and he used it to contact the Scarran homeworld.
His
first attempt to establish a communications-link with his Scarran
Emperor failed, as the communicator did not have enough capabilities
to reach that far into space.
For that reason Artokh decided to
search for Scarran signals closer to his location.
And strangely
enough he found one.
"This is War Minister Akhna, commanding the
Scarran Dreadnought "Executor". Who are you?"
The female
Scarran who appeared on the screen was of small stature, but her
appearance made up for her size.
She was terrifying and the look
in her eyes demanded obedience from everyone who spoke to her.
There
were few who could look in her eyes without feeling inferior to
her.
"My name is Artokh." The Scarran said with his rumbling
voice. "I request that you redirect my signal immediately to the
Emperor."
"What for?" War Minister Akhna simply said.
"I
must speak to him," Artokh continued. "...but I myself am not
able to contact him."
War Minister Akhna gazed upon him with her
burning gaze.
"Perhaps you could tell me, and I can tell the
Emperor." Akhna said.
"My mission is confidential." Artokh
answered. "Only the Emperor may hear my words."
Akhna's
suspicions were true.
Emperor Staleek had sent this Scarran on a
secret mission.
She could use this new information to her own
advantage.
Against the Emperor.
She hated him. She hated that
she was his inferior. His subordinate.
She should be Empress
instead of him!
Her father was Emperor of the Scarran Empire
before Staleek.
If he hadn't taken power into his own hands,
Akhna would have been Empress!
Instead, she is forced to grovel
before him, obeying his words and commands.
But when Staleek let's
his guard down, she will take the power back to it's rightful
heir.
But unfortunately Emperor Staleek isn't a fool.
He
knows of her plans and intentions.
Akhna wonders why he has not
interfered in her plans yet...
"Then our conversation is over."
War Minister Ahkna said to Artokh, threatening that if he did not
tell her, she would end the transmission.
"No!" he
shouted.
Just as she wanted him to.
"I will tell you, as long
as you sent my report to the Emperor himself."
"Agreed."
Captain Bialar Crais and Aeryn Sun listened silently how the Scarran Artokh sent his report to Akhna's Dreadnought.
It took a moment
before Akhna had read his report.
"You failed to capture John
Crichton?" she asked when she was finished.
"I did not expect
the renegade Crais to be there. He shot me down before I could escape
the system."
"And so you used an escape-pod to escape the
explosion?"
"It's the same Scarran that tried to capture
Crichton!" Aeryn said to Crais.
"I thought you killed
him!"
"I did." Artokh answered War Minister Akhna.
"And
now you claim John Crichton did the same?"
Aeryn's heart began to race.
"No." Artokh said. "There was only one
escape-pod, and I used it to escape the explosion."
"But you
claim..."
"I say that Crichton jumped out of the vessel before
it exploded."
"This would mean that Crichton jumped into outer
space! He cannot surive that long in space! He is probably dead by
now!"
She almost terminated the conversation, but there was
something about Crichton that made her believe that he survived
it.
She had heard about him as well.
The crazy human. The
'immortal'. The unknown species, hunted down by the traitor
Scorpius...
"He is not dead." The Scarran said.
His
rumbling voice echoed through the halls of ice.
And it also echoed through Aeryn Sun's soul.
"John Crichton is alive,
War Minister." Artokh said. "This device confirms my claim."
John
Crichton's heartbeat was heard over the
communications-channel.
"Where is he?" Akhna asked.
John
Robert Crichton Jr. kissed the lips of his love.
"I love you."
he whispered in her ear.
Aeryn smiled.
John smiled back as he
grabbed her hands and put them on his body.
He kissed her again.
Lovingly. Passionate.
Slowly they moved through the darkness of
his mind.
Dancing.
She was wearing a beautiful black
wedding-gown.
He was wearing a shining white tuxedo.
Together
they danced through the darkness.
Blind for everything but each
other.
Blind for pain. Blind for death. Blind for sorrow.
Aeryn
Sun was dead.
Dead because of him.
Because he couldn't save
her.
Because he made a wrong decision.
Crichton blamed
himself for her death.
His sorrow consumed every inch of his body,
until he no longer wanted to wake up.
He wanted to die, just like
Aeryn had.
Harvey respected John.
He honoured him.
His
loyalty.
His confidence.
His love.
Even his hope.
But all
these qualities are lost now.
Faded away in the dying darkness of
his mind.
Perhaps John should die.
Perhaps he deserves his
rest.
Perhaps Harvey shouldn't have lied to Scorpius.
Perhaps
he should've let him transport him to the Command Carrier, so his
brain could be dissected, so John could die.
So Harvey would
die.
"Should I sacrifice myself for the greater good?"
Harvey asked himself, as he watched John dance with the imaginary
Aeryn.
"Should I sacrifice myself so that Scorpius gets what he
wants? The wormhole-technology?"
He hesitated.
Some part of
his existence did not want to die.
It was afraid to die, but also
to glad with life to wish it to end.
But another part of Harvey
would serve Scorpius willingly, loyal and without question.
Even
if it meant dying.
But to which part should he listen?
Harvey
lied to Scorpius, so it would ease Crichton's suffering.
He felt
that Crichton had already suffered enough.
By Harvey's
doing...
Was it compassion that made him do this?
Save
Crichton from unnecessary pain?
"What a strange emotion..."
Harvey said to himself.
But he would not lie any longer to his
master.
The life of this human is insignificant in comparison to
Scorpius's plans with the wormhole-technology.
He could stop the
Scarran conquest, even destroy their threat to the universe!
And
perhaps, when they are all but extinct, then perhaps Scorpius will
have his revenge.
"I do not know Crichton's whereabouts."
Artokh said to the War Minister, who was many lightyears away on the
Scarran Dreadnought "Executor", flying somewhere through
space.
"But I believe Crichton's companions do know where he
is."
"Find them. Interrogate them. And then capture Crichton.
I want him alive."
"Yóu want him alive, War Minister?"
Artokh said.
"You have a problem with your hearing, soldier?"
Akhna said to him.
"No, War Minister, but my mission is to bring
Crichton before the Emperor, not before yóu!"
"I am
giving you new orders, soldier." Akhna said.
"No-one can
change my orders!" Artokh shouted at her. "No-one but Emperor
Staleek!"
Akhna's rage grew as she heard that name.
"You
will listen to me now! Capture Crichton and bring him before me!"
"I
do not have to listen to you!"
"But you will have to!" Akhna
said. "Because I am coming to you!"
Artokh did not believe
what he just heard.
A Scarran War Minister who would travel deep
into Peacekeeper territory with a Dreadnought!
"You would
declare war on the Sebaceans just to capture Crichton?" Artokh
asked.
"Not if no-one finds out about it!" Akhna said as she
gave new co-ordinates to her pilot.
"You better do as your told,
soldier, or you will pay the price!"
With those words War
Minister Akhna ended the communications-link.
Aeryn and Crais
could not believe what they just heard.
"Crichton is alive..."
Crais muttered.
"A Scarran Dreadnought..." Aeryn said.
"But
the worst is yet to come..." a voice suddenly said.
Aeryn and
Crais turned around, only to see a strange man standing in front of
them.
His eyes were blue and the look on his face seemed frozen.
He showed no sign of any emotion.
"Talyn!" Crais shouted.
Several pulse-rifles came out of the walls of Talyn, aiming for
the unknown man in front of them.
"Wait!" Aeryn said. "Don't
shoot!"
The man in front of them stood there silently, staring
at them, waiting for the right response.
"I know him from
somewhere..." Aeryn said.
"State your identity!" Crais
demanded from the unknown intruder.
The man looked Sebacean, but
both Aeryn and Crais knew he wasn't.
They could feel it.
The
man stood there, as if frozen, in the centre of Talyn's Command
Deck, unarmed and defenceless.
"My name is..." the man spoke,
and he spoke several unknown words and sounds that Aeryn and Crais
could not understand.
"But you can call me Jack."
