D'argo hissed violently and savagely threw the data films across the large chart table in Command.
"Is that the best you can do?" he testily asked the hologram of Moya's helmsman.
In the grainy image, Pilot's arms bobbed up and down as he worked several of the levers and controls at his station in the Den.
"I'm sorry, Ka D'Argo," Pilot informed him. "Moya and I cannot fully scan the military bases we've located on the planet without giving ourselves away. If they become aware of our presence, they will probably attack and attempt to recapture us... surely that would not help you formulate a plan."
"No, it won't, Pilot," D'argo muttered in frustration, "But not having a detail scan of a base DOESN'T help to start a plan either!"
"Moya and I are doing the best we are able," Pilot assured the Luxan.
The warrior grit his teeth and then shook his head, he knew the Leviathan and her pilot were doing what they could to help create a plan to help the missing crewmembers. He'd been up on Command since their return to the water planet where they had been attacked. The Luxan wiped at his tired, burning eyes with the palms of both huge hands, trying to relieve some of the stress of staring at low resolution data scans for the last few arns. Scans that time and time again had failed to reveal anything useful.
"My apologizes, Pilot. I know you and Moya are doing all you can," the Luxan warrior told them, "Its just so frelling frustrating! We've been at this three arns and haven't even the beginnings of a strategy using this information we have."
"Moya and I share your distress," Pilot confided to him.
D'argo sighed to himself and bent down to gather and resort the data films he tossed all over. Perhaps he should have found something else to throw around in his fit of frustration? It took too long to reorganize the scan charts every time. He heard somebody enter the Command Tier behind him a moment later as he gathered up the graphs.
"D'argo?" came Chiana's voice.
"Over here," he called to the Nebari.
He straightened up to see Chiana being led into the chamber by the Shrike. He helplessly dropped the films onto the chart table. How much worse could it get, he asked himself upon seeing Berret.
"D'argo," Chiana said again, "Berret and I have an idea."
The Luxan rolled his eyes. "Chiana... I don't have time..." he started.
"Listen to me," she interrupted. "We came up with a better idea then breaking into a place to use a Bio-storage machine."
"Oh? And what's that?" he asked, a touch condescending.
Berret responded this time before Chiana could go on.
"We infiltrate and steal the device," the Enforcer said. "Take it with us and use it in a safe location."
D'argo snorted in sour amusement. "That's your plan?" he responded with a denigrating shrug of his huge shoulders. "Go in and snurch the machinery?"
"Well, more like a heist... but yeah," replied the gray girl. The bandages over the blind thief's eyes made the idea sound even more bizarre.
"Pilot and Moya cannot get detailed scans of any of the military bases they've located. How are you going to plan a break-in when you don't even know the layout of the place?" the warrior asked, "Even if we could get in, we don't know where to start looking for the Bio-storage device. Without a accurate floor layout... we don't have a chance in hezmana of pulling anything off."
Berret pulled out some rolled-up data film sheets and laid them on the chartograph table.
"We don't have layouts to any of the military installations. But we do have the diagrams to the prison you were being held in when I arrived on-world," said the assassin.
The Luxan blinked in shock. "Where did you get them?" he asked in minor astonishment. "How did you get them?"
"I have my sources," Berret replied, "You didn't think I would walk into a high-security prison blind, do you?"
D'argo had thought that was exactly what the assassin had indeed done. Berret just didn't strike the warrior as the type to meticulously plan a raid. The Luxan discarded the reflection for the moment and picked up the top data film. He was momentarily excited to see a finely detailed graph of the prison grounds on the first sheet. The exhilaration died an instant later as he recalled the carnage they have left behind them there.
"We can do this, D'argo," Chiana insisted just then.
He waved the Nebari girl and the Shrike off as he dropped the sheet back onto the table. These plans were next to useless to them now as far as he was concerned.
"After the mess you left behind us in the break-out," D'argo told the Shrike assassin, "They must have upgraded or at least doubled their security measures."
The ex-Enforcer gave him a mirthless grin that didn't touch his eyes. "Good, I am hoping they did," answered the assassin. It was at that point that D'argo was sure that Berret wasn't totally sane. The Syndicate killer seemed to relish the thought of going back to the corrections center... and possibly causing more carnage and destruction in the process. The only thing that puzzled him was why Chiana didn't see that for herself. Even blind she should have noticed the change in Berret's manner as they discussed the idea. Knowing the Nebari wasn't that gullible, he decided to give them a moment more to detail and reveal their plan... maybe Chiana had something more up her sleeve then was apparent at the moment.
"What could be so good about it?" asked the Luxan guardedly.
"Don't ya see, D'argo?" asked Chiana with a smirk of her own.
Now the Luxan was beginning to have doubts about his lover's sanity as well. "No," he told her.
Berret caught his attention once again and went on to explain.
"With their increased security measures... they'd never expect us to hit them again."
"They'll be overconfident," added the gray girl with another smile.
"I still don't like it," D'argo said an arn later after the rest of the remaining crew was gathered on the Command Tier with them.
"The two of you are just as frelled as Stark," put in Rygel from his hoverthrone.
Chiana snorted in contempt at the Hynerian. "Yeah, it's a little crazy... but that's why it will work. They'll never expect us to break BACK into the place after we've just escaped from it."
"And they're right," added Rygel, "Because we're not going too."
"I still think we need a simple plan that involves just getting in and using the machine right there," D'argo said, making a point of ignoring the Dominar.
From a rear corner of the tier, Berret moved forward to join the group in discussion. Stark jumped a little as the Shrike spoke, obviously having forgotten the assassin was present.
"You are assuming that you can gleam how to operate the device in the short amount of time you will have inside," the ex-Enforcer said to the crew. "It would be a more tactical to use the limited time to remove the machine and figure out how it works in a more secure location."
Noranti listened to the plot from the opposite side of the chamber. She silently regarded the assassin's toneless demeanor and concluded that he hadn't attempted the treatment she's supplied him with. It was just as well for the moment she considered, as the plan the Shrike and Nebari presented would require Berret to be at his utmost best if it were to succeed. She could see that there were going to be several problems in trying to restore Crichton and Aeryn that none of the others had foreseen. Chiana and Berret's idea to steal the machine was the most logical way to go as far as she was concerned.
The Banik unexpectedly rushed toward the Shrike, pointing an accusing finger at Berret.
"And how many lives will you take with this plan of yours? Hum?" he charged.
"As many as are necessary," responded the assassin in cold unfeeling terms.
"You see!" spat Stark to the others in growing excitement. "Killing and murdering are all you care about. You reek of death!"
"Stark..." D'argo warned before the Banik could rant further. "Not now."
"Nobody has to die if we do this right," Chiana spoke up.
Rygel chuckled and poked at a data film the group had been reviewing. "What are you getting excited for, Stark?" the Hynerian asked, "If this floor plan is still accurate, which I doubt, that machine is on the top floor of a maximum-security facility... behind three Dura-Iridium doors. Not even he could get through them," Rygel explained with a dismissing wave at Berret. "The only other way into those chambers is by a small airshaft... and that frellnik is too big even without his fancy armor to make it through there." The Dominar smirked at the rest of the crew. "Their plan is useless," he announced smugly. "But don't feel bad, it was a good try." The last comment was uttered with a sneering curl of his wide mouth.
At some point Berret had appeared at Rygel's side while he criticized Chiana's plan.
"You are correct. I am too large," the Shrike replied. He bent lower to be at eye level with the smaller being. His eyes slightly tinted silver and an evil half-grin of his own graced his thin lips. "But you are not," Berret finished.
Rygel's frog-like eyes bulged as Berret's insinuation struck him.
"But the plans could be outdated now! They might have changed everything since our escape!" Rygel tried to debate. The Shrike's nasty smile grew larger.
"They'll do for now... and if they are outdated, we'll just get creative," Berret replied.
Rygel's earbrows drooped with the sudden feeling that he'd been out-maneuvered by the Nebari girl and her deadly pet assassin.
"I'm glad you noticed the air ducts, Ryg," Chiana responded with a look of satisfaction forming on her dark lips below the wide bandage coving her eyes. "Which brings me to the next phase of the plan."
The DRD that Pilot assigned to guide Chiana around Moya led her down the corridor in quarters by the cable that had been attached to it. The girl's fingers easily detected the change in tension in the makeshift leash whenever the drone slowed down to round a corner. She judge herself to be somewhere on the tier approaching John and Aeryn's rooms when she heard it. The murmur that she'd last heard when the human was alive and aboard the Leviathan. Someone had turned on the television device Aeryn had given John from their stay on his home world.
She tugged on the line, making the DRD halt with an annoyed clicking whir. She instructed the maintenance droid to take her to the converted cell's doorway.
The DRD did as she bid and her exploring fingers found the entrance already opened. Her curiosity built as she stepped inside the room and her remaining senses strained to scan the area for information.
The air carried a scent to her and her face lit with a surprised smile with the discovery of her answer.
"Berret," she said inquisitively, "What are you doing?"
The Shrike didn't bother to turn, he already knew who was behind him. Instead he inclined his head at what he was viewing on the primitive device's screen, as if the new angle would reveal something fresh to him. A part of him found what he had seen there on the pixel tube disturbing.
"Seeking resolution," he finally answered her.
"Here? In Crichton's quarters?" Chiana asked with curious interest. "What do you hope to find?"
She moved cautiously toward where she thought he was inside the room. The ex-assassin's scent grew slightly stronger to her the closer she came to him. When she decided she might be close enough, she paused and reached out with one hand. Within half an arm's length, her fingers brushed up against Berret. She silently congratulated herself for being so precise with the senses that were left to her. They had been developing evermore acute with each passing day. Still, the moist mix of herb under the bandage over her eyes gave her hope that within a few solar days she might have her vision back.
She latched onto Berret's arm and was mildly surprised not to find it covered in metal. She drew herself closer to him and briefly considered she'd never seen him with her own eyes without armor. The woman had the feeling the Shrike had watched her approach, not making a sound or movement so she'd be forced to find his location on her own without his help. The others in the crew mostly helped her find her way around things, but aboard Moya the ex-Enforcer often made her find her way on her own when it was reasonable to do so. Forcing her to use and develop her other senses. Chiana imagined she felt a wave of satisfaction emanate from Berret with her success.
She considered she might have been right about Berret's observation when she caught the tiny rustle of clothing at neck level when he turned back to face Crichton's television.
"I have wondered about your friends," the ex-Enforcer went on to explain to her. "I speculate on who they are. Pilot has told me some things about them and showed me holo-recordings taken from the ship's log. I know of Sebaceans, but not of this Crichton's people. Pilot suggested if I wished to learn more his race, that I come here and consult this rather archaic device."
Besides him, Chiana nodded in agreement. "That makes sense," she agreed. A light frown creased her features as a thought struck her. "Why do you want to know about Crichton and his world?" she asked.
She could tell by his voice that he had now turned to face her.
"The Peacekeeper I am not sure about, but I know Peacekeepers in general are a violent group. One might say that they and other Sebacean lines have evolved into separate species."
"Don't forget," Chiana broke in, "You are Sebacean... and you might have been a Peacekeeper at some point in time before the Syndicate got their hands on you."
The Enforcer's arm tensed under the Nebari's fingers at the comment and Chiana suddenly wondered if she'd said the wrong thing to the Shrike. To her relief, Berret's tone remained steady.
"My origins do not have a bearing any longer," he said, "Because of the Scarran Black Syndicate, Sebacean or Peacekeeper, I am now neither. Who... or what, I once was... no longer exists."
"I didn't mean to..." Chiana started to apologize.
"It is not your fault," Berret cut her off. "This is the reality of the situation and there is no other choice but to except it." It was obvious to the girl that her friend didn't want to discuss the subject further. "As I was saying," Berret continued, "Pilot assures me that this Aeryn Sun is different even though she was once a Peacekeeper. This other, Crichton... this human, is an unknown factor. I thought... I should get to know the people that I will be putting myself at risk for," he said, "Whom it is that I may have to do 'unpleasant things' for." The acoustics of his voice changed again, telling the Nebari the Shrike had looked somewhere slightly away from her. "I do not like what I am, Chiana," Berret went on to divulge to her. "But as I said, I cannot change that. For so long I served the Syndicate... doing their bidding without thought, question, or even choice. I think for once I warrant to know the reason why I do the things I must do... and I need to know the price I pay is worth it."
The Nebari's lips tightened in deliberation. In her desire to prove to the others in Moya's crew that Berret could fit in and be useful to the group, she hadn't considered that maybe the Shrike had his own reserves about taking the risk to return John and Aeryn to them. When she went to the ex-Enforcer with her fledgling plan, she really hadn't given him the chance to decline being a part of it.
She slightly bobbed her head in affirmation with the Shrike's sentiment. "Yeah... I never thought of it that way," she told him. Chiana reached up and padded Berret on the back in amity. "I guess you do deserve to know who or what you're fighting for. You shouldn't just do it because we ask. I'm sorry... I should have asked if you were willing to go in with this before putting it up to D'argo and the others."
Berret regarded her for a moment; selfishly glad for that instant she was blind and couldn't see him. "All you have to do is ask," he told her silently. "Ask... and I could not refuse you even if I wished too."
Without thought, he suddenly found his hand reaching toward one soft gray cheek of the girl beside him. A mere henta before contact, he caught himself before he actually touched her. Berret hesitated a few microts and his fingers gradually curled into a fist as he inwardly cursed himself for his lapse. He lowered the offending hand and once again reminded himself that Chiana had chosen the Luxan. He had no business offering an intimate caress... even if she might have been free to welcome it. Chiana could not possibly accept him as he was if she knew the truth.
Out loud to the gray girl, the Enforcer simply said, "I believe that is a reasonable provision."
His tone must not have betrayed him to the Nebari girl, for all she did was nod in agreement once more.
"Well, if all goes well... nobody should be hurt," she responded, putting all the optimism into her voice she could muster. An odd momentary disturbance in the air by her cheek had distracted her for a moment, but it had disappeared in the next instant. She chalked it up to a spike in Moya's air distribution vents and continued on with her discussion with the Shrike. "Anyway, the others are still debating our idea. We should know in an arn or two if they will agree to it. Froggy's not too happy with his part and he's letting everyone know that, but I don't think it will have much bearing on whether we go with it or not." She felt an odd movement in Berret's torso and knew he had just nodded his head in agreement with her. "So?" she inquired a moment later, looking to change the subject a little. "Did you learn anything useful? From Crichton's box, I mean."
Unseen by her, Berret's looked turned abruptly grim.
"These people on his world... I have watched how they treated you all while you were on their planet," he told her. "To your face they smiled and said welcoming things. Among themselves... they are suspicious, make contrary comments only to gain what they could from your technology. They used you while all the while believing you were a threat, and then openly discussed plotting against you in a number of the transmissions. In other broadcasts, I have seen where they treat their own kind even more ruthlessly." Berret suddenly stunned Chiana when his normally emotionless voice abruptly filled with venom in the next instant. "In a way, they are worse than Scarrans."
Under the bandage, Chiana's eyebrows shot upward in surprise.
"I think that's a little extreme," she told her friend.
"Is it?" asked Berret in return. "Are you sure that this Crichton is worth resurrecting if he is one of them? Can he be trusted? Is he worth the lives I may have to take to save him?"
"John's not like them," Chiana quickly assured the Shrike. "Not all the people on his homeworld were like the ones you saw on his TV. A lot of them were kind and caring... like John." She smiled to herself, knowing describing Crichton to the ex-Enforcer was going to be difficult. "You have to meet him in person to understand... to get to know him. In some ways he could turn what you believed about the universe upside-down and eema backwards. In a lot of ways he's the best one of us. If it wasn't for him I don't know where I would be now." She gripped the sleeve of his shirt harder to emphasize what she said next. It was important that Berret accept this part... even if he didn't fully understand for the moment what she was getting at.
"I don't know where... 'you and I' would be now if not for him."
Berret was momentary intrigued with Chiana's fervor. Somehow this Crichton factored in on the vague relationship between the Nebari and himself. How, he was at a loss for the time to understand. There would be opportunity later to ask about details, at the moment, it was enough for him to go on that Chiana connected Crichton to their present association. He still had to wonder if the gray girl's two friends were going to be worth the price he might pay in self-loathing afterwards. Or if it was worth the risk of having Chiana discover the truth about how he could become when he lost control. The Black Syndicate had crafted him as their weapon all too well.
"This hasn't made you change your mind about helping?" Chiana asked him.
The Enforcer's attention snapped back to the gray girl besides him. If this couple was important to Chiana, there was no way he could conceive of refusing to assist in restoring them to the crew. Even if the Nebari should realize how unbalanced he was without the collar to regulate his actions. He had hoped to make his exit in no more than five solar days with the cure of her blindness... and to that point, he had illogically allowed himself to believe nothing but that she would be making a full recovery. Once Chiana had started to hatch her plan, he'd had no other option but to remain and see it out for the long run... no matter what secrets may be revealed. With the Goddess' luck, he may be able to hold himself together, do what he must for her to return her friends, and then leave the Leviathan before anyone was the wiser. Already the old woman knew too much and the Hynerian and Banik were suspicious and always watching. The Luxan he thought he could handle, between them was simple hatred. What could be more simple to exploit? Berret didn't lie to himself about the perverse pleasure he took in twisting the warrior's natural dislike for Shrikes. Misdirecting D'argo's attention from the facts about himself that the assassin wanted to keep hidden. He should have been proud of the way he could almost led the Luxan around by his ugly nose, but the satisfaction was strangled by the fact the big warrior had Chiana... and her affections.
Once he was away from the Leviathan and her crew, then he could turn his full attention to vengeance against Arckatius and his Syndicate House. It wouldn't matter after that if the madness overtook him... as long as it was directed in the proper direction. Let Arckatius deal with what he had created, let the Scarran bastard reap his rewards. Oh, how he would scream his pain... and make the Scarran sing with him.
At least Chiana would be left with a good memory of the man she named Berret.
And he would have done right by the person that gave him his freedom from the Syndicate.
The mental picture of his armored hands crushing the life from the Scarran kingpin's throat brought a cruel smile to Berret's lips. His fists flexed so hard in reaction to the image that the joints in his hands popped from the pressure. He could almost feel the scaled flesh beneath his fingers... sense the Scarran's snapping neck vertebrae. He imagined watching the life leave the crime lord's eyes and knowing he'd want to witness it a hundred times over before his craving was satisfied. The weight of Chiana's hand on his forearm reminded him that the girl was expecting an answer. The debauched smile faded from his face as he realized he'd almost become lost in his mad driving desire.
He appreciated again how truly lucky he was that the girl couldn't see him at that moment.
"No, I have not changed my mind at all," he finally told her.
His voice was calm and dispassionate as always.
"Is that the best you can do?" he testily asked the hologram of Moya's helmsman.
In the grainy image, Pilot's arms bobbed up and down as he worked several of the levers and controls at his station in the Den.
"I'm sorry, Ka D'Argo," Pilot informed him. "Moya and I cannot fully scan the military bases we've located on the planet without giving ourselves away. If they become aware of our presence, they will probably attack and attempt to recapture us... surely that would not help you formulate a plan."
"No, it won't, Pilot," D'argo muttered in frustration, "But not having a detail scan of a base DOESN'T help to start a plan either!"
"Moya and I are doing the best we are able," Pilot assured the Luxan.
The warrior grit his teeth and then shook his head, he knew the Leviathan and her pilot were doing what they could to help create a plan to help the missing crewmembers. He'd been up on Command since their return to the water planet where they had been attacked. The Luxan wiped at his tired, burning eyes with the palms of both huge hands, trying to relieve some of the stress of staring at low resolution data scans for the last few arns. Scans that time and time again had failed to reveal anything useful.
"My apologizes, Pilot. I know you and Moya are doing all you can," the Luxan warrior told them, "Its just so frelling frustrating! We've been at this three arns and haven't even the beginnings of a strategy using this information we have."
"Moya and I share your distress," Pilot confided to him.
D'argo sighed to himself and bent down to gather and resort the data films he tossed all over. Perhaps he should have found something else to throw around in his fit of frustration? It took too long to reorganize the scan charts every time. He heard somebody enter the Command Tier behind him a moment later as he gathered up the graphs.
"D'argo?" came Chiana's voice.
"Over here," he called to the Nebari.
He straightened up to see Chiana being led into the chamber by the Shrike. He helplessly dropped the films onto the chart table. How much worse could it get, he asked himself upon seeing Berret.
"D'argo," Chiana said again, "Berret and I have an idea."
The Luxan rolled his eyes. "Chiana... I don't have time..." he started.
"Listen to me," she interrupted. "We came up with a better idea then breaking into a place to use a Bio-storage machine."
"Oh? And what's that?" he asked, a touch condescending.
Berret responded this time before Chiana could go on.
"We infiltrate and steal the device," the Enforcer said. "Take it with us and use it in a safe location."
D'argo snorted in sour amusement. "That's your plan?" he responded with a denigrating shrug of his huge shoulders. "Go in and snurch the machinery?"
"Well, more like a heist... but yeah," replied the gray girl. The bandages over the blind thief's eyes made the idea sound even more bizarre.
"Pilot and Moya cannot get detailed scans of any of the military bases they've located. How are you going to plan a break-in when you don't even know the layout of the place?" the warrior asked, "Even if we could get in, we don't know where to start looking for the Bio-storage device. Without a accurate floor layout... we don't have a chance in hezmana of pulling anything off."
Berret pulled out some rolled-up data film sheets and laid them on the chartograph table.
"We don't have layouts to any of the military installations. But we do have the diagrams to the prison you were being held in when I arrived on-world," said the assassin.
The Luxan blinked in shock. "Where did you get them?" he asked in minor astonishment. "How did you get them?"
"I have my sources," Berret replied, "You didn't think I would walk into a high-security prison blind, do you?"
D'argo had thought that was exactly what the assassin had indeed done. Berret just didn't strike the warrior as the type to meticulously plan a raid. The Luxan discarded the reflection for the moment and picked up the top data film. He was momentarily excited to see a finely detailed graph of the prison grounds on the first sheet. The exhilaration died an instant later as he recalled the carnage they have left behind them there.
"We can do this, D'argo," Chiana insisted just then.
He waved the Nebari girl and the Shrike off as he dropped the sheet back onto the table. These plans were next to useless to them now as far as he was concerned.
"After the mess you left behind us in the break-out," D'argo told the Shrike assassin, "They must have upgraded or at least doubled their security measures."
The ex-Enforcer gave him a mirthless grin that didn't touch his eyes. "Good, I am hoping they did," answered the assassin. It was at that point that D'argo was sure that Berret wasn't totally sane. The Syndicate killer seemed to relish the thought of going back to the corrections center... and possibly causing more carnage and destruction in the process. The only thing that puzzled him was why Chiana didn't see that for herself. Even blind she should have noticed the change in Berret's manner as they discussed the idea. Knowing the Nebari wasn't that gullible, he decided to give them a moment more to detail and reveal their plan... maybe Chiana had something more up her sleeve then was apparent at the moment.
"What could be so good about it?" asked the Luxan guardedly.
"Don't ya see, D'argo?" asked Chiana with a smirk of her own.
Now the Luxan was beginning to have doubts about his lover's sanity as well. "No," he told her.
Berret caught his attention once again and went on to explain.
"With their increased security measures... they'd never expect us to hit them again."
"They'll be overconfident," added the gray girl with another smile.
"I still don't like it," D'argo said an arn later after the rest of the remaining crew was gathered on the Command Tier with them.
"The two of you are just as frelled as Stark," put in Rygel from his hoverthrone.
Chiana snorted in contempt at the Hynerian. "Yeah, it's a little crazy... but that's why it will work. They'll never expect us to break BACK into the place after we've just escaped from it."
"And they're right," added Rygel, "Because we're not going too."
"I still think we need a simple plan that involves just getting in and using the machine right there," D'argo said, making a point of ignoring the Dominar.
From a rear corner of the tier, Berret moved forward to join the group in discussion. Stark jumped a little as the Shrike spoke, obviously having forgotten the assassin was present.
"You are assuming that you can gleam how to operate the device in the short amount of time you will have inside," the ex-Enforcer said to the crew. "It would be a more tactical to use the limited time to remove the machine and figure out how it works in a more secure location."
Noranti listened to the plot from the opposite side of the chamber. She silently regarded the assassin's toneless demeanor and concluded that he hadn't attempted the treatment she's supplied him with. It was just as well for the moment she considered, as the plan the Shrike and Nebari presented would require Berret to be at his utmost best if it were to succeed. She could see that there were going to be several problems in trying to restore Crichton and Aeryn that none of the others had foreseen. Chiana and Berret's idea to steal the machine was the most logical way to go as far as she was concerned.
The Banik unexpectedly rushed toward the Shrike, pointing an accusing finger at Berret.
"And how many lives will you take with this plan of yours? Hum?" he charged.
"As many as are necessary," responded the assassin in cold unfeeling terms.
"You see!" spat Stark to the others in growing excitement. "Killing and murdering are all you care about. You reek of death!"
"Stark..." D'argo warned before the Banik could rant further. "Not now."
"Nobody has to die if we do this right," Chiana spoke up.
Rygel chuckled and poked at a data film the group had been reviewing. "What are you getting excited for, Stark?" the Hynerian asked, "If this floor plan is still accurate, which I doubt, that machine is on the top floor of a maximum-security facility... behind three Dura-Iridium doors. Not even he could get through them," Rygel explained with a dismissing wave at Berret. "The only other way into those chambers is by a small airshaft... and that frellnik is too big even without his fancy armor to make it through there." The Dominar smirked at the rest of the crew. "Their plan is useless," he announced smugly. "But don't feel bad, it was a good try." The last comment was uttered with a sneering curl of his wide mouth.
At some point Berret had appeared at Rygel's side while he criticized Chiana's plan.
"You are correct. I am too large," the Shrike replied. He bent lower to be at eye level with the smaller being. His eyes slightly tinted silver and an evil half-grin of his own graced his thin lips. "But you are not," Berret finished.
Rygel's frog-like eyes bulged as Berret's insinuation struck him.
"But the plans could be outdated now! They might have changed everything since our escape!" Rygel tried to debate. The Shrike's nasty smile grew larger.
"They'll do for now... and if they are outdated, we'll just get creative," Berret replied.
Rygel's earbrows drooped with the sudden feeling that he'd been out-maneuvered by the Nebari girl and her deadly pet assassin.
"I'm glad you noticed the air ducts, Ryg," Chiana responded with a look of satisfaction forming on her dark lips below the wide bandage coving her eyes. "Which brings me to the next phase of the plan."
The DRD that Pilot assigned to guide Chiana around Moya led her down the corridor in quarters by the cable that had been attached to it. The girl's fingers easily detected the change in tension in the makeshift leash whenever the drone slowed down to round a corner. She judge herself to be somewhere on the tier approaching John and Aeryn's rooms when she heard it. The murmur that she'd last heard when the human was alive and aboard the Leviathan. Someone had turned on the television device Aeryn had given John from their stay on his home world.
She tugged on the line, making the DRD halt with an annoyed clicking whir. She instructed the maintenance droid to take her to the converted cell's doorway.
The DRD did as she bid and her exploring fingers found the entrance already opened. Her curiosity built as she stepped inside the room and her remaining senses strained to scan the area for information.
The air carried a scent to her and her face lit with a surprised smile with the discovery of her answer.
"Berret," she said inquisitively, "What are you doing?"
The Shrike didn't bother to turn, he already knew who was behind him. Instead he inclined his head at what he was viewing on the primitive device's screen, as if the new angle would reveal something fresh to him. A part of him found what he had seen there on the pixel tube disturbing.
"Seeking resolution," he finally answered her.
"Here? In Crichton's quarters?" Chiana asked with curious interest. "What do you hope to find?"
She moved cautiously toward where she thought he was inside the room. The ex-assassin's scent grew slightly stronger to her the closer she came to him. When she decided she might be close enough, she paused and reached out with one hand. Within half an arm's length, her fingers brushed up against Berret. She silently congratulated herself for being so precise with the senses that were left to her. They had been developing evermore acute with each passing day. Still, the moist mix of herb under the bandage over her eyes gave her hope that within a few solar days she might have her vision back.
She latched onto Berret's arm and was mildly surprised not to find it covered in metal. She drew herself closer to him and briefly considered she'd never seen him with her own eyes without armor. The woman had the feeling the Shrike had watched her approach, not making a sound or movement so she'd be forced to find his location on her own without his help. The others in the crew mostly helped her find her way around things, but aboard Moya the ex-Enforcer often made her find her way on her own when it was reasonable to do so. Forcing her to use and develop her other senses. Chiana imagined she felt a wave of satisfaction emanate from Berret with her success.
She considered she might have been right about Berret's observation when she caught the tiny rustle of clothing at neck level when he turned back to face Crichton's television.
"I have wondered about your friends," the ex-Enforcer went on to explain to her. "I speculate on who they are. Pilot has told me some things about them and showed me holo-recordings taken from the ship's log. I know of Sebaceans, but not of this Crichton's people. Pilot suggested if I wished to learn more his race, that I come here and consult this rather archaic device."
Besides him, Chiana nodded in agreement. "That makes sense," she agreed. A light frown creased her features as a thought struck her. "Why do you want to know about Crichton and his world?" she asked.
She could tell by his voice that he had now turned to face her.
"The Peacekeeper I am not sure about, but I know Peacekeepers in general are a violent group. One might say that they and other Sebacean lines have evolved into separate species."
"Don't forget," Chiana broke in, "You are Sebacean... and you might have been a Peacekeeper at some point in time before the Syndicate got their hands on you."
The Enforcer's arm tensed under the Nebari's fingers at the comment and Chiana suddenly wondered if she'd said the wrong thing to the Shrike. To her relief, Berret's tone remained steady.
"My origins do not have a bearing any longer," he said, "Because of the Scarran Black Syndicate, Sebacean or Peacekeeper, I am now neither. Who... or what, I once was... no longer exists."
"I didn't mean to..." Chiana started to apologize.
"It is not your fault," Berret cut her off. "This is the reality of the situation and there is no other choice but to except it." It was obvious to the girl that her friend didn't want to discuss the subject further. "As I was saying," Berret continued, "Pilot assures me that this Aeryn Sun is different even though she was once a Peacekeeper. This other, Crichton... this human, is an unknown factor. I thought... I should get to know the people that I will be putting myself at risk for," he said, "Whom it is that I may have to do 'unpleasant things' for." The acoustics of his voice changed again, telling the Nebari the Shrike had looked somewhere slightly away from her. "I do not like what I am, Chiana," Berret went on to divulge to her. "But as I said, I cannot change that. For so long I served the Syndicate... doing their bidding without thought, question, or even choice. I think for once I warrant to know the reason why I do the things I must do... and I need to know the price I pay is worth it."
The Nebari's lips tightened in deliberation. In her desire to prove to the others in Moya's crew that Berret could fit in and be useful to the group, she hadn't considered that maybe the Shrike had his own reserves about taking the risk to return John and Aeryn to them. When she went to the ex-Enforcer with her fledgling plan, she really hadn't given him the chance to decline being a part of it.
She slightly bobbed her head in affirmation with the Shrike's sentiment. "Yeah... I never thought of it that way," she told him. Chiana reached up and padded Berret on the back in amity. "I guess you do deserve to know who or what you're fighting for. You shouldn't just do it because we ask. I'm sorry... I should have asked if you were willing to go in with this before putting it up to D'argo and the others."
Berret regarded her for a moment; selfishly glad for that instant she was blind and couldn't see him. "All you have to do is ask," he told her silently. "Ask... and I could not refuse you even if I wished too."
Without thought, he suddenly found his hand reaching toward one soft gray cheek of the girl beside him. A mere henta before contact, he caught himself before he actually touched her. Berret hesitated a few microts and his fingers gradually curled into a fist as he inwardly cursed himself for his lapse. He lowered the offending hand and once again reminded himself that Chiana had chosen the Luxan. He had no business offering an intimate caress... even if she might have been free to welcome it. Chiana could not possibly accept him as he was if she knew the truth.
Out loud to the gray girl, the Enforcer simply said, "I believe that is a reasonable provision."
His tone must not have betrayed him to the Nebari girl, for all she did was nod in agreement once more.
"Well, if all goes well... nobody should be hurt," she responded, putting all the optimism into her voice she could muster. An odd momentary disturbance in the air by her cheek had distracted her for a moment, but it had disappeared in the next instant. She chalked it up to a spike in Moya's air distribution vents and continued on with her discussion with the Shrike. "Anyway, the others are still debating our idea. We should know in an arn or two if they will agree to it. Froggy's not too happy with his part and he's letting everyone know that, but I don't think it will have much bearing on whether we go with it or not." She felt an odd movement in Berret's torso and knew he had just nodded his head in agreement with her. "So?" she inquired a moment later, looking to change the subject a little. "Did you learn anything useful? From Crichton's box, I mean."
Unseen by her, Berret's looked turned abruptly grim.
"These people on his world... I have watched how they treated you all while you were on their planet," he told her. "To your face they smiled and said welcoming things. Among themselves... they are suspicious, make contrary comments only to gain what they could from your technology. They used you while all the while believing you were a threat, and then openly discussed plotting against you in a number of the transmissions. In other broadcasts, I have seen where they treat their own kind even more ruthlessly." Berret suddenly stunned Chiana when his normally emotionless voice abruptly filled with venom in the next instant. "In a way, they are worse than Scarrans."
Under the bandage, Chiana's eyebrows shot upward in surprise.
"I think that's a little extreme," she told her friend.
"Is it?" asked Berret in return. "Are you sure that this Crichton is worth resurrecting if he is one of them? Can he be trusted? Is he worth the lives I may have to take to save him?"
"John's not like them," Chiana quickly assured the Shrike. "Not all the people on his homeworld were like the ones you saw on his TV. A lot of them were kind and caring... like John." She smiled to herself, knowing describing Crichton to the ex-Enforcer was going to be difficult. "You have to meet him in person to understand... to get to know him. In some ways he could turn what you believed about the universe upside-down and eema backwards. In a lot of ways he's the best one of us. If it wasn't for him I don't know where I would be now." She gripped the sleeve of his shirt harder to emphasize what she said next. It was important that Berret accept this part... even if he didn't fully understand for the moment what she was getting at.
"I don't know where... 'you and I' would be now if not for him."
Berret was momentary intrigued with Chiana's fervor. Somehow this Crichton factored in on the vague relationship between the Nebari and himself. How, he was at a loss for the time to understand. There would be opportunity later to ask about details, at the moment, it was enough for him to go on that Chiana connected Crichton to their present association. He still had to wonder if the gray girl's two friends were going to be worth the price he might pay in self-loathing afterwards. Or if it was worth the risk of having Chiana discover the truth about how he could become when he lost control. The Black Syndicate had crafted him as their weapon all too well.
"This hasn't made you change your mind about helping?" Chiana asked him.
The Enforcer's attention snapped back to the gray girl besides him. If this couple was important to Chiana, there was no way he could conceive of refusing to assist in restoring them to the crew. Even if the Nebari should realize how unbalanced he was without the collar to regulate his actions. He had hoped to make his exit in no more than five solar days with the cure of her blindness... and to that point, he had illogically allowed himself to believe nothing but that she would be making a full recovery. Once Chiana had started to hatch her plan, he'd had no other option but to remain and see it out for the long run... no matter what secrets may be revealed. With the Goddess' luck, he may be able to hold himself together, do what he must for her to return her friends, and then leave the Leviathan before anyone was the wiser. Already the old woman knew too much and the Hynerian and Banik were suspicious and always watching. The Luxan he thought he could handle, between them was simple hatred. What could be more simple to exploit? Berret didn't lie to himself about the perverse pleasure he took in twisting the warrior's natural dislike for Shrikes. Misdirecting D'argo's attention from the facts about himself that the assassin wanted to keep hidden. He should have been proud of the way he could almost led the Luxan around by his ugly nose, but the satisfaction was strangled by the fact the big warrior had Chiana... and her affections.
Once he was away from the Leviathan and her crew, then he could turn his full attention to vengeance against Arckatius and his Syndicate House. It wouldn't matter after that if the madness overtook him... as long as it was directed in the proper direction. Let Arckatius deal with what he had created, let the Scarran bastard reap his rewards. Oh, how he would scream his pain... and make the Scarran sing with him.
At least Chiana would be left with a good memory of the man she named Berret.
And he would have done right by the person that gave him his freedom from the Syndicate.
The mental picture of his armored hands crushing the life from the Scarran kingpin's throat brought a cruel smile to Berret's lips. His fists flexed so hard in reaction to the image that the joints in his hands popped from the pressure. He could almost feel the scaled flesh beneath his fingers... sense the Scarran's snapping neck vertebrae. He imagined watching the life leave the crime lord's eyes and knowing he'd want to witness it a hundred times over before his craving was satisfied. The weight of Chiana's hand on his forearm reminded him that the girl was expecting an answer. The debauched smile faded from his face as he realized he'd almost become lost in his mad driving desire.
He appreciated again how truly lucky he was that the girl couldn't see him at that moment.
"No, I have not changed my mind at all," he finally told her.
His voice was calm and dispassionate as always.