"Crew of Moya, this is Captain Crianda Brim…"

"Yeah, yeah, we heard you the first time," Joan interrupted. "If you wanna get me, get in line, hon. Someone's already here for me."

"Crandon, do you think I'm a fool?"

"Well, if you have to ask…"

"Prepare to be boarded."

"Right. Well, you can park your car next to Silly's. Pilot, open the landing bay doors."

"Crandon, do you think this is wise?" V'Enda asked. "Allowing more Peacekeepers inside?"

"Wouldn't you prefer having them all in one, cozy, and slightly too warm of a place as opposed to waging a battle on two fronts?"

V'Enda nodded. "You are right; this will be to our advantage."

"Told you someone else wanted me."

"I'm here by official order of High Command to seize the alien Crandon," Brim responded. "I'm certain the half-breed is not."

Joan snorted. "Right."

"I am a Peacekeeper captain. I do not lie."

"I didn't really want this to become public knowledge, but since the cat is already out of the bag, I'll let you in on a little secret. Back home there was this fictional show I watched. Up to this moment I've been pretty much living the life of the lead character on that show."

"Now, I admit things have been sped up, episodes skipped and all that, but I know High Command has not given you any orders. In fact, you probably received an order to end this chase."

"That's preposterous. I assure you I have received no such orders."

"Who's your new First Officer?" Joan asked on a whim.

"Officer Thyn. Why?"

"Because, on that show I mentioned, your counterpart killed his First Officer after receiving the order to leave my counterpart the frell alone. Figured you'd probably killed yours."

"That is not the cause of his death."

"Whadda ya think, Silly? Is she telling the truth?"

"The fluctuations in her energy patterns seem to indicate she is not."

"Right, now that we've established Peacekeeper captains lie just like anyone else, let's move on. Like I said, Silly wants me, too. Now, in all fairness, the good captain here did meet me first. Then again, I seem to be better off with Silly. As you can see this is a real dilemma."

Silionara responded first, apparently better accustomed to Joan's tactics. "Well, Crandon, I believe there is no dilemma. Contrary to Captain Brim, I do have the proper rights to retrieve you."

Joan arched an eyebrow. "Really? High Command gave you the order to get me?"

"Not directly. I have orders to acquire anyone or anything to further my advancement in wormhole knowledge."

"Well, I guess we have a winner, then. How do you plan on getting little old me?"

"I simply wait. Sooner or later you will run out of supplies. You'll need to use the transport pods, which are conveniently stationed in the landing bay where we are, to acquire new supplies. I can be very patient, Crandon."

Before Joan could respond, the connection was closed. "That went well, didn't it?" She asked as she turned back to the others, only to find them looking as if she had sprouted another head. "What? Oh, now might be the time to tell you I have the tendency to get mouthy when I'm pressured or scared."

"Anyhoo," she continued, "we need to come up with some way to get these idiots off of our boat. Suggestions?"

"Not at the moment," V'Enda replied. "But if I hadn't mentioned earlier, we are low on supplies."

"Yeah, I remember you talking about needing to get some groceries, before Silly and her merry men showed up. How long will they last?"

"According to my last count, we have food for one more solar day," Nerri replied. Everyone turned toward Rohnn.

Rohnn huffed indignantly. "Do you really think I ate since the last meal we all had together?"

"Do cows moo?" Joan replied. "The question is how much have you stowed away?"

"I do not hog food!" Rohnn looked around, realizing nobody believed her. "Alright, there may be some leftovers spread throughout Moya."

"Define 'some'," Joan persisted.

"Enough for me to keep my stomachs silent during sleep cycle."

"That ought to give us another day," V'Enda responded.

"Not exactly. About half of the food is hidden in the Landing Bay."

"So, bottom line, we need to go shopping today?" Joan asked. "We go shopping today," she added at the confirming nods.

"And how are we supposed to get our supplies?" V'Enda asked. "We can't get to the transport pods and Moya can't land."

"First off, Moya can land, as she proved before. Secondly, I was thinking about using my guppy. It's still parked in that room from where I lifted Moya into space."

V'Enda snorted. "We can't get anywhere in that contraption. It's not even air sealed."

"Oh, ye of little faith," Joan responded and walked in the direction of her ship, V'Enda and the others following her.

"Joan, when did you work on your ship?" Bohr asked.

"I didn't." She glanced briefly at V'Enda. "You can survive in vacuum for a couple o' minutes, right?"

Joan had only been half joking when she asked if V'Enda could survive in space, but she realized that more likely than not, V'Enda wouldn't be able to fly in her ship. So, instead she had asked if they knew where the EV-suits were. As luck would have it, a number of them were stored outside the landing bay.

Together with Bohr and Nerri, she found herself in the magnetically propelled vessel on route towards the nearest planet. Nerri had piloting experience and gave Joan pointers on how to navigate through space and how to properly enter the atmosphere.

Joan was able to handle the rest of the way to the ground by herself, only noticing minor differences in reaction related to her Earth bound experience. She assumed that had to do with the differing gravitational pull, and maybe even slight differences in the makeup of the atmosphere itself. The same must have been true for her first flight towards Moya, but she hadn't noticed it; probably due to the adrenalin.

Mentally shaking her head to dispel herself from these irrelevant thoughts, she carefully landed at the spot cleared for them by the spaceport authorities. As she did so, she couldn't help but notice how distinctly this ship would stand out among the vehicles already on the ground. She glanced at Bohr. "You do know that this ship will stand out like a sore thumb, right? If any Peacekeepers are here, they're bound to call back to our friends on Moya."

Bohr shook his head. "No, they won't. Pilot has blocked all communications from and to the landing bay area. Besides, there's not much we could have done about it. We need the supplies, Joan, you know that."

Joan nodded. "Yeah, I know. I just wanted to point it out. Oh, and by the way, there's no lock on this thing, so maybe someone should stay here to protect it." Please don't let it be me!

Again Bohr contemplated for a bit. "I doubt anyone would know how to fly in this one. The controls are very different."

"Alright, but at least let me take the computer off line; it will make flying it a whole lot more difficult."

"How long would it take to bring it back on line," Nerri asked.

Joan entered the shutdown command on the computer before she answered. "A couple o' minutes, but I'd be able to fly it without the computer helping me stabilize." Not very straight, but no need to tell you that. "Alright, all done." She turned around, plastering a smile on her face to hide her nervousness. "Let's go shopping."

"Where's J… Crandon?"

V'Enda looked at Aeron slightly surprised. She'd caught the slip when he wanted to say Joan, but now that she could see his face, she saw he was worried for Crandon, which was more than a Peacekeeper would normally care for one of their own. "Crandon, Bohr and Nerri went down to the planet to procure supplies. Mostly foodstuff." That did nothing to take away the worry, V'Enda noticed. "They'll be alright. The Peacekeepers are locked inside the landing bay and according to Pilot, none have tried to leave. There hasn't been any communication, either."

"That doesn't mean they won't get noticed." Aeron looked sourly at V'Enda. "You should've accompanied them."

"Perhaps, but Crandon's ship isn't particularly large. Besides, the danger on Moya is more imminent and you are currently in no position to defend. And even if you were, it's to warm for you outside of this chamber."

"It was her idea, wasn't it?"

V'Enda sighed. "Yes, it was. In my opinion the first sound tactic from her since I met her." She paused shortly. "Well, you seem to be doing fine. I'll just be going back to Pilot's Den." She turned around and left the room and Aeron. Once the door was closed she shook her head in astonishment. "A Peacekeeper falling for an alien. I'd never thought I'd see the day."

"Are you alright, Joan," Bohr asked with concern all over his face.

Joan nodded. "Yeah, it's just a bit harder to breathe this air."

Bohr stopped and fished something out of his robe. "Here, let me inject you with this. It will stimulate your lungs so they will absorb the oxygen more efficiently."

Joan silently allowed Bohr to administer the drug. Whatever it was, it took just two seconds to kick in and Joan could breathe more easily. She smiled and nodded her thanks, only to have it morph into a suspicious look. "You just happened to have that with you?"

Bohr smiled and shook his head. "Of course not Joan, but I was aware your lungs weren't as efficient as ours and anticipated your need for the drug. I should warn you, though. This particular drug will wear out in an arn, and after that you may experience more difficulty breathing for yet another arn. If you're not back on Moya by then, you may suffocate."

"Let's get going, then."

"Moya has tracked them, Ka V'Enda. They have safely landed. However, we are unable to communicate with them; something on the planet is jamming all communication channels after they were cleared for landing."

"Not something, someone," V'Enda deduced. "If that something was natural, it would have been jamming all the time."

Joan slowly came back to consciousness. Her sense of smell was the first to arrive and the odor reminded her of hospitals. Her hearing now also picked up the beeps from some kind of monitor. Slowly she opened her eyes, rapidly closing them again with the sudden onslaught of lights.

"Joan? Doctor! I think she's waking up."

A second later she felt someone lift up one eyelid and she attempted to swat away the hand and force her eyes closed again. "Shut off the frelling light first, would ya?" Her voice sounded hoarse and raspy, and she could hear a chuckle from her left.

"Clearly no head trauma, if her first sentence contains a swear word from a TV-show."

Okay, something fishy was going on here. First her mother's voice, and then that of Dot? Was someone messing with her head?

"Okay, the lights are off. You can open your eyes now."

That would be Aeron. Joan would recognize his voice anywhere. She carefully opened her eyes again, and was relieved to notice that indeed the lights were almost all off. Just enough light was present to allow her to see both her mother and her best friend. Much to her surprise, the guy didn't look like Aeron at all.

"Hi, I'm Michael Iannazzo, your doctor."

Joan looked at him for a second and then turned to her mother and Dot. "What happened?"

"The solar flares acted up again and wreaked havoc on the magnetic propulsion system," Dot replied. "You crashed down from a pretty high altitude and because we made the whole craft so sturdy, ninety-nine percent of the force was transferred right to you."

It sure sounded plausible. In fact it had been her main argument against Dot's suggestion to use the super-strong alloy for the entire ship. Could it be? Had she only dreamed about her trip through the universe? She looked back at the doctor who sounded like Aeron, but didn't look like him at all. It didn't seem unlikely she had heard his voice subconsciously and, without having an image to go with the voice, had then created a face in her head.

"Anyway, you've been in coma for almost two weeks."

She gave a wry smile. "I guess I did screw up in front of the entire world, huh?"

"This is ridiculous," Joan muttered to herself. She guessed the voice of that doctor, and even one or two nurses she could've picked up during her coma, but how could she possibly heard the oily voice of the woman she nearly knocked over as she walked out of the hospital? On a whim she turned around. "Excuse me, have we met before?"

"I sincerely doubt it, my dear. We do not seem to be moving in the same social circles."

Darn, just hearing Silly's voice gave her the creeps. Dismissing the snobby woman, she turned back to her mother and Dot. "So, where're we goin'?"

"We," Jean said as she pointed to herself and Dot, "are trying to get the director to change his mind and not cancel the experiment altogether. You, on the other hand, will go home and rest, as per doctor's orders."

"I'm fine, Mother. I think I should come with you. Besides, if that bozo sees I'm fine, our chances of winning him over are better."

"Especially if you call him 'bozo' to his face," Dot added with a grin. After a moment she turned serious. "I hate to tell you this, Joan, but I think your mom is right."

"Oh for frell's sake!" Joan exclaimed. "Stop treatin' me like I'm incompetent!"

"Like it or not," Jean responded. "We're taking you home first and Dot and I will handle… that bozo. Besides, I'd have thought you'd have missed Tom."

Joan looked wearily at the cat. Not just a cat. Her cat. Her dead cat. At least this made it absolutely certain this was unreal. She sighed. I could use a Harvey, right about now. Unless… Unless Silly was doing this to her, trying to break her. It would make sense. Not much time had passed since their first encounter, and who was to say Silly wouldn't follow Scorpy's MO?

Well, regardless of who was behind this, she needed to get out of this delusion before she lost it completely. Not seeing an immediate solution, she got up and walked to the fridge to get a beverage. She wished she could just see what was really going on. Maybe just a quick look to get the lay of the land, as if that would even help. She bent down to grab a soda can from the opened fridge and closed the door.

Before she could turn around, she yanked the door back open. There, in the back of her fridge was a… a view at some room filled with equipment she'd never seen before. In the next second a lizard-like face appeared, seemingly to look at her before it vanished again, taking back the entire view with it and leaving the near bare refrigerator staring back at her.

Slowly, Joan closed the door of her fridge again and moved back to her sofa. That couldn't have been real. If it was, it meant she'd just got a glimpse of her surroundings, her real surroundings. So, either it was fake, and intended to drive her into insanity quicker, or… Or it was real and had something to do with the 'additional measures' the ancients had put in place to safeguard the wormhole knowledge.

She glanced around her room. Could this be a matter of wanting something bad enough? Up until she got confronted with her cat, she hadn't really believed this to be fake. As a result she hadn't really wanted this to be fake. But now… Her eyes fell on her TV. She grabbed the remote and wished to see and hear what really happened as she switched on the TV, she indeed saw the same room again. Drad!

But even better was she could clearly hear the hum of the equipment in the room. And then came the approaching footsteps. Soon enough the lizard-like alien stepped in view, her back to the screen.

"The last four increments have not had any result," the Scarran wannabe –male, by the sound of the voice– reported. "Increasing with five units."

Joan willed the 'camera' to pan, find out if she still had her pulse pistol, but that didn't work. Well, she had sight and sound, and she had the impression smell was well on its way. If she had those senses, why not touch?

She closed her eyes and focused. There, her right hand. It was touching something hard and solid. And heat! She felt heat all over. Alright, she'd strapped the pulse pistol on her left thigh. Yes, she could feel the holster straps through her pants. But was the pistol still in there?

Her left hand didn't seem to touch anything on the sides. Her left wrist and the tips of her fingers were touching the same hard, solid surface as her back. All of sudden she lost all senses with, what she now believed to be, the real world. Her TV showed nothing but static.

She slumped back on the sofa, only then realizing how tired she was. But at least she had booked some progress. She decided to try it again in a few minutes. As she took her first swig of the soda, someone knocked on her door. Furrowing her brow, she stood up to open the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Dot."

Joan frowned even more. Was this the result of being tired? Did she leave herself open for another attack from the unreal?

"Hey, are you gonna open up, or what?"

Joan reluctantly unlocked the door to let her in. She was so not in the mood for this. She plastered a fake smile on her face just as she opened the door. "Hi, come on in."

"Hi," Dot said, giving her a brief hug. She hung her coat on the rack next to the door and walked toward the sofa. "Hey, Tommy," she greeted the cat and petted him, before sitting down.

"Wanna drink?" Joan asked, fervently hoping she'd say no and leave soon, though that hope had more or less vanished when Dot had hung her coat on the rack.

"Yeah. I s'pose you don't have any bubbly?"

Joan glanced in the direction of the fridge. I probably will, now. "Got something to celebrate," she asked as she walked toward the fridge.

Dot nodded. "Yup. The director changed his mind and we are scheduled for a next test flight in less than a week."

Joan wasn't surprised in the least to find a bottle of Champagne in her fridge. Neither was she surprised to hear the test being rescheduled on such short notice. "Hey, whadda ya know? I do have some bubbly." She grabbed the bottle and two glasses and walked towards Dot.

"Great!" Dot accepted the glass Joan gave her. "Next time, we won't have to deal with those strange fluctuations that caused your crash. We haven't detected them in well over a week."

Joan just nodded and attempted to feel her real body again, not listening to what this illusion of her friend was talking about. When she finally established the 'link' again, Dot shook her.

"Hello! Earth to Joan! Come in, Joan."

Annoyed at being interrupted and, as a result, losing her connection again, she looked at Dot. "Listen, Dot. I'm kinda tired, you know. I'd rather be alone, take a nap or something."

Dot's brow furrowed. "Oh, right. I didn't realize you were tired." She stood up and got her coat. She turned back to Joan. "Are you sure you're alright, Joan?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah, I'm just tired."

Joan opened her eyes again. During the last hour or so she had established a reliable way to get in touch with her real surrounding. Sound, vision, smell and touch. And just now she had managed to move her hand. She did indeed have her pulse pistol still on her.

She let out a frustrated groan, realizing she couldn't wake herself up, and was effectively still trapped in this illusion. She could initiate an overload on the pulse pistol, she was sure of it. But with no way to actually move anything but her arms, she couldn't get out and would undoubtedly be killed along with the blast.

There was no way she could stop her brain functions, like Harvey had done for John. As long as she wasn't dead, the Scarran look-a-like –Pluran, Joan reminded herself– would continue to provide the stimuli to keep her in this delusion. Unless… Joan focused on her real body with just her sense of touch. Yes, only one probe connected to her right temple.

What would happen if she ripped it off? She could cause irreparable brain damage. Then again, the continuing increase of stimuli by the Pluran was probably not so good for her brain either. Although, she wasn't experiencing any negative side effects, besides being trapped in her mind. Another benefit of the ancients meddling? She wasn't affected by Silly's chair, either. So, maybe it was safe to for her to, literally, pull the plug on this experiment.

Joan made up her mind and connected to the outside world again. The Pluran had his back turned toward her, which meant she could move her hand without him seeing it. She 'instructed' her right arm to move toward the probe at her temple. Once she got hold of the cable connected to it, she yanked it away.

Immediately Joan was released from the illusion. She quickly let go of the cable and moved her hand back to the table, in case the Pluran would turn around. Some warning was sounding, most likely due to the sudden loss of connection to her brain, and the Pluran went toward another board, not once looking in her direction.

"All brain activity seized at…"

Joan initiated the overload, silently thanking V'Enda for showing her how. Though the Pluran hadn't looked in her direction, he should be close enough to hear the warning beeps on the pulse pistol, a ten second countdown. Come on, notice the beeps, walk over and let me shove this pulse pistol in your mouth. Three seconds until the pistol would overload, before the Pluran finally decided to come and investigate the source of the beeps, taking his sweet time. With literally no time to spare, Joan shoved the pistol inside the Pluran's mouth and dove for cover.

Joan found herself outside the hidden lab, not knowing where to go now. She'd had no luck finding her comms among the debris, so she couldn't ask Bohr or Nerri to come for her. She looked in each direction, trying to guess the most likely direction of the space port. She didn't have to guess long, as Nerri rounded a corner just as Joan looked in that direction.

"Crandon! Where in hezmana have you been?"

"Oh, I got stuck in a lab while a Pluran tried to drive me insane."

"A, a Pluran? He-Here?"

Joan shrugged. "Well, he's dead now. Listen, I probably should get back to Moya. I think that arn I could last on the drug Bohr gave me, has about passed by now."

"You're right, we should." Nerri tapped his comms badge. "I've found Crandon. We're on our way back."

"Nerri, let me talk to Joan. There's a problem with her ship."

Joan frowned. "Problem? What problem?"

"During our arrival, a magnetic field disturbed most of the ports equipment. Everything is functioning now, but they traced the field to your ship."

"Oh, I know what's causing it. It just needs realigning of the direction coils. Takes just two minutes."

"Is it something I could do? We need to get you back to Moya as quickly as possible."

"Wouldn't I be fine in the space suit?"

"For a short period of time, yes. Now, could I perform the required alterations?"

"Yeah," Joan replied, closing her eyes to visualize the panel. "When you're inside there's a small panel at the left of the navigational controls. It has two buttons, a flipping switch and three turning knobs."

"Yes, I see it."

"Okay, good. Flip the switch forward if it isn't already, turn the left most knob all the way to the right and push both buttons simultaneously."

"I did that, Joan, and it gave three short beeps."

Joan nodded. "Yeah, that's right. When it's done it'll beep again. Just push both buttons again and everything should be fine."

Joan put on her suit as soon as she boarded her ship. Breathing had become more and more difficult on the way back, and they'd only walked at a normal pace. She activated the comms. "Pilot, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Doctor. It's good to hear your voice."

"Good to hear yours, too, Pilot. Listen, I got an idea to get our visitors off Moya, but it kinda depends on the current situation. I need to know if everyone of them is in either ship, and not roaming the landing bay."

"Moya's sensors indicate everyone is inside their respective vessels."

"Great. Depressurize the landing bay and open it up to space. That'll force them to stay inside." Joan lifted her ship off the ground, glad that the stabilizing computer had been brought on-line as soon as Bohr initiated the realignment.

"Done, Doctor."

"Great. Now, Pilot, when I return I'll be generating a massive magnetic field inside the landing bay. It would disrupt the Peacekeeper equipment, so basically disable those completely. Once they are, Moya should ease away."

"I see. With their navigation and propulsion disabled, they'll be floating and unable to follow Moya's movements. They'll float out of the landing bay."

"Exactly. Now, there's one catch. Chances are I'll be draining power so I might float out as well. I think I can generate the field while we're still moving, thus keeping a forward momentum. If we time it right, we could render the two Peacekeeper vessels powerless and then have Moya match my speed before I run into the wall."

"Yes, Moya and I believe this could work."

"Aeron, we've reduced the temperature to normal levels. If you feel alright, you should probably join us in Command." Without waiting for a reply, V'Enda turned around and strode back towards Command.

Aeron rose from the floor and jogged to catch up with V'Enda. "Did the Peacekeepers leave?"

V'Enda shook her head. "No, but Crandon has a plan she's about to execute. We've already managed to lock the Peacekeepers in their own ships, so the heightened temperature was no longer required."

"Crandon has a plan? What kind of plan?"

"Joan, why aren't you flying towards the landing bay?"

Joan glanced briefly at Bohr and Nerri. "I'm gonna drop you guys of first, in case this goes pear shaped."

"Joan that would not be wise. We should attempt to get the Peacekeepers off Moya as quickly as possible."

Joan shook her head. "No, there's a good chance this won't work. The Peacekeepers can still fire a couple of seconds before the field would shut them down. And that's assuming it actually works! There's no sense in getting the three of us killed in the attempt to drive the bullies off. No, I'm dropping you off, and that's final."

"Crandon," Aeron's voice came over the comms. "I think you should pick me up and let me fly. What you want to do will require very precise flying and…"

"And you don't know how to control my guppy," Joan responded as she landed inside Moya. "It's not like we have a whole lot of time for me to explain this stuff to you. I'm dropping of my passengers now." Joan glared at Nerri who seemed to refuse leaving.

When he finally did leave and closed up the hatch again, she lifted off and set course for the landing bay. "Okay, Pilot, I'm coming up on the landing bay doors. Keep track of my speed and as soon as the Peacekeepers ships are rendered harmless, match it."

"Yes, Doctor. Moya and I are tracking your progress."

Joan nodded, and reprogrammed the ships computer, keeping an eye on the landing bay as she came closer to it. She had to time it right. Building up the field needed a couple of seconds, and the field itself needed to be active for a couple of seconds to be certain of the complete shutdown.

Again, Joan estimated the distance and her current speed. When she felt like she was close enough, she punched in the final command to begin the magnetic field build-up. Three seconds later, the field was at maximum strength, and she flipped the switch that would release the field outward, noting she was just coming up behind the two Peacekeeper vessels.

After just two seconds, both Peacekeeper vessels appeared to drift off Moya's floor. The magnetic field would be active for another two seconds, which would also bring her to a point just in front of both ships. A point, she noted, was also very close to the inner bay doors. She breathed a sigh of relief, when she noted that, though she was still moving over the two Peacekeeper ships, the doors were not getting closer.

Only a minute later, she gently touched down on the floor, or rather, Moya had gently maneuvered herself toward her now powerless and completely useless ship. A second later, Joan felt the jolt of Starburst.

"Hey," Joan offered when she entered the gym.

Aeron kept his attention on the attack dummy, continuing kicking and punching the padded structure.

Joan put her hands on her hips. "Would it kill you to at least acknowledge my presence?"

This time he paused just long enough to respond with a mumbled 'hey' before continuing to kick and punch the inanimate object.

Joan sighed. "I know you probably don't wanna talk about… well, that stuff." She paused, hoping he would let her know either way. "But if you do, I'll listen. It's…"

"It's none of your frelling business!"

Well, at least he reacted to her, though he immediately went back to his attacks. "Maybe, but keeping it bottled up inside isn't gonna help you."

This time he stopped and actually paused for a few seconds before responding. "You know, Crandon, I think I'm done with my training. This place is all yours." With that, he stalked out of the room.

Joan sighed. She really hoped he'd open up to her. She turned around and walked back to her own quarters. This needed some more thought, but Aeron really needed to work through that crap or it would come back and bite him in the ass later. She'd give him some peace, now, but she wasn't going to let things go on as they were.

A/N: Well, that's all he wrote, folks. As things stand, I'm not sure I want to continue this series (sorry, CP!), what with barely any one reading it or giving feedback. So, this may very well be the last you'll read of Joan. Luckily, I've still got enough stuff to write in my other running stories and series, so you'll not get rid of me that easily...