"Saturn..." John breathed in recognition as Moya emerged from starburst. "Pilot, how're we doing?"
"Moya sustained only superficial damage during the engagement," Pilot began. "We are scanning now for Scarran activity..."
John nodded and turned to Aeryn, who had been standing at the manual pilot's console during the engagement with the Scarrans, control column in hand, just in case she might be needed. "Hey, babe..." The words dried in his throat as he took in her slightly uncertain expression and the puddle of fluid gathering around her boots.
"John, I... I think my waters have broken," she remarked even as he rushed to her side.
"What is it with our kids wanting to be born during Scarran attacks?" he joked, wrapping steadying arms around her.
"They have your timing." She flashed him a weary smile. He smiled back at her apologetically as he peeled her hand away from its steely grip on the primary flight control with one hand and activated the comms with the other.
"Pip, can you rustle up my sister and Noranti and then meet me and Aeryn in our quarters?"
"Sure thing, old man. Olivia and D'Argo are still with me in the central chamber. I think Noranti is in the infirmary." John remembered now: of course they were - the central chamber was the safest part of the ship. That's where Chiana had taken D'Argo and his sister when the fighting had started. "What's up?"
"It's baby time!"
'~'
John Crichton held on fast to the controls of his module, focussing all of his attention on crafting the wormhole and positioning its other end within the corona of the sun. He'd done it once before, on Dam Ba Da. But this was different. This was Earth, his home, and Aeryn and Moya and almost everyone he'd ever cared about were here too. Those were probably among the reasons why the radiation was so much worse this time. He was forcing the issue, making sure that he got the other end of the wormhole in really tight on the sun. Part of him knew that he'd pushed it too far - heaven knows, Lloyd, the CAPCOM, had told him so forcefully enough, as had Pilot, and he was sure that he wasn't imagining that he could already feel his body falling sick from the massive solar radiation exposure that had resulted from his foolhardiness.
But he could feel that it had worked... just another couple of microts... Here came the flare!
"Aeryn, Moya, break off NOW!" John bellowed into the comms. An infernal geyser of solar plasma, at least a dozen miles long and as hot as the surface of the star from which it had just been summoned, leapt outwards into space. In just a couple of seconds it engulfed the Scarran Dreadnought, overwhelming and consuming the mighty warship as though it were a mere trifle. It was a truly shocking sight to behold.
"We got it! We got it!" The Dreadnought was gone. Not even molten slag remained. It had been completely consumed by the unimaginable heat of Earth's own sun, funnelled through the wormhole and projected towards it at almost point-blank range. Just like the Dreadnought at Dam Ba Da had been.
John's joy was short lived, however. He could not forget that Aeryn was still in her Prowler nearby, perhaps Moya, too, to say nothing of the effect on his home planet if the mouth of the wormhole should change direction towards Earth's atmosphere. Swiftly, struggling against growing nausea and malaise, he began by redirecting the other end of the wormhole away from the sun - anywhere else was surely safer - as a prelude to shutting it down completely.
"Aeryn? Aeryn?" he asked, feeling faint now. There was no answer. He raised his eyes, struggling to do anything against the growing lethargy of the radiation poisoning he knew he had suffered. He really needed to close that damned wormhole, although perhaps it didn't matter - it would close on its own in a short while.
"You OK, babe?" Silence. He decided to press on hoping she could hear him. He had a feeling his time was short and he had things he wanted to tell her. "I'm still here." He paused again, partly to draw breath, partly to give her a chance to let him know she was OK.
"Feel free to butt in any time..." he paused, his body wracked with a cough. After a couple of seconds it subsided and he carried on. "Looks like I've taken a big hit. Radiation. Nothing to be done." He paused, and a long silence filled the gap. "Hell, I hate long goodbyes anyway. I'm gonna miss you." Why did he say that, he wondered? He'd be dead - he wouldn't be missing anything or anyone. There was still no reply from Aeryn so he continued, trying to fill the painful silence, to distract himself from thinking.
"I'm sorry things didn't work out on Earth like we planned. I'm sorry about a lot of things. But I'm proud of what we've done here today." He took another long pause. Breathing was getting difficult. He wished he knew if she were safe, if she were alive, even.
"I love you," he whispered, before something outside of the module caught his eye. He strained to see out of the canopy. There was the Prowler... it seemed intact. It was drifting, though, engines powered down. With a sudden flash of horror he realised it was drifting towards the still-open entrance to the wormhole.
John struggled to find the energy to take the controls to the module or even the displacement engine. If he couldn't shut down the wormhole, perhaps he could nudge the Prowler onto a different trajectory, to avoid the wormhole. But he could not raise the energy - his hand reached the module's main controls, although he could not grip them, far less use them. His heart was torn with anguish as he realised he would fail. The Prowler drifted ever closer to the blue, swirling mouth of the wormhole. Let it shut! Please let it shut! His inner voice pleaded. But still it stayed open and still the Prowler drifted closer.
He tried one last time to manipulate the controls to the displacement engine even as the Prowler entered the mouth of the wormhole and was consumed.
"AERYN!" he called weakly before the sweet relief of darkness overcame him.
'~'
"Aeryn! You're doing fine," John called as he smoothed her forehead with his free hand, partly to support and encourage his wife, partly to distract himself from the mangling that she was giving his other hand. He knew well enough that it was to be expected that a woman in childbirth might have a grip like a vice, but Aeryn was a genetically enhanced former soldier in peak physical condition. He was starting to wonder whether he might actually have the odd broken bone or ten in his hand by the time their baby was born.
"Gah!" Aeryn responded eloquently through gritted teeth as another contraction wrung her body.
"You're doing fine," Olivia encouraged from the business end of proceedings in what sounded to John like a calm tone. He was glad someone here was calm. He knew that he certainly wasn't. Chiana and Noranti had to be lurking around somewhere, he knew, but he really couldn't spare the attention right now to work out quite where and he was sure neither of them would be calm, either. Thank heavens they weren't making a fuss. He just hoped that, if Noranti was looking after their son, Pilot had at least assigned a DRD and part of his multi-tasking attention to making sure the crazy old woman didn't get up to anything that she shouldn't.
"How long did your first take to deliver?" Olivia asked.
"Oh, he was really quick," John replied without thinking.
"Quick?!" Aeryn responded between gasps of air. "You call that quick!?"
"By human standards. Just a couple of hours," John told his sister, trying to avoid further ire from Aeryn. "Three, maybe four, tops."
"Second babies are generally quicker and easier," Olivia responded reassuringly. At least that was how John took it. It must have been about an hour and a half since her waters broke so surely it must be soon?
"Easier? Fine. You frelling push it out, then!" Aeryn snarled. John gave his sister a slightly apologetic look. She smiled back. Olivia was probably used to this sort of thing. His attention was drawn back to Aeryn as her grip once again tightened, threatening to crush his poor abused hand.
"ARGH!" Aeryn snarled, her cry ear-splittingly loud this time.
"That's good, keep pushing!" Olivia encouraged. She paused and adjusted her position. "I think I can... I can see the head!"
"Great! Grab it and pull it out!" Aeryn demanded - John couldn't tell whether she was being serious or not any more. "Argh!" She let out another cry, presumably as another contraction hit.
"OK, Aeryn, Aeryn, I need you to listen to me," Olivia said. "I want you to stop pushing now and take short breaths. Like this." She demonstrated with a few exaggerated pants. "Can you do that?"
Aeryn grimaced but nodded and began following Olivia's instructions.
"That's right. Good." Olivia encouraged. "Keep with that... I'll let you know if you need to do anything differently."
Aeryn just gritted her teeth and groaned again in response.
"You're doing great," John encouraged her, feeling the need to say something, no matter how trite.
"Grrr. Next time, you're doing it," Aeryn snarled at him.
"You mean there'll be a next time," John couldn't help but grin, but he quickly concealed it when Aeryn glowered at him, arching an eyebrow.
"Not going to be a next time. Recreation is banned... gah!" Aeryn cried out then fell silent as she was gripped by another contraction.
"Don't push, don't push, just short, panting breaths!" Olivia interrupted, reminding Aeryn.
A long near silence followed - looking back later, John could not have said whether it lasted 30 seconds or ten minutes. The only sounds were Aeryn panting and groaning and his sister making encouraging noises.
"It's a girl!" Olivia announced suddenly, her face beaming, "John, do you want to cut the cord?" John nodded and moved towards his sister. A few seconds later Olivia wrapped the baby in a towel and handed her to John. He cradled her for a second, revelling in the moment, before bringing her up the couple of steps to hand to his wife.
"We have a daughter!" John echoed happily to Aeryn, handing the baby to her whilst she smiled weakly back at him with what appeared to be a mix of exhaustion and happiness.