Preparation
by Donnie Thomas

Part I

John Crichton sat looking up at the stars, he had been camping out here in a forest on Zendek Prime for a couple of weeks, and tomorrow Moya should be back to pick him up.
He sighed as he lay back down beside the small fire he had built. “I sure hope everything went OK while I was gone.” He was nervous about seeing the others again, he didn’t know how angry they would be with him for leaving without saying anything, but in all honesty it had helped him deal with what had happened.
When he first left Moya, he was angry and confused. Whenever he thought about what had happened between him and Aeryn, he just couldn’t help feeling hurt and betrayed. And then there was Rygel, when he thought about what he had done to the little Hynerian, he felt so ashamed. He had never done anything like that in his life.
The two weeks away from everyone had helped John sort out his feelings and put his priorities in order. He realized that he still loved Aeryn, more than he thought he ever could. While he did have reservations, he found that he did trust her, he decided that they should just take it one day at a time and let whatever happens happen.
As the fire started to die down John sighed again, he knew he would never be able to make amends to Rygel for what he had done to him. He just hoped that the dominar would except his apology and then they could begin to rebuild their relationship.
“It’s going to take a lot of work to get things back to normal between me and Rygel, but I think we can work it out.” John said rolling onto his side. Soon, he had drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

Part II
“Crichton, Commander Crichton, are you there?” John woke up with a start, wincing as he looked up into the morning sun. “Commander Crichton, please respond.”
John ran over to his module and pulled the communicator off his jacket. “Yeah Pilot, I’m here, what’s your position?” John grinned, he didn’t think he would miss everyone this much after only two weeks on his own, but he found that he couldn’t keep a smile off his face at the thought of being onboard Moya again.
“We will be entering orbit around the planet in about an arn.” Pilot’s voice came back over the communicator, causing John’s grin to widen. “Great Pilot, that should give me plenty of time to get the Farscape ready for take off. By the time you guys get here, I’ll already be in orbit.”
John laughed out loud as he heard Chiana’s voice come over the comm. “Hello Crichton, enjoy your little vacation? Hey! Get off me toad boy!” John just shook his head as he listened to Chiana and Rygel argue back and forth
*Sounds like Rygel is back to normal* he thought as he continued to listen to them argue with each other. “I’ll tell you all about it when I get there Pip, see ya soon.” He switched off his communicator and began getting ready to take off. “Yep, I definitely can’t wait to get home.”
In another few minutes, the Farscape I took off and flew into the outer atmosphere, waiting to meet up with Moya. *I’m going to catch hell from Aeryn, I just know it.* Crichton thought ruefully as he flew the Farscape towards Moya