When Skies are Gray 2

Seeing The Light: 4

By ISIS

Notes and Disclaimers: See part 1

Moya's crew was headed back to the transport, their supplies waiting for them at the commerce planet's loading dock. It had been a good day of shopping. Zhaan had restocked her dwindling apothecary. Rygel had negotiated several delicacies as well as the staples and foodcubes. D'Argo had been pleased to find some excellent wood-carving tools and fine pieces of rare wood. Chiana had a very satisfied look on her face, testament to a number of probably illegal acquisitions. And John had found several pieces of equipment that he needed to possibly modify the Prowler to allow Aeryn to fly again. Ever since he had solved the problem of the pinging targets, modifying the comms so that they registered distance as well as location, he had been thinking of how he could expand the technology for the Prowler, turning it into a huge Uncharted Territory bat.The only shadow had been the fact that Aeryn herself refused to join them planetside.

The past three weeks had seen an incredible change in the blinded ex-Peacekeeper. She had returned so much to her former self that Rygel had actually started to complain about her superior manner and ass-kicking demeanor. But the rest of the crew knew that the little Hynerian was as pleased as they were that Aeryn had apparently overcome her blindness, becoming the valuable crewmember that John had promised. And they all marvelled yet again at the compassion and ingenuity of the primitive Earthman.
They were all so anxious to return to the Leviathan that they failed to notice the interest being taken in them by a couple of lurking figures.
"Are you sure that's them? Check it again," Foberos hissed as he studied the group.
"I'm sure," Mallon replied. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small holographic generator. Triggering it with his thumb, he saw again the copy of the wanted beacon. "Okay, a Delvian, a Luxan, an Hynerian, and one called Crichton, right?"
"Yeah, they're all there, plus one." Foberos's bad teeth showed darkly in his leering mouth as he noted the lovely figure and seductive walk of the grey clad female. "If the PeaceKeepers don't want her, I'm sure I can find a place for her."
"Okay, so we call Amaxa?" Mallon asked, replacing the holograph.
"Yeah. They won't know what hit them."
***************
Back on board Moya, Aeryn had spent the morning first at her exercises, then at target practice. It had been her daily routine ever since John had showed her how to judge distances from the variations in the pinging comms. L'il Blue and a couple of other DRD's helped her reset the targets and Pilot monitored her progress. Aeryn smiled triumphantly as Moya's symbiont reported yet another perfect score, her fourth consecutive one that weeken. After a shower and lunch, she had decided to continue with her self-conceived exploration of Moya. As she had said to Crichton over three weekens ago after her aborted attempt to kill herself, she did know the Leviathan like the back of her hand. But now that she felt like a soldier again, she felt the need to relearn the Leviathan's passages and remote locations in her new state.
So that was how she found herself in the passages above Pilot's chamber when all hezmana broke loose.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Pilot's voice floated up to her mixed with fear and outrage.
"I am Captain Amaxa of the Zenetan ship, Harpakso. And you are now my prisoner, along with the Leviathan and its crew."
Aeryn stopped dead in her tracks, listening carefully, her heart pounding. L'il Blue waited at her side patiently.
"Where are the others? What have you done with them?" Pilot demanded.
"They are well, Pilot. They are being detained on the prison level on Tier Fourteen. You may speak to them yourself. They will not be harmed. They are too valuable to us alive. The wanted beacons say that the PeaceKeepers will pay a pretty penny for their capture, particularly this one called Crichton." Amaxa laughed greedily. "After we deliver them to the approaching Command Carrier, the Leviathan will be added to my fleet. I need a good ship for my smuggling operation." He laughed again, and Aeryn could hear the distinct sounds of two others joining him. "I don't usually deal with the Peacekeepers, but this Scorpius assured me that he has no interest in our tiny operations. He only wants this Crichton. The others are an added bonus."
"What about the Nebari, Chiana?" a nasty voice rasped.
"I didn't tell him names, Foberos, only that I had captured the Leviathan and her crew. I didn't ask and he didn't say." Aeryn could hear Amaxa's voice moving towards the door of Pilot's chamber. "If she's not worth anything to Scorpius, then she's yours." The pirate then ordered Pilot to set course for coordinates to rendezvous with the Command Carrier. "You and Mallon stay here with the symbiont; make sure he doesn't try anything. I'm going to check with Strepho and the others that our guests are all right." Aeryn heard Pilot's chamber door slide open and then back into place.
Aeryn dropped to the floor of the passageway, her heart pounding with fear. *The others have been captured. They are here on Moya, under guard on Tier Fourteen. Pilot is being held prisoner just below me. We are on our way to rendezvous with Scorpius's Command Carrier.* She fought hard to maintain control. *The Zenetans obviously don't know I'm here.* She shook her head. *Or they know I'm blind and do not consider me a threat,* a nasty voice added.
*Just because you can't see, doesn't mean you're useless.* John's words rang in her mind. *You can do this, Aeryn. It's only a useless bunch of Zenetan pirates,* she told herself. Her mind raced as she tried to put together a plan of action.
***************
"Crichton! Crichton, are you all right? Crichton!" Chiana's urgent call drifted across the passageway from the cell where their captors had thrown them upon reaching Moya.
John had foolishly resisted and been knocked to the ground with the butt of one of the pirates' rifles. He lay groaning, his arms wrenching in their sockets from the manacles biting into his wrists. He rolled over and saw with dismay that the pirates had taken no chances with the massive Luxan. D'Argo was chained to the cell walls by the rings embedded in his collarbone by the PeaceKeepers. "Man, oh, man, D'Argo. If we ever get out of this, I think you should seriously think about having those things removed. Our enemies are finding them way too convenient."
The huge Luxan glared at him, but said nothing. John rolled over to lie near the door. "Hey, everyone okay over there?" he called.
"Zhaan's still out from the drug they gave her, but Rygel and I are fine," Chiana replied. "Any sign of ...?"
"Pilot?" John interrupted. "No! I imagine they've got all the comms turned off." He could just see Chiana's anxious face through the cell door. He gave her a meaningful glance to which she nodded her understanding.
"What are they going to do with us, Crichton?" Rygel's haughty voice came floating across the hallway.
"If you must know, I'm going to turn you all in to some PeaceKeeper named Scorpius and make a bundle," a new voice replied. A heavily tattooed Zenetan marched arrogantly down the corridor towards them with two others, smiling triumphantly.
"How dare you attack this Leviathan?" Rygel began. "I am Dominar Rygel the Sixteenth of the Hynerian Empire. When my loyal subjects learn of this insult to my royal person ..."
"Save it, your Highness. I know exactly who you are." The pirate pulled out a hologram and replayed the PeaceKeeper wanted beacon transmission. "And to me, you are a gold mine. Except for you, my little beauty." D'Argo growled menacingly as the pirate reached into the bars towards Chiana. "I don't know who you are or if you are worth anything to the PeaceKeepers."
"My name's Chiana." Her dark eyes slid over to the other cell nervously and then she smiled seductively at the pirate. "I could be very valuable to you, if you just let me out of here."
The pirate studied her hungrily for a few microts, then laughed. "Perhaps you could, Chiana. But I think I'll wait to see what Scorpius says. Then I'll decide. My lieutenant Foberos has laid claim to you, but I think I'll pull rank on him." He smiled again at Chiana's frustrated expression as she flung herself across the cell away from him.
"Listen, pal," John began from his awkward position on the floor. "I wouldn't trust Scorpius to pay you anything. More likely, you'll find yourself on the wrong end of a frag cannon." He struggled into a kneeling position, wincing at the pain in his head.
The pirate crossed to the other cell, bending to study the one called Crichton with interest. "The name's Amaxa, Captain Amaxa. And what does this Scorpius creature find so valuable about you? You don't look dangerous or important."
"I have some information that Scorpius desperately wants," John explained.
Amaxa's eyes gleamed with avarice. "Well, maybe if you give me the information, I might consider letting you all go."
John closed his eyes in despair. "Man, I would if I could, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way."
"Too bad, then," Amaxa said, straightening up. "You and Gar stay here, Strepho, and keep an eye on our treasures. I'm going to check on our ship. If what this guy here says is right, I want to be away from here as soon as we get our money. If we have to leave the Leviathan behind, we will." The guards nodded and the pirate captain headed back along the corridor.
***************
"Okay, the first thing is to secure Pilot's chamber." Aeryn whispered to L'il Blue. She was glad of the tiny robot's presence, for a number of reasons. "Can you patch me through to Moya and Pilot?" The little machine pinged softly. "Okay, tell Pilot that I'm still free and right above him. I have my pulse gun with me -- thank goodness I strapped it on this afternoon, -- and I'm going to try to take out the guards in his chamber. If he understands, ping once." Aeryn waited, her heart lightened when she heard the single soft tone. "Good. Now here's what I need you to do. Go down to the maintenance bay and get as many of John's marking comms as you can carry. Go past the cells of Tier Fourteen if you can to let the others know I'm all right. Then I need you to attach a comm to each of the two pirates in Pilot's chamber. Can you do that?" L'il Blue pinged once. "Then get back up here. When you're here, I'll get Pilot to activate the comms and I'll take out the pirates." Aeryn took a deep breath as the little robot sped away. "I hope this works."
In his cell, John leaned against the latticed door, troubled about Aeryn. He was afraid of what the obviously lecherous pirates might do to her if they found her. He trusted her instincts, but he was a little worried about how she would react now that all their training exercises had become a desperate reality. As if in answer to his fears, he saw a little DRD slide slowly past his cell. It was L'il Blue. The DRD was moving purposefully towards the maintenance bay where he had set up Aeryn's target range. "Psst, D'Argo," he hissed softly. The Luxan raised his head, questioningly. John nodded slightly towards the little DRD with the blue tape on its light antenna. The Luxan met John's eyes, a spark of hope lighting them.
After what seemed an eternity, Aeryn felt the light push of her guide DRD at her ankle. "Is everything in place?" she asked. L'il Blue pinged once. "Okay, here goes." She took a deep breath to calm herself then stood and moved silently over to the opening into Pilot's chamber, praying that she was keeping out of sight of the guards below. Everything depended on her ability to take out both guards before they could alert the others. Just as she was about to have Pilot turn on the comms, she heard voices below. She pulled back and listened.
"Hey, Mallon, you okay here for a while?"
"Yeah, why?" the one called Mallon replied belligerently.
"'cause I want to go down and check on the Nebari. I don't trust that Amaxa not to steal her right away from me. She's too choice a morsel to leave alone for too long, you know what I mean?"
Mallon gave an ugly laugh, "Yeah, I see your point. But Amaxa will have your head if he catches you. He said to stay here, Foberos."
"What, it takes two of us to guard one Pilot? What's he going to do, run away?" The door was already sliding open. "I'll be back before Amaxa even knows I was gone."
Aeryn breathed a sigh of relief. Now there was only one guard to worry about. She moved forward again, then whispered to Pilot to turn on the comm.
"Hey, what's that sound?" Mallon cried, raising his rifle at Pilot.
"I don't know," Pilot said, looking flustered. "I think one of the DRD's is malfunctioning."
"Well, make it stop. It's frelling annoying."
Aeryn leaned out quickly, judged the target location and distance, and fired. She was rewarded by the thud of a body and brief gurgling. Then silence except for the pinging comm. Aeryn holstered her pistol and reached down to pick up L'il Blue.
"Good shot, Aeryn!" Pilot said. He watched in horror as the Sebacean climbed up on the edge of the railing, then jumped into his chamber, coming to land beside the pinging body of the pirate.
"Okay, Pilot, we have to move fast. I need the DRD's to place comms on the pirates without them knowing it. Then we'll turn off all the lights. Can we make it pitch black, no emergency lights, no DRD antenna, nothing."
Pilot nodded. "Yes, I can do that."
"Good, with them in the dark, I have the advantage. As L'il Blue and I move around the ship, activate the comm on the pirate nearest us and I'll take them out, one by one."
***************
An arn had passed since L'il Blue had appeared and John was growing anxious. Suddenly he sat up. The Human watched with great interest as two DRD's slid down the corridor. In their clasp they each had one of his modified comm pins. *Atta girl, Aeryn. Go for it,* he couldn't help smirking as the robots tagged each of the two Zenetan pirates. One of the guards looked at the grinning prisoner suspiciously, then turned away with a grunt, aiming a kick at the departing DRD's.
A third pirate appeared down the corridor. "Hey, Foberos, I thought you were guarding the Pilot?" the one called Strepho said.
Foberos smiled, revealing his bad teeth in a feral grin. "I just came down to check on my property." He leaned against the cell door, leering in at Chiana. "Hey, sweet thing, ready to experience a real man?" he laughed raucously.
"Would that be you or Amaxa?" Chiana said, smiling seductively.
Foberos's face darkened and he aimed a kick at an approaching DRD. "What the frell do you mean, trelk?"
Over the pirate's head, Chiana could see John frantically shaking his head and nodding towards something. She looked down, dropping her eyes as if in shyness, to see the DRD Foberos had kicked at trying to place a comm on his boot. Her head jerked up.
"Well, if I'm given the choice ...," she moved closer to the cell door, pressing against it suggestively. She fought to keep from gagging as a wave of foul breath washed over her when Foberos leaned closer, reaching through the bars towards her. He was so distracted that he didn't feel the DRD attach the comm to his boot. Chiana's eyes slid over to see John nodding. "I think I'd rather have Amaxa," she declared defiantly, leaping away from the pirate's outstretched hand.
Foberos lunged to grab her but she was too quick. "Trelk! I'll show you!" He turned angrily back to his grinning comrades. "Get this door open!" he snarled.
Just then, the lights went out, plunging the corridor into complete darkness.
"Frell! What is it now?" Foberos's voice growled in the darkness. "Mallon! Mallon! Have that frelling creature get the lights back on! Mallon?"
"What's going on?" other voices came through the pirates's comms. "What happened to the lights?"
"You're in trouble now, Foberos. What the frell is going on in that Pilot's chamber?" Strepho reproached.
There were the sounds of footfalls and a few muffled groans as Foberos turned to make his way unsteadily back to Pilot's chamber. "I'm going to kill that frelling thing!"
In the command of his ship, a modified PeaceKeeper Marauder that had been caught in the Flax, Amaxa's first indication that something was wrong was the sudden babble of voices on his comm. He could distinctly hear Strepho and Pericks yelling something about the lights. Then outside in the docking bay he heard the sound of pulse gun fire. Amaxa, ever cautious, waited until the shooting had died down, then he grabbed his own pulse gun and opened the door silently. The bay outside the red-lit interior of the ship was pitch black and quiet. He stepped out and immediately tripped over the body of Leyt who had been standing guard over the ship. The Zenetan's dead eyes stared up at him out of his tattooed face. His pulse gun had been drawn but clearly never fired. Amaxa stared into the dark and listened carefully, but heard nothing. "Pericks? Pericks?" he whispered urgently but there was no answer. "Frell!"
He backed into the ship and hit his own comm. "What the frell is going on out there?"
Strepho's voice came back, tinged with panic. "Amaxa! Someone's turned out the lights. We can't see a frelling thing. And there's someone or something out there. I heard Pericks go down. I think it's heading this way!"
"Where are you?" the pirate captain demanded.
"On my way to Pilot's chamber," there was a thump and a muffled curse. "Frelling DRD's!"
"What about Mallon and Foberos?"
"Foberos is here with me. Mallon is not answering. Gar is back with the prisoners."
"Good. Get the frelling lights back on, if you have to kill this ship's Pilot to do it! I'll join Gar on Tier Fourteen. Stay sharp!" Amaxa was about to sign off when he heard what sounded like a pinging sound then another shot. There was a gurgling sound. Amaxa heard Foberos screaming hysterically, then the comm went dead. "Strepho! Strepho! Frell!" Amaxa began flinging things from the storage, hunting for a light. "Gar, are you there?"
"Yes, Captain," came the nervous reply.
"Look, I think whatever it is has taken out Strepho and Foberos. Pericks and Leyt are dead. Stay there. I'll join you. Then we'll force the prisoners to tell us what this thing is!"
The Captain grabbed the light and made his way warily back to the prison tier. He returned to find a very nervous Gar standing with his back to one of the empty cells. The Zenetan lowered his weapon slightly at the sight of his captain with a lantern, a look of relief on his face. "Look, Captain, let's get the frell out of here!" he cried.
"No! I will not be defeated because you are afraid of the dark. I'm going to find out what or who is doing this and I'm going to kill it with my bare hands!" Amaxa snarled. "Then we'll continue on as planned. Just think, Gar," he laughed, "All the more for the rest of us."
"It's no good to be rich if you're not around to enjoy it," Gar grumbled. Then he tensed as he heard something approaching down the darkened corridor. Amaxa swung the light around. Suddenly a dark figure burst around the corner. Gar raised his rifle and fired several times. When he stopped, the blackened figure of Foberos fell into the pool of light left by the lantern. As they bent over their fallen comrade, a pinging sound started to sound. "What the frell is ...?" Gar began, only to end in a death gasp as he was shot quite accurately in the back. He fell across the lieutenant he had killed as Amaxa scrambled back against the corridor wall with a curse.
He waited, listening in the dark, then raced over to the cell with the Human. He reached in and grabbed the creature out, holding his pulse gun to the alien's head. "Pilot! Pilot, can you hear me? I have your friend Crichton here. I'll blow his head off if you don't turn on the lights by the count of three. One ... two ..."
"Do it, Pilot!" a voice ordered from the darkness, and the lights came up. Amaxa stared at the sight of a beautiful black-clad PeaceKeeper moving down the corridor with a curious blue labelled DRD bumping at her ankles. She had her pulse gun trained on the pair of them with deadly accuracy.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Amaxa sneered, "The wanted beacon didn't say anything about a PeaceKeeper female. I wonder why not?" he leered. "Maybe, like Chiana, whoever's after you wants you all to himself." His eyes passed up and down over her slender figure lecherously. "Drop the gun or I kill your friend here."
"You would risk Scorpius' wrath by killing his prize?" Aeryn replied, her aim never wavering, her sapphire blue eyes intense.
"Quite right! Maybe I'll just maim him," Amaxa smirked, dropping the gun to press it into John's side. Aeryn heard him gasp with pain. "How about a painful and dangerous belly wound." He watched the PeaceKeeper carefully, his brow furrowing as he studied her continued straight ahead stare. He lifted the gun up to Crichton's head and then back down to his side again, realisation dawning on his tattooed face. "I don't believe it! You can't see, can you, you filthy trelk! Unbelievable! a blind PeaceKeeper! That's quite a novelty. I'll get quite a price for you on the slave markets!" Amaxa relaxed, no longer threatened. "Okay, girlie, drop the pistol and throw it over."
"Shoot him, Aeryn," John said.
"Shoot me, Aeryn? What and risk hitting your friend here? I don't think you will!"
"Shoot him!"
"Shut up!" Amaxa cried, swinging his gun up to strike the Human on the side of the head. He levelled the pistol at the PeaceKeeper again. "I said drop it !"
John suddenly realised what was wrong. "One point three metras, eleven o'clock. Fire!"
Aeryn's face registered her horror but she fired. John threw himself to the side as the pulse shot hit the Zenetan captain square in the face. He dropped to the floor, his eyes filled with surprise. Then he lay still.
Aeryn tossed the pistol aside and dropped to her knees, groping around in front of her. "John! John?"
"I'm here, sweetheart," he replied. L'il Blue moved forward to retrieve the keys from the Captain's belt. He glided over to the handcuffed John and opened the cuffs. John immediately crawled forward to Aeryn, wrapping her in his strong embrace. "You did it, Aeryn. You did it!" He cradled her head in his hand and lifted her face to his. "You did it, Aeryn. You saved us all!"
"I did, didn't I," she breathed, a radiant smile lighting her face.
Unable to resist, John bent and kissed her passionately, feeling her respond to him immediately.
"Hey, stop that! Get us the frell out of these cells, would you?" Rygel complained. "Body breeders!"
"Shut up, Rygel!"
***************
"Pilot DNA, you say? Astonishing!" The doctor finished his examination of the Sebacean woman's eyes. "Well, I would say you don't need my expertise then. Just let the Pilot regenerative characteristics do their work. Your sight should be fully restored in another three weekens, if your progress so far is anything to go by." Aeryn blinked at the soft grey light and blurred images in front of her. Then she put on the dark glasses she had taken to wearing to protect her regenerating retinas until they were fully restored. It also helped her to keep from bumping into things, walking as John had taught her when she was completely blind, with her cane and L'il Blue to guide her. Aeryn thanked the doctor and let Zhaan lead her out of his practice at the medical facility.
Shortly after the incident with the Zenetan pirates, Aeryn had started to see brief flashes of grey light and some movement. Zhaan's scan revealed that her retinas were regenerating. The Delvian had been cautious about being too optimistic, but today's report had been very encouraging. Aeryn felt better, but a little sad. She was going to miss L'il Blue's constant company. And John's special attention.
Later that evening, Aeryn sat with John on the terrace, gazing out at the stars. She had removed her dark lenses and could just make out the brighter points of light in the field of stars around them. She felt John gently tug at her hair and lay back against his chest with a sigh of contentment. He wrapped his arms around her and they sat together, enjoying the closeness. Finally, John sighed.
"So Zhaan tells me that the report was good. Three weekens and you'll be good as new," he began.
"Yes." Aeryn smiled softly. "You sound disappointed."
"No, no, I'm happy for you. It's just ..."
"What?" she asked, snuggling into his warmth. She felt John's lips gently press against her hair.
"Well, these last weekens, it's been so nice working with you, helping you, being with you." John admitted. " I felt that you needed me."
"I do need you, John." She tilted her face back towards his. "But I know what you mean. I'm going to miss it too." She grinned suddenly, lifting her hand to trace along his face. "Pretty soon, I won't have any excuse to touch you," she teased, then gasped at how much she had revealed.
Before she could pull her hand away, John had captured it, pressing a warm kiss into her palm. "It doesn't have to be that way, Aeryn," he said softly, kissing her palm again, more lingeringly this time."You don't need an excuse to touch me." He kissed her hand again, feeling her breath start to quicken. "Aeryn, there's something I've needed to tell you, ever since the Royal Planet. I ... I ...," he stammered, gazing down into her sapphire blue eyes.
Aeryn desperately wished she could see his expression, read his eyes. She twisted slightly, leaning back against his shoulder to face him more fully. "John?"
"I have very strong feelings for you, Aeryn," he said lamely, then groaned. "What's been happening between us has to do with a lot more than hormones. I ..."
"Shh," Aeryn whispered, smiling, finally putting him out of his misery. "I'm beginning to see. And I feel it too," she added. John smiled down at her before tightening his arms around her and lowering his mouth to hers.
L'il Blue glided onto the terrace, then backed away at the sight of the passionate couple, silhouetted against the stars.
FIN