Soul Sister (Chapter 2)

 

by Vaya

 

liz@stockwell.tc

 

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the stars or muppets of Farscape (thankfully)

I am simply borrowing them, and promise to return them after I'm through beating

them up! Eleanor and Acheran do belong to me and I will fight you in a ring

of death for them!

Spoilers: Up to SiW 2.

Summery: Eleanor Crichton has always had a special ÒbondÓ with her older

brother, but since he was ÒkilledÓ she's felt incomplete. She's convinced he's

alive. Now, her life-long nightmare of a ÒDark LadyÓ who does harm to

Eleanor's family is now a reality, and is coupled with visions of a strange blue

Lady, who can reunite her with her brotherÉ

PG-13 for language

---

Stark was very worried. He was worried about what happened to Eleanor

Crichton.Ê Zhaan had gone to see where the girl had recoalsced. He felt like he had

failed whatever powerful being had charged them with this duty. Pissing off

powerful beings, bad.

What worried him more was that he would have to tell John, then he'd really be

dead.

He was snapped out of his reverie by Zhaan's frantic voice, "Stark..STARK!"

"Yes what is it?"

"Scorpius! He has her!"

Stark felt his throat tighten and his stomach turn. Oh gods, he thought, I am

so dead...

John Crichton was in the maintenance fiddling with his module, again. There

was nothing particularly wrong with it, except than, when compared to everything

else here, it was a bucket of dren, so he couldn't have been said to be fixing

it. He was fiddling, adjusting his censors, adjusting them back again, playing

with the drive, none of it was really necessary, he just needed to keep busy.

If he didn't he may start thinking of Zhaan.

He sighed and put down his tools. It was his fault, everything. First he'd

killed Aeryn, then begged Zhaan to kill him, prompting her to take that

horrible risk, to exchange her life for Aeryn's. Then he just had to look at

the wormhole, instead of just going to the planet where Zhaan could be healed.

He'd allowed himself to be fooled by Neeyala, almost killing everyone else as

well.

He sat down and put his forehead on his knees. God he missed her. While he was

glad to have Aeryn back, it was bittersweet. Zhaan was gone, and Aeryn was

still pushing him away.

This had to be the most frustrating relationship he'd ever been in, and he was

tempted forget about it, but he knew that would not happen. He loved her too

much, dammit. So he was forced to just go through whatever emotional tortures

she had in store for him, until such time as she wanted to settle down. He

laughed, yeah that's gonna happen, he thought.

He sighed and wished he had someone to talk to, but everyone else was dealing

with their own shit. What they needed, he realized, was to go somewhere and

get

really drunk. The problem was that wherever they went trouble followed.

Someone to talk to....He found himself wondering about his sister, Eleanor. It

was something that had been nagging at him for a few arns, and he just figured

it was his need for a confidante. Right now, he wasn't so sure. Little warning

bells were going off in his head, but he couldn't figure out why. He was just

tired, he told himself.

Aeryn came into the bay and sat down next to him, "Hey..."

"Hey," he replied. They were silent for a few microts when she said, "John, it

wasn't your fault."

He sighed, "Yes it was, she shouldn't have died because of my mistakes."

"What mistakes? John you did everything you could. *We* did everything we

could. If anyoneÕs at fault, it's me."

"No," he said turning slightly to her, "don't tell me I did nothing and then

place blame on yourself." He hung his head, "There may have been things I could

have done differently to save her, but with you she was the one who made the

choice, don't blame yourself for what you had no control over."

He wrapped his arm around her and she leaned against him. They stayed like that

for a few minutes in complete silence until John's comm went off.

"Commander?" It was Pilot. He tapped the comm, "Yeah, Pilot what's the matter?"

"It's Stark, he's frantic. He's saying the Scorpius has 'her' and is demanding

that you come down."

John furrowed his brow, "Wait a microt, has who? Who does Scorpius have?"

"I don't know he just says- hey!"

There was a brief scuffle and then Stark's voice came on, "John he has her! He'

s got her-"

John and Aeryn had gotten up and were walking down the corridor towards Pilot's

den. They past D'argo on the way, he saw they were in a hurryÊ and

asked, "What's going on?"

Aeryn looked at the huge Luxon and said, "It's Stark. He's frantic about

something."

"When isn't he?" he said irritably.

John ignored him and was trying to calm Stark down over the comms. "Stark calm

down, Who does Scorpius have?"

"Eleanor!" Stark said, and John froze, "He's got your sister Crichton!"

John started running down the hall.....

Eleanor awoke with a splitting headache. She had passed out after Braca's

underling had left to run on an errand, though she couldn't say what. All she

knew was that something had gone very wrong and she was exhausted.

As her blurry senses cleared she became panicked. At first she didn't know why,

but she couldn't move. She found the cause of this was that she had been

restrained. She managed to look around her for the first time.

She was strapped to a chair, her legs and arms were restrained, and there was

something against her head as well. A few feet in front of her was a circle

which was displaying just a mirage of colors. The whole thing was resting on a

platform which, she realized, was spinning.

The she noticed that there were other people in the room. By the entranceway,

there were two guards. Next to the spinning platform there was a console

commanded by a statuesque woman with dark hair and dead eyes. She reminded

Ellie of Acheran, and she shivered visibly.

The woman saw her move with those dead eyes and said in an icy

voice, "Scorpius, she's awake."

"Ahhhh good." It was a slimy voice and Ellie turned her eyes towards its owner.

It took all of her self-control not to flinch.

Scorpius looked like he'd been dead for about a year and then dug up and put in

black leather. He had scaly skin, sharp teeth, and a sadistic, evil look in his

blue eyes.

"Ah, feeling better?" She didn't answer, not out of defiance, but out of

terror. He moved in and put his face close to hers, she started shaking.

"Hmmm....," he said, "our scans say you're human, very interesting. How did you

get here?" Silence. He waited a full minute, his eyes boring into her before

saying, "Don't want to talk? Never mind, we'll find out what we need, with or

without your help." He stood up and signaled to the woman, who moved her hands

on the consol.

Ellie felt like her mind was being ripped apart. All at once, her entire life

flashed before her eyes and she was convinced she was going to die here and now.

On the circle in front of her images began popping up, and she realized that

they were her memories, albeit jumbled together.

Through a haze of pain she saw Scorpius watching the images with passing

interest. Suddenly he raised his hand, "Stop! Freeze that!" The woman made

some more movements and the pain stopped, the chair also stopped moving.

Ellie tried to clear her senses and get her breathing under control. She was

covered with sweat and her eyes were streaming with tears. She wasn't sure what

happened but she knew it wasn't typical of a first date. "Hold tight," the

voice said, "this won't last long, he just wants information. I won't let him

do anything permanent."

"Thanks" she thought sourly.

Scorpius was staring avidly at the image on the screen. When she looked at it

she saw it was her eighteenth birthday. She was holding the necklace that John

had given her. It was an amethyst in the shape of a crescent moon, now her

favorite piece of jewelry. She became aware of it, hanging from her neck now.

He wasn't interested in the necklace, he fixed his gaze on John handing it to

her. "Well, well," he said turning towards her, "you know John Crichton."

He stopped in front of her and looked down on her. "How?" he said

seethingly, "how do you know him?"

She didn't answer, she knew that if this obviously evil guy knew her

relationship with John, it would be bad. Scorpius knew her brother, and hated

him, that much was evident.

Scorpius stared at her, and she met his gaze defiantly. He cocked his head to

one side, "No matter," he said, "I don't even need the Aurora chair to know

that you are a relative. His sister I'd say."

At her puzzled expression he said, "You look like him, the resemblance is

extraordinary. Also your genetic makeup is similar." He moved his face mere

centimeters from hers, "Thank you, now I have a way of getting him. I find now

that his knowledge of wormholes is.....indispensable. Makes me wish I'd grabbed

him when I had the chance."

He reached forward, grabbed the necklace and ripped it off her. "I'm sure he'll

give a lot to have you safe and sound."

Aeryn Sun was walking along the corridors in Moya looking for John. He'd been

very upset at Stark's news, that his sister was in Scorpius' hands. Stark had

been very evasive of how and why he brought the girl to the Uncharted

Territories. This made them doubt Stark's story. Particularly where he was

unstable after Zhaan's death.

She scowled, I could just wring his neck, she thought. Now John was upset, and

with good reason. Stark had confirmed some things about the girl that he

shouldn't have known, prompting them to at least go and investigate the planet

where the Gammak base was supposedly located.

She couldn't find him, and was getting frustrated. "Pilot?" she said.

"Yes officer Sun?"

"Where's John?"

"Commander Crichton is currently on the terrace."

"Oh course," she thought. She thanked Pilot and went up to the terrace. John

was standing there, staring up at the stars. He didn't look at her but knew

she's come in.

"Do you think Stark's full of dren, Aeryn?"

She moved up next to him, "I don't know. You said he was accurate about the

things about her. But I wish he'd stop being so evasive."

"Yeah," he said quietly, "me too."

He sighed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she wrapped hers about

his waist. They stood in silence staring at the stars. She looked up at his

face and flinched. He looked incredibly sad. "John," she said, "if he really

does have her, we'll get her back."

"I know, it's just-" he looked pained.

"What?"

"If he hurts her....she's my little sister, when he finds that out.." he left

it hanging.

She moved in front of him and took his head in her hands, "We *will* find her

John, and we'll check herÊ so we won't get any....surprises." He knew what she

meant. The though of another neuro chip in Ellie's head made him shiver.

"If there are any...just another excuse to kill him slowly."

She didn't say anything but kissed him gently, and then hugged him.

He smiled, "I never told you about my sister, did I?"

"No," she said grinning, "you didn't."

"Well," he said sitting down and pulling her into their familiar position, "let

me tell you 'bout Ellie...."

Eleanor Crichton lay in her cell, feeling exhausted and sick. After Scorpius had

found her identity, he'd ripped through her mind to find out anything else he

could about John. The voice advised her to allow him to probe freely, saying he

wouldn't find anything and if she resisted it would mean more pain for nothing.

"You'll need strength later..." it said now, "sleep......"

********************************************

The blackened room had a distant burning smell, as if the fire had been a while

ago. Ellie stood at its center, as always in these dreams clad in black leather

and armed with the sword. She was alone, "Zhaan? Where are you?"

Nothing. She sat down on the remains of the bed with a sigh. Perhaps Zhaan and

Stark had given up on her. If that was the case, she hoped they wouldn't tell

John. Scorpius had told her about John and how he was once in the Aurora Chair.

Now she was afraid he'd do something crazy to get her, and she was no convinced

she'd be dead by the time he got here.

"No, Scorpius wouldn't kill someone as valuable as you." It was the voice, only

it wasn't in her head, it was behind her. She got up and spun around, facing,

for the first time, the owner of the voice which she had heard since she was a

child.

It was a woman, it had never occurred to her if the voice was male or female.

The woman was beautiful, she had red hair, piled on top of her head, pale skin,

and green eyes. She was taller than Ellie, which was tall, and was wearing a

green dress and cloak made of velvet.

Eleanor was just glad to know that the voice was a figment of her imagination,

or a sign of insanity. The woman came forward and embraced her, which Ellie

returned gratefully. This was the woman who'd protected her all her life and

Ellie was overjoyed to finally meet her.

They separated, but they still were holding each others arms. Ellie found it

difficult to speak at first, and it was a minute before she found her

voice, "Where is Zhaan?"

"Conversing with Stark, we don't have much time, Moya is already in orbit

around the planet."

"W-what? Already, how did he-"

"Stark told your brother, you didn't think we'd abandon you did you?"

She smiled, "No I suppose not," she paused for a moment, "Who are you?"

The woman looked amused for a moment, "No, not yet."

"Do you at least have a name?"

She looked distant for a moment then shook her head, "There is no time right

now." She sighed, "Ellie, you will have to face Acheran, soon, and I fear you

are not ready. But there is nothing I can do to help."

"Why?" Ellie was chilled to the bone, facing Acheran, without help.

"I am forbidden to interfere. You do not need to win, just survive..."

She pulled away from Eleanor and everything blurred and became dark. "Wait!"

she cried, but she knew the woman was gone. She felt like she was falling again

and she heard Acheran's laugh all around her, but when Ellie looked, she

couldn't be found......

*********************************************

"Why are we going *to* a peacekeeper base, shouldn't we be moving away?" Jool

asked as she followed Chiana down the corridor. The nebari did her best to

ignore her, but Jool's voice was grating her nerves.

"Look," she said, rounding angrily on the pain, "I told you, we're going down

to get Crichton's sister."

"That's suicide though, the girl's as good as dead, you kn- OW!"

Chiana had given her heavy slap, "Shut up! We're going down there and if you

don't like it, TOUGH!"

She turned and stormed angrily down the hall leaving Jool and her wailing

behind.

John stood on command, looking down on the planet. The tingling in his head was

familiar. It wasn't the fear of a base, or Scorpius, it was the awareness he'd

had when he was on Earth. The awareness of her, his sister. He'd been so far

away he had thought it gone, but now that they were close again, it was back.

She was down there, and he was going to get her back, no matter what....

Scorpius sat in his quarters, holding up the amethyst crescent he'd pulled from

Eleanor. His newest assistant, Charon, was busy making the Aurora Chair for

Crichton and Stark. He grinned at the thought of getting them both back in one

move. He'd already decided to kill the others, they were mere nuisances.

He'd sent out message beacons throughout the uncharted territories with

personal messenges for Cricton, basically telling him the situation. He grinned

so wishing he could see John's face when he saw it.

Smiling at the thought, he got up and went down to the interrogation room,

where his beautiful Aurora Chair resided, humming the tune he'd heard John sing

at the depository. Techs were running around, frantically obeying Charon's soft-

spoken orders, while eyeing her with fear and hate.

Scorpius liked his new assistant, he knew she was perfect when he first saw

her. All the other candidates were cowering away from her and she had met his

piercing gaze head-on with her own dead eyes. Only he wasn't afraid of her,

everyone else including, he thought with amusement, Braca.

He came over to her, "Well, my dear, how is work progressing?"

She whispered, she never spoke above a harsh whisper, "Nearly done Scorpius, it

will be ready for the human when we get him."

"Excellent!" He stood beside her overseeing the work. Then he regarded Charon,

she stood perfectly still facing forward. She was tall, and very beautiful,

with pale skin and jet black hair. Her most startling attribute were her green

eyes, very rare among peacekeepers, which were at once piercing and dead.

Braca came in, surrounded by his usual air of superiority. He came up to

Scorpius, who was pleased to see him also eying Charon with fear, and

said, "Scorpius, our censors have detected the Leviathan entering orbit around

the planet."

That was soon, Scorpius thought, but he said out loud, "Excellent, patch me

through to them, I want to chat with John! Fetch the girl."

Braca ordered about a few of the techs and guards, while Scorpius took up

position in front of the portal. One of the techs announced transmission

commencing. Scorpius gazed at the screen as Cricton and his friends appeared

before him.

"Hello John!" he said pleasantly....

Ka D'argo stood on command, watching as Scorpius' image came up on the forward

portal. He saw john visibly shiver at the half-breed's cheerful greeting.

"Officer Sun!" he went on, "so nice to see you've recovered."

Aeryn said nothing, John stepped forward, "Cut the crap Scorpy, you know why

we're here."

Scorpius grinned and said, "Of course, you came for your sister," he held up a

necklace with what looked like a purple, crescent-shaped stone. D'argo noticed

that John paled considerably when he saw it, so he had to assume it belonged to

the girl.

John recovered, "What do you want?"

Scorpius lowered the necklace and turned the full force of his glare onto

them, "I want your services, Crichton. To help with the research. I also want

Stark back, as he is also necessary to other research."

John chuckled briefly, "You already have the damn chip, what more do you want

from me?"

"Yes, I have the chip, but I find it more complicated than I had anticipated. No

one knows more about wormholes than you do. So I propose a trade, you both come

down here, alone and willingly-"

D'argo spoke up, "I do not think so."

Scorpius ignored him, "or I kill her, slowly in the Aurora chair."

John paled even further, "and if I do give myself up, what happens to her?"

Scorpius grinned, "I give her up to your friends and Moya, and they're free to

go."

John considered for a moment, "I want to see her."

"Certainly. I-"

At that moment there was a ruckus behind him, and he half-turned so they could

see what was going on.

"PUT ME DOWN!" Two guards were practically carrying the girl, as she kicked and

yelled trying to break free. D'argo had to admit, she was doing a great job of

it, as one peacekeeper fell back into a heap. She got back onto her feet and

gave the other one a nice kick to the mid-section.

Lt. Braca tried to grab her, but she gave him a quick elbow to the nose and

then flipped him over her shoulder. "Oh my," he heard Rygel say. D'argo had to

admit he was very amused that this mere human girl was doing so well against

trained peacekeepers, even Aeryn looked pleased..

Eventually, the excitement ended as one of the guards managed to get a hold on

her and put a gun to her head. Another handcuffed her hands behind her and took

her to Scorpius who put a hand on her arm. She struggled but to no avail.

D'Argo was struck by how much she looked like Crichton. Her hair and eye color

were exactly like his. It was only that she was female, younger and had longer

hair that made a difference.

"I must admit, John," Scorpius said eyeing her, "she's almost too much trouble."

John ignored him and said, "Hey bright eyes, you ok?"

"Oh yeah," she said sarcastically, "I'm great, this place is so wonderful, I

think I'll give it four stars." She added, "Minus one for service," she tried

to break free from Scorpius' grasp, then she added quickly, "Don't fall for it,

John, he plans to blow your friends out of sky-MPH!" A hand was quickly cupped

over her mouth, and Scorpius released her to a medic who injected her with a

sedative. She passed out and crumpled on the floor.

Scorpius regarded her as she was picked up by the guard and taken away,

followed by his assistant. He then turned to them, "I will give you one solar

day to consider," and ended the transmition.

D'argo said instantly, "John there is no way you and Stark are going down

there."

John looked up at him, "I can't just let him kill my sister. Not like that," he

visibly shivered.

Aeryn put a hand on his shoulder, "He's going to kill her anyways, we all heard

her warning. But," she said looking to D'argo, "we can't leave her there

either."

D'argo sighed, "we need a plan....a good one."

Eleanor awoke back in her cell, her head feeling like it weighed a ton and

pounding. She tried to rub her eyes, only to find that her hands were still

bound behind her. She tried to remember what had happened, but it came to her

in waves. She figured that she must have been either hit or drugged. One clear

thing stood out in her mind, she had known what Scorpius had planned to do with

her and John's friends once he and Stark were in custody.

He had to have heard her warning before she passed out. Hopefully he would get

the hell out of there. She squeezed her eyes shut as a full blown migraine set

in. Must be nerves, she told herself, Oh please let him just go, he can't help

me now.

"You know better than that, my dear."

Ellie's eyes snapped open at that voice, which sent instinctive chills down

her body. The low whisper inspired within her hundreds of memories of

terrifying nightmare's, only now it wasn't in her head.

She rolled over and saw who it belonged to. Scorpius' assistant, Charon stood

in the shadows. Now that she had Ellie's attention she moved forward, her black

hair becoming like liquid as her green eyes started to glow....

Madon was a tech who was assigned to watching the prisoner through

the surveillance camera. He hated this job, but it was his because no one

else wanted to do this, and he was very low in the ranks.

He sighed and looked at the girl, she still hadn't moved in arns.

She was completely comatose, a combination of the sleeper drugs and the Aurora

chair definitely had a tendency to do that. Just the chair alone could

completely incapacitate someone.

That was definitely the main problem with the otherwise perfect

interrogation machine. If a person was strong enough to withstand it, he'd

probably lose his mind. Madon had heard stories about the Banneck,

Stark, who'd spent two years in the chair, and was now thoroughly crazy.

He shifted in his seat, desperately bored and half-hoping she would try to

escape, just to break the monotony. It was then that he saw it, a shadow,

just on the edge of his field of vision. It was there for only a fraction of a

second and then was gone. He thought he'd imagined it, but then it

reappeared again.

Madon sat up and ran a diagnostic, maybe if he was lucky,Ê it was

someone trying to fool the cameras and break the girl out....

Several arns later, Lt. Braca had just received quite possibly the best news of

his life. The human had given in and was on his way down to the planet with

Stark. After all the times that Crichton had beaten them with wit and

imagination, it was gratifying to know that he had a weakness, emotion. That

had been bred out of the peacekeepers because it was a burden.

He was sent to retrieve the girl, and had been given permission to slap

her around a little. "Nothing permanent," Scorpius had said, "otherwise

Crichton might reconsider and try to kill us." Braca had sneered and said

that the human would probably try anyways.

Inside the cell, the girl was standing, facing the doors , with her hands still

bound behind her. Braca has surprised to see her up, but didn't think

much of it and went over to slap her. She didn't move. He tried again and

still, she made no reaction, she simply stared forward with a blank

expression on her face. When he waved a hand in front of her face, not even her

eyes moved, and he concluded that her mind must be gone.

He grabbed her by the arm and shoved her roughly forward. She stumbled

slightly, and then moved forward steadily where she was led by the other

guards. All the way down to Scorpius she simply stared forward and moved slowly.

Braca had to admit, her behavior gave him what Crichton would call "the creeps".

Tech Madon would have normally given up on the shadow when he got off duty,

especially where he had heard that the girl had been taken to Scorpius for an

exchange. However, his curiosity had been piqued by it, and now, sitting in his

quarters, he was still tinkering with the recording, trying to find what it was

and why it interested him so much.

From what he could tell so far, someone had programmed the recording to loop for

a few hundred microts and then go back to normal. The girl was comatose and

barely moved due to the drugs and so he would not have noticed if it had not

been for the shadow. Whoever did it must have gone in a microt or two early.

Seemed pretty cut and dry, except questions kept nagging him. If it had been

one of her friends, why didn't they free her? Then he thought it must have been

another tech, but why loop it and then do nothing?

After more investigation, he concluded that only an experienced tech could have

done this. But the question remained, why?

He sat back and thought very hard. He was sure another tech did this, but did

that mean they were the one in the cell? An inspiration struck him, what if

someone else wanted that recording looped and got a tech to do it for him?

He had at least narrowed down the candidates from hundreds of techs to a few

superiors. Who would be powerful enough, and inspire enough fear/loyalty to do

that and why?

He was just wondering whether or not he should go deeper into this when his

door opened. He looked up to see who it was and was taken completely by

surprise. Instantly he was on his feet, in attention, for Scorpius' assistant.

She shut the door, came up to him, and looked him up and down before saying in

her low whisper, "What have you been doing, Madon?" She stared at him with her

green eyes boring into him. He shivered under her intense scrutiny.

"Ma'am?"

"What are you doing with this recording?"

"I have reason to believe it was tampered with and I wanted to find if it was

any threat. I've found it, um, isn't."

She stared at him for several microts, then moved closer, and then took hold of

his head. She looked him right in the eye and said, "Very good, Madon." He

relaxed.

Then she tightened her grip on him, "But I don't believe you." Her tone was

harsher, and he was horrified to see her hair become like liquid and her eyes

starting to glow. He tried to break free, but she was far too strong for him.

"I'm afraid," she whispered, moving in closer, "you have left me no choice,"

she stopped mere centimetres from his face and then said, "of course, I am very

hungry, it's been so long since I tasted a Sebacean's soul."

She kissed him, and he instantly felt intense pain racking through him, as if

he was slowly imploding. He tried to scream, but was muffled by her mouth over

his. He caught a brief glimpse of his hand, thrashing about, and was horrified

to see the shin stretching over his bones and veins.

Charon released him, and he fell to the floor, twitching and spluttering as a

darkness descended upon him.....

Acharon stood over the tech until his twitching stopped and he died. She wiped

her mouth with a finger and sneered, remembering just why it had been so long

since she had consumed a Sebacean, particularly a Peacekeeper tech. Their souls

had no flavor, individualism, imagination, free will, all that had been bred

out.

Not like human souls, she thought with a pleasurable grin. They were her

favorite. Delvian souls tasted better, but any one could grab probably wasn't

worth it. Humans were good and were easy to catch. Soon, she thought, licking

her lips, soon she would have all the human souls she'd ever need.

She sighed, took one last look at the shrunken tech, and then departed.

Everything was in place and Scorpius needed his rod changed.....

Scorpius watched on the monitors as Farscape I approached. He didn't see the

transport pod behind it because he wasn't meant to, as its pilot, Aeryn Sun,

had intended. His eyes wavered to the girl, who was uncharacteristically silent

and submissive. He wondered, briefly, if it was the drugs affecting her, but

then told himself it really didn't matter. She would still do as a bargaining

chip.

He grinned and turned back to the monitors as the module entered the planets

atmosphere and prepared to land at the agreed spot. He turned to Braca and

Charon, "Come, it's time for our trade.......

The planet on which the base was located was once teeming with life.

Huge forests stretched all over the landscape, separated by stormy oceans.

Thousands of species, including a few intelligent ones, made it their home. It was

beautiful once.

No one really knows what happened. Some say that there was a huge

war between the dominant races. Still others believe it orbited too close to its star or a

comet came too close. Whatever the reason, the planet was now a

wasteland.

Huge deserts lay in place of the oceans, and a huge petrified forest

dominated the landscape surrounding the hidden Gammack base.

John Crichton took it all in as he piloted his module to land. Stark sat

behind him, telling him about this world and how beautiful it once was. He

listened to the former slave go on about forests and huge oceans mainly because it

took his mind off their current situation.

"...of course," Stark was saying, "there's another theory."

"Do tell," John said distractedly. He wondered why Stark wasn't more

nervous. If this got frelled, they would both be in Scorpy's hands again, and Stark

would spend the rest of his life strapped to the chair. At least, when John wasn't

in it. The thought made him shudder.

The plan was simple, they would go down, grab Ellie and then shoot their

way out. They had decided that rather than argue about a plan for arns on end,

and then go and do something completely different, they would just skip to the

part where they had a shoot-out with some peacekeepers. It wasn't much but it

was what they felt comfortable with.

"There are legends," Stark said, "of beings of great age and power-"

"The Ancients," John said with slight distaste. They had started this mess

by giving him the wormhole technology to begin with. He knew that it was

with the best intentions, but the road to hell is lined with good intentions.

"No," Stark answered, "these beings aren't a race as such. They're not

gods either, no one really knows where they came from. But some believe they

came to this world, and loved it so much, that they began to fight over it. In fits of

jealous rage, they destroyed everything, dried up the oceans and turned

the trees to stone."

"Cute.." he said quietly. They were now approaching the rendezvous point.

He lowered his module slightly to cover Aeryn's landing, and then flew the last

few hundred metres to where Scorpius and his entourage were waiting.....

Ellie's eyes snapped open, but everything was black. She was standing

up with her back against hard rock. "John.." she whispered. He was nearby, she

could feel it. Her hands were unbound, and she reached forward into the

darkness, touching what felt like stone.

Fighting panic, she felt all around and realized she was completely

surrounded by some kind of rock. Her breathing became faster as her heart rate

jumped. She tried to remember what had happened.

She remembered jumping off the bridge, Zhaan pulling her spirit along,

the shadow, Stark, Scorpius, the Aurora chair, seeing John on the viewer

thingy, suddenly being aware of Scorpius' plan, being drugged, waking

up.....Acheran.

What had happened then? She couldn't say, it was all blurred. Most

important though, why didn't Acheran kill her?

She picked through her memories of the shadowy woman, and it

suddenly hit her that Acheran never tried to kill her. She would invade

Ellie's dreams, had nearly driven her insane and generally made life a

living hell, but she had only physically hurt Ellie's family.

Realization dawned and her eyes widened. Of course! She wasn't the

target this time, John was. Acheran was going to kill her brother!

She renewed her efforts to break free, but the stone wouldn't budge. She

pounded and screamed, and then broke down into defeated tears. She

had done so much, come so far to be reunited with her brother, and now

she was helpless to save him.

"John.." she sobbed hopelessly. It was then that a blurry light appeared

before her eyes. Jumbled images slowly took shape, and it seemed that

she was standing in a clearing, surrounded by stone trees. She looked

around and saw what she recognized as Farscape I.

She suddenly realized that she was seeing through John's eyes. He

looked around him and they saw two figures moving under cover behind

where he and Stark stood. He swung his gaze towards Scorpius, now

entering the clearing, with his assistant, Braca and, to her absolute horror,

Eleanor....

Scorpius stood facing Crichton in the agreed meeting place for the

exchange. Several commandos moved around under cover. They eyed

each other for what seemed an eternity before John said to his sister, "you

ok, Bright eyes?"

She didn't answer but simply stared forward. John looked back at

Scorpius, his voice full of anger, "What did you do to her you son of a

bitch?!"

Scorpius opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, she spoke.

"No John I'm fine, really." Her expression changed just so slightly, as if to

indicate that she was really ok. John gazed at her with narrowed eyes for

several microts before looking again at Scorpius.

"Ok, Leatherface, let her come over and take off, then you can have us."

Scorpius grinned, "Of course.."

He signaled to Braca, who gave her a shove forward. She walked slowly

towards John and Stark. Aeryn and D'argo, crouched behind the trees,

both took aim and were ready to fire. John braced himself to grab her and

run.

Then, one of the commandos caught sight of D'argo, and yelled a warning

to his comrades, before opening fire.....

As soon as the firing started the vision ended, and Ellie was once again in

complete darkness. For a moment, she feared that he had been killed,

but told herself that she'd have felt it. She also knew that whatever that

was in the clearing it wasn't her. Perhaps Acheran had made a copy to

fool John. Why she didn't know.

She had to get the hell out of here, now! She pounded against the walls

again, but they still wouldnÕt move. Her anger and frustration grew and

grew until finally she gave the walls a huge pound with both fists and

yelled, "BRAKE DAMMIT!"

There was a tremendous *CRACK*, and then the whole wall exploded

outward. She was thrown a few feet forward and landed on her hands and

knees.

Ellie coughed the dust and bits of debris from her lungs. She stood up,

turned around, and stood there gaping at what she had just done.

The front part of the stone tree where she had been placed was

completely blown away. Large chunks of stone lay all around her. She

stood there breathless, wondering how she had done that.

She was quickly snapped out of her musings by the sound of gun fire, and

she remembered. John's out there. She turned and dashed towards the

fight, hoping she wasn't to late....

John ducked behind a tree and returned fire at the half a dozen commandos that

came out of nowhere. He cursed himself for not noticing them and then losing

Ellie. Aeryn ran to the tree next to him and crouched down to get a clear shot

at the commandos.

She shouted over to him, "Where's Eleanor?!"

"Peacekeeper Barbie grabbed her before I could!" He shot again, hitting one of

them squarely in the chest. He looked at his surroundings, he was glad to see

Stark covered behind him, beyond Aeryn he could see D'argo. Then he peered out

from behind his cover. He could see Scorpy and Braca moving away on one side of

the clearing, but he couldn't see Ellie or Barbie with him. He turned his head

and saw them under cover at the other end of the clearing.

He was surprised to see that, despite not being restrained in any way, she

wasn't trying to get away. She was just standing there, watching the fight with

detached interest. He was deeply disturbed and was afraid that they had done

something to her. He shook his head telling himself not to think anymore of it.

He then signaled to Aeryn and D'argo and shouted, "I'm going to get Ellie!"

They both nodded and he began to edge his way towards Ellie and Peacekeeper

Barbie.....

Acheran was furious as she watched the battle. She had been so close to getting

his soul, a rich one too, and of all the stupid things, one of those commandos

had to open fire. She was also too weak to take him herself, and she wished

she'd consumed more techs before leaving the base. After all the planning she

had done, to be thwarted like this, how embarrassing.

She looked over to the clone she'd made. It had been easy, just a matter of

pricking the girlÕs finger and growing a clone, no problem for her. Certainly,

there was a lack of personality, and she had to make it speak, but it was

sufficient to fool Crichton.

Scowling, she turned and instantly brightened, for she saw Crichton sneaking

towards them now. Excellent, she grabbed the clone's arm and waited for him to

arrive....

Eleanor crashed through the trees, towards where the fight was just dying down.

She couldn't see it yet, but could hear the last few shots being fired. Jumping

over fragments of stone, she topped a rise and saw down into the clearing where

the fight was.

The peacekeepers were retreating, she could see Stark with a dark-haired woman

and a huge bestial guy. They were running, not after the peacekeepers but

around the clearing. She looked to see where they we're going, and her mouth

dropped open. John was there, talking to Acheran who was holding her clone.

She plunged down the slope toward them.....

"Let her go you bitch!" John had his pistol pointed at her head. Barbie was

holding his little sister, who still made no struggle. He heard Aeryn and the

others come behind him, their weapons poised.

Acheran eyed them all carefully, especially the Banneck, he would certainly be

a problem. She did her best to look frightened and said, "I want to get out of

here, take me with you and you can have the girl."

The Luxan growled, "Or we could blow your head off and take her!"

She grinned viscously, "Luxan brute! Can't you see the girl is ill?" She made

the clone wobble as if ill, "I can help her, I know how to treat her."

She caused the clone to moan and shake, "John? I feel awful," it sank to the

ground, while Acheran kept a firm grip on it's hair.

"Take me with you, and I will tell you how to treat her, shoot me now and watch

her die slowly."

Crichton was torn, and Acheran was delighted to see it in his face. He looked

briefly at Aeryn, as if asking for help. Then he turned back towards Acheran

and said quietly, "ok, come on, but," he said with force, "if you try anything,

you'll be dead before you hit the ground."

She nodded in mock submission and moved towards them, the clone in front of

her. He continued to hold the gun pointed at her, as did the others. They moved

aside, covering her. The Luxon and the Sebacceon moved to one side, Crichton to

the other.

Perfect. Without another second's delay, she shoved the clone at D'argo and

Aeryn. They both fell back and she jumped at Crichton, who was taken by

surprise.

He tried to fire, but she knocked from his hand before he could. With speed

that defied his imagination, she swept his feet out from under him. He fell

back against a stone tree and hit his head. While he was stunned she grabbed

the front of his shirt, hoisted him to his feet, and pushed him against the

tree.

Behind her, Aeryn and D'argo had gotten up and poised there weapons. She turned

her now glowing green eyes at them, and they stood there in momentary surprise.

She took full advantage of their delay and focused her will on the clone.

"Change!" She commanded, "Change and Attack!

Aeryn looked and saw the what was once John's sister, and was horrified to see

her changing before them. The skin dropped off, in its back wings and a tail

sprouted, and its eyes started glowing a sick shade of green. When the

metamorphosis was complete, it let out a hideous scream and then shot up into

the air. It flew up twenty metres and then, with another scream, came crashing

down onto Aeryn and D'argo.

The pair opened fire, but it did little or no damage against the creature. It

swooped down and knocked Aeryn down. She felt a sharp pain in her shoulder and

looked down to see it bleeding heavily. Another shriek and she glanced up to

see D'argo fending the creature off with his Qualta blade. She started

shooting....

Acheran watched with pleasure as her creature distracted the other two. She

turned back to Crichton who was struggling against her grip, but to no avail.

Her one hand on his chest was more than enough for her to hold him down. With

her free hand she stroked his hair and then griped his head to keep it still.

There was a shriek and a rush next to her, and she turned just in time to stop

Stark from bashing her head in with a rock. She held him in place, using only

her will, and then threw him back against another tree. Then she caused the

branches to wrap around him. He struggled to move his hand so he could take off

his mask, but it was held in place by the stone branch.

Feeling suddenly weary, she turned back towards her captive and rested her free

hand on the trunk of the tree, breathing hard. She was growing weaker, and only

had enough strength left to hold him place. He renewed his struggle, and she

quickly grabbed his head with her hand. She leaned in, her face almost touching

his.

She whispered, her voice coming and going like the wind, "I grow weak. I need

your soul, to replenish me. A human soul, and yours is full of the energy I

need..."

"Where's Ellie?" He needed to delay her, if only to give D'Argo or Aeryn enough

time to get this bitch and kill her....

D'argo gave the winged creature a good gash on its leg. It screamed and backed

up a little, giving him time to look around. He saw Stark, bound to a tree,

Aeryn was down and bleeding from her shoulder and mid-section. Then he saw

Scorpius' assistant holding John up against a tree. He tried to shoot her, but

the creature took another dive at him, forcing him to redirect his fire...

"I was not allowed to harm her," she answered and then moved in. He tried to

block her, but she sent a shock of pain into him, and he found he couldn't move.

Their lips touched...

"NO!" Something large came flying at her and she was bowled over, landing on

her side. John collapsed, still unable to move.

Acheran growled and quickly jumped to her feet, only to face Eleanor Crichton.

The girl was covered with sweat and dirt. Her eyes betrayed the anger and hate

she was feeling, and she stood in fighting stance. Acheran did the only thing

she could do, and ran in the opposite direction.

Beyond all reason, Ellie followed.....

D'argo swiped again at the wretched creature, but couldn't gain any ground. The

monster slashed at his face with its claws, forcing D'argo to duck, giving it

the chance it needed to knock him over. He landed on his back, and saw the

thing over him ready to deliver the killing blow. A rock came flying out of

nowhere and hit it in the head.

It reeled back from the blow. D'argo grabbed his blade and thrust upward to the

creature's abdomen while firing it. It screeched in pain, and fell back

writhing, wrenching his blade from his grip. After convulsing violently for a

few microts, it finally stilled.

D'argo turned to see John staggering towards him. "Thank you," he said, the

human nodded and then saw Aeryn on the ground. He stumbled to her side.

"Aeryn, you ok?" She opened an eye and nodded.

"Where's your sister?"

He looked around him, "She was here a microt ago...where-"

Stark spoke up from his prison, "She went after Acheran. Find her quickly!"

John got up, "Which way?" and then ran off in the direction Stark indicated. He

crashed through the stone forest, jumping over rocks. He didn't need direction

to know where she was going anymore, he *knew* where she was....

Acheran stopped short of running off the edge of a cliff. "Frell!" she said,

looking down into what was once an ocean, hundreds of metres down. A cold wind

hit her back. Ellie was coming, she could feel the girl's fury, rushing towards

her on the wind.

She turned. The girl was standing a few metres from her, her blue eyes filled

with anger. The air around them was alive with it, the sheer emotion.

Acheran backed away slowly, she knew she had few options left to her. She began

gathering her will with the little strength left to her. The wind grew and

whipped around both of them, howling angrily. Eleanor's hair was flying in all

directions and her eyes started to glow. Acheran could see the electricity in

the air, it was now or never.

She unleashed the full force of her will in Ellie's direction. The result was

like setting fire to dynamite. The explosion was deafening, all the trees

around them burst apart as if they were made of paper. Eleanor was thrown back several

feet, as was Acheran, who had stood at the very edge of the cliff.

She fell back, and didn't stop......

John ran even faster when he heard the explosion. When he got to the source he

saw the remains of several trees in what looked like a blast radius. Lying at

its edge, in a fetal position, was Ellie.

He kneeled down next to her, she was trembling slightly. "Hey bright eyes.." he

said in a choked whisper.

She looked up, "John?" she whispered.

"Hey," was all he could say.

"John!" She exclaimed and sat up to hug him. He wrapped his arms around her,

and they stayed like that for what seemed to be an eternity.

Regretfully he pushed her away slightly, "We have to get off the planet, before

the peace keepers regroup."

She nodded wearily and then tried to get up, but passed out. He picked her up

gently and carried her off to where the ships waited....

Acheran lay twisted and broken at the bottom of the tall cliff she'd just

fallen off of. Blood gushed out of her mouth and nose, and her bones and organs

were crushed. She had to reform, but lacked the strength to do so.

"The girl has beaten you, Acheran...." the voice came to her, as a sudden

electrical storm broke out over head. Lightening and thunder crashed in the

sky. She rolled over painfully, and started to crawl to where she thought the

voice was coming from.

"P-please," she whispered, "Please m-mistress, help me..."

"You failed," it said accusingly, "and my sister gains ground."

"I-I was weak, hungry," she violently coughed up more blood, "please, give

me....another chance, and I will complete my mission."

There was no answer, and she lowered her head in defeat.

"Charon!" She looked up to see a commando standing over her. The commando

unhooked her comm, "Sherla to base, Charon is badly injured."Ê There was

nothing but static.

Swearing, Sherla bent down and gently rolled Acheran onto her back, holding her

into a sitting position. Acheran weakly reached forward and grabbed the young

woman's head. Then she leaned over and kissed her.

Instantly she felt the pleasurable inrush of energy. Her wounds healed and her

strength returned. She continued to absorb the young woman's soul and energy,

going further than she'd ever dared before. Finally she parted with a huge gasp

of air, as the remains of Sherla fell to pieces in her hands.

Acheran stood as the fury of the storm raged above her, reveling in an ecstasy

she'd never felt before. She had never dared to fully absorb another's soul, it

was considered too dangerous. Now she couldn't imagine it any other way.

With her resolve strengthened, she began to change to a dark mist and rose up

past the storm and the upper atmosphere. Soon, she would feel this again, but

with a human's soul. She would not fail again.....

Scorpius stood in the command center of his base, while techs and others ran

about in a frenzied panic. They'd tried to regroup and get reinforcements after

the botched trade, but a tremendous explosion had fried they're trackers. He'd

sent out some commandos to see about it, all but one returned, and they

couldn't shed any light on what caused it.

Now a sudden ionic storm had also knocked out their weapons. He could only

assume that Crichton had escaped. He scowled, no one dared cross him now.

Eleanor sat in the infirmary being looked over by Stark. He had told her

quietly after she'd woken up, not to say anything of how she got to be there.

So she feigned amnesia.

She'd been introduced to the rest of the motley crew, and was now looking

forward to very interesting experiences with them. When he introduced Aeryn

Sun, she felt his love for the raven-haired woman, and was feeling really happy

for him. As for the rest, she could tell that they were at least friends, which

was good.

Right now, though, there was an awkward silence in the room, as she had just

told John of their father's death. She numbly went through the accident, the

hospital, but left out the parts with her dreams, and Acheran. He didn't need

that on his shoulders too.

He stood there, quietly listening to her finish, and then sighed heavily. Then

he rubbed his eyes, looking like he was going to cry, but was holding back. The

others all quietly withdrew, although she could tell that Aeryn lingered

outside the door. She could feel the Sebaceon's concern for John, and was

touched by it.

"John," she said quietly, "he was very proud of you."

He looked up, his eyes brimming with tears, and then sat down next to her. He wrapped an arm about her shoulders and she leaned on to him. They stayed like that for the longest time.

Finally he spoke, "You took a terrible risk getting here, Ellie."

"I know," she answered, and then smirked, "unlike you of course."

He smiled and gave her a slight pinch, "Aw shut up."

She giggled, "Ouch! Jerk," she whacked his chest.

He was laughing now, "Ok, its now past your bed-time." He got up, hoisting her along, and headed towards the door. She felt Aeryn withdraw and go down the corridor. Ellie frowned, the sebacean seemed afraid of something, but she couldn't say what. She felt too tired to think about it, and let John take her to her room. She got into the bed, grateful for rest.

He turned to leave, and she called out to him, "John?"

He half-turned, "yeah?"

"I love you."

He smiled widely, "Love you too kiddo," and then he left......

Aeryn Sun stood on the terrace, staring up at the stars. Her shoulder ached and there was going to be a nice scar where that bizarre creature had slashed her. At least they were all alive and with minimal damage. D'argo had barely been scratched, Stark was uninjured, it looked like she had borne the brunt of the attack.

Oh course, there was the thing with the assistant, "Acheran" Stark had called her. She'd try to do something to John. He had said something about, "consuming him." The thought sent a shudder up her spine.

She'd nearly lost him, she realized, again. She sighed, there was no more denying that she loved the strange human. She'd told him that they wouldn't act on it, because it could distract them during a battle. Now, she realized that, distraction or no distraction, they were just as likely to get killed. She could almost hear Zhaan telling her that she may as well be happy while she had time.

"Hey..." John's voice behind her almost made her jump.

She looked behind her and said, "Hey," back.

He came up to her and wrapped his arms about her, and they stayed like that for arns, just staring up at the stars.....

Eleanor awoke with a start. There was someone else in the darkened room with her. She looked about with a heightened sense of alarm, even using her other senses. She then smiled, relieved.

"Zhaan," she said, "where have you been?"

The blue woman appeared, sitting at the foot of her bed smiling, "Oh, here and there....You know what happened?"

Ellie picked through her memory, "yes," she said quietly, "but I don't

understand-"

"You don't need to, not yet. Just know you're safe and with your brother," the Delvian spirit gazed at her for a moment before saying, "I'm very proud of you Ellie, but there is more you need to learn. Stark will teach you. As will I."

Ellie looked up at her surprised and Zhaan said, "You have great potential

Ellie, and you're very important."

Before Eleanor could respond, Zhaan leaned forward and kissed her forehead, and

then departed the room. Ellie sat in her bed wondering what the Pa'u had meant,

but she was still exhausted and so lay back in bed.

She smiled. What did it matter now? She was away from Earth, but reunited with

her brother. Home is where the heart is, and her heart was with her only

family. She fell asleep to that peaceful thought...

End of Chapter 2