We Resist: Pt.4: Beauty of the Aurora
Author - Kavanne
e-mail address - kavanne@aol.com
Rating - PG-13
Category - Action/Drama
Spoilers - Maybe N/THM
Time line - A few cycles in the future
Keywords -
Summary - Something happens to Crichton out of the past and Scorpius makes an offer Zhaan cannot possibly refuse.
The room stood still except for in the centre where a black chair slowly rotated, conserving energy for when it would be brought into action.
John Crichton knelt in one of the four entrances, microns earlier, he’d a mental flash.
PREVIOUSLY
He stared at the pioneering machine that was in front of him, nausea overcame him. He blinked, there was a whisper in his head. John’s brow crumpled as he listened.
“I’m here, John...” It faded, but even with just three monosyllabic words he could tell who it was, but that was impossible, he thought. As he tried to stand his head exploded inside of itself. His eyes widened and head flew up. Crichton saw his face, himself in the chair. Face reddened, eyes watering, mouth open crying silently for rescue. He felt himself begin to shudder and as he blinked the image disappeared, sweat formed on his forehead. What had just happened to him? Was it the Delvian playing mind games?
John let his breathing slow down and gathered himself up to stand straight. The thought of him going insane crossed his mind, but he banished it. He had had strict thought control training, he could not go mad.
“Are you all right, Admiral?” Sun entered, passing the room and hearing someone inside.
“Yes.” He pressed his comm. “Bring Fraiser Boon for immediate questioning at my location.” Closing the line before he even knew who he was speaking to, he opened another. “Scorpius, your and your... assistant’s presence is required. We are to begin the first session immediately.” He shut it off, not thinking again to wait for a response
* * * * * *
Scorpius walked to the console, almost knocking the brunette assistant off her feet as he pushed past. He calibrated the setting to the specifics he had had to use when Crichton had been in the Chair.
“Start on these probing speeds and beam widths and depths, we can change it afterwards if the need arises.” he began to hear the grunts of the human prisoner a he struggled to try and break free, not that it would do him much good. Also heard were the grunts of the guards who were trying to keep hold of him.
*Who’s keeping who prisoner?* Scorpius thought.
“We sedated him earlier, sirs, but he woke up pretty fast on the way here.” Both Crichton and Scorpius kept their calm demeanours, not regarding this event as a setback or even indeed why they needed to be told about it.
“Sit him down, make sure the bindings are secure,” Crichton ordered.
“Do you doubt my security tests, John?”
“No, not at all, Scorpius. But we must take... precautions, all beings struggle, and I know some have even gotten free. There’s no harm in being careful,” John said to Scorpius without turning to look at him.
Crichton still was slightly unnerved by what he had seen earlier. He chanced no glances at Scorpius, irrationally afraid of what he might see or hear.
Afraid, John Crichton was afraid. This was to be over and done with as soon as possible.
*If this doesn't work, I'll kill him slowly myself,* he thought.
All saw the lever move up. A shout erupted.
Fraiser's whole body stiffened. What was this? What were they doing to him?
There was a noise in front of him, curiosity directed his eyes to open, to look straight ahead.
What he saw was his best friend laughing, as he kicked a ball. Fraiser remembered this day, so many years ago. They couldn't have been more than
nine years old. It was a freezing cold January day and at least 10 children from his block were playing soccer. His revelry was abruptly broken by a
harsh voice.
"*This* does not help us, Scorpius. Change the settings."
“This will take time, we have to map his brain, this first try was a lucky guess, Admiral, he lied calmly and skilfully, but his Scarren side could
sense that there was someone in the room who knew he was lying. He daren't look for whom though. Braca was not there to know. Scorpius made a mental note to be more careful in his conduct in the future.
Once more the lever was pushed up, the pain rocked his head and he was dizzy,sound shot in and out of his ears. Fraiser clenched his fists, he could not
face to see the jumble of images that flashed up, hundreds every minute. The pain subsided and for a second silence reigned but a ringing pushed through,
to remind him of what had just passed, and he flinched.
"He's put up a neural block, sir," the brunette reported.
"Increase power," Scorpius replied, as if he was reading from a prepared script. Few beeps were heard before, again, Fraiser's screams, still not for
mercy, rang through the halls.
* * * * * *
John Crichton entered his spacious command quarters not entirely dissatisfied with today, they had sufficiently scared Fraiser Boon, so tomorrow he may
talk. He did not waste time eating, knowing he could in the morning.
So he slept, fitfully, and dreamed with discontinuity. But, this Admiral never dreamed.
Dreams, nightmares, like the Aurora Chair without the pain. Crichton screamed as he stood spinning in the middle.
"What the frelling hell is wrong with me!"
"Nothing's wrong with you, John."
All went pitch black and silent as Scorpius strolled in, arms swinging slightly and rhythmically by his side as he did so.
John Crichton woke, immediately looking around for what had woken him, his body telling him it had not been eight arns since he had fallen asleep. He could not see, hear or think of why he was now in this state of awareness. He remembered none of the dreams and the thing controlling them.
* * * * * *
Fraiser muttered profanity as he heard controlled voices get louder. They maybe steady and measured, but their conversation was certainly not as such.
"Why did we need this 'Earth' place anyway? It's not of strategical value, has no large or rare mineral deposits. And by those tech. calculations the place will be exhausted in under 4 cycles."
"Not our problem, Dlain. We only work here."
The voices faded out, they must have turned a corner, and Fraiser sat back down. Almost disappointed to be staying in this cell. His home had 4 cycles left, whatever they were, but it didn’t sound long. His attention towards Earth was broken when Admiral Sun walked to the entrance of his cell, he didn’t get a chance to see her tranquilliser gun before it shot.
“He will no longer be listening, Scorpius. I am sure your paranoia was unwarranted in the first place anyway,” she added, hint of sarcasm in her voice but didn’t stay to see the exasperated look on Scorpius’ face.
“So Zhaan, you remember do you?” Zhaan looked as if she was going to attack him, but she knew doing that would reduce her back into the primitive barbarian she used to be, and even now she was so close to the edge.
“Unfortunately.”
“Shame there is no way to cleanse you,” he commented offhandedly.
“Did you come here merely to gloat?”
Scorpius took a quick breath, “No. I have heard you have been talking about John Crichton’s alleged previous life, that cannot happen any longer.”
“Oh, you’re going to kill me?”
Once more he breathed and shook his head, “No, I offer you asylum aboard the leviathan Moya.”
Zhaan gave him a blank and then confused look. “If Moya... Moya is still alive then...”
“Yes,” he said ironically. “They are, unfortunately for me. But now they seem to come in useful. If you do not accept this, then they will die and so will you. One way or another you will be silenced. I felt this offer more compassionate than the one Crichton has offered of a ‘fair’ trial on Delvia.”
Before when Scorpius had made a deal he had always kept his end, Zhaan remembered when John had traded himself for Jothee. She searched his face, but he hid his mind well. Still she felt she could trust this madman.
Zhaan thought about D’argo, about Chiana, about Jool, Rygel and... Stark. How she had seen Moya disintegrate in front of her very eyes, if truly they were alive, then her eyes had lied. Or the Peacekeepers had lied.
“I accept your offer Scorpius, but,” she added, “I want Moya brought here. I will not move until I see her for myself, until I see my family with my own eyes and can reach out and touch them.”
He nodded once, silently.
As he left Zhaan still did not feel as if she had won, as long as John and Aeryn were under the control of the Peacekeepers she would never win, never be free.
“I pray to the Goddess, let the humans win.”
* * * * * *
Crichton walked slowly towards Scorpius’ temporary quarters, there was some news for him apparently. John had been contemplating a visit down to one of the bases on Earth’s surface when he had been so rudely interrupted, but he did not let it show when he met his superior.
He entered without announcing himself, still Scorpius did not seemed startled in the least.
“I want Pa’u Zhaan released into my custody,” he stated simply.
“I am afraid that is not possible, as soon as High Command dictate it is to be so, she will be transported *on my carrier*,” he emphasised, “to Delvia.”
“But Crichton, why give yourself an extra job when someone else is offering to do it for you?”
John contemplated for a second, was Scorpius really offering to transport his prison? Or did he have an ulterior motive. Scorpius never made a gesture of good will unless he did.
“Are you now travelling to Delvia, Scorpius?” He asked.
“No, there is a Leviathan prison transport going there, we can intercept it in a few days.”
That did not sound like the motive Crichton had been looking for, but without seeing one he had no reason to deny Scorpius’ request, and even if he did, Scorpius motives may have been desperate enough for him to pull rank on Crichton. He decided to try and find out why Scorpius wanted Zhaan to go on this passing transport, instead of having her live a few more monens here, lengthening her suffering. After all, a murdered deserved to suffer before they met death.
“I am afraid this is not possible Scorpius, unless you have a direct order from First...” A pad was almost thrust in from of Crichton by his superior. An order from First Command, to transfer Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan into Scorpius custody.
Now Crichton nodded, letting Scorpius think he had fallen for it even though he knew full well it was a forgery. He left promptly as Crichton watched him go, raising his eyebrow behind Scorpius’ back.
“Lt. Braca, scan for any Bio-mechanoid activity in the area.” A response was almost immediate, just before Crichton had a chance to close off the frequency of the comm built into the desk.
“Sir, a Peacekeeper Leviathan is in the area, it appears to have come to an all -stop.” Braca fiddled with the scan data in case anyone else looked, for the next 5 arns that Leviathan would stay where it was, of course, it had no control collar.
* * * * * *
D’argo hissed, when anyone tried to talk to him, he had been against this. He knew as well as the next person the three enemies that inhabited that fleet, yet he was the only one who did not trust any of them.
“They are offering us Zhaan, they need her away from Crichton and Aeryn now, Scorpius said she is becoming a risk,” Chiana pleaded, just to try and get D’argo to sleep. For two days he had not slept, he had not left command, eyes always on the view port, not trusting any one of Moya’s eight senses to watch.
“It is a trick, they will capture us.”
“D’argo, they have no reason to, is that so hard to contemplate?” she asked, only realising the stupidity of the question afterwards.
“YES!”
Chiana placed a small, delicate hand on D’argo’s shoulder, not moving it when he flinched away in anger and annoyance.
“We’ll all be together again... Like family.”
“No... Not family,” he looked at the sensor images showing the Peacekeeper fleet and Chiana knew he was still trying to comprehend how John and Aeryn could have become Peacekeepers, and wondering how they could be saved. To Chiana’s almost relief he left, she leant on the console and took over his job, knowing D’argo would kill her for leaving command unattended.
Pilot could feel Moya, today she was not scared as he had expected her to be. Her fear had been surpassed by her desire to see her appointed guardian again and getting her back. Also he could sense her want of John and Aeryn, wanting then to come back to her too. This was something he shared also, however he knew he mustn't let it affect Moya or him in their judgments, and he told her so. Moya agreed with him to try and let the thoughts and feelings go, but it is never that easy.
A transmission came through on audio, he routed it to all the crew after they had given approval.
“This is Admiral John Crichton to the Leviathan Moya, you are ordered to hold position until Scorpius arrives, is that understood?”
Everyone on Moya stood still and silent at their various locations, gob smacked by the voice they were hearing.
“Y.. Yes,” Chiana stuttered, she didn’t know if he thought they were Peacekeepers, but he seemed to take her answer without question of race.
“Good.”
The click of the channel closing let everyone relax, instinctively everyone almost fled to Pilot’s chamber, the safest place on the ship, a place where everyone could be together.
Chiana sobbed slightly with D’argo as her comfort, Rygel and Stark felt that tinge of pain, but did not let it show. And all Pilot could think about was if Aeryn, the person who shared his DNA, was with Crichton. For a while Zhaan was forgotten, once initial shock had passed they began recalling happier times, laughing together, trying vainly to not think about what awaited them, trying to immerse themselves in a quieter past. A past that had been lost.
* * * * * *
End pt. 4
NOTE: I am not including Jool because I have not seen the actual eps with her in and I feel I do not know her character well enough to include her.