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Chiana cocked her head and said speculatively, “They teach you that in Peacekeeper School?”
Aeryn, eyes and thoughts still on the man walking out of the docking bay, murmured, “What?”
“Will power,” the Nebari said brightly. “’Cos I sure wouldn’t be able to resist him, especially if I’d had him already.”
Aeryn scowled. She made no reply, and turned and climbed up the stairs of the transport pod.
Chiana barely smothered a grin and followed her into the pod. Needling the Sebacean probably wasn’t the smartest way to start off a three-day recon and “shopping” mission, but she couldn’t resist, especially after watching Aeryn and Crichton say good-bye, fingertips touching, longing in both their eyes. Frellnik, that’s what they were. Grieving was one thing, Chiana certainly understood loss, but enough was enough.
To Chiana’s surprise, when she settled into the seat next to the pilot’s chair occupied by Aeryn, the Sebacean said quietly, “That’s between John and me.”
Now, there was a change Chiana approved of. It wasn’t an invitation to continue the conversation, it still meant, “Stay the frell out of my business.” But since her return from Talyn, as Aeryn had settled in on Moya again, she’d begun to deflect unwanted attention with words instead of pulse pistols or the equivalent. That had to be a good thing.
Besides, Aeryn was right, mostly. Crichton seemed to be handling the current state of affairs all right, which was the Nebari’s main concern. It was beginning to look like they’d sort things out in their own time like they always did. Chiana just hated seeing them make something so simple, so complicated. On the other hand, Aeryn getting all tralky and running off with Crichton’s double who then went and got himself killed playing the hero was pretty complicated, even for them.
And then, of course, there was Chiana’s own relationship (or lack thereof) with D’Argo. She probably shouldn’t talk.
“Whatever you say,” she told Aeryn, and strapped in for takeoff.
* * * * * * * *
Frell Crichton and his plans, Aeryn thought. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take of close quarters confinement with Chiana, and it had only been eight arns. The girl talked almost as much as John did, and the trouble was, what she mostly wanted to talk about was John. She was adept at turning almost any topic towards him in some way. Diverting her was exhausting.
And yet, Aeryn couldn’t quite be angry with Chiana for her concern, however much it was couched in snippy terms. She knew the young Nebari had latched onto John as a substitute for her brother Nerri, and since she wasn’t able to stand and fight beside Nerri, she was fiercely protective of John. Well, that and she’d like to frell him if she could…. Actually, Aeryn knew well from personal experience that those weren’t mutually exclusive goals, even if Chiana would most likely never succeed at the latter.
Still, enough was enough. Aeryn stood suddenly and told her companion, “It’s your watch. I’m going to get some sleep before we reach Kervon Station. The course is programmed, you shouldn’t have to do anything. Wake me if there’s a problem.” With that, she stalked off to the side of the pod and stretched out on one of the padded benches without bothering to see what the girl did. Hopefully she wouldn’t talk to herself.
Aeryn should have been able to sleep. She’d slept in cramped quarters nearly her whole life. Her eyes were closed, but there were too many things whirling around in her head this sleep period to let her relax. This mission she and Chiana were on, for example. They had gotten reliable word that an arms dealer by the name of Darrow had acquired a particle beam generalizer that was vital to Crichton’s wormhole experiments. She and Chiana had drawn the task of purchasing or stealing it, as need might be, because Crichton was busy with some of the equipment they’d removed from Scorpius’ command carrier, and besides, he and D’Argo had become too conspicuous. “The Great Crichton and D’Argo,” Jool had called them, apparently a reference to some adventure while Aeryn had been away. So she and Chiana would obtain the generalizer and head back to the rendezvous point to meet Moya, no doubt just ahead of trouble. After all, this was one of John’s plans.
And then there was John. One John, the other John, chasing each other around in her brain. One lost to her forever, one not yet quite within her reach. Oh, it wasn’t him that was too far away, it was her reach that was still too short. No matter how much there was between her and the man who was on Moya, now – and she could feel their bond growing closer again, day by day – she couldn’t quite let go of the one she’d lost. Not yet, anyway. Three’s company, John had said once, in that overly casual tone of voice he used sometimes, trying to pretend it didn’t hurt to wait. And then there was the fear of losing him again…. It had almost killed her the first time. Could she survive if she lost John Crichton a second time?
Well, there was no sense brooding, it didn’t help. She tried some mental discipline tricks she’d learned as a child. They seemed to work. She fell into a fitful sleep, unaware that there were tears on her cheeks, or that Chiana, watching her from across the pod, had noticed them.
* * * * * * * *
Kervon was a bright, gaudy, *loud* commerce station, and Chiana was having the time of her life. It was exactly the kind of place Aeryn hated. All lights and noise, chaos and disorder, the opposite of her upbringing, and Chiana’s too, for that matter. The difference was, Chiana embraced the chaos, where Aeryn never felt comfortable in that setting.
Stifling the urge to tighten her braid, Aeryn snapped, “Come on,” as Chiana lagged behind, picking over trinkets and bright flimsy clothing in the stalls that crowded the promenade. “We need to go down three levels and closer to the outer rim if we’re going to find Darrow.”
Chiana reluctantly put down the silky garment she was admiring and shrugged at the vendor. “Aww, she never lets me have any fun,” she told him apologetically.
Feeling very much as she imagined a mother might feel, Aeryn said testily, “You can play when we’ve got what we came for. If we don’t have any problems—“
“Yeah, right,” Chiana cut in, and Aeryn glared at her.
“*If* we don’t have any problems,” Aeryn continued, “We’ll have extra time before we’re expected at the rendezvous. You can shop then.”
Chiana stifled a giggle and followed Aeryn, making note of anything that looked interesting as they walked along at Aeryn’s brisk pace, zigzagging to get past slower pedestrians.
The further from the central trading area they got, the less brightly lit and crowded the station was, and Aeryn began to relax. Chiana was comfortable just about anywhere, so they walked along more peaceably, looking for the bar where they’d been told they could find the trader.
Chiana spotted it first. “Okay, there it is,” she said, directing Aeryn’s attention in the direction of a poorly marked establishment. Loud music was coming from the open door. “Come on,” she said, when Aeryn only looked at it critically. “Let’s go in and find him.”
Aeryn nodded and followed Chiana in the door. The noise was much worse inside.
Chiana grinned and started bouncing along with the music.
Aeryn stepped up to the bar and asked the bartender if Darrow was in residence. He pointed out a tall Sebacean with short, blond hair. He was sitting at a table drinking, but both Aeryn and Chiana thought he was well aware of everything that went on in the room. His clothing was simple and practical, tending towards the black.
“Ni-ce…” Chiana whispered. “PK?”
“Ex, more like,” Aeryn replied quietly. “He’s alert, but he looks soft.”
“I don’t think he looks *soft* at all,” Chiana said, just to get a rise out of Aeryn. When it didn’t work, she shrugged and said, “Well, let’s go introduce ourselves.”
“Right. Let’s get this over with.”
The two started across the room, and Darrow’s eyes followed them. He seemed to find Aeryn more interesting than Chiana, much to Chi’s annoyance, but maybe he just thought Aeryn was the greater threat. Well, there was no harm in letting him underestimate half of the team…. He remained seated and let them tower over him.
Plastering a smile on her face, Aeryn leaned her head sideways and asked, “Is your name Darrow?”
He didn’t bother to deny it. “What can I do for you?”
Chiana put on her most seductive look and purred, “Is there someplace we can….talk?”
“Business,” Aeryn put in.
The man smirked. “Pull up a chair,” he said. “Two chairs.”
Dren! He thought he was a comedian. “Somewhere more private would be better,” Chiana said.
He shrugged as if to say, fine, if you don’t want to party…. “Come to my place, then” he said, all business.
The three of them left the bar together.
* * * * * * * *
The walk to Darrow’s place of business was short. Aeryn wondered if he’d chosen the location to be close to the bar. The sign on the door said, “By appointment only.” He used a card key to open the door, leading them inside. The single room was piled high with all kinds of tech equipment, some of which the women recognized, much of which was totally unfamiliar. It looked like it came from many different cultures, and most of it was covered with dust.
“Have a seat,” Darrow said, gesturing to some crates, and they did. “Now, what is it you’re looking for?”
Chiana sat back and examined the room with an eye towards larceny (by herself) and potential treachery (by their contact), while Aeryn talked to Darrow, PK to PK.
“We’re looking for a particle beam generalizer,” she said. “Have you got one?”
Darrow rubbed his chin as if thinking. “That’s a specialty item. What do you need it for?”
“Have you got one?” Aeryn repeated. When he hesitated, Aeryn gestured towards the door with her chin, saying to Chiana, “Come on, then, let’s go, he doesn’t have one.”
Chiana hopped off her crate and headed out, dusting off her behind. She was halfway through the door, Aeryn right behind her, when the dealer called, “Half a microt, maybe I *do* have one here somewhere, hang on!”
He made a show of looking through several piles, and finally brought out a green plastic box, about the size of one of Moya’s DRDs.
“I had an inquiry about this just the other day,” he said, belying his earlier evasiveness, and perhaps he had, because it came from one of the few areas of the shop that looked like it had been dusted recently.
Although they had no way of testing the equipment, for form’s sake the women opened the package and looked at the apparatus inside. Aeryn picked it up and examined the markings and the external connections. The cylindrical object matched the general specifications John had given them, and she opened the back of the casing.
After a look at the inside, Aeryn showed it to Chiana, who shrugged.
Aeryn gave the ex-Peacekeeper a brittle smile and said, “Can we have a moment?”
Darrow spread his arms expansively and said, “Be my guest.”
The two women backed across the room, keeping both the cylinder and the dealer in sight. Near the door, they turned towards each other, still keeping half their attention on the Sebacean, even as he was observing them.
“You think that’s it?” Chiana asked in a low voice.
“As near as I can tell, anyway,” Aeryn replied in the same soft tones. “It’s got all the right kinds of circuitry. If it’s not exactly right, maybe Crichton can modify it to do the job.”
Chiana threw a big smile at Darrow, who was watching them with interest, and said to Aeryn, “So you want me to haggle with him?”
“Do you think we can trust him?” she asked, asking for Chiana’s professional opinion as a thief.
“I think you were right,” Chiana told her, keeping her voice extra low. “He’s gotten soft, likes it easy, even if not very high class. I think he’s been here too long, gotten comfortable. He’s too entrenched here to risk cheating us big time and having to run. And,” she added, wrinkling her nose, ”I don’t think he can *afford* to run. We’ll be able to find him again if we need to.”
“All right,” Aeryn agreed, “Let’s do it.” They walked back across the room and the Nebari commenced negotiations.
While Chiana offered and counter-offered, and flirted shamelessly, Aeryn took her turn at inspecting the room. She was only half listening to Chiana’s voice, but she took notice when Darrow ran a hand through his hair and mentioned their supposed competition for the generalizer.
Chiana giggled, and said, “Come on, you don’t think we’re going to fall for that, do you?”
“I’m telling you,” he assured her, “not three solar days ago there was a group of grey people, just like you, in here asking about a particle beam generalizer.”
That was dren. Nebari almost never left Nebari Prime, unless they were like her and Nerri. “So, why didn’t you sell it to them, eh?”
He shrugged. “They left. Said they needed to make arrangements for the payment.”
“Well, since they didn’t come back,” Aeryn contributed, “I guess you should be glad we came along to take it off your hands.”
Darrow wasn’t very good at this. He wiped his hands on his pants, looked at Aeryn’s masked expression, and decided to capitulate. He named a new sum, and Chiana smiled. “Done,” she said.
It was nice to have something go smoothly for once.
Aeryn pulled out the hard currency and paid the man while Chiana packed up the box. There was no point in *encouraging* him to make a switch.
Something about the style of the package seemed vaguely familiar to Aeryn, though she couldn’t quite put a finger on it. She wondered if she’d seen something like it before. “Where did you get this?” she asked idly.
Darrow thought about it for a moment. “Customer,” he shrugged. When that didn’t seem to be enough, he added, “Big woman. Mechanic, I think. Said she didn’t need it anymore. She was looking for weapons.”
Aeryn went totally still. “And her name would be….” Her voice was calm, but Chiana detected a note of steel that Darrow perhaps missed, and she looked up in alarm.
Apparently Darrow felt he’d gotten the better of them on the deal, because he didn’t even ask for more money. “Oh, I think it was something like, Fargo. Farlo?” he said, as if it didn’t matter.
“Furlow?” Aeryn asked with a predatory smile.
“Frell,” Chiana muttered under her breath, recognizing the name of the woman Aeryn held responsible for the other Crichton’s death. “Frell, frell, frell!” If he said ‘yes,’ this was *not* going to be good.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Darrow said, apparently oblivious to the new undercurrents in the room. “You know her? She was in here, oh, a quarter cycle ago, I guess. That’s a specialty item, it is,” he rambled on, pointing to the generalizer, and contradicting his earlier sales pitch. “That’s why I still had it. Until this week, no one’s shown any interest in it.”
As he talked, Aeryn’s face went nearly as gray as Chiana’s. “Where is she?” she said, voice cold as ice.
Darrow looked at her and the good nature faded from his eyes, to be replaced with something between alarm and craftiness. “You don’t think I’m in the habit of giving out information about my customers, do you? I wouldn’t be in business very long if I did that.”
“I’m only going to ask this one more time. Where is Furlow?”
Darrow started to turn away, and a predatory growl escaped Aeryn’s throat. Before anyone could react, she grabbed him by his shirt and threw him back against the wall, pinning him there with an arm across his throat.
“You will tell me where that bitch is, and you will tell me *now,*” she said, increasing the pressure on his throat mercilessly.
The dealer’s eyes reflected fear, ex-soldier or not. He tried to elbow her away, but Aeryn had him tightly against the wall, and he couldn’t get any leverage. His hands came up, fingers desperately trying to loosen her hold enough that he could breathe.
Chiana approached the two with concern. “Aeryn,” she snapped, “I don’t think he can talk like that.”
Aeryn merely pushed her arm tighter still. “I’m waiting,” she barked at her adversary, whose face was beginning to turn purple as he struggled for breath.
“What are you *doing*?” Chiana yelled, hopping up and down and tugging at Aeryn’s other arm. “Let him go!”
Aeryn was immovable, unreachable, her face like marble. “Where is she?” she said with quiet menace, and waited.
Darrow stopped struggling so hard, the attack apparently taking its toll.
Out of the corner of her eye, Chiana saw one of his hands reach out carefully towards Aeryn’s holstered pulse pistol, which was almost within his reach. Aeryn didn’t seem to have noticed the threat, so Chiana risked reaching for it herself. Ordinarily, that would have gotten her knocked across the room. This time, Aeryn never saw her hand moving in.
Triumphant, Chiana danced backward a step and pointed the pulse pistol at both of them, bellowing, “Let him go! Hezmana, Aeryn, Let Him Go!”
Eyes glittering, Aeryn shook her head.
The pistol never wavered, but Chiana spoke a little more softly. “Aeryn, he can’t tell you what you want to know if he’s dead.”
Aeryn blinked and looked over at Chiana, as if finally realizing what she was doing, and let go, reaching her hand out for her weapon.
Chiana hesitated a moment, but handed it to her, as their former business associate gasped for breath and moved away, rubbing his neck and glaring at the pair of them.
Aeryn waved the weapon in his direction, hoping to discourage him from going too far away. “I’m sorry,” she said without any real remorse, “but I need to know where she was going.” She pointed the pulse pistol more seriously, for emphasis.
Darrow looked at Chiana for help, saw that he wasn’t going to get any more than he already had. “I don’t know what that woman did to you, but you’re fahrbot, you know, if you think I can tell you anything about where she went. It’s been, what, three monens? She could be anywhere by now.” He glared at them both, and looked as if he were trying to decide whether he could take the two of them in a straight fight.
“Look,” Chiana said in her best little girl voice, “you’ve already been paid, right? Just tell her anything you know about this Furlow person, and we’ll leave. No trouble. Honest.”
That pleading smile had melted many a heart in the past. Whether Darrow fell for it or not, he snorted. “Double the cost,” he announced. “And I want to see the currency first.”
Aeryn gazed at him evenly for a moment. “Get the generalizer, Chiana,” she said, as she reached into her coat for the rest of their funds.
Chiana scooped the box off the table, hoping against hope Aeryn wasn’t going to go berserk again.
Aeryn put a handful of ingots down where the generalizer had been, nearer to herself than their host. “Now. Whatever you know.”
He shook his head and said, “She said she was going to Polonius, to work with some project to develop phase disrupter weapons. I have no way of knowing if she was lying. And you have no way of know if I’m lying to you now.”
Aeryn eyed him for a moment, glanced at Chiana, who nodded, and then said, “It will have to do.”
The two women backed towards the door then, Chiana with the generalizer, and Aeryn with her gun still pointed in the dealer’s direction. He let them go, as if this sort of thing happened to him all the time. Perhaps it did.
When they hit the corridor, Chiana, furious, took the lead and got them as far away as possible, as quickly as she could.
* * * * * * * *
“What the frell were you thinking???” Chiana hissed, pulling Aeryn into a quiet corner. “You could have killed him, and then where would we be?”
“He’s a Peacekeeper, Chiana, force is the only thing he understands.”
“Just like you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Chiana,” Aeryn said firmly. “Take the generalizer and get back to the transport pod. Take it back to Crichton.”
“And where are *you* going?” the younger woman snapped.
Aeryn gazed at her evenly. “Polonius.”
“Why did I know you were gonna say that?” Chiana shook her head in disgust. “Aeryn, you don’t know that she’s there. You don’t know that she ever *was* there!”
“It’s a lead,” Aeryn said stubbornly.
“It’s a really *thin* lead,“ Chiana pointed out. “A Vorcarian bloodtracker would have trouble with it!”
“It’s more than I had before.”
“And what are you going to do when you find her?”
“Kill her,” Aeryn said, as if that was the most obvious thing in the universe.
“This is crazy, Aeryn. He said she was working on a weapons project. You know that’s probably Scarrans.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Like you did in there? Frell, he almost had your pulse pistol!” Chiana huffed.
Aeryn looked chagrined, then diverted her gaze to the street. “I was surprised,” she admitted. “It won’t happen again.”
Chiana looked at the set of Aeryn’s jaw and sighed. “Do I need to knock you out?” Even to her own ears, that sounded so much like D’Argo that she wasn’t the least bit surprised when Aeryn threw back her head and laughed.
“Do you think you can?” Aeryn asked, amusement on her face, even if it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Chiana considered for a moment. “Ordinarily? No chance. The way you’re acting now? Maybe,” she said defiantly.
Aeryn shook her head slowly. “You can’t stop me. I *need* to find that tralk, Chiana. If it hadn’t been for her….” There was a hint of desperation in her voice.
“What does it matter? He’s gone, Aeryn, killing Furlow won’t bring him back!”
The Sebacean’s blue-grey eyes glistened. “No, but she needs to pay for what she did. She needs to pay.”
Hating herself, but needing to exploit the one weakness she was pretty sure the ex-Peacekeeper had, Chiana went for the low blow. “What do you think Crichton will do to me if I come back without you?” she demanded. “Whether you want him to or not, the stupid human loves you! Do you want him to go through what you’re going through now? Huh? Well I sure as hell don’t!”
Aeryn blinked back tears and looked away, on the brink of giving in.
“Look, Aeryn,” Chiana said gently, hoping she wasn’t misreading her shipmate. “There are two choices here. One, I go with you to take out this bitch, *if* we can find her, so that maybe I can bring you back to Crichton in one piece, *if* we can find our way back to Moya after chasing all over Hezmana and missing the rendezvous.”
Aeryn turned back and looked at the girl, surprise in her eyes. “Or?”
“Or, two, we go together, now, back to the rendezvous point with this gizmo Crichton *needs.* One or the other, Aeryn. That’s the deal. You’re not going anywhere by yourself.” Chiana held her breath and watched Aeryn briefly go somewhere far away.
“It’ll only slow you down a few days, Aeryn. On a trail this cold, what does it matter? You can go to Polonius later. I bet Crichton would even help you,” Chiana wheedled.
After a moment, the Sebacean took a deep breath and wiped the back of her hand underneath her eyes. “All right. You win. We’ll go back to Moya. This time.”
Nearly overwhelmed with relief but trying not to show it, Chiana nodded cheerfully. “See, I knew you could be reasonable.”
Aeryn smiled sadly, and picked up the particle beam generalizer. “Come on. Let’s go back to the ship.”
Chiana considered protesting that Aeryn had promised they could go shopping, but decided it was safer to stay close in case the ex-PK was planning to sneak off despite her seeming attack of common sense. They walked in silence, Aeryn apparently deep in thought, Chiana keeping an eye out for any sign that Darrow might have decided to follow them.
As they rounded a corner into a busier section of the station, Chiana stopped dead, eyes focused inward. “Frell!” she whispered fiercely.
“What?” Aeryn asked, alarmed.
“Frell, frell, frell, frell, frell!” Chiana repeated, as the vision flooded her mind. She whirled to face her companion. “It’s Nerri!” she said in a panic. “He’s in danger! I gotta help him!”
Aeryn’s eyes narrowed. “Chiana, I’m warning you, if this is some kind of payback….” she began, but trailed off after seeing the Nebari’s stricken face. She looked up and down the corridors of the station. They were beginning to attract attention from passersby. “Come on, let’s get back to the transport pod,” she said, giving Chiana a shove to get her moving forward again.
“But Nerri, I saw him—“
“Not here,” Aeryn snapped. “We’ll talk about it on the ship,” she added a little more gently, starting down the promenade towards the docking facilities.
Chiana firmly planted her feet on the ground. “It’s my *brother,*” she pleaded.
Frustrated, Aeryn glared at her and repeated, “Not here. Come with me now or I will pick you up and carry you like a child.”
“You and whose army?” the girl said, borrowing a saying from the absent human. Aeryn said nothing, but having used the phrase was enough to remind Chiana why they were on Kervon in the first place. She looked at the bulky container that Aeryn was still carrying and reluctantly grumbled her assent. “Guess we should put that frellin’ thing away, anyway. But we *are* gonna talk about this when we get to the pod. Peacekeeper tralk,” she muttered. She set off down the corridor, Aeryn following close behind.
* * * * * * * *
They reached the docking bay without incident and moved up two levels and down the hall to their gate. The transport pod opened to Aeryn’s touch, and they went in. Aeryn stowed the generalizer in a locked storage compartment while Chiana bounced anxiously in the middle of the pod.
“Sit down,” Aeryn ordered when she was through relocking the compartment. With some apparent reluctance, Chiana crossed the pod and sat down on one of the benches. Aeryn sat herself down next to Chiana. “Is this one of your frelling flashes?” she asked. When Chiana ducked her head affirmatively, Aeryn rolled her eyes. They’d all come grudgingly to accept that Chiana sometimes had flashes of….well, ‘insight’ was the term Aeryn preferred, ‘visions of the future” was the way Crichton put it. Chiana herself just tended to announce, ‘I’m seeing things again!’ with varying degrees of distress. How much faith any of them put in the flashes depended greatly on the time and the place, and the usefulness of said flash. Rygel and D’Argo tended to greet them with a snort. Jool kept trying to analyze them, but she could find no medical reason for the visions.
“Tell me what you saw,” Aeryn commanded.
“It was my brother. Nerri,” Chiana added unnecessarily. “Someone had him in restraints. And a collar,” she said with a shudder. “A bounty hunter, I think. It didn’t look like PK’s or the local law….” She appeared to be mentally walking through her memories of the vision, looking for details.
Aeryn put her hands on the seat on either side of her and leaned slightly forward, thinking. “Look,” she said logically, “what makes you think you can help him? He could be halfway across the Uncharted Territories. Or back on Nebari Prime.”
“No,” Chiana said. “He’s here.”
“Here? On Kervon Station?” Aeryn threw her head back and almost laughed. “Please tell me you’re joking, Chiana. Crichton sends us here to this station for that piece of dren,” and here she kicked her foot towards the locker where the particle beam generalizer was stored, “and the tralk we buy it from tells me Furlow was here just a quarter cycle ago, and in fact, sold him this very item. Now you tell me your *brother* is here? What’s the likelihood of that?”
“How many crazier things have happened to us, huh?” Chiana asked. “Aeryn, I *know* that he’s on this station. Maybe they haven’t captured him yet.” She thought again about the details of her vision and her face fell, knowing Aeryn was going to argue with her.
“Out with it,” Aeryn said wearily.
“He was near the bazaar, Aeryn. I swear. The one we passed going to meet up with Darrow.”
Aeryn closed her eyes. Nerri was Nebari. Darrow had mentioned a group of Nebari. Nebari who had shown an interest in an item related to wormhole tech, and hadn’t come back to pay for it.
Frell. They were going to have to check it out.
But Chiana hadn’t made the connection yet, and started up again. “Please, Aeryn, I can’t leave him here. I can’t,” she said, her voice trembling. “No frellin’ way! If they take him back to Nebari Prime, he’ll be cleansed! He’d rather die!”
“Don’t you mean *you’d* rather die than see him mind-cleansed?” Aeryn asked, but relented immediately. She held her hand up in a gesture of peace, and said, “We have a little time before we have to leave to reach the rendezvous. Darrow said he’d seen some people like you, so it seems just possible there may be some Nebari here.”
Chiana glared. “Oh, like he’s going to help us after what you did,” she said, but her tone carried more petulance than venom, and the older woman’s mouth twitched in something that might have been interpreted as a smile.
“Well, perhaps we can find your brother without bothering Darrow,” Aeryn said. “*If* he’s even here,” she added, not wanting to give Chiana the satisfaction of saying she believed her.
The qualifier didn’t matter to Chiana, as long as she got her way. She hopped up and started checking her weapons.
Aeryn stalked around the pod replenishing their currency supply, collecting an extra weapon or two, and in general getting ready to go out again. She picked up a hooded cloak that belonged to Chiana and tossed it to her. “Here. Bring this. If we find your brother, it might help to disguise him.”
“Good idea,” Chiana said, heartened by evidence that Aeryn was taking this seriously. She tossed the cloak over her clothes and said, “Let’s go!”
“Look,” Aeryn began, as Chiana started down the stairs, “We’ll find out if he’s here, then we’ll decide what to do about it.” Receiving no reply, Aeryn reached out and grabbed Chiana by the shoulder before she could get too far away. When the girl turned and looked up at her, she said pointedly, “You’re not going to go off like a toshee chuffwuzzle, right?”
Bobbing her head Chiana hastily agreed. “Right. No chuffwuzzles! Promise.”
Aeryn narrowed her eyes but made no comment, and followed the Nebari down the stairs and back into the docking bay.
Once in the marketplace, Aeryn let Chiana take the lead, trying to find the spot she had seen in her vision, where Nerri would soon be, or possibly had just been, in the time it had taken them to reach the area. The time from one of Chiana’s visions to the event she’d seen was variable. Hopefully they were ahead of this one.
Aeryn still didn’t like the crowded, noisy promenade, but at least having a mission there made it more tolerable. She scanned the crowd for any other members of Chiana’s race, all gray and black and white. Even their clothing, based on those Nebari that Aeryn had met, tended toward the charcoal, though how members of an underground resistance might dress was beyond Aeryn’s imagination. She would have chosen practical leathers, much like what she wore now.
Chiana skittered back and forth through the promenade, viewing the area from behind stalls and between them, looking up and down the corridor, and after about a quarter of an arn, she ran back over to Aeryn. “There!” she said, breathing heavily, and pointing down the corridor. “It was over there!”
The two women went back to the spot Chiana had found and did a visual survey of the area.
“That’s the Detention Center,” Aeryn said, nodding towards a reinforced doorway some 25 metras away. “I thought you said he wasn’t in detention.”
“Well, he wasn’t, not in my head,” the girl said stubbornly.
“Fine. Before you just walk in there and hope they haven’t seen any wanted beacons with *our* names on them, let’s at least ask around and see if anyone has seen any Nebari,” Aeryn said, personally hoping that Darrow had made up the frellin’ competition. She trailed along behind Chiana as the girl made inquiries.
“Hey, hey,” Chiana called, waving her hand at one of the vendors standing behind a tower of foodstuffs. “Have you seen anyone who looks like me around here in the past few days?”
His tentacles waved and he pulled two eyestalks together to look at her more closely. “Like you?”
“Uh-huh,” she said brightly. “Taller then me, though,” she added hopefully, holding her hand at about Aeryn’s height.
While Chiana talked in circles with the vendor, Aeryn walked across the corridor to try the other row. Stepping up to a stall that sold jewelry, she spoke to the woman polishing the counter. Tall, slender and green, she almost looked like a Delvian. “Hello,” Aeryn said, trying to sound pleasant. Pointing across the corridor towards Chiana she asked, “Have you seen anyone like my friend over there? A Nebari? In the past few solar days?”
The resemblance to any Delvian Aeryn had ever met vanished when the woman spoke. Her voice was harsh and grating, as if her throat were made of sandpaper. “Why do you want to know?” she asked cagily.
Trying to think of an answer, and thinking she would get further if she appeared to be a customer, Aeryn started looking at the wares on her cart. She arbitrarily picked up the first piece of jewelry that caught her eye. It was gold-colored and hexagonal in shape, and holding it in her hand, she realized that it was a locket. Her fingers curled around it without any direction from her mind. Like so many things these days, it set her thinking of John, though for once, she couldn’t imagine why.
“We’re looking for my friend’s mate, actually,” she found herself telling the woman. “He abandoned her back on Idil 6, and we think he’s headed to Marjan. This is the most direct route.”
The green woman observed her for a moment, then said, “Well, he may be dead, then.”
“What?” Aeryn asked.
“There were some grey people – Negari you say?” the woman began, and then paused, apparently waiting for an answer.
“Nebari,” Aeryn corrected.
The woman smiled, apparently pleased, and said, “New races interest me. Not like you Sebaceans.” Aeryn nodded curtly, and she continued. “Just yesterday there were three Nebari here, just passing through, I think. They weren’t looking at anything, not so’s you could tell. There was a big ruckus.” She paused again, and looked Aeryn in the eye, then looked down at the sample of her wares her customer was still holding.
Right. Payment for the information. Aeryn opened her fingers and glanced at the locket. The front was embossed with simple geometric shapes, something she hadn’t noticed when she first picked it up. For whatever reason, it still called to her heart. “This is very nice,” she said honestly, refusing to allow her thoughts to roam. She fished some currency out of the pouch she was carrying, and held it out. To her surprise, the not-quite-Delvian gave her change. Aeryn put the coins and the locket into her pouch, and said expectantly, “A ruckus, you say?”
“Yeah,” the woman returned. “A pair of bounty hunters ambushed ‘em, right over there.” She pointed to a spot about 50 metras down the corridor, where Aeryn could just make out some scorch marks on the wall. Continuing her story, the woman said, “One of the bounty hunters and two of the Nebari,” and she spoke the word with emphasis, perhaps still imprinting it on her mind, “ended up dead. Odds favor your friend’s mate being one of the dead ones.”
With a quick glance over at Chiana, who had moved on to the next stall and was still flirting and cajoling, Aeryn pressed, “What happened to the one that didn’t die?”
“Oh, him and the bounty hunter, the watch picked them up, put them both in detention while they sort things out. If the bounty hunter has his papers in order, he’ll be released soon, with his quarry in custody, the living and the dead.”
“How soon? Any idea?” Aeryn asked.
“None at all,” the woman said.
At that moment, a wail went up from across the corridor, and Aeryn guessed Chiana had just received the same news. She nodded briskly at her informant and ran across the corridor to the vendor’s cart where Chiana stood.
Aeryn took hold of the girl by her upper arm, but Chiana already had herself under control. “Nerri’s got to be the one who got captured,” she told Aeryn, eyes wide in distress. “I saw him here, by the bazaar, with a control collar on. He couldn’t be one of the dead ones if the bounty hunter had him.”
Letting go of Chiana, Aeryn said, “That woman over there says the watch took in both the Nebari and the bounty hunter, and that they’ll let them go when they’ve checked the bounty hunter’s credentials. If we stay in the area, we should be able to see them leave. At least we’ll be able to see if it’s your brother the bounty hunter has.”
“It *has* to be him,” Chiana said, and started towards the Detention Center.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Aeryn demanded.
“To see Nerri,” Chiana said without looking back.
Aeryn clamped her hand around Chiana’s arm and turned her around. “Don’t be stupid. We already had this discussion. We wait until they come out.”
Aeryn’s glare would have stopped an inebriated skelokort, and Chiana reluctantly muttered, “Frell!”
The two worked their way over to a vendor selling cold drinks. They each ordered a bottle of fellip nectar, and Aeryn, sympathetic in spite of her annoyance, paid the tab. When she pulled the coins out of her pouch, the locket came along with them, and landed on the table with a clink. It caught Chiana’s eye and her hand darted in to pick it up before Aeryn could retrieve it.
“Krell!” she exclaimed. “Where did you get this?”
“From that jewelry stall, over there,” Aeryn said, pointing out the green woman she’d spoken to. Her fingers itched to get her hands back on the locket, but in the interest of diverting Chiana, she resisted the urge to snatch it. “I thought she’d talk more freely to a customer.”
Chiana turned the charm over in her hands, the sturdy chain wrapping itself around her fingers. “Whatever happened to that old locket I gave you?” she asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear it.”
Aeryn nearly gasped. That was it, why this silly piece of jewelry reminded her of John. She took a pull on her fellip nectar to cover her reaction to a simple question. The answer wasn’t nearly so straightforward, and yet it was. “I lost it,” she said. “With my prowler.”
That unadorned, spherical locket that Chiana had given her two cycles ago had become a reminder of the bond between herself and Crichton. That day in the maintenance bay, when he kept insisting that something must have happened between them, she’d continued to fiddle with the locket, which had somehow become fused shut, pretending she didn’t share his odd feeling. And as always, he’d let her pretend, but when their eyes met over the charm, once she’d finally pried it open, she knew he knew the truth. After that she’d kept the bronze-colored sphere in her prowler, hanging from a lever by its chain.
This locket was nothing like that one, but it was enough to make her heart remember that this John had shared that moment with her just as the other one had.
Thankfully, Chiana seemed oblivious to Aeryn’s churning emotions. She murmured an apology for bringing up the touchy subject of the lost prowler, then pried the gleaming hexagon open and looked inside. “Lots of space in here to put something,” she said, rubbing her finger across the inside of the locket. “What are you going to do with it?”
Aeryn shrugged, tamping down feelings she wasn’t ready to deal with. “I don’t know yet. I’ll think of something, I expect.”
Just then the door to the Detention Center opened, and Chiana leaped to her feet. Aeryn grabbed the locket from her before the girl could “accidentally” put it in her own pocket, and stuffed the charm back into her currency pouch.
Chiana was bouncing from foot to foot in her nervousness, and Aeryn reached a hand out to lie heavily on her shoulder when the Nebari would have run out into the middle of the corridor for a better look. The girl should have known better, but soldiers – or street urchins – and emotions were a bad mix. Chiana took the hint, though, and satisfied, Aeryn turned her attention to the beings entering the corridor from the Detention Center.
Frell. A Nebari male, something like Chiana’s age, was being pushed along with smug satisfaction by a Bloodtracker. The Nebari was indeed wearing a control collar, and Aeryn could tell by the intake of breath beside her that he must be Chiana’s rebel brother. He was tugging on the collar, and looking right and left with the same despair that had been on Chiana’s face when she had first been brought onboard Moya in the custody of Nebari agents.
"Right," Aeryn said, absently fingering her own neck, "let’s see if we can follow them. The Vorcarian will have to have a ship, but he may have a room to check out of as well. He’s lost his partner, so he’ll have to do everything himself, and he’ll have to take Nerri with him." She glanced at Chiana.
Chiana’s face was set in determination. Aeryn imagined she’d had that same irrational look on her own face a few arns ago, thinking about going after Furlow. Well, at least this time the foe was right there to be tracked. She nodded, and they set off down the corridor, careful to avoid attracting attention.
* * * * * * * *
Aeryn and Chiana stood outside the rooming facilities, trying to decide what to do. They had followed Nerri and his captor for several arns. The Vorcarian apparently had a number of things to take care of before he could leave, and he went from one location to the next. Fortunately, he never left the busy area of the station, and the two women were able to trail him without him noticing. Several times he stopped and sniffed the air, looking around as if he smelled something or someone, but apparently he hadn’t made them. Aeryn was grateful the Vorcarian wasn’t a female, with their superior tracking abilities. At this point, he had taken his captive into what were apparently his former lodgings.
“We should just go in and get Nerri,” Chiana said. She’d grown increasingly agitated as time wore on, upset at seeing her brother in custody, and worried that somehow the bounty hunter would give them the slip. “Look, it’s cheap lodgings for those with little money. They wouldn’t look twice at two tralks coming in. I say we just go in and shoot the frelling creep.”
Aeryn raised her eyebrows at the idea of anyone mistaking *her* for a tralk, though Chiana could certainly pull the masquerade off….In fact, the girl smiled ingratiatingly at some passersby who had taken notice of them where they stood in the corridor, and the men leered back. Aeryn sighed. “And if he’s only paying the bill? If we walk into the lobby and he’s there, he’ll see us. What if your brother gives us away? Or suppose the Vorcarian has a warrant for you, too? You’re ‘the sister,’ remember? I’m sure Nebari Prime is still willing to pay for you.” She paused and looked at Chiana. “Look, we’re going to get him.” When had she decided that, she wondered. “But there’s no sense in getting into a firefight in public. We’ve got to find a way to get them into a more private place.”
Chiana pouted. “Will you at least go inside and see if he *is* in the lobby? If he’s gone to his room, we can just go in.”
Aeryn looked up and down the corridor, bit her lower lip, and unobtrusively patted her holstered pulse pistol. She took a deep breath and said, “All right. *You stay here.* If he’s not in the lobby, I’ll try to find out which room is his.”
The Nebari girl nodded. “Right here. I’ll be right here,” she assured Aeryn, eyes sparkling.
Aeryn entered through the door and looked around the dingy little lobby. Indeed, the Vorcarian and Nerri were standing at a desk, the tracker talking to a clerk. It didn’t take long to ascertain that the bounty hunter was haggling over his bill, since he had spent the previous night in the Detention Center and hadn’t used the facility. The discussion was heated, and Nerri kept trying to shamble off to one side and perhaps get near a door. Unfortunately for him, the tracker wasn’t about to lose his meal ticket, and he reined him in regularly.
Just as Aeryn started to head back outside in hopes of keeping Chiana from storming in, Nerri caught sight of her. His expression was pleading, and then a flicker of something that might have been recognition reached his eyes. Alarmed, Aeryn shook her head, sharply, briefly, and then the look was gone. She wondered if she’d imagined it.
She went back out the door and rejoined Chiana. “They’re in the lobby. The Vorcarian wasn’t able to pay his bill last night since he was in lock up, and they’ve confiscated his things.”
“And?” Chiana asked.
Aeryn shrugged. “He wants them back. I think the clerk was weakening. He and Nerri will probably be out soon.”
“Listen, Aeryn,” Chiana began, “I’ve been thinking.”
“Spare me from your thinking,” Aeryn told her. “Your plans are as bad as Crichton’s.”
Chiana glared, and continued, “What you said before, about Nebari Prime still wanting me. You’re probably right. I think we could use that.”
With a sinking feeling, Aeryn thought she knew what was coming.
“When they get out of there, we just need to give him a reason to leave Nerri alone. I’ll be the reason.” Chiana cocked her head. “I’ll let him see me, and he’ll figure here’s a chance to double his money. He’ll go after me, and you can rescue Nerri.”
“And who’s going to rescue you?”
“Hey, I can look after myself.”
Aeryn nearly laughed, hearing her own words of a few arns before echoed by this slip of a girl. On the other hand, Chiana had spent a long time on her own, and she’d been through a lot of nasty situations in the past few cycles. Much as Aeryn might not want to admit it, the ‘slip of a girl’ *could* take care of herself. “Well, it’s not much of a plan, but we’ve worked with worse, haven’t we? All right, if the opportunity arises, you can be the bait.”
Chiana’s wide grin almost made Aeryn regret the decision. “Look, Chiana,” she warned, “let me remind you, Crichton will not be happy with *me* if I come back without *you,* either. And don’t forget D’Argo. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Hey, it’s me,” Chiana said.
Aeryn snorted. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
At that moment, the door opened, and the bounty hunter emerged, pushing Nerri in front of him. He carried a flight bag, and Nerri carried another, which at a guess had belonged to the tracker’s dead partner. They set off down the corridor in the general direction of the docking bay.
Chiana and Aeryn followed, stopping from time to time to peer into windows or pretend that something in one of the street stalls had caught their eye. As they neared a junction to another level, Chiana announced, “Now, Aeryn.”
The ex-Peacekeeper looked at the configuration of the corridor, the general level of traffic, and nodded. “Right. Give me your cloak. If he takes the bait and leaves Nerri, I’ll get him and take him to the shuttle. I can get the collar off there.”
“If I’m not there in half an arn, you can come looking for me,” Chiana said, with considerably more good sense than Aeryn had expected. She watched solemnly as Aeryn tossed the cloak over her shoulder.
Aeryn held her breath as the Nebari skipped forward and crossed the bounty hunter’s path. She could see Nerri start, but he had sense not to say anything. Chiana, however, made herself quite conspicuous, and the bloodtracker stared at her. It wasn’t clear if he recognized her, but since he clearly had warrants for a number of Nebari, and he had already seen three of them on Kervon Station, it didn’t seem likely he would let her go without checking her out.
“You! Nebari girl!” he shouted. “Stop!”
Giggling, Chiana dashed on ahead, making for the junction.
The Vorcarian let out a string of what Aeryn could only conclude were curses in its native tongue. He rapidly unhooked the binders on Nerri’s wrists and attached one end to a metal railing next to the door to a restaurant. He briefly punched the hand controls for the collar Nerri was wearing around his neck, and the prisoner fell to his knees in pain. “Just remember I can do a lot worse,” he growled, and then took off after Chiana.
Aeryn waited until the tracker had followed his new quarry into the junction, then drew her pulse pistol and rushed over to Nerri. “Hold your arm out,” she ordered. When he looked at her in confusion, she repeated, “Hold your arm out. Draw the chains tight, I’m going to get you out of here.”
Nerri, still panting in pain, never asked who she was or what she wanted in return, he simply held his arm out and waited while Aeryn blasted the loop that held the binders attached to the railing. The metal turned molten, and Nerri pulled hard. When it parted, he started to take off in the direction Chiana had gone.
Frell, Aeryn thought. The brother’s as bad as Chiana. “No,” she commanded, reaching out and grabbing his arm before he got away. She pulled the cloak off of her shoulder, and tossed it at Nerri. “Put this on,” she told him. “And don’t forget the hood.”
“But, my sister….” Nerri began.
Aeryn looked around and saw they were gathering a small audience. She smiled winningly at them and turned on Nerri. “No. You come with me *now*. Chiana will get away from him and meet us at our ship.”
“But—“
Aeryn glared. “You argue as much as she does. If she doesn’t meet us in half an arn, then *I* will go looking for her. *You* will stay out of sight. Now *come* *on*!” she told him, starting back the way they had come, the opposite direction from where the bounty hunter had gone.
The Nebari tossed a longing look down the corridor, then turned and followed her, still no questions asked.
Meanwhile, Chiana was leading the bounty hunter on a roundabout journey through ever narrower and more sparsely populated corridors. Male of the species or not, he was an excellent tracker, and she could tell he was still on her trail. It was exhilarating.
She counted the levels and the junctions, hoping that she could give him the slip and head back to the docking bay before Aeryn came looking for her. It wouldn’t be nearly as much fun if Aeryn got in the game.
Just when she thought she’d lost him, she rounded a corner into a quiet corridor and found herself face to with the Vorcarian, who had his pulse pistol drawn and a pair of wrist restraints in one hand. The triumph on his face was unmistakable, and she screeched to a halt, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Frell! The corner was too far behind her to reach before he shot her. She was going to have to play this out here.
“Now, hang on, half a microt here,” she blustered, trying to read the situation. “You’ve been following me. Maybe I should call the authorities?”
“You don’t want to do that, girl,” he said, dangling the restraints in front of her. “I have a warrant to hunt you.”
“I don’t think so,” Chiana said, thinking furiously. The corridor was wide enough that she might be able to get by him if she was lucky, and it appeared to be empty of witnesses. “Let me see the authorization,” she said, pointing her chin in his direction but keeping her distance.
It was a fair demand. If he was wrong about her being on the warrant, he’d have even more trouble with the local authorities than he’d already had on this trip. Cautiously, continuing to point his gun in her direction, he slipped the restraints back on his belt and reached into his shirt for his warrant reader. He used his right thumb to flip through the electronic database, finally alighting on one page in triumph. “See?” he asked her. “Tell me this isn’t you!” He held out the screen so she could see a recognizable, if younger, likeness of herself. “You’re part of the Nebari Prime contract.”
She smiled at him ingratiatingly. “Can’t we….talk about this?” she said, angling her chest to give him a good view.
The Vorcarian looked her up and down as if considering, and then shook his head. “You’re worth a lot more to me than a sex act or two.” Mind made up, he put the reader back inside his shirt.
Chiana tried to edge away.
“Stand still,” he growled, closing in. “I’m taking your weapon.”
“Uh-uh,” Chiana protested. She kicked out one leg, hoping to catch the gun and knock it away. Unfortunately, he was in the process of switching hands, and she missed the gun. Undaunted, she hopped up and tried to duck past him anyway as he grunted and shook his fingers in pain.
The pain didn’t slow him down, however. As she twisted to slide past him, the Vorcarian grabbed her with one large hand and pulled her close. In one smooth move he had wrapped the arm with the pulse pistol around her back, crushing her to him, and slid the other hand down her thigh to remove the pulse pistol she carried on her leg.
He tossed her gun down the corridor, and reached for the restraints where they hung from his belt. Though her upper arms were pinned to her side, Chiana continued to fight, and he couldn’t reach the cuffs. “That’s enough,” he growled. “You’re going back to Nebari Prime with the other one.”
“Let me go,” Chiana cried desperately. “I’m not going back there! No frellin’ way!” As she thrashed about, interfering with his efforts to control her, she carefully slid one hand to her waist, reaching for her back up weapon. Careful not to let her achievement show in her eyes or her body language, she wrapped her fingers around the handle of a thin but viciously sharp knife that she carried in a sheath concealed in her waistband.
With the Vorcarian’s breath rank in her face, Chiana made one last effort to break free. “My brother will come for me,” she shouted, scratching at his face with her empty hand and trying to jerk her knee up into his mivonks. With no room to maneuver, she missed again, hitting his thigh instead, and he only tightened his grip. With a slight pang of regret for lost options, Chiana realized that he finally had his hands on the cuffs.
With the barest of movements, she brought the knife up close against his side. If she only wounded him, he’d have the local law on them before she could get Nerri away from here.
“Sorry,” she said, as she slid the blade in between his ribs. “Or maybe not.”
When Aeryn and Nerri reached the docking bay, she told him, “I don’t think anyone is going to pay any attention to us, but if they notice us coming in, hopefully they’ll assume you’re Chiana. She was wearing that cloak when we left, and with the hood up, you at least give the same impression. You move like her, even though you’re taller. We’ll just walk across to that transport pod in bay 42,” she said, pointing.
“All right,” Nerri agreed, and they headed across to the ship.
Aeryn opened the door and they hurried up the stairs and into the pod. Nerri sighed in relief at being out of sight when the door cycled closed. He pulled the cloak off then, and said without preliminaries, “Can you get this frelling collar off?”
Aeryn nodded. “Sit there,” she said, pointing at the bench along the wall, and walked over to the storage locker to fetch some tools.
Nerri sat down reluctantly, as if sitting still was almost impossible, and watched Aeryn’s every move. When she came back with a pair of large cutters, he leaned his head to the side and pushed one edge of the circular metal collar as far from his neck as he could. Aeryn snapped it with the cutters, and Nerri bent it open and carefully pulled it off. “Thanks,” he said.
“I’ve worn one of those things myself,” Aeryn told him. “They’re frelling awful.”
“Have you got a lever?” he asked, and she handed him the one she’d brought in addition to the cutters.
Aeryn watched him deftly remove the remains of the ruined restraints from his wrists. He was definitely Chiana’s brother, she thought.
“You live on a Leviathan, with my little sister,” Nerri said. “Aeryn Sun. The Peacekeeper.”
She shook her head. “Not a Peacekeeper. Not for a long time. How do you know me? You recognized me in that dump.”
Nerri cocked his head sideways and smiled. “Gotta keep an eye on my sis, don’t I?” When Aeryn gave him a look that suggested she was considering dredging up some old Peacekeeper interrogation techniques, he stopped playing games. “One of my people, Meelak, he was on your ship when the Establishment came for Chiana. In his briefing, he gave me the basics about her situation. After that, I’ve just kept my eyes open. You people don’t exactly keep a low profile.”
“True enough,” Aeryn said. She regarded him steadily for a moment. “Did you follow us here?” Logically, he couldn’t have. If Darrow was to be believed, Nerri and his late companions had been on the station at least two days before she and Chiana had arrived, but the coincidence still bothered her.
“No,” Nerri assured her.
“Then why are you here? This is a long way from Nebari Prime.”
Before he could answer, the sound of the door to the ship cycling caught their attention. Aeryn had her pulse pistol out, and Nerri was hidden behind the pilot’s chair when Chiana entered, breathless.
“Well?” she cried, as Aeryn holstered her pistol. “Did you get him? Is he here? Nerri?” she called, looking around the ship eagerly.
“Hey, Little Sister,” Nerri said, standing up. The grin on his face lit up the room, and was matched by an equally huge smile from Chiana.
“Nerri,” Chiana shrieked, running across the room and leaping on him, wrapping her legs around his waist. “You’re not dead! You’re really, really not dead!” she laughed, throwing her head back as he struggled to keep his balance.
He hugged her, chuckling, then told her, “No, I’m not dead. I’m sorry about that, but I had to try to make the Establishment think I was.” He bent his head down to place a light kiss on the top of her head.
“It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter,” Chiana said. She lowered herself back to the floor and grinned. “Looks like I saved your eema, huh?”
“Chiana,” Aeryn interrupted, “What happened to the Vorcarian?”
The girl sobered and said, “He’s not going to bother anyone again.”
Aeryn’s eyes narrowed, and she saw a pained expression cross Nerri’s face, but she had to believe there hadn’t been another way. “All right. Is anyone likely to find him?”
“Not for at least a weeken,” Chiana said, then turned her attention back to her brother. She took his hands in hers, and searched his face with pleasure, as if looking for any changes time must have wrought since she’d seen him last. “What are you doing here?” she finally demanded.
Since that was the question she’d been trying to get answered when Chiana had arrived, Aeryn didn’t try to steer the conversation back to the bounty hunter. She waited, watching Nerri try to decide how much to tell them, or perhaps how much to trust them. He pulled his hands from Chiana’s, putting her in the same class as Aeryn.
Finally he spoke. “Trying to prevent the Establishment from getting something that will make them a hundred times more powerful than they already are,” he said.
“Well, what?” Chiana asked, and Aeryn waited for an answer.
Nerri looked back and forth between the women once again. “Wormholes,” he said.
Aeryn rolled her eyes. “Frelling *wormholes*?” she said.
* * * * * * * *
Now it was Aeryn and Chiana who were cautious. After a quick glance at Aeryn, Chiana said, “Wormholes? What would the Establishment want with wormholes? They’ve got their plague to soften everybody else up before they take over….That’s what they used *us* for!”
“You don’t think they could use a weapon that draws on wormhole energy?” Nerri asked.
Before Aeryn could stop her, China replied, “Well, sure, but I thought they pretty much *wanted* the planets, it’s just the people they don’t want.”
Nerri looked at Aeryn, who looked away, and then looked back at his younger sister. “What makes you think a wormhole weapon could destroy a planet, Chiana? The last time I saw you, if you knew what a wormhole was at all, you’d’ve thought it was for travel.”
Dismayed, but trying not to show it, Chiana snapped, “Hey, you’re the one who said it was a powerful weapon. I figured you knew what you were talking about….”
Nerri shook his head. “Not good enough, Sis. Are your friends building—“
Aeryn cut him off. “Leave her alone. Perhaps she’s taken an interest in politics the same as you have.”
Turning his attention to the Sebacean, he said, “Forgive me, but Crichton’s gang doesn’t have the most savory reputation in the Uncharted Territories. Are you supplying the Establishment with wormhole weapons? Or perhaps the Scarrans?”
Chiana winced, afraid Aeryn was going to go ballistic again at the mention of Scarrans and wormhole weapons in the same breath as Crichton, but Aeryn only said coldly, “Someone very dear to me died to keep wormhole data out of Scarran hands.” She glared at him. “And the Nebari are even worse.”
Nerri must have seen something of the truth in her eyes, because he backed off. “All right, you’re not selling wormhole weapons.” Looking at Chiana’s anxious face, he added, “Neither am I.”
“What *are* you doing with wormholes, Nerri?” Chiana asked, her voice trembling. “They’re frellin’ dangerous. You shouldn’t be messing with them.”
“Just trying to make sure the Establishment doesn’t get them, for weapons *or* transportation,” he said softly. “Can you imagine the advantage if they could send a fleet through a wormhole to each planet they want to attack?”
“Why are you *here*?” Aeryn asked again. “I don’t like coincidences.”
“Neither do I,” the Nebari rebel said, frowning.
Aeryn flashed a brittle smile, and Chiana started wheedling. “Ah, come on, Nerri, we saved your life. Just tell us what you’re doing here! Tell your little sis….”
Nerri relented and said, “I’m looking for something, a one of a kind part that my sources tell me is vital to the Nebari wormhole effort. I don’t want them to get their hands on it,” he said simply.
“And this vital part would be called….?” Aeryn prompted, and Chiana held her breath, hoping Nerri trusted them enough to tell them.
“It’s called a particle beam generalizer. There’s a man here who has one. We—“ He broke off as Aeryn snorted, and Chiana giggled. Annoyed, he glared at the laughing women.
“I told you, Aeryn, these things happen to us all the time,” Chiana said smugly.
Aeryn waved her hand at Chiana. “Yes, you did say that,” she said, collecting herself. After a brief pause, Aeryn said to Nerri, “This….one of a kind part…. will *not* be falling into Nebari hands.”
“Are you saying you have it?” Nerri asked, looking from the Sebacean to his sister and back again.
“I did not say that,” Aeryn said. “But if you inferred it….Well, there’s nothing I can do about that.”
Nerri nodded. The grimace on his face suggested he was still not quite satisfied with the conversation, but Chiana started a new argument.
“Hey, guys, shouldn’t we be going?” she said. “It’s not safe for Nerri here.” Not to mention herself, but, naturally, she didn’t bring that up.
Aeryn glanced at Nerri, then said to Chiana, “We were leaving before you had, well, before we knew your brother was in trouble. There’s no reason for us to stay here any longer.”
“Let me off the ship,” Nerri said.
“What?” Chiana gasped.
“I shouldn’t go with you, Chiana,” he told her. “It will only put you in danger. There are a lot of people after me.”
“Oh, and like they’re not after *us*?” she snapped, jerking her head towards Aeryn. She and Nerri gazed at each other, neither one willing to give a dench.
“If we leave you here, how will you get off of Kervon Station?” Aeryn asked into the silence. “Surely they will be watching your ship.”
“Chiana helped out there,” the young revolutionary said. “I can take the Vorcarian’s ship. They’ll be expecting him to leave.”
“No, no, no you don’t,” Chiana said, shaking her head defiantly. “That means going back out there and risking being caught. I’m not leaving you where people are looking for you!”
Nerri looked at her softly and shook his head. “Hey, Little Sister. That’s how we lived for cycles after we escaped our homeworld. Do you think I’ve forgotten how to survive?”
She grabbed his arm. “Take me with you,” she pleaded.
“No,” he said bluntly. “It’s far too dangerous.” And before she could interrupt, he added, “And I can’t tell you where I’m going, either. What you don’t know can’t hurt either of us.”
Chiana sank to the floor, her hand trailing down his arm and hand until it landed in her lap. “I only just found you,” she said, looking up at him. “Can’t we at least spend a little time together?”
Aeryn interrupted. “Look, I may have an idea.” When the two Nebari looked at her, she asked Nerri, “Do you actually *need* to take the Vorcarian’s ship? I mean, is there somewhere within say, a day’s travel, where you could contact your people?”
“Possibly,” Nerri said cautiously. “What were you thinking?”
Looking at Chiana’s hopeful expression, Aeryn said, “We have a little lee-way in our rendezvous timing. We could drop you off, and you two could at least have a few arns while we travel to catch up on things.”
Nerri smiled. “That might be work.”
Hope warred with responsibility on Chiana’s face. She stood up and said carefully, “Aeryn, you know they’re gonna be upset if we’re late.”
Aeryn understood the translation: Crichton’ll freak if he thinks anything’s happened to you.
She smiled faintly and said, “They won’t be very happy if we’re late, but they’ll wait at least one solar day without doing anything rash.” Translation: D’Argo won’t like it either, but they’ll give us time.
“I guess you’re right,” Chiana said. She looked at Nerri, gray eyes pleading. “One solar day? Please?”
Nerri nodded. “Yeah. That will work.”
Chiana threw her arms around her brother. “Thank you!” she said over his shoulder to Aeryn. “You don’t know what this means to me.”
Yes I do, Aeryn thought, but she didn’t say it. “Let’s get out of here before something else happens. And we need to decide where we’re going.”
Chiana made sure everything was stowed and got Nerri settled while Aeryn did the preflight check and got their clearance to leave.
* * * * * * * *
The trip to Sloboda was quiet. Once they were safely away from Kervon Station, Chiana grabbed Nerri’s hand and dragged him over to the bench, where they sat side by side, talking.
Though she still had questions about Nerri’s work and especially his interest in wormholes, Aeryn kept out of their way. She puttered around for a while, cleaning her pulse pistol, making sure everything had been put away properly.
From time to time, she looked over at the brother and sister. They sat, heads close, talking, sometimes laughing. Watching them stirred up her own inner turmoil again. Of course it wasn’t the same as what she’d had with the Crichton who died, just as it wasn’t what Chiana had shared with D’Argo before that relationship had imploded. But she envied them the closeness and the happiness of shared memories, just the same.
When Aeryn put away the pouch of currency she’d been carrying with her gear, she was reminded of the locket she’d purchased. She took it out and held it in her hand, rubbing her thumb across the design on the front. The smooth metal was actually warm to the touch. She wrapped her fingers around the locket as she had when she first picked it up at the jeweler’s stall. As before, the sight, the feel of the piece of jewelry led her thoughts to one place.
John.
There was no point in denying it. She *was* connected to this John Crichton as much as to the man who died, even if she and he weren’t together.
With a small smile, she walked over and wrapped the chain around one of the levers on the main controls. It wasn’t the same as her prowler, but it would do to remind her. After a final check of the course laid in on the controls, Aeryn settled down to get a few arns’ rest. Sleep came much more easily than it had in monens.
When Aeryn awoke, Chiana and Nerri didn’t appear to have moved from the bench. They were still there, Nerri with his head leaned back against the wall, Chiana curled on her side with her head in his lap. His hand was on her back. To Aeryn’s bleary eyes, they both appeared to be asleep.
She got up and checked the navigation controls, then walked over to the sanitary facilities and freshened up. When she finished drying her face, she noticed Nerri had his eyes open and was watching her.
Aeryn grabbed a couple packets of food cubes and walked over to him. She handed him a packet, and tore open the other one for herself.
She nibbled at a food cube and contemplated him for a moment. After swallowing, she said, "Are you sure you can’t stay with us for a little while? It would mean a lot to her."
Nerri tore open his packet, and shoved one whole cracker-like cube into his mouth, chewing while he thought about his answer. "It would mean a lot to me, too," he said finally. "We were inseparable, growing up, two halves of a whole. Especially once we were exiled. I miss having her around. A lot." He smiled down at Chiana and brushed her hair off of her forehead. "But I have something I have to do. I have to stop the Establishment from taking advantage of the plague they used me – and Chiana, and so many other innocents – to spread."
"It isn’t your fault, you know," Aeryn told him.
"I know," he said.
Aeryn snorted softly. She doubted he believed that any more than Crichton believed it wasn’t his fault that Scorpius – or Furlow – had stolen wormhole information from him and used it to threaten the UTs. They were alike in that if nothing else. No wonder Chiana was so fond of John. "What did you expect to do with the generalizer?" she asked.
Nerri looked down at Chiana, who was apparently still asleep, and then back up. "Destroy it," he told Aeryn. "We would have bought it and destroyed it so the Establishment couldn’t make use of it." Seeing the surprise in Aeryn’s eyes, he asked, "What are *you* going to do with it?"
Apparently Chiana hadn’t told him last night. Give the girl points for discretion. "We’re doing our best to save lives," Aeryn said. “Defend the defenseless.” And quite possibly send John Crichton back to Earth, she thought with a pang of regret that surprised her with its strength. She took another bite of her food cube and waited to see what Nerri would say.
In the end, he only nodded.
After a moment Aeryn asked, “Are you really trying to bring down your own government?”
“Yes. They’ll mind-frell the galaxy if they’re not stopped.”
Aeryn shivered. “I was mind-cleansed once, you know,” she told Nerri. “It was….” She looked away for a moment, remembering. “It was a terrible violation.”
“You were lucky,” the young rebel told her. “You had friends to help you.”
Aeryn put the last of her food cubes in her mouth and contemplated. When she’d finished, she said, “Chiana could help you. She’s very good at what she does.”
Nerri smiled. “So she says.” He shoved a second food cube in his mouth, effectively keeping himself from talking.
Aeryn smiled, too. “She’s right, though.”
“But I can’t do what I need to do if I’m worrying about keeping her safe,” Nerri said, finally.
Aeryn’s smile turned brittle. “You’d be surprised what you can let someone you love do,” she said.
Nerri’s grin took on an edge of puzzlement, but he only shook his head and said, “No, it’s better if she’s got friends to look out for her. What I do is too dangerous for her to be mixed up in.”
At that moment, Chiana stirred and sat up. She looked from Aeryn to Nerri warily. “If who’s got friends to look out for her?” she asked. “You wouldn’t be trying to protect me again, would ya, Nerri?”
“Of course I am, Little Sis,” he admitted without batting an eye. “You’re the only thing I have left to protect.”
“No frellin’ way, don’t lie to me,” she snapped. “You’re not thinking of me at all. If you were, you’d come with us. Crichton needs help too.”
Nerri shook his head. “Chiana, I can’t,” he said sadly.
Her eyes filled with tears and she cocked her head, looking at him. “Why not?” she breathed.
Aeryn decided it was time to remove herself from this situation before she got drawn into an argument that didn’t concern her. She backed away quietly and went to check on their course and estimated time of arrival at Sloboda.
Chiana and Nerri argued for the remaining half an arn of the trip to Sloboda, but in the end, as they had all known she would, Chiana gave in and agreed to go back to Moya with Aeryn while Nerri rejoined his resistance group.
Aeryn arranged for a short term stay in the spaceport. Then she and Chiana said goodbye to Nerri.
Aeryn shook his hand solemnly, and said, “I’m glad to have met you.” She was surprised to realize she meant it.
Chiana threw her arms around her brother and hugged him tight and then backed away to stand beside Aeryn. With tears in her eyes she said, “Take care of yourself, okay, Nerri?”
“You know I will,” he told her, hand on her shoulder. “Look out for yourself, too, okay?”
Chiana nodded, and Nerri headed down the steps.
Ex-Peacekeeper and Nebari runaway stood side by side, watching him go. Then Chiana turned to Aeryn and pouted, “Frelling heroes.”
Aeryn looked at her. “At least he’s alive,” she observed without elaboration.
Ashamed, Chiana said, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Aeryn replied. “They are who they are, though. Loving them won’t change them.” To her own surprise, she smiled.
“You just figure that out?” Chiana asked, looking up at Aeryn from under her bangs.
“Mm-mm,” the Sebacean said, widening her eyes. “Stupid, isn’t it?”
The Nebari shook her head. “Nah. I could say the same about D’Argo.” When Aeryn frowned in confusion, Chiana said, “In his heart, he wants to settle down. Be secure. Have what he lost. Nothing I can do about that.”
Aeryn nodded.
Chiana took a deep breath and looked back down the stairs where her brother had gone, letting him walk out of her life again. “When Meelak wouldn’t take me to Nerri, Crichton told me just what you just said. At least I know he’s alive.”
Aeryn rubbed her neck and said, “Should we go? We’ll be able to make the rendezvous in plenty of time to avoid a scolding.”
Chiana giggled. “Wanna *earn* a scolding?”
Aeryn frowned. “What have you got in mind?”
“Let’s go have a little fun. Come on, we can go shopping!” Chiana exclaimed. “I hear Sloboda has a great commerce center! It’ll be krell! We could do girl stuff. Maybe we can find you a new outfit.” At Aeryn’s grimace, she added, “Or….I don’t know, find a shiny new pulse pistol! Come on,” she wheedled, “We can at least pick up a few bottles of raslak for the trip….”
Aeryn considered. They could spare a few arns without panicking the others. And they could both use a chance to relax after the last couple days. “Girl stuff….” she began dubiously. Before Chiana could interrupt, Aeryn continued with a smile, “….that might be fun.” There was always the raslak if all else failed….
Chiana’s face split with a huge grin.
* * * * * * * *
In the end, they’d had a lot of fun together. They’d trailed in and out of shops, each with a bottle of fellip nectar. After a short time, Aeryn had forgotten her dignity and they were giggling and earning themselves a series of dirty looks. Chiana took the lead, pulling out clothes for Aeryn to try on. Perhaps instinctively, although the Nebari chose bright colors and silky fabrics, she kept to simple styles, holding a series of vests and tops up to Aeryn in front of a mirror. A few times, Aeryn even tried one of the offered items on, and she finally allowed herself to be talked into buying a shiny white blouse with long straight sleeves. It wrapped to a “V” neckline in the front and tied at the waist with a satin ribbon.
“Crichton’ll like that,” Chiana said delightedly. “And it’s easy opening, too,” she grinned.
Aeryn scowled for form’s sake, but said nothing, and there was a satisfied smile in her eyes when she took the package from the proprietor.
Gratified by the success of her efforts as a fashion consultant, Chiana moved on to finding something for herself. This involved moving on to yet another shop. On the way, she found a refuse container to discard her empty bottle of fellip nectar.
Aeryn privately thought the new shop specialized in outfitting tralks, but simply watched with amusement as Chiana pawed through the racks, trying on roughly every third one. As each skimpy top got more outrageous than the last, Aeryn finally snickered, “Are you *trying* to give D’Argo and Crichton a heart attack?”
“You think this’ll do that?” Chiana asked, turning sideways to admire the effect of her latest find in the mirror. It was brown and edged with fur, and covered next to nothing.
Aeryn looked her up and down, took a drink of her fellip nectar, and nodded. “It has a pretty good chance.”
“Guess I’ll take it then,” Chiana said, paying for the tiny thing. She followed Aeryn out of the shop, thereby earning the gratitude of the shopkeeper who had been watching the girl discard item after item, trying to make sure none of the discards found their way into her coat pockets….
Aeryn checked the time, and declared they needed to head back to the ship. Chiana, already thrilled to have gotten far more concessions from Aeryn than she would ever have expected, reluctantly agreed. But as they walked along, Chiana had one last thought.
“Your locket,” she said, stopping suddenly. “We should get something to put in it.”
“I don’t know, Chiana,” Aeryn began, but the Nebari interrupted.
“You gotta. It’s made to keep something in. It’s not complete if it’s empty. I know, we should get a picture of you for it. Then you can give it to Crichton.”
“Chiana,” Aeryn said wearily, “Crichton and I are not –“
“But you will be,” Chiana insisted. “I’ve seen you both. You know it’s just a matter of time.”
Aeryn shook her head, but she didn’t bother to deny it. “Not a picture, though,” she said softly, thinking.
“Hair,” Chiana breathed as inspiration hit her. When Aeryn looked puzzled, she elaborated. “A lock of your hair. There’s plenty of room, it’ll fit. He cut a lock of your hair to keep when you were, well, you know, when he killed you.” Said that way, it didn’t sound quite so romantic, and Chiana said, “No, scratch that, sorry.”
But Aeryn’s mind was a million miles away, remember all those times this Crichton, as well as the man she’d lost, had twirled a wayward strand of her dark hair in his fingers. “It’s perfect, Chiana,” she said softly. Then Aeryn’s gaze sharpened and she said, “We’re leaving now. Come on,” she commanded, starting off at a brisk pace.
Chiana skipped along to keep up with her, a delighted smile on her face. Who knew this girl bonding thing with Aeryn would have turned out so well?
Back in the ship, on their way to rendezvous with Moya, they tackled the issue of Furlow.
Aeryn sat in the pilot’s chair, brooding, her eyes fixed on the locker where she had stored the generalizer.
Chiana finally could stand the silence no longer. “Do you want me to help with her?” she asked.
Startled, Aeryn looked up. “What?”
“Furlow. Do you want me to help you kill her after we give that thing to Crichton? I will.” When Aeryn looked surprised, Chiana elaborated. “I owe you. And you’re right. She should pay for killing him.”
“She should pay,” Aeryn said mildly, “for all the evil she’s done and will do. Not just for John.” She paused for a moment, seemingly to settle her mind, and then told Chiana, “But you and I are not going to kill her.”
Afraid for a moment that the Sebacean still planned to run off on her own, Chiana started to protest, but Aeryn cut her off. “Not now. As badly as I want to settle that score, John may need the information she stole from him. It’s important, what he’s doing.” She sighed deeply. “I’ll tell John about Polonius. We can decide together what we should do, what we need to do.”
Chiana nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.”
“Well, it’s the best one I’ve got, anyway,” Aeryn told her with a small snort.
Deciding to leave well enough alone, Chiana checked the time and said, “Well, I think this qualifies as a good trip. We got Crichton’s gadget, got a lead on Furlow, saved Nerri, didn’t get killed or arrested, and we got to go shopping!”
Aeryn shook her head and smiled indulgently.
* * * * * * * *
In Moya’s docking bay, Aeryn and Chiana walked down the steps of the transport pod, laughing. Chiana was first, carrying the container with the generalizer. Neither of them was surprised to see Crichton standing in the bay, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Chiana waved the package at him. “Hey, Old Man! We got it!”
He didn’t fall for the distraction, though. His eyes went straight to Aeryn, and the women were both amused to watch him try to keep the astonishment off his face as he took in her new top, paired with her leather pants. Chiana wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen Aeryn in anything other than her usual practical clothing. No matter how hard he tried to keep his expression even, his eyes widened.
“Hey,” he said, apparently at a loss for words.
Aeryn looked at Chiana smugly, not at all surprised at his reaction to the blouse. In that as in so many other things, he *was* the man she lost. But she stopped at the bottom of the stairs, nervousness of another kind showing on her face.
“Go *on,*” Chiana hissed at her. Hefting the package again, she called to Crichton, “I’ll take this to your lab, okay?”
Crichton, who hadn’t taken his eyes off of Aeryn, said, “Sure, Pip, that’s good.”
Smirking, Chiana headed out the door.
Aeryn made herself put one foot in front of the other and crossed the bay till she stood in front of John.
“Hi,” she said.
“You look…nice,” he told her uncertainly.
“Thank you.” She smiled and confessed, “Chiana’s doing, not mine, I’m afraid.”
“It’s nice no matter whose idea it was,” John told her, his voice low and gentle.
They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment, and John dared to reach out and brush a strand of her hair back out of her face.
As he drew his hand back, Aeryn snared it in one of hers. For the first time, he noticed she appeared to have something in her other hand.
Aeryn hesitated for a moment, holding his hand in hers as if weighing it.
Loving them won’t change them, she had told Chiana. And loving them won’t *save* them, either, she thought. But maybe you shouldn’t let that stop you loving them….
Aeryn looked up into blue eyes that were watching her anxiously, then turned John’s hand palm up. She deposited something warm and smooth into it, and wrapped his fingers over her gift. She bit her lip.
“We’ll talk later,” she said huskily. “I should make sure Chiana gets that package put away properly.”
Locking eyes with her again, Crichton said carefully, “Okay.”
Aeryn backed away and then left the room, and John followed her with his gaze. Only when she was gone did he open up his hand.
A locket.
He smiled broadly, though he wasn’t at all sure why.
