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John managed to comm D’Argo before Stark ran down the steps to greet him. Grabbing Stark as the Bannik jumped off the last step, John exclaimed, “Stark! I’m so glad to see you. How’ve you been?”
“Leave now!“ Stark cried, pulling John towards the pod’s steps. He turned his head towards Chiana and cried, “Hurry, hurry! We have to leave NOW!”
Starks pleading and prodding had the effect of the four of them trying to go through the hatch at once, causing John to dissolve in laughter. It seemed to have the opposite effect on Jool as her hair turned redder and her expression became one of general annoyance. This made Stark even more frantic, defeating his desire to leave immediately. Jane efficiently untangled the mess, pulling one person at a time through the hatch. They were finally able to leave.
They were on their way to Moya having just left the planet’s gravity claim when D’Argo commed them. He said, “Moya picked up a retrieval squad on the outer edge of her senses and they’re headed this way.”
“How long?” John replied.
“Very soon.”
“Um, we’ll be there in a quarter arn...”
“That’s not soon enough, John,” D’Argo interrupted. “We’ll head your way and starburst as soon as Moya has you.”
“I told you! I told you!” Stark anguished, then strained to look out the portal, as if he could will Moya to pick them up sooner.
Moya immediately headed for the pod and pulled them in just as the Vigilante appeared in the solar system. They starburst before Moya was detected.
======================
“Stark, I kept your mask,” John said. “Thank you.”
The others had already left the maintenance bay, leaving John and Stark by themselves. John needed to tell Stark about what had transpired as gently as possible. For one thing, he couldn’t hide Scorpius’ presence until they reached Renlar. He would have to broach it now, hoping Stark would be able to come to some sort of terms with his former tormentor who was currently on Moya with them. Together, they walked to John’s quarters.
When they got about half way to their destination, Stark suddenly froze mid-stride, spun around and said, “I feel a presence! Evil! There’s evil!”
“Calm down, will you?” John exclaimed.. “First, I need to tell you what’s happened since I got your mask, THEN you will understand.” He mentally added, ‘I hope.’ They continued down the corridor and John added in a soft voice, “C’mon, let’s get you that mask.”
======================
“ ...We were successful, thanks to Crais’ and Talyn’s sacrifice, and we were able to destroy Scorpy’s wormhole project.” Having delivered the condensed version to Stark, John became quiet. He didn’t know how he would deliver the next few pieces of information. He especially didn’t know which Stark would react to the most: Aeryn leaving or Scorpius being on Moya now. John also decided not to let Stark know about Jane, not just yet.
“Stark, you’re not going to like what I have to say next.” John heard himself repeating his twin’s words. “Aeryn left. She sought a group of renegades... She didn’t... “
“Nooo!, Stark cried out. “It can’t be! Zhaan! My beautiful Zhaan.” Stark started to flail around wildly, his eye unfocussed.
“She didn’t let me come with her and I don’t know how to find her. You can help me.” John said this, partly hoping that Stark could help him, but also hoping this request might have a calming effect. It appeared to. He decided to drop the next bomb, hardly giving Stark a chance to assimilate the first. “You said you sensed evil. What you sensed is Scorpius. We are taking him to Renlar...“
“Scor... Scor... Scorpius! H – h- h- h- how can... Wh... “ Stark’s eye glazed over. This was more than he could bear.
John comforted Stark. “He won’t be here for long, and he no longer has any real power,” John said. “I don’t think there is much he can do to us now in his present situation and he’ll be leaving within thirty-six arns.”
======================
John left Stark with Jool and went to talk to Scorpius in his quarters. When he entered he saw three DRD’s watching him. John said, “Scorpius, we gotta talk.”
“What is it John?” Scorpius asked. “Does Stark know?”
“Yup, and that’s what I want to talk about.” John said, glaring at Scorpius, his anger rising. “Scorpius, I can almost understand what you did to me. As horrible as it was, I can see the reasoning behind it. I think you were wrong to have done those things, but there was logic behind it. HOWEVER, what you did to Stark was wrong!”
“I can see you are angry,” Scorpius stated. “There was logic behind my actions but I do not believe you can see it in your present state.” He returned the stare.
“You’re right about my anger, but try me. I think I’m capable of seeing ‘logic’ in my present condition. And I’m not pointing Winona at you, you’re not being subjected to your beloved Aurora chair as Stark and I have been, and other than my own instincts, I can’t tell if you’re lying. However, my instincts are usually pretty good.
“So, what was the logic in repeatedly subjecting Stark to the chair?” John asked. “You had determined the chair’s limitations and capabilities early in its development. So, why did you continue to torture him?” John began to cool down.
“That is not how it worked, John,” Scorpius said. “I was continually refining the chair’s design. I needed it to find secrets the mind held. The more it damaged the subject’s brain, the less useful it was to me. Stark has a resilient mind. I could test the limitations of the chair with him,” he added and folded his arms across his chest.
“No, Scorpy, I don’t buy that. Why the hell did you use it on him daily, or more. Doesn’t each species mind work differently? How could Stark’s results be much use to you? You didn’t seem to care how much you damaged me, so I don’t think that is what you were after. It was just plain cruel after the first couple of times.” Yelling, he added, “He had NOTHING to show you, and you knew it.” Once finished he started pacing to dissipate the anger that reemerged.
Scorpius faced John again and spoke in that quiet controlled voice which contained more menace than if he shouted. “Your anger is clouding your judgment, and you do not understand how the Aurora chair works.”
“No! I DO understand. You tortured me in that chair, too. You couldn’t get the information out of me either, and not because I was consciously hiding anything.” John was shouting again. “Hell, I couldn’t. And you knew right away that I was telling the truth about not being a spy. Why couldn’t you have just backed off and asked for my help? You didn’t try. I think you did want to torture me, and especially Stark. You got even for your childhood, didn’t you?” Having vented, John’s anger left and he sat down.
“This is neither the time nor the place to discuss my childhood. By showing you my history, I hoped to get your cooperation so that WE could defeat a galactic threat. I was wrong to have expected that.” Scorpius said. He remained standing, looking down at John. “And regardless of what YOUR logic is telling you, I did have my reasons, and they were legitimate. How legitimate were your reasons for destroying the command carrier with over fifty thousand people on it?” Scorpius paused and saw John was about to speak. He held out his hand and continued, “No, do not answer that. As for Stark, I will make sure to minimize contact until I leave.
“However, I am curious about Jane. Why is she speaking your language? English is it? Jane, is not a Sebacean name, it sounds more like it came from you, or your people,” Scorpius said.
“It’s not my place to tell you, Scorp. Ask Jane.”
======================
Stark found himself drawn towards Zhaan’s old quarters. He hoped to find peace there. The news about Aeryn was especially troubling. “Why did Zhaan sacrifice her life if Aeryn was going to leave John?” Stark anguished. As he got closer to Zhaan’s old quarters he noticed that Moya was mostly healed. He nearly walked into Jane when he entered the room.
“Stark, what are you doing here?” she asked.
“Zhaan is here,” Stark said. Walking around and touching the walls, he added, “I still feel her presence. Why are you here?”
“No reason.” Watching him, she asked, “Who is Zhaan?”
“My beloved,” Stark said. “She sacrificed herself for Aeryn.” Stark saw Jane look at him questioningly, and added, “Aeryn is John’s love. But he told me she left.”
“I didn’t know. She must have left before I came here.”
Stark replayed the words in his mind. “Jane, you are speaking like Crichton.”
“What do you mean? I do not sound like him, do I?”
“No. Yes. I mean, your language sounds the same as John’s. How can that be?”
Jane told the literal truth, “I learned his language. Practice makes perfect you know.”
======================
“John, Stark and Scorpius know that I speak your language. What should we do?” Jane asked. She had cornered him when he was on his way to the lab. “I’m not sure that Stark believes that I don’t know who Zhaan and Aeryn were, um, are.”
John bit his lower lip before speaking, “I don’t know. I know Scorpius suspects something, but he’ll be gone tomorrow. Stark is another matter. I really don’t know what we should do about him.”
“Okay. Will we tell him as soon as we unload Scorpius?” Jane said. “At least then we can all watch him FREAK out!”
“You can’t be serious?”
“I am. We will be done with it and not have to worry about his finding out.” Jane countered with her own brand of logic. “Well, I am tired. Good night John.”
“’Night Jane.”
======================
“Commander, we are near the Renlar system,” Pilot said, his image in the clamshell in front of Crichton.
“Get the pod ready,” John said. “I’ll get Scorpius,”
“Yes, Commander”
“How well do you know the leader?” John asked, hoping that by delivering Scorpius to Renlar he would get cooperation to help find Aeryn, if it was possible.
“Captain Molayne first interrogated me when I turned myself into the Peacekeepers having escaped from the Scarran Dreadnought. I was disappointed to learn he had defected. He was the one who helped me acquire a position within the Peacekeepers. Then, I thought he had turned traitor, but I now know better,” Scorpius said, walking to the pod.
John’s comm came to life just as they were entering the maintenance bay. Pilot yelled, “Commander! Renlar is surrounded by Peacekeepers.” A display lit up and they could see several Marauders approaching the planet’s atmosphere. There was no larger ship visible nearby.
“Pilot, scan for a Command Carrier, a Vigilante, or anything that’s Peacekeeper and large,” Crichton said.
“I have already done so, Commander. Moya’s senses have not detected any large Peacekeeper vessels.”
“Starburst now!” Crichton yelled. “Get us the hell out of here!”
======================
Pilot picked up a coded transmission to Renlar just as they starburst. He summoned John to his chamber. “There are only two people on Moya who would have made that transmission: Sikuzo or...”
“Scorpius!” John finished Pilot’s statement. “My bet’s on Scorpius. Can you decode that transmission?”
“I do not know Commander. We have just started, but it is a very complex code,” Pilot said. “Scorpius cannot stay on Moya. We must find a place to leave him quickly.”
John commed Jane to meet him in Pilot’s Chamber.
“John, why do you need me here?” Jane asked as soon as she met John in Pilot’s chamber.
“Jane, when you were in me as Harvey, you could sense when people were lying,” John said. “Can you still do that?”
“It depends on who you want me to screen.” Jane said.
“Someone here on Moya sent a coded transmission to Renlar a moment before we starburst,” John said. “It could have been Sikozu, but my money’s on Scorpius. I want to know if they’re lying when I ask them about the transmission and when I ask them what it contained.”
“Pilot, can’t you decode the message?” Jane asked.
“Not quickly,” Pilot said.
“I’m certain that I’ll be able to tell if Sikozu is telling the truth or if she is lying,” Jane said. “But Scorpius is another matter. He knows how to mask his energy signature.”
“Well, Jane, that’s something,” John said, “At least we’ll be able to eliminate Sikozu as the primary suspect.”
==========================
John and Jane spoke with Sikozu privately and were satisfied that she had nothing to do with the coded transmission. In addition, she offered to help decode it and immediately went to Pilot to work with him while John and Jane spoke with Scorpius. They reasoned that it would be best to take a direct approach with him.
They found him sitting in the central chamber, surrounded by DRD’s. If one could judge from his body language, Scorpius appeared a little dejected. Both John and Jane approached the table and John asked, “We’ve gotta talk, Scorpy. I’ve got some questions for ya.”
Scorpius looked at John and asked, “Why is SHE here?”
“Scorpius, let’s just say I’m John’s backup,” Jane said. Sitting down, she added, “Surely you can’t object to one of your cousins several times removed from being present.”
Scorpius made a low growl, but did not try to stop either John or Jane.
“Pilot picked up a coded transmission that was sent from Moya a microt before we starburst from Renlar. Do you know anything about it?” John began questioning Scorpius.
“Yes,” Scorpius said. “I made it,”
“Who did you send it to and what was it about?” John asked.
“I hoped to contact Molayne. It was coded for him,”
“Why did you wait until we starburst to send it and why did you hide it from us?” John asked.
“The message was for Molayne, I will not divulge its contents to you,” Scorpius said, forming a pyramid with his hands and resting his chin on the point. “The message had nothing to do with you.”
“And you expect us to take your word for it?”
“I expect... nothing.”
===================
“ ...and that’s the situation. We don’t know what the message says as yet. We haven’t been able to decode it.” John said to the group gathered in Pilot’s den trying to determine what to do about Scorpius. Once more, Scorpius was waiting outside the chamber, surrounded by a handful of DRD’s. John continued. “I’d ditch him in a heart beat. But can we trust that he won’t turn around and regain power only to wreck havoc on this galaxy?”
“I know he doesn’t have any currency, or not much anyway,” Jool said.
“How’dja know that?” Chiana asked.
“He had a wound that he wanted me to treat. When I asked him why he hadn’t attended to it sooner he said he couldn’t afford it,” Jool said.
“That may not mean he doesn’t have any currency,” Rygel said.
“I have nothing else to go on,” Jool said. “And anyway, why would he lie about that three days ago?”
“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” John said. “What are we gonna do?”
“The last starburst brought us close to the Plezyhn system,” Pilot said. “Why not leave him there? It is quite remote.”
“They are neutral but it is very close to Scarran territory,” Sikozu said.
Chiana shrugged her shoulders, and asked, “That’s a problem?”
“Yes, if you would bother to think for a microt,” Sikozu said as she whirled to face Chiana. “Scorpius might trade the information he does have for safe passage. Do we know anymore what his allegiance is?”
“We can’t... how... can he stay on Moya?” Stark stammered.
“Stark, I do not want him around any more than you do,” Jane said. “But, do we really have any choice? The question is, is it safer for him to be with us or for Scorpy to be loose somewhere in this galaxy? It looks to me like we’re between a rock and a hard place.”
“Humph, so is Scorpius,” Rygel said.
