Past Aggressions 3
Previously on Farscape: Moya and crew are in dire
need of supplies, and the only planet nearby is home of a dark secret held by
Aeryn Sun. Now, Aeryn and D'Argo are hiding aboard the invisible Lo'La waiting
for Crichton and company to return with supplies. Of course, it wouldn't be
Farscape if everything worked out that easily...
Disclaimer:
The characters of Farscape all are part of that wonderful happy Jim Henson
family. To put it simply: He owns them (but in a wonderful and happy way). I'm
just borrowing them for some non-profit
fun.
"Required"
Readings: Past Aggressions 1 and 2. (General
info can be found in part
1)
and now, on
Farscape...
Past
Aggressions 3
"Kelshi,
report!"
"We've finished our search of tier
four," the subordinate's voice crackled over the officer's comms. "We're
proceeding to tier seven, sir."
"Good, report
back in one arn." The officer turned his attention to a group of engineers off
in the corner of the maintenance bay. "Have you determined the source of the
communication interference?"
A sheepish
member of the group stepped forward. "It seems to be coming from the center of
the vessel, sir."
"Alright, go disable the
source immediately."
John finally intervened.
Again. "No! Listen to me, you can't stop the interference. It's coming from
Moya's neural cluster-"
"Stand aside,
Commander! We need to clear your-"
"We can't
turn off the neural cluster! That would kill this
ship."
One of the engineers quietly muttered
to his colleagues, "that's ridiculous." Chiana swiftly moved in and kicked the
engineer in the face.
"Chiana!" John
understood her anger, but didn't want any of the four pulse rifles pointed at
her firing.
"Sorry Crichton, I was just
teaching this frellnick about
Leviathans."
"Please Chiana, go keep an eye
on Pilot." The scans being done by the Disyians were wreaking general havoc on
Moya's internal systems, and Pilot and his DRDs were becoming more and more
overwhelmed.
"Nah, Noranti's up there with
him right now."
"And that's supposed to help
things?"
After a short pause, she replied,
"Right. I'm gone," and moved quickly out of the maintenance
bay.
It had been nearly six arns since
D'Argo and Aeryn left Moya, and John was becoming increasingly worried about
getting back to them in time. Upon arriving in orbit at Disyl, the crew
discovered that they required special permits to even visit the surface. They
contacted a patrol ship to acquire the documents, only to be bombarded by
engineers and soldiers moments later. Apparently the Disyians have never come in
contact with a Leviathan before, and that certainly wasn't helping
things.
"I've told you before Commander and
I'll tell you again, all ships -
all
ships - that enter Disyl's orbit must be invasively
scanned."
"I think this is a little more than
just scanning." John already knew the response he was going to
get.
"And all ships deemed 'unusual' must be
inspected."
"Well can we at least go to the
surface? We just want to purchase some
supplies."
"We're preparing your Visitors
Permits right now. If you stop bothering me, I might consider approving them
sooner."
John finally decided there was
nothing else he could do to get off the ship sooner and started off for Pilot's
Den.
"What the farbot's going on?"
Rygel ambushed John as he passed Stark's
quarters.
"Hey Sparky. The border patrol says
we've got to stay on Moya until they've finished giving her a full
colonoscopy."
"So what are we doing
then?"
"We're getting things ready to we can
leave as soon as they're finished. Go get Stark and Noranti and bring them to
Pilot's
den."
"Why?"
"We
need to make a shopping
list."
----------
"We
can't spend that kind of currency on
plants!"
"But I could make a delicious stew
if I just had a few stalks."
"Hang on,"
John's patience was wearing thin. Again. "Our number one concern is food and
charts. Rygel's right, we can't spend that much on
plants."
Noranti was persistent. "But stalgra
stalks are both nutrient-rich and very
flavorful!"
"Stop wasting time!" Everyone
froze at Stark's outburst. "Aeryn and D'Argo are waiting for us. We just need
enough food to last us until we get to a more hospitable commerce
planet."
"Right." John was impressed with
Stark's handling of the situation. "Pip. You, Noranti, and Stark will be in
charge of getting food and supplies." He added: "Only the most important
supplies. We can worry about other things later." He turned to Chiana and
whispered one last instruction. "Keep an eye on
them."
"Of course,
Crichton."
"Come on Sparky, we're going to
get some starcharts so we can finally get out of
here."
-----------
Another
patrol ship flew straight by Lo'La.
"That's
the fourth in one arn."
"John wouldn't tell
them where we were."
"Of course not, but I
know the Dysians. They could've planted listening devices on Moya and overheard
John and the others mention us."
"That would
explain why there are so many patrols passing through. They're probably
searching everywhere around Moya's entrance
vector."
Aeryn was silent for moment. A fifth
ship flew by about 20 metras in the distance. She spoke up suddenly. "D'Argo, we
haven't seen any ships flying back towards the planet, have
we?"
It only took D'Argo a microt to realize
she was right. "A trap?"
"Most
likely."
D'Argo's expression was grave.
"Crichton better hurry up, or we're going to have to fly right into
it."
----------
"Thank
you for your patience, commander." Kelshi's voice was less than apologetic.
"Here are your visitor permits. They'll grant you access to zero-restriction
public areas. They expire in 50 arns, and the expirations are strictly
enforced." The Dysian officer put unnecessary emphasis on the last
comment.
"Thanks." John's voice was even less
genuine than Kelshi's as he grabbed the permits from a short guard. He turned
around and moved straight for the transport pod. "Hey, Pip! Are we ready to
go?"
"Just waiting for you." Chiana responded
over the comms as she watched John out the front of the pod. "Pilot, we're
almost ready." She paused a moment. "And don't you let these frellnicks push you
or Moya around."
"Moya and I thank you for
your sentiment, Chiana. We're just worried for Aeryn and D'Argo's
safety."
"That's why we'll be back faster
than you can say 'Energize.'" John chimed in as he sealed the pod and checked
the currency they were bringing. More or less satisfied, he turned to Chiana and
said, "Let's go."
Posted: Tue - February 10, 2004 at 09:07 PM