Past Aggressions 1
It's the middle of season 5. Crichton and company
are lost, more lost than usual. They're running out of food, and don't have any
starcharts for navigation. But that becomes the least of their problems, as
Aeryn's past suddenly catches up with her.
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.
Info:
This story takes place during the fifth season of Farscape (in other words,
after "Bad Timing"). There are a few small spoilers, specifically from "Bad
Timing" (4) and "The Choice" (3). I've decided not to go into details on how
Crichton and Aeryn's situation at the end of season 4 was resolved. I'll save
that for another story.
And now, on
Farscape...
Past
Aggressions 1
John's thoughts
wandered as he stared out the front of the Command. It was quiet, again. It had
been for over a quarter cycle. Not even a commerce planet, let alone anything
else of interest. Sure, it was nice not being immediately chased by anyone, and
it was nice not making any new enemies, but they needed supplies and starcharts.
They couldn't last forever just flying around in the middle of
nowhere.
D'argo walked in and got
John's attention.
"Nothing?"
"Nada."
"Aeryn
says we've got enough food to last another fifth of a cycle, maybe a bit longer
if we ration some
more."
"Rygel?"
"Chiana's
keeping him away from the food."
John let out
a deep sigh.
D'argo just stood, staring out
at the faintly twinkling stars. He almost couldn't believe there was anywhere as
empty and desolate as this region of
space.
Stark entered the command, ready to
start his five arn shift. "Go on Crichton! Get some
sleep!"
"Alright..." John replied. The
monotony he faced out here made him tired and sluggish. He was too used to
anticipating something happening, but nothing happened out here. Nothing at
all.
----------
About
an arn later, Stark stood on the Command. He disliked the overwhelming sense of
emptiness that this space seemed to be full of, but at the same time he loved
the quiet. He enjoyed the peace of standing at the command, just looking out
towards the rest of the universe. It gave him time to think. Time to think about
life, death, and Zhaan.
Pilot's voice
suddenly broke Stark's concentration. "Stark!
There's-"
"Pilot! Quiet!" While Pilot didn't
know it, he had interrupted Stark at a very bad moment. Stark had just been
contemplating his search for Zhaan and his capture by the Scarrens nearly two
cycles ago.
"Stark, this is important! Moya
is detecting a ship nearby."
"A ship?! Move
closer towards it. Quickly, Pilot!
Quickly!"
"Perhaps we should wake Commander
Crichton or Captain D'argo..."
"Not now! No
time!"
"The ship is well within range of
Moya's sensors. We have time to get the
others."
"Fine..." The slightly dejected
Stark turned and shouted into his comms, "Crichton! D'argo! Get up here! There's
a ship!" Stark turned back towards the projected image of Pilot. "Is it a big
ship? Or a little ship?"
Crichton walked in
as Stark was mumbling "Big ship, little ship, big ship, little
ship..."
"Commander, Moya has detected a ship
which is now approaching us."
"Right, are
they armed?"
"Moya's scans show only minimal
weapons."
"Are they
charged?"
"They don't appear to
be."
"Good, let's hope they stay that
way."
D'argo entered just behind
John.
"Big ship, little ship, big ship,
little ship, big ship..."
"John, what's going
on?"
"Looks like there's someone else out in
the middle of nowhere."
"Excellent. We might
be able to get starcharts from them."
"Pilot,
how close are they?"
"Less than 400 metras
away and closing, Commander."
"How 'bout we
say hello, Captain?"
"Agreed." D'argo paused
for a moment, "Pilot, establish communications with the
ship."
"Yes, Captain. Patching you through...
now."
A small face now appeared on the
screen. The image was poor quality, but seemed to be of a stocky yellow man with
three nostrils. His voice crackled over the transmission. "I am Kelmet. I am a
traveler in these parts, but I am willing to trade with you, if you are
interested."
D'argo summoned up energy that
had been drowned out for the past several weeks and responded, "I am Captain
D'argo, and I am also interested in trading. Do you have starcharts of this
area?"
"We have some, though not
many."
John turned to D'argo and murmured -
over Stark's continuing ramblings - "Better than what we've got
now."
D'argo agreed and instructed Pilot to
extend the docking web for Kelmet and his
ship.
As soon as the transmission ended, John
turned to his comms and shouted "Guess what? We've got
company!"
----------
"John,
we can't give them that much food."
"Shut up,
Harvey."
"No John, you have to
listen-"
"I said shut
up!"
Across the table, D'argo didn't
notice John's blank stare. He was too busy dealing with these "travelers" who
insisted on large amounts of food in exchange for
starcharts.
"We simply can't spare that much
food," said Noranti, who was hardly helping the bargaining
session.
"Sure you can!" Kelmet was hardly
one for haggling, "You said yourself, there's enough food about for a fifth a
cycle. We take half, and you'll have enough left to get to the next commerce
planet."
"How far away is this commerce
planet?" Rygel was now "assisting" in the ever-worsening
negotiations.
"Not too
far."
"Then why should we buy these charts at
all?" Rygel had been waiting for an opportunity to bluff. "We could just find it
ourselves."
"Ah, but you wouldn't. It's
tricky to find. You need to know where to
look."
D'argo was getting fed up, "Then how
do we know you're not full of dren?!"
"What
would I have to gain from deceiving you?"
A
short silence filled the room. Noranti broke it with: "Well,
food."
The whole table broke out in shouting.
Even Kelmet's shipmates, who had remained remarkably quiet during the
bargaining, were arguing.
"Alright,
Harvey! We'll try it your way."
"Thank you,
John. You should know I'm only trying to
help."
"Yeah,
right."
The table fell silent again.
John had just fired his pulse pistol at Kelmet's ship. He turned to Kelmet and
pointed the weapon at him.
"What are you
doing?!" Kelmet was noticeably shocked by John's
actions.
"Just tell me the name of this
commerce planet." John spoke slowly and deliberately. "Just tell us its
name."
"It's called
Disyl."
"Okay. Now how far away is
Disyl?"
"Not far at
all."
"How
Far?"
"Just a few solar days.
Really."
"Alright. A quarter of our food and
you tell us how to get to Disyl." John's grip on Wynona
tightened.
"Fine! Fine! Just lower your
weapon!"
"Bravo, John! See how well
that worked?"
"Sure, Harvey. And now we've
got a whole bunch of three-nostril yellow people people pissed at
us."
----------
Several
arns had passed since Kelmet and his shipmates had left, and John and Aeryn were
sitting down to eat a small, rationed meal. Aeryn was angry because no one would
let her help load the food on to Kelmet's
ship.
"You needed
rest."
"No John, I needed something to do.
I'm bored just sitting around here."
"But
you're going to have a baby soon, you need your
rest."
"Frell that..." Aeryn trailed off.
Inside, she knew that John wasn't wrong. Still, she wouldn't let him be right.
"So, what's the name of this commerce planet we're going
to?"
John was glad to see the subject change.
"Disyl. It's supposed to be small, but very nice. We should be able to get food
and starcharts there."
Aeryn was frozen. It
couldn't be. She remembered that part of space. There was no way they were
anywhere near there. "What... what's it
called?"
"Disyl." John noticed the panic in
Aeryn's eyes. "Are you alright."
"We can't go
there."
"What?
Why?"
"We just can't." Aeryn had always hoped
this day wouldn't come. She had hoped that her encounter with Ullom was just bad
luck. She had hoped that none of her other actions would catch up with her.
"Pilot," Aeryn now shouted into her comms, "Don't go to Disyl, Pilot. We should
starburst immediately!"
Posted: Mon - January 26, 2004 at 07:12 PM