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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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2020-11-05
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Prelude

Summary:

Kind of a prequel to the events of A Bug'Â’s Life.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Prelude
by Natalie Williams
*****

“*What?*”

"“Guys, come on,"” said Crichton. "“What harm can this do?"”

"“It can get us all killed, for one,"” said Aeryn.

"“It won'’t. Trust me."”

"“I don'’t have a problem with it,"” Chiana said smiling happily from her seat at the table.

The others ignored her; they had already learned to disregard her comments at times like this. "“No,'” D'’Argo said strongly, shaking his head. "“This is not going to happen."”

"“Crichton has a point,"” Zhaan cut in. "“At the very least, it'’s worth a try."”

D'’Argo didn'’t warm up to the idea any more, even with Zhaan backing it. Crichton had come a long way since he first came aboard Moya, but D'’Argo still didn'’t trust him *that* much. Not when it came to Peacekeepers. "“I will not be chained like a prisoner,"” he insisted.

"“D'’Argo, you'’re not a prisoner,"” Crichton said. "“It'’s all just an act."”

"“And you are playing the role of a Peacekeeper."”

"Yeah.'

'Why don't I have faith in this plan?" D'Argo growled sarcastically.

 I never thought I would say this, but I agree with the Luxan," Rygel spoke up. 'I am not about to be imprisoned again."

Crichton rolled his eyes. 'You're not-"

Rygel didn't care about his explanation, he just continued talking. "And why doesn't *she* have to b locked up like the rest of us?"

Chiana smiled arrogantly, but Aeryn cut her off before she could speak. "If they check the criminal files, they will find all three of you in there. If they see you walking around free, the plan fails right there. They don't know Chiana is here. If they see her locked in a cell, that's one more story we
have to come up with."

Crichton nodded appreciatively at the Peacekeeper. "Thank you, Aeryn."

"Ha," smirked Chiana- apparently that one syllable got her point across.

"It's just easier this way," Crichton said.

"For you, maybe," snapped D'Argo. "You wouldn't be locked in your cell, would you?"

Zhaan put a hand on his shoulder, tearing his attention away from Crichton. "We can at least get some information from the Peacekeepers. Find out why they're here. There may be more of them," she said.

"Exactly why we should be getting the frell out of here! Or at the very least, not let them report back that they found us."

"Do we want to bring this to a vote?" asked Crichton. "All in favor?"

Chiana's hand started up, but Zhaan simply took her arm and pulled the girl's hand back down. "We can at least try it this way," said Zhaan.

"Look, whatever we do, we've got to do this quick," Crichton said, and turned to Aeryn, who had been silent about her opinions of this so far. "Aeryn-"

"Follow me," she said shortly, and started down the hall.

Crichton dropped his voice as he passed Zhaan. "Help me out here," he said, but it wasn't quiet enough to escape D'Argo's notice.

Zhaan smiled and nodded, and Crichton followed Aeryn out of the galley. With them gone, D'Argo turned back to her. "Why are you even considering this?" he demanded.

"I think John has a point," she told him. "If we can find out anything about their purpose for being here, it could prove useful to us. If they are coming here on purpose-"

"Then we get rid of them as soon as they come aboard," Rygel cut her off. "There. It's that simple. If you need me, I'll be in my quarters." Seconds later, he was gone, apparently trying to get as far away from them as possible.

"I really don't see what your problem is with this," Chiana started. "I mean-"

"Chiana, could you leave us for a moment?" Zhaan asked gently.

For a second Chiana looked offended by that, but she just shrugged and left the room.

Zhaan looked back to D'Argo. "We don't have much of a choice right now. Moya isn't at all prepared to starburst, and we can't just kill them. This is all we can do," she said. She paused, and saw that it hadn't convinced him at all. "At the first sign of trouble, we will back out of the plan."

D'Argo resisted the urge to let out a defeated sigh. He hated this idea. *Hated* it. But Zhaan did have a point. As long as they had an out, that was all he could really ask for "Let's do this before I change my mind," he grumbled.

*****

As he followed Aeryn down the halls to the storage closet where the uniforms had been stored, Crichton reveled in the knowledge that at least someone was willing to try this. He knew very well that he couldn't push this with Aeryn any more than he could with D'Argo or Rygel. He didn't know why she was going along with it, but she definitely wasn't happy about it. He figured that one out as soon as he'd brought it up.

"Woah, wait a minute," Crichton said, a realization hitting him. "Do translator microbes translate accents?"

Aeryn didn't look at him as she walked beside him. 'Do I have an accent to you?" she asked.

"Yes."

"There's your answer."

Oh, that was going to be a snag. They would know immediately that he was a phony. That was okay, he could fix that...

Aeryn stopped at the closet, opening the doors. "This is where they've been kept?" he asked her.

She suddenly froze, staring at him. "What is *that*?" she asked him slowly.

"What's what?"

"That!" she said. "Your accent is gone."

"Oh, that," he said. "I'm sounding like a Peacekeeper."

For a long moment she just stared at him in horror. Finally she said, "As long as you act the part, they won't care what you sound like."

"Yeah, but it puts me in character," he smiled.

She she turned to rummage through the closet, Aeryn muttered something that Crichton couldn't understand, but he knew it couldn't be good. He was going to be in the doghouse when this was over, he knew it.

"So these are Peacekeeper uniforms," Crichton said, cutting off the accent again.

"They are," Aeryn told him, quickly studying the apparel to make sure they were the right ones. "This one is yours." She handed him one outfit, and he unfolded it to change-

"Um, Aeryn?"

"What?" she said, pulling out the other uniform.

He held the jacket up against his chest, using it as a visual aid. "Unless you shrink me in the wash, this isn't going to work," he said. 'Is there anything else?"

Aeryn paused. "There's this," she said hesitantly.

But Crichton knew that Look. "What's the problem?"

"This is a captain's uniform," Aeryn explained. "The other one is for a lieutenant."

"So that would make me the captain."

"No."

"What?"

She shook her head. "You don't know about the first thing about being a Peacekeeper, let alone a captain. They will see right through you," she said.

"No, they won't."

"Trust me, they will. It will be much easier to get through this my way. I at least know what I'm doing."

Okay, fine. She was going to play hardball here, huh? Fine. He nodded to the outfit she was holding. "You're going to drown in that," he said.

She blinked.

"Not *literally*," he said with a sigh. "Fine. Try it on, see if it fits. If it doesn't, we're going to have to switch."

Keeping her gaze fixed on him, Aeryn took off her vest, putting the Peacekeeper jacket on over her tank top.

"Told you," Crichton said, trying not to sound smug about that one.

She wasn't happy about this, he could see that in her face as she reluctantly took the jacket off again. "What other choice do we have, Aeryn?" countered Crichton. "Okay, so if we can't pull this off, then what? We're pretty much screwed then. This might just be our only shot."

"There are other ways," she insisted.

"Oh, like D'Argo's plan? Shoot 'em all and let God sort them out? This way, maybe we can at least get some information out of them," he told her.

"Do you really expect me to take orders from you?" Aeryn said.

Aha. So the truth came out. "Look, let's try it. If it doesn't work, I'll sit by on the sidelines and let you and D'Argo do your thing. Will this one fit you?"

"It'll fit," she said tightly. "I'm going to inform Pilot." She took the uniform from him, leaving the other one there for him to change into. And then she was quickly gone.

Dammit. She was pissed at him. Again. But that was something he would have to worry about later. Right now they had other things to deal with.

 

END

Notes:

This orphaned work was originally on Pejas WWOMB posted by author Natalie Williams.
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