TITLE: "WORTH DYING FOR"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "Farscape"

PAIRING: JOHN/CHIANA

RATING: PG-13

STATUS: New.

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed

SERIES/SEQUEL: SEQUEL to "THE INCREDIBLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING"

The usual disclaimers apply. No infringement of copyright is intended.

"WORTH DYING FOR"
A "Farscape" story
Written by Alison M. DOBELL

Nerri only began to breathe again once he was in the shadow of Rydex. With the planet between him and the Command Carrier he felt confident enough to send the signal. Luckily his people would be ready. He would not have to keep sending it or explain why he wanted them. What he had not expected though was for the Command Carrier to follow him round to the other side of
the planet. He had just finished sending and was checking over his instruments one last time when he caught the movement of the Peace Keeper vessel.

"Frell!" He hoped and prayed the signal had got out clean before they cleared the planet's bulk otherwise they were all in serious dren. Maybe his earlier slip of the tongue would be proved more accurate in the end and they were all going to Calvary after all. Groaning inside he reviewed his
diminishing options, every passing microt bringing the image of a bleached skull nearer and nearer in his mind's eye. If he looked real close he was sure it had his own face on it.

* * * * *

Ka D'Argo was not good at hiding his anxiety. This was Aeryn after all. A comrade. A fellow warrior. A friend. Everything seemed to be going way too slow for him. Crichton knew exactly how he felt but Moya was doing her best. He wished Talyn were with them, his firepower would come in handy right now. But Talyn was off with Crais, exploring deeper into the Uncharted Territories so that Crais could *re-examine his life*. Whatever that meant. Crichton still did not wholly trust him but at least he no longer hated or feared him. For now that was enough. Chiana was with the children, hopefully keeping them out of trouble this time. Rygel was silent, unusually grim and thoughtful. From time to time Crichton would look from his console to see how the little Dominar was doing. He rarely showed any emotions except greed and superiority but Crichton had learnt there was a lot more to the Hynerian that met the eye. Depths to the slug that sometimes gave startling hints at the nobility trapped inside that diminutive little body. He knew Rygel had a sharp analytical mind, an ascerbic wit and a most distinctive appreciation of all things edible. Whether they were still dead or not. Right now he detected a deep concern and a melancholy that was quite foreign to the Dominar.

"Hey, Ryge, you alright?"

His words were softly spoken, not intended for Luxan ears over on the console on the other side of the command. Crichton knew full well that D'Argo had heard him but the appearance of privacy was often enough. Rygel's eyes glittered at him. "Yes, I was just thinking."

"Care to share a thought?" He asked gently.

"No, I do not." He had become grouchy again, but it lacked the usual force or sarcasm. "How much further?"

"Moya reckons we should be there in less than three arns."

Rygel nodded and lapsed back into silence. D'Argo snorted. "Let us hope that is soon enough!"

Crichton did not say anything. He was praying too, this time not just to his God but also to Zhaan's. Kah'leen had healed him, made him whole, and he was grateful. If she could do that for him maybe she could help Aeryn to hang on. Just a little longer until they got there.

* * * * *

Patri was bleeding from so many wounds now but most of them were superficial. Inflicted for the pleasure of the panic he could create in the Sebacean female but also as a means of arousing the protective instinct in Aeryn. Pushing her beyond her own fear and replusion, drawing her nearer to the instrument of her death and torture. But first. He would have his pleasure of her. Sarnek grabbed Aeryn by the hair and dragged her kicking and lashing over to the stone. Aeryn shuddered at the sight of Patri, the poor woman trying to be brave through the tears but unable to hide her complete and utter terror. She was not dead yet though her vagina was torn, the brutal passage of the Scarran too much for her to take in without a struggle. Impaled and bleeding she had tried everything to extricate herself, panic driving her to rip herself more and more as she struggled. Until only the creature's withdrawal had saved her from dying there and then.

The Scarran shoved Aeryn to her knees next to Patri. "Clean her off!"

Aeryn glared at him. "I don't have anything. Give me a cloth, anything."

He pushed her closer, his terrible breath almost scorching the side of her face. "Wash the blood off with your tongue, tralk!"

She bristled at the insult and looked at Patri. The girl was still conscious but in a bad way. "Don't do this, let her go."

Patri heard her words and raised her eyes to meet Aeryn's. A measure of calm returned to them, an absolution for whatever indignity she was forced to perform on her. Whatever happened now they were friends. Aeryn wanted to cry. To rage. To lash out but the Scarran was reading her emotions too well and would only use them against her. Against them both. The Scarran dragged
her closer to Patri's bloodied body. He hissed a threat in her ear. "Clean her off. Now! Or I will rip her flesh off strip by strip and force you to eat it!"

She spat at him, the Scarran merely laughed. Aeryn swallowed and tried to form spittal, moving forward on her knees she bent her head and gently began to lick Patri's wounds. The woman tried not to move beneath her though her touch was gentle. Tiny whimpers occasionally broke free but she managed to keep her eyes steady, telling Aeryn it was alright. She understood. Did not blame her and was just thankful it was her not the Scarran doing this. Aeryn wept. Seeing tears on that austere face affected Patri. She found she wanted to comfort Aeryn despite her pain, despite what was happening to her, the fact that she was most certainly dying. She watched Aeryn's tongue sweep slowly over her cuts, licking away the blood from the numerous cuts on her belly, washing the filth of the Scarran's touch from her body. A different kind of emotion began to rise in her. A feeling of calm seeping through her as if the action was anaethetising her to the pain leaving only the feeling of Aeryn, her scent drifting over her stretched out and pinned body. Her
face softening in lines of grief and care. Her eyes promising a grim retribution on their enemies.

The Scarran settled himself behind Aeryn. She did not dare look behind her to see what he was doing. One hand still held her hair but looser now, the other hand skittered around her waist and began to probe. She could not get out from under him, could not escape or stop her ministrations. Patri could see what Sarnek was doing but carefully blocked the knowledge from being revealed in her eyes. She was losing herself in Aeryn's touch, it was the only comfort she would feel before she died. She did not want to lose that. Wanted Aeryn to keep going, to remove every last vestige of the Scarran's touch from her body. Aeryn noticed he had every cut her nipples. Sore, red and still bleeding she worked her way up the ribcage and painstakingly licked away the congealing blood, forcing herself not to gag, not to stop. Not to think about the sharp talloned claw sliding down her belly towards her own crotch. Only by concentrating on Patri could she partly block him out. Anger so hot in her that its' heat was almost enough to bring on the delerium. Almost but not quite. As Aeryn reached Patri's breasts she paused. "I'm sorry, Patri." She whispered.

Patri nodded. Just a small movement, it was all she could manage but her eyes were shining. "I'm not."

Aeryn hesitated. She must have misheard Patri but looking into the woman's eyes she realised she had heard her correctly. "I can't do this without hurting you, Patri."

"I know," She replied with a shudder. Getting weaker now but wanting the last thing she felt to be Aeryn. "Do it Aeryn, kiss me, love away the darkness. Remove his filth from my body before I die."

She swallowed with emotion. Could hardly see Patri's face for tears. "I will kill him. I promise."

Impossibly Patri smiled just as the Scarran yanked Aeryn's hair and demanded she continue cleaning the blood off her. Aeryn licked her lips to activate more saliva then gently licked and engulfed a full breast in her mouth, softly plying her tongue over the ragged edges where the flesh was torn and sucking away the blood. Patri felt only Aeryn's tongue, her mouth caressing her beyond the sharp insidious waves of pain that wracked her ruined body. Aeryn felt something pierce her and almost cried out. She worked with more attention to detail, it helped to block out the Scarran as he cut off her clothing with his claws and inserted a sharp chininous claw into the folds of her sex. Aeryn jerked, arched her back and cried out in pain. The Scarran pushed her head down and growled something deep and feral. She moved to the other breast and licked and sucked the blood away until she was massaging the mammary gland with her tongue, giving Patri ease and strangely calming down her own sense of panic at her violation.

Then Aeryn felt herself being dragged backwards, her body sliding over Patri's causing the woman to cry out in pain. He only stopped to push Aeryn between the woman's legs. He had a full clawed finger right inside her now, the angular edges feeling none too gently as he proded and probed inside her. Getting her ready to fully rape her. Aeryn knew what he wanted her to do and leant forward without needing to be urged any further. They were going to frelling well die. This was the last thing she could do for her friend, perhaps if she could make it a little pleasurable it would ease the pain her touch would cause. This was by far the deepest wound where Sarnek had ripped his way into her vagina and rammed himself again and again inside her as she had screamed. Blood was still pouring down her legs. The lips of her labia swollen and exposed, the public hair half shaved off by the sharp edges that had brutalised her. Aeryn could not stop crying. Patri was barely conscious now but roused when Aeryn began to lick her clean with her tongue, the gentle touch still too much of an invasion to get beyond the pain. The Scarran was getting very excited now. Aeryn could feel him. Part of her brain coldly clincal and calculating.

She had noticed he had a knife, long and as keen as any blade she had ever seen before. On his other hip was a pulse gun. Bigger than the kind Peace Keepers used and far more deadly. If she could appear to comply long enough to get her hands on it she could sent him straight to hezmana.

* * * * *

Moya emerged out of StarBurst, the Scarran vessel in sight. A collective intake of breath on command told Pilot that the crew had seen it too. D'Argo was well aware that they had little to bring to the combat and Crichton still had not come up with a viable plan. He looked at the human. "What is your plan?"

He was about to answer that he did not have one when Pilot interrupted. "Commander, three Nebari vessels have just emerged from StarBurst. They are hailing you."

Crichton whooped, a grin actually spread over Rygel's face and D'Argo looked stunned.

"Yo, Nerri, my main man!" He calmed down enough to speak to Pilot. "Put him on the phone, Pilot."

A face appeared on the clamshell monitor. Clearly a Nebari but not one Crichton had ever seen before. Right now all he wanted to do was kiss him. "You are John Crichton?"

Crichton nodded. "Yeah, and you are?"

"My name is Esak. Nerri said you were in need of assistance?"

He could not stop grinning. "How much firepower do you boys have in your toys?"

Esak gave him a blank look. D'Argo hurried to say something intelligible. "Forgive John, he is a human and making sense does not come easy to him. He is asking what weaponry you have and is it enough to knock out that Scarran vessel?"

Esak nodded. "You must be Ka D'Argo."

D'Argo just nodded and waited.

"Yes, we can destroy the vessel for you."

Crichton put his hands up, anxious to get what he wanted across loud and clear. "No, no, Esak, you *can't* destroy it. At least, not yet."

"Why not?"

"One of our crew members, Aeryn, has been captured along with a load of other Sebacean women. We are trying to rescue them, comprende? Once we have Aeryn and the others off of that boat you can blow it the hezamana out of the sky!"

Esak's eyes widened slightly then he nodded. "Very well. We will disable it then board with you."

"Thanks buddy, we appreciate the help." Crichton paused, his eyes narrowing a little as he tried to see beyond the limited picture of the Nebari Captain. "Where's Nerri? I want to thank him."

"He will join us later if he is able."

Alarm shot through Crichton. "If he is able? What do you mean if he is able? That's my brother in law you're talking about! Where is he?"

Esak ignored the question and gave a solemn nod before breaking off the transmission. "We are preparing to engage the enemy now!"

Crichton looked at D'Argo, the pit in his stomach opening wider. Anything he had been about to say was pushed to the back of his mind by the backwash of energy as the three ships began pounding the Scarran vessel.

* * * * *

In his quarters, Stark was kneeling in meditation. His mind, body and soul opened up to Zhaan. Her consciousness sweeping through him in warm waves, her thoughts touching his in a complex but beautiful ballet. She was pleased with him and he would give anything, do anything, for her. "I should go now." He murmured softly.

Zhaan touched his soul and the merging wrapped him in a deeper bliss. His sigh carried them both a little higher before she spoke in his mind, each word echoed in his heart. <No, dear Stark. Stay a little longer. I need to know they are alright. That Aeryn is safe.>

"But the Nebari ships are here."

Her thoughts rang out in a calm resonating wave that soothed his anxiety, his desire to be gone. <Yes, and this is the time of the greatest danger>

"We have done all we could do, Zhaan."

<Perhaps> She answered lightly, then he felt her moving through his mind and body. A delicious vapor of thoughts and feelings. He removed his mask and followed her on that inward journey, his breath no more than a fading sigh as she caught him.

"Very well, Zhaan." He murmured, so lost in bliss that he would have promised her anything. "We will wait a little longer..."

* * * * *

The first blast rocked the Scarran vessel so hard that Aeryn cried out. The Scarran cutting her unintentionally this time. He pulled back with a roar and removed his clawed fingers, her blood running down the triangular edges. He forgot all about her. All about Patri. All about his imprisoned harem. The second blast was even stronger than the first. Without waiting to lock her and Patri back in their cell the Scarran left the arena. The joy of battle raged in his blood, the fire of retaliation quenched the perverted desires that had formerly ruled him. He was a warrior. This was what he was born to do.

Aeryn collapsed against the stone. Her hands trembled. She was covered in blood. Some of it hers but most of it belonging to Patri. It took her a few microts to get her breath back, to get it through her mind numbed brain that this was their chance. She looked at Patri, knew it was already too late for her friend. Tears glistened in her eyes as she hunted for a rock and began to batter the locks on the rings that held her. They broke but Aeryn did not pause until every ring was smashed and her friend was free. Aeryn carefully slid her off the stone and onto the warm sand, sitting now with her back to the side of the altar stone and cradling Patri in her arms. Patri stirred and smiled up at Aeryn, a hand drifting up to touch Aeryn's neck. Her pain crazed eyes suddenly gentle. "Thank you, Aeryn Sun."

More tears fell from the ex-Peace Keeper. "I'm sorry, Patri. Sorry my friends could not get here in time."

"I am not sorry, Aeryn."

Aeryn looked startled. Patri smiled, the bright curve of her lips freezing Aeryn.

"Kiss me, Aeryn."

"Patri, I don't think that's a good idea. We have to get you out of here."

Aeryn petted her hair, trying to comfort her but Patri wanted more. She wanted to taste her lips on hers, a gentle hand, one that would inflict affection not pain. A last memory to take before dying. Aeryn saw the plea in her eyes. Understood. In the end it was such a small thing to ask. She bent her head and gently settled her lips on the broken ones. Patri opened her mouth and thrilled to feel the darting tongue taste her. The kiss was so gentle, so slowly invasive and warm and seeking. It was oddly comforting and felt right. The final loss of barriers. A shining truth however briefly glimpsed.

Unseen by either of them, Crichton emerged into the ring on the hamman side. He froze, mouth open as he watched Aeryn kiss Patri. Aeryn liked women? Since when? A shock went through him then he thought, why not? It would explain their more than complex relationship before he had found Chiana. Who the hell was he to judge anyway? Somehow it felt wrong to interrupt them but he could not take his eyes off them either. Such tenderness and sorrow, both women oblivious to everything but each other. It had a kind of fascinating beauty to it.

Aeryn broke off slowly from the kiss, her eyes on Patri's. Noticing how they were beginning to dull as the light went out of them. "Was it worth it?" She asked softly.

Patri touched a wondering hand one last time along the planes of Aeryn's face. "Worth dying for."

Then the light went out. Aeryn looked at her for a moment, not quite comprehending she was dead, then flung her head back and wailed with sorrow and pain. The cry shook Crichton and drew D'Argo and the others running into the arena. Then Aeryn folded herself around the slim broken frame as if she could somehow protect her even in death.

* * * * *
END