TITLE: "OLD FRIENDS"

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 HARD WAY"

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

"OLD FRIENDS"
A "Farscape" story
Written by Alison M. DOBELL

D'Argo frowned. His face anxious as he reviewed the information from Pilot. He was alone in command and was so distracted that he did not notice Rygel come in. "There must be some mistake, Pilot."

"There is no mistake, Ka D'Argo. Moya has picked up a transmission from Aeryn Sun."

Rygel's ears perked up. Concern on his face. "Aeryn has been in contact? What did she want, Pilot?"

D'Argo turned, annoyed to find the Dominar behind him. "What are you doing sneaking up on people?"

"I am *not* sneaking up on anyone. And what are you doing holding information back from the rest of the crew?"

"Pilot has just picked up a transmission from Aeryn but he must be mistaken."

The Dominar frowned. "Mistaken? Why?"

"Pilot says it is a distress signal."

Alarmed Rygel addressed Pilot directly. "What did the signal say?"

"Aeryn has discovered that the planet she chose is used as a hunting area for Scarrans." He sounded distressed. "If Moya or I had known..."

Rygel's eyes widened with alarm and fear. "What the yotz, we *have* to get her out of there, Pilot!"

"I am afraid it is too late for that. She has been captured along with the other Sebaceans in the colony."

He looked immediately deflated. "Of frell! Who's going to tell John?"

D'Argo's expression darkened in warning as he loomed over the dispirited Dominar. "No one is going to tell John anything."

"No one's going to tell me what?"

They both looked up as Crichton walked in. A handkerchief against the side of his mouth where his gums were still bleeding. He was dosed up with painkillers so for now the pain was bearable. D'Argo did not know what to say. Rygel suddenly found he could not breathe. Crichton looked from one to the other. Baffled. "Pilot? What the hezmana is going on?" He mumbled.

Was it just his imagination or did Pilot hesitate before responding? "Commander Crichton," Said Pilot, suddenly formal. His voice sounded careful. "We have received a transmission for help."

"We have? Who from?"

D'Argo closed his eyes.

"The transmission is from Aeryn Sun. She has been captured by Scarrans."

All the blood left Crichton's face. The hankerchief fell from numb fingers. D'Argo could not bear to look at his face. Rygel could not look away. His eyes stared in puzzled bewilderment, surfacing slowly in pain and sorrow. An old old wound re-opened. Tears formed in his eyes. All trace of happiness fading like a light going out. "Aeryn!"

* * * * *

The Scarran dreadnought ploughed through the ocean of space with all the arrogance of that dread race. The Sebacean prisoners were locked in dozens upon dozens of cells sequestered in the bowels of the huge ship. Aeryn was annoyed with herself. Berated herself for her stupidity. Patri was frightened but somewhat comforted by the fact that they were all together. Aeryn caught her eye. "Did no one escape?" She whispered.

Patri shook her head. "No. No one."

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the bulkhead. Ignoring the chains. Patri sidled closer to her and not for her body heat. She hissed in Aeryn's ear, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible. "Who did you contact?"

Aeryn cracked her eyes open a little. Wary. Noting where the others were and whether anyone was taking notice of them. They appeared to be too dispirited and concerned with their own lot in life. "Friends."

A spark of hope lit Patri's eyes. Aeryn turned her head to look at her. "Don't expect anything Patri. This is a dreadnought full of Scarrans. My friends are few and not so heavily armed that they could take this ship and free us."

"Then why tell them?"

"I thought they might be able to follow us. Find a way to help us break out."

Patri shook her head gently. "Still thinking like a Peace Keeper, Aeryn." But the soft words held no edge, no sarcasm, and did not hurt as they once would have done. "Do you think they will come?"

Aeryn sighed. "Part of me hopes they will, that against all the odds they will find a way." She paused. If Crichton had still been with them they might have done just that. He was always the one with the plan. What the others would do besides mourn her she could not tell. "Another part of me hopes they go in the other direction and forget they ever knew me."

"You can't believe that."

"I don't know what I believe, Patri. All I know is that we are in deep dren."

Patri nodded and fell silent beside her. Unable to disagree with that.

* * * * *

They were gathered together in Pilot's den. Chiana could not believe her ears, her eyes fixed on Crichton as the bottom fell out of her world. She had left the children with Rygel, surprised when he had offered to watch over them for her. Now she understood why and her heart was touched by the sympathy that had moved Rygel to offer his limited help. D'Argo was a rage of conflicting emotions. He wanted to go blazing after Aeryn and rip the Scarrans to shreds but a dreadnought. He shook his head at the impossibility of it. How could they go up against a dreadnought? Crichton was so still, so quiet. Chiana touched his arm gently, he turned his head and looked at her. A smile of love surfacing to briefly dust his lips before the pain of memory caught up with him. He kissed her lightly on the forehead then looked up at the others.

"There must be something we can do."

No one spoke. He addressed his next comment to Pilot. "Can we keep track of where they're taking Aeryn and the others?"

Pilot nodded. His expression glum, not holding out much hope that they could do anything to free their friend. "Yes. Moya is able to track Aeryn through her comlink."

He nodded. A plan slowly starting to form in his mind. Just skin and bones right now but he hoped to add some meat to it as they went along. "Good. Then have Moya follow at a suitable distance. Don't want the Scarrans tipped off that they're being followed."

D'Argo looked at him. "You have a plan?"

"Not yet, Big Guy, but I'm working on it." He looked at Nerri. "First though, I want to go back to Rekkis and drop off Chiana and the kids."

Chiana was shaking her head. "I'm not leaving you."

He brushed a hand against her cheek, dislodging a tear. "Pip, honey, this ain't no picnic. I want you and kids safe."

"And what? You think we don't want *you* safe? No! Where you go, we go."

He was exasperated. The others saw the look on his face and excused themselves to give them some privacy. Pilot angled his huge clamshell head towards the controls and kept himself busy, his eyes averted. Crichton took Chiana aside and tilted her face towards him. "I don't like this any more than you do, sweetheart, but we can't do nothing. If that was me out there the rest of you would come after me even if you only had bows and arrows."

"What are bows and arrows?"

He smiled slightly. "Primative earth weapons. Wooden sticks propelled from a simple spring mechanism created by stretching a piece of catgut between the ends of a piece of bowed wood. Never could penetrate armour properly."

"Armour?"

He kissed her gently on the lips. "Metal."

"Oh." She clung to him. So scared of losing him. Terrified that everything they had built together would vanish as the past was resurrected into painful clarity around them. She had once guarded him against his nightmares. After the Chair. Had been there to soothe and hold him when he cried out in the night. Would he be there to chase away her nightmares? Or would he become a part of them?

* * * * *

Jack knew something was wrong. For one thing Uncle Rygel was not yelling at him. Not telling him off for rifling through his things again. Even Katri was subdued. She climbed up onto the royal bed and sat next to the Dominar. Jack climbed up on the other side. "What's wrong?" She asked him in a small voice.

He stirred slowly, looked from one child to the other and tried to mask his sadness. It did no good. Right now he could not fool a greebol. His heart was heavy. "Who says anything is wrong?"

Katri put her arms around him and hugged him close, eyes closing to block out the sadness that she could feel in him. Jack patted his sister's shoulder, his older eyes fixing on the Dominar. "You should tell us, Uncle Rygel. We may be able to help."

He snorted but it was more affection than derision. Yes. The boy was like his father. How typical that his first thought was how they could help. No idea of what they were frelling getting into or what it would end up costing them. He sighed and closed his eyes briefly. Heart aching for Chiana. When he opened them again he forced humour into his voice that he did not feel. "Do not worry. Your father will sort out any problems. He always does."

Jack nodded, accepting the lie for now. Not wanting to alarm his sister. Rygel knew he was not believed but they seemed to have a truce. The Dominar smiled. Children. He would be happy to have his turn out as well as these two.

* * * * *

Crichton wanted answers, so did Chiana. "Pilot, where is D'Argo?"

"He is in command."

Chiana held his hand, worried about him. How this would change everything between them. Sensing her fear he tilted her chalk white face and brushed her lips softly with his own. "I love you Chi, never forget or doubt that. No matter what."

She could not speak. Together they went to join D'Argo in command. Crichton looked around. "Where's Nerri?"

D'Argo pretended to be absorbed by his tasks. "I think he went to meditate."

Crichton nodded. "D'Argo, I need to know what happened."

He looked up from the console, dread in his eyes. Chiana knew he was uncomfortable at keeping things back. It explained a feeling she had picked up when they had first come aboard. A feeling she could not explain at the time. It filled her with a growing dread. Crichton closed the distance so that D'Argo could not ignore him. Chiana touched the Luxan's hand. "Hey, we need to know, okay?"

D'Argo nodded. Miserable. "You must understand, we did what we thought was best."

They waited for him to continue. He sighed heavily and began. He could not tell Aeryn's story without telling Zhaan's. "When you and Chiana left, Zhaan did everything she could think of for Aeryn. We were all distraught. So many emotions, too many to deal with all at once. Zhaan was worried about you. Concerned that we were losing Aeryn." He broke off a microt, the emotion in him making it difficult to go on. "Zhaan came up with a way to end the Living Death."

Chiana gasped in surprise. Crichton watched his friend's face closely. "How?" He whispered.

"She gave her energy, everything she had, in exchange for Aeryn's life..."

Horror stole over his friends' faces. Pain broke through the shock barrier. Crichton cried out, "No!"

Chiana turned to D'Argo, tears in her eyes. "Why?"

But D'Argo was not looking at Chiana, he was looking at Crichton. In that microt Crichton realised the truth. His heart ached with a depth of sorrow that was breaking him apart inside. The full impact of what she had done dawning painfully and cutting his breath to pieces as he tried to form the words. "She...she did it for me?"

D'Argo nodded. "Yes. Zhaan thought if she gave her life for Aeryn's you and Aeryn would be able to live the life you should have." He could not meet Chiana's eyes. "Together."

Chiana slid to the floor, her arms grasped around her knees as she began to rock herself with grief old and new. Her world had become ashes in her mouth, daggers in her heart. Her joy a wasteland peopled by the echo of lost dreams. Everything that was precious to her was crumbling around her.

"Oh God, D'Argo, how could she do this?" Cried Crichton. But he knew how. Zhaan loved him. Loved them all. Yet she had a special place in her heart for him as he had for her ever since they had shared Unity. He carried it with him always, that was how he knew the truth of D'Argo's words. He sank to his knees and cradled Chiana in his arms as she wept. D'Argo did not know what to do. His warrior training had never prepared him for anything like this.

"Why didn't you tell us when Aeryn was revived?" The human asked in a broken voice.

He knew the answer even before the words left D'Argo's mouth.

"Aeryn made us promise not to tell you. If you and Chiana could find happiness together, she was not going to be the one to stand in your way."

* * * * *

The drag and flux of engines told Aeryn they were coming out of StarBurst. The bustle of the guards in the corridors outside told her they were approaching their destination. The Scarran homeworld. The faint hope she had been carrying inside crushed the moment the guards came to get them. No one could save them now. This indeed was a bitter end. A huge guard started to yank them up off the floor by their chains. Aeryn forced herself to her feet and helped Patri up. No one was going to drag her anywhere.

They were bundled like grolaks into the transports then ferried down to the planet surface. There were Scarrans everywhere. The huge dustbowl was peppered with lumpy buildings which resembled nothing so much as caves above ground. They were not natural though but had been made by compressing and mixing the gritty sand with other materials to form a kind of concrete that the Scarrans then moulded and made into shelters. Oddly enough the tangled mess of habitats suited this place. In the name of Cholok she had never seen anything so closely resembling hezmana before. The only thing worse than the incessant dust storms was the heat and smell. Whatever had died down here must have been massive. And was still rotting. They were dragged, pushed and herded into one of the largest buildings. It was full of heaving bodies but as they entered a way was made for them which led to a large sandy floored ring. The ring was empty, waiting it seemed only their arrival.

A hush fell and Aeryn felt her skin prick. This was not good. In groups of twenty at a time they were prodded into the circle. Various Scarrans stepped into the ring. Examined them, sometimes intimately, then stood aside to either place a bid or leave the ring to other interested parties. The
whole thing took ages and some of the Scarrans broke out into short lived fights when they saw a particular Sebacean female that had caught their eye. Any hopes she had that she might escape the pleasure camps were dashed when her lot came up for auction. Patri's large scared eyes widened as they were seperated in the ring so the Scarrens could walk round each of them and touch and prod and handle the merchandise. Aeryn fought off one Scarran male only to have another pin her back and feel her through her leathers. She could not break his grip and struggling just seemed to add to the pile of injuries she was amassing. Hatred blazed in her eyes. The Scarran male seemed quite taken with her. "I like this one's spirit."

A flurry of bidding then he returned to her to claim his prize. She spat at him as she was parted from Patri and the others. The last thing she remembered as she was dragged out of the ring was the sheer panic on Patri's face. It seemed all she was able to do lately was disappoint people.
Hopefully she could find a way to add the Scarran to that growing list.

* * * * *
END