His ship -- Hah! he thought bitterly, My ship... Not for much longer if Scorpius has his way--
The door chime rang and he looked up, then sighed and said, "Come." Two junior officers carrying his lunch entered his quarters and brought the tray to him.
"Sir, Scorpius said that you would be eating lunch in your quarters today," one of them explained as he glared up at them.
"Yes, yes," he answered with annoyance, triggering the control that made his table rise out of the floor. "Put the tray here, and you may go."
"We were told to wait until you are finished, Sir," the other one explained, his discomfort obvious as he realized they had just been placed squarely in the middle of the power struggle on the ship.
Crais sighed as they put the tray and utensils down, then said, "Very well -- stand over there and do not disturb me." He sat down carefully, trying his hardest to keep from showing any discomfort, and began to pick through his food.
Not three minutes later, Scorpius strode into his quarters unannounced, walked up to him, and tossed a data chip into the bowl in front of him. "My report to High Command," the half-breed said, looking down at Crais.
Disgusted, Crais fished the data chip out of the bowl and asked, "Shall I bother reading it?" He looked up at Scorpius as he stopped next to the table, imagining how Scorpius would look if he rammed the chip down his throat and choked him with it.
Scorpius looked down and smiled, then calmly said, "To what end? You'll hear it all multiple times at your inquest." Crais signaled to the two officers, who wordlessly turned and walked out. Scorpius let them go, preferring to be alone with Crais anyway, feeling the conflict raging even now within the Sebacean. He felt such power over the Sebacean now, the captain furious at what had been done; horrified at what he had allowed to be done -- he would not flee now that his watchers were dismissed... "You disobeyed direct orders, murdered a fellow officer with premeditation; sacrificed eighteen of your elite crew," he walked around the table, "in a pathetic quest for personal vengeance." Crais returned his attention to his lunch, beginning to eat despite the nausea and the fact that all food tasted like hull scrapings at the moment. Scorpius continued, "It's all in there."
He activated the control, retracting the table into the floor, Crais' annoyed expression almost amusing him. When the table vanished into the floor, he kicked the trays aside, smiling as Crais swallowed, pleased when unease momentarily overtook the anger. He stopped right in front of Crais and looked down at him as the Sebacean looked up at him with hatred burning in his gaze. "You are unfit for duty by any measure. I personally intend to see you stripped of rank and office."
Fury thundering in his veins, Crais snarled, "So you can take command of my carrier?"
Scorpius leaned close, his face only inches away from the Sebacean's, and purred, "I already have."
Something snapped within Crais, blind fury overwhelming any sense. He grabbed Scorpius by the throat and shoved, putting all of his strength into it as he propelled them across the room. "GET OFF MY SHIP!" he yelled, slamming Scorpius hard into the wall.
Every humiliation he had suffered at Scorpius' hands; every insult, every threat, the horror of the Aurora Chair and of the rape -- Crais poured all of it into his anger, giving him strength enough to continue to overpower Scorpius. He hauled the scientist away from the wall and shoved him into another wall, pulled him back and slammed him hard back into the wall again. Not finished there, he hauled Scorpius off that wall and across the room into another one, and again into another; each time using the distance to build up momentum to make the impact hard enough to injure most beings. Pure rage drove him, all conscious thought gone, leaving behind only the most primitive urge to destroy his enemy...
Crais never saw Scorpius' gesture over one of the controls as he snarled and hauled the half-breed over to slam him into another wall. Suddenly the scientist reached up to grasp Crais' wrists and pull his hands away from his throat, holding them up with ease as Crais strained against him. Scorpius roared and shoved him back hard, pleased as Crais fell backwards into the tub that had emerged from the floor, landing hard enough to stun him.
Scorpius strode to him and planted his foot firmly across Crais' throat, not quite hard enough to crush it, and in an unholy growl snarled, "Why must you force me to display my physical superiority to your kind as well?" Crais saw him look aside, almost as if he had been disturbed by his lack of control, and the next time Scorpius spoke it was in his calm, cultured tone. "If you want to fight anyone, attack your executioner," he suggested, then stepped back from Crais and walked out.
Crais choked, trying to clear his throat; coughed again and finally breathed freely. Slowly, painfully, he hauled himself to his feet and limped back to sit heavily on his bed. He opened his collar and removed his jacket, then rubbed gingerly at his throat, relieved to find that there seemed to be no injury, just soreness. Scorpius had known exactly the right pressure to use -- just as he had known about the drug, about Crichton, about everything...
It was more than obvious that Scorpius intended to ruin him completely, and unfortunately, Crais was aware he had given the half-breed enough evidence to do just that. He had to find something to save himself -- had to either find something that would make him too valuable to First Command to remove, or get Scorpius out of the way. There was only one thing he could think of that might accomplish either, and even that might not be enough at this point: the Leviathan gunship...
Somehow he had to get his hands on it, before Scorpius finished him off. He was not accustomed to being the target of Peacekeeper determination, and it did not sit well with him. Accustomed to being the one in power, the loss of that position burned; sparked fury deep in his heart. He hated Scorpius with every part of his being, far more than he had ever wanted to hurt Crichton; even more than he had wanted to capture the fugitives. Scorpius had humiliated him personally, and that he just could not allow. The problem was that he just could not think of any way to defeat him...
Braca entered Crais' quarters to find him sitting at his desk unmoving. The lieutenant reported, "ESAS reports a confirmed location of one of the escaped Leviathan transport pods," coming to a stop before his desk. "It's landed on one of the deep field asteroids."
When Crais continued to stare straight ahead, not even acknowledging his entrance, Braca said, "Sir." When there was still no response, he asked, "Captain?" He stepped closer and softly said, "Scorpius has ordered several Marauder teams into the asteroid field..." When Crais leaned forward to rest his head in his hands on the desk, he asked, "Is it true what they say? That Scorpius can sense our fears and our weaknesses?"
Crais cringed inwardly, knowing just how true it was, and then Braca raised his voice again and said, "I await your orders, Sir!" and moved back to stand in front of him again.
Crais looked up, meeting his Lieutenant's gaze, and shakily said, "My orders? Ah -- do as he says..." Recognizing a dismissal when he heard one, Braca turned and left the room, leaving Crais alone with his thoughts. Well aware that he had lost control of the situation, Crais dejectedly rested on the desk, mentally reviewing his very limited options. There's only one thing left -- I've got to get to that gunship...
Reunited on Moya after their experience on the planet, Crichton, Zhaan and D'Argo filled the others in on what had happened, and the present they had left behind for the Peacekeepers. In his opinion, there was no one more deserving of a ravenous calcivore than Scorpius...
With the increased Peacekeeper presence in the asteroid field, they had gone back to using the absolute minimum power, which meant, of course, that they were all freezing again. Fortunately, the star charts they had obtained from Br'Nee were exactly what they needed to find their way through the asteroids -- they just needed to be very careful as they did so...
He huddled deeper into the blanket and glanced back at Zhaan and D'Argo, knowing that earlier they had been discussing his supposedly uncharacteristic attitude down on the planet. Okay, so he had been a little trigger-happy -- that kind of thing happened when someone was trying to eat your friends... There was nothing wrong with the way he had been acting -- after all, they were all usually telling him he talked too much -- he sighed, frustrated. You just can't win...
At least now, as he sat with Aeryn and discussed her visit with the baby Leviathan, Zhaan & D'Argo were talking about the planet itself; Zhaan mourning the loss of the great resource it could be. Surprisingly, D'Argo knew exactly what to say to improve her mood. Crichton was relieved that her time spent as a specimen in a jar didn't seem to have affected her too badly. He was still trying to wrap his mind around her being a plant -- although it certainly did explain a lot.
Then there was Chiana, wrapped tight in a blanket with Rygel in her arms. Okay, I get the need to share body warmth, but...how does she stand the smell? Then he saw Rygel try to cop a feel and feign a waking stretch as Chiana scolded him. Uh...yeah.
He shook his head and leaned closer to Aeryn, glad that she was genuinely happy after spending time with the baby Leviathan. When she smiled it made her whole face light up, and he decided she should smile more often. And he had to get up and move around and work some blood back into his hands and feet before they got frostbit...
Pilot's voice interrupted his thoughts, "Officer Sun?"
Aeryn looked up and said, "Yes, Pilot?"
"Moya has asked me to relay to you how well she and her offspring are communicating now, all thanks to you."
Crichton smiled and turned back to look at Aeryn. She had her back to him, so he couldn't see, but he wondered if she were blushing. Just the slightest bit, of course... And then she answered, "Oh, Pilot, I did what I had to do for the good of the ship."
"Well," Pilot answered, and Crichton was almost certain he could hear a smile in the alien's tone, "the ship has notified me that the offspring now needs a name, And, she would be extremely honoured if you, Aeryn Sun, were the one to choose his name."
Wow... he thought, This is big. Not entirely sure why, but it is...
Aeryn stared at Pilot's hologram, amazed by the request. Eventually, she nodded, then very formally said, "Pilot, please tell Moya that I would be honoured to -- I will have to think, though. I want to make sure he has a good name..."
"She understands, Officer Sun."
Okay, we're gonna be safe from Crais, Scorpy and their buddies, but I'm gonna freeze to death while we're doin' it! Crichton thought, pulling the blankets completely over his head and shivering. Then he forced himself to lie still for a moment. Crais, he thought again, testing a theory. Okay, that was odd, he thought, realizing that he hadn't imagined the rise in temperature that even a simple thought of the Sebacean caused. Shit, Scorpy, what the hell did you do to me with that frelling -- that fucking Chair?! I even think of the guy and I'm getting all hot and bothered!
The voice in the back of his head chuckled and reminded him that it sure beat freezing to death.
He shrugged and smiled wryly. Damn -- c'mon, John-boy, the guy tried to kill you! You don't want him...touching you. The images flashed before his mind's eye, memories of that heavy-handed caress, of that warm body pinning him against the wall, of Crais' fingers and then Crais' cock -- suddenly he was rock-hard and much, much warmer. Oh, yeah, that's convincing. Don't want him at all, do I... he thought sarcastically. Damn! He grasped his cock and let the images come, his mind replaying their brutal joining the last time they had been together. Crais had been so wild, so forceful -- no gentle joining, no sweet caresses; just hot animal sex, both of them so aroused that they couldn't even talk...
A part of him wanted that again so badly he could taste it -- his body ached to have Crais' cock slamming into him, pounding his prostate mercilessly and not stopping until they were both screaming in orgasm -- wanted it so badly it almost hurt... He pumped his cock harder, focusing his memories on the look on Crais' face as the Sebacean pinned him down and thrust into him; how excited he was, that feral snarl on his face that looked -- that looked just like the one when Crais had been chasing him through Maldis' lair...
He arched in orgasm, crying out before he could stop himself; pumping his cock until the last spasm faded and then settling limply under the covers, now at least warm enough to relax and sleep comfortably for a while. As sleep was stealing up on him, he wondered exactly when Crais' anger had transformed into lust -- if Maldis hadn't been hounding both of them for their pain and hatred, would Crais have fucked him then? And just what the hell was going to happen the next time the two of them met...