XOVER: Betrayal - part 3 of 5
Dawn341@AOL.COM
Thu, 11 Jul 2002 18:37:30 EDT
Betrayal - part 3 of 5
For disclaimers and warnings, see part 1.
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Crichton studied the spaceport once more. Due to other ships in the
area, the Marauders were not close together. There were three sitting in
the middle of the port. Another was quite some distance away, but there
was no cover near it. They'd be out in the open and quite visible to the
crew. The final one was off to one side, but close to the other three.
If any of the Marauder crew shouted for help, the crew from Moya would
be in trouble. However, there were storage sheds close by to hide
behind.
As far as he could tell, there were two commandos guarding each ship,
but they were on high alert - pulse rifles poised and ready for
anything. Now it was all up to Chiana.
Crichton turned to the Nebari. "Do you know what you have to do?"
"Of course," she said with an impudent grin. "It's hardly a challenge."
"Just be careful," Crichton cautioned her.
She grinned at him again before heading over to the Marauder, carrying a
bag of drugged reslak. All she had to do was entice the two commandos
into their ship, and get them to drink some of it. Even if they didn't
have any, if Chiana got them inside the ship Crichton and Aeryn would be
able to get the drop on them.
At first he didn't think his plan would work. The commandos kept shaking
their heads to whatever Chiana was saying. He wished he was close enough
to hear what everyone was saying. Finally, the Nebari ducked between
them and dashed onto the ship. She paused at the top of the ramp, and
threw the commandos a coquettish look over her shoulder before going
inside. The two commandos appeared to be arguing with each other, then
one of them followed Chiana. After looking around nervously, the second
one also entered the ship.
Crichton heaved a sigh of relief. "D'Argo, you wait here. If anyone
comes before Chiana gets back here, start shooting."
D'Argo nodded. "I know what to do." He placed one hand on Crichton's
shoulder. "Take care."
"Thanks, big guy."
"Let's go," Aeryn said, somewhat impatiently. "We don't know when the
rest of the commandos will be back."
Crichton and Aeryn moved closer, keeping the sheds between themselves
and the other Marauders. Eventually, they had to leave their safety and
cross the open area in plain view. Crichton kept expecting to hear a
shout, or the sound of a pulse rifle being fired. However, it seemed
that the other commandos were too busy looking toward the town than in
this direction.
Cautiously, pistols drawn, they crept up the ramp and into the Marauder.
The pistols weren't needed. Chiana was spinning around slowly in the
pilot's seat, and the two commandos were sprawled out on the deck.
"I told you it wouldn't be a problem," Chiana said with another impudent
smile.
"All right! Let's get them out of that armor."
With the three of them working at it, it didn't take long. Crichton and
Aeryn donned the armor, then he carried the commandos out of the ship
and back to D'Argo. Each time he was out in the open, he had to worry
about discovery, but he was never spotted.
Finally, he and Aeryn took up their positions outside the ship. Once
again, the wait began.
*****
It would have been hard to miss the Peacekeeper force that came into the
spaceport. However, spotting the individuals in the midst of all the
armored commandos was a little more difficult. The first group was
protecting Scorpius.
Just the sight of the leather-clad Peacekeeper made Crichton's stomach
roil, and he had to swallow hard to keep the bile down. If he'd been a
better shot; if there had been an opening in the crowd surrounding
Scorpius, Crichton would have been tempted to shoot him.
Before he could follow up on the temptation, Scorpius boarded one of the
Marauders while the squad that had been guarding him started to disperse
toward other Marauders. A second group marched up, and this time they
surrounded Richie Ryan.
Even from this distance, Crichton could see that Richie's hands were
cuffed behind his back. He also didn't miss the fear on his friend's
face. It was pretty obvious that Richie wasn't going voluntarily.
So much for Jool's story. Crichton mentally kicked himself for ever
believing that Richie could have betrayed them.
Once again, Crichton had to fight the urge to start shooting. Getting
into a firefight here would be disastrous to them all. There was no way
they could win.
"We'll rescue him," Aeryn whispered in his ear. "Just remember to do
everything I told you." She'd spent the time while they waited drilling
proper procedures into him.
Crichton wished he could see her face, but her helmet made that
impossible. Was she feeling as guilty as he was? They should have tried
to rescue Richie. He should have trusted his instincts about his friend.
A nudge from Aeryn brought his attention back to the present. Three of
the commandos were headed for them. He and Aeryn stepped aside and let
the others board the ship, then quickly followed them up the ramp.
"Drop your weapons!" Aeryn ordered as soon as they were all inside,
aiming her pulse rifle at them.
"What do you think you're doing?" one of the others growled at her.
"What kind of game is this?"
She ripped off her helmet while still keeping her gun trained on them.
"It's the traitor, Aeryn Sun!" another commando almost yelled out.
"Drop your weapons or die," Aeryn ordered again, her voice deadly
serious.
Crichton didn't think they would do it. He had visions of them shooting
it out in the Marauder. If that happened, there probably wouldn't be
many survivors. After a few tense moments, the other commandos finally
lowered their weapons to the floor. Now it was his turn. He quickly
handcuffed the three commandos, then pushed them toward the door. He
took a quick look around outside. The rest of the Marauders had sealed
their doors, and one was already lifting off.
He waved to D'Argo, then pushed the commandos out of the Marauders.
*****
"That tralk! That lying, stinking tralk!" Chiana ranted as she helped to
tie up their new prisoners. "When I get my hands on her, I'm going to
rip out every one of those red hairs of hers."
"Now, Chiana," D'Argo said, trying to keep his voice calm and smooth.
"We don't know that Jool lied. Just because they had Ryan in handcuffs
doesn't mean that he didn't turn himself in. We both know how well
Peacekeepers keep their word."
"No. I won't believe that Richie turned himself in. If he had, we would
have had a command carrier here looking for Moya. Jool lied to us."
"Maybe she did," D'Argo reluctantly admitted. "But we don't have time to
worry about Jool."
Chiana didn't look happy, but she finally nodded. "What about them?" she
asked, looking at their five captives.
"Someone will eventually find them," D'Argo said. "But we'll be long
gone before then. And with a Marauder at our disposal, we can go
anywhere we want." Hopefully, when the commandos were found, no one
would suspect that their missing Marauder was on its way back to the
command carrier.
*****
Richie knew he was doomed as the ship took off from the planet. There
had been no rescue attempt. His so-called friends had abandoned him. He
was on his own - and at the mercy of Scorpius. Except he didn't think
the half-Scarran, half-Peacekeeper knew the meaning of the word.
Right now, he wished Crichton had never told him about the Aurora chair.
Sometimes, ignorance was bliss. He knew he would end up in it, and,
thanks to his friend, knew it would be the worst thing he had ever had
to face. Would he be able to keep his greatest secret from Scorpius?
Would he be able to block out the fact that he could die if his head was
chopped off? Or should he let them know it? Tell them how to kill him
permanently? If he did, would Scorpius eventually put him out of his
misery? Or would the idea of being able to torture someone for as long
as he wanted be too much of a temptation to Scorpius?
No, he couldn't give up. He would have to try to find some way to get
free. Or maybe he just needed to keep Scorpius occupied long enough for
Crichton to do whatever he planned to do to stop Peacekeepers from being
able to create wormholes. Stopping that had to be the highest priority.
He turned his attention to Scorpius. "Hey, didn't anyone ever tell you
that leather tails and a leather mask only belong in the movies? I'd get
a new tailor if I were you."
The man just smiled at him. "You will soon lose your bravado. And I
doubt that it will take very long." He snapped his fingers. "Braca,
let's see how well our guest can heal himself."
The Peacekeeper that Richie had pegged as a flunky, quickly moved up to
the chair that the Immortal was tied to. He pulled out a knife and
slowly cut through Richie's new shirt. Then even more slowly, he ran the
blade from the human's right shoulder, diagonally down across his chest,
to the left side of his waist.
Richie gritted his teeth at the pain, determined not to scream. He felt
like his chest was on fire, and he struggled to breathe. The cut hadn't
been that deep, but it had been excruciatingly painful due to the
slowness of the knife's movement.
Scorpius moved closer as lightning bolts flickered across his captive's
chest, and the wound healed itself. "Amazing," he breathed out. "Again,
Braca."
Richie lost track of the number of times he was sliced open during their
flight. They never hurt him seriously enough for him to die, nor was he
able to retreat into unconsciousness. All he could do was endure the
pain, and concentrate on not screaming.
And deep inside a spark of hatred for Crichton and the rest of Moya's
crew flickered to life.
*****
"There it is," Aeryn said."
Crichton looked out the viewport. He'd forgotten just how big a command
carrier really was. "How will we find Richie on that?"
"My guess is that there's only one Aurora chair onboard. And that will
be near the detention cells. I know where those are. My bigger concern
is how we will find out where they are working on the wormhole
knowledge. That can be in so many areas. We'll need to split up."
Crichton wasn't happy with that plan. "I think we should stick
together."
"The only way we are going to be able to accomplish both our goals is to
do them at the same time. If we rescue Ryan first, Scorpius will know
we're there, and send all his troops to protect his research."
"Okay, so we hit the research lab first. Then in the confusion, we
rescue Richie. Besides, I'll probably get lost if I have to wander
around that thing by myself."
"You're probably right," Aeryn agreed - way too quickly, in Crichton's
opinion.
*****
Richie tried to hide his fear as he was fastened in to the Aurora chair.
Even though he knew it was useless, he still fought against the metal
bands around his wrists and ankles. And when they brought down the
headpiece and pushed it against his forehead, he felt doubly trapped.
"There's no escape," Scorpius calmly told him. "Your struggles are a
waste of energy." He lifted one hand, and a man standing behind a
console pushed some buttons so that the whole platform started to slowly
spin. Scorpius watched the young man go around several times before
stepping up on the platform. "Shall we start?"
"I wouldn't stand there if I were you," Richie said, trying to hide his
fear behind his smart mouth. He was usually pretty good at that. "I have
motion sickness. Never could stand things that spin. You might end up
with a very smelly mess on you."
Scorpius ignored his comment and raised his hand again. Sudden intense
pain shot through Richie. It felt like someone had run a red-hot knife
through his brain. It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt more like
an eternity. Before he could recover from the first attack, it happened
again, lasting longer this time.
The blue plate in front of Richie showed a diagram of what he could only
assume was his brain. It was little more than colored lines inside a
skull. For a brief moment, he thought that maybe the chair wouldn't work
on him. Scorpius ruined that idea at once.
"It will take some time to map your neural network, but soon you will
tell us all we want to know."
The pain was back, seemingly even worse than before. Richie struggled to
breathe through it, already feeling sweat beads forming on his face. A
brief respite, then more pain.
"Hey, you'd be a big hit with the S&M crowd back home," Richie forced
out during the next lull. "You even have the costume-" He couldn't
finish as the pain tore through his brain again.
Images started to appear on the plate in front of them. They were just
quick flashes, and Richie was barely able to register them as they
seemed to change. Tessa. Racing motorcycles. Duncan. Jail. Angie. The
antique store.
Pain again. Sweat was running down his back, sending a shiver through
the young Immortal. More current images. Richie flying planes. The space
shuttle. Richie knew what would be next and he fought to suppress it.
For a short while he was able to, but eventually the machine dredged up
the memories of the Farscape module, and John Crichton. And Earth as
seen from outer space.
"So, you are from Earth, and you do know Crichton. I wonder if you have
the wormhole knowledge, too." He raised his hand, and the operator
twisted a dial.
Richie screamed in agony. How had Crichton survived this? He couldn't
breathe, couldn't move, couldn't do anything but scream as more images
appeared. He could have lived without seeing these memories again, but
he was forced to watch as the Collaroy crew slowly suffocated to death.
Suddenly, the image wavered, and then changed. The only problem was that
Richie had no idea where it had come from. He recognized Duncan, but the
other Immortal was wearing clothes that he normally wouldn't have been
caught dead in. Plus he had long sideburns that he definitely didn't
have now. He and another man were apparently building a house - although
it was in the early stages. They seemed to be doing more talking and
smoking cigars than building until a young woman dressed in an old-
fashioned gown drove up in a horse-drawn wagon.
"I don't remember this," Richie muttered.
Pain sliced through him again. This time the setting looked like an old
western town. Duncan was there, again, this time wearing a long apron,
and sleeve protectors. He was standing between a young man and another
Immortal that Richie recognized. He watched as Mako gunned down the
young man while Duncan tried to get out of the way.
Richie finally understood what was happening. Somehow, the Aurora chair
had tapped into the memories of other Immortals - ones who had lost
their heads to Richie.
"This can't be right," Scorpius muttered. "He must be from a more
primitive planet. I want to see how he got to Earth, and his
relationship with Crichton."
The operator twisted another knob, then slid a lever up. Richie almost
blacked out from the pain. Now the images were of Kristov and his raids
with what had to be the Cossacks.
"These aren't his memories!" Scorpius ground out. "He is not even in
these images! What is wrong with this machine?"
"All indicators show that everything is working normally."
"Apply more power!"
Richie screamed in agony, then let blessed unconsciousness claim him.
*****
"That has to be it," Aeryn stated. "It's next to a launch bay so that
they can try out their shielding. It's heavily guarded. And it's filled
with scientists."
"So, now what?" Crichton felt like he was way out of his depth here.
This was Aeryn's world - hopefully she could come up with a plan. And if
things went wrong, they'd have to rely on his ability to improvise to
get them out of trouble.
"We can get explosives and blow up the equipment. That should do it."
"Wouldn't their info be in their main computer?" Crichton asked.
"Blowing up the lab wouldn't get that data." He stared at the lab,
trying to come up with an idea. "If I could get in there, I might be
able to get into their computers and destroy the data. Then we can blow
up the lab."
"They probably aren't working around the clock. If we wait for a few
arns, the lab may empty out."
"Great. So, let's go find Richie."
"We can't risk it," Aeryn insisted. "Which is more important - rescuing
Ryan or stopping Scorpius from getting wormhole technology?"
Crichton didn't know how to answer that one. A large part of him thought
that rescuing his friend should take priority, but if they didn't stop
Scorpius, millions could die. How had that Star Trek movie gone? Did the
needs of the one ever outweigh the needs of the many? Spock would have
said no. Kirk would have said yes.
"We have to stop Scorpius!" Aeryn reminded him.
"All right. All right. We take care of the lab, then go for Richie.
Where can we get some explosives?"
"This way."
*****
He was dreaming. Make that having a nightmare. He'd open his eyes and be
back on Earth. Or at least back on Moya. No one could have come up with
something like the Aurora chair. All he had to do was open his eyes, and
he'd wake up.
"He's conscious."
"Very well, start again."
That was all the preparation time that Richie had as another lightning
bolt sliced through his brain. His eyes flew open as he screamed in
agony. There was no relief this time. The pain continued unabated as
images once again formed. The Immortal had no trouble recognizing the
two other Immortals in the vision - Carter Wellan and Haresh Clay.
Except he'd never seen them riding horses, and he'd never seen Clay wear
a turban. It had to be one of Wellan's memories.
"No! Find me the memories that deal with Crichton! I have to know if
Crichton would give himself up for him!" Scorpius ordered.
"He won't," Richie mumbled. "If he cared about me, he would have tried
to rescue me before you got there."
Scorpius moved closer. "Tell me about Crichton and I'll let you go free.
I promise."
Richie almost gave in as the pain abated, then he remembered something.
"Just like you promised to let Jool go back home? Right. No deal."
"Find me those memories. I don't care how long it takes!"
***** end of part 3