General Tranguard blinked in surprise as the great ship Talyn banked away from his mother, turning to head in the new direction provided to him by his captains. "You don't mean... you're going to take out one of those bases you talked about NOW?"

Crichton kept his steely eyes forward, answering in a deadpan voice, "Actually, it'll be in about four-hundred microts."

Tranguard flustered, "This is unacceptable. I demand you return us to Earth. You have no right to take us into this."

Crichton's face showed no relent, "It was unfortunate you were stuck on board, and for some of you I'm very sorry for that," he looked over his shoulder at his father and DK, "but we're not going to move back our timetable to drop you off; we can't afford to. You wanted to dictate a course of action for this war, General; don't you want to see what it's like first?"

Tranguard chewed on his lip anxiously, "I most certainly do not. I demand you take us home. You will not engage an enemy with civilians aboard."

Crichton looked at the general, eyes pinning, "Is that in the Geneva Conventions, General? They don't exist out here... there's nothing you can do."

General Tranguard looked toward the back of the command where Jack and DK stood back watching, both looking as scared as the general was... only he was more vocal about it.

"I won't be party to this; you can't make us accessories."

Crichton shrugged, "Fine... we can lock you in your quarters if you like."

Tranguard growled, "I won't stand to be locked up..."

Crichton spun around without warning on the general, gun drawn and quickly under the general's chin. Gasps from three on the command who were unprepared for such an action filled the air.

Crichton glowered, "I am a VERY busy man, General, and I don't have time to listen to your whining. Now I don't want to hear a single word out of you from now on... is that understood?"

Tranguard swallowed and glared at Crichton, "Are you going to shoot me, Commander?"

Crichton smirked darkly, "I'm a murderer, remember, General? Why don't you try your luck?"

Tranguard blinked.

Crichton nodded, turning again to the consoles and holstering his weapon. DK and Jack Crichton exchanged looks, uncertain. The gentle John Crichton they'd known ceased to exist, but could he be completely gone? Was it possible that that soft and kind Crichton still existed somewhere inside this steely military leader? Right now, it didn't seem like it was possible.

"Scarran fighters sighted on long-range sensors," Aeryn reported for the benefit of the rest of the crew... Crichton sensed it from Talyn as well as Aeryn did. The rattlers in his stomach twisted and hissed, but he knew that would pass... once they were a little closer.

The Scarran base swarmed with small fighters, prepping for the battle to defend their orbiting station to guard their wormhole-related planetary interest in the space body.

Crichton stared out at the approaching enemy, stomach calm as a windless sea. He spoke evenly, "Prowlers deploy."

On his command, the stolen Prowlers from defected Peacekeepers spilled forth from Talyn's hangar, coming to life and banking around the gunship, flanking him in preparation for the dive into combat.

Crichton nodded calmly, ordering, "Attack."

Aeryn looked away from the vectoring Prowlers, "Talyn, prime weapons."

Talyn chirped lowly in compliance, cannons and gun turrets coming on-line to full power.

The Scarran fighters pulled away from their base, arching toward the approaching gunship.

The Prowlers streaked toward the attacking Scarran fighters, and almost on cue both sides started firing. Within seconds, a tense but calm area of space turned into a war zone.

Talyn groaned and swerved to the side, missing a stray pulse blast... Crichton could feel Talyn's drexom pumping through his systems even as adrenaline ran through Crichton's.

Aeryn looked to Crichton, and they met eyes. They conferred for a split second, then nodded in agreement. Crichton looked upward at the ship's ceiling, "Talyn... take that base out."

Talyn groaned and chirped deeply, accelerating at breakneck speed through volleying fire toward the hovering base in the distance. As Scarran fighters turned their attention to the major threat, Talyn's smaller guns shot them down with ease, never slacking his pace toward the goal.

Everyone on the command grabbed hold of something to steady themselves as Talyn seemed to completely forget the loose creatures within him as he used every maneuvering capability open to him to slip beyond the fire of Scarran fighters and reach his target.

Aeryn was hunkered over a console, holding on for dear life, Crichton behind her and holding himself down as well as bracing Aeryn from loosing her grip and falling. DK and Jack Crichton were anchored to the floor as best the could by sitting with their feet hooked into tubing for Talyn's systems. Tranguard, however, was not anchored... he was moving.

Tranguard was struggling to one of the consoles, fighting his way to it and trying amidst the bucking of the ship to hit some of the controls, desperate to stop their attack and get out of danger.

Crichton saw his actions in the corner of his eye, and his response was instantaneous.

Crichton released one hand from the console anchoring him, whipped out his gun, and with one shot sent General Tranguard to the floor.

DK and Jack gasped, shocked, at the body on the floor of the gunship's command. John holstered his pulse pistol and returned to his position of combat readiness, seeming to forget the man he'd just killed.

"Talyn!" Crichton urged. They were near enough to the base, already defense weapons systems were taking shots at them.

Talyn complied, lowered his cannon, and fired.

Lightening quick pulse cannon blasts streaked toward the base, hitting their mark and seeming to hold their breath for a moment before exploding in a dazzling display of light.

Talyn rolled and banked, making an almost precision turn away from the disintegrating base. Crichton strained to keep hold of the console, gritting his teeth with extra effort when Aeryn's grip momentarily slipped and the only thing holding her in position was Crichton's bracing frame.

"Prowlers! Defend and retreat; return to rendezvous coordinates!" Crichton struggled to shout as soon as his insides stopped rolling from Talyn's maneuver.

The Prowlers' tactics changed, instead of offensive going on defense, covering a retreat back to their prearranged coordinates where Talyn would be waiting to retrieve them.

Talyn chirped, and without needing to be told opened fire on the remaining Scarran fighters he passed on his way to the coordinates himself, providing assistance and cover to the retreating Prowlers.

Crichton acknowledged his correct move, touching Aeryn's back to assure himself she was steady, then turned to another console, stepping over Tranguard's limp hand. He stopped to consider beyond Talyn's excitement in the heat of battle to assess damage. There was pain in his side and underbelly, probably from repeated sustained fire. Talyn would recover, but once his battle-high wore off he, Aeryn, and Crichton would be in considerable pain.

Crichton read the console readouts, looking over at Aeryn, "Prowler casualties?"

Aeryn squinted to read the figures, "Thirteen Prowlers shot down; the Scarran fighters are retreating."

Crichton nodded, glum. Thirteen was heavy, but acceptable... about what he could have expected from this kind of assault. He hated that thirteen people were lost, but there could be no helping the deaths incurred in the battle. He'd just have to try and do better, make smarter choices, not give the same orders to sentence thirteen more soldiers to death next time.

Talyn calmed down, the fight being left behind and Prowlers beginning to converge on his position to return to dock.

Crichton turned, looking down at the body of General Tranguard. He frowned to himself, thoughtful. He looked up and called over two of the Sebaceans working nearby, "You two... get him to one of the transport pods."

"Yes, sir." They gathered up the lifeless form and carried it out.

Crichton turned to look at his father and friend, finding their faces appalled, aghast, frightened, and shocked.

Crichton's heart fell, though he was not really sure why.

"So that was... what you do," Jack Crichton stammered, clearing his throat.

John dropped his eyes, head and spirit downcast. They had left the area when they sensed a Scarran Dreadnought on its way. Talyn was powerful, but he was no match for a Dreadnought. Someday, they would have to find a way to deal with the Dreadnoughts, but for now that task could be put off for another day.

Talyn had taken them back to the place where a wormhole to Earth could be opened up, and Crichton had maneuvered Talyn through the wormhole again while Aeryn kept him at partial starburst. They found it was the only harmless way for a Leviathan to pass through a wormhole. The intense energy and radiation in the walls of a wormhole that had made Moya sick the time she was trapped in one could be deflected if the ship was coated in the energy net for starburst... it bled off in the walls of the wormhole but served as a buffer for the ship. The Leviathan emerged depleted as though it had completed a starburst, but it was not weak and disoriented as a natural state Leviathan that had tried to traverse a wormhole would be.

Now Talyn hung over Earth, restoring his energy for another starburst out through the wormhole while Crichton said good bye to his father and friend.

"You'll have to explain to Earth what is going on out here, and that I'm going to do everything I can to keep them from coming back for you," Crichton briefed with almost stoic detachment.

DK stepped forward, smiling weakly, "You know, you could come with us... or come back after this war is over."

Crichton looked over at the body of Tranguard arranged on one of the benches in the transport pod. He shook his head, "I can never come back, DK. If I wasn't one to Earth before, I'm a murderer now. I can never come back... and you know that."

DK dropped his eyes, saddened and certain that Crichton was right.

Jack touched his son's shoulder, "What happens now?"

Crichton looked up at his father, "We'll go back and keep fighting. We'll find the Peacekeeper base that's setting up on the other end of this wormhole to take Earth and we'll take them out. After that... we'll just keep fighting as long as we have to... as long as we can."

DK asked faintly, "When will we ever see you again?"

Crichton answered firmly, "If we do this right, you'll never see me again... me or anyone else through that wormhole."

Jack nodded, stepping forward and enveloping his son in a hug. John closed his eyes, burying his face in his father's shoulder one last time. He knew this was coming, but somehow he felt he should have been more ready than this.

Jack stepped back to let DK hug his best friend one last time.

Crichton pursed his lips, shocked that after all the weathering and deadening he'd been through in the last eight years, that he could still feel something so strongly... that loss could hit him this hard.

Crichton pulled back, stepping away and meeting both their eyes. He knew this was the last time he would ever see them, no matter what ended up happening.

John sighed, turning to Resik, who happened to be the one picked to fly them down to the planet. "Take care of them," John ordered feebly.

Resik nodded, "Yes, sir," and climbed into the piloting seat.

Crichton waved one last good-bye to his father and friend, then stepped out of the transport pod and closed the door.

Aeryn found Crichton in the hangar bay, staring at Talyn's closed doors. The transport pod had left a quarter arn ago, but still he remained here.

She stepped up beside him, "Hey."

John was quiet a long time, barely answering back, "Hey."

Aeryn looked up at him, returning, "Hey."

Despite rules, Crichton said nothing.

Aeryn looked at the doors herself, glancing back at Crichton. It was something especially hard that could hit him with such impact these days, but this was one of those things... and one of those days.

She frowned in empathy, knowing all too well what it was like to leave behind a home and know you would never be going back. She stepped a half-step closer and rested her head on his shoulder, bringing back floods of memories of better times... of comfort and proximity that had once existed before the war.

Crichton sighed heavily, closing his eyes and dipping his head to touch his cheek to the top of her head. They remained so a moment in time, frozen and timeless as the countless other instances when they had drawn from each other in the exact same way.

John took a deep breath, inhaling that smell that was solely Aeryn, and from it he took the strength to make it through one more solar day.

END