Farscape Tracker (5)
Aeryn tossed him a pulse pistol. “This time TRY NOT TO OVERLOAD IT” and she left command. “…Make one tiny mistake and they won’t let you live it down. What the hell am I worried about? We’re probably gonna die anyway,” he said. “SPARKY? Come IN!” “STAY HERE!” D’Argo commanded as he looked at Chiana. “I’m going with you! You may need all the help you can get,” she said “IF Aeryn and I fail YOU MUST NOT let what is down there up into command. You will be the only one left that can stop it” “But Crichton IS UP THERE. I want to help YOU.” “As I said before, YOU will be the only one left that can stop it STAY HERE!” and he turned, drew his qualta sword and converted it into a rifle and headed off to face the intruder. Zhaan rose to her feet and once again tried to ease Moya’s pain as the torch continued to burn into her. Traynor quickly looked at both ends of the corridor knowing that they would try to squeeze him in from both ends. He didn’t see anything…yet and once again looked up the hull being sealed. It was nearly completed. Still pushed up against the wall he waited patiently until the task was completed. Aeryn was rushing down the lower tiers as fast as she could but Moya’s awkward movements were making it a difficult task. The ship moved sharply to the right and she was thrown up against the wall. “D’ARGO! WHERE ARE YOU?” “I am almost there! Another 20 microts!” he responded over the COM. She knows that she would never reach the tier in time so that the both of them could go after the intruder; D’Argo would be there first. She grew angry with herself for not being able to time it better but she knew that he was closer to the tier than she was. Rygel let out a big yawn the aftereffect of his all too often food binges. He had to make sure that at least his stomachs were full if everyone was going to begin food rationing. The ship vibrated and he looked around his quarters and saw that everything was in disarray. “Chiana,” he muttered to himself turning to her as his first suspect not realizing what was going on. He reached for his COM that he placed on the stand next to the bed and saw that it had fallen to the ground. Once again Moya veered sharply trying to ease the pain causing him to be knocked out of bed saving him the struggle of getting out of it. He landed on the ground with a thud. “FRELL!” he shouted out loud and reached for the COM. “PILOT!” No response. “CHIANA?” Silence. “D’ARGO!” There was nothing but sounds and vibrations of the ship and the noise of more items of his falling to the ground. “AERYN?” he said softly beginning to sense that something was wrong. “Crichton?” “The COMS are not working below the tier 8!” Pilot shouted out as his furiously touched every control there was that was on the console in a useless attempt to control Moya’s movements. “DRDS ARE ATTEMPTING TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM!” “AERYN! Pilots losing it!” John shouted out but all Aeryn heard was her name as the current range of the COM was reached. The deafening sounds of the torch sealing the hull were ending. The torch’s cartridge was nearly depleted and Traynor head the sound and the smell of metal fusing together as the hull was sealed. The torch stopped and what sounded like grains of sand began to spray the hull slowly at first, then quickened nearly encompassing the sounds that Moya was emanating then it stopped. Traynor could only hear Moya’s moans and he focused on the torch ignoring her pleas. The torch slid and retracted into place and the Raptor began to ignite its engines. Its claws that had dug in deep into the outer hull of Moya began to disengage; the wounds to her outer hull were superficial and would heal with time. The Raptor took with ferocity as it expended it’s remaining fuel then it’s engines abruptly shut off after all of the fuel was spent. She floated quietly in space, so small compared to what was around her that she appeared to be lost. SAT quickly honed in on her and quickly veered off her flight plan to pick the Raptor up. John quickly turned his head and looked at the view screen and saw that the transport ship and stopped it’s routine and quickly turned around and increased speed and head straight towards Moya. He grew nervous. “Umm, Pilot? Now would be a good time to move…. anywhere, anyway, that spearmint thing is heading straight for us!” “I CAN”T! MOYA DOES NOT RESPOND! I…I…DON’T KNOW WHATS HAPPENING TO HER…” SAT headed straight towards Moya and all John could do was lunge to the ground. “EVERYBODY DUCK! WHOA!” The ship quickly avoided her and shot off in a different direction and went for the Raptor. Silence was heard throughout the ship. Only the humming that could be heard from Moya interrupted the calm. She was floating freely now, heading away from the Raptor and SAT. Traynor could sense that the chlorium was beginning to take affect. He could hear Moya struggle to stay awake but he already knew that she was going numb. He cautiously made his way down the corridor moving very slowly not wanting to be caught by surprise. Rygel mounted his throne sled and breathed heavily as he sat there hovering briefly trying to ascertain what was happening. “It’s stopped,” he said as he exited his quarters. Traynor reached the Dominar’s quarters and the doors opened up. He quickly turned around and so the Hynerian on the sled with a look a surprise and worry. “WHAT THE YOYZ?” Rygel managed to blurt out as Traynor hit him with his right elbow on his nose knocking him off the sled. He fell to the ground unconscious from the blow. Trynor took out a pair of magcuffs and tightly put them on Rygel’s wrist nearly cutting off his circulation. He looked at the sled and decided to blast it on the off chance that Rygel may wake up or there was another Hynerian about. He would rather not take that chance. He took out both of his pulse pistols and shot the sled damaging it. “SHOTS FIRED! SHOTS FRIED!” Pilot screamed. That was the last sensor reading that he was able to interpret before he realized that Moya had fallen into a deep sleep. “WHERE?” John shouted out as he got up from the ground. “Near Rygel’s quarters,” Pilot responded. John instinctively wanted to head down and help the others it was his nature. But he knew that he had to stay in Command and to protect it should the others fail. He took a deep breath and asked, “Are the COMS back online?” “Shortly. All available DRDS are working on it.” “Pilot, what’s wrong with Moya? All I hear is humming” “It appears that she is in a deep sleep. What or whoever cut her hull as apparently dispersed chlorium, one the seven forbidden cargos. It has numbed her pain and caused her to fall to sleep. All sensors are offline and maneuverability is impossible.” D’Argo was the first to reach the corridor and came around the corner and saw Traynor push Rygel’s limp body back into his quarters with his sled. D’Argo still running, quickly fired two shots from his qualta blade that hit the right side of the wall that Traynor was in front of him nearly hitting his upper shoulder and he quickly lunged to the other wall that was in front of him kneeled and pressed his back up against it. He peered over his right shoulder and saw that the Luxan was still heading for him. He had to time it right it what he had planned was going to work. “GIVE UP NOW AND YOU WON’T BE HURT! THERE IS NO WAY OUT!” D’Argo shouted out to him as he readied himself to fire another round from his blade. Traynor stood up still pressing his back against the wall and soon realized what was happening. He looked at the other end of the corridor opposite of where D’Argo was coming from and knew that they were going to try to pin him down. He reached into his pocket and took out three small circular metallic balls that were attached to each other with some type of metallic wire that was almost transparent. D’Argo fired the round out of his blade that hit the wall. Grasping the opportunity, Traynor leaped out onto the corridor and flung the metallic balls at the Luxan as he ducked to avoid being hit by another blast that D’Argo managed to fire off. D’Argo saw that something was thrown at him but he could not make out what it was. It was too small and he fired blindly at it hoping to strike it down before it reached him. But it was no use. In an instant, the object opened up and transformed into three metallic projectiles that branched off into three different directions, one heading for his left, the other towards his right and the last towards his feet. He then saw that a net was being deployed and he tried to shoot at it then decided to covert the rifle back in to the blade but the indecision cost him the precious microts that he needed to avoid the vibra net from pinning him to the wall. He grabbed the blade and took a wild swing at the net but it ensnared him, throwing him into the air and throwing and pinning him up against a wall near a bulkhead as the projectiles were magnetized and always sought the strongest metallic structure to latch onto. D’Argo’s arms were pinned, both arms crossed with his qualta blade still in hand but lowered towards the ground as the net closely pressed up against his body, he struggled to break free, but it was no use. He let out a growl as one of his tentacles touched the net and began to bleed. D’Argo stopped struggling and saw drops of blood land onto his clothes. He couldn’t see how deep the wound was, he remained still not wanting to cause any other part of his body to become injured by touching the net. Traynor ran over to where the Luxan was pinned and looked him over. He let out a small smile as he looked at D’Argo and this caused the Luxan to let out a small growl that he quickly silenced when he heard and felt the net begin to vibrate. “I wouldn’t move if I were you Luxan,” Traynor began to explain, “The net feels vibrations inside and out. Anyone other than me who tries to cut you out of this will only cause you harm. The net has millions of microscopic tic blades that can slice through skin when it feels vibrations. It can slice a man to pieces in less than five hundred microts.” D’argo continued to look at him with disgust as Traynor looked over the wound, which was bleeding very slowly and was of no immediate threat to D’Argo’s life. But D’Argo did not know this. “Doesn’t look too bad…for now Luxan. You should still be alive it this doesn’t take too long,” Traynor said looking at him once again smiling. Aeryn entered at the other end of the corridor and saw that something was wrong with D’Argo. She looked at him for a microt. D’Argo saw her and moved his eyes towards her and Traynor knew that someone was behind him. He quickly dove to his right and across the corridor to the opposite side of where D’Argo was pinned. Because she was concerned with Dargo, when she finally looked at the back of Traynor and fired two rounds out of her rifle, Traynor was already on the other side of the corridor. Her blasts ended up hitting the wall that D’Argo was pinned causing the humming to grow louder. He wanted to shout out to her but was afraid that it would cause the net to begin cutting into him. She cursed herself for being distracted with emotions; she was trained not to feel for any comrades who may fall during battle and to focus on the mission at hand. But this was different, he was her friend, whether he knew this or not he was. But her emotions may have caused both of them their lives. Traynor was surprised at the accuracy of her shots and knew that he was dealing with a peacekeeper. He drew both pistols and fired several shots with the pistol that was in his left hand without even looking at where Aeryn was, just shooting to try to gain a microt and an advantage as to what he wanted to do next. Aeryn was taken aback when she saw him fire the shots towards her without even looking. She rapidly moved to her left and took cover against a wall. She thought that she was dealing with a peacekeeper, what he had just done was standard procedure of infantry when they are taken by surprise, shoot at the direction where you are being fired upon, escape and gain tactical advantage, but she wasn’t sure. Then a voice crackled over the COM, “AERYN? CAN YOU READ ME?” “CRICHTON, I’m a little busy right NOW!” she said sarcastically as she moved from the wall and fired again. “SHOTS FIRED AERYN. Near Rygel’s quarters,” John informed her. “Thanks for the information,” she said as she once again taking cover as Traynor fired more blind shots in her direction. “D’ARGO? D’ARGO YOU THERE BIG GUY?” John shouted over the COM with concern. The net began to vibrate with the sound of John’s voice coming over the COM and D’argo began to whisper back, “Crichton, shut the frell up…please!” “WHAT? I can’t hear you. Speak up big guy,” John said as he paced back and forth in command. All D’argo could do was roll his eyes and hoped that he would just shut up. “Sparky? Zhann? Pip?” John continued. “John, what is going on?” Zhann asked as she regained her strength. “Zhann, someone is on board, cut through Moya’s hull. Aeryn and D’Argo are in a fire fight near Rygel’s quarters and I’m stuck in command,” John informed her. “Crichton, what are you talking about?” “Rygel and D’Argo are not answering their COMS and neither is Chiana,” John said in frustration. “I’m on my way to them,” Zhann said, “They may be injured.” She went back into her lab and reached for a pulse rifle, one that she kept but chose to seldom use and a small bag containing some herbs and potions that would heal the wounded and quickly left the lab and headed to them. Aeryn begins to think as to what to do next. She looks around the corner of the wall and sees that there is a vent that is near to Traynor’s position. Pulse blasts erupt round her and she takes cover. The blasts were too close for her taste, knowing that her opponent now knows where she is and she is at risk of being pinned downed. She decides to shot the vent out in the hopes that steam would rain down onto his position. Aeryn emerges and stands in the middle of the corridor and begins to shoot at the vent. At the exact same moment, Traynor comes out from a roll and is on his knees and fires both pistols at her, his blasts whizzing by her head and arms, as she continued to shoot at the vent. The vent is hit and steam pours down on him, encompassing him and nearly hitting D’Argo but it doesn’t. As Traynor begins to disappear behind the steam, he continues to fire at Aeryn until he can no longer see her. Aeryn falls to the ground to avoid his blasts and continues to fire on him until he stops hoping that she had hit him. She stops firing and gets up from the ground her rifle still aimed at the last spot that she saw him standing. She waited for more pulse blasts to come from his direction but all she saw was the steam and D’Argo. As she walked cautiously towards D’Argo, she waited for the uninvited guest to fire upon her. She finally reaches D’Argo and sees that he is pinned and she immediately knows the weapon. She places a finger to her lips to show D’Argo she know what type of weapon it is and D’Argo looks at her and blinks his eyes. She continues to search through the steam looking for him but sees nothing. He’s gone. Aeryn walks through the steam cloud to the outer side and looks at the end of the corridor to see if there is a trail of blood marking his escape but no such luck. She walks back into the cloud of steam back to Traynor’s last position and to where D’Argo was pinned. Once again she methodically looks for him, scanning the area with her pulse rifle making sure that she did not miss anything. She looks over to D’Argo and he once again blinks his eyes. She looks at him confused and moves closer to him but not too close as to set off any vibrations that will cause the net to spring to life. He blinks once more and they stare at each other for what seems like an eternity. D’Argo than gives her a piercing look forcing her to look at him. He then moves his eyes upwards and she looks up and sees Traynor on top of her, on top of them. He had managed to climb up on a broken pipe that she shot in her attempt to hit the vent. She was caught by surprise and could not get off a shot as he leap from the ceiling and landed on her causing her to drop her rifle and the both of them fell to the ground. Steam surrounded the both of them as they landed and they both became lost. She could hear the rifle hit the floor but she didn’t know where it was as it too was lost in the steam. They quickly got up and found each other with Aeryn taking a fighting stance as she quickly kicked him in his chest forcing him to go backwards as he felt the impact of her kick. She was quick and Traynor knew that he wouldn’t be able to draw any of his pistols that were holstered to get off a shot not taking the chance of knowing who is faster. He had to fight her hand to hand. He recovered from the blow and took a defensive stance and she immediately recognized it, she was definitely facing a peacekeeper. She feigned a kick with her left leg then used her right arm to throw a punch, which Traynor blocked with his left hand as he kicked her in her in her belly on the left side with his right leg. She fell back and felt the breath knocked out of her and she hunched over a bit to try to ease the pain and recover. Traynor moved in and tried to hit her in the face with a left handed punch but she grabbed his hand and twisted his wrist causing him to lurch forward closer to her allowing her to punch him in his throat, then using her legs, kicking the ground out from underneath him. He landed hard on his back but quickly extended his right arm outward and reached for her legs, grabbed one of them and pulled on it hard forcing her to the ground. When she hit the floor, he kicked her on her stomach and Aeryn felt the burning sensation that came with the blow. The both of them recovered and rose to their feet at the same time. Aeryn took a defensive posture and blocked a punch that wasn’t strong at all. She then proceeded to attempt to hit Traynor with a roundhouse kick and was surprised at the last punch he threw at her. Traynor was testing her, looking for any weaknesses that would give him an advantage over her. He blocked her kick and saw that she favored guarding her left side more than she did her right. He feigned a kick to her legs that she went down to block leaving her briefly exposed, he then punched her on her left side of her face then quickly following up with a hard shot to her right that stunned her momentarily and gave Traynor just enough time to hit her with a Panthak jab that knocked her off her feet and to the brink of unconsciousness. She landed near the lost pulse rifle and slowly crawled on her belly towards it but she blacked out as she felt him grab her head and slam it into the ground. D’Argo saw what transpired and clenched his teeth in an effort to remain calm. All he could do was to watch helpless as he saw his shipmate black out. Traynor wiped the sweat from his brow and quickly took out another pair of magcuffs and placed it on the wrists of the fallen peacekeeper that he thought was a worthy opponent, one who if things were different, would have made a powerful ally. He picked her up, looked at D’Argo, and carried her to where he put the Hynerian. He opened the doors to his quarters and placed her next to him. He turned his headed sharply as he heard a voice coming from the far end of the corridor and shut the doors and waited. “D’ARDO! ARE YOU HURT? Where are Aeryna and the others?” Zhann asked as she approached. D’Argo once again started to blink his eyes rapidly to see if she would be able to pick up on what he was trying to tell her in an effort to try to help her avoid the trap. Traynor took out two strobe grenades and armed them with a three-microt delay. He opened the doors and threw then out, rolling them to his left, the direction that Zhann was coming from, and shut the doors and shut his eyes tightly. D’Argo saw what was heading towards her but could do nothing except close his eyes knowing that it was some type of explosive weapon and started chanting in his mind the Luxan Death Rite fearing the worst for Zhann. The grenades went off but instead of large explosion, intense, warm white light laced with iconic radiation, surrounds the entire tier, soaking every vent, crack, and opening. Even with his eyes closed, Traynor could still see and feel the light that was coming from outside the Dominar’s quarters. The light engulfed Zhann and she quickly disappears all that can be heard is her rifle hitting the ground and bouncing off the ground several times. The light remained in the corridor for 80 microts before it dissipated. When it was gone, Traynor opened his eyes, got up, and left Rygel’s quarters to look around. And what he saw was something that he never expected. He saw the Delvian priestess lying on the ground shivering, smiling, and moaning in pleasure. She was experiencing a photo-gasm, something that Traynor had heard of but never seen. He looks at Zhann and cracks a smile. “I definitely have to ask Attan about this when I get back,” he chuckles to himself as he picks up her rifle as well as the one that Aeryn dropped, picks her up and places her writhing body next to the others in Rygel’s quarters. He locks the cell doors behind him and turns and looks at D’Argo and tells him, “Don’t go anywhere now,” and begins to make his way towards command. Chiana looks out of a vent on the floor across from where D’Argo is pinned from and wonders what to do next. “I can’t reach anyone on there COMS,” John said out loud. “I don’t know why staying in command would do any good since Moya’s sleeping.” Pilot replied, “Agreed. We must now secure the lower tiers and provided any assistance the others may need. The DRDS have managed to regain control of life support, however the cargo bay doors and docking web remain inoperable. They are not able to bypass Moya’s systems without compromising life support. Sensors are down and we are drifting. I cannot transmit our coordinates to Talyn or send out a distress signal.” “So if there are anymore Spearmints on board that ship out there, they can take us,” John said as he took out his pulse pistol. “Pilot, let me know as soon as you get an estimate of when Moya will wake up and if the DRDS manage to get the sensors on line again. I’m heading down to see what’s going on. Close the door to command and place some DRDS to guard the door,” he instructed as he walked to the door. A low hissing sound was coming from the other side of the door and John stopped just short of it and looked at the door trying to figure out what it was. “What the…” The shock of the explosion sent John flying back and he slid across the floor until his body was stopped by one of the consoles that were in command. The door opened up and a he emerged from the smoke with both pistols drawn and ran into command and quickly scanned the room to see if anyone was in there. Traynor looked at the floor and saw what he thought was another peacekeeper and ran over to the body that was lying on the ground and placed one pistol on the head of the groggy man. “DON’T MOVE!” Crichton looked up at him and blinked his eyes several times to focus on the man that held the pistol to his head, “WAIT! OK I GIVE UP! I’ll do what ever you want just leave the others alone. What ever you want me to do man!” he shouted out to Traynor. “What the frell makes you think that I’m here for you?” Traynor replied. Chianna managed to evade capture by hiding in the vents. She was just above D’Argo when Aeryn shot it out. She kind of sensed that something was heading her way. After she saw Aeryn go down, she hastily made her way to Pilot’s chambers to think about what to do next and mainly to see a familiar face that would calm her down. “Pilot, any idea of what to do now?”
Copyright © 2002 Rick Mantilla |