Almost all things come to an end . . . .

Icy knives slice into Aeryn Sun again as she goes under, her ejection chair dragging her down. Still struggling futilely against the straps that keep her bound, only to pause when she sees a huge scaly, claw like hand reach down and snag her chair....

Sigin

On balance, I'd rather had not been scared almost witless by the ejection seat smashing into the ice behind me! I'd been paying more attention to other things like how I rather found the cold mountain air a bit brisk against my golden scales AND John's Farscape module flittering about overhead. Beginning to form was a worry over just how I had just gotten here and just why I was in my dragon form. I had been in my human seeming and Aeryn caught me by surprise!

As I pull forth the radiant Aeryn Sun from the freezing waters with my bare claws instead of resorting to spell. First, as I have said in the past and will say yet again in the future to always resort to magic to solve one's problems is an open invitation for disaster. Being that Sun has come down rather hard (retrorockets and landing force breaking the ice) AND the water is bitterly cold (cold enough temperature to freeze this lake enough to support the bulk of me in my natural form)! Surely you cannot expect her to survive long in that? Seconds count here, my friend. Oh, and let us not forget the fact that for some reason she seems stuck in her chair! I do not think for a moment that she could be able to drag herself and it up yet again. Yes, death by drowning is a very good possibility here to understate it in the heaviest way! Second and very important is that, as stated earlier, I'm in my dragon form! Why bother with spell incantation or otherwise more lengthy means of invoking a levitation spell when I can just reach over and pick her up? I mean, really, do you expect anything less from me?

Sputtering, she takes in a deep breath and then I see her breath is caught in her throat. Almost a "deer in the headlights look" she has, using an Earth term for how she looks right now. Throw in a bit of numbing fear, and you'll know what I see right then and there.

What, you ask? Aeryn Sun frozen in fear at the sight of a mere dragon? After all, she's seen countless battles and is no stranger to violence, right? Surely she should be stronger than that, you say.

....

Well, I'll overlook the unintended slight you did me in that first question. Instead, I'll explain something to you about Dragons in wyrm status. If I'd been a hatchling or anything less than five hundred years old --an age I'm way past, by the way -- then the degree of Dragon Fear (a natural psychic power that all dragons like me have) I believe that she'd (and other warriors of her caliber) find it wouldn't be a factor. Her warrior training would, despite not being geared for dragon encounters but something more mundane (if you'll forgive me seeing dismissive of her, I'm not being that), have been able to overcome it. But only a Dragonslayer, with their warrior training being geared to being able to fight Dragons (even Wyrms), would be able to have overcome my Dragon Fear that I've failed to dampen down. Without that special training, which part of it includes overcoming the psychic intrusion, even the most battle hardened warrior freezes up.

"Sorry about that," I say softly, putting her down as I dampen down the Fear. "Usually I go about in this form without that Fear radiating off me like that. Won't happen again if I can help it, Aeryn Sun."

Ah, but I am very formal here, am I not? Well, if you're really interested, besides it being good manners (and I am ever the gentleman) I have a distinct feeling that she, this particular Aeryn Sun, has never met me and my friends back on the TARDIS before.

See, one other time has something like this happen to me. Back years ago when I and the others became Champions I had appeared over unexpectedly a small Earth town in an desert area called New Mexico. This has the same earmarks as that.

Singing a small spell (must sing because I fear I cannot just do it any other way effectively without stuttering, a quirk of nature I've had ever since I came into the world), the restraints binding Sun dissolve and melt away, leaving Aeryn free to jump out of it and start to back away from me.

Understandable, her being less than sage on being near a being of my size and such. Dragons are not for the faint of heart and only fools take them lightly when first encountered in any shape, way, or form. Sun is no fool, let me tell you.

"Aeryn!" Crichton shouts over her combadge, "Honey, get the frell away from there! Get away from that dragon!"

She shouts something back at Crichton, obviously cutting but unintelligible to me, alas. I fear that she's speaking in Sebacian and the universal translator I have is in a pouch on my human form's body. Quickly changing form I try to calm down the situation to something less frantic and chaotic.

.....

My, I look back upon that now and must admit I was being a touch overly optimistic. Sometimes things happen with the crew of Moya where it’s just one thing after another!

Yes, see that is why not even ten minutes later I’m shouting at Rygel for touching something he should not have touched!

Well, wondering what just happened that would have our dragon mage, who’s normally calm and collect, to be shouting at the Hynerian Dominar? Yeah, thought you’d be interested.

Here’s the basics of what happened.

History again is repeating itself. The bodies from the Defiant have yet again found themselves on another spaceship. Has something to do with the metaphysics of the eldritch combination of magic and sorcery that the madman named Mobius. Patterns had to be followed, you see, exactly or as closely as the situation allowed. All part of the business you might say. As before, the dead bodies appeared hither and yon all over Moya (the largest spaceship available here), dragging their ghosts along with them. Something similar had happened back on Gauda Prime, but that’s not important right now. It’s happened this way and that’s enough said as far as that, okay.

The actions of some of these ghosts were different than the others, however. While Sigin and the others below, dirtside, are talking to each other one one matter, things on Moya are getting strange. As before all but a few on her are aware of the ghosts aboard. The notable exceptions are Stark (of course!) and Zhaan, being the mystics of the bunch. When the trouble starts all communication is temporarily lost with the outside world due to the chaos, so when Crais (in Talyn, another living ship, a Leviathan/PK gunship hybrid) finally notices that a Transport Pod heading off towards a ghostly, alien ship that didn’t show on ship’s sensors (but was visible to the eye). Forgivable, really, Crais’ oversight. He’d been busy with rejoicing over Aeryn’s escape from death (and trying to figure out what exactly the frell Crichton was babbling about when he described Aeryn’s savior).

On Moya, an unexpected thing had happened. As it turns out, Stark had been trying to do what he thought was the right thing to do, but bad luck stuck. Like on the other Moya, he’d been screaming bloody murder about the dead and the screams had drawn the others to him and Zhaan (who’d been rather busy herself, fending away in her own mystical fashion the ghosts who’d taken notice of her and vice versa). The masked man had opened his mask to let the light out (no jokes about him and Zhaan, please).

Again, it was all the fault of the Blue shirts. While the other ghosts got driven off a bit by the light (and their presence again, when revealed to the mundanes, caused a lot of screaming and swearing). This time, however, a few of the faster learner used the moment to. . . . catch a ride and resume a semblance of life.

That’s right, folks! Where otherwise they couldn’t have, the fast learning Blueshirt ghosts had used a newly learnt talent of possessing the living!

In this case, everyone without mystical powers (Zhaan and Stark) and who were mobile in a traditional manner (i.e. not a living ship or a Pilot attached to the living ship) got possessed! And while the golden light from Stark drove them off, they lumbered off (clumsily) to what their host body’s memories told them was a way off this alien ship and back to their duty stations on the Defiant AND away from the hurtful light! Not exactly in their right minds, the ghosts still had enough on the ball to manage to fly the Pod (despite their hosts struggles against it) in an attempt to get the Pods back to the Defiant.

....

Hey, it made sense to the ghosts. What they’d try to do once there is up for debate. But it’s not to be answered in this setting. Stark and Zhaan finally got free enough of their ghostly visitors to contact Crais and Talyn, who were able to intercept the Pods and drag aboard the Pod. Crais, with a LOT of Talyn’s DRDs, boarded the Pod and were forced to stun the lot of possessed, who proved to be . . . . dangerous. They were armed, you see. Not good shots, yet, but....

Well, you get the idea.

Stark and Zhaan came over to Talyn to try to free the possessed, somehow (just how was an open question, all considered). Despite the tense situation, both mystical types were delighted to see Aeryn alive and well when she got up there. They were also happy to see Crichton, despite having to cuff him for safety sake whilst he was out (Aeryn had knocked him out back down planetside by his own request, after he’d landed his Farscape module). Binding him up, she, John, and Sigin (he’d managed to gain enough trust for this) flew the module up to Talyn to see if Sigin (who offered) could help.

Note: bit of a spoiler for the season finale for season two in the itallics. Be aware.)

Well, with John bound (just in case a mind control chip Scorpy had implanted secretly in Crichton’s head) gained the upper hand and caused more havoc. Goodness knows what kind of problems it had caused the last time. While in control of Crichton, it had gained the upper hand in a dogfight between the Farscape module and Aeryn’s fighter ship. While unarmed, the Module had caused the other to crash.

Had to do with an old tried but true dogfighter tatic. The Module had been able to get above Aeryn’s fighter, in a blind spot caused by being behind her (and in the sun). Looking up, she’d had not been able to see the Module. She tried looking back at where the Module was (not that she could have with how the Module was a bit behind and above), the sunlight would have blinded her.

Well, Sigin had just the thing for the possessed. As a habit, Sigin and other Dragon mages had gotten a habit of carrying what are known as “anti-possession” medallions (sort of the thing for the old saying “be prepared”). Living in a magical setting kind of made such things needful from time to time (enough to justify them having the medallions). So, freed (much to the surprise of Zhaan and Stark, not that they are complaining, but still surprised) the Dragon mage is getting around to introducing himself when it happens.

See, somewhere along the way to the Pod Rygel had, despite being possessed, picked up something that had caught his eye (my, strong bad habit he had there, eh?), and thus freed from possession the Dominar had pulled the Star Fleet communicator (old style) out of a pouch to examine.

Catching the action out of the corner of his eye, Sigin sees the communicator flip open and hears it give off a distress signal....

“RyYYY.....!“ he begins to shout as he feels the transporter begin.

Frantic, Talyn begins scanning and looking for Crais, but he's nowhere to be found for quiet a while. As it stands, later, a Marauder under stealth trajectory is detected and destroyed by a frantic Talyn, who remembers prior encounters with PK retrieval forces....

Strange how things can come to an end when mistakes are made..... For this realm's Scorpy and his newest "pet", Mobius, in tow.... All things (except for a few noted exceptions) must come to an end....

That's later....

Whatever.... “...GGGEEELLL!” Sigin finishes up as the Defiant.

Goggle eyed, Crais and Moya’s crew who’d been upon Talyn look out at the transporter room they find themselves within.

“Give me that,” Sigin says softly, stalking over (after visibly composing himself after he’d seen his own life pass before his eyes) to the still stunned Rygel, snatching the communicator from the Dominar’s hand.

“What the frell?” Crichton says in a small voice, stunned. “Since when was Star Trek real? What the Hell‘s happening?!”

Not answering just yet, the dragon mage goes over to the transporter controls to check on a few things.

“To put it simply,” the dragon mage sighs, after seeing something he didn’t like. “Rygel’s stupid fumbling just got us all beamed up into the Defiant. Automatic protocols still working, the controls here show. But controls also show that the ‘beam down’ function’s not functional.”

“The ‘Defiant’ from the old Star Trek show?” John’s voice asks, going up an octave in fright. “The Thallonian Web one? Were the crew all went Hanibal Lector and killed each other?”

“Well,” Sigin frowned. “Not sure about that, but I’ll say the chances are good that . . . something like that happened here.”

Very good chance, Sigin said to himself, remembering what Betty had said in passing back down upon the world with the crashsight, only a bit earlier.

“Are . . . we going to go ‘Hannibal Lector’ . . . . like those ghosts?” Chiana asks nervously, familiar enough now with some of John’s ‘Earthisms’ to recognize what John’s talking about, and what a possible danger.

“Get back to you on that,” Sigin begins as he reaches for his combadge, only to be interrupted by a barrage of demanding questions from the others. Before he can answer, his combadge beeps.

He’d been wanting to get in contact with either Betty, Ragan, or the Doctor who either knew more about this episode in question to answer that sticky question or had been able to examine this ship (who’d somehow gone ghostly again) to answer if that was going to happen!

“Inquirer?” Ragan (only one still upon the bridge had been up on the Bridge trying to contact those below with the ship’s antique com equipment) shouts. “That you who got beamed up just now?”

Bridge equipment had logged that event, you know....

As for the others, they’d been going down below to either stake out cabins for use for the upcoming trip (the Doctor had been sure he’d be able to break the ship free) so nobody else heard Ragan softly curse when she realized that yet another set of Farscape folks just got swept up into things.

Shit, she thought to herself, a bit frantic. Season two cliffhanger episode where that . . . thing between Jothee and Chiana . . . . And where that Zhaan is alive while the Stark from Season 4 is aboard..... Oh shit.

Before she could explain all that quietly to the dragon mage, the Stark in question had somehow detected Zhaan and comes running into the transporter room.

And again it’s chaotic and confused, especially with the Stark from Season 4 crying and hugging the confused Zhaan.

“Quiet!!” Sigin finally shouts, getting everyone’s attention.

“By the Goddess,” Zhaan swears, looking down in confusion and concern at the still crying Stark huggin her, over at the other Stark (who’s looking both confused and stunned), and then at Sigin. “What in the name of the Goddess is going on?”

“Unrealized realities meeting,” Ragan giggles nervously over the combadge.

Sigin goes on to explain that, obviously, that parallel realities were having some kind of crossover here. The Defiant was from a reality mirroring the Star Trek: TOS TV series, somehow gotten tossed into this reality due to an interspacial incident of some kind. Due to other events and circumstances, people from similar Farscape realities (one more along in things than the other) were meeting.

“And in this ‘future’ universe is one ‘unrealized reality’ where . . . . Zhaan died from complications from donating life force to . . . . that Aeryn after she’d drowned?” Season 2 Stark whispers, patting his “brother’s” shoulder in pity. “By all the gods and goddesses....”

And that's of course about the time the other Moya's crew comes looking for "their" Stark, as well as "Sigin's" Chiana . . .

And we have a very explosive situation possibly in the making. One which, from suspicions he had on how some questions Betty had danced around over some questions over Farscape in the LAST adventure, he can see quiet clearly something bad might happen here.

"Okay," he shouts, getting everyone's attention. Remember, from his captain experience he's rather good with leadership and all that..... Was even able to make a Rygel from that earlier adventure stand back and take notice....

Basically, he puts down some house rules here, of which if any are violated the offender would end up in the brig (after he came down upon them like a ton of bricks)! First, he said for all here to remember that each came from different universes, so whatever had happened in one universe, especially now with him and his friends having accidentally mixed into things! IF you feel the need to tell your twin something earth shattering, then . . .

"Do it in a way that softens the blow," he sighs. "At least try to do it in a way that doesn't have the other ready to go running off on a murder spree or something else rash!"

Second, friends of twins don't try to pry out of the "sibling" of the other (i.e. a friend of say one universe's Chiana try to dig up dirt on that universe's Chiana through either the other universe's Chiana or the other Chiana's friends). Again, could lead to a lot of bad blood.

Third, though he adds that he might be asking too much from some (he gives the Rygel who'd gotten them all beamed up here a meaningful glance) to use some common sense before running off at the mouth. Just because you can get away with it with your crewmates doesn't mean it translates over to the counterparts.

Finally, to lessen how he might be coming across (rather harsh, really), he asks those he'd come up with and those who'd come up with Betty to at least try to abide by these rules as a favor for him and his friends since they had been helped.

"Do not know how long we'll be together yet," he finishes up. "The Doctor's looking into it right now. Those who are familiar with Doctor Who television episodes tell your friends about what he is and what he can do to give them an idea of what is what here in problem solving. We should be out of here sooner or later and getting all back to where they need to go, but until that time...."

Frankly, after the speech he tells himself that's about the best he can do right now short of physically separating both parties for the duration. For the moment, things looked like they weren't going to boil over and blow up. Sigin noted that for the moment both the elder Chiana and elder D'Argo were now, after his suggested (strongly suggested) rules, a bit stand offish with their counterparts. "His" Chiana looked like she knew why.... But Sigin wasn't going to ask.

Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised to have to put some people in the brig before this was all done and said, but he could at least hope.

But soon enough the younger D'Argo comes to him with a question that nearly (but not quiet) is a violation of his rules.

"You . . . . married your Chiana," he begins slowly, "how . . . exactly did you do that? I mean, I wanted to know so I do it right when I . . . . "

Sigin, looking at Chiana (who looks back frantically) sighs, deciding on the Socratic method of learning would do best. That is, answer questions with questions, so that the student (in this case D'Argo) would figure out his own answers (do the research or figure it out himself to stimulate the brain, as it were).

"Can't exactly answer that one," he dodges a bit. "Dragons do thing differently . . . . very differently than both humans and I dare say Luxans in that business. Might tell you about that later, but not right now.

"Have things to . . . catch up with my mate," he adds, looking over at Chiana and back at D'Argo pointedly.

"But I will put it this way as a favor to you," he adds softly. "Is your Chiana ready for this? What, if anything, did she ever say to others about relationships? Might play out here as well. After all, if you're rushing her, then you'll lose her!

"I am by no means an expert on women," Sigin confides. "Those males who say they are experts are either liars or fools, trust me on that! But from my centuries it's been my experience that woman do NOT like to be rushed!"

"Of course she's ready!" D'Argo shouts, only to pause when Sigin gives him a rather stony look.

"What did . . .she . . . say . . . . on relationships?" Sigin asked again, slowly and clearly.

"Uh," the Luxan muttered. "Fast in the body but slow in the soul? That's what she's said to me over Aer.....my Aeryn . . .but I . . . ."

He looks at both Sigin and then his mate, and then at his own question again.

"You think I'm going too quickly?" he finally asks, softly. Almost too afraid of the answer.

"Would a delay hurt things?" Chiana asks from the side, almost crossly. "Frell, D'Argo, how long have you really known me . . . er. . . . . her? Yeah, you might think it's long enough, but is it really?"

"Maybe try easing into it," Sigin adds. "Have you tried an engagement period? A time designated in words and promise to try to get to know each other? If you haven't you might be working under false assumptions which might hurt both of you, honestly."

"Hey," Chiana puts in when it looks like D'Argo's getting angry, "anything wrong with a trail period? I tell you, if it were me and you and you. . . .

She blinks, just shaking her head.

"What happened between me and Sigin was a lot different so I can't really say what'll happen between you and Pip," she finishes off softly. "Just can't, D'Argo. Sometimes I do things I don't understand and I'm not saying that's how she is but....."

"Fast with the body and slow with the soul," another voice says behind them.

It was the elder D'Argo, looking at his younger self before walking off.

"Definitely good advice," he says softly to himself out of earshot, remembering. "Should have followed that myself"

That looking done at least for now (at least as much as it could be right, Sigin hoped) he didn't get three steps before two Crichton's and two Aeryn's stopped him.

"Uh . . . I have this problem," the younger John begins, fidgeting in his handcuffs. "An implant's in the old head that I'd like gone but . . ."

"But we're kind of stuck up here on the USS B***crack," the elder John continues. "Surgeon's down there still, out of reach and all that. Don't think he'll be able to make this house call, Gandolf. Betty's learned everything she knows from you and you are kind of good on brain stuff, healing wounds and all that. Could you kinda, well.... Zap the implant?"

"Yeah," the younger Crichton. "And once the implant's gone I'd like to make sure old Harvey stays gone. Dumpsters are nice, but still...."

1. Sigin looked at Chiana each asked one simple question: "Where did dumpsters come into this?"

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