TITLE: "ENEMIES AND OTHER FRIENDS"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "Farscape"

PAIRING: No specific pairing.

RATING: PG-13

STATUS: New.

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed

SERIES/SEQUEL: SEQUEL to "ANTECEDENCE"

The usual disclaimers apply. No infringement is intended.

"ENEMIES AND OTHER FRIENDS"
A "Farscape" story
Written by Alison M. DOBELL


Rygel was beginning to fidget. He did not like this. He did not like it one bit. "John, what are we going to do now?"

Crichton was frantically trying to think of something when Guy touched his shoulder. He turned his head, Guy was gesturing behind him in the duct. He nodded and flashed a grin at the gorilla. "If one way won't work we try another. C'mon Sparky, let's see where else this place leads."

The Dominar made a face but twisted round in the duct, crawling after the human and hoping he knew what the yotz he was doing.

* * * * *

"What do you mean you can't find them?" Yelled Darikos.

Crais was careful to hide his humour, bringing dark brows down to complete a brooding scowl. Hovar Kan glanced between Crais and the Commandant. His look filled with suspicion. "They must have had help."

"What are you suggesting, Kan?" Said Crais darkly.

"I'm saying there were NO problems on this base until YOU arrived."

"I was not the one in charge of security. I have never been down here before. And I have just about had enough of your petty little struggle to acquire power."

Kan glared at him. Darikos opened his mouth to say something and paused. Kan? Seeking power? What had Crais detected in his short exposure to his major domo that he had missed? Was Kan working against him after all? He looked at his major domo. "This bickering will cease! You have escaped specimens to catch, Kan, and I will not have you blaming your ineptitude on the good Captain."

A look of pure hatred flashed in Kan's eyes before he could mask it and Darikos had all the answers he needed. Kan was dangerous. An enemy unmasked but a highly placed one and one with the confidence of High Command. He would have to tread very carefully. He watched Kan nod abruptly then spin round and march briskly out of his office taking a contingent of clash troops with him. When he had gone Darikos closed the office door and turned to Crais. His voice calmer. A thin coating over solid steel. "What did you mean about Kan seeking power?"

"It was obvious to me the microt I met him but I assumed you were aware of the dangers of an ambitious man."

He frowned. "Do not play games with me, Crais. If you have something to say then say it."

Crais considered him for a few microts. "Very well though you will not like what you hear." He paused a fraction of a microt. "I sense great hatred and instability in him and something else. When he is around you there is a strong resentment. For what I do not know. He has some kind of agenda, it waits coiled in his eyes whenever he looks at you as if he simply bides his time. For a signal, a wrong move from you, who can say? But this is what I sense, this is why I do not trust him. If you do then that is well and good, Commandant. Just do not turn your back on him."

Darikos paled slightly. "What do you mean?"

Crais shrugged as if the meaning were obvious. "He is an assassin."

The Commandant resisted the urge to shiver. Crais was right. Simply putting into words fears and suspicions he had long harboured but had not the courage or desire to confront head on. Kan had already warned him once and that was over the human. He knew the major domo hated Crichton. Not for who he was but for what he was. What he represented. *Keep the blood lines pure*. The oldest rule in the Peace Keeper Code. He realised that beyond the hatred lay a deeper fear. Almost primal. The fear of contamination. He looked at Crais. "Do you think Kan arranged this?"

"I do not know. He is smart enough and he *is* more than capable but it is a clumsy escape."

"Clumsy?"

Crais nodded. "Yes. And the one thing your assassin is not is clumsy." He paused. "*If* Kan is behind this why time it for my visit?"

The Commandant thought about everything Kan had said. "Perhaps to throw the blame on you?"

He nodded. "Yes, that is eminently possible. I would make a good scapegoat except I had nothing to do with this, and I certainly would not remain on this base if I had just broken captives out of it." He paused and looked around the office as if only just noticing it. "You have cameras do you not?"

A smile came to the Commandant's lips. "Yes."

"Then may I suggest seeing what they may tell us?"

Darikos nodded. Glad to have someone who was thinking in a logical fashion rather than in the white hot rage of his major domo. He went to his desk, sat down and pressed a switch concealed on his desk which then opened up the desk top to reveal a bank of controls. Crais watched with masked interest, taking in as much detail as he could. Marrying up each keystroke with its' result. His trained observer's eye cataloguing everything he saw while affecting the calm radiance of a man waiting patiently. Darikos flicked quickly over different keys, bringing up images from the six cameras hidden in Crichton's cage. He scrolled back through the record to get back to a time just before the captives made their break for freedom. The screens suddenly went blank. He cursed and then they came back on. Crais leaned forward and looked intently from screen to screen. Darikos swore several very virulent oaths in Sebacean. "There is a gap in the recordings."

Crais was impressed. How had the human done it? And if he could do that what else could he do? Where would he make for if not Talyn? He had to get to his ship but not just yet. To rouse the Commandant's suspicions now after planting the seed of distrust in his mind over Kan would be more than incompetent folly. It would be suicide for them all.

* * * * *

"Where do you suppose this leads?" Grumbled Rygel softly.

"Anywhere that's away from the bad guys right now is good enough for me, Sparky."

"Hrrumph," Said the Dominar in a haughty tone. Crichton smiled. Guy looked at them and made a sign for *okay*. Crichton smiled and made the same sign back.

It was weird but it was getting warmer. Not the kind of warmth you get when you go from unoccupied rooms to occupied ones, but the kind you get from approaching an unknown furnace. Or energy source. The thought made Crichton cautious. "We might want to slow down and keep our options open. It's getting far too warm too quickly."

Rygel nodded. "And hard to breathe."

Crichton stopped, his hand tapping Guy who moved closer to him in concern. Crichton rubbed the top of the gorilla's head and took the opportunity to get his breath. He looked at Rygel. "Is the air getting thinner in here Sparky or is it my imagination?"

"Yes, it is."

Crichton nodded slowly. He did not like this. He was beginning to feel very claustrophobic. Rygel frowned at him. "Are you alright, John?"

He nodded. "Yeah but I don't like this. I have a bad feeling about going any further. If the air thins any more and it gets any hotter we could pass out in these ducts and never wake up again."

The Hynerian looked anxious. "What choice do we have?"

"How long we been crawling around, Sparky?"

"A couple of arns, why?"

"Then Darikos's rottweilers should be finished, right?"

"Rot-wilers?"

"Viscous dogs. PK guards. We may be able to go back and come out where we got in."

Rygel frowned. "What good would that do? We would still have to get out of the end cage. Those bars are electrified unless you've forgotten."

Crichton was starting to feel exasperated but did not want to take it out on the Dominar so he paused to take another couple of deep breaths. It was getting painful to breathe. Definitely time to retreat. "Just trust me, Sparky. This heat feels wrong, too much too soon if that makes any sense."

The Dominar muttered something about nothing Crichton said making sense which brought a smile to the human's tired face.

"Come on," He urged softly. "Let's do it."

Carefully they turned and began the slow crawl back. Hands and knees sore, backs aching and lungs on the point of bursting. It seemed to take forever to reclaim the distance traveled but they did it. When they got back to the roof panel, Crichton paused for several microts listening carefully before sliding the panel back. The specimens in this cage were similar to chimpanzees. He stuck his head cautiously through the opening and inhaled a deep breath. The air here was not much better, in fact there was a misty aspect to it which was way too familiar for his liking. Hezmana, what the yotz was going on? He glanced back at his friends, really worried now. "If I didn't know better I'd say someone burnt the toast." He waved a hand in front of his face to try to clear the air enough to see better. "Will you look at all that smoke!"

The Hynerian squirmed up to the opening and looked through then closed his eyes. After a microt he opened them again and smiled at Crichton.

"What?"

"That isn't smoke, John."

"Okay, Sparky, it's not smoke. What's it doing everywhere? Look, it's getting thicker!"

Sure enough it was becoming hard to make out the occupants of the cage below them. Rygel chuckled. "I was wrong."

"Wrong? About what?"

"Crais."

"What do you mean you were wrong about Crais?"

"That wasn't a detonation device."

It took Crichton a microt to catch on. "Crais did this?"

Rygel chuckled at the disbelief in the human's voice. "Yes. He's giving us the cover to get away."

Crichton did not stop to question their luck. "Okay then let's do it. We don't know how long this mist will last and I do *not* want to come face to face with Darikos and end up in his little sushi bar again."

Crichton kept Guy close and made a few hand signs, spelling them out on the gorilla's palm when he could not see clearly enough to read them in the mist filled air. He listened carefully then dropped down into the cage below, muttering soothing words to calm the unsettled and wary occupants. Once Guy had dropped through they waited for the little Dominar and Crichton caught him then set him down. The occupants of the cage were wary but not frightened of them. They were more distressed by the thick mist. Crichton spoke quietly to try to reassure them but it was Guy who calmed them down. The human smiled and looked at Rygel.

"Well what do you know, Sparky? We had a walking translator microbe with us and never even realised it."

The Hynerian did not say anything. It had been obvious to him but then humans were a lot slower and you had to make allowances for them. "What now?"

Crichton tilted his head, listening hard. Nope, no sound of their captors. He approached the cage door carefully. Frowned as he looked at it. He tilted his head again. Rygel was getting impatient.

"What are you doing?"

"Listening."

"To what?"

A slow smile appeared on Crichton's face. "Did you hear that, Sparky?"

"All I can hear," He retorted crossly. "Is *you*."

He chuckled lightly. "Exactly. We should be hearing the hum of electricity going through these bars."

Rygel raised his eyebrow ridge in surprise. "Then the power is..."

"Off." Completed Crichton. He cautiously touched the bars and Rygel cringed, but nothing happened. Crichton grinned at him. "Yo Sparky, that is the best news I have had all day!"

"No, John, the best news would be getting out of here."

He nodded, subdued and patted the pockets in his pants then frowned. "It's gone."

"What's gone?"

"That lock picking set Pip gave me."

"Of course it's gone. Darikos took our things. He took my dagger too and your tracking device. The only one he didn't get was the one you hid on Talyn."

The human looked glumly at the bars. Rygel watched him for a microt.

"However," He said, drawing his diminutive body up to its' full height and managing to reach Crichton's waist. "*I* still have mine."

"What? I thought you said Darikos took all our things?"

"He did. At least. Everything he could *find*."

Crichton chuckled. "Way to go, Sparky!"

He then watched in concern as the little Dominar moved away from him and started to choke. He began to reach out a hand to him but the Hynerian waved him away, rocked his head back then suddenly spat at the floor. Crichton and Guy looked down at the muscous and noticed it was lumpy. Crichton wanted to be sick. Could feel himself gagging. He wanted to throw up even more when Rygel calmly squatted down and stuck his fingers in the mess, triumphantly lifting up his lock picking set. The human's mouth fell open. "You *swallowed* it?"

"I'm a survivor, John."

He nodded. Numb. Then watched the little Dominar carefully lick all the muscous off and tried not to throw up anyway. When Rygel was satisfied his kit was completely clean he gave Crichton an expectant look. The human tried to hide his distaste and picked him up, carefully holding the little Dominar close to the lock. He could hear Guy behind him talking to the cage occupants though he did not have a clue what they were saying. It seemed that translation microbes could only go so far. It took the Hynerian only a few microts to pick the lock. As the door swung open the human flashed him a brilliant smile then paused, the smile lingered a microt then vanished.
Rygel looked at him with a frown of alarm. He stepped out into the corridor but the human did not follow him. "What is the matter with you?" Grumbled the Hynerian in an effort to hide his concern.

Crichton looked down the corridor at all the other cages and suddenly the Dominar knew *exactly* what was going through his mind. "We can't leave them, Sparky."

"We can't take them with us, John. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of captives here." His voice became gentle. "You can't save them all but you can save Guy."

He nodded. Knew Rygel was right but he still felt like trat. Especially for those who had helped them. Okay, so they had more or less raped him first but that was not really their fault. With Darikos and his medtechs from hezmana tinkering with their DNA it was not like they were completely in control of their own bodies let alone their own actions. Amazing really that they had been able to help at all. Or maybe it was just Sarah. Most of the others had seemed to disagree with her. Why was she different? Or was it that she was more aware? Had succumbed less quickly to the changes imposed on her? He did not know. Now he would never know. "Sarah..."

Rygel was already shaking his head, signalling to Guy to come out of the cage and bring Crichton with him. "Forget Sarah. She's right down the other end of the corridor and we don't have time to go back, pick the lock to their cage and get everybody out."

The human's eyes were bleak. "It isn't fair."

"No it isn't fair but that is life, John. Now let's get the yotz out of here before Crais takes off in Talyn and we find ourselves stranded here for good."

He nodded. "Give me the keys."

"Keys?"

"Yeah, you're house breaking implements. The lock picks."

The Dominar gave him a suspicious look. "What are you going to do?"

"You and Guy are gonna go find Talyn and get yourselves aboard. Preferrably without setting off every frelling alarm in this place." His voice became firmer knowing Rygel would not like the second part. "I'm gonna go open these damn cages before someone puts the current back on."

"Don't be a complete greebol, John. What's the point in letting them all out if there is nowhere for them to go?"

Crichton had tears in his eyes. "They should be free, Rygel."

"So should we!" He signalled to Guy and the gorilla nudged Crichton towards the Dominar.

"You're ganging up on me." Said Crichton quietly. His voice sounding pained.

"No," Said the Dominar in a soft voice. "We're getting out of here and we're taking you with us, caw matan?"

Not trusting himself to speak, Crichton nodded. They got to the elevator and Crichton stared at the symbols on the side of the closing doors. Rygel pointed at one. "Press that button, John."

"What? This one?"

"Yes, it goes to the transport level."

He looked at the Dominar in surprise. "You can read Sebacean?"

"I can do a great many things but right now the thing I want most is to get the frell out of here!"

Crichton took the hint and pressed the button. As the door slid open his mouth dropped in horror. Standing waiting for him was Hovar Kan. A strange rifle in his hands that somehow gave him a painful flash of memory. Before he could react Kan fired.

* * * * *
end