TITLE: "PAST SINS"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "Farscape"

PAIRING: No specific pairing

RATING: PG-13

STATUS: New.

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

SERIES/SEQUEL: SEQUEL to "CAPTIVITY"

WEBSITE: http://www.carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "Crichton goes off to try to rescue Guy with no idea of what he is getting himself into. D'Argo is determined not to lose him this time."

The usual disclaimers apply. No infringement of copyright is intended.

"PAST SINS"
A "Farscape" story
Written by Alison M. DOBELL

Crais was not best pleased to hear that the Dominar would be going with them. Seeing the sour look on his face cheered Crichton up. He did not want to go to Trilon. Did not want to enter an even more heavily fortified gammak base than last time. Did not want any of this but neither would he or could he leave Guy there. His imagination was playing havoc with the kind of nightmares the gorilla would be made to endure. Yet above and beyond all his fears a single question rang out in his mind and left sharp hollows in his heart. What did High Command want with Guy? If they had wanted to use the gorilla to get him it made no sense at all. When Moya was boarded they could easily have taken him but they did not. His injuries had been gained to stop him preventing them taking Guy. Try as he might he could find no logic behind their actions and that worried him. What was going on that he was failing to see? And why had they referred to Guy as *prohibited cargo*?

His leave taking of Moya was painful. Not so much because he was going but because his friends thought they would never see him again. No one said that of course but he could see it in their eyes. D'Argo gave him a thin and wickedly sharp silfer knife in a long thin leather sheath. He did not even want to know what it was used for. It looked like it could skin a man alive and still be razor sharp afterwards. Zhaan gave him a flat oval crystal that reminded him a little of a moonstone. It was on a chain. She placed it around his neck and kissed his cheek. Said it would bring him luck. He hoped she was right. Chiana gave him a set of lock picks which amused him no end. He liked her thinking but the truth was that where he was going he would need something a lot more high tech but he was grateful anyway. Pilot gave him two tracking devices. One to hide on Talyn, the other to hide on himself. He was not quite sure how that would help but was touched that Pilot was thinking ahead. As if there was going to be a future to plan for. Aeryn gave him her gift almost shyly. Curious he looked to see what she had placed in his hand and his breath caught as he recognised it. It was a lock of her hair that she had Chiana braid carefully. At first it looked like a matted black lump, but when he turned it carefully he could see it was shaped
into an effigy of Guy. He looked up at her with tears misting his eyes.

"I will treasure this always, Aeryn."

She shook her head and loosed a few of her own tears. "Don't treasure it John, just bring it back with you."

He did not smile but took her in his arms and kissed her. The others politely took a step back. Crichton could feel Aeryn melt into his arms, emotions welling up in him and flooding his heart and soul with an ache that was almost painful. How could he leave her? How could he stay? The kiss
deepened then all too soon they were drawing apart, as if they had touched a line that could only be crossed in private. When the last battle was won. Crichton gazed at her for a microt then gently wiped the tears off her face. "I'll be back, Aeryn. If there's any chance in this life, I'll be back."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, John."

He nodded then he was hugging them and walking away before he stumbled. Rygel said his own goodbyes. D'Argo giving him a level look that contained no trace of mockery or insult. "I am sorry I ever doubted your loyalty or courage, Rygel."

"Don't be," Snorted the Dominar, a fiesty look in his eyes. "I have not always been loyal or brave. Right now if my family could see me they would disown me, declare I must be completely fahrbot and unworthy of being a Dominar."

Chiana kissed his cheek. "Yeah, well I'm proud of you Ryge. Look after John."

"Yes, noble Rygel," Said Zhaan. "And look after yourself as well." Her voice dropped. "I do not trust Crais. Be careful."

The Hynerian nodded. "It is because of Crais that I'm going." He murmured back.

They gave him searching looks but he would say no more. Zhaan gave him a Delvian prayer stone, Chiana gave him a couple of nogelti crystals in case he could use them to bribe a guard. D'Argo gave him a knife but this one was much smaller and more ornate than the one he had given Crichton. D'Argo unscrewed the stone on the pommel and showed it to the Dominar. "Inside the handle is a very potent poison, Rygel. A few drops in a drink will render a person unconscious. Use it all and they will die. Or tip the blade with it in battle. If the worst comes to the worst and you are captured you may use it to take your life."

He looked hard at D'Argo. "A handsome gift. Thank you."

Aeryn gave him a small pulse pistol. Then all too soon Crichton and Rygel were accompnaied by their friends to the transport bay where Crais waited with Talyn. D'Argo walked up to the former Peace Keeper Captain and kept his voice low, so the others would not hear him. "If you betray John I will personally make it my life vow to find you and rip your treacherous heart out of your foul body with my teeth."

Crais did not speak but gave a single nod. They understood each other perfectly. Then Crichton and Rygel boarded Talyn. Crais nodded his farewell and boarded. As the gunship left Moya a deathly silence fell over the remaining crew. Zhaan sighed as she looked at the viewing screen. "I do not like this plan."

D'Argo snorted softly. A sound that somehow carried pain. "It is not a plan, it is suicide."

No one said anything after that. They watched until Talyn had created enough distance between himself and Moya to go to Star Burst. D'Argo gave it a few microts then spoke to Pilot. "Pilot, has John activated the tracking device yet?"

The others frowned at him. Not knowing how that would help.

"Not yet, Ka D'Argo..." His voice trailed off then he spoke more excitedly. "Yes, it is activated now."

"Good. Have Moya follow at a very discreet distance."

The others looked at him in surprise. Aeryn stared at him. "You asked Moya to follow Talyn?"

"Monitor," He correctly himself and Aeryn carefully. He tried to look innocent. "Moya is concerned for her son. I merely suggested we stay close enough should he need us."

Chiana chuckled. "I like your thinking, D'Argo, but isn't Talyn gonna give the game away to Crais?"

He grinned. "Talyn won't know. This isn't biomechanoid technology Chiana, it's Luxan. While it is true that Moya is a leviathan I have used some of the equipment from my ship to mask her energy signature. She will appear no more than an occasional distortion in space, like a ripple on a pool of water. However, I do not want Crais to become suspicious when the ripple *follows* him, that is why I have asked Pilot to keep a discreet distance."

They gave him looks of complete surprise. Zhaan was impressed and she was not the only one. "That is a good idea, sweet D'Argo, but how do we track them through Star Burst?"

"We don't. Those were hyper-burst seeker devices I gave John. We will use the information from them as a tracking device."

Chiana shook her head. "I've heard of most things but I've never heard of anything like that."

D'Argo smiled. "That is because they are undetectable except to a Luxan ship."

Aeryn was the only one frowning. "I don't understand. If you have this technology why didn't you tell us? There have been many times that we could have used something the Peace Keepers could not detect."

"I didn't know about it myself until recently. Much of the technology was shrouded in the ancient past. As I learnt to read more and more of the ancient Luxan text I understood more about the technology."

"It comes from your ship?"

He nodded solemnly. A touch of pride in his voice. "Yes."

"You said they were hyper burst seeker devices, what does that mean?"

"It means they will send very tight beamed high intensity bursts at set intervals. Those bursts will contain all the information available at that specific microt. Time, trajectory, speed, heading. Because the bursts are set for every quarter arn we can easily plot the path of the gunship without needing to be in line of sight. The tracking device I gave John for himself is different."

"How?" Asked Zhaan.

D'Argo smiled slowly. "It is keyed to his DNA."

Everyone looked surprised. Aeryn could not believe what he was saying. "Are you saying John's DNA is in that tracking device?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"How the frell did you get that?" Asked Chiana.

D'Argo beamed at them. "Hair."

Zhaan nodded, a gentle smile coming to her lips. "Of course. That was very resourceful of you D'Argo."

He looked pleased. Aeryn gave him a suspicious look. "I don't understand. When did you do all this?"

His humour vanished. "The microt Crais appeared I knew something was happening. I had been toying with the various aspects of my ship for some time. What it could do and so on. It has become something of a consuming passion. As I became more proficient I learned about the technology hidden inside it. I realised some of that technology could be adapted for use on Moya. So I experimented and then decided to try some of it out on Moya."

"Pilot said nothing to me." Said Aeryn. She sounded none too happy about that.

"I asked him not to tell anyone. I wanted to be sure it would work first. I had been working on the tracking devices for some time, seeing what variations I could also create. Once Crais told us his news I realised there was no way John would not go after Guy. As bartantic as his plan was, it therefore was not totally unexpected. I just had to make sure I gave him the devices without Crais knowing."

Aeryn shook her head, more than a little stunned by his unexpected revelations. She looked at her warrior friend for a microt. "I am impressed D'Argo. It is not just your technology that has come a long way."

He fairly beamed at the compliment though his pleasure was muted by the circumstances. It was Chiana who brought them all back to a problem they had not addressed. "That's great D'Argo but how are they going to get inside the base?"

His expression was grim. "I do not believe Crais being here is an accident. I think he came for John."

"But that would mean..."

He nodded. "Yes, Aeryn. He knew about Guy. Knew he had been captured and probably why."

Aeryn was puzzled. "If that is true, why didn't they take John when they took Guy?"

He shrugged. "I do not pretend to understand the Peace Keeper mentality."

Aeryn looked thoughtful. "Unless the retrieval squad only had orders for Guy."

D'Argo nodded. Chiana looked worried. "Then why would Crais go to all this effort to find Moya, tell John?"

The Luxan's face slowly darkened, his fingers gripping into the command console. "Revenge."

Startled, Aeryn began to protest that Crais had changed. Zhaan placed a calming hand on her arm. "Aeryn, Crais is still a Peace Keeper."

She shook her head. "No, Zhaan, you're wrong. He's changed. He quit so he could explore with Talyn. He has his freedom now."

"Then why," Asked Chiana softly, her head tilted to one side, her black liquid eyes looking sad. "Is he doing a Peace Keeper's job? Why is he handing John over to his enemy?"

No one answered. Their glum faces spoke volumes.

* * * * *

Talyn was a lot smaller than Moya. After being shown their quarters Crais left them. Crichton searched for somewhere suitable to hide the first tracking device. Rygel watched him and was about to say something when Crichton shook his head and began talking, screening the movements of his hand to hide what he was doing. Rygel's eyebrow ridge dropped into a frown.

"Yeah, pretty sleek ship Crais has Rygel. We should make good time."

Rygel opened his mouth to say something but Crichton rambled on.

"Neat arrangement too. Did you know that with that neural link - the so called *hand of friendship* - everything Talyn sees, hears or feel Crais sees, hears and feels? It's like an umbical chord, Sparky. So this ship doesn't need any cameras to see what's going on."

The Dominar nodded. Frell. That meant they were being watched even in their quarters. He should not have been surprised but it annoyed him nonetheless. "What about privacy?"

Crichton smiled. "Just look on it as a perk of the job."

"Perk of the job?"

Crichton grinned at his outraged tone. "Now, at least give me the illusion of some privacy and vamoose." He waved his hands to indicate that he wanted Rygel to go.

He looked suspicious. "What do you need privacy for?"

"I have to rub this gel in, Sparky. Remember? Injuries, pain, that kind of thing?"

The Hynerain nodded. "I thought you said you were healed?"

"I lied. It was hard enough getting everyone to agree to let me do this, Sparky, without them knowing how weak I am. This gel of Zhaan's is good though. In another week I should be good as new."

Rygel shook his head gently, he looked worried. He did not like to tell Crichton he might not have a week. "You should have told them." He said then after a microt he sighed. "Very well, I'll go. I have some things I need to do as well. I'll see you in command later."

As soon as he was gone, Crichton sighed and ran a hand over his face. He was worried about Guy. Worried about dragging Rygel into this stupid death wish of his. Yet in a strange way he was also relieved to have the little guy along. Grateful to have the company of a friend in his journey into darkness. He stripped off then began to carefully annoint himself with the clear gel. He did not hear the door whisper open.

"That looks painful."

Crichton spun round in surprise at the sound of Crais's voice. The Sebacean looked amused, his eyes travelling slowly over the human's naked body and frowning at the blistered skin down his chest and abdomen. The human's face turned red with rage. "Get the hell out of here, Crais!"

Crais walked right into the room and looked him over critically, enjoying how incensed the human was becoming at his presence. "What happened to you?" He asked curiously.

"A gift from your boys."

Crais looked up, genuinely puzzled. "My boys?"

Realising Crais was not about to leave and let him finish in peace, he got back to carefully rubbing the gel over his body, pausing every now and then when he hit a particularly painful patch. He gritted his teeth, trying to hide how much it hurt. "Yeah, your Peace Keeper buddies. When they boarded Moya looking for Guy they found me and fired some crap from their pulse pistols that splashed all over me like glue. Then it ignited. I felt for sure I was gonna die."

The Sebacean actually looked concerned. Looking at the angry blisters on his chest and upper arms. "They should not have done that." He said quietly.

"No kidding?" Sneered Crichton. He was glistening all over now as he worked the gel down his legs and tried not to lose his balance.

"I could help you with that." Said Crais mildly.

"Thanks but no thanks. I like to keep my enemies on the correct side of the line."

"The line?"

"Yeah. It's like an imaginary line in the sand. Everybody on this side is good, and everybody on that side..."

Crais nodded. "You think I am bad? Evil?"

"That's what I like about you Crais. You are so quick on the uptake."

Crais frowned at his sarcasm. Knew he was pissed off at him. Wanted him out of his room. Out of his frelling Universe only that last wish was never going to happen. Not in this zip code.

"John, this is foolish. You are being unnecessarily obstinate. You cannot reach all the injury sites, *I* can. When you live aboard a Peace Keeper Command Carrier for cycles on end you lose all embarrassment at simple bodily functions."

"Yeah, well I never lived cycles on a PK Command Carrier."

Crais took the gel off the table and met a glare of pure hatred from Crichton. He smiled slowly. Amused. Enjoyed infuriating the human. Liked how the mere loss of clothing made him so defensive. Interesting. It was a weakness he had not expected. He dipped his fingers into the pot and raised his eyebrows in challenge. Crichton felt like he was back at school, being dared by the playground bully. "Get the hell away from me, Crais."

"What are you afraid of?" Countered Crais in a voice as soft as silk. The sibilant words unsettled Crichton.

Crais moved round behind him and began to rub the gel carefully into the back of Crichton's neck. He felt the human stiffen beneath his fingers and smiled to himself. Talking conversationally as if this odd event was not even occurring. "I wanted to ask you who Guy was."

Crichton concentrated on what Crais was saying and tried to block out the image of the Sebacean rubbing gel in his skin. "Guy is a Mountain Gorilla. A species native to my homeworld. To Earth."

The hand was almost a caress, gliding without friction over the back of his shoulders. It was a relief to feel the gel on his back though he did not say so. The numbing effect of the analgesic in the healing compound beginning to relieve his pain. He was starting to relax. "What is a Mountain Gorilla?"

Crichton noticed he had not queried the fact that Guy came from Earth. He wondered if that was because Crais already knew. "It's a species of ape. A bipedal primate, a precursor to humans."

Crais paused. "Humans?"

"Yeah. Guess you could say I'm trying to save the ancestors."

For a few microts Crais said nothing. Crichton felt the hand resume down his back and everywhere where the blisters tortured his skin. Pausing when he got to ones that had burst and made the flesh beneath weep. Crichton seemed to know what was going through is mind.

"It's a bitch," Crichton said softly. "When you sleep on your back."

"You should see a diagnosan."

"Nah, I'm booked for the shrink when this is all over. With everything that's happened to me I'll be lucky to make it out of a padded cell."

Crais hesitated. "Talyn could help you."

The human shook his head and turned around. He seemed to have recovered from the fact that he was standing stark naked in front of Crais. The Sebacean marvelled at how quickly the human adapted. "No thanks, Crais."

"He can create secretions that have remarkable healing properties."

Crichton just looked at him. In another time and place he might be tempted to explore that option but he still did not trust Crais. Did not want to put himself or Rygel in this man's power a single microt longer than could be avoided. "If you want to help me Crais, tell me how in hezmana we're gonna get inside that gammak base."

It was like a shutter coming down. Crais handed the pot of gel to Crichton. "I will send them a transmission and tell them I have captured you."

He raised his eyebrows. "And they'll believe you just like that?"

"I *am* a former Peace Keeper Captain."

"Yeah," Said Crichton slowly. "I was gonna ask you about that."

Crais let his eyes travel over Crichton's naked body. "Aren't you going to get dressed?"

The human realised that Crais wanted to divert his attention away from that line of enquiry. "I thought you were used to cycles aboard a PK Command Carrier?"

"Yes," Said Crais slowly, an unreadable expression in his eyes. He slid a hand down Crichton's gel covered chest and trailed his nails passed his abdomen. "But you are beginning to shiver."

Before Crichton could wrap his hands around his neck, Crais stepped quickly back and through the opening door. He grinned at the anger on Crichton's face. "When you are dressed meet me on command. We can discuss our plans then."

The door shut almost silently behind him. Crichton seethed. It took several microts for him to even begin calming down. If that man touched him again he would kill him. Even if it meant finding the seceret gammak base on his own.

* * * * *

The Commandant watched the ape. Guy was in a smaller cell now. Newly cleaned and furnished with fresh food and water. The gorilla ate some of the food but left the rest. He seemed very selective about what he would eat from the selection on offer. He had no such reservations about the water. He drank from it several times until the bowl was empty. A smile graced his captor's lips. He made a note of the food the ape preferred and ordered his water to be replenished. Good. Their prize would survive. He flicked slowly between the other cameras and reviewed the specimens in more detail. Soon it would be time to choose him a mate. An attempt to construct a more rapid evolution than the one nature had intended. He needed to revisit the mistakes of the past and correct them. Over half of his specimens were mistakes. These could not be used in the programme but their genetic material was important for comparrison and as a warning of what failure would look like. Once they had achieved their ultimate aim, the failures would be destroyed and the research material with it.

No one outside of High Command must know the truth. No one.

* * * * *
END