TITLE: "HEAVEN AND HEZMANA"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "Farscape"

PAIRING: M/F

RATING: NC-17

STATUS: New.

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

SERIES/SEQUEL: SEQUEL to "FALLING"

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

SUMMARY: "Things could not get much better for Crichton. Aeryn plots her revenge and D'Argo has troubles of his own."

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


"HEAVEN AND HEZMANA"
A "Farscape" story
Written by Alison M. DOBELL


Aeryn did not waste time explaining anything to Jool. The Interon watched Aeryn's brisk movements and realised that what she was doing had been planned. Right down to the last detail. It chilled her to think that the Sebacean had purposely fallen in with the plans of the others, waiting until they all got dropped off by Moya at their chosen destinations. She was not stupid despite what Aeryn liked to think. Jool left Aeryn emptying the armoury and went to talk to Pilot. He looked worried when she explained what she had seen. When he did not say anything, Jool got anxious. "What does she think she's doing?"

"Aeryn is going back to Eventray."

Alarmed, Jool shook her head. Recalling how the others, especially D'Argo, had advised Aeryn against it. "John is dead, Pilot."

"Yes, Joolusko, but Aeryn wants to avenge his death."

Jool shook her head frantically. "No, we have to stop her"

Just then the last voice she wanted to hear cut in behind her. "Stop me doing what?"

The Interon froze. She was surely going to die now. She turned slowly. Aeryn was dressed all in black, the epitomy of a Peace Keeper if ever there was one. The emotionless look in her eyes chilled the Interon. In fact Aeryn always chilled the Interon, something to do with her volatile nature and people dying. Let the Sebacean do the math. "Aeryn," She said as calmly as possible. "I think this is mistake."

"Then don't come."

"You don't know what you would be stirring up down there."

"I don't care."

Jool tried again. "Aeryn, John loved you. He wouldn't want you to go down there blasting everything in sight. Getting yourself killed."

She shrugged. "My choice. Anything else?"

Jool shook her head. Could think of nothing else to say to deflect the massacre she saw in Aeryn's eyes. Aeryn looked at Pilot.

"How long until we are in planetary orbit, Pilot?"

"Moya estimates another half arn."

Aeryn nodded then looked at Jool. "I know you care about Pilot and Moya, Jool, so despite what I may think of you personally I know I'll be leaving them in good hands."

"Don't do it." Whispered Jool.

Her words were ignored as if they had not been spoken. Aeryn was a juggernaut and nothing would slow her down or deflect her. Especially not reason. She was way beyond all that. *All done being reasonable* as Crichton would say. "Once I take my prowler down to the surface you can decide whether to wait a few arns or move on."

Jool's eyes widened. "You think we'd leave you?"

There was no emotion in Aeryn's eyes. It was as if an unknown hand had already switched all the lights off but left the body on automatic pilot. Self-frelling-destruct. "It doesn't matter, Jool. I won't be coming back."

That was when she felt it. The kick in her gut that Jool had been anticipating since they had all heard the news of Crichton's death. That it had taken so long to land just made the inevitability of it all even more poignant. "Aeryn," Tried Jool gently. "There will be peaceful people down there too. You can't just blast everyone in sight to make you feel better."

"Then I suggest they duck."

Jool watched Aeryn turn and leave Pilot's den. She looked at Pilot. "Duck?"

He shrugged. He did not know what the word meant either which meant it had to be another Crichtonism. One that had obviously baffled the translator microbes. Maybe that was why Aeryn had used the word. She did not know. Feeling suddenly drained she almost jumped when Pilot said, "200 microts to orbit".

* * * * *

She watched the look spread slowly over his face, like Father Sun coming up raising his brilliant face through the dappled green of the Forest of Tannar. She saw the light in his eyes of every fire that had ever warmed her heart, multiplied a thousand fold by his gentle joy. She realized she loved him beyond anything or anyone she had ever loved before. His face lit with awe, his sensitive hands spread out to cradle her stomach in wonder. She was pregnant. Which meant the baby was definitely his. It did not matter that she had coaxed him to mate with at least five of her clan in between their bouts of love making. Each and every time he was making love to her. In his heart where all dreams were born. He leaned towards her and gently kissed her stomach. Her smile broadened and she ran a hand through his hair. She had birthed children before but never one born out of such love. He raised his head, the emotion shining in his eyes making her breath catch.

"Hemnoth," He whispered. He was not asking for anything, just confirming what was his. He cradled her face in his hands, mist in his eyes. It made her think of a sky full of rain, only this rain was celebrating a long hard drought. "My love, you don't know how happy you have made me."

Then he kissed her, a long slow gentle kiss which she responded to. A merging of hearts. <Oh God Dad, I'm gonna have a child. No one messing with my genes this time but an honest to goodness child born out of love. Can you believe that? I'm gonna be a father>

He wanted to climb the highest mountain of this beautiful planet and yell it from the top of his lungs while part of him wanted to tell no one at all. Keep the joy deep and hidden between them. She realised he was crying, silent tears wetting her cheeks. She pulled out of his kiss and began to wipe them away with her hands. "John, my love, what is wrong?"

He shook his head gently, not taking his eyes off her. "Nothing, I'm just the happiest man alive Hemnoth and it's all because of you."

Then he took her in his arms and showed her. Her heart swamped with feelings so powerful it shook her that she could love a single man so much or that he could do so in return. She understood what made this human so precious to her. He paused, one hand massaging a breast as he looked into her eyes. "You realise I don't want to mate with anyone else but you, don't you?"

She raised her eyebrows in mock alarm. "What about those who have yet to be with child?"

He chuckled and kissed her on the tip of her nose. An odd endearment that she accepted as a sign of his affection. She found herself loving everything he did. "Let them try the rythym method, Hemnoth."

A genuine frown creased her brow. He gently kissed the frown away, a hand drifting down to caress her stomach. Was that a slight swelling he detected? His smile widened. He hoped so. The hand drifted down to a more private forest and his fingers burrowed a path to gently tease his way to the hidden fruits waiting inside like buried treasure.

"What is the rythym method?" She asked, her voice curious.

He hesitated at the idea of explaining birth control to a woman. *Any* woman. "It's a natural method of working out the best times to make love if you want to have children. I should tell you it doesn't always work."

For a microt she was distracted from the pleasure coursing through her body. "You did not speak of this before."

He chuckled. "I'm not exactly an expert, Hemnoth, and it's not widely practised any more so far as I know. Back on my homeworld some women keep diaries - you know, make a note of the dates when they made love and then highlight the ones where they fall pregnant. It kind of gives them a blueprint of the times in their cycle when they are most receptive."

"Cycle?"

"Um, not cycle as you know it Hemnoth, but cycle as in a period of time during a women's menstruation." He broke off and groaned. Hezmana, how was he even going to *try* to explain this? It was like expecting to make a jigsaw fit together with only a couple of pieces. He saw she was hanging on his every word. "Let's just say it's different on my world Hemnoth. Most women spend their time trying *not* to get pregnant."

That surprised and apalled her. How could any woman not want to have children? How would their clans survive? A fleeting sadness touched her eyes but was burned away with need and passion as she rolled her hips up and down against the delicious pressure of his fingers. She wanted him to move faster, he wanted to tease her to the top of the cliff. He kissed her and stole her air, sliding a leg over hers to keep her where he wanted her. Then he gave her air out of his own lungs. A gift that she had given him many times. Slowly, gently, he brought her higher and higher until she orgasmed. Then with a light kiss on her lips he slid down and replaced his hands with his lips, kissing her now soaked entrance before gently lapping up the fragrant juices and titilating her anew with his invading tongue. She moaned as his tongue delved deeper and watched the deep smile of contentment on his face as he worked his fingers back inside her to titilate while he sucked, licked and drove her mad with ecstasy. He used all the gifts at his disposal. Fingers, lips, tongue, and the suction of his mouth. For her people sex was a biological act with occasional flashes of passion. This human was different. He spoke of love. Illustrated the content of his heart with affection as he fell deeper and deeper under the spell she cast over him. Caring for her in a way which was so alien yet so beautiful. Much like him. She was so flooded inside as she came again that she worried her waters might drown him.

When he surfaced it was with reluctance but he needed to be inside her. Ached for her. Desired to follow the rise and fall of her tides and fill her with his own inland sea. He awoke passions in her that she had never shared with another. Ecstasies that bound her deeper and deeper to him. Her eyes sparkling with joy of him. For Crichton it was everything he had ever wanted to feel and share with a partner. To be loved as he wanted to love, allowed to express that love and finding it returned in equal measure. He had been lonely for too long. In the arms of Hemnoth both his heart and soul found peace.

* * * * *

Ka D'Argo loved his ship. The way it responded to him was almost better than sex. Never had he known such freedom. Such control of his destiny. To finally be able to pick up the pieces of his life and move on was something of a shock to his system. He had not expected it to be so hard to leave them but he had run out of excuses for putting this off. The death of Crichton had been his wake up call. And it had left him bleary eyed and disorientated.

Space beckoned all around him. The stars like curious onlookers waiting to see which direction he would take. He considered the information Pilot had managed to glean for him. It was not much. Macton was not exactly that high up in the Peace Keeper hierachy. It was not until he had left Moya behind that he toyed with the temptation to go and check on Chiana. Part of him still worried that her friends in the resistance would not come before her oxygen ran out. How would he feel if she died out there? All alone and hurting after the loss of Crichton? He knew that she had taken it worse than any of them. With the possible exception of Aeryn. Possible because she was so hard to fathom at times. Only someone as dogged and single minded as John Crichton would have put up with the temper tantrums and dren from their resident ex-Peace Keeper for so long. What would Aeryn do now? He supposed she would stay with Pilot and Moya. She had a bond with Pilot that D'Argo never even pretended to understand. Something about sharing his DNA since the debacle with Namtar. There really were too many homicidal maniacs per square dench in the Uncharted Territories for his liking. And all of them seemed to home in on Crichton. He almost chuckled except the pain was too raw. The emptiness crowding inside his heart not healing but spreading to the second heart. How could he grieve for someone who was not even of his blood? Not even the same frelling species? It was ludicrous. The human was like an infection, spreading wherever and whatever he touched with his human strangeness. Crais had been right only he had not gone far enough. Aeryn *was* irreversibly contaminated but so were the rest of them. Bialar Crais included. He huffed and tried to get his thoughts back on track but it was hard. There was no hurry to his mission. No impetus to go flying across the Uncharted Territories not even to avenge Lo'laan. What the frell was wrong with him? Since when has his vengeance come to mean so little?

He was literally thrown out of his reverie microts later when something swift, angular, and as black as the void of space strafed him in passing. He spun his craft around, the intuitive interface making the manouevre smooth not jerky as it would have been in any other craft. The flush of adrenalin became tinged with concern when he realised he was in the midst of a group of prowlers. His instruments told him a maurader was close by and where you found prowlers and mauraders you inevitably ran into a Command Carrier. "Frell!" This would have to happen to him now. He banked sharply and described an impossible arc which left the craft pursuing him having to break off. It took a turn too long by one fifth of a microt. It was enough for him to paint the sky with its' debris. D'Argo turned again, such a neat twist of direction that it was like spinning on a foodcube and taking up about as much room to do it too. Incredible hardly came close to describing the wonderful machine now bonded to him. The screen scrolled in ancient Luxan, showing him the enemy craft and all the trajectories. He could not let them find out what this ship was or that he was the pilot of it. Their ignorance kept them wary and that gave him an edge. One he used with brutal efficiency.

A sound crackled over his coms, slowly settling into words. He recognised the voice straight away though he did not answer.

"Alien vessel, identify yourself or be destroyed!"

D'Argo ignored the threat and blew another two prowlers out of the sky. He heard one of the pilots. "What the hezmana *is* that? We can't even touch it!"

"It is your enemy," Snapped Lt Braca. "You will despatch it and teach the pilot the error of his ways."

That was when four enemy ships turned to attack him together. D'Argo grinned. Waited a couple of microts for them to come into range of his heavy guns then blasted all four of them at the same time. The last remaining ship hung back as if hesistating. Lt Braca stared wide eyed as the sleek unknown vessel turned slowly and faced him. Whoever the pilot was he was cool and very deadly. It was almost as if the pilot were daring Lt Braca to take his chances but he was more concerned with what sort of ship it was and the identity of the pilot. D'Argo got impatient, huffed out a breath and began to strafe the remaining ship while he waited for his main guns to come back on-line. As soon as he whipped passed him, Lt Braca made a tactical withdrawal. He had to get back to the Command Carrier and warn Scorpius. This could be the first of a fleet of such vessels and Lt Braca had no intention of foolishly facing this new enemy alone.

* * * * *

Jool was not good at this so she went to see Pilot. His gentle face looked down at her, his four arms not pausing but continuing their endless ballet over Moya's controls. He listened carefully to what Jool had to say. "We must stop Aeryn but I am afraid of her. She will listen to you."

Pilot shook his massive head slowly. "No, Joolusko. Aeryn will go her own way as the others have already done."

The Interon was torn. She did not like Aeryn. Mainly because the Sebacean always seemed to treat her with contempt. She wondered why she was even bothering trying to save her life. Pilot looked at her troubled face and waited.

"I never thought I would feel so strange with everybody leaving, Pilot. To be honest I thought I would be relieved."

Pilot adjusted a few more controls and waited. Both he and Moya could be very patient.

"I think they are making a mistake." She finished softly.

"Why do you think that, Joolusko?"

"I don't know. It feels wrong."

Pilot thought about that for a couple of microts. Discussed it with Moya. Her thoughts and his were in agreement. "This was a prison ship," He said softly. "Moya once wore the Peace Keeper collar. It is no longer a prison ship and with Moya's freedom came the freedom of her crew. It is not for Moya or myself to tell the others what they should do any more than we would tell you what to do."

"I'm sorry Pilot."

They fell into a companionable silence as Moya settled into orbit around Eventray. Pilot had already alerted Aeryn. She had promised to say goodbye before she went. Jool thought of scuttling away but what was the point? If Aeryn wanted to kill her she would already be dead. That much at least she had learnt about the volatile Sebacean. As if drawn by her thoughts, the measured brisk stride of a Peace Keeper interrupted the Interon's thoughts. She shrank back behind Pilot's console as Aeryn approached.

"Pilot, I want to thank you and Moya for everything."

"What is your plan, Aeryn Sun?"

There was no mistaking the massive pulse ground launcher. That she could even lift it, let alone carry it with such ease, chilled Jool. The Sebacean's eyes flashed with dark fire. "I will find whoever killed John and give them the same courtesy they showed him."

"Moya and I are sorry Aeryn."

Aeryn leaned forward and rested a hand against the gentle giant's cheek. "There's nothing to be sorry for Pilot. You and Moya had been the truest friends I shall ever have."

"Thank you Aeryn, but we do not believe you should go alone."

She frowned. "Pilot, everybody else has gone. Remember?"

Pilot's voice fell soft. "Not everyone."

Aeryn realised with a jolt that he meant Jool. Her eyebrows rose in surprise then descended like thunderclouds, her look of disbelief turning to anger. She kept her voice even because she did not want to upset Pilot. "Jool is no fighter, Pilot."

The Interon's eyes flicked from one to the other, she was fairly quaking in her boots. "Me? Go down *there*?"

It was almost comical watching the panic play out on her face but for once Aeryn was in total agreement. "No, Jool, you stay here aboard Moya. Help Pilot."

"I know, Aeryn. And you are no diplomat if I may say so without causing offence."

Aeryn frowned slightly and tilted her head. "What are you saying, Pilot?"

"Just that Chiana and D'Argo both said Eventray is a peaceful planet. Whatever happened down there was probably an isolated incident. A little diplomacy might help you find the culprit much quicker than assaulting the population."

"Pilot, I am not about to go down there and blast everything and everyone to Hezmana as much as I might feel like it. I only want the guilty ones."

"And what if you can't find the guilty ones?" Asked Jool tentatively.

She turned and glared at the Interon. "I will stay down there until I do."

Jool paused. Her heart in her mouth as she considered what she was about to suggest. "Aeryn, I think Pilot is right. You should not go down alone."

"Are *you* volunteering, Jool?" Mocked Aeryn.

Something in the Interon stiffened slightly. She was not thinking of Aeryn but of the peaceful beings on the planet below being subjected to the unrestrained fury of the grief crazed Sebacean. "Yes."

For a microt Aeryn was stumped. She knew what a coward the Interon was. How much she hated violence. How totally pathetic she was even when armed. More likely to shoot her own stupid foot off than injure an enemy. Yet here she was offering to walk into the jaws of hezmana knew what with her. Aeryn could not grasp the logic of the girl's actions. "Why?"

The Interon sighed slightly. "Because there is too much death and destruction, Aeryn. Adding to the list doesn't solve anything and it won't bring John back."

"What makes you think you can find out who killed John?"

"Nothing. I just know I'll never forgive myself if I don't try."

Aeryn was surprised despite herself. Impressed even. Her lips tightened in a thin line of iron resolve. "Alright, you can come but don't get in my way or I'll be leaving the planet alone. Understand?"

The Interon paled but nodded. Pilot looked at Aeryn. "Aeryn. Both Moya and myself would like to see you *both* return unharmed."

The gentle hint was not lost on Aeryn. In his polite way he was impressing on her that neither of them wanted Aeryn to hurt Jool. However much the Interon might annoy her. She nodded back then looked at Jool, a grim little smile on her face. "Come on if you're coming, Jool."

The Sebacean turned and strode out of Pilot's Den briskly. Jool hung back to say goodbye to Pilot and Moya. "Be careful, Joolusko. Moya and I will pray for the safe return of yourself and Aeryn."

Jool nodded. "I will do my best."

"We know you will, Joolusko." Said Pilot gently.

* * * * *
END