TITLE: "THE GILDED PAWN"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "Farscape"

PAIRING: JOHN/D'ARGO

RATING: NC-17.

STATUS: New.

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

SERIES/SEQUEL: SEQUEL to "WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS"

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

SUMMARY: "Rescued from Scorpius, Crichton begins to recover not knowing there will be a
price to pay. Meanwhile Talyn joins in battle."

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

"THE GILDED PAWN"
A "Farscape" slash story
Written by Alison M. DOBELL
* * * * *

Aeryn was impatient, pacing to and fro in agitation while she waited for Pilot to come up with something. D'Argo watched her but said nothing. They were all on edge, the decision to go after Scorpius not being taken lightly. Chiana was also in command with them, the baby cradled in her arms. She did not like what they were doing, the way they were using Rion to track down
Crichton. Her focus was only on the son who filled her arms and her heart with such love that everything else fell into shadow around her. She had never thought of herself in maternal guise before. Even her love for D'Argo came secondary. She looked up as Aeryn came to a sudden halt and interrupted their thoughts.

"It should not be hard for Moya to detect a Peace Keeper Command Vessel, Pilot!" She snapped, her tone uncompromising and brittle betraying her anxiety.

Pilot's image looked up on the clamshell monitor. He did not seem in least offended by Aeryn's tone. "Moya is using a process of elimination to determine which way John's module went so we can follow. There is no trace of the Command Carrier in the near vicinity."

"How long will that take?" Asked Rygel.

A trace of irritation filtered through Pilot's carefully neutral voice. "If Moya knew that I would tell you."

D'Argo made a face but said nothing. Zhaan was concerned. She looked down at the baby in Chiana's arms. He was wide awake and looked from Chiana to Zhaan. As their eyes met a spark of recognition hit the Delvian Pa'u and triggered a full recall of her Unity with Crichton. In startling detail. The unexpected images and emotions roused were so strong she staggered back a step. Everyone looked at her. Zhaan's mouth dropped open in surprise. She was openly staring at Rion now. Shaken. The baby did not even need her to touch him to make the connection.

Chiana tilted her head in a sudden jerky motion. Eyes wide and staring. "What? What's the matter? What did you see?"

She was not sure how to answer. Not sure she wanted to but by the anxious looks on all their faces she had to say something. Her eye caught Rygel's. The Dominar was calm, his look knowing. He knew what had happened. What she had seen. As often happened, they all tended to underestimate the Hynerian. Seeing his diminutive size and not his potential. Forgetting the hundreds of cycles of knowledge he carried in his sharp little brain. Her response was one word but it was enough to shake them. "Unity."

Aeryn's mouth dropped open in surprise then alarm shadowed her anxious eyes. She looked at the baby, unsure of her feelings towards the infant. When she looked into the child's eyes all she saw was John. At first it had amused her, then comforted her. Now she found it unsettling. A strange hollow forming in the pit of her stomach that seemed to presage something she could not yet put into words. She had the odd suspicion that if she held the baby now those words would flood her mind and she too would be hit by a kind of revelation. Aeryn took a step back. She wanted no part of this. No one seemed to notice her attitude changing. Her expression locked behind a reserve that had stood her in such good stead as a Peace Keeper.

Pilot's startled voice changed all that. "We are receiving a transmission." Pilot looked up, eyes wide. "It's Talyn!"

"Talyn?" Aeryn fought to make sense of what she was hearing. "What's he doing here?"

"He's distressed, excited, anxious." Pilot broke off a microt, alarm now evident in his voice as he listened to Talyn's blurted call to Moya. A transmission the others could not hear. "Crais has ordered him to track down the Command Carrier and rescue John."

Rygel's eyes narrowed suspiciously, his brow ridge lowering into a calculating frown. "How does Crais know about Scorpius?"

"It seems," Said Pilot with a hinge of awe. "That the leviathan received a distress signal."

Zhaan looked at him in surprise. "From John?"

Pilot seemed not to hear her, all his focus on Moya's controls. "This does not make sense."

Aeryn noted the puzzlement in his voice. Her patience so thin now as to be almost non-existent. "What does not make sense, Pilot?"

He looked up slowly. "Talyn says the signal was sent by a droid." For a microt no one spoke then Pilot elaborated. "But it is not one of Moya's droids."

D'Argo shook his head, "What other droids are there?"

"Moya does not know where the droid came from only that it is on the Command Carrier."

The Luxan could not believe his ears. There had to be some mistake. "Are you telling us that one of Scorpius's droids sent the signal?"

"Moya does not know." Pliot blinked. "She is as perplexed as you are."

D'Argo looked at Aeryn. "I did not know there were droids on the Peace Keeper vessel."

She frowned, becoming more unsettled as her eyes met his. "There aren't."

Everyone looked at Aeryn. She shrugged back, not making sense of it either. She looked at the clamshell, her heart pounding so loud it almost drowned out what she was saying. "Pilot. Is Moya able to tell us where the Command Carrier is?"

"Yes. Talyn is transmitting co-ordinates to Moya now." His expression changed to one of horror. His voice rose in pitch. "Talyn is asking Moya to join him immediately..."

"Why?" Asked Rygel, detecting the urgency in Pilot's voice.

"....Because Talyn has found the Carrier and Crais is ordering him to open fire!"

* * * * *

He was drifting in and out of consciousness, unaware of the cool hands washing his brow. Anxious faces looked in but did not linger. Eskar paused by the door but was urged to keep moving by Carver. Their task done they did not want to incur her wrath. She looked down at his face, her own alabaster beauty shadowed by a rare look of concern. She touched his face with a cool hand, fingers outlining the planes of his tormented face as if to spark memories that had been all too fleeting yet etched in flame. He was unaware, the battle raging within tossing him upon unknown shores, the waves breaking over him and carrying him he knew not where. His thoughts were broken, little bits of flotsam and jetsom that tormented and teased in equal measure. The water burned him, the movement making him dizzy with each over arching wave crashing down on him from on high and rending his thoughts assunder scattering him. Memories mulitplied in a dazzling cornucopia of images. Lost, his lips moved silently driven by pain. A stranger asking for directions.

She watched him for arns, only leaving to bring the physicians. While they patiently healed his body and stopped the internal bleeding she watched his mind fragment in open dreams, like looking through a doorway into his mind. His expressive face telling her things that cast an ache of answering pain through the chilly regions of her heart. They fed him intravenously, a line attached to the side of his neck carrying nutrients and fluids into him. She fancied his heartbeat had become less ragged now, her touch upon his cheek gentle, a wondering look in her eyes. He would live not because they had healed him but because he must. Too many lives were riding on the outcome. She would not let him die not even if it were the one thing in the Uncharted Territories he wanted above all others. She pursed her lips as he murmered quietly in pain and leaned close to him, her whispered voice fanning across his face a breath that warmed his skin but not his heart. "Sssssh, you need to sleep."

As if her words had somehow pierced the pain filled fog, his eyes fluttered open. The china blue glassy depths unable at first to focus. He was frowning, trying to grasp something familiar yet just out of reach. To make sense of his nightmare. She stroked his brow, drawing his eyes to the sculpted beauty of her face. He seemed to absorb strength from the sight of her, his eyes becoming steady as they basked thoughtfully in her regard. His lips stumbled over words as if they were obstacles placed in his path by a vindictive God as slowly the pieces of his memory tumbled into place. "J...Jena?"

She smiled. Absurdly pleased that he had recognised her. A cool kiss brushed his lips as if to repay the debt. "Sssh, John. You're safe now. Try not to talk."

Confusion filled his eyes. "Safe?"

Jena nodded and did not break eye contact, watching him intently, pathing the way for his reaction.

"Safe from what?"

A smile graced her lips and gave her cool marble warmth. Just for a microt she lived and breathed like other mortals. "Scorpius."

The word jolted him as she knew it would. Pain spasmed on his face and she moved to mitigate his distress dipping her head to kiss him. The action cutting off any further query he might have had while his heart thudded in his breast as her kiss deepened taking him with it. Perfectly fashioned lips parted his slack ones as she plundered his mouth and sucked on his tongue
savouring the taste of him. She pulled back and watched his eyelids flutter with exhaustion though he tried to fight it. Eyelids too heavy to keep open any longer. His breath a bridge of sighs he could no longer span with consciousness. She knew. Her hand stroked his cheek again, gently slowing the motion of skin against skin in a sophomoric dance to ease him back into sleep while she hushed him. He needed to rest, to finish healing. When he was stronger she would tell him. Explain the plan. Sweeten the nature of her ultimatum. If she did this right it would not hurt him at all. At least. Not in the physical sense.

* * * * *

Talyn emerged out of starburst gunports blazing, the leviathan squeezing off a volley of shots before altering his trajectory to sweep under the belly of the Peace Keeper Command Vessel. They had surprised the Carrier but that advantage was spent now and it was the only currency they had. Peace Keepers were born ready for conflict and this vessel and crew were no exception.

Crais cursed and the leviathan lurched as a stream of fire scorched Talyn's side eliciting a scream from the ship and a cry from the former Captain. Bonded in thought and action, they were also joined in pain. Crais bit back the tide of invective and spewed forth commands instead: quick, abrupt and precise. The leviathan automatically moving to fulfill each order, the two operating as one in a seamless adaptation of man and biomechanoid. On some level Crais found it exhilerating, as if he *was* the leviathan and the leviathan was him. His face became beautific in the revelation of battle and in response the leviathan dipped and soared and raked the enemy vessel with his fire as he swam through the sea of space like some killer whale carving up a school of dolphins. It did not matter that the Carrier was much larger, better equipped and deadly. All that mattered right now was that it was prey.

The little droid had to try several times before his transmission cut through the lust of battle and Talyn heard him. A tremor raced through the ship, gunports falling into a scattered rythm to confuse the enemy and give them a microt or two to take in the new information. Crais was
shining with sweat, his skin glistening brightly as his eyes flashed with ferel excitement, hair loosened from his braid danced around the confines of his face like a dark fraying halo. It was almost painful to push his thoughts into calmer waters, to actually *listen* to what he was being told. As he did so his face darkened with a cold rage. "What do you *mean* he isn't here?"

The droid explained and Talyn translated. Colour started to drain from the former Peace Keeper Captain's face. His voice sounded drunken and dazed, the syllables breaking like waves around him and clashing against his ears. "Get us out of here, Talyn!"

The leviathan responded automatically without comment, the sudden break away sweep followed by starburst leaving the Carrier a blaze of puzzled revenge behind them.

Scorpius was furious. When the leviathan broke away then went to immediate starburst he turned to face Lt Braca with the heat still smouldering in his half-Scarran eyes. "Follow them! They must not be allowed to get away!"

Braca never argued. With a brief nod he turned and made good on the order. Scorpius was seething. First John Crichton was taken from his cell then the leviathan gunship appeared out of nowhere and opened fire on them. The two incidents had to be connected. He would teach them to meddle in his affairs. He would retrieve Crichton and then he would make an example of Crais and the leviathan. Yes. He had a very special kind of revenge in mind for former Peace Keeper Captain Bialar Crais. His lips drew back into a death's head rictus. Humour, dark and sick and deadly dripped like venom off his rotting teeth. It was almost as if he was savouring the taste of the Sebacean's blood on his lips.

* * * * *

He had no idea where he was. Could not be sure he had not been dreaming. Movement was difficult but possible. His limbs were not bound just heavy, the muscles aching in his numb body. Everything was jumbled up inside his head. Pain lanced through him and pierced him behind the eyes when he moved his head. An involuntary cry brought a cool hand to his forehead. His eyes
fluttered open and a beautiful pair of orbs trapped him in their gaze. He could not speak, surprise nudging his memory. "Jena, what are you doing here?"

She smiled. The bow of her lips making a pleasing curve that teased him. "Did you think I would leave you in that Peace Keeper cell to die?"

He was confused. "Die?"

A hand rose and touched his face, traced a finger along his dry lips, her eyes never leaving his. Her look became deadly serious. "You were dying, John."

He took in that information and looked at her for a microt. Mind spinning. Memories taking him back and forth across the recent past into areas he did not want to revisit. For a whole ton of
reasons. "Jena, where am I?"

She smiled and drew her tongue slowly across his lips to lubricate them. "On my ship."

"Then, we aren't on a planet?"

She shook her head. Amused. Her hand drifted up to his hair and curled up around his ear. "No, though we will land in another solar day."

"Land? Is this Katralla's doing?"

"Katralla is a statue, John. Had you forgotten?"

The soft rebuke shamed him. He began to stammer. "No, I...of course not...I meant...I..."

She leant in and kissed him, this time not pulling back but going deeper, her hands cradling his face. He could feel those lush lips so comfortable against his own, the seeking tongue, the gentle hands, her body pressed up against his. He began to respond, her kiss becoming gently more
demanding as her hands travelled down to his chest and under his vest to touch and caress
bare skin. He wanted to tell her that now was not a good time but she was sucking his breath out of him and filling it with her own, the sweet taste of her making him dizzy. He remembered swimming with her down on the royal planet, the way they made love and shared information while forming a plan they could both live with. What kind of plan were they forming this time?
Why had she really come looking for him? Had something happened to Katralla? Then a hand drifted further down, much lower. The cool hand warming against his stomach as it slid on down in a seeking caress that he understood with an anticipation so sweet he groaned into her mouth. She sucked his tongue as the hand wrapped gently around his manhood, firm but gentle, squeezing, caressing, and beginning to stroke him into vibrant life. His muscle began to throb in her hand, inflating and hardening beneath her beautiful touch. He was still weak but not that weak. Her tongue stroked the inside of his mouth and urged his tongue to explore also as her hand picked up the rhythm and began to rock him. She slid down beside him, her body dressed in the sheerest of silks, enabling him to feel every curve of her body as she moved against him. He groaned again, getting seriously aroused. He wanted to speak but Jena had other plans. His head spinning while his body was flooded with the most pleasing sensations he finally lost all attempts at resistance and wrapped his arms around her.

They made love slowly, Jena guiding his pace and taking him to the fiery heights of passion. He felt hot, driven by a lust that she fuelled with relish while she used all her wiles to heighten his arousal until he was trembling for her heat. Hands shaking as she brought him to the edge, so delicious, so close to consumation that the fire in his loins was almost killing him. She knew exactly what she was doing and how to intensify the feelings they were sharing. Her mouth a treasure that knew things about his body that he was only just discovering. Damn. How the hell did she do that? How did she know his body better than he did? Was this why she had rescued
him so that she could frell him into next Tuesday? He knew that was not the real reason though part of him wished it was if only to satisfy his fragile male ego. Jena was intelligence, the top of her craft. If she had come looking for him there was a reason. She wanted something. Right now she wanted this and he was too far roused to deny her. Later he would find out what had brought her looking for him but right now he was busy.

* * * * *
end