PK Tech Girl

The episode opens with the crew of Moya assembled in the Command. They are looking at a huge spaceship floating dead among the rings of a strange planet. Rygel seems uncharacteristically quiet as he stares intently at the ghost ship.

John: Would you look at the size of that thing?

Pilot: Every sweep confirms. THAT is a dead ship.

John: (to Aeryn) And you're sure it isn't Crais'?

Aeryn: Positive.

D'Argo: What is another Peacekeeper ship doing in the uncharted territories?

Aeryn: I don't know. Something's wrong.

John: Yeah no kidding. Like shouldn't we be doing warp 1000 by now? Think of how big the winner of this battle must be.

Zhaan: I'm with John. I say we leave this tomb immediately.

D'Argo: And I say there is information on her data spools that could lead us home.

Aeryn: There may be weapons aboard we can use. And I need to know who she is.

John: What? Who cares what her name is?

Rygel: (in a hushed tone) It's the Zelbinion.

(cut to Aeryn, D'Argo and John in the armory. It's settled. They're going aboard the dead PK vessel)

John: So what is it with the Zelbinion?

D'Argo: It is the most feared ship in the Peacekeeper Armada.

John: Yeah, well, clearly somebody didn't get that message.

Aeryn: She's been missing in battle for over 100 cycles.

Zhaan: (on comm) Aeryn? Confirming, there is breathable air beyond the connection hatch. Pilot cautions you remain starboard and high. Most of the vacuum damage was sustained in attack from below.

(cut to Aeryn. D'Argo and John walking down one of Moya’s corridors towards the connection hatch with the Zelbinion)

John: Is this a good idea?

Aeryn: You can stay behind if you wish. I have questions. (to D'Argo) Ready? (the hatch to the Zelbinion is opened and they pass through. The ship is dark, they use flashlights to proceed)

John: (to Aeryn) I can't believe you lived on a ship like this. Your whole life.

Aeryn: When you told me endless tales of your home, you spoke of forests and rivers and valleys. Well I was thinking of walls not unlike these.

John: I'm sure it looks better with carpeting.

D'Argo: This ship is legendary. Even in my culture, it was thought invincible.

John: Yeah, well, just ask Leonardo DiCaprio. Even the big ones go down. (he swings the beam of his flashlight around the dark, dripping ruin and it reveals a mummified skeleton laying on a catwalk above them) Whoa!

Aeryn: Deep space desiccation. (they continue on in silence)

(cut back to Moya. Rygel and Zhaan in the Command)

Zhaan: I expected you to go looting Rygel.

Rygel: Looting?! I am Dominar of over 600 billion subjects! I shouldn't stoop so low!

Zhaan: As I recall you stooped for the last three derelict ships we came upon. Or was it four? (Rygel sighs) Is something bothering you?

Rygel : When I was ripped from my throne over 130 cycles ago, this [the Zelbinion] was the first vessel I was tortured on.

(cut back to the Zelbinion as the others enter its' command center)

D'Argo: It's no better in here! It's such a large ship and nothing to salvage!

Aeryn: How disappointing that other scavengers have robbed us of our glory.

D'Argo: This navigation console has been completely destroyed. There are no galactic star charts here. This excursion is over.

John: Wait. What about this console? The lights are still on.

Aeryn: (looking at it) Someone has regenerated communications. (D'Argo growls)

John: (spooked) Recently? Or do you guys have like the best car batteries of all time?

(they begin to look around and John, thinking he sees something, runs his flashlight beam over another skeleton on the floor. Suddenly something leaps out from behind it and tries to flee. A scramble ensues to catch the runner)

D'Argo: Aeryn! I'm blocked! (shots are fired in the darkness) Mine! (as he gets the runner in his sights)

John: No! No! (he steps in front of her - for the runner is a blonde Sebacean woman. She stares at Aeryn and D'Argo and says-)

Gilina: Officer Sun. The escaped prisoners! (D'Argo growls)

John: How does she know us? Aeryn?

Aeryn: (approaching Gilina slowly) Because she is from Crais' ship. (John moves away from Gilina. The scene segues to a short time later. Aeryn has begun in interrogate Gilina) You will remain in review stance until I dismiss, understood? Name. Division. Assignment.

Gilina: Gilina Renais.

Aeryn: Speak up!

Gilina: Tramco support. Maintenance provost.

Aeryn: Chin up! Eyes locked!

John: (wearily) Why don't you give it a rest, Miss Drill Sergeant. Can't you see she's gonna pass out? (Aeryn, angry, takes a swipe at him but he deflects it) I'm not like her.

Aeryn: (deeply contemptuous of Gilina’s' position in the PK hierarchy) Not remotely. She is a tech.

John: Not a soldier, right? No weapons, so why not lighten up? More flies with honey that kind of thing?

Aeryn: You clearly do mot understand. She is from Crais' ship. That means he is nearby. She knows exactly who we are and would consider it her duty to lie to us.

John: Point taken. But if she drops. You're not gonna get your answers.

Aeryn: This is my world John! Don't interfere!

(cut back to Moya)

Rygel: (to Pilot who is on the clamshell viewer) Still alive? How is that possible? She can't be from the original-

Pilot : (interrupting tersely) I don't have those answers. I suggest YOU go over and ask them yourself.

Rygel: To that ship? Never! Never again.

Zhaan: (approaching Rygel and laying her hand on his shoulder) How long have we known each other, Rygel?

Rygel: Long enough for me to see your blue backside meditating. But not long enough for you to touch me.

Zhaan: Confront your demons Rygel. Or they will chase you from the shadows to the pyre.

(cut back to the Zelbinion)

Gilina: Captain Crais didn't want to delay his search for you. So after coming upon the Zelbinion, he ordered my unit over for a full tech survey.

John: What happened to the rest of your unit?

Gilina: Two solar days after arriving, another ship came out of nowhere. I'd never seen such a weapon before. I barely had time to escape before they incinerated our Marauder transport.

D'Argo: (entering. He's been out reconnoitering) It's the Sheyang. There's evidence of their work all over the ship.

John: Could they have done all this?

D'Argo: Hardly. The Sheyang are nothing more than opportunistic foragers.

Aeryn: (to Gilina) Can you tell me what happened here, how the Zelbinion died?

Gilina: Long before we arrived, other scavengers pried loose the data spools. There is no record. Officer Sun, I think you should know - I consider you a traitor and therefore worthy of the punishment it merits. But as a Sebacean, I believe you are deserving as I to know the truth about a cultural treasure. I am not lying when I say I do not know.

(cut to Rygel in his hoverchair entering the Zelbinion, flashlight in hand. Like the others, he slowly moves forward, sweeping his beam through the inky ruin of the great ship like a blind man sweeping his cane back and forth in front of him. He is skittish and starts at the strange sounds of the decaying wreck... Then cut back to Aeryn, D'Argo, Gilina and John)

D'Argo: I will investigate the radiant chamber. I'll meet you in the next juncture.

Aeryn: (moving ahead of Gilina and John) We will wait for you D'Argo.

Gilina: I can't believe you're not Sebacean.

John: Human. It's kinda like Sebacean, but we haven't conquered other worlds yet so we just kick the crap out of each other.

Gilina: Thank you for stopping her from killing me today.

John: Well, I try to save a life a day. Usually it's my own. (they enter a huge multi leveled chamber. John looks around in awe) Oh, man. If you guys would only use your know-how to-

Aeryn: (interrupting) To do what? To fulfill your vision of who we should be?

John: To do good.

Aeryn: We are Peacekeepers. Other cultures hire us to keep order. To keep harmony.

Rygel: (entering) As well as assassinations, torture, kidnap. (he takes a deep snort and spits into Gilinas' face. She yelps with revulsion and surprise)

John: (grabbing Rygel and pulling him away) You knock it off weasel!

Rygel: I've barely got used to sharing my accommodation with one of these - abominations! Dispel the thought of two! (John silently drops him back into his hoverchair and he is left in the dark as the others move on)

(later, cut to Rygel, alone, moving through the Zelbinion. Memory brings a fearful vision to him - that of Captain Selto Durka. His sadistic former PK tormentor)

Durka: Hello, Rygel. Welcome home. (Rygel whimpers in terror and drops his flashlight)

(cut back to the others)

D'Argo: Everything I see confirms her story. There aren't even any wire collars left in the weapons control room. This vessel has been gutted to worthlessness.

Gilina: (screams) Oh no! (she has come across a charred corpse) He's from my unit. I knew him.

D'Argo: Sheyang victim. Burned to death.

Gilina: Officer Karanda.

Aeryn: Karanda? What was he doing guiding the likes of you? This is grots work.

Gilina: Your whole unit was demoted after your defection. They can only be reinstated upon your death. (Aeryn looks stunned as she begins to comprehend the reality of her situation)

John: (grim) C'mon. Let's get outta here.

(cut back to Moya) Pilot: (long shot of him at his console. He says - rather conversationally-) Excuse me Zhaan. Would you check scan vector kappa and tell me what you see?

Zhaan: (in the Command) I'm - I'm not sure. I think it's a ship, trying just to stay out of sensor range.

Pilot: (apprehensively) A - Sheyang - ship?

(cut back to the Zelbinion. Aeryn is roughing Gilina up furiously)

Aeryn: (shouting) Why are the Sheyangs back? What didn't you tell us?

D'Argo: If this one doesn't cooperate, kill her.

Aeryn: (still shouting) Is that why you're still alive, because you cooperated with the enemy?

Gilina: I am not the traitor! You are!

Aeryn: Tell me!

John: (pulling Aeryn off her) Stop it! That is ENOUGH!

Aeryn: She knew they were coming back. She knew.

John: It's enough. (to Gilina) She's not a traitor. Not by a long shot. Crais never gave her a chance. Not like the chance we're giving you.

Gilina: I hid. While the Sheyangs filled their ship to capacity. They said they were gonna come back for the DS.

John: Is that defense shield?

Gilina: It's not operational. But it's the least damaged part of the ship.

Aeryn: Let's go. (pushing Gilina) Move! Go!

(later - cut to Moya)

D'Argo: (briskly entering the Command) Situation?

Zhaan: (anxious) Their plasma conductor is targeted on us. Let's signal our intent to leave and then depart without incident.

D'Argo: Impossible with the Sheyang. If they sense strength, they flee. Weakness, and they attack without mercy.

Zhaan: (desperate) Then we get the others aboard, we decouple, and then attempt to starburst.

D'Argo: They have the ability to destroy us before we even get 10 metras.

Zhaan: (despair) But we have no offensive capabilities! Nothing to signal strength.

D'Argo: (thoughtful) I know.

(cut back to the Zelbinion. Aeryn, Gilina and John are trying to salvage the DS before the Sheyang get there)

Gilina: (examining the remains of the DS) No. This panel is useless. But, if we could bridge the connections from this side to the other, we could make the defense screen operational.

Aeryn: Do it.

Gilina: Officer Sun, I know you're not a tech, but-

Aeryn: Just tell me.

Gilina: It all depends on the power reserves. It's gonna take eight arns, minimum.

Aeryn: (disbelief) Eight arns?

John: Nono. I know what she's talking about. It's a progressive power draw, so the fiber pattern has to be maintained in sequence. That takes time, right?

Gilina: (surprised) Yeah.

(cut back to Moya)

D'Argo: Eight arns. The Sheyang could fire at any moment.

(cut to the Sheyang ship. It is claustrophobic and steamy inside with flickering red and purple light. The Sheyang themselves are large, bipedal and wonderfully toad like in appearance. The ship yaws and shudders like something wattled and daubed together by scavengers)

Teurac: This new ship makes no move to defend itself.

Lomus: When was the last time you saw a Leviathan in the territories Teurac? Even you at your age have never claimed such a prize!

Teurac: (expansively) It is a fortunate time.

Lomus: Right! Defenseless. Mine! Evran? (he pounds on an overhead hatch, Evran pokes his head out - upside down) Prepare to attack!

(cut to Moya)

Zhaan: The Sheyang have initiated their weapons countdown.

(cut to the Zelbinion)

John: (making as if to head back to Moya) They're gonna need some help.

Aeryn: (stopping him) It's too late!

(cut to Moya with a shot of the Sheyang ship sending fiery plasma impulses down long outside arrays on its' sides)

D'Argo: (quietly to Zhaan) If Moya becomes severely damaged, we may need to retreat to the Zelbinion.

Pilot: (his poor pretty amber-eyed face appears on the clamshell viewer and he heartrendingly says-) D'Argo? Zhaan! Moya and I are very afraid of fire.

(there's another shot of the Sheyang ship building up a plasma charge)

D'Argo: (becoming increasingly frustrated and angry in his inability to do anything to prevent the Sheyang from attacking) What I wouldn't give for just one Khore cannon! One wetox missile! (he begins screaming at the Sheyang) I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, YOU SONS OF COWARDS! I RIP OUT YOUR THROATS! I - K'N'KU TATAH!... (his fury escalates to the point where it is no longer intelligible to translators and it becomes a stream of harsh Luxan curses)

Zhaan: (watches D'Argo in alarm for a moment and then runs to the comm) Pilot! Transmit his image to the Sheyang ship!

Pilot: (as D'Argo continues to scream) But what would-?

Zhaan: Just do it!

Pilot: Transmitting. (no-one ever explains anything to Pilot)

(cut to the Sheyang ship. A close up of D’Argo’s roaring visage is on their view screen)

Teurac: (in a near panic) A Luxan? We're fighting a Luxan! Terminate plasma! Terminate plasma attack!

(cut back to Moya)

Zhaan: Cut transmission!

Pilot: (in wonder) I don't believe it. They're powering down their weapons!

Zhaan: (to D'Argo as he comes down from his rage) Congratulations, D'Argo. You just bought us some time.

(cut back to the Zelbinion)

Aeryn: Right. No lies. Does this ship have any weapons aboard that are still active? Anything we can use to fight back?

Gilina: No! Everything has been dismantled or destroyed.

John: What about this thing? The defense screen? What will this do?

Aeryn: What do you think?

John: (annoyed) No, the question is: Will it stop the Sheyang attack?

Aeryn: Well, be that as it may, we can't stall them for eight arns.

John: Four. Four! I'll, uh, I'll do half the work. (Aeryn and Gilina stare at him) What? Is there some kind of union thing I don't know about?

Gilina: (trailing off as she realizes what she's saying) No - it's just this wiring is very soph- sophisticated...

John: Yup. And I looove opera. (and with a grunt he begins to lift components of the DS for the rewiring job)

(cut back to Moya)

Zhaan: It's not my face they are afraid of D'Argo. You must continue the ruse.

D'Argo: I cannot lie to an opponent in battle.

Zhaan: It's not lying. Simply mislead them.

D'Argo: (angry) For a PRIEST you certainly have a flexible morality!

Zhaan: (angry back) Well, I apologize. It must be done and you must do it. I will assist you - if we live.

(D'Argo walks off to another console and they eye each other resentfully)

(cut back to the Zelbinion where attempts to fix the DS go on)

John: (as Gilina throws a tool down in frustration) Is something the matter?

Gilina: This isn't gonna work. The main fusion panel is charred.

John: Gilina, you told Aeryn that you could do this.

Gilina: I didn't want to be executed for failing to try.

John: Look. I told you. We are not killers.

Gilina: You killed Captain Crais' brother.

John: (huffs with annoyance) That was an accident. Our ships collided. It could have easily gone the other way.

Aeryn: (entering lugging coils of conduit and finding them just standing there) Can I get you both some rations? Some chilled frotien perhaps?

Gilina: (coldly) We're out of five-line conduits, Officer Sun. Those are the wrong kind.

Aeryn: I've searched throughout the ship.

Gilina: Have you tried medical or rejuvenation? The seventh tier below the -

Aeryn: I know where it is. (she starts to leave)

Gilina: That door's jammed. (Aeryn turns and heads out a different way. John glances at Gilina who seems to take a deadpan pleasure in seeing Aeryn make mistakes. They silently return to work)

(cut to the Sheyang ship)

Teurac: We possess the salvage rights to that vessel you are docked with.

D'Argo: (on Teurac's view screen) And yet you will not produce the authority manifest to confirm that.

Teurac: (sweetly) Must we distrust each other?

(cut to Moya)

D'Argo: Once my soldiers are back on board, you may continue your salvage.

(cut back to the Sheyang)

Lomus: End this charade, Teurac. He has no soldiers. He doesn't even have a crew!

(cut back to Moya)

Teurac: (on Moya’s view screen) My young protege; does not think you can back up your claims. He thinks we can invade and destroy you.

D'Argo: Curious. I was just thinking the same thing about you.

Zhaan: (feeding lines to D'Argo off screen) Your quaint cockpit seems to belie any military boasts.

(cut to the Sheyang)

D'Argo: (on their viewer) Your crummy cockpit seems to belie any military boasts.

Teurac: (on Moya’s viewer and it really enhances his spectacular toadish menace) Pray that you should never know. But Ka D'Argo, make no mistake. You're trying my patience. (communication ends)

Zhaan : Well done.

D'Argo: (angry) Barely! You must stop with this incessant prompting!

Zhaan: You asked for my help D'Argo.

D'Argo: You foisted it upon me! And now that moment is past. How much time do we have Pilot?

Pilot: (dubiously) If we are to believe the Peacekeeper tech, two more arns.

D'Argo: Three conversations without substance I believe is enough. The next one will spur an attack.

(cut back to the Zelbinion)

John: (in the middle of regaling Gilina with a story as they work) ...an' so it's red wire, blue wire, red wire, blue wire, and at the last possible second, he cuts the wrong wire!

Gilina: And the bomb never goes off?

John: (goofy) Nuh-uh!. He cuts the WRONG wire! That's the whole point! Fifteen seconds later they're running out of the building and everything blows all to hell!

Gilina: (laughs a little, uncertainly) And you call this entertainment?

John: Yeah, well, you know... it replaced cock fighting.

Gilina: (as a conduit sparks into her eye) Ow! Oh, my eye!

John: Let me see, let me see. Shh. (he makes to pull her hand away from her eye and she accidentally pokes him in his. John yelps, they both giggle uncontrollably) It's okay. (as he peers closely into her eye)

Gilina: Yeah? Yeah?

John: Y'know what always happens in those movies is that the guy and the girl always end up surviving... liking each other.

Gilina: (they gaze at each other) We have such fiction also.

John: It's a small universe.

(cut to Moya. DRDs have found Rygel, hiding in a crawl space. He is having vivid flashbacks of Durka and the Zelbinion)

Durka: (in Rygel’s mind, dragging him along the metal mesh of a walkway) Come now! We've just begun.

Zhaan: (entering, she peers into the crawl space) Oh, there you are. We've been looking all over for you Rygel. You are making the DRDs nervous. And we need your negotiating talents.

Rygel: (somberly) I think I was meant to die here the first time. That's why the spirits have brought me back to the Zelbinion.

Zhaan: I don't think so. For one thing, the captain of that ship is dead.

Rygel: Not to me!

Zhaan: Then you must confront him.

Rygel: How?

Zhaan: Find his corpse. It will set you free.

(cut to the Sheyang ship)

Teurac: I have never known a full Luxan warrior to be on a ship without defense and offense. My intention is to not lead us into a hidden threat. (he turns to Lomus) What is your intention? (Lomus growls and silently attacks Teurac. There is a short, vicious brawl and Teurac falls. Thus control of the ship passes to the younger Sheyang)

Lomus: Evran! Ignite the plasma generators! Aim for the Leviathan! Destroy her!

(cut to the Zelbinion)

Aeryn: (running as she talks on comm) What do you mean they're firing? What did you say to them?

(cut to Moya)

D'Argo: (running) Nothing! They will not respond to my signal!

(cut to an exterior view of the Sheyang ship, firing up its plasma weapon again. It makes terrible sounds of metal straining and electrical snapping)

(cut to the Zelbinion)

John: (scrambling) How close are we?

Gilina: (running) Close. Disconnect all the black wires. The black ones. Here.

(cut back to Moya)

Zhaan: How much time Pilot?

Pilot: Less than 50 microts.

(cut to the Sheyang ship continuing to build its charge. Then cut to the Zelbinion where the mad dash to get the defense screen operation continues)

Gilina: Officer Sun!

Aeryn: Yes?

Gilina: Pass me up those connections! Yes.

John: C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon...

(cut to Moya)

Pilot: 35...

(cut to the Zelbinion)

Gilina: (taking conduits from Aeryn) That's it -

(cut to Moya)

Pilot: 30... (D'Argo growls, Zhaan raises her hands in prayer)

(cut to the Sheyang ship)

Lomus: Full charge Evran! No mistakes!

(cut to Moya)

Pilot: (numbly) 20...

(cut to the Zelbinion)

Gilina: (to Aeryn, giving her some cables and showing her what to do) Click. And Click.

Aeryn: Okay.

John: (under his breath) 'Kay, 'kay,'kay...

Gilina: Got it?

Aeryn: Yes!

(cut to Moya)

Pilot: 10...

(cut for an instant to the Sheyang ship, then back to the Zelbinion)

Gilina: (running) One more. Okay?

(cut to Moya)

Pilot: 5...

(cut to the Zelbinion)

Aeryn: Hurry!

Gilina: (frantically connecting conduits) Got it!

John: Got it!

(with a low-pitched electrical putter the defense shield comes to life and the plasma charges on the Sheyang ship weapons array coalesces into a huge fireball that streaks towards Moya. The DS covers the Zelbinion and Moya, who is still docked to it, with an energy field that absorbs and deflects the Sheyang plasma blast in shimmering waves of red)

(cut to Moya)

Pilot: The defense screen's held! Moya is unharmed!

(cut to the Sheyang ship)

Lomus: (raging) EVRAN!

Evran: (pokes his head, upside down, into the captains' room and says, rather obviously) Our weapon had no effect.

Lomus: (roaring) Recharge immediately! Hit them again!

Teurac: (rising from the floor, Lomus cuts off his yells of fury suddenly) Answer to me, Lomus!

(cut to the Zelbinion, Rygel remembering or imagining another incident with Durka. Rygel is in a small cage on a table. Durka approaches)

Durka: I am very disappointed in you. Somehow I expected the Dominar of Hyneria to be more... dominating. (he savagely punches Rygel through the bars)

(cut to Moya)

Zhaan: I regret to dampen spirits D'Argo. But Pilot reports a problem.

Pilot: (heard by all on comm) My scans show the defense screen is not fully complete. There are gaps which leave us vulnerable.

(cut to the Zelbinion)

Gilina: The DS are two identical systems overlaid on top of one another. We only had the time to hook up one.

John: Whoa whoa whoa. How crazy is this? Now there are two systems, right?

Gilina: Yeah.

John: So why don't we install one of them on Moya?

Gilina: I have been sworn never to compromise Peacekeeper technology with the enemy. (there is a ling pause as she and John and Aeryn look at each other) I will do it for you. For all of you.

(cut to the Sheyang ship)

Teurac: To displace an overlord during battle and then fail?

Lomus: (whining) It's not my fault! What about my father? You owe-

Teurac: Frax your father. This is on you. Choose.

Lomus: (sighing in resignation) I will leave my unit and capture that ship. With no prisoners taken.

Teurac: (taking pleasure in sticking it to Lomus) Those gaps in the protective barrier you must fly through are small and shifty.

Lomus: (resentful) Do you leave me a choice?

Teurac: (chuckling as he takes his captains' chair back) Perhaps one day they will sing songs of your early death. (he laughs as Lomus growls)

(cut back to the Zelbinion)

Gilina: So you like deep space physics too?

John: Yeah. You know cosmic theory?

Gilina: Yeah, it's something that intrigues me.

John: I got my doctorate in it.

Gilina: A doctorate? What is that?

John: It's, uh, a couple of letters they add to the end of your name. Not much help out here though. Last textbook I read made a case for why you and all other forms of alien life didn't exist.

Gilina: Can you, uh, can you anchor this while I pull?

John: Yeah.

Gilina: Hold that. Got it?

John: Yeah, pull. (she does and falls backwards into John)

Gilina: (rather sultry) It seems human and Sebacean men are much the same.

John: (rather interested) Yeah, I'm not noticing any difference in the women either. (Gilina turns around and they begin to kiss)

Aeryn: (entering) I've set up four of the components- (she spots the pair making out) -In the maintenance bay. (she's miffed. With an excessively loud and unladylike grunt she hefts a huge component over her head and yells-) Sorry for interrupting! (then she marches out again)

John: Aeryn. (he gets up and follows her) Aeryn! Aeryn! Would you wait? What the heck's the matter with you?

Aeryn: (annoyed) I'm sure you can see how heavy these things are. There's at least another ten in there. Do not come down this corridor without one.

John: Would you stop? HEY! Look! Hey what happened back there was-

Aeryn: (loudly) None of my business.

John: Yes, it was. You and I are shipmates. What I'm trying to say is - haven't you ever just `clicked' with a guy?

Aeryn: What? Clicked?

John: Yeah. Y'know. Found a guy attractive?

Aeryn: (flustered) Yes. But I didn't let it... In the beginning I found you... interesting.

John: Me?

Aeryn: (defensively) Yes. But only for a moment!

John: (embarrassed, not knowing what to do with the subject now that he's started it) Good. That's, uh, good. I mean this is good to be on, uh, even terms.

Aeryn: (too loudly) I agree!

John: (flustered) Yup um.. S'always a good idea to clear the air. (they part hastily)

Aeryn: (carrying on with her component-lugging) Very - clear - air!

(cut to Rygel, entering the Zelbinion Captains' office. Slowly, his flashlight picks a corpse out of the darkness. It is seated in the Captains' chair, head thrown back, mouth horribly agape)

Rygel: (gasps and whispers) Durka! Is it really you, Durka? (he notes the corpse is holding a weapon) You killed yourself Durka. You coward. You once told me I'd never leave your ship alive. You robbed me of so many cycles. But no matter what you did to me, I'll always remember one thing: You lose! (and with that he hocks up another great gob and spits into the corpses' face)

(cut to Lomus in a small one-Sheyang vessel)

Lomus: I have full separation from the main module. Launch the others! (we see a flurry of small ships shedding from the main Sheyang vessel)

(cut to Moya)

D'Argo: How many are there?

Pilot: Uh - at least a dozen. And moving too fast to track them all.

Zhaan: Pilot can they get aboard the Zelbinion? Can they breach the defense screen?

(cut to the Zelbinion)

Gilina: (to John as she shows him what she needs him to do) When I kill the bypass, these two polaric disks will be attracted to each other. Strongly. So you have to hold them apart. Because if they touch each other, this whole room will be vaporized.

(cut to Lomus in his ship)

Lomus: (to the other Sheyang in the cloud of small ships he leads) Alright, scoundrel foragers! It's time to prove our glory!

(cut to Moya)

Zhaan: Have any of them made it through?

Pilot: I can't tell yet. I have to do a debris analysis.

D'Argo: (shouting) QUICKLY!

(cut to Lomus)

Lomus: Aim for the gaps in the defense screen! (some of the small ships hit the DS and are destroyed) Aarr! I'll do it myself! (he roars as he passes through a gap)

(cut to the Zelbinion)

Gilina: They're going to pull incredibly hard!

John: (standing up with a disk in each hand, they're the size of briefcases and more like panels than disks) Okay.

Gilina: Ready? Now!

John: OHWHOA!!! (the panels spring to life and pull towards each other. He struggles to hold the apart)

(cut to Moya)

D'Argo: Aeryn! Where are you?

(cut to the Zelbinion)

Aeryn: (straining with her heavy equipment loads) Maintenance bay. What's the problem?

(cut to Moya)

D'Argo: We think one of the Sheyang got on board the Zelbinion.

(cut to the Zelbinion. Aeryn quickly sets down her load and takes off at a run for the DS room)

John: (straining against the panels, to Zhaan via comm) How the hell did that happen?

(cut to Moya)

Zhaan: Not important. What is, is he may be heading right toward you.

(cut back to the Zelbinion, Aeryn running)

John: We gotta stop.

Gilina: Not once I've started the process.

John: Then finish the process. (cut to Aeryn still running, then back to the DS room)

Gilina: I'm working as fast as I can.

John: I want you to get out of here.

Gilina: I won't leave you.

(cut to Aeryn as she encounters Lomus in steaming, darkness, lights flicker and strobe fitfully)

Aeryn: (her rifle in front of her bellows-) ON - THE - GROUND - NOW! DO IT!!

(Lomus, breathing heavily, belches a ball of fire at her, like a small version of the Sheyang plasma cannon. Aeryn ducks away. Cut to the DS room)

John: Gilina. I want you out of here.

Gilina: If you die here, John, I die too. (cut back to Aeryn)

Aeryn: (on comm to John) He keeps blocking my route, forcing me to take a long way around. You many have to defend yourself. (cut to the DS room)

John: Look, Aeryn, it's a long story but I kinda got my hands full right now, so you're gonna have to get here! (as he stands there helplessly holding the panels apart he sees Lomus peering through a portal in the door at him. He says to himself-) Better get here fast. Because froggy's outside the door right now. (he and Gilina watch as Lomus snuffles and growls outside the door) Aeryn's gonna get here. C'mon Aeryn. C'mon. (Lomus begins belching his fire at the door. It begins to melt. John gapes) They spit fire? How come nobody tells me this stuff? How come nobody tells me they spit fire! AERYN! (cut to Aeryn charging towards the DS room) C'mon, c'mon. (Lomus melts down most of the door and steps heavily through) Shiii- Hi there, big guy. Look um - as you can see it's not likely we're gonna hurt you, so just take anything you want. But if these two panels touch- (with a retching sound Lomus heaves a fireball at John and Gilina. She dodges but John is tiring and the panels are just inches apart) LISTEN, GAS-HOLE, YOU KILL US, YOU KILL YOURSELF!

Lomus: You had your chance to retreat.

John: Come a little closer, then! Let's just find out what happens when these panels touch! (Lomus begins to bring up another fireball but at that moment Aeryn bursts in from above and shoots him. He explodes into burning pieces that plop wetly on the floor all over the room)

Aeryn: Sorry about the mess.

(later - cut to Moya. Aeryn, D'Argo, Gilina, John and Zhaan are meeting)

D'Argo: Absolutely not. Our situation is untenable as it is.

Zhaan: I'm with D'Argo with this one John. Allowing Gilina to encourage Crais' return is suicide at best.

John: Look, the Sheyangs are sitting out there waiting for another chance to slip through. And Crais is gonna come back one day. What then?

D'Argo: We have done well to evade Crais as it is. With a start, he would soon catch us.

John: Not if she doesn't tell him we were here...

Zhaan: I'm a trusting soul at best, but not to a fault.

Aeryn: The tech will not reveal our presence.

D'Argo: And how can you be so sure about that?

Aeryn: You know what happened to me. Being deemed irreversibly contaminated by Crais. Contamination by enemy life forms. (to Gilina) That could happen to you. The punishment is death. Or worse - banishment. I hope you can only ever imagine how horrible it is to never return to the life that you love. You are smarter than that, Gilina. (Gilina makes a tiny, silent, nod)

(cut to the Sheyang ship)

Evran: They have sent a distress call to the Peacekeeper carrier that passed through here earlier. It is returning at maximum speed.

Teurac: Any word from Lomus?

Evran: His life signal is no longer active.

Teurac: (facetiously) What do you think we should do, Evran?

(cut back to Moya)

D'Argo: I'm sorry you are leaving. My officers are sending up plans to retaliate.

Teurac: (on view screen) I doubt so. You had nothing, but you used it well. Evran, there is no shame in losing to a clever opponent. And Ka D'Argo, I make it a point to someday kill my clever opponents. (he signs off)

Zhaan: You were magnificent, D'Argo.

D'Argo: With or without your assistance.

Zhaan: Or in spite of it.

(cut to Aeryn and Gilina near the connection hatch to the Zelbinion)

Aeryn: Crais will ask you many questions.

Gilina: I will lie.

Aeryn: I wish I had been so smart. (they clasp hands for a moment and Aeryn departs)

John: (entering) You free this weekend?

Gilina: Well, I have to overhaul a Prowler engine, but apart from that. Yes.

John: Gilina, I don't want you to go.

Gilina: Are you asking me to stay?

John: No. I can't. I can't. This is no way to live.

Gilina: And I can't ask you to come back with me, because Crais would kill you. (they chuckle ruefully) So what do we do?

John: You get any vacation time?

Gilina: I'm never gonna see you again, am I?

John: Oh, yes. We'll find a way, we'll organize a rendezvous point later or something. Anything, Something.

D'Argo: (on comm) Crichton! there is no more time. We must go.

John: In a minute, D'Argo. (he walks Gilina to the hatch to the Zelbinion) Life sucks.

Gilina: It brought us together.

John: Okay. It sucks a little less. (they embrace in a long farewell)

D'Argo: (on comm) Crichton? Crichton?

(they finish their kisses and she departs)

(later - cut to the Command. Aeryn is standing there alone. Staring out the main viewport)

John: (entering) Hey.

Aeryn: A greeting I shall never understand.

John: It's kinda all-purpose. Let's see, let the other person decide what they wanna talk about.

Aeryn: What if they don't want to talk?

John: Then they say 'hey' back.

Aeryn: Hey.

John: Well, now the first person that doesn't wanna talk can be trumped if the other person realizes that they need to. Hey. (they glance sidelong at each other)

Aeryn: I hate being ambushed.

John: Well, you got him in the end. That's all that counts.

Aeryn: I wasn't talking about the Sheyangs.

John: You know, in my world, they say that loss is the hardest emotion to deal with...

Aeryn: In my world, showing pain is a sign of weakness.

John: How can you not feel pain after what you've been through?

Aeryn: Don't presume to understand me John.

John: (snorts) That's not fair. It's not fair Aeryn. You bash me all the time for being soft. Well the fact of the matter is that sometimes it's an advantage and this is one of them I think I understand you.

Aeryn: There's no way you can know how I feel.

John: If I somehow, someday, get a chance to return to my world. Walk around my old neighborhood. See my old house. Dads' truck. Best friends' bike on the lawn. And then I get a chance to go inside. I walk through the living room upstairs to my room. Had a poster of Clint Eastwood. "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly." And then I think - what if everyone were dead? What if all my friends and family were lying there, dead. Now what would it be like to go home then?

Aeryn: (after a brief pause) I stand corrected.

(she leaves and John is left alone, staring out the main viewport)

THE END