He was on auto-pilot, past feeling the pain in his leg or the rest of his body. He moved slowly down the corridor, on hand holding Aeryn's arm around his shoulders, the other looped under hers. His mind was trying to figure out a way to get out of the hell he had thrown his ship mates into. He was consciously avoiding thinking about the two Zogarians he had killed.

"HALT!" A voice yelled behind him, ending his train of thought.

He did, frustration taking over. He couldn't fight any longer. He didn't think he wanted to fight them any longer.

"Hands where we can see them."

"Its a little hard to do that, unless you want me to drop her." he answered back, his voice weak.

"I guess you should drop her then."

"I don't think so. Your friends already shot her in the back."

"Yes, and they are now dead. Hands were I can see them!"

"Fine," he answered, knowing that he'd just wind up in a worse condition if he didn't comply. He gently laid Aeryn on the floor, then he raised his hands and turned, coming face to face with a squad of five Zogarians. They actually looked a little nervous. Something clicked in his mind and he realized he held the advantage. He put his hands down and willed himself to sound stronger then he was feeling.

"Know what? I think we're gonna change how this goes, alright?" He didn't wait for them to speak. "You're going to take me, and my friend to whoever is your leader, and I'm gonna have a nice talk with him, got it?"

"You are in no position to command us," the leader of the small group protested.

"Yeah, I am. How do you think your buddies died? I'll do it again if I have to. You guys can't kill me, you'd lose all your research. But I can kill you. Understand? Now let me talk to your leader!"

Yelling was a bad idea, but it got the message across. Even as he gasped for breath, the Zogarian in front of him nodded.

"This way," he said, turning.

John glanced down at Aeryn. "No. Have him meet us at the infirmary. I need to get my friend there."

The Zogarian nodded. He talked into his own comm system, telling their leader a brief overview of the situation and where to meet. The leader agreed.

As that conversation took place, John bent and pulled Aeryn to her feet, groaning as he did. He would help her there. The idea of the Zogarians doing it made him sick for some reason.

~~~~

Zhaan jumped as the door opened. Crichton walked in half carrying, half dragging Aeryn. They were closely followed by five Zogarians. D'argo sensed that Crichton was barely able to hold Aeryn up and went to them, ignoring the Zogarians completely. He took Aeryn from Crichton, who gave him a grateful look.

John turned to the Zogarians behind him. "If you harm any of them, I will retaliate," he said simply. He was tired of threatening them, but it was the only way.

He crossed the room as D'argo laid Aeryn down on a table. Zhaan immediately moved towards her. D'argo watched him as he sat on one of the tables, and he smiled at the big Luxan.

"It's a long story. I'll explain it eventually."

That was surprisingly enough to satisfy him. D'argo joined Zhaan, who was leaning over Aeryn. Everyone ignored the five Zogarians who stood at the door, looking upset at the turn of events.

John wanted nothing more then to lay down on the table and go to sleep, but he was aware that doing so would take away their only advantage. He just hoped that the leader would show up quickly, other wise, he would wind up passing out too soon.

~~~~

Mahnaz was not in a good mood. He walked slowly to the ship's infirmary, anger flaring. The Sebacean male had managed to find out that he had the weapon and more importantly, he could use it. That changed things greatly.

He entered the room, the rest of his crew behind him. The male he now knew as John Crichton was sitting on one of the medical tables, in obvious pain. On the other table, the Sebacean female, Aeryn Sun, was being tended by Zotoh Zhaan. Ka D'argo was standing protectively behind the two. The Hynerian was in the corner, asleep again.

John was partly relieved when the leader came in. Partly because he'd be able to rest soon, but mostly he was afraid of challenging the man. He had already planned out what he was going to say, and was hoping that it would come out strong.

He carefully slipped off the table, managing not to jar his injuries further. The leader came closer to him, his face neutral.

"My name is Mahnaz." The Zogarian said.

Bending his neck slightly to look into Mahnaz's eyes, John spoke. "You already know mine." He paused a second, eyes daring the man to speak. He did not. "Look. I've had a really bad day, and this is all getting tiring. You've hurt one of my friends, and you've hunted me on my own ship. I know what you want. But you're not getting it."

"You have no choice in the matter," Mahnaz said, his own eyes blazing.

Crichton shook his head, ignoring the temporary dizziness it caused. "Yeah, I do. From what I've seen of this little weapon, it's fairly easy to use. You just keep on pissing me off, and I keep getting angrier until it just all gets let out." He paused. "Or it works something like that, right?"

"In time, you will be shown how to use it at will without the anger, but at first, yes."

"Wrong again, buddy. There's no 'in time'. You are leaving this ship, without me, and without this weapon."

Mahnaz raised his hand, showing John the needle. He remembered the woman mentioning the drugs they'd use to keep him compliant. All his instincts told him to back away, but he fought them. He wasn't going to show any weakness.

"Are you sure that will work on me?" he questioned, his voice defiant, challenging.

"You are Sebacean, aren't you?"

He shook his head. "Nope. I'm human. We look like Sebaceans, but we're definitely different." He had no desire to explain it further than that. He consciously forced himself to look at the leader and not at the needle in the creature's hands.

"If you really want to you can try it. But I suggest you pray that it works." He was relieved to see doubt in Mahnaz's eyes. "Alright, enough chit-chat. I want all your men off this ship! And I suggest you don't try doing something stupid like firing on us. Because if you do, hope that the first shot you send kills me."

For a few tense seconds, Mahnaz made no move, then he turned on his comm. "I want all troops to head back to the ship. Immediately." He switched it off. "This isn't over."

John again shook his head. "Yeah, it is."

With one last frustrated glare, the leader turned and left.

~~~~

"John, you need to rest," Zhaan said.

"I need this thing out of me first." His voice was tired. He knew he needed to rest but he couldn't. Not until he got the damn weapon out of him.

"Having the weapon may be in our best interests." D'argo said from the corner he'd been sitting in. "Considering that we don't have many others."

"No. It's too dangerous. I don't know how to control it."

"John is right, D'argo."

D'argo was about to reply when Pilot cut him off. "There is another ship approaching. Only one person is aboard. She is requesting to speak with Commander Crichton."

The thought of limping all the way to the command wasn't appealing, but he had a good idea of who it was. That meant she wasn't dead. He had assumed she had been killed by the Zogarians...

~~~~

"I'm sorry about all that happened," she said, standing close to him.

He didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. He didn't blame the woman next to him for what happened. She had done it to save a lot of people.

"Give it back to me," she said after a few minutes of silence.

He nodded. "Um...How do I do that?"

She took his hands and placed them on her chest. "Just think about it..."

For a few seconds, he was sure nothing was happening, then he began to feel the heat again, this time from his hands. Everything went out of focus as the heat increased. Then it was done, and he felt completely drained.

"That's it," the woman said.

"Good." John replied, his voice weak. He was suddenly aware of every injury, every little punch, that he had received in the past hours.

"I suggest that once I and my ship are out of here, you get away from here immediately."

He started to ask her why, then realization dawned. "You're gonna destroy it, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes, I am. It's the only safe thing to do."

He nodded, understanding, but still wishing there was another way.

"I'm not sure if the blast will be dangerous or not, so getting away from here is a good idea."

He nodded dumbly, too tired to actually think about what the blast could do.

Without saying anything further, she climbed back into her ship, and left. Once he was sure she was gone, he turned his comm back on.

"Pilot? We need to get the hell outta here."

"Understood. Everyone prepare for Starburst."

With a groan, he grabbed on to the table closest to him, feeling relieved. In less than five minutes, it would all truly be over. He managed to stay standing during Starburst, something he didn't expect to do.

Once they were out of Starburst, Zhaan came forward. John had forgotten that she'd been standing there the whole time.

"Are you alright, John?" He turned slowly to look at her, and she saw the sarcastic reply before he even said it. She put up her hands, stopping him from speaking.

He managed a weak smile.

"No will you let me take a look at your leg?" she asked, always patient.

He nodded. Resting sounded like a great idea.

~~~~

"Care to share what's bothering you?" Aeryn asked, entering the terrace.

He didn't say anything, didn't even turn around. He continued to stare out at the stars. For once, the fact that he didn't recognize any of the constellations didn't bother him. He had other things on his mind.

Aeryn came closer, standing next to him. "You shouldn't be standing on your leg," she tried, hoping to at least start a conversation.

It had been a week since the Zogarians left their ship, and Crichton had yet to actually speak with any of them. He had only spoken when he needed to. Aeryn never thought she'd miss his constant talking.

John glanced at her, then continued staring at the stars. "Should you be walking around?" he countered after a few moments of silence.

"I fared a lot better through the whole thing than you did," she answered after a second.

"Yeah, well you didn't look so good after they shot you." 'When I was dragging your ass around, not knowing if you were gonna die,' he thought to himself but didn't say it aloud.

"And you think you did?"

He lapsed back into silence.

Aeryn sighed, forcing herself to calm down. She really couldn't understand humans...or at least she couldn't understand Crichton. He always asked her to talk to him about what was bothering her, but the minute he was upset, he wouldn't talk. She was about to voice that when he did start speaking.

"Aeryn, you've killed people, right?" he asked, his voice barely audible.

She was momentarily surprised by the question. Then she reminded herself that Crichton had not been brought up as a soldier. "Yes. I have." She knew he knew the answer, but she said it anyway.

"What do you tell yourself?" He looked at her again, and she wasn't surprised to see the pain in his eyes. It still made her feel bad, even if she expected it.

She shrugged. "I never told myself anything." She paused, trying to find the right words. "I just did it automatically. That's what I am -was- trained to do. From birth I was supposed to be a solider. The only thing I ever thought about casualties were how many of them. The more there were the better the chances of a promotion." She stopped.

"I wasn't trained like you were...why the hell do you think I wind up getting my ass kicked all the time? Before I ended up here, I was in exactly three fights, and I lost two of 'em. The other was pulled apart before anything could happen." He realized he was rambling, and stopped.

"You had no way of controlling it, John," Aeryn said after a moment of silence.

"I still killed two people." He looked away from her, back out at the stars.

"Using something that you couldn't control." She hesitated for a second, but then deiced to push on. "Just like with Crais' brother."

"That's different."

"How?"

More silence.

She sighed. "Look, this is the last time I'll say it, so listen." He turned to look at her, surprised. She continued, not giving him a chance to say anything. "This whole thing, none of it was your fault. They forced their way onto this ship, and they attacked you -us- first. The result of that was not your fault at all -you had something in you that you couldn't control. And you did figure out a way to end it all peacefully. So stop acting like any of it was your choice!"

He sighed and looked at her for a long time before glancing away again. "I know all that Aeryn...I really do...it's just that it doesn't make it feel any better."

Feelings were still somewhat new to her, but she understood him all the same. "I guess it'll take time, John. But it really was not your fault."

He looked back at her and smiled. "Thanks, Aeryn." He wasn't feeling totally better, but definitely better then when he had originally come out to the terrace.

She returned the smile. After a few seconds of silence, she spoke again, the smile still on her face. "On the bright side, nothing like this will ever happen again."

He turned to look back at her, surprised. "Why not?" he asked, taking the bait.

"D'argo is never going to let you go down to another commerce planet."

He gave a short laugh. "May not be a bad idea."