SCIFI.COM | Farscape: Journey Logs

As Crichton, D'Argo, Chiana, Rygel and Noranti returned to Moya, I hesitated to warn Crichton of what awaited him here. He found out soon enough: Aeryn Sun had returned, but she was dying of Sebacean Heat Delirium — and Scorpius was by her side. Scorpius had found her adrift in space, returned her to Moya, and given her one of his coolant suits to stabilize her body temperature.

Crichton's horror at seeing his archnemesis as Aeryn's savior worsened when Aeryn made him promise not to harm Scorpius. Crichton grudgingly agreed, but remained suspicious that Scorpius was responsible for Aeryn's sickness. Scorpius denied this, claiming that he now wished asylum aboard Moya only to protect Crichton's wormhole knowledge.

While Crichton and D'Argo escorted Scorpius to a cell, Aeryn returned to one of Moya's thermal chambers, where the cool air slowed the progression of her Heat Delirium toward what Sebaceans call the Living Death. I, meanwhile, encountered Sikozu, an arrogant, close-minded young Kalish who found fault with my care of Moya. It certainly didn't surprise me to learn that the others — especially Chiana — doubted Sikozu's integrity based on her odd affinity for Scorpius.

I had hoped Aeryn would explain her predicament to Crichton, but she refused to tell even him where she had been or how she had become ill. While Crichton urged her to confide in him, Moya's senses detected a massive ship approaching at great speed. It stopped perilously close to us, its gravitational field overwhelming our senses and preventing a Starburst. Then its captain, Ullom, declared that he had induced Aeryn's sickness — and possessed its only cure.

Crichton and D'Argo visited Ullom's ship, hoping to subdue Ullom and steal the antidote. But Ullom didn't risk meeting them in person; he appeared to them as a hologram. He explained that his world's Prime Hokothian had been assassinated by Sebacean mercenaries. Before the assassins escaped, Ullom, the Prime Hokothian's Chief Protector, induced Heat Delirium in them all. Consequently, Aeryn's condition proved that she'd been involved in the plot. Ullom demanded that Aeryn surrender and name her accomplices and employers. If she cooperated, he said, he would cure her Heat Delirium.

Aeryn had other plans. Opening a visual Comms link to the Hokothian ship, she put a pulse pistol to her head, saying that her death would end the stalemate so that Ullom could release her friends, who had no part in her crimes.

Crichton, still on the alien ship, begged us to stop her, and Rygel did just that, ramming her with his ThroneSled — a feat he couldn't have managed had Officer Sun been healthy. Crichton and D'Argo returned to Moya, and we were once again in a familiar predicament: facing the vengeful captain of a powerful ship. Crichton held another painfully fruitless conversation with Aeryn, who remained willing to die rather than break her oath of silence and accede to Ullom's demands.

After leaving Aeryn, Crichton discovered Sikozu talking privately with Scorpius. Luckily, Crichton was more open-minded about this situation than Chiana or I might have been; he listened to Scorpius' explanation. Scorpius had a device that, he claimed, could remove the Neural Clone from Crichton's mind. If Crichton allowed Scorpius to help him in this way, Scorpius promised he would share further vital information with us — information that could save Aeryn's life.

With the Neural Clone putting up a mental battle, Crichton consented to the procedure. This foolish risk paid off — the procedure worked. Crichton's mind was entirely his own once more. The Neural Clone was dead.

Scorpius then revealed that he had a spy aboard Commandant Grayza's Command Carrier. This person had transmitted the chilling news that Captain Braca was piloting a Prowler, armed with a Leviathan-killing missile, toward Moya's location. The Peacekeepers had found us.

Even if we had been willing to run from Ullom and, in so doing, abandon Aeryn's last hope of a cure, escape was no longer an option. The missile could ride Moya's slipstream through Starburst. We had no defense against such a weapon.

Furthermore, if we didn't soon resolve our dangerous standoff with Ullom, Aeryn — and likely the rest of us — would be dead before Braca even arrived....