By Ian K.

Rating: PG-13: Some violence and language.

Disclaimer: I did not create the Farscape universe or its characters. They are the results of the creative geniuses at the Henson Co., Nine Network Australia, the Scifi Channel, Rockne S. O'Bannon, etc. I merely borrowed them for my story, for which I will receive not monetary compensation, only the compensation of being able to entertain my fellow fans. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Crichton must rescue Aeryn when she is captured by Peacekeepers. Takes place sometime in the near future.

Spoilers: Various from season one, especially A Human Reaction, A Bug's Life.

Feedback: Please send feedback to jonann@gdi.net. Remember, this is my first fanfic. Review it with that in mind.

Posting: If anyone wants it, take it. I don't mind.

*

Crichton, Aeryn, Zhaan, and Rygel were almost to the transport pod. It had been a successful trip to yet another commerce planet. The crew of Moya had been able to secure enough supplies to operate independently on Moya for months if necessary. They had really lucked out.

Zhaan decided to inform D'Argo and Chiana, who were still on Moya, that they were on their way home. She also gave them a short summary of the goods they had secured.

"Good," came the gruff reply from the Luxan. "As soon as you are aboard, we can starburst out of here. I think we have been here too long already."

Crichton decided to enter into the conversation. "Hey D'Argo, has Pip been behaving herself?"

"Behaving myself? I am not some child, Crichton..."

" 'Pip' as you call her," interrupted D'Argo, "has been less annoying than usual."

"Good, we should be up there in half an arn. See ya then." Crichton concluded his conversation and made his way to the entrance to the transport pod.

"Wait," said Aeryn. "I just remembered. There is a part I need to get for my Prowler. I can't believe I forgot it. I know exactly where to go to get it. I will only be a few microts."

"Hey, Aeryn, want me to go with you?"

"Not necessary, John, I will not be long. Get the transport pod started."

For some reason, Crichton did not feel he should let Aeryn go alone. He couldn't explain why. Aeryn apparently saw something in the way of concern in Crichton's eyes. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be fine, John."

With that, she turned and walked down the street. Crichton went into the transport pod and began to start up the engines. He couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness, and he couldn't explain it either. John finally gave up on trying to do both, and merely gave into it.

"Zhaan, Rygel, I'm going to catch up with Aeryn."

"Well don't be all day, or we'll leave without you," replied the little Hynerian.

Crichton ignored his eminence, focused entirely on finding Aeryn. "Jesus, Johnny, I know you got the hots for her," he thought to himself, "but you don't have to follow her around like some lovesick puppy."

Crichton and Aeryn had been getting closer and closer over the previous months, ever since the encounter with the false Earth. In all of the incidents in between, a bond had formed between them that both knew deep down would continue to grow until they took that ultimate step together.

At this moment, that bond that had been growing made him rush to find her with nothing to go on but a gut instinct that something was wrong. Somehow, for some odd reason, he felt danger, and it was directed at Aeryn.

When he was almost to the shop Aeryn mentioned she was going to, Crichton heard a shot from what sounded like a pulse rifle. Instinctively, John drew his pulse pistol sidearm and ran down the street towards the noise. What Crichton found when he got there was a discarded pulse rifle that he knew to be Aeryn's.

"Aeryn!" Crichton called out. He looked around and noticed there were a lot of people standing around that could have witnessed what had happened. John picked one out of the crowd, a being that looked to the human like some kind of reptilian humanoid.

"What happened here? Did you see a Sebacean woman here just now?" The alien did not answer. Mad with desperation, Crichton grabbed the alien by its clothes and shook it. "Answer me, goddamit!"

Trembling with fear, the creature was able to blurt out an answer. "Five Peacekeepers...shot the woman with a stasis gun just as she saw them and fired...Went in that direction."

The alien pointed a finger down a side street, which Crichton immediately bolted down pistol in hand.

"D'Argo, are you there?" Crichton called over his comm unit.

"Crichton, where the hezemana..."

"No time to explain. Aeryn's been taken by Peacekeepers. I'm tracking them. Get down here as soon as you can. Tell Zhaan and Rygel to take off before they find the transport."

**

The five Peacekeeper commandos entered their Marauder, and dropped their unconscious prisoner on the ground. Lt. Merker, the head of the team turned to his commandos. "We have caught the traitor, but her value is meaningless without the others, especially the human Crichton. They are probably somewhere in this city looking for her. We must spread out, locate them, and coordinate their capture. Officer Crang, you will stay here and guard the prisoner."

"Yes sir," replied Crang. As the others began to leave, the lone Peacekeeper eyed the unconscious woman on the floor. Crang was a bald, rather ungainly man with a long scar running down his left cheek starting below his eye. He licked his lips as he examined Aeryn's body up and down, liking what he saw.

Crang bent down to check the handcuffs that bound her hands behind her back. Just then, Aeryn began to come to consciousness.

"Well, hello Aeryn Sun. Finished with your little sleep?"

"Who are you, where is the rest of your team?"

"They are out searching for your friends. It is just you and me, traitor." As he said the last few words, Crang began to fondle Aeryn's breasts. She did not like what she saw in the Peacekeeper's eyes and with half defiance, half fear, she used her strong legs to kick him across the room. Aeryn tried to get up, but her opponent recovered quickly and lunged at her, hitting her across the face with his pistol and knocking Aeryn on her back again.

Crang retrieved some wire from a nearby box and bound Aeryn's feet together. The now excited Peacekeeper sat on top of Aeryn legs. "Those are powerful instruments you've got there, Aeryn Sun. But now I think that they are a problem that has been dealt with. Now, where was I?"

Crang again began to run his hand against Aeryn's shirt, and slowly moved it down to her pants. Aeryn attempted to control her fear, but the knowledge of what Crang was planning to do made here tremble uncontrollably. She thought of John, wondering if he was okay, if he even knew she had been captured. She hoped beyond hope that he would save her from this monster before he...

"Now then, Aeryn Sun. Lets just see what treasures you are concealing under those clothes."

***

Crichton had been tracking the Peacekeepers for several arns. Luckily five Peacekeepers carrying an unconscious Sebacean woman was pretty noticeable, so all he had to do to track them was stop someone every so often and ask which way the commandos and their baggage went. He also had to hide every so often when he encountered a Peacekeeper on the street looking for him and the others. At long last, Crichton found the Marauder and was now waiting outside of it for reinforcements (i.e. D'Argo) to arrive.

But he had that feeling in the pit of his stomach that Aeryn needed him, and needed him now. For some reason, John felt that he couldn't wait for D'Argo, that he had to try and save Aeryn alone. He crept up to the door of the Marauder slowly, pistol at the ready and finger on the trigger.

"John," he thought to himself, "this is nuts. Wait for D'Argo. No telling how many Peacekeepers are waiting for you in there." But his instinct fought back, telling him to get in there. Aeryn needed him.

As he went for the door control, Crichton quietly muttered. "Well, John, no guts, no glory." On that note, he opened the door and stepped slowly inside. He entered what looked like an anti-chamber, probably used when entering or exiting in deep space. He could hear a man's voice in the next room, and made himself ready as he ever would be.

Crichton slowly opened the door and looked into the room. He saw Aeryn lying on the floor with a male Peacekeeper sitting on top of her. She did not see Crichton, but he could see her eyes and saw what he had only seen in them once or twice before. Fear. This immediately spurred Crichton to action. He stepped into the room and aimed his pistol at the Peacekeeper.

"Get away from her, Peacekeeper." Crang turned around and stood up.

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

Crang looked at Aeryn, then back at Crichton. "What is she to you, human?" Suddenly, a look of understanding came over Crang's face. "Oh, I see. Aeryn Sun is not only a traitor, but a whore as well."

Crichton responded by quickly striking Crang across the face with his pistol, knocking him to the ground. He then kicked the Peacekeeper in the gut and disarmed him. With his gun still pointed at the sprawled out form on the floor, Crichton went to Aeryn and knelt down beside her. It was then that he noticed a bruise on her face from where Crang had struck her. John lightly touched her face with his free hand.

"Aeryn, are you all right? What did he do to you?"

"I'm okay, John. He..."Aeryn was trying to hold in her feelings. John could tell. He was getting more and more in tune to her feelings as time went on.

"Aeryn, please tell me."

"I fought back. He was too strong. John, he tried to force himself on me." She had blurted out the last sentence as if it was one big word. Aeryn looked into John's eyes for his reaction to what she had said. His immediate reaction was shock, but that quickly turned to a look in his eyes that she did not readily recognize. In a few moments, it finally became clear to her that what she saw in John's eyes was an emotion she had never seen from him before. Rage, pure rage.

Aeryn's perceptions were confirmed when Crichton rushed Crang and picked him up before the Peacekeeper could react. John threw Crang across the room like he was a rag doll, mad with fury that gave him seemingly the strength of several men. Before the Peacekeeper could pick himself up, Crichton charged him again and kicked him several times in the ribs. The human then moved to pick up the would- be rapist yet again by the scruff of his neck. Using one arm, he pressed Crang up against the wall by his neck, choking the Peacekeeper as he did so. With his free hand, Crichton drew his pistol and pointed it at Crang's head.

"What's the matter? Can't breath? You sick son of a bitch!" Crichton's voice reflected the fact that he was enraged. "Are you afraid I'm going to strangle you or just shoot you in the face? Or are you counting on my compassion, my humanity to spare your miserable life?"

"Please..."blurted the Peacekeeper. "Can't..."

"Breath, yeah I know. What makes you think I should let you live?"

"John."

The voice was instantly recognizable to Crichton. It was his Aeryn, lying on the floor, her face covered with a look of shock and concern. "John, please don't."

"Why? After what this bastard was going to..."John was confused. "How could she be concerned for this creep," he thought to himself.

"John, you are not a murderer. If you kill him, it will be murder. Then you will be no better than he is. Please, John."

It was then that Crichton realized that Aeryn was concerned for him, not Crang. He looked at what he was doing, and couldn't believe he was ready to kill this guy. But after what he tried to do to Aeryn...Crichton immediately checked the fury that was about to build within him yet again. He looked at Aeryn, and thought about how much she had grown from the no nonsense soldier she was when he first met her. She still had a warrior spirit, but it was now tempered with compassion and caring, caring for him and his well-being. John knew, without a doubt now, that there is love between them.

John quickly refocused his thoughts and let the Peacekeeper fall to the floor. He then walked over to Aeryn and freed her from her bonds. At one point Crang began to move, which brought a warning from Crichton.

"Peacekeeper, you've got a temporary reprieve. Don't blow it."

John helped Aeryn to her feet, and put one arm around her. The other still held the pistol aimed at the Peacekeeper slumped on the floor still half stunned by the ferocity of Crichton's attack.

"Are you sure your okay, Aeryn?"

"I'm fine, John, but we have to get out of here before the other commandos return. There's just one more thing I have to do."

Aeryn quickly walked over to Crang, picked him up, and gave him a hard and swift Pentac jab. The Peacekeeper fell to the floor beaten and unconscious. John then walked up to her and put his arm back around her. Without a word, the two left the Marauder and the unconscious Peacekeeper. Outside, they encountered D'Argo who, after quickly inquiring into their condition, led Aeryn and Crichton to the Prowler. Once there, they returned to Moya, which went immediately into Starburst as soon as the Prowler was secure.

****

That night, Crichton went to check on Aeryn in her room. She smiled when she saw him at the door and told him to come in.

John spoke first. "How you feeling?"

"I'm fine, John. And you? I was worried about you, after..."

"Oh, you mean when I couldn't decide whether to strangle or shoot that Peacekeeper?" Crichton tried to laugh it off, but he looked into Aeryn's eyes and saw that she wasn't buying the demeanor. "I don't know where that came from, Aeryn. It was just the thought of him touching you..." Even the thought of it made the anger threaten to well up, but each time it became easier to suppress. "I still can't believe that you didn't let me kill him."

"John, do you remember Hassan?" That name brought back a memory that was painful for Crichton. He wasn't the one who murdered that woman; it was the intellent virus that killed her. But it had used his body, and he still could not help but feel guilty about Hassan's murder. "You were not responsible for her death, yet because your body was used to kill her, you feel some responsibility anyway. If you had killed that Peacekeeper today, you would have felt guilt later because you are not a murderer. That guilt could have eaten away at your soul, and I could not allow that. I care for you too much."

The two simultaneously walked up to each other. John put his arms around her waist, while she wrapped hers around his back. "Thank you, Aeryn, for stopping me."

"No, thank you John. Somehow, I just knew that you would come for me. I still don't understand how you found out I was captured so fast."

"I just had a gut feeling you were in trouble, that you needed me. I went after you and found out what happened from the locals. I guess I just have this connection...I don't know..."

"I know what you mean, John. I feel it as well."

Hesitantly at first, the two drew closer. Their lips met slowly and, with a smile from both of them, they kissed. It was a slow kiss, filled with passion and desire. They stayed that way for several moments, finally breaking the kiss and their embrace. John moved towards the door.

"Well, good night Aer..."

"John, please. I really don't want to be alone right now. Would you mind staying tonight?"

Crichton smiled. "Not at all."

They lay down together on the bed. John lay on his back and Aeryn snuggled up on his side, placing her head on his chest. The two slept like that together, knowing that they would be more together. It was only a matter of time.

The End.