Chiana opened her eyes groggily as Crichton slipped out from under her and slipped on his robe. She watched him, admiring the contures of his muscles, the shape of his body as he folded the robe around himself and wandered to the shower. She rolled over, enjoying the feel of the satin sheets and the warm coziness of thier pillows. She closed her eyes, drifting back to sleep again until he snuggled her with his damp body. His lips came tenderly to her neck and she smiled as she scootched closer into him and wraped his arm around her.

"Want breakfast?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah," Chiana blinked again as she slowly realized this was Mokans bed and not at the estate. She gently rolled over him and grasped his wrists over his head, tilting her own as she gazed deeply into his jade blue eyes. When he didn't protest she began to kiss his neck and chest, running her hand over his damp, warm shape and curves as she breathed in his comforting scent.

"I thought, we could talk." Crichton muttered as he wrapped his big arms around her when she laid her head on his chest.

"Can't talking wait?" She asked into his chin.

"That depends on what Mokan has to eat," Crichton smirked as he smarted her rump with a smack.

"Hey!" She jolted, laughing as she pinched his thy and came to her feet.

"You pinched me!" He gaped at her in mock shock as he reached out for her. She slipped his grasp and turned for the shower with a sleepy smile as she tilted her head.

"You pinched me first."

"Did not," he protested as he began to dress. "I slapped you. There is a big difference between a pinch and a slap."

"Yuck!" Chiana called from the half closed door. "I think you killed the dentic, what the frell did you eat last?"

"Chilli," he smirked. "With extra onions."

He opened some of Mokans drwars as he waited, more out of boredom than curiosity as he gazed over various items and cloaths. She didn't have allot of junk for a merchant, allot of the items in her bedroom were simple essentials albiet somewhat misplaced between the tool box and the bathroom. Mokan carried all the signs of someone who basicly lived alone but it seemed kind of odd to him that she wouldn't have any kind of hobbies lying around. He wasn't sure what he should be expecting, maybe a huge dagger or shrunken head collection. He snorted to himself as he idely pulled open another drwar, finding a pistol sized version of a qualta and a neatly folded robe not unlike D'argoes of dark red and black. It looked rather old and stained with blood to a sewn tare at the shoulder, a long sash of finely embroidered gliphs and pictorals was folded with it. He picked it up, blinking at the leather straps of a Luxan head dress that fell out, a small but rather elaborate gold medalion sparkeld up at him, centering a fingernail sized blue diamond. It looked like it would set right in the center of Mokans forehead.

"What is with you?" Crichton muttered as he picked it up to admire it.

"Better put that back," Chiana winced as she came out dressed in her leathers and began to dry her hair in her towl. "Mokan would have a fit if she saw you digging in her things."

"Why doesn't she wear this stuff?" He asked as he shrugged and put it away.

"You'd have to ask Mokan," Chiana smiled, breathing a deep sigh as she shifted at her hips and gave him another playful pinch as they embraced. "That shouldn't be so hard, she thinks you're an honorable warrior."

"I hate to be a disapointment," he snorted as he grabbed her by her hips and lightly whirrled her off her feet. "But I'm beggining to wonder if you couldn't kick my ass."

"Who me?" She breathed, tilting her head with a broad, shy smile.

"Yeah you," he smiled back as he rested his forehead on hers. "I want to know - everything about you."

"You know me..."

"I know, what you want me to," he spoke gently as he took her hands and cupped them into his chest. "I'm saying, I want to know more."

"What about me," she whispered, her eyes softening solemnly on him as she shifted her head from side to side. "No one's asked me - asked me that before."

"Hm, well, maybe they should have." He answered back softly without looking up from massaging her hands. "So maybe I will."

*************************

Nhfearme
2/3/01
Risk
IC:

Mokan raises her sword to the intruder knocking his pulse pistol out of his hand. He draws his dagger and raises it to stab her. The Peacekeeper towers over her. She swings her blade and slices into his side.

"Aaaaa! No Mokan! I am for the resistance!" He screams as he falls to the deck.

Mokan raises her Qualta one final time. "You should have known you couldn't come back here 'Captain' Shelan!" She swiftly swings her blade.

"AHaaa Trrrr!"

The laugh wakes Mokan from carrying out her execution of Phillip Shelan. She jumps up straight and draws her blade, "Aaaaa!" to face an unseen enemy.

"Mokan you there?" It's Geyo.

"What the Frell?" Mokan says realizing it was all a dream.

"News! Strange news! In brief I may be monitored!"

"What? What is it?"

"Captain Shelan has been arrested."

Mokan feels a powerful pulse run through her. Warm yet terrifying. She is stunned.

"Scorpius himself is interrogating him in the Aurora Chair!"

"When? Where?"

There is no answer. Geyo's Comms is closed.

"I knew I should have killed him!" She swings her Qualta slashing the air and resheaths it. "He knows about the resistance!"

Mokan thinks quickly. She goes to helm and powers up she sets directional and vectors toward a new location. She suddenly realizes all of the things Phillip Shelan is. A man of secrets. Scorpius is now stripping those secrets away.

Shelan could have used his secrets to destroy Chiana and the others. He didn't. He made it clear Lord Crichton was his target. Now Scorpius knows the smallest details of people, locations, the most intimate secrets.

"Frell! Chiana and Crichton!"

She finds herself running toward her quarters, then stopping. There is time to tell them. It won't change anything. They will still be running, hiding because of Captain Shelan.

****************************

ChianaGray
2/3/01
Risk
IC:

"Sector code 7." Mokan commed at her helm.

"You can't be serious," Melaks voice came back. "And you're breaking silence."

"Are you wet behind your ears position man?" Mokan asked as she narrowed her eyes. "Or are you declining my action?"

"Not a decline, a questioning."

"I could die right here," Mokan stated evenly as she leaned over the comm. "With my company. Code 7 or I bug out and you can go home."

"I am the comman-"

"Frell you!" Mokan barked sharply as she slammed her hand over her helm. "This isn't PK ground school you program! Get the system out of your brain and CODE 7! I'm about to lift off!"

"There is no relocation," Melak returned calmly. "I suggest you sit tight until whatever you have, needs this code imediatley."

"The reason for the code is so that I won't need it immediatley." Mokan curled her lip.

"What's going on?" Chiana asked as she entered the command helm. "Why are you requesting relocation right in the middle of the PK looking for us?"

"Scorpius has Captain Shelan in his chiar," Mokan stated as she looked to her and Crichton. "And he knows this spot. I hid him here."

"Shelan?" Crichton balked as Chiana came to Mokans helm. "In the chiar? I thought he was Scorpies right hand man."

Chiana gaped, her eyes widening beneath her bangs as she touched the comm and swallowed.

"Code 7, Sector. It only means to you I have new co-ordinance. Cover my eema will ya?"

"Of course."

"Of course," Mokan snorted as she sat down. "I'm going to have a talk with that man."

"Don't worry about him," Chiana stated quietly as she rested her hands on the helm. "He's too far in to be with us and we're too far out for him to risk himself. We'll just wait, so far this is the best place to hide."

"Nerves rattled?" Crichton asked as he folded his arms and leaned against the wall.

"A little," Mokan nodded slightly and snareld as she chewed on her thumb. "I hate sitting when I know the position is comprimised and we don't have any back up this time except maybe starbursting with Moya. We can't lift off because of the search for us and we can't exactly sit here when Shelan knows where it is."

"So lifting of is a sure shot we'd be spotted," Crichton nodded. "But Shelan knowing where we are is very ify Mokan. Chiana's right, don't jump into the foxes mouth just because they might be trying to smoke us out."

"I don't play fos," she waggled her head slightly at the ground with a wrinkle in her nostril.

"Jamaicaaa," Crichton nearly cooed. "Babe, Duude! Come on! Let's see some of that smooth resistance warrior chick."

"I don't dream things that don't mean something Crichton," she widened her eyes on him as she stood. "Shelan is going to have us all frelled. For one because I still think of the man as a friend."

"A friend?" Crichton narrowed his eyes on her cooly. "Reason?"

"Because I can smell something besides PeaceKeeper on him," she stated as she raised her head to him from her shoulder. "Despite anything he may diserve, he should never have been given back to them. Now everything we wanted to know as the resistance he could have given to us as a free man is being raped from his mind. So he's got ugly tigers, don't we all, some of us could have tamed enough to show him the true prey. Now the fos is the prey ... we loose ... and I'll be in my sparring chamber."

She stepped away from them with a slight bow of her head.

"Where did you find her anyway?" Crichton shook his head as he came to Chiana to look over the helm. "She's was a little hard on you then, don't you think? I mean, he does diserve what he's getting ... if he hadn't tried to use you to get to me - you would never have been in the chair yourself."

Chiana gazed silently up to his face though he didn't look to her as he played his fingers over the helms keys.

"Did you forget that part too?" He asked softly.

"No," she glanced away, swallowing again as she stared off at the ground. "She wasn't trying to be mean to me."

"Why was he so important to spare?"

Chiana turned her head away, shifting at her shoulders as she drew away from the helm. Crichton turned to her, resting his hand on her cheek as he looked into her eyes.

"Hey," he tilted his head with hers. "I've got your location."

She narrowed her eyes as she looked away again and grasped onto his hand.

"Because sometimes," she nearly whispered as she turned back towards him. "Mokan is right..."

"Code 7." Melak returned on comms. "You're clear."

Chiana turned, finishing Mokans lift off to the co-ordinance she had set in. Crichton touched her shoulder and she turned her head to it with a silent expression.

"Is this one of those things like, the lion raised by sheep?"

"Who?" She creased her brows as she returned her attention to the ships stealth and glided as low to the ground as she dared.

"I'm just saying I don't think a guy like that can have his spots changed, do you? Once a snake, always a snake?"

"I think the point was, everything he knows is in Scorpies hands." Chiana muttered. "Everything I've done for the resistance - everything Shelan knows about us. We are frelled."

*****************************

Nhfearme
2/3/01
Risk
IC:

Phillip lies on the hard cell deck.

His soul has been stripped away.

The pain shakes through him
making him tremble.

The cold and the dark
overtake his spirit.

So many memories;
Are tortures to him now.

Scorpius has made him a prisoner. The Peacekeepers now turn their attention to him and his life. His life is nothing but the subjugation of others. He sees that now. So many lives he has taken by brute force the way Scorpius now takes his.

This is death.

His body is but a shell
empty of all but terror.

His breath comes in short gasps.

His heart beats in an
underlying thread
hardly felt.

He cries with no hope.

Hope was left behind
when he turned his back
on his friends.

To his Peacekeeper life.

Life would be taken
from him now
in the brief Microts
of his memories.

The cell door groans open. A detachment of guards enters. Two guards lift him from the deck and drag him.

"Please, Officers. I am your Captain." Phillip cries. "Scorpius is mad. Save me." He pleads as they drag him past the hatch.

They continue to drag him down the dark passageway.

"Please, I beg you!" He gasps. "Don't take me to him!"

Fear shakes Phillip to his core.

His heart leaps into his throat
as he is brought before Scorpius.

His guards pull him
up the scaffolding.

They secure him in the chair.

He feels it is his last hour.

"What do you want?" He asks with no hope of an answer.

"Let's begin the conversation with 'What do you know of Chiana?' Captain." Scorpius answers. "I need to know all of her movements. I especially want to recover the lost data from her interrogation on the Base."

Phillip swallows. "Chiana." He breathes. "No. Please." He begs.

The chair fires a burning pulse through his brain.

Phillip screams.

***********************

Crichton maneuvers Mokan's trade vessel into the shipyard and powers down. He turns to Chiana and takes her hand. "Wanna' go for some breakfast?" He smiles. "We'll go see what Mokan has in the galley."

"Sure." She stands from the copilot chair and lets him lead her down to the galley.

John gets the food cubes and Chiana opens the refrigeration unit and pulls out something for them to drink. They sit. John nibbles a few food cubes and takes a drink. He watches Chiana as she eats.

"It feels odd having quiet. I like it." He says. "I want to use it to get to know you better." He swallows looks at her. "I didnt like finding out second hand that Shelan had you in the chair." He looks down. "Maybe if I had known." He looks at her eyes. "I would have understood what you were going through. There is a lot I think I'm missing here." He reaches out and takes her hand. "I want to know." His eyes begin to tear over.

"I don't know where to start." She looks from his stare. "I've been with the resistance nearly the entire time you've been gone. I've worked my way up for duty like I pulled with," She glances to see his expression. "Shelan." She looks away. "I was supposed to assassinate him." Her voice trails off.

John startles and pulls away from her. He scrutinizes her expression. "Why?" He says trying not to lose his temper. "Why the hell didn't you?" He says hurt, confused.

Chiana begins to cry. She rocks herself. "When I saw that he could help find you." She sniffs back her tears. "I was desperate John." She hits her hand on the table. She stands and paces away from him. "I'd been searching for you for over 6 cycles!" She turns to him and looks at his eyes for understanding. "He helped me pull you out of that Hezmat facility." She lowers her eyes and rests her hand on the table.

"I know." John says trying to soften his expression. He looks away from her then reaches and takes her hand. "It doesn't matter now. Thank you. I'm sorry." He says with a lump in his throat. "It's just that he used his freedom to hurt you. It's just hard for me to swallow." His anger turns to tears.

She sits down hard. She sighs and fondles his hand, looking at it. "There's something I need to ask you too John." She looks sheepishly at him wondering if she should. "Shelan said things when he was at the estate. Things that he used to try to, to break us up." She swallows.

John looks at her waiting.

"He accused you of being a loyal Peacekeeper." She watches him.

John looks at her wondering what could be in her mind to think that. His eyes are fixed on hers. He sits up straight, letting go of her hand. "Did you think that I would ever serve Scorpius?" He says alarmed at her question.

"No! No, John." She is astonished at his reaction. "I just, ya' see, I need to ask you." She swallows and rubs her thighs. "Your uniform. He said you earned Lt. rank when you were there."

"Scorpius." John squeezes his eyes shut and turns his face from her in pain and recognition. "Scorpius arranged that so that I would have access to my own research. The new software on the prowler. I had limited access so that I could supervise." He draws a deep breath then sighs.

Chiana's stares at him, then down at the floor. Her tears now trace down her cheeks. Her mind is screaming. He admitted designing the prowler for Scorpius!

John opens his eyes and looks at her. He sees her face and realizes he has hurt her. He stands and pulls her up from her chair. He holds her tightly. "Maybe I'd better start at the beginning." He sighs and cuddles her hair with his cheek.

John gasps. "I had no choice, Chiana." He swallows. "Scorpius threatened to harm Jake." He closes his eyes and begins to cry. "If I didn't."

Chiana cries in his arms feeling release from the question that Phillip put it in her mind. She now realizes it has eaten at her trust, her faith in John until she believed it. That John is really a loyal Peacekeeper. "I'm sorry." She cries. "I had to ask you."

*************************

"I'll tell you anything you want to know," Crichton struggled to speak. "I just - didn't expect you to doubt me."

"I don't," Chiana tilted her head to one side, begging to tremble slightly with the emotions that ran through her. "I - I don't know what to trust ... what am I supposed to be doing John? I didn't know what to think. I'm not sure if not knowing and being eaten alive inside about it was worse than asking you, afraid I would get exactly this."

"Exactly what?" He creased his his brows as he wiped his hot face.

"I can see you too," she whispered gently as she swayed slightly, her arms slightly splayed. "You should know what it's like to wonder something about someone else. Like Shelan with me in the hezmat."

Crichton stepped back, sucking in his breath as he raised his hands to the sides of his head and running his fingers through his hair.

"My - god." He sighed heavily to himself. "Chiana. You were raped. He - he didn't give you any choice!"

"Why does it have to keep comming up into my face?" she asked quietly in tears as she shook her head. "You have - have any idea what I've done - what Nebari Prime would have me do - if I didn't escape?"

Crichton moved to tell her about the chair, his knowledge sticking in his throaght as he clenched his fists. He stared into the torment in her eyes, the unsureness of what really happened. So many things spoke in her eyes, almost pleading ... almost defiant...

************************

Nhfearme
2/4/01
Risk
IC:

John's mind is etched with worry at her almost denial. Can he ask her? What he saw as Shelan was in the chair. Did she know, suspect? He swallows and gives a great sigh. To tell her. He had put it out of his mind that their child was...

"Chiana." He begins with a lump in his throat, still unsure if he should even speak it. "I had Shelan in the chair before the Peacekeepers came. What I saw. It was real!" He finds himself getting angry, trying to fight his emotions as he tells her.

Chiana stands looking at him. Not knowing what to say. Feeling numb that he saw, could have seen what happened. Was it real? She wonders. Did he see what Phillip did to her? She feels her mind screaming at the suggestion. She suddenly wants to stop him from speaking. Stop him from asking her.

She turns and begins to walk slowly out of the galley. John stands watching her.

"Please." He begs her. "Talk to me."

It is like a wall suddenly goes up before her that she can't walk past. She is frozen in her tracks waiting for his next word.

John walks up behind her and embraces her. He caresses her shoulders with his hands.

She thinks. "So strong, loving me. Can he forgive what I am feeling though?" She turns to him and studies deep into his ice blue eyes trying to answer her question for herself. "What happened to me." She begins. "Worse things have happened." Her tears seem to freeze in her eyes. Waiting for him to react!

John feels so much anger building. He swallows trying to push it down. There is no place for him to express what he is feeling. He wants to kill Shelan! Find those who have hurt her and take his vengeance! His hands turn to ice. He looks away from her for the instant anger seeps into his eyes. He has to strike out! He turns from her.

"God Damn it!" He paces. He makes a fist and hits the table. "God Damn it!" He puts his arms on the table and begins to cry. "I want to kill the bastard!" He gasps. It tears through his mind that he can do nothing! His heart is breaking.

Chiana stands at the hatchway, watching him cry.

************************

John sits in a chair and rests his head in his hand. The tears come in waves. Chiana takes a step toward him. She wants to comfort him but she fears his anger. She swallows and finally crosses the room to him. Chiana places her arm around his shoulder. He takes her hand.

"It's just that." She begins. "It's just that, I am used to taking care of myself." She lowers herself to the floor, looking up at his troubled countenance. "No one ever tried to, cared if I. No one has ever loved me before." She begins to cry.

Chiana stands and sits in a chair. She sighs through her tears. John reaches across the table and pulls her closer. He leans to her and puts his head against hers. He gasps and reaches his face to kiss the tears from her cheek.

"You put him in the Chair." Chiana says. "You put him there for me." She sighs. "Thank you, John." She looks at him and smiles weakly then gives a little chuckle.

John stands and pulls her to him. He holds her tightly, still crying of the things she must have suffered. He thinks again about Captain Shelan. "He should be dead." He says stone serious. "I should have pulled the trigger and ended it." He sighs.

Chiana startles at what he says. She thinks, "No, he didn't mean it." Then she thinks again and asks. "Did you take him there to kill him?" She can't believe she said it. Her John wouldn't kill, not like that.

Phillip was his prisoner. The chair! John did see what happened! She has an ache in the pit of her stomach. She knew it; when John left the house that night, she first felt it. He doesn't answer her. She holds her breath.

"John?" She asks.

John holds her tighter. He breathes the scent of her hair and looks up, sighing. Chills go through him that he could have ended her pain but stopped just short of it. He swallows.

"I tried." He answers. "I hesitated." He caresses her hair with his hand. "I'm sorry." He lifts her face to him and looks into her questioning eyes.

****************************

Chiana is unnerved, afraid of what she hears. She knows that John was pushed to the edge. What she saw in the Hezmat, what he saw from Shelan's interrogation in the chair. She has to know! Are they the same? What really happened? She is afraid to ask. What John saw made him pull his pulse pistol to kill Phillip! She swallows and takes a breath.

"Please tell me." She gasps and holds her breath waiting.

John is quietly crying. He kisses her neck.

"Did he?" She asks. "Did I?" She cries. Her body trembles seeking the truth, yet stark afraid of it. "Oh, John!" She sobs. Sorry that she has to ask. Angry that she doesn't remember.

John steps back from her and wipes his eyes. He holds her hands and looks at her. He slips his palm around her neck and up to her face. With his fingertips he raises her face to him and looks deeply into her troubled eyes.

"I saw him give you the drug. You fell unconscious. He pulled off your clothes." John's eyes suddenly go to the floor. He begins to cry. He pulls her to himself and holds her. "Whatever happened. Wasn't your fault. He drugged you and then raped you." He chokes. "I'm sorry." He sobs. "The bastard!"

Chiana feels a great relief at John's confession. Her own fears of thinking she enjoyed it are laid to rest. She sighs and feels finally whole. She pulls John to walk with her. They leave the galley and go to Mokan's room.

Chiana takes John to the facility and washes his face as he cries. He kisses her. She washes her own face. John watches as her hair clings to her eyes. He chuckles. Chiana reaches blindly for the towel and wipes her face, his face, as he laughs at her. She punches his shoulder.

Their eyes meet. They have come so close to loosing eachother forever! The realization hits suddenly and without warning. They grab eachother in an embrace. Holding on tightly not to loose eachother in this moment.

************************

I embrace thee.

I fear I will lose thee.

The pain we have suffered
These few solar days

We could grieve for a lifetime.

I cling to thee.

I wish for you to feel my love.

Accept my love.

In this embrace
In this kiss
I pray for healing.

************************

DeSaintPhalle
2/6/01
Renewal
IC:

John pulls slightly away, looking down at her. "You okay?"

Chiana, nods her head in affirmation, then sighs. "Yeah, I guess."

The storm, this time, would not swallow them.

Softly he caresses her cheek with his hand, before swiping his thumb across her bottom lip. His breath catches as she stops him cold with her bottomless glassy onyx eyes. He sinks into their depths. "I feel
like I've been looking into the abyss, and thinking about how inviting it would be at the bottom."

"Oh John." Chiana slowly realizes how much he has been affected by their tragedy. His words echo the pain she wore as a combat medallion. Now she must summon the strength to fight for them both. She would claw her way out of the depression brought on by Shelan's deceit and abuse in the only way she knew.

Leading John into the sleep chamber, she undressed him. After removing her own clothes, she lay down next to him innocently.

He just looked at her and sort of smiled. She reached out to touch his arm, her fingers playing a melody upon his taut muscles.

In the quiet, John felt capable of inventing verse wrapped in similie, soaked in metaphorical decadent rhyme about her chameleon like beauty.

Waves of energy pulsed between them, as they breathed in unison. Touching, reassuring, loving each other. Just being.

Secret thoughts,

quiet sighs.

Slowly our bodies rise.

I wail, you cry.

Emotion too complex to describe.

Inside me

Feel me

Together

we

drum

to the fresh 'morrow morning sun.

******************************

Chiana awakened several arns later, still locked tightly to John. His strong arms around her, gave her the feeling of being afloat.

She never wanted to leave him, or for any other man to touch her.

She thought of his gentleness and tenderness. Chiana wasn't ashamed of her freedom with him. Even while he set her afire he was tender and caring. The memory of the last time they made love on Mokan's ship rippled throughout her body. Involuntary spasms gripped her.

She swallowed the delicious memory, then rolled over on top of John, ready to make new ones.

He grinned, then gently tugged on her lips, pulling her into a passionate kiss. "Hi."

She rocked herself into place upon him. "Love me?"

"Uh huh." He nodded, then bit his lip. His gaze, hungrily swept over her.

Rapturous energy sending them both near the edge. Then it happened. She willed him to release himself to her. She demanded all of him. He opened up, and their tumultous coupling became a thing untamed, frenzied, out of time. He sat up, and covered her lips with his own as she surrendered herself. He took her screams into his mouth, mindful that Mokan was nearby.

Chiana shamelessly begged him for more morsels of ecstasy, freeing her mouth from silence. His eyes teared at the thought that she wanted him again and again. Unashamed of what she wanted, she embraced him as she took all that she desired.

****************************

Nhfearme
2/6/01
Phillips Tortue
IC:

Phillip Shelan lies on the cold cell deck. There is no dreaming after being in the chair. He lies half-awake, half-unconscious in terror of what is ahead of him. He can't remember what it is like not to cry. His throat burns for a drop of water from screaming in the chair.

His Peacekeeper heritage now plagues him. In his efforts to be a loyal Peacekeeper, his life will end at the hands of his commanding officer. His crime? The love of a woman eludes him. He was distracted from his purpose long enough to be captured by the enemy.

He searches for one memory that will bring him solace. He wishes that his memories of Chiana brought him peace. The cruelty he acted upon her still burns in his mind from his last session in the chair. There are no pleasant memories. His violence is released in angry sobs. He hits his fist on the deck with strength he does not have.

"I'm sorry! I'm Sorry Chiana! Please forgive me!" He cries to the lonely echoed walls.

If only he could live to see her. He longs to make it right. He reaches out his hand again to Lord Crichton's God for forgiveness and gets it. Then he prays a hollow prayer from his spent soul to see her again.

*****************************

DeSaintPhalle
2/6/01
Renewal
IC:

Abruptly, Mokan pushed open the door to her quarters, making enough noise to rattle the quiet slumber of John and Chiana. She looked around the room, her nose wrinkled in disgust. "Begging your pardon m'Lord and Lady, but would you mind joining me in command?" She facetiously bowed deeply as she spoke.

John and Chiana scrambled from the bed, wrapped together in the sheets. They both made a confused dash to the fresher, giggling and tripping as they went.

"Hey Jamaica." John called out from behind its screen. "Wassa matter? Somebody let the dogs out?"

Chiana tickled him, as she scrubbed his back. "Stop it." She giggled, turning so that he could return the favor.

"I'd tell you to open a window in here, if it wouldn't space us all to Hezmana and back." Mokan stopped near the door before exiting. "You know, Chiana has her own quarters on this vessel. Why do you always choose mine?"

Crichton yelled out, "It's the satin sheets baby!"

"Bah!" She continued walking through the doorway.

Chiana giggled at Crichton's mischievousness. "She's gonna get you..." At that moment, they heard her voice from down the hall.

"And make up my bed before you leave!"