Crichton chuckled a bit and turned on his side to look a D’Argo. "All the windows on the neighbor’s houses shattered along with the windows on all the cars parked nearby. When we told the police what happened they didn’t believe that a couple of twelve-year-olds made nitroglycerine. We got charged with transporting dangerous chemicals across state lines, destruction of property, reckless endangerment, you name it. Boy, were my folks mad. I wasn’t allowed to leave my bedroom for a whole month except to go to school." He propped himself up on one elbow and smiled at D’Argo.

"Isn’t that a great story?"

"I guess," D’Argo said, not looking terribly impressed.

"Okay, your turn," Crichton slapped D’Argo’s bare shoulder with the back of his hand.

"My turn to what?"

"Tell me a story," Crichton huffed. "Tell me about some crazy or embarrassing thing you did as kid."

"My childhood is personal," D’Argo grumbled. He didn’t understand why Crichton always insisted on having some kind of discussion after sex.

Crichton sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. "For Christ’s sake, D’Argo! We’re two grown men lying naked in bed together. Not long ago we were rolling around doing some pretty personal things to each other. But you don’t want to talk about your childhood?"

D’Argo rolled on to his side to face Crichton and leer at his human lover. "Come on big guy," Crichton smirked. "Who’s your Sword Bother?"

D’Argo sighed before speaking. "Once some friends and I got a hold of several Imjags."

Seeing Crichton’s confused look he raised his hand and touched his thumb to his forefinger making a circle. "There’re an explosive about this big. They’re used during celebrations as a very loud noisemaker."

"Sounds like something we have on Earth called a cherry bomb."

"That’s nice," D’Argo looked a bit annoyed at being interrupted. "My friends and I were entertaining ourselves by lighting them and throwing them into a water reservoir. It wasn’t long before the local guards chased us off. When I got home I found I still had one Imjag left and decided to set it off. I figured that if I filled the washing tub full of water I could set it off in the house."

D’Argo paused.

"Come on, come on. What happened?"

D’Argo looked down at the bed as he spoke. "The Imjag blew a hole in the bottom of the washing tub and in the floor beneath it."

"No way!" Crichton clapped his hands together as he laughed. "Then what happened?"

D’Argo huffed slightly. "The bathing room was on the second floor of our house. All of the water poured down into the common living area, which my mother had just purchased new furniture for."

Crichton rolled onto his back and laughed hysterically. "Oh man! And I thought I was the little distructo-boy! So what happened next?"

"What do you think happened? My mother was furious and I was punished."

"How old were you?"

D’Argo smiled slightly. "Nine cycles."

Crichton laughed again. "Wow, you stared early."

There was the chirp of an opened communication and then Aeryn’s voice. "D’Argo, are you there?"

D’Argo reached down next to the bed and plucked his comm. badge off his coat. "What is it?"

"We’re almost to the asteroid field," continued Aeryn. "Pilot is going to need all our help." There was a pause and then she added. "If you can find Crichton, tell him he’s needed too."

"I will. D’Argo out." The comm. chirped off, D’Argo then climbed out of bed and started to get dressed.

Crichton climbed out on his side and began to do the same. Stopping for a moment he turned to D’Argo. "Have you noticed that whenever she calls one of us she asks you or I to relay a message to the other?"

D’Argo thought for a minute. "Yes, I have noticed," he then went back to getting dressed.

"Do you think she knows?"

"Knows what?" D’Argo tuned around as he pulled on his tunic.

"You know…" Crichton passed his hand over the bed, "about us!"

"I wouldn’t be surprised," D’Argo said nonchalantly. "She’s not stupid."

Crichton let out a deep sigh. It was one thing to be D’Argo’s Sword Brother; it was another thing to have it common knowledge.

"I wonder if the others know."

D’Argo fastened his belt and made some adjustments to his outfit before answering. "I don’t know about Pilot but Chiana and Rygel are too wrapped up in themselves to notice anything."

"What about Zhaan?" Crichton was tucking his T-shirt into his pants.

"I think Zhaan knew before we did," D’Argo smiled.

Crichton burst out laughing. Just when he would think D’Argo didn’t have a sense of humor; the big Luxan would surprise him.

* * * * *

D’Argo and Crichton walked into command and took positions at different consoles. In order to save time they were taking Moya through an asteroid field. Although Pilot had told them that this particular asteroid field was not as congested most, it still required careful maneuvering. Aeryn was stationed at Moya’s manual steering controls and would do the actual flying. It was Crichton and D'Argo's jobs to make continual scans and help Aeryn navigate.

The three were fine tuning controls and making some last minute checks before going in. Crichton couldn’t help glancing over at Aeryn. She was beautiful. He shared something special with D’Argo but part of him still hoped that he could share a closeness with her.

/I’m not gay./

Crichton would often repeat this thought to himself.

/I’m just someone who can express affection and get past my hang-ups doing it. I’ve adapted to deal with my new life and embrace the benefits that have presented themselves. I don’t find women any less attractive but I’ve also allowed myself to enjoy another male. I am beyond what I used to be and think I’m a better person because of it./

/But I’m not gay./

Crichton started humming to himself. Very softly, almost inaudibly. He hummed more in his head than with his voice. It was a song he’d heard many times when it came out in the 80’s. But now, here, it seemed to mean more. The words felt as if they were written just for him. Different parts comforted him in different situations. He rarely sang it as a whole. It was something he kept to himself, a last tie to earth yet a link to what he experienced in this new universe.

He continued humming part while hearing the words in his head.

"All my instincts, they return.
The grand façade, so soon will burn.
Without a noise, without my pride.
I reach out from the inside."

That’s how he felt when he thought about his relationship with D’Argo.

* * * * *

Crichton yawned and rubbed his face. From across the room he heard D’Argo breathe in a deep sigh. They were approaching the sixth arn since they entered the asteroid field and the excitement of the whole project had faded about five and a half arns ago. Zhaan had been kind enough to relieve each one in turn, giving them a few minutes to stretch their legs and get something to eat.

Staring blankly at his console, his mind was just starting to wander for the fifty thousandth time when a slight change in his scans caught his eye. It was a subtle change; just a flash of elevated readings as his scanners passed over a cluster of asteroids.

"Wait a minute everyone," he said as he tuned the scanners to fine where the spike in the reading was.

"What?" Aeryn groaned. She was tired and wanted very much to be out of this asteroid field.

"I’ve got a funny reading here," John was working the controls, trying to lock in the sensors.

D’Argo walked up and stood looking over his shoulder. "It’s an ore reading," he said sounding annoyed. "There’s a lot of that in the surrounding asteroids."

"This isn’t ore, it’s metal," Crichton huffed.

D’Argo groaned irritably, "So what? There’s lots of metal in these rocks too."

Crichton tweaked the controls a bit more, "Yeah but there’s also a power reading."

Aeryn was now next to Crichton, looking over his other shoulder. "That almost looks like it could be a ship but the reading is so low that it must only be running on auxiliary power."

"So whaddya think? Should we check it out?" asked John.

D’Argo and Aeryn gave each other a look. Crichton had a pretty good idea of what was going through their minds. /it could be a trap, it could be a trick, it could be something generally bad!/

"Well I’m curious!" he piped in. "Hey, and if it’s a dead ship maybe there’s some things on board we could salvage."

D’Argo and Aeryn just looked at him; they appeared to be still thinking about it.

Crichton, however, was dying of curiosity and figured they needed some convincing. "Hey, we did get pretty lucky the last time we salvaged something." He looked at D’Argo as he said this, reminding him of how they had found Eilynn a cycle ago.

D’Argo gave John a sideways glance, thinking it very odd of his Sword Brother to use a past female lover as a reasoning point.

"All right, we’ll check it out!" Aeryn exclaimed.

Now Crichton and D’Argo were looking at her and wondering why she seemed so upset.

* * * * *

It took longer than expected to hone in on the exact location of the anomalous readings. D’Argo and Aeryn tried to appear apathetic about the whole thing but Crichton could tell that they were glad to have a break in the boredom. He knew that if they really didn’t think it was a good idea then Moya would be almost out of the asteroid field by now.

"I think I have a fix on it," said Pilot. "Whatever it is it appears to be orbiting the large asteroid just ahead."

Everyone kept their eyes peeled to the view screen. The asteroid Pilot was referring to was plainly visible but there appeared to be nothing unusual about it.

"I don’t see anything particularly special about this asteroid, Pilot," D’Argo grumbled.

"The object is currently on the far side of the asteroid. We should be able to see it very shortly," answered Pilot.

"Wait! I see it!" Crichton pointed at the left side of the asteroid. "It sure looks like a ship to me."

Aeryn walked up to stand next to Crichton. "Pilot, can you magnify the image?"

The image of the ship blinked bigger and bigger until it nearly filled the view screen.

"It looks like some kind of freighter," said Crichton.

"It looks like it had some kind of on-board explosion," said Aeryn.

"It’s the I-Tone," said D’Argo.

"What?" exclaimed Aeryn.

"You’re kidding!" exclaimed Crichton.

"I’m certain of it. That’s Eilynn’s ship." It was obvious that D’Argo was stunned.

Crichton threw both his arms up in the air. "I can’t believe I called that!" he shouted. "I must be some kind of fucking prophet!"

"Are you absolutely sure?" Aeryn asked, trying to ignore Crichton.

D’Argo took a few steps closer to the view screen. "Positive," he whispered.

* * * * *

The I-Tone was badly damaged. A large part of the aft section had been blown apart leaving most of the ships innards exposed to space. Only the bridge and a handful of sections on the forward end of the ship still had life support that was running on minimum levels. There was no response to hails from Moya leaving the crew to believe that either their communications were out or there was no one left alive.

Everyone silently hoped it was the former.

D’Argo, Aeryn, Crichton and Zhaan were aboard one of Moya’s transport pods, which was docking with the I-Tone. Zhaan had brought her box of herbs and medicines in the hopes that there were survivors. D’Argo and Aeryn held up their weapon as the door to the airlock opened, taking into consideration that they may not be the only ones who’ve come across the ship.

The air inside the I-Tone was cold and stale. The four stepped aboard and moved cautiously down dim corridors. Smoke hung in the air as burned and exposed electrical panels sparked randomly along the walls. Utilizing sensor scans, Pilot had been able to provide them with a somewhat accurate map of the I-Tone’s forward sections. The boarding party was slowly making its way to the ship’s bridge.

"Look, there’s another one," Crichton said, pointing to a body lying on the floor of the corridor against the wall. It was the third body they had come across, all of which looked as if they had been moved up against the wall, as if to keep them out of the way. It was obvious that someone had still been alive for some time after the ship was crippled.

D’Argo paused at each body, flashing his light on the faces, praying silently that one of them was not Eilynn.

"How much further?" whispered Zhaan.

"It should be just around this corner," Aeryn said as she looked at Pilot’s map.

Suddenly the corridor was washed in bright light as a spotlight was pointed at them. The intensity of the beam was enough to leave the four temporarily blinded.

"Drop your weapons!" a man’s voice hollered at them.

"Identify yourself!" Aeryn yelled back, keeping her gun raised.

"I said drop your weapons, NOW!"

Zhaan stepped forward with her hands raised. "We’re not hear to hurt anyone, we came to help."

"I’ll give you till the count of three!" the man said.

D’Argo squinted into the light. There was something familiar about the voice but he couldn’t quite place it. Taking a deep breath he caught a scent that he knew almost as well as his own.

"Eilynn!" he called out.

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence and then the light was lowered.

"D’Argo?" came a familiar female voice.

D’Argo blinked away the spots in his eyes and was able to make out two silhouettes in the hall. The smaller of the two moved towards him. "D’Argo, is that really you?"

Before he could answer she came up, wrapped her arms around him and planted her mouth on his. Only momentarily surprised, D’Argo wrapped his empty arm around her and returned the kiss. He had never been more relieved to see someone alive in his life.

Eilynn pulled away, cutting the kiss short and leaned to one side to look around D’Argo. "Aeryn, Zhaan, Crichton! I can’t tell you how glad I am to see all of you!"

Stepping out of D’Argo’s embrace she walked back over to the man with the light and pulled him forward. "D’Argo, you remember Breg, right?"

D’Argo nodded to the Sumtaar man, realizing now why his voice had seemed familiar.

Eilynn then turned and called down the corridor. "Meyla! It’s okay, you can come out!"

A moment later another silhouette appeared in the darkness. The figure was smaller than Eilynn and unmistakably female.

Eilynn put her arm around the small woman as she spoke, "These are my friends, they’re here to help us."

Meyla said nothing and only nodded.

Just then there was the sound of a distant explosion, almost immediately the ship started to shake violently. Suddenly everyone was struggling to stay on their feet as they were rocked about in the narrow corridor. Then, as abruptly as it had started, the shaking stopped and the ship was eerily quiet again.

"What the hell was that?" asked Crichton.

"The ship isn’t stable," said Eilynn. She was leaning against the wall with her arms around Meyla. The smaller woman was gripping Eilynn’s waist and trembling with fear. Eilynn was stroking Meyla’s head and rocking slightly.

"It’s been exploding like that for days, I don’t know how much longer it will hold up."

"Right," said Aeryn. "Let’s finish this reunion back on Moya."

"Is there anyone else on board?" Zhaan asked.

"No," Eilynn shook her head solemnly as she followed the others down the corridor. "Breg, Meyla and I are the only ones left."

As the group rounded the next corner, they all could see in the dim light that the explosion had caused the ceiling in the corridor to collapse leaving an opening only big enough for one person to fit through at a time. D’Argo was the first to pass through, stepping carefully and trying to determine how stable the passage was. Next came Aeryn, then Breg and Zhaan followed by Eilynn then Meyla.

Just as Meyla was squeezing between the opening there was another smaller explosion and the ship was rocked again. Although the tremors were not as violent as the first ones it was still enough to loosen more of the corridor’s ceiling. Seeing that Meyla was in immediate danger and that he was closest, Crichton wrapped his arm around her waist and jumped back away from a landslide of collapsing metal. Losing his footing, he fell backward. Landing heavily on his back he grunted in shock as Meyla landed on top of him, forcing the air out of his lungs. Without thinking, he rolled over on top of the small Sumtaar and covered her with his body as pieces of the ceiling rained down around them.

TO BE CONTINUED…