This is another go at the Cohort’s Challenge “Life is unfair…”Season 3, I Yensch, You Yensch/Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. Crais has to make the worse decision in his life

The Promise

By GitonCrais

Crais had to shut Talyn down. It was the hardest decision he ever had to make.

He had stared at the ceiling while he lay on his bed in his temporary quarters on Moya.

The room was small, just large enough to hold the bed and a chair. The only redeeming feature was that it had its own refresher.

It was enough for Crais; he’d had worse accommodations. Still, it was nothing like his quarters on Talyn.

Talyn!

How could he explain it to the youngster? He took a deep breath and disengaged privacy mode. Talyn needed to understand…

The tragedy started at the beginning of the morning…

The Medical ship had picked up Naj Gill and they all watched him leave. Crais was standing with Aeryn and Crichton on Moya’s Command Deck.

Then the Peacekeeper ships had turned up. Crais ordered Talyn to prime his main cannon and ordered him to fire. Two single blasts and the Peacekeeper ships were no more than debris and space dust. Crais was proud of Talyn.

Then his eyes opened wide in shock!

Talyn powered up his guns again and this time he had targeted the medical ship.

“No! Talyn, don’t! The med ship is not a threat,” he cried out and the others had looked at him in confusion.

He tried to stop Talyn from targeting and shooting the medical ship but Talyn wouldn’t listen.

Talyn had detected strange fluctuating readings from the medical ship, as if it was powering up armaments.

Silently Crais tried to explain to Talyn that the readings could be caused by the ship’s unusual drive but Talyn disregarded Crais’ summoning. With one salvo, the medical ship was blown to nothing. No one could have survived that.

Crais was outraged with Talyn.

Talyn lashed back and Crais barely managed to keep this from the others.

“Why, Talyn?” Crais pleaded silently with his Leviathan.

Talyn’s voice was calm in Crais’ mind ~They posed a threat to you. I had to protect you and my mother~

“They didn’t pose a threat, Talyn, you were wrong,” Crais communicated silently to Talyn.

Jool stormed onto Command, closely followed by Chiana, and attacked Crais, shoving him backwards.

Crais barely acknowledged her, only just lifting his arms to ward off some of her blows while he waited for Talyn’s reply. His eyes were filled with sadness when he looked at her.

The others misconstrued his silence. Let them! He had to make sure that Talyn wasn’t compounding his mistake.

~They were powering up weapons~ Talyn answered petulantly.

“They were not weapons! I explained to you about their drive! Why didn’t you listen?”

~What if they were weapons?~ Talyn would not concede.

Crais paced the Deck. The others were watching him in silence. He saw their accusatory glances, as if he had been at Talyn’s helm.

“Talyn is in shock,” started Crais, “He expressed absolute remorse for his mistake.”

“Six hundred dead! That’s a little more than a mistake, Crais!” cried Jool.
Crais flinched, “Yes and unless we act, it may happen again.”

“What will happen again,” asked Pilot.

Crais took a deep breath, “Extreme paranoia. I believe… we have to shut down all his mechanoid systems.”

Moya shook in anger.

“You’re talking about killing Talyn,” said Chiana.

“Of course not,” said Crais but his eyes were sad and his voice caught, “But we must get him to a place where the anomalies in his character can be repaired with full system replacements…”

“Will he still be Talyn,” asked Aeryn softly.

Crais swallowed, “No, he will be different. Brand new. Six hundred innocents have just lost their lives.”

Talyn had engaged full lock-down; he wouldn’t let Crais onboard. Crais reasoned with Talyn from his quarters.

He had spent arns trying to explain to Talyn why they had to shut down his higher functions. He tried to explain, that in the end it would help him, make him better, less violent.

At first, Talyn had reacted violently.

It had left Crais weak and in physical pain for an arn.

Then, gradually, Talyn had accepted that the way he was now would be harmful to Crais, his mother, others, and ultimately himself.
~Will I still be me?~ Talyn asked worriedly.

“No, Talyn,” Crais answered truthfully, “But I hope you will be. You will be changed, reborn, without your violent tendencies.”

~What will happen?~

Crais looked down at his hands, noticed the slight tremor, “We… I will shut you down and we will take you to the Command Carrier…”

Talyn’s panic rose again and Crais fell back on the bed when Talyn lashed out.

He gripped the sheets under his hands tightly to maintain control.

~You will hand me over to the Peacekeepers!~ Suspicion had crept into Talyn’s words. ~You want to be re-instated, become a Peacekeeper again. You will abandon me as a failed project!~ again he lashed out.

“No, Talyn!” Crais gasped, “I will not abandon you! But they have the means to make you well. You can’t go on like this… and neither can I.”

~And what if they can’t cure me? Will you just let them mind-wipe me and hand me over to them?~ there was hurt in the youngster’s voice.

“No, Talyn, if they can’t cure you I will steal you away.”

~What if you can’t?~

“You will not belong to the Peacekeepers.”

~Will you promise?~

“On my Oath and on my love for you. Whatever it takes, you will not become a Peacekeeper gunship.”

The youngster seemed placated for the moment.

~Crais…?~ Talyn was hesitant.

“Yes Talyn?”

~If they can’t cure me, will you let me… die?~

“I hope it will not come to that,” Crais swallowed.

~But will you consider it?~

Crais was silent for a moment. He could feel Talyn’s prodding at the edges of awareness. A plan started to form in his mind, “Talyn, if it comes to that, you will not be alone.”

~Thank you Crais~

“Hopefully, shutting you down will only be temporarily.”

~That is my wish also~

Crais returned to Command to get Crichton and Aeryn.

“What is Talyn doing?” Jool’s cry made Crais turn to the forward portal and his eyes opened wide.
“No! Talyn!”
Before they could take evasive manoeuvres, Talyn had attacked Moya. His guns damaged the Command Deck on Moya and it had only been Pilot’s quick thinking of bringing the shields up, which had prevented further damage.

It had become a moot point whether to shut down Talyn or not. They had to go over and shut him down. There was no other way. Talyn would not have attacked Moya had he been in his right mind.

Talyn wouldn’t let them board him. He was scared, hurt and upset. He felt betrayed.

Crais had pleaded with him and reminded him of their conversation earlier. Finally Talyn had agreed to let them board.

It was with a heavy heart that Crais entered Command.

Crichton and Aeryn followed him.

He didn’t want to look in their faces, knowing that he would see pity for Talyn in their eyes. He had to be strong for what he was about to do, for Talyn and for himself.

Talyn dropped his onboard guns, slowly targeting them before Aeryn spoke. She explained that she understood that he was sick and frightened. He would not have attacked Moya if he hadn’t been so. Her soft words made him retract his guns.

~You will promise to make me well again?~ he asked Crais.

“Yes, Talyn,” Crais said aloud, his eyes slightly unfocused while he spoke to him, “I promise we will do everything we can.” His voice was soft, “I don’t hold you responsible and neither does Moya.”

~I’m scared, Crais~

Crais smiled, “Oh, no, no. On the contrary, Talyn, you are very brave.”

~I am sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt her. Please, Crais, do it now before I change my mind~

“As you wish.”

Crais walked over to the main console. For a brief moment, he hesitated. He didn’t want to lose his friend but then he took the controls resolutely and shut down Talyn’s systems. Command was silent.

Crais couldn’t feel Talyn anymore and he bit back the choking sensation that was welling up in him. His voice sounded broken, “He’s gone.”

After one last look, he left Command with a heavy step.

His footsteps sounded hollow in the sudden quiet corridors of Talyn.

Gracefully, Crichton and Aeryn left him on his own, knowing full well what shutting down Talyn had meant for Crais.

He entered his quarters.

He would have to leave this place he had called home for the last two cycles, maybe forever; however long “forever” was going to last.

He touched Talyn’s bulkhead, only the soft humming of the automatic systems could still be felt. Talyn conscious was not there.

His eyes meandered around his room.

He took in the sparseness. All neat, all tidy but relatively bare.

Without Talyn occupying his mind, he felt empty, like this room.

He opened the secret compartment, which held his possessions. His Captain’s greatcoat was folded neatly inside, his small cache of credits. The little strongbox with the few memories of his past, a past he had only shared with Talyn.

He contemplated taking them with him.

No, he would leave them here. The compartment was well concealed and needed his bio-signature to be opened. He closed it.

Crais hastily tossed two sets of clothes and his shaving gear in a carryall. It was all he needed.

There were still a few things to do before they left.

He walked quickly back to Command.

“Are you ready Crais,” Crichton asked. He was a little surprised when Crais didn’t respond but walked over to the main console.

Using the manual override, which was the only working system still functioning, Crais keyed in a code. It would activate a sequence of lockdown codes if anyone would try to tamper with the databanks. Only he knew the code to release it safely. No Peacekeeper would find the data and information he and Talyn had collected over the cycles.

Once that was done, he turned and left Command, leaving Aeryn and Crichton wondering what he had done.

The welcoming committee on the Command Carrier had not been friendly. Crais had expected that. The sheer hostility was tangible.

The Human would at least bring them the means to defeat the Scarrans. Aeryn had been declared contaminated, a few thought unjustly so. The others were just irritating aliens, not worthy of their attention.

Crais, on the other hand, had been one of the privileged. Had been one to give orders. He had turned his back on the Peacekeepers and gone renegade. He deserved no understanding or sympathy. And now he was back, on his hands and knees, figuratively speaking. It served him right.

Crais could see the hatred in their eyes and felt it in the way they blocked his path.

He swallowed his pride. He needed them to make Talyn well and to find a means to destroy the knowledge he knew Crichton was going to impart. He wondered if Crichton realized that even giving Scorpius a small part of the equation of the Wormhole would be enough for the scientist. Probably not. In Crichton’s eyes, all aliens had less mental capacity than he did. Fool. The Wormhole technology had to be destroyed!

Then there was Larell

She had been gullible enough to believe that her wiles worked on him. He let her believe that they could rekindle the short time they had spent together. He had needed her then to relieve his tension during the Leviathan project and for intellectual feedback. He needed her now to help Talyn.

They had worked on Talyn until they could go no further.

He had opened the link to Talyn imperceptibly and Talyn had responded. He sounded calmer now, more like himself.

With Crichton’s distraction and Aeryn’s help, he had been able to board Talyn.

They didn’t have much time.

“Yes, Talyn,” he hunkered down and touched the deck, Talyn’s skin felt warm and Crais smiled, “I am here.” He sighed while his hand caressed Talyn’s floor.

“Nothing to be afraid of.”

He took a deep breath, “Talyn, the firing mechanism on your cannon was taken away from you by the Peacekeepers. The rest have been captured and Moya…”

He paused, “Moya will soon be enslaved (Talyn’s lights flashed, he was clearly upset) unless we do something. Something radical!”

You…and…I…together,” he paused, “Talyn, I’m back.”

~I’m glad you’re back. Will you take me away?~

“One way or the other.”

~Am I cured?~

“As much as we could.”

~What if I am not?~

“We will face this together.”

Crais stood up and walked over to the compartment. He took his Captain’s coat and put it on. It was a tight fit, “Talyn, we don’t have much time. I need your cooperation.”

~What for?~

“Crichton has given Scorpius part of the Wormhole technology. We have to destroy it.”

~How?~

Crais took a deep breath, “We will leave by using StarBurst inside the Carrier.”

Talyn panicked ~Will we die?~

Crais swallowed, “We might. There is a slim possibility that we will survive.”

~But our chances will be minimal?~

“Yes,” Crais said with resignation.

Talyn thought for a moment ~If I’m not cured, then I would rather die… But you will die with me~ There was concern for Crais.

Crais smiled wryly, “Yes Talyn, I promised you not to be alone. We will die together or survive together.”

~I don’t want you to die~

Crais sighed, “There is nothing left for us. If we don’t do this, it would mean a slow execution for me. The Peacekeepers will have you. You are my only friend. I take my chances with you.”

~Then so be it~ Talyn’s thoughts were unwavering.

Crais hung his head briefly. He took a deep breath and looked up, determination is his eyes, “So be it.”

His opened the comms and his voice was calm and commanding, “Scorpius, I am just making my final goodbyes.”

He could hear Scorpius cry, “Where are you Crais?”

Crais’ voice was triumphant, “I am standing in your heart and I am about to squeeze!”

Crais’ voice had risen in suppressed anger, “You are the most repellent of creatures, Scorpius. You weren’t born into Peacekeepers. You weren’t conscripted against your will. You chose to be one!”

Crais could feel Talyn power up to maximum power.

Crais’ voice continued, calmer now, “The last time I left this ship… my ship… I did that under a veil of secrecy. You forced that situation. You took away MY command.” His voice rose, “You stole my LIFE from me! And this time, Scorpius I am not leaving quietly!”

Shudders went through the Command Carrier and shook everyone off balance when Talyn lifted off the hangar floor and broke loose from his moorings.

In Talyn’s Command Centre Crais looked around one last time. He closed his eyes, spread his arms in surrender and gave the command quietly, “Talyn, Starburst.”

For a microt he was bathed in light and then they surged forwards.

The End

Back to Cycle Two

FanFiction on Captain Bialar Crais