Previously, Scorpius explained in no uncertain terms that his role was John's protector, so that he would be able to take the proper action when "the inevitable Scarran bloodbath" begins, but he was also being creepy and spying on John and Aeryn. Later, Grayza casually mentioned to us that she and Braca were going to be meeting with the Scarrans, and Scorpius reconnected with Braca and told him to stall her -- no matter what her plans actually were, which neither of them have been able to figure out.
D'Argo's unnerved by Rygel's ongoing fast, but Rygel is off on a "self-discipline" kick after the trip to Kamp Katoya last week. Of course, the truth is that he's gotten used to Noranti's cooking, and has no intention of cooking for himself. John, by way of exposition, decides that he should cook something for the girls, who are off on a shopping trip, and are due back. Rygel is wearing a funny many-colored knit collar, and John's in full leathers -- jacket and gloves -- and keeps squeezing his hand to get feeling back after last week. Scorpius isn't so sunny, noting that they're actually overdue. And Scorpius is always right, so this is not going to go well.
There's a dead Leviathan that's been fused with an asteroid, nose down, to house a commerce settlement. Aeryn thinks it's pretty unimpressive and doubts they'll find what they're looking for, as they make their way through the market stalls, surrounded by people. Sikozu tells Aeryn and Chiana to look closer: "If we want to camouflage Moya against long-range scans, this is the place. If you were selling outlawed mods, would you want everybody knowing about it?" She points around them: "See these humble stalls? They also sell genetic transformations, species blending...and all the appropriate documents to go with it." Noranti starts shit with a couple of vendors -- "hundred-percent natural my tullum!" -- and Sikozu keeps dragging her further in.
They stop at a man in a white shirt and black vest who gets super smarmy super fast. " We want to speak to Rekka," Sikozu says, and he asks if she's sure they're on the right dead Leviathan. "I know you are his negotiator," she Sikozus, and the man notices Aeryn looking at him hard. "...And I also know that you make your deals in this pile of dren." He offers them a private table, and they follow him. He sets down some drinks and says the first round's on the house. "Care to hear our specials?" Sikozu says not unless he's running a special on sensor distorters, and he gets all wink-wink: "Sensual consorters?" Sikozu looks like she's gonna barf; Chiana of course giggles. "Is that some sort of pleasure toy?" Sure looks like one. Sikozu's like, "I get that your job is to check us out, and that's great, but cut the bullshit and start taking us seriously." The dude goes all eyebrows and says, "I'd love to take you. Seriously." Sikozu gets a headache, Chiana's loving it. "But won't your grandmother object?" he asks, indicating Noranti, who just then chokes on her drink and advises them not to drink them. "They're drugged." She looks up at the waiter with a whole lot of attitude; Aeryn lays her pulse pistol carefully on the table. Sikozu makes fun of him for using such an old trick: "Suggestibility potion?" Pshaw. The guy apologizes and admires their skills as a group. It's cool how this seemingly random grouping of Moyans actually does form a competent group: Noranti the advisor, Sikozu the street-smart one, and Aeryn the muscle. I can see how they would look pretty professional. Sikozu thanks him for the compliment and asks again to see Rekka.
Another guy wanders up from behind the waiter, with funny Bozo hair tufts on either side of his bald head. He looks like John Leguizamo in that movie where he was a clown monster, hair-wise. "Tell me what you need. What do you want?" He acts very much in a hurry and keeps going "come on come on" with his hands. I hate twitchy arms dealers. The waiter opens a case, displaying various tech, and Sikozu says they want a sensor distorter for Moya, "to fool long-range scans." What do they want to look like? Sikozu wants to look like an oil freighter, because that's what she knows, because she's the only person on this entire show who ever held down a job. (Seriously, think about it.) Chiana wants to look like a "fast pleasure yacht, with a jacuzzi." Cute. The waiter smiles at her. Aeryn rolls her eyes and asks instead for options. Rekka snaps his fingers and the waiter takes the case off the table.
"Well, I need to check your sensor modulator. Do you ladies know what that looks like?" Noranti opens her purse and takes it out, shoving it in his face, which falls slightly. "Gee, I guess we do," snorts Chiana, and Aeryn smiles. Rekka examines it: "That's partly organic. Leviathan." Aeryn congratulates him on figuring it out, and Rekka looks back at the waiter: "Distorter will only fool a warship if your movements exactly match your new identity. Is your pilot that good?" Sikozu says no, Aeryn says yes. Awww. Rekka laughs at them: "Your problem, not mine." He says that Leviathan parts are custom, so he's going to need to take Moya's modulator. Chiana worries that it'll leave Moya half blind -- not deaf, note, but blind -- and he says it'll only take four hours. And, the waiter adds, $19,000. Sikozu's like, "The fuck?" The waiter offers to throw in some complimentary tokens for the bazaar.
Chiana grabs the waiter and climbs in his mouth, tongue first, as Rekka watches, and offers him some "complimentary choices" of her own. "Would that lower your price?" Would you have a weapon in your armory and leave it unused, out of squeamish "good taste"? Crackers don't matter. Rekka ups the price to $30,000 at the offer, which makes Noranti laugh, and he turns to her: "And if it's that? Forty." She tut-tuts him: "Be nice." Aeryn negotiates for sixteen, and tosses the waiter a small bag: "Half up front." That's my girl. They say to meet at the transport pod in four hours -- Aeryn tries for a little slice on the timeframe, but he just says it's their rules. Rekka tosses them some tokens and they bounce. Chiana's not feeling the trust, and Sikozu agrees: "Just keep an eye on them, Chi." Chiana gets up and follows, losing them immediately. She checks out the aliens nearby, and then takes off after the dealers.
Sephora Bitch and Chiana have a conversation about what kind of services she's looking for -- again mentioning the genetic manipulation -- but Chiana decides on a massage. She lays Chiana down and pushes a button with her long acrylics, calling up a "Nebari neural node" hologram, which Chiana tries to look at, but the woman shuts it down and starts the massage. There's a lot of moaning and groaning and massage stuff, but it's Chiana so it's kinda dirty, and Chiana's like, "Fuck yeah! Dig deeper!" so the woman presses another button and turns into a Frisco Dumptruck with face piercings and a Shiatsu kind of anger inside. "Hey, uh...the reason why I'm...really tense is because I've been following these...two Sebacean males and I...uh, I...I think they came in here. And I...I was wondering if you could help me out." The person presses a button again, becoming a huge bald black man, who gets her in the milla nerve, which he explains paralyzes a Nebari from the neck down. "Permanently?" That depends. She's like, "I'm just a runaway Nebari, a crook like everybody else," and name-drops Rekka. The woman releases the pressure and Chiana gasps and stretches. "Frell! So you know, I forgot to tell him something, and...it would be really great if you could help me out." The woman, who could be anyone at all really, leans into her ear: "You have any idea what else we sell here?" Right: "Genetic modification. Shape changes." And whoever buys "a transformation kit" also buys "confidentiality." Chiana gets a headache. "So they probably just walked straight by me."
Grayza and Braca, with their squad, walk through the market settlement, Sikozu and Aeryn close behind. A female Scarran, in black leather and a tall horned headpiece, climbs up on a box and calls out. She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. She's also played by Francesa Buller, who's also -- in addition to being lots of fun characters and this particular bad-ass -- Ben Browder's wife. Sikozu spots her and her squad, two nasty longneck Scarrans and two Charrids in battle armor, and they hide.
Later, Aeryn and Sikozu sit in a café, Aeryn with her back to the contingent. The Scarran lady continues to talk Scarran. "One Commander, one Adjutant, four warriors," which Aeryn notes is the same as Grayza's crew, which implies a meeting. Aeryn's PK-ness is like, "Why the fuck? Gross!" Sikozu's like, "Since they're here for us, it's the perfect opportunity for us to just leave," but of course my girl Sun isn't having that. "This is a perfect opportunity for us to stay. Otherwise we learn nothing!" Sikozu wants to argue but no words come out, because they respect each other as equals, and it's awesome. "Does this look like an official conference to you?" Sikozu agrees that it's not. Which means that Grayza's exceeding her authority, so they could use this to get her fired if they let Peacekeeper High Command know, and then she'll be off their backs. Sikozu's mostly onboard, but notes that's a whole lot of "if." "Have we been in a more fortuitous position to try than now?" Sikozu nods.
Noranti hurries up to the fat Sephora lady. "How could I possibly serve you?" Heh. Noranti mentions a Nebari girl, yay high, "kind of gray," and the woman calls to Chiana's masseuse. "Another one?" Chiana comes out with her and Noranti grabs Chiana. "We have to go!" She hustles Chiana toward the pod, and Chiana's like, "Are you frelled?" Noranti nods: they all are. She tells them about Grayza and Braca, the spa chicks listening in. Chiana tries to comm Aeryn -- I love that they're each other's point of contact, family, not Noranti or Sikozu, still -- and just gets static. Noranti remembers about the PKs and they rush off, the blonde women watching them go. They quickly come on some Commandos telling some vendors about how if they see a Nebari female around, they need to rat them out immediately. Why they would say that, on the off-chance that they're in a Farscape episode and going to run into the Moya crew, I do not know. It does occur to me, though, that because Chiana's Nebari, and the Nebari don't really get out much because they are the Borg, she's the most visible person in the crew. I never thought about that before. How lonely.
Chiana turns on a dime and takes Noranti back to Sephora, asking for transformation. "Full genetic modification. Good enough to pass a DNA scan." Marella's like, "But you have to pick" and whatever, and they are in a hurry, and that whole thing goes on for awhile -- Chiana asks for bigger boobs, hilariously -- and Noranti agrees with her that eyes would be good too. (Eyes, not ears, note. She hasn't used her power since I started recapping, but she's still terrified of blindness.) Finally, Chiana's like, "Seriously, whatever," and just heads back into the booth. Marella takes Chiana back and the other one smiles at Noranti. By changing their bodies, they can make the PKs blind.
A Scarran stands around the dead Leviathan's empty Pilot console, sniffing for trouble. Braca approaches, assuring him they're secure. The groups coalesce and talk smack about who's better equipped to patrol and make things safe; the Scarran returns to sniffing.
Aeryn and Sikozu find a bolthole just above the Pilot's den and fight over the binoculars, which also magnify sound. Sikozu won't hand them over just yet. Grayza and the Scarran woman greet each other, and Sikozu gasps. "That is War Minister Ahkna. Third in rank in the Scarran fleet." Aeryn goes, "Wow." Ahkna and Grayza intimidate each other about the nature of trust and it's all very hardcore and fun, wartime diplomacy and fronting. (Riggs and Buller had a lot of fun rehearsing these scenes, but they did them in makeup, so later on they didn't recognize each other even though they'd been working together all week. I love that.) The Scarrans all act creepy and Ahkna smiles: "You've been conditioned to resist Scarran mind-probing." Grayza nods: "We all have." Sikozu gets really annoying up above, all, "Ohhh, ooooh," but not telling Aeryn anything useful. Grayza and Ahkna accuse each other of being timewasters, and Grayza finally levels: "As I communicated, I want peace." Ahkna's like, "Everybody wishes for that at Christmas, but we're here to deal." Grayza...fully offers her the Luxan Territories! Damn, she's cold. Sikozu goes crazy and Aeryn's like, "Seriously, bitch."
Sikozu tells Aeryn, finally, about Grayza's offer of the Luxan worlds. Aeryn's aghast, because she clearly missed Grayza Class the day they covered how little of a damn she actually gives. "She can't mean it! The Peacekeepers and the Luxans have a mutual defense pact. Grayza has to be bluffing, she can't fulfill that promise. The Luxans would go to war!" A war which Sikozu points out would be futile without the Peacekeepers backing them. Aeryn swallows. "We can't let her go through with it." Sikozu's like, "So we're just going to talk her out of it?" And Aeryn's awesome: "I have a gun."
Sikozu follows Aeryn through the Leviathan's dead fan room (they're really getting their money's worth out of the re-dressed Moya set, aren't they?), agog at Aeryn's new scary plan to assassinate the Commandant. Aeryn's like, "Um, she totally wants us dead, so it's cool," and Sikozu gives on that point. But what about a plan of escape? "Run." Something more detailed? "Run quickly." I love how Sikozu still doesn't quite grasp the facts about Aeryn. She grabs Aeryn's arm: "And what if we run into more opposition than we can handle?" Then Sikozu can go ahead and chat with D'Argo about why his worlds were obliterated. Sikozu tries to argue, but no words come out, and she nods. Fuck.
Ahkna and Grayza stand behind the Pilot's console and discuss terms. "In return for dominion over the Luxan territories, the Scarrans will relinquish all claims to the disputed sectors of the Uncharted Territories." Defined as "everywhere beyond the Kellek Nebula," which Ahkna finds hardly equitable. Grayza corrects her: "More than equitable: the Luxan worlds are wealthy. There's little of value in the Uncharted Territories." So then why, especially considering the alliance with the Luxans. Grayza says, and I'm not sure if she's lying about this, that "High Command already regrets that decision." "Luxans are warriors, not diplomats," she explains. "They are a liability to our peace efforts." Ahkna confirms that Grayza would totally just abandon the Luxan worlds, and Grayza says hell yes. "For the greater good." She points out how it's well-known that the Scarrans covet the Luxan's resources... "In the same way you've coveted the expansion room the Uncharted Territories would give you," Ahkna agrees. Each party gains advantages, and a costly war is averted. Easy as that. Ahkna doubts that the Sebacean Council would support it, but Grayza says -- surprising Ahkna, though she covers quickly -- that a majority of the Counselors already support her. "They are ready for a change of leadership." My magic boobs will reign supreme!
This is where Ahkna begins to really deal, because Grayza's speaking her language now: "You would seize power?" Again, Grayza says, for the greater good. Not to mention how it'll help Ahkna herself. Ahkna blusters: "I need no help in that regard." Which is a lie. Grayza asks how many years it's been since Ahkna's father was deposed, and how long since her last promotion. (The sheer tonnage of backstory should tell you how central Ahkna just got to the rest of the series.) "Too long," she nods, "But then, I don't resort..." -- she stares directly at Grayza's magic boobs -- "...to the methods you utilize, to advance." Not actually an "oh, snap," because the magic boobs are the most respectable thing about Grayza to my mind, or as she puts it: "Would you have a weapon in your armory and leave it unused, out of squeamish good taste?" Word to the infinite power, and something I wish we'd said a hell of a lot earlier. There's no room in this show to be creeped out by the simple fact of womanhood, which is what you're doing when you call her a whore. A Commando interrupts -- irritating both ladies -- to let Braca know that a Nebari female's been sighted on the settlement. Braca leaves to check it out, and the women return to business.
Captain Braca mistakenly grabs a woman who's not Chiana, as things go in this trope; meanwhile, Chiana and Noranti run through the settlement, quite changed. Chiana has bright red hair, deep blue skin, and a light green suit. She looks violently beautiful -- and wait till you hear the voice! Noranti's hair is smooth, and her ears are crazy big, like pomegranate size, sticking out like Alfred E. Neuman, and her skin is smooth and Caucasian-colored, and her third eye is gone. She's wearing a shiny silver dress, and bitching to Chiana about how ugly she looks: "I look hideous. No wisdom creases. No memory lines." She feels her forehead for her eye, and cries out. Braca suddenly approaches, and Chiana tells Noranti to quit bitching and say quiet. They stand at the bar.
Braca, at attention, addresses the room: "We're looking for a female Nebari." He taps Chiana and Noranti, who ignore them, and he persists. Finally Chi turns her head, slowly, and with a lovely, gravelly voice, suggests he try "Soorat's: Level Three. Any kind of female you could care for." She winks at him boredly; he grabs her wrist. "Hands. Off. I'm not on the market." Blue Chiana's bitchin' like Lacy LaPlante! "Besides, I don't even like men," and she turns to Noranti and they act bizarre for a sec. He grabs her and does a DNA scan, telling her to be quiet. "Oh, quiet? Quiet, my eema!" She yells at him about how his fancy uniform is worth nothing in the grand scheme, and he turns to Noranti with the scanner. "What is that? Drugs? I don't need drugs, I've got true love. You don't need drugs if you've got true love." It's low in the audio mix and just sounds kind of like crazed muttering, but it's so, so funny. She and Chiana look deeply into each other's eyes and Eskimo kiss. "You seen a Nebari female?" he asks. Every time he speaks, they tear themselves away from each other, and the longer it goes the more you can tell it's working: Please stop crowding us, little boy.
Noranti answers without looking away from Chiana, with a salacious little wriggle: "I wouldn't know one if it bit me on the prang. ...Though that could be fun." He describes Chiana, and she finally cocks her head at him: "Good-looking?" Heh. He doesn't really answer, but she and Noranti giggle and moan: "We only ever notice the good-looking ones." Braca finally leaves, as they laugh. What was that Ally Sheedy movie about heroin? That was totally like that. High Art. Patricia Clarkson nodding off and muttering sexy crazy lesbian talk. Chiana whispers into Noranti's ear, where they're still clutched all up in each other's business: "I said I would do the talking." Noranti leans slightly back and grins: "You didn't say all the talking. I thought we did rather well!" Chiana bites Noranti's ear, causing her to gasp, and smiles into her face. "Come on. We've got to get back to Aeryn before the treatment wears off."
Sikozu and Aeryn catch us up, in case we forgot in all the bi-curious awesome, and the deal is that they're still talking about what they were talking about, and seem to be working it out. Grayza and Akhna talk about all manner of land and deals, and finally Grayza's like: "Then it would seem we have an agreement." Ahkna says she wants to talk disarmament, and Grayza takes that off the table: "At present, I'll deal only with territory, not weapons." Ahkna calls this unsatisfactory, given the PK claim of "military superiority." Grayza bristles, and says it's not just claiming, and Ahkna's like, but still you won't discuss arms reduction. "We are prepared to coexist in peace, but not to make ourselves vulnerable." Ahkna says it's rumored that they are, in fact, vulnerable, and blowing hot air about their military superiority. "Perhaps the loss of our Dreadnaught was only an experiment that you haven't been able to repeat," she says -- recalling "Icarus Abides" -- "or perhaps it wasn't you who did it..." Which, if that's the case, why settle for peace? "Because you would lose a war."
"Ahkna's suspicious," Sikozu reports. "She thinks the Peacekeepers might be lying about their wormhole weapons." Aeryn fills us in -- did we know this yet? I can't remember -- how the fear of wormhole weapons is what's kept the stupid Scarrans from invading Peacekeeper space. Without the cold war, "everyone's frelled." Sikozu watches as Grayza produces a writing tablet and Ahkna looks it over -- she turns to Aeryn. "Okay. It's time to intervene." She cocks her pistol and pulls it out. Sikozu catches the Peacekeeper alert on the sidelines, and Aeryn and Sikozu realize they're going to get nabbed. It's just a second -- Sikozu gives him a friendly neighborhood tackle from the ceiling and Aeryn snaps his neck -- but it's just long enough for Ahkna and Grayza to sign the treaty, with a Scarran soldier name of Pennoch replacing Braca as witness.
"It's too late, they've already signed." Sikozu tells Aeryn to shoot her ass anyway: "They will never enforce a treaty if she's dead." The witness, Pennoch, mills around in front of her line of sight, and she can't get a shot. She lowers the rifle. Braca approaches and mutters that there was no Nebari found. "No matter, Captain Braca," she says, high on success and forthcoming successes, and Aeryn tries again to sight on her.
"This was an historic day," she smiles at Braca, and he congratulates them. "Pennoch," Ahkna orders, and he zaps Braca -- Sebacean, remember -- with the Scarran heat breath, holding him still and groaning. Pennoch uses the rifle in his other hand on the Commando that was with Braca, then two more Commandos. Grayza turns and looks at Ahkna. Commercials. This could go either way. This is really cool if you think about it, because they've been little, for so long, having their adventures, and now with Ahkna replacing Grayza -- so suddenly! -- in the rotating "powerful dangerous" enemy slot, we climb up into actual politics. Not one Peacekeeper, but all of them. Not just one Scarran half-breed, but the Scarran fleet. Not reengage PK commanders, one after another, but Command itself. They've gotten big enough, engaged enough territory, worked out their shit enough, that they're equal to the task. It's nice to be rewarded.
Sikozu and Aeryn watch in amazement as Grayza, suddenly subject, threatens Ahkna. "This is an act of war!" Aeryn cocks again, and again Pennoch blocks her shot. Ahkna assures the Commandant that she won't be missed, and Grayza scoffs. "You would not dare murder me!" Ahkna says they're just going to torture her to find out about the PK wormhole capabilities. "You already know that you'll learn nothing," Grayza hisses, and Ahkna: "No, not here. But our facilities are so much better on Katratzi." (Heard that word before? You'll wish you hadn't. A thousand times.) Aeryn continues to try and get a clear shot; Pennoch growls and yanks Grayza away by the shoulder. The contingent leaves.
Aeryn lowers her rifle: "They'll interrogate her now." Sikozu wonders what will happen when they find out the truth, and Aeryn assures her they won't. "We can't let them." The whole show clicks now, as the Scarrans stop being theoretical and start being real. It's not so much that they have to side with the Peacekeepers against a greater threat as it is that they're now in a battle with more sides than the Tronball. There's the Moya family, who are on their own. There's the Peacekeepers, who are not necessarily acting in Sebacean best interest, and Grayza (don't count her out entirely) who's not necessarily acting in Sebacean best interest either. There's the Scarrans, specifically Ahkna. And there's Sikozu, and Scorpius, who have a lot of tasks on their To-Do Lists that don't necessarily coincide with any of the above. And at the middle: John Crichton. When he brings peace, it won't be through science and it won't be through violence. But we're not there yet, because he hasn't lost everything yet, on this new level of the game.
Aeryn and Sikozu hide from the Scarrans and their prisoners, and run into Chiana and Noranti, who approach her. Chiana takes in the sight of Grayza bound and whispers, "Frell." After the detachment passes, Aeryn steps out and gestures to Sikozu: "Follow them," she mouths, and Sikozu takes off. "What the frell happened to you two?" she asks, turning to Chiana. They explain it's temporary, and admit they haven't grabbed the modulator yet. (The "upgrades" to Moya follow a rigorous scheme as well, as we move to each successive level of the political game: meet your first PK Tech and see the PKs for what they are and gain defense; meet God and get a steward; meet the Scarrans and realize Grayza isn't the problem, you get a cloak that turns you into anything. Moya grows too.) Aeryn tells Chiana not to worry about the Scarrans and that whole mess, just get the modulator and be at the pod. She takes off, leaving Aeryn and Noranti to list assets again. "Right, we're low on weapons." Noranti shrugs: "I didn't bring any guns. I don't have any guns." Aeryn asks her what kind of Granny Blow she can make. "Fyang powder. It's a wonderful substance, it'll put anyone to sleep instantly." Good, says Aeryn. "Except I don't have any." Not good. Noranti digs through a pouch: "However, this looks like mayla spores. They're very powerful." Aeryn asks if it'll work on Scarrans and Charrids; Noranti doesn't know.
War Minister Ahkna stands near a large open sarcophagus of science, inside which Grayza's locked. Braca's got his hands tied overhead around a nearby pipe; Pennoch looks on. Grayza assures Ahkna that "this blunder" will cost her dearly, and Ahkna (kind of correctly, I think) says really the blunder was Grayza's. Braca shouts how she's just started a war she can't win, that the PK wormhole technology will decimate your planet. Which is only a safe bet for Ahkna if he's wrong, but if she knew that she wouldn't be doing this, so I don't know what she's up to exactly -- oh wait, yes I do. It has to do with the device Grayza's standing in. Gotcha. Cake and eat it too. Pennoch heat-breaths Braca some more and snots, "You terrify me." Braca sags in his bonds, and Pennoch asks if he's really necessary: "When he no longer has a use, may I be the one to dispose of him?" She says he can, and then exposits that they're going to get back in their Stryker and rendezvous with her Dreadnaught.
Aeryn tries to rush Noranti with the spores, and Noranti spits into her hand. "...Takes time. And spit." Aeryn frets, "We never have enough time," and Noranti's awesome: "I don't have enough spit, but I'm doing what I can." So hush up! Sikozu runs up and tells them that the prisoners have been taken to the dead bay nine, and haven't yet powered up the Stryker. Aeryn figures this means they have enough time, but Sikozu shakes her head: two Charrids came out of the bay and headed this way.
"You heard Ahkna's orders," says one of the Charrids, still in their armor. "If you see a Peacekeeper Commando, shoot to kill." Wow. See how awesome Ahkna is? They hide and then Noranti pops up and approaches them, worrying Sikozu. "I know who you're looking for, you don't have to harm me," she says, as Aeryn takes aim at them. Noranti promises to lead them to the PKs, then sneezes some Granny Blow into the face of the closer Charrid, who sneezes. Noranti patters for a few seconds, then points behind him suddenly: "Right now, there's one behind you. Right there, a Peacekeeper." The Charrids blow hell out of each other and Noranti hauls as back to Aeryn and Sikozu. Noranti: "Whoa. I must remember to get more mayla spores." Aeryn thanks her sweetly and tells her she did a great job, and Sikozu grabs one of the guns off a smoking Charrid. Aeryn looks at the Charrids and smiles up at Sikozu: "I know it's not your color, but..." And Sikozu smiles back. I wish they had their own spin-off.
A Charrid guards Grayza and Braca in the bay, as the Charrid uniforms roughly push Noranti inside, crying out for help. I love it when Noranti pretends to be scared, it's always so ridiculous and cute. "I don't even know any Peacekeepers! You've got the wrong young female!" They toss her to the floor and she asks the Charrid inside for help. He looks down, and the Aeryn Charrid calls out to him: "Hey, gorgeous!" She shoots him, as does Sikozu; Braca's mind is completely blown. The Charrid falls on top of Noranti, who's like, "Hello!" Sikozu counts out the leftover bad guys: "One Charrid, two Scarrans..." Interesting what she leaves out, and Aeryn fills in: "And two Peacekeepers." She doesn't salute with her body, but there's a ironic tilt in her voice as she nods at Grayza: "Commandant." Ha!
Chiana, still deep blue and emerald, hurries aboard Moya's transport pod and sits down, closing the door behind her. She futzes around with the control console as Rekka's waiter friend slides into Command, silently, and then grabs her. Rekka steps up onto the platform and knocks her out.
Aeryn and Sikozu remove their Charrid armor; Grayza congratulates (sincerely) Aeryn on her "exceptional work." Aeryn sarcastically congratulates her on the Luxan treaty. "For that alone, I shall kill you both." She cocks her rifle at Braca's head; Grayza says smoothly that if she's alive, she can still repudiate the treaty. "But you proposed it, and you signed it," Aeryn says, and Grayza agrees that if Ahkna hadn't screwed her, she'd have stood by it. "We could have lived in peace." I do see where Grayza's coming from, a lot of the time. If you could let Talikaa die, say, because she wasn't in the family, that means your world extends to the limits of the family. The politics of location. Grayza's responsibility extends to the Sebacean people and no further, which would be honorable and nothing else if it weren't for the alliance with the Luxans. I don't agree, but I can see where she's coming from. Plus, as she points out, there's totally a PK Command Carrier orbiting the dead Leviathan, which the pod can't really evade.
An armed Charrid walks past the bay doors and Aeryn nods to herself. "If I'm not back at the pod in half an arn, you go without me," she tells Sikozu. She ducks back out and Sikozu orders the PKs to move. Outside, Aeryn turns the leftover Charrid and Scarrans into greasy spots.
Sikozu motions her rifle at Grayza and Braca, cuffed together, into the café. Noranti appears saying they should go to the pod, and Sikozu says they're going to wait for Aeryn. "Aeryn is dead by now," Grayza says, and Sikozu points the rifle at her. "I said keep moving!" Braca turns around, walking backwards, double-teaming Sikozu with their smooth prisoner talk. She is so not the girl for this. "Killing Charrids is one thing, but two Scarrans?" Sikozu yells at them to shut up; they've already won this round. "It was a great sacrifice on her part," Grayza sighs, awesomely. Sikozu lets them draw her in, and begins to argue with them. Noranti offers to take the PKs to the pod, and Sikozu can go help Aeryn, but Sikozu -- for about the hundredth time in this episode; the writer probably has OCD -- lists how many guns, which is just one, so that's a no-go, and Grayza says the Scarrans are probably just around the corner, and meanwhile Braca -- they really are a hell of a team, aren't they? -- offers some suggestions, but Sikozu's wigging, and Grayza applies some pressure: "If we stay we die. It would be a great pity if Aeryn's death were for nothing..." Sikozu steps just that inch closer, screaming that Aeryn's not dead, and Braca and Grayza go to work on her and Noranti, knocking them down and grabbing the rifle. That was awesome! Echoing Ahkna in the scene, Grayza informs us awkwardly of their agenda: "Prime the Marauder; we must leave immediately." A little more editing on this episode, that's the only drawback this week. Lots of repetition and weird expository moments. The actors couldn't even have helped with that, because it's different setups and different members of the cast doing it every time, so it's little things accreting that nobody would have noticed, but in the final edit, it's kind of an unholy mess. Great episode, but on that note only, it's super-suck and feels rushed.
Chiana wakes and asks Rekka why she's tied up. He says they don't like trespassers, and it only takes a second for her to figure it out: "Oh. Kay. I got transformed." He circles around her, trying to be scary, and she pivots around and around, trying to convince him she's herself. He's not listening, just laughing at her: "Seriously, now. We do have a strict policy. Nobody steals our client's ships."
Sikozu comes to on the floor of the café, and runs to Noranti, waking her. She lifts the old woman slowly and they regroup.
Chiana swears she's been transformed: "You gave me the frelling tokens!" The waiter bends toward her and beckons her close; she licks his lip with her tongue and he looks at Rekka. "Are you sure?" He nods. "They didn't transform her tongue." Heh. Rekka backflips into customer service: "In that case, here's your modulator! Sensor distorter installed. You do still want this?" The waiter takes it and explains she just plugs it into Pilot's "neela trunk," and he'll feel the options come up. He reaches into her pocket for the other half of the cash and she whirls on him: "Do I get a discount for being knocked out?" Waiter guy's like, "We should charge you more for guarding your pod!" Heh. She growls at him and lunges, but Sikozu enters asking what the hell; waiter guy hands her the modulator and Rekka thanks her for her patronage, and they leave. Sikozu asks Chiana if she's okay, and Noranti and Sikozu untie her. Sikozu starts to prepare the pod and Noranti asks if they shouldn't wait for Aeryn; Sikozu says they'll give her the half hour. Chiana asks all the right questions, about Aeryn and the Scarrans and whatnot, but they won't answer her. Sikozu finally admits that after a half-hour, Aeryn really will be dead. Chiana stares out into the bay, shivering. Twenty-minute lacuna!
Sikozu paces the pod, arms across her chest; Chiana sits in the pilot seat and fidgets. Sikozu says it's almost time and Chiana gets scared: "No. We need to find Aeryn." Sikozu, who's worried too, Sikozus at her. "For once in your life, exercise some self-control." Chiana says she is, proof being that she hasn't shot Sikozu in the head. Excessive! Noranti tells them both to stop it, and Aeryn comes flying into the pod and into a seat. "Are you all right?" Chiana asks her, and she's breathing hard as she says she is. Sikozu blasts off and they head back to Moya.
Pilot informs the worried Ka D'Argo that the transport pod is returning -- "at high speed." Scorpius asks if they've signaled distress, and they have not; John asks if Moya's signaled Rygel's distress -- his hunger -- and Pilot doesn't get it: "Inadvisable, as that would confirm our position to the Scarran warship pursuing them." Bwuh?! Everybody jumps and freaks; D'Argo orders starburst as soon as they get onboard -- which Pilot was already doing -- and they starburst away with the pod inside.
D'Argo sniffs loudly at Chiana, who's still deep blue; she asks if it's really necessary, and he's just like, "It's so crazy! How you smell!" She pulls out a syringe and -- still in the voice -- tells him the genetic changes of course change her scent. "Is it permanent?" She stops with the syringe: "Do you want it to be?" And he leans in close, smiling sweetly: "I prefer the elegant gray." Elsewhere, Rygel pesters Noranti to cook for him. "I may never cook again," she teases, and continues down the corridor, Rygel whining after. This is all so sweet! Where's the Downer Tag?!
Oh, right. John and Aeryn walk down the corridor, John comforting Aeryn about missing her shot at Grayza, and the escape. "We had her! We let her go!" John says he'll take the trade, considering that Aeryn's there and Grayza's not. (Can you imagine Grayza on Moya? I mean, in the Scorpius way, not like she was before. That's so weird to picture.) "She tried to strike a deal, Ahkna wouldn't go for it. The Scarrans must be dead set on war." John peers down a corridor and catches up with her: "That's Scorpy's line. Let someone else lose sleep over it tonight." Aeryn: "What should we lose sleep over?" He smiles and cautions her: "Careful." She leans in to kiss him, silently, but they are jolted together (drink!) as Moya suddenly drops out of starburst.
Pilot informs everybody that despite the starburst, the Scarran warship is still in pursuit, "at the extreme edge of Moya's senses." John and Aeryn join D'Argo and Sikozu on Command; John figures they've brought a homing beacon onboard. Pilot doesn't detect any signals, so D'Argo figures John's right. Chiana sweeps the pod for a beacon and comes up with nothing. Noranti is with Scorpius in the Neural Cluster, where they're testing the sensor distorter. It's clean too. "All right, it's not the hardware -- try the software," John says. Pilot adjusts his sensors. D'Argo: "Anything from that planet. Anything." Sikozu looks at John; John looks at Sikozu. Aeryn speaks softly, facing away: "You know, it could be her. We were separated." Aeryn turns to stare at her as well. "I did not betray you," she says, insulted, as a DRD scans her. Chiana stares at the DRD in the pod, asking if perhaps it wants her to undress. "The DRDs detect nothing from either Sikozu, Chiana or Noranti," says Pilot. "...Nothing from Aeryn, either." Scorpius says the "unavoidable step" is a tier-by-tier search, which Pilot informs them is of course not a possibility. "The Scarran warship is now on the edge of Moya's sense horizon..." which I'm guessing is a lot smaller than usual, since they haven't put back her sense modulator yet. The Scarran warship, lights all over glowing dark red, moves slowly toward them in space as everybody looks at everybody else.
"Have they found us again? Frell me!" yells the exasperated Chiana -- Rygel notes that's actually possible, and D'Argo asks if Moya can starburst again yet. Of course not. Sikozu tells the Cluster team to activate the sensor distorter, since this is why they went in the first place, but Scorpius tells them it's not ready yet. Pilot gives them about three minutes until the warship identifies them. Rygel: "I hate to say it, but..." D'Argo tells him not to, then, but Noranti pauses: "No one is chasing Moya and Pilot -- it might be better just to leave them." John quietly asks Aeryn if they should bail, and she says it's safer for Moya, but he shakes his head. "What about the..." He cradles his arms; Aeryn stares at him. He cocks his head, frustrated. "...Baby. What about the baby?" She shakes her head, confused. "What?"
John stares at her, trying to read her eyes, trying to stop this from happening. She just looks back at him, confused, trying to get a read on what he's saying. Finally John whispers. "Where's the beacon, Aeryn?" She looks at him, confused and starting to worry: "We don't know?" He backs away from her, voice getting louder. "Where's the beacon, Aeryn?" Everybody gasps when he pulls his pistol on her. She just repeats: "We don't know." Sikozu starts toward him, asking what the hell is going on, and he points the pistol at her. "Wait!" D'Argo screams. John trains the pistol back on terrified Aeryn. There's so much sadness and fear in his eyes, but that's for later. Certainty for now. "Where's the beacon?" Chiana comms from the pod, asking what he's doing, but he ignores them all, shaking his head. "Where's the beacon? It's a simple question: where's the beacon?" She tells him again that they don't know. Noranti comms in to ask what he's doing, but Scorpius just listens, carefully.
"Where's the beacon? Where's the baby?" She looks at him, confused, mouthing silently that she doesn't understand his game. There's the shadow of a confused smile on her face, even now. She shakes her head. "Where's the baby? Where's the beacon? Beacon, baby. Beacon, baby..." Aeryn looks over at Sikozu, who's watching John, asking themselves if he's going down again. "Whose beacon? Whose baby?" Aeryn glances towards the others, afraid, and turns back to John. He circles her, heart breaking. "Who's the beacon? Who's the baby? Whose baby is it? Who's the daddy, Aeryn? Aeryn, who's the daddy?" Again, pain in her eyes, she mouths to him: I don't know. Black plays this brilliantly, because it's her reaction -- even though you know the imperfection is Aeryn's right now -- that makes this so heartbreaking. It lends so much shading and confusion to what follows. She's saying their unbreakable bond is breaking, and he's the one breaking it, because the language that they speak, she's silently telling him, just stopped making sense.
"D'Argo, tell her who the daddy is." D'Argo, sadly, answers that they don't know. We don't know who the daddy is (come on, we totally do!). He nods, like he just realized John is going crazier than they thought. And the Dreadnaught on their six. "Right, we don't know...who," John gulps. It hurts. How many times, I said drink every time Aeryn's not Aeryn, and what it means. No matter how romantic the love scenes, the silence and the ironic declaration of backwards love, no matter how happy they finally are: we don't know what she did during the dark time. And we don't know who the daddy is. What hurts is not that Aeryn's gone, suddenly -- that's just another quest -- what hurts is that it's so plausible, after all that's happened. Sikozu stops watching John and stares at Aeryn now, too.
"Say 'baby,' Aeryn," he pleads. "Aeryn, say 'baby.'" His gun in her face, still confused and full of so much love. So much concern for him, for what he's going through. "Say 'baby.'" He's close to crying. Her mouth moves. "Spell it." Aeryn stares at Sikozu, her partner and friend this week, and back to John. He begins to sing. "A-B-C-D-E-F-G...H. I. J." Aeryn begins to sob, looking back at him. "Where's Aeryn? Aeryn?" Even weeping, her hand travels down to her pistol, cocking it in its holster. He stares into her eyes; she starts to draw. He shoots her in the face, point-blank. Now, he's ready for politics.
Smoke rises from her hissing head; D'Argo jumps forward, then just stares. One side of Aeryn's lovely face is bubbling plastic and fused wires. Her eye, the remaining eye, flutters and closes. Sikozu says, softly: "Bioloid." D'Argo asks, "What's a bioloid?" and Sikozu says, pointing: "That." Sikozu knows a lot of shit about a lot of shit, have you noticed? Aeryn's head throws sparks, quakes, melts down her side. As D'Argo comes near, the bioloid falls backwards like a post, thudding into the ground.
Pilot comms them half a minute -- half a minute for so much pain -- until the warship comes close enough to identify them. Scorpius gasps into comms that he's temporarily patched the sensor distorter in, and Pilot nods, feeling his options. Sikozu: "A Scarran ore freighter, and mimic its movements." Pilot engages the order.
D'Argo watches John staring down at the bioloid, its face still bubbling and popping. Sikozu opens the Scarran hail, and D'Argo orders her to answer it, which she does, sounding only slightly uncomprehending. The warship breaks off and wanders away. Sikozu and D'Argo sigh with relief; John's lost to them now. "What did you say to them?" She tells him that she said they noticed a Leviathan starbursting in, and they were afraid it was going to board them, so she thanked them for scaring it away. D'Argo grunts and turns away; Sikozu leans on the console and rests her eyes.
John kneels beside her, rocks back on his heels. It's not enough to say "I love you," or "Honesty from here on out." The lies will get you. Even if you think you're over it, you're not. There's some part of you that still sees her as an imposter. Sikozu digs through her guts and hands Chiana the homing device from Aeryn's brain. "That device confining Grayza was not meant to transport her," she realizes, and Scorpius comms in from the Cluster. "No, it replicates living flesh. We've known about it for some time, but never encountered the result." Chiana peers down into Aeryn's head. "Effective technique," D'Argo notes. "No rescue attempt, while they're at their leisure to torture Grayza." "Then why did they take Aeryn?" asks Noranti, while Sikozu fritzes out in the background, all of a sudden feeling very close to Aeryn indeed -- "I got away, she got caught." Noranti wonders if maybe they thought the Aeryn would bring back Grayza. "Or Crichton," Scorpius suggests. D'Argo murmurs Sikozu's name, and she looks up at him, nods, and leaves him alone with John.
"You okay?" John is not. "You know...it's not Aeryn." John stares. "It was never Aeryn." D'Argo lays it out. "We're not gonna give up on her, John. Sikozu said the Scarrans are taking Grayza to a place called Katratzi. Maybe that's where Aeryn is now." John stares past the bioloid into the sky: "She could be anywhere out there." D'Argo promises they're not letting her go, and gives him a smile of support. John, alone, turns back toward the body.