"These stories are dedicated to memory of Benjamin Thomas W. 
and to anyone who has had to deal with the loss of a child."

Part 1: When Worlds Collide

Commander Ulric Selton

Onboard the Peacekeeper Carrier Mordin Captain Ilas Lan was overseeing the cleanup after the attempted escape of several prison vessels. Standing at the center of the command deck, her impatience was starting to show. This is no duty for the Mordin. Escorting prisoners to the work camps on Delaris, what a waste!

"Commander Selton! Report!" First officer Selton moved from the overseer console to the base of the central platform.

"It would appear, Captain, that there was only one Leviathan that successfully removed its control collar. Captain Crais is in pursuit." Ulric knew this before the report was issued. "We have the rest of the vessels back in formation. The transport fleet is back on its heading for Delaris Rehabilitation Center."

"Frell these Leviathans! They should have lobotomized all of them years ago." She hated Leviathans. They are alien. Built by a race long since dead, they survived and flourished in space. We are wrong to use them; it's not Peacekeeper technology. We don't control the technology, we keep them under control.

"You realize that they lose their ability to starburst if their higher functions are damaged captain."

"Yes, yes I know, Commander. I was just thinking out loud." Turning to face him. "Your last tour of duty was on a Leviathan wasn't it?"

"Yes Captain, my first Command assignment was onboard the Leviathan Aben. I oversaw the ship's systems during a Peacekeeper New Tech study on..." The captain cut him off.

"Yes Commander, I know. You commanded it for almost five cycles. Not an entirely successful command was it? "

"No. No it wasn't." He admitted reluctantly." The Peacekeeper Techs had made no successful links up to the time of the accident."

"Accident!" she said loudly. "You mean suicide don't you? "

"No Captain. Peacekeeper Tribunal concluded that it was a premature starburst too close to a terrestrial mass."

"Commander you mean to tell me that Leviathans are prone to starbursting into a planet surface?

"As I stated at the tribunal, its pilot was disoriented. Their findings..." He stopped. He knew where this was heading. He wished he was on that escaping Leviathan. He closed his eyes and listened closely to Moya. Good luck to you Moya. He regained his composure. "I have been on board the Mordin for almost a cycle. If you had questions about my ability to command, you should have made Peacekeeper Sector Office aware."

"I don't, Commander; your record is quite clean. It's just the way you have been watching our little Biomechanoid friends out there. If I didn't know better, I would say you had gone native while serving on one of those Leviathans."

To go native was the strongest insult that a Peacekeeper had. The command crew all turned to see his reaction. He straightened and dug his fingers into the palms of his hands. A slow sinking feeling welled inside him. What does she know? How could she know? "Is there a point to this Captain?"

She bent lower, bringing herself eye to eye with her first officer. "I know there is more to your story Commander. Do you think you would have been assigned to me if they truly believed you? Return to your station."

"Yes Captain." He avoided looking at the deck officers, as he returned to the overseer console.

New Mexico

He had known all along that they had been watching him. It had been almost five years since Jack Crichton had lost his son. The IASA was insistent that it had been thermal failure that had killed his son. It was a devastating blow for Jack. But something wasn't right. Jack could feel it. Just weeks after John's flight. Commander Jeffery Cobb, a close friend to John, had died in a freak accident while returning to IASA headquarters. Two months later the second module, Farscape 2, had been lost along with most of the flight data from Farscape 1 in a suspicious hydrazine leak at the IASA test center facility in Sidney. Every time Jack talked to Ray Wilson about John's flight he would get the same answer.

"Look Jack I understand your frustration. The IASA has no other information. Jack, it's time to move on. You need to bury the dead."

Jack knew Ray too well. He could tell they were hiding something. Finally, last fall he had stumbled upon a clue quite by accident while testing a segment of the new Near Earth Asteroid Telescope Tracking System, (NEATTS), that was to be installed on the International Space Station (ISS). They were testing the optical tracking system of the telescope on random satellites in orbit, when it came across an optical anomaly orbiting 234 miles above the earth. It appeared to be almost liquid and it tended to distort the stars around it. As they tracked the anomaly there was something familiar about the location. Could it be? The hairs on the back of his neck still stood up thinking about it. He called DK, who had moved to the coast and a professorship at CALTECH.

"Yes, I don't have to look it up, I know it quite well. That's the last position of Farscape 1 during its test flight. We monitored the area for over a month looking for debris from Farscape 1 but there was nothing there.

"I know DK, but come out and take a look for yourself."

"Look, maybe it's the Aurora Borealis, We are going through some major solar activity."

He felt this was wrong. DK had moved on. He should not bring up the ghosts from their past.

"That's it! Sorry it's just.." He composed himself.

"Are you going to get out to the coast before your trip?"

"I don't think so, I'm still running simulations on the telescope."

"Are you OK?"

"Yes, of course DK, I'm fine. Give my love to Kathy."

"You know, I miss him too."

"Yes-I know...I got to go." He hung up the phone and walked back into the cold of the desert night. In his continued mourning for the loss of his son, there was some comfort in knowing that DK had moved on. Jack didn't want to bring him back into the IASA confrontation again. He'd had to work through a lot of guilt. Jack didn't want to raise the dead. He just wanted the truth, and it looked as though he was going to have to unearth it alone.

Vivisection

He had known all along that they had been watching him. The only survivor from the Link experiment. But he had seen the outcome of their neural link experiments and knew they could never replace a pilot with a Sebacean. Our minds were not built to handle that kind of processing. But he was only the military commander of the ship, the tech team was not under his jurisdiction. So for almost two cycles they had tried to link directly into the Leviathan's cortex by way of the pilot's nervous system. It was about this time he had detected the songs. He almost reported it to the Peacekeeper Tech supervisor until he realized what he was hearing. Somehow he had gained the ability to hear/sense the communication between Leviathans. He could not understand their complex language but he could sense their feelings.

The helmsman's announcement halted his wanderings. The helmsman turned to face the captain. "Excuse me Captain, we are picking up some strange readings off our port."

"What kind of readings?" Snapped the captain.

" Unknown. Some type of optical distortion."

"Could it be camouflage generators? I understand that the Tavleks have been using them to raid freighters in this area. Bring the data up on the main display."

"No, there would be a detectable energy spike." Going back to the overseer's console Commander Selton brought the telemetry up on the main display that covered the front half of the control deck. This is my life now. Thirty-two cycles old and I will never see command again. He would be kept under control like a Leviathan. Peacekeeper rules and regulations being his control collar; the chain of command being his leash

"It is not very large, only point two metras in diameter." The main display that started on the floor in front of them and ran overhead showed a small area where stars seemed to be moving. There was a blue hue to the area like smoke or water.

The captain moved back to the center of the command deck. "Bring the ship in closer. I don't need anymore surprises today."

"Turning to heading 343 by 324 by 002," Called the helmsman.

"Forward guns to bear and auto track that sector."

"Yes Captain!" The Commander shouted over the increasing noise of the command deck.

Unknown to the Captain Lan she headed the huge fortress into the wake of a collapsing wormhole that had been created by Farscape 1 just three arns earlier. As the Morden passed through the event horizon, the ship was instantly cut in two by the receding space-time distortion of the collapsing wormhole. The bow of the huge ship seemed to puncture space-time and was gone. The aft drive section spun in a slow arc perpendicular to its original course. The end was near; and those who might have survived the initial vivisection had no time to escape their stations as long plumes of plasma poured from its mortal wounds. The hetch drive generators that had been fully charged lost their shielding and, in the vacuum of space, what was once one of the most powerful ships in the Peacekeeper arsenal was gone.

Farscape 2

This was like no shuttle flight. No pressure suits, fewer than 4 G's and less then 3db of sound at take off. The new x-33 space planes were now on regular runs between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS). Twenty minutes from launch to ISS airlock. 22 passengers: 5 in his team to set up the new NEATTS telescope for NASA, 16 tourists for their 45 minutes in space at $25,000 a head and Colonel Ray Wilson of the IASA.
Jack knew why he was there. He was being watched. The IASA tried to get NASA to delay Jack's program for a few weeks. They gave no reason for this request. Fortunately, he still had enough pull at NASA to keep his program on track.

Jack was invited to observe final approach on the flight deck of the space plane. He had forgotten how wonderful moving in zero G's was. He floated gracefully though the cabin past the mass of tourists forward to the flight deck and the pilot, Richard Jenson, who had been co-pilot on Jack's first shuttle flight.. The last time he had seen Rich was at John's funeral.

Jack found his seat at the rear of the cockpit and Rich pointed out the new construction. As the space plane approached the International Space Station docking port, the answer to part of his quest stared at him straight in the face. Docked at the end of the IASA research block was Farscape 2. He smiled to himself as if he expected to see the ship docked there.

Cold Space
The forward half of the Mordin passed through the wormhole, and its size became its worst enemy. When the wormhole collapsed, the ship was crushed as it passed through this dimensional doorway. First the 22 decks of the port habitation rings were sheared off as the hulk strayed too close to the walls of space-time, followed by the starboard ring. As the ship exited the wormhole all that was left of the mighty fortress was the forward hull housing the command decks and three hangers. The Mordin went from a crew of twenty five hundred to less then three hundred in a matter of microts. The hulk drifted slowly toward the blue world that brought them here. Gravity took hold of the gutted ship and it started its descent into the atmosphere.

Colonel Raymond Wilson IASA

"I don't like to lie gentlemen, but if this data is true we might have stumbled across the most significant scientific discovery in Human history. The potential profit from this is astounding. No, the cover story must stay. Farscape 1 burned up in the ionosphere during her maiden flight." Those words still haunted him. It had all come back to him as he waited for the boarding call for the space plane. His orders were simple - keep Jack Crichton under control at all costs. The IASA had allowed use of deadly force if necessary.

He and Jack helped found the International Astronauts Space Administration back in '92 and they had been or become great friends. That was before; before John's trip in Farscape 1. He knew from telemetry that John had opened a doorway, a wormhole, and he might have survived his journey. But there was nothing he could do. He had no choice. Farscape 1 carried only twenty hours of life support on board. That was before he had to look into Jack's eyes and tell him that his son had incinerated in the upper atmosphere. That was before he had to tell his best friend that the IASA was canceling the Farscape program. That was before moving the Farscape program under the cover of a Black Project, so that no matter how he tried, Jack would get no information about what happened to his son.

Now he was here to keep an eye on Jack and he knew that as soon as he got to the station he would see Farscape 2. He saw Jack pass though the boarding tube. As he followed to board the space plane, a wave of regret came over him. He had grown to regret the choices he had made five years ago. Now here he was, the first man to enter the ISS with a firearm. A weapon; a device that's sole purpose was to kill. We bring violence wherever we go. He stepped through the hatch and entered the space plane. He had made his choice.

Damage Control

As he woke he could hear the hiss of escaping atmosphere. It was very cold. They must have been attacked. He opened his eyes slowly. Everything ran through his head at once. He couldn't remember what had happened. How long was I out? Air's cold, but I'm breathing ... pressure's low, but tolerable ... gravity, I'm still heavy. That's good. Must still be some life-support working. The Command Center was pitch black. He realized he had been thrown to the rear of the command platform, and he moved back to his overseers console.
He called out in the dark. "Captain Lan! Lieutenant Mellic! Sirn! Darbin! Hello? Anyone?" Nothing, other then the hiss of air escaping.

The attack must have been severe. The attack must have been enormous. Back up systems were out. He opened the service door on the side of the overseer's console and found its auxiliary power store and the small screen started to glow.Frell its getting colder. He could see his own breath. He pulled up damage control first and found all main systems were down, and back up systems were also heavily damaged. There was no telemetry from the habrings or engineering. We are dead. Why didn't the attacker finish us off?

"Frell Its cold!" He stopped working and listened, searching. He had always been able to hear them singing. "Nothing" This is the first time in almost three cycles that he could not detect their songs. Leviathans were known to inhabit most of the galaxy. We are very far from home.

He heard the sound of someone banging on the pressure doors. He was not alone! He answered their calls and then he heard the sound of the plasma torch on the door. It was going to be awhile. He went back to work. As his eyes grew accustomed to the light he could make out the outline of the helmsman and systems manager slumped over their console. They were dead. He found the communication officer in front of the main display. She had head trauma and there was nothing he could do for her. He walked back to the rear of the command deck and there she was. She was pinned under the ceiling support that had collapsed during the attack. The bitch was alive, no signs of bleeding. The support was also the source of the hissing. A sensor boom had cut the ceiling above them. The ships skin had scabbed over quite well, but the gash was huge. It was never meant to span that type of opening. The Mordin was not like a Leviathan. It could only seal itself. A Leviathan would be able to heal a wound like this in no time.

"OK Captain, they are coming. You'll be okay."

"My ship, how bad?"

"Blind as a tablister and dead in space." He smiled slightly, "But we have atmosphere and that seems to be stabilizing." He looked up at the gash in the ceiling. "Slowly."

"Who attacked us." She trailed off as she lost consciousness.

"First things first, Captain." He returned to his console.

All three Stellar tracking programs could not find a single star system that could be identified. It seemed to be getting colder. He got the imaging up and pulled enough power to project onto the main display. The command center was filled with a beautiful blue and white world.

"Where the frell are we?" There were no worlds in this sector that looked like this.

He jettisoned the Peacekeeper beacon then walked back to the center of the command deck. He stared at the alien world and wondered what powers they possessed to be able to take them in the blink of an eye to somewhere very far away. They where nowhere near Peacekeeper territory.

ISS Docking Hub
The Space plane docked to the central hub at the base of the sprawling station. Jack traded an awkward goodbye with Rich, something he had gotten used to. He left the flight deck looking once over his shoulder at the sight of Farscape 2 at the far end of the facility. In the docking hub he met up with his associates who had quarters set up in personnel node three. Jack sent them ahead to get settled. The space plane would unload its cargo and leave within the hour and the tourists had been moved to the observation lounge where they would stay until the space plane was ready to depart. Jack signed in with the station commander, Captain Lisa Dallas, who met the space plane.

The young woman seemed nervous, "I am happy to finally meet you Colonel Crichton. Welcome back to the International Space Station. I would like to invite you and your team to dine with me this evening."

"Thank you Captain Dallas, we would enjoy that. " He smiled politely.

"17:00 hours in the observation lounge then." With a nod she descended towards the space plane.

Jack pushed off the docking hub railing and sailed slowly through the next node where Ray Wilson was waiting for him.

"Hello Jack, how are you?" Ray had a hard time looking him in the eye. The two men floated to the next handrail and stopped.

The muscles in Jack's jaw tightened. "Well Colonel Wilson, I see you and the IASA have been very busy."

He look up and down the passageway to see if there was anyone in ear shot. "Look Jack, I know you have a lot of questions."

"I have only one Ray." With a swell of anger, "What happened to my son?"

Ray grabbed him and pulled him closer. He lowered his voice even further. "Keep your voice down, Jack, or we are both fucked! Do you understand me!" He loosened his grip and Jack pulled his arm away, saying nothing more. He knew right now that Ray Wilson held all the cards,

"Meet me for a drink in the observation lounge after the tourists board the space plane." He checked the passageway again. "You have no idea what's going on! And don't try anything stupid. The IASA node has been locked down so you won't be able to get in there." He pushed off the wall and exited down the passageway.

Peacekeeper Auxiliary command
The room was small and was not designed for the purpose it now held. Peacekeeper Techs walked in and out setting up monitoring stations. The Captain was assessing inventory of the three intact hangars: thirty Marauders, one hundred and sixty prowlers, six infantry drop ships, and only one heavy bomber. The hangars were designed to operate separately from the Morden. They were short-range craft designed to deliver ships fast for planetary control. The status of personnel was more of a concern. Most of the infantrymen were in the habitation rings during the attack so most who survived were of the command crew. At the center of the auxiliary was the captain. Her legs had been amputated to speed her removal from the command center. The bio bed that she laid on took care of the rest.

The captain was going through the crew manifest when commander Selton approached.

"Helus just informed me you are planning a counter attack against the aliens."

"Yes, I am. What would you have us do?"

"Captain we are very far from home. We don't have the resources."

"Where would you have us go, Commander?"

"We should get out of this area as quickly as possible. Take what we can and destroy the rest."

"Destroy the Morden! I will not hear of it! This is our home, Commander."

The anger rose as he saw that they were all going to die under her command. "Our ship, Captain, is dead! If we wait, it will be too deep in the atmosphere to get any of us off." He walked back and forth in front of the medi bed that the captain was plugged into.

She wasn't listening to him. "We must assess our enemy's capabilities. Before we attack."

"Assess our enemies! Attack! They just grabbed our ship from the other side of the galaxy and brought us here. I think it is safe to say that we have no chance against the powers that these aliens hold. " He moved in closer to the medi bed. "We should board the hangar ships and get as far away from this world as possible!"

"That's enough, Commander!" She pulled herself up to a half-sitting position "We will not run away. We were attacked! They killed more then two thousand of your brothers and sisters. If you are not up to the challenge, might I suggest we retire you!"

"No Captain, Listen to me! " He calmed down and tried to deal with this frelling bitch as rationally as possible. "If they wanted us dead, they have had plenty of time to finish us off."

"We will avenge our shipmates. I want you to take an assault team and get some answers."

A Peacekeeper Tech walked into the cramped auxiliary command station. " We have detected numerous transmissions from the planet surface"

"Can we translate the signals?"

"Not with the equipment at hand; maybe in a few arns."

"Thank you, dismissed" The Peacekeeper tech backed out of the room. "As I was saying Commander, I want you to take an assault team to that small spaceport we detected and get some answers. We have two arns before the attack."

"Yes Captain!" He turned and walked out. Once again blind arrogance will kill more Peacekeepers than battle action.

He descended onto the hangar floor. This part of the ship gave the appearance of little damage other than auxiliary lighting. He approached the marauder with its five-member assault team standing in formation in front of it ready for inspection. Argus Nul was the squadron leader. A real by the book type of fighter. At one time I would have looked up to a man like that. That was before my experiences on the Aben. Now things are different. Nul is just a piece of the Peacekeeper arsenal, a machine, not thinking, just to be used blindly. What are we getting ourselves into?

ISS Observation Lounge
The Observation lounge was the most extravagant area of the station. Designed for the heavy tourist trade that had been building over the last few years. The half of the cylinder that faced earth was covered with three large windows. At the far end of the lounge were the Zero G equivalent of restaurant booths. Between flights it was a quiet place where one could go to Earth watch. When Jack arrived, he saw Ray sitting in a booth nearest the windows. There were a few other small groups, so he was relieved that they wouldn't be alone. He floated over to the booth and harnessed into the seat.

"I'm glad you decided to come Jack." He felt under the table to make sure his weapon was available just in case.

"I'm here. Now tell me what happened to my son!" With the words came the anger and frustration that had been building over the past four plus years. If he hadn't been strapped in, he would have leaped over the table to get at Wilson.

"Lower your voice and get a hold of yourself Jack." Placing the gun back in his pants pocket he took a deep breath. "OK Jack." He looked around again to see if any one was watching them.

"What I can tell you, Jack, is that John did not burn up in the atmosphere. Farscape 1 opened a wormhole to what we believe is another part of our galaxy." He took a big swig from the straw of his drink. " The flight data showed that life-support was stable on Farscape 1 when it entered the wormhole. There was a chance he could have survived the journey to the other side."

"What! How!" His mind stumbled. "He didn't die. What happened to him? Did you go after him."

"We didn't have the telemetry decoded for almost a week before we knew what happened. We had to tell the press something and there was no way to go after him. We had to keep you out, Jack. You of all people would try to get to the bottom of this, come hell or high water. We needed time to develop the program differently. That's why the Farscape 2 module had to go missing. So that we could make some alterations to handle what it might find in the wormhole."

"My son died alone on the far side of the galaxy?" This news was worse then thinking he had burned up quickly. At least death would have been instantaneous, not slow suffocation.

"We just don't know Jack. That's why Farscape 2 is here."

Jack had seen enough death in his life to know that dying alone was a soldier's worst nightmare. "John I'm sorry, son." He whispered while choking back the tears.

"We will be launching Farscape 2 within the next few days. We are waiting for the solar activity to match closer to what it was when John went through." He cleared his throat, "I have been given permission by the IASA to invite you to stay and observe the entire flight. There is a catch."

"I am sure."

"You can tell no one of this program until the IASA has time to evaluate the potential of such a technology."

"What if I say no and go to the net with the story."

"Then you will end up like Cobb."

Jack had suspected as much but it still surprised him, coming from this man who at one time he had called friend. "Cobb wasn't happy with the IASA and was too close to the program to block out like me."

"You could say that."

"So where do we go from here."

"Its simple, you will be monitored 24-7. You can go about your business on board the station. When your team leaves you will be allowed to stay on board. After telemetry is reviewed and the IASA has made its decision you will be returned to Earth

"Ok, I'll do it." Jack knew that regardless of the outcome of the program he would not be stepping foot on the Earth alive again. If he knew more about his son's death he felt he could gain some peace from that.

"And just so you understand Jack. My orders are to silence you and anyone you confide in. If there is even a hint of a leak. You were smart not to get DK involved again, Jack. You might have saved his life." He paused for a long time. He knew that he could never carry out the order but there were at least two other crewmembers onboard the ISS that could. "Jack I am sorry about John...I had no choice..."

"Save it Ray." Jack removed his restraints and exited the booth.

Attack

As Jack floated slowly across the lounge toward the exit, the station's collision alarms started. The few people in the lounge all moved to the large window to see what was going on. They knew that the alarms were only triggered if a large body was headed for them. Over the speaker came the station commander's orders for General quarters. The huge door that connected this node to the next closed automatically and Jack looked back to the window. Out of the corner of his eye he saw it. A black and red rectangular box traveling in the same orbit but below. It was ascending to the station. It wasn't space debris, it was a ship! He had never seen a ship like that. There were two bright flashes then an almost simultaneous shuddering in the space station. The huge ship was upon them. Jack moved over to Wilson.

"More IASA secrets Wilson?" Jack looked at Wilson-he was scared shitless. He didn't respond.

The station started a very slow yaw. The windows of the observation lounge now viewed only stars. There was another shudder in the station. This was it. The station was never designed for such stress. It continued to spin slowly with its rotation as the debris from the attack slowly fell away.

"Communications boom, Satellite dish, Microwave antenna array. They have cut us off from Earth." He turned to face Wilson who still stared out the window. " Who are they Wilson? What part of the IASA is responsible for this?"

He broke his gaze, "I don't know. It's not IASA. That ship, it moves like nothing I have ever seen before." The terror in his voice could not lie. The attacking ship was hanging three meters from the docking hub and was able to match the erratic rotation the station had taken on during the attack. It started its final approach. There was a large thud that rang through the station as the large ship docked.

The station commander came on the PA. "It would appear we are going to be boarded. There is nothing we can do until we know who they are. All communication with Earth is out. We are attempting to get the rotation under control, but until we do, it's going to get hot in here ladies and gentlemen. General quarters will be maintained until further notice. Will Colonel Wilson meet me in the docking hub?"

Wilson looked at Jack. "Come on Jack. You're with me. Remember; 24-7." He patted the zipped pocket of his jumpsuit.

"So who do you think they are Wilson, if they aren't IASA members." Jack knew from what he'd seen that it couldn't be NASA or IASA, "China Republic?"

"I don't know, China or maybe Pakistan. They have accelerated their space program since their little acquisition of India."

They arrived at the air lock and were met by the station commander. "Colonel Wilson, does the IASA have any ideas on who our friends are out there?"

"We were just discussing that on our way here. We have never seen anything like it."

She turned to face Jack, "Colonel Crichton, I was hoping to give you a better welcome than this."

"It is certainly exciting..." He was cut of by the sound of drilling.

Captain Dallas yelled back to the men who were in the node behind them, "OK they're coming though. Seal her up." They sealed the large pressure door behind them. The three of them were alone. Cut off from the rest of the ISS. The drill penetrated the door, then a small probe protruded from the hole.

Jack found it strange that someone would go to the trouble of testing the air before opening the airlock door. He moved over to the ISS captain. "Captain Dallas, why would someone from EARTH test the air?" Before she could answer he turned to face Wilson.

"Wilson, is it possible the wormhole that was opened by Farscape 1 is still there?"

"What are you getting at Colonel?" She turned to Wilson. "I have obviously missed something. Do you have some information that I should know about?"

"Jack what are you talking about? Don't be ridiculous. Now is not the time."

Dallas grabbed Wilson by the collar. "So help me Ray, if I find that the IASA has placed the ISS in jeopardy I will personally space you." She pushed him away and turned to Jack. "OK Colonel Crichton, spill it. What is going on? Wormholes? Farscape 1?"

Jack looked towards the door then back towards Wilson. "Captain there might be a chance that this is a first contact situation."

"Great! I've been in command of the ISS for three weeks and now we might get a visit from ET!"

"Jack! That's enough!" He floated back over to them. "The IASA has kept no information from NASA as far as what Colonel Crichton is talking about." He looked at Jack with pity. "He has never gotten over the loss of his son."

Jack had expected no less from Ray. "Yes. Well then Wilson, I'm sure you filed a flight plan for the second test of the Farscape project."

Dallas turned to face Wilson "What! I should not be surprised. The IASA said it was using the Farscape 2 prototype to return test equipment to their headquarters as part of their cost cutting program."

Wilson squirmed. "I don't think this is the time or place to discuss IASA projects. The issue at hand is who is behind that door."

He was cut off by the explosive flares that came from the airlock door. They watched as the two flares cut a huge circular hole in the door. The three pulled themselves back as far as they could. The door was pulled back into the blackness of the visitors vessel. Then four figures in black space suits jumped from the hole. Their agility was astounding. They landed on the door at the far end of the docking hub. The three gave a collective sigh of relief. It was obvious their attackers were human. Jack noticed that they had some kind of magnetic boots that let them walk as if in normal gravity. That's strange. The door was carbon compost, nonmagnetic, yet they stick to it as if there was gravity. The four walked over to the three in the corner. They were heavily armed.

"Large guns in this small space. Not a good idea." Dallas said under her breath.

Dallas shuffled to the front of the three " Welcome to the International Space Station I am Captain Lisa Dallas of National Aeronautics and Space Administration." One of the four moved toward her. He spoke in a very strange tongue. It sounded as if he was speaking backwards. Some portions of his statement were impossible for a human to repeat.

The hair on the back of Jack's neck stood on end. "I have never heard a language like that."

He turned and looked at Ray. who just nodded back at him.

The leader repeated his alien statement in a very irritated tone. Dallas had no chance to respond. The lead attacker used the barrel of his gun and planted it squarely across her jaw. Crichton and Wilson leaped at the attacker and were taken out before they reached Dallas. The three of them floated, unconscious, in the center of the Docking hub.

Part 2

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