Crichton's jaw dropped as he saw the two figures coming down the ship's landing ramp. Well, he thought, they're certainly a pair... a pair of what is the question.

The woman-Kassandra-was...well... "well-endowed" was the best thing he could come up with to describe her. As she neared him, "obviously sex-starved" occurred to him as well. But... something about her turned him completely off. Stone-cold. Nada feeling for her- other than disgust at her obvoius easiness.

Aken, the Sebacean man, on the other hand, quickly went to Aeryn and was looming over her, his massive frame topping her by at least a foot.  She suppressed a shudder at the intent she saw clearly in his eyes when he looked at her.

Unconsciously, both Aeryn and John moved a step away from their 'guests', coming to stand shoulder-to-shoulder.  The two humans and the two Sebaceans stood looking at each other for a few seconds. No one spoke. D'Argo, Zhaan, and Rygel watched from a few feet away, curiously wondering whether this was some odd human/Sebacean greeting ritual, or if Aeryn and John were really as uncomfortable as they looked.

Rygel floated forward briskly then, having been bored long enough, watching the four look at each other. "I am Rygel XVI, Dominar of the Hymerian Empire." He announced formally, breaking the tension. Everyone exchanged glances as Kassandra and Aken burst out laughing.

"Sorry, your Eminence, but we've met the Dominar," Aken said, "And you aren't him!"

"Well, I'm the rightful Dominar." Rygel muttered, then subsided.

"Ah, yes, well... Uhm. I'm John Crichton, a human," John introduced himself to the newcomers, "And this is Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan, a Delvian; Ka D'Argo, a Luxan warroir, and Officer Aeryn Sun, a Sebacean." He didn't think it necessary to state the obvoius: that Aeryn was a Peacekeeper, as well.

"Former officer." Aeryn hissed at him.

"Shh! They don't know that." John whispered back.

"Fine."

"So... shall we all go get something to eat? Or perhaps our guests have brought something?" Rygel asked hopefully then.

"A fine idea, Rygel," Zhaan said. "A meal would be best to learn about each other."

"Oh, I bet some of us know something about the others." Aken said then. D'Argo, puzzled by this apparent non sequiteur, asked him, "What do you mean?"

"Ah... just that since Aeryn's a Sebacean woman, I can-guess-some things about her, as a Sebacean man..." Aken said.

D'Argo's eyes narrowed as he considered the man's words. There was nothing wrong with the statement itself, in fact it was probably quite true. However, D'Argo didn't quite like the way Aken said it. Posessively, almost.

"Just make sure you do not create any problems, or you will have to deal with me." D'argo warned, and strode ahead to talk to Crichton and Kassandra.

Aeryn had been watching Crichton talk with Kassandra, and-was it her imagination?- he did not seem to be enjoying himself at all! She couldn't help but grin, and nearly jumped a foot when Aken's voice came low next to her ear. "Smiling about having me back?"

The smile abruptly left her face, and Areyn scowled at him, moving away. He followed, coming around in front of her so she had to stop.  She tried to get around him, but he effectively blocked her path.

"What, Sun? You're not happy to see me again? I'm hurt." He said, a completely unconvincing pout on his face. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and said, "No. I had hoped I would never have to see your repulsive self again."

"Oh, Sun... now I'm really hurt... You mean you don't want to continue where we left off?"

"We didn't 'leave off'. We finished. Ended. No more. You never seemed to be able to get that!" she snapped, quickly getting furious with the oaf.

"Come now, Sun.  You're just playing hard to get... You always did like to play games, didn't you? Leading a man on, and then dropping him at the last second." He growled, the fury in his voice matching hers. Aeryn suddenly realized that he had kept her here long enough that the others were long out of sight... and that in the past five years, he had obviously held a grudge against her. And she, Aeryn Sun, kickass Peacekeeper who could look Bailar Crais in the eyes and spit in them without flinching, became deeply afraid.

Aken swiftly came toward her, grabbing her arm and twisting it behind her, jerking it up away from her body, up past the shoulderblade before she could react. When he jerked her toward him, however, Peacekeeper training instinctively kicked in; she twisted her arm from the soulder, the bone scraping along the socket, to throw him over her head to land in a heap of the floor in front of her. Before he could move, she knelt over him, knees on his arms, fingers against the pressure points in his throat, those points that would stop the blood flow to and from his small brain, the points that would rid her of him forever...

"You know I could kill you right now," she informed him. "But I've learned restraint from my friends here, and I do not wish to lose them. You, however, are going to decide to leave at the next available place. Got it?" Before he could even nod, Crichton  came jogging down the corridor, calling, "Hey! Aeryn! Aken!"

Quickly, Aeryn got off of Aken and tugged him to his feet. Crichton came around the corner. "Oh, there you two are. We're about ready to eat, if you want to join us." He spoke shortly, quickly; he walked in, saw Aeryn and Aken separating, Aken's face flushed, Aeryn with that I-didn't-do-anything look upon her face, added that to the fact that Aeryn had told him that they used to date, and made the obvious assumption. But didn't she say they had had a bad break-up? He wondered, and figured he must have heard wrong.

He turned, saying, "Well. Are you coming?" to them. Then, not waiting for an answer, he strode off thinking how lousy ther houseguests were: Kassandra was a bore, and interested only in bedding him, and Aeryn liked the Aken guy. That was enough to make Crichton hate him as well.

Aeryn hurried after him, not knowing why he was suddenly surly, but determined to find out. At least he doesn't seem to be interested in that Kassdra person, she thought.

Neither saw the look of hatred Aken sent their way as he came after them.

Go on to part 5
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