By Kevin Matsumoto
Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Farscape.
(Though I wish I did.) All characters herein belong to
Henson studios and Scifi Channel.
Notes: Someone on this list is to blame for this.
They mentioned an idea about doing a pre-Bug's life
Story about Larraq. My muse who definitely suffers from attention deficit disorder brought him in and got him talking. That SOB wouldn't leave me alone!
Thanks to "Wait", Jessica R. and Rachel G.
*****
The Peacekeeper officer sat tensely awaiting his turn to see the Admiral. He was almost sure that he wasn't in any serious trouble. Admittedly he had lost two soldiers during the last operation but both deaths had already been deemed unavoidable by his commanding officer. Still one didn't get a summons from a member of Peacekeeper High Command without worrying a little.
"Captain Larraq, the Admiral will see you now."
Larraq strode through the door of the Admiral's office
and stopped in front of his desk, his body at rigid
attention.
The Admiral eyed Larraq for several long moments,
frown etched on his face. For one brief second, Larraq
noticed an amused look crossed the Admiral's face.
"At ease, Captain." The Admiral, waved to Larraq to
have a seat.
`Oh dren, I'm in for now!' Larraq thought to himself as he took the seat. "You sent for me, Sir."
"Hmm?" The Admiral inserted a data-card into the
projector and began reading from the display. "Captain
Tynian Larraq, Assignment Special Operations. Most
recent assignment; destruction of rebel bases on Kalta 3. Mission successful with loss of only two of your team. Impressive."
"Thank you sir." Larraq said simply, he was still waiting for the bad news.
"I have a new assignment for you."
"Yes sir." Larraq replied even as he thought, `An
assignment directly from the Admiral. Bypassing all
channels, We're Frelled."
The Admiral handed him a data chip. "You and your
crew are to take your Marauder into the uncharted
territories. On this chip, you'll find a set of coordinates. You will receive further instructions once you arrive there."
From the Admiral's tone, Larraq knew no questions
would be tolerated. Accepting the assignment, he
marched out of the Admiral's office.
*****
One Half Cycle later
"Captain. Something's been bothering me."
"And that would be?" Larraq glanced over at the
commando piloting the Marauder.
"Why the Hezmana are we trying to capture this frelling
bug anyway. Why not just kill it?" Thonn asked.
"High Command wants it alive." Larraq explained. "For
study."
"To see if we can harness it." Med-Tech Hasan
elaborated. "Imagine, we tame it and the next time we
have to pacify a planet we just drop the virus and
everyone works for us."
Thonn and Rhedd, the two replacement members of his
team, looked bothered by that. Finally Rhedd asked,
"Where's the challenge in that? It's too frelling easy that way."
"That's not your decision." Lt. Asari told them. "High command want's it alive. It's our duty to obey."
Larraq nodded, that was one of the reasons he was
grateful to Asari as his second-in-command. Asari was
always ready to back him up. He was also just as ready to disagree with orders if he felt Larraq was making a
mistake. Asari was always careful to mask any
disagreements by phrasing them in the form of
suggestions.
"Hasan," Larraq turned to the Med-Tech, "You said
you've discovered something about the virus?"
"Yes sir," Hasan smiled, "Per your orders, I've checked
the medical records on every world we've visited. From
what I'm able to determine, the virus has a multi-stage
life cycle. In it's earliest stage it is capable of infecting a single host for as long as it wants, this stage lasts about 2 cycles. At the end of the two cycles the virus enters an intermediate stage. Still only capable of infecting one being at a time. But if it can remain any single given host for more than an arn, it can reproduce, spreading its spores over whatever it comes in contact with. Thankfully once that happens, the pattern begins again."
"So where in it's pattern is the virus now?" Larraq asked.
"Still in stage one." Hasan stated. "Going from the
pattern of infections, I'd say we have less than a half-cycle to capture before it enters stage 2."
"What happens if enters stage 2 and we haven't caught
it?" Thonn asked.
"Then we're all frelled." Hasan replied.
*****
One quarter cycle later.
"I am beginning to develop a real hatred for this virus." Thonn muttered as they watched the alien craft lift off.
"I hear you," Rhedd replied in agreement. They'd spent the last solar day tracking the virus when it had jumped hosts and made it off world again.
Larraq sympathized with his crew but wouldn't allow his
anger to get the better of him. Hating the virus wouldn't let him capture it. Out-thinking it would. "Lieutenant, has the virus' habits changed at all?"
"No sir," Hasan shook her head, "It's still following the same behavioral patterns."
Larraq's face lit up in a victorious grin. Hasan and Asari had gone over many of the incidents involving the virus. They had quickly worked out several personality quirks of the virus itself. First, though the virus apparently had full access to the memories of its host, it couldn't quite get the personality down. There was always an edginess that wasn't present before. Second, the virus was at its core inherently selfish. It's reactions were based on that self- serving attitude. Finally, the virus' self-serving attitude manifested as callousness, it reacted with a viciousness that invariably drew attention to it. On this world, the virus had taken control of a merchant about to leave for a new commerce planet. When the local law enforcement, on a tip from Larraq, that he was carrying stolen goods had attempted to apprehend him. The virus had transferred from the merchant to the officer in charge and then killed everyone there. Larraq and his team had been less than a half-arn behind it, when it had transferred to the captain of a small cargo ship and lifted off again.
*****
Once they were back aboard the Marauder, Thonn quickly
brought the ship to pursuit speed. Larraq looked over to where Lt. Kellan was tracking the cargo ship.
"Can we intercept?"
"Yes sir," Kellan nodded to the screen, "That thing is a short-range tug. It can barely do Hetch 5."
"We've got it." Asari's victory grin was almost manic.
"WHAT THE FRELL?" Thonn's eyes widened as the
cargo ship began diving back for the planet again.
"DREN!" Kellan growled a microt later. "It's diving
back down to the planet."
"Pursuit mode!" Larraq shouted as he locked his safety
harness in.
"Negative!" Thonn yelled back as he changed the angle
of their descent. "It's going in at to steep a trajectory. That pile of dren is going to burn up!"
"It isn't suicidal." Larraq stated, "It has to have a way out."
"Ejection pod!" Kellan responded, "One lifeform, behind us! It must have ejected just as it entered the atmosphere sir. The interference kept me from seeing it. I'm sorry."
"Not your fault." Larraq said in acceptance of Kellan's apology. "Anyone could have missed that."
"It just made a mistake." Asari reported.
"How so?" Larraq asked.
"The pod's trajectory is going to bring it down near a
mining outpost." Asari replied. "Normally the outpost
has a population of a hundred and several ships."
"But?" Larraq asked, he guessed the answer was a break
for them, but wanted verification.
"The mine suffered a catastrophic collapse about 2
weekens ago." Asari smiled grimly. "There are less than ten individuals there and only one short-range craft."
"The cargo ship just burned up." Kellan reported.
"Follow the pod down." Larraq commanded.
"Done sir." Thonn complied immediately, Putting the
Marauder in to circling descent with the pod at its center.
*****
Several Arns later
Larraq eyed the huddled aliens with scorn. The team had arrived before the pod touched down. He'd sent Asari, Kellan and Rhedd to capture the virus controlled pilot while Hasan and Thonn had helped him round up the
inhabitants of the base. Pathetic cowardly things, they hadn't even put up a fight before allowing themselves to herded into a holding room.
"Captain!" Asari's voice came over the comm unit. "The virus has control of Kellan. He's headed your way!"
Thonn raced outside, sliding on his oculars. "I see him, Captain. It looks like his comm-units been damaged. FRELL! ASARI JUST SHOT HIM!"
"WHAT!?" Larraq felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. If Asari had killed Kellan then Asari was the one carrying the virus.
"Kellan's down." Thonn finished. "Asari's on the other side of the base from the Marauder. "I've got him pinned."
"Can Asari take the alien's ship?" Larraq wondered
outloud.
"Negative," Rhedd replied. "The cockpit is too small for Asari. Frell, Hasan couldn't fit."
Larraq looked at the ten aliens in the room. He couldn't let them leave and run the risk that one of them might become a carrier for the virus. He couldn't just lock them in, they might find a way to escape. He had his orders. "Terminate the prisoners then fan out."
The three Commandos opened fire without hesitation,
eliminating all of their prisoners quickly and efficiently. Larraq eyed the bodies with distaste before leaving. As pathetic as these prisoners were, killing helpless prisoners bothered him, but he had to do his duty. Sighing he left the room to catch up with the others.
Sliding the oculars over his head, Larraq quickly spotted Asari trying to make his way to the Marauder but Thonn's sniping had him pinned down. The real problem was that, from where they were, there was no clear shot for the stasis gun. "Hasan, Rhedd, try to get closer."
"Thonn," Larraq stopped as something else moved down
there. "Frell, We missed one."
"It's trying to get to the ship." Hasan noticed. "I can't get a clear shot with all the equipment in my way."
"Neither can I." Rhedd replied.
"Oh Frell," Larraq started to blast away at Asari's
position. "Asari is trying to get to the alien. Move!"
The Commandos broke into a fast run, trying to overtake
the distant figures. Larraq stumbled as Asari managed to grab the small alien. Gambling that Asari might still be coherent, he shouted into his comm. "Asari! The virus is in the alien. Get it!"
Asari tried to comply with his Captain's orders. He
grabbed at the creature, which responded by ducking
under the Lieutenant's arms and grabbing his pistol. Still unable to get a really clear shot, Larraq could only watch helplessly as the alien gunned down his most trusted
officer.
"Marauder!" Larraq barked out. The remaining
Commandos immediately changed course, racing for their
ship.
'That thing is not getting away this time.' Larraq thought as they reached the ship.
"Maximum power," Larraq ordered as soon as the ship
was clear of the ground.
"Affirmative." Thonn replied. "The alien ship is doing hetch 6. We will intercept in 600 microts."
The ships managed to clear the atmosphere before the
Marauder intercepted its target. Larraq went over capture options in his head. "Do we know anything about this race's capabilities?" He asked Rhedd.
"Some," Rhedd replied, "They're ships aren't heavily
armed or armored. One shot would vaporize that thing."
"Use the docking web." Larraq ordered.
"Got it." Rhedd replied almost immediately.
"Something's wrong," Hasan reported, her voice a little strained. "The ship is closing too fast."
"BRACE!" Thonn shouted as the other ship sideswiped
the Marauder. The impact knocked the crew around but
didn't break the docking web's hold on the ship.
"We've still got it," Rhedd reported as he regained his seat. "Looks like it did more damage to it's own ship than to us. Activating docking tube."
Larraq readied the stasis gun as the tube access opened. The creature was waiting on other side, obviously trying to ambush the next person through the door. After all the trouble it had put them through, it was almost disappointing to watch it fall from one shot. Larraq sighed and leaned against bulkhead as Hasan put the creature into the container.
"We did it." Rhedd said in disbelief, "we frelling caught the thing."
"We've also got a problem." Thonn interrupted.
"Sergeant?" Larraq looked over to the Pilot's chair.
"The impact cracked open our fuel line." Thonn
explained. "We can't make it back to the base."
Larraq thought about it. "How bad is it?"
"If I'm reading this right," Thonn growled, "Nothing
short of a repair dock can fix it."
"Options?" Larraq asked.
"We can't land." Thonn replied. "The fuel would ignite
and we'd be vaporized."
"No way to fix it out here either." Larraq growled.
"How about commandeering a ride?" Rhedd suggested.
"I've got a Leviathan transport less than 2 arn from here."
Larraq looked over at Thonn, "Can we make it?"
"Easily."
"Let's go then." Larraq relaxed a little. 'Maybe
something's finally going our way.'
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