4.05 - Promises

The crew is finally reunited with Moya where they find Aeryn waiting for them. But someone is after Aeryn for revenge and the crew's attempts to save her are complicated by the guest she has brought on board Moya... Scorpius.

Maybe it's a trap?
One sure way to find out.
Walk straight into it. Right. --- Chiana, John Crichton, Ka D'Argo

Kryptonite? Silver bullet? Buffy? What's it going to take to keep you in the grave? --- John Crichton

I'm really sorry.
For what?
For everything. This is not how I pictured coming back.
It's just fate, as usual, keeping its bargain and screwing us in the fine print. --- Aeryn Sun, John Crichton

You're going to talk Ullom into letting us aboard under a flag of truce.
And we're going to take that flag of truce and hit him over the head with it. --- John Crichtion, Ka D'Argo

You do realize that this is a damaged Leviathan with a fraudulent Pilot and a crew of idiots, do you not?
Oh, they are more resourceful than you realize. --- Sizozu Shanu, Scorpius

Well, if it's any consolation, I think you've had much worse plans. --- Ka D'Argo

Lo'La continues flying through space towards Moya. Everyone on board is becoming frustrated when they finally spot her. D'Argo contacts Pilot who welcomes them back.

John, at Noranti's urging, asks Pilot what happened when they were pulled through the wormhole. Pilot says he can't remember anything but seems evasive. John suspects that whoever pulled them through the wormhole may still be on board but, not having much other choice, they land anyway. John tells everyone to say on Lo'La while he checks out the situation.

John is checking the landing bay when someone enters. John is surprised but pleased to see that it is Aeryn, wearing a full-body suit of some kind. They hesitantly greet each other but she abruptly collapses. John rushes to her, only to find that she is extremely hot. She tells him she is suffering from Heat Delirium.

John tries to find out what happened but Aeryn insists that he promise not to kill someone; someone that she says saved her life. John asks who she is talking about and another figure enters the landing bay.

It is Scorpius.

John yells for the others and both Chiana and D'Argo arrive, both aiming weapons at Scorpius. Aeryn positions herself between them and Scorpius, saying that she gave her word that Scorpius would not be harmed and repeating that he saved her life. She says that if they get rid of Scorpius then she will leave too. John asks what Scorpius wants and Aeryn says he wants asylum.

Scorpius seems concerned about Aeryn and says she needs to get to get back to the cooling chamber. Aeryn forces John to promise to not harm Scorpius, which he does with obvious great reluctance. Aeryn then lets Chiana lead her away.

John then demands that Scorpius explain. Scorpius says that he found Aeryn unconscious and adrift in a Prowler. He got her to Moya and put her in a cooling suit. D'Argo asks how he came to find her and Scorpius says he was looking for them. (During this exchange John has a vision of Scorpius in a Prowler with an unconscious Aeryn, licking her face from nose to forehead.)

John says that he will never give Scorpius the wormhole information and Scorpius, angrily, says he could no longer use it if he did. He says he is there to make sure John stays safe and hopes that, when the war between the Peacekeepers and Scarrans erupts, he will choose the correct side.

Mindscape: John and Harvey are both wearing black suits and sunglasses and are in a windowless corridor. Both are smoking and both are holding pistols.

John, annoyed, takes Harvey's gun and cigarette and throws his own cigarette away as well. Harvey says that Scorpius is obviously there to get the wormhole information from John and that they should kill him.

John and D'Argo lead Scorpius to a cell where Rygel is breaking Scorpius' cooling rods one by one. John tells him to stop since they may need the rods for Aeryn then locks Scorpius into the cell.

Meanwhile, Sikozu has found her way to Command and is apparently not pleased with what she finds there. She calls for Pilot and insists that he send DRDs to repair things. Pilot seems confused but Chiana arrives and tells Pilot to ignore her.

She then grabs Sikozu and demands to know how Scorpius survived since she told them he was dead. Sikozu says she doesn't know; she saw Scorpius buried. Chiana accuses Sikozu of digging Scorpius back up and accuses her of working with him. Sikozu simply looks annoyed.

John and D'Argo are elsewhere in Moya. John says he should never have let Aeryn go off alone but D'Argo says it isn't his fault what happened to her. John has another vision of Aeryn and Scorpius in the Prowler cockpit and this time Scorpius is slamming one of his neural spikes into the back of Aeryn's neck.

John enters the cooling chamber and finds Aeryn sitting on a bed, a cooling rod attached to the side of the hood of her suit. He has a brief vision in which he sees a cooling rod chamber like Scorpius' spinning out of her head.

Aeryn apologizes for the circumstances in which she has returned. John asks how she got Heat Delirium but she says she can't tell him that. He then asks if Scorpius gave it to her and she says he didn't; she already had it when he found her. John is unconvinced but she continues to insist that Scorpius did nothing but save her.

Further conversation is interrupted when Pilot announces that another ship is approaching rapidly. Rygel calls for a Starburst but Pilot says they can't; the other ship is too massive and too close.

A huge ship arrives and a voice comes over the comms. It identifies itself as Ullom of the Hokothians. Ullom says that he knows Aeryn, who he calls an assassin, is on board and that she is suffering from Heat Delirium because he infected her with the virus that is causing it. He says he will give her the antidote if she tells him who hired her and who the other assassins in her team were.

John asks Aeryn if Ullom is telling the truth and she says he is. He then asks her to tell him what is going on but she says she can't; she made a promise. He asks if the promise was to Scorpius but she continues to insist he wasn't involved and just took advantage of her situation.

Somewhat later, John and D'Argo discuss going on board Ullom's ship and ask Rygel to negotiate for them.

Elsewhere, a Command Carrier cruises through space. On board, Braca is talking with Ponara, a tech, and Rinlo, a pilot. Ponara has developed a missile which will kill a Leviathan while leaving the crew unharmed but Rinlo is arguing that the missile is too big to be carried by a Prowler. Ponara says that a Marauder would be detected before it got close enough to fire. Braca suggests that they run more simulations

He leaves and is intercepted by Grayza who berates him for lack of leadership. She demands that John be captured and leaves.

John and D'Argo arrive on the Hokothian ship and confront Ullom. D'Argo tries to use his tongue strike but "Ullom" turns out to be a holographic projection.

Ullom demands to know who Aeryn's employers and colleagues were and John says that they don't even know what she did. Ullom says that Aeryn and two others shot their way into the government chambers and assassinated their Prime Minister. He says the Hokothians are about to go to war over the assassination and so he needs to know who hired Aeryn and the others.

Back on Moya, Chiana and Noranti are in the cooling chamber with Aeryn. Chiana examines the cooling rod attached to the side of Aeryn's hood and, finding something wrong with it, leaves in search of a new rod.

Noranti is mixing a powder which she says will put Aeryn into a deeper sleep when Aeryn suddenly wakes up and knocks the powder into Noranti's face. Noranti collapses and Aeryn stands up, removing the hood as she does so.

Still on the Hokothian ship, John and D'Argo are saying that they have no problems with letting Ullom know who ordered the assassination and Ullom says that if Aeryn tells him then he won't try to track down the other two assassins.

They are interrupted by a call from Aeryn. She is now on Moya's Command and says that Ullom is after her and that he should let Moya and the others go. She also says that she will break their stalemate. She produces a pulse pistol and points it at her own head.

"Goodbye, John." she says.

John yells for someone on Moya to do something. Rigel suddenly floats into view on his thronesled and slams into Aeryn's head, knocking her unconscious.

Ullom is angry and threatens to send his soldiers to board Moya. John and D'Argo both say that Aeryn will kill herself before letting herself be captured. John says that he needs Aeryn more than Ullom does and that he will get him the information he wants. He and D'Argo leave.

Back on Moya, Sikozu approaches the cell where Scorpius is held. She starts to talk to him but first says something in Pilot that causes the DRDs watching Scorpius to shut down. Scorpius is surprised that she knows Pilot. He learns that she also knows Scarran.

She asks how he survived on Arnessk and he tells her "foresight and preparation". He also tells her that he has come to Moya to safeguard John, "among other things". Sikozu calls the crew of Moya idiots and Scorpius corrects her, saying that they are more resourceful than she realizes.

In the cooling chamber, Aeryn is in restraints. John is talking to her and trying to get information from her about what she did. She doesn't answer, beyond admitting that she did do what Ullom is accusing her of.

During much of this sequence John sees Aeryn as a cross between Aeryn and Scorpius. She asks him to remember his promise and kill her before the living death takes her. He says that he will get the antidote for her because he needs her more than Ullom but she responds that she isn't his and never was.

On the Command Carrier, a Peacekeeper tells Braca that Moya has been located. Braca tells the technicians to load the missile onto a Prowler and that he will fly it himself.

Back on Moya, John is on his way to Scorpius' cell.

Mindscape: John and Harvey are walking through a corridor, still wearing their suits. John says he is going to talk to Scorpius. Harvey warns him that Scorpius will try to get information out of him and tries to stop him.

John arrives at the cell to see Sikozu taking a neural spike and giving it to Scorpius. He instantly pulls his pulse pistol and, accusing Sikozu of working with Scorpius, demands to know what is going on.

Scorpius says he wants to help John by removing the neural clone. John denies knowing what he is talking about at first but Scorpius eventually manages to convince him after pointing out that he saved Aeryn while the neural clone killed her.

Mindscape: Harvey begs John not to go through with it but John says it is time for Harvey to leave. Harvey sits in a chair and John pulls a pistol which he points at the back of Harvey's head. There is a shot.

Scorpius slams the spike into the back of John's head. John screams and collapses. A few moments later he sits up, an almost serene expression on his face. After a moment he returns to more of his normal self and asks Scorpius for his help.

Scorpius tells him about the Peacekeeper missile, which he knows about from a spy he has left on the Command Carrier. He also says that Sikozu has learned that the Hokothian ship is not what it appears to be; it is a small ship projecting a hologram. John seems to get an idea and leaves, taking Sikozu with him.

John, D'Argo and Sikozu go to the Hokothian ship with Aeryn, who is on a stretcher. John says that Aeryn is ready to talk but the heat delirium is much worse and she needs the antidote before she can talk.

They are met by Ullom and two other Hokothians. Aeryn seems to be having convulsions. John begs for help and one of them eventually administers the antidote. Once he sees that Aeryn is starting to recover, he knocks out one of the Hokothians while D'Argo takes out the other. They then attempt to attack Ullom but discover that he is only a hologram. Ullom seals off the ship and threatens to turn off their life support.

Aeryn stands, a blanket still wrapped around her, and unsteadily makes it to the main chamber and demands to speak with Ullom. He appears and she tells him that their Prime Minister killed more people in one day than she could in her lifetime. No one hired her to kill him; she did it for free.

As she speaks, a door in the chamber has opened, revealing the real Ullom. The real Ullom shoots at her but the burst washes harmlessly over her. John shoots Ullom, severely injuring him. Sikozu takes a spherical object off of his hand while Aeryn examines the Tarkan shield belt she is wearing, which protected her from Ullom's fire.

Sikozu identifes the sphere she took from Ullom as a direct neural interface that is used to run the entire ship. John encourages her to use it and she is able to unseal the corridor. D'Argo takes Aeryn back to the pod.

Scorpius tells them that the Prowler carrying the missile is now within range and that they cannot escape in time. He also reveals that the missile locks onto a Leviathan's bio-signature; it's "heartbeat" and that once it locks on it can follow them even through Starburst.

John asks Pilot if he can shut down Moya's bio-signature and he says he can, but only though a complete biological shutdown which is very dangerous. John tells him to try. He then tells Sikozu to use the Hokothian ship's holographic capability to make it look like a Leviathan. She seems dubious but agrees to try.

Pilot shuts down Moya and Sikozu succeeds in causing the Hokothian ship to appear as a Leviathan. She and John get in the pod to return to Moya.

Braca arrives in the Prowler and finds two Leviathans. He contacts the Command Carrier and Ponara tells him that one Leviathan is active but that the other is dead and probably a decoy. She transmits the coordinates of the active Leviathan to Braca and he launches the missile.

Once the missile is launched, Pilot attempts to bring Moya out of shutdown. There is a tense moment but he succeeds and Moya powers herself back up. Braca watches in confusion as the missile destroys the Hokothian ship while Moya escapes into Starburst.

Braca demands to know what happened and, when Ponara cannot answer, orders her to detention. Grayza takes over and orders her to the Aurora chamber instead.

Some time later, John approaches Scorpius and asks if he did anything to harm Aeryn. Scorpius says he did not. He then asks if Scorpius really knows how to get to Earth and if anyone else knows. Scorpius says that only he knows.

Chiana is in Pilot's den telling him how happy all of them are to be home again. Pilot says that he and Moya are happy to see them as well; except for the new girl.

Chiana gets angry and tells him to let her know if Sikozu ever tries to do anything to him again. He agrees, but says that many times he and Moya get frustrated at having everyone constantly yelling for them to do things. He asks that they pick one spokesperson, a captain, to speak for all of them. Chiana agrees.

Later, John is on the bridge. Aeryn arrives and says she wants to stay on Moya. John is carefully polite to her and says that Moya and the others will be happy to hear that. She says that she needs time to recover and also that she wants to help him keep an eye on Scorpius. She finally says that she just wants to be there. Through all of this, she is smiling at him as he keeps a neutral expression on his face and seems to avoid looking at her. Finally, she asks if there is a problem.

He looks away. "Any other oaths of silence I should know about?"
She hesitates slightly then shakes her head, still smiling.
John looks at the floor. "So, you could tell me if... you were pregnant?"

Her smile fades and she looks away. When she says nothing, John sighs and walks from the room. She watches him go, a pained expression on her face.

We first learned of Sebeacean Heat Delirium in Exodus from Genesis.

Scorpius was "killed" and buried in Ressurection (What Was Lost: Part 2).

The crew acquired the Tarkan energy shield in Lava's a Many Splendored Thing.

We learned of Aeryn's pregnancy in Dog With Two Bones