Title: Enter The Cleavage
Author: Paradox761
Email: Paradox761@mail.com
Website: members.tripod.com/~Paradox761
Disclaimer: Joss owns Buffy, SFC owns Farscape, and I own nothing. No copyright infringement is intended, so please don’t sue. I don’t have any money anyway. Also, some dialogue has been taken directly from the episodes “Homecoming” and “Grave”. No plagiarism intended, they’re just flashbacks.
Summary: Intent on discovering the origins and ramifications of Chiana's visions, Xander and Chiana take the DeLorean through time and space to visit of all things, an Oracle. But when they're intercepted by Grayza's Command Carrier, Xander will find his first encounter with the Peace Keepers to be an unpleasant one. Will he be able to survive the Aurora Chair? What will Grayza discover in his mind? How will he and Chiana escape?
Author’s note: This story is a sequel to Back to the Uncharted Territories, which in turn is a sequel to A Sympathetic Ear. Special thanks to A. Grandt, Rob Clark, dragon_hulk, Jason Hill, Ghostrider, DaBear, greywizard, MagnusXXZ, and C.J. Whittaker for the feedback. It’s much appreciated.
Dedication: To Jordan and Jessica, my angels. May they rest in peace.
(BtVS/Farscape, Xander/Chiana, R)

(4/5)

When Xander woke up, he realized that something was different. It took him a moment to realize what it was. His head didn’t hurt anymore. And after shaking off the initial grogginess after waking up, his mind was pretty clear. When he thought about it, he realized that he could still clearly remember all of his soldier memories, but they no longer confused him. He could tell the difference between them and his real memories, as clear as they were. It was a strange feeling, but it was one that he welcomed in favor of the chaos his mind had been the night before.

He looked down at Chiana who was still asleep in his arms. She looked so peaceful like that, he could almost fool himself into believing that everything was all right. “Chiana,” he said softly, trying to wake her up. “Chiana, wake up.”

She stirred a little before opening her eyes. Xander could see that her vision must have come back during the night. “Xander?” she said blearily.

“How do you feel?”

“Like dren,” she said, rubbing her face. She crawled out of Xander’s arms and stretched, sitting on the floor across from him. “But I’m alive.”

“What happened after they knocked me out in the hangar bay? Did they…what did they do to you?”

“They just roughed me up a little bit, gave me a rifle butt to the face when I didn’t move fast enough,” she said, indicating the bruise on her face. “I don’t think anything’s broken though. What about you?”

“They poked and prodded me a little in their med bay. Then I got the ‘This is Your Life’ treatment, courtesy of the Aurora chair.”

“Oh god, are you okay?”

“I was pretty out of it for a while, but I’m fine now. I wonder why they decided to put us in the same cell.”

“I don’t know,” Chiana said. She saw that Xander was looking at her strangely. “What?”

“I saw your eyes last night,” he said. “Why did you do it?”

“The lock on the cell door,” she said. “I wanted to see what the command sequence was to open it. I got it.”

“That’s not going to do us any good in here!” Xander snapped. “You can’t keep using your abilities Chiana, you know what’s going to happen. And what if someone saw you?”

“Hey, I was just trying to help, okay! It’s not going to matter if I’m blind or not if they execute us!”

Xander sat back against the wall and closed his eyes, blowing a frustrated breath out between his teeth. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I just don’t like you risking yourself like that.”

“Life is all about risk, Xander. Especially our lives. It was my choice.”

“I know,” he said solemnly. “You’re right. It’s just…seeing you like that last night, it got me scared.”

“I was scared too,” she admitted. “In fact, I still am.” She reached out and took Xander’s hand. “I just got you back, I’m not ready to die yet.”

“We’re not going to die,” Xander insisted.

“Then what are we going to do?”

“We’re going to get out of here. And we’re going to do it before Moya shows up.”

“How?”

Xander opened his mouth to answer, but stopped as he heard movement in the hall outside their cell. He rose to his feet, as did Chiana. “We’re going to wait for our moment,” he said. Outside of the cell they could see armed soldiers, getting ready to open the door. “You’re going to have to trust me, okay. Just sit tight, I’ll get us out of this, I promise.”

*

Xander once again found himself sitting in the Aurora chair, at the mercy of Commandant Grayza. But the circumstances were a little different this time. For one, Xander had his clothes back on. But the main difference was the attitudes of the people in the room. The first time around, Grayza was arrogant and superior, while Xander was tense and afraid. Grayza was more unsure this time, and angry. While Xander was calm and focused. Xander had survived the chair once, and given Grayza nothing she wanted. The balance of power had shifted. Grayza was someone who needed to be in absolute control of every situation, and she had lost some of that control. Xander had observed this much, and knew to exploit a weakness in his enemy when he saw it.

“So, here we are again,” Xander said, breaking the silence as Grayza worked at the chair’s controls. “You looking for more home movies? Don’t you Peace Keepers have more important things to worry about, like the Scarrens. You’d think that you have better things to do than root around in my head.”

“Oh, I consider what’s in your head to be very important, Mr. Harris,” Grayza answered.

“Well, I hope for your sake that you have better luck this time. I mean, this has got to be getting pretty embarrassing for you. A simple human like me, you should be able to crack my head open like a melon and scoop out whatever you want.”

Grayza walked out from behind the console and over to the chair, face to face with Xander. “I’m beginning to think that we’ve underestimated your race, and that you’re not nearly as simple as we thought. For instance, the implanted memories I discovered. Tell me, how can a simple backward species perfect a technology that has eluded Peace Keeper scientists for decades?”

“I’ll tell you if you tell me something. You’re in command of this ship, and the thousands of soldiers aboard, right? There’s just one thing that’s been bothering me since I met you.” Xander paused and Grayza raised her eyebrows in question. “Why are you dressed like a hooker?” Grayza frowned and stalked back to the console. “Don’t feel like chatting anymore?” Xander asked. “Was it something I saAAAAAAARGH!”

Grayza activated the chair, cutting Xander off in mid sentence. He continued screaming for a few more moments until the chair finished it’s first scan. The pain faded, and Xander tried to control his breathing.

“You can save us both a lot of time and pain if you just tell me what I want to know,” Grayza said.

“I told you, I don’t know where Moya is.”

“And I believe you,” Grayza said. “But that’s no longer what I want to know. I want to know about the implanted memories that you tried to hide from me yesterday, the soldier memories. I want to know how they were implanted.”

Xander actually smiled. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he said.

“Try me.”

Xander smiled again as he locked eyes with Grayza. “Magic.”

Grayza activated the chair again and Xander’s smile twisted into a grimace of pain. The chair cycled again, leaving Xander looking spent. A sheen of sweat covered his face, and his breathing was labored.

“Perhaps the Nebari knows,” Grayza said casually. “She may be able to tell me how you came to be traveling with their little group. And I’m guessing that she’s the one who knows where Moya is, or at least where and when you’re supposed to rendezvous with them. Maybe I should put her in the chair and, how did you say, crack her head open like a melon.”

“No.”

“No? You don’t like that idea? Well, I won’t have to do that if I get what I want from you. Tell me what you know about the technology used to implant these memories in your brain. Who did it? How was the problem with rejection solved?”

“I don’t know!” Xander shouted. “And even if I did I wouldn’t tell you squat!”

“Such a shame. We’ll just have to do this the hard way. The mind can only take so much abuse. You’ll break eventually,” Grayza said as she activated the chair again. Xander’s eyes screwed shut and he gripped the sides of the chair until his knuckles were white, resisting the urge to scream.

*

Hours later, Braca received a call that he was needed in the Aurora chair room. When he got there, before he could enter, Grayza came out.

“He’s unconscious,” the Commandant said. “Have him brought to my quarters.”

“Ma’am?”

“I think it’s time to try a new approach. You have your orders, Captain.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

*

Xander opened his eyes and shook his head to clear the fog. The after effects of the Aurora chair weren’t quite as severe as they had been the first time, but his head was still throbbing. He must have passed out while he was still in the chair, he realized. But as he looked around the room, he also realized that he was no longer in the Aurora chair, nor was he in his cell.

He was in some sort of extravagant bedchamber. Everywhere he looked, the walls were covered with paintings and tapestries. There was a huge, lush, canopy bed topped with pillows. The whole thing reminded him of an Arabian harem from one of those old movies. The bed specifically, which he was getting an extra close look at due to the fact that he was tied to it. His arms were spread apart, tied to the headboard with strips of fabric. He tested his bonds, but the material was strong and the knots tight. His shirt was missing, but his pants were still on. He spotted a dressing table not far from the bed, on top of which sat his shirt, his sword, and his gun belt.

“Ah, I see that you’re awake.”

Xander turned his head at the sound of the voice and his eyes rested upon a most unusual sight. It was Grayza, wearing a sheer white negligee, and nothing else. The neckline was almost identical to what he had seen her wearing before, only now her arms and legs were exposed too. The bottom of the garment only went down to her mid-thigh.

Xander’s face scrunched in confusion. “First you strap me into that brain sucking way-back machine, and now…” he was at a loss for words. “I have to say, you Peace Keepers sure have a wide variety of interrogation techniques.”

“This isn’t an interrogation, Xander,” Grayza said, walking closer to the bed. “I just wanted to talk to you someplace more private. There’s no reason for us to be enemies, we both want the same thing.”

“You want to kill me and all of my friends. I want to get off this ship and never see you again as long as I live. I’m afraid I don’t see how that’s the same thing.”

“We both want to stop a war, any way we can,” Grayza said. She climbed up onto the bed and onto Xander, straddling him.

“And tying me to your bed is going to accomplish that how exactly?”

“Don’t play dumb with me Xander,” she said, tracing her finger along his chest. “We both know you’re not. I want the key to the memory implantation technology that’s in your brain.”

“And if you get it, what will you do with it?”

“Use it, of course. We could take the memories and experiences of our greatest soldiers, and implant them into all of our troops. We’ll have an army of super soldiers, and an edge against the Scarrens.”

“I thought your job was to find diplomatic solutions to the Scarren problem,” Xander said. “Isn’t that why the High Command sent you to put the kybosh on Scorpius’ wormhole project?”

“I am seeking diplomatic solutions. But we can’t come to the negotiation table from a position weakness. The Scarrens will see it for what it is, a last resort effort to avert a war. And they will strike, taking advantage of our desperation. No, the only thing those animals understand is power, strength. We have to show them that we are not afraid of war.”

“So why kill the wormhole project?”

“It was a futile effort. The results, if any, would have come far too late to be of any use to us against the Scarrens.”

Xander nodded, understanding. “But new alliances, those can be forged quickly. Say, with the Luxans for example.”

“Yes, but with an army of enhanced soldiers, we won’t have to waste time negotiating with potential allies. We can simply…annex their worlds.”

“You mean conquer them,” Xander said.

“Semantics,” Grayza said. “Sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”

“For the Peace Keepers greater good you mean.”

“Of course.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?”

“As a gesture of friendship, and trust. That’s why I’ve brought your weapons here,” she said, gesturing toward the dressing table where Hero and Naomi sat. “As I said, we don’t have to be enemies. I’m giving you an opportunity here to help prevent a war.”

“And after trying and failing to remove the information with force, you think that you can just ask nicely and I’ll turn it over?”

Grayza smiled as she ran her thumb down her own chest. “Something like that,” she said, taking that same hand and caressing Xander’s cheek with it, being careful to make sure her thumb passed under his nose.

Xander thought about what she had said. It was true, he did want to prevent this war. And he truly believed that she wanted to prevent it as well. But at what cost, that was the question. How many innocents would die if she got what she wanted, and the Peace Keepers became even more powerful than they already were. Was it worth it? It didn’t exactly fit with the vision of the future that Jules had told him, one where the Peace Keeper regime fell and was replaced with a civilian Sebecean government. How could that happen if the military became even stronger than they already were? But he wasn’t supposed to think about that, he wasn’t supposed to let his knowledge of the future sway his judgment. He was supposed to trust his instincts, and his instincts told him not to trust this woman as far as Rygel could throw her.

It was at that moment, right as Xander was about to tell her to go frell herself, that he began to feel very strange. His head was swimming, his pulse racing, and his skin was warming up. He was suddenly very aware of the feel of Grayza’s bare thighs against his abdomen as she straddled him. He felt an incredible urge move through him, an urge to feel her body against his own. His arms moved, like they had a will of their own, pulling against their bonds. Something deep within him, something animalistic growled. It was need. Pure, unadulterated need, that’s what he was feeling. He needed her unlike he had ever needed anything before.

She sat there, smiling down at him, not an inkling of surprise on her face by his actions. After a few seconds, his arms fell back down again and his eyes clothes. His head tossed back and forth for a moment, his teeth clenched. Finally, his eyes opened again and locked onto Grayza’s.

“Untie me,” he growled.

Grayza just smiled as she climbed off of him and walked over to the dressing table. She picked up his sword and carried it over to the bed. She cut his first hand free, and then reached over his body to cut the other. As soon as both his hands were free, Xander grabbed her and flipped her over so that he was on top of her. She yelped with surprise as the sword clattered to the ground. His arms pinned hers to the bed as he looked down at her. After a few seconds, he took one of her hands and lifted it up to the fabric that still hung from the headboard, wrapping the material around her wrist.

“What are you doing?” she asked, slightly alarmed.

Xander smiled. “We’re going to see just how much you trust me, Mele-On. Call it…a test of faith.”

*

Grayza wasn’t worried. She knew how powerful her pheromones were, no man could resist her. Xander tied both of her wrists tightly before climbing off of her. He grabbed a pillow off the bed and took the case off of it, ripping it into strips. He used the fabric to tie her ankles to the footboard. Then, he disappeared from her view. Her range of motion was limited, and she couldn’t see where he had gone. She was starting to get nervous when she spotted him walking back around the bed, his shirt and gun belt on.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

Xander didn’t answer, he just put his foot up on the bed as he fastened the bottom of his holster around his leg. He leaned down and picked his sword up off the floor and slid it into the scabbard on his back.

Now Grayza was getting worried. “Untie me!” she demanded.

“Sorry Mele-On, no can do. Whatever mojo you put on me, it didn’t work,” Xander said. “I’ve considered your offer, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to turn you down. You’re right, I do want to prevent this war just as much as you do. But I’m not going to choose one evil over another to do it, that’s no choice at all.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

“I don’t think so. I’ve made enough in my life to know the difference.”

The Commandant growled in frustration and fought against her bindings. “This is impossible! No man can resist me!”

Xander just smirked as he picked up another strip of fabric and moved toward the head of the bed. “I hate to bruise your fragile ego, but I was faking it. Now open wide.” Xander tied the fabric around her head, forcing the makeshift gag into her mouth. “I hate to leave you like this, half naked and tied to your own bed for one of your lackeys to find you. Then again, the way you run this boat, that might not be a problem. See you in the funny papers.”

And with that, Xander headed for the door. Grayza struggled and yelled, but Xander ignored her as he stepped cautiously into the corridor.

Now, he had a real problem. He had memorized the route between his cell and the Aurora chair room, and he was pretty sure that Chiana could get them from the cell to the hangar bay. But he had been unconscious when they took him to Grayza’s quarters, and he now had no idea where he was.

*

Xander stalked through the corridors of the ship, looking for anything that looked familiar. He resisted the urge to run, he didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself. He walked briskly, keeping his posture forceful, like he belonged there and had nothing to worry about. For the most part it worked, he passed a few people in the halls who didn’t give him a second look. But then as he was rounding one corner, he ran into two of the armored security personnel. The same guys he had fought in the Hangar bay, and who had transported him to and from his cell. They wore helmets with visors, and light body armor. They recognized him immediately.

“Hey, what are you doing out here?” one of them demanded, grabbing his shoulder.

“Commandant Grayza asked me to get her something to eat from the galley,” Xander answered. “She’s…a little tied up at the moment.”

He had about a half a second to decide whether or not these goons were buying it. He couldn’t risk them calling reinforcements, or setting off some kind of alarm. If they found out he was loose, he wouldn’t stand a chance. The guard looked at his companion, and then back to Xander. He could see it in their eyes, they weren’t buying it. Xander knocked the guard’s hand off his shoulder with his right hand, and swung his left with everything he had. He caught the guard in the chin, dazing him. Then he grabbed his shoulders and used him to pivot, kicking the other one square in the chest and knocking him down. He drew his pistol and fired at the one on the ground before he had a chance to get up, striking him in the neck. It was the most obvious weak spot of the armor that Xander had noticed the first time he laid eyes on these sentries. Their lower face and neck was completely exposed.

Xander sung the blaster around to the other guard, but he wasn’t fast enough. The guard knocked the weapon out of his hand. He grabbed Xander by both shoulders, digging his thumbs into the pressure points of the upper arm, trying to take him down. Xander grabbed his arms and planted his foot in his stomach. He rolled backwards and flipped him over behind him. He got back to his feet as quickly as he could. He had about a second before the guard got up again and drew his own pulse pistol. Naomi was too far out of reach, so he drew his sword. The second weakness in the armor that he had noticed, the first day they brought him to the Aurora chair, was the gap between the chest plate and the back plate. It was wide enough to slide a sword into. He lunged forward and plunged the sword into the man’s side as he was still getting up. He tried to angle the sword upwards, to puncture the lungs and keep the guy from screaming as he died. He must have hit his mark, because he didn’t make a sound as he fell dead to the deck.

Xander pulled his sword out, and quickly looked around to make sure no one else was around. Seeing that the corridor was empty, he grabbed each guard by the arm, and slowly dragged them into a small supply closet that he passed earlier. The door slid shut as he got the bodies inside. A minute later, it slid open again to reveal a man in an armored chest plate and helmet, with a sword on his back. He picked his fallen pulse pistol off the floor and slid it back into his holster before flipping the visor on the helmet down to hide his eyes and continuing his way down the hall.

*

Chiana was sitting in the cell, worrying about Xander, when she heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hall at a fast pace. She looked up at the door in time to see a face in a sentry’s helmet looking through the small window in the door into the cell.

“He’s not in here dren-for-brains!” she spat. “You guys took him this morning, remember?”

The man flipped up his visor. “My name is Luke Skywalker, and I’m here to rescue you.”

“Xander!” Chiana exclaimed, on her feet in an instant and bounding toward the door. “How did you get free?”

“Long story and not enough time to tell it. I’ve already been missing for a half an arn, and we have to get to the hangar bay.”

“Half an arn? What took you so long?”

“Excuse me, okay! There aren’t exactly any maps around here, and I was unconscious when they took me to Grayza’s quarters.”

“Grayza’s quarters? How did you…”

“Will you just give me the code to open this door, we’re on the clock here!”

“Right, sorry.” She told him the sequence to open the door, and he typed the commands into the controls panel. The lock clicked and the door slid open. Chiana ran out and wrapped Xander in a big hug. Xander hugged her back.

“What do you say we get the hell out of here?” he said. “We’ve got an appointment to keep.”

“Yeah, let’s go home.”

*

Xander let Chiana lead the way to the Hangar bay. He kept his visor down and Naomi out, pretending to be just another guard transporting a prisoner. No one gave them a second look the whole way there. Once they got there though, they had a whole new problem. There were two armed guards standing at the entrance of the Hangar bay. They stopped Xander and Chiana when they tried to enter.

“This is a high security area, I’ll need to see your clearance soldier.”

“Since when is the hangar a high security area?” Xander asked.

“There’s an alien craft in there, being studied by the techs. Captain Braca ordered the extra security.”

“I’ve got one of the prisoners here from that craft,” Xander said. “She’s agreed to show the techs how the ship works in exchange for a merciful death. Commandant Grayza ordered me to escort her down here. She didn’t say anything about a security clearance.”

“Braca probably never told Grayza about it,” the other guard said.

The first guard nodded. “Okay, go ahead in. But keep a close eye on her.”

Xander nodded. “Will do.”

They stepped inside and Xander took a second to look around. There were several entrances and exits throughout the room, as well as on the observation tier above. There were a few Prowlers in the bay along with the DeLorean. Xander could see several Peace Keepers hovering around the time machine, and some equipment sitting next to it. There were also about a dozen guards spread throughout the room, milling around and trying not to look bored.

Xander and Chiana walked up to the DeLorean. “The prisoner has decided to cooperate,” he announced to the techs.

One of them looked up and smiled. “Excellent. Can you tell us how to deactivate this defensive shield?”

“Oh sure, that’s easy,” Chiana said, walking around to the passenger side while Xander stayed next to the driver’s side. All of the techs had their eyes on Chiana, so they didn’t see Xander take a small device from his gun belt and point it at the car. “Computer, deactivate shield,” Chiana said. Xander pressed the button on the remote and the shield went down. “Now, let me show you how the doors work.”

“Oh, I bet I can figure it out,” Xander said. Before anyone had time to object, they both grabbed the door handles on the doors and opened them quickly, catching a few of the closest techs in the face with the doors. “Oh, sorry about that,” Xander said, before he drew his pulse pistol and started firing.

He caught a few of the techs in the arms and legs, the rest scurried. He and Chiana got into the DeLorean and closed the doors quickly, activating the shield again. Immediately, the shield lit up as it started taking weapons fire. “That shield isn’t going to hold for long, it’s only a deflector shield, it isn’t meant to protect against energy weapons.” Xander was already starting to power up the engines as he talked. He took his helmet off and dropped it between the seats.

“How are you planning on getting the hangar doors open?” Chiana asked.

“I’m not.” Chiana didn’t get a chance to ask him what he meant before he pulled back on the wheel and the car lurched into the air. “Time to give these guys second thoughts about their career choice.”

The DeLorean turned, staying low to the deck, and started flying straight toward the closest group of soldiers firing at it. They jumped out of the way before the ship collided with any of them. The time machine turned before it hit the wall and headed toward another group. Pretty soon it was bobbing and weaving throughout the whole bay, making anyone think twice about firing on it.

Finally Xander had enough and maneuvered the ship against the far wall of the bay. “How big do you think this room is?” he asked Chiana.

Chiana looked at him confused. “What? I don’t know, a hundred metras by fifty maybe. Why?”

“Okay, assuming a metra is close to a meter, that sounds about right,” Xander said to himself. “If I do it corner to corner I should have enough room.”

“Xander, what are you…no. No, you can’t be thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

“It’s the only chance we have. They’re not going to open the doors for us, and if they keep firing on us like this, they’ll eventually bring us down.”

“If the shields on this thing are so weak, why didn’t they just blast through them when they were trying to get inside?”

“Probably because they didn’t want to damage it. It’s not like they thought we’d be able to escape.”

“This is crazy!”

“We have plenty of room to get up to eighty-eight…I think.”

“And if you’re wrong? We’ll be splattered across the wall of the hangar! Grayza won’t have to put you in the Aurora chair to study your brain, she can scrape it off the wall and get a real good look.”

“Enough! Look, if we stay here, we’re as good as dead, and so is the rest of the universe. We can make it, trust me.”

Chiana nodded. “Okay, I trust you,” she said as she pulled the double shoulder harness seat belt over her shoulders and buckled it.

“Okay, I’m going to have to charge the impulse drive a little higher than I’m supposed to in order to build up enough power for the speed burst I need. But don’t worry, I’ll have plenty of time before it overloads.” Chiana’s eyes went wide at the word ‘overload’, but she held her tongue. “Impulse drive powering up,” Xander said, typing commands into the console over his head. “Destination entered, time circuits on.”

He reached into his shirt and pulled out his amulet. He gave it a kiss before crossing himself, the way he learned in church when he was a kid. “Just in case,” he muttered with a shrug when Chiana looked at him. She tried to duplicate the move. “Close enough.”

“Warning, impulse reactor reaching critical mass,” the electronic voice of the computer warned.

“Okay, here goes everything,” Xander said. He offered his hand to Chiana, who took it readily and squeezed. Xander said a silent prayer in his head, and pushed his foot down on the accelerator.

The ship lurched forward as the impulse engines roared to life. The second that it took for the inertial dampeners to compensate was enough to thrust them both back into their seats. Xander watched the speedometer climb higher and higher, while Chiana watched the far wall get closer and closer. And just when it seemed like they were about to crash, Chiana screamed and covered her face with her arm.

But the moment passed. Chiana’s scream faded. And when she peeked out from above her arm, all she saw in front of them was open space. “We…we’re alive?” she asked, not sure she could trust her own eyes.

“We’re alive,” Xander reassured.

“It worked?”

“It worked.”

Chiana’s face broke into a relieved smile. “It worked!” she said, excitedly. She reached across the middle of the two seats and pulled Xander into a hug. “You did it,” she said. “I never doubted you for a microt.”

“Oh, really?” Xander asked with a smile, pulling away from the hug. “What about all that stuff about Grayza scraping my brains off the wall?”

“Okay, maybe a microt. Forgive me?”

“Of course.”

Chiana smiled and hugged him again. She pulled back a little bit, then leaned in and kissed him. Xander was a little surprised at first, but after a second he started kissing her back.

“John to Xander, Xander do you copy?” John’s voice came through the comm. system and Xander and Chiana broke apart.

“They always interrupt just when it starts getting good,” she muttered to herself.

Xander smiled. “Yeah, we’re here John.”

“I guess you were right, you did make it back before we knew it. It’s only been five minutes. How long has it been for you guys?”

“About two days,” Xander answered.

“Two days? What happened down there?”

“I’ll fill you in once we’re aboard.”

“Okay, hangar doors are open and ready.”

“Roger that,” Xander said, maneuvering the ship back toward Moya. “We’re on our way home.”




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