The Peacekeeper Wars, part 2
As gas pumps into the Scarran cell, Scorpius confirms that it's flammable, Sikozu uses her pyrokinesis to light the gas on fire and blow the doors open, and the group grab weapons and start fighting their way towards the exit. At the same time, D'Argo, Chiana, Jothee and the Luxan commando team use Lo'La's targeting data to disable the Decimator before boarding. The two groups head towards each other, and during this time, the baby enters its second quadmester and they transfer it back into Aeryn. The two teams meet up, return to the Luxan ship, get back to Moya and starburst away before the Decimator can restore functions. The Luxan commandos head off, but Jothee decides to stay on Moya and help the crew. Meanwhile, on Grayza's command carrier, she assumes temporary command of the Peacekeeper Battle Group after Maryk's death, and sets course for Qujaga. And on the Decimator, Ahkna receives word from her spy that Qujaga is populated by more Eidolons; fearing more of their "trickery", Staleek redirects a Scarran armada with orders to kill every single Eidolon.
Sikozu is growing impatient that she and Scorpius haven't begun "imposing their agenda" on Crichton, but Scorpius believes that the pressure on him and the impending birth of his child will soon force him to yield. Sure enough, Crichton leaves Moya in his module, visits Einstein and requests the knowledge to build wormhole weapons. Einstein grants the request, and when Crichton returns to Moya, Scorpius and the rest immediately realise what he's done. Aeryn is pissed that he's lost faith in their plan to use the Eidolons and that he'd make a decision this immense without consulting her. Half crazed with the knowledge, Crichton is determined to make peace and make the galaxy safe for his family, whether that means using the Eidolons or using the wormhole weapon. He asks for Pilot and Moya's help in constructing the apparatus and Pilot is initially hesitant about helping to build something that could kill tens of thousands, but a later conversation with Aeryn turns him around.
Moya comes out of starburst in orbit around Qujaga — and in the crossfire of an all-out battle between Peacekeeper and Scarran fleets. To avoid being shot, Moya descends into the atmosphere and into the ocean, not stopping until she reaches the ocean floor. Water floods in through the hull breaches caused by the Tragan harpoons and the crossfire, and Stark panics and runs off. The crew search for him, and it's D'Argo who finds him in one of the maintenance bays. They're almost drowned by a wall of water flooding in, but the rest of the crew manage to revive the pair. Crichton realises that Stark's "light" has changed colour as a result of absorbing the knowledge of the Eidolons. It starts to affect Stark, calming his psyche, and he says that he's not afraid anymore. D'Argo and Chiana get a chance to talk about what they plan on doing after the war is over. D'Argo wants to go with Rygel to Hyneria and start his farm, and this time, Chiana is ready to go with him.
The crew make one of the transport pods watertight and head for the Qujagan city, leaving Moya to recuperate on the ocean floor. Meanwhile, Emperor Staleek's Decimator arrives in orbit, and he sends Ahkna to personally hunt down Crichton and bring back his head. In the city, the crew make contact with Braca, who has a squad of Peacekeeper soldiers and is defending one of the few groups of Eidolons that haven't been slaughtered by the Scarran or Charrid squads that are roaming the city. They also find Grunchlk and the Diagnosian, and hole up with Braca's Peacekeeper squad to defend the Eidolons while Moya recuperates, which will take until the morning. Stark imparts the knowledge of the Eidolons to Muoma, the Qujagan leader, and she begins to teach the others, while elsewhere in the city, Noranti, Jothee and his Luxan commando squad rescue another group of Eidolons (at least one hundred) and get them out on the Luxan ship. At this point, Aeryn's water breaks and she starts going into labour as Ahkna orders the Charrids to begin their attack, having recieved word from her spy that it's where Crichton is. The Diagnosian helps with Aeryn's labour, but he's shot by the Charrids and Chiana takes over, followed by Crichton. Scorpius takes Sikozu on what he claims is a recon mission, but really he throws her out of their fortified position, having realised that she's the Scarran spy. In the moments before the baby is born, Aeryn asks Stark to finally marry her and Crichton: he does, and they deliver the baby, a healthy boy.
As the morning approaches, the group (now one bigger with Crichton and Aeryn's son) blast their way out of the siege. Ahkna orders the Charrids to fall back and ambush them in the street. The Charrids manage to pin the group down, but Jothee's ship provides some cover for the group to move and break the ambush: Aeryn kills Ahkna personally. However, a Scarran manages to stab D'Argo, and the wound is fatal: he can't make it to the crew's rendezvous with Moya, and volunteers to hold off the Charrids while the others escape. Aeryn, Rygel and Stark say their silent but no less heartfelt goodbyes. Crichton and D'Argo reaffirm their strange and awesome friendship:
Chiana says her last goodbyes, wishing they could go to Hyneria together, and D'Argo gives her his Qualta Blade. Crichton has to drag Chiana away as the Scarrans approach, leaving D'Argo with a pair of blaster rifles and some very clear instructions:
As the crew head to their rendezvous, D'Argo makes his last stand.
As the sun rises, the crew make their rendezvous at a cliff overlooking the rest of the city. Moya, having recovered enough from her water landing, flies over the city and deploys the docking web, and as she swoops in over the rendezvous, the crew leap off the cliff and land in the web. Moya heads back out into space, but she's too damaged to flee the battle. As Crichton scrambles for something to do, he walks into command and discovers the wormhole weapon apparatus, built to his specifications by the DRDs. Pilot is still wary about using it, but he's even more distraught when he learns that D'Argo is dead.
As Scorpius looks on gleefully and the rest watch with apprehension, Crichton uses the apparatus to create the wormhole weapon in the middle of the Peacekeeper and Scarran fleets. As first it's tiny, but every few seconds it doubles in size and in its black hole-like effects. Once it's begun to grow, Crichton opens a comm channel to Staleek on the Decimator and Grayza on the command carrier.
None of the ships in range of the weapon are able to escape its pull. It quickly grows large enough to destroy several Peacekeeper and Scarran ships, and then starts to pull Qujaga apart. Even Scorpius realises just how insanely destructive the wormhole weapon is when Crichton claims that it'll grow large enough to destroy the entire galaxy, and possibly the whole universe. Crichton's demands are simple: he wants Grayza and Staleek to agree to a peace accord, the signing of which is to be presided over by the Eidolons. If they don't, he won't stop the wormhole weapon, but either way, the war will be over. Grayza and Staleek don't think Crichton will go through with his threat, but Aeryn and the rest of the crew support him completely. Reluctantly, Grayza and Staleek agree, and Crichton gets in the apparatus. He manages to stop the wormhole weapon, but as he does, Einstein appears, reaching into Crichton's mind and removing his wormhole knowledge. The experience sends Crichton into a coma that the others can't wake him from.
Later, the peace treaty is signed aboard Moya, with both the Eidolons and an extremely satisfied Scorpius watching over the proceedings. Chiana decides she's going to go to Hyneria with Rygel anyway and offers D'Argo's Qualta blade to Jothee, but he doesn't take it. Stark visits Crichton, who is still in a coma, and reveals that since his experience on Qujaga, his "light" is gone:
In Crichton's mind, he has a final conversation with Harvey, who is auto-deleting now that his objective of seizing the wormhole knowledge is impossible. Finally, Aeryn visits the comatose Crichton and places their son in his arms: it finally wakes Crichton up.
Crichton and Aeryn take their son up to Moya's observation deck for a naming ceremony.
And with that, Moya flies off into the stars.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Scorpius is quite willing to beg to get what he wants.
- Altar the Speed: In the middle of labor, Aeryn demands that Stark marry her and John before she delivers. Stark performs a very quick ceremony that consists of asking them if they love each other and want to be married forever.
- Apocalypse How: During the final battle, the activation wormhole weapon results in an on-screen Class X one as the planet Qujaga is completely torn apart and swallowed. Crichton claims that left unchecked it will result in a Class X-3 and maybe even a Class X-4.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The Scarrans, the Peacekeepers, Scorpius, even several members of Moya's crew, were all so determined for one reason or another to obtain and use the wormhole weapon. They learn better when finally faced with it.
- Big Damn Heroes: Jothee and Co.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Explosions can be heard as Aeryn gives birth and straight after, John gets up (followed soon by Aeryn) and starts the killing again. D'Argo ends up sacrificing himself so the others can escape shortly afterwards. John and Aeryn end up naming the baby after him in tribute.
- Bond One-Liner: "It's a boy, in case you were wondering."
- Continuity Nod: Not the first time Crichton has told D'Argo to tell someone who his daddy is.
- Dead Guy Junior: Crichton and Aeryn name their son after D'Argo.
- Delivery Guy: Chiana is conscripted to help Aeryn with her labor despite her vehement protests that she doesn't want anything to do with "narls". Crichton takes over for the actual delivery and seems to have slightly more idea of how to handle it than Chiana did.
- Despair Event Horizon: Played with. Chiana after D'Argo dies believes she's crossed this. When she suggests to Rygel that she doesn't care what she does to him, he believes she still does, suggesting that in his opinion she hasn't yet.
- Express Delivery: Once the baby is transferred back to Aeryn the pregnancy accelerates from barely showing to near delivery in roughly a day.
- Face Death with Dignity: All of Moya's crew, perhaps most surprisingly Rygel.
- Fearless Infant: Crichton and Aeryn's baby is totally silent during the fire-fight that occurs during and just after his birth. He only starts to fuss once there's a lull in the shooting. Lampshaded by Aeryn.
- Horrifying the Horror: Scarrans and Peacekeepers alike are so completely and utterly horrified at that sheer destructive power of the wormhole weapon Crichton unleashes, that as soon as they realize he is not bluffing about letting it run it course, they agree to end their war right then and there.
- Human Shield / Implacable Man: Scorpius uses his own body to defend Crichton, walking slowly down the hall.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Chiana explains that she needs raslak during Aeryn's labour, presumably for medicinal reasons. She then begins to down the bottle herself.
- Ignored Expert: Crichton has spent the entire miniseries warning everyone of the destructive capability of wormholes. When it's finally demonstrated, he rubs it in some faces before apologizing to Aeryn that it came to this.
- Instant Birth: Just Add Labor!: Aeryn shows no signs of labor until her water breaks and gives birth shortly afterwards. She indicates that Sebaccean labor is usually much faster than this, and that if her child wasn't part-human she'd have delivered already. She's not pleased when Crichton tells her that human deliveries can take a lot longer.Crichton: On Earth it can last days.
Aeryn: I have killed men for less! - Irony: After the initial suspicions of so many, especially Chiana, it turns out they were right about Sikozu's Turncoat nature...but The Reveal happens just between her and Scorpius, and the only one who receives any hint as to the truth onscreen is Braca.
- Killer Finale: D'Argo ultimately meets his end in a Last Stand.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: While this applies to both sides of the Evil vs. Evil front, it's Grayza who surprisingly (or perhaps not) folds first.
- Literal Genie: John technically makes a wormhole weapon, exactly as he's promised, but rather than just creating a weapon to destroy Scarran ships like the last wormhole weapon we saw, he creates one which could destroy entire civilisations; Scarran, Peacekeeper, innocent civilians and all if left unchecked.
- Maternity Crisis: Aeryn goes into labor just as the final standoff against the Scarrans begins.
- The Mole: Sikozu, out of a misguided belief that the Scarrans would free her people if she helped them. Presumably this occurred after the death of the resistance bioloid in Part 3 of "We're So Screwed", but this is never confirmed.
- More Dakka: Staleek's response to the wormhole situation is to increase fire power.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If the Scarrans had just left our heroes locked in their cell instead of trying to kill them with flammable gas, they may never have gotten out.
- Pregnant Badass: Aeryn and, though not quite to the same extent, Grayza.Aeryn (during labour): Shooting makes me feel better.
- Premortem One Liner / Defiant to the End: "I'm your daddy."
- Red Herring: Grunchlk as The Mole for the Scarrans; in the end he only assisted them in the past for money, while it was actually Sikozu (who, conspicuously enough, was the first to posit the notion of a spy in their midst) who betrayed them now.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Sikozu, though she does survive.
- Rule of Three: Stark attempts to marry Crichton and Aeryn three times. First he uses a Sheyang prayer for the dead. Then he uses a Delvian puberty rite. Then he gets it right.
- Screaming Birth: As if fending off Scarrans isn't bad enough, Aeryn goes through this.
- Shout-Out: Crichton claims that Woody Allen's "War and Peace" is better than Tolstoy's. This is a reference to the 1975 comedy Love and Death. Also, the scene with Harvey at the end is a clear (in-universe) Shout-Out to 2001: A Space Odyssey (and he mentions his second choice was Dr. Strangelove).
- Writers Cannot Do Math: Averted with Crichton's explanation of how the wormhole was growing. 1 penny doubled 27 times really would be worth $1m ($1,342,177.28 to be exact).
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When Scorpius attacks Sikozu. Played with as it's implied that he's genuinely feeling betrayed and only used this as an excuse.Sikozu: How long have you known?Scorpius: Long enough for you to service my desires. Unfortunately, your desires no longer serve my needs!
