Rainbow's End
A Xiaodan Story 
By Katrinka


//Is this death?//

Tarrant woke. He was lying on a soft bed, on sheets made from
 organic cloth. He looked around. There were instruments on
 the walls, medic's instruments. He could hear the faint hum of engines.

//I'm in a med unit, on a space ship.//
//A way out.//
//Perhaps.....//
The cold steel of the knife that Tarrant kept hidden in his 
left boot pressed against his calf.
//If only I could get the chance.//
//Why would they bring me here, and leave my clothes on?//

Memories of what happened on Guada Prime came flooding back 
to him. He saw Avon kill Blake. He saw the girl called Arlen
 telling them that she was a Federation officer. He saw Dayna
 reach for her gun to kill Arlen. He could still remember the
 shot, and her falling into his arms, and dying as he held her.
//I never told you that I loved you.//

Tarrant then remembered the first time that he had met Dayna. 
She was wearing a short white dress that left one arm bare.
He had been attracted to her exotic beauty. Tarrant had fallen
 deeply in love with her from a distance, and after a time, they
 had become lovers. Dayna had broken up with him after the
 events on Virn. Tarrant thought she would never forgive him.
 Eventually she did, and they had been together the last two 
weeks before they went to Guada Prime.

//I never had the chance to tell you that I love you.//
//Now I never will.//

Tarrant's face hurt. He guessed the pain came from the 
injuries he had sustained when he crash landed Scorpio. 
He reached up to touch his face. His fingers hit bandages.
 Gently his fingers explored his face. 

//What happened to me?//

Soolin came into the med unit. She had an air of authority 
that Tarrant found repulsive. She was also wearing a Federation 
uniform.

"So your the one that betrayed us." Tarrant said coolly.

"If you had ran a complete check on my background, you would
 have known I couldn't be trusted." Soolin smiled.

"Orac said that the Federation archives had no record of your
 existence."

"You should have checked under my full name, Soolin Sleer."

"So your Servalan's sister." Tarrant sighed. "I'm not surprised."

"I was surprised you didn't recognize me. We *where* at Space
 Command together."

"You looked a lot different then. Did you have face 
reconstruction?"

"Do you like it?" 

"I was quite fond of your previous look."

"I only had the surgery for this assignment. I couldn't run 
the risk of anyone recognizing me." A hint of a smile played 
at her lips. "Didn't you ever wonder why Servalan was one step
 ahead of the Scorpio?"

//Cold//
//Ruthless//
//Exactly like her sister.//
//I can't believe I ever trusted her.//
//Why was I mad enough to believe that her sharing Servalan's 
sisters name was only coincidence?//

"What about Guada Prime?" Tarrant asked.

"It was a trap designed to catch Avon and destroy the 
rebellion. How many people will leave the cause because
 Avon killed Blake?"

"You want me to join you." Tarrant guessed.

"After what happened on Virn, you proved that you had no loyalty 
for the Scorpio crew."

"Why should I have loyalty to a group of people that kept 
me around for the sole purpose of flying their ship?"
 Tarrant asked bitterly.

//If I get the chance I will kill Soolin.//
//Even unarmed she is dangerous.//
//She's one of the best fighters in the galaxy.//
//She could kill me before I had a chance to get at her.//

"How do you feel?" Soolin asked.

"My face hurts." he confessed.

"It will for awhile." Soolin pressed a hypospray against 
Tarrant's neck and pressed the trigger. Suddenly the side 
of his face went numb. "Does that help?"

Tarrant nodded. "What happened to me?"

"Don't you remember?" 

"Should I?" he countered.

"I want you to be my second-in-command." Soolin said, not
 answering the question.

"I'm a wanted criminal."

"You where once a Starship captain. I need someone 
I trust to help me."

"What if I refuse?"

"Then I will give you to my sister." Soolin smiled. "I trust 
you won't do that."

"How large is the crew?" Tarrant feigned ignorance.

"I have a crew of four, but fully crewed, this ship holds fifty.
 It's a Federation prototype. It's designed to go four times the 
speed of a Starburst class ship."

"I think I'll join you." 

"What about the resistance?" 

"The resistance is ran by madmen and fools. I would like
 to be on the winning side, and obviously the Federation 
*will* win."

Soolin took a bottle out of the cabinet and poured two drinks.
 She handed Tarrant one and sat on the edge of the bed. 

"Avon was in the possession of Servalan. He was excuted soon 
after his arrest, as an example."

"He deserved to be tortured to death."

"I agree, but my sister didn't. She's declared herself empress."

"Again?"

"She regained her former status right before we went to 
Guada Prime." 

"Was Vila killed?" 

"Vila will be sold to someone living on the outer rim. He 
will finally learn to keep his place, as a slave."

"What happened to Dayna?"

"I let my crew have their way with her. What was left after they 
where done was destroyed."

Images of Dayna flashed through Tarrant's mind. 

//I will avenge you Dayna.//

"Do you believe that I actually thought you loved her?" Soolin 
continued. "Though if you really cared for the girl, you 
wouldn't have jumped into Servalan's bed the first chance
 you got. There is no accounting for taste."

"You didn't approve?" Tarrant asked seductively.

"I can warm your bed much better then my ice queen sister."

"I never knew you where interested."

"You where wrong." Soolin traced a line down Tarrant's chest.
 Tarrant took her into his arms and kissed her. 

The intercom suddenly beeped. 

"Duty calls." Soolin reached over and punched the intercom button. 

"Commander Soolin, there is a call for you from Empress Servalan." 

"I'll take it." Soolin sighed.

"You will bring Tarrant to me." Servalan's voice ordered.

"What do you need with another bond slave?"

"He is still young, I have puppeteers that will shape him
 into becoming my top aid."

"Have you seen his face? He isn't pleasant to look at."

"I have the best surgeons working for me. They will reshape
 his face into it's former likeness."

"You just want him in your bed." Soolin accused.

"of course."

"He's as good in bed as you said he would be." 

"You have been with rebel scum too long. You will obey me,
 or I will have you destroyed. Do I make myself clear?"

"Where do you want me to bring Tarrant?" Soolin sighed.

"You will deliver him to my presidential palace. You 
have three days." Servalan ordered.

Soolin released the buttoned settled back into Tarrant's
 arms. "my sister wants me to give you to her."

"Will you?"

"Do you want me too?"

"Of course I don't."

"I should be in power. I am a much better officer then she 
ever was. The moment I got any power she sent me to spy 
on Dorian. She never expected me to return." Soolin said bitterly.

"We could do something about Servalan."

"Like what?"

"Use your imagination." Tarrant kissed Soolin and eased
 her down onto her back. 

"If I became president, would you run Space command for me?" 
Soolin asked.

"I would be honored." 

"Power is the most important thing there is." Soolin kissed him.
 As she did, Tarrant eased the knife out of his boot. Tarrant
 then stabbed Soolin though the heart. he got off of her body, 
and whiped the knife on the sheet, and put it back in the
 hiding place in his boot. 

Tarrant tried to open the door, but found it locked. He knew 
that Soolin's back up would be here in a few movements. He
 pressed himself up against the wall. 

The door opened, a Federation guard came in carrying a gun. "I 
came as soon as the transmission stopped."

Tarrant hit the guard hard in the arm. The guard dropped
 the gun, and Tarrant caught it. He turned and shot the guard. 
The guard fell to the floor.

Tarrant stepped over the crumpled body and went into the 
hallway. A guard came out of a room and saw Tarrant. She 
reached for her gun. Tarrant shot her.

He guessed that the only two left would be the pilot and co-pilot. 

Tarrant slipped down the hallway carrying his gun. He found the
 main control room and went inside.

The co-pilot glanced up to him. "hey! Who are you?"

Tarrant shot her. 

The pilot drew his gun and shot Tarrant in the arm. 
As he fell, Tarrant shot the pilot twice.

Tarrant examined his arm. He had only been nicked. He then
 checked the sensors to see if anyone else was alive. he 
touched a button that gave him a layout of the ship. Soolin 
had been right, this was a prototype.
//A Federation Prototype.//
//So fast that the Fed's can't catch me.//
//I will call it the Goldhawk, the Tealian sign for vengeance.//
//I will avenge you Dayna.//

The security station indicated that the ship contained top 
secret cargo. He decided to go down and investigate. 
In the first hold, Tarrant found Slave, almost completely intact. 
The second had ORAC with the key inside it. Also the Scorpio stardrive. 

Tarrant bent down to examine the Stardrive. For the first time, 
he was able to see his face in the reflection of the outer casing.
 his head had been shaved bald, and a large bandage covered the 
entire left side of his face.

He reached up and took the bandage off. It was soaked in blood. 
What he saw made him drop the bandage. 

The entire left side of his face had been smashed in, it had 
been left to heal for itself. The problem was that he hadn't 
healed. Instead bits of his face had become infected, and what
 was left of his left eye was simply a bloody pulp.

Tarrant couldn't believe what he saw. He reached up and touched 
his face. Blood covered his hand. His former good looks where
 only a memory. 

//I'm a monster.//
//My gods, what happened to me?//

Tarrant realized that he couldn't go onto his own unless 
he had his face repaired. He picked up ORAC and went back 
to the flightdeck. He set ORAC on the navigator's chair.

//I have Slave and the Scorpio stardrive.//
//They will have to be installed, and that will take time.//
//Prototype or no, I need Slave and the stardrive.//

There was something he had to do before he could make long time plans. 
Tarrant couldn't let Vila spend the rest of his life as a slave.
 Tarrant had found out long ago that Vila was more then just a
 delta, he was a friend. With ORAC's help, he would find his friend.

Tarrant sent a course for the one place that would give him 
scantuary until his face was healed, and he had made the
 adaptations to this ship. 

Home, he set a course for home.