Andraste, this is great - Aeryn and love and the prices paid, and that quest for wormholes, of course. (And your Crais voice is excellent.)

Yes, people read these things, and this was wonderful. You captured with an economy of words an essential aspect of FS. A lot of fans see the J/A ship and focus on that. Well, it's there but it's only one small part of the wonder that is FS. I mentioned to someone else recently that FS can be a frelling regatta in a perfect storm.

Your characters aren't good or bad, they're real people, trying their best, mostly not all that well, to get along. In particular, they're true to the characters we watch on FS.
I've nominated this in the angst category in the Sparkys. Well done!