Unexpected Destiney
By Rose Carter
Summary: Moya accidentally runs into a ship during Starburst,
but the ramifications extend into a romance that gets the entire crew involved.
Disclaimer: I'd love it if these colorful creations were mine,
but unfortunately, they're not, they belong to Rockne's brilliant mind.
Category: Romance/Drama
Spoilers: Set towards the beginning of Season 3
Rating: PG
Summary: Moya accidentally runs into a ship during Starburst, but the ramifications extend into a romance that gets the
entire crew involved.
Disclaimer: Ive love it if these colorful creations were mine, but unfortunately, theyre not, they belong to Rocknes brilliant
mind.
Category: Romance/Drama
Spoilers: Set towards the beginning of Season 3
Author: rosecarter
E-mail: rosecarter@angelfire.com
Unexpected Destiny
Part 1
"Hey, Mom, are we any closer now than we were an hour ago?" Cynthia asked. "Everything looks the same."
Anna shook her head at her daughter. "That happens when youre in space, sweetie, a lot of things look alike until you see
a planet. Most of the time they look different. You know, you have taken trips like this before."
"I know, Mom, but very, very few, like less than five, and then only really short ones, not long-distance deals, you know?"
Cynthia reminded her. "I want to get there soon, look over the stage and everything. I mean, Im Sebacean, and the audience
obviously isnt, so I need to check things over, get my bearings, limit my nervousness, you know?"
Anna leaned to the side to kiss Cynthia on the head. "Nothing to be nervous about, honey, youll blow them away like always,
no one can ever believe what a beautiful voice you have, and were almost there, trust me."
"Thats sort of why youre driving this thing, because I dont trust myself to both know how it works and get us there in
one piece without getting lost or blowing us up by hitting the wrong button or hitting a planet or something!" Cynthia finished
with a laugh.
Anna glanced at her. "Youre not that bad, you do pretty good in practice, you just get nervous when it counts with most
things, except your performing, which I could never do..." She glanced out the window. "Thats strange..."
Cynthias expression filled with worry. "Something wrong, Mom?"
"Maybe...can you get your Dad for me if hes still sleeping back there?" Anna asked.
"Absolutely, one second," Anna replied as she got up and headed into the back compartment of the small shuttle they were
traveling in. She glanced at the bed and saw her father starting to wake up. "Dad, Mom needs your help with something."
"Okay, Im on my way, Cyn." He sat up, and got out of bed and followed Cynthia to the main control room, right outside the
little bedroom he had been in. "Whats going on, Anna?"
"Im not sure, Howard. I see something coming toward us, fast, but its not registering on any of our sensors, what do I
do?" Anna glanced at her husband for advice. "Youre a lot better with this particular aspect than I am."
Howard took the seat next to Anna and looked where her gaze was centered. "I see it, too, and its coming really fast...too
fast, we cant get out of the way..." he glanced at his wife and daughter. "All we can do is take cover and hope it sees us
and can pull up as quick as it moves..." He looked at Cynthia. "Cyn, go crawl under the bed, stay flat, it has strong supports
underneath it, so no matter what falls on it, in worst case scenario, it still wont collapse, youll be safe there."
Cynthia looked at her father with trepidation. "What about you and Mom?"
Her father grimaced and shook her head, "Only enough room for one under that bed, honey, and well take the other beds,
but the supports on them are different, so...well hope for the best and be prepared for the worst." He looked back and saw
the light coming closer. "Go, now! Both of you, Ill be right behind you, I promise. GO!"
Cynthia obeyed her father, hearing her mothers footsteps right behind her own. She looked back at her. "Mom, were all going
to be fine, right?"
Her mother gave her a soft smile, a tight hug and nodded. "Of course, honey, just wait and see. Fate will lead us to our
destinies, all of us. Now go get under the bed, sweetie, quick, quick."
Cynthia gave her mother one last smile, then obeyed, flattening herself to the floor and crawling under the bed, seeing
the steel legs and reinforcers at all four corners. Then, she heard something strange, it sounded like a rumbling, but it
couldnt be an earthquake in the middle of outer space...wait, the ship, it must be coming closer....and it was going to crash
into them! "Mom, Dad, come in with me, we can all fit! Mom, Dad!" she screamed as loud as she could, but she knew they couldnt
hear her anymore, not over the rumbling. Then, a large whooshing sound, followed by something that sounded like a metal on
metal bang, then everything went everywhere, and all she could hear were explosions, and her own screaming as she hit her
head hard on one of the steel bed legs and felt the world start to drift away, she thought....Mom and Dad have to be okay....
********************
She was walking across the stage on her home planet, singing just for a crowd of her friends and family, and she was searching
the crowd for her parents, knowing that, as much as they loved her, they never missed a concert, but she couldnt see them...wait!
At the back of the crowd, smiling and waving, she could see them! She waved back and motioned for them to come up with her,
but they turned away and started walking, and, as Cynthia watched, they disappeared, vanished into thin air...no...no...no...no.
********************
"No...no...no...please dont go," Cynthia murmured softly.
"Is she waking up? Is she going to be okay?" Some voice in a very distant place was asking questions that she could just
hear. "Who is she talking to...or about? Do you think there was someone else on that shuttle who survived?"
"No, it was just two Sebaceans that didnt make it and her, and my guess is they were her parents." A new voice...but what
it was saying...no, no, that wasnt true, that was impossible, they were wrong, she had to wake up, had to get to them.
Cynthias eyes fluttered slowly, and she felt someone run to her side. As she slowly opened her eyes, which felt like a
bad idea, because the light that brought made her head feel like it was being stabbed over and over with an ice pick, she
heard someone say, "Hey, youre awake, how are you feeling?", and as her eyes fully opened, she already knew the voice belonged
to a male. Her fully opened brown eyes were now staring into a pair of blue ones. She reached her hand to her hand and groaned
and winced at the welt on her head from where the bed had hit her. "Like I got hit in the head by steel, so Im gonna say,
not great."
She saw someone in the background rush to a cabinet, but she didnt see their face, just a streak of blue. Then, whomever
it was walked back to her and offered her two pills, a glass of liquid, and something moist. She took all of them gratefully,
swallowing the pills with the liquid and putting the moist article on her head. "Um, not to sound ungrateful, but where am
I?"
"Youre aboard the ship that crashed into your shuttle, the Moya," said the blue-eyed guy, who looked Sebacean. "This is
the crew, pretty much, right in front of you." Cynthia glanced at the group of people in the room with her: the male, the
blue person, something with a very long beard she couldnt identify, another person that looked Sebacean, a female with long
black hair, something that she guessed was another female that had grayish blue skin and hair and her hair was short. The
male stepped forward again. "My name is John Crichton." He started pointing, first at the long-bearded creature, "Thats DArgo",
then the grayish-blue female, "Thats Chiana", then the completely blue person, "Thats Zhaan", and then to the Sebacean female,
"and the one that looks like us is Aeryn." John walked back to her bedside. "And your name is?"
"Cynthia. Cynthia London. Pleasure to meet all of you. Um...can I ask something else?"
John nodded. "Shoot."
"Where are my parents? They were in the shuttle when our two crafts crashed too. Are they in another infirmary?"
John glanced at Zhaan. "Um, I think thats her territory, she's the onboard doctor or healer, pretty much."
Zhaan walked to Cynthias bedside. "Dear, we DID find them in the shuttle, but they had been trapped under the beds they
were hiding under, crushed. We got them out, but the beds did the damage before we ever were able to help. The beds crushed
their spines, and although half of me knew it was hopeless, I worked on each of them for an hour...but there was nothing I
could do, dear. Im very sorry. I honestly believe they went quickly and there wasnt any pain."
Cynthias tears came quickly as she gazed at Zhaan in shock. "My parents...died? Theyre gone?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zhaan nodded. "Im so very sorry, dear, I can only imagine your pain right now. Would you rather I leave or stay? And the
rest of us..."
Cynthia glanced at the group standing behind her. "They can go if they want. I dont know why theyd want to watch me cry...but
could you stay, Zhaan? Please?" Her eyes pleaded with Zhaan.
Zhaan smiled at her. "Of course, my dear. What can I do?"
The tears wouldnt stop. "Can you just hold me?" she asked in a small, shaking voice.
Zhaan nodded and held her tightly, feeling her shake, and feeling the pain Cynthia was unaware she could feel. Then, they
heard the sound of a throat being cleared behind them.
Cynthia had thought the crew had left, and glanced back at the sound. John was gazing at her with concern. "Do you mind
if I talk with you for a second, or would you rather I just leave?"
Cynthia shook her head, sniffling. "Say what you need to."
John nodded, and walked over to sit in front of her next to the bed, and kneeled down. "In case you were thinking Im from
around here, since I look like you, Im not. Im from somewhere very far away, got sucked into a wormhole and thrown out here
by mistake. Every day I wonder if Ill find a way home, back to my family and friends, and every day I wonder if in fact, that
may never happen, and I may never see them again. But I know its not the same thing. All I want to say is I understand how
it feels to be away from your home, your family, friends, everything you love, and I promise you, I wont let it be like that
for long. Tell me where your home is, and Ill take you, Ill bring you to relatives or friends you can stay with, so you can
try to start putting your life back together as quick as possible, ok?"
Cynthias eyes were opened wide in amazement. "A wormhole? Thats awful, Im sorry."
John smiled at the selfless comment from the grieving girl. "Thank you, but where can we can take you? Youre flying the
friendly skies with us now, till we can get you to wherever home is in as few pieces as possible."
Cynthia cast her gaze down. "I dont have a home anymore."
Zhaan and John both looked at her, but John responded first, "What?"
"My mother and father were my only family. In fact, my grandparents are dead, and my parents had no siblings, so no aunts
or uncles. I traveled a lot, because of what I do, so I dont really have a lot of friends, and my family spent all our time
in either hotel rooms or that shuttle. Therefore, no family, no friends, and no home to go home to." As if the finality of
this statement had only just struck her, she started sobbing hard.
John glanced at Zhaan, who stood up and left, and John sat down next to Cynthia and let her cry on his shoulder.
Much to his surprise, she spent so much energy in crying that she soon fell back asleep, and John carefully eased her out
of his arms and gently placed her head on the pillow of the hospital style bed she was lying on. "Goodnight, Sleeping Beauty,"
he whispered, before quietly leaving the room.
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Part 2
Cynthia opened her eyes again, 3 or 4 arns later. Nearly forgetting where she was, she gazed with fearful, but slightly
curious eyes all around the infirmary. She sat up slowly, being careful not to make her head start hurting again, although
since the pills and the thing on her head that Zhaan had given her, she felt better. She lowered her legs off the bed and
carefully slid down to the floor. She turned around a couple times looking at the room.
"Well, look whos up."
Cynthia turned around at the sound of the feminine voice to find...Aeryn, was it? "Aeryn, right?" she asked.
"Yes, thats right. And youre Cynthia. I didnt get a chance to mention it earlier, but Im sorry about your parents. I dont
have anyone really important, either, other than Moya and her crew. I know where youre coming from," Aeryn told her with a
sad smile.
Cynthia turned her back on the woman. "You have friends, Moya is your home, and youre not my age. And my assumption is
that when you were that you had all the things I currently lack, so, can you really say that you know where Im coming from?"
She turned to face the woman, who looked somewhat shocked. "No, I suppose not. But Im still sorry."
Cynthia nodded as she lowered her gaze. "Thank you." She glanced at Aeryn. "Did you come in for medicine or something?
This being the infirmary and all..."
Aeryn smiled and shook her head. "Nope, came to invite you, if you were awake, to come out and get to know the crew a little
better, and meet some of the ones you werent introduced to earlier. If you want."
Cynthia nodded. "Okay, sure. Nothing better to do, actually, nothing else whatsoever to do, so, why, not?"
Aeryn nodded and turned to a doorway. "Follow me then."
Cynthia obeyed, following the woman through several hallways, looking at the ship with confused eyes. "Ive never seen a
ship like this before. Given, I havent seen many ships or shuttles other than my own, but still, this is something Ive never
heard of..."
"Its a leviathan, Moya is a living ship," Aeryn explained to her.
"Living? As in, like us?" Cynthia replied with incredulous shock audible in her voice.
Aeryn nodded with a slight chuckle. "Theres a lot of people who havent heard of ships or shuttles like Moya before, youre
not the first. But yes, shes living, like us. She feels pain, fear, excitement, and many other things, same as we do, she
has a neural net very much like our brains. As long as we keep her safe, she keeps us safe."
"Was she hurt in the accident with my familys shuttle? Id hate to think I caused her pain," Cynthia said with guilt in
her expression.
Aeryn smiled softly. "Considering what happened, thats very kind of you to worry about Moya, but there was hardly any damage
done. The slight brush to her was like a paper cut would be to us, somewhat annoying, but not even worth worrying about."
"It didnt damage any systems, then? Or whatever you call them," Cynthia asked, looking somewhat embarrassed and confused.
"No, not even one. Basically, all it did was..." Aeryns voice faded off, and left the sentence unfinished, not willing
to remember. "It was our fault. In a way. We cant control how fast we go, or really, WHERE we go when the ship Starbursts.
Starburst is a way for Moya to go very far very fast. Its her one defense mechanism. We were nearing the end of a Starburst
when we came upon your shuttle..." again, she left the rest unsaid.
Cynthia nodded, just listening, trying hard not to think about what had happened at that point. "Thats why you were going
so fast, and why you couldnt swerve."
Aeryn nodded as they came up on the rest of the crew. Cynthia looked around at the semi-familiar faces, and then gasped
at the image suspended in mid-air that they were looking at. John turned around at her gasp. "Hey, youre up. Feeling better?"
Cynthia nodded, feeling somewhat calmer and safer at seeing him again. "Um, yeah...whats that?"
John glanced behind him at the image. "Oh, thats Pilot! Otherwise known as the multi-talented individual who makes this
puppy work." He walked closer to the image. "Hey, Pilot."
The creature in the image looked at him, and Cynthias eyes flipped open at its words. "Yes, John?"
"Pilot, you remember the slight accident Moya had with a shuttle not long ago? A few arns or so?"
"Yes, John, Moya felt guilty, but neither she nor I could control her velocity or direction, and we couldnt swerve, there
was no way to miss the shuttle."
John nodded, acknowledging the meaning behind the words. "Yeah, Pilot, I know. This young lady with us is Cynthia, Cynthia
London. She was on the shuttle with her parents, but, um...she was the only one that made it. Shes going to be joining us."
He turned to Cynthia. "Cynthia, meet our Pilot."
Cynthia walked a little closer to the image, looking at it shyly. "Its a pleasure, Pilot."
"The pleasure is mine and Moyas, Cynthia. Were so very sorry about your parents, we feel quite responsible for whats happened,"
the creature told her, with sadness in its voice.
"Please dont," Cynthia replied. "There was no way you couldve swerved to avoid us, and if there had been any way, you wouldve
tried, I know. You all seem like very nice individuals, and Moya is beautiful and amazing, really. I just hope I can be of
some help to everyone, not feel useless around here."
"Moya is grateful for the compliment, Cynthia, and were both very happy to have you with us on our journey. Thank you for
being so kind about what happened," Pilot told her gently.
Cynthia smiled. "Just in my nature, I guess. Besides, now Ive got to take care of myself."
"No."
Cynthia turned around at the somewhat familiar voice, and saw Zhaan standing near her. "We take care of each other on this
ship, weve spent too long a time having to take care of ourselves, and taking care of each other is good for us. So, if that
means taking care of you, too, Im fairly certain we can handle it."
Cynthia felt a tear slide down her cheek at Zhaans kind words. "Thank you." She felt a hand gently wipe away her tear and
glanced to her right to see John standing there. "What she says goes for all of us, Cynthia, and we mean it, all right?" His
eyes remained looking into hers.
She looked right back, smiling softly. "Yeah, and thank you. Ive never not had my parents, ever. And all this, new technology,
new people, new place, its all scary, but on the up side, I wont be alone going through this, which is what I was really scared
of at first." She glanced down, and saw her hands were trembling.
John noticed it too, and took them in his own for a second. "Cold?"
She shook her head, "No, nervous, a little scared and confused, but not cold."
He came a footstep closer to her. "You wont go through this alone, Cynthia, just like you say, were all here, and itll
stay that way."
Cynthia smiled softly and gave a soft laugh. "Call me Cyn, my parents always did."
John smiled back. "Whatever you say, Cyn."
Cynthia saw Aeryns arms cross out of the corner of her eye, and realized she didnt like what she was seeing. She walked
over to Zhaan, to put some distance between herself and John, though that wasnt what she wanted right then, she didnt want
trouble, and she needed as many friends as she could get. "Thank you for everything, Zhaan, I feel like myself again thanks
to you."
Zhaan smiled. "Its my job to heal the sick, dear, its what Im good at, and what I love, its just better when I can make
a new friend through it."
"Youve done that, I promise," Cynthia told her, and gave her a hug.
John was next to her again. "Why dont I show to you where youll be staying with us?"
Cynthia gave a short laugh. "You can, but youll probably need to walk me there a few times. Im not great with directions,
and Moya is BIG!"
John laughed. "Not a problem. If I have to walk you to the place every day for a month, I guess thats what Ill have to
do. Get to know you faster that way anyway."
Cynthia looked up at him. "Then what are we waiting for? Lead the way, Mr. Crichton."
