A/N

Yep, a oneshot for Destiny, stemming from nothing but a few screenshots, the constellation theory and the phrase that ended up being used for Bungie Aerospace. Go figure.

Per Audacia ad Astra

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"How many stars are there in the universe?"

"I…don't know."

That was a slight lie. Robert Sassenage did know how many stars there were in the universe – ten to the power of twenty-three. Nearly a trillion, trillion. A figure one zero short of septillion. But how did you convey such figures to a five year old, someone who was still learning mathematics via rhyme, textbooks and singing dinosaurs of various colours? And besides, saying he didn't know wasn't an entire lie per se. Because at the end of the day, no-one knew how many there were. No-one knew if they could all be counted. Not even here on Destiny.

"I've tried counting them," Marsden piped up, having decided to fill in the night's silence with his own voice. "But the number keeps slipping."

"You should try keeping a log," Robert murmured.

"I do. But mum keeps taking it away and tells me I have to focus on my homework."

"Well, she's in the right of it."

Marsden snorted. He clearly wasn't having any of it. Either way, Rob went back to fixing the power coupling of their house's power supply, namely a giant windmill. It wasn't what he expected, arriving on this world. He'd expected high-tech living coupled with sweeping, open environments, not sweeping, open environments with living that belonged to something out of a scene on Earth set centuries ago. Space might have been the final frontier, but that frontier had a lot of expectations to live up to.

"You ever tried naming them?"

"Hmm?" Rob glanced at Marsden, looking up from whatever homework had been set for him, forced to work under the oil lamp Rob was using due to the lack of power at home.

"The stars," the child continued. "If we could get someone to count them all, could we name them all?"

"Oh, they have names," Rob mused, prying away at the power coupling and not giving his son his full attention. "Sirius…Alpha Centauri…Sol…Epsilon Eridani…R136a1…"

"That's a strange name."

"Well, no-one has the time to give every star a name. And those that do are back on Earth."

Rob gave the power coupling another twist with his spanner, the damn thing being as obstinate as…well, whatever Destiny's equivalent of a mule was. He glanced at Marsden and saw in his eyes that he was having a similar line of thought in a sense. Mentioning anything from Earth was like saying a dirty word. True, he'd learnt the basics of history in school, but already there were cries in the community for history to focus on that of Destiny, even if it only went back a few decades.

"They deserve names," Marsden piped up. "It's unfair to give some stars proper names and others not."

Only a five year old would be worried about naming stars. Only a five year old would be worried with his homework instead of the power supply. Still, Rob could be patient. That was why he kept at the power coupling and with a final yank, re-established their house's electricity supply.

"That's finished," Rob said. He looked down at his son. "You best get inside now."

"Of course, given how many stars there seem to be in the universe…hundreds and thousands and millions…could we all give them proper names? Would we run out of names?"

Is he even listening to me? Rob wondered, picking up his toolkit.

"Dad? You listening to me?"

Oh bloody hell…

Rob felt tired. And it wasn't just due to fixing the windmill.

"Look," he said as the pair began walking back to their house. "Even if someone named all the stars in the universe, we wouldn't run out of names."

"But-…"

"We wouldn't," Rob said firmly. "Because that's how language works. Infinite words. Infinite combinations. When infinity meets infinity…well, it works out."

"…what does infinity mean?"

Rob sighed. He made a mental note to cut down on big words in the future. Words like "per audacia ad astra." Through boldness to the stars.

Casting a gaze at the stars seen from Destiny, even if they couldn't count them, Rob knew they could still reach them.

That was what destiny was all about.