Nothing's Quite The Same

Story by: Neuroscpr and Can

P13 by: Neuroscpr

Setting: After DWTB, spoilers up until that ep

Rating: R

Summary: John and the other displaced members of the crew embark on their own missions as Moya heads into unknown territory.



Rygel flinched, as the cell door was slammed shut. The force of it shook the room and made his small body tingle. After all he'd been through to come back, the only things that had changed were the captors. In the darkness, his eyes remained wide open and watchful.

'There's always a way out.'

The thought was encouraging but his surroundings were not. Hynerion prisons, even ones aboard ships, were not built to keep someone alive. Rygel crawled slowly over to the back wall and felt along it with his stubby fingers. Nothing.

"That will get you nowhere," a voice said.

He searched frantically but could not find the source of the words. With hiccups imminent, Rygel backed up against the wall in fear.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he asked.

There was a low scratching sound from somewhere in the darkness but no movement. Shadows wove around the room but made no discernible shape to match with. Rygel began to consider that he was being haunted, such a thing being unlikely at this point.

"Perhaps my voice changes without the formality of sitting on a throne," the voice said. The scratching sound grew for a microt and then suddenly stopped. A ray of light appeared from somewhere on the back wall. An opening had been made.

Rygel stared at it in amazement. "Bishan?" he exclaimed.

The figure of his traitorous cousin came out from the darkness. To Rygel, this creature and the one he had contended with earlier lacked even a passing resemblance. This new one only a shadow of the Bishan he knew.

"Come to kill me yourself?" Rygel asked.

"Oh come off it! You never thought me a fool before."

Rygel almost laughed. "And what do you call this? Allowing peacekeepers to subvert your authority. You look like a fool to me. And I know a fool when I see one."

"Yes, I must admit bringing in the peacekeepers was a mistake. But you have to admit, my plot against you was masterful!" Bishan said with something like delight.

The old Dominar shook his head. "You expect me to congratulate you for that? For dethroning and imprisoning me?"

"Actually yes," said Bishan. "Do not forget your own past deeds, cousin. You were the best of all of us."

Rygel nodded in agreement. 'Ah, good times.' He turned his attention back to the traitor. "But you made one mistake."

Bishan recoiled in anger. "And what was that?" he asked.

"You let me live. Big mistake, I'd say."

The traitor's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps not, considering our present situation."

Rygel was intrigued now. "What do you mean?"

"You came to kill me, Rygel. As I always expected you would after hearing news of your escape from the peacekeepers. It seems you will get your wish, though not the way you intended."

Bishan ignored his cousin's suspicious looks and continued. There was little room for petty arguments in him now. "Once I am dead the peacekeepers will announce that I left the empire in their care. To expedite this, they began poisoning me shortly after their arrival."

"But..." Rygel started

"I learned of the plot too late. There is little time for me now. I will need your help to keep our empire out of their hands."

Rygel couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. His cousin was never as forward as this, nor capable of the type of courage necessary. Yet something about Bishan's words stirred him.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked.



"Tell me again why we're out here?"

Nerri looked down at the sensor array and cringed at the sight of so many peacekeeper vessels. He'd never had a major conflict with Sebaceans and he did not intend to start now. The resistance had enough problems already.

In the pilot's seat, Gridon glanced at the screen out of the corner of his eye. He knew the risk just as well as his partner. But special circumstances called for special actions.

"This many ships mean they're looking for something important. We should know what it is and how it might affect us," he said.

The Nebari eyed him suspiciously. "Since when have peacekeepers ever bothered with us, or with Nebari Prime for that matter? Besides, this isn't even within our area of operation."

Gridon nodded slightly but kept his eyes on the space outside. Troubling thoughts had wrapped themselves up into knots in his mind. The man was on edge.

"Your sister could change that," he whispered.

Nerri turned to him and instantly lost his temper. "I thought we spoke about this already!" he shouted. "Chiana will not compromise my focus. She's one of us and deserves to be part of this now."

"You willing to bet her life on that? Or better yet, all of ours?" Gridon checked the navigation controls quickly to make sure they were out of pk scanning range. "It will come to that I assure you," he continued.

"There's something you're not telling me," Nerri said. "What Gridon?"

The man's face darkened at the sound of his name. He knew there would be no going back after this. "I know who the peacekeepers are chasing. Caught it on an intercepted transmission."

"Who?" asked Nerri.

"John Crichton and Ka D'Argo."

Nerri's eyes went wide at the sound of two very familiar names. All the things Chiana had told him came floating back. Her two closest companions. Suddenly things were much clearer.

"So what? We save them, bring them back with us. Then Chiana goes with them and you get what you want," he said.

Gridon sighed. "It is the best result for all of us."

"She won't go with them," Nerri snapped back. "She'll stay with us."

Gridon looked his friend in the eyes and felt something inside of him begin to hurt. "You've changed your mind about her very quickly. It's my responsibility to tell you that I'm worried."

Nerri stared back at him but his anger was quickly diminishing.

"Frell it, let's go get them."



The wormhole stuck out like the giant blue sore thumb that it was. Its presence in the empty space cast an eerie glow over the horizon. Although there was no one around to see it, a small object began to find its way out through the rippling exit.

Moya burst out of the phenomenon at top speed and continued to move as far away as possible from it. The living ship's senses all came back to life at that moment and she was plagued by an overdose of information. She shuddered in surprise.

From deep inside, Pilot's voice could be heard.

"We've made it out! We're alive."

In a blink of an eye the wormhole dissipated and left them floating alone in the darkness. Jool and Pilot sat in silence as everything slowly returned to normal.

Then a shadow separated itself from the darkness and cast itself over the leviathan. Without any visible movement, it let loose an arsenal of nothing, at least nothing that could be seen.

Pilot screamed in agony for the mere microt it took for Moya to explode in a shower of bio-mechanoid components and living tissue. And just like that, she was gone.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Chiana bolted up and out of her light sleep with a blood-curdling scream escaping her lips. Sweating profusely, she slid off the bed and touched the cold hard ground. The reality of that feeling brought her back to the present.

Still shuddering, the Nebari glanced around the room and saw that she was nowhere near her old home. With that realization came another. One far worse than anything she could imagine.

A vision of Moya.

She'd had a vision of Moya dying.



'There are peacekeepers scattered all over the empire. But the main concentration, the one that works with me, travels on a ship. The ship beside the one we're standing in.'

Rygel still wasn't sure if his cousin was telling the truth or plotting another deception. For the moment, he had no choice but to take things as they came. This is how he found himself being dragged, blindfolded of course, down a quiet hallway towards something.

Hands held onto each of his with enough force that the old Dominar never touched the ground. He knew of no Hynerions with such strength but that was the least of his problems. Rygel had expected execution. Now he was being taken to supposed liberation.

Without warning, he was dropped. Hitting the ground hard, Rygel instantly recognized the feel of something below him. A constant vibration that could only mean one thing. He was on a civilian ship, a small one.

'Some of my men will take you away from here. Find those Hynerions who wish to kill me and tell them there are more important things to do. Tell them of this ship. I need you to destroy it for me cousin.'

This request was also highly suspect. Yet Rygel could see it now as the small ship left its hanger and traveled into open space. His chaperones had removed the blindfold so that he could now see what he was facing.

It wasn't a particularly large ship. The customary black coloring and industrial build were a far cry from Hynerion navy ships. Rygel was sure it was a peacekeeper vessel. He saw no weapons but that meant nothing. If you looked hard enough, you always found weapons.

"You really think you can do it?"

Rygel turned to see the same guard that had transported him to Bishan's ship. A thin smile formed on his lips but he did not answer. All he could manage was a shrug. Then the Hynerion looked back at the enemy ship.

'If you manage to destroy the ship, I will die and you may yet regain your throne. But know this, there will be war. The peacekeepers will come after you. I trust you understand what that means cousin.'

The guard moved up behind Rygel and felt a swell of pride form inside of him. He watched the man his father had called the real Dominar and smiled. Not many men get to see such historic events unfold from close up.

"Bishan wished for me to give you a final message."

Rygel shifted his weight to look at the guard. By doing so he missed the massive explosion that suddenly ripped through space and sent a shockwave crashing down upon them.

The two Hynerions went flying across the cabin, Rygel landing first on the hard ground. He opened his eyes and checked for wounds. Besides a dull pain in his head he was without injury. Sitting up, he caught sight of where the peacekeeper ship had once sat. All that was left now were pieces of burning black shrapnel.

"What was the message?" he asked.

The guard stood himself up. "He wanted to know if this gesture would be enough. To redeem himself I suppose."

Rygel's eyes flickered at the knowledge of what had just happened. He tried to imagine Bishan's body being vaporized in the explosion. 'Probably hid the bomb in his throne sled. That's what I would have done.'

Without facing the guard, he spoke. "Wherever you planned on taking me, change of plan. I have a better idea.

As the ship made its way from the sight, it corrected its course slightly.



"Looks like a big tin can to me."

John stared out at the floating object with a decidedly unpleasant look on his face. They'd been racing at full speed for hours looking for places to hide. So far the result was not inspiring confidence.

"What is that supposed to mean?" said D'Argo.

"Well, look at it. You really think we're going to be safe in there?"

The Luxan growled his disapproval. "Why must you always be so negative about things?"

"Me? I think I can remember some times when...."

"Just shut up and listen to me," D'Argo said very icily in reply. "The ship says there's enough interference inside for us to go undetected. That's what we want. For Grayza and her people to just pass us by."

John shook his head, thoughts of doubt springing up in his mind. "And what if she doesn't just pass us by? Or do you not remember bombs dropping from the sky?"

As their little argument continued, D'Argo's ship continued moving towards the abandoned satellite. On the monitor it looked like a smaller version of the commerce station they'd been on months before. The one that had been destroyed by gamma storms. Hence Crichton's hesitation.

"If you want to keep searching, fine! But we're not going to find anything else."

The human groaned in response. He figured they'd need a lot of luck for the hideout to work. And luck was not something he counted on these days.

"No, let's check it out."

D'Argo nodded slightly and instructed the ship to dock.

"Just don't expect me to get comfortable," John said.

"Would you shut up already?"



They at each other then down at the blinking light. Neither of them knew exactly what to do about it. Protocol said that no communication between base and mission was supposed to take place. Which left a very short list of callers. They looked at each again and then down at the light.

"I'm going to answer it," said Nerri.

"No you're not. We could be compromised."

Nerri glared at the man beside him and shook his head. The part of him that agreed with Gridon was not yet strong enough to fight back the temptation.

"She wouldn't call unless it was important."

Gridon reached over and placed a hand on Nerri's. For two men who had shared very little but a working relationship, it meant something.

"I'm asking you to take a step back. Look at it objectively for a microt. I know you'll see things the right way."

Nerri pushed his hand off and pressed down on the comm unit. Instantly a bright light filled the screen. A message only. Not a direct link.

"She's my sister. There's no such thing as objectivity."

Chiana appeared on the screen with her hand blocking about half of the view. She appeared to be trying to adjust the camera. After a moment, she stepped back and into frame.

"Hi Nerri. I know I'm not supposed to call but this is important."

She seemed to hesitate a moment before continuing.

"There's nothing more I want than to be with you. You know that. But something's happened. Something bad and I can't wait around here for you to work it out."

Nerri's entire body went rigid at her words. He possessed no powers of premonition like his sister claimed to, but he knew what was coming.

"My friends. They're in trouble and I have to help them."