Disclaimer: Not mine. I'm just playing. I'll put'em back when I'm done.

Rating: PG

Synopsis: Dreams, nightmares and premonitions. Sometimes, they come true.

But then tonight I had this dream
So horrible I had to scream
I saw the earth naked like the moon
Micheal Learns To Rock - Naked Like The Moon

The galaxy opened up before him with the familiar constellations shining brightly to greet him. The module handled well and he swore he thought it was able to give him more speed than usual. The idea would normally have made him grin, but he had an odd, pulling sense in the pit of his stomach. There was something wrong out there. He just didn't know for sure what it was yet.

His gaze ran over the familiar planets coming into view and a sense of belonging settled on him like a heavy, familiar cloak. Jupiter and Saturn came into view like old friends waving hello as they passed by him. Biting his lower lip, he focused forward, on the bright center of his home galaxy, the sun. Out there somewhere, in close proximity of the bright center of his universe, was his home, Earth.

He accelerated, pushed the module into overdrive, and watched the other planets drift by one by one; far too fast, but he did not have time or the presence of mind to think about the unreality of it all.

There was Mars in all her red glory. Soon, he would be able to spot Earth and the Moon. Mars rose larger than life in front of him and he had to steer around the red planet in his direct course toward home.

As Mars moved off to the right, the view forward became clearer. Space once again opened up around him, gave him the feeling of free falling through a vacuum. And then his breath caught in his throat while his eyes widened a little.

The expected view of the blue and green planet had not appeared. Instead he saw what he at first thought was the Moon looming in the distance; a moon which had been hit hard by something. A part of the planetoid was missing. Something had created a rift towards the center of it, making it look much like a split melon.

Then he spotted the smaller, grey body out there, still drifting in close proximity to its former master, and that was when the reality of what he was seeing washed over him with painful clarity. What he was looking at wasn't the Moon. It was Earth and from the looks of it she had met her doom some time ago.

Suddenly, it was hard to breathe around the lump in his throat, hard to see through the veil of tears. He shook his head in denial, refused to believe what he was seeing. This couldn't be happening. "No," he whispered, "no, no, no." His hands clenched into fists while the module now hung still in space, drifting slowly toward the ruin of his home world. "NO!" he screamed...

***

... and woke up with a start. He sat bolt upright, sweat plastering his hair to his skull, while he stared into the remnants of his dream. The dread of the realization was still strong within him, making it hard for him to think, to realize that it had been a dream and nothing more.

Without hesitation, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and rose unsteadily to his feet. Blindly, he sought his cloths and put them on in random order while his rational mind tried to calm him down. But the dream was still strong in his mind, the nightmare fresh and full of doom. It hadn't been a dream. It had been a premonition. The shit was about to hit the fan and he had to stop it, had to prevent this disaster from taking place.

"John?"

The sound of her voice stopped him dead in his tracks, but only briefly. Then he pulled his boots on and secured the latches before glancing at her over one shoulder.

She had propped herself up on one elbow and stared at him with eyes still heavy with sleep. "What's wrong?" she asked huskily.

"No time," he replied and distractedly ran a hand through his hair. It came away slick with sweat. "I gotta go, gotta..." He hesitated, didn't know how to explain the overwhelming feeling of dread that enveloped him in its chilly grip. "I gotta go," he said and rushed out of their shared quarters without even trying to explain. How could he explain what he felt? It was far too big for words.

***

Aeryn sat up, supporting her body weight with one hand on the mattress, and stared at the door. Something was definitely wrong and John didn't want to tell her because she was pregnant. Well, frell that! If there was anything she could do, she would do it.

Somewhat laboriously she got up and patted toward the doorway on bare feet. She stopped briefly to pick up her robe carelessly tossed on the gaming table and shrugged into it while she followed the father of her child toward Command. Whatever had him upset, it was something big. He had awoken from a nightmare; she knew that. But what it had been about and why it had set him off like that she didn't know.

Somewhat slower than she normally would be, she reached Command only a few moments after John had arrived there and she heard only a fragment of what he was saying to Pilot.

"... as soon as possible. I need to get out there. Right now," he said.

"But, Commander," Pilot said, his tone one of alarm, "how do you know you can find your way there?"

"I can feel the wormhole, Pilot. There's one forming close to here," John countered almost aggressively and slammed a flat hand down on the console in front of him.

"Very well," Pilot consented somewhat reluctantly. "Perhaps we should come with you?"

John paused, seemed to give this idea some thought, and then nodded. "The wormhole will be big enough for Moya. If she doesn't mind the ride, that is."

"She does not," Pilot said. "In fact, she was the one who suggested this."

"Good. Thank her for me," John said. "I'll give you the coordinates," he added and quickly entered said coordinates into the console.

"John?" Aeryn asked and stepped closer. "What the frell is going on? Where are we going?"

John glanced at her over one shoulder and the look in his eyes made her reel back a step. He looked scared, terrified even, and she could not imagine what might have brought that look on.

"What's wrong?" she demanded.

"Nothing, I hope. Something I may be able to prevent. I ... I don't have time to explain, Aeryn. Honey. Find a grav-couch and lock yourself down. We're going wormhole jumping," he replied and turned towards her briefly to give her a quick kiss. "No time to spare, babe. Go," he insisted.

She knew better than to argue with him on this and the last thing she wanted was for her baby to be harmed during another frelled trip down a wormhole. Moya had grown to like these trips; they were wild and crazy. Aeryn wasn't so fond of them; never had been. But she knew what to do. She needed to strap herself in so she didn't bounce around too much and the urgency in John's voice told her that time was short.

She hurried to one of the side corridors close to Command, found a comfortable seat, and strapped herself in. Whatever came next, it was something that John feared, but felt he had to do.

***

Moya raced down the wormhole with enough speed to skim the edges of starburst. John stood in Command, holding onto the console for dear life, his gaze glued to the forward viewscreen, his heart in his throat, his mind repeating a new mantra over and over again. 'Don't let it be true. Please, God, don't let it be true.'

The dream would not let him go, would not diminish, and that alone told him that danger was brewing, that everything he had ever loved might be gone. But he couldn't allow himself to think that way. Not yet. He needed confirmation, visual confirmation, and there was only one way to get that.

Moya emerged at the other end and John felt a strange mixture of elation and dread as he entered his nightmare while still awake. The scene was the same; the planets came into view and drifted by as Moya maintained near-starburst velocity, riding on the wake of the wormhole speed. She could outrun any command carrier, any Scarran dreadnaught, at this speed, and John figured she liked it for that.

But he had no room for Moya's joy of the ride right now. He strained his eyes, hoped against hope that he would find Earth spinning peacefully around her axis on her never-ending rotation around the sun.

Moya banked, giving Mars a wide berth, and once again the sense of the dream's unreality settled on him heavily. His mouth had gone dry and his lips felt cracked already. His hands were clenched around the edges of the console and his shoulders so tense, he knew he would pay for that later.

Suddenly scared of what he would see, he squeeze his eyes shut, refused to see, and held his breath at the same time. Wouldn't it be better to not know? Wouldn't he be better off if he never found out if his nightmare was a genuine premonition and not just another nightmare?

"John?"

He'd heard her approach, but had been too preoccupied to pay her any attention. Instead of opening his eyes or turning toward her, he remained where he was, his grip on the console intensifying with every moment that passed by. "What do you see?" he nearly whispered.

Aeryn stepped up beside him and placed a hand on his back. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Out there. What do you see? Do you see Earth?" he insisted and could still not bring himself to open his eyes.

Aeryn was silent, said nothing, and that gave him the incentive he needed to be brave and face whatever might be waiting for him out there.

He opened his eyes and stared at the viewscreen with bated breath. Not a nightmare, then. A good, old-fashioned, irreversible premonition. He felt his knees grow weak, but somehow managed to remain standing while he stared out at the corpse of his homeworld. Just like the dream. Exactly like the dream. It looked like someone had taken a very big axe to her and had split her down the middle, chopping a wedge out of her.

"John, breathe," Aeryn said beside him, her eyes on him rather than the devastation out there.

In one shuddering gulp, he hauled air into his lungs. "Oh god," was the only thing he could think of saying and even that was nothing more than a hoarse whisper.

"Pilot, what has happened here?" Aeryn asked and glanced toward the clamshell.

"I am not certain," Pilot replied.

"Could this be natural causes?" she asked, her hand still resting on John's back.

"It could be," Pilot agreed. "It is impossible to say, though."

Slowly, oh so slowly, the reality of what he was seeing, of what he had dreamt, settled on him and weighed him down. Earth was gone. The human race was a memory and he was the only one who would remember them for what they were.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he let go of the console and straightened up. He couldn't think, couldn't formulate any coherent thoughts. Even breathing seemed to have become a chore he had to remind himself to perform. On numb legs, he made his way over to one of the alcoves and dropped down on the edge.

Aeryn remained where she was for a moment, then followed him and sat down next to him.

***

She had no reference for what he had to be feeling at this very moment, had no way of understanding the grief that had hit him, yet she knew anyway. She understood the loss of ones center. She had been there herself, although it had been on a much smaller scale.

A sigh worked its way over her lips and she slumped a little over her bulging belly. "Was this what you dreamt about?" she asked quietly.

He nodded once. His eyes were glassy, full of tears that would not fall. "It's gone," he whispered, his voice nothing but a croak. "All gone."

Aeryn glanced toward the viewscreen and frowned. "Do you know how?"

Slowly, he shook his head. "No. I thought ..." He paused, shook his head weakly and glanced toward the viewscreen himself with a pained expression on his face. "A command carrier can't do this, can it?"

Aeryn slipped a hand onto his back and rubbed lightly. "No," she said quietly. "This was not done by Scarrans or Peacekeepers. None of them have that kind of firepower. And if it had been the wormhole tech that did this, there would be nothing left." She again sent a lingering look toward the viewscreen. "To me it looks like Earth was hit by something big; a meteor perhaps."

He snorted, a mixture between a laugh and sigh. "Of all the things I feared," he said and finally glanced at her. A tear broke lose and cruised down his face. "This wasn't it. I never considered the option that ... a meteor might be the biggest threat."

"There is no way of knowing, John," she replied and wove her fingers into his hair. "And there is nothing I can say that will make any difference now. This was probably an accident. I don't know. We don't have the necessary means to find out." Then she glanced down at her belly and gently caressed the bulge. "The human race won't die out with you. You have transferred your legacy to this child that I carry. And the child that Princess Katralla carries. In short, you have ensured the continued existence of your race."

He closed his eyes and leaned in against her. Aeryn wrapped her arm around his shoulders and planted a kiss on his still moist hair. "They're all gone," he whispered and she knew that the grief was too big, too strong for him right now. It would take time, a long time, before he would begin to live again. But she was convinced that he would. John Crichton could survive anything, even the obliteration of his entire race.

In all this anguish, there was only one thing she was grateful for; that he had been with her when it happened and not at home, where he had originally wanted to be.

The End