During a brief orbital test flight of a one-man module which he helped design, John Robert Crichton, Jr. and his space craft are pulled into a temporary wormhole. Crichton finds himself in another galaxy at the far end of our universe.

A second-generation IASA astronaut, Crichton is part educated scientist (with a doctorate from MIT in Theoretical Sciences) and part seat-of-the-pants, take charge man of action.

Along with the other fugitive passengers of Moya, Crichton fights for survival by trying to stay one step ahead of the pursuing Peacekeepers.

A front-line Peacekeeper soldier, and member of the elite Pleisar regiment, Aeryn Sun was captured by the prisoners of Moya. Her one objective: to regain control of the ship.

Separated from her mother at birth and raised and trained by droids, Aeryn was born and bred to be a soldier. As a Peacekeeper, she is continuously in conflict with Moya's passengers, but as she spends time with them, she develops a sense of compassion for her former captives.

While the others on board are trying to find a way home, Aeryn can never return to hers; the ship becomes her home and her former prisoners are her family.

A prisoner of the Peacekeepers for 3 years, D'Argo is a member of the Luxan, a race that has a well-deserved reputation throughout the galaxy as fierce warriors. D'Argo was arrested on false charges, fabricated by a fellow general (General D'Raam) who was envious of both D'Argo's battle strategies and his long-time mate.

Never the diplomat, D'Argo's natural reflex in most situations is to blast first and ask questions...never.

He is, however, a brilliant battle tactician and hopes one day to return to his home planet and challenge D'Raam in Tyxlyn Court, a proceeding involving both intellectual skills and physical combat.

Zotoh Zhaan is an 812-year-old Delvian priest ("Pa'u"). Delvians are a highly spiritual race whose principles forbid violent action, which made it easy for the vicious Kkores to seize the Delvian system (once the Kkores paid the Peacekeepers to discontinue their protection of the Delvians).

Zhaan hopes to return home and drive the Kkores out, but to do so would mean abandoning generations of peaceful philosophy.

Although she feels she has become a savage since she was imprisoned 13 years ago, she still frustrates Crichton with her non-violent responses to conflict.

The sixteenth ruler in a noble and spoiled line of rulers, the diminutive and self-indulgent Rygel once spent the majority of his time devising new ways to pamper himself. Now he is exiled to the prison ship Moya.

His downfall began when he started to develop a system of representation that would give his subjects a voice in government. A faction of the royal family, led by Rygel's cousin Bishan, opposed Rygel's wild new ideas and engineered a coup, handing the deposed ruler to the Peacekeepers.

Rygel has been a prisoner for more than 250 years, acquiring knowledge that would eventually allow him to devise a plan for himself and the other prisoners to take over Moya. He hopes to return to his home and free his people from the tyranny of his cousin - and more importantly, return to the royally indulgent lifestyle that is his birthright.

Pilot is the control center of the living ship, Moya. His upper torso is actually an organic extension of the floor and walls of his chamber within the ship.

He keeps all of her systems operating, communicates on her behalf and, usually, does more than enough worrying for the both of them.

Pilot and Moya form a symbiotic relationship, having been joined at an early age and growing together through the years. They each need the other to survive. Although Pilot is part of the ship, he is still his own species.