On a Planet Far Far Away
Summary: Warning on several character deaths, but not Castle and Beckett. A very AU Castle-Beckett meeting loosely based on 7X16 because some people are just meant to be together no matter what. Takes place several years in the future, maybe 10?
Author's Notes: This is just a one-shot because I have no clue what life on Mars would be like.
Don't own Castle. Just playing with them again.
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Richard Castle, world-famous author at least on the planet where he had once lived, finished his morning ablutions, carefully bagging items that needed to be bagged in separate containers – one for the solid waste and one for recycling into drinking water – and then depositing them into the special bins.
If someone had told him years ago that he would be drinking instant coffee made from recycled water, he would have laughed at them – no, not laughed, but truly guffawed at the ridiculousness of that statement and probably would have peed himself in the process.
And if they had said he would be drinking that instant coffee on Mars, he would have suggested they check into a psych ward immediately because there was no way that was going to happen, he thought as he looked out of the window at the barren red landscape.
But that's where he was now – Mars, the red planet, the fourth planet in the solar system.
He quickly dressed in the uniform de' jour, turned on his tablet, and sat down to blog about the latest happenings on Mars.
It was exactly that – his ability to write, connect with the common man – that had gotten him this gig – that plus the very sizable donation he had made when he cashed out all of his earthly possessions to help pay for his spot. Black Pawn had even made a donation so they would have the rights to the first book written from Mars and several major players went to bat for him.
It also helped that he wasn't a slouch in the science department either, the AP physics classes he had taken in high school and then the college physics classes coming in handy.
So he took his ability to make the complex simple and blogged about life on Mars, combining just the right amount of science, humor, and sometimes pathos, to make his "Out of This World" blog one of the most read, using it as a marketing campaign for continued support of the mission.
And the highlight today would be the "Russians are coming, the Russians are coming." Their 2-man, 2-woman crew would arrive today to join the 4 of them already there on this adventure of a lifetime, because none of them would ever return to what once had been their home.
Castle paused at that and drew a deep breath, his brow furrowing slightly, and then looked back outside for a moment.
Yes, he missed certain things on Earth – the breeze with just a hint of warmth that heralded the start of spring, the clear blue sky you could see away from the city, the smell of the trees and flowers. But the one thing he didn't miss was the water – the cold, cruel water that could take life away so quickly.
It had happened too suddenly and left him derelict, devoid of purpose in life for a while. He had had a meeting at Black Pawn that he couldn't get out of, so Martha and Alexis had gone to the Hamptons without him. The plan was for him to join them there the next day to start summer vacation.
But when he arrived, the Hamptons police chief was waiting for him at the house, his hat in his hands, grief and pity etched on his face.
To this day, Castle would always remember what the man said and then nothing else for a while after that until Gina and Paula brought him back to New York after the funerals.
That ill-fated day, the water had looked perfectly safe, deceptively calm, but the undertow was stronger than usual because there was a storm brewing in the ocean. From eye witness reports, Alexis had gone swimming, being careful to stay near the beach, but had gotten caught in a rip tide and was being pulled out to sea. Martha had heard her granddaughter's screams and had rushed in to help, but had gotten caught also.
It had only taken a matter of minutes for them to be swept under, held down in the dark coldness, unable to reach the surface as they clung to each other. By the time a nearby boat reached them, it was too late.
So several years later, with nothing left to lose, Castle had seen the special on the mission to Mars and thought "Why not?" He applied and to his surprise, had been accepted.
As the bell chimed, Castle shook himself out of the maudlin memories. The psychiatrist who had vetted him for the trip had warned him about ruminations of how things could have been different if only… There were no "if only's" in life.
He turned the tablet off and stood. Right now, he thought with a smile, he had visitors to greet – no, not visitors – companions on this life-long journey.
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The trip had been long, almost a year out of her life, Beckett thought as she watched Mars grow closer in the window of the space ship, and there wasn't going to be a warm shower waiting at the end.
But there was adventure, there was life, so different than what she had left behind on Earth and she had completed everything she wanted to there.
As she clamped on her helmet, she thought about the circumstances that had brought her here.
Her mother's murder had been the defining point in her life, pushing her into a life as a policeman so that she could find the guilty party.
But one dead end led to another and she finally had to put it behind her or go insane. Instead, she focused her energy on helping the victims and families that she could help.
Until that one fateful evening when a drunken Roy Montgomery, her captain and mentor, her friend, had stumbled to the front door of her apartment, begging her forgiveness for what he had done. That had fractured her world a second time – the knowledge that someone she was so close to could have been instrumental in her mother's death and had known the truth all this time and kept it from her.
After that, Bracken's house of cards had quickly fallen when she found the tape her mother had hidden in the elephant. What was on the tape had sent Bracken away for a long time with no hope of parole. Montgomery lived just long enough to testify at the trial and then had been shanked in the exercise yard of the federal prison he had been sent to. Some called it poetic justice; Beckett just saw it as a life wasted.
Beckett thought she'd be content after that – after she had found her mother's murderer and put him away for the rest of his natural life and then some – but that wasn't the case. A restlessness kept growing inside her, one that no amount of burying herself in her work could fill as she rose through the ranks of the NYPD.
Then one night when she and Lanie were at the Glechik café in Little Odessa, they met some applicants to the Russian Mars trip and a seed took hold in her mind that she couldn't shake.
She was in excellent physical condition; she was fluent in Russian; she was intelligent; and she had no one depending upon her on Earth since her father had committed suicide a year after her mother's death.
So why not Mars, she thought as she bid her friends goodbye to begin the process of joining the Russian Mars mission. That had been three years ago and now she was finally here.
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The ship landed near the settlement and the team quickly made their way to an airlock. After the compartment was pressurized, they took off their helmets and gloves.
The door to the inside of the settlement slid open to reveal a tall man waiting for them.
"Welcome to Mars," he said with a welcoming smile. "I hope you had a good trip. I'm Richard Castle."
"Ah, Mr. Castle, I'm very glad to finally meet you. I'm Sergi Kuznetsov," the pilot said. "I read your blog every day. It helped pass the time."
Castle laughed slightly in a self-deprecating manner as he stuck out his hand. "Thanks. I'm glad to know at least one person admits to that. And it's just Rick. We're not that formal here."
Sergi turned to the rest of his crew. "This is Alexi Matveev, Maria Remirnov, and Katherine Beckett."
Castle notched an eyebrow at Beckett. He was familiar with the Russian crew, having read their official biographies, and was pleasantly surprised to find an American among them. There was definitely a story there and that's what he was here for.
"Nice to meet all of you," Castle said as he shook hands with the crew, lingering slightly as he and Beckett shook hands. "We'll get you settled first and then meet Mission Commander Brett in the main room for orientation."
He motioned to the small hallway. "The crew quarters are down this way. The schematic of the settlement and the daily schedule are on the monitors in your rooms. Now that you're here, we can make adjustments."
He stopped at the first crew room. "We took the liberty of assigning people to rooms, but feel free to change as needed. They're a little cramped, but you'll get used to it after a while. The view is spectacular though – best on the planet. And we have one of the best chefs available – he can work wonders with dried meat."
The team chuckled at that.
"There're clothes to change in to in each of your rooms. And not to alarm you, but we keep masks and oxygen tanks in the rooms in case something happens. The suits are stored by the airlocks." Castle paused. "So I'll let you get changed and then we'll go to the main room."
As the rest of the team went into their respective rooms, Beckett paused for a moment, smiling slightly at the man, her favorite author to be exact. "So the main room is…?"
Castle smiled back and pointed to his left. "…down that way. Take the first left and then the first right."
"Thanks, that's good to know," said Beckett, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. She paused again. "I should go get changed," she said finally. "So we aren't late."
Castle nodded. "Yeah – probably a good idea – changing that is – and not being late. I'll just wait here while you do."
"Okay," Beckett responded, green eyes meeting blue eyes with a hint of a smile. She thumbed the control on the door and waited for it to open.
"Oh, and Kate," Castle said, smiling again, as he lounged against the opposite wall, "welcome home."
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The End