Zane was finishing up in his lab. People had started going home early to prepare for all the activities lined up for tomorrow.

Tomorrow was the big announcement. It seemed fitting that the big reveal for the final list of Team Astraeus was to be made on Founders' Day. There was to be this big ceremony at GD. General Mansfield and Senator Wen were arriving and they would be the ones to make the announcement.

The day his pardon came through he had made a to-do list. There were two remaining items left on that list. Going to Titan was one of them and he was this close to putting a check mark beside it already.

"Being an astronaut is every kids' dream…"

Was it so long ago that he heard those words from Jo? And he had made it his mission to get Jo as close to that dream as possible. Maybe she needed a little, okay, a lot of convincing at first, but it was worth it. Other than the selfish reason that he wanted Jo in space with him, seeing Jo believe in her "smarts" and realize she was more than a grunt with a gun, has been an amazing shared experience for them both.

He knew they were among the top candidates for the mission, but sometimes you never know with General Mansfield and Senator Wen. They were after all the ones who thought of sending a relationship auditor to review Carter and Allison, and look where that got them.**

But what if…

Jo was rushing the last set of paperwork on her desk before she called it a day. She was looking forward to a quiet dinner with Zane, after all the hustle and bustle of preparations for tomorrow's grand announcement.

"Let's screw some expectations"

Jo knew the reason Zane pushed so hard to get that slot on Astraeus wasn't really because of a deep desire to go to Titan. Judging from his less-than-stellar behavior on his first and currently only trip to space.

But typical Zane, he did not like the idea of being told he couldn't. Just because he had a criminal record. Just because they said so.

She actually felt pride in the way he fought, pushed, leveraged, wrangled his way into this final list of candidates. The pardon was just a way to get certain technicalities out of the way. But he definitely deserved this.

This was a huge mission., like in a "one-step-for-mankind" kinda way. It's the kind of undertaking that Zane would love to get his hands on, just like the big bang project he first worked on in Eureka.

Zane should absolutely go to Titan.

Jo looked at her watch. She just had one phone call to make before she leaves for Café Diem.

**let's just assume something happened to Carter and Allison because of that audit. otherwise, Zane might not have a reason to think that something could still hold them back from going to Titan