Chapter Two
Demetri and Jasper let out a whistle as they took in the shuttle before them while the others swore at the surprise. They would be trying out one of the first advanced spacecraft that NASA has made to date, with the help of China and Russia of course. This made Demetri wary but he himself and Jasper had decided to look over the specs for the ship itself for the past month that they waited for it to be complete. Even though they saw the specifications and the blueprints for the craft, they didn't think it would be this huge for a six man crew; they were pretty sure it was the same height as the Eiffel tower.
"Gentlemen, I am Ms Webber, the coordinator of your little space voyage and launch. We're finishing off the final preparations and the launch will begin in little over an hour so you have that much time to change and get your bearings on the bridge. Your belongings have been sent to the cabins onto the Arc, the rest of your crew will be along shortly." The woman informed, her eyes trailing over the clipboard in her hand.
"S'cuse me Ma'am, what do you mean other?. There are only six of us an' we're all here." Peter drawled out his question, confused, causing the woman to pause.
"Mister Volturi assigned three new crew members to join you three weeks ago. I was told that you had been briefed of the situation." She told them with a frown while flipping through the pages in front of her in confusion.
Demetri glanced at his crew and was pleased to see that even Edward was surprised by the news. This amused Demetri greatly, as obviously he wasn't held in as high regard as he thought he was.
"Who will be joining us?" Felix asked- more like demanded as his eyes scanned the faces that resided in the hanger.
"Jane and Ivan Azarov, they will be your security if needed and Alec, Jane's twin brother, he is the best on the frequencies and computers." Demetri's shoulders relaxed as did Felix's at the names. Jane, Alec and Ivan were at the academy with both of them and got along famously with the others. The only problem they would have would be with Edward. The twins grew up in poverty and had to work their way to the top in life both in the academy and to live. Ivan came from a wealthy family but he still too preferred to work for things.
"DEMI! LIX!" The loud, high pitch voice screamed over the sounds of the busy hanger. The boys called instantly huddled together and dropped to one knee as a tiny blur of gold flung itself at them. "I was excited to get the news of the mission, even more pleased when Alec and Ivan got drafted as well!"
Demetri chuckled and squeezed Jane before pulling back. "We just got told, no one informed us until just now."
"Oh? Well, I bet you were happy it was us then, huh?" She asked, tilting her head back a little to look up at them when they stood. Jane was five foot one and didn't even make it to their mid chest, though they –as well as others – learned the hard way about judging her by her size. She takes advantage of what God gave her and was quick on her feet. Felix was on his ass in less than ten seconds when he made that mistake, it took her a bit longer to take him down but she still did. They didn't mention it again after that.
"Yeah. Hey, come meet the rest of the team." Felix chuckled before gesturing the three of them to where the team now stood.
"Guys, this is Jane, Alec and Ivan. Jane and Ivan are married and one of the best tag teams there are. Alec is just a genius on the computers. And this is Jasper and Peter Whitlock, twins from Texas. Peter is our navigator and Jasper is the engineer. Emmett here is our Doc while mister stuck up and broody is the science guy." Felix introduced, not even bothering to hide his disdain of Cullen from the others.
"Jeeze; is it me or do the men just get bigger and bigger?" Alec asked with a laugh as he shook hands with everyone and raising his brow at Edward when all he did was sneer. Demetri chuckled at that, wrong thing to do was think you're better than the twins and Ivan.
"Ah, you have met the other half. Glad to see that you are all getting along well." Marcus hummed, pleased as he joined the group. He was the better of the three brothers. "I will be joining you on this trip as an insurance policy but in truth, I just need to escape from twiddle dee, dumb and dumber." He breathed out in a laugh so that only everyone minus Edward could hear.
"Are you sure sir, what if something goes wrong?" Demetri asked concerned.
Marcus chuckled and squeezed the boy's shoulder, "Ah my boy, if I were to die in space then I will die happy. I'd die living my dreams and with a sane mind, what man or woman wouldn't want that?"
"You have a very good point sir." Demetri chuckled; he should have known that Marcus wouldn't care of the life threatening things that the mission presents.
"Now that we are all here, it's best we get on board unless you want to be left on earth." Marcus told the others with a clap of his hands and began to walk towards the elevator to take them to the shuttle entrance.
"I still can't believe that this is done and we're 'bout to go inta' space." Jasper drawled out with disbelieved chuckle.
"Me neither, but remember what ma' said… We gotta bring her back some space rocks to show off to the old harpies in bingo." Peter reminded his twin with a laugh.
"My Ma and Pa told me the same damn thing, to bring 'em back a souvenir from space. The first McCarty to go to space and I'll probably be the last too unless this mission goes well." Emmett chuckled out in his own Tennessee accent.
Demetri and Felix shared a look that clearly stated 'Americans' before letting out a laugh; Demetri was born in Greece and Felix was born in Italy, both raised there too and they still sometimes had a hard time understanding the accent. But then again when they spoke in their native tongues the others couldn't understand them, no matter how much they tried to teach them Greek and Italian.
"Welcome to Casa de Arc, this will be our humble abode for the next few years." Marcus stated as the large doors swished open revealing a hallway.
"Demetri you are the Captain of this lady, the bridge is that way." Marcus chuckled out as he pointed down the hall.
The engineers truly outdid themselves on this vessel; Demetri couldn't help but praise them in his mind as he took in everything. He was even more amazed by the command station and the other stations; the large glass screen before them was a good ten meters in length while the controls before him were touch applied screens. Demetri leaned his head back and thanked every god and deity out there for this blessing and a comfortable chair.
"Well worth the tax payers' money I guess." Felix laughed as he ungracefully plonked in his chair, handing Demetri a helmet.
"What the fuck is this for?" Demetri asked as he took the bulky thing in his hands.
"Well DeLuca, this craft may be advanced but we cannot place the life support controls on until we are actually in space, why the fuck did you think you were wearing the space suit?" Felix teased while pointing to the horrible orange jumpsuit and then to the clips around the neck.
"Hey Pete, stop molesting the screens and key in the launch code for us so we can be ready." Demetri called over his shoulder after shoving Felix and placed the helmet on his head.
"Hardy har har. The launch codes were the first thing I did before the loving and caressing of this beauty took place. Now Captain, I suggest you and the big fucker start buckling in and checking on all of the systems," he snarked in his usual cheek over the coms in the helmet. Demetri and Felix just shook their heads and began their task.
"I thought I was the big fucker?" Emmett asked after a few seconds causing Jasper to snort.
"Nah, yer the big lug, Felix is bigger than you." He informed while checking to see if there were any faulty equipment on board.
"Alright, everyone check in. We will be launching you gentlemen and woman into space shortly." Ms Webber spoke over the coms from the control room.
"All systems are a go here," Jasper replied right away, following with Peter and Alec.
Demetri and Felix did a double check before nodding, "Yeah all good to go Huston." Demetri chuckled out his reply.
"Well then Team Alpha, we'll count you off; buckle in." She chuckled as a robotic voice began the count down from thirty. Everyone quickly buckled in as the bridge itself shifted so they were facing towards the sky.
"I swear to god DeLuca if you blow us up or crash into anything I will haunt you in the afterlife." Jane grunted as her hands clutched the side of her seat.
"Jane, you said that in the fighter jet too and I didn't crash into anything then either." He replied laughing.
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"Yeah but that vidn't stop you vrom doing loop-de-loopz and zwan divez." Ivan chuckled out deeply at the memory.
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"But it was fun and I recall you betting me to do it." Demetri replied and laughed as Ivan let out a groan as Jane hissed. Even over the others' laughter it could be heard.
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"Hold on! We're going for a trip!" Emmett cheered as he braced himself for the g-force.
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The loud whirring of the boosters could be heard before the ship began to groan as the thrusters began to push it away from the ground. Demetri let out a grunt as he felt the g-force press against his chest uncomfortably while the others hollered in his ear at their excitement.
Even though the sensation of his chest crushing it was the view when they finally left the ozone and into the black depths of space that took his breath away.
"Lady and Gentlemen we finally made it, welcome to space." Demetri breathed out in awe at the beauty of it all. "Shall we do some exploring?"
A/N: Well there you go!
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