(A/N) - And here it is, lovely peoples, the final chapter of my first fan fic. Although technically the Star Wars one was the first but I'm thinking of taking it down and doing a much needed rewrite before uploading it in chapters. I'll see about that though and if I do decide to do that, it won't be till early next year. I'm heading back to uni next week which means I will be monumentally busy. Thanks to all that has read this fan fic, I hope you've enjoyed it. Take care.

Chapter Ten

Bridge

The bridge was blood soaked. Gone was the previous shine of the most presentable deck on the Dauntless. The once carefully painted silver walls were now slicked with crimson streaks. Horrifically mutilated bodies littered the ground alongside spent casings. The trio of survivors walked carefully, watching their steps amongst the bodies and careful to avoid making a sound.

"So, hate to state the obvious, but this place is fucked. What do we do now?" Alex asked, keeping his contact beam close.

Jason knew he was hoping for a miracle with the Captain still being alive, otherwise he'd have to come up with another idea. The headache he'd developed on the crew deck was getting worse and he was finally beginning to tire. He just wanted to get of the ship with his friends. "Let's just find the Captain and see if he's got any ideas."

Kate stayed close to him. "Do you think there are other survivors?"

Jason gave a mournful shrug. "I don't know, babe, I just know we need answers."

They walked towards the centre of the bridge, heading for the Captain's console and station. As they approached, they found the wounded Captain laying, barely alive, next to his console. Next to him lay the body of a bridge security officer, two horrific lacerations across his chest. Kate rushed over towards him and checked his vitals using her RIG.

"Captain?" Jason said softly.

Anders's seemed to brighten for a moment, but his breathing was laboured. "Lost the crew in under a minute. Managed to kill a few but they were too brutal. I was trying to tell Brandt to leave, I've sounded the general evacuation order, but I don't think anyone's heard it." He paused to take another painful breath. "Get yourself off this ship, son."

"Not without you, Captain." Jason said defiantly.

Anders gave a painful smile as a single solitary tear came from his eye. "I should've listened to you when we got here, even before. Should've jumped back to Rigel VII." He blinked another tear away. "I just wanted something tangible that we could have used to repair ship and set everyone for life. I wanted my crew to be happy." Anders gave a sorrowful moan as he finally died.

Jason respectfully closed Anders's eyes and stood up. He sighed heavily and looked at the bridge, taking in the sight once again. "Right, we need to get to the shuttles but the tram's out." Alex and Kate agreed with his assessment. "The central elevator leads to the ADS nests with a main airlock. There's usually a few EVA RIGs for space walks and maintenance. We can spacewalk to the hanger, get a shuttle and blast out of here. It'll be dangerous but it's doable."

Alex considered the plan with a hesitant nod. "Sounds doable but it's a long shot."

Kate agreed. "I've never done a spacewalk before."

Jason raised his voice in frustration. "Look! It's all I've got. Walking over the tram lines is suicide with more of those things crawling around. Communications are down, and we don't know if anyone else is still active. We either space walk or die."

Kate was taken aback by Jason's anger and frustration but spoke soothingly to him. "Jason, it's okay." She gently rubbed his arm and pulled him close. "We'll do the space walk and get out of here."

Alex concurred. "Yeah, bro, we'll be fine."

Jason realized he'd gotten angry too quickly and calmed himself down. He pulled Kate close and squeezed her, taking in her smell and just taking a minute. As he pulled away, he shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm, I'm just exhausted, Kate. I've seen so many people die today, and it's taken a toll. I don't know what else to do." He looked at his plasma cutter and examined it carefully. It was covered in dirt and parts of it showed wear and tear. He'd used it to dismember normal people just to survive. Now, it seemed too heavy to wield. "Let's just get out of here."

The trio took one final look at the Captain and paid their respects. They quickly made their way to the central elevator with Jason pressing the button and waiting for it to descend. It seemed like an age for the elevator to finally arrive, but time seemed to wear Alex down. He gripped his temple with his right hand and groaned softly. As Jason and Kate went to board the elevator, they finally noticed Alex was in some discomfort. Jason went towards his friend and tried to help him up.

"Come on, bro, we need to get out of here." Jason said.

Alex looked at him and physically winced again, pushing him back. "I can't go with you, bro." He suddenly cast an aside glance and muttered to himself. "I know, Millie, I know."

Jason's jaw dropped slowly. "Bro, no."

Alex shook his head. "No, Millie, I can't do that now!" He shouted.

Jason looked around. "Bro, Millie died, years ago."

Alex looked as if he was going to cry, his eyes growing red and watery. "I know that, Jason, I know. But I can't stop seeing her." He looked away for a moment. "Millie, I can't do that, just please give me a minute." He raised his contact beam slowly. "I can't go with you, guys." He shook his head. "I'll get you killed."

Jason finally welled up. "Bro, I can't leave you here."

Alex gave a small smile. "You're not leaving me here, I'm buying you time."

Kate ran into Alex and gave him a hug. "We can't leave you, Alex."

Alex gently squeezed her. "Kate, I need you to look after him. He's going to blame himself for years. But it's not his fault, it'll never be his fault. No one could've asked for a better brother or a better friend." He swallowed hard. "I'm doing this for you and him."

Jason was frozen as Kate took his hand and pulled him towards the elevator. "I'll see you on the other side, brother." He whispered as Alex smiled.

He pivoted on his heel and checked his contact beam. "I know, Millie, it won't be long now."

The elevator doors finally closed on Alex and started rising slowly. Jason and Kate tried to drown out the sounds of Alex's contact beam firing from below.

ADS Cannon 122

Surprisingly, and perhaps the nicest part about the ADS cannon nest, was that it was quiet despite the dull thump of cannon fire. The nest itself was spacious but sparse with nothing but a few vending machines, a line of chairs adjacent to the main cannon connected chair and a fire extinguisher. Jason emerged first from the elevator, checking if the room was clear and finally beckoned Kate into the nest. There was a small corridor that led to the main air lock with a locker that normally contained two EVA RIGS. Jason sprinted down the corridor and once again it seemed his luck wasn't getting better. He silently collapsed to his knees, devastated but before he could react, a chime from his RIG caught him off guard. He physically flinched but quickly answered the call.

"BOSS!"

Jason's eyes widened. "Crews? Crews, what the hell is happening?"

Crews was surrounded by flames with creatures running past him, cutting down other miners. "We're under attack! I'm trying to evacuate the deck, but we've had an accident. One of the guys let off a blast from a contact beam and it connected with the fuel pump. We…"

The feed cut into static as Jason stood up and ran back to the main window. He watched as a sudden plume of fire erupted from the rear of the Dauntless. Jason's jaw dropped as his shoulder slumped down. He couldn't contain his furore.

"FUCK!" He roared, slamming his fist into the wall. "Shit, shit, it can't end like this."

Kate gently wrapped her arms around his waist and shushed him softly. "Jace, it's okay. C'mon." She brought him to the rear of the nest and sat him down on the chair. Kate didn't waste time and simply used Jason's plasma cutter to break the grass.

Jason smirked softly. "That's breaking the rules, isn't it doctor?"

She shrugged. "Eh, the ship owes me." She handed him a bottle of water and took one for herself. She took Jason's hand and squeezed it softly while resting her head on his shoulder. They both simply looked at the ADS cannon and watched it firing into the darkness. It was the most peaceful it had been for a long time. "You think we'll have to worry about rent?"

Jason chuckled. "Yeah, Mars landlords are often dicks. We're probably screwed."

She giggled. "Didn't that guy say we were a pain in the ass or something?"

"Something like that." He replied. He rested his head against the chair and sighed heavily, resigning himself to his and her fate. "I just wanted to get us out here, you know."

She looked into his eyes and nodded. "I know."

"Me and Alex went to some crappy places when we were military engineers. We never saw shit like this though. We were lucky." He said reflectively. "I never wanted to be a soldier. But the army engineer corps pays for college. We both got lucky."

She stroked his messy hair and leaning against him. "It's also where you met me though." She took his hand. "I wouldn't have changed it for anything. These years have been the best of my life."

He nodded in agreement. "You saved me, you know, that right?" She nodded. "My mom and dad died when I was so young, and I had nothing. Then I met Alex," his voice broke. "And his family took me in. But then I met you, someone who wanted to love me, someone who convinced me I was worth loving. I would've married you, I would've worked to buy a proper house. One where we could've raised kids and had a proper life, with pure oxygen, not that filtered crap and an actual garden."

She looked away for brief second, fishing for something in her pocket. She finally revealed two white pills. "We have a way out."

Jason gazed at the pills and back at her face. "What are those?"

"They can stop our hearts. We wouldn't feel a thing."

Jason considered it and agreed that it was the only way they'd both make it out. But before he did that, he had one thing he wanted to do. Dropping to his knee, he took her hand. "I've been meaning to do this for ages. But we always got busy, either getting deployed or you having to work for a bit longer. Alex started getting annoyed with me because of it." He paused and reached into his back pocket, pulling a small ring with a beautiful diamond. "For most of my life, I've been lost but now, now I've never been so sure of something in my entire life. So, Kate Leigh Mera, will you marry me?"

She gasped softly, tears streaming from her eyes. "Oh my god, yes, Jason, yes." She almost jumped on him as she hugged him tightly, holding him like she never would again.

They lay on the ground and rested in each other's arms. The still dull thumping felt like a wonderful beat now, calming their minds. They kissed each other softly, forgetting that the Dauntless' engines were failing, and that life support was soon going to run out. Jason didn't want to think about the other option, but he knew it was the only way out. "How long does that pill take to work?"

Kate wiped her tears away. "About 30 seconds give or take."

"But it'll work?" He inquired.

She nodded. "I had them made while I was in the storage room. Thought I might need them for any injured that I couldn't save."

Jason looked at the elevator door and quickly connected his rig to door's power supply. He deactivated it and locked the room down. "Those things are probably trying to get to us." He looked down the corridor at the airlock. "We can take it and then open the lock. We'll be out there, and they won't get to us."

Kate considered his idea and nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that. I don't want to be found by those things."

They got up and took their time walking towards the airlock. Jason primed the airlock and sighed heavily as Kate handed him the pill. He stopped her from taking it for a second. "Wait, I need to say it one more time. I love you, Kate, I always have."

She cupped his face in her hands and smiled. "I love you, Jason. I always will."

They took their pill at the same time and Jason waited five seconds before opening the airlock. Air was violently ripped from the room and an alarm went off. Jason grabbed Kate and they embraced as they were pulled out. They didn't even feel the air being ripped from their lungs. They were dead before the lack of oxygen could kill them.