Godspeed

As the sun was setting over the horizon in the distance, the crew of the world's best pilots and a ragtag team of oil drillers made their way across the tarmac outside of the NASA base, where they had just spent their last day of preparations. Two sleek black Lear Jets were sitting on the runway, each waiting for a team to board. The mood was solemn, trying to make sure they were prepared for the day on top of the devastating news they had heard about Shanghai the night before while they had been out celebrating their last night on Earth. Fifty-thousand people were dead because of one piece of rock from a meteor belt, and there was sure to be more. It was a gripping, terrifying reality.

That day, going through the simulation in the tank for the last time, they had refused to make a single mistake and made it through flawlessly. Even A.J.'s team—which received them all a nod of gratitude and acceptance from the technicians of NASA, who had doubted them so much.

Standing on that tarmac, looking out at the sunset and knowing that come the next evening they were going to be launched into space, the group stood as a whole one final time. Each had something different on their minds, from family and friends to the one hope that they live to see another sunset on Earth.

Lifting her hand to cover her mouth with the backs of her fingers, Adena was hiding a smile. She was thinking on the previous sunset, lying in the back of Will Sharp's truck as they watched the light fade out in introduction to the brilliant moon and accompanying stars. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, choosing that moment to base her belief on; she would have that moment again, lying at sunset with the man she knew she was coming to hold close to her heart.

"Dee," Grace began hesitantly, seeing the woman deep in thought as she considered the sunset. She was going to be riding in the jet with A.J. and wanted to have a moment to speak with Harry and Adena separately. Those brilliant green eyes looked to her and caught the light, seeming to shine in the oranges and pinks.

"Gracie," she greeted in return, facing the shorter woman and bringing her into a crushing hug without further ceremony. Grace returned the embrace with desperate vigor, clasping onto Adena's NASA jumpsuit as she gasped back on her tears. She didn't want to say goodbye, not to her sister, or father or fiancé. She didn't want to have to tell them goodbye, or even a possible 'I'll see you soon' because that would still mean that they had to leave her and she did not want that. "Don't cry," Adena tried to sooth, running her hand along her sister figure's soft locks.

"Sorry," Grace mumble pathetically before she composed herself and pulled back, the two women leaning forehead to forehead as they smiled. "Bring them back to me, okay? Bring yourself back to me," she begged, gripping Adena's thick hair for a moment before she pulled back. The tanned woman caught Grace before she could leave to press a kiss to her forehead, just as a mother would, then turned to head for her jet as Grace sought out her father.

They would see each other again before the take-off, but this would be their goodbye.

Landing in Florida late that evening, long after the sun had set in order to keep their presence as quiet as possible, the crew were soon whisked away to another NASA base for their final debriefing and their final night on Earth, shackled to their responsibilities. There was no partying, or drinking, or requests to leave the base. They all went to their rooms silently and did their best to fall asleep on that final night, even as the nausea of nerves kept them awake long into the dark and early morning hours.

When Adena woke the next day she found a box sitting outside of her door, her name scrawled across it in Grace's familiar handwriting. Opening the box as she leaned against the doorframe, a smile touched her lips at the familiar sight of a photo album; on the lid, still in Grace's neat script, was a simple note—to remember what you're saving. Dropping the box on her bed, Adena tucked the slightly heavy book into her bag that she was cleared to bring on the shuttle. They had to request permission to bring certain things up with them, but because they were going to be flying for two and a half days from the Russian Space Station to the moon, they were allowed to bring something to entertain themselves.

Leaving her room with her bag over her shoulder, Adena tried to walk tall through the base, catching the attention of the men and women who worked there as she made her way through the winding halls they had taken the night before. On her way, one by one, her crew fell in step alongside her until they were marching as a family to the preparation rooms—they couldn't afford to delay any longer. Along the way, Grace and Harry fell in step next to Adena from where they were re-entering from the front entrance of the building.

Arriving at their destination, Harry stepped through first while Grace pulled Adena and A.J. to a stop for just a moment. "I told him," she said as she looked from A.J. to Adena, smiling softly. "I told him we're getting married, so he can go up there knowing the full truth."

Smiling her encouragement, Adena stepped up and gave her a quick, tight hug before she pulled back and patted A.J. on the shoulder, offering her support before she turned to give them a moment alone, entering the preparation room. It was a white, cylindrical room with chairs that sat in a circle in the very center, facing inward at each other. Taking the seat next to Harry, she reached over to take his hand and do what she could to offer her support.

As soon as A.J. stepped inside, the door was closed behind him and they were sealed within, taking that moment to themselves to just sit and think on what was going to happen.

Sitting in their simple white and grey shirts and pants, they crew looked from the floor to the other men and women that were sitting with them. Adena and Watts locked eyes for a moment before bowing their heads in silence. They had once agreed to keep the men in line while training, now they were agreeing to keep the men safe as they prepared to save the world.

NASA technicians stepped up to each crew member with their brightly coloured flight suits, the crew with a brilliant orange and the pilots with a vibrant blue. Their names were presented on each of them, below the insignia of the US air forces, sewn onto each suit along with the national flag and the NASA logo that they had been wearing for the past two weeks.

Pulling on her suit and letting one of the technicians zip it up at the back, Adena pulled the material away from her chest to look down at the tag over her heart, her name in white stitching looking back at her. She had caused some trouble with the suits because of her size, needing hers to be so much smaller than the other men's. Bear and Max had caused the same trouble, but worse since they needed larger suits than normal.

Sitting back down in her seat next to the man that had become her father, she looked across to the two pilots of the Freedom shuttle, her pilots, and locked eyes with Will. The blue of his pilot's flight suit made his eyes stand out brilliantly in the stark white room. They were then each given a helmet, set at their feet as they remained sitting in their unbroken circle.

A door unlocked behind Will and a man in a while uniform stepped through, waving them forward. "Astronauts," he called through the room, breaking the silence as they all got to their feet and stepped out of that circle to begin filing from the room. Will took the lead as they began their march through the base that would take them to their final hanger, buses waiting outside to drive them to the launch site. They knew that this was one of the last moments of peace they would get before sitting in the shuttles, as the world was now well aware of their existence and what was to come.

The hanger they entered had men and woman of NASA lining the walls in white suits, checking that each member of each crew had all that they needed for their flight up. Adena made sure to ask where they had taken her bag upon entering their preparation room, assured that it would be getting on the shuttle Freedom at that very moment.

Will caught her as she was crossing the room to stand before the hanger doors, as they had been instructed. "I'm starting to wish you weren't coming up with us," he admitted in a low voice, ducking his head so that he didn't have to speak too loudly for her to hear. "I want to believe that you'll be down here, safe, and waiting for when we return."

Even though she was sure he was trying to remain inconspicuous for a reason, Adena pulled him into a hug that was made slightly awkward from their flight suits. "Someone's gotta keep those idiots in line up there," she teased, before pressing the lightest of kisses against his ear. "I will be safe, and we'll return here together. I promise."

"I'm going to hold you to that," he mumbled, his arms holding her to him for a moment more before they broke apart. Adena's attention was drawn away to where A.J. suddenly began singing loudly, and rather atrociously. Will, however, looking up to where Harry was standing with Chick at the main door, their eyes locking over Adena's shoulder.

"'I'm leaving, on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again'," A.J. was singing as he lifted Grace up and began to slowly spin in circles in some form of one-sided dance. Adena snorted as she tried not to laugh at the spectacle, especially when she saw the looks he was getting from the NASA specialists around the room.

Stepping up to her family, Bear pulled her in to his side with the hand that wasn't holding his helmet. "'Leavin' on a jet plane'," he continued for A.J., the deep thrum of his voice seeming to vibrate his body against Adena's side. "'I don't know when I'll be back again'." On the next chorus Rockhound and Max joined in as well, getting a happy laugh from Grace that A.J. had been able to start something like that.

"Cute," Adena mumbled, shaking her head in exasperation as she pulled from Bear's hold with one strong pat on his back, just as the technicians came to break them up and aim them back toward the doors where they were meant to be standing. Adena caught the amusement in Will's eyes, even though he was trying to look strict, and followed him across the room to stand next to him in their lineup. The singing continued until they were all stood in their line of orange and blue, before the upbeat mood began to dissipate in favour of the intense, grim faces that they had seen everyone else wearing up until that moment.

For one brief instant, the lights went out and they were left in total darkness. In the next, the door began to ascend and the floor at their feet was streaked with light once more. Adena fought the urge to glance to the side when Will took her hand for a second, clutching it a knuckle-white hold before releasing it. They met the flashes and calls of reporters and photographers with their best game faces. Military personnel were keeping them all at bay, standing in a line with the assistance of manned helicopters keeping a watchful eye for any sort of disturbance that meant danger for the astronauts.

"I address you tonight, not as the President of the United States, not as the leader of a country, but as a citizen of humanity."

It felt strange, to stand still as the cameras flashes and voices called and cheered. It felt like she should be running, as fast as she could. It felt like they were wasting precious moments when she knew that in fact every moment was being utilized to the fullest, that everything was timed down to the second. They knew they were on a clock and they were following each moment as they had been instructed. With her hand still warm from Will's touch, Adena grasped her helmet in both hands to try and stop the trembles that were rocking through them, visible to the eye.

"We are faced with the very gravest of challenges. The Bible calls this day Armageddon, the end of all things."

Stepping out of their neat line, Harry began to lead the crew down the short isle between the massing crowds and armed soldiers. The military officials that were lining either side stood straight and saluted them as they were passing. Adena felt her heart stutter when the people that were standing all around, waiting to see them behind their news cameras and microphones, rose in a cheer that seemed to shake the very ground beneath their feet.

Staring out at the crowds in amazement, she couldn't even muster a smile or a wave to them in acknowledgement.

"And yet, for the first time in the history of the planet, a species has the technology to prevent its own extinction."

Grace watched from the sidelines, standing with the clusters of NASA specialists in their white uniforms, twisting her engagement ring around her finger as she watched her family walk away from her. Even as she waved her farewell to A.J. before he disappeared onto the metal shuttle bus, she couldn't bring herself to smile.

"All of you praying with us need to know that everything that can be done to prevent this disaster is being called into service."

Sitting in the bus and watching out the window as they pulled away from the base, escorted by police and military alike, Adena saw people cheering and the flashes of cameras accompanied by the men that stood in uniform and saluted them as they departed. Placing her hand on the window of the bus, she watched as a father lifted his son onto his shoulders to look over to crowds, to see the buses that were carrying the astronauts who were meant to save the world.

"The Human thirst for excellence, knowledge, every step up the ladder of science, every adventurous reach into space, all of our combined modern technologies and imaginations—even the wars that we've fought—have provided us the tools to wage this terrible battle."

All across the country, the world, people were watching their televisions and listening to radios as the president addressed the world, and as the men and women trained to save the world stepped from their shuttle buses onto the open tarmac that held the impossibly large X-71's. Standing against the sunlight, the towers of metal looked even more imposing than they had when the crew saw one for the first time in the NASA hanger.

Families huddled together, watching and waiting for the coming launch of the two shuttles that were carrying mankind's only hope.

"Honey," a man called from where he was sitting on the couch with two little girls on either side of him, sitting up straighter as he watched the orange and blue suits pile from the buses on the television. "You're gunna want to come here."

"Through all the chaos that is our history, through all of the wrongs and the discord, through all of the pain and suffering, through all of our times, there is one thing that has nourished our souls and elevated our species above its origin, and that is our courage."

Charlotte stepped from the kitchen with a mug in one hand and a drying cloth in the other, after having been listening to the man speak on the television from the other room. Spotting the bright orange suits, she stepped closer to get a better look before dropping the mug from her hand with a gasp when a man in a blue suit became visible past the others.

"Daddy!" the two girls shouted as the pointed excitedly at the television.

Amongst the suits of blue and orange, they all recognized Will's determined face as he glared against the sun that shone in his eyes. As the reporter was speaking the angle changed, revealing who had been walking in front of him. Adena, looking tense but set, walked next to the men of her rig crew with the bright orange of her suit glowing in the sunlight. She seemed drastically different than when they had seen her, more serious and far less playful than when they had seen her in the park.

"Dreams of an entire planet are focused tonight on those fifteen brave souls travelling into the Heavens. And may we all, citizens the world over, see these events through."

Adena turned her head to look back at Will, seeing that he had done the same. Her hair was pulled back into a French braid, the length of it swinging around and catching the sun to make it shine a faint copper in the dark brown. With the reassurance that he was there behind her, Adena faced forward once more and continued to walk amongst her family with a straight back and a sure stride.

"Godspeed and good luck to you."

I wasn't expecting this story to be so popular when I first published it, and everyone and especially thank you to Lyth Icebreath for her awesome review, it made me smile to get a review like that first thing when I open my computer.

I've been writing more chapters, so I just need to edit them and I can post them over the next couple of days! Hope to get more reviews, always love hearing from you