I think that this is one of my better chapters, so I hope you like it. In this chapter, Hope takes off and burns. At the end, they plan to exit the burn at a place where there should be a life-sustaining planet. Next chapter I'll probably have them land or go from the POV of control after Hope burns to show what happens to Willpower.

Last Chance launch pad- 0453

"Resilience, please begin takeoff procedure and you are clear to launch and burn. "

"Thanks Control, we are removing cloaking shield and taking off now. "

I was on the bridge of Hope, watching Resilience take off for the first time. The rocket took off and had cleared the atmosphere and would burn shortly.

"Hope, begin takeoff now. We are detecting activity at enemy encampments. "

"Beginning takeoff. Removing cloaking shields now. " I replied. "ARC, activate takeoff visor. " the visor slid open and the takeoff visor appeared.

"This is Ground Defense, enemy are advancing on our position. Bombers and escort are also incoming. "

"Ground Defense this is Control, please define bombers and escort. "

"We see five Marauder class bombers and twenty Swarm class fighters enroute. "

"Air defense here, we probably take out the bombers, but the fighters will pose a problem. Hope, heat up the plasma cannons"

"This is Ground Defense, we have engaged with enemy troops! "

"Same up here! Hope, 10 fighters we're cloaked and broke through! Take them out!"

It was too soon. We weren't close enough to space to make it. "Plasma cannons open fire! Control, we need more time!"

"Hope, put as much power into the engines or you won't make it!"

I knew that we wouldn't make it, even if everything we could spare was sent to the engines. I took a deep breath, and began to work. "ARC, power up the Atomic Diverter, switch plasma cannons to energy bolts and begin the burn sequence. " there was an explosion and the ship shook violently. "Damage report!"

"We have a breach in the main cargo hold. It has been sealed, but we will lose all the cargo in there. " ARC replied. The shields were at 56% and falling fast, the overall integrity was at 98%. There was another explosion and a new damage report appeared on the visor. I quickly rerouted power from lights, main cargo hold, screens, and other unnecessary items to the Atomic Diverter.

"Hope, what are you doing? You need to clear the atmosphere before burning. "

"We don't have enough time! Launch Willpower before it's too late!"

"This is Air Defense, we are outnumbered! Only two light figh-"

"This is Ground Defense! We are falling back to the inner compound now! Move control to the secondary command location immediately!"

"Control, Hope is burning now. Goodbye. " I hit the burn button and hoped for the best.

Somewhere in space in light speed travel, still launch day- 0634

"We've lost the main cargo hold, the Atomic Diverter is damaged, the fusion chamber is destroyed, landing gear is destroyed. we lost eleven plasma turrets, and the rest are damaged. Two of the shuttles are broken, and we are working on repairing the third for landing. " This was not good news. The cargo hold had 100 people there, and they had all died. The fusion chamber was destroyed, so we would run out of burn fuel in a few days and be lost in empty space. "Also, sir, we seem to have a leak somewhere that we can't detect. We will run out of air in twelve days. " That was definitely not good.

"Okay, how long until the shuttle is operational, and how many space suits do we have?"

"We have four operational space suits, most of them were in the main cargo hold. I estimate three days until the shuttle is usable for landing on a planet. "

"Thanks for the update. I need to think about what to do next for a bit. " I went to my cabin and sat down in my chair to think. "ARC, what' the nearest planet?"

"There are no viable planets within our range. However, I have uncovered an old file from before the accident with the time machine regarding a moon the humans used to refer to as Pandora. It is along our route and in range and has life on it, but the file is incomplete and corrupted, so it may not be true at all. "

"Are their any other options?"

"Not in my memory or databanks. "

"Then we'll stop our burn their. How long until we get there?"

"At lightspeed, it should only take four more days. "

"Good. that will give us time to fix the shuttle. I'll go tell the crew. "