Chapter 2

Mars

"Dearest crew of NASA, this is your Flight Lieutenant Sasaki, speaking. Foxtrot flight 5740 to Peruvian Air Force Base, Las Palmas. We just cleared the land. Make sure one last time your seat belt is securely fastened. We will touch down in Peru at 3:30 pm Peruvian Standard Time."

I announced before proceeding to my landing procedure. I just roll my eyes at the man beside me, none other than the brilliant arrogant scientist and commander I've met who my co-pilot is.

"I told you, I can do the announcement, lioness."

"I am not a lioness, Senku. Also, you are just a space pilot,"

"Have you seen my license, lieutenant? A word of advice: Never look down on your Commanders. How I like and hate that attitude of yours, lioness." I heard him sigh.

Commander Nanami knows I didn't fly my plane once with a co-pilot, but this scientist is annoying and insisting that we should go together because my plane had more extensive storage for his satellite monitor that he will bring to aid his research in the earthquake that happened to Peru the other day.

NASA needs to conduct its study at the center of the disaster. I may not be as intelligent as the scientist beside me, but I know the place is in a fault line, and thinking about the victims of this natural disaster takes me back to the tsunami that hits Japan ten years ago.

We were told to go there not only for Senku's research purposes but also to aid the medical crew in treating their patients and aid the people in their sufferings. While I was distributing food to the victims of the disaster, a little girl caught my attention. I hurriedly helped her because she almost looked like Suika, who died with Ruri and my family during the tsunami years ago. She was crying because she had lost her mom.

We searched far and wide all day. I even let Senku helps me in finding the whereabouts of her mother. I eventually bid goodbye to her when her mother spotted us. I just smile at the lady who thanks us for finding her daughter.

"What made you enter this field, lieutenant?" Senku asks while we're walking side by side back to the airbase.

"I don't know. Maybe in the sky, I can feel peace."

"You know the sky is not as peaceful as you think, Lieutenant." I just cross my arms at him.

"Ha! I know in every place there is no peace, Commander. There are always good and bad situations, nothing in between, but I believe I can rule when I'm in the sky. I can manipulate everything I want, and I can be who I am." I am a woman who didn't need the help of others to succeed in my chosen field. I can feel Senku beside me, staring at me with his wide-eyed gaze.

"You are very will-powered, Lieutenant. I should bring you to space then, lioness, in the place where I can rule."

I can hear the sincerity in his voice and see the hypnotic gaze his crimson orbs emit, that it seems like he is looking at me in admiration.

"I'll go now, Commander." I hurriedly walked faster than him, but I didn't expect him to speak again.

"I can't wait to be with you on Mars soon, lioness."

I remained quiet in front of my monitors while I listened to the three of them talk. They've been arguing about something for a while now, and I felt anxious as time went by. The information and scenarios coming from their mouths were quite deep, and only those who had enough experience in outer space could understand what they were arguing about.

I can hear Commander Snyder respond with a hint of sarcasm in between, but he eventually got annoyed after that. Senku and Dr. Xeno were the only ones left, speaking intelligent things at the back talking about deep science I had no idea about.

"Nerds," Commander Snyder told me as he sat at the chair in front of me.

"Yeah, just sit there, Commander Snyder. Who told you to meddle with them? Of course, that's an astronaut thing that you wouldn't understand." I saw him roll his eyes at me.

"I was a candidate before, and I regretted refusing. Maybe I am the space commander right now."

"I can't agree with that. The position is only for Senku," I laugh at him for a bit to annoy him.

"That's called bias, Kohaku."

We both faced the monitor when we heard Senku and Dr. Xeno almost shouting and screaming at each other. This time they are using a different language than English and Japanese. Commander Snyder and I just looked at each other, confused about what they were talking about, and then I realized the two scientists were doing it on purpose. Senku told Dr. Xeno deliberately to speak in a different language that I won't understand.

"Hey, calm down. What's going on?" I asked them. I felt worried all of a sudden as I observed both of them. They both just stare at me while here I am clueless as to what's happening if they will start to talk to me about it or not.

"What on earth are you doing, Senku? How could you use a different language for us to don't understand the situation? Don't you think it's unfair? We're still pilots and onboard. Yes, both of you are assigned Commanders and the scientists here, but please, we're still here. We're a team." Senku remained tight-lipped while Dr. Xeno just bowed his head, and I saw him tighten his fist.

"Yeah," Commander Snyder said beside me.

"No, this is nothing, lioness." Senku was about to hold my shoulders to assure me, but I stepped back from him.

"Nothing?! You're both close to punching each other! Tell us all about it, Senku!" I scream at him, even though I know it takes more than that to make him talk.

"What is it, Dr. Xeno?" Commander Snyder asks him instead while Senku's having trouble maintaining eye contact with me. They didn't answer. Instead, they just sighed at each other.

"What?" I decided to ask them again.

Dr. Xeno was about to talk when we heard an alarm at the front. It was a signal communication from NASA, and it seems like they found another strategy to communicate back at us. Commander Snyder and I almost rush to answer them, and I proceed to open the big monitor in front to receive their message.

I crease my forehead when, instead of a message, we receive a video message from them. It was none other than Ibarra. He appeared on our screens in front of their camera. I can tell something is wrong with his face. His lips had a cut, and he's got heavy eyebags.

"Damn it, tell them!" I heard Ryusui scream at him from the background

"W-What's going on there, Commander?" I worriedly ask him. He is a loyal friend to me and Senku, who aid us in tracking Ibarra's whereabouts and the reason for our mission.

I can see at the back Ryusui, whose patience is running thin on a thread. The monitors won't hide his anger, and this is the first I've seen him angry like this. He is always carefree and flirting with me. Gen was trying his best to calm him down to no avail.

"I said tell them!" Ryusui screamed again. I am a little confused about it. Where is Tsukasa, our flight admiral, Ukyo, and the others? Why are the lights turned off behind the control rooms of NASA? It's like I felt all of my energy was sucked in a void, and I weakly turned my back at Senku and the others. Senku and Dr. Xeno remained frozen with a cold expression as they stared at the monitor in front of us.

Is this the reason they are shouting at each other earlier?

I just took a deep sigh, and I could feel my vision darken while looking at the rotten old man in front of us.

"What is it, Ibarra? If you sabotage this mission, start praying now. Find the farthest place to hide because I'll definitely hunt you down."