With massive reporters wanting the scoop on the story, they were told the same thing time and
again. There would be no speculation on anything, no matter how hard they tried. Jinx rolled
through the crowd unnoticed and entered the control room.
"Jinx put Gem in space...Jinx can get Gem back," his tiny metallic voice uttered as he rolled
through the room. "Jinx put Gem in space...Jinx can get Gem back....Jinx put Gem in space."
"How'd you know about Gemma Jinx?" Zach asked curiously.
"Jinx and Gem friends forever," he replied.
"Oh my God," came a cry of disbelief. "Get that thing out of here, get security."
"Wait a minute. Wait a minute, maybe he can help us unless you've got a better idea?" Zach
stated.
Jinx's light components started to blink with the same pattern as the button. Swiveling his head
to find the source, he immediately cried out. "Yo! Gem!"
Security walked up and grabbed the little droid.
"Wait a minute!" Zach shouted. "Jinx, how can you help NASA?" he asked.
"C-O-M-E-I-N-C-O-N-T-R-O-L," he began, repeating it over and over.
"Come on, get it out of here," Bob said, as the security guards picked the little droid from the
ground.
Zach watched as Jinx was carried toward the door, listening to what he was saying but not
making any sense of it.
"C-O-M-E-I-N-C-O-N-T-R-O-L...come in control..." Jinx kept going. As they neared the door,
the droid just wouldn't give up. Sticking his legs into the door frame, he held them there; not
willing to go unheard. "C-O-M-E-I-N-C-O-N-T-R-O-L...come in control... Gem's code!"
"Morse code?" Zach asked as he turned around to see if he could glimpse what Jinx had seen.
"Gem's code!" Jinx stated.
Zach turned his attention to the control panel and caught a glimpse of the miracle they had waited
for. "Damn! They're talking to us!" he exclaimed as his gaze fell on a single button, blinking
over and over again. "We got Morse code, Jack get over here and translate this! Jinx, I'm
treating you to a can of oil."
"Request...alternate...landing...site... white.." Jack translated.
"White Sands, Columbia 82, check it out," Zach uttered.
"White Sands re-entry window is nine minutes," Bob stated.
"Get me White Sands," Jim demanded. "We're going to have to send them a landing software
update. Damn, I hope White Sands is ready for this."
"They'll make it ready, it's our only shot," Zach retorted.
__________________
Kara, beginning to get tired, still kept at the switch. Losing her patience, she tapped the wall.
"They're never going to hear this."
"Just keep going Kara," Jade replied.
Kara touched the switch but jumped a bit as the buttons flashed before her eyes. Turning around,
she noticed that not just a few were blinking but they all were. "What's wrong now?" she asked,
not wanting to have something more thrown at them. Staring in shock, she couldn't believe what
she was seeing. "Whip me, beat me, take away my charge card, NASA's talking!" she cried.
The shuttle broke out into cheers of happiness as they realized how relieved they were. Various
cries of disbelief floated through the small space, but now NASA was talking and they had new
hope.
Gemma came through the door, a look of shock on her face. "Did someone say NASA?" she
asked.
"It's NASA!!" they replied in unison.
"Yay! NASA!" Gemma exclaimed.
"Guys...guys!" Kara broke in. "They need an ohms burn like now!"
"Ohms burn coming right up," Selah stated, hitting the switch.
"Window coordinates," Jade mentioned, programming her end.
_______________
"Tell Andie she's got to slow that thing down to forty-eight hundred," Zach mentioned.
"It's not Andie, Zach. I just got that." Ben mentioned, nodding toward Jack as he translated the
code. "Andie's hurt. Some camper named Jade is flying the bird."
________________
"One thirteen by seventeen," Kara rattled off to Leelee, watching her instruments closely.
"Window coordinates one thirteen by seventeen," Leelee acknowledged, passing on the
information as she readied her station for interface.
"Roger that," Jade replied, turning to look at the figures Selah and she had come up with. "We
figured two fifty by nineteen," she smiled.
Selah shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we weren't that far off," she mentioned, ginning goofily.
"Our time parameter...oh two ten," Leelee stated, checking the info status. "Ah, we have to be at
re-entry at oh two ten and that's in..." she looked down at her Scooby Doo watch and her eyes
widened in realization. "That's in six minutes!" she squealed.
"Gemma?" Kara called, manning the buttons. "Zach wants to know how Andie's doing."
"Gemma," Andie spoke softly.
"Andie!" Gemma replied gleefully.
"Oh," she breathed, the thumping in her head lightening a little. "Get me a headset."
"She wants a headset!" Gemma yelled.
"She wants a headset?" Leelee questioned.
"Alright!" Gemma exclaimed, as she flew threw the air with the extra headset. Handing it to
Andie, she positively beamed at her.
"Okay, Andie?!" Selah called out. "Relax, don't worry about it. We can handle it, okay?
Gemma, you and Andie get strapped in."
"Get me out of this now," Andie stated, not wanting to be immobile any longer.
"Okay," Gemma conceded, unzipping her.
"Jade?" Selah started, seeing panic cross her features.
"Selah, you know I never knew how to do this," Jade started excitedly, checking all the systems.
"I don't know?" she uttered uneasily.
"Of course you can do it," Selah responded.
"No," she started nervously. "It's re-entry..."
"Look, what's the worst thing that can happen?" Selah asked. "We'd all die, right? Well we'll all
die if you don't do it, so? Just relax okay? You're panicked."
"You're damn right I'm panicked!" Jade retorted quickly, her voice edgy.
"Okay, fine. That's perfect, I'll do it." Selah replied, pulling the book from Jade's hands.
"Alright. Kara? You ever read a book on how to fly this thing?" she asked, flipping through the
pages at random.
Kara only laughed from behind them.
"Okay," Jade smiled, pulling the book away from her. "I'll do it."
"So competitive, aren't we?" Selah grinned. "Okay team. Put these helmets on, and lets do it."
"Okay, Jade." Andie said, securing her headset.
"Alright," Jade responded softly.
"Lock coordinates in," Andie stated.
"Coordinates locked in," she uttered.
"Stand by for ohms burn," Andie responded.
"Okay," Selah replied. "Twenty-nine seconds and counting." she said, snapping her belt. "Hey
Gem. We're going home," she said, knowing how much that would please the Brit.
"Great!" she responded. "I'm starving!"
"Alright, ohms burn on my mark," Selah said, watching the indicator. "3-2-1-mark," she said,
pushing the button for ohms.
"Preparing for Y Maneuver," Jade replied.
"You're doing great pilot," Selah commended.
_______________
"Come on Jade, you can do it!" Zach spoke up, eager to see them back safe and sound on the
ground. "You can do it. Just take it easy," he mentioned, watching the monitor.
"Entry interface in...two minutes," Bob stated. Zach looked at his watch.
___________________
"Re-entry's in range," Selah said.
"Prepare for one eighty roll," Andie instructed.
"Standing by," Jade replied.
"Okay, and uh..." Selah started, watching her instruments accordingly. "Go for roll."
Jade moved the joystick slightly, rolling the shuttle over.
"Hey, looking good! Whoo!" Selah grinned.
"We're passing two hundred and thirty-five degrees. On our way to one eighty Andie," Jade
spoke up, keeping her attention where it belonged.
"And you said you couldn't fly this thing," Selah teased.
"I think we came around too much," Jade said, looking at the indicator. "Oh no, wait a minute!"
"We don't have a minute. What's wrong?" Selah asked quickly.
"What's happening?" Gemma asked. From below, she couldn't see a thing.
"Look!" Jade said, indicating the window. The shuttle was now in a flat spin.
"Jade, make it stop!" Kara shouted.
"Jade, you're in a flat spin. You've got to concentrate," Andie stated seriously. She knew Jade
could pull it out, she just had to make her see that.
Jade began counter maneuvers, trying her hardest to get it under control.
_________________
"She lost it. She's coming in out of control," Zach stated, watching the degree indicator.
"...station's going to black out in 30 seconds."
"Tracking's going to lose them," Ben commented.
___________________
"Coming up on re-entry, we've got to stabilize," Jade stated nervously, knowing that if she didn't
get the ship under control by then, they'd burn up.
"Hey guys! Get strapped in!" Selah called back, sending Kara and Leelee straight for their seats.
Suddenly the lights flicked off and another alarm sounded.
"What happened to the lights?" Kara asked curiously, as her mind thought of nothing but bad
things.
"The trainer," Selah said, trying to get Jade's attention. "Remember the trainer. You can do it,"
she commented, knowing full well that Jade had done well with the trainer at camp.
"Andie?" Jade called, scared that she would be the cause of all her friends' deaths. The pressure
was almost unbearable. None of them realized what hung in the balance of this one simple
maneuver.
"Jade listen to me," Andie started, then continued, "We talked about when it would be your turn?
This is it. Do you copy?" Andie asked.
Jade took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to push everything else from her mind. "I copy," she
replied softly, once again putting her full attention to the controls. She would do it; she had to.
Shutting her eyes briefly, she opened them with a new determination. Two roll overs later and
she had control again, heading back toward the window.
"Good work!" Selah commented.
"Okay, you've got to bring the nose up," Andie told her. "You have to go in at an angle."
"Right," Selah uttered, looking over the index. "Re-entry angle should be thirty degrees at least.
We're at twenty-six. Twenty-seven, alright, keep going," Selah urged as she heard the shuttle
reach the atmosphere. "Twenty-eight!" she shouted as they hit interface.
_______________
"Ionization blackout."
"We've lost contact," Ben stated, looking toward Jareth and his group of listians that had found
their way back after hearing that there was a possibility of the shuttle coming down.
"What's going on?" Dee whispered softly, watching the men scurrying around the room.
"Shoosh double oh negative," SQ said, grinning.
"I'm secret agent smut girl, not double oh negative silly," Dee replied softly.
"Well if you're a secret agent, then go find out what's going on," Essy interrupted.
"I'll just do that," Dee grinned, sneaking away from the group."
"Alright, who says she's caught in the next five minutes?" Paola asked, straightening her shirt.
"I say three," Spidey answered.
Dee was escorted back to the group by security.
"A new record," Christy laughed.
"They're in some serious shit guys," Dee spoke softly.
"What? What do you mean?" SQ asked, not at all pleased with the information.
"The instructor isn't flying. Jade is," Dee whispered.
"They're doomed," Essy quipped. "Never let a lightsider have control."
"Shut up Easy," SQ replied quickly, not pleased with her reaction.
"DCME!"
As the seriousness sunk in, they quieted down, not sure of what the future held or if they would
ever see their fellow listians again.
__________________
"Watch the readout on the nose attitude indicator," Andie instructed. "You can fly it Jade," she
mentioned when she heard Jade's uneasy yelp. "Keep the nose at thirty degrees."
"Come on, twenty-nine," Selah said, watching the indicator. "Just a little bit more, push it...
thirty!" Selah said.
It was merely a matter of moments when the nose dipped down to twenty-one. The heat
intensified with each passing second. "It's not holding," Jade muttered.
"We're burning up!" Kara exclaimed.
_________________
The control room was quiet as they waited in anticipation for Atlantis to make an appearance.
Glancing at Jareth, Zach could see they knew what was happening just by the look in their eyes.
"Come on, be there," Zach said.
________________
"Don't push it, ease up on the yaw jets," Andie told her.
"Come on. Come on, keep holding it," Selah encouraged.
Jade got the nose to nearly thirty, before it dipped again. "Come on," she muttered, slowly
raising it back up.
"Jade, you can do it," Andie encouraged her.
____________________
"Shouldn't they be down by now?" Meghan asked, breaking the silence.
"I don't know," Mai replied.
"Lets hope so," SQ added, waiting anxiously for any news in the slightest.
___________________
The alarm still sounding, all of a sudden it just stopped. The shuttle smoothed out and stunned
the crew.
"Where are we?" Gemma asked quietly.
"We're dead. We didn't make it," Kara replied, her eyes wide. Leelee sat beside her with a grin
as she played the Scooby theme on her watch.
"We made it," Jade breathed. "I know we did."
_________________
"...picked em up." came a random voice, causing the listians to look in that direction.
________________
"You did it," Selah grinned.
"She did it!" Gemma exclaimed.
"Good job Jade," Andie commended.
"Good flying Jadey!" Gemma called out, screeching happily. "Whoo!"
Jade sighed, relieved it was over. "What a job?" she mused, not wanting to go through that again
for a very long time.
"You did it Jadey," Selah stated again, happy to be back where they belonged.
"No, we all did it," Jade replied.
"Damn right we did!" Kara cried out.
"We all did it," Leelee repeated.
"Atlantis, this is control. Do you copy?" a voice broke through the excitement.
"Mission control!" Gemma said, pleased that they were back in one piece. Her mind wandered to
ASH and his voice, Christian and his hot bod...
"NASA," Leelee smiled.
"Copy that control. This is Atlantis," Selah returned.
___________________
"Alright!" The control room broke out into cheers of joy as the signal came across.
Jareth and the listians heard the news as well.
"Andie are you alright?" Zach asked, just wanting to hear the sound of his wife's voice.
"Yeah. We're all fine," Andie replied. "Just real happy to be home."
The shuttle flew through the air, the lights of the city sparkling brilliantly from below. A feeling
of calm swept through them as they finally let down their guards. They were home.
"Atlantis...we have you on auto and we are brining you home," the voice stated.
In the thick of night, it was obvious as they were nearing the runway; there was no mistaking it.
Even in the black of night, it shone like a beacon calling out to them. With anxious hearts and
minds, they couldn't help the joy that filled them as the wheels touched pavement, giving the last
evidence that they were safe; they were home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
again. There would be no speculation on anything, no matter how hard they tried. Jinx rolled
through the crowd unnoticed and entered the control room.
"Jinx put Gem in space...Jinx can get Gem back," his tiny metallic voice uttered as he rolled
through the room. "Jinx put Gem in space...Jinx can get Gem back....Jinx put Gem in space."
"How'd you know about Gemma Jinx?" Zach asked curiously.
"Jinx and Gem friends forever," he replied.
"Oh my God," came a cry of disbelief. "Get that thing out of here, get security."
"Wait a minute. Wait a minute, maybe he can help us unless you've got a better idea?" Zach
stated.
Jinx's light components started to blink with the same pattern as the button. Swiveling his head
to find the source, he immediately cried out. "Yo! Gem!"
Security walked up and grabbed the little droid.
"Wait a minute!" Zach shouted. "Jinx, how can you help NASA?" he asked.
"C-O-M-E-I-N-C-O-N-T-R-O-L," he began, repeating it over and over.
"Come on, get it out of here," Bob said, as the security guards picked the little droid from the
ground.
Zach watched as Jinx was carried toward the door, listening to what he was saying but not
making any sense of it.
"C-O-M-E-I-N-C-O-N-T-R-O-L...come in control..." Jinx kept going. As they neared the door,
the droid just wouldn't give up. Sticking his legs into the door frame, he held them there; not
willing to go unheard. "C-O-M-E-I-N-C-O-N-T-R-O-L...come in control... Gem's code!"
"Morse code?" Zach asked as he turned around to see if he could glimpse what Jinx had seen.
"Gem's code!" Jinx stated.
Zach turned his attention to the control panel and caught a glimpse of the miracle they had waited
for. "Damn! They're talking to us!" he exclaimed as his gaze fell on a single button, blinking
over and over again. "We got Morse code, Jack get over here and translate this! Jinx, I'm
treating you to a can of oil."
"Request...alternate...landing...site... white.." Jack translated.
"White Sands, Columbia 82, check it out," Zach uttered.
"White Sands re-entry window is nine minutes," Bob stated.
"Get me White Sands," Jim demanded. "We're going to have to send them a landing software
update. Damn, I hope White Sands is ready for this."
"They'll make it ready, it's our only shot," Zach retorted.
__________________
Kara, beginning to get tired, still kept at the switch. Losing her patience, she tapped the wall.
"They're never going to hear this."
"Just keep going Kara," Jade replied.
Kara touched the switch but jumped a bit as the buttons flashed before her eyes. Turning around,
she noticed that not just a few were blinking but they all were. "What's wrong now?" she asked,
not wanting to have something more thrown at them. Staring in shock, she couldn't believe what
she was seeing. "Whip me, beat me, take away my charge card, NASA's talking!" she cried.
The shuttle broke out into cheers of happiness as they realized how relieved they were. Various
cries of disbelief floated through the small space, but now NASA was talking and they had new
hope.
Gemma came through the door, a look of shock on her face. "Did someone say NASA?" she
asked.
"It's NASA!!" they replied in unison.
"Yay! NASA!" Gemma exclaimed.
"Guys...guys!" Kara broke in. "They need an ohms burn like now!"
"Ohms burn coming right up," Selah stated, hitting the switch.
"Window coordinates," Jade mentioned, programming her end.
_______________
"Tell Andie she's got to slow that thing down to forty-eight hundred," Zach mentioned.
"It's not Andie, Zach. I just got that." Ben mentioned, nodding toward Jack as he translated the
code. "Andie's hurt. Some camper named Jade is flying the bird."
________________
"One thirteen by seventeen," Kara rattled off to Leelee, watching her instruments closely.
"Window coordinates one thirteen by seventeen," Leelee acknowledged, passing on the
information as she readied her station for interface.
"Roger that," Jade replied, turning to look at the figures Selah and she had come up with. "We
figured two fifty by nineteen," she smiled.
Selah shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we weren't that far off," she mentioned, ginning goofily.
"Our time parameter...oh two ten," Leelee stated, checking the info status. "Ah, we have to be at
re-entry at oh two ten and that's in..." she looked down at her Scooby Doo watch and her eyes
widened in realization. "That's in six minutes!" she squealed.
"Gemma?" Kara called, manning the buttons. "Zach wants to know how Andie's doing."
"Gemma," Andie spoke softly.
"Andie!" Gemma replied gleefully.
"Oh," she breathed, the thumping in her head lightening a little. "Get me a headset."
"She wants a headset!" Gemma yelled.
"She wants a headset?" Leelee questioned.
"Alright!" Gemma exclaimed, as she flew threw the air with the extra headset. Handing it to
Andie, she positively beamed at her.
"Okay, Andie?!" Selah called out. "Relax, don't worry about it. We can handle it, okay?
Gemma, you and Andie get strapped in."
"Get me out of this now," Andie stated, not wanting to be immobile any longer.
"Okay," Gemma conceded, unzipping her.
"Jade?" Selah started, seeing panic cross her features.
"Selah, you know I never knew how to do this," Jade started excitedly, checking all the systems.
"I don't know?" she uttered uneasily.
"Of course you can do it," Selah responded.
"No," she started nervously. "It's re-entry..."
"Look, what's the worst thing that can happen?" Selah asked. "We'd all die, right? Well we'll all
die if you don't do it, so? Just relax okay? You're panicked."
"You're damn right I'm panicked!" Jade retorted quickly, her voice edgy.
"Okay, fine. That's perfect, I'll do it." Selah replied, pulling the book from Jade's hands.
"Alright. Kara? You ever read a book on how to fly this thing?" she asked, flipping through the
pages at random.
Kara only laughed from behind them.
"Okay," Jade smiled, pulling the book away from her. "I'll do it."
"So competitive, aren't we?" Selah grinned. "Okay team. Put these helmets on, and lets do it."
"Okay, Jade." Andie said, securing her headset.
"Alright," Jade responded softly.
"Lock coordinates in," Andie stated.
"Coordinates locked in," she uttered.
"Stand by for ohms burn," Andie responded.
"Okay," Selah replied. "Twenty-nine seconds and counting." she said, snapping her belt. "Hey
Gem. We're going home," she said, knowing how much that would please the Brit.
"Great!" she responded. "I'm starving!"
"Alright, ohms burn on my mark," Selah said, watching the indicator. "3-2-1-mark," she said,
pushing the button for ohms.
"Preparing for Y Maneuver," Jade replied.
"You're doing great pilot," Selah commended.
_______________
"Come on Jade, you can do it!" Zach spoke up, eager to see them back safe and sound on the
ground. "You can do it. Just take it easy," he mentioned, watching the monitor.
"Entry interface in...two minutes," Bob stated. Zach looked at his watch.
___________________
"Re-entry's in range," Selah said.
"Prepare for one eighty roll," Andie instructed.
"Standing by," Jade replied.
"Okay, and uh..." Selah started, watching her instruments accordingly. "Go for roll."
Jade moved the joystick slightly, rolling the shuttle over.
"Hey, looking good! Whoo!" Selah grinned.
"We're passing two hundred and thirty-five degrees. On our way to one eighty Andie," Jade
spoke up, keeping her attention where it belonged.
"And you said you couldn't fly this thing," Selah teased.
"I think we came around too much," Jade said, looking at the indicator. "Oh no, wait a minute!"
"We don't have a minute. What's wrong?" Selah asked quickly.
"What's happening?" Gemma asked. From below, she couldn't see a thing.
"Look!" Jade said, indicating the window. The shuttle was now in a flat spin.
"Jade, make it stop!" Kara shouted.
"Jade, you're in a flat spin. You've got to concentrate," Andie stated seriously. She knew Jade
could pull it out, she just had to make her see that.
Jade began counter maneuvers, trying her hardest to get it under control.
_________________
"She lost it. She's coming in out of control," Zach stated, watching the degree indicator.
"...station's going to black out in 30 seconds."
"Tracking's going to lose them," Ben commented.
___________________
"Coming up on re-entry, we've got to stabilize," Jade stated nervously, knowing that if she didn't
get the ship under control by then, they'd burn up.
"Hey guys! Get strapped in!" Selah called back, sending Kara and Leelee straight for their seats.
Suddenly the lights flicked off and another alarm sounded.
"What happened to the lights?" Kara asked curiously, as her mind thought of nothing but bad
things.
"The trainer," Selah said, trying to get Jade's attention. "Remember the trainer. You can do it,"
she commented, knowing full well that Jade had done well with the trainer at camp.
"Andie?" Jade called, scared that she would be the cause of all her friends' deaths. The pressure
was almost unbearable. None of them realized what hung in the balance of this one simple
maneuver.
"Jade listen to me," Andie started, then continued, "We talked about when it would be your turn?
This is it. Do you copy?" Andie asked.
Jade took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to push everything else from her mind. "I copy," she
replied softly, once again putting her full attention to the controls. She would do it; she had to.
Shutting her eyes briefly, she opened them with a new determination. Two roll overs later and
she had control again, heading back toward the window.
"Good work!" Selah commented.
"Okay, you've got to bring the nose up," Andie told her. "You have to go in at an angle."
"Right," Selah uttered, looking over the index. "Re-entry angle should be thirty degrees at least.
We're at twenty-six. Twenty-seven, alright, keep going," Selah urged as she heard the shuttle
reach the atmosphere. "Twenty-eight!" she shouted as they hit interface.
_______________
"Ionization blackout."
"We've lost contact," Ben stated, looking toward Jareth and his group of listians that had found
their way back after hearing that there was a possibility of the shuttle coming down.
"What's going on?" Dee whispered softly, watching the men scurrying around the room.
"Shoosh double oh negative," SQ said, grinning.
"I'm secret agent smut girl, not double oh negative silly," Dee replied softly.
"Well if you're a secret agent, then go find out what's going on," Essy interrupted.
"I'll just do that," Dee grinned, sneaking away from the group."
"Alright, who says she's caught in the next five minutes?" Paola asked, straightening her shirt.
"I say three," Spidey answered.
Dee was escorted back to the group by security.
"A new record," Christy laughed.
"They're in some serious shit guys," Dee spoke softly.
"What? What do you mean?" SQ asked, not at all pleased with the information.
"The instructor isn't flying. Jade is," Dee whispered.
"They're doomed," Essy quipped. "Never let a lightsider have control."
"Shut up Easy," SQ replied quickly, not pleased with her reaction.
"DCME!"
As the seriousness sunk in, they quieted down, not sure of what the future held or if they would
ever see their fellow listians again.
__________________
"Watch the readout on the nose attitude indicator," Andie instructed. "You can fly it Jade," she
mentioned when she heard Jade's uneasy yelp. "Keep the nose at thirty degrees."
"Come on, twenty-nine," Selah said, watching the indicator. "Just a little bit more, push it...
thirty!" Selah said.
It was merely a matter of moments when the nose dipped down to twenty-one. The heat
intensified with each passing second. "It's not holding," Jade muttered.
"We're burning up!" Kara exclaimed.
_________________
The control room was quiet as they waited in anticipation for Atlantis to make an appearance.
Glancing at Jareth, Zach could see they knew what was happening just by the look in their eyes.
"Come on, be there," Zach said.
________________
"Don't push it, ease up on the yaw jets," Andie told her.
"Come on. Come on, keep holding it," Selah encouraged.
Jade got the nose to nearly thirty, before it dipped again. "Come on," she muttered, slowly
raising it back up.
"Jade, you can do it," Andie encouraged her.
____________________
"Shouldn't they be down by now?" Meghan asked, breaking the silence.
"I don't know," Mai replied.
"Lets hope so," SQ added, waiting anxiously for any news in the slightest.
___________________
The alarm still sounding, all of a sudden it just stopped. The shuttle smoothed out and stunned
the crew.
"Where are we?" Gemma asked quietly.
"We're dead. We didn't make it," Kara replied, her eyes wide. Leelee sat beside her with a grin
as she played the Scooby theme on her watch.
"We made it," Jade breathed. "I know we did."
_________________
"...picked em up." came a random voice, causing the listians to look in that direction.
________________
"You did it," Selah grinned.
"She did it!" Gemma exclaimed.
"Good job Jade," Andie commended.
"Good flying Jadey!" Gemma called out, screeching happily. "Whoo!"
Jade sighed, relieved it was over. "What a job?" she mused, not wanting to go through that again
for a very long time.
"You did it Jadey," Selah stated again, happy to be back where they belonged.
"No, we all did it," Jade replied.
"Damn right we did!" Kara cried out.
"We all did it," Leelee repeated.
"Atlantis, this is control. Do you copy?" a voice broke through the excitement.
"Mission control!" Gemma said, pleased that they were back in one piece. Her mind wandered to
ASH and his voice, Christian and his hot bod...
"NASA," Leelee smiled.
"Copy that control. This is Atlantis," Selah returned.
___________________
"Alright!" The control room broke out into cheers of joy as the signal came across.
Jareth and the listians heard the news as well.
"Andie are you alright?" Zach asked, just wanting to hear the sound of his wife's voice.
"Yeah. We're all fine," Andie replied. "Just real happy to be home."
The shuttle flew through the air, the lights of the city sparkling brilliantly from below. A feeling
of calm swept through them as they finally let down their guards. They were home.
"Atlantis...we have you on auto and we are brining you home," the voice stated.
In the thick of night, it was obvious as they were nearing the runway; there was no mistaking it.
Even in the black of night, it shone like a beacon calling out to them. With anxious hearts and
minds, they couldn't help the joy that filled them as the wheels touched pavement, giving the last
evidence that they were safe; they were home.
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