Introduction (11 September 2022)

The final months of the year are traditionally the busiest in my line of work. Which usually means I'll have even less time to write. But don't worry, the lower frequency of story updates doesn't mean I have started to abandon this story, as there are still too many ideas that needed to be turned into chapters, things from previous chapters that need to be resolved. I hope this chapter, as well as any upcoming ones, will be enough reward for the patience that you, as reader, may have to exercise.

Note: If you want to comment on this story, or any of my other stories, please do leave a review. Even if it's just a few commenting words, it will already be really appreciated. And if you post a comment while being a registered member, I'll usually reply to it asap, as I think interaction between writer and reviewer is important. So, don't be shy, feel free to comment, like, criticize. Your feedback is extremely useful to correct errors, and even can be inspiring. Looking forward to hearing from you!


Chapter Intro:

Our friends managed to get into the escape pod just in time. But are they really safe now, and will they soon have their feet back on solid ground again?


Chapter 19 – Homeward Bound

'This is it then, I just hope everything works…' was Nasa's final thought, before firmly pressing the launch button…

With a jolt, the craft's engines sprang to life, and a large countdown timer filled up the main screen in the cockpit section.

"We will launch in ten seconds!" Nasa announced in a loud voice, in order to be audible above the noise of the engines.

The door between the area with the escape capsule and the rest of the station closed up, to avoid depressurisation when seconds later a large part of the wall ahead of the nose of the craft, opened up, providing a clear path to outside.

"Please brace yourselves!" Nasa said, as the countdown timer reached zero.

The engines increased thrust to full power, and at the same time the clamps holding the craft into the launch rail, gave way. The escape pod suddenly plunged forward through the opening in the side wall, into the vastness of space, while the fast acceleration caused everyone to be pushed back into their seats. Nasa tried to keep his eyes locked onto the main screen, to see if everything was working fine, but suddenly noticed his vision getting blurry, as he lost consciousness…

'Wait… wh-where am I?' Nasa wondered, as he slowly came around again. 'Oh yes… we were in the ISS, and we had to get out… use the escape pod…' He blinked a few times and gradually the display in front of the cockpit came into focus again. But before he could once again turn his full attention to the craft's status, there was something far more important on his mind.

"Ts-Tsukasa-chan?" he carefully asked, while trying to turn his head around.

"Welcome back, dear!" a cheerful voice instantly greeted him from behind.

"You're already awake!?" Nasa asked, surprised.

"Of course, compared to other things I've been through, getting launched in a spaceship feels like a walk in the park," Tsukasa boasted; "Besides…" she added, with a slight blush, "…I like to watch you sleep, you always look so cute then. I guess that's another reason I woke up sooner than you did."

"Ehhh…" was all Nasa could utter, while also blushing.

"By the way, dear, who is flying this thing?" Tsukasa wondered, as she tried to change the subject to a less embarrassing one.

"No one… uh… I mean, I am!" Nasa quickly corrected himself, as he got fully back to his senses.

'I was so distracted, I totally forgot to check the navigation settings!" it flashed through his mind, as he pressed a few keys. 'Ah, it's as I thought, the computer has been programmed to take us directly to a well-known drop point in the ocean, near Cape Canaveral. In that case I should just signal the guys, eh… girls, back at ground control where we expect to be touching down, in order to have a recovery vessel ready when we splash down in the water,' he thought, with a content smile on his face. 'Finally, some things are going according to plan again.'

He looked over his shoulder and noticed the princess had regained consciousness as well. After he had briefly explained to Kaguya-hime about the remaining part of their journey back to Earth, Nasa contacted their friends back home, to give them a status update as well.

"Okay, senpai, we'll dispatch that ship right away to pick you up at the planned landing site," Kaname confirmed, after Nasa had explained everything to her. "Any special requests? I could ask if the crew can turn the captain's quarters into a bridal suite for you two, so you can spend some private time 'debriefing' after this mission?" the young girl added, with a special undertone in her voice.

Nasa had no trouble imagining the smug look Kaname would likely be having written all over her face right now. 'That girl really thinks that married people only care about one thing… sheesh!' Although the idea of spending time with his cute wife, after all the things they had been through during this mission, did sound incredibly tempting. For a moment he allowed himself to dream away, letting his imagination take over his usually analytical mind. 'No, that will have to wait, for now let's focus on the mission instead!' he thought, bringing himself back to the here and now.

"Thanks for the offer, Kaname-chan, but it will suffice if the vessel is there when we arrive," Nasa replied on a formal tone.

"Senpai, you're just no fun. Sometimes I do wonder why Tsukassan decided to marry you," Kaname sighed with disappointment.

"What was that all about, dear?" a voice sounded from the back.

"Oh, just some static…" Nasa replied.

"Husband… you know very well why I married you, don't you?" Tsukasa said, her voice sounding somewhat stern.

'Oh, Tsukasa-chan did overhear Kaname-chan talking…' Nasa thought, as he suddenly felt a stream of warm air striking past his right ear.

"It's your pure honesty, the same you showed me when we first met, and without a doubt told me you would accept my condition that you could only be with me if you married me. That is what won me over," Tsukasa whispered in his ear. "And you're quite cute, that too…"

Nasa felt his face flush all red from hearing his wife's soothing words and feeling her warm breath so close to him.

"Ah… y-yes…" was all that came from Nasa's mouth, him being all flustered now.

"By the way, dear, what is that spiral-shaped white spot down there?" Tsukasa wondered, pointing forward.

"Let me have a look," Nasa replied, as he looked in the direction his wife had indicated. "Hmmm, I need to verify something. Kaname-chan, can you get the weather reports for the landing zone?"

"You want to check if the water temps are suitable for swimming, so you can see Tsukassan in her new swimsuit? That's unexpected of you, senpai…" Kaname replied; "… but please, go on, I like this development a lot better," she added, gloating.

"I wouldn't…" Nasa started, then quickly stopped talking, as he had to admit the thought of going swimming with his lovely wife did sound very appealing.

"Oh… I think you will have to postpone your swimming holiday plans for now, senpai…" Kaname's voice sounded again; "Nakiri-san just told me a hurricane is forming in the area you are planning to crash."

"Crash? We have several means to reduce our speed of descent," Nasa objected.

"I know, senpai, but this way it sounds far more spectacular, right?" the youngest Arisugawa sister justified her remark; "But you don't have to worry about the hurricane, according to Nakiri-san it's only a category three, so that's pretty tame, right?" she added.

'Category three hurricane, tame? With windspeeds around one hundred twenty miles per hour and more? Has Kaname-chan finally lost her mind!?' Nasa quickly thought, before replying.

"What do you mean? That category is very dangerous!" Nasa shouted through the microphone.

"It is? Big sis Aya always told me that it's just like with the wind speeds, one being the lowest number and twelve the highest," Kaname explained.

Nasa put his hand on his forehead, stupefied by this level of ignorance. His initial thought was to give both Arisugawa sisters a lecture on wind speeds and other weather-related subjects. 'Then again, not everyone would be interested in having real in-depth knowledge of this. For Kaname the weather can probably mostly be classified into "good weather" and "bad weather" anyway. And I guess they have other redeeming qualities…' he thought.

"Anyway, since this escape capsule was designed to survive re-entry in the Earth's atmosphere, and landing in the ocean, we should be totally fine…" Nasa continued. "It just means we probably have to wait a little longer before the recovery vessel can pick us up. We can't expect the crew to risk their lives just to get to us a little sooner. So please tell them to wait until it's fully safe."

"Roger that! I will have the ship patrolling as close as possible to the spot where you are going to land, while staying at a safe distance from the hurricane," Kaname replied.

"Sounds good to me, we'll be in touch again when we enter the Stratosphere. Nasa out!" the young genius ended the transmission.

"Problems, dear?" Tsukasa wondered.

"Not really. The last part of our flight might be somewhat of a rocky ride, since there is a hurricane in the area where we are to land. Although according to my calculations, the hurricane will have moved on by the time we get there, so we might just experience a little turbulence. Somewhat like the wake a boat leaves when passing by. Actually, I expect the main side effect we'll experience is that we may have to wait a little longer before the recovery vessel comes to pick us up," Nasa explained.

"You know I trust you completely" Tsukasa said, with a beaming smile.

'I just hope everything plays out as I expected…' Nasa pondered, as he looked over the programmed flight plan a few more times, to make sure there wasn't anything he might have overlooked. All this staring at the screen did however start to make his eyes quite tired. 'I might just as well close them a for a while, I have all the data memorized anyway, so I can go over everything in my head even with my eyes shut.' He decided in his mind, as the rescue capsule moved closer to Earth…

'Woah! These speedbumps in the road are really annoying…' Nasa thought. 'If this keeps up, our car might fall apart. Wait! We didn't go driving in our car, or did we?' He opened up his eyes wide and looked at the dashboard. 'T-This definitely isn't our car!' it flashed through his mind, as he started taking in the situation.

"Husband, what is going on?" Tsukasa asked; "This is quite a bit more than 'a little turbulence' if you ask me" she added.

"You're right, these conditions are totally different from what I had expected. Please hold on tight everyone, while I check some things!" Nasa shouted back, as he quickly ran over the screen contents.

'The navigation data checks out just fine, we haven't deviated from the flight path…' was his first observation. 'So why are we shaking so wildly? Oh…'

"It seems the hurricane moved slower than predicted, so we won't mostly clear it, but will actually skim the edge of the funnel!" Nasa yelled, trying to overcome the sound of the winds increasing outside of the capsule.

"Maybe I can help stabilize this vessel," the Moon Princess suggested, as a glowing aura started to envelop her.

But as quickly as the aura appeared, it suddenly disappeared…

"I-I'm sorry, I am still to w-weak to use my p-powers…" Kaguya-hime sighed; "When I am further away f-from the Moon, it takes much l-longer for me to recover…"

"No problem, I think with a small course correction I can steer us clear from the aftermath of the hurricane and get to calmer air!" Nasa reacted to the princess' apology.

"Let's do that, dear! I like roller coasters, but this one isn't particularly enjoyable, to be honest," his wife commented.

"Already on it! Setting a new course now!" Nasa replied, as he frantically operated the screen, and prepared for the evasive maneuver.

He quickly punched in the numbers for the course correction, looked them over one final time and prepared to apply these.

"Okay, everyone brace yourself, we will make a hard turn when I confirm this new flight plan!" Nasa warned his passengers.

"Well, it can't be much worse than this, so go ahead!" Tsukasa yelled back.

"Alright, here we go!" Nasa confirmed.

But just as he was about to change the craft's direction, a bright flash illuminated the capsule's interior, accompanied by a loud crackling sound!

"Senpai! Come in! You're already way past the point where you were supposed to have contacted us again!" Kaname shouted into the microphone in front of her, her voice revealing a bit of panic.

"We just lost the capsule's transponder signal too!" Nakiri shouted, with fear in her eyes.

"Senpaiii! Tsukassan! Please respond!"

(To be continued…)


Chapter Afterthoughts (16 October 2022)

First of all, with the mention of a hurricane in this chapter there was no disrespect intended towards hurricane "Ian" and the people affected by it. The basic storyline for this chapter was conceived way before this natural disaster made it to the news.

Second, this chapter took much longer to complete than I had expected, but you can find the main reason in the introduction. Anyway, our heroes have come a step closer to their home (well at least for the majority of those inside the rescue capsule) planet now, but they are clearly not out of the woods yet. Stay tuned for the next one, if you want to know how this is going to end.


Disclaimer

Please let me know what you think of this chapter and leave some feedback in the form of a review. If you have/create an account on this fanfiction website, and post a review when logged in, I can even reply to your comments. It would be nice to be able to interact with the people who read my stories!

Btw, since I am not a native speaker, there will likely be some silly mistakes in this story. Perhaps in grammar and/or in punctuation, maybe I made the same mistakes as in previous stories, or I may even have introduced some new errors. I hope you can bear with me and see through that. Naturally any helpful tips and suggestions are welcome.

Stay safe, and maybe until soon!