I was about to say thank you to Vin for the review when I remembered s/he isn't going to read this one yet, but wait till it is finished. So when you do get here, thanks for the good things you said back in June 2017.

Congrats to Stripesicles222 for your great achievement in graduating (so proud of you) and I hope this chapter doesn't upset you or anyone else too much.

Chapter 49

Last Rush

The truck's suspension creaked loudly as yet another shipping container was gently lowered into position over the rear axles.

"I need to refuel so I'll take this container all the way back to base" the driver told Sid as he fastened the load securely.

As the truck pulled away from the ship few minutes later, Sid considered what the driver had said. He knew their fuel supplies were limited so he decided to put some mental effort into solving the problem but before Sid could get too far into his imagination, the overhead crane brought in another container.

"That was quick" he said as Doom approached the bow of the ship with her clipboard.

"This one is full of raw materials for the Additive Manufacturing Machines; also we've come across a group of eleven containers not on any manifest list, so things may get a little cramped for space up here" she explained.

"Damn!" Sid cursed "And I'm down three trucks."

"Three?" Doom exclaimed "What have you been doing to them?"

"Two are refuelling and one split a radiator hose."

"How long till the next one arrives?" she asked.

"Ten minutes" Sid answered "hopefully sooner."

Doom took the small radio from her belt and made a quick call to the container searchers deep in the ship.

"Don't send anymore containers forward for the next fifteen minutes guys; we're short of trucks at the moment" she reported.

"We only need one" Emerson replied.

Sid and Doom looked at each other, slightly confused until the penny dropped.

"You found the External Payload Carrier?" Doom checked to see if she understood what Emerson was saying.

"One EPC on its way forward as we speak" the smile in Emerson's voice was obvious to all.

"EeeeYES!" Sid cried out as he leapt up.

It took over three and a half hours to get the container back the Railgun complex, as well as another four hours to unpack the EPC and get it to the staging area. A small crowed of engineers immediately swooped upon it and began stripping every un-needed part from the unit; each piece was carefully weighed and recorded before being placed aside.

"It's still too heavy" one of them called out to Sarah "I think we could get away with removing the forward hatch though."

"I do believe we'll need the hatch to keep us alive" she replied sarcastically.

"Not really" another argued "the rear hatch on the Dream Chaser will isolate the ship from the External Payload Carrier and the rear hatch on the EPC will keep it pressurised till you've docked with the Orion capsule. When you've transferred both souls from the capsule, you have to jettison the EPC before re-entry so it won't matter if it depressurises."

"And the hatches are very heavy" the first added.

"Okay then, lose it" Sarah relented.

As she continued to oversee the final preparations of the craft, Doctor Quill Vieira made a surprise visit. He called for Blue to join them before he laid down the law.

"You may not have been aware of it, but I've been keeping a close eye on you two for the last few days. Launch time is fast approaching and neither of you have had a full sleep period since the surprise call from Luis."

"You really can't expect us to go to sleep for the next eight hours" Blue protested.

"No but I do expect you to both lay down and take a thirty minute power nap" Quill ordered "I don't want either of you to make a fatal error in space because you brain is all foggy."

"But Doc…"

"No buts Sarah; you may be in charge now but I'm responsible for keeping you and everyone else alive and healthy. Blue; you've been working with Calla since all this began, but do you know where she is now?"

"Err… last I saw her, she was in the Dream Chaser" he replied.

"Yes and she is still there, in the pilots chair, snoring like a lumberjack; she's a strong girl but fatigue is much stronger. It's a foregone conclusion that you will both pass out due to the extreme acceleration of the launch and I don't want you to find yourselves unable to regain consciousness for an extended period because you're both overtired; so take these and go lay down."

The doctor handed each of them a small grey egg, a little bigger than a tennis ball.

"What are these?" Blue asked.

"They'll help you switch off and rest; when you ready to sleep just press down on the top and it will emit the sound of falling rain. Thirty minutes later it will beep to let you know it's time to get up; you should be able to think much clearer and you'll be ready to go."

"I don't suppose you will be reasonable about this?" Sarah snorted.

"This is reasonable; I really wanted to knock you out with a sedative and if you don't follow doctor's orders, I will."

Back in his quarters, Blue knew he would not be able to sleep but the sound of the rain helped to clear his mind of all thoughts about the launch preparation and he even began to dream about being with his father and sister for the first time in his life. The thought was so enticing but it also made him wonder about how long it would be before he could be with the rest of his family. It felt to Blue as if only a few minutes had passed when the little egg beeped and he was shocked to realise he had fallen into a short but deep sleep.

A lot had happened in the time he had been away. The EPC had been connected to the rear of the Dream Chaser and three of the four cross struts holding the mushroom shaped solid rocket Payload Assist Module were in place. The cover faring for the EPC and solid rocket were standing by, ready to be fitted as soon as the fourth cross strut was fastened. The Dream Chaser itself looked very different with its Hypersonic nose in place and as Blue pondered the whole package, he suddenly noticed Calla standing on the opposite side of the spaceship concentrating on something, but Blue could not see what it was.

"What on Earth…" he smiled when he had dodged all the busy engineers and made it around to her.

With one last stroke of a scavenged paint brush, Calla finished her work.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"Yes" Blue responded "I like it very much."

Calla stepped back to admire her handiwork; there on the port side of the small spacecraft she had painted the words Star Runner II.

It had felt quite stuffy in the orbiting Orion capsule for a while now, so it came as no surprise when the CO2 alarm beeped. Luis watched as his daughter lowered her visor and slid the lock closed before twisting the valve on her chest; as soon as he was satisfied all was well he looked down at the helmet in his hands. From her seat on her father's left, Abigail heard the sound of his visor closing without realising it was not on his head.

"I might try and get some sleep" Luis said "I want to be ready when your brother gets here."

"Okay Dad; sleep well" Abigail replied.

Before the air became too contaminated for him to stay conscious, Luis checked the communication system. He made sure the locator beacon was transmitting so the rescue craft could easily home in on the capsule, but he also turned down the receiver volume to zero; someone was bound to try and contact them before docking and Luis thought it would be best if Abigail did not discover he was dead while she was still alone. He hated to leave her like this, but he just had to give her the best chance of survival. He thought about the three girls he loved so much, as well as the son he would never meet and child he would never know.

'Forgive me' Luis thought as he closed his eyes.