~PROLOGUE~
It was the year 2060, the newly elected president Charlotte 'Clinton' Mezvinsky passed a bill into Congress that started up the new Apollo program: Space Colonization. Global warming in recent years had become more severe, and it was time to explore other options that could sustain human life in controlled environments. Billions of dollars poured into research that was in turn invested into the development of new equipment, astronaut training, and the development of new technologies. The first mission's team built what was now known as the Columbia territory on the moon. The same year, a mission was also sent to Mars, known as the Liberty colony that was to only be a three month expedition.
Unfortunately, it failed due to a system failure that left the crew with no way to get home, and ultimately starved to death. It was one of the darkest days and biggest failures in NASA history when five of it's finest trained Astronauts died after two months of living on the surface of the red planet. Emma Swan would never forget the day she watched the news in her office at NASA. Tears rolled down her cheeks, as the reality of space exploration meant sometimes life and death.
There was no denying, this was the new space race: colonization of new territories. America was fighting to build the first successful colony against China and Japan. The French and English failed in the early stages in the development process and decided to invest their money in more research to prevent the advancement of global warming.
In 2070, when she was a rookie, she got a chance of a lifetime. Somehow, a twist of fate happened, and she was promoted from her desk job to Commander after the infamous Albert Spencer retired from a long and successful career with NASA.
She wasn't just replacing anyone. She was replacing the Albert Spencer. He was a household name known around the world for his accomplishments. He was the new Neil Armstrong who lead a team of seven colonists to the first controlled living environment sustainable for life. He was a poster child for NASA. He was their pride and joy, especially after the collapse of the Liberty colony on Mars and the tragic loss of commander, Greg Mendell.
All her life, Emma Swan waited for the moment she'd become a crew member, an astronaut colonist. She was moon walking at age three to an old songs by Michael Jackson that her grandmother Ruth loved so much. She would slide across the hardwood of her home wiggling her butt to the songs making her family laugh. Every Halloween, she was some sort of space cadet, alien, or her favorite, a space monkey.
Even her college admissions essay was on her most influential person, Sally Ride. There was no denying that Emma Swan lived and breathed science.
There was nothing she wanted more than to be an astronaut, so the day she got the call, she accepted.
Her dreams were finally coming true. It was just a decade earlier that she would stay up all night laying on the itchy grass stargazing and dreaming of the moon. Her imagination would run wild as she would imagine what it would feel like to walk on the moon's dusty surface or to see what Earth looked like off in the horizon. It was her dream to float around out into that big open expanse known as space.
However, it was in her fifth year of being the Commander of Apollo 28 in 2075 that all changed for Emma Swan. All she wanted was to feel gravity against her back holding her close to the hard American soil in Houston, Texas. It was in her final months that she no longer wanted to be on the moon, stranded with seven others.. Late nights were filled with her gazing out over Earth and the dark, black infinity of space.
Her latest and last mission was her shortest; six months. Afterwards, Emma planned on retiring from space exploration to be with her family. She planned to trade in her adventurous life living on the edge of the moon for a less exploratory one, a desk job at NASA working on developing a strategy for colony expansion.
While Emma loved being an astronaut, she loved her wife and son more. She promised no more missed birthdays, boo boo's, or bedtime stories. She vowed to her wife, no more lonely nights, single parenting, or heartache.
All Emma Swan wanted was to go home.
When the day finally arrived, it felt surreal to her. Bouncing on the surface of the moon in her astronaut suit one final time to the Lunar Module, she waved goodbye to a piece of herself, her home on the moon. Sitting in the lunar module, running off stats to Houston with Graham and August, she knew this was it as it levitated off the surface back into lunar orbit. She'd lived her life to the fullest, she had fulfilled her childhood dream of being an astronaut. Now it was time to live her dream of being the best mother and wife she could be.
"Ready to be home Swan." She heard come in through her radio.
"Roger that Booth, and you know it. Can't wait to see my family." She confirmed as she and her fellow crew members worked together.
"How 'bout you Graham. You excited?" She radioed out.
"No one at home, but I do think a long goodnight sleep in my bed with my husky will do me just fine."
August Booth was the Lunar Module pilot who was responsible for the descent and ascent of the lunar module and their systems during all phases of flight. His role was solely to call out to Emma different phases while she focused on flying the module, whether it was landing next to the Columbia territory or their landing location on Earth.
Booth was a seasoned engineer whose technical skills in navigation and other subsystems landed him the job years before Emma became the commander. He'd become one of her closest friends when living on the moon, almost like a brother to her. She was sad to be saying farewell to their career working as a pair. They'd spent many nights dreaming together of things back home, like their families, or what they'd do first. Last time she checked, he booked a resort vacation in the Caribbean where he planned to pick up all the ladies.
Graham, the command module pilot was the flight engineer whose main functions were during launch phase while Emma was in control of the vehicle.
His role was different than Emma's and August's, who both did scientific research on the surface of the moon. While their crew consisted of three members, the colony sustained eight people, two crews total. Graham and Isaac Heller both lived in orbit around the moon. They both lived in the docking stations that were separate from the lunar module. During each mission, Isaac and Graham were responsible for lunar photography, researching the changes in topography of the surface of the moon, recording intel on the production of up and rising Asian colonies, and relaying video connections to the colony for NASA scientists to record their living habits and behaviors over time.
They both were skilled professionals in emergency rescues in case the crew on the surface of the Moon had to evacuate, but fortunately the crew never experienced this.
"Graham, are you ready cowboy?" Booth said in his radio to his friend.
Emma listened as she heard laughter over the radio. "Who you calling cowboy? Last time I checked, you're the one from Texas, not me."
"That's right, you Yankee." The two shared laughter.
To say she was nervous was an understatement. This was her last mission. In normal cases, she'd not be as nervous, but this was it. Her final mission and her last time to land their lander.
Graham waited for them to return to orbit for six months. Now that the lunar module had already docked to the orbiter, August had to work to separate them for their final descent.
Emma and August sat shoulder to shoulder with their friend Graham, buckled into their seats.
Over the radio she asked, "Hello Houston. How do you read?"
Loud and clear, she heard a voice, "28. Read you loud and clear. You're doing great. Not long now."
"VHF checked." She said as she and Booth worked to prepare the separation of the two modules. .
"Houston, how do we look now. Ready for separation." Emma stated out over her radio.
"Go ahead."
"Hold off, just a note of amplification on our change 2-5 moving the EMS mode normal .05 G time." Booth read off the normal backup procedures to start the EMS.
She held off from flipping the master switch that would separate the two modules.
Graham nodded to himself as the team worked together, "Roger that."
"We're in range set. Crank it to 1044.9." He instructed.
A beeping sound signaled as Booth followed the instructions, "Okay. 1044.9. Set. Internal velocity is set at 36, 172."
Emma's mind taunted her with images of home, with Regina and her son. There wasn't anything better than the feeling of going home to your family. Her body had butterflies as she dreamed of seeing their smiling faces.
In Emma's first year as Commander she'd met Regina Mills, who was responsible for Emma's video surveillance, and health monitoring.
Every single day, Emma woke up to her voice, and went to sleep to her saying the same words, "Over and out, America. Sleep well Swan."
Regina's face appeared on a monitor in Emma's pod, where she monitored her living habits and lifestyle. Her role was to gauge if it was mentally possible for a human to live and flourish confined for months in a small pod. Emma would find herself confiding in the other woman late at night, voicing her concerns for the daily tasks, or how she missed home, or something as simple as wanting a cheesy slice of Pizza. It made Emma feel special knowing she'd stay late at work and be the first into work the following morning. Regina devoted her entire energy in monitoring Emma's progress.
All the while, the two created an inseparable bond that developed into more than they'd expected.
Emma's heart pounded against her chest. Soon she'd get to hear her wife's voice in person.
Graham communicated back, "Okay, Houston ring 1 is off and we're operating on ring 2 on main B. You can hear it click." Emma smiled, they were moving smoothly. Everything was going perfect.
"Affirmative, America; looks great."
"Batteries are in line." Emma read out.
Booth moved to his own beat as he said, "Let's start SEP."
"We're going home!" August yelled to his team. "Houston, ELS CSM SEP BAT A. BAT B- Closed. Bypassing old radiators. Repress valves on. Turning off the service module's oxygen. Pressure relief valves are normal. Secondary fuel is As, Bs, Cs, and Ds. All open."
"Houston. Fuel cells A and B are full." Emma confirmed. Beads of sweat dripped from her head as she worked in unison with Booth.
"Roger, Emma. We copy that."
Emma's eyes drifted out of her porthole window. The sun blinded her eyes as she tried to focus. "I got too much sun glaring through my window." She squinted. This was the last time she'd see the Sun as radiant and orange.
Squinting her eyes, she tried to see past the blobs of green dots that appeared in her vision now as a result.
Her body was buzzing with excitement, it wouldn't be much longer now. She was almost home.
"Okay, Houston." Graham read, "On my mark I'm going to flip the switch CM/SM SEP.
"Roger that."
"3, 2, 1-"
"We got it!" Graham hollered in excitement. "Looks like we have good separation."
"We're going to have a communication break in a minute." They heard over the radio.
"Roger." Emma said.
A few minutes of static buzzed through their radios before the familiar voice that reminded them of home came back. "Push to OMNI Charlie."
"Omin Charlie." Graham repeated back. "Pulling back to zero." He laughed as his clear excitement showed. The were entering at a record time, five minutes earlier than scheduled. "Entry; standby; 36 170 1044. We're at minimum impulse. Rate 2, SCS, Directs are activated; AC, DC."
Surging forward the velocity increased. Emma closed her eyes. In her mind she pictured her beautiful Regina and son Henry. All she wanted was to be home spending a lazy Saturday afternoon watching kids movies with her son and laying in bed with her wife.
"4153 miles to go, velocity is 31,563 feet per second, increasing." Graham repeated the stats back to Houston.
Just twenty-four hours earlier she'd been sitting in her pod reading off her vitals to her wife. Her health was in good standing, unlike a few times before when she'd grown ill. Not one of Emma's most fond memories.
The night before, however, Regina went through normal protocol recording vitals. She would ask what Emma's heart rate was, and of course Emma gave her hard time by saying something as lame as, "Quicker now that you're talking to me. The thought alone of seeing you tomorrow may also be affecting how fast it's beating."
Having Regina there with her over video footage kept her will to work stronger than she'd ever imagine, but it was a constant reminder that she was missing out on her family's lives. She missed her son's birth for Christs sake, that was enough for her to know that she didn't want to do this forever. She couldn't allow herself to continue to miss out on more.
"We have footage live streaming of the recovery zone and the ship is waiting. You are looking good America."
"America you're at 9 minutes till interface here." The lander was zooming in closer to the Earth's horizon.
It was a mere matter of minutes and she'd be home. Just minutes separated her from finally being able to retire her astronaut gear.
Her mind raced as their lander sped through space and time, fire rounded their windows, and they felt the G force as their bodies were slammed against their seats.
She knew in the back of her mind, everything was going to be okay, she was going home finally.
"We're coming up two minutes" Graham said.
"Roger that, looking great America."
"Pressure is looking good. One minute and 400,000 feet left."
"We're flying! Woooo whooo." Graham yelled as they watched their speed increase.
"We have 2.8 G's Houston." He paused. "Now 3.0 G's" The lander shook form the force.
"Pressure is up to 39. Down to 1.8 G's by half."
Emma's heart pounded as Houston gained visual of them speeding through Earth's atmosphere. "I'm coming home baby!" She yelled as Houston repeated out, "You're almost home America, 2000 feet."
It was then at 1500 feet that their three main parachutes was supposed to deploy, but they didn't. Emma's heart sunk into the pit of her stomach. Taking control she tried to deploy the emergency parachutes, but those too didn't deploy.
"Mayday, Mayday!" She cried as she tried to focus. She tried to reach Houston, "Do you copy?" She asked. Graham and Booth at her side, equally as panicked.
Sweat drenched their faces as the three worked, edging closer and closer to the Earth's surface. "Do you read me? Houston?"
All they had were seconds with no way to escape. The only plan B was the second set of parachutes that didn't deploy.
Flashbulb moments passed before her of her wife, her beautiful and caring wife that she felt privileged to have loved. Torrents of tears slipped from her eyes, in the split seconds she had left, when she realized that she may never see or hear her wife's sweet voice again.
Static filled the air as Houston's communication was still cut.
Emma's ears buzzed as whistles and sirens rang, their speed increasing. Emma knew this was it. Her luck only lasted for so long. She'd completed four successful missions and it would be her fate that her last one would be the end of her, just before she quit.
Closing her eyes, she gripped her seat arms, her white knuckles turned red from the increased heat from their speed and the fire that surrounded their lander.
Her saving grace in those terrifying moments was knowing how much her wife loved her.
"I love you, Regina." She said in a tearful final moment as the lander plunged into the ocean at an non-survivable rate.
Seconds before their plunge, Houston radioed out, "America, do you copy?"
"America?"
"Come in, America?"
"We've lost contact." Archie stated as he turned to a visibly distraught room of NASA team members based in Houston, including Regina.
TV footage projected on their screen of the landing target zone. The footage captured as the lander flew through the sky not deploying parachutes at an alarming rate.
A dreadful gasp echoed through the room as everyone waited for what came next.
Seconds felt like hours as the entire room was on edge. Regina stood arms crossed across her chest, waiting. Her heart beating uncontrollably, she knew that this was it. She'd never see her wife again. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she watched the scene play out in front of her.
Never again would she her wife's goofy smile, or hear her make stupid jokes. There'd never be kisses before bed again, or family trips to the park. There would be nothing again. Emma wasn't coming home.
Trying to hold on to a small piece of hope she asked, "Do we have anything?" She yelled as Archie tried to radio out to support crew on site to recover the crew members of Apollo 28.
Turning to face away from an angry brunette, he asked the support crew, "Do we have visual?"
"Yes. Sir, we have visual." The room deflated in relief, but that still didn't confirm if the crew survived the deep impact into the ocean waters.