Mayday

by w Blitz

HOUSTON!" "MAYDAY, MAYDAY!" "HOUSTON WE ARE GOING DOWN!" The battle to save all of humanity was so much more than that...It was the distance humans would go for love and friendships, for life...It was the high note of the history of mankind.

2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All original movie characters, lines, settings etc. Belong rightfully to their creators. I own nothing except Rachel Velsing.

Chapter 2 - Day 4

A R M A G E D D O N

What are we trying to save?

Day 7

"You will insert the tubes into your mouth and when we say go, you'll start jogging at a regular pace, breathe as you normally would. Any questions?"

Rockhound raised his head, Sharp nodding his head in his direction, "For how long will we be jogging?"

"Ten minutes, give or take."

"Is everybody ready?"

No one spoke, Sharp looked down, setting his watch. "All right, begin."

Rachel set off, the tube in her mouth, it feeling very awkward while she was running. It also sent panic alarms off in her brain as it was hard to breathe normally through the narrow tube. She ignored the anxiety rising in her chest, and continued on as normal ignoring the plastic rope as best as she could. It wasn't long until the treadmills began slowing on their own and they were instructed to remove the tubings.

Sharp went along down the machines connecting the tubing writing down numbers and other stats. Rachel watched him carefully, still feeling irritation about the argument they had had the other day. And yet for some reason she felt a certain attraction towards him. She felt completely ridiculous too, for having such an emotion, towards a man that was teaching them how to be astronauts and helping them save the world.

She shouldn't have such feelings towards work partners, what was wrong with her?!

Rachel kicked the thoughts away as Sharp spoke,

"Your hearing and eyesight will be tested in the next room, single file line right here, move."

The crew bustled over and eventually fell into a single file line, and two by two the line went on. Rachel turned to look at Freddy as he spoke,

"Hey Rache, where did you get this scar?"

Rachel shrugged, "Eh, I got it while I was in the Military."

"And…?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"What happened?"

Freddy was the most persistent son of bitch, Rachel had ever met. She looked at him, her eyes seemingly icing over. He continued to stare at her expectantly and curiously.

"It's a shrapnel wound."

"You know, once the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend." Freddy spoke mock seriously, a smile crossed his face as it grew into a devious grin.

Rachel laughed, albeit bitterly. "It wasn't a grenade, there was a suicide bomber and I jumped to protect a civilian, the shrapnel rained hell, I got stabbed, nothing to it."

Oscar, Bear, and Rockhound stared intently, Rachel shrugged a little uncomfortably, "What?"

Oscar spoke, "That's amazing. Do you have more stories?"

Rachel disliked people thinking she was amazing for the things she did while in the middle east which in reality she wasn't. Rachel replied dryly,

"Oscar, it wasn't amazing. I simply followed the call of duty."

Oscar went to reply when Watts spoke, "Oscar, Bear lets go."

Rachel moved up to next in line. Freddy spoke,

"How come you never talk about your time in the Military?"

"Because."

"Shouldn't you be proud of that?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Would you leave me alone?"

"No."

"I am proud to have served my country Freddy, not to have killed people."

"Velsing, Freddy."

Rachel walked into the dimly lit room, taking a seat in the first chair. There really wasn't anything to the test. They simply waved lights back and forth and tested the distance of your eye sight. As for the hearing test, all you had to do was listen to beeps, the most difficult part was doing both at the same time. They were testing the expanse our brain can stretch itself.

I passed all three tests, most people did, nothing to it. Rachel headed towards the hangar where the Armadillo was kept, Freddy spoke,

"Rache! Mess hall's this way."

"Oh, it's ok, I'm not hungry, I'm gonna go do a few touch ups on the Dillo."

Freddy nodded his head and waved a hand in understanding. Rachel entered the hangar and headed towards the Independence Armadillo. Last time AJ had taken it out, he had damaged it a little. She had the idea to place in more bolts in all of it's weak and vital points, it would make it stronger and so hard to destroy not even AJ Frost on his best day could do it. Rachel picked up a wrench and screw driver, she pooled the bolts around her as she slid under the Armadillo to repair the oil pipe, Rachel drilled in a few more bolts.

"You know you aren't supposed to skip lunch."

Rachel frowned, "Ah, must of have missed the memo."

Sharp dropped a small package by her side, she looked down momentarily, and grinned genuinely,

"Heh, MRE's. Thanks."

Sharp grunted a welcome in response. "What are you doing?"

"Fixing this oil pipe, AJ managed to damage the Dillo, So I'm strengthening it's plating, piping, and breaking systems."

"Were you authorized?"

"Harry said I needed to take a look at it. It needs to be fixed so I am fixing it." Responded Rachel in a low growl. She continued,

"I'm not trying to sabotage the mission, Colonel, I assure you."

"You can never be too careful."

Rachel pushed herself out from under the vehicle, a vicious glare crossing her face. Sharp was completely unaffected. Rachel stood up to get some more bolts, he was leaning against the table that held the bolts. She stood next to him gathering a few more, and then moving to the other side of him for the rest.

Before moving away, she lifted her eyes to meet his questioning, daring, and unforgiving gaze. She felt the insane fluttering within her stomach of the previous mentioned attraction. His dark blue eyes searched hers, Rachel leaned in closer and spoke quietly, her tone in a sort of hiss,

"The man was a traitor Colonel. He was involved with the trading of information with Osama Bin Laden, he gave the coordinates to one of the main top secret American bases in the middle east. In turn it was bombed and every bit of information we had gathered on Bin Laden was lost. I hadn't known at the time and until I was sent out with him as a battle buddy, did I find out. Of course, in a cross fire, he was shot, I left him for dead. I wasn't about to aid a traitor to the United States of America."

Rachel paused as she felt Sharp's gaze 'sharpen', she continued.

"The gun that killed him conveniently used the same gun as mine, used the same ammo and there I was set up. But when I presented that before them, they were stuck and decided they couldn't trust either way so they dishonorably discharged me."

"How am I supposed to believe that?" Sharp asked softly. His gaze still unwavering.

"Because it's the truth."

And that was her answer, feeling the heat rising in her face, she turned away. Jesus he had amazing eyes! Rachel picked up the screw driver again and went back to work, not allowing his presence to delay her. As she continued to work, she still felt his eyes on her, which irritated her. It was hard to concentrate, when he was fixated on her. Rachel spoke,

"Something else Colonel?"

There was no answer, Rachel looked at him. He was looking downwards now in thought, "Feeling a little down?"

Sharp looked up, his eyes flashing, "No." He spoke shortly.

Rachel smiled somewhat bitterly, she didn't respond as she screwed in the last few bolts of the reinforcement plating. Truman appeared at the Hangar entrance,

"Is it ready for a test run, Rachel?"

"Yes, sir."

"Great."

"Colonel, can you please take Rachel to the Air vacuum hangar?"

"Yes sir."

Rachel picked up the tools she had been using and set them down on the table, wiping her hands on her clothes as she exited the hangar. Sending a friendly smile Truman's way.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Neil Armstrong, 1969, bouncing on the moon. He is bouncing because there is less gravity up there than on earth. This will be similar to the asteroid. So watch it. Something gets launched off that asteroid with enough force it's gonna keep on going right into outer space."

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest, she stood between Bear and Rockhound and heard Oscar whisper,

"What is the deal? Is it just me, or is Watts really hot?"

Bear responded with a nod, "Yeah."

Rockhound nodded in agreement. Rachel shook her head with a small sigh trying to refocus her attention to Watts, she honestly was curious as to how to keep your ass on the ground. Bear and Oscar didn't stop there.

"So we have these new generation suits…" Rachel lost part of what she was saying due to Bear's deep voice. "…So you won't bounce like Neil Armstrong."

Bear snickered here and there, Rachel only catching crude parts of the conversation. Suddenly Watts snapped,

"Bear!"

Bear's had snapped in her direction, "Yes?"

"Do we have a problem?"

Bear thought for a split second and spoke cautiously, "No."

"Because I am trying to describe to you how these DAT's keep your ass on the ground. So if I were to kick you in the balls and you don't know how to work them, what happens to you?"

"I float away." Bear replied.

"Yeah." Watts responded.

Rockhound spoke, "And, uh, when do we start training for that?"

Eyes widening at his comment, my elbow launching into his gut, there was an, 'Oomph.' and his head snapped in my direction in bewilderment. I looked straight ahead at Watts, ignoring the snicker from Chick and Freddy. She paused, almost smiling and continued,

"Gentleman I'll give you 30 seconds to get your helmets on and the oxygen will be sucked out of his vacuum, and you will know what it's like to be in space. Go!"

Rachel grabbed her helmet quickly and snapped it on within five seconds, Oscar spoke,

"How'd you get it on so quickly?"

"Because I wasn't staring at Watts' ass the entire time."

Rockhound grinned, "So you were staring at her ass?"

I shot a satanic glare at Rock, "Rockhound, so help me God-"

"Ok! Ok! I was kidding!"

"Thought so."

Rachel thought she caught Watts looking back once, knowing she probably caught everything they had said. She nearly snickered at the thought, Rachel wasn't sure why, but the thought of Watts' bewilderment amused her.

The air began to be sucked out, Oscar panicked, "I don't have my helmet on yet!"

Harry shouted, "Well get it on!"

I slapped the top of Oscar's helmet fairly hard, there was a significant click and he settled down some,

"Thanks Rache."

"No problem. Do me a favor and learn how to put your frickin' helmet on, I won't be there the entire mission to baby sit you."

"How long are we supposed to be in here?" Max asked.

"Dunno." Chick responded.

"This could be a while." Rachel muttered.

Harry grunted in agreement.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Day 6

"Ok Gentleman, so here's the flight plan. Now lets keep the laughter to a minimum I know this is not the scale."

"Both shuttles will take off Tuesday at 6:30 PM. Now 67 minutes later you are going to dock with the Russian space station to meet Cosmonaut and drophall. Who will refuel the shuttles with liquid 02; That's your fuel. Then you'll release and take a 60 hour trip towards the moon. Now we only have one shot of landing on this rock. And that's precisely when the asteroid passes by the moon. You'll then use lunar gravity and burn your thrusters, slingshotting you around the moon and coming up behind the asteroid. You'll be upward of 11 G's-"

Rockhound and Max shared a look before, Rock cut off Truman.

"Yeah, I remember this one. It's where the, uh, the coyote sat his ass down in a slingshot then he strapped himself to an Acme rocket. Is that - is that what we're doin' here?"

Harry spoke under his breath warningly, "Rockhound."

Rock showing he was genuinely concerned responded, "No, no, really, because it didn't work out too well for the coyote, Harry."

Rachel shook her head shooting Truman an apologetic look. Harry spoke over Rock,

"Hey, Rock. Knock it off."

Truman smiled, disguising his irritation, "Well, actually, we have a lot better rockets than the coyote."

Truman continued as things resumed silent, "Now when your finished with your road runner thrust move, You will be moving at 22, 500 miles per hour, coming around behind the asteroid, where we are hoping the tail debris will be cleared by the moon's gravity and you'll land right here."

"We've got separate landing sights for each time, softest part of the rock we can figure. At NASA we don't take chances, we double up on everything. First team to hit 800 feet, wins. Now this rock is big, it's dense, it's got some gravity; you can walk around, but use your thrusters, so you can work easier." Rachel nodded her head in understanding as the NASA specialist spoke.

Suddenly Oscar spoke, "Ok, Mr. Truman, let's say that we actually do land on this. What's it gonna be like up there?"

Rachel smiled at Oscar's polite questioning. She looked downwards, knowing the rock will be of the most dangerous climates in the solar system. Truman responded,

"200 degrees in the sunlight, minus 200 in the shade, canyons of razor-sharp rock, unpredictable gravitational conditions, unexpected eruptions, things like that."

Oscar nodded his head, "Okay, so the scariest environment imaginable. Thanks. That's all you gotta say, scariest environment imaginable."

God I loved Oscar, With my face cast down, I smiled.

"Okay so you drill, you drop the nuke, and you leave. Now here's the key: You are going to remote detonate the bomb before the asteroid passes this plane 0 barrier. You do that and the remaining pieces of rock should be deflected enough to pass right by us."

I watched the screen intently as Truman continued.

"Now if the bomb explodes after 0 barrier…Games over."

I took a deep breath, my lungs felt as if they had completely deflated. This wasn't going to be easy, and knowing the entire world depended on us drilling this hole and dropping this nuke didn't make it any easier.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Rachel wandered through the space station, trying to find Harry. He had the schedule for the tomorrow and she was curious, what they were up to. Rachel was nearing the front, she went to turn around until she heard a quiet, shy voice speak,

"Do you know where our daddy is?"

Rachel turned to see two little girls around 4 and 6 years old. She smiled kindly and crouched down to their eye level,

"Maybe, what's your daddy's name?"

The oldest girl smiled shyly, petting the toy pony's hair in her hand, she spoke proudly, " Colonel Willie Sharp."

Her voice was slightly slurred through the difficulty of the large words. Rachel grinned, at the adorable girls. "Oh yes, I know where you daddy is."

The littlest girl held her hands up, Rachel willingly picked her up gently, and held her hand out for the other girl. The older girl grasped her hand tightly as she led them through several corridors. Rachel spoke softly,

"So what's your name?"

The youngest responded quietly, "Jasmine."

And the older, who seemed to be opening replied happily, "My name's Katie!"

Rachel smiled, "You can call me Rachel."

Jasmine spoke softly, "Where's your daddy?" Her bright blue eyes looked straight into her curiously.

Rachel smiled again, "Oh, he's been asleep for a long time."

Katie looked up, "Our mommy has been too!"

Rachel felt her heart sink. She looked at them both apologetically, though they didn't understand. As they came up to Sharp's office, Rachel knocked.

"Who is it?"

"Rachel."

"Come in."

Rachel opened the door, when Sharp looked up a look of shock crossed his face. Rachel grinned,

"They are the most adorable kids I've ever seen, Colonel."

Katie squealed, "DADDY!"

Jasmine squirmed as Rachel let her down, both charging Sharp. Sharp laughed as they jumped into his lap. Rachel looked at him with a genuine smile, before backing out of the room to leave them be. She shut the door quietly. Rachel cringed, God his smile was gorgeous.

Rachel shook her head in hopelessness as she walked away to find Harry. But in all honesty, those were the most adorable kids she had ever seen.

Katie looked up at her father as Jasmine had fallen asleep. "Rachel looks at you the way mommy used to, daddy."

Sharp frowned, "How do you remember how mommy used to look at me?"

Katie yawned as she buried her face into his chest, "I don't want to ever forget mommy, daddy."

Sharp rocked gently in his chair, his mind shifting deep in thought as Katie drifted off. How had Rachel looked at him?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Rachel saw Harry storming the halls up ahead. Rockhound in tow. And the crew joining as he went on.

"Grace is old enough to vote Harry, she's old enough to drink, or get married if she wants to, she can get divorced…"

"Now let me tell you something, fellas. When I get back, when we get this job done, I will deal with this in my own way."

"C'mon Harry, it's not like I'm rooting for AJ here, I'm just saying Grace is not a little girl anymore."

"Hey Rock, wait a minute let me get a pencil and piece of paper, I want to jot down all of your older wisdom here."

Rockhound groaned, "You serious, Harry? C'mon while we were up trotting the globe, hunting mud, Gracie grew up to become a full blown hottie. Y'know."

Max spoke, "Harry-"

Rockhound cutting in, "She's a babe."

Max continuing, "She's fully hot, She's-"

Harry held up his hand, "Max. Max, okay! Your talking about my little girl, all right. I think I know who and what she is, okay?"

Oscar began to speak, "Okay, but Harry all we're sayin' is, we're talking about a kid who is coming into her own right now, and she is getting curious about her body, and she is exploring her sexuality. And you know what?-"

Harry looked at him as if he were crazy, "Oscar."

Oscar continued, "That's a natural thing."

"You are about five minutes older than Grace is, why should I listen to you?"

"Cause' I know what it feels like to have your hormones pulling you in just a, uh, thousand different directions. Y'know, you might wanna check this out."

I stared at Oscar as if he had grown two heads, he made hand motions as he spoke, and what he spoke made about as much sense as the whirling motions. Bear then spoke calmly,

"You know, no disrespect man, but we all helped raise her, So in part we all feel like a bunch of daddies here."

Max and Rockhound nodded their heads, Rock agreeing, "That's true."

Harry spoke stubbornly, "Well I'll be damned if I worked all these years so my little girl can marry a roughneck….She's better than that…Better than all of us."

I looked at Harry and then softly spoke, the rest of the crew quickly looking at me. They looked as if they hadn't realized I had arrived.

"You know Harry, she's not a little girl. She deserves love, and you can't work hard and believe you are choosing a certain type of person for her. As frickin' stupid as it sounds, you can't control love."

Harry looked at me, his jaw smoldering. He knew I was right, and he didn't like it. Chick rubbed a hand over his whiskery jaw, he nodded his head at me, I nodded back. Harry said nothing more.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Day 5

"I am not getting in that vehicle with AJ."

Truman smiled, "I thought you fixed it, extra strong?"

"I did. I still don't trust him. AJ is known to destroy the strongest of things, and actually dig beneath unknown surfaces. I would know, I was there when Harry shot him with a double barreled shot gun. There is no force on this earth he can not annoy and destroy."

Truman and Quincy laughed. AJ shooting Rachel a good natured glare from his position on top of the 'Dillo.

Harry shot her an annoyed smile, she returning with a cheeky grin. "Ok, fine. I'll ride with AJ."

Rachel moved out of the way, crossing her arms across her chest, "Good knowin' ya' Harry."

He turned and pointed at Rachel, "You. Shut up."

She laughed heartily as he climbed into the Armadillo. Rachel turned to go stand with Chick, she muttered,

"Get ready to run."

Chick muttered, "Don't you know it."

AJ began moving the vehicle, it was going smoothly at first until he started swerving, and then lost control while going straight at us. Chick started waving his arms and shouted rapidly,

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!"

Rachel tackled Chick out of the way, they slammed into the ground. Rachel rolled over throwing the loose hair out of her eyes. She looked over at Chick, her eyes wide as AJ, continued weaving.

"Thanks."

"Eh, no problem, for a second there I thought you were just going to stand there waving your arms."

"Eh." Chick shrugged.

Rachel stood up lending a hand to Chick, he accepted it gratefully. Truman approached the two of them, and spoke,

"Once AJ, finally learns how to shut the damned thing off, can you haul the crew over to the weightless training facility?"

"Sure thing Sir." I responded quickly, with a good natured smile.

Chick grimaced, "This could be a while."

"Don't you know it!"

Chick laughed.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Harry had finally hit the off switch of the Armadillo and stopped it. As we all grouped together, Harry spoke loudly,

"Two shuttle teams, AJ will be running the drill team with Oscar, Bear, Noonan, Rache, on the independence. I'll run drill team on Freedom with Chick, Rockhound and Max. Once we land we have eight hours to get the job done. In order to split this rock on the fault line, we are going to have to drill to 800 feet. Lets get our game faces on. Now it's time for underwater simulation."

"Come on Independence, keep it up! Lets go, we are the only team here, we're the varsity team! Take it to eleven thousand!" AJ said over the intercom.

I worked quickly on my portion of the arm next to Bear, we glanced at each other once. Knowing AJ was rushing things.

"I'm gonna drop so more o2 in, Bear, Rache, take it up!"

Bear spoke, "I'm getting in more toil right now."

Harry spoke over the speaker, "Watch your time independence team."

"Harry, would you mind letting me run my own team?"

Bear spoke, "Slow it down AJ."

"Take it easy Bear. Just relax we can handle it." AJ said calmly.

Harry spoke, "AJ, your at 600 feet, your pipe is long, lets back the RPM's back down to 8000."

AJ shouted over the intercom, "We don't have time for 8000!"

Harry responded calmly, "AJ, take it back down, your going to snap the pipe, I don't want to blow this transmission."

"Damn it! 11000!"

"Slow it down AJ." Bear spoke firmly.

Oscar spoke encouragingly, "Bear! C'mon! Get on our team for a little bit!"

Bear whispered, "Harry are you listening to this?"

Harry responded quietly and in disappointment, "Yeah, I'm listening Bear."

Rachel spoke, "AJ! Slow. It. Down."

"You know what Rache, I'm running this team, let me do my job."

Rachel growled.

Harry shot Truman a look, he shook his head at AJ's behavior.

AJ spoke to Bear, "Hey! You don't work for Harry anymore! Ok! Your gonna listen to me and on the rock your are going to what I say. Now pull 700 and bring it up to 11000!"

Harry spoke calmly, "AJ, back it off, your going to blow the transmission."

"Hey Harry would you leave me to my team, please?"

Rachel and Bear spoke in unison, "AJ…"

"Bear, Rache, God damn it, I know what I am doing! C'mon she can handle it, she'll be fine!

Suddenly the transmission died, Oscar shouted, "SON OF BITCH!"

AJ spoke, "C'mon the computers wrong and you know it!"

Rachel growled as she was reaching the final brink of her patience. They were pulled out of the tank one by one, as Rachel got her helmet removed she quickly advanced on AJ, ripping through Bear's arms.

"AJ! GOD DAMN IT!"

AJ whipped around. Rachel shouted, "DON'T YOU DARE PULL A STUNT LIKE THAT AGAIN!"

AJ's eyes widened. Rachel was beyond rage, "If this had been real you could have killed all of us and every living being on the planet!"

AJ fired back, "Yeah, but that's just it, Harry's model is stronger!"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER AJ! You don't take chances because of your frickin' gut! That is a LAST resort! Do I make myself clear?!"

AJ growled, "Who do you think you are? I am the leader of this team!-"

"AJ, so help me God, if you pull another 'I'm the leader' card, I will castrate you. You and your pride is unbelievable! How could you let that get in the way of OUR lives, and the entire PLANETS?! Use your head AJ!"

Rachel turned her back to him and walked away. He stood there stunned by the lashing of her words. Harry was on his way out, when Sharp looked at Truman. Kimsey spoke,

"Now that's encouraging Truman."

Truman looked at Kimsey, nodding his head in agreement.

Harry stormed outside and began his assault on AJ.

"You wanna go home? Is that it? You wanna be fired?"

AJ argued, "No, I don't. My crew was doin' the right thing."

"Your crew?"

"Yeah."

"Your crew just blew the whole transmission AJ."

AJ replied, "Listen, that NASA computer is just playin' it safe. The machine you built - the rig - can do it"

"Shut up! Just shut up! Shut your mouth! Those men in that room have zero tolerence for showin' off, hot doggin', going by your gut instinct or you tryin' to be a hero. You got that? Say the words, A.J."

AJ growled, "I got it!"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Harry spoke, "I want my men to have tomorrow night off."

Truman frowned, "What do you mean 'off'?"

"I mean off, outta here, for at least ten hours. Then we'll go to Kennedy."

"Well there's no possible way we can do that, Harry. That is potentially a huge security risk. What if they talk? What if they get hurt?"

Harry responded simply, "If they're too burned out, then do the right thing. What if they get up there and they forget what they are fighting for? You see what's going on up there? Those boys are ready to snap. They didn't ask to be here, they got pulled off the street. For all we know, tomorrow night could be the last time they ever see earth, I don't think it's too much to ask to let them spend it with their families."

Truman continued, "Well listen there no possible way-"

Harry cut him off and turned to Sharp, "You got family, Colonel?"

"Two girls." He replied simply.

"Wouldn't you like to spend tomorrow night with your little girls?" Sharp didn't respond.

Harry turned back to Truman, "'I'm not asking ya', I'm telling ya'. Make this happen."

Harry didn't allow Truman to deny his request, he turned and walked away. Sharp looked at Truman,

"I agree with him."

Truman sighed and nodded his head.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Day 4

Rachel sat in the conference room, watching the 'plan' over and over. She would make sure she knew it, plus there was nothing else for her to do. Rachel didn't have any blood related family members left, and was pretty sure she didn't have any living family members by marriage either.

Truman entered the room he looked at her with surprise,

"Rachel?"

She looked up with a small smile, "What are you doing here?"

"Had no where t go, thought I might as well 'study'."

Truman chuckled, "Well actually this works out pretty well for me, our Machinery sergeant's out, you wanna help fix some computers?"

Rachel grinned, "I would love to."

Truman smiled, "It's in the large room, something is screwing with the screen and the main computer, Colonel Sharp was about to go berserk last time I saw him with it."

Rachel stood up quickly, eager to be able to do something. "I'm right on it Sir."

Truman again smiled kindly as she left the room and headed for the large room. As she entered she saw Sharp before the computer, glaring at it in frustration. She laughed,

"Ya' know staring it down will not make it work any better."

His head snapped her direction as she made her way up. "Truman sent me in, what's the problem?"

Sharp spoke in relief, "The damned thing keeps flashing 'error not accessible through moderator.'"

Rachel opened the tower, pulling out a few wires and pulling them from their ports. The computer turned off instantly as she re-plugged them in. The computer started up again, she ran a restore files program through a few lines of HTML. The computer then hit start screen, and came back up on the larger screen.

Rachel spoke, "Ok, that should hold it, I'm not sure what happened, but since you couldn't do anything, I just restarted the entire thing. All files have been restored and reinforced. It should be good to go."

Sharp nodded his head, "Thanks."

"No problem Colonel." Rachel smiled.

His dark blue eyes searched her face, he felt a certain tension rising though it was type of tension he hadn't felt in a long time. For some strange reason, he felt his emotions suddenly began to pick up, and it was as if he was magnetized to her. He felt himself leaning in slowly, unable to resist such emotions and feelings, unable to resist the attraction.

It was when their lips connected, that it felt as if an explosion of fireworks had gone off inside his body. Rachel's breath hitched in her throat as he leaned in; deepening in the kiss. He was the one that had kissed her first right? It suddenly didn't feel so wrong, it felt completely right. Which was odd, she had never experienced any emotions this strong, but she had never met a man quite like Colonel Willie Sharp.

It was when the door to the large room opened, that they ripped apart; breathless. Bear stood there his mouth hanging open slightly, he slowly backed out of the room. Not uttering a word, nor sound. Rachel looked at Sharp, who was staring back at her, his face filled with mixed emotions.

"Well, this isn't awkward." Rachel spoke sarcastically.

Sharp smiled half-ly, when Rachel spoke,

"I'm going to go and stop Bear…Before he says anything."

Without another word, Rachel bolted from the room. Sharp stood there, slightly in shock of himself. But as he thought about it, he acted purely on his emotions, had he really grown feelings that strong for the oil driller? Sharp was confused but the more he thought about it the more it made sense.

It wasn't hard to catch him, Rachel spoke,

"Bear!"

He looked at her and stopped, "You and Sharp?!"

"Shut up, please don't say anything to anyone!"

Bear shook his head, "Don't worry about that. I won't tell anyone Rache."

Rachel sighed with relief, "Thank you Bear."

He smiled, and then spoke seriously, "I won't need to say anything, Harry will pick it up on his own. It's a sixth father sense."

Hm. That was true, Harry had the freaky ability to pick up on hopefully and would be hidden things. She frowned to herself as they started walking down the corridor.

"Where's the rest of the crew?"

Bear laughed, "Dunno. All I know is Freddy, Oscar, Rock, and Max got arrested for fighting at a club."

"Figures." Said Rachel smiling. As they reached the two way hall, Rachel had to go one way and Bear had to go the other. Rachel spoke softly, her eyes glassing over with dread,

"Bear…Uh, I just wanted to say…if I don't make it-"

Bear looked at her seriously then, her voice choked up some as she continued,

"I-I, just wanted to say, I love ya' Bear. Always did. R-remember those games we used to play when I was a kid?"

Bear suddenly grabbed her in a tight hug, She buried her face in his arm. Bear replied,

"I love you too Rache."

Rachel mumbled, "I just wanted to tell you now, just in case I didn't get the chance."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Another chapter, pretty fast, yes? Next chapter will be up soon, probably in the same time span, or quicker as/than this one. I hope you enjoyed it! Also, if you have not seen the movie Armageddon (1998) With Bruce Willis, I would HIGHLY recommend watching it. It is one of the greatest movies of all time without a doubt, and if you like this story, I'm pretty sure you'll like the movie x)

R T R:

Bunny94 - Your review made me smile, and made my day. Thank you very much!

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Marinec