SOL 480

The next few weeks flew by.

Experiments.

Shows.

Other things, if you caught Liv's drift.

Her relationship with Mark kept growing and growing as the days went by. She found herself falling more and more in love with him.

They never meant for it to happen but one night it just sort of, well happened. He had been absolutely amazing, taking care of her and making sure that she wasn't in any pain. God, he was amazing. At least now, it made sense as to why NASA sent birth control in that small box. Along with one of the shots that they had to take, which they had taken the last dosage for now that morning, she took one of the pills each morning. Oh and her anti anxiety medication that was in the box. That was one thing she desperately was in need of.

Of course, there were days where it was hard to get out of bed and Mark was always there for her during those. She missed her family more than ever on those days. Her older sister Everly had already finished ASCAN training when she left and was supposed to be one of the crew for Ares V, but Liv had yet to ask if she was. But she would have had to do the mandatory training for that mission with the crew, which most had already been selected.

It was a surprise that Everly decided to follow in Olivia's footsteps and join the program. Both of them shared a love for space and Liv always joked that she would get the edge on her older sister and be the first one into space.

It would be nice to see her sister again.

The first HAB repair since they got their new supplies had been that morning. Olivia suited up once she was awake enough, luckily they had sent coffee in the supply box. Once suited, she grabbed the bag of supplies and started the long test of testing all the airlocks. NASA had sent more flammable and slightly more safer options to use for the test. As she waves the smoke around in airlock three, which was the one that was used the least, she could tell there weren't any holes that needed to be patched. Airlocks one and two needed a bit more work, and Liv made sure to use enough of the 'glitter' to make it look more pretty.

Returning back to the insides of the airlock, she took off the helmet and placed it in its spot, wiping the sweat off her forehead. Mark dropped a kiss to her cheek as he passed her a water pouch.

"Apparently NASA has been thinking about moving up the Ares Four timeline." He spoke as he took the seat next to her. She hummed, teeth biting into the bottom lip as she thought.

"It would make sense. All their things have been delivered and are waiting for them. All they would need to do is pack some more food and some plans on how to build more seats in the MAV and in the Earth decent vehicle."

"That's the plan at least. The crew has already agreed with the plan. They're just waiting for us to decide."

She turned in the chair to look at him. "I'm down. And you and I both know that you're wanting it to happen. How far would they be moving it up?" She twirled in the chair, eyes closing slightly.

"It would be a tight launch window but they are aiming at launching in two days at the earliest. NASA already approved it and it was going to happen, but they wanted our opinion on it."

"And everything is good for them to launch in two days?" Her eyebrow arched and the pair of them shared a similar look.

"They've sworn that they have done all the tests and everything is checking out good."

"So it's happening?"

"It's happening."

A pleased sigh escaped her as she turned to look at him, a dazzling smile on his face.

"Wonder if we know any of them. They would still have been training when we left and I think the crew was selected just after we left. It'd be nice if we could see a familiar face."

Oh little did they know.

HERMES

MISSION DAY 1

A sigh escaped Everly Brooks as she flopped down onto her bunk on the Hermes. Her dyed blue hair up in a bun as she finished unpacking everything in her room, the room that was her sisters when she was on the ship. God, she missed her little sister more than anything.

It had come as a surprise when she was selected to the crew of Ares V. Of course, she was grateful for the opportunity and a chance to go out there and see what the planet had to offer. She wasn't even supposed to be on the crew, instead first selected for the Ares five mission. But then their lead medical person came down with a rare form of cancer and she had to go into chemo.

But then her sister was presumed dead on Mars and she didn't know how to cope with it.

And then it was revealed to them that they were alive and well after all.

Then she was added to the crew, having already done the training as a reserve person in case something like that were to happen.

That was when NASA decided to move up the plan of their launch. Instead of launching in two years, they would be launching in a few months in December, during the most viable window. They only had one day that they could do it.

Launch had gone off without anything going wrong and Everly couldn't keep the grin off her face even if she tried. The fresh tattoo that marked her as 21st person to step onto the surface of the Martian planet. After docking with the Hermes, resident sysop and her best friend Astoria made sure that everything was working and got the ship all powered took a few hours but then they were safely on their way and their Commander Thalia had sent them to go unpack and relax for the rest of the night.

Carding a hand through her hair, the female let herself turn the light off in her room, and turned on some noise machine to help her sleep.

Liv, hang on for a little longer.

HERMES MISSION DAY 300

ONE WEEK BEFORE LANDING

They were now finally close enough that they could send off their first messages to Olivia and Mark, which Thalia was allowing Everly the pleasure to do.

HERMES; Hello from the crew of Ares V! This is Everly Brooks, local medical doctor and engineer sending this message. Olivia, I am so happy and excited to see you in a week and just know that we're taking y'all back with us. We're aiming to touch down for a short fly over and grab you two before we head to our site at Schiaparelli Crater. NASA has already informed us all about everything that you're bringing so you don't have to stress about that. We'll keep you updated on everything and we all are excited to see you both soon!

Brooks over and out

ARES III HAB

SOL 789

"Holy shit!" The blonde's eye widened as she read the message from the Ares V crew.

"What?" Mark called out from his side of the room where he was harvesting the rest of the crops that remained.

"My sister's on the crew!" Olivia's eyes teared up and she couldn't keep them from falling.

"Everly?"

"Yeah! That shit head, keeping it a secret and also NASA for not telling me." She trailed off, seeing a grin on his face. "You knew?"

"Only for a couple months, hard to not tell you but they wanted it to be a surprise?"

"You ass, luckily i love you so i can't be mad at you. God, I am so excited to see her and finally get off this god forsaken planet."

SOL 786

Checking everything was in the boxes outside the HAB, Liv turned to Mark, a grin on her face. Wth a breath, she set the HAB into the final shutdown sequence, watching as everything went dark for the last time.

"You ready?" He asked her as he pressed his helmet to hers, and she nodded.

The pair went out the airlock one last time, making sure to shut the door behind them as they watched the MDV of Ares V land only a few yards in front of them. Then the door opened and she could see someone exit. Usually with how it would work the Commander would be the first one down and then go in order of ranking.

A click sounded over her coms link as the person got their connection to Mark and Liv's.

"Olivia and Mark, I'm Thalia Jackson, commander of this mission. It's my joy and honor to welcome you aboard our team." Liv had to stifle the sob that wanted to escape as she saw the next person leave the MDV.

"Olivia Astra Brooks, dad told me to tell you that you're grounded forever once we get back." A watery laugh escaped her as she darted forward and her sister pulled her into a hug for the first time in years.

"Wait, your middle name is Astra?"