#supernova chapter eight

“Copy that, Major. Ready for docking.”

Elide had her headset on and was in the rec room, wearing Lorcan’s hoodie and a pair of his sweats,  anxiously watching out the window as he guided the probe into the docking station, tethered to the outside of the ship in his extravehicular - EVA - suit.

Everyone else was on the flight deck, but she wasn’t needed there. As she fiddled with her ring, her brows knitting together, she listened to Lorcan, “Probe has docked. Looking good, Major.”

“Roger that, Commander.” Fenrys’ voice was cool and smooth – this was really where he thrived. “And… docking is complete. Nice work everyone.”

There were a few quiet cheers and Elide let out a long breath, smiling softly and waving at Lorcan as he caught her gaze and bowed as best as he could in outer space. She giggled and pressed her hand to the glass, “We got it, guys.” Elide kept her eyes on him and she could make out two dimples on his cheeks - a smile just for her. 

Fenrys let loose a howl and soon, they were all joining in, their frayed nerves soothed by the success.

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Aelin was sitting on top of the modified rover-wagon. It looked like a Blackbeak caravan made of billion-dollar equipment. Her eyes found the teeny tiny camera in her helmet and she addressed it, speaking thoughtfully. “It’s now day four-sixty-one.” She nodded to the hill a few kilometres away, “The FAV’s just over that hill. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on my drive. Well, it was either that or panic about the decaying radioactive battery riding shotgun so…”

She trailed off, looking at the red sand hills. “There’s this treaty that says that no country can lay claim on any land that’s not on Earth. TNSB owns the hab, and these rovers. But the second I step out of either one, there’s this other treaty that states if you aren’t in any country’s territory, maritime land applies. Which means that Farnor is international waters.”

She hopped down, eyes roving over the load vehicles that carried all that was keeping her alive. The oxygenator, the atmosphere regulator, the water reclaimer, and hundreds of frozen cooked potatoes were all squared away. Aelin had never been this organized; Elide would be proud. “Now, I’m travelling from the Anascaul crater to Mistward.

“I’ve crossed international waters to commandeer a vehicle and no one explicitly gave me permission to do so, so technically, that makes me a pirate.”

A wicked grin split her face in two, “A space pirate.”

Eventually, the rover had charged and Aelin was back in the driver’s seat, steadily making her way over the last three kilometres. It was a weird feeling.

Everywhere she went, she was the first. Billions of years and now… Aelin. The only person who had ever been alone on a planet. She didn’t like to think of it too much, it caused her heart to grow with an ache she couldn’t place and winded her under the knowledge that she could very well never make it off the face of this earth. 

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

“Sartaq?”

The rocket scientist looked up at Gavriel, slightly grainy through the video call, “Oh, Gavriel. Hi.”

“Hi,” Gavriel answered him slowly, apprehensive. “Is everything alright?”

Sartaq and Manon, from her perch on the edge of his desk, exchanged a wary look before Sartaq answered, “We just want to start this off by saying you won’t like it.”

Gavriel really, really didn’t want to know. “…what is it? Manon?”

The white-haired woman looked uneasy and unnerved, “Well, thing is…” she trailed off as Luca popped into the frame, scaring Gavriel halfway to an early grave.

“Oh, hey, man! What’s popping?”

“Hello, Luca, how are you?” 

“I’m great, my guy, this RPL lab is pretty dope and I got to see my dads so that’s pretty sick – thanks for flying me out and everything.”

“Luca. The plan?” Manon prompted him, her exasperation clear. Gavriel was sure the only reason Luca was still alive was that Manon had found a new pet in him, as if that terrifying snake of hers – Abraxos – wasn’t enough.

“Right! Ok, so first things first, the FAV won’t have enough speed to zoom up to The Lani, you heard?” Sartaq, ever peaceful Sartaq, looked ready to strangle the boy. “Shit needs to be, like, a lot lighter. Five tonnes, to be exact.”

“You can do that?”

“‘T’s really not that complicado, I swear.” The astrodynamicist turned to the model of the FAV and began pulling things out, carelessly tossing them to the side. “We can get rid of five chairs, cause it’s just… Manon, what’s that chick’s name again?” He really didn’t mean any offence by it, he had a bad memory for names. It took him six months to remember Vaughan’s name and stop referring to him as ‘boss man’.

Manon just sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Aelin, Luca. Her name is Aelin.”

“Ooh, that do be kinda sick though,” was Luca’s response. “I can dig that.” He returned to the task at hand, “Then, the FAV is designed for five-hundred grams of Farnorian soil and rock samples, obviously, we won’t have that so we’re already speeding.”

Manon gave Gavriel a long-suffering look as Luca continued, “Then, we ditch life support, Aelin can just be in her heavy-duty suit-“

“EVA, Luca, we told you it’s EVA.”

“Whatever, she can be in it and we don’t need life support.”

Gavriel frowned, “How’s she going to fly the rocket if she’s in her EVA?”

“She won’t, Marama will remotely control it,” Manon told him bluntly.

“We’ve never had a remotely controlled manned ship before.” Luca’s face fell slightly and Gavriel hastily added, “but I’m excited for the opportunities… it presents.”

The boy’s face lit up again and he smiled, “Word, I feel you. This means we can get rid of the control panels and all that other stuff like telemetry, comms-“

“What. Remotely controlled with- with no backups?”

Manon nodded, “Yeah, we haven’t even got to the bad stuff.” Gavriel’s face paled and she turned to Luca, urging him on, “Go on, tell him.”

“We kinda… have to remove the nose airlock and the windows and the hull.”

The mission director choked, slamming his knee into the underside of his desk, “You want to send her into space without the front of her ship?” He addressed his words to Sartaq.

“The nose alone is four hundred grams.”

Gavriel stood up, spreading his arms, “You’re sending her into space without the front of her ship! A hole!”

“Mmm, not a hole, she can cover it with hab tarp.” Gavriel just hung his head in his hands as Sartaq continued, shooing Luca to the side, “The hull is really there to keep the air out, but Farnor’s atmosphere is so thin, she really won’t need that much streamlining.”

“You’re sending her into space under a tarp, Sartaq.”

“Yes.”

“There aren't any other options, are there?”

“Nope.”

“Who wants to tell her?”

Manon shook her head, “That’s all you, Gav.”

Gavriel scowled, accusing her, “I thought you were Flight and Crew Director, Ms. Blackbeak.”

She just shrugged, “Best get to it. Aelin’s not a patient woman.”

+*+*+*+*+*+*

Aelin was staring out the front window of the rover with a blank look as she ate her daily portion of rations. “I know what they’re doing. I know what they’re doing. They keep telling me that I’ll ‘travel faster than any person in the history of space’, like it’s a good thing, like it’ll distract me from the fucking LUNACY OF THEIR IDEA!”

She thought hard, “They’re sending me into space in a gods-damned convertible. Actually, it’s worse, because my controls are in Fenrys Marama’s hands. Fucking idiot didn’t even have enough sense to knock up his girl after what was originally a nineteen-month mission.”

Scowling at the dash, Aelin added, “By the way, when describing things like speed and velocity, physicists don’t use the word ‘fast’, ok? They’re just saying it in the hopes that I’ll like how it sounds. ‘Fastest person in space travel’. Well, you know what?”

Aelin drank from her water bottle and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, “I do like it. I like it a lot, actually.”

With a heavy sigh, she shook her head and threw her hands up, “Alright, let’s do this.”

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Aelin dropped the wrench on the floor of the hollowed-out FAV, an entertained gleam in her eyes. “Ok, that was really fun.” She looked up at the sky through the hole in the FAV, where the nose had once been, as if she would be able to spot The Lani, “I’m coming, guys. Wait for me, ok?”

Exhausted, Aelin carefully made her way down the hatch and hopped to the ground, walking slowly over to her caravan, ready for one last night.

+*+*+*+*+*+* 

The crew had been tense all day, jittery for the rescue. It had finally arrived and they were all in the flight deck as Lorcan read off the plans once more, “Faliq, you’ll SysOp the ascent, Marama – piloting The Lani. Lochan and Whitethorn, I want you at the airlock before she’s even begun countdown, got it?”

“Got it – I want her in the med bay immediately after intercept, she’ll probably be unconscious and may have internal bleeding.” There were so many other things she would need to be checked out for and Rowan had it all set up, every scenario planned out – even surgery.

Lorcan continued, “When we reach intercept, it’s on Whitethorn to get her. If anything, anything goes wrong, Lochan, you’re going out after them.”

“Copy that, Commander.”

“Alright. We ready?”

The only response was, “Yes, sir.”

“Roger that, crew. Let’s go get our girl, huh?” Big smiles were on everyone’s face as Fenrys and Lorcan let loose military whoops.

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Manon slipped into the locked Mission Control, sliding into her seat beside Asterin and kissing her cousin’s brow as they prayed quickly. She snapped on her headset and reached for Asterin’s hand, holding tightly as she calmed herself and began flight, “Lani, this is Flight. You are good to go.”

Nesryn’s voice crackled through the comms, “Copy that, Flight. Lani is commencing de-acceleration… Engine alignment is perfect, fuel pressure green.”

The room let out a pent-up breath and Nesryn continued with her assessment, “Communications five by five…”

Lorcan spoke to Aelin, “About two minutes away, G-Money. How you feeling?” Everyone laughed at the nickname; it was beyond soothing for the stranded astronaut.

Her voice was broken and tight, “It’s good to hear your voice, Commander. Ready to get up to you guys.” Words failed her and she swallowed before continuing, “Thank you for coming back for me; I miss you.”

The crew chuckled tearfully and Lorcan answered her, “We miss you too, Ace. Remember, you’re facing twelve G’s, it’s ok if you pass out, yeah? You’re in Marama’s hands now.”

“Tell that dipshit no barrel-rolls.”

Lorcan’s laughter barked across the radios, “Scout’s honour. CAPCOM…”

Nesryn’s voice was filled with laughter, “Go.”

“Remote control…”

“Go,” said Fenrys.

“Recovery…”

Elide and Rowan answered simultaneously, “Go.”

And finally, “Pilot…”

“Go already, you bastard.”

“Copy that, Galathynius. Flight, this is Lani actual, we are go for launch and will proceed on schedule.” 

“Roger that, Lani. This is Flight, Mission control is a go, commencing in t-minus ten seconds,” Manon replied, utterly unashamed of the tears flowing down her cheeks. She reached over and turned on the timer controller, the countdown commencing.

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Lorcan was overseeing the flight deck as they listened to the timer controller. “Marama?”

“Main engines start.”

“Copy. Faliq?”

“Clamps releasing… SysOps is a go.”

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Aelin tensed in anticipation as the timer counted down and the crew began the plan. “See you in a few, Commander.”

The rocket blasted off and she was slammed back into her acceleration seat. The wind was knocked out of her, she couldn’t even gasp as the FAV launched with incredible force. The ship shook violently and she fought to remain conscious, her eyes fluttering shut.

The canvas ripped free of the hull and the comms picked up again, the crew’s words falling on deaf ears, Aelin was lost on them. “Velocity is seven-forty-one metres per second. Altitude one-three-five-oh…”

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Lorcan shook his head, eyes flying over the screens, “That’s too low. Marama?”

“I know,” his voice tight as he struggled, “it’s fighting me—”

“Velocity eight-fifty, altitude one-eight-four three—”

Lorcan spoke into the radio, not daring to tear his eyes from the computer, “Galathynius? Galathynius do you copy?”

There was no answer and Nesryn said, “She’s still well below target.”

“How far?”

“Working on it… main shutdown in 3…2…1… Shutdown.”

Fenrys was fighting the controls, “Back to automatic guidance. Confirm shutdown.”

“Galathynius, do you read?”

Rowan’s voice came to life, “She just pulled twelve G’s on ascent, she’s probably passed out. Give her a few minutes, Flight Deck.”

“Copy that, Whitethorn.” Lorcan turned to Nesryn, “Faliq, what’s happening?”

The dark-haired woman took a moment to respond, “Intercept velocity will be eleven metres per second – Whitethorn?”

“I can make it work,” Rowan confirmed, determined.

“Roger, distance at intercept will be—” Nesryn went pale, feeling sick to her stomach. “We’ll be fifty-seven kilometres apart.”

Silence fell over the radios.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Rowan said, “did you say fifty-seven kilometres? Kilometres?”

“Gods save her…” Fenrys whispered, a horrified look twisting his face.

Lorcan’s voice brought everyone back, “Keep it together. Work the problem. We got any power in the FAV?”

“Negative, Commander. Ditched the boosters to make launch weight.”

“Then we go to her. Faliq, time to intercept?”

“Thirty-eight minutes, seventeen seconds.”

“What happens if we point all our thrusters in the same direction,” he asked. “Marama?”

Fenrys did calculations in his head, tilting his chin up as he took in the remaining fuel levels. “Depends on how much fuel we want to save for course adjustments on the flight home.”

“And you need how much?”

“Mmm, I can get by on twenty percent of what we have left.”

“Faliq?”

Nesryn was already working on it and answered Lorcan quickly, “Using seventy-five point five of what’s left, I can completely close the altitude gap—”

“Do it.”

“Hang on, the intercept velocity will be forty-two metres per second.”

It was too fast, Rowan wouldn’t be able to grab her. Lorcan would deal with that in thirty-nine minutes, then. “We’ll figure it out. Marama, burn the jets.”

The ship lurched as Fenrys followed commands and the jets burned, boosting them forward.

A small voice was heard over the radio and Lorcan caught the last part of it, “…fuck you, Farnor.”

“Galathynius?!”

“Affir… affirmative, Commander.”

“Status.”

“Ch… chest hurts. Breathing hurts,” it was her ribs. Aelin had been flung around the FAV during her ascent. “How, how are you?”

Of course, Aelin was still worried about them. “We’re good, Pilot. Working to get to you. There was a complication during launch.”

Her voice was so weak, it broke Lorcan’s heart. “Yeah, the… canvas didn’t… didn’t hold.”

“That checks out, Galathynius.”

“…bad is it?” The radios were weaving in and out.

“Intercept range is perfect. We’re working on intercept velocity, there’s a problem.”

“How big?”

“Forty-two metres big.” Aelin didn’t respond and Nesryn checked the comms, indicating they were still good to go. “Aelin?”

“You know,” she began, as if they were having a casual conversation, “I watched all the Marvel movies you brought. My favourite’s Iron Man, are you surprised? I could find something sharp in here and pierced my EVA’s glove, as a thruster. The source is on my arm, so I can direct.”

Lorcan blinked a few times, not sure he’d heard her correctly, “Um, I don’t see you having any control over that – you’d be eyeballing and using a barely-controlled thrust vector.”

“All good points but consider this: I would get to fly around like Iron Man.”

Fenrys just shook his and laughed quietly, “We should’ve left her on Farnor.”

“Um, you did leave me on Farnor and Iron Man, Commander. Iron Man.”

“Ace, just shut up for a second, Hellas.” Lorcan looked at the far wall, “Maybe it’s not the worst idea.”

Fenrys shot him a look, incredulous, “You know, it actually is. The worst idea possible.” The rest of the crew chorused their agreement – it was ludicrous.

“No, not her idea, but using atmosphere as thrust.” Lorcan’s eyes widened, “Elide, El, El, El.”

“Yes?”

“No, not actually you, Nes, pull up El’s station.”

“It’s up – what do you need?”

Lorcan crossed his arms and leaned against the control desk, “I need to know what would happen if we blew the VAL.”

“…the vehicular airlock?”

He shrugged, “Yeah, it’d give us a good kick.”

“And blow off the nose of our ship. And all the air would leave. We need air, Lorcan,” Elide reminded him, “to not die.” He’s a mechanical engineer, for gods’ sakes. Shouldn’t he know this? Elide thought.

“Seal the bridge and reactor room. Everything else becomes a vacuum.”

“It would get intercept velocity down to thirteen metres per second,” Nesryn said, seeing the logic of his idea.

“How do we open the airlock doors, though? We can’t control them remotely and if anyone’s near them when it blows…”

“Lochan?”

“Yes?”

“Take off your spacesuit.”

“…why.”

“I need you to build a bomb.”

Aelin’s voice cut in before Elide could reply, “Wait, bomb? You’re exploding things…without me?”

They ignored her as Elide asked, “Come again, L?”

“You’re a chemist and a fucking weirdo – no offence, babe – can you make a bomb with what we have onboard?”

“None taken,” she quipped, “I’m obligated to tell you that setting off an explosive device on a spacecraft is a terrible, terrible idea.”

“Copy. Can you do it?”

Elide thought for a few seconds, “Yeah, I can do it.”

“Good, get going. Faliq, meet Lochan in the rec room and transport the bomb to Whitethorn – I want you to meet Faliq at airlock and attach the bomb to the inner door of airlock one Then, make your way back to airlock two along the hull, copy?”

“Copy.”

“Perranth, be advised: we are going to deliberately breach the VAL to produce thrust.”

Before Mission Control could answer, Aelin piped up, “Commander, I can’t let you do this. You see, I’m selfish – all the memorials back home should be about me. I don’t need any of you losers ruining my rep.” She panted, “Call it off.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, if you want us to call it off, then I guess we have to- oh wait... wait a minute. Yep. I’m looking at my shoulder patch and it turns out I’m Commander. So shut up.”

“Fu...fucking smart ass.”

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Nesryn entered the rec room, spying Elide where she was pouring a bag of sugar into a beaker. “Bomb?”

“Yup.” Elide couldn’t speak much, she was pretty busy at the moment. She still managed to tell Nesryn about her project, “In a pure oxygen environment, it’ll release sixteen point seven million Joules for every kilo of sugar used. Eight times stronger than a stick of dynamite.”

“Neith above, you terrify me.”

Elide grinned evilly, looking like a mad scientist as she poured pure oxygen into the beaker and screwed the cap on, doing something with stripped copper wires. “She’s ready.” Elide carefully passed the bomb over to Nesryn, “Run this to the lighting panel, ok?”

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

The bomb was set and everything was in place. They braced for the thrust as an explosion rocked the ship, sending them backwards.

As the ship stabilized, Fenrys, Nesryn, Elide, and Lorcan, scrambled back to their spots and Fenrys swore, “It’s still too far, three-hundred metres?”

“Oh, great,” Aelin commented, “I’ll just wave at you as I fly by.”

“Bridge seal is holding, Commander, first inspections reads minimal damage.”

“Copy that, Whitethorn, where are you?”

“I’m in airlock two, Commander, in the MMU and going for intercept on your command.” Rowan would have to go after her in the Manned Maneuvering Unit - MMU for short.

“Roger that, go recovery.” They were still too far, “Faliq, what’s our-“

“Lorcan. I’m doing it,” Aelin said, her voice hard. Before anyone knew what was happening, there came a hissing sound and Aelin soared through the FAV’s nose, one arm stretched towards them and the other behind her like Iron Man. She struggled to keep upright and kicked her legs.

“Shit, Faliq, current velocity?” They were all of the edges of their seats.

“Calculating… twelve metres per second… seven metres per second… five point two… three point one,” her heart was in her throat as she watched the rescue.

“Distance to target?”

“Ten metres.” 

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Rowan’s heart cracked as the distance was told, he could reach her, he could get to her. The tether was long enough.

She looked to him, those brilliant eyes of hers grounding him. Rowan angled the controls to her, jerking back in the MMU when the tether pulled taut. What, no no no. It was caught, it had to be caught, he was sure of it. “Fuck, fuck,” Elide was on her way to the airlock but she wouldn’t be able to help. She was still too far. “The tether, it’s caught on something - it’s caught.” 

He saw it in Aelin’s eyes as she heard him and she smiled at him. He hated the smile, soft and accepting. It was her goodbye. 

“It’s ok, Ro,” she said, acceptance in her words, “let me go.”

“No. No,” he shouted the word over and over, not believing it. “Aelin, no, you can’t do this-“

“It’s ok, Rowan. Let me go.”

“I’m not letting you go – we didn’t get any time-“ his breath hitched as tears grew in his chest, “I love you, you can’t let go.”

There was nothing anyone could do. Aelin had made up her mind.

+*+*+*+*+*+*

an: hehe sowwy bubs 🥺👉👈

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