[center][h1]Vulpine Space Command Centre, Île de la Tempête, Reunion [/h1][/center] [center][h2] Last Goodbye [/h2][/center] [center][h2] 0800 Hours [/h2][/center] [@Rhona W] Purna embraced Eloise, smiling back, the Nepali cracking for once, knowing that for Eloise, she'd taken a lot to say that. And he too, had found that in her, usually preferring to work alone yet grateful for her backup. "We do work well together, Eloise. You lived up to every tale I heard. And you saved my life, after all. I think I owe you more than friendship, Eloise." Purna nodded, holding her shoulders in his hands. "I'm sure we will get the opportunity to know each other more. Raven doesn't miss. Now go finish the job, Archer." Purna smiled, a little bit of grit, knowing that in spite of Eloise's quiet, almost anti-social nature, behind those eyes was someone who just needed a little more of a pep talk. Someone more extraordinary than she probably realised, and even in himself, he'd done the thing he said he never would. Open up, let himself out a little more. There was more to life than taking lives, he realised. More than just immediate family as a distant thing. There was companionship, and that was something. [@Starlance] With it, the Nepali looked to Ebrima, knowing he should probably give a goodbye. In spite of everything, or rather, perhaps due to what they had already done, the smaller Nepali looking up to the taller Cameroonian. "You are many things, Ebrima. You're too much of an asshole to die. That is why you will be back. Don't go losing the Kukri. Make sure you take her tongue off with it. Then maybe you will have earned it, no?" Purna casually dropped that line to the Cameroonian, cracking a rare teethy smile, chuckling, patting him on the shoulder, knowing that even if sometimes, they had a love-hate relationship, he had a respect for the Cameroonian. "Good luck, Boaro. Go get them." Through everything that had gone down, and at the end of the world, he could see through those eyes that had long since decided. That was before Purna hugged him, no doubt shattering any idea. Who the fuck was the Nepali to be kinder and where had they taken his original version? A joke that of late, felt in much poorer taste given Skye's situation. And with it, he was gone as soon as he'd arrived. Off to join the rest of the team in setting up kit, and preparing the team for launch. [hr] Inside the truck, once getting moving, Skye was unsurprised to hear Ebrima clap back. Oh, at the end of the world, all things could happen... Smirking, Skye looked across at Ebrima, hearing the tail end of her conversation with Athena, the Cameroonian making a head nod to Skye as Athena looked across, anticipating an answer. "Eh, whatever job you can give him to keep him out of trouble, Athena. Perhaps you've earned retirement after this, given all of what went down, though....I doubt you'll chill out for long. But then again....well, who am I kidding. I think you're both as fucking mad as each other." Skye noted, looking at them both, chuckling. "Maybe you would kill each other. But Ebrima was going to kill Purna a few weeks ago, and I saw him get hugged. So, hey. We're in a new world now." Skye added, getting Ebrima there, before moving onto Athena. If they weren't going to calm down normally, Skye knew she'd have the last say. "Oh, and watching Athena flirt with my operative. Honestly. You take her on one operation, tell her the world's ending....and she goes all soft." Skye grinned knowing if she couldn't beat them, she could certainly join them. With the truck rumbling along, as she looked to Eloise, who was no doubt entertained by this. And Eloise likely turn a shade of beetroot red with Athena nearby, the blonde doing exactly that, and all of that was being discussed. "Hey, Skye, that's between.....oh, fuck you." Athena turned red, and in that moment, Skye knew she'd won, looking to Ebrima, as if to say 'Happy Now?' in a sarcastic, tongue firmly in cheek, as she sighed, thinking about this journey, looking to her side, over to the smaller infiltrator. "I think you might be fitting in, Eloise. Makes you plenty real. I suppose it's all pretty ridiculous, but, someone had to go and do it." Skye added, smiling back, looking at the truck came to a stop, and with that, the team were getting ready to get out. Athena casually lept down and started receiving Sam, Ebrima and Skye, before they made the short walk to the lift, and with it, to the top of the rocket. [hr] [center][h1]Launch Pad, inside an Arianne 7, Île de la Tempête, Reunion [/h1][/center] [center][h2] Launch [/h2][/center] [center][h2] 0830 Hours [/h2][/center] [@LadyAmber] Keller's voice came through the comms on the rocket was getting prepared, Sam's request getting a response from Mission Control. "You are clear, Chaos. Permission is granted, sequence is commenced." And with it, Skye looked across to Sam, giving a nod, a confirm in her ability, even if most of this was automated, she trusted Sam on this one to get them there, and hopefully, back home too. The lift pulled back, and the only thing keeping them pointed upwards at the moment still being the support strut. The countdown began, as Skye could hear Eloise quietly, then gently louder singing to herself. And chuckled, a white grin forming as she couldn't believe any of it. She quietly mouthed the words, joining in, the team leader for half a second letting herself entertain the fantasy. And suddenly, the countdown came into thirty seconds to launch. Then twenty, then ten, then five..... The launch pad itself felt tentative, as suddenly, an explosion of power, like being hurled by a giant took the rocket from slowly rising off the pad with the fuel line peeling away to faster, and faster, and faster, leaving behind everything. It was mind-melting, and over too quickly as the first stages dropped, any idea of being able to compare this to any other experience quickly faded for almost the entire team. The rocket soon cleared the upper stratosphere, and with it, the constant acceleration and pull felt like it was contacting something else other than air. It felt like it was just an unstoppable push, as the outside of the ship went from a strange hazy blue, to an obsidian black. "Okay, sequencing. And.....separation." Keller's voice stayed calm as everything shook, rattling audibly, from rifles to cockpit as the force of millions of horsepower sent them off-planet. The rocket's final stage released, and suddenly, the last bit of acceleration hit everyone, the final module accelerating, before the engine cut out, and the long road to orbit would continue with every micro-adjustment that came with it. [hr] [u][center][h1] Part Eight: The Final Countdown [/h1][/center][/u] [center][h1]Somewhere......in Low Earth Orbit [/h1][/center] [center][h2] 1100 Local Time (Reunion) [/h2][/center] [b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKxypbDdwsE]M83 - Atlas Imperial[/url] [/b] [img]https://www.phaseone.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/SS-2400x1350.jpg[/img] Unstrapping the harness on Keller's confirm of orbit achieved, Skye sorted herself first despite the bulky hands of her spacesuit, but eventually, got there and was able to peel away, no longer pressed into chair, but actually able to float. Skye watched as the SIG floated in front of her off her strap once released, grabbing it back into hand, feeling the cold supply of rebreathed oxygen steadily hold, as she grabbed a hold of her own seat, leaning in and unbuckling Eloise's harness, the nearest passenger to her. Moving to the window after turning, finding the whole action strange that she could pirouette almost with zero consequence, adjusting her comms band to pick up the team locally on her HUD inside her visor. "Valkyrie, Frigga, you two alive?" "Holy shit! My eyeballs feel like they bounced off the back of my skull on launch, but yeah, sure, good! Woooo!" Athena excitedly called, watching through Skye's feed as she went to the window on the side of the pod, for a moment, silent. There it was. Everything they were trying to save. All of it, the tiny, teeny insignificant island nothing against India and Africa below, and beyond that, further north, Europe. And Scotland, barely visible given as usual, it was covered in cloud. Overview effect had a hell of an impact on people. How on earth Rose was comfortable ending all of this seeing it all, how insignificant, small, and tiny they were in the infinite darkness, Skye couldn't even tell. But seeing it now reinforced everything. All good, all bad, and everything between was there, and they had to do something to let it see another day, as it stood. "Good to hear." Skye uttered almost without tone given what she was seeing and her mind elsewhere, even the team lead not as animated as before, taking this in. Despite everything, all the stakes, she couldn't help but look. "Well, it's pretty awesome out there! Wow!" Athena's excitement bounded, ruining just about everyone's immersion, as her voice may as well have echoed, given she could only look at this through her HUD's interconnection to Skye now from her position in the cargo area the heavy now not quite as much, and in this environment, seemed without much training, to be able to thrive given she now didn't have to worry about weight. She was in as much shock, her experience a bit different given the Warhawk's seals were doing what they had to, keeping her from dying in the cold vacuum of space. And though Frigga wouldn't see it, she gave her sister a smile, knowing that Freya must have been adoring all of this. She loved physics so much her sister, so much she talked about going to space someday, and now here they were, together at potentially the end of the world, doing it. Athena was many things, overexcited, overstimulated, perhaps hyperreal, but there was a certain warmth even in spite of all of it, that it just came from being larger than life. And in a strange way, she now was seeing something beyond even what she could, and simply grateful for everything it was. Looking on, that view of earth put everything in perspective as Skye got a hold of herself, not replying to Athena, but instead, back to the matter at hand feeling the micro-movements of the module, Keller adjusting it both through the pre-programmed approach and through micro-movements given the adjusting position of the two objects in the sky full of stars. "Keller, what's our ETA?" Skye asked, still staring at the view, genuinely awe-struck, the comms spluttering a little as the receiver unit adjusted. "You are ten minutes, and closing. Chaos, standby, I need a few inputs from you to adjust trajectory and placement. Can you confirm?" Keller's voice was in a world of absolute crazy, a bit of calm. Awaiting that affirm, Keller moved onto the next topic of converation, with Skye. "Are you familiar with Ark Angel, Miss Ly.....Queen?" "Enough to know it's about the size of the ISS, there's two ways in, and a ridiculously big set of solar panels anchored to it. There's pods across it for evac, if we can't make it back to the Arianne." Skye replied, moving off, checking on the team, who were unbuckling themselves, bit by bit, and no doubt seeing this for themselves for the first time. "Affirmative, Queen, we're tracking Ark Angel now, feed it sent to you. We have activity, with a docked cargo unit suggesting signs of movement. Standby, we will be in position to open cargo doors." Keller replied, that fact a moot point, given the pressure was already going, and the suits felt like a bubble now, a silent, protective layer in which the Scot could hear her own breathing. She took a moment to address the team, knowing they no doubt were feeling this. "Right. Everyone want to take a moment to get used to this? As per what I mentioned. Move slowly at first. Hold onto something. Nice gentle breathing." Looking to the team, their collective mum-of-the-group continuing. "You've got a grapple on your left arm if you need to hook yourself to something, and an MMU pack, that will allow you to move forwards and back, up and down, right and left, with control by your left waist, should be on a tether to your arm. Once we're clambered out, test it and check you're happy with it while hanging onto the rail. We're fighting in many more dimensions now, so don't think about the rules like normal. But that does mean hostiles will come from any direction too." Skye added, keeping herself calm in comms, looking up, her face lit up by the internal lighting on the visor, the protective element not yet peeled down. "Rose'll have some mercs with her, likely her inner circle, whatever loyalists she's chosen for this. They'll fight hard as hell and will do anything to stop us. But we'll do better. We've all got samples that will kill Sol Hestia dead if injected into the containment, so that's priority, we cannot let her send any of it down. And if you see Rose, shoot first, ask questions later. The bitch dies, no matter what happens." Skye exhaled, looking on at one last time to the group. "This ends here." Moving to the back, Skye turned the door to enter the cargo hold, the module not pressurised at all which made it a bit easier, as Athena helped peel it open, and gave Skye a hand, before helping the others through, the old phases of the rocket all gone and been, now all that was left, was the teeny husk on the back of the passenger module, and behind that, the cargo compartment where a satellite may have been manually unwound. Zero gravity was truly weird, but in Skye fashion, she simply adapted where she could, not making any note of which way was now up, rather, what she could work towards, and tested out her MMU arrangement, the small micro-jets allowing her to propel herself up, and across the tight space with relative ease. She peeled down the visor, the almost golden-like reflection obscuring her face. On finishing her test, the cargo doors opened, and the view went from a portal window, to standing on the edge of the greatest abyss, and in view, every single other human being that was alive right now, bar a few that they'd be tacking off the list. And the spindly space station, with all of its solar arrays, sitting in the distance now on their 2 o'clock, about on horizontal level. It couldn't have been more than half a kilometre, though any semblance of understanding distance went completely to shit with a view like that in the background. Sitting there, sprawled out, over the Horn of Africa. "Right." Skye simply understated in classic British tone, taking the lead, peeling herself up, and casually floating along the rail, making room, feeling the module shift beneath her before coming to a resting stop, although in relative terms, that wasn't exactly noticeable beyond the slight drift that still continued. "Okay, Queen, this is as close as we can safely put you for now. You are cleared to move. Good luck." Keller's voice actually seemed to creak, even the Dutch controller cracking at that last one. A feeling of hope, even in spite of everything, she'd done all she could to get them there. Now they had to deliver. Mag peeled out of the velcro, Skye slid it into the MCX and with a satisfying clunk she could feel transmitted from the cold metal in her hands, the Scot readied up, casually floating off, engaging the MMU unit in her left hand, rifle pointed forward in right. Into the darkness, she couldn't believe they were about to end this all. Everything up to now, led them to this point here. A fireteam in the literal dark of space, headed on a mission that felt impossible. "Okay, Raven. On me then. Let's go sort this mess out, yeah?" Skye understated once more, checking her team were following, and knew whatever came next, this was going to end here.