Destiny Among the Stars - Scifi - LitRPG - Adventure

After breakfast, Luca buried himself in the mission brief. Today they'd be deploying, configuring, and calibrating the infrared satellite. This was it, the start of their real work. Once they launched that thing, it would map out the system, and a communications satellite would follow to extend its range and send a message back to Sol. The real beginning of their mission. No pressure, right?

The satellite launch itself was pretty uneventful. The ship had a deployment chute for satellites and probes. It would be easy, automated, and done in minutes. They just guided the ship along a parallel trajectory to keep things lined up. Honestly? It was a little anticlimactic. They were starting something historic, and it felt more like flipping a switch. If only the rest of the mission were this simple.

The next step, though, was manual and dangerous. They had to get out there, manually connect an F-Type Energy Cell, and confirm the satellite was responsive. The F-Type would power it for years, but someone had forgotten to do so before they launched it.

On the command bridge, Luca stood behind Zoe's console, arms crossed tight across his chest. Emily was behind him, sitting at her station as she monitored the satellite's calibration sweep.

"This should've been automatic," Luca muttered. "Why wasn't the energy cell connected pre-launch? Wasn't that on Danny's checklist? Or yours?"

Emily didn't look up. "Log says it was packed. Just not connected."

"Fucking hell," Luca whispered. "So now we're sending two people out on EVA to fix what should've been done in clean room."

Zoe spun slightly in her seat, brow raised. "Welcome to Alpha Centauri."

Danny and Ryan? They were suiting up for their first EVA to service the thing. It was the first time anyone on their crew had to leave the safety of the ship, and sure, Luca was nervous. More than nervous. He was picturing everything that could go wrong: a snag in the tether, a slip that sent them drifting, some microscopic debris ripping through their suits. This wasn't a game anymore.

Joey was inspecting Danny's suit while Chris assisted Ryan. He was efficient, double-checking every seal, every tether, his hands moving quickly. Danny stood stock still, looking more like a mannequin than a person, probably terrified. Nervous, yeah, but trying not to show it. Probably thinking about Zoe.

"Hold still, genius," Chris muttered, yanking on Ryan's harness. "Hard to believe someone who can calculate orbital mechanics in his head forgot a four-hundred-pound battery."

"It wasn't four hundred pounds in zero-g," Ryan shot back, wincing as Chris tightened the strap. "And technically, Danny was supposed to..."

"Don't you dare," Danny called from across the room, his voice muffled by Joey's fussing. "We all signed off on that checklist."

"Yeah, well, next time maybe don't let the lovebirds handle critical systems," Chris said with a smirk.

Zoe's voice crackled over the intercom from the bridge: "I can hear you, Chris."

"Good. Maybe you can keep Romeo focused this time."

Luca was pacing the bridge again. How the hell do you forget the battery for a satellite? Were they too busy making googly eyes at each other? Probably, Luca thought.

"This is the fun part, right?" Ryan quipped, his voice tinny over the comms. He winced as Chris tightened a strap over what was probably a tender spot from their fight. Serves him right.

"Fun, sure," Luca muttered, watching over the video feed. "Just don't screw it up, or it's going to be a very short trip."

Zoe shot him a glare from her workstation, her expression saying, Not helpful, Captain. She turned back to watch Danny. "You're good, Danny. Just stick to the routine."

Out there, in the vacuum of space, they'd look like they were barely moving, just floating alongside the satellite. But they all knew better. They'd be hurtling through space at thousands of miles per second. A mistake out there? Fatal. No retries, no do-overs. Isaac Newton's law of inertia would make sure of that.

Luca was trying not to think about how much could go wrong. But as their captain, he had to. Especially now. Now that he knew they were capable of making monumental fuck-ups. His hands were shaking, and it wasn't just from the adrenaline. It was from the sheer terror that was coursing through him, mixed with a healthy dose of anger.

Luca cleared his throat, drawing their attention. "Alright. Let's get this done." He hated how shaky he sounded; he needed to pull it together.

Danny and Ryan were now completely encased in their hardened EVA suits. They had designed the bodysuits to be compatible with this equipment, so they just needed to raise the pants of the hardened suit to their waist, then lower down the top portion from the winch and secure them, making sure the seal was tight. The room before the airlock wasn't tight per se, but with the bulky suits on, there wasn't much elbow room left.

Once sealed, they turned on their oxygen supply, making sure everything was working. Chris clipped the thick steel tether to Ryan's harness, his hands moving mechanically through the familiar motions.

The tether would be hooked up directly to the inside of the airlock room. Once the exterior hatch opened, that room would be exposed to vacuum, allowing them to exit the spacecraft while tethered safely. They'd each have another tether they would secure to the outside of the ship, as a secondary safety measure if the first failed. Finally, their EVA suits had positioning jets that allowed them to move, somewhat clumsily, towards their destination, in this case, their telescope satellite.

On the bridge, they watched through the airlock's internal camera as the door closed, separating Ryan and Danny from the rest of the ship. With a smile and a wave visible through the feed, Ryan and Danny turned to face the exterior hatch and pressed the button, removing the air and finally opening the exterior door.

Luca felt a tightness in his chest, a knot of dread that had taken up permanent residence there. This is it. They were actually doing it. And he was terrified they'd find another way to screw it up.

"You think they'll be ok?" Zoe asked from her station, her voice barely above a whisper as she monitored their trajectory.

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Emily's hand found his back, a gentle touch meant to comfort. He appreciated the gesture. God, he loved her, but part of him tensed under her palm. She should have caught this. As his XO, double-checking Danny's pre-launch checklist was her responsibility. He'd been buried in engineering specs, trusting her to handle the operational details.

"They'll be fine," Luca said, forcing conviction into his tone. He was lying, of course. He was trying to sound convincing, but he was also trying to reassure himself because what if they got hurt? What if this was all just another mess? In simulations, they had aced this mission. They had also aced remembering to put in the battery in those simulations. "They've done this before," he added, though his white-knuckled grip on the back of Zoe's chair betrayed his nerves.

Zoe nodded, taking a deep breath as she fine-tuned their parallel course. She knew the risks as well as he did. They all did, and that was part of the problem. Why did they always have to do things the hard way? Because apparently, they liked to make things harder on themselves.

On the command bridge, Luca and Emily were monitoring their every move, while Joey was tracking their vitals, and Luca was sure that he was also terrified for his little brother. He hated being stuck on the sidelines, because this was it, and they were out there, and he wasn't. He should be out there.

Danny and Ryan launched themselves from the airlock, kicking off into the void.

"Showoffs," Luca muttered, watching them drift into the abyss like they didn't just cause a mission-wide panic attack. They suddenly looked so small, and he wanted to pull them back, even if part of him felt like they deserved to be out there after this fuck-up. Their positioning jets fired as they started heading for the satellite, and seeing them so tiny against the vastness made his gut clench.

"Forty meters… thirty meters… slow down a bit… twenty meters… Danny, slow down… ten meters… you're almost there," Emily's voice came steadily over the intercom, her calm tone a lifeline. At least someone was keeping it together.

Luca paced behind her station. "They're moving too fast."

"They're moving fine," Emily said without looking up. "Your pacing, however, is making me seasick."

"I'm not pacing."

"You've worn a groove in the deck plating." She glanced at Zoe. "Back me up here."

Zoe kept her eyes on her console. "Captain, with all due respect, you're making me nervous, and I'm trying to keep us parallel."

"See?" Emily's fingers danced over her controls. "Danny, you're doing great. Ignore the heavy breathing from the bridge."

"That's not... I'm not breathing heavily."

"Luca." Emily finally turned to look at him. "They've got this. Sit down before you hyperventilate."

He stared at her for a moment, and something in his expression made her pause. "You told me to stop micromanaging."

Emily's smile faltered slightly. "Luca..."

"You said I needed to trust you to handle the operational details."

"I know." Her voice was quieter now. "I fucked up. I should have caught it."

Luca stood rigid at the viewport, hating that he was stuck watching telemetry feeds instead of being out there himself.

Zoe sat perfectly still at her station, her eyes darting between the live footage from the EVA suits' cameras and her navigation display. She couldn't afford to move, couldn't even shift in her chair. Maintaining their exact trajectory and velocity was critical. One small course correction, one tiny adjustment, and the satellite would drift away from them, pulling Danny and Ryan against the ship. He could practically feel her anxiety radiating across the bridge, torn between watching Danny and keeping them all alive.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Ryan's voice crackled through the comms. "We're here," he said, his breathing heavy and strained. Luca could finally breathe again for a second.

"Alright," Emily replied, her voice firm and measured as she leaned over her console. "We're going to do this slowly and take our time. No rushing."

Hurry up, Luca thought, his jaw clenching. Every muscle in his body was screaming with tension.

Danny and Ryan tethered themselves to the satellite, their figures bobbing in the zero-g as they methodically started to install the F-Type energy cell. Each movement was deliberate, every tool change a slow, careful effort. Luca's fingers tapped restlessly against the viewport as he fought the urge to chime in over the comms. The tension on the bridge was palpable, a weight pressing down on all of them.

Behind him, he could hear Zoe's quiet, controlled breathing. She was watching Danny's every move like her life depended on it.

After what felt like hours, Ryan's voice broke the silence. "The battery's in place," he said, exhaustion and relief coloring his tone.

"About time," Chris muttered from his station. "Ryan, you looked great out there. I almost missed you."

"Chris," Joey warned, his eyes glued to Danny's vital signs.

Emily leaned forward. "Alright, hold tight while we test the connections. Don't unhook yet. And Chris? Shut up."

"Yes, ma'am."

Luca found himself almost smiling despite the tension. Almost.

Joey's voice cut through the momentary quiet, his medical training warring with big brother instincts. "Danny, your heart rate's spiking. You need to slow your breathing down, okay? In for four, out for four."

"I'm fine, Joey," Danny's voice came back strained.

"Yeah, well, your vitals say otherwise. Do the breathing thing or I'm pulling you back in."

"You can't!"

"Watch me, little brother."

Zoe exhaled audibly, her posture relaxing slightly as the satellite's systems began to respond to Emily's commands. The diagnostic data streamed across the screens, and Luca caught the faintest hint of a smile on Emily's lips as the results populated.

"Looks like it's working perfectly," she announced, her voice triumphant.

Thank god for small mercies.

"Hell yeah," Ryan muttered over the comms, his tone lighter now. Danny let out a small laugh, the tension in his voice finally easing.

"Great work, guys!" Emily exclaimed. "Now, make your way back to the ship. Nice and steady."

On the screen, the two figures started their return journey, using their positioning jets in short bursts to close the distance to the ship. Everyone on the bridge fell silent—so unlike their usual chatter—tension lingering until the airlock finally hissed closed behind them.

As the feed cut off and the indicator lights on the airlock panel turned green, Zoe leaned back in her chair, sighing loudly. "They're back," she murmured, relief washing over her face.

As the airlock hissed closed, Ryan's voice came through one last time: "So... who's buying the first round when we get back?"

"You are," Chris called out. "Hazard pay for making us all sweat."

"I'll drink to that," Danny added, his relief audible.

Zoe finally allowed herself to laugh. "God, you're all idiots."

Luca felt his shoulders drop for the first time in hours. "Let's head down and meet them."

"You gonna yell at them?" Emily asked, standing and stretching.

"Probably."

"Good. They deserve it." She paused, then added quietly, "So do I."

Luca looked at her, surprised by the admission.

"The checklist was my responsibility. You were buried in engineering specs because I told you to delegate." She met his eyes. "I'm sorry."

Luca stared at her for a long moment, his jaw working as he tried to hold onto his anger. But the way she looked at him, genuinely contrite and so darn cute, made his chest tighten in an entirely different way.

"You're making it really hard to stay mad at you," he said finally, his voice soft.

Emily's lips quirked up in a small smile. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Terrible thing," he muttered, but he was fighting a smile of his own. "Absolutely terrible for ship discipline."

"Well," she said, stepping closer, "maybe we can discuss my disciplinary action later."

Luca felt his anger dissolve completely. "Christ, Emily. You're going to be the death of me."

"Better than a forgotten battery," she said with a grin.

Luca turned from the viewport, suddenly feeling vulnerable in a way he hated. "Come on. Let's go give them hell."

The science lab was abuzz, and it was too damn loud. Though Danny looked like he might lose his mind, Luca could see the vein popping out on his neck, he was definitely about to have a meltdown. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, clearly irritated, and his glasses were all askew, as the rest of the crew crowded around the consoles.

"Would you people stop breathing on my screens?" he muttered, swatting at Ryan's hand as it hovered near one of the displays.

Ryan, who was grinning, pulled back. "Relax, man. I'm not touching anything. Yet."

Luca stood by the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. He didn't need to be in the lab, but there was no way he'd miss this. The first scan data from their deployed satellite was coming through, and everyone was itching for a glimpse of the Alpha Centauri system. What would they find?

Finally, numbers began to flicker across the screen.