The docking arm reached out from the Triumph and gripped the battered dropship, grabbing it from space and dumping it on the hangar floor as the massive hangar doors shut behind them. Artificial gravity kicked in as the bay pressurized around them. For the first time in what felt like forever, they were back where they belonged.
They exited the smoking ruins of the Percival, a dropship that would never fly again.
"Medical bay, now," Joey ordered, already pushing out toward Danny's healing pod. "Ryan, help me get this thing disconnected."
Luca wanted to help, but Joey had that look. The one that said he was switching into full doctor mode and everyone else needed to get the hell out of his way. Fair enough. Danny was in good hands.
"Decontamination first," Chris said, his voice hoarse but steady. "We're not dragging Midnight Veil's toxic shit into our home."
"Everyone into medical," Joey ordered, his doctor voice brooking no argument. "Full scans and decon. Twenty minutes each in the pods."
The process was more invasive than usual. Strip down to medical gowns, lie in the scanning pods while the ship's systems ran cellular analysis and radiation sweeps. Standard procedure after exposure to unknown toxins, but it felt different this time. More necessary. They'd been to hell and back, and Joey wasn't taking any chances with whatever microscopic nasties might be hitching a ride.
Luca lay in his pod, watching the scanning beams sweep over his body, feeling the mission finally starting to sink in. They'd done it. All of it. The survey was complete.
One by one, the crew cycled through. Chris first, still favoring his injured side. Ryan next, grumbling about the medical gown. Zoe went without complaint. Emily was last, and Luca noticed Joey's expression grow more focused as he monitored her scan results.
[Charter Activated: Alpha Centauri Survey Expedition] Mission Checkpoints:
Depart Sol System with a qualified crew - [Complete]
Arrive in Alpha Centauri - [Complete]
Map all planetary bodies and major asteroid fields - [Complete]
Conduct surface surveys on habitable zone planets - [Complete]
Return with verifiable data - [Pending]
Reward: See Mission Compensation Table.
Ryan appeared beside him in the neighboring pod, grinning despite everything. "Looks like the survey mission is officially over. Can't say I'm sad about it."
[Triumph Initiative - Adventuring Company]
Level: 2
Membership: 7/500
Contribution Points: 1,113,025/3,000,000
Credits: 350,000,000
"Yeah, maybe some asteroid hopping will be the break we need," Luca replied. Hell, anything that didn't involve toxic storms and giant bugs sounded like a vacation.
The cycle finished as clean air flooded the chamber, carrying the familiar scent of the Triumph's recycled atmosphere. Home.
Twenty minutes later, after a shower and a change of clothes, Luca stood outside Emily's cabin, his hand hovering over the door panel. The corridor was quiet, most of the crew either in medical or crashed in their bunks. He could hear the faint sound of running water from inside.
He knocked softly.
"Yeah?" Her voice was muffled by the shower.
"It's me. Luca."
"Come in, silly. I'm still in the shower."
His hand was already moving toward the door as she spoke. The familiar scent of her filled the cabin, which always made him feel at ease. The sound of running water echoed in the small space, constant and rhythmic. He could picture her in there, hair pulled back, shoulders bare, and his heart quickened.
Luca settled onto the edge of her bunk, letting his gaze sweep over her space. The datapad on her desk, the book on the nightstand. All the little details that made this space hers. He was surprised she hadn't told him to wait outside. He'd been expecting a "not now, Luca," but maybe she wanted to see him as much as he needed to see her.
He leaned back against the wall, letting out a slow breath. A small smile played on his lips. He could wait for her. More than happy to just be here, in her space, knowing she was close. The idea of sharing this moment, of just being near her, was enough.
Before he knew it, his eyes grew heavy. The exhaustion that had been chasing him finally caught up, pulling him down into fitful sleep.
Luca woke with a start, his body jerking upright, heart pounding. He blinked, disoriented, taking in his surroundings. The shower was silent. Emily was no longer behind the door. She was sitting beside him on the bed, legs tucked beneath her, hair still damp and tousled, skin glowing from her shower. His pulse immediately spiked.
She wore her familiar loungewear, soft fabric clinging in all the right places. Goddamn it. Should have stayed awake.
"Hey," she said, her voice soft, a small smile playing on her lips as she gently touched his arm. Her fingers brushed against his skin, sending a familiar shiver through him. "You drifted off for a minute."
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"Hey." His own smile widened, eyes fixed on hers. He was so damn glad she was sitting next to him, all warm and alive. "Just checking in," he added.
She nodded, her gaze softening. "I'm glad you did," she said, voice barely above a whisper. The meaning was clear.
Luca watched her, feeling that familiar pull. The need to reach out and grab her, to feel her skin against his, to taste her lips, to pull her onto his lap and...
"How long was I out?" he asked, disappointment washing over him. All that wasted time.
She laughed softly, leaning closer, her bare leg brushing against his. "Not long. Maybe thirty minutes?"
"So I missed the show?" He raised an eyebrow, trying to keep his tone light. Fucking hell.
She chuckled, shaking her head before leaning in. Before he could react, she pressed her lips to his. Quick but intense. She tasted like minty toothpaste, and he wanted more. So much more.
The kiss broke with shared, ragged breaths. Emily's eyes sparkled with mischief as she pulled back slightly, lips curved into a knowing smile. Her gaze lingered on his, and he wanted to pull her close.
"You didn't miss everything," she teased. "We can catch up later, I promise. But right now?" She grabbed his hand, pulling him up and off the bed. "I'm starving."
The mess hall felt empty without Danny and Joey. What should have been a celebration of their return felt more like a wake. The remaining crew picked at their food, conversation sparse and subdued.
Zoe sat at her usual corner table, Pixel curled on her lap. The tiny dark purple kitten was the only bright spot in the room, purring contentedly while Zoe absently scratched behind his ears. Her plate sat untouched beside her mission reports.
"How's the little guy doing?" Emily asked, settling across from her.
"Better than the rest of us," Zoe replied, not looking up from her datapad. "At least he doesn't know what we almost lost down there."
Luca joined them, Ryan and Chris trailing behind. Without Danny's usual sarcasm and Joey's steady presence, the dynamic felt off. Incomplete.
The silence stretched until Luca finally broke it.
"You know, I was thinking. If we had never entered that first portal in New Dawn... we could have reached the Varnathi Vault without waking up the System."
"Luca, don't." Emily's voice was sharp, but tired. She picked at her food without looking up.
"Why?" He leaned forward, unable to let it go. "We could have done what we needed to do, surveyed New Dawn, followed the signal, and avoided the System altogether."
"But we had to awaken the System," Ryan replied, his voice defensive. "We needed the extra protection to survive in Midnight Veil. Without the Centurion, we never would have survived down there."
"We wouldn't have gone down." Luca's jaw tightened. "I'm not sure we would have. Once Danny took readings of the toxicity down there, that corrosive wind... I'm not sure we would have risked it."
"But we had to enable the System, Luca," Zoe said, looking up from her reports. "We unlocked the next frontier. Tech Level 9, all those schematics."
"And for what?" The question burst out of him, months of frustration bleeding through. "Just to keep leveling? Adding more skills? More technology? We've discussed this a million times, but why? Why is the System shoving new tech down our throat?"
Chris shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Ryan's hands clenched around his fork.
"The fact is, Luca, we've done it." Ryan's eyes were wet, but his voice stayed resolute. "We unlocked the system, unlocked new technology, and leveled up. That's it. Danny's hurt, but we'll heal him. He will recover." His voice cracked slightly. "And all of humanity will benefit from this."
The words hung in the air. Emily pushed food around her plate, not eating. Zoe's fingers stilled on Pixel's fur. Chris stared at the table.
"Will they?" Luca asked quietly. "Or are we just feeding something we don't understand? Making ourselves stronger, faster, more capable of killing things? For what end?"
"You can't think like that," Emily said softly. "We can't change what we've done. We can only move forward."
"But what if moving forward means dragging humanity into something they're not ready for?" Luca's voice was barely above a whisper. "What if we've doomed them instead of saving them?"
Nobody had an answer for that. In the silence that followed, Pixel mewed softly, the only innocent sound in the room.
"So what's next?" Chris asked, poking at his synth-meat. "We're not exactly mission-complete yet."
Luca pulled up the survey data on his interface. "Asteroid belt mapping. Standard geological survey, mineral assessment, navigation hazard cataloging. Should be routine compared to what we just went through."
"Famous last words," Ryan muttered.
"Hey, I'm being optimistic for once. Don't ruin it."
Emily bumped his shoulder. "I like optimistic Luca. Very attractive."
Heat crept up his neck. "Yeah, well, don't get used to it."
The conversation drifted to mission specifics, equipment maintenance, crew rotation schedules. All the mundane details that kept a starship running. But underneath it all was the quiet satisfaction of a job well done.
They'd made it. Most of them. And in a few weeks, they'd be heading home with enough data to change humanity's understanding of the galaxy.
Pixel mewed softly, stretching in Zoe's lap before settling back into his nap. The sound was oddly comforting in the subdued atmosphere.
"At least someone's having a good day," Chris observed.
"He's earned it," Zoe said, finally looking up from her reports. "Kept me sane during the whole mess."
After dinner, the crew began to disperse. Chris headed for his bunk, still favoring his injured side. Ryan and Emily drifted toward the lounge, but Luca hung back when Joey appeared in the doorway.
"Luca," Joey said quietly. "I've been meaning to talk to you. Can you come with me?"
Here it comes, Luca thought, his stomach dropping. Joey's about to blame me for Danny and tear me a new one. The guilt had been eating at him since they'd pulled Danny's mangled body from the rubble. As captain, it was his responsibility to keep his crew safe. And he'd failed.
But Joey's expression wasn't angry. It was... worried?
"Sure," Luca said, following him toward the medical bay.
They settled into chairs beside Danny's healing pod, the steady beep of monitors filling the silence. Danny looked peaceful, almost serene, suspended in the bio-gel that was slowly knitting his bones back together.
"How's he doing?" Luca asked, hoping to delay whatever conversation was coming.
"He's holding," Joey replied. "Tomorrow we'll have to do surgery. I need to get the shrapnel out of his legs."
Luca's throat tightened. Fuck.
"Luca, I've been meaning to tell you something."
"What is it?" Luca asked, bracing himself for the lecture about mission safety protocols.
"It's about Emily."
"Emily?" Luca's brain short-circuited. "What? What about Emily?"
"The radiation dose she received. The reason she was so affected by the exposure around New Dawn."
"What about it?" Luca asked, completely derailed. This was definitely not what he'd expected.
Joey was quiet for a long moment, choosing his words carefully. "It's affected her more than I initially thought. Her reproductive organs were damaged."
"Oh." A knot formed in Luca's stomach. "Can't we fix those? With nanites or something?"
"We can," Joey replied. "But that's not the problem."
"Then what is it?"
"Her eggs."
"Her eggs?"
"Her eggs are all damaged, Luca. I took a closer look during decontamination and checked her cellular scans."
"Can't she, uh, produce more eggs?" Luca asked, grasping for hope he didn't understand.
"That's not how it works." Joey's voice was gentle but firm. "Women are born with the total number of eggs they'll ever have. And Emily's are all damaged."
The words hit Luca like a physical blow. "What does that mean?" he asked, even though he knew perfectly well what it meant.
"It means she'll never be able to conceive."
Shit. The room tilted around him, vertigo making his head spin. "Have you told her?"
"I haven't yet. I wanted you to know first, as captain."
"She needs to know this, Joey. She needs to know it now."
The healing pod beeped steadily beside them, Danny's unconscious form a reminder of how quickly everything could go wrong. How one mission, one decision, could change everything forever.
And now Emily... Luca closed his eyes, trying to process the magnitude of what Joey had just told him. The woman he loved, the future they might have had together, all of it altered by radiation exposure light-years from home.
"Yeah," Joey said quietly. "She does."