Admiral Halsey stepped onto the bridge, “Report.”

Hawk looked up from his command chair, “Sensors detected a massive thermal energy burst from the Yellowstone area. And judging by the loss of visuals from the area we can assume an eruption took place. There’s an ash cloud covering Wyoming and the surrounding states.”

“Have any transmissions left the area?”

“We haven’t received anything yet. Not surprising considering the ash covering the area.”

“Sir,” a lieutenant said, “We’re getting something.”

“Let’s hear it.”

Everyone on the bridge fell silent as the transmission came through.

“Mayday mayday! This is Captain Jackson of the UEG Millennium. We’re caught in the ash cloud. Excessive damage, we’re losing power-”

It cut to static.

“All units, fall back to the space port-”

“We’ve still got people in here!”

“We’re gonna hit the ground hard everyone, brace for impact!”

“My god, the sun is gone.”

“We’re not gonna make it are we?”

“Sir it appear that it’s multiple transmissions all layered together,” The lieutenant said spinning in his chair, “What are your orders, sir?”

Even Hawk turned to face the Admiral.

George sighed before putting on a stolid face void of emotion.

“Anything that has a pair of thrusters and can fly in that ash cloud, get it down there now. Tell all ships to prepare for incoming wounded. I want the home fleet to scatter to anywhere that’s not covered in ash and begin evacuations. Any frigate or destroyer that can fly safely in the atmosphere will do so and evacuate the planet. I want all departments ready in 5 minutes.”

“Yes Sir!” the crew shouted and got to work.

The admiral stood up and walked off the bridge to his ready room.

***

Blackness. The sun was gone. Everything outside was a horrible grey mess. Charcoal snow fell from the sky and blanketed the ground. The air outside any building was unbreathable. Fortunately for us we were somewhere relatively safe. The several hundred year old sports stadium in the city. We were holed up on the field with a bunch of other civilians or refugees now.

We all looked like hell to some degree. After making a hard sprint down the street with a bunch of other panicking people. We managed to stay together but we couldn’t make it out of the city in time. The shipyard was still several miles out and we couldn’t trek it in the ash. We made it inside the stadium just as the cloud over took us. Panic hadn’t quite settled in for us yet. Though for many others the situation looked grim and many had broken down. The run to the stadium was no walk in the park. Panicked people screaming and running for their lives as a black death chased them did not make it easy. At one point Spitfire had gotten separated from us and only after I panicked did I realize she was only a few feet away.

Now we were just sitting around our bags, covered in ash in the middle of a football field.

“Jesus Christ,” Dane sighed, “It really blew. It really exploded.”

“And now we’re buried under a meter of ash,” I said. It did not look good for us. Sure me and Dane could be fine if we just didn’t open our mouths or breathe when we walked outside but Gin and Spitfire were different stories. They needed air to breath.

“We can’t stay here,” Gin said, “We have to find some way out of here.”

“Where would we go?” Dane asked, “In case anyone hasn’t noticed, it’s the fucking apocalypse outside! And forget about rescue. You think they can fly in this crap?”

“Well what’re we gonna do then? This place only has so much food and water and when it runs out we all die.”

“Why wouldn’t they come for us?” Spitfire asked.

“We’re in the middle of the disaster area. I’d make a bet that they’re focusing on getting everyone who already isn’t buried to safety before the cloud reaches them,” I said.

“We need to leave here. If we all stay here we die,” Gin said.

We all drew a collective sigh. There were at least a thousand people in here. Well below the stadium’s capacity but considering what happened I’d say that the ones who were in here with us were as lucky as we were.

But then I remembered something.

“Tunnels!” I said.

“What?” Dane responded.

“Tunnels! We can use them to get out of here!”

“What the hell are you talking about? There aren’t any tunnels here.”

“Were you even paying attention in history class you stupid? Did you listen to anything the teacher said about WWIII?”

“I must have missed that one but enlighten me,” he said sarcastically.

“Okay, so basically it was during the occupation. This city was still being built for the most part when it was taken. The citizens were being held hostage while the front and safety was only a few miles outside the city. Fortunately for them they had some digging equipment lying around for subway construction so they used it and tunneled their way to the shipyard where they escaped in the middle of the night. There’s a whole series of tunnels running underneath this city.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t help us if an entrance is in some other part where we can’t get to,” Gin said.

“Well lucky for us I remember everything. There are several locations throughout the city and luckily for us, I think we’re sitting on one.”

“You think?” Spitfire asked, “What if we’re not?”

“Well I can check. Dane, you remember how to access the web from your net?” I asked.

“Wait we can do that?”

“Uh yeah? We’re fucking computers. I thought you of all people would have figured that out.”

“Why would I have figured that out?”

“Well I always figured you’d do it to watch porn in class or something but whatever…”

“Hey!”

“He does have a point Dane,” Gin laughed.

“Alright everyone shut up and let me concentrate,” I put my hands to my head.

I concentrated.

“Found it.”

“So where are we going?” Gin asked.

“The shipyard,” I said, “There are some old tunnels that connect to the service areas in this stadium. They’re old subway tunnels that branch off from the modern day ones. But these one’s lead to the ship yard and hopefully a way out of here.”

“Shouldn’t we warn the others?” Spitfire asked, “So maybe they have a chance along with us?”

“I guess,” I said, “Who wants to make an announcement?”

“Not me,” Dane said rubbing some ash from his head.

“Me neither,” I added, “Gin is the oldest one here so she should do it.”

“Alright,” she sighed standing up, “Hey everyone!”

Those who weren’t crying their eyes out, praying to whatever god they believed in, or repenting their sins, turned to us.

“We found a way out of here! We can get you all to the shipyard if you all just come with us!”

Chase stood up, his varsity jacket covered in ash, “And what then?! Huh? What is your robot friend gonna save us or something?!”

“We’re gonna find a ship and get the hell outta here!” Dane yelled, “And in case you don’t remember, Chase, Jett is the best pilot at our school so maybe he will!”

“Well what if nothing can fly?” Someone else said, “What then?”

I stood up, “We flew over the shipyard a few days ago, a lot of ships there are closed systems so we should be able to fly.”

“I vote we stay!” A woman said, “We have food here, shelter, and breathable air!”

“Aye!”

“Amen!”

“Well what happens when that runs out?!” Spitfire yelled, “What then? The food will run out if you don’t use up all your air first!”

“And what about the ceiling?” Dane asked, “What happens when your shelter can no longer support the weight of several tons of ash building up on top?”

“We’re still safer here than wherever you’re going!” Chase yelled, “If you guys want to kill yourselves then that’s fine with us! Just leave us out of it!”

“Yeah!”

Gin hefted her bag, “Well we tried. We can’t make them leave if they don’t want to.”

“I guess,” Spitfire sighed, “Which way are we going Jett?” She shouldered her bag.

“This way,” I said, “Follow me.”

We stood up and ran off the field.

***

Hawk walked into the Admiral’s ready room and saluted. Halsey wasn’t looking good. He had his head buried in his hands as he stared at his desk.

“Sir?” Hawk asked worried.

The Admiral looked up. His eyes were red, probably from crying.

“Sir, are you alright?”

He tapped his desk and an image popped up. It was four people sitting on a log, laughing, smiling, having a good time. One person had orange, flame like hair. Another had white slicked back hair. An older looking girl had sandy brown hair. The last had black.

“Dane sent me this two days ago,” he said, “They were supposed to be camping out in the park earlier today.”

Hawk caught on, “Sir I’m sure he’s alright. He’s smarter and more resourceful than all of us combined.”

“What if he’s not?!” The Admiral stood up with such force that Hawk reeled back, “He’s in the middle of that and I can’t do a DAMN THING!”

He sighed and fell back into his chair.

“Sir, it was you who designed him, you who gave him all the skills and abilities he has. He can adapt better than any of us. He has his friends with him. And if I recall correctly he has girl who loves him at his side. He has all the motivation and ability to survive. He’ll be fine.”

“I can’t help but worry about him! Scientists have been warning about this for hundreds of years now. And we just did nothing to prepare!”

“And even without that you’ve still done so much.”

“How many did we save so far?”

“So far? With every ship in the system evacuating the planet we’ve gotten all the major cities evacuated and we’re now getting the small towns out. Even the centers inside the cloud are getting evacuated. We’ve gotten nearly 100 million off the planet and onto ships that are self-sustaining. Food and shelter won’t be a problem for them. Even in this situation that’s still a lot of people. Better than what the AJAX predicted.”

“100 million? Out of six billion?!”

“Sir if you didn’t order that evacuation none of them would have gotten out!”

George sighed, “What’s the status of the fleet?”

“All ships are functioning perfectly. Everything is going fine. We have the frigates and destroyers getting all the major population centers with the smaller transports getting the smaller towns. Everything is going fine.”

“Okay. What’s the status of the cloud?”

“It’s reached western edge has reached California and it’s still moving.”

“Okay, what about th-”

Suddenly the lights dimmed and a red light flashed across the room. An electronic voice echoed through the ship.

“All hands, report to battle stations. Set condition 1 throughout the ship. This is not a drill. All departments are to be ready in five minutes. All hands report to battle stations…”

The door burst open and a lieutenant commander rushed in, “SIR! We have a situation!”

“Commander what the hell is going on?!” Hawk yelled, “Why is my ship on alert without my authorization?!”

“Sir you need to see this!”

George sighed and stood up and followed Hawk onto the bridge. Everything was in the hustle and bustle of a ship on alert. The bridge lights were dimmed and a red glow permeated the command sphere.

“Long range sensors detected this five minutes ago,” the Lieutenant commander said. He sounded worried.

Hawk and Halsey sat down in their command chairs just as an image flew up on holotank. Just beyond the moon, towards the sun the view focused. It showed a view of Venus and a series of flashes.

The view focused even more. A fleet of ships was accelerating away from the planet at nearly five G’s. The fleet was huge. Frigates, Destroyers, Cruises, Battleships, Carriers, Dreadnoughts, and a number of support vessels. Everything down to the smallest cargo ship was armed to the teeth. Heavy gun batteries, Ship to ship missile pods, Heavy rail guns, gauss cannons, and point defense cannons. An entire battle group. All headed to Earth.

George stared at the image. There were hundreds of ships. More than what Earth and Mars had. If the Mars fleet along with all the outer belt ships could FTL to Earth they might have a chance. But not with this amount of ships. Not against these odds.

“What’s the status of the evacuation?”

“We’re still getting the small population centers evacuated. Even with Civilian ships we’re not going to be done for a few days!”

“We don’t have a few days! Get me the fleet!”

The communications officer tapped a few icons on her console, “You’re on Admiral.”

“This is Admiral Halsey. I am declaring an international security emergency, Authorization code Victor, Victor, 7, 4, 6, 4, PI, Alpha, 3, 5, Beta, Charlie. All fleets, I am declaring Operation Dominion to be in effect. All fleets will operate under Dominion protocols until further notice. I want a report from all fleets in ten minutes. Halsey out.”

George continued to stare death onto the live shot of the fleet.

“They used Atomics to accelerate. They’ll have to slow down at some point so that gives us some advantage,” Hawk said.

“Of all the times, they pick now. Smart of them. We’re already on our knees and they didn’t have to do a thing. COMS!”

“Yes sir?”

“Get me the civilian fleet. Put it on a secure channel in my ready room.”

“Yes sir.”

George stood up and walked off the bridge. He entered his office and sat down at his desk.

“The fleet’s responded sir they’re standing by.”

“Thank you Lieutenant.” He tapped a button on the desk.

“All ships, this is Fleet Admiral Halsey. If you wish to survive the next few hours you are to do exactly what I say.”

***

One hour Later. Starbase 597. Saturn.

“Admiral, Sir.”

“Hello Archer. It’s been a while. I have a mission for you and you are to follow it to the letter.”

Tye shifted in his seat, “I’m listening.”

“In several days you will be receiving a fleet of ships containing approximately 50 million people. All that is left of Earth’s population.”

“Sir?”

“You are to populate Rama I and II with them. Split them up proportionally between the two. You are to then take you fleet of ships and get the hell out of this system and do not look back. Do you have any questions?”

“Sir? What is happening? Is this some kind of joke?”

“I wish it was. Suffice it to say if you don't, you and your population will be taken. And most likely not alive. Venus has mobilized everything it’s got and it is a lot. We’ll hold them off for as long as we can. Halsey out.”

Tye sat at his desk looking at the screen. A series of characters when on the screen. Slowly he deciphered them.

OPERATION DOMINION IS IN EFFECT. GRAB YOUR GUN AND GET OUT OF THE BARN.

Code. The worst case scenario. Tye stood up from his desk and calmly walked out of his office, down the winding hallways of the station and into the hanger. He climbed into an awaiting shuttle and flew out of the hanger towards the awaiting ark.

***

Hawkinsville. Space X Tower.

Just outside the window and safety of the tower was a street. Across the street was a parking lot. Inside the center of the parking lot was a stadium. Atop the stadium were several meters of ash. It would not hold for long.

Tyler watched the world end around him. He’d been holed up in the tower just like everyone else in his building. They stayed inside, safe from the ash.

Suddenly the stadium roof began to buckle. An ungodly moan came from structure as the centuries old beams began to bend.

Then suddenly the roof bent beyond the point of no return and collapsed onto the field. A faint group of screams echoed from the stadium as the large metal panels fell to the ground. The noise was to faint to be heard.

“Damn. Hope no one was in there.”

***

Several Hours Later.

“These tunnels fucking smells,” Dane said. We were walking through the old subway tunnels that led to the shipyard and continued past. But considering the tunnels hadn’t been used in 100 years it was natural I guess. Still smelled like a freaking herd of giant rats were living in here.

Still, it beat staying up in the stadium and possibly dying up there. I shinned the flashlight ahead of us. This tunnel just happened to be flooded. The ancient tracks lay beneath a foot of water. Some of the metal was rusted, probably from repeated flooding of the tunnel. We were walking along the concrete edges of the track.

“Dane it’s a fucking subway that hasn’t been used in a century. Would you rather breathe the toxic air upstairs?” I asked.

“Almost at this rate. How the hell are you even dealing with it?”

“I’m not breathing.”

“Oh.”

“At least you two can stop breathing,” Spitfire said, “We have to suffer through this stench. Smells like the fucking locker room after practice.”

“Well if you don’t suffer through it you die from suffocation up there. I know it doesn’t smell great down here but just hold on. We’re almost at the shipyard.”

We continued walking. The tunnel emerged into an open area of concrete and metal. Various large concrete pillars held up ships of all kinds. In between the berths were large buildings. Each one was connected via monorail system that ran from building to building and even into some of the ships. There were various small transport craft below the larger vessels on landing pads but none of them were functional in this type of atmosphere.

“So what ship are we taking?” Gin asked.

“No fucking clue,” Dane said looking from ship to ship, “Jett? You’re the pilot here.”

“Most of these are civilian ships. So I have no clue. I’ve never done Civilian before.”

“What about military? Isn’t that destroyer still somewhere in here? If its crew hasn’t taken off with it already.” Spitfire asked.

“I guess I could. I mean piloting a plane and a starship are two different things but I guess I can do my best.”

“Alright, let’s go then.”

“Here,” I said crouching down, “Spitfire, take you helmet out of your bag and hook up the oxygen to it and put it on. Gin you can take mine.”

I opened up my duffel and handed her the helmet and oxygen tank.

“Now you two can breathe.”

Spitfire pulled her helmet on and sealed it, “Alright. Let’s get out of this apocalypse now place.”

We got walking.

***

“Get me a firing solution on those cruisers now!” The XO shouted, running across the bridge, dodging damaged power conduits and debris.

Hawk shouted at a screen in his hand, “Lieutenant! Switch to salvo rounds and fire on those ships!”

George turned to the holotank, “Admiral Clark! Move your fleet to sector 957. Rendezvous with Commodore Jackson’s battle group!”

“Sir we have incoming fighters!”

The XO turned, “Get defensive batteries firing in defense pattern delta 1!”

The fight was not going well. The Venusian fleet outnumbered them 5 to 1. And that included the Admiral’s battle group plus the home fleet.

“Sir! We have an IPA cruiser bearing 156 degree 65! They’re on a collision course!”

Hawk turned, “Fire at that ship!”

The Eternity’s gun batteries all focused their fire on the incoming vessel. The ship itself turned to face the threat as the battle raged around them.

“It’s not enough,” Halsey said. He looked at the piece of paper in his pocket. On it were the names off all the Fleet Admirals before him. One stuck out. Fleet Admiral Bull Halsey. Ironic. One more Fleet Admiral Halsey could be added to the list after this.

He looked up, “Fire everything!”

The weapon’s coordinator looked up, “Sir?”

“Gun batteries, missiles, secondary batteries, the fuckin kitchen sink! If it can kill someone it better be out the fuckin airlock and flying at that ship!”

“Yes sir!”

The computer spoke up, “Impact Warning. Target location, 20 degrees port, 60 degrees North. Time to Impact: 1 minute 34 seconds.”

The Eternity had turned to face the incoming ship.

“Impact Warning. 12 O’clock, Elevation 0 degrees. Impact in 1 minute 20 seconds.”

“Sir, the Rail gun has a firing solution on that cruiser.”

“Fire.”

***

Devastation. This was all that there was here. We had climbed down to the docks. The place was a mess. Ash covered everything. There were some fires burning from blown power conduits or a ship that never quite made it off the ground.

We walked in silence towards the ship and hopefully our way out of here. Occasionally I saw a lump on the ground but I kept it to myself. Dead bodies were one thing Spitfire did not need to see or hear about. Unless she already saw it…

I wondered how far the ash cloud had spread. How many people had gotten off planet? Inside I was silently panicking. The others, I don’t think they fully realized what was happening. Spitfire definitely not. This cloud would block off sunlight to the earth for years. There was no way we could tell what time of day it was. Not in this darkness.

Spitfire herself remained calm. Gin said nothing. She probably was in shock. I couldn’t really blame her. Born and raised in space she never had to worry about the ground exploding out from underneath her. She dealt with different problems on a daily basis. Having enough air when her parents lived on the mining colonies in the belt, ect. Here it was whether the building you were in would collapse.

I had to admit that I was terribly worried about Spitfire; more than the rest of us anyway. We’d all grown up in hostile environments for the most part. We’d grown up in this cyberpunk world. Spitfire, from what I understand, fell out of a steampunk/21st century earth type place. Nothing like this ever happened there. But then again she did have dragons and other things to deal with, but nothing on the magnitude of a planet killer.

We finally reached out destination. A rectangular building sat to the right of us. Just beyond that were two large concrete blocks that rose into sky supporting a large iron grey ship. Either it was the ash that covered it or a new coat of paint. There were magnetic tracks that ran around it. Probably some kind of scaffolding thing. One of the tracks ran cargo in and out of the ship.

The ship itself was a long shape. Three engine pods rose from the stern in a triangular pattern. The rest of the ship extended forward. The bow split into two sections, one on top and one below. Two rail guns ran along them. The middle was taken up with the majority of the ship’s weapons and hangers. The entire thing rested on the dry dock.

We ran towards the building. We ripped the door opened and climbed inside, sealing the door behind us.

“Jesus Christ,” Dane coughed.

Spitfire pulled her skydiving helmet off and started coughing. She collapsed to the floor and started retching.

“There were… there were… I… I sa-” she started, tears coming from her eyes.

I ran up to her, “Spitfire look at me.” Her pupils were dilated.

She held her head in her hands and shook her head. Dane was helping Gin pull my helmet off of her and started giving her oxygen.

She removed her hands, “I…I… there were people! They were- they-”

I cupped her head in my hands, “Spitfire look at me!”

She stopped and stared up at me.

“There was nothing we could do. They were already gone.”

“They-they were dead-”

“Captain!”

She stopped, coming out of her shell shocked state. Her eyes shrunk back to normal size.

“Calm down. There was nothing we could do. Right now we have to focus on surviving.”

“What if- what if we end up like them?”

“We won’t. I promise you I will do everything I can to keep you safe. You will be fine.”

She wiped her eyes, “I… I… alright.”

She placed her helmet back in her bag before standing up. I took a chance to get a look at our surroundings. We were in a lobby type room. I ran up to a computer and looked at the screens. So far the building we were in was large cargo facility. Various crates full of everything from guns to food were on the large warehouses on each floor. There were docking monorails that ferried the stuff between the two. On one of those wagons was our way onto the ship. There were other things too…

I got out from behind the desk and walked up over to Dane. Spitfire caught me halfway there.

“Don’t worry,” I said, “We’re alright. I just have to ask Dane something. I’ll only be a few feet away.”

She nodded and squeezed my hand before letting me go. Gin walked up to her and kept her company.

I ran up to Dane, “We have a problem.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“We have a way onto the ship but there are red lines running through this whole building.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning we’re in a building built over 100 years ago with substandard building techniques that is loaded with cargo and has several tons of extra weight atop the roof. Half of the supports are cracked and part of the roof has already collapsed.”

“Oh.”

“There’s only one working monorail onto the ship and it’s on the top floor. The destroyer itself is in good condition but this building can go at any time.”

“Are any of the engines damaged? Can we fly her out of here?”

“Yes everything is fine. Turns out the heat shield was just upgraded so all the vents were sealed. Everything is closed we just have to disengage all docking connections and launch this bird. The problem is getting there.”

“Are you sure you can fly her out of here?”

“In all honesty I have no fucking clue. In these conditions anything is possible but I’d say I can do my best.”

“Alright. If you need any help just holler.”

We walked back over to Gin and Spits.

“Alright, we’re good,” I said, “The ship is fine and we have a way to get onboard.”

“Alright Jett,” Gin said, “Lead the way.”

I walked up to Spitfire, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah I’m fine,” she said.

“Okay, stay close to me and… don’t touch anything. Just keep your eyes on my head and do not look at anything else.”

“Okay.”

She grabbed my hand. I let her. She needed comfort.

“Okay, let’s go.”

We walked out of the lobby towards the stair wells.

***

The red light flashed through the bridge. Hawk looked at the holotank in the center of the room. All was silent on the bridge.

“Is the civilian fleet away?”

“Yes sir,” a lieutenant said, “Antimatter accelerations were detected in orbit around Luna ten minutes ago. The fleet is shooting towards Saturn as we speak.”

“Good.”

Halsey came out from around the holotank, “Are the mines in place?”

“Yes Admiral,” Hawk said, “All stations, docks, databases and anything that can’t follow us to Mars has a bomb on it. Waiting on your word.”

“Alright.”

Hawk walked up to him, “Are you sure about this George? You’d be destroying your life’s work. Everything you’ve done.”

“Yes I’m sure. And as long as the subjects survive, everything will be fine. They cannot have that data.”

“Alright.”

“Send to all AI monitoring facilities. Pack up your house; the storm is coming. ”

“Aye aye sir.”

“In 5 minutes detonate everything. We leave Earth in 10.”

“Yes sir.”

“Begin countdown.”

***

Tim! Pack it up! Command wants us out of here in three minutes!

Yeah! Just give me a second here Jack! I’m just grabbing everything I can.

You have all the hard copies?!

All in my bag. EMPs on everything else!

Alright. One last order from command. Deactivate the signal and give full control to the subjects.

Full control? Jack are you sure? This will give them everything.

Tim, Earth is going to hell. There are only two subjects unaccounted for. And if they’re discovered by the IPA we’ll lose everything. They’ll have all the skills they’ll need to survive. Do it!

Alright, just one more thing and… Deactivated.

Alright. Shuttle’s waiting in the hanger. Let’s get the hell out of here.

Yes sir. What ship are we heading to?

The UEG Midnight Eternity…

***

Jett opened the door to the Stair well. He stepped into the top floor of the warehouse. Suddenly he fell to the floor and clutched his head. Behind him Dane did the same.

“What’s wrong? What’s happening?” Spitfire asked.

“Dane? You alright?” Gin asked.

Suddenly Jett shot up, “Yeah. We’re fine. I… I think they shut off the signal.”

“Is that why I feel like a god?”

“Dane you’ll have time to test out everything later. Now we have to get off this planet.”

“Aw sick! So this is what you were talking about when you said we could access the internet from our heads.”

“Dane I’m gonna need your help to fly this ship out of here so if you can download a flight simulator that’d be great.”

“Sorry, military database doesn’t have that.”

Gin frowned, “Are you fucking serious? Are you really on the internet right now?”

“Can you speak a bit faster?” Dane asked.

“Dane she’s human not an android. She’s not performing trillions of calculations per second.”

“Oh, sorry. Just getting used to everything is all? How long have we been standing here?”

“Less than a minute.”

“Hmm, seemed like longer.”

They walked into the room. This floor was empty. Everything looked to be cleared out and already loaded onto the ship. We walked across the dark empty floor. On the far side of the room was the collapsed part of the roof. A creaking could be heard.

“Guy’s be careful. The roof here isn’t stable so just be cautious.”

“Got ya big daddy,” Dane said.

Spitfire gripped his hand again as they walked. The neared some tracks where the cargo train ran. An open door was at the far end of the hanger, slightly collapsed.

We neared the train. There was one last large cargo container on it. Rations. The train itself had a small driver’s car in the front. Only enough room for two people. The train rested on a support structure just outside the building.

“Looks like they weren’t quite done when the cloud hit,” Dane said.

“Actually this facility is automated for the most part so there was probably no one here at the time,” Jett said.

“Then why the driver car?” Spitfire asked.

“Manuel control. In case of emergencies.”

“So who’s first?” Gin asked.

“I got the codes for operating this things in the lobby so I’ll enter them in and you and Dane go. Spitfire and I will go on the second one.”

“Alright,” Dane said. I walked up the car and opened the door. A blank console screen was there along with one seat.

“Alright, let’s just see here. ACTIVATE. CODE ALPHA ONE TWO, PIE DELTA FIVE.”

The car powered on, “Welcome.”

Dane and Gin climbed in.

“PREPARE FOR DEPARTURE. CODE FIVE DELTA SIX. SPEED FACTOR 3.”

“Affirmative. Please enter final command.”

Dane closed the door and opened the window, “Alright. So we’ll see you on the other si-”

There was a shaking followed by a creaking noise in the building. We all stopped moving and fell silent. The creaking continued. Then the shaking stopped and noise fell silent.

“Guys this building is unstable,” Jett said, “The sooner we get off of here the better.”

“Alright,” Dane said, “What’s the final code for getting this th-”

A loud bang echoed through the building followed by a sickening snapping of metal. Jett looked up just as the metal roof fell to the floor.

Everything slowed down. Spitfire looked shocked and startled as the sound had just reached her ears. The same went with Dane and Gin. He looked up. Dane and Gin were out of the way but if the roof hit the edge of the track, the car would be smashed to the ground and they would die. If the roof fell Spitfire would die.

“NO!” He yelled and bolted for Spitfire, knocking her to the floor just as the weight of the roof collapsed onto his back. He had a strained look on his face as he held up the weight of several tons of metal and ash. The building groaned under the force.

Spitfire looked up as Jett turned to face Dane and Gin.

“Go!” he shouted.

Dane looked panicked and struggled to open the door but Gin held him back.

“No! Jett!”

“GO! I’ll be fine!”

“We’re not gonna leave you here!” Gin shouted.

“If you don’t get out of here…” he strained and fell to his knees.

“I’m not leaving my brother here!” he cried out.

“Go goddamn it! I can’t hold this forever!”

“No, I’m not gonna leave you!”

“You won’t!” he shouted, “CODE APLHA TWO SEVEN. DELTA PI SIX.”

“Activated,” the computer said, “Good bye.” The train began to move.

“No! You son of a bitch!” Dane shouted.

“We’re coming back for you two!” Gin shouted as the car accelerated towards the destroyer.

Spitfire stood up and crawled over to Jett. He turned to face her.

“Spitfire,” he cried, “You need to go.”

“No,” she said firmly shaking her head, “No I’m not gonna leave you.”

“You need to leave here Spitfire!” He yelled, “It’s time for you to return home!”

“No! I’m not letting you die here!” she started to panic.

“Spitfire if you stay here and die with me I will never forgive myself!”

“I’m not letting you go!” she cried, “You’ve done so much for me! I… I… I can’t!”

He fell down on his other knee. His eyes started to flicker on and off. She could begin to hear the servos in his body strain to hold the roof up. Then… a faint shimmer began to appear on his eyes. A tear slid down his face.

“Spitty please…” he pleaded, “Don’t make me beg.”

“I can’t leave you here to die!” she cried.

“Spitfire, you’ve given me more than anyone I’ve ever known. You’ve showed me a kindness that I never knew existed. You brought me closer with my humanity than I ever thought possible. You breathed a fire into me I never knew I was missing. Now please. Let me just give this one last gift to you.”

Spitfire was panicking. Gin and Dane were on the destroyer. Safe and sound. But Jett was literally preparing to sacrifice himself to save her. A whirring followed by the groaning of metal was heard next to her.

“I… I can’t hold this up forever Spitty. Please… just go. Go home, fall in love, have kids and live your life. Just let me die knowing I didn’t die a heartless machine.”

No. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. She couldn’t leave him here. She refused to allow herself to even think that thought. He had showed her something she hadn’t known she was missing. Love. Falling in love was something she never considered. She was always a ‘go with the flow’, ‘take life on’, ‘one night stand’ kind of girl. Guys were always toys to her to some degree. Something permanent like this was beyond her thinking. And yet… she couldn’t imagine what life would be like without the black haired android sharing it with her. She couldn’t imagine how lost she would be if she left her one true love to die in an already dying world. She couldn’t. While he said she’d given him so much in truth, he had given more.

But if she stayed she would definitely die. She would never get home. Never see her family or friends again. Never fly with the Wonderbolts again. Never kick Soarin’s butt at wingball. Never tell jokes with Fleetfoot. Never gossip with Misty. Never race with Rapidfire. She would never do anything again.

But if she left now she would lose what she treasured most in life. Was she really going to let him die here? After all he’d done? After what she felt for him?

Put that way… NO.

“Please go,” Jett cried. He pushed up at the roof. Beneath him the concrete floor began to crack under the weight.

Spitfire looked at him and caressed his face before closing her eyes and concentrating. She focused all her energy on one image. She let it burn into her memory. Once she built up what she needed she opened her eyes and prepared to jump to her destination. The Cloudsdale Aerodome.

She got into a crouching position and grasped the android in a bear hug.

“Not without you.”

And then they were engulfed in a blue burst of energy that expanded outward at the speed of light.

***

“That fucker!” Dane yelled from the destroyer’s cargo bay.

He ran to the edge of the door and let an agonizing wail into the sky. Gin put a hand onto his shoulder.

“Dane we have to get out of here.”

“We can’t just leave him!” he cried, “He’s my brother!”

“How do you suggest we get back there?! That code he yelled self-destructed the cart when it got here! And the track is already bending under the weight! He wanted you to live Dane! So if we don’t get this thing airborne we die with him.”

“What about Spitfire?!” He yelled, “What about her? We can’t leave her there!”

“THE GIRL LOVED HIM! THERE WAS NO WAY IN HELL SHE WOULD HAVE LEFT HIS SIDE! DON’T YOU GET THAT?! ”

He looked up at her, tears streaming down his face, “Why? Why did he have to die like that?”

“Because he loved you asshole. And he wanted you to get off this world in one piece. And at least he died with someone who loves him just as much beside him. Now we need to get out of here.”

He stared in silence out at the warehouse.

“Alright,” He stood up and wiped his eyes. He turned to face the remains of the warehouse and gave one last look just as a blue flash lite up the area.

“What the-” was all he managed to say just as the wave of energy over took him.

***

Earth. High Orbit. Lunar Transit.

The remnants of the home fleet and Halsey’s battle group activated their atomic accelerations. They fleet of 243 warships flew towards the moon at breakneck speed. Just as they flew past the moon, multiple points of light could be seen in orbit around Earth and on its surface. Facility after facility exploded as self-destruct protocols ripped through their databases. The Venusian ships caught in close proximity were destroyed. But it didn’t matter. Their numbers were far too large for any serious damage to be done.

The Fleet had a new objective now. Rendezvous with the Martian fleet and evacuate the planet before heading to Saturn. The president would be evacuated and moved to Rama II. Already teams were finding ways to make each ship self-sustaining for an indefinite amount of time whether it be outfitting solar cells along the hull or developing simulations to use Rama I as a garden for the fleet. The new plan was simple, survive at all costs.

On Saturn the first wave of the Civilian ships from Mars was arriving at Rama II and being evacuated inside. Rama I was being fast converted into a breadbasket while Jupiter was shooting their habitats towards Saturn to link up with the fleet. The outer fleet that only consisted of 100 ships would meet them halfway to Alpha Centauri. The belt was in total support of Venus but they had no means of posing a threat so they were left alone.

Halsey turned to look at the last view of Earth on his screen. It was fading into the background with various flashes lighting up the orbits around it.

But then… briefly, just briefly, he thought he saw a faint flash of blue among those bright yellow bursts.

He sighed, “Good bye.”