Chapter Text
Lup took a moment to double check that Angus had his safety straps on properly before taking her own seat and strapping in. The emergency klaxons were sounding all around them and her pulse was hammering in her ears. Barry was helping Magnus and Julia Burnsides with their daughter as the emergency craft rocked.
"Mom?"
Lup looked over at Angus where he sat with both hands clutching the straps for dear life.
"We're okay, baby. Promise. It's probably just a drill."
Taako had taken his own seat and was running a check on the small console in front of him. It was mostly just a display but it was enough that he could run systems lookups on it if he wanted to.
"I sure hope so, my dude..."
Taako's voice trailed off and Lup shot him a glare.
"Taako," she hissed.
He flashed her a half-apologetic smile and waved one gloved hand at Angus.
"Yeah, everything's totally copacetic, little dude. No worries. Absolutely chill."
"I don't believe you, Uncle Taako."
Angus squeezed his eyes shut behind his glasses as the klaxon continued to sound and Barry dropped into the seat next to him.
"One of their straps was uh... was jammed. I had to show them the override." He pulled his own safety harness on and reached for the helmet that sat on the table in front of him. "Ango, helmet on, buddy. Okay?"
Angus nodded, eyes still squeezed shut. Then he reached blindly for the helmet and knocked it away. Julia caught it and bounced it back over to Barry.
"Thanks."
He said it quietly, handing the helmet back to Angus.
The little boy jammed his helmet on and looked around the circular table at the other faces there. There were his parents, of course. And Uncle Taako. And the Burnsides family, Mr. Magnus, Mrs. Julia, and June. There was also a quiet young woman named Ms. Lucretia who seemed to be panicking and Mr. Merle Highchurch who was sitting next to her and trying to keep her calm with some story he was laughing at. There was also Mr... No, Captain Davenport. He was their pilot, seated where he could get up and run to the flight console if the autopilot for the ship didn't engage. There was a bang then and airlock opened once more, a harried-looking man stumbling in. He was wearing the same kind of space suit that the other colonists had on and he had his helmet in his hands. The thing that stuck out to Angus first was his name on the front of his suit. Angus knew what his said. He'd spent hours running his fingers along the letters there when he'd first been issued the pressurized suit. A. Bluejeans. This man? J. Hunger. That was an odd surname. Hunger. Angus turned towards his dad then, adjusting the helmet again.
"Dad?"
"Yeah, buddy?"
Angus cleared his throat, fighting past the fear choking him.
"What if it's not just a drill? What happens then?"
His dad reached as far as the straps would let him, putting a hand on Angus’ arm.
“Then the Jupiters do what they’re designed to do and we uh... and we land on a nearby planet. And then the Resolute is going to lock in our radio transmissions and they’ll come pick us up.”
Angus nodded slowly. Everything was going to be okay. They were going to be okay and they would be together. The new man, Mr. Hunger, had taken his seat at the table now and was strapping himself in.
“They told me to join this shuttle. There was some kind of emergency and I couldn’t get to mine quickly.”
Magnus smiled.
“Hey, that’s alright. We had the space. Welcome aboard Jupiter Seven. I’m Magnus.”
The man nodded and pulled his helmet on before looking around the table.
“My name is John.”
Davenport dashed to the helm as the voice of the artificial intelligence unit for the ship began to complain that the autopilot was not engaging.
“I know, Noelle! Dammit, I know! ”
He grabbed the stick and opened the throttle. The nose was too low and it was taking everything he had to pull her right. Couldn’t pull too hard though, go nose up and you were risking gimbal lock. That would put them into a free fall and he wasn’t feeling like restarting engines in mid-flight. Not with children on board, anyway.
“Entry pattern too steep.”
Davenport flipped the toggle for the reverse thrusters and pulled back on the stick.
“You think I don’t know that, Noelle? Give me more juice on the reverse thrusters and then focus your clock cycles on finding me somewhere to land this bird.”
“Entry pattern too steep.”
Merle appeared at Davenport’s side suddenly, one hand on his shoulder.
“Which one’s the reverse thruster?”
Davenport pointed at one of the thruster levers.
“Pull it back towards you, Merle. I’ll tell you when to stop. Everyone else, stay strapped in. I can’t guarantee what kind of landing we’re gonna get.”
The computer had found a landing zone but he wasn’t honestly sure they were going to make it there with how the Jupiter was handling. So much for the superiority of Miller Labs technology. The thrusters suddenly cut out and Davenport pulled up on the stick for all he was worth. Okay, time to three down and lock. He was going to have to deadstick this landing.
“Okay, girl, we can do this.”
He fought the controls the whole way, the Jupiter bouncing once as it slammed into the ground.
“Merle! Gun the reverse! As hard as you possibly can!”
Merle pulled back the lever and Davenport pushed the stick forward. The Jupiter spun for a moment and tipped up on its nose before coming to a stop. Looking out the front window, Davenport and Merle could see the cliff they’d almost careened off of. With a pat of reassurance on Davenport’s shoulder, Merle turned.
“I’m gonna go make sure everyone’s alright.”
Davenport nodded. He didn’t expect anything less. He checked the control panel, taking deep breaths. They were alive and they’d made it. Now he needed to run diagnostics.