Something Real – Koobra ft Joanna
Song requested by Neelangi Mishra
I still couldn’t believe it.
It had been weeks, and yet I was still in awe of how far I had come. After all the years of studying, of physical and mental work that had me turning caffeine into its own food group, and pushing through in what was still deemed as a ‘man’s job’ even though women had come along very far in the last few centuries. I was finally in my first special mission, and damn proud of it.
Commander Kelly “The Ice Queen” Reynolds, part time hard ass and full time b*tch, was apparently my pseudo, according to the male astronauts when they thought I couldn’t hear them. I didn’t care. I never cared for the girly gossip that seemed to follow me around. I worked hard for what I wanted and I earned every bit of it. I had been to outer space a few times before but what made this mission special was because we were travelling out to investigate an unstable star.
Space travel had come a long way since the 21st century. Back then it would have taken over thirty years to reach the end of the solar system, now we were able to travel to other galaxies in a matter of weeks rather than years. Our mission was to travel to the Morinii Star, a star that was quickly turning unstable.
“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six...”
“You ready boys!” I called out, adrenaline pumping wildly through my body. This was one of my favourite parts of any mission –the take off.
“Hell yeah!” The chorus of deep shouts called back and I grinned, sitting firmly in my seat after making sure everything was all good and ready.
“Three... two... one...”
“Blast off” I whispered at the same time.
Fire shot out beneath us and we blasted off. I was forced back against my seat and instead of being buckled to it, it felt as though I was squashed back into the chair. Behind us, I could imagine the ground growing farther away while the people shrunk into the size of fleas. We were taking off for the clouds and rushing straight through them towards the stars. Nothing could stop us!
This was what I loved. Leaving behind everything to reach for higher and bigger things where no one, or few, had ever been to. We flew higher and higher and before we knew it, we were out of this world – literally. One moment I felt as though I had a family of elephants sitting on me, the next I was weightless.
Hello space.
We spent the next few hours doing a routine circuit around Earth before we were shooting at hyper speed through the empty space. Flying through space was strange and beautiful. Everything was pitch black, yet the blanket of emptiness was randomly filled with bright, swirling balls of gas that were more beautiful than anyone could imagine. However, flying at hyper speed made them look less like balls of gas and instead they streaked the windows like long splashes of paint.
“How much longer until we reach the Dazaryl Nebula?” I asked out loud after flying for a week at hyper speed.
Brandon pressed a few buttons and read the screen before replying. “Five more hours and then we will be at the edge. We’ll need to refuel there and then not too long until we reach the Morinii Star”
“Good. Looks like smooth sailing from here”
I checked up on the other men of my crew and nodded with a smile when everything was on point and we were even ahead of schedule. “So how about a drink, Commander?” I smiled and turned to see Brandon standing up and leaning against the wall with a smirk of his own. “Even Ice Queens need to thaw out a little”
“Charming” I drawled. “I didn’t make Commander by slacking, Brandon. Why don’t you just head on down to the mess hall by yourself”
His heavy footsteps sounded behind me and I felt him tuck a strand of one of my wild curls behind my ear, which I slapped away. “You would let me grab a drink all by myself? Come on Kelly... relax a little. There are only another few hours before we stop over at the Dazaryl Nebula Station and we’re way ahead of schedule. The crew can manage for an hour or two”
I gritted my teeth. Brandon and I went way back. He had always gotten under my skin and at one point I let him, and we were a ‘thing’ for the briefest time before I broke it off. He’d never stopped flirting and never ceased to amaze me how irritating he could be when he was determined. It’s Commander, Brandon. I kicked your ass back then and I’m more then capable of kicking it now” I paused and bit my lip. My feet were awfully tired... “But I’ll give you one hour. One. But after that I need to be back, I’d hate to fall behind schedule”
“I knew my charm was too potent for you to refuse” Brandon winked, which I returned with a roll of my eyes.
It turned out that a drink and a little down time was exactly what I needed. I took a swig of my drink and put my feet up, my boots banging loudly on the table. I felt my body relax and I closed my eyes, feeling the sting along the edges of my eyelids from lack of sleep. “I can’t wait until I sleep in a proper bed again” I murmured.
“I hear you” Brandon agreed. “But from what I hear, you rarely have time to sleep in your own bed”
I scowled at him. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You work too hard, Kelly-“
“Commander!”
“Kelly” He pushed. “You can’t pull that Ice Queen b*tch crap over me. I’ve seen who the real you is; and you work too hard. I heard that you flew in straight from working with Russia to get to prepping for this mission. When was the last time you had time off?”
“Who the hell keeps talking about me to you?!” I exclaimed. “Look Brandon, drop it. I love my work and you are in absolutely no position to be lecturing me on anything. I got into my position by putting in the extra effort and walking that little extra bit. This is a man eat man industry, and as a woman I had to devour everyone- you know what I mean!”
I shouted the last part when Brandon’s concerned expression turned to a smirk. “Sure, sure sweetheart” At that pet name I whacked Brandon upside the back of his head. “Get back to work, you pain in the ass”
And it was as easy as that, he was under my skin again.
***
“You’ll want to be extra cautious flying over to the Morinii Star. There’s been talk that it’s going supernova” The attendant at the Dazaryl Nebula Station warned. “It’s been unstable for a while, but there are signs that it might take a turn for the worst”
Normally, people in the higher ups wouldn’t take advice from just anyone. I, on the other hand, did. The Dazaryl Nebula Station was a large space station that underwent a lot of traffic. Astronauts, both coming and going, from all directions stopped here and the people who stayed at the station heard plenty – especially the attendants who refuelled the spacecrafts. They were overloaded with interesting bits of information and in this case, it was very relevant and important.
“You don’t say? Has it been a big issue, or just the odd person mentioning the Morinii Star going supernova?” I asked curiously.
“Quite a few people actually. And considering the size of it,” The attendant clicked his tongue, “It’s bound be a type two supernova”
My eyes widened and I stored all this information in the back of my mind to mull over later. “Thanks for the warning, and the refuel” In the corner of my eye I spotted Brandon haggling prices with a store clerk and I called him over. “The ship’s been taken care of, go out and call anyone else who left the spacecraft to return. I’ll give them an hour, otherwise they get left behind”
“You’re cold as ice, Commander. I’ll round up the boys” Brandon nodded and walked off.
I quirked an eyebrow. No flirting, compliments, or teasing... it was odd to see Brandon this way, but I supposed our last chat put him in his place. Just as he was supposed to be. I headed back into the spacecraft and made sure everything was ready to leave once again.
One by one the men returned, including Brandon, and we were back on track to the Morinii Star, and supposed supernova. “Crew!” I called out, instantly gathering the attention from everyone. “I’ve heard news from the Dazaryl Nebula Station that the Morinii Star is a possible type two supernova. This could be the reason behind it being unstable, so we need to be extra cautious! Eyes peeled at all times for anything”
The Morinii Star was a good eighteen hours by hyper speed from the Dazaryl Nebula Station and I wanted to be alert for when we were close to it. “Jacobs, you take over. I’m going to grab a few hours rest before we come up close to the star” Jacobs, my second in command, nodded and took over while I instantly felt my body relax and seemed magnetized to the closest bed. I entered my bunk and, without taking off my boots, I collapsed on top of the sheets and fell into a deep sleep.
The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering around madly, like the feeling of falling through the air and I tried to ignore the feeling while switching sides to try to sleep a little bit longer. A loud crash and the sound of something very, very large scraping across metal woke me up instantly. What the hell was going on?! I threw open the door of my bunk and the alarms were going crazy, as were the people running to their stations.
“What the hell is going on?!” I shouted at the closest man running past.
“We flew straight into the middle of an asteroid shower, Commander! We’ve been hit badly and we’re coming close within range of the Morinii Star”
The blood ran out of my face and in the next second I was sprinting down the corridors to the main controls. I skidded around corners and flew straight into the wall when another asteroid slammed into us again. “Jacobs! Where-where the hell is Jacobs?!” I shouted angrily when he was nowhere to be seen.
“The hit from the first asteroid was unexpected and we weren’t ready, Commander. Jacobs lost his footing and fell head first into the controls” Brandon replied tensely. “The glass from the screen cut through his carotid artery... he didn’t make it”
The shock of so much going wrong in the space of a few hours had me floored, but I had to pull myself together. I ran up and began shouting orders to get us out of the shower of asteroids safely. The spacecraft was damaged... but how damaged was the question that we needed answered. “Ease off! There’s our chance, move!”
By now the Morinii Star was within our sight and all the talk was true. It was going supernova and I was hoping beyond anything that we would be able to get out of its reach before it turned into a black hole. “Brandon, how bad is the damage?” I asked once we were safely away from the asteroids.
“Not too horrible, Commander. The worst of the damage was focused to the hyper speed. The only way we can fix it is-“
“Is to fix it from the outside...” I murmured, finishing off his sentence. Damn... this was the last thing I needed right now. We needed to get as far away from the supernova as we could, and quickly.
“I’ll do it” Brandon volunteered. “I’ll take William and we’ll get it done-“
“No, I’ll go with you. You know this is where I specialize” I stated with finality. “Let’s get suited up” We were helped into our suits by some of the other crew members and waited in the airlock as the doors behind us sealed tightly. “Ready?” I asked through the radio in my helmet.
“This isn’t my first space walk, Commander” Brandon’s amused voice crackled back through the headset. “But it is always a rush when you take that first step outside”
I agreed and waited eagerly for the outer doors to open. As they slid wide open, I felt all gravity vanish. “Ladies first” I smiled and used the thrusters of my jetpack to start me moving outside the space craft. Brandon followed after me, making sure our tethers didn’t twist around each other and soon we were floating out in space, surrounded by nothing but emptiness.
It was beautiful.
We got to work quickly. Behind me, the beautiful and extremely large Morinii supernova was progressing quickly. “We need to get moving...” I noted, before looking back again. My eyes widened, the supernova was progressing quickly, much, much too quickly. “We need to move! Now!” I cried through the radio.
I moved to... slowly... to reach for Brandon when the supernova exploded.
As terrifying as it was to know that we were so close to the exploding supernova, it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life. An explosion of lights – blue, purple, red, orange, pink and yellow – exploded outwards and sent waves upon waves of light outwards. I screamed as they grew closer and jumped in my space suit when Brandon was all of a sudden covering me.
“Close your eyes!” He shouted through the headset. Our cries mingled together as the light waves flew over us, slamming us against the side of the spacecraft. My head smashed against the inside of my helmet and with the extra force of Brandon crashing behind me, the glass of my helmet cracked. As suddenly as the exploded waves of light shot outwards, it all began to suck back in.
“Oh no...” I whispered. “The black hole. Brandon! It’s turning into a black hole!”
“Go! GO!!!” He shouted and we both fired the thrusters to push us through the empty space between us and the airlock.
“Come on! Come on!” I screamed.
“Commander! Brandon! You need to hurry! The black hole is sucking us in with it and we can’t put the spacecraft into hyper speed until you’re both on board... either wise you’ll both die!” William’s familiar voice announced through both our headsets from inside.
“Got it! Brandon, move your ass!” I shouted trying to move faster, but it seemed that the crash had affected my thrusters as well. “I can’t move! My jet pack is damaged!”
We were too close to the black hole’s reach and I felt myself flying out, away from the safety of the spacecraft’s exterior. “Kelly!!!”
“Hellppp!!!” I screamed. The tether holding me to the aircraft tightened and I immediately stopped flying out, but the whole ship began to move as the black hole sucked everything, including light, inside to disappear into pitch blackness.
“Kelly! Hold on! I’ve got you! Just grab onto the tether!” Brandon shouted.
With all the strength I could muster I grabbed onto the tether and tried to pull myself forward, towards the spacecraft. “Hold on Commander! Brandon is closing in on you, just hold on tight!” William shouted in my ear.
I could no longer hold on, the thickness of the spacesuit gloves made it difficult to grasp anything, and I felt my grip sliding back. “Kelly grab onto me! Now!” Brandon was shouted, he was as close as he could get himself while holding onto his own tether.
I was never one to be scared of anything. I fought through everything in my life with an ‘I can do this’ attitude, but that was gone right now. The ‘can-do’ feeling had deserted me and I was frightened beyond my wits. “Kelly! Now!!!” He yelled.
I screamed and let go of the tether with one hand and reached for him but my grip slipped and I was flying away. Brandon gripped my tether and wrapped it around himself before blasting his thrusters full speed towards the spacecraft.
“Faster Brandon! We have to start the hyper speed now!” William shouted. Ahead of us the airlock doors opened. All we had to do was fly inside, but we were still so far. “Brandon, faster!”
“We’re too heavy, Brandon. You’ll make it if you let me go!” I shouted into the radio.
“Shut up, Kelly! We’ll make it! We’ll make it!” It was as though we were jumping in slow motion towards the door, the lack of gravity and the black hole sucking us in was slowing us down even more. “Come on!”
“Brandon, let me go!” I shouted.
“Commander! Brandon, we have to start the hyper speed now if we’re going to make it!”
We were so close, yet so far!
“Start the hyper speed, William! I will not let you go, Kelly!” Brandon was shouting at everyone.
“Commander....-“
I interrupted William’s protests, “Do it, William! Now!”
There was a lengthy pause on the other line before William spoke“...Yes, Ma’am”
The spacecraft was revving up the hyper speed and I wasn’t sure whether we’d make it just in time, or if our tethers would snap once the spacecraft sped away at hyper speed and we’d die in the unknown abyss of the black hole. I shut my eyes tight because I didn’t want to know. The tethers began to vibrate from the ship and I knew it was about to fly off. At least if I was going to die, I was going to die by flying through beautiful burning balls of light. It wouldn’t hurt like it would back on Earth.
The distant sound of oxygen bursting and doors sliding registered at the back of my mind and suddenly I was aware of falling straight onto the ground of the airlock with Brandon falling straight on top... again.
***
“So... how about a drink, Commander?” I laughed and looked up at Brandon smirking at me.
“If I say ‘no’ will you use saving my life as black mail?” I smiled as I gazed at him.
“For as long as I can get away with it. You can’t get rid of me that easily” He laughed.
I rolled my eyes and winced when the skin pulled at the stitches holding my skin together across my temple. “You’re such a pain in my ass, Brandon”
Needless to say, I ended up having a drink with him down in the mess hall. We were laughing and joking around with some of the other men when I turned to look outside the window. “Well, would you look at that, boys” I called out softly. “Now ain’t that the prettiest sight you’ve ever seen?”
Outside, after over a week of travelling at hyper speed, was Earth floating peacefully. Just behind it the sun peeked until the rays of sunlight shone brilliantly spreading light over the oceans and countries. “Sunrise above Earth... Let’s leave the disasters and fantasies of space behind... and get back to our loved ones back home. Let’s get back to something real, men”
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A/N
The part that I saw in my mind when I played this song was actually just the sunrise from behind Earth. The rest was kind of improvised.
I’m still just kind of getting the hang of writing one shots :)
Hope y’all enjoyed!
Nix <3