Chapter Text
Rocky had heard about what happened with Dr. Ryland Grace. He didn't want to think much about it, just the thought of Stratt murdering an innocent person made chills run down his spine. He and his husband Adrian had always shared a love for space. That how they met after all, at the training camp. But that was years ago, they were planning to raise a family but that all changed when Stratt brought them onto an aircraft carrier. The same aircraft carrier she had brought Dr Grace on all those years ago. They just were knocked out the entire ride there, dreaming of whatever their minds could come up with. Memories mixed with fears, fears mixed with hopes, hopes mixed with memories.
When they arrived they were escorted under deck and the halls were no longer the soft beige they were when she sent up the Hail Mary crew, it was now a blinding and plain eggshell white. How much more boring could this get? The ship was covered in the smell of sea salt, smoke, oil, and somehow fear and joy in one. Adrian and Rocky stayed close together, not wanting to leave the other even for a second in this place. This place was creepy, no longer the semi welcoming place it was before, now it was a hostile trap meant to keep people from leaving and forcing them to except their fate no matter how scary or how much they didn't want to.
What was she planning now?
Adrian also had a gut feeling that whatever she had planned for them was going to ruin their hopes of ever having a family together.
"Andrew and Adrian. Take a seat. I have a mission for you two." Stratt said. Her tone cold and solid as usual. The office smelled of cigarette smoke and the cleaning isle at the store. Stratt had a few more gray hairs than she did a year ago, stress of going to jail for life really does a number on a person. "I need the two of you to find the Hail Mary and see if they still have life within the ship. If they are alive bring the people back using the Astrophage as fuel." She didn't even give either of them a change to speak.
"And if their not alive?" Rocky asked
"Then you stay up there and die. The vessel I was provided will only return home with at least 3 lifeforms on board. It is either a one way trip or you get new crew mates on the way back." She explained. Yet she seemed to not give a shit whether they live or die, even though it was her who was going to jail if the crew wasn't alive.
"You want us to go see if there are people still alive on the Hail Mary? But didn't we lose contact with them years ago? And you knew it was a suicide mission, why do you care now?" Adrian asked, his voice demanding and a bit shaky. He knew why she suddenly cared, because she would be sent to life in prison if they were dead.
"I don't care, the government cares. And plus, you don't have a choice." So this was how Dr Grace felt when they said this to him. He probably felt even worse because his was a suicide mission, this one wasn't. Rocky could feel his stomach twist in fear and disgust of discovering the dead crew on the Hail Mary if they were dead at all.
"We'll do it, as long as we do it together." Rocky replied. He knew that since their technology had gotten better, they wouldn't need to induce them into a coma. This ride would be comfortable and smooth. Adrian tensed beside him. Once they had been dismissed, Adrian immediately shoved Rocky against the wall in the hallway.
"What the hell are you thinking?! You just signed us both up to go into a different solar system 16.5 light years away from earth!" Adrian was pissed. Why would Rocky do this? Sure they didn't have a choice but why would he agree?
"What if someone is alive up there! Alone! We need to at least try and see!" Rocky protested. Knowing that the possibility if the crew being dead was far greater than them being alive. The two of them might die up there as well if the crew weren't alive. All hope of raising a family had gone down the drain the second Stratt showed up in their lab.
"Andrew! We are going to die up there! We won't be able to have a family, or friends, or even proper funerals! And you just agreed to that!" Rocky tensed as Adrian used his real name instead of the nickname he had been given by his peers and family. Adrian only used his real name twice, once on their wedding day and twice on the day they had a massive fight and almost divorced over it. But Rocky held his ground.
"We don't have an option anyway! Whether we want to or not! It's better to just agree to her rather than fight her! She has the entire military on her side!" He knew he had to say something to try and show Adrian his reasoning, or this flight would be an incredibly long and painfully silent one.
Adrian sighed as he let go of Rocky, one arm falling limb to his side and the other rubbing his face. He knew Rocky was right, they really didn't have a way out of this if they tried, because if they did they would just use the same method they did on Dr Grace. Neither of them knew the full detail of what happened but they knew that Stratt had to induce Dr Grace's coma early, they were told it was medical and if they didn't then Dr Grace wouldn't have survived the flight. So it was just easier to do what you were told rather than fighting it.
They were given three days to prepare for this flight, it would take a year or two to get to the Hail Mary with their now upgraded tech with finding out how to harvest Astrophage and keep it from eating the sun. The morning of take off, Adrian woke up beside Rocky and couldn't hold back the tears in his eyes. They would never have kids, they would never life the life they wanted if the crew was really dead. He got up and out of bed. The bathroom lights seemed to burn his eyes and skin as he showered and cleaned up for the day. Rocky woke up a few minutes later and joined him in the shower. Rocky wrapped his arms around Adrian's waist as Adrian buried his face in the crook of Rocky's neck and wept. After their shower (which they spent most of it crying and mourning the death of their normal life) they got dressed in their suits and combed their hair. They ate a slow breakfast, savoring their last meal on earth. Both of them were assuming that they wouldn't make it back to earth.
They made it to the aircraft right before it was going to take off, they are again in an unconscious state on the way to the launch sight. Their dreams this time are filled with the kids they could've had, damn they were grieving hard. Once they made it to the launch sight the vessel they were going on was almost identical to the Hail Mary with a few tweaks here and there. The seats in the ship were a bit uncomfortable to say the least but hey, they only had to sit in them till they made it out of the solar system which would only take a few days. Like, 3.5 days. The rocket began to shake as it exited the atmosphere.