Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
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2028, OSS space program ship launching dock
“Welcome to the Kjære Mor Starship, Astronaut Captain Eret.”
“Please, call me Alastair.”
“Alrighty. We will be launching in approximately 3 hours, feel free to go into the green room and meet with your shipmates and prepare yourself.”
“Yes sir.”
Captain Alastair Eret entered the green room and was met with 3 people, one who had choppy brown hair that looked dyed pink at the bottom, he was inspecting equipment, an older man who Erets brain immediately recognized as the legendary Astronaut and veteran Phil Watson, he looked older than he did in some of the interviews online, his hair was longer as well. The third person was a young kid, with shaggy dark brown hair, he was looking at his phone and laughing, like he was texting someone.
They all stood upon seeing Eret, who smiled lightly, “welcome everyone, i'm so glad to be your captain on this mission,” Phil stepped forward and shook his hand, “wonderful to meet you Captain,” Eret laughed and shook his hand harder “same to you, sir!” Phil smiled brightly, and they separated. The man with brown and pink hair stepped forward, “welcome, nice to meet you cap, my name is Techno Lepída, just call me Techno or Tech.” Eret smiled and shook his hand, finally, she turned to the youngest looking of them all. “And you are?” She questioned gently. “ o-Oh! The name would be Toby! But please call me Tubbo if you don’t mind! I-I’ll be your ‘techie’,” he giggled slightly, looking at Techno, who smiled. Eret cocked her head slightly at the joke, Tubbo looked at them and gently started to explain, “oh- uh, get it? Cuz his names Techno but I’m the Tech-“ Eret nodded and held up his hand before the boy got too nervous “yes yes I got it” Tubbo nodded gratefully and fist-bumped Techno, doing the infamous Baymax hand wave thing afterwards.
Eret smiled widely at this, their crew fit in nicely with each other, perfect. They all continued getting to know each other and preparing for their mission. The 3 hours seemed to pass pretty fast, it felt like in no time at all they were putting on their suits and stepping onto the tarmac where multiple cars were waiting to bring them to the launchsite, their ears were greeted with cheering, a large crowd was separated onto two sides of the path leading to the cars, security guards keeping them orderly.
As they walked, many hands were shook, some autographs were given. Tubbo seemed overwhelmed, Techno seemed unbothered, maybe a tiny bit annoyed but mainly unbothered. Phil didn’t seem to care, he was relatively used to this, same with Eret. Both having gone to space before in a “Earth changing” mission before, yes Erets had been a 2 year long mission around the sun, something went wrong and Eret disappeared briefly for 3 extra weeks only to reappear with no memory of those 3 weeks.
And Phils being an actual life changing mission that was supposed to last 4 years, instead lasting 8, where his spacecraft had gone missing down a black hole, and he reappear 4 years after he was supposed to return, his ship popping up in the middle of a field at 2 am, in one piece, he being the only one left alive out of his original crew of 5.
The car ride to the launchsite felt like forever, all of their anxieties rising bit by bit. Suddenly everything seemed to become real, Eret thought of the small keychain they carried, Elaina had made it for them as a going away present, and a promise to come back to her. Eret closed her eyes, and they were there. They were briefed, and they boarded the ship. The seats were set up almost like a car, two in the front and two behind them, Eret sat in the captains chair, Phil as their pilot, Tubbo behind him, and Techno behind Eret.
2 years into the mission they lost all contact with Earth, the last message that came in was a simple one, but terrifying. Tubbo had alerted them that a message from Earth was coming in, they all gathered around the screen. A girl with brown and white hair popped onto the screen, “hello astronaut crew of the Kjære mor, if you are still alive, my name is Dr. Niki Nihachu, I-“ her voice crackled out, when she came back her eyes were teary, “-gret- to inform you that Earth is in danger-“ her voice crackled again, Tubbo hit his hand on the screen to bring the image of her back. “-Crops are starting to die off, the air is becoming toxic. We are trying to do everythign we can to fix it or at least find a solution. Please stay safe out there boys. Safe travels.” And with that, Niki was gone.
Everything that happened after that message was different. 5 years after launch is when they got lost, they had mapped out 3 galaxies, 4 if you include the milky way. But somehow, they couldn’t find earth.
8 years after launch is when it happened.
They had landed on a planet to do a supply run, the planets grass like flora was tall and yellow, in a healthy way somehow, the sky was a deep purple, with a blue ‘sun’. There was no trees, there was occasional fruit bearing bush like plants. Tubbo had stayed behind because 1: he was the youngest, being physically 18 still (none of the crew had been ageing, they guessed it was from them travelling in and out of space-time or some shit.), and 2: he was a techie, and he was really the only one who knew how to use the testing board. The day had been normal so far, Eret, Phil, and Techno sending back dna stuff for Tubbo to test, them all doing normal check ups on the comms. Then the screaming on the comms started, Techno yelling for Phil and Eret yelling instructions. Then Eret called out as clear as day for Tubbo.
“TUBBO! TUBBO DO YOU COPY?!” “Yes captain!” “GOOD. LISTEN TO ME, START EMERGENCY CODE RED 747, 32. BE PREPARED FOR EMERGENCY CODE 64.” And with that, Tubbo followed instructions, not questioning anything else.
1: Emergency Code Red 747 merged with code 32: launch ship 4 feet off ground, hovering, and code 32, prepare to make a quick exit after ally forces board ship.
2: Emergency Code 64: prepare to eliminate enemy forces.
The only crew members to return to the ship were Eret and Techno. Both silent. Techno took the pilot spot after that day.
Tubbo didnt learn what happened to Phil until 2 years later, and then, he wished he never had learned.