After nearly two years of being stranded on the station, they finally got it done. The shuttle was prepared. Months of hard work had made them ready to return to the surface. They tested everything as best they could and Reece completed two EVAs to repair the damage to the hull and the wing, using techniques he had learned from fabricating their weapons. Quickly forming the spray poly-foam before it hardened helped to finish the job of making the shuttle flight-ready.

The very last thing that Reece did was remove the name ‘Wisdom’ painted along the side of the shuttle and replace it with the new name, ‘Phoenix’. The dream he had the previous night had been a good one. As usual, he couldn’t remember much of it. However, he did remember something this time.

When he woke up, Reece had the word ‘phoenix’ stuck in his mind for some reason. As he had been working on the shuttle day and night for months, it just seemed to be the perfect fit. A phoenix is a mythical bird believed to rise again from its own ashes. The same could be said of the once horribly damaged shuttle. Aika approved. Once satisfied that the Phoenix was as ready as it was ever going to be, they rushed to the control module to inform the single-minded flyboy of the great news.

“Pasha,” shouted Reece when he arrived in the control module.

Pasha waved his arm in a shushing motion and put his finger to his mouth. Reece quickly silenced his next words. He had noticed that Pasha was wearing his headset and was speaking with someone.

He nodded several times before saying, “Thanks for the info. We’ll figure something out. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Over and out.”

Pasha removed his headset and looked up at Reece and Aika.

“Whatcha got?” he asked with eyebrows raised.

“The shuttle is finally ready,” stated Reece with a big smile on his face as he rubbed his hands together.

“We can finally return to the surface,” added Aika cheerfully.

“Uh, there’s only one problem with that. Well…one BIG problem, that is,” he corrected.

Reece narrowed his eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“Well…Ground Control has been intercepting some of the Order’s communications. Apparently, they’ve been using the old cell towers to pass information back and forth. So…the Order has missile batteries all over the world on permanent alert for any aircraft attacks or shuttle re-entries. They really don’t want to take any chances that we might survive a return to the surface and they probably want their rock back really badly,” answered Pasha apologetically.

“That’s okay,” replied Reece optimistically. “We know where all of their main bases are, let’s just set a course to avoid them and land as far from their threat radiuses as we can.”

“Yeah,” replied Pasha almost painfully. “I thought of that too, I did the calculations. They have two-thirds coverage of the planet.”

“What about the other third?” asked Aika.

“Well, we can either land in Antarctica, or the middle of one of the oceans.”

“So, we can either get blown out of the sky, drown, or freeze to death? Does that about cover it?” lamented Reece.

“Yeah, that’s about right,” replied Pasha, “But remember, even small fish are still fish.”

“Huh?”, asked Reece, jerking his head back and furrowing his brow in confusion.

“It’s a saying from my country. Basically, good things have happened for us. Maybe small things, but still good and we can build them into something. Think positively. We now have a working shuttle thanks to you two. We also may be the smartest three people left alive. And that’s the most important thing. We’re still alive. We’ve figured out how to survive saboteurs, zombies, and the end of the world. We’ll figure this out too,” explained the Czech pilot confidently.

“Thanks, Pasha,” laughed Reece, “You do know how to put things in perspective. You’re right, we need to celebrate the small victories. Besides, we’ve been doing pretty good so far.”

“Alright boys,” cut in Aika. “That’s all great, but do you have any ideas on what we can do about this, or should we sleep on it?”

“I’m just happy we finally got the cursed shuttle done,” replied Reece.

“Yeah,” agreed Pasha cheerily. “One dilemma solved per day. That’s my motto. We’ve already solved one for today. Let’s solve the other one tomorrow.”

“Alright,” sighed Aika coyly as she took Reece by the wrist and led him out of the control module. “Goodnight Pasha, we’re going to go and sleep on it.”

“So, is that how you get all your good ideas?” came Pasha’s reply as he yelled it at the retreating couple before laughing hysterically.

The sounds of his laughter followed Reece down the hall as Aika drew him along, but he didn’t mind. He felt they deserved a little celebrating. Clearly, Aika was feeling it too.

“I want to try something different,” she whispered coyly. “I think you’ll like it.”

Reece couldn’t hold back and grabbed the woman around the waist, pulling her into his body and kissing her deeply. Her tongue quickly found his as they finished making their way to the officer’s quarters and found their bed. It didn’t take long for them to celebrate in all-new ways. As they lay there exhausted, Reece couldn’t stop smiling.

The next day, they reunited in the control module to try and come up with a new plan. Reece had a newfound respect for the woman. He couldn’t help smiling.

“Well, did it help?” smirked Pasha as he noticed the look on Reece’s face. “You guys come up with anything?”

Aika and Reece both looked at Pasha sheepishly. Reece could feel his face grow warm.

“Yeah, not so much,” said Reece, scratching his head in mild embarrassment.

“We came up with quite a few things, just nothing that will help us get safely to the ground,” grinned Aika suggestively.

“Well, that’s okay,” laughed Pasha. “I had a feeling, but it’s okay. I have an idea that just might be crazy enough to work.”

“I thought you didn’t like coming up with ideas?” asked Reece puzzled.

“Yeah, I’ve thought a lot about that these last few months,” answered Pasha. “No risk, no reward. It’s time I worked to my full potential. No more fear of the repercussions of my decisions.”

“Well spoken,” commended Reece. “So, what kind of a plan have you got?”

“Well...,” said Pasha tentatively. “I’m thinking that we fly the entire Zhengzhou Station to the surface. Think about it. It’ll take a whole lot of missiles to blow her out of the sky.”

“Are you insane!?!” asked Aika and Reece together.

“Bear with me,” laughed Pasha. “You see, the station is one big diversion. While all the missiles will be shooting at her, a small piece of debris will break off and head for the surface.”

“And we’ll be the debris,” finished Reece, catching on.

“Exactly.”

“What are you two talking about?” asked Aika confused.

“With the shuttle, we’ll follow the station’s course until it starts getting blown out of the air. By the time the enemy figures it out, we’ll be below their radar and home free.”

“So, you’re going to fly us through an entire exploding space station? Ouch. With missiles flying every which way, our odds of survival aren’t good. Plus, we need to hope that the enemy doesn’t notice us and blow us out of the sky anyway. Does that about sum up your plan?” asked Aika with a look somewhere between worry and incredulity.

Reece and Pasha just looked at each other before looking back at Aika and nodding.

“You worry too much. It’ll be fun,” Pasha added, trying unsuccessfully to sweeten the deal. “Like an old-school video game.”

“Oh…mother of Oden, we’re all going to die,” stated Aika as she rolled her eyes and shook her head in disbelief.

“Oh, have some faith in your friends,” chuckled Reece. “I have a good feeling about this.”

“Do you?”

“No, not really. It is Pasha’s idea, after all.”

“Hey, I heard that!” cut in Pasha indignantly.

“Well, you are a little rusty. When was the last time you piloted a shuttle? It’s been about two years, right?” asked Reece, full-well knowing the answer.

“No problem. Now that you’ve got the shuttle repaired, I can put it in simulation mode and get some flight practice in,” answered Pasha. “A few hours a day should get me up to speed before our big descent.”

“Okay, sounds like a plan,” replied Reece, playing the optimist. “But will that be enough to prepare you?”

“You obviously haven’t heard of me before I became an astronaut. I was the champion of the Czech circuit for Sky-Course for three years running. That’s partly how I got picked up for the program. So, go and maintain something. I’ve got this,” said Pasha irritably, shooing them off. “I’ve got a lot of calculations to make. Space stations weren’t meant to be landed. I’ll start on the simulator tomorrow.”

Aika shook her head at the two men’s childish bantering but followed a chuckling Reece out of the room nonetheless. It was going to be difficult, and scary, a long-shot, and a one-way ticket to a hostile planet. The odds were against them. Yet, they finally had a shot at returning to the ground soon. And that was something to celebrate. And celebrate, they did. Again. And again.

Reece and Aika spent the next day loading supplies into the shuttle. They loaded most of the food stores, the weapons and engineering tools, and even a few of the potted plants that would fit. They stripped the station of everything they could think of, and that could be useful on the ground. Pasha spent his time running calculations and flying simulations of a station re-entry. He also looked for possible landing zones for their shuttle. He was trying to get them as close to the Cape as he could, per Reece’s request. He came up with a two-hundred-kilometer-wide estimated landing zone, of which half was in the Atlantic Ocean.

“That’s not going to work,” stated Reece when he saw the landing zone.

“But I put the Cape in the center,” offered Pasha.

“I realize that, but if we land in the Ocean, we’re screwed,” replied Reece.

Pasha looked at the map for a moment before slapping himself on the forehead.

“Of course,” he angrily lamented, his cursing devolving into his native Slavic Czech language.

Reece didn’t need a translator to realize that Pasha was frustrated at himself for the obvious oversite.

“Give me a few more hours,” announced Pasha suddenly. “I’ll have to move the center inland. We may have a long way to travel, but at least we’ll have a better shot at a safe landing.”

“Fair enough,” replied Reece. “Don’t beat yourself up too much. None of us have been sleeping much lately. Especially since we’re so close to finally getting the chance to return to the surface.”

“Thanks. I’ve grown to feel like this station is our home, but I’m getting stir-crazy and am ready to get off this ride. I mean, it is our home, but it is also our prison.”

Reece left Pasha to his calculations as he headed out. He wanted to go over the station once more. They only had one shot at this. He didn’t want to forget anything they’d overlooked in loading onto the shuttle. He decided to grab some of the crew pictures they had pinned up in their barracks for mementos of the friends he had gotten to know aboard the station.

Remembering the nightcore that he had stashed months ago, Reece pulled the strange rock out of his old tool bag. As he headed back out to the shuttle to deposit the small stack of images and the strange black rock, he ran into Aika carrying a dark grey rucksack with the familiar Persian inscription for “Women are like cats. They always land on their feet”.

“Isn’t that Naeva’s gym bag?” inquired Reece. “What are you doing with it?”

“Yeah, it is,” replied Aika. “I filled it with her personal belongings. It’s just in case she somehow survived and we are able to meet up with her again.”

“Does it have any room left?” asked Reece.

“Sure,” answered Aika as she opened the rucksack up.

“Great. Here you go,” Reece placed the pictures and the rock within it and nodded. “All done.”

She closed it back up and prepared to enter the shuttle with her cargo.

“Well,” pondered Reece. “If that Persian saying has any truth to it, I have a feeling we may run into her again.”

“As do I,” came Aika’s uneasy reply. “And if we do meet back up with her, I don’t want it to change anything between us.”

“It won’t,” promised Reece. “Naeva never wanted to get too close to me. There was love there, but there was also a distance. She had her reasons, but she never decided to share them. I think she’ll be happy for us, honestly. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“Good,” stated Aika, stepping up to Reece. While their faces were mere inches apart, she tossed the bag into the shuttle’s airlock. “Now, why don’t you stow the lady’s stuff so we can get out of here.”

“I’ll get right to it,” answered Reece as he took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. She kissed him back before pushing him away.

“Down boy,” she laughed. “Save that exuberance for later.”

“Yes ma’am,” teased Reece as he placed the bag in the shuttle.

When he had finished, the two of them went back to the control module to check on Pasha’s progress. They arrived to find Pasha snoring softly at the console. He had tilted the pilot’s chair back and was sprawled out on it, using his grey flight jacket as a blanket. They decided to let him get some well-deserved and much-needed rest. Instead, they grabbed something to eat. There wasn’t much left in the kitchenette’s pantry, but Reece wrangled them up fresh eggs from the chicken coup. Aika found some beef jerky and grabbed a couple of oranges that were still left from the garden.

“It’s too bad we can’t bring the entire garden with us,” lamented Aika as she sat down and traded Reece an orange and a couple of strips of jerky for a plate of fresh scrambled eggs.

“Well, I loaded about as much as we could reasonably carry,” offered Reece. “But I agree, I don’t know how the astronauts of old managed with nothing but freeze-dried and powdered nourishment. I think I would have withered up and died.”

They continued eating in silence as the enormity of what they were about to do started to sink in. Zhengzhou Station had orbited the earth for decades before they were born, with countless astronauts over the years calling it home. Now they were about to crash it into the earth in a crazy gambit to survive a welcoming party of guided missiles and who knew what else. They were sacrificing their home, practically a member of their family, to survive. When they had finished, they retired to the officer’s quarters to get their minds off their worries and grab a catnap before checking in on Pasha again.

Reece awoke to Aika’s voice in his ear.

“Wake up,” she groggily whispered from where she lay nestled against his chest.

He could feel her naked breasts pressed up against the side of his chest, but he couldn’t feel his right arm because she had been laying on it for some time.

She sat up on one arm and Reece again marveled at her beauty as he felt the blood start recirculating in his arm. He leaned in and kissed her while blinking the sleep from his eyes.

“How long did we sleep?” he asked drowsily.

“About five hours,” she giggled in response. “We’d better go check on Pasha. He’s probably about ready to leave without us by now.”

Reece laughed, “Yeah, I can actually see him doing that.”

The two got dressed in their dark grey flight suits and walked over to the control module. Pasha wasn’t there, so Reece checked the flight plan that the pilot had re-calculated. Reece wasn’t a pilot himself, but the calculations looked good to him. Zhengzhou Station was set to crash-land near Atlanta, on a mark that said ‘bullseye’. Meanwhile, the shuttle’s landing zone was centered around the city of Columbus, Georgia. It looked like a good course. Reece knew time would tell if it turned out to be.

A few minutes later, Pasha arrived while munching on a shiny red apple. He noticed the two looking over his plotted courses.

“Well, what do you think?” he asked loudly while chewing on a large bite of the fruit.

“You’re the pilot, but it all looks good to me. By the way, what’s near Atlanta?” asked Reece as he looked up at Pasha.

“Oh, you’ll love this. That’s the main headquarters for the Order on the North American Continent. That’ll force them to concentrate on the space station. For a bonus, we may get lucky and damage or destroy their headquarters. I think that would be an appropriate way to say hello, don’t you think?”

“I like it,” smiled Aika.

“Oh yeah, that is perfect, Pasha. You’ve outdone yourself again,” added Reece.

“Okay, then it’s settled. Just in case you didn’t notice, these calculations are good in precisely ninety-three days, thirteen hours, and twenty-seven minutes from now. The timing is very precise, so if we aren’t completely ready a little ahead of time, we should wait and re-calculate.”

Reece looked at Aika and she just shrugged.

“I think we’ll be more than ready. To be honest, it sounds like I’m going to have to move a few things back to the station for a while. Why do we need to wait so long?” asked Reece in disappointment that they wouldn’t be leaving for another three months.

“Yeah, sorry about that. There are several factors that went into my calculations to give us the best chance of success. I had to factor in the debris field around the planet, so we don’t run into anything and end this gambit before it really begins. There’s also our orbit which I had to align with the correct trajectory of our approach to maximize our speed of re-entry,” explained Pasha.

“On that note, Reece…I need you to do me a big favor,” continued Pasha sheepishly.

“What is it?” Reece groaned, having a good idea about what Pasha was going to ask him to do.

“With the kind of velocity that we’ll be entering the atmosphere, the risk of burn-up is high. Someone needs to do a full external inspection of the entire station and use the remaining poly-foam to shore up any areas of concern. Otherwise, missiles will be the least of our problems.”

“Yeah, figures,” groaned Reece before taking a deep breath as he considered it. “Alright, I’ll get on it. I guess it’s good that we have a couple of months to kill.”

“Excellent,” smiled Pasha. “Would you like a rundown of the other reasons I’ve selected that particular time?”

“Maybe later,” sighed Reece as he walked out of the control room, waving over his shoulder.

Aika followed him out.

“Now we definitely need to succeed,” complained Reece. “Otherwise all of this effort will be for nothing.”

“What’s three more months? We’ve been up here working towards this for months on end already,” reasoned Aika as she snaked her arm through his. “Besides, I can think of a few ways to pass the time.”

“Yeah, I know,” answered Reece squeezing her arm. “I’m just tired of the goal-post getting constantly moved.”

“Why don’t we have Pasha join us?” Aika asked, gauging Reece’s response.

“You think?” he asked curiously.

“It’s only fair,” she reasoned. “Besides, I kinda feel bad he’s been left out this whole time.”

“Alright then. Sure, if he’s game,” agreed Reece. “When do you want to ask him?”

Aika watched him with an apologetic look on her face but said nothing, waiting for him to piece it together.

“You want me to ask him, don’t you?”

“Only if you don’t mind,” she answered meekly.

“Fine,” surrendered Reece with a sigh. “I’ll figure it out.”

Aika gave him a big hug. “I love you.”

“Don’t I know it,” he playfully grumbled.