The Outer Moon (A Sapphic Sci Fi Adventure)

Chapter 13

The biggest problem with the pickup from the cruise ship off of Cocoa Beach, was that Cocoa Beach was very close to Cape Canaveral, where America still did the majority of the space launches and had a decent sized military presence. The group was a little better prepared for a military intervention this time though.

They came in fast, all four ships coming down in a hurry, with the bigger ships piloted by Pepper and Vanessa in one, and Nash in the other. Emma and Zay provided fighter cover with the small ships directly over the cruise ship, and the two larger craft hovered on either side of the cruise ship deck. Emma could see the throng of people lining up to get aboard, each of them carrying a suitcase or other piece of luggage.

Emma was in her fighter jet with her whole little family group, because none of them wanted to stay behind, and they headed for the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, hovering over the end of the runway, with her weapons pods pointed at anything that dared to try taking off. Xavier had been kind enough to show her how to extend the wings, which helped maneuver in the atmosphere, though to Emma's trained eye, it just made her ship look more like the flying campervan that Lone Star used in the ancient movie SpaceBalls. Yes, it was old, but it was required viewing by anyone in the Space Force, just for a laugh.

As expected, nothing moved on the runway, much to Emma and Viv's relief. They weren't sure if it was the call to the General that helped, or the fact that the pilots knew it would have been futile, but they were very glad they didn't have to fire on people that they were once comrades with.

"How are we looking?" Viv asked the other ships while Emma kept her eye on the controls.

"We're almost done!" Pepper announced. "We have a lot of excited people here, so it might be noisy. They're gonna be standing room only, that's for sure. Packed in tight."

"Is there any word on the Australia mission?"

"They're almost done too." They'd arranged simultaneous pickups on both cruises, with the one off the American coast happening at 9pm, while the Australian one was happening just after lunch thanks to the time difference. The Australian government hadn't been expecting any kind of spaceship incursion near them, But they did send a message that they had no issues with them using their airspace, which was nice to hear from one of the Earth governments. Xavier also made a detour to a soccer field outside of Asunción Paraguay, where the parts for two water wheels and electric generators to hook up to them were waiting. They weren't huge, but they could power a good sized town with wattage to spare, and that would be perfect for backing up the solar panels.

The ships off of Cocoa Beach finished up shortly thereafter, with some jets being launched from other bases, but none approaching them. Having the smaller ships as cover definitely paid dividends, as there were no issues with being attacked at all. There was little doubt that their larger numbers intimidated the forces that once tried to stand against them. Not that they expected to have to go back to the Earth, but they were happy to see that they had options in case that was necessary.

Before the end of their day, there were over 300 new people up in orbit. Most were in various stages of disbelief, though all were overwhelmingly excited. What had seemed like a fantastic dream to them just hours earlier was now something that was happening to them right now. The ships were so crowded that the new passengers had to take turns looking out all of the windows at the vistas below, but none seemed to mind. Once they were back in orbit around Uranus, it would be even more thrilling, as some would have to go through airlocks in zero G while they were distributed evenly among the ships to make sure they were all as comfortable as possible. It would also provide them with an amazing view of a planet that few humans had ever seen and would be the gateway to even more spectacular views.