Chapter Text
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
'Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
-David Bowie "Starman" 1969
Commander Sirius Orion Black III
Location: SS Patronus orbiting destination planet Earth
He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, willing the pressure behind his eyes to go away. After finally reaching their destination–already late due to loading delays and translation errors from a neighbouring trading site–the crew was barely managing to run the vessel due to a sweep of flu knocking out over half the population onboard. But they desperately needed to scan for a secure entry point before the orbital window was lost.
Sirius knew he was a good captain. Despite being one of the youngest Commanders in the embassy at 21 years old, his technical knowledge was superb and his ability to connect with people even better. Whether it was charisma or the privilege of physical attractiveness (or his hyper-awareness due to a trauma survival response learned from childhood), people liked him. His crew respected him and wanted to make him proud.
He knew that there were people who questioned his fast rank, assuming that the son of Admiral Black and heir to the coveted chair in the Sacred 28 had climbed the ladder on name alone. But Sirius had worked for his spot, using the privilege granted to him by birth alone to learn. If asked why Sirius Black was a good leader, people would recount memories of the Commander connecting with each member of the team, listening to their stories and wanting to learn from them, regardless of his higher rank.
But being in charge also meant making tough decisions in even tougher situations. Like the current conundrum. How to launch their intel mission when people were otherwise occupied blowing out of both ends in their private quarters? (A question that Sirius asked without needing an accompanying mental image, thank you.)
“Black to Potter, consult in control.”
“Copy, Cap.”
He sat back in his seat after calling over the comms and waited for his Chief Officer and best mate, James Potter. A woosh announced his arrival as he entered the control room through sliding doors. Sirius met his hazel eyes and provided a lopsided frown. “We need to get down there. Today.”
His second in command sighed and plopped down next to him and ruffled his already unruly black hair. “What’s the current window?”
“4 hours. Just under.”
James groaned and locked eyes with his best friend, brother, and commanding officer. “We have no crew. Kingsley is stuck helping Medical get the sick away from the not-sick. Completely shuffling living quarters and trying to quarantine the bug before it gets all of us. Marls and the entire research team are ill.”
Sirius’s previously lopsided frown became full on as he heard all the executive members on the ship counted out.
“This is a bitch of an unsatisfactory situation, Prongs."
James huffed a laugh at the use of his childhood nickname. “It is. What do we need done today? How much of a priority?”
“If we miss the window today then we lose over a week. Maybe more, if we don’t find the landing site on the first attempt.”
James cursed and furrowed his brow. “So top priority. We just really can’t spare anyone, those who are healthy are keeping the Patronus running and just barely managing to fill in what needs to be done onboard.”
The captain sighed and looked out the bay to the blue and green planet orbiting below. “That’s why I need to go.”
“What ? How do you come to that conclusion?”
Sirius merely flashed an unamused look towards his mate before looking back out the window. “Because literally my entire crew is working their arse off, while I have the luxury of sitting up here asking the big questions. You’ll be in charge, but you can keep working on refitting our nav charts while I’m gone. I can take an automaton with me to help, but really I just need to circle the landscape and scan a secure base to set up our research station. I’ll unload gear and set up a locater so we can easily find it outside the orbital window. It can be a one man job, if I do it right.”
James sputtered in protest but had little room to argue–there wasn’t another optimal choice and Sirius had already come to that conclusion prior to his arrival.
“I could go with you!”
“James. I want you to keep an eye on my trajectory. And we need navigation charts, that’s a priority. Marl’s team is wretched at nav, I wouldn’t let them near the control room without you around. Merlin, I wouldn’t let them in even with you around.”
James groaned and squeezed his eyes in defeat. “I know. I know. So, you’ll do recon alone. Alright, fine you can go.”
Sirius flashed a quick grin “I didn’t need your permission, arse. I’m your Captain, your job is to follow orders.”
James groaned even louder. “Actually I think my job is to make sure you don’t do anything stupid. Keep you in line and all that.”
They both shook with silent laughter, neither denying the role that James played for their Charming but Reckless Captain. They took a moment to collect themselves and began preparations for launch.
The Captain worked his way down the loading dock towards shuttle 4 (which he had secretly nicknamed Ziggy, not that he would tell anyone that. Not very Commanderly to name an inanimate object after an ancient Earthling singer). He tapped in the instructions for the automaton to join the vessel, and watched as a 7 foot humanoid machine detached from the ship wall and slowly lurched towards the loaded shuttle. He grinned in amusement as the automaton latched onto the nook in the shuttle where it would provide AI support on the flight. Adorable , he mentally cooed, seeing the human-like machine settle snugly into the craft.
He had informed his executive crew, the heads of each department on board, that he would be running the initial recon mission independently. While his announcement had been met with some apprehensive looks, his crew didn’t question him. Partially due to the trust they had built with him over the past year, but also due to the fact that they really had no other option.
Kingsley, his General Chief and Security Officer had debriefed him on anticipated threats. Grounders likely existed in sparse communities (The estimated human race left behind back in 2048 was about 3.2 million), but their current weapon use was unknown. Sirius would likely not make contact, but he should proceed with caution and extend pleasantries if contact occurred. Peter, his Chief Science Officer chimed in through the comms (he was one of the lucky ones spewing in his sleeping quarters). “There will likely be flora and fauna, though it’s unclear at the threat they pose to us currently. Humans used to be at the top of the predatory chain prior to our space expansion. The air quality is the biggest concern, before we do testing I would keep your helmet on the entire trip.”
Sirius respectfully listened to his crew and took their advice with a firm nod. “Excellent. Keep operations here running while I’m away. Priorities continue to be supporting Medical with quarantine, repairing the navigation charts, and making sure that all primary functions on board keep running. Potter, take care of my ship.”
With a chorus of affirmatives, Sirius made his way onboard Ziggy and powered up the shuttle. He took a deep breath, felt the thrill of adventure thrumming in his veins, and guided the craft out the airlock. There was always something liberating about that initial moment of slipping out into the dark, being in control in an otherwise vast and unpredictable space. He kept a watchful eye on his navigation trajectory and finally allowed the AI to take over while he clad himself in a thermal suit and helmet, keeping the visor up for now until he hit the atmosphere.
“ Patronus to Shuttle 4, copy?”
“Copy, Potter, course is set with an anticipated entry in 23 minutes.”
James chimed back in recognition and Sirius watched the planet below, the shifting white cloud coverage leaving space to the vivid blues and greens below. Every human learned about their origin planet in school, but the fact of the matter was that the planet had been brushed aside over the past century, viewed as a lost cause and something to learn about with the frame of history, not something that existed in the present. When Sirius had been called to conduct research on the old rock he had jumped in immediately. He still felt a ping of suspicion that the embassy suddenly held interest in the resources and rehabilitation purposes on Earth, but he brushed it aside to deal with when it came to that. He was good at compartmentalising.
The shuttle chimed the approaching entry zone and the automaton relinquished AI to allow Sirius to manually manoeuvre the craft. He flipped his visor down and settled firmly behind the controls, as James’ voice cracked through his helmet comms.
“ --irius? Do—py?”
“Black here, about to hit the atmosphere”. His response was met with silence. “Black to Potter, do you copy?”.
James replied with static, only partial words cutting through. “ Losing— location—sys—wn”.
With Jame’s last broken word, Sirius hit the atmosphere and was immediately assaulted with a flash of lights and blaring alarms. He felt the steering control spasm under his hands before the shuttle gave an alarming drop, sputtered, and dropped further. He felt the shuttle pick up startling speed as it was pulled into Earth’s gravitational force without any thrusters to slow the descent. Flashing across the screen and echoing in his helmet comms were the words System Failure.
“Ah, splendid. Brilliant,” Sirius drawled, leaning into his role of dramatism even in the face of death.