Maxus led the Suicide Side to the ship's helm.

Everyone carried themselves like they were already dead.
Maxus tried, he tried to stand with his chest out and his back straight, as he always did.
He tried to stride down the hall with authority and power. But Maxus just slumped down like the others, for who cared if he was a captain if it was all a failure?

Cynthia Destiny, the nurse, moved swiftly forward, ahead of all the others.

She stepped right in front of Maxus, who's eyes were on his feet, trudging forward.
"Sir, shouldn't we go to the back of the ship? That's our best plan for survival considering that most of the atmospheric damage will be taken by the front."

Maxus looked up but remained quiet.
"But if we go to the front we'll have the fastest possible death." He argued, monotone.

Maxus was always horrible at comforting people, he found the words he said were hollow, because they could never change anything in the minds or hearts of the people.

So when someone came to him looking like Cynthia did right now Maxus could barely meet their eyes.

He could occasionally put someone at peace with their circumstances, but he could not make their problems vanish. And he couldn't be put at peace with his own life, not by himself, not by anyone.

"If we survived the crash...what would we do? Would we just scavenge until something kills us?" Maxus grunted.

After seeing the look on Cynthia's face he tapped his fingers against his neck nervously
"Sorry...planetary travel has been my dream since I was a kid...It would be cool to see."

They had just reached the door to the helm but Maxus took a step back from the latches.
"Cynthia has a good idea. I think we'd all like to see a new planet, albeit have a short time there. But don't get too excited...there's still a very low chance of survival."

The crew looked to each other then came to the consensus of agreement with their captain.

"Someone should keep an eye on the mechanical workings. We need to know if something is about to blow up or anything." Said a voice. But Maxus didn't even have time to distinguish it before he started speaking.

"I will. I'm the captain and it's my job to protect my crew." He assured them, calmly.

A grim murmur ran through the group.
"You don't have to do anything, Maxus." Bennett said.

Maxus stiffened and tightened his fist before releasing the pressure again. Gosh, he hated that cursed first name basis, he hated it because it meant that they didn't see any need to address him as a sir -that was fine, but if he wasn't their superior he was their friend.

It was hard to let people die. Harder still was letting friends die.

"I wouldn't wish that upon anyone here." Said Maxus.

"Neither would we wish such a thing upon you." Cynthia replied, stepping forward again.

Maxus was about to utter a confused thank you when the floor beneath them began to quake.

Everyone fell to the floor in a loud boom, followed by grunts of pain and voices asking for closure on their circumstance.

Maxus was the first to stand, he pulled himself upward with aid from the latches of the door. His knees quakes slightly as he unlatched the iron door and pushed it open.

On the monitor, it gave warning of more destructive waves emitting from the planet they were about to enter.

These ones were worst than the last which couldn't have been felt on the ship. Their closeness to the planet made these waves feel bass boosted, even if they couldn't be heard from inside the ship.

Still that meant this planet wasn't dead, this planet had something on it...but if the supposed sound waves got any stronger the ship would crumble.

"Turbulence." Maxus lied to his crew.

"I didn't think there were turbulence in space." Bennett said.

Maxus shuffled his feet nervously. He didn't think there was sound either. He would sound even more stupid if he said that.

But there was right now, they must have been in some strange outer layer, of partial oxygen, half particles that could carry only waves as strong as these. Curious, Maxus thought. If he survived, he ought to send a report to Earth.

Well, if the ship's inner workings weren't three quarters busted- which they were.

"Space turbulence exist." He lied.

Since he was their captain nobody second guessed him.

A man amongst them who looked unexpectedly peeved growled
"Well somebody has to stay with the controls to tell us what's going on!"

His icy blue eyes went from one crew member to the next. If looks could kill...
"You all signed up to die today! Why are you clinging to your oh-so-precious lives now?!"

Nobody spoke. So the man continued.
"You're here because you weren't happy enough with your lives to go back home. Now one of us has to sacrifice for the team, who is it gonna be?" Everyone in the room was thinking the same thing, but this man hadn't yet realized.

They could all see the moment when it hit him, his blue eyes widened and his hands quivered slightly.

Cynthia Destiny was linked armed with her twin brother Terrance, whom she seemed to be comforting.

Maxus had seen Terrance with this man, they were friends. Terrance and Zima, nicknamed Winter.

As Winter walked into the room and closed the door gently behind him Terrance hid his face, clinging to Cynthia tightly.

Terrance had always been emotional. Thirty years old, all grown up, but though he was soft spoken and quiet he was no emotionless rag doll. He had opinions, but he didn't rage about them, he would cry.

Thing was, Terrance was no baby, crying to get his way in life. He cried because the thing he was most passionate about was saving lives, and most often everything he did revolved around that. So when his ideas were turned down, that was when lives lost value to whoever made the final choice.

Terrance looked a lot like his sister. They both had 'Mallen Streak' causing their dark brown hair to grow white patches, Cynthia's was much more white though. They also had similar medium builds and stunning green eyes.

Back on Earth, Terrance was about to ask his girlfriend to marry him, before he got assigned this mission.

The crew talked a lot about their Earth lives and though Maxus didn't partake he always listened in.

When she wasn't training for space exploration, or studying at medical school, Cynthia worked part time at an orphanage. She was emotional like her twin because of her exposure to so many hurt children, but she was apparently good at what she did, which was definitely believable.

Cynthia really had a way with comforting people, a striking contrast to Maxus. She told stories of the kids at the orphanage, and how when they cried at night she would go and sit down next to them. She would always stay quiet, because they didn't like to be prodded.

When the orphans were ready they would let it all out, and Cynthia would take in every single word. Then she would take them in her arms for as long as they needed.

She said that sometimes her clothes would get soaked with tears after a long night of work.

They would heave so many tears and she would stroke their hair like a mother and tell them she was there, that they would be okay.

Once they were all out of reasons to cry, once every last year had dried, Cynthia Destiny would ask them things like their favourite foods, or favourite colors. Little things, but she'd remember them. Then, the next time she was on lunch duty she would get every kid their favourite food, or braid them a bracelet of their favourite colors.

Maxus wondered to himself...he wondered if she told the kids what she was doing, why she had left them. Maybe he would ask her.

It was day 124. The mission was supposed to last two to three years.

Maybe by the time she got to Earth, had the mission not gone south, the kids would have moved on.

So maybe they wouldn't even care if she never came home.