Sean tried not to lose his lunch as he was slammed into the back of his seat more. His chest felt like it was being crushed. He was afraid to exhale incase his lungs didn't refill with air. He had never been so terrified in his life as the shuttle rocketed up through the clouds. Over the coms of the shuttle, a voice began to state in a stern voice. "Dream Chaser, you are committing a felony. You don't know what you are doing. Land before you reach ten thousand feet!" Sean could barely move, but Logan put on a headset and stated into the mic defiantly. "Ground Control, that is a negative. You want me down you are going to have to come up here and get me!" Sean turned wide eyes on Logan. Why was he instigating them?! The man on the other end suddenly asked in a perplexed voice. "Logan? What the fuck are you doing?! You get your ass back here! That shuttle hasn't been thoroughly tested! You are going to get yourself killed!" Logan growled darkly, before hissing back into the mic bitterly. "What are you going to do, General? Ground me? HA! I'm going to get my dad. You wanna stop me? You're going to have to shoot me down!"

Sean yelped in horror at Logan's outburst. Over the com, the man was silent a moment before he stated out emotionlessly. "Teenagers... So be it. You leave me no choice. Goodbye, Logan." The com disconnected and Sean yelled out. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Logan kept his eyes on the window, telling him in a growling tone. "Relax. What can he do? Send the Space Police?" Logan chuckled, causing Sean smacked his scaly arm and yell out. "THE SPACE FORCE ARE THE SPACE POLICE, YOU IDIOT!" Logan's grin faded as he mumbled out in realization. "Oh... Oops." Sean wanted to strangle Logan as he retorted bitterly. "OOPS?! YOU CRAZY SON OF A-!" Sean was cut off by an alarm beginning to blare in the shuttle. Logan looked over the proximity scanners. Sean heard the sounds of jets and cursed under his breath. Over the coms, another man announced to them seriously. "This is the U.S. Air Force. Lower your altitude, or we will be forced to shoot you down. This is your last warning." Sean looked to Logan, who looked around the controls wildly for something.

Sean asked him what he was looking for, when Logan flipped a switch and told him in a rush. "Sean, take over!" Sean yelped in stunned horror. Logan gestured with his tail to point to the lever and the second wheel in front of the passenger seat, telling him sternly. "Just hold them like this! We can't afford to lose speed!" Sean replaced his hand on the shaking lever to hold it in the up position, while pushing his wheel up too with his other hand. Logan flipped a switch, then got out of his seat to look at a panel behind his chair. Sean glanced back, asking a little shaken up. "What are you doing?!" Over the coms, the man told them. "You have reached ten thousand feet. You have left us no choice." Sean saw the dots on either side of the shuttle suddenly hang back. Another alarm began to blare, and Sean yelled out. "Logan?! Something is happening!" Logan slid a panel aside to reveal a weird set of controls, Logan read the weird language on the controls, answering in a distracted voice. "They are targeting us with their missiles." Sean couldn't breathe. He didn't want to die like this! The scanner began to beep loudly as two missiles from the jets started to race after the shuttle.

Helpless, Sean just started telling Logan how much feet was left between them and the gaining missiles. Logan pulled up a lever and turned it until it locked. Pulling a glowing white cylinder out, Logan told him to keep telling him the feet. At two feet, Sean screamed, and Logan shoved the cylinder back into the wall. From the shuttle a pulse blasted out. Sean peeked at the scanner as the alarms went silent. The dots for the jets and missiles suddenly started to fall back rapidly. Logan leaned between the seats to check the scanners, before cheering out. "HA! Have a nice fall, assholes!" Sean glanced at Logan as he slipped back into the seat, asking him perplexed. "What did you do?" Logan flipped the controls back to him, answering a little breathless. "EMP charge. Something we perfected to help us get off planet quickly. Most shuttles have them." Sean relaxed his shaking arms as Logan took over. He hadn't had an asthma attack in years... but he felt like one was coming on. Logan didn't help by telling him a little worried. "The Air Force won't follow us as we get out of their air space, but... as you said... The Space Force might. And since they know who I am, they won't send humans after me."

Logan took a deep breath, telling him confidently though. "Once we leave the stratosphere, they will stop following us. Only shuttles can reach the mesosphere." Sean struggled to keep breathing steady as he told Logan. "And long range missiles..." Logan didn't answer him. The scanner began to go off and Logan cursed. Sean looked but didn't see anything on the scanners. A glitch? A malfunction? Logan bared his teeth, growling out as he looked out the window. "They're here!" Sean looked around but saw nothing outside. Logan hissed at the glass aggressively and from just ahead of them a narrow diamond shaped spaceship rippled into fully view. Along the sharp sides of the spaceships were what looked like hexagonal scales that reflected like mirrors. The ship was so small and narrow that it could only fit one person comfortably, but it was fast. On the other side of them another one rippled into view. Sean tensed in his seat, putting a hand to his chest as he whimpered out. "EMP?" Logan watched them both closely, answering with agitation. "No good. These ships are ours. They're protected. As is this one."

Over the com came a mix of hissing and growling sounds. Logan shut off the coms, growling something in the same language under his breath. From the sides of the Reptilian ships, little shoots opened, and a light began to grow within them. Sean inhaled as goosebumps ran up his arms, whimpering out. "Logan...?" Logan told him to take over, flipping the switch again as he rushed back to the other controls. Sean just got the controls back, when beams of firey red light shot out of the holes in the Reptilian ships! It was both beautiful and frightening to see the beams cross before their ship. Almost like a lethal bug net. Logan punched a button on the Reptilian panel, causing the ship to lurch from the beans hitting a force field that coated the shuttle like rippling paint. Logan tumbled to the back of the shuttle from the jarring clash of the beams and shield. While something in Sean clicked and he mumbled out. "Fuck it. I can do this..." Keeping his hand up on the lever to keep the speed going, Sean turned the wheel to make the ship turn just enough to slip through a hole in the crossed beams.

Looking over the controls briefly, he told himself softly. "Alright. Just another video game. I can do this." Logan groaned in the back, but Sean ignored him to focus. The ships adjust their beams to train on the sides of the ship. Sean looked around, muttering to himself. "They'll burn through the shields... So, what if... We give them a harder fucking target!" Sean yanked the lever for the thrusters back down, causing the shuttle to lose power and go into a free fall. Logan hit the ceiling of the shuttle as it started falling, yelling out. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WE NEEDED THAT!" Sean turned the ship to face straight down, staying focused as he mumbled out to himself. "No. Bigger Space shuttles need to go straight up. This is a smaller craft. Less drag. They'll bring us down if we stay on course... So, let's do something stupid." Sean pushed the lever up to shoot straight down, causing Logan to slam into the back with a yelp. Sean could see the ships changing course to chase after him and he grinned. From the back, Logan yelled out. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!"

Sean couldn't help laughing as he yelled out. "YES! I'M HUMAN! WE INVENTED CRAZY!" Sean yanked the ship into a spin and dived into a thick cloud. Hitting a button that he read as 'heat flares'; he heard what sounded like fireworks start sparking from the back of the shuttle. He knew from a game that they were used to confuse missiles and heat seekers. In his case, he wanted them to see where he was going. Leveling out, Sean drove through the thick cloud unable to see anything but white fluff. Logan crawled across the floor, asking him with a pained growl. "You are not going to outrun them! Sean! What are you thinking?" Sean huffed, answering without looking at him. "I don't plan to lose them... I wanna play chicken." Logan uttered out in a worried voice. "What does that mean?" Sean waited for a bit, making sure they were on his ass. When he was sure, he yanked the wheel to make the shuttle circle overhead in a loop that put him behind them. The Reptilian ships noticed, moving closer together and adjusting their beams to face the front of his ship.

Logan grabbed the seats, uttering out in a panic. "Sean?!" Sean smirked, stating out in frustration. "Better run, assholes!" Logan screamed his name, before he was blown back to the back of the shuttle as Sean shoved the lever forward. The thrusters came on full blast, sending them straight into the back of their ships. The shield on the shuttle sparked, but they had no time to engage theirs. Slamming into the backs of them, their ship engines exploded on impact. Parts of their ship bounced off the shield before what remained fell from the sky. He spotted parachutes as they ejected from their falling ships, but Sean didn't care about them. Turning the ship back up toward the sky, he got them back on course. They managed to break out of the atmosphere and into the calm and quiet of space. Logan limped back up to the front to sit down, turning off the shield and shakily telling Sean to look for the oxygen button. When he pressed it, Sean was able to remove his helmet and resumed struggling to breathe normally. His body was shaking, and his heart was going wild. With everything calmed down, Logan told him a little impressed. "That was... fun. Where did you learn that?"

Sean nervously chuckled out. "Video games... Movies. I didn't think that would work honestly..." Logan chuckled to himself, saying nicely. "Well, it worked. To be honest, I wasn't sure we'd make it this far... She's only a test shuttle." Sean stiffened, asking with growing anxiety. "What? Has this ship EVER been to space?!" Logan nodded, but mumbled out. "It has... for short trips. This is her first... long mission." Sean suddenly had a sinking feeling and glanced into the back of the ship. Besides the two seats, there were two single beds attached to the walls. Otherwise, there was nothing else, except for a few storage shelves that had been put in. Unbuckling himself from the seat, he began to float up as he headed into the back. Grabbing the railing to a bed, Sean breathlessly panted out in a panic. "Logan... This trip could take a week or more... Please tell me that you thought of how we were going to survive up here...?" Logan grabbed his backpack, pulling out Whitney to let her wrap around his neck as he said calmly. "I did... but we may have to ration a bit. I only have what I brought with me. Couldn't load the ship when I didn't know what one it was..."

Sean slowly turned his head, uttering out in a wispy voice. "Oh my god... You needed me to find Dream Chaser?" Logan avoided his eyes, petting Whitney as he mumbled out honestly. "I told you that I couldn't read human... I knew the ship was in the hangar... but I just didn't know which one it was. Why are you acting so surprised? I told you from the start why I needed you." Sean gripped the railing, taking jagged breaths as his asthma started to act up. Logan moved closer to him, asking him a little worried. "Sean? You alright?" Sean shook his head. Logan wrapped his arms around him, holding him in a tight cradling hug. Logan whispered to him in his native language something that was really calming to listen too. When his breathing returned to normal, Logan released him, saying warmly. "We'll be ok." Sean hovered over the bed, pulling out a wool blanket to wrap around himself. Logan uncoiled Whitney from his neck, wrapping her in the wool blanket strapped down to his own bed. Afterward, Logan told him sweetly. "Just get some rest, Sean. I'll take it from here."

Sean shrugged, asking him curiously. "How?" Logan moved to the seat but told him over his shoulder. "I know how to set coordinates. The autopilot should take us to Space Station 01. With any luck... We'll find the Ceres along the way. For now... we just have to wait... and pray." Sean started strapping himself down across the bed, but asked Logan curiously. "So... the cold of space... the loss of oxygen. None of that bothers you?" Logan turned in his seat to look at him, smiling as he answered. "No. My body temperature can withstand vast cold for a time; my body will go into a... Brumation state. I'll move much slower, but I'll survive unless killed. I have special lungs that allow me to breathe in water, space, and oxygen environments." Logan's eyes lowered to the floor as he admitted gently. "I can also go two months without food. It's one of the reasons that I ate before we left. I brought the rations for your sake. Not mine." Sean didn't know what to really say to him. So, he just thanked him. This whole plan was insane, but they had made it this far.

Drifting off to sleep, he dreamed about Mark as his body finally started to completely relax. He prayed that he wasn't too late. He didn't know what he'd do if Mark wasn't alright... but he wanted to stay positive. He had too. For Mark. To Be Continued...