Chapter 41 - The Unfiltered View

Sweat ran down Luca’s temple the second he strapped on the hard EVA helmet. The thing weighed a ton compared to his combat suit, and it sat wrong on his head no matter how he adjusted it. He caught Emily’s eye and grinned. “Ready to make history, Em?”

Their combat suits were just as pressurized and armored, and far more comfortable. However, their general lack of energy cells made it impossible to activate them unless there was a genuine emergency. The EVA suits, with their rechargeable batteries and oxygen tanks, were clunkier and made for missions like this.

“Let’s show this new world what we’re made of.” She flashed him a smile, but he caught the wince she tried to hide as she adjusted her helmet. The med pod had done its job, but she still moved like someone pretending the pain wasn’t there. He knew the look. He’d been watching for it.

They were about to set foot on an alien world, and he was leading the damn charge. This wasn’t Sol, where others had established bases and protocols were part of a routine. This was new territory in every possible way.

"Alright, team," Luca called out. "Emily and I will take the Peregrine out. The rest of you, wait for my signal before exiting the airlock."

"But what's the protocol for—" Ryan started.

"It's protocol, people. Don't question it—No, Ryan, you won't find it in the manual; I just made it up. I'm going out with Emily in the Peregrine, you know, before she dies of radiation or whatever."

The crew exchanged knowing looks.

Emily’s cheeks went pink.

“Who gets to step on the planet first? Shouldn’t we be recording this?” Chris asked. Good question. Luca still hadn’t made an official call on that one.

“We’ll all take turns stepping onto the planet,” Luca said, gesturing for them to head to the airlock. “And yes, Chris, we should definitely be recording this.” Gotta have that for the history books, or the socials, or whatever.

With that settled, Luca and Emily made their way down the stairs from the crew compartment and into the Peregrine. The vehicle was a beast, all sleek angles and heavy armor, as if someone had taken a military transport, crossed it with a high-end RV, stuck on an airlock, and slapped an energy turret on top just in case things got interesting.

---

Its official name, when scanned, came up as an LCV-R 'Peregrine', an acronym for "light combat vehicle - reconnaissance class." But to Luca and his crew, it was home on wheels, a forward base, and their best shot at survival when things went south.

He ran his hand over the reinforced plating, feeling the cool, solid armor beneath his fingertips. This thing had already proven itself on different moons back in Sol, rolling out on terrain that should’ve left it stuck, buried, or flipped. Maybe they couldn’t drive it into Venus and expect it to come back in one piece, but if a place had gravity, the Peregrine could make it work.

Luca still remembered the first time they’d found it in a portal, a pitch-black, no-mercy delve against a swarm of Carbon Hounds. It had gone to hell fast. They had been knee-deep in loot, trying to haul ass back to the exit portal, when the beasts rushed down on them. The Peregrine had held strong, but the damn things were relentless, slamming into the sides, trying to flip them, trying to tear through the armor. He’d been on the roof, taking potshots, when one of them, a hulking brute with a jaw big enough to snap him in half, had leapt up and damn near dragged him off.

He could still feel the phantom sensation of sheer panic, his fingers scrabbling to grab a rail as the truck rocked beneath him. Then, the turret had spun to life. A burst of energy fire had seared through the night, slamming into the hound just as it was about to pull him over the edge.

Alessio had been inside the Peregrine. He had been twelve years old at the time, but he’d kept his head, flipped on the turret, put on the headset, and blasted that thing straight to hell.

By the time they drove out of that portal, the Peregrine was theirs.

Chris ruined the moment by poking his head in. “So, are we going, or are you two just gonna stand there making out with the truck?”

Emily rolled her eyes, pushing past Luca toward the passenger seat. “Shut up, Chris. We’ll make out in the truck if you can’t take a chill pill.”

As she climbed into the Peregrine, Luca reached out and steadied her with a hand on her lower back. She gave him a look that said I'm fine, stop hovering and thank you at the same time, then sank into the seat.

Luca dropped into the driver's seat with a grin he couldn't have wiped off with a crowbar. His stomach was doing something between butterflies and a full-blown riot. "Let's get the show started," he said, mostly to himself.

Chris and the rest of the crew had gone back into the crew compartment of the Percival, the door sealing behind them. The dropship’s ramp lowered, exposing the Peregrine to the alien atmosphere.

---

The Peregrine's systems hummed to life around them as they ran through pre-deployment checks. Emily hit the starter procedure on her console, her hands moving a beat slower than usual. She was still recovering, and they both knew it. But her fingers tapped through the sequence with purpose, and he could tell she was itching to get out there.

"All systems green," she reported, then glanced at him with the smile she only used when she knew exactly what she was doing to him. "Ready when you are, Captain."

Luca's hands stilled on the controls. Chris's crack about making out in the truck was supposed to be a joke, but now his brain wouldn't let it go. They'd spent months dancing around each other. He'd nearly lost her. He'd promised Ryan he was done being an idiot about this.

"Emily..." he started, then reached up to flip open his visor. "I can't say this through a helmet." Emily smiled and opened hers as well, the familiar warmth of her presence suddenly more real, more intimate in the small cabin.

She turned to face him fully, one eyebrow up, and the look in her eyes told him she already knew where this was going. Which made one of them, because he was winging it.

"Em, I... I need to talk about us." The words tumbled out before he could lose his nerve. "I know I've been incredibly dense, and probably a huge idiot about this, and you were right... I made a lot of assumptions. Especially before we left Genesis."

Emily's expression softened, but she remained silent, letting him continue.

"But after the flare, and seeing you in that med pod..." His throat tightened. "I kept thinking about what this mission looks like without you, and I couldn't. I can't keep pretending I don't feel this."

He turned in his seat to face her, his hands not entirely steady as he reached for hers. "I've been dodging this since high school because I was scared of screwing it up. Scared of losing you. But I almost lost you anyway, and that was worse. That was so much worse."

Emily's eyes were bright. She squeezed his hands.

"I love you, Em. I'm in love with you. I have been for years, probably since the first day of high school. I just... I was too much of a coward to do anything about it." He managed a self-deprecating smile. "And you've been dropping hints for years while I've been stumbling around like an idiot."

She laughed, a sound that was part relief, part joy. "You really have been incredibly dense, Luca Rossi."

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for making you wait, for making you doubt—"

Emily silenced him by pressing her gloved finger to his lips. "Hey. I'm done waiting for you to figure your shit out." Her eyes sparkled with that familiar mischief. "Does this mean you're finally going to kiss me?"

Luca's gaze dropped to her lips. His brain shorted out. "I've been wanting to do this for years."

"Then stop talking and do it already." She leaned closer, smiling.

She was close enough that he could feel her breath on his face. Her eyes closed. He leaned in—

"FINALLY!" Zoe's voice crackled through the comm system, making them both jump apart.

"Awkwaaaaaaaaaard," came Joey's mortified voice.

"Oh my god," Ryan's voice cut in, thick with emotion and laughter. "I'm crying!"

"Danny, did you record that?" Chris asked, barely containing his amusement.

"Saved to the log!" Danny's cheerful confirmation rang out.

Heat crawled up Luca's neck as he stared at the comm panel. The channel had been open the entire time. Emily had her face buried in her hands, shoulders shaking with laughter she wasn't even trying to contain.

"Well," Emily said, peeking through her fingers, "I guess that answers whether the whole crew knew about us."

"I'm never living this down," Luca groaned, though he was fighting a smile.

"Worth it though," Emily said softly, reaching for his hand. "Even with our audience."

"Still ready to make history, Em?" he asked, echoing his earlier words but with an entirely different meaning now.

"With you? Always," she replied, squeezing his hand. "Let's show this new world what we're made of."

---

Luca rolled the Peregrine to a stop a few yards from the dropship and killed the engine. He stood up, sealed his helmet, and took a breath that did absolutely nothing to slow his pulse. Between the confession and the crew turning it into a live broadcast, his brain was running hot.

Emily sealed her own helmet. Through the visor, her cheeks were still pink. He imagined his looked about the same.

He made his way to the Peregrine’s rear ramp controls, Emily right behind him. He keyed the sequence. A hiss of equalizing pressure filled the cabin, then the locks thudded open. The ramp lowered.

And Luca saw Proxima Centauri b with his own eyes.

Holy shit.

The sky was pink. Not the angry, bloody red he’d expected from a red dwarf system, but a softer thing, almost warm. Like someone had taken a sunset and stretched it across the entire sky and left it there. The star itself hung low on the horizon, close enough to feel personal.

New Dawn’s rings arced overhead, faint and pale, catching just enough light to remind him this wasn’t Earth. As if he needed the reminder.

He turned from the ramp and held out a gloved hand to Emily. He'd made her a promise. Time to keep it.

Her fingers laced with his through the armor.

"Ready for our first date?" he asked over their private comm.

She laughed, soft and low, and his whole chest went tight. "Smooth, Rossi."

Together, they walked down the ramp. Their boots hit alien soil at the same moment.

Luca turned, slow, taking it in. He kept Emily's hand and kept stealing looks at her face through the visor. The pink light caught her features in a way that made it hard to focus on the alien planet he was supposed to be focused on. Priorities, Rossi. You're literally on another world.

The flora didn't look like anything he'd ever seen. Short, thick plants clustered near the ground with bulbous trunks, and taller ones stretched up with curling tendrils that reminded him of ferns, if ferns had decided to get weird about it. The grass around them grew waist-high and reddish, swaying in a breeze that smelled like nothing he could name. It wasn't bad, just alien in a way his brain couldn't file anywhere familiar.

Nothing out there called to them, and nothing moved except the wind pushing through the grass with a dry hiss while somewhere nearby water ran over rocks. Their landing had probably scared off every living thing within a mile. For now, the planet was theirs.

"Luca." Emily's voice came over their private channel, quiet in a way that made him look at her. She was staring out at the landscape, then back at him, and her eyes were wet. "We're here. We actually made it."

Something in his chest cracked open. The thing you've been working toward is real, you're standing in it, and the person next to you is the reason it matters. That kind of cracking open.

"Look at this place," she said, gesturing at the alien meadow with her free hand. But when he turned back to her, she was already watching him. The pink light caught the flush on her cheeks through the visor, and she was smiling at him in a way that made his brain go completely offline.

The gravity pulled a little heavier than the ship's artificial field, just enough to notice. He adjusted his stance, flexed his free hand, and felt solid ground under his boots on a planet that orbited a different star. His brain was still catching up to that.

"It's incredible," he said. He was looking at her.

"The planet?" she asked, tilting her head.

He squeezed her hand. "Sure. The planet."

Emily's smile widened, and she winked at him, slow and deliberate, and Luca's train of thought derailed completely.

He keyed his external comm, still holding Emily's hand. "It's safe to come out," he told the crew. His voice came out steady, which was impressive given that his brain was split between I'm on an alien planet and she winked at me and I forgot how words work.

He looked back at the pink sky, the alien grass, the rings overhead, Emily beside him. He didn't have a word for what this felt like. He didn't need one.