He wasn’t sure he could do it this time.

Normally at this point in the mission he’d succeeded in liberating the artifact or downloading the master plans. He would rocket out of the enemy base, engines blazing blue below.

This time he was going it alone, barely escaping with his life, the mission in tatters and no real grasp on what had happened. Normally the exhultation and adrenaline kicked his reflexes into overdrive for the final escape. This time the rush was quickly giving way to exhaustion, and he wasn’t sure he would survive.

Trying to pull himself together he gritted his teeth, “Come on Rex. Survive this and you can find the answers.”

With that he rolled his ship sharply starboard and boosted, the pursuing missiles exploded far behind him as he burst free of the atmosphere.