Team Vartis, Superstars!

From the very start, they were already short on time. It would have been cutting it close even if they had decided on getting out with four. As it was, twelve would slow them down tremendously.

Although Alekai wanted to try and get the last remaining twelve baby scorpions out, he was no fool.

If it came down to the wire, he would cut bait and bail out with Jesse. Who the hell cared about twelve more scorpions.

Jesse's safety was of paramount importance to him.

Still, he quickly did what he needed to do.

After doing 100 tractor beams on the Gears and 160 on the scorpions outside, he was turning into an expert tractor hauler.

With as much efficiency of movement as possible, Alekai attached the magnets onto each scorpion.

"Team Vartis. You have eight minutes left." Jeremy called out the time.

"Okay Jeremy." Alekai switched over to Jeremy's visual feed. "They've all been hitched up."

"Hurry it up and move out!" Jeremy called out. "You don't have a lot of time left. Jesse, keep your eyes on the clock!"

"We still have seven minutes." Alekai retorted.

Jesse began working her navigation control pad. The Elite Gear began moving.

"I can get us out in five if there are no issues." Jesse assured.

It was slow going.

There were too many and a couple were tangled together. Still, they did their best to pull the twelve towards the hatch.

Partway to the entrance, one of the scorpions got stuck on something.

"We don't have time for this…" Alekai used one of the Elite Gear's arms to try to unwedge the stuck scorpion.

"Four minutes, Team Vartis!"

"Damn. This is not good." Alekai moved one of his fingers. A beam shot out, hitting the stuck scorpion. It detached from the group and slithered to one side.

"Keep moving." He said as he readjusted the payload.

Jesse said nothing.

Losing one scorpion out of the group that was already out there was an acceptable loss, especially since they had hacked at so many in the beginning to get the Gears out.

"Three minutes, Team Vartis. How close are you to the front entrance?" Jeremy's voice came through

"We're almost there!" Jesse responded. Her high soft voice echoed through Alekai's Command Deck above her, causing his heart to skip a beat.

She was too important to still be in this much danger. They were cutting it far too close. He had to get them out.

"Jesse. I'm taking over."

Without waiting for her to respond, he flipped over manual control on Command Deck and revved his handles.

"Let's go!" He yelled out to Bessie and yanked on the handlebars.

The Elite Gear had been steadily heading out under Jesse's navigation.

On his command, it gave a momentary jerk and sped up towards the entrance.

The scorpions behind them clacked and clattered. Whether they could handle all the banging they were getting was none of his concern at this point.

The maw to the entrance was getting closer and closer.

"Two minutes, Team Vartis. Where are you?" Jeremy's worried voice came on the line.

"We're almost at the entrance." Jesse's voice came online.

"One minute, Team Vartis. Get out NOW!" Jeremy shouted as the Elite Gear emerged from the hatch.

"We're coming!" Jesse called out.

"Hurry hurry hurry! You have to clear the hatch before the internal combustion happens!" Jeremy yelled back.

Alekai's face could be seen inside the glass cover of the Elite Gear. With a single yank on his motorcycle handles, the Gear propelled with a punch, breaking clear of the hatch.

Behind it, eleven scorpions trailed out behind them. As the last of the scorpions passed through the hatch, the inside of the Krystabella began to light up.

"Keep moving! You're still too close to the Krystabella!" Jeremy shouted.

Aleka's face was grim. He continued working the gears and, at the last minute, shot a pulse weapon directly at the Krystabella.

The pulse weapon gave the Elite Gear the extra push it needed to speed forward, even with the extra payload behind it.

"…eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Brace for impact Team Vartis!" The Host-Announcer of 'Reality Space Time' shouted the countdown.

Of course, Alekai and Jesse would never hear his words. It was only for the benefit of their monstrously growing fanbase across the galaxy.

There was a tiny soundless flash within the Krystabella starship.

Suddenly, the entire inside of the ship lit up like a lantern. Heat began to exude from the opened maw, radiating outward.

Team Vartis Elite Gear barely made it outside the blast zone along with its payload before the Krystabella starship died in a massive implosion.

The light from the implosion streamed out in streaks around the Elite Gear like a halo, illuminating and the eleven scorpions trailing behind them and backlighting the Elite Gear, turning it into the stuff of super heroes.

The sound of the Host-Announcer could be heard in the background, giving blow-by-blow accounts of the rescue effort.

Visuals panned over to the 160 scorpions still hovering in space, waiting to be picked up and accounted for by the Elite Gears.

To the side, they could see another Elite Gear waiting, but to the audience, they were non-entities.

The real stars were emerging from the burning wreckage, hauling the last of the scorpions in a wild death-defying stunt of the ages.

On every single virtual screen of the highly rated show 'Reality Space-time', the visuals showed the black humanoid Team Vartis exoskeleton Elite Gear, backlit by the bright fiery glow of Krystabella's implosion.

The videos zoomed in on the occupants within the exoskeleton, the stunningly beautiful Jessica Chantal and the devastatingly handsome Alekai Vartis. Their faces were visually frozen in that split second of impact.

Jessica's big blue eyes fringed with long dark lashes widened. Her small pink lips opened with momentary shock.

Her image went viral and within seconds had become a widely shared meme. The ratings jumped hundreds of billions in a few seconds and continued racing upward.

Next to her, in a side-by-side shot was Alekai's grim serious face as he continued to do something with his handlebars.

In the same manner, he too raced to the top of the ratings, instantly becoming one of the hottest heart throbs of the moment, beating out many other blazing male stars.

The visuals again zoomed in on the pale heart-shaped face of Jessica Chantal as she furiously worked on her panels. The audience did not know what the two were doing, but they saw, in real time, what was going on.

They saw Jesse navigate the Elite Gear along with the scorpions behind her. They also saw Alekai's pulse weapon assisting with the propelling effort on the Elite Gear.

The two Space Stars were hauling SCORPIONS out of a burning starship!!!