Shuttle prelude chapter 29: Discovery finds out.

The day of the launch had arrived! Endeavour had already been attached to the fuel tank and SRB’s and was rolling out to the Launchpad as dawn broke, the satellite parts already safely in her payload bay. She was excited as she always was on launch, and she knew Discovery would be happy she was doing this in her place.

For this mission, Endeavour had a crew of five. Commander Murphy Dragonstar, Pilot Tyler Rodriguez, and mission specialists Shine Ortiz, Glitter Ortiz and Rachel Stone. They enthusiastically got on the transport bus as they were taken out to Endeavour on the Launchpad. They had been preparing very hard for this mission, but they weren’t too bothered by the fact that Discovery had been switched with Endeavour. They were still confident that Endeavour could do the job as well as her older sister!

As for Discovery, she was sitting in a grassy area where she could watch the launch at a safe distance. Sitting next to her on lawn chairs were Pat and Eileen, who had come along to watch the launch as well. “Good luck little sis…” Discovery said as Endeavour moved into position for the launch, and Pat gently rubbed Discovery’s nose. “She’ll do great, Disco.” He said gently. “Don’t worry about her too much!” Discovery purred as she nuzzled Pat and Eileen. “I’m not worried, but thanks for reassuring me anyway!” She replied.

Meanwhile, Stephanie had pulled the rental car into the parking lot of the KSC. She got out as fast as she could, not even bothering to lock it. She’d just driven straight from the airport and was looking very flustered in her business suit and high heels, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was making sure that Endeavour was safe.

“Excuse me I need to speak with the director!” She cried, almost out of breath as she reached the receptionist’s counter. The receptionist raised her eyebrows. “Ma’am I’m afraid that only NASA employees are allowed past this point! And it states over here that you are no longer working for NASA, so I cannot let you past this point!” Stephanie sighed. Gordon of course had already informed them that she was fired. “But ma’am please it’s an emergency I really have to speak to him-!” “I’m sorry but I cannot let you through, and that is final!!” The receptionist insisted sharply, and a security guard guided her out. “But-!!” Stephanie didn’t get to finish her sentence before the door closed in her face.

Stephanie paced back and forth on the pavement. The hot sun was making her sweat combined with the stress of having to save Endeavour, and she angrily took off her jacket and dropped it to the ground. “What am I going to do…” She thought in dismay, but that was when she saw Discovery sitting on the grass nearby…

“That’s it!!” She cried. “I’ll tell Discovery!!” She quickly picked up her jacket and ran over to where Discovery was. She didn’t know if Discovery would believe her story or not, but she still had to try. “Excuse me!” She cried at the top of her voice.

Discovery had been watching Endeavour when she suddenly heard a woman’s voice crying out. Jumping, she looked behind her and saw a disheveled looking business woman with blonde hair running towards her. “Discover! Discovery I have to tell you something!”

Eileen had stood up as well to look at her. “Hello… who are-“ She began, but she suddenly recognized the woman. “Are you Stephanie Stilson, the vice director of the Space Shuttle Program?” She asked, and Stephanie nodded. “Y-yes… Well at least I was… Gordon recently fired me. But you’ve got to listen to me! Gordon… He’s planning something!”

When she heard this, Discovery immediately turned to face her. “That swine Gordon??!! Ugh I KNEW he was trouble!!” She snarled as she ground her teeth. “What’s he got planned??” Eileen quickly asked. Stephanie, seeing that Discovery and Eileen were likely to believe her as they seemed to be well aware of Gordon’s cruelty, immediately started telling them. “Gordon wanted to get rid of Discovery,” She started, “So when he heard that she was supposed to fly this mission, he revealed to me yesterday that he planted a bomb in the external fuel tank for this mission that’s set to detonate when the sensors read the tank is full! But after Discovery had that incident with her brakes, Endeavour was swapped with you, Discovery! And now Endeavour has the rigged tank over there…”

Discovery’s eyes were wide, Pat’s fists were clenched and Eileen’s hand was over her open mouth. All of them were equally shocked at Gordon’s horrific plan to murder Discovery. “I KNEW THAT SWINE GORDON WAS UP TO NO GOOD!!!” Discovery snarled as she glared at the ground. “WHEN I SEE HIM I AM GOING TO PERSONALLY RIP HIM TO PIECES AND-!”

They suddenly heard the shrieking of tires, and another rental car pulled up in the parking lot of the KSC and they all saw Gordon climb out! Immediately, Discovery rushed over and snarled in his face. “YOU HORRIBLE MAN, GORDON!!!!” She screamed in rage. “YOU TRIED TO KILL ME AND NOW YOU’RE GOING TO KILL MY SISTER??!!! HOW DARE YOU???!!!” Gordon sputtered under his breath as he tried to break free. “I-I didn’t mean to hurt Endeavour!! The bomb is supposed to be for you only!! To get rid of you forever!!!”

Discovery snarled in his face as Eileen, Pat and Stephanie ran up. “The tanking starts in a few minutes, Disco!! Endeavour is going to die if we don’t do something!!” Eileen cried. Discovery growled at Gordon as she shoved him a second time. “I’ll deal with you later, Gordon.” She snarled before turning to Eileen. “Eileen quick!! You and the others go to Launch Control and try to get them to stop the tanking! I’m going to sever the fuel lines at the launch pad!!”

Eileen, Pat and Stephanie didn’t need to be told twice. All three of them ran off towards the launch control building as fast as they could. Eileen wiped sweat from her head as she flung open the door. She knew it was unlikely that the people at Launch Control were going to believe their rather far fetched story about a bomb in the fuel tank. But they would have to try anyways!

Meanwhile Discovery was racing towards the launch pad as fast as she could. It was a race against time to save Endeavour before it was too late…