Not much happens on the way there, the gunfire doesn’t cease, but no more large explosions happen, only the gunfire. We seem to get closer to it the deeper into the officer quadrants we get.
The door that gets you through to the quadrant isn’t large, it’s just a basic sliding door with a biometric scanner on it. Just a bit more protected than the one for my dormitory, every bit as ornate as all doors on this shithole.
-	“Can you hold this for me for a moment? I need to use my keycard.”
-	“That won’t be necessary.” To my surprise, she just hits the scanner with the shoulder stock. To an even bigger surprise, it seems to work.
-	“Why… did that work?”
-	“Wouldn’t quite be a good idea to board a ship and not be able to walk through doors.” 

I’m not entirely convinced by her lackluster answer nor do I quite understand what it means, but it’ll suffice for now.
I’d only been here a couple of times, whenever I met any of the higher ups— and when I got selected as Chief Artisan… Doesn’t seem like I’ll be finishing my job anytime soon.
The repugnant, uninspired, and lifeless combination of colors present everywhere in the ship was not quite true for this one. They’d developed a new color, red. The color of the Communist Party, reigning dynasty of this decaying astral empire. The sirens spinning on their own axis casting their own light upon the surface only complemented this color perfectly, all that was missing was blood splattered across the walls and floor— Although I wouldn’t want to jinx it now and have it be mine or Juno’s.
The gunfire was still very much distant, and for whatever reason, this section of the ship was completely desolate. And yet Juno’s grip on that gun would not falter, she’d scan left and right with her head, had I not known her I’d mistake her for an owl.
-	“There it is!” Juno couldn’t quite scream or yell, so she just lets out her excitement in a whisper.
Hurrying to wherever she’s leading me at a heightened pace much unlike what calm behavior she’d presented this whole way through, I’m introduced to a door I’d never quite found before, one that would’ve definitely piqued my interest had I access to this section when I was younger.
Juno wouldn’t speak, she’d just glance at the biometrics and jerked her face while maintaining eye contact to me, signaling me to interact with it.
-	“Can’t mess with this one, use your keycard.”
I’d pull my keycard from my coat without thinking too much about it, I never quite understood what these things really were or how they worked, nor was it my paygrade or area of expertise. I just knew that once I put the keycard over, the door would automagically open. 
-	“Alright, get in.”
This room was something else: bare steel, primer paint, machinery unlike anything I’d seen next to my office. Winches with flaked paint and bright-red robotic arms clutching onto something. The ideographic symbol of the middle kingdom plastered across a cylindrical surface— an elevator of some kind, perhaps, judging by the hermetically sealed entrance.
Juno, for the first time in this little field trip, would rest her firearm, now holding it by the carrying handle, walking up to said entrance— one upon many in the room— to inspect it.
-	“Last call for Erisa.” Juno tells me out of the blue, staring at me for a moment before looking back at this door, or otherwise, and doing something to the terminal adjacent to it.
-	“What? What do you mean?” I’m more confused than when I started
-	“Get in, you have to leave now.” The doors open a few seconds after she says this, distracting me from any thoughts I could’ve possibly been having, far too many to withhold, far too many to express, they all clutter my brain and throat and I end up saying close to nothing, just some jittery movements of my jaw, mouth agape as I try to force my body to say something, anything at all.
-	“Wh-why?” I clutch onto her, begging for answers, “Please, Juno, you have to explain to me what’s going on. Where is everyone? What is this place?”
Her stare was not a judgmental one, it was a pained one, like she wasn’t at liberty to say what she really wanted to say.
-	“It’s an escape pod… or, at least, some primitive attempt at one.”
-	“…Does this mean you’re really running away with—“
-	“No, I’m sorry, I lied to you.” This confession of hers hits me like a hydraulic piston. She holds my cheek as she continues speaking. “I can’t go with you, but you can’t stay here.”
-	“Why!?” I slap her hand off me “What do you mean by this!? All this!? What do you mean I can’t stay here!? You speak in tongues and smoke! Why can’t you just tell me!?” She looks pained, even more than I do, likely. No magnification can prevent my vision from getting foggy, I wipe whatever’s obstructing my sight, lifting my eyewear with the same hand.
-	“Erisa—” As soon as I get my sight back, I see the worst possible picture imaginable: Her, crying, in front of me. Lower lip puckered, but the upper one stiff as a spring. She’s suffering, this is genuinely painful for her in a way I didn’t expect, I didn’t want this for her, I didn’t mean to…
Juno gives up on words, she just holds me. I know she dropped the rifle because I can feel both her hands on my back, sliding across, tightening onto my opposing shoulders. I can hear her sniff next to my ear.
-	“Erisa… I… I really, really love you. This entire lifetime of mine would’ve been meaningless were it not for you, and I promise you, I promise you, this is no lie.”
She pulls back, wiping her tears, looking at me in the eyes believing she has composed, only to near immediately fall back into tears. But, steadfast as she is, she retains herself at the very last second.
A small, gentle peck from her, which I don’t deny, is the precursor to her following words:
-	“I don’t want you to forget me, but I also don’t want you to remember this moment.” Those deeply oak-colored eyes of her focus on me once more. “I’m more than just this bad moment, and I won’t let this long goodbye tarnish all the joy I’m grateful to have brought to you. But I want you to promise me, and I really do mean this, Erisa. Promise me, that you’ll fulfill that dream of yours. Promise me you’ll be human. Promise me you’ll be flawed, that you’ll fuck up figuring everything out, that you won’t be bland like this station, that you won’t be censored. Kill, steal, lie if you must, and then shamelessly love. Love someone, love this world, anything at all— Please.”
Her expression slowly mellows out, a smile creeps from behind the drapery of her mournful tears, I attentively listen to her between my sniffing.
-	“The Sunless Paradise is a beautiful place, unlike this station. Down there, it is dirty, it is cruel, it will try to eat you alive. This place is sterile and devoid of emotions, there’s no fear, no anger, no hatred— All of which, mirror images to thrill, passion, and love.” Her hand returns to my cheek, which I now welcome to wipe my tears, she does so softly, with her thumb. “You could only love me because you hated this entire station. So hate the entire Middle Kingdom! And then, you’ll find someone you’ll love more than me, more than anyone else. I know you’ll figure out you’re in love, you’ll notice, like you noticed me.” She tries to chuckle and laugh between tears and desynchronized sniffles postulated by the both of us. “I love you, but don’t ever let that stop you from being happy.”
-	“Are you really not coming with me?”
-	“I can’t, I have to stay.” She brings me closer to her once more, kissing my forehead. “And besides, us cattle… we’re not meant to survive. We’re genetical dead ends, I’d rather part ways like this than have you find my corpse.”
I can’t argue against any of this, she only wants the best for me, and I wish I could be more selfish… But I don’t want to pain her, I don’t want her to suffer any more than this.
-	“Okay.” I grip the documents, stepping forwards as she gets next to the attached terminal.
-	“Oh, and— Erisa?” I’m already inside the pod she referred to, I look back to her as I sit on the only seat present in this claustrophobic device. “I changed my mind, It won’t be Jewel, It’ll be Juno like in Freedom. After all, you’ve set me free.”
-	“I—!” The door shuts on me before I can finish saying, “love y…”
Juno walks back, picking up the rifle and verifying its insides. All the while the machinery on this seat contorts to place some sort of harness on me, before it rotates on one of its axis, slowly, inch by inch, covering the last sight I’d ever take of Juno.
I passed out soon after that, perhaps the sudden increase in velocity was too much for my body to handle.