“That should work Eddie… Good job.” Mayvilis patted the young fly boy on the shoulder before she made her way back to her chair next to Raiem. She leaned into him before continuing in a whisper. “He is good. I didn’t even need to correct anything.” 

Raiem smiled. He knew she was referring to the very precise flight path that Eddie had thrown together quickly after their staff conference had wrapped up only moments prior. It was high praise coming from someone with such a flight record of their own.  Everyone had mobilized with a passion after they had solidified their plan to match the orbit of the rogue planet and leverage its gravitation pull to maintain an orbit, which would prevent them from sinking further toward the event horizon of the black hole. 

“Everyone ready?” Raiem straightened out his posture and looked around the room, ensuring he took a moment to make eye contact with those who were facing him. There were nods from the officers at their stations, and there seemed to be a unified and palpable determination between them. Raiem couldn’t help but feel proud of how well everyone had come together to face their predicament. That in itself gave him bolstered confidence that they could pull this stunt off.

“Hilga. Were you able to dig up what we need?” Raiem voiced this after he had tapped his comm badge to establish a connection with engineering. 

“You’ve got it, but I will remind you that this is it, Captain. We will have enough to maintain orbit around the planet if we successfully align ourselves as planned–for some time anyway.” Hilga’s reply was to the point but also reminded everyone how important it was to get this right the first time. 

“Alright. Lieutenant Sinclair – prepare to engage your flight path on my mark. Lieutenant Atraix and Nalh, maximize deflector output to counteract gravitation pull in coordination with Sinclair’s waypoints.” Raiem gave his orders in a confident and firm tone. 

“Ready to fly on your mark, Captain.” Eddie replied.

“Deflector calibration pattern alpha, ready.” Nalh confirmed her readiness too.

“Deflector calibration pattern beta, ready.” Atraix gave the final confirmation, ready to alternate patterns in coordination with Eddie and Jezria as planned. 

Raiem turned his head to the right and made eye contact with Mayvilis once more, she gave him a nod in agreement and he gripped his armrests. It was one of those few moments in life where time itself almost seemed to slow down, where one becomes acutely aware of their own breathing, their own muscle tone, where every sense is heightened and elevated. 

“Engage!”

Eddie locked in the engage button, and a responsive chirp seemed more audible than normal to everyone on the bridge. The Calistoga lurched forward, no longer fighting the gravitational pull of the black hole. Instead, the impulse engines roared to life once more and provided several bursts of forward momentum. The thrusters engaged to cause some degree of tilt, which put the vessel in an angled approach to the event horizon. Calistoga looked as if an old earth automobile was tilted and driving on the front and back right sided tires.

“Forward momentum is more than expected. Adjusting to compensate. I need more deflector power.” Eddie called out, intently moving his hands across his console. 

“I’m cutting alpha pause short. Callisto, you should be good.” Nahl called out.

“Aye. Taking over now.” The deflector power spiked again, helping to counteract the pull once more. “Momentum should be slowing down some Eddie.” Atraix confirmed. 

Raiem remained silent and worked on controlling his breath. He could almost taste the tension he was feeling on the bridge but understood that things appeared to be under control. His team members communicated well with one another, and he didn’t want to add a voice to the mix unless needed. They were leading this well.

The next ten minutes or so went pretty smoothly. Atraix, Nahl, and Sinclair had continued to communicate well and adjust where needed. The final stretch of the plan approached, and it seemed as though things would work out until Eddie looked back with a panicked expression. 

“I’ve lost impulse engines. Captain. I need one final burst in order to align us up properly.” Sinclair reported.

“Hilga.. What’s going on?” Raiem had established a communication link with her once more. 

“I can’t maintain the power requirements… I need more….” Hilga replied but Raiem cut in before she could finish. 

“Take what you need. Shut down life support from lower priority areas and decks and evacuate those sections. Just get us what we need Commander.” It was a bold move and probably would do little to help with morale, creating even tighter quarters for the crew, but the alternative was worse. 

It was another tense minute, but Raiem sighed with relief when Eddie reported that he had the power to use impulse engines again. “I got it. We are entering a secure orbit now!” Sinclair practically cheered as he provided verbal confirmation of their success. The rogue planet had become larger on the viewscreen, and it looked like they were in a low stationary fly-by in a high orbit. 

“We did it…. Great work, everyone!” There were some audible cheers from folks, and the mood lightened immediately.

The celebratory spirit was interrupted by a proximity alarm, which immediately caused Raiem to look up at Lieutenant Atraix. “Captain. Something is coming towards us from the planet. An energy formation of some sort, about the size of a standard torpedo. Sensors cannot distinguish what it is. It seems to be in some sort of spatial flux.” 

“I thought there were no life signs on the planet.” Eddie chimed in, recalling the discussion they had during their conference. 

“There still isn’t,” Nahl confirmed after verifying the scanning data she had and confirming it with current readings. 

“It’s picking up speed, Captain. It’s on a direct collision course for us.” Callisto updated everyone with urgency. 

“Red Alert!” Raiem called out in response to Callisto’s report.