Bad, but not impossible

"Welcome Captain Thorn. Diagnostic engaged." The data scrolled by on the heads up display. Normally you could pull out the data you needed without any effort, but with you head swimming and eyes focusing poorly, you were glad to have the audio feed as well.

SYSTEM'S STATUS:

• Shields: offline
• Weapons: offline
• Communications: offline
• Long range scanners: 55%
• Inertial dampeners: 20%
• Main propulsion: offline
• Maneuvering thrusters: 30%
• Emergency beacon: offline
• Engineering systems: 85%
• Life support: 56%

Actually, all things considered, the Gorgon was in better shape that you had any right to hope for. Lt. Williams had been able to roll the agile corvette over as the missile approached, so although the cargo hold was badly damaged, the critical functions of the ship had been spared immediate distruction. Your attention shifted to your pilot and Ensign Smith, pulling open the crew section of your command report.

CREW STATUS:

• Captain Thorn: injured, head trauma -probable concussion
• First Mate Williams : injured, head trauma - currently ****
• Engineer Smith: injured, head trauma - currently ****
• Weapon's Officer: NA
• Gunnery Sargent: NA

Thankfully both your crewmembers were still alive. As your mind wandered to what about the explosion had caused each of you to suffer from head trauma, you were interrupted by a flash of red light and irritating buzzing. A nav-shot showing a decaying planetary trajectory popped onto the heads-up display.

"Alert: Current trajectory will intercept Verdana 4 in 87 minutes, 12 seconds." The computerized voice announced as calmly as if it were giving a weather report.

Alone, until Williams and Smith regained consciousness, with your ship badly damaged you had to make a choice to escape what was left of the two fleets, still engaged in their terrible embrace. With the main hyperdrive engines offline, following the Acheron was no longer an option, but staying here while the rest of the UTF fleet retreated was not a viable solution either.

Using the remaining scanners you search for other altenatives.

Verdana's large moon was your best chance for hiding your damaged ship. There were a number of deep craters that your sensors could not scan, and the moon's low gravity would be easier for the injured Gorgon to maneuver in. The biggest concern was surviving after the landing, but strangely the moon had some air to breath. Perhaps the inhabitants of Verdana had started some terraforming on their closest neighbor. Your struggling scanners identified several possible structures on the surface that could be manmade (within 70% certainty) and according to a scan, possibly active (55% certainty.)

The second option was to use your thrusters just enough to stabilize your orbit and activate the emergency beacon. Then you'd only need to wait for the ships of Verdana-4 to rescue you and your crew. The memory of Ambassador's Hasan's still twitching heart, made that option seem least attractive of all. Shaking your head slowly to clear some of the cobwebs away you shifted to the pilot's station and accessed the navigation computer to look at the planet below.

One hemisphere of the planet was covered by a large continent. It is not a friendly place for a emergency landing. The main continent is covered by either high snow-covered mountains or dense jungles and not much else. The other hemisphere was more viable with a series of archipelagos in shallow water, but once landed, there were few places to hide from satellite reconnaissance.

Energy signatures from both hemispheres indicate some scattered cities, a dozen or so hot spots indicate centers of high-technology, but most of the planet seems restricted to pre-industrial levels. How in the realms of Hades these people built a fleet that had shamed the UTF fleet sending them reeling in defeat. The dozen or so hot-spots were far more advanced with energy levels close to those found in Ophidian metropolis', cities like those were the ones you had to watch out for. In order to avoid their sensors you would have to pretend to be just another piece of decaying space debris until the very last possible moment.

Your piloting skills were more than adequate to fly the undamaged Gorgon on designated flight paths to land in well marked space-ports. To land a damaged ship in stealth, after a freefall tumble from low orbit all while avoiding the sensors of those dark-haired amazons was far more than you trusted yourself.

You were proud of having lost none of your already limited crew on your first mission as a captain. And where there was life there was hope, but that might be changing soon.

"Computer," you speak to the air above your console, "wake Lt. Williams, I need her in the pilot seat as soon as possible."

"Captain, medical protocols indicate keeping the injured in their protective fields will lead to the highest projected outcomes."

"Acknowledged," you sigh as you issue the order, "Give her the stims. Override authorized by Alexander Thorn, Captain of UTF corvette Gorgon."