Yes, and who knows if you were spotted

Williams really is a superb pilot. You decided as you watched how she let the Gorgon tumble through the upper atmosphere like a dozen other destroyed Federation ships until the ionized particles that were burning off her hull masked the bursts of the burns that stabilized the ship.

"Damn," you swear after twenty seconds of gut wrenching maneuvering that changed the ship's tumbling into a smooth glide through the dark sky of nighttime Verdana 4. "That was fucking amazing!"

"Thanks, but that was the easy part." You watched the slender ebony fingers flicker across the control board and a schematic of the dark planet appeared on the holo and you could see a network of glowing green lines superimposed above the land masses. "These bitches have a sensor array as good as any Federation planet, Sir." She let out a deep breath and pointed to a spot further up the coast even closer to the city you had noted earlier. "The Gorgon's passive jammers will hide her from their high-energy scans, but there's no way to do a burn to slow our velocity without lighting up every station on this side of the planet. I'm going to have to do a bunch of aerodynamic hiccups to get the delta-v we'll need, and even then this is the best I can do.

You studied the new projected landing zone, as the Gorgon abruptly jerked upwards for a few seconds before returning to its smooth flight. Twenty seconds later the maneuver was repeated almost causing you to loose what little was left in your stomach from the meal you had hours ago.

"So, you going to buy me that drink, Sir?" Williams didn't take her eyes off the instruments as the Gorgon jerked and stuttered along its flight path towards the new landing zone less than 100 kilometers from the big red dot on the map.

"Yes Mam, you earned it." Williams didn't respond to your praise as she performed yet another one of those nerve-racking jerks, and something about the way she stared at the console with single-minded focus set off warning bells in your head.

"Lt. Williams, you OK?" She responded, but not anywhere near as promptly as she should have.

"Yes, Sir." Her words were formed slowly as if each one required careful thought. "Stims are starting to wear off, but I just need a few more minutes to bring us down."

You accessed Williams' med stats from the computer. Elevated blood pressure, heart rate and respiration, current neural capacity at 84% and dropping. This was exactly what you were afraid of when you ordered the computer to revive Williams.

"I'll take it from here, lieutenant." You told the tall officer as she noticed the sweat trickling down her cheek and over her full lips. "I want you in the med-berth."

"No, Sir." Williams gripped the stick carefully, still not using the thrusters as the Gorgon screamed closer and closer to Verdana. "No offense Captain, but I'm the only one who can land this baby without setting off the planetary defense sensors or breaking up into a thousand pieces."

Your options were limited, you knew enough to land the Gorgon at a spaceport under normal conditions, but without using the ship's engines, landing in the dark on some unmapped beach was beyond your skills. Williams believed it was worth risking her life for this, but ultimately you had to decide if she was right.