The small runabout hoisted itself off of the planet en-route to the station. Saitek had tried to talk to his son but had given up after he had asked him to leave. With that behind him, Saitek and his new mate Janice warped away to enjoy an outing to a nearby colony for some R&R.
The craft had been decommissioned and given private status by the base, but Saitek had made sure to upgrade her to the top notch of its ability. Meaning the phasers were charged and the emergency transporter worked. And also the emergency rations were in date.
"Saitek, were being hailed," Janice reported.
"On screen, please," replied the seasoned Vulcan.
[Father, is this wise? Your health is too fragile to ignore,] replied Tyvek.
"Son, it is only for two days. You are more than welcomed to join us."
[Father, I have decided to join you. Do you think we could make a small detour to the Ronin to return Shara to her post?] asked Tyvek.
"Certainly, my son. Transfer your coordinates to me," replied Saitek.
Tyvek and Shara shared the seats at the helm as Saitek and his girlfriend prepared supper in the back.
"Shara, I will miss you," reassured Tyvek to his new love.
"I will miss you as well, but duty comes first," she replied.
"Perhaps in time a position on the Ronin will present itself for me," stated Tyvek.
"That would be wonderful" She smiled back.
Suddenly, power spiked through the console of the craft and the small craft lost continuity.
"Report!" commanded Saitek as if he were in command.
"No power to the helm. We're listing," stated Tyvek.
The craft was now accelerating backwards towards a planetoid.
"We've hit a planetary gravity well. Unless we can get our shields back up we'll burn up in orbit," replied Tyvek.
"Switch to aux power," commanded Saitek.
"Reserve power is activated," added Shara.
"Point our nose down. The shields are strongest there," Saitek added.
The vessel landed hard on the class L planetoid and at such a high rate of speed that it knocked the pilots out of their seats.
And there they laid unconscious for several hours...
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