Prologue: Flight of the Valkyries
"This is Valkyrie 09 to Homeport, requesting launch clearance."
"Copy, Valkyrie 09. You are number three in the queue. Please proceed to launch tube 17 and await the go-ahead."
"Roger that."
The spacecraft's engines spooled up with a deep, hearty hum as lights along its sides flickered to life. A dull white glow rose from the engines on its rear and underside as it slowly, ponderously lifted off the hard metal surface of the hangar. Turning its blue-striped steel-grey hull, it slowly started floating towards a large circular door in the side of the hangar marked 17. The door opened as the vessel approached, revealing another door behind it. The spacecraft floated slowly in between the doors, its thick landing pads coming to rest on the rails of the launch tube. There was a hiss of air escaping the craft, and the outer door opened.
"Valkyrie 09, you are clear for launch. Good luck, and godspeed."
With a flash of red lights and a sudden release of built-up energy, the spacecraft shot out of the side of the carrier and into the inky blackness. A desert planet below filled the two pilots' views as they started flicking levers and pushing buttons, readying the small ship's many systems.
"Bus A is primed. Bus B is warming up. Cycling portside oxygen tanks now." a female voice said.
"Coolant pump A is completing checks now, everything is nominal. Coolant is active, fuel pumps are warming up. Prepare for fusion power in thirty seconds."
"Roger. Pump B is overperforming slightly, dialing down input. Bus B is online, maneuvering thrusters are ready to go on your command."
"Backup power at seventy-five percent and dropping, fusion ignition in ten seconds. Engines are warming up, preparing for power transfer."
"I'm reading an anomaly in the warp drive's power system, please confirm."
"I see it, too. Rerouting power through secondary conduits and... everything's good. Fusion should be coming online just about... now."
With a deep hum and a flickering of lights, the small vessel's internal fusion reactor powered on. The ship's engines faded from dull white to bright neon blue, and the navlights along her surface started shining. The two pilots cheered at another successful mission launch, before turning back to their screens.
"Jen, where are we heading to now?" the pilot in the left side of the cockpit asked. The woman turned to him with a smile on her face.
"Well, we've got direct orders from Command to go into the Zone. You haven't gone this far out yet, have you, Will?"
The man gulped and looked down. "No I have not." His previous expression returned. "But it can't be that bad. I mean, we've got a good ship, right?"
Jen smiled. "Of course." A beeping filled the cabin. "Oh, looks like we've got a new message. Coordinates."
Will pulled up the message on his HUD and punched the numbers into the console. "Coordinates locked, ready to initiate the jump on your mark."
Jen looked at the console, noting the time. "Three... two... one... Mark!" she shouted. Will pushed a button on the console, and instantly the view through the windows started distorting. The ship instantly went from an infinitesimally small fraction of the speed of light to over twenty thousand times the speed; yet, from within the ship, it felt like nothing more than a minor jolt.
"Well, Jen. We've got about thirty minutes until we break warp at... Vespudo, according to the coordinates." Will said, standing up from his chair. "I'm going to go get a small drink. Don't break anything while I'm gone, alright?"
Jen nodded, leaning back in her chair. "I'll try." she said over her shoulder as Will walked aftwards through the cabin of the small ship. He opened a small minifridge and had just pulled out a tall, cold bottle lined with condensation when a thud echoed throughout the ship. Running towards his seat, he dropped the bottle in the chair's cupholder and immediately put on his HUD helmet.
"Will, we've got a coolant underflow through pump B. Input rate's already been increased automatically, but the drive's heating up."
"Running a systems check... Aw, crap." Will said, looking at his monitor.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Undervolt in Bus B. Coolant pumps are losing power. Drive's heating up. Looks like the secondary power for the drive's overheating and causing the entire system to fail."
"Homeport, this is Valkyrie 09. We're performing an abort-to-sublight about sixty lightyears from target. We've suffered a catastrophic drive failure and cannot maintain warp. We will attempt contact again once we are in a safe situation."
No response.
An explosion rocked the ship. The stricken spacecraft dropped out of warp instantly as its drive heated to millions of degrees fahrenheit with the sudden, unprepared transfer of energy. It shot out of the back of the ship in a blue-hot stream, flying out into the blackness of space at insane velocities.
"Run a systems check! Start the distress beacon!"
Jen looked at her HUD, worry creeping into her voice. "I'm not getting a reading from any of the propulsion systems. Reactor looks like it's about to eject itself, and the RCS tanks are leaking. Atmospheric control surfaces aren't responsive, there's multiple hull breaches in the aft, and we're running on backup power," she said.
Will, meanwhile, checked the scanners. "We're on a collision course with what looks like a volcanic planet. Scanners say atmosphere temp is about 800k over the continent we'll be hitting." He sighed. "Shields are online, at least, so we won't burn up on our way down."
Jen sighed. "Comms are down. Looks like we're going to be on our own out here."
"Are the cryostasis pods broken?" WIll said, looking behind him.
"No. Do you think we should use them?"
"We could at least stay in them until the Fleet finds us," he said.
Jill nodded. "Sounds like a plan. It'll probably only be a year or two, anyway, with how close this planet is to Selna."
Will nodded, before suddenly looking at the screen. "We're hitting atmo in a few seconds. We'll be coming in hot, and we'll hit the ground almost head-on, so we might want to get in soon."
Both of them nodded, then ran to the back of the cabin where the pods were located. They stepped into their respective pods on opposite sides of the cabin, and waited for the doors to close. Then, with a hiss of air, all was quiet.
The spacecraft sped into the atmosphere like a bullet, its shield flickering with the stress of reentry. Alarms started going off, unheard by the two unconscious crew. Sparks flew from the consoles as the craft's interior heated up, and various warnings started up as the ground loomed closer. The air did a decent job of slowing down the vessel, at least, so when it hit the ground, its heavily-reinforced alloy construction whined, bent, cracked, and ripped, but the majority of the spacecraft remained in one piece. It bounced a few times and slid a good distance before coming to rest upside-down in a wide valley, motionless, a white flicker against a black volcanic hellscape.
