T'aafhal Legacy 1: Ghosts of Orion by Doug L Hoffman Page B

Though part of the same stellar system, it took light more than thirty hours to travel from A to C. The Earth ship was about to make the same trip in fewer than five minutes. 
    This transit would be the shortest, and quickest, ever made by an Earth ship. Such a brief excursion into alter-space required the utmost care with its entry parameters; the course and velocity must be spot on or, when the computer tried to trigger the transition to alter-space, nothing would happen. Even worse, they could enter alter-space on a trip to some unintended destination. Mizuki had triple checked the parameters and passed them to Bobby, who was manning the helm himself for this maneuver.
    “We are ready for the transit, Captain,” Bobby reported.
    “We are tracking all parameters accurately?”
    “One hundred percent balls on accurate, Sir,” Bobby replied with a smile. In years past Bobby and Billy Ray had manned the ship's helm together in many a tight situation. “The computer has the conn for transit.” 
    “Acknowledged, Sailing Master Danner,” the ship replied. The warning klaxon sounded.
    “Transit in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”
    Space rippled for what seemed a longer than usual time as the Peggy Sue slipped from one reality into another. The normally transparent panels in the ship's nose went opaque. The minutes crept by with glacial slowness as the crew marked the passage of time in silence. None wanted to consider what not emerging after the calculated interval would mean. Just over four interminable minutes later, the computer spoke again.
    “Emergence in 5, 4, 3...”

Part Two
    Devils In The Darkness

Chapter 7
    Emergence, Gliese 667C
    The ship shuddered and the normal Universe returned. The view forward was unexpectedly dark—it should have held a head on view of the red dwarf star that was their destination. Instead the view ahead was a starless black. 
    “What the bloody hell?” said Nigel.
    “Shit!” said Bobby, hands dancing over the controls. “I need emergency power, now!”
    The view forward spun to show the backlit limb of a planet. A very large planet that was far too close.
    “Captain, we have emerged 2.36 seconds prematurely from alter-space,” the ship's computer announced as the collision alarm sounded. 
    “Not now, Peggy Sue,” replied the Captain in a dead calm voice. “Engineering, Bridge, we need emergency power to the engines.” 
    The looming planet continued to grow larger at an alarming rate as the ship's bow swung toward the backlit arc that was the planet's edge. Instruments showed that the emergency antimatter reactor was online and acceleration was edging above 60G.
    “It might be a good idea to strengthen the forward and bottom shields,” Bobby said, while making small adjustments to the controls. “We are going to kiss the atmosphere.”
    “Roger that, pardner,” replied Billy Ray, Navy protocol forgotten as the two friends struggled to save their ship. Seconds later glowing streaks formed around the bow, dim and flickering at first but rapidly turning into a bright cocoon of fire. The view outside the ship disappeared as the planet's atmosphere registered its outrage at being violated by an object traveling a thousand kilometers a second. Then, as quickly as it had started, the sheath of plasma vanished and the half lit disk of the planet visibly fell away in the ship's wake. 
    “Negative impact,” Bobby said, “the course ahead is clear, Captain.”
    Across the bridge gasps could be heard as people who had been unconsciously holding their breath began breathing again.
    “Very good, Helm,” acknowledged Billy Ray. “That entrance was a mite more exciting than I would have liked.” 
    “Sorry, Captain,” Bobby said with a smile. “We seem to have skipped off the atmosphere of 667Ce. I hope the science types got some good samples as we passed through.” 
    “Peggy Sue, care to explain how we came out of alter-space into a near collision with a planet?” the Captain