Chapter 13: Archer

Archer reached the bridge more quickly than he hoped. He also passed another gaping hole in the hull and realized what Sammel hadn't told him.

They were in serious trouble.

He was surprised to discover the bridge was intact, though the body of the fallen spacer was missing, his second officer long run off. He didn't have time to think about it. He took a seat and keyed the command for the status of the entire ship.

Through the flickering light of the emergency beacons, Archer felt himself paling at the view on the dim but visible main display as hole after hole revealed itself, on deck after deck. It looked random, but he knew it wasn't. Whoever attacked knew exactly where the crew and colonists were housed, knew precisely where to enter the ship for maximum damage and control and knew when the best time for attack would be, with most of the people on board quietly sleeping in their quarters.

Archer wracked his brain for options. He checked the condition of the star drives and felt hope plummet. They were both offline and likely destroyed. He was about to try to reach Sammel when he heard his brother's voice crackle through the com, catching only every other word through the distorting static.

"Engine... bridge... Archer... sublights are... I'm going... up... stand..."

Archer hoped it was good news. There was no way of knowing. When he tried to answer, his panel was dead.

"Damn it!" He slammed both fists into the consoles. Frustration driving him to do something, Archer stood and headed for the closest station, navigation. He was blind, in the dark with no idea where they were. Not true, he corrected himself. He had an idea. He had just checked their location before the attack, standard procedure. And the data would still be in the buffer.

Archer felt his first glimmer of hope as the star chart winked into view. There was one pulsing green light, quite near to where he guessed they had to be. Of course, near in spatial terms meant millions of kilometers. Still, if the sublights could be repaired they had a good chance of making it that far. The idea of abandoning the Day Wanderer broke his heart, but there was no way the force fields holding the wrecked hull together would be able to support them for long.

Archer waited out the agonizing minutes for Sammel to do what he could by scouring the rest of the controls for any further information. He didn't hold out much hope, privately. For all he knew, his screw-up brother was about to put an end to what the aliens started. But he didn't have anyone else to rely on so he held his breath and hoped.

His attempt to distract himself ended in bottled-up rage fed by anxiety. He leaned back from black and unresponsive life-support panel with the impossible urge to smash it to pieces when he felt the familiar hum of the sublights send a tremor through the ship. Archer dove straight for navigation with silent thanks Sammel hadn't blown up the ship after all and did a quick scan. He was right, or as close to right as it mattered. With a little luck and the sublights back with them, they could make it to the colony and safety.

Archer sent the command to the nav system and held on. He had no way of warning the others and just hoped they were all right. The Day Wanderer banked heavily, dragging itself with agonizing tremors to its new heading. Archer winced as the life support panel flickered a

warning before falling silent again. There was nothing else to be done. Their only option was to cross their fingers and make a run for it.

Archer knew almost immediately upon sighting the planet in the viewer they were moving too fast for entry. Even at that distance, it would take the huge ship a great deal of time and power to slow to a safe speed so it could slide through the atmosphere. Landing a ship was a risky venture in any situation. They simply weren't meant to land. It was possible, but only with careful planning and a well-timed program of braking thrusters to ease them down.

Archer had none of that at his disposal. The thrusters were working, yes, but only on manual.

He would have to fly their crippled ship in himself.

Archer gave the com one last try, knowing it was likely none of them would survive the impact.

"This is Archer O'Malley, acting captain of the Day Wanderer. We have been forced into a landing attempt on a colony planet. If you can hear me, strap yourself in and hold on."

Archer watched the red planet grow closer and closer, the sun from its system blooming over its horizon. He headed into night, aiming for the colony, praying he was doing the right thing and not putting more people at risk. He felt the sublight engines die and knew, no matter what, this was their only hope.

As the Day Wanderer groaned on contact with the upper atmosphere, its shell unable to fully deflect the pressure of entry, Archer hunched in his father's chair, knowing he wouldn't survive the impact if he remained where he was, but unwilling to leave until the last of the power to the thrusters was used up.

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