In the blue glow of the hyperdive shield, the Captain’s Assistant, Alice Jameson, pushes the button to enable the microphone connected to the ship’s speaker system. “Attention, all onboard. Please ensure that you are locked in your stations securely. We will be dropping out of hyperspace momentarily. Brace for Reentry in 5, 4, 3.” 

Assistant Jameson continued her countdown, knowing no one could hear her over the sensory overload of reentry. After so many jumps, she had grown accustomed to it, enough to be able to speak during reentry, but only the Captain and Master Engineer had effectively built up enough of a tolerance for the overload to be barely noticeable. She nodded to him after a moment, showing that everyone at the bridge at very least, should be able to hear him. 

“Well done everyone. Another successful jump. Let’s begin preparation to wake those in Cryo. Again, Thank you all for the hard work.” The crew was in a good mood, Hyperdrive was still relatively new and as such, was dangerous for many crews. The Star Rider, and its crew, currently held the longest streak of hyperdrives without incident. With this one being added to the list, they were at 36. The fact that most of their journeys were to send Emergency workers and pick up refugees from dangerous or poor planets, well that was just the cherry on top.

The crew turned back on their stations and began to receive transmissions from throughout the ship. Assistant Jameson soon turned to the bridge window. It was pitch black. In the shadow of a planet then. She looks to the Captain, silently asking him to turn on the lights. He catches her eye and nods, before turning back to his station. She sees him get a call from the engine room before she turns away. She goes onto her console and runs the command needed to turn on the ship's lights. She looks up and sees the lights flick on, before her, and anyone else looking out the bridge window, have their faces morph into one of horror. Instead of the planet they were expecting to see, there is a ship graveyard.

The Captain, Alex Samuels, nods to his assistant before turning back to his station. He is about to run a diagnostic, when an emergency call from the engine room pops onto his screen. He answers it quickly. “Engine Room, Report.” He states, calm and clear, though his mind is anything but. Thoughts are racing through his head. He hopes that if there was an issue in the engine room during hyperdive, it wasn’t the reactor. Steeling himself, he prepares for the bad news, because why else would they use the emergency line.

The Master Engineer, Steven Porter’s voice was heard through his headset. “Captain this is an issue. The ship’s battery is draining rapidly. As in, we were at 85 when we dropped and we’re now at 78. We don’t know what’s causing it, but we have both scanner and research on the line with us.” The Captain’s mind reeled. Why was the battery draining so fast? They dropped out less than 5 minutes ago and they were down 7%? That wasn’t good. That wasn’t good at all. 

The Captain spoke up. “Is there any possibility, the batteries malfunctioned during reentry?” He looked back to the bridge window. His mind went blank as his eyes widened in fear. He could vaguely hear someone speaking through his headset, but his mind couldn’t comprehend it while faced with the chilling, silent story told in front of him. A massive graveyard of ships, debris and scrap floating in orbit in front of him. He could count at least 5 different part designs, leading him to the conclusion that there were at least 5 ships scrapped in this graveyard. 

“-Ptain! Captain! Are you still with us?!” His senses returned and he could hear the head of the scanner team calling him. He snapped out of the fear fueled stupor and snapped into emergency protocol mode. He silently got his team’s attention and started issuing emergency commands to them.

“Yes. I’m back, and I’m issuing Emergency protocols immediately. The Star Rider is currently in the middle of a Graveyard with at least 5 ships, possibly more. I’ve given commands to the bridge and they are relaying protocol to Cryo, Maintenance, and Storage. Have your second’s relay the information to your Sub-stations, and repeat what you said.” Captain Samuels looked to his tem seeing them all working quickly to relay information and get anything important back.

Lead Scanner, Kathryn Mathews, began to speak. “Scanner and research have been working on it, and have received confirmation from Power that the batteries are fine. With this information, and information from scans, we’ve come to the conclusion that an Apocalyptic class event has happened on the surface of Caldi, the planet we are currently both in orbit and in the shadow of. This event has effectively turned the planet itself into an EMP that is draining our battery.” 

The Captain picked up the underlying words in her statement. It’s either that, or the entire system is the EMP. He can only hope that’s not the case. “Okay, Relay the message to power, to transfer us into emergency mode, other than our four departments. We need to get out of orbit, or we are going to be stuck in the shadow of Caldi and the solar panels wont work.” 

The Engine Master’s voice ends the short silence. “Captain We’re shutting down the reactor. If we don’t do it now, we’re not going to,” As he speaks, the lights on the bridge dim and The Captain feels lighter than normal. Good, Power has lowered the output to lights and grav. Non essential Substations, should only be circulating oxygen now.  “have enough power later, and it’s only slowing the drain, not stopping it.” The Engine Master finishes.

Captain Samuels nods to himself. “Understood, divert as much power as we can spare to the engines. We’re going to attempt to exit Caldi’s orbit.” The Captain looks to Assistant Jameson and sees her acknowledge him and give orders to the rest of the bridge. “How much power are we at now?” He asks, fearful of what the answer may be.

Instead of Master Porter as he expected, the Head Researcher, Wallace Lee answers. “We’re at 54% and dropping, but with the reactor off, it's actually dropping slower, rather than faster.” The Captain freezes in confusion. What? How does that even make sense? They turn off the thing that is generating power and suddenly they are losing less? “We’ll keep you updated if anything changes.” 

Captain Samuels turns to Assistant Jameson and nods. “Attention bridge. Spare power has just been diverted to engines. I need you all to be ready on the weapons. We are going to attempt to exit orbit and we need you to shoot down any debris in the way. We’re taking the shortest line possible, so obstacles cannot be in our way. Is that understood?” After the chorus of “Yes Sir!” and “On It!” that sounds, he turns back to his console. “Get to your stations then!” Everyone at the bridge is facing their consoles prepared.

The engines flare and The Star Rider lurches forward. It groans and the weapons begin to fire when suddenly, power is cut from the engines and weapons completely. The ship’s exterior lights go out and the interior ones flicker before coming back. The Captain yells on his headset concerned. “What Just Happened!?” His crew is in a state of panic as Lee’s voice sounds back

“It’s heat! The planet is draining heat, not energy! That’s why the drain slowed down after we shut off the reactor, it cooled down!” The Captain can clearly hear the surprise and clarity in the Researcher’s voice. “As for why your power is shut down, the ship is now at 13%. We have to put the ship in emergency power and enable the cooling system.” Well that clears up the issue, The Captain thought bitterly. 

“Alright, Cut transmission then. We need to save as much power as we can, until we reach the light side.” He cuts the feed and sits back in his chair, debating something. He knows the chances of them getting out of this are slim, even more so that they complete their mission. Sitting up, seemingly having decided, he opens a feed with Transmission. Lead Communicator, Samantha Willows, answers.

Before she gets the chance to say anything, The Captain begins to speak. “I need you to prep a transmission to anything within a 10 Lightyear Radius.” Hearing an affirmation, he begins his message. “To anyone inside a 10 Lightyear radius of the Basilus System. Do not enter! I repeat, for the safety of your crew, Do not enter! The planet Caldi is rapidly draining heat, and in the process, Energy from our ship and we are currently in a graveyard with at least 5. By the time you receive this message, It is likely that the crew and ship of The Star Rider will be added to that list. Do not send a rescue squad. If you do you are consigning your ship and crew to death.” 

The Captain was about to continue when the lights shut off and his headset went quiet, the faint sound of typing missing. The power had just shut off and he could only pray that Communicator Willows sent the message off, though he knew deep down, she had not. He turned to his crew on the bridge. “The circulation has just cut off. We have about 10 minutes of oxygen left. I would like to apologise to you all. We will not be making it out of this.” He takes another breath, attempting to stay calm. “On the right side of your desk, there is a small box. It can now be opened. I suggest anyone who does not want to die from suffocation opens it.” The captain then sits down, staring into the darkness in silence.

2 weeks later, the bright blue glow of a hypershield appears and 3 ships drop out of hyperspace, unaware of the events that took place here 2 weeks prior. The captains can only pray they figure it out quick enough to make it till the light side or the total will be up to 9.