Chapter 11: ke''s World


    ke suddenly jolts awake, he gasps for air while struggling against the restraints. As the fog in his mind slowly clears away, he realizes on themand seat. As he removes his helmet and takes in deep breathes, he felt the cold icy air. His breath turns white in the chill.


    ke tried to unbuckle himself out but finds his fingers numb, he spent several minutes shaking his hands and massages them until he could move his fingers properly. Finally free of the restraints, he looks around the quiet bridge. Lit by a dim red light, the shadows cast on the bridge crew sleeping on their seats look like they are dead.


    ke sat on the empty co-pilot seat and booted up the disy. Once the system started up, he ran a ship system diagnostics. He tries to peer out of the viewport as he waits for the logs to appear but due to the frosted screens, he couldn''t see anything clearly. Finally, theputer beeps and disy the ship''s system log.


    What is left of UNS Singapore is currently almost on top of ke''s World. Captain ke set theputer to wake him up an hour before hitting the low orbit of ke''s World. He checks through all the systems of the ship to ensure there is new issues or problems from the 2 weeks travel. Next, he powers up the main disy on the bridge.


    The huge screen flickers to life and shows a live image of ke''s World from the probe. Data streams on the side disy a few basic information regarding the. ke got up and stood in front of the disy and reads the 2 weeks of data from the probe.


    The atmosphere appears to consist mainly of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases and some unknown elements. ke skims through the data. Continental type world, 1.3 times the size of Earth, with a gravity of 0.9 times of earth. No electronic emissions of any kind detected but appears to have some native lifeforms. Satelite images show oceans, massivendmasses topped with vegetation. It appears to be totally earth-like to ke.


    He let out his breath that he has been holding in. ke could not imagine if after traveling here, the is unable to support human life. His whole crew will be doomed. He looked towards where Ford was lying on his crash seat, face hidden by the frosted visor. His gamble has paid off.


    Using the data provided by the probe and the current approach of the ship, theputer calcted several possible reentry sites. Finally, he chooses a site with the highest percentage of sessfullynding and less amount of projected casualties. He looks at the data and images and together with theputer, fine-tune the approaches, taking into ount factors like wind and drag.


    The ship will begin its approach from the thermosphere, looping once over the to bleed off speed before descending down to the troposphere and using the remaining fuel to and air brakes to further reduce speed before hitting the ocean and using it to dampen thending andnd on a t beach. ke was confident that UNS Singapore will be able tond on the but the issue is, will they still be in one piece?


    Almost an hourter, the floating hulk entered the orbit of ke''s World. Thrusters angled the ship to the correct trajectory and the ship slowly falls into the atmosphere. ke strapped himself in on the copilot seat and gave a quick prayer to the gods before activating the heat shields.


    st shields slid smoothly down to cover the viewports, the ice slowly melts away and the temperature in the bridge starts to rise. As the ship enters the atmosphere, the bow of the ship glows a fiery red, turning the ship into a falling star.


    All across the, natives lifeforms look up to the skies, watching a fiery falling star streak against the sky. As it travels through the sky, it announces its arrival with a thunderous roar, awakening slumbering creatures and scaring the natives.


    The damaged end of the ship trailed a massive plume of smoke, fire, and debris, from the day, it looks like a meteor while at night a falling star. As the natives of this world have never seen anything like this before, many falls to their knees in worship or fear.


    After the ship looped once around the, ke deploys its aero stabilizer fins from the ventral side, giving the ship some form of aerodynamics. He groans from his seat as the shaking rattled his whole body while warning rms zed endlessly driving him mad.


    Soon the shaking stopped and the st shields retracted back, ke looks out of the viewports, seeing a pristine world, and a whole lot of water rushing towards him. He quickly pulls the control up and activates the thrusters to slow the falling ship. Soon his view changes to show the skyline instead of the ocean. He checks his airspeed, still too fast and applies the air brake to slow down.


    ke wasn''t really flying the ship, as the ship is just dropping down from the sky. He tries his best to level the ship and not pancake into the ocean. As the City ss ships, UNS Singapore were designed for atmospheric entry, it is also designed tond on water. Even so, he told Ford, that he could handle it, he did not really have much skill in piloting the ship.


    By blind luck, he manages to keep the bow of the ship facing upwards as the aft portion sshnded against the ocean, creating a massive wake behind. He struggles with the aero stabilizers to keep the bow up as much as he can and burn up all the fuel in the maneuvering thrusters to slow the ship down.


    Despite his best efforts, the ship skids and cuts through the ocean, directly towardsnd, ke watches helplessly as thendmass getting closer and closer. Oh fuck, he closed his eyes and braced hard against his seat as the bow of the ship ram up the beach before smashing its way through the trees. He finally lost consciousness as the bow of the ship punch through a small hill before stopping.