Print off course incrementally, causing the overshoot. Since it had never reached its preordained destination, Nekhual had left its crew in stasis and continued looking for a planet that was optimal for survival.

<<There are five minutes remaining until apogee, Engineer Tsorach.>>

Tsorach checked the energy readout again. Almost drained. He quickly switched off the log and moved to the nearest bridge station. He strapped himself into the chair. He could feel the planet's gravitational forces working on Nekhual. The orientation shifted from beneath him towards the ship's nose.

He began to feel nauseous under the strain. Nekhual began vibrating wildly, causing his jaws to knock together. He gripped the arms of the chair and tried to pull against the forces that held him back.

<<Computer, how long until impact?>>

<<Three minutes.>>

Three minutes. That was not so bad. He could survive for three minutes. He began counting down the seconds, gauging the time to impact.

With one minute left, he passed out.

 #

Tsorach forced his eyes open. He was still strapped into the chair on the bridge. Pain coursed through his body, throbbing dully in a number of places. His shoulders and chest were the worst, but his head ached also. He could feel several cuts covering his forehead, but as best as he could tell, no blood had run down onto his face.

Lighting in the bridge was nil. He spread his hands in front of him and sent a current streaking from his left palm to his right.  The electricity illuminated the room enough to look around. Tsorach saw a puddle of blood congealing on the panel that had been in front of him when he had strapped in. Now, it was below him. He sent another bolt of electricity into the computer interface.

<<Computer, what's our status?>>

The Nekhual's computer did not respond. He tried again, but nothing came back. It must be offline. This realization scared Tsorach to the core of his being. If the computer was out of commission, he would have no way to monitor energy readings, synthesize food, or figure out how they could get out of the ship food.

Can I even get the hibernation pods open?

This thought spurred him into action. He popped the restraints on the belt intent on going to the hibernation pods. He immediately fell out and slammed into the panel. The impact knocked the breath from him, and his anger flared. Electricity blazed out of his head tentacles, slamming into the walls and ceiling of the bridge. He thrashed about in agony and fell down onto the wall ten feet below. He lay in the curve of the wall, panting in agony. Could it get any worse?

When the pain only flared rather than roared, Tsorach sat up. The door to the room was a good twenty feet across from him. He looked around, and saw the captain's station laying against the wall. Maybe I can get it to float up to the door. He crawled over to the device.

The captain's station was a circular platform five feet in diameter. It had a rail that ran around its circumference that housed a number of holographic displays. A pair of gauntlets were also attached to the rails by sinuous cables. The platform was supported by a column energy that was typically generated by the passengers and crew of the Nekhual. It would shoot out of its port on the floor of the bridge and buoy the captain. The captain would wear the gauntlets, tapping into the computer. This would allow him to be able to monitor events throughout the ship from one central location. The station was also designed to be able to move under the captain's power. The captain could use it as a propelled station to move throughout the ship. He could use the gauntlets to channel electricity through the platform's base. Because it was a considerable drain to the captain's body, this operating mode was only meant to be used in emergencies, such as if the captain had to personally monitor repairs to the ship's exterior.

Tsorach hoped he could use the device to move up to the door to escape the room. When he got to the station, though, he saw that the dock where the gauntlets anchored into the rail had been shattered.