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bridge.
     
    * * *
     
    ANS Beagle moved out from the violent
exit of the Rift to the sound of emergency alarms blaring away. The
structure shook and vibrated from the uncontrolled exit, and
several parts of the vessel had ruptured and broken away. From his
position in the CIC, Lieutenant Davies of the Alliance Marine Corps
watched in confusion at their arrival. He had been placed in charge
of the small contingent of a single platoon of marines to provide
security for the vessel. It was a tiny number of people for such a
great structure, but the risks of losing the ship had made it
difficult to find more that would chance their lives on what could
be a one-way mission.
    “ Captain,
d o we have a problem?” he asked Captain
Raikes, the commander of the vessel and one of the Alliance’s most
experienced engineers.
    More flashes rippled
through the room, and a display sent shards of glass flying across
the open space. Like most of the older ships, she made extensive
use of a rotating section to produce artificial gravity, but it was
flawed in execution. The pieces seemed to follow bizarre arcs and
managed to strike two crewmembers in the face. Captain Raikes
shielded his face and shouted out to the officers and crew in the
CIC.
    “I need a full report, now!”
    He then turned to
look back at him.
    “ This is just the
consequence of an unsecured spacebridge, nothing for you to worry
about.”
    With that short
burst, he turned back to his crew and continued trying to get the
situation under control. More flashes signalled the death of
another display, the shuddering stopped, and the vessel appeared at
peace, adrift in space.
    “ Sir, we’re out of
the Spacebridge. R eports are coming in
now.”
    The Captain wasn’t
looking as he was much more interested in the video feed on the
main screen. It looked as though he was looking out of a large
window, like the bridge of an ancient water-based vessel, but in
reality the image was a projection from external camera feeds. This
meant the CIC could be placed deep within the ship for security and
engineering reasons.
    “ Just look at that!”
he said with a tone of awe and reverence in his voice. Lieutenant
Davies looked to the display and gasped at the view. Not only was
the left-hand side taken up with the massive shape of a burning hot
star, but also directly in front of them a planet surrounded by
thick rings. The Captain glanced over his shoulder to the
technicians.
    “ Look at
that! You are the first people to ever
look upon the planets of the Orion Nebula. This is truly a great
day.”
    Silence greeted his
words as they watched the shining orbs of light out in space. Many
of them had visited other planets but few had travelled outside of
Alpha Centauri, apart from those with long tours on military ships.
This was a journey unlike any taken before by man, and every single
one of them knew it.
    “Sir, the gate is closing!” called out
the Chief Engineer.
    Captain Raikes
looked at the display and watched as the Rift in space flickered
and then vanished as quickly as it had been made.
    This is
it then, he thought.
    “ You know what you
need to do, people. This station needs to be operational, and I
want it done carefully and by the numbers.”
    The crew went about
their duties, and he relaxed for just a moment. It had been
expected that they would take some damage while heading through the
Rift, and that was one of the main reasons for bringing so much
spare equipment. Until equipment was installed at both ends, it
would be impossible to keep the bridge open for more than a few
minutes. Even worse though, until his ship was made operational
they had no way of getting home. In theory it should work, but
there was a possible and very real chance they could hit problems.
Nothing more was said for several minutes until one of the
engineers called out after spotting something on his
display.
    “Uh...Captain...this isn’t right!”
    Captain Raikes
barely even noticed his words