Flying into the swirling chaos of the Collapsed Star god was like trying to pilot a paper airplane through a washing machine during an earthquake.
The "Odyssey" bucked and groaned, its advanced systems pushed to their absolute limits. Gravitational waves, like invisible tsunamis, washed over them, threatening to tear the little ship apart.
"Hull integrity at ninety percent!" Emma called out, her voice tense. "The gravity is trying to flatten us! I'm reinforcing the structural fields, but I don't know how long they'll hold!"
"Forget the hull, I'm more worried about the Marauders!" Zara shouted, pointing at the main viewscreen. A fleet of ugly, spiky Marauder capital ships was forming a blockade between them and the tiny bubble of safety at the storm's center.
"They've been waiting for us," Scarlett said, her knuckles white as she wrestled with the controls. "It's a trap."
