//------------------------------//
// A.D. 2563 - Eye of the Needle 
// Story: Of Gods and Men 
// by Sauron 
//------------------------------//

	Titus Andronicus Slater loved space. It was a harsh place, full of radiation, lacking in resources, and incredibly dark. Most humans preferred planets or even asteroids, those minuscule islands in the vast sea of the universe. But not Titus. He signed up for the Earth United Planets Navy at the age of seventeen, lured by promises of space travel and galactic exploration. And the promises had held true. In the six years so far of EUPN Enduring Spirit's ten year voyage, Petty Officer Second Class Slater had seen countless millions of miles of space, viewed planets and star systems, and even jumped through two wormholes. For that was the real purpose of Enduring Spirit's voyage: to map and explore unexplored wormholes in the Milky Way Galaxy. Since the capability to travel through wormholes had been discovered, humanity had spread much farther across the universe than previously possible, and wormholes were the key to most interstellar trade.

Though the EUPN was a military organization, none of the various interstellar systems had fought a war for 132 years. This was good news for Titus, because, though not a pacifist, he did not support war. Though like every other EUPN recruit he was trained in battle procedures, almost no one ever expected to use them. As it was, Enduring Spirit was carrying the minimum required armament for a military vessel its size: 2 antimatter torpedoes and two light weight particle cannons. Not even enough weapons to destroy a ship of equal size and equipment.

Though most crew members found the long stretches of dark and silence unbearably boring, Titus had very small expectations of entertainment. He found a simple joy in repairing the training simulators, rewiring the lights in Meeting Room 5, and fixing that one holopanel on Recreation Deck 2 that always short circuited. He even found wonder in gazing out the rear Observation Deck at the vast expanse of cosmic dust that made up space.

"Petty Officer Slater!" called Senior Chief Petty Officer Mariette Bonfils "One of the menu screens in the Mess is glitched. I want you to go fix it."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Good." she replied as Titus left the Electronics Bay where he was stationed and took the nearest elevator to the level the Mess was on. It was a simple task, one that any decent robot could do, but all the electrical repair bots were busy, and due to emergency protocol, at least one tenth of all EUPN repair units had to be humans. Titus sometimes felt unnecessary, but despite the advances in robotics, machines were still nowhere near as creative as humans.

Titus was just returning to the Electronics Bay when a quiet alarm sounded throughout the ship. "Prepare for wormhole traversal, T-15 minutes. Repeat: Prepare for wormhole traversal, T-15 minutes." a female-sounding electronic voice said in monotone. Titus, Senior Chief Bonfils, and the other three human electronics engineers began standard wormhole traversal procedures. Wormhole jumps weren't exactly risky, but they were dangerous enough to warrant additional precautions. For most "flat" wormholes, ships traversing the wormhole only had data on a small cone in front of the ship. Objects to the side or behind the wormhole were effectively invisible, so ship pilots were flying half blind during jumps.

The vastness of space aids in wormhole traversals. Because most space is empty, the odds of there being "invisible objects" on the other side of the wormhole are extremely low. Unfortunately for Enduring Spirit, an object of significant size rested on the other side of this one.

As soon as the ship completed traversal, Titus immediately knew some thing was wrong. Horribly wrong. Gravity had shifted, Titus felt a small force towards the rear of the ship and down. A split second later, the alarms began blaring.

"Imminent collision detected! All personnel report to lifeboat stations immediately! This is not a Drill!"

"What the hell is going on?" shouted one of the engineers.

Senior Chief Bonfils was staring at a nearby screen with a look of horror on her face. "We appeared between a planet and its moon. Autopilot programs indicate the ship can't escape the planet's gravity well. We are too close to the planet, and though the moon is currently pulling us in the opposite direction, it won't be in a few hours. You hear the alarm, MOVE!"

Every crew member ran for the nearest lifeboat station. Crew members ran everywhere, some evacuating, some unfortunate enough to be part of the skeleton crew trying to keep the ship intact long enough for everyone to escape.

"Imminent collision detected! All personnel report to lifeboat stations immediately! This is not a Drill!" continued to repeat in its monotone voice. 

Suddenly, the warning was cut short, and an actual voice came on the ship's intercom. "The planet's moon has commenced rather rapid acceleration without explanation. Estimated time to entering atmosphere is six minutes at current rate. Advised beginning Lifeboat launches immediately."

Crew members filed rapidly into the 40 person lifeboats at Titus' station. Boat J1 was filled quickly, and with the shutting of airlock doors and a jet of hydrogen, the boat was gone. Titus was assigned to Boat J3, which was half full already.

"Warning! Lunar acceleration has continued to increase. Estimated impact with atmosphere: T-2 minutes." Crew members began panicking. Years of no war and little real danger had softened the Navy, and one frantic lifeboat pilot sealed Lifeboat J3's doors and commenced the launch sequence. Those still stuck on the ship pounded on the Airlock to no avail: the Lifeboat launched into space with only 27 people on it.

Titus wasted no time. He knew where most of the 3 man emergency escape pods were located. The ones on the main decks were probably taken already, but there were two on a lower maintenance deck that might not have been.

"Dear God, please let one of those pods still be there." Titus prayed as he sprinted to the nearest elevator and pressed the button for the maintenance level.

As the elevator doors opened, Titus sprinted down the halls toward the Port side pod. He reached a locked Airlock, the pod already launched.

"Crap. Let the other still be here." Titus said, running to the Starboard side. 

"30 seconds to impact. All personnel evacuate immediately, or brace for impact." Titus felt almost superhuman strength come over him as adrenaline rushed through his body, the will to survive pushing him towards his only hope of survival. Up ahead, the escape pod airlock was open, no one was inside.

"Thank G-" Titus was cut off as sudden deceleration threw him off the floor, into the ceiling. The ringing alarms went out, replaced by the ringing in Titus' head and what sounded eerily like bending metal. Though Titus was stunned from the impact, he tried to stand, but failed. Weakly, he crawled towards the pod only 10 feet away. The lights in the ship went out, leaving Titus in darkness. Metal rent as the ship was pulled apart by gravity and air resistance, and air began rushing past Titus, out some hole in the ship. He finally pulled himself into the pod, and locked the doors. There was no time to strap himself in. He pressed the launch sequence override button, and as the pod jettisoned away from the ship, he lost consciousness...