Across the universe
The journey is brief and the destination is realized, more quickly, than any jump before this one. It would be routine except that the destination is still light years away. According to the navigation console.
When he looks out the viewing port, a planet is there, floating in space.
Checking the navigation data, reveals several errors, and he briefly wonders what the hell happened. Every hyperjump was boring and uneventful. What had caused this disturbance?
The Universe
Within minutes the ship is in a synchronous orbit with the planet. Studying the data from the botched jump reveals an interruption in the jump. How very, vague.
He begins checking the traveled warp stream, looking for anomalies, then he spots the other ship. He is so startled to see another craft, after all these years, that he literally cries out in alarm and surprise.
Double checking the instruments confirms the other vessel. Furthermore, he looks out the starboard viewing port, for visual confirmation. It’s there, alright. He wonders who the hell it is, as he checks the navigation console, once more.
He enters a new set of coordinates into navigation, and then confirms it with the hyper jump system. The ship begins shaking as the velocity increases and the jump begins.
Across
Twenty years ago there was a dangerously close call with space hypnosis. It had come down to mere seconds, but it had been avoided, barely. However, the lesson learned had been costly.
He engages the hyper drive engine and feels the ship accelerate away from the anomaly. It’s possible that the errors were erroneous. The ship was beginning the jump, and moving quickly, to the real destination.
He wonders for a moment, what it would be like to actually find someone else, out here in the cosmos. And then reconsiders, as an alert sounds throughout the ship. He is being followed, and they are closing in, fast.
