The collision of the large metal panel and the reactor had all of the men gripping the arms of their seats tightly, turning their heads away from the viewscreen in terror of what might happen. They all relaxed visibly as the two objects seemed to bounce harmlessly off of each other, the panel seeming to nudge the reactor under them, narrowly avoiding a collision, though a strong sense of apprehension remained as they watched the pod sink under the horizon and cruise under them. Curtis watched the object, carefully estimating its trajectory as Andrijan desperately fought his instincts to angle away from the reactor, or the planet, wanting desperately to stay hidden in the black, but the ever-increasing spiders-web taking up the view port reminded him why that was not a possibility.<br/><br/>"It's dipping into the atmosphere," Curtis alerted the cabin. "I don't think it'll last long in re-entry."<br/><br/>"We need to drop our cargo," Andrijan cautioned. "It's time to get this shabdkosh on the ground."<br/><br/>Moore nervously unclipped his restraint, standing slowly. "I'll cut the tethers," he said. As engineer such a maneuver was within his bailiwick. Crucial timing and dexterity would be needed to remove all four in hasty sequence, and fortunately, he was still riding the high from his adrenaline shot.<br/><br/>The older deckhand raised a hand. "Like hell you will," Curtis retorted with a wry smile, masking his concern. "You stay in that seat, young man," he commanded, his eyes stern enough to make sure Moore didn't feel the need to argue on the subject. "You shouldn't be doing anything strenuous with your chest busted up. I can handle this. You keep Andrijan out of trouble." Curtis turned his eye to Maggie. "And<i>you</i>, young lady.<i>You</i>keep this dumbass in his chair." He gave her a quick wink as he turned and moved out the door at the rear of the cockpit, towards the tether stations.<br/><br/>"Screw you, old man," Moore said with a subvocal laugh, clearly appreciative for the assistance, though his eyes betrayed the annoyance that one of the first times he had an engineering task, he was unable to complete it.<br/><br/>Curtis paced into the aft deck of the Asura. Four long clamps where the tethers were locked into the hull each required a manual unlock first, which disengaged the pressure locks but did not release the tethers. When all four had been unlocked, a final manual override in the center of the ship's aft bulkhead would release their cargo into space, jettisoning it and giving them the opportunity to land. As the command deck was on the highest level of the ship, only the two upper bolts could be seen: large, rotating dog levers (wheels that must be turned to release the lock pressure on the tethers) found on both the port and the starboard sides of the ship. Curtis slid down the ladder, disappearing below decks for a moment to first undo the locks on the lower tethers.<br/><br/>Andrijan held his breath as they crossed into the light side. the storm looming ahead of them. He tapped the consoles in front of him, beginning to plot a course down, and the tracking line on his HUD dipped quickly just over the horizon. It was going to be a rough ride, just clipping the edge of the storm, but with any luck, their visor would hold until they reached a breathable atmosphere, and then they could punch it out and bring the ship the rest of the way down.<br/><br/>Curtis climbed back up the ladder and moved to the starboard side of the ship, reaching the tether wheel-lock and starting to muscle it into life. "You overtighten these damn things, Kid!" he grunted as he used his frame to coerce the mechanism into cooperating. Moore would have replied sharply, but he was becoming peripherally aware that the dark sides of the debris still looming to pummel the planet's surface had suddenly been lit up. He thought that the headlights of the ship (which were rarely used outside of station docking and landing on the night-side of a planet) had come on, but the radiant light intensified. The source of the light was behind them.<br/><br/>The reactor had dipped into the planet's atmosphere, critical components breaking up almost immediately. The core had never been built to handle the strains being uncontained in open space, let alone the forces of re-entry, and the externally rising heat had quickly brought it to a critical state. Within minutes, it had ruptured, the tremendous energy that had been building up was released, detonating in nuclear fashion. Light from the explosion reached the debris first, but a sudden and unnerving groaning crept through the tethers, an eery sound that preceded something horrible.<br/><br/>A shockwave first tossed the containers, sending them tumbling to the extent that their tethers would allow, causing the long cables to squeal and moan in dismay, putting incredible strain on the tether locks. As the wave of kinetic and electromagnetic energy passed over the ship, all of the lights and systems on the ship went dark simultaneously. Andrijan cried out as the planetary surface below jolted further into their view as the tethered cargo dragged them off course, intense lateral forces jerking everyone aboard the ship to the starboard side. "EMP!" he wailed as he twisted the yoke to no avail, quickly beginning to pound the console that was as dark as the black space around them. "Moore! Backup generators!"<br/><br/>Though the cabin was now pitch black, the sound of Moore's restraints slipping off and shuffling around the cockpit could be heard just above the growing creaking in the craft's hull. "It's spinning up!" he called seconds later.<br/><br/>All hell broke loose as a final groan signaled that the Asura's hull couldn't take the pressures any longer. A tearing sound emanated from below deck and a shard of light erupted from the right side of the ship. As the Asura's lower and starboard bulkheads were torn, reflected planetary light glowed in through the gap, illuminating the ship for just a moment as a booming whoosh filled the cabin. The pressure fluctuated wildly as air rushed out of the gap, and the lights came on for just a split second. Everything that wasn't nailed down was dragged perilously towards the light, intense pressures pulling on the cockpit's occupants. From Maggie's seat, she could see that the space where Curtis had been standing was now vacant -- a three foot tall, two-foot wide gash had appeared in the hull just beside it.<br/><br/>Powered once again, the ship sensed the breach and the door into the aft sections slammed shut, sealing the small amount of breathable oxygen left in the cockpit. "CURTIS!" Moore cried out sprinting to the door, looking through the small glass viewport in its frame, searching for any sign he may have made it, though a disappointed,<i>horrified</i>expression quickly revealed that he was not present.<br/><br/>Curtis was gone.<br/><br/>"Oh God..." Moore whispered, a sob gripping his chest.<br/><br/>"Moore!" Andrijan shouted. "I need you at nav!!" He fired the thrusters again, trying desperately to get the cargo under control once more, swinging the planet slowly out of the center of their view as the ship strained and snarled in reply.<br/><br/>Moore lingered at the door for a long moment before crossing to the navigations console, sitting down and swallowing any emotions and guilt that wracked his system. He could grieve if they survived, but he suspected they may be joining their old friend soon.