Moore paled slightly at her response. He'd hoped to share his appreciation<i>before</i>the inevitable crash, though looking at the window reminded him that the odds of a successful, safe landing were minimal, at best. Still, he forced a weak smile and a grateful nod.<br/><br/>"Moore, what do you think? Will the engines survive re-entry? Have we got the power to bring this down?" Andrijan called, catching his breath during the brief lull as they passed over the dark side of the world.<br/><br/>"Think we're okay," Moore replied weakly. "Made it to orbital speeds which is no picnic on a ship hauling this much. Should be fine to get us to the ground, once we disconnect the cargo." He pointed at the screen. "I'm a lot more worried about that."<br/><br/>"Yeah, me too..." Andrijan said, not having much to console his crew with.<br/><br/>"Light side's coming up in two minutes," Curtis shouted. "We should start unlock the crates and let them drift once we reach it, and then start descending. If we're lucky we can go straight over the storm and take her down on the far side. That'll give us the maximum time to repair or wait for rescue, before things get cold."<br/><br/>There was a long moment of silence as everyone seemed to count down the seconds until things were going to get rough again. Silent prayers and internal monologues could almost be heard in the deafening stillness. No one knew what the next few minutes would bring, but it was clear what they would have to do to survive, and they had no doubts that the necessary maneuvers would be terrifying.<br/><br/>"One minute until--" Curtis began, cutting off halfway through his sentence as his eyes narrowed. He stood from his seat, moving towards the cracked glass, trying to get a good view through it. "What is that?" he asked, pointing into the black.<br/><br/>What he'd seen was nearly impossible to spot right away, but slowly it became more apparent, black shapes eclipsed stars briefly and without order or reason. Moore stood up, moving towards the window also. The small shapes seemed to reach the atmosphere, descending and catching fire as the planet's gravity pulled them in, flaring up as they fell to the ground with bright orange streaks.<br/><br/>The debris cloud had reached the planet's atmosphere.<br/><br/>"Son of a bitch," Curtis murmured.<br/><br/>"Maahder chod," Andirjan cursed. "Can we not get a break from this gaandfat station's wreckage!"<br/><br/>Moore began to watch the shapes ahead of them, the light side of the planet coming into view. Only once the sliver of light became visible could he begin to determine what they were seeing against the surface. Silhouettes of debris, fuel pods, smaller ships and even escape pods could be seen, all gradually being pulled down into the atmosphere and disintegrating within seconds. It didn't bode well for their own attempt.<br/><br/>"Guys?" Moore asked, raising a hand to point at a specific object -- something large and cylindrical, with faint glowing red lights surrounding it, blinking despite complete separation from the rest of the station. "Does that one look like a reactor to you?" he asked, his tone rising in alarm as he spoke. By the end of the question he was already on his way back to his seat, grabbing at the restraints.<br/><br/>"Oh shit!" Curtis replied in agreement, making for his seat as well. "Yeah, that's a reactor!!"