Bianca shook her head. "We could not have known that this would happen."
"You cannot assume you know every outcome," Wrathin said. "We have to find a way to let the others know so that our forces can be launched."
"If we got a warning, then surely we can get another one back out."
"That is possible," Harbin said. "Can you reply to that message? Possibly use the same coding?"
Bianca nodded. "With your help, because coding isn't my strong suit." Together they started working on the reply to their friends who sent the initial message from Sol-3.
The ship rocked from another close hit.
"Wrathin," Harbin said.
"I cannot control where they fire upon me."
"Take us down on Sol-2 then, get out of the line of fire."
"There are too many of them.
"Figure it out," Harbin said. He turned back to Bianca. "We have to get this sent. The others need to know what we're up against up here."
She nodded. "I think I have it. Can you adjust the coding, and we'll transmit it back to the origin point. That should hopefully get it to the right people. "
He nodded. It only took a couple of minutes to get the message encrypted.
"We're going down," Wrathin said.
"Sending the message now," Harbin replied. He started to transmit. Hoped that it would get through any jamming the Terran ships used to block signals.
A blast hit the ship.
It started to spin and groan.
"What is this?" Wrathin muttered as he tried to stabilize.
"All the systems are scrambling," Veta said as she continued to throw switches to help stabilize them.
"This ship was not made for this kind of flight," Harbin muttered.
"I know," Wrathin snapped. "We're coming up on Sol-2."
"Very fast," Veta added.
The ship, still spinning, headed toward the golden ball of Sol-2.
Bianca squeezed a bulkhead and looked away from the control panels, her face pale.
Harbin put his hand on her arm. "Are you going to be okay?"
"I can't look," she said. "I may throw up."
He put his arm around her, hoping to help her feel more stable. "Focus on me."
She pressed her head into his chest and held onto him.
He tried to draw her mind away from the impending crash. There was no doubt it was going to be a very rough landing. "You said you wanted to get away from the cold."
"Why, what is Sol-2?" she asked.
