Odyssey Command recovered before the rest of the ship, the transition shock rippling through them even as they turned their attention back to the status reports that began filtering in. Weston had almost slipped from the command chair after they reentered dimensional space and was quick to correct his posture. A moment later, his head stopped screaming long enough for him to begin reacting.

“Report! All stations,” he snapped, hoping his voice was steadier than his vision.

“Ship is undamaged, sir. Minor wear evident on the tachyon reactors. The tachyon-based sensors are out of alignment, however. Two hours to repair.” The technician behind him sounded bad. Weston rose to look at him closer.

“Ensign Waters, you are relieved. Go to the med-lab and get yourself checked out.”

As Waters headed for the back of the room, Weston glanced around the room again, searching harder for any evidence of trouble. The rest seemed all right, but he would have to keep a closer eye on them until they had a chance for some rest. He returned to his seat and thumbed an intercom switch after tapping in the channel number.

“Med-lab, how bad is it down there?”

Dr. Stevens’s voice sounded shaky, even over the intercom. “Pretty bad, Captain. Over thirty crew members have reported in for various reasons…” The pause in the doctor’s speech seemed ominous. “And we have at least one who we have to confine to the labs…Lieutenant Tearborn snapped, Captain. Security picked her up in Engineering. Apparently, she witnessed the reactor vaporize and she thought it was a breach.”

Weston’s words were uttered too quietly for anyone to hear him, but his body language transmitted the message to anyone on the bridge unfortunate enough to be watching. It had been hard enough watching the ship, apparently disintegrating into a vacuum, but to watch the reactor fall apart? Too many horror stories had been told about reactor breaches on board ships for that to be easily dismissed.

Weston let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. “All right, Doctor. Do what you can. Oh, by the way, I just sent Ensign Waters down to you. He should be arriving soon.”

“Yes, sir, we’ll clear some space. Med-lab out.”

Weston thumbed the switch back and sank into his seat. Tearborn was a good engineer, not someone he would expect to snap. When I get home, I think I’ll recommend sedatives for nonessential crew members prior to entering transitional space. He thumbed open a notepad on his console and tapped one-handed, his eyes flickering between the log and the rest of the bridge.

He compartmentalized his thoughts and emotions, then straightened and locked an iron grip on his command persona. “Helm, plot us a nice long hyperbolic course. Commander Roberts, tell the labs to make good use of the time, because we’ll transition out when we clear the gravity well.”

“Aye, sir,” both Daniels and Roberts chorused as they turned to their tasks.

The Odyssey sailed into the system, sails almost literally unfurling as the ship’s massive retractable sensor arrays rose and locked into position, strengthening the impression of an ancient sailing ship.