Captain Jacks strode purposefully into the Blackstar Corporation headquarters projecting confidence and power like a halo of electricity. All the while his mind was racing like a hamster wheel of uncertainty as he once more tried to figure out why he had been summoned by the Big Boss. 

"Captain Jacks," the security guard greeted him politely, opening the front doors for him.

"Mister Jacks," the buxom receptionist batted her eyelashes and adopted a coy smile.

As he rode the elevator skyward, the captain's stomach sank. Though unsure why, he had a feeling that his entire world was about to come undone. Whether that would be in a good way or a bad way, he couldn't say.

"Captain Jacks," the iron governess of a secretary nodded curtly in an approximation of a polite greeting as he entered the CEO's office, "Go on in. Mister Black is expecting you."

"Sam!" The picture-perfect business mogul emerged from behind the sprawling edifice that he claimed was his desk, "Early as usual I see." 

His genuine smile and sparkling eyes tended to put people at ease, as was his intention, but Jacks was still vexed as to his summons to the corporate offices that he hadn't set foot in for more than five years. 

"Mister Black," Jacks was always polite, unless there was a reason not to be, and he always began formally, allowing the other person the set the tone for the conversation. This was especially true for the owner of the company that employed him.

"Come," Black offered, motioning to an exceptionally comfortable-looking chair, "Sit down and let's talk."

Here it comes. 'Let's talk,' or 'We need to talk,' is how bad news is always delivered. An unconscious sigh escaped him as he eased himself into the chair, bracing for the impact of whatever catastrophic news he was about to be hit with. Was he about to be fired?

"Jacks, how many orbital deliveries have you piloted for me?" His penetrating stare did nothing to relieve Jacks' apprehension.

"Twenty-seven," There was no hesitation or need to recall the information.

"Twenty-seven," Black repeated musingly, as if he hadn't already known the answer to the question, "And not a single incident in all that time." The statement belied his previous question.

"No, sir." Had something happened on his last mission that he hadn't been aware of? Did something end up being wrong or missing? What could have happened?

"Jacks, I have a new job for you," with a proudly reassuring smile the CEO lifted a folder off of his desk and officiously offered it to the captain.

Curiosity fought for control with the apprehension that had been consuming him. He took the folder with a reverence that was reserved for holy relics - or deadly poisons.

"I want you to be her Captain," Black grinned proudly, like a young boy at Christmas giving someone a present that he had made by hand.

"The Wandering Star?" the captain read as he asked, all of his worry dropping away, and almost giddy excitement filling the void, "she's ready?"

"Oh, yes. And she's going to make history!"

"Ladies and gentlemen," Richard Black addressed the assembled people in the auditorium as he strode in through the double doors that he pushed open like the doors of Heaven, opening to release a shining angel descending to Earth. 

"Please," he officiously gestured towards the tables piled with food and drink, "help yourselves to refreshments and take your seats so that we may begin." The CEO marched purposefully towards the podium that was set up at the opposite end of the chamber, and took his place behind it, waiting patiently for everyone to get settled.

"First of all," he began once the assembly was seated and quite, "I would like to welcome you all here to the Blackstar Corporation headquarters. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask. I hope that you will all come to see this as your second home.

"As many of you already know, our mission to Titan recovered some alien relics of advanced technology. Some of that technology is significant, such as the anti-gravity drive, while others are somewhat less obvious in their importance, such as the language database. Many of these amazing advancements have been incorporated into the long range exploration ship that we have been working on for years now." He quirked a smile and added, "We have also included a few advancements of our own for testing, the EM drive system being one of those."

"This is Samuel Jacks," he changed the subject abruptly as he gestured for Jacks to stand. "He will be the Captain of the Wandering Star. He answers only to me. So if you have any problems with him, then you come to me." A wry smile quirked the corners of his mouth as he spoke, seeming to say that he saw no reason for that to ever happen. "He has been running missions into orbit for me for several years, and I trust him implicitly to do get the job done right."

Captain Jacks sat down as the next indicated person rose to their feet. "Quinn Parsons will hold the rank of Major and be the First Officer. She is the right hand of the Captain and second in command of the ship. She has an intuitive grasp of ship operations, and is a significant asset to the team."

"Phillip Howell," was the next person introduced. He stood straight with martial rigidity and precision, his hands folded behind his back. "Major Howell will be your Executive Officer. He is the organizational backbone of ship operations and will keep things running smoothly."

The introductions continued apace; Mr. Black valued efficiency above all else, and demonstrated that in everything he did. As such, after the introductions were complete he left the group to get to know each other, while he left the assembly to see to more important matters.

The Wandering Star was enormous; nearly four hundred meters long and two hundred meters across at its widest point. It looked almost like a giant space football; wide and round in the middle, then tapering to points at the fore and aft. Hearing about it was one thing, but seeing it in person really drove home the scale of it. The lattice of support beams holding the ship stationary in orbit only made it seem that much larger.

Even having seen it before, Captain Jacks was awestruck by it's visage. The gravity of its impact on him was compounded by the realization that its millions of tons of state-of-the-art technology that had cost billions of dollars to construct was his responsibility, as were the hundred or so crew members that would be on board. That was something he thought he might never get used to.

The last couple of months had been full of mission orientation, instruments training, operational procedures, and a hundred other things that they would need to know before they were considered competent to operate the ship, let alone pilot her out into space. But now it was go time; time to put all of that training to the test in a real live test flight.

"She's so beautiful!" Hermann Schmitt, the Chief Engineer, marveled at the glittering spacecraft as he had done every time that had been shuttled out to it, "Such a perfect design."

"Unbelievable," agreed Leon Gates, Astronomer and Cosmologist, "I've always dreamed about an opportunity like this."

"Like Noah's Ark," Scott Aleman mused, "Taking humanity across the flood of open space to be fruitful on the shores of a distant world." As the ship's multidenominational Priest, he represented a number of beliefs, but he began with Christianity and that is what he unconsciously fell back on. Being the newest addition the the crew, Aleman had never had a chance to see the Wandering Star until now.

"Are you calling us animals?" quipped Indira Vasami from the back of the group.

Aleman turned deliberately towards the woman. "Indeed I am," he said with a tolerant smile, "We are all merely animals struggling to evolve ourselves to a more enlightened self."

"I agree," she smiled widely at him, "at least with the 'animals trying evolve' part." She moved her shoulders in a dismissive shrug. "I'm not so sure about the 'enlightenment' part."

"If it makes you feel any better, then think of 'enlightenment' as meaning 'knowledge', or, even better, as a metaphore for man's desire to better himself."

"Or herself," she chided.

"Or herself," he agreed. "I'm Father Aleman, by the way," he extended his had to her, "Ship's Priest."

"Indira Vasami," she took his hand and shook it firmly, "Biology and Chemistry."

The priest's smile grew bigger as he said, "Oh, I think we're going to have a very interesting time together, you and I. Very interesting indeed."

Captain Jacks smiled. At lest it appeared that his officers were getting along.

"All primary system check out," Captain Jacks reported to the image of Richard Black on the monitor. "We still have some minor systems offline, but nothing that will affect operations."

"Excellent!" Black enthused, or as close to enthusiastic as he ever got. Compared to his usual stoic demeanor he was practically giddy.

"Wandering Star, this is Control," a woman's voice crackled through the radio, "You are cleared for departure."

A round of cheers exploded from the bridge crew. "I think that means we're all set to go," the Captain reported with a grin of his own. But his heart seized in his chest. If something were to go wrong, this was the best place for it, so near to the space dock.

"God speed," Black nodded his approval, "And hurry back."

"Roger that, Control," the image of the CEO blinked out and a view from the forward cameras replaced it, surrounded by several smaller images of other views around the outside of the ship.

"Navigation?" the Captain prompted.

"Mooring lines are clear and we are free of obstruction."

Jacks nodded his understanding and approval. "Pilot, take us out."

A warm tone sounded three times throughout the ship indicating that the engines were preparing to fire, and gravity would be imminently imposed. A few seconds later a thrumming sound echoed through the hull of the ship as the ion engines powered up. The ship seemed to take a deep breath as she began moving slowly forward, and a collective sigh was released when nothing went wrong.

"We're clear, Captain," the navigator reported dutifully.

"Okay," the captain rubbed his hands together excitedly, "Let's see what this baby can do! Bring up the gravity drive. Take it slow until we get a feel for her."

"Aye Captain," the pilot, Beth Strahovski acknowledged with a wide smile, "here we go!"

They took the ship through its paces, testing the Anti-Gravity drive, the Ion drives, and the maneuvering thrusters. Everything seemed to work exactly as it had during the training simulations. There was much clapping and cheering after each successful test, and much shaking of hands and high fives exchanged.

Finally Jacks raised his hands to signal for silence. "Nav, plot a course for Saturn."

"Already plotted, Captain," Takashi Mikasa reported proudly.

"Comms," Captain Jacks addressed Kira Stanley, "Request green light from Control."

A moment later she smiled, "We have a go, Captain!"

"Miss Strahovski," he paused for dramatic effect, "Bring thrust up to one gee."

"One gee of acceleration," she acknowledged as the ship surged forward, the constant thrust creating the feel of normal Earth gravity.

"Let's kick it up a notch. Bring up the ion drives to make it two gees." The gravity effect doubled, forcing everyone back in their seats and making it harder to breathe.

"Two gees, Captain," the pilot's somewhat strained voice reported.

"Okay. Fire up the EM drive and let's see what happens." Almost as an afterthought he added, "Hold on everyone!" He was grinning like a boy on a roller coaster.

The thrumming engine noise escalated to a high-pitched whine as a loud crash shook the entire ship. High gravity yanked everyone back painfully into their seats, except for the few who were standing. Those unfortunate souls were smashed into the bulkheads with a bone-shattering crunch that was lost behind the urgent cacophony of alarms and warning tones. The lights of the ship went out, until a moment later when the emergency lights warmed to life, providing just enough illumination to see equipment and bodies flying backwards before most of the crew passed out, wondering what was happening and thinking that they might just die.