Chapter 44
Galactic Standard Date: 152,323.05 AE
Earth Orbit: S.M.M. Peykaap
Lieutenant Apausha
Lt. APAUSHA
Liftoff was always a heart-pounding, exhilarating experience; an act of faith. A testament that their god watched over their frail, mortal bodies. Especially on an Algol-class vessel that was little more than storage and a whole quasar's-worth of hyperdrive.
Lieutenant Apausha engaged the secondary impulse engine. Their heads slammed back into headrests as G-force [97] plastered their bodies to their seats.
"Gyah!" he bared his fangs.
The ship shuddered for what seemed to be an eternity, only eight-and-a-half minutes, but each heart-pounding second reminded them it could be their last. The shaking subsided, almost imperceptibly.
"Mesosphere [98] clear, Sir," his co-pilot, S
