A massive shudder of the ship woke Paul from his sleep, something he was all too familiar with, but would never get used to. Paul couldn't fall back asleep after the initial turbulence jolted him awake, so he instead headed to the bridge to find out more about the planet they were planning to explore.
The database called it "Planet 4546B", and said that it was over 90% covered in water. It was a similar size to earth, but a bit bigger. The planet had two satellites, one moon slightly bigger than earth's, and another moon that was a lot smaller but much closer. Because of these orbiting satellites, the gravitational pull of the planet was offset by the pull of the moons, giving the planet a gravitational pull similar to Earth's, perhaps even a bit weaker despite its size.
Despite this, the turbulence the crew had felt earlier indicated that its gravitational pull was nothing to scoff at, so they had to be on alert in case anything went wrong. "Marcus, what are the scanners picking up from the planet's surface?" Bart asked the man at the scanning terminal. No response. Before he could ask again, he heard a muffled snoring noise from his station. "MARCUS! Are you really asleep at your terminal?!" Bart yelled, doing his best to wake him up as quickly as possible. In a panic, Marcus fell out of his chair and hit his head on the floor as he attempted to make it seem as though he was awake the whole time. "Marcus, you can't be falling asleep on us! I suggested you to my father because we've been friends since grade school, but you can't take that for granted and slack off!"
"Slack off? I wouldn't be 'slacking off' if I got any time to rest!" Marcus complained. "I know I signed up to work the scanners, but I can't stay awake 24/7 like this. I need sleep or I won't be able to do my bloody job even if I try!"
"With our tech, father says—" Bart started. "Screw that smarmy git! He treats us regular crew like shit and doesn't give us any breaks at all. He overworks us, underpays us, and doesn't give us any amount of respect! I've just about had it with our so-called 'Captain'! Now put that Margeurit chick in charge, and it'd be a different story. At least she understands our situation and treats us normally."
Bart was stunned and a bit appalled at Marcus' outburst concerning his father, and wondered if all of the crew felt the same way. If that was the case, a mutiny wasn't out of the question. For now, it would have to wait. The final approach towards Planet 4546B was about to start.
"I'll talk to him— for real." Bart promised. "Right now, we need you to run the sensors while we land." Marcus thought about it for a moment and reluctantly returned to his terminal, bringing it out of standby, only to find that a serious alert was in progress.
"Oh shit— massive energy reading spotted in the planet's surface!" Marcus shouted, his voice a bit worried. "What's the source?" Margeurit asked calmly. "No idea, the bloody thing is just a highly condensed energy mass growing in intensity, but somehow not in size."
"Keep us all updated, Marcus!" Bart said. "Father, what do you make of the energy signature we're picking up? Is it a weapon? A natural weather effect?"
"Considering that it's growing in intensity while staying the same size, it's easy to say it's not natural, which leads me to believe it's either an incredibly powerful experiment by an unknown party that secretly made it to this planet before us, or a device created by another civilization." Paul surmised. "If it's the latter of the two, then these energy readings mean it's probably the most powerful anyone has ever seen. It might even be able to hit us at this range if it's a weapon. But we're too close to retreat into orbit. We can only hope that we can dodge it or it misses, and that the immense energy requirement means it won't be able to fire again before we land."
"Attention Degasi crew: prepare for possible impact as we descend. Be ready to evacuate if necessary." Bart called over the loudspeakers throughout the ship. "Put on your hazard suits, we're not sure if the environment down there is 100% safe for humans at the moment."
"Bart, the energy mass has stopped charging, it's holding steady now! Wait, look at that, it's heading towards us, brace for—" Marcus was cut short as a massive beam of ionic energy tore through the hull of the Degasi like it was wet tissue paper, causing the metal to screech and twist as it was ripped through by the brilliant beam of light that obliterated whatever it touched. It must have only been about 5 seconds of sustained fire, but for Bart, it felt like an eternity of terror.
The beam hit the wall near Marcus' terminal first, and he was sucked towards the fresh hole in the wall, only to be incinerated instantly when the pillar of energy hit him on his way out. Even after it was over, the ship began to tear itself in half as the back end was ripped loose from the fuselage and went tumbling into a mountainous island on its way down. The resulting explosion meant there were no survivors, as it completely engulfed the entire wreck, having been where all of the Degasi's fuel was stored. The fuselage, now in free fall as it avoided the mountain the aft section crashed into, was headed straight for a part of the ocean that had an island nearby, but the remaining crew wasn't too concerned with what was near the predicted landing zone, but instead was trying not to be sucked out of the ship as it continued its final descent.
Margeurit, thinking fast, unhooked a nearby cargo net and struggled to attach it in the doorway between the bridge and the area where the breach was, hooking it into some nearby handles to create a safety net. Paul wasn't able to hang on to his command terminal, but was caught by the net, effectively saving his life. Bart was still in the back of the fuselage, strapped in with his seatbelt, hanging on for dear life as the intense wind threatened to rip him from his seat and into the murky ocean below, and he quickly fumbled with his helmet as he prepared for the watery landing that awaited the survivors in a few seconds. Just as soon as his suit was sealed, the entire fuselage slammed into the ocean nose-first, and the massive whiplash caused by the sudden stop rendered Paul unconscious and knocked the wind out of Bart entirely. "The Degasi has landed, gentlemen." Margeurit chimed. "Welcome to Plant 4546B."