Few Nebula Hopper League craft have as storied or vibrant a history as the Maple Leaf. Under the guidance of Star Captain Kyle Dubas and Master Engineer Sheldon Keefe, the legendary vessel speeds through the galaxy searching for new tales of glory…

Alarms blare throughout the Maple Leaf as one by one the ships systems go into a hard reboot. Gravity generation and air recycling are the two most important to the ships crew. The forty-five second reboot feels like an eternity. Weightless, breathing canned air, wondering if the ship is damaged beyond repair and each man blames himself for the setback. The red flashing lights turn yellow for five seconds before the gravity kicks back in, then green when it’s safe to breath again. The Maple Leaf is still alive, for how long is a different story.

“What happened?” Kyle asks. “Everything seemed to be going great.”

“I know.” Sheldon answers. “I still haven’t got these new engines figured out. They were working, the speed was creating a perfect torsion loop in the ionic resonator and then the loop started to wobble and I couldn’t get it back. Almost like the speed started draining the shields instead of boosting them.”

“Can you fix it?” Kyle asks.

“Of course I can.” Sheldon is nothing if not confident. “I just wonder if I can fix it in time.”

“Just do what you can. I’ll analyze the encounter to see if I can figure out how they turned us. I love you buddy.” Kyle means it.

“I love you too.” Sheldon means it too. “We got this.”