The Rookie Talia [SAFE]

“You. You’re going.”

“ Skipper ? The rookie?” Captain Elara’s voice cracked over the comm. “No offense, but we need a tractor beam and a miracle.” the rookie talia

And Talia smiled, fired up her dented little ship, and danced among the stars one more time. “You

As the combined vessels limped away from the neutron star’s pull, Voss’s voice came through, quiet and deliberate. “No offense, but we need a tractor beam and a miracle

So when the distress call crackled through—a civilian research vessel, the Odyssey , losing orbit around a collapsing neutron star—everyone expected Talia to be sidelined. Instead, Voss pointed a thick finger at her.

“Contact!” she shouted. “Transferring life support now!”

She leaned back in her cracked cockpit, wiping a trickle of blood from her lip where she’d bitten it. “I stopped trying to fly, sir. I just… listened.”