On the command deck, Keisha realized she hadn't paid enough attention to this room the first time around. As she started walking around and checking the consoles her hand would start shaking. She kept replaying the scene of Mina throwing the knife straight into Sturletto's heart. Her vision went blurry and she couldn't even tell what console she was at. Just breathe Keisha, just breathe.

Fiolas' voice came to mind, 'One problem at a time Keish.' She wished he was here, he would know what to do. She pictured him back on the Pytheas, in the outer rings, biting his lower lip while he worked a problem out. Keisha backed into a wall and slid to the floor, hid her face in her knees, and broke.

Her parent's path for her had always been military, there had never been another option. They were old and they knew on this newly inhabited planet Klokos the military would be the only stable job for at least a generation. She had chosen to be a pilot precisely so she wouldn't have to experience combat close up. Her mind took her to the first toy ship her mother had given her. It had been a replica of the ship Adam Scofield had designed for his faster-than-light trip. No one had been able to recreate it since, and no one knew what had happened to them except the light streak left behind had shown they really did go faster-than-light.

The 10-year-old boy had been her hero and she had flown that ship all over the house, telling her parents she was going to fly faster-than-light someday, just like Adam.

They had been so proud of her when she told them about her first flight as a senior pilot to Klokos II, and then they said goodbye to her. They left her, just like she left Fiolas. They chose a backward planet that no longer sent ships out, one they would never return from. She chose a backward mission, quite literally, and now if she couldn't get this ship back to the Pytheas she would never return to the one person who wanted and had chosen to stay with her for the rest of her life.

The sobs came out harder now. I'm so selfish, how could I do this to him? How will he ever forgive me for this? Her mind brought her back to the second day aboard the Pytheas. Fiolas was trying out his first wheelchair in the med-bay and popping wheelies to make her laugh. The doctors quickly changed their minds about keeping him for observation after that. She wheeled towards his quarters and they were just quiet, safe, and happy. When they got to his room she remembered his confusion when she explained she wouldn't be sharing his quarters but would be right next door. She expected him to get angry with her, just like her dad did when she chose engineering instead of medicine like him. Fiolas' words echoed today just as clear as they had when he first spoke them. "Take the time you need, I'll be here when you're ready. I'm not going anywhere."

I'm coming back to you Fiolas, one problem at a time. She gathered herself up and wiped her face off. Rigel was staring her down, the core no longer visible and the hydrogen surrounding it getting bigger all the time. How was it reverting back so quickly? We should have days, not hours to get back.

She clicked her comm system on, "Hey Captain, that ghost person was right. We don't have as much time as we thought."

"Keisha? What are you talking about? Have you found the dark matter?" Zayd asked.

"I mean, Rigel is on track to meet the event horizon soon, I'm looking at an almost complete star up here."

"Shit," Mina said. "I'm good here now Zayd, go help Keisha, we need to get out of here."

"On my way to you Keish."

Keisha started searching frantically for the dark matter canister that sounded like it was powering the shield somehow. The canisters would fit in the palm of her hand and the command deck had at least six consoles it could fit into, not to mention the walls where different information was being displayed. Keisha would have assumed the canister would have been fitted to fit on the engineering deck, but the ghost had said on the command deck.

Zayd joined her on the command deck. "Any luck yet?"

"None," she said as she kept scanning the current console she was at.

Zayd went straight to the captain's chair and pulled up the screen and started searching. "Something doesn't feel right about all of this."

"What, that Mina could just kill someone? That a random phantom came and told us to bring them dark matter? Or that you would power a ship with something on the command deck and not in the engine room?" She moved to the next console.

"All of the above." He answered. "Here. Found something." Keisha walked over to the command chair and stooped down to see what he was looking at.

"Is that a picture of an armrest?" Keisha asked. He had found the schematic plans for the ship.

"Yeah, and it's connected to the engineering deck just below. See?" They followed the plans and sure enough, the canister was in a hidden panel on the captain's armrest, Zayd followed the instructions and pushed on the side. A panel flipped up and asked for a code. "Now what?"

"One problem at a time Captain." Keisha smiled determinedly. She traced the tubing from the armrest down to the deck below on the schematics and saw it had a special chamber where it would mix with the fuel they normally used. "Look, It mixes here. What's the fuel load for the Icarus?"

"Almost half right now." He responded. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking they didn't get here using regular fuel. I'm thinking this ship was made out of a special material to handle the speed with which they got here. I'm thinking this is our ticket out of here." She ran to the ship system console and started looking through it. "Can you access the Velos' computer systems and have it steer us back to the Pytheas?"

"I can try." Rigel was looming large in the window and almost took up the entire window now. "What are you thinking?" he asked.

"I think they did it," Keisha said.

"Did what?"

"They built another faster-than-light ship using dark matter. I don't know how it works, but they got here just in time for the collapse, they planned it almost to the day. The precision of it all shouldn't be possible." She was laughing now. "I can't believe it. The Icarus was built specifically to get here the day of the collapse."

Zayd started flipping through files at the captain's chair, "I think you're right. Keish, they were scheduled to be back on earth days after the collapse. You're also wrong though, it doesn't look like they used FTL, but created some type of wormhole. Keisha," He stopped and turned around to her. "Their first wormhole went back in time to get here. That's how they knew to be here precisely when they were."

"We have to get this ship back to the Pytheas. Fiolas will know what to do." Keisha clicked her comms to include Mina, "Mina you need to strap yourself in. Are our two friends secure?"

"I'm trying but they keep moving back towards the door. The suits are on and I've set them to slowly bring them back to a regular time phase."

"We don't have time for that Mina. Rigel is almost at the event horizon, we're taking this whole thing back to the Pytheas and I have no idea how smooth the ride will be. We'll give a countdown once we're set." She clicked off before she could hear Mina's reply.

"Coordinates are locked in, we'll get to the Pytheas' coordinates, but Keish, I don't know when we'll get there." Zayd stared into her eyes, "Are you sure you want to try this? We can still blow it all to hell."

"Why are you asking me? You're the captain! Besides, what happens when you blow up dark matter? What if that's what started this whole thing?" Keisha stared right back at him.

"Keisha, I may be the captain but you're the one who keeps getting us out of trouble. I trust you." The window was completely Rigel now.

Keisha heard the comm click back, "I think the suits are working they've stopped moving backward, but something is happening in the engine room. Is that you guys?"

Keisha looked at Zayd and nodded, "Take us back, Captain."

"Yes sir. Mina, here we go!" He turned around and pushed the controls to start up the wormhole. In the window, Keisha saw it forming, a long black tunnel with stars on the other side right in front of where Rigel was. Rather than flying through it, the ship seemed to be sucked into it. The force was so strong Keisha was pushed into her seat and her last thought before unconsciousness was Fiolas. I'm coming back.

On the other side, the Pytheas came into view. "Pytheas, this is the Icarus, requesting docking instructions," Zayd said. They had only blacked out while going through the wormhole, but everything appeared to have normalized on the other side. "Stars! Does anybody else have a cracking headache?" Zayd asked.

"Uhh, feels like waking up after a wild banger the night before," Mina called out.

"Shhh... let's all just be quiet," Keisha replied.

"Icarus this is the Pytheas, you've been cleared to dock at hangar B." A way-too-loud voice rang out.

"Anyway to find out what the date is down there Zayd?" Keisha whispered into her comms.

"No, the internal clock for the Icarus was only tracking total time," Zayd whispered back.

"It should have a celestial clock though right?" Mina asked.

"I don't think they had as precise of data as we did. The celestial clock only shows the year, not the day." Zayd responded.

"What do you mean they didn't have precise enough data? They freaking worm-holed to the day of Rigel's collapse?" Keisha said slightly too loud.

"It was new technology, we have no idea if what happened was what they meant to happen. It could have been a coincidence for all we know." Mina said, "I know by studying time there are far more coincidences than most of us feel comfortable with."

"The Pytheas is here and they're letting us board so we must have come at a time they recognize us right?" Keisha asked.

"They're having us land at hangar B. When was the last time you went to hangar B?" Zayd asked her.

"Can the Icarus even fit in hangar B?" Keisha asked.

"I think so." Zayd didn't sound too confident. Keisha watched out the window as the Pytheas came into view. "This feels like deja vu. The last time I piloted you onto an unknown Pytheas I had just saved you from Klokos II."

Keisha gave a brief smile. "The difference is it was only an unknown ship to me then, now it's an unknown to both of us." The spinning wheels surrounding the Pytheas slowed down for a fraction to let the Icarus in. The main hangar was stationed on the second to last outer ring whereas hangar B was an emergency hangar in case something blew up their main one. It was on an inner ring and much harder to get to.

Zayd expertly took the Icarus in as though he had been flying this ancient ship since his school days. How does he do that? Keisha's face burned red a bit. Once the ship hit the deck floor and Zayd powered down as best as he could tell they looked out the window. On the deck, they could see they were being greeted by Captain Katapodis and a contingent of armed shipmasters. "That's not quite the welcoming committee I was hoping for," Keisha said.

The three of them made their way to the deck, the two people they saved were now moving forward but so slowly they decided it was best to leave them on their ship. Mina insisted they all just looked like blurs of light to them with how fast they were moving in comparison.

Walking out of the Icarus Keisha could see the outer hull close up and all the lights in the hangar hitting it made the ship shine and sparkle, unlike anything she had ever seen. She wanted to go up to it and touch it but felt the situation was too heavy for the wonderment inside her.

"Welcome back." The Captain met them halfway and motioned them to stop several feet from her. "I am so proud of the work you have done here today. I'll need a detailed mission report from each of you before you go rest tonight."

"Captain, I..." Zayd started.

"Please, save it for the report. For now, these men will show you to your quarters where you will remain until the end of the quarantine period." She motioned and guards marched so they were surrounded and still given a wide berth. "I will see you all in the morning after I have read your reports." The three of them gave each other nervous glances.

As the Captain turned and walked away from them Keisha called out, "What day is it?"

The Captain stopped and turned her head, "It's the same day you left." and with that, she turned and was gone.