“You need to calm down, Rosemary,” said Officer Howler, exasperated. “Shouting at people won’t prove Jake’s innocence, you’ll only upset them. Those Rearguard Beagles are my friends, and we need them on our side if we are to win this war, and free your Jakey.”

Rosemary sat in a simmering silence. She knew that he was right, but she couldn’t help but get angry when her only child was slandered.

Officer Howler had taken Rosemary into one of the breakout rooms. A seat on a comfortable sofa would do her some good. She needed to chill. He gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder, and stood to go back to the control room.

A terrified, panting Melissa came careering down the corridor and smashed into him.

“Officer…hhhh,” she gasped for air. “There’s… there’s something wrong with the ship. Smoke.”

Officer Howler pulled himself to his feet and ran down the corridor.

Sure enough, there was a cloud of black smoke billowing out of the steering column.

“One cup of tea!” he exclaimed. “A fighter ship should be able to withstand one bloody cup of tea being dropped on the computer systems.”

He dashed over and punched a few buttons. Nothing. He picked up the radio transmitter and tried to reconnect to Cormitz and Simm. Nothing. He bashed it on the counter and tried again. Still nothing.

More worrying than the lack of response of the systems was the steadily growing planet he could see in front of them.

“Well, we were aiming to land on Crawk,” he said, glancing at Melissa and Rosemary who were standing wide eyed at the back of the room. “Strap yourselves in. We are here.”