If the ship's engines had quit, they could have called it an occasional mechanical failure. But catching fire from the heat of atmospheric entry? That was a problem with the ship itself.
Then again, although the Millennium Falcon had become famous after the Battle of Yavin and was said to be the fastest little freighter in the whole galaxy, it was still just a little freighter—and a secondhand one Han Solo had bought and modified himself.
It had no airtight compartments, automatic fire suppression system, or escape pods. A smuggling ship with guns was no substitute for a special-operations vessel.
When it came to special-operations vessels, the first thing Su Ming thought of was Shepard's Normandy.
Mostly because the Normandy had a symmetrical design and sleeker lines. The asymmetrical Millennium Falcon was enough to drive anyone who liked things orderly mad.
The original Enterprise NX-01 from Star Trek probably counted as a special-operations vessel too. At 225 meters long with a crew of 83, it was only a gunboat-sized craft by the standards of the space age.
Still, compared with the Galactic Empire or the Republic here, life for humans in the Interstellar Federation seemed far more appealing.
Earth had originally been beset by four alien powers, but it had refused to back down. Through war and politics, humanity had brought them all into the fold, then founded a federation and led them against the Klingons. Now that was the right way to do it.
As those idle thoughts ran through his mind, Su Ming watched the falling ship grow larger in his field of view. He spat into his palms and rubbed his hands together briskly, ready to catch it.
"Huh? You meant you were going to give it a little catch literally?" Aphra couldn't help quipping.
The Millennium