A captain, a commissar, and the ultimate crisis at 0.99c:
If your propulsion system goes off-line, how can you slow down?
After decades of service, Captain Aalund has one final mission: tow a wormhole to an enemy star system, then retire on a tropical beach.
Until enemy action knocks out the tractor beam generator back home.
Now, his ship can't slow down.
Can he find a way to save his ship and crew from dying of old age in the depths of interstellar space?
Can he overcome the unyielding fanaticism of his ship's political officer?
