Looks their gamble has not paid off, and these Romulans or aliens or whoever they are, are a lot more attentive and weary of tricks and ploys then these three men and the Pearl's crew has given them credit for.

One issue I would like to bring up is Charle's breakdown. It didn't really add anything to the story and since these three men are facing certain death, what is the point of developing Charle's character when he is soon going to die? I just feel it was an unnecessary diversion and if anything a bit spontaneous and random. I mean a man the reader hardly knows, and whom the reader has no real idea about his past, suddenly breaks down for unknown reasons? Maybe I'm missing something here but that breakdown scene did not work out.

Oh, geez. I would probably get teary if Daren and his friends ended like this. I think the psychology Daren was practicing (forcing someone to face on depression) was probably bad juju (my best friend is a psychologist!) but I would really like to see them live to find out whether or not that's the truth. But it's a brave move -- I love that he was an engineer and a doctor, those are hard disciplines to bridge, even though at heart they follow some of the same practices. ::laughs:: I guess in part because the mental makeup of engineers and doctors tend to be rather different, on a core level.

But it's a good chapter; it squeezed my heart to think of them dying, and that takes some talent.