Episode Five: "The Offer"

Two months after the failed satellite rescue, the mood at Syzygy was grim. The satellite had been lost, damaged beyond repair by the very thrusters they had gambled on to save it. The fallout was brutal. Their client was furious, contracts were lost, and Syzygy's financial situation had gone from tight to dire. Evelyn Calder, the stoic CEO who had always navigated crises with unwavering calm, now found herself staring at spreadsheets late into the night, looking for ways to keep the company afloat.

In the dimly lit conference room, the Syzygy team sat in silence. Ben Ortiz drummed his fingers on the table, tension radiating off him. Olivia Torres looked drained, her eyes red from lack of sleep as she glanced through a stack of papers detailing new cost-cutting measures. Meera Patel typed away quietly on her laptop, though the usual energy behind her movements had dulled. Jack Callahan wasn’t in the room, already out in the field doing prep work for what was supposed to be their next big project—if they could even afford to launch it.

Evelyn walked in, expression unreadable as usual. She carried an envelope in her hand, and from the moment she stepped inside, the team felt the shift in the air.

“We’ve had an offer,” she said, her voice clipped.

Ben’s hand stopped drumming. Olivia straightened in her seat. Meera looked up from her laptop, eyebrows raised.

“A buyout offer,” Evelyn continued. “From a major player in the space industry—Orbital Solutions.”

The name sent a ripple through the room. Orbital Solutions was a juggernaut, a global leader in aerospace and satellite technologies, with vast resources and a flawless reputation. The kind of company that smaller outfits like Syzygy dreamed of competing against.

“They’re offering us a way out,” Evelyn said, tossing the envelope onto the table. “Full acquisition, debt relief, and guaranteed positions for most of the core team.”

Ben frowned. “Why now? After everything we’ve been through?”

Evelyn leaned against the edge of the table, crossing her arms. “Because they know what we’re worth, even if we’re hanging by a thread. And they know something else too.”

Meera narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“Connor,” Evelyn said, and the name hung in the air like a punch to the gut.

“Connor works for Orbital now,” she explained. “As their new chief engineer. He’s told them all about us—our technology, our capabilities, even our weaknesses. They’re offering to buy us because they know everything. He’s made sure of it.”

The silence in the room was suffocating.

Ben shook his head, anger simmering just beneath the surface. “He quit on us, and now he’s selling us out?”

“He’s playing both sides,” Olivia muttered, staring at the envelope. “He knows how much we’re struggling. This is his way of winning.”

Evelyn stood quietly, letting the weight of the situation sink in. “Orbital Solutions will keep us intact, but we’ll be under their control. No more Syzygy. No more independence. They’ll make us just another cog in their machine.”

The room was heavy with tension as the team processed the news. The allure of stability was tempting—no more financial stress, no more scrambling for contracts. But there was a deep sense of betrayal in the room. They had built Syzygy together, through every setback and success. To sell out now, after everything they’d fought for, felt like giving up.

Ben was the first to speak. “Evelyn, you can’t sell. This is our company. We’ve gotten through worse.”

“Have we?” Evelyn shot back, her voice unusually sharp. “We’re bleeding money, Ben. We’ve lost clients. And now one of the biggest names in aerospace wants to save us from ourselves. The alternative might be bankruptcy.”

Olivia leaned forward, her voice quiet but firm. “We can find another way. I know we’re hurting, but we’re not done yet. Syzygy is still standing, and we’re not going to fold because Connor thinks he’s the hero now.”

Meera nodded. “We’ve always pulled through before. If we sell, we lose everything that makes Syzygy what it is. We lose us.”

*

It was late and everyone had gone home, but Evelyn was still at her desk, trying to make the numbers work. She had just about had it for the night when she received an email notification. She opened her inbox to find an email from Sanjay Chatterjee, one of the biggest and most successful VCs in Silicon Valley. His firm, Chatterjee Ventures, was behind some of the fastest growing startups in the space industry.?

He wanted to meet with Evelyn on Friday to discuss Syzygy’s situation.?

The idea of a VC swooping in to save them was tantalizing, but she had no idea what this meeting might lead to—or if it was just another dead end. And what would her existing investors think?

The cold vacuum of space was nothing compared to sitting in the office of a legendary Venture Capitalist. In space, no one could her you scream, but in Chatterjee’s office, no one could hear you cry.