The Encounter — Roger Osborne

The stellar freighter Newport finds itself at grave risk by the appearance of a Secondary, the by-product of a black hole, which can be ejected into stellar space or migrate within the spiral arms of the entire galaxy. Virtually undetectable, indestructible, and spinning at alarming rates, the Secondary forces the Newports Captain to make a decision to exceed light speed to avoid crossing the event horizonan act expressly forbidden by Command Central, but one that could save the lives of everyone on board. In Time Warp: The Encounter (the second book in the series), the Newport sustains structural and thruster rocket damage due to a meteor strike, causing the ship to hang at Security Alert Code 3 while order is pursued. With the loss of all propulsion and the inability to engage the Earth Space Station as previously planned, Moss is now forced to consider abandoning ship. Even as the crew continues to fight off giant fanged centipedes that inhabit his ship.