Companion Red Giant (Neutron-Star Binary)

A swollen, incandescent red giant bows in a brutal orbital duet with a compact neutron star, its bloated photosphere belching streams of gas and hot plasma into the shared gravitic well. Ruddy light and particle wind lash any nearby hull, instruments register rising radiation and tidal shear, and the star's slow, crushing menace turns measured science into urgent survival. Proximity translates into audible alarms, cascading system failures, and the palpable sense that stellar appetite and gravity will make any rescue a gamble.