From the farm shed to the palace .

[Jose Benitez]

Having seen their charge safely to port the two escorting Gladiators flew past over the top of the Council chamber.

As usual it was hot as Jose stood with the others and watched with interest as the Alliance vessel landed.

In many ways this meeting had been long overdue and Jose was hoping that there might be an opportunity over the course of the next few days to speak to one of the members of the Alliance'€™s delegation on a particularly perplexing horticultural matter that he had recently come across.

With the sun hot in the sky, the entrance to the Raba began to swing open. As it opened it revealed the Alliance'€™s delegation waiting to disembark. Hopefully they would not want to stand about in the sunshine too long admiring the view. It was simply too hot for that, and Jose was looking forward to getting inside the air conditioned building and the cool.