The approach had been uneventful. Only a bump or two from smaller, faster asteroids the navcomp had trouble tracking. Nothing the shields could not handle. One advantage of graviton repulsion shields - they worked exceptionally well on larger massed objects. A pity that anything that -did- end up piercing them ends up accellerating towards the hull, past the shield layer. Damned Outcasts knew this all too well.
The radio crackled a moment and sounded. "Cleared for tube four, Apollyon. Welcome to Dounby. Please unmoor and enter a holding pattern after the package is transferred, we're almost full here and have a supply train inbound."
Danny looked out the cockpit. Full? Dounby? That must have been a first, in a long time. He could see an Atlas. Supply vessel? No, it had the Colonial emblem on it. Must be their envoy. And next to it on port one, another vessel which he didn't directly recognize. Streamlined. Was this who they were going to be meeting? Before he could take a closer look however, the Hydra swung around to the backside of the station, the automatic docking systems kicking in to bring it to the mooring clamps.
****
Johnathan stepped through the air of the docking tube. Some signs of frost here and there - faulty thermal seal maybe? Or perhaps the fact that they used the auxiliary mooring? He made a mental note to notify the dockmaster, but there were more important matters to attend to. Jack should already be aboard, and the few folks on-station who had been briefed on what was actually to go on should have already brought their unusual guests to the conference room. He hastily moved through though the airlock's inner seal, while with a dry "clang" the outer seal already closed.
A short walk later, he arrived in the conference room.
"Sorry to keep all of you waiting." He started as he entered the room. "I see we've all arrived safely, and the station does not register anything unusual in the vicinity. So I suppose, we can speak freely, here. Miss Hart, you did request for this meeting, with both ourselves, of the Guild, and the Colonial Republic, which suggests to me you are looking towards the Taus. You also hinted at us having similar enemies. I must assume that by that, you mean the Bretonia Mining and Manufacturing corporation, who'se incursions into Tau space have caused, to put it bluntly, quite a mess for both ourselves and the Colonial Republic, and have ended up throwing Bretonia itself into a war with Kusari. But, perhaps it is best you clarify this, yourself, miss Hart?"
Wide awake in a world that sleeps, enduring thoughts, enduring scenes. The knowledge of what is yet to come.
From a time when all seems lost, from a dead man to a world, without restraint, unafraid and free.
Mostly retired Discovery member. May still visit from time to time.
