The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) by Stephen Sweeney Page A

simulators themselves had gone without a hitch.
The team had not lost a single member during any of the missions
they had flown, an act that would have without doubt been a reason
for instant failure. They had not conceded very many allied
casualties during the assessments - in some cases, none at all;
neither had they wasted very much ammunition. All she could think
about was that they had not completed the tasks fast enough.
Stepping into Parks ’ office she had been confident that the White Knights would be charged with
piloting the ATAFs for whatever purpose the Confederation had in
mind. But she had instead seen her dreams go slipping through her
fingers.
    “ Well, welcome to the rest of our military lives,” Enrique
said, shuffling in his seat, his arms folded across his chest, his
eyes closed. Estelle half scowled at the back of his chair. The man
was just pretending to be asleep, so as to avoid making
conversation with her. It seemed that, although he too was
disappointed, he had been quick to accept it.
    Dodds
had spent the time before the transport picked them up talking
things over with Estelle and trying to reassure her that, like
Parks said, it was not a reflection on her; although his efforts
had done little to persuade her either way. Chaz had
characteristically said nothing to the others following their
meeting with Parks and had instead buried his head back in his
book. No-one had since questioned him about it, a heavy cloud of
rage still lingering over him.
    “ This is your captain speaking. We are now
leaving jump space,” came a pleasant and cheery voice over the
transport ’ s intercom. From the way she had spoken throughout the
journey, Estelle got the impression that the transport ’ s captain was used to ferrying VIPs
and didn’t change the way she addressed her passengers, regardless
of their rank or status.
    With
their impending arrival at their destination, Estelle leaned over
to take a peak at Dodds, whose eye were glued to the window he sat
beside.
     
    * * *
     
    Dodds
watched out the window as the blue haze peeled away and the stars
outside came rushing by. A massive, far-off transport vessel, its
engines glowing with cyan hues, entered the meagre space afforded
by his window and began to slow along with the stars outside. The
effect was something of an illusion: the disengagement from jump
space giving the impression of a rapid burst of speed.
    Dodds
was greeted by a view of Spirit not long after, the large blue and
green ball looming in his window. As he’d heard a number of times
before, the orbital ring that wrapped its way around the planet was
far from complete, with sections missing here and there.
Construction equipment drifted close by, looking as worn out and
neglected as the ring itself. It appeared that work on the ring had
been put on the back burner. As the planet slid from his view, the
captain changing heading to bring the shuttle in line with their
destination, Dodds could not help but feel that it was a fitting
preview of things to come. After the initial excitement and great
anticipation of his call back to duty, was this really what he had
returned to? Maybe his father had been right all along.
    As well as the ring, Dodds could make out the wheel-like form
of the orbital station hanging high above the planet. It was the
first station of its type that Dodds had ever seen,
Xalan ’ s own
orbital station being more saucer shaped with rounded tops and
bottoms like most others. The design of Spirit ’ s station looked as though it had
wormed its way out of the reject pile. Either that or it was just
cheap.
    Kelly,
seated in front of him, turned around with an ominous look on her
face, her first impressions of their destination leaving much to be
desired.
    “ Disengagement complete,” the
transport ’ s captain said as cheery as ever. “Welcome to the Temper
system. We will be entering Spirit ’ s orbit within the next twenty
minutes, before landing at Spirit Orbital