The Armstrong had been damaged in battle beyond the ability of the crew to repair it in the field. It was forced to begin to limp its way home to the core worlds where it could undergo more extensive repairs. Currently it was struggling through a space/time tunnel at a fraction of its maximum speed with Mars as a final destination.

"We're being hailed by something with a Huxley Foundation signature," said Marceaux "We're currently using our relativity drive and so is the source so I can only guess what it is. All I can say for sure is it's a starship."

"Well, put it on the screen," said Captain Littlecrow.

The familiar face and black uniform of Captain Sandström greeted her.

"Good evening, Captain Littlecrow," he said "Out of respect I wanted to warn you that I am currently in command of a task force that will converge on your location shortly."

"Why?" asked Littlecrow.

"We have orders to escort and support the Armstrong on your journey back to Mars," said Sandström "I understand your relativity drive isn't operating at top capacity; we have the means to compensate for that. We'll have you back home in a third of the time it would have otherwise taken you."

"That's a lot of effort just to get one exploration vessel back for repairs," said Captain Littlecrow.

"You're an intelligent woman, Captain," said Sandström "You know why we're really here."

"Then out of respect I want you to know I still plan to uphold Dr. Kang's claim of sanctuary," said the Captain.

"As is your right," said Sandström "I'm not asking you to do otherwise. I'm only here to make sure that the Armstrong makes it to the core worlds safely and quickly. The politics of why I have these orders is not mine to question."

"In that case thank you for your help and your professionalism, Captain," said Littlecrow "I was actually becoming concerned with how long the trip home was going to take it."

"It's an honor to be of assistance," replied Sandström "I'll be in touch. End transmission."

And he was gone, replaced by a high-speed trip through starscape.

The Captain turned to Commander Gibson.

"Lock down the shuttle bay," she said "Just in case."

* * *

Two Inquisitor-class Cruisers, an insane level of overkill, escorted the Armstrong all the way back to the famous Martian stardocks. They were able to boost the Armstrong along so well it was like the relativity drive had been operating at top capacity.

The space/time tunnel opened just outside of the gravity well of Mars and out came the Armstrong and its two escorts. Every minute or so another such tunnel opened spilling even more ships into the buzzing swarm of them that surrounded the planet like bees around a hive.

Armstrong weaved and dodged through the traffic and space junk in orbit of Mars. Finally it came to a slow and ponderous stop beside the Arcadia Stardock. The ship sealed itself magnetically to one of Arcadia's primary airlocks. The stardock was now completely filled with sixteen Cruiser-class ships.

Technicians and engineers came rushing onto the ship unbidden, much to the chagrin of the crew. Nobody was more peeved by this than the Captain, who pulled the chief engineer into her office.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"Repairs," said the engineer "Like you requested."

"You have almost a hundred people in here, I didn't ask for all this," said the Captain.

"Sure you did," said the engineer, looking puzzled.

He handed her a printout. The Captain studied it for a moment.

"Some of these requests are years old," said the Captain "This is every repair or upgrade requested for the Armstrong dating back to the Reunification Wars!"

"Lucky you then," said the engineer "Someone with strings to pull must like you. This ship is going to be a work of art when we're finished."

"How long is this all going to take?" asked the Captain.

"You've been given top priority," said the engineer "So we'll have this all finished in a standard week. Now you'll need to evacuate all the crew for that time so we have space to work. Take advantage of the time off and head downworld for some R&R. Mars is a beautiful planet."

The Captain sighed. There was nothing to be done, and it would be nice to get some of these upgrades she had requested.

"Very well," she said "I'll inform the crew."

* * *

The crew of the Armstrong filed out of the ship slowly, over the course of a few hours. Some of them stayed on Arcadia station, some began signing up for the next shuttles down to Mars.

Dr. Kang and McAfree, wearing civilian clothes to avoid attention, attempted to blend in with this slow trickle of humanity.

The moment Dr. Kang set foot off the Armstrong two men dressed in black suits and sunglasses approached him from either side. Each seized one of his arms.

"Dr. Heliodore Kang," said one of the men "You are under arrest for the murder of Ursule Po."