Stelos Alpha had not set its vivid eye. Oreg piloted them slowly and at low altitude over Camp Heyerdahl and then along the Great Asimios Freeway, above the desolate landscape’s long stretching shadows, for one last look at the remains of Asimios Station. Graf gazed down upon the scene with nostalgia and indignation as he reflected on the sacrifice that lay buried beneath the blackened scar. Then Oreg, his leathery hands shuttling through the warp and weft of the holo display, aimed the bow of the ship heavenward. The silver planet gradually receded behind them. It took just under seven standard sols to reach the Vernigan portal. When they arrived the ring emerged from the black of space like a metallic maw, its myriad lights winking along the edge of its gaping circumference. The edifice hovered in quiet gloom as Oreg and his companions learned through an info squirt that they had missed the last opening by a matter of hours. They would have to wait two standard sols for the next activation.
