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Description
Docking Sector SDN-D-29, Orbital Ring One, Low Martian Orbit.

Captain Amanda Jackson stared at the triple-chevron and diamond configuration of her superdreadnought's lightcode on the holo, waving a hand to reset the hologlobe to display a full view of the solar system.

Sol. The beating heart of humanity.

And her home. The yellow and green lightcodes of Chinese and Indian ships pulsed slowly, intermingled with the magenta color of the Russian ships. Various other colors - pink, teal, tan, all dotted the screens. Unaffiliated ships, ships from minor powers, aid ships...

Sol never slept. Earth herself rarely had clear orbital space, with the eight orbital rings - seven of those owned by the Hegemony and the smallest and lowest of them being owned by the Chinese/Indians.

Mars, and her orbital rings, were entirely owned by the Hegemony.

The chirp of an high-priority communication request, mixed with the appearance of an urgently flashing red-edged alert box in place of the map of the solar system caught her attention. She swiped her left hand right, accepting the communication request.

"Captain, Priority Two traffic from Strategic Command. Deployment orders." The ensign running communications was brief, and appeared to read her mind as the document flashed up onto the hologlobe.

"Thank you, Ensign." Amanda replied, before cutting the line and sitting up from her formerly reclined position, splaying her palm out on a hand scanner and wincing at the slight prick as it sampled her DNA.

"Lifesigns confirmed. DNA Match verified. Please state identification code, Captain Jackson."

"Alpha Six Six Seven Tau Gamma."

"Identification code confirmed. Priority Two traffic requires validation of current challenge and response phrases. Stating phrase-challenge now. Dragon, Princess, Horde."

"Shield. Knight. Plunder."

"Codes validated. Thank you."

The garbled mess of encrypted data disappeared, blanking the hologlobe for a moment before a dossier appeared...

"...So how did we loose a superdreadnought, again?..."

Description
Docking Sector SDN-D-29, Orbital Ring One, Low Martian Orbit.

Captain Amanda Jackson stared at the triple-chevron and diamond configuration of her superdreadnought's lightcode on the holo, waving a hand to reset the hologlobe to display a full view of the solar system.

Sol. The beating heart of humanity.

And her home. The yellow and green lightcodes of Chinese and Indian ships pulsed slowly, intermingled with the magenta color of the Russian ships. Various other colors - pink, teal, tan, all dotted the screens. Unaffiliated ships, ships from minor powers, aid ships...

Sol never slept. Earth herself rarely had clear orbital space, with the eight orbital rings - seven of those owned by the Hegemony and the smallest and lowest of them being owned by the Chinese/Indians.

Mars, and her orbital rings, were entirely owned by the Hegemony.

The chirp of an high-priority communication request, mixed with the appearance of an urgently flashing red-edged alert box in place of the map of the solar system caught her attention. She swiped her left hand right, accepting the communication request.

"Captain, Priority Two traffic from Strategic Command. Deployment orders." The ensign running communications was brief, and appeared to read her mind as the document flashed up onto the hologlobe.

"Thank you, Ensign." Amanda replied, before cutting the line and sitting up from her formerly reclined position, splaying her palm out on a hand scanner and wincing at the slight prick as it sampled her DNA.

"Lifesigns confirmed. DNA Match verified. Please state identification code, Captain Jackson."

"Alpha Six Six Seven Tau Gamma."

"Identification code confirmed. Priority Two traffic requires validation of current challenge and response phrases. Stating phrase-challenge now. Dragon, Princess, Horde."

"Shield. Knight. Plunder."

"Codes validated. Thank you."

The garbled mess of encrypted data disappeared, blanking the hologlobe for a moment before a dossier appeared...

"...So how did we loose a superdreadnought, again?..."