Chapter Thirty-Six
May 17, 2230, Solar System, Asteroid Belt, Approaching UTC Space Fleet Base Penglai
The asteroid on the camera feed wasn’t large by the standards of the belt.
It was just another rock floating through space almost a million kilometers from its nearest neighbor—except this modest rock had been excavated by the UTC Space Fleet to provide a dock for the jumpship project.
Jia sat in the cockpit next to Cutter. She’d stayed at the helm during part of the trip, but Cutter was the primary pilot during the final leg. He’d just finished communicating with the base to receive information about their final docking procedure.
Aft and port feeds, along with the sensors, marked two Fleet destroyers trailing the Argo. Jia thought it was conspicuous to have several Fleet ships in a
