The Observation Lounge of the Zodiac smelled faintly of ozone, recycled air, and intensely burnt synth-beans. Hollis took a slow sip from his ceramic mug, grimaced at the bitter, sludgy replication that passed for coffee on this ship, and kept his eyes fixed firmly on the panoramic viewport.
Out in the crushing void, hanging against the backdrop of an indifferent, glittering starfield, was a Spaceforce subspace relay. It was a small, utilitarian piece of hardware—a processing core, a dense