Sabrina stepped off the shuttle onto Station R-17's docking ring, the air thick with the metallic tang of recycled oxygen and old grievances.
The outer rim colonies had always been the coalition's weak flank—far from the core worlds, short on supplies, and full of people who remembered the early days when Purity promises sounded like salvation.
The Horizon Protocol was supposed to change that. Now it was time to prove it worked on the ground.
Mara walked beside her, armor scuffed from years of real fights. Sira followed, tablet in hand, eyes scanning the small crowd of dockworkers and families gathered behind the security cordon. Lira brought up the rear, her expression calm but alert.
They had split duties from the start. Sabrina and Lira would handle the governor and the station administrators. Mara and Sira would run the public sessions.
