The transport forced its way upward through the atmosphere and against the pull of gravity. Jas was sitting at the front of the cabin near the door to the cockpit. She craned her head around her seat while the transport rose higher, but all she could see were a few recruits sitting in the row behind her. They returned her gaze with puzzled expressions.
She quickly straightened up. A commander had to maintain a level of dignity, which was one of the things she hated about the position.
There were no windows in the transport, but long experience told Jas that they had to be leaving the planet’s atmosphere by that time. If she could look out, she would have seen the curve of the globe and the dark expanse of space above.
The transport completed the remainder of its flight away from the pla
