“Apologies,” he said. “It is our way. How can I express my gratitude?”
Xindra removed her hand.
“Your alliance with us is gratitude enough, Father,” Jzent said. “Come, I want you to see this too, Xindra.”
Xindra hated Jzent’s show-and-tells.
Jzent ushered the delegation through plastic sheathing and into a giant bay filled with aircraft, rockets, and fuel tanks. Behind two old military-green jumbo jets, a rocket lay on a mobile launch platform the size of several tractor trailers. Xindra read the red Russian characters painted above the four flared engines, “Vlodstak.” The platform’s huge treads looked like they could tackle any terrain.
Xindra knew the Vlodstaks put the Daybreak satellites up, but she had never seen one this close. Before the Ascension, launches were commonplace. She
