Sonia had been spot on in her analysis of the station. A sure sign of how rough things could get was the fact Drake’s troopers escorting the crew on shore leave were allowed to wear full body armour and carry weaponry which would be banned on most stations.
Drake’s crew clumped together in a single group which settled on visiting one large, dingy bar. Drake wasn’t sure whether they stuck together because of his warnings about the station, the desire to have the protection of all their armed crewmates in one place, or because of the changes they had suffered as part of being linked to the Azimuth. Most likely it was some combination of all three.
The first two shore leave shifts passed without incident. The bar was large enough, and the armed escort intimidating enough, that there wer
