Time slipped away unconsciously amidst the heavy air and busy work.
When the dome of the port opened with a hum, the perpetually gossiping Suss Soldiers finally halted their endless speculations.
They widened their eyes, staring in shock at the starry sky at the port's entrance.
In the high sky, battleships the size of olives formed a serpentine queue, passing sequentially by the space defense turrets outside the port. Not one was intact. Like a group of maimed and broken patients, these battleships dragged their heavily scarred bodies and slowly entered the port.
The port soldiers' gaze shifted back and forth as the battleships slid by.
