"ETA for Eintstein Station, five minutes captain," a young male navigator called out.<br/>"Excellent. Open a comm channel with them ensign," the captain replied.<br/>"aye aye captain," the young woman replied. On screen, a professional looking man in a port authority uniform appeared. The captain addressed the man with a cheerful tone. "Einstein station, this is captain Renault of the carrier, Gilded Gifthorse, requesting permission to dock at your colony."<br/>"Captain Renault, your arrival is ahead of schedule. You are cleared to dock at bay 94.  Sending landing telemetry now...alright.  You're all set. Is there anything else we can assist you with," the man replied.<br/>"Do you know where I could find several million dollars lying around," the captain joked, to which the port authority replied, "if I did, do you think I'd be working here?"<br/>"I supposed not, though it was worth a shot. Have a nice day sir."<br/>"And you as well." The comm channel cut off and the port authority disappeared.  "All hands, prepare for docking sequence," the captain ordered, to which the crew replied with a unanimous "Aye Aye sir!".<br/>--------------------------------<br/>Docking bay 72: United Planetary Federation private docks. 1800 hours<br/>A loud click could be heard as the mech transportation container closed, concealing its special cargo. Inside was a rather dark looking mech that gave off a somewhat insidious air. In front of it, several soldiers stood at attention, as their commanding officer addressed them. "Alright gentlemen. Your assignment is simple. Guard this mech with your life. We'll be shipping it planetside soon, but until then, you are to treat it as your highest priority. I don't care what else happens, this mech is not to be approached by anyone with less than class A clearance, am I understood?"<br/>"Yes sir," the soldiers replied.  "Good. Then carry on." The commanding officer walked off, and two of the soldiers turned to one another. "So Frank, isn't this the same model that the Black Knight used to pilot?"<br/>"No, this is the more advanced model that replaced it. The higher ups believe there's a good chance he'll show up to try to take this one, so we've been assigned this babysittin job. Personally, I doubt he'll show up here. Why would he come to this particular station? Aside from the resource rich planet below, this station is as backwater as it gets."<br/>"Regardless, we just have to make sure no one gets near it until it's time for it to ship out. We'd better get back to our posts before our CO finds us though."<br/>------------------------<br/>"---iel. CIEL.  Pay attention Ciel!"   Ciel jerked back to the present moment as her instructor dropped her own textbook onto the desk. "uh, Sorry bout that..." she replied sheepishly. Once again, she had drifted off without realizing it. "Ciel, explain to the class why Einstein station is neutral in the conflict between the United Planetary Federation and the Kurat Confederacy."<br/>Ciel recited from memory, "in 2124, the UPF, the Confederacy, and the orbital colonies signed the treaty of Jupiter, granting the colonies substantial sovereignty on the condition of neutrality.  Should we become embroiled in the conflict, we would lose our neutrality status, and become fair game for either side."<br/>"That is correct."<br/>The bell rang, indicating the end of class.<br/>"That wraps up today's class.  Don't forget to turn in your assignments this Friday, as they are a significant portion of your grade." Ciel quickly packed her stuff and departed for her house.<br/>