"That sounds like an honest answer," Dr. Farr said. "I'd be more concerned if you claimed anything simpler."
They settled the Rustwake against the outpost's docking gantry with the same practiced care Corven had shown throughout every previous approach, and Rohan gathered his spear, Jorren's small carved token, both of Liora's charms, and Hestia's warm white mark of hearth, checking each one carefully before moving toward the airlock.
Everything I'm carrying with me. Everything that's going to have to be enough.
The outpost's interior looked considerably different than it had during either of their previous visits — Meridian's equipment still arrayed throughout the corridors, but scaled back now, a skeleton operation rather than the full security presence they'd encountered before, evidence of Director Ashwood honoring the careful, uneasy truce they'd negotiated weeks earlier.
