The man said, with some measure of authority returning to his voice. "Oh." Stephanie said, unsure exactly how that brought the man to be standing in ...ront of her. "Well, the reception desk is back that way." She pointed back to the middle of the lobby, and the man slowly turned to look at where she was indicating. "Oh, yes." the man continued, stumbling over this words. "Yes, yes, of course. I was... umm... just making sure you got to the, agh, ... lift safely." The man instantly scrunched. That's just fine for us."Zen saw the charging light for cannon two change to green. He already had his recticle on another target. He fired, destroying it. By this time cannon one was recharged so he found another and destroyed it as well. Other tanks continued to explode all over the field but nowhere near as fast as other tanks were appearing behind them, all of them flashing main guns and laser cannons. By the time cannon two was charged and ready for the next shot there were literally. I'd never actually seen Jack (except for a quick glimpse the first time I ever went over there). He was white, about early 50's, maybe five foot eight, or so, with graying hair cut short. It had only been a brief glimpse, but had I seen him in any other context (the hardware store, the grocery store, etc.) I wouldn't have given him any thought; and I definitely wouldn't have thought of him as an avid cock sucker...but there you go. Outward appearances can be very deceiving.As soon as I was. Excuse me, I asked Thunder’s captain Matto if he could give me a ride out to meet them.There was no way I was taking Lion or any of our escorts. They were slower, they weren’t as maneuverable, they had no anti-ship weapons. What if it wasn’t our fleet?The initial report was for the fleet’s scout, and by the time we had reached it we could see the rest of the fleet. That was a gaggle of geese. There were ships everywhere. I couldn’t even count them all.Believe me, Thunder sailing downwind was.