The EXN Salutem floated away from the Lionsgate space station. It carried with it several hundred tons of fuel, and a significantly smaller quantity of food, water, and human biomass.

The Salutem was a luxury liner, designed to service a few wealthy passengers, and show them the wonders of the universe from the comfort of an armchair. On this flight, it would complete the classic Grand Tour of the solar system. It would pass by Luna, coming within viewing distance of many large cities while doing so, then go on to Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. It could finish the route in slightly under two months. To travel such immense distances in so little time was nothing less than miraculous, and required a wonder of technology to be done.

The fusion drive was not an especially novel idea; the basic principle had been in use for eons. What made the Salutem and her sister ships special was sheer power. While most ships made do with VASIMRs, EXN cruise liners used the mighty energy released by fusing atoms into larger ones. By using a basic, lightweight tokamak reactor, it could generate immense temperatures within its core. A thin stream of hydrogen was then pumped across the superheated reactor, causing the liquid to violently evaporate and expand. The ship surged forth on the shockwave of the resulting explosion, allowing it to reach phenomenal speeds, at impressive fuel efficiency.

Most of the Salutem's mass consisted of pill-shaped fuel tanks. They were sheathed in gold foil to reflect the light of the sun and keep the hydrogen from boiling off. A long, tapering engine nozzle poked out from behind the fuel tanks. Attached to the front of the vessel, as if merely an afterthought, was an elegantly sculpted cabin module. This contained the promenades and restaurants that any respectable cruise liner was expected to have.

It was all very impressive, but the main attraction was the view. That was why the Salutem was equipped with huge observation windows, ready for a tiny fleck of debris to shatter them. At the very least, they offered a dramatic look at the impossible distances waiting outside.

Theodora stared at the crescent Earth through the wide observation windows. A faint ring of shining particles hung about its equator, superimposed on the spattering of stars. Luna stood beside the arc of its mother planet, forming an identical saber of white metal beside it.

The promenade deck was filled with passengers, floating in the microgravity of orbit. They made breathy noises at the quartz glass, each held rapt by the blue sphere. It was a sight to see all on its own, grown men and women hanging like ornaments in a glass cage. Theodora smiled.

A synthesized voice cut through the miniature existential crises. "Greetings, treasured passengers. I regret to inform you all that our burn will begin soon. We recommend that everyone returns to their cabins until further notice. Thank you for your understanding."

There were unsatisfied grumbles, but the suspended figures gradually slipped back to their personal spaces. Some of them were obviously out of sorts, flailing their arms uselessly through the air in an attempt to swim through it. Theodora herself found some trouble in regaining her space-legs, but managed to get to her room without issue.

The room itself was uninspiring, more white plastic and rounded edges, with a standard microgravity hammock strung from wall to wall. A screen masqueraded as a skylight on the ceiling, beautifully framing the moon.

The Salutem launched itself away from the sun. The universe grew dimmer around it.

About a week later, the Salutem coasted near the orb of Mars. It was the polar opposite of home. Where Earth was painted blue and white, speckled with patches of brown and grey, Mars was a nearly uniform red. The surface was cratered and webbed with chasms. Fortunately for the sightseers, it was not sandstorm season, and the ancient geological features were clearly visible. They could gaze upon the unmarred face of the god of war.

When the first robotic missions had laid their simple, mechanical eyes on this world, they found it a truly barren place. The air was so thin that it might as well have been a vacuum. Whatever managed to cling to the forsaken sphere was composed almost entirely of carbon dioxide; all the oxygen had either been absorbed by iron deposits or had escaped into the ether. Temperatures ranged from twenty degrees at noon to minus seventy in the early morning, all within a single day. Water was plentiful, but locked beneath several meters of red dust, and frozen as hard as bedrock. The planet also lacked a magnetic field, allowing a merciless barrage of solar radiation to sterilize the surface.

Since then, the planet had barely changed. The atmospheric pressure had only increased by roughly two hundred pascals, and most of that additional gas was methane or yet more carbon dioxide. Without a gaseous blanket to anchor it in place, the temperature swung rapidly, and the vast frozen oceans remained largely untapped.

Nevertheless, slowly and arduously, the planet was changing. A rudimentary magnetic field, generated by a constellation of satellites, had been cobbled together around it. Instead of unending red, the surface was spotted with small blotches of grey and blue, where human habitation and terraforming had created small oases of life.

The robotic tour guide spoke. "In a few minutes, we will be passing by the Rhodes Space Station. From here it will look like a bright asteroid."

The station in question appeared to the far left, a star shining against the ruby globe. It was surrounded by a swarm of smaller white dots, carrying material and personnel to and from the station. Theodora's pupils suddenly contracted, becoming pinpricks lost in the stretched irises. She suddenly saw the RSS in all its crisp glory.

The orbital facility looked like a scaffold, a massive cube made of spindles and open space. In the heart of the space station, a white hulk of a spacecraft was taking shape.

"The Rhodes Space Station is one of the largest orbital construction sites in the solar system. It was named in remembrance of the Colossus Space Station, which is honored as the stepping stone that allowed humanity to leap into the stars. The RSS was built to continue that legacy and has lived up to its predecessors legacy. A few of the notable ships to be christened at this station are the UDNS Herma, the UDNS Opes and the EXN Salutem."

The other passengers let out a surprised murmur, happy to have learned something so effortlessly. Theodora was unfazed.

"Mars itself is a beautiful world with many noteworthy attractions, including Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the solar system, and Valles Marineris, the longest, deepest canyon. I would personally recommend the Exonavis Vulcan resort atop Arsia Mons." Theodora noticed some of her fellow passengers going inert as they made a mental note to consider this opportunity. She looked away.

The planet inched along outside the window, a rusted cannonball rolling on black satin.

"We at Exonavis strongly recommend that you visit Mars and all its wonders on your next vacation."

"Mars was the Roman god of war, you know," spoke another voice.

Theodora turned to see John had appeared beside her. "It was because of its red color, which was associated with blood. It's amazing that they could distinguish that sort of detail from the surface without any visual aid."

"That's funny," said Theodora. "They were right. The dust from this planet was used to build most of the UDS naval fleet. It's so rich in iron, they can just scoop it up and purify it into military grade metal. And then it goes into space and becomes a warship. In the most literal sense, Mars is the machine of war."

"There's no need to think like that, Theodora. That metal gets used in everything, not just navy ships. Hell, this ship is probably made of Martian dust. So what if some of it goes into the defense fleet. At any rate, the military never sees action anyway. Who would they fight, anyway?"

"It's less about using the navy as it is about having it. People talk about unity and all that crap, but the guy with the bigger gun will usually get his way. That's how it's always been."

"But there are no opposing sides. Everyone is united beneath the UDS. There aren't any sovereign states to declare war on, no terrorist organizations to fight, there is no reason for war."

"But of course, the United Districts of Sol is the epitome of all that is good and holy. But maybe some people don't like things that way."

Once Mars had passively flaunted its beauty for the wonderment of the passengers, the ship once again lit the fusion reactor in its aft section. Jupiter was currently on the other side of the solar system, and much course correction was to be done if the planet was to be reached in a timely manner.

The next few weeks were largely uneventful. There was a near flyby of 1862 Apollo, a relatively small asteroid, during which the Salutem passed alarmingly close to the massive rock. Otherwise, the darkness of interplanetary space was all that accompanied the cruise liner.

Jupiter, when it finally appeared, should have been well worth the wait. The planet contained more mass than all the other worlds combined, and its storms could swallow the Earth whole. Colors ranging from white to red danced across its surface, burning like a great bonfire. Its atmosphere was deep enough to put Earth's greatest oceans to shame, deep enough to crush inert gases into exotic metals. Its magnetosphere alone could kill a naked human, burning through the body with deadly radiation. Nevertheless, the inhospitable environment was little more than an engineering challenge, and mankind had learned to deal with it. The maelstroms that raged across the cosmic giant were now little more than a tourist attraction.

The tour guide explained in its soft, calming, feminine voice. "Jupiter is vitally important not because of the planet itself, but rather because of the wide variety of moons that orbit it. Among them is Europa, a world with nearly ten times the water that Earth has. Early astronomers were convinced that the world was verdant with life; it is true that Europa sports a massive ocean that is rich in several vital organic compounds. There are however, no native organisms on Europa.

"Even without life, the moon is extremely useful as an industrial and agricultural hub. The waters can be electrolyzed for hydrogen and oxygen, which are both important for the operation of any space-faring vessel. If the water is purified, it can be used in hydroponics facilities. Indeed, the farms on Europa are so productive, they are able feed everyone who lives beyond the asteroid belt.

"Another moon of Jupiter is the volcanic world Io, a moon twisted by the gravity of its parent planet, so that it spews a constant rain of sulphur ash. The volcanic plumes are one of the most beautiful sights in the solar system, and coupled with the view of Jupiter in the sky, makes for an astonishing vista. Though Io is mostly populated by scientists studying the geology of the moon, because its unstable surface, the Exonavis Company has several resorts near some of the larger and more spectacular volcanoes. They're all very safe from the fallout, I assure you. We hope you decide to visit on your next voyage."

Theodora ignored the voice, instead entertaining herself with the VR chip embedded within her brain. Jupiter turned into a flower, then a fish, before finally making up its mind and becoming the eye of a locust. Each facet of the compound eye reflected a different page of text.

Theodora then began reading through work files that had accumulated on her weeks of vacation. Most were financial reports, a few were proposals for some new project. One of the files was a detailed report on the Equites device. It described the size and function of the spacecraft, as well as its design history and current application. Most of the information was already well known to Theodora, and she almost missed the small addendum that described the work being done with the Equites.

"Four Equites devices are being built at the time of this writing. All construction is done at the Roma Shipyard in MEO, and is supervised by the Exonavis Corporation. Many of the devices are in working order, and are soon to be subjected to space trials. The project is not to become public knowledge until further notice from the UDS Ministry of Defense."

The footnote had earth shattering implications. Theodora had been under the impression that the Equites would be a tool of last resort, hidden away until it was needed. By no means should there be four of them. The involvement of the Roma shipyard was even more difficult to explain. Roma was EXN's home turf. Almost anything flying out of its drydocks was heavily bugged and backdoored by the company. Normally, she could see the benefit in having such intelligence infrastructure in place, but the Equites was not just another ship. It was a weapon of mass destruction, pure and simple, not a toy for the rich.

But there was nothing she could do now.