Earth Moon Lunar orbit 100 Diameters L3 L4 L5 Geostationary Highport Jump point Shown 1000 times normal speed (3.6 seconds of simulation = 1 hour of real time). Objects not to scale. Each hex is 100,000 miles or ten space combat hexes across. 6.4 Hour Intercept Course at 1G

Engineer: Jump bubble collapsing sir!

Captain: Red alert. All crew to stations. All systems to normal-space settings. Point defence online.

Navigator: 1, 2, 3 radio beacons detected - triangulation complete. Transponder has been pinged. Target system positively identified. No surprises.

Captain (over Radio): "This is Free Trader Beowulf inbound from Nusku, requesting permission to approach."

Radio: This is Terran Space Traffic Control. Welcome home Beowulf. Adopt standard approach vector for Earth Highport.

Navigator: Course plotted. ETA 6 hours 24 minutes.

Captain: "Roger STC." Engage. Stand down from red alert.

Captain (over Tannoy): "This is your captain speaking: Welcome to Terra. We will be arriving at the highport in a little over 6 hours. For your acclimatisation we have set environmental and gravity controls to Terran standard. I hope you enjoy your stay on Earth and thank you for travelling Beowulf spacelines. It has been a pleasure."