He pushed the thought aside as the counter reached zero.  Kiev vanished from the display, flickering out of one star system and into another.  The usable section of the tramline was entire light-hours long – it was unlikely that the aliens had managed to mass their ships in the right position to catch the flotilla as soon as it arrived – but he had to be wary.  It was quite possible that the aliens had made some accurate guesses about where his ships intended to arrive and positioned themselves accordingly.

What if the frigate never returned?  They’d discussed all of the possibilities, finally coming to the conclusion that they would need to back off and seek another tramline into the New Russia System.  It would be inconvenient, to say the least; they’d be risking another encounter with alien starships, all the while drawing no closer to completing their mission.  Maybe, if that happened, they would be better off withdrawing and returning to Earth ...

There was a ping from the console as the frigate snapped back into existence.

Ted let out a sigh of relief, then leaned forward.  “Get me a full data download,” he said, addressing Farley.  “Now!”

He watched as the data scrolled up on his screen.  Kiev was one of the most modern starships in the Russian Navy – and, with her mission set in stone, various other powers had contributed their own sensor systems for her part of the operation.  As far as she could tell, there were no alien starships within sensor range – or, for that matter, any human signals coming from New Russia.  The only detectable signals seemed to be alien; they’d been recorded for analysis, but so far the automated systems couldn't make head or tails of them.

Not too surprising, Ted thought.  The Royal Navy encrypted radio transmissions as a matter of course – they preferred laser communicators, which were effectively beyond interception – and there was no reason to assume the aliens thought differently.  Even if they didn't, they still spoke an alien tongue that wouldn't be anything like English.  Deciphering their language will take years.

“Looks clear,” his XO said, finally.  His voice hardened.  “Unless it’s a trap, of course.”

Ted nodded.  The aliens might not want to distribute starships randomly around the stars surrounding New Russia – they’d run the risk of being overwhelmed by a locally superior human force – but they wouldn't want to abandon New Russia without a fight.  Leaving the door open could be nothing more than an attempt to lure Ark Royal into the system, with the aliens waiting until they were deep inside before springing the trap.  But there was no way to avoid the risk.  If they backed off entirely, they might as well surrender New Russia for good.

“Signal the flotilla,” he ordered.  He couldn't push his doubts out of his mind, but he had to proceed anyway.  “We will advance to the tramline and jump.”