He felt his frown deepening as the message flickered down the laser link.  No human starship could remain on alert indefinitely, not outside the fevered imagination of movie producers and politicians without military experience.  His crew either needed to get into battle or relax, yet he didn't dare risk either.  Knowing Murphy’s habit of showing up at the worst possible time, they’d have their pants down around their ankles when the aliens finally launched their ambush.  But if they were waiting for Ark Royal to move ...

“Picking up a response,” Farley said.  “They’re sending us a detailed data dump.”

“Run it through the standard security precautions, then pass it to the isolated analyst system,” Ted ordered.  It was unlikely in the extreme that the aliens could produce a virus capable of attacking Ark Royal’s computers – and, if they did, it wouldn't be any use against more modern carriers – but there was no point in taking chances.  Besides, human opponents might well have worked out ways to attack the ship’s systems.  “And then order one-half of our crews to stand down.”

“Understood,” Fitzwilliam said.  “Will you be resting yourself, Captain?”

“No,” Ted said.  He couldn’t relax ... and if he left the bridge, he might give into the temptation to take a drink or two.  Or, if he took a pill, Fitzwilliam might have to command Ark Royal and the flotilla when the aliens finally attacked.  That would look awful on his service record.  “But you are to take a nap in your quarters.”

An hour ticked by slowly as the recon platforms inched their way into the inner system, towards the looming presence of New Russia.  The handful of orbital stations the Russians had built to make transhipment easier were gone, not entirely to Ted’s surprise.  Stalin, the larger of the two moons, had once held a large-sized mining colony.  That too was gone, leaving only a scar on the lunar surface.  Judging by the size of the blast, the aliens definitely did have nukes – and were prepared to use them too.  There was nothing else, as far as he knew, that could produce such damage.

“Interesting that they didn't want to capture the facility,” Farley mused.  “They don’t build their starships out of unobtainium or anything unknown to us.  The Russians mined for materials to build starships here.  Why wouldn’t the aliens want it for themselves?”

Ted shrugged.  “Maybe they don’t intend to keep New Russia,” he suggested.  “As long as we don’t know where their homeworlds are, they can just keep dancing around us, defying us to catch and crush their fleets.  Eventually, they’d grind us down to the point where they can launch an invasion and occupy our remaining worlds.”