James nodded, studying the alien vessels.  They were larger than frigates, but smaller than Ark Royal or any other known carrier design, human or alien.  Humanity hadn’t been too keen on the idea of producing giant starships, apart from the carriers, believing them to be easy targets.  But now ... humanity was working on its battleship design and the aliens, it seemed, had larger warships of their own.  Judging from the power curves, the ships might be battlecruisers or something similar.

Barbie coughed.  “Are they hunting us?”

“I don’t think so,” James said, as reassuringly as he could.  Personally, he suspected the aliens were readying themselves to launch an attack on another human world.  Ark Royal might have closed one backdoor, but there were plenty of others.  An attack on another major colony world – even if it wasn't Earth – would place the human alliance under considerable strain.  “I think they’re preparing the invasion.”

He concealed his amusement at her expression, then glanced at the timer again.  The minutes were ticking away, but there was still another hour before the projectiles passed through the alien position.  If the aliens moved, they would have fired all of those projectiles for nothing.  And the Russians were still drifting through space, heading towards New Russia ... they’d be dead before they even knew they were under attack.

Poor bastards, he thought.

***

“Hurry up and wait,” Rose chanted.  “Hurry up and wait.”

Kurt sighed.  They'd had the opportunity for a shower, as well as a quick nap in the sleep machine, but none of them felt very good.  Spending hours in the cockpit out in space was one thing – it was easy to forget that they were in a tiny starfighter when surrounded by the vastness of interstellar space – yet spending them in the cockpit while in the launch tubes was quite another.  He couldn't really blame Rose for being antsy.  The tension of their first combat jump had faded away, replaced by a tedium that gnawed at their combat readiness.

He clicked onto the private channel and called her.  “Behave yourself,” he said, sternly.  Had he been such a handful when he’d been a mere pilot?  Rose was supposed to be setting a good example for her new subordinates.  “There is a war on, even if we are not allowed to fight it just yet.”

Rose snorted, rudely.  “At this rate,” she pointed out, “we will be in no condition to fight when the shit hits the fan.”

“Hey, you want to complain, go join the reporters,” Kurt said.  “Failing that, shut up and put up.”