Ark Royal hung near the tramline to Earth – or where the tramline would be, if the Old Lady’s drive had been able to use it.  Predicting where the aliens might go was easy enough, assuming that the First Space Lord’s calculations had been correct.  There was certainly nothing else to interest the aliens; the settlements weren't worth the effort of destroying them, assuming that the aliens weren’t bent on total genocide.  But if they were wrong ...

He looked up at the display, seeing a handful of fast-attack frigates hanging close to the massive carrier.  They’d arrived the day after Ark Royal, bringing updates from Earth, including records from a Russian starship that had remained concealed and watched as the aliens landed on New Russia.  Apparently, the aliens had bombarded the planetary defence centres, but otherwise ignored the human population.  James couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.  It was good, because it suggested that the aliens weren't bent on genocide after all, yet it was also bad because it prevented contact between humans and aliens.  There was no hope of opening a dialogue that might result in peace talks.

Not that they have to worry, he thought, grimly.  As long as they’re winning, they can dictate terms to us and we will have to bend over and take them.

“Captain on the deck,” the duty officer said.

James turned to see Captain Smith entering the CIC.  The Captain looked galvanised, but – like the rest of his crew – he was clearly worried about what they were doing in the unnamed system.  If they were wrong about the alien plans, they were quite likely to discover it the hard way, when they finally returned to Earth and found it under alien occupation.  James was merely relieved that the Captain hadn't started to drink again.  If he did, James would have to relieve him of command ... which would almost certainly doom James’s career too.

“Captain,” he said.  “We have finished deploying the decoys.”

The Captain nodded.  They’d hashed out the possibilities endlessly, but one thing had been clear from the start.  They would have to lure the aliens to their position, not gamble on the aliens appearing right next to them.  Any planetary system, even one orbiting an insignificant red dwarf, was so vast that the odds against them being in the right place were staggeringly high.  But if the aliens thought they had a valid set of targets ...

“Activate them,” the Captain ordered.  “And hope that they fool the aliens.”

James nodded.  The drones were the most advanced decoys produced by human technology, but no one knew what the aliens would make of them.  If their sensor technology was advanced enough, they would probably realise that the decoys weren't real carriers and give them a wide berth.  Or maybe they would assume that the decoys were nothing more than a bluff.