He keyed a switch, activating the drones.  Sensor ghosts appeared briefly on the display, showing the location of five modern carriers.  Even knowing that the images weren't real, Ark Royal’s sensor crews had difficulty separating the illusions from reality.  Hopefully, the aliens wouldn’t question what they saw.

“They won’t see any starfighters,” he warned.  “Or, rather, they won’t see enough starfighters.”

The Captain shrugged.  Ark Royal carried four wings of starfighters; a modern carrier could carry ten, along with a small armada of smaller craft.  There was no way their four wings could pretend to be the fighters attached to five modern carriers, but if they were lucky the aliens would assume that the remaining fighters hadn't been launched.  Or maybe they would think that the human carriers were trying to retreat ...

James made a face.  There were too many flaws in the plan for him to be entirely comfortable with it.

Idiot, he told himself.  If you’d taken command, you would have to grapple with the same problems yourself.

An alarm sounded, making him jump.  “Sir,” Farley said, “we just picked up a warning signal from the sensor drones.  Seven enemy carriers and forty smaller ships have just jumped into the system.”

“Show me,” the Captain ordered.  Red icons appeared on the display, surrounded by lines projecting their course and speed.  They were heading towards the predicted tramline.  “It appears we have company.”

“Yes, sir,” James said, feeling cold ice running down the back of his spine.  The aliens had chopped through twelve modern carriers ... what if they were wrong about Ark Royal’s armour?  Or what if they were right ... and they were still overwhelmed anyway.  “I think they saw the drones.”

On the display, the alien craft altered course.  “No fighters,” the Captain noted.  “Or are they there and we can’t see them?”

James shrugged.  A human CO might keep his pilots in the launch tubes as long as possible, giving them what protection he could, but who knew how the aliens thought?

The Captain keyed his terminal.  “Red alert,” he said, “I say again, red alert.  All hands to battlestations.”

A low drumbeat echoed through the ship, bringing the crew to full readiness.  “I’m going to the bridge,” the Captain added.  “We’re about to find out the truth for ourselves.”

James nodded, then turned back to the display.

***

“Get your ass in gear,” Kurt snapped, as the pilots ran for their starfighters.  “Into the cockpits, now!  Move, damn it!”