“The Alliance would face considerable logistical problems mounting a sustained invasion of Confederation space. Unlike the Union, they don’t share a border with us. Their ships would have to travel a significant distance to even reach Confederation space. And more transits to get to any significant worlds.”

Holsten nodded, but a frown slipped on his face. “Yes, but everything we know about the Alliance suggests they are a…stubborn…people. And since they won their latest war against the Unaligned Systems, they do have a route to the border that passes only through neutral space. So they’d have to deal with distance, but not with any hostile systems in the way.”

“That’s true, but sustaining an entire fleet so far from base? And they just fought half the Unaligned Systems. They won, but they took losses too. How could they possibly refit their forces and come at us so quickly? They need time to rest, to rebuild.”

“That’s the kind of logic you would use if you were analyzing us, Mike. You’ve read the reports. Their society is almost entirely military. Hell, they don’t even have a society. They’re just one massive armed force serviced by a bunch of conquered slaves. We would look at the distance and say it’s not feasible. I’m not entirely sure they would come to the same conclusion.”

“You may be right. But they still have to get their ships rearmed, repaired. They couldn’t possibly have turned around a battered, exhausted fleet that quickly. Even if they can move faster than us, it has to take them some time to prepare.”

Holsten took another sip of his coffee. “I have to agree with you on that point. I can’t see how they could have launched a full scale attack so rapidly. They may be coming at us, but I don’t see how they could actually do it, at least not for some months.”

He laid the cup back on the table and turned toward Vonns. “But that brings us right back to where we were, Mike. I know the Rimworlders have a tendency to exaggerate things sometimes, but the base command at Archellia didn’t panic about nothing. The patrol ships on the frontier encountered something…and if it really is some kind of criminal activity, that brings us right back to coincidence on the Alliance.”

Vonns nodded, but he didn’t reply. Holsten knew his friend didn’t have anything to say. Neither one of them believed Dauntless was out chasing pirates. But none of the other possibilities made sense. Unless…

He leapt out of his chair. “Can you get a map of the border on that thing?” He pointed to the large screen that covered most of one of the office’s walls.

“Yeah, sure.” Vonns stood up and walked over next to Holsten. “Max, activate monitor. Display systems map of Rim Section One, from Archellia to the border.”