“This isn’t going to be good,” she said.

Robb looked at her with his large, honey-brown eyes. “Lately, these briefings are always about bad news,” he said. “I wonder what’s happened now.”

The other recruits were restless, too, talking uneasily among themselves. The trainees had spent a month practicing with various configurations of attack craft, dropping bombs in the isolated red deserts, shooting at gigantic targets painted on the mile-high canyon walls.

A lieutenant now, an easy promotion thanks to the huge increase in recruits due to the military expansion, Tasia excelled in solo missions, flying her reconfigured ship fast and hard, intuitively understanding the different mechanical systems because, as a Roamer, she had learned to be flexible.

Due to the sudden immense mobilization against the mysterious aliens, the Eddies had been required to take whatever vessels they could get, cobbling together a fleet from a thousand modified types. Many of the confused recruits complained bitterly about the nonstandardization, but Tasia recognized the differences and capabilities of ships and kept track of each one’s advantages in various situations. Roll with it.

The only time she’d had trouble was during regimented ground missions, when she’d been forced through nonsensical marches and choreographed infantry drills that reminded her of primitive folk dances. Tasia hadn’t functioned well when asked to be a mindless part of a team. After one such assignment, Robb Brindle had joked, “With your attitude and your independence, Tamblyn, you’re on your way toward either a court-martial or a general officer’s commission.”

Now, when all the recruits had settled down in the domed lecture hall, the lights dimmed. Overhead, the dome showed only the night of space and the dazzling pinpoints of Phobos and Deimos racing each other across the sky.

The podium shone under a single spotlight and the EDF liaison, Admiral Stromo, stepped to the center. Tasia’s stomach sank even further. The liaison officer would not address them unless this was a matter of grave importance. The recruits muttered themselves into silence, but Tasia felt the tension grow in the crater auditorium.

The jowly admiral spoke without preamble. “We have obtained more images of our alien enemies,” Stromo said. “My highest tactical advisers are studying every fragment of these signals, but I want you all to see them. Understand what we are up against.”

“If those aliens ever show themselves, we’ll kick their butts,” muttered one of the recruits near her. His comment was answered by rowdy chuckles from his friends.

“We have learned of three more Roamer skymines de-stroyed in the past month. Five total. We obtained these transmissions from the last minutes of one such facility on a gas giant called Welyr.”

In utter silence, the trainees watched a projection in the middle of the lecture hall. Spiked crystalline spheres rose above Welyr’s clouds, ignoring the winds and storm systems and descending upon a skymine.