“That will be all, Lieutenant,” Celesta said. “Please wait outside.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Celesta leaned back in her seat and waited for the preliminary command level briefing to begin. She’d opted to attend the video conference in her office and had her com officer come in and set up the necessary decryption routines so that she could display it on the monitor bank mounted on one bulkhead. The Icarus had been flying circles around Juwel, one of the few remaining planets from the New European Commonwealth that was still controlled by the Federation. They’d arrived a full three weeks earlier and had been waiting for the rest of the taskforce to trickle in as well as the new theater commander. It had been rumored that Admiral Marcum would not be flying his flag on the New York as everyone had assumed.

She was of two minds about this since Marcum was by far the most experienced flag officer still serving in CENTCOM, but he was also Chief of Staff and it was highly unorthodox that he should be personally commanding missions. Celesta freely admitted to herself that the admiral’s sudden shift towards her played no small part in her relief that he wouldn’t be directing the action. The Phage War had forced them all into roles they weren’t used to playing, but she strongly felt it was time for Starfleet and CENTCOM to get back to the business of being a professional military organization and that meant sticking to doctrine and adhering to policy.

“Please stand by,” a voice intoned over the link, startling Celesta. A moment later the video monitors came on and the crest of the TFS New York was displayed before it also faded and was replaced by the feed of Fleet Admiral Wilton standing behind an unadorned lectern, flanked by the flags of the United Terran Federation on the right and Starfleet on the left. Celesta knew of Wilton, of course, but had never met the man nor served under him in any capacity. What surprised her more than anything was that Marcum had sent a Black Fleet admiral out to run the operation and not one of his friends from Fourth Fleet HQ.

“Let’s get this started,” Wilton said without preamble or any sort of greeting. “We have a lot to do and we’re already behind the curve. I see that … yes, we’re all linked in, it looks like. This briefing is going to be a one-way flow of information. I’ve disabled your ability to transmit onto this channel so feel free to clear your throat, cough, or sing the old Confederacy’s anthem, but whatever you’re doing you damn well better be paying attention. There will be a lot of information coming at you and you’ll be responsible for knowing it. This briefing is classified Top Secret, special instruction two.