“Captain Wright, you’ll be broadcasting a message provided to us by the Ushin declaring that the Darshik are no longer welcome in that system and demanding they withdraw immediately. I want you blaring active sensors so that you not only see any incoming but you provide a point of focus while I sneak in the heavy missile cruisers. You’ll be on your own for a bit, but your Starwolf-class ships should be just as fast as anything fielded by the Darshik. Just be aware of their intrasystem jumps and know that you’re free to take whatever actions you deem necessary in order to keep your people and machines safe while performing your mission, up to and including opening fire at any threatening gestures by the enemy.”

Celesta had more than a few questions, but she knew this was just a preliminary overview and the Icarus would be getting much more detailed orders afterward that she could go through and then ask questions or lodge complaints. She had confidence that her ships could keep up with the Darshik warships in real-space, it was the aforementioned intrasystem jumps that had her worried. If she had more information on how they navigated them or the requirements needed that would allow her to use the system’s “terrain” to her advantage it would be a big help.

She was now only half-listening as Wilton was giving each major grouping a breakdown of what would be expected of them. Truth be told, she was elated with her squadron’s role in the upcoming offensive. It would only be Starwolf-class ships in her formation so there would be no holding back for slower, older ships. She also liked that they were being turned loose as a bit of a wildcard and not given the usual role of escorting the lumbering heavies down the well, a mission that basically made them targets.

Celesta pulled her tile over to her and, with an eye to the rest of the briefing, she began to sketch out how she wanted to array her ships. There were only so many strategies you could employ with three destroyers, but each also carried a complement of ten Jacobson drones that could be used to create a little more confusion. The Jacobsons were the most advanced unmanned spacecraft the Starwolf-class destroyer could carry. They could be loaded with mission-specific modules to tailor it to the role it was being asked to perform. While she was messing with different deployment strategies she also pulled up the mission module loadout they carried and began going through that. Depending on how long Admiral Wilton expected them to fly through the system alone kicking up dust there were some interesting things she could do that would likely confuse the hell out of the Darshik commanders. It would at least be something they hadn’t seen from Terran ships before.

Chapter 15

“Director Wolfe?”