After having to grit his teeth and watch the Ares be destroyed completely in the Xi’an System, he concentrated on the overview of the Darshik ships and tactics. He was thoroughly unimpressed save for the “lance” they employed that looked to be some sort of directed plasma weapon and those tricky intrasystem “hops.” After going toe-to-toe with the Phage, this enemy looked to be more of an even match for the Terran fleet’s capabilities despite the fact they’d knocked Starfleet back on its heels a bit. The rest of the analysis looked like fairly standard fare and especially dry reading so he skipped it. Instead he pulled out a blank data card and began transferring the raw data from the encounters onto it, redacting any information that he thought might cause a bias.

“Danilo, get in here,” he said into the intercom as his terminal beeped to tell him the process was done.

“Yes?” Danilo asked as he appeared in the hatchway.

“Take this down to the research team dealing with adaptive modeling and tell them I want it run through the Cube at their earliest convenience,” Jackson said, handing him the data card. “Tell them I want it to try and see if a predictive tactical model can be derived with the limited amount of information given.”

“Is this real-world data?”

“Yes, but don’t tell them that,” Jackson said. “I want an unbiased result.”

“I’ll get right on it.” Danilo turned and hustled out of the office.

As his assistant left, Jackson had to remind himself that he was a project administrator now, not a Fleet officer. He would pump the data through his system and give the results back to the person who had requested it … he wouldn’t add his own comments or concerns, nor would he make any recommendations. All of that was someone else’s job now. Despite his own internal admonishments, he couldn’t refocus on what he had been doing before Pike’s packet showed up, and his right leg bounced up and down with a nervous energy as his thoughts kept drifting back to the Fleet gearing up for its first major engagement since he’d retired.

****

If Celesta thought her crew was getting impatient waiting for the rest of the taskforce to show up, it was nothing compared to waiting for the go-order. All the ships had been replenished, orders disseminated, and tactics agreed upon. The only thing left to do was get the operation started. She had just started her watch on the bridge and had barely settled into her chair when Lieutenant Ellison called to her.

“Captain Lee from the New York is sending a personal channel request for you, Captain,” her com officer said. “Would you like it at your station, ma’am?”

“Send it to my office.” Celesta stood back up. “Ensign Accari, you have the bridge.”