“Tactical, bracket those ships and begin feeding telemetry to the Shrikes; one missile per target and stand by for my order to go active,” Celesta said. “Look alive, people! We’re going to jump on this target of opportunity and then we’ll move back to our original plan. Coms! Send a message to our other ships via tight-beam laser that when they see our Link go active that’s the signal to begin the operation as planned.”

“Aye, ma’am.”

“Nav, plot me a course that will put us right up behind those ships, maximum performance,” Celesta said, her adrenaline starting to spike as things were about to go live.

“Course plotted on last known locations,” the nav specialist said. “It’s going to be a bit fluid since we’ll be doing updated via the passive sensors and we’re not—”

“I understand the risks,” Celesta cut him off. “Helm, execute your new course and be ready to make instant adjustments. All ahead full.”

“All engines ahead full, aye!” The Icarus surged forward on a wave of gravimetric distortion, quickly reeling in the ships that had already passed them and were heading back into the inner system.

“Let me have a running estimated range to target,” Celesta ordered.

Lieutenant Commander Adler looked distressed and didn’t answer right away.

“Tactical!”

“Targets are gone, Captain,” Adler said after a moment. “They disappeared from passive sensors and now there’s no trace of them on thermals … that shouldn’t be possible even if they did a full engine shutdown.”

“They jumped away,” Barrett said. “The question is, did they spot us, or was this part of a predetermined course?”

“Helm, zero thrust,” Celesta ordered. “Steady as she goes, no braking maneuver … just maintain your heading for now.” She was just buying herself a few moments to think while not having her ship dead in space. She could either alter her course and start the mission as they’d originally planned, or she could use the superior speed and acceleration of the RDS to try and relocate the patrol and try to take it out prior to the main body of the fleet arriving. Three less ships was not insignificant, but there was also no guarantee her destroyer would be successful in taking out all three.

“Helm, come about onto your original course, ahead one-half,” she said. “Coms! Inform Flight OPS that they’re to begin deploying our Jacobson drones.”

“Aye, Captain,” Ellison said.

“Back to the original plan?” Barrett asked.

“We don’t have the luxury of a hunting expedition right now,” Celesta said. “The fleet isn’t that far behind us, and we’re going to need the drone data sooner than later. OPS! Initiate the Link. Put all of our received drone data onto it once it starts coming in along with our own sensor data.”

“Link active, ma’am,” Accari said. “Flight OPS is reporting all drones have been launched and are inbound to the target area.”