He could have handled that a bit more diplomatically, but given his original plan that was the best he could do. He hadn’t been exaggerating about his feeling towards Marcum; he despised the man and had hoped the Senate would have put him out to pasture once the oversight committee caught wind of what he and the former President were up to on that secret planet, The Ark. But then the Senate dissolved and Marcum was spared the embarrassment of an early retirement only to not learn his lesson and continue playing little games while wolves were at the door and scratching. Unfortunately, this time he wasn’t so sure they hadn’t gone out looking for the wolves and then led them into the house.

“Is everything okay, sir?” Commander Amiri Essa asked. The NOVA team leader and his men were dressed in what Pike liked to call tactical chic … casual civilian clothes that they still oddly managed to make look like a uniform.

Amiri Essa had been refusing promotions in order to remain with his people. The NOVA teams were CENTCOM’s highly skilled Special Forces that nobody in their right mind wanted to tangle with. Essa had been instrumental in helping Pike and Jackson Wolfe during the end of the Phage War, and they’d all remained loose friends.

“We’re good,” Pike nodded. “The admiral has seen the light and will be accompanying me to the surface of his own volition.”

“You need us to be on the ship for escort detail?” Essa asked.

“Amiri, I think I can handle one nearly senior citizen officer,” Pike said in a pained voice.

“Just making the offer.” Essa shrugged. “You agents are notoriously soft and you’ve been playing President’s Secretary for the last few years.”

“The day I need some sloped forehead, knuckle-dragging NOVAs for help with one old man will be the day I toss myself out an airlock,” Pike shot back. Essa and his men just laughed at the good-natured back and forth.

“Take it easy, buddy,” Essa said, walking past the agent.

“You too,” Pike said. “What do they have you doing these days?”

“Classified,” Essa said, turning to wink.

Pike just shook his head and waited for Marcum to emerge from his office, hopefully with a fresh shave and uniform, so they could go down and make a very uncomfortable report to what was likely to be a very pissed-off President Wellington.

****

“That makes four targets that have jumped in behind us, ma’am,” Adler said.

“Can we detect any other Terran vessels in the system?” Celesta asked, her voice giving away just how exhausted she was.

“No, ma’am,” Accari answered. “We’ve recovered four of our Jacobsons, destroyed the rest, and no other Terran ships appear to still be operating within the system.”

“Shut down the Link,” Celesta ordered. “Let’s start going quiet. I want active sensors still, but shut down all the telemetry broadcasts, beacons, and transponders.”