“What we can’t account for, however, is the Darshik reaction,” Washburn said. “We’re assuming they’ll be so disoriented and surprised that we’ll be able to slip back out of the system, but that’s just my best guess. I feel I’d be negligent if I didn’t point out that the Ushin did give us the location of this system and they appear to be working with the Darshik … or at least for them. We could very well have been under observation the moment we transitioned in.”

“I’ll take your concern under advisement,” Celesta said. “It’s definitely something we should keep firmly in mind when it comes time to move the Icarus. We’ll need to plot out a wide, circuitous course to bring her back around to this jump point and there are more than a few times we’ll be at risk.

“I’m approving this plan as you’ve brought it to me so far, but I think I might want to expand on it. The ramifications of what I want to do, however, could be profound. We just don’t know enough about this species to even guess what would happen if I take this one step further and, even more concerning, we don’t know if we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Darshik military strength. They could have a much larger fleet, and we have no way of knowing whether the Ushin-provided intelligence should be discounted completely.”

“What do you have in mind, Captain?” Barrett asked.

“Something to respond in kind to the warning we were given in the Xi’an System,” Celesta said. “The Ares was dragged from an ultra-secret location just to be detonated in an unnecessarily dramatic display meant to either frighten or dishearten us … or both. We have a chance to do something similar here, but it could be akin to kicking the hornet’s nest, as Captain Wolfe used to say so often.”

“What do you need from us, ma’am?” Commander Severn asked, his feral smile clearly showing what he thought of the prospect of figuratively jabbing a stick into the enemy’s eye.

Chapter 23