Whatever was there had to be something so dangerous or mysterious that Admiral Marcum wanted his most decorated, battle-hardened captain to be the first to investigate. She took some small comfort in the fact that Marcum had actually used the word investigate multiple times during their conversations as opposed to intercept, disable, or destroy. Maybe this was simply an overreaction from a command structure that was now trying to find its stride in a time of relative peace.

“Commander Barrett, you have the bridge.” Celesta stood up as her XO walked through the hatchway for duty. “I’ll be in Engineering. Ensign Accari will brief you on the latest developments.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Barrett said to her back.

****

Celesta rode the lift down from the command deck, located at about the midpoint of the comparatively squat superstructure fitted on the Starwolf-class, all the way down to Deck Eight where she could take the main aftward access tube all the way to Engineering. Before leaving her office the previous evening she’d sent a message to Commander Graham’s inbox asking that he come up with a few options for employing the RDS without risking the failure modes they’d experienced on other systems when it decided to fail.

She’d complained bitterly to Tsuyo and CENTCOM both about the abysmal reliability of a drive that had been fitted to an active duty combat vessel, but the excitement of the brass for the new drive trumped the strident complaints of even the legendary Captain Wright. So, without wasting further time and effort trying to get management, as she’d come to view them, to see it her way she had decided to trust her own engineering crews to find an acceptable solution. It was either that or she’d jettison it over an unpopulated planet before returning to New Sierra.

“Commander Graham,” she announced her arrival loudly to be heard over the noise of the machinery in the bowels of her ship. “I hope you have some good news for me.”

“I do indeed, Captain,” Graham said. A fellow Britannic citizen, his accent was similar to hers, but a practiced ear would be able to tell they likely didn’t come from the same planet within the enclave.

“It was a fairly simple solution, but a degree of difficulty is induced by the sheer size of the components needed, not to mention the safety concerns. To be perfectly honest, Captain, this is something that should have been built into the RDS pod before they ever tapped Icarus’s MUX.”

“Very good, Commander.” Celesta suppressed smiling at the enthusiastic man. For some reason he always took that as a mocking gesture. “I am prepared to be awed by your engineering prowess.”