Celesta sighed in irritation at some of the more mundane aspects of command. But, mundane or not, things like a bridge crewman with loose lips had to be addressed. She picked up her tile and comlink, slipping the latter into her utilities, before leaving the conference room for the bridge to prep her ship for the last leg before they reached the objective. If this was indeed the ESA as she suspected, it would mark a strange kickoff to what promised to be a long and especially contentious cold war.

****

“Report!”

“Icarus has successfully transitioned into the Xi’an System, Captain,” the nav specialist called out. “Position confirmed within fifteen thousand kilometers of target.”

“Tactical, begin full passive scans of the system. Helm! Bear to starboard and clear the jump point, maneuvering thrusters only,” Celesta ordered before turning her head slightly. “Coms?”

“It’s there, ma’am,” Lieutenant Ellison confirmed. “Decrypting now. The file header is properly formatted ... It looks legitimate. Reading a strong beacon for a Terran Starfleet Starwolf-class destroyer, no registry identification transmitted with the message.”

“OPS, stow the warp drive and clear Engineering to start main engines,” Celesta said. “Coms, begin working with Tactical to ascertain where the signal is coming from and put your directional data on the Link. When the rest of the taskforce arrives we’ll be able to triangulate and pinpoint a position.”

“Aye, ma’am.”

“The Prowler and the Leighton have just transitioned in, ma’am,” Accari reported. “Waiting on confirmation that they’re moving into position.”

“Very well.” Celesta stood up. “Nav, send our first course and speed change to the helm. Helm, when you have main thrust available you’re clear to engage the mains, ahead one-quarter.”

“Ahead one-quarter when mains come up, aye,” the helmsman said. It was another few minutes before she saw her helmsman reach over and advance the twin throttles up to twenty-five-percent thrust.

“Engines answering ahead one-quarter, Captain. Icarus is now under power.”

“The Prowler, Leighton, and Midlands have all initialized their Link connections,” the tactical officer, Lieutenant Commander Adler reported. “The computer is processing the incoming data stream. We’ll have a rough location within a few hours and will resolve with more accuracy as the formation spreads.”

The other ships slowly filtered into the system and began deploying as the Icarus continued her course down into the system in the opposite direction of the Prowler while the Midlands and Leighton fanned out above and below in relation to the ecliptic. Celesta could feel herself tensing up and tried to force herself to relax. This wasn’t likely to be anything more than a bizarre but otherwise harmless action from the Asianic Union.

“Beacon is confirmed, Captain,” Ellison reported. “As far as the computer is concerned, that is a Starwolf-class destroyer down there.”