“Ensign Accari?” she said, not taking her eyes off Barrett’s. What he was adamantly claiming was so absurd she felt her OPS officer would be the voice of reason.

“I concur, ma’am,” Accari said. “The damage shown in the images is consistent with the battle damage taken by the Ares during her final mission. I am forced to agree with Commander Barrett’s assessment that this really is our former ship.”

“So … how does a ship too damaged to fly that was left in an unknown, uncharted region manage to get itself all the way back to Terran space?” Celesta asked, her hands clasped behind her back. “Not just back, but precisely to the place where the entire war was started.”

“I’d say it was brought here,” Barrett said. “When we abandoned her, the hull was so badly compromised that she wouldn’t have survived a single warp transition.”

“And nobody we know of, other than the Vruahn, has the ability to move a destroyer halfway across the quadrant,” Celesta said. “Since I doubt it was them, and in spite of Admiral Marcum’s insistence otherwise, this reeks of the Phage.”

“The Phage were destroyed, Captain,” Accari said firmly and with absolute conviction.

“I hope that you’re right, Mister Accari,” Celesta said. “Please return the view to a live feed of the … Ares … and signal the rest of the taskforce to begin converging on our position. I want no change in their velocity until so ordered by me. Transmit the data we have so far to the Prowler as well.”

“Aye, ma’am,” Ellison said as Accari switched the main screen back to a live view of the Ares. Through the high-powered optics of the Icarus they were able to begin making out more detail in the false-color composite image the computers were generating through the multi-spectral sensor suite. Celesta’s stomach was in knots. Someone had brought Wolfe’s last ship to the Xi’an System as a powerful statement, she was certain of it. Nothing else made sense other than possibly an unbelievably elaborate and inexplicable hoax by the ESA.

“We’ve received confirmation of orders from the rest of the taskforce, ma’am,” Ellison reported after a tense hour and a quarter had passed.

“Anything else coming from the Ares other than the distress beacon?” Celesta asked.

“Negative, ma’am,” Ellison said.

“Any change in the ship at all?”

“No, ma’am,” Accari said. “She’s still in the same slow tumble in a trailing orbit behind the chunk of what used to be Xi’an.”

“Well, let’s kick the hornet’s nest and see what comes flying out,” she sat back in her seat. “Tactical, is the Icarus fully prepared to defend herself?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Adler answered.

“Coms, transmit a message to the Ares requesting a status update,” she said. “Let’s see if we get an answer.”