“I just wanted to know if you’ve heard of this program from Marcum. Even if you won’t tell me the specifics I just need some direction to begin digging,” Pike said. “I also wanted to know if the communications you had with your old CO were at all … odd.”

“I can tell you with complete transparency that I have not heard that name before you uttered it, and I’ve had no strange interactions with Captain Wolfe,” she said. “In fact, we haven’t spoken since his retirement was official. I’d heard that he and Jillian had married and had twins, but they were on Earth and the Icarus was on the Confederacy-ESA border patrolling.”

“I see,” Pike said. “I suppose it was too much to hope for that you had heard of the program and would willingly divulge classified information to me. Well … now that business is out of the way, it seems a shame to waste this private closet since we’re both here—”

“You never change.” Celesta tried to inject a tone of disgust into her voice but failed, breaking into a laugh at the end. “As much fun as your offer sounds, Agent Pike, I have to be going. The tugs will have the New York on her final approach as we speak and I’d like to at least lay eyes on her before I tell Marcum whether I accept or not.”

“Make your choice carefully, Captain,” Pike said seriously. “While it’s within your right to refuse a transfer, if you piss off Marcum too badly you may find yourself in command of nothing.”

“Thank you for the concern,” Celesta said coldly as she opened the door and walked out. She was irritated not at Pike, but at herself for not realizing that command of the Icarus was not a given. If she turned down Marcum it might not be too much longer before he pulled her off the destroyer’s bridge and put her in one of the infamous billets saved for officers who needed to be warehoused until they either served out their time and retired or simply resigned. With the prospect of a new fight on the horizon with another unknown alien species she couldn’t afford to be so selfish, Fleet needed as many commanders with combat experience as it could get.