As she left the lower administrative decks she thought back to Pike’s suspicions that Wolfe had something to do with this hypothetical “Prometheus” project. The agent was many things, but being prone to flights of fancy was not one of them. She knew that if he was fishing for information she might have then he had already put many of the pieces together himself, even if he wasn’t sharing. If Wolfe was involved in it, why? Pike had made it sound like it was more of a research initiative and Wolfe, for as good as he was at operations and tactics, didn’t have much experience or ambition in that arena.

With great effort, she pushed the entire mess from the front of her mind. She had no way to get in touch with her former captain, and even if she did she wasn’t about to approach him about a project that was so clandestine the new President didn’t even know about it. There was nothing to do about it and she had much more pressing matters to concentrate on. The last thought that flitted through her mind on the subject was how it was strange that after nearly half a decade of no news or contact the legacy of Jackson Wolfe was once again thrust into the limelight. From the final destruction of the Ares to his name being associated with a black project that sounded like it could also be illegal, and with the prospect of a new war looming in the background … Celesta rarely ignored her instincts and at that moment they were telling her that her mentor was not going to be able to enjoy the quiet life of a retired Fleet officer that much longer.

****

Meeting the New York at the dock had been a disaster. Celesta had been given priority when she’d been spotted and, under mild protest, had been moved from the gallery to near the gangway. She spotted Captain Lee, the officer she recognized as having commanded the heavy missile cruiser, Brooklands, during the Phage War and gave him a friendly wave. The cold, almost hostile look she received in return shocked her as Lee gave her a perfunctory nod before pressing past her and into the waiting delegation from New America that had been standing ready to welcome the ship home.

“Don’t take it personally, Captain,” the New York’s XO said as she approached. Celesta remembered her face but couldn’t recall her name or place where they’d met before. “Captain Lee is a good CO and I think he was under the assumption he was going to be named as the permanent replacement for NY’s big chair.”