That last part got Jackson hustling. Project Prometheus had been housed in a deep-space facility, disguised in order to keep those a bit too curious away. The issue with a good disguise is that having overt security tended to spoil it, but not having it meant you ran the risk of unwanted visitors being able to get up close before noticing them. It appeared they had just such an incident.

“Report!” Jackson barked as he strode across the antechamber that was connected to the auxiliary airlock, shouldering through armed security contractors as he did.

“Unknown ship has just made hard dock,” the team lead said. “No transponder signatures and we didn’t pick it up on thermals until it was so close it was able to connect to the collar with a flexible gangway.”

“We have visuals up?” Jackson asked.

“Yes, sir,” the contractor said. “Stand by.” He slung his weapon and entered some commands into the terminal beside the airlock hatch, routing the external optical feed so that Jackson could see what kind of ship had just latched onto his lab without permission. When the sensor trained down from above and he could see a top profile of the ship, he ground his teeth in anger. He should have expected this sooner or later.

“Please send this message via the inductive link in the docking collar: ‘What the fuck are you doing here, Pike?’”

“Verbatim, sir?” the contractor asked, his hands pausing over the terminal.

“If you please.” Jackson nodded once. It was another minute before a reply came back.

“It says, ‘President Wellington has asked me to come find you.’”

“President Wellington?” Jackson muttered. “Go ahead and cycle the lock, Stanford. Keep an eye on this guy until I give you the all clear. He’s a bit goofy but very dangerous.”

Stanford entered in the security code that would allow Pike to externally command the airlock cycle and stepped back, raising his weapon halfway as he did. It wasn’t even another full minute before the red lights ringing the airlock hatch began flashing amber and then a solid green as the pressure was equalized and the hatch locks were released.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Pike said as he strolled into the antechamber, completely ignoring the half-dozen infantry carbines aimed in his general direction. “Project Prometheus, I assume? Or have you completely lost your mind and this is now where you’ve taken up residence in your retirement … keep in mind the beard is actually making me think it’s the latter.”

“Pike,” Jackson said slowly, “you really shouldn’t be here. Careful security measures are in place and all of this was approved at the highest levels of CENTCOM and under blanket immunity within the Senate.”