"There's little we can do to investigate why the Jericho transitioned into the system so far off course, but she was so close to that gas giant there was no chance of escape," Jackson said. "The Alliance launched over one-hundred missiles at her, and even then were barely able to take her down…but not before Captain Asher destroyed over three quarters of their entire force."

"This is a goddamn nightmare," Marcum groaned, cradling his head in his hands. "That ship was the key to our entire counter-offensive strategy against the ESA. Now, what the hell are we going to do?"

Jackson didn't answer. He had known Marcum a long time and knew to just let him rant and get it out of his system. When the two destroyers had docked, Jackson had been shocked to see his old boss storming up the gangway ahead of his old protégé, Michael Barrett. Captain Barrett, a card carrying member of the Blue Jacket Mafia, had been apologetic for being unable to keep the civilian politician off Jackson's ship. Legally, the Wolfpack ships didn't exist, and Marcum had no authority directly within CENTCOM's chain of command. But Marcum had never been a man to let minor legalities slow him down.

"You saved Bluebird? And the…other thing?" Marcum asked.

"Both secure, distributed across three of my ships so I'll need to find safe harbor to off-load them," Jackson said. "We could stand to replenish one more time before trying to track down Kohl, assuming that's still our mission. We've expended more than a few missiles defending this system."

"I've got a couple places in mind where we can hide out. Off the books places even CENTCOM doesn't know about," Marcum said. "Black site depots Director Perez gave me the keys to. We can top off your fuel and munitions and maybe even stash Bluebird there for the time being."

"We have one other problem we'll need to deal with before we leave," Jackson said.

"Oh?"

"It seems my aide is an Alliance mole. We think she may have even been responsible for the deaths of the Jericho's captain and XO during the Odmena operation. We have her confined below right now, keeping it quiet. Are there any CIS assets in the area who can take her off my hands and perform the interrogation?"

"Maybe," Marcum said doubtfully. "And even if there were, I'm not sure how we'd go about getting in touch with them. We've been operating under the assumption the normal chains of command have been compromised."

"I'll check into that, sir," Barrett volunteered. "I have some backchannel connections that are likely less visible than your contacts."

"Do that," Marcum said. "We've collected more than a few high-value prisoners since the ESA started turning up the heat, but damned if they're not a tight-lipped bunch. We're not having much luck pulling the details out of them other than a pair of names that keep coming up over and over. Makov and Chan."

"You think they're real names?" Jackson asked.