"On the eve of war, you hamstring your first line of defense?" Jackson couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"It sounds worse than it is," Marcum defended. Jackson realized that, as the Chairman of the Military Oversight Committee, Marcum would have been involved in that decision. "We're moving over Admiral Whitmore from 1^st Fleet, and he's pulling experienced staff from 1^st, 4^th, and 7^th Fleets to make sure this is a temporary setback. Admiral Sellers wasn't removed for cause. He's dead."

"Do what?" Barrett asked after a long pause.

"He was poisoned during a trip down to the surface. We suspect the Alliance had him killed, but we can prove nothing," Marcum said. "Rather than make that public, we released a statement saying he was being yanked from command, and then watched to see who on our side might know more than they should about him being dead."

"What a mess," Jackson said. "It's also a clumsy move by the ESA. Actually, all of this seems to be a dozen independent, amateurish stabs at the Federation rather than a developed strategy by a power with the resources the ESA controls."

"An interesting line of thought," Marcum said. "One we will need to pursue later, however. I have to get to a Bluebird terminal and see what I can kick up for intel."

"And I'd prefer to undock the Nemesis," Barrett said. "No offense, Admiral. The Saber is an impressive ship, but I feel oddly vulnerable right now after you telling me about how effective those stealth ships are."

"I'll have Ellsworth keep the Saber up here in formation with you to wait until Accari joins up," Jackson said. "The rest of my taskforce can warp hop to join us, and then we'll figure out our next move. Hopefully, Exeter Base has its defensive grid active again so we're not leaving them naked here."

"We'll be in touch," Marcum said, slapping Jackson on the shoulder as he walked out of the lounge. Barrett nodded to his old boss before following him out. Jackson went over to the intercom panel and keyed in the bridge.

"This is Admiral Wolfe. The Nemesis will be undocking shortly and moving off. Please, have Captain Ellsworth maintain course and speed. We're expecting the Coyote to form up on us."

"Acknowledged, Admiral," Ellsworth answered. "We're tracking her now. The rest of the taskforce is reporting they'll be joining within the next twelve hours. Our Marines and two assault shuttles are coming back with the Katana."

"Thank you, Captain," Jackson killed the channel and went back to the windows, grabbing a glass of wine from the sidebar as he did. It wasn't normally his preferred drink, but it was all that the stewards had put out when he'd announced they'd be receiving VIPs.

He was still standing there when a puff of frozen vapor announced that the gangway had been retracted and the Nemesis was decoupled from the Saber. Jackson sipped the expensive red blend—from Earth of all places—as his old ship smoothly accelerated up and away relative to his position. The Nemesis had been the right ship at the right time. A heavily armed, tough to kill destroyer-class vessel designed and built for the singular purpose of hunting down and destroying an alien ship they'd called the Specter.