"Neat trick," Marcum grunted. "Where do you want them?"

"You probably know of a better place than I do, sir," Jackson said. "Barring that, just stash them in some no-name system and put them in low-power mode. They can sit in orbit for a decade or so before the fuel runs out, and they start to drift."

"Sounds interesting, if a bit boring," Accari said.

"I'm sending you because the Coyote is the fastest ship at my disposal, and it's possible you could be racing an Alliance taskforce heading there right now to take out the entire formation. Stay on your toes. It could get a lot more exciting than you want real fast," Jackson said.

"Let's go, Commander," Marcum said. "I want to take a look at this new hotrod they put under you." Accari gave Jackson and Barrett a helpless look as Marcum led him back out of the office.

"What the hell is a hotrod?" Barrett asked.

"No idea," Jackson said. "There is something else I want to run by you. I'm making it a request not an order, so feel free to turn it down without repercussions."

"Of course, sir," Barrett said cautiously.

"I want to transfer to the Nemesis for the duration of this mission," Jackson said. "There are a couple of practical reasons for that, one of which is the trust and familiarity. Another is the fact it would free up all of the Super Valkyries to wreak havoc without the Saber being saddled with flying the flag."

"Sir, I'd be honored to have you aboard the Nemesis," Barrett said without hesitation. "But how would Captain Ellsworth take this?"

"Captain Risher seemed relieved when I left the Broadsword. Ellsworth is a little more pragmatic, but I have a feeling an admiral off his ship will only be seen as welcome," Jackson said. "Since he wasn't the first ship I've moved from, he won't see it as a personal insult. Hopefully."

The Coyote was fueled, provisioned, and sent out of the system at max speed to make sure they got to the Mickey fleet before any potential Alliance strike force did. In reality, Jackson was more worried about them showing up, finding almost five hundred undefended ships, and just taking them. Even from a reverse-engineering standpoint, it would be a disaster. The Mickeys were stuffed with the newest tech available from Fleet R&D.

It took almost thirty-three hours for the skeleton crew at Arelius to fully resupply the taskforce, the Broadsword taking the longest to replenish the missiles it fired during her two engagements. During that time, Jackson packed up all his gear and transferred to the Nemesis, moving back into his old quarters aboard the familiar ship he used to command. There were smiles on the faces of the crew when they saw him and, as predicted, Captain Ellsworth looked relieved to see him go.

The last bit of business before they left the system was still sitting down in a detention room on the Saber. Jackson was at a complete loss as to what to do with Lieutenant Sam Trapp. He'd not officially charged her with any crime yet and was operating in a legal gray area since the taskforce wasn't actually part of CENTCOM at the moment. There was no way he wanted her aboard any of his ships given what she'd already done. She'd slaughtered the Jericho's entire command crew and made it look like a series of unlikely suicides, and that was while she was trying to remain undercover. If she was free of those constraints, she would be able to do some real damage.