"Clever," Jackson deadpanned. "So, this is your new job? Intel analyst?"

"It's either this or the door," Pike said, suddenly serious. "While the director understood why I blew up the com drone platform in the Odmena System, the political fallout from an Agent wiping out an ancient, unholy expensive piece of critical infrastructure means someone has to take the blame."

"The CIS is having quite the time with rogue Agents," Jackson remarked. "You blow up a multi-trillion dollar com platform and Carson murders thousands of spacers to prove a point."

"Yeah," Pike said uncomfortably. "The days of Agents being given such a long leash is coming to a sudden halt, I'll wager. Either way, I play liaison to Taskforce Wolfpack or I get retired."

"You're too old to be playing spy versus spy anymore," Jackson said. "And you're too immature and erratic to be a good desk analyst. Might as well retire on top."

"That's the way Celesta put it. Almost verbatim."

The unlikely pair of friends fell silent after that, each lost in their own thoughts. Jackson had known Pike—he had no idea what the Agent's name was other than just Pike—since right before the start of the Phage War. At the time, Pike had been wearing one of his personas, a man named Aston Lynch, to catch a ride on the Blue Jacket to a star system where he had his ship stashed. It had been a good way to disappear from the capital world of Haven for someone who was so high-profile. As the aide to then-Senator Augustus Wellington, Lynch had trouble moving around unnoticed. He boarded the Blue Jacket as Lynch and transferred to his own Broadhead as Pike without anyone catching on.

Their orbits kept overlapping throughout the war, and then again into the Expansion War. Although he had never served a single day in Starfleet, most of the Blue Jacket Mafia, as they were known, still considered Pike one of the old crew.

"Get with my aide to get the gear you brought installed in my office." Jackson was the first to break the silence. "Her name is Lieutenant Sam Trapp. I brought her with me from the Jericho, and I trust her enough to have her supervise the installation."

"I'll take care of it, Admiral," Pike promised. "Go enjoy the time with your family, and I'll see you before I leave."

4

"Admiral Wolfe to the bridge. Admiral Wolfe to the bridge."

"They're playing your song," Jillian said, yawning and stretching in the oversized rack in Jackson's quarters as her husband rolled his uniform pant leg down over his latest and greatest prosthetic from Fleet Medical.

"Probably Pike wanting to say goodbye before he disembarks," Jackson said. He paused to look down at the two children sleeping on the deck, wrapped up in bedding his security detail had snagged from supply. The fact they were growing up with only knowing their father in video messages and infrequent visits wasn't necessarily unusual for Fleet kids who had a parent serving aboard a starship, but it sure as hell didn't make it any easier as he looked at them. A hard lump formed in his throat at the thought of leaving them again.