The accompanying raw data the analysts used to build the threat assessment was underwhelming, but Jackson cut them some slack. The Alliance had been hitting Fed systems up and down the border region, and people were becoming understandably jumpy. No intel analyst wanted to be the person who downplayed a threat that ended up being the next Odmena Massacre.

"I don’t think we're going to be the target if this was indeed an Alliance strike force, but I commend your initiative in making sure we're ready for anything, Captain," Jackson said, standing up. "Please, proceed with your preparations to move the taskforce and keep us on defensive footing."

"Aye-aye, Admiral," Ellsworth said smartly before turning back to his bridge crew.

"Did this warning get sent to the defense forces on the planet?"

"Yes, Admiral. They'd already received it, but we transmitted it to them again as a courtesy," Ellsworth said.

Jackson read through the assessment one more time before logging off the terminal and walking off the bridge. Barton fell in behind him without a word. The admiral waited until he was out of earshot of the bridge sentries before pulling out his comlink and sending a direct channel to his aide.

"Yes, Admiral?" Lieutenant Sam Trapp asked.

"Make preparations to have my family flown back down to the surface of Arcadia, ASAP," Jackson said. "My gut tells me things are about to get interesting."

"I'll have the transport crew notified at once. Trapp out."

"You don't think the Alliance would try and attack Arcadia, do you, Admiral?" Barton asked quietly.

"Not likely. It's too well-defended and has little strategic value," Jackson said. "But a small little flotilla of ships pushing this deep into Fed space intrigues me. Maybe we should go check it out."

Barton just smiled.

* * *

"Your guests have been escorted to the observation lounge, Admiral."

"Let them wait."

Admiral Vadim Kohl sat in his office aboard the Implacable, a brand new Alliance battlecruiser originally been built for an 8^th Fleet expeditionary force but had been re-named and diverted to Kohl's small command by powerful members of the Alliance Council. The ship was to replace the two battleships—a class of ship so expensive and complicated they were no longer being built—that had been destroyed by Admiral Wolfe in the Odmena System.

Kohl still bristled at the incompetence of the ship commanders the Alliance had saddled him with. To lose two battleships in a two-on-one engagement with the Jericho had been humiliating. Then, to add further insult to injury, his superiors in the Council had the temerity to suggest he had somehow been at fault for their inability to fight the engagement.

"Shall I—"

"You shall leave my office and let them wait," Kohl snapped at the lieutenant standing in the hatchway. "Once I have finished with what I am doing, I will go and entertain the politicians."

"I— Yes, Admiral."

Once the officer was gone, Kohl tossed his tile down onto the ornate, real-wood desk in disgust. He'd been going over routine readiness reports. Busy work. That's all he ever did recently since his fleet wasn't authorized to resume their mission just yet. The political fallout over the…mishap…over the planet Odmena had been immense and ongoing. Three antimatter bombs detonating within the atmosphere had almost depopulated the planet, and the incident had moved the Odmena System off the board and firmly into the Federation's camp. The Alliance Council had been livid about the unsanctioned mission, but they could hardly admit that to the Federation without appearing weak and lacking control over their own military.