The new system could not only send and receive full-sized data files, it could send and receive full video in real-time. This was, of course, dependent on the person you wanted to talk to having the same equipment, but even in an age of starships, the technology seemed miraculous.

"Admiral, our gravimetric wake has been detected," Commander Stewart said from OPS. "Exeter Base is asking we identify ourselves immediately."

"Light us up," Jackson said. "CIS ident beacon, no class identifier or ship registry for now."

"Aye, sir," Stewart said and slipped his headset back on. The billeting for an OPS officer aboard a destroyer usually went to a junior officer, but Jackson's new command seemed to be rank-heavy since CIS skimmed off the top performers in the fleet to crew the ships. The post aboard the Saber was also a bit more involved since she was flying the flag, hence the first watch OPS officer was the rank of someone who should have been moved to tactical or a section leader belowdeck.

"If they spotted our drive signatures already, they're either incredible vigilant or they're already on high-alert," Ellsworth said.

"I'm inclined to believe, given what they do here, that it's a combination of both," Jackson said. "But it is possible Fleet Intel gave them a heads-up that something could be inbound, and we didn't arrive near the area we think the enemy will transition in."

"Coms, what's our lag time between the base and our current position?" Ellsworth asked.

"Forty-one minutes one way, sir."

"Spread the taskforce into a defensive formation, Captain," Jackson said. "Tighten us up."

"Aye, sir. OPS! Formation shift…defensive phalanx."

"Defensive phalanx, aye."

Since the group's orders went out immediately over a Bluebird link in Taskforce Wolfpack, the ships of Jackson's command shifted an instant after the order was given. They moved into a tight arrowhead formation that allowed them to share point defense with overlapping fields of fire, as well as provide aggregate sensor coverage.

Another, lesser known reason Jackson liked to group his ships up like this while transiting a system was because the ESA's ability to sense other RDS signatures through their own engine fields wasn't nearly as advanced as the Federation's. With the ships bunched up, they appeared as one larger ship on Alliance ship sensors. The downside, of course, was that a powerful munition—like the Alliance's antimatter warheads—could possibly take out the whole taskforce with a direct hit on just one ship.

"The taskforce has been reconfigured, Admiral," Ellsworth reported once the Katana finished maneuvering into position.

"Very good, Captain. Maintain passive monitoring for any enemy ships and alert me the moment Exeter Base contacts us," Jackson said. "I'll be in my office."

"Yes, sir."

Jackson went quickly to his office, which was conveniently attached to his personal quarters, and fired up the Bluebird system that had recently been installed. Rather than going through the com ship routing system normal Bluebird traffic did, this unit would open up a direct connection to Agent Pike on his Broadhead.