"They hit us fast to shut down orbital defenses and seized the Command & Control Hab, locking us out completely. We're at battalion strength, but we're not able to overcome their defensive positions. We assume the base command staff is still alive but, so far, no demands have been made, and they're not moving out of their stronghold to press their advantage. We're talking to you now on a backup com suite, one of only two high-power systems on base. Unless the CO or XO told them it exists, the enemy shouldn't know about it."

"We have to assume they're here to either capture or destroy the tech on Exeter, Colonel," Jackson said. "There are six ESA ships in the system right now, but they appear to be medium-sized freighters."

"So far they've not— Standby Admiral." There was some hushed, frantic conversations Jackson could barely hear before the Serra was back on. "My apologies, sir. One of my company commanders has just told me that we have some movement at one of the power distribution nodes. My guess is they've detected our transmission and are going to try and kill power to this section.

"To answer your question, sir, we've not seen them try to stage any of the completed units for transport, but they have effectively herded us away from the production complexes and isolated us in one of the smaller hab domes. They've blown up a couple of the access tubes so we'll be forced to move through the ones they left open if we need to move out and engage them."

"This certainly isn't optimal, Colonel," Jackson said. "I'm here with a small taskforce. We were actually chasing the Alliance ships currently in the system, and we made a guess about where they might be heading. Under no circumstances can the tech on your base fall into enemy hands. I hope I'm making myself clear, Colonel."

"Yes, sir. Very clear," Colonel Serra said somberly after a too-long pause that Jackson thought they might have lost the channel.

"I'm going to call up my detachment commander and patch her in," Jackson said. "Let's try to come up with some sort of solution to this problem so we don't have to resort to that."

"That definitely sounds good to me, sir."

"Standby, Colonel," Jackson waved the com officer to reconnect and hold the channel open. "Get Colonel Beck up here ASAP, Lieutenant."

"Aye, sir."

"Admiral, a moment?" the voice startled Jackson, and he spun to see Lieutenant Samantha Trapp standing behind him with a tile in hand.

"Where have you been?" Jackson asked. "I sent Barton to find you four different times."

"I was in CIC, sir," she said, taken aback by the uncharacteristic outburst from the admiral. "There wasn't much for me to do up here to assist you so I've been working the data on those phantom grav signatures we've been detecting."

"And?"

"I believe there's a risk, sir," she said, looking over to the main display. "In fact, I'd call the rest of the taskforce off that convoy right now. I believe they're flying into an ambush."