"Let's not overlook their brilliant covert operation," Ellsworth said grudgingly. "When it comes to political espionage, they make the Federation look like rank amateurs."

"Depressing but accurate," Jackson said, standing up. "Colonel Beck will be ready to launch in the next twenty minutes or so. We've got a lot of work to do."

"I'll handle the Marines so you can concentrate on the situation up with Risher's group, sir," Ellsworth said. "I have a feeling neither situation will be as simple as it seems."

12

"Damn, damn, damn!"

"My thoughts exactly, Admiral," CIS Director Perez said as Pitt read over the brief he'd prepared about what was happening in star system B-1171. They had to do it this way since, technically, neither Exeter Base nor Taskforce Wolfpack existed under CENTCOM's command structure. Pitt had decided it would be better if all information was filtered through the CIS to keep it out of Starfleet's possibly-compromised intelligence network.

Out of caution, Pitt had decided the only way Wolfe would be able to pass him intel that wasn't a dire emergency would be to send it to Perez via Agent Pike. That ensured a clean chain of custody that would eliminate the Bluebird com network and any chance of a dispatch being intercepted. The damn Alliance was so adept at compromising even their most classified systems that it made them all paranoid, looking for spies behind every hatchway.

"At least Wolfe took the initiative to follow that convoy of cargo ships," Pitt said. "Bit of luck there. Exeter Base is kept isolated from normal Fleet traffic to prevent one of our ships from being tracked or the navigational data from being leaked to the enemy. It was a gamble to leave the base so isolated. It looks like it may have bit us in the ass."

"Now that Exeter is exposed, will you send forces to secure the system?" Perez asked.

"I'll have to pull ships off the picket line somewhere," Pitt said, rubbing at his scalp. "You're well-aware the Alliance fleet has mobilized along the border region, and we've had to shift our own forces to match. Unless I can convince Marcum to get President Stark to order some of the wealthier systems to give up their own defense fleets, I don't have many ships left to help out."

"The Mickeys?

"Going through final quals now," Pitt said. "They're close but not active yet. We're rushing them through as fast as we dare. Eternis Pax Shipyard has cranked out modules at a rate that gives us nearly two hundred new hulls to work with once they're ready."

Perez nearly choked on his tea at that.

"Two hundred?!"

"That's not for general knowledge," Pitt warned. "As soon as individual modules have been completed, we've moved them to the final staging points and shuffled them around to make sure the enemy really has no idea what we're doing with them. But it's looking like Wolfe's idea was a solid one. Two shipyards, given a couple years, could completely replenish our losses of the last two wars, assuming the raw materials are there. Dr. Ito thinks once they're running at full capacity, we could be looking at a war fleet of thousands in relatively short order.