"The pressing issue is crew training more than it is availability of ships. Right now, all the crews are being rushed through the full-size simulators at one of our training centers. The systems were developed by Gillian Wolfe and, at least she claims, will be able to take crews from indoc to fully mission-certified before they ever step foot on an actual ship."

"Well played keeping this hidden from even me," Perez said. "If I don't know about the extent of the Mickey program's progress, it's unlikely the enemy does, either. This could be a war winner."

"That's our hope," Pitt said. "Once the Mickey's are fully operational, there will be little the Alliance can do militarily to stop us. But it's still in a vulnerable phase. The ships are hidden as well as we can make them, but as the Exeter situation is showing us, nothing stays a secret forever around here."

"So, what do we do about Exeter?" Perez asked again. "I talked to Admiral Wright, but Prowler Fleet is stretched so thin they're barely managing as it is. I can't pull enough ships off to make a difference, and even our most combat-ready Prowler is no match for a warship."

"The only unassigned ships I have right now are the DeLonges Ready Reserve Force," Pitt sighed. "That's only twelve ships, and it pulls away from the defense of the capital world, but I don't think we have a choice. Bluebird is absolutely vital…and that isn't even the most secret thing out there in Star System B-1171." At this, Perez's eyebrows went up a tick.

"Indeed," he said. "I don't suppose you'd care to share?"

"Not at this time," Pitt said. "Nothing personal, but the less anybody knows the better. Now, let's see who else might be able to move. The DeLonges Reserve Force is capable but not made up of particularly fast ships." The CENTCOM Chief of Staff opened a window on his desktop terminal and scrolled through lists of deployable assets and their current status.

"I'll ask Admiral Wright if we can move a couple ships there if for no other reason than to give us eyes and ears on what's happening. Wolfe will be too busy to send regular status reports through Pike."

"Good idea," Pitt said, and then smiled. "Well now, it looks like our luck may have turned up a bit."

"Oh?"

"The Jericho has been pulled from the dock and is currently reading as ready for orders," Pitt said. "She's in orbit over New Sierra right now."

The TFS Jericho was the Federation's mighty Juggernaut-class battleship. She was the last of the big boomers and packed all of their latest weapons technology. The ship had been sidelined after the Odmena System disaster where Wolfe had used her to wipe out half of Vadim Kohl's invading force but had exposed the fact there were traitors among his crew when the ship's captain and exec had died under suspicious circumstances.

CENTCOM had recalled the ship and had replaced her crew, never discovering who had murdered the ship's command crew. They were still officially listing the deaths as suicides as Fleet Security quietly continued the investigation.