"Calm yourself, Captain," Xiao said coldly. "I have no intention of waiting for Starfleet and letting them cut us to ribbons, but we need to be smart about this. The Prowlers would be no match for us, but we must take Captain Ross at his word that the devices attached to our hulls are indeed nuclear anti-ship mines."

"Your plan, Admiral?" Commander Elin asked respectfully.

"We need to test the veracity of their threats and the depth of their resolve." Xiao stood, his confidence growing as his plan took shape in his head. He was an admiral with an Alliance taskforce at his command. He would not cower before some Federation spy. "Captain Lu, please message the Belovo and tell Captain Novak to standby for his instructions."

"At once, Admiral." Lu turned in his seat to speak quietly into his comlink.

"The Belovo?" Commander Elin frowned. The Belovo was a seventy-six-year-old light cruiser that had been upgraded so many times the original shape of the hull was lost under all the added protuberances and fairings. Even the large superstructure rising from her dorsal hull had been a late addition, moving most of command and administrative spaces up out of the main hull to make room for more machinery.

"She will be the ship the enemy will have most likely ignored," Xiao said.

"That doesn't answer my—"

"Please, report to the bridge, Commander," Xiao said. "I will require your presence when we begin." The commander stood and regarded him for a long moment, and Xiao's suspicions about who she really worked for were confirmed in his mind. It would be good for her to observe him on the bridge firsthand. If his plan worked, she would report back to the Council about his decisive, bold leadership. Should he fail, he doubted there would be any report back to the Council at all.

2

"That ancient cruiser near the middle of the formation is ramping up her powerplant, sir."

"The sacrificial lamb," Ross said, looking over officer's shoulder. "They'll either try to move her out into weapons range to see what we'll do, or she's going to try and make a run for it and get a com drone off once they're sure we can't splash it. Let's see how this plays out."

"Sir, I have some bad news," Lieutenant Commander Easton said, leaning back so Ross could see her screen. "Bluebird came up from downstairs. The Nemesis and her taskforce are being diverted. One of the other systems the ESA has hit is in danger of being overrun, and they've directed Barrett there."

"They're giving us full discretion for the op, but the primary mission remains the same." Ross snorted and rolled his eyes. "This is going to be a bit of a challenge without Fleet support."

"Yes, sir," Easton said.

Ross walked back over to his seat, ducking below one of the overhead instrument panels on the cramped bridge. His boss, Admiral Celesta Wright, was a transplant from Starfleet. She was a war hero and one of most infamous warriors of the Expansion War, where she commanded a squadron of destroyers. Ross had his doubts about the admiral when she'd been drummed out of Fleet and CIS snatched her up to manage their Prowler program. Her decisions lately did nothing to assuage those fears and doubts.