"Admiral Pitt, it's an honor to have you aboard, sir," Captain Adler said after she greeted her boss with a salute and a genuine smile.

"Thank you, Captain," Pitt said.

"Get us underway ASAP," Celesta said. "We need to be out of this system before the platform's first watch comes back on, and they start figuring out how many key members of leadership are MIA."

"Aye, ma'am," Adler said. She spun and walked quickly out of the airlock antechamber and made her way toward the bridge.

"I'll show you to your quarters, sir, and then we can break into the briefing packet and find out where we're going," Celesta said.

"I can't wait," Pitt said, not enjoying the feeling of not being in charge of what was happening around him.

15

"All reverse one-half!"

"All engines reverse one-half, aye!"

"Once we're parallel to the platform, you may execute your docking script, Helm," Captain Ellsworth said.

"Sir! Admiral!" OPS blurted out. "New contacts along the system boundary…a lot of them!"

"Keep cool, everyone," Ellsworth said. "OPS, tell the admiral what you have. Helm, continue the operation."

"What have we got, Lieutenant?" Jackson asked, walking over to the OPS station.

"Twenty-eight new contacts just transitioned in within the last ninety seconds," she said. "CIC confirms twenty-three of them are in our database…all ESA mainline warships."

"Transitioning in that close together and at the same time took a high level of coordination. They were staged close to the system beyond our detection range waiting for a signal. Ask CIC if the cargo convoy Captain Risher was intercepting launched any com drones." Jackson frowned, not liking what the evidence pointed to.

"CIC says the rest of the taskforce has the convoy painted with high-resolution radar, and no com drones have left the system," OPS said. "Could they have sent a normal radio transmission, sir? They've been broadcasting beacon and com traffic since they've arrived."

"Not likely. This backup force that just arrived was probably at least half a light-year away for them to be able to hit the target so precisely. ESA warp drives don't do well on short flights. Have CIC continue working the problem and let the deck officer know I'll be down to check in with them later."

"Aye-aye, sir."

Jackson was still lost in thought as he walked back to the middle of the bridge and watched Captain Ellsworth direct the delicate docking maneuver with a ship never intended to dock with a low-orbit cargo transfer platform. The Saber had to be dropped down to an altitude of fifteen hundred kilometers and rely on the power of her engines to maintain the proper speed and orientation.

The trick would be when they came in close to the platform, the drive would have to be cut momentarily so it didn't push on the dock and destabilize it. The computer would then use the maneuvering jets to line their starboard airlock up with the gangway.

Once the Saber docked, her entire compliment of Marines would disembark, and then they would use the cargo lifters to drop down to the base and help the besieged defense force. It was ambitious and dangerous, but short of opening fire on the base with the Saber's guns, Jackson could think of no other way to salvage the situation. Transferring their entire compliment of Marines via the assault shuttles was impractical due to the time constraints they were under. Doubly so now that the Alliance forces had sent out a distress signal and called in the cavalry. The Wolfpack was probably the most combat capable taskforce in existence, but it was still only five ships against nearly thirty.