He was about to settle into his seat to watch Ellsworth and his crew work when his comlink beeped.

Emergency. Make contact with Agent Pike immediately.

That had come in from his personal Bluebird link with Pike and not the ship's normal com network. If Pike was telling him it was an emergency, Jackson would be wise to believe him.

"Captain, I leave this operation in your capable hands. I need to make contact with someone in a secure room," he said.

"If Captain Risher asks about his new orders, sir?" Ellsworth asked.

"Tell him to engage the cargo ships from a distance and work back towards Exeter Base to rejoin with us. Standard flight profiles, no warp hops."

"Aye, sir."

Jackson walked off the bridge as quickly as decorum would allow. Flag officers were islands of calm on a starship. If the crew saw him sprinting away in a panic, it would be contagious and distracting.

Once he arrived at his quarters and secured the hatch, he saw the Bluebird unit was active and waiting with a live channel. Pike apparently was willing to wait rather than just have Jackson message him back.

"Thanks for getting to your box so quick," Pike said once the two-way video link had stabilized. "The shit is about to hit the fan. How're things going in B-1171?"

"We just had twenty-eight warships show up after Risher popped eight stealth ships setting an ambush. These are a new, more advanced variant we've never seen before. The ESA seems to be all-in on this strategy," Jackson said. "I'm landing my Marines now to retake the base, and we'll wait and see if we can't get Exeter's defense systems back online before calling it a loss."

"Good times," Pike said. "The reason for the com request is to let you know President Stark has activated one of the failsafe plans pending an attack on the capital system. Marcum, Pitt, Wright, and about two dozen other military and civilian leaders were smuggled away in the middle of the night and flown off to undisclosed locations and ships. I know Marcum is heading to the Nemesis, and Pitt is remaining with Celesta aboard her Prowler."

"An imminent attack?" Jackson asked. "What about the local defense force?"

"It's been whittled away to shore up the lines along the border region," Pike said. "The Jericho was just dispatched to assist you, so that leaves only a handful of warships and the permanent gun emplacements which, as you know, are a bit out of date. Rebuilding the DeLonges defense barricades were low priority after the Darshik."

"Shit," Jackson muttered. "You think the Alliance can actually take and hold the capital?"

"Take? Maybe. Hold? No, but that might not be their plan. If they can hold it long enough to squeeze the parliament into capitulating, they could feasibly pull it off. The problem, of course, is once the Mickeys finally enter the fray, they'll be badly outnumbered and outgunned."

"We've been completely outmaneuvered," Jackson said. "How the hell are they able to catch us flatfooted damn near every single time they make a move?"