"It's probably too late to request reassignment, huh?"

"Shut up, Sergeant."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

"Colonel Beck is stalled. She was almost to the command center when they found out these crazy assholes have wired a Shrike warhead to blow in the same damn room they're in."

"If that thing detonates, Exeter will be a total loss," Jackson sighed. "It looks like we're all playing for keeps in this system."

The senior staff of the Saber, along with Jackson's aide, Lieutenant Sam Trapp, sat in the upper observation lounge eating while using the high-bandwidth Bluebird connection to vid-con with the other ships in the taskforce. The conversation had been short and tense. If they weren't majorly reinforced from New Sierra soon, they wouldn't be able to hold the system for very long. It was less a matter of firepower and more that, even engaging two-on-one, the enemy had enough ships to simply fly around them and get to the base.

Moving the taskforce down to Exeter and setting up a defensive picket was also out of the question. As capable as the Super Valkyrie-class was, it was still a destroyer, and its stores of munitions were finite, and its armor wasn't nearly as heavy as what you'd find on a battleship or heavy cruiser. The numbers were too lopsided for Jackson's technological edge to matter. If the Alliance force came at them, he couldn't hold the line.

"We have ships on their way," Jackson said, standing and walking towards the large windows to look out over the hull of the Saber. With the running lights on, the view from the top of the superstructure was breathtaking. "I sent word before we even arrived in this system, but they're still some days out. I don't think we can count on them to turn the tide for us."

"Which ships were dispatched, sir?" Trapp asked. A few of the senior officers raised an eyebrow at an aide interrupting with questions and looked to see what Jackson would say.

"Our main concern will be to try and secure Exeter and re-establish its defensive grid," Jackson said, not even bothering to look at his aide. Trapp's cheeks turned red, but she otherwise showed no reaction to the snub. "Colonel Beck has a plan, but we'll need more Marines to pull it off. She's requesting the full compliment from the Broadsword, as well as an equipment drop of specialized gear for the NOVA team I sent down with her. That's getting put together as we speak."

"Sir, with two full detachments on the surface, if we have to make a fast retreat—"

"We'd be abandoning our people on the surface," Jackson finished. "Unfortunately, Captain Ellsworth, I'm not certain we have the luxury of guaranteeing the safety of our people this time…ours or the Marines on the surface. I would like you to interface with Captain Risher and explain to him the procedure for docking a destroyer to a platform in an orbit meant for a lighter cargo ship. We'll bring the rest of the taskforce down via a warp hop to buy some time since the enemy ships are still two weeks out. Any questions?"