"I'll handle that," Ellsworth said. "We're cutting it a little close, aren't we?" He nodded to the tactical display that showed the enemy fleet closing. The Alliance ships had given up all pretense of strategy and were running towards the moon at full burn.

"We'll be okay."

Jackson turned to leave when Barton and the Saber's master at arms, Petty Officer Munoz, stood by the hatch and obviously waiting for him. He glanced at Lieutenant Trapp, who was engrossed in something on the terminal she worked at and didn't seem to take note of him walking off the bridge.

"Well?" he asked, pulling the two further from the bridge hatchway and into the corridor.

"It's…bad," Barton said, looking shaken.

"You found something?"

"The first thing we found was a tile that seemed a little thicker than normal," Munoz said. "We assumed it might have a hidden memory core or something, but when we got the back off, we found what I would describe as a well-crafted set of assassin's tools."

"You're kidding," Jackson asked, shocked.

"I think it was the tile she took in when she visited Commander Trane on the Jericho, sir," Barton said. "It would explain a lot."

"That all?"

"We ran Agent Pike's intrusion software—well, Petty Officer Munoz did since I'm a little out of my depth there—and we found some suspicious activity," Barton said. "I think we found the program that encrypts messages into that code Pike said was being transmitted from your Bluebird terminal."

"Damn," Jackson said. "I was really hoping this would be a dead-end."

"I'm sorry, sir," Munoz said, clearly uncomfortable telling the taskforce's flag officer his personal aide was probably a traitor.

"I'm heading to the surface in fifteen minutes," Jackson said. "Barton is coming with me, so I'll need you to go ahead and take her into custody, Munoz. By the book. Detain her, and then we'll present the evidence and formally open a file on her when I get back. In the meantime, I'd rather she wasn't running around on the ship freely."

"I'll handle it discreetly, Admiral," Munoz said. "We can track her movements through her ID tags so I won't have to make a scene on the bridge."

"Appreciated, but just keep in mind she appears to have been trained as a spy. She's been in and out of my quarters and her ID tags said she was in CIC each time."

"It'll be handled, sir," Munoz said.

"I'll leave you to it then. Barton, with me."

"The surface, Admiral? Now?" Barton asked when they were well out of earshot.

"There's something I need to get down there. Something that may be more important than even Bluebird if we're to win this war," Jackson said. "We'll be taking a few of the detachment Marines with us and landing directly at the objective, so the danger is minimal."

"So you say, sir."

20

"We need you here. This isn't a negotiation, Admiral. Your personal vendettas take second billing to our goals."