Eric got up, pushing the sleep out of his body by reflex. “I’ll take it in the command area.”

“Yes sir.”

Eric took a few deep breaths after the runner had left, then grabbed for his field uniform. He checked the time as he got dressed, surprised that he’d gotten a whole forty minutes worth of sleep.

Must be my lucky day.

Dressed and kitted out, he headed for the command bunker, which was really nothing of the sort. It was more of an inflatable building covered in concrete and sand, but it was secure, solid, disposable, fit in the back of a jeep, and only took twenty-four hours to put into place.

He walked into the bunker and looked up at the presidential seal on the screen, glad that he wasn’t keeping the man waiting, then turned to where Lyssa was sitting at the station and tapping into the terminal.

“Hey,” he said, straitening his battle dress. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, Captain!” She jumped. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I walk quietly,” he said. “Now what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. We were told to wake you up. Something important.”

“Well, wake them up now. I’m here.”

“You got it.”

Eric turned back to the main display, waiting while Lyssa sent in the orders. He’d known that picking up a Marine Corps intercepts and communications specialist would pay off.

The screen flickered and Eric was mildly surprised to see the President already sitting there. He saluted instantly as the man on the display waved off the gesture.

“Relax before you break something, Captain,” Mitchell Conner said. “You’re making my back twinge just looking at you.”

Eric shot the Commander in Chief a more than slightly dirty look, something he’d never have done if he’d gotten more than forty minutes sleep, but the President just chuckled at him. That raised his eyebrows more than a little.

He’s in a good mood. Something’s changed.

“What’s happened, Mr. President?” he asked with half a smile. “I assume that the aliens are still in orbit, but something has made you pretty damn happy.”

“Hope is a wonderful thing, Captain. I’ve been running so long without it that I forgot what it felt like,” Connor said, relaxing back into his chair.

Oh, something big has happened. He hasn’t sounded this calm since the first week of this mess. “Am I cleared to know the good news, sir?”

The President laughed at him, laughed. Eric revised his earlier opinion. The man was giddy. Something good had happened, no doubt, but it was likely that the President was also suffering from sleep deprivation and a host of other things to bring out a reaction like this.

“You’re right at the center of it, Captain. Didn’t my staff tell you?”

“Sir? No sir.”