Actually, she wasn’t concerned about them. It was the enlisted that bothered her most, which was why she’d kept as many of them as separated as possible. Still, there would be some inevitable friction. She just hoped that it wouldn’t cost them dearly in the clinch.

The ship minds paused in their preparations as they noted a brief glimpse of their new enemy as the falling vessels passed the orbit of the fifth planet and continued starward. It was clear that they believed themselves unseen and, for the moment, it was best that they continue to believe that. In truth, they were difficult to track, but a few carefully placed ships had spotted them along their path. Since the enemy vessels were moving almost entirely on a ballistic course, it was no problem to predict their exact location at any given time.

That left the problem of the planet below, as there was a very real chance of the swarm being heavily damaged in the coming engagement.

There was no point saving forces only to lose them in the black of interplanetary space.

The order was given and, as one, the swarm launched their remaining surface drones before turning to leave orbit.

This time it wasn’t a buzzer. It was an alarm, and it had the admiral briskly moving through the halls while everyone else bolted around her.

Must not run. The commander can handle whatever it is until I get there. Don’t panic the enlisted by running.

That mantra was running over and over in her head as she left the commissary, brushing away spots of coffee from her uniform. She hated spilling anything on her garb. The white that admirals were issued showed off dirt horrendously and was nearly impossible to clean.

Giving it up, she strode onto the bridge, taking just a moment to watch the chaos in action.

“Go full active,” Commander Son was ordering. “They clearly see us. I want to see them.”

“Going active on all scanners!”

The Odysseus had some of the most powerful scanners any of the Terrans had heard of, but most of them were still light-speed limited. Going active meant pouring out enough energy into local space to be mistaken for a small star, but there was nothing larger than a baseball within several light-seconds that they wouldn’t light up.

“Got one! Half light-second and closing!”

“God damn it!” Commander Michaels swore. “How did they get so close?”

“They were lying in wait, Commander,” Gracen said as she walked to her station. “I’m afraid that I’ve badly underestimated our enemy. It would appear that they’ve learned from our Captain Weston in applying their tactics. What happened?”

“The Bellerophon took a laser strike, minimal damage so far,” Susan answered. “But they’re engaged in close, and the power they’re throwing back and forth is raising the hairs on my neck from here.”

“Damn it. Can we come around for support?”