He could hardly believe it. He knew what the technology Gracen had at her disposal could do, but this was beyond anything he’d ever expected. There had been hundreds of ships in orbit, and only seven in the admiral’s task force.

While it was true that Captain Weston had eliminated well over a thousand with only three ships in his last-ditch defense of the system, Conner was well aware that the man had done things that no sane tactician would try and made them work through sheer guile, literally taking total command of the battle space in ways that no one could have predicted or duplicated.

“Reasonably, sir. The bulk of the enemy ships were certainly annihilated by the admiral’s tachyon cannons, but there may be survivors we’re not seeing.”

“Right,” Conner nodded. “OK. Has she contacted SPACECOM?”

SPACECOM was the old command center, based in Cheyenne Mountain, that had previously handled all extra-atmospheric contacts. It had been superseded by Space Station Liberty, but when Liberty was lost they had reactivated its original charter.

“Yes sir. That’s why we came to get you. She’s asking for instructions on where and how to deploy ground troops.”

“She brought troops? How many?”

Conner racked his brain, trying to think of who she could have brought, but could only come up with a hundred or so people at best. Certainly they were all good, but it seemed pointless to bring them down at this juncture.

“Reed’s team, the Odyssey’s complement, and over fifteen thousand volunteers from the Priminae forces trained by Reed,” the aide said, smiling. “The Enterprise is dealing with a few remaining fighter drones, but they’re expected to be along shortly.”

“My God. That many?”

It was still a drop in the bucket, but it was a significant drop, and Conner felt the stirrings of real hope despite how strongly he tried to shut it down. Hope was a painful thing to experience at the moment.

Still, he steeled himself. Maybe I have a few more decisions left in me after all.

“Alright,” he said, his professional mask falling into place. “I’ll be ready in a moment. We’ll get to the war room.”

“Yes sir, Mr. President.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“BRAKING IS GOING to be rough, Admiral,” Steph advised from his place at the helm. “We’re moving a hell of a lot faster than the Odyssey could have tried this from.”

“Understood. Call all hands to general quarters,” Gracen ordered. “Stand by for combat drop of available personnel according to the priorities list provided by the President and the Premier.”

“Aye ma’am,” Susan said, sounding a little dazed.

Gracen didn’t blame her. It wasn’t every day that you had a conference call with the Confederation President and the Block Premier. She wasn’t feeling all that grounded in reality just then either, but she had a job to do.