The President and Premier, two of the most powerful people on the planet, had differing expressions at being told that they were being put on hold. It was almost amusing, really. The Premier had a constipated look that told her he really wanted to complain, but since he was negotiating for places on the ships under her command, he knew he should keep his mouth shut. The President, on the other hand, just nodded and waved casually at her.

“Of course. Give the captain my regards. He did a superb job for us down here while we had him.”

Gracen tipped her head. “I will, sir.”

The screens blanked and she nodded to her aide, who opened the door. Weston looked good in his clean uniform, now that he didn’t appear ready to strangle her with augmented muscles. He strode in, and she puzzled about his actions for a moment until she realized that he looked almost . . . chipper.

“Captain,” Gracen said neutrally. “What brings you to my office?”

“Admiral, I want to take the Odysseus out of orbit.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, caught between curiosity and irritation. Leaving orbit would mean abandoning hundreds of people they could save on this ship, possibly even thousands. She’d have to check those numbers.

“You’d better have a good reason, Captain.”

“I’ve been looking at the enemy actions and they don’t make any sense,” Eric said. “Tactically they’re complete gibberish. Why wait with an ambush force, Admiral? Why not just destroy the planet. They could have done it anytime they chose.”

Gracen shrugged. It seemed rather obvious to her. “They wanted to entrap reinforcements.”

“Exactly.”

She hated to admit confusion, but that was where she was at the moment. “I’m afraid you’ve lost me, Captain.”

“Admiral, they think we have reinforcements. They think we have other planets,” he said. “They don’t want just the Earth. They want it all.”

Gracen thought about that for a moment. “I don’t see where that is a good thing.”

“Good? Admiral, it’s a great thing,” Eric said. “I don’t think that they’ll risk destroying the Earth until they have a good lead on our other worlds.”

“Which we don’t have,” she said slowly. “But why attack it so powerfully then?”

“To encourage us. You really,” Eric said, “to call for more reinforcements, or to flee back to your home system.”

Gracen shook her head. “No. There’s no way they want us to call for reinforcements, Captain. A few more of our ships will tear that whole fleet right from under them.”

“I know, but I guarantee you that they’ve got a few stealthy ships stationed around the outer system waiting to follow you home,” Eric said.

“That’s insane,” Gracen objected. “Captain, Eric, no one would sacrifice that much just for . . .”