“The Odyssey and Weston didn’t find themselves staring down a cloud of the damned things until after they were equipped with the t-cannons,” Carrow said. “I’ll feel a lot better out there with some serious standoff capability.”

Gracen could certainly understand that. The ability to drop an artillery barrage on the enemy’s heads before you were even in their line of sight, let alone their range, was a game changer. It was the sort of technical advantage that they needed desperately to make the most of, because the odds were obscenely arrayed against them.

“Still, even seven ships with waveguides . . .” Gracen shook her head. “It’s not going to be easy.”

Carrow snorted. “Try impossible.”

“Exactly,” she admitted tiredly, “which is why we need to work on the Priminae. We need to get them to commit some of their Heroics to the task.”

“That won’t be easy either,” Carrow said thoughtfully. “I don’t know them as well as you, I’m sure, but they strike me as extremely conservative. They prefer to be isolationist. They’re not going to like exposing themselves, not for us.”

“No, no they won’t,” Gracen agreed. “And if anything you’re underestimating just how conservative these people are. It’s strange, honestly. They have an ideology that would give our conservatives hives.”

“They don’t use money, no capitalism,” Carrow answered, “and until the Drasin showed up they had basically no violence, so the idea of a right to bear arms is actually alien to them. They’ve run on the same government for longer than we’ve been recording history. The idea that they might have to overthrow an oppressive regime literally doesn’t occur to them in their fiction. However, they understand the urge to mind their own business, and wasting resources is something they understand, oddly enough.”

Gracen nodded. “Which means we have our work cut out for us. I want you to talk to the colonel, see if he can work his contacts. I’ll speak with the ambassador and Admiral Tanner.”

“Will do,” Carrow said.

“Excellent. We have a few more days before the Heroics come off the slips, then maybe a few weeks of scouting and running ops near Sol,” Gracen said. “But I want the Priminae on board before we launch a full offensive.”

Carrow nodded. “Understood, ma’am.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

FOR THE ENTITY known as Central, the situation had long passed untenable and was rapidly approaching a level of unacceptable he had never previously considered possible. The latest information available to him, mostly lifted from the minds of the ship in orbit (this new captain was not as careful as Weston), made it clear that not only did the Drasin have far more numbers in the region than he wanted to believe possible, but they were also operating independently again.