“Captain, we’re being challenged,” Ensign Sams announced.

Eric looked up, mildly surprised as he checked the time stamp.

“Already? Okay, I’m impressed,” he admitted. “They’ve improved their detection net. Who is it?”

“The Priminae vessel Posdan, Captain.”

“Is she a Heroic?” Eric asked, frowning. He didn’t think so, but it was hard sometimes to keep the Priminae naming convention in his mind.

“No sir, pre-Alliance design. Similar, but no transition technology, adaptive armor, or multiclass lasers.”

“Ah.”

It was one of the original “giants with clubs” that both the Priminae and the Drasin had fielded and that the Odyssey had spent so many hours trying to avoid during their first battles.

“Well, send our bona fides,” he ordered. “How close is she?”

“Eighteen light-seconds and closing, on a combat intercept course.”

“Light off our colors.”

“Aye aye, sir.”

►►►

Priminae Vessel Posdan

► Captain Kian of the Posdan stepped onto the command deck of his ship, looking around at others who were already at their positions.

Not bad. Reaction times are getting better, he thought.

They should be, he knew. The crew had been drilling nearly constantly, working to improve what had once been an honestly disgraceful apathy that had infected the fleet.

“Report.”

“New contact, Captain. Likely transitional signature,” the instrument specialist replied. “We’re waiting on challenge response.”

Kian relaxed slightly, nodding. A transitional signature meant it was a returning Heroic or, most likely, one of the Terran ships. It was almost certainly not a Drasin vessel or squadron at any rate, so the Posdan was unlikely to be going into combat.

As much as he hated to admit it, that was a good thing.

His ship, as much as he loved it, could hardly go toe-to-toe with a small Drasin squadron. The most likely outcome of such a conflict was mutually assured destruction, and that was really the best he could realistically hope for. His orders in such an event were to fall back as much as he could without risking the safety of the planet, delaying the enemy until one or more of the Heroics were in position to intercept.

His Posdan was less than two cycles old and already obsolete, a realization that chafed Kian slightly.

“Challenge response. It’s the—”

The word of who it was died in the specialist’s throat as the image on the screen burst into blue, silver, and white light.

“The Odysseus,” Kian said with a twist of his lips. “Return our colors and signal my welcome to Captain Weston and his crew.”

“Shall I transmit safe passage through the defenses?”

Kian shook his head. “Confirm their challenge response with the admiral first. Procedure.”

“Yes Captain.”

►►►

AEV Odysseus, Ranquil Orbit

► “Who’s the pilot?” Eric asked as he walked the deck toward the intra-atmospheric shuttle.

“Major McQuarrie, sir,” his aide, Lieutenant Lyssa Myriano, answered.

“Don’t know him. Good?”

“Marine aviator, decorated. He was never shot down over Beijing,” she replied, her tone slightly amused.