“Only the best, Admiral,” Eric said. “And speaking of, this is Lieutenant Lyssa Myriano. She’s my aide and will be handling the majority of my communications and such. If you need to get a message to me, send it through her and she’ll see to it that it comes to my attention immediately.”

“Lieutenant,” Tanner said, inclining his head to her, “a pleasure.”

“Likewise, Admiral,” Lyssa replied. “The captain speaks highly of you.”

“Captain Weston does me too much credit, I suspect,” Tanner said with a self-deprecating air. “But it is very pleasant to hear.”

Eric snorted loudly. “You’re the supreme commander of your entire navy, and you have overarching command of the rest of your military, Admiral. Honestly, I’m continually surprised you have time to meet with me at all.”

Tanner smiled at that but didn’t contest the words as he gestured to his aides. “See everyone to their rooms. We’ll meet later to get down to business. Captain, if you’d like, I’ll show you to your room myself.”

“It would be my honor, sir.”

►►►

► Later, Eric settled back into the surprisingly comfortable seat in the admiral’s office and sipped lightly on the promised drink.

“That’s the story, Admiral,” Eric said, eyes half-lidded as he thought back to what had happened. More or less.

There were parts of his story that he wasn’t going to share with anyone, from either world. His encounters with the entities he knew as Central and Gaia were not things he put in reports or even whispered about, as a rule. He rather liked not being in a rubber room, for one thing, and some of what he remembered as the Odyssey went down was Section Eight material for sure.

“It’s remarkable that you survived,” Tanner said. “You or your world. The Drasin didn’t land in such numbers on any of our worlds.”

“We were armed for bear, Admiral,” Eric said. “Frankly, any invading force would be better off just bombarding us from orbit. Landing on Earth is tantamount to suicide if you’ve got bad intentions. I don’t care how bad you are . . . nine billion pissed-off humans with just as many weapons are going to ruin your day.”

“Perhaps,” Tanner said lightly. “Unfortunately, however, we could not say the same.”

“There are downsides,” Eric said more quietly, “but in cases like this, well, I won’t be complaining.”

“No, I should think not.” The admiral sighed. “I suppose we should move on to more serious business, however. The council wishes me to ask what your government intends now.”

“Those are questions better directed through Ambassador LaFontaine, Admiral.”

Tanner nodded tiredly. “This is what I said to them. They pressed despite my words.”

Eric pursed his lips, not happy with the question but understanding it all the same. In fact, it wouldn’t be uncommon for higher-ranking members of allied military at home to pass information through back channels.