"I don't get it." Debbie Fowler shook her head and waved an arm in an irritated slash at the conference display. "Were they here or not? Were we lied to or did something happen to the entire fleet?"

"Every spaced-based asset has been stripped to the bones," Mike Williams said. "It could be the result of the colonial fleet desperately searching for materials or it could just as easily be the aliens seeking to deny us access to the same."

Commander Harlow transmitted a series of images taken from inside several space stations in orbit around the main habitable planet. "Some of these weapons and power system look as if they've been altered. The alterations are consistent with someone attempting to adapt them to Solarian power and weapon systems. Whatever equipment that might have been installed has since been removed, but it does look as if our fleet had considered attempting to dig in and harden their position here."

I tabbed through the various scouting reports quite at a loss to explain what had happened. "So were they destroyed, captured, or did they find a way to escape?" It was obviously a question with no answer. "Whichever it was, we can't stay here. I suggest we head for La Roca and try to join Commander Smith's crew.

Lacking any other suggestions, the other commanders agreed.

"Brian, is there anything left on these stations we can use?"

"Not a thing. Someone tore out of here in a hurry and took everything, including the kitchen sink."

"Chris widen your searches at least two systems out. Question any ships you run across. Perhaps we'll get lucky and meet up with colonial survivors along the way."

"Yes, sir."

"Everyone else, talk to your wing commanders. I want the fleet moving out of here within the hour."

We tightened our formations and sped through the remaining systems as quickly as we could. The alien forces had largely pulled back and we all held our collective breath as we slipped unchallenged from station to station. We occasionally passed systems with wrecked ships or damaged stations that looked recent. Chris caught a few alien ships claiming to be merchants hoping to sell us supplies. They might have been spies, but under questioning, confirmed that a group of Solarian ships had passed through these systems a few days ago in the direction of La Roca.

* * *

I was enjoying a rare moment of peace in my quarters listening to soothing music when the alert status jumped to FAS Delta: Danger Imminent. I flash messaged Mia. "What's happening?"

"A squad of alien ships is approaching; looks like an attack."

"How big is it."

"Not very. Commander Knight is on it."

"Let me know if they capture any prisoners." I hurried to C&C and booted up my data panels.

The approaching squad was dealt with quickly but it was hours before the intelligence started coming in.

"I think we've found our missing colonials," Chris said. "They appear to be trapped in a system designated E58059C. Looks like they've got every alien battle cruiser in the Golden Worlds surrounding them."

"Send me the intel and set up a meeting of the fleet commanders in twenty minutes." I started pouring over the data and had formulated a loose plan by the time the conference started. "Chris, do you think the locals know we're here?"

"They're not organized at all. It's just a collection of a lot of little local defense forces. They don't seem to have any designated scout ships. The ones we've run into so far were just stragglers late in joining the fight."

"That's good, because we're going to try to surprise them." I called up a map of E58059C. The system has five gates, so we're going to divide up the fleet into five wings and hit them from all sides. My hope is, with an aggressive surprise attack, we can force them to withdraw without a protracted fight."

"Chris' wing is all LCs and FACs," Debbie said. "They're not going to have the stopping power of our battlecruisers."

"Yes, I know. That's part of the plan." I turned back to Chris. "When you enter the system, I want your wing to spread out and leave an opening for the locals. We'll try to drive them to you and your job is to funnel them through the gate."

"Got it."

"Do you think you can get a messenger drone in there without it being detected?"

Chris nodded. "Their gravimetrics don't seem to be sophisticated enough to detect something that small on H-drive."

"Good. I want to give the colonials a heads-up. Even if we're successful in chasing the locals away, there's no guarantee they'll stay chased. We need the colonials ready to move as soon as we put in our appearance." I paused and looked at my sub-commanders. "Any questions?"

"Do we have a designated fallback place if we get separated?" Mike Williams asked.

I sensed a slight hesitation as if he were going to say in case things get screwed up but changed his mind. "Yes. If things go south and we have to scatter, we'll all meet back up at La Roca."

* * *

Our attacks were launched in a closely staggered fashion in order to catch their attention and start pushing them the direction we wanted them to go. I don't know if it was a lack of technical ability or discipline, but they didn't seem to see us coming until Debbie's wing dropped out of H-drive and began pouring missiles into that portion of the enemy opposite the gate to which we were attempting to push them. Brian's wing and mine attacked next, while the colonials attacked from within the circle, trying to break out in Debbie's direction. Many of the locals were already moving toward Chris' gate when Mike's wing attacked adding some urgency to the beginning of their retreat.

Chis' wing came last, only using the inbound lane, launching a swirling hit-and-run assault on the outlying ships. He drove the rest into the funnel like a sheepdog herding sheep through a gate. I sent a command out to my subs via com laser to back off a bit as I feared the bottleneck my cause the enemy to accidentally destroy the gate. In what only seemed like moments. The fleet drifted alone amid the swirling wreckage of ships.

"Ken! I can't tell you how glad we are to see you," Commander Lucas said when we synced our com systems.

What a change of tone, I thought, but just smiled. "We would have been here sooner, but we had some trouble catching up to you."

"Catching up to us? We thought you had passed us by. We heard you had returned to the system, and when the locals laying siege to us at AIV-whatever-fled and you didn't show up, we thought you had gone on to La Roca. We were racing to catch up to you!"

I laughed. "Well, we were intending to continue on to La Roca eventually."

At this point Solomon joined in our conversation. "Ken! What are you doing here? You retired."

"I thought I had, but Sparta believes they have learned of a threat to the existence of the human race and we may well be the only ones who can stop it."

Lucas' face sobered. "Let me guess. It's the Cacks, isn't it?"

"Who else? I'll brief you all later. Right now, I suggest we get moving before the locals come back. Is your fleet fit to travel?"

Solomon nodded. "We're doing damage assessments now."

It turned out many of their ships were severely damaged, however all but three had functioning H-drives and minimally functional life support. One we were able to patch up enough to move, the other two ships had to be gutted and destroyed. Mike and Debbie alternated sentry duty at the gates and Chris scouted while we prepared the colonial fleet to leave. It took a full day of non-stop shift work to get ready, but we were at last able to leave.

Over the course of the next several days, the locals sent continual small forays and probing attacks at us, trying to wear us down. It kept all of us busy with constant alerts, especially Chris. Each system would appear to empty out before we arrived, but then sneak attacks and booby traps would take their toll. One of our most damaged ships was destroyed by a booby trapped docking port at a space station. The whole station had been rigged to blow which could have taken out dozens of ships, except that the charge on the one port malfunctioned and blew early.

Finally, after passing through a buffer zone of truly unoccupied systems, we arrived at La Roca. It was a minimally manned supply depot. Once intended as a staging area for mankind's expansion into the Golden Worlds, accidents of politics and shifting fortunes had put the great project on hold. Smith's ships were docked in the orbital stations, intact and still waiting for the rumored transport from Sparta. We seeded the Phoenix's EPR transceivers and I put in a call to Commander Smith, but got no reply. When the fleet finished transiting through the gate we formed up, still lacking a reply, switched on the H-drives and headed for La Roca.

Once in orbit about the planet, the fleet was forced to deal with us. As they demanded we assume our assigned parking orbits, I demanded to speak with Commander Smith, only to learn he had died days before.