“Commander!” Lieutenant Charlotte Pelletier’s voice wasn’t soft or lilting. It was immediate and loud.

Commander Raelin Korvath didn’t turn in her chair. She left it quickly and was behind Pelletier at the tactical station in moments. “That’s a new tone, Pelletier.”

The screen had a scattering of blinking red indicators on the far edges of the sensors of the Relentless. “It is not without reason, Commander. Counting five contacts on an intercept course. The computer marked it as friendly for a second before the weapons readings, speed, direction, and class of ship made it worthy of my attention. Three small, one medium, and one large. Not on autopilot and assuredly full of life signs.”

Raelin caught the concerned look from Pelletier. “Red Alert. Signal Justice and alert Perseverance.” She stayed at the station, mandated to ask. “Concern isn’t a look I see on your face often.” The klaxons rang through the bridge and down the decks while soft ruby lighting faded over the usual subdued white.

“They’re trying to pull us away from Justice. Yorktown-class can hold its own, but not against smaller ships in a swarm and tight angles.” Raelin continued the stare, not satisfied. The French tactical officer wrinkled her nose in annoyance at having to explain. She got over it quickly . “Selene Voss isn’t foolish. The people she’s working with won’t wait to take what they want, or get what they want. They get enough small ships swarming around Justice, they can make things very difficult. They pull us, we get stuck in a corner, and that corner gets tight and ugly. They could take us and get what they want from us.” She shook her head in annoyance. “That’s if they pull us.”

Korvath grumbled, seeing the point. “Regulations require us to respond to someone in need or a distress call. What’s between us and them?”

A few taps across the console and the screen showed the map. “Not much. A trade station. Empty since 2400.” Her eyes narrowed. “That’s how they’ll do it, Commander. There’s nothing else. We’ll bring Perseverance because we’ll need extra cover fire as backup. There are plenty of moons that could hide a swarm or two. Or three.”

Raelin replied with a thin smile, “You’ve been studying.”

Pelletier’s borderline snarl snaked through her reply. “Not going to let the bastards catch me unaware. They need to burn. Slow.”

The thin smile remained on the CO’s face. Charlotte was many things. Running cool in the face of evil was not one of them. “Well, let’s show ‘em we learned something. Signal Justice and Perseverance. We need to wait. Whatever story they’re going to sell us will not be real.” She added, “May look and sound real, but it’s not,” knowing Selene Voss and knowing the many former Orion Sydnciate operators in her employ. She hoped the commodore who had brought them into this squadron would see her team’s reasons as enough.

She really didn’t want to have to argue with him.