“Very well—laser transmit the message to the fleet. We are not to break radio silence and all craft are to remain in their present orbital configuration.” Under his breath, Admiral Faxcil said to Sean, “If we start jumping around that might draw their attention. If we sit tight, they probably won’t notice us.” He turned his attention back to the monitoring and communications deck and said, “Turn our shipboard array toward the continent below. We need ears and if possible eyes on whatever situation called for the deployment of attack craft—and shut off that damn alarm!”
A couple minutes later the Comms-Tech monitoring the surface said, “Sir, there’s been some kind of kerfuffle down there.”
The duty officer walked over and plugged in his headset. He listened intently for a moment. With a p
