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The crew erupted into applause, the tension of the officers being audibly released in the form of various shouts, whoops, and cries of relief. Thelin smiled and sank back into his chair. “Good work, everyone. Ensign Lee, any word from the conflict at Utopia Planetia?”

“There’s a ton of traffic, sir, but I can’t make much sense of it. But wait…” His face visibly brightened. “We’re being hailed by the Excelsior!”

“On screen,” Thelin said.

The image of Lawrence Styles filled the viewscreen-seated in the captain’s chair, looking amazingly calm and collected, surrounded by the members of his crew, to whom it seemed composure had perhaps just now returned. “Captain th’Valrass!” he said, using Thelin’s formal name. “We were just on our way to assist you. I trust you were able to dispense with your uninvited guest?”

“Indeed, we were,” Thelin said with a hint of bravado. “And you?”

“Oh, it took us a minute or two, but we were able to outmaneuver and outgun those Klingon buzzards,” Styles proudly bragged. “I tell you, Thelin, for a ship this size, she handles like a well-bred Chilean steed. We’re coming up on your position. Be there in a sec.”

“Acknowledged,” Thelin said. “End transmission. External view.” He turned and glibly rolled his eyes at the officers seated behind him. A couple of the officers laughed heartily at his subtle derision. But at least one officer at the engineering station stared over Thelin’s shoulder with a blank expression, focusing upon something behind him. Thelin observed him for a moment. “What?” he asked.

The officer pointed past the Andorian toward the viewscreen. Thelin turned around.

On the screen the Excelsior was seen as it approached over the vast bluish arc of Earth below, set amid the familiar starfield with a million shining points of light. And many of those points of light weren’t just shining. They were shimmering. Lots of them. Enough, in fact, to fill half of the sky with an eerie distortion effect.

“Thori help us,” Thelin whispered.

“Sir,” Lee said. “Receiving a transmission…A convoy of Federation shuttles and diplomatic vessels is leaving Earth.”

“They’d better hurry,” Thelin remarked. “Send to Excelsior, fall into formation and escort these ships out before that second invading fleet starts firing.”

The convoy seemed to extend forever, as one small craft after another ferried out the Federation’s top officials and ambassadors. As the last few ships cleared Earth’s atmosphere, the Klingon cruisers began to drop their cloaks and descend en masse onto the planet. But none of them seemed interested in pursuing the escaping vessels. These ships seemed to have one mission and one alone: to subdue and control one of the greatest natural resources of the Federation-the planet Earth.

Lieutenant Croy put up the reverse angle on the viewscreen, and Thelin watched as the lonely circle of Earth began to fade into the distance. He could still see the tiny dots of the invading Klingon fleet as the sunlight glinted off the hulls-a swarm of tiny gnats descending upon a ripe fruit.

“We have to go back,” Thelin said. “Coordinate with Excelsior, and raise Starfleet Command. Ask them how soon we can expect some damn reinforcements.”

“Er, Captain…” Lee meekly spoke. “We’ve already received priority orders from Starfleet Command. We’re to rendezvous at Vulcan. There will be no reinforcements.”

Incredulous, Thelin gaped at him, then looked about at the faces of his crew, most displaying some blend of shock and grief. That was it? After all they had done, the system was to be considered a total loss? There were still ten billion people on Earth! “So…we’re supposed to just leave them to the Klingons?” he muttered.

No one answered his retort, but it didn’t matter. As far as he was concerned, the answer was “no.” He wasn’t giving up that easily. “Hail Starfleet One. I want to talk to the president.”

The response didn’t take long. “On screen,” Lee said.

A middle-aged woman with deep brown skin appeared on the viewscreen,