The general paced the bridge of the ISS Lincoln, circling the captain’s chair, where the ship’s commander waited for the order that would take them into battle. “And no word from Granger?” “None,” the comm officer replied. “No meta-space transmissions. Nothing except the constant background noise of Swarm communication, right at the frequencies and phase patterns you gave to us, sir.” Norton chuckled. Ah, Commander Proctor. At least you’re good for something besides being Granger’s lapdog. He turned back to the Science Station, where Commander Alonso, IDF’s Associate Chief Scientist and Director for Intra-Swarm Communication stood monitoring the progress of his science crew. “Commander, any progress in actually breaking down what they’re saying out there?” “No, sir. But we’ve definitely built off of Commander Proctor’s work. She was never able to achieve such tight phase discrimination as we have.” “Overconfidence, Commander Alonso. Overconfidence, arrogance, and hubris.
