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ships about a light hour from New France facing the shift passage that lead further into French colonial space and all the way back to Earth. It looked like they were prepared to engage anything that came through the shift passage. The implications were obvious. Whatever fighting had occurred in the system was now over. The Russians had firmly established themselves as the owners of New France.
     
    The loss of the system meant that it was Somerville’s duty to get past the Russians and head for friendly space. He had no doubt that Britain and America would stand by France. Neither power wanted to see the Russian Star Federation get any stronger. There would be a fleet coming to liberate New France. Judging by the size of the naval forces the Russians had amassed in the system the fleet would need all the help it could get. The RSN had only eight medium cruisers. There were more under construction along with two new heavy cruisers that had just been designed. Yet it would take months for them to be finished. Achilles, therefore, constituted a significant proportion of the RSN’s firepower. She would be needed in the coming battle. Somerville couldn’t risk her here and now. However, he was still thinking about the dilemma before him.
     
    If a combined fleet were on its way to New France they would need as much intel on the Russian defenders as possible. Somerville had a duty to collect that information. He also felt a duty to the people of New France. No doubt the Russians had landed ground troops just as they had at Ouvea. The populace would be going through a tough occupation. Somerville wanted to find a way to give them some hope, to let them know they weren’t on their own.
     
    “Captain,” Lieutenant Jensen called from her position at the sensor console. “I’m picking up thermal blooms from the planet. There were four of them in quick succession. All were in a region near one of the ships in orbit.”
     
    “Ground strikes,” Hamilton informed her. “The Russians are bombarding the planet. It means there must still be some resistance from the French. RSNI intel from before the invasion suggests the French had over eighty thousand troops stationed on the planet. They must still be putting up a fight. Though I imagine it is a living hell down there, trying to fight a ground war with ships in orbit bombarding you every time you move.”
     
    Suddenly, Somerville didn’t feel torn anymore. He knew what he wanted to do. “Navigation, lay in a course for the shift passage back to Earth. Though don’t plot a direct route. Make it look like we are trying to avoid the main Russian fleet and make sure our course takes us close to the sixth planet.”
     
    “Yes sir,” the navigation officer said a little confused.
     
    The sixth planet was a large rocky planet with a thick layer of ice up to five kilometers deep in places. Its surface temperatures were far too cold for a colony, although the French had set up a couple of mining facilities on its surface. Importantly, at its present position, it lay almost directly between the shift passage Achilles had just exited and the shift passage that eventually lead back to Earth. Therefore, it wouldn’t look too strange for Achilles to plot a course close to the planet.
     
    “Here’s my plan,” Somerville said to the confused faces on the bridge. “As soon as we light off our engines everyone in the system will pick us up on their gravimetric sensors. Our course will make it clear we want to get out of New France and to safety. Whoever the Russian commander is, he will see an opportunity to destroy a large British warship isolated and alone. He’ll no doubt move his main fleet to intercept us and may even dispatch a flotilla to harry us and make sure we don’t try to attack their ships in orbit. We’re going to play along, at least until we get near the sixth planet.”
     
    *
     
     
    Three hours later, the time came for Achilles to make her course change. Sure