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become more pronounced in the last year but his face and body remained as youthful as ever. He would need that stamina if he and his people were to make it through the next few days. The GCP had several tricks up its sleeve for dealing with the massive Syndicate invasion force that was coming. The fact that covert EN O’ s had been planted on virtually the entire command staff meant that the GCP, because of their FTL communication capabilities, actually had a better idea of Syndicate fleet deployments and pending maneuvers than the Syndicat e’ s chairma n – a Modos called Snatch Bait.
    The moment came and the first of the Modos invasion force arrived. As per normal in transdimension hyperjumps, their arrival was preceded by a massively energetic backwash. If the Modos where hoping to catch any of the GCP vessels unaware by it they were sorely disappointed.
    A continuous stream of ships emerged from the maelstrom. As fast as the first ships appeared, they moved forward and began to fire their energy beam weapons at seemingly random angles. It might have been a sound strategy, but given the sheer volume of three-dimensional space the likelihood of actually hitting something was vanishingly small. Still, several of Jaso n’ s fleet took glancing blows which their shields easily absorbed.
    “ Like a butterfly Mr. Washbur n … coordinate movement with the fleet , ” Jason said from his command chair.
    “ Sting like a bee , ” the weapons officer confirmed, while launching a series of Sandies into the onslaught.
    The Sandies were hyperjump-enabled missiles that carried a payload of nanites designed to tear apart anything solid they ran into that did not offer a properly encoded friend signal. The result was often sand-sized particles floating free in space, which was where they got their name.
    The first several ships encountered the Sandies and the microscopic machines began their gruesome work. Immediately the ships in question began to come apart. Any feeling of elation within the GCP forces was short-lived. The Modos had seen this weapons system before, and they had a response. Ships from the second wave immediately began to sweep the area surrounding the first wave with high-intensity plasma beams. Their captains made no attempt to avoid their own ships and the area was soon filled with the lifeless hulks of several hundred vessels destroyed by both the GCP Sandies and what would loosely be terme d‘ friendly fir e’ .
    Jason watched as powerful energy beams from the Modos invasion force gutted their own ships. He shook his head. He had thought the KayBees of Kepler-47 had been cavalier about the destruction of their own fighte r s , but they were at least a hive mind and survived the destruction of individuals. These captains were destroying sentient individuals by the shipload, and they were ostensibly on the same side!  
    “ Target the second wave with SJs ! ” Jason barked .“ Swing us around to mark 214. 8 … positive ascension of 0.1 AU. Weapons-fire full spread plasma for effect. Navigatio n, the moment those beams are done discharging, micro-jump us another 10 AU out . ”
    “ Roger that, sir ! ” the various stations acknowledged.
    “ I have multiple new jump-points forming ! ” Ensign Riker yelled.
    “ How many ? ” The XO responded while assisting with the targeting systems.
    “ Hundreds, sir. They are bracketing our ships ! ”
    Jason hit the fleet-wide comm .“ This is Commodore Ruck. Go to Rabbit Hole Beta! All ships engage at will. AIs are to coordinate randomized microjumps. I do n’ t want anybody lost to friendly fire. Butterflies and bees, people. Butterflies and bees. Ruck out . ”
    “ Ensign Rike r … I want a count every five minutes. How many ships are we facing? Work with the XO and report any of our ships that are taking serious damage or are disabled . ”
    “ Understood, sir. No GCP causalities to report, as of this time . ” He checked his sensor display and paled