I promised to give you a few free chapters before I publish Star Strike. I'm finishing up the last few Chapters no and then need to do a final edit so this may have a few mistakes in it, I hope you enjoy it.

Harmon
Henry Fraser decided he couldn't put his conversation with Colin off any longer. He placed a call to Theseus. Even though Henry asked for Colin, it was Anne who took the call.
Anne said, "The Captain is sleeping Commodore. He's been awake for seventy hours straight, he was exhausted Sir. Please don't make me wake him yet."
"Alright Anne, let him sleep for now. Admiral Dalkasan wants to see him in seven hours, so you will need to make sure he's at that meeting. I'll be there as well; the Admiral is most insistent.
"Very well, Sir, I'll make sure he's there."
“Thank you, Anne. How have you been?”
“Sleep is currently in short supply Sir. We took a little damage during the battle and have a persistent air leak near the hold. We’ve had to seal off that area which means their isn’t much room for the Crew to do the mandatory exercise.”
“Anne, I know you only have four Officers there but you all need to have adequate rest or somebody will have an accident. We lost enough with the invasion, I don;t want us losing more because of mistakes made by exhausted Officers or Crews.”
“Commander Gordon has been making sure everyone has enough sleep. Sometimes, it’s hard to make him follow his own advice. He does listen to me most of the time though.”
“Okay Anne, relay my concerns to the XO will you and stay on Commander Gordon’s case.”
“Will do, Sir, Theseus out.”

FNS Sundara
Colin arrived at the correct airlock to request admittance to the Admiral's Flagship. FNS Sundara's XO met Colin there, escorting him to a meeting room where several Officers were waiting. When Colin entered, they all rose and applauded him. Dalkasan spoke at length about Colin’s achievements during the Battle for Cambridge. After Dalkasan said his piece, Henry mentioned, Julia was missing and winked at Colin. Colin knew where she was. It was then that Henry told Colin a security detail of Cambridge Marines was assigned to him.
When Henry mentioned Marines, Colin did a double take then said, "Marines?"
Henry chuckled before replying, "You won't find tougher troops anywhere in the Federation."
"I don't need security. Why would I need security?"
"Colin, there's an Alliance Special Operations team somewhere on Cambridge. You Sir, are their prime target. We are looking for them of course, but Spec-Ops people are excellent at not being seen. That is why your security team are themselves, Spec-Ops people."
Colin sat, considering Henry's requirement for a while. In the end, he concluded he didn't have a choice. Colin suspected, even if he tried to arrive on the surface unannounced, the Marines would be waiting when the shuttle landed. Besides, he'd already been the target of an assassination attempt on Sankarah and was aware he would've been dead if his security weren't there on that occasion. Colin begrudgingly decided to cooperate. After all, it wasn't the Marines fault they were assigned as his security.
His main concern was the risk these troops took by protecting him. Being an assassination target was no fun at all. It was unfortunate that Colin had upset the Peschal Alliance leadership so badly. He wasn’t even in the Federation by choice. If anybody asked, Colin would have said in all honesty that he wanted to go home to his family on Earth.
After further consideration, Colin turned to Henry and said, “Damn it Henry, all I’ve ever wanted to do since I came to the Federation was to go home. If they manage to kill me, I’ll never be able to go home. It looks like I don’t have much choice about the security.”
“No you don’t Colin. We can’t afford to lose you. Colin, people here in Cambridge believe in you. Your welfare has become a matter of morale.”
Colin look at Henry, incredulous at the statement. This didn’t make sense to him, why would his welfare have anything to do with morale? Henry saw the play of emotions cross Colin’s face as he looked on in amusement.
Henry continued, “You have no idea about how people here feel do you Colin? Don’t answer, that was a rhetorical question. Col, you need to move things on. Go to the surface and find Julia. We both know where she is, but you should be the one to retrieve her. It’s better if you and I are the only ones who know what is in my head. Go see Dave Bach in hospital too. That young man is quite the hero. He saved President Constantin’s life you know.”
Colin nodded in acknowledgement before departing for a shuttle.

Cambridge Shuttle Station
Lieutenant Kevin Stark was a busy man. Time was running out before Commander Gordon arrived on the planet. Kevin needed everything in place before the man arrived. Rescuing the young girl from the Pirates had turned into a double edged sword. On the one hand, it gave him an opportunity to covertly insert about half his platoon into the country around the Commanders home. They were looking for any Pirates left in the area after the girls rescue. Of course, that was a large band of Pirates who were killed and dispersed during the rescue. The surviving Alliance troops lost almost all their equipment as well when their base camp was raided. On the other hand, he still had a lot of organizing to do with too little time to finish. Stark was grooming Corporal Cameron Davis to take a commission because she showed enormous potential as a leader. He called Cameron into the office he was using then.
When she entered, he regarded her for a moment before saying, “Cameron, you know we are planning to send you off to Officers school, we’ve told you that. I need you to help me get the troops ready for Commander Gordon’s arrival.”
Cameron understood this wasn’t a request. She believed it was a test, to see how she handled the pressure. There was only one reply Cameron could give her Lieutenant.
“What is it you want me to do, Sir?”
“We need to do a quick but thorough sweep of the Shuttle Station. We’re looking for anyone suspicious. If they don’t look like they belong, or even if they are acting suspiciously, take them into custody until we can sort out what is what. Liaise with Sergeant Dawson to get it done. Some of the troops may not take orders directly from you. They will take orders from the Sergeant though.”
“Very well, Sir. Understood. I’ll do it right away.”
Cameron saluted Stark, then turned and hurried from the office. As soon as she was out of sight, Stark allowed himself to smile. Corporal Davis was still very young and earnest. She had the making of an excellent leader if she wasn’t killed or something else didn’t ruin her before she was ready.
Davis went looking for Sergeant Dawson. She was aware of the Lieutenants interest in her career, the Sergeant told her weeks ago. Cameron was both excited and frightened of the path her life had taken since she was accepted into the Marine Corps. She found the Sergeant supervising his fire team as they scanned the field from their vantage point in the control tower.
Cameron walked over to Dawson and said, “Sergeant, the Lieutenant wants us to run a quick but thorough patrol of the Shuttle Station looking for anything at all suspicious. He said if there is anything, to detain whoever it is until we can sort out what is going on. I think the Commander will be here soon.”
“Okay Corporal, spread the word, I’ll be with you shortly, as soon as this lot are gone.”
Cameron nodded and left to task all the other available Marines.