Lieutenant Miller, somewhere in the vast maze that was the Newholme military, would now be giving orders and activating equipment. As always when I took the time to think about it, I found myself mildly surprised at the size of the military presence in the Gamma Pavonis system. Of course, Newholme was founded when we were still not sure if the Others’ threat was over, and the attitude had stuck. Maybe in a few more generations it would fade, but for now, Newholme society was like a porcupine perpetually on full alert.