Assignment: Avalon

Chapter Six: An Interrupted Vacation

"South?" Artega glared at the young Groundforce lieutenant whose pale face filled the desktop vidscreen. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Strator. However—" His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "However, the trail is very faint. Only the dogs have enabled us to follow them as far as we have—and now the trail has crossed onto a large patch of shale where the dogs are useless. We'll have to circle it. It will take some time."

"How much time?"

Sweat beaded the lieutenant's forehead. "A day, more or less, Strator."

"Make it less, Lieutenant."

"Yes, Strator."

"Dismissed." The young man's image vanished, replaced by the latest production figures from the Bubbling Lake clay quarry. The Strator drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. The Free Forcers' base couldn't be south of the crash site—the main road east from Skandar into the mountains and eventually to the Battlefield passed by only thirty kilometres south of where the spacecraft had gone down. So, what were they after? "Skandar."

"Yes, Strator?"

"Are any Battlefield supply shipments scheduled to travel the east road within the next three days?"

"No, Strator."

"Will anything be travelling the east road within that time?"

A pause. "Lady Moldar will be moving to her estate in the high mountains tomorrow."

The Strator's fingers stopped drumming. "Anything else?"

"No, Strator."

"So." That's it, then, he thought. That's their target. He tapped his desktop again and the screen lit with the lieutenant's face once more.

"Yes, Strator?"

"Lieutenant, I want you to call off your trackers."

"Sir?"

"You heard me. Call them off and move south to the east road. Lady Moldar will be moving into the mountains tomorrow. I think the Free Forcers plan to attack her caravan."

"We'll stop them, Strator!"

Artega sighed. "No, you won't. You will allow them to raid the caravan and depart safely—and then you will follow them, taking care to be unobserved. Understood?"

The lieutenant looked troubled. "But Strator, Lady Moldar—"

"Understood?"

The lieutenant paled. "Yes, Strator."

"Good. Dismissed." As the young officer's face faded again, Artega allowed himself a small smile before turning to other matters. "Skandar, repeat analysis of the crashed object."

"Yes, Strator." A pause. "Although somewhat different in specific design from those in my database, it appears to be a one-person lifeslip, ejected from a larger space vessel. It was severely damaged upon landing; little can be salvaged from it except its metal."

"And the body found inside?"

"No final conclusion can be drawn until the corpse is returned to the city for autopsy, but visual scanning reveals injuries that could not have been caused by the crash, specifically several bullet wounds. It is possible, however, that he survived the crash, then was killed by the Free Forcers, or when Skyforce attacked the Free Forcers."

"It's possible." Artega keyed a control on his desk and three giant vidscreens extruded from the ceiling. Each lit with pictures of the crash site. "It's also possible the Free Forcers have whoever really rode that thing down."