“Take the men,” Kivda said, “secure the temple. I’ll root around out here for a moment. Let me know if you find anyone right away. And remember, we want prisoners. Unless you are at risk of death do not kill your targets.” Questioning them is the only way to trace this back to the Prophet.
“Yes, sir.” Niesh nodded. “Scans are odd inside the structure. We’ll have to make some adjustments to find them once we’ve got a reasonable sampling.”
“Be cautious. This wreckage may not be like our equipment but that’s not to say they don’t have our weapons.”
Kivda figured the Lord Marshal wanted a reason to arrest the Prophet. If it turned out he had sent people to pillage ancient sites, then it would be a simple matter of putting him in prison or even executing him. We might even discredit him enough to take away his ability to become a martyr for his cause.
Of course, some part of him wondered if the man could be so easily caught. I guess someone would’ve done it by now. Collecting evidence against this rebel helped the rest of the cause. Discrediting the opponent may even work out better than having him killed. Turn the people on such a problem and it could sort itself.
“Report,” Renz said. “What have you discovered?”
“An ancient temple,” Kivda said, “the language is so old I have no idea how to read it. I’ll get some images so we can check the archives for it. I’ve sent men inside to secure the structure. If anyone’s in there, we’ll have them in a few minutes. It won’t be long now. This situation is ending momentarily.”
“What is this bizarre signal?” Renz asked. “It’s insistent… like a distress call but it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”
“I… don’t know,” Kivda replied. He checked his scanner, broadening the range. Sure enough, a repeating pattern came from the top of the cliff just to his left. He zeroed in on it, blasting the device with interference. Smoke burst from something above, just quick black puff before it ended. “I’ve shut it down. I hope you recorded it?”
“We have. We’ll do an evaluation.” Renz hummed. “What do you think it might’ve been?”
“Some kind of special signal. Low-tech. Maybe they have this old equipment to throw us off. It could have been easier to slip out of a major system if they were running on such low power. Then this device, that feels odd. Certainly intentional. We didn’t even know what it was at first.”
“You believe they’ve intentionally gone low-tech?” Renz remained silent for several moments. “I can see it. I’ll task our people here with discovering where such equipment might be found back home. You focus on the targets. I’m a bit concerned you have yet to find them. Where could they possibly be?”
“The temple isn’t that large,” Kivda said. “I’ll find out what’s going on. We’ll keep in touch. Talk soon.” He muted the comm, heading inside. The others scoured the room, moving along the walls on the outside. Aha. If they were in here, they must’ve found one of the maintenance passages.
The priests guarded such places greedily. Law allowed them to do so. As old as it was, the site happened to be structured much in the same way as other buildings like it throughout the empire. Often, relics were contained within. Scripture… divine artifacts of deep meaning to the Kahl people.
A pedestal at the opposite end of the room attracted Kivda’s attention. He approached, admiring the thing for a long moment. The suspensor field generator remained warm. It had been active not long before. A quick scan showed it only recently shut off. He backed away, eyes narrowed.
They’ve stolen something of value.
“Niesh,” Kivda called, “this contained one of our artifacts. Our quarry must’ve taken it. That’s our new focus. Their lives mean far less than locating the item.”
“Do you know what it might be?” Niesh asked. “How will we know it?”
“I’m fairly certain it will be obvious,” Kivda replied. He headed for the exit. “I’m bringing Benth down. We’ll hunt them from the sky.”
“If memory serves,” Niesh said, “there should be a maintenance tunnel around here somewhere. I’m thinking planetary energy. Very little upkeep and what is needed can be handled with thinking machines. We’ll find it.”
“Excellent. We’ll cover all angles this way. Remain in contact and let me know if you find anything of value.”
These scum are here somewhere. They have no way off the planet. Kivda stepped into the darkness of night, gazing up as the shuttle made its way back around to pick him up. They’d be on their way momentarily, scouring the surface around the site. You won’t make a fool of me. The longer you make me hunt, the more you’ll pay. I swear it.
Chapter 10
Commander Rhys Labeau found himself on a secure shuttle heading for his new post. The battleship Triton had been in dry dock for the better part of two months undergoing some sort of upgrade. Scuttlebutt didn’t know specifically why. Only that it had been top secret… along with a variety of assignments aboard.
He struggled with the post. When he finished his last tour aboard a battleship, he thought he might get command of a destroyer or even be promoted. Unfortunately, he didn’t hobnob well nor did he have any political contacts to speak of. When the message came for him to report to Titus Barnes, his heart sunk.
And yet the top secret nature of the situation appealed to his sense of curiosity. Whatever they were up to had to be exciting. Perhaps even career advancing if it didn’t turn out to be some sort of prototype run. He’d heard about ship crews testing new equipment,
