Prologue

“Enter.”

The door opened and a uniformed man stepped into the small spartan office. The officer behind the desk didn’t look up from the papers he was reading. “Well?”

“We have confirmation, Sergeant Fellows has left the planet.”

“Hmph,” the seated man grunted. “This is not unexpected.”

“There’s more.”

Now the seated officer did look up, but he asked no questions, just waited.

“Colonel Basterwick accompanied Sergeant Fellows, along with the sergeant’s family.”

“All of them?”

“Just his wife and child and her parents. They all boarded a transport leaving for Treonin. Sergeant Fellow’s mother passed away about a year ago and there is no information about his father’s current whereabouts. He has no known siblings.”

The man behind the desk sat back and crossed his arms. “Interesting.”

“Should we do some digging into the location of his father?”

“That probably won’t be necessary.”

“I’m afraid we’ve lost him.”

The sharp eyes pinned the standing officer. “Why would you say that?”

“Is-tan controls all transportation on or off the planet. He’s out of our reach.”

A chuckle escaped the seated man. “My reach is very long.”

The officer studied the man. “You have another assignment for me?”

“Yes, I do.” The seated man smiled, but it was neither friendly nor warm. “I want you to keep tabs on Colonel Basterwick’s family. Nothing overt. Let me know when he returns to Earth.”

“According to the paperwork, his deployment is for six months.”

“Oh, I don’t think he’ll be gone that long.”

“Sir?”

“I’ll want a regular update on his family’s movements.”

“Yes, sir.” The officer waited. “Was there anything else, sir?”

“Are the liaison office staff reassignments completed?”

“They are. Staff will be notified as per prearranged schedule.”

“See to it no one protests being reposted.”

“Yes, sir.”

The seated officer reached for one of the papers on his desk. “That will be all.”

“Very good, sir.” The officer saluted.

The man behind the desk gave an absent salute before going back to his reading.