Way of No Return (Champions of the Crystal Book 8)

Chapter 14.1

The primary advantage of having active military personnel nearby, Ford thought, was having access to their intelligence data. The primary drawback, however, was that they weren't in his chain of command. The Prince of Bathir could plausibly claim command of the principality's militia, and his status as Heir meant he was listened to politely, if noncommittally. But Ford was beginning to realize as he listened to Subcommander Rast that as much as he'd wanted to hand the fighting over to someone else and go back to his lab, being pushed aside was not a pleasant experience. He also had a sneaking suspicion that Sabrina would have had the entire roomful of officers saluting her by now.

Fortunately, he had no complaint about the plans being discussed to defend the Academy and to sweep the city and rid it off Reissian patrols. It was becoming clear to him that he had nothing vital to contribute here, so he waited for a break in the conversation, cleared his throat, and said, "Please carry on, citizens. I will be in my lab if you need to communicate with me."

Everyone turned to look at him, startled by the interruption. Ford gave them a genial smile and led Stecklan out of the room. When they were out of earshot, he said, "How disheartening. I believe they had actually forgotten I was in the room. I'm not sure that's ever happened before."

Stecklan grinned at him. "You were being unusually quiet."

"I thought it best to let the experts get on with it," Ford said. "It all sounded workable to me. I assume you thought so too, or you would have said something."

"Yes, sir," Stecklan assured him.

They made their way from the Academy's Administration Building to the nearby Applied Sciences facility. In Ford's lab, Fanar and Lallar were buried in their respective projects, while Lyrabeth was concentrating on the room's main console. She looked up at their approach, moving her hand away from her weapon when she recognized them. "Welcome back, sir."

"Anything to report?" Ford asked.

"Nothing's blown up since you left," she smiled. "And I've ordered those supplies you asked for. I took the liberty of consulting with the other functioning labs before doing so. It was tough finding someone over in Supplies and Equipment to respond, but I finally did. They're asking for a military escort for the shipment, however."

"Would they also like us to paint a big target on them?" Ford sighed. "Where's Sastarn?"

"Doing a perimeter sweep."

"Tell him to go over to Supplies and be the military escort for our shipment. This is critical, so tell him to be as high-handed as he likes."

"Yes, sir," Lyrabeth said. "Since I had some time, I also took the liberty of asking the other labs to submit progress reports. I'm compiling a digest for general distribution, subject to your approval, of course."

"Excellent. You never know what detail may spark an idea in someone's head," Ford said. "Be careful, Lyrabeth, or you may end up with a new job as Chief Administrator."

She smiled. "No thank you, sir. Though it is interesting work. But normally the labs in this building don't need to function as a single entity, so that job would be superfluous."

"Right now it is anything but," Ford said. "I'm glad you're with us."

Lallar looked up. "Sir. I believe we have detected a group of Kyan, but we will need to confirm this with independent data."

Ford went over to look, trying not to get his hopes up. "Lyrabeth," he called, "I'm sending you this data. Run it over to Subcommander Rast and ask him to confirm it with their latest intelligence. If he gives you a hard time, point out to him how useful a Kyan detector would be."