Mithrael sat on his throne; two people knelt before him. One person was a woman with pink hair and white robes. The other was a man in a black coat, and his face was covered by the hood of his robe. Mithrael looked down at the pink-haired woman. Mithrael looked down at the pink-haired woman.

"Elsebeth, I hope you bring me good news?" He said, his voice little more than a whisper, but everyone in the chamber could hear the cold fury behind it.

Elsebeth didn’t look up.

"Forgive me, my lord. It is my failure that led to this." She said softly. "The infiltrators were able to retrieve the Ark core transport plans. They at first took the fake plans, but eventually they were able to find the real ones."

Mithrael’s eyes darkened, but his voice remained steady. "Why were the plans in the same room as each other?"

Elsebeth’s body trembled, but she answered truthfully. "My lord, I thought there was no way for the otherworlders to infiltrate the capital and steal our plans. I thought them to be safe."

Mithrael sighed. "Elsebeth, they may be few in number; however, these otherworlders have knowledge and techniques likened to our own. If we can send infiltrators to their lands, they can do so as well. You would do well to remember that. We will send out fake transport teams. Have two fake transport teams follow the original routes, while the real ones take two alternate routes. Do not fail me again."

Elsebeth gulped, but kept her head down.

"As you wish, my lord."

Mithrael waved his hand. "Dismissed."

Mithrael turned to the man. "Report."

The man looked up. "Yes, sire. We have been unable to find Josh or Susan, my lord. We have sent Veil operatives into the otherworld cities to locate them, but we have found no evidence of them entering those cities. On a separate note, my lord, Hisha has not reported in yet. We fear that he has been captured."

Mithrael tapped his fingers against the throne. "Disregard Hisha for the moment. I do not sense that his life force has ceased. It is possible that he may still be on mission. Send a team to Hood Hill to locate him."

The man nodded. His eyes widened as Mithrael stood up and walked over.

Mithrael looked down at the man with narrowed eyes. "Fresen. Do not fail me in finding Josh and Susan. I want them hung as traitors. They have done irreparable damage to the Empire’s citizenry with their lies. Find them. Hang them."

Fresen nodded. "As you wish, my lord."

"Dismissed."

Fresen bowed and then walked out of the room. Mithrael watched the Veil commander leave with his fists clenched. "They will pay." He growled as he once more took his throne.

Eric and Michael sat at the base commander’s desk with Captain Rima and her XO, a First Lieutenant named Lieutenant Pie. In front of them, the route information Ricky stole lay next to a map. Eric sighed and brushed his hair back. His finger scraped the scar, and he frowned.

"I think they will either divert or send decoys. The Empire is not foolish. They know by now that we can target their convoys."

Michael scratched his chin. "The question is, where would they divert? We can have ISR fly all over the place, but if we have no clue of an approximate location, we would be wasting resources."

Eric nodded, looking up as the door opened. Mia walked in and took her place next to Eric. "Jessica is resting. The healers say she will be okay. As long as she doesn’t use mana or work too hard, she will be back to normal in a few days."

Eric sighed in relief and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes for a few moments, and when they opened, they had a newfound focus. "We know their location will be Nedoria. The way I see it, there are only four real routes they can take to get to Nedoria. I think they will likely either send decoy convoys on the original route and send the real convoys on alternate routes, or abandon the original routes while taking the alternate routes."

Mia looked at the map, tracing the terrain near Nedoria with her finger. "I think we need to split up, Eric. Each team gets a radio, and we have them post up on these four access points off the main roads."

She circled four spots outside of Nedoria. Each location was at least five miles from the city. "That way, we can determine where the real convoys are, and we still have enough time to react. Once the real convoys are found, we can target them through whatever means we have at our disposal."

Eric clapped his hands and stood up. "Alright. I think that is a solid plan. Michael, you take the recon platoon and post up at..."

He paused to label the southernmost point Mia had circled. "Let’s call this point Alpha. Justin will take Trephania and Maren, as well as another recon element, and set up at point Bravo." He circled the western point.

"I will take a recon element and set up at point Charlie. And Mia, you take point Delta with another recon element."

Eric looked around the room. "Any questions?"

Michael nodded. "What call signs will we use?"

Eric smirked. "I am Helios One. You are Helios Two. Mia is Helios Three. Justin is Helios Four."

Mia facepalmed. "You’re such a nerd."

Eric smirked. "Yes, and you love me for it."

It had taken the teams a few hours to reach their respective observation points. Along the way, Eric had them check in every thirty minutes through radio checks. After setting up their observation points, Eric had them check in again.

One of the soldiers from the recon element that was with him lit a cigarette, and Eric swatted it away. "No smoking on an operation," Eric growled. "What if the smoke gives our location away?"

The soldier looked down. "I apologize, Master Sergeant."

Eric nodded before walking over to the NCO that was with him; Staff Sergeant Beninetez. "We’ve come a long way since that gas station," Eric said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"We definitely have. Imagine my wife’s surprise when I could finally text her after the satellites merged. And then the entire world merged. It was good to see them again. And it’s all thanks to you saving my bacon back then."

Eric chuckled and patted the man on the back. "Well, it’s good that you made it through."

Beninetez nodded. "It’s a pleasure to be working with you again, Master Sergeant."

"Likewise. Have the men spread out. You know the deal. Three hundred sixty-degree perimeter. Make sure we have eyes on all potential avenues of approach."

"Roger. Are there any special things we need to look for?"

Eric paused and tapped his chin with his fingers.

"Yes. The transport convoy is transporting the Ark cores. Each core is a brightly lit blue ball of mana. If any of the men see that, or something similar, they are to report it up immediately."

Beninetez nodded. "Anything else?"

"No. I think that will do for now."

After Beninetez left, Eric hopped into the truck and grabbed the radio. "All Helios units, ensure that your teams are aware of what the cores look like. I do not want our soldiers to miss something because they didn’t know what they are looking for."

Each team acknowledged, and Eric sat there, looking at the map. Beninetez joined him a few moments later. "The soldiers are tracking all now."

"Good. Now, we just have to wait."

An hour later, a soldier called out to Eric. "Hey, Master Sergeant? I see something due west."

Eric walked over and crouched behind the top of the hill. He grabbed a scope and focused west. He didn’t see anything at first, but then noticed a dust cloud rising into the sky. He zoomed in further and saw four carriages. Each carriage had an armed guard accompanying it.

Eric scoffed. "Can they be any more obvious?" He muttered.

He turned towards the soldier. "Keep an eye on them. That is not what we are looking for. The real convoy will probably be much larger."

"Roger."

The sun began to set, and Eric was pacing around the top of the hill. So far, none of the teams had gotten a visual of the two real convoys. Thus far, Eric’s team and Mia’s team had the same convoy roll pass them twice.

Mia called Eric. "What do you think of us consolidating?" She said, looking out as the same convoy that had passed her once already passed her team again.

"No. I don’t think that’s a good idea. Who’s to say that once they think we are gone, they actually do bring the real convoy down one of our routes."

She sighed. "Good point."