Chapter Sixteen

Price was walking down the dimly lit corridor, wondering why they were running on red when it was the middle of the day when he heard a voice behind him. He turned and saw Sergeant Wallace Stone hurrying toward him.

"Captain, we've been alerted."

"Alerted for what?"

"Recon mission. The Colonel isn't completely happy with the intelligence that has been gathered by his scouts to this point. He wants more data before he can make a command decision."

"Shit," said Price. "That's the last thing that we need right now."

"Colonel wants to meet with us in about an hour. All of us," said Stone.

"Now what's that supposed to mean."

"I understand that we have a new lieutenant assigned to our office."

"Right."

"I haven't had the opportunity to meet her," said Stone, "though I confess that I'm not looking forward to it."

"Now don't you start."

"Start what?" Stone asked innocently.

Price shook his head. "I wanted to get over to the morgue to talk with the doctors there."

Stone looked at his watch. "You've got about an hour before we have to meet the Colonel."

"Okay," said Price. "You go onto the office and tell Jackknife to pull everything we have on the alien planet, the asteroid and anything else that seems to fit."

"Yes, sir."

"Wait," said Price. "Tell Monier to put down her impressions on everything. Have her rate the stuff according to her level of confidence in it."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll be along in a few minutes. I just have a couple of questions that I want to get answered."

"Are they relevant?" asked Stone.

"Rocky, I don't believe that is a question that a sergeant should be asking a captain."

"Are they relevant?" repeated Stone, grinning.

"That I don't know. It's just something that I want to get answered before we take off."

"I'll get the others started," said Stone.

Price hesitated and then asked, "How big of a push is this going to be?"

"I think the Colonel has it in his mind to invade that planet but he wants some more information before he makes his decision."

"Okay. I'll see you in about thirty minutes."

Stone nodded and whirled, trotting down the corridor.