ENCOMM, Branxton base
“I’ve read your report,” Vaas said, grim-faced, “and it was something I did not enjoy.”
“It’s a much bigger problem than we thought, sir.”
“And even harder to resolve.”
“Yes.”
“Kraa damn it,” Vaas muttered; Michael thought he looked exhausted. “You’re sure about this?”
“Yes, sir. Calverson and Malfroy can never stop the NRA from winning the war. The peace is another matter.”
“I hate to say it, but I think that’s right. Leave it with me. I’ll present it for discussion at the next staff meeting, and thanks, Michael. You’ve done a good job. This is exactly why I don’t want you swanning around being shot at.”
“Happy to help, General.”
“Good, because I want you to ride shotgun on a trial we’re doing tomorrow. Go see Major Marcovitz. She’ll brief you; she knows what I want.”
“Sir.”
“What’s the scoop, sir?” Shinoda asked as she and the rest of the security detail followed Michael into the maglev carriage for the long journey across the Branxtons.
“The 656th is doing trials of the first NRA-built mobile laser batteries, and General Vaas thinks the engineers are being a bit overoptimistic about how well they’ll work. He wants us to make sure there’s no cheating.”
“Sounds good to me, sir,” Shinoda said.
“Make sure you bring your helmets. There’ll be a lot of orbital kinetics coming our way.”
“Oh, great,” Shinoda muttered.