Pandusky pondered his superior’s comments for a long moment, finally shook his head in bewilderment. “Even if both were attacked by extremist elements, their emergency beacons should continue working. What possible connection could there be between the Sakuntala uprising and two of our own skimmers going missing and completely silent in the southern Viisiiviisii?”
“If I knew that,” she replied flatly, “it would be explicable. The Sakuntala and the Deyzara I chose for the follow-up mission were the best, and the brightest, I could find to crew the rescue skimmer. Still, given the animosity between their respective species, it’s not inconceivable that a fight might have broken out between them. But even if one killed the other, or they both died as a result of an accident, that still doesn’t explain the nonresponsiveness of their own skimmer’s emergency beacon. Same goes for the beacon on this Hasa’s vehicle. The latter failure is exceptional. To experience two such failures within as many weeks of a tried-and-true fail-safe technology is more than that: it’s suspicious.”
He nodded. “What do you want me to do?”
She steepled her fingers, thinking hard. “Call someone at the inner port you personally trust and have complete confidence in. Ask them to do some circumspect checking. See if anyone who isn’t directly authorized to do skimmer maintenance and repair has been spending an unusual amount of time in the area, even if only to talk with friends. Warn your contact to be as discreet as possible. If someone is responsible for the disappearance of the two vehicles and the corresponding failure of their emergency gear, they’re not likely to think twice about eliminating any perceived inquiry into their activities.”