There was almost no one left at headquarters late at night. Milo had a strong nagging feeling he was being watched or tracked, but couldn't do anything about it. He heard a beep from his phone, the indication of something coming from an entangled line.

IF YOU CAN HEAR THIS, WE'VE BEEN SABOTAGED AND ARE STUCK IN INTERSTELLAR SPACE IN SPG LANE BETWEEN KATHARNA AND ARIGUAR. SEND HELP. LOOK FOR ALPHA RADIATION ANOMALY. –KAYLA.

A rush of different thoughts went through his head. His phone indicated 0 MB of entangled qubits of communication with Kayla as they had all been used up. After about a whole minute of thinking, Milo shelved his thoughts and continued the walk to his meeting place.

The situation room was dimly lit, and at the end of the table sat a young woman that appeared to be a few years younger than him – a petite but pretty brunette with glasses. Milo walked over to sit in the chair next to her, and she extended her hand for a shake.

"Jenny Drether, Hominid Defense Directorate" the young woman said shaking his hand. Milo was surprised to hear this.

"So you guys aren't just an agency of paper pushers for royal intelligence."

"Let's just say we handle some things for the princess that she doesn't want everyone in the armada's council of admirals to know about." Milo was intrigued by this.

"What can I do for you?" Milo said eagerly wanting to know what she was going to say.

"Regardless of what you may have been told, you're heading for a date with the Humanology Lab when you go in for questioning at Royal Intelligence. And not that medical center at Adaforbus, but the main one in Quildalar that has the people that aren't as nice. I can assure that you don't go, if you will do a favor for us."

"And what's that?" Milo asked.

"I want you to lead us to the headquarters of Dalton Dover and the Network." Milo wasn't exactly sure of what to say. He sat and thought for a minute, not sure of how to reply. By now he probably had the metaphysicists map of SPG lanes and planets and was somewhere where no one could find him.

"I don't know where he is. He has almost surely moved since I've last been at his headquarters."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Of course he has, but you can find out where he is and lead us to him."

"What are you going to do? Are you going to kill him or have him arrested?"

"That might prove necessary" she said hesitantly. "There's a complicating factor involved here that I can't tell you about." Milo heaved a sigh, knowing that there was going to have a difficult decision heaped on him.

"I believe in Dover and what he stands for. He doesn't want to be found and has done some personal favors to me, so I'm not willing to betray him." Drether shook her head.

"You realize that sooner or later Director McGrath Is going to ask you reveal his location and that information will make it to royal intelligence. You can either tell me now and get something in return or you can be forced to tell after the Humanology Lab does who knows to you."

"Actually, there is something you can do for me that I will give up Dover's location for" Milo said temporarily forgetting about the grave news he had gotten on his phone.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Just a few minutes ago I got a message from my partner Kayla. She's stuck in interstellar space and needs to be rescued. Help me rescue her and get me out of questioning and I'll do what it takes to get you to Dover." Drether stared at him for just a moment.

"You've got no leverage here" she remarked. "I'm trying to help you here and you are pushing it."

"I've got more leverage than you think. If what you're telling me is true my days in this agency are numbered. I can either get transferred to some other Union agency or I can do fine with Dalton Dover and his Network. He's very resourceful. What you're wanting me to do here is barter my principles, and that's far easier to do when I can say it was done to help my very close friend." Drether just sat there, staring ahead at the wall.

"I will see what I can do" she said. "Tomorrow, when you're supposed to be leaving for questioning, I will take you Katharna. There are some people that can help us. It was nice meeting you" she said shaking his hand again. She got up and walked briskly out of the room. When Milo opened the door several seconds later he could not see her.

Milo made his way home, and he had a lot of trouble sleeping. After about a half an hour of not even seemingly getting closer to falling asleep, he seemingly passed out and ended up in Nadarska's domain.

"What's going on?" he asked. "I sense some real anxiety in you."

"Kayla's ship got sabotaged and she's in the middle of interstellar space. And I met someone from the Hominid Defense Force who has offered to help me rescue her and get out of interrogation by royal intelligence. She insists they're going to take me to the humanology lab."

"I see. You definitely need to avoid going to the royal labs if at all possible."

"Do you think she's legitimate?"

"Yes, I do. When you shook her hand I got a good feeling of her skin, and I clearly felt elven collagen rather than human collagen."

"Nadarska, do you think it's really wise to give up Nadarska's location to her and the HDD? She said she might have to kill him."

"You avoid going to the labs at all costs. Dover and the guys at the Network can take care of themselves." Milo wanted to ask him more questions, but he fell back into sleep.