His eyes darted to the “gift” that Veta had received from the Emperor before she left. She had been so flattered to receive it before they left. She should have known the Emperor’s gift was more than it seemed. “Your Terran tracking systems are quite efficient.”
She, too, glanced at the weapon on the far side of the cockpit of the shuttle. While it was a beautiful blade and very well balanced, it also contained tracing and recording equipment to monitor Veta while on the mission.
The Emperor left nothing to chance.
Unfortunately, Veta had to keep it with her, if only to pretend she wasn’t aware of the weapon’s capabilities. She feared the Emperor would escalate whatever plans he had if he knew his spying equipment was compromised.
Wrathin stroked her fingers. “It will work.”
“I appreciate your confidence,” she said as she caressed the bracelet that Caoimhe gave her.
Manually searching the moons was not something she wanted to do. The time required could be extensive, and if the soldiers who had been after her were as efficiently hunting the others, they might not have much time to find the rest of the party. Still, it remained the best way to find Freya, Bianca, and the Princesses.
The eclipse, however, was going to make it tricky.
Her bracelet was the only shot at finding them. And it was a long shot, to be sure. It was just a bracelet.
A bracelet coded to Veta’s particular DNA. If his idea was right, they might be able to find some kind of tracer inside the jewelry to allow them to find the others faster.
That assumed that Caoimhe thought to do that.
Was she as efficiently deviant as her father?
Only one way to find out.
Wrathin scanned it with his gauntlet.
“This is amazing,” he whispered.
“What is?”
“This tech.”
“Why? What’s in it?”
“Tracker, obviously.”
“We expected that.” She had hoped, anyway. Though she didn’t say that to Wrathin.
It did fill her with some relief that they will find the others quicker than a manual search of each moon.
“But there’s also something else.”
“What?”
“A key, it appears.”
“A key to what?” Veta asked.
“That I do not know.”
“Damn,” she muttered. “Caoimhe is as good at the subterfuge as her dad is.”
“It would seem so.” Wrathin’s holographic display shifted, and he adjusted the imagery. “I think I have found the nearest piece of jewelry.”
“Where?”
“On Sol-5. The next moon over. Let me send a bouncer signal to confirm.”
