Chapter Twelve

After closing the conversation with his sister, Milliardo went to find Lucrezia. She was in her office. Her job in the base was to check that the limited funds they were getting were used properly, she was also in charge of coordinating the task force. Milliardo was there as an ESUN representative and his role was more diplomatic than anything else.

As soon as he reached the office saw that Lucrezia was talking to one of the members of their staff through the videocom. He waited patiently till the conversation was over. Lucrezia then turned around on her chair and asked:

"How was Relena?"

"She looked fine...Lu, do you have anything to tell me?" asked Milliardo seeing her fiancée worried.

"Yes. I had a squad sent out yesterday. Officially they were sent to find a suitable place to build the new shuttle airport. Unofficially, I wanted them to see if they saw anything suspicious…" started explaining Lucrezia.

"Ok…and?" commented Milliardo.

"Well, from the six people I sent, only one managed to come back, and he is very badly wounded…he is in a coma...they are treating him now at the medical centre…" finished the short, dark haired woman.

"Oh no! What happened?" shouted Milliardo.

"I don't know, I hope he will wake up…he's the only one that can tell us…" replied his fiancée looking very worried.

"Right…I'm going out…I'll see if I find it out by myself…" said Milliardo getting up from the chair.

"NO! Milliardo I cannot let you go…what if something happens to YOU??" shouted Lucrezia copying her fiancé also getting up from the chair.

"Don't worry, I will be extra-careful, and I will be armed…" said Milliardo walking out the room not leaving any chance for Lucrezia to argue…She was too good at it and Milliardo feared he would lose…between his sister and his fiancée, he didn't know which one was more stubborn…

Milliardo boarded a single seat road vehicle adapted for the irregular Mars' surface. He had left immediately after his conversation with Lucrezia.

Locating the position where the squad had been attacked was not difficult. He found the small shuttle just behind a small mountain not too far away from the base. The shuttle itself was a wreck. The guy that had managed to reach the base barely alive had done so using the emergency capsule.

Milliardo stopped next to the shuttle and tried to see the inside of it. What he saw was not pretty, all five corpses had been brutally slaughtered. He looked around carefully, looking for any clue that could help to find out the reason of this massacre.

He was about to give up when he saw something on the floor of the shuttle. It was a small piece of fabric. He took it in his hands and saw that it had some kind of logo on it. It was torn so the logo was not clearly identifiable.

He then decided to take it back to the base. As soon as he reached it, went straight to Lucrezia. They scanned the piece of fabric and asked the computer to find any possible match.

While the computer was working, the videocom buzzed.

"Lucrezia here" said to the head of the medical division.

"Miss Noin, just wanted to say that our man has waken up…he wants to speak to you and Mr Peacecraft urgently…" informed the doctor.

"Sure…We'll be there in five minutes…" said Lucrezia relieved.

"Fine" said the doctor cutting the conversation.

Lucrezia turned around to face Millardo. He looked very sombre.

"What's up?" asked Lucrezia worried.

Milliardo pointed at the computer screen. The computer had identified the logo as the one from one of the companies that belonged to Mr Valliant.

"So?" asked Lucrezia confused.

"My sister was meeting him tonight…"