Laurie was surprised that neither the admiral nor the secretary of defense had turned to her for further arguments as to why this needed to move forward; instead, the admiral opened another folder from the stack in front of him.

“Well, Mr. Secretary, as you know we had anticipated that we may have some trouble in this area, so we had formed an alternate plan, a plan that drove our selection of the Marine Research Institute as our vendor for developing the probe.”

Laurie was intrigued; she had not been part of that conversation.

“As you know from the brief I sent you when the president originally approved the project, we have an asset at the Institute. I have since briefed said asset, and he is ready to execute the search covertly, using a civilian research vessel we have access to in the Indian Ocean.”

Asset? Slowly it dawned on Laurie, and in retrospect it seemed painfully obvious.

“And you feel this is the best course of action, Admiral?”

“Yes, sir.” confirmed Admiral Hamilton with a nod.

“And you, General Pickler,” continued the secretary, “I assume you are in agreement with your navy counterpart?”

“Yes, sir.” said the general gravely.

“Very well then, I will assume, Dr. West, that you have no objections either,” she nodded, pretending she had known about the plan all along, “then let’s move forwards.” concluded the secretary, taking a breath and gathering his thoughts for a moment before going on.

“Gentlemen, though they will hopefully never know it, we are essentially talking about invading India, so I would like any civilian knowledge of this operation kept to a minimum. Your asset is to be the only civilian onboard, is that clear?”

“If I may, Mr. Secretary?” piped Laurie from her seat, “There is one civilian I would recommend sending on the mission, sir: the probe’s designer, a Mr. Danielson.”

The secretary frowned. “What is this man’s clearance?” he asked the room in general.

Aides and assistants went to work, like automatons, looking up the information, but both Laurie and General Pickler already knew the answer, and the reaction it would get.

“Level 5, sir.” said General Pickler, somewhat meekly.

“Out of the question.” snapped the secretary, pausing a moment, then continuing, “If we must have an expert onboard, then surely Dr. West can assist this…” he looked at the memo in front of him “…Captain Hawkson.”

She looked at him aghast for a moment then remembered herself. It would have to suffice. A level 5 would never be allowed on a mission like this, and Captain Hawkson, though he was apparently not quite what he had seemed, was still a very capable scientist, no matter what his ongoing ties to the navy actually were. She would just have to learn the system as well. And buy a lot of Dramamine.

* * *