Despite the fact that the meeting of the high council was to be held in fifteen days. Kir Lak decided not to wait for this moment and was ready to go to the other end of the galaxy to the Nodian empire. Returning from work, Kir Lak saw at the gate of his house a black with gold stripes representative aerving, Kir felt something was wrong, because such transport was used by higher military ranks.

The butler stood at the door, who immediately reported to Kir about the visit: “Sir, General Mell Atley has come to visit you, he is waiting for you in the living room.”

General Mell Atley is 56 years old. An ordinary soldier who rose to the rank of a general. In the army, he enjoyed great respect and authority among soldiers and officers, with the exception of staff officers due to banal envy. Under the leadership of the general, non-combat-ready units were usually given, but under his command these units achieved significant success. Envious people did not let the general enjoy the victories, belittling his merits.

For Kyr, this was an unexpected and not pleasant visit. The general at one time accused Kir Lak of incompetence and inability to save the lives of his subordinates and the death of his son Dave Utley on Grothar.

Kyr agreed to receive the uninvited guest, they went up to the second floor, Kir started the conversation first: “To be honest, your visit was a surprise to me.”

“You are right, Kir.” The general agreed. “But circumstances brought me to you. First of all, I would like to apologize to you for my words. I wanted to do this before, but it didn't work out. Better late than never.”

“It's okay Mell I accept your apology.”

“Kirk, I need your help. My youngest son, Captain Paul Atley, was on a secret mission and stopped communicating. The General Staff forbade organizing a rescue operation. I was warned not to try to find him and come to terms with the loss of my son. I can not do anything, I was removed from command of the brigade and sent on vacation. My subordinates were intimidated by the tribunal if they would help me in the search.”

“So you want to disobey the order.”

“Stop it Kir. I'm fed up with this military. Do you know what is the worst thing for a military man? No! I'll tell you, it's a disappointment in what you've been doing all your life. I dedicated my life to the army, considered the years of sacrificial service important, filled with meaning. But having reached high positions, I turned out to be a nobody, an insignificant cog in the control mechanism that can be twisted, unscrewed and thrown away.”

“Soldiers need victory, and generals need recognition.” Kir said.

“You smile, Kir. Yes you are right. But I'm sure you didn't like it either. I always fought for my subordinates, I did not hide behind the backs of soldiers. No one can reproach me for not taking care of my subordinates, and if there were losses, I experienced paternal grief. In the current situation, I do not see insurmountable obstacles to save the missing group.”

“Maybe there is something that you haven't been told.” Kir suggested.

“I have a high security clearance. These are all representatives of corporations in the galactic council, they always interfere with bringing the matter to the end, depriving us of victory, devaluing the shed blood for the sake of business.”

The general was angry, his eyes were filled with blood. He hung like a rock over the table at which Kir was sitting. The general took a deep breath, fighting a fit of anger, pulling himself together and said: “ Paul, my youngest son, this is all that my wife and I have left, and I will do anything to get him back.”

The general was upset, his anger disappeared, he again sat down in his chair: “Kir, you are a former member of the warrior caste, you probably still have connections, and you know people who are able to solve such issues.”

“It is what it is.” Kir agreed. “You are a military man, you know that any rescue operation is the inevitable loss of even more fighters.”

“Yes, I understand, but I hope for professionalism, and I will not remain in debt.” The general continued.

“To make a decision, I need to know what exactly happened?”

“The consequences of the long-term conflict between some members of the galactic council and Count Atauda. Intelligence found that Atauda has a military laboratory within no man's land. My son led a reconnaissance group. They identified the courier and had to follow and find out where the laboratory was. Paul's group tracked down the courier, and after finding the lab, they were to report its location. At some point, they stopped communicating. Ten days have passed since they disappeared. The command wanted to send a search group, but an order was received to curtail the operation, not to take any action.”

Kir, having heard about Count Atauda, got worried: “Good. But I want to say right away that I can not give any guarantees.”

General Mell, got up from his chair, and took out the ship's identification card from his breast pocket: “That's all I have. There are the coordinates of the last communication session”

Kir took the card and offered to stay for lunch, the general refused and went to the exit, then stopped and said: “You know, Kir, I managed to take Dave's body from Grothar. After you notified the council of Atauda's activities on Grotar, and told me about the death of my son. The command has developed a secret operation to get to these beetles. During the year of preparation of the operation, experienced fighters were selected from the entire fleet. But as you warned, this venture became suicidal. You want to ask if I took part in the leadership, no. My people and I got there secretly under the guise of landing. In the general confusion, we entered the grotto and found my son. Everything is as you described Kir. I buried him in the family crypt. By the way, you didn’t tell everything about Grothar, or the one who got out alive didn’t tell you everything.”

“I do not understand what you are talking about, everything that I knew I told.”

The general unbuttoned his tunic and pulled up his shirt, there were deep scars on his chest and stomach: “I lost two ribs when I escaped from the mouth. Grothar is inhabited by a "black shadow" in the common people "darkness" the most dangerous and fastest cave predator. Only my group left the planet, and then not in full force. If the management knew about this, they would never send people there.”

“General, I am not a zoologist to know dangerous and non-dangerous species of animals, especially throughout the galaxy there are billions of varieties. I'm sorry that this happened.”

“I don't blame you. You warned, but you were not listened to, this is the fault of the galactic council.” The general answered and headed for the exit.

Kir asked the general to stay for a minute and took out a slightly shabby bag from military equipment from the corner cabinet and handed it to the general: “Before selling the ship, we did a general cleaning and found the bag, it belonged to Dave.”