There were few things more pleasant, Will reflected, than 
driving through backwoods Pennsylvania on a beautiful morning.  
The inside of the cargo truck was quiet, the sky was bright and 
calm; perfect for contemplation and relaxation.
        Jake, on the other hand, was always bugged when in 
someone's company and not talking about something, anything.
        "Beautiful country, huh?"
        "Yeah."
        "I'm Jake, by the way."
        "Will."
        "Nice to meet you."
        "Likewise."
        "... So we're both in TRES.  I've seen you around in 
places."  He noticed the rank insignia Will's uniform carried, 
"An admiral, huh?  So why are you on this trip, and why are we 
driving across the great state of Pennsylvania?"
        Will sighed and took his attention off the mountains 
rolling by.  "I'm also Councillor in JPV.  I'm assuming you're 
not a member."
        	"Nope.  Hanging out all day with magic-heads doesn't 
appeal to me.  Steel treats me much nicer, most of the time.  So 
maybe you can tell me where we're headed?  The assembly order was 
pretty terse."
        "Dunno. Probably to the JPV Headquarters.  I know 
construction finally got finished."
        Jake arched an eyebrow.  "The TRES admiralty don't know 
what we're doing?  Then who in blazes does?"
        "Admiral Felton does, I think.  Likewise the 
Arch-Chancellor of JPV, I'd hope, and presumably the Triumvirate. 
 No one else that I know of."
        Jake grinned slightly at the list.  "Felton, huh?"
        "You know him?"
        "Yeah, kinda.  We've run into each other in the past.  
Nothing major."  Jake switched focus to the task at hand, 
"Anyway... Wow, talk about tight security."
        "Yes.  I think it's overly secure, if you ask me.  If the 
soldiers know the objective they can engage their Cerebra[tm] 
better.  However, even Admirals follow orders just like everyone 

else."
        Jake let out a low whistle.  "A Feral, an Admiral, and 
half our secondary JAO doing escort duty?  You've gotta wonder 
what's-" he cut off suddenly and snapped his head toward the back 
of the cab.  "Something's up."
        Will looked around wondering about the TRES lieutenant's 
sudden pronouncement.  "How do you know?"
        As if to answer his question, a small metal sphere which 
had been placed inconspicuously in a back corner of the cab 
suddenly began to levitate.  It seemed to lose its consistency 
and move in wave patterns as it did so.  Suddenly, it darted 
forward into the front compartment of the van, forming into a 
blade as it did so.  The strange object then bent in midair to 
fill the open sheath at Jake's right hip.  All that protruded was 
the silvery metallic grip, which was adorned only with a large 
blue gem at its center.  Jake looked over to Will.  "The sword 
told me."
        	A corner of Will's mouth perked.  He claimed he didn't 
hang around with magic-heads, but carried the most obviously 
magical blade Will had seen in a long while.
        	Jake took the humor as disbelief.  "I'm serious.  
Something around here is dampening psionic activity.  Jamming 
mental frequencies isn't exactly subtle.  Someone's trying to 
hide the fact that they're here.  You might want to get on the 
horn with whoever's in charge at the moment..."
        Will reached for the radio, and mentally prodded Kit to 
confirm Jake's report.  Kit woke up for long enough to agree, and 
mention that it wasn't a natural field either, while Will tried 
to remember the sequence for the communications link.  He punched 
in a few numbers and picked up the mike.
        Static screamed out of the speakers.  Lightning had just 
arced from a spot on the forested hillside, unnaturally aiming 
for the road and the vehicles on it.  An escort vehicle near the 
front of the convoy swerved wildly, throwing the following 
vehicles into a chain of twisting chaos.  Thunder echoed through 
the steep valley, to the accompaniment of squealing brakes and 
tortured steering systems.
        That one strike started a barrage.  Fireballs and 
lightning bolts began to rain down from the hillsides on both 
sides of the road.  Many missed, but even these could be 
dangerous, leaving jagged potholes in the road or blasting rocks 
off of the steep slopes above to come crashing down on cars.  The 
car in front of Jake and Will pinwheeled off a chunk of concrete 
that Jake swerved to miss, throwing his passengers about in the 
van.  Behind them, the crashed car was a direct hit for a 
fireball, exploding furiously and leaving no chance of survivors 
inside.  Jake gritted his teeth and focused on controlling the 
truck so as to stay in the midst of the group and yet not have 
the same thing happen.
        Will, in the meantime, had been trying to locate the 
spots where attacks had been originating.  A spell being almost 
impossible to construct under the circumstances, he had grabbed 
an X-Rifle from the rack on the wall behind his seat and was 
trying to aim cover fire in the general direction of assaults 
coming from the right.  He had no way of knowing if he had at all 
been successful, though, and the rate of attacks was in no way 
decreasing.
        The radio crackled, and Puppeteer's voice came through.  
"Front cars, slow and gather in two lanes!  Rear cars, move up!  
Quit attacking and raise defensive shields until we can get out 
of range!"  Gradually, the hectic pace of the convoy slowed to 
something saner.  This made them a better target, but now some of 
the attacks bounced off of wards and other defenses.
        Will began concentrating on erecting some kind of 
defense.  By the time he finally managed to do so, the largest 
explosion yet rocked the small valley.  It had come from the 
bottom of the hill on the left, and it was followed by a shower 
of rubble and larger rocks plowing down the hillside.  For some 
reason Jake and Will couldn't see, the whole convoy was forced to 
halt.  This was not the tactical disaster it could have been, 
however, since the attack had stopped as suddenly as it had 
started.
        They sat in the truck, Will maintaining a shield, both of 
them wondering what had happened.  The radio signaled and Jake 
answered.
        "Jake, that you?"  It was Puppeteer.
        "Yes, sir."
        "We need an earth-mover up here in front."  Will blinked. 
 Jake was at least a specialist magical operator?  "Shield 
yourself and join us.  Is Will there?"
        Will took the mike.  "Here, sir.  Doing a shield right 
now, is there something else I should be doing?"
        "No, that's exactly what I want you doing.  Keep it over 
the whole convoy if you can."
        Will acknowledged and began the metamagical process of 
expanding the shield over the convoy.  Jake ducked out of the 
truck and ran to the front, throwing up an Earth mage's shield of 
orbiting gravity balls to misdirect any possible incoming 
attack.
        When Jake got to the front, the sight was surprising.  
For tens of yards ahead the road was taken out by a giant crater. 
 Sitting on this side was a totally nonfunctional TRES vehicle, 
the front half melted away to the firewall.  Puppeteer was 
pairing off mages and TRES personnel to go and search the area 
around the road and the crater, carefully.  He beckoned Jake over 
and pointed at the crater.  "Can you fill this thing in solidly 
enough to get the cars over?"
        "It'll just take me a few minutes, sir."
        "Good.  I don't want to lose time on an alternate route." 
 He strode off to hand convoy rosters to a couple of JPV'ers and 
assign them to create damage and casualty reports.  Jake got busy 
on moving earth and stone to make a passable road.
        Pupp walked back to the truck, checking on Will and 
knocking on the door of the cargo bay.  Will, leaning against the 
truck door and maintaining the shield, swiveled an eye under a 
lowered lash and wondered what the two brass were saying, but 
didn't eavesdrop.  As Puppeteer walked back by him, Will 
whispered, "You realize, of course, that they knew we were 
here."
        Pupp stopped.  "Your point?"
        *shrug*  "I think my initial reaction of displeasure at 
the tight security might have been more than just wrong.  
Although, with such a violent attack, I don't think the leak 
would have been traveling with us."
        "Maybe.  An alternate route would lose us time, and I've 
been told to move as quickly as possible.  We'll see."  Pupp 
didn't voice his other thought... that maybe the cargo was 
attracting its own attention.  Some things did -- curses weren't 
child's play, some times....  He shook it off and headed back to 
the front of the convoy.
        When Jake was done, he reached up to wipe sweat off his 
brow and blinked at a handkerchief that had seemed to appear in 
front of him.  He the realized that the kerchief was attached to 
a hand, in turn attached to an arm, owned by Lorin, who was 
handing it to him.  He took it gratefully.  "Thanks."
        "No problem."  Jake handed it back, and she neatly folded 
and tucked it away in a pocket.  "Glad you finished the road, now 
we can get away from *that* thing."
        "Thing?"
        "Didn't you hear?  The guys searching the crater found 
what looks like it had been a sponge when it was alive."
        "Cause of death?"
        "Extreme lack of head."
        "Eew.  You're not talking about just a cerebrum, are 
you?"
        "Nope."
        "Jake!" Puppeteer came up.  "You done here?"
        "Yes sir, just finished."
        Pupp raised his voice and called to the group.  "We're 
done here!  Leave the cleanup for the dispatch team.  Arrange the 
wounded and move out!"
        Jake hustled back to the van, there to find Will seated 
and patient.  The convoy signaled that all were ready to go, and 
-- less a few vehicles -- forged ahead.

TBC