Although he would have liked to personally take credit for bringing in the girl, duty came before personal ambition. He passed his lead on to the Emperor's agents. They were not likely to be as restrained as he would have been, but it was only Infernals who would suffer for it.

He was taken to the site by his personal airship. He used it rarely because he preferred to travel inconspicuously, but this case was an exception. Baron Gong had his own ships patrolling the skies and one of them challenged him as he came within a hundred kilometers of the site.

All aircraft flying in Imperial airspace were required to transmit their identity code as long as the engine was running. The Gong pilot should have already known exactly who it was. Sometimes it was a simple formality, a part of training kept in practice even when there was no real need for it, and other times there was a genuine concern that an aircraft would be spoofing its ID and a verbal challenge could be enough to expose the deception.

Li Fong's pilot relied, "This is India Golf Kilo Two-dash-Two Seven Eight Niner. Renwang Commandery Inspector Li Fong onboard. Acknowledge."

The pilot tapped on the console, then said, "Acknowledged, Gong Three Seven Four. Transmission received. Proceeding to landing zone. Out."

About fifteen minutes later, they touched down at the landing zone. There were several aircraft on the ground undergoing maintenance or simply sitting idle until it was their turn to relieve the ships currently in the air.

When Li Fong exited his airship, he was met by a young officer. Though Li Fong was not in the military, the officer saluted him anyway.

Lieutenant Li was no relation to Li Fong. He had heard it said that some ten percent of the population was a Li or one of its variants. That may have been an exaggeration, but it was nevertheless one of the most common surnames on the planet. Many times soldiers would go by their given name to avoid confusion, but that practice was typically reserved for the lower ranks. It was seen as contrary to an officer's dignity to go by his given name unless he was a knight or nobleman, and far too humanizing for the subofficers.

Each noble house had its own household regiment, with statutory manpower limits according to rank. Barons were accorded a two thousand-man regiment, though that was the maximum limit. Many houses could not afford their full allotment and as much as three-quarters of their men could be requisitioned by the Expeditionary Forces at a given time. These numbers did not include the conscript levies whenever it was time for a campaign in the Unincorporated Territories.

None of this was particularly relevant to the current situation, though.

They took a jeep from the landing zone to the crash site. Though Inspector Li could see it for himself, the Lieutenant explained anyway.

The crashed ship was approximately sixty meters in length, less a portion of the back quarter that broke off during the crash. The damage was so extensive that if the cause for the crash was external, it was not readily apparent.

This was advanced technology. at the same level as their own or even above it. While it could be the result of some top-secret project he knew nothing about, he doubted it. Certainly none of the Unincorporated Territories were capable of anything like this. That left only one possibility: a spacefaring civilization beyond their world. The official histories never talked much of the time before the Celestials came to this world, but it was not unimaginable that there were others out there and that they would eventually find their way here. Of course, while it was little surprise to Inspector Li, it could set off a panic in the wider populace, Celestial and Infernal alike, so containing this information would be critical.

The Inspector was just about to ask about the crew, but he opted to feign ignorance to see how that would affect the information he was given.

Destroying sensitive equipment so that it does not fall into the hands of the enemy was standard practice. Going so far as to destroy their own dead was taking it a step further. Lest he sow the seeds of the panic he was trying to avert, he refrained from suggesting that there was no assurance these were human bodies.

He heard the sound of a jeep approaching. A senior officer flanked by two riflemen with an adjutant at his side got out of the jeep almost as soon as it came to a stop. Colonel Wei, he presumed. Lieutenant Li snapped to attention and saluted as the Colonel came closer.

Curtly returning the salute, the Colonel growled, "I thought I told you to bring the Inspector to my tent when he arrived, Lieutenant." He paused to give Inspector Li the briefest of salutations. "Inspector."

The Inspector responded in kind.

The Colonel scowled at this. Clearly he did not have a sufficient appreciation of the authority Inspector Li represented, but the Inspector was not the sort to begrudge a man a little surliness so long as he got the job done.

Colonel Wei froze. The threat of involving the Emperor was not taken lightly, but it was not made lightly either. Inspector Li had no interest in propping up the Colonel's fragile ego. He was not the biggest fish in the pond and he would do well to realize that fact.

The Colonel told his adjutant, "Contact Major Fong and tell him to increase the number of patrol flights. Start two hundred kilometers from the crash site and extend the radius fifty kilometers every hour. Call Colonel Liu to request more air assets and coordinate the search with the adjoining airspaces. We are looking for human life signs that don't have a corresponding tracker signal. Assemble a couple rapid response teams and have them on standby. If they are called up, they are to detain the targets with nonlethal force insofar as it is feasible." He gave the Inspector a look. "Anything else?"

Inspector Li did not think he heard those words uttered so grudgingly before. No matter. So long as he had the Colonel's compliance, he did not need him to be happy about it.