Josh stood in the centre of the brightly-lit operations room. He looked around the curiously ordered group under his command. Captains Boyd and Henscheid sat at opposite ends of the front row, each flanked by an Australian. Brad and Kristy sat together, staring intently up at Josh. Vickie sat with Josh Nolan -the Crispy Fried Aussie- on her left, the two flipping their lightsabres from one hand to the other, in unconscious synchronicity.
In the centre of the row sat Becki, the young woman jiggling her arm absently as though Thirteen were still lying there. Raymond sat behind Becki, looking out of sorts among the group. He looked from one face to another, trying to decide whether these people had any chance of finding Cheriss before something terrible happened to her. Nick sat on Becki's other side, tapping absently at his datapad. Occasionally, he glanced past Becki toward Brad and Kristy, neither of whom looked back at him. At the back of the room was Zee, plugged into a computer on which Becki had uploaded some Hebrew primers she'd taken to Jerusalem a few years before. Mike also stood at the back of the room, his attention fixed apparently on Josh as he ran through a series of exercises to loosen up his bacta-stiff limbs.
Lenka sat alone on the second row of chairs, her expression guarded as she attempted to assimilate the sensory overload everyone experienced on their first trip to the TG ops room.
"Okay, people, listen up," Josh said, activating the holoprojector behind him. Cheriss' notes and scans flashed into view, and Mike paused his exercises. Nick's eyes narrowed, and Josh Nolan caught the lightsabre. The three young men scanned the information as Lt. Cochran flicked through it, annotating the thoughts and opinions of those in the group who'd seen the information already.
"So, there we are," Josh said, aware that he was in a room with three superior officers. "Tomorrow we need to be in Jerusalem, ready to work off that auction, and find out who the hell is selling that shield component, and also who is going to buy it."
"Is it possible that it's a trap?" Nick asked. "I mean, it's bloody weird having an auction for a piece of extragalactic technology. Wouldn't it make more sense to sell it to a government? Not in some dusty Jerusalem back alley."
"Sure it would," Josh replied as he adjusted the projector. "But you have to remember that this sort of thing isn't exactly going to be taken seriously. The USA," he grimaced, "is pretty much a dead end to this sort of thing. The rest of the Western world is trying to avoid causing a flash point. No-one wants the rest of the world to think they're preparing to launch an attack. There's only a few countries stupid enough to try something like this."
"And a few private companies who'd love to get their hands on this sort of tech," Brad said, looking up from his datapad.
"Which has more benign intent, but still goes against the ethos we work by," Lt. Cochran confirmed. "The Cyberdyne problem," he said with a grin, drawing chuckles from most of the room. Becki looked at him blankly. "Terminator. The Terminator in the first movie travelled back in time but was destroyed. A computer geek found some of the remains and started the company that would go on to create the Terminators in the future. An infinity loop. With Arnold Schwarzenegger."
"So we're flying over there now?" Josh Nolan asked, his blue eyes cutting sideways to glance at Nick, who was doing the same to Brad and Kristy.
"Yeah. Basically, now you all know about the mission, I need to know who's with us, and who isn't? Someone should really stay here and man the ops centre, as no-one is up on Luna right now."
"I can do that," Nick said, his head coming around. This time Kristy looked at him, but she said nothing. The long haired Australian smiled, and added, "I can catch up on the accounts for the business. Make sure the Ewoks haven't eaten anyone, that sort of thing."
"Once I lived a life where Ewoks not eating people was generally taken as read," Mike murmured from the back of the room. He got a sharp look from Josh, and returned to silence.
"Is everyone else happy to travel?" Josh asked, looking out at his fellow officers.
"Wee One's DNA tests won't be done until tomorrow morning at the earliest," Kristy piped up. "And that's pushing things and leaving out controls."
Josh frowned. "How much of that can you get your droid to cover?"
"Helix can run the gels and scan the results, if I get things set up."
"Do that." Josh's gaze swept them again. "Everyone *else* good to go?"
One by one they nodded, Mike somewhat reluctantly. Josh privately felt glad for the additional bodies attached to the mission. If he had to drop Mike along the way, the operating strength of the team would be less adversely affected.
"In the state he's in, he doesn't bring very much to the team anyway," he thought, a frown passing across his features.
"Right, okay, assignments are as follows; Mike will pilot and maintain overwatch status aboard the Red Home. Becki and Vickie will stay outside the auction house. This way they can keep watch from ground level, and warn us about anything that Mike may not be able to see. Brad, I want you to try and sneak in alone, get a look at the tech, let us know if it's the real thing. We have one piece of the shield, which puts us in a good position, but I'm sure that one piece can be fairly easily replaced. If that thing is real, and we can get hold of it, then we're even better off.
"Raymond, I can't ask you to walk into a potentially volatile situation. I'd like you to remain aboard the Red Home with Mike and Zee." The Frenchman nodded at that. "If we see anyone we think may be Cheriss, you can confirm as readily by video link as anything else.
"Lady Leannan, you will be with me. As a newcomer to the group, especially a temporary one, I'm loath to put you at risk. However, I think a pair of teams, each of one man, one woman, will work best. Lady Leannan and myself will pose as potentially interested buyers from the United States, therefore, while Captains Nolan and Henscheid will represent Australia. Kristy, I'd like you to spend time with Josh on the way over there, working on the accent."
"No worries," PK replied, looking a little jittery. Nick grinned slightly.
"Right," Josh said, looking over the holoprojector at his team. "We leave in thirty minutes. I want everyone in the hangar in twenty five."
The group prepared to leave. Josh Nolan stopped by Nick to offer a few courtesies in the usual Australian spirit of free and fair exchange. Catching Kristy out of the corner of his eye, his reply tailed off, as he arched an eyebrow and grinned at her. As she flushed, and hurried out of the room, Nick turned back to Josh. Another brief exchange, a grimace from Josh, and the pair went their separate ways.
Less than thirty minutes later, Terra Sancta Group, as Becki had labelled them, were aboard the Red Home, and ready to begin the next part of their mission. Mike took a deep breath as his hand hovered over the engine ignition. He checked once more that all hatches were locked down tight, that the two X-Wings in the hold were secure, and then flicked the switch.
The familiar thrum of the engines helped ease the myriad worries of the team members as they began another journey into the unknown.