"A call is coming in. From the Paris team--"
Nat's voder was good enough that Sci knew something was up. "What is it?"
"It's coded Emergency, Priority 1."
"Aw, crap."
Josh Cochran wore an expression the like of which Sci had not seen on him in over a year. It was the expression he'd been wearing when the two had first met, when Josh was locked into a dream of dying in a blaze of glory.
"Josh."
"Major." Josh's tone of voice, and his choice of words, were perfectly precise and military. Sci figured he was using that as a way to avoid feeling.
"Lieutenant. You have someting to report?"
"Yes, sir. First and foremost, yesterday morning Terra Ten left early, and we have not seen any sign of him since."
"Damn. Well, if I hear anything I'll let you know."
Josh took a deep breath. "My main report concerns the events of this afternoon. My team, less Ten, went to the apartment Blade had rented here in Paris. When we were there, we--" He broke off.
Sci waited. Eventually Josh swallowed and continued. "We entered, and a bomb went off. Terra Nine managed to put up a Force shield, but she collapsed from the strain. Terra Five went out to lead away the French officials, Four took Nine back to our HQ, and Three and I returned to the apartment. We found a pack that had belonged to Blade, and we and Four and Nine returned to base. Five..."
The screen split--a call was coming through from the Luna base. Kristy's face materialized. She didn't have Cochran's skill at detaching herself--her face was tear-stricken, her hair a mess, her demeanor sad and flustered. "Sci, I'm so sorry, I--"
"Calm down, Kristy. What happened?"
"Well, Josh Nolan called me because he was having trouble shaking off pursuit. I tried to help him but he ended up..."
"We lost contact with him," explained Cochran. "When we got back, we saw a news report that there had been a terrorist attack--obviously, SACUL was already working--and that the terrorist had been killed. There was a shot of the corpse, and it was wearing Five's clothes..." Josh broke off.
Sci sighed deeply. "All right. First, it's a good thing that SACUL is already doing its job. As a part of that, I'm going to ask them to double- and triple-check the identification on the body. I want to be absolutely sure that that's Captain Nolan. Color me optimistic. In the meantime, I am logging Terra Five as Killed In Action.
"Besides that, you need to continue your missions. Josh, keep going with the search. Anything else?"
They shook their heads. "Thanks, Kristy. Josh, stay on the line another minute."
They waited until Kristy had signed off. "You all right?"
"How can I possibly be all right?" Josh asked. Now that the official job had been done, some of Josh's control was slipping. "I stupidly led a team of--"
"Stop it right there. Don't start telling me about stupidly leading people somewhere. You don't want to get into that contest with me." Sci scighed. "Look, until we're sure it's Crispy, and even if we are, you have a mission. Something larger than you, or me, or any of us. This is the world we're talking about here. I'm trusting you to use both your Jedi and your military experience to keep your emotions out of your judgement."
Josh sighed. "Yes, sir."
"Contact me if you have anything." He signed off.
Nat chirped. "Not a good run."
Sci looked back. "Some of the Rogue survival might have rubbed off on us still. Don't count the Crispy Fried Aussie out just yet. Now then..."