As Sci headed for his office, Nick turned to walk alongside him.
"So, you prepared to hit the ground running, Boss?"
Sci grimaced. After the trip he'd had, let alone the day he'd had, it would've have been nice to have at least a couple of hours to actually get settled back in on Terra. Still, this was what Cracken paid him for. Not enough, of course.
"All right, what haven't you told me?"
"Ahh. Well, I told you about the galactics who snuck in the back door, didn't I?"
Sci nodded.
"And the others told you about Crispy getting snatched, and all the troubles in Paris, right?"
Sci glanced at his subordinate. Nick was making a great show of studying the wall of the spartan corridor.
Taking silence as assent, Nick continued, "And I believe we mentioned that we had successfully rescued Josh, and the others were all heading off to Jerusalem in search of another piece of the shield generator."
"I suppose it might have come up. And I've spoken to the others."
"Good, good. Did I remember to tell you about the shipload of galactics I have down in the cells?"
"Ah. It would seem that that one may have slipped your mind. It would, however, explain the freighter we seem to have acquired."
"Yes, well, shocking how these sorts of things can somehow be left out of reports. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Did it get mentioned that the Dictator and his extremely attractive aide have been taking mysterious trips away together, and that the Queen's engagement ring is no longer in Terra Three's possession?"
Sci's voice was tightly controlled. "Yes. I have spoken to some of the principal players, and would remind you that circumstances in matters of love can change at a moment's notice. That said, Terra Three's mission readiness?"
"Apparently OK. Although there was a certain amount of tension between Three and Lt. Cochran."
"So I have heard. Anything else you can tell me about that?"
Nick shrugged and spread his hands. "You now know as much about that as I do."
"More."
"As you say. Hmm, what else was there? Oh yes, after his recent ordeal, Captain Nolan has decided he can no longer trust himself, and has decided to set out to make enemies of all his friends."
"This mission group is sounding better and better. Is there any of them that isn't suffering deep emotional turmoil?"
"Well, Brad and Vickie don't seem to be any worse than usual. Mike seemed a little more sombre than normal, but otherwise OK."
"Correction: Much more sombre than normal, and far from OK."
"Really? He's damn good at hiding it. The newbies--"
"Count two of them in the 'emotional turmoil' category, but Bethany is unaffected, as is Emily," supplied Sci.
"Yeah, OK. And Kristy..." Nick hesitated.
"Kristy...?" Sci prompted.
"She's...still a little rattled by what happened in Paris. She didn't do anything wrong, but I haven't had much luck convincing her of that. And Josh's attitude isn't helping any."
"So, what you're telling me is that we can look forward to a perfectly normal Terra Group mission."
"Err, yeah."
"Cracken is not going to be happy."