Before Whist could respond, he heard the muted sound of a conversation held away from the microphone.

“Okay, you Helvetic piece of shit,” the woman suddenly yelled in a tone of apoplectic fury, “what the hell were you thinking opening fire on us? There are innocent people in here and you just light up the lobby like it’s a back-wood shooting range? Incompetent jackass—do they teach you anything in Sentinel school or do they just bounce you on your head until you can’t talk back? Hey, are you listening to me?”

The nearby agents, who had managed to plug into the audio feed, stifled grins while Whist closed his eyes and counted to three.

“Madam, I am senior agent Manion Whist, and I would like to know who I am speaking with.”

“Your freakin’ mom, douchebag! Why don’t you give me the respect of owning up to your dumbass bad decisions before you start trying to sweet talk me?”

“Listen to me,” Whist snapped. “I gave no order to fire, and the men responsible have been arrested. Rest assured there will be no further action taken without my explicit authority. Now, may I please ask how I should address you?”

There was a short pause. “Taylor. That’s my um… code name. Call me Taylor.”

“Very well, Ms. Taylor. I want to assure you that I am absolutely dedicated to securing the lives of the innocent people inside the building. A lot of blood has been shed today, and we can make sure this confrontation ends without any more tragedy.”

“Yes, good, that’s what I want to hear. You just—what?”

A long pause followed. Whist looked back to his fellow agents, who shrugged. He mouthed Psych-profile to a woman, who rushed off to make the necessary phone call.

“Alright, Helvet asshole,” Taylor yelled into Whist’s ear. “I’m making you aware—if you guys come anywhere near this building, I will start blowing away hostages, got that? We have at least… we have a lot of employees in here, and I just hate all of them. Right? Freedom for Caldera, death to Helvet colonizers!”

“I understand completely,” Whist said calmly. “Do you have a list of demands?”

“We absolutely have demands. We uh… we will assemble our demands and get back to you when they are ready. So… no wait—first thing you need to do is call off the troop landings. No foreign scum on Calderan soil!”

“I will try to see if I can talk to someone in the army, but I understand that the ships are already approaching the starport. It will be very difficult to contact the pilots before they land.”

“Well tell them to take off again. Figure it out, buddy, or else… you know… bad things will happen.”

Whist gestured to another agent, who shook his head vehemently. “I will see what can be done,” he continued. “In the meantime, I have a request of my own to make. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

“Okay, fine. Send it.”

“Send…? Sorry, I wish to speak with Director Tensall. It is imperative that we confirm he is alive and unharmed.”

“Oh sure,” Taylor continued with heavy sarcasm. “Take care of the big shot child rapist. Don’t want our paymasters being made uncomfortable, do we? I mean, you don’t give a shit about poor Leod here—no, he’s just a working guy, screw him.”

Whist’s brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of the harangue. “Your… concern is certainly valid. But as Director of the operations office, Cirkiss Tensall is responsible for the safety and wellbeing of all VennZech employees, and will be able to help us co-ordinate with—”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever man. Can you believe this friggin’ jackass? You can chat with Tensall when those transports are heading back to orbit, got it? Don’t call me until it’s done. Alright, how do I cut this—”

Whist ripped the headset off and stared at the sky. He wasn’t exactly sure what had just transpired in the conversation, but the notion that he was talking to a genuine terrorist did not sit well with him. Though confused, he knew only two things for certain; he desperately needed a drink, and absolutely could not have one. His nerves sang with misery, and he scanned around for something that might help calm them.

“You there—stop right there,” he commanded a junior agent, who had just lit up a cigarette.

“Sir?” the startled young woman said.

“I need all of your smokes, immediately. And your lighter. Left mine in the office… sorry. Remind me to pay you back later.”

The packet was duly handed over and Whist breathed a sigh of relief as he finally inhaled the soothing, lung-destroying essence. This time it was a sacrifice that would probably be worth it.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“You are my new partner,” he continued in a calmer tone, to the unhappy looking agent.

“Oh, but actually I was—”

“Your new role will be to bring me all the cigarettes within the city limits, and a perpetual supply of coffee.”

“Yes, sir,” she said glumly.

“Hold on a moment.” Whist paused and tried to marshal his jangling thoughts. Relevant information was screaming to be acknowledged, and he tried to fixate on the most obvious pieces first. “Wasn’t there… some sort of report recently about human trafficking in the city, or something?”

“Um… yes sir,” the young woman said. “A group of former Frontier Marines have been causing trouble for VennZech, and they recently arrived in Rackeye.” She brightened. “That was actually my area of—”

“Good, good. I want to see the file on them immediately. I don’t suppose we have their location?”

“No, sir. The investigation is still in its early stages.”

Whist’s brow furrowed. “Do they have females in the Frontier Marines?”

“There were women Marines, yes sir,” the agent said patiently, “though the corps was disbanded,”

“Not likely to be friendly towards the League, then, are they?”

“Not at all, sir.”

Whist nodded thoughtfully. “Right, well thank you, uh… agent...?”

The young woman smiled. “Yanna Marinou, sir,”

“Oh,” Whist responded, and made an effort to be human. “That’s of Greek extraction, isn’t it?”

The junior agent nodded, and Whist sent her on her way. She seemed bright and energetic, though he couldn’t remember seeing her before. Probably a recent transfer that he had hoped to avoid, just like Weslan.

His thoughts turned somber. If that young man were executed today, it would be Whist’s fault. But he would draw on every day of his twenty years of experience to make sure it didn’t happen.

“God, that was a disaster,” Kayla said as she slumped into a chair across from Leod. “I was not a good terrorist.”

“It wasn’t terrible,” Sal said. He paced around the office while thinking out loud. “It all depends on this Whist guy. If he’s a stuck-up ladder climber, then it won’t matter what you said. He’ll hear what he wanted to hear. But if we’re lucky, and he’s the free-thinking sort, then who knows? Maybe it’ll help.”

“Free thinking Helvets?” Kayla rolled her eyes. “Please.” She stopped and glanced guiltily at Leod. “Uh… present company excepted, obviously.”

Leod raised his hands in a theatrical shrug, but didn’t seem to take offence.

“What are you going to do about the director?” he asked.

Kayla shrugged. “Play for time. Hope that more options open up. There’s nothing else we can do.”

“You promised me he wouldn’t be hurt,” Leod said carefully.

“I did promise you that, Leod,” Kayla admitted. “My promise was broken, and I apologize. But I will do everything I can to get all of us out of this alive.” She turned a dark glare on Sal. “Unless your friend wants to do something else incredibly stupid?”

Sal stopped pacing and crossed his arms. “Look, that shook all of us up. I can tell you that none of the guys are happy about what went down. No-one’s shedding any tears for Tensall, but it’s just not how Marines do things. Gaz… just had enough of seeing abusers walk away, I think.”

Kayla lifted her legs onto the desk and stretched out. “I remember you saying something to him when we first met. That he was emotionally involved in this rescue?”

Sal nodded. “His sister was… is a victim. We never found her.”

“Jesus.” Kayla rubbed her face. “Well, at least that adds a bit of context.”

“He’s a good dude,” Sal insisted. “I’d put my life in his hands, even today.”

Kayla nodded, though she took the announcement with a grain of salt. She fell quiet as her mind drifted over the problems they all faced. The moment was welcome—she could finally shed a little of the stress that had piled up that day. Unfortunately, the buzz of her earpiece broke her out of the reverie.

“Viper two-one, this is Banshee.”

She sighed heavily, and pushed herself to her feet. “Sorry gang, I have to go uh… talk to my people.”

Sal gave her a stern look. “I don’t want to hear any more of this secret squirrel nonsense. Don’t you think you ought to share information relevant to everyone else?”

“Seconded,” Leod said.

“I tell you what, fellas, I’ll make you a promise,” Kayla said. “If the subject of this conversation risks becoming relevant, I will give you the whole story. All I’m going to say now is that you genuinely do not want that to happen.”

She left the unsatisfied glares and asked for Ray to join her again as she headed for a quiet corner of the building. They found a small sound-proofed booth, and Kayla readied herself for a difficult conversation.

“Banshee, Viper two-one, send traffic, over.”

“Standby for Nemesis actual, Viper,” the voice said.

“Oh boy,” Kayla murmured.

She was about to speak directly with general Smyrna, a woman known to be several thousand years old, and probably one of the founding members of Valkyrie. Kayla fully expected every action she had taken that day to be thoroughly criticized, before she was dressed down in front of the entire task force.

Ray flashed her a sympathetic smile.

“Viper two-one,” said a new and older sounding voice, “This is Smyrna. How is your situation?”

Kayla swallowed, “General, our situation is secure for the moment, but we are surrounded with no hope of egress… ma’am.”

“I understand you sustained a casualty this morning?” Smyrna asked.

“Yes, ma’am, Corporal Rudaski. She was KIA. I’m uh… the temporary squad leader, Lance-corporal Kayla Barnes.”

“Please know that we all grieve for her loss, as we grieve for the others taken from us during the course of this difficult day.”

Kayla’s shoulders relaxed a little. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“I want you to know,” the general continued, “that you are all doing an excellent job managing an unforeseeable chain of events. The council of chiefs is proud of you, as am I. Your actions have shown proof of the highest valor, courage and commitment to victory that all Valkyrie aspire to uphold. Please convey my words to your Rangers.”

“Yes ma’am, I will.”

Ray’s eyes widened. Kayla slunk into her chair. For the first time that day she knew that she was not alone, that the organization was behind her, and would support her through whatever was going to happen. She felt tears welling up, but that would have to wait until later.

“Now, Barnes,” Smyrna said, “I will inform you of the situation as it stands. The soldiers of the First Barroche Guards Regiment are landing, and will soon begin the process of deploying four thousand men and women into the city.”

Ray started, then reached for her comm control, before replying to a message she had apparently received on the squad channel. “Copy that, we’re aware.”

Her finger pointed to the ceiling, and Kayla understood that the Rangers on the rooftop had reported the landing at the starport.