“And because of concussion surgery protocol,” Lau continued, “Knight must stay inactive for the next three days, which works out perfect seeing the launch date is exactly then.” Kerry seemingly let out a sigh of relief in response as Lau looked back at the pilots. “Briefing on the new set of objectives as your newly formed team will begin momentarily, and buckle in. We will require you all to know certain city districts like the back of your hands, memorize certain faces and names, emergency exit routes.”

The map then zoomed over to the western coast and harbor area. “We expect they have some form of military-grade firepower coming for them to stand a chance against Philippine security forces much less ours here locally, so setup will focus around this region. And with absolutely no room for error,” he spoke with his eyes narrowed in a suspicious manner, “we will keep live ears and eyes within each cockpit at all times.”

“What?!” Sam’s lips moved as if to speak, barely managing to keep herself inaudible. No-no-no there’s no fucking way they suspect us of working with Tyrus! She looked back up to see her father still not yet arrived. Rgh! Where is my dad when we need him! If this is what I think it is, he can clear us! She instinctively looked over at Kerry, seeing a similar emotional response.

“And last, we need to review what was cleaned up by you three, both on the ground and in your LTACs. We also need to discuss how the two of you,” he said with a finger towards Sam and Kerry as their eyes lit up. “Will be involved with us and the local courts… seeing we still have to do some necessary legal work after your… well, messy incident the other night, Ms. Knight.”

Both Sam and Kerry were too insulted to find the words for an immediate response, but Sebastian, to their further surprise, spoke for them instead with a disgusted frown. “Sorry, but that’s lies.”

Lau was almost laughing in reaction. “Boy, who-”

Sebastian stood up as he interrupted: “-I already learned that she was clear in the court! You can’t create a problem that doesn’t exist anymore!” Something had triggered Sebastian, which now had even Sam scared as it was so far out of character.

“From who?!” Lau chuckled. “Entertain me before I have you removed from this site altogether.” He shook his head as he looked to an assistant, signaling to have him processed.

“This isn’t the military!” Sam burst out as she stood up with equal tenacity. “We are bound legally as you obviously know and this is NOT a breach of contract! It’s an insult no less!”

Lau was prepared for such an accusation. “An At-Will contract. You gave us enough reason for the uppers to allow us to cut ties with the both of you right here and now,” he seethed.

The doors behind the director’s table swung open as Andre marched in, forcedly by Al and his assistants who were now seen to be pushing him through. “Sorry I was late. Found a straggler,” he bluntly spoke up without care for his intrusion.

Dad! Sam’s eyes immediately lit up.

He gave Andre a strong nudge from the back to take his seat with the rest of his group before looking around to assess the situation, taken aback to see things had a heated look to it. He then turned to read what was on display while the awkward silence continued, seeing Sam and Sebastian on the scout list. “Who the hell’s in charge here?” He then laid eyes menacingly over Lau, who seemingly didn’t have too much of a clue who he was talking to. “And what is this I hear of at-will contracts in the middle of a critical debriefing?”

Right! Tell him!

“You aren’t on the list to participate in this meeting, whoever you are,” Lau sneered.

“Over there, take your seat,” Al spoke to Andre with another nudge before looking back to the director’s table. “Oh, you were talking to me? My apologies,” he chuckled sarcastically as he put down his briefcase on the empty table next to him. “I could have sworn you were referring to one of our key pilots here I put back on the roster.”

Lau moved to respond before hesitating, taking further offense to one hand raised in his direction and another with a mobile opened up in a holograph call. But it was when he saw Vincent’s face show up that had him bite his tongue fully and regretfully, taking his seat.

“I think the roster updates didn’t go through, but someone here needs some extra confirmation, I believe,” Al flatly stated before pivoting back towards the director. “Either way, I will need some time fixing a number of problems before we can call our operation ready to start.”

“That,” Vincent replied as he paid no attention to the displayed debriefing room audience. “Would rather be the fault of the recent upsurge in information updates and leak reports, not so much our directors on the ground. However, they are responsible for moving with such updates accordingly. Do as you see fit.”

Al hung up after nodding, looking back toward Lau. “Well, I technically arrived with a separate presentation planned, but I see there is one thing of higher priority,” he calmly spoke as he took a seat at the empty table where he set his things. “Please, proceed.”

Lau had finally put the pieces together, realizing that was Alexander Knight, quickly sealing away any desires to express outrage or offense. Shaking his head of the emotions that caught up with him, he ran through an updated list of directives, finding that what was mentioned was true. He clicked through several commands before the screen projection data switched out rosters from the two lists.

Yes! Sam was excited to see her name up near the top with the rest of her team, Andre included. Her ensuing fist pumps were subdued, but very noticeable by her peers. Looking to see their reactions, she was shocked by the betrayal of her findings. Sebastian looked disappointed, Andre looked on in anguish, and Kerry seemed highly bothered, and perhaps even discouraged. But… but why? Isn’t this what we wanted originally? But as she had come to think of it, Sam couldn’t even explain to herself why she was on the contrary so relieved, and to some extent, thrilled.

“Alright, pilots,” Lau hesitantly started back up, looking at fresh reports. “Looks like quite the changes have come. We are looking at confirmed movement of Chinese-borne PMC forces just near their coast, but no word on who paid or what their intentions are. But we should be sure to include this in on our preparations for the worst as this goes in line with the rest of our intel. The other new leak shows that we still have the third missing Cloak present.” He then looked up to the squad. “Present here in Manila. We can’t wait for team reestablishment processes, so you four will remain as the special protection team for a minimized Excalibur Team. Shows… only one pilot is confirmed to meet the deadline for preparations.”

When Sam looked back up to the name listed above their squad, it was again that same name “Kaylen Rodgers.”

“Now,” he cleared his throat again, looking toward Al. “I see the last update mentions a special presentation on some specific duties assigned to your team, which Head of Logistics Alexander Knight here has prepared for us.”

Al looked over at Sam with a nod and a flash of a confidence-inspiring smile, followed by what looked to be a strong hint of regret this was only his first time seeing her in person since before leaving for Colombia, and being under these circumstances only made it feel that much worse. He opened his briefcase to take out a projector with the presentation ready to go.

And it would be a long hour passing that left Sam with three unanswered, burning questions and a plethora of information she knew was pertinent to their duties but yet didn’t solve anything in her head. What are those LTACs they kept hinting at? Who is Kaylen Rodgers? And why are Sebastian and Kerry so off-put? She awkwardly awaited dismissal to speak as her eyes hopped to and from her father and the directors wrapping things up and Sebastian next to her.

She noted his eyes had never left the presentation through its duration. Kerry and Andre were also as well, for the most part.

This just might be me being my old, impatient, impulsive self… wanting to know what I want to know and not what I need to know. She didn’t catch herself zoning out again. But something doesn’t seem right in all of this… Are we really just going through more training until the attack comes? This wreaks of our Singapore and Dhaka days. She started to uncomfortably adjust her posture, continuing in thought: I almost am starting to wonder if Lau had everything right- except for the court case crap…

Whatever excitement she seemingly had going had died a slow, painful death. Concern and anxiousness took over as it always had in the past, now. She then remembered how she was the only one who wasn’t as attentive during the last training drills back in Singapore. Or maybe it’s just me.

“Sam,” Sebastian snapped her out of her zone with a heavy look. “Why didn’t you ask to go home or even just to stay at base?”

Huh?! Sam’s first reaction would have been to take offense, but noticing Kerry and Andre had disappeared from the table wiped the notion away. “Wait, what are you talking about? And where’d the others go?”

“Sam, you’re in no shape to stick around and fight.”

She then spotted the two talking to her father as the rest of the directors cleared the room. “Sebastian, it’s only a 48-hour recovery period of no connecting to the LTAC OS, and I’m already a good number of hours into that resting period,” she responded flatly, looking back at him. “If it was that serious, and knowing my dad, he would have asked me to leave even if it was right in front of you.”

Sebastian was prepared for that comment. “I think both of us know that a lot more is going to happen, and it might come before you finish your resting.” He then shook his head, realizing there was no way he could have actually expected the suggestion to be taken seriously. “I know how powerful your father is. I also know how much he cares for you, and he also speaks much about… he wants you to be happy. That’s why he doesn’t ask you to go home or stay at base and take a substitute for the team.”

Sam sighed, holding off on her usual quip. He’s probably right. Dad didn’t even hint at the suggestion. I wonder how much Sebastian spoke with him while he was up there in Akkadia. But things were still inexplicably awkward for her in being straight with him ever since his last departure, even after returning to her side. “Well, look. I’m getting there,” she replied, still unable to look back at him directly.

“Going where?”

“Getting to where I feel I am happiest,” she instantly responded, shifting her body weight, leaning on the table. Her eyes hovered over to the screen that was now blank, but she remembered seeing the three prototype LTAC profiles that had a lot of her attention earlier. “I am getting more clues about what I want to do, but I just can’t say I’m comfortable with everything yet.” And then the flashes of her confrontation with Isaiah reared their heads again. “Let me fix that. I… I don’t feel happy per se. But… I think where I am going will get me there eventually, especially if I can get some roadblocks out of the way.”

Sebastian was confused by the last statement, but still felt better that Sam was finally opening up a bit compared to how cold she had been towards her lately. And a flashback of his own brought him back to how relieved he felt to see Sam step out from her cockpit alive and in one piece, looking over the carcass of the Cloak. He also remembered his carefully placed shot burst that separated the attacking shoulder from its base, allowing Sam to deliver the final blow. He couldn’t bring himself to mention that critical detail to her just yet, however, regardless of how unaware she was. “You’ve been doing a lot, and seeing so much more danger each time we step outside. It makes me worry more each time. Please understand.”

“I get that, and thanks,” Sam replied in a calmer tone, realizing he wasn’t trying to be patronizing. She then noticed her father signaling for her to approach him and the others.

The two walked up as Andre let out a slow, heavy sigh. “What’s going on?” Sam asked.

“You four,” Al started with a suppressed nasal chuckle. “Have no idea how much I know about internal squabbles and the like. My experience in controlling emotions myself is a long history in and of itself, but the same goes for learning how to identify and help manage situations that get out of hand emotionally within my crew.”

Oh. Right. He’s talking about Aunt Saff and them, huh. I remember all those stories. Are we that obvious?

“And since I could tell that something’s been bothering you all, this morning your special task is a bit different than the sillier version Ms. Norris gave you all back last time in Singapore.”

“Hold on. Isn’t Manila a bit different to just stroll out and about into compared to Singapore?” Sam prodded, already seeing into where the conversation was going.

Kerry and the others shook their head to the tune of “some people never change” in their body language.

“Sam,” Al flatly replied as his smile quickly evaporated. “Shut it and let me finish.” He then continued in spite of the hurt reaction he drew from her. “You aren’t setting foot outside of this complex and there is no way in hell anyone in power here would do so. You are walking targets from what I can tell and we have no idea who or where the moles are.” He then took a slow breath to reset himself. “You are get to choose what room and under what conditions, but you are all to complete a series of questions to each other that were prepared by an acquaintance of mine who specializes in this… kind of thing.” He held up his watch and pressed through a few commands. “It’s uploaded to your personnel files and can access where prompted. Have this done within the next three hours before reporting back to Director Lau.”

“Are you staying?” Sam asked, avoiding any further questions pertaining to the order she wished so deeply to object to. Because I know what assignment you are talking about. It’s the one Aunt Saff uses, right? These things are what Akkadians do for Akkadians, and I doubt that goes over well here.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am,” he bluntly answered, reaching to pick up his briefcase. “Only until Wednesday evening, but we expect either shit to hit the fan before then and I remain as a supervisor to Excalibur Team’s operation execution, or we see to it we never need to press that proverbial red button and I am no longer needed here. Until then, however, I will be quite busy and expect only to be bothered if I am off duty… and am awake and functioning.”

Oh, so now you walk in to take over… which I am kind of happy for but… now you give us a childish assignment with cringey tasks, and now you hint you will be drinking again. Really?!

“Well,” Kerry mumbled as they all watched Al make his way for the hallway exit. “Where are we going to choose to get this over with?” She looked over to Sam and Sebastian, still finding it hard to look Andre in the eye without discomfort.

Sam held off further desires to object to the situation overall, electing the peaceful route for now. “I need some fresh air. Can we do the courtyard? I saw one along the way here.”