~ "Yep, I heard it that time," confirmed Andrew.
Takyle quickly started up the stairs again, this time bounding up two at a time with Andrew and Jaden right on her heels. Within 20 seconds they had reached the top landing of the tower and crashed through a loose wooden door that stood a foot ajar. Seamlessly they stumbled into a bunkered war room, officers and orderlies bustling in and out around them. Men in various breeds of uniform shouted at one another across maps and sand tables, a din of hurried conversation all around them. Screens and monitors, some of them being continually updated with line after line of data, lined the edges of the room over banks of computers.
"Hello," stated Andrew, breathlessly.
"What the hell?" demanded Jaden. No one in the war room seemed to care at all that they had come bursting through the door. For that matter no one seemed to have even noticed them.
"Excuse me," Takyle said to a passing officer. He didn't pay her any mind. "Excuse me," she said louder, snagging a young man in crisp khaki's by the elbow.
"Ma'am, yes ma'am?"
"Where are we and who's in charge here?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer your first question ma'am, that's classified, and you'll need to speak to Cmd. Tucker to be debriefed." The young man snapped off a quick salute and started to turn away but Takyle maintained her grip on him.
"Hang on there Zippy, where's Cmd. Tucker?"
"Over there, ma'am," answered the soldier, pointing to one of the sand tables where a man was gesticulating wildly to what was clearly a subordinate.
"Thank you," Takyle said, releasing the soldier to go about his business and starting across the crowded room. Andrew shot Jaden a look and they followed, both of them keeping a hand on their daggers and a watchful eye on the men moving around them. Not a single person seemed concerned with them at all, but Jaden and Andrew weren't about to take it on faith that that would remain the case. When they reached the sand table Takyle brusquely addressed the man behind it.
"Cmd. Tucker." The man didn't look up.
"What do you want?" he asked rudely.
"I want you attention for a moment," she replied in a scathing tone. At that the commander raised his eyes. He looked slightly taken aback but only briefly before his eyes narrowed and he looked Takyle up and down critically.
"Well, you've got my attention now and I've got precious little time to waste so what the hell do you want?"
"We were told to come to you for debriefing," answered Takyle, matching the commander in impatient, no-nonsense attitude.
"Team 6?"
"Yes."
"Well it's about time you got here! Come on, I've got a job for you." ~
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