A/N:Well after being called overseas by unavoidable family matters and then a string of tragic computer problems I have finally finished another chapter. This one was probably the hardest one I've done yet and probably not my best after going so long without writing anything, so please forgive any mistakes. Read and please Review, I'm posting this to try and improve my writing and constructive criticism is always welcome, so long as it makes suggestions about what needs work, not just telling me I did bad, not that I've actually gotten any reviews like that but still my point stands. Read and Enjoy folks, I'll try to start posting more again.

Simo sighed as he gave his report to the Colonel. Normally this would be done by the team leader, Kamarov, but he had silently tromped off to the armoury. Nikolai's death had hit the captain hard, harder than any of the other dozens of loses Echo team had taken in the time since Simo had joined the team. Nobody even knew Kamarov's history with Nikolai, only that they had served together in the Russian special forces, and even then the duo had never spoken of it and now that Nikolai was gone Kamarov was more than a little affected, that left Simo playing gate keeper between him and anyone who might set him off. Simo had seen what happened when a distressed commando was pushed over the edge back in his time in the Special Jaeger Battalion back in Finland. It rarely ended well.

"Sergeant, where is Captain Kamarov?" Simo jumped slightly as Doctor Vahlen seemed to materialise out of thin air to his left.

"He errr, went ahead to the armoury to change out of his combat kit, I think it would be best if you didn't see him at this moment Doctor" He muttered nervously, in all honesty Simo could do little to stop either the Doctor or the Colonel from going to see the distraught Russian, both significantly outranked him. The Colonel just nodded and, with a few short parting words she was gone. That alone told Simo that she was starting to feel the pressure from the situation in China. The Doctor however just stared at him a moment before she headed towards the armoury door. "Ah please wait Doctor, I don't think you should-"

"Sergeant! I assure you I am not going in there looking for a fight, I just want to speak with the Captain for a second, so please, just go stand over there or something" She finished with a dismissive gesture towards the nearest corner in the hall. Simo sighed. With a muttered response of 'I hope this won't turn out to be an I told you so moment' He turned and left. Vahlen sighed and turned back to the armoury, quietly slipping in through the unlocked door. She flicked the lock once she was inside just to make sure Simo didn't change his mind and try to forcibly remove her. A quick inspection of the room revealed Kamarov slumped on a bench on the far side of the room and several particularly large dents on the lockers lining the walls of the room.

"Captain, I wanted to speak to you" Vahlen spoke softly. Kamarov didn't react, just continued to stare silently at the ground between his boots. Vahlen approached him slowly, when still didn't react to her presence she took a seat beside him on the bench. "Captain, it wasn't your fault"

"DON'T FEED ME THAT BULLSHIT!" He shouted sharply glaring at the scientist. "It was my team, my orders and my call, if anything this is completely my fault and no one else's!" He snarled and threw his helmet across the room.

"Yeah, okay then, even if it is your fault, which it wasn't, you've lost soldiers before and it never bothered you this much, granted you were closer with Nikolai then anyone else but still this is a bit much" The commando just grunted and looked away.

"It's not guilt, well there is that but Nikolai has a sister, Helga, she lives in Moscow, me and Nik signed up to pay for her university fee's, her living expenses and all that while she studied medicine, and now because of me her only brother, and the last of her family, is dead and I can't even tell her because of the gag order" Vahlen just stared at the commando, him and Nikolai had always seemed the least likely to do something so selfless like that, at least in her mind.

"I didn't know, um wow" For the first time in her life Vahlen was speechless.

"Yeah, we were orphans, the three of us, my parents died in a car accident when I was two I think, I can't remember, don't really want too. Nikolai and Helga came to the orphanage when I was four or so, a fire had burned their house down, with their parents in it. One thing led to another and the three of us became the family, their was another boy Benedikt but he passed away when we first got into the Spetsnaz. Before he passed Nikolai asked me to give this to Helga" Kamarov held up a small battered locket, from it's aged appearance it was clear that it had belonged to one of Nikolai's parents.

"So give it to her, the gag order only applies to the aliens, you can send her a letter or call her, just don't mention the X-Rays or any of the classified info, alright" Vahlen smiled and rose, moving to leave the room. She froze at the door and added "Besides Helga isn't alone, your still here aren't you?" Then she was gone leaving the Russian to his thoughts.

Once she closed the door she heard someone give a soft laugh. "Well that was unexpected" She jumped at the sound of the Colonels voice.

"Ma'am what are you doing here?" She asked stunned, after the Colonel left she had assumed she didn't want anything to do with the situation.

"Making sure everything turned out for the best, you two have been fighting like cats and dogs since day one, you had to burry the hatchet at some point, I figured this was the best time to get you to do so" Fairchild smirked at the expression on the Doctors face.

"But you didn't DO anything"

"Didn't I doc, when you do things just right no one will know you did anything at all" Fairchild gave a cryptic smirk and strode off in the direction of the Control Room. Vahlen just stared for a few minutes before she set off towards the labs muttering in German about cryptic officers and weird Brits.

Colonel Fairchild struggled to tear the smirk off her face as she strode into the Control Room. Bradford looked up from his screen as she walked in, "Ma'am, your wanted on the secure com"

"I'm going to go ahead and assume it's The Man" Bradford nodded to her as she strode past him towards the Com Room. The room immediately darkened has she entered it and the large screen on the wall opposite the door came alive, once again revealing the Council's mysterious spokesman.

"Colonel we have received a report from some of our field agents about a target of opportunity we would like you to deal with" He spoke quickly, not even giving Fairchild a chance to speak "We have identified an Alien sympathiser amongst the Israeli government, this man must be brought to us so that we might ascertain what he knows, how he knows about the situation and what he as told the Greys about us. Silencing him however takes priority over all else so kindly ensure that he is stopped"

"This sounds like something that your 'agents' should be handling instead of us"

"Our agents are in the process of trying however the Target is being protected by several X-Rays, or at least men armed with plasma weaponry. The Council team, Cerberus team, has the target pined in an alley but they can't get to him. The difference in tech is too much for our operatives to handle, yours however…."

"Are better equipped to handle plasma based weapons, if only slightly" She sighed and turned from the screen. "I'll get a team there immediately"

"Good, I'll send the coordinates to your Intelligence officer immediately" The screen went black behind her as she strode out of the room.

"Bradford! Get Delta on the pad, they have a job to do" Fairchild shouted as she strode back into the Control Room. Give us a break you Grey bastards She thought bitterly.