Southbound Highway 93, Nevada
October 28th, 2007
1320 hours
They'd saddled into their vehicles, watching the Pontiac solstice rush out of sight into the golden terrain.
It was high stakes now. And Lennox had to keep his mind on the mission.
There was a cough.
Lennox looked at Epps.
Feeling his stare, the sergeant asked, "Think it was a good idea to let her go?"
Before his commander could answer, Fig cut in, "She's supposed to stick with us. Wasn't that what the Director said?"
Lennox grimaced. "We got her out of Sector Seven, that's all we needed to do."
"Why was she even in there to begin with?" Epps asked.
"Don't know."
"Had to be important for something," commented Epps.
"If she really was," Lennox began, "Then, maybe it's on her for getting into an alien she hardly knows." It wasn't on him, that's for sure.
"Permission to speak freely?" Epps asked, without taking his eyes off the road and maintaining a distance of 200 feet from the ambulance driving in front of them.
Whatever he was about to say, Lennox was sure he didn't want to hear it. But, it wasn't his style to shoot his own people down because they'd say something that'd hurt his feelings.
"Shoot," Lennox granted.
"I think that was a bad call, captain."
His answer charged the inside of the car with tension. Fig readjusted in his seat a little.
"Could… could we, like, open a window in here?" Fig asked.
Epps cracked his side just an inch. It didn't make Fig feel any better.
"Go on," Lennox said to Epps, not too excited.
Epps tipped his head from shoulder to shoulder, gaining a pop from his neck. "She just woke up, and for you to tell her something like that, I don't think she liked it. I mean, would you after waking up in car, with strange men who told you your entire squad is dead?"
Well, that's how it kind of felt when she'd told them she brought the aliens to Earth.
"What did you want me to say?" Lennox asked.
"Maybe running off and blaming her about this war was one thing you didn't have to say." Epps pointed out.
Lennox pursed his lips, but he didn't interrupt.
"I mean... Here's a kid— twenty somethin' lookin' SPC...or not, honestly I don't know what she is now— anyways, that's not the point. She was only doing what she was told to do and she did it the best she could. Personally, I'm Air Force, and I don't know how you folks do it, but we've all got a duty right?"
Epps, having been in service longer than Lennox, wasn't speaking in broad, complex terms. They all knew where he was getting at. He had his own mission as a Ranger; there weren't many times he liked what he did in the name of the mission, but he never chose not to do it. Everyone in or as an extension of the armed services with a duty took a silent pledge: Whatever it takes.
Lyn was very much the same.
And even if Lennox saw that now, having been called out by his SNCO was like a punch in the mouth.
Yeah, Will, you messed up.