After the group filed out the CO and XO looked at the four remaining pilots. The CO called them over to sit at the table on the edge of the room. Captain Chloe "Rider" Beale, the redheaded pilot was the first to sit down at the long table. The XO quirked a quick smile and then turned to look as Captain Aubrey "Valkyrie" Posen joined her shipmate. Theodore "Bumper" Allen, the one who had heckled Chloe sat across from the others with his friend Captain Donald "Socks" Ankar, a dark skinned slim man with an unruly mop of dark hair.

Once they were seated the CO leaned forward, "The XO and I wanted to talk to you four separately. This is Top Secret Compartmentalized Information and needs to be treated as such." He paused letting that sink in before continuing, "Several high ranking members of the Consortium Government were visiting Regulus 4 when it was hit." He paused as the faces of his subordinates registered their shock. He held up a hand forestalling their questions and continued.

"The loss of Regulus 4 was not broadcast for security reasons. In addition 1st Lt. Mitchell is Senator Mitchell's daughter and with his prominence on the Security Council there is even more at stake here."

The XO spoke next, "We know how close some of you were with the Vandals. Some of them were with you at the Academy and their Captains were with you at Basic. We need everyone focused on the mission. Tell me now if this will be an issue for any of you or the others." She made eye contact with each of her Captains assessing their state of mind. All of them murmured a negative.

The CO nodded satisfied, opening the folder in front of him and laying out several photos. They were the glossy photos that every service member had taken when they were commissioned or promoted. Their home planet's flag was on one side and the blue ISC flag on the other. A couple of official government photos were included of the Consortium officials.

The Captains did their best to maintain composure when the pictures of Jesse, Luke and Beca were laid out on the table. Chloe instinctively pulled her had from under the table laid it palm down in an aborted gesture. Aubrey glanced at her furrowing her brow before asking the question she knew Chloe wanted to desperately blurt out, "Do we know for sure that they are alive?"

The CO sighed and said, "They have been captives for months now - so we do not know what condition they are in. Your main priority is to retrieve the colonists and our pilots. Run your vids, Intel wants to review after the mission. Take note of everything you come across, we don't want you lingering though -if you find anything relevant to our war effort and it is easily extracted then do it. However, under no circumstances are you to compromise extracting those people. They are the focus of this mission.

The pilots nodded relieved that they were not being asked to sacrifice their fellow Marines in pursuit of the war effort.

Lt Col Smith continued, "We need a win here for obvious reasons. The Interstellar Consortium is losing hope. There have been calls lately from member planets to hold a vote about seceding. We get these people back, we get back some hope."

The CO let his words sink in. Donald finally asked the question they had all been thinking, "Sir, if this is so important, why only three squadrons? Shouldn't we be sending everything in the sector?" The CO fiddled with his sleeve before answering.

"We're it. The Margarethe and the Kepler are tasked for another assignment. "

Gail cleared her throat and interjected, "The launch window is in twelve hours. We couldn't wait for reinforcements from outside the sector. Now go, get some rest. See you on the flight deck."

With that the two older officers stood up gathering their briefing materials but leaving the folder of photos behind. The four Captains stood at attention until they were out of the room. Bumper wasted no time in trying to get a rise out of the women after their superiors had left.

"So we get to rescue the famous Senator Mitchell's daughter? Hey Posen, didn't you have a run in with the mad midget back at the Academy?" Bumper leaned in to Aubrey's space, "Wonder how many strings her father pulled for this one."

Aubrey stood up abruptly forcing Bumper to take a step back. Jaw clenched she spat out, "I clearly remember her making you look like an ass during that training mission Bumper." The blonde pulled herself to her full height looking down at him and continued, "Beca is still one of us. She is a Marine and we do not leave our own behind. Now get your head on right."

Chloe gathered the folder and followed Aubrey out of the room leaving Bumper with a parting glare. The redhead hugged the folder to her chest as She followed Aubrey down the passageway towards their stateroom.

Being at the top of the Junior Officer food chain meant that they had a four man stateroom. The lower ranking officers bunked in the large stateroom that everyone called the JO Jungle mainly because it had the tendency to resemble the Primate Exhibits on Old Earth zoos and had a tendency to smell like one too.

The staterooms were designed for the efficient use of space. Bunks or racks as they were called were placed above desks along the bulkheads with lockers on either side. A small sitting area and table completed the spartan space.

1st Lt Stacie "Angel" Conrad was lounging at Aubrey's desk filing her nails when the women walked in. Chloe smiled wanly at her before placing the folder down on her own desk and climbing up onto the bunk being careful not to damage the picture she held in her hand.

Stacie stopped filing and reached out for Aubrey's hand in an attempt to pull the blonde towards her. Aubrey frowned and pulled away with an undignified squawk. "Stacie!"

Stacie smiled up at the blonde, "Come on Aubrey. How about a little stress relief before the big mission?" Aubrey's eyebrows hiked skyward.

"Stacie no!" She hissed, "It was one time!" Aubrey glanced self-consciously at Chloe who was still sitting hunched on her rack staring off into nothing. Stacie followed Aubrey's gaze and noticed the red head's dejected posture. Normally Stacie flirting with the reticent blonde would have made Chloe laugh, but the redhead didn't even acknowledge them. Stacie sat up abandoning her intent to tease Aubrey in the face of a sad Chloe. No one liked a sad Chloe. Aubrey closed the distance and placed her hand on Chloe's knee and rested her shoulder against her leg.

Stacie spoke before Aubrey could start, "Hey Chlo, what's up with the long face?"

Aubrey glanced behind her at Stacie before looking back up at Chloe. The blonde followed up, "Chloe? What is it?"

The woman looked over at the empty bunk in the room before looking back to Aubrey. Her voice was rough with emotion, "We've lost so many. What if…what if this is more of the same?"

Stacie came around to Chloe's other side worried because the bright woman was usually the optimist in the group. Sure she wasn't the same carefree, bubbly person she was when they first started the Academy, but then again none of them really were. Despite the horror of the war they were fighting Chloe had always seen the bright side of things. Softly, Stacie said "Losing Kaz was hard Chloe. But we'll get the Vandals back."

Stacie mirrored Aubrey by placing a hand on Chloe's other knee. "Plus, we are totally the best. The Gaks will never know what hit them." Chloe smiled thinly at the other pilot's reassurance.

"Yeah I guess you guys are right."

Stacie looked between the two roommates and decided this was enough melancholy for one day. "You know," she began, voice dripping with seduction, hand sliding up Chloe's leg slowly, "we could forget all about this for a while." She made eye contact with Aubrey's incredulous green eyes. "What do you say? Threesome?" Finishing with a sexy grin she stepped back a bit as Chloe snorted and nudged her with her leg.

"Stacie!" Chloe finally laughed out. "Quit it or you're gonna break Aubrey."

Aubrey huffed and hid a small smile at their teasing before going back to her desk and opening a folder of maintenance records. Stacie stared at the back of her head in mock disbelief. "Oh my god, you can't seriously be turning down a threesome to do paperwork Posen!"

Aubrey replied archly, "We have a mission tomorrow Angel. I want to make sure everything is in order."

Chloe and Stacie shared a look before Stacie laughed. "Right Bree." The brunette turned towards the door caressing the back of Aubrey's neck as she passed and leaning down to whisper in the blonde's ear, "I like when you call me Angel." Aubrey shuddered at the touch doing her best to hide it and failing. Winking at Chloe, Stacie said "See you ladies in the morning."

A final smirk from the tall pilot and the two Captains were alone in the room again.

Aubrey turned in her chair to face the redhead who was swinging her legs absently. "Want to talk about it?"

Chloe seemed to come back from somewhere far away. "No…not really." She twirled a strand of her hair absently. "Think I am going to just sleep. Big day tomorrow right?"

Aubrey watched as Chloe jumped down to throw on a pair of black running shorts and a white Henley before climbing back into her bunk. The blonde Captain envied Chloe's ability to sleep anytime and anywhere. It was a handy skill in their line of work, but the blonde had never been able to settle her nerves that way.

Aubrey scoffed to herself, at least she had worked through the need to vomit at every setback she realized. So in an attempt to quiet the inner voice that kept telling her the CO and XO were hiding something she turned back to the maintenance reports, losing herself in making sure every system and variable was checked. Aubrey carried on until exhaustion overwhelmed her and she climbed into her own rack staring at the overhead pipes before finally dropping off into a fitful slumber.