Chapter 3

One Call

Holly woke up feeling just as tired and frustrated as she had gone to sleep. She staggered into the shower, bleary-eyed and yawning, and allowed the hot water to pound her on the forehead. Ah. Much better.

The situation was this: Trouble was promoted to Acting Commander as one of the most senior active officers, and was currently pressing the Council to allow a Retrieval mission. However, as good as his intentions were, he just didn't have the persuasive affect Root had on most people. Few fairies did, actually. The Council was arguing amongst themselves yet again: should they discover the identity of Root's kidnapper before proceeding any further, or should they attempt a rescue at once? Most of the LEP had, of course, opted for the latter, but their opinions didn't count in the Council's minds.

What's their problem, anyway? Holly asked herself exasperatedly for the hundredth time. Isn't the answer obvious?

But apparently not-the Council was taking their own sweet time about the decision, and nothing Holly could say or do would change that. Then again, Holly could do a few things that could help her commander, with or without the Council's permission, and she had Foaly and Trouble supporting her as well. The three had been in unspoken accord since the briefing had broken up, and Holly was anxious to put that partnership into action.

However, Foaly beat her to it: as she was opening the door to leave for work, his voice came in through her helmet link, his tone whispered and rushed. "Hi Holly, don't have much time right now, but can you come to the Ops Booth right after you check in?"

Captain Short thought it over. "Um…sure, I don't have any urgent assignments today. Why?"

The tech centaur was sounding very excited now. "I've got a great lead-you have to come as quickly as possible. Got to go, hurry up and don't let anyone see you coming." He ended the conversation immediately.

"Bye, Foaly," Holly said absently, quickening her pace. A lead? There could only be one thing Foaly was investigating. The commander.

She arrived at the Operations Booth a few minutes late, having been held up in rush hour by visiting regional crunchball gnomes who apparently were rather well-known, and nearly the entire district had come to see them. An extremely irritated Holly had pushed her way through the crowd regardless of fame, flipping her badge at those who muttered complaints and simply glaring at the rowdy ones who refused to move. A mere glance into those fiery hazel eyes persuaded even the dullest civilian to step aside. Holly was not in a good mood.

Foaly was plugging a blue-colored box into the main system when Holly entered. Trouble was also present, surprisingly, seeing as he was very much in demand these days, and his abashed expression told of a rebuke he had received from Foaly, most likely because of ill treatment of the computers. They both looked up and nodded when they saw the newcomer. Holly took off her helmet and raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Well, Foaly? What's this all about?"

The centaur leaned over the box to type a quick command on the keyboard. "Well, Holly, we have a new development. See, before he left, I gave the commander a new earpiece, one that's virtually undetectable unless you take it out in just the right way. It's a two-way receiver, seeing as I designed it to pick up vocal vibrations in the air when the person speaks as well as broadcast whatever the person on the other end says into this baby here."

He patted the box fondly.

"Assuming the commander is still wearing it, we can get in touch with him. I almost forgot about it until now-obviously, I haven't patented it yet, so I didn't want to use it unless there was an emergency," Foaly finished, adjusting his tinfoil hat as he did so.

Trouble gaped. "So-So you mean we can talk with the commander, right now? Will it work?"

"Do pixies fly?"

"But this is great!" Holly burst out, smiling her first real smile since the awful news of yesterday. "Do you think we could even track the signal? We could keep calling until we pinpoint his exact location, and then we could go in."

Foaly was suddenly somber. "But that's the thing-it's one-time use only. Whatever we have to say, we say it in one conversation. There's even a possibility that the commander doesn't know anything about where he's being kept or who kidnapped him, in which case we've wasted the call except to see how he's doing. And we can check up on him anyway like this-"

He drew up another window and punched in some commands. In another instant, they were all staring at Root's vital signs. Foaly read them carefully, brow furrowing as he spoke. "Hmm…heartbeat is extremely elevated. He's feeling some very strong emotion right now, but I can't say what, obviously."

"One call?" said Holly, crestfallen. "But that's not nearly enough…can't he power it up again with magic?"

"Nope," Foaly replied, gesturing at the screens. "See for yourself-he's completely out of magic. Not a spark. And no, we can't track it: it's linked to his locater, which has been deactivated by his captor, presumably."

"Aah, D'Arvit!" Captain Kelp swore irritably. "I say we make the call anyhow. We need to know what's going on right now, no matter the risk."

Frowning, Holly began, "But Trouble, don't you think we should-"

"No, I don't think we should," he said shortly. "And that's Acting Commander Kelp to you, Captain."

Foaly stifled a smile as he connected the last few wires. Trouble was sounding like someone else he knew…and, the centaur realized grimly, might not see again if they didn't find him soon. The elf was right. "I agree," he told Holly seriously. "We don't need anyone else present besides us, and we do need to talk to him as soon as possible. We can't predict when he's going to have information, either: we're going to have to make an assumption."

With a start, Holly realized the two were waiting for her to say something before they went on any further. She sighed, but nodded. "Hook us up, Foaly."

The centaur pushed a few buttons and sat back. The two LEP officers waited behind him, holding their breaths as the signal sought to connect…

And then the signal light turned green. Slowly, sounds of ragged breathing came in through the speakers mounted on the walls next to the monitors. Foaly took a deep breath and said one word.

"Julius?"

No response from the other end. Trouble stepped forward, speaking slightly louder.

"Commander? Commander Root, sir? This is Trouble Kelp. Do you read me, sir?"

Still no response from the other end. The sounds of breathing continued haltingly. Holly looked worriedly at her two companions and bent over the microphone built into the control panel of the computer, willing the commander to hear her with every fiber of her being.

"Commander. This is Captain Short calling from Haven, sir. We need you to make contact with us immediately. Repeat, make contact with us immediately." She added softly, "We need you, Julius."

It was then that a voice emanated from the speakers, low, hoarse, and strained, but unmistakably the commander's.

"Holly? That…you?"

"Yes sir, it's me." Holly grasped the microphone tightly as she said it. "I'm speaking through your earpiece, the one Foaly gave you before you left. Are you all right?"

The answer came in short phrases at a time, as if it hurt Root to say them. "So the pony…is good…for something," he chuckled weakly. "I'm not…alright, though, hurt…hurt bad by…two Mud Men. I dunno who…they're working…for…" His voice trailed off.

"You're hurt, sir?" Holly repeated. "Were they…" She took a deep breath, then went on. "Were they looking for information?"

"Yeah," grunted Root. "Whoever has me...wants to know about the People. They want to know badly. I haven't...haven't told them...anything."

Trouble let out a sigh of relief, taking a step forward as if to speak, but Foaly motioned him back with a jerk of his hand. When the captain looked at him inquiringly, the centaur mouthed, She has him focused. Wait.

Holly shot a worried look at her companions. This was extremely bad, if the human wanted to know about the People. She kept her voice gentle and even, though, as she replied to the commander. "Do you have any idea where you are, sir?"

The response came back clear and sharp. "When are you cleared to come find me?"

The LEP captain let out a hiss of breath, plunging on despite the bad news the answer carried. "I don't know, sir. The Council hasn't given us permission to do anything yet." Before Root could reply, she added fiercely, "But we'll come, commander, I promise. Whatever the Council says, we're coming, and it'll be soon."

Unable to stay quiet any longer, Trouble burst out, "I'm doing the best I can, sir, and more, but it's not good enough for the Council! They just keep arguing and bickering, and they're nowhere near making any sort of decision. I agree with Holly-if they don't say something we want to hear soon, I'm coming myself, permission or no."

There was a long pause on the other end, and when the reply came, all present had to lean slightly towards the speakers to hear Root's quiet response.

"I know you would, both of you. You're good officers, you two, and...I'm proud of you."

And, as Foaly would later reflect, that meant more to Captains Short and Kelp than anything the Council could or would ever say.

Aaaaaaaaaaand cut people, that's a wrap...aw, cute ending, if I do say so myself. So, ahem-basically, Julius is still hanging around twiddling his thumbs somewhere with a bunch of broken ribs that um...miraculously did not puncture anything vital...and Holly and Trouble are sitting around biting their nails and twiddling their thumbs waiting for some word from the idiots who call themselves the Council.

Gawd, what was the point of this chapter?

Haha, never mind, thanks loads to me wonderful reviewers who took some time to hit the button and make my day slightly brighter!

Jakarutia: I'm so touched...someone actually likes my torture scenes...you have such a sick mind! How could anyone like MY torture! Just kidding, kidding!  And I'd love to see your drawings, bearing in mind what I said on one of my reviews of your story-did you try my other e-mail, wing pikepaw redwall .net ?(Without spaces, of course)

Trouble Kelp: Thank you Trouble! And NO, don't worry, I have no intention of making poor Julius undergo any more pain than he has to.

Julius: D'Arvit!

Me: Haha, you get to get beat up...((points and laughs))

Julius: It better not get any worse than that.

Me: Oh, I don't know, you might have some more coming...

Julius: D'ARVIT. ((borrows Stiggy's baseball bat and whacks author, rendering him unconscious))

Stiggy: Don't worry, Vince and Dex will get their due...all in good time, all in good time. ((smiles maliciously)) Don't hit them too hard now, I need them for later-but after what they did to Julius, I suppose a few broken bones can't hurt too badly. Thanks for the review and the time, hope you enjoyed Chapter 3!

Once again, reviewers, you rock, sorry for the wait! Chapter 4 is nearly done, so don't panic-I'll update quite soon.