They never came back from their last mission.
North, East and South. Alpha and Bravo.
Just gone.
Now the last search team is missing.
Chris and Jill went out two days ago. They should have been back by now.
Claire paced the length of the room, biting her nails—a nervous habit she thought she left in high school. The rest of the team were on edge and gives her a wide berth, but she could hear them mumbling about it.
The door to the landing bay flew open, startling her just as alarms start blaring, red lights flashing. Claire looked up, spotting a helicopter she doesn't recognize coming towards them. "Fuck. Everyone get ready," she shouts.
The team scrambled to their positions, as someone heads wildly towards the ship. The transport hits the deck hard, screeching to a stop, inches from the wall where Claire had been standing moments earlier.
She pauses for a moment before rushing over to the door. The pilot—one she doesn't know—staggers out, holding his arm at an odd angle, it had been cut during the landing. Behind him, Jill helps Chris limp down the ramp. Chris glances at his sister then quickly looks away.
"What happened?" Claire demands.
Jill pulls off her hat—her face is red, her hair sticking up at odd angles. "We ran into a bit of trouble on the way back."
"A bit?" Claire asked, hands on her hips.
"They nearly fucking shot us out of the sky," Chris grumbles. "Maybe if we had a pilot that knew how to bloody fly."
"Enough", Jill snapped at him. "We need a Medic to look at Chris leg and Smith's arm", she said gesturing towards the pilot.
Claire nodded, before helping her brother inside.
_
"It came out of fucking nowhere!", the loud thump to the table that followed, caused the drink at the edge of the table to fall over.
"God sake Chris", Jill hissed.
Claire watched in silence. She had seen this before. The way Chris acted, the way he smelled. He was drinking again. And the strain of it was damaging his relationship with Jill, and compromising the mission.
"I'm going to bed. You can fill me in on what happened, in the morning".
The redhead walked slowly to the room she was staying in. Her mind was running wild. She wouldn't be able to find Piers and the missing girl, while trying to help Chris get sober. She was going to need some more help