Back at the Assault Ship, the Gemini team and the Tribals met up again, only this time with four ships instead of just one. Amos sat at the main console, while Juno divided the rest into teams for the upcoming assignments.
"All right, Fala and Lupus, I want you two to investigate Rith Essa. The Drones have been taking Tribals to the mines there. We need to free them, and find out why they're so interested in it. You'll most likely run into some heavy resistance, so be careful and stay hidden wherever you can.
"Vela and Nae, I want you two to investigate Cerulean. According to Barry, there may be some sort of lab near the northern pole where Drone experiments were taking place. If it's still manned, leave and report back. If it's abandoned, I want you to hack their systems and find out whatever info you can on what the Drones did there."
"What about you?" Vela asked.
"I'm heading to Sekhmet. I'll sneak in and try to find out the origin of the S.O.S., and hopefully find out more about the Drones, their current leaders, and what they're ultimately up to."
"Who's your backup?" Fala questioned. "Is anyone going with you?"
"No, I'll be going on my own," Juno answered. A pregnant pause followed, until Vela spoke up.
"I'm mad at you again, just so you know,"
"What did I do?" he exclaimed, confused. Someone had to go without a partner… Amos had to watch the ship!
"You're not invincible," Vela explained. "You always take the toughest missions and you never take backup. You may not say it out loud, but you're kind of a jerk when it comes to ego."
"So, are you saying you want to go to Sekhmet?"
"No, I'm saying you should wait until you have someone to go with you."
Juno took a moment to try to see the situation from her point of view. He did typically take the high risk situations, but that was because he didn't want to see his family get hurt.
"I'm afraid we don't have that luxury," he countered. "If someone on Earth really did sell us out, we're on the clock. There's no telling when or where that time will be up, either. I can see where you're coming from, but I'm going to have to disagree with you."
Vela nodded. He was right about that. Time was of the essence.
Lupus barked, then ran in a quick circle around Fala. His impatience was apparent. If they were running out of time, what were they just sitting around for?
"Amos," Juno directed. "Make sure you move this ship somewhere all of us can get to in a relatively short period of time. Our personal ships can't warp very far, so we'll need you on standby to pick us up."
"Got it."