The room fell silent as each person digested what Michael had said. Worry and anger were the dominant emotions, but another emotion snuck into Eric's mind.

Doubt.

He thought of the equipment they had left after the fight with the first Ark. They were now down to forty tanks across 6-8. They now had access to the entirety of Fort Hood's arsenal, but there was no way to mobilize an entire base rapidly enough to fight the Ark on its own turf. Some of the MRAPs might make the trip, as well as Humvees and other light vehicles, but the firepower they would need likely surpassed what the entire fleet of light vehicles on Fort Hood could carry.

Eric shook his head, looking up at Mia.

"How did things go on your side?"

Mia looked gently at Erica before deciding to speak for her.

"The two heroes from the Empire had to fake their deaths to escape Cartharic. They told us that they think their advisor, a blonde woman named Susan, told Mithrael they wanted to defect. On the evening of their defection, they had to detonate a large portion of the castle to escape. This correlates with what Erica told me and what Owersky relayed to me back then. Their deaths were written down as self-inflicted, and then covered up when Justin was summoned."

Eric chewed his lip, his eyes heavy with emotion. "To be so young and have to face such a decision." He grumbled. He had seen the files. Both women looked to be around Jessica's age. He couldn't imagine being freshly sixteen or seventeen and forced to fake their own deaths. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Mia continued. She turned the page in her notes and looked Eric in the eye. "Eric, there is another thing they wanted to make very clear. They kept saying it over and over while we talked to them. They are done working for the Empire, but Earth is their home. They want to help fight for it. They also want revenge for what was done to them and their friends."

Eric looked down at his hands. For a moment, he found himself remembering how it felt to be a young PFC in the middle of Iraq. He looked back up at Mia. "Okay. I'll talk to Milano. I think it is high time I bring up 'that' plan to him."

She sighed and looked around. Michael had a grim expression, while the two younger soldiers were still processing all the day's information. "Eric, are we down with Erica and Justin? I think they can go home now."

Eric nodded and turned to the two younger soldiers. "You two go home. Talk about what happened today. You will need each other's support now more than ever. Things are rough, but remember how far you have come. Keep holding each other up."

Neither of them said a word as they shuffled out of the room. Once the door was closed, Michael set the radio down and glared at Eric. "You and I both know that plan is stupid, Eric!" He nearly yelled. "Ten people can't do the job of an Army. This isn't a superhero story where everyone lives happily ever after. People die in war. Have you gotten so old that you've forgotten that?"

Eric looked up. "Mike."

Michael shook his head. "No. Fuck you. Let me talk."

He took a deep breath. "Sure, you guys are all powerful. Each of you can do some pretty crazy things, but can any of you light the entire sky up in one breath? Did you forget what it took to take that godforsaken flying apocalypse down? IT TOOK DAMN NEAR AN ENTIRE BATTALIONS AMMUNITION AND A FUCKING DRAGON'S BREATH ATTACK TO TAKE DOWN."

Michael's chest rose and fell rapidly as he looked at Eric; his eyes seemed to glow in anger. "And it wasn't just any Dragon. It was an Elder dragon. Tryasche himself said he is the closest thing to a God walking on Brishan right now. So... Yeah. Sorry, not sorry. If you got a death wish, count me out."

After Michael was done with his tirade, Eric looked up, meeting his angry gaze. "Listen, Mike. You and I both know that we can't mobilize a large Army. For one, Cartharic could set every Brios they have on their side of Esponia and wait for us to arrive. We wouldn't survive that. Secondly, we can't let that thing get into the air. Millions of people will die. The last time, we were able to stop it from getting to Austin. This time? There's no telling what it might do. Who's to say they don't change targets? Chicago? Houston? New York? LA? We have to do it, Mike. We need a specialized unit capable of making it into Cartharic territory and back. You know as well as I do that we are the only ones capable of that."

Mia folded her arms across her chest. "I don't like it either, Mike." She whispered. "The fact that our family promised not to be heroes, not even a week ago, but we find ourselves in this predicament pisses me off, but Eric is right. We need to find a way to stop those cores from getting onto the Ark."

Michael looked back and forth from Mia to Eric. The anger in his eyes seemed to dissipate, and he leaned back against his chair. "You know, when I first joined the Army as an intel officer, I thought it would be cool to be the HUMINT guy. After sticking around you guys long enough, I realized that maybe the analysts don't have such a bad job after all."

Eric and Mia laughed, and Eric walked over to shake Michael's hand. "I'm gonna need you, brother. What do you say, can you join my strike team?"

Michael begrudgingly shook Eric's hand. "Fine, but you gotta change diapers when Ayeolla and I have a baby."

Mia paused, nearly choking on her water. "Wait. Ayeolla is pregnant?!"

Michael laughed and closed his laptop. "Nope. Not yet. Maybe after all this is over. Ayeolla said she doesn't want to start a family until after we kick Mithrael off his high and mighty throne."

Mia glared at Mike, throwing a notepad at him.

"I doubt she said that."