Eric sighed as he looked between the other two. Ever since the battle of Dresken, Michael and Mia had been acting more like brother and sister.

"I'm glad to know that beating up on me brought you two closer." He grumbled, sliding his coffee mug to the side.

"Milano wanted an update around 1800. Has Ricky checked in since his last transmission?"

Michael shook his head.

"What I last told you is the most up-to-date information I have."

Eric looked at his desktop. Ricky's last report had been typed up, and he noticed some inconsistencies. "Mia, come look at this."

Mia walked over, setting down her own typed report. She leaned over Eric's shoulder with narrowed eyes as she read the document. "I know Ricky can be a goofball, but the time stamps are all out of sync. He is a professional at his job. He wouldn't write reports this sloppily unless there is a good reason. Also, he never misses a check-in. When we were in Syria, we would be under heavy fire, and he would still report in." Eric said as she read the report.

Mia was about to sit down when she noticed Eric clenching his fist.

She placed her hand on Eric's shoulder. "It will be okay, babe." She said softly. "Ricky and the guys are the best of the best. Remember how they snuck into the castle and stole all of my uncle's snacks? They will be alright. We have to trust that maybe they got caught doing something ridiculous again, and are simply lying low to report back."

Eric unclenched his fist and looked up at Michael. "Mike, you can go home. Mia and I can report to General Milano. I know you said you had plans with Ayeolla. We can take it from here."

Michael stared outside. His gaze traced down the parking lot to his car. "I don't know if I can do that, Eric. I can't leave you with all the work. Plus, Ricky and the guys are my friends, too. Those boys light up the party in a way that your crusty old ass can't."

Eric sighed. "Alright, then help me read through these reports. I've already texted Milano to let him know we will be briefing him later than expected. If we have nothing by 2000, we'll brief on what we have."

"Sounds good."

Mia sat on Eric's lap. Michael sighed. "You know, I can understand the kids doing that, but you're a mother now, Mia. Shouldn't you refrain from acting like a teenager?"

Mia stuck her tongue out at Michael. "I don't care what I should or should not be doing. I can help my husband scan through documents more easily this way, can't I? Plus, who is here to judge a married woman for sitting on her husband's lap? We aren't in public, and we aren't conducting a briefing."

Michael sighed as he got back to work. "I'm mad that your argument actually makes sense." He grumbled.

A few minutes later, Eric found the first clue. He traced his finger along a line near where Ricky had added timestamps in the other reports. "Check it out. Right here, instead of a timestamp, he has the word 'we'".

Mia found another line a few paragraphs later. "Eric, look. Instead of using the standard date format before the time, Ricky put the word 'have'".

Eric paused to verify the discrepancy. "So… We, and have." He muttered. "Did they take something?"

Michael chimed in immediately after.

"They stole the Ark plans."

Eric and Mia looked up from Eric's desktop. The chair creaked as Eric slowly turned towards Michael.

"They what?!"

Michael sighed.

"After the first date and time marker was wrong, I figured they were sending a message through the timestamps. I searched all the messages for timestamps that contained words rather than dates or times. This is what I found:

We. Have. The. Ark. Core. Transport. Plans." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Eric rubbed his face in his hands, and Mia released a sigh that lasted a few seconds. She stared at the desktop, her eyes closed. "Men." She muttered.

"So, we know that they stole the Ark core transport plans. I'm assuming the blackout is because they are either on the run or still posing as guards. We can't brief Milano on assumptions, so let's go tell him what we have. Mia, you will report on the two heroes. I will report on the Veil captain. Mike, go home. You did a lot today. Go spend some time with your wife."

Michael tried to protest, but Eric shook his head. "I wasn't asking. Go home."

Michael closed his laptop and glared at Eric as he walked out of the office. The entire time he was packing his things, he didn't say a word. When he finally left, he waved to Mia. "See ya tomorrow, Mia."

Eric shook his head when Michael left. "You'd think being told to go home would be a punishment." He grumbled before turning back to Mia. "Alright. Let's go brief Milano."

Before leaving, Eric made sure to grab the radio.

Battalion HQ was empty. The lights in the offices were off, and all the doors were shut. Eric shook his head as he passed by the S-1 office. "Seems like everyone got an early day."

The only office light still on was the office at the far end of the hallway. As they were walking up, they heard heated voices. Miher and Milano seemed to be discussing an asset.

"He still wants to target The Empire with nuclear weapons?" They heard Miher growl as something heavy slammed onto a desk. "Is he out of his mind? We just got into this new world, and he wants to destroy it already? Unbelievable. We even told him that Moscow was right there. If he launches, so will they. No amount of telling them that the world is changed will convince them that nuking everything is okay."

Milano's calm voice answered. "I do not disagree with you, but lower your voice. We still have soldiers inside the building."

Eric knocked on the door.