Free Special Forces 01 by Honor Raconteur

corner of the house. He caught glimpses of different rooms as he walked. Everything was pristine and in immaculate order. The furniture looked a little worn-in and outdated, but he didn’t see anything in a state of disrepair. He doubted anyone could beg a speck of dust to settle in this woman’s house, either.
    Captain Dawlish gave him a quick smile as she reached for the door handle and warned him cheerfully, “Brace yourself!”
    Rys shot her a look of alarm. Brace himself for what?
    Then she opened the door and he knew.
    Six different folding tables had been set up like a rough and ready command center. On it there were laptops, printers, what looked to be a miniature satellite dish and far too many cables running in every possible direction. Seven computer geeks sat in front of their respective computers, talking over each other in a computer code that Rys couldn’t even begin to follow, their fingers flying over the keyboards.
    It put him eerily in mind of a bad science fiction movie. The part right before aliens invaded or something blew up.
    Not sure if he wanted to walk into a place where angels feared to tread, Rys hovered in the doorway. He sensibly chose not to try and talk over the crowd but opened a mental line and pinged Gremlin.
    Gremlin?
    It took a second before he answered, and his dark eyes never left the computer screen. In fact, he kept his position perfectly. Gremlin’s dark hair was more tossled than usual, his trim frame tucked into itself in the chair, his usual posture while hacking. How long had he been sitting there? “Yes, sir?”
    Ah…where did the Bijordan Intel people come from?
    “Oh, I called them in, sir. I thought they needed some practical hands-on with the finer points of hacking.”
    Well, if anyone could teach them, it would be Gremlin. I see. Are you hacking?
    “Yes, sir.”
    I thought this was supposed to be an intelligence swap and meet?
    “It started out that way, sir. Then Boyce noticed something odd about the Novan’s network system, and we went in to do a more thorough check, and…”
    Things grew from there, I understand. Rys just shook his head in resignation. This was not the first time something like this had happened. Gremlin had never quite broken the habit of investigating first and then updating his superiors later. So what have you turned up?
    “Quite a bit, sir. I think I know what’s going on, but Captain, if you’ll just give me thirty minutes I think I can give a much more thorough briefing. Right now I’ve just got a working theory and only a little data to back it up.”
    Rys vastly preferred that over no working theory and a lot of data to shift through. Still, he could wait thirty minutes for a more accurate picture. Especially since most of SF01 had yet to arrive. Why don’t I order dinner for everyone and you can update me when it arrives?
    “Sounds like a good plan to me, sir.”
    Rys took another look at the people around the room that hadn’t even turned to look in his direction. He doubted they’d even noticed the door had opened. Maybe he should step inside and have a quick word with the Bijordan Intel people…no, on second thought, he’d wait for Gremlin’s briefing.
    He stepped back out and softly closed the door behind him.
    “I see your survival instincts are well honed, Captain,” Captain Dawlish observed with a quirky smile crinkling the corners of her dark eyes.
    He responded, “I know better than to try and interrupt a computer geek when he’s fixated on something. At least, not without some kind of peace offering in hand.”
    She softly chuckled, waving him to follow her back toward the main part of the office.
    “I don’t suppose I could borrow your phone?” he asked as he followed her into the kitchen.
    “Certainly, but why?”
    “I need to order a peace offering.”
    ***
    Everything seemed to arrive at about the same time. The rest of 01 came in small groups, and took a few minutes to exchange news about how their