“It’s not optional.”
Colonel Taylor finished buckling his uniform and turned to leave his quarters. Just over six foot. Thinning gray hair. Solid build. The Union Subdivision’s commander had spent his entire career leading special ops teams. Now, he led one of the most covert in the Union. Phase travel operatives—or, as they called themselves, timeslingers.
Hector, also fully decorated in officer garb, followed.
“Sir, the bomb didn’t even go off.”
Taylor stopped. “Did you know it wasn’t gonna go off?”
“That’s not the point, I–”
“Not one of the hostages was harmed. The XLS got a scrap of paper that they probably won’t be able to use—I confirmed that with our top scientists. And you dove on top of an explosive device to save your team and countless others. Sounds like uncommon valor to me.”
Taylor resumed walking. Hector fell into step.
“Anyone would have done it. My team–”
“But they didn’t. You did. You’re acting like this is a dentist appointment. It’s supposed to be an honor.”
“It’s my job, sir. I was trained to do this. It’s not uncommon valor.”
They strode through steel corridors. A maze of classified underground buildings that rested deep inside the Rocky Mountains. Union Subdivision Headquarters.
As they neared the control room Jessica intercepted them. She saluted. Her expression grave.
“Sir. The prisoner, Eric Randolph, took his own life.”
Taylor cursed. “We learn anything from him?”
“Not much. Hadn’t been with XLS Phase Travel Operations long. His brother was killed in a riot just before the Los Alamos mission. May explain his erratic behavior.”
“Too bad.” Taylor rubbed his temple. “Give him our traditional military burial.”
“Sorry about the timing, Hector,” said Jessica.
“We could always cancel.”
Taylor smirked. Inside the control room, the small group of timeslingers and station operatives gathered for the award ceremony.
“It’s gonna take more than that to ruin this party, hero.”
As if on cue, the alarm went off.
Here’s the contrast to XLS Phase Travel Operations. This was a cool installment to write because it reveals character through banter instead of action. Both are important, but since each installment has to have some area of interest, and since we don’t have many words to use, it’s difficult to work in characterization. It’s possible, but it has to be very interesting, it has to move the story forward, and it has to keep the reader’s attention. That made this installment a lot of fun to write. Plus, it’s the last one of Episode 0 (our preview, of sorts), so this is where we really start moving.
Hope you’re enjoying!