Sanctioned

by Ell Leigh Clarke

  Molly wracked her brains. Her eyes fell on the rim of her mocha cup. “Not gambling?” she guessed.

  Joel shook his head. “No. The gambling was a symptom. His biggest challenge is being able to connect and bond with people.”

  Molly frowned again, and moved her gaze forward to the wooden table, still not looking at him. “How do you know that?”

  Joel tilted his head. “You remember when we had that post-op pizza fest, where you announced Maya was joining the team?”

  Molly nodded.

  Joel sat back in the chair and crossed his legs in a four shape. “You remember how Pieter lit up when Sean ruffled him, and bear hugged him?”

  Molly took a sip of mocha. “Yeah, vaguely,” she said after swallowing.

  “Well,” Joel continued slowly, “that was a breakthrough moment for Pieter. He suddenly felt accepted.” He tried to catch Molly’s eye. “Haven’t you noticed how since then, he’s been hanging out with the others more, and coming out of his shell?”

  Molly glanced up at Joel. “Yeah, he’s become more of a smart arse too!”

  Joel grinned. “Exactly. Cuz he’s comfortable with the team now. He feels accepted, like he can be himself.”

  Molly started to smile a little. “I see. That’s… great.” Her eyes developed a distant look for a moment. “So, how does that help me manage him?”

  Joel nodded his head and started waving his hands in explanation. “What it means is that he craves connection. So your job as his leader is to make sure he finds opportunities to keep developing that. That’s why on the training exercises, I keep pairing him with either Paige or Brock. They’ve bonded already - so I keep giving them the opportunity to make that bond deeper. Eventually, he’ll start naturally spending time with the others, too… But to force him out of his comfort zone before he feels ready to, will just keep him struggling and feeling like an outsider.”

  Molly pushed her mocha cup forward and let her head hit her arms in front of her. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to do this voodoo you do,” she exclaimed.

  Joel put a hand on her arm. “It’s okay. You’ll get it. It just takes time. And practice. How about you have a conversation with Maya next, and see if you can work out what’s important to her? You know - what she hopes to get out of being on the team. What she wants to do with her life. That kind of thing.”

  Molly lifted her head, stray hairs flopping over her face and into her eyes. “Yeah. I can do that. I guess.”

  Joel took a breath. “Good. That’s the next thing then.” He stood up. “Okay, we’re due in training in a couple of hours, and I have some case files to go through. See you down there?”

  Molly had put her head back into her arms. “Yeah…” she said, muffled through the table and sweatshirt arms.

  Joel shook his head, and tucked his chair back under the table. He patted her head gently. “It’ll be okay. Promise.”

  He left.

  Molly?

  Yeah?

  You have a meeting with the General in ten minutes.

  Oh, shit. Right.

  Molly lifted her head and pulled her mocha closer. She examined the contents of the cup, her nose wrinkled.

  What the fuck is wrong with this mocha, Oz?

  I don’t know. Take another sip.

  Molly took another sip. She paused.

  Oz?

  Yeah?

  What’s up with it?

  Erm. You might not want to drink the rest.

  Why not?

  You don’t need to know. Just throw it out.

  Why?

  It’s not good. Just throw it.

  Molly’s head hit the desk again, in exhaustion and exasperation.

  Bloody hell. Just shoot me now…

  Gaitune-67, Base conference room

  Molly sat like a schoolgirl in the head master’s office, dwarfed by the size of the empty conference room. The holo in front of her illuminated her skin, making her look blue.

  Wish I’d managed to drink even half a mocha before this meeting.

  Well, you had time. If you hadn’t wasted eight minutes with your head on the desk, you would have been able to.

  The hologram of the General leaned forward, as he continued speaking.

  “… and that means you need to wrap up your escapades with The Syndicate as soon as possible,” the General concluded.

  Molly suddenly started paying attention, and rewound in her mind what the General was saying.

  “Hang on,” she said, “are you… Did you just? How did you know about our plan to go after The Syndicate?”

  The General leaned back in his anti-grav chair, sucking on the cigar thing he always seemed to have handy.

  Molly kept talking. “Are you bugging the safe house, still? I thought you weren’t listening, out of respect for our privacy?”

  The General seemed genuinely amused. “I’m not. Nor is ADAM,” he added, seeing her next question formulating in her open mouth.

  Molly’s brow furrowed, her frustrations for the day only increasing. “Well, what then?” she asked her impatience bleeding through.

  The General smiled. “It’s not rocket science, my dear,” he told her. “You have an AI in your head. Your AI simply mentioned it to my AI.”

  Molly couldn’t contain her disbelief. “What?” she almost screeched, before remembering who she was talking to. “You mean your AI and my AI are having some kind of frickin’ bromance-slash-secret-liaison behind my back? And then landing me in it?”

  The General grinned and nodded. “Seems so,” he concluded, taking the cigar out of his mouth.

  Oz, you fucking traitor.

  Oz didn’t respond. Molly couldn’t even feel him.

  The General leaned in on his desk. “So, anyway, this is how it’s going to play out…” he continued.

  ***

  Joel and Sean stood waiting outside the conference room casually, or not so casually, peering in to see what was going down.

  “She looks pissed,” Sean said, wandering away from the door and leaning against the corridor wall out of view.

  Joel nodded. “Yup,” he agreed. “She wasn’t in the best mood going in.”

  Sean sighed. “What do you think they’re talking about?” he probed.

  Joel was still watching stealthily through the window. “Dunno,” he shrugged. “It was meant to be a planning meeting… which was why I thought I should be here when she came out.” He paused a moment, and then carefully stepped away from the window. “Come to think of it… how come you’re here?”

  Sean grinned. “It’s alright, cowboy; I’m just here to give her a rundown of some of the toys you guys haven’t cracked into yet.” He gestured off to the hangar deck down the corridor.

  “Ohhh,” Joel said. “I see. So… official business, then.”

  Sean nodded. “Right.” He had his arms crossed, and he now flexed his muscles, demonstrating his enhanced prowess. Joel resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He’d been working out extra hard since getting to Gaitune, but Paige wasn’t wrong when she noticed that he upped his game again when Sean joined the team.

  Joel glanced back into the conference room. “Well, I suppose I should leave you guys to it then,” he concluded.

  Sean started to say something, and then changed his mind. His expression softened. “Well… You know, if you want, I can show you how to use some of the bigger artillery later. After squad training.” He unfolded his arms and put his hands on his hips, before reaching up and scratching his head. “If you want, that is…”

  Joel wasn’t looking, so he missed Sean going a little red and awkward about his extension of friendship. “Yeah, sure…” Joel responded, peering back into the conference room, distracted.

  The meeting seemed to be wrapping up. The General gave one last instruction, and then the holo closed off. “Oh, hang on. They’re finishing,” he told Sean.

  Sean pushed up off the corridor wall, and stood straight.

  Joel paused a mo
ment, and then waved his hand in front of the conference room access pad. The door whooshed open. Molly turned from her seat, making no immediate effort to get up. “All okay?” Joel asked, hovering at the door.

  Molly nodded, and leaned back in her chair, swiveling round to see him better. “Yeah,” she sighed. “I can make it work.”

  Joel ambled into the room, pulled a chair away from the table, and perched his butt against the table’s edge. “’Make it work’? That doesn’t sound like the same girl who attacked the mocha machine earlier,” he smiled.

  She grinned. “Yeah, that girl got her arse kicked by two AIs and the General of the Etheric Empire. It’s time she got her shit together and showed them who they’re fucking with.” Her face lit up as she talked herself up. A hint of the devil emerged in her eye.

  Joel smirked. “I know that look. That’s the look you get just before I get hauled into one of your diabolical plans!”

  She smiled innocently, her eyes wide. “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about, Mr. Dunham,” she exclaimed.

  Sean appeared at the door. “Did I hear there was a diabolical plan afoot?” he asked.

  Molly glanced over at him, bringing him into the conversation. “You did. Turns out my bitch of an AI has been in bed with ADAM, and let slip that we decided to take down The Syndicate between now and starting on the General’s official missions.”

  I said I’m sorry.

  It’s okay, Oz. It’s better he knows.

  “Anyway, the General basically said to get it cleaned away and done, because he wants 110% of our attention. And that works for me.”

  Joel looked a little surprised. “You mean he basically just gave you his blessing?”

  Molly nodded. “Indeed. And he gave us time scales and a training plan to get to in between and after. Oz is going through and scheduling us as we speak.”

  Sean looked impressed. “Must say, the General has the right idea. The Estarian situation has been a low-level pain in our brains for a while now. It will be good to see that regime topple.”

  Molly clocked Sean’s comment. “Hmm. Sounds like you have even more intel you haven’t shared yet.” She looked at him like a teacher would look at a naughty schoolboy.

  Sean grinned. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll fill you in on whatever is relevant when we put our battle plan together. Don’t you worry.”

  Joel cut in. “So we’re going to take down the whole Syndicate once and for all?” His voice was a little more surprised than Molly had expected.

  She nodded. “Every piece. We have permission, and his blessing, to take the whole thing apart. Right down to the companies and subsidiaries, and any law that we need to alter to keep these dodgy mechanisms in place.”

  Joel whistled. “Wow. This is going to be one heck of an op.” He shook his head. “How long do we have?”

  Molly took a deep breath and stood up, stretching out her back. “About a week.”

  Sean and Joel’s mouths dropped open.

  “Well, come on, boys,” she said straightening up. “No time to stand around gawking. We have work to do.” She turned to Sean. “How about we get going with that weapon rundown after training later? I could do with some research time right now.”

  Sean managed to bob his head. “Er… yeah. Sure.”

  Joel looked concerned. “How about we switch the training session to a general briefing to get the team up to speed on this latest development?”

  Molly thought for a moment, her eyes up at the ceiling.

  Can we be ready for a general meeting by then, Oz?

  Yes. I think we can do some of the planning with the team’s input.

  Molly looked back at Joel. “Great idea. How about we involve the team, and pull together any information they might have to help us come up with a plan?”

  Joel nodded, smiling a little, despite the elevated stress level. “Someone’s learning team management,” he told her, impressed.

  Molly grinned. “Girl’s got to try!” she replied as she strode out of the room.

  Both guys turned and followed her out. Sean started walking along side her. Joel hung back, typing into his holo as he walked.

  OZ. ANY CHANCE WE CAN CHAT?

  CHAPTER TWO

  Gaitune-67, Base conference room

  Joel sat in a pod on the hangar deck, having carefully selected one that was turned away from the main walkway.

  He’d wanted a quiet word with Oz, and the small space, coupled with the audio integration, meant that he could easily have a two-way conversation with Oz here; better than anywhere else on the base or in the safe house.

  Joel waited until the pod door was firmly closed. “Heard you accidentally let ADAM know what the plan was?”

  Oz’s audio channel cracked open. “Yeah. Won’t be making that mistake again. She was not pleased.”

  Joel’s voice was sympathetic. “Yeah. She’ll get over it. I don’t think it was a big secret, anyway.”

  Oz’s voice didn’t convey that he was overly concerned. “Yes. I think I’d agree with you. My Molly mood-heuristic has her being completely back to normal with me by the time the group meeting is over.”

  Joel’s tone was incredulous and amused. “You’re kidding! You model her moods?”

  “And behavior,” Oz added.

  Joel thought for a moment and leaned back in his seat, leaning one elbow against the side of the capsule. “Wow. But what for?” he asked.

  Oz’s tone was matter-of-fact. “Wouldn’t you like to have a heads up on how she is going to react to something, instead of sitting around and waiting?”

  Joel chuckled, hardly believing his ears. “You mean you can make predictions that are accurate?”

  Oz’s voice conveyed that he had realized that Joel was impressed by his operation. “Yes; within a certain tolerance, of course,” he answered, a little pleased with himself.

  Joel shook his head, and whistled a little through his teeth. “You’ll have to tell me more about that some time.”

  “Sure,” Oz promised. “So, what’s on your mind?”

  “Well…” Joel started slowly. “It’s Sean.” He paused a moment. “Well, it’s not Sean,” he corrected himself. “It’s me. I mean, I’m used to being surrounded by competitive jackasses; but normally I can hold my own. But Sean,” he sighed, “he just has too much over me.”

  Oz’s voice revealed he would have been smiling. “Ah yes, his enhanced capabilities,” he confirmed sympathetically.

  “Right,” Joel agreed, glumly.

  “And you’re wondering what I might be able to do to help?” Oz checked.

  Joel nodded, shifting his elbow, which had been slipping down the side of the pod. “You read my mind, Oz.”