• The steady beeping of a heartbeat monitor and the dull hum of the air recyclers greeted Steven’s ears as the anesthetic pumping through his veins began to wear off and he returned to the conscience world. He slowly opened his eyelids and saw the whitewash ceiling of what he could tell was an infirmary. Off to the right side of his hospital bed, he heard a small commotion and a woman’s voice say, “Hey, sleepyhead. How you feeling?”

    Steven turned his head towards the source of the question and was met by the smiling face of Aili Jordan, his friend and a member of his team. “It could be worse, I guess.” He replied, “Where am I?”

    “In the infirmary back onboard Serenity.” Aili answered, “You were in really bad shape when they brought you in. For a while, they didn’t know if you were going to make it.” She looked down at the floor and shook her head, “I should have been there.”

    Steven nodded in understanding, guilt like that was to be expected for someone in her situation. Following the events of Alpha Team’s previous mission through time, the B.A.T. had temporarily suspended Aili from frontline duties. Their main reasoning behind this was that since the anomaly recently discovered in her brain was apparently triggered in conditions of extreme stress, she would bring more harm than good to those around her in a combat situation. The egotistical vultures at the Bureau just couldn’t warm up to much to the idea of an entity being able to take control of a member of their most elite team in the middle of a fight. “It’s alright.” Steven assured her, “Even if you were there, you’d have probably wound up just like me…or worse.”

    “Yeah.” Aili said quietly.

    Just then, there was the sound of heavy boots approaching and a balding man dressed in an olive drab uniform entered the room, two stars pinned on both of his shoulders. Steven tried to salute, but his body had other ideas as a spasm of pain defeated his effort. “At ease, Major. Don’t want you to kill yourself on my account.” The man, General Michael Nadeen, said with a grin, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

    “Thank you, sir.” Steven said.

    “Can you tell us what happened out there?”

    As Steven proceeded to explain what had transpired during the ambush, he saw Nadeen’s brow furrow with concern. “A new enemy is not what the Federation needs right now.” he stated, “We’ve got more than enough on our plate as it is fighting the TimeSplitters. The President’s not going to like this, especially not the B.A.T.”

    Suddenly, a thought popped into Steven’s mind as the effects of the medicine continued to wear off, “Sir, did the Marines find any other survivors?”

    The General shook his head sadly, “I’m sorry, Steven, you were the only one the recovered alive.”

    A feeling of dread and shock settled into Steven’s gut as the realization of what might have happened to Jamie took hold. She’s dead? He thought in disbelief, She couldn’t be dead.

    “They didn’t find Jamie’s body, however,” Nadeen continued, “which would lead us to presume that whoever attacked you has captured her. I’ve already set up a task force to find evidence as to where they went after they left, but so far, no luck.”

    Relief trickled back into Steven’s mind, but he knew that there was still a chance that she was still in danger. “Well, what are we waiting for?” he said as he slowly attempted to get out of the hospital bed, “Let’s get to it.”

    He felt Aili’s hand gently push him back onto the bed and he grunted as new waves of pain washed up his side. “Slow down there, cowboy.” She told him firmly, “You’ll be of no use to her half-alive. Rest up and get your strength back. You think you can do that without giving someone a black eye?”

    Steven smiled weakly at the joke, “I’ll try my hardest.”

    Aili grinned back, “Good. I’ll keep your posted on the task force’s progress, okay?”

    “Okay.”

    There was a tiny trilling noise and Nadeen reached into his pocket and pulled out a compact pager. “Duty calls.” He said after reading the display, “One of the unpleasant side effects of running a space station, you never get enough free time. See you later.”

    Once the General had left, Aili turned back to Steven with a more serious expression on her brown face. “I’m sure she’ll be alright.” She said in a low voice.

    Steven nodded, fighting back the rising frustration of being sidelined and unable to help search for Jamie, but if this was how it was going to be for the next two to three days, then he’d have to make the best of it. Still, staying put and not doing anything productive went against every fiber of his being when there was a crisis and something needed to be done.

    “Look, I’d better let you get some sleep.” Aili said, “If you need anything, you know where to reach me.”

    “Yeah, see you.” Steven replied. Once Aili had left, he laid his head back onto the pillow and closed his eyes, but knew that sleep wouldn’t come easily as long as Jamie was in harms way.