“Come on, come on,” Kelsey Velia muttered irritably as she waited for the computer to allow her access. They had to get a message off to General Cracken.

“Two,” Wilric Elkin began, “I don’t think it’s going to work. We have to go! How long do you thing it is going to take for them to find us?” Of the six-person team, only he and Kelsey were left alive, and had managed to avoid arrest. And if they didn't get moving, they weren't going to stay that way for long.

“We have to get a message out,” she hissed, fiddling with the computer again. “He has to know!” An electronic beep told her she had finally sliced her way in. “Finally.” After scrambling the transmission, she grabbed the comm and hastily began her message.

“This is a message for General Airen Cracken from Berid III. Status: One is MIA, Four and Six are KIA, Five and I are compromised. We think Three sold out to the Imperials. Repeat: Three is a traitor! I - sithspit!” she cursed as the alarm they had set was triggered.

“Time to go,” muttered Wilric. “You know, breaking into a military installation to use their holocomm probably wasn’t the best idea you’ve ever had.”

Kelsey quickly shut off the holocomm and sent the message. “not much point in secrecy now,” she muttered to herself. With Drydres being a traitor it was pretty much a guarantee the Imps at least knew some of what was going on, and what they didn’t know they would no doubt try to get from One. “Message is on it’s way - let’s go!”

~~~~~~~~

“This is...for General Airen Cracken...Berid III...One is MIA...& Six KIA, and Five...think Three sold...Imperials...Three is...sithspit!” Airen Cracken sat in his office and replayed the message for the third time. By the time he had received it, the message had degraded to only a crackled audio transmission.

So, the mission had been compromised. The mission leader, Kayis Velia, was likely being held by the Empire and interrogated, and one of their own had betrayed the team. On top of that, it was entirely possible that what remained of the team was now either dead or captured as well.

He needed a new team to send in - they had to get Mirek Drydres and figure out what he had told the Imperials.

But first thing was first - he would need to speak to his son.

~~~~~~~~~

Kelsey took Wilric’s proffered hand and climbed out of the sewers. They ran into an alley across the street and headed for the back door of the building they had been using as a safe house.

“What now?” Wilric puffed as Kelsey shut the door behind them.

“We wait. If Cracken’s planning on getting us out of here, a team should arrive by week’s end.” She crossed the room and sat down on the floor, leaning her head back against the wall.

“Neither Cracken nor his team will have any way of contacting us,” he pointed out, sitting down beside her.

“I suppose we’ll just have to watch the spaceports,” Kelsey replied with a shrug.

“And if a team doesn’t show up?”

She hung her head and muttered, “we’ll handle that if and when we have to.”