A giant green angel appeared. "I do not even want to know what is so funny during this monumental war." He sat at the head of the table, his face fierce and cruelly handsome in its own right. "I will assume all have been introduced."
"All have, Commander." The light orange angel…Meron she believed, sitting next to him glanced around at all the others.
"Good, then we can get right to business." He eyed all of them before holding his gaze on Dorn. "Your report."
Kassie was amazed with Dorn. He was so…professional here. He was always the serious one, but here, he was even more so. His movements exact as if every one of them had been practiced to perfection. "The operation is quite straightforward as are the current statuses. I'll begin with overall percentiles at the specific stages."
The Commander nodded.
"Every warrior that has been formed is active, with Lyght's Quad scheduled for missions as soon as we return. We're training en-route due to time constraints. As soon as we attack a few vital enemy holds, we should see a reduction in advancements. Our humans have been immense assets with infiltration, their experience giving us eyes from the inside."
"Good." The commander suddenly eyed all the angels. "Might as well decide who is next up to go to Earth. I know you are all anxiously awaiting your turn."
The angels looked at one another and a few seemed to try and make themselves smaller.
"Me." The room fell utterly silent at the massive black angel's announcement, then erupted in a buzz of conversation.
"Enough. Zool, your Brothers are all eager to take your place." He raised a hand to silence the objections already half-way into the air. "But, you volunteered first. You know what to do to prepare." He eyed all of them before holding his gaze on Dorn once again.
"The status on the human boy." The command came lower.
"We…are still looking."
The Commander's gaze snapped to his. "If you have even a hunch of information, I want it."
"We can't sense him anywhere."
Kassie's gut tightened and emotion rushed up in a flash. She let out a sob and yelped when her eyes shot out bright light across the table and knocked one of the angels into the shiny black wall. "So sorry." She covered her face with both hands as if to hold it in. It was always worse when she cried. Worse when it was to do with Tyler. Because she felt responsible. Lyght's hand stroked along her back and immediately brought the power in submission as if it remembered its true master.
"I got it," she whispered as it went into a place inside her. The power was hungry. Hungry to serve. And her emotions were raw fuel without a logical vessel to exit through. So it just exited wherever.
The doctor…What was it they called him? Farechtera popped into her mind… spoke. "I am to blame for this. I taught the boy how to exit his body thinking it would be a valuable asset."
"No." Kassern shook his head and placed one hand on the table. "It's my fault. If I had thought to be sensitive—"
"You?" Toren brows shot up. "I practically shredded his self-esteem and begged him to get sucked into another fucking dimension."
"Dad, no." Tears spilled past Peggy's lashes yet again. Poor girl. "It's not your fault. It's mine. I shouldn't have taken him, Francis tried to talk me out of it, but…I thought it would be safe."
"Since when is fault a topic of discussion in this chamber?"
Immediate silence fell with the Commander's booming words.
He looked around at all of them. "Find him. That's the beginning and the end. Now." he clasped his hands on the table. "Updates on the... What are you calling them this week? Monkey people? Anyway, an unprovoked attack on the human boy was reported. Have we learned anything?"
"I have." The doctor leaned forward. "The boy is somehow linked to them."
"Linked? How?"
"Somewhere in the family tree, they share DNA."
"Why would that make them want to kill him?" The Commander scowled.
The doc shook his head. "That is the remaining puzzle needing my immediate attention."
The Commander nodded. "I want to be informed as soon as you even think you might know."
The farechtera nodded once. "Understood."
"Kassern, how is your wife?"
Kassie wondered why he asked about Karly as if she weren't sitting right there. "She's…" The ruby warrior hesitated, looking at his wife.
"I'm not well, Commander." She certainly didn't look well, pale and drawn. "I'm tired a lot. Moody. The bite on my leg hurts like a bitch night and day lately. I'm hungry all the time. And…" she stole a look at Kassern. "And I cry a lot."