Papers lay strewn across a desk in the hanger that doubles as an office. Staff ducked to avoid the wings of a jet that was parked and currently undergoing repairs.

To the right a woman sat before a microphone.

"This is Delta, Bravo, Fox. Requesting permission to land," a voice sounded from a speaker nearby.

The women by the mic typed away on a keyboard near her. "Request received. Hold your position until further notice, over."

"Where's scavenging crew forty three?" A female voice boomed. Commanded Natalie walked toward the desk at a brisk pace. Behind her, a young man jogged, trying to keep up.

"Take off confirmed two hours ago." The man tried to shuffle through the pile of papers he carried. "They should be home in the next hour."

"They're late." Natalia thumped a pistol down on a desk near the lady with the microphone. "Someone get this looked at. It's jammed twice on me already."

She whirled to the craft going through repairs. "Status?" She demanded.

A man, whose face was streaked with oil, popped his head around the nose of the jet. "It's a bigger problem...maybe another three days."

"Make it two," Natalia shot back.

Her reply was a nod before the man disappeared again.

With a sigh, the commanded turned to the young man with the papers. "How's the outbreak situation on island 6?"

More shuffling of papers. "Contained." A sheet was handed over. "Here's the report distributed to the commanders."

Snatching the paper, Natalia ran her eyes across it. Her fingers tightened, crinkling the edges. "Four kept to study. Twelve shot. Thirty...euthanized." She looked up. "Is that what they call it these days?" With a shake of her head the paper was tossed on the desk, joining the growing pile. "Peter."

The young man straightened at the mention of his name.

"Get me commander Duke on the line." She tossed him a phone.

The boy grabbed it, dropping the papers in his arms. Falling to his knees, he quickly began to gather them up again.

Natalie ignored him as she turned to the desk and began to rummage through the pile on it.

A door opened nearby and a handsome face peered around. "Natalia!" the man called.

With a scowl, the commander turned to the sound. Seeing the face behind the voice, her scowl relaxed.

The man who had called made a motion.

Natalia dropped the papers she had picked up and strode over. "Louis. You should know well by now that referring to your superior by their first name is not–" She didn't get to finish as Louis grabbed her arm and pulled her through the door. The point of entry was quickly shut behind them.

The commander found herself in a small room with a single desk. Unlike the hanger, in here things were spotless. Books lined shelves, sorted alphabetically. Papers were neatly organized and the desk was mostly empty, save for the lone computer that occupied it.

Natalia turned to find Louis leaned against the door and running a hand over his dark hair.

"What is this?" Natalia asked.

Louis stepped away from the exit. "The matter you asked me to look into..."

Natalia was all ears.

"Natalia..."

"Commander," she corrected.

"Commanded," Louis replied. He paused.

"Well?" Natalia held her breath. "What did you find?"

"I understand why you asked me to look into this," Louis began. "It's a personal matter. But..."

"Spit it out, Louis."

The man nodded. "The whole thing is off. I didn't get much but what little I could...the level of security on this is high."

The commander's eyes narrowed. "How high?"

"Above the Force."

Natalia sucked in her breath.

"But I did get something." Louis walked over to the desk. "The area was bombed before the scavenger team got there. It was declared a clear zone."

"And yet there were infectors and infected," Natalia murmured.

"Correct." Louis opened a drawer. He pulled out a document and dropped it on the table. "The material I could get."

Natalia reached for it.

"Commander."

She looked up to find Louis watching her. "It's quite possible someone lured the infected there."

Having already suspected as much, Natalia nodded. She opened the folder. The first thing her eyes landed on was a bio. It was of a girl she knew well. Asumi, a friend of her brother's. She looked up. "Why is this here?"

Louis simply nodded back to the folder.

Pulling the bio out, Natalia found another face staring back at her. The picture in the corner was of a girl she didn't know well, but the face was familiar. Roanna, the words gave away the name.

"They're bios that were recently wiped from the system. The bios of those considered deceased," Louis began.

Natalia didn't reply as she flipped to the next. Fabian, Shai's close friend. Bios being deleted was nothing new. If someone died they were erased from the system. There was no need to keep track of the dead.

"Death spares no one. Life pauses for none," Natalia murmured the familiar words. When she reached the next bio she froze. Familiar eyes gaze back at her from a handsome face. Her fingers traced the image. Shai. She looked up. "I asked you to look into the incident. Not get me the bios of the dead."

"I know." Louis nodded. "But if you look through that, you'll see there are only six."

Natalia flipped through to see that it was so. All the bios were of teenagers who looked to be around her brother's age. She looked up, question in her eyes.

"Someone accessed the list of the scavenger team right before the bios of the deceased were deleted," Louis revealed.

"So?"

"These six were wiped from the main frame, but I found a trail leading to everything being copied to separate system beforehand."

Natalia's eyes narrowed. "Moved where?"

Louis shrugged. "The trail goes cold. I can't find the end location."

"Why move them...?" The commander trailed off, hope sparking in her eyes.

"I wouldn't count on it," Louis murmured.

"I know." Natalie sighed. "But it has to mean something."

"Actually." Louis leaned on the desk. "There's more." He nodded at the papers in the commander's hands. "The last of the six."

As Louis spoke, Natalie pulled out the last bio. A young man, whose age showed he was a few years older than the others, stared back at her.

"He wasn't on the official list for those deployed on the mission." Louse sifted his weight onto his right foot. "Even more interesting, this isn't the first time he's been on a scavenging mission gone wrong."

Natalie looked up. "What?"

"Yeah." Louis straightened. "The boy and several others were left behind on scavenging a year ago. Before that he and three others went missing during a recon."

"So?"

"Each time he returned. Alone."

Natalie's eyes snapped back to the image. "Alone?"

"The reports filed claim the others died trying to find their way back." Louis crossed his hands over his chest. "But with this being the third time he's gone missing...it seems once too often to be coincidence."

Natalie's eyes read the name next to the picture. "Maverick." She chewed a lip in thought. "What do you make of it?"

"Me?" Louis pointed a finger at his chest. "There's something going on for sure." He ran a hand over his hair. "What it is I have no idea. But it feels like someone high up is involved in whatever it is."

Natalie didn't reply for a moment, lost in thought. "They could be alive," she finally murmured.

"Maybe," Louis agreed. "But for how long?"

Natalie lowered the folder. "Do some more digging, Louis. Find out who's behind this Maverick. Find out what really happened to those that were left behind before."

"Natalie." Louis let out a sigh. "I've already pushed the boundaries with the bios..."

"Find it, Louis."

"I'm expecting a representative of the force to come by any moment and demand an answer to my snooping in the system..."

"Louis," Natalie cut him off.

"I can't."

The commander took a step forward. She reached out a hand and touched Louis' arm. "For old time's sake. Please."

Louis shook his head. "Don't let personal emotions get involved. That's one of the conditions for being a commander, no?"

Natalie dropped her hand. "This doesn't only concern my brother. There's something deeper going on. We need to find out if it's a threat to the islands before it goes any further."

"Is that an order?"

"Yes."

Louis nodded. "Yes, captain."

Natalie shot him a tired smile. "I knew I could count on you."

"You're going to get yourself demoted one day."

"Not yet, Louis. Not yet." The commander closed the file. "I'll see you soon." With that she walked to the door.

"Natalie." Louis turned. "Are you going to look for him?"

She paused, hand on the door handle. "He'd take the quickest route home. If he's alive he won't be that far from home...but no. I'm not looking for him." She turned her head. "I'll just be doing routine checkups along the coast."

Louis chuckled at that. "Sure thing, if that's what you want to call it."

"Get me that information." Natalie pushed the door handle down. "We're going to find out what's going on here." The door was pulled open and the commander disappeared through it, taking the folder with her.

Louis watched the door close. He stood in the same spot for a moment before turning and walking to his desk. Reaching under it, he pressed a button.

"How did it go?" a voice asked.

"I gave her the information, sir," Louis replied as he stood straight.

"What did she say?"

Louis shifted. "She wants me to dig deeper, sir."

There was a pause. "Alright. That should buy some time. Anything else?"

"She'll be checking the coast under the guise of routine."

There was a chuckle. "That's fine. I can handle that."

Louis placed a hand on the desk. He silently tapped a finger against the surface. "Sir, with all due respect. But do you think perhaps letting her in would save us some trouble?"

"That is not an option. We cannot risk having someone with personal emotions get in the way."

Louis didn't reply.

"Do you understand, solider?"

"Yes, sir."

There was a sigh at the other end. "I understand your relationship. However, with our hopes resting on project V and now waiting for the final go ahead, we cannot risk a set-back. No new people."

"I understand, sir." Louis set his mouth in a straight line.

"Good. Until our next check in."

"Yes, sir."

There was a click and the other voice was gone.

Louis sat down in the chair. He tipped his head back and let out a long sigh. "Sorry, Natalie," he murmured. "But it's for the best. It's for humanity." He placed his hand over his eyes. "It may be our only way to get vengeance."