Emerald Flight: Homecoming: Return to Grace (continued)

There was an abrupt blast of noise from the overhead speakers. It was not exactly a klaxon, but it got everyone’s attention. The loud exclamations of conversation faded to dull murmurs. The sound was repeated and the crowd grew nearly silent.

“All on-duty personnel, report to Amphitheater One,” a calm, but authoritative voice announced.

There was a brief pause before the message was repeated.

“All on-duty personnel, report to Amphitheater One.” Another pause. “This base is now under Security Condition Orange. Civilians are requested to remain in their quarters or in clearly designated public areas.”

Elizabeth stared at the monitors. Their earlier images had been replaced with a softly pulsing indicator of the security level. She turned to Jackson. There was something hard, yet lost, in his expression. Elizabeth opened her mouth to ask him, but he turned away without looking at her.

“I need to go,” he told her.

His voice was huskily quiet, unsuccessfully masking some kind of pain. Without even a backward glance in her direction, he followed the others toward the amphitheater on the opposite side of the quad.

Elizabeth watched him go, pulling as if she had punched. It was not as though she and Jackson had developed that deep of a relationship, nor was she that strongly attracted to him, but would it have hurt him to take a moment to see whether she was okay?

She stood silently for a long moment. The others milling around her faded from her awareness as she struggled to resolve this latest strike to her psyche. She wanted to cry, or scream, or something. Instead, she pushed the feelings away, replacing them with a conscious determination for more constructive action.

Although she was not currently on-duty, she was still on active status, even if currently on leave. Although, those in her particular situation had not been specifically addressed by the instructions announced over the base’s public address system, she decided to follow the others and attend what was likely to be a briefing anyway. It was unlikely, she optimistically presumed, that she would be denied admittance to the large auditorium. If she was, then she would have to wait like everyone else not specifically included until the information became available through less formal channels—annoying, but probably the only other option that would otherwise keep her out of the brig.