The oshota focused on Kira. "They're ready."
Finally.
Kira pushed off the couch, Raider joining her.
Jace looked between them in confusion. "Where are you going?"
"You said you wanted a location and a plan before making a decision." Kira nodded at the oshota. "Well, I just achieved the first."
Time to go figure out the second.
"Sir!" A soldier sprung to attention at Jace's approach, snapping a salute as his colleague rushed to open the door to the conference room.
"At ease," Jace instructed, marching past without sparing them a look.
Kira and Raider followed, the latter jerking his head at Finn. "He's with me."
Despite his obvious uncertainty, the soldier didn't try to stop them as they entered the room.
"It would be more accurate to say you're with us," Finn said as the door closed behind them.
"We're standing in a human base. It's pretty obvious who's with who," Raider shot back.
Kira barely heard their argument, taking in the crowded briefing room.
Graydon and Wren, their oshota arrayed behind them like lethal looking bookends, stared down the three officers across from them with identical impassive expressions.
Two of the humans Kira didn't recognize. Captains, the both of them.
The third was an old friend of hers.
"Commander Hollis, may I offer late congratulations on your promotion," Kira said.
The Commander laced her hands over her stomach and leaned back to look up at Kira. "Hearing that from you feels good. Just think—if you hadn't pulled your disappearing act, you might still outrank me."
The commander was a middle aged woman of African descent with an unflappable personality and a mean right hook, Kira knew from experience.
"Coli, your friends were just informing me of their inclusion in this briefing," Graydon said, his tone dangerous as he gave the humans across from him an amused look. "Which is strange because I don't remember agreeing to their attendance."
One of the captains, a blond man by the last name of Shepperd, according to the tag on his uniform, slammed a hand down on the conference table. "Watch yourself. You're a guest in our home."
The atmosphere in the room changed. Hostility and aggression filling it on both sides.
"They're here because I invited them," Jace interjected, stopping at the head of the table "This is my base, after all. Got a problem with that?"
The question was a challenge. As was Jace's unfriendly smile.
Graydon looked up at Kira. "That would be up to her. Given it's her mission and all."
Jace didn't like that response. Nor did the two captains. Hollis's expression remained neutral. An interested bystander for the moment.
"It's fine." Kira touched Graydon's shoulder in a request for him to tone down the antagonism. "Jace and I reached a tentative agreement."
Whether that would continue to be the case depended on what Odin had to share.
"As you wish," Graydon murmured.
Kira took a seat beside him, Finn taking up a stance behind her as Raider threw himself into a chair at the other end of the table.
