Author’s notes:
This is a little prequel scene for the episode Special Assignment, where Scarlet pretends to go off the rails and gets kicked out of Spectrum, and also to explain why he had a tranq gun on him when Blue came looking for him.
It was the early hours of the morning when Scarlet slipped through Cloudbase’s empty halls, carefully following one of several routes that avoided most of the cameras in this area.
The private meeting in Colonel White’s quarters had dragged on for hours. By the end of it, he’d agreed to the plan, but now he was starting to question the wisdom of it all, as he considered the situation he was going to create and extrapolated what his friends might do in response. The colonel had specifically told him that he couldn’t clue in any of the captains; their reactions had to be genuine for his cover to hold, but he knew that this was not going to go down well.
“Why the hell did you agree to this, Paul?” Scarlet asked himself sourly. “Adam’s going to hit the roof and no matter what the Old Man says, I doubt he’s just going to drop it when ordered to. I’ll have to prepare for that. But I can’t do this without talking to her first. If Adam doesn’t come after me, she will, and I’m not putting her in that kind of danger.”
To his relief he found he’d timed it perfectly, and Dianne left the Room of Sleep just as he arrived. “Dianne!” he called her softly, beckoning for her to join him in an alcove where they couldn’t be seen.
“Paul?” She slipped over to him, sensing something was afoot. “What’s going on?”
“I… look, I don’t have much time before my flight.” He drew her close and kissed her brow. “I’m under orders to do something stupid. Several stupid things in fact.” He sighed, wishing he had more time. “I’ll explain it all when it’s over, I promise.”
“You’re not making much sense,” Dianne told him, looking up at him thoughtfully. “You can’t explain any further, I presume?”
Paul nodded, his expression rueful. “Everyone’s reactions have to be genuine for it to work.”
“I see.” She kissed him gently on the lips. “And I take it you’re not supposed to be telling me?” Her raised eyebrow was offset by her smile.
“I was told I couldn’t tell the other captains,” Paul clarified and half-smiled at her. “So I’m still following orders.” He sighed and kissed her again, wanting to store up some affection to bolster himself for what would probably be several trying days. “Don’t tell anyone, and if he comes to you, don’t let Adam come after me.”
“S.I.G.” Dianne nodded. “Be careful,” she told him, giving him one last, lingering kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Paul reluctantly let her go. His flight was in fifteen minutes and he still had a few things to do, including a quick visit to the armoury to pick up something just in case Adam did follow him.