As the others filed out of the jeeps and began to realise what they were seeing, Duncan stood paralysed by indecision. Everyone [i]knew[/i] the Galbadians had nukes and everyone [i]knew[/i] that they were crazy enough to use them, that was why no nation had ever really stood up to them before. But seeing that missile arc toward Trabia, undoubtedly aimed at Garden, was deeply shocking nonetheless. Whoever was in control of Galbadia now, they had crossed a terrible threshold. [b]'... if they're launching one nuke, they'll launch more.'[/b] Now that they nuclear arsenal had been unleashed, the only force powerful enough to take Galbadia on would be Esthar... or a fully mobilised army of SeeD. [b]'... Corvo will know what to do. I hope.'[/b]

Duncan turned resolutely away from the trail across the sky and turned to the others. [b]'Shit. Well the way I see it, we have two responsibilities. First and foremost, returning to Balamb Garden to warn them and evacuate. Second, to prevent any further missiles from being launched.'[/b] Mind racing, he thought through how this could work; they had a handful of experienced operatives here, plus a team of Galbadia Garden SeeDs. Considering that the enemy would be alerted to their escape and would likely pull up a dragnet to catch them, whoever set out to Balamb would be hounded the entire way. On the other hand, infiltrating a facility that didn't even know it had been rustled would be child's play... [b]'Jake, your men will flank out around the team by a mile or so and protect them as they make their way to Timber. There will be search parties, so expect contact.'[/b] He cast an appraising eye across the team wondering who best to send... [b]'Xerox and Jericho. You two are now in charge. I want you to work [i]together[/i] to come up with a good solution to return to Balamb; you know the locations of the airships dropped in prep for the Timber mission, try making for one of them.'[/b] He didn't feel comfortable leaving any one person in charge, but the two of them complemented each other well; experience versus intellect. [b]'Take everyone with you and ensure that they reach Balamb safely. From there, report to Corvo and inform him of... that.'[/b]

The others they had picked up would be safe with them, he was sure. Griff was a very competent rifle... woman? And of course Minerva was a veteran in her own right. They would fit in quite well, he hoped. [b]'As for me... I'm going that way. I'll go on foot, infiltrate the base and blow the cunt up.'[/b] Admittedly he didn't have much of a plan for how, but infiltration was his speciality; he would manage. [b]'Afterwards I'll commandeer a vehicle and head back to Balamb. All going well I'll be able to stop the next launch or otherwise misdirect it, but make damn sure that Garden is secured either way. Just in case.'[/b] The real unknown was the size of the warhead; anything over a couple of megatons would flatten the town of Balamb too. [i]I'll just have to stop the launch then,[/i] he thought flippantly. [b]'... questions? We don't have a whole lot of time for democracy right now.'[/b]