Sense leaving the party Zim hadn't slept. He just kept going over the reports and the sat feeds, while attempting to reach out to family and friends who were still planetside at the time of the attack. No luck, of course, and no glimmer of hope, either. Zim knew from the training that the Cruxi wouldn't outright kill everyone, but they would kill enough of them to prove a point. Zim also knew that it would be better for the ones that died. Images played out in his unsleeping eyes of his Mother being pushed into a stasis tube, experiments ran on her. It got so bad that Zim could do little more then to stare into the corner of his room and sob as he tortured himself over thoughts of what could be.
He was finally shook from his madness when the call came for Squad Sigma to assemble. Zim was amongst the first to arrive. He was still dressed in his formal dress uniform. It was disheveled and unkempt, so unlike the night before when he had been so clean and precise. Zim's eyes showed no light and no glimmer, they were dark grey pits, and puffy red circles highlighted them against the pilots pale complexion. To be blunt, Zim looked like shit. He didn't care, he felt like shit. If Ritsu or someone else of rank mentioned his uniform he might make an absentminded attempt at pushing the uniform around as if attempting to fix it. It wouldn't get any better. His only responses when directly talked to would be half mumbled responses and automated reflexes. Zim was, to be sure, despondent.
When the briefing began Zim willed himself to focus on the briefing. It didn't take long before it had his full attention. His eyes cleared as he actually focused his whole mind on the holo-globe projection of his home planet. Assault Packs. Great. Elise was back on the squad, good. The new members too, of course. Also good. Inara too? Zim wasn't sure he liked that, but they would need every bit of firepower they could get, and it was no secret that she was able to do things with her Werk that nobody else in the fleet could come anywhere close to. 'A separate deployment?' Zim thought, 'Stupid. She is just being childish because of our previous interactions. Then again, maybe not such a bad idea? The main group could act as a decoy while she attacks high-value targets.' Zim thought back to the training mission, trying to remember if Inara's Werk was equipped with stealth capabilities. 'No, I don't think it was,' Zim's internal dialog continued, 'Katya, tell her to deploy with the rest of the group. Ritsu agrees, she's just testing you,' he urged her in his mind.
When the discussion about Ritsu's deployment ended Zim raised his hand to speak. "Ma'am," He started once called on, "I have been going over what reports have been made available at this time. I know that most of the weapons platforms were already destroyed. Do we have any information on the ground to space defensive cannons? Have the Cruxi taken control of them, any data on how many are still available? Additionally, what other support can we expect in this mission?"
Zim was already starting to work out strategy and thinking about how the assault packs could be used. Zim's eyes now burned with vengeance.
