Jeanne was quite curious to hear that Dame Kal'tsit had something to ask her. Did this doctor, who knew almost everything, have something she needed help with? Furthermore, her understanding of this land was far inferior to that of this scholar! If it was something Kal'tsit didn't know, Jeanne figured she probably wouldn't know it either!
"Alright then, I'll come find you later this evening. But I can't guarantee I'll definitely know the things you want to find out!"
Despite being somewhat puzzled by the reason for the invitation, Jeanne readily agreed to the other party's request. After all, the other party had no ill intentions; it was just a matter of finding out some information. She could just adapt to the situation when the time came. Seeing Jeanne accept the invitation, Kal'tsit nodded to her and then stepped into the room to handle her affairs.
Once Kal'tsit saw the other party leave, she went back inside. To think it had been quite a smooth day, only to end up tripping over her own people at the very end! Thinking of this, Jeanne couldn't help but sigh. She had dug a hole for herself, and she could blame no one but herself.
Inside the room, Kal'tsit scanned the surroundings. After confirming there was no one else and no eavesdropping devices nearby, she pulled a compact device from her luggage. Her check for eavesdroppers wasn't because she distrusted the people here or thought they would listen in, but simply a matter of habit. Even if she were resting in a cave, she would check the surroundings first; otherwise, she couldn't feel at ease.
The communication device she held looked even more delicate than the one used by the Confessarius, yet it possessed an indescribable sense of age. It was strange, as "delicate advanced equipment" and "a sense of age" were two terms that usually had no connection and were almost impossible to appear together. Advanced equipment is typically newly made, so how could it have such a sense of age? Yet, for some reason, these two irrelevant concepts could describe this object simultaneously.
Kal'tsit swiped across the smooth screen and tapped something; soon, the communicator at Babel began to ring. The first person to notice the sound was little Amiya, who was waiting obediently in the office for Theresa and the others to finish their meeting. Seeing the communicator on Theresa's desk ringing, the little rabbit thought for a moment and then hurriedly ran to the meeting room to find Theresa. She remembered Theresa had said that if this communicator rang, she was to be notified immediately regardless of what she was doing. But in her haste, she seemed to have forgotten there was a telephone in the office that could call the meeting room directly.
Kal'tsit, seeing that Theresa and the Doctor didn't answer immediately, didn't feel anxious. She simply sat there and waited quietly.
"Kal'tsit? Is that you?"
After a while, Theresa hurried back to the office and answered the call. Kal'tsit immediately began to chide her.
"Nearly five minutes have passed. If this were a call during a true emergency, everything would be too late, Theresa!" Five minutes—in certain situations, an extremely vital five minutes! If she had truly needed assistance, everything would have been over by the time the emergency signal was received. Fortunately, this was merely a hypothetical scenario. She was not in danger; otherwise, she would not have waited so quietly.
"Ah, sorry, sorry! Things got so busy here, I forgot to keep the communicator on me! My apologies..." Theresa offered no other excuses, simply apologizing for her mistake. This was indeed due to her own error, and no one else bore any responsibility.
Kal'tsit could hear a hint of haste in Theresa's voice, as if she had just been handling something very important.
"Did something happen?" Kal'tsit's heart tightened. She worried that some accident had occurred at Babel during the short time she was away. Logically, most elite operators were currently recuperating at headquarters. It wasn't as if Theresis intended to steamroll over Babel, right? If so, why would he have just negotiated?
"Uh... there is a bit of a problem, but we are solving it!" Realizing Kal'tsit had guessed something was wrong, Theresa explained. Kal'tsit didn't believe her; if the problem were minor, why was the office empty, and why hadn't the Doctor spoken yet?
"What exactly happened!" Kal'tsit knew they were worried her mission in Ursus would be affected by the news, but she needed to know. If it were truly severe, she could change the terms for releasing the hostages.
"Ascalon was captured alive by Theresis while trying to rescue the hostages!"
Kal'tsit fell into silence. She hadn't even known the Doctor had sent Ascalon to rescue the hostages! As for her defeat by Theresis, that was normal; although she was a master of stealth, she was still a step below Theresis.
"Haven't I already come here to exchange hostages for our intelligence personnel? Why did the Doctor send Ascalon out again?" Kal'tsit knew this wasn't Theresa's order. If this didn't involve the Doctor, she'd eat two pounds of catnip when she got back!
"The Doctor said... even if a rescue succeeded, it would take time. We couldn't be certain that during that interval, they wouldn't betray Babel or reveal information about the landship, so..."
Kal'tsit understood. The Doctor didn't want Ascalon to rescue them, but to kill them! It was the fastest way to cut losses. It was exactly the choice that person would make: the smallest cost for the greatest value. Unfortunately, the mission had failed. Kal'tsit now understood Theresis's complex tone earlier; she had contacted him shortly after he captured Ascalon.
"Phew... you shouldn't have to worry about Ascalon's safety anymore. I've already contacted Theresis..." Kal'tsit recounted her conversation. Theresa was pleasantly surprised to hear he was willing to release the Babel members.
"Don't be surprised too early. There's a high probability he's already obtained some news regarding our landship excavation, and the returning members will need a period of vetting..."
The speaker was the Doctor, who had just entered the office, still wearing the outfit that concealed her face and skin. Judging by her raspy voice, she hadn't rested for a long time.
"Our people did send back news. Theresis has imprisoned Ascalon but hasn't interrogated her. Likely, it's to show sincerity." The Doctor shared this relatively good news. In this situation, the safety of that elite operator was more important than anything.