[member="Weiss"]
The Sergeant stood there amongst the other NCO's for the majority of the briefing. Although he was younger than the majority of them, his difference was easily noted. After being held prisoner by One-Sith forces for over six months, he had changed. He now grew out his beard and kept it trimmed against his face neatly, mainly to cover the scarring that was the result of the torture.
The most definite change could only of been recognized by those close to him..His eyes. Calderon's icy blue hues once contained the look of heroism and a gun-ho, battle ready attitude-
Now Valkren had seen the other side of war, the darker side.
His eyes told almost a story of defeat, of a broken soldier, and of a weak heart. This was one of the many reasons Valkren did not hold a female close to him as a spouse, as he didn't know if either of them could handle the emotional stress. He let those close to him be only his family and squadmates, and even then he considered his squadmates his family. Unfortunately, that meant that those men could tell the difference in his eyes.
He still tried to act the same, leaving only somewhat of an emotional shell to protect the turmoil of emotions that were his thoughts. He wished he didn't have to hide it. Hell, he wished there wasn't anything to hide at all, but being in the position he was in meant he had to keep his emotions at bay or risk the safety of his team in a combat situation, and he damn well wasn't going to do that.
The deployment sounded simple enough during the briefing, the commando team-leader wasn't really worried about the mission at hand for the moment, he was more worried about how his team would preform. This was their first deployment back with Valkren being team lead again, Jonathan Michaels having taken command in the Sergeant's absence. They had run the simulations, they went through the drills; it seemed like everything was going to be alright.
Yet, something didn't feel right still..
Valk's train of thought was interrupted as he caught the Captain's salute, returning with a salute of his own. "Aye Sir."
The Sergeant's eyes gazed over quickly as the last of the NCOs left the room, leaving only him and the Captain and whatever staff the Captain had with him. "Yes Sir, a few actually.. Insertion method, and insertion point? Will we be receiving back up or are we going into this area alone?"
Valkren certainly didn't mind the backup of other marines, but he didn't believe they'd need it. Saber team had completed loads of missions against almost impossible odds, but if he had to he'd gladly lead others into the fray. If the Captain had read their files, he'd easily know that the commando team would be just as dependable operating alone, and it could be more efficient. Sending the six man team in on their own would let other NCO's take the extra shooters that would have been given to him to other locations on the battlefield where needed.