Shadows of the World » Band of Brothers

44: Tell Us What You've Seen

"Come back. Tell us what you've seen. Tell us you met a god so reckless, so lonely, it will love us all." - Traci Brimhall, Late Novena

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On the third of June the team of four were let into the airfield, which had been firmly locked up for the previous four days. Their security clearance was higher than anyone who had been admitted previously, and the guards on duty had been told to expect them, so they were let in with little trouble.

The officers of Easy Company were due to be briefed first, and the team had been told to meet one Lewis Nixon in some room or other as he would be the one doing the briefing and thus introducing them. Jules thought that the name rang a bell, but she had met so many Americans during her time in Aldbourne it was difficult to discern whether she had actually met him or whether someone else simply had a similar name.

When they were let into the room he was in, recognition immediately dawned on her; he was one of the officers she had met when helping Gene with supplies that one time. The fun one, who had been all cheeky grins. She remembered liking him.

"You! I remember you!" Nixon exclaimed upon seeing them, pointing at Juliette with a short laugh. "You're a spy?"

Jules grinned. "Certainly seems that way."

Nixon laughed, shaking his head. "I knew there was something about you. Didn't know it was espionage, but I knew there was something."

Tom took over, then, doing the formal introductions. He was required to tell Nixon their real first names (surnames were never allowed to be shared) and their specific areas of expertise, all the while the intelligence officer made note of what he was saying.

"Are the enlisted going to know what you're doing in Normandy?" Nixon asked about halfway into their meeting.

Thomas considered the question for a moment. Sometimes Jules thought that it took him longer to consider things because initially he forgot it was now his job to decide everything. Eventually, he replied, "Just tell them we'll be there helping to make their job easier. That's all they need to know."

Nixon nodded. "Alright." He, of course, had been told what they'd be doing when he was informed of their existence, but there was no need to spread it amongst the enlisted who were much more liable to leak information. Plus, it wasn't necessary that they were in the know on absolutely everything.

The officers of the company were surprised, to say the least, when Nixon's lecture on the invasion and their tactics turned to the team of spies who would be hidden in amongst them. Luck was on their side, however, in that Easy Company's previous commanding officer, who Alex had warned them about for how unpleasant he was said to be, had been transferred elsewhere. The man who was in charge now, Lieutenant Thomas Meehan, was a tad cautious about how to approach asking them anything, either because he was unsure how much he was allowed to know or merely suspicious of them in general, but was generally agreeable. This was much the same with the other officers, though many of them warmed up to them quickly.

Juliette caught sight of a toothy grin seemingly permanently etched onto the face of who she had been told was Harry Welsh, seeming to love the drama of it all, which made her inclined to like him. He sat close to the ginger man she had come across during her first meeting with Nixon, who she now knew as Richard Winters. Winters watched them carefully, though not unkindly.

Their presence in the meeting lasted for around forty-five minutes as a whole, mostly due to the fact that it was in the nature of the officers' jobs to know as much as they were permitted about what a team of spies was jumping into Normandy with them for. They were told about everything they were set to be doing but scarcely anything else: no surnames, no codenames, no previous missions to detail experience, and no details on their training. They were told in no uncertain terms by Thomas, who had had to adopt the stern, serious persona of the commanding officer they had always had in Alex, that they were to ask no questions beyond what directly affected them. When he asked if there were any questions at the end of his short briefing, wisely, they all remained silent.