video // public to all // late saturday night

[bancroft]

[ If there's a look that few of you have seen on Thomas Bancroft's face yet, it's this level of somberness.  There's not a single note of his usual joy etched into his expression: rather, he seems to wear all the weight of his many years for everyone to see. ]

These are hardly the circumstances I wanted to first address you all together under.

But I thought it should be known that Sir Francesca, whom a great deal of you know and have benefited from meeting, whether because of her talent for putting each and every one of us at ease in the most dire of circumstances, or because you've had the honor to serve with her in the field, fell today at the hands of our enemy.  She fought nobly, and died the same way as she lived.

With a helluva lot of honor.

[ His expression clouds and he glances behind him briefly ]

We're returning to London at once, and as she wished, we'll be attempting to resurrect her.  [ He stares dully at the camera for a moment, then works his jaw to the side and reaches forward to flick it off ]

May the gods be with us in our attempts to bring her home.