Comfortable and allowed, finally, to rest, it would've been easy for Keziah to simply fall asleep. But she couldn't, not until she was certain that Cyril was going to be all right. The medic hovering over him with the scanner didn't look concerned, so she resolved to not be that concerned, either. Still...

She let herself nestle into Claire. The medic came over and gave her a shot of a painkiller before turning back to Cyril, and very quickly she could feel the drug flush through her system, taking away with it all the aches she had built up over the firefight. Her very first bit of combat against armed soldiers. Very first time she had ever been shot at, or seen people die. She remembered the dock crew, and not even the painers could keep back the wave of nausea that whipped through her.

Closing her eyes tightly, Keziah curled up on herself, hugging her chest as chills ran through her. It passed after a long minute, leaving the tang of bile in the back of her throat. "I'll be fine," she wheezed, preemptively dismissing any concern directed her way.

Claire smiled faintly, looking down at Keziah as she curled up, scooting over so that her head rested on her lap. She affectionately ran her hand down Keziah's neck, playing with her hair a little. "Just rest a while sweetie. You've had a rough day." Claire was making an entry for 'understatement of the year', apparently. A medic noticed the tears in her uniform and the shots she had taken, but was waved away when he tried to assist. Normally Claire would enjoy the male attention, but she would be fine for now.

Tweak made it back onto her feet and made her way back through the conduits in her civvies. It was no use, she was too drained to recreate her uniform. She needed more than raw energy, she needed materials for her blood to use and aside from leaving gaping holes in the sides of the conduit there didn't seem to be any way of replacing it.

So she retraced her path and took a side route that would take her back to the observation room, then wandered out into the hallway. Voices drew her attention toward the bay, but she wanted to investigate the place where most of her team had taken their stand. However, the 'spacer neko was sure to draw attention. Although her ears were covered, she was rather noticeably out of uniform.

Cassefin gazed disparagingly at the Vinross Yu-Cranker vessel a last time, her brow furrowed in hopeless frustration. With Laj safely on board, the rest of the Uniques followed him in. Docking lights on the bottom of the ship began flashing, signifying the ship beginning procedures for take-off. The only ones left on the ground were Marrisa Cranker and Captain Bell...and surprisingly, they had turned to the Head Administrator and were quickly approaching. "Everyone keep quiet, let me do the talking," Cassefin said quietly and suddenly, cutting her conversation with Squad 35 to a momentary pause as Miss Cranker approached.

"Head Administrator Montreal," Marrisa said with a slight nod. "I'm sorry to hear about the casualties your employees have taken...but right now we have a very serious matter on our hands. Laj Vinross Yu was injured by the brigands during the attack; I blame my own security force for allowing it to happen, but luckily his injuries are not fatal nor permanent. Never the less, we are going to take him to one of our nearby facilities; Vinross Yu-Cranker has its own private staff of doctors, so we need not trouble you for the Cirrus' medical staff when your employees seem to need them more."

Captain Bell, her helmet removed for the moment revealing more of the tightly-bound blond ponytail and straight, strong face, remained quiet for Marrisa's explanation. However, midway through the conversation it could be clearly seen that she and the guard captain, Abeck Winston, were waging a secret war behind everyone's backs, the two of them locked in critical stares. Before long, Bell cracked a smile at the handsome guard captain. Abeck simply continued to glare through narrowed eyes.

---

"Uh...that you, Tweak?"

As Tweak left the observation room, entering the relatively empty hallway, she could sense two figures catching sight of her from the arches on both sides of the bulkhead door. Two figures were standing guard there, no doubt positioned their earlier by one of their superiors; two familiar figures, one smaller than most, the other taller. Both of the figures raised their visors as the smaller one exclaimed his slight surprise to see the green-haired CSS member, revealing the familiar faces of George and Lenny as they continued to deduce exactly who had just stepped out of the room.

"Wow, uh, thought that room was empty. You...uh...forget your uniform today or somethin'?" George asked, scratching his chin mindlessly.

---

"So, you understand how we will be making preparations to launch immediately," Marrisa continued. "I suppose I am to apologize to you as well; it's highly likely that these pirates heard about our business venture to your station and that we were indeed the targets of the aggression. We will have to discuss these things later on, however. You, as the head administrator, understand our position, correct?"

Marrisa Cranker didn't bother waiting for Cassefin's answer, turning back around and making her way towards the ship. Captain Bell, Unique helmet hanging loosely in the crook of her arm, lingered for another moment or two, however, still silently at odds with the CSS Guard Captain. Finally, the sinister woman shifted her weight, starting to turn and follow after Marrisa.

"Good to see you again, Abeck."

"No."

Claire had only taken long enough to gently set Keziah down before rising and aiming her weapon at Captain Bell. (Believeing her to be the greater threat.) She quickly eyed the marines around her, hoping they would either join her in her refusal to let this go or prevent Cassefin from doing anything to try and stop her.

"You honestly believe that we are going to let you leave after we witnessed you killing these people down here and trying to kill us? I don't fucking care what lie you spout or what you lead Mrs. Montreal to believe." The seething anger that radiated from Claire would put even Cassefin to shame. She rarely got angry enough to be hostile, but when she did... it was a miracle she hadn't shot already. "You know damn well that you can't cover up what you did here. I refuse to let you leave just because you're too much of a coward to own up to your failure."

Claire's eye twitched as it glanced at the hangar doors. "And why is NOBODY FUCKING SEALING THOSE OFF YET?" This was primarily directed at Serra, but anyone that would do it would be cooling down Claire's temper a little.

Speedy followed Claire's example, since he also had a bone to pick with the 'visitors'. He still had the modified canister in his weapon, and he stepped forward to level his weapon at Captain Bell, with a smug satisfaction that if he missed here, the weapon would punch a hole in the ship (or at lest cause significant damage) He help his fire however; he wasn't going to jump the gun.

"Sealing hangar doors." Noboru sprinted off towards the hangar's control panel. He had barely an inkling of what was going to happen when he started hitting buttons- he wasn't trained for ship operations. Nevertheless, he went over to the control panel and hit the most obvious button, which was (by a stroke of luck) the hangar door control.

Serra followed behind Noboru and watched him hit a button on the control panel. Looking over his shoulder, Serra noted he hit the proper button to control the doors. She then reached to the panel and activated the other button that sealed the doors.

"Close." Serra mentioned as she turned and walked back to the assembled detachment.

A couple gasps of surprise and murmurs began rising from some of the Cirrus Station personnel in the immediate area. None of them moved to assist Claire or the others, most likely simply from uncertainty of just what was happening. The doors separating the Vinross Yu-Cranker ship remained tightly closed, prompting Marrisa and Bell to pause at the start of the vessel's entrance ramp.

Cassefin Montreal was really the only one to react to Squad 35's efforts. As they bustled about, the Head Administrator immediately pulled up a volumetric panel before her, furiously tapping away at the series of keys with a stern, unwavering expression. As a result, the bay doors began to open, slowly but steadily, revealing the open space beyond the massive doors. Shimmering, distorting effects skewed their view of the countless stars outside, created by the simple suppression field holding back the vacuum of space. Despite all of their efforts, neither Serra nor Noboru would be able to reverse the process.

"We can't keep them here," Cassefin said as she finished, her voice laden with several different emotions. "Stand down."

Speedy, still ready for blood, even though the Head Administrator ordered them to stand down, remembered one thing; he was a soldier. And if soldiers must do anything, that was following orders. he didn't leave eye contact with Captain Bell even when lowering his weapon; if they made any sudden moves, he might forget his training for just a moment...