As Cyril's leg became untangled from the cords below the vent, he would find himself landing against the hard metal frame on top of the Vinross Yu-Cranker transport. The four Uniques continued to fire at him until he fell out of sight, concealed by the freighter's girth. "Ladder, in the back," one of the Uniques said, motioning to a small set of bars near the rear of the transport's large rear cargo module. Three of them started towards it, while the other stayed at the side of the vessel, her weapon trained carefully over the rim of the ship.
Cyril, once he shook off the shock from the fall, would find his options very limited. The top surface of the freighters hull was barren, with very little to work with. A few large docking couplings rested in a straight pattern across the spine of the ship, but other than that there were no doors, hatches or entrances of any kind.
---
The newly opened door that the remainder of Squad 35 had been mulling about led deeper into the weapon testing facility. The first thing they would see through the bulkhead was a long, common hallway. The power shortage had apparently also taken its toll on this part of the station as well, as the once-white hallway was now bathed in a light red glow from silent, flashing emergency light fixtures.
The hallway visibly led to yet another dead end, a large closed bulkhead cutting them off from what would've been a four-way junction. On either side of the hall near the closed bulkhead, however, were two doors that were already open. Holographic displays above the doors would quickly give away the contents of each of the rooms; the sign above the left door simply read "Assembly Wing 23", while the sign on the right said "Development Lab Wing 23". Both of the rooms were emitting sounds which echoed down the quiet hallway; voices and the sound of mechanisms and machinery.
Beyond what the CSS squad could see, there were two more rooms closed off to them by nonfunctional doors.
For those observant enough, there were grates similar to the ones Squad 35 used earlier in the Observation Room. These vents led to more maintenance tunnels, compartmentalized to only serving this particular wing of the Armament Assessment and Development laboratories. A single long maintenance tunnel also connected to this wing's docking bay, where the Uniques continued to advance further into the station.
As Dick hurried ahead of the others, he stopped and glanced up at the Development Lab Wing 23 sign. "This is one of my labs, dedicated to plasma dynamics. I should have some equipment in here..."
---
While Squad 35 desperately continued to find their bearings, the Uniques at the elevator had caught up to their comrade who was quickly scaling the circular staircase. However, at the top she would only find a crude barricade of tables, chairs and other miscellaneous items, compliments of Stovaa. Captain Bell, who was at the flank of the four scaling the stairs, shouted her orders up to the Unique taking point. "Well? Break it down! They can't have gone far, not with the lockdown in progress!"
Nodding, the Unique began to oblige her commanding officer, forcefully testing the barrier with a few sharp hits with the butt of her simple assault rifle. The makeshift nature of the barricade made it very shaky...but given the position the Unique was in, still an obstacle to get by none the less. However, it wouldn't be long before the Uniques would be past it.
