If they opted for silence, the journey would be long, quiet, and rather uneventful. Period off-shoots in the maintenance tunnel at predictable intervals were the only breaks in any grab-push-grab patterns as those mindful of them could turn their weapons down the tunnels to scan for anything threatening. The low-light mode of their suits would really be good more for tracking where they were in relation to the walls than for seeing very far in any direction.
Only pin-pricks of light from maintenance panels would provide any sort of illumination otherwise. And other than that Valerie stayed quiet for the most part and JANE's drawn path and indicator served as constant reminders where they were needing to go if they were to get disoriented or lost somehow.
Gravity would soon come into the picture again. Somewhat gradual but unexpected enough that when it first pulled her down, Valerie stumbled a couple of steps before she managed to catch herself from falling with a tight grip on the hand-rail she'd been using. It was hardly enough to feel normal just yet but as they moved closer and closer an end to the maintenance tunnel would come in sight and the team would start to feel relatively normal weight on their shoulders again by the time they'd close in on a hatch in the wall directly ahead.
Valerie, by virtue of having been at point, was the first to the hatch. A manually locked one by the looks of the wheel mounted on its center. She motioned for one of the others to take a position where they'd be able to have a bead on anybody on the other side before she slung her rifle and moved to start turning the wheel.
"See anybody on the other side - and you kill 'em." Valerie declared simply, "Worst case scenario, its a hot run to the ship. Even if I'd prefer it not be." And with that Valerie set to work opening the hatchway.
There was no dramatic hiss or cloud of steam - pressure was relatively matched on either side. But there was the heavy thud of metal meeting metal that drew a sharp profanity from the team leader as she backed up to start pulling the door open. As she did she drew her pistol to move and aim around the side of the door as it swung further open. The team and the maintenance tunnel in general was hit with a yellow-white glow of artificial lights too far up to see through the open hatchway without standing in it.
And thankfully several feet of open ground that were completely empty between their entryway and a pale red cargo container. Stepping out the hatch would reveal that they were between unloaded cargo containers and the wall of the docking bay. Breaks in the containers formed "alleys" of sorts and the various heights of the stack ranged from one container that somebody could jump and pull themselves up on to stacks high enough to go past the catwalk that looked like it likely ran the entirety of the room.
Valerie made a motion for the team to spread out, specifically to the two "alleys" that bracketed their entry on either side of the container directly ahead, "Keep with your assigned team as much as possible. And try to stay low-profile." She whispered to them as she moved for the left alley.
It was now that they'd have more freedom to move. Careful planning and movement to avoid making noise might allow somebody willing to use the container to scale up to others and potentially get good firing lines - though none of the stacks tall enough to reach the maintenance walkways could be reached without crossing over pathways where people might be down below who could notice it happening.
Down the alleyway on the right, voices could be heard before anybody would even be able to peak around the corner,
"So the Captain is expecting somebody?" A male voice asked.
"He's just worried, is all. Ship is having problems and after what happened - who knows what the Navy managed to pull? He says the folks paying for this job warned him to keep an eye out." Another man, younger by the sound.
"Did they say who they thought it was?"
"I don't know. Spooks, maybe?"
There was silence between the two talking. A peak around the corner would reveal a pair of men in unremarkable street clothes. They were standing halfway between the end of the "alley" where the agents were and a four-way cross between different sections - walking away. Neither of the
thugs seemed to be paying too much attention to their surroundings, looks of concern on their faces as their growing distance made it impossible to eavesdrop on their further, now whispered, conversation.
On the other end there was silence - but it wasn't empty. Looking around the corner would reveal another pair of
thugs much like the first two. One was a female with brightly colored hair leaning back against a cargo container as she pulled on a cigarette, one hand on a
shotgun as she periodically looked both ways. The other was an older gray-haired man, crouched down and visibly using a DataJockey with an
SMG tucked under one arm.
What happened next was in the hands of the Agents of her team. Valerie waited to see how they would all act. They knew the plan - but now it was on them to carry out their parts in it. She couldn't always hold their hands and tell them what to do.