RP: YSS Miharu Mission 3: The sound of machina

[Zack]

Wazu nodded, and promptly left the cell. If time was indeed limited then it made sense to use it as efficiently as possible and this meant locating the best source of information nearby. As he entered the hallway Wazu was already looking around for a computer terminal or physical documentation of anything that had gone on here.

This could very well be his only chance to get information from this event, and he didn’t plan on wasting it talking to soldiers.

 

[Nyton]

Wazu exited the room only to see other Armors bringing more prisoners to Sanjuro. No terminals were visible nor information could be discertained here aside that he was in a prison center. There was only the hallway which led farther down to more cells or the opposite direction which led out. The hallway was difficult to move in as Armors and nekos moved about quickly while carrying what casualties could be moved. Some of the ones following him out were armed, having paused to grab one of the weapons that had been delivered.

The scanners on Sanjuro's DAISY were assisted with extra data from the C model's enhanced sensor suite. AIES automatically linked up and were able to scan not only the casualty in front of him, but even those around and outside of the room. With their proximity much closer to the patients the system was now unimpeded and could scan through them clearly. Since he was currently focused on the neko in front of him he only received her data. Scans showed no signs of foreign bodies such as biological weapons or implanted bombs. She was suffering from severe bruising to the chest region, two broken ribs, and internal bleeding. One of the ribs had punctured a lung and was also responsible for the bleeding.

Nyton had just launched his missles to try and determine enemy distance when he received Tom's message. While still keeping tabs on the Support Team on minimized windows he was focusing on the Assault Team's status. His response was simple and prompt.

Acknowledged.

 

[Zack]

With only one real path to take, the logic behind making a choice for Wazu was greatly simplified. He would make his way towards the exit of the cell block, continuing his search while doing his best to move with or around the power armored soldiers in the hallway.

 

[Cora]

Camellia, now a little incensed that she's being handled like a carry-on bag, looked up to Tom. "If it's all right..." She said through a wheeze, "I would like to stay with the medical professional, instead of being hauled into combat like a stomach launcher."

 

[Exhack]

"... Hai." Glancing up at the armored sprite, Sayuri motioned her eyelid to open, revealing a pair of eyes with bright yellow irises and dilated corneas, a result of her lack of sleep. Considering that she was likely geniuinely being rescued and not being played a trick on by her captors, she decided to test the intent of her rescuer by holding up her restraints to see what she did. It was more than likely to her that she was indeed genuinely going to be rescued, given that the unit was a normal M5-1, and not of one the black-painted M2-1's that had captured her and her shipmate from the Yuurei.

"Onegai, remove these... so I can trust you." She communicated to the other Neko while speaking, in case her armor had an active PSC.

 

[Kyoki]

"Hai, Chusa." Rin wondered why the officer needed trust when she was being rescued, quite naive to how bad it really could have been being tortured and locked up. She took the restraints, being careful to not hurt the officer. Pulling them apart carefully and slowly, she kept at it until they broke.

Immediately, the sprite blurted out, "I hope that didn't hurt you Chusa!" The main thing still on her mind was making sure that she didn't make anything go wrong. This included hurting a prisoner, especially an officer!

 

[Exhack]

"Just the right amount to keep things in perspective." Sayuri replied, giving an uneasy smile to the armored face of the Daisy armor that had rescued her. She stood up shakily, using the wall as a support for her movement and made an uneasy grin. "Most of my wounds are healed, but I won't be able to move in this state."

"You know what to do, ne?"

 

[Kai]

One of the Power armors Wazu attempted to move around, belonging to Kai Nakamura, noticed him, holding out an arm and speaking in a younger male's voice "I wouldn't recommend going that way just yet, sir" The powered armor turned slightly in his direction "If they have stuff that can hurt Armored soldiers, then you're as good as dead if you go any farther" He pushed the man back as gently as he could, barring the way before turning back towards the end of the hallway, ready for whatever Nyton had just fired a few rockets at.

 

[Fred]

Prisoners were being gathered as instructed, until Ichigo helmeted head abruptly turned to look at the back of Nimura's Daisy, whom was in an almost panther-like crouch next to the lip to the gravity elevator. "Nee-san, dame!"

Just after the smoke had cleared from Nyton's twin mini-missiles, the advance (or rather, rise) of the nekovalkyrja-like metallic androids surged up, pointing out clearly that Miharu's armor team and the rescued prisoners had run out of time. Several dozen of the constructs crawled and flew up, bearing a mix of rocket-propelled grenade launchers, high-yield beam rifles and portable railguns that they were not shy using on any target that revealed itself to them.

That effectively prevented the power armors from safely extracting the prisoners out. Apparently, the sprite Nimura decided to take the initiative when she transmitted:

Engaging Hostiles

The sprite's Daisy armor moved forward into a strangely graceful dive before she used her anti-gravity control to chose the vertical surface of the passageway as 'the ground'; she turned up making an aerial somersault that ended with her landing with a knee on the wall in defiance to Bowhordia's gravity well, launching a countermeasure mini-missile in the process.

Thus exposed, the enemy wasted no time in firing on her as they climbed, but Nimura shielded most of her upper body with her zesuaium shield. The mini-missile she had launched detonated just shy of the androids, spoiling their ability to aim her as she deployed her two tactical drones and had the two shoot down the incoming rocket-propelled grenades that were shot her way anyhow.

Attacks still rocked Nimura's Daisy armor - some blocked by the shield, some mitigated by her protective energy barrier - attacks to which the silent sprite responded by raising her Light Armor Service Rifle to lob down a SLEX grenade. The grenade - a Stabilized Liquid Explosive - unleashed a devastating firestorm amongst the soulless nekovalkyrja imitations that turned them into blackened silhouettes in the glare of the explosion.

Scorched damaged androids climbed out of the glare, to which Nimura responded with controlled, semi-automatic burst of her rifle, systematically working on mowing down those that climbed on in ruthless efficiency.

"That's crazy! She's going to get killed!" Mara blurted out.

Around that moment, Hinoto sent a message to Nyton: "Taii, electrical interference from Nimura's SLEX round is blinding readings below your position, but right before, I detected part of the mass of enemy contacts idling deeper in the complex suddenly come at you in another wave - Hoshi estimates 50 more units."

* * *

Kotori eyed Miyoko's display and nodded. "That's good. We'll go for that."

The Taisa narrowed her eyes as she concentrated on the ship's helm and had Miharu accelerate toward one of the points closest to Bowhordia Prime that Miyoko had designated. Even at half the vessel's cruising speed it wasn't long before they reached the correct coordinates, to which Kotori opened a communication window to Sigurd and had the Custodian android physically dump a probe out of the atmospheric field that covered the hull breach in the ruined launch bay.

With the probe out, Kotori gave a nod to Miyoko. "Give me a go once you've given it its operational instructions and we'll move on to the next one."

 

[Kyoki]

"Ah, hai. I know what to do Chusa," Rin replied, before hearing the loud outburst of fighting. That wasn't good. Still, she had to at least look after who she could, so she carefully picked up the officer and carried her gently in both arms. "Gomenasai," she said as she moved close enough to the hall way to peak out to see what was happening.

 

[Kai]

"Dangit" Kai muttered to himself, pushing the man back further before getting his LASR ready and going into a crouching position, firing controlled bursts with the rifle. The Yamataian released his drones, letting them fly up towards the ceiling so he could have a better view of the action, as well as to allow his drones to harry the enemy from that position, as well.

 

[Gallant]

"Roger that!"

Yuzuki had said it. Or, at least she thought she had said it. In reality, Yuzu had been a little speechless at the time, so she had just dropped the intercom, turned away from the console, and flagged down two or three of the fresh sprites monitoring the lower decks. When she gave them the nod, they jumped to work closing out their temporary terminals. That finished, she followed them into the repair locker and started grabbing the necessary tools and loading things up into canvas bags.

Her mind had still not completely caught up to her, but it did not matter much; something inside her had decided to step up and start moving without her permission, and it did not seem to care for the input of her brain overly much. As she stepped back out with her team into the main engineering space, Yuzuki couldn't help but notice that the other engineers, despite all logic, looked about ready to burst with pride. She felt it too, and immediately gave up trying to understand why.

They were going to be fixing stuff. Standing in the mainspace, trading determined stares with a half a dozen engineers she had never even met before, Yuzuki couldn't help but grin. They were going to fix stuff!

It's was a sprite thing.

'Cut power to portside gravimetric array,' sent Yuzuki, 'It's time.'

-----

The airtight doggings on the door behind the damage control team sealed with a hiss, followed by the strange sparkling effect of the environmental forcefield snapping back into existance. Before them, the massive rift in the hull ventilated nearly the whole compartment, and - as Yuzuki had suspected - had come dangerously close to eviscerating the large and complicated gravimetric engine. Outside, the endless expanse of space nearly overwhelmed the small damage control team. None of them had ever actually seen such a wide view of it before.

The oldest and the first to snap out of her awe, Yuzuki directed two of her new subordinates with handsignals and put them to patching the open rift with welders and dense sheet metal. Then, glancing occasionally through the hole, she floated over to the depowered control panels.

"DCC, this is damage control one, phone check."

"DC One," crackled the reply over Yuzu's helmet communicator, "Damage Control Central. Phone check SAT."

Yuzuki took a few moments to glance over the paneling on the walls, and through some of the grating on the floor to the pipes and electric wiring there. At least, the electric wiring and piping that hadn't burst and/or shorted from the shock. Some of it was frayed. They had cut off the valves and major power feeds to the area before entering it, and had made sure the area was safe for them to enter, but now it posed a problem to system monitoring.

"Restore power to terminal Two-Tac, Gee, Emm-Tac, Four-fife."

"Restore power, D-C-C, Aye."

She waited. Gradually, the whirr started up just on the edge of her hearing, amplfied by her environmental helmet's own sound feed. A screen of fuzzy static flickered into existance across the auxiliary control panel. Yuzuki tapped the screen, just to make sure, but it was not working properly. Looking over her shoulder, she considered the wisdom of activating the gravimetric array again for a run test. It was stupid and dangerous, without being able to electronically monitor things like voltage and temperature, but a check was required, in spite of the risk.

This was stupid and dangerous, a little voice in the back of her mind said. They were going to have to go through all those wires, sort through all those couplings and little electronics systems, with the gravimetric array online. Someone could very well die.

But, added her inner mechanic; if they could run it like they had been running it, any problem would become apparent, they could fix it, and the rigging would be able to operate under full power again. The ship would be whole again. They could work on other problems. Yuzuki bit her lip.

Sure, the other sprites would follow her. Straight into hell and back. All it would take would be one wrong wire, one mis-aligned bus cable, and the entire damage control team could be charred crispy. They were here, because it was their job to be here.

She corrected herself; Not job; purpose. Live, die, engineer.

Snaking her hand beneath the control panel, Yuzuki found the manual power switch and disengaged it. The static disappeared from the screen, but the compartment had begun to flicker with a dim blue light. Above her, the welding team had already started patching the hull from the inside with yamatium sheet, trying to spare as many wires and couplings as they could in the process from the fire of their self-oxidating welders. Some of the sparks reminded Yuzuki of snow.

"Damage control central," Yuzuki said into her communicator as she propelled herself towards the large gravimetric array. Two of the other sprites moved to follow her. "Remove protective shielding from portside gravimetric array. Open the bus transfer feed in accordance with standard operational procedure. Align the system for a test run."

"Align the system, D-C-C, aye."

As she watched the gravimetric field generator slowly begin its first revolutions, the sprite-turned-engineer smiled faintly at a sudden, idiotic, and out of place realization;

She had never even seen snow.

 

[Nyton]

Nyton watched Nimura jump into the gravity well while several things happened at once. He viewed the action from the sprite's viewpoint via his team monitor window and analyzed the force of the enemy assault. After the explosion of the SLEX grenade and Hinoto's report he felt a surge that caused him to grin inwardly while his face hardened into a vicious glare. That is crazy. But jumping out there and meeting their fire is what the enemy won't be expecting us to do. He quickly sent a message to Tom while simultaneously sending one to Hinoto.

Assault Team is going to give you an opening now. Move everyone who can be moved. Let Sanjuro stabilize the most critical ones while you get the rest out.

Send scanned data from the casualties to Ketsurui. Have her prepare the medical bay to receive the ones being moved.

Upon sending the message Nyton then broadcast out on the Assault Team's channel. "We are not about to let the enemy take our initiative. We're giving the Support Team a chance to get through NOW! Enemy forces are approximately fifty units. Take positions in the gravity well and rain down fire on the enemy. Spread out and give the enemy more targets. We're going to push them back and run them down! Maximum fire effect, GO!"

Using AIES to coordinate with Nimura's position Nyton then followed suit, flipping into the well with his shield before him. His postion would place him on the wall opposite and offset from the sprite's Armor, using the anti-gravity controls to keep him in place. He was crouched low on one knee with his shield covering most of his upper body. Nyton was bigger than Nimura and thus not as well covered by it. The VAW hand held his LASR which was loaded with the explosive rounds he now fired, aiming towards the androids in the second ranks behind the first. His fire was not as controlled, focusing more on raining down explosive destruction towards the mass than the individual. The LASR was gripped by the VAW not in a typical five fingered hand but more a solid mass that held the grip and pulled the trigger. Enemies that came closer and in range to the VAW would get grabbed or speared with one of three tendrils that emerged from behind the shield, created from the solid mass. The tendrils would be lined all around with tiny sharpened spikes that rotated like thousands of tiny yamataium laced chainsaws. Using AIES, Nyton's drones also followed suit with Nimura's and coordinated on shooting down any RPGs or launched explosive devices.

Aoiko moved in front of Wazu, joining Kai in pushing him back. "Sir, you need to step back NOW. You will be evacuated by the other team soon enough." she said on her loudspeaker before facing the gravity well and jumping in to join the fire fight. She set herself on the same wall Nyton was on but closer to the corner where the wall met another on the right flank. She deployed drones and fired her LASR in short semi-automatic bursts towards the advancing enemy.

Yuri, enraged at Kosuka and Kei being incapacitated how they were, wasted no time following the order to fight back. Still calm, she jumped out and landed on the wall to Nimura's left flank. Her shield was also out and she crouched low behind it while firing down with her LASR at the enemy crawling up to meet them. Her fire joined the others in symphony.

The patient next to Sanjuro with the broken ribs diagnosed earlier began to cough as the punctured lung made her breathing more struggled. Blood began to pour out of her mouth as her injuries were too severe for her natural regeneration to keep up with.

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

It didn't take long for Miyoko to input her orders to the chibi-Megami. They were to relay communications between the Hoshi and Miharu, along with echoing their sensor data to both hulls. In case the asteroid belt interfered with communications, the two nearer the second planet were to act as relays for the other two.

"The first probe is prepared, Taisa." As the vessel set out for its next waypoint, the sensor specialist began programming the rest of the probes preemptively.

 

[Zack]

With one direction blocked, and the other merely leading to a dead end Wazu decided to take a second look over the prison area for information.

Physical documentation was no where to be found. It was a long shot anyways as electronics were second nature to most people more than writing was. Physical records are also bulky, unnecessary, and hard to work with.

Electronic data was also unavailable. It made sense that the computer terminals wouldn’t be kept in the cell block. Prisoner records probably were handled elsewhere and kept up to date over a wireless network. It might have been possible to get access to such a system… but the data pad he carried with him was broken.

This left him with one more option, the prisoners themselves. Based on how long he had been here, and the damage sustained by the others, he figured the most injured prisoner would be the prisoner who was brought to these cells first. A slight twinge of annoyance would creep into his mind at the thought of having to deal with the more fleshy sources of data but all he needed was an approximate date of arrival, and faith in his own skills that the could figure out the rest.

As Wazu made his way back through the hallway away from the exit, he looked for the most injured prisoner and most doctoresque looking powered armor ending up. He could get the date he needed after the extraction, deciding that the prisoner care would follow once he reached their medic. When he returned to Sanjuro’s power armor he decided to impart the two most relevant pieces of information to the busy soldier.

“I have first aid training,” and, “How can I help?”

 

[mizunoyoroko]

Yoroko was surprised but took it in stride. Already there were at least 3 people in the elevator shaft, any more could make things dangerous. Besides, if any of the psychic grenades or explosives went off in the tube it would be easier to take the assault team down if they were all in there. "This is Mizuno, I'm going to wait outside the elevator as a backup unit. I'll send in my drones to assist." Yoroko sent over the armor team's comm network.

As Yoroko finished speaking her drones fell out of their back hangars and holographic panels detailing the status as well as camera views of the drones appeared on Yoroko's HUD. Yoroko manually piloted one drone in while the other was set to automatic. Using her piloted drone Yoroko raced down the side of the elevator shaft, the medium sized drone hugged the shafts walls as it flew down. Her automatically piloted drone was set to automatically assist any unit based on priority.

 

[MoonMan]

The scanners on Sanjuro's DAISY were assisted with extra data from the C model's enhanced sensor suite. AIES automatically linked up and were able to scan not only the casualty in front of him, but even those around and outside of the room. With their proximity much closer to the patients the system was now unimpeded and could scan through them clearly. Since he was currently focused on the neko in front of him he only received her data. Scans showed no signs of foreign bodies such as biological weapons or implanted bombs. She was suffering from severe bruising to the chest region, two broken ribs, and internal bleeding. One of the ribs had punctured a lung and was also responsible for the bleeding.

The patient next to Sanjuro with the broken ribs diagnosed earlier began to cough as the punctured lung made her breathing more struggled. Blood began to pour out of her mouth as her injuries were too severe for her natural regeneration to keep up with.

Sanjuro worked in relative silence amongst the moans and groans emanating from other cells across the holding area. Truth be told, the doctor had never had an actual "line" of critical patients before as this would mark his first real combat assignment. Back in Yamataian hospitals he would deal with patients on a case-to-case basis, and rarely ever had to worry about choosing between patients to work on first. What he was doing, however, was still just simple medical work; he had worked with broken ribs and punctured lungs before, and he knew exactly how to treat it.

"Hasegawa-Juni, help me with this please," Sanjuro called for his assigned 'wingman' as he slowly produced and readied a large hypodermic needle from the medical satchel he had brought along with him. The doctor quickly pushed the injured prisoners tattered rags away and positioned the tip of the shot into her arm...a clear analgesic fluid, to numb the nerves before administering actual treatment. Sanjuro pulled the needle out, sterilized it and refilled it again with a second more viscous clear fluid. This time he inserted the needle just below the end of her ribcage, the long needle puncturing the lung and releasing a quick-acting clotting fluid to temporarily stop up the punctured lung and prevent any further loss of fluid. From there, it was a simple act of repositioning what bone he could safely and wrapping her chest with gauze. Sanjuro turned to Sumaru, "Find something to keep her back straight and keep her from moving too much. Call Freeman-Juni and ask when we should expect them back to transport these men and women...I hope it's soon."

Despite knowing all the procedures and being, externally, as calm and collected as he always appeared to be, the very idea of working in a combative atmosphere had the medical officer slightly on edge. Before that moment he would have liked to believe that his focus on his work would be enough to forget the dangers of his position, but although his outward attitude could fool most of the crew, his Daisy suit itself was constantly blaring his own racing vitals. As if he didn't have other things to do than stare at his heartbeat.

“I have first aid training,” and, “How can I help?”

Sanjuro looked up, immediately identifying the voice and accompanying visage with the man he himself previously cut loose and sent along with the other able prisoners. Although Wazu could not not see Sanjuro's face, the doctor's eyes were narrowed and his lips pursed...something the former prisoner had said apparently rubbed him the wrong way. Utilizing his external speakers, Sanjuro turned away from the man he was treating and answered.

"Why did you separate from the others?" Sanjuro asked Wazu. "First aid training is necessary for healing cuts and bruises and other small ailments, but does not encompass the medical practices needed for a number of these patients," Sanjuro explained, his flat, monotone voice clearly dictated through the external speakers. "If you must stay, you may follow behind me and treat the minor wounds and ailments I'm being forced to neglect due to time constraints. That would be helpful."

 

[Zack]

Wazu quickly moved to the nearest person whom met the requirements of being both behind the doctor and neglected due to time constraints. He would then proceed to visually inspect the person in question for damage, cuts that may still be bleeding, discoloration in the skin that might indicate internal damage, and bumps or protrusions that could indicate seriously broken bones.

He would also make a mental note, storing the information in the digital portions of his brain for later contemplation. He had considered the optimal way to present the relevant information to the doctor as his skill set, then intention of use of those skills. To him this seemed to be incorrect now as it prompted the power armored soldier to remind him what First aid training was used for. As he had this training, and already knew what it was used for, this wasted several seconds. Perhaps, he thought, ‘where would you like me to apply first aid?’ or ‘How can I assist your efforts with first aid training?’ Ultimately though, this was a topic of thought for a later time.

Curiosity and current goals aside, there was the question of ‘Why did you separate from the others?’ left to answer. He considered lying, but that was not his best ability and he could construct no lie at that moment which would serve to advance his own goal. Perhaps then it was best to present his own logic as clearly as possible.

“I am looking for an individual." Wazu explained with a certain efficiency of speech, "At the time these prisoners had no value toward that goal so I left the area to locate something that does hold value. However I was unable to find documentation or a data terminal. This means that any data I can get must come from these prisoners and as such they now hold value. As such my best course of action is to aid in their survival.”

 

[Nyton]

The heat of combat had Nyton's attentions further divided as he worked on thinning the horde of enemy androids that were slowly trying to crawl or float their way up. He allowed AIES to paint targets that the other team members were not shooting at yet. In turn everyone else's AIES tried to coordinate everyone's their fire to create a tight net that made the enemy's advance more difficult. Problem was there were just too many targets to shoot at and a lot of fire being returned. The narrow confines of the elevator shaft though did at least reduce the amount of area the enemy could use to dodge while the Armors were not worried about such. At least for now. Their barriers were taking some hits that were slowly being worn down.

This is Mizuno, I'm going to wait outside the elevator as a backup unit. I'll send in my drones to assist."

Yoroko's drones arrived quickly and synced up with the other's since they were not far down the shaft yet. The drone's assisting fire was able to track and shoot down several more launched rockets and RPG rounds before they could get too close. The reported success was sent back to her AIES as they transmitted visual data to let her see what was going on. The sight was eerily familiar. Neko androids were trying to reach the team members inside the shaft even as they were being shot down in the process.

Upon hearing her Nyton immediately replied. "Soldier, you will enter this shaft and take the position I have marked, NOW. We are giving the Support Team the chance to extract prisoners while covering them with our shields and bodies and then we will charge and break through their lines. MOVE!" he said sharply.

A small map appeared and showed Yoroko their position was barely a few meters below the opening to the third level. It showed each team member's spot on the wall and marked a location reserved for her in an open spot on the eastern wall to the right of Nyton and Aoiko. The spot was still open since Yuri was on the western wall to their left.

As soon as he had sent the map, Nyton's VAW lashed out and drilled straight through the unprotected head of one android that had gotten just within range. Another android thought it would be smart to try and pull him but the rotating chainsaw lining the tendril chewed right through it's hand before it travelled farther inside it's body armor to disable the body further.

We just need to hold out and spread out the damage we receive so we don't get overwhelmed. Nyton thought to himself. If we can just keep this up and then rush them before they can shoot anything bigger at us we'll have them.

Nyton sent a text message over to Takuma since he was too busy to speak verbally.

Hang back by the elevator. I may need you to fire your bazooka so have it ready.

Back in the former torture room turned trauma center, Sumaru nodded to Sanjuro and grabbed a chair to rip off it's back from the seat. Using the back of the chair he then slid it underneath the neko's back. The straps of the chair also served to hold her steady as Sumaru wrapped them under her arms and around her chest as carefully as he could. The neko was already calming down as the medication began taking effect.

The neko that Wazu saw had visible bruises all along her face and arms. Her uniform was torn in places which allowed him to see the bruises clearly on her chest and stomach area as well. Both of her arms were broken which the odd lump in her arm would bring one to assume. She was unresponsive and with very shallow breathing.

 

[Tom]

Tom confirmed the orders while all of the prisoners ready to travel were rounded up and placed into pairs, like one would take jumping out of an airplane. The better-off prisoners lent their strength to weaker ones, and hopefully their combined anti-gravity capabilities would provide adequate momentum to escape the shaft. He suddenly noticed the complaint of Camellia and put her down gently.

"Can you stand?" Tom asked of the prisoner he held. "If so, you can join the line... but we're going to have to be very fast here."

Time was short, and he couldn't afford to wait for an answer as his loudspeaker blared out. Hopefully one of the prisoners would assist Camellia if needed.

"Ok! Everyone, we're setting up to leave. We will have a very short window of time to escape through the elevator shaft, so those of you who feel that your anti-gravity capabilities are insufficient to make the trip, notify the nearest armor to you now. We will have to come back for you on the next return trip. Those of you NOT going, take shelter away from the entrance. One of our teams is engaging hostiles and cannot afford distraction. Ok? Everyone wait for my signal!"

He moved as close to the opening of the elevator as possible, sending a drone to scout above and provide him with the visual support necessary to give the order to leave after Nyton gave the go ahead.

"Sir, prisoners are ready to go," he said to his superior. "Awaiting confirmation."

Silently, he sent a text message to Sanjuro, telling him that it would take at least 5 minutes under optimal conditions to reach the extraction point and return. With the baggage of the prisoners, however, it could easily run over.