They squirmed and shouted as debris fell around and onto them but didn't dare move until the noise and shaking had died down.

"Captain!?"

Ali was sure she knew that voice, and she was sure that she should be concerned about it, but the ringing in her ears was making it hard to focus as she pushed herself up onto her hands. Wincing as the light hurt when she opened her eyes, blinking to minimise the discomfort and turning to the woman she'd just tackled to the ground. Kempa was also gingerly lifting herself off the ground and nodded unhappily. Ali felt like she was underwater as her limbs felt heavy and she heard that faraway voice again. "We're here… sort of," Ali finally managed to make her voice work as she climbed unsteadily to her feet to take in the scene.

"What the hell happened?" Pixie demanded.

Ali winced as her ribs protested from the movement, the hand she instinctively put to them came away covered red on top of the ash. "Over compensated drone destruction." Was that even a sentence? Ali briefly wondered afterwards, before ignoring it. Holding her left side with her right hand she was able to retrieve her scanner with her left hand. At least it had taken out Cosmos' Champions' vanguard. It had also taken out three of Pixie's team. Ali wanted to rage and lash out at the sheer pointlessness of it all, but she reigned herself in and focused on the immediate aftermath. "Okay, take five and get patched up," she ordered as she hooked her scanner back on her belt as she moved to the bodies from their team. She crouched and quickly rummaged through their supplies to retrieve their medical packs and weapons, pulling them out and dropping them in a pile in as efficient a way as she could with one elbow pressed firmly against her side.

She was trying not to think about the missing limbs, the streaks of blood that clearly marked their trajectory from the explosion. She felt disgusted for not paying the dead proper respect, but her priority was keeping the rest of her team alive. There was going to be a lot to decompress after this mission. Once she'd gathered all the supplies she cracked open a first aid kit to seal up the wound on her side, hissing from the sting before letting out a breath as it faded into a dull ache to remind her of the injury.

The rest of the team had finished their minor first aid by the time she closed the small distance between them and offered the supplies she'd recovered. "Any luck on their armour?" She asked.

"No," Hurwitz replied, "after that explosion there isn't any left in a whole piece."

Ali nodded as she let out a huff of breath. "Okay," she said slowly, "we can still do this, we're good and we're not going to let a little setback stop us." She paused as she half looked over her shoulder. "We're not going to let them down." The remaining four with her all nodded or saluted their agreement and after they'd double checked their gear and wounds they were on their feet and making quick work of the remaining distance.

On arriving at the door they instinctively took up defensive and offensive positions around it. Hurwitz next to the door release and Ali at the other side of the door armed with her scanner again. He was waiting on her confirmation that they were good. "Open it a crack," she ordered as her readings came in as inconclusive. She was putting it down to some kind of anti-scanning tech or barrier woven into the door. He did as instructed as Ali's eyes were fixed onto her scanner before it flicked up as no life forms. She closed her eyes and projected her telepathic senses to search their nearby area but she couldn't sense anyone but her own team. Relaxing her efforts she opened her eyes again and nodded. "Let's go."

~-x-~

Because the main compound was built inside a cliff, space was a premium the designers hadn't bothered with when it was built. The initial atrium was built wide to accommodate the cargo containers and doubled up as an elevator down to the storage areas. Their team went straight across into the main complex. The corridors were just about two people wide, though Ali and Hurwitz were having to walk with their backs slightly angled to each other to avoid bumping into each other as they carefully made their way through.

Ali had reactivated her visor to give her a map and to hopefully give her an early warning on any potential ambushes. They had all slung their cold-weather coats around them in a way that still gave them full access to their weapons and tools as the inner complex was heated enough that the coats were too hot now. They had considered leaving them, but they didn't know if they'd need them later, or if they'd even be coming out the same way.

Ostensibly Hurwitz was leading and Ali was navigating, with Häni and Revlu watching their backs and Kempa in the middle. The whole group was using as few words as possible to communicate as they cautiously moved as a unit. They knew their destination based on Olkant's work; the most likely place for Touchard to be hunkered down and how to get there avoiding the barracks. Instead they just had to use a corridor that ran directly past what looked to be some kind of canteen or common area. They couldn't avoid both, so they chose the option they felt was least likely to have people in it during an assault.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

This was why they had hoped to get hold of some uniforms or something so that they could increase their chances of smooth talking their way out of any confrontation. It would've been a long shot either way, but a chance was better than none.

The corridors themselves offered little protection, the occasional small outcrop where emergency bulkheads were designed to fit to seal off hazards - fire, toxins etc - but even they would do little to help in the event of a firefight. If Ali were honest the thing that worked to their advantage was surprise and the lack of space. Both sides working in a choke point meant that if they played it smart, their small team wouldn't be hideously disadvantaged. Or at least, in an ideal world.

Ali assumed there was some kind of geological reason for the winding nature of the corridors rather than just condensing everything into the smallest space possible, front and centre above the warehouse area beneath them. Also the corridors themselves weren't flat, once they got past the common areas they would start to hit an ascending incline up towards Cosmos' Champions' security areas and Touchard's offices.

As they approached the canteen area they slowed down so that they could be even quieter, Ali unhooked a device from her belt and handed it to Revlu. There was a brief relaxing in his tentacles that made them bob around his head to indicate that he understood. As they passed the first door Revlu and Häni stopped, planting themselves either side of the door and listening carefully. The other three continued on until they reached the other door. Then, as Ali unhooked another of the computer spikes, Häni and Hurwitz each carefully pulled the doors shut. The second they were fully shut both Ali and Revlu hooked their spikes up to the door controls, and after a moment of fizzing and sparking both deactivated.

They were about to start moving again when they heard a shout down the way they'd come, but before the man could finish his indignant shout Kempa had already floored him. But it had been enough noise to alert someone and Ali saw people moving on her visor's data feeds. "Quickly, c'mon," she ordered as they regrouped and continued on their way. Faster now that they knew Cosmos' Champions would be honing in on their position. Frankly Ali was surprised no one from the hangar bay had already alerted the compound, unless something had stopped any internal alarms from triggering, in which case that was their first piece of good news in what felt like a month.

Then again, maybe she'd jinxed it as they came upon a roadblock just outside the security hub. Ali brought the group to a stop before they rounded a corner. A group of Cosmos' Champions mercenaries had set themselves up to defend the corridor and to defend it well. Ali couldn't read anyone in the security room itself, but if she were designing a base she'd make sure that room had anti-scanning technology inbuilt. She was trying to formulate a plan with Hurwitz when her visor flashed again. Her heart dropped as she realised another group was flanking them. Oh yeah, she'd jinxed it.

Ali simply pointed to the grenades on Hurwitz's belt. "Then into the security office," she whispered by way of explanation. He nodded and as he unclipped one of the grenades the rest of them readied themselves to move, weapons raised and poised. He cast a quick glance over the group to ensure that they were ready then pulled the pin and threw it round the corner.

They heard a shout and the sound of scrambling footsteps before everything was lost in the explosion. "Hold," Ali warned before anyone moved, her eyes still trained on the feed from her visor. When the security door didn't open she swiped it clear again whilst shouting, "go!"

They had killed a couple of the mercenaries, but most were still alive and a number were scrambling to their feet, as Hurwitz worked the security door open Ali and Kempa shot at the ones who were the biggest danger to them, knocking them back to the floor or unconscious. Neither paused when they heard shooting to their side as Hurwitz took out the couple of guys in security. "Clear!"

Ali ordered Kempa to fall back into the security office, then Häni and Revlu - who had been their lookouts - whilst she covered the corridor they'd just half blown up. Just as Ali was turning to follow she heard a pained shout and saw Häni stumble in pain. She instantly fired over his shoulder towards what had been shooting at him whilst shoving him towards their new bunker. He half fell through it but at least he was in. Ali followed him quickly, sealing the door behind them.

She didn't have to drop to help him as Kempa had already started checking on his wound. "Gimme some good news," Ali said as she approached the security console Hurwitz was working at, swiping her visor feeds back on as she did.

"We can hold out here, but they are regrouping."

"Well, krekt," Ali said after a moment, leaning heavily on the console and taking a moment to consider their options. She rocked forward slightly to look over it where Kempa was still patching up Häni. "How is he?"

"He can shoot, but he's not walking outta here," Kempa replied unhappily.

Ali had a thought. "Can we seal them off with the emergency bulkheads?" She asked as she turned back to Hurwitz who was still monitoring the security feeds.

"That's a bit outside of my skill set," he admitted as he vacated the seat so that Ali could plonk herself into it.

Ali probably shouldn't be as proficient at hacking into computer systems as she was, but this was what you got from leaving a science specialist role in USEP and plying your trade as a loner in the less desirable areas of the sector for a couple of years. All of her above-board skills had evolved less approved of practical applications. It didn't take her long to have worked her way into the system and have control of a number of what would be termed non-essential features by most people. Based on what she was finding she doubted that Cosmos' Champions had much in the way of computer expertise. That would probably change after this. The bulkheads weren't spaced where she'd have preferred but she was able to activate them so that she could cut off a number of reinforcements, or at least until they were able to hack through her hack.

"It'll have to be enough," Hurwitz agreed as he watched the map change as she worked. "You've cut off the bulk of their reinforcements, and prevented them from flanking us."

"But how many are still on this side with us?" Ali asked tiredly. The look on his face confirmed her own suspicions. They had a chance, it was all they could ask for.