The scene that greeted them as they reentered the main area was complete chaos. They could hear shouting and gunshots as the door opened and neither paused before diving into some sort of cover. Wood took refuge against a partition between seating and Ali dived behind an overturned table. "Olkant?" Ali asked in the hope that her comm connection was back up now.

"Yes, captain?"

Sometimes Ali thought Olkant liked to troll her when she didn't ask a specific enough question. Somehow though, despite the insane situation, it still made her smile. "What the hell happened?"

"Rila has had a difference in opinion about who she belongs to."

"I don't belong to that ishten!" Rila objected sharply. There was a pause as she took advantage of a gap in the shooting to fire back. "It means bastard, loosely," she added and Ali was unsure whose curiosity she'd sensed to feel the need to clarify that. Especially if they didn't have their translator set to include expletives.

"Okay, who has a clear run to their exits?"

"Waarlm and I are still in the security office, we're fine for now," Olkant explained. "Rila's up in one of the upper seating areas because she was giving Ed cover."

"Where's Ed?" Ali asked as she chanced a glance out of her own cover to take in the surroundings. The main club had an elevated stage in the middle for the entertainment and seating areas and gambling tables assembled around it at all different levels so that each floor could still see the show. The private rooms had the same layout on a smaller scale and only one room. She spotted one of the club bouncers and took a shot at him moments before he spotted her before ducking back into her cover.

"Here!" Ed called to direct Ali's attention to where he'd hunkered down near where she and Wood were.

"Rila, can you join us?" Ali asked as she checked her scanner as Wood fired at someone she could no longer see.

There was a pause that Ali didn't want to rush in case Rila needed to concentrate on who was firing at her. Just as it stretched on long enough for Ali to be about to push, Rila replied, "if I had a couple hundred grenades."

"Right, I'm going to make my way up enough to give you some cover," Ali decided.

"You have a plan rather than rushing in head first, right?" Wood asked, poking his head out around his cover before shooting what he saw and pulling back.

"Sure, you two shoot the bad guys and I'll run across before shooting more of them," Ali retorted. Of course she didn't have a plan. "Just don't get yourself captured, I can only pull off so many rescues in a day."

"Your concern is touching," Wood deadpanned.

"I'll leave you next time," Ali retorted with her cheekiest grin before popping out of cover just long enough to shoot at the nearest goon in her path. Then she rearranged herself to start running and turned to Wood. He glanced out once more before nodding to her and stepping out enough to give her covering fire as she ran low and between the various scattered objects; tables, seating, gambling machines.

The stairways would be the trickiest part as they were more open. Ali managed to find herself some good cover in what was once a plush booth at the base of the nearest stairs, but she needed something to enable her to get up them without getting shot. Next time she was bringing grenades.

However, even if she couldn't get any further for a moment, the fact that she had moved meant that they covered a wider angle of fire so the goons were finding it more difficult to take shots at any of them. They were slowly whittling down numbers but Ali suspected it wasn't enough for Rila as she was still stuck on her own.

Ali had whipped her scanner back out to see what they could use to their advantage when she noticed a strange blip on the screen. She frowned in confusion and was about to ask if any of her squad knew what it was before she heard a loud roar preceding a loud, metallic crash. She whirled out of her cover with her pistol raised and saw Waarlm retreating from the carnage of a kitchen appliance that had been repurposed as a battering ram.

"Go!" Wood shouted as he took advantage of the chaos to start shooting to give both Ali and Waarlm cover.

Ali didn't need to be told twice and rushed up the stairs. The two levels she had to run through were thankfully empty because their opponents hadn't felt the need to leave anyone there when there were no insurgents present. She didn't run into a problem until she noticed the goon blocking off the section where Rila was, but Olkant had warned her and Ali quickly realised he wasn't looking her way. For a brief second she considered tackling him but took the less risky option of shooting him. She sidestepped out of the way as he tumbled backwards and she winced sympathetically as he slowly bumped down the stairs.

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She ran up the last few steps and instantly rolled between rows of seats as someone took a shot at her. "Nice to see you, captain," Rila quipped as she poked her gun out between another row of seats a couple up from Ali.

"Well you do insist on having all the fun."

Both of them ducked back into their cover as another barrage of gunfire sounded over their heads, accompanied by a voice. "Rila, this would be a whole lot better for you if you just came here."

"It would be a whole lot easier if I kill you!" Rila shouted back at the man who was taunting her.

"Rila, if you do that then they'll put a bounty on your head…" Ali warned as she felt a spike of anger from her second in command. It was a feeling she understood, but she couldn't afford Rila to go off the rails right now.

"Then what do you suggest?" Rila asked though the tension in her voice gave away her frustration at the whole situation. She was only holding herself back out of respect for Ali and that she knew, deep down, her captain was right.

Ali quickly took in her new surroundings. "Wood, have you guys all got a clear route back to Olkant?"

"Yes."

"Right, go out the way we came in," Ali ordered as she crawled between the seats, "Rila and I'll find a different route."

"Skipper -"

"We'll be fine, go, now!" Ali ordered again as she took aim at one of the goons now she had a completely different angle. She got him but it meant the rest turned to her new vantage point. Rila knew what she had been doing, however, so had moved herself to pick off two more.

"Okay, we're moving out. You better know what you're doing," Wood said. Ali could hear the warning in his voice. She ignored it, there were plenty of people who were probably waiting in line to tell her off for whatever reckless plan she was cooking up.

She had a plan, kind of, it just involved going up rather than back down. How fast are you feeling? Ali reached out with her mind. She almost laughed at the stutter in the shots Rila was taking as she processed that question. Ali could feel the responding curiosity and disbelief, it almost made her laugh as she opened her comm. "Mishri, tell me the roof isn't guarded?"

It was the fact that the pause that answered her was only a split second long that had made her ask Mishri. It wasn't that she didn't trust Olkant's deputies, but as of yet she'd never had to test them in an emergency situation. She knew that Mishri could handle it and right now she wanted to minimise the number of unknowns she was dealing with. "It's clear, what -"

She didn't let him finish the question as she tapped her comm off before taking another shot, then turned, ran and vaulted over the chairs to land next to Rila. If she was surprised about Ali's sudden appearance she didn't show it, but just continued with her suppressive fire as best she could. "You ready to run?"

"Where to?"

"The roof."

"You've seen those two, right?" Rila checked as she glanced at the potential exit that Ali was suggesting and the two goons that were positioned to cover them.

"Oh, yeah," Ali assured her, "but if I keep these guys occupied then they won't pose any problems against you." There was a moment in which neither woman said anything but continued to fire at their enemies until finally Rila confirmed that she was on board with the plan. Ali took a moment to use her telepathic senses to get a better feel for where everyone was, then told Rila to go as she popped back out of cover to shoot at the goons to give Rila a clear run.

As she ran Rila grabbed what had been part of a railing and threw it at the guards in her way. It's trajectory forced one of them to dodge out of the way so she could focus on the other, using his momentary distraction to shoot him and he fell to the floor due to an injured leg. Rila kept shooting until she'd rendered him unconscious by which time the other was back on his feet. However, Rila was now within striking distance and no one smart tried to sneak up on a jetran. She spun to knock his gun with her forearm whilst simultaneously striking his head with her elbow. His helmet protected him, but he hadn't expected her to follow it up by using her arms to push his up so that she could duck under it and fluidly step behind him. One well placed shot in his back knocked him out.

She took long enough to check that their way out wasn't locked before finding a vantage point to cover for Ali to join her.

Ali glanced up when she realised that someone else was shooting again and spotted Rila helping her out. Ali didn't need to be told twice so manoeuvred herself to a better place as she kept shooting, before waiting for a gap and legging it. She heard someone shouting that she was doing a runner, but Rila was already shooting to keep the goons in their cover until Ali had joined her.

Once they had met back up Rila jumped up and led the way out to the roof as Ali watched their backs. She slammed the door shut behind them as Rila quickly scanned the roof. "Someone tell me we're good to beam, otherwise we need to find a way down," Ali demanded as she tapped open her comm with her left hand and batted her hair out of her face with the other as the wind whipped around them.

Rila and Ali shared a worried look as if it was suddenly dawning on them that they should've checked that first, before the beamer got a lock on them and the familiar, strange feeling bloomed in them before they rematerialised on a ship.

For a moment no one said anything as Ali let out a long, careful breath, then she broke out into uncontained laughter as they both fell unceremoniously to the floor as the adrenaline drained from their system leaving them both relieved and exhausted.