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SAFES Liaison's Log, Science Vessel Searcher, September 15th, 2555:

Well, it turned out that the climax to this entire mission was fairly exciting. The team discovered, somewhat too late to do anything else, that the Viis had a system where a small contingent of soldiers would arrive to check up on the facility if there was a long enough period of no communication. I feel utterly humiliated that I didn't even consider the possibility of such a basic and mundane security measure. Then again, I suppose, I was hardly the only one to miss it but having plenty of company feeling sheepish isn't much of a comfort. Regardless, Admiral Williams and Commodore Andropoli had devised a very intricate series of plans to do an emergency extraction of the team if required and from what I hear, the contingency plans were executed efficiently and with great success. Even better, however, was the fact that Sergeant Morris' sabotage of the facility's power generator caused a multiple-megaton explosion that completely obliterated any physical evidence of their presence and created the illusion of an unfortunate accident with the admittedly poorly-constructed and volatile generator.

Their findings are incredible upon initial examination although I shall need some time for Socrates to translate the data. More incredible, however, are the slave species they returned with. The two Kelth, one male and the other female, are a smaller species, approximately five feet and some inches in height with a strong mix of canine and rodent heritage, especially in the facial construction and manipulative digits. Apparently, they are also quite hardy; one of them survived a vivisection to be successfully transported to the medical facilities on board the Executor where she is expected to make a complete recovery. That she survived transit is also due in no small part to the exceptional gifts of Captain Miles Prower, the team medic; it isn't hard to see why he would have been a top candidate for position of Head of Traumatic Surgical Medicine at the most revered medical institution in the Governance, the Kingdom Hospital Complex had he not chosen to serve in SAF. The Zhrelli are also a fascinating race although extraordinarily rancid-smelling when deprived of hygienic facilities for more than a couple days (according to the laboratory engineer). Avian with the most amazing mathematical intellects I've ever seen and even more incredibly, it seems to be a genetic trait unique to their race which is why one of them was allowed to freely wander the lab: they are uniquely capable of repairing and maintaining the delicate circuitry common in Viis technology. And then there's the Aaroun the team brought back. Very lupine traits with a heavy feline influence, especially of the bobcat and lynx persuasion with the most beautiful coat of golden fur I've ever seen. I anticipate that she will be one of our best sources for reliable intelligence on the Viis Empire notwithstanding her probable isolation from it in that laboratory.

Dr. Melinda Campbell, SAFES

"I don't suppose you happen to be the director of this horror show that the zhrelli engineer mentioned?" Akeya looked up at the scientist accompanying them.

"I am the scientific advisor to the Kaa himself." The scientist snorted. "Not merely director of a backwater laboratory."

"If that's true, Mengele, science in this kingdom or whatever it is must be in really sad shape." Akeya snorted back. "So, how about you do us and all of your minions a favor and tell them not to get in our way while we look around? It'd be a terrible shame if I had to start killing them to set an example."

"So long as it was one of the toth and not one of my scientists, I would be amenable to that course of action." He responded seriously.

Akeya grinned broadly behind her NBC mask. "I think Mengele just made a funny, General." She commented with, amazingly enough, genuine mirth. "He thinks that I'll respect his wishes about who I shoot."

The science advisor studiously ignored Akeya, turning towards Sera. "So I heard correctly... you are a general?" He inquired.

"Brevet general." Sera corrected him. "It's a formality to skirt certain command rules. The Major here is actually in command of this mission so don't bother trying to appeal to me."

"Why bother? If you intended to rein her antics in, you would have done so." He responded. "I simply believe that if I am to be abducted and imprisoned aboard one of your ships, I may as well have some insight into your... people."

"Will you do what you can to prevent any need for the Major to become violent if I cooperate?" Sera asked.

"It is an equitable exchange, insight for insight although I doubt the value of the insight that our research can offer you." He gave her a nod.

"I'm pleased to see that you can be reasonable."

"It is a necessity when you are the scientific advisor and the Kaa is practically in love with the military advisor." He actually smirked at this.

"You mean the Grand Admiral?" Sera raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Another short nod. "It is humiliating, more so because I would have no laboratories without his leave. But he does not do anything that I would do if given the opportunity."

"This is all beautiful and making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside but do ya think we could move on to the labs while you two jabber?" Akeya inquired with a touch of impatience. "All we need is for the tin soldiers up top to get curious."

"You did not kill you way in." The Viis observed. "Interesting. If you will wait here for a moment, I will fulfill my part of our arrangement, General."

Before either Akeya or Sera could stop him, he strode casually through the door ahead of them and disappeared into the labs beyond.

"You make some really weird friends, General." Akeya commented mildly. "Do you really think he'll do it?"

"Yes." Sera shrugged. "He doesn't seem to think the toth can deal with us and he has no motivation to let you pursue your alternative. Were you actually planning to blow away a scientist, Major?"

"Of course I was." Akeya responded, looking mildly surprised at the question. "Making a threat that you will not or cannot follow through on is dangerous and foolish."

"You DO realize that summarily executing a civilian is not generally looked kindly upon, right?" Sera asked pointedly.

"Would you actually have me thrown in the brig and court-martialed for blowing away one of these grisly hacks?" Akeya's look grew icy.

"I would, Major, and so would the Admiral." Sera informed her just as icily. "SpecOps are free of almost every military regulation but make no mistake... you will not murder a scientist because you need a bloody corpse to make a point."

Akeya looked hard at her for a moment before nodding. "You have made your point, General." She acknowledged. "The satisfaction of shooting one of them is not worth my skull."

"I'm glad we've cleared that up." Sera responded as the elaborately-dressed Viis returned to them.

"The scientists will not trouble you." He told them. "I cannot, however, be certain that the toth will obey me... either from stupidity or stubbornness, they do not always listen."

Sera chuckled. "You made no real attempt." She pointed out.

"I did not." He admitted candidly. "Partly because it would be fruitless and partly because I place no value whatsoever on their lives. As you observed about the Enforcers, Major, they get too weary from beating up helpless slaves to bother with combat drills."

"Are they armed?" Akeya asked, her eyes narrowing.

"It is possible but not any sophisticated weaponry." He responded, meeting Akeya's gimlet eye calmly. "Our advanced weapons are too small for them to use so they tend to prefer bludgeons."

"Ah, so they will be my playthings." Akeya grinned. "Very well, Mengele, lead on."

"Would it bother you too much to cease calling me a monster?" He asked tiredly as he led them through the door ahead of them. "I am well aware by this time of your opinion of me."

"What should we call you then?" Sera asked him.

"Typically, I am either called ‘Director' or ‘Vizer'." He told her. "The first by subordinates and the second by the Kaa. I am afraid that I have no intention of having you call me by my given name."

"Would ‘Doctor' work?" Sera asked politely. "It is the proper title we give to our scientists who, invariably, have achieved a level of education called a ‘doctorate'."

"Then it is entirely proper." He paused a moment before looking at Sera. "Your willingness to be polite despite your low opinion of me is appreciated, General."

"There's no harm in it." Sera shrugged. "One of our leaders once commented that if you are going to kill someone, it doesn't hurt to be polite."

The comment evoked the barest ghost of a smile. "This leader sounds almost Viis." He commented as they stepped into one of the actual laboratory rooms. One of the first things that Sera noticed was that her view of the room seemed to be mostly blocked; a moment later, she realized that what was blocking it was a living creature and she looked up.

Toth, it turned out, had faces that looked like some perverse cross between a pig and a bulldog, their jowls handing loosely around a short blunt snout and small squinting eyes. They had long floppy ears hanging down on either side of their heads and their bodies were very thick, visibly with fat instead of muscle. They had four-fingered hands with extremely thick digits that would be impossible to fit through the trigger guard of any sort of gun or, indeed, realistically pull that trigger. Their skin was covered in thick stiff hair that looked encrusted in something Sera didn't want to think about too deeply. She was certain that they smelled as repulsive as they looked but with the NBC suit system online, she couldn't smell them for which she was grateful.

The one nearest to Akeya grunted. "Where do you go, small one?" He inquired in a thick syrupy voice that made him sound all the world like a severely besotted drunk.

"Into this room alongside the Director here." Akeya replied cheerfully, planting the butt of her rifle. "Move aside."

"Not supposed to let anyone in, not even Director." He leered at the diminutive draccian, exposing yellowed molar-like teeth. "Go away before I hurt you."

Akeya simply looked at him before her hand shot up and grabbed him by the throat, digging her steel-enhanced claws into his windpipe. "I think I want to go inside." She informed him as dark reddish blood began dribbling down his neck and from the corners of his mouth. He made gurgling sounds, reaching up to feebly try to pry her hand off, his eyes bugging out. "I don't think you can stop me either." Her claws dug in further and blood began bubbling out of his mouth, his hands falling to his sides as Akeya shoved, letting go as she did. The significantly taller toth fell straight back and impacted on the ground, a death rattle wheezing from his throat as he lay. Akeya turned and looked at the other three toth that were standing there looking suddenly frightened. "Now, does anyone else object to us coming in?" She asked pleasantly.

Sera was sure she had never seen a group scatter quite as fast as the previously-belligerent toth. Akeya stepped over the corpse nonchalantly and looked back at the director. "On second thought, crushing the windpipe of an ugly thing like that is much more satisfying than blowing away one of your scientists." She informed him.

"You truly are ‘she who brings death', Major." He replied, albeit without any discernable concern. "Small but fierce. Were she not an insufferable brat, I would compare you to the Kaa's daughter."

"You must be privy to a lot more than you pretend." Sera observed. "I cannot imagine why the guards would report to you or that their report would have reached you."

"I do not believe you can fully fathom the effect that the Major's claim had upon those that heard it." The Viis responded. "It was all the more impressive because she is visibly capable of being what she claimed."

"You look at a diminutive girl carrying a gun too big for her and conclude that she's special forces." Sera blinked.

"I do not know the term ‘special forces' but yes, that is the conclusion I draw upon mere observation." He gave her a mildly wry look. "It is almost as if I am trained to make logical conclusions based on observations."

"I think I'm starting to get attached to you, Mengele." Akeya chuckled. "When properly cowed, you can successfully imitate wittiness."

He just responded with a sound that was half agitated growl and half exasperated sigh before leading them further into the room. Despite the huge difference in culture, in scientific practice, in species, in subject, and in every other factor, it was incredible how much the Viis lab looked like the interior of the typical biological research lab in the Governance. Rooms were divided into experimental and observation rooms. Tall long tables on rollers were used for dissection and (based on an experiment Sera only caught a glimpse of) vivisection. Intense lights, heavy magnifiers on flexible arms, and trays full of instruments decorated the experimental rooms. Microscopes, centrifuges, mass spectrometers, ready computer terminals, and all the other paraphernalia of actual scientific research was everywhere Sera looked and the picture repeated itself as they move onto the next lab. She was mildly surprised at the reaction of the Viis scientists they came acrossâ€"or, rather, mildly surprised at how much their reaction reminded her of the interested-but-distracted air of scientists hard at work and wishing the disruption would go away so they could get back to work. It gave Sera the same eerie feeling she sometimes got back home, feeling as if the scientists saw her and were aware of her but didn't seem to realize that there was something in the world except for their experiments.

"They seem to be working feverishly on something." She observed to Akeya over the squad comm. "So feverishly they don't seem really aware of us."

"What's their hurry, Doc?" Akeya asked him as they dodged an absentminded Viis that nearly plowed into them as he concentrated on the contests of a beaker he was swirling.

"None of your affair, interloper." He growled at her although he didn't quite meet her eyes. "You'll know as soon as you read the data you plan to steal. And even as you take it, you'll only barely understand the sacrifices needed to acquire it."

"Speaking of stealing, where can we find a computer with the majority of the relevant data?" Akeya asked, completely ignoring the rest of his reaction.

"In the room off to the right." He sighed, his rill drooping and giving him a decidedly disheartened look. "And while you complete your theft, General, we will stay here."

"I think we can continue the..."

"You have seen all that you will be allowed to see, Major." He growled at her, his rill getting stiff. "I don't care if you shoot me or shoot one of my scientists... we are not passing any deeper."

"Why?" Akeya looked amused. "Do you have something to...?"

"No. More." He growled. "Beyond this point, you will not go. Not even we go beyond this point so you will not either."

"You keep the pathogen you're working on beyond here, don't you?" Sera inquired, furrowing her brow at his sudden surge of agitation after being relatively cooperative until just a moment ago.

His stony glare answered her question for her and she looked over at Akeya. "I think, Major, that we have no need to deliberately go into a contaminated area."

"Come now, General. Surely you don't..."

Sera switched to the more private channel. "Akeya, please don't push." She requested quietly. "I'm getting a feeling that whatever it is, they don't even want us, those who they see as an enemy, to open the door into that area. Please just keep an eye on the director and the other scientists... I will go and coax some information from their computer."

"Very well." Akeya acknowledged, somewhat unhappily. "So when you've gotten the information from their computers, what then? Obviously, we extract and set off Boom's charges to hide our tracks but everyone here will die if all goes well."

"I think that we are being picked up by a transport with a very large capacity." Sera told her as she walked into the room the director had indicated, unpacking her computer and the additional modules she would need to break any security and copy off everything stored. "I think that the Admiral wants every last scrap of information we can get. I think that we have an opportunity to secure humint that goes well beyond just some biological research. I think that if Boom's charges work as he hopes, the Viis won't be aware that we have everyone who either works or is imprisoned at this lab."

"You want to capture and rescue everyone here?" Akeya seemed taken aback although her voice also had a tone of thoughtfulness. "It's dangerously bold, General."

"And sneaking down here under a communications blackout and rigging their generator to explode and destroy their labs isn't bold?" Sera inquired amusedly.

"You're speakin' my language, Boss." Sera could hear the wide grin from the draccian. "I do not like Mengele and his hacks... hell, I'd love to splatter them across the walls with my bare hands. But I can't think of a better fuck-you-thanks-lots than carting off the Kaa's science advisor and his merry men."

"And the slaves." Sera added.

"And the slaves." Akeya agreed. "He could use a bath but that zhrelli was sort of cute. Plus, I've never met a real slave gladiator before... I'm sure she's learned from hard experience some CQB stuff that they missed in SpecOps training. Besides... she frickin' shrugged off tranqs enough to make sense of what Silver was saying. I know some pretty tough heavies that couldn't do that."

"Like Boom?" Sera started looking over the computer for some sort of port, locating something that resembled a optical cable port and plugging in the adapter, turning the hacking computer on and waiting for it to warm up as she conversed with Akeya.

"Well, yeah..." Akeya admitted a little reluctantly. "But c'mon... due to pure body mass he can shrug off a normal tranq dose. It almost takes two of ‘em to put his lights out. I wish for his sake that he hadn't missed Marines induction... put some green on him and stick a long gun in his hand and he'd be a loud, proud, walking, talking symbol of the Big Green Power."

"You like him."

"He's a good man." Akeya said simply. "In a different way than Silver but still a good man."

Sera nodded as she selected the combination of instructions for the computer to break any protection (carefully this time in case breaking passwords set off a damaging chain reaction) and sent it on its merry way to steal every byte of data it could find. "Pretty proud of his heritage too." She noted after a pause.

"It's all true." Akeya asserted. "He's got a couple Medals of Honor in the lineage; if not for politics, he'd have two more based upon the after-action reports superiors wrote up. That is the underlying basis for his goodness... carrying on a tradition of excellence."

"Any reason he's not being dragged kicking and screaming into SpecOps?" Sera inquired. "Your comment about what kind of Marine he'd be would work just as well for the SpecOps."

"He wouldn't listen to the offer." Akeya replied. "He heard some scuttlebutt, true enough that adding details would make it more damning, and said that he'd put a bullet into any sonuvabitch that ordered him to kill a noncombatant. According to the officer, Sergeant Morris got a little scary about it too." Sera could almost hear the shrug. "It's no real loss, though. 12th Corp is where he belongs and after that, in the Marines. Any man who seriously threatens the life of a SpecOps on principle alone has the grit for the Steel Corp."

"And Captain Prower?"

"As you observed, General, he's too gallant." Akeya's voice seemed to smile. "Heaven help whoever gets between him and someone that needs him but going out into battle with the intent of harming someone? He doesn't have it in him, to his credit."

"You know, for someone who strikes me as proudly SpecOps, you don't seem very rah-rah about it." Sera noted. "Thus far, you've said that there are occasions where you're ordered to kill noncombatants and then admitted that a very gallant person is an ill fit for the program."

"War involves ugly, dirty, bloody, dishonorable business." Akeya replied, a little brusquely. "I can be proud that I qualified as being capable of it without pretending that it's all roses and kittens. How's the download coming?"

Sera looked at her computer. "No challenges yet." She replied. "It's sure fortunate that I brought the ultra-dense drives, though... the system has pretty massive archives to steal. I'm no biologist but this looks like at least a century worth of experiments."

"So a final no on the developing-a-bioweapon-to-kill-the-mean-aliens theory." Akeya chuckled. "I figured as much the moment I laid eyes on the birdie wandering the halls without restraint."

Sera was about to reply when Silver's voice suddenly broke into their conversation. "Command, this is Medic, do you copy?"

"Team Lead copies, Medic." Akeya replied. "Is everything alright?"

"Negative, Team Lead." Silver responded. "Corporal Foxx, the one with the two guns, reports that we have company. Estimates twelve with quadruple that outside. Further estimates that surface guard has been significantly reinforced."

"Damn." Akeya growled. "Engineer, can you give me any word on the orbital jamming?"

"All frequencies except for squad and special frequency are white noise." Boom replied instantly. "They didn't ask for these boys so it must be routine."

"Wait one." As Sera looked back over her shoulder, she saw Akeya look up at the director. "Director, is there a regular infusion of guard reinforcements to this laboratory?"

"After a certain time period with no communication, it is standard procedure." He replied with a somewhat smug look. "Before you snarl at me, Major, you never once bothered to ask me about any guard rotations."

"Would you have told us the truth?" Sera asked him, glancing nervously at the progress bar on the download.

"I would have." He replied. "A stray projectile might cause damage, either to me or the equipment in this lab. Being fully cooperative is a fair price to pay to prevent a firefight."

"Super." Akeya sighed. "Engineer, looks like you were right. Never even thought to ask our buddy here about rotations."

"No biggie." Boom rumbled. "What's the word, boss?"

"Get ready to hit your big red button." Akeya told him. "Medic?"

"Yes Major?"

"Get down here." Akeya ordered. "We're evacuating all scientists and slaves on proxy orders from the Admiral. There is a vivisection ongoing. If we can sew it up enough to move, I need to know now. Report on prisoner status."

"Three that can move on their own power, which includes the first slave I treated. Three walking wounded. Two indeterminate although I estimate that the zhrelli engineer is able to move on his own power." Silver replied briskly. "I can give you 100% when I see the vivisection. Get to the biologist working on it and tell them to start closing up the subject in preparation for emergency transport."

"General, go to the vivisection then meet Silver." Akeya instructed. "Scout One? Scout Two?"

"Yes, Major?" Came the harmonious reply.

"Sting and move until we get to the first level. We cannot, repeat, cannot afford additional casualties at this time so stay the hell out of the line of fire whenever possible." Akeya ordered.

"Yes, Major." They replied. Sera paused momentarily to check on the progress bar, noting with satisfaction that it was near the end, before heading back a couple rooms to look for the vivisection. She found four scientists clustered around the table, one keeping a close eye on vitals while the other three worked.

"You four!" Sera barked, switching her translation unit on in case they didn't understand the albiru dialect. "Sew up your experiment now. We are moving you and it out immediately."

She blinked as the four continued working, seeming deaf to her entreaties. Taking a deep breath, she shoved the one that was not visibly handling an instrument, getting an immediate and startled response from the scientists.

"The subject aaroun has... wait... you are not the primary test subject." The scientist at the vitals monitor said, looking curiously at her. "Who ARE you?"

"No time to explain." Sera replied, unholstering her sidearm and pointing it at the scientists. "Suffice it to say, your experiment is leaving this lab right now and you're leaving too. Sew it up."

"We cannot possibly..."

"You can possibly or there will be only three of you alive in five more seconds." Sera growled, gesturing with her gun. "Five... four... three... two..."

"We're working, we're working." The scientists interrupted worriedly. "Terminate experiment, prepare for movement."

As the scientists put their tools down and began reaching for what were visibly sutures and bandages, Sera turned to meet Silver... and nearly crashed into him.

"Hello, General." He smiled briefly, stepping deftly around her. "Excuse me General." He walked over to the table, shouldering one of the Viis scientists aside, and looked down at the living subject. "Exposed intestines... life support... central nerve fibers in position for sampling... OK, I can get her moving in five minutes." He looked back at Sera. "Tend to your download, General. We may have to move her still strapped to the table with IV drips but she can be moved safely."

"Glad to hear it." Sera gave him a brief smile. "Tell the Major. My download should be completed by now."

At the silvery wolven's quick nod, Sera turned and jogged back to the computer room, ignoring the sight of the scientists gathered around Akeya as she checked her computer. "Download complete, Major!" She called over her shoulder. "I've got everything this computer has. Silver reports a four-minute window before he can move the vivisection."

"Roger." Akeya beckoned her over. "Take this batch up to Level 2 and rendezvous with Boom. I'll get the other scientists and come up with Captain Prower."

"Does Boom have the crank-set?" Sera inquired as she headed towards the elevator with the gaggle of Viis and strangely, not a toth in sight.

"Yes." Akeya responded. "Crank it up, turn to the preset frequency, and send code ‘Spellbound'. If Commodore Andropoli got word, he'll have his flyboys skimming the atmosphere and itching to go in."

"Always nice to have air superiority." Sera noted as she herded the scientists, with the director being nearest to her, onto the lift and threw the lever to the middle setting. "I'll see you in four to five, Major."

"That you will." Akeya agreed as the lift creaked its way up to the second level. Once they arrived, Sera left the scientists to their own devices and went to find Boom. The giant engineer was occupied with fashioning a crude crutch for one of the prisoners, a creature that strongly resembled the slave species she remembered seeing at the Kaa's palace, out of bars he'd cut off the cells, skillfully handling his spot welder. When he'd finished one of the joints, Sera walked over. "Sergeant, do you have anything to report since your conversation with the Major?" She asked.

"Notta." He handed the crutch over to the creature and watched her hobble around on it with a look of distinct pride. "Where is she?"

"Downstairs taking care of things." Sera replied. "She sent me up to use the crank-set and give Andropoli's boys the word."

"Pack, left divde." He told her, gesturing the crutch-bearer over and working on refining it to be more comfortable and suited to the user's height.

Sera opened his pack of engineering tools and reached into the left divide, her hand immediately finding the familiar shape of the long-range radio and hoisting it out. She unshackled the antenna and folded out the crack, revving it a few times before finding the switch marked "Preset" and flipping it on. She then pressed the talk button on the microphone.

"This is General Wilson on preset frequency." She said. "General Wilson on preset frequency, over."

There was a moment of delay. "General Wilson, this is Communications Two on board the carrier Lady Lex. Please confirm identity and state status."

"General Wilson, Gunsmith." Sera replied, smiling briefly; getting her the identification name ‘Gunsmith' had been a favor from Shadow since Sera's father was a noted gunsmith and armaments officer. "Status is yellow. No team causalities, three light noncom causalities, four heavy noncom causalities. Team leader has instructed me to convey a code ‘Spellbound' at this time."

Another pause. "Communications Two has received a code ‘Spellbound'. Please verify by letter code."

"Code ‘Spellbound'. That is sierra, papa, echo, lima, lima, beta, October, uniform, November, delta." Sera replied, enunciating each word. "Again, code ‘Spellbound'."

"Spellbound is confirmed." Communications Two told her. "Strike and extraction packages are inbound. ETA is five minutes, that is five dot zero-zero minutes."

"Team is extracting causalities and humint." Sera told the communications operator. "Is extraction a Delta-India variant?" Unlike the conventional troop transports, the Deep Insertion variant of Tortoise had less soldier capacity but traded space for a trauma bulkhead, heavier armor, bigger shield generators, and a suite of heavy weaponry ranging from a 30mm gatting cannon loaded with armor-piercing rounds to flak cannons to an actual CIWS system that a particularly creative engineer had copied off of a carrier. While from a distance it looked like its lighter version, it could bat aside anything that tried to intercept it including ground armor to say nothing of how effectively it scattered any obstacles in the way of a team it was sent to extract.

"Communications Two confirms that extraction is Delta-India." Came the reply. "Communications to strike package is one dot five-five nine gig. Communications to extraction package is two dot one-three-five gig. Confirm?"

"Confirmed." Sera told the technician a moment later, turning the dials beside the two of the five remaining frequency points to match what he was telling her. "General Wilson is over and out."

She flipped the preset switch down to turn it off and then flipped to the channel she'd been given for the strike package. "Strike package, this is General Wilson with ground team. Do you copy, over?"

"Captain!" Came a cheerful voice. "So nice to see you again! My little woof has grown up all big and strong and become a general. Daddy Bong is so proud!"

Sera laughed, instantly recognizing the voice as that of the fighter pilot that had been arm-twisted into flying her transport shuttle to the space station Arid. "Nice to see you too, Weed." She replied. "How're you loaded?"

"Hotel-Hotel-Echo. I got me the BIG booms, baby." Weed informed her with relish. "You give me some smoke to aim by and I'll cut ‘em so bad they wish I no cut ‘em so bad."

"I'll bet you will." Sera chuckled. "Wait one." She twitched her squad comm to the scouts. "What smoke do we have, Corporals?"

"Red, blue, green, orange." Treeni replied.

"Thanks." Sera triggered the talk button on the microphone. "OK, Weed. Red smoke is hard targets, two concrete radio towers at the entrance to the bunker. Blue is soft targets, sixty or more soldiers. Green smoke is friendlies. Avoid, repeat, avoid structures outside the walls of the compound. We believe them to be dangerously volatile, possibly enough to destroy facility."

"Red is hard, blue is soft, green is friendly, don't shoot structure outside the compound." Weed repeated. "I've gotcha, General. Smoke those targets and we'll fuck ‘em up real good."

"I know you will, Weed. Time to paint some more kill marks on your baby." Sera smiled. "Over and out."

"So ya know the flyboy, General?" Boom asked her, sending the slave to do another round of hobbling with the improved crutch.

"Yup. An ace a few times over, apparently." She checked the chronometer on her wrist. "I think we'll need to be up there before the strike package arrives. Weed and his boys will be looking for smoke to mark their targets."

"Make the twins do it." Boom suggested. "One thing that's a bad idea to hurry is gettin' gone while the gettin' is good."

"Good idea." Sera switched to their channel. "Corporals Foxx? I need you to pop red smoke and get it to the base of the communication towers near the main gate. Use blue to tell the strike package where there're Viis to shoot."

"An' should we be poppin' the smoke in the bunker then?" Aurora inquired laconically. "Cos that's where the buggers be."

"Great." Sera sighed. "OK, I'm coming up." She looked back at Boom. "Sergeant, when the Major gets up here, send her straight up. Silver too if you can pry him away from his patients."

"So what am I going to do?"

"You're going to herd the confused morass of noncoms up to the first level when told to." Sera informed him sweetly. "Don't worry, you won't miss the fireworks."

"Don't care about the weak little fireworks your boyfriend's bringing, General." Boom grinned visibly. "I've got the epic boom just a button-press away."

Sera just chuckled as she switched out her partially empty clip for a full one and made for the lift, getting in and shoving the lever all the way to the top. The sounds of gunfire intersecting with a strange hollow sound which she guessed were from the Viis weapons. She hurried towards the central corridor and peeked around the corner. Despite lacking automatic weapons, the twins had made a good accounting of themselves, armor-clad bodies strewn across the entrance including bodies slumped against the sides with bluish blood oozing from dozens of shrapnel wounds, an artifact of a well-thrown grenade.

"Nice of ye to join us, General." Treeni called back cheerfully. "Our little friends are gettin' a tad timid. Don't even have the courtesy to stick their heads ‘round the corner long enough for us to shoot ‘em."

"Do you think a Lehr-38 can get you close enough to the entrance to start laying smoke?" Sera asked, watching attentively for any sign of a soldier poking his head around the edge of the door.

"Aye, General." Aurora nodded vigorously. "How boot... we keep their heads down and you get close enough to the entrance to start backin' ‘em off? They're clustered around either side oov the bunker entrance and the gate oot of the compound."

"And you two haven't done a coordinated grenade throw... why?"

"Wouldn't have gotten us far without an auto to keep ‘em running." Aurroa replied. "Here... how ‘bout ye come furthest forward so ye'll be in a good position for your dash?"

"Good idea. Just keep their heads down, mmkay?" Sera tensed for a moment and then dashed to where Aurora was, in the small room closest to the bunker entrance. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a black-armored head start around the cornerâ€"and just as quickly withdraw as two shots pinged off the concrete right in front of its face. Sera slipped into the room and leaned back against the wall. "What sort of weapons do they have?"

"They look like assault rifles, General." Aurora replied. "Oversized ends, however. Fires this high-speed bullet that visibly distorts the air as it goes and, based upon the look ‘o the concrete, it's got some sorta thermal component cos it melts as it embeds. Nasty thing."

"Special." Sera grimaced. "Fair bet it'll go straight through our armor."

"Fair bet." Aurora agreed.

"Assumin' it melts things, dear." Treeni pointed out. "Concrete is a sorta fluid thing after all and we haven't seen a projectile hit anything else."

"Regardless, I think we want to avoid testing it." Sera deadpanned. "Alright, on three pull pins and throw while I follow. Make sure they go outside the bunker... this armor is good but I don't want to compromise it any earlier than I need to."

"Right-o, General." Treeni replied. "Startin' now... one..." Both of them pulled grenades out of their belt bandoliers.

"...two..." Both pressed their thumbs and middle fingers on the release and unlock levers, effectively pulling the pins and ‘cooking' the grenades. Sera got ready to make her dash.

"Three!" Sera didn't stop to watch them, sprinting towards the entrance as she watched the two projectiles sail over her head, their paths crossing, and bouncing hard off the ground and outside the door. Some part of Sera's mind, the part not handling bringing her gun up to aim for any targets of opportunity, admired the expert technique, timing the bounce so that the grenades would detonate while still airborne, resulting in a greater number of fatal hits as the fragmentation explosion took place at waist level instead of towards the legs. She was a couple strides short of the door when she heard the dull crack-thump of the grenades going off. And then she was outside, sweeping her aim left and right looking for targets and only seeing a half-dozen Viis soldiers either stunned and wounded or dead on either side of the bunker entrance. "Forward." She told the twins, temporarily ignoring the soldiers as she kept her attention forward to look for anyone trying to peek around the corner or move to see what the noise was.

"On your right." Treeni announced as she took position at Sera's side.

"On your left." Aurora added, doing the same.

Sera checked her chronometer. "OK, you two... we've got a minute and a half before the strike package arrives. Red-smoke the towers and blue-smoke the general area... I'm sure Weed and his boys will be able to pick up targets is they have a general idea where to look. Oh, and put green smoke at the bunker entrance so they know to keep their fire away from where it might ricochet and hit us."

"Yes, General." They replied at the same time and went right to work. The smoke canisters were a two-part marking device, releasing a billowing cloud of colored smoke embedded with particles of potassium that would crackle and sparkle to be easily visible during darkness but also emitting a powerful pulsing signal that all targeting computers would interpret as a dot of the corresponding color. The beacons were only for navigational guidance; since they could be jammed or faked, they were never used as aiming points unless the pilot could visually confirm that the smoke and beacon corresponded. Thirty seconds later, the twins had deployed the smoke and Sera ushered them into the safety of the bunker to find Akeya standing and waiting.

"Greetings, General." She said amicably. "How long until Weed arrives?"

"How'd you...?"

"Andropoli informed me of who was on rotation." Akeya replied before Sera had gotten the entire question out. "I'm sure you're starting to get used to this, General, but Weed and his wingmen are just about the best there is."

"I'm starting to think the Admiral stole every hero, supersoldier, and expert SAF has." Sera remarked wryly. "In a way, it worries me... makes me wonder if she knows that something really bad is waiting."

"Possible but I doubt it." Akeya replied with a slight smile. "The very real possibility that she was dragging you into trouble isn't something she'd have forgotten to tell her closest friend, General. Anyway, now isn't the time for us to be nervous."

"Indeed." Treeni grinned. "As you Americans like to say it..."

"...our guardian angels are about to open a can of whoop-ass." Aurora finished with a matching grin.

Sera started to ask what they meant but the question died unasked as her ears picked up the hollow whistling sound of atmosphere being forced through the compression chambers of ultra high-thrust fighter engines; given that those engines were moving the fighters along at around Mach 5, the sound was very loud despite what was (temporarily) a considerable distance. Knowing exactly what was coming, Sera folded her ears down inside her helmet just in time to see four Falcons streak overhead in finger-four formation followed by the earthshaking thump of a sonic boom intense enough to be momentarily stunning. The sound was loud enough that it completely drowned out the sound of the explosion as two HHE rockets apiece impacted with the communications towers, blasting them over in a shower of debris, the projectiles actually trailing the four fighters although they were probably launched before the Falcons had done their fly-by.

"I think you should get inside the bunker, General." Akeya remarked calmly, grasping the back of Sera's NBC suit and physically yanking her back a couple steps. "I don't want any fragments hitting you."

"Now woot's the purpose of us markin' the soft targets if they're not plannin' to shoot ‘em?" Aurora snorted.

"Give them time, Corporal." Akeya admonished calmly. "Even the best pilots can't turn a fighter going five times the speed of sound on a dime. In the meantime... Boom?"

"Yes Major?"

"Get everyone up here." Akeya instructed him. "Have the walking wounded do what they can to help out those that need it. If you need to, draft some of those Viis. If they protest, make an example."

"Gotcha." Boom replied cheerfully. Just as Akeya signed off with Boom, the zhrelli engineer popped up from the corner of the bunker and looked distinctly disturbed to find himself starting down the barrels of five different guns.

"Winged-lizard and friends are too jumpy." He commented, tottering towards them. "You might shoot a poor zhrelli and that would be horrible indeed."

"Don't just pop around a corner and there won't be any chance of it happening." Sera retorted, dropping her aim. "Did you like the pyrotechnics?"

"Your pilots are skilled indeed to hit a mark as they move so fast." He nodded several times. "But there are many soldiers left still. You must not leave any wounded unless you plan to capture them."

"Can't make prisoners of war before there's a war, boyo." Treeni pointed out.

"Then you must put them out of their misery." The zhrelli replied, folding his arms. "For I do not like Viis but I would not wish a death by the explosion of the generator on any enemy of mine."

"What, won't it be instantaneous?" Akeya quirked an eyeridge.

"Only after it has melted down through the containment shield and melted their flesh from their bones with intense energy bombardment." He told them. "I have seen it too often although only when it has happened to albiru."

"Is it possible to affix the explosives to the containment shield itself, breaching it instantly?" Sera asked him.

"It is not." He bowed his head to her lightly. "I am sorry. Is there any service I may render?"

"Stay out of the line of fire." Akeya told him bluntly. "Last thing we need is to accidentally put a bullet into the first friend we made on this miserable ball of mud."

"On that we are agreed." He nodded rapidly and ambled into the bunker. A moment later, Silver and Boom joined them at the entrance.

"The blokes might be primitives in science but they have the most fabulous suture methodology." Silver commented enthusiastically. "I've never seen such an efficient sewing of a wound before."

"I'm glad you're impressed, Captain." Akeya replied amusedly. "We'd better check out of the walls for any soldiers left over from the rocket attack. If luck is with us, the fragments from the busted towers killed them all."

"And if not?"

"Weed and his boys will be opening another can." Akeya's grin was visible around her mask.

"If it's all the same to you, Major, I'd be tickled if we didn't have to hope they get turned around in time to save our tails." Silver remarked dryly. "I believe in their skill, of course, but faith in miraculous last-second saves by pure happenstance isn't wise."

"Now, Captain... what gave you the impression that I'm wise?" Akeya winked. "All joking aside, however, I'll take the left flank and Aurora the right. You will be on my side and the General the other. Treeni and Boom shall take up the center and furthest forward."

"That doesn't leave anyone to keep an eye on our friends, Major." Sera pointed out. "And what about what the engineer recommended?"

"If he's right, I don't care." Akeya replied coldly. "If he's wrong, all the better for them."

"Right or wrong about what, Major?" Boom asked her, looking down in her direction.

"According to the zhrelli engineer, the overload first burns through a containment shield, painfully and slowly killing the wounded soldiers." Akeya replied.

"It does, does it?" Boom looked at her for a few long seconds.

"Sergeant, this isn't the right time." Akeya sighed, fully aware of what the look meant. "It's a choice between summary execution of wounded or leaving them to die slowly and painfully. In either case, it is a violation of military code. Can you say which is worse?"

"I can't." He replied. "But I had a great-great-great grandfather who would have said it doesn't matter since in either case, we ensure quick and merciful. These are soldiers; the cretins who were experimenting on babies are going to be our prisoners."

"The Steel Corp really is your home." Akeya nodded once. "Those that weren't dead immediately from the grenades already bled to death, Sergeant. I would do it to one of those Andronov or Devoncroix monsters but not a soldier."

"Difference between you and me, Major." Boom told her.

"Steel Corp wouldn't let you wear the patch otherwise, Sergeant." Akeya replied with definite warmth. "Let's go."

"And the noncoms, Major?" Sera asked patiently.

"With due respect, General, where are they gonna go?" Akeya snorted with a bit of impatience. "Running into the crossfire? Hiding in a corner of the lab without anyone to stop us from following them in and dragging them back out? It's good practice to watch them but it's a waste of firepower when we're outnumbered to such a degree, possibly eight to one."

"Off we go then." Sera shrugged as they assumed the formation Akeya had ordered, the shortest-range firepower in the middle with steadily longer-ranged weapons to either side. It was a classic envelopment formation, designed to let them ‘collapse' around the enemy and put them in a partial enfilade. The intention lasted about as long as it took for Treeni and Boom to get even with the damaged gates before a shot whipped passed Sera's face with the snap-whine of a mundane bullet and hell broke loose. It was apparent that most of the Viis garrison was outside the compound far enough to have seen the Falcons coming in and scattered to limit injuries from flying chunks of concrete and that after the rocket barrage, they'd had the good sense to get into a semi-circle formation facing the only way out. Sera could only see one or two of them silhouetted against the faintest hint of first light (giving her some feeling of how long they'd been in the bunker) but by the volume of fire that was deflecting off the walls and shooting clouds of chips every which way, Sera could tell that they were outnumbered about three to one.

"Alright, so we weren't as lucky as we'd hoped." Akeya commented with a sigh. "Who wants to bet that in the time it'll take for us to systematically shoot them all, another garrison will show up?"

"Chances seem good, Major." Silver replied. "Of course, we only need to keep them in place for so long. Our ride will have at least one turret which can kill and scatter them. Our guardian angels will only take so long to turn around and come back to look for things to shoot."

"More than just one but good point." Akeya agreed. "OK, here's the plan: keep their heads down and make them want to stay in place trying to get some good shots. Shoot for the edges so they don't spread out too much. We need to get ready to unleash suppression fire when Weed's boys circle back around so they'll have a good shot."

"So you and Aurora sharpshoot for a while." Sera summarized. "Because the rest of our weapons are superior for close quarters and definitely for keeping them low and scared with high volume of scattered fire but..."

"Hey General... do you remember the training motto of the American Marine Corp?" Boom interrupted her.

"Every Marine a rifleman." Sera looked at him for a moment and then the realization hit her. "Are you sure you want to give me that beauty you have on your hip?"

"Give it to you?" He snorted. "You've got your own sidearm, General. Gimmie."

Sera chuckled and handed her Lehr over to him along with a few clips. "Didn't think it was standard part of the regime to get sharpshooter-qualified, Sergeant."

"It ain't." He told her, checking the sights and tweaking the rear one a little. "But I'm aiming to go Marine and the white Maltese makes a big impression."

Sera watched him take position against one of the walls, Akeya moving down to a prone position since her rifle was far and away the largest weapon and best suited for a bracing. Sera couldn't imagine how she could see through the tall grass well enough to pick out targetsâ€"until the draccian unfolded something that looked all the world like a periscope and snapped it onto the end of her scope.

"You've got to be kidding me." Sera commented over the private frequency. "You built a periscope for that thing?"

"Now General, darlin', if Ah didn't use the free time productively, Ah'd get into real trouble." Akeya drawled teasingly. "I get bored easily and when that happens, I disappear into the maze of shaping machines and come out with a new attachment."

"Normal people just read a book, you know." Sera informed her as Aurora took the first shot, grimacing faintly as she missed.

"I'm not normal, General." Akeya replied, taking her own shot and being rewarded with a loud cry of pain filtered through a black armored helmet.

"Happily so, Major." Sera agreed, sitting back against the wall and watching the three work, glancing back at the group of understandably-anxious slaves and scientists. Apparently, the diluted amphetamines had helped because Ampris was on her feet and hobbling around, her presence having a visibly calming effect on the other albiru although she didn't seem to be doing much more than being seen. Sera could definitely see the aura of a natural leader and she couldn't help but feel the faintest hint of curiosity about the golden-furred female. Although her own interactions with him had not given her much of a chance to see it, she could tell that the director of the laboratory had something of the same aura about him, although he seemed to prefer to make use of it by standing absolutely still and keeping a baleful look focused on his fellows. Both groups were wisely hunkered down in the bunker, the way the two entrances were offset from one another effectively shielding the noncombatants from stray return fire from the garrison.

"General, get on the crank-set." Akeya's voice broke into her idle thoughts. "The extraction package is almost five minutes overdue. I need an ETA update."

"Sure, Major." Sera hoisted the set from Boom's pack where the combat engineer had broken it down and packed it up again and cranked it back up, flipping the switch to the designated extraction package frequency. "Extraction package, this is General Wilson on the ground. Request status, over."

"Extraction package." The pilot of the transport replied a moment later. "General, we are sitting outside effective triple-A range awaiting the go-ahead from the strike package."

"Extraction, confirm that you are Delta-India variant." Sera's brow furrowed.

"Extraction confirms, General." The pilot replied. "I am operating under TFC orders not to penetrate the estimated triple-A envelope without strike package confirmation. Are there circumstances that TFC is unaware of?"

Sera was momentarily taken-aback; TFC was the abbreviation for Task Force Commander, which meant that the no-go was directly from Shadow. "TFC is aware that team is currently penned and preparing to extract heavy and light noncom causalities?"

"TFC is aware." He confirmed. "Wait one." There was a long pause on his end. "General, we confirm that strike package has completed course reversal and is burning inbound. Recommend that you communicate directly."

"General Wilson acknowledges." Sera replied. "Over and out." She flipped to Weed's frequency. "Hey Weed... you still up there?"

"You betcha, General." He replied cheerfully. "Getting lonely?"

"I'm really pining for my ride home." She told him. "Be a good boy and have them head down, won't you?"

"Fat lady hasn't sung, General." Weed's voice sounded gleeful. "But she's takin' the big breath. Whatcha need and where?"

"Estimate thirty-plus infantry targets clustered in front of compound walls." Sera replied. "Request gauss only for heavy reaping sweep."

"I hear and obey." Weed confirmed. "Gauss only, reaping sweep. Pop green smoke and enjoy the show."

"General, tell him we're wearing white shirts." Akeya suddenly interjected.

"Uh... Major Obsydien wishes me to convey that we're wearing white shirts." Sera blinked, staring at the prone draccian.

Weed laughed. "I'm gonna kiss that girl proper when we get down." He responded with relish. "Over and out, General."

"White shirts?" Sera inquired of Akeya as she switched the radio off.

"Insurance policy so they know who to avoid." She replied, her gun barking as she took down another soldier. "I'll explain later."

"But white shirts?" Sera leaned against the wall and looked down at Akeya. "I thought the general term was white hats or something like that."

"The designer of the safety feature was a big fan of a particularly obscure historical fiction novel." Akeya sounded amused. "He was the genius that came up with it so he got to give it the name."

"Those SAFES people really need to emerge into the real world sometimes." Sera chuckled, keeping an ear out for the distinctive sound of the approaching fighters. A couple minutes went by, silence reigning on the comms and surprisingly little shooting going on.

"Where the hell is that flyboy?" Boom groused. "Sure takin' his sweet time."

"It's like a grand lady at a ball or, as I'm sure you can appreciate more than me, Longstreet rolling into the fight." Akeya replied. "You hate the wait but when it happens, the show makes it worth it. Speaking of the show... everyone without a long gun get ready to start spending ammo. Weed and his boys are here."

"I don't hear anything." Silver commented as he nonetheless jumped to obey, flipping the safety on his heavy sub-machinegun off.

"You don't hear it but I can see it." Akeya responded. "OK. Ready... set... fire!"

Sera's sidearm cleared the holster as she swung around her edge of the heavy fortress wall, the hammer already moving back as she squeezed the trigger when Silver braced the Thompson against his shoulder and pulled the trigger. It might have been somewhat inaccurate, it was certainly a very weighty weapon, and it was perhaps the loudest small arm Sera had ever heard but a Thompson spewing a tongue of fluttering flame as it coated the area in .45 caliber bullets was a sight to see and certainly not something Sera ever wanted to be on the receiving end of. Although the grass didn't allow her to be absolutely sure, it looked as if every Viis soldier in front of her had hit the dirt and weren't doing much moving which is where they found themselves when, no more than three seconds after Akeya had given the order to fire, a hail of metal slugs traveling at hypersonic velocities came sailing out of the sky as the first Falcon pilot drifted in on his strafing run, his engines turned so low they were all but dead and accounting for the fact that Sera hadn't heard the approach. As the first one gunned his throttle and streaked overhead, two more came in from steep angles, heading directly at each other as their streams of bullets crossed over the ground, the pilots expertly flipping their craft to a side and slipping passed one another so close that Sera saw a brief sparkling flare as their shield bubbles brushed. There was a pause, like the eye of a hurricane, then Weed made his run. Even going slowly, he was moving too fast for Sera to actually make out any details of the fighter but somehow, she just knew that he'd be the only one to streak in at full throttle, emptying his HHE rockets and a hail of gunfire into whatever unfortunate soldiers were left from the previous runs before actually flipping upside down and, as Sera's jaw dropped, skimmed the grass so low that his engine exhaust ignited a good hundred feet of grass in a straight line before he righted himself and streaked off into the distance.

"...poor bloody bastards..." Silver observed after a full minute of awed silence.

"They weren't wearing white shirts." Akeya observed laconically. "And if I'm not mistaken, I think I see our ride home approaching." She stood up and removed the periscope attachment. "When they touch down, I'll speak to the pilot. Boom, make sure that your explosive are secure and that we'll be able to detonate them from the air. The rest of you help our noncoms into the transport and be careful that there aren't any survivors to shoot at us as we go."

They all leapt to obey Akeya as the unusually ungainly-looking transport, bristling with guns, touched down and its hold door opened. Akeya disappeared inside as Sera reached the laboratory director.

"Impressive." He commented as she reached him. "I take it that that vessel is your transport back to your fleet?"

"Impressive seems like a bit of an understatement, Doctor." Sera replied. "Now, get every moving towards it. We have only so much time to get secure and leave for home before more of your black-clad bully boys show up and killing Viis wholesale is definitely not one of our objectives here."

"I am pleased to hear it." He told her dryly with the slightest hint of sarcasm. "I shall pass the word along." He paused for a moment. "General, may I inquire as to your intentions with us? Certainly, you mean to ask as many questions as you can think of but what comes after?"

"I do not know and will not speculate, Doctor." Sera replied over her shoulder as she walked towards Ampris. "Only my commanding officer can make that decision."

"I wouldn't expect an answer even if you did know." He twitched his rill's edges in a gesture curiously reminiscent of a shrug before turning to his contemporaries and beginning to speak to them. Sera found Ampris standing near the still-comatose vivisection patient leaning heavily on the makeshift surgical table, obviously in pain from her damaged leg but doing her best not to show it.

"Miss Ampris?" The Aaroun's head turned to look at her, acknowledging that she'd heard.

"Yes...?" She asked in a raspy voice, ending with a small cough.

"Our transport is landing and we need to coordinate everyone getting aboard." Sera explained. "Do you need assistance?"

"She does." Ampris replied, closing her eyes and taking a deep shuddering breath. "I... can walk. I don't... really want to but I can."

"I could have our medic..."

"There... is not need." Ampris gave her a slight smile. "Thank... you..."

"Of course." Sera gave her a nod as the other female began hobbling around to distribute the news. Satisfied that things were in order, Sera began helping the rest of the slaves towards the cavernous transport, Silver taking personal charge of the vivisection, pushing her makeshift gurney into the onboard surgical suite and closing the door behind him, probably to begin doing more complete repair work and check her sutures to ensure that they were holding.

Akeya emerged from the forward area about the same time that Boom followed the last scientist up the ramp and flashed the draccian a thumbs-up.

"Charges are green and have a 8-kilo range on them." He reported as he seated his large frame in one of the transport bucket seats. "I'll set ‘em off when you give the word, Major."

"Word will be soon." Akeya assured him, walking over to the intercom. "Pilot, seal the hatch and burn towards home." She looked over her shoulder. "Everyone else, strap in." As they were doing so, Akeya walked over and tapped on the door to the surgical suite.

"I have to attend my patient, Major." Silver told her as he opened the door slightly. "I'd love it if you could have Richard assist me but I realize that he'll be needed to detonate the bomb on the reactor. Regardless, however, I must continue working."

"Just wanting you to keep in mind that it'll get pretty shaky." Akeya replied, apparently unconcerned about his insistence on staying standing and continuing the trauma work. "Any prognosis yet?"

"High chance of survival." Silver shrugged. "I won't know more until I've gotten her to a full-on surgical ward but all the relevant signs are indicative of a person who has remained markedly physically resistant to breakdown after some rather gruesome experimentation."

"Six kilos." Boom interrupted. "Shall I detonate, Major?"

"Hit it." Akeya told him decisively. "And to hell with it."