**_Esailia's Group_** "It's nothing, Doctor! She's...eh...asthmatic! It's this dust and the air. Maybe something got into her lungs?" Edward was clearly scrambling to excuse his superior's coughing fit, and the redness that was bold on the white cotton ball. He was waving his arms and speaking in a rushed manner, his tone just short of desperation. All the while Esailia kept coughing, though she shook her head at Aidan, managing to cough out through the mask and her fit "I'm not aband-*Cough* Abandoning th-*Coughs* Mission, doct-" She stopped there as the fit worsened, and she fell to her knees, her vision blurring. Her lunged hurt, and her throat was raw. "See?! She won't abandon the mission! Do you want us to fail because you pulled our leader out?!" Edward was yelling at the good doctor, grabbing at his shoulder and praying Esailia would just get over the coughs like she always had. While Edward and Aidan yelled at each other, Nathanial had assumed command, calling out to the group of now surrendering bandits "Hands on your heads, knit your fingers together, kneel facing the wall, and cross your legs! If I so much as see any of you twitch or move from that position, I will open fire for the safety of this squad!" He turned and faced Mike "Keep them covered, find me a guide you feel is the weakest." He said before walking towards the bandits. He stopped beside Naida a moment, who had kept position just at the corner and was keeping the enemy covered "Watch the trio back there." He muttered, low enough that only she could hear him. "She's bad. Get Edward to help them out of the cave and keep him beside that doctor. I don't want her to die, but it won't help if she's discharged. Then get back to me. We can't keep all these guys covered while finishing the mission at the same time." Naida nodded and turned to head opposite Nathanial, who resumed his march forward to follow Mike towards the group...

Outside of the mine, two loud blasts and a semi-sounding of the siren heralded the arrival of the _Parvan's Claw_ at the base of the gently rising hill the mine was set into the side of. The ramp at the bow of the land-ship slowly motored down, along with smaller ones from the sides. A recovery vehicle grumbled down the ramp, heading for the prostrate form of Kuraiko's GEAR. Alongside it, Irry's _Harlock_ kept pace, moving at a slow jog, a GEAR-scale hand-held shotgun held in both arms, and hardpoints tooled up with close-range firepower. Reaching the flattened area of the mine workings and the mouth to the only still-standing mineshaft, she briefly gave a casual salute to Ken, before the GEAR darted into the tunnel workings to back up Adrian and Silverwind. With a hissing crackle and pop, the voice of Rye Dellen, the female squirrel who acted as the _Claw's_ traffic controller burst into life over Ken's headphones. "Maxwell, we've got a transient sensor contact at the edge of our range. Magnetic Interference is cutting down our radar and sensor systems dramatically, and the area is geologically unstable, so we can't get firm seismic readings. We need an aerial reconnaissance, as it looks like another Landcruiser, and it's in the direction the hostile GEARs fled in." She paused, and the Captains' voice came on the channel, reassuring, firm and commanding. She spoke swiftly and clearly. "Ken, just to be clear - do not engage the bogey. We want a confirmation of ID, and clear pictures of the contact. As soon as you've made visual contact and you've gathered as much information as you can, return to the ship. Don't engage, break contact if you're fired upon. Understood? Good luck and happy hunting". In the mine itself, Blade squared up to the edge of the rough rocky archway leading into the next cavern. He had no more ammo for the rifle, and his miniguns were in the red part of their ammo counter. He still had mortar rounds, but the ceiling was too low for them to be effective. He was about to think on improvising, before another 'friendly' IFF tag showed in his rear quarter, and a standard late-model _Harlock_ in two-tone badlands camouflage. "Blade, Kelsea - I have more ammo for you both, if you're running low. Not to mention, I bought a party favour". She hefted the shotgun in her GEARs' metal hands, before reaching with one into storage compartments attached to the waist hardpoints and passing over magazines. Blade gratefully reloaded the autocannon rifle, and resumed his position stacked up on the door, but this time allowing Irry to take point with the GEAR-scale shotgun. "Ready," she called out. He clicked his mike in affirmative, and sent a simple 'stand ready' notice to Adrian. After he tapped the rear of Irry's machine, she wheeled around the corner and charged ahead, shotgun raised high. The second cavern was smaller, but the bandits had evidently held back their last weapons for here, and they were the last resort. A couple of 'hillbilly armoured' mining trucks, they had scavenged old GEAR weapons from the wastes and crudely mounted them to the dump-truck beds of the vehicles. Aiming them wildly, they fired, and the walls were stitched with 25mm pock-marks, before Irry's shotgun blasted one into scrap. Blade went right as she went straight on. A gutsy machine-gunner team were opening up on the GEARs, hammering them with medium-caliber rounds. From inside the cockpit, the machine resonated to the sound of hammering fire, and a couple of minor warnings flashed into the holographic interface. The assistant gunner raised a grenade launcher, and with a grimace, Blade gunned them both down with a burst from the miniguns. At the opposite side, a team in waiting rappelled down onto Adrian's GEAR and began setting about placing charges, while another bandit on a high ledge began to take careful shots at the _Hyper-Saber's_ head sensory arrays, or other vital locations - although, with the close range and the amount of movement in the cavern, it was no easy task. The biggest thing of note was the pre-fab blocky shapes forming a set of offices (no doubt converted into living space) in the rear corner of the room, seeming stretching into a hollowed out alcove big enough for it's roof and dimensions. Other than that, there were no further vehicles, and no more armed personnel to challenge their progress. The group of humbled bandits had laid their weapons down, and assumed the pose of captured personnel under Nathanials' comand with no complaints. A few peered interestedly at the discussion between the men and women of the group, but soon turned their eyes away at a glance in return, content to be out of the fighting for the meantime. The six of them were fairly similar in equipment, and between the men and women there was a reasonable range of ages and builds on display, as well as species. The most obvious candidate for 'weakest', however, was a young-looking and relatively slight in build pine marten. His clothes virtually hung off of his frame, and he looked the most startled and unsure of the group, glancing with a mix of awe and fear at Es's squad and the shape of the GEAR, two and a half times their size, backing them up.

(editing the post, posted a new copy?)

The charged discussion between Aidan, Esailia, and Edward was disregarded as soon as mike heard Esailia's voice. "well, 'least she 's talking...means she can breathe" he muttered to himself as he watched the mercs. moments later Edward climbed to near hysterics and mike had half a mind to chew out the engi, but it just wasn't his place. Right now he had a job to do, and that was to protect this squad from the big threats, while they took care of the little ones. about that time Nathaniel started to whip the now effective prisoners into line, the group turning their backs, and kneeling. At the mention of opening fire, the low *whirrrr* of prowlers miniguns spooling up crept through the cavern, punctuating that this was indeed no threat, before slowing to a stop. "Keep them covered, find me a guide you feel is the weakest." Nathaniel said, as prowler nodded an affirmative as mike looked closely at the group. the choice was pretty easy for mike, thank goodness. pointing with his free hand, mike pointed to the pine marten. "you, third from your left, the pine marten." mike growled through Prowler's speakers. "slowly stand, step back 6 paces, and turn towards the suit." he continued, watching the marten carefully. "relax, keep steady, and everything will go fine, just remember....slow." Mike coached the fidgety pine marten as he moved back. "three questions" he said as he turned around. "First, your name, second, can you guide CORRECTLY through the mine, and third, why in nine hells should trust you?" he asked, prowlers "eyes" watching him intently. "honesty will work MUCH better then evasion" he added, as the marten formed a response.

Kensingon scanned the area below him upon the arrival of the arrival of the [i]Parvan's Claw[/i]. When it's sirens sounded the airman shot his gaze to the landcruiser, briefly looking over it's familiar image before returning to his duties in which by that time his eyes came across a friendly gear giving him a wave before it went into the mines. He wanted to get on comms and say a response, but something in the back of his head told him that wasn't wise since the situation was escalating rather quickly. Everything to him looked like he was going to be free of any action, until a order from the control tower came his way. > "Maxwell, we've got a transient sensor contact at the edge of our range. Magnetic Interference is cutting down our radar and sensor systems dramatically, and the area is geologically unstable, so we can't get firm seismic readings. We need an aerial reconnaissance, as it looks like another Landcruiser, and it's in the direction the hostile GEARs fled in... Ken, just to be clear - do not engage the bogey. We want a confirmation of ID, and clear pictures of the contact. As soon as you've made visual contact and you've gathered as much information as you can, return to the ship. Don't engage, break contact if you're fired upon. Understood? Good luck and happy hunting". Hearing the voice of the female operator brought the wolf to attention and he immediately looked around the cockpit for his helmet, adjusting his headset while he cleared his throat and responded to the lady. "Understood initiating passive reconnaissance. Should the others be informed or are they out of radio contact?" The airman replied, tugging on his his bandanna and jump suit collar after getting his helmet on. Once everything was set for him to move on the pilot grabbed the controls and pushed on, his eyes glancing between the camera feed and the view outside the windshield like a ping pong ball during a heated match, perhaps it was time he requested a co-pilot after this. That distraction though was pushed aside when the land cruiser came into view, Maxwell himself taking a good moment to raise altitude before he got on his comms again. "Update: It is a landcruiser but it seems to be heading the direction where the uhh hostiles were heading. I can't really get a good look but to me it looks like a private business one. A-" The airman was cut off by a siren going off in his dash board, a red text popping up and fading away right after the sirens stopped. The brief warning caught him by surprise, but he calmed down within the minute and assumed it was just a glitch in the system. "Sorry about that if it went into comms. Anyways I think you can refer to the camera feed of my helicopter if you are within range. Staying put and requesting to make radio contact with this unknown landcruiser."

"Asthmatic or not, she needs to get out of here, Edward. If it's in the air here, it will do her no good to linger around." The doctor was undeterred and offered the mask to Esailia, now thinking that she'd might need a shot of epinephrine to loosen her airways up and help her breathe normally. The pain in his arm slowly changed its nature, hurting more and more like someone slammed a full-force blow with a heavy baseball bat and tore his muscles in the effort. Though the pain was excruciating, he could still dedicate part of his brain to his current task, albeit losing his patience. He did catch what the captain managed to mumble through her coughing, but, Aidan refused to listen; Edward only worsened the situation with his stressful demeanor, the doctor feeling his temper being pushed nearly over the edge. His last comment, together with gripping his shoulder, was the last drop. Aidan threw himself on his feet and shot the fox's arm away with his right palm and painted his finger at the tip of Edward's nose; his expression changed from a mildly-concerned frown to a full-blown, enraged snarl, baring his canine teeth baring from under his upper lip. "Stand down, corporal! I may not be your captain, but I am a lieutenant of this unit and if I catch you yelling at me, or trying to prevent me from doing my job, I'll rip that fucking arm off, shove it up your tailhole and make you eat it!" He yelled at him, displaying quite a show for the captives. "I don't know what the shit is going through that dense skull of yours, but I'm here to help last time I checked and if I don't pull captain Sprinstream out she'll-" Just then, the feline captain collapsed on the ground, her throat groaning, her diaphragm shuddering. Aidan turned around to see what the commotion was all about, only to identify the slightly convulsive body laying on the floor was Esailia's. He felt the same feeling all over again from roughly one hour ago, on Ken's chopper; doubt of success was a lingering thought, knowing that he may not be as efficient with the arm that has lost its functionality. In one second, he drew the steps of saving Es in his head: epineph shot, hyperextension of the head, check airways, use either OPA or ventilation balloon, extract patient; having a plan in his head helped him regain his wits and lose some of the panic trying to cut the rational component of his brain completely and started to move. The first thing he did, though, was to turn to Edward again and snap at him. "Superb! Now look what you've done! Don't just stand there, get here and give me a hand." He started to rummage through the kit again, looking for everything that he needed; he threw a one-shot syringe with a transparent liquid in it in Edward's lap while he frantically searched for the OPAs stowed in a compartment somewhere. The syringe itself looked nothing like a classically-shaped syringe, instead, it was a cylinder with a red end and a grey cap on the other, which would arm the injecting mechanism within the contraption "Take off the grey cap and shoot her in the thigh with the red tip, right there, in that spot and hold it for ten seconds. Don't touch the needle!" The dog then pulled out three curbed tubes with a flared end, each colored in a different hue. He rolled the female captain on her back and straightened her head with great effort, every time he would use his arm, or even at the smallest twitch, the tremendous pain would hit him again and freeze his brain and body in place. He took off his helmet and lowered his body down and concentrated on his right ear, trying to hear her breath, or at least, feel the air escaping her mouth brush up against the sensible fur around his pointy ear After he regained mobility, he took the longest of the tubes and compared its length to Esailia's distance from the mouth to the lower angle of her mandible, judging the oropharyngeal airway to be too long for her, so instead he picked the middle-sized one; with another considerable effort, he extended the cat's neck outwards by pushing down her forehead with the barely functional, hurting arm, while he guided the motion by holding two fingers under her chin. He used his left hand, which still had mobility in its fingers as none of the forearm muscle groups were affected by the wound, to pry open Esailia's mouth by pushing with his index and thumb against her upper and lower molar teeth to part them and open her mouth just enough to fit in the OPA; he pushed in the tube with the curvature facing her tongue, to make way for the canal to reach halfway down the throat, after which, he rotated the tube with a precise move of his good wrist and push it down again without forcing it in. He made sure the fox did his part correctly and leaned in once more to hear Esailia breathe some more, catching a small sign of improvement. Next, they had to get out the stretcher, but seeing the corporal's general reluctance, Aidan alone dragged the poor cat on it, using his boot to keep the stretcher from sliding along with her body. Once she was secured, strapped in and on wheels, Aidan urged the corporal to push the stretcher. "I'm sure your sister, Nathaniel and Michael can handle the situation accordingly. If you don't want your superior dead, I suggest you push her out of the cave before she bleeds her lungs out. Get a move on, corporal!" He then turned his attention to the trio they were about to leave behind. "I swear, if someone else gets hurt today, I will murder that one wiseguy. Stay sharp, I won't be available for a while." He told the remainder of the team. He could push the stretcher earlier that day with only one hand, but really, he wanted Edward to do it for him, so he could repair the mistake of talking down to a superior. Aidan felt bad for using his rank as a mean to shut down an argument, but with Esailia's condition, time was a precious resource. Having a bit of time to recollect the events of that day, he could feel exhaustion soak through his muscles and wear down his bones, feel his left arm still hurting like an absolute bitch and realize that it had been a difficult day. Not the worst, but a really tiresome day. Two pilots, a captain and himself got him in the process, one from the group went straight for the morgue. There would be a lot of paperwork ahead and he dreaded working out captain Spinstream's case; by now it was quite obvious she was hiding something and taught everyone else in her team to keep their mouths shut for her and like the good soldiers they are, they all remained silent and try to divert from the problem. It would have been a matter of time before her symptoms would aggravate and draw someone's attention; lucky for her, she caught the right person's attention. Somewhere half the way down the shaft, Aidan grabbed the stretched and brought it to a halt; he didn't communicate to colonel Blade about Esailia's situation just yet and he knew Edward was waiting for the worst to happen. The dog had to chose whether he would tell his superior or become another liability. He pointed his finger at Esailia's chest. "Take it off. The vest, I mean. Now. Under double." He kept uttering, urging the fox to do as he says. "Put the vest down, right over there." Once it was laying on the ground, with no warning, Aidan pulled out his standard issue handgun from its holster tied to his right thigh, flicked the safety switch on the grip and aimed the pistol loosely with a single hand, only to discharge a single bullet at it. Aidan's ears rang as the walls reverberated the sound with like a heavy punch straight into his eardrums and watched the empty shell rattle and roll on the floor; he picked up the evidence and stowed it in his pocket, then asked Edward to pick the vest up and hold it out for him to eyeball where the bullet would have hit if it were on her. He refused to shoot at the woman, as it would have been way too risky, but he still had to leave a nasty bruise, thus, he used the barrel of his PDW to slam it square into the woman's unprotected chest and as if he didn't abuse the poor woman's body, he promptly pulled the OPA out for enough time to force her jaw shut and bite her own tongue, drawing a bit more blood; he wiped some of it with his sleeve and slid the tube down her throat again. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you that this was for her good. You stick close to me and let no one check her, you understand? Keep your mouth shut and let me do the talking, you guard me and help me with my hand, but don't dare to wag your chin. Put her vest back on now, but don't strap it back together, leave it hanging." He then opened his commlink and addressed to his superior and then, the landcruiser. "Blade, I need to pull captain Spinstream out, she's been hit and knocked unconscious. I can't imagine how the situation's on your end, but don't shoot towards the entrance. Me and Ed are pulling her out now, over. Ken, do you read me? Watch for the mine entrance, friendlies coming out!" Aidan then switched channels. "Parvan's Claw, this is First Lieutenant Sykes, I'm pulling out a patient hit with a small caliber firearm; the bullet didn't go through, but she had her wind kicked out and lost consciousness, minor bleeding from a tongue bite and a gunshot bruise on her chest. Requesting transport to sick bay. Ove- no, wait, base, base! About the patient, uh, she-" Back at the sick bay, one of the technicians was pulling the tray out of the CT scanner and helped the patient up, lending a hand for him to get on his own feet. The ferret checked him up and down and used his body as best as he could to provide a fulcrum for the still-dizzy wolf and guided him outside; just after the door, a badger and with his nurse, a female gazelle, were receiving fresh news from the battlefield just outside the cruiser's walls. "-so, it would seem the female patient wishes to be seen only by the corpsman." "He is a doctor, sir." "With an EMT license; so, if he isn't a field medic, he is a field doctor, if that makes you happier. Ah, Aihara, here you are, already walking; I am honestly surprised by your swift evolution towards recovery, even if there were no life-threatening wounds. Still, I need to be sure if you didn't hit your head hard enough to rupture any important blood vessel in-" "CT and MRI scans are clean, sir." Interrupted the ferret, a feint smirk sketched at the corner of his lips. "Good." The badger replied, thinning his own lips while he frowned at the misbehaving runt. "Blood tests were very good too, actually. It would seem that you are quite alright, mister Aihara; now, if it weren't for my utmost respect towards colonel Blade, I'd keep you at least twenty-four hours on a bed here at the bay, but..." he then sighed and frowned, rubbing his eyelids "... given the tragic situation of today's operation, I am more than sure that you'd like to partake with the debrief. Thus, I will give you the green to go and do so, but, I'd much like you to move as little as possible and keep your head level, rest as much as you can and drink a lot of fluids, fluids that preferably do not contain any traces of alcohol. We'd like to check your head tomorrow too, so you're not done with us. As for the dizziness, well, I am sure some meclizine HCL would do the trick. I'm sure Maria here can take care of you. Now, off you go, we've all got work to do, there's more wounded to come." Said and done, the gazelle lead her patient to the examination room and had him sit on the bed while she searched for the box of the needed antihistamines, managing to find it using her intuition and knowledge of Major Reid's habits, the doctor badger. She prepared the tablet, calculating the dosage with Kuraiko's current state of vertigo, poured some cold water in a standard, white cup and popped the tablet into another one, then, offered them to the wolf. "That's it. In about ten minutes, you should feel like yourself again, but like the doctor said, try to not to move too much. Beer won't drown the pain and neither hitting the gym, so stay put. If you feel like it's coming back, come right back, okay?" She smiled to him, making sure she was a good nurse as she had always been. She had a rather comely visage, but most of her beauty was worn out by the horrors of death and mutilation, a dizzy man was quite a relief for her too. She had her hair tucked in a bun, her thorns neatly trimmed not to be too long and made sure her clinic clothing was tidy; she hated them as they would ruin her aesthetic body shape, but she respected her job too much not to sacrifice her looks for it. If she really wanted to look pretty, she would do it far away from a small, enclosed space that had too many hormonal and aggressive men on the hunt for a delicious catch.

Kuraiko smiled and took the cup, popping the pill and taking a drink to wash it down, inwardly he was smiling. He recovered, that quick? It amazed even him, and that doctor...Seemed to have a kind, kind heart. It made him miss the corpsman, it made him miss everyone, it may not have been a VERY long time with them, but already they felt like a small family. He couldn't help but attach to such an odd group of soldiers, they reminded him of his real family, which made him a tad depressed, but also made him smile as he remembered his father, loyal to Landren 'till he died. Before he stood to leave, he looked to the gazelle and gave her the same smile he did to anyone he considered a friend. "Hey, tell the doc I said thanks, and that I apologize for making everyone worry so much. I promise, I'll try not to end up like this again." with that said, he left the room. Off to pass the time till Blade returned. After finishing his words to the gazelle, he decided he would go for a long walk, just to regain his legs. He needed to be ready for the next operation, and be steady-footed for the debrief. So he went for a walk to get his legs back, mostly on the outer areas of the Claw, where he could feel the air around him. A few deep breaths would do wonders, he thought. After a few minutes he ended up on one of the outer catwalks on the Claw, as most of the giant Landcruiser was bustling with life and the hard work of her crew. He loved it, loved the synchronicity of the men and women aboard, the smooth communication, and the beautiful results of their labor. The more he admired it all, the more proud he was to have joined the LDF, and the more he realized, this is where he belongs. No matter what.

At Mike's command, the Pine Marten slowly and nervously followed his directions. He didn't show any signs of resistance, just obvious ones of fear. For the rest of Esailia's squad, outside of the protective and enclosing shell of the [i]Prowler[/i], the young mans' fear was obvious in his scent as much as his posture. As Mike asked him questions, he wrung his hands as he answered. "M-my name is Jed Whitefall, s-sir. I know the mine well, and I can get you to the cavern easily. A-and trusting me? I... just want to get out of here and go home. My mother and sister are there. It was my big brother and my Dad who made me come". He hung his head, and his ears went flat. "I just want to go home," he repeated quietly. The rest of the prisoners remained subdued. None of them talked, moving only to cough or otherwise shift their weight around, and were in no way showing signs of making a break for it or of resistance. As sounds from the GEARs of Blades' group in the cavern echoed back through the tunnels, they looked slightly alarmed and glanced to the rest of the fireteam out of natural curiosity, but otherwise made no threatening movements of any kind. At Ken's contact, the radio - still dogged by static from the local magnetic field interference hissed and popped a reply. "Roger, Maxwell. Just hail them for an ID check. Visual looks okay; no signs of anything untoward about the vessel, it looks like a standard civilian [i]Clayton[/i]-class light transport. No signs of any weapons either, or any unusual sensor systems. We can't get in contact with the rest of the Roughriders at this time, too much interference from the mine. Besides, there's nothing they can do. RTB once you have the radio contact, over" As Aidan and Edward wheeled Esailia on the stretcher towards the mine entrance, the shapes of a security team from the [i]Claw[/i] came into view. Clearly distinct from the shapes of the bandits by their helmets and combat gear, they froze for a moment upon seeing the pair with the stretcher, and then relaxed as their visors showed IFF tags. "This way," called the leader of the fireteam. "We'll escort you out. The [i]Claw[/i] has taken up position outside". Seeing the bullet wound Aidan was sporting, the team leader; a female rough collie and head of the land-ships' security team, directed one of her men to assist the wounded medic as he moved on. "Any more in there?" she asked Edward, keeping pace. "We've got the outside secured. I can send my squad deeper into the mine if the rest of your team needs support". In the main cavern, the hostiles were at the end of their rope. The two trucks were piles of smoking wreckage. The machine-gun team had surrendered after being mostly turned into chunky paste. However, the near-suicidal anti-GEAR troops had yet to be dealt with. Assailing Adrians' GEAR, they clambered onto the machine and placed charges, after the sniper managed to shoot out the machines' optical sensors with high-powered ammunition, moments before Irry hosed her with a burst of minigun fire. One set of charges detonated, before Blade and Irry both managed to knock the rest off of their comrades' machine. A second set detonated in close proximity, but were not, thankfully, close enough to cause serious structural damage. No further rounds came their way, and everything was still, at last, for more than a handful of moments. A thermal imaging scan of the cabin built into the corner revealed there were people inside, and Blade hit the loudspeakers on the [i]Harlock[/i] as he waved Irry and Adrian to take up cover positions. "You, in the cabin - we have three GEARs covering the structure, and infantry inbound. You are surrounded and outgunned, with no further allies or support. Surrender immediately." There was a moments silence, and Blades' comm channel sounded with the badly broken-up message from Aiden, the interference still doing it's best to hinder the operation. "Roger. We've got things pretty much secure here, no further signs of hostiles, and the last few are penned up in a mining office. Get the captain to the sickbay, we'll take care of this". Switching channels, he got through to the fireteam. He wasn't sure who'd take over from Sprinstream, but he had no doubt they'd do their part. That was why he'd asked for them in the first place. "Fireteam, this is Blade. We've got a building that needs breaching and clearing, reading four poss tangoes inside. The rest of the cavern is secured, and friendlies are moving in. What's your situation, over?"