[quote] "You have great timing. How many of you are there? We've got prisoners that need securing and extraction. We'll be taking one of them with us as a guide, it'd be nice to have some extra guns to help with freeing the hostages."[/quote]

"Six altogether" replied the collie. "Four of us can take the prisoners. Two more could accompany you to bolster your firepower back up to numbers."
Moving quickly, she detached two men to go with Nathaniel and the others. They quickly introduced themselves as Rayers and Dolarhyde, a male lynx and female coati, both armed with standard gear and equipment. They set themselves onto the same radio channel as the others and fell in to follow their commands.

In the meantime, the rest of the security team rounded up the compliant prisoners and escorted them back the way they had come, leaving Jed to direct the rest of the group onward.
"Down the corridor," he said, looking up toward the GEAR. "There are side passages, but they're all collapsed or blocked only a few meters in. About five minutes walk along, the corridor sort of snakes-" he gestured in the air, describing an 's' shape - "and then opens out into the main cavern, on one side. There's a set of offices built into the wall there, that sort of stick out into the cavern. That's where the hostages and anyone else would be".

Back in the cavern, Blade still hadn't received an acknowledgement of his orders. Switching to the direct channel to Mike's GEAR, he tried again.
"Nawlin, are you there? What the hell is going on with the fireteam? Why isn't anyone answering my damn radio messages for updates and orders? I've got a fix on the hostages' location. The caverns are secured, and we have what might be the remainder of the bandits penned into a structure that needs a sweep-and-clear. If no one answers this time, I'm going to go in there myself and do it. What's the situation, over?"
He rolled his shoulders and bared teeth at the images on the monitor. The heat signatures inside the office complex hadn't moved much so far, but he could tell by the movement - pacing back and forth by a few, and staying still by a majority - that things were getting tense for the captors.

[quote] "This is the Landren Defense Force, you are trailing through a fire fight zone, identify yourself immediately." [/quote]

There was squealing static for a few moments, before a voice with a hint of Northern accent replied. 
"Greetings, LDF. We are an independent salvage trader, passing through this zone on route to Martenstown. We were not aware of the battle. Our ships' name is the [i]Strike It Big[/i]. Is there any assistance we can provide, over?"
The ship continued under power, heading toward the south-east, more-or-less on course for Martenstown, as they were claiming.