The sudden forcefulness of Aidan's words caught the young fox by surprise, causing Edward to fall back on his training and respond with quick 'Yessir!'s to the doctor, whom had just pulled rank to get him to comply. He obeyed with no more talking back, but clearly became much more relieved when Aidan was covering up the reason for Esailia's extraction. When Asked if the rest of his squad needed reinforcement, the fox nodded "There's only Naida, nathanial, and Mike in there now. We captured some infantry too." He informed the soldier, never slowing from Esailia's side. Upon reaching the Claw, Edward made sure to keep up with Aidan, now more comfortable in knowing the Doctor was helping Esailia as he knew she'd want to be helped... Back in the tunnel, Nathanial had taken full command, bringing Naida with him up to their GEAR escort "Find one?" He asked Mike, seeing the slim bandit before the GEAR. He waited a moment for Mike's answer, then walked up to the Pine Marten "You'll get home if you cooperate to the fullest. You are currently at risk of being charged with firing upon military forces and holding civilian hostages among others. But I may forget your face if you answer every question without fail. Now, how many others are there beyond this point? How many hostages? Any bandits in the room with the hostages?" As Nathanial rattled questions off one by one, Naida started unarming the prisoners one by one, and tossing the weapons into a pile right beside the Prowler. In the Claw, Esailia slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry and a bright light above her hindering any sort of solid things around her. "...wh...where..." She began, her voice cracking and dry. She attempted another question, but a cough was all that was heard.

The tiger quickly flipped his comm on, answering "We ran into trouble, but we'll advance as soon as we figure out how to handle some prisoners we captured." Nathanial nodded at Mike at his question, hefting his weapon "Yeah, when we move out you take point, but we've got to take care of these prisoners first. Can't just leave them here unrestrai-" He cut off and whirled around, along with Naida, when they both heard footsteps behind them. Nathanial was about to open fire, when he noted the IFF tags on the soldier who rounded the corner. The tiger lowered his rifle and motioned for Naida to do the same before walking up to the soldier, noting others behind her "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." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the secluded infirmary room, Edward shifted uncomfortably to the quiet, almost disappointed tone the Doctor took when asking him that question. The fox was standing beside Esailia's bed, and he glanced down at her to look at her unconscious form before answering. "We don't know how long she's had it, but the first time I can remember her coughing up blood was during training about about six months ago. It had only been a week in, and she had been running us ragged. But during one of the longer jogs, she collapsed and started coughing hard. Nathan, Naid, and I were all there demanding we get her to the Doctor, but she yelled at us. Told us not to breathe a word about it. She went on to explain she just had inflamed lungs from being in a burning building too long in the past. She recovered, and finished the job without any more coughing. Since then, we just kept it to ourselves...If we had known it was anything more than that, I promise you we would have said something. We all care about our captain. The last thing we want is for her to die because we kept our mouths shut..." Edward backed up and collapsed into a chair behind him, holding his head in his hands... A short time later, Esailia would regain consciousness, and follow Aidan's suggestion of coughing up anything she felt was in her throat before slumping back to lay on the bed. She slowly moved her head to look around, catching sight of a worried Edward at her bedside. She lifting her free hand and held it there, saying with a small smile "I'm still alive." Edward laughed in relief and grabbed the raised hand, slowly lowering it back down "Yes, ma'am, you are." The feline captain then turned her head to look at Aidan, her smile quickly vanishing "Doctor...I know I'm to be discharged by Blade any minute for hiding my condition, but do not l-" She was cut off by Edward squeezing her hand and quickly inserting "He hasn't reported you to anyone, Ma'am! I've been with him the whole time, he faked you getting shot and being knocked out. He shot your vest- while it was off!- and punched your chest to cause a bruise." Esailia listened, then chuckled, which caused her to cough weakly "That's why my gut hurts..." She nodded and turned her eyes back to the Doctor "Thank you..."

((Eww 1 para post :c)) Kensington listened carefully to the message given to him over the radio while his eyes stared out the windshield of his cockpit, a sense of uneasiness bugging him ever since he came to a halt. Once everything came through to him he jumped back on comms, sent his acknowledgement to the traffic controller then began fiddling with the radio to switch over to a more direct communication. It had been awhile since he messed with this form of frequency but his training didn't fail him and once he started hearing a voice or two originating from the unidentified landcrawler the pilot cleared his throat, then spoke in a commanding tone. "This is the Landren Defense Force, you are trailing through a fire fight zone, identify yourself immediately." The senior airman announced, his eyes now locked on the landcrawler while he waited for a response.

"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."

"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.

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

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 Strike It Big. 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.

Mike's ears perked up as his headset picked up the crunches of approaching boots on loose gravel. trusting the fire team remnants to alert him if needed, he kept his eyes on the mercs. moments later the conversation between Nathaniel and an unknown friendly put him at ease. he figured in his current situation, either he'd find out they were friendly, or prowler would have a nice hole in it before they did. in this case, a friendly support team had joined them, four to transport the prisoners, the remaining two to bolster the foot team. finally able to relax, he took a moment to take a bite of horrific tasting "chocolate" ration bar, gag, and wash it down with several less then dignified pulls from his canteen. drawing a sleeve across his mouth he was about to ask Nathaniel if the ground team was ready to move when he received muddled message from a chaffed blade. a quick dial turn and mike boosted the signal to the fire team. Prowler raising a fist, then placing a finger to its "ear" , telling them to listen up. "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?" <Nawlin to blade, did not receive previous transmission on my end, not sure about fire team. we found resistance and received fire, Esailia had to be Evac'd and Aiden took a bullet to his arm, enemy forces surrendered before we could rally and engage fully. we have now received reinforcements, and conscripted a guide from the prisoners. we are ready to advance towards your position ASAP.>

Kensington listened carefully to the radio transmission being sent to him by the land crawler he called out, a couple thoughts swirling around him when silence followed. Something is a bit.. Off about all of this. The pilot thought as he put the recent system glitch together with the civilian land crawler and the fleeing hostiles from earlier on. Orders were orders though, and he decided to relay one more message before returning to the military channel. "I am sure we are fine. Can you hold your landcrawler for a minute? I'll get back to you shortly." Back on the military comms, the senior airman started looking over the thermal vision his camera offered while speaking into his headset again. "Air to tower uhh.. The landcrawler is heading southbound to Martsenstown. Seems like a northern guy or something was on the radio, and I am not sure if I relayed that SAM warning the system popped up briefly... Possibly a glitch but I'm going ahead and attempting a thermals sweep. Will return once the sweep is complete."

Looking at the two, Aidan sighed lowly and replied to the captain with a curt nod of his muzzle and a slow blink; he wasn't very proud of it, nor too happy, but in a corner of his mind a voice whispered that it was the right thing to do. The woman was good at her job and her whole fire team utterly loved her enough to keep her secret well hidden. It became only a matter of time for it to surface and for someone to catch it. Lucky it was me he thought with a sour taste on his tongue, feeling for some reason betrayed, even if he didn't properly knew the woman enough to consider her an acquaintance or close enough to him at all. With all this, he felt that he had a duty towards her now, or if he was cruel enough to think like so, she suddenly became dependent of his actions; he could very easily go to Blade and spill the beans like a rotten snitch, or be part of the problem to solve the problem. He perked his ear to the back, trying to catch if there was any sound behind the curtains, to make sure that he wouldn't be heard or spied on; he felt the urge to peek out, but it would have been too risky and suspicious to poke his nose out and glance over the sick bay only to draw more attention to them. Instead, the canine pulled the sheet back out of the kit and laid it beside him, then turned his gaze over the hurt woman and crossed his arms; with a sigh, an chuckling outburst and a couple of shakes from his head, Aidan prepared himself to deliver what he knew about her up to that point. "Captain, I want to make myself very clear." He started on a low pitch, the somewhat lighthearted tone vanishing completely from his voice. "You have put yourself in an unimaginable risk every time you have gone out in a mission; every second you spent without looking into your condition accumulated to this point where you can't hide it anymore and it came to it with your help. You may pull your ranks on me, but while you're in a bed with needles stuck in your arm and blood coming out of your lungs, you are my patient and I have to deliver everything I know to my patient, like it or not. After that, it's up to you to decide whether you want to get rid of the problem or die by it. If you chose to get rid of it, you'll have two more options. First, the facts." Aidan pulled the sheet and held it up for her, giving the woman and the fox a stern look. "I took a piccie of your chest. Yup, that's your lungs and heart there. See those smoky rings? I guess I don't have to insult your intelligence and tell you it's not a good sign." He raised his eyebrows and grimaced, to contrast the gravity of the situation. He then placed the sheet back in the kit, deciding not to risk handling to either of them and prefer to hide it. "Back in the cave and on the way to the bay, I prayed that you're having a chronic bronchitis; haemoptysis is not an uncommon symptom when you've got an advanced form of bronchitis. I'm afraid, though, it's not it. No, I'm sorry. I did take some blood samples from you that I'd like to have them taken to the laboratory, because I couldn't possibly come to a certain conclusion from just an x ray of your thorax. The only way to know for sure what it is is to have those samples tested- don't worry, that too can be done in full secrecy. I convinced the team here that you wish to be seen only by me due to personal issues and preferences, so remember, you trust me above everyone else to touch and see you in this state, for some undisclosed reason. We're going to use that to our advantage and demand the lab results to be delivered in a sealed envelope; yes, very suspicious, but the only people who will know about this are me, you two, the medical team that are forced through the law to keep their mouth shut and the lab technicians that won't actually get to see the results." Aidan then took a deep breath, closed his eyes so he could push them into his skull with his index and thumb, feeling the dizziness caused by the morphine shot turn into a mild headache right behind the posterior wall of the orbits; he immediately knew it was high blood pressure, most probably caused by the dim tremor of his heart as a result of his anger. "Why am I doing this? You saved my life back there, it is my turn to save yours and I am not to refuse my duty." He then started to point his index to accentuate certain syllables of his message, his frown deepening. "Do not insult me by refusing my offer." Instead of raising his tone, he lowered it to an angered whisper. "I am putting my license and freedom on the line for you because I know that I can do something about it and keep it just to ourselves; we'd might have to work ourselves to exhaustion, squeeze in the sick bay at crazy hours to give you treatment and steal stuff from the apothecary, but it can be done. It's either this, you go loud with your problem, or you die from a pulmonary laceration, or a massive hemorrhage or from asphyxiation." He pushed himself up on his feet and grumbled, feeling the dizziness pull him to a side almost enough to have him topple over a mobile drawer, the instruments and contents of the drawer rattling from the sudden motion. He cursed under his heavy breath as he tried to keep himself balanced by using his good arm as a fulcrum planted into the drawer, praying that it wouldn't start moving from his weight. When the black spots and multicolored stars vanished from his vision, Aidan regained composure and took a deep breath to stabilize himself again. What a fucking day he thought in spite and it's not over yet. He took a few unsure steps towards the curtains and without bothering to look over his shoulder, he left a last note. "I am not blackmailing you. I'm giving you an extra option, take it or leave. If you refuse it, that won't mean I'll stop saving you, I'll still do my best; I am no magician though, I can't revive dead people. I'm going to take a look at my arm, that should give you enough time to think." With that he left the safety of the reserved bed and headed over to the emergency room where he suspected the doctors would be; he felt now extremely vulnerable as he started to rehearse speeches in his head to avoid any mentions about Esailia's situation. Every stutter and err had to be perfectly placed, he couldn't be too precise with his wording, but neither too sloppy, having to hit that perfect balance between them to create a believable conversation without compromising anything. It felt like the old times in his teenage years when he would lie to his mother about several situations, preferring to offer her a white lite rather than the shameful truth of whatever mishap he had made. He reached the room in time, his legs barely dragging the rest of his body there against his will, meeting with Major Dr. Reid and another two nurses. He sighed and scratched behind his right ear and started talking with an exhausted voice. "So, the patient is stable, she's never been in a critical risk it would seem. She's already conscious and talking. I took an x ray of her thorax, but I found no lesions, no fractures, no sign of blood vessel rupture or pneumothorax. EKG readings are fine, but her passing out from a shot like that is suspicious; I've took some blood samples and handle them over to the lab, in a sealed envelope." The doctor listened carefully and frowned at the last two sentences. "Lieutenant, I hope you are aware that this sounds like a very serious condition and you-" "Am supposed to turn into a snitch and notify you and the Colonel if the situation might make her field ineffective, yes, I am aware of that, sir. To this point, examinations are inconclusive and other than this incident, her medical record's a clean slate; if you ask me, the blood tests will come back as excellent, but, she already told me she wants daily checks. At the end of the day, though, everyone got scared for nothing and the prince gets to marry the princess, or whatever. But if I find anything, the smallest of things, I'll let you know. I'm not about to go to court-martial for a fucking perverted prude." The badger thinned his lips when he was interrupted again and nodded at the dog. "Alright. Now, about that arm of yours." The dog then glanced at his left bicep, to find the once-white bandage now turned into a dark red hue, a bit of the liquid extending down his sleeve. "Super." He muttered. On one hand, he wanted to sigh his lungs out for actually being able to lie to a superior, but on the other, he still had to play along and honestly, he wouldn't mind having someone else take a look at the thing. It took some time to have the wound properly examined and cleaned, but the damage done by the bullet was minimal, to his own luck. He could still feel that twang in the arm that supposed to hurt like nine hells, but his brain muffled it out as an uncomfortable sensation with the help of painkillers. With a fresh bandage, Aidan made his way back to Es's bed, meeting the ferret technician just passing by the curtains, pushing a table with wheels down the aisle; the runt nodded to the dog to greet him, he returned the favor even if he smelled trouble from the instant he saw him near the curtains. He knew he had to be on the watch for that one. Just before entering the curtains, he took a few seconds to recollect and look for some clarity in his mind, but quickly shoved it away as soon as rationality grabbed the dog by his collar and screamed in his face "What in the fuck are you thinking, you cretin mutt?! He pushed the curtains aside and took his original place. "I'm going in a vacation after this, I swear. I'll find me a beach and learn to fly planes there. Alright." He then turned his now more relaxed gaze towards Esailia, lifting his eyebrows. Aidan looked like he accepted the situation, no matter the outcome. "I'm listening."

Nathaniel and Naida turned the prisoners over, glad to be rid of the extra burden, while the supplementary members of the fireteam formed up. The guide lead them onward at a cautious pace, though there was little in the way of surprises to be found. This deep into the mine, there was more evidence of habitation - the tunnels back here seemed to be used more heavily by the bandits. Bedrolls, camp cots and other flotsam of living were tucked into nooks and crannies. Weapon racks and tools crowded other spaces, and the smells of people, cooking and machinery coiled together with dry rock. The area was dimly lit, and Jed slowed down as a brighter light hinted at the tunnel opening up. "The main cavern is ahead," he declared, turning back to look at all of them. Nathaniel and Naida exchanged glances and looked up to Mike. IFF tags pulsing 'friendly' were reading strong from ahead, issuing from the GEARs of the other Roughriders, and as Mike and the others came into range, their tags popped up on the screens of Silverwinds' C3I suite, as well as the others' systems. "Afternoon," drawled the vulpine, deadpan, as they moved into the main area. "Situation is as I said: Six potential hostiles in the enclosed office space. Got them on thermal, along with four non-moving personnel which might be the hostages, or more bandits. Nathaniel, Naida and the security team reacted smoothly. Taking the feed from Blades' IR scan, they plotted a breach-and-clear through the visors on their combat helmets and their PADDS, before stacking up on the door. At a 'go' from Nathaniel, they lobbed flashbangs from the security team through the door, and swept in with force and awe. The automatic gunfire and booms of shotguns resounded through the cavern for a few moments, along with loudly yelling voices as the Roughrider fireteam took down the opposition. Silverwind streamed the action to the others' monitors. For his own part, he remained silent but kept glued to the screen in case of anything missed by the team, or any moment he could offer assistance in any way. But they were clearly the professionals in this matter; all of the tangoes went down with little fuss. Moments later, Nathaniels voice confirmed it: "All targets down, no prisoners this time. Hostages are secured; looks like we've got good intel here too. No signs of any other bad guys either". With a whooshing sigh Blade toggled the comms. "Roger that, excellent work in there. All units, all targets are secured. No other hostiles in the area, stand down". Blade switched the monitor back to regular light, and popped the hatch on the Harlock stepping it back and lowering the gun at last. Shortly, they'd have a chance to return to the relative comfort of the Landcruiser, though there'd be debriefings and other post-mission dissections of action to carry out. At least they wouldn't be under gun barrels, and no-one was liable to die or be wounded. This hadn't been an easy mission, and in part, that was due to the many things about it that raise questions with no clear answers. Where did the bandits get all of their hi-tech gear? Who were the others that showed up and fought outside the mine? Where did the artillery barrage come from? He grimaced and his ears flattened. Hopefully, either the intel or the prisoners would provide some answers. "Good job everyone," he said after a few moments, his voice proud, but tired. "Y'all really came through when it counted. Especially with us men down. Security team is movin' in ta take care of the prisoners. As soon as they're here, we'll RTB. Take a couple of hours to shower, eat, and wind down. We'll debrief in our crew lounge; we have all we need there for it". As he spoke, a utility vehicle rolled up an debussed a half-dozen more security team members; normally the people who were cooks, clerks and other low-ranking bodies aboard the ship, but strapped on weapons and armour when needed. They secured the hostages and began to police up the weapons, ammo and other equipment left lying around, or to process the prisoners left behind. Blade turned the GEAR around, and lead the way back to the Landcruiser, and past the mine entrance. "Claw, this is Blade. We're returning to ship. Notify the other members of the Roughriders we're coming in, and to prepare for a debrefiing - if they're able - in a couple of hours, over". "Roger, Blade. The captain says good work, and she'll speak to you later regarding the mission. Control, out". The tired vulpine marched the GEAR down the hillside, and into the open maw of the Claw's bay. People and machines swarmed everywhere, salvaging parts from the enemy GEARs, cataloguing equipment, detailing prisoners into work-parties and otherwise making things look busy. Parking his GEAR in a stall, Blade shut the machine down and climbed out, wincing at the aches he felt. It had only been a few hours, but it felt like weeks or even months since he'd climbed into the cockpit. He waved to Irry, Mike and Adrian as they climbed out of their machines, before he rode the elevator to the floor, and headed for the stairwell to the upper floors and their squadrons' rooms.

I am sure we are fine. Can you hold your landcrawler for a minute? I'll get back to you shortly."

"Roger", replied the same voice again. "We're fixed on this course, and will drop our speed to slow. Is there a problem, LDF? Over".

"Air to tower uhh.. The landcrawler is heading southbound to Martsenstown. Seems like a northern guy or something was on the radio, and I am not sure if I relayed that SAM warning the system popped up briefly... Possibly a glitch but I'm going ahead and attempting a thermals sweep. Will return once the sweep is complete."

On the bridge of the Claw, Captain Garrett leaned up from behind the comms officer, an annoyed look on her face. Things were not going well today. "We can't detain them without any reason," she mused out loud to the comms officer. "And there's too much underway here to just pick up and relocate to the landcruiser anyway." She gave a huff of annoyance at the situation. "Tell him to RTB for now - we have their name and destination. We can always follow it up after the squadron have debriefed and we've sifted through the intel we've got". "Yes m'am." She leaned forward once again and spoke into the headset, calling Ken back. "Maxwell, this is CIC. Claw boss recommends you RTB for the current time. We have nothing to hold them on for now. The rest of the squadron are RTB too. Head on home, we'll be waiting. CIC, out".

Esailia rested her head back onto her pillow as Aidan started lecturing her about her hiding her condition, a light smile on her face as she listened to his words. It wasn't that she wasn't worried, far from it. She knew what she was doing. Risking death of herself or others on every mission she went on. The doctor didn't mention it, but both of them knew she couldn't pull rank on him in health related situations. Her feline ears twitched as Aidan showed her an image of her lungs. It was one thing to have a horrible cough, it was another entirely to be shown that there were physical things in her lungs causing it. She glanced over at Edward, the most sensitive of the fireteam. He wasn't holding up so well, his face pale and drawn with worry and fear. He always did so well to hide his weaknesses when it was crunch time....but this wasn't training. This wasn't in the field. He didn't have the fortitude to hear this sort of thing about someone he cared about. "Doctor," Esailia said once he was finished speaking "Thank you for your honest and straightforwardness. I will have an answer when you return." She didn't say anything else....nothing could really be said, and Aidan needed to treat himself now. Once the doctor walked away, Esailia returned her gaze to Edward. "I am sorry you have to see me like this, Edward. I know this is something you don't want to go through again..." Edward sat back down, sighing quietly "If we had known how bad it had gotten, you know we would have done anything to help. Pay for quiet treatments so it wouldn't show up on your records, cover for you when you were busy being treated. You know how good you are, Captain. A cough shouldn't keep a mind like that off the battlefield saving lives. But..we nearly lost you today." Esailia nodded slowly, letting her head go limp against the pillow as she stared up at the ceiling "Yes. It's become more than I can handle on my own. You all have been so loyal to me...you don't deserve the situation I put you all in. In this one case, maybe I am not cut out to decide what is best for myself and you three..." She closed her eyes, sighing. She thought on what had happened today, and it made her realize just how much danger she had put her squad into, not to mention possibly risking Aidan and Mike's lives, or even the other GEARs, if her team had been held up too long by her stupid decision to keep her condition a secret. Esailia finally opened her eyes once more, tilting her head towards the young fox "Edward. I need you to buckle down for me. Your commanding officer is considered unfit to lead...you're the next in line to make choices here, since Nathanial and Naida are not here. I trust you to decide what is best." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When Aidan returned, Esailia seemed to have fallen asleep, and Edward was still sitting in the same chair. He glanced up at the doctor's entering, and stood up. He took a breath, then another, before stating "Doctor, we can't let the Captain lose her life because of her mistake. She will be discharged from service or worse if she goes loud with her condition." He balled his hands into fists, and nodded to himself, as if encouraging himself to continue "Save her, the team will agree with me when I say that we will do anything you say that will help keep this quiet." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Outside the Claw, Nathanial and Naida were whisked away along with other infantrymen as they helped secure the hostages and prisoners, with nathanial keeping a firm hold on the pine martin, saying to the security that he'd handle the prisoner himself. "You did good, Jed." Nathanial spoke to the prisoner as they walked, Naida quietly keeping personnel away from the pair. "I promised you I'd help you get back to your family. But you know that if I report your involvement, the higher ups will no doubt still try to pin crimes on you." The tiger led Jed around the outside of the bustling people from the Claw, coming up near where the hostages had been led. Nathanial turned to look Jed in the eye "It was lucky we found you before those bandits got to torture you for amusement away from the rest of the hostages." He said clearly and slowly, making sure the pine martin was listening and remembering what he said. "Am I right?"

The dog blinked several times as he was trying to look for Captain Sprinstream's face, soon realizing that she was fast asleep; Aidan cocked his head sideways and felt panic raise in his belly as approached the monitors, but to his relief, she wasn't crashing. She was sleeping instead, which made Aidan a bit suspicious. Edward then started talking, fumbling over his words and clenching his fists, a kind of behavior that perplexed the doctor even more; he listened carefully to his words and his intonation and by the time Ed finished delivering his decision, the dog slowly walked away from him and sat down on the stool near the drawer while looking up at him. He blinked a few more times before he burst into a low, continuous chuckle, a wide grin reaching his ears and baring his teeth, his eyebrows lifted over his eyes. Maybe he was under some funky effect from the painkiller, or maybe he found something quite hilarious to him; maybe both. When the chuckle fit had finally ended, he licked his canine tooth and closed his mouth to form an ironic smile; he shook his head a couple of times and wanted to cross his arms, but since his left one was unresponsive, he only managed to bring them together and entwine his own fingers. "Right." He started in a whisper, his voice husky with exhaustion and mucus accumulated from the good laughing fit. "Okay. It'll be done. I'll take the samples to the lab and have them analyzed, closed envelope. I don't know how long it will take them to finish, but I'll let her know when I get them back." With that, Aidan stood up, grabbed the samples and headed out the enclosed saloon, leaving Ed with a final note. "Be nice and wake sleeping beauty in two hours for debrief, in the meantime you're free to do whatever. Word got in, the op's over and Blade wants us gathered in the crew lounge." Thus, he left the two to their thoughts and dreams and headed over to the nurses to kindly ask them to deliver the samples to the lab with a single condition. Once that was done, Aidan made his way through the cruiser, avoiding bumping into people the best he could and when he finally reached his own little compartment where he would sleep or read and shut the door behind him. He leaned against it and allowed his body to slide down until he sat on the ground, sighing loudly all the way. He had to take a few minutes to regain his composure and go on with the rest of the day, making a list of things that he still had to do that day: shower, change his clothes, work out the manifestos, repack his kit, get his GEAR back in its dock, handle rations to hostages, discuss patient and casualty situation with either Blade or Irry, get a six-pack for Ken, punch Kuraiko for getting shot while he was away, call someone, unpack some books on his PADD and stand vigil for the night. The twang in his arm become more and more painful to him and he felt his patience crack and crumble under the weight of the responsibility he just took without at least questioning his true motive and the odds of his success. I've royally screwed myself he thought, a self-pitying chuckle cracked through his dark expression 'n she's too much of a coward to tell me what she wants. She leaves the responsibility to her pawn, to make the decision for her since she knew he wouldn't betray his superior. I need to be careful around her, but that poor, poor Ed... Shit, man, aren't you a bit harsh on her? He didn't quite have the time to punch himself in the face for his immense transgression, so he manned back up and went on to start ticking items off his to-do list; he gave his sweat-heavy stuff back over to the armory and took a nice, hot shower to soak his tense muscles and loosen up a little. He then retrieved the DATMK he left in the infirmary and before he handled it over to the apothecary, he subtly slid the x ray under the fresh, clean shirt he took on. He received a clipboard with a large form he had to complete in order to have his kit restocked with the necessary goodies and four other patient forms with which he had to provide with the the exact reasons why he used certain medications on them. Thus, he started to complete the form as he slowly made his back at the hangar to check if Stumpy was brought back, and to his relief, the hunk of metal was indeed back along with Kuraiko's own GEAR, which reminded him of the wolf. He sighed internally and before he would go look for him, he ran towards the mechanics and technicians working their magic on his Dartwing and politely asked them to prepare the provisions stowed in his cockpit to be distributed to the incoming hostages. He later learned that Kuraiko was already discharged, to his relief and worry and with basically nothing needing his immediate attention, he headed to the crew lounge. There, he reserved himself a seat and kept his nose affixed to the clipboard, scribbling and ticking away to make time pass. Distress was growing slowly inside him, knowing that he had to lie once more and this time to the colonel; he kept his thoughts suppressed by his current task, but there was little control over the dread gnawing at his heart and the need to scream his lungs out.

Adrian vaguely acknowledged Silver as the catwalks swung in on his battered GEAR. He sighed and found a step ladder he used to descend to the floor of the bay and removed his helmet. The damage to his machine had forced him to use his rifle for navigation and accidentally muzzle sweeping everybody in the vicinity repeated times hadn’t helped his mood, which, evidenced by the matted mess of his fur and his canyon ridge of a brow, wasn’t the happiest he had ever been. “Sheesh, what’d you do out there?” the lead technician asked him, “Strap a bomb to your forehead and headbutt them?” “Yeah, actually,” Adrian drawled as he leaned forward and clipped his helmet onto his piloting suit’s belt. “We went into a mine and some fuckers decided it’d be funny to rappel from the ceiling and stick mining charges on my armor.” “Looks like it held up pretty well, then.” “I guess… Probably a huge mess under the armor, though, and I’m gonna need the head replaced.” “Ah, that’s no big deal, we’re just happy to have some work. It gets boring around here.” “Be careful what you wish for, man.” As he exited the hangar, Adrian headed for the infirmary. He felt obligated to check on Kuraiko, since he had been in ‘his’ team at the time. He was determined to give the kid a piece of his mind, but the thought withered as he reflected on his own performance. In hindsight, it was pretty dumb. Can’t lecture people about the basics if you don’t follow them yourself. But by the time he made it to the infirmary, Kuraiko had already left, and nobody seemed to know exactly where he went. It wasn’t the bed quarters, the mess hall, the gym, or any other useful place to be on the cruiser. The time stretched on as he sought hints and directions from others aboard the floating, magnetic landship, until, at long last, he emerged on the top, outer deck. “Oh, finally,” Adrian muttered as he spotted kuraiko near the top of a small flight of stairs. “Flat on your ass to flat on your feet. You sure that’s healthy?” he asked as he appeared beside him. “Whatever. Anyway, you didn’t miss much. Th’ Captain decided it was a good idea to bring our GEARs into the mine, we got blown the fuck up, you know. It went about as well as you might think, but, fortunately, nobody else wound up dead. Everybody’s turning in now, so we should meet up with the Captain for our debriefing. ”

Kensington kept his ear on the voice in his headset as he received his message, trying his best to drown out everything else from sounds breaching his headphones to distracting thoughts such as a mental recap of recent events. Hearing the order to return home the fox let out a shuddering sigh under his breath, letting go of his energy to replace it with relief. It's over for now.. Time to go home. He thought as he regained his composure and spoke first into his headset, ensuring he was communicating with the control tower. "Understood, I'll just warn the guy about the threat ahead and double it back." He replied before switching channels to the direct line he had established with the landcrawler. "Skyhawk to landcrawler be advised: You might encounter some hostile individuals who had fled from the field of combat. If need be find a detour and steer clear of the direct path. That's all I can really report to you guys... Good luck out there." The airman said in his firm tone with his right hand pinching the headset so to hold the mic still before he went back to accessing the controls and making his way back home, exhaustion finally setting in from today's run. Hopefully nothing will interrupt his trip home, but he was dead set on making sure he made it without needing to fill a bed in the infirmary for the night.

Mike walked prowler towards the office, and stopped near silver as he greeted the team. After a quick rundown, Mike watched, prowlers free hand flexing, mimicking his own as his gears near uselessness in this situation. best case scenario, he could A. blast it with 7.62, and hope he didn't hit a non combatant, or B. rip into the building with prowlers hands, and hope no one got hit by him, or the shrapnel it would cause. a losing proposition on both hands. still, like Blade, he watched through thermals, sharing info with Harlock. luckily it went as smooth as one would expect. "All targets down, no prisoners this time. Hostages are secured; looks like we've got good Intel here too. No signs of any other bad guys either". "Roger that, excellent work in there. All units, all targets are secured. No other hostiles in the area, stand down". with combat at its end, mike followed suit, popped prowlers hatch and loosened his helmet, letting it slide onto his lap. <well done people, well done> Mike sighed. it wasn't a lie, but things didn't go well in the start, 3 wounded, one in a way that made critical sound like a damn joke. this was a dark day for the crew. As blade congratulated the team, Mike decided to help out with procuring parts from the gears, searching the gears for traps, and dragging pieces to the Claw. a few hours later, Mike walked Prowler into its bay, and surrendered it to the agitated technicians. The old raccoon waited on the scaffolding as mike climbed up to him, and saluted blade, before turning to glance at prowlers moon like cratered surface. "I....well..." Mike started, finding no acceptable apology that wasn't an outright lie, he slumped a bit, before drawling himself upright. "in all honesty, I did the best I could to keep everyone safe, I'd rather keep you busy all week on armor repair, then carry another teammate into the med bay." the raccoon looked him over, before deciding mike was telling the truth. "when you put it like that..." the lead tech muttered looking over the damage. "I dare say I don't mind the work at all." shooing Mike off with a clap on the shoulder, the voracious crew began to clamber over Prowler's form. he hadn't even reached the ladder before a vole hopped into the cockpit. "OUI" the tech yelled glaring over the edge of the pod. "what's all this dirt doing in here!?" mike smirked as he slid down to the bay floor. "Artillery strike!, Seals took most of it for me!" he shouted in reply, flashing his roguish grin as he strode towards the med bay. his grin slipping to a grim mask as he followed the red stripe along the walls. he met up with Adrian along the way, reveling Kuraiko was roaming parts unknown. wishing him luck on his search, he headed into the med bay, and peered inside Esailia's room. looking first at Esailia sleeping, then at Edward, arching an eyebrow, his hand switching thumbs up, thumbs down in question to her condition.

Kuraiko chuckled as Adrian made his entry comment, nodding as he turned to him and smiled. "Not sure if it is, but I can't sit on my ass for too long, I'll go fucking crazy." He nodded and kept rather quiet as Adrian explained the situation in the mines, including Esailia's injury, which brought a saddened look to his face. "She got hit? Shit...Let's hope she can get up as quick as I did." He said grimly, worrying now over her and the rest of the team as Adrian mentioned getting blown up. "I'm gonna put money on you broke something..." He smiled and patted Adrian's shoulder after he finished off his little informational chat with the suggestion of reporting back for debrief. "I'm with you, lets get moving." Aihara took stride towards his room, where he would go and relax before they were needed for debrief. It was also where he would resent his actions, they nearly got him killed. He was just short of lethal range, no doubt Aidan would kick his ass, then the technicians...Fuck, he felt like a total moron. He deserved whatever he got when he returned, so he returned to his room and laid in his bed after having his chat with Adrian. Today went to shit, way too quick. He needed to train soon so that this would NEVER occur again as long as he served with the RoughRiders.

Silverwind made his way straight to the infirmary as soon as he'd disembarked his GEAR. People had been wounded, and worse, killed during the mission, and all under his command. He was relieved to check in on Esailia and see her quietly sleeping, and after a brief conversation with an attendant nurse, informed that more news was forthcoming. Kuraiko was already discharged, his injuries apparently far less severe. But for Myrina and Arcade, there was no chance of healing, no recovery, and no sleep to get over it. He stepped into the annexe to the Medical bay, a quiet and sterile room. Laid on metal beds with white blankets over them up to their shoulders, his pilots looked almost serene, their eyes closed and features at rest. Beside them, small trays laid out trinkets and personal items. He stifled a noise of anger and remorse, before stepping into the room. Quietly, solemnly, he leaned over the pair, one by one, and whispered quiet goodbyes, thanks, and praise into their ears for all they'd done while serving with Roughriders. He promised to remember them, and add their names to the units' roster, before laying a hand briefly on both of their foreheads, and touching his nose to them both, before standing back. The other arrangements would be taken care of according to the wills they'd left; families may want the bodies back, for burial or cremation as was their own tradition. For the squadron, there'd be their own ways of mourning and regret. A short while later, he had changed and showered, and stepped onto the bridge, a mug of tea in hand. The first officer saw him, and nodded to the open door out onto the bridge wing. Stepping outside, he found Captain Garrett standing with a mug in her own hand, resting one hand on the railing around the platform and looking down on the remains of the work being carried out below. "Captain," he said, announcing himself. She turned around and nodded to him. "Blade, how are you?" she asked quietly. "The mission... it wasn't an easy one," she said, searching his face. He sighed, and moved to stand next to her. "Not easy, no," he replied, lifting his own mug and taking a slow sip as he ran over events. "It went wrong before we went in the mine. The enemy, they didn't know we were coming, but we weren't prepared for their firepower, or their organization. Someone had been supplying them, and it wasn't what we were ready for. And... my tactics were flawed. I should have kept the team together, and waited for reinforcements, or to re-arm our GEARs before penetrating the mine. We should have approached the irrigation facility with more caution too-" She cut him off with a decisive chop of her hand. "You said yourself, the enemy were better prepared than you expected. How could you have known?" "It's not a case of knowing though," he replied. "It's a case of drawing on my experience, and utilising our assets better. I lead them into a bad situation, and that's going to be in their minds from now on. We lost people on our first mission - and that's after we had all those transfers out after the training exercise too. Our numbers got cut down already, and that's with two more people down. Not to mention Sprinstream and Aihara injured too". He shook his head ruefully, ears flattened and tail hanging limp. "The brass were trying to shut us down - kind of makes me think they might have been right to, with this disaster as our first mission." Garrett glanced at him with alarm, before softening her expression as she replied. "Well, don't write it all off yet, Blade. I know it didn't go well this time out, but you were kind of rushed into things. Despite the training you had, we've been under-supported and under-staffed the whole time. And the odds were against you the whole way too. But to lighten things up, the prisoners and the recovered hostages had a lot to say - I've sent the intel over to your PADD. Should be enough on there to get us headed in the right direction to rescue the rest of them... you won't believe who they are, either. I think this might be something pretty big we've stumbled onto". Blade raised an eyebrow, but Garrett changed the subject, as they lapsed into small talk and dissection of the mission and the performance of the other squad members. A while later, Blade had read the intel reports and was astounded by the information. He agreed entirely with Garrett: This was something much more in-depth than they had expected. But for now, the debrief was the first thing to handle. Stepping out of his office/cabin and into the main hall, he spoke up and called the others attention to him. "Listen up! It's time we went through the debriefing. There's a lot to cover, so we'd better get started." He waited for everyone to settle down, before he began. "I know this was our first true mission out," he began, after taking a seat himself, and looking at all of them. "And we're still pretty inexperienced in working in a group, too. We also had enemies who were better equipped than the average bandit, and a lot of unexpected factors involve in this sortie. The enemy were more numerous and better armed and armoured than the average bandit group. This threw off our strategy, and the complication of hostages and the terrain didn't help either. We also suffered casualties in the mission," he paused for a moment, allowing everyone to reflect on the loss of Myrina and Arcade, before he continued. "Despite all of this, you all showed excellent skill and proficiency on the battlefield. Everyone pulled through and showed their skills. There were no hesitations in following orders received, and carrying them out to the utmost of your abilities. Although," he said, nodding toward the fireteam, "I think we need to work on integrating the infantry team better with the GEARs and their systems, and Ken's helo too. There were a few situations we could've avoided by better utilization of our equipment and forces; I shoulder most of the blame for that myself. I should've waited for reinforcements, or for all of the team to assemble at the mine before pushing us forward. We came out with damage because of it, even if we did come out of the situation on top. If the enemy had been better prepared, I could've lead us into a much worse situation. "Our GEARs are under repair and refit right now. Nothing too big or bad has, fortunately, been done, and the tech crews are straightening it all out - lucky we also pulled out some good salvage, which will help with our own repairs too. They tell me about twenty-four hours for everything back up to shape. Which brings me onto the next bit of info... we have another mission. And you're not gonna believe what it is..."

"Thank you for everything doctor. I don't know how many rules you're breaking right now, but I want you to know how much she means to us. So again....thank you." The fox sounded sincere saying this, and he gave Aidan a salute before blinking at the term. "Sleeping bea...Ah." He chuckled and nodded "Of course. She'll be up before then, I'll be sure of it." He replied, and watched the doctor leave the room... Edward had been keeping an eye on Esailia since the doctor had left, leaving the young fox to his task and thoughts. It was strange, seeing Esailia in a hospital bed. She was always so strong, never once thinking about what might happen to her squad if she wasn't around. Edward eventually sat down again, glancing up at the monitors to stare at the line blip with each of his captain's heartbeats. It didn't fill him with relief, but instead of dread that at any moment he might see it flatline. Soon enough, though, visitors passed through. First Mike, whom he didn't recognize. But, assuming he was from the mission, gave him a thumbs up. The first lie of many he'll undoubtedly make for Esailia "She's stable. Nothing serious as far as the doc can see." he explained, smiling. "The coughing was from so much dust in the mine. But the doctor thinks that was because she was more sensitive to it from something in her past." Next was Silver, whom Edward jumped up and stood at attention, saluting him. He didn't say anything to the private, just checked in with a nurse before heading out once more. Edward slumped back down in relief at this. The last thing he wanted to do was give Silver a story when he didn't know what Silver knew. About half an hour later, Nathanial and his sister arrived, Esailia was awake, and they spoke. Nathan explained about Jed and the rest of the mission to Esailia, who in return gave him a firm nod and reaffirming his decision to help Jed. A bit of talk revolved around Esailia's condition, but since they all knew what it was, the conversation was more aimed at what story they'd use. She was shot, passed out, and is now recovering from bruised ribs. "You three know that I am getting worse. Next time we may not be lucky." All three infantrymen nodded solemnly, and that was the end of the conversation. With the help of her squad, Esailia was settled into a chair in the debrief room, listening intently to Silver. While she agreed her team was better trained in GEAR takedown, her squad had been the only true units on the field best suited to comb the smaller tunnels. She intended to speak up and give ideas in how to integrate them better, when Silver started speaking about another mission. She she held her tongue and waited to hear it...

Kensington made it home with ease and without incident as his helicopter adjusted its flight pattern for a landing routine. "Skyhawk to landcrawler clear the pad I am touchin' down." He reported and in no time the skids of his helicopter touched familiar ground, the airman later quickly shutting off his engines and taking a moment to remain in his seat to recollect his thoughts. Soo much had happened today, more than he could handle alone despite the fact he was qualified. It was bigger than be thought, and the bit of dry blood he saw on the way gave him hint of that. Everything on deck was evidently bustling with activity, organizing assets that returned home as well as any new assets that were found. Kensington ultimately blocked all of that out though as he made his way straight to his room where he could continue to function as the senior airman he was meant to be. The walk felt like hours, thoughts haunting and tormenting him every step of the way. He simply couldn't erase his memory the recent events he had just experienced, even the slightest detail of the casualty he had to deal with was a curse for him, but he decided to keep silent about it. "I might take up smoking. That's what they usually do, right?" That was the only thought that reached the pilot's mouth, and he was already opening the door to his cooridor as he spoke. The next hours were spent writing up a series of requests and records, half of them getting deleted on the device he was working with while the other half was physical paper that was balled up and thrown away. Despite everything that was written up from resignation requests to psychological evaluation requests, the only ones that made it past Ken's drafting stage was a co pilot form and a report of the operation. Everything was tucked away in a file, and just in time as voices started emerging from the hallway outside. It was primarily the voice of his commanding officer and the wolf was quick to step out into the halls, his documents in hand as he listened to the older man. While Silver spoke, Kensington listened in silence, his ears trained on his comrades while he stood by in silence, an uncanny habit compared to his more interrogating self when it came to these intelligence session. The airman didn't ask one question, and he occasionally drifted off into his memory again. When silence returned the pilot lifted up his folder and approached Blade, offering the documents to him while the airman spoke. "When they transferred me here.. The guys upstairs, I didn't really expect I was going to be responsible for soo much along with the responsibility of keeping myself alive. I hope you don't mind me asking, sir, but I need another pilot. Its one thing to do gun runs, but I suspect y'all need a lot more than that."