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. 
[i]"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?" [/i]

<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.>