The Rescue Mission goes badly

Katla watched the rescue team moving in. Her point of view a Petty Officer named Murphy. The leader of the squad was walking in the middle of the formation, keeping her head on a swivel.

"Fuck its creepy here." Murphy was saying, the section they were in had the lights out, leaving them in pitch darkness, their helmets emitting a small amount of IR light so that they could see. "Why did we agree to this again?"

"Lets see. Most of us because Astrid offered to buy the drinks. Chell because she's got the hots for Ava, and you because we needed someone to lead it and all the Vikings were busy." One of the squad listed off. "That about right?"

"I was being rhetorical!" Murphy protested. Then after a pause. "Wait, really Chell? Are you sure this is the right one?"

"Ha ha, very funny." Evidently, the point woman was Chell.

"Just saying, there's literally 20 Avas in the battle-group alone." Murphy pointed out. Katla quickly looked that up, looking over at her aide.

"Jaclyn, why do we have twenty two people named Ava in the battle group?" She asked

"Its a popular name. Its illegal for anyone but royalty to have the name Avalon but shortening it down is just fine for both first and last names." Jaclyn explained. "Its also common when a princess is born for her name to spike in popularity among the commons. Right now Victoria is the name giving human resources headaches."

"Ah, got it."

Back on the station, they had in fact identified that they were after the correct Ava and that Chell did indeed have the hots for her. Katla didn't think that had any bearing on what happened next. Even with her bird's eye view she failed to notice the signs of the trap, tiny spots of darkness were the only hints that the grenades were there. Easily attributable to equipment error. At least until they blew up.

The saving grace was that the ambush was sprung too early. The timing misjudged by a few crucial seconds but that just meant the front of the line took the brunt rather than the middle as should have been planned. Drilled endlessly by Astrid for this sort of fight the squad quickly began shooting down every corridor and in every direction, taking the first popped up ambushers by surprise as they dashed in to try and take advantage of the confusion. Two of them were dropped before they realized their error.

Unfortunately for the rescue team the rest of the ambushers were smarter than their companions. Firing blindly around the corner into the kill box they had set up. The fierce close-range engagement lighting up the formerly dark corridor like a Colonial Freedom Day celebration. It wasn't a fight your people were suited to win. Astrid made the only call she could.

"Abort mission! Pull back to hangar 3 for extraction!" She ordered, probably kicking herself. Not that it was really her fault, there had been every chance the rescue party could have made it. They still probably could make it if they tried to fight their way through. The problem would be that they wouldn't be able to fulfill the mission when they got there. They'd already lost four- five members. With the enemy clearly having guessed their route right they wouldn't have a chance in Hel of making it back. Especially not while carrying casualties. They'd have enough trouble with their own already.

The amount of fire was only increasing as the enemy gained more confidence. Murphy was leading an orderly retreat, most of the party's casualties safely recovered. Unfortunately, that didn't include Chell or her compatriot at the leading edge. They were simply too far forward and in the open to be saved. Leave nobody behind was a nice idea but it wasn't always possible. Especially when it would lead to the entire squad going down in the attempt. The seven who were still remaining managed to break contact. Starting a swift retreat to where the rest of the boarding party was waiting. Katla didn't breathe easy until they were back under the cover of friendly guns.

Now that their bait had outlived its usefulness the vice around Saga's position closed in. The last few standing quickly being overwhelmed.

"Freighter is full. All remaining forces recovered. We won Commodore." Kane said, the time scale only just now fading to yellow. The destroyer was fully hooked up for a tow and the enemy was still on their way. It was time to leave.

"Move out." Katla ordered.

The whole operation had taken just over two hours.