The silence in the cabin carried on as the fire squad remained motionless, all ears and eyes on swivels for any sound or detail of danger. Nearly a minute of it, and Esailia quietly muttered "HACR. Bit shaky, unhurt, four mags on main." Which prompted both Naida and Nathanial to reload their guns as they responded in turn.
"Unhurt, three Bs left, five mags on main." 
"Bruised, four mags on main." 

Esailia nodded, and flipped her comm on "Firesquad to outside, anyone read, over?" To which earned her static. She ground her teeth, pushing some hair that had gotten loose from its confines out of her face "Something's wrong. I could see sky right out the bridge's windows. Naida, any oth-" She was cut short when all three of them whipped their heads around to the sound of tapping down the hall. Esailia raised her hand in a fist, and started down the hall slowly, Naida and Nathanial holding position and ready to offer covering fire.

The feline captain slipped to the other side of the door, then motioned for her team to follow. Nathanial led with Naida following him, taking their usual positions to breach doorways, before Esailia gently pulled the doorhandle down....and yanked it open with all three of them aiming into the room. To their surprise, it was a storage closet, with a few people inside. Not a one looked ready to fight them, cowering away. Esailia made a quick command "Hold your fire." before making a headcount...three civvies, one child, and two crewmembers. "Sound off. Who are you." She demanded, her gun lowered along with her squad's weapons.

"Uh....uhm....I'm Grey, maintenance." The first crewmember said. He motioned to the other crewmember "This is Belard. We clean and do general fixing of the decks." He moved his finger, pointing to the other three adults and the child, a male, two women, and a boy. "Luke and Cynthia Garza, Ellynia, and her son, Abel."

Without looking away from the group, Esailia ordered "Naida, take up the rear, Nathanial, scout ahead." She then asked "Grey, Balard, either know how to handle a gun?" She was pulling out her handgun, and Naida was doing the same, but before either crewmember could speak up, the civvie male stood "I can. I took basic training, but I was refused for active duty. I was put in the reserve." 

"Better. Naida, rifle." The fox nodded, slipping her assault rifle off and handing it to Luke. He examined it a moment, checked the barrel for a round and sighting it down at the ground, before nodding at Esailia. She nodded back, then looked back at the crewmembers. They both shook their heads, and her mouth drew a line "Fine. Luke, guard the other civvies. Let's move people." She gave Nathanial a nod, and he took off ahead towards their entry point, with Esailia following, the civvies behind her, and Naida taking in the back to cover their exit. They met no resistance as they made their way back through the crawler.

Nothing blocked their path as they came to the exit, and Esailia raised a fist, causing her squad to stop, and Luke to quietly mutter a "That means stop," to the others. Esailia slipped past Nathanial to the oddly closed door. Her squad had left it open. She slowly inched it open, and flipped her comm on "Firesquad reporting in. We need evac n-" An expolsion outside the door flung the captain into Nathanial, both of them tumbling to the ground in quiet curses.

"Naida!" Esailia called, and the minigun wielding fox took lead, yelling at the civvies "Get back!" Before bashing the door outward and opened fire. The RPG enemy ducked under the cover of a rock with a yelp. "Rocket launcher!" she called into the crawler. The feline captain got back to her feet, getting back on the comm "Area's got AA, Edward, get your ass in gear and get here!"

-------------------------------------------

Edward had been holding position outside the war that had broke out, safely hidden behind a low hill, when the radio crackled on "Area's got AA, Edward, get your ass in gear and get here!"

He instantly turned the ATCV's engine on, and kicked it into gear as ordered, rumbling over the hill and sped at high speed to the crawler...