"That would be correct," Trisean responded, amused. "No where in the plan were any explosions mentioned. We think our good friend Dr. Nomis had something to do with it, but I don't like it if he did. God knows what that mad man stood to gain from killing his own men, let alone burning that place to the ground, but it can't have been good. Nomis never moves without a plan. Hell, for all I know he may have wanted to just draw attention to us." Trisean figured it would be best to explain what happened during the mission. It would help get the latest stream of bullshit off of his chest, and explain to Asuka just why he was annoyed, and not specifically with her. "Well, the operation itself was a success, mostly. We managed to secure most of the supplies. We had to use a portal as our escape plan, thanks to Nomis, which is why you missed it."

"As for the data we were after, we missed it. Someone else beat us to the warehouse and stole it. Whoever it was was quick, clean, and efficient, not to mention silent. And then there's the fact that I think the one who stole it is our new [i]recruit[/i]." Trisean scoffed as he said the word. "Right. Recruit. I think a better word is mercenary, and she wears that fact on her sleeve. Somehow, I doubt she joined us because of higher moral fiber. For all we know she....." Trisean cut himself off. For the moment, he'd rather keep his suspicions to himself and Ace. He had a feeling that it would bite him in the ass if Rika found out. "Never mind. Just my paranoia talking. I'm sure its fine."

Trisean continued to pop his head out of the grates to make sure they were heading the right way. As he did so, he noticed something peculiar. The security on street level hadn't been elevated nearly as much as he expected. Sure, there were definitely more patrols and troops, but not nearly enough to track anyone down efficiently. "That's weird," he said as he poked his head down. Security hasn't escalated street level nearly as much as I thought it would. But after that fire, they should be everywhere. Not even any word about agents." Trisean thought about alternative possiblitlies of empire response. "Hmmm. This probably means one of two things. Either they plan to launch a decisive counter attack, or they expect us to follow up and are defending somewhere." Trisean's mind flashed to the data. "What if it has to do with the data that was stashed their? It could have info on a secure site or something. Remind me to ask Ace what was supposed to be on the data we wanted when we get back. This could be really good or really bad."