The closing moments of the mission were probably the most confusing. The hectic dogpile on the djinn quickly subdued the creature, and for a few moments it appeared as though it was only a walk back to the dropship before everything was over. That was when Luc spotted movement to one side.

"Ghouls! A shitload, four o'clock!" Luc shouted into his radio before depressing the trigger on his weapon and spraying bullets in their direction in an effort to halt their advance. Anya tried to get into position to assist, but she hardly raised her sights before the roar of rockets reached a crescendo from above and forced her to go to ground. There were two explosions in all, both kicking up large clouds of dust. Once there appeared to be a lull, the twins surveyed the damage and found that not a single ghoul was left alive.

Nearby, some kind of humanoid covered in wires and armour jogged towards them. Anya levelled her weapon to the strange man, but lowered it on central's command. This guy was friendly? As it came closer, the humanoid was revealed to be completely robotic. Anya and Luc were uneasy about this 'J2K' robot, but he seemed keen on doing the heavy lifting. After reloading, the twins covered the squad's withdrawal and strapped themselves in to leave.

"Well, that wasn't edgy or anything," Anya commented to anyone listening.

Luc was in a good mood, for some reason. "Loosen up sis, no one died."

[i]"Deux,"[/i] Anya said, announcing what she believed to be her kill count.

[i]"Deux,"[/i] Luc said as well, though his kills were probably easier to confirm.

Back at base, things proceeded as if nothing had happened, apart from a communiqué from centre regarding their new ranks. For now, Anya was certain that she would have to focus more on providing covering fire for her team mates. Had she noticed the sniper before it hit Xue, he might not have been injured. At least in smoking the group she was able to prevent any other casualties. Luc's first stop was the armoury, where he had wanted to satisfy a curiosity that he had, but didn't get the chance beforehand to see. An attachment to his LMG, which he was able to get briefed on by the quartermaster, was a holo-targeting module. Apparently whatever he pointed and shot at would get an outline on any of his team mates' scopes or HUDs. Since pointing and shooting was something of a prerogative for him, it was a no-brainer to pick it up and make use of it.

Anya found herself without all that much to do one she handed her equipment back. She knew her brother would be skulking around the mess, telling stories of his previous exploits, and she wanted a break form dealing with his ego. Wandering around the base was a feast for her eyes in witnessing ParaCom's own in-house manufacturing suites. She was pretty sure that even car factories had less machinery than these guys. In satisfying her own curiosity, she talked to some of the engineers about the hulking exosuits that were being assembled off to one side of the workshop. In testing, they were incredibly strong, seemingly indestructible, and had a plethora of heavy-duty equipment available to them. Anya was at first immediately turned off by the idea of amputating her own limbs in order to pilot one, but she left the workshop feeling as though she had not entirely convinced herself either way.

On the other hand, Luc was quick to proceed to the living quarters with the others. He had read up a little information about his team mates, but apart from their names and specialities, he didn't really know much about them at all. He sought a kindred spirit in the other heavy in the team; the large African-American man, Packston. Luc walked up beside him and nudged his upper arm with the back of his hand. Luc of course spoke with his Belgian-French accent, but tried to be friendly, "Hey there champ. Packston, right? Good shooting out there. Call me Luc." Luc extended a hand to shake, "I was wondering, that shiny railgun you used, what's it like? I didn't get much of a chance to try it out before we lifted, so I stuck with what I knew. What's your opinion of it?"