[center][h2]Aboard the [i]Assimilator[/i][/h2][/center]

Wrench made no reply to Vael as he worked, the ship's own defenses and systems quickly turning on the crew and the fighers trying to strafe the bridge and [i]Daedalus[/i]. Eighty joined the N7 leader and Vael at the bridge's viewport while Mayhem Squad and the rest of the Scorch Guard ensured there would be no more surprise attacks. He didn't speak to what either of them at first, simply watched as the storm clouds spread out from their point of origin, even as ships began to break atmosphere as they fled the surface and shuttles and the like began to flow from the ships arriving from out of the system to help.

His mind replayed a different scenario, the trial by fire that had forged the 302nd into the fighting force they had ultimately become. The surface of Ilum flashed behind his eyes, a planet that the Empire had destroyed in search of the Kyber crystals that made lightsabers. It had been one of the Remnant's largest strongholds, and the Moff who'd taken, the self-declared Grand Moff Krysen, having used the existing Imperial bases and infrastructure to build a fortress world. It was there the ARC trooper had distinguished himself for the Scorch Guard, but the price it had come at, well, Eighty flexed his left arm, faintly feeling the servos in it whirring. The medics told him it could have been worse, but watching Racey sacrifice himself to take out the objective had almost made him wish it had been.

"We'll leave the feed for now. First, I think we need to figure out some kind of chain of command or something as the evacuation proceeds." He beckons to the downed Turian. "We've been lucky, casualties are no where near what they could be, what with no communication, risky shots over each other shoulders and, well, the general chaos of it all. We're going to have a trial by fire eventually, and it won't end this well if we don't figure out shit out."