Sabatine hefted her impeller as she followed Kaiden up the stairs. She was glad they hadn't had to shoot anyone to capture what must have been the off duty guard room for whatever outfit was occupying the mansion but she knew that luck like that couldn't last forever. The climbed the stairs and Kaiden pushed open the door at the top a fraction then, evidently seeing no immediate opponents pushed it open fully. The moved into what looked to be a kitchen, with long stainless steel benches and pots hanging from hooks that protruded at regular intervals. Like everything else in the mothballed mansion it hadn't been used in some time, and a light dusting of grime covered the surfaces where the byproducts of sugar processing had deposited themselves on the surfaces, even at this remove from the facilities that handled the business. Footprints leading too and from the doorway were evident in the dust and cases of food, apparently canned meat had been stacked haphazardly on the central bench. Empty cans littered the bench and floor, apparently opened with combat knives and tossed aside by the indifferent kidnappers. 

Kaiden stepped into the room, made a motion for revolve to starboard and then took the lefthand side himself. Sabatine followed quietly, careful to avoid fallen cans as she moved along the right side of the kitchen towards the set of doors at the far end. These doors were simply sheets of plastic and she flicked her commo helmet to infra red for a moment incase there were anyway waiting on the far side, there was nothing and she parted the panels a hairsbreadth to peer into the room beyond. There was a blind turn, intended to keep the kitchens out of sight and Sabatine moved in and peered through the true door into what must have been intended as a ball room. The floor was laid in patterned wood that had been polished to a high sheen, though it too was now covered with dust and the tacky effluvia of sugar saturated air. The room itself had a high ceiling, two stories up and ringed by a balcony that made space for an orchestra and for guests to watch the dances. At the far end of the ground floor, tied to a chair with simple plastic zip ties, was midshipman Otis. Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth and a pressure cut above his eye but he otherwise appeared unharmed. Two men with assault rifles lounged beside him, both smoking cigars. A third was busying himself at a bar, drinking brandy from the neck of a bottle. Sabatine's infrared vision picked up two men patrolling the upper tier, bright red points picking out the tip of their cigars. The rest of the men must have been patrolling the perimeter, though Sabatine didn't doubt they would come running once the shooting started.

She signaled a hold to Kaiden as he emerged at the identical blind corner at the other side of the kitchen. She made a sign for obstruction and pointed upwards. His eyes flicked to the upper tier, though without a commo helmet it wasn't certain he could pick out the over watching enemy. He must have taken her meaning though, because he indicated to her, then made the sign for ascend mast, followed by clear obstruction. Then he indicated himself, and made clear mast step, which she took to mean he would handle the ground floor. The hand signals they used weren't really intended for clearing a building, but so long as they didn't get too fancy she could understand what he meant. Moving along a few feet she gently pressed open the door which concealed a staircase intended for servants to bring drinks and refreshments up to their betters and climbed quietly to the top floor. There was enough background noise from the guards own careless steps and their desultory conversation, which seemed to be a discussion of the virtues of a pair of whores back in town, to cover the slight creaks of the stairs and the rustle of soft soled boots on timber. Reaching the top she took a moment to figure the positions of the two patrolling guards. She hefted her impeller and checked the saftey. Kaiden hadn't given her any instruction so she figured he intended to make it obvious when she should act. She was at the base edge of the gallery, furthest from Otis with both guards forming the points of a nearly geometric Y that would flatten out as they continued their patrol. She hoped.

BING. BING. BING. The recall plate that all RCN officers carried in event they had to be summoned back from shoreleave at short notice began to alarm. The same sound syncopated from below as Kaiden's unit also went off, doubtless the same thing was happening in the gaurdroom below. The guards snapped instantly alert raising their weapons.

"Shit!" Sabatine snapped and kicked open the door. The impeller cracked and punched the first guard center of mass, the impact of the osmium slug sprayed gore over the expensive wall hangings and smashed the spasming man back against the wall. The body armor he was wearing bounced him off the wall and over the railing in a slow ragdoll fall that ended with an inelegant crunch as his neck impacted the floor below. The second guard fired a burst that lit the darkened room like hellfire. It must have been as much from fear as anything because the slugs blew splinters from the wall ten feet from Sabatine's position. She fired a second round and missed, having not waited the heartbeat for the weapon to steady. The man dived behind an organ of unfamiliar design, his weapon still spitting flame. Sabatine lined up her shot and fired three rounds. The wooden organ provided no more than aesteic cover and the heavy rounds punched through the timber and the body beyond. There was a scream and then an arm flopped into view thrashing wildly as the guard shattered body convulsed into death. Jumping up, she ran to the railing, hoping she wasn't too late for Kaiden and Otis.