"I think we'd better get..." Katiya began only to be interupted by a flurry of las bolts errupting from the main building. One of the shots struck her crapace armor spinning her to the ground but not penetrating the weave. The shot probably saved her life as a half dozen energized bolts tore into the side panel of the ground car above her. The paint work bubbled and burned and the metal glowed cherry red under the strikes. Katiya rolled onto her side, pulled her bolt pistol from her holster and fired three rounds into the door frame where the majority the fire appeared to be coming from. It was too dark, in the dazzling aftermath of the las fire, to be sure she hit anything though she thought she heard a scream of pain from the door way. Zeb's shot gun roared and pellets sparkled of the alumaloy of the door frame. This time there were definitely screams as well as curses. Well that answered the question as to whether this was a hostile installation. Katiya came up in a crouch, putting the groundcars engine between herself and the irregular stuttering lasfire that flickered from the windows of the main building.

"The Emperor Protects," she said in quiet prayer for protection as she reached into her great coat and withdrew a frag grenade. Thumbing the activator she stood up.

"Fire in the hole!" she yelled and tossed the bomb through the doorway. With a shout she jumped onto the hood of the ground car and then dove across the intervening distance to land against the wall. The grenade detonated with an angry orange flash and a concussive wave that she felt in her chest even through the ferocrete wall. Wasting no time she leaped to her feet and darted through the door. Two of the enemy, normally looking men in what might have been gray miners uniforms were already dead. Another was on his knees clutching at his face with blood spurting between his fingers. Katiya shot him through the head as she rushed past. The room was a large reception annex, with a utilitarian counter bolted to the floor and lockers of some kind against the walls. A pair of enemy stood on a metal stairwell that rose up to the second level, both were half dressed, evidently having been roused from sleep, but both had autostubbers. One of them ripped out a burst that would have killed Kaitya if she had been a second later clearing the door, but as it was they missed her by four feet. She heard Zeb's shotgun roar again but either he wasn't shooting at her attackers or he had missed. The angle was bad for her bolt pistol so instead she swept her powersword through the corroded metal supports in a glittering arc. Metal screamed as the stairway buckled and gave, both men lost their feet, one pitching over the rail the other rolling down the collapsing stairwell. The first man hit the ground in two pieces as the commissar's sword described a figure eight which bisected his torso, but the second man was good. He turned the momentum of his fall into a diving tackle that hit Katiya across the chest sending her powersword clattering to the ground. Her bolt pistol cracked but the shot wasn't aimed at anything and the thug drove a fist down into her wrist to try and shake the pistol free, his other hand going for a knife at his belt. Katiya kicked off the reception bench and pitched them into a roll, aiming an elbow as her attackers face but her greatcoat tangled the strike and robbed it of much of its power. They hit the glowing base of the stairwell and Katiya shoved her opponent hard against the smouldering metal. His fatigues blistered but were apparently heat resistant because they didn't burn. They rolled away from each other and regained their feet, Katiya dropping into a fighting stance and the battered man drawing a wicked looking curved knife.

"Nice try bi..." The boom of the shotgun blast smashed the mans pulped body against the nearest lockers, smearing the gray metal with blood and vicera. Zeb lowered the smoking weapon, looking battered but alive. Above them they could hear the sound of boots ringing on the metal flooring.

"We need to figure out what is going on here," Katiya told him, stooping to retrive her blade and her pistol, replacing the magazine even though she had only fired a few rounds.

"Before they can get organized."