[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Y9sJ6mj.png[/img]
[/center]

[color=f7941d]“Copy!  Either confirm exfil from bridge or send rough location if you need something drastic!”[/color]

“Roger that.  We're still at the bridge; so exfil should go on as normal.”

[color=f7941d]“Yessir – evac commencing!  Hold defensive positions!”[/color] Callie answered, rapidly switching channels even as she consulted her mental map of the AO and began summoning another portal.  [color=f7941d]“Snake, command is pulling us out.  Hold for evac.”[/color]

Seconds later, she had taken a vantage point that let her see both the [i]Stalwart[/i] and the corvette.  Charter pushed her vision out again, back towards that window.  [color=f7941d][i]Yeah, that’s them…[/i]  She brought her eye back to the ship’s window; simultaneously looked beyond that to the [i]Supply[/i]; and focused.  This would take time, non-ideal considering her allies’ position; reducing the size of the aperture would keep that to as much of a minimum as she could.  She grimaced, switched radio channels back.  “Portal opening in a half-minute, on my mark!  Going to be a tight fit, so mind yourselves!”[/color]

For just a moment, even as she brought her will to bear, her gaze wavered from her spyglass.  From here she could see over a dozen Chinese ships, and she considered taking that drastic option – indeed, going even further than she had considered.  She pictured it for a moment: forming a long, bladelike portal of negligible width, [i]cleaving[/i] the corvette apart down the middle – and then the same to the next, and the next, until the entire flotilla was split in twain.  Mei’s ship would be forced to descend to rescue the sailors.  It would buy the [i]Stalwart[/i] and [i]Supply[/i] time.

It would also be [i]profoundly[/i] satisfying and reassuring.  The control…

She shook it off.  Portal-cutting so many ships to pieces could weaken the pro-military factions in the Chinese government, create a vacuum that those who argued that only Arms Masters could fight this war might step into.  She’d been specifically briefed on this point.  [color=f7941d][i]They’re already incorporating convicted criminals into their forces…  If they start getting any more desperate with their choice of allies, the region could destabilise even faster than it already is.[/i][/color]

Callie set her jaw.  She had a job to do.

[color=f7941d]“Mark!  Confirm when you’re all across!”[/color]

The energy drain wasn’t insignificant – a bridge of such length would always tax her – but Charter nevertheless obeyed her command.  Suddenly, she noticed the wind rushing past her again, upward…  Callie glanced down towards the onrushing waves.  Gritted her teeth.

When the affirmation came, she closed the portal quickly.  There was, after all, still one person to bring back, and for that she would still need energy.  A last switch of the radio channel; a last redirection of her momentum upwards.  [color=f7941d]“Hold the door, Snake; with you in about the same time.”[/color]  She half-smiled, the weariness starting to seep from her bones.  [color=f7941d]“Just please don’t rearrange the functions of the various parts of my face on the way, m’kay?”[/color]

[color=f7941d][i]…[/i][/color]

[color=f7941d][i]Okay, analyse that later with everything else.  Sweep for now.[/i][/color]  Intuition of her own position and velocity told her where she would need to place her end of her final portal; as part of her mind began that process to finally reconsolidate Task Force Obsidian, she surveyed the battlefield.

Nothing she saw was entirely unexpected.  Ships burned where the decoy column had drawn the attention of the PLA’s initial response, though their intervention had made the fighting far less one-sided than it might have been.  To the West, the other major task force was reconsolidating; in the South, the supply ships were clear of enemy interference, and – it appeared – home free.  The sense of triumph was palpable as her vision traced back to Mei’s ship.

Straight onto the deck, where a corpse in a black longcoat was laid out, saltwater trickling from its mouth.

It twitched.

Caroline paled, the rosiness of her cheeks from the wind’s passage banished in an instant, overwhelming revulsion sweeping through her.

And, in that moment, her velocity [i]just[/i] levelling out as the portal opened, she dropped gently onto the deck of the [i]Stalwart[/i].

She looked across towards Qingshe, forcing a grin through…  Everything else.  [color=f7941d]“Let’s…  Let’s get going, huh?”[/color]