Spots: Avalanches Start Slowly

A Web Serial by M.C.A. Hogarth

69. Roles and Protocol.	71. Kitty to the Rescue.

70. Avalanches Start Slowly

In the corridor, leaving the Fiddler's room.

Peaches. "We need to send a message about this."

Avril. "Yes. Absolutely." Glances at her. "You draft it, okay? Make sure you mention that it was your people who got the info, and that you made it possible by assigning them."

Peaches. "Really? I mean, of course, but..."

Avril, chuckling, tired. "Don't worry, I'll cover your ***. I'll sign it too. But you and your people deserve the credit for it. If we make it out of this hellhole alive, we're all going to deserve promotion. You, me... even Corporal Smart-***."

Peaches. "You're a good guy, Avril."

"Thanks. I try."

They reach his quarters. She glances at him. "Mind telling me why your people are such shut-ins? They seem wired pretty tight to me."

Avril rubs the back of his neck. "Hell, Savannah. We've been through a lot. I think asking them to be okay with it within a few weeks is... a little too much. Give us some time."

She studies him. Nods. "All right. Good night, Paul."

"Night, Savannah."

###

~~We have received intelligence~~ ~~We discovered~~ I discovered...

Peaches rubs her eyes, mutters. "Start in the middle, work backwards."

Given the information supplied by the Violinist, we now believe ~~ourselves to be surrounded by serviced by~~ that our location is served by ~~what might be~~ a crab test facility. Our Violinist has indicated that successful crab "laboratories" are rare and that ours might be one of the few. We've seen evidence (append something here/attachments) indicating—

She's interrupted by her personal comm beeping. She toggles it. "Bonnet."

"Lieutenant, we have a situation in the Control Room."

###

Control Room. The personnel manning the stations are very tense. There is so much activity on the suit cams that it's vertiginous.

Peaches. "Sitrep."

"Lieutenant Avril just led a relief team to back-up the on-duty squad, ma'am. It's still not looking good, though."

Peaches leans down, toggles Avril's channel. "Paul? Need help?"

After a pause, Avril. "Could probably use it. These're your new shells, I assume."

Peaches, grim, watching the monitors. "Yes. Do you have a count?"

Avril. "Hard to tell. Ninety? A hundred?"

Peaches. "I'll send the next team up. Keep it together." She nods to the man sitting the comm board. "Pull up the next squad on the roster and send them out."

###

Spots and Claws both jerk upright when their alarms go off. Claws rolls out of bed first.

"Walker."

Scythe. "Armory, now."

Spots is already heading for the door.

"On our way."

69. Roles and Protocol.	71. Kitty to the Rescue.