Chapter 109: A Plan Worth Choosing
Everything visible said unstable, but nothing told him how long it had left. The old urge came immediately: wait, watch it, get certain first.
"Falcon’s got movement in the upper beams," Lucian reported, "but it’s slow. I’ll see it before it goes."
"Rook found the far exit," Darren said. "It’s open. Bit tight."
"Bristle can hold the entry support," Marek said, "the lower one — not the whole thing, just enough to keep the way in stable while someone’s inside."
None of it was certainty. It was enough.
"We go short. Bristle braces the entry until Marek or Lucian calls him off. Rook circles to the far exit. Falcon watches the top. Glitch clears only the light marker over the casualty. We go in far enough to secure it and no further. Anyone calls instability, everyone leaves."
Bristle set his shoulder against the lower support and planted himself, low and immovable, the one thing a Bronze Ridgeback pup was built to be. Glitch slipped in and nosed the light marked framework off the mannequin’s body, careful and controlled, with his healthy side leading. The handlers moved in behind him to get the casualty onto the sled.
They were most of the way through strapping it when the structure moved early.
"Upper beam’s going!" Lucian, sharp. "It’s shifting now, not slow—"
"Support’s taking more load," Marek said, tight, watching Bristle’s brace. "He can hold but it’s climbing—"
"Far exit’s narrowing," from Darren.
No time to calculate anything. No perfect answer available.
"Out," Jin said. "Everyone out, now — bring the sled, we finish strapping it outside."
They hauled the half-secured casualty through the entry, hands locked on the sled while the loose straps dragged and shifted. Bristle held his brace until the last handler cleared, then lunged free as part of the interior came down behind them in a grinding crash and a bloom of dust.
Every handler was intact, every beast was standing, and the casualty was outside. It had cost them seconds and a clean finish. Jin didn’t care.
Outside, Marek grabbed the sled before Jin could get it moving.
"Wait — this strap’s twisted." He was already down at the harness, fingers working through the fouled section. "It got fouled when we pulled out. If we take a turn with it like this the load shifts sideways against Bristle and the whole thing can roll off."
Jin’s first instinct was the clock. "How long to fix?"
"Twenty seconds. Maybe less." Marek looked up, and for once there was no nervousness in it, just certainty about the one thing he knew better than anyone here. "Jin, it’ll come off on the first hard turn. I’ve been hauling with him all week."
Jin checked it himself. One hard turn would dump the casualty.
"Fix it," he said. "We fix it."
They spent the twenty seconds. Once the harness was straight, Bristle leaned into it and pulled the sled down the central route, smooth and level through every turn.
The relay core sat in a construct-controlled station, but they did not need to clear the room to reach it.
"Darren, pull the fast one off and keep it off — don’t finish it, just keep it away. Lucian, blind the station’s sensors, buy us a window. Marek, Bristle holds the entrance narrow. I go in for the relay. Glitch covers my approach."
Rook drew the fast construct away with Burst Step. The Falcon dove and disrupted the station’s sensors, buying blind seconds, while Bristle wedged the entrance and narrowed the path behind them. Jin went for the relay.
And Glitch held the approach the way he’d learned to hold things this week.
He kept low, hardened his claws into the floor, and made the ground in front of Jin expensive with small turns, short redirections, and his tail blocking the best line. A construct charged, and Glitch took its momentum on his healthy flank and turned it aside before it could reach Jin.
One of them broke off, damaged, offering its back down an open lane.
Jin felt Glitch want it. The old pull was there, the Rustwater law: finish what’s wounded before it comes back. Glitch’s attention followed the retreating construct, and Jin braced to spend a command.
Glitch stayed.
He turned back to the approach without being told, settling into position again as Jin got both hands on the relay core and pulled it free of its housing.
[Emergency Relay Core: Retrieved]
Activating it triggered the interference field. Long-range signals dissolved into static, though line-of-sight and short-range speech still worked.
Darren and Rook were outside speaking range, still occupying the fast construct. From there, they could finish disabling it or return.
Jin couldn’t reach him or send a word, and he didn’t need to. Darren looked at the construct, then at the unit moving toward extraction, and broke Rook off without hesitation. The casualty and relay mattered more than finishing a fight; the priority held even when communication didn’t.
The extraction gate wouldn’t stay open.
The automated mechanism failed halfway, leaving a manual pressure plate that had to be held until everyone and everything crossed. Once released, the gate closed quickly.
Jin’s eyes went to Glitch first. Weight, Harden, traction. The obvious anchor.
Then Appraisal gave him the physical facts.
[Pressure Mechanism — Sustained Downward Force Required]
[Likely Bracing Position: Left-Side Dominant]
[Existing Left Shoulder Condition: Deep Bruising]
[Joint Stability: Normal]
Glitch could probably hold it, but the position would load the bruised side. Worse, once the plate released, Glitch would be the slowest beast trying to beat the closing gate. Jin wasn’t spending that risk when he had another option.
"Rook holds the plate," Jin said. "He’s got the weight to hold it and Burst Step to clear the gate after. The rest of us go through, Darren gives the release, Rook crosses last."
Darren’s eyes narrowed — not refusing, evaluating. "If the mechanism sticks when he lets off, he’s the one standing outside a shut gate."
"I know." Jin didn’t wave it away. "Falcon’s watching the mechanism, so we’ll see a stick coming. And emergency override’s the fallback if it does. It’s a real risk. It’s the smallest one on offer — Glitch on that plate risks the shoulder and he’s slower off it. Rook’s the better tool for it."
Darren tested the plate and considered the margin, watching how it settled under pressure before looking toward the gate.
"Yeah," Darren said. "Alright. Rook holds it."
He chose it. Jin had given him the evidence; Darren had made the decision for his own beast.
Every pair carried a piece of the extraction. Bristle pulled the casualty sled through while Marek kept it centered, the Falcon watched the gate and the approaches, Jin carried the relay core, and Rook held the pressure plate while breathing hard from repeated Burst Steps.
Then a construct changed its mind and charged Rook while he was pinned on the plate.
Glitch wanted to hit it head-on. Jin felt the surge through the bond, sharp enough that Glitch’s weight was already shifting toward the charge.
"Redirect. Don’t chase."
Glitch drove in at an angle, claws hardened for grip, and turned into the construct with his healthy side. He shunted its charge off-line — away from Rook, past the plate, into open floor — then came off it immediately and fell back toward the extraction line instead of pursuing.
The Falcon stooped and scrambled a second construct’s sensor long enough for Bristle to drag the sled the last two meters clear.
"Casualty’s through!" Marek.
"Air’s clear, mechanism’s holding," Lucian.
Jin crossed with the core. Everyone was through but Rook, still planted on the pressure plate with the gate waiting above him.
Jin did not give Rook the command. Rook wasn’t his.
"Darren. Now."
Darren gave his own cue—short and familiar—and the jackal released the plate and fired.
The gate dropped. Rook Burst Stepped through the narrowing gap, skidded during deceleration, caught himself, and cleared it a body-length before it shut.
Close. Not clean. Through.
[Final Integrated Field Evaluation Complete]
[Primary Casualty: Extracted]
[Emergency Relay Core: Recovered]
[Handlers Extracted: 4 / 4]
[Registered Beasts Extracted: 4 / 4]
[Unit Three Result: Pass]
[Individual Evaluation Pending]