Three couldn't recall ever receiving a message from Inkopolis Security or the NSF calling for an urgent meeting at the Vasilika, much less both of them at once. The meeting called for certain members of the Greater Bastion Committee, members that were becoming known as the "Action Subcommittee" as it was focused around the Guard and finding the Consortium. The others were focused on dealing with the political and societal issues.
They all arrived at about the same time, making their way into the conference room. Three saw Marina leaning against the wall with a concerned Pearl next to her.
Three felt a stab of guilt. After she had come up with her new plan, she felt compelled to waste absolutely no time in enacting it once Marina had run the numbers to see if it would work. She'd then had to design it and help the support companies make the first few examples, leaving her with little to no rest.
Three paused and bowed, her mantle flashing heartfelt apology. "I promise, I'll make it worth it."
Marina gave her a weary smile. "It's fine. It's hardly the first all-nighter I've pulled. Besides, I know how important it is. We're trying to save lives after all."
"I wish I had come up with it sooner."
Pearl grabbed her by the shoulders, shoving her towards the open doorway. "Quit feelin' sorry and get in there. These meetings are long enough as it is."
Three let herself get pushed inside, where she found that there were quite a few more people than usual, many of them unfamiliar. She spotted Captain Gon Hezer and Admiral Spearfisher of the Coast Guard; Chief Pein, Nari Vost'yan, and even Superintendent Lavaridge was joined by the Chief of Inkopolis Security. Whatever was going on, this was obviously not a meeting about theories and suppositions. Something would be happening by the end of it, something significant. She had an idea of what that might be.
Three took a seat near the middle of the table with Pearl and Marina sitting on her right. She was actually feeling a little nervous with so many important people here. She felt reassured when Scylla arrived and sat next to Marina.
A few minutes later, Superintendent Lavaridge stood up and all conversation stopped. "I know we still have a few minutes before the meeting's set to begin, but time is of the essence so I'd like to begin as soon as possible. Is there anyone still absent?"
Scylla pointed to the huge, unoccupied chair at the head of the table. "Pretty sure Marie's coming too. From the sounds of it, I don't think we want to 'ave this meetin' without 'er."
Lavaridge seemed to agree, but with the way he immediately checked his watch made it clear that time really was against them.
The huge doors parted almost immediately, opened by the Hallar guards, and Marie swept in like a summer breeze, gliding past them with barely a sound from her sandals. Three instinctively rose to her feet, as did several others. Marie simply flashed a greeting to everyone then sat in her chair.
As Three resumed sitting, her eyes remained fixated on Marie. She seemed different somehow. Not depressed, not grim, but a kind quiet, stalwart determination in her. Serious yet strangely at peace.
She'd grown out the tentacles at the back of her head since her jump in size. Now they reached her shoulders and her primary tentacles had grown longer too, just touching her ankles. Three thought the style suited her and gave her a regal air.
Those who'd stood, sat and Lavaridge cleared his throat as the doors shut. "I apologise for how abrupt this meeting is but it's absolutely vital. To cut to the chase, we've finally located the entrance to the Consortium's hidden base – rather several of them."
The excitement in the room jumped and Three felt electricity dance up her back. Finally, they had located them, and well within the deadline for the Assembly vote. Already, her head was filled with plans and deployment strategies.
"Well done," Marie said, looking very pleased. "It seems your strategy worked excellently. People will be relieved to know that IS and the NSF saved our nation in the end. I certainly am."
Lavaridge smiled ruefully. "Well thanks, but it isn't over yet. We spent a few days trying to trace the route their new tunnels take via the underground."
Vost'yan unfolded a map and placed it on the table. Three didn't recognize it and frowned.
"It's an old map but it's our best one of the underground," he went on. "It also shows the subway tunnels built under the city at the turn of the century." He pointed to one of the subway stations near the coast. "This is an old subway station that was part of a whole underground complex meant to serve species who preferred darker and less open places. Unfortunately, nobody knew there was a pocket of ground water near there, and during construction it flooded. The loss of pressure eventually caused seawater to seep in from the bay and now there's a large opening connecting it to the bay, but they've covered it up with camouflage scaffolding. After staking it out for a while, we discovered that's where the golden eggs are going in and out."
"So Grizz Co. is a front for the crabs," Pearl murmured.
"It's almost certain. Although, how they're getting them past the Salmonids is beyond me, unless the tunnel system they have is real up to a point where they transfer it underwater."
"We can worry about that later," Chief Pein said. "What matters is that we found the entrance to their base, they're likely conducting more genetic experiments with those eggs, and we need to take a closer look before we attack."
Heads nodded and mantles flashed around the table. Marie asked, "based on what you've seen then, what's our best way to do that?"
Lavaridge grimaced slightly. "The underwater entrance is a no go. They're watching it closely, at least from the inside. We thought about maybe bypassing the entrances in the warehouses and coming in underground somehow, but they've sealed those tunnels so we'd have to break through."
"Which would make a lot of noise and give us away," Captain Hezer sighed. "So the only way in is through the front door?"
"Looks like they designed it that way. There might be another way in if we looked hard enough, but I'm not sure we have the time. We don't think they know that we know where they are yet, but they will soon. It's inevitable."
Three agreed. While there was probably another way in, through their air supply perhaps, time was not on their side. "So we have to hit them hard and fast enough that they can't get a warning out, then immediately send in an expedition to scout their base."
Lavaridge flashed green but his expression was grim. "The expedition we could manage but…"
Pein took over. "Many of the Enforcers still in Inkopolis are being used to guard the Pinnacle and our departing monarch. We could bring some in from other parts of the country but that will take time. We're doing it anyway since we'll need them for the final showdown, but we still might not have enough, not for the stakes we're facing."
Marie looked at him. "You want to take down all the warehouses at once."
"I feel we have to. Should the worst happen, we'll need every entrance and exit guarded and secured right away. I'd also like to conduct an expedition through every entrance, just to be thorough."
Three flashed agreement. She and Marie shared a look, then she said, "I believe then it's time the Guard fulfilled its mandate and purpose. It was made to help IS and the NSF when they needed it; that time is now. Executrix, are they ready?"
Three nodded confidently. "They aren't as practised in stealth as direct combat, but if we could have members of IS or the NSF as guides, it should work. The problem will be getting a force close enough to the warehouse at all without being seen. I wouldn't want anything less than a Splatoon attacking any warehouse."
Lavaridge grinned. "Oh don't worry, we have a way of getting everyone close, even in broad daylight. But we probably won't be ready until this evening, at the earliest."
"We can manage that. Everyone can have dinner and then head for the warehouses right away, on your instructions."
Marie looked at Scylla. "I believe, then, that will be the moment to enact OPERATION: SPYGLASS."
Scylla grinned. "About dang time. Yeah, we can do it."
Pein and the other newcomers frowned in confusion. Marie explained.
"OPERATION: SPYGLASS is all about eliminating all of the spies and observers working for the Consortium. They're all of various species but all of them are equally killable. Just before the Guard heads out, Scylla will give the command to our people, who will eliminate them all at once."
Those who had not been in the know, gave her horrified looks. She regarded them harshly.
"This is war. It's unpleasant by nature. The Consortium thinks we're not willing to go as far as this to achieve victory. We're going to show them and everyone else how wrong they are."
Marie's words were pure ice. Three had heard her use that tone before, yet she felt like she was hearing it for the first time. There was just something else behind it this time that gave it that extra, fearsome texture.
"What about the expedition?" Marina asked, moving the subject along. "Who should go?"
"I'm going," Three said immediately. "This sort of thing is my specialty."
Marie smiled with amusement, then looked at Molter. "Do you think you could find some other crabs you trust enough to go with the expedition teams? They could translate any words or speech they might listen in on."
He nodded. "Of course. We'd be happy to help."
"An Enforcer or a member of Inkopolis Security should also go with you. And I want to invite a few members of the Octarian Army."
"What for?" Admiral Spearfisher demanded.
"Because regardless of what the Assembly says, the Bastion intends to remain their ally and friend, because we want peace. Transparency and sharing of information is part of that. Besides, they have expertise of their own that they can contribute. They'll be here to observe, nothing more. Speaking of which, I imagine the Coast Guard will be responsible for watching the underwater entrance."
"It's on a 24-hour watch," Captain Hezer said. "It seems all the traffic that goes in and out of there is related to those golden eggs or regular salmonid eggs."
Marie frowned. "Salmonid eggs? Even regular ones?"
"Yes. Actually, if the crabs have been using Salmonids as test subjects, that would explain quite a few things."
Three scowled and nodded. It very much would. It would explain the different types of Salmonid which seemed wildly divergent from the rest, and why some were just intelligent enough to operate machinery. "Machinery the Octarians traded with them for…" she murmured.
Marie looked at her. "What was that?"
Three flashed red. It was nothing, nothing but a passing thought, and yet, she couldn't drive it out of her mind. Could the crabs have been the ones behind the Salmonids trading with the Octarians? If so, why?
"Alright then, we know what we have to do now. Let's start working on specifics of the first two and come up with contingencies. I think we can assume that nothing is going to go exactly like we planned."
—-
Foame knew something was up when they were told their company would be forming up after dinner in one of the large classrooms for a briefing. Training or activities after dinner weren't uncommon, usually to do with fighting in the dark or something they hadn't been able to do during regular training hours. However, they had always stated exactly what it would be about. This time they were being vague.
"If this isn't the real deal, then it's close." Revil said, whispering excitedly as they walked from the mess hall to Building 4. They were told to forget about forming up first and just head directly to Room 6.
"What makes you so sure?" Mia asked.
"The fact after the Exectrix called a surprise meeting with the company commanders, we were all suddenly reorganised, again, with the new splatoons made from sailor's kids; how vague they're being, and because we're being separated into companies instead of all being told at once. Something big is about to happen."
"I just hope it's not more speeches," Skad sighed. "Getting kinda sick of those."
Foame's hearts pounded just thinking about the possibilities. Everyone else must have been eager to learn too because not a single member of Gamma Company dallied to get to the meeting room. Septain Kirmarch arrived precisely at the appointed time.
"Is everyone present?" She asked her splatoon commanders.
They all nodded.
"Good, then we can begin."
Foame noticed immediately that some of the Septain's bark had gone out of her voice. Whatever she was about to say weighed heavily on her too. The tension in the room was at an all time high.
"I apologise if this sounds insulting by this point, after all you have gone through," she began. "But we were all told to give you one last chance to get out. If you are not able to risk your lives, if you are not able to kill, then leave now. This briefing is only for the committed."
Impossibly, the tension went higher still. Revil had been right. This was it, the Guard being deployed at last.
Heads looked around to see if anyone would get up to leave. Some had nervous looks, some looked genuinely tempted, but for one reason or another, nobody spoke up or left their seats.
"Very well, you are all committed now and you will suffer the consequences, because this company has been officially reactivated for action against the Consortium. Tonight, you will face your enemy."
Adrenaline filled Foame's veins and she leaned forward with anticipation, hungry for details.
Kirmarch went to the door and invited someone in. Foame was surprised to see it was an inkyar in Inkopolis Security uniform. He surveyed the room and looked somewhat dismayed. But he quickly hid whatever feelings he had towards them behind his professional mask as he addressed them.
"Time is short so there won't be any question period. I'm Constable Jallic Diver and I'm leading an operation to quickly and quietly secure a Consortium operated warehouse."
A screen shone on the whiteboard, showing an electronic map of the city which zoomed in on a particular district, and then on a particular block.
"This is the warehouse in question. It's got an electronic security system so a regular break and enter won't work without triggering an alarm. There's also the fact that we have to actually get to the warehouse without being seen. Fortunately, we have a plan both to get near the warehouse and get inside without giving ourselves away." He leaned on the front desk and stared hard at them. "You all better pay attention, because I'm only going over it once."
Foame swallowed and listened harder than she ever had in her life.
—-
Gablach clicked his mandibles impatiently. Their delivery was almost twenty minutes late. Timetables had to be strictly adhered too for a reason, even at this late stage.
"He's here," one of his crabs reported. He sounded even more irritated.
"About time. Get the mirror and turn the system off. I'll open the door and see what excuses he has."
Clacking his claws, his subordinate did as commanded. Gablach waited for him to turn off the security system before pulling the chain to open the warehouse doors. Light from the warehouse flooded out onto the dark street. A semi truck with a large container on a flatbed trailer was backing up towards the door. He stopped at the usual place and he went up to the cab to speak to the driver.
"Why are you late?" He demanded.
"Not my fault," the snowcrab driver insisted. "Inkopolis Security stopped me as I was leaving the warehouse."
Gablach hesitated, worry seeping into his mind. "What did they want?"
"Wanted to know if I'd seen anything strange around the warehouse lately, if I'd made any unusual deliveries, things like that. I told them everything was normal until Bellchora suddenly had a fit. They let me go after that."
Gabalch cursed. So the inklings were finally starting to catch on. They were getting close to their operation. At this point, it might be a matter of weeks or even days. Well, there were no more crabs coming through and they could hardly be arrested for warehousing food. Hopefully, that would buy enough time for Calachora to completely bow out of the situation and they could leave without issue.
He watched as his subordinate ran the mirror at the end of a long pole under the trailer and then the truck. He gave the all clear signal and Gablach told the driver to back up. He waited until the truck came to a stop in the marked place before he shut the doors.
He told his subordinate to go turn the security system back on, then went to the back of the trailer. The driver finally shut his truck off but remained in his cab.
"Lazy good for nothing," he muttered and began unlocking the doors of the container. He needed to make sure the idiots didn't send the wrong one again.
Two more of his subordinates came to help him. Many of the containers they handled tended to have rusty doors, requiring a lot of effort to open. They grabbed hold and started to pull the doors apart.
Suddenly, the doors burst open from the inside, sending his subordinates sprawling. Gablach barely realised something had hit him hard in the face before he wound up staring at the ceiling lights. In the background he heard surprised shouts, horrible, wet cracking noises; and the sound of ink weapons. Then, an inkling in Inkopolis Security uniform stood over him, with others surrounding him on all sides, wielding hammers.
"If you want to live," he said. "I suggest you keep very quiet and do exactly what I tell you."
—-
Gamma company came to attention as Three entered the warehouse. The smell of blood and a persisting sewer stench touched her nostrils. Three stood them at ease and reminded them that this was a battlefield and not a parade ground. She found Constable Diver standing over an injured crab. He looked to be the only one still alive.
He approached Three and spoke in a whisper.
"He'll need more thorough interrogation but we were able to get enough out of him to get the gist of what's been going on here. Most of it was as we figured but apparently they're not expecting any more troops than what they have now."
Three's eyes narrowed. "Meaning we're about out of time."
"Maybe but… something he said is bothering me. He said we would be better off letting them get away with it."
"Away with what?"
"He isn't telling. Just something about making our jobs easier. I'll keep working on him once we get him at the station. But, you should have no trouble getting down there if that electric cart can make it down." He gestured to what looked like an elongated golf cart with an extra axle and a flatbed.
"We can take that. In a tunnel, our footsteps will echo too much. This thing will make a noise that's familiar and shouldn't get attention right away. At least it can get us close."
The officer gave her a dubious look, not that he was wrong to think so. Rolling up in a vehicle did seem crazy, but in a place with little room to manoeuvre or hide anyway, one had to be unconventional to mitigate the risks.
Three returned to the rest of her expedition group. The Octarian Army had sent three observers, one elite takezonesu, Septain Stormflow, and two conventional officers. They'd been disoriented almost since they arrived, but Three was confident they would find their feet again once they headed underground. Besides them, Nari Vost'yan would represent the NSF, and a horseshoe crab named Chitney would also be coming along as a translator, if need be.
Three instinctively checked her hero shot over again. It wouldn't be much use against crabs, but she had her hammer strapped to her ink tank for that. She just felt better having her familiar weapon.
She glanced over at Gamma-Three splatoon – at Four. She wanted to bring her but it wasn't really necessary. Besides, she was a splatoon commander now and she needed to be with her splatoon.
They mounted the large cart, with Vost'yan in the driver's seat. She nodded and Diver opened the hidden door, revealing a dark passage yawning below them. Three gave Vost'yan's shoulder a squeeze and she drove them down into that darkness.
The cart had a single headlight that was barely adequate to let them see where they were going. The ramp led them down to a brick platform, where a wooden framework ramp deposited them onto the bottom of the disused subway tunnels, where the tracks would have been laid.
"All this is right below the city?" Chutney murmured. "How did they even find it?"
"I don't know," Vost'yan admitted. "But I know that all of this is supposed to be underwater."
They kept driving and Three compared their progress to a simplified mental map of the one they'd been shown earlier. She didn't want to drive up too close to the base, so when they saw bright lights ahead, she told Vost'yan to pull over to the side and they disembarked.
Ahead was a loading dock and a small maintenance area for the carts. They kept to the wall and used stacked piles of the crab food as cover while making their way in deeper. They saw no one, but Three did spot something interesting and pointed it out to the Octarains.
"Isn't that a biomass powered generator?"
Stormflow stared at it for a moment then moved closer to examine the device. "It does seem to be. I suppose that is not surprising if they do not want to risk tapping into the city's power grid."
"Except nobody here uses power eggs as fuel anymore," Chutney whispered. "Only certain creatures lay them and it's just not economical compared to hydrogen fuel production. Only poorer countries with access to a supply of them would bother, like some of the Consortium member states."
"Doesn't explain why they would need it here though," Three murmured. "Let's keep moving."
As they navigated through various pieces of equipment, Vost'yan asked, "Where are the guards?"
It was an apt question. Surely the entrance to their secret base would be carefully guarded, but perhaps they were overconfident in the ability of their warehouses to act as tripwires.
Or maybe it's a trap. She thought.
They found another expedition team already waiting for them at the entrance to the loading dock, a mix of IS, NFS, and Coast Guard officers. They seemed unnerved by the Octarian's purple goggles. She inquired about guards.
"None," one of them answered. "But we have been hearing noises beyond there. A lot of noises until just before you showed up."
Three looked around but saw no sign of the other expeditions yet. The others had to travel a greater distance to reach the base. Three instinctively knew that they were missing important information. Anything important enough to draw the guards away was worth listening in on.
"Stay here and wait for the others," she said. "We're going forward."
"Now?"
Rather than reply, Three simply began moving forward, signalling the rest of her party to come with her. Chutney hesitated for a moment but then he too hurried after them, bringing up the rear.
A large freight door separated the loading dock from whatever lay beyond it. It was slightly ajar and Three could hear the sounds of crab speech along with a strong odour.
"Someone's giving a speech or a lecture," Chutney said, bringing a hand up to the side of his head. They weren't going to be able to hear properly from there however.
Three was worried about the door creaking if they opened it, but fortunately, Chutney was small enough to squeeze through with just a small amount of movement from the door, earning a soft squeal of protest from the hinges. The rest of them simply went into their cephalopod forms to get through.
They found themselves in a broad hallway with a floor of cracked and broken tiles, and the concrete showed obvious signs of having been underwater for a long time. Several sections of it had collapsed, breaking line of sight to the other end.
Vost'yan said, "If we just left the subway station, we should be going into the subterranean urban centre now."
The sight reminded Three of the Undersea Metro. The dim light, the way everything looked aged and worn. It brought up a lot of unpleasant memories."
They navigated cautiously down the corridor, sticking to the walls and keeping an eye out for cover. Vost'yan pulled out a small rectangular map, which seemed to be a detailed floor plan of this underground urban centre.
"We're about here," she pointed to a wide corridor between the urban centre and the subway station. "The best place they could hold any kind of large gathering would be here," she moved her finger further along their route of travel to a large rectangular chamber. "This is the Subterranean Square. It's where the water originally leaked in from. It's a pretty large chamber."
Stormflow asked Chutney, "do you hear better now?"
Chutney nodded, still straining to hear. "Something about doing their duty and how everyone at home is counting on them."
Three cursed inwardly and got them to move faster, still keeping an eye out for anyone who might be lurking around. As they drew near, Three stopped them. She saw crabs standing in the open doorway to the square, limbs crossed and leaning on the doorframe as they listened to the speech taking place.
Vost'yan suggested they try the second floor and Three agreed, navigating them upwards as Chutney quietly kept them apprised of what the speech was about.
"There's a lot of bad echo, but he said something about destiny and revenge–." Chutney had barely finished his sentence when a loud noise erupted from the square, loud and powerful enough to shake dried sediment from the ceiling and walls. Amongst them, Three heard the distinctive bellow of giant crabs. They needed a view, now!
After checking for the presence of more crabs, they came onto the second floor and Stormflow pointed out a cluster of holes in the wall, the largest about the size of a manhole cover.
Three crouched near it and cautiously peeked through, making sure she was in shadow. Stormflow joined her, with the others picking their own holes. The sight they revealed was enough to make Three's adrenaline surge.
More crabs than Three had ever seen in one place covered the floor of the Square and many of the terraces surrounding it. Coconut crabs to the little soldiers crabs, and even some of the giant monster crabs from before, no less than half a dozen of them. There was a loud chorus of shuffling noises as the host made its way to the far end of the square. There, they went up a concrete ramp to the top of an enormous concrete and metal cube that they jumped into with an endless series of splashes.
"That must be how they're holding the water back," Three mused.
Vost'yan agreed. "That's where sea level is. On the outside, the shore there is a cliff."
"But where are they going?" Stormflow asked. "Are they not going to attack you?"
"I don't think so."
All eyes turned to Chutney, who was, again, listening very closely.
"People are saying things like, 'see you back soon' and 'don't make too much noise on your way out', and 'come back to Inkopolis soon'."
Three frowned. "So they're going somewhere else?"
"It would seem the Consortium is mounting its own expedition," Stormflow mused as she watched the enormous procession. The question is, where would an army this big be going?"
Vost'yan looked pale. "There must be thousands of them. How could we fight so many?"
Three could come up with a few targets off the top of her head. The Bastion Guard's campus was one, but attacking from the water would be much more difficult than attacking over land. There was also the Vasilika, if they wanted to kill Marie, but the Vasilika was designed to resist attack and the main doors were all armoured. Even the giant crabs would struggle to get through, and they'd be facing some of the greatest warriors in the world. Besides, an attack on the Vasilika would galvanise the Calachoran populace against the Consortium, and given how political their actions had seemed to far, that didn't make sense either.
As Three thought, the other expeditions made their way up to join them. They looked just as shocked and terrified at the sight of the Consortium force, but one of them pointed to a large opening in the side of the wall.
There was another chamber, with an opening large enough to accommodate the giant crabs. While she couldn't see directly inside, what she saw told her everything she needed to know.
"There are gene tanks in there," she murmured. The others looked at her, and she explained. "Gene tanks are for genetic experiments. I've seen them in the Octarian labs. That's where they're making the Giant crabs."
Stormflow's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How do you know this?"
"Because I've seen them. I infiltrated the labs over a year ago. Those look identical to the tanks I saw there."
One of the IS officers pointed. "Maybe it's just not crabs they're experimenting on."
Three looked where he was pointing, and saw several salmonid types caged in the far corner of the room, more visible now that some of the crabs were out of the way.
"And look there," Vost'yan pointed to just to the right where Salmonid equipment was piled up, all the little vehicles they used to fight against the Salmon Run teams.
"That's the equipment we trade them for eggs," Stormflow breathed. "Did they capture it?"
"The Salmonids around here are the only ones known to ever use equipment," Vost'yan said. "They're not supposed to be smart enough to do that. I don't know how you could have traded with them."
"But it would explain where you're getting your golden eggs from," Three answered. "The only way to get them is to kill certain Salmonids. And they would provide a ready supply of power eggs too, which is one less thing they have to ship down here."
"We can't just stay here," one of the officers murmured. "The guards could go back to their posts any minute. We need to gather intel."
Three agreed. They'd seen all they could see here.
"We'll spread out as planned. We'll try to sneak into the lab. Time limit of ten minutes. We'll meet back at the dock and then return."
Barely waiting for confirmation, she signalled her team to follow her. Vost'yan pulled out her map and they plotted a probable route to the lab.
"Looks like it was originally supposed to be an arena or community centre of sorts," she whispered. "Hopefully the upper entrances will still be intact."
The route there was somewhat treacherous as they had to navigate around a floor with large gaping holes, and a few collapsed sections, but they eventually reached one of the doorways, which was fully open.
Three cautiously moved forward, peering around the door. Again, she found no guards, so she motioned them forward onto the terrace. They all peered over the edge and looked down into the enormous lab.
The far wall had half a dozen gene tanks, three of which had crabs in the midst of the process of gigantification. One crab in a lab coat was shoving golden eggs into an opening in the leftmost tank. To the right of that were numerous examination tables with a variety of crab and Salmonid specimens; scientific instruments and computer terminals. Directly below them seemed to be where a ready supply of golden and power eggs were being stored, and the humming noise indicated it was also where the lab's power generators were located.
With so many crabs in close proximity, they spoke only in the quietest of whispers.
"It looks like a very crude arrangement," Vost'yan said. "I don't think this is meant to be permanent or it would be arranged more nicely."
Three glanced over at Chutney, who was listening to some of the conversations. "It sounds like they're going to be wrapping up operations soon. They can't wait to finally get back home."
A shout came from one end of the room. Three glanced over and immediately scowled as Ambassador Spiraltail entered the lab. He hollered at some of the scientists.
"He's asking them if they've figured out what to do with the queen yet."
Three frowned. She wanted to ask what that meant but she also didn't want to distract him from hearing every crumb of detail he could.
"Something about moving her or leaving her there… It sounds like they're wondering if it's more worthwhile to leave her here to cause trouble or bring her with them for continued testing, but they're worried about transporting her." His eyes suddenly went wide. "They're being told to get the guards back to their posts."
Three gritted her beak and looked at her watch. They were just past the nine-minute mark. She motioned for them all to leave back the way they'd come. If they were quick, they could return before the guards got there.
Three didn't want to leave, she had too many burning questions, but if they stayed longer, they risked losing the element of surprise, and while the vast majority of their force seemed to be leaving, she didn't know how far they were going, and there were still plenty of crabs and salmonids there.
But how do the Salmonids factor into their operation? Was it by their directive they started trading with the Octarians? Why? And who is this queen?
Then there was the biggest question of all. Where was that horde of crabs heading?
Author's Notes:
Lot of setup happening in this chapter with some scary things on the horizon. Tonight was the Guard's first time in action and it won't be the last.
Everyone's being pushed to the edge just in this early phase of the conflict but things are far from over.
