I leave Wee, Mad and the twins to secure the ship and keep a general look out. I decided to make Bolin Kuvira's problem, and her expression told me she wasn't sure whether to be irritated at me for sticking her with him or pleased that he was up and about and talking to her for the first time in a couple of years. Regardless he was currently tagging along with us happily, and Kuvira's expression changes as he tries to get a laugh out of her are comical to behold.

Asami of course was coming along to see to the base's wounded, bringing along her medi-kit just in case. Both the base doctor and medic had been killed along with most of the rest of the base's personnel when part of the bombardment struck a direct hit against the mess hall during dinner. The wounded had been placed in stasis pods in the hopes of eventually getting them to medical care, and Foster had gestured in the direction of the hit as the transport made it's way back towards what was left of headquarters.

"We had all of about ten seconds warning, the poor bastards."

I had gritted my teeth at the site.

Where the mess hall had been was now a crater, a few lingering wisps of smoke floating morosely upward. I caught site of a jury-rigged flag pole planted nearby, flying the United Planets flag at half-mast.

I turn back to see Asami watching me, a look of sorrow on her face and one comforting hand on my thigh. My hand covers hers as I take a deep breath.

"At least it was quick," I say quietly. "And here's hoping we can help who's left."

She leans against me and rests her head against my shoulder. "No matter what we'll get them home."

I nod grimly. "Copy that, Doc."

The transport jerks to a stop and we pile out, grateful to get out of the claustraophobic interior. Dix and Yun, two Space Corp privates barely out of basic training who had been escorting one of the base geologists at a nearby quarry when the bombardment hit, hurry over to open the doors into headquarters for us. They are very young, and clearly in awe of Kuvira.

The surviving geologist, a small feisty woman named Mei, is clearly very protective of the young privates, and I notice that she maintains a watchful eye over everything.

Our gazes meets and I smile and nod. She stares hard at me for a moment, but I eventually see a small curl of a smile in return.

We follow Foster into the interior of the building, making our way along dim corridors until we reach a room better lit than the rest of the building. Another woman rises from where she had been seated near a row of stasis pods. Her left arm is in a sling and there's a nasty looking cut visible above her right eyebrow. She had the same watchful eye as Mei and I note the blaster resting on the desk near her hand.

"Ling!" Foster calls out. "Found us a doctor if you can believe it."

Asami strides forward, her hand already out. "Doctor Asami Sato. And you are?"

The woman blinks and her suspicious scowl fades. "Doctor Ling Zhao, Physicist. Doctor Sato, it's an honor."

Asami pauses. "Ling Zhao," she mutters, then her face brightens considerably. "Oh! Doctor Zhao! Your paper on solvable vector nonlinear Riemann problems was truly groundbreaking!"

Ling grins. "Well, Future Industries did write me a very generous grant after that paper was published, so thank you, Doctor Sato."

Asami beams. "It was well deserved and please call me Asami, and if you have any notes on our patients?"

"Very limited, I'm afraid, Doctor Sato, with my limited background in biological sciences, but I will show you what the medi-bot was able to produce." Ling immediately turns to power up her terminal, her face now fully transformed from distrust to hero worship as Asami approaches. I smile inwardly, always pleased when others are as enthralled with my girlfriend as I am.

Bolin wanders over and lays his hands on one of the stasis pods. He seems to be mumbling under his breath, and my gaze lingers on his goggles; he's talking to Raava and I'm still not sure how I feel about their evolving relationship.

Kuvira distracts me with a poke to the ribs. "So, what's the next move?"

I frown, thinking hard. "Unalaq's got to be counting on the fact that his bombardment was successful in wiping out the base before an alert could be sent out, otherwise he would have come back with a second bombardment." I stare at the ceiling, thinking hard. "Our little ship wouldn't have triggered him unless they've got sensors nearby, which we didn't detect."

Kuvira looks thoughtful. "So, he doesn't know we're here."

"He doesn't know we're here," I agreed. I motion to her to follow me towards the far corner of the sick bay.

Kuvira crosses her arms and stares at the floor. "We need to evacuate the survivors. They're sitting ducks here."

I nod, grimly. "That means loading up the Valkyrie and shipping them home."

She winces. "The fighters aren't very comfortable for long trips, Avatar."

"Are you getting wussy in your old age, Boss?" I tease, then sigh. "Open to alternative suggestions."

She smirks. "Why don't you ask your genius girlfriend?"

I choke, loud enough that I see Asami lift her head and look over at me. I realize Kuvira's spoken an important truth, despite the fact that I know she was only kidding — I can't make this decision alone. "Okay."

She blinks. "Okay?"

I nod. "You're right. We weren't expecting the base to be targeted, but it was. The mission plan has to change, and I'd be stupid not to use all available brains on this."

Kuvira stares at me, then pokes in the arm with a grimace. "Who are you and what have you done with my commanding officer?"

"Ha," I reply flatly. "Grab Bolin and go make sure the ship and sensor array are sorted. Then bring everybody back here. We have a new strategy to figure out."

"Read you loud, Avatar."