Kira Dallas's Arc

Chapter 13 of 13

The soldier was gone, carried back for treatment. Now the room belonged to Kira's team for three days. She looked at the control station against the far wall. Its screens still glowed, old military hardware that refused to die. Donovan should see this. She keyed her radio and called him down from the garage. Donovan arrived an hour later, headphones around his neck, map case thumping against his hip. He went straight to the station like it owed him money. "Oh man," he said, running a hand over the dials. "This is a containment data computer. Still breathing." He dropped into the chair and started working. "Give me time. If the drives held, we pull everything." Kira watched him work. She did not understand half of what he did, and she trusted him completely. He pulled files for two hours, muttering, copying data to a hardened drive from his pack. "Got it," he said finally, flat. "Facility logs. Supply records. Physical inventory counts, not dated ones. Sealed-lot numbers." He glanced up. "That's your kind of verification. By seal, not by calendar." Kira nodded. Since the dates had failed her, this was gold. Mary Long came down with the resupply. The crate she carried bore the Atomic Cats insignia, red and black and Black Forest camo, scuffed from the road. She set it on a bench and popped the latches. Stimpaks, antirad vials, grenades, a fresh medical kit. "Zelda sent the burn salve too," Mary said. "For the next slime wound. Standard stimpaks won't touch it." Kira checked the seals one by one. Intact. She signed off. Logan came in behind Mary, his Aussie hat pushed back, a worn sheet in his hand. He dropped it on the bench beside the crate. "Sinclair's medical report," he said. "Doc cleared him. Leg's mending." Kira read it. The recovery timeline was terse, scrawled in a tired hand. One line was underlined twice near the bottom. "In five days we move into Engineering," Kira read aloud. "Eyebot first, then salvage this room's files." "Sinclair wants in on it," Logan said. "Says the robot bay door needs his hack tool. Nobody else runs it." He tapped the report. "He'll be mobile by then. Hurts, but he's useful." Kira weighed it. Sinclair knew the deep locks. The eyebot could scout the bay before anyone breached it. Having both would save lives. "Agreed," she said. "Engineering in five days. Sinclair and the eyebot lead. Until then, we rest and we hold." Donovan closed the station cover and tucked the hardened drive into his map case. "These records change your whole supply math," he said. "Real counts, by lot. You can trade on this." Kira took the drive from him. It was small and heavy in her hand. The vault had finally given her what dates never could. She had the files, the resupply, and a plan. The medical gear was close now, and she meant to earn it by seal.