Milenya drove. The crawler's controls were standard, familiar, and a far sight from the complexity she was used to dealing with in shuttles and aircars. Nevertheless, it took her a little time to get used to the handling of the vehicle.<br/><br/>As the vehicle crested the edge of the plateau, Milenya shivered. This was the moment when the vehicle was most vulnerable, and it seemed the base had been alerted. The guards were out in force. One of the Mako combat vehicles was active, and had already swung its turret into position.<br/><br/>There was one good thing; the Mako was infamous for not being able to depress its turret more than a few degrees. If it fired and missed with its first shot, she'd be able to reverse down the slope faster than it could move into position to shoot effectively.<span style="color: #6495ED">"Understood."</span>She responded flatly to Firas' warning on the team's channel, already planning a possible route out.<br/><br/>The guards didn't seem to be hostile, though. Otherwise, there would've already been bullets flying. What was going on? It was like they were putting on a show of alertness. She unknowingly echoed Ashana's thoughts over the team's private channel,<span style="color: #6495ED">"They're expecting visitors. Trying to impress them with being a hard nut to crack."</span><br/><br/>Following directions and parking the vehicle wasn't very difficult; the low covered vehicle enclosures looked like the typical quick-deployment type usually used in improvised bases like this, though they'd been there a while. The local proto-plant algae had already begun to establish itself, turning the metal greenish.<br/><br/>She dropped from the cab, and acknowledged the slaver merc with a brief look as she took up her position.<br/><br/>It was difficult to be dispassionate through the entire disrobing of their three shipmates. Even so, she couldn't help but admire their bodies. She let a slight smile touch her otherwise stoic expression, acknowledging the beauty of the other three women.<br/><br/>They'd picked up on the decoy collar, but that was fine. It was meant to distract and divert.<br/><br/>It was difficult not to react to the chief slaver's drawing of the pistol, but she managed with little more than a clenching of her fingers.<br/><br/>If it were up to her... but it wasn't. She wouldn't act until Firas or Ashana signaled her to.<br/><br/>Once the chief slaver, she wouldn't let herself refer to him by name, turned and said he was ready to deal, she replied,<span style="color: #6495ED">"Good. We went to some trouble to get hold of them."</span>Goddess, it was difficult to keep that cool tone in her voice. Especially given how she felt towards Ashana and Kala.<span style="color: #6495ED">"We didn't expect to arrive on such a busy day."</span><br/><br/>She revised her thinking. This place wouldn't support an auction, but it would support 'lot sales'. Where slave brokers came to view the 'goods' and arrange to transport chosen 'lots' to other locations where the actual auctions would be held.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>