"Yes Ma'am."

    "We will be destroying this facility. We're working out how to evacuate you."

"Oh."

(Emotion read: surprised, was expecting to have to bargain or beg.)

    "If you have any ideas, we'd be interested in hearing them."

"Well, uh... I guess that depends on who you are and what you've got to work with?"

    "We're unaffiliated, Ma'am; we have one SLAYER and one DEUS. We were expecting you to have enough escape pods for yourselves."

"...I don't think we were ever meant to make it out of here alive."

"I mean. Maybe some of the other staff here are buddy buddy with the higher ups and have an actual retirement coming their way, but for me at least ever since I saw the inside of this place I've been assuming that once my job was done I'd just be a loose end to tie up..."

    "We'll do what we can for you, Ma'am."

There's a pause.

(Emotion Read: weighing a bunch of scary options against each other.)

"I'm a communications technician," she says. "If you can get me out of here, and promise to take me back to your Pirate Base or wherever it is you came from, I can make myself useful."

"...I could even get you in touch with the people who run this facility, if you think that'd get you further than questioning the onsite staff has?"

Does Devika feel any particular way about this?

Curious. Wary. Determined.

    "That's agreeable to us, Ma'am. What's your name?"

"Drishti?" She seems a little startled by the question. "Drishti Kaur."

    "All right, Ma'am. We'll make sure you get a spot in one of the escape pods."

"And you'll give the pods a tow once they've launched? There's nobody else close enough to pick up a distress signal in time, in this stretch of 'frag. And even if we did get picked up by colonial forces, well..."

(Emotion Read: unsure who to trust.)

    "Of course, Ma'am. We'll be dropping everyone off at the nearest outpost, but you can stay with us."

"Okay." She takes a deep breath. (Emotion Read: steadying herself.) "Tell me what to do."

Deskyl asks a few questions, determining that Drishti will be able to fix their communications rig and make contact from here, and leaves her to it, telling her to ping them when she's ready. Then she has Devika get back in touch with the commander of the base.

"Oh! Hey!"

The chief responds to their hail after only a couple seconds' delay. She sounds a little breathless.

"I looked a little more closely into the whole 'evacuation' situation. We've got two escape pods online and a third one we're trying to repair?"

Very good.

    "How long do you expect that to take, Ma'am?"

"Oh, just a few more minutes. All we have to do is fix a crack in one of the pressure seals."

    "Very good. We'll be bringing the clones onto the SLAYER; will the escape pods be sufficient for the rest of you?"

“We’ll try our best.”

She knows full well there won’t be room for everyone, but isn’t inclined to risk this opportunity to escape by quibbling over such details.

    "Yes, Ma'am. And bring the clones up to the airlock."

“How would you like them prepared for transport?”