The combots were having success, it helped that the Kristang security force had, according to their established protocol, retreated to protect the high security research center of the base, the most obvious target, they didn't realize that we were going after a different part of the base. Skippy reported the Kristang were thoroughly confused, panicked, in disarray, unable to understand what was happening, and why their carefully hardened systems weren't working or, were working against them. Power surges had burned out the door controls, lifts, lights, and life support in the parts of the base we didn't care about, many of the Kristang were isolated, trapped, slow to react and leaderless. The little resistance the raiding party encountered on their way in were lone individuals, or small groups of two or three, uncoordinated, ineffective. The Kristang's ineffectual efforts against us actually helped our combot operators gain experience with live fire, they learned real quick to use quick bursts, with the rounds dialed to minimal explosive force and on fragmentation setting. The high-explosive rock and roll the operators used against the first pair of Kristang tore the enemy apart, it also wasted ammunition and  blasted the corridor, creating debris the raiding party had to maneuver around. Giraud was rightly pissed, he'd warned people not to go crazy with the advanced Thuranin weapons. They paid attention after that first encounter.

Chang's team reached their objective first, only to find a disorganized room full of junk. Not junk stacked on shelves, helpfully labeled, not even junk stuffed into boxes. This was junk in piles, like the Kristang had opened, the door, tossed stuff in, and closed the door.

"Oh, shit." Skippy groaned. "I didn't anticipate this. The database shows the communications node was last logged as being in that room, there are no sensors in the room, not even a camera."

"Any magic you can perform?" I asked anxiously.

"Doing the best I can," Skippy said defensively. "For secrecy, there are not a lot of sensors inside the research base, except for the access points and living quarters. Also, the base was specifically designed to make remote surveillance difficult. I'm mostly blind in there, not nearly as blind as the Kristang expect, more than I'm comfortable with. There are a significant number of Kristang security personnel that I have lost track of, I don't know where they are or what they're doing. There are also areas of the base the raiding party has shown on cameras that aren't in the schematics I have access to, I'm collating data to develop a true layout of the base. My earnest suggestion is the raiding party move as quickly as possible."