That matched what Vaela had told them earlier. The Compact did not allow its soldiers to wear heavy armor through the sanctuary’s older sections unless there was an emergency. They had feared damaging the preserved systems.
That decision now worked against them.
Aurelian looked at the door controls.
"Open all entrances."
The main doors slid apart.
At the same time, Astra and Rhoswen entered through the side passages while support frames emerged behind them.
The soldiers inside turned in confusion.
For one brief moment, nobody understood what was happening.
Then the support frames deactivated their camouflage.
Dozens of armored machines appeared around the training hall, weapons raised and positioned along every wall.
Several Compact soldiers reached for their rifles.
Rhoswen struck the floor with the bottom of her shield.
The sound echoed through the entire room.
"Do not."
Most froze.
Aurelian stepped into the hall with his weapon lowered but ready.
"Commander Yarric has been captured. The sanctuary command systems are under Human authority, and the demolition network has been disabled. Put down your weapons, and you will be treated as prisoners."
A senior officer near the center pushed through the crowd.
"You expect us to believe you took central command?"
Eirenne activated the hall displays.
A live image of Yarric appeared on every screen, sitting restrained inside the captured command room.
The soldiers stared.
Some looked shocked.
Others looked angry.
The officer’s face tightened.
"This could be false."
Yarric’s voice came through the display before Aurelian could answer.
"It is not."
Every person in the hall went still.
Yarric looked straight into the camera. His expression showed how much he hated what he was about to say.
"Central command has fallen. The demolition controls are lost. Stand down."
The senior officer turned toward the screen.
"Commander, we can still hold the western sector."
"No," Yarric said. "You cannot."
The answer struck harder than any threat Aurelian could have made.
Several rifles lowered.
Then one soldier placed his weapon on the floor.
Another followed.
Within seconds, weapons began dropping throughout the hall.
The senior officer remained standing with his rifle in both hands. He looked around at his soldiers and saw that most of them had already chosen.
His shoulders lowered.
Then he released the weapon.
It hit the floor with a heavy sound.
The last organized Compact force inside Sanctuary Ardent surrendered without a fight.
Aurelian did not relax immediately.
"Support frames, secure all weapons. Separate officers from enlisted personnel and search everyone for detonators or hidden transmitters."
The frames moved forward in an orderly line.
Most soldiers cooperated. A few shouted insults, but none tried to resist.
One man near the rear suddenly pulled a small control device from inside his uniform.
Astra saw it first.
She fired once.
The device broke apart in his hand before he could press it.
The soldier stared at the fragments.
A support frame seized him and forced him to the floor.
Eirenne checked the remains.
"Local explosive control. It was linked to an ammunition cage beneath the western barracks."
Rhoswen looked toward the man.
"That would have killed everyone in this room."
He said nothing.
The soldiers around him moved away.
Whatever loyalty they still felt toward the Compact did not extend to being buried by one of their own.
Aurelian stepped closer to the man.
"Was that your order?"
The soldier kept his face against the floor.
"No."
"Whose?"
Still no answer.
Eirenne searched the device.
"The access key belongs to Deputy Commander Velik Sar."
The senior officer who had challenged Aurelian earlier went pale.
Aurelian turned toward him.
"You are Velik Sar."
The officer slowly raised his hands.
"I did not give him that device."
Yarric’s voice entered the hall again.
"He is lying."
Velik looked toward the screen.
Yarric continued.
"I gave Sar control of the barracks stores in case central command fell. He was told to destroy the weapons, not the soldiers."
Velik’s face hardened.
"You had already surrendered."
"I had lost," Yarric replied. "There is a difference between losing and murdering your own men."
The hall became very quiet.
Aurelian looked at the support frames.
"Take him separately."
Velik did not resist as the machines restrained him.
With that final problem handled, the prisoners were moved out in groups. Fifty support frames remained behind to guard them, while the others helped clear the western routes and transport captured weapons away from the evacuation corridor.
The entire operation had taken less than twenty minutes.
By the time Aurelian returned to the main passage, the first awakened civilians were already moving through the sanctuary.
They came slowly.
Some walked with medical support around their shoulders. Others rested on floating beds while Vaela’s teams monitored their breathing and heart rates.
Many looked confused by the armed figures and unfamiliar equipment around them.
Aurelian moved aside so the first group could pass.
A woman on one of the beds turned her head toward him.
Her face was thin and pale, and her voice barely carried over the sound of the medical systems.
"Are you Human?"
Aurelian stepped closer.
"Yes."
Her eyes moved toward Astra and Rhoswen.
"And them?"
"They are with me."
Rhoswen lowered her shield slightly so she would look less threatening.
The woman studied them all for several seconds.
"Where are we going?"
"To ships waiting outside."
"Whose ships?"
"Ours."
She seemed to think about that.
Then she gave a weak nod and closed her eyes again.
The medical team continued past.
More civilians followed.
Some asked questions. Others said nothing at all. A few looked frightened when they saw Compact prisoners under guard, but Vaela’s people stayed close and explained that the sanctuary was no longer under Compact control.
Neris contacted Aurelian from the cargo shaft.
"We can move the unstable cases, but the deeper halls are larger than expected. At the current rate, evacuation will take much longer than forty minutes."
Aurelian looked toward the orbital display on his wrist.
"How much longer?"
"Several hours at minimum. Longer if we move every preservation chamber instead of waking people here."
That was the answer he feared.
"Begin emergency awakening where it is medically safe. Move the people who cannot be awakened first."
"I have already started."
Aurelian opened a channel to Solenne.
"Status."
Her answer came through a layer of distant weapons fire.
"The Compact fleet has reached the outer defensive line. We have slowed them, but they are still advancing."
"Can you hold the corridor?"
"Yes, but not forever."
Aurelian looked at the civilians moving past him.
"You do not need forever."
"I know."
There was no fear in her voice.
Only focus.
Aurelian closed the channel and turned toward Eirenne.
"How many Compact soldiers remain uncontrolled?"
"Less than ninety. Most are trapped in small groups and cannot reach the evacuation route."
"Send surrender terms again."
"And the groups that refuse?"
Aurelian watched another line of preservation beds move toward the western shafts.
"We leave enough frames to contain them. Everyone else helps the medical teams."
Rhoswen looked toward him.
"You are sending combat units to carry civilians."
"Yes."
She nodded after only a moment.
"Good."
Astra glanced at her.
"You approve?"
"They need help, and the soldiers are no longer a threat."
That answer was simple, but Aurelian understood what it meant. Rhoswen had entered the sanctuary prepared to fight through every obstacle.
Now, after seeing the preservation halls and the people working inside them, she no longer viewed the mission as a battle.
The fighting was the only thing that stood in the way.
Aurelian assigned the remaining support frames to the evacuation teams. Machines that had been built to breach doors and carry weapons now lifted medical beds, cleared damaged corridors, and guided confused civilians toward safety.
The sanctuary continued waking around them.
Lights spread through the lower halls.
Transport lifts rose from levels the Compact had never reached.
Old Human voices played through the announcement system, giving directions in a language many of the newly awakened people still understood.
For a brief moment, the ancient place no longer felt like a tomb.
Then Eirenne’s expression changed.
"Aurelian."
He looked toward her.
"One of the groups in the northern maintenance sector has broken containment."
"How many?"
"Twenty-six soldiers. They are moving toward the reactor control level."
Astra immediately raised her weapon.
Rhoswen lifted her shield.
Aurelian looked at the map and saw the route they were taking.
They were not moving toward the civilians.
They were moving toward the sanctuary’s main power core.
If they damaged it, the preservation halls would lose life support long before the evacuation could finish.
"Can you seal the route?"
"They have already forced open two maintenance doors. I can slow them, but I cannot stop them from reaching the reactor level."
Aurelian checked the distance.
They were closer than he was.
He turned toward Astra and Rhoswen.
"The evacuation continues. We take the reactor route."
Rhoswen stepped forward at once.
"Carefully?"
Aurelian drew his sidearm.
"Not if they reach the core first."
This time, she did not smile.
The three of them moved into the northern passage while the wounded, the frightened, and the newly awakened continued toward the waiting ships.
Above the mountain, Solenne’s fleet met the approaching Compact formation.
Below it, Sanctuary Ardent fought to stay alive long enough for its people to escape.