"We still have one more window."
Their heads snapped towards him, wide eyed.
"Once Command scrubs this mission from existence, Marcus and Richard are officially dead. Nile's missing, and everything gets 'sealed.' No one's going to touch this again. It'll disappear." He let out a long breath. "The clock's ticking. But we can't move too fast, we're buried with them."
Winter's gaze never left Bale. His mind, racing at a thousand miles per hour, tried to latch onto something solid. Something they could use.
Ima was the first to speak. She paused mid-pace, her eyes meeting Bale's before shifting to Winter. "We can't go back now. We're compromised. We'll need clearance codes, untraceable gear. We need to wipe every trace of our activity before we even think about re-entering Sector 9."
She turned to Winter, her expression sharpened by the sense of finality in the room. "That's the only way. Any slip-up and Command'll smell us coming. And you know what happens when they do that."
