Lara felt the lattice lock behind them a heartbeat after David's warning.
The last maintenance hatch sealed with a magnetic thump that vibrated through the deck plates. Focus emitters on the three remaining approaches cycled from standby amber to full white. Containment teams advanced in overlapping pressure fields, boots synchronized, blades and projectors already live.
She put David against the bulkhead and took the center of the corridor.
The first cadre member came in high. Lara stepped inside the arc, cut the emitter housing at the wrist, and drove the point of her blade up under the chin. The body dropped. The second tried to pin her with a dual-field squeeze. She dropped low, felt the residual graze her left shoulder like cold fire, and took the man's knee and femoral in one continuous motion. He went down hard, pressure field collapsing with him. The third and fourth closed faster, one high, one low, trying to force her into the wall.
