Chapter TwelveBefore the video had finished running on the viewer, Martin Simon ordered the podcraft launch. He didn't need to watch the rest to know it was long past time to send the extraction team to the planet's surface.
He had been waiting for what had seemed like an eternity to give the order, ignoring his gut feeling in favor of caution. Now that the wait was over, he felt some relief at finally taking action…but not much relief, given what he saw in the video.
The transmission was snowy and the camerawork jerky, but he could still plainly see the away team's disastrous fate. After an exchange of words between Mariko and one of the Vox, the group had been attacked; the angry mob had backed off briefly, only to swarm over them again, beating them down with punishing force. Simo
