The shelter lamps stayed lit when the local worker isolated the door control.
Juno checked the indicator at her position and waited for the separate report from the occupied area. The first report was delayed because its runner had to let a carrying crew pass. The captain held the entry group in cover until the actual acknowledgment arrived. A plan that preserved power on a diagram still needed confirmation from the people using it.
The acknowledgment came. Shelter supply unchanged within the watched range. Local door actuator isolated. There was no claim about the controls deeper inside or the crews stationed beyond the visible doors.
At the signal point, the captive gave the agreed indication again.
Bram stood with the local defender at his assigned support position. He could see a near agent’s shoulder and the edge of the maintenance bay. He could not see the workers behind the inner partition. The old signal felt easy in his hand, a familiar movement associated with orders he had once obeyed without asking who would suffer at the other end.
He waited for the captain’s authorization.
When it came, he gave the diversion from the approved position. The visible agent looked toward it. Another answered with the acknowledgment Bram had described, enough to show the pattern was still recognized by those two. It was not proof of what every Aegis team would do.
