The first argument at the access door was about escorts.
A settlement guard would not let armed Aegis personnel take the waiting workers through a private passage. An Aegis officer said his staff could not be handed to an unknown force. Behind the closed door, a technician was trying not to put weight on an injured leg while the two sides debated which uniform could stand beside him.
Tessa brought the discussion to the protected medical staging point.
“Joint observation here,” she said. “Local guards control the route. Weapons stay under their conditions. We ask each worker where they want to go and what assistance they need. Neither group gets to use care as custody by another name.”
The captain authorized the arrangement. The Aegis officer accepted a limited observer role rather than control of the passage. A council recorder would confirm departures and arrivals. The healer would keep medical details separate from the movement count.
The first workers emerged slowly.
One wanted to remain with colleagues until everyone from his bay had left. Another asked to go to the local clinic without an Aegis escort. A third wanted contact with the surface receiving service after assessment. Tessa explained which options were available now and which required the unreliable gate’s separate authorization. Nobody was promised an immediate surface crossing to make the near doorway clear.
