Because of Fang Zheng and the others' surprise attack, Kirk and his men encountered almost no resistance as they made their way to where the prisoners were being held, successfully rescuing the captured crew members.
Yet Kirk found nothing to be happy about in how smoothly things had gone. In his experience, whenever things went well on his side, the other side would usually run into some unforeseen trouble. Still, at the reminder of his first officer, Spock, he suppressed his unease and withdrew toward the rendezvous point.
And then... "You're too slow!!"
When Kirk and his crew finally hurried to their destination, they found Ling sitting there in boredom while Fang Zheng chewed on some bread. The moment she saw them, she immediately started complaining.
"How could you be so slow? We were the ones responsible for drawing the fire, while all you had to do was your part. Yet by the time we were done, you'd only just gotten back. What were you even doing? This isn't a stroll through the countryside!"
"...I was just being careful..."
Kirk looked rather embarrassed in the face of Ling's complaints. Since they could not use teleportation, he had needed to lead more than a hundred crew members through several dangerous areas to reach their destination. To avoid casualties, he had been extremely cautious in choosing their route.
Even though the base had been thrown into complete chaos, Kirk had still subconsciously assumed that Fang Zheng's side only had two people and could not handle too many enemies. If the enemy discovered that his side had greater numbers, they would naturally shift their focus of attack. He had put a great deal of effort into avoiding that.
"Alright, everything went smoothly anyway."
Fang Zheng clapped his hands and stood up.
"Nothing went