What Are You Looking At? Never Seen Your Dad Before?

Once every civilian on the first level had been rescued, Phoros opened the comms and ordered the team, "Medical units, keep treating the wounded civilians. Everyone else, count heads. Each company, report your civilian numbers."

"Yes!"

The companies acknowledged the order, took out their equipment, and began scanning the civilian survivors around them.

Modern Imperial technology still had its uses. Before long, they had a basic count of the vast crowd.

Reports came in over the comms.

"First Company, eastern sector: forty-seven thousand civilians."

"Second Company, western sector: fifty-three thousand civilians."

"Third Company, tunnel entrance: sixty-one thousand civilians."

"Fourth Company, foot of the slope: fifty-eight thousand civilians."

Phoros added up the figures.

Five hundred thousand.

They had rescued roughly five hundred thousand civilians from the first level.

Excellent.

That was half a million lives snatched back from the Greenskins.

The medical units gave the civilians nutrient infusions while the human auxiliary engineers built makeshift stretchers and carried the critically wounded toward the tunnel entrance.

The first level was only the beginning. There were still the second and third levels.

Phoros looked into the depths of the tunnel.

At the far end of the first level, a slope descended into darkness, leading to unknown depths. It was deeply unsettling.

But unsettling or not, they had to go.

More civilians were down there. They would get every last one of them out.

Phoros put away his comms and waved Sentoyor over. "The Blood Knights will hold the first level and organize the evacuation to the mine entrance. Treat the lightly wounded as quickly as you can, then have them follow us. The seriously wounded can help the Blood Knights evacuate the civilians. Everyone else comes with me to the second level. Any problems?"

"No problems."

Sentoyor shook his head and led