I'll be honest; I was really fuzzy on the exact details of the ending until you cleared it up.
Knowing that you can hurt the women in this secret level plunges my opinion of it from "meh" to "not cool". Couldn't have made them invincible?
Looking forward to the next Volunteers series. :) Who knows; if it's a scenario I've played to completion (which, besides the obvious and unlikely-to-be-revolunteered Rubicon and Eternal would be...Pfh'Joueur, pretty much), I could offer some side-commentary or something.