I'll shortcut this:
Your whole approach to this is bureaucratic red tape and/or gatekeeping. This sort of thinking/acting is completely detrimental in this situation.
All Katsuya asks is to be put through to Akira. This is in the middle of a fierce battle of which Katsuya is the commander. Only a Karen would try to interfere with such a simple request in such a difficult tactical situation.
From Elena/Sara's POV, Akira is smart enough to check back with them if he's unsure about carrying out Katsuya's request/order (including being unsure of whether he'll get paid for it or not).
Katsuya is the commander. His role is to take the time to coordinate the attack between all the different units, that is, to manage the "bureaucratic red tape" during the battle. If the commanding unit does not have the time to take calm and collected decisions in the middle of battle, it is not fit for purpose. Moreover Katsuya's entire message to Akira was 6 words. Exactly how much bureaucratic red tape is a conversation where they ask: "What's the message?" and get the fucking message. (And if he refuses and wastes time in this situation, that's on him and gives them a clue.) That excuse about gatekeeping does not fly. Especially since, considering how "detrimental in this situation" it is to waste time according to you, it is completely absurd for the commander to request to speak with one specific dude who is a subcontractor instead of giving strategic level commands and letting the subcommanders figure out the tactics to implement that.
Heck, even if they decided not to waste time and question Katsuya at all, they could have requested from Akira, before patching Katsuya through, to get back to them regarding the request so that they have some awareness of what is being asked of the person they have a contract with. There is just no excuse.
Consider also that Elena and Sara should be aware of the battlefield situation, that is, they should know that command is currently being handled by Yumina and that some moron is on a bike and acting as a decoy for the snake. Does it even take any thinking at all to figure out that if Katsuya is calling it's to request help and likely high risk? Everyone already got the order to help rescue the main unit and the main unit is tasked with dealing with the snake so what could a request from Katsuya be about? Help rescue people harder?
They're either dumb (which is not how they've been portrayed) and negligent or they took the decision that it's fine for Akira to take greater risk in this mission (which they don't have to pay for). Not cool.
At this point, all I can hope is that they got the message from what they weren't told and are going to go help Akira regardless of any orders the external help is supposed to follow and that still suggests they decided they were fine with Akira putting his life in danger. If the battle ends, and they go "Whaaaaaat. You fought the snake on your own. So much danger. Shizuka is going to kill us." I'm just going to peg them as an extra dumb pair of bimbos who are only good for distracting Akira.
Maybe they've been affected by Katsuya's brainwashing and that's why they were compelled to just do as he says, but they're not really part of his unit so I don't see why that would be the case.
On the previous mission, they gave Akira an opt out from accompanying them to help Katsuya and he just followed them. He also shared info about the ruins with them first. They know he's still green and they must also know he's partial to them and will accept greater risk for their sake.
Again, I understand that this is intended to put Akira into exciting pew pew situation, but it throws Elena and Sara's characters under the bus.
