If there was one thing Connecticut was going to swear off at the end of this, it would probably be going to any beach ever again.

The sun had come up only an hour or so after she had began her trek into the desert. Footsteps were almost impossible to hear with the miles and miles of sand that muffled any sound that wasn't the wind. If somebody were to sneak up behind Connie and attack her, there was a good chance she wouldn't hear it unless they were being stupidly obvious. The desert was a death trap and she wished there were another way to get to this underground sanctuary.

All the time alone had given her time to not only resent everything about sand, but it gave time for thinking to take place. Specifically about what happened in T'kama Delta. It was a simple desert village that didn't seem wrong at all. There also didn't to seemed to be much in resources. Maybe there was plenty in other parts of the planet, but in that place. there was sand. And unless they wanted to make a crap ton of glass, there was really no use for that place. Itidal said that they were after this 'spirit' that resided in the underground of the village, which didn't even seem to be very close to the village after all. So what use was this small village? Sure, they could do trade there, but it seemed the UNSC wanted more than just that. Power? It wouldn't take much to overrun the village. But, from the way everything ran there, it didn't seem to have much global political power, so again, the place is useless. None of it seemed to make sense. They were quick to burn it and abuse its citizens, but they wanted to keep it anyway, even if it was now abandoned. So what the hell made this place so fucking special?

Then a memory surfaced. The story of the god. Being somebody who really didn't believe in that kind of thing, she was pretty sure that unless there was solid proof of religious beacons being housed somewhere, they wouldn't go after it. The story sounded strange from the beginning, either way. A spirit of a man being in some other man's body? Sounded like more of a horror flick than a tale of gods. Other than every other horror movie ever made, there had been really only one other place that this was actually a thing. And, depending on who it was that she could have possibly imagined, the sick, twisted feeling in her stomach began to feel worse and worse.

It also didn't help that by this time, the sun was in the middle of the sky and she had no way to protect herself from it. Her face felt as if it were going to melt off the heat was so intense. If she was going to find this thing, she needed to find it immediately or at least fairly soon. She had been taking sips of water through the day, but it wasn't really enough. Nothing but the sands of Oasis IV around her and feeling as if she was going to pass out wasn't exactly a key idea at the moment. But as her mind spaced, she eventually ended up face down in the sand.

Connie pushed herself up, throwing down her bag, staring at the object that tricked her. It was a kind of wide dome that stretched for maybe two meters in all directions. Strange marking of what she could only assume was the language from T'kama Delta. The runes were a bit worn and sand covered a bit of it. It seemed odd, having it this far out from the village, but it seemed what Itidal was talking about before. Or, at least, that was what Connie hoped it was.

She knelt down, putting down her sack and felt along the edge for anything to grab to pull off this over. There was nothing for what could even be gripped. But, she eventually felt a bump under the sand and immediately started to brush away the sand. Runes of what she could only assume as the native language, were inscribed in rings around until it reached to one center inscription that covered the top. She spun the bottom ring, figuring that this was going to work like some sort of lock. Memories of York in training with Delta flashed into her mind. How he could spend 5 hours or 5 seconds on a lock and somehow always got it open and closed within the time they needed. Hell only knew how he was after Freelancer. Maybe he was living happily off as a real kind of mercenary. Or maybe he was with UNSC, though that was a stretch. After what the Director had done to them, getting a job anywhere would be probably the hardest thing in the world.

Hands moved along the runes, attempting to decipher the code and unlock the hatch. It was a hell of a code, to say the least. None of the runes that seemed to lock together made any sense on how the hell they would go together. It was a long and painful trial and error process. And by painful, the runes and rings had small spikes that would electrocute her a bit if she got the combination wrong. She took breaks between sets of shocks and unlocking and shoving the giant rings around to catch her breath and not overwork her systems.

The time seemed to fly by, though it wasn't by having fun. By the time she got the hatch unlocked, she had been shocked hundreds of times, arms felt weak, the sky was darkened, and at this point, opening the hatch didn't even seem like it was worth it. It would be a lot easier just playing stow-away and getting off of Oasis IV.

But she sat in the sand and stared up at the sky, looking down at the hatch every now and again. She had to open it. She got it unlocked (somehow) and she needed to get inside. She didn't want to move though. The sand was too comfortable and she was still sore as hell from the seven months of torture. Midnight sand gusts weren't pleasant, however, so that was a disadvantage. Sand was flung in her face as her hair got whipped around for the hundredth time and that's when she decided to head inside.

With a groan, Connie pushed herself up from the sands and walked back to the latched, finally locked in place and waiting to be opened. Part of her was worried about why the UNSC hadn't found it yet. It wasn't like it was that well hidden. It was just covered under a bunch of sand. Maybe they hadn't checked out in this part. Or their Warthogs ran over it over and over and they hadn't noticed before. Not even a radar would beep at this, or otherwise the UNSC would be all over this thing.

CT, with a hell of a lot of strength, lifted the top up with the the cover falling back with a thud and a cloud of sand forming in front of her. She coughed and tried brushing it away until cleared. All that was left in the place was a dark hole with a bottomlessness that gave her an eerie feeling. The light of a close moon nor the stars above could let her see very far down. A ladder was on the edge closest to her and that's when she decided to go down. As long as she didn't have to jump and possibly harm herself, then she was okay with that. Activating the lights on her shoulders, she crawled her way to setting on the ladder and began her decent.

Each step down she took, a metallic ring echoed through the tomb of sandstone and rock. Some sound was absorbed but was still loud enough to alert anybody or anything waiting for her at the bottom that she was coming. It didn't matter to her. She had her knife with her and though still sore, she had a better chance fighting off somebody than she did the previous day or even a few hours ago. Every so often, Connecticut had to hook herself to the rungs and rest a moment and catch her breath before unhooking and continuing her way down again.

That repeat process happened about six or so times over an amount of time that eventually escaped CT. But the lights of her armor caught the surprisingly chrome-plated ground. The last rungs she slid past, feet landing on the ground and hands still grasping the sides of the ladder. No sound. Not yet at least. She turned, lights revealing some kind of lost base, possibly UNSC, filled with sand and dust and what she could only assume were cobwebs. A pedestal was raised in the center of the room. But what was strange about this place mostly was the horrid stench that filled the air the more and more she walked about the hall and into the center area.

A hum similar to one of a computer modem was echoed in the nearly empty area and the steps of the armored boots of Connie's were the only sounds heard in the room. Instead of heading to the pedestal, however, she headed towards an adjacent hall where the hum got louder. Except so did the stench. Stomach churning, she headed closer to the sound and found herself in front of a glowing green teleportation device. And there, right in front, was what made Connecticut puke for the first time consciously and in her memory.

Piles of rotten flesh were stacked, one on top of another. Odors of feces and urine and decay were what were breathed in and in that hall, there was no such thing as fresh air. There were at least twenty, maybe fifty or more, that were piled up in front of that teleportation screen. She had to get a hold of herself, so instead of going closer and making the stench worse, she ran back to the main console area, attempting to rid herself of a stench that seemed to linger no matter what she did.

She caught herself on the console, her body eventually just giving her dry heaves as almost everything that could have been puked up at that point was already back leaving a swirling and wonderful odor back in the corridor. It took a few breaths to calm herself and catch up to what she had just seen. Human lives laying there so disorganized and disgusting. There was no way that this place could have been a temple for the people of T'kama Delta. It was horrendous and inhumane. The saddest part wasn't that even that it was innocent people. Oh no. It was UNSC officers. At least, that's what the blood stained scraps said they were.

So not only did the UNSC know about this place, but they had been trying to get in for what seems like a while now. CT shut her eyes and took a deep breath, muttering words to herself that couldn't be heard to anybody but her. And for a while, there was silence, pure and simple. She tried blocking out the stench, no matter how putrid, and the hum of the teleporter that had sealed all those poor souls fates.

"Where did I go wrong?" she asked herself, quiet and to nobody in particular. There was silence, as she expected, until a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Agent Connecticut?" it asked, her head immediately shooting up and searched the room, hand grasping the hilt of her dagger. Nothing. Nothing until she looked in front of her, eyes going wide and her mind denying who-no-what she saw in front of her. It took a bit of effort, but she eventually spoke one work that she thought would either kill her or give her hope.

"D...Delta?"