Once they exited the tent, the Marines quickly snuck their way through to the area Frostclaw had mentioned. Fortunately, no other patrols passed by, but they kept their weapons raised, just in case. Within a few minutes they reached the edge of the camp and ducked behind a sentry tower, where Frostclaw pointed to a ledge on a nearby cliff. Multiple handhold gadgets had been drilled into the wall to act as a sort of makeshift ladder.
"That's where our hideout is." He declared, "We just need to climb up there and hope no patrol sees us."
Gabriel looked at the screen on his Auspex Scanner "I'm not getting anything as of the moment, so we should be fine if we hurry."
"Alright" Cassius ordered, "I say we go one at a time. Frostclaw should go first since he knows how to get in. Once he's ready, we each take turns heading up and giving the go ahead to the others down here. Understood?"
The other Marines nodded in agreement, and Frostclaw immediately ran out toward the cliff, scaling it with the handholds surprisingly quickly. Once he reached the top, the others saw him hit a button on his gauntlet before walking into the cliff face. Then, his voice came over the comms in their helmets "All clear. Go ahead."
Cassius nodded "Infernus, go!"
One by one the Marines went up, with Gabriel coming up last since he had the scanner.
"Honestly, I thought this would be a little harder" Infernus said.
Suddenly, just as Gabriel was halfway up the ladder, he suddenly heard shouting from beneath him just as multiple laser bolts lanced around him from two Tau soldiers from below.
Matthias had to resist the urge to smack Infernus as he and Cassius ran to the edge of the cliff to help Gabriel, taking their bolters out and firing at the Tau below.
"Hurry, Gabriel!" Matthias cried out. Gabriel was making a mad scramble up the ladder, but he wasn't quite out of range of the Tau's guns yet. Suddenly, Grimm shoved Matthias and Cassius out of the way "You two are taking too long. Let's finish this quick."
Grimm then took out a Frag Grenade, pulled the pin, and dropped it down the canyon, where it exploded right as it reached the Tau, who were both killed in the resulting explosion.
Matthias reached down to pull Gabriel up the rest of the way, and the Marines then ducked into the opening of the cliff, which Frostclaw then promptly closed, concealing them within. Once the door closed, multiple lights inside flickered to life, revealing a command table and racks of wargear and supplies within.
"Are you alright, Gabriel?" Matthias asked.
"I'm fine, just a few scratches on my armor" Gabriel replied, "That was far too close."
"Indeed"
Frostclaw activated a command table in the middle of the cave as he explained "My brothers and I in the Space Wolves built this place as a secondary base in case of an attack. This command table should give us some idea as to what exactly happened last night."
As Frostclaw hit a few buttons, the other Marines gathered around the table as a holographic image of the cliffs surrounding the camp came into view. Multiple colored dots also appeared on various areas of the map.
"The blue dots are us Marines" Frostclaw explained, "Everything else shows the enemy."
As they studied the board, they could see that during the cover of night, they had been surrounded on the cliffs and ambushed without warning. They could also see that the dots were different colors depending on the section of the cliffs they were on.
"What do these different colors represent?" Grimm asked.
Cassius looked in interest "I'm familiar with this coding system, so if I am correct, those green dots are Necrons, the yellow are Tau, neither of which are of any surprise. However, it's the other that concern me."
"Tyrannids?" Infernus asked.
"Thankfully, no" Cassius replied, "but I am seeing some Orks in the mix, along with what I believe to be Chaos Marines."
Grimm growled in disgust "I hate the Chaos Marines. Blasted traitorous heretics, the lot of them."
"But why are they working with this xeno filth?" Matthias asked.
"Well, there's only one way to get that answer, and I know it's not an answer any of us like" Cassius replied, "We'll need to interrogate one of them. It's a tough decision; speaking to xenos, but if we get answers, this can be used for the good of the Imperium."
The other Marines saw the truth in Cassius's words and nodded their agreement.
"I say we do an Ork or a Tau" Frostclaw suggested, "They're weaker; easier to get info out of with the right method of persuasion."
"And where EXACTLY are we gonna get one of those?" Infernus asked.
As if on cue, multiple, gruff voices could be heard outside. The Marines all fell silent as they listened in; it was undoubtedly Ork voices.
"So, uh, where exactly d'you suppose those attackers came from?" one of them asked.
"I dunno" replied a second, "Just looks like they came from up here."
"Then where in the bloody 'eck could they have gone now?"
The Marines listened quietly; it was clear the Orks knew nothing of their hideout.
"What now?" Infernus asked.
Grimm raised his bolter "Let's kill 'em."
"No, wait" Cassius said, "We can kill one, but leave the other alive; we'll interrogate him."
Frostclaw raised his combat knife "I'll handle this."
He then hit a button on the wall to open the door and rushed the unsuspecting Ork pair, stabbing the first one in between the eyes before tackling the second and dragging it inside, closing the door as swiftly as he had opened it. The Ork struggled in Frostclaw's grip, reaching for his gun, only for Grimm to snatch it and crush the barrel in his hand. Then, as Frostclaw loosened his grip, Grimm kicked the Ork to the ground and pressed his foot onto its chest, putting the barrel of his heavy bolter merely inches from the creature's face.
"Alright, Xeno" Grimm spat, "Let's talk."