26: Forward Compound

The trek through the forests of Dalabrai went on at a steady pace. The forests on this part of the world were not too different to what one might find on Earth, and here beyond the town of Blaskane, the weather was warming. The trees and underbrush blossomed back into life after the chill of the winter months, with Dalabrai's equivalent of the spring season firmly taking hold. They were in a more temperate region of the planet, so for the time being the climate did not lean to any extreme. The rains that had fallen earlier had cleared, and the sky was beginning to show some of its blue again as the stark grey clouds parted.

John kept pace with Kav'rak at the front of the group. They were moving up a gentle slope now, trees all around, the grasses and shrubs at their feet thick and long. Aithris was in the middle of the group, walking along with Jonas, Elsie and Natalia. The two makalvari soldiers, Lieutenant Sha'Pek and Sergeant Hur'Par, had taken up the rear-guard. The pair spoke quietly between themselves. Jonas, meanwhile, was taking in their surrounds with keen attentiveness. Aithris had been quiet most of the journey, keeping his thoughts to himself, his doubts about the mission dancing about his mind at the forefront. John had similar thoughts, he knew, but regardless of the agendas in play on the part of the makalvari, striking at the Calsharan war machine was an opportunity they had all been waiting for. The Calsharans were doing enough damage around the galaxy as it was; someone had to cut them down to size, and the makalvari were having a hard enough time doing that themselves.

Nightfall was only a few hours away. Aithris could tell, from the position of the sun and the way the temperature cooled. It had been a cold, rainy day so far; the night promised to be similar, albeit with less rain. The ground underfoot was wet and spongy in places, and in some others the mud was thick. The boots on all those in the team were already covered in it, and a few slips and tumbles from some of the team members had seen that mess spread onto trousers and shirts. Aithris had kept his footing, so for now it was his boots and his hands that were dirty. Things were likely only to get messier.

"You all right, Aith?" Natalia's voice cut through his thoughts, and Aithris found himself turning to her. The slope seemed to bottom out now, with further heavy forest ahead. And beyond that, much steeper hills, one of which had the weapons facility situated upon it.

"Hmm?" Aithris was still a little distracted, his train of thought having been derailed. All around them was thick underbrush, plenty of places for ambushers to lie in wait until they saw their opportunity to strike. He had to keep a close eye out, and he had done so for much of the hike.

"You haven't said much."

"I do not think this is the kind of situation that encourages idle conversation," he said, and he saw the way in which Natalia scrunched up her face when she heard this. Apparently, she did not agree.

"I don't know, I think some 'idle conversation' might lighten the mood. Don't you agree?" She looked to him, eyebrow quirked, waiting for a reply.

"Whatever you want, Natalia." Aithris shrugged his broad shoulders, a gesture he had picked up from the humans he had spent nearly two years living around. They kept on walking along, muddied boots trudging on small shrubs and fern bushes. Insects buzzed around, one of which Aithris swatted away with one hand. It had been a mean looking black one about the size of a thumbnail, and he sent it barrelling into a nearby bush from where it never emerged.

"This place reminds me of my hometown," Natalia said. "Not as cold. The Urals get much colder than this."

"You're from Russia?" It was Elsie Rhodes who asked this, and Natalia glanced her way, offering the other woman a smile.

"Yes, couldn't you tell?" She was wearing a Russian flag-patch at one shoulder. Elsie saw this, feeling a little silly.

"All right, stupid question. But where in Russia? It's a big country."

"Way out to the west. A small town named Yuriatin. There's a big lake there, and the mountains can be seen from my old home across miles of open terrain." Natalia did a sweeping motion with her left arm, seeing those open fields before her now, so much more inviting than the dense forest they found themselves in. She had spoken of her home to Aithris before, but the Nomad listened closely nonetheless, always curious to hear about his teammate's life before she joined the stargate program. The humans were a very diverse bunch, unlike his own kind. And so far, Aithris had only seen some small part of the United States. Hearing talk of places such as Russia and Australia intrigued him, and he told himself he would like to visit such places one day. It would have to be at a time when the general population over there would be more welcoming of having an obvious alien in their midst, of course.

"My house, my parents' house, was right up close to the lake. The town's only small, but there's a big church there, not far from the lake. It's stood there for nearly one-hundred and fifty years. It survived a revolution and both world wars." Natalia gave a shake of her head, still unable to quite believe that this old Orthodox Church had survived as long as it had, especially during the time of the very repressive regime that had ruled the country for decades. "They don't make them like that anymore. No amount of bombs or vandals could destroy it."

"I would like to see it, one day," Aithris said, and Natalia smiled, proud that she had their alien team member interested.

"Sounds like a nice place," Elsie added. "You should see where I'm from. It barely qualifies as a town, and most of the houses are about the size of shacks and surrounded by a whole lot of nothing." She shrugged her shoulders, giving a short laugh. "Still, it beats being stuck in a city. I don't like crowds, or traffic." She turned to Aithris. As a member of an SG-team, she would have likely heard of the Nomad, perhaps even seen him around the SGC. Aithris did not recall seeing her around, but a lot of people came in and out of that facility. It would be very easy to miss any one person if you were not actively seeking them out.

"What's your story, anyway?" She asked him. It was pure curiosity that drove this line of inquiry. "I mean, I've heard talk of you. But I'm not sure I get it. You're a 'Nomad', but you're not a wanderer?"

"My people were wanderers for centuries," Aithris explained. "Our original home-world was destroyed, so they fled in ships, travelling from place-to-place but never settling. It was not until three-hundred years ago that we settled." He trailed off, recalling the loss of Sanctuary and all those people, his people. "Now we have no home again."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Elsie sounded sincere enough, or as sincere as someone who did not know him or his species could try to be. There followed a lengthy pause, one that was on the verge of becoming awkward before she spoke again: "Is it true that you've got implants or something?"

"Nanites, Lieutenant." It seemed strange, explaining this to someone who was essentially a stranger. He noticed that the others were listening, Jonas in particular. "As an acolyte of the ruling council, I was implanted with nano-technology that enhances my physical abilities. They are a part of me, and they grant me improved healing, enhanced coordination and even some measure of enhanced cognitive abilities."

"Sounds like fun," Elsie remarked. "I'm almost jealous. God knows I could do with some of them in my system."

"The implantation was painful and took many months to grow accustomed to. I do not know how a human body would fare in comparison." Aithris stated all this in a little harder tone of voice than he had perhaps intended. This was enough to deflate Elsie almost immediately. She went quiet, and that suited Aithris just fine. He did not feel like talking about himself, if only because it was not something he did a great deal of. Natalia had commented on it once, some time ago, saying something about how it was 'typical' of a man to keep his feelings to himself. Aithris had simply nodded his head in absent agreement when she had said this, seeing no reason to argue.

John and Kav'rak, leading the group, stopped then. Elsie's gaze followed theirs, and her eyes visibly widened. Aithris saw it too, the object in question caught behind a shroud of overgrown bushes, nestled amongst an old tree that had seemingly grown around the intrusive thing over the many years of it being there.

"What the hell is that?" Elsie asked aloud. From the look he gave, John had the same question in mind. Jonas hurried ahead to the front of the group to get a closer look.

"Looks like a bomb to me," he said, stopping before the large, vaguely cylindrical object. It had to be nearly four metres in length and about one in diameter, comprised of a rusted, metal shell that had been subject to the harsh forest environment for decades. It was practically a part of the heavy old tree it was caught on, putting it about a foot off of the ground, one end resting amongst the dirt and undergrowth around the base of the trunk.

"Is it?" John turned to Kav'rak. The makalvari Captain wore a grim expression, and he nodded in confirmation of the group's immediate assumption.

"A very old bomb," Kav'rak said. "There was a war here, about two-hundred years ago. That is a heavy plasma compression bomb, used for destroying underground bunkers and the like. This region is littered with installations like that, long fallen into disuse."

"A war?" Jonas perked up, curious. "Who were you fighting?"

"Ourselves," Kav'rak replied. Unlike the Calsharans, who had been unified for over one-thousand years, the makalvari had had no such luck. "The weapons facility we travel for was built out of a number of old bunkers from the conflict this bomb was used in."

"Is it still live?" John glanced to Jonas, who had tapped a knuckle lightly upon the side of the heavy bomb.

"More than likely." Kav'rak sounded unconcerned, and instead turned around and continued the walk. "We shouldn't fiddle with it, if that's what you're wondering."

Jonas took his hand away from the bomb then, offering John a sheepish smile. The group wandered on past the old bomb, with Aithris finding himself both impressed and worried over the sheer size of it. What kind of detonation would an explosive of that calibre make? It would probably raze the hill they were on, at the very least.

The group moved onwards for another half hour before they came upon a well-maintained dirt road. It was in the foliage to one flank of it that Kav'rak signalled for them to stop. Here, they could look down some distance at either end of the road, and it was to the north that the weapons facility could be seen. It did not appear too imposing where they were, being little more than one small part of it, serving as an entrance to the bulk that was embedded within the hill beyond. This outer compound was a fenced off, open-air affair comprised of a trio of squat metal buildings and a guard tower by the main gate. Here, at the tree line, John put a pair of binoculars to his eyes and surveyed the outer compound for a minute, taking note of the Calsharan soldiers he saw on duty. Only a handful, from what he could see, but no doubt they would call for help from inside the facility at the first sign of trouble.

"Is this it?" He asked Kav'rak. He handed the binoculars to Aithris, who had crouched in the foliage to his right. Aithris did his own examination of the compound from afar. He could just make out a concrete structure embedded in the base of the hill at the other side of the compound. Through there they would find the main facility.

"It's the one main entrance," Kav'rak answered.

"Are there no other ways inside?"

Kav'rak shook his head. Somewhat further off to his left, Elsie had gone prone amongst the bushes. She was watching the main gate through the scope on her .50 calibre Barrett.

"The Calsharans have expanded and altered parts of the facility, from what we've been able to gather," Kav'rak said. "Alternate entrances are locked down. There is one other entrance to the west, but it is even more heavily guarded than here."

"How so?"

"That other entrance involves going through a Calsharan armour depot to get to it," Kav'rak said. "An addition they made themselves. They land a lot of equipment there, weapons, soldiers, tanks, and scout vehicles. From there, it gets sent to the frontline."

"Sounds like a high-value target." John's implication was obvious. A weapons facility and an arms depot, all in one place.

"Perhaps, but our main concern is with the weapons research. Anything beyond that is secondary and to be ignored if too impractical to attain."

"Are those your orders?"

Aithris found his gaze through the binoculars lingered, briefly, upon a satellite dish situated at one corner of the forward compound. A communications system, perhaps?

He lowered the binoculars then, satisfied with his scouting, before he handed them back to John. The Colonel stuck them into their appropriate pouch, all the while eyeing the makalvari Captain with a hardened look. He did not trust him and, from the way Kav'rak was returning the expression, it seemed that the feeling was mutual. Aithris could only wonder how well a mission like this could go, when the two parties involved did not trust each other.

"You have yours, I have mine." Kav'rak glanced back at the group, gathered as they were amongst the brush, shrouded behind layers of foliage. Anyone travelling the road nearby was unlikely to see them. "I suggest we wait until nightfall. That gives us about two hours. We formulate a plan of approach, infiltrate the compound and get inside the facility."

"As soon as we get found out, they'll call for help." John did not sound too excited at the prospect. Fighting a small army of Calsharan soldiers was something they would be better off avoiding.

"There is an antenna, within that forward compound. It's part of their forward communications system. We can disable it." Kav'rak sounded sure of this. John had seen the dish in the compound, as had Aithris. However, the Nomad did not believe that disabling it would be enough.

"I have a better idea," he said, and Kav'rak turned to him with a frown. What help could the Nomad be, he was no doubt thinking. "Get me to that antenna and I should be able to disrupt their communications entirely. Of course, I will need someone to watch my back."

"All right Aithris, you and I will tackle the dish." John was already formulating a plan. "Once it's dark enough, we'll move in. Until then, we'll rest a while and scout any other ways in other than the main gate. As much as I appreciate the direct approach, I feel like this time around we could try and be a little subtle." Not his style, but sometimes one had to compromise to get things done.


A chill swept in when night fell. The sky above brimmed with stars, seeing as how they were far from any major city. The shining crescent of a crater-marked moon hung up high. The forest was cast under the silvery glow of that moon and the stars all around it, providing some subdued illumination over an otherwise pitch-dark forest. Amongst the foliage, having caught about an hour of sleep, John found himself waking up to find Kav'rak crouched next to him. The makalvari Captain was gently shaking him, one hand on his shoulder. The other team members, scattered about the small overgrown ditch by the road, had been in varying states of rest or outright sleep.

Elsie Rhodes had been keeping watch the past hour, and as the others readied themselves, she took position by the edge of the tree line and set her Barrett sniper rifle down before her, bipod extended. Peering through the scope, she turned her attention to the forward compound at the end of the gravel road. Through the foliage, John could see that the lights were on, complete with a searchlight beam cutting through the dark ahead of the main gate. It swept a slow path along the last twenty metres or so of road that came up to the main gate, emanating from a fitting upon the guard tower just behind the front fence.

"It is time we made our move, Colonel," Kav'rak said. He readied his own rifle, a magnetic rail carbine of sorts, smaller and more compact than the full-sized rifles both Sha'Pek and Hur'Par carried. Those two were nearby, giving their equipment one last check before they went into the lion's den.

"All right." John rose to his feet, stretching his arms and legs, giving his neck a quick flex. Aithris was already by the edge of the road, ready to move in. John sidled up alongside him, following the Nomad's gaze towards the forward compound. They had scouted the place thoroughly during the afternoon, and it appeared that beyond blowing a hole in the perimeter fences, they would have to move in quick and eliminate the guards whilst drawing a minimum of attention. Easier said than done, and John could only wonder just what kind of resistance awaited them inside the facility. Probably more than their small team could manage. He had to wonder just how Kav'rak expected them to take the facility when they would be outnumbered to this extent. Still, they were all good at what they did, that was the whole idea behind an 'SG' team: the best of their fields brought together to not only explore and discover new technologies, but also to fight whatever alien threats happened to be out there. The Calsharans certainly counted as a threat and striking here at their secret weapons facility was bound to hurt them.

"Just how many of them are going to be in there?" John asked, his voice low. He directed the question to Kav'rak, who had stopped by his right-hand side. The makalvari's yellow eyes seemed to glimmer in the dark. Aithris' own violet-hued ones carried a dim glow, evidence of his nano-tech enhanced physiology.

"I have no way of knowing, Colonel," Kav'rak said. "But once we're inside, we should have an easier time of isolating and eliminating any resistance. The facility isn't especially large, but it does have multiple levels that go deeper underground. I suspect what we're looking for is within one of those lower levels, most likely within a guarded laboratory."

"I count about five guards," Aithris said, having watched the forward compound through his rifle's scope for a good minute. "One in the tower, one at the main gate and three patrolling the grounds. Any more than that, I cannot tell." He lowered his rifle and turned to John. "We will have to eliminate the one in the tower and the one at the main gate first."

John looked to Elsie. At some point during the afternoon, she had fitted a suppressor to her Barrett rifle. In the case of that gun, it was a simple matter of attaching the bulky suppressor over the end of the barrel, before locking it into place with a small, screw-like mechanism. She had at least been thoughtful enough to pack what was required for a covert operation.

"You got subsonic ammo for that thing?" He asked her. She turned to him and offered a smile.

"Of course, sir. Don't leave home without it."

"Good. Because I want that one in the guard tower down as soon as the gate guard hits the ground." A rifle of that calibre would not be terribly quiet, even with a suppressor attached. With that attachment, the noise level would be reduced, but there would still be an audible crack, a sound that would be further reduced by the subsonic ammunition. Still, an attentive guard would more than likely hear it. One shot was about all they could get away with, so he would be counting on Elsie's skill with the rifle to put down that tower guard. Calsharan body armour had been seen to absorb many conventional small arms calibres, although sustained fire could penetrate. A fifty-calibre round, however, was more than likely to punch through. He had seen it happen, and with Elsie having already proven herself a good shot earlier today, John was confident she could take that tower guard down with ease.

John had to hope that the shot was not too loud as to arouse the attention of the guards in the compound. As for those within the large bunker that was the weapons facility, they were unlikely to hear anything through the thick bulkheads that kept it closed off from the outside world.

There was about four-hundred metres to the compound entrance. Elsie should have no trouble hitting a target at that range with a precision weapon such as her Barrett.

"All right, Aithris and I will approach from the right flank. Jonas, you stay here with Elsie and watch her back." He looked to the Langaran, who gave him a curt nod in acknowledgment of the instructions. "Kav'rak, you take your two guys around to the left. You wait there until we make our move." He then turned to Natalia. "And Sergeant, I need you with us, keeping back to watch our rear. All clear?"

Natalia gave him a similar nod. It was a straightforward approach, made uncertain by the lack of solid intel on what awaited them inside the facility. John hoped it was not the labyrinth of old bunkers and tunnels he was half-expecting it to be.

After a short pause, during which he gave the team one more look over, he started through the forest. He headed for the right-hand flank of the forward compound, pushing through the forest with Aithris and Natalia following closely behind. Coming around the side of the compound, they were faced with a good twenty metres of open ground before the fence, as expected. The trees here had been cleared so that approaching intruders would be easier to spot. The metal fence was tall and solid, complete with warning signs written in both Calsharan and makalvari concerning the electrical charge flowing through the panels. John had his group stop just before the open ground, placing them somewhat to the right of the main gate. There, the Calsharan soldier standing guard paced about the small booth that served as a guardhouse. This one was clad in a light set of armour, denoting him as an officer of some fairly low rank. Who else would pull a duty as boring as this one, but a junior Lieutenant or something of the sort?

John turned to Aithris. He had slung his SCAR-H rifle around a shoulder and had pulled a combat knife, holding it in a reverse forearm grip. If there was anyone John could trust with a knife, it was Aithris. He knew his part to play here, and he made his move after a nod from John. Keeping low, he darted into the open, the guard in the tower ahead looking off down the road. That guard's gaze was directed away from the flank for the time being. He was no doubt as bored as the one standing at the gate.

Aithris stepped into the illumination offered by the fittings on the small guard booth. He was light on his feet, barely making a noise with each footfall even through the sturdy boots he wore. Right as the officer watching the gate spun about to face him, Aithris had his arms around the young Calsharan and without pause, plunged the blade into his exposed neck. Dark red blood gushed, flowing down the guard's chest. A stifled gurgle left his throat as Aithris eased him to the ground. As this guard fell, Elsie fired, the subsonic round sounding off as a distant crack that sounded more like a .22 than a .50 calibre.

The Calsharan soldier standing in the tower jerked backwards suddenly, missing part of the top of his head. His helmet had done little to stop the round, and the entry wound made was strangely neat, although the exit wound was anything but. He fell into a heap at the top of his tower, his grip on the searchlight falling away, pulling it awkwardly to the left. If the noise or movement had alerted any of the compound's other guards, it was not readily apparent. All went quiet, as it had been only seconds before. Elsie would be keeping watch on the gate now, ensuring no other guards caught the others by surprise.

John and Natalia joined Aithris by the gate. Kav'rak, Lieutenant Sha'Pek and Sergeant Hur'Par moved in as well, coming to a stop at the other side of the gate opening.

"You three, cover us. We're going in." John saw Kav'rak nod, before he signalled his two compatriots to spread out behind him. John hurried into the compound, Aithris and Natalia following. John started down the middle, Aithris watching his left and Natalia his right. There were a trio of squat, simple metal structures within the heart of the compound. Beyond them, at the end of the gravel road, was the facility's main entrance. It was built into the base of the hill, a large metal bulkhead that was accompanied by a smaller, normal-sized door. Light seeped through a window set into the wall near it, emanating from a room to the left of the entrance in which a single guard was seated. He was the furthest one from the team, and still unaware that the compound had been infiltrated. It was the two prowling the grounds that John was concerned with, and he sighted one of them walking by one of the structures ahead, making their way to the communications dish in the far corner of the compound.

"Aithris, stick with me. We're going for that dish." The satellite dish in question was about two metres wide, situated on top of a small box-shaped structure within which a single door was situated.

"Natalia, take out that other guard. He's around here somewhere."

Natalia headed off to their right side, skirting around one of the small buildings. They appeared as a barracks of sorts, probably living or storage space. From the look of it, the building was empty. Natalia slung her rifle around her shoulder as she went and pulled out her pistol instead. A suppressor had been fitted to the end, and she moved with a purpose as she sought the one troublesome guard they knew to be patrolling at that side of the compound.

John and Aithris hurried around one of the other squat buildings, passing by a partially open window. John peered inside, seeing a pair of Calsharan soldiers seated about a table. They were cast within the light from a single lamp next to them, speaking quietly in their guttural tones, relaxed and oblivious to the intruders in their midst. John looked back at the gate and saw Kav'rak coming in, leading Sha'Pek and Hur'Par. John caught the Captain's gaze and pointed to the window with one hand, holding up two fingers: two enemies inside, and Kav'rak was to be the one to neutralise them. The makalvari Captain appeared all too keen to kill him some lizards, and so he and his two fellows came hurrying to the building with their weapons ready.

Aithris had gone on ahead to the communications building. John followed, unable to see the guard from earlier. Across the compound, Natalia had found the other guard, and whilst the oblivious Calsharan soldier paused to stretch his tiring legs, the Russian came up behind him and shot him point blank in the back of the head. The silenced pistol emitted a subdued snap, yet the noise was not enough to punctuate the night and bring the other guards running.

Aithris paused at the door into the communications building. He slid it open slowly, peering into the room after it with his rifle raised. John followed after him, worrying over where that other guard had gone. Aithris, now standing in the fully open doorway, suddenly had his knife out again. It was a movement performed so quickly as to be a blur, and without pause he had sent that knife darting through the air. The guard was inside the small building, and he had turned around just as Aithris had opened the door. In return, Aithris had sent the knife into his skull, shattering the visor on the Calsharan's helmet and causing the blade to embed itself through one eye and into the brain. The guard emitted a stunned gasp before he stumbled, colliding with the desk and its bank of computers at his right before he hit the floor, plasma rifle departing his grip and clattering down beside him.

John stopped at the doorway as Aithris walked inside, brows raised.

"Impressive," he said. Aithris bent over to pull the blade free of the Calsharan's skull. With a calm air, he wiped the blood off on his trousers before he sheathed it again. Gun around his shoulder once more, he set his attention on the computer terminal before him. The room was wreathed in the dim red glow of the various displays and blinking Calsharan computer systems before him.

"Give me five minutes," Aithris said, as he set to work. "I can scramble their communications, for a time."

"Is that something else they taught you back home?"

Aithris turned to John, and he gave the man a smirk, pointed canines showing.

"As a matter of fact, disrupting Calsharan technology was one of the first classes taught." He voiced this as a joke, yet there was an underlying sincerity that made John believe him. Aithris returned his attention to the main terminal. "This dish will serve as a jamming device. I will essentially turn their own devices against them."

"How much time do we have?"

"At most, an hour. Probably less. It won't take them long to figure out what's wrong." He paused, seeing something on the display that caught his eye. "There is something else: I can sound an alert on the other side of the facility. Draw some of the guards away from our position."

"Do it." They needed every edge they could get. Their odds on this assignment were poor enough already.

The next step, once Aithris was finished, was getting into the facility. The one guard inside the small guardroom by the entrance was still seated inside, attending to his own duties. Kav'rak, Sha'Pek and Hur'Par made short work of the two Calsharans inside the sub-building, and it was Kav'rak who put an end to the guard at the entrance. They did so freely, with full use of their weapons now that the most immediate threats were eliminated. All that was left was whatever awaited them inside.

Aithris was in the guardroom by the main entrance while the rest of the team gathered outside. Elsie and Jonas had joined them, with Elsie slinging aside her hefty Barrett rifle. Such a weapon would hardly be practical inside a confined weapons facility, and she had pulled out a hard-hitting .45 Para-Ordnance P-14 pistol. Aithris was sorting through the display in front of him, finding a surveillance feed of what lay beyond the door.

"It appears that we will be clear, up until a point," he said. John joined him in the guardroom, taking a look at the feed himself. A wide tunnel awaited them on the other side, leading into an open warehouse space. There were guards on the prowl up there, with one or two on catwalks above.

Aithris worked the Calsharan computer expertly, and the feed was replaced with a layout of the facility. At the very least, it corresponded to the level they were on. Kav'rak came in to see what the Nomad had found, and his yellow eyes lit up when he saw the layout.

"Can you cycle through the floors?" He asked Aithris. The Nomad did just that, shifting the map from one floor of the facility to another. There were several, going deep underground. Kav'rak tapped the display at one of them, and from what John could see, it was of the lowest level (or close to it).

"The main lab space should be in there," Kav'rak said. He turned to John. "The false alarm the Nomad set for the other side of the facility has cleared some of the way, but there are still hostiles in our path. Our opportunity for a clean infiltration is fading quickly."

"You have a plan, I take it?" John looked to the makalvari Captain expectantly. Kav'rak appeared to mull it over for a moment, before something jumped into his head then.

"There is a makeshift prison level. I suspect a number of prisoners of war, makalvari soldiers mainly, will be kept down there." He had Aithris cycle the map through to one of the upper levels, wherein what was apparently a cellblock was located. "Test subjects for the experiments they conduct here, I would think. If we free them, we'll create enough chaos to make our task easier."

"How can you be sure there are prisoners down there?" John, once again, had his doubts. "It could be an empty cellblock, or all the prisoners could be dead."

"Perhaps, but that is a chance we will have to take. The chaos a breakout will cause should provide the cover we need. An opportunity to get below and destroy the research." Kav'rak's mind had been made and there would be no dissuading him. John figured it was a better plan than having none at all. Aithris was already one step ahead, and he brought up a layout of the upper level, pointing to one section in particular.

"There's a security room there," he said. The Calsharan text that denoted what was what on the layout was no problem for the Nomad, as his grasp of the language was fluent. Unlike John, who saw little more than a bunch of curved slashes and dashes, all with some underlying element of refinement to it that suggested an intelligence behind the symbols. All were words and phrases with meaning, and thus far his grasp of the Calsharan tongue was poor and not getting any better.

"We should be able to release them from there, if there are any prisoners to be released."

John supposed giving the prisoners a chance at freedom, all so the team could succeed, was better than leaving them to rot. The chaos would only result in a lot of dead makalvari, if there were prisoners present. Still, such decisions were to be expected in this line of work, where one played with the lives of others for a more important cause. Thinking about it like this did not make John feel any better about it.

"You know, I may have a way to get there without drawing too much attention." John had a feeling he was going to regret his next suggestion. Even so, the thought had come to mind, when faced with what struck him as a perfect opportunity. And had not the device he carried been intended for use as a means of infiltration? "It's dangerous, it's probably going to end in abject failure, but if it works then our chances of completing this mission get a whole lot better." All eyes were on him now, and he offered the team a smile. From the look Natalia was giving him, she knew exactly what he was planning and she did not have much confidence in its success. John felt much the same way.