Chapter 8

Location: P5X-359

Date: February 8, 2025

Time: 0715

Colonel O'Neill was, to say the least, very much unhappy with his techies. The fact that an Al'Kesh had just been sitting there five miles away without their detecting it hadn't been a vote of confidence for either Dr. Underwood or Captain Hailey. And he let them know it.

"So explain something to me, did you happen to have even thought of scanning the local five miles around us for lifesigns or technology? I'm pretty sure that fancy scanner out there is up to the job," O'Neill asked the two of them as they packed their MALP's to be ready to evacuate in the event that the Colonials noticed their presence.

"Colonel, it's an orbital and atmospheric scanner, it's designed to record observations of what's in orbit. We have another one for scanning around us that we were going to set up but then we picked up those ships in orbit and you'll excuse me if that seemed so much more pressing!" the man said as he hurriedly put his items into their boxes and then onto the MALP, exhausting himself.

"With respect sir," Hailey piped up, "Experience has shown that attacks from orbit are far more potentially devastating and protocol dictates that we scan for threats overhead first after securing our immediate perimeter."

Hailey was correct, SG Teams followed a careful protocol when it came to setting up their scanning equipment and securing the safety of their camps. First the SG/S Team secured the area for several hundred meters in all directions checking for signs of habitation nearby from any vantage point they could get. As they did that the civilian team was supposed to get the two types of scanners that checked farther out for life signs, orbital and atmospheric anomalies, and any ships in orbit. In the past the most devastating battles that the SGC had fought had precipitated because ships in orbit had attacked with a large amount of forces. Battles that had occurred from ground forces attacking had usually been beaten back due to the relative even ground on which they fought one another. But against ships like Al'Kesh and Death Gliders versus lightly armed infantry things never ended well. So protocol dictated that the teams check to see what's above them because they could at least do something about what was on the ground.

But of course, like anything new or untested, there were teething problems, plans didn't necessarily work out the way they should, and SG-1 was encountering these problems. The weather had necessitated that the team get their tents up for shelter before they got their scanners set up and the downpour had limited visibility for the long range along with the pitch black. Shit happens as they say. But it was not the end of the world in the least.

"Colonel," Captain Blanton said calmly, "There's no reason to assume the Colonials have even noticed us. They've clearly been more interested in that Al'Kesh and their radio chatter hasn't even suggested that they've detected our camp or the Stargate. The troops that are moving towards it have maintained radio silence."

"What is the Al'Kesh doing here in the first place? And why are the Colonials going after it?" Dr. Tew asked as the group walked into the still erect tent.

"The two civilian ships," Brenda Jackson noted, "They don't have life signs aboard. And we've detected, what nearly two hundred life signs near that ship?"

"Close to it," Hailey responded.

"It's a rescue mission," Brenda declared, "They must be some sort of pirates that found the Colonial ships, raided them and took the people hostage."

"Seems like something the Lucians would do," Blanton suggested."

"No," Brenda responded, "The Lucians don't operate this far out. They'd have to get through a lot of Jaffa controlled territory first. The only people who are out here that we know of are the Colonials and us."

"And how would you know that the Colonials operate this far out?" O'Neill asked.

"Because I asked for this planet remember? I wanted to see if the Colonials really were expanding their operations since we broke contact."

"You knew that they were out here?!" Underwood gasped.

"No, the intel said they weren't out this far but I was hoping we'd detect an exploration party of civilians. I didn't think the Colonials would be launching an operation after being on the receiving end of a pirate raid," Brenda explained.

"And you didn't think to inform us?" O'Neill replied, absolutely dumbstruck by this woman's explanation.

"You saw the map and read the reports Colonel," Brenda responded, "We all agreed the risk was negligible at best."

"Sir?" Hailey asked, not quite sure what to believe.

"It was a remote possibility at best. The Colonials haven't moved beyond their established space and their nearest planets are a ways off. Our latest scans had shown that they had no ships in range of this planet or even moving to it."

"Well they're here," Dr. Tew grumbled as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Which means we need to be ready to get the hell out of here ourselves right?" Underwood responded.

"No, the Stargate activating would give our position away," O'Neill replied.

"He's right, even with their tech the Colonials would see clear as day," Hailey replied.

"And they've got air assets on standby to support that ground team of theirs moving on the Al'Kesh. They'd be on us real quick."

"Not to mention we might spoil their rescue mission," Brenda said back before continuing, "But like I said before there is another option here."

"We can't contact them, not like this anyway," O'Neill snapped once more.

"Why not?" Brenda scoffed, "This could be just the scenario we need. We could offer assistance in their rescue, they could only receive that kind of offer positively."

"Protocol states that any contact with the Colonials is to be done on equal terms, ship to ship, or man-to-man," O'Neill said back.

"Since when were you one for protocol?"

"Since the stakes were raised."

"If I may interject," Dr. Bruce Walt, their cultural expert, piped up from where he'd been carefully listening to the conversation, "The protocol exists for good reason we all agree. But not even we can predict all encounter scenarios. Sometimes, and you should this very well Jack, chance has its joker slipped into the deck. This is our joker. Do we play it or fold?"

"Assisting a rescue mission puts us on the moral high ground," Captain Blanton noted, getting a nod from O'Neill.

"I don't dispute that," O'Neill responded, getting some raised eye brows from the others, "We can be ready to assist if they need help. Those Colonials don't know who they're facing. We can expect that. So we can't assume that they'll just welcome us at face value."

"Well," Brenda said calmly, "If we're going to go we need to go now."

"We?" O'Neill responded, putting his hands on his hips.

"Yes we. I have more hands-on experience with them than any of you and I'm a trained diplomat and a black belt in karate."

"Brenda you got that in eighth grade," Underwood laughed, knowing her a bit too well.

"Still counts," the blonde said pointing a finger at him to shut up.

"And they're combat veterans with some things called guns," O'Neill piped up and pointed at his rifle, "Like this, this kills more people than karate."

"Isn't that why you're here?" Brenda chirped knowingly, challenging O'Neill's ego.

"And it's why you're wearing that," O'Neill now replied by pointing at her armor.

"So I'm going?" she straight asked and got a slight hesitation from O'Neill before he responded.

"Yeah but I will do what I have to keep this team safe."

"We may want to break camp then," Blanton said, "If things go sideways we won't have the luxury of time to stow our gear and get it through the gate."

"There's a good-sized cave uphill from the gate that Dr. Lopez was checking out before this all happened. It's easily large enough to move our equipment into it and concealing us as well. Not to mention dry."

"Sounds good," O'Neill said, "Dr. Walt can you handle the civilian team while we're away?"

"Certainly," the man replied, knowing that he wasn't in good enough shape or a good enough fighter to go with the military portion of the team along with their team leader.

"Excellent, Underwood, keep the scanners operational and keep us apprised of incoming aircraft and their troops' positions," Blanton told their tech expert.

"I'll be on the ground scanner Ruby will keep an eye on the skies," Underwood proclaimed, "We're in business now baby. This is what SG Teams are supposed to do."

"You won't be our constant voice in our heads for the ground-side element. Patch the feed to our HUD and we can see them through the weather and terrain. But keep us apprised of their orbital and air assets," Blanton commanded.

"Or we can do that," Ruby huffed along with Underwood, very much wanting to be a part of the action.

"So you guys keep an eye on that sky."

"Speaking of the skies the storm is starting to let up," O'Neill noted, hearing the roar of the rain dropping off slightly as the wind died off leaving a constant downpour in its stead.

"We'll need to detach at least two of us to protect the civilians," Blanton suggested, getting a nod from O'Neill.

"I agree, Captain Pauley's got that ankle twinged so he's a no brainer for me. And…Lieutenant Baird can stay put. He's a demo man, so I don't think we'll need to blow shit up," O'Neill stated, picking out his two rear guards to keep an eye on their civilians.

"They'll work," Brenda nodded in agreement, "I think my people are scared of Lieutenant Baird."

"Probably should be, he was Army EOD and then an Airborne Ranger, in a word, he's insane," Blanton grinned, knowing the Lieutenant in question was absolutely fearless and quite intimidating, although it was only his way of entertaining himself.

"I suspected that," Dr. Catherine Lawson mused as she overheard that.

"Well he's not quite insane enough to worry about. Mostly he has no fear of anything, or anyone."

"Alright Doc, get everything stowed away, everyone into the cave, and wait for us to return. If you're compromised get back to the SGC, don't worry about us we can set off a beacon for a ship to pick us up if things go south."

"Good luck Colonel, you'll need it."

"SG-1's already got luck sewn into its genes."

"I do hope so."

"Pauley, Baird, you're on rear guard, watch the civilians until we get back. If you're compromised return to base immediately."

"Roger that," the captain in question responded from outside.

O'Neill could just barely make out Lieutenant Baird voicing his displeasure at having to stay on babysitting duty but ignored it. He couldn't blame the guy, not being allowed to go out with the rest of your team mates is not the most gratifying of duties. But orders were orders, not much a subordinate officer can do once they're given aside from follow them.

"SG-1, on me, we're gonna follow this ridgeline down to an overwatch position on the Colonial AO. If their op goes bad we'll step in and help them out," O'Neill explained on the radio, letting his team know what it was that they were doing at this time.

"Sounds good Colonel, this mission was needing some excitement," Major Rosario called out on the radio with a laugh.

"It was wasn't it?" O'Neill said calmly, in complete agreement with his third in command.

"Alright, you've got the feed from our sensors on your HUD's now Colonel," Ruby said calmly as the feed showing the twenty yellow dots marked as Colonial appeared on their HUD's.

"And I'm not reading any change in the Colonials' fleet in orbit. Looks like they're blind as bats to us being here."

"You know, bats technically speaking aren't blind," the voice of Dr. White called out on the radio, wanting to set the record straight seeing as the saying itself was false entirely and he knew better.

"Yeah I know," Underwood responded.

"Then why say it?"

"It's a saying you don't argue with culture."

"Underwood, White," the voice of Lieutenant Baird called out, "Do me a favor will ya?"

"Yeah?"

"Shutup."

Location: Terra Nova, Fort Carter MTP

The students and professors had been at it for several hours now. Their schedule dictated that their only real breaks would come at lunch with some default breaks whenever they were stopping to examine something on their trek. And so far, to their immense credit, they had stuck to it far more rigidly than any plan Sergeant Hanson had been part of in his time in the military. Then again, plans in the military rarely make it past the first part of an operation.

At the moment the students were spread out in a clearing that the troops nicknamed "Super Clearings" that were situated right below the enormous trees that were simply known as Supergiant Bluewoods. The massive trees were thirty meters wide at their thickest point and stretched upwards well over eight hundred feet with enormous branches sprouting off in all directions to form a massive umbrella that could fit a football stadium comfortably inside. Their roots were as thick as many trees, and spread out in all directions, stabilizing the tree's massive bulk from the very windy conditions that the mountain forests of Terra Nova experienced every so often. These trees were common, with one being present in full size every four or five miles.

But this one was well known to the faculty of TNU, as every time they came here new species of animals, birds, and insects were discovered. At the moment though, the group was looking to see one species in particular, the Bat Eagle. It was a large bird of prey that only roosted in the giant trees and when hunting would hang upside down and scan the ground, looking to grab anything that it could get its large claws around. And it would do this with its own life partner, seamlessly hunting as a coordinated pair.

The group of thirty students and a half dozen professors was currently spread out with cameras and binoculars looking into the tree, trying to find the large dark green feathered birds. But their camouflage was very well conceived, and it was very difficult.

"Doc," Sergeant Hanson whispered to the head professor, "How much longer do you intend to stay?"

"Give us another thirty minutes, then we'll go to the river to obtain some specimens."

"That's two miles to the river, you think your kids here can get there alright? I know at least two of them have sprained their ankles and the rest are very tired," Hanson noted.

"The terrain is all downhill and it's much smoother than what we've already done."

"Okay, your call."

Jason walked towards the three troops of Fireteam Alpha, made up of Corporal Lily McFierce who was in charge of Blue Team which was her and PFC Stephanie Powers, who carried the Alpha's M-506 Squad Automatic Weapon, which was basically an M-501 Assault Rifle but with a heavier barrel, large drum magazines, a different more heat resistant receiver, and a bipod. The final individual in Alpha and the other half of Red Team was PFC Douglas Lee, who had a grenade launcher slung underneath his assault rifle. Fireteam Bravo was commanded by Sergeant Richard Kirkham, and he had Corporal Graves in command of Red Team, PFC Waters as their automatic rifleman, and PFC Smith as their grenadier. Lastly there was Fireteam Charlie under the command of Sergeant Tess, Corporal Hawkins as their automatic rifleman and Red Team leader, PFC Filmore as their grenadier, and PFC Turgeoues as the squad Designated Marksman, carrying another modified assault rifle with a longer barrel and a long range scope able to see in thermal and infrared modes.

Each weapon was a variant of the M-501 Modular Assault Rifle. It was an American designed weapons system that had incredible flexibility in the field. There were variants, barrel changes, stock changes, rails for additions, and three types of receivers for changing their rifles' specialties. This was something that its predecessor from which it took its outwards looks, had pioneered, the XM8. There were dozens of rifles that the EDF could have chosen to mimic, but the XM8 had won out in the end due to its futuristic look, ease of manufacture, and overall flexibility. This made it the mainstay of the EDF ground troops, SG Teams, and shipborne security personnel. And every single member of Hanson's squad had some form of this weapon in hand.

All of these troops had been walking around with their weapons either slung over their shoulders. Sometimes they'd have to chase down a student or group that hadn't gotten the message to keep moving or was trying to get a close look at something just off of the trail. But beyond that their rifles, machine guns, and single marksman rifle hadn't come close to even having the safeties off. The only excitement they'd had was when some monkeys had started throwing fruits and feces at the passing column and Fireteam Charlie had to hold back one of the students from tossing rocks back at them after she'd been hit in the head by a particularly unpleasant monkey's crap.

"Well boss?" Powers asked as she sat on a root next to McFierce and Lee.

"They really want to see this bird. Another half hour here before we head to the Green River."

"Green River?" Lee asked, "That's a bit of a stretch for them isn't it?"

"They say they can handle it," Jason replied as he sat down, "And we've still got six hours until their time's up."

"Yeah plenty of time," Powers responded with a nod, herself looking for the bird of prey that the civilians were after through her range finder she'd dug out of her pack.

"Any word on the wargames?" Hanson asked McFierce, whom he'd asked to listen into the radio frequencies to see how their operations were going.

"Not great, pretty much a stalemate. The major's trying to get Bravo, Charlie, and Echo reorganized. They're down to a third strength and aren't really combat effective. Alpha's trying to sweep Laketown right now with Delta in overwatch."

Laketown was a mid-sized town that was situated on a lake and made of modular buildings that had the ability to have walls and doors moved around along with whole floors able to be added or taken out by engineers. This was so that the simulation town was always something new to the units who participated in the numerous urban combat drills that the place hosted. The building units were housed underground, out of sight within a massive garage with all styles of buildings and walls and windows ranging from modern to ancient.

"What's Laketown's setup this time?" Powers asked, not bothering to look from her range finder.

"No idea," McFierce responded, "But those buggers are having a rough time with it."

"Oh there we go," Powers chirped, "two-five-zero, three hundred twenty-one meters."

Several students that had been listening to their conversation and then when they heard that one of their number had seen their eagle word spread very quickly. The many students were zooming in with cameras and binoculars and everyone started watching with a great deal of interest. They were now buzzing now that they saw not one, but two Bat Eagles, both hanging upside down from a thin branch, facing opposite ways as they scanned the ground for prey and the skies for rivals. A green and brown knot of sticks and leaves on a thick fork in the branches was their nest that was on the same branch the two birds were hanging from.

"Okay they've seen them," Jason said calmly, looking at the birds himself, "Wonder how long they'll want to stay and watch?"

"At least until they do something. We might be the first people to actually see them in the act of hunting," Lee responded to him.

"Yeah that might be kinda cool," Jason replied, "Girls you may want to look away when that happens."

"Fuck you sarge," Powers laughed, tossing a stick that bounced off his hat.

"Is that an invitation?" Hanson said with mock interest.

"When pigs fly!" Powers again said with a laugh as she kicked him in the shoulder lightly.

"Alright it's a date."

A lighthearted scoff from the young Australian brunette responded to him as the fake flirting that had occurred innumerable times brought the group some humor to their so far boring assignment. With so many women now in the EDF ranging from pilots and technicians to front-line troops sexual humor was now the norm. And this kind of humor, whenever it didn't go too far, brought units close in terms of the comradery that people of their profession needed to survive. And it really made time fly by.

"Oh there it goes," Lee called out, following one of the eagles as it dropped straight down from the extraordinary height of its perch. A wave of excitement followed the bird's drop as it screamed downwards to the right of Jason and his team where there weren't any students and where they had seen a troop of Red Baboons, a small primate that was very similar in appearance to African Baboons aside from the fluffy tails and bright red manes on the males but half as large. The screeching of the baboons sounded out as the eagle went down out of sight and was followed shortly after by its mate as both apparently had stirred up the troop.

"Oh no!" one of the girls in the group of students in front of the fire team cried out, seeing both eagles flapping straight upwards with an adult female baboon in their talons, limp from having its spine cut by the powerful beaks of the eagles.

There was a mixture of sorrow and joy at the successful hunt of the pair of eagles and apparently someone had filmed it all, including the kill itself on the ground. This student was quite proud of himself, and didn't seem to be of the same mind as the three girls he was with who seemed to feel more sorry for the primate that was now a meal for the birds that had by now reached their nest.

"Okay, they've gotten their footage of the eagles, let's see if he wants to stay to see them eat the thing," Jason asked, getting up from his spot that he'd just gotten comfortable in.

He now saw that the students were starting to get up from where they'd been sitting around, stretching and putting away water and Gatorade bottles and anything else that might impede their travel.

"Sergeant we're heading out again," one of the professors called out, heading him off before he could ask.

"Alright," he said with a thumbs-up to be sure they woman knew he got the message before getting on the radio again, "Three-two we're moving out again. Same pattern, make sure we've got no stragglers."

He stood off to the side as some of the students walked by and he felt something. The ground seemed to be trembling slightly. He could see leaves start falling in the hundreds from the large tree above them as the waves of the slight earthquake reverberated up the tree. Several cracks opened up as the group stalled in fright and surprise. Earthquakes weren't uncommon in this part of Terra Nova, but they did happen. But usually the epicenter was far away, and the trembling was hardly able to be registered by scientific instruments. It was a slight oversight by the people who'd chosen this part of Terra Nova for the flagship capital of the new colony, but for the last few years it hadn't been an issue in the least.

But today seemed to be a unique occurrence, as the cracks that opened up then started to sink and expand below the feet of several students and Hanson himself. He then snapped into action.

"Get on the roots!" he yelled, tightening his grip on his rifle out of sheer instinct.

The three students who'd been in the most danger hesitated, themselves in shock, like deer in the headlights. But then all three of them snapped into action, scrambling onto a tall buttress-like root covered in vines like everyone else. But one of the girls seemed to be having a bit of trouble. Her foot was caught within a crack that had snagged a hold of her hiking boot as vines and smaller roots were twisted in the chaos of the odd phenomenon that was occurring beneath them. So the young staff sergeant rushed forward, tossing his rifle to his side and kneeled down next to the young brunette as she tugged desperately as the ground now sunk ever deeper as the ground fractured and the cracks grew ever larger, creating a mess of roots from all the plants that were now exposed.

"Jason!" he heard of to the side as McFierce and Fireteam Alpha rushed to see what was happening.

"Stay back!" he commanded them, seeing the effect that was now a rapidly forming sinkhole start expanding outwards, causing more civilians to start scrambling away, desperate to try and help in any way they could from tossing vines to even just verbal support.

"Call for support!" McFierce ordered as she turned to the civilians, "Stay off of the ground! Move back!"

"I'm almost…" the girl desperately groaned as Hanson dug at the soil and clay with his hands, and then finally with her and he pulling managed to yank her foot free.

"Run!" he snapped as the ground seemed to just give way to one side.

Like a board pivoting on one end the blocks of earth dropped to Hanson's right as he and the girl he now recognized the one from the Hyena who'd taken a tumble ran towards a root, which was still in solid position. The two of them tried balancing but the dirt just dropped from beneath them, taking the two of them with it. It then began to flow as if it were on a conveyor belt, and the light of day seemed to just disappear and the two of them were plunged into darkness as if a sheet had been pulled over their heads. He heard her screaming some awful profane words as they fell down on top of the tumbling and crumbling earth on with enough speed and at such an angle that they both felt like they had gravity turned off.

Then their trip seemed to end as the dirt slammed hard into flat ground and the audible noise of splashing let them know that they'd hit water of some sort before they were catapulted into the air and then splashed into the water. Neither of the two knew what had happened, but the water they'd landed in was warm and was deep with a swift current pulling them away to the right as they tried keeping upright. But soon it was calm enough that Hanson grabbed for his rifle and the flashlight he had on it and turned it on, bathing the now mucky water in an orange light. But he then brought his rifle out of the water and saw that the edge of the underground river was just next to them a few yards to his left and he also saw the girl right next to him coughing and sputtering as she tried staying afloat as debris bracketed them.

"Swim to the edge!" he ordered, and began kicking over, buoyed by the air in his waterproof backpack.

"Okay!" he heard her respond, surprised that she was even able to hear him.

The two of them were forced downstream for quite a ways before the current slowed to a crawl and they finally reached the muddy shore. The feeling of solid ground beneath them was a welcome reprieve and both of them collapsed onto it once free of the water they'd been fighting. Their ordeal within the sinkhole hadn't been all that long, lasting maybe a minute or two before they'd been plunged into this river beneath the surface. The only light they had was the flashlight shining up into the towering ceiling as both soldier and civilian gasped for breath and recovered before Hanson got his senses.

"You alright?" he asked as he got to one knee and shine his light over to where he heard her breathing.

She was on her hands and knees catching her breath. Her shirt, shorts, shoes, backpack, and long brunette hair were absolutely soaked and her arms, legs, and shoes were covered in dark brown sticky mud. Much of her clothes and even her backpack were also sprayed with mud weighing every part of her down. But Jason could tell he was no better off just by feeling the water soaking through his uniform and feeling his armored plates and checking to be sure nothing had fallen out of his clip-on pockets that held his ammo and equipment.

"Yeah, I…I think so," she sighed, feeling herself for any cuts, sprains, or breaks.

"You sure? We're lucky to be alive," Hanson said, regaining some composure and now felt the enormity of what sort of natural process they'd just survived.

"I'm pretty sure. Nothing hurts, but…what happened?"

"Sinkhole, there's miles of caves that sometimes collapse after earthquakes but no one's ever been in one," Jason replied as he stood up and fished out a pair of green chemical lights from a pocket on his thigh.

"We must be hundreds of feet below the surface then," the girl replied.

"More than likely," Jason concluded as he cracked and shook the lights and handed both to her, "Clip this to your backpack. It'll glow for several hours and I've got a few more."

"Thanks," the young student said as she wound the open end of the chem light to a carabiner on her backpack.

"Let's get out of the mud and find some solid ground," Jason suggested, pointing his rifle further away from the underground river.

"Yeah…I don't wanna wait for rescue sitting in this mud," the girl tried to chuckle, attempting to make some light of the situation.

"Yeah, me neither," Jason grumbled as he walked forward, the loud squishing his boots made in the mud audible even over the rippling of the now calming current behind them.

The duo saw, with the invaluable aid of the flashlight on Jason's M-501, a huge expanse of rocky cavern in front of them, stalagmites and stalagtites creating a scene like a great toothy monster were in front of them. Drips from all of these creations made it look as if it were raining there were so many of them, and several small runoffs of crystal clear water ran through the rocky formations to fall into the muddy banks and add their miniscule amount of water to the torrent behind them. Some of these formations were enormous, being bigger around than a man, and others hanging from both the ceiling and their larger cousins were as thin as pencils and drooped down dozens of feet, sometimes connecting with their opposites rising from the floor. The shadows that the great formations cast as the flashlight swung back and forth in concert with the pair of green chem lights seemed to dance about the walls and upon one another as they walked forward. It sort of took their breath away to see it, but not for too long, and Jason couldn't help but break the silence.

"What's your name anyway?"

"Huh what?" she replied, somewhat distracted.

"Your name, got one or what?"

"Hannah," she replied, looking over to the left of where Jason was searching with his flashlight, using the second chem light to fight back the darkness as she looked at something that had caught her eye.

"Hannah huh?" he asked with veiled interest, "Well you can call me Jason. You ever think that you'd end up in a situation like this today?"

"Not really," she said as her feet finally made contact with solid rock beneath her feet and she flashed her chem light below to see the glistening of the wet limestone beneath her feet, tracking muddy boot prints with every step.

"Coast is clear," Jason said, walking back over to her, and pulled back on his pack where he had his helmet still tied on, "I'm gonna get on my helmet radio, see if I can get any signal down here and try and call for help. My squad has probably already made the mayday but we need to get word to them ourselves. I lost my other one in the fall along with my cap."

"No argument from me," Hannah asked as she began to look at the area they'd found themselves within. As she did that Jason was strapping on his helmet and switched it on, "I just want to get out of here and go back to my nice soft bed."

"Hannah, don't go too far," Jason whispered, looking straight up at the roof of the cavern, "Odd as it may sound but not even the military has any idea what's down here."

"Terra Nova's great guardians don't know something? Isn't that a first?" she chuckled as she began circling around them, her curiosity taking hold.

"We don't even know everything about Earth's cave networks, much less a planet we've only been on for six or seven years."

"Which means we're doing some real trail blazing huh?"

"It won't matter if we don't make it out of here. So take a load off while I try and contact the surface," Jason said, tuning to frequency sixty-six, the emergency channel used in desperate times, "Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is Delta Three-Two Actual broadcasting on frequency six-six how copy over."

There was a moment of silence before the reply came in, oddly loud and clear.

"Delta Three-Two Actual, this is Angel responding to your mayday over."

"Thank god," Hanson breathed in relief, and saw Hannah relax as she sighed in equal relief, "Angel this Three-Two I've got one civilian with me, situation is green, repeat we are green. We need extract, over."

"Copy Three-Two. Be advised rescue is oscar mike and deep sweep scans are mapping the caves for a possible route for you to effect self-rescue and meet up with your extraction."

"Roger that Angel," Hanson responded, "Interrogative, what is Delta Three-Two's status?"

"Three-Two is up and escorting civilians back to base, no civilian casualties."

"Copy that Angel, no casualties. Awaiting orders for rendezvous with rescue party."

"Stand by Three-Two," the man on the other end of the radio replied.

"Standing by Angel."

"Three…be…did…your…" the radio all of a sudden started to act funny as the signal began to cut out into static.

"Angel, be advised you're breaking up, please repeat your last," Jason snapped immediately, his heart dropping to his stomach as he began losing all signal.

As he'd been talking with the emergency frequency operator Hannah had been listening, paying close attention to what Hanson was saying and trying to put together what may have been said to him as she herself couldn't hear the radio in his headsets within his helmet. But then something got her attention, a scratching noise within the stalagmite and stalactite forest to their right.

"Hey uh…Jason, you hear something?" she asked him, squinting her eyes towards the source of the sounds.

He stood up, looking up towards the sounds himself, and then saw a flash of white sweep in between a pair of stalagmites well out in front of them. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he yanked the action back on his rifle and thumbed the safety off and switched on his laser.

"Stay behind me," he whispered, trying again with the radio, "Angel this is Three-Two, situation red, we need extract right fucking now."

Nothing but static was the response.

"Oh fuck," he growled through grinding teeth as he carefully swept his rifle back and forth as he backed away from the labyrinth of limestone spires.

"Please tell me someone's coming for us?" Hannah begged as she held her chem light out, trying to see what it was that was stalking them.

"Rescue's on the way but we lost signal. We're on our own for now," he responded as he aimed his rifle with his finger now over the trigger, "Take this," he commanded her, yanking his K-Bar from its sheath on his left upper chest plate.

Hannah gingerly took the titanium steel blade and stayed ever closer to him as he now spotted a branching cavern that seemed to go uphill off to their left. He pointed to it and guided her in that direction as the creatures in the dark continued to scuttle back and forth, just out of reach of their lights. But the moment that they reached the eight foot tall entrance to the branching cave one of these creatures exposed itself, rushing into the light a mere twenty feet from them.

It was bleach white from a lifetime in the dark, its eyes didn't even exist, and its body was basically that of a large tarantula with eight large hairy legs as thick around as a child's arm. Two large pink fangs dripped oozing green venom as it side-stepped back forth, hissing lowly as Jason backed away, keeping himself between Hannah and this creature. This spider was huge, being as large as a big dog, and more hissing was able to be heard behind it as the lighter shadows of other such spiders emerged.

"Oh my God," Hannah breathed in fear, her voice trembling as she clutched the knife in one hand.

"Keep moving away," Jason hissed, debating whether or not to start shooting.

"Just shoot them!" Hannah begged as they began to make their way up the rocks.

"We don't know what they'll do if I try killing them."

"Well I can guess what they'll do if you don't!"

Hannah had slightly raised her voice at that, and this seemed to be the trigger for these creatures. The one in front of them leaped into the air, aiming right at them. Jason was left with no choice, he pulled the trigger and hit the white abdomen of the spider with a single bullet, fracturing and splitting the creature's hindquarters into a shower of purple gore as it snapped backwards and fell with a wet flop and tumbled down onto its back. Its legs weakly flailed in the air as it screeched in pain, only for several of its identical comrades to instinctively fall upon it in its weakened states, and begin cannibalistically gorging themselves on the still writhing beast.

"Go!" Hanson hissed seeing more starting to emerge from the shadows to take part in the feast.

Both of them turned and began to scramble up the rocks, working their way up, hoping that their path would lead them to the surface. Jason turned back as they reached the end of the sharp rise and aimed his rifle back down, getting hisses from five or six more creatures that were working their way up in pursuit of them. He aimed and fired at one of them, shattering its eyeless face with three shots, causing it to tumble down the slope, only for one or two other spiders to start feasting upon it as more spiders started up in pursuit of them. He aimed again, and picked off another pair of spiders, and the rest began pausing, not exactly sure if they wanted to pursue a prey item that had proven to be far deadlier than anything normally found in these caves. Or so he thought.

But Hanson made certain they got the message, and fired off several more rounds, wounding two more spiders and killing another one that fell against a column and turned and ran after Hannah who was moving up a spiraling route towards another cave entrance thirty feet above her. Hanson saw a single spider crawling along the wall behind her and she didn't even see it, being busy with negotiating the tough upwards ascent. But he fired once, striking dead center in the large abdomen of the spider, making it fall right off of the wall face, mere feet behind Hannah who ducked down at the loud snapping of the bullet passing over her head.

"We need to keep moving," he ordered her as he joined her and led the way forward.

"And go where?!" she snapped.

"Anywhere but here!"

They kept going up, knowing that in a cave salvation is up, not down like it is in normal survival situations. But as they entered another stretch of cave they passed into an unseen and unknown zone. One that caused the spiders pursuing them to stop in their tracks, years of instinct telling them what lay beyond an energy field their animal senses could detect but the humans of Terra Nova had yet to discover. Within this field lay an untouched and abandoned place that hadn't awoken in many years, but with the desperate escape of Staff Sergeant Jason Hanson and Hannah McGee it was about to.

Alright I'll end it here, don't want to give too much away in one chapter. Well this one was quite a lot of fun to write guys I've gotta say. Hope you enjoyed it as much I did and let me know what you thought of it as usual, I prefer constructive criticism over a hundred five word reviews any day of the week. I know you will all have many, many questions as to what'll happen in the next chapter, that's why it's called a cliff hanger, so hopefully it won't leave you all hanging for too long.

Next Chapter Preview: Contact, or not to contact? That is the question. And some of the dangers of Terra Nova have been revealed, but a secret to its past is stirring.