The group consisted of the scientists Tom and Amy, the soldiers in Heather's team and himself. They were walking briskly towards the communications building. As he gazed momentarily at the group he spotted three heat signatures, some distance away, approaching in their direction. He also noticed that none of the group had yet spotted the three figures. A few seconds later he was about to inform them, when Heather put her hand up, silently signalling for the group to come to a stop, then signalling for the group to watch and cover the direction she was pointing in.
"Who's that?" one of Heather's soldiers asked.
The group could only discern three silhouettes, the darkness camouflaging outlines. The figures were approaching quickly in their direction.
"I'm not sure," Heather answered tentatively, as her team took up covering and firing positions around Amy, Tom and Kra'tak.
The floodlighting used in the base was such that there were supposed to be no areas of absolute darkness. With supplies running low that situation had changed in the past couple of months as the base slowly fell into a state of disrepair. The floodlights and security cameras, among other things, had had to be neglected.
Heather's group watched in anticipation, palms becoming sweaty, hearts beating faster. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Kra'tak now stood holding his spear readily. He was crouched in an obvious combat stance, she noted.
The figures now slowed down, as if in response to Heather and the groups' reactions. They continued to move cautiously towards the group. Then they stopped completely. The one in the lead moved forward whilst the other two stayed back. The lead figure moved toward a working floodlight, his face and machine gun becoming clear to Heather and the rest.
They lowered their weapons, breathed sighs of relief and returned to escort positions around Amy, Tom and Kra'tak. The figure now almost upon them was that of Adams, who was moving briskly again, followed by Baseer and Knight to Adams' left and right flanks respectively.
"Lack of communication?" Heather asked with a raised eyebrow, the beginnings of a smirk showing on her face.
"Well, at least you didn't shoot first and ask questions later," Adams replied semi-seriously.
"Guess you caught us on a good day," Heather countered, again jokingly, "Where are on your way to?" her tone turning more serious now.
"Communications. Check on things up there," Adams answered, pointing in the general direction of the communications buildings main room.
The room Raul, Hartwell, Halden, Matsu and the third communications operator currently occupied.
"We're taking Kra'tak to see his late friend," Amy explained delicately, "Kra'tak said he can help stop his other friend if he can get into contact with him."
"Is this friend trying to find him?" Adams asked curiously.
"He is."
For a good while Adams was at a loss, and so were Baseer and Knight who exchanged puzzle glances with each other. Adams had been looking straight at Tom, whose mouth didn't move, even though the answer had come from him. He then looked towards Kra'tak and gestured questioningly towards both Amy and Tom, who were standing next to the massive alien. They nodded in reply to the unspoken question.
Adams thought for a few seconds, "Why don't you call out to him?" he asked Kra'tak directly this time.
"He is intent on killing those he believes are still my captors. His honour demands it," Kra'tak began, "He may think my calls are a trap and so will not be fooled. Now that your kind have killed one of us it has made things more difficult. I must communicate directly with him."
"Well, can't you at least try. There must be some way of getting his attention," Adams urged. Then a thought struck him, "You say he won't be fooled. Well it's still at least worth a try isn't it?" he asked Kra'tak. "Just stand alone," Adams explained, "Call out to him and we'll see what happens."
"Why the heck didn't we think of trying that?" Private Hale, part of Heather's team, asked, sounding surprised.
"It seems we've been missing a lot of obvious things recently," Tom said in a neutral voice, at the same time rubbing his eyes subconsciously.
"Well with what's been going on it's no surprise really," another soldier added.
"Some of us have gone too long without adequate sleep," Hale commented, nodding his head towards Tom and Amy, both of whom returned understanding expressions.
Both of whom did indeed look extremely tired. Ever since the discovery of Kra'tak the two scientists had spent countless hours studying him and his equipment as much as they could. It was simply too good of an opportunity to pass up. A new alien race, one that humans may be able to communicate with, unlike the ruthless, single-minded, Aliens. The possibilities and discoveries that had run through their minds had kept them awake even when they had tried to sleep. Eleven weeks of this situation had left its toll on them, more so on Amy and Tom then the other scientists.
"I will attempt it." Kra'tak finally decided, unintentionally cutting off the groups' discussion.
"What should we do?" Heather asked Tom.
He looked at Kra'tak and thought over the question, "Over there.". Tom moved off in the direction he was pointing.
"Leave your weapons on the ground," Kra'tak instructed the now larger group. "It is dishonourable to attack a unarmed opponent."
Amy noted the fact that Kra'tak's English was continually improving over what they had learnt together in their short time at the library. He seemed to be adding more and more words to his vocabulary, as well as using them correctly too.
Heather and her team exchanged nervous glances with Adams, Baseer and Knight. She noted that Knight was looking a little pale, even from the base lighting.
"We'll have to trust him," Tom made clear, amongst the silent fears some of the others were sharing.
"Keep them in easy reach," Adams supplemented, slinging off his own rifle.
Tom unhooked his radio, deciding it would be best to inform the base of Kra'tak's goal.
The group collectively began removing their main weapon, the pistol sidearm and the standard issue military knife, which most wore out of habit, more than actual use. If you were resorting to your knife in a fight with an Alien, save for a miracle, you were already dead. Each of them laid the various instruments of death or liberation, depending on an individual's viewpoint, at their feet. They now stood with their arms to the side, watching Kra'tak intently as well as looking warily all around.
In turret 3A Smith listened to Raul relay Tom's information over the radio's general frequency.
"Risky," he remarked to himself.
Hurst was sleeping contently, snoring almost imperceptibly. Smith, on the other hand, couldn't sleep even when he'd try to go back to sleep earlier. As much as he attempted to control it, his edginess was getting the better of him. He wanted to do something, anything, to help out other than sit here alone, now that his only company was dreaming whatever it was Hurst dreamt about. A giant bunny rabbit named frank, Smith thought amusingly to himself. His duty was here though, keeping watch over Turret 3A's sector of the outer perimeter. A duty just as important as locating the second creature.
The roar earlier had unsettled him, as he'd been pouring all of his concentration into the scope, trying to ignore the edgy nervousness whittling away at him. The sudden spine-chilling roar had caused him to jump in broken concentration, cursing under his breath. Hurst had woken briefly, heard the ensuing radio chatter, and then gone straight back to sleep without uttering a single word to Smith.
A familiar whirr broke Smith's current line of thought and once again his concentration, making him jump in the process. "Dammit!" he exclaimed, looking to his left in annoyance, through a windowless gap in the turret. He spotted the blinking red light on top of the nearest autogun as it turned back to a constant green, indicating that the gun had begun tracking a target but lost it by the time Smith looked over.
He place his right eye comfortably back to the rifle's scope and began to scan his designated area for any signs of disturbance. Another welcome distraction from his mixed emotions and feelings, his concentration returning fully to the perimeter outside.
A clanking sound behind him made him jump again. "Son of a.." he began as the rifle jolted in his hands grip and he almost involuntarily pulled the trigger, now pointing at the ceiling. He turned around, rifle following, to see a hand grasp the top of the ladder by the entrance. The familiar scarred face of Finley's, together with the newly acquired bandage on his nose, popped up and over, radiating a smile which quickly faded when he saw the tense Smith aiming at him with a very powerful gun.
Smith sighed heavily, letting out a sharp breath whilst muttering curses under his breath, flicked the safety on and put the rifle down.
"What'd I do?" Finley asked innocently.
"It seems," Smith started infuriated, "Every time I'm concentrating on the perimeter, helping protect this base, as you may or may not realise," he continued, pointing at the rifle, "Something happens which results in me being jumping in shock. And that," he looked away from Finley's now grinning face, "is not very nice."
"Oh, come now," Finley said in a mock motherly tone, "It's okay to be scared."
Smith was about to turn back to continue looking outside when Shen and Dena climbed into the turret too.
"A little crowded in here," Shen commented, glancing briefly at the completely relaxed Hurst. "What's his secret?" he asked flicking a thumb towards Hurst.
"Years of fighting," Finley answered dryly.
Shen pondered the comment and then moved to sit on a little stool. "There goes that idea."
"So" Smith began carefully, "What was it like?"
"What? Fighting that thing?" Shen asked back.
"Being, not thing," Finley cut in.
"Well, it wasn't fun," Shen answered wryly. "He was huge, I assume it was a he. Huge and powerful. Knocked Keitaro straight across the store room. He was fast too, hit us before we could react," Shen recalled.
"If it wasn't for old shotty here," Dena patted the shotgun lovingly, "And me far enough away to have time to react, we'd have all been taken out. Then...who knows what would've happened," she finished grimly.
Smith spent a minute thinking their answers over. He wondered how it would've felt like to face that being like Finley and his team had done, a cold shiver ran down his spine. The autogun whirred again and this time all four of them turned to look at it and the direction in which it was now facing.
"What is it?" Shen asked curiously.
"Found it!" Smith replied, looking through the scope, "Alien, wanna shot?"
"Yeah!" Shen replied enthusiastically.
He took the rifle and put his left eye to the scope as Smith moved into a spotting position.
"Aim a little higher. Shoot when you're ready," Smith instructed.
Shen zeroed in on the night black Alien. Reflected light from the planet's two moons glinting off of its smooth crest, cheating it of its natural camouflage. He fired and saw the bullet rip through the area that had been occupied by the Alien's head just a split second earlier. He perked his head up in surprise and disappointment. The Alien fast disappeared into the cover of the trees, plants brushed away in its wake.
Shen put the rifle down and let Smith take over, "Did you see how fast it react, he asked in astonishment, "It was as if it somehow knew exactly when I was going to pull the trigger."
"Eerie," Dena commented.
"At least you didn't-"
"Who's firing?" the radio cut Finley off.
He recognised the voice, "Adams, Finley here. Turret 3A fired."
"Well, tell Smith to use a silencer. Now is not a good time to be firing loudly."
Finley heard the great concern in Adams' voice, "Will do. Sorry."
"You heard him," Finley nodded to the group.
Smith responded by removing the silencer from its shelf and fixing it onto the end of the rifle.
Adams put the radio back on his belt, now slightly angry. The timing was bad. The call he'd just made went out over the general frequency so, hopefully he thought, no one else would make the same mistake.
Kra'tak looked over the group, satisfied that they were all disarmed. He then disconnected his mask and removed it, placing the damaged multi-functional equipment onto the ground beside himself. He placed his spear, too, on the ground. Mandibles clicking, he turned away from the group and look towards the black, cloudless, sky.