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An uneventful hour and a quarter later, the APC and its occupants arrived at their first destination: Kra'taks crash site.
"Made it in an hour and a quarter," Heather reported.
"Yeah, thanks to clearing the path last time out," Hale added.
They hadn't spotted a single Alien or animal life of any kind during their journey. This didn't sit well with any of the group.
"Okay, move out," Heather ordered.
As lead of this expedition, she was commanding the others, though it was more of a mutual leadership. During the two years on this planet, they had created their own military and civilian order, forgoing the normally strict rules. It was still a military operation but the civilians were treated as equals rather than subordinates.
Adams opened the door and was first out, boots crunching on leaves and twigs strewn on the soft ground beneath.
They filed out, taking up tactical positions all around the vehicle. Kra'tak and Tol'din came out last. Other then wind rustling through the tree canopy high above, there was no other sound.
Arthur stayed at the turrets control and Amy moved up to the front to watch the monitors. Heather closed the APC door and took up position outside.
Smith stood to the south of the vehicle, AM-232 in hand, sniper rifle slung on his back.
"Way too quiet," Callum said.
"Stop speaking in clichés," Gustav scoffed. "You'll get us all killed."
"Quiet. Stay alert you two." Heather firmly stated.
"They must be saving themselves for later," Hale remarked.
No one disagreed.
Tol'din activated his cloak, surprising those he had been standing near when he did so. They watched in fascination as his barely discernible blur moved off towards a nearby tree and began climbing effortlessly. A short while later they couldn't pinpoint his location; he was hidden in the canopy above.
"Nice. A lookout," Hale said.
Adams was wondering how you could possibly take on such an opponent and hope to beat them. Even with a whole platoon of soldiers. He didn't like his answers.
Kra'tak moved off towards the ship which was a few metres to the right of the parked APC. There was little damage to the area: the ship had crash through the canopy above and then fallen straight down, avoiding the trunks of the spread out trees.
Kra'taks half of the ship was mostly intact.
"Adams, cover him," Heather ordered.
Adams nodded and moved to follow Kra'tak. When they reached the crash site, Kra'tak went inside whilst Adams waited outside. Five minutes later, Kra'tak emerged. Adams took a quick look at him and then continued scanning the area.
Kra'tak had replaced his heavily battered helmet with a fresh one that hadn't been damaged in the crash. He was carrying two loads of equipment, one in each hand.
"I have my equipment. We can continue our journey," he told Adams.
Private Callum was becoming jittery, the calmness making him more nervous and paranoid.
THUD!
Callum jumped and almost pressed the trigger on his gun when Tol'din materialised in front of him.
"Shit, don't do that man," Callum said, frightened.
"He's not a man, and he doesn't understand you," Gustav replied, stifling a laugh. He'd watched the camouflaged figure of Tol'din coming down the tree.
Tol'din looked in their direction but didn't react, the metal mask hiding his face. He stood still for a moment before simply walking off towards the APC.
"If anyone wants to take a leak, now's the time," Heather suggested.
A few minutes later, they all walked to the vehicle as Heather opened the door.
"Ok, time to move on. Fall in," Heather ordered.
"Good, I hate this place," Callum said as he followed the others into the APC.
"Already?" Gustav mocked. "Give it time. You might come to like it here."
Callum gave him a look to say shut up. Gustav just grunted in laughter.
"Stow it you two, play time is over," Heather said. "We're entering uncharted territory now."
They listened and took to their seats quietly.
"Uncharted for us..." Smith let the thought trail off.
Heather sat in the drivers position as the others took up their places once more.
Kra'tak and Tol'din busied themselves at the back of the APC. They began taking out various equipment and working on Kra'taks wrist computer.
"Adams, radio home," Heather said, checking statuses and readying the vehicle. "Tell them we're at the crash site and are moving off to the second marker."
Adams did so.
"Good to hear your voice," Raul had relief in his voice.
"No contact or sightings of Aliens so far," Adams continued.
"That's not good, is it?" Raul asked.
"Negative."
"I'll let the others know you reported in."
"Thanks. Adams out."
Patia and many of the civilians again gathered in the mess hall to keep themselves occupied and spirits up whilst anxiously awaiting news about the expedition team.
The radio placed on the table where many of the adults were sitting crackled to life. Andre listened from behind the food counter as Raul reported to them.
"I can't wait until they get back," Patia worried.
Another woman leaned over from across the table and squeezed Patias hand lightly, with a sympathetic look.
Caley, Zara and a couple others were playing on the ground floor.
"So when do we go?" Caley asked excitedly.
He wanted even more to go see the cages they had talked about the day before. It would serve as a good distraction from waiting for his father to come back.
"Let's play for a bit and we'll try to sneak out a little later on," Zara replied.
"Do you know where they are?" one of the other children asked.
"Yeah, they're close to the labs where the scientists work," Zara said.
"What if we get caught? Will we get in trouble?" he asked.
"We won't. I know the code. They shouldn't have soldiers watching since they caught that monster thing." Zara answered.
"Ooh, that was a scary monster. Was it really a monster?" the other child asked.
"I don't know. It could be a man in a funny looking suit." Zara said.
"Ew, why would you want to wear that suit?" the child quizzed, with an expression of disgust.
Zara just shrugged. They went back to the chess game one of the adults had told them to play. They didn't know the rules, so they just made them up. The horsey was galloping over castle walls and crushing all the funny looking pieces in its way.
"This is a funny game."
The Colonel was standing in the infirmary, looking on as medical staff went about their business. He had come to check up on Barr.
"How did the surgery go?"
"We couldn't risk performing it in the end. He's too weak," the doctor explained.
"Chances of survival?" the Colonel asked.
"Extremely small," the doctor answered, sensing where this was going.
"Ok. End it. Peacefully if you can," the Colonel ordered, not a hint of emotion in his voice.
"Yes, sir," the doctor replied.
The doctor called over two more members of staff. The Colonel looked on as they begun the procedure to end Barrs life.
"Lieutenant Williams," Colonel called out.
Williams appeared at his side. "Yes, sir?"
"We're turning off Barrs life support. Inform those that came from the same colony. They can hold a ceremony before we eject his capsule into space."
"Understood."
Williams paced away with purpose.
An hour had passed since the children had been playing their version of chess. They were growing increasingly bored and restless.
"Ok, you lot wait here," Zara directed, "I'll check if the route is safe and come back to let you know."
Caley and the other two had no choice but to agree.
A long fifteen minute wait later Zara came back, escorted by two soldiers. She had a despondent look on her face.
"Now you all know not to leave this building unless you have permission, right?" one of the soldiers lectured, pointing his finger at them one by one.
They all nodded in unison, "Yes, sir."
"Good. Zara here didn't listen but we're going to let her off this time," the other soldier added.
"Next time she won't be let off so lightly," the first soldier added. "Will she?" he asked the children.
"No, sir," they answered in unison, looking guilty.
When the soldiers left Zara huffed, annoyed she'd been caught.
"What happened?!" Caley asked with genuine concern.
Before she could answer she heard her mum begin to scold her from afar, entering the room. Her weak protests gave in as all four of them were forced back into the mess hall.
While they were marched upstairs, Zara whispered to the others that they would try again tomorrow. Caley's unhappy, worried look changed to one of slight excitement again.
In turret 3A, Finley and Hurst were looking out across the clearing towards the beginnings of the forest.
"It's been quiet for a couple of days now," Hurst commented.
"Yeah, we know why," Finley replied.
"How long, if you had to guess?" Hurst asked.
"Hard to say," Finley acknowledged. "Could be tomorrow, could be tonight."
"Could be next week," Hurst continued the thought.
"Did we ever figure out when the rescue was to arrive?" Hurst questioned.
"No, we weren't told any specifics."
"I wonder what they'll find there," Hurst thought out loud.
"Things we aren't supposed to know, most likely." Finley stated.
They went back to their own thoughts, watching the tree line for any signs of life.
Colonel Gordon Rayner walked with purpose through his ship, thinking things through. He headed towards the quarantine room where the nine infected passengers had been unceremoniously dumped for lack of a better option.
He came up to the two fully armed masked marines standing guard. The Colonel again mentally noted their cold inhuman look.
Through the small window in the door he could see activity.
"Open it."
The guard did as ordered. The sound from inside the room became clearer. He could hear quiet sobbing, and talking in hushed tones.
The woman, Karla, with whom he had spoken earlier stood at the entrance. The others quieted down. To the Colonel she seemed to now be their leader of sorts. She held a distressed look.
The Colonel fully entered the room and took in the nine within it. They all looked at him, expectantly, as if hoping that he'd found a solution to their short to be lived life sentence.
"What have you decided?" the Colonel asked, before they could question him.
"Two of them have been infected longer than the rest of us. They've agreed to be ejected into space." Karla answered, pointing at the two, a man and woman.
The Colonel looked at their defeated faces. "Are you sure?"
Making brief eye contact they simply nodded, visibly shaking. The Colonel reacted by moving to a COM panel outside the room.
"Lieutenant Williams."
"Sir?" came Williams answer over the COM.
"Bring two marines with you and report to the quarantine area immediately."
"Yes, sir," the COM clicked off.
The Colonel re-entered the room. "Do you have any last wishes?"
"We...w..want to re...re...cord a m..m..message," one of them said.
"Anything else?" the Colonel asked in a hard, cold tone.
The same one shook his head.
A few minutes later Lieutenant Williams arrived along with the armed escort. The seven others in quarantine watched in silence as the two left the room, the armed guards on either side of them.
The door was shut, leaving the remainder to their thoughts.
After further questioning them, the Colonel ordered Williams to locate those who wanted to see off the two who had now chosen to die this way rather than wait for the inevitable.
The male rubbed his chest; one of the guards watched carefully. The woman stayed quiet, a shell-shocked expression locked on her face.
Heather had been driving for almost two hours now since leaving Kra'taks crash site. Adams, sitting at the front, had been carrying out regular radio checks with Raul. The signal was now starting to become weaker.
"This...Raul...breaking up...chh...luck," Raul said.
"Understood, we'll be in touch as soon as possible," Adams reported, unsure how much of the message would actually get through.
"...tck...other...cir...ide.." came the response.
"What did he say?" Hale asked.
"Something about other side," Adams said.
"Don't like the sound of that," Hale remarked.
"Don't worry, he was just wishing us luck," Private Gustav said from behind Hale.
Kra'tak and Tol'din were still busy working with their equipment. Both Smith and Amy continued to watch with fascination. They'd noticed that the two of them had not touched any of the equipment on their fallen clan mate.
Amy had wanted to talk to Kra'tak but the combination of him being busy and the presence of Tol'din had made her too uncomfortable to try.
Heather concentrated on driving through the forest. The trees had stayed far apart to her relief. If they had become more tightly packed she imagined they would have had to stop and turn back.
Private Callum had managed to fall asleep, worry lines dug deep into his furrowed brow.
"The man can't even relax in his sleep," Gustav remarked.
Smith turned to Gustav, looked at Callums sleeping figure then went back to watching Kra'tak and Tol'din. He wondered when he'd see his family and friends again.
"We'll be there in a couple more hours," Heather reported to the rest.
"Still no activity outside," Adams commented.
"I really don't like this," Hale couldn't help but say it. "It's too..."
"Don't say it!" Gustav cut him off. "Please! We have enough clichés from sleepyhead over here. Besides, you said it yourself earlier that they must be saving themselves for later."