Most of the warriors still present instinctively aimed their weapons at Rareth as she stopped rolling. Thebes, who was closest, tapped her with his boot. “How’d you get in here?” He asked.

595 studied the Datius closely from a few metres away. Without looking, she dropped the battery out of her beam rifle and grabbed another from the mobile armoury. “Are you operational?” Thebes continued.

“Get off me!” Saddam growled, wriggling furiously until Knossos released him from his vice-like grip. The sanguine coloured rifleman stood up and went to inspect the wall of boulders. The seal seemed complete, and although they could get through, it would take time. Water from the stream was bottlenecking against the rocks, filling the cavern with water past ankle depth. Knossos checked his readout of the Sacred Band’s suits. “He’s gone.” He murmured.

More rock dust fluttered down onto them and the waiting cargo bots. “We need to keep moving - get out of this cave system.” 595 asserted, looking up at the ceiling to search for cracks.

Rareth took just a moment to catch her breath as she lay on the stone ground. Her readouts for her suit integrity and her personal health were…acceptable. She had been forced to detonate that missile uncomfortably close, and the pressure wave had certainly rattled her. Still, she had no serious alerts to worry about. Her implants were already handling treatment, so after a moment, she slowly pushed herself up to her feet.

Rareth did recognize that the loss of the Humans’ team member was fresh on their minds. She knew that Humans viewed death differently from her own people, but it was still not an easy thing to face. Even among Rothian soldiers, though, there was the necessity to be able to move on with a clear head in such situations.

“The Agent is right; we need to keep moving. I already scouted the path, so we need only follow the map. We may have wounded that creature, but there is no guarantee it has given up on us.” Rareth commented.

Thebes looked Rareth up and down. “Alright… Let’s kit up then head out - I want four in front and four out back.” The Sacred Band quickly re-equipped, grabbing new and calibrated weapons from the rack. None of them spoke publicly, many instead choosing to keep their eyes lowered as they sorted their gear. A cacophony of metallic clicks and snaps echoed through the cavern as they fitted fresh batteries and replenished ordinance.

”That was a useful magic trick just now. Is there anything else you can do that we should know about?” 595 sent to Rareth over private comms what Thebes had been silently thinking. She grabbed a spare pistol from the rack and magnetised it to the back of her suit, watching Rareth the whole time.

“Alright, move out!” Thebes ordered once he was satisfied everyone had what they needed. They formed up and began quickly picking their way through the cave system in a tight formation. After a few minutes, they stumbled upon a lone centipede creature from before, gnawing on some flora attached to the waterside rocks. The Sacred Band promptly tore it apart with guns and knives as it tried to flee. They then carried on following the water until they emerged onto another valley on the other side.

“What’s that noise?” Saddam asked, breaking radio silence. A faint cawing sound wafted down from above, mingling with the sound of water falling down the side of the mountain.

This time, Rareth did not give 595 a straight answer. Her only, brief response was: “My equipment loadout is classified.” She had intended to avoid using her experimental hardware if she could help it, but it had become necessary. She had no more equipment remaining that she had not already used, but she had no motivation to provide that information. For their trek through the caves, she allowed the Human soldiers to lead, as she wanted to stay near the back and protect from anything that might attack from their flank.

The typical aggression of the Humans was growing to be an irritant for Rareth. They likely could have passed by the creature they encountered without conflict, considering that it was not near to their nest. Indeed, she did not have a favorable judgement of much of their behavior during this expedition, but she still had to press on. What mattered was getting to that beacon and finding the answers they needed.

It was at the far end of the caves where Rareth took the lead once again. She did know that the cave emerged into a waterfall on the other side, but she had not scouted beyond that before. “Wait a moment. Let me see if I can find an easy way down.” Rareth remarked as she stepped out of the cave onto the cliffs. In particular, she worried about the creatures nesting just outside. There was a possibility they could be dangerous, or at least defensive of their nest, so she prioritized keeping a respectful distance while searching for a way down.

595 surveyed the valley as the team and cargo fanned out just inside the cave entrance. The good news was that the beacon had grown closer now, perched on the shoulder of a mountain on the opposite side. The bad news was that some kind of forest separated them from their goal.

From what she could tell in the low-light, the trees in this forest were different from those surrounding the lake earlier. They were much taller, and didn’t seem to glow with any of those eye pods at first inspection. That didn’t stop 595 loathing the thought of a romp through the middle of it.

The Agent stepped slightly out of the cave entrance and looked through the sight of her beam rifle at the cliffs straight above her. She could make out a lot of commotion further up, with some large bodies fidgeting in and among large crevices. She didn’t need Dr Ngata to conclude that the landslide they’d just facilitated may have agitated this group.

“See a way down?” Thebes asked, watching Rareth closely. Just then, that same alien siren noise erupted in their comms channel. Quieter than before, but still very disruptive. 595 went onto high alert with the others even though, somehow, she had felt it coming moments before. When she refocused her sighting on the cliffs above, the flapping and cawing had stopped. Instead, she could see dozens of heads watching them. “You are closer now. These ones will carry you to me. We must be quick.” a familiar, andryogenous, synthetic voice returned to their private channel.

With that, the first of the winged creatures took flight, circled round their position before landing on an unoccupied part of the ledge. It was large, and fierce looking, with spines running down it’s back and glinting UV eye parts. The Sacred Band trained their weapons on the beast, while 595 kept her sights locked onto their nest.

Once again, the responses of the Humans and Rareth were drastically different. While their weapons were raised, Rareth holstered hers on her back and approached the edge of the cliff with the avian creature. Regardless of how many steps she took forward, the beast did not react aggressively, nor defensively. “Lower your weapons. You heard what it said. These creatures do look strong enough to carry us. We may finally be able to reach this meeting.”

“You…sure about this, Rareth? I don’t know how high up I trust these things to take me.” Nirann commented hesitantly as he stepped out of the cave within sight of the avians.

Rareth reached out one hand and placed it gently upon the creature’s chest. “Nirann, that body can insert from orbit. You’ll be fine.”

Nirann shrugged. “Yeah, yeah, I know. But then I can’t be so dramatic. I guess as the Humans say, don’t…look at a gifted horse’s teeth. Is that right? I don’t have my databank with me.”

“Gift horse or not, I don’t like it. It gives these things a chance to split us up, drop us into the jaws of some other alien killing machine.” Thebes sniffed, staying where he was. A cargo bot idly nudged into his back until he gently pushed it away.

“The alternative is hiking through another dark forest. And, judging by the distance still to go, more obstacles after that. Together, we’re one of the most effective combat systems in the galaxy, but how much more can we really take? We’ve already lost one of our own, barely made it out of that marshy valley alive.” 595 reasoned.

The Agent lowered her weapon and edged further out, turning to look at the large winged creature who was studying Rareth with some interest. She cleared her throat, unsure how to address the voice. It wasn’t clear whether it was inhabiting the beast before them, or was coming in from afar. “Do we have your word, that you will transport us safely, and together?”

”These ones will transport you safely. We must meet as soon as possible.” The voice replied.

“If i may...with the comms mast now working, we could request they spawn in flyers for us to use instead?” Dr Wetherall ventured. “You can fit two of the Barbarossa’s slimmest utility models onto our four by four slate at a time. This means we could have enough seats for everyone in a couple hours…”

”No external signalling. It is forbidden.” The voice clamoured. 595 tapped the opaque alloy of her visor with two fingers and looked at Rareth. The weaker elements of the team were running out of steam - they needed to resolve this mission ASAP. “Ok. We’ll ride with these creatures. How do you want us?”

“Stand on the ledge. These ones will grasp you like prey.” 595 looked back at the Sacred Band and scientists. “Saddle up - that’s an order. Someone have the cargo bots follow along behind.”

Rareth turned back briefly with a look towards the Agent and the soldiers. “Do your suits not protect you from falls? I doubt we are going to be leaving ourselves helpless here. Just be ready to speak up and ask for help should anything go wrong.” She recommended.

After double-checking that all of her equipment was secured, Rareth stepped out onto an open area on the cliff to wait for the creatures. “If this being intended to attack us, it likely would have already done so. I do not think I need to remind you that this is the best chance you have had in your history to receive direct answers about the Cradle.”

Nirann let out a simulated sigh, then walked forward onto the cliffs as well. “I guess these things are better than nothing. I’ll guide the bots on remote. If they can keep up with Rothian military transports, then I’m pretty sure they’ll do fine following these…things.”

“Oh yeah, thanks. Never thought of doing that.” Thebes replied acerbically, motioning for the team to move to the edge.Their suits did protect from falls, but it was what happened after the falls, if they were split up, that worried him. He’d already lost one operator after five successful years, and he’d object to anything that could lead to losing another.

The Sacred Band maneuvered the scientists to the ledge and then stood either side of them at wide intervals, guns in front of them pointing straight upwards. 595 assumed their stance, looked down the line and once she was happy everyone was ready, she spoke up. “Ok. We’re ready for transport.”

Nothing happened right away. The winged beasts chattered quietly, watching them curiously. And then, after a fraught few seconds, the bull sitting on the deck closest to them flapped into the air. He passed over the top of them, grabbing Rareth around the middle with his muscled back legs. He dragged the Datius off the edge, soaring down into the valley below before gradually gaining height.

“Looks terrify-” Dr Wetherall didn’t get to finish before another winged creature swooped down from the nest above and grabbed him. 595 filtered out his shouting and screaming from the comms channel. Creatures grabbed Nirann, Athena, Dr Ngata, the rest of the Sacred Band and finally her.

The Agent had always thrived on adrenaline and thrills, so she yelped with pleasure, drinking in the scenery from above as thermals whooshed past her. “Everyone alright?” Thebes asked. “All fine back here.” 595 answered, trying not to wiggle in the creature’s iron-clad grasp. “Hey look! There’s a settlement in the forest!” Dr Ngata called. 595 looked down at the fuzzy marker the scientist had placed.

True enough, there was a clearing in the forest below, with some low clusters of crude buildings centred on some kind of totem pole. “I hope we can salvage our recordings, dear boy. This expedition has yielded a gold mine of data.” Dr Wetherall observed, having calmed down a little bit, though his voice was still strained.

By this point, there was little surprise that Rareth did not show any anxiety, excitement, nor any other emotion openly. She kept her focus, and any words she spoke came across in a calm, even tone. She had no interest in sightseeing, but she did record every observation she could make about the ground below to build out a map of the area. She did not expect to need it, but there was no reason not to take the opportunity in front of her. Otherwise, Rareth just kept monitoring her suit’s sensors to keep track of how much pressure the creature was applying at any given moment.

So far, there had been no surprises in their flight. The creatures had grabbed everyone as the being had said, and they were still all in sight of one another. Rareth was still ready to act quickly if needed, but hopefully it would not be necessary. She doubted this being would have gone through this trouble if it did not intend to at least speak to them.

“Don’t worry.” Nirann replied back to Dr. Wetherall. “As long as its in my head before we leave, I’ll make sure we hold on to all our data.”

“Thank you kindly. I do hope we’ll get the chance to set up an actual base camp at some point. With a bit of peace and quiet, I'm positive we can align the code base and bring people in and out safely. Are you still running those calculations, any luck?” Dr Wetherall spoke quickly at Nirann, keeping his eyes trained squarely on the beast carrying Rareth in front of him. “Afraid of heights, Doctor?” Saddam asked, studying the scientist from off to one side. “Huh, is it that obvious? The things we do for knowledge, eh...”

The team flew on in formation, listening to the rhythmic flap of the creatures’ wings and the wind whistling past their sensory net. After a while, they crested a mountain range at the other end of the forested plains, clearing a set of jagged peaks by just a few metres. Dark scrublands stretched in all directions, with small shapes moving at speed below. “Nice, some prey animals for a change.” Dr Ngata commented, looking straight downward at a herd of stampeding horned bovidae.

595 barely noticed; she was mesmerised by the beacon. That bright light in front of them was growing bigger now, though it appeared to be dimming at the same time. They could only be half a dozen miles away now. “Is it some kind of building?” Thebes muttered, zooming in as far as his optics would allow. “Looks like it.” The Agent replied woozily.

Before long, the creatures carrying them began emitting high pitched squeaks and flapping faster, banking slightly from side to side while speaking to each other. “Woah, what’s happening?” Carthage asked, struggling in her beast’s talons at the back as it suddenly lost altitude. “This isn’t good. Can anyone see anything above us?” Ngata called, craning his neck to peek out from under the wing of his carrier.

"My subroutines never stopped. We've already aligned most of the code, really. A mind is the most complicated piece, but I'd have about...eighty percent confidence in a return trip right now. It shouldn't be too long before I can bring that up to a certainty." Nirann answered. However, the disturbance in the creatures carrying them soon interrupted the conversation.

“On it!” Nirann answered right away. With his remote control of the cargo bots, it was easy enough for him to raise one of them up enough to give its camera a good view of the skies above them. He shared the view among the team, which gave them all sights on the silhouette of a large creature far above them. It was still quite distant at the moment, but its shape was steadily growing closer.

Rareth deployed her particle cannon as she observed the camera feed. Whatever this creature was, it was several times larger than even the fliers that were carrying them. There was nothing else in the area that Rareth could detect, and the reactions of the fliers were certainly consistent to that of prey agitated by the presence of a predator. The danger seemed real, and Rareth would have to be ready to react. Her micro-missiles would likely be able to cause sufficient damage, but there were more concerns than just the threat itself. Rareth did not know how direct of control the being guiding them had over these creatures, and such explosions could spook them and cause them to scatter.

For as long as she still had time, Rareth had her neural implant calculating potential trajectories and destination coordinates. The predator was getting steadily closer to being in Rareth’s range. “What are our options? Do we have any equipment that could scare it off without affecting our own fliers?”

“I have flares - if i can reach them, they might scare it off?” Carthage suggested. “Not from down there; all our fliers will see them too.” Thebes cautioned, before questioning the Rothians. “What sort of countermeasures do these cargo bots have? Anything we can use offensively?”

“Can I synchronise my targeting reticule with that bot’s topside camera? I could take a shot through my flier’s wing.” Athena jumped in, already seeing if she could maneuver her railgun into position. “It’s diving!” Dr Ngata warned, his eyes fixated to the bot’s feed.

The fliers let out a unified ‘SCREEEE’ and tried to break away and flee, but they seemed bound together by an invisible string. So after some wasted effort, the creatures fanned out instead, all flapping furiously in the same direction but presenting a range of altitudes and positions. “They should be scattering - something must be keeping them on course!” Ngata realised, before addressing thin air. “However you are, let them follow their instincts, people are gonna die!”

“Negative! Stay on course and keep us together!” Thebes countermanded, hoping whatever they were going to meet was still listening.

Given the angle it was attacking from, none of the group had an angle to fire upon the predator without harming their own flier. Having synced with the cargo bots’ cameras, Rareth did already have the coordinates calculated to transport herself with her gateway device, but she had no way of knowing if she would be able to return to her flier afterwards. Athena suggested shooting through her own creature, but that seemed to be suicide. Rareth was about to free herself from the creature’s claws when the predator started to dive, and another idea came to mind.

“Quickly! Ready your weapons! On my mark, everyone fire on these exact coordinates!” Rareth commanded. The beast was closing quick, and she did not have time to explain her thoughts. She simply updated everyone’s HUD with a marker then aimed her own particle cannon. The point she told them to fire upon was indeed in everyone’s line-of-sight, but it was also directly ahead of them and appeared to be just a random point in the air. Nevertheless, Rareth’s other arm opened up, but instead of deploying her plasma blade, its emitters were glowing with an intense, white light. She aimed forward and shot out an orb of white light so bright it would have been like a second sun, had there been another sun in the sky to begin with. Just before the orb reached the point in the air Rareth had designated, she shouted: “Mark!”

An instant later, the orb of light collapsed into a wormhole that warped spacetime around itself. At the same time, the destination portal appeared straight in the path of the diving creature, facing directly towards it. Rareth fired her particle cannon into the portal, and she hoped enough of the others would listen to her orders to have an impact. Her gateway device was not intended to hold a wormhole open for more than a quick moment, so it would not last long.

“What?” Saddam spluttered as the team received those coordinates. “Have you lost your damn mind?” Thebes wasn’t so sure. He was mindful of the advanced tech the Datius had showcased throughout this expedition. She had proved a very resourceful asset in a variety of combat scenarios, but it still took the Sacred Band leader a half-second to commit to a strategy which seemed so crazy.

“CoWiUnCo.” Thebes barked when Rareth fired some kind of bright light, awkwardly hefting his gun above the claws grasping his chest and aiming at the point set in front of them. The four syllable shorthand wasn’t strictly speaking accepted terminology, but he knew all of the soldiers under his command would understand it as “Comply With Unorthodox Commands”. The team reacted immediately, as did 595 who had regained some conscious control and was vaguely following the plan.

Energy bursts, a tungsten bolt and one solid laser beam disappeared into the hole created by the bright flash, and they carried on firing until it shut again. The fliers bucked and rolled, thoroughly spooked by all the action, but still on course. There was no immediate sound from the predator above them, until it’s carcass crashed into one of the cargo bots trailing their convoy at a couple of hundred miles per hour. The package of robot and dead flesh thundered down to the plains below, and exploded in a huge fireball.

From what she could see through the linked cameras, Rareth’s plan had worked perfectly. Their shots passed through the wormhole and cut straight through the creature above them. Regardless of its size, it was not as if it was armored to deal with high-powered weaponry. However, they were not fortunate enough for it to simply die alone in silence. It was only moments after its death that it came crashing down below, and took one of their cargo droids with it.

“Nirann, report! What did we lose?” Rareth asked right away.

Nirann hummed a moment and spoke in a tone as if he was grimacing along with it. “That was bot two, so…that was the transit station. Do I have permission to panic yet, or…”

“Permission denied.” Rareth retorted immediately. “As long as we have the comms mast, we can get another transit station. Just focus on here and now. Any other contacts? More threats?”

Nirann again checked the cameras of the cargo bots, along with his own body’s sensors. There were more living things in view, especially below, but nothing that seemed like it had an interest in them. “Uh, nothing that I can see. Yet.”

Rareth wasted no time, and made sure to keep the Nirann on-track. “Then keep working. When we do get a new transit station, you will need to make sure we can return through it.”

“Well, it worked…” Carthage scoffed, craning her neck to survey the wreckage behind and below them. “Let’s hope we don’t need to leave in a hurry.” Dr Ngata murmured, looking straight ahead at the beacon. Thebes couldn’t help but think that amounted to quite an expensive maneuver, but needed to keep morale from dropping off a cliff. “We’ll make it work.” He asserted gruffly. “Everyone get ready, we’re close.”

They approached a cluster of mountains that they could see from the air formed a loose ‘X’ shape. Visibility was getting a bit spotty, but 595 could see flood plains surrounding most of this formation. The mountain in the middle was big, even by the standards set so far in this simulation. A broad, towering edifice of black rock, with a luminous beacon of white light on one shoulder about three quarters of the way up.

Now that they were closer, the Agent could see that something similar to snow coated the top of the mountain, including the area around the beacon. There appeared to be a white winding path leading up to a small plaza. And as they approached, the light dimmed so much as to allow them a good look at the beacon’s features with their night vision.

It was a tall, rectangular building made from ivory-coloured stone. Rows of snow-topped steps led from the plaza up to a plinth of solid stone. A row of massive pillars circled the whole structure, sustaining a large sloped roof with exquisite carvings and murals. Light spilled from an opening in the front and rows of large windows 595 spotted along the sides.

“That...was not what i was expecting.” Dr Wetherall remarked, breaking the stunned silence. “It looks like something from Earth.” Athena commented, as a freezing wind and flurries of snow whipped off the sides of the mountain and into their faces.

The fliers took them down onto the plaza and released them. Then, one by one they took off again and swept away. 595 stared at the structure, mountain on her right and open expanse of plains off to her right. She felt like she’d seen this building before somehow. “Lets scout the perimeter, make multiple points of entry if we can.” Thebes commanded. “Knossos, take Carthage and skirt left. Athena, Saddam, right. You’re with me, ma’am. Ma’am!” 595 didn’t respond, already creeping toward the front steps with her rifle raised.

Frigid, snowy mountains were not locations that Rothians would often visit willingly, but it was far from Rareth’s first time out of her comfort zone. Besides which, between her suit and her implants, she did not feel the cold. Although she would not have admitted it openly, she did allow herself the briefest moment to take in the sight of this place they had came to. Its architecture was alien to her; like nothing she had seen on Rothia, or anywhere else among their colonies. Athena said it reminded her of Earth, and Rareth had no way of knowing how accurate that assessment was.

Whatever its origin, this structure clearly represented something significant in this simulation. Everything else they had experienced had either been simple animals, natural features, or the creations of primitives. This was something else entirely. Its architecture and artistry implied much more advanced origins; although, Rareth still could not be sure if its creators were the same as those who had created the simulation itself. Hopefully, such questions would be answered soon enough.

The Sacred Band approached the situation as expected of soldiers, securing the area and identifying tactically relevant information. Rareth had no objections there, but it was Agent 595’s behavior that unsettled Rareth. She ignored Thebes and started approaching herself, weapon drawn. This was not the first instance of her strange behavior that Rareth had noticed, especially after the incident in the caves, and she would not ignore it.

“Agent!” Rareth firmly declared as she stepped up just behind 595. “What are you doing? We have not come here to pick a fight. I will not have our first impression with this being to be to threaten it. You have been acting strangely for a while now; do not think I have not noticed.”

595 didn’t turn to face the Rothian. Her visor remained pressed against the delicate scope of her beam rifle. The bright white light emanating from the open entrance was proving hard to filter. “I’m just trying to see inside. This thing already knows we’re armed to the teeth and leave a trail of destruction in our wake; why try and hide that at the expense of our security? Our presence is known, we can be certain of that.”

She opened her other eye, and saw Knossos and Carthage sprinting around the left side of the structure. Then, the light disappeared from her scope as Thebes stepped in front of her rifle with his back to her and hands linked. She recognised it as a peaceful, respectful way to contain her authority, developed during the long wars that mercenaries like the Sacred Band had fought on Earth and the inner worlds.

The Agent slowly lowered her weapon and holstered it, blinking hard a few times. “Alright, we’ll do it your way. Have we found any other entrances?”

“Just the windows.” Knossos crackled over comms “Every ten metres or so - no coverings.” Thebes jumped in “Can you see through?”

“No sir - they’re too high up. We could climb?”

“I am not saying you should relinquish your weapon; I am saying you should not be pointing it at our host when we walk into its home.” Rareth looked down and narrowed her eyes at the Agent, then retracted her helmet specifically so she could see the expression. She was not aggressive, nor did she seem angry, per se, but everything about her tone showed that she was deadly serious. “I do not know what will happen inside this place, but it very well could decide whether we leave here alive. I want to make sure that, at the very least, there will be no surprises from the allies beside me.”

Rareth walked a short distance up the steps as well to place herself between 595 and the entrance. “I have seen you as being aggressive, so far…trigger-happy, I think you might say. But that is not even what has the most of my concern. You have acted strangely, especially in the caves. One of those insects disintegrated to ash in your hands, then you seemingly disappeared from reality itself. You appeared in another part of the cavern in an instant, with your IFF tag no longer transmitting. Yet, you showed such little concern at this. It took such convincing for you to even see a medic. Was it pride, or something else? I want there to be no surprises in there; I want us to fully understand each other. So, is there anything you have not shared that would be…relevant to this?”