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 [b]is[/b] 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?”