//------------------------------//
// Chapter 20: The Settlement 
// Story: The Ones From Beyond 
// by Lordvessel 
//------------------------------//

The search led by Andrew leaves him and the others with only more questions than answers. What awaits them at the end of the trail, they cannot say, but whatever lies in wait can will bring unprecedented discovery and an unforeseeable future................................................................




The findings uncovered at the campsite led everyone to heavy speculation, as each and every one of them tried to decipher what happened. Was Tim actively aiding another race in an unknown endeavor? And if so, why? However, the lack of any clear-cut evidence or information made any possible suggestions just theory.
All of this combined with the uncertainty of Tim's status caused Achmed some stress over the situation, wondering what motivations Tim had and how far the extent of his actions with these other life forms had reached. More curious however was how and why these creatures got involved. What did they have to gain by scavenging the wreck site? What ultimate purpose was it to fulfill? But just like Tim's situation, Achmed could only speculate. Achmed instinctively suspected foul play from these creatures, as it was common to always prepare for the worst but hope for the best. Had these things managed to manipulate or force Tim into helping them? 
However, upon giving the subject even more thought, Achmed realized that there hadn't been anything to back up his claim, but there hadn't been much to suggest of anything, everything they found was the equivalent to a tiny piece of a large puzzle, only some of the pieces were missing. Achmed's thoughts jumbled as he tried to make sense of it all, which didn't yield the result he wanted. He eventually gave up on it, blaming his difficulty to think on the visual monotony that he had been subjected to. 
The path had kept its westward course for more than three hours at this point, and the initial wow factor of the forest was beginning to wear off. For miles, they had seen nothing but trees, plants, and more trees, traversing thick brush that stretched in every direction for miles, with clearings and rays of sunlight peering through the canopy becoming more and more of a rarity as they went deeper into the heart of the forest. It had also been quite some time since they last touched base with Gateway, but nothing had warranted for such an action to be taken. They had specifically stated that they needed to be contacted should a change in status occur or any new information arise. Other than the information regarding the possibility of intelligent life, which the Commander expressed extreme discontent for relaying, nothing had changed. Achmed was beginning to wonder just how large of an area this forest encompassed when he suddenly found himself bumping into Ahab. The initial contact sent Achmed stumbling backward whilst Ahab lost his balance and staggered forward. Lamond caught Achmed by the arms just before he hit the ground. Ahab managed to regain his balance, and turned to Achmed with an irritated expression on his face.

"*Dude, you fucking deaf?!*" Ahab hissed. "*the Commander just told us to get ready!*"

Achmed was confused at first, but quickly caught up with what was going on. Leaning over to the right and peaking forward, he saw that the Commander and the others had taken up a lowered stance, their weapons at the ready, fixating their aim at something in the direction ahead of them. Achmed was quick to do the same, raising his rifle scope to eye level and lowering his stance as to be better concealed. The Commander then went over local comms to give further instruction.

"*Osaka 2, 3, and 5 stack up.*" he ordered in a hushed tone.

The three followed the command without delay or question. Staying low, they made their way up the column and took up their positions behind the Commander. Once they were there, Andrew pressed the transmit button, going over the local comms once again.

"*Wolf 1, take your team and cover the target. Stay quiet and out of sight. Whatever this thing is, I don't want it getting tipped off and making a break for it.*"

"*Wilco.*" Viktor replied.

Achmed turned his head in time to see Wolfpack disperse into two groups of three, with Wolf 1, 2, and 6 taking the left while 3, 4, and 5 took the right. As the last one cleared out of sight, Andrew went over the comms yet again.

"*Osaka 4 & 6, stay here and cover our backs. Wolf 1, relay back to me once you're in position.*"

Achmed took this time to try and catch a glance of what was ahead. Peaking his head over the three individuals in front of him, Achmed could see the top of a large figure concealed about 18 yards in the brush ahead, showing slight signs of movement every so often. Another transmission soon followed over the local comm channel.

"*Andrew, we're in position and standing by.*" Viktor informed.

"*Copy.*" Andrew replied. "*Do you have a clear visual?*"

"*Negative. I see movement, but can't make out the target. Whatever it is, it's alone. Might be one of Berfield's new "friends".*"

"*Copy, maintain position, I'll take my team and close the distance. Be ready to jump when I give the order. Nobody fires a shot unless absolutely necessary, if it is one of them, we need it alive. My team, break off and encircle the target when I give the go. We commence on my mark.*"

Hesitation filled the air, with everyone awaiting the green light from Andrew. Achmed told himself that he was ready, ready to face whatever this thing was and ready to discover Tim's fate should it have the knowledge pertaining to him. Achmed snapped back into reality when he heard the first number in Andrew's countdown.

"*Three, two, one, mark!*"

The four made their way forward at a brisk but steady pace. Just like whatever lied ahead, they used the thick foliage surrounding them to their advantage, concealing their presence to a substantial degree. However they soon found themselves outside of its embrace and in a quite large yet cover-less clearing. Their eyes immediately met with what they initially thought was a mound of wood and were beginning to ease down. That abruptly ended when the noticed the mound stretch out one of its legs. It was a rather large creature and the fact that it looked to be composed entirely out of tree branches and bark made them perceive it as entirely unnatural. Andrew was quick to get everyone to focus, as he began gesturing for his team to begin encircling it. As they did so, the creature must have sensed something was wrong, as it quickly rose its head in an investigative manner. Andrew didn't want to risk it possibly escaping and thus gave the order for Wolfpack to provide support.

"NOW!" Andrew screamed, to his team as well as Viktor's.

Wolfpack emerged instantly from hiding and quickly set up a perimeter around the thing. The creature, confused and startled, entered into a panic mode. It turned its head rapidly in all directions, looking for an escape route. However it found none, as Wolfpack and the remaining two members of Osaka blocked any means of escape. Letting out an enraged roar and baring it's teeth in frustration, everyone got the message that this thing was a predator and that they had probably just pissed it off. It's facial and body structure alluded to a clear canine origin, similar to a dog or wolf. Its teeth and claws were barbed like thorns, with claws about the size of a human hands, and glowing green eyes. It was also covered in injuries, with notable damage to the neck, back, and severe damage to the left eye which looked to be very recent. Lewis made an attempt to get closer, only for it to lash out, with one of its claws just barely missing his chest. He jumped back and was tempted waste the thing right there, but manged to keep his finger off the trigger.

"Keep your distance from the beast!" Jelani warned. 

Both fireteams were now at full alert, ready to put this thing down should it attempt to strike one of them down.

"What the bloody hell is this thing!?" Lewis yelled, still trying to recuperate from almost having his chest slashed at.

"Don't know, but it's pissed!" Sarah inputted.

"Is this what took Berfield?!" Viktor asked.

"No. This thing isn't our culprit." She replied. "Look at the feet. Not only are they too big, the tracks were hoof-shaped, this thing has claws."

Each second that passed by felt like a minute. It then suddenly occurred to Andrew how odd this thing was behaving. Based on the looks of this thing alone, one could only guess that it's predatory and aggressive instincts would have kicked in, yet it seemed to be holding back. Upon a closer look, Andrew could see that was actually trembling, subtly but still enough to give the indication that this thing was terrified.

"Should we put it down?" Hale suggested, finger on the trigger.

"Negative. Let it go." Andrew said.

Weapons still raised, they slowly began to back off. As the gap between them got wider and wider, The creature saw it's chance, darting off like a bat out of hell between Nate and Viktor.

"Jesus!" Nate yelled as it bounded off into the woods. 

"It......it didn't attack?" Viktor said in confusion.

"Of course it didn't attack. Predator or not it wasn't stupid enough to try and take the twelve of us on." Andrew said.

"Mutants usually attack regardless."

"Pretty sure there aren't any mutants here, Vik."

"Well I've never heard of an animal comprised entirely out of wood, so what would you call it?"

Before Andrew could give a possible answer, his attention turned to what was behind his friend, and could only .

"Holy shit......"

Viktor raised an eyebrow before noticing that Andrew was looking behind him, and thus turned around as well to meet the same sight Andrew saw. The others soon followed suit, and we're amazed and somewhat unnerved by what they saw.
Across the clearing were five more of the wooden creatures. Andrew and the others probably would have sprung into action immediately if they we're still breathing. Instead, these creatures lay dead on the ground, with a lifeless stillness one could scarce describe. Although these ones looked to slightly smaller than their still breathing counter-part, they looked no less intimidating, even in death. 

"Looks like someone went to town." Hale noted.

"I'm guessing that someone was Tim?" Sarah suggested. 

"Only one way to find out. Wolf 3, Osaka 5. You know the drill." Andrew stated.

"Right." Asami replied.

"The rest of you, maintain a perimeter."

The two scouts went to work searching the area. Almost immediately, the two noticed how the regular signs of almost calm behavior they had been seeing for hours had taken a drastic change. The area itself was the largest clearing so far and thus searching for clues would prove to be a much lengthier process. The creatures that lay dead before them seemed to have caused quite a commotion, with their tracks darting from several directions towards the center of the clearing. Asami was about to make her way towards the center when she head Achmed utter startled words in Arabic. She turned around and saw the same thing he did. Resting a few meters away by the treeline was a pool of dried blood accompanied by signs of an intense struggle. Achmed ran up next to it, and began inspecting it.

"Shit. This has to be Tim's." Achmed claimed in distress.

Asami too surveyed it in heavy detail, and quickly came back with her own findings. The dirt surrounding the pool had been kicked around, but just like the tracks, Tim's prints were there, walking away from the scene.

"Yeah. Blood's red so I'll assume it's human for now. Not sure what color Berfield's friends bleed. Anyways, the footprints definitely match his and it looks like he walked away from it. See."

Asami pointed to the faint tracks of a human being that lead over to a log about five yards away, with a few drops of blood dripped across the right of its exterior. Achmed followed the trail by eye and felt the need to act immediately.

"We need to keep moving. If Tim's hurt-"

"Whoa, slow down. Look I'm sure he's fine." Asami said, trying to get him to calm down.

"Fine? Does this look fine!?"

"In fact it does. Look, judging from the pool of blood, the wound was probably bad, but it looks like the bleeding stopped when he walked over to that log. Guess he patched himself up." she said, pointing to it. "Taking that into account I think it's safe to assume he didn't bleed out."

Achmed needed a closer look to be certain and briefly parted ways with Asami to see for himself. While he was busy, Asami continued to study what was in front of her. It was then that she caught a glimpse of something metallic in the corner of her eye. Just a few feet to her left on the clearing floor, she found five brass shell casings spaced a few feet apart from each other. She picked one of them up, and instantly recognized the caliber, 7.62x39, the round attributed to the AK family. This in turn led her to inspect the five lifeless bodies that lay upon the ground. Walking to the closest one, she began inspecting the body for signs of injury. She visually scanned each body part, looking for any sort clue that led to a cause of death. When she got to the head, she instantly found cause, spotting where a bullet had made entered and exited through the skull. The wound was covered in some sort of hardened green resin that looked to form recently.
Asami made her way around each of the bodies, inspecting them each individually. The creature right next to the one that had taken a headshot suffered a shot to the back. She flipped the body over, which proved to be just as heavy as it looked, and instantly spotted a large exit wound on the chest. As her eyes honed in on the wound, she spotted, a set of hoof-prints between the two carcasses, giving Asami the impression that one of Berfield's friends managed to get caught. There was no blood, so it was safe to say that whatever it was survived. Oddly enough though, Asami also noticed that they looked out of place, as there was of a trail to indicate that it had moved over to that spot. Regardless, the evidence implied that Berfield managed to save the creature in time before any harm came to it. If that turned out to be true, then it would mean the Commander was right. Berfield wasn't a prisoner. Asami made a mental footnote of that in her head and proceeded to investigate the remaining corpses.
The next one resting fifteen yards away had taken a round straight through the side of its torso, and the last two had taken rounds to the neck. Asami took notes of what she saw and returned to where she found the casings, which had to be close to where Berfield was standing when he fired the shots. As a side-note Asami found herself impressed that he had managed to dish out five consecutive rounds, each one killing their intended target instantly, without missing. Even more impressive was that the task was done with a standard AK, with it's accuracy being described as "good enough".

"*Five rounds, five bodies. Well I'll be damned Berfield, you're either a crack shot or just lucky. *" Asami whispered to herself. 

All of this evidence amounted to the discovery that Berfield had been in possession of his weapon, even after he made contact with the new form of intelligent life. At this time, Achmed had returned from inspecting the blood.

"You were right, the bleeding stopped." Achmed conceded. "But I also found something new, I saw more of those hoof prints by the log. Looked like they were just standing there, waiting for him."

"That means they were with him after he took his injury." Asami stated. "And judging from what I just found, I think the Commander was right."

"So Tim wasn't their prisoner?"

"All the signs seem portray it that way. I found five shell casings by that pool of blood. They match what your friend was carrying, 7.62 Soviet. The two creatures near the center of the clearing almost bagged one of Berfield's new friends. Looks like he gunned them down before they got a chance to do to them what they did to him."

"So if they're not hostile, what does this mean for the mission?"

Asami was quiet, as she didn't have an answer. She then noticed that Viktor was looking at them from just a few yards away, no doubt overhearing their conversation. Asami looked back to Achmed and replied.

"We'll know soon enough." she said.

That sentence was less meant for Achmed and more meant for the Colonel. If it wasn't pretty clear that Asami knew he was eavesdropping before, her last sentence had pretty much cemented it. He gave a nod to her and began to make his way over to Andrew, who was currently inspecting the body of one the creatures. The answer to Achmed's question would come from him, and Viktor was rather curious as to how Andrew was going to see this mission through without support from back home. Viktor feared that no matter what happened somebody would be going down during this mission, either in a political sense or a literal one if they weren't careful. Despite Andrew's assurances that keeping secrets from the Council was best for proceeding with the task at hand, Viktor had his own doubts about that. In his mind, it felt as if Andrew wasn't sure what he was doing, and Viktor felt like it was time to call him out on that. Once Viktor had arrived, Andrew took notice that his friend was standing beside him.

"What did our scouts find?" Andrew asked.

"Wolf 3 found five shell casings and inspected the wounds of each of the creatures." Viktor replied.

"Yeah, I see where this one was shot through the torso. Anything else?"

"Yes. Turn out you were right. Berfield's not a prisoner. His friends were with him when he fired his weapon off, even saved one before they got iced by one of these things."

In most cases Andrew would like to gloat whenever he was right, but that wasn't the case this time around. Andrew had kept a solemn yet stern face, almost as if troubled by what he heard.

"How so?" Andrew asked.

"Osaka 5 investigated where Berfield had taken an injury by one of these wood wolves, and foun-"

"Wait, I'm sorry. Wood wolves?" Andrew said in disbelief.

"It was a little more descriptive than calling them things. What would you call them?" Viktor snapped.

"A name more clever than Wood wolves." Andrew quipped. "Anyways. Go on."

Viktor instead grabbed Andrew by the shoulder. Andrew wasn't expecting Viktor to grab him like that and thus seemed a little confused when it happened and why it was happening.

"Look Andrew, we really need to talk." Viktor spit out.

Andrew gave a concerning look.

"About what?" he asked.

"Just what exactly is your plan?" Viktor asked.

"Which one?"

"The plan that details how we're going to handle a first-contact scenario. The plan that's going to get Berfield back home, the plan that details how we're supposed to handle an entire race we know nothing about, without any expertise or knowledge from the other members of the Council?"

Andrew could see where he was going with this. In all honesty Andrew told himself over and over that if he acted appropriately whenever new information arose they'd be just fine. But in the back of his mind he doubted whether it would ultimately prove successful. As a result, he'd spend minutes at a time during their journey to formulate other plans should things go south, applying strategies and plans from his previous engagements to this mission, going through multiple scenarios in his head. But the lack of clear information on these things that accompanied Berfield and what they were capable made an effective game plan impossible at this point.
He saw that Viktor was still awaiting a response from him. He always hated when Vik would do this, ask him a question that he clearly didn't have an answer to. It was one of the few things that got under his skin and really got him into a bad mood.

"Look, Vik, you know as well as I that if we tell the Council, they will pull the plug on the mission. Trust me."

Viktor shook his head and sighed.

"So what's your plan then? Wing it?" Viktor asked in disbelief.

"What other choice do I have? In case you haven't noticed we don't even know what the hell they are or what they're capable of and no idea how they'll perceive us if we just walk up to them nonchalantly. Berfield may not be their captive but that doesn't mean these things are angels either, anything could happen and we need to be prepared based on what we know, which as of now isn't much. So if you have a better plan, I'm all ears."

Viktor fell silent, as he realized that Andrew had turned the tables of the conversation around on him.

"I didn't think so." Andrew berated.

"Alright, fine, but I'm still not entirely comfortable with keeping secrets from the Council." Viktor expressed. "It's shit like that that started The Conflict."

"I know. Look at this rate, we're bound to be getting close to some answers.One way or another, it's only a matter of time before we come across them. So I'll make you an offer. If you stop riding ass about this, we'll tell the Council when we make visual contact. Deal?"

Viktor took some time weighing that offer, but ultimately came to terms with it.

"Fine. But know that I'm gong to hold you to that." Viktor clarified.

"Noted............mom."

Viktor rolled his eyes and uttered a swear under his breath in Russian. Viktor then looked at the corpse that laid next to them.

"Can we at least tell them about these wood wolves?" he asked.

"*Still a terrible name.*" Andrew whispered.

"Andrew, time to be serious!"

"Okay, Okay!" Andrew relented. "I guess there's no harm in it, they seem pretty primitive based on the one we came across. Sure."

Viktor was prepping to send out a call to Gateway informing them of what they needed to know in accordance to Andrew's judgement.

"After you're done, check up on the scouts and see if they found anything else. After that we should pick up where we left off on the trail."

Viktor gave Andrew a nod of confirmation and proceeded to make the call.

"Gateway, this is Wolf 1." Viktor said, broadcasting his voice across the everyone's HUD-set.

"*This is Gateway, anything new to report Colonel.....Antonov, was it?.*"

The voice over the comms was no other than Councilor Bradford, who answered with a very lofty tone. Viktor saw he still had a habit of taking over the comms when it wasn't needed, and thus mentally groaned before responding back.

"Yes, we have. We followed the trail and eventually led us to a clearing. Upon entry we had an encounter with a creature."

"*What sort of creature?*" Bradford asked, switching to a normal tone of voice.

" Quadrupedal, with a body and behavior similar to a canine, entirely composed of wooden branches. About the size of a skag, at least 5 feet in length and 3 in height. Showed signs of aggression when we managed to surround it but no injuries came of it."

"*Is it still there in front of you?*"

"Negative. We let it run off into the forest. Osaka 1 and I figured it was just an animal and wasn't important to the mission."

"*That may be so, but it was would have been important to study. But I suppose that will come in due time.*"

Andrew suddenly got a sense that Bradford's comment alluded to the same thoughts he had about using this new world for the betterment of humanity.

"*Anyways, as exciting as your new discovery sounds, I've got one that might just top it.*" he bragged, returning to a lofty tone of voice.

This only served to irritate Viktor, who was already growing tired of talking to him. Thanks to Bradford's last sentence, Viktor made it his own mission to end this conversation with him as quickly as possible.

"That's nice. Anyways, Berfield came through here and seemed to have had an encounter with these things. We found five of them dead on the ground as soon as we let the first one go. Scouts came up with five shell casings and a red blood splatter. We believe the blood is Berfield's but it seems he managed to walk away from it okay since his tracks continue west. Permission to proceed?"

"*By all means, proceed.*"

Viktor was tempted to immediately cut the call off right there, as Bradford's almost sarcastic tone was enough to deter him from speaking to him any longer. But what Bradford said next halted any sort of move to end the conversation early.

"*By the way, Colonel. Do tell Councilor Sawyer I said hello.*"

Once those words broadcast across their HUD-sets, everyone froze, looking at both Viktor and Andrew with startled gazes of surprise. Viktor's expression was a wide-eyed mix of shock, , confusion, anger, and fear, leaving his mind a confounded mess of racing inner thoughts. Andrew's reaction was as appropriate a response as necessary.
Instead of letting the sudden revelation get the jump on him, he simply gave out a defeated sigh, knowing the jig was up. Deciding to handle this himself, Andrew hit the call button on his HUD-set, wondering how Bradford found out and what the result of it would be. Whatever the case would be, Andrew was ready for the worst. 

"How'd you find out?" Andrew asked.

"*Context clues, my friend.*" Bradford conceded in the same self-satisfying tone. "*I found your absence at the mission launch and the Council meeting held after the initial discovery of a habitable world rather suspicious. It eventually led me to have my scientists vigorously make an effort to ask the men under your charge of your currents whereabouts. When they came back with their findings I came to learn that your men were rather tight lipped on the subject, and thus I theorized that you had to be with your old colleague, considering you've been spending so much time with him lately................................Plus we were able to hear your local comms, I heard the Colonel address you by name.*"

Viktor immediately turned to Nate with a look of utter vexation. Nate was supposed to be in charge of cutting out any local comm transmissions that would send back to the home communications node. Viktor was about to give him an irate reprimanding for forgetting, but not before Andrew held his hand up that said, "don't bother." Andrew then immediately responded back to Bradford with a lovely comment he had picked up over the years.

"Wise ass."

"*Oh come now, I'm only teasing.*" he defended, now back to his normal tone of voice.

"Guess the Council already knows too, huh?"

"*No.*"

Andrew raised his brow in confusion.

"No?" Andrew asked in disbelief. "Why wouldn't they-"

At that moment, Andrew realized that he wasn't alone in doing something just as or if not equally sketchy behind the Council's back.

"You mean you didn't tell them?" Andrew asked, completely shocked.

"*Of course not! Not only would it not be counterproductive to both our current tasks, but quite frankly my thoughts on the Council coincide with yours.*"

"Well I knew that, but to this degree?"

"*Well I'll admit, going behind our back to partake in a nostalgic joy ride of playing soldier was rather ballsy to say the least. But, I feel like the choice you made was the best suited given the situation to kickstart the mission as soon as possible and fulfill Patel's request simultaneously. On a technical level at least, I doubt taking five regulars that you had on site and outfitting them with tier 6 weaponry and equipment really constitutes as an equivalent to a First Recon Fireteam, even with you leading them.*"

"So you knew there was only one fireteam the whole time?"

"*Well I found it odd how another fireteam just managed to pop out of thin air. I might had my time preoccupied with getting the portal up and running, but I was constantly made aware if any new personnel or equipment arrived on site. But look, regardless of what happened, we both know what would happen if we told the others that you're over there. I think we can both agree that the last thing we both need is the Council having it there way and shutting down the single greatest discovery that could save our species. Especially Patel.*"

"And here I thought you'd be on her side."

"*I'll be honest, the thought of telling her and the others had crossed my mind a few times out of my sense of honesty, plus I was at least ninety percent certain what you were doing was reckless. But I was quick to realize what would happen if I did and this world you ended up encountering just so happened to be a paradise. In fact my only qualm in the whole matter is that you didn't tell me of what you were planning to do.*"

"I did that for a few reasons. First, I wasn't sure how'd you react, second, if we got found out by any person that had ties or sympathy to Patel, Schäfer, or Yeong the whole thing could have been aborted at the snap of a finger. And lastly, if we were caught it would mean I'd be taking the blame, not you."

"*Well, I suppose I see the sense in that, and I appreciate the fact that you were looking out for me. But this is too important to stop now. But there's one more thing that desperately needs to be addressed. To quote Colonel Antonov directly, who are Berfield's "new friends"? You specifically expressed wanting one of them alive, so I'm assuming they're not these canine creatures you find?*"

Andrew's other thought processes stopped entirely, as he now had his full attention on whether he should still be keeping the information a secret or not. His instincts were to fallback on some sort of cover story, but he realized quickly that Bradford wasn't going to fall for anything but the truth, he had a hint of what Andrew knew and that was enough to know he wouldn't drop the subject. Andrew sighed, deciding to come clean.

"Alright, I won't lie to you. Berfield's tracks aren't the only ones we've been following."

"*What else did you find? And please, be honest.*"

"Right after we stepped foot here we found eight sets of tracks. They're hoof-printed, and the walk cycle matches that of a quadruped. They seem to have been following right alongside him, along with a set of linear tracks. We believe they might be sentient."

An unsettling silence of ten seconds went by before Bradford responded.

"*What leads you to believe they're intelligent?*" Bradford asked in a quite serious tone.

"My guess is that those linear tracks came from a cart or wheeled construction, too reminiscent of one to ignore. And to add to that, we came across the remnants of a campsite about an hour or two following the trail, complete with the remains of a campfire and the outlines of where several tents had been staked down. As for how his situation turned out with these things, whether it was voluntary or he ended up as a captive of sorts, we don't know."

"*That's...............that's troubling. By the way I believe the word you're looking for is sapient. Sentient implies that something that usually doesn't feel an-*"

"Bradford! Please focus." Andrew requested.

"*Right, sorry. Well If Berfield has somehow made his presence to these sapient beings known then that means he's already initiated formal first contact. And adding the fact that we have no idea how his encounter turned out, that adds a lot of speculation.*"

"This was information that I had intent of keeping secret. The Council knowing I was here is one thing but knowing they have another intelligent species on their hand is another. Does this change things to the point where we need to inform the Council?" Andrew asked.

"Well, that depends and leads me to my next question. Have any of you encountered these creatures yet?*"

"Negative. No visual at all. The only other living thing we've encountered were the canine creatures the Colonel described to you earlier."

"*Well, that's both good and bad news. Good in the sense that it means your presence is unknown to both the Council and this new race, giving us more time to figure out a solution if, or I should I say when, you encounter these things, but bad in the sense since we don't have the slightest idea of what to expect from these beings. I can't express this enough, but caution needs to be taken to the highest degree. No doubt you've thought of the repercussions should you make the wrong move?*

"I have. Last thing we need to do is instigate hostilities with these things. Humanity's not in the state to be picking fights with things we don't know."

"*I share that same sentiment. But until more information arises, coming up with a decisive course of action is going to be rather difficult. We can only wish for the best and hope Berfield was capable of cooperating with these things voluntarily. But if that's not the case, then I highly advise you to think your options over carefully. If you do take action, do it subtly. Preferably something stealthy and inconspicuous, right now there's only twelve of you and a probably hefty population of them, so try not to go gun-ho if you see Berfield's been taken as a prisoner this whole time.*"

Bradford cleared his throat before asking one last question.

"*Now, is there anything else that requires my knowledge?*"  

"No, that's all the information we have at the moment. The men and I had plans on continuing the trail, you have any last thoughts before we move on?"

"*Following the tracks seems sensible enough, but like I said, it's best you remain out of sight, especially if you sense something nearby. But I suppose that's a no-brainier for you. Even if Berfield has acquainted himself with these beings, knowledge of your presence could possibly give them the wrong impression. With so many unknowns like behavior, government, and society they could easily mistake any visual action as a prelude to an attack. After all, the twelve of you are currently armed to the teeth. Not the best for first impressions I'm afraid. While you do that, I'll be covering for your absence. The Council has been rather inquisitive about our operation at the moment, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.*"

"Understood. We'll stay out of sight, and keep ourselves low. We'll proceed onward following the tracks. And one more thing Bradford."

"*Yes?*"

"Thanks for having my back on this. If this somehow all works out by the end I promise to return the favor one day."

"*No trouble at all, Councilor, by the end of this, man's future may be very well be secured. Now, I believe you have a mission to see to so I won't keep you. Report back if you find anything new. Gateway out.*"

With that, the transmission cut off. Andrew looked at everyone, as they stood stupefied that just how lucky that had turned out. However Andrew wasn't going to let them ponder on it for long.

"Why the hell are y'all standing there looking stupid?" Andrew snapped. "Wolf 3, Osaka 5, get back to work and come back to me when you're done, the rest of you maintain the perimeter."

They quickly snapped out of their state of shock and soon found themselves complying with Andrew's orders. With the exception of Viktor, who had been standing in front of Andrew with an unamused expression across his face.

"So much for beating around the bush. Guess you were wrong about the Council." Viktor stated.

"Hey, just because one Councilor is covering for us doesn't mean you were right." Andrew noted.

"It means I was half right."

"More like one-quarter right."

Viktor and Andrew exchanged lighthearted laughs at how pitiful this argument had become. All of sudden, Andrew felt as if a portion of his burden had been lifted, and as a result could think more clearly. His attention suddenly turned to Asami, as she suddenly approached.

"What is it Wolf 3?" Andrew asked.

"Sir, both Osaka 5 and I found a few more clues you might find interesting." she explained.

"Shoot."

"Berfield and his new friends huddled themselves back to back when the wolves came. Not sure why, Tim bolted into the woods. My guess is that he was trying to take their sights off the rest of his group. Possibly for them to escape."

"Well he had to have returned at some point, his tracks still head west." Andrew argued.

"Yes of course. But the thing is, there's seven to eight wolf tracks. And out of nowhere the pack splits up when they went after Berfield. We tried to find a trace of what else they were chasing, and found nothing."

"So where the hell did they go?" Viktor asked.

"Don't have an answer for that I'm afraid, but I have a theory."

"Let's hear it." Andrew said.

"Considering how these things live here, I'm guessing they know how to handle these things to a degree. They could have disposed of them while Berfield was out and about creating a diversion in the woods."

"Without leaving so much as a trace?" Viktor exclaimed in disbelief.

"Like Commander said, we have no idea what these things are capable of."

Viktor could swear she had a trace of sass in her voice when she said that, but any effort to snap at her for it was shot down when Andrew threw in his support.

"She's got a point, Vik." Andrew said.

Asami continued.

"As for why the pack split up. I did manage to find where the two wolves at the center of the clearing had pinned one of them to the ground. Funny thing to note, the hoof-prints literally pop out of nowhere. Either they have an uncanny ability to teleport, which I find unlikely, or they may be capable of flight. That's the only way I can explain it."

Andrew and Viktor exchanged curious looks, as this new information could provide a little more insight on what these new creatures might look like.

"Good work Wolf 3, once we get to another stopping point we'll inform Gateway." Andrew said. "If there's nothing more to discuss I'd like to get underway again, I think we've spent enough time here. Everyone fall in! We're moving out!"

The men followed the command and began to fall in behind the Colonel. Achmed found himself at the rear of the group with Asami. As they were about to exit the clearing, they heard the rustling of bushes behind them. They turned around to see the wolf creature from earlier had returned. Wondering why it had returned, their answer came in the form of the Alpha's actions. They watched in silence as the Alpha laid down beside one of its fallen brethren, nudging its head up next to the fallen's, and remain in that posture. Neither had seen anything other than a human grieve over the loss of those closest to them, but as incredible as the sight was, they didn't let it get the best of them.

"Come on Sabbag. Leave it be." Asami said quietly.

"Right." he replied.

The two turned around and proceeded to catch up with the others, leaving the alpha Timberwolf to grieve over its loss in peace.




Two more hours of walking and nothing had changed, Andrew was beginning to wonder just how Berfield had walked through this place when out of nowhere Lewis began bobbing his head side-to-side in a rather squirrely fashion. When he flat out stopped in his tracks is when Andrew took notice.

"Wolf 6, what's wrong?" Andrew asked.

"Do you hear it sir?" Lewis replied.

"Hear what?"

"Listen."

Now everyone had stopped for a moment and remained quiet. After a few seconds, they all began to hear it. Emanating from several yards away was the distinct almost rustling sound that could only be made from one thing.

"That can't be what I think it is?" Viktor asked, walking forward with the others soon following behind.

They walked for fifteen yards and sure enough, Viktor's theory was proven true upon looking upon it. Concealed behind the thick amounts of foliage was none other than a stream flowing downhill.

"I'll be damned." Andrew said quietly.

"Is that water?" Sarah asked in disbelief.

"It sure looks like it." Asami said.

"But is it clean?" Lamond asked.

"Have you seen the rest of this world, it has to be." Lewis insisted.

"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out." Ahab stated.

Ahab was the first to approach the stream, stopping just before where the water reached the shoreline. He then cupped his hands together, taking a handful of water and was about to gulp it down before Sarah piped in.

"Al-Kindi, you don't know what's in that water. You could catch something." she warned.

Ahab thought about that, and in turn made him think back to the comment he had made about Nate after he ate that Marshmallow. A few seconds passed, and Ahab's face lit up in a sudden smile

"Fuck it." he said.

He proceeded to drink the water from his hands and then splashed some more on his face, as the walk had left him rather hot. When it made contact with his skin, any sweat that had formed vanished instantly. He had kept the same smile on his face when he spoke his next words.

"God damn, that felt good. No sense of the impending need to vomit? This is probably the cleanest water I've ever had. I'm bagging me some of this."

The idea of clean water was beginning to sound like too good of a chance to not take up. Many of the others soon joined in. While they were busy reaping the rewards of their long haul through the woods, both Viktor and Andrew instinctively took this chance to take a look downstream and the path ahead.

"Looks like the tracks follow the stream." Viktor observed. 

"And the trees start to space out less than half a click southwest." said Andrew "Cover's gonna spread pretty thin pretty soon."

"Then it's best we keep a distance from the shoreline and use what we can, keep ourselves low and away from any openings as best as we can."

"Alright, sounds like a plan." Andrew said. "Tell the men it's time to move out. I'll get in touch with Gateway and tell them the news."

As Andrew and Viktor turned around they saw how essentially everyone had taken up to refilling their canteens with the fresh water of the stream, and saw how they had nonchalantly dumped the slightly irradiated water on the ground next to some plants. Andrew became mildly irritated at the sight, speculating that the small traces of radiation in their water probably killed god knows how many plants.

"Great, less than a day has past and mankind's already destroying the new world in his ignorance." Andrew mumbled.

"Eh, let em' have this moment. It's not like it's nuclear bomb level radiation, no real harm done." Viktor suggested, before following up him a bit of morbid humor. "Besides it's in our nature."

"That may be true. But this planet is our second chance, we can't fuck it over like we did Earth."

"Andrew, that's not going to happen. When people start seeing this place they'll safeguard it like a mother's newborn. Nobody's going to exploit this place to ruin."

Andrew was confident in his friend's statement, but he was still worried. People would no doubt want to keep this world the way it was, perceiving it as pure and untouched by hardship. But at the same time, the world could no doubt provide mankind with the means to rebuild what it lost, even if meant doing so by not-so-ethical means. But that concern would most likely come much, much, later. Probably even past his time as Commander.
The moment it looked like the last one of his men had finished refilling their canteens was the moment Andrew gave the order to continue onward as he followed up on calling Gateway to inform Bradford of their recent discovery.

"Gateway this is Osaka 1." Andrew relayed

"*Commander, this is Gateway, go ahead.*" Bradford replied.

"Gateway, the trail takes a turn southwest, running alongside a natural stream of water. Seems to travel about two three or four clicks downhill from where we're standing. The tracks run along the left shoreline, but due to a lack of cover we're going to keep a good distance away from it."

"*Natural water? My God, Sawyer.*"

"Yeah, I know. Bet Councilor Yeong's gonna have a field day." 

"*Are you kidding me? The fact that he'll be able to grow food and have access to clean water might just give his entire branch hope for the future! Those poor sods are usually a pretty sad bunch, but this. Oh! This will give them hope. Anyways, I suggest you proceed carefully, though it seems you've already taken that into account. Report back should anything new arise, Gateway out.*"




Another hour passed as they walked alongside the stream's path. The forest gradually began to space out, with less and less trees surrounding their immediate area. After about forty minutes the path eventually led them to the edge of the expansive forest and into a large,open, and grassy plain.

"Finally! I was beginning to think that forest would never end." Lamond cried out.

"*Keep your voice down!*" Sarah barked in a hushed tone. "*We could be coming across their hideout at any second. It'd probably be helpful if we could find it without alerting them to our presence.*"

"*Oh, right.*" Lamond said. "*Sorry Sarge.*"

Meanwhile, up in the front, Andrew, Viktor, and the remaining members of Wolfpack were deciphering a way to proceed. The grass itself was maybe about knee deep, not even close to concealing them if they stood upright. Looking around, he saw the edge of the forest, spanning across several miles to the southwest. A very steep mountain range far off in the distance was clearly visible from where he was standing. It's grey rocky exterior and snow-capped top was a sight to behold for sure, but one for a later time. Looking at the grassy plain again, he wondered how they were going to get through it unseen with a large hill upward obscuring the view ahead of them. They could crawl the rest of the way, but he wouldn't know for how long. Not to mention that everyone's backpacks would be poking out over the top of the grass, easily giving away their position. Andrew was stumped.

"Anyone got any ideas?" he asked.

Everyone was quiet as they tried to brainstorm a solution. It then looked like Nate, of all people, had an idea, and didn't even tell anyone what it was before getting straight to work. Kneeling down and taking off his backpack, he hastily opened it, quickly pulling out a portable military grade computer terminal and gaining everybody's attention in the process.

"What do you have, Wolf 4?" Andrew asked.

Nate let his actions speak for themselves. When he pulled out an object with four small propellers, each attached to a long yet thin arm that connected to a soft-ball sized sphere of metal and plexiglass and placed it on the ground, Andrew immediately recognized what it was and what Nate had in mind.

"A RARD?(Remote Aerial Reconnaissance Drone)" Andrew said

"Oh ya. This thing's quieter than a church mouse and just as hard to spot as one." said Nate.

"I'll vouch for it being quiet, but hard to spot? I don't think so."

"Well hate to break it to you, sir, but I'm about to prove you wrong."

Nate proceeded to open the bulky terminal and turn it on. Upon activation, the screen lit up, running several series of diagnostics before booting up its systems. Nate took the RARD in hand and opened a small panel at the top of its spherical center, revealing a collapsible outlet and a few tiny switches. Flipping a series of small switches and raising the small adapter outlet, Nate then went back into his backpack, pulling out some sort of makeshift device that resembled the shape of a hockey puck, with some sort of lenses completely encompassing its rounded surface. Andrew caught a glimpse of its underbelly, revealing a plug that matched the RARD's outlet port. Nate plugged it in and went back to the terminal, which had just finished all of its pre-activation startup procedures and was now awaiting user input. Nate went to work quickly, typing in several command lines on the keyboard with a quickened pace. Soon, the command code box began to condense to a smaller window in the upper right corner, while the rest of the screen began to project live feed from the RARD, which transmitted feed in the form of a 360 degree optical view. At the moment, the only thing that could be seen on the screen was a close up of the ground and a shot of everyone's feet. He then entered another line of code in the console box, and before pressing the "enter" he turned to say a one more word to Andrew.

"Behold."

As he tap his finger down on the button, A series of hexagonal distortions projected from the puck-device. One-by-one, the distortions encompassed the entirety of the RARD in a reflective camouflage that adapted visually according to its surroundings. Andrew and the rest of Fireteam Osaka were left stunned.

"A cloaking device? That's impressive." Andrew complimented. "Never heard of anything of the sort being mass produced. You make it yourself?"

"Indeed I did. Based off some prototype designs we bagged in Beijing a few years back. Comes in very handy whenever we're scouting unknown territory. Despite dear Asami's best efforts, sometimes a bird's eye view is what it takes to do the job discretely."

Asami rolled her eyes, simply ignoring the statement before giving out a rebuttal.

"Always eager to show off your toys." she said with a sarcastic smirk.

"How's the quality on that little thing?" Sarah asked.

"Well if it's video quality you're referring to the feed comes in at about 720, makes the standardized feed drones from the early 21st century look like an IBM computer in comparison."

"So visual tracking shouldn't be a problem." Andrew said.

"Nope, and just in case it is, the camera on this puppy also filters in thermal and infrared night-vision." Nate explained, flipping through each view mode on the terminal as he listed them off. "One way or another we'll be able to follow trail."

Andrew, satisfied with Nathan's plan, saw no reason to delay any further.

"Alright then, let her rip Lieutenant."

"With pleasure sir."

Switching back to normal feed, Nate only needed one more thing from his backpack, and the most important one too. As he retracted his hand from the confines of his bag, in his grasp was the channel radio used to control the RARD. Nate took the drone in hand, with the reflective camo distorting a bit as his skin made contact with it. Nate lifted his arm above his head so that it would have a clear lift off without having to worry about the propeller blades doing any damage to his face or extremities. As he turned the radio on, several LED indicator lights flashed green across it's surface, with a small screen towards the bottom of its face displaying a series of numbers that calculated wind speed as well as its elevation in accordance with the ground. Nate began manipulating one of the sticks and the RARD revved up to full speed in a matter of seconds. Nate let go as the RARD hover in the spot his hand had placed it in. The sound was no louder than desk fan, and was key to this little gadget's stealth capabilities.

"Okay, let's get this puppy at 100 ft and have a look around shall we." He said in a slow and preoccupied manner, trying to get the radio and terminal situated to his liking.

Andrew ordered Jelani and Hale to stand guard while he and the others huddled around the monitor, much to the dismay of Nate, who was feeling a bit crowded at the moment. 
Once he reached the desired height, Nate went back to the command box, typing in the command to activate yet another function. Another window popped on the screen, down in the upper left corner of the screen, displaying a more condensed version of the video only it was constantly cycling through several different video and scanning filters. He then plugged a small flash-drive sized device into one of the terminal's ports.

"What are you doing now?" Andrew asked.

"I'm having the drone taking scans. It'll record and save everything it's made visual contact with on the hard drive I just plugged and route the data to the memory component on my HUD-set. That way we'll have a map of the area up ahead to work with."

"Nice thinking Nate." Viktor said.

"I try my best." He gloated.

"Didn't seem that way when you were supposed to scrub the local comm line." Asami brought up.

Nate gave her a dissatisfied look as she gave him a shit-eating grin.

"How long till it's complete?" Andrew asked.

"Eh, that's iffy. Conversion process of video feed to map scan has about a two to ten second delay for every frame per second. It really all boils down to what's being processed how long the drone's out there for. Let's just say we wouldn't want it out there for more than an hour, else we'd be waiting all night."

"Well map or no map, we might just have to. It's still daylight out and even if we try to be stealthy, we'd could risk being spotted." Viktor said. "The cover of night gives us a better window to proceed."

"Colonel's right. And judging from what I see, this plain goes on for awhile. So let's get this show on the road. Lieutenant, go ahead and begin."

Nate went to work without delay, and with the press of the stick, proceeded to send the drone forward. The first five minutes of flight proved to be very stagnant visually, as the grassy plain stretched across for quite some distance like Andrew predicted. the 360 optical view was a bit disorienting, but effective in capturing a wide radius. It was then that glimpses of distant formations could be seen, with most of their mass being concealed behind the rolling hills. Andrew managed to spot as soon as it came up, and ultimately decided to have the drone focus in on them

"Adjust the camera angle to forty-five degrees, full-frontal view." Andrew promptly ordered.

Nate complied, typing another command and then using the set of arrow keys to adjust the camera lens. The camera rotated ninety degrees and panned upward. Now the forms had become more distinct. Unlike the green of the grass, these forms looked to be gold, brown, and beige.

"What is that?" Viktor asked.

"We're abut to find out. Lieutenant, Increase speed and make your way over those hills, I wanna get a good look at these things."

"Roger."

Nate adjusted the sticks on the radio, effectively increasing the drone's speed. The drone approached closer and closer, and the distant shapes were now becoming distinguishable. When the drone had one of them in clear view, it turned out to be some sort of housing construction. Rather archaic, with its thatch roof, but somewhat pleasant to the eyes with its exterior outer paneling of beige and dark brown. Once they saw another, just like it, and another, everyone knew the moment of truth had finally arrived. An overwhelming, almost burning, curiosity struck in with Andrew and the others.

"Stop the drone." Andrew ordered.

Nate halted the drone's advance, and the device now hovered at 100 ft in the air overlooking the shapes from less than half a kilometer away, giving them a clear view of what lay before them on their journey. On the screen, was an expansive settlement stretching for at least 1 mile in every direction, complete with multiple buildings, dirt roads, and the stream encountered earlier running right through it. Several sights, either within the settlement itself or located on the outskirts were seen as well.
On the northern outskirts of the village looked to be some sort of large plantation, spanning several acres wide and filled to the brink with some sort of crop tree. In the center of the village was a large cylindrical building, making it the second-largest structure in town. The largest, and most noticeable building however had to be the large crystalline spire at the village's western edge, towering over the settlement with a magnificent brilliance.

"Christ almighty, It's a goddamn beehive." Sarah stated.

"Or something of the like." Hale added. "You think that's where Berfield is?"

"Even if it's not, he had to have at least come through here. The tracks lead right into town." Nate said.

"Meaning that's where he found his new friends." Viktor said. 

"I'm curious as to what his new friends are." Andrew stated. "Lieutenant, lower elevation to 60 ft and continue your approach. Nice and easy."

Nate, slowly yet steadily, propelled the RARD forward, careful to make it as slow and inconspicuous as to not gain anything's attention. As it closed the distance, faint traces of movement began to emerge on screen. Tiny blurs of varying colors gradually became more detailed as the drone got in closer. The drone was now less than fifty yards away from the outskirts of town, and the first forms of alien life that were visible sat on a bench together on the outskirts of town. Upon closer inspection, Andrew actually felt a twinge of confusion and disbelief at what he was seeing. 
On the bench sat two forms of equine, with very rounded heads, large eyes, technicolor manes, tails, and coats, at an estimated size of 3 feet in height and length. The one on the left sat on it's bottom, almost like a human would, with a coat of bright mint and a mane of cyan with white streaks, styled rather short with a horn protruding through the strands of hair. The one on the right rested on both sets of legs, as a normal four-legged species would. Its coat was a sandy beige with a mane of pigment blue with a rose pink streak, and unlike the one beside it, this one lacked a horn entirely. The sight seemed very adolescent in the eyes of Andrew, and he wasn't the only one to share this viewpoint.

"So, the aliens Tim encountered and the dominant lifeforms are............small technicolor horses?" Sarah stated.

"You know, after spending an entire day following their tracks I was expecting something a bit more, breath-taking. Little underwhelming, huh." Lewis said.

"I knew they'd be quadrupeds but, I dunno, I was expecting like maybe something a little more...........alien. It's just a horse." Lamond said.

"How advanced do you think these things are?" Hale asked.

"Well, considering how they managed to build both this entire town and that giant sparkling monstrosity at the edge of it, I'd say advanced enough to be worrying."

"They are hideous." Jelani said. "No doubt Berfield was terrified into submission upon his first encounter."

"Ah, C'mon, I think they look kinda cute." Asami argued. "Besides, I thought we already shot down the prisoner theory. Plus, they don't seem that dangerous."

"Looks can be deceiving." Jelani stated.

"I know you always make a habit of preparing for the worst, 5, but I really don't think we'll have too much trouble with these guys."

"If Berfield was captured by these things I'm losing any respect I had for him." Ahab declared.

"Same." Lamond concurred.

"Hey, look at the screen. their lips are moving. I think they're talking to each other." Sarah observed.

Achmed up to this point had remained silent through the whole conversation. His thoughts had been concentrated on the bigger picture and the mission objective as a whole How were they going to find Tim?

"Do you think they know where Tim is?" Achmed asked.

A short silence ensued before an answer came up.

"That's gonna be hard to find out." Andrew said.



"Mmmm...Well, that's not entirely the case." Nate argued. "This Drone also comes with a directional microphone built in. Never had any use for it in the past, but it could help us figure out what they're saying. But we gotta get close."

"How close?" Andrew asked.

"Less-than-ten-yards-close."

Andrew gave the idea some thought. Having the drone approach that close was risky, but at the same time manageable. The worst that could happen was that they could hear the propellers of the drone, but the risk of it being spotted was next to none with Nate's camouflage unit installed. Before Andrew could give the go-ahead Viktor brought up a pretty good point.

"And what makes you think they'll speak a language we can understand?" he asked.

That argument almost shut the whole idea down had Achmed not added input that contradicted it.

"Well, Tim had to have communicated with them somehow." Achmed argued. "How else would he have been able to lead them to his point of entry?"

"Hand signals perhaps? Maybe some sort of universal method of communicating?" Viktor suggested.

"Universal or not, we really don't have anything to lose by eavesdropping do we?" Andrew asked. 

"Except the drone, if its noticed that is." Nate informed.

"Then make it your job not to get spotted. Go ahead and activate audio feedback."

Nate gave a nod of confirmation and went to the command screen to type in the corresponding code. Another small window appeared at the bottom right corner of the screen. On it was a simple black and white audio visualizer. Soon the terminal's speakers began to emit sound. As of now, the only thing that could be heard was the rustle of the wind at 60 ft in the air. Nate went back and picked up the drone's radio, and the RARD began to descend, closing in on the two equines.
Andrew and the others watched anxiously as the creatures gradually became larger and larger on screen. The rough sound of the breeze had subsided and was now replaced with quieter sounds of birds chirping and faint sounds of civilization in the distance. The conversation was faint and undecipherable from the drone's current fifteen yard distance from them. Nate slowly approached closer, each yard yielding a slower and slower rate of speed as to not gain their attention. At ten yards the conversation suddenly became audible, and everybody stayed silent to listen in on what they had to say.

"*.........................................Amazing! I can't believe how amazing that was! To finally meet the actual proof of my life's work! An actual human!*" the mint colored unicorn said in an undeniably feminine voice filled to the brink with excitement.

"*Geez Lyra, calm down already. It's been over a day since you met the hooman and you haven't stopped talking about it!*" The beige equine uttered in annoyance, also uniquely feminine. "*I get it, you've spent a lot of time over this conspiracy and then it turned out to be true, but still, take a breather already.*"

The group stood there, jaws dropped and eyes wide at what they were seeing and hearing. 

"Holy shit, they speak English?" Ahab stated.

"And they know where Tim is." Achmed noted.

"And they know what a human is? What else do they know?" Viktor said.

"Shh! Quiet." Andrew snapped, as everybody's attention was taken back to the two aliens talking.

"*How can I Bon Bon? I only got to scratch the surface of all the questions I wanted to ask him before he had to go back with Princess Twilight to the castle.*"

"*Lyra, I think some of the questions you asked him might have frightened him off.*"

"*Pfft! That's ridiculous.*"

"*Well I know for a fact if somepony I didn't know had asked me how long I can last in bed, I'd be darting off in a heartbeat!*"

That little bit of information easily invoked a variety of reactions out of the humans watching. Andrew shaking his head in a disapproving manner. Ahab and Lamond were on the verge of embracing their inner juvenile delinquency and had to refrain from laughing. Jelani had maintained an unamused expression complete with a large frown, but suddenly let a devilish grin grow across his face before leaning over to Asami, who's face reddened up a bit.

"*Still think they're cute now?*" he whispered.

Asami just gave him an angry glare as he leaned back, letting out a light chuckle before turning his attention back to the conversation between the two aliens.

"*Hey, it was purely for scientific reasons!*" Lyra defended.

"*It was weird, Lyra. And I mean really weird. We really need to improve your social skills.*"

After about ten minutes of listening to the two argue over trivial matters, Andrew could see the conversation had provided all the information they were going to get out of these two.

"Okay, Lieutenant we've heard enough. Pull back and increase elevation back to 60 ft." he ordered.

Nate complied without hesitation, pulling away from the two equines and deactivating the audio in the process. As the RARD overlooked the town once again, Andrew remembered what the unicorn had said about her encounter with the human, who Andrew could only guess was Berfield, and how another one of these equines had taken him to a castle. His eyes and thoughts were immediately turned to the giant castle structure to the west. 

"Orders, sir?" Nate asked.

"Do a full scan of the area leading up to the large structure to the west. As of now, our best bet of finding Berfield is inside that castle."

Nate went to work navigating the drone as requested, as Andrew turned around to address the others.

"Alright, let's clear some things up. As of now, we carry out this mission in stealth. As far as these "ponies" are concerned, you're a ghost, you don't exist. Judging from what we just heard it seems they already have basic knowledge of what a human is. But our job isn't to go about investigating, our job is to get Berfield home. We can't let these things know we're here under any circumstances. And I can't stress that enough. If we're spotted it can have irreversible consequences."

Andrew's tone of voice up to this point had been straight to the point, but it took a sudden change to urgency to really hit it home.

"This place is a prayer that so many back home have wished for their entire lives. One way or another, mankind's future will be determined by what we do here, and it would be easier to do that if we didn't instigate hostilities with the locals. Judging from the conversation we dropped in on, it seems like Berfield's held up in that castle to west. Once the RARD's finished with the map, we make our way there under the cover of night. When that happens, I want complete silence unless told otherwise. Is that clear!"

"Yes sir." they all replied.

"Good. While Wolf 4 is busy with the map I suggest that the rest of you take the opportunity to get some sleep now. You sure as hell won't be getting any tonight." 

Taking a hint that his "suggestion" was more along the lines of an order, they soon broke off to do just that.

"Ten yards between all of you. Should something come across us, we need to get the jump on them first, leave our total number a mystery. The Colonel and I have first watch. Osaka 2 and Wolf 6, you two will take over in four hours. Dismissed."

With that Andrew reached up to his HUD-set, ready to make the call to Gateway. Before he did. He looked onward, contemplating everything they had just learned. He would be encountering another form of intellegent life, and when he said that over and over again in his head it only served to make the situation seem even more of a landmark in human history. But he supposed that honor went to Berfield. In the back of his mind, he was hoping for an easy resolution to all of this. If these things were in fact non-hostile, how would they react when mankind would just suddenly move in? He didn't think about it long when out of nowhere a hand landed on his shoulder. Almost jumping, he turned to see it was Viktor.

"Hey, you alright man?" Viktor asked.

Andrew recollected his thoughts, realizing he had been standing there for about thirty seconds doing nothing.

"I'm fine." Andrew "Just processing a lot of things right now."

"Heh, you and me both man. So how long do you think your talk with Bradford is going to be?" Viktor asked.

Andrew gave it some thought, and came back with one sentence.

"With everything we just found out? Long."

Andrew then pressed the call button.