And There Was Another✔️

Chapter 34: Dxun

"Do you have anything?" Seth asked, trying to keep the anxiety from his voice. It had been quite a good trip between worlds, but that was already fading as they finished making their fly-over of the Republic outpost.

That familiar, sour feeling of foreboding was pooling coldly in his intestines.

"Negative. Still zero on the comms, and nothing but a lot of screwy signals on the scanners," Kato replied, her grim voice being piped to them through the wall-mounted speaker. "I have a good landing spot picked out, about twenty meters east of the outpost in a small clearing. What do you want me to do, Seth?"

He sighed softly and looked across the small bay in front of the airlock at Jensen, then at Maya and Nova. "What do you think's doing it? Any further ideas?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's being done on purpose. I can't be sure, but typically when comms are this dead it means a transmission blocker is somewhere in the area. It's probably screwing with the scanners, too, but I think that's mostly the sheer amount of life in the area. I can already see dozens of creatures moving all over the place."

"Fine. Set down in the clearing. Keep on the radio," Seth replied.

"Understood."

His stomach did a little flip as the ship descended.

"What do you think?" Jensen asked.

"We do it like we planned," Seth replied after a few seconds. "Nova with me, Jensen and Maya are the other team. We stay together until we get to the outpost, and then we split up and do a systematic search of the area: building by building, room by room. Sweep and clear. There's more than likely friendlies in the area, so be careful. And if you see any hostiles that are sentient, try to take them alive. Could be we're just dealing with a busted transmitter or some inclement weather, but I'd rather assume not. Weapons check."

They all checked over their weapons, except for Maya, who just had her saber. Once their weapons checked out, he had them do radio checks. They all had wraparound earpieces fitted into their ears and throat mikes. Everything checked out. The Dauntless finished settling. Seth and Nova slipped into the airlock, opting to go first. Neither spoke a word as the airlock cycled them through. Seth felt tense, but ready. His Mod Armor was kitted out for wet weather work, checked out three times, as were his weapons.

He had a blaster rifle, pistol, some fragmentation grenades, a decent amount of energy clips, an emergency medical kit, and a sword and combat knife, just in case. Nova was similarly decked out. Whatever was waiting out there for them...

They were probably ready for it.

The doors opened. Immediately, a heavy, thick aroma of vegetation filled the air, which was heavy and moist and hot. A dozen distinct animal calls came to Seth as he moved carefully out, standing at the top of the little stairway and surveying the area. There were trees around, a ton of trees. And bushes, and vines, and flowers, and other types of plants he couldn't readily identify. The place was incredibly vibrant, bursting with color.

Things moved in the foliage.

"Let's go," he murmured. "Secure the area."

"Yep," Nova replied tightly.

They moved down the stairs and away from the ship, into the clearing. The things that were moving among the foliage seemed content to keep their distance.

For now.

Maya and Jensen cycled through and joined them.

"Anything yet?" Jensen asked.