Year 248 P.L. Rychter Calendar
Coordinates: 52.3°S; 77.2°W
Site Designation: Scraegar Labyrinth, Incident Site

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Ivy unhooked her harness and wriggled loose, almost bowling over the attending technician in her haste. She looked around with her face set in a scowl, furious at being yanked away from the biggest breakthrough they'd made in weeks without a real explanation.

She'd known Kelso long enough, however, to know he would have one.

Leaping out of the last straps, Ivy scurried to catch up with Captain Kenyatta's long-striding form as she stormed her way through the cluster of tents and pre-fab dwellings of the expedition. Her eyes flicked past the human portion of the plateau to the cumbersome Scraegan forms gathered at the far edge. Several of the warriors clustered around the Alpha, and she could make out some of their gruff language echoing through the cavern.

And that was when she noticed how quiet it was.

Most of the machines, be they human or Scraegan were idling now, creating a gentle growling backdrop as they walked. Ivy's brow furrowed in worry as she looked around more carefully. Most of the engineers and archaeologists looked confused, but some of the team leaders and security staff were casting wary glances at the Scraegans.

There were guns everywhere.

Hot on Kenyatta's heels, Ivy slid through the flap into the long structure of the command tent, passing a pair of twitchy-looking Blackwater guards as she went. Tamping down the unease in her gut, she stepped into the open space to find Kelso standing in the main room at a large oblong table, data slate in one hand.

A Blackwater sergeant named McKaine stood alongside him – a granite slab of a man whose face was grim. Also loitering nearby and sizzling with nervous energy were the senior members of the archaeological and technical teams, Doctor Samsfield and Specialist Cammara. Samsfield, an older man with weathered skin and a bald head, cupped his grey-bearded chin with consternation, while Cammara had her slender arms crossed tight across her chest, her face set in an expression of barely contained panic.

"Alright, Vannigan," Kenyatta growled as she stomped up to the group, taking one of the empty places at the table. "We're here. Now what was so damned important? Do you have any idea what we've found up there?"

"Yes, I know." Kelso shot her an irritated glance before looking back to the data slate. "But we have other problems right now."

Kenyatta opened her mouth to unleash another salvo, but Ivy nudged her with an elbow, shaking her head. Something was very wrong here. Something that was somehow even more important than their discoveries.

"Kelso," she said quietly. "What's going on?"

For a moment he didn't answer. The others exchanged uneasy looks; Sergeant McKaine dragged fingers through his short buzzcut of hair.

"The Liaison Post," he said eventually, his expression grim as he scanned his data slate. "It's gone."

Ivy recoiled in surprise. "What do you mean it's gone?!"

"Something happened with the delegation they sent." He shook his head, placing the slate down on the table and looking at them. "There was an explosion on the Scraegan side."

"Bloody Rivers," Kenyatta gasped.

"One of ours?" asked McKaine, his gruff voice tight with worry. "Somebody fired on the Scraegans?"

Kelso shook his head. "They're still sorting out the mess, but it looks a little more complicated than that."

"What do you mean complicated?" Ivy blurted, her gut twisting with terror. "What happened? Ryke was out there! Is he-?"

"He's okay, he's okay," Kelso said quickly, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. "From the reports, they managed to get about three quarters of the personnel off site." As his hand fell away, however, his expression darkened again. "That's not really our biggest problem right now. That explosion, whatever happened, it kicked off an old-fashioned shooting war over what was supposed to be the only place we could actually talk with the Scraegans."

McKaine folded his arms tightly. "Casualties?"

"From the initial reports, plenty, on both sides."

"Everflowing River," Samsfield swore. "What happened?"

"I don't have all the details." Kelso exchanged a bitter glance with McKaine. "But initial intelligence reports indicate an explosive device was detonated on the Scraegan side of the plateau."

"What kind of explosive?" Ivy asked.

"Incendiary ground-cracker. Something like twenty or thirty kilos."

"That's a home made Scraegan buster." She pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut as the ramifications slammed home. "So you're saying some extremist drowner bombed the Scraegans?"

"It looks that way."

"By the Watching Lords," Kenyatta murmured, shaking her head in disbelief. "So... so what does that mean?"

"Are you saying we're back at war again?" Specialist Cammara blurted shrilly. She pointed outside the tent. "Because if we are, in case you haven't noticed, there are a lot of Scraegans right there!"

"I know that!" Kelso's eyes flashed angrily. "But the best thing we can do right now is stay calm. I don't have any official word on whether all Scraegans are now being considered hostile targets. So far I've not had any orders deviating from our current assignment." He glanced towards the tent flap warily. "We proceed on mission, for now. And hope that the Scraegans think that obelisk out there is as important as we do."

She followed his gaze, listening to the faint, ever-present rumble of heavy footfalls and growling voices. "If we know what happened at the Liaison Post," she said. "We've got to assume that they do too."

"And seeing as they haven't levelled this place yet," Kenyatta interjected, "maybe they're not sure what to do either."

For a moment no one spoke. A silence descended, sizzling with a million worries. Ivy fiddled nervously with a screwdriver from her belt, turning it between her fingers as she considered their options.

The one she came up with didn't fill her with confidence.

"I think the longer we shut ourselves in here, the worse it could get," she said, looking at Kelso. "Maybe we can get ahead of this."

He smiled thinly, straightening up. "You volunteering?"

"Only if it's an order."

"What are you talking about," Kenyatta snapped. "Volunteering for what?"

Kelso sighed. "To talk to the Scraegans and see just how deep this swamp is."

Ivy's winced. The idea filled her with a gut twisting sense of dread, but she didn't see that they had a whole lot of options. She glanced at Kenyatta and gave a fatalistic shrug.

"You in, Captain?"

Kenyatta sighed. "I suppose so."

"Then let's get this over with." Kelso held up a hand as McKaine started for the entrance of the tent. "Not you, Sergeant."

"Sir?" A baffled look flashed across McKaine's face.

"If this all goes to the Rapids then someone's got to execute our evac plan."

"With all due respect, sir, if this goes wrong I don't think our evac plan's going to be much use."

"It's better than nothing." Kelso clapped the big man on the shoulder. "Get everybody ready, and if this goes wrong, don't wait for my order. Just go."

McKaine's brown furrowed grimly but he saluted, military discipline overriding any personal feelings he might have had. "Yes, sir."

"The rest of you," Kelso said, gesturing to the group. "Come with me."

*

Ivy felt like if someone struck a spark the whole cavern would go up. The Blackwater guards were doing their best not to look to threatening, but she could see fingers resting on triggers, nervous eyes flashing to the Scraegans at regular intervals. A pair of thjck tarps covered up concealed heavy guns behind one of the main tents, and she could see the attending squad nearby, looking as casual as they could.

Shoving the fear right down into the base of her stomach, she stepped up alongside Kelso, looking up at the looming presence of the Alpha. It scrutinized them with those black, pit-like eyes, one great paw resting on the pommel of its immense axe. The head of the weapon rested on the ground, but she knew it could swing into motion with fearsome speed.

A retinue of heavily armoured and armed warriors lurked nearby, exchanging low growled words with each other as the human delegation approached. So far no one had started shooting, which gave her a sliver of hope for this not turning into a total bloodbath.

"No matter what happens," Kelso said quietly as they walked. "Everybody keep calm. We are here to make them understand we are not a threat. We have bigger things to deal with here."

"We need to buy time," Samsfield agreed. "The things that the engineers have unearthed... we can't lose that to war – not now!"

"Then we show them everything," Ivy said. "Let them see it all for themselves."

Kelso nodded, but their conversation ended as they came to a halt in front of the Alpha and its retinue. The huge Scraegan's lips curled back in a silent snarl as it looked at them. A nearby warrior let out a snort, its furnace cannon swaying back and forth. Ivy could smell the scorched air of the idling weapons, ready to spin up and fire at a moment's notice.

If they chose to do it, she supposed it would be quick.

Kelso lowered his head to the Alpha, gesturing for the others to do the same. Ivy followed his lead, inclining her head respectfully. Alongside her, the big communications screen they'd wheeled along for the exchange flashed into life. Its speakers growled out a basic Scraegan greeting.

The Alpha considered them for a moment. Its massive chest rose and fell in a sigh of such force Ivy actually felt the Scraegan's breath shove against her slight frame. With its free paw it pointed at them. The paw clenched, palm upturned, them the claws unfurled sharply.

Miming an explosion.

Kelso nodded, his movements exaggerated to make sure the Scraegans could take in his full meaning. Then he nodded to Ivy.

"Play the recording."

She tapped one of the buttons on the labyrinthine control board below the screen, and the queued video flashed into prominence. It was a tinny, poor resolution camera view of the Liaison post, just moments before the blast. Ivy couldn't look at it. Even knowing that Ryke had made it out, she couldn't watch the absolute chaos that was about to unfold.

The explosion came, crackling thunder coming out of the screen and a great column of dust splurging into the top right portion of the screen. For a few seconds frantic yells mingled with Scraegan roars. The thunder of gunfire and furnace-cannon blasts filled the recording for a few more seconds before the screen went dead.

Silence lingered on the plateau. The Scraegans watched and waited. She thought some of them looked incredulous, as though daring the humans to explain themselves. Though she may just have been imagining it.

Kelso pointed at the screen, mimed an explosion, then pointed to himself.

Then he shook his head.

Not us.

The Alpha let out a dismissive grunt, shifting its stance slightly. It was enough to make Ivy twitch and it took all her concentration not to step back from the huge beast. She squirmed internally and stood her ground and rattle of growls and barks echoed around the assembled Scraegans.

They didn't sound convinced.

"We'd better show them the dig site," Ivy advised, not taking her eyes of the Alpha." Show them what we found."

"Do it."

Another button push brought up a projected stream of hastily assembled images from their latest discovery. The room was gloomy and the temporary lighting didn't exactly make for great photography, but she hoped the Scraegans would get the gist of it. The camera shots from Capicza panned around, showing off the blue lines of lighting and the massive darkness that seemed to disappear into endlessness.

A disconcerted rumbling passed through the Scraegan ranks.

Ivy took that as a cue to press on, keying another command into the comms slate. The screen changed, instead now showing an equally hastily transmitted map of the area they'd managed to explore so far. She pointed at the display, then back at the great dark scars in the cavern wall that marked where the human excavation teams had penetrated.

"Back there," she shouted, her voice high and cutting through the low hum of background noise in the cavern. "We found something and we have to keep looking." Ivy gestured to their surroundings with a sweep of her arm. "All of us."

She had no idea how much of the human language the Scraegans understood, but she hoped they would get some of her meaning. The Alpha's eyes shifted from the screen to fix on her with such intensity that she thought she might burst into flames. Its nostrils flared; one of the nearby warriors – a Beta with jet black fur and carrying a mace of dull metal – let out a stream of grunts and growls.

The Alpha's gaze narrowed. Its paw shifted to grip the pommel of the axe properly as it stared at her. Ivy swallowed hard and stood her ground. Then it made a sweep with its free paw to the cavern, before thumping that paw against its chest.

A small grunted command was given.

The Beta rose to its full height and snarled something to the accompanying warriors.

"What's happening?" Kenyatta whispered.

"Just wait."

The Scraegan troops began walking towards them and Ivy tensed, ready to run for her life, no matter how futile that might have been. Their weapons remained lowered, however, and the warriors moved slowly, eyes scanning the human line as they went. The Beta trudged right past them, sparing the delegation a lingering glance before it carried on.

"What are they doing?" Samsfield asked.

Kelso ignored him, speaking quickly into his earpiece. "Forge-CCD to all security units. Stand down, I repeat, stand down."

"Sir?" McKaine replied.

"That's an order! Stand down! Nobody shoots at anything. Nobody move."

Ivy looked at him in confusion. "Kelso?"

"I think the Scraegans want to take charge of the dig, Ivy," Kelso explained as the warriors lumbered onward. "And we're going to let them."