Deep within the gloomy interior of the valley, the lighting grew progressively darker, with only sparsely distributed bioluminescent fungi and moss providing a bleak illumination. They traced the outlines of the rugged crags, casting flickering, erratic shadows. The air here seemed completely stagnant; the roaring of the waterfalls was sealed off by the stone walls, becoming distant and muffled, leaving behind only the subtle friction of equipment and heavy breathing as the contingent advanced.
Guided by Osiris and the faint signals captured by the scanners, the team advanced cautiously along the valley. Those massive Toruk claw marks appeared periodically on the rock faces, serving as a reminder of the latent threat. Everyone held their weapons tight, fingers resting on the trigger guards, their gazes systematically scanning the rock walls overhead and the dark corners ahead.
"The signal is strengthening!" Falco's lowered voice carried a trace of excitement, sounding exceptionally clear in the silent passage. "Right behind the corner up ahead! Both the metallic signature and the faint energy readings are pointing there!"
Osiris raised his hand, signaling the contingent to halt. He closed his eyes, once more deeply retrieving the memory fragments belonging to Celtic. The visuals flashed: navigating past a narrow passage, an opening to a cave obscured by massive stalactites and dangling vines, and behind that opening—the cold reflection of metal.
"At the end of the passage ahead, there is a cave opening obscured by vegetation. The objective is inside the cave." Osiris opened his eyes, his tone definitive. "Maine, organize a reconnaissance team. Reynolds, establish an outer defensive perimeter. The Ironclads will provide fire support; bear in mind that the space inside the cave might be limited."
"Understood." Maine nodded, gesturing to Dorio and Rebecca.
Forming a delta vanguard, the three of them crept forward soundlessly. Meanwhile, the two Ironclad mechs took heavy strides to occupy advantageous positions on both sides of the passage, their weapons platforms locked onto the pitch-black entrance ahead, primed at a moment's notice to provide devastating fire support.
The Hellfire squad fanned out rapidly, leveraging the natural rock formations to establish a perimeter line, their muzzles tracking every vector from which a threat might manifest. Standing slightly behind Osiris's flank, Asuka held her breath, her eyes unblinking as she watched the silhouettes of Maine's trio vanish into the shadows of the vegetation at the end of the passage.
She could feel her heart rate accelerating. This was an entirely different sensation from the security of being enveloped inside a massive machine while piloting her EVA; it was a far more direct, raw exposure to a hazardous environment, triggering a rush of adrenaline and tension.
Osiris, conversely, appeared extraordinarily placid. Standing behind relatively secure cover, his sharp gaze observed the environmental details of the cave opening. Celtic's memory fragments aligned with high fidelity against the sights before him, validating the accuracy of the intelligence. Yet, he did not relax in the slightest; the closer one drew to the objective, the higher the probability of encountering terminal defense mechanisms or unforeseen hazards.
Maine's lowered voice came over the communications channel: "Cave opening confirmed. Heavy vegetation coverage; there is a faint luminescence inside, making it impossible to visually discern the deeper areas. No obvious biological signatures or trap mechanisms detected. Preparing to enter for reconnaissance."
"Maintain your vigilance and advance progressively," Osiris responded.
A brief silence ensued, filled only by the wind howling outside the valley and the faint echo of rushing water. Every second felt exceptionally drawn out. Everyone's attention converged on that dark cave opening.
Suddenly, an extremely faint, but absolutely non-natural low-frequency hum—resembling the standby noise emitted by some machinery—drifted indistinctly from within the cave!
"There's movement!" Asuka's acute hearing caught it, and she immediately lowered her voice to warn the team.
Almost simultaneously, Maine's voice erupted once more, laced with a trace of tension: "Target spotted! Repeat, target spotted! The interior space of the cave is massive—I can see it!"
A sharp gleam flashed across Osiris's eyes. He pressed his communicator: "Describe the situation."
"A ship... an extraordinarily bizarre-looking starship. Spindle-shaped, roughly fifty meters long, with a matte metallic finish and intricate geometric patterns on its surface. Portions of the hull appear to be fused with the rock—or rather, did it actively embed itself into the rock face? There are traces of structural damage on the hull, looking like... it was rammed or clawed by something." Maine's voice carried a sense of disbelief. "An open access hatch sits at the stern section, with light projecting from the interior! The humming sound is emanating from inside the hull!"
An open hatch? Hull damage?
Osiris's brow knitted slightly. This deviated marginally from the information he had extracted from Celtic's memories. Within the memories, the starship was intact and resting in a concealed standby state. Had something transpired around the window of Celtic's death? Or was it that the memory fragments themselves possessed discrepancies or omissions?
"Are there signs of life? Or... other indications of activity?" Osiris pressed, his tone remaining even but his delivery accelerating slightly.
"No life signs scanned—wait!" Maine's voice suddenly spiked. "The rock wall above and to the flank of the cave opening! Something is moving!"
Everyone's hearts instantly leaped into their throats.
"It's Stingbats! A massive swarm of them! They were attracted here by either the sound or the light!" Dorio's urgent voice cut into the channel.
Stingbats—small, wyvern-like predatory organisms common to Pandora, typically operating in swarms and possessing a fiercely aggressive temperament!
"Prepare for engagement!" Sergeant Reynolds's roar echoed through the passage.
Almost the exact moment his words fell, a black, oppressive shadow with wingspans stretching nearly two meters descended like a storm cloud from the rock wall above the cave opening. Emitting piercing shrieks, they dived straight toward Maine's trio, who had just been exposed at the cave entrance!
The Stingbat swarm arrived with extreme suddenness. Resembling a grey tide of death, they poured down from the shadows of the rock face, their razor-sharp talons and fangs glinting with a cold light in the gloom as they converged with definitive intent upon Maine, Dorio, and Rebecca at the cave mouth!
"Fire!" Maine's reflexes were lightning-fast. His arm instantly spat a scorching plasma beam, detonating the two leading Stingbats midair into a flying spray of searing flesh and fragments.
Dorio and Rebecca opened fire simultaneously. Every shot of Dorio's precise semi-automatic fire punched cleanly into a Stingbat's skull or cardiac region. Rebecca, on the other hand, was far more unhinged; the heavy rotary cannon hoisted over her shoulder let out a deafening roar, a metallic storm instantly shredding a cluster of Stingbats into fragments and briefly clearing a small pocket of space.
However, the volume of Stingbats was simply too immense. They leveraged their sheer numbers to compensate for their baseline individual combat metrics, surging forward wave after wave while utilizing agile flight patterns to launch assaults from varying vectors.
"Fall back! Establish a defensive line!" Sergeant Reynolds roared through the squad channel.
The soldiers of the Hellfire squad immediately concentrated their fire toward the cave opening, their dense plasma beams weaving a network of fire to stem the momentum of the swarm. The two Ironclad mechs also opened fire with full force; Valerie utilized her rapid-fire cannon to deliver area-saturation coverage, while Jake focused strictly on neutralizing individuals attempting to dive-bomb from higher elevations.
The passage was instantly saturated by gunfire, detonations, the shrieks of the Stingbats, and the thuds of them crashing to the earth. The lighting flickered dynamically under the discharge of the energy weapons, and the air rapidly filled with the sharp tang of gunpowder and blood.