A Romantic Meeting

Water dripped around them as the party made its way through the mountain passage. Dustin had hoped they’d escape the snow that capped the peaks by taking the underground route to their meeting point with the Durathisian rebels, but it seemed nature had other ideas; melt water coming off the icy slopes filtered through the rock above them into dripping stalactites that in some places formed great columns they had to dodge around, and in others were short enough to just drop near-frozen liquid down the back of his neck.

Tugging his collar in tight against his skin for all the good it would do, he walked on. The others didn’t appear to share his discomfort; Yril’k moved like she had been born in caves like this, and knowing what he did of Vex’ess larva it was entirely possible she had. Defia had taken one look at the dripping water, pulled her uniform under a surface layer of Fractal mass and now allowed any drips to simply run off her body - essentially, she’d waterproofed herself.

Macch and Linth meanwhile had apparently been this way before, and were better dressed for it. Their packs had been carefully angled to move most of the meltwater away from their bodies as they pressed on by torchlight. As Dustin grimaced at yet another drop finding a gap to chill his neck, the smaller of the two aliens raised a hand to signal a halt.

“Got to be careful over this next bit. There’s a little bit of a ravine we need to cross, nothing too major but you occasionally get rockfalls from above. Take it slow, the jump’s less than two feet, you can basically step across if you watch your footing,” Macch said, before leading them around the corner.

There was indeed a bit of a ravine. A bit, in that while it was as the spy had said only about twenty inches across so all of them could just walk over the gap, it also extended as far as Dustin could see into the gloom both to the sides, and worryingly also up and down. Moving as carefully and quietly as they could, the crew of Sola crossed the easily traversable void, though no-one spoke until they were quite some distance further on.

“Statement. That was a significant fissure in the rock. Should we be worried about the mountain sheering off above us on the return trip?” Defia asked, her red eyes glancing all around her in the gloom. Dustin wondered what exactly she was seeing beyond the pools of torchlight, but didn’t have time to ask before their guides replied.

“Not a significant worry.” Linth’s rumbling voice was somehow hushed here, in this space deep underground. “The first time Macch and I came this way I did some scanning. The immediate rock isn’t very stable which is why we moved fast and quiet, but behind it there’s a layer of solid stone that’s far more sturdy. Drop an explosive there and you might cause some real damage, but limited chance of a naturally occurring landslip.”

As they progressed onward in silence after the big man’s remarks, Dustin tried not to think about the fact that limited chance was a very different thing to no chance.

The light at the end of the tunnel was a literal and figurative relief as they finally reached their rendezvous point. The trek through the caverns had taken the best part of the day, and Dustin wasn’t surprised to see a similar portable heating device to the one he carried set up in a sandy cave ahead of them. Two figures - a man and a woman, he could tell from the shape of their shadows - were seated close together, their motions indicating that the group had caught them in the middle of preparing dinner.

As Dustin and the others approached, the pair scrambled hastily to their feet - before visibly relaxing when they saw Macch. “Greetings, agent. We’ve activated a sound dampener so we should be free to talk. Who are your friends?” The male Durathisian’s voice was far warmer than Dustin was accustomed to from their species, and the uncanny-valley face was actually smiling.

Introductions and explanations followed quickly. The two rebels - Terbuk and Jilana - were romantically entangled. It had begun as good cover, allowing the pair to sneak off for a night in the caves with nothing more than sarcastic comments and raised eyebrows from their fellow scientists on their return, but over time had developed into an actual love for one another. Their relationship seemed quite sincere and caring, despite the pair not seeing eye to eye on everything.

Terbuk was aligned with those seeking better ethics for science on Durathis, while Jilana (who spoke only briefly and in a soft voice that made her lover smile) was the local representative of the pro-galactic council faction among their people.

With the introductions done, Dustin and Macch both reached the conclusion that since they had all night thanks to the rebel’s cover story, the important talk could wait until after dinner. Or at least, during it. So, additional cooking equipment was set up, food was heated, and soon the small gathering sat with bowls in hand, wolfing down the portable ration packs to satisfy the hunger of their journey underground.

“So, you’ve not heard from your agent since they sent out that data packet?” Dustin asked, fork halfway to his mouth as Jilana and Terbuk updated them on the current situation while they all ate.

“Correct.” Terbuk sighed and set his empty bowl down. “When they routed the data through to the resistance they said they were going to have to go dark for a while. We can only hope that they have fled and are in hiding or have not been discovered at all yet. Every precaution was taken to not allow the data in that packet to fall into the hands of the authorities, but it only takes one leak. With the level of information, it wouldn’t be hard to figure out a shortlist of people that could have gathered it.”

The group sat in silence for a moment at that, before Jilana coughed, drawing their attention. “Regardless of whether the operative is still alive or not, we have confirmed that you are who you say you are as Macch vouches for you. Which means we can move forward with the mission.”

Yril’k twisted her head at an uncomfortable looking angle from where she was leaning against the wall as she gave the Durathisian her full attention. “Mission’k? We believed you’k would need to speak with’k your superiors first?”

The two rebels glanced at one another before Jilana shook her head. “We sent out a coded missive when Macch made contact. They replied faster than we’d expected, and with a clear objective in mind. We’re authorized to give you the run down on the facility where that data packet originated. The request is simple - see if our operative is alive, and if so extract them. If not, eliminate the facility with extreme prejudice.”

Macch chuckled at that, causing all eyes to turn on the spy. “Not a bad introduction. Get to see how capable the humans are at the same time as potentially rescuing an otherwise burned asset. Assuming your operative is still there of course. Either way, we’ll need details - my people don’t have anything beyond an approximate location for that lab.”

Dustin frowned, but nodded in agreement. “Regardless of anything else, we can’t let a weapons facility working on Fractal matter continue to function unless there’s a really good reason. This works for us. What can you tell us about the lab?”

Terbuk grinned and rose from the circle around the heater, moving over and rummaging in one of the packs propped against a wall of the cave. “More than you’d expect, less than you’d like. We’ve got the location, automatic flight path if you can’t find a route manually, and schematics of the outside. An approximate plan of the interior too, although that may have changed - high command likes remodeling those labs regularly. The resistance’s best guess at the resupply schedule; the war keeps those changing but it’s as accurate as we can make it. And…” he paused, glancing briefly at Jilana who nodded before he continued “…a method of contacting our operative if you get inside the facility, if they’re still alive.”

Dustin took the datachip the Durathisian offered him with care before handing it to Defia. Her eyes flickered slightly as she ran a hand over it, then allowed the device to sink into her body; in terms of safe places to keep it until they returned to Sola, there were few safer than physically inside the rogue Fractal. Turning back to Terbuk, Dustin glanced between the two Durathisians before asking a question that had been bugging him. “You both act a bit weird whenever the operative is mentioned. Do you know them?”

Jilana’s intake of breath told him his guess had been right, and he turned to her. Terbuk’s face looked stormy, but the woman waved it away. “It’s alright, love. If she’s alive, they’ll find out when they meet her. If they’re actually against us, giving them her contact signal is a death sentence anyhow. We’ve got to put some trust in the humans, or what are we even fighting for?” With a grimace, she returned her attention to Dustin. “We… well, I know her. If she’s alive, please… please save her. She’s my sister.”