The lead soldier was very still for a moment, presumably as he weighed up this alien...Vreta’Sori’s account. Freyr saw light reflect off a set of cuffs that one of the grunts behind them had pulled out, but the leader motioned for them to stop. He looked at Freyr. “Is this true, Doctor?” She nodded. “As far as i know. The bit about the creature certainly is.” An abrupt sound of rending metal stood out from the gunfire in the distance. Freyr looked in the direction it came from but could see nothing in the pitch black. Several of the soldiers turned to scan the area as well.

The lead soldier considered his options. Grabbing a large, high powered comms device with an aerial off the vest of the soldier next to him, he called into it. “Cradle Actual, come in, over.” Silence. “No good Sarge, Control is still dark. Some kind of interference.” The soldier he’d taken the device from reported. The sergeant groaned, changing tack. “Dagger One, this is Dagger Nine, we have wounded and a UAL, heading back to the rally point now.” He gave the comms device back.

“Ok, we’ll escort you to the trucks and raise Control from there. Don’t make me regret not cuffing you.” He directed the last comment squarely at the alien. “Lets move, eyes on a swivel!” He shouted, turning around. As one, the soldiers began making their way back to the hole they’d made in the side of the warehouse. An automated, hovering stretcher bearing Major Osman passed by Freyr. Soon after that, a firm hand encouraged her to move forward with them.

About one hundred meters from where they’d stood, a large rent in the metal wall of the warehouse had been blown open. They climbed through it all together, the soldiers in formation around the stretcher, Freyr and the alien. They turned left, and headed in what Freyr could only assume was the direction of the office buildings. 

She could still hear gunfire, but it seemed more distant now, and muffled somehow. She glanced at the alien. The poor thing seemed to have lost some teeth, and was bleeding from its snout. Now the initial shock had passed, Freyr’s mind drifted back to the beginning of the encounter. She shuddered as she remembered the creature’s composite construction. What did strike her as odd, now she thought about it, was what the alien and the creature were doing together, when she first poked her head around the door. “When i came in...were you talking to that thing too? I heard noises. What did it say?” Freyr asked.

The soldier in front of her tried the massive walkie talkie again. “Dagger One, this is Dagger Nine. What is your status? Over.” This time there were static, and low warbling noises. Then suddenly a faint voice. “[i]krrrrr[/i]fall….got[i]krrrrrrrr[/i]...run!” The comms device went dead again. A few of the soldiers looked at each other. “Pick up the pace!” The sergeant urged.