Nearly an hour had passed, and still nothing. The wind bit at my normally perfect skin, and I resisted the urge to lick my lips. It would only make them drier, I scolded myself. Even with three layers on and my overcoat, along with a standard trooper's winter head protector, I was freezing. Yes, the landscape, or what I could see of it, was breathtaking, but it would be far more enjoyable on a couch with a cup of recaf. I was so cold, I didn't even entertain the baroness's presence on my lap in that scenario. Merely being warm would suffice. However, I had an example to set for the men, and two of them lay brutally murdered in the snow. I would walk around stark naked if it meant capturing the bastards that did it any faster. 

I tore my gaze from the verdant slope of the mountain to my companion. Specialist Elara had turned back too, lasgun in her hands and her figure almost a silhouette in the tempest of snow around us. It wasn't a true blizzard, but the incessant uptick of wind and the flurries of snow made it seem like we were caught in a storm. I saw a small tuft of strawberry blonde hair sticking out of her head covering as she approached, her eyes on mine. 

"Clear, sir." She acknowledged, having to pull the cloth off her lips to do it. I did the same. 

"Let's find Colfax and the others and turn back. Get another shift out here. I want to investigate a bit in the house, anyway." I told her, glancing past her to the manor, which was all but obscured by the weather. 

"Sir, if I might make a suggestion." Elara said. I nodded, allowing her to speak. She continued: "Whoever killed Klane and Merkaba is likely someone from the house, but they seemed to know where they were. Sure, they could have gotten lucky, but it seems prudent to make some false moved in the vox broadcast, just in case they are listening in." 

I pursed my lips. It was a longshot, but the suggestion wasn't without complete merit. After a moment, I shrugged. "As good an idea as any. Good job, specialist." 

"Permission to accompany you inside sir, when you do. You'll need back up." She looked in my eyes with her own blue orbs, boring into them. I knew what she needed, and it wasn't what I needed. Still, some troopers deserved a few moments indoors, and despite her flirtations she was good at what she did. Plus, Morek would be with me, anyway. "Alright, but only-" 

A scream was heard on the wind.  

The both of us turned, trying to gauge where the sound originated from. Specialist Elara seemed confident it came from the west, and we both double timed it, lasguns at the ready as we passed by a pine and a huge mound of snow at its base. As we did so, we heard another scream, sounding like the same voice, but it suddenly seemed far, far away. Almost out of earshot, yet in the same direction. Impossible, I thought. Unless the attack had a snowmobile, they couldn't have assailed the same man in two different locations. 

Suddenly Elara grabbed my jacket, and for a moment I was about to snap at her. A man was dying, desire could wait! But as my momentum halted, I realized the white blanket of snow was about to send me headlong down the mountain. Elara managed to pull me back from the brink, but as I caught my balance, I saw a carved out section in the embankment of snow. Two of them. One was larger than the other, and out of the snow, we saw the butt of a lasgun sticking out, and droplets of blood marring the otherwise perfect white of the landscape.