Reconnoitre

     Keeping to the bank so that we remained hidden, we thought it was a better idea to navigate our way around to the West a little further before coming up to the main level where the bridge joined the land. We couldn't hear any voices or any other form of activity, but it still wasn't worth taking the risk. We had passed the towers on this side of the bridge, and assuming there were guards posted in those as well, we continued on until looking back we could barely see them through the fog. Once we were confident that we were safe enough to emerge from the lower area, we scaled the slightly steeper bank and made our way quickly into the cover of some nearby trees. I was kind of glad that we had only managed to get four of us across at this time, especially when you consider that three of us still had the rifles, leaving COLUS to protect everyone else single-handed. In hindsight, maybe that wasn't a good thing...

"Now what? Do we wait for the others?"

"We need to recon the area for HoN Co. presence, which, considering the bridge has recently seen activity, is likely to be quite high. We need to remain hidden and look for what we're likely to come up against so that when they make their way across, we can fill them in without any wasted time."

Heading back to the East in the direction of the bridge, we began to scale a small hill to gain elevation for a better look over the area, using the trees as cover. Luckily there were quite a few to obscure us from any prying eyes, provided they didn't have any guards wandering around in the wooded area, looking for intruders. In addition, the thick layering of snow in this area was helping massively by masking our footfalls. We had to reduce all sounds that we made so that we could scout out the area undetected, and we welcomed anything that helped us in that way. We started to notice a thinning out of the trees, as the hill slowly levelled off and reached its apex. Near to the top, we were able to make out a structure in the distance; it was large and grey, and smacked of HoN Co. ... They had something about grey, stone walls. Clinical and boring, and only useful if it was functional. There was no room for fanciness anyway!

"Look! Down there..."

As the hill began to slowly head back down towards the building, we stopped behind one of the last trees, and peered down to where Joe had pointed. Below us was some form of stone building, more of a shack really. It was hard to see what or who was in it, but judging from its shape and size, and location with regards to the rest of the area, it seemed to be a guard post. It flanked the left side of a cobbled road, which ran to our left and right. The left ran towards the large structure we had seen from a distance away, which look like a hanger of some type. Whilst the right direction took it back towards the bridge, presumably connecting up to the towers. We were more interested in the hanger however; it loomed over the road like a giant beast, and it wasn't until I began to look at it more closely that I realised the road didn't stop by heading into it. It ran right underneath it, and steadily lowered itself into the ground!

"It must be an outpost for troops and transport heading into and out of the HQ."

"So this is the only way to get to the island? Through that...?"

"I can't say for sure, but it would make more sense now that I think about it. Why have a dock and a large number of boats and ships set up for a comparatively short journey when you can tunnel underneath the water and meet up to the island on the other side... It would allow for greater through traffic in bot directions."

As we continued to watch, an almost silent gliding noise was heard, and then a large section of the road raised up just where the guard post was. A guard emerged from the shack, holding a clipboard, and was looking in the direction of the bridge. Following his gaze, we saw a whole load of guards coming across from the South where the bridge was, towards the guard post. They stopped short of the barricade whereupon the guard holding the clipboard moved towards them. There were muffled voices, a few hand gestures and a handshake before the clipboard guard turned back, headed into the shack and the barricade lowered again. The guards coming from the bridge strode over the now lowered barricade and towards the tunnel, where the quickly disappeared from view.

"We'll have company with us if they have as many guards as that coming through. Our life is going to get a little more complicated than we had initially thought, but we never thought this was going to be a cake walk..."

UOPETA pointed back towards the way we had come and we disappeared back into the line of trees. We would have to find a place to settle down whilst waiting for the others to come across, and we'd have to be careful about the supplies brought along with us; aside from the bag I had, Joe and AMPHIS had brought one additional bag each, so we weren't in desperate need of provisions.

---

     It had grown dark by now and we had established a small camp on the very edge of the new island. We had moved some distance away from the guard outpost, but we had continued due West as per COLUS' instructions. If they made it across any time soon, they should have no trouble finding us, especially with THEROS with them. I was still a little worried about Amie though, but I snapped myself from the concern, telling myself that she was perfectly fine with the others. I had to stop thinking of her has a weak, naive woman when she was probably more strong-minded than me!

"What do you think we'll find when we get through that tunnel and into the HQ?"

"IF we get through the tunnel, IF! Well it'll be like SERVERE says: a load of labs, guards, civilian scientists and experiments to worry about. Then there's the actual structures they're hiding the Eyes of Ender in, so we're likely to encounter a few hostile creatures in there, especially if they have their Affinitas cage technology up and running by then..."

"Rather a pessimistic view, don't you think AMPHIS? I never struck you as the pessimist..."

"I'm not usually, but I'm looking at it realistically. We can't be sure of any of this stuff, so thinking about it with a level and logical head is a lot better than fooling yourself into thinking it'll be a breeze."

"Provided we stick together, work as a team and remain hidden, it should be. The civilians are unlikely to pose a threat directly, so tranquillising them with the rifles isn't crossing any moral barriers.It's the guards we have to worry about..."

"And the CCTV that SERVERE mentioned. I reckon one of our top priorities is going to be knocking out the CCTV in a way that isn't noticeable. We've already been split into teams, so if we send one off to neutralise that first, the rest of it should be a lot easier."

"Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that... Maybe you're right..."

"Well I know one thing for sure; we're going to need our sleep if we're to be going through all of that within the next few days, so we'd better start now."

With that, we all settled down for the night, hoping that we wouldn't have long to wait for the others to come across the bridge and join us. Let's hope HoN Co. gave us an excuse to use the lowered bridge for the others to cross it tomorrow!

Syeonyx signing off