Chapter 2: The Bunker

It was almost quiet, only the chirp of lizard-birds filled the air. Two of the small hydromelon sized creatures, with rows of sharp dagger-like teeth took off, spotting a small Rattz. Gracefully they glided towards the unsuspecting meal. ZZZZZ-SPLAT! The blades of a Narodan Hov-aero sliced through the oblivious hunters.

"Geez 'Props', what did they do to you?"

'Props', the generic name given to any Hov-aero pilot, turned his head to face the leader of the group in which he was currently transporting. "It's worse than you think. My kids have two of those things back home. How can I go back and tell them that I ran over two of their pet's cousins?" Laughter spread through the cargo section of the Hov-aero as 'Props' grunted. "Sure… Laugh it up."

"Ok. That's enough teasing for now. We should be entering the target area in a few minutes." 2nd Primary Cynar said, her pale blue eyes eyeing the rest of her group. Outside, dense forest quickly turned into an arid wasteland. Tens of years of war damage was still visible, partly demolished buildings stood amongst concrete fields. The remains of crashed aero-boomers littered the landscape. Pieces of Pureblood Aero-fighter drones intermixed with said debris. Below them, fellow Narodan's crawled over the solemn grave markers in search of bodies, most often only finding skeletons, the flesh eaten away by scavengers.

The Hov-aero quickly made its way deeper into the wasteland, till it came to a complete stop over a large lake. "Lady Cynar, we're at the target." General Electro-Manip, a polite way of saying hacker, Kylex said.

Cynar's eye twitched. He had started calling her 'Lady Cynar' two years ago when he was assigned to her squad. Kylex's parents were the original source of the Pureblooders bunker locations. The reason how they knew where the bunker was quite simple, they were Pureblooders that switched sides near the end of the war. They had switched sides for a very simple reason. Not because they were losing but because of Kylex. He was born naturally, not genetically altered in anyway. Even though he was born naturally, Kylex was not trusted mainly due to the origins of his parents until Cynar requested him. She thought that she could bridge the gap of trust between Kylex and the rest of the Narodan people.

Cynar glanced out the open side door of the Hov-aero to the dark blue waters below and bit back a curse. Seven years of rain and Spryng runoff had filled in the crater, resulting in a Naro-made lake. "'Props', take us down and land twenty meters from the edge of the lake. We need to do some checking before I can make a call." The twin prop Hov-aero tilted to the side and gradually reduced altitude, the back-wash kicking up small rocks and dust as the vessel landed at the indicated area. Reaching up, 'Props' flicked a few switches, which in turn cut power to the blades. Another switch caused both wings to angle back, pushing the engines towards the tail assembly. "Thank you for flying Naro aerolines. Please don't forget to tip your pilot on your way out." 'Props' said with a hint of mischief in his voice.

The first one out was 2nd Secondary Tynith. "My in-flight snack was stale." Tynith ducked as a helmet was tossed at his head. "Hey! You said you wanted a tip." Grabbing the helmet from the ground he stood aside as Cynar clambered out of the Hov-aero and onto solid ground. Following her was Kylex, with his arms full of electro-devices. Shaking his head, he grabbed one of the pads before it hit the ground. "Kylex, you don't need all of this stuff right now."

"But…" Kylex started.

"No, we need to check everything else first; as well as find a way into the bunker." Varvara cut him off. 3rd Secondary Varvara exited the Hov-aero, grabbing her bag off the rack above where she had been sitting, made her way towards the water twenty meters away.

"That's what I brought you for Varvara, think you're up to it?"

"Please, this is nothing compared to my last job." Varvara opened her bag and pulled out a needle filled with a nasty puke-green liquid. Quickly, she jabbed the needle into her thigh and dispensed the contents into her blood stream. Once the needle chamber was empty, she stripped down revealing a reinforced pressure water suit and proceeded to dive into the murky water below.

Kylex turned towards Cynar, confusion etched on his face. "Lady Cynar, what was that she just injected into herself?"

"It is a fluid that prevents bubble-blood. Only a few Narodan people are compactable with it." Cynar turned towards the now gently ripping water edge. "Varvara's task it to see if the water being kept out of the bunker and if it is, we can go in."

"We don't have to pump the water out?" Tynith asked as he approached.

"No, there is always an access from up here. We just don't want to attempt entry if it is flooded. If it is, only then will I call in the pumpers."

Varvara glided through the water, her lithe body slicing through the dark murky water. Years of Nostoc incursions made the water a sickly green, lights from her pressure suit barely penetrating. Eventually she reached the other side of the lake, a quick check of her wrist told her that she was 254ft below the surface. Varvara fished out a small vial of bright orange from her back waterproof pouch, the vial shattering within seconds of contact with the water. Shattering was normal as it caused a larger dispersal of the tracer. Slowly she turned, holding her place in the water, her lights lighting up the soft-like rubble around her.

Suddenly a glimmer caught her attention, a slight glint in the distance. As she made her way over, more details came into definition. Rows upon of rows of eggs; some intact, other cracked and leaking a mucus like substance. Slowly she approached one of the cracked ones, her hand reaching out towards the polycrylux, wiping away the nostoc from the surface. A Eurodan face stared back at her, bloated from years of submersion. She pulled back as fast as she could, her eyes now seeing what was truly surrounding her. What she though was rubble was the remains of hundreds of Eurodans. She then felt something land on her shoulder, unconsciously her head turned to meet the pasty, peeling skin of a floating -and detached- hand. Wordlessly she screamed, bubbles bursting from her mouth as her rebreather came out, thankfully still attached via a cable.

It had been 30 minutes since Varvara started her descent. During that time, Tynith had found the access port, hidden as yefisa cover of all things. Now they just needed to hear if the remaining bunker was dry from Varvara.

It was Kylex that first noticed the bubbles signifying that Varvara was on her way back. Varvara broke the water surface, her face white.

"Varvara, are you okay?" asked a slightly panicking Kylex.

"I'm fine," she replied, hands tremoring beyond her control.

"Is the bunker dry?" asked Cynar.

"Yes Ma'am. Just…"

"Yes?"

"Don't make me go back in the water anytime soon. I will never un-see what I have for a while."

Sorry this took so long to update. My computer BSOD'd on me and I thought I lost everything. Turns out I had it backed up on a USB… Fun part of writing this was trying to figure out unique words to use as I don't see the Narodan's using the same words as us so the spelling 'errors' aren't… btw, Nostoc is an actual thing it turns out… and I used it correctly :P