John's group was proceeding to the First Haven's location at an expected pace and did not face any trouble throughout their journey so far - it was the calmest ride major had since arriving at the New Gaia so far.
- Not sure how well do you remember this area, major - sarge Szarak spoke, turning to Marlow - but once we pass through the forest over there, we should see the rock formations encompassing the camp.
- I do have the map based on reckons we did before, so I pretty much get the position, though I wouldn't know about the exact visuals of the camp - John replied to Stan, adding notes on his PEC - I haven't been here for a while now. Anything worth knowing, sarge?
Szarak scratched his beard, thinking for a moment.
- Quite a big perimeter was secured already after your departure to the Industrial Caves, so we will reach safe zone way before passing the walls errected around the camp. Glitter's Ursus was moved to a different spot following the colonists creating the wall, so she can observe the area all around much easier, thus we can expect her to be the first one to contact us once we appear from within the forest. Overall, the place is starting to look like a proper settlement.
- Sounds impressive - major said after sarge stopped talking - I'm amazed they managed to work so fast without much machinery available. After all, Colonel McRae ordered us to take most of the advanced equipment with us.
- That's true, but at the same time, there was several people from science team staying behind, and there is more than few capable engineers among the colonists from what I heard. Needless to say, the team they have around is the reason for them managing the place that well. Having said that, I don't think it will be easy job to take even more resources from here.
John sighed - even before Stan brought up this topic, he was well aware of the situation. Ryan originally consulted with the colonists about the size of the group staying in First Haven, which seemed reasonable back at that time, thus most of people in the settlement would expect the situation to remain stable as before, and here the group heading towards the camp was supposed to pass a message about another site requiring more support.
- You don't have to tell me that, sarge - he said to the man in a bitter voice - Colonel is right about the Industrial Caves being an important place we need to secure and investigate. I do agree with that. However, I look at it from the science guy's point of view and colonists, who are looking for a place to settle, may have a different perspective. More than that, I'm sure they are going to have an opinion other than mine.
- Well, we are supposed to pick up a number of soldiers and most of science team members. There will be lots of complaints. I just hope things won't turn violent.
Marlow agreed on that with a nod and felt that McRae shared that concern - if it was not the case, he would not put mostly soldiers in this convoy. Whatever colonel was thinking, major hoped they can reach their objective without issues, even though having been separated from his most trusted people was not really setting his mind at ease. At least, he felt that he could trust sarge Szarak.
After this short conversation the two men had, their convoy entered the forest which was the last obstacle on their way towards the open plains leading to their destination.
From the tactical perspective, this area was the last problematic spot for the group - contrary to open plains, it was easier for potential dangerous creatures to attack them, not only because of it being easier to hide, which was of course also the case, but mainly due to maneuverability being limited among the trees hard enough for brawlers to get totalled upon collision. In this situation, they changed the formation, having savages take the front line to monitor the situation and alert the brawlers about any obstacles on the way.
Due to the situation, Stan decided to take over the driver seat - it was a standard procedure to have two drivers each time the team was sent out and sarge was more experienced one among the two hence it made sense to have them swap for the final stretch.
The other driver, corporal named Robert Stalsky, sat next to John, his face showing a visible relief - the man could not be blamed for letting others see his exhaustion as Stan was unable to spend that much time behind the wheel, being the squad leader, who had to coordinate the travel. Obviously, being a major, John had the highest rank in the whole group, but it was common to leave the field duties to lower rankers, hence Szarak was obvious choice, also because it was his squad to begin with. Besides, it worked perfectly fine for Marlow, who - while being an officer - considered himself to be more of a scientist and a researcher rather than soldier.
Route they were following through the woods was rough - after all, none of the paths was hardened yet, so the vehicles were running on the regular soil, making it a bumpy ride, where everyone had to hold on in the seat as to not get hurt.
- Too bad we don't have any hover vehicles at our disposal right now - corporal Stalsky commented, holding tight in his seat - Having to rely on the wheels in these conditions is not perfect.
- Well, if that so, wouldn't any flying unit work better? - major Marlow asked him - Much faster and we wouldn't need to break through the forest like that.
Robert blushed a bit, shook his head a bit, then bowed as much as sitting position allowed him to.
- I apologize for complaining like that, sir - he quickly said, being mindful of his rank - I know that given the situation...
- No need to worry - John interrupted him - I do agree that different transportation would be better, though each one has disadvantages based on the circumstances. I've mentioned flying units, but I'm aware that flying creatures and electromagnetism of the planet may prove deadly to such vehicles. Having said that, between two of us, I do prefer hovering vehicles relying on gravitional force, yet usage of these was expected to be quite limited on this planet, thus we did not have that many to begin with. Either way, we should be grateful that a number of brawlers managed to survive and we don't have to travel in savages or on foot.
- You are right, sir, it could have been worse for us here - corporal agreed with a nod - I did not have too many chances to pilot an SVG, but it does feel rough around the edges, so I wouldn't like to swap with the guys there for such a route.
- Yeah, it's not comfortable to spend lots of time inside, I can assure you - major told him, remembering the day they landed and how he had to fight for his life - Still, one of these saved my life so I shouldn't really badmouth them. I guess, safety came first, even if at the cost of one's comfort.
Moments later, Stan suddenly hit the brakes, triggering emergency signal, and everyone could here heavy gunshots for a few seconds before one of SVG pilots communicated:
- We noticed movement between the trees, but could not get a proper visual as there were no heat signatures. Activity seems to have ceased. Should we check the area?
Sarge Szarak turned to Marlow.
- What is your opinion here, major? - he asked.
As usual, John would have preferred to be treated as a scientist rather than an officer, but - given the circumstances - he had no other choice and decision ended up being his. While he was in fact interested in what pilots of savages noticed, there were several reasons he did not want to send them to investigate.
- Let us proceed to the settlement - he replied to sarge - We have a clear objective for this mission and I don't want to take unnecessary risks. Of course, register all the data we have about this encounter so we can review later on. Also, have one of savages take a position at the back, just in case.
- Noted - Stan said with a nod and then communicated with the pilots - We are to proceed with the original route, but change the formation. Albert, you move to secure the back.
- Roger that.
They continued traveling through the woods for about fifteen minutes after that event and were already close to leaving the area, when they suddenly stopped again. However, this time it was not as abrupt as before owing to brawler's safety systems triggering - everyone immediately noticed that the reason was lack of energy. Moreover, short exchange among the soldiers made them realize it was not a minor malfunction of one of the vehicles as both brawlers and savages were immobilized.
- Major, we have no energy out of a sudden - sarge Szarak was reporting, keeping his composure, yet visibly worried - I tried to restart the system with manual override, but it is not working. Backup energy source is not reacting too. Others are reporting the same, both brawlers and savages cannot move right now.
- How are your PECs? - major Marlow asked in return - Any issues with them?
Stan shook his head.
- Nothing that I would notice - he replied - I was able to communicate with others all fine too.
John used his own PEC and also did not run into any issues that could hinder functions of the implant. Ultimately, after running diagnostics, he let a sigh of relief and spoke:
- Good thing PECs didn't get broken, so we can use them for comms when we will be checking the engines directly. Have people gear up, we need to spend some time outside to see if repairs are possible. Worse case, we will continue on foot and attempt to get in touch with the First Haven once we leave the forest.
As the team was gearing up, a loud noise echoed, followed by one of savages' pilots shouting about being attacked and subsequently there was no contact from the man. Because of this sudden occurrence, the second pilot was instructed to retreat to the closest brawler, while people staying inside where to scan area with PEC support, using turrets as vantage points.
Within minutes, they realized animals in the area are behaving abnormally and the state in which SVG of pilot who could not be contacted was, suggested something collided with it - most likely the mecha falling down abruptly could have affected the person inside. Still, this finding was reassuring to the group since they knew it is not an organized attack.
- Ok, we need to make savages operational again - John started talking after gathering everyone inside one of the brawlers - Since we don't have that many resources to safely take care of both at the same time, we will first focus on the SVG up ahead as it is the closest one and we know the status of its pilot. Four soldiers will be securing each side of the mecha, while me and one more person will work on fixing it.
Due to personnel shortages, each convoy usually had a single mechanic deployed among the regular squad, which was also the case for the one Marlow was traveling with. Fortunately in this situation, major's presence meant they had two people to work on fixes.
At first, John was considering splitting himself from the military mechanic of this squad to act faster, but ended up going with the plan ensuring better safety of the group. Besides, working on SVG fixes required a specialist knowledge and was usually handled by mechanics in pairs. Of course, they could try involving the pilot instead of the mechanic for portion of the work, yet potential complex issue would lead to an unnecessary delay in such a scenario. To put it in simple terms - Marlow went with a safe option here.
Only a few minutes from reaching one of savages, his decision turned out to be the correct one - not only dismantling of the energy core's outer armor was much faster with two people working on it, but no visible traces of damage inside required an extra pair of eyes to figure out the source of the probelm. Unexpectedly though, even the thorough manual check of the components was not bringing any sensible results.
- Honestly, I'm close to giving up - major openly complained after checking yet another circuit that proved to be undamaged - I cannot find any problem with power supply. Everything is intact and somehow the power cell looks dead. I don't know...
- Major, look out...!
John dodged at the very last moment, avoiding a hit from a heavy herbivore similar to a weird child of an elephant and a hippo with a thick, armored skin. The animal was reeling, visibly struggling at keeping a proper balance - it was hitting a number of objects in its way and looking as if it was hurting.
As the animal bumped into SVG, which fell as a result, it let out a loud sound and started running away in an awkward manner into the direction Marlow's group was proceeding from. Surprisingly, its unusual behavior stopped at some point and the animal stopped reeling, picking John's attention, who dropped working on the power cell and started observing the animals which were feeding not so far from the spot where the vehicles had to stop.
Focused on the movement of these creatures, after some time spent on analyzing their activities, John noticed something that seemed to be a pattern.
- I have an idea I would like to test - he told others - If it is the way I expect it to be, I may figure out the reason why the cells are not working.