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Chapter 04: Gate

After launching from the Grey Squall the team reformed around Graham's red headed Jack before proceeding deeper into the ocean.

Sosuke looked at his heads up display and frowned. "Actual, my sonar hasn't activate-"

Before he could finish reporting the fault a hollow circle appeared in the right hand corner of his HUD with three dots displaying his teammates positions.

"Scratch that. It's online now."

It had been a recurring problem with Sosuke's Jack. It was probably down to the fact that, like all of squall company's deep frames, it was a custom. This tended to bring a few issues for the OS.

"How long has it been going on for?" Graham asked.

"I think it started about a month ago. I thought it was just a one-off."

"I'll ask Reiji to look into it." The comms officer stated. "We don't want our marksman to be killed by a equipment fault."

It was a valid point. Sosuke had seen and heard about soldiers that had been killed because their gun jammed or their blades broke.

"Thank you. Over." Sosuke replied before turning his focus from his exchange to the view courtesy of the APVS system.

Sosuke could just see the mountain as a small faint silhouette against the dark blue back drop that was the sea. All three of his squad-mates were in front of him; Graham at the front and centre followed by Sarah to his left and Eugene who had his right flank.

Of course the deep frames weren't alone as they propelled themselves through the water; the ocean is alive after all.

A pair of blue backed sharks swam past the squad. The sleek hunters seemingly unperturbed by the mechanical giants. Shoals of glitter scale fish could be seen above them, the sun light reflecting off their silver scales making them look like a living shimmering wall.

The tranquility was interrupted by Eugene. "Sooo. Does any one what's for lunch?"

Sarah groaned in annoyance. "Eugene. Are you seriously hungry already?"

"Hey! I know for a fact that I'll be hungry by the end of this. So I'm-"

Sargent Walker's justification was cut off by a long, deep moan which could be felt faintly resonating throughout each of the Jack's cockpits.

"Was that a leviathan?" A tinge of panic entered Eugene's voice.

A dark shape was visible against the blue water. Sosuke's thumb pushed a slider mounted near the end of the left control yoke. His view began to magnify, soon he was able to see what the shape truly was.

It's was shaped like a fish but it was easily the size of dreadnought class ship. It's tail fin was shaped like arrow head. It was coved with thick, armoured scales not dissimilar to those found on iguanas that some ark residents kept as pets. It's grey coloration gave it the appearance of rock; it seemed that some plant life had been fooled by this illusion as greenery could be seen growing on it's back.

"Mossback; approximately 10 kilometres from our position; judging by it's current bearing it will probably continue north and exit the area of operation."

There was a short silence before Graham spoke up; "even if it's passive and heading away from the area, a leviathan is still a leviathan and therefore a possible risk. Eugene! How long until we reach comms relay depth."

"We're nearly there Sargent Major. In fact we will reach 700 meters in three, two, one."

Sosuke watched a cylinder like device, which was about a meter in length, detach from the back of Eugene's deep frame. The relay propelled itself upwards of a few seconds before it stopped and maintained it's depth.

Today is going to get interesting Sosuke decided as he turned his Deep Frame's flash light on.

**********

It had been about a quarter of an hour into the operation which had, for the most part, been uneventful. The Mossback had, as Sosuke predicted, left the area of operation. While the leviathan would have left them alone, if it did panic for whatever reason it would prove a very real danger to everyone in the vicinity.

The mountain came into sight. Back when natural dry ground wasn't so rare, this shark tooth shaped rocked would have pierced the sky, but it wasn't tall enough for it's peak to rise above the oceans that now coved the land. Instead of shrubberies the rock was dotted with fluorescent moss which turned light blue under the Deep Frames' head mounted flash lights and Coral which looked like leafless trees.

"Spread out and alert me as soon as you find something." Graham commanded. Sosuke and his comrades answered Graham with some form of acknowledgement before they split up and began to search the mountainside.

Sosuke turned his deep frame's head back and fourth as he search for anything that might betray its where about, the metallic titan's flash light offering more than amble illumination.

It was about after fifteen minutes of drifting fruitlessly through those dark waters before Graham's voice sounded over the comms. "Team: regroup on me. I've got something here."

Sosuke checked the sonar. Graham was westward from his position. Sarah was closing in from his east while Eugene was approaching from the north. All three would gain visual in a few seconds.

"Umi 1 this is Actual. Could you describe what your seeing."

Sosuke spotted Graham's Jack standing in front of what looked like a wall of neon blue light, behind it was a massive passageway which could accompany something which was about the of size a Deep Frame.

"I've found a passageway." Graham said as Sosuke's Jack descended, it's feet connected with the ground with a muffled thump. "It looks artificial but I can't tell because there seem to be a barrier of light between us and it."

"One second. The expert is on the bridge. I'll ask her about it." The comms officer replied.

Sarah's and Eugene's deep Frames touched down next to Sosuke and Marcus. Even though he couldn't see his teammates' faces, Sosuke knew that each one of the pilots was gazing at it with anticipation.

"Alright; who's betting that the objective isn't in there?" Eugene questioned.

"I think we all know the answer." Graham replied. "It's there."

It was only after a few more short moments before the comms officer returned with the verdict. "Maria says that it you should pass through it safely, it was only designed as a decontamination field."

"Hold on a sec; I'm going to test that theory." Sarah's deep frame crouched down and picked up a small boulder from the ground. She then began to approach the glowing barrier before she pushed the rock into it. The stone simple passed though it with no resistance. She pulled the rock out and checked if it had changed in anyway with her deep frame's optics. "It's safe." She announced after she dropped the rock and allowed it to sink back through the water to the rocky floor.
"Alright, I'll take point followed by Sarah, then Sosuke, then Eugene." Graham announced as his deep frame advanced towards the entrance.

The three others nodded their deep frame's heads before following Graham in to the tunnel. One by one the mechs walked through the decontamination field. As Sosuke passed through he felt goosebumps raise all over his body but the feeling quickly passed.

"Crap. That felt weird." Eugene muttered as he stepped through the field before the group began to advance through the tunnel; their mech's heavy footsteps echoed off the walls.

The group did not yet know that this place was not completely abandoned. Something in the darkness skittered...