That's no Mountain... It's a...

<snip>
“Right people, lets hustle, we have to take out that other base.” Jay said, ushering everyone out into the night air. Slowly on the horizon, the faintest glimmer of light was appearing, turning the night sky almost imperceptibly lighter blue. “If we want to use the darkness as cover we have to move now.” He said, looking up at the sky.
</snip>

The air outside the facility felt different to everyone, with the psychic field gone. Yes, there was still the potential for aliens with their optical camo keeping them from sight, but at least there was nothing to make them go crazy any more.

Eve looked around, now the Gibbles were nowhere to be seen. Proof positive of them being a hallucination, some might say.

It was going to take the rest of the night to get to the foot of the mountain, but everyone seemed to make good time. everyone kept their eyes peeled though, the few weapons the group had were with those who had the best training, and the most suited for such weapons. Jamie had a pistol, given that his other arm was still wounded, a rifle would have been cumbersome and inaccurate.

"Hey, Jay." Jamie said, as they crouched near a ruined wall, guarding them from the sight of the remains of a road.

"What?" Jay asked, a little harsh given they didn't have much time, but happy for the break for the others to catch up, and catch their breath.

"Look over there." He said, gesturing, rather than pointing. A hazy patch of air in front of them meandered down the road. It didn't seem to pause, in the way you'd expect a being to if it had seen someone or something, but the fuzziness vanished as it moved into shade from the beginnings of dawn.

"huh." Cass said, seeing it as well. "I think they're using older camo technology, the first versions always had problems with dawn and dusk."

"That means," Plisken said, kneeling down next to them. "We have a tactical advantage. We should take notice of this, and move forward at an increased pace. They may not be aware that we know of their weakness."

"Agreed. Double time from here? We can get there before daylight if we move now." Jay said, looking for acceptance from the others, and they gave it.

The stars on the horizon were beginning to fade from view as daylight changed the hue of the sky. The burning orb of day was still behind the hillside from their perspective, giving them a bit of extra time. The collection of Dwarfers bolted from their cover, and made a strong move down the street. The fuzzy form they had seen before reappeared, and had obviously noticed them this time. As it moved towards them, Plisken was the first to react, raising a rifle and loosing a single shot that knocked the creature to the ground, its camouflage kicking back into full power as it lay beside a wall that blocked it from view of the impending sunrise.

It wasn't long before they reached where the holographic map had shown the secondary base.

"There's nothing here?" Jacky said, looking around. "Are we sure it was on this side of the hill?"

Jamie knelt down in the dust. "It is here. Look." He said, pointing out some footprints in the dust, just ahead of them. They appeared to vanish into thin air, with half a footprint still visible a few yards away.

"Optical camouflage for the base?" Cass said, voicing her thoughts.

"I'm no engineer." Jade said, "But wouldn't that take a lot of energy?"

"There's no telling how big a power supply they have here. They don't need to power engines, or life support..." Jamie hazarded, but Plisken stepped forward, having more experience with this place.

"At the height of its use, it would have had enough power to shield the entire base from view, even the surrounding town. It has probably degraded in output since then, so it can only extend this far." He said, his brow furrowed in thought. "The fact that it still works this much is surprising."

"So, we walk in?" Jay said, confident in his question in a way that only Jay could manage. Everyone rallied, and once again, the armed members of the team stepped in first.

"It's not a mountain..." Jamie said, eyes open wide as they entered the stealth field. Everything was now visible to them, and it looked more like a huge bunker with multiple missile pods atop it. Many aliens shuffled around it, loading more missiles onto the launchers, half of them were aimed up into the air, and half of those were already loaded.

"They look like they're aimed at the Dwarf..." Cass said, making the mental calculations.

"I concur. Their angle is conducive with an atmospheric target." Kenneth said, having made the same calculations.

<tag people. We can't get a ship down to take us home until this place is dealt with.>