Ziv looked to Kassandra when she spoke up, giving a smile and a nod. Ah, someone agreed with him. He appreciated her spirit in it, too. He glanced to Chum for a moment and shook his head. "We could, but I don't see that working. It would be no different than this tiny group going back to our wrecked landing site. A few scouts to see what the mess is, the bigger portion of the soldiers would wait for word about it. It wouldn't help much in the end." He commented. He didn't see them truly all going to investigate something like that.
He looked to Pete and crossed his arms, raising a brow. "I didn't say to steal it without us." He stated simply. In fact, his words were pretty indicative of waiting for them to regroup before doing that. All he suggested was a few to scout a ship to steal, not to actually do it yet. He looked to the map now though- oh that would have been helpful before. He nodded to himself afterwards though. "Our crash landing isn't that far, we will not be long to go back and grab the damn thing. Just wait here if you're that determined, but I do think we have to go back and get it, whether you want to wait for us or not." They sort of need it, after all.
Besides, if they did it the way Pete seemed to misunderstand him the first time, it still wouldn't be that bad since the tiny group of four no doubt would be at least halfway back to the rest of the group by the time they even get to the hole in the ground, from the way Pete is talking. So they wouldn't be waiting long for their ride anyway.
Pete sarcastically laughed to Ziv's suggestion of waiting, "And have Hayagen's mercs come knocking down my door? Your 'device' may be important, but you're forgetting you set a damned forest on fire, every goddamn ship from the atmosphere could probably see the smoke. You go back there, you'll have to traverse a still burning forest, more mercs than what you fought last night, or worst case scenario, artillery strikes from space if they decide you're better off dead and making a new crater on this planet is worth it."
"Then we'll get the ship first." Another voice spoke up behind Pete. The man dressed in a bat suit had finally emerged once more out of nowhere, addressing everyone with that same cold, emotionless tone of voice. "What's the likelihood of your ship being discovered by the mercs?"
"Uhhhh, pretty likely, I guess? It was near a river." Alec answered.
"When the mercenaries kill liabilities, what do they do with their equipment?" He asked Pete next.
"Keep it. I imagine Hayagen would want to see if they can reverse engineer it, I've seen them load crates of stuff onto ships whenever they find it." Pete answered.
"And the ships themselves, do they have any gunships?"
"Few here and there, mostly dropships."
"Do the gunships land in the base to refuel?"
"Of course."
"Then we head to the base first. If they have found your ship, then we can check the base to see if the device is there. If not, we go to wherever your ship crash landed." That is if the ship didn't get even more destroyed by the T-Rex that attacked it, or burn in the fire, or even if some smaller dino found its way inside and took it. "But we can't afford to go back, either in a larger group or split in half. Those mercenaries will try to track us down after last night, and going bask only risks it without better protection from them, like a ship. For now, we go forward and try our luck. Otherwise, none of us will get off this planet." Batman told everyone. Right now, they needed to be together, and while a device to travel between universes was important, finding a ship to use it on was more important.
Alec wasn't gonna argue against it. As long as they got moving. "Alright then. Let's go jump down a giant hole." Alec remarked jokefully, standing up from his seat. "Pete, you have any more guns?"
Pete gave a genuine snicker, before putting his empty can of beans down, and walking into one of the other rooms in his house. There were several shotguns and assault rifles laid out on the floors, with plenty of ammo clips, magazines and bullets on a spare bed. "Take your pick. Since we're not coming back, grab as much as you can, because we'll probably be in for a hell of a fight." He grabbed a double barreled shotgun, opened it to check both barrels, closed it, then chucked it to Kassandra to catch, since her little spear would probably be stupid against fully armed mercs.
But, Batman caught right before she did with one arm extending out from his cape. "She'll be good without one." He told Pete, before throwing it back to him and glancing over to Kassandra over his shoulder. After last night, he knew the Spartan was better off with her spear than a gun.
"Suit yourself," Pete said back after catching the shotgun. "Shall we?" He asked them all.
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SEVERAL MILES LATER:
Hours would pass once they started trekking across the region. They ventured forth through dense woods, steep hills, and unsteady terrain. It was a long, tedious affair, but one that ended with a spectacular sight once they reached their destination. Esa'Milne Cave.
The bottom was barely visible if anyone looked down. They would have a chance to rest for a few minutes before they descended, but there was a question to that.
How would they?
Pete had one answer. Two parachutes, and climbing rope. "Now, I'll be honest, I was hoping one of you could fly." Pete said aloud as he put the stuff down. "That would've been helpful, because there's only enough rope to reach down halfway. And these," he pointed to the parachutes, "I managed to get by luck. Two pilots jumping out a craft that got hounded by pterodactyls, then eaten by a pack of raptors when they both got stuck in the trees on their way down. Shoots are in good enough condition, so those who aren't afraid of a jump can take the easy way. Otherwise, everyone else will have to try out luck by being creative with the rope once we reach the halfway point."
