The decision weighed heavily on Kai. Splitting the team in this alien, hostile environment was a tactical nightmare, but the thought of Breaker attempting the fragile catwalk was out of the question. The alternative route Roric mentioned would delay them significantly, giving whatever defenses Aurelia Station possessed, or whatever else lurked within its depths, more time to become aware of their presence. His Draconic Energy Reserves were at 86%, the stress of the infiltration a slow but steady drain.
"Alright," Kai said, his voice firm despite the tremor of apprehension he felt. "Shift, you and I will attempt the catwalk. Secure a high-strength tether from your kit. If it holds for you, I'll follow. Breaker, you'll have to backtrack and find that parallel service corridor Roric and Elara identified. It's a risk, but we need to keep moving towards the control hub. Maintain constant comms. If either team runs into serious trouble, we abort and regroup at the shaft entrance. Understood?"
"Understood, Leader," Breaker rumbled, his expression grim. He clearly didn't like splitting up, but he also recognized the logic. "Be careful, both of you. That thing looks like it'll crumble if you breathe on it too hard." Shift nodded, already pulling a compact, high-tensile synth-fiber cable and a series of magnetic grapples from her utility belt. "I'll test every section before committing my full weight. If it's unstable, I'll signal immediately."
The System pinged Kai: [TEAM COHESION CHECK: Decision to split team in high-risk environment – Suboptimal but tactically justifiable given current constraints. Leadership responsibility increased. Operative Shift (Phase Spider Anima – Technical Aptitude) suitable for high-dexterity traversal. Operative Breaker (Gorgon Anima – Physical Resilience) better suited for alternate route assessment.] [Draconic Senses (Kai): Detecting increased metallic stress groans from catwalk structure. Advise extreme caution.]
Shift, her movements economical and precise, began her precarious journey across the catwalk. It was a narrow, rust-eaten strip of metal, perhaps a meter wide, spanning a chasm that dropped into impenetrable darkness. She used her magnetic grapples to create temporary anchor points on the far side where possible, testing each section of the catwalk with her foot before trusting it with her weight. The silence in the junction was absolute, broken only by the faint scrape of her boots and the creak of stressed metal. Kai and Breaker watched, their breath held.
Halfway across, a section of the catwalk suddenly buckled under Shift's foot with a sharp, metallic shriek. She cried out, her body lurching, but her reflexes, honed by years of navigating treacherous urban environments (and perhaps subtly enhanced by her nascent Phase Spider Anima's spatial awareness), were incredible. She threw her weight back, catching herself on a still-solid section, her magnetic tether to a nearby conduit holding her fast. "Unstable section!" she gasped into the comm, her voice tight. "Nearly went over! There's a gap of about two meters now. I can try to swing across using the tether, but it's risky."
"Negative, Shift!" Roric's voice cut in sharply from Epsilon. "Abort catwalk traversal. Too dangerous. Breaker, your alternate route is now primary. Kai, assist Shift in returning to your side safely." Kai didn't hesitate. He moved to the edge of the chasm, his Draconic Senses helping him find secure footing. "Shift, can you swing back towards me if I give you a counterweight?" "I think so, Kai. But the anchor point for my tether is on the far side of that gap now."
This was where his own unique abilities might come into play. He still had his "Claws of the Shadow Drake" and his enhanced strength. "Hold tight, Shift," Kai said. He focused, activating his claws. The obsidian talons slid from his fingertips. He reached out, his arm straining, and with a surge of his Draconic Strength, he managed to drive his claws deep into a seemingly solid section of the ferrocrete wall near the edge of the chasm, creating a new, makeshift anchor point. "Clip onto this if you can reach it!"
Shift, seeing his improvised anchor, nodded. With a carefully controlled swing, using her own agility and the momentum, she managed to unclip her tether from the far side and re-clip it onto the loop Kai had formed with his embedded claws. Then, with Kai and Breaker carefully pulling on the synth-fiber cable, she made her way back to the relative safety of their side of the chasm, shaken but unharmed. [TEAMWORK SYNERGY: Successful improvised rescue. Operative Shift: Minor stress, no physical damage. Conduit Kai: Draconic Claws utilized effectively as anchor point. Anima Energy Cost: Low.]
"Catwalk is a no-go," Kai reported grimly to Roric. "Too unstable. We're proceeding with Breaker's alternate route." "Acknowledged, Kai," Roric replied. "Elara is re-routing your projected path. Be aware, this will take you through older, less documented sections of the station. Expect potential structural hazards and unknown environmental factors."
The detour led them into a series of even narrower, more oppressive service crawlspaces. These were clearly not meant for regular transit. Pipes, thick with centuries of corrosion, snaked across the low ceilings, forcing them to crouch. The air was thick with the smell of decay and something else Kai's Draconic Senses registered as [Trace Biological Contaminants – Fungal Spores (Potentially Toxic)]. Their rebreathers would protect them, but it was another unsettling reminder of the station's hostile environment.
Breaker, despite his bulk, moved through these tight spaces with a surprising, if lumbering, grace, his raw strength allowing him to shift obstructing debris or bend weakened conduits out of their path. Shift, her earlier near-fall clearly on her mind, moved with meticulous care, her sensors constantly scanning for structural weaknesses or hidden dangers. Kai, his Draconic Senses on overdrive, took point more often now, his ability to see in near-total darkness and pick up faint sounds or smells proving invaluable in navigating the treacherous crawlspaces.
After what felt like hours of claustrophobic progress, crawling over collapsed sections and squeezing through impossibly narrow gaps, they finally emerged into a wider, more conventional service corridor. This one, however, was different. The walls were lined with banks of ancient, dark consoles, their surfaces covered in a thick layer of dust. Faint, ghostly images still flickered on a few of the cracked monitor screens. And in the center of the corridor, partially blocking their path, was something that made all three of them freeze.
It was a nest. A massive, intricate nest, woven from stripped conduit cabling, metallic debris, and what looked like… bones. Large, unidentifiable bones. And from within the nest, they could hear a faint, chittering, clicking sound. The rhythmic thrumming vibration they had felt since entering the station was stronger here, almost a palpable pressure in the air. The System's earlier warning flashed in Kai's mind: [Unidentified Rhythmic Vibration (Deep Structure – Source Unknown), Unidentified Large Biological Entity (Possible).] It seemed they were about to identify at least one of Aurelia Station's silent, ancient residents.