The pyramid was huge, rising up from the dense surrounding jungle in 
defiance of nature herself. The monument was surrounded from base to tip in 
scaffolding, the metal from which it was made causing the scan reading to 
fluctuate.

"I’ll bring us in closer," Lysander told Patroclus as he banked the shuttle. 
"Cut the structural survey, and pick up visual scanning."
As the craft moved around the pyramid, the pilots saw that large trenches 
had been dug around it, and surrounding these were a liberal number of small 
dwellings. Amongst these was a landing area, with a large H emblazoned upon 
it. Lysander cocked an eyebrow at Patroclus, who shrugged.

"Sergeant Diomedes," Lysander addressed his com-link. "Are you seeing this?"
"Aye, Sir," Diomedes voice sounded loudly in the Captain’s ear-piece.
"Good. I’m taking her in. Secure the perimeter. Immediate take-off on your 
clear, then I’ll slow circle the complex."

"Roger that."

**
Diomedes regarded his troop as they prepared their weapons. None looked 
nervous, but then he reasoned, why would they. The complex was deserted, as 
the life scan had revealed. However, complacency was an enemy in itself, and 
he did not let his eyes leave the soldiers, measuring their concentration 
levels, their commitment to the job at hand.

"Two teams," he growled. "Me, Andromache, Thalia,  and Militades will be 
team one. Thalia will take point with the drainpipe," he used Infantry slang 
for the Heavy Laser that the gunner wielded. "Ajax, Sinon, Kassandra and 
Pausanais will be team two. Kassandra, you got the drainpipe and the point. 
Hippias, get up to the turret and man the main gun. Helena," he swung 
towards the squad’s youngest member. "Get to the front you’re driving."

Kassandra, switched her unlit fumerello from one side of her mouth to the 
other and grinned wryly, watching Helena scramble forwards. "Thanks a lot, 
Sarge."

"Pausanais will head up team two," Diomedes ignored her, unsure as to 
whether she was thanking him for the dubious honour of point duty or letting 
the green Helena drive the LandRam.

"Stand by sixty microns," Lysander cut his thoughts short via the comlink.

"You heard the Captain," Diomedes said. "Sixty microns, people. Pausanais, 
my team is first out of the bag, you have back up."
"Yes Sergeant."

The time for words was over suddenly as they felt the Shuttles hydraulic 
struts touch down. Instantly the back of the flier popped open, and Helena 
gunned the vehicle down the ramp.
Daylight flooded the rear compartment from the front, and Diomedes angrily 
pulled the cuppola door closed, cursing Helena for her forgetfulness. SOP 
was to keep the rear and front of the vehicle sealed at all times.

"Anything, Private?" he called into his com-link.

"Nothing, Sergeant," Helena’s accent had an Achaean lilt to it, marking her 
from the north of Sparta. "Nothing at all."

"Let’s take a look for ourselves," Diomedes decided. "Pull us around to a 
good disembark point, then move off to cover us."

"Roger that." After a few microns the Land Ram jerked to a halt.
Pausanais pulled the main doors to the ATLR open, and the first squad 
disembarked, filing out behind Thalia. Outside the climate controlled 
vehicle, the heat was intense, the air heavy with humidity.
As they split and headed for cover, in the form of seemingly ancient 
transport cases and other rubbish that was strewn around the complex, they 
could hear the cries of unknown creatures echoing to them from the jungle. 
The foliage itself stopped abruptly some way from the open ground on which 
they now stood.

Diomedes scanned the complex, forcing himself to ignore the gigantic pyramid 
that dominated the area. Time enough for that when he knew the perimeter was 
safe.

The dwellings that Patroclus had seen on his structural survey were in 
disarray; doors hung open, the contents of them strewn about the "road" 
between them and the pyramid. Several large vehicles were also present, 
evidently designed for digging the large trench to their left.

"Search by twos," Diomedes spoke quietly into his com-link. "Thalia, 
Militades, you’re up." Without comment, the two moved away from the 
containers behind which they crouched and headed towards the first building.

"Second squad, move up, twenty metron spread to facilitate grazing fire." 
Diomedes then jerked his head at Andromache. She nodded, and the two rolled 
from cover, following Thalia, their weapons poised.
Thalia hefted the drainpipe as she approached the door of the first 
building. The squat, single floor construct was made of some type of soft 
stone material, evidently pre-fabricated. Milatades joined her, his back 
flat to the wall of the building. She nodded, and he reached over and pushed 
the door open.

Thalia moved forward, her body tense with adrenaline.

Nothing.

The interior was small and in disarray, tables and chairs overturned. What 
appeared to be an archaic computer was smashed in the corner of the room. 
She shrugged and moved backwards.

*
"Anything?"

Diomedes glanced back at Andromache, shaking his head. "Clear." Like every 
other building they had been into so far. He was about to move away when a 
gleam of metal caught his eye from under a fallen  desk frame. "Hold on."

The big Sergeant crouched and hefted the wood out of the way; a tarnished 
handle protruded from the floor. "Cellar," he commented. Andromache nodded, 
and pulled her rifle high to her shoulder, aiming the weapon directly at the 
opening. "On three," Diomedes reached forward.

"No wait!"

"What," the Sergeant spun round, both eyes and gun barrel seeking.

"Did you mean one, two, three go or one, two, and go on three?" the med-tech 
was grinning at him.

"Secure that felgercarb, private or I’ll have your back striped down to the 
bone. Then we’ll see how frakkin’ funny you think this is."

Chastened, Andromache swallowed, managing a quiet "Aye, Sergeant."

"All right then. Go on three."

The Sergeant nodded his head once. Twice. On the third, he pulled the 
trapdoor open, and rolled back, wary of any booby traps that may have been 
set. There was nothing but silence.

Andromache peered down; a metal ladder lead downward into the blackness, but 
from her angle it was impossible to see anything else. She shook her head at 
Diomedes, who hand signalled her to go down and investigate. She nodded and 
slung her rifle. Gripping the ladder, she placed her boots on the outside of 
the rail, and slid down the hole.
The slide was short, and upon hitting the ground she tucked and rolled, 
bringing her rifle to bare.

The room in which she had landed was dimly lit, but, she could see now, 
expansive. Huge panels of working electrical equipment were fixed into the 
four walls, emitting the occasional "beep" or whirr. Soft blue lights 
flashed up occasionally on the some of the display panels.
The centre of the room had a number of flat tables spaced equidistantly from 
each other; some were empty, others had what she assumed to be animals on 
them, but these were mercifully covered by grey blankets.

"It’s clear down here, Sergeant, but we had better investigate this when 
we’ve finished our sweep."

*
"The place is deserted," Diomedes told Lysander.

The Captain had landed the shuttle when the Infantry had secured the 
perimeter of the complex. The squad now stood in the largest of the surface 
buildings, having cleared a makeshift conference area.

"The inhabitants were definitely of some sort of human stock," The Sergeant 
went on. "We have seen several images…they’re not holographic…they’re 
printed on paper. Here," he produced a photograph of a man and woman 
standing together in front of the pyramid. "They are all like that." He 
paused to light a cigarette. "Given the digging equipment we saw outside and 
the animal skeletons in the sub-lab, I’d have to assume that this was a 
research outpost. Archaeological, maybe."

"Makes sense," Lysander concurred.

"The only thing I can’t work out is why they left in such a damned hurry," 
Diomdes said. "Every dwelling still has personal effects – clothing and so 
forth. Why would you leave a scientific site, and not take your clothes?"

"Perhaps they ran out of supplies…or a sickness of some sort. Did you find 
any humanoid remains."

Diomedes shook his head. "No, nothing."

"The sub-lab the Gamma Signal source, Sir," Milatades broke in. "That much I 
can tell you. The equipment runs on nuclear power…it could have been this 
way for a hundred yeharns, and we wouldn’t know."

"Can you make anything of the data on the computers?" Patroclus wanted to 
know.

"No, Sir. Everything is in a strange language. Even if we could get all this 
gear off planet and back to the "Gaia" for analysis, what we uncover could 
be as much gibberish as the orignial Gamma Signal."

Lysander got to his feet, mulling the information over in his mind. If they 
had time, they could investigate this more thoroughly. But time was of the 
essence; he could not chance a longer mission window, as each imerai would 
take the "Gaia" further from them. Each micron wasted meant the Fleet got 
further from the "Gaia…" And, he reasoned, what did they have here? Too many 
questions and no answers. He felt the eyes of the soldiers on him.

And then there was the pyramid. Everyone knew the significance of the 
structure – or at least its significance in their culture. Had not Adama 
himself discovered such structures on Kobol. Could these departed humans be 
from the Lost Tribe, he asked himself. He did not believe it himself, but he 
could not just walk away.

"All right," he said finally. "We go in." No one asked what he meant. As 
one, each soldier turned their gaze from him and towards the silent monolith 
outside.

*
The trench that separated the compound from the Pyramid was not unscaleable, 
but deep enough. Having reached the other side, they manoeuvred their way 
carefully under the scaffolding, which, now they were close, looked 
decidedly unsafe, towards a large opening in the wall of the structure.

"Try to take everything," Lysander advised. "The vid-scan’s in your helmets 
should work in there."

"We may get some interference," Milatades pointed out. "Depending on how far 
in we go. All that stone, coupled with the metal outside. I don’t know if 
the shuttle’s rig will pick it all up."

Lysander gave him a "who cares" look, and the private lapsed into silence.

"Lets go," Diomedes waved his gun at Kassandra and Thalia. The two women 
nodded, and lowering their heavy lasers, headed into the gloomy opening.

Lysander drew his blaster when he stepped inside. The Captain was pleasantly 
surprised to find that the air inside the structure was cool, providing them 
all with some relief from the oppressive tropical humidity of the jungle.

The corridor in which they stood sloped downwards, and as they proceeded 
further, it became necessary to light torches. The illumination bounced from 
the walls as the little troop filed down into the bowels of the structure. 
Every so often, there were pictures inscribed on the dry stone walls; the 
artwork was crude, depicting scenes of human sacrifice. On closer 
inspection, it seemed that the preferred method of execution was 
disembowelling, the pictures all showing entrails exploding from the hapless 
victims.

"Very unpleasant," commented Andromache as she leant it to pick the images 
up with her vid-scan. "Impossible, but unpleasant all the same."

"Impossible?" Thalia stopped, and glanced back. "What do you mean."

"These pictures probably some sort of metaphor," the med-tech noted. "Look, 
there’s no one near these little dead guys. Unless they are pulling their 
own guts out, which I think is unlikely."

"Who cares?" said Helena. "Can’t we just see what else there is and get the 
frak out of here. This place gives me the creeps."

Diomedes was about to tell them all to shut up when Kassandra screamed out 
suddenly and vanished from sight.

***