Touchstone 1 - Stray

First Squad had been expecting, and it was the first time they’d encountered the type of Ionoth we met there.
    They were humanoid, but covered with a white-grey hair, and they seemed to have made themselves a home in the containers; a busy township. We were still outside the gate, looking through, when two of them leapt out, slashing at Maze with rusty metal pipes. As a dozen more of the hairy people came rushing at us, Ketzaren grabbed me around the waist and hauled me backward through our current space, which was an awkwardly low set of tunnels through pearly-cream rock.
    It was bloody, horrible. The attackers were fast, armed and very determined, but First Squad were well-practiced at close combat, and enhanced. They’d been surprised by the rush, but didn’t come close to being overwhelmed.
    “Withdraw to the entrance,” Maze said, as soon as the last had fallen. He cast a quick glance into the container space, then followed as rear guard as everyone immediately obeyed.
    “Broken?” Zee asked, watching him roll his shoulder and wince. They’d not been able to avoid being hit entirely.
    “Seems not. Anyone else?”
    “Nothing major.” Lohn was clenching and unclenching one hand, and took out his med-kit to spray some bandage over a cut across his knuckles.
    “Any chance to read the gate?”
    “It looked solid. Days, at least,” Alay said.
    “We’ll go for a clearing entry approach,” Maze said. “One blast from Kettara until we have a chance to evaluate.”
    The hairy people looked smaller in death, and the spreading pool of their blood made the gate entry both unpleasant and slippery. But none of them were lurking on the other side, and so Maze gestured us through and we moved to a defensible corner while they tried to estimate numbers.
    “Dozens,” Mara said, at last. “A few outliers circling, but most congregated that way.” She nodded toward what seemed to be the centre of the space, where the containers were piled highest.
    “I’d prefer a height advantage here,” Zee murmured and Maze nodded his agreement.
    The tops of the containers were rusty and pitted, and a couple of times crumbled alarmingly underfoot. But being up high allowed us to see the trap a few moments before it was sprung. A higher row of containers trembled, then became a tilting wall of metal which threatened to squash us and take out the containers we were standing on.
    Maze had said “Up,” before I even saw that, and we rose immediately and swiftly as the trap took out the entire area between the gate and the centre like a row of dominos. And before the noise had even settled they began shooting at us with crossbows, one catching Alay in the leg before Maze and Lohn between them created a mini-cataclysm in the area below. There were only a few left alive after that, and Maze and Zee chased them down while the rest of us gathered on top of a slightly tilted container to check Alay’s leg.
    “Two made it through a gate,” Maze said, returning. He surveyed the bolt Mara had removed from Alay’s leg. “Any sign of poison?”
    “Nothing apparent,” Mara said. “I’ve sealed the bleed.”
    “We’ll short-survey, then. Gainer, let us know if you start experiencing any symptoms.”
    Alay, Ketzaren and me stayed where we were while the others made a circuit of the space and inspected the bodies of the Ionoth, crisped though most of them were. They didn’t dawdle over it, and we were soon heading back out. Maze paused at the gate, then crossed to a kind of wicker cage tucked in one corner, cutting it open.
    There were a half dozen little Ionoth in there. They reminded me faintly of ET, and all of them were in pretty miserable condition, like someone had been poking them with pointy sticks. They moved slowly, blinking fearfully at Maze, who stepped away, then signalled for us to leave.
    “The original inhabitants of that space, I think,” he said, following us through the gate. “These must be roamers.” He surveyed the corpses again, extra-thoroughly, and then we headed back at double-time, with Zee carrying Alay using Telekinesis.
    A truly horrible day. The Ionoth in that space, both types, were different from those I’d encountered before, more…real for want of a better word. Well aware of the gates between spaces, ready to defend themselves against attack, and a far cry from animals or shadows. And they drew blood.
    I’m beginning to understand why Maze always looks so tired, beyond the strain of