The group made a point of the situation after regrouping, and Zeliha even mustered the strength to give her professional opinion on the fauna.
It turned out that the situation of Doku's group had been similar to Khan and the others. The fall had brought the four Niqols into the underground structure's lower floor, and they had found themselves after exploring the area for a while.
Bashir had been unlucky enough to meet a big leech while he was inside the rivers of terrain, and the other aliens had found him when a monster had already devoured most of his body. His short sword had remained intact during the process, so the Niqols didn't have doubts about the consumed corpse's identity.
Doku's approach to the exploration had been thorough, and the two Niqols had followed his example after regrouping. They inspected every cave and cavity, marked each hole, and even reached the end of the path that seemed to lead right under the intact regions.