Anomalous Day, Part 2
Posted on Sun 11th Jul, 2021 @ 7:54am by Nicha th'Elex & Sorra Yarime (Yari) & S'lani
1,739 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Waging Peace
Location: Unknown Planet
Timeline: MD1, 1738
Previously, as Aezash and Nicha searched for S'lani and Yari on an unknown bit of earth ...
S'lani nodded. "Yes." She took her boot, but could not get it back on as her foot was too swollen. She loosened the laces and tried again. If she went barefoot, she would not be able to get very far. She tied the laces as tightly as she could and stood, determined not to let the pain slow her down too much. "Ready," she said.
"Put your weight on me and keep it off that ankle," Yari said as he put an arm around her waist.
And now the finding and escaping!
=====
S'lani was grateful for his assistance. She held on to him while they slowly made their way outside. She made sure her knife was in easy reach, just in case.
As they hobbled outside the cave entrance, another quake started. This one was stronger than the last and caused the cave ceiling to collapse. Dust filled the air around the couple causing Yari to cough. "Well, that was close," he said after his coughing fit let up.
The quake jarred S'lani's ankle, causing more damage. She stayed on her feet, with the help of Yari, but she wasn't sure about walking. "You need to find somewhere safe," she said, struggling to sound calm. "I will stay here in case anyone comes to look at the caves."
"No," S'lani said a moment later. "I will not leave you." She looked for something she could use as a crutch.
The sound of men talking in standard got Yari's attention. He put his index finger over his lips in the usual fashion to indicate that she should be quiet. For the moment, there was no time to look around for something to aid her in walking, they had to move away from their position.
The sound of the men seemed to come from above the cave entrance and perhaps a dozen meters or so. Yari grabbed her waist and helped her along for a few meters. After a few steps he heard a sound. It was a snap that didn't belong. He pushed S'lani hard causing her to cartwheel forward. Then came what he thought might be a trap. On Bajor, when Yari was a young man he had helped place traps for Cardassian Soldiers many times and knew what one sounded like.
Like many traps, this one wasn't meant to kill, it was meant to injure or slowdown someone or something. A half second later the pain hit him. He wanted to yell out at the top of his lungs, but instead bit his hand. The pain took his breath away and he fought to keep from passing out.
A wooden arm that held three rather large spikes had swung and hit him in the right thigh. The outer spike went completely through his leg and poked out the back several inches as blood dripped off the sharpened tip. He grabbed a tree with his other hand to steady himself.
"Aezash, turn your scanner over this way," Nicha said, holding on to a tall tree for safety as the quake settled. "There's a cave, and I can't be sure there isn't someone or something in it. The quake caused rock debris inside the entrance. Maybe your equipment is better than mine." He figured he could toss a bone of superiority to the man.
Aezash shook his head, "I can't be sure, but I'm picking up something in that direction. Its faint, but seems to be a life sign. The interference is too strong to get a good reading."
"Let's move closer ... very carefully. I don't trust that we're alone here, so I doubt you do either. Maybe we can get a clearer picture of what's going on here. I'm happy to follow your lead or suggestions in this situation," th'Elex told the man who sometimes annoyed him greatly. Safety was the most important thing right now, however, and at least they were on the same side.
Aezash tapped his armband, switching his suit to pass through all his cycles of scanning, each every 5 seconds. He began walking in the direction indicated by th'Elex. After a few moments, he stopped and held up his hand in a fist. He knelt down to get a better angle at a patch of ground in front of them on the trail. The active scan showed a slight discoloration that was in the shape of a rectangle and couldn't be natural. "Pit trap." He said softly as he pointed it out to th'Elex. "Will have to jump over it." He added as he stood up and began to run several steps then leaped.
Nicha gulped slightly. Now that was something he would have missed, and he owed the man in front of him a big one. He, too, backed up and took a run at the trap, after looking it over carefully. One hazard successfully covered. What next? He'd walk behind and keep his eyes open, but he feared he wasn't nearly as useful as Aezash at this business.
"Keep an eye out, there's probably more of those traps, and the sensors in my suit are limited to about 3 meters with all the interference," Aezash said as he continued to walk cautiously.
S'lani crawled back to Yari, determined to free him from the trap. She carefully looked over the device and the area around it to make sure there was not a secondary one and then pulled the small tree slowly back. She didn't have a rope on her, and wasn't sure Yari did, either. "Can you move? Just far enough to get away from the spikes?" She pulled it back with all her strength, hearing the small tree crack. She still wouldn't let go until he could get those few steps away.
The pain of having the spike slowly ripped from his leg was more painful than when it first impaled his leg. At least then it was quick. He fought hard not to yell out and bit down again on his hand drawing blood. It seemed to take forever to free his leg and when she did, he dropped to his knees then fell prone on the forest floor. It was partly do to the pain, he nearly passed out, but fought to stay awake. His leg no longer seemed to work and the ordeal seemed to zap all of his strength and energy. He lay there for a moment as he tried to gather whatever strength he had let to move his arms. He listened too, hearing those men. They were getting closer.
She turned her head and listened. "I have to get you into the trees." Using a tree, she managed to stand. her ankle still wouldn't hold her weight, but Yari was unable to walk at all. With the help of several trees, she managed to half-drag, half-carry him a few feet to where he could hide in a dense copse of trees, out of sight of the oncoming humanoids. "Stay here," she said. "I'll do what I can."
Still using the trees, she hopped back to the trap and pulled her weapon.
The voices got louder and then the bodies that the voices belonged to appeared. They all seemed to be looking for something or someone. "Keep your eyes peeled boys. That pod has to be around here somewhere and with all the interference we can't scan for it. We have to find it with our eyes." One of them said and then another replied, "We know that idiot, just watch out for all the traps, I hate this planet and I'm tired of all this training."
"Look!" One of them said as he pointed at S'lani, "A Vulcan woman."
"You there, drop your weapon." One man said as he pointed an energy weapon at her.
"As long as you kill that wildcat," she said. "It was near the cave before the earthquake. Could be anywhere by now."
He looked from the woman to the trap that had been sprung and the blood that was on the spike, then back to her and laughed, "Tell your friends to come out and I won't kill either of you. If I have to search for them then someone will pay."
S'lani raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that was a friend of mine? I came from the caves." She indicated her foot and her limp. "From the look of that trap, whoever it was didn't walk away, and I'm in no condition to carry anyone."
The man laughed loudly, "Please, don't insult my intelligence, woman. I can see from here that the blood is fresh. Odds are that the one with the large hole in his leg is the one that helped you from the cave. The question is where is he and are there others. I will give them until the count of three then I will kill you."
The man had moved off of the elevated ground and towards her as he spoke, but it was his mistake ....
S'lani spun on her good foot, elbowing the man in his temple, and then jerked the disruptor out of his limp hand. He fell as she fired the weapon at another man. Finishing the move, she put her foot down. It sent shooting pain up her leg and she fell to her knees, managing to shoot one more attacker as she did so.
The fourth man had been in complete shock. He had never seen anyone move so quickly or so precise with their strikes. He actually feared her. He fired his weapon, striking her in the shoulder.
"I heard that." Aezash said before adding, "A firefight, let's move more rapidly." Aezash was still cautious for traps but was nearly at a run. Whatever happened seemed to have ended.
Following behind Aezash seemed the safest position, and likely to get him to the scene of whatever was being enacted not far away. He hoped the winning side was his employer! As he and Aezash crashed through the undergrowth, both still kept a sharp eye out for anything that would damage or even kill them. They burst through to a small clearing in time to see a shot fired and S'lani fall to the ground. His own gun came up to return fire, but Aezash was there before him.
RSS Feed