"Hell's Highway Froze Over"
Previous Post: "Operational Tricks" by Serena
-=/\=-
Stardate: 60298.1430
Setting: TOLAR IV - Ruins
As she scanned the faded ruins of some long forgotten civilisation, Enaii realised more and more that she had absolutely no idea what she was looking for or where to begin. She hunted through various stone artefacts, never knowing if she had passed it over already or if she was yet to come across it. Perhaps this was it? Holding up a small circular stone, she squinted and tilted her head at the scrawling. It was highly doubtful that such a small item could contain the directions to use such a complex device as the mind stone, yet she pocketed it out of respect for Maya, whom she knew would find hours of entertainment from analysing the trinket.
Continuing on to an altar like structure where Nikita stood perplexed, the Operative leaned over to look at a crumbled cloth fresco that the marine was currently staring at.
"Did you have any luck over there?" the Military Officer asked, turning to indicate the area Enaii had come from.
The Operative shrugged, "I have no idea, maybe it's there, maybe it's not."
Nikita sighed heavily, "How are we supposed to find it if we have no idea what *it* is?!?" the woman announced in defeat, picking up a thin stone slab and waving it in her hand to emphasise her point.
Tilting her head slightly, Enaii squinted at a tiny hieroglyph like writing in the upper left corner of the slab. Boxed in as though to emphasise it’s importance, almost like a title, was a picture of a man’s head with what looked to be a rock in the place of his brain. Other than the small image, the stone slab was unremarkable, it was covered from one end to the other in tiny hieroglyphs as though their had been a lot to say and not a lot of room to write.
Unceremoniously snatching the artefact from Nikita's grasp, she quickly located Xan in her peripheral vision and the second his back was turned to her, she slipped it beneath her shirt, tucking it's unbearably cold stone into the security of her upper pants. It was going to greatly reduce her mobility once their pursuers caught up to them, but there was no real choice in the matter.
Nikita, although startled by the woman's actions did nothing to betray them as she turned to Xan and spoke. "Maybe you should just take everything??? I don't see how we’re going to find it without an archaeologist."
The man rolled his eyes before turning to face the woman. "If the cold is too much for your fragile female form, go back to your ship, but don’t expect to get paid for it," he snapped before turning back to the broken stone boulder he had been studying.
In the middle of her back, Enaii felt a flat hand make a half turn toward her right shoulder blade, a sign the friends had used in the Academy to signal that their welcome had been worn out and a speedy retreat was necessitated. Looking to where the Marine was gazing, the Operative straightened to see the approaching of what could only be over a dozen humanoids, likely the Cardassians she was expecting from the direction they had come. Quickly scanning the room, Enaii led Nikita slowly and quietly toward the back of the structure, a strong breeze she felt over her flesh told her that there would be a way out somewhere near the end of the darkened tunnel before them.
Leaving Xan behind, their own sacrificial lamb, the two women felt their way along the tunnel as quickly as they could without making a single sound. The Cardassians would be upon Xan very soon, within minutes, but already they had several minutes lead on the away teams should they decide to come up through here for any reason.
Stumbling over a jutted stone, both Enaii and Nikita fell to the ground in an unceremoniously quiet thud before realising that they had come to a set of upward going stairs. Pulling herself up, the Operative waited for the Marine to come to her feet before continuing their journey, this time much slower as they felt for each unevenly carved step in their journey upwards.
Thankful that they had fallen because of how they had been forced to slow down, Enaii sent a sharp arm out to keep her partner from plunging downward. As instantly as the stairs had gone up, they switched to going down, as though they had just walked up one side of a small pyramid and now they were travelling down the other side. Within a few minutes it became clear why the corridor had been constructed in such an odd fashion. Light began to come into view, reflected off of piles of blown snow at their feet. This construction had been an ingenious way of keeping the snow out of the secondary exit corridor, and unfortunately, left untended, it had become a white cork, closing the hallway off from the outside world, save for a small sliver which allowed the light and wind to enter, and closing them into what could soon become their tomb.
-=/\=-
Lisa Mac Isaac
{lisa_mac_isaac@hotmail.com}
Writing the hopes, dreams and future of:
Lieutenant Commander Enaii - Intelligence Liaison Officer
USS ANUBIS
And if you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured that the fault is in yourself.
~~Chief Tecumseh 1813
