Where did that come from

Posted on Sun Jul 4, 2021 @ 8:40pm by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Captain Tam "Demon" Haican

1,423 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: PAngaea
Timeline: md 05

[ON]

Seskot slapped his tricorder against his palm a couploe of times, then sighed. "Its no good, I can't get any signal. How are we supposed to find any stragglers if we can't scan?"

Herloa looked over at her colleague. "Use your eyes, moron." She was annoyed that this battle was taking so long. She had lost her twin brother during the firefight over the Klingon settlement. The only glimer of good news was that apparently, tbe Federation pilot who had murdered Doltor, had been shot down shortly thereafter. She hoped that, whoever it was, had died a slow and agonizing death.

"In all those trees," Seskot grumbled as their all terrain buggy bouced towards the edge of the forest . "We might as well go in blind." He held the tricorder out to the back seat. "Someone else take a look."

"You rely too much on technology," Zelna said. "Use your ears and listen. Starfleet does not know how to walk silently."

Herloa shook her head. Men, she thought to herself. So addicted to their damn toys. She glanced back at Zalna and shook her head with a smirk on her face.

The other woman flashed her a quick grin, careful not to let Seskot see.

Seskot looked back over his shoulder to Zelna. "You do know we're driving right. In a big vehicle thats going to go crush-crash-crunch Through all that vegetation? I'm going to need something to navigate with." He sighed, and cranked the speed, and the forest quickly began to speed up. "Just keep your eyes peeled." He told them as they crossed the treeline.

Herloa grabbed the handle above her head as the ride got considerably rougher, when that idiot, Seskot, decided to blast his way into the forest. Clearly, he had never done this kind of patrol before. They should have gone in on foot. But, as he was the son of an influential Gul, she decided to keep her mouth shut. For now.

"You know we're going to scare anyone within hearing into hiding?" Zaina countered. "Hirogen at least know how to hunt their prey."

"Which is why I need the scanner fixed. You can hide from eyes. You can't hide from the finest sensor technology for fifty light years."

They crashed on through, and soon intersected with the path a downed federation fighter had carved throught the canopy, turning to fllow it deeper they soon found the wreckage. The Valkyrie had lost a wing, and the output manifold for the the ventral thruster had been ripped ff where it hit the ground. The canopy was open, with a large crack in its transparent aluminim shield.

Herloa sneered in approval. "Good riddance. I hope whomever was in this died slowly and painfully."

"I expected more of a fight," Zaina said. "Starfleet has grown soft."

Seskot swung out of the buggy and went to have a look. "Not that soft. Whoever it was survived the crash. Cockpit's empty." He climbed up onto the nose of the Valkyrie, trying to see if there was a trail. "Can anyone see anything?"

Hearing that the pilot could have survived, the fire inside Herloa's chest reignited. She immediately began looking for tracks. Suddenly, she saw a few specks of green blood. "This way!"

Zelna followed, looking for crushed leaves and broken branches to indicate humanoid passage.

At first the damage was small and close, the occupant of the ship trying to minimize signs of their passage. but after a kilometer the sign showed the movement became faster, and then Herlos came across a patch of brush that had been churned, and found large splash of green blood against the white bark of the trees.

Herloa called out. "Over here!" She had her disruptor pistol drawn and aimed on the Vulcan pilot in question. She was perspiring freely, clearly indicating that she was in a great deal of pain.

Her breath was comig hard and fast as she leaned against a tree. She tried to raise her hands, and then she vanished.

Something had grabbed her from behind. The undergrowth shook for a moment, and then closed. There was a long sudden scream, and then the whole forest was silent.

Herloa tensed. She had not heard of an native wildlife on this world. Aiming her disruptor atthe bushes, she swore aloud. "What was that?!"

"I don't know," Zelna said, looking around. "There were no reports of dangerous predators here."

Seskot nodded. "Yeah, one of the scientists was talking about how weird this place is. No apex predators, just some small raptors, and the herbivore population is largely stable." He had his own rifle to his shoulder and was scanning the undergrowth anxiously. "Which raises the question, what was that?"

Zalna looked around, apprehensive. "No idea. Vulcans aren't known for playing tricks like this."

Sokot took a cautious step forward. "If it went for the Vulcan without revealing itself, then it probably wont be on our side. We should look."

Zalna nodded. She had her disruptor in one hand and a blade in the other. She moved stealthily behind Sokot for now.

Herloa checked tbe charge on her disruptor, then set it to maximum charge. "Anything big enough to snatch someone like that, we won't stand a chance going in soft. She pulled a flash grenade from her belt and activated it. "DOWN!" She shouted as she hurled the grenade into the bushes, in the direction that the Vulcan had been pulled. She then dropped to the ground, sealed her eyes shut and covered her ears a few beats before the detonation.

Zelna dropped to her knees, closed her eyes, and covered her ears.

Sokot hit the dirt beside her, arms over his head to block the explosion. Even with his eyes shut, the world went white for a split second, and the shock wave from the grenade blew leaf litter and dirt across their bodies. Branches flung themselves above their heads, slamming into the trees behind them, and then there was just the sound of small things dropping to the forest floor: birds, and small branches and stones.

"That was a bit...much," Zelna whispered. She wondered if anyone was still alive after that. However, she wasn't going to poke her head up to see. Not yet, anyway. She listened to see if she could hear anything over the ringing in her ears.

But after panicked screeching and squawking died away, the forest was uncannily quiet. Sekot let his arms down cautiously. "I hope its dead."

"Maybe. Or whatever it is is waiting for us to get closer," Zalna whispered, not sure she wanted to get any closer to that tree.

"Are we going to check?" The young man sounded a lot less confident than he had earlier

Herloa sneered at her fellow soldier. "Coward." She spat at his feet. Then, drawing her disruptor pistol, she made her way carefully into the blast zone. She methodically scanned every square centimeter of destroyed forest with her eyes. After a few moments, she sagged, clearly disappointed. Turning back to the group, she said, scowling. "There's nothing her....."

Her sentence was interrupted, when the grouns behind her suddenly exploded skyward, revealing a large hole in the ground. From that hole, a massive snake-like beast shot straight up, extending straight up about twelve meters out of the hole. It seemed to be at least two meters wide itself. Bending to lock its eyes on Herloa, it beared its fangs and shot a spray of acid directly into the Cardassian's face as she was bringing her pistol to bear.

Herloa began to scream as the acid quickly started to eat her face and head. She dropped the pistol and reached up to her melting face. Her scream turned to a gurgle, then nothing.

As soon as she stopped making noise, tve seepent lashed out, swallowing her whole. Then, before the other Cardassians could react, it withdrew back into its hole, quickly dissappearing from view.

For a few beats, the jungle was deadly quiet.

"What in all hells was that?!" Seskot half screamed.

"I don't know, but I'm not going to stay around to find out," Zelna said, slowly backing away. "We must report this."

"Yeah," Seskot started backing up towards their off roader, "Lets get out of here."

Zelna nodded. The sooner they got back to base, the better.

[END]

Zelna
Cardassian Soldier
NPC by Alanna Wells

Seskot
Cardassian Soldier
NPC by Soran

Herloa
Cardassian Soldier / Giant Pangaea Acid Snake food
NPC by Tam

 

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