Find and Seek

Posted on Tue Feb 9th, 2021 @ 12:11am by Lieutenant Dean House & Lieutenant JG Sarah Wilson & Chief Petty Officer Remal Kajun

Mission: The Jungle
Location: Jungle
Timeline: Current

Dr Sarah Wilson and Remal kept moving through the jungle, keeping their wits about them as they went, trying to avoid being followed. They weren't sure if they were being followed or not. They moved swiftly and decisively.

Dean didn't particularly care for of all of this, not the trying to find the two, just the whole thing. Regardless, they would prevail. He would have liked to have at least a knife, but he'd work with what he could to get through all the brush and the like. Still following the footprints and the disturbed foliage. Hopefully, it wasn't any hunters instead of the crew.

Up ahead Sarah had a distinct feeling that something wasn't right. She couldn't put her finger on exactly why - but her gut told her they needed to be careful.

"Someone's nearby... I think" She whispered to Remal as they moved swiftly through the jungle.

Was that him? or was it someone else. Dean didn't know. He was just trying to find them. Wasn't exactly that hard of a task...not really. He'd also been looking for signs that someone else may have been following those size 4 Starfleet standard boots. Taking a pause a moment, to lean against a tree. Closing his eyes and just 'feeling out' with his enhanced senses. Trying to drown out the sounds of the trees, the water, any birds, the leaves.

Sarah and Remal continued through, being more cautious now as to the noise they were making and the tracks they were leaving. The jungle was quite dense here, making progress slower than they would have liked.

If one wanted to know what it may have actually looked like. It would almost look like natural sonar. Such as bats have. It wasn't actually visual, it was more just a representation in his head. Either way, it did the job. Opening his eyes, that went away, "Gotcha." Dean pushed off of the tree and started directly for the two of them at an accelerated pace.

" Ahhhh.. now I'm sure we're being followed" Sarah hissed as they too increased their pace, getting slapped and scratched by the foliage as they ran through it. "Run!"

Dammit. Really? Then again that wasn't exactly unexpected. Even gaining on them, silence had to be broken. Its not like he was hunting them. "Doctor Wilson! Stand down. Lieutenant Dean House." Riddles off his serial number like before.

Sarah skidded to a halt - Remal nearly smacking into her back as she did so. She heard a voice, someone calling her name and some numbers although some of the words were garbled with distance. It sounded like one of the Liberty crew although she couldn't discern the voice.

"We're here" She replied, not able to discern the direction.

"Stay there, but keep a lookout for hostiles, because there are some." Dean continued to follow that path. Coming up on them and in view.

" Righto" Sarah replied, catching her breath after their flight through the jungle. The humidity was oppressive making everything just that little bit harder.

A short time later a Hunter emerged, or more accurately what appeared to be a Hunter. Sarah's first instinct was to hide and protect themselves.

"Are you two alright?" Dean gave a look to the both of them and behind him.

"Who are you?" Sarah was on the defense. Why was this Hunter speaking to them and asking if they were ok. Was this a trick?

"I just call..oh..right." Reaching up to pull the hood back. "House. Killed a Hunter to save the Captain, decided it was a good idea to use the outfit, just in case."

"Lt House?" Sarah tried to place the face. He had only recently arrived on the Liberty and she'd only bumped into him once during his physical in sickbay.

Dean gave a nod, "Yes."

Sarah relaxed instantly, confident that this was indeed House. She looked around "are you alone? You're the first crewmember we've seen since we got dumped in here"

He lifted the hood back up for a reason. That and it kinda looked cool. "At the moment, but I've been tasked with bringing you both back to the others. The Captain and Aurora are hurt. I did the best I could, with what I could. Ronson and Savar are there also."

Remal, cautiously watching the jungle for signs of movement, dropped the pretenses and immediately turned to face Dean. "Rhen's hurt? Take us to them. Now."

"They're here? Where? How badly are they hurt?" Sarah started rapid-fire questions before she realized and shut her mouth. "Sorry"

"It's fine, Lieutenant. The Captain doesn't seem to be looking to hot. Well..you know what I mean. As for Aurora, I think I cleaned it out enough and got it sutured properly. Just needs time since we don't have proper medical equipment or a Sickbay. What about the two of you?" Glancing to Remal, who's been mostly quiet this whole time.

"We're fine, haven't had too many issues, but we've only been here a night." Sarah started before recalling the start of this mess. "Have you found anyone else in here, alive or otherwise?" They had started to turn and head back the way House had come.

Holding onto the bow and keeping an eye out, still. "Just who I mentioned." Giving a little shake of his arm.

"Oh" Wilson seemed a little disappointed but continued to trot along behind Dean as he made his way easily through the jungle. "Savar and Ronson are ok? They are not injured?"

That was taking too long, even for him, that arm needed to be at a hundred percent. "Not that I could tell or that they showed. At least physically. Ronson had a bit of a thing but seems to have pushed past it. I pissed Savar off."

"He's a Vulcan, I don't think Vulcans GIT pissed off" The Doctor returned as they continued behind House.

"Of course they do, they just suppress it like all other emotion. It comes out in the words."

"How far?" Remal asked simply, still unsure of where the hunter might be or if there was one. He was sure they could be anywhere. Or, there could be traps anywhere. He had seen the game on the screen long enough to see a pattern in the chaos, and he wanted nothing from it.

"It shouldn't be much longer, given we're not rushing. Probably about dusk. That is if they hadn't gone ahead and moved along for whatever reason." Dean gave a nod, "If they did I'm positive they left us clues to where."

Remal looked to the sky, on Bajor he would put the time at about 7:30ish, but here it was difficult telling how long the days were. "Are you suggesting they would just leave Rhen and Aurora alone, too, to bleed out?" He stammered out of frustration.

Dean looked at him funny. "Why would you think I would suggest that? Where I left them though was out in the open. Of course, they would take them with them. It's getting dark though, so the best idea is to find shelter again."

"So, what you're saying is, they sent you to find us and now we have to find them again. 'Bout sum it up does it?" Remal tried to keep his emotions in check, something Sarah had been doing. But he was growing tired and frustrated from the long day, the heat and the march through the jungle. His seething sarcasm was only just edging.

They approached the cliff face where the team had previously been resting, evidence of their being there still present on the rocks. An arrow was left out of rocks in the open, pointing in a direction of the rocky outcropping.

"Yes, Chief. That's the sum of it." Dean understood everyone was tired. Half of them hurt, including himself. Emotions were high, which is why he's letting things go and not snapping at people. He was starting to get worn himself. "This is where we were. Let's see if we can find a clue." Dean started looking around.

" Here" Sarah pointed to the arrow made out of rocks. The other team had taken a risk leaving a direction to where they were heading, but the doctor understood the reasoning behind it.

"Hmm.." Moving over to look and into the direction, it was pointing. "Alright, hopefully, they aren't to far." Dean reached to get rid of the arrow.

" If they've got wounded I can't image they would have gone far" Sarah added as they made their way along the cliff tops towards the outcropping. As they neared a small plume of white smoke could be seen rising.

Dean wasn't leading this time, since covering them from behind was the better idea. "It looks like that might be it. Hopefully, the Hunters haven't thought about climbing up here and see."

" We'll have to deal with that if and when that happens," Sarah said as she quickened her pace towards the smoke column - they'd destroyed the arrow made of stones to avoid giving unwanted assistance to the Hunters.

One-track mind per the norm for Remal. He saw the smoke and instantly thought trap or stupidity. He knew his companion of so many years and fellow resistance fighter would never alert the enemy to her position willingly. He was already planning to chew her out even if she was already on her death bed. Head down, he pressed on.

As they neared the smoke plume turned from white to almost translucent as the wood burned more cleanly, the outcropping making it a little difficult to discern its exact location. " I think we're close" Sarah said as the faint waft of fire tickled her nostrils.

Dean wasn't really thinking that it was stupid of them, if it was them. More leaving a signal for them instead to get back and regroup. So he didn't say anything about it. "Close around here, check the dirt and trees, brush to be disturbed. It'll help make sure." He wasn't saying it to make out like they didn't know, it was just in case they didn't.

Sarah followed her nose and her eyes.

"Right." Remal turned to the nearest tree and broke several small twigs. It was a good idea to disturb the foliage but only if they were consistent about doing it for a league or so. It would lead the hunters away from the cave mouth or in the very least confuse them momentarily.

It wasn't exactly what he meant, but actually, yes, distracting the path elsewhere would work as well, just in case. If that's what Remal was doing. So Dean went ahead and helped with that as they went. Even going off to sides like they were just randomly looking for a direction to go but not sure which.

While the boys were breaking twigs, Sarah had stepped away. Her nose could tell the direction the smoke was coming from and she was eager to investigate. Her concerns were also on the wounded and getting to their location as quickly as possible. The smell, wafting in the area was familiar, almost like, "Does anyone else smell roast pig? Like something from back home?"

Remal sniffed the air, "I smell it too." His detective nose to the air he moved in the direction of whatever was cooking. "When in doubt follow your snout." He mused out loud. He tapped Dean on the shoulder, "Come on, I think it's coming from this way."

"Hmm?" Dean gave a look to Remal, "Oh, yeah. I was just keeping an eye out. That's bound to be them. We had that last night also." Turning on foot and still covering the back, considering what he was wearing. The rest of them knew but it was still the same the other Hunters were wearing. Seeing Remal and Sarah would stop them from being attacked.

Once they got close enough, that's exactly what it was, the food being cooked. The others had set up camp at another cave. Which wasn't a bad idea. Only one way in...or..theoretically, as opposed to the first cave. That was 'pig' that Sarah was smelling. It was the right spot that their fellow crew mates had directed them to.