Traps

Posted on Tue Feb 2nd, 2021 @ 6:12am by Lieutenant JG Sarah Wilson & Chief Petty Officer Remal Kajun

Mission: The Jungle
Location: Jungle

Dawn's light peered through the small gaps in the leaves, rousing Remal from his rest. Sarah, ever diligent, had taken over at some point in the night. Rest was a luxury for the wicked it seemed. He stirred from his rest, smacked his lips and asked, “Are we good?”

"Good as we're gonna get" Sarah replied, stretching her aching body. She wasn't used to sleeping rough by any stretch of the imagination.

Remal cautiously pulled back the leaves and crawled out of the undergrowth. As he stood up, his bones popped and groaned enough to garner attention. “Been a long time since I’ve had to sleep on the hard ground.” He noticed the area around them was wet, wetter than a morning dew would cause. “Did it rain recently?”

"A little" Sarah advised as they crawled out of their hovel and back into a standing position. She looked around then, attempting to ascertain their position. They were high, higher than the rest of the jungle. It seemed the jungle was on two distinct levels, a higher plane then a steep cliff to a lower plane.

"Should we go over there and see what we can see?" She asked, pointing to the edge of the cliff that appeared to be a kilometre from their position.

Remal eyed the direction Sarah indicated then eyed the idol floating in the sky. "Bit of a trek in the wrong direction lass, but it would give us an idea of how big of an area we're dealing with." He pulled up his drawers and motioned her way, "We'll go your way boss." And he gave her a grin and a wink before moving off into the trees.

Sarah was a bit taken aback by the boss comment but smiled in the light that it was intended in.
"Least it wasn't 'lead on Macduff'" she snorted as they made their way towards the cliffs, it was in the opposite direction but Sarah felt orientation was important. From such an elevated position they may be able to spy other personnel that were stuck in there.

“Who’s Macduff?” He asked as he set off at a pace she could keep up with, yet maintaining his determination to reach his bride, wherever she might be. “Is he the new guy in medical we picked up?” There were paths created by animals, easy to follow but not usually a good idea. He tried to stay close, but not so close as to be obvious to those paths.

Sarah laughed to herself, realising the Remal was indeed Bajoran and most likely hadn’t read some of Earth’s ancient literary works.
“ Shakespeare - Macbeth….when we get off this rock I’ll replicate you a copy to read” She smiled, clapping him on the back as they made their way through the steaming jungle. She was sure the humidity was beyond 100% if such things were possible.

“I look forward to it.” He muttered, always in the mood to both read and get off this rock. He wiped his brow, sure the sweat build up he was experiencing was worse than the forests of Bajor ever were. He chuckled silently to himself at the thought of his sweaty socks and what Rhenora would say about them.

Together they trekked on until they came upon a small clearing. Remal stopped himself, then reached out and stopped Sarah. The soft sandy nature of the floor of the jungle seemed out of place to say the least.

“Trap?” Sarah whispered, pulling up alongside Remal and looking at the patch of jungle floor. To her eye she couldn’t discern any difference but to Remal something was obviously very much amiss.

“I think so.” He looked for a path around. “Do you see a way around?” He asked of his companion.

“ I don’t think so” Sarah looked in both directions. It appeared to be a long ditch covered very well with a thin fabric and random natural elements. What lay beneath the fabric was not going to be pleasant she gathered. It was approximately one metre wide, if you saw it you could jump it - but the aim was to not see it and fall. Curiosity got the better of her and she lifted the corner of the fabric, revealing a series of sharp metal spikes beneath.

“Better not miss” She said sagely.

There were no tree vines, nothing to make a ladder out of. They would have to jump. As he held the long stride, he immediately decided she would go first. He knelt down on his hands and knees for her to use as a platform. “Get a running start lass. Make it a good one and aim for solid ground on the other side.”

Sarah paled at the thought but summoned her courage, stepping back a number of paces before setting off at a dead run towards the pit. There was no way she was ending up on the spikes. With a slight squeal she leapt, clearing it by the barest of margins.

“Holy geez” She swore as she landed.

Sure his back hurt a bit where she had planted her foot but it was worth it. He stood and backed up more than twice what she had. Despite the surrounding foliage he knew he would need a head of steam to make the jump.

He lined up his jump and just as he was about to tear off a bolt of phaser fire erupted to his left. If he didn't already have motivation, he did now. Taking off at full tilt he dodged the few branches that lay between him and the spike pit. Then waiting until the last possible moment he planted his foot and lept, easily bridging the gap. With his full run he grabbed Sarah up in his arms and kept running.

They were being followed. Surprise surprise.

“Oip!” She squeaked as her feet left the ground and she was bundled up in Remal’s arms. For someone of his build and age he could definitely still move.

“What’s going on?” She asked as they barrelled their way through the bush.

"Something took a shot at me. Keep your head down." They were almost to the cliff edge. He knew it was coming up soon but he didn't dare slow down. Thundering step after step he barreled through the brush until at last the tree line broke and he stopped suddenly. Out of breath he sat Sarah down just back from the edge.

Sarah held her breath as they ran, releasing it only when they arrived at the cliff edge. She could see for kilometres but couldn’t see anyone nearby.

“ Are they still following us?” She asked with a note of fear in her voice? “Should we look for a cave or something to hide in?”

He was looking and listening, yet there was nothing. He knew it was still a possibility but there was too much uncertainty. “I’m not sure. The rules of this game mean he could be on the other side of that trap, or he could be invincible two steps behind you. I’m not usually one to hide in a cave, especially not while Rhen is out there hurt. But if you feel it prudent to secure a place, then by all means.”

Sarah thought for a while, truly unsure of what to do. Should they hide or should they keep making their way toward the Holy Idol so they could get the hell off his rock. “ I don’t know…” She admitted.

He walked up to the edge of the cliff to stand next to her, looking out over the canopy and kicking some pebbles over the edge. “Let’s see. We’re not going down that way. And if we go back the way we just came, we’ll either run into someone wanting to shoot us or in the very least have to jump that trap again. So…” He looked off in the direction the edge of the cliff traversed. “I say we follow this for as far as we can until we find a path either to that idol, or to the Captain, whichever comes first.” He shrugged. “And, if we find shelter, then so be it.”

“You never know, we could bump into someone from the ship” Sarah said with a positivity she was
struggling to feel. She followed Remal back into the jungle in the direction of the Holy Idol. Hopefully they would find friend and not foe.