For Old Times Sake.
Posted on Tue Jan 4th, 2022 @ 12:35am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Remal Kajun
Mission:
*CD*
Location: Bajor
Rhenora climbed on board the snowmobile, it’s sled ladened with feed for the livestock in further paddocks and general maintenance equipement. She had grabbed a kava fruit from the pile of dubious looking foodstuffs and was currently in the process of eating it whilst trying not to be tossed off the rapidly moving craft. They paused after around 10 minutes to offload a bale of something resembling hay to some of the larger animals who bellowed appreciatively before continuing higher towards the rugged terrain.
“ Something tells me we’re not checking fences” Rhenora yelled over the engine and the relentless driving wind.
“ Whatever gives you that impression?” Patin retorted, changing their trajectory yet again to avoid a deep drift of snow. The slim cigar was still burning in her maw.
“The fact the fences are under the snow for a start” Rhenora grumbled back to Patin’s delight.
“Got a hankering for the old days… you said someone was following you. They won’t be shortly. I would just love to see their faces if they ever caught up to us.” Patin announced as they weaved their way through a large grove of trees. “Besides…” she yelled over the engine noise as it echoed through the valley side. “There is something I want to show you.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re gonna make something go boom?” Rhenora wished she could put her face in her hands but to do so would mean losing the tenuous grip she currently had on the snow mobile.
Patin gave a dark chuckle and gave the snowmobile more throttle. Several hundred yards later they cleared the tree line as they continued to climb towards the summit of a ridge. There was a bit of a rocky outcropping halfway up the ridge where Patin finally pulled over and stopped the snowrunner and turned off the engine.
She stepped off the runner, her pouch clutched to her chest. She lifted her goggles and pulled down her hood, puffed a heavy intake of her cigar and pointed. “You see that? That small village down there?” She handed Rhenora a pair of binoculars. “That was a tourist hot spot for a while. They have the best hot springs to warm your chilled bones in. Few years back an avalanche came down, destroyed everything, killed hundreds. Now of course, they stay steady with business, but after the accident they needed someone to manage the snowpack for them.”
"Let me guess, that person is you, to make things disappear?" Rhenora rubbed the bridge of her nose "just tell me you're not gonna blow up the village in the process? I recall that happening once or twice"
She grinned devilishly, “Well, you see, that’s where I… well, we come in. Here, I’ll make it simple for you, just like our days back in the hole. When I say throw, you throw, and when I say duck, you duck.” She reached into her pouch and pulled out a 3cm cylindrical object with a long fuze attached, quickly lit it with her cigar. Then gave it a wild eyed look before tossing it to Rhenora. “Throw.” She said simply and then quickly climbed back onto the snowrunner and pulled her goggles down.
"Prophets be kind" Rhenora swore as she threw the cylinder, memories flooding back of long gone raids and all kinds of booms both good and bad. They'd taken out many a Cardassian that way, but also a few innocent lives which had affected them all greatly for many years afterwards.
Patin revved the snowrunner, “Time to go Nozzie!” She started to drive off just as the boom from the explosive rocked the mountainside. It wasn’t overly large, but the pressure and noise ricocheted from peak to peak. The Snowpack began cracking and separating like small earthquakes rippling against each other. Rhenora ‘eeped’ as she jumped into the sled just as Patin drove off in an effort to stay ahead of the sliding snow pack.
"Well that's a different way of keeping people out" Rhenora yelled as she tried to hold on to the accelerating snow mobile.
The snowrunner was faster than the pack, but not by much. The fresh fallen snow had created a wet topped surface and a lot of loose fill. Patin steered the machine down and to the side, creating a track for the pack to follow, but like most weather related things, it was unruly. Using her free hand, she pulled another explosive from her pack, one with a much shorter fuze. Lit it and tossed it to the side of the snowrunner, “Duck!” She yelled back at Rhenora.
Rhenora ducked like she had never ducked before, squishing as low as she could on the back of the snowmobile and watching Patin do the same. There was something to be said about the crooked grin the ex resistance fighter had when she had thrown the explosive. She always had been a bit of a wild card.
As soon as the explosive hit the snow, it exploded. The corresponding sliding snowpack pushed away from the explosion into the tree line and away from the direction of the Hot Springs resort. She was literally steering the avalanche away from the resort and towards a distant side of the range. Snow and debris flew at the small snow mobile and smacked against Rhenora’s back like someone throwing snowballs.
“Just a couple more and we’ll be good and done for the day!” She yelled as she pulled another explosive from the pounch and lit it before tossing it over her shoulder to Rhenora, “Throw!” She yelled.
“You enjoy this a little too much” Rhenora grumbled as she tossed the cylinder in the direction that Patin had indicated, pausing before ducking at the required time.
Somewhere in the distance, a man was watching as a pair on a snowmobile raced an avalanche down the mountainside. He and his three partners were freezing and questioning their madness for why they had even ventured this far South. Suddenly he sat down upon the snow runner and revved the engine, “Let’s go, we can cut them off at that pass over there.” He said while pointing to a split in the tree line to their right. “Good place for an ambush.”
His partners started up a second snowrunner, nodded in agreement and together the four of them tore off up the mountain.
The avalanche had slowed, partially due to the diversion, partially to the group of trees they had diverted it into. This gave Patin a moment to stop and reflect on what they’d accomplished. She turned in her seat to look at Rhenora, “A bit yeah, but the pay is good and who am I to complain. I can free roam this whole damn countryside if I want. No more foxhole or snake cage for this old gal, no, not for me thanks.” She was waxing nostalgia again before taking a drink of something strong from her flask and offering it to Rhenora.
The alcohol was strong enough to burn Rhen’s throat as it went down, causing her to cough a few times before being able to draw breath.
“ Is that why you moved down here, so you could keep living in the old days and blowing stuff up?” She finally managed after the alcohol had burned its way to her stomach.
“Look, this place was forsaken long ago by your Prophets. Hell, we’re so far South, the light from the Celestial Temple doesn’t even shine here. Do I look like I give two shits about some faceless nobody’s taking out our friends? Only the good ones.” She swung completely around in her seat to face Rhenora, her flexibility front and center. “Look, why not take that sexy piece of meat of yours and go back to space, where you’re happy? Let the people here tear one another apart for all I care? Why continue to fight?”
“ Because it’s the right thing to do! They’ve killed half our resistance cell and half of Remal’s. We’re next on the list if you look at the trend. I won’t let someone kill my friends just because they think some kind of retribution should be had” Rhenora sputtered back, hands on hips and glare on pointe.
“Always the optimist, always the fighter. I think that’s why the two of us got along so well, us crazy ones have to stick together.”
“ Well someone’s trying to kill the crazy ones as you so eloquently put it. I’m not gonna leave here till we work out who it is and do something about it” Kaylen protested, matching Patin’s body language. Two could be as stubborn as each other.
Even as she spoke there was an echo of a snowrunner noise. Patin caught it on the wind. But there was more than one. “Quiet. You hear that?” Patin asked as she stood up on the snowrunner.
“Hear what?” Rhenora started to say before a hand was clamped over her mouth forcing her to be quiet.
“Someone’s coming. We need a defensive position, and we need it now.” She looked around and spotted a low lying ridge, a small outcropping just beneath. “There may be a cave.” She pointed, then swung around and gunned the snowrunner, angling it towards the outcropping. All the while hoping there was a cave or else their backs would be literally against a wall.
“ Told you someone was trying to kill us” Rhenora retorted as Patin expertly maneuvered the snow mobile. What did they have to defend themselves with though? Footsteps would be easily tracked in the snow, as would the tracks left by the sled behind the snow mobile. They couldn’t hide, they’d have to fight.
TBC
