BACKPOST - Flight

Posted on Thu Jun 9th, 2022 @ 11:30pm by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Remal Kajun

Mission: *CD*
Location: Bajor
Timeline: BACKPOST - Prior to current mission

Minutes later, Zio pulled back some vines to reveal a hidden grotto complete with the sound of a distant waterfall and lush moss covered stones. Flowers bloomed in the sunlight of what looked like a small exclusive meadow. As soon as they stepped through, the temperature difference became apparent, like a ten degree drop. It was almost bearable.

Astonished, Remal commented, “Your son found this place?” He ducked slightly as to avoid the rocky grotto entrance, but once through found it easy to stand tall. Rhenora and Patin followed them in and Zio’s children secured the entrance, hidden just behind the foliage.

“He loves to explore. When he was eight, he began climbing and soon after dragged us out here and showed us this place. It’s got some strange geologic formations, but mostly, at night, the clearing provides a perfect view of the Celestial Temple. Almost as if it was designed as a natural temple to the Prophets.”

This piqued Patin’s curiosity slightly. She kept it to herself and instead responded with, “Looks like a perfect place to trap us in and do weird things to us. Pretty though.” She added as her twisted mind often did.

Rhenora laughed at the juxtaposition, on one hand Zio was waxing lyrical about the prophets, and the other hand Patin Was talking of traps and doom. She looked at Remal and would gauge her decisions on him, Zio was his friend, he knew them best.

"So who's tracking you and why?" Rhenora asked directly.

Accosted, Zio stumbled on her words. "Well, I, um, here take a seat and I'll try to explain." She sat, an invite, Remal followed suit and sat across from her. When she was satisfied that she had their attention, she continued.

"About a month ago, a man and a woman approached my husband and myself about joining what they called a movement of revolution. Personally I've found peace here in the jungle."

"Sweatbox." Patin muttered to show she was listening and paying attention.

Ignoring Patin, Zio continued, "My husband on the other hand was tempted by their words. When they left he went with them. Broke my heart." A tear fell from her eyes which Remal realized had been red from crying. "But then they returned two weeks later with an ultimatum, join their cause or die for their cause."

"I asked how my death would serve their cause and all I heard was that the Mother and Father of the future would come, that you mama Kaylen, would come." She looked directly at Rhenora for a moment before continuing. "My husband was with them of course that night. But it wasn't the man I knew. He had this sadness in his eyes as though he had made a huge mistake and it showed."

Tears began streaming down her cheeks tried to hold him back but they flowed like rain. "I watched as he was forced to light the first torch and as he marched toward the cabin I could see in his face a choice being made. He looked me in the eyes, mouthed the words I'm sorry, before turning and defying the man and woman who came with him. They didn't hesitate and shot him before lighting the house on fire."

Rhenora listened without judgment, her mind putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Two people appearing in the village and recruiting for a revolution. They’d been witness to such things recently with the Pah Wraith movement. In that instance they’d barely escaped with their lives, sadly the hand built cottage by the ocean hadn’t been so lucky. She shivered involuntarily at the moment of trying to escape the burning building before trying to refocus.

“ Was there a tall one, and a shorter one, both with piercing eyes, and a red earring on the wrong side?” She asked, trying to match them to the trio that had visited her in the cottage.

Through her renewed tears she nodded. "I caught two names but haven't had the chance to research them. The man was Brin. The woman, evil looking bitch, was Faro. We managed to make it out through the escape tunnel we built years ago, you know, for other reasons. And since that day we've been here, avoiding pack patrols. They've turned everyone in the village to their side with their political rhetoric and revolution mumbo jumbo."

Patin replied for the first time, "I'm sorry your husband was a dick and now we're all involved in your mess, but what do you want us to do about it?" She baited while snapping down on a cigar and lighting up. Apparently old habits died hard.

“ Bide your tongue or you’ll get us all killed” Zio snapped, earning a slightly wounded look from Patin.

Rhenora diverted the attention from what she could feel would be a brewing simmering altercation back to the task at hand. “ Brin and Faro, I’ve heard those names before, they are associated with the Pagh Wraiths, although it couldn’t be proven they tried to murder us a few months ago, they burnt our cottage to the ground” She shuddered at the memory. The smoke and flames permanently etched into her mind.

Patin had the decency to remain quiet, taking in this new information that was being shared by all parties. This was bigger than even she had imagined.

The curtain to the grotto's entrance was thrust open and Zio's children moved swiftly inside and over to their mother. The daughter, older in years than the son, spoke, "There's movement in the trees. Can't tell how many but I think they know you're here." She finished with a disgusted look at Remal.

He gathered her pain and loss had caused her to harden her heart. This group had not had the to properly mourn. Remal looked to Rhenora, "Any chance of an emergency transport out?" He asked, knowing they were much too far from DS9 for a direct transport and it would be an hour before a shuttle could be in range. But there was that off chance she had planned ahead and had some Federation magic trick up her sleeve.

“ In the cave? Unlikely, we’d need to get outside in the open for the transporters to get a lock, the nearest transport hub can relay us to safety. It’d be risky if they know where we are. I’d also raise the attention of all the local authorities. Our cover would be blown” Rhenora mused. It would be a tough climb to the top of the mountain, or they could take their chances back down on the valley floor with those that were hunting them.

Zio stood, her tears now dry. She was angry with herself and spurned by Patin, a woman she had never met. "I doubt the mountain will be kind. I say it's time we face these bastards and show them what it means to fight a revolution. My kids and I will draw them away while you make your escape, though I admit, I'd love to go with you. Maybe see one of the new Bajor colonies."

Saddened, Remal cleared his throat, "I cannot ask you to risk your life for us. We will find a way to get out of here together. We will be free together." His mind retraced their shared past. He had saved her life so many years prior, at the cost of her leg. She still held that debt in the forefront of her heart.

Patin allowed a puff of smoke to exit her lungs, filling the cave before rolling out of the opening. "I think you're all being a bunch of babies. Give me a gun and point me at them." In the distance a howl split the air. The trackers could smell a target.

“ Time to vanish” Rhenora declared, giving Patin a look that said many things, most of them ‘shut up and follow if you want to live’ . She tapped the communicator hidden under layers of clothing but heard nothing other than static. “ We’re too deep in the caves, we have to get into the open”

Deciding then and there to openly trust Zio and her family, Remal asked, "is there another way out of here? Perhaps someplace open where we can get a signal out?

The rear of the cave extended into a complex series of tunnels. Some of which had been explored previously, many that hadn’t. Zio knew there was a path that led to the other side of the mountain, a clearing in a grotto that would probably get them a transport signal and out of the path of the Trackers. The problem was, if the trackers knew they are in the caves, they also probably knew of the grotto.

“There is a way through the mountain, but you can bet your ass they know it too” Zio warned “ They may be waiting for us at the other end” She pointed towards the darkness that lay waiting in the tunnels beyond.

“ We either climb up, and we know they’re waiting for us, climb down, well we know what happens then, or we take the chance in the caves” Patin mused over the options, her tactical mind always trying to outsmart the enemy.

"I say we make our way for the grotto and deal with whatever may be waiting on us when we get there." Remal suggested before asking Patin, "do you have anything to cover our tracks?"

She gave a sly grin, "All out of boom sticks I'm afraid." She ruffled through her bag for a moment. "Ah, but I do have a few gas trip mines. Might slow em down a bit, yeah?"

He didn't know why he felt surprised by the idea she was carrying trip mines in her purse, but he was. He gave a worried look at Rhenora then back to Patin, and nodded with uncertainty. "Yeah, that'll work. Start by placing one at the entrance I suppose."

"Way ahead of you boss." She said as she armed one and tossed it over her shoulder towards the entrance.

Remal, eyes wide, turned to Zio. "I suggest we get the hell outta here." He gestured, "After you "
TBC