Ensign T’Fearne - In the Hands of the Prophets
teayl.thorn
((Unknown Temple Corridor, B’Hala, Kendra Province, Bajor))
After an eternity of navigating the cramped tunnels, they finally reached a small opening. They would each have to crawl through, but a faint light was rewarded on the other side. On hands and knees, scrabbling one by one through the dust, they exited the tunnel into a dimly lit, high-ceilinged corridor less touched by tremors. Upper-level arched windows offered a glimpse of Bajor’s sky at dusk. A pair of burly brown-robed praylars ran into view at the end of the corridor. They both did a double-take at seeing them. One put a small horn to their lips, emitting a call that echoed through whatever part of the temple they had emerged. Two other guards drew a long, wicked scythe and began advancing on them, yelling angrily.
Prylar Guard: Traitors! Halt, by order of the Kai.
The group of dusty time-travellers paused for a moment in surprise. The young security officer struggled for a second, trying to calculate probabilities and assess security measures and came up blank. Something about the wicked edge of the scythe and the way the Prylar was approaching set her strange heart beating faster. Violence was heading their way, and she wasn’t in her own body, didn’t have the tools she was familiar with, and had no training for this kind of scenario. A cool tendril of self-doubt trickled down her spine and nailed her feet to the tiled floor. She wasn’t ready.
T’Fearne: I don’t like the turn of these events. Should we run?
Alieth: Run!!!!
That was the command the young security officer needed to free her feet. As the tiny commander sprinted down the hallway opposite the prylars, T’Fearne sprang after her. She rushed past the archaeologists to help him if needed, but Vrozek didn’t waste a second as he sprang after Alieth.
Vrozek: ::starting to run:: You don’t have to tell me twice…
More armed guards flowed into the corridor after the timetravellers. Several prylar rushed out of a side passage as they passed by, and T’Fearne found herself jerked to a stop with a neck-wrenching suddenness as her dusty tumbleweed of a ponytail was clamped in a Prylar’s fist. The tug on her already split scalp was blindingly excruciating. She shrieked, twisted and brought the wooden baton from her sleeve down on the Bajoran’s wrist with a loud crack. She hadn’t been aiming for the precise angle or point of contact, but years of honing her skills with Tassa'Akai paid off as the burly man’s arm instantly went limp, and he bellowed in pain.
Slipping away and past more grasping hands, under scythe swings and into the clear down the corridor. The small group burst out the doors through a high-ceilinged entrance hall under a grand archway marking an entrance to the temple. Through the gateway was an open courtyard filled with decoration and a swirl of Bajoran voices, colours and figures.
Alieth::: shouting almost out of breath:: East!!!!
The call behind her assured the ensign that the commander was still with them. Trying to pivot quickly as she would in her own Vulcazoid body and almost ended up prone in the dust as her Bajoran legs were slower and slightly less flexible than what she was used to, she spun East, weaving through the crowd, catching sight of Alieth’s petite form weaving nimbly through the crowded square and followed.
Vrozek: This crowd isn’t going to give much cover for long; they’re already parting to allow our pursuers to run through the crowd unfettered.
T’Fearne::: To Vrozek:: Come on, this way.
They ran weaving through the crowd, around carts and wagons, for several minutes, between beasts of burden and through trading posts. Their pursuers gradually became increasingly scarce until they could tumble into a small dark alleyway and wait to see if they had lost their pursuers.
Alieth: ::almost speechless:: Let's not... repeat that... ever again…
Vrozek: ::to Alieth:: So what did you do to rile up the natives?
Leaning precariously against the fractured wall of the dark alley, covered in dust from head to toe, a few fresh red drips trickled from her crude head bandage down to her chin, trying to breathe through her nose and slow her heart rate. T’Fearne looked around her at the companions who had just fled the temple with her in a wild race through the ancient and quaking streets of B’Hala. Their faces were covered in dust and sweat, gasping for breath. T’Fearne felt the energy singing in her muscles and the heady relief of escaping their pursuers. In that moment of absurdity and to her own mortification, she let out a strangled laugh, one she couldn’t hold back.
T’Fearne::: to Alieth:: Agreed,...never again. :: Trembling slightly:: Sorry, I know… this is not the time to…to have an emotional…
She rose, tears of suppressed laughter leaking out onto her cheeks as she followed the commander through the dilapidated ally. She tried to avoid stepping on any of the broken clay jars, assorted rubbish, and suspicious-looking puddles of yellow fluid strewn across the cobbles. Several swamp-smelling rodents of unusual size fled into the shadows as they moved forward.
Alieth: It really does not make sense, the Kai gave us permission to explore the Vault at our leisure, and we have done nothing to change his mind. :: she reached into one of the many layers that still remained on her robes and pulled out a handful of papers with her handwriting on them. The notes she had taken:: We have not taken anything that might have offended them either, have we?
The harsh glare the commander levelled at her had a sobering effect on the ensign, like being dipped in an ice bath, she choked down her last chuckle, hiccuped and took a deep steadying breath.
T’Fearne::: Earnestly:: No, Commander. I left the temple with only what I brought with me, all we took was knowledge. What if it wasn’t Kai Oogan who ordered the guards to apprehend us? The Kai warned me that there were many enemies in his Temple. Those that work against the welfare of the Bajoran people. Maybe it was this other faction. While researching in the Vaults and then digging our way out, things may have shifted in the power structure here.
Vrozek: Sure, let's just stand around and let them catch up with us. So, little lady do you have a plan? Or are we winging it at this point?
Clearly, the commander needed a moment as she pitched the ridges of her nose and squeezed them tightly while closing her eyes. T’Fearne took the moment to wipe some of the dust and blood from her face with her sleeves.
Alieth: Listen to me, this is what we are going to do.…
The ground shook, cutting off Alieth’s words. The earthquake this time was much more violent than any of the previous ones. The adobe houses around them leaned over them, and they were forced to run to get out of the alley. When they reached the wider street, they found chaos unfolding all around them. People were screaming and trying to stay on their feet, some running desperately from one side to the other.
A large crevasse opened up in the middle of the pavement, and it started heading in the opposite direction of the group. The silhouette of the eastern temple, through which they had emerged from the tunnels, sank into the underground, the graceful columns falling, the arcades crumbling and leaving only a cloud of dust behind. The soil still trembled as the Temple was completely engulfed by the ground, as were some of the nearby buildings. Further to the east, one of the city's minor Spires trembled and tilted until it fell into the street where the time travellers stood, trapping several citizens under its heavy, hewn stones.
Only then did the trembling cease those who had fallen or crouched rose cautiously to their feet.
Alieth: ::pointing to the trapped people::: We have to help them get out of there. ::looking around at the shocked, frightened, hurt and lost people around them:: We have to get them all out of here, get them out of the city!
They all pitched in to help. Vrozek and Alieth leveraged the debris off a woman’s leg.
Vrozek: ::straining:: Quickly…I..can’t..hold on much longer.
T’Fearne wrapped her arms around the woman and dragged her clear, as she clung to her baby. The ensign then lent her diminished strength to pry stones and wooden beams away from more struggling people.
T’Fearne: How? How can we get them out of the city?
A slight aftershock shook the ground again but nowhere near the force of the one before it. It gave T’Fearne the spark of an idea.
Any/Alieth: Response
Vrozek: I don’t know about you, but we need to get a move on. They’ll pick up our trail soon if we don’t do something, and quick.
T’Fearne: Wait. We need to help these people. We can at least start with word of mouth. Let it spread through the city. Gossip is faster than warp speed. :: Lifting another Bajoran woman to her feet ::
Any/Alieth: Response
Vrozek seemed distracted. Staring past all the chaos around them.
T’Fearne climbed to the top of an overturned cart in the street. People were milling around, wounded, people still caught under piles of debris. She didn’t know what she would say, but at that moment, her heart went out to the doomed people of B’Hala, and she knew they had to be warned.
T’Fearne: We don’t know why or how we are here, but I think we have to try to save as many as possible.
Vrozek: Hate the break up the chit-chat, but we’ve been spotted.
She could easily follow his gesture across the city square from her high vantage point, where at least a dozen Prylar guards were gathering. They were armed with bows this time. She winced. This was about to be a bloodbath.
Any/Alieth: Response
On top of the cart, silhouetted like a target for the archers, T’Fearne took a slow, steady breath, and everything went white.
((Vision, no time passes in the world during this moment))
Alieth, or a being that looked like Alieth, was standing beside her in a white expanse with no citizens, no city, and no Bajor. Only white as far as the eye could see.
Short Prophet::: nose crinkling in disgust:: it is corporeal. Linear. Not like us.
Carpenter appeared at her other side, or a being that looked like her CO.
Tall Prophet::: Cautioning:: Wait, It is willing. It exists here and there. It becomes like us. We can use it.
T’Fearne: What are you talking about? Where am I?
Short Prophet: We should not have brought them here. They do not understand. Primitive.
Tall Prophet: Four are required here. This one is willing at this moment. It will do.
((End of Vision))
Vrozek: RUN!! They’ve got bows and aren’t afraid to use them!
T’Fearne was again aware as an arrow sliced through the air heading towards her companions. She opened her mouth to yell something, but a strange voice emerged from her throat, like a choir all speaking at once, and it said words that she hadn’t planned to say.
T’Fearne/Prophets: B’HALA WILL FALL AT DAWN, FLEE THE CITY, TAKE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS, TELL EVERYONE YOU MEET, GO NOW AND BE SAFE. LET NONE STAND IN YOUR WAY. :: Eyes blazing bright blue :: THE PROPHETS HAVE SPOKEN!
The words echoed through the square. T’Fearne’s eyes glowed a brilliant blue as the energy of the Prophets coursed through her. The glow faded, leaving her with a warm sense of approval. It was similar to the empathic aura she could pick up from other beings when she was in her true Vulcazoid body. It flickered against her skin for a moment and then dissipated. The moment it did, a hot pain hit her in the back, and she crumpled forward off the cart. Tumbling to the ground.
Any/Alieth/Vrozek: Response
A dull throbbing pain radiated from her upper shoulder. She tried to stagger to her feet, but something was very wrong with her body, worse than it not being her real body. It didn’t respond well to commands, and something heavy was dragging at her shoulder. She tried to speak, but only a pained hiss escaped her teeth.
T’Fearne: oO Ouch, that hurt. Oo
Any/Alieth/Vrozek: Response
She felt someone beside her, dragging her uninjured arm over a shoulder. There were screams, people running, someone pulling her in a direction. She was dizzy and unable to focus. She couldn’t even tell if the ones who grabbed her were the guards or her companions.
T’Fearne: Hey, let go of me.
She struggled weakly with whoever was dragging her until she recognised a familiar voice.
Any/Alieth/Vrozek: Response
[[Tag, You’re It! / End Act 2 for T’Fearne]]
((OOC: 10 points to anyone who catches the Princess Bride reference.))
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Security Officer
USS Ronin - NCC-34523
R240107T14