Jungle Drums IC
-
Jungle Drums IC
-
[Friday April 9, 2077; Obsidian Pyramid, The City, Under the Jungles, Aztlan]
As the bedraggled team emerged from the pyramid in to the dim lights of the former kaer they could see that the destruction of the pyramid had disrupted the careful magical balances of this place. It wasn’t about to collapse but the light sources were flickering and the bioluminescence of some of the fungi was clearer. The background count was no less tainted, although it was markedly weaker out from the obsidian tomb, too much blood had been spilt over the generations. It was a miracle that these people hadn’t sacrificed themselves in to extinction long ago if they were as isolated from the real world as they appeared to be.
As they regrouped with Rhea they were able to take stock of their resources and the damage these primitives had done to Alyce’s hardened team of killers. Of the original forty five or so more than twenty were dead or missing and a further five were walking wounded, two were being administered to by the medtech and it was likely that without significant intervention they wouldn’t be coming home either. A sorry state, their supplies, particularly ammo were depleted and there was still the long journey to the surface to complete.
Just then a weird ululation went up as the pyramid finally collapsed in on itself with a thunderous roar and over a thousand voices were lifted in despair. When that despair turned to anger it would be best not to be in the vicinity!
#38
-
Alyce & Sian
Friday April 9, 2077; Ruined Obsidian Pyramid, The City, Under the Jungles, AztlanSian notes the direction of the ramp leading out of the cavern and turns to her companions. “I can simply continue the tunnel from here. I have the direction we need to travel and can get us there by seven or eight meters every three seconds. This would have the benefit of allowing us to go in a straight path, as well as eliminating any ambushes and surprise attacks from the sides or front of our advance. We can even close off the rear after we are all in the tunnel. Comments?”
Alyce nods. ” can try to get a message out to any of the surviving team that was separated from the main body. I can compensate for a lot of noise and hope that they receive the message and head to the ramp. I like the idea of going by tunnel.” She walked over to one of her Mules and activates the satellite link and all of her noise reducing tech and software. The message goes out to regroup at the ramp and Alyce hopes that some of the stragglers get the message. She also hopes that much of the resistance will be disorganized by the loss of the priests and the collapse of the pyramid. After sending the message, she walks over to the triage location, directing that the more seriously injured be put on the two Mules for transportation. All remaining ammunition is divided up among the remaining soldiers and drones to make that easier.
309/40
-
Apparently they were burrowing out. It struck Al as horribly unnatural – but so did everything else in this abominable place, so he just shrugged. He was busy anyway – they had a lot of hurt people, more than they had folks that knew how to help them. He wasn’t a big fan of Russian mobsters, but they’d fought for Alyce, and he’d do what he could.
The triage was heartbreaking. Some guys, it wasn’t that they couldn’t be saved, it was that saving them would take resources that would leave two or three others dead. Al took charge of one of these hard-luck cases, a trooper with Vor tats covering his upper body and a gaping wound in his lower abdomen. It was clear he couldn’t keep up, even at burrowing pace, and waiting would cost more lives. Al waved the others on, promising to catch up.
Al’s personal medkit was state-of-the-art. There was no real signal down here for the autodoc, but it had everything he needed to patch the guy up – except a time machine. At the rate Sian had said they’d be moving and considering the distance involved, Al figured he had ten minutes to do a one-hour job if he wanted to catch up to the rest of them with this guy hobbling along in agony beside him.
So he’d take some short-cuts.
Al sat beside the man. He was already pumped full of painkillers. It was obvious he’d been trained to focus on his breathing, try to keep it steady, in situations like this. Al lit two cigarettes and put one in the other guy’s mouth. No need to ask him if he smoked, he was Russian.
“Looks like ya din’t make the cut, kemo sabe. But I’m here with a couple o’ choices for ya. I can give ya some more drugs an’ leave ya here. Hell, maybe you can shoot anything tries ta come after us. Or I can patch ya up. It won’t be pretty, you’ll be shittin’ out a tube into a bag fer the rest o’ yer days…an’ it’ll be ten minutes of agonizin’ pain that’ll seem like eternity, but you’ll live. Whaddaya say?”
The man gave his answer.
Al got to work.
-
I took the lead and nodded at the suggestion with the tunnel: “Sure, you had a lot of practice and it went well before. Not to mention that beneath ground the BGC will likely be better than above – unless we stumble upon some of those guys mass graves.”
Looking at the sorry state of the wounded, I sighed and tossed one of the soldiers my secondary medkit. No sense in wasting my primary, but I’d likely need their good will once the fire of the Kamikaze died down. Within the safety of the traveling cave, I had to rely on my companions one way or the other. -
Alyce & Sian
Friday April 9, 2077; Ruined Obsidian Pyramid, The City, Under the Jungles, AztlanSian nods at the others then gets to work on the new tunnel. It will be a long one, so she does not take shortcuts in its creation by making sure that it is adequately supported and ventilated. She makes the floor as smooth as possible to allow the Mules to traverse it easily, as any rough ground would make the transport of the badly wounded even more painful. She knows that taking such precautions will add time to the creation, but there are many people counting on her to do this right.
Alyce sheds many tears over the wounded, doing the best she can with limited resources. Many of the medkits she had brought along are quickly depleted and she still has other people to look after. Rhea supervises the loading of the Mules with the worst injured, keeping morale up as much as possible. Alyce is heartened by the fact that the remaining soldiers are still well organized, although some are down to their last ammunition clips and some are making sure that they have their combat knives at hand. There is no complaining and no groans about the situation, proving that these are well trained and disciplined men and women.
Alyce also gives her attention to the wounded people who had been selected for the role of sacrifice. Most of those were not badly injured, but more in need of reassuring. Alyce tries communicating with them as well as she can, but there is a significant language barrier to get past. Fortunately, she is well versed in hand motions and is able to get some basic ideas across. She has the former guards stripped of weapons and their hands zip-tied before leaving them behind as she does not have the personnel or the desire to guard such prisoners. She does treat those guards that need medical aid.
310/41
-
Half an hour later, just as Sian was starting to open her tunnel to access the ramp, the group’s rear guard heard shuffling feet closing fast from the darkness.
“Shit fer supper, don’t shoot us, fer fuck sake,” Al called out toward the sounds of readied weapons. He and the Vor soldier he’d stayed with were hobbling along like contestants in a macabre three-legged race, the Russian’s arms draped across the Southerner’s shoulders. The younger man’s face was white as a sheet and his breathing labored, but he was alive.
-
Alyce & Sian
Friday April 9, 2077; Ruined Obsidian Pyramid, The City, Under the Jungles, AztlanAl’s new partner proved to be one tough cookie, despite his apparent youth. He barely made any noise while Al worked on him, although Al was sure he was feeling a great deal of pain. When finished, the young man thanked him, first in Russian then French then finally in broken English. He touched one of the tattoos on his chest and reached over to touch Al on his chest. He tried to stand on his own, but was clearly in distress, so Al jumped in to assist him. The pair went into the tunnel and started to catch up to Sian at the head of the line.
Rhea walks up and down the line of soldiers and would-be sacrifices, but tends to stay near the rear guard most of the time. She is pleased with the readiness of her remaining people, trying to shut out the faces of those she will likely never see again. There will be time later for mourning the dead, right now she has to get the rest of her people to safety. She is near the rear when she hears her rear guard go to arms ready due to some noise approaching from the rear. Lights from the helmets of two of her soldiers illuminate Al and the soldier he is with and she gives the order to stand her people down. Rhea grins at Al as he lumbers forward and two soldiers move out to take his burden, escorting the soldier farther forward. “About time you showed up, Al. I was starting to worry about you two. Alyce will be very happy that you caught up. I think that we are just about to break through to the surface.” She pauses a few seconds then continues. “Al? Thank you for saving Georgy’s life. I appreciate it a lot.”
311/42
-
“Heh heh. Probably jist have ta put one between his eyes down the road some, he don’t make better life choices. Damned Russky mobster,’ Al growled in response and went off to look for Alyce. Three hours ago he’d had no idea when or if he might see her next. Then plopped down in the midst of her expedition, and not a proper hello yet.
Of course she was also looking after the wounded as Shrike and Sian decided if they were in the right place to break the surface. He helped her do a closed reduction on a dislocated shoulder, then pulled her aside. “Heya toots. Gotta question for ya.” He grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her close enough to smell the sweat on his body and the sour of dried demon blood. Then he touched her breast. “What’s that mean, whatever the hell tat yer Vor buddies wear in that spot there on they chest?”
-
Alyce & Sian
Friday April 9, 2077; Ruined Obsidian Pyramid, The City, Under the Jungles, AztlanRhea laughs. “You just might, Al. He cannot stop being what he is any more than you can. Still, it is nice that you helped save his life. Thank you very much for that.”
Alyce feels Al step in beside her and smiles as he begins to help her. She is a bit surprised when he pulls her close to him, not really knowing what to expect, especially when he touches her breast. At his question, she describes a certain tat and he nods. Alyce quietly chuckles. “You may not like it, Al. That spot and that tat mean family. He has been accepted into a Vory Bratva, which is about as close to being in a real family as any of these people can expect to get. It is a symbol of deep attachment and it means something very important to these men and women. There are several different Bratvas represented in my team, but that symbol in that specific spot is common to all of them. Did he touch you there?”
At Al’s nod, she smiles at him. “That means he has given you a great honor, at least in his eyes. He welcomes you as a brother, as family. Of course, it means little to outsiders unless they are accepted into the Bratva, but it is certainly an honor he does not take lightly. You may get a visit from one of his family members in the near future. It would be to honor what you have done, so please try to not kill whoever they send.”
Alyce pauses a bit before moving even closer to Al, taking a deep breath of his smell. To Alyce, that smell is intoxicating and she cannot seem to get enough of it. “Thank you for helping me today. You do know, don’t you, that you can always be this close to me and you do not need an excuse to touch me anywhere you want to.”
312/43
-
Al added the information to the store of knowledge he’d been building. He’d probably never completely shake his feelings for Alyce, and he’d channeled that energy into picking up Russian and learning all he could about pinko-commie organized crime.
“Yeah, well, fer all yer various misguided associations, ya seem fairly well committed ta savin’ the world. An’ since that’s the very business I find myself in these days, reckon our paths is sure ta keep crossin’.”
-
I had expected the drug stopping to work and my bio-monitor gave me enough warning to catch myself from falling. But yeah, it was bad. The numbness faded so rapidly, I gasped from the pain. That was the moment I hated most of all. Still, I regained my composure quickly enough from actually leaving my place in the procession.
Sian was busy keeping us all from dying and Al was having a quiet moment with… damn, Al had called her by her name, but I had already forgotten it again. I had no particular interest of talking with the bunch of Vory killers.
So, to distract me from the pain, I started to rehearse the next steps.
Once we were back on the surface I’d be able to contact headquarters and deliver a report to Puck. Easy enough to prepare in advance and also prepare answers to the most likely questions.
Next came transport. There was no way around driving a few hours through the jungle. But that would be time enough to get another Thunderbird ready – my boss always kept a few spare around the Skyhook.
So that was that.
Next we’d be engaged to track Dream. If the psycho was smart he’d have disabled most vehicles and boobytrapped the remaining ones to knock out his pursuers and cause us more casualties to slow us down further. I sighed. It had worked already, hadn’t it?
But I knew better than to argue leaving people behind for the sake of saving the world. That was bad for moral.
So where would the psycho vampire mirror carrier turn to?
The answer was plain obvious: Azlan.
I added a few requests to my report. We’d need disguises, transport and a base of operations. Best if we got all in one.
The list got longer as I thought about it.
Yeah, we’d have to break into another ritual chamber soon enough, didn’t we… -
Alyce & Sian
Friday April 9, 2077; Stone Tunnel, Under the Jungles, AztlanSian looks over to Shrike. “I think this is the best place to come to the surface, but I can verify that by making a small hole and going up to get a peek.” She nods to where Rhea is talking to several of her soldiers. “Ms Kynn tells me that they left about twenty soldiers and some of their gear, including ammunition reloads, on the surface near the entrance to the ramp. Four of the soldiers were badly injured in previous fighting and were left with the others. She also told me they had to walk three weeks through the jungle from where they left their vehicles. The news only gets worse. She said that there is a very angry and very powerful spirit in the area that had them fighting day and night against awakened animals and plants. The spirit was demonstrably more powerful in the immediate area, but seemed to leave them alone once they arrived here. They lost comms when they entered the city we just left, so she has few expectations as to what we will find at the campsite. By the way, they numbered their camps and that one was number fifteen and the vehicles left them at camp three. I will now create a small air hole and go up to see what is up there.” She sighs and steps a bit closer to the man. “I do wish someone had thought to pick up my armor, or at least my pack. I will be missing the blood I had stored in there soon enough and will need to feed before too long. I have a victim already partially drained and it will be good to finish that, but I will need additional blood nearly every day. Speaking of which, Dream will need to do that as well, and in fact, may be in more dire need than I am.”
Sian creates her ventilation hole and goes into mist form, rising through the air to get to the entrance of the small shaft. Looking about, she takes note of what she can see……………………….
Alyce nods to Al. Apparently, as expected, there is to be no additional closeness shared between the two of them. She smiles at the man she dearly loves. “I suppose that we shall, yes. Well, I should get back to work as the injured will not heal much on their own.”
313/44
-
As Alyce made her excuses, Al looked around and was delighted to see that Sian was still going about her business in the nude. Just as he was zeroing in for a good look, however, she dissipated into mist.
Freaks everywhere. At least all these mobbed-up killers-for-hire surrounding him were regular flesh and blood.
-
Alyce & Sian
Friday April 9, 2077; Stone Tunnel, Under the Jungles, AztlanSian pokes her mist-form head out of the air shaft and is pleased to note that she has come up almost exactly where she thought she was, based on Alyce’s and Rhea’s directions. A quick look around gives no indication that anyone else is about and she rapidly descends back to the tunnel, reforming once there. She looks at Shrike and nods. “We are just about where we had thought we were. I did not see anyone about. My plan is to continue the tunnel from here and make a lazy looping ramp up to the surface. From there, we can decide to either use the ramp already present or have me create another one to parallel it.”
Sian grins and begins creating a ramp that tunnels upwards to the surface. Once there, she steps out near the lake and looks around, even as Rhea sends some of her soldiers out to secure a perimeter about the area. Before long, all of the people are gathered at the rocky lake shore. Alyce sends one of her three remaining Flying Eye drones to determine if the ramp is secure of if an ambush awaits them. She reports that the drone feed shows the path to be clear and she sends a message to the camp they had left at the top of the ramp. The response has her and Rhea grinning. Alyce looks around at the others. “All is clear and our people are waiting for us. It is safe to go up the ramp.”
Rhea organizes the party and the group begins the walk upwards. Sian steps aside, motioning to her captive former guard, who steps aside with her, his face a mixture of terror and desire. The two walk off a short distance, where Sian can finish what she had started earlier, sucking the man dry of blood and essence in a few minutes.
314/45
-
Nothing’s ever simple. I didn’t trust the assurance that the ramp was safe. It was just such a natural point to prepare an ambush, that I was losing pretty much all respect for our opposition when there was none.
“Let us scout ahead before the whole army marches up. There might still be some surprises lying in wait. Speaking of which, Al could you do me a favor and hook me up to my medpack? I need to get rid of those drug after effects before I get into the next altercation. The men need to take five anyway if they are supposed to make the ascent without collapsing.” -
Al helped Shrike with the medpack with no small degree of interest. It was not more sophisticated than the one Al carried himself. Not strictly speaking. But there was a high degree of customization, and Al caught glimpses of a lot of exotic sounding compounds. Once the leads were on, he clapped the elf on the shoulder and commented, “Regular fuckin’ pharmacy, you are.”
He glanced at the readout. The guy was riding a psycho/physiological roller coaster. But then it certainly didn’t seem to have impacted his longevity.
“Reckon we can get ya down to a functional baseline. All ready ta blast off into pharmacological orbit again. But ya want serious medical advice, Alyce there’s the real sawbones.”
-
“Ah, you know, as I took my stroll through the centuries, I had many medical procedures of one kind or the other. Turns out getting good drugs is always worth the effort. Thanks by the way. It’s always nice to not have to take a nap to get back into fighting shape.
So let’s get up and out of here. I take the left, you the right and we all keep an eye open for traps.”
Getting up the spiral was a tedious business – especially since their weren’t any complications until the reached the exit proper. The view over the endless green hell wasn’t particularly encouraging. Still, his link got a connection to the nearest satellite and delivered his prepared report.
After receiving the answer, he send a message down to the rest of the troup:
<<Exit’s clear, but we better hurry now. I’m told that there might be reinforcements of the opposing kind on the way here.>> -
Al took up his position on the left. There were a few Vor soldiers that had been assigned the sector as well, but Al said in Russian, “Don’t shoot me,” and then ranged further out into the bush, parallelling the group’s movement from about fifty yards out. He be able to spot an ambush much better this way, and keeping up through the rougher terrain was no problem – unti they could ditch or get transport for all those wounded, they’d be moving like molasses.
-
Alyce & Sian
Friday April 9, 2077; Ascending Ramp, Under the Jungles, AztlanAlyce remained near the Mules as they began to climb. Al and Shrike were ranging far ahead, making sure that the path was clear of anyone setting an ambush for them. She had to control the Mules to give as smooth a ride to the wounded on them as possible. The men and women with her were disciplined enough to not show their pleasure that the ordeal was nearly over, at least this phase. All of them recall the deadly fight just getting to the ruined city above them. Facing the insane free spirit was not high on the list of “good things to do” and they made the necessary preparations.
Sian carefully cuts the head off of the man she had drained, feeling full for the first time in days. Frag, has it only been days? In some ways, it seems like weeks have passed since she had linked up with these people in the Yellowstone wilderness. Her bright with newly-gained essence, she rises from her kill and rejoins the line of soldiers and former prisoners heading up the ramp. She does wonder, though, where her next meal of blood was to come from. She had kept only three more of the pyramid guards as food sources, but they would not really last the entire trip back to civilization.
The ramp is indeed ambush free and Al and Shrike meet up with a two man scouting element from the men that Alyce had left behind on the surface. They are challenged in Russian by one of the men and both feel that there is likely to be at least one sniper covering the two men.
315/46
-
Al answered the challenge in passable Russian, saying truthfully, “We are super ultra elite operatives sent to rescue your mission and in doing so save entire the world.”
Then, aware that these men did not know him and Shrike, he contacted Alyce. <<Heya toots, ya better let Ivan an’ Igor here know we’s the real deal.>>
Log in to reply.