Take It On The Run

Posted on Sat Aug 15th, 2015 @ 11:47am by Cadet Senior Grade Eli Ziyad & Lieutenant Eric Edwards & Cadet Senior Grade Chance Conradi & Ignatius Reilly

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Enara Prime

* The Catacombs - Enara Prime *

Eli led them through the back alleys of town, moving fast. It was a good twenty minutes on foot before they reached the edge of town and began the descent down a hillside to the catacombs entrance. Eli searched the area mentally and was relieved to note that no one else was here, but they were not far behind.

“Let’s go! They are only a few minutes behind us.” He started the run downhill.

Running alongside Eli, Chance was trying to be mindful not to shake the spider in the box. He wasn't successful by any measure and was getting a good, step-by-step berating from the eight-legged critter. "Shut up, Iggy! I'm doing my best here!", he panted. Drugs and stun grenades and running for one's life didn't mix well.

Let me out! If the burrow entrances are small enough, I can construct webbing to slow down anyone behind us, Iggy expanded her mental voice to include Eli and Eric.

"No!" Chance cried.

Iggy's suggestion didn't seem like a particularly good one to Eric, as they had precious little of a head start. But it did get him thinking as they made haste.

"Eli, what's the story with these catacombs? Still in use? Historical significance?"

“Tourist trap, mainly. Popular with kids, which means Loran knows them well. The others, I don’t know about.” They reached the entrance and Eli stopped for a moment.

“Let Iggy out, she can ride and we’ll be faster without lugging that box around.” (Yay!, came a quiet cry from the arachnid.) He pointed down the main shaft for Eric. “This runs about a hundred yards, with various tunnels opening off it, and more tunnels opening off those. Near the end is an opening that is blocked off to tourists and it doubles back, then opens to an exit outside town.”

Eric listened intently as he helped Chance extricate Iggy from her confines. "The hub a hundred yards in," he thought out loud, "we could blow it to cover our tracks. I've got a couple of charges left... Placed right, they wouldn't know which way we headed, and they'd have to clear debris. Do you think the tunnels can handle it structurally?"

“Let’s discuss this on the move. You have a tricorder? We can scan and make sure.” Eli tossed the box back out and then began to move along the main tunnel.

The Lieutenant nodded his assent, letting Eli take the lead only for his familiarity with the area. The air was musty down here, he thought, and he reached for a palm light to offset the creeping darkness. The space was close, but that at least meant they couldn't be surrounded.

Iggy clung to Chance's back; riding on his shoulders was a hazard, since the ceiling was low. But we could be blocked in, Eric, Iggy thought at the Security Lieutenant. She was always a ray of sunshine and hope.

"Shh," Chance hushed her. "And hold on tight. I don't want you getting jostled off."

"If it's blocked in on the other side of the people who want Eli, I'll take it," Eric replied to Iggy, continuing down the tunnel.

The group ran past various tunnels opening off the main passage. From behind, and faintly, they could hear voices reaching the main entrance.

“Just ahead!” Eli called out. Down on their left was an arch that had a rope across it. When they reached it, Eli yanked the rope free. “Get in Chance!”

Hurrying, Chance ducked through the opening, shining a light around as he went. The passage was dusty, obviously not as used as the ones they had already come through. He continued down the corridor till it branched off.

“Go left, left, right, left, right at the forks,” Eli instructed. “After that last fork, the tunnel will start to descend.”

"Mmm...," Chance grunted then whispered, "Left, left, right, right."

Left, left, right, left, right, Iggy corrected him. Onward, my steed!

"Fuck you, Iggy," Chance muttered and jogged ahead of the other two.

“Now might be a good time to set off the charges, Eric,” Eli suggested. “They’re just…..about twenty yards back.” He turned and began to follow Chance and Iggy.

"Twenty yards?" Eric cursed under his breath, even as he reached for his tricorder. "Keep moving," he ordered, "I'll catch up."

It took him several moments to identify whether or not the tunnel was stable enough to withstand the charges, and a few more to choose the best points to place them. The cadets ahead of him could likely hear him talking to himself: a recording for Norval in the event they didn't make it out of this. He just hoped the uplink to the shuttle was strong enough to store it through his comm badge, even in the absence of a stable transporter sync.

He keyed the trigger to his tricorder, and counted to ten as he went into a full sprint after Eli, Chance and Iggy, then sent the signal to cause a very satisfying explosion. He grinned like an idiot when the tunnel didn't come down around them, letting out an adrenaline-fueled "WHOOP!"

Recalling Eli's directions, he was swift on their heels. "That'll buy us some time, but let's keep moving boys!"

“Well done!” Eli clapped him on the back even as they continued to run. They made the turns Eli had given them and now the tunnel began to descend and the air to cool. Water could be seen seeping through the rock. “We’re passing under the lake.”

We are under a lake? Iggy's thought was laced with panic. She couldn't swim.

"Shh, yes, we are, Iggs. It's fine." Chance told her. "Just hold onto me, 'kay?" Her acknowledgement came in the form of a tightening of her grip on him.

“Hurry,” Eli instructed. He led the way down the damp floor of the tunnel and finally, the floor beneath them began to rise and the rock became progressively drier. “Just ahead it will turn to the right and there’s an opening that will get us to the surface. Maybe then, we can contact the ship.”

"The sooner, the better," Eric admitted as the group moved forward, turning right and headed for the light above. He maneuvered his way to the front, keeping his phaser out and ready for danger. He wasn't taking any chances now that they were close, and had at least temporarily thwarted their pursuers in the tunnels.

Eli paused to get a read on the area around the tunnel opening. He could sense no one lying in wait, but there were several ways out, it would be hard to post someone at all of them.

“I’m not sensing anyone out there!” His voice was urgent. “We should be clear Eric.”

Eric referenced his tricorder. On a planet of telepaths, he wasn't quite willing to trust a 21-year-old to not be blocked.

Satisfied, he gave a nod. "Go," he ordered. "We make straight for the runabout, and stun anyone in our way." He reached into his bag and tossed a Type-I phaser to both Eli and Chance. "Congrats, Cadets, you're getting field weapon training early."

Chance chuckled, catching his. "Oz has taken me through the basic phaser training holoprograms. My aim isn't bad in those." He checked the weapon's settings then shifted Iggy around to his chest. "Hold on, kiddo."

I am! Do you not feel how tight I am holding on!? The arachnid gripped tighter and a few of her tarsi claws poked through Chance's shirt.

"I feel that now," he muttered. Putting an arm around her protectively, leaving his other free to use the phaser, Chance, at Eric's signal, burst from the catacombs and made a mad dash for the runabout. Ahead of him, he saw someone and didn't take any time to determine friend or foe. He fired at the person. And missed.

Eric might have laughed if his adrenaline wasn't running so high as they stormed towards the runabout. Instead he took aim and fired a short burst past Chance that corrected his mistake. "Remind me to take you to the phaser range myself," he managed, sparing a glance over his shoulder. No signs of pursuit. "Get to Lapidus!!"

Finding a bit more pep, Chance picked up his pace and ran, hitting the side of the runabout with his back and hauling open the hatch. He waved Eli in then, as Eric caught up and ran in as well, he pulled the hatch closed and locked it. "Ready when you are, Eric!"

Eli slipped into the co-pilot’s seat and began to work over the console. “Initiating engines. We can be off the ground in fifteen seconds.” There was a beep from the conn and he laughed. “Or less. Warp engine is online and we are ready to get the hell out of here.”

"Good," Eric said as he settled into the pilot's position and checked the sensor readings laid out before them. "Get our shields up once we're in the air. And run a diagnostic, make sure nothing's been tampered with." He was mentally weighing caution against additional time spent within grasp of, among others, Eli's brother. The thought brought a frown to the Lieutenant's lips, but he pushed through the unpleasantness and hailed planetary control, requesting permission to depart.

Clearance was received and a few seconds later, they were lifting off. As soon as they were clear of the ground, Eli put the shields in place. “Starting diagnostic and we’re clear. Go!”

Eric’s thoughts briefly touched on Eli’s parents, but he knew the two people he was responsible for were safe, and sound, inside Lapidus, and that was all that really mattered.

“Make it so,” he said.

************

Lieutenant Eric Edwards
The Mother Hen...with a gun

Cadet Junior Grade Eli Ziyad
Chick On The Run

Cadet Junior Grade Chance Conradi
Chicken

Ignatius J. Reilly-Zeferino
Shaken but Uncracked