On the hunt

Posted on Fri Jul 8th, 2022 @ 2:50am by Thayara

Mission: Jumping Right In
811 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Thayara sighed as the sun rose, she had been in the tree for nearly a full day now and there had been no movement in the ruins she was watching. She generally did not get so impatient, however the bugs on this planet were growing more annoying by the hour. The bites itched. Her symboint larvae, the false god living in her belly, took care of the welts quickly, it still irked her.

FInally having enough of sitting here waiting she climbed down out of the tree and started to examine the ruins again. She came to the same conclusion as before, the rings were located here in the center of the ruins. She looked up again, still not seeing any ship above. So where were the rings going?

Maybe they were going somewhere else, maybe there was another landing spot further away in the jungle. Deciding she needed to walk about she took her pack, staff weapon, food and water and started to circle the area, weaving through the jungle looking for any other signs of activity. As the sun began to set she was finding nothing. How frustrating.

She sat down on a rock and took a long drink of her canteen and considered what to do. She had been among her people for four years, but only in the last year had she earned their trust enough to scout for their benefit. Her ground work would save the lives of many in the future, including her own daughter. It was getting harder and harder to find and ambush Jaffa worthy of death. They had to kill them in certain ways as to not harm the larva they carried. She needed the larva. Some of their older members of the community needed new, younger larva… and the children. They were aging, and when they reached a certain age they must also be given a false god of their own to carry or else they died. It was a frustrating existence. Enslaved, yet free, and yet still enslaved.

Thayara was one of a few who would venture out and seek out leads to weaker, smaller groups of Jaffa maybe guarding a single master in tucked away worlds, groups that the retrieval teams could attack and steal their symbionts. She had hoped to return with good news this time, but as time passed she was starting to wonder if this mission was a bust, just as the last two had been. If she failed to return with good intel would the leadership trust her less? Would they restrict her to the camp again? That would be torture. She needed to prove her value and her worth.

She ate a few nuts from her pouch as she considered her next move. How much longer could she look around on this planet before it became a waste of time? She finished the nuts and looked up spotting a colorful fruit hanging on a vine. She had seen a bunch of these fruits around and was wanting to give it a try.

Standing up she walked over to it and started to pull it off the vine, but paused when she felt her boot sink deeper in to the ground. She looked down as her boot suddenly fell a few more inches. She gasped as she heard a snap, it was in that moment she realized the ground was giving way. She tumbled down through rock, dust, old leaves and other debris. She landed on her feet, jarring her knees before she fell back to the ground. She shielded her eyes as the pebbles fell around her. Once they stopped she blinked up at the sunlight coming in from the hole above her.

She heard one more snap and the fruit from the vine dropped through the hole and landed next to her. “Great” she said looking at the fruit then back at the hole. She snagged the item and stuck it in her pouch before pulling her staff off her back and checking it for damage. Thayara was pleased it didn’t seem any worse for wear.

Taking a moment she glanced back and forth, this was unlike any cave or cavern she had ever been in before. Everything looked to be part crystal, and perfectly carved. Frowning she looked north then south, before deciding to venture north, back towards the gate, were she above ground.

After a short while she came to a T and looked right and left. Not sure where to go, but not wanting to get lost she grabbed her knife and slashed at the wall, leaving a small mark. Glancing around she took the left tunnel until she came to another junction, this time she was certain she could hear voices. Thayaras heart started to pound as she heard word that sounded like Jaffa.

She had found them...