Exploring the Burned-Out Village (part 1)

Posted on Wed Jan 4th, 2017 @ 1:10pm by 1st Lieutenant Kara Melo & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Illise Hale & Lieutenant JG Victoria Drani M.D.

1,130 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Shadow Dance
Location: Qunari territory
Timeline: Day 3, afternoon

ON

Illise stood on a dirt road at the crest of a rocky hill looking down at the village a short distance away. It lay in a shallow valley that had been carved a millennia ago by by a slow winding river which still flowed through the basin. Irrigated fields spread outwards from the banks, making the best use of the relatively small track of fertile land in the otherwise dry landscape. The houses and other buildings stood back from the banks further up the slope, no doubt to keep them from flooding when the river ran high.

At one time this valley would have been alive with a patchwork of colors, the bustling of people hard at work, and the sound of children at play. Now there was only a still silence, blanketed in grey.

The village had been thoroughly burned. Nothing had been spared. The fires had long-since died, leaving a layer of ash on what remained. Illise felt a chill even though the afternoon sun was warm on her back.

Kara took the opportunity to look carefully around. Everything that could burn had. Only a few center posts and adobe walls stood in quiet tribute to what had been. She wasn't normally fanciful, but this place felt eerie.

"Colonel, I'll take a group and scout the perimeter."

Damon nodded to the Sergeant. His eyes swept over the scene before him. He was no stranger to this type of wholesale destruction. The crop fields that would normally have been almost ripe for harvesting were similarly torched. Damon shook his head. This was a message.

Drani closed her eyes. It was quiet save for a whisper. She opened her eyes, realizing the whisper was not audible but more of a telepathic whisper...a whisper of a scream. Betazoids described these whispers as telepathic ghosts--sounds attached to a place of recent traumatized actions. She had first heard of these whispers during the Dominion Occupation of Betazed. "I'll go over the debris to see if I can find anything useful," she commented, stepping off in the direction of the center of the village.

Kara and her team split up, each going in a different direction around the perimter of the village.

On the south side, the team found two dead Jenefran males. Both were dressed in black. Both had been killed by a bladed weapon. Parhtz, who was taking point, carefully turned over one of the bodies, then regretted his decision. The smell of the carcass was enough to send him out into the bushes to empty his stomach. What amazed him was that the smell wasn't as great before. It was odd. When he returned, he went to the other body, which had not been disturbed, and carefully examined it. A very faint trace of some powder had been sprinkled on it. Was this the reason for the difference? "Hey, Lieutenant, come here!" he called over his combadge.

Kara made her way quickly to the other team. "What did you find?" The smell was enough to draw her eyes to the bodies.

"There's a powder on this one. Probably on the back of the other. It doesn't stink. Come see."

She pulled out her tricorder and began to scan the body. "You're right. Tricorder doesn't recognize the substance. I'll let the doctor come take a look." She looked from one body to the other. "Don't touch anything else."

"Yes, ma'am," Parhtz said, snapping a smart salute.

Kara decided to walk back to the other team and finish the perimeter before informing the doctor. The bodies weren't going anywhere, and she'd rather make sure the immediate area was safe. When she met the others, she sent them out to do a perimeter sweep and headed in to inform the doctor and Colonel what they'd found.

"Doctor Drani," she said, spotting the other woman, "We found two dead Jenefrans. One of them has some sort of powder on it. One of the Privates turned over the other, but I assume he had it on him, as well."

Drani looked at the pile of bodies near a broken crystalline rock. 'Hmmm, appears to be a pyre of some sort.' She suspected Qunari returned here to honor the dead as a pyre is a sign of honor to the deceased in many cultures. She looked at the Marine officer and nodded. "On my way."

Drani made her way over to the deceased Jenefarians. Kneeling down, she looked closely at the powder. She opened her medical tricorder. "Death was caused by a puncturing wound through the neck, severing the Carotid Artery, he bled out in seconds." She waved at Illise. "Lieutenant Hale! Better take a look at this!"

Illise came around a burned-out hut, "Yes Doctor - " and stopped short at the sight of the bodies piled on the ground. She stared at it for a moment, and old anger rising in her. She approached slowly with one fist clenched at her side, the other held her tricorder, still recording from her search of the village. She knelt down carefully near the bodies.

"What have you found Doctor?" Illise asked in a hushed tone as she looked over the pyre. They had been moved here after their deaths, that much was clear from the positions of the bodies. The had been laid out respectfully, but the pain of whoever had done it was also clear. She saw the remains of a small hand amidst the corpses and looked away. Her eyes fell on the broken crystal.

Victoria indicated to the powder on the Jenefran Corpse. "What do you make of this powder on this Jenefran? I haven't seen anything like it and nothing is registering on my tricorder."

Illise looked away from the crystal and moved over to Victoria, leaving the pyre behind. She knelt back down and looked at the powder, scanning it with her tricorder as well. Nothing registered on hers either. Illise frowned down at the device and tried re-configuring the parameters. Still only the corpse registered. "How very interesting..." She mused.

Illise took a small sample tube from kit at her hip and used a sterile swab to try to pick up some of the substance. It did not stick to the swab, rising softly when she touched it before quickly settling back on the corpse. She tried again, this time using the swab to push some of the powder into the mouth of the tube, then placed the swab inside and sealed it. She held it up to the light for a better look.

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Illise Hale
Chief Science Officer

2nd Lieutenant Kara Melo
Alpha Platoon Leader

Colonel Damon Raine
Acting Marine CO

Lieutenant JG Victoria Drani
Chief Medical Officer

Private Peter Parhtz
Marine

 

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