OPERATION ARRAKIS: GARDEN OF BABYLON by Durandir and "Prophet" Kristy (thanks to Sci for dialogue) Kristy was once again asking herself what business she had scouting in a place where she hadn't the tiniest inkling of the native language. She felt like a fish out of water--or maybe even a fish suddenly thrown into the vacuum of space. Only, well, not so cold. Probably more like a fish about to be roasted for supper. She "adjusted" her glasses again, hitting the toggle that put up the tracking display for Khalil on her glasses as a see-through overlay. It was hard to focus on, reminding her of the semester of headache-inducing microscope work she'd done as an undergraduate. After a few blinks, though, she had her eyes properly crossed. The blip that was their supposed turncoat spy had stopped. Just as she registered that, her comm blipped quietly in her ear. It was Becki, confirming Khalil's position with her and Cheriss. And Sci back on the Red Home, who ordered them, "Move in. Carefully." Comm-clicks answered him. Feeling the oncoming eyestrain, Kristy thankfully memorized the street layout between her and Khalil's location, also noticing that while she and Cheriss were about equidistant from the target, Becki was going to beat them there. Which made sense, really, since Becki had been the one trying to stay in visual contact with their quarry. She switched off the heads-up display and maneuvered her "pregnant" bulk back into the crowd, blowing a drop of sweat off the end of her nose and hoping this part of the mission would be over soon. She'd only gotten a block and a half through near-stationary foot traffic when Sci's voice was back in her ear, making her forget how uncomfortable she was. "One, Blade - Hurry. They have Three." *** Cheriss muttered in frustration at Terra Lead's admonition to hurry. Why were things always so much more complicated now that Terra Group was involved in this mission? She had done just fine on her own before Cracken called in the native agents. It seemed the Terrans were always either being kidnapped, rendered unconscious, or simply going AWOL - or all three at once. The full-length burqa that made up the scouts' disguise was cumbersome to move in; but Cheriss was blastsword-trained. Having dodged, twisted, and danced her way through many a duel to the death in her younger years, even now - and even after so recently delivering her first child - she was able to call back to mind just enough of that way of moving to allow her to slip through the crowded streets just a bit quicker. But she had an inkling it wouldn't be enough, anyway. A glance to her monitor for the scouts' tracking devices showed that One was already a good deal closer to Three's last location - also Khalil's last location - than Cheriss was. Well, if she was going to be last to this party, she might as well act the part of the rearguard. Cheriss kept a hand on her blaster, her eyes moving from face to face in the crowd, alert for any trouble as she pressed on toward a rendezvous with the Terrans - and, she expected, with the enemy. *** Some spy Kristy was; trying to be all fitting in with the locals in this stifling black burqa, only to hitch up her skirts and start running at Sci's report. Hadn't Becki already been kidnapped at least once? She should really let someone else have a turn... She blinked away a sudden blurriness of tears. Josh Nolan _had_ gotten a turn, no thanks to her. Vickie was completely missing in action. Josh and Syl had nearly beaten each other to death when she'd been distracted. Lady Lenka was battered and unconscious in their sole bacta tank. Generally, the mission was a disaster, personnel-wise....but she couldn't dwell on that right now. She _could not_ lose Becki. Luckily, she hadn't run into any local police yet, so native reaction so far was limited to affronted looks which she mostly passed by before they could turn into action. As she entered the last few blocks up to where Khalil and Becki's signals had merged, Kristy found herself off of the main streets where there had been lots of pedestrian traffic. This was a quiet neighborhood of secure houses behind walls, probably with the inevitable security guards to ward against street rats and the like. She sought a more demure pace, even though she was panting and one part of her brain was wondering if, in the history of Islam, a woman wearing a burqa had ever burst into flames. She nearly jumped out of the burqa at the light touch of a hand on her shoulder. But when she spun around, it was only Cheriss. "Any sign of them?" the Adumari agent asked, wearing what Kristy was starting to recognize as Cheriss's business face. "Nothing," Kristy murmured back, switching her HUD back on again. "Um...we have another block south to go." Cheriss looked that direction. "Suppose we'll have to break in?" The street to the south ended in a half a block, terminating in a high wall which stretched behind houses to either side and was pierced only by an arched doorway framed by Iraq's equivalent of ivy. "There's only one way to find out," replied the American, fingering her blaster. Entering the wide, "ivy"-edged doorway, the two heavily robed agents found themselves in a garden which covered several blocks and was surrounded by a high stone wall. In the sweltering heat, it was a incongruous sight. Kristy had always known that parts of Iraq were the Fertile Crescent, but in the coverage of the Gulf War eleven years ago and incidents following, she'd seen naught but unrelenting desert. Perhaps this was all that was left of the Middle East's historical breadbasket, the ancestral home of Western civilization (though that was logically doubtful). They stood in the north entrance, and each of the four walls had similar portals, as well as alcoves which had the appearance of additional doors but did not penetrate the wall. Off to the east, a young couple--the man with a bushy black beard, the woman in light blue hijab and otherwise businesswoman attire--were lost in each other on a bench underneath....well, fancy that! An olive tree. Footpaths crisscrossed the area, which was planted with a variety of plants which may have been native or exotic or both, to the NRI agents' foreign eyes. A stream meandered from northwest to southeast. They both hesitated, their eyes scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary that would give them a clue of Becki's whereabouts. Kristy was just considering calling the Red Home when she heard Arrek's voice in her ear. "We got a survey of the area before Three got taken--we're trying to plot her last position for you. She was coming around a hedge." Do you see how many frickin' hedges there are in this place, buddy?! Kristy thought, but she just murmured back, "Roger that." "Head south," Sci said helpfully. As if they could go any other direction. "What happened?" whispered Cheriss, taking Kristy's arm and strolling deeper into the garden, which seemed public enough. "Ambush," returned Sci, again being helpful. "Her video feed cut out the way it would if there was a stun blast nearby, so she just got snatched." Cheriss made some pleased noises for show as the two women approached a bush in full, scarlet bloom. She crouched down to examine its flowers, and to pull her datapad out where no one might notice. Bending down to inhale the scent of the nearest blossom (unlike any flower she'd encountered, and less fragrant than she'd expected), Kristy saw that Cheriss had called up the plot of their area of Baghdad overlaid with the tracking data. The dots for Khalil and Becki were now gone. "Good thing I memorized the map before we lost their signals," she commented. Cheriss emitted a low grunt of agreement as she typed, pulling up the last locations before the signals were lost and merging them with current data. "A little to the southwest of that bend in the stream," she said. Both agents glanced to the stream, to where a low footbridge crossed it at the bend. Across the bridge, to the west, footpaths led along rows of some taller, graceful trees. But south of the tree-path, neatly trimmed hedges fenced in quietly burbling fountains. "Sci mentioned hedges," Kristy recalled. "Let's check it out." Cheriss nodded. Trying very hard to restrain themselves to the measured pace of two modest women simply out for a stroll, they made their way toward the bridge. Beyond the bridge, it wasn't exactly a hedge maze; but the hedges certainly weren't keeping to straightforward rows, either. There was something oddly familiar to the layout of this part of the garden. After a moment's brain- strain, Kristy recognized it: She'd seen similar geometric designs embellishing the Dome of the Rock during her sightseeing in Jerusalem. Here and there within circular areas of the hedge-design, fountains sprouted. Kristy and Cheriss walked through a gap in one hedge and gazed upon a larger-than-life marble Gilgamesh, whose mighty hand, outstretched to the heavens, blessed the land - or at least the fountain he stood in - with life-giving water. As soon as her memory linked the graven image in front of her with the Babylonian epic she'd read as a freshman, Kristy started fuming. "Sure, big strong famous king. Your best friend saves your butt, and you go on to kill Humbaba and take all the glory," she muttered through clenched teeth. "And let's not even talk about cutting down the cedar forest." "What in the Force are you talking about?" "An ancient Terran story--exactly like Farmboy and Wedge. Without Wedge, Farmboy wouldn't even have lasted a day against Vader." "'Farmboy'?" Kristy suddenly remembered who she was talking to. "Uh, another wierd Terran thing. Forget it." She eyed Gilg again. The chuckling of the falling water was one of the best sounds she'd heard in a while. "You suppose we're okay taking off these veils for about thirty seconds?" "Good work, you two," responded Sci's voice through the comm instead. "That's exactly what we've come up with for Three's location when she was stunned. Do you see anything?" Cheriss' blaster was suddenly in her hand, and she moved back to the gap in the hedge through which they'd entered. "We're having a look now, Major. Stand by." "Just see a big-ass selfish dead king," Kristy grumbled, tugging at her veil. "Sorry, I have got to get some air for a moment," she told Cheriss, pulling off the oppressive head covering. Free at last, she ducked her head briefly under the blessed, blessed fall of water--and overbalanced. She managed to mostly stifle her squeak of surprise as well as keep herself from falling headfirst into the base of the fountain by grabbing on to Gilgamesh's hand. The hand moved. Her center of gravity back where it should be, Kristy jumped back. Cheriss whirled to see what was going on as both heard a muted grinding sound, and Gilgamesh swiveled to point at the garden wall making up one side of their arbor. The wall now had a door open to blackness at the back of a formerly closed alcove. In front of the gaping opening, a stone bench stood. Kristy had the impression of a window seat in an alcove back at the Mendellian Palace, looking out onto a starless black night. The two women exchanged a long look. Then Sci's voice came again. "One, Blade? Report." "Hidden door, Boss," Kristy reported, hefting her blaster, glancing about, then taking a cautious step toward the alcove. "I think we found the Magician's lair." Cheriss chuckled, muttering to herself, "Secret doors and triggers in fountains. The Magician's been on Terra too long - he's picking up all your cliches." Kristy could only raise an eyebrow at that. "We're going to check it out," she reported. "But first," she continued after clicking off her comm, "we are getting out of these things. You may be used to moving around in robes," she told Cheriss, "but I have additional obstacles." With a sigh of relief, she pulled out the bundled pillow that had given her the appearance of advanced pregnancy. Cheriss looked doubtful for a moment, then nodded. "Sahhar is no Muslim, so the disguises will win us no favor with him. And we will need all our agility. All right, the burqas can go." They each took turns watching the approaches while the other disrobed down to the dark jumpsuits they had underneath their disguises--which were wadded up and stowed underneath a thorny bush, and good riddance, in Kristy's opinion. Then, blasters at the ready, they cautiously approached the open door, through which no sound or activity had yet come. Kristy let Cheriss lead, considering the comparative weight of experience between the two. The bench was a nuisance, making it difficult to creep quietly into the darkness. Instead, they clambered over and in. Try as they might, they couldn't avoid all sounds of their progress. Kristy winced as the shuffle of her feet hitting the ground on her way down from the bench sounded loudly in her ears. Cheriss went in blaster first; finding the way clear, she beckoned to Kristy to follow. They moved forward at a steady pace while the light from the garden held out. When it finally faded to a point where they couldn't make out the way up ahead, they slowed. "Glowrods?" Kristy suggested. Cheriss didn't answer immediately, glancing around at the corridor - or tunnel - they were following. Then without warning, she hissed to Kristy to take cover. There wasn't much cover to take, but each of the women moved to flatten herself against opposite walls of the corridor, blasters at the ready. Moments later, footsteps echoed ominously, approaching from the direction the women had been heading. Kristy couldn't see Cheriss just six feet across the hall from her, but she thought she could feel the Adumari's signalling glance in her direction, as the footsteps neared. Twin stun-shots erupted simultaneously - and, sensibly, not directly across the hall, but converging at a point just ahead of the women's positions. Two thuds followed from the convergence, where the stun- shots met their marks. Was that all? Kristy strained to see in the dark, needing to know if the threat was ended or if there were more of them. She couldn't hear a sound, not Cheriss, not even her own quick breathing. Finally, light hollowed a space into the darkness: Cheriss was risking the glowrod. Kristy breathed easier at last, seeing by its dim blue glow that there were, indeed, two bodies now clogging up the hallway, still as stone, and no more remained conscious to threaten the agents. She switched on her comm while she let her eyes adjust to the sudden light. "We're in," she reported. "Are you still reading me?" "Five by five," Arrek replied. "We must have lost Three from the stun discharge." We are not losing Becki, Kristy insisted mentally again. "Okay, we've disabled two guards who probably came to greet their visitors. Looks like Cheriss found some passcards, and--" "Here are some stairs," Cheriss cut in, also over the comm. She had ranged a few meters down the tunnel. "Stand by," she told Arrek. "Before we take off, let's cover the door, unless you've found a way to close it," she said to her partner. "Not yet." "Okay, give me your video monitor." Cheriss nodded, following her train of thought, and pulled off the tiny holocam from her collar, where she's attached it after removing her burqa's veil. A few minutes later, they had the camera set up to watch the open (no longer) secret entrance, and had Arrek ready to warn them of anyone coming up behind them. Then, leading with their blasters, they descended into the lair of the Magician. *** Kristy had lost track of how long they had been exploring the subterranean outpost they'd stumbled upon. They'd been lucky in several ways--the areas they'd explored hadn't been exactly crawling with guards, and those few they had come upon hadn't raised any alarms before being stunned into silence by the intruders. The stairs had taken them the rough equivalent of three or four floors down before bringing them to another tunnel, this one lit by dim subway emergency lights. Cheriss had thankfully put away her glow-rod, grateful that its light hadn't announced them to any enemies. Less than a hundred meters from the stairs they'd found, incongruously, a golf cart parked to one side of the widening tunnel. After Cheriss had thoroughly checked it over, Kristy had convinced her that it was worth driving--Sci and Arrek could report nothing about the distance to the tunnel's end. So now they were driving--though at a snail's pace, so as not to barrel headlong into ambush. They'd been going for hours, it seemed, when Cheriss stopped and indicated she'd heard people approaching with a nod of her head. It being her turn, Kristy hopped down from the seat and slowly ranged forward, holding her blaster steady as Korren and the Katarns had taught her. But she didn't need to be vigilant, for she recognized the woman leading the small group. "Becki!" Kristy rushed forward and enfolded her stunned teammate in a hug. It was a few seconds before she noticed the men accompanying Becki--two men in tattered Terran clothes who nonetheless looked for all the world like Wes Janson and Hobie Klivian. Hobbie's left leg was splinted creatively (were those strips of Becki's discarded burqa?), and his arm was thrown over Wes's shoulder. "My Stars," Cheriss said. "Janson? Klivian? What are you doing here?" Hobbie groaned. "Not again. Who the hell are you talking about, lady?" "Not now," Becki hushed him, then turned back to Kristy. "How'd you get in?" "The same way you did. The hidden super secret entrance," the Prophetess grinned with relief at finding her lost friend. Becki looked oddly nonplussed at this news. "Oh, bother. That means we're going the wrong way." "Then I gather," Kristy said, "you haven't yet found the great and powerful Oz, either?" "We thought this looked the likeliest tunnel when we left the detention area. You didn't pass any side-tunnels that looked promising, I suppose?" Kristy shook her head. "Well then," Becki continued, "guess we turn around and go back that-a-way." "Is it just the detention area?" Cheriss put in. Becki shook her head. "There were some other branches we can try. I've no idea how near our cells were to - well, to wherever it is we're supposed to be going. They have to keep the shield somewhere, but we should try to find Sahhar and Tavira, too." "Especially Tavira," Janson growled. It was only then, hearing his voice, that Kristy realized who Janson actually was. She blenched. Russell Crowe smiled. "Kristy. Should've known you'd be about, too." "Um," Kristy ventured, "hi." Crowe watched her inscrutably a moment more, then glanced to Cheriss. "I don't think we've met, miss?" Cheriss briefly introduced herself; then Michael Vartan, looking ever more pained, did likewise. "What happened to you two?" Kristy asked. "Let's just say," Crowe sighed, "if we ever come out of this misadventure, I'm considering plastic surgery. I've had enough of being mistaken for your Janson." "And I still want to know who Hobbie is," Vartan muttered. There was a burst of static from Kristy and Cheriss' comms--their reception was getting worse, the deeper they went into the tunnel complex. "Lead to Blade and One. What's your status?" came Sci's voice. Was it a bit more tense than his usual implacable wont? "We've found Becki," Kristy replied relievedly. Before she could elaborate, Sci said, "You might want to get back to your entrance, or maybe just go on and meet the rest of the team at the shield bunker...but then, maybe it won't make any difference either way at this point." Kristy frowned. "Boss, we're kind of in a situation here. Could you not be so much with the tergiversation?" "A sesquipedalian situation?" "Okay, I deserved that. But what the hell's going on?" "Subtlety approach failed--enemy has launched some birds. Our pilots are after them now."