Fiction Home - More by Mayina Devaro - More in Action and Aventure - More Second Fanfic Challenge entries

Bending over her research, Mayina Devaro was startled by the beeping of her comms."Devaro." she answered, stretching to relieve her back.

"Hey Mayina. I'm going to need your help on some tests." Thorn's voice was filled with pleasantness, even over the radio. "Please come to my lab ASAP."

Acknowledging the order, the young researcher headed for the door with a light step. Upon entering Thorn's lab, though, she was taken aback by what she found. No tests were set up, in fact, most of the equipment was off, and Thorn was wearing gear that only off-world teams used.

"Uhh... what's going on boss?" she asked in confusion.

"Oh, good you got here really quick. Here, put this jacket on, and take this case. Nick is sending us to P3S-952 to test the new power source we've been working on. Since it was you that figured out how to make the Naqudriah in it compatible to our technology so I put you on the mission roster. Besides, I want every member of my team to have some field experience." Thorn explained, sweeping her out of the lab and down the hall to the gate room.

"Bu... but Thorn! I'm just a researcher; a chemist! Aren't there a dozen engineers that can help you with this? All I did was my job. You guys would have figured it out eventually." she countered, the thought of going through the gate was only a little better than being in a tiny lab with her phobia.

"Yes. But you helped with it and its high time you started working outside of the lab. How can you even begin to think outside the box when you can't even think outside the lab?" Thorn scoffed, waiting for the gate-room door to open.

Silenced by Thorn's arguments, Mayina gulped as Thorn practically drug her through the gate.

The sky of P3S-592 was a deep purple filled with pink clouds. Staring around her, Mayina was surprised by how much it looked like back home in Minnesota; thankfully without the mosquitoes. Herded off by Thorn, she did not have time to contemplate her surroundings as she, Thorn, and Camill all headed for the test site with their military escort in tow.

In the distance, they could hear Jaina and Corry, who had been sent ahead with a team of engineers to set up the test site. Before they topped the rise to look into the valley that had been chosen.

"..They stole my favorite hydrospanner again!" Jaina's outrage carried easily on the cool breeze.

What ever Corry replied was cut off by a muffled yelp as she dropped her tool. With a wave from Thorn all activity ceased as they gave her a report on their progress. Over the next few minutes, they finished setting up the new Naquidah enhanced power source and hooked it up to monitor the modifications that had been made upon it.

Jaina had been more than pleased to be asked to help with anything mechanical as she was grounded until her fighter could be serviced and she was more than gifted in the area of mechanics. Handing Camill a datapad, the pilot warned their escort.

The power-up sequence worked flawlessly. Slowly increasing the output, they all were disappointed when it failed at only seventy percent.

"Well, back to the drawing board." Thorn sighed.

Initiating the power-down sequence, Jaina exclaimed in dismay, "Thorn, Corry, it won't turn off. Here, come look at this. The power just won't disengage."

"Look, the coolant system overloaded. That must be why the computer shut it down at only seventy percent." Corry remarked.

Crowding around, the entire team was puzzling over it when Thorn's comm unit went off. "Goa'uld forces are approaching from the south, approaching fast. Estimated time to arrival: five minutes. You have to fall back to the gate now." the leader of their escort commanded.

"But it will take too long to disassemble the experiment and transport it." Thorn warned him.

"Then trash it ma'am." the soldier told her bluntly.

Sighing, Thorn told them to destroy their work. "Turn back on the power. With the coolant system shot it should give us just enough time to get away before it blows."

"Right. I'll have this baby ready to blow in half a sec." Corry nodded, hands flying over the controls of the power supply. "Setting it on maximum. Power coming back online." Corry reported as she worked feverishly.

Without a word, the rest of the team began to pack up what they could of their equipment. Stuffing her pack to the brim, Thorn sent Jaina off with Camill, urging them to hurry to the gate and radio home.

Packing the last of what Thorn and Corry's could hold, she cried out in alarm as dark forms crested the rise only a few hundred meters away.

"Over riding safety protocols." Corry called.

Pulling Mayina to her feet, Thorn handed her a pack and shoved her in the direction of the gate. Throwing one over her shoulder, Thorn yelled for Corry to hurry. Initiating the sequence that would overload the system and blow it up.

Racing away, the trio could hear the whine of staff weapon fire behind them, quickly followed by a shower of dirt from the impact. Zigzagging, they hoped to out-distance the Jaffa.

Screaming in pain, Corry collapsed.

"Corry!!" Thorn yelled, rushing back to her side.

Looking over her injury, Corry groaned, "Staff blast to my calf. I can't walk. Go on. Get yourselves out..."

"No!" Mayina cut her off dropping down beside her.

"We're not leaving you. Now come on. We haven't much time."

Pulling Corry up, the young chemist carried her in what the Tau'ri called a fireman's carry; one arm around Corry's waist and all of her weight upon the younger woman. With Thorn watching their "six" with her small handgun, they had just hobbled to the end of the clear field that had been chosen as their test site when Corry stopped her pointed back to their project as it exploded.

"Hope you like fireworks Rini." She grinned maliciously, watching the Jaffa go flying.

Continuing their flight, they were suddenly thrown to their knees; Corry crying out in pain. Below them, the ground began to rumble and shake. With a sound of utter torment, the earth began to tear apart. Unable to flee the planet's torment, the three officers fell into a fissure that opened beneath them. As the strange world writhed in pain, the three Tau'ri women disappeared into its dark depths.

Waking to a dull pain in her arm, Thorn pushed off some of the dirt that had half buried her before she found out the hard way that her wrist was broken. Cradling the injured hand against herself, she continued to dig herself out.

"Corry? Rini??" her inquiry was greatly muffled by the earthen walls around her. A groan brought her head around to a place just off to her left.

"I'm still in one piece... I think." Came the engineer's weak reply.

Scrambling over to her friend, Thorn helped her out of the rubble she was in. Unable to help Corry patch herself up, Thorn began to search for the last of their party while her friend bandaged the wound in her calf. High above them she could just make out the pale purple of the sky. They had fallen into a very deep hole.

Calling to her, Thorn had to quench that little voice inside her head that told her Mayina was dead. She can't be dead, she kept telling herself. It would be like a cliché out of some sci-fi show that the in her first mission in the field the young researcher dies. But still, the idea was not beyond rational possibility.

"Mayina!! Rini! "She called, hoping to dispel the dark thoughts within her.

An avalanche of debris fell on the far side of the chamber from her position. Rushing over there, she found what she was searching for. Coughing from the dust, Mayina got to her feet, trembling, and was able to stand at first only because of Thorn's helpful arm around her waist.

"Wha... what happened?" she got out between fits of coughing.

"The explosion caused an earthquake. Apparently the ground wasn't very stable near the sight. We are now deep in the planet itself. I can just make out the sky, but we're pretty far down... probably about a kilometer or more. Come on. Corry should be done bandaging her leg by now and I want to bandage a couple your scratches." Thorn told her as she led the way back to the engineer.

After exchanging exclamations of happiness at finding themselves alive and relatively in one piece, the three Tau'ri women stet down to the business at hand. Corry took an inventory their supplies, finding their emergency rations safe in the bottom of their packs, as Thorn wrapped up a slash down her forehead, and her shoulder.

Only because of Corry's practical arguments would Thorn allow them to set her broken wrist; her cry of pain filling the small space. Sitting around a fire composed mainly of what would they found in the rubble, Corry sat staring at the rocking form of Mayina.

"What's wrong Rini?" she asked the scientist.

"Wha? Oh...oh... it's nothing..." she assured Corry, shivering, and then hugging herself even tighter than she had been before.

Concern nudged at Corry to the point she asked Thorn in a worried whisper after sending the woman out for more wood.

"Ooohhhh..." Thorn exclaimed wisely, " she is claustrophobic. That's the whole reason I brought her on the mission- to get her out of that lab."

Stopping Thorn before she could begin to blame herself for getting the younger officer involved, Corry told her sharply, "Don't you dare start feeling sorry for yourself for bringing her on this mission."

I'll have none of that here. How's that splint feel?"

Giving Corry weak smile at her attempts to get her mind off their situation, the pair leapt to their feet in alarm. Off to their right they could hear muffled cries of fear. Hobbling behind Thorn, Corry was brought up short at the sight of the usually starry-eyed researcher.

Sitting in the dirt, the woman Corry had begun to treat like a little sister was rocking back and forth; eyes wide in fear, Mayina babbled on about the walls.

"Mayina?" Thorn whispered. She had never seen her subordinate loose herself in her fear before- she did not know what to do to help.

Alternating between hysteria and cold scientific reason, she sat rocking on her heels. As her logical side waged war against the fear that sought to seize complete control over her she cried, "They... they're falling!"

As Mayina scrambled up, Corry hobbled forward. Grabbing her by the collar, Corry swung at her with all that was left of her might.

"Get a hold of yourself!" she screamed, "You're an officer for Pete's sake!"

Stunned by the blow, Mayina simply stared, stunned, at Corry.

Shuttering, she nearly collapsed, but obeyed her superior. Stuttering thanks to Corry, Mayina gave her a hand in hobbling back to their camp. Thorn followed behind, mind buzzing at the most recent crisis in their mission. She gathered up the wood that Mayina had dropped, hoping there wouldn't be any more occurrences of hysteria from anyone.

Sitting around the fire, the trio began to plan how they were going to get themselves out of their present situation. As if they were reading the other's mind, Thorn and Corry itemized their needs. Taking their rations from Mayina without losing a beat in their conversation.

"Alright. Here's what we're going to do. Mayina, you search the walls for whatever handholds or crevices you can find. Corry, you're staying right here. I don't want you to damage your leg further; it's too bad Jaina has all the bacta patches in her pack. You'll be helping me to find out if any of our equipment wasn't too badly damaged by the fall."

Giving each other encouraging nods, they each set off on their tasks. Working their way through the rubble in the fifteen-meter wide hole, Thorn was soon covered in dirt as she dug out what equipment she could find in the rubble. Mayina who was searching along the wall farthest from them could hear Corry's frustrated grumbles.

Searching the walls as high as she could reach, Mayina found something that seemed metallic. Pulling a root out from in front of it, the sound that reverberated rang strangely.

"Thorn! Come take a look at this." She radioed as she dug out the rest of the strange object.

Jogging over, Thorn was just as curious about the mystery as Mayina. Together, the pair dug out what ended up being a cm. thick rectangle of some sort of silver metal.

Tap. Tap. "It sounds hollow." Thorn ventured, "Maybe some sort of shaft... hmm..."

Returning to Corry, they explained what they had found.

"If it's some sort of a vent shaft, then maybe there was once a civilization here." Mayina ventured, excitedly.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Corry answered, both her and Thorn's gaze turning to the younger officer.

"Ohhh no. No, no. No! You can't be serious." She protested.

"Rini. You're the only one of us in any sort of condition to do it. Believe me, we wouldn't ask this of you if there were any other choice. Come on girl, this is a great chance to explore a strange planet!" Thorn urged her.

Gulping, Mayina accepted Corry's encouraging arm pat as she resigned to what was needed. As Thorn gathered what supplies might be needed in her search for a way to get them out, the others pried the front off of what they guessed was a ventilation shaft.

Wishing her well, Corry and Thorn gave Mayina a boost into the shaft. Crawling through the semi-darkness, Thorn's voice crackled through her wrist unit, encouraging her. As she continued to fight through the shaft, broken rocks tearing at her skin and jumpsuit, Thorn continued to take her mind from her fear. Even going as far as to ask Mayina how she had received the strange scars that marred her back, Thorn allowed her curiosity of the enigma get the better of her as she sought to keep the girl sane.

Her light shining into what was not more tunnel, she called into her comm. unit, "Corry! Thorn! I think I've come to the end of the tunnel!"

Crawling out to the cheers of her friends, the leg of her jumpsuit caught on the jagged stones of the tunnel. Pulling on it with all her might, she went sprawling onto a smooth marble floor. Amazed at the room she found herself in, she was stunned into silence.

"You guys have got to see this place!! It's incredible." she exclaimed, clipping her comm unit to her shirt to keep it safe.

Her steps echoing across the vast chamber, mirrors and objects of gold and silver magnified the light coming from her hand light. Describing what she saw, Mayina sneezed as her passing disturbed the thick coat of dust. Falling against a heavily gilded table, the room spun for a moment as she battled weariness.

"What's going on, Mayina?" Corry asked, worried by her silence.

"I... It's ok. Just a little dizzy, the air is a little musty in here. How's every thing going on your end?" she shrugged off their concern, quickly changed the subject.

"We're fine. For now. Just hurry and find a way out, ok? Corry's wound doesn't look very good, and I don't want to have to wait any longer than we have to, to get her patched up." Thorn answered, her voice strained with worry.

"Ok. I'll keep going. Hang tight, I think I can see some stairs." She informed them.

Shining her light up, the stairs spiraled up into darkness.

Struggling up the steep stairway, she was soon out of breath; ther was no sign of the end or a side passage. Sitting down on the stairs to catch her breath, she opened up her comm.

"Um, do you guys think I should bring some of the stuff here back to show the specialists?" she queried, staring at a niche beside her that held a beautiful gold bowl.

"No." Corry commanded firmly. "You've got enough of a job just getting out and getting us help without being burdened by anything but what you have on. Besides, I would bet that some of that stuff is booby-trapped. Just keep going 'Rini. We'll be right here for you." Corry assured her.

Snorting a little laugh at the absurdity of their situation, she continued up the stairs.

Time to her was irrelevant; without her watch, she simply kept climbing upward for what felt like an eternity. She had fallen into such a rhythm of taking one step after another, Mayina didn't even realize she had fallen asleep until she woke with a start, unsure of her location, and an imprint of the stair in her cheek. Continuing on, weary in body and soul, she did not look beyond the next step and, literally, ran into the brass-bound door that was -hopefully- the end of her trek.

Struggling with the door, she was blinded by the dazzling brightness of the sun. Stumbling out onto the grass, she nearly collapsed for joy at the sight of Viper standing a few meters away.

"Viper!" she cried, falling to her knees.

Running to help her, Viper called over his comm., "Nick. I've found Devaro."

Helping her to her feet, practically carrying her, he rained questions on her. When they finally reached camp, the medics quickly took custody of her and patched her up in no time. Jaina and Camill made her eat something, as the Admiral questioned her himself.

"Now, we can't seem to make radio contact with them. So I really need you to try and remember where you were when you fell." He earnestly, but gently, asked.

"Ummm..." She bit her lip with uncertainty. "We were almost to the rise... north? Yeah! North of the test site. We must have fallen a kilometer or more. Thorn said she saw sky." Shrugging, she furrowed her brows in concern.

"You think you can find them with just that information?" he asked someone behind her.

"Yes, sir." Acknowledged someone.

With much anxiety, the young scientist watched the rescue of her friends.

When they were pulled out of the hole, Corry nearly fell over because she was so excited she over-taxed her leg leaping for joy. Laughing happily at their rescue, the entire team ushered them to the gate; medics applying bacta patches as they traveled.

"Time to go home!" Thorn laughed as the three of them walked arm-in-arm through into the Stargate.