Authors Note
I've had fun bringing Starbuck and Mulder together in the frozen wastes; Mulder following a lead from the Lone Gunmen and Starbuck sent out in search of Earth. Both of them equally frosty and not likely to thaw until Chapter 2, when sparks start to fly with Scully.
NO FLAMING. Please R and R.
Disclaimer:
MULDER: Why did she have to stick us out here in the cold?
STARBUCK: Well, she had to start it somewhere. What kind of wimpy character are you anyway.
MULDER: She didn't create me you know. You can't blame her for that.
STARBUCK: Too right. I know I only have the Gods to thank for my existence. You sticking around to see where this one goes?
MULDER: Sure. If it gets me back in the warm sometime soon.
AUTHOR: Hey, you two, any chance we could get on with this? I didn't dream up either of you, or your back stories, but right now we have places to go.
Chapter 1 Snowballs
Mulders struggled to see through the white out surrounding the vehicle, the wipers doing little to keep the screen clear of the heavily falling snow. Wheels slewed and skidded on the icy hard-packed surface as he fought with the wheel for control of the old heap he was 'driving'. A while back he had been forced to slow to this maddening pace from the frantic lurching and bumping of the minor road, when he left it for the
lunacy of this tiny track. So now he was stuck with crawling along – getting nowhere fast.
He checked again the screen of the GPS device on the seat beside him, according to that this track didn't even exist and he was down to doing his best to home in on the point in the middle of nothing which Frohike had assured him was the closest he could drive to the spot where something had come down last night. They'd better be right, this was no holiday. And none of them could even be sure it was worth this crazy chase.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, had showed up on anything, except the slightest of tremours in the ice of a nearby glacier. Of all the Lone Gunmen, it was Langly, crazy, paranoid Langley, who had jumped on this tiny piece of information sifted from the world wide dross by one of his many programmes. They constantly ran information from all over the globe on the lookout for anything he didn't think he would like. He thought this one must be evidence of some nuclear test somewhere out here, but Byers had taken a look and counted that idea right out. Not the right pulses, ripples or some other stuff. Damn this snow!
Anyway, between the three of them the Gunmen had decided it needed looking at and, since their favourite FBI pooch was currently on enforced 'R and R' they had naturally, called Mulder.
And now here he was, chasing one more freaky rumble and fabricated idea. Why the Hell did they always have to be somewhere so damn cold?
'Ah, nuts!' Mulder bashed the wheel with this palms, his already strained features now tracing a grimace as the vehicle finally slammed to a halt. He rubbed his face in his hands, gazing at the flakes gathering quickly in the screen in front of him. Then took a moment to check the GPS again. Pretty near now, just a couple of miles out to the East of his current position.
'Ah frak!' Starbuck rubbed her right temple with the ball of her hand, 'What the…Let's just try this…' She fumed through gritted teeth. Her fingers fiddled with the catches of her harness again. 'Ah! Ow!' Her head thumped against the inside of the cockpit as the harness finally freed her, sending her tumbling to the left.
And landing on her side.
'Damn it!' she yelled, with a furious thrust of her head, angry now, at herself, for the crappy landing. They'd have to work on the terrain sensors when she got back to the Fleet. Snow cover was tricky stuff to deal with, but not impossible. She had been too trusting of the instruments. But this white-out hadn't left her much choice, she couldn't eyeball that landing in these conditions. The angle wasn't too bad though, she should be able to raise the Blackbird again, when the time came.
Now she had to focus on her mission. Find some habitation, make contact, and see who, or what, inhabited this rock. The signs were promising, and the route she and Adama had worked out from their combined knowledge, sighting of the Lagoon Nebula at the Tomb of Athena, and projected position allowing for the numerous millennia which had past, COULD mean that she now sat on Earth. Now believed by most to be only the mythical home world of all humankind, but held by some to be the true spawning ground of every family in the Colonies. And most likely the only hope of survival for the ragged remains of the human race now fighting for survival on the ships of a dwindling fleet, out there between the stars.
Starbuck checked the contents of her pack and pulled out the heavy, hooded jacket she had borrowed from Chief Tyrol and stowed at the last minute, stuffing her flight helmet into the space it left behind her seat. Too long aboard Galactica could make you forget about life in a real climate and the need for warm clothing. So she pulled on an extra, thin layer before fastening the flight jacket of her uniform and wrestling into the over-size jacket over the whole lot. Double checking the shut down she opened the cockpit and prepared to leave the Blackbird. A thrill of anticipation and trepidation ran through her, warming her against the biting cold as she stepped down from the ship. And she hoped again that she had chosen well the spot where her ride would wait out her stay on this planet.
Sealing the ship behind her, she set off in the direction of the nearest habitation, according to her hasty readings, taken on the flight in.
Slamming the truck door behind him, Mulder swung the small pack onto his back, squinting into the snow before getting his head down for the hike ahead.
He'd had little time to do more than grab his cold weather gear, stop by to pick up this GPS gizmo from the Lone Gunmen, and leave a vague message for Scully, asking her to feed his fish for a few days while he was out of town. Boy, how he'd pay for that when he got back. She would be fuming right now, about how irresponsible he was, how he didn't trust her, why he had been talked into this crazy trip. Mulder smiled as he pictured her, pacing around indignantly tearing a strip off Langley for setting Mulder off on this one. Byers would be trying to placate her, while Frohike sat back a little in hiss chair to get a better look at her calves, smiling quietly all the while. No doubt Scully would surprise him by rounding suddenly on him, with some accusation and exasperated that all Frohike could do was sit there smirking.
Mulder scrabbled ineffectually at his pocket, cursing as he was forced to take off his bulky glove to take out the global positioning thingey to check his bearings again. The snow had almost stopped altogether, and he could see a little further now, to the top of a gentle rise above him. Putting the little device away and zipping up his pocket, he wiped snow from his eyebrows before putting his glove back on and setting out again, up the slope.
Starbuck watched silently as the figure broke free of the deeply drifted snow in the hollow, and stamped on up the slope past her. Whatever this was, it was clearly no soldier or security patrol. She had skirted around his path with astonishing ease, and how he had failed to spot her she had no idea. This individual clearly did not expect to be tracked and feared nothing out here.
It didn't appear to be armed, though she couldn't be sure. It wasn't working at anything. In fact, it seemed to be searching for something, in an ineffectual, stumbling sort of way. She thought for a moment. She could make contact now, try to get some idea of where she was, how things looked, or she could press on, find some settlement and run the risk of running into military or law enforcement. She reached a decision and continued to move, quietly, quickly, invisibly.
'Shit!' Mulder couldn't help the exclamation, stopping dead as a figure appeared suddenly in his path. Landing cat-like right in front of him, feet planted firmly apart, arms clear of it's sides and shoulders bunched in readiness for quick, powerful movement.
Mulder was taken by surprise and stood up quickly, staggering back a little in his alarm.
Cold blue eyes stared at him through the mist of coiling breath, shrouding a firm face. A woman's face? Yes, despite the firm jaw and thin mouth, the expression of suspicion, but control of the situation. This was certainly a woman's face, and what a face.
Mulder realised his top lip was curling up in that slow smile that sometimes sneaked out without his noticing. The one that made Scully throw things across the office at him.
The woman said nothing, she just stared at him.
'Er..' Mulder allowed himself to smile, just a little, not wishing to turn the situation confrontational. 'Are you okay?' he asked, wincing at what a lousy opening line this was.
'What!' the woman barked.
'Well, I, er,..you know. Out here,' Mulder indicated the endless white landscape with a sweep of his arm, 'It's pretty cold. And I, er…' he trailed off. She was still staring at him. He looked at his feet, then back to her face.
Starbuck had not taken her eyes off the mans face from the moment she decided to make contact. There was not a single sign of authority in his face, not a glimmer of command or confrontation in his eyes. Was she okay? What kind of question was that? You stumble into someone from another planet, out in the wilderness, and you just ask 'Are you okay?'! Was this guy for real?
She decided to play it his way. She might well get further that way, and he didn't seem to be dangerous.
'Well, I am kind of lost,' she smiled a little, 'What do you call this place?'
Mulder frowned, not sure if she was for real. Could she really be all this way out here and not know where she was? Even remotely?
'Er, well, Alaska. Well, More precisely, well, that doesn't matter right now. Let's get you somewhere warm.'
Starbuck froze, taking a firm stance again. He's getting ME somewhere warm?
'Hey, how the heck did you get all the way out here?' Mulder asked the woman, reminding himself that he had been drawn out here by those strange ripples in the ice. Could she have had something to do with that?
'I just flew in. Lost control of my craft. She's just over that rise. I need to get back to my unit to report in, they'll be missing me,' Starbuck babbled out this new idea. Not a bad cover story, she thought to herself, allowing a slight smile and relaxing her frame again. Trying to put the man at his ease with her.
Mulder's alarm bells suddenly all went off at once. This was bullshit. No way did a military craft go down without a major search and rescue setting out right away. Mind you, the blizzard could be holding them off for a while. But any missing aircraft would have shown up on the checks Byers had run before sending him out. And she wouldn't be flying alone up here anyway.
'Over the rise you say, well let's get up there and take a look, your crew need help?' Mulder said, as he started off up the rise.
'No.' Starbuck said, grabbing his arm to stop him, 'No crew. I was out alone. Just me. Now, can you get me somewhere civilised?'
Mulder hesitated, turning back to her. she looked sly now, a cunning coolness about her eyes.
'Let's just take a look,' and he carried on, reaching the top of the rise in a few more steps.
'Oh gods,' Starbuck mumbled to herself, as she turned to join him on the crest.
Mulder looked down to the snowy plain below him. The light snow made visibility much better than earlier. A long, hump showed on the plain, about four car lengths, and a little higher than the truck he had arrived in. That was it, just a long, low, hump. He couldn't see anything more
He turned and called out to Starbuck, 'I don't see it. Are you sure it's just over here?'
'You don't have to yell, I'm right here,' Damn! Mulder jumped involuntarily. she had done it again, creeping up and taking a position just behind his left shoulder without making a sound.
He looked at her now, more carefully. Taking in the whole of her for the first time. Taller than Scully, but still somewhat shorter than his 6', she was broad for a woman, probably muscular, under all that clothing. And what about that clothing? Mulder frowned to himself as he took in the strange insignia on what appeared to be some kind of uniform, though not one he had ever seen. It looked more like some kind of pressure suit. Her eyes flicked down to her feet, then back up to meet his. She must have reasoned it out too.
'Ah. The uniform. Recognise it?' she quizzed, it was always worth trying to bluff it out. This guy could be some local hunter from the sticks. Someone who wouldn't have much idea what the military wore. Especially the space corps, or whatever they had here.
'No,' Mulder replied, flatly. Now his eyes took on a colder edge, for the first time. He folded his arms and, turning his head on one side, invited 'Why don't you tell me about it. And this 'craft' of yours'
Starbucks cover was blown, and she knew it.