Chapter Six
It was shaping up to be another brisk, damp Caprica City day. Starbuck laid his protein rolls on his bread, added a big scoop of scrambled ovum, applied a liberal dose of brown sauce, topped it with another slice of bread, and headed for the shuttles on Dorado's heels. Dorado was shaking his head at Starbuck in disgust.
"The things you do to food are just revolting." He eyed Starbuck's breakfast.
"What's wrong with this?" Starbuck asked him around a mouthful of breakfast. "You ate the same thing. Twice."
"Separately and without that disgusting sauce you seem to like so much." Dorado commented.
"It's the only thing that has any flavour." Starbuck replied and took another bite. "What time do you have?"
"0555. We'll make it. Just don't choke on your protein roll."
"Do you think it would get me out of this mission if I did?" Starbuck mumbled.
"No." Dorado returned and then hesitated. "Well, maybe if you died."
"So, there is hope?"
"Yeah, it would also save Ortega the trouble of killing you. I'd watch my back out there today, if I were you." Dorado warned him.
"I know. I'll be alert for any large purple flowers carrying a gun."
They made their way to the launch site where the squadrons were amassed with their assigned shuttles. Starbuck and Dorado joined the other members of Phoenix who were already being briefed by Apollo and Quinn.
Apollo paused as he waited for them to join the small circle of cadets. He nodded at them as they both checked their chrono's. "No, you're not late. We're just giving a weather report."
"Do we get to find out where we're going now?" Starbuck asked.
"The other side of the planet. Mazuria." Apollo replied.
"Where?" Starbuck asked again with a perplexed expression.
"Mazuria." Quinn replied with a grin. "Don't worry, they recently changed the name of the country. That's why you haven't heard of it. It used to be called Chobataria."
"And will be again if the Chobatars have anything to say about it." Rhea added.
"Aren't they having a civil war, Apollo? Couldn't we have chosen a little less violent corner of Caprica? Maybe the tropics?" Starbuck suggested hopefully.
"Well, Mazuria is a huge country with a very small population all predominantly living . . . " he pointed to the map, " . . . here. We are actually going to be about five hundred kilometrons from the action which places us here." He identified their position.
"Seems weird that we're at war with an alien civilization bent on the destruction of the human race and the Mazurs and Chobatars are still having a civil war to fight over hectares of jungle, reptiles and insects." Dorado mused.
"And their natural resources and drugs. The coca trade is huge. One of their largest exports." Apollo added.
"Illegal exports." Quinn clarified. "Besides the Chobatars and Mazurs have been fighting almost as long as we've been battling the Cylons. They've probably never laid eyes on a Cylon. Their own war is much more immediate."
"That's because a Cylon would rust in the humidity of the jungle." Dorado offered.
"Uh, did you clear it with the guerillas hiding in the Mazurian jungles that we're okay to be there?" Starbuck asked skeptically.
"Of course. We also cleared it with the Chobatars two sectons ago when they had control of the country." Quinn added with a smile. "Believe it or not, the Academy has been doing survival missions there for several deca-yahrens. They're quite happy to accommodate us, since we defend Chobataria . . . I mean, Mazuria, along with the rest of the planet, from the Cylons."
"I still think a good tropical destination is overdue." Starbuck added with a grin.
"I'll keep it in mind, Starbuck." Apollo informed him with a smile. "Now, today we're going to give the Global Coordinator System remote units a work out. We'll be assigning you to teams and specifically briefing you on your assignment via your datapads. Ultimately, we're after tokens, coincidentally, so are the other Squadrons."
"Why tokens?" Dorado asked.
"Tokens will be added up at the end of the day to determine which squadron found the most caches. Tokens don't rot. They also don't damage the environment and fit in these . . . " Apollo held up a small silver cylinder, " tylinium tubes. The squadron with the most tokens at the end of the day will be awarded secton-end passes." Apollo smiled as grins and nods infected his squadron.
"Your GCS units will direct you to your first objective. From there you will either find tokens or further clues. Let's make no mistake; this is a competition. For each objective we reach first, we accumulate tokens, but only if we can hand them over at the end of the day. When we arrive in Mazuria, we'll be distributing weapons and gear. Landrams will take us to our drop points and we'll have a rendezvous for 2000 centars tonight. It will be your responsibility to arrive there on time. Quinn." Apollo nodded towards his roommate and second-in-command.
Quinn nodded. "Here are your datapads." He started handing them out. "Again, during the flight, you will be briefed via your datapads as to your team, your objective, and any other relevant information we feel you need to complete your objective and find your tokens. Upon landing, you will report to your assigned landram and depart directly for your objective upon receipt of all necessary equipment. Questions?"
"Is it supposed to take all day to complete our objectives?" Dorado asked.
"Not necessarily. But, regardless, you have until 2000 to arrive there. For some of you that translates into an easier assignment and a longer journey and visa versa." Apollo replied. "Anything else?"
"Uh, just to play devil's advocate . . . " Starbuck began.
"Who better?" Dorado inserted.
"Let's say we arrive at our objective to find our tokens already gone. Anything to say we can't track the other teams and get them back?" Starbuck asked.
A slow smile spread across Apollo's face. He grinned at Quinn. "No Starbuck, nothing holding you back at all."
Quinn grimaced in return, wrinkling his nose in Starbuck's direction. "You'd better keep an eye on that boy." He remarked pointedly. "Just remember, the other squadrons are still going to be covering your butts in combat one day. This is supposed to be a friendly competition. All purple hair-dye is to be handed in to Flight Leader Apollo before we board." He grinned as Phoenix Squadron laughed. Starbuck proceeded to receive a few friendly claps on the shoulder . . . and one grope on his buttocks.
"Okay. Now listen up." Apollo ended their revelry. "It's hot and humid in Mazuria, so make sure you drink lots of water. Closely review the modules on plant and wildlife, and wilderness survival. You'll have plenty of time to read because it's going to take us fifty centons to get there. Let's load up. We'll be sharing a shuttle with Roc Squadron on Shuttlecraft CA 135."
Starbuck froze as his eyes swung over to the shuttle. Sure enough, CA 135. Hades, it was the same shuttle that Diallo and Brand had loaded the weapons on. Holy frack, maybe Imara was right. Maybe they were going to be trying out the new dual setting blasters on this survival mission. A sickening feeling settled in his stomach at the thought of losing Imara for . . . nothing.
Wait a micron, Bucko. They said they had their own rendezvous at 0800. That would be plenty of time to drop off cadets and get to another destination. Oh, frack. He'd have to wait it out and see what happened. If he was issued with a standard blaster, then he'd have to take it from there. If he was issued a modified dual-setting blaster . . . well . . .
Suddenly, a sharp blow struck between his shoulders. He immediately stumbled forward, whirling to see Sergeant Brand standing behind him.
"Are you still having difficulty in following orders, Cadet Starbuck? I believe Flight Leader Apollo instructed you to load up." Brand's grey-blue eyes glinted menacingly at him and a sneer curled his lip disdainfully. His eyes flickered briefly over the other cadets nearby who were intent on boarding the shuttle. He reached out and grabbed Starbuck's flight jacket, pulling him close. "I'll be watching you today, boy. Keep your nose clean." He abruptly let go of the cadet and Starbuck once again stumbled, this time backwards and into the solid, unmovable form of . . .
Starbuck turned around to see who had once again gripped the collar of his flight jacket. Colonel Diallo's ice blue eyes stared back at him from beneath his grey hair. "Having trouble keeping your balance this morning, cadet?"
"No, Sir." Starbuck responded, more by rote than by any ability to think rationally. Lords, Diallo and Brand were both there. Surely to God they weren't both coming. Then again, if they were about to cut a deal that would ensure a comfortable retirement, maybe they would want to be there personally. A fluttering sensation in his stomach had him cursing his hastily devoured protein rolls.
"My daughter assures me that it's over between you two. You go near her again, and I'll make sure your sorry hide is rotting at the bottom of a serpent-pit somewhere in Mazuria. Is that clear, Cadet?" Diallo spoke slowly, softly and evenly. To anyone else watching, they wouldn't have a clue the Executive Officer of the Caprican Academy was uttering death threats to Starbuck.
Starbuck nodded. "Yes, Sir."
"Good. And I'd also abandon these nighttime romps around the base. You never do know what dangers lurk in the darkness." Diallo told him. "Understand?"
"Yes, Sir." Starbuck rasped. His mouth was bone-dry as he locked eyes with the officer. At least, it was just about Imara. He wondered what had transpired to make them think that all he and Imara had been up to the previous night was a little romance
. . . and a break-up.
Colonel Diallo released Starbuck's collar and straightened it, almost paternally. "Watch yourself out there, cadet. The jungle can swallow a man alive."
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Starbuck had reviewed every necessary module at least twice as he sat on shuttlecraft CA 135 surrounded by Phoenix and Roc cadets . . . and about as far as he could get from Imara.
Not that he hadn't tried to catch her eye as she boarded, mere microns behind him. She had shaken her head minutely and then subtly nodded toward Brand who was watching them with acute interest. By the way she was chewing her lip, he suspected she had seen his encounter with the Sergeant followed by the run-in with the Colonel.
He found himself watching her yet again, like a hawkmoth drawn to a flame. Her glistening dark brown hair was tied back from her face, accenting her high cheekbones and jamocha skin. Her dark lashes hid her eyes as she intently studied her datapad and make occasional comments to Apollo. The lucky son-of-a-daggit was sitting right next to her.
Starbuck sighed as he again switched over to the electronic topographical map on the GCS that outlined the Mazurian Jungle. It was obvious they would be covering hectares in their little scavenger hunt. He flexed his feet, marveling that the patch job Apollo had done on his heels seemed to be holding. He could hardly wait to get off the shuttle and start moving around again. His shoulders and neck were still sore and stiff, and the additional abuse from the Sergeant, not to mention the numerous death threats, hadn't helped loosen them up.
Speaking of death threats, just how realistic was it that a guy should receive a death threat for simply dating a girl? Somehow, on the scale of reasonable reactions to a given situation, that seemed just a bit over the top. On the other hand, not having the experience of having a daughter . . . or even a sister for that matter, maybe he just wasn't familiar enough with matters of paternal concern.
Remember, you were warned. Hades, every cadet in the Academy was warned about the Colonel's daughter. You were the idiot who decided not to take it that seriously. Yeah, what is he gonna do, Bucko? Shoot you?
His eyes flickered over to where Diallo was standing on the flight deck. The man stood erect as he watched over the shoulders of the poor cadets who had landed flight duty. Well, at least that meant that Diallo wasn't watching him.
However, Brand was. The sergeant had been watching him constantly since they left. What did Brand think he was going to do inside the shuttle? Jump Imara in front of the rest of them? He looked over towards Brand to, once again, find the man's eyes upon him. He hastily dropped his gaze. Frack. Did he ever want this day to be over!
He checked his chronometer and realized by the degree of descent that they must be making a final approach. Starbuck felt like an old-fashioned chronometer that had been wound too tightly. If he didn't get off of that ship soon, his pieces were going to start bursting out all over the place. He glanced back at Imara at that thought, with a smile on his lips.
To his surprise, her brown eyes were staring back at him. He held his breath as he held her gaze. Lords, she was beautiful. Her eyes looked strangely moist as she considered him. She wet her lower lip with the tip of her tongue and brushed back a stray strand of hair that had escaped its tether. Then, as if he had imagined the whole thing, she abruptly looked away.
He let out his breath as he heard the flight crew making their final approach. He could feel Brand's eyes on him again. Oh, to be off this bird and breathing fresh air . . . well, at least until they made it to their landram. He looked over to where Dorado was securing his gear. At least he had some experience with him on this adventure. Tani was their other team member. She was . . . young.
Tani was so young, she hadn't grown breasts yet. Starbuck's eyes fell on the petite, fresh-faced blonde with huge, blue eyes who had landed the unfortunate assignment of navigator. Maybe it was those eyes that made her seem so childlike. Like a baby animal's, they seemed out of proportion with the rest of her. She certainly seemed capable, but between those eyes and that soft voice, he had a difficult time taking her seriously. He sniffed as he reminded himself that he had known her for over a yahren and he still felt that way, despite her proving herself repeatedly. Oh, and she had noticed too. Apparently, he was a chauvinist. At least that's what Tani claimed. But then, she tended to take things a little too seriously.
The shuttle set down and within centons the cadets were disembarking. Starbuck tried to spot Imara, but she was already outside. He looked around the shuttle curious as to who was staying behind with Colonel Diallo to continue on towards their 0800 rendezvous.
He didn't recognize the men, but while cadets were moving about trying to grab gear, he edged closer to the flight deck hoping to make note of the ID badges on the two enlisted men's chests. One of them looked a lot like the man who had joined Brand on the track the night before, while he was running his 5K.
Stealth was all about trying to look inconspicuous. After all, one couldn't help but be seen as he was maneuvering around a shuttle full of cadets. He needed to have an acceptable reason to appear that he needed to be several metrons away from where he was supposed to be, as he edged closer to discovering the men's identities. . . just in case it became relevant later.
Sergeants Murata and Silus. Both men were talking to Colonel Diallo as Starbuck wandered passed them heading towards the navigator. One of them caught sight of him and opened his mouth to speak as Starbuck reached Tani.
"C'mon Tani. Dorado is getting our gear. Let's get moving, kid." His gaze flickered over Sergeant Silus again, but the man's attention had returned to Diallo.
"Starbuck, I swear, if you call me kid one more time, I'll drop-kick you in the middle of the jungle and leave you there to rot. I'm probably older than you are." Tani replied with a growl and she held herself up to her full height, a good twenty centimetrons shorter than Starbuck.
"Easy, Tigron." Starbuck returned lightly. Everyone seemed to have an agenda to leave him to rot in the jungle. Not a good start, Bucko. "That's no way to talk to your senior team members." His eyes twinkled as he watched her suck in her breath indignantly. "We have to show respect for one another if we're going to work together." He drawled in a voice reminiscent of Zoltan's.
"Why don't you start now then?" Tani asked him seriously.
Starbuck shook his head and ran his fingers back through his hair. "Tani, you really need to learn to loosen up."
"And you need to learn to take things more seriously. Like the way you treat women." She retorted.
He sighed. "I think my disciplinary duties just started." He looked over to where Apollo was watching them with a quirky grin on his face. It was just his luck that Apollo would decide that this would be the time that he would have to work out his differences with Tani. What was so wrong with not getting along with someone? Hades, it wasn't natural for everybody to see eye to eye on everything. Especially with their height difference!
"Your disciplinary duties? What the frack did I do wrong?" Tani asked. Oh, she knew very well why Apollo had put them together. She had a problem with Starbuck. Somehow, every bit of professionalism she usually displayed went out the hatch when he started teasing her.
"Do you want that list chronologically or alphabetically?" Starbuck returned with a wry grin.
"Very funny. C'mon, let's get this over with. Who's in command of the team? You or Dorado?" Tani asked as she preceded him from the shuttle.
"Dorado." He replied.
"Good."
"It's a good thing I have a thick hide. You could drive a lesser man to tears." He teased her.
"I've never seen a lesser man, so I wouldn't know." Tani returned quickly.
"Ouch. Getting yourself all pumped up for the drop-kick?" Starbuck asked.
"It may take a few more gibes." She returned.
Dorado suddenly loomed between them. "Hey, now, remember we're supposed to be a team here. You two are going to be more hindrance than help if you keep going on like this." He shoved a pack towards each of them.
"Sorry, Dorado. You're right." Tani said, shouldering her back as she looked over at Starbuck. "Truce?"
"Sure." Starbuck shrugged. "But if your mother socks my mother right in the nose again, it's over. No matter the colour of the blood."
"Clown." She replied with a slight smile.
"Are you done?" Dorado asked them both. He looked over at Apollo and glowered. He knew this was coming eventually. One of the goals he had set at the beginning of the yahren was to be able to rise above his usual role as friend and peer, and to function capably in command. He knew one of his several challenges would be retaining command. Starbuck had a tendency to try and do things his own way, no matter who was in charge. "Okay. I've signed out our weapons. Here are your blasters." He handed them over.
Starbuck's hand shook slightly as he accepted his weapon. He turned it over in his hand slowly. It was the same blaster they had been using since he had started at the Academy.
His skin suddenly prickled at the back of his neck. He turned to once again find Brand's intent gaze upon him. With a calmness he didn't feel, he casually holstered his weapon and turned towards the landram.
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"Do you think this is it?" Tani asked excitedly as she held her Global Coordinator System unit in one hand and scanned the area. They had finally reached the coordinates they had fed into the system.
"Could be Tani." Dorado replied, checking his own GCS. "What do you think Starbuck?"
They had been hiking for centars through the wilderness and had already found two caches, only to discover that they merely contained further waypoints to download before setting off again for their next destination.
"I think I'd rather be flying a viper." Starbuck muttered from behind them. He wiped the sweat from his brow and pulled his canteen from his pack taking a deep drink of the beverage that not only replenished fluids, but also vital electrolytes. "Do you think Apollo and Imara are out in this heat, or do flight leaders get some environmentally controlled vehicle to sit in and watch our progress?"
"You whine like a child, Starbuck." Tani accused him, brushing her damp tresses away from her face. .
"Takes one to know one." He replied testily.
"Lords, you two. I'm going to send you to separate ends of the fracking jungle if you keep this up." Dorado snapped. He had had just about enough of the terrible twosome. "We'll get done a lot quicker if you stop your bellyaching."
"We will?" Starbuck asked. "I'll have you know, Tani and I didn't insult each other once in the last thirty centons, and that didn't seem to speed our progress up at all."
"Oh, for Sagan's Sake, Starbuck . . . !" Dorado started.
"Wait a micron! I just lost the signal!" Tani interrupted them.
Dorado studied his own GCS unit from beside her. "So did I."
Starbuck sniffed. "I still have it. Back up a bit."
"Why?" Tani asked.
"Humour me, Tani. Just this once." Starbuck asked.
Tani walked back to him holding her GCS unit. "It's back." She looked at Starbuck in wonder. "How did you know?"
"Just a hunch. It's been relatively easy until now. So, what do you think? Is something blocking the signal?" He asked Dorado.
"Must be. Let's fan out from your position, Starbuck. Your go west, I'll go east." Dorado told him as he moved in the other direction.
"What about me?" Tani asked eagerly.
"You could get our lunch ready." Starbuck threw over his shoulder as he moved to the right. "I'm starving."
"It will be a cold day in Hades, Starbuck . . . " She hissed.
"Get your scanner out, Tani. If there is something here blocking the signal, I'd wager it will show up." Dorado told her.
"Good idea." Tani added, digging into her pack with enthusiasm.
"I lose the signal here." Starbuck added from where he stood. "Not exactly a precise science. We could be looking for eons." He looked around at the endless trees.
"I lose it here." Dorado added from twenty metrons in the opposite direction. "You go north, I'll go south. We'll see if we can reduce the area we have to search."
"Ten to one, the cache is somewhere within the blocked area." Starbuck added.
"Not necessarily." Tani inserted. "Here's the scanner. I'm on it." She started scanning the area looking for metals. "There's a lot of interference."
"Mazuria is lousy with precious metals. Mining is one of their most lucrative industries." Dorado told her.
"Refine the search." Starbuck instructed as he walked over and through the vegetation watching his GCS unit readouts.
"How?" Tani asked.
"You need to reprogram the search engine to eliminate the naturally occurring metals that we're likely walking over." Starbuck told her.
"Really." Tani looked at him skeptically. "Dorado?"
"Great idea, Starbuck." Dorado nodded. "Go ahead."
Starbuck grinned at them. "You know, we might even be able to refine the search enough to have it detect the actual tokens." He held his hand out for the scanner, and Tani walked over to join him.
"You mean, bypass finding the blocking system all together and just look for the tokens?" Tani asked wide-eyed, as she handed it over.
"It's a thought. I don't know if it will work, but Apollo told us that the tokens are in a tylinium container, so if we program the scanner to narrow its search to tylinium, then we might be able to speed this along." He theorized as he turned the unit over and started working the panel free. "After all, it's an alloy."
"You're shattering my image of you, Starbuck." Tani told him. "I thought this exercise was about learning how to use the GCS unit efficiently?"
"Or finding a better and quicker way to use the equipment they provided us with." Dorado added. "Nice, Bucko."
Fifteen centons later, the three cadets were standing in front of a tree that must have been eight hundred yahrens old, if the girth of the enormous trunk was any indication.
"Up there?" Tani asked in a small voice as she craned her neck towards the limb Starbuck had identified.
"Yep." Starbuck confirmed once again as he checked the scanner. He sighed and swung his pack onto the ground. "We have harnesses and ropes, might as well use them."
"And we really only need one person to go up." Dorado added.
"Someone small and light would be good." Starbuck suggested looking meaningfully at Tani from where he squatted on the ground.
"You want me to go up there?" She asked incredulously, looking back and forth between them.
Dorado looked at the young woman with the huge eyes. "Well, it would be easier with someone lighter."
Starbuck pointed to the limb above their target. "If we could get the rope over that branch, we could easily create a pulley system and get her up."
"Wait just a centon, Starbuck. I don't think I can do this." Tani exclaimed. "Dorado . . . " she gazed at him hopefully.
"What's the problem, Tani?" Dorado asked calmly.
"And don't try the 'I'm afraid of heights' line. We are all viper pilots." Starbuck pointed out as he held the harness up to her, sizing her up.
"It's different with a ship around you." She explained, backing away from the harness, hands held in front of her protectively.
"You mean you really are afraid of heights?" Dorado asked stunned.
"Well . . . " she licked her lips nervously and then started chewing on a couple fingernails. "I prefer the term acrophobic. And it's really only when I'm . . . looking down and can see nothing but . . . the ground below me . . . I get this . . . " She pushed her hair away from her face and sucked in her breath, screwing her face up distastefully. "This empty feeling . . . like I'm going to . . . fall into a void . . . " She blinked her eyes furiously and covered her face. "I'm sorry." She mewled.
"Uh . . . Starbuck." Dorado turned from the girl to where Starbuck was watching her skeptically.
"I think she's faking it." Starbuck told him.
"You're a real bastard sometimes, you know that?" Dorado told him, point blank.
Starbuck shook his head as he looked back and forth between the shaking girl and the cadet in charge. Too damned bad that Dorado liked seconds with every meal so much. Well, no one could accuse the man of being overweight, he was built like a landram. However, Starbuck didn't think he could hoist a landram up the tree.
"I guess the bastard's climbing the fracking tree." Starbuck returned as he started pulling on the harness and adjusting it to his own frame.
"Always rising to the occasion." Dorado quipped sardonically.
"Whether he wants to or not." Starbuck complained as he secured the equipment. "Are you going to shoot the rope over the branch, or do I have to do that too?"
"This was your idea, if you recall." Dorado reminded him as he loaded the mechanism that would fire the rope over the branch.
"Let's just say, it's been altered inexorably." He lamented as he looked back at Tani who was composing herself. He heard a 'thwunk' and his eyes followed the path of the rope sailing on target over the branch. "Nice shot, Dorado."
Dorado stepped towards him and started securing the rope to the harness. "Okay, nothing fancy up there. I don't want to see you swinging from vines and especially avoid those Lord of the Simians yells. I hate it when the animals start to stampede."
"You watch too many holovids, Pal." Starbuck replied with a grin.
"Ready?" Dorado asked.
"No, but let's get it over with."
Dorado nodded and motioned for Tani to join him. Together they pulled on the rope and quickly had Starbuck moving skyward. Starbuck looked down at Tani. She looked like she had regained her composure. In fact, if the exaggerated wink she was directing at him was any indication, he'd been had. He shook his finger at her and she grinned at him in response. Yep, she was faking all right. He grinned as the branches and foliage began to occlude his view of his teammates. Maybe Tani had potential after all.
Actually, hanging in the trees really wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Sure, he'd rather have a viper beneath him, but the sounds, the smells and the amazing sights that were the Mazurian Jungle held him spellbound as he moved towards the branch metron by metron. He looked down to see the plumage of an avian nearby. The colours were breathtaking. He held his breath as the avian took flight, catching a thermal air current and soaring up into the canopy of the jungle. A nearby call of another avian roused him from his reverie.
"Slow down a bit! Almost there!" He called down to them and he pushed aside the foliage as he approached the branch which the scanner had identified as holding a tylinium container.
His ascent slowed marginally and he grabbed a hold of smaller branches, slowly guiding himself in towards his target. "Hold it!"
There it was. Nestled in a knot of the branch and covered by some moss was a tylinium tube. He grabbed it and shook it, hearing metal on metal. He grinned as he popped the top of the tube and peered inside. "Got them!" he cried out below as he saw three tokens at the bottom of the container.
He heard the muted sound of Dorado and Tani celebrating below, but couldn't see them for all the foliage that surrounded him. He secured the lid and called out again, "Bring me down!"
Within microns, he was being lowered slowly towards the ground. Suddenly, his descent stopped. He looked below, but still couldn't see anything. They probably were adjusting their grips or something like that. Maybe little Tani was running out of energy. She must have used too much of it up conning him.
He jerked suddenly in the air and dropped a couple metrons abruptly. Then, just as quickly stopped, and was swaying in the trees. "Hey! What the frack are you two doing?"
Silence was his reply. No Dorado. No Tani. Just the sounds of the jungle as he dangled at least a couple metrons from the nearest branch. "Dorado!" he yelled.
His descent began again. He slipped the tylinium tube into his jacket pocket and pulled his blaster. He had a bad feeling about this. Any centon now, he should clear the foliage and be able to see what was below him.
Out of the thick greenery he emerged to see a shock of purple looking up towards him, triumph in his eyes. Ortega! Dorado and Tani were standing off to the side with Kardon, and the rope was in the hands of Ortega and Orcas. As he was lowered down, Starbuck could clearly see Dorado had his arm twisted behind his back and was being held immobile by the much larger man.
"Well, well, well, look what's on the end of my line!" Ortega yelled up at him.
"Looks kind of small, maybe we should throw him back!" Orcus joined in.
Starbuck closed his eyes briefly in utter dismay. Of all of the gallmonging, snitradeous, festering frackers to show up now, it would have to be Ortega!
"How about you just toss the tokens on down here?" Ortega yelled up to him. "Good job finding them, Starbuck. We thought if we just waited you out, you'd track them down eventually."
Starbuck snorted, having visions of being suspended in the trees for the duration of the day until his flight leader tracked him down. "Don't think so. How about I come down there and give them to you personally?" He re-holstered his weapon, knowing the threat was empty. It would be better to have his hands free when he hit the ground. All the better to punch Ortega in the mouth.
Ortega said something quietly to Orcus and they began lowering him quicker. Hand over hand they manipulated the rope until the ground seemed to be rising up towards him at an alarming rate. He was about three metrons from the surface when both men let go of the rope, and the ground rushed up to meet him.