The Hunt For Wolfington

Posted on Tue Sep 17th, 2024 @ 1:50pm by Lieutenant JG Nayisa Wrea & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko

Mission: Into the Qniverse
Location: Magical Forest
Timeline: After 'What Tender, Young Creatures'
2472 words - 4.9 OF Standard Post Measure

The silence that had followed Xavier's outburst was stifling. He seemed really defensive over what Nayisa would consider a normal response to an intrusive presence in her mind. Per his request, she stopped "screaming" at him, or she hoped she was. She was better at keeping certain information blocked off, not at shutting up her entire mental mouth. The two had been following the wolf's trail for approximately fifteen minutes before Nayisa finally did something about it. "Ok, can we talk about something, please? This silence is killing me."

"I thought you preferred the silence?" Xavier said with a side-eyed glance. It was a low dig and he knew it and he regretted sounding so petty as soon as the words left his lips. He was tired, it had been a long day and to top it off he was caught in this nightmare and just wanted to rescue the Commander and get the hell out of here. "Sorry, what would you like to talk about?"

Nayisa couldn't help the eyeroll that followed his snarky reply, but replying in the same manner would only make this whole situation more stressful. Now that she considered it, she hadn't really thought about what to talk about, just to break the silence. "Let's see... it might be worth working up a plan for once we catch up to Wolfington." It was the easiest thing to talk about that didn't push the boundaries of her comfort zone. "Though I do have some questions, about earlier. The wolf never said it was Zora he was going after, so I assume you, you know..." She pointed at her head. "Was there anything else that was useful in there? Also, what was with the 'grandchildren seeing their grandmother' spiel? You know how weird it is to think of our XO as a grandmother?"

Xavier stopped and looked at Wrea. His expression was a mixture of surprise and condescension. "For an intelligence officer you're not very quick on the intel part," he said trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice but struggling to do so. "This is Little Red Riding Hood," he stated matter-of-factly. "Part of Q's game I'm guessing. I realised when Wolfington had you by the throat, I thought you had figured it out before me. This..." he grabbed the shiny red fabric that hung from his neck to his waist "... it's all part of whatever-this-is. When we rescue Grandmother, Zora," he corrected, "then it should end. At least that's my theory."

"Hey, I'm an infiltration specialist, not some desk jockey," Nayisa countered. Human intelligence was already a slightly misleading name, given the number of non-human species intelligence officers interacted with. Did it even apply to sentient animals too? She immediately dismissed the thought, deciding that tangent wasn't relevant in the moment. Even if it were, she was better at interpreting signals anyways. "Also, I never read those stupid fairy tales as a kid. They're nothing more than a diversion from the world around you. It sounds like you know what we're supposed to expect though."

"That sounds like a fun childhood," Xavier quipped as he continued up the path again. He realised they were wasting time and Wolfington already had a head start on them. "You're right, I did see Zora up here," he tapped his temple mimicking the action that she had done before. "In the story, the wolf gets to grandma's house first, gobbles her up and then dresses in her clothes. The kids, us, discover the deception and should be rescued by someone in the forest. Normally a woodman's but that part varies based on the teller's preference."

The look of disgust that crossed Nayisa's features spoke volumes. "That is highly morbid for a children's story. Also, nobody says 'gobble.' It's a weird word. It sounds like we need to pick up the pace, though, if Wolfington is going to eat Zora." Not waiting for any particular sign of agreement, Nayisa upped her pace to a jog, still following the trail. "So if this story includes someone to rescue us, it sounds like the plan is to protect Zora until reinforcements arrive. Seems... well, I would say simple, but we saw how strong this thing was earlier."

"He caught us off-guard," Xavier replied as he matched Wrea's pace. Thankfully, his three-times-a-week swims meant he was in good shape and had decent stamina. Though he had to admit, his continued Trexamoxin use had destroyed that somewhat. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, he didn't need to be reminded right now that he was running low on his new habit. "The pair of us should be able to take him if we are prepared. And 'gobble' seems appropriate, since the wolf doesn't eat grandma, more swallows her whole. By the end of the story she is rescued too."

How much of it was being caught off-guard, and how much of it was the sheer strength of that creature? "Still a weird word," Nayisa mumbled to herself. Her brain shifted into rescue operations mode, figuring out a way to get to Zora before the wolf did. Being prepared meant knowing what they were walking into, which meant information. At minimum, it was better to have a plan B in case the ending of this fairy tale didn't pan out. Xavier saw something in the wolf's thoughts, so she figured the best place to start was there. "Tell me more about what you saw when you were rooting around in Wolfington's brain. At least out loud, he said a house, with three oak trees, which is vague but better than nothing."

"Honestly, nothing that will give us a tactical edge," Xavier replied, panting slightly. "Zora was gardening and she was old, really old." He thought harder, trying his best to remember every detail of the vision or memory he had plucked from Wolfington's mind, but that was all he could recall. "I wish we had a couple of phasers at hand," he mumbled grumpily.

Helpful. "Insulting the boss already?" Nayisa teased, breaking her stare at the ground to give him a smirk. He seemed to be more out of breath than she was, but she chalked it up to the stereotype of ops types being stationary at consoles all day. She was hardly one to judge, as she remembered how bad her fitness scores were before getting involved in intelligence. Turning her attention back to the tracks, she continued to come up with some kind of plan. "Element of surprise seems like the best strategy right now. If Zora is outside, we can get her inside and use the house as cover. There has to be some kind of secondary egress, unless fairytales are known for ignoring home safety regulations. If she's inside, then we keep the wolf away from the house. Worst case, if she is... gobbled," she made a point of mock-gagging at the word, "then she probably won't die immediately. A wolf's stomach acid shouldn't be that potent. Then we can treat it more like a 'rescue the hostage from the captor' situation, except the prison is a rather cramped stomach." A frown crossed her features as she thought over what she said. "Oh god, we're probably going to have to kill this thing."

Under different circumstances, Xavier would find it funny that Wrea was trying to apply regular logic to a kid's fairytale, but right now he was concentrating on keeping his pace and not overexerting himself before the big showdown with Wolfington. He thought about what she said about killing him and wondered how they were going to do that. They had no weapons of any kind and the creature was stronger than them. "Have you had any ideas how we're going to do that?" He asked, but the question went unanswered.

Seeing a structure through the brush, Nayisa waved at him to shut up and pay attention before slipping off the trail and behind some trees. Her dark eyes inspected the building, a simple two-story brick house with three towering oaks nearby. In front was a garden, with no Zora in sight. The clearing would leave them out in the open long enough to be ambushed. The air was calm, the only sound being a faint rustle of leaves and grass from a light breeze.

No sound, aside from the wind.

"I don't like this," Nayisa murmured. The sounds of nature around them were more apparent when they were suddenly absent. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she inspected the doors and windows of the house, looking for any sign of a break-in or struggle. It looked too untouched, too unbothered. Too normal. "I really don't like this," she breathed, her voice barely a whisper. Her ears were straining to listen for any sound other than their own breathing, and she even closed her eyes to focus on listening.

"You already said that," Xavier said, irritation lining his voice. He too was trying to concentrate but instead of using his ears, he was using his mind. It was quite a distance and he was tired, not to mention irritable, but he knew if he concentrated hard enough he could do it. He had to push past his own thoughts and that of Wrea's, as loud as they were. "I am picking up two different thought patterns," he eventually said in hushed tones. "It's hard to distinguish them at this distance, but one is more ordered, the other is wild."

Nayisa absolutely opened her eyes just to roll them. The mocking reiteration of 'you already said that' in her head that followed was purely habitual, and she faintly grimaced knowing that Xavier probably heard it. "Is it the same... I don't know, brain vibes you picked up from Wolfington earlier?", she asked, hoping to distract from her own annoying thoughts. If he couldn't distinguish them, then it meant that Zora and the wolf were in proximity. Hopefully it meant they were just in the same house, and not Zora being eaten.

Xavier heard Wrea's thoughts but decided to ignore them. If he reacted to every stray thought from a non-Betazoid species, he wouldn't have made it this far in Starfleet, or life for that matter. "I believe it is," he said, concentrating harder on the feel of the thoughts but not having anything more conclusive to add.

Eyeing one of the oak trees and effectively ignoring Xavier, Nayisa thought for a few seconds, her fingers faintly touching the cut on her cheek. At least it wasn't bleeding anymore. "I have an idea. Might be a little stupid, but it's better than nothing."

Xavier turned to face the silver-haired intelligence officer. "Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?" He asked, his arms folded across his body.

While her dark eyes scanned the clearing again, looking for suitable points of entry, the silver-haired woman explained her idea. "Wolfington probably knows my scent after cutting my cheek. To be honest, I'm going with the assumption that he already knows I'm here, because wolves have an insanely good sense of smell. The idea is that I can go be a distraction, and you can get behind that oak tree," she pointed to the nearest one. "From there, it gets you close enough to do your mind scan thing."

"Mind scan thing?" Xavier repeated indignantly. "May I remind you that I'm an engineer, not a tricorder."

"You have the ability to distinguish between living things based off of brain frequencies or whatever. So do tricorders. Argue with me later about it," Nayisa countered with a dismissive wave of her hand. The very idea she was about to propose next was one she hated. "I don't like having thoughts that aren't my own in my head, but I feel like it might be necessary for the sake of keeping our advantage. Once you know where Zora is, or have a better idea, then you could let me know with your thoughts and we could breach from two directions. The house would have many things to use as weapons, so we just grab something and take out the wolf as fast as possible."

"That's the problem with you intel officers," Xavier replied, irritation creeping back into his voice. "You don't like something until it is useful for you to exploit." He held up his hands before she had a chance to retort to his statement. "It's a good plan and stands a chance, I'll do it. But what if he's already gobbled up Zora?"

What was this guy's problem?? Nayisa turned her head, ready to test out a rather delightful phrase she recently learned in Andorian, but the opportunity passed as he held up his hands and continued to speak. She couldn't wait until this nightmare was over. "Aim for the head?" she offered. It was a rather over-simplified answer, but it was the most logical. Creatures usually needed heads to survive. "If the wolf ate Zora already, then we can't risk hitting her while attempting to take down Wolfington. The best bet is probably aim to incapacitate, but this is still a wild animal, as... skinwalker-esque as it is," she shuddered at the thought. "Animals will put up a fight if threatened. So steer clear of the claws and the teeth. If we stay separate, the wolf will have to pick one of us to target, which gives the other an opportunity to get close."

Steer clear of the claws and the teeth was quite possibly the most useless advice Xavier had ever received and he was about to tell her as much but decided against it. After all, he didn't want her to swear at him in Andorian again. He wondered if she knew he had dated an Andorian for many years and spoke bits of the language or if it happened to be a happy coincidence that he understood the mental insults flung his way. He shrugged and focused on the task at hand.

"Find a weapon, aim for the head," he repeated to himself under his breath. He was doing anything to not focus on Wolfington's strength or tactical advantage over them. "You ready?" He asked finally.

Nayisa gave him a curt nod, taking off her cloak and tucking it under her arm so she could blend in better. "Catch ya on the flip side," she said with a wink, before pulling a P'Rel and disappearing into the woods, a couple broken sticks on the ground the only sign that she was ever there.