The Redsea Signal - Chapter V

Posted on Thu Oct 7th, 2021 @ 11:30pm by Lieutenant Commander S'hib

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Somewhere in the Redsea/ Royal Palace
Timeline: four months prior to Chapter IV
891 words - 1.8 OF Standard Post Measure

"Doctor," Shande hummed, hovering about atop of the dark red dune Shad'ashi was still slowly climbing. "I think we are lost again." her AI sprite flickering as she spoke.

"Scenic route Shande, we've been over this..." Shad'ashi snorted, as he watched his companion slowly scan what horizon she could see.

"Going in circles doesn't count," She shot back as her sprite retracted the small beams of light that had been scanning the way ahead. "we should wait until nightfall," She chirped while whizzing down the dune to circle about his head. "once the stars are out we will know which way we are heading."

Shand'ashi didn't reply as he climbed near the top, one hoof at a time before continuing down the other side. "I know which way we are heading..." He mused before tilting his head to the left, his dexterous equine lips feeling for the straw to his water synthesiser.

Her sprite flickered again, this time in silent annoyance.

"Fine... fine, we'll stop at the next dune." He groaned with a shake of his head.

"Good, your old hooves need the rest." She chirped, dematerialising into her housing unit on the side of Shand'ashis backpack. "

-- Four months later --

The sound of rain lashed about behind S'hib, no longer drenching his already sodden uniform, the rumble echoed deep inside the temple entrance, reverberating deep into its winding tunnels and becoming lost amongst its countless rooms.

The priestess let out a delighted snort of relief as lowered her umbrella, handing it over to a much younger mare "Before we go any further, there is a rule you must obey." She practically growled at him, condensation fluttering out of her nostrils as she turned to face him.

"Go on." He replied, watching the young mare bow away to stand against the wall with the Priestesses Sovereign.

"You are not to utter a single word beyond this entrance, it is strictly prohibited for males to do so, do you understand?" The Priestess commanded while absent-mindedly rearranging her neck dress, making sure it flowed correctly over her shoulders.

"Of course." S'hib nodded gently, watching her slender hoofed digits stroke down her chest, smoothing out the thicker coat the flowed down between her primary breasts, tapering off between the vastly smaller secondary.

"Good, now stay close, I don't need you getting lost." She added as she turned on the spot and clicked away, her tone implied some level of juvenility on his part, something which made his scowl return.

He stood there for a moment, glancing back into the rain with an overwhelming urge to run back to the starport, but the voice inside his head was quickly silenced by a stubborn snort as he turned and followed the priestess.

Silence accompanied them both, interspersed by the click of their hooves as they followed the dimly lit tunnel path, shadows flickered all over the walls and the floor as they moved, cast by the numerous shallow bowls atop small pillars, filled with deep red sand and set ablaze by some unknown means.

His eyes flicked to the red stone walls as the path curved, an unnerving sensation that not all of the shadows were his own put a chill down his spine and folded his ears flat against the back of his head.

Paranoid delusions he told himself, shaking his eyes away from the walls and focusing on the priestess ahead of him as the musk of the damp outside was replaced with a sickly sweet incense.

The aroma burned the back of his throat and made his head hurt, he winced in pain, feeling his eyes watering.

They had entered a far more grandiose chamber, one that gradually rose with a hundred or so large steps leading deeper into the temple.

It was far more well lit than the previous corridor, with large burning pits of sand beside the many support columns, their thick stone slabs engraved with dozens of religious passages, many of which were names of priestesses and their various deeds.

Then he saw why the air was so full of incense, lined along either side of the chamber walls and tucked into the stone, the semi mummified remains of hundreds of Sequus, some still draped in their ceremonial garb, some entwined with the body of another.

All at various stages of decomposer and half-buried in sand, with a few having clearly died recently, and others having died well before his time.

Finding it hard not to stare S'hib almost didn't notice the priestess had stopped beside one of the many more prominent stone caskets, her head low in prayer as she hovered a hand over the skeletal remains, gently pouring sand over the exposed bones.

It was as sombre as it was jarring, standing there beside her in his Starfleet uniform... feeling entirely alien and realising how little of his own culture he really knew, was he even still one of them at this point? he thought, tilting his head to watch her lips moving silently.

Or was he just pretending...

"Come, the queen is waiting." The priestess spoke softly as she turned her hand and poured the last of the sand, snapping him out of his existential dilemma, though the thought lingered in the back of his mind, having found a quiet space with which to grow roots.