NaNoWriMo Part 1

 Captain Baumann stood in front of her, one hand up in salute, his field-grey uniform shirt was creased and partially untucked and marred with sweat stains, his forage cap off centre and he clearly hadn’t shaved in a few days. He did not look like the clean cut ambitious officer who had been at the briefing a month ago. Not that he would have seen her in the shadows of the room, and why would he notice a woman when the second most powerful man in Barhoemia was there giving him his orders unless she was serving him a drink? Internally she rolled her eyes again at the attitude these Barhoemians had towards women, she’d seen it time and again and she tired of it, tired of proving them wrong and embarrassing them. They did pay well for her services though.

The jungle heat was oppressive and humid and she could hear the bird calls and animals even over the whine of the helicopter’s engine as it powered down. Marshal of the Empire Georg Petersen, Count of Spitzen, high protector of the Imperial order of the Dragon, Commander of the Imperial Legion and a host of other somewhat meaningless titles was grinning next to her, his leather gloved hand outstretched to the younger Captain though as she studied him from her peripheral vision she thought he would be regretting wearing full powder blue dress uniform within five minutes and she could see the beads of sweat forming like pearls on his forehead and his well-groomed moustache was already beginning to whillt. This would be a brief visit.

“Ah, Baumann. Good to see you again. How is the dig going? Have you found the Gate stone yet?”

The other man lowered his hand and took Petersen’s proffered hand.

“Sir, we’ve been working round the clock and found the temple three days ago.”

“Excellent! I told you that he’d find it and your concerns were unwarranted.” He turned with a bombastic laugh and grinned at her briefly. Her expression never shifted, frozen in stone but she managed a hushed but venomous “Indeed”

“So, what is the latest update?”

“We have broken through the main doors, through several ante chambers and this morning we used the dynamite to blast into one of the inner chambers. Last night we discovered an under chamber that led into a secret area. Doctor Kauffman is certain this is where the artefact will be.” The man’s confidence was returning after originally being shaken by the arrival of his superior. “We expect a return in the next few hours.”

Fools, she thought, amateur fools. It was never that easy, even with the Barhoemian military’s approach to archaeology.

“Tell me Captain, have your men seen any red painted statues?”

Baumann seemed to notice her for the first time and he looked flustered by her interjection. He looked at Petersen who nodded his approval to answer her.

“Yes, in the outer chambers. Kauffman believes they mean nothing, a cultural fashion from four hundred years ago.”

“And the panels with blue water marks?”

“Yes, last night. Just some ancient hieroglyphs, nothing for us to be concerned about.”

“Finally, in this final chamber were there any statues?”

“Lieutenant Thiel reported several Harpies standing in there. Why?”

“What does all this nonsense mean?” Petersen’s good mood was starting to fray. She didn’t expect the military to have done any serious research, they would use  dynamite and sledgehammers where ever possible and this Kauffman had been at the Capitol’s Antiquities Museum for thirty years and hadn’t done a day’s field work since university. He knew no more of the inside of Sintar tomb than of the dark side of the moon and even if he did, Baumann would have just ignored him.

“I assure you, Sir, Thiel is one of my best officers he will appropriate your prize.”

“How long?” She snapped.

“Excuse me?” Baumann bit back acidicly.

“How long have they been in the chamber?”

“Two hours. They started work at nine this morning”

She took her rifle off her shoulder and checked the sights and barrel out of habit before reaching into her belt pouches and withdrew a strip of bullets.

“I’m going in. Don’t send anyone else, I should return within the hour.”

Petersen understood after all this is what he paid her for. In the three years she had been working for him she had only failed him once and the scar on her left forearm was the penalty, a constant reminder that although the rewards were vast the punishments for failure were severe. He could have ordered her death just as easily, she had seen it happen for less but Petersen must have seen her usefulness, her skill set and after that incident her abandonment of a moral compass. She had been allowed to live that time but next time… Baumann was protesting still “But my men?”

She looked up, her cold grey eyes venomous and silencing him mid-sentence.

“Captain, your men are already dead.”