The dull grey sky had given way to a misty rain, drenching the strike team in short order. Melody had brought all-weather active-hue camo trench coats along, but the mist permeated the air in a way that seemed to even make its way through those. It was cold and damp, but it softened the ground and made the foot steps of the approaching strike team difficult to discern against the light white noise of the rain. That was exactly the kind of luck that Melody was hoping for as she lead her team into an unknown woodland, potentially teeming with Jem’hadar shock troops. 

They were approaching the thickest part of the woodlands, which Melody assumed was the most likely place that they’d encounter Jem’hadar troops. They hadn’t gone very far from their original beam in location, but it had already taken them most of an hour. Slow and steady, that was the only way they’d spot the Jem’hadar before the Jem’hadar spotted them. 

Blake slid in next to her and showed her the read out on his tricoder, “I think I’ve eliminated all of the ambient heat signatures,” He said quietly, showing it to her. 

Melody glanced down, then back up at the man, “There’s nothing being displayed.” 

“Right,” He whispered, “Well… I’m hoping that it will display something when we get near a Jem’hadar,” He explained. “Because… that won’t be what I’ve excluded.” 

Melody stifled a laugh and shook her head a little, “Well, here’s hoping you’re right, Mr. Blake.” She whispered, turning her attention back to the woods ahead of them. 

The one problem with the rain muffling her team’s noise was that it also muffled the Jem’hadar’s noises as well, leaving her reliant on only sight… and allegedly Blake’s tricorder. 

She smirked a bit to herself as she brought her range finder back up to her eye, moving a lock of hair out of her eyes as she did so with her free hand. This was the worst part of the process, the waiting. She could feel the tension building in the back of her neck just as it was building for the people there with her. They all sat stock still and absolutely silent as she looked for any evidence of the Jem’hadar. 

This was the riskiest part; They could afford to have a firefight once they were inside. At that point, they’d breached the outer defenses and found their way in. Cover, return fire, advance. Piece of cake. 

But right now, out here, if they were spotted and word got back to the compound that a strike team was on planet, it’d be all over. The Jem’hadar would reinforce their perimeter and they’d be dog food before they could even got close to the entrance to the tunnels. They had to be absolutely sure that they did not get spotted, or if they did that it wasn’t for long enough for anyone to get a message off. 

Melody finished her slow sweep of the ridge in front of them and motioned that everything was clear. There was a barely audible shuffle as the team all went prone behind her and started the slow advance to the ridge itself. From what she could tell from here, it looked like it was an old river bed. There was a solid chance they’d find their marks there, and have their first bit of fighting. 

There was a piece of Melody’s mind that was ready for it, hungry for it almost. All of this sneaking and tension, it would feel good to take it out on someone. Especially some Jem’hadar who’d come here for the sole purpose of enslaving and murdering people. She couldn’t think of anyone more deserving of the gift of a phaser blast between the eyes. 

On the other hand, there was a part of her that was worried for this team. They were all capable, she knew that. She’d hand selected everyone based on academy scores and weapons training. She knew they all could do it, technically. But ending a life was ending a life, and the first time you do that… 

It’s different. There was no room for stuns on this mission. Set to kill, then disintegrate to prevent discovery until -hopefully – they were inside. It was cold, it was calculating, but it was necessary for the success of the mission. 

She worried that the mental and emotional aftermath that would have on the team could be a lot to bear. She’d have to remember to ask Terani to loop through all of the strike team members after they got back. She may have been their pilot, but she was good at getting through to people. 

Finally reaching the lip of the ravine, she raised her hand and immediately heard all noise cease behind her. They might not have her training, but dammit if these weren’t some of the best officer’s she’d ever served with. She pulled her range finder out again and began her scan of the ravine. 

It was cut short a moment later by a pebbled hitting the side of her head. She looked over, trying not to look too annoyed, and found Juarez looking at her. Frankie pointed to her eyes, then down in the ravine, opposite of where Melody had been looking. Melody brought her range finder up again and pointed it in that direction. 

At first she was confused, she didn’t see anything… and then it clicked.

The rain wasn’t hitting the ground. It was hitting something, but not the ground. 

She zoomed her range finder back out and could clearly make out the forms of four bodies making their way slowly through the ravine. She quickly tucked her range finder away and turned back to her team. She motioned to her eyes, then held up four fingers, and pointed in the direction of the Jem’hadar. She pulled a smoke grenade off of her belt, then pointed to herself and the grenade in succession, the back at the team and gave the ‘lock and load’ hand gesture. She got a series of nods and gave them a smile before turning back to the ravine. 

The Jem’hadar had gotten closer now. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Frankie readying her phaserifle. Mentally, Melody was already running through the muscle memory of slinging hers around and getting it ready once the smoke grenade was lobbed. She’d made a few modifications to hers which made that easier, but she still didn’t want to waste time. 

She watched the rainless blobs approach, closer and closer. 

Not yet… not yet…

Melody thumbed the control on the grenade over to explode on impact, not a timer.

Not yet…

Now! Melody lobbed the smoke grenade through the air and it landed precisely at their feet, exploding with a muffled ‘pop’. The immediate presence of an unexpected smoke grenade was far more effective than Melody had anticipated. The vacant forms of the Jem’hadar troops could be seen wildly flailing in the smoke, trying futilely to get their bearings. 

Melody didn’t exactly remember getting her gun, but it was in her hands and aimed at the Jem’hadar. She fired off several rounds, dropping two who’s shroud immediately failed as they collapsed to the ground, and forcing the other two back to cover. Frankie took her shots and managed to pin them down. Suddenly from behind them, all hell broke loose, and the remaining Jem’hadar went down amidst the fire. 

Melody wasted no time launching over the edge of the ravine. She slid down the muddy bank and walked over to the first body. The smell of singed flesh and scorched ketracel-white filled the air. Thumbing her phaserifle to full, she disintegrated the first body, then the next. She heard someone else doing the same and looked up to see Frankie looking over at her. 

The two women exchanged a nod, an unspoken agreement that they’d handle the cold parts as the leaders of the mission. By the time the rest of the team got down to the ravine, there was no carnage left to see, just disintegrated carbon slowly soaking into the soil in the rain. 

“This should be the outer most ring of patrol,” She said, quietly, as the others approached. “My guess is the next ring will be in that open area closer to the city, but I’m hoping they’ll be tucked into the woods so we can discretely handle them.”

“Couldn’t we just try to bypass them?” Blake asked. 

“No, I don’t want to risk them spotting us. It’s going to be hard enough making the run to the aqueduct entrance as it is, without having to worry about troops behind us as well,” She explained. 

Melody looked away for a moment. Something was off… she knew more questions were being asked, but something was off. The ambient noise had changed. She knew that the rain had picked up over the last few minutes, the light misting turning to a decent downpour, but that wasn’t it. There was something more. something deeper. Lower pitched. Something…

“Shit,” She spat, her eyes suddenly snapping back past the team, further down the ravine. 

“Everyone out of the ravine, now!” She barked, bolting to the nearest bank and frantically starting to climb up. 

Down was much easier than up was. The mud and rocks gave way beneath her feet, but the flash flood was only getting louder. Something must have given way further up stream, but it really didn’t matter what caused it. She and her team had to get out of the ravine before…

She barely felt the initial blast of mist in the rain, but the hard current and tree branch that caught her she definitely felt. She was knocked under the sudden wall of water, but kept her wits about her enough to get back to the surface. She spun back around in the current, finding eleven other heads being carried along with her in the rapids. 

She got battered into the banks a time or two before she was able to kick herself further into the middle of the raging river. Defiantly fighting to keep herself above the surface, she checked again… Eleven heads, still there, frantically trying to stay afloat just as she was. She couldn’t even track how far they’d gone, only that they were way off the path to the city. 

The front of the flood had far surpassed her, but the current had only slowed a little, she was still being dragged along at a breakneck speed, but she knew eventually it’d slow and they could track the river back. 

She had almost found peace in that thought when another strange shift in sound caught her ears. Her heart sank and her gut when cold. She turned around and saw that the river banks abruptly ended just a few hundred feet in front of her. 

“Waterfall!” She screamed, not knowing how tall it was, but fully processing and understanding that she saw the tops of trees beyond the banks and there was no way to not go over.

Before she could do anything else, before she could even think, she was in the air and staring at a lake below. She couldn’t process the height or how fast she was dropping, just that the lake was approaching at alarming speeds. She stiffened her body, feet first, and closed her eyes. She heard a few screams above her as other members of the team were thrust out into freefall, and then…

She plunged into the icy depths of the lake.