Chapter Text
Untitled Crusade Fic
By Nerys
Prologue:
Marian crouched in the dust covering the buildings floor, brush in hand, studying the symbols before her with a frown. She brushed another small cloud of dirt from them and blew across the surface to reveal a symbol she hadn't noticed before.
Her frown vanished to be replaced by a wide grin as that symbol changed the whole segment from utter nonsense to a formula that could advance space travel for earth a thousand years. If it worked it would transform ordinary fuel cells into something that produced a thousand times the energy at half the cost or input of cells. If not...she shrugged, either way IPX made a tidy profit, as did she.
Marian made a note in her data pad, and moved to the next section eager to see what else there was to be discovered, she often got like this on excavations, the excitement of the search, the exhilaration of the find.
Jason and Melissa walked in whispering harshly.
"Yes?" Marian asked not moving her eyes from the wall. When they refused to answer she looked up at the second and third in command of her team with an expression that had made lesser people quake in fear.
"We just got a message from IPX AND Earth Force. We have orders to meet with and stay out of the way of a ship coming here with in the next two days."
"A ship? What ship?"
"The Excalibur."
"Madré de Dios! The one looking for the cure to the Drakh Plague? That's the ship Max Eilerson is stationed on!" They nodded looking uncomfortable. "What else is wrong?" she asked her eyes narrowed as she studied them suspiciously.
"They want him to take over the dig until they leave."
"WHAT!" she let out a string of curses from six different languages, not all from earth, and a few nasty ones from her native spanish. Her ex husband stealing her excavation?!
"They told us you in particular, are not to get in their way. As if the thought you would get into a fist fight or scuttle around stealing things from your own dig. You also have to swear not to hide information."
"Interfere will I? Get in the way will I? Hide information? Yeah well I'll show them how wrong they are!" she stormed off throwing her brush to the ground.
TBC