Log: Luke Skywalker, Emily Fields, and Marcus Cole Who: Luke Skywalker, Emily Fields, and Marcus Cole Where: A cave in the mountains When: Monday, March 12 What: Mining for the emerald, a.k.a.Atlantis gives the rescuers a helping hand. Rating: G Warnings: None.
Luke became aware instantly on waking that he was no longer in his bed or even in his room. His back rested against hard, cold ground and as he reached out with the Force, he realized that he seemed to be in some kind of cave.
With that realization came a certainty that he was supposed to be looking for something. A green stone. He didn’t know where the sense came from, but he thought he would be foolish to ignore it.
Marcus didn't have the Force to help him identify his surroundings, but he did have years of experience with the Quantium 40 mines on Ariana III, Proxima and other colonies, not to mention Mark Collins’s memories (false though they might be) of running the Storybrooke Mining Company. He kept still and listened, knowing how caves like this could play tricks with sound and direction. After a moment, he was sure someone else was there. “This isn't a very hospitable awakening,” he said, pitching his voice to echo as little as possible. As he listened for an answer, he felt a nagging impulse to start mining.
Why? he wondered, but the feeling only grew more persistent. With a sigh, he started searching the cave for tools.
Why was she inside of a cave and how in the hell did she get there? Emily looked around and at first was a little panicked, but for some reason that panic began to dissipate and be be replaced with the sense that she needed to mine inside of the cave. Mine. She’d never mined for anything in her entire life outside of the “mining for gold” tourist trap spots in the mountains with her parents when she was younger. Still, she felt the urge so strongly that she started to gather the tools and begin work.
She began to hear other noises echoing inside of the cave and found the two men already at work. Settling down onto her knees, she began to work alongside them. “Have either of you found anything yet?”
Calling on the Force, Luke felt for likely spots in the rock and used his abilities to shift the formations around the spots he found. He didn’t know why they were doing this, only that it felt important. Some nagging voice told him that maybe it was the key to getting Rey and the others back.
“I think we should concentrate our efforts there,” he spoke at least, gesturing to the wall her been working on. He took note of some tools nearby and moved to pick one up. As strong as he was with the Force, in this instance, the man made tools might be more effective.
“Not yet,” said Marcus. He didn't recognize the woman’s voice or her face in the light available. Luke Skywalker’s was a face he would have recognized from ancient vids, even before he began bouncing through worlds, so Marcus took notice. “Just a hunch?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “Do you know what we're looking for?”
“Some kind of stone, I think,” Emily said as she took one of the pickaxes and began to chip into the rocky wall of the cave. It was a good thing she'd kept herself in shape since being here, but still, manual labor had never really been her thing.
“Something like that,” Luke replied to Marcus with an enigmatic smile. He nodded along with what Emily had said. That was the sense he’d gotten too.
The three of them chipped away little by little, and Emily couldn't shake the intense feeling she needed to keep going until they'd found whatever it was that they were looking for in here. After a while, paused to wipe some sweat from her forehead and looked at the area where they'd been working. “Wait. What's that?” She pointed to a small opening where it looked like there was a change in color. Green, maybe?
“Yes, that’s it!” Luke said, growing excited as he called on the Force again to help clear a little more of the surrounding rock away until he was able to pull the emerald free. He held it there in midair, studying it for a moment. “This is what we were looking for,” he announced confidently. He didn’t know how he knew, but he was certain he was right.
Marcus looked at the green gem. Against logic, he had the same conviction. It was too perfectly formed, fitting more with his Storybrooke memories than what a freshly dug up stone ought to look like. Not only that, but he was certain it wasn't intended for trading to some jeweler. It belonged somewhere, and it had something to do with the hostages, although the agents of COS struck him more as idealogues than mercenaries. “We need to get it to Command,” he said. “Or the detectives in charge of the kidnapping - Thornwood and Burke. They’re going to need it.”
Emily stared at the gem for a moment. It wasn’t shiny and cut after just coming out of the rocky cave wall, but it was still so pretty. She watched it almost in awe and then nodded. “He’s right. We need to get it down to the others as quick as possible.” She picked it out of the air as Luke held it there with his ability and started to study it, but as soon as she did they were transported to Command of all places. Looking between the two men, she shrugged. “Well, that was easy enough. Let’s go.”