2007

Helicopter blades sliced through the dry air of a land bathed in fire and blood as a pair of landing skids touched gently on the barren ground. Sending loose bits of dust skyward as the pilot turned back and hollered through the noise, "General Winchester, we've arrived".

The woman who sat in the fuselage, mid-30s with shoulder length blonde hair and a vibrantly piercing blue gaze. Stood up, and pulled open the door. Daylight burned into view, bringing with it the searing landscape of the Middle East. Somewhere east of Syria, smack dab in a place called the "fertile crescent".

It was a place that brought back pangs of nostalgia, but instead of bringing a wistful smile. All she got was a somber flat line, pictures of blood seeping into the Earth like water into a sponge filling her mind, clear as day.

Winchester sighed as the helicopter blades sent a small vortex of dust her way, little specs brushing against the cotton fibers of her coat. Expensive fibers, the best that the Canadian Armed Forces could buy. Now tarnished by the sands of a once thought distant land.

She sighed and dusted off her coat before stepping onto the ground, the uneven terrain making balancing while wearing dress shoes an inordinately challenging task.

'When I get my hands on Colonel Hudson, I'm gonna strangle him' Winchester thought before closing the door behind her, and straightening up her coat.

Not even a minute into her journey, and she was already feeling the heat bearing down on her. Though luckily the camp she was marching towards was not that far away. It was a fairly moderate encampment consisting of a cluster of tents with a small perimeter fence around the whole thing. Staffed with soldiers bearing the Canadian flag.

The two that guarded one of the ways in, and out were lounging around until Winchester approached. Straightening up immediately once they saw the slew of medals that were adorned on her chest, before giving her a stiff salute.

"At ease soldiers…" Winchester began, unbuttoning her collar and widening it to give her neck room to breathe. "Can either one of you point me to where Colonel Hudson is?" She put on a wry smile to try, and act all professional while pushing down the desire to bury Hudson in the sand.

"He's in the 3rd tent to the right".

Winchester nodded, and made a beeline towards the tent, passing by a whole slew of soldiers, and scientists dressed in appropriate attire. A sight that made her wish she had time to be better prepared. That and the heat made it really hard to bury the urge to punch Hudson in the face.

"Hudson" Winchester exclaimed after opening the tent, and coming face to face with the source of her present irritation.

A brunette with sharp eyes, and an even sharper smile. Closing a book that he was reading until the general disrupted the peace.

"Ah, damn it. And just when I got to the good part".

Winchester narrowed her eyes, and marched into the tent before standing over Hudson. Giving him an icy stare.

Hudson, meanwhile, looked at Winchester like a teen who got pulled out of the movie theater right before the upcoming plot twist. More disappointed than anything at her sudden arrival.

"The good part's just begun, Colonel Hudson" Winchester began as she unbuttoned her coat, and took it off.

"Now, what was so urgent that I had to travel halfway around the world last minute?" Winchester asked, her voice laden with enough frustration to choke on, while finding a nearby stray chair to put her coat on.

Hudson looked up at the general and smirked, before standing up and putting his book down on the stiff bed he'd been sitting on.

"I think I'll let Dr. Carter explain that".

Winchester blinked as Hudson walked around her, and over to the tents entrance.

"And where's she?"

"At the dig site", Hudson flashed Winchester a devilish grin before stepping out of the tent.

Winchester simply stood there, finding the urge to make Hudson eat dirt just that much more difficult.

At the far end of the camp was a tent beside a bunch of parked Jeeps. Each one scratched, scuffed, and painted with sand. Hudson hopped into one of the Jeeps after talking to one of the soldiers manning the tent, and being given the keys to drive.

"Hudson, why the hell isn't Dr. Carter here?" Winchester asked as Hudson climbed into the Jeep's driver's seat.

"She insisted on staying there, and overseeing the remainder of the excavation".

Winchester scoffed, "You have seniority over this operation, don't you?"

Hudson started the engine and smirked, "Yeah, but you know how civvies are. No regard for rank and file".

Winchester sighed before climbing into the Jeep.

Throughout the drive, and past the shifting dried hills, bits of thorny shrubs, and a nearby ravine. Winchester rubbed her temples, trying to figure out how Hudson managed to drag her down here. Moreover, why she chose to oversee this little operation. It sure seemed like a good idea at the time, a far cry from the hotspots that began popping up all over the Middle East. A fleeting militaristic curiosity in joint cooperation with archeologists.

A fluff assignment in all but name.

She certainly didn't think she'd ever have to think about the project, much less actually visit where it's going down. Yet here she was, braving the harsh weather all because someone above her paygrade ordered her to give Hudson's curiosity a peek.

'He's either a real charmer, or whatever he said must've been real interesting' Winchester thought, leaning more on the latter than the former.

But that begged the question, what did he tell her superior that warranted her immediate presence? And why was he keeping it from her.

The fairly mundane Jeep drive terminated at the mouth of a rather unimpressive looking ancient building, a rectangular flat roofed structure, any ounce of intricacy and history having been smoothed out by time.

"Don't know what you told the Lieutenant General, but so far I'm not impressed" Winchester said as she stepped out of the Jeep as Hudson cut the engine.

"It won't be long now" Hudson promised as he stepped out of the Jeep, and took the lead.

"It better be" Winchester muttered under her breath as she marched across the hard ground, her toes already begging to be released from their continued torture.

Upon walking up the stony steps, and into the interior. Winchester was met with intricate patterns, and drawings of gods and men all around. Clinging to the present despite time's cruel efforts to scrub them from the world. Time was partially successful, however, for what remained on the walls were a shadow of their former selves. A smoothed, and simplistic shadow at that.

Day light failed to reach further into the ancient hovel, the proverbial torch being passed onto various flood lights scattered about. Shining rays of cool blues across the ghostly walls, the darkness falling deeper and deeper down, strangely enough.

Winchester blinked as she followed the lights to where the shadows lurked, noting that they hid a staircase that went deeper into the Earth.

"It's called a ziggurat, in case you're wondering".

Winchester peered down from the edge of a stone border, rising up to half her height to act as a railing. Below her was an abyssal expanse that seemed to stretch down with no defined limit.

"Dr. Carter says that this whole thing used to be above ground at one point, but then at some point most of it just got buried".

Winchester blinked, "It got buried?"

Hudson nodded as he walked over to a scrappy looking elevator that was set up at the edge of the platform they were on.

'How did something this big get buried?' Winchester thought as she looked at the elevator that Hudson stepped into. An apparatus that looked as though it was made by McGuyver himself, complete with splashes of duct tape appearing through the steel seams.

"You've got to be kidding me", Winchester frowned as she flicked her eyes up and down the elevator.

"What's the matter General? Afraid of a makeshift elevator?"

'I hope we're not spending too much money on this' Winchester thought as she stepped into the elevator after Hudson, and he pulled closed the steel frame door. At the push of a button they were off, descending into the inky depths, sinking with a light rattle that kept Winchester on edge. The darkness that surrounded her served to only make things worse.

Anxiety and uncertainty swirling all around as they descended into the void. Dissolving into the white light at the end of this eerie ride when they finally touched the ground, in a flash the darkness receded and the General could see something in the distance.

Illuminated by several flood lights trained on it, the structure rose into the blackened sky.

"What is that" Winchester found herself muttering as Hudson opened the elevator door, and stepped out.

"Follow me, and find out" Hudson proposed, and so they walked closer to the subject of interest for both the lights and the growing number of workers by its base. The clinks of pickaxes, and scuffing of footsteps ringing in Winchester's ears as she and Hudson approached.

In the clarity of bright blue lights, the object from before now towered over the General. A pointed column rising out of a bumpy lump of rock, segmented with six blocks, each one carved with a strange symbol unlike anything Winchester had ever seen. It was contained inside of rubble that had largely been cleared out, but a significant amount still remained trapping it – made out of stone.

It's sheer size summoned forth a feeling of awe, her mesmerized gaze lingering on the stone effigy while Hudson moved onto sift among the crowd of hired workers for Dr. Carter.

It was without a doubt deliberately made, but its size and perfect uniformity and definition made it stand out. The smooth eroded walls, and floor that were lit up from the lights being a stark contrast to the intricately detailed sculpture – a borderline work of art.

"General Winchester?"

The General blinked, moving her eyes away from the smaller Washington monument and onto Hudson, who'd brought with him a new face. A sandy haired woman in faded starch shorts, and a buttoned up collared short sleeved top.

"Dr. Carter I presume?" Winchester asked as she straightened up before facing the archaeologist.

"Dr. Carter, this is General Winchester" Hudson introduced as Carter sized the General up.

"So, you're the one who's in charge of all of this eh?"

Winchester closed her eyes for a moment, letting her mind process the gravelly, snide tone that Carter spoke with. For a moment, there was a sense of wonder when in the presence of the finely crafted tower, but now that feeling was all but gone. Replaced by the growing irritation that'd been simmering in her veins all this time.

"Yes. Yes I am" Winchester said as she opened her eyes, and glared at the scientist. "Now, since I came all the way from the camp site to see you. Can you finally tell me what this is all about?"

Dr. Carter blinked before snapping to Hudson, "Didn't you tell her already?"

Hudson shrugged, "I figured it'd be better if you explained it. Otherwise she might not have believed me".

Dr. Carter blinked before rubbing her temples, "God damn it Colonel…"

"Well? I'm here so what is it? What have you found that required me physically being here?"

Hudson moved to the General's side, and gave Carter the stage.

After letting out a sigh, and bringing her hand to her side Carter said "a couple of days ago, we were able to get enough of the artifact trapped inside limestone freed. Enough to run some chemical tests on it".

"And?"

Carter's expression turned dire she glanced around as though to make sure no one else was listening, "Well, to put it simply. The results don't match the composition of any naturally occurring material on Earth".

Winchester blinked, flicking her eyes back and forth between Carter and the tower behind her. The one still buried within limestone chunks.

"Are you sure?"

Dr. Carter nodded, "But that's not the most insane part".

"It gets more insane?"

Hudson grinned at Carter's words, and Winchester both hated his excitement and welcomed it at the same time.

Carter nodded, "yeah… we carbon dated the artifact's exterior and…"

"And?"

Carter sighed the words she spoke next coming out with a modicum of difficulty, "According to the results, that thing is more than 10,000 years old".

Time seemed to slow once Carter's words found their way into the General's ears, her brain working like dial-up in the 90s to parse each word. Hudson's grin widened as he watched Winchester curiously.

Blinking, the General asked while doing her best to be composed "are you sure? Did you double check the results?"

Carter nodded, "I reran them multiple times, and beyond minor variation. It was always in the same ballpark".

The ancient ruins she was in, the ziggurat as it were, fell eerily silent with the distant sounds of labor being all that remained. The weight of Carter's words came bearing down on Winchester's shoulders, a flurry of realizations coming to form inside her head. All of which paved the way for an excessive amount of paperwork, and behind closed door talks.

"So…" Hudson began as he turned to face Winchester with a sly smirk, "What'd you think? Was it worth the trip?"

Winchester could only respond with a sigh, "I'm going to have to make some calls". She snapped to face Hudson, and answered "and no. It wasn't worth the trip. Not in the least".

The future was a fickle thing to try and figure out, but from where she stood – it was about to get a whole lot more interesting. And the last thing she needed was 'interesting'.