Fic: Path of Cinders
Title: Path of Cinders
Author: jactrades
Fandom: Star Trek AOS/Dragon Age: Origins crossover
Word Count: 1,300
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence
Characters/Pairings: Gen - Jim, Spock, Bones, and Uhura
Summary: Fight dirty was Jim Kirk's motto.
Notes: IDEK... but there will probably be more. Unbeta'd.
"Bones," Jim panted as he dodged left, "do you think you could hurry the hell up and get Uhura back in the fight? We could kinda use her magic words right about now." He kicked out, low and up, hitting the creature's... well, he'd never actually examined a darkspawn close enough to know, to be honest, but the kick seemed to stun it so that was being recorded as a win.
"I'm a healer, not a goddamn miracle worker" Bones growled out. Jim ignored him in favor of a quick step and stab move, taking down his opponent for good. And fuck but did these things' blood stink. As he spun to look for his next target, Jim heard mutters coming from the embankment where Bones was standing, hidden almost entirely behind Spock’s massive shield.
That strategy was working nearly as well as Jim had hoped. Spock was holding his own against the crowd of darkspawn surrounding the two of them, and Bones was unharmed and free to focus on his healing voodoo. A couple hand gestures from the man, and Uhura was back to her feet. A few tendrils of blood-soaked hair escaped her ponytail from where she'd taken a nasty cut to the scalp.
“You good, Uhura?” Jim asked, tossing her the staff she’d dropped when she went down.
“I’m fine, Kirk,” Uhura said tightly. The glint in her eye foretold some major fireworks in the near future. Thank the Maker that she wasn't directing that expression towards him for once.
"Awesome," Jim said, and grinned savagely. “Get the archers, would you?”
Making a quick decision, he turned and sprinted back towards the embankment. The exposed backsides of the darkspawn - hurlock and genlock grunts, it looked like - pushing against Spock's shield were a tempting target. 'There's no such thing as a fair fight in the middle of a battle' had been the oft repeated instruction of the Riverside Training Master, and if there was one thing Jim had learned in the month and a half since everything had gone to hell, it was the truth of that statement. Fight dirty was his motto.
Channeling the momentum from his run, Jim swept his two blades in an arc as he reached the mass of darkspawn. The majority went down on that, and the last three were finished off with a well-timed shield bash from Spock. A moment later, a few notes in what sounded like Ancient Cardassian rang out across the battlefield, and a wave of heat hit Jim from behind. He turned in time to watch the last few darkspawn become enveloped in a massive fireball. Uhura looked pleased with herself.
"Is that all of them?" Jim asked, glancing around in all directions. The ambush had been a rude reminder of how far north the horde's scouting groups were getting. If it'd been a merchant or farming family on the road instead of them... Jim grimaced slightly. They needed to get to Redcliffe and get some more men into the fight as soon as possible. He'd hoped the Circle of Magi would help, but that'd been a disaster and a half. Bones joining their party had been the only upside.
"It would appear that that was the entire group, Jim," Spock responded after a moment's concentration. He was far better at sensing the creatures at a distance than Jim was - a feature from the Elven half of his heritage, maybe, or perhaps because he'd been a Grey Warden longer.
"Good job, then, guys - and lady,” Jim said, with a wink at Uhura. It was almost habit to attempt to annoy her at this point. “Bones, I think the new strategy of you cowering behind Spock while you get your mage on is working well."
The older man snorted as he walked towards where they’d dropped their packs a few yards away. Could have been amusement or exasperation. It was hard to tell with Bones, as cynical as he was, but the mage still seemed grateful for the excuse to escape the Circle.
Jim turned back to his fellow warden. "Spock, next time they're ganging up on you, give me a shout or something, yeah?"
"I'll endeavor to do so," the warrior replied, not looking up from where he knelt, cleaning his sword of darkspawn guts.
"Uh, right. Thanks," Jim held back a sigh as he exchanged a glance with Uhura. Something was clearly on the other warden's mind. He had became more taciturn as they drew closer to Redcliffe. "Anyways, Uhura, that was a damn impressive fireball - some version of Cardassian, right? - but next time could you perform that spell before taking a nap in a ditch? I'd hate to have to do without your lovely voice in the next fight."
As he spoke, Jim took an automatic three steps, moving out of range of the apostate’s staff. Maybe he was winning her over, though - she only looked somewhat annoyed as she opened her mouth.
"If you think that just because you can recognize a few words from one of my spells that doesn’t-"
"Uhura, darling, can you get over here so I can patch you up proper?" Bones spoke up suddenly from their packs. "Clearly one of the things you missed out on, livin' in that forest of yours, was that you shouldn’t respond to little boys pullin’ your pigtails. That’s what I always...”
Bones trailed off suddenly, then shook his head as if to clear it. "Is anyone else banged up?"
"Naw, I'm good,” Jim spoke up. “Spock?"
"I too am fine, Healer McCoy."
Jim watched as Uhura make her way carefully over to Bones, then knelt to clean his own weapons on the nearest darkspawn’s rags. The sword went quick enough, but his dagger’s serrated edge was always a pain in the ass to get clean. Scrubbing carefully, Jim raised his eyes.
Bones was holding Uhura’s head in his hands, tilting the wound towards the last of the evening’s light. Jim watched as the healer’s fingers ghosted over Uhura’s scalp, gently parting strands of hair caked with blood. As he examined her wound, Bones murmured something to her - too softly for Jim to hear - with a slight smile on his face. Uhura giggled something in return, suddenly looking more like a mischievous girl than one of the fearsome witches of the Wilds. Bones’s smile rose at whatever her comment was. He looked... lighter that way, Jim thought, especially around the eyes.
The clang of metal to his left had Jim tensing as he swung his head, only to see Spock fumbling with his sword and shield, his eyes focused firmly down at the cleaning cloth in his hands. A moment’s beat, then Spock looked up, meeting Jim’s questioning look with an inscrutable expression.
Jim climbed to his feet, suddenly feeling awkward.
“Time to get going, everyone,” he called, “It looks like a few of the darkspawn have gear worth taking to sell in Redcliffe. Help me gather it up, Spock? And Uhura, when Bones is done cleaning that cut, can you send a flare up for the rest of the group?"
"You don't mean we're spending the night here, do you?" Uhura looked around the clearing with disgust. It looked like she was mentally counting up all the corpses.
"No,” Jim replied, “not here. But there's a spot just around the bend in the road. I camped there on the way down to Ostagar. With, uh, Warden Commander Pike." He paused, sparing a swift glance at an impassive Spock. They hadn’t discussed the fallen Commander since their... disagreement... after the army’s defeat at Ostagar. Two green wardens against the oncoming horde of darkspawn might be shit odds, but it was still the better option in Jim’s mind than running for Grey Warden reinforcements in neighboring Laurentia, leaving the Fereldan people to their fate.
Jim swallowed. Shit odds, yeah, but better than anything left to him now. He looked around at the group, dredged up a smile from somewhere.
“Let’s get a move on, guys.”
Author: jactrades
Fandom: Star Trek AOS/Dragon Age: Origins crossover
Word Count: 1,300
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence
Characters/Pairings: Gen - Jim, Spock, Bones, and Uhura
Summary: Fight dirty was Jim Kirk's motto.
Notes: IDEK... but there will probably be more. Unbeta'd.
"Bones," Jim panted as he dodged left, "do you think you could hurry the hell up and get Uhura back in the fight? We could kinda use her magic words right about now." He kicked out, low and up, hitting the creature's... well, he'd never actually examined a darkspawn close enough to know, to be honest, but the kick seemed to stun it so that was being recorded as a win.
"I'm a healer, not a goddamn miracle worker" Bones growled out. Jim ignored him in favor of a quick step and stab move, taking down his opponent for good. And fuck but did these things' blood stink. As he spun to look for his next target, Jim heard mutters coming from the embankment where Bones was standing, hidden almost entirely behind Spock’s massive shield.
That strategy was working nearly as well as Jim had hoped. Spock was holding his own against the crowd of darkspawn surrounding the two of them, and Bones was unharmed and free to focus on his healing voodoo. A couple hand gestures from the man, and Uhura was back to her feet. A few tendrils of blood-soaked hair escaped her ponytail from where she'd taken a nasty cut to the scalp.
“You good, Uhura?” Jim asked, tossing her the staff she’d dropped when she went down.
“I’m fine, Kirk,” Uhura said tightly. The glint in her eye foretold some major fireworks in the near future. Thank the Maker that she wasn't directing that expression towards him for once.
"Awesome," Jim said, and grinned savagely. “Get the archers, would you?”
Making a quick decision, he turned and sprinted back towards the embankment. The exposed backsides of the darkspawn - hurlock and genlock grunts, it looked like - pushing against Spock's shield were a tempting target. 'There's no such thing as a fair fight in the middle of a battle' had been the oft repeated instruction of the Riverside Training Master, and if there was one thing Jim had learned in the month and a half since everything had gone to hell, it was the truth of that statement. Fight dirty was his motto.
Channeling the momentum from his run, Jim swept his two blades in an arc as he reached the mass of darkspawn. The majority went down on that, and the last three were finished off with a well-timed shield bash from Spock. A moment later, a few notes in what sounded like Ancient Cardassian rang out across the battlefield, and a wave of heat hit Jim from behind. He turned in time to watch the last few darkspawn become enveloped in a massive fireball. Uhura looked pleased with herself.
"Is that all of them?" Jim asked, glancing around in all directions. The ambush had been a rude reminder of how far north the horde's scouting groups were getting. If it'd been a merchant or farming family on the road instead of them... Jim grimaced slightly. They needed to get to Redcliffe and get some more men into the fight as soon as possible. He'd hoped the Circle of Magi would help, but that'd been a disaster and a half. Bones joining their party had been the only upside.
"It would appear that that was the entire group, Jim," Spock responded after a moment's concentration. He was far better at sensing the creatures at a distance than Jim was - a feature from the Elven half of his heritage, maybe, or perhaps because he'd been a Grey Warden longer.
"Good job, then, guys - and lady,” Jim said, with a wink at Uhura. It was almost habit to attempt to annoy her at this point. “Bones, I think the new strategy of you cowering behind Spock while you get your mage on is working well."
The older man snorted as he walked towards where they’d dropped their packs a few yards away. Could have been amusement or exasperation. It was hard to tell with Bones, as cynical as he was, but the mage still seemed grateful for the excuse to escape the Circle.
Jim turned back to his fellow warden. "Spock, next time they're ganging up on you, give me a shout or something, yeah?"
"I'll endeavor to do so," the warrior replied, not looking up from where he knelt, cleaning his sword of darkspawn guts.
"Uh, right. Thanks," Jim held back a sigh as he exchanged a glance with Uhura. Something was clearly on the other warden's mind. He had became more taciturn as they drew closer to Redcliffe. "Anyways, Uhura, that was a damn impressive fireball - some version of Cardassian, right? - but next time could you perform that spell before taking a nap in a ditch? I'd hate to have to do without your lovely voice in the next fight."
As he spoke, Jim took an automatic three steps, moving out of range of the apostate’s staff. Maybe he was winning her over, though - she only looked somewhat annoyed as she opened her mouth.
"If you think that just because you can recognize a few words from one of my spells that doesn’t-"
"Uhura, darling, can you get over here so I can patch you up proper?" Bones spoke up suddenly from their packs. "Clearly one of the things you missed out on, livin' in that forest of yours, was that you shouldn’t respond to little boys pullin’ your pigtails. That’s what I always...”
Bones trailed off suddenly, then shook his head as if to clear it. "Is anyone else banged up?"
"Naw, I'm good,” Jim spoke up. “Spock?"
"I too am fine, Healer McCoy."
Jim watched as Uhura make her way carefully over to Bones, then knelt to clean his own weapons on the nearest darkspawn’s rags. The sword went quick enough, but his dagger’s serrated edge was always a pain in the ass to get clean. Scrubbing carefully, Jim raised his eyes.
Bones was holding Uhura’s head in his hands, tilting the wound towards the last of the evening’s light. Jim watched as the healer’s fingers ghosted over Uhura’s scalp, gently parting strands of hair caked with blood. As he examined her wound, Bones murmured something to her - too softly for Jim to hear - with a slight smile on his face. Uhura giggled something in return, suddenly looking more like a mischievous girl than one of the fearsome witches of the Wilds. Bones’s smile rose at whatever her comment was. He looked... lighter that way, Jim thought, especially around the eyes.
The clang of metal to his left had Jim tensing as he swung his head, only to see Spock fumbling with his sword and shield, his eyes focused firmly down at the cleaning cloth in his hands. A moment’s beat, then Spock looked up, meeting Jim’s questioning look with an inscrutable expression.
Jim climbed to his feet, suddenly feeling awkward.
“Time to get going, everyone,” he called, “It looks like a few of the darkspawn have gear worth taking to sell in Redcliffe. Help me gather it up, Spock? And Uhura, when Bones is done cleaning that cut, can you send a flare up for the rest of the group?"
"You don't mean we're spending the night here, do you?" Uhura looked around the clearing with disgust. It looked like she was mentally counting up all the corpses.
"No,” Jim replied, “not here. But there's a spot just around the bend in the road. I camped there on the way down to Ostagar. With, uh, Warden Commander Pike." He paused, sparing a swift glance at an impassive Spock. They hadn’t discussed the fallen Commander since their... disagreement... after the army’s defeat at Ostagar. Two green wardens against the oncoming horde of darkspawn might be shit odds, but it was still the better option in Jim’s mind than running for Grey Warden reinforcements in neighboring Laurentia, leaving the Fereldan people to their fate.
Jim swallowed. Shit odds, yeah, but better than anything left to him now. He looked around at the group, dredged up a smile from somewhere.
“Let’s get a move on, guys.”