Tears of the Desert (Part 1)

Posted on Mon Sep 18th, 2023 @ 10:17pm by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Commander Ryuuji Takasu & Lieutenant Rea & Lieutenant Amu Hinamori M.D. & Commander Thomas Johnson & Lieutenant Commander Febin & Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Major Chiyo Shimada & Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek & Lieutenant Trennek Zakrin & Lieutenant Kylynn Adams & Lieutenant Talia Johnson & Lieutenant JG Nezuko & Lieutenant JG Amari & Lieutenant Tatsuo Shimada & Lieutenant Chrirhc Chihc & Ensign Kehl th’Kaaliq
Edited on on Mon Sep 18th, 2023 @ 10:22pm

1,168 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: Various

Taiga looked around the bridge. It had been just over an hour since the Tokyo had crashed onto the planet. The bridge was still a mess, however power had been partially restored. The good news is that medical teams had finally arrived and had been patching up the bridge crew. A bandage had been wrapped around Taiga's head to stop the bleeding from her injury. She had refused any more than that, insisting that others came first.

She was standing at the security and tactical console. The internal sensors were still giving them some trouble and Taiga was attempting to get the security network back online. There was no doubt that the survivors had seen then plummet to the surface, and there was a possibility they may want to board the Tokyo for supplies or spare parts.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead, with a breach in the roof of the bridge and life support on minimal levels, the intense heat had soon turned the room into the equivalent of a oven. She had already unzipped her tunic and stripped it off down to her cropped undershirt in at attempt to stay cool. Now was not the time for decency, it was a time for survival.

"Systems report?" Taiga asked as she looked around at those officers who had started basic repairs.

One system that was not functional was the voice box on Nezuko's Ops console, and her PADD had cracked in half in the crash. She was limited to signing (and having Commander Johnson translate, though he looked busy with his own tasks) or roughly pantomiming, not exactly useful when trying to describe complex technical matters.

After locking eyes with the Captain, she began to explain the key issues in her department. She held a spare battery at eye level for a moment, and once she set it down she mimed one finger, then her flat palm as a horizontal line below it, and two fingers lower still. Batteries. 1/2.

She then held a palm high and began slowly lowering it to ground. Dropping.

The Ops Chief then was startled by a beep on her respirator. She frowned, took a deep breath, the breather out of her mouth, and started to swap the battery. Strange. It shouldn't have drained already....

Taiga noticed the beep from Nezuko's respirator. "Is it running out of battery?" She asked, her tone was that of concern. It seemed that this planet drained all power sources. If the respirator stopped working then Nezuko would be unable to breathe.

Nezuko nodded, a bit worried. She showed Taiga the small collection of spares she had on her person as she inserted a new one. But if there was something external draining the batteries then it might not last long. She would need to find a long term solution. She gave the Captain a smile, equally to reassure Taiga and herself, and put the newly powered respirator back into her mouth.

"Let me know when you start losing power. We can find an alternative power source." Taiga said in response. The last thing anyone needed was their chief of Operations not bring able to assist in repairs.

Nezuko nodded again, this time more firmly. As she continued working, she began to formulate options for moving around the ship and helping even if her portable respirators started failing. Options must exist.

It had taken 15 minutes after the crash for Chiyo's hearing to come back enough for her to be in a useful state, and a further 15 for it to come back completely. Chiyo had gotten her head bandaged up, and had accepted a hypospray to help with the rest of her aches and pains. By the time she was feeling more like herself, Captain Beurling had completed the head count: All marines were accounted for.

With lieutenant Trennek still unaccounted for, Chiyo had taken over tactical to coordinate search efforts.

[Outside]

It had been an hour of hard riding for the group that had first seen the Tokyo streaking across the sky, but at last, their mounted creatures scaled the sand dune that the Tokyo had bounced off, which now overlooked the crash site. And the group now had their first detailed look at what had just come down.

"Is that an Akira Class?" A female asked in an English accent. "These things just keep getting uglier..."

"Remember the plan:" The leader spoke firmly. "Weapons first, then whatever else we can carry. The less weapons we can leave for the others, the safer we'll be. Everyone knows their roles?"

"Yes, sir." The rest of the group said.

"Then let's get a move on:" The leader said. "We might be the first here, but who knows how far behind one of the other groups might be."

"Redemptioners, let's move out!" The female, evidently the second in command, ordered.

The group rode down the sand dune and approached the Tokyo, where they stopped short and dismounted as the sand gave way to the Tokyo's hull. After verifying that it was indeed safe to walk on, the group scaled the Tokyo's hull to the nearest accessible airlock, which opened on Deck 7.

[Bridge]

Chiyo had been coordinating the search efforts when an alarm went off on the tactical console.

"Well, that didn't take too long at all..." Chiyo muttered, turning to Taiga. "Captain; we have an airlock breach on deck 7. Requesting permission to gather a team of marines to intercept."

Taiga turned to Chiyo. "Go." she said simply. "Aisaka to all hands, intruder alert deck seven."

Nodding, Chiyo turned and headed to the turbolifts, tapping her combadge.

"Shimada to Beurling:" She ordered. "Gather a team of marines and meet me on deck 7."

"Major, I've cut off access from deck seven to everyone but marines, but if they know anything about a Starfleet Starship they may use the Jeffries tubes," Taiga said before she left.

Thomas looked around. "Might I suggest attempting a dialogue Captain. Marines are not known to be the talking type. If they have been stranded here, they may just be trying to survive by any means."

"Good idea." Taiga responded. She tapped her comm badge. "Aisaka to Shimada, I want you to see if you can open a dialogue with the raiders if possible. If we can do this peacefully that might be a better option."

"Understood, Captain:" Came Chiyo's response. "I'll do what I can, but if the raiders won't listen to reason, I might be forced to shoot."

"Do what you need to" Taiga replied simply.

Talia was feeling pretty useless, she was used to having her senses to rely on but right now her senses were blank. Medical had been quick to reassure her that there was no permanent damage from her head wound, and that her fogginess was most likely temporary but she wasn’t feeling any better about it. She would have to learn how to rely on her natural instincts instead.

To be continued...

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