Harsh Landings

Posted on Thu Nov 30th, 2023 @ 8:28pm by Lieutenant Commander Moklor ‘Shell Squid’ & Lieutenant JG Vyse Ingelbard & Ensign Talanna Teela 'Nanny' & Ensign Len Kagamine 'Twin 1'
Edited on on Tue Jan 30th, 2024 @ 7:59pm

1,311 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: Planet's Surface
Timeline: TBD

=/\= On =/\=

As the two Starfleet officers, Ensign Teela and Lieutenant Commander Moklor, descended toward the planet's surface in their Valkyrie class fighters, they encountered unexpected turbulence. The planet's atmosphere was far more chaotic than their initial scans had indicated, with unpredictable winds and powerful thermal currents threatening to disrupt their course.

The fiery descent seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Both officers struggled to maintain control of their fighters as they were buffeted by the turbulent winds. The situation took a sudden turn for the worse. A massive, unseen force seemed to grip their starfighters, tugging them apart in different directions. Teela's fighter veered to the north, while Moklor's was pulled to the west, both hurtling toward separate destinations on the alien world.

Desperate to regain control, they fought against the forces pulling them apart, but it was an impossible battle. The planet's gravitational anomalies and unpredictable atmospheric conditions continued to wreak havoc. Teela's communications system crackled with interference as she attempted to hail Moklor, but it was too late. Their fighters were beyond the point of no return. Both officers lost contact with each other.

Amid the chaos of their descent, Teela and Moklor found themselves alone, each heading for different, unknown locations on the mysterious planet. As they braced for impact, with no idea what awaited them on this alien world, the once-united team was now separated, left to face their individual challenges and dangers.

Both fighters were drawn into rough descents, automatic landing procedures helping to safeguard each ship on its gliding path towards the surface. The sand turned out to be soft, partially burying each fighter on impact and spraying massive clouds high into the air.

Moklor gathered his equipment and prepared to set off, keeping track of Teela's last known heading.

Having being somehow split from his group, Len was trying his best to keep his starfighter in one piece. The craft had started to break up upon entry into the atmosphere. He then spotted another streak across the sky, it could only be another pilot.

He gripped the sticks hard, pulling the fighter over towards the other streak in the sky. He wasn't far behind, at least if they crashed together they may have a better chance of survival.

The Klingon looked up to see another streak approaching from above. He shielded his eyes from the light as he arched upwards to watch the impact.

He took off running through the sand, large feet pushing through the soft material. It would take him time to reach the wreck, but he was excited to find out who was nearby. Part of him worried about the person's wellbeing, but there had been no signs of an explosion.

After several minutes of running, he shouted as moved closer to the Valkyrie's shape.

The Starfighter was a wreck, it's wings had been torn off. Out of the cockpit crawled a young blonde haired pilot. He seemed injured. He crawled out onto the sand and tried to scramble away from the burning wreck.

"This way", Moklor said, feeling the sand harden underneath his feet as he got closer. It appeared Len's fighter had crashed at an area where dense rock sat underneath the sand. He moved to help support Len's weight. "We must move from the blast zone."

When the power failed on Vyse Ingelbard's fighter, it was all he could do to vaguely aim in the direction that it looked like some of the other craft were flying. Or rather, falling.

As systems shorted and went dark, sparks and puffs of smoke filled the cockpit and pushed apart enough internal components as to introduce entirely new, unpredictable hazards. When he wrenched hard enough on his ejection system for it to finally engage, he was surprised to find much of the ejection seat falling apart.

Including the parachute.

His eye piece showed him the rough placement of Ducati 4 and a handful of other lifesigns, but then went offline. Fitting, he thought, that he would stop seeing lifesigns before his own would be snuffed out.

But he wouldn't give up. He wrenched at the emergency triggers on his chair and, thank whatever gods might be out there, the backup chute engaged.

If a bit late. He landed hard, and the sound of a crack would be silenced by the scream that followed.

Moklor set Len down against a dune, noticing a light shape crashing down through the air.

Moklor swore, "ghuy'cha'... Another! Something interfered with my emergency transporter. The computer advised against a parachute exit." He watched anxiously as Vyse approached the ground.

As the crumpled shape landed hard, Moklor turned to Len. "What is the state of your injury? Can you move?"

Len rubbed his head. "I'm fine. Never crashed before though..." he stated as he began to get his bearings. "What the hell happened? Our group got split up somehow..."

"Ensign Teela and I were split as well", Moklor replied in shock. "It appeared as if some force pulled us in opposite directions. We've got to get to the other pilot!"

Moklor walked quickly, checking to see if Len could run before picking up the pace.

"A bit like what happened with me and Rin." Len replied. "I hope she's alright, afterall we've never really been apart before." He was keeping pace with the Klingon. "Sir, what do we do now?"

Just on the other side of the ridge, Vyse could hear Len and Moklor. "Please tell me one of you has a medkit!" he called out.

Len stopped. "Sir, is that Vyse?" he asked curiously as he approached quickly. He wasn't expecting for him to come across anyone else just yet.

“Yes!” Vyse called out. “Just…broken and half blind!” He ripped off his eye piece; without power it just darkened his vision. He crawled away from the wreck of his chair, centimetre by agonizing centimetre, toward Len and Moklor.

Len rushed over and was soon at Vyse's side. "Holy crap, what happened to you?" he asked as he helped support him up.

“You should see the other guy,” Vyse joked as he let himself be supported into a sitting position. “Parachute decided to be fashionably late.” He gestured to his left leg. “Do you have a kit or tricorder or something that can tell me how bad it is?” It didn’t look mangled or damaged in a way that he could see, but it throbbed with pain.

"I don't unfortunately." Len replied solemly. "What other guy? Is there another pilot?" he asked curiously as he beckoned for Moklor to come on over and help if he could.

“Just a joke to distract myself, kid,” Vyse said. “I didn’t see anyone else. Not on foot anyway. I tried to steer where others were crashing but those might’ve been you.”

"Yeah, we came down together. The commander was quick enough to pull me free of my fighter." Len explained. He had never crashed before and this was starting to get a little overwhelming, he was also starting to worry about Rin. He knew that she was a good pilot, probably better than him, he had to admit that at least. He just hoped that she and the other pilots were safe, wherever they were.

"I think it would be best to find some sort of shelter," Len suggested to the others. He wasn't getting his hopes up as they were stuck in the middle of the desert, but there may be a chance that another ship has crashed here and that could be the ship that saves them from either life or death.

Posting by

Ensign Len Kagamine 'Twin 1'
Fighter Pilot

Lieutenant Commander Moklor ‘Shell Squid’
Commander Air Group

Lieutenant Iowa Riverside 'Grey Ghost'
Fighter Pilot

Lieutenant JG Vyse Ingelbard
Fighter Pilot

Ensign Talanna Teela 'Nanny'
Fighter Pilot

Ensign Sora Kobayashi 'Blank'
Fighter Pilot

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