Spoilers: They heroically perished in a fiery crater of wreckage…

Posted on Jun 11, 2014 @ 5:34pm by Lieutenant Russ BaShen
Edited on on Jun 11, 2014 @ 7:00pm

Mission: All Our Yesterdays

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“Spoilers: They heroically perished in a fiery crater of wreckage…”
Con’d from: “The Point of No Return”
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Stardate: 2.140610.1909
Location: USS NILE
Scene: Interior

The clouds parted, and the world seemed to freeze. Russ was gazing down upon the world below him, its dark, lush jungles… the purple blue haze of mountains in the distance… all laid out in grand fashion is if a map had been rolled out before him. It was a beautiful world. Any other time and Russ would have awed at the majesty below him.

But that moment was not now.

{{We have lost thruster control,}} Byte calmly reported, snapping Russ out of his reverie.

"Give me all available power!" Russ called out, his hands moving automatically. "Life support, weapons, everything!" Russ quickly calculated the distance in his mind. The answer came almost intuitively; at the rate they were falling, they would bury into the ground in just over two minutes, at speeds well in excess of 250 miles per hour.

Russ heard Kane behind him. "Are we going to -"

Russ did not need him to finish. "Crash?" He gritted his teeth. "NO SIR!"

He thumbed a command, and seconds later, manual controls emerged from the consul in front of him. “I’m not dying here. NOT TODAY!!!” He asserted as he took the steering.

Adrenaline was pumping through him as he pushed everything he had into the controls. The runabout was sluggish to respond, but slowly, painfully, Russ righted her and pushed her forward, throwing as much acceleration forward as he could. He eyed the altimeter and almost choked in disbelief as the numbers continued to dwindle lower. “Byte, why are we still falling?!”

{{Lieutenant, we are losing power every second. Thrusters are currently unable to provide a sufficient balancing force to this moon’s Gravity. Hull integrity is critical.}} Byte turned to him. {{I calculate the possibility of successfully landing this craft is approximately 3,720 to 1.}}

“Never tell me the odds!” Russ shot back. There was a thrill going through him, as if he could do no wrong. “Hang on!” He called above the din of turbulence. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride!” He activated the airbrakes, and opened up everything that could possibly generate resistance against their fall. The craft began to shimmy wildly, but the FCO only had eyes for the controls in front of him. Slowly, painfully slowly, their speed was dropping…

A sudden wrench shook the ship. Kane barely managed to stay in his seat. “Report!” He barked.

“It looks like we lost the starboard nacelle,” Jake called out ruefully from his position.

The adrenaline fueled Russ grinned manically. “Not to worry… we are still flying half a ship.” Wresting the controls, he grunted, trying to keep the ship in line, as well as from falling apart.

An especially hard jolt nearly threw everyone from their seats. Solomon was wide eyed with fear. “This isn’t flying!!!” He shrieked.

Russ laughed at the absurdity of Solomon’s cry, “You’re right!! It’s falling… with style!”

“And what do you call that?!” Returned the fearful Trill.

He eyed the view scene. **Uh oh…**

“We’re going to crash into…” Solomon cried out.

“I see it, I see it!” Russ gritted his teeth. Their current trajectory was aimed into the side of a mountain. Russ scanned the screen quickly, and saw the valley just beyond. If he could slow their decent just that much...

He bellowed aloud in effort. His heart was hammering rapidly in his ears, and he felt the strain of the ship through the manual controls; the joystick rumbled wildly underneath him and pushed back hard against his direction. The edge of the mountainside loomed closer and closer as Russ pulled with all his might. Behind him, Isador was screaming…

And then they were clear. “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!” Russ exclaimed in jubilation as the valley opened up below them, passing by in a blur. Russ saw a river carving its way through, and maneuvered over it, careful to stay in line with the winding path. The craft was continuing to descend precipitously, but now Russ was sure they had a chance.

{{We have 20 seconds of power left, Lieutenant}} Byte calmly warned him.

“Full Breaks! Throw everything you can into the reverse thrusters we need to slow down!” Russ called. He hazarded a glance back at the crew compartment. Kane was holding on to his seat, looking stoically and grimly ahead. Jake had strapped himself in and pried loose a nearby control panel and was hanging on for dear life as he attempted to manipulate the ship’s systems and keep it aloft. Isador had gone pale white, and Solomon had covered his face, unable to watch. Only Byte appeared relaxed, as if this was merely a simulation. He calmly followed Russ’s commands.

The pilot turned his searching eye to the area in front of him. A glint of something metal on the ground rushed by as they screamed forward. The river was too twisted to make a safe landing zone; in any case, Russ did not want to avoid death by impact only to bring on death by drowning. Ahead, a forest was rapidly approaching as the mountains drew away. And just before them, a clearing…

“We're coming in too hot!” Jake’s voice called from behind him.

“Easy… easy…” Kane intoned.

“Brace up! This may sting a little!” BaShen warned with a laugh as he lowered the craft inch by inch. He buckled in his harness, just as others did the same. “Byte, help me with the controls!” The android activated his own set of manual controls and grasped them.

{{I am ready, Lieutenant.}}

“Gently now...” Russ called to him. “We just wanna kiss the ground. Just a little peck, a smooch… like you're kissing your sister…” The sudden slam threw everyone against their harnesses. “I SAID KISS IT!” Russ yelled. The runabout dug a trench into the ground below them as the trees rapidly approached ahead. “BRAKES!!!!”

With a strenuous effort, he and the android pulled…

And inches from the nearest tree, the runabout finally settled, coming to a rest.

Russ found himself shaking and perspiring from the effort. He glanced back at the Captain, who appeared to be wide eyed and in disbelief that they were still all alive. Russ gave Kane a weak grin. “Well sir… another happy landing.”

He calmly unbuckled himself and stood… before crashing on the floor, passed out.

=/\=
Time Index: 10 minutes later

“How is he, Isador?” Michael Kane asked, eyeing the unconscious pilot with concern. He felt exhausted, as if he had been up for several hours. The pain in his chest was dull and throbbing, and his body felt heavy, combining with his exhaustion to make for a miserable state.

“He’s fine,” the Preserver responded, ministering to the fallen man. “His system likely crashed following the rush of adrenaline.” She eyed the Captain. “I am sure that you are feeling weak as well,” she commented, studying him.

“I’m just tired,” Kane grunted.

“The Lieutenant will come around shortly,” Isador continued after a moment, “as soon as his body recovers from the shock.”

The Captain made a sound of acknowledgement, and turned his gaze to watch as Lieutenant Byte and Commander Crichton worked diligently at the exposed ODN relies. “What is the verdict, Commander?”

Jake was slow and sluggish in answering. “Sir, our systems are burned out,” he finally said. “I think I can get her working, but it is going to take time to repair.” He shook his head. “But that isn’t the worst of it.”

Kane arched his eyebrow. “Oh?”

He yawned openly before continuing. “The antimatter pod was severely damaged, and we’re out of fuel cells; our landing burned through our reserve power. I can try to fix it but…” he shook his head and looked helplessly at the Captain.

Kane turned to the Android. “Mr. Byte?”

The android shook his head in imitation of Jake. {{The containment in the antimatter pod is holding, but the rest of the system is beyond repair as is Captain. We require additional parts in order to complete repairs.}}

Just then, the door of the shuttle slid open, letting in a hard breathing Trill. He struggled to shut the door and turned to face the Captain. “Sir, I finished scouting the area; there seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere, but I did hear a few animal noises nearby.”

“No sign of civilization?” Kane fought a hopeless tone from entering his voice.

Solomon shook his head. The room was silent for a long moment.

{{Sir, I calculate that the chances of survival are 725 to 1,}} Byte intoned. All present turned a glare at him. Byte drew in their stony gazes and shifted slightly. {{But, I have been known to make mistakes... from time to time...}}

Russ mumbled something, catching Isador and Kane’s attention. The pilot stirred, and opened his eyes. “What happened?” He managed.

“Adrenaline crash,” Kane explained wearily.

“Those of use with adrenal glands all feel the same at the moment, though you seemed to have suffered the worst of it,” Isador clarified.

Russ grunted, and attempted to push himself up. It required a surprising amount of effort. “I feel like I gained forty pounds,” he groaned.

“It’s this planet’s gravity,” Solomon explained. “We’re all feeling it.”

“Huh. Any other good news?” Russ asked.

“Well, you landed the ship just fine,” Jake pointed out. “Oh, and we’re stranded.”

“Stranded?” Russ echoed in disbelief. The engineer explained the state of the ship, and the need for new parts.

“And we managed to land in the middle of nowhere,” Solomon added, with chagrin.

Russ sat quiet for a moment, and then looked up at Solomon. “Actually, maybe not.” The shuttle paused. All eyes were on him. Embarrassed, Russ pressed forward. “On our way down, I saw a glint of metal on the other side of this valley. It’s probably a few hours trek from here… we were coming down pretty fast, but I could have sworn that it was something man made.” Russ glanced at Byte. “You must have seen it too…”

The android seemed to collect his thoughts before replying. {{I do not have such a recollection in my data files,}} Byte informed him.

“Were you looking?”

Byte paused, and then shook his head. {{Negative. At the time, my electromagnetic receptors were focused on the panels in front of me. I am sorry that I can neither confirm nor deny your observation.}}

Kane took this in quietly. “Well, it is all we have at the moment…”

The room grew quiet once more. Finally, Solomon spoke up. “What are your orders, Captain?”

Kane’s face took on a grave but resolute expression. “Lieutenant Byte, Commander Crichton, you both stay here with…”

“Sir!” Jake was protesting before the Captain could finish. “I object!”

Kane raised an eyebrow. “Commander?”

Jake stood up heavily. “No offense sir, but neither one of you are qualified engineers, are you?”

Michael Kane scowled. “I do have a science degree, Mr. Crichton.”

“But can you tell me the tensile strength required in order to ensure structural soundness in a proper antimatter pod, or the proper calibration of the phase resonance for magnetic containment?” Crichton challenged.

“Well…”

“Or the configuration required for the fuel cell interface on a Danube class…”

“Your point is made, Commander,” Kane interjected, cutting him off. He sighed heavily. “Very well. Solomon, help Byte with ship repair. Isador, you will be coming with…”

“I will stay here,” she said with a smile. “There is no sense in slowing you down.”

Kane tilted his head. “I thought I was the Captain here,” he said with mock gruffness. He glanced at Lieutenant BaShen. “Are you going to argue with me as well?”

Russ smiled raggedly. “Sir no sir.”

“Well, thank you very much... Can I be in charge for a while?” Kane remarked in a tone of friendly sarcasm. The beginnings of a smile touched his lips, but then dropped as he regained his business composure. “BaShen, Crichton, get yourselves ready. We move out in five minutes.”

“Aye Sir!”

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NRPG: As you can tell, I was feeling quite silly as I wrote this post… how many movie references can *you* find?

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Christopher B. Del Gesso
As
Lt(JG) Russ Gerodi Bashen
Flight Control Officer
USS DISCOVERY