Perspective

Posted on Thu Oct 13th, 2022 @ 2:52am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen

Mission: Planet of the Dinosaurs
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Just after the crash

It had been the fastest time she'd been on a ship that had hit the deck, and that was saying something. One minute they were cruising along at warp noting mundane scientific curiosities as they passed, the next they were careening towards an uninhabited planet at a great rate of knots. She'd managed to get the shields to the forward section, and the helm did an incredible job of getting them down in one piece. Something she didn't expect to actually happen at all. There was a moment when the heat from their descent had been so unbearable she was sure they were all going to be pot-roasted puluku.

How they managed to skid along the ground without killing everyone on board was a miracle, although the lower decks would have taken an absolute pounding. The death toll there would be heartbreaking. But with the level of compression in some areas it would be some time before they knew who made it and who did not.

The impact when they finally came to rest was the worst of it. The momentum threw the crew around as though someone had taken off everyone's seatbelts in a racing car then hit the breaks. With little warning they were flung like ragdolls, and many many were broken.

Aurora had mentioned sickbay was overflowing, which in itself was a sign of good things and bad. Good in that there were many needing treatment, bad in that they wouldn't have enough staff nor supplies to be completely effective. Her own shattered legs were a testament, healed to a point where they were no longer unstable enough to rupture an artery, but still needing further treatment to be functional. At least her shoulder was almost in one piece, still held still by Dean's tunic in a makeshift sling. She counted herself lucky, there were many that were not.

As the reports came in, her gut clenched, there were many she hadn't heard of or from since the ship went down, Remal was one of them, Commodore S'Thenosis, Thriss, Bonnie to name a few. She sent a prayer to the Prophets for their survival even though she knew it may be too late for some. Perhaps there may be hope for others.

The roar of a prehistoric creature only added to their problems. At least with the distress signal activated there was hope of a rescue, it would be a matter of time before they were logged as missing and someone sent to investigate. They had to survive until then, with dwindling supplies, and large creatures that seemed intent on eating them for breakfast.

Just once was it too much to ask to crash land on Risa?